Eagles’ Nick Sirianni explains decision to shake up defensive responsibilities of Matt Patricia, Sean Desai

There will not be any extra teaching modifications on the Philadelphia Eagles this yr. The one the Eagles did make was by Nick Sirianni.

Sirianni admitted after the Eagles’ 20-17 loss to the Seattle Seahawks on Monday evening that he was the one which made Matt Patricia the defensive play-caller and moved Sean Desai to the coaches field. The transfer did not come from the entrance workplace. 

“I made the choice,” Sirianni informed reporters after the sport, by way of a workforce transcript. “I did what i believed I wanted to do in the most effective curiosity of the soccer workforce. I did not really feel like we had been taking part in nicely sufficient or teaching nicely sufficient on protection, so I made an adjustment. It was my choice and that is what I did.”

Patricia is the ultimate decision-maker on protection, although he would not have the defensive coordinator title. He basically is the defensive coordinator since he is mainly taking all of Desai’s tasks on recreation day and recreation preparation. This was a change after all from earlier within the week when Sirianni defended Desai as his defensive coordinator. 

“I made (the choice) someday in the midst of the week,” Sirianni mentioned. “I do not precisely keep in mind what day it was. It was a tricky choice to have the ability to do that. Like I mentioned, I did what I assumed was in the most effective curiosity of the soccer workforce.” 

When requested if there can be every other teaching modifications, offensively or defensively, Sirianni mentioned no. 

Philadelphia made the change to the protection after two poor performances in opposition to the San Francisco 49ers and Dallas Cowboys, however there have been issues previous to these two video games. Getting into Week 15, the Eagles had been thirty second within the NFL in third down protection (54.8%) and pink zone protection (78.3%) since Week 8, additionally permitting a league excessive 428.2 yards per recreation and 297.8 passing yards per recreation. Philadelphia was thirty first within the league in factors per recreation allowed (30.0) and had allowed 30-plus factors in three consecutive video games for the primary time since 1967.

“As disenchanted as Sean was, he dealt with himself like a real professional,” Sirianni mentioned. “He has a shiny thoughts and he may also help.”

In Patricia’s debut, the Eagles allowed 20 factors and 297 yards, however allowed 10 factors within the fourth quarter and the Seahawks to go 92 yards down the sector within the closing two minutes to grab the victory. The Eagles protection actually performed higher underneath Patricia, however the identical errors continued in pressuring the quarterback and tackling. 

Sirianni additionally mentioned he made the choice and let the gamers know earlier than the media, citing a aggressive drawback by letting the phrase out on the swap. The end result for the Eagles nonetheless remained the identical.