Post by D6 on Nov 27, 2020 1:36:44 GMT -5
Thoughts in ****
Observations: Matt Patricia’s firing could be imminent after another lopsided loss on Thanksgiving
Observations: Matt Patricia’s firing could be imminent after another lopsided loss on Thanksgiving
Updated Nov 26, 2020; Posted Nov 26, 2020
NFL football: Detroit Lions vs. Houston Texans – November 26, 2020
By Kyle Meinke | kmeinke@mlive.com
DETROIT -- Romeo Crennel said it best.
“There are two types of coaches,” the Texans’ interim head coach said during a chat this week. “Coaches who have been fired, and coaches who are going to be fired.”
And now that the Texans have handed the Lions their fourth double-digit loss in five weeks, this one by a 41-25 measure on Thanksgiving at Ford Field, it’s clearer than ever that Matt Patricia is going to be fired. Perhaps as soon as Friday, perhaps as late as Jan. 4.
But based on what the Fords have said, it is over for Matt Patricia in Detroit.
Patricia was brought back for a third season with a clear mandate to play meaningful games in December and compete for the playoffs. But since climbing back to .500 with wins against Jacksonville and Atlanta, the Lions have been blown out by Indianapolis, blown out by Minnesota, needed a 59-yard buzzer-beater to survive blowing a 21-point lead against Washington, then got shut out by the Panthers (who had lost five straight) and were nuked by a Texans team that’s been so bad they already canned their coach and general manager.
With that, the Lions are 4-7, buried in last place heading into December for the third straight year, and all-but-mathematically eliminated from the postseason race. Based on the mandate, Patricia’s firing seems imminent, and the only uncertainty is the timing. The Fords have not fired a coach in-season since William Clay Ford dismissed Steve Mariucci following a Thanksgiving loss to Atlanta in 2005.
They were 4-7 at that time.
They are 4-7 at this time.
They actually started quickly against Houston too, using a 51-yard reverse flea-flicker to T.J. Hockenson on their fifth play from scrimmage to set up Adrian Peterson for a 1-yard touchdown run. That gave them their first points since Matt Prater’s game-winner two weeks ago against Washington, and a 7-0 lead.
But then everything started falling apart, as it so often has throughout the Patricia era.
Matthew Stafford threw a pick-six right into the big mitts of J.J. Watt, the former Central Michigan tight end. Very next play, the Lions gave Jonathan Williams his first career carry in Detroit -- and he turned that over too, this time on a fumble. Houston turned that into seven more points, and suddenly a 7-0 lead had tipped into a 13-7 deficit.
Then Kerryon Johnson fumbled too, making it three giveaways in 12 plays.
That’s the first time the Lions have turned over the football on three straight series since 2012. And they did it against the worst team in the league at taking away the football.
From there, the rout was on. Houston scored on seven of its next eight series, and it was too easy. Duke Johnson ran a fly to the pylon from 33 yards. Will Fuller ran a fly to the pylon from 40 yards. Then Fuller did it again from 34 yards, stretching the Texans’ scoring run to 41-10.
That’s a 41-10 run from a three-win that already sent its coach and general manager packing.
After getting shut out last week against a Carolina team that had lost five straight.
After needing a personal foul from Chase Young and team-record field goal from Matt Prater at the buzzer to survive choking away a 21-point lead against Washington.
After getting blasted by Minnesota.
After getting blasted by Indianapolis.
The Fords wanted competitive games in December, a very low bar for a coach hired to win championships three years ago. Instead, they got another last-place team. Matt Patricia -- now 13-29-1 in Detroit -- has never spent a December day anywhere but the cellar in Detroit. Now it’s possible he won’t see another December day at all.
**** As necessary as it is for the Lions to move on from Matt Patricia, the # 1 priority for this franchise needs to be moving on from Bob Quinn. He is the one who fired Jim Caldwell, despite a 9-7 record in 2017, 3 out of 4 winning seasons as Lions HC, and 2 playoff appearances. On top of that, Quinn hired Matt Patricia as Lions HC and with Patricia's input made MANY draft and overall personnel mistakes. ****
Some other instant observations:
-- The Lions dropped a third straight Thanksgiving game under Matt Patricia, and fourth overall. They haven’t won on the holiday for which they’re known since 2016, when Jim Caldwell led them to a 16-13 win against the Minnesota Vikings. They’re 0-2 all-time against the Texans on Thanksgiving, and 37-42-2 overall.
