It may have been his last game in New England
Ryan Quigley Jersey , and Matt Patricia wasn’t ready for it to end.The Patriots defensive coordinator went back onto the field long after the AFC championship was over and the team had advanced to the Super Bowl for the
sixth time in his tenure.
There, he tossed around a football with his son before flopping onto his back on the confetti that had fallen during the team’s celebration.
”(It was) just fun to have him out there running around and just seeing the excitement that he had to be out on the field,” Patricia said this week as he
tried to maintain his focus on the Super Bowl and not his expected next step: as
head coach of the Detroit Lions. ”That’s always just kind of a special little
moment for myself and him and my wife.”
Most identifiable by his bushy beard, backward-facing ball cap and cargo shorts or cutoff sweatpants no matter what the weather, Patricia will be on the
Patriots sideline on Feb. 4, when they face the Philadelphia Eagles in an
attempt to win their sixth NFL championship.
Then he will reportedly be hired as the Lions head coach.
Patricia has declined to comment on the Detroit job other than to confirm that he ”went through the process that the NFL allows us to go through during
the bye week.”
The Lions confirmed that they interviewed Patricia and reportedly informed the unsuccessful candidates
Ronde Barber Jersey , but they cannot make it official until after the Patriots are done playing.
”We’re just trying to get the win,” defensive lineman Trey Flowers said on Friday. ”That’s all it’s about here.”
But for Patricia, that’s not all it’s about.
Players say he takes a special interest in them, talking to them not just as players but also asking about their families.
”It’s not just to coach you up,” linebacker Elandon Roberts said. ”That’s a must for him. That shows what kind of man he is outside of the building. He
takes pride in us as players, but he also takes pride in us as people.”
Taking a rarely followed path to the NFL
Nick O'Leary Jersey , Patricia graduated from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute with four varsity letters and an Aeronautical Engineering degree.
He bounced around a few colleges in the Northeast before landing on Bill Belichick’s staff with the then-defending Super Bowl champions.
Moving up through the team’s coaching ranks, he became the Patriots defensive coordinator in 2012.
Before most every game, Patricia walks up to every player on the sideline and shakes his hand.
”It just lets us know he has our back,” safety Duron Harmon said. ”He has our back; we’ve got his back. It’s nothing more than just a relationship that he’s
built with everybody throughout the defense.
”And when you’ve got that from your coach, knowing that he’s going to go down for you and you’re going to go down for him, it makes you want to go out there
and lay it down for him.”
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The Giants’ decision to sign Nate Solder and install him as their starting left tackle wasn’t taken all that well by Ereck Flowers Garrett Celek Jersey , but you wouldn’t have known that by what went on after the team’s first OTA of the offseason.
Solder and Flowers, who started at left tackle the last three years, worked together with a blocking pad after practice wrapped up. Flowers spent the
session at right tackle, where he began competing upon reporting to work for the
first time last week, and got some nice words from head coach Pat Shurmur.
“He did a nice job today,” Shurmur said Joe Berger Jersey , via NJ.com. “We’ve had him in for a week. He has kind of fit right in there with everybody. I wasn’t all that pressured up about [his
absence]. I’m glad he is here. I’m getting to know him. It’s a clean slate. He’s
out here competing, and I think that’s what’s most important.”
Solder said he’s excited to play with Flowers and everyone with the Giants will be excited if the changes at tackle lead to a more competent offensive line
this time out.
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