Getty Matt Patricia during a Lions game on the sidelines.
The Detroit Lions shook up their team and staff recently, and a consequence of that move could be the team being freed up to make some different moves on the field.
After the dismissal of Matt Patricia, curiously, some things have come out which point to a culture in crisis due to the leadership of the old coach. Darrell Bevell all but admitted the team hasn’t been having any fun, and now, there’s been an interesting admission about the team’s defense.
Speaking this past week, Romeo Okwara admitted that he thinks Cory Undlin will be able to successfully implement some things he’s had success with while at other stops in Detroit.
Romeo Okwara said there will definitely be some changes on defense as Cory Undlin puts some of the things he’s had success with in the past into this defense.
The question begs why Patricia didn’t allow Undlin to institute some of those things in the first place coming into the season. It points to a culture where the head coach was a control freak that only let his things be done his way. Patricia failed in many ways as a coach, but if he was considering himself as the only person with ideas on defense in the building, it might be the biggest reason his team never reached their potential and seemed to perpetually struggle.
Undlin was supposed to come to the team as a breath of fresh air this offseason, but the Lions have only made the same mistakes on defense most of the season. That might end up being more Patricia’s fault in the end, especially if the defense finds a way to play better under Undlin with some simple changes he can make down the stretch.
Either way, it appears as if the Lions waited until Patricia was gone to be able to implement some of Undlin’s potentially good ideas. It could be too little, too late in order to benefit from them at this point in time.
Lions Defense Struggling Statistically This Season
This season, Detroit’s defense has been plagued with inconsistency in every single way on the field, no matter who the opponent might end up being. Their pass rush has struggled constantly, and the team has been up and down on the back end while battling injuries. Detroit also hasn’t forced enough turnovers and is generally unable to get off the field against good teams and good offenses. As a whole, the Lions place 29th in the NFL in total defense through Week 13 this season. They continue to give up points and constantly look underprepared, which has been bad news for Undlin and his group most of the year.
Patricia’s defenses were never good in his tenure in Detroit, making his status as a defensive guru fraudulent. The fact that he didn’t seem willing to take advice from his assistants only serves to make that worse in the end
Cory Undlin’s Experience Earned Him More Respect
Undlin has been the defensive coordinator this whole season, but with this admission, it’s tough to know just how much of an imprint if any he’s made on the group which is very disappointing. Undlin broke into the league in 2004 with the New England Patriots as a coaching assistant, which is likely how he got to know Matt Patricia and the other members of the staff. He joined the Cleveland Browns as an assistant coach from 2005-2008, coaching in a few roles there including assistant special teams coordinator and defensive backs coach.
From there, Undlin spent time with the Jacksonville Jaguars from 2009-2011 as a defensive assistant and a defensive backs coach. He moved on to the Denver Broncos as a defensive quality control coach and defensive backs coach until 2014. After that, he joined the Philadelphia Eagles as defensive backs coach, a post he held through the end of 2019.
It’s more than possible that Undlin came to the Lions with some good ideas, but never got to show them completely. The experience he has in the league should have earned him he right to have a bigger say from the first day he stepped foot in the Detroit facility.
Over the final five games of the season, Undlin might get his shot to really show what kind of a defensive coordinator he can be. That could be good news for his career moving forward.
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