**** This is totally unacceptable. The Lions talent is a major, major issue that goes well beyond the team's injury situation. Both Quinn and Patricia deserve blame for this ( though Quinn hired Patricia ). But in addition, the Defensive system being noticeably more important to Patricia than fitting a system to more talented players, is something that has contributed greatly to the plight of the Lions in these 3 most recent seasons.
Also, this Lions team plays dumb football too often. Blocking assignment mistakes continue. LBs biting on play action passes on 2nd and very long, which was the case with Jamie Collins and Reggie Ragland today on a 2nd QTR play, is a bad reflection of both coaches and players. On the other hand, watching the Texans disrupt pass routes within the rules, causing incompletions, is an indicator that they are well coached + players are paying attention. ****
-- Why aren’t things working for Matt Patricia in Detroit? The situation at cornerback is a perfect example. The Lions had a perennial Pro Bowl player there in Darius Slay. But Matt Patricia tried to embarrass Slay during his first training camp in Detroit by mocking Slay for posting a photo of himself guarding Odell Beckham during joint practices. The Slay-Patricia relationship never recovered, and the Lions eventually had to trade Slay to Philadelphia. They replaced Slay by signing Desmond Trufant and drafting Jeff Okudah -- neither of whom has been any good, let alone as good as Slay. Okudah has been bad and didn’t even play on Thanksgiving because of a shoulder injury, while Trufant didn’t even make it to halftime before leaving the game with another hamstring injury. He’s missed five games with such injuries and left two others.
So, just to recap: Patricia wound up with a better personality fit at cornerback, while playing a bunch of guys who are worse. Teams don’t get usually get better by playing worse players, and especially a team already as talent-deficient as Detroit. I guess that’s how you end up allowing the most yards in the league the last two years. Seriously, in Years 2-3 of the Patricia era -- an era that was supposed to be defined by defense -- the Lions have allowed more yards than every other team in the league. Seriously. I looked it up. And it’s yet another reason Matt Patricia almost certainly will lose his job sometime between Friday and Jan. 4.
**** It's another example of Matt Patricia putting his system ahead of talent. ****
-- I wrote this week that Amani Oruwariye had become Detroit’s top cornerback, and that remains true, although that says as much about Detroit’s talent level generally as it does Oruwariye specifically. Because Oruwariye was torched by Houston for probably his worst game of the year, including getting beat twice by Fuller for touchdowns.
****Amani Oruwariye had a nightmarish game. Yet, part of his struggles were because of a pass rush not effective enough and he didn't get help on some other plays. One example of the latter was brought up by Tony Romo on the game telecast. I'm not a fan of Romo as an NFL game analyst. To his credit though, he highlighted DeShaun Watson getting Reggie Ragland out of position in underneath coverage with a pump fake. That enabled Watson to hit the crossing WR. Oruwariye looked like he used outside leverage technique by design on that play, expecting help from Ragland. On the TD that he was beat by Will Fuller, it's realistically possible he was put in a 1 on 1 vertical situation with Fuller because of the loss of Desmond Trufant. The coaches might have thought that FS Duron Harmon was needed more over the top in protecting the other Lions DBs and ( LBs ). ****
-- Texans quarterback Deshaun Watson completed 17-of-25 passes for 318 yards, four touchdowns and no interceptions. That’s a 150.4 passer rating — the second-highest against the Lions on Thanksgiving since 1950. Yikes.
**** DeShaun Watson came close to two additional passing TDs in which the Texans settled for FGs****
-- Get you somebody who looks at you the way the Lions look at Adrian Peterson. Because they just keep handing that man the football, regardless of how little he does with it. First play of the game, 1 yard. Second play of the game, 2 yards. Rinse. Repeat. For two months straight. Seriously, that man did not have even one run of 10 yards since the bye -- until he popped four in a row to get something going to open the second half on Sunday. He scored twice on 1-yard runs in the first half, accounting for all of Detroit’s first-half points. It’s worth pointing out Peterson is donating 2,000 meals to Detroit needy families for every touchdown he scores. So, that’s 4,000 meals for Detroiters who need it on Thanksgiving. Tough season for Peterson, but nice touch there. He finished with 55 yards on 15 carries, the best game since Week 3.
