Philadelphia Eagles' Sean Desai Delivering in First Year as Defensive Coordinator

Philadelphia Eagles defensive coordinator Sean Desai hasn't had much experience in that role but has shown the ability to adjust during games and trust and prepare his younger players

PHILADELPHIA – The New York Jets defense was supposed to be good, and it is, and one the Philadelphia Eagles will try to solve to remain unbeaten when they visit MetLife Stadium on Sunday afternoon.

In their last three games, the Jets have allowed 142, 142, and 125 yards in the second half against the New England Patriots, Kansas City Chiefs, and Denver Broncos, respectively while allowing only one touchdown and 17 points in those three second halves.

Then there are the Eagles. Their defense was an unknown coming into a season in which they had to replace five starters and do it all with a new defensive coordinator in Sean Desai, whose coordinating experience consisted of all of one season with the Chicago Bears two years ago.

Desai has had to put out numerous fires due to injury, especially in his secondary. He has a good feel for what his players do well and maybe not so well, he trusts them, and his in-game adjustments have been stellar.

Makes you wonder: Had Desai been the defensive coordinator in last year’s Super Bowl, would he adjusted to what the Kansas City Chiefs did in the second half, and found a way to deliver the city its second Lombardi Trophy?

It’s a question that cannot be answered, but intriguing to think about, nonetheless.

Look no further than last Sunday’s win in L.A., 23-14, over the Rams. Cooper Kupp was going off in the first half, catching six passes for 95 yards. In the second half, Kupp had two receptions for 23 yards.

Desai wasn’t afraid to run Mario Goodrich out there for 18 snaps two weeks after the undrafted free agent from last year had been active as recently as two years ago. The DC wasn’t hesitant to use rookie UDFA Eli Ricks, giving him the first 13 defensive snaps of his young career. Nor did it bother Desai that Bradley Roby had just joined the team days earlier, giving Roby 25 snaps.

How many secondary players have the Eagles lost through the years that they didn’t trust enough to play in high-leverage moments? Chandon Sullivan and Rudy Ford come to mind, though there are others.

Desai and his staff prepare them to play then throw them into the deep end.

“We want our guys to be prepared,” Desai said. “We take a lot of pride in our preparation. We want our guys to be prepared. I think our staff does a tremendous job doing that and then communication on game day is critical.”

Josh Sweat leads an Eagles defense that is coming on strong under first-year defensive coordinator Sean Desai / USA Today

Desai showed no fear in blitzing a veteran like Matthew Stafford, either. He delivered the Eagles’ highest percentages of blitzes this season on the Rams quarterback. That doesn’t mean it will look like that every week.

“I wouldn't say that (it would),” he said. “I would say I want our defense to be physical and impose our will on people. I want us to run and hit. I want us to be smart. I want to be situationally smart. And that's really what our brand is going to be.

“That's really up to you guys to see how that manifests. And you guys will go either way with that, whether it's a high blitz rate or low blitz rate. At the end of the day, that's okay. We're about winning games, and we're about putting our people in the best position to win games and giving them the best opportunity to maximize their skill set to win games.”

Then there are the in-game adjustments.

As good as those Jets’ numbers have been in the second half the past three weeks, the Eagles are nearly as good.

The Eagles defense allowed 81 yards to the Rams in the second half, 173 to the Commanders, and 88 to the Bucs. They have surrendered 26 second-half points in that stretch.

“Part of (our) process is knowing who we have available to us and putting guys in position and then having answers, whether we got to get to the answers early, late, whatever we got to,” said Desai. “We try to talk about a lot of that stuff during the week as a staff; and oftentimes, even with players, situationally, ‘Hey, if this happens here's where we're going to get to, let's be ready for this.’”

The Rams game may have been his signature game for what he was able to do as the game went along.