Lions LB Larry Foote striving to be good soldier

Lions LB Larry Foote striving to be good soldier

He seeks right fit in Lions' defense
BY NICHOLAS J. COTSONIKA
FREE PRESS SPORTS WRITER


To the untrained eye, it looked like Lions linebacker Larry Foote excelled in the first six games, then struggled in the next three.


The stats supported that perception. In the first six games, Foote averaged 7.67 tackles per game. In the next three, he averaged 4.34.

But to the coaches, it looked a little different.

"The first six games, if you're a coach, you go, 'Whoa,' " defensive coordinator Gunther Cunningham said. "You worry. He made a lot of plays, but he didn't fit the defense very well. He's continually battling the demons to get the Pittsburgh stuff out of his head, because every once in a while it catches him at the wrong time."

Foote spent the first seven years of his NFL career with Pittsburgh, after playing at Detroit Pershing and Michigan. He won two Super Bowl rings as an inside linebacker in a 3-4 scheme. He developed a lot of good habits -- well, good habits as far as the Steelers are concerned.

They became bad habits when Foote signed with the Lions and became a middle linebacker in a 4-3 scheme. Although he opened the season making a lot of tackles -- nine at New Orleans, 10 against Minnesota, nine against Washington -- he wasn't necessarily doing what he was supposed to.

"He gambles a lot and makes plays, but he needs to not gamble and help the team," Cunningham said. "His production was good, but he took a lot of shots to get those tackles. He took some other ones that hurt us big-time, and he knows that."

He sure does.

"I mean, I don't want to make excuses," Foote said. "But when I do mess up, sometimes I just fall back to stuff I've been doing for seven years. This defense don't require some of that stuff. It hurt us a couple times. ...

"The coaches have really told me, 'You don't have to try to make every tackle.' I've just got to do my assignment, do my job. Would I like to make every tackle? Yeah. Would I like to freelance a little more? Of course I would. But it's not about me and my numbers. It's more about doing our assignments."

Cunningham, famous for his intensity, is not one to mince words. But he isn't too hard on Foote, a captain and vocal leader, because he is confident Foote is trying to make the adjustment.

Good article Larry is a good guy and I wish him success just not at our expense. I am glad he chose to go to the lions to help them improve as opposed to the cheats or ratbirds. It must be hard to adjust to being on a team that does not have the play makers he had in da' burgh, but I think he will come through in the end.