When Matt Patricia was hired by the Detriot Lions, the hope was he would wave his magic wand over the defense and the Lions would make a run in the playoffs.
Well, the early returns are in and after nine games, Patricia has led his new team to a 3-6 record and any hopes of making the playoffs this season have pretty much gone down the drain.
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On Friday morning, ESPN released their “Report cards for new NFL coaches,” and they put the new coaches into three categories: Exceeds Expectations, Meets Expectations, and Below Expectations.
Of the seven new head coaches in the NFL this season, only Matt Nagy (Chicago Bears) and Frank Reich (Indianapolis Colts) have managed to “exceed expectations” up to this point, while only Mike Vrabel (Tennessee Titans) “meets expectations.”
Included on the “below expectations” list is Lions head coach Matt Patricia. Here is what Michael Rothstein of ESPN has to say about Patricia’s performance through his first nine games.
Biggest sign of progress: The Lions have found a potential star in second-round pick Kerryon Johnson, a running back who is giving Detroit a ground presence for the first time since 2013. Johnson has shown patience and enough burst to break big gains. As long as he stays healthy, he looks like the running back of the future with Detroit — and having a coach who wants to emphasize the run game is a sign of progress from what was here before.
What he needs to do better: There’s a reasonable amount here, which should be expected when a coach is under .500 after taking over a team that was over .500 the past two seasons. Consistency has been a major issue for the Lions in every facet of the game, and that starts with coaching, something Patricia wholly admits. There have been too many games this season in which the Lions’ play has been sloppy at best and they haven’t looked ready to compete from the start. Teams have also been taking advantage of Detroit coming out of halftime. Opponents are outscoring the Lions 88-29 in third quarters, and that’s on making adjustments.
What would signify second-half success: The obvious answer is to win. The Lions fired Jim Caldwell for not making the playoffs, so anything other than an unlikely playoff berth would be considered an unsuccessful first season for Patricia. Barring that, getting a jump in the second half of the season on what Patricia wants Detroit to be in future seasons would be smart. Whether that’s working in younger players such as safety Tracy Walker, offensive lineman Tyrell Crosby or receiver Brandon Powell to see what they have or testing guys on the last years of their contracts to get a strong in-season evaluation, Patricia needs to build for the future. This shouldn’t happen until Detroit is out of the playoff picture, but if the Lions are eliminated with a few games to go, this should be the plan.
Nation, do you agree with Rothstein’s assessment of Patricia?
