Anytime a team blows a huge lead and fails to secure the victory, the playcalling and coaching decisions will come under question. Detroit Lions coach Matt Patricia faced those questions from reporters on Monday, after his Lions blew an 18-point fourth-quarter lead in Arizona to a Cardinals team that was largely lifeless through the first three quarters of the game.
“We definitely didn’t back off from a standpoint of play calls or anything like that, not at all,” Patricia emphatically stated. “We know how dangerous (Kyler Murray) is. He’s obviously a great player, was a great college player and finished off the game really well last night.”
Patricia continued, offering some credit to Cardinals rookie head coach Kliff Kingsbury and his staff:
“From that standpoint though, they made some good adjustments. We tried to adjust and match some of the things they did – give credit to them, give credit to Larry Fitzgerald. He’s a Hall of Fame player for a reason. He made some pretty amazing plays and catches and that’s what he does. Certainly that got them going a little bit and gave them some great field positions to take advantage of.”
Patricia also expressed disappointment with the defensive execution down the stretch as the Cardinals rallied from a 24-6 deficit with 14 minutes to play to tie the game.
“Really for us, it’s just coaching and execution,” Patricia stated. “That’s the bottom line with it, as far as that’s concerned. All that has to be better in the fourth quarter, and we have to go out and we have to find a way to win.”
The execution certainly was not as good as it had been earlier in the game, but the Lions did indeed make some adjustments in coverage and rush strategies which made it much easier for Murray to find success in the passing game.
