Lions Lowdown

ALLEN PARK >> Paul Pasqualoni set off on a career of teaching.

He started at the bottom, teaching physical education to kindergarteners through sixth-graders.

“I was like a K-6 teacher, had no intentions to ever coach in college or pro football. It’s just I wanted to be a high school coach back in my hometown, Chester, Conn. When I got the freshman job there, I felt like I had the greatest job I could ever have. I mean, this is like, ‘Wow, I’ve got the best job there is. How lucky,’’’ Pasqualoni said on Tuesday.

Since those days his football coaching career has taken him to several states and stops.

A few months ago he landed in Detroit as the Lions’ defensive coordinator under new coach Matt Patricia who worked for him when he was head coach at Syracuse.

Pasqualoni may be a long way from K-6, but in his heart he’s still a teacher.

Five things to know about the affable Pasqualoni:

1. So far all is good in his new position.  “First of all, it’s great to be here. This is a great organization. The Ford family is first class. This is a first class, really. The NFL’s first class, this is really first class. It’s great to be here,’’ Pasqualoni said. “Lot of fun to have the opportunity to work with the guys on the staff we have. We have outstanding coaches on this staff. Obviously, it’s fun to be around the energy that Coach Patricia brings, and it’s fun to be around the energy that the players here bring. There’s a lot of good players here. They’re great to work with. It’s been my pleasure to be here.”

2. His defensive philosophy appears standard. “To be smart, to be tough, that means to be able to perform at a very dependable, high level on a consistent basis. Like you’ve heard a hundred times, stop the run, try to make the quarterback uncomfortable. You’re not going to sack the guy, but there has to be in a variety of ways, discomfort created for the guy playing the quarterback position,’’ Pasqualoni said. “Whether it’s disguise, or pressure, whatever it might be. You just can’t let quarterbacks at this level operate and be comfortable, because in the end they’ll get you. In a nutshell, that’s kind of it.”

3. Patricia has said repeatedly since his arrival that the defense won’t feature just a 4-3 or 3-4 front. “We’ll have some four-man fronts, and we’ll have some three-man fronts and we’ll have a variety of stuff. It’s been very enjoyable because the players have been really terrific, and are working hard in the classroom, in the meeting room and out on the field,’’ Pasqualoni said. “And the coaching staff, the guys I have an opportunity to work with: Al Golden, and Brian Stewart, Bo Davis, the support staff here, they’re just outstanding coaches. So, it’s been very, very, very good.”

4. He loves this time of year because he draws on his teaching background. “You know, I’ve always thought this about this time of year—whether I was a high school coach in Connecticut. We had spring practice, believe it or not, in the state of Connecticut. A lot of people won’t believe that, but we had spring practice. As a college coach, of course you always had spring practice. And then you go on to the NFL, and there’s the offseason program and there’s OTAs. Here’s what I always felt about the offseason, I always felt it was a great time for players and it was a great time for coaches, because coaches could teach,’’ Pasqualoni said. “And you didn’t have to worry about a game plan, an adjustment, and, ‘What are we going to do with this guy and what are we going to do with that guy?’ And for the players, it gave them a chance to just focus on getting better and that’s the goal. We have one goal every day, and that’s to improve. So, they have a chance to work on the tools that they need to perfect, to put in their toolbox, to be able to play the game. As a coach, as I said, you’re just coaching and teaching. We got into this business to be teachers and coaching is teaching. So, it’s a very, very good time of year for players to improve and to worry about technique. We’re not so much worried about scheme. I think the scheme, in the end, will take care of itself. I think the issue right now is improving fundamentally and learning how to play technique.”

5. He’s not intimidated by calling the defense on game day referring to his last two seasons as the defensive line coach at Boston College. “I think that if they (the NFL offenses have) changed, they’ve gone a little bit more to the college spread set, zone-read set. So, the past two years in the ACC, I promise you I’ve seen that a little bit, up front and very, very close and personal,’’ Pasqualoni said. “So, if anything, I think it’s probably helped me a little bit, it really has. And there’s been some good quarterbacks in that league, too, a couple good ones. It’s helped.”

For coach Matt Patricia to turn the Lions into a perennial playoff team, he has to build a solid relationship with quarterback Matthew Stafford.

He knows it, we know it. Now it has to happen.

With three days of organized team activities behind them, it appears that Matt and Matthew are off to good start.

Stafford down-played the fact that Patricia comes from the defensive side of the ball. It’s not a first. His first Lions’ head coach, Jim Schwartz, was also a former defensive coordinator. The quarterback also had a good relationship with former defensive coordinator Gunther Cunningham.

