Bill Belichick argues Lions are enjoying ‘fruits of labor’ brought by Matt Patricia
Over the past three years, the Detroit Lions have gone from one of the NFL’s long-running unhappy franchises to one of the NFC’s best teams, as they are coming off a 2023 season in which they won the NFC North, won their first playoff game since 1991, and reached and nearly won the NFC Championship Game. Much of the credit for the Lions’ turnaround goes to head coach Dan Campbell and general manager Brad Holmes, but former New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick argued during his appearance on the “Let’s Go” podcast that a large part of the Lions’ turnaround can be attributed to the work of former head coach Matt Patricia.
Belichick, who had Patricia on his coaching staff for 14 years in New England before being hired by the Lions in 2018, credited Patricia with building Detroit’s potent offensive line, which has been a key part of his offense’s identity and success.
“I think the Lions have built a really good offensive line for their quarterback, and they didn’t have a lot of production in the red area last week, but that was something that Matt Patricia started and now they’re getting the fruits of their labor from him,” Belichick said.
There’s a hole in Belichick’s logic, though, in that the only offensive lineman Patricia and former general manager Bob Quinn were directly responsible for was center Frank Ragnow, their first-round pick in 2018. Taylor Decker and Graham Glasgow preceded Patricia in Detroit — and Glasgow wasn’t re-signed by Patricia and Quinn in 2019 — while Penei Sewell and Kevin Zeitler were brought in via the draft and free agency, respectively, after Patricia was fired midway through the 2020 season.
Patricia was unsuccessful and unpopular as Lions head coach, as his New England-influenced approach offended many and did not produce results on the field. Patricia finished 13–29–1 as Lions head coach, with his winning percentage (.314) being the fourth-lowest of any head coach in Lions franchise history.
