Mike Tirico is keeping a close eye on Matt Patricia in Detroit
Tirico knows that Patricia cannot afford to duplicate the mistakes of other Belichick disciples.
Since May 2016, Mike Tirico’s television home has been NBC, for which he has broadcast some of the biggest events in sports all over the globe. But the New York native’s actual home for the past 19 years has been Ann Arbor, Mich.
For better or worse, that has put the host of NBC’s “Football Night in America’’ in close proximity to the Detroit Lions. That has given Tirico a kind of convenient, organic familiarity with the Lions, who carry a heavy 0-2 record into their matchup with the 1-1 Patriots this week on “Sunday Night Football.’’
“It’s been surprising to me, the beginning of this season,’’ said Tirico. “I did not expect at all what happened to them against the Jets [a 48-17 loss]. The first time they looked like the team I expected to see was during the last quarter and a half against San Francisco [a 30-27 loss in which they outscored the Niners, 14-3, in the fourth quarter].’’
Lions first-year coach Matt Patricia, who spent 2004-17 on Bill Belichick’s staff in New England, has received some criticism in Detroit for his uncompromising approach during training camp, and the 0-2 start hasn’t exactly aided him in making a strong early impression.
“You have to hope as a Lions fan that a Matt Patricia team will keep that same mark as a Bill Belichick team and September won’t be how they are judged because they will improve from month to month,’’ said Tirico.
“That’s the hallmark of a Belichick team, but it remains to be seen if that’s transferable. That’s the only thing Lions fans are taking solace in at this point.’’
Tirico acknowledged that Patricia cannot afford to duplicate the mistake that other Belichick disciples such as Eric Mangini and Josh McDaniels made upon landing their own head coaching jobs — trying to mirror Belichick’s often rigid and impersonal approach without having his gravitas or even a small fraction of his accomplishments.
“No one has that gravitas,’’ said Tirico. “All of this talk about coaching trees, there’s only one Belichick. No one is him. Period. We need to stop with the, ‘He’s off the Belichick tree, we need to build the same organization as the Patriots.’ Structurally, yes, it can work. But it’s not going to be exactly the same. There’s only one of him.
“Matt Patricia and Bob Quinn [the Lions general manager who also has Patriots roots] have to take the best lessons they’ve learned from their time in the most successful environment of this era of football, and add it to their personality and style, and make it distinctive for their franchise.
“This isn’t a modular home, where you can put what the Patriots do on stilts, take it across the country, and it will be the same in the new place. This is a unique and special era of football. That’s what people need to recognize.’’
Tirico, who took over the studio role on “Sunday Night Football’’ this year when Dan Patrick decided not to come back, has developed chemistry quickly with analysts Rodney Harrison, Tony Dungy, and information guy Mike Florio. He worked with Harrison and Dungy on some Thursday night games last year — Tirico previously was the on-site host for NBC’s NFL broadcasts — and he has longstanding respect for producer Rob Hyland, a Williams College graduate.
“We don’t exactly look like an intimidating pass rush,’’ he said with a laugh, “but we sit and watch all the games at once on Sundays. We’re pointing out things and sharing notes and what about this or that. And Rodney is on me for players he knows I like, so there’s a good-natured ribbing and chemistry that seems to work organically right away and continues on to the studio.’’
It has been an eventful sports year for Tirico even by his usual hectic standards. His most prominent role was as the prime-time Olympic host for the Pyeongchang Olympics in February, his first since taking over for longtime host Bob Costas It’s probably the most prominent studio-hosting role in sports, actually, and one that is never far from mind even when it’s over.
“I just saw where South and North Korea are going in to bid together for the 2032 Games and discussing a shared event,’’ said Tirico, “and I laughed and thought it feels like seven years, not seven months since Pyeongchang.
“Everything that everyone said it was going to be, well, it was more. There’s not a place that I go where someone doesn’t mention the Olympics. That pull continues to amaze me. It’s the only event in TV that’s on 17 consecutive nights in prime time, in a window for three-plus hours and late night for another hour and a half.
“To be front-facing for that, five hours a night for 17 straight nights, no other job offers that opportunity. And then when it’s over, it’s like the plug is ripped out of the wall. It’s just over. I’ve never experienced anything like it.’’
Since the Olympics, Tirico has been a significant part of NBC’s coverage of the Triple Crown horse racing events, high-profile golf tournaments, and even did some work at the Stanley Cup Finals. Currently, he’s doing double duty on weekends, calling Notre Dame football games on Saturday before turning to the NFL on Sunday.
“It’s really cool to do the play-by-play of a college football game on Saturday and then come in to be the studio host for an NFL show on Sunday,’’ said Tirico. “That’s two of my absolute loves, college and pro football. To marry them again on this high level is a chance I never thought I’d get. I’m know how fortunate I am to do all of this.’’
