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The Philadelphia Eagles made a change in their defensive play-calling roles.
Matt Patricia — Philadelphia’s senior defensive assistant — has assumed defensive play-calling duties, while defensive coordinator Sean Desai will transition to the coaches’ booth, according to league sources. Desai will remain the Eagles’ defensive coordinator, league sources confirmed.
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The change comes before the team’s “Monday Night Football” matchup against the Seattle Seahawks.
Philadelphia’s defense ranks 25th in the NFL in points allowed and surrendered 10 straight scores across blowout losses to the San Francisco 49ers and Dallas Cowboys in the past two weeks. Earlier this week, The Athletic reported that safety Kevin Byard approached Desai privately and pitched the defensive coordinator a plan for the defensive backs to put together a scouting report of the Seahawks because of the Eagles’ recent disastrous losses.
Desai, in his first season as the Eagles’ defensive coordinator, has received the brunt of the blame for the team’s defensive struggles. Coach Nick Sirianni said last week that he was not changing anyone’s play-calling duties — and he remained confident that his staff would find solutions.
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The Eagles hired Patricia in the 2023 offseason. Before that, he spent two seasons with the New England Patriots as a senior football adviser and became the offensive line coach during the 2022 season. Patricia first worked with the Patriots from 2004-17 and served as the defensive coordinator in the last six years of that stint.
He left the Patriots in 2018 to coach the Detroit Lions, where the team went 13-29-1 under him. Detroit fired him in late November 2020 amid the team’s third season going under .500 with Patricia at the helm.
Sirianni says one thing, does another
Desai’s sudden role shift is somewhat surprising given how confidently Sirianni spoke of him Monday. A reporter began the news conference by asking Sirianni if he was considering “any coaching responsibility changes,” to which Sirianni offered a firm “no.”
“I feel good with the people that we have in this building,” Sirianni said then. “We’re 10-3. We’re in control of our own destiny, and we’re going to keep rolling and finding answers with the people that we have.”
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Sirianni went on to say that he had “total confidence” that Desai could find the solutions to improve what has lately been a disastrous defense.
“That’s why we hired him for the job,” Sirianni said.
It’s a curious move considering that the Eagles haven’t yet played a game since Sirianni’s vote of confidence. The evidence of Philadelphia’s poor defensive play, which includes an NFL-worst third-down defense, hasn’t changed.
It’s still important to note that the decision isn’t a full demotion for Desai. However, this remains a significant change in the gameday process. But Desai called plays from the booth while he was the defensive coordinator for the Chicago Bears in 2021. The Eagles seem to have decided that Desai’s vantage point from up top instead of the sideline will be an improvement, in addition to Patricia now calling the plays on the sideline.
Play calling is often a collaborative process. Sirianni, a former offensive coordinator for the Indianapolis Colts, remains involved with the offense on gamedays, although offensive coordinator Brian Johnson calls the plays. Desai is still expected to have significant input. But it remains a shift in the team’s process, just as it would be considered a significant shift if Johnson were to suddenly cede calling plays to Sirianni.
The timing of this move is also notable. The Eagles are entering their final four-game stretch of the season in a three-way tie with the 49ers and Cowboys for the No. 1 seed in the NFC. The urgency of those stakes should not be ignored. The Eagles could have certainly chosen to see if Desai could sort things out against the Seahawks. They did not. — Brooks Kubena, Eagles beat writer
Required reading
- Inside Eagles’ push for player-led scouting reports ahead of matchup with Seahawks
- Dissecting the Eagles’ defensive struggles on third down this season
(Photo: Bryan Bennett / Getty Images)