How much can de facto defensive coordinator Matt Patricia change the Eagles defense?
Patricia, 49, spoke with the media for the first time on Thursday since he was hired last spring.
Matt Patricia isn’t looking for sole ownership of the Eagles’ defensive scheme.
A little over a week removed from replacing Sean Desai as the head of the Eagles defense, Patricia said the changes he’s making to the schematic approach are based off more than just personal convictions tied to systems he’s run in the past.
“It’s the Eagles’ defense,” Patricia said in a Thursday news conference, his first since being hired last spring. “It’s the 2023 Eagles. That’s what we’re trying to develop. I think every year in football things change a little bit and schemes change based on people and the personnel you have. Certainly, I think that’s what we’ve been trying to do through the course of the year.”
» READ MORE: Jalen Hurts backtracks from ‘committed enough’ comments, says he was just trying to challenge himself
“I think you do have to evolve and do things that fit the players that you have that particular week,” Patricia added. “But certainly you want to keep the foundation of what you spend a lot of time on. A lot of times, try to just let the talent shine that we have on the field.”
Patricia spent the first 14 weeks of the Eagles’ season as a senior defensive assistant on the headset from the coach’s booth on game days. Following a dubious stretch in which the Eagles gave up 30-plus points in three consecutive games, Eagles coach Nick Sirianni stripped Desai of his play-calling duties and handed the reins to Patricia roughly a week ago.
Although Sirianni made the surprise coaching change because of Desai’s recent performance, he said Wednesday that the scheme could only differ so much this late in the season.
“You’re not necessarily going to see complete wholesale changes at this point of the year,” Sirianni said. “You’ll see some different things here and there. ... but, again, we’re going to stick with some of the core things that we’ve done, and we’ve done well through the first 14 weeks of the season.”
Patricia declined to get into the specifics of how the coaching shake-up was handled internally, but said that Desai’s voice is still an important one in defensive meetings. Desai’s history running a zone-based scheme influenced by Miami Dolphins defensive coordinator Vic Fangio differs significantly from Patricia, who was a longtime assistant under New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick.
“I’m honored that Sean has been so great and I’ve been able to learn from him,” Patricia said. “He’s a huge part of everything still now, so there may have been a little bit of a switch in some of the responsibilities, but I feel like it’s still a group effort. We go in the room and talk about different areas of the game and what teams are going to do. We talk about what our players do well.”
While Patricia said he’s hoping to “build” off what Desai implemented throughout the season, there were several notable changes in the Eagles’ 20-17 loss to the Seattle Seahawks last Monday night with Patricia calling the defense.
The 49-year-old used a heavy amount of sub packages with three safeties, which resulted in an expanded role for rookie defensive back Sydney Brown. Brown played 79% of the Eagles’ defensive snaps, which is his highest percentage of the season aside from two games when injuries required him to fill in.
Patricia also used a good amount of man coverage looks on third downs, something that tracks from his six years as the Patriots defensive coordinator starting in 2012 and three seasons as the Detroit Lions head coach from 2018-20.
His aggressive approach on the back end paid off for most of the game, but eventually backfired on the Seahawks’ game-winning drive. Seattle almost exclusively targeted cornerback James Bradberry in man coverage on the final series, leading to the veteran giving up 87 of the 92 yards gained. He also conceded the game-winning touchdown, when rookie receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba blew past him on a third-and-10 without safety help over the top.
“That drive starts with me,” Patricia said. “And I’ve got to do a better job to get them in position to get us off the field and obviously help us win. I think our guys played really, really hard. I was really proud of the way they went out and give praise to them for what they did. Tried to play aggressive. Tried to play physical up front. Covered really well. Obviously, the two-minute drive wasn’t good enough. That’s me.”
» READ MORE: Eagles open 21-day practice window for cornerback Avonte Maddox
During his tenure as the Lions head coach, Patricia drew criticism from several players including Eagles cornerback Darius Slay. The 32-year-old cornerback has previously called Patricia “disrespectful” and detailed meetings in which the coach called him out in front of teammates. Patricia traded Slay to the Eagles in 2020 after the relationship between the two eroded, but Slay said their reunion this spring led to reconciliation.
Patricia echoed that sentiment Thursday. He also suggested that he’s changed since the last time the two shared a building.
“I just gave him a big hug before I came in here” Patricia said. “It’s been awesome for me to be back around Slay and [we] really have an unbelievable relationship. He’s a great guy. He’s super kind, super funny, very determined.
“I don’t think all of us are ever our most perfect selves our entire lives,” Patricia added. “It’s good for me to be able to come back and build some of those relationships the way that you want them.”
The Eagles host the New York Giants on Monday. Join Eagles beat reporters Olivia Reiner and Jeff McLane as they dissect the hottest storylines surrounding the team on Gameday Central, live from Lincoln Financial Field.