Lions' Patricia: No plan to take over play-calling duties

Allen Park — Last week, Matt Patricia dismissed special teams coordinator Joe Marciano. But after a third consecutive lopsided defeat, where both the offense and defense struggled mightily, Patricia isn't looking to ready to make any additional changes to his staff. 

"Again, we talked about it last week," Patricia said. "It was what it was, but we’re just pushing forward this week. We’re on schedule, grinding away here. We’re not doing anything right now, no."

The Lions offense is currently 20th in scoring and 24th in yardage under the stewardship of Jim Bob Cooter, a holdover from the previous coaching regime. In the past three weeks, the Lions have only mustered 23 points through the first three quarters of those contests.

Defensively, the Lions have been even worse.

The unit allowed Seattle's Russell Wilson to post a perfect quarterback rating, while the Seahawks rushed for 176 yards. A week ago, Minnesota's Kirk Cousins only had four incompletions as the Vikings jumped out to a 17-6 lead at the half and cruised to a 24-9 victory. And this weekend, Chicago's Mitch Trubisky had a career day, leading the Bears to touchdowns on their first four possessions in an easy 34-22 win. 

Given the defensive woes, and Patricia's background as a coordinator in New England the past several years, he was asked if he would consider taking over play-calling duties from coordinator and mentor Paul Pasqualoni. 

Again, the answer was no planned changes.

More:Lions legend Lem Barney accuses pizza chain of discrimination

More:Rogers: Lions' offense is bad, defense is worse

More:Rogers: Lions' offense is bad, defense is worse

"I have a lot of confidence in everybody that’s out there with the play-calling, whether it’s defense, offense or special teams," Patricia said. "We’re working together continually. We’re in constant communication through the course of the game in all three phases. When you get to the game, a lot of the game plan is laid out from that standpoint.

"The biggest part of it for us is in the game, making adjustments and corrections as we’re going through, which we’re getting to. We have to continue to do that. And in some cases, make them a little bit quicker, and in some cases just try to make sure they’re a little bit better than what they are. But from that standpoint, I have a lot of confidence in all those guys.”

The Lions clearly need to do something to stop the bleeding. The team has lost three straight by double-digits and the next three opponents have a combined record of 21-7. 

"I think overall, the general mood is going to be disappointment from us," Patricia said. "I know it’s going to be disappointment from the fans. We’re all trying to get better, we’re all trying to work hard to make sure that (disappointment) doesn’t happen."

jdrogers@detroitnews.com

Twitter: @Justin_Rogers