Five things to watch THE MATT PATRICIA FACTOR
After spending 14 seasons with the Patriots, Matt Patricia possesses intimate knowledge of the strengths and weaknesses of the offense and Josh McDaniels' tendencies.
Will any of that matter? Statistically, Detroit's pass defense has been solid. They're allowing only 168 passing yards per game — in part because teams are ripping up the Lions for 5.6 yards per carry, so why bother throwing?
Still, we shouldn't ignore the fact that Patricia's defense did a fine job against Jimmy Garoppolo in Week 2. Garoppolo was forced to hold the ball too long on several occasions, leading to six sacks. Credit Patricia with some creative maneuvers.
On one sack, Lions linebacker Christian Jones initially rushed, engaging with 49ers right guard Mike Person. Jones briefly retreated, showed that he was dropping into coverage, and then charged Garoppolo once Person began helping the right tackle.
Throughout the game, the Lions took away receivers in the short middle.
We'll see what he has in store for Tom Brady. That's certainly a different task than confusing Garoppolo.
“He knows us pretty good,” Brady said. “Obviously we know that defense, we practiced against it for a long time, so it'll come down to execution. I think he's a great coach. He'll have those guys ready to play. They'll scheme up a bunch of different things to keep us off-balance. We saw that for a long period of time.”