Detroit Lions: Will Matt Patricia’s preseason pattern continue on Saturday?
By Robert Jones
The Detroit Lions are in Houston this week for joint practices with the Texans. Will the preseason pattern that follows inter-squad scrimmages continue?
The Detroit Lions 2019 ‘training camp of a new era’ has resumed in Houston, Texas this week as Matt Patricia’s team is participating in their second consecutive week of joint practices. This time with the Texans.
After a disappointing opening act last year, Patricia is expecting bigger and better things this year. And quite frankly for good reason.
We all know how Matt Patricia’s philosophy and scheme didn’t mesh with the group of players he inherited. That isn’t a new tale. It’s something that has happened frequently in the NFL. Back in the 1960s, 70s and even 80s all a coach asked for was good players and they believed they could make things work.
But over the last couple of decades, the game has become much more specialized. And while there have always been talented players that failed in certain roles, the overall philosophy was that good players can fit into any coaches scheme. If they were talented and failed, it was the players’ fault.
Yet it became almost a mantra that players who succeeded with their second or third team just needed ‘a change of scenery’. But it’s been many decades since every team basically ran the same offense and defense. There have been actual ‘system’s’ for quite some time.
So while we have all been well informed about how Patricia needed a certain type of player to run his system, it’s kind of something that has been happening for a long time. It’s just the closest we ever came to hearing how a player didn’t match a teams system was by the organization saying, after parting ways the player in question, that it ‘wasn’t a good fit’.
A lot of players didn’t ‘fit’ Matt Patricia’s system last year, but after a busy offseason, they can’t say that anymore. This year’s Lions have more talent that ‘fits’ Patricia’s scheme and overall depth. Even if the roster still has work to be done.