Patriots Ex Matt Patricia Exposed In Eagles' Embarrassing Playoff Loss?

Former New England Patriots assistant coach Matt Patricia had a miserable night on Monday as his Philadelphia Eagles defense floundered against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

As the Philadelphia Eagles imploded in Monday night's 32-9 playoff loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, New England Patriots fans probably felt a bit of Déjà vu.

That's because former Patriots assistant coach Matt Patricia, who has been the Eagles' de facto defensive coordinator for the past month or so, watched as his unit flopped under the bright lights. Patricia's defense allowed 426 yards to a Tampa Bay team that finished 23rd in total offense this season. Buccaneers quarterback Baker Mayfield tore up the Eagles for 337 passing yards and three touchdowns, and even Tampa Bay's league-worst rushing attack racked up 119 yards on 4.1 yards per attempt.

As an added bonus, the Eagles held this same Buccaneers team to just 174 total yards in a 25-11 win on Sept. 25, back when Sean Desai was calling the defense instead of Patricia.

Bill Belichick and Matt Patricia / Cred: USA Today Sports Images

After the Eagles' humiliating loss, many media figures unleashed on Patricia for a miserable defensive performance that featured poor scheming and plenty of missed tackles.

"Matt Patricia has been an offensive and defensive coordinator in back-to-back seasons and neither hire made sense," wrote former NFL quarterback and ESPN analyst Robert Griffin III.

"Promoting Matt Patricia to play caller was an absolutely diabolical move. Whoever suggested that move and whoever signed off should be fired," NFL analyst Warren Sharp wrote.

The Eagles initially brought in Patricia as a senior defensive analyst this offseason, but after back-to-back losses in early December, they made him the defensive play caller while moving Desai up to the coaching booth. That move turned out to be a disaster, as Philadelphia went 1-4 and allowed 27.8 points per game when he called the plays. Losers of six of their last seven games, Patricia and the Eagles completed one of the worst late-season collapses the league has ever seen.

The Patriots fans know the feeling of a Patricia defense looking like Swiss cheese all too well. The most notable example came in Super Bowl LII, when his defense allowed 538 yards in a 41-33 loss to Nick Foles and the Eagles, ironically enough. That defensive ineptitude wasted a terrific performance by Tom Brady and the offense, which racked up 613 yards in the loss.

That was Patricia's last game before becoming the Detroit Lions' coach, where he was essentially run out of town less than three years in.

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He then returned to New England as an advisor in 2021, but the following year, the Patriots bizarrely made him the offensive play caller. With Patricia calling the plays, New England's offense regressed from a solid unit to one that consistently struggled. To be fair, though, the Patriots' offense was even worse this season with Patricia gone.

While that may be the case, Patriots fans are likely very happy they don't have to watch Patricia's defense anymore.

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