Darius Slay crushes Matt Patricia at Super Bowl LVII Opening Night
BOSTON -- It's pretty well documented that Matt Patricia lost the Detroit Lions locker room just a few seconds after he walked in as the team's new head coach.
When Patricia introduced himself to his new team in 2018, he showed off the Super Bowl rings that he won with the Patriots and told his Lions players that they had won anything. That didn't really endear the new head coach to his players.
Darius Slay is getting ready for Super Bowl LVII as a member of the Philadelphia Eagles, but he started his career in Detroit. Slay was asked about Patricia's time with the Lions by 98.5 The Sports Hub's Rich Shertenlieb during Monday night's Opening Night in Arizona, and he did not hold back.
"It was weird how he came in like he just bigger and better than all of us. He acted like we asked to be here," Slay said of Patricia's introduction to the team. "We do get selected, you know. If we had a choice to pick, a lot of guys would pick a lot of different areas. But, yeah, that was crazy. That was a first."
Patricia immediately butted heads with Slay, who was coming off an All Pro season and his first Pro Bowl nod. Slay spent the offseason working out with Richard Sherman and Aqib Talib -- two of the top corners in the game at that time -- to learn their ways and improve his own game. Patricia was not a fan of that move for some reason.
"I mean, he basically just said, 'You're not in that category yet.' By that time I only had one Pro Bowl, but now I'm at five. I want to know how he feel about that now," Slay shot back.
Slay was traded to the Eagles after the 2019 season, when Detroit went a disappointing 3-12-1 in Patricia's second year as head coach. He wasn't around when Patricia was fired after a 4-7 start to the 2020 season.
Patricia landed back in New England after getting canned by the Lions, and was back on the sidelines last season, essentially serving as offensive coordinator of the Patriots. Patricia had no experience calling offensive plays ahead of last season, and it was an outright disaster for the Patriots on all fronts.
Asked if he was surprised that New England's offense struggled so much under Patricia, Slay made it clear that he believes that Patricia is a good coach. But he could not get on board with the way that Patricia treated people.
"I don't wish no bad on any man. I always hope the best for him. But as a man, we just don't get along," said Slay.
"As a coach, you know, he's a smart coach, the X's and O's, how to put a guy up," Slay added. "But it's just being the man, you know, the disrespect is not what I'm with."
Patricia's future in New England is unclear, with Bill O'Brien now back as the offensive coordinator. Meanwhile, Slay is getting ready to play in the biggest game of his career.