Video: Watch a laid-back Matt Patricia on The Pat McAfee Show 2.0

Detroit Lions head coach Matt Patricia is clearly taking a different approach to this offseason as it relates to his relationship with the media. After a rough initial season on and off the field, Patricia is making a concerted effort to be more personable and open now that he’s been thrust into the spotlight in Detroit.

He’s been more chipper in press conferences, made an entertaining appearance on Good Morning Football back in May, and last week, he allowed the always-entertaining Pat McAfee to enter the halls of Allen Park for a 24-minute podcast interview.

McAfee’s conversational and relaxed tone—you may remember him from his excellent call of the Matt Prater touchdown pass in Week 17 last year—possibly helped Patricia open up. Topics varied from his first-year struggles, his love of Matthew Stafford and Danny Amendola, his media relationship and the identity he wants his team to assume.

If you have the time, I recommend watching the entire thing, but here are a few interesting snippets.

On how the new practice rules (ie: no more Oklahoma drills) will affect his coaching:

“We just have to hang in there and make sure we have an ‘Adapt or Die’ mentality, and that’s what we’ve got to do. We’ve got to keep adapting, and just try to figure out different ways to practice and get our guys ready to go, and get them better and improve their fundamentals.”

On if he’s considered tanking his press conferences by mumbling and not giving out any information:

“I think for me, I have enough problems with my press conferences. I’m just going to try to get the information out there.”

On Danny Amendola:

“Danny Amendola and I obviously have a long-standing relationship. There’s definitely a lot of love there between the two of us and history that goes along with it. Just a guy I completely trust, and one of those guys you see in the building every single day and know that he’s the right kind of guy, and he’s the guy you want to be around when it’s tough.”

On Matthew Stafford and rumors of them butting heads in 2018:

“I don’t follow any of the rhetoric that goes on outside this building.”

“Having that relationship with him, I mean, he’s awesome. He’s a football guy. He loves the game. This is my life. I’m passionate. I love football. He loves football.

The best part is it can be any portion of the season—in the season, offseason—I’ll shoot him a text, I’ll ask him a question, ‘Hey, what do you think about this personnel? What do you think about this guy? Hey, have you seen this guy coming out of college?’ And he knows everything about the game, and you just love it.

It’s a conversation that—from a standpoint of guys who are passionate about what they do—it just draws that bond closer and closer. So it’s great. Every single day I’m just blessed to be able to walk into the building with that guy.”

If podcasts are more your thing, you can listen to the entire Pat McAfee Show 2.0 podcast here.