Occasionally during the 2020 Senior Bowl, NFL Network would cut to clips of Detroit Lions coach Matt Patricia being mic’d up on the sidelines and they even landed a very entertaining interview with Tom Pelissero.
Earlier this week, the Lions’ media department released a behind-the-scenes video of Lions’ coaches mic’d up during Senior Bowl practices and now they have released another extended behind-the-scenes video, this time featuring Patricia during the Senior Bowl game itself.
The video opens with quick clips of Patricia interacting with players and giving a pre-game speech in the locker room.
The first play highlighted was a memorable one. Michigan’s Josh Uche destroyed the South’s right tackle with a pass-rushing speed move and had a clean shot at the quarterback, but instead of making the sack, Uche simply touched him as he ran by. It’s worth noting that all week in practice it is stressed that you don’t hit the quarterback, but instead run by him as not to injure him — Uche just had a lapse in judgment, forgetting they were indeed in game-mode now.
When Uche got to the sidelines, Patricia calmly asked him if he was alright, to which Uche said, “I’ve gotta tackle him”. That got a chuckle out of Patricia, who simply said, “Yeah bro, we’re playing a game”, followed by another light chuckle.
Patricia tucked Uche’s shoulder pads back into his jersey and gave him more advice on how to approach the rest of the game, “That was a huge sack. The ball’s coming out on that deal. Listen to me, you’re a defensive player, let them worry about protecting the quarterback, you go get the quarterback.”
Cut to the next sequence and you can see Patricia in his element, talking to the defensive players about strategy and how to read their cues.
What fascinating about the interaction Patricia has with the sideline judge is not what they were actually talking about, but that mid-sentence, Patricia recognized where the play was heading and yelled to him to “watch out” on the sidelines. This all happened before the ball was even thrown, as Patricia knew the play, saw the breakdown in coverage, predicted that’s where the ball was going — and it did, for an 80-yard Darius Anderson (RB, TCU) touchdown.
Lots more interactions with players and more predictive play calls followed, eventually leading up to the Pelissero interview.
The video concludes with Patricia setting up a long field goal opportunity for kicker Tyler Bass, allowing him to give scouts who didn’t see him kick at Georgia Southern a chance to get a better look at him in live-action. This is an excellent example of Patricia doing right by his players and giving them a chance to shine on the big stage — and it’s also likely why he got the Gatorade bath at the end of the game.
You can watch the entire video (over 10-minutes in length) below: