Getty Lions players gather with Matt Patricia before a game in Green Bay.
The Detroit Lions are already giving off the vibe of a team spiraling out of control following a frustrating 0-2 start to the season, but in spite of all the problems, don’t count on the squad losing faith in the direction of the team.
After Sunday’s 42-21 loss to the Green Bay Packers, which was equally as frustrating as Detroit’s Week 1 defeat albeit for different reasons, players spoke after the game and admitted that they’re not fractured whatsoever when it comes to Matt Patricia.
According to running back Kerryon Johnson, he doesn’t just back his coach 100 percent, but 200 percent thanks to the time they put in for preparation’s sake and all the hard work they do.
Kerryon Johnson also backs Patricia, said he has 200 percent confidence in the coaching staff. Said this staff works unbelievable hours, they can’t work any harder. Said it’s about players fulfilling what the coaching staff wants/expects.
Quarterback Matthew Stafford agreed, ignoring the question totally and saying the team simply has to start to play better and execute better on the field, implying it’s not an issue of coaching whatsoever.
Asked about confidence in Matt Patricia, Matthew Stafford said he’s confident, the team just needs to play better.
About what you’d expect from Stafford.
Patricia’s future is going to come into focus the rest of the season if the Lions continue to lose games and their struggles mount. That will really be the case if the team begins to lose games in which it looks like the team gave up.
If the players are to be believed, though, that won’t happen which means the squad remains on board with Patricia as coach and are unified in that approach.
Terry Bradshaw: Matt Patricia Not Helping Lions
That’s something which former NFL quarterback turned Fox Sports analyst Terry Bradshaw would agree with. Speaking on Sunday, Bradshaw admitted that he doesn’t understand how Patricia has made the Lions any better than the team he took over from Jim Caldwell. Additionally, Bradshaw said the Lions are wasting Matthew Stafford’s prime as a result of this.
Terry Bradshaw brought up Jim Caldwell on FOX’s pregame show. He criticized Matt Patricia.
“If you ask me, it’s pretty simple. When a coach comes in, he makes a difference. This guy has not made a difference. This quarterback is being wasted.”
Patricia is 9-24-1 as coach of the Lions and has had the team close to competing and winning games, but close doesn’t get the job done whatsoever in the NFL. Stafford has taken some steps forward within Darrell Bevell’s offense, but Patricia’s bread and butter was defense. So far, Detroit’s defense has only gotten worse during his entire tenure as head coach.
Will the Lions elect to make a move if Patricia continues to struggle? It’s more than possible, and if they do, it would represent the team starting over yet again, just like they did when they hired Patricia.
That’s what happens when a plan doesn’t come together, something Bradshaw would admit is happening with the Lions right now under their current staff.
Analyst Skewers Matt Patricia’s Defensive Approach
Despite his standing as a defensive guru, Detroit has struggled on that side of the ball under Patricia. Finding an explanation for this anomaly has not been easy to do, but analyst Doug Farrar from Touchdown Wire has taken perhaps the best possible step in explaining why the Lions continue to struggle in their scheme while it works in New England. As Farrar said, it’s a matter of personnel in Detroit, even as the Lions have tried to take steps to improve their roster in recent years.
Farrar wrote:
“So… why are the Lions so bad at man coverage, and why do they insist on doing it more than any other team? Personnel is a big part of it. If your secondary personnel isn’t matched to your schematic concepts, you’re going to get eaten alive — even if the opposing quarterback is Mitchell Trubisky. Before the 2019 season, the Lions signed former Seahawks slot defender Justin Coleman to a four-year, $36 million contract, making Coleman the highest-paid slot defender in NFL history. But Coleman had excelled in Seattle’s zone-based defense, and he wasn’t used to playing man as much as the Lions asked him to. The numbers played out as you might predict: Coleman allowed five touchdowns to just one interception in man and combo coverage last season,
Patricia, on the other hand, seems to have made the worst mistake a game-planner can possibly make: He’s subscribed to the idea that no matter what kinds of players he has on his roster, he’s going to run what he runs, and to heck with reality.”
In Farrar’s mind, the Lions still don’t have the right kind of personnel to be able to run the type of man defense that has become Patricia’s bread and butter during his time in the league. As he admits, the Lions do have Jeff Okudah on the roster perhaps coming to help aid in this, but the team still doesn’t have the types of players to run their scheme successfully. Worse, they don’t have the commitment of the coaching staff to switch things up when their stated plan doesn’t work.
Detroit’s had some tough injuries at cornerback to start the season which has prevented them from feeling completely comfortable, but if Patricia continues to struggle on defense and the year spirals out of control, it will be bad news for the former super genius coordinator turned head coach.
So far, Patricia’s plan to win in Detroit with man defense hasn’t turned out well whatsoever, and he hasn’t been able to adapt otherwise. That could prove bad news for his long term plans of sticking around if things don’t change.
Regardless of that, the players still are sticking with their boss early in what’s been a frustrating start to 2020.
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