Nick Sirianni doesn't regret changing DCs but maybe he should
Nick Sirianni doesn't regret changing DCs but maybe he should originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
Nick Sirianni on Monday afternoon confirmed the Eagles are moving forward with Matt Patricia as their de facto defensive coordinator and play-caller.
It’s not like he has much of a choice at this point.
But it’s been clear in the three games since Sirianni — or whoever above him — made the decision to demote Sean Desai and replace him with Patricia, the switch hasn’t had the desired effect. The Eagles’ defense still stinks. And Patricia might have even fewer answers than Desai.
Despite all that, Sirianni on Monday said he doesn’t regret the decision.
“No. No, I don’t,” Sirianni said. “Again, everything that I do, every decision that I make, is with the thought of the team first and what is best for the team. You know, the adjustments that I made a couple weeks ago were in attempts to do what was best for the team, and I still believe that. We made some adjustments. Coming off a game like that, no one is going to be satisfied about anything that happened. But I do believe in the guys that we have on the field. I do believe in the guys that we have, the defensive coaches.
“And so no, again, every decision I'm trying to make is what's best for the team, and I believe that adjustment was necessary and where we are right now.”
Sirianni doesn’t regret the move but maybe he should.
Because the decision to change defensive coordinators wasn’t necessarily hasty but it was made out of desperation. And now the Eagles are left with a similarly bad defense, players who haven’t been able to adjust, a play-caller who isn’t even calling his own defense and not one but two lame duck defensive coordinators riding out the string for a playoff run that seems likely to end with disappointment.
Desai was made into a scapegoat and the problem with that is that the results haven’t gotten any better. There’s not another move to make at this point. The Eagles just have to hope and pray their defense gets better. And maybe it will. They do have some talent on that side of the ball and Darius Slay and Zach Cunningham should be returning for the playoffs.
But we’re also talking about this entering Week 18 as the Eagles come off the worst loss of the Sirianni Era. The best the Eagles can realistically really hope for is that the Eagles’ defense climbs its way out of awful territory to bad or average.
On Sunday night after the Eagles’ disastrous 35-31 loss to the Cardinals, Sirianni mentioned that the Eagles’ defense did some good things in those first two games under Patricia.
Yeah?
In those two games, the Eagles went 1-1 against the Seahawks and Giants while facing backup quarterbacks. They lost to Drew Lock in Seattle and then barely beat the combination of Tommy DeVito and Tyrod Taylor last week.
Against a good (yet hardly elite) quarterback in Kyler Murray? Even without his top wide receiver, Murray and the Cardinals’ rushing attack were simply too much for the Eagles in the second half.
In 13 games under Desai, the Eagles allowed 24.7 points per game. In three games under Patricia, they’ve allowed 26.7 points per game.
But the one thing Desai seemed to be able to do was adjust during a game. His defense pitched second-half shutouts against the Rams and the Chiefs and was considerably better in the second half than the first. Before halftime, Desai’s defense gave up 180 points but just 141 after.
It’s been the opposite for Patricia. His defense in the last three games has allowed just 12 points in first halves but an astounding 68 after halftime. Things reached a new low on Sunday when the Cardinals’ scored 29 second-half points against the Eagles after not scoring more than 29 in a game all season.
And, ultimately, this defense just isn’t good enough.
There have been plenty of questions floated about Sirianni’s future amid this late-season collapse but it seems far-fetched to think the Eagles would move on. The Eagles have made the playoffs in all three of Sirianni’s seasons and were in the Super Bowl last year.
One thing is for certain, though. The Eagles have to find a new defensive coordinator once this season is over. That might be the most important hire Sirianni ever makes.
Subscribe to Eagle Eye anywhere you get your podcasts:
Apple Podcasts | YouTube Music | Spotify | Stitcher | Art19 | RSS | Watch on YouTube
