Matt Patricia Taking Over, Though Sean Desai Remains Philadelphia Eagles Defensive Coordinator

The longtime defensive voice of the New England Patriots, Matt Patricia, will try to right a Philadelphia Eagles defense that has been historically bad under Sean Desai's stewardship.

Turmoil has arrived on the doorstep of 1 NovaCare Way, where the Philadelphia Eagles train and conduct all their football-related business.

Inside those walls this week, they decided to move Sean Desai to the coach's box rather than keep him on the sidelines. He will remain as the defensive coordinator, per a team source. The more seasoned Matt Patricia, however, will inherit defensive play-calling duties.

Patricia has remained largely in the shadows since being hired as a senior defensive assistant this offseason. He hasn’t been made available to talk to reporters despite requests. Desai, though, has spoken every week as the coordinators always do.

He did not indicate that something this big was going to happen. Patricia taking over play-calling duties, though is a major, major shake-up.

A little @Eagles scoopage today: Philly very quietly made a change at defensive coordinator this week moving out Sean Desai and replacing him with Matt Patricia. Desai remains with the team in different capacity but Patricia now runs and calls the defense @NFLonFOX pic.twitter.com/Uxq254wQkg

— Jay Glazer (@JayGlazer) December 17, 2023

Head coach Nick Sirianni said earlier in the week leading up to Monday night’s game against the Seattle Seahawks that no shakeup was planned.

Relieving your defensive coordinator of his duties in what will be the Eagles’ biggest game of the year is a major, major shakeup.

Matt Patricia and Howie Roseman / USA Today

The Eagles have allowed 33-plus points in three straight games for the second time in team history (Weeks 11-13, 1967) and their 428.2 average yards per game allowed since Week 8 are the most in the NFL over that span.

They have been blown out in back-to-back games by San Francisco and Dallas, allowing points on nine of 10 drives spanning the 42-19 and 33-13 losses, respectively.

Yet, the Eagles still control their fate in the NFC East. If they win out, they win the division for a second straight year, no easy feat in a division that hasn’t had a repeat winner since the Eagles did it in 2003-04.

The No. 1 seed in the NFC may be out of reach, with the 49ers controlling the tiebreaker based on their win over Philly should both teams finish with the same records.

Desai was asked about whether or not he hears the criticism being lobbed his way outside 1 NovaCare Way, criticism that included a fan clad in all Eagles gear, including a helmet, holding a sign out front on Monday that said, “Fire Sean Desai.”

“That's part of the job. There is always going to be criticism. Go back every week of this season there was criticism based on different things that happened in the game. When you play a couple games the way we have, not the performance or the standard we want to, that's going to magnify and amplify. I get it. That's okay.

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“Everybody, fans, you guys, everybody is entitled to their opinions. What we have to do is just lean into each other and really focus on our process and getting better.

“At the end of the day, from what we want to what everybody else wants in this city, is to win, right? And we found ways to win to get us to the point we are. We're not where we want to be. We're still growing to get where we want to be. We feel good about doing that and working together to achieve our goals still.”