Getty Darius Slay warms up in Oakland.
The Detroit Lions defense hasn’t executed so far in 2019, and there are multiple reasons why that is the case. Few people can put their finger on it, but cornerback Darius Slay wants to try.
Speaking after the game, Slay went into a bit more detail than any of the other players in terms of trying to explain what’s gone wrong. According to the cornerback, Detroit is close to solving their problems, but they haven’t managed to put all the pieces together in the right places.
No Lions player offered specifics why the defense is failing, but Darius Slay offered harshest criticisms, saying they aren’t putting the puzzles pieces in the right spots and every opponent is beating them the same way with the same plays, since Week 1.
Slay took things a bit further as a piece by Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press showed, even admitting that he believes Detroit’s defense hasn’t evolved enough.
This quote from Slay in the @davebirkett Freep story is pretty damaging for Patricia. His calling card is defensive ingenuity, sounds like he and his staff are getting housed like a HS coach who refuses to run anything different bc “we’ve been doing it like this for 30 years”
These statements are revealing, as the Lions have been fighting for the better part of a year to figure out how to put pieces in the right place. The fact they haven’t done it yet from the view of their star cornerback is pretty frustrating, even as getting a team together takes time.
Matt Patricia Talks Defense
If there’s anyone who knows the value of defense to a team, it’s Patricia, who has presided over some of the better groups in the league. According to Patricia, though, the Lions have to focus in on the fundamentals.
“We got to just keep pounding away to get it better,” Patricia told the media honestly a few weeks back. The statement was specifically about the rush defense, but it could have been a metaphor for the whole entire group.
How does Patricia propose that? By staying aggressive as a teacher and emphasizing what the Lions can do better in terms of fundamentals. As he admitted to the media, he believes in Detroit’s scheme, but thinks the team needs to find a way to continue to improve. As he said, he believes that falls on him as a teacher with some of the things that he can emphasize week to week for Detroit to improve upon.
Patricia also echoed that sentiment after the game against the Raiders, saying he believes that he merely has to be a better teacher and get through to the players better where they have to be on the field and what their roles are.
Apparently, the Lions are still struggling with the little things, which is a big problem as they try to get their season back on the right track. Patricia is facing the pressure of putting his team on the right track.
Darius Slay’s Future With Lions
As the deadline came and went a week ago, Slay remained with the Lions. When that played out, Slay was too busy tuning out the proceedings to care, choosing to play video games rather than keep up with all of the trade deadline drama playing out in real time on the internet.
As for the future, Slay admitted that he would have no trouble sticking around in Detroit for the rest of his career, mostly because he loves the fans and how they support him and the team.
If the Lions can’t put things together correctly in the coming weeks, however, his frustration could boil over. That is simply another reason the Lions have to work for a quick fix in the coming days on the defensive side.
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