As expected, the Lions made it official on Monday in announcing Matt Patricia will be their next head coach. Now that the 2017 season is over, the two teams who waited for the Patriots’ season to end are free to announce agreements.
This hire has been expected for more than three weeks, and the longtime New England DC can begin to fully assemble his first Detroit staff.
“When we launched the search for our next head coach, I wanted to find a leader that could take us to the next level and I am confident we have found that in Matt Patricia,” Lions GM Bob Quinn said. “He has been preparing for this opportunity his entire career, and he’s ready for the responsibility and its challenges.
“Matt is driven to succeed, has extreme passion for the game and excels in preparation. He embodies the same hard-working, blue-collar attributes that represent our organization and the great City of Detroit.”
Patricia served as Patriots DC for six seasons but spent 14 years with the franchise, going straight from being a Syracuse graduate assistant to working on Bill Belichick‘s staff. The 43-year-old Patricia is coming off his first Super Bowl defeat as Pats DC, but he served on staff for six of the eight Super Bowls in the Belichick era.
The Lions are expected to retain OC Jim Bob Cooter and are not certain to hire a defensive coordinator, with Patricia expected to run that unit. They will have an entirely new defensive staff regardless.
I’m the fence with this hire but I hope he personally does well not just for himself because he deserves but I’d love to see the Lions finally get over the hump. I’ve watched that team come a long way but they seems stuck at the point they are. They need a true great RB so Stafford doesn’t always have the game on his shoulders.
they have the QB now and not the RB, when for years they had the RB but not the QB. I would like to see them win it all, if only for Barry Sanders
A pass Rush could also help!
Key DE free agent and some help for him need to happen for success in 2018
Guice.
I feel like he should’ve waited till after the Pats season ended to begin interviewing etc. I think him knowing he was gone after the game had an adverse effect on the defense last night. That and their bonehead plan to bench one of their best backs. Good luck Detroit
Lol, no it didnt
Yeah and Malcom Butler was “ill”.
I really hope that he does hire a DC. Not that he can’t do it but a first time head coach doesn’t need to spread himself thing right from the start. I’ve seen Van Gundy do this and the team suffers.
I still say he looks like that hobo caddy in Happy Gilmore.
I’ve never seen someone comment so much and contribute so little. Everything you say is so pointless, dumb and/or flat out wrong.
Someone needs to shut off the electricity in your moms basement so you don’t have access anymore.
Hope he has better luck with the Lions Defense then he did the Pats Defense!
This dude is waaaay over rated. Another example of the Belichick effect. NE had a horrible defense this year, was very apparent in the SB. As the DC, he should be on the hot seat, not getting a HC opportunity. If he was the Bengals DC, with the same defensive metrics, he’d be fired and desperately looking for LB coach somewhere.
Horrible defense lol your whole statement is garbage. They let up less than 17 points for like 8 straight weeks. The defense played well for most of the year. Not to mention he’s been DC for several years and coached up some solid defenses. You can’t look at one game and say he’d be begging for LB coach jobs lmao
Patricia will be a bust and be back on defensive coordinator roll in 3 years
You would think all of the years with the Patriots, especially with Robert Kraft (Gillette) as owner, we would have been given a Gillette razor to shave with. Would have made a great commercial.