He knows that the Lions season is Detroit’s best hope
Coach Patricia has clearly embraced the city of Detroit. It is a town that loves its sports heroes. He has an opportunity to stand among them if he can take the Lions to the next level. he uses that as a motivator.
“You just generally get a feeling of the energy, the excitement that this town this area, this state has for sports has for professional sports, college sports,” Patricia noted. “It really makes me want to come back here and get back to work because I’ve got to try and try to make sure that I’m doing everything I can to make those fans proud.”
The best moment of the press conference made me laugh out loud. The fourth time a beat reporter asked a question about the NFL’s anthem policy, Patricia, who has repeatedly said that its an internal matter that he is not going to discuss publicly until the start of the season, pointed to Mike O’Hara as the previous reporter was trying to push the issue and said, “I think we were over here.”
O’Hara is a consummate pro, and he tried to deflect back to the other reporter saying “If they want to ask, go ahead,” to which Patricia responded by holding his hand up, palm toward the previous reporter in a dismissive manner and said, “I think I’ve covered the anthem.” He then pointed back to O’Hara who asked his question.
The Detroit Lions head coach is certainly running the show in Allen Park. If he handles his players as well as he handled the assembled press today, it will be a good thing for the Lions.