The Detroit Lions signed Ricky Jean Francois for veteran leadership, and that's exactly what he's providing the team as they try to get things on the right page ahead of a brand new season. Like many who watched, Jean Francois was disheartened by the Lions ugly 30-17 loss to the New York Giants in the second preseason game of the season, but unlike many, he's not simply willing to write the performance off because the games don't count in the standings.

Speaking after the team's loss to reporters, Jean Francois spoke exactly like you'd expect a grizzled veteran to speak after an ugly performance, even if it was preseason. Clearly, the veteran wasn't going to take the poor performance laying down, and wanted his team to understand the things that need to be fixed and the different track that the Lions need to get on. He wasn't shy to show his frustration with what happened on the field immediately, ripping the Lions for what they did on the field and how inconsistent they played.

"Disheartening not to see us perfect our technique. Disheartening to see us not execute what we execute all week. Discerning not to see certain things that you sit in the building from morning to night going over and then when you get on the field you don't see it getting done. But like I said, we got two more weeks and we got tomorrow to start correcting these situations to stop that run," Jean Francois said honestly to the collected media as shown on DetroitLions.com.

Defensively, the tackle wants to see players step up and do the little things this week, and start to take accountability. That's something he thinks will help prevent the team from having a tough year, something he admits is on nobody's radar this season.

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"Film, talking to one another, talking to our coaches. There's so much you can do in that building to do it, but we have to come together as a group. The coaches can talk until they're blue in the face, but we have to come together as a team and we have to show Matt Patricia that we can master everything that he asks us to do. If we don't, it's going to be a long season, and we ain't trying to have no long season around here," he said.

As for what's the matter, Jean Francois hinted technique is at the heart of the matter, but he still isn't sure. In spite of that, he knows the team has to get it figured out, because the real games are coming soon.

"We have to figure that out tomorrow. As a group, we have to sit down, look at each other in the mirror. We got to get this done. We got to get this corrected before the season comes. In the blink of an eye, you're going to be talking to me and it's going to be the Monday night game," he said.

Indeed, there's not a long way to go until the season starts for real, and it's refreshing to see someone stepping up and getting after it following a tough loss, even if it was only the preseason. That's exactly why the Lions brought a veteran guy like Jean Francois on board, and his mindset in addition to his defense have been a breath of fresh air.