Reggie Ragland: Lions can’t worry about what anybody else has to say

[Roary]

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Linebacker Reggie Ragland signed with the Lions as a free agent this offseason after spending the 2019 season with the Chiefs and winning a Super Bowl ring has honed his perspective on what it takes to succeed in the NFL.

Ragland said that teams are separated “from the neck up” and watching the Lions through two weeks suggests that’s not one of their strong suits. They’ve blown leads, made mistakes and committed penalties on their way to an 0-2 start.

Ragland said on Monday that the team has “all the daggone pieces,” but needs to be in the right mental space for that to pay off on the field.

“Everybody believes in one another, but we just got to go out there and play and we can’t worry about what anybody else has to say,” Ragland said, via Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press. “Like, I think sometimes we can get caught up in what others say. Who cares what the others say? As long as we got each other in this locker room, we got this coaching staff, we got the players and the organization, we just got to keep believing and keep fighting and everything’s going to come out the way we want it to be.”

With 14 games left in the season, there’s time for Ragland to be proven correct. Another loss or two will make it much harder to tune out those who say that the Lions aren’t capable of achieving anything worthwhile on the field.