The Lions suffered a bad loss to the now 2-9 Redskins on Sunday, which has led to a great deal of speculation as to the future of the organization’s leaders. Here’s the latest from the Motor City:
- Jason La Canfora of CBS Sports suggested that “there could be some changes afoot” if the Lions do not have a strong performance against the division-rival Bears on Thanksgiving (Twitter link via Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press). La Canfora made those remarks during the CBS Postgame Show and did not elaborate, but it seems that a shakeup to head coach Matt Patricia‘s staff could be in the cards, even if Patricia himself is safe at least until the end of the 2019 season.
- Speaking of Patricia, the second-year HC was oddly evasive when asked who was calling the defensive plays against the Redskins, as Birkett writes in a full-length piece. It appeared that Patricia was calling the plays, and though he gave defensive coordinator Paul Pasqualoni a vote of confidence as a play-caller last month, the head coach himself appears to have taken the reins and is simply trying to refrain from confirming that publicly. In any event, the defense — which has Patricia’s fingerprints all over it — ranks near the bottom of the league in most major categories, and that’s not a good omen for Patricia’s future.
- The club may not fire the former Patriots DC during the season, as his players still seem to play hard for him and the roster has been hit hard by injury, but as Michael Rothstein of ESPN.com writes, Lions ownership has to consider all options this offseason. The team could fire Patricia, GM Bob Quinn, or both, as neither man has done much to inspire confidence that they are the right people to lead the Lions on a long-term basis.
- Speculatively, given Pasqualoni’s apparently diminished role, the changes that La Canfora references above could mean that Pasqualoni is shown the door if the Lions fail to perform well against Chicago.
- Though the Lions’ playoff hopes are long gone, QB Matthew Stafford still wants to return to the field this year.
Everyone wants a Pats coordinator thinking they will become New England. Takes a lot more than that fellas.
You don’t need the Patriots coordinators, you just need their inept divisional opponents (although the Bills finally appear to be respectable).
Stafford shouldn’t take another snap this season. Just get healthy and be ready for 2020. Lots of holes to fill on the roster: OL, All defense, special teams is abysmal, the return man dropped the kickoff picked it up and returned it 91-yards for TD.
I want to know what the g-d pencil is for.
What’s Patricia going to do, write on his ipad??
Or maybe he has a notebook hidden under one of his fat rolls…
It could come in handy when he has to fill out his next job application.