Is the Detroit Lions poor preseason play legitimate cause for concern?

To Matt Patricia’s credit, he has been willing to take the blame for these two bad outings, but the truth is that it’s not all his fault.

When Ricky Jean-Francois was interviewed by the press after the Giants debacle, he made the very astute observation that nothing the coaches do will matter if the players don’t start playing the way they are being taught to play.

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When we consider that what Matt Patricia taught to his players in New England is pretty much the same as what he is teaching his current Lions, then the problem cannot be all Patricia’s fault.

The players still have to learn their responsibilities and execute them.

In New England, it was easier for Patricia because the Bill Belichick model for how they play defense was already in place by the time he ascended to the role of defensive coordinator, yet player after player from that organization have given Matt Patricia the credit for making them the players they became.

Plain and simple that’s a contradiction.

So is it time to fire up the way-back machine and start Dandy Don Meredith singing the melodious tune of ‘turn out the lights the party’s over’ the way he used to on Monday night football back in the 1970’s and early 80’s when the outcome seemed to no longer be in doubt?

Or are we willing to get down off the ledge and consider that a new head coach and system do take time to get the bugs worked out?

The Lions offensive and defensive lines are more talented than they have played like. While the defensive line isn’t deep, it does still have some good players to throw at opponents. The offensive line is better just from the addition of Frank Ragnow alone who has played well and continued to have steady improvement.

The Lions have still not game planned for an opponent yet although one gets the impression that both the Raiders and Giants used their joint practices as an opportunity to do some rudimentary game planning for Detroit.

The truth is that Matt Patricia is right that the vast majority of their errors are correctable. While it is on the coaching staff to teach these players the proper techniques to do their job correctly, the players still have to do it on the field.

The offensive line needs to play up to their capabilities in order to allow their skill players to maximize their talents. Meanwhile the defense simply has to be disciplined and execute the fundamentals of Patricia’s system to give the Lions any chance of being competitive.

Next week when the Lions visit Tampa Bay to battle the Buccaneers, they will have done some game planning in theory and hopefully, they will finally start to display some of the lessons they are being taught by their coaches. Even though they will still run a ‘vanilla’ offense and defense.

In the end, it also wouldn’t hurt the psyche of the Motor City fans if the Lions looked good and actually won, even if the final score doesn’t really matter.