Weird Times

The Eagles are 10-3. They’re also coming off consecutive blowout losses. This is a weird time for the Eagles. And things just got weirder.

A little @Eagles scoopage today: Philly very quietly made a change at defensive coordinator this week moving out Sean Desai to another position and replacing him with Matt Patricia. Desai remains with the team in different capacity but Patricia now runs and calls the defense…

— Jay Glazer (@JayGlazer) December 17, 2023

Matt Patricia is taking over defensive play-calling for the Eagles, a source confirms. He'll be on the sideline and Sean Desai will be in the booth.

It sounds like Desai is keeping his DC title but isn't the play-caller anymore.

— Dave Zangaro (@DZangaroNBCS) December 17, 2023

Wow.

I didn’t see Nick Sirianni making a change like this in mid-December. This move certainly reeks of desperation. That doesn’t mean it is the wrong move.

Desai took over the defense of a team coming off a Super Bowl and hoping to get back to that level. The defense has been up and down this year, but has really struggled recently, giving up 33 or more points in three straight weeks. Normally Sirianni would let the coach work through that.

I’m guessing Sirianni was especially frustrated with the defense because it was so bad at situational football. He preaches the critical nature of those areas, but the Eagles defense is dead last in third down defense and 30th in red zone defense. If you can’t win in those situations, you aren’t going far in January. Making matters worse, the Eagles are 22nd in takeaways.

Put simply, the defense isn’t making enough key plays.

That would make sense if the defense was devoid of talent. While there are some gaps, there is still enough talent that the group should be playing at a higher level.

Can Matt Patricia make a difference? He was a terrible head coach in Detroit, but was part of some good defenses in New England. They were Top 10 in points allowed all six years he was the DC. They were Top 14 in takeaways in 4 of 6 years. They were Top 10 in 3rd down and red zone defense multiple times. There is no question that Bill Belichick was a key part of that, but Patricia was part of the success as well.

Patricia doesn’t need to have all the answers. He just has to get the Eagles to be better on third down and in the red zone. I have no idea if he’ll do that. It is incredibly hard to evaluate coaches from NE because Belichick has such influence on everything they do. Brian Flores worked in NE with Patricia and Flores is doing a great job with the Vikings defense this season.

The one area where Patricia definitely has an advantage over Desai is playoff experience. He was the DC for three Super Bowl teams. He has coached in plenty of big games and understands what it takes to win in January (unless he’s facing Nick Foles, of course).

I have very mixed feelings on this move. I don’t like making changes like this in December. But the defense didn’t fall apart until the last three weeks. There were up and down for the first 10 games of the season. Sirianni must feel like he doesn’t want to waste this season so the change had to be made. Worry about the future in the offseason.

It is tough to have confidence in Patricia because of his failure in Detroit. They got worse each year, overall and on defense. I do think he’s a better assistant coach than some fans and media members would have you believe. He was an awful head coach and no one is going to dispute that.

I don’t know what the players are going to think. Does a big move like this shake things up and really get their attention? Does this come across as panicky and make them lose confidence in the staff overall? We’ll get some hints on Monday night.

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I’ve liked some of what Sirianni did this week, but one thing did jump out at me. He’s been awkward in his press conferences. Sirianni has been defensive in answers to some questions. The recent struggles are affecting him.

Sirianni started off 2-5 in 2021. He was new to being a coach and didn’t get prickly with the media. He gave his famous flower answer. Since then Sirianni and the Eagles haven’t faced much adversity. The team is 33-11 since that speech.

Now Sirianni has an edge to him. When he doesn’t like questions, his answers have a vibe like “I’m a Super Bowl coach. I shouldn’t have to answer this stuff.” That’s not ideal.

We know Sirianni is an emotional guy. Think about him yelling after the win over the Colts last year when he was angry that they fired Frank Reich. Or this year when Sirianni yelled at some Chiefs fans after the Eagles win. That edge is part of what drives Sirianni and has made him successful.

