Michael Rothstein, ESPN Staff Writer 5y

Read Matt Patricia's entire answer on why Lions practiced outdoors

ALLEN PARK, Mich. -- Detroit Lions coach Matt Patricia came under some criticism Thursday after having his team practice in the snow despite having four straight games either indoors or in the Arizona heat.

And on Friday, in a 900-word opening statement that went on for almost four minutes, he explained his reasoning for practicing indoors vs. outdoors. Below is the entire statement:

"In regards to practice, just a couple of comments I just want to make on this topic to provide some maybe insight and let’s call it closure to this continual conversation that we have here as far as our training. First, we’ll always practice and train in a manner that looks out for our players’ ability to prepare each week for our opponent while also taking care of, including all parameters to the overall health and safety of our team. Indoor walk-throughs, which we had this week, which we’ve also had in the past, are always beneficial to our team. It’s beneficial to our players. It’s a great teaching and learning environment. It’s an opportunity for us to pull off them physically the demands of practice and the overall hustle and pursuit of what we have to do during the course of a practice and our movements. It also gives a little bit of extra rest to most of the players out there on the turf but also allows some of the players that might not be able to practice out there in the normal practice environment to go out and get reps and get communication and get prepared for the game.

"The downside of practicing indoors on the turf is the wear and effect that it has on the bigger-bodied players on our team. Standing on turf or running on turf often times, for extended periods of time, affects joints. It affects swelling and really causes the body in the different members of our team to have pain or joint swelling that then will cause them further delay in preparing for playing in the game.

"Practicing outside has multiple benefits. Provides different elements for us to prepare in, work through in the grand overall preparation of our team. Yesterday was a good opportunity for us to go outside. We were able to practice and work on our fundamentals from a standpoint that we wanted to practice in pads. Practicing in pads on turf is a little bit of an extra risk in my mind, in some of those situations where feet or footwork might be stuck in the turf in different situations whereas the grass or the natural ground has a little bit more give. In those situations it was safer for us to go outside in pads and practice in an opportunity where we could work on our fundamentals in what I thought would be a safer manner, which is true.

"Going outside yesterday allowed us to also have the opportunity to focus on our fundamentals, which we needed to do, and take care and make sure we are technically sound in some of our footwork. Practicing in some of those conditions, whether it’s mud, snow, loose grass, whatever the case may be, focuses most of the skill players have to keep their feet underneath them to be able to break the low center of gravity and play technically sound, which is always good from a fundamental standpoint. So a good opportunity to get that done. The temperature yesterday was not a factor. It was not cold outside and there was not a heavy wind. So it was an easy day for us to go outside and get some good work done.

"Working through conditions that are not ideal, as a football team, is also another benefit for us to take live learning environments and turn them into actual teaching moments outside also. It allows us to focus on the details, again, like I said, of our technique but also the awareness of our surroundings, which we’ll have to play through and fight through at some point, in particular through the course of the year. When the elements pop up it’s a great learning lesson for us. We’re going to take the opportunity to make sure that we fight through it and again. Remember, that we’re always playing the team or the opponent, not the elements.

"In many cases we change and alter practice and locations based on what we feel is best for the team in that particular moment. Some of those decisions are made at the very last minute, based on how the weather or how the field or how the team feels in that particular time. Last Friday, we practiced inside. We played outside. Miami week, we practiced outside in the quote-unquote cold and we played in 112 [degree] field temperature game. Again, it’s about the preparation, it’s about how we practice, it’s about our execution and then it’s about how we perform on Sunday. That’s all that really matters.

"So that’s all we’re trying to do. There’s no more discussion. There’s no more conversation about it. I’d like to move on and show a little bit more respect to Carolina, the Panthers, coach Ron Rivera, his outstanding team that he’s bringing up here to play against us and the challenges that we have in fact trying to stop and prepare for them.

"We’re going to be practicing inside today so everybody’s clear, all right? Make sure everybody’s good for all the head coaches in the room on that. Everybody good there?

"So again, there’s some wind out there, some gusts, probably a good idea to practice inside and make sure you have some good timing. It’s all based on what’s best for the team at that moment. We good? Great. Any questions about Carolina?"

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