A look at how first-year Detroit Lions head coaches have fared since 1978. Video by Ryan Ford/DFP Wochit
On the day that Pierre Woods was fired from his job as a linebacker with the New England Patriots in 2010, he dropped by his position coach's office to say thank you.
Woods, who made the Patriots as an undrafted rookie out of Michigan in 2006, arrived in New England the same year that Matt Patricia took over as a full-time position coach in the NFL for the first time.
The two spent four seasons together, and countless hours watching film and talking football, and on that day, as Woods left for an uncertain future – he would play just six more games in his NFL career, two of them in a return stint with the Patriots – he and Patricia made a pact they still adhere to today.