“You know, it’s not like I’ve never talked to (former Lions defensive coordinator) Teryl Austin or any of those guys too. It is, it’s always unique. Every defensive coach kind of has their own philosophy. I’m sure Coach Patricia’s will be different than the guys who have been here before,’’ Stafford said on Thursday. “It’s always fun to kind of pick the brain of the other side and see what they’re seeing and what they’re trying to take away and what they’re trying to force you to do.”

Unlike the defense, the offense is still basically the same with Jim Bob Cooter in charge.

Of course, it will be tweaked just like it is every season.

So far Stafford has impressed Patricia which isn’t exactly a shocker. Patricia was asked about the differences in Stafford and Tom Brady and would not go there. (Not a shocker either.)

“Stafford’s phenomenal. He’s work hard, tough, smart and you know what’s great is when you have quarterbacks like that where you can go out and look (QB Jake) Rudock and (QB) Matt Cassel are the same guys, and you’re going out and you’re having football conversations,’’ Patricia said on Thursday.

“You’re not really having to always explain everything from a ‘let me draw this up for you’ and show you what I’m talking about, you can just have the conversations, ‘Hey if this guy’s here’ or ‘This leverage is played like this’ or ‘The DBs in this position’ or ‘The front looks like this’ and just for them to visually have those conversations with you, that’s what’s great. That’s when you know you’ve got guys who are really dialed in.’’

They appear to have quickly developed a good on-field rapport.

“He’s competitive out on the field, I’m competitive. He’s asking me non-stop, I’m talking to him non-stop. He’s out there a bunch as a head coach, kind of standing behind me looking at the defense and seeing it kind of how I see it,’’ Stafford said. “So, there’s constant back and forth of, ‘Hey, what did you see? Did this guy give it away?’ Whatever. But we’re always talking.”

It would be wrong to down-play Cooter’s role in the offense, but at the same time Patricia knows his success rides on the shoulders of No. 9.

So far, so good.

“Matthew’s unbelievable. He loves this game, like he loves football, loves to practice, loves to prepare, he wants to know as much information as possible, not only scheme-wise, he wants to know it from players, as far as the guys around him, as far as the guys on the other side of the ball,’’ Patricia said. “Different things, that I think for me that are fun to talk to him about is like there’s a little bit of a chess game that happens offensively and defensively through some of the positions and I think from that standpoint, you know, I’m looking at him saying, ‘I’m seeing this’ or ‘You’re doing this’, you know, ‘What are you seeing from this position and how do you view that’. And I think that’s all part of the growth and education of it and it’s great. It’s a lot of fun when you can do that on the field.”

The OTAs continue next week with mandatory minicamp set for June 5-7.

 

ALLEN PARK — After his third day of Detroit Lions’ organized team activities this week, rookie Frank Ragnow was a new-found appreciation for the NFL.

Ragnow, the first-round pick out of Arkansas, clearly sees the differences between college and the NFL.

“It’s way different. I have a lot of respect for the NFL, it’s a whole different speed and these are a lot of talented guys out here, all the way, four-deep everybody is really talented,’’ Ragnow said after Thursday’s session. “It’s been an adjustment but it’s been fun to get to work and learn every day.’’

Four things to know about Ragnow after three days of OTAs:

1. Ragnow lined up at left guard throughout the two-hour workout. When he was drafted it was unclear if he’d play left guard or center and it’s still too early to know. Coach Matt Patricia said on Thursday that no decisions have been made on positions and, in fact, several guys would line up at different positions, maybe even some they haven’t played before.

2. Ragnow said he has no preference on guard or center. “Just want to be out there helping the team. I played a lot of positions in high school, played a lot of positions in college,’’ Ragnow said. “I just like playing football. Wherever they put me I’ll be happy to be there.’’ He said he played about the same amount of snaps at guard and center at Arkansas.

3. Patricia’s early impressions of Ragnow: “I think he’s done a great job. He comes and he works extremely hard, as have all the rookies that have been in here and that’s out on the field together. It’s really, you know what’s good, when you see and go out in practice and you don’t particularly notice that there’s a guy that is wither a young player or not. He just kind of fits in with the group and fits in and plays, and you’re not really looking at it and saying, ‘That’s out of place’, like it looks like it’s out of place. I haven’t noticed that at all.” And, that’s a good thing.

4. Veteran guard T. J. Lang and guard/center Graham Glasgow, who is entering his third season, have been a help to Ragnow. “They’ve been incredible, both of them have been really incredible really helpful and have given me a lot of tips day to day,’’ Ragnow said. “It’s been a real blessing to have both of them in the room.’’ Glasgow lined up at center on Thursday.