The Eagles are in the midst of a two-game losing streak that has put their chances of winning the NFC East, to say nothing of securing the conference’s No. 1 seed, in serious jeopardy. Philadelphia has surrendered at least 33 points in each of its last three games, and as it seeks to right the ship, it is making a major change on the defensive side of the ball.
Per Jay Glazer of Fox Sports, senior defensive assistant Matt Patricia has replaced Sean Desai as defensive coordinator, which includes assuming Desai’s play-calling duties (though Desai will remain with the Eagles in a different capacity). As Jeff McLane of the Philadelphia Inquirer reports, a team source has confirmed the move, but Ian Rapoport of NFL.com, among others, says that Desai will retain the formal title of defensive coordinator. Rapoport adds that Desai will head to the coaches’ booth while Patricia will man the sidelines, and all reporters are in agreement that Patricia will take over as defensive play-caller.
Patricia’s lengthy stint as the Patriots’ defensive coordinator from 2012-17 preceded a forgettable tenure as the Lions’ head coach from 2018-20. He rejoined the Pats the following year and was curiously chosen to serve as New England’s offensive play-caller in 2022, a decision that was criticized at the time and that only got worse from there. This offseason, he was a candidate to join Sean Payton‘s first Broncos staff as defensive coordinator, though he eventually wound up in Philadelphia after Denver went in a different direction.
According to Rapoport, as relayed by Kevin Patra of NFL.com, Patricia has served as a consultant for all three phases of the Eagles’ operation this year despite his official title of senior defensive assistant, and he has earned the respect of the players. By contrast, Brooks Kubena of The Athletic reported just yesterday that safety Kevin Byard had persuaded Desai to allow the secondary to handle its own scouting report of the Seahawks, the club’s upcoming opponent.
Desai was the Bears’ defensive coordinator in 2021, and Chicago finished that season sixth in terms of total defense, though it’s points-per-game and defensive DVOA rankings were not as impressive. When head coach Matt Nagy was let go at the end of the 2021 season, his defensive-minded replacement, Matt Eberflus, elected not to retain Desai, who subsequently became associate head coach and defensive assistant for the Seahawks.
Still, Desai’s one season of relative success as defensive coordinator and his long track record as a defensive assistant at the collegiate and NFL levels made him a popular DC target in the 2023 hiring cycle, and he took interviews with five different clubs. He ultimately chose the Eagles and became the replacement for Jonathan Gannon, who left Philadelphia to take the Cardinals’ head coaching gig.
Unfortunately for Desai, the Eagles presently rank in the bottom-10 in terms of both total defense and points-per-game after finishing in the top-10 in both categories in 2022 (Philadelphia actually surrendered the second-fewest yards per game in 2022). While none of Patricia’s Detroit defenses were successful, and while Bill Belichick had a major role in the quality New England defenses that Patricia coordinated, Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni clearly felt a change was in order.
And Sirianni is no stranger to such a move (although he did tell reporters at the beginning of this week that no coaching changes were on the horizon, as McLane observes). During Sirianni’s first season as Philadelphia’s HC in 2021, he ceded offensive play-calling duties to then-offensive coordinator Shane Steichen, which triggered dramatic improvements from quarterback Jalen Hurts and the offense as a whole.
Patricia will have a chance to engineer a similar turnaround beginning tomorrow night, when the Eagles take on a Seattle club that may be without QB1 Geno Smith. Philadelphia faces the Giants twice and the Cardinals to close out the season, and those teams have fielded two of the league’s worst offenses in 2023.
Dera God…
*Dear
Can’t be any worse then it has been no? Patricia is a decent D-Coordinator….just a terrible O-Coordinator lol
It’s more that it had to come to this.
Remember, Matty P ran NE’s defense when they couldn’t get a third down stop to save their lives against Nick Foles in the Super Bowl. That defense SUUUUCKED
Failing Upwards: The Matt Patricia Story
Actually that’s the story for all NE coordinators that went on to become HC’s only to go back to NE after getting plastered by the league.
