Frank Beckmann talked with Detroit Lions team president Rod Wood from Monday’s CATCH Charity Golf Outing at Meadowbrook Country Club, and they touched on a few interesting topics. Below is a brief Q & A, and the full podcast:
Frank Beckmann: “What kind of hopes do you have this year? What are you feeling, besides you know ‘we’ve redone some of Ford Field and spruced it up’?”
Rod Wood: “I’m excited for this season. I’m excited for the fans to see the field and what we’ve done there, but I’m excited about the team we have in place, too. I think Bob [Quinn] did a good job in the off-season. The offensive line should be better. Hopefully we’ll get Taylor Decker back sooner rather than later. I think we’re a better team. You never know what that means when you get on the field, but I think we have a better team in place, and I’m very optimistic.”
Beckmann: “[Matthew Stafford] has really developed. He’s matured, he just keeps getting better.”
Wood: “He had a great year going. It was unfortunate that he hurt his finger there late in the year.”
Beckmann: “I was amazed he could still play!”
Wood: “And he played well! He wasn’t as sharp maybe as he was earlier in the year, but he still helped us hang in the games. And we had a chance to win games at the end of the year, unfortunately it didn’t go our way. Looking forward to getting back. He’s 100% healthy and he’s looked good in the spring. I’m sure he’ll look good when we get back in the fall.”
Beckmann: “Hey, I don’t care. The team went to the playoffs. And by the way, Calvin Johnson, they went to the playoffs! I can’t even believe what he did. I mean, are you kidding me? You got $100 million from this team that’s taken care of you for life, and you’re over in Italy complaining about them? Give me a break.”
Wood: “It’s a little disappointing. I kind of align myself with what Jim Caldwell said a couple weeks ago, that I think it will all work out. Calvin, interestingly, texted me a couple weeks ago, so we’ve exchanged a few text messages recently. They were very cordial. I won’t get into what they were about, but they were professional. I did invite him out to training camp. We’ll see if he does that. Hopefully he shows up. He’s a great player, we want to have him kind of in the tent, not outside the tent. And hopefully that the way it ends up.”
Beckmann: “So the new uniforms are the other talk this year. And you’re going to make decisions on when you’re going to wear the throwback uniforms. Do you know when you’re going to wear them?”
Wood: “We are. We’re going to wear the throwback on Thanksgiving, which is our traditional, great family day game. And we’ll bring those back. I think it’s the first time in 10 years we’ve worn them. I know Matthew [Stafford] has not worn them yet. I think the last time that we had them, he was injured, so he didn’t get a chance to wear them. So he’s excited about wearing those. I think the fans will like them, they’ll be back on Thanksgiving.”
Beckmann: “I love them, they’re simplistic. I really like them a lot.”
Wood: “And they’re our colors, just a little dressed down from the full uniforms. Then we’re going to debut our new Color Rush uniforms on the Bears game on the 16th of December, which is a Saturday game on the NFL Network. So we’re excited about that too.”
