The Detroit Lions suffered one of the uglier losses in Week 1 of NFL Action. Their 48-17 at the hands of the New York Jets is being met with cynicism over their new head coach's ability to commandeer the ship. Matt Patricia signed on to be the Lions' new head coach after spending 6 years as the New England Patriots' defensive coordinator.
NFL insider Mike Garafolo has apparently spoken to several veterans within the Lions' locker room have "griped about" Patricia's new team policies. Part of the issue stems from the increased workload that was ordered in training camp. Patricia has instituted a bevy of new team rules which were discriminately different than Jim Caldwell's particular method of running the show.
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Garafolo did however add a disclaimer to the story. Although he did speak individual players who retained their autonomy, there is little reason to create a media frenzy unless the team's upcoming results don't reflect the commitment on the field. He alleges that if Lions' players start to mail-it-in, Matt Patricia may be forced to expedite certain players in place of others.
Garafolo added a little more insight based around his conversation with the Lions' vets. Apparently, a lot of the players predicted ahead of time that the team would be run out of gas on-the-field in Week 1. As reported by Yahoo's Dan Wetzel, the Jets were picking apart a sluggish Offensive Line by predicting their "play calls" at the line of scrimmage.
