T.J. Lang Shares 2 Reasons Why St. Brown Was Wrong About OC Hire

Former Lions OL disagrees with St. Brown's comments on reaction to new coordinator.

Detroit Lions wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown (14). | Junfu Han / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Detroit Lions wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown made waves earlier this week with his response to fan outrage over the team's hiring of offensive coordinator Drew Petzing.

During the most recent episode of the podcast that he co-hosts with his brother Equanimeous, St. Brown sounded off on the negative opinions surrounding the team's choice to bring in Petzing as the replacement for John Morton.

On Friday, former Lions offensive lineman and current radio analyst T.J. Lang pushed back against St. Brown's decision to address the hire in that fashion. First, Lang disagreed with the wideout's decision to respond to negative comments surrounding the team coming from social media.

"That's where you go wrong, when you try to insult the fans' intelligence, that's just a lose-lose," Lang said on 97.1 The Ticket. "I guess I have two problems. The first one is, unless Amon-Ra has a forum every week with every Lions fan and you can get a grip on every single fan's opinion on what they think the team is doing, you're responding to social media that isn't real. And you're responding to what's probably 90 percent B.S. These people are trolling you, man, they're trying to get you riled up."

Additionally, Lang took issue with St. Brown's comments addressing the fact that some who disagree with the hire may not have expert-level football knowledge. Petzing's impact can and will be measured in many ways, and the wideout believed that because he wasn't the flashiest name on the market of available coaches, some fans may be generally disgruntled.

The analyst pushed back against this way of thinking, stating that the comments were insulting the intelligence of fans who are passionate about their team and have become more invested in the team since they began having more success after years of struggles.

"You can't insult, you can never go after the fans' intelligence. You have to read the room, these are passionate fans," Lang explained. "You guys have built this team into being relevant again, and what comes with that is these fans are going to be more involved. They're gonna feel more involved than they ever have been in the last 50 years. They're going to be more in tune with every single thing you do. Every single move this organization makes is gonna be scrutinized by a lot of people, and you know what? That's a good thing, because that means people are attached."

The 10-year NFL veteran noted that St. Brown's message was not directed at all fans. However, he felt that the decision to address the negative elements surrounding the hire and its reaction was the wrong choice.

Rather than address the negative topic, Lang feels as though the two-time All-Pro should've been more inclined to avoid the negativity.

"I don't necessarily think he was going at all the fans," Lang noted. "Same thing with Jared Goff when he said, 'Oh, it pisses me off that some fans think we can't do this.' He's not going at the majority, he's going at the minority of people that are being negative. You have to try as hard as you can to not respond to those people and not let that guide the message that you are trying to send."