Lions coach Matt Patricia stayed true to his character in his postgame comments about Detroit’s underwhelming performance in the preseason opener, a 16-10 loss in Oakland to the Raiders.

“Well, we have a lot of work to do,” Patricia declared as his opening statement after the game. “Obviously, we have to go back and look at the film and really take a look at the individual technique and some of the things that we’ve been working on from the fundamentals standpoint.”

The rookie head man seemed more concerned with finding teachable moments and improving upon situational awareness and execution than he did with losing the exhibition game on the scoreboard.

“Operationally, it was a game where we had a lot of different things come up, which is good,” Patricia continued. “We’ll be able to teach a lot off of that, which you’re trying to get as many reps live of that as you can. So, certainly the situational football will be something we have to go back and take a look at and improve on from that standpoint.”

It’s clear from his first game as a head coach that his mentor, Patriots coach Bill Belichick, has a big influence upon Patricia’s mindset on the purpose of the preseason. His first postgame press conference only reaffirms it.