Eagles de facto DC Matt Patricia: Run defense back to basics after loss vs. Cardinals

Matt Patricia opened his weekly news conference by crediting his predecessor’s predecessor.

Now three games into his tenure as the de facto defensive coordinator, Patricia said Cardinals head coach and former Eagles coordinator Jonathan Gannon did a nice job exploiting weak areas in this Eagles defense during Arizona’s 35-31 win Sunday at Lincoln Financial Field.

“Obviously, not good enough performance this past weekend. That falls on me,” Patricia said Tuesday. “I’ve got to do a better job of getting our guys in positions to help us win, that’s first and foremost. I do want to give Coach Gannon credit. They did a great job of game planning.”

The Cardinals finished with 449 total yards and four consecutive touchdown drives, including the game-winning series late in the fourth quarter. Discounting a two-play series at the end of the first half, all seven of the Cardinals’ offensive drives reached the red zone, and Arizona finished with almost double the Eagles’ time of possession.

James Conner became the first running back to surpass 100 rushing yards against the Eagles all season, finishing with 128 yards and a touchdown on 26 carries. Arizona, focused on controlling the game with methodical drives and frequent run plays, had 221 total rushing yards. It’s the most rushing yards the Eagles have given up since 2016 and only the fourth time they’ve given up more than 220 yards on the ground in the last 10 seasons.

Patricia said the Eagles’ defensive front struggled on rushing plays as the Cardinals varied their approach between zone and gap-scheme runs, which caused the onslaught.

“They did a good job of using a lot of runs that have caused issues for us,” Patricia said. “We’re going back and making sure that we have those tightened up and fixed from that standpoint. Run fits are a big part of defense and really some place you want to start from a defensive philosophy standpoint to make sure you can stop the run. I think that’s critical this time of the year.”

Considering that individual assignments against the run typically are ironed out during training camp, the Eagles’ struggles with such a foundational concept aren’t solely on Patricia because of his recent appointment as leader of the defense.

Fixing it, though, will be his responsibility.

“It’s going to start with me from that standpoint,” Patricia said. “Making sure that we have everybody understanding of how we want to get it fit, and taking care of when we see those different looks. Sometimes it’s a little bit of a little different window dressing to it and the run may look a little different than it is. ... From a coaching standpoint, we really want to make sure that our eyes are in the right place and I’ve got to make sure that we are all on the same page.”

In the passing game, the Eagles once again struggled to get the sack production that served as the engine for the defense a year ago. Jalen Carter logged the only sack against the Cardinals, getting a hand on Arizona quarterback Kyler Murray as he fell off balance trying to avoid the rookie defensive tackle.

Haason Reddick had just one pressure on 21 pass-rush snaps, both of which were season lows for the edge rusher, according to Pro Football Focus. Reddick dropped into coverage on seven pass plays Sunday, the most he has ever been utilized in coverage since signing with the Eagles two years ago as a full-time rusher.

Patricia said Reddick’s usage was twofold. The Cardinals used a hurry-up offense to keep the Eagles from subbing personnel when Patricia went with five down linemen and one linebacker, effectively forcing Reddick into a coverage assignment based on their formations. On other occasions, Patricia said, Reddick was dropping to give others an opportunity to rush.

“Game plan-wise, I think they did a good job in some of those,” Patricia said. “Sometimes it’s easier to correct that stuff if it’s a quicker series. You come to the sideline and you’re looking at it like, ‘Hey we need to do more of this.’ You get caught in a long series, sometimes that becomes a little bit more difficult.

“Other parts of the game where that may have occurred, honestly, he’s probably dropping into position to help his teammates. He’s really good at it in the situations where they got us in some spread and some empty and kind of put us in some space games. ... So he was doing a great job of being, like he always is, a great teammate of helping his teammates out in that space and not having them having to cover more when the ball was coming out as fast as it did.”