It was an up and down season for me. I think I started out real slow. I was thinking way too much out there early on, I got away from just having fun and playing the game. Toward the end I was just playing ball and enjoying myself and making plays.

I learned a lot this season. It was only my second year in the league, and in a lot of ways I’m still learning to play the game. I think I finished a little better than I did last year, but it’s still not where I wanted to be this season. Any pass rusher wants to get double digits in sacks, but my main goal was to avoid a sophomore slump and get more sacks than I did as a rookie. I did that with an extra half sack even though I played two less games.

So I’m not happy with how I finished but I’m not mad either. This is something to build on. I want to go into next season playing as hard as I finished this season.

As a team there’s still lots of improvements to be made. I think the front office will make moves to make us better. We won two more games this year than we did the previous year, but you can’t be content with winning two games.

My goal in the off-season is to get back healthy. I just have some normal wear and tear. Last year I didn’t start playing regularly until mid-season, so playing in 12-13 full games, 50 snaps per game this season put a toll on my body and I’m definitely starting to feel it. Now it’s time to rest and let my body heal up a little bit.

I’m going to take the whole month of January off, maybe play a little basketball but nothing that will put a strain on my body. In February I’ll start lifting and running to work back into shape.

I want to thank all the fans who have come to my website and offered their support. Check back in during the off-season, I’ll be here now and then.

Cliff Avril is a defensive end for the Detroit Lions. His blog for playerpress.com runs at www.avril92.com.

Getting a sack is always a challenge. Those offensive linemen are huge, so basically you have to make them move their feet. Being that big a lot of them aren’t that good on their feet. The two biggest things are to get them to move their feet and to keep them off-balance. But those aren’t easy things to do.

You can’t run into them because they can just grab and hold you. You have to try to contact them before they make contact with you but that’s hard because their arms are longer than yours.

I try to get off the ball as fast as possible and use my speed to my advantage. Make my move, maybe a spin move or a counter, it varies depending on what the offensive lineman gives you. If he doesn’t get off the ball fast I’ll just blow by him. If he does, then I’ll counter inside or something. But those guys are crafty, too. They know what to look for.

Against Arizona I had a sack fumble on Kurt Warner. I used a lot of different moves during the game and the lineman was setting up for an inside move. So I used my speed to get by him on the outside. You have to get to Warner quick because he gets rid of the ball so fast, but he doesn’t like to move out of the pocket.

We fought back against Arizona but couldn’t pull out the win. It always comes back to the small things and putting a full game together. We’re not always where we need to be at times. Once we get the mental aspect together I think we’ll be alright.

I think we showed we can compete with any team in the league, especially on the defensive side of the ball. This team has the players and the potential.

Cliff Avril is a defensive end for the Detroit Lions. His blog for playerpress.com runs at www.avril92.com.

I really feel like I’m not having that good of a season, and I have no one to blame it on but myself. I’m not being as productive as I expected I would. I don’t have as many sacks as last year but I still have three games left and I want to go out with a bang this season.

I don’t feel like the team gave up against Baltimore but I haven’t seen the film yet. Coach was real mad at us and gave us the day off today and yesterday. I really doubt that anyone gave up, I think we just got beat bad.

It’s been a frustrating year, for me personally because it’s been an up and down season. I’ve had to deal with a lot of different things, injuries, a new coaching staff, getting used to how things are run and just expecting to win and not winning.

We play Arizona on Sunday so it’s not getting any easier, but when is it easy in this league? From an individual standpoint I just want to go out and have some fun, make the plays I’m supposed to make and get some sacks.

As a team, we definitely want to prove that we’re growing as a defense more than anything. We took a big step forward the week before, then a huge step back against the Ravens. We have to be more consistent, we have to get to the point where we can perform at a high level week in and week out.

Cliff Avril is a defensive end for the Detroit Lions. His blog for playerpress.com runs at www.avril92.com.

This is a good week for us to have a bye. This week we have our regular Tuesday off, but then we have to go in and practice on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. Friday we’ll get out early, about 12 or 12:30, and then we don’t have to report until next Tuesday so a lot of us are getting out of town.

I’ll probably go to Chicago for a couple days to see my best friend and do some shopping, then go down to Charlotte to see my girlfriend. Chicago has a lot of exclusive stores, a lot of great shoes, shops for certain kinds of clothes. I’m into that.

I like jeans. For some reason I’ve always been fascinated by jeans and shoes. Even in college I always liked jeans and now I can afford some nice ones, so I’ll check that out while I’m in Chicago. For shoes, I’m a big fan of Nike Air Force 1. Plus I have a deal with Nike so they can hook me up. And in Chicago you can get custom-made ones at the Niketown there.

Like I said, this bye week is definitely coming at a good time for us. We’re a little thin on the defensive line, maybe by our next game we’ll get some guys healthy and get everyone back.

We still have to stay focused in, though. This week is also all about making corrections and focusing on ourselves. Fixing the small things can be huge for us, we have to get in there and make the corrections we need to make to get on track.

I thought I played well against Green Bay, any game I get a sack, I’m happy. But we couldn’t pull out the win, so that makes it kind of tough.

Cliff Avril is a defensive end for the Detroit Lions. His blog for playerpress.com runs at www.avril92.com.