**** Adrian Peterson played well today. He clearly has limitations. Yet, it's worth keeping in mind that of the Lions 3 RBs today ( not counting the FB position), Peterson was the only one who didn't fumble. Peterson doesn't deserve any blame for this particular loss. ****
-- This was Peterson’s 27th game with multiple rushing touchdowns, tying him with Hall of Famer Jim Brown for third-most all time.
**** That's a heck of an accomplishment! ****
-- Darrell Bevell was criticized for a super conservative game plan that led to the 20-0 shutout loss in Carolina. Four days later, he got super creative against Houston. He dialed up a reverse flea-flicker on Detroit’s fifth play from scrimmage, which left T.J. Hockenson alone in his own zip code for a 51-yard catch. That led to a touchdown and 7-0 lead. In the third quarter, Bevell was running the ball down Houston’s throat -- 10 straight times actually -- before having Stafford flip the ball to Jamal Agnew moving left to right. Then Agnew stopped running and threw the ball to Stafford running a fly route down the left sideline. The play was unsuccessful, but man did Agnew throw a nice ball, and Stafford -- in double coverage -- actually had it too before losing it on his fall to the ground. Detroit settled for a field goal that trimmed Houston’s deficit to 23-17.
**** The play call in which Jamal Agnew threw to Matthew Stafford was foolish. I would have said the same thing even if the play was successful. Stafford is dealing with a thumb injury. It's a credit to Stafford that he came very close to holding on to the ball, despite getting hit in the head ( no penalty was called ). The injury risk to Stafford on that play was way too high.
Another reason I didn't like the play call is that it resulted in an incomplete pass, making it 2nd and 10. A higher % play was what made more sense. The Lions were able to stay ahead of the chains on that drive until that play. Without Kenny Golladay, D'Andre Swift, and to a lesser extent Danny Amendola, the Lions margin of error has been reduced enormously. ****
-- The Lions needed someone to step up with Kenny Golladay and Danny Amendola out, and D’Andre Swift too, and Hockenson came through, especially early. He caught that 51-yard pass on the flea-flicker, picked another pass off the turf to move the sticks and finished with five catches for 89 yards overall, his best game since his first game.
**** T.J. Hockenson had a good performance. Yet, because he's an average ( if that ) blocker, I don't think through this point in time is playing at the level expected from pick # 8 of the 2019 Draft. ****
-- Tracy Walker was benched for a second straight week behind Will Harris and Jayron Kearse, while Duron Harmon continued to occupy the full-time role at safety. Then once Trufant went down, Walker had to spend some time at cornerback because Detroit is so thin there. Backups like Okudah, Darryl Roberts, Mike Ford and Tony McRae did not play because of injuries.
**** This season, far too often, Tracy Walker doesn't seem to have the focus that's expected from an NFL player. Far too many mental and concentration mistakes. ****
-- Don Muhlbach played in his 255th career game, moving him past Charles Woodson and into a tie for 42nd on the NFL’s all-time list. Tim Brown, Irving Fryar and Earl Morrall also played in 255 games. Muhlbach can move into the top 40 by playing next week in Chicago.
**** Great career accomplishment. ****
-- The Lions have a couple other iron-man streaks going too. Duron Harmon appeared in his 122nd straight game, which is the longest streak among all safeties in the game. Jesse James played in his 83rd straight game, which is second-longest among tight ends.
**** Jesse James' run blocking contributed to the fumble by Jonathan Williams ( who I'm not excusing ). James became less consistent with his blocking in recent games. It's near 100 % certain that in the 2021 season, James won't be playing under the terms of his current contract. Whether James will even be given the chance at reducing his contract downward is the question regarding him ****
......
