Detroit Lions: Is Matt Patricia’s cone of silence really a benefit?

New Detroit Lions head coach Matt Patricia believes in the old adage that silence is golden, but will it really make a difference in the wins/losses column?

Detroit Lions general manager Bob Quinn made the decision after last season to move on from former head coach Jim Caldwell because he felt like this franchise was underachieving. He then reached out to and secured his old friend from New England Matt Patricia to take over the reigns.

So now the Lions future is resting completely on the backs of two former Patriots who believe in the cloak and dagger theory of giving out information on a need to know basis.

Consider this; Jim Caldwell was fairly tight-lipped when it came to talking to the press, but compared to Matt Patricia he could be considered a blabber-mouth.

Now, this isn’t to say that letting out only the information deemed necessary to the press is a problem. After all, the media has an issue with it only because they have columns to write and need material to fill their pages. Sort of like this article here.

But in the competitive NFL, it’s never a bad thing to allow your opponents to keep guessing about schemes, injuries and game plans.

In other words, all the things that the mainstream press and fans want to know about.

The competitive balance in the NFL is such that on any given Sunday any team can beat another. That is the basis of professional sports and athletes that have any sort of pride. It’s because of that very reality that coaches will look for any advantage they can find.

So as Matt Patricia develops the ‘Lion way’ of handling the press which is very similar to the ‘Patriot way’, one of the things we will all need to become used to is a clear lack of clarity on a number of subjects.