BIRMINGHAM — Over the last 24 hours, I've been bombarded with questions about two topics – the Detroit Lions' player-organized workouts and the impact of the recent court ruling that went against the players.

First, about the workouts. A few more players showed up today so there were about 35 players at the workout - an impressive showing considering how many guys had to travel from out of town. The workouts themselves are very low key in terms of football work. To give you an idea of how low key, the players aren't even taping their ankles. They're getting in a lot of conditioning and, today, the offense ran a bunch of skeleton plays in the second half of the workout.

The captains – defensive end Kyle Vanden Bosch, quarterback Matthew Stafford and center Dominic Raiola – have spearheaded this get-together and they've struck the right tone. There is nothing to be gained by having any player-on-player contact or performing any high intensity drills.

Without a coaching staff running the show, there's only so much the players can do on their own and the Lions players are doing it and not trying to force the issue.

Now, about the court ruling. The players didn't just lose leverage, they lost, period. Here why: this situation was never about the antitrust lawsuit against the league (which the players would probably ultimately win). This was about the owners being able to lock out the players and force them to miss game checks and Monday's ruling goes a VERY long way in giving the owners the ability to do that.

The players are now faced with a lesser-of-two-evils choice: Minimize their losses and strike a deal quickly or potentially lose a year's salary and hope they win their case.

By the way, don't put a lot of stock in the upcoming Judge Doty ruling on the TV damages. If the owners lose (and they will), they'll appeal, appeal, appeal. Again, the players might ultimately win, but the owners will delay it long enough that game checks will be missed.

The owners' strategy from the beginning was to force the lockout and then strike a deal when the players caved in September or October. That strategy is going to work and the players' leadership needs to understand that.

My original thought was that the players would have a strong enough position that they could take this game of chicken into the early fall but Monday' ruling has completely altered the legal landscape. The one positive for the players in trying to strike a deal now is the unknown of future legal rulings. Yes, the owners are in the driver's seat but they're smart enough to know that nothing is predictable so they, too, would be eager to get a deal done. The players must recognize that this is their best chance to get the best deal possible. If they do, we'll have football in the fall. If they don't, things could get real ugly before this is over.