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In 2018, the Detroit Lions tapped Matt Patricia to replace Jim Caldwell as head coach in the hopes the man who’d spent the previous five seasons serving as the defensive coordinator for the Patriots would be able to help the franchise turn things around.
Unfortunately, that did not turn out to be the case.
Patricia quickly found himself fighting an uphill battle after his Bill Belichick-inspired coaching philosophy rubbed plenty of veteran players the wrong way, and his fairly cringeworthy Football Guy persona didn’t help him make many friends with members of the Detroit media.
The Lions ultimately fired Patricia midway through the 2020 season after he posted a miserable 13-29 record during his tenure. That didn’t come as a huge shock when you consider a number of players who’d already jumped ship were not shy about putting him on blast thanks to his impressive ability to get on their bad side.
That includes Darius Slay, who claimed his former coach engaged in some wildly disrespectful behavior during a team meeting in 2018.
It’s safe to say the man who now plays cornerback for the Eagles got the last laugh, as he’ll be playing in Super Bowl LVII on Sunday while Patricia presumably watches the contest from his couch.
Slay was more than happy to take a well-deserved victory lap while discussing his time in Detroit ahead of The Big Game, as The New York Post reports he took some shots at Patricia while speaking with the media on Monday night, saying:
“It was just weird how he came in like he was bigger and better than all of us. He was acting like we asked to be there. We do get selected. That was the crazy part about him.
He basically just said, ‘You are not in that category yet. At that time, I only had one Pro Bowl but now I’m at five, so I want to know how he feels about that now.
I don’t wish bad on him, but as a man, me and him just don’t get along. He’s a smart coach, he knows his Xs and Os, but the disrespect is not what I’m with.”
So, yeah, it’s safe to Darius Slay is not a big fan of Matt Patricia.