Former Detroit Reporter Says Lions Have Poor Football IQ

Tom Leydon says Lions have poor football IQ

Former WXYZ Sports Director Tom Leydon doesn't think the Lions are a smart football team. Leydon currently works as the lead sports anchor at Boston 25 News, WFXT-TV.

He reacted to a tweet from colleague Justin Rose of WXYZ reporting on Matt Patricia starting his postgame press conference applauding how tough his team was. Patricia also added that the Lions must find a way to break through that thing that keeps us from winning. 

Leydon responded by tweeting, "Scoring touchdowns instead of field goals. I've only watched two Lions games intently and it's THE reason they lost both. The run on third and short was insanely poor football IQ. Get a yard, get four more downs."

Scoring touchdowns instead of field goals. I've only watched two Lions games intently and it's THE reason they lost both. The run on third and short was insanely poor football IQ. Get a yard, get four more downs.

— Tom Leyden (@TomLeyden) November 28, 2019

Here is the situation Leydon is addressing. The Lions take possession of the football at 4:44 of the third quarter at their own 25-yard line after a Chicago punt. David Blough drives the Lions down to the Bears five-yard line.

The game is tied 17-17 and it's third down and one with 11:34 remaining in the game. J.D. McKissic failed to secure the first down after he was given the nod to rush the football.

Leydon's reasoning is that the Lions only needed one yard for a new set of downs to score a touchdown instead of settling for a field goal.  

Patricia was asked about why Bo Scarbrough was not in the game at that moment, since he has established himself as a back that is difficult to tackle after initial contact. 

“Well, there was a penalty the play before that, right. So, there was a situation where we trying to figure out exactly what the third down down-and-distance was, so we had the personnel out because the clock was running, and they were trying to figure out the spot and everything like that," Patricia said. 

"Once we got all of that organized and saw what it was, we didn’t want to sub late. We have a lot of confidence in J.D. He runs hard, he’s got a great skill set, and it puts the defense in a little bit of a bind as far as what exactly are we going to do with him on the field as opposed to Bo in that situation. Obviously, the guy made a great play. I thought he was out and thought he was going to go, but that’s really what happened on that play. The clock was moving, and we were waiting for them to get it spotted and then made the decision once we headed out there. It was like, ‘We have a good personnel group out there, let’s go."

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