It’s been a whirlwind week for brand new Detroit Lions head coach Matt Patricia. He and the New England Patriots lost a heartbreaker to the Philadelphia Eagles in Super Bowl LII in Minnesota on Sunday. Three days later, he was in Allen Park being introduced as Detroit’s new boss.
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Of course, Patricia and the Patriots had the benefit of having arguably the best quarterback in NFL history in Tom Brady on their side. While Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford hasn’t reached that caliber, Patricia is excited to have him, and will be using his experience as a former defensive coordinator to help give Stafford an edge against opposing defenses.
“That’s something I’m really excited about,” Patricia told the Lions official website about having Stafford. “From a standpoint of being able to sit down and watch film and go through film and from my standpoint say, ‘Hey, let me show you what I see. Let me show you what defenses are looking at against you or let me show you this particular player defensively and look at this and try to broaden the way you look at it from that standpoint, too.’”
Though Stafford doesn’t have the accolades that Brady does, he had a strong season last year with 4,446 passing yards, good for third overall in the NFL. He was also fourth in touchdowns with 29, and completed 65.7 percent of his passes with just 10 interceptions.
A strong presence at quarterback is an automatic advantage for a new coach coming into a new situation, especially one who’s used to seeing greatness at the position.
“I’m obviously thrilled to have that piece,” Patricia continued. “I’m very blessed to have that in place. I think from that standpoint it’s a great situation to walk into.”
However, Patricia affirmed that the although the quarterback typically gets the most attention, the Lions aren’t just a one player team, and that it’s his job to improve the entire squad as a whole in order for overall success.
“We’re going to coach the whole team and it’s going to have to be the team that wins it,” he said. “It’s not going to be just one guy. All the pieces are going to have to fit together and it might fit a little differently than it has in the past because what we’re going to try to do is build some long-standing success, hopefully, and not kind of the flash in the pan.”
