Ask Kyle: Does Matt Patricia have the temperament of being a head coach?



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ALLEN PARK – Lions coach Matt Patricia has made a lot of news lately. And this is not necessarily for the right reasons.

Which has a lot of people asking for it's really done for the job.

We are presenting some of them in this week's mailbag, and much more. As always, I sincerely thank all those who have asked questions. I just could not reach them all, but we'll be back next week. Questions can be tweeted right here or emailed here.

All right, let's rock.

Q: Between the commentary of the "posture" and now this crazy essay of 891 words … how much should we worry about Patricia's temperament? – @ PaigeAngew22

A: Here's the thing about temperament in the NFL. If you win, you could become a human being and people will always eat you. Lose, you could be a love and people will always eat you alive. See: Caldwell, James.

Tony Dungy is in the Hall of Fame. Bill Belichick is headed there. And there might not be two more disparate coaching temperaments. You just have to win.

And the Lions are losing. So of course, people question Matt Patricia's temperament. I saw him with Caldwell too. He was always the same, same guy. When they won in 2014, people loved it. They called him disciplined. Then the schedule went to 2015 and the Lions started to lose. Caldwell remained the same guy with uniform skin every day, but suddenly, "disciplined" became disinterested and disconnected, and so on. People hated him.

Now that the losses are increasing again, people are wondering if Patricia has the temper to be a coach. Here's the thing: Of course, he has the temperament of being a coach. He made mistakes in his first year, of course, and even he would recognize it. But he certainly has the pedigree and the intelligence to do it too. And if he starts to win, people will buy. They will call it fiery. They will watch his media chastisement, and say that he is a kind of guy to take without scruple.

But if he continues to lose, people will think that he is above his head. And finally, it will be.

Q: Is it me or after listening to this speech prepared on the practice, this guy would have been a better university coach? I will listen and shut up. – Robert Arney

Q: Listen, I thought the tone and length of the statement was curious. It was not a great look. But I'm trying to understand Patricia's point of view too. He was beaten in the last two weeks and I do not even talk about what his football team did, which was very badly handled.

He must be frustrated. Then he moves his practice out for many legitimate reasons and is also mocked in the national media. (Not so much locally, and certainly not here at MLive.)

From this point of view, I can understand the statement.

According to him, there were medical reasons and football performance to practice in the snow. And after months of non-response frustrating everyone who was trying to understand this team, he went out and offered the most exhaustive explanation possible. So, although I may have some small criticisms about the statement, I understand where it comes from and I appreciate that Patricia apologizes so much for explaining.

Continuing to do more would help proponents understand what he was trying to do, instead of simply being frustrated by the growing losses and lack of explanation for them.

Q: Why do the media in Detroit make every coach we have miserable midway through the first year? – @j_borders

A: It's not the journalists who make Lions coaches unhappy. It's the loss. Look at Jim Caldwell. The man was a lover when he took the job in 2014 and won 11 games. Caldwell was so good with the media that there was an ongoing joke about "Storytime With Jim Caldwell". The poor interns who transcribed the press conferences that year were not paid enough.

But then the defeat began. Lions lost a lot in 2015 and a lot. They went 1-6, and canned a couple of assistants. Then they went to London, still lost big, and the general manager and the president were fired. And it was not long after Caldwell, now somewhat infamous, dubbed the beaten writers "Doom Keep".

He was never the same after that, even when Detroit was winning.

All that to say that winning is really the panacea of ​​the NFL. Earn and people love you no matter how weird or surly you are. Please see Exhibit A: Belichick, William Stephen.

But the Lions are losing. They lose a lot and a lot. I have not seen the situation deteriorate since the wheels were released in 2015. So, of course, Patricia is asking a lot of difficult questions, and that can be difficult for a freshman. He did not always manage well either. Slouchgate is the perfect example. He had long problems with this journalist that he could have solved at the microphone. But his frustrations grew and he let them go into a very public setting and was ridiculed nationwide for that.

Patricia does not hate us as much as he might think. He hates to lose and everything that goes with it. If they start to win, things will cool down, the locker rooms will come back to life, the tough issues will go away and all will be fine. Until they stop winning again.

Welcome to the circle of life in the NFL.

Q: Would the Lions have done better to hire Josh McDaniels? Thank you for taking my call, I will hang up and listen. – @RyanSchuiling

A: I do not know. But could they be worse?

[checks schedule] [sees games on deck against Carolina and Chicago and Los Angeles]

Q: Why did the GM tell us that 9-7 was not acceptable? – @gameofdabs

A: It's possible that Bob Quinn said this because he felt compelled to do so, even though he did not believe it. This is not the first time that somebody is lying to the NFL reporters. You are shocked, I am sure.

But I think Quinn meant what he said. I think Quinn thinks Detroit is underperforming under Jim Caldwell and could legitimately qualify for a division title with a different leadership. I know that he liked this alignment and I really know that he believed that Kerryon Johnson was going to bring the current game back to life. I do not think either that Quinn's franchises use Ezekiel Ansah, for example, he's only thinking about 2019, you know?

