After allowing 109 points in their last three games, the Eagles have replaced defensive coordinator Sean Desai with senior defensive assistant Matt Patricia, a league source confirmed. The news was first reported by Jay Glazer of FOX NFL Sunday.
A league source said Desai will retain the “defensive coordinator” title even though he will no longer be calling plays, which makes no sense. Desai will move from the sideline to the coaches’ booth and Patricia will move down to the sideline and be in contact with the green-dot helmet during the game. A defensive coordinator under an offensive head coach who doesn’t call plays is a defensive coordinator in title only.
Patricia, who won three Super Bowls with the Patriots, will call plays and run the defense starting Monday night, when the Eagles face the Seahawks in Seattle.
The Eagles, 10-3, have lost their last two games to the 49ers and Cowboys by a combined 75-32. They can still win the NFC East by beating four teams with losing records – the Seahawks, Giants, Cards and Giants. That would clinch at worst the No. 2 seed in the NFC.
The change isn’t a total shock considering the defensive collapse over the last several weeks. The Eagles have allowed 33 or more points in three consecutive games for the second time in franchise history and first time since 1967.
Going into this weekend’s games, the Eagles ranked 28th in pass defense, 22nd in sacks per pass play, last on third down, 30th in the red zone, 28th in points allowed, 28th in first downs allowed, 31st in interceptions and 20th in takeaways.
This was the No. 2 defense and No. 1 pass defense in the NFL last year under Jonathan Gannon, now the Cards’ head coach but also with very different personnel.
Desai joined the Eagles in February after spending last year with the Seahawks following nine years with the Bears, the last one as defensive coordinator. Patricia joined the Eagles in late April.
Changing coordinators in the middle of the season is rare but not unprecedented.
Six weeks into the 1998 season, with the Eagles 1-5 and the offense averaging 11.5 points per game, Ray Rhodes replaced offensive coordinator Dana Bible with offensive assistant Bill Musgrave. The offense averaged 9.2 points per game the rest of the season. Bible remained with the team in a lesser role.
And six weeks into the 2012 season, with the Eagles 3-3, Andy Reid fired defensive coordinator and long-time offensive line coach Juan Castillo and replaced him with secondary coach Todd Bowles. Castillo did not remain with the team in any role.
Seven weeks into this season, the Eagles ranked eighth in the NFL in yards, but once the schedule grew more challenging, the defense began to fall apart.
The last three weeks have been historically bad, as the Eagles allowed the third-most points in franchise history in a three-game span.
During one stretch over the 49ers and Cowboys games, the defense allowed nine touchdowns and a field goal in the span of 10 drives.
The Eagles have allowed 29 passing touchdowns this year – second-most in the NFL – and they have just six interceptions. They’re on pace to allow the seventh-most passing TDs in NFL history. They’ve allowed 23 or more first downs in six straight games for the first time in at least 50 years.
Head coach Nick Sirianni was asked Tuesday if he was planning any changes in play-calling duties on either side of the ball, and he answered, “No.”
Asked to expound, he said, “I feel good with the people that we have in this building. 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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