When Matt Patricia was hired to be the next head coach of the Detroit Lions, the thought was that the defense would end up being a strength. After all, Patricia was known as a defensive guru and he seemed to make the right moves time after time while he was the defensive coordinator for the New England Patriots.
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Well, through the first 14 games of the season, the Lions have one of the worst defenses in the NFL and somebody has to take the blame.
Patricia routinely takes responsibility for whatever is going wrong with the team but Lions ownership has already made the decision to bring him back for the 2020 season.
So, who is going to take the fall for the defense being so bad if it is not going to be Matt Patricia?
According to Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press, there could be significant changes to the Lions’ defensive staff in 2020.
Patricia is expected to make significant changes to his defensive coaching staff after the season, though he declined to discuss any possible moves on his teleconference Tuesday.
“I think there’s a time and place for that after the season that we’ll evaluate everything from that standpoint,” Patricia said. “But right now, I don’t really see that as part of the conversation. Right now, the conversation for me is really Denver.”
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The obvious choice to be the fall guy is Lions’ defensive coordinator Paul Pasqualoni, though Pasqualoni does not seem to be concerned one way or the other.
“We’ve got two one-week seasons to go, let’s focus on the first one,” he said. “That’s where my attention and my focus is. If my attention or focus is anywhere else, it’s on my family, my kids and my wife.”
Birkett added that the futures of the rest of the defensive staff are uncertain.
Defensive line coach Bo Davis, a long-time college assistant before coming to the NFL, is in charge of a unit that’s been one of the Lions’ biggest disappointments this year. Linebackers coach Al Golden, a holdover from Jim Caldwell’s staff, has gotten mixed results from his work with young linebackers Jarrad Davis and Jahlani Tavai. And defensive backs coach Brian Stewart, who worked with Patricia and Pasqualoni at Syracuse, got strong play out of his unit early in the season but has seen that fall off of late.
Nation, who do you think will be replaced?
— Quotes courtesy of Dave Birkett, Detroit Free Press — Link
