Matt Patricia called out for 'amateurish' coaching tactics - 'in danger of losing his players'
Bill Belichick certainly has his own way of doing things. He may be a curmudgeon, but “the Hoodie” has won five Super Bowls.
Matt Patricia spent 13 years with Belichick and the Patriots.
But to paraphrase former vice presidential candidate Lloyd Bentsen (sort of), “We’ve seen Bill Belichick, and you, Matt Patricia, are no Bill Belichick.”
Patricia is a rookie head coach, taking over the Detroit Lions this offseason.
According to the Detroit Free Press, Patricia likes to have his players run.
A lot.
The Lions run when they make a mistake. They run when there’s a lack of effort. And they run every day at the end of practice.
Free Press writer Carlos Monarrez believes Patricia is “in danger of losing his players.”
“The Detroit Lions’ rookie coach wants things done his way,” Monarrez wrote Friday. “And his way means running as punishment. Lots and lots of running. That’s not likely to endear him to his players, many of who whom are experienced professionals who don’t need or care to be treated like junior varsity tryout players.”
He added, “Patricia’s tactic smacked of amateurism and even though it was generally downplayed as an innocuous slap on the wrist, I can guarantee you most players don’t care for it.”
Naturally, the coach disagrees.
“I mean, it’s just practice,” Patricia told the Free Press. “I’m not really sure what was done before, but we’re just trying to practice.”
This wasn’t how former coach Jim Caldwell did things.
Veteran cornerback Darius Slay put it simply: “They’re two different people.”
It’s clear that Patricia has a shorter leash on his players than his predecessor.
“It’s all part of the just discipline and doing the right thing,” fullback Nick Bellore said. “We can’t have penalties and we can’t make mistakes. That’s how you get beat, so we’re trying to avoid that stuff.”
Where Caldwell was quiet and reserved, Patricia, it seems, has a bit more fire — at least outwardly.
“Everybody got the same goal as a coach, just to win,” Slay said. “So they ain’t too much different, they just know how you approach the game. They might just coach different, but everything else that’s it.”
Patricia certainly hasn’t accomplished what his former boss did, but we should note that even though Senator Bentsen got in a great one-liner in a debate, Dan Quayle and George Bush ended up winning the 1988 election.
Maybe Patricia knows what he’s doing after all.
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