Rookie linebacker 
Now he is working to acclimate himself with the mental side of the middle linebacker position, which carries with it significant responsibility. Stay connected with Dizon through his rookie diary on Detroitlions.com.
Monday, August 25, 2008
“The third game went really good. The game slowed down for me and, like the coaches said, I played a lot faster and somewhat smarter. I still had a few mistakes here and there. I had one bust, which is down from the game before, so that’s good. We have to learn from our mistakes and I am definitely – finally – getting a feel for the game and relaxing and just starting to play football.
“On film I could see I was definitely more relaxed, you can see it in my ability to run to the ball. I wasn’t so jerky – I was just smooth, flying around and finally started trying to make some plays rather than just be a robot. I went out there and let my instincts play for a little bit and it just built my confidence that much more.
“It definitely helps to watch the first-teamers on film. When I watch Paris, he’s a true professional. He knows what he’s doing and he does it like a professional. He treats it like a job and he goes out there and he hardly ever makes any mistakes. It’s so nice to have someone like that in front of you who can be a role model. You can try to be perfect kind of like he is. It’s just nice to see him go out there and compete.
“I will approach this game just like the last game: I need to go out there and relax and have fun and play football because if you go out there and you’re jacked up and if you’re too hyped, you make mistakes. You forget about things and you go haywire. So I think if I just go out there and relax and have fun and believe in what I see, it will be perfect.
“You can’t really let being on the road change you. For me, I’ve played a lot of away games in college so it’s just football. It’s just in a different atmosphere, but it’s the same game, just in a different place. For me, it really doesn’t bother me. When you’re on the field as an offense, the crowd is screaming at you and it’s loud and it’s hectic out there for an offense. But for the defense, they try to be as quiet as possible, so it’s actually probably easier for us.
“It will be an easy transition to the regular season just because of the way the coaches have brought me along each game and have showed me the ropes and Paris and Ernie are always there to help me and tell me to relax and things like that. I think, from my first game into the third game, I was much more relaxed. I figure into the fourth game and to the regular season it will progress and I will be more relaxed every game.
“For me training camp and the preseason have been all mental. The physicality part of it – it’s football. You do get hurt, but that wasn’t the toughest part. For me, it was learning the defense and getting over that learning curve, which I’m still trying to chug over. But as far as training camp goes and preseason, it’s just trying to learn the defense and do it in a quick way.”
