ALLEN PARK, Mich. — The Detroit Lions have been the target of relentless verbal and written shots while compiling the NFL's worst record the last six years.

It turns out, their own players were delivering some of the worst blows.

"There were knockdown, drag-out fights all the time last year," defensive tackle Cory Redding said. "There were cheap shots with guys getting leg-whipped and hit in the helmet."

Jeff Backus, who has endured each of the 72 losses since 2001, said last season's team-crumbling behavior wasn't new.

"It's happened as long as I've been here," the offensive tackle said. "My first couple of years, there were lazy veterans that didn't want to be touched in practice. If you blocked them, they would try to get you back in a dirty way for the rest of that practice."

In his second year, coach Rod Marinelli seems to have gotten rid of the destructive culture that infested a franchise with one playoff victory since winning the 1957 NFL title.

Marinelli's players believe that finally pulling in the same direction will produce positive results for a change.

"We had no fights in training camp because Rod changed the whole attitude around here," Redding said. "We know we have to fight, scratch, claw and kick our opponents — not teammates — and I think that's going to make a difference.

"We have so many winners on this team that are tired of losing."

Detroit has won just 24 times — an average of four a year — against those 72 defeats since team president Matt Millen was given control.

Tampa Bay's 12 straight seasons of double-digit losses from 1983-94 is the only other stretch of futility in league history that compares.

Detroit was 3-13 last year, Marinelli's first as a head coach, and only Oakland had fewer wins.

Quarterback Jon Kitna predicts this year will be different, claiming the Lions will win at least 10 games.

If he's right, they likely will be in the playoffs for the first time since 1999.

"I was talking like that because of what I saw in the offseason," Kitna said. "We have great team camaraderie. We don't have a whole bunch of individuals out here, and that's what Rod preaches.

"That's what wins in this league, not the greatest talent. New England has proven that."

The Lions seem to have enough ability on offense to live up to Kitna's projection, but their defense will have to exceed expectations to validate it.

Kitna led the NFL with 372 completions last season in Mike Martz's pass-happy offense and was the first quarterback in franchise history to take every snap in a season.