Lions: New coaching staff has parting shot for Matt Patricia
By John Buhler
The new Detroit Lions coaching staff threw Matt Patricia under the bus, unintentionally or not.
When new Detroit Lions head coach Dan Campbell and defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn looked at the tape of the roster they inherited, they were not fans of how poorly they were coached under Matt Patricia.
As Patricia has returned to Foxborough like the prodigal son of Bill Belichick he is, Campbell and Glenn are putting in the work and looking at the tape in the biggest jobs of their lives. Both longtime NFL players made their way to the Motor City after spending the last five years on Sean Payton’s New Orleans Saints coaching staff. The good news for Lions fans is this team has talent.
“When you look at the players, I think Dan said it, that the players looked confused, I think with no confidence,” said Glenn. “What we have to do is we have to do is change that narrative of their thinking so they can go out and play with confidence and play fast.”
“What we’re going to do as a staff, that’s our No. 1 job, get the players playing fast, get them confident and let those guys let it loose. We don’t need a lot of thinking out there. We just want the guys to understand, ‘What’s my job? Where my eyes got to be, coach? And what do I got do? And they’re going to go out there and play fast and play with confidence.”
Apparently, the Lions are not in as bad of shape as everybody thinks they are
While it remains to be seen if Campbell, Glenn and the rest of the new Lions staff can get the most out of the talent in place, their statement about the players playing slow and confused is a total indictment of the Patricia era in Motown. Before he arrived, this was a team that was a perennial playoff contender under former head coach Jim Caldwell. Patricia drove the thing into the ground.
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The Lions may not be a playoff team again next year, but they are not a beater of an automobile. With the right coaching and the right tune-ups, the Lions can get back to playing respectable football. Even with Patricia in charge, people were high on this bunch over the last few offseasons. The reason is simple in that they have talent. It is now a matter of Campbell’s staff to cultivate it.
Do not be shocked if the Lions overachieve relatively low expectations during the 2021 season.