Would the Patriots Hire Matt Patricia Back?
As surprises go, the Lions firing Matt Patricia doesn't exactly rank between "Finkel is Einhorn" and the attack on Pearl Harbor. Consider the records of Detroit's recent head coaches:
- Jim Schwartz, 2009-13: 29-51, .363. 0-1 in the postseason
- Jim Caldwell, 2014-17: 36-28, .563. 0-2 in the postseason
- Matt Patricia, 2018-today: 13-29-1, .314. No postseason appearances
And in his 2+ seasons, here are where his units ranked:
- Offense, yards: 24th, 17th, 22nd
- Offense points: 25th, 18th, 22nd
- Defense, yards: 10th, 31st, 27th
- Defense, points: 16th, 26th, 30th
Notwithstanding that in the past 10 years the team fired guys with much better records that Patricia's. He wasn't getting the Most Popular Boy in the Superlatives section of the Lions' high school yearbook either. I mean, he could've been gene-spliced together with the DNA of Dominik Hasek, Isaiah Thomas, Henry Ford and Robocop and no one in Detroit would support him with that track record. But Patricia was anything but popular there, right from the jump.
In the short time he was with the Lions Patricia:
Took heat from former players and local sports media for making players run laps after mental errors in practice.
Tore a reporter a new corn chute for having lousy posture at one of his press conferences.
Was criticized for holding a practice outdoors in the snow and responded with a 900-word explanation.
Was mocked by the Jets who said they knew all his plays. That after a game in which the cameras caught him at the end of his rope.
And more recently ripped by one of his own players for having "a Patriots attitude."
So his tenure in Detroit - which in all likelihood will be his one and only NFL head coaching job - was nothing if not consistent. And it's finally passed, in the way a kidney stone passes, only with more pain. Which begs the question, what happens to Matt Patricia now? Or to be more specific since I pretty much telegraphed this punch when I put it right in the headline, would Bill Belichick consider having him back in New England?
It's a complicated question. On the one hand, Patricia absolutely left on good terms. This wasn't a Fredo Mangini situation where he went against the Family to make a deal on his own and then betrayed the man who gave him everything. Patricia was given the Don's blessing to start his own family. He's stayed in Belichick's good graces, grabassing with them at Senior Bowl practices and socializing with them outside of work.
On the other hand, he's got a lot to answer for. Leave us not forget that the last time we saw Patricia on the Patriots sidelines, his defense was getting chainsawed by Nick Foles like he was a Jedi they were a detachment of Imperial Stormtroopers. That would be the same Nick Foles who's currently 29th in the league in passer rating. It's impossible not to remember that Patricia had no answer for the Eagles. Or that exactly a year later, Brian Flores kept the 11th highest scoring offense in history out of the red zone. Or that last season, without a coordinator and Jerod Mayo and Steve Belichick splitting the duties, they allowed the fewest points in the league by a wide margin. So there's a lot to consider.
One thing that is not worth considering when it comes to bringing him back is worrying about stepping on anyone's toes and bruising egos. There's a certain job security that comes with being raised by birth to be a defensive football coach like one would raise a veal calf. Especially when the guy who did the raising is the only one calling the shots. Roles get changed on Belichick's coaching staff every year without fail. Last year's safeties coach in next year's linebackers coach is calling plays next year, with or without the DC job title. No hard feelings.
My guess is that Patricia will come back in some capacity. Someone who was raised in this system and knows it forwards and backwards and can be another set of eyes trying to diagnose why they were utterly ineffective against the Texans and who has the boss' trust. In the way McDaniels was brought in to sidekick for Bill O'Brien back in 2011.
And by bringing Patricia back, you close the book on yet another one of Belichick's minions who was sent out into the world to destroy yet another NFL team from within. Time to come back from the field and return to HQ for debriefing. Mission accomplished. And now we wait for the next loser franchise to hire the next Patriots assistant and we do it all over again.