This new thread is a continuation of the following thread:
Observations: Matt Patricia’s firing could be imminent after another lopsided loss on Thanksgiving
detroit-lions-forum.proboards.com/thread/822/lions-texans-preview-game-2020
Observations: Matt Patricia’s firing could be imminent after another lopsided loss on Thanksgiving
Observations: Matt Patricia’s firing could be imminent after another lopsided loss on Thanksgiving
Updated Nov 26, 2020; Posted Nov 26, 2020
NFL football: Detroit Lions vs. Houston Texans – November 26, 2020
By Kyle Meinke | kmeinke@mlive.com
DETROIT -- Romeo Crennel said it best.
“There are two types of coaches,” the Texans’ interim head coach said during a chat this week. “Coaches who have been fired, and coaches who are going to be fired.”
And now that the Texans have handed the Lions their fourth double-digit loss in five weeks, this one by a 41-25 measure on Thanksgiving at Ford Field, it’s clearer than ever that Matt Patricia is going to be fired. Perhaps as soon as Friday, perhaps as late as Jan. 4.
But based on what the Fords have said, it is over for Matt Patricia in Detroit.
Patricia was brought back for a third season with a clear mandate to play meaningful games in December and compete for the playoffs. But since climbing back to .500 with wins against Jacksonville and Atlanta, the Lions have been blown out by Indianapolis, blown out by Minnesota, needed a 59-yard buzzer-beater to survive blowing a 21-point lead against Washington, then got shut out by the Panthers (who had lost five straight) and were nuked by a Texans team that’s been so bad they already canned their coach and general manager.
With that, the Lions are 4-7, buried in last place heading into December for the third straight year, and all-but-mathematically eliminated from the postseason race. Based on the mandate, Patricia’s firing seems imminent, and the only uncertainty is the timing. The Fords have not fired a coach in-season since William Clay Ford dismissed Steve Mariucci following a Thanksgiving loss to Atlanta in 2005.
They were 4-7 at that time.
They are 4-7 at this time.
They actually started quickly against Houston too, using a 51-yard reverse flea-flicker to T.J. Hockenson on their fifth play from scrimmage to set up Adrian Peterson for a 1-yard touchdown run. That gave them their first points since Matt Prater’s game-winner two weeks ago against Washington, and a 7-0 lead.
But then everything started falling apart, as it so often has throughout the Patricia era.
Matthew Stafford threw a pick-six right into the big mitts of J.J. Watt, the former Central Michigan tight end. Very next play, the Lions gave Jonathan Williams his first career carry in Detroit -- and he turned that over too, this time on a fumble. Houston turned that into seven more points, and suddenly a 7-0 lead had tipped into a 13-7 deficit.
Then Kerryon Johnson fumbled too, making it three giveaways in 12 plays.
That’s the first time the Lions have turned over the football on three straight series since 2012. And they did it against the worst team in the league at taking away the football.
From there, the rout was on. Houston scored on seven of its next eight series, and it was too easy. Duke Johnson ran a fly to the pylon from 33 yards. Will Fuller ran a fly to the pylon from 40 yards. Then Fuller did it again from 34 yards, stretching the Texans’ scoring run to 41-10.
That’s a 41-10 run from a three-win that already sent its coach and general manager packing.
After getting shut out last week against a Carolina team that had lost five straight.
After needing a personal foul from Chase Young and team-record field goal from Matt Prater at the buzzer to survive choking away a 21-point lead against Washington.
After getting blasted by Minnesota.
After getting blasted by Indianapolis.
The Fords wanted competitive games in December, a very low bar for a coach hired to win championships three years ago. Instead, they got another last-place team. Matt Patricia -- now 13-29-1 in Detroit -- has never spent a December day anywhere but the cellar in Detroit. Now it’s possible he won’t see another December day at all.
**** As necessary as it is for the Lions to move on from Matt Patricia, the # 1 priority for this franchise needs to be moving on from Bob Quinn. He is the one who fired Jim Caldwell, despite a 9-7 record in 2017, 3 out of 4 winning seasons as Lions HC, and 2 playoff appearances. On top of that, Quinn hired Matt Patricia as Lions HC and with Patricia's input made MANY draft and overall personnel mistakes. ****
Some other instant observations:
-- The Lions dropped a third straight Thanksgiving game under Matt Patricia, and fourth overall. They haven’t won on the holiday for which they’re known since 2016, when Jim Caldwell led them to a 16-13 win against the Minnesota Vikings. They’re 0-2 all-time against the Texans on Thanksgiving, and 37-42-2 overall.