But it can hurt him as well if he doesn’t know when to dial things down. I watch all of his press conferences. Not one question has been out of line. Sirianni might not like all of them, but they aren’t unreasonable. If Sirianni is being defensive and awkard with the media, what’s he like behind closed doors with his players and coaches?

A team going through a rough patch needs calm, strong leadership.

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Who made this move? Was it Sirianni, Jeff Lurie or Howie Roseman? It doesn’t feel like a Sirianni move, but he’s never gone through anything like the last three weeks.

Buffalo fired their OC and the offense immediately got better. That could have inspired Sirianni to make the move.

Washington fired their DC and the results are the same…bad. The Steelers fired their OC and it worked great for a week, but things have gone back to mediocre since then. Injuries are part of the issue there.

We’ll hear stories in the coming weeks, but I’m not sure if we’ll know for sure whether this was the coach’s decision or if he was pressured to make a move.

The key for now is if the move works.

Monday night should be interesting.

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The Right Approach

At his best, Nick Sirianni is a teacher. He is the son of a football coach and Sirianni has been around the game his whole life, as a player or coach. He understands that football is about fundamentals. The best coaches know how to teach fundamentals. You can talk about blocking, tackling, catching, etc. A good coach must be able to teach the details behind those actions.

Remember James Bradberry picking off a pass against Jacksonville last year?

Bradberry got his hands on the ball and then twisted so he landed on his back. Sirianni said later that twist was intentional. The Eagles coaches teach receivers and DBs to try to get their body twisted so their back hits the ground. That gives the player better control of the ball and makes a drop less likely. Think about the times we see a player go to the ground and the ball hits it and comes loose. Use the body to hit the ground and shield the ball and you’re more likely to have a catch.

That’s the kind of detail a good coach offers his players.

What does Sirianni do with his team on a 2-game losing streak? He turns a walkthrough into a padded practice. On Friday, he had his players focus on fundamentals, like holding onto the ball. The Eagles had three criticial fumbles in Dallas. The way to address that isn’t just saying “Don’t fumble.” You need to teach the players the specific details needed for them to hold onto the ball as they are going to the ground.

Teach ’em.

Fans and the media love to obsess on scheme. I get that. We all romanticize the football coach running over game film looking for some magical play or tweak that will solve everything. Scheme is important. But execution trumps all.

Think about some of the greatest defenses we’ve seen over the years. The 1985 Bears were a speed team that blitzed relentlessly. The 2000 Ravens were built on size. The 2002 Bucs might be the greatest pass defense of all time. Three different approaches. All led to Super Bowl wins. And those were three very different defenses. The schemes were good, but it was the players making those schemes come alive that was the real key.

The Eagles have the talent to win and play good football. They have to eliminate mistakes and start making plays. That doesn’t require new schemes. That requires better execution. Of course there are times when the coaches make bad calls. No one would dispute that. But the Eagles schemes have worked fine at times this year.

What needs to happen now is the coaches figuring out the best way to get the players to execute at a high level. Part of that is more practice and drilling on fundamentals. Part will be calling the right plays to bring out the best in the guys.

Two straight butt-kickings should have all the players and coaches as focused as possible. Let’s hope all the work from this week pays off in Seattle.

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Good news/bad news on the injury front.

It looks like Reed Blankenship will be back on Monday. That is good when going up against a set of WRs as good as Seattle’s.

Cam Jurgens doesn’t look like he’ll play. We’ll see if Tyler Steen or Sua Opeta takes his place.

Zach Cunningham might miss the game. If he does, will Shaq Leonard get the start? The Eagles could go with more of a 5-1-5 look if they aren’t sure if Leonard is ready for extensive playing time.

Seattle has some key injuries so they won’t be 100 percent either. We still don’t know if Geno Smith is going to start. On Friday he said “We’ll see.”

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