ESPN mic’d up Detroit Lions coach Matt Patricia during Wednesday’s Senior Bowl practice (which aired on ESPNU) and it gave fans a behind-the-scenes look at some of his philosophies.

One of the most talked about moments came when Patricia was giving one-on-one instruction to Syracuse EDGE rusher Alton Robinson and said this about pass rushing in the NFL: “No one that rushes the passer well uses finesse. It’s all power.”

To give a bit more context on Patricia’s statement, Robinson had just gone through a one-on-one pass-rushing drill and Patricia called him over to give some coaching tips.

Patricia then begins talking about how Robinson needs to use his length to create leverage and gain position on the offensive lineman. Patricia demonstrated this by extending his arm to the player’s shoulder pad, pushing up to create power. This is a common pass-rushing technique deployed by the Lions and is one of Trey Flowers’ signature moves.

The next bit of coaching was muted by ESPN — presumably because Patricia was using explicit language — then the volume returned for a brief second, where Patricia continued to preach hand placement, then it was muted again. When it finally returned, that’s when Patricia made his statement about pass rushing being all power.

That statement is going to scare a lot of people, because of its dismissive nature, but it also shouldn’t be overly surprising to hear him say.

The Lions’ basic approach to their defensive line is to control your gap, locate the ball, and execute a tackle. The technique Patricia was teaching Robinson is a foundation piece in executing this approach — and yes, it all begins with power.

While the Lions’ defensive line techniques heavily embrace power concepts, they are also not limited to them alone.

Earlier in the same practice, Patricia had a similar conversation with Utah EDGE rusher Bradlee Anae and it began the same way as it did with Robinson, by attacking the offensive lineman’s outside shoulder with length and power. But with Anae, Patricia took it a step further and asked him to execute a chop-club (more of a finesse move) to get past the block.

The Lions will deploy finesse moves to rush the passer, but they treat them like cufflinks on a shirt — they’re flashy and can get the job done, but they’re also not necessary in every situation.

This approach means the Lions are never going to be a team that racks up the sack numbers because it’s not in their team design or overall approach to defense.

And while people may not like this approach, it can work in the NFL. The big pitfall is, when players lose their ability to execute power on a regular basis, things can fall apart very quickly — like it did last season.

Like it or not, Patricia isn’t likely to change his stripes at this point in his coaching career, so the best thing Lions fans can hope for is that the team adds players who understand how to use leverage and power this offseason and that the pass rush comes as a result of proper execution and technique.