**** This is totally unacceptable. The Lions talent is a major, major issue that goes well beyond the team's injury situation. Both Quinn and Patricia deserve blame for this ( though Quinn hired Patricia ). But in addition, the Defensive system being noticeably more important to Patricia than fitting a system to more talented players, is something that has contributed greatly to the plight of the Lions in these 3 most recent seasons.
Also, this Lions team plays dumb football too often. Blocking assignment mistakes continue. LBs biting on play action passes on 2nd and very long, which was the case with Jamie Collins and Reggie Ragland today on a 2nd QTR play, is a bad reflection of both coaches and players. On the other hand, watching the Texans disrupt pass routes within the rules, causing incompletions, is an indicator that they are well coached + players are paying attention. ****
-- Why aren’t things working for Matt Patricia in Detroit? The situation at cornerback is a perfect example. The Lions had a perennial Pro Bowl player there in Darius Slay. But Matt Patricia tried to embarrass Slay during his first training camp in Detroit by mocking Slay for posting a photo of himself guarding Odell Beckham during joint practices. The Slay-Patricia relationship never recovered, and the Lions eventually had to trade Slay to Philadelphia. They replaced Slay by signing Desmond Trufant and drafting Jeff Okudah -- neither of whom has been any good, let alone as good as Slay. Okudah has been bad and didn’t even play on Thanksgiving because of a shoulder injury, while Trufant didn’t even make it to halftime before leaving the game with another hamstring injury. He’s missed five games with such injuries and left two others.
So, just to recap: Patricia wound up with a better personality fit at cornerback, while playing a bunch of guys who are worse. Teams don’t get usually get better by playing worse players, and especially a team already as talent-deficient as Detroit. I guess that’s how you end up allowing the most yards in the league the last two years. Seriously, in Years 2-3 of the Patricia era -- an era that was supposed to be defined by defense -- the Lions have allowed more yards than every other team in the league. Seriously. I looked it up. And it’s yet another reason Matt Patricia almost certainly will lose his job sometime between Friday and Jan. 4.
**** It's another example of Matt Patricia putting his system ahead of talent. ****
-- I wrote this week that Amani Oruwariye had become Detroit’s top cornerback, and that remains true, although that says as much about Detroit’s talent level generally as it does Oruwariye specifically. Because Oruwariye was torched by Houston for probably his worst game of the year, including getting beat twice by Fuller for touchdowns.
****Amani Oruwariye had a nightmarish game. Yet, part of his struggles were because of a pass rush not effective enough and he didn't get help on some other plays. One example of the latter was brought up by Tony Romo on the game telecast. I'm not a fan of Romo as an NFL game analyst. To his credit though, he highlighted DeShaun Watson getting Reggie Ragland out of position in underneath coverage with a pump fake. That enabled Watson to hit the crossing WR. Oruwariye looked like he used outside leverage technique by design on that play, expecting help from Ragland. On the TD that he was beat by Will Fuller, it's realistically possible he was put in a 1 on 1 vertical situation with Fuller because of the loss of Desmond Trufant. The coaches might have thought that FS Duron Harmon was needed more over the top in protecting the other Lions DBs and ( LBs ). ****
-- Texans quarterback Deshaun Watson completed 17-of-25 passes for 318 yards, four touchdowns and no interceptions. That’s a 150.4 passer rating — the second-highest against the Lions on Thanksgiving since 1950. Yikes.
**** DeShaun Watson came close to two additional passing TDs in which the Texans settled for FGs****
-- Get you somebody who looks at you the way the Lions look at Adrian Peterson. Because they just keep handing that man the football, regardless of how little he does with it. First play of the game, 1 yard. Second play of the game, 2 yards. Rinse. Repeat. For two months straight. Seriously, that man did not have even one run of 10 yards since the bye -- until he popped four in a row to get something going to open the second half on Sunday. He scored twice on 1-yard runs in the first half, accounting for all of Detroit’s first-half points. It’s worth pointing out Peterson is donating 2,000 meals to Detroit needy families for every touchdown he scores. So, that’s 4,000 meals for Detroiters who need it on Thanksgiving. Tough season for Peterson, but nice touch there. He finished with 55 yards on 15 carries, the best game since Week 3.
