Promotion
Border Crossing

Border Crossing

You are a Detroit Lions fan and the concept of false hope has become an annual fall rite.

Promises are viewed with skepticism now, but you put it aside and listen to the latest hot air ready to blow into Ford Field.

You roll your eyes at off-season proclamations by quarterback Jon Kitna that anything less than a 10-win season will be considered a failure. This from a team, you are all too aware, has had six consecutive seasons of 10 losses or more.

And then you hear the four words that captivated the NFL for a handful of seasons not so long ago: “The Greatest Show on Turf.”

Yes, when the Lions begin the 2007 season on the road against Oakland on Sunday, there is a novel new reason for optimism.

Not that Matt Millen has somehow become a genius GM or that Kitna has any hope of becoming the second coming of Peyton Manning.

Hope springs from the fertile offensive mind of second-year offensive coordinator Mike Martz.

You can’t blame Kitna for buying in with enthusiasm. Like everyone in football, he watched Martz make a former Arena League star named Kurt Warner become a Super Bowl champion with the Rams. A journeyman quarterback himself, this could be his big shot.

Martz made his reputation with the Rams by attacking opposition defences with weapons such as running back Marshall Faulk and receivers Isaac Bruce and Tory Holt. It took Warner and Co. to the pinnacle of the sport with a win in Super Bowl XXXIV following the 1999 season.

“You add some weapons and Martz’s genius to it - the sky’s the limit to me,” Kitna said. “Coach Martz calls the plays and we run them.”

The woeful Lions always seem to have their excuses, but last year some of them actually held water. Injuries to the offensive line, Martz’s first crack at the roster and struggles with the running game were all factors.

Then, when all the world felt they should be drafting a quarterback, Millen went out and selected Georgia Tech star receiver Calvin Johnson with the second pick overall.

Many prognosticators feel he will be the offensive star of the Class of 2007 when teamed with another former first rounder, Roy Williams.

The latter, for one, is buying into the idea, hoping his fourth year in the league will be the one where he truly breaks out.

“I had heard of the Mike Martz offence, the greatest show on turf,” Williams said. “But I did not know the ins and outs of it. What I know about the Mike Martz offence (now)... I will take this offence over any offence.”

Predictably, Martz is optimistic as well. In Williams and Johnson, it is conceivable he has among the most potent wideout punches in the league.

In Tatum Bell and T.J. Duckett, he has a couple of running backs that should be adequate at minimum. And in Kitna, he has a willing pupil, one he believes will stick to his system, a must in his scripted offence.

“There’s no comparison, we’re all on the same page,” Martz said, referring to the struggles of a year ago.

“We’re healthy. They’re tuned into what we’re trying to accomplish. We don’t have the mental mistakes that we’ve had in the past. We don’t have the injury issues.”

And - for the time being at least - no need to reach for excuses.

BORDER CROSSINGS: Fans flooding over the Peace Bridge on their way to Ralph Wilson Stadium on Sunday will see a work-in-progress Buffalo Bills team anxious to get off to a quick start. The Bills open against the Denver Broncos, the start of a brutal run for the Western New York squad that continues with road games in Pittsburgh and New England. All told, the Bills first nine games are against teams that made the post season in 2006 ... In Minnesota, the re-tooling of the Vikings takes a major step forward with the beginning of the Tarvaris Jackson era at quarterback. Asecond-round pick in 2006, Jackson won the job in training camp from Brooks Bollinger and gets the ball for the home opener against the Atlanta Falcons. “I am going to play well and have the guys believe in me,” said Jackson, who started two games for the Purple late in 2006 ... After three straight NFC West titles, the Seattle Seahawks are seen as a prime candidate to regress by some experts. Nonsense, says coach Mike Holmgren: “Unless you lose your quarterback and you have to take a young guy start over again, once you reach (the playoffs) you have a chance to be that type of team every year,” Holmgren said. “The window is always there for you. That’s how I choose to look at it.”