For three years in Detroit, Matt Patricia has stressed the 'fundamentals.' And for three years in Detroit, he's coached the fundamentals. So why aren't the Lions fundamentally sound?
As he prepares for the 37th game of his tenure, why is Patricia still talking about slowing things down to eventually speed them up?
"There’s certainly some things that we saw that we need to improve on," Patricia said Wednesday after assessing his team during the bye. "For the most part, I would say just trying to do a little bit less overall would be good to try to get our guys to be able to play faster on the field. That’s certainly something I think we can do, and then build as we go forward."
That answer would have played in 2018. It might have played in 2019. But it doesn't play now, not after Patricia has spent two years and eight months digging deeper into the earth for a foundation he hasn't laid. Not after he and Bob Quinn have hired so many hands for such heavier work.
Not after the Lions' 1-3 start in which they've continued to look either out of place or out of their league in the schemes Patricia has been installing since he arrived.
Pressed on the issue Thursday, Patricia said there are "things to dial back on" so that his players can spend less time "trying to process" what's happening in front of them. In other words, the Lions still aren't speaking their coach's language.
"I would say it’s probably across the board, maybe some things fundamentally that we were trying to do that we’re just not ready for that I think we just have to backtrack a little bit and do some other things well first, before we build on top of that," Patricia said. "Some of that is scheme, some of it’s communication."
Those are the words of a first-year coach. Tear down to build up. Move backward to leap forward. A third-year coach should have his team leaping by now -- like Mike Vrabel in Tennessee. Or Matt Nagy in Chicago, or Frank Reich in Indianapolis, or even Jon Gruden in Las Vegas, each of whom took over their respective teams the same year Patricia took over the Lions. The four of them are 14-5 this season.
The other two head coaches who started in 2018 have already been fired. Steve Wilks lasted one season with the Cardinals after going 3-13, Pat Shurmer lasted two seasons with the Giants after going 9-23. Patricia is 10-25-1, 1-11 dating back to last season, and still trying to 'build on' something that just isn't there.
The pandemic-shortened offseason obviously didn't help Patricia's cause this year. He acknowledged as much on Thursday: "Yeah, I mean, I can’t say that there’s not something involved there."
Credit the coach for adding this: "But I think the pandemic has affected everything, so maybe we just have to do a better job. Like I say, better coaching there for me and just trying to see some of that stuff ahead of time."
Yep, everything. As in every player, every coach, every team. So if the Lions are having trouble kicking things into gear, their opponents should be, too. Sure hasn't look that way. Plus, wasn't Detroit supposed to be getting a leg up on the competition by dedicating its virtual offseason program to teaching? To "getting the information out there" to the players?
"I think there’s probably a little bit of an edge that some teams will be able to get here this spring, based on the makeup of the team," Patricia said back in May. "We’re going to try to get as much of that edge as possible."
The Lions found that edge, or so it looked, for the first three quarters of Week 1. They've apparently lost it since. That goes for the offense, which hasn't looked anything like the explosive unit it was last season, and it certainly goes for the defense, which looks exactly like the same porous unit it's been.
One of the worst feelings as a coach, Patricia said Thursday, is "when you’re sitting there in a game and you’re like, ‘Man, I wish we had this,’ or, ‘I wish we had been able to get this in.’ As a coach, you’re just trying to do everything you can to help the players be successful on the field.
"Certainly you feel helpless when you can’t do that or get things (going) in a good direction."
Too often, Patricia has shown us what this looks like: shoulders slumped, lips pursed, eyes on the scoreboard, wondering where it all went wrong. We saw it in his first game, and we saw it in his most recent one. He just sort of ... submits to the situation: second half, big hole, not enough time. And then those regrets start running through his head, if only, if only.
If there's a lifeline for Patricia -- and Quinn -- it's the schedule ahead. The Lions have a slate of winnable games between now and Thanksgiving, starting Sunday against the Jags. Maybe the fundamentals and the schemes and the communication will finally fall into place. Bad teams have a way of making their opponents look good. And sometimes their opponents just are who they are.