It took until their fifth game, but the New England Patriots proved against the Detroit Lions what remains true about Bill Belichick’s team in 2022: they have the coaching and the talent to take an inferior football operation to the woodshed.

Dan Campbell’s Lions entered Week 5 as the NFL’s highest-scoring offense at more than 35 points per game, but that average dropped by a whole touchdown after the Patriots pitched a shutout at Gillette Stadium. And they did in style, no less, turning the game with a scoop & score defensive touchdown and doing it all in their glorious red throwback uniforms.

On both sides of the ball, the Patriots’ clear coaching advantage took hold, but in different ways. For the Patriots’ offense, it was as simple as executing and protecting the ball, and trusting that things would ultimately go their way. For the defense, it was more of a chess game, but they stayed ahead of the Lions’ offense for much of the 60 minutes.

“Certainly we didn’t play good football there,” said Campbell, summing it up. “It was not good. It was the worst of the season overall as a team. And, you know, that falls on me. You can’t play that way and – unless your head coach doesn’t have them ready.”

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Campbell seemed to have his offense ready early on, just not ready enough – and certainly not ready to adjust. The first sign of trouble was the fourth-and-1 stop on Jamaal Williams, but there wasn’t anything exotic there, just Christian Barmore and Ja’Whaun Bentley making a play. Detroit had success running the ball on their second possession, and if not for an ill-advised throw by Jared Goff that resulted in an interception by rookie cornerback Jack Jones, may have been able to ride it to the end zone.

Too late. The Patriots adjusted, and the Lions appeared to move away from what worked. Why? The lack of an answer from Campbell may be all you need to know. They’re just not that well-coached.

It seemed good enough for them at first. Utilizing misdirection and pulling blockers, they gained 35 yards on four runs prior to the Jones interception. The Patriots’ safeties and inside linebackers struggled to close at the point of attack quickly enough on these plays, so they adjusted. On the next Lions possession, the Patriots switched out Barmore for rookie Sam Roberts at the 5-technique and played their safeties closer to the box. The Lions rushed five times and gained only 17 yards, and ended up punting.

“We just started doing our jobs,” said safety Kyle Dugger, when asked about their early defensive adjustments. “Specifically speaking for myself, I know there were a couple of plays where I did not fit correctly on the front from the second level, so I think we just kind of locked in and got back to the fundamentals of doing our job every play, and not trying to do too much. I think that started to help us play better.”

The next adjustment was even more interesting: they briefly showed a 4-3 type of look, which has been rare in recent years. They played Barmore, Davon Godchaux, and Carl Davis up front, with Deatrich Wise staying on the field as something of an oversized outside linebacker. Lined up against tight ends on the ensuing series, Wise took advantage of the physical mismatch.

That came to fruition on a key third-and-2 play, in which Wise disengaged from a blocking Hockenson and kept running back Craig Reynolds contained. That forced Reynolds to cut outside, which allowed safety Adrian Phillips to chase him down and tackle him for a seven-yard loss. The next play? Matthew Judon beats talented right tackle Penei Sewell with an inside/out rip move (h/t

Not that this is going out on a limb but Matthew Judon is the #Patriots best player on the field every week. Another monster game. Beats Sewell with inside-out rip move for a strip sack and perfectly executes a T/E with Deatrich Wise in these clips. Just a stud. pic.twitter.com/4IrDa7QnyR

— Evan Lazar (@ezlazar) October 10, 2022" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Evan Lazar) and gets a strip-sack, which Dugger scoops and takes to the end zone.

That play wasn’t anything crazy, though. That was Judon simply winning his matchup, and succeeding in making quarterback Jared Goff uncomfortable, which he’s known to be under pressure.

“Yeah, they did a bunch of stuff that made it hard,” Goff said after the game. “But ultimately it was us not executing and not playing nearly to our standard. And it starts with me and trickled all the way down. But I think everyone would say the same thing. We didn’t do nearly enough or play in and play out to stay competitive in that game.”

Even still, that play lands on Campbell’s broad, beefy shoulders. Why did they go for it on fourth-and-9 in the first place? It was only 6-0 at that point. But there’s no sense in asking why, because it’s obvious, he’s just not that kind of a coach.

On the offensive side of the ball, not many adjustments were needed from the Patriots, because the Lions entered the game with the league’s lowest-ranked defense. A unit nearly devoid of impactful talent. All the Patriots needed to do, really, was execute the plays that were called, and avoid turnovers. Other than Nelson Agholor, the whole group was largely up to the task.

That also goes for offensive play-caller Matt Patricia, whose best work might have been the call that led to Jakobi Meyers’ third-quarter touchdown catch. Quarterback Bailey Zappe – and, presumably, Patricia – recognized the Lions playing standard Cover-2 with Meyers 1-on-1 against cornerback Bobby Price.

So, Patricia called the “levels” concept (h/t

#Patriots film: Matt Patricia called the same play on Bailey Zappe's TD as he did on Zappe's first pass: Levels with backside vertical routes.

Zappe hit Hunter Henry (Y) up the seam in the 1st quarter, then Jakobi Meyers (X) against Cover 2. (graphic via https://t.co/EZDalHigRg) pic.twitter.com/7N3T7uOFHy

— Andrew Callahan (@_AndrewCallahan) October 10, 2022" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Andrew Callahan), a classic Cover-2 beater. Meyers toasted Price by himself with his route, finding himself wide open in the soft spot of the secondary, and Zappe was able to recognize that and make a clean throw. Touchdown. Superior play-calling and execution.

One more note on the Lions’ coaching staff: they somehow didn’t notice that they were having success throwing the ball to their running backs in the second half. Craig Reynolds caught three passes for 68 yards in that span. But for whatever reason, Goff and Campbell continued to bang their heads against the wall with Hockenson (one catch on four targets) and the receivers. Where’s the awareness? Where’s the adjustment?

Probably too much to ask from Campbell and his relatively inexperienced staff. Offensive coordinator Ben Johnson is in just his first season in that role and fourth year on the Lions staff. Defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn is in just his second season with that title. But it does ultimately go back to Campbell to see what’s going on and tell his guys, “Hey, we need to change things.” That is, if they were even prepared to do so.

That’s the pitfall of a subpar coaching staff going against Belichick, especially a Belichick with talent on both sides of the ball and everyone, staff included, on the same page. The Patriots are going to put a beating on those teams. Fortunately for them, that’s what could be on their plate in the weeks ahead, with matchups against the Browns, Bears, and Jets coming up. The Colts look like they’ve taken a step back, too. And new Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell is a candidate to get a classic Belichick pantsing in front of the football world on Thanksgiving night. Much like what Campbell just got.

“Really good team win for us. Start with the coaching staff, I thought they did a great job this week all the way across the board,” Belichick said after the Lions game. “The team was well prepared. I thought we did a good job. They did a good job all week with the kind of change in the practice schedule and just having the team ready to go today. Give those guys a lot of credit.”

It’s good for the Patriots to know that they can still take care of business against football teams whose overall operation is second-rate compared to them. We’ll see if they have enough talent to beat actual good teams, and whether Belichick has enough up his sleeve when the coaching gap is closed. But the Patriots are solidly a tier ahead of teams like the Lions. Someone let Mazz know.

Matt Dolloff is a writer and podcaster for 985TheSportsHub.com. Any opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect those of 98.5 The Sports Hub, Beasley Media Group, or any subsidiaries. Have a news tip, question, or comment for Matt? Yell at him on Twitter @mattdolloff and follow him on Instagram @realmattdolloff. Check out all of Matt’s content here.