Sean Desai was the MVC — most valuable coach — as the Eagles defense shut down the Dolphins

Sean Desai doesn’t exactly fit the mold of fire-breathing defensive coach. He may have taken an untraditional path into coaching. He may be the first from his ethnicity to climb as high as he has in his profession. But none of that matters if he can’t coordinate a defense.

On Sunday night, against the NFL’s top offense, and with yet another patchwork secondary, Desai offered the strongest argument yet that he will helm a defense that is more than just a complement to an offensive-minded Eagles head coach’s side of the ball.

Desai’s unit grounded and pounded the high-flying Dolphins as the Eagles moved to 6-1 with a 31-17 victory at Lincoln Financial Field with a performance in throwback kelly green uniforms that hearkened back to some of the legendary defenses from that era.

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Seventeen points might not suggest dominance, but seven of those points came off an interception that was returned for a touchdown. Still, Miami entered averaging an NFL-best 37.2 points a game.

The Dolphins gained an average of 499 yards a game with nearly 182 yards rushing in their first six outings. But Desai’s group held Miami coach Mike McDaniel’s offense to just 244 total yards and only 45 yards on the ground.

And, most impressively, the Eagles kept the explosive Tyreek Hill in check. His final numbers — 11 catches for 88 yards and a touchdown — may not look slight. But the receiver entered averaging 136 yards a game and 19.4 yards a catch.

“You see why we hired him, right?” Eagles coach Nick Sirianni said of Desai. “We knew the type of guy we were getting. I just think he’s done a phenomenal job. What I think he’s done such a good job of is what I admire of any coach: Adapting to the personnel that you have.”

Desai hasn’t had anywhere close to the personnel he started the season with in the secondary. In each of the Eagles’ seven games, he has had some different variation with his five defensive backs. And because he had to dip far into the depth chart, he often employed rotations at each position.

This week, he was without safety Reed Blankenship (ribs) and slot cornerback Bradley Roby (shoulder). He was already down a safety with Justin Evans sidelined, which meant that backups Terrell Edmunds and rookie Sydney Brown got the start. Converted rookie cornerback Mekhi Garner even played a few series on the back end.

In the slot, Desai split time between Eli Ricks and Josiah Scott, who was just re-signed to the roster on Tuesday. Scott may be best known by some fans for surrendering a third-and-30 completion last season against the Cowboys, but he gave the Eagles value snaps vs. the Dolphins.

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Ricks — another rookie who has been thrust into the lineup — got the start and was part of Desai’s deception.

He had played some slot on third downs in the two previous games and most of his snaps came in man-to-man defense. So to switch it up against Miami, Desai had Ricks drop into zones whenever he was on the field in the first half.

“It kind of threw them off early in the first half,” Ricks said. “And then in the second half, we started going back to man where I shadowed [Hill] and I had help over top. We only went back to that once we realized they were only going to [Hill].”

Desai had starting outside cornerback Darius Slay back in the lineup after he sat out last week’s loss at the New York Jets. But the veteran had some shaky moments in the first 30 minutes. He allowed a 29-yard catch on third-and-18 several plays before Hill caught his lone touchdown.

But Desai’s halftime adjustments and his overall plan to play mostly split-safety zones to keep the Dolphins’ speedsters from getting beyond the defense started to force quarterback Tua Tagovailoa into poor decisions and bad throws.

“We saw what Buffalo did,” Brown said of the Bills, the only team to beat Miami before the Eagles. “They played off. They played zone. But Tua’s a spot thrower. Great quarterback, great weapons all around him to get the ball. But he’s a spot thrower so we played a lot of looser zones.”

With Miami trailing, 24-17, early in the fourth quarter but threatening to score, Tagovailoa floated an underthrown third-down pass just shy of the goal line that Slay intercepted.

“I covered my dude, but I had vision on the quarterback and I saw the ball not being thrown to my dude,” Slay said of Dolphins receiver Jaylen Waddle. “I just came off him and made a play.”

As impressive as Desai’s secondary played, especially considering the personnel, it was the Eagles’ defensive front that likely had the most impact on the outcome. Its physicality up front against an Dolphins offensive line that was injury-marred helped slow a rushing attack that had set up McDaniel’s motion-heavy offense.

Miami ran just four times for negative-7 yards in the first half. Outside linebacker Haason Reddick had two tackles for losses on early Raheem Mostert carries.

“It started with making them one-dimensional,” Sirianni said. “I think you saw some good things there with Haason, with the way he kind of stopped the toss crack play and set the edge, because they have been highly successful on that play.”

And with the Dolphins forced into passing situations, pass rushers Josh Sweat, Jalen Carter — who bull rushed starting left guard Isaiah Wynn out of the game — and Reddick pressured Tagovailoa into quick throws and McDaniel into calling short passes.

There were some breakdowns, however, technique-wise and communicative.

“We still have to do better with communicating because a lot of that two-minute [drill] — that’s when we gave up the touchdown and I gave up a play on that ‘seven’ cut,” Slay said.

But Desai didn’t overcomplicate the scheme and his calls. And his charges responded with their most impressive performance to date.

It would be a showing Desai’s mentor, Vic Fangio, would likely be proud of had he not been on the other side. Fangio was an adviser to former Eagles defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon last season and may have been his successor had the veteran defensive coordinator not taken the Dolphins job before Gannon left to become the Cardinals head coach.

There has been speculation that Gannon’s dabble with the Cardinals before the Super Bowl somehow prevented the Eagles from hiring Fangio. But that’s all in hindsight, and frankly, Sirianni may have ended up with the defensive coordinator better suited for his team.

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Desai, a first-generation Indian-American, is as unassuming as coaches come. He’s a teacher at heart. And the best always have a way of relating to their students.

“He’s calm at all times,” Ricks said. “That’s what I need from a coach. I can’t come off the sideline and see a coach having anxiety. And he might at times, but he doesn’t show it. He keeps the game plan really simple.

“And we go over everything in detail. He gave me a chance today and I thank him.”