Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni said he still believes in the team’s defense on Sunday and he said on Monday that he still believes in senior defensive assistant Matt Patricia as well.
Sirianni made Patricia the team’s defensive play caller a few weeks ago and the team has gone 1-2 since he replaced defensive coordinator Sean Desai in that role. Sunday’s 35-31 loss to the Cardinals saw the team give up 32 first downs, 449 total yards, and 221 rushing yards while losing the time of possession battle by nearly 20 minutes.
On Monday, Sirianni was asked early in his press conference if the team would continue to have Patricia in that role for Week 18 and the playoffs. Sirianni said that Sunday’s performance wasn’t up to the standard the team wants to set, but that they will “continue in that direction” regarding Patricia calling the plays.
“Everything that I do, every decision that I make is with the thought of the team first and what is best for the team,” Sirianni said. “The adjustments that I made a couple weeks ago were in attempt to do what’s best for the team. I still believe that.”
The move to Patricia was a major shift to make late in a season and it’s hard to believe that reversing course or jumping to yet another play caller would lead to better results. The Eagles are pretty much the team they’re going to be at this point in the season and any fix is going to have to come from the same coaches and players that got them here.