The Lions have made it their business to acquire talented players that play hard, play with an edge, possess a high degree of football character and don’t back down from anyone.
The transition to that type of player has been the catalyst for the transformation in Allen Park.
At the same time, it’s also earned the Lions a reputation around the league from some critics as being a “dirty” team.
“We are not a dirty team and if we had dirty players I would address it with them,” said Lions general manager Martin Mayhew. “That’s not what we’re building here.
“There had to be a culture change here and a change in how we approached the game, so we look for players that play through the whistle. We look for players that finish people and guys that play hard and guys that don’t back down.
“We are looking for those kinds of players whether it’s in free agency or in the draft and that’s what we want. We want guys to go hard. We want guys to get after somebody. We want guys who can be dominant and dominate somebody. That’s what people see.”
The Lions ranked third in the NFL this season in penalties (128) and second in the amount of yards lost (1,075). There was the unfortunate stomping incident on Thanksgiving that earned defensive tackle 
Both games were played before a national television audience, which undoubtedly fed the negative image. And fed into the stereotype.
“The (regular season) New Orleans game was a disappointment for me personally,” Mayhew said. “The way that went and the way it looked. I didn’t like it but I thought it was appropriately addressed by Jim (Schwartz) and we didn’t have problems after that.
“I think guys tuned in and figured it out and they know where that line is and they don’t cross it.”
Mayhew has never considered his team dirty. He preferred to use the word “nasty” to describe them and he’s not about to apologize for it.
“When people say dirty, I just think there are different meanings of that,” he explained. "Everybody doesn’t mean the same thing when they say that. From my standpoint, a lot of times what’s described as dirty, a scout or I would describe as nasty. Nasty can be good. We want nasty players and we have some of them. I think we’ll keep collecting those and we’ll keep trying to win that way.”
