Matt Patricia knows the https://heavy.com/tag/detroit-lions/ fanbase currently has it out for him, and he has one simple message for everyone.
Give it some time.
After yet another loss, Patricia chatted with the media and had his say. According to the coach, the team is still in process when it comes to building, and he is focusing more on the here and now rather than worrying about rumors about his job.
Matt Patricia on how certain he is he’ll be back in 2020: “I’m just grinding here today and trying to get ready for Thursday.”
Patricia says repeatedly the focus is on getting wins, and specifically this week against the Bears. But he also was clear in saying: “I also know that this is a process,” and that the Lions are in the process of building right now.
Patricia has come under fire after the Lions have struggled in his tenure and there have been some interesting rumors about his job perhaps being on the line with a loss on Thanksgiving.
Still, the coach doesn’t seem to worry about that one bit.
Matt Patricia’s Defensive Fix
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.
If there’s one side of the ball where things have been lacking and must turn around, it’s on the defense. The team isn’t rushing the passer well, is playing poorly on the back end and as a whole, simply isn’t generating the type of consistent effort they need in order to win big and have a consistent effort.
Thus far, complaints about the team’s offense have been minimal. The fact of the matter is, if the Lions played consistent, winning defense, it would cover up a lot of the minor troubles they’ve had offensively. The defensive side of the ball is why Matt Patricia was brought to Detroit in the first place, and it’s why he must clean that up most of all for the team to have a successful future.
According to Patricia, he simply has to communicate better in order for things to translate on the field.
Matt Patricia’s Lions Tenure
Patricia came to the Lions fresh off success in New England in 2018, and struggled out of the gate to capture the attention of the locker room. A bumpy start paved the way to a more solid finish in 2018 with the team only winning six games, but defeating squads like the New England Patriots, Green Bay Packers and Carolina Panthers, which offered hope.
Patricia has helped the Lions stay in games for the most part in 2019, something which the team struggled with in 2018, but has not gotten them over the hump at closing. That’s perhaps his biggest wart so far as a boss, combined with a lousy defense that has not picked up the program whatsoever. Patricia might get more of a pass considering the absurd amount of injuries he’s dealt with, but it’s hard to ignore that in his tenure as coach, the Lions have had the same discipline problems plague them that always have through the years.
The bet is that both Patricia and Quinn get a mulligan on 2019 considering the rash of injuries that have set the team back, while also living with the understanding that 2020 is likely the make or break year for this group.
That’s the scenario that Patricia is likely thinking about at this very moment as he focuses on the here and now.
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Matt Patricia Comments on Job Security With Lions