LeGarrette Blount: Matt Patricia will make sure Lions are ‘one of the best-conditioned teams in the NFL’

Although LeGarrette Blount worked on the offensive side of the ball, he managed to form a bond with then-defensive coordinator Matt Patricia on the New England Patriots from 2014 to 2016.

It’s a relationship that has carried over to this year, with the two reuniting on the Detroit Lions — Patricia as head coach and Blount as a veteran running back with an uncanny knack for helping his teams win Super Bowls.

‘He’s a hard-nosed coach and he doesn’t take any BS’

Blount is a three-time Super Bowl champion, winning one in each of the past two seasons with the Philadelphia Eagles and the Patriots, and his mission now is to help make it three in a row with the Lions. He would love nothing better than to do his part to allow Patricia to collect another ring as a rookie head coach.

“When I first got to New England, me and him kind of locked in together and he was one of the coaches that I always talked to, always smiled and laughed and joked around with,” Blount told Alex Marvez and Gil Brandt during the SiriusXM NFL Radio training-camp tour stop at the Lions’ facility in Allen Park, Mich. “After we got that bond, we just kept that relationship going throughout my career with the Patriots. … He’s a hard-nosed coach and he doesn’t take any BS. He knows what he wants and he knows what it takes to win.

‘He’s a really good communicator’

“I think he has his own deal, I think he has his own philosophies. I think he has his own idea of how he wants things to look and how he wants things to work. I will say one thing he brought over was: we’re going to be one of the best-conditioned teams in the NFL, I’m pretty sure of that. I think he brings his own philosophy and his own mindset, his own personality to the team and to that head-coaching position. I think that he does a lot of things extremely well. He’s a really good communicator. I’m excited for him, I’m excited for us. I think this is going to be a fun thing.”

Blount is particularly excited that he is part of an offense that intends to pound the football.

‘He wants to run the football and he wants to stop the run’

“I think that’s going to be a big part of our identity, wanting to take pressure off of (quarterback Matthew) Stafford. I think running the football and me knowing that that was going to happen before I signed here, just knowing that Matty P, that’s the kind of coach he is. He wants to run the football and he wants to stop the run, so I’m all aboard that train. I’m ready for that. That’s right up my alley, so that’s perfect for me.”