Ever since the Detroit Lions hired head coach Matt Patricia, he’s made it clear one of his tenants is to run the ball and stop the run. This was one of the things he preached this spring at the “Clinics of Champions” speech in Alabama.
“Can you run the ball? Can you stop the run? And can you cover kicks? That’s something we really learned when I was in New England in 2016 — we played Atlanta in the Super Bowl, it was solidified. Do those three things, you can control the game.