Detroit Lions: Matt Patricia’s success depends on this offseason
By Robert Jones
So how does Matt Patricia win over his locker room and give himself a chance to succeed? This is the great question he has to answer in order to turn the Lions into winners and lead this franchise out of the doldrums of 60 years of futility.
The criticism of Patricia bringing in former Patriots can be considered valid in some ways. After all, you can’t bring the success of New England to Detroit just by signing players they deem expendable because they are too expensive for the ‘Patriot way’.
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But Patricia’s success, especially now, depends not only on improving the talent level on the roster, but players buying into his system. All the former Patriots he has brought here serve more purpose than just being pieces of the puzzle on the field.
Because for the foreseeable near future Patricia’s chances to turn around the Lions hinges on these moves. These players with New England ties are necessary in the attempt to change the locker room culture.
These players that believe in Matt Patricia and will have his back in the locker room are cornerstones to turning the tide of this roster. Since you can’t transplant the Patriots success, Patricia needs players that are buying into what he’s selling and will continue to sell it to their teammates.
If the locker room culture can become one of believing in Patricia, it will translate to their performance on the field. It’s at that point that building a winner is possible.
Then if the Lions can actually become contenders, the success will breed itself and there will be no more need to continually bring in players that can set the tone in the locker room because it will already be set. Success breeds success.
I get how some people think that what the Lions are doing is just some copycat attempt at becoming the ‘Patriots Midwest’, but the truth of the matter is that while many of Matt Patricia’s core beliefs of winning go hand-in-hand with what Belichick preaches, they are philosophies that have been around the NFL for decades before Belichick ever got to New England.
So while Matt Patricia may believe in many of the same things as his former employers, he is doing things his way. He just happens to need more help from his roster. Not only in the form of raising the talent level but players buying into him.
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There are no guarantees in life, but along with building a talented roster, Matt Patricia learning from his mistakes and having the locker room culture in his favor may be his only chance to succeed.