Lions' Jim Schwartz picks Silver Crush as defensive line's new nickname
by Dave Birkett
Detroit Lions coach Jim Schwartz’s quest to nickname his team’s talented defensive line via Twitter ended today when he announced the winner: Silver Crush.
“Acknowledges tradition/history of 'Silver Rush' with slight update," Schwartz wrote, adding that about 100 people submitted the suggestion.
Before the moniker was announced, former Lions defensive tackle Doug English, a member of the organization’s original Silver Rush, said he didn’t have any interest in taking part in the nickname game.
“As much as I’d love to bite on that and take advantage of the very generous offer you’re making, as a player, I was a little uncomfortable naming our line,” English said. “Once it was named, and we were the Silver Rush, we were, and that’s all fine and good, and go print T-shirts and hats, and let’s get it on. But I just, as a player, wasn’t that big on naming stuff like that.”
English said the nickname Silver Rush came from assistant coach Floyd Peters, who oversaw some of the game’s greatest pass rushes, including the Gold Rush defensive front of the San Francisco 49ers in the 1970s.
“It’s a great honor to be named,” English said. “But if it’s up to me, I’d like to see these guys in Detroit get a name the old-fashioned way, and that’s by just pounding some people into the dirt and just waiting to hear what they have to say about it, and something will stick.”
English, who’ll be inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in December, said he’s a big fan of the Lions’ current defensive front and called Ndamukong Suh “maybe the most natural defensive lineman I’ve ever seen.”
“The bottom line is these guys, if they’re going to play as well as I anticipate they’re going to -- and, obviously, they’re getting some really good coaching as well -- so if that all equates to a great defensive line then the name’s going to come naturally,” English said. “Some guy’s going to make a comment after a game, or an opposing player’s going to say, ‘Gosh, it was like a blank,’ and suddenly, they’re going to have a name.
“I think for some has-been like me to show up and say, ‘Oh, let’s call them this or that,’ I don’t think it would do them justice. I know it’s going to happen. They’re going to play great, and an opposing player or an opposing coach, somebody is going to just say something one day that’s just going to stick, and then it will emerge.”
On Twitter, Schwartz said the Dis-Assembly Line was a close second. Of the Silver Crush, he wrote, "I think it fits but time will tell if it sticks ... don't want to force it."
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