If you have been watching football for as long as I have, you have seen it a million times.
You know, when a team establishes what looks to be an insurmountable lead but then gets conservative on both sides of the ball, essentially playing the clock rather than playing their opponent, who just so happens to be trying to come back and win the game.
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On Sunday, many believe that is exactly what happened to the Detroit Lions as they tried to hold on to a 24-6 fourth-quarter lead over the Arizona Cardinals.
Though I agree with many of the so-called “experts” to an extent, I don’t believe the Lions went to a “prevent defense” like I heard one person say on a local blog’s podcast this morning.
The problem was simple, the defense got tired because they were on the field way too much in the final quarter, period.
On Monday, Lions head coach Matt Patricia was asked about his defensive approach in the fourth quarter and he fired back at the critics.
“We definitely didn’t back off from a standpoint of play calls or anything like that,” Patricia said to the media. “Not at all. We know how dangerous Murray is. He’s obviously a great player. He was a great college player and he finished off the game really well last night.”
Nation, you watched the game, do you agree with what Patricia is saying or would you have rather seen something different in terms of a defensive approach?