**** Adrian Peterson played well today. He clearly has limitations. Yet, it's worth keeping in mind that of the Lions 3 RBs today ( not counting the FB position), Peterson was the only one who didn't fumble. Peterson doesn't deserve any blame for this particular loss. ****
-- This was Peterson’s 27th game with multiple rushing touchdowns, tying him with Hall of Famer Jim Brown for third-most all time.
**** That's a heck of an accomplishment! ****
-- Darrell Bevell was criticized for a super conservative game plan that led to the 20-0 shutout loss in Carolina. Four days later, he got super creative against Houston. He dialed up a reverse flea-flicker on Detroit’s fifth play from scrimmage, which left T.J. Hockenson alone in his own zip code for a 51-yard catch. That led to a touchdown and 7-0 lead. In the third quarter, Bevell was running the ball down Houston’s throat -- 10 straight times actually -- before having Stafford flip the ball to Jamal Agnew moving left to right. Then Agnew stopped running and threw the ball to Stafford running a fly route down the left sideline. The play was unsuccessful, but man did Agnew throw a nice ball, and Stafford -- in double coverage -- actually had it too before losing it on his fall to the ground. Detroit settled for a field goal that trimmed Houston’s deficit to 23-17.
**** The play call in which Jamal Agnew threw to Matthew Stafford was foolish. I would have said the same thing even if the play was successful. Stafford is dealing with a thumb injury. It's a credit to Stafford that he came very close to holding on to the ball, despite getting hit in the head ( no penalty was called ). The injury risk to Stafford on that play was way too high.
Another reason I didn't like the play call is that it resulted in an incomplete pass, making it 2nd and 10. A higher % play was what made more sense. The Lions were able to stay ahead of the chains on that drive until that play. Without Kenny Golladay, D'Andre Swift, and to a lesser extent Danny Amendola, the Lions margin of error has been reduced enormously. ****
-- The Lions needed someone to step up with Kenny Golladay and Danny Amendola out, and D’Andre Swift too, and Hockenson came through, especially early. He caught that 51-yard pass on the flea-flicker, picked another pass off the turf to move the sticks and finished with five catches for 89 yards overall, his best game since his first game.
**** T.J. Hockenson had a good performance. Yet, because he's an average ( if that ) blocker, I don't think through this point in time is playing at the level expected from pick # 8 of the 2019 Draft. ****
-- Tracy Walker was benched for a second straight week behind Will Harris and Jayron Kearse, while Duron Harmon continued to occupy the full-time role at safety. Then once Trufant went down, Walker had to spend some time at cornerback because Detroit is so thin there. Backups like Okudah, Darryl Roberts, Mike Ford and Tony McRae did not play because of injuries.
**** This season, far too often, Tracy Walker doesn't seem to have the focus that's expected from an NFL player. Far too many mental and concentration mistakes. ****
-- Don Muhlbach played in his 255th career game, moving him past Charles Woodson and into a tie for 42nd on the NFL’s all-time list. Tim Brown, Irving Fryar and Earl Morrall also played in 255 games. Muhlbach can move into the top 40 by playing next week in Chicago.
**** Great career accomplishment. ****
-- The Lions have a couple other iron-man streaks going too. Duron Harmon appeared in his 122nd straight game, which is the longest streak among all safeties in the game. Jesse James played in his 83rd straight game, which is second-longest among tight ends.
**** Jesse James' run blocking contributed to the fumble by Jonathan Williams ( who I'm not excusing ). James became less consistent with his blocking in recent games. It's near 100 % certain that in the 2021 season, James won't be playing under the terms of his current contract. Whether James will even be given the chance at reducing his contract downward is the question regarding him ****
......
This new thread is a continuation of the following thread:
Observations: Matt Patricia’s firing could be imminent after another lopsided loss on Thanksgiving
detroit-lions-forum.proboards.com/thread/822/lions-texans-preview-game-2020
