Eagles’ Nick Sirianni has no regrets switching to Matt Patricia: ‘I believe that adjustment was necessary’
Sirianni says “everything is on the table” with regard to the question of resting starters against the Giants on Sunday.
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After the Eagles lost to the Arizona Cardinals 35-31 on Sunday, coach Nick Sirianni on Monday doubled down on his confidence in defensive play caller Matt Patricia.
With Sirianni in search of an in-season spark, Patricia took over coordinator duties from Sean Desai more than three weeks ago. But since then, the Eagles have gone 1-2, with both of their losses, to the Seattle Seahawks and Cardinals, involving last-minute, comeback drives from the opposition.
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”We’re going to continue to go in the direction we’re going in on defense that we’ve been these last couple weeks,” Sirianni said. “We made an adjustment earlier in the year to get things going back on track. For a couple weeks, we felt like they were. And then [Sunday] obviously wasn’t up to what we wanted to be able to do and play to our standard or coach to our standard.
”But we’ll continue in that direction.”
On Sunday, the defense showed little backbone as Cardinals quarterback Kyler Murray conducted a seven-play, 70-yard scoring drive to take the lead in the final minute. Running back James Conner, who finished with 128 yards on 26 carries, capped the game-winning drive with his 2-yard touchdown run.
The defense gave up a whopping 449 yards and 32 first downs on 72 plays. The Cardinals, who were without top receiver Marquise Brown, controlled the flow throughout, owning time of possession (39 minutes, 39 seconds compared to the Eagles’ 20 minutes, 21 seconds).
Sirianni reiterated he has no regrets about switching from Desai to Patricia. The Eagles have now lost four of their last five games and have fallen from the NFC’s No. 1 seed to No. 5 during that span.
”Again, 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 adjustment [to give play-calling duties to Patricia] that I made a couple weeks ago was an attempt to do what was best for the team, and I still believe that. We made some adjustments. Coming off a game like that, no one is going to be satisfied about anything that happened. But I do believe in the guys that we have on the field. I do believe in the guys that we have — the defensive coaches.
”I believe that adjustment was necessary.”
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There’s still a possibility the Eagles can win the NFC East title, but they no longer control their destiny and need external help. If the Washington Commanders defeat the visiting Dallas Cowboys on Sunday and the Eagles also beat the New York Giants on the road, then the Eagles will be crowned division champs.
However, a loss to the Giants or a Cowboys win would cement a second-place finish in the division, along with a spot in the wild-card round the following weekend.
The Eagles-Giants and Cowboys-Commanders play in the same window Sunday, with both kickoffs scheduled for 4:25 p.m.
Since the Eagles no longer control their destiny, Sirianni said the coaching staff will think of all possibilities in regard to the starters’ playing time ahead of Sunday.
”Obviously, we always try to think through everything at all times and we are always thinking about those things,” Sirianni said. “We’re going to do whatever we need to do to win this game [at New York]. But still, that’s a consideration [to rest starters] because we think through all those different things. We understand we are at the mercy of another team to win the division, all those different things.
”But we still know that we’ve got to … get out of the rut that we’re in. So I’m not saying yes, I’m not saying no. I’m saying that everything is discussed, but there are some unknowns about Dallas and Washington. And we’ve got to start playing and coaching good football, too. And to be able to go into the playoffs not in a rut.
”So, everything is on the table. We’ll think through everything on that. We are preparing right now to play the Giants, and that’s been our big conversation so far. Later [in the week], we’ll discuss more about playing and who is up and who is down … everything is on the table.”