LIONS HEAD COACH MATT PATRICIA CONFERENCE CALL QUOTE SHEET (VIA ZOOM)

October 2, 2020
Opening statement: “OK, all right, hope everybody is well. Kind of just pushing along here – just ran up from meetings, so I apologize in the delay. So let’s just jump right into it and go to questions.”
On how he has seen Saints Head Coach Sean Payton’s offense evolve over the years: “I have tremendous respect for Sean Payton. I’ve known him a very long time. We practice against the Saints all the time too. We spent a lot of time down at The Greenbrier against them, and they came up to our place, worked together in practice. Actually when I was at Syracuse University working for coach (Paul) Pasqualoni, Sean game up – he was at the Giants at the time. We went down, spent some time with them, kind of some of the trends they were doing down there with the offense. It’s interesting to remember back to all that stuff. Man, that was probably like 2000s, somewhere down in that range, ’99, that we were down there. It was a lot of bunches and shifts and motions and a lot of pre-snap stuff that happened before the ball was even snapped. So that was heavy influence back then. Certainly the West Coast philosophy was still instilled in what the foundation of the things that he does.
“But certainly I think the best thing that Sean has been able to do through the course of the years is just completely adapt his offense to the talent that he’s had. Certainly you could see the growth from – Drew Brees obviously changed everything for them down there and really, the way he was able to build the offense around Drew and the pieces that they’ve had through the course of the years – and a lot of moving parts I think, and the consistency they’ve been able to produce with all the different skill players that they’ve had around him, I think is pretty phenomenal. I think it’s very impressive to be able to continually compete at such a high level year-in and year-out even with the moving parts. I think he does a great job of running that team, the discipline that he instills in it and obviously, the creativity that he goes every week with the gameplan. It’s pretty phenomenal.”
On if preseason competition gives a better understanding of a coach’s mind: “Yeah, no doubt. I would say a lot of the joint practices – and certainly the games themselves, are maybe basic, maybe vanilla – but the practices are not. I would say there are a lot of things that we’ve practice against each other through the course of the years, and we probably know a lot about each other from that standpoint. That definitely is in the back of my mind of things that you’ve got to be careful of. I’ve learned a lot, too, of him. There’s a lot of situations where, as a defensive coordinator at the time, talking with Sean (Payton) of offensive philosophy and what he thinks about this situation, and what he wants to do here. So there would be a lot of back and forth, really great conversations. Like I said, he’s a great guy, great person. He really wants to help guys and not even his own team, but the coaches coming up through. So I’ve had a great relationship with him through the course of the years.”
On if he’s careful of what he shared in those conversations: “Yeah, no doubt. I think certainly you are, but when you practice against teams and you’re in different conferences, sometimes maybe you are sharing things because you’re not going to play each other that year or whatever it is. It’s a little bit different now being in the same conference.”
On the contingency plans the team has if the Week 15 game against Tennessee is affected due to the Titans’ recent COVID-19 outbreak: “I mean, I think we’re always ready for that stuff. I think our operations people are phenomenal with what they do. Gina (Newell, director of team operations) does a great job of looking around corners from that aspect of it. For us, again, it’s kind of just – they’re one-game seasons. So we have to stay in the moment from a team standpoint, but certainly people in the organization are always looking at different scenarios that could come up, absolutely.”
On if RB Bo Scarbrough and CB Mike Ford are close to returning: “Eligible – day-by-day at this point, I think. I think we’re getting closer, certainly with the bye week  coming up, trying to do the best we can to gauge when to get them out there and maximize everything that we can do based on if they’re ready to go.”
On why the team hasn’t had the home-field advantage feel this season: “Tough year to ask that questions, I have to be honest with you. I’m not sure what home field is and (what) away field is right now currently at the moment. Look, I’m not going to live in the past as far as the numbers. I think we all know what the numbers are. From that standpoint, we’re obviously just trying to push forward and get better and go. I think you’re right. The teams that are consistent in this League, the teams that have won a lot in this league over a long period of time, have been able to establish that home-field advantage scenario. We’re just trying to go out and just be consistent in the moment right now and see where that goes from there. With no fans obviously, home field and away field is – I think everybody probably got a great look at maybe what we’ve been seeing through the course of the year, maybe everyone else saw it, certainly with Aaron Rodgers and what he was able to do in an away stadium with the free plays and all that stuff. We’ve talked about that stuff before. What does that look like when you’re on the road? What does that look like when you’re at home? So I think everyone is trying to adjust to that.”
On how the team adjusts to not being able to travel during the bye week: “I think we already did. We obviously had to talk about that stuff as we pushed through the week. I think that our guys are great, they understand. I mean everything’s different this year. You’re exactly right. I think the Bye week is usually a good time for everybody to get away from football for a minute and spend some time with family and friends, and we all want to do that, and we appreciate that. But we do understand that we’re trying to conduct an NFL season in the middle of COVID-19, and we’ve got to be diligent about what we do. I think everything that’s happened this week’s is a great reminder of that for us and I think the League and the NFLPA put together protocols that they think are going to keep everybody the safest and the healthiest. It is what it is. Really, there’s nothing more than that. I think that’s just the bottom line. It’s a different year all the way across the board, we know that. I think the one great thing is that everyone is continually just adapting to change, and change is the new norm. So, all good.”
On if he enjoys roller coasters: “Off-topic, good question. You know, the crazy thing is Cedar Point, I’ve heard about this place and I’ve wanted to go, (but) I’ve never been. I do love roller coasters. Part of the engineering world for me was I loved to fly, I love planes, I love all of that. So, I haven’t had a lot of chances to do that stuff lately, though. But I hear Cedar Point’s pretty awesome.”
On his evaluation of CB Darryl Roberts and how the team prepares for Saints QB Taysom Hill: “‘D-Rob’, for me, I’ve known him for a long time. I’ve had him with me before, and I’ve always kept tabs on him and watched him and watched him develop and play. He’s a tough-minded guy. He works extremely hard, he’s very competitive. I just love what he brings to the table, and he gives you everything he’s got. It doesn’t matter what he’s dealing with or what he’s working through, or if it’s last minute preparation or last-minute adjustments. It’s always consistent, and I think that’s the greatest thing for us. We stay consistent with every single day of what he does, and I can rely on that. So, I appreciate him. When he was able to come here, that was great.
“As far as Hill’s concerned, obviously, if you look at it from a fan standpoint, what a great job, I think, of what they’ve done with him and putting him in different spots and adjustments and personnel packages and putting (him) in the quarterback position and kind of everything that they’ve done. It’s really pretty unique, I would say. This guy’s done – special teams alone, too. There are some very unique things that this guy does that’s awesome. I would say trying to prepare for that is extremely difficult. Trying to really kind of unwind – what is he, what does he do, where is he going to be, how are they going to package him? And I think the other thing they’ve done a great job with is whatever you see one week, it’s going to be something different the next week. And how do you stay in front of that, which you probably can’t. You’ve just got to do a great job of recognizing it, seeing it, play with awareness and go. So, really great job of building a package for him as a player. I think he’s just a football player. Put him out there and he plays ball. It’s pretty cool.”