Coming off a shocking late-season collapse, the Philadelphia Eagles were bound to make some quick personnel changes. The first one of perhaps several came Sunday.
Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni reportedly fired defensive coordinator Sean Desai, who had the defensivre play-calling duties stripped during the season and given to Matt Patricia.
Desai, 40, was in his first season as the Philadelphia Eagles’ defensive coordinator. He was the defensive coordinator of the Chicago Bears and then an associate head coach and defensive assistant with the Seattle Seahawks in 2022 before Sirianni hired him to replace Jonathan Gannon, who moved on to become head coach of the Arizona Cardinals.
The Philadelphia Eagles started the season 10-1, but then suffered lopsided back-to-back losses to the San Francisco 49ers and the Dallas Cowboys that prompted Sirianni to demote Desai and give the play-calling to Patricia.
The move didn’t nothing to help the Eagles, who continued their freefall, losing five of their final six regular-season games before falling to Tampa Bay, 32-9, in the wild-card round last week.
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Philadelphia Eagles’ defense declined significantly
Under Desai and then Patricia, the Philadelphia Eagles went from ranking No. 2 in total defense last season, when they went to the Super Bowl, to ranking 26th this season.
The Eagles were even worse when it came to stopping teams from scoring. They surrendered an average of 25.2 points per game, ranking them 30th overall.
The Eagles’ decline has led to speculation about Sirianni’s job security, especially given reports about a miserable locker room culture that emerged as they began to lose football games during a disastrous December.
But there’s been no word about Sirianni, who’s led the Eagles to the playoffs in all three seasons as head coach. Last week he had an exit meeting with owner Jeffrey Lurie, and the firing of Desai was likely the result of that conversation about changes that needed to happen immediately.
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