I just think the transition did not go as planned. There is talent on this list, but it just does not come. And the Golden Tate trade was a tacit acknowledgment that Quinn had come to understand that Detroit was not going to squat this year, even though Matt Patricia was trying to do it otherwise.

In my opinion, Quinn made a tactical mistake by selling this coaching change as a winning move. If he had said that Matt Patricia was coming and that the organization was moving towards dramatic changes and that it would take time, I think people would have understood even if they did not. did not like. But to say that Detroit could beat anyone this year, as Quinn did this summer, only served to raise a bar that Detroit was never going to meet.

Q: Do the Lions regret having paid all this money to Matthew Stafford and thus giving up any opportunity to strengthen the team in other positions? – @ RMC184

A: No, you need a quarterback to win in the NFL. You can not sign anyone better than Stafford freelance, and any preliminary choice will be a roll of the dice. Of course, you could end up with a Patrick Mahomes or Carson Wentz. But you could also end up with a Paxton Lynch or a Blake Bortles or an E.J. Manuel or a Jameis Winston or a Johnny Manziel or should I continue?

And these are just first-round picks.

Listen, is there a better way to form a team than having a great quarter on a rookie contract? No, there is none. It's the dream But building around a new draft pick at the quarterback is always, always, always a throw of the dice. And it's a bet that Detroit feels is not worth it with a guy like Matthew Stafford already present.

Was it good enough this year? No, he does not have it. But it is far from being the biggest problem either. You could have Patrick Mahomes or Aaron Rodgers or Jesus Christ himself, and if he takes 16 sacks in two games, you lose anyway.

Yes, Matthew Stafford has digested this year. But Detroit does not regret anything about this contract either. Not now anyway. And it's not like they're stuck in a cap either. Throw a few caps – T.J. Lang, Glover Quin, Martin Sam, Kenny Wiggins and Christian Jones are excellent opportunities for next year's log – and Detroit might have some $ 70 million. It's more than enough to scratch to work.

Q: Has the team abandoned since the Tate trade? – @ Fan6Mich

A: Coaches and players certainly do not have it. They are paid to play and play as well as possible, and doing something else could jeopardize their future. But obviously, Bob Quinn has conceded this season too. They were hardly in the race with their No. 1 receiver. Without him, it would be a pipe dream. And two weeks later, we clearly see how much Tate counted for this team.

Q: Why does not Matt Patricia stop saying "Jim Bob Cooter did a good job"? The possession? PR? Management? The offensive of the team is always putrid as a whole. – @MichiganTruth

A: The first season of Matt Patrcia did not go as planned, it is clear. But he's still the same guy he was in New England, where he was considered one of the best defensive minds in the game. Do you remember all those stories about him as a rocket scientist? Yes, he is still a rocket scientist.

Which means that it's not silly. He sees the same struggles we are doing in attack. In my opinion, he does not believe that kind of thing when he says it, and I think that Jim Bob Cooter will be downright in the thicket at the end of the season if things continue to deteriorate. Because it's obvious that he has not done a "good job", regardless of Patricia's reaction.

So, to answer your question, it's public relations. Patricia is just trying to answer a question in the most non-confrontational way possible. Some coaches like to call guys and put their feet in the fire. But if the last nine or 10 months are proof, it's not Patricia's style. So we end up with crazy quotes like this one.

Q: Will one of the newcomers (FA signatures over the past two weeks) see a significant time next week (either against the CAR or against the IS)? – @PatBerWA

A: With Golden Tate gone and Marvin Jones injured in the knee, the receiver has serious depth problems. To that end, keep an eye on Bruce Ellington. He has amassed eight catches for 92 yards and one touchdown in three games with Houston this year. That may seem little, but that's more than what TJ Jones (six catches, 61 yards) and Brandon Powell (a catcher, 6 yards) have combined for the entire season in Detroit. And Ellington also has a return experience.

Q: Have you noticed less interest from fans when the team succeeds badly? Fewer hits on articles, let Twitter react, etc. – @unsafeturtle

A: Yes. I am not supposed to go too far in the numbers, but in general, you see less interest and commitment when a team is nil. The big news, like the dismissal of a coach, will be well read. But people lose interest in the daily business of the team. In addition, cloakrooms tend to get darker, making the reports less interesting, which also leads to a drop in the number of readers.

I am always moved by people who think that journalists are the cause of bad things, because 1) we are not looking for anything but a good story, and maybe free food, and 2) even if we did it. we would like them to win. Because the winning teams are more convincing. The players open. Playoff games attract tons of national interest, which means more interest for our work. Journalists covering Super Bowl teams get great deals. I have never signed a contract to cover a fire in a dumpster.

I would always prefer to win the team I cover, because if they do not, people stop caring. And you can already see the beginnings of this malaise in this year. Cover this team long enough and you will feel it coming a mile away.

Q: While Pabst Blue Ribbon is about to disappear forever, Sunday's Lions game will make me drink the rest of my cans as a holiday or misery?

A:

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