Brad Holmes is moving the Detroit Lions into the fast lane
By Robert Jones
The Lions need athletes to excel in today’s game
The Lions’ previous regime of general manager Bob Quinn and head coach Matt Patricia were also sort of throwbacks themselves. Despite Patricia literally being a rocket scientist, he was preoccupied with finding players that fit the mold of those early days of the game rather than finding athletes that could excel in today’s game.
Matt Patricia was a disciple of Bill Belichick, whose New England Patriots dominated the NFL for 20 years before their divorce with Tom Brady caused them to sink to the lowly depths of watching other teams, like Tom Brady’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers, participate in the postseason last year.
One of Patricia’s biggest philosophy staples he brought with him from Beantown was his beloved defensive system. It employs over-sized defensive linemen backed up by over-sized linebackers to play smart, control the line of scrimmage, and allow the secondary to capitalize on mistakes.
It was also Patricia’s belief that it didn’t matter who was on the field, his defense would work as long as those players had some previous experience with the Patriots.
We all know the end results. The inability to control the line of scrimmage or pressure opposing passers opened up the secondary to be strafed by enemy passers.
Offensively, Darrell Bevell had the Lions a little more up-to-date. While they did attempt to run the ball, with mixed results, allowing Matthew Stafford to bomb opposing defense with passes to Marvin Jones and Kenny Golladay created fear in opponents.
Now as we start a new era, Matthew Stafford has been traded to the Rams and both Jones and Golladay have left in free agency. It is a shift towards rebuilding the roster which did need to be done, but it does create questions as well.
While the backgrounds of Campbell and Holmes would suggest more aggressive defense given their past experience with the Rams and Saints, we should also not ignore the fact it seems like Brad Holmes wants to continue detonating opposing secondaries.