Lions are accumulating ex-Patriots, will learn to stand Matt Patricia
In Matt Patricia’s first season with the Detroit Lions, he reinforced the perception that Bill Belichick’s coaching tree is only a shrub. He was 6-10 and alienated players with his rigorous practices.
Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk summarized it: “The Detroit Lions get no respect, no love, with Matt Patricia trying to instill the Patriot Way, getting resistance from his team, from the media, from anybody who’s used to the Lions not being very good. It’s been 28 years since they’ve won a playoff game.”
But perhaps last season was not a waste. Those were growing pains, essential for establishing a winning culture where there hasn’t been one since Barry Sanders was running sweeps.
The bearded and burly Patricia did have his moments. He beat his former team, the New England Patriots. And he showed his own toughness when he called for outdoor practice in the snow and wore shorts while he stoically directed his unhappy players.
He instituted a serious running game. The Lions might have made the playoffs if rookie Kerryon Johnson (641 yards, 5.4 per carry) hadn’t missed the last six games with a knee injury and if quarterback Matthew Stafford hadn’t suffered throughout the season with fractured vertebrae and other injuries that would have put most quarterbacks on the sideline.
Say this for the Lions: they’re no longer pussycats. The midseason addition of Damon (“Snacks”) Harrison made their defense strong in the middle.
And in the offseason, general manager Bob Quinn acquired three ex-Pats — Pro Bowl defensive end Trey Flowers, slot corner Justin Coleman and slot receiver Danny Amendola — to continue amping up the intensity. Patricia is surrounding himself with his type of self-sacrificing no-nonsense athletes.
When the Green Bay Packers recently waived Mike Daniels, calculating he was not worth $8.5 million, the 30-year-old former Pro Bowl defensive tackle had options. “Thirteen teams called me,” he said, “but I wanted to play for Matt Patricia. He’s a genius.”
Florio said, “Mike Daniels chose the Lions because of what Matt Patricia is bringing to that team. This could be the year it begins to pop. Remember, it was Bill Belichick’s second year in New England when they were 5-5 and late in the year it did pop — all the way to the Super Bowl. I’m not saying that’s going to happen for the Lions, but I think they’re going to be better than most people realize. They’re going to be a factor in the NFC North.”
Florio’s sidekick on PFT, Chris Simms, agreed. “It feels like they’re off the radar for most football fans. Nobody thinks they’re a threat. But I think they’re going to be relevant in December. Matt Patricia has changed the culture. The question is: Can Matt Stafford adapt to that new culture?”
Can Stafford be the team leader that satisfies a coach who spent 14 years with Tom Brady? Can anybody be that?
Stafford is fearless on the field – hasn’t missed a start in seven years. But he’s never been praised for locker-room leadership. He’s not one for making speeches and rallying troops.
It’s possible, however, that the 31-year-old quarterback may blossom for a reason that has nothing directly to do with football. He’s dealing with a personal tragedy, his wife Kelly recently undergoing surgery to remove a cancerous tumor from her brain. You might expect that sort of distraction would impede her husband’s performance on the field.
But not necessarily. Sometimes elite athletes take everything for granted until a crisis occurs in their private lives. Sometimes this has a galvanizing effect, not just on the athlete but on the team around him.
This happened, for example, in the case of Martin Truex Jr., a journeyman NASCAR driver whose long-time girlfriend, Sherry Pollex, underwent surgeries and treatment for stage 3 cervical cancer. “It lit a fire under him,” Truex’s teammates said.
The life-threatening illness of his fiancée took pressure off Truex. Winning races no longer seemed so critical, so he became more poised. He won the NASCAR championship in 2017.
Like Pollex, Kelly Stafford is doing well in her recovery. Don’t be surprised if the newly ferocious Lions rally around her remarkably talented but oddly underachieving husband.
Quinn and Patricia are doing their part by adding support for Stafford. A key addition this year is first-round draft pick T.J. Hockenson, tight end from Iowa who, according to Justin Rogers of The Detroit News, “is exceeding the high expectations as a pass catcher, showing outstanding hands and body control. He’s owned the back corner of the end zone.”
Ty Johnson, sixth-round draft pick out of Maryland, has been a revelation. His trackman speed is so impressive in camp that the team cut their capable 28-year-old third-down back, Theo Riddick.
Meanwhile, Patricia tries to overcome the problem that bedevils all Belichick disciples: they think his hard-edged personality will work for them. It usually doesn’t. Belichick wins not because he’s often a jerk but because he brilliantly schemes and develops skills that other coaches miss. Patricia may indeed have that sort of genius. At 44, he’s a young coach who will learn from his mistakes. Don’t sleep on the Lions.