Bill O’Brien is the only one who had success.
I’d say that O’Brien is even kind of iffy. I will, give that honor to Jon Robinson. Never had a losing season, despite taking over an absolutely awful team, and helped turn it into a contender very quickly.
Panic in Filthadelphia
I guess this is out of Siriani’s hands.
The defense has been horrible for the Eagles
and was trending downwards. Patricia was a terrible head coach but hopefully can turn things around.
I thought he was calling plays on offense for the patriots last year. Now he’s back on defense calling plays for a other team What’s next year ST coordinator?
Well, hopefully for Philly that offensive experience will help in Patricia’s playcalling development. This probably would have been more helpful in Philly’s season opener against a New England team that almost snatched away a win. Normally, shifting playcalling duties isn’t such a big deal, but taking as coordinator completely is a bit startling. That, coupled with the bit about Byard convinced Desai to stay hands off with the secondary, makes me suspect that this move is less an endorsement of Patricia and more an indictment of Desai. He hasn’t been fired, which could either mean that he still contributes on some way, or could be in the effort to avoid a distraction to a contending team.
At least they didn’t make him offensive coordinator like the genius Belichick did.
Be fair now, Bill made both the special teams coordinator Matt ‘co’ offensive coordinators! Sheer brilliance there.
I can agree that that was the dumbest move of his career, and it’s likely the biggest decision that led to Belichick’s being fired this year. It seems to me that that broke Mac Jones, forced O’Brien into the fold at Kraft’s insistence, and tore up whatever trust was left between Kraft and Belichick. Of course, it’s also one of the reasons that I think that Belichick halfway did the losing on purpose…that was so obvious a blunder, in his rookie starter’s second year, that most of us couch commenters knew it wouldn’t go well.
AK, if your theory is true, there’s no way I would want Bill around my team to sabotage 2 years of a franchise for his own ego. But I can see your logic actually being in play w/ Bill.
Replying to AK185’s comment. I think it was pure arrogance thinking he could be successful doing something no one else would do. I’ve always thought with his draft picks he always picks guys earlier than the pundits think they should be picked to show that he’s smarter than everyone else. That’s one reason I can’t stand him and the other is because he won’t give a straight answer. He always has to be a jerk to reporters. I’ve never liked him.
Partly so they didn’t have to pay him as he was still milking his Detroit firing. Offset language you know.
The very definition of desperation.
(though Desai will remain with the Eagles in a different capacity).
Under Patricia he will now be the Director of pencil sharpening.
The 21 century equivalent — tablet charging.
You can’t fit a tablet behind your ear… well at least most people can’t.
Patricia scribbles on it, Desai charges it, Brady smashes it-the (Microsoft) surface of life ™.
No Super Bowl for you Philly.
Wasn’t Sean d supposed to be top hc candidate when he was with bears..
Must be why Darius decided to get that knee surgery.
Patricia, the horse whisperer at the glue factory.
Gotta love how the Dumb Sports Fans with their knee-jerk fan thinking don’t bother to follow the league.
Dallas is losing big at halftime, so the Eagles could be atop the NFC East by the time their plane lands in Seattle.
Julio Jones: “OMG! There are snakes on the plane!”
“Snakes on a Plane” — wasn’t that a great movie?
It gets even better: the 49ers winning at Arizona put Philly in the playoffs!
Should have just promoted Dennard Wilson in the offseason.
I think they would be better off letting Madden AI call their defensive schemes.
Matty P. cannot be any worse then Sean has been this year
Can he rush the passer? As that is the primary reason the Eagles don’t look as good this year. Last year they were first in sacks and and applying pressure to the opposing QB – but this year they are in the bottom half of the league.
This team is free-falling. Even if they can rally and beat the Giants and Cardinals (totally not a given), they will be one and done. Management need to seriously look at major coaching changes and needs to start addressing LB and DB’s for next year.