Like it or not, Nick Sirianni sticking with Matt Patricia originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
When the Eagles beat Tampa 25-11 back in September, they held the Bucs to 174 yards of offense, 12 first downs, 41 rushing yards and just one field goal until the middle of the fourth quarter.
That was Tampa’s 3rd-fewest points, fewest scrimmage yards, fewest rushing yards and fewest first downs this year.
That was all the handiwork of Sean Desai, who began the year as the Eagles’ defensive coordinator.
When the Eagles face the Bucs in the wild-card round – again at Raymond James Stadium on a Monday night – Matt Patricia will be running the defense.
Head coach Nick Sirianni said Tuesday he has no intention of relieving the beleaguered Patricia of his play calling duties and handing them back to Desai. The Eagles replaced Desai with Patricia a month ago, after consecutive poor performances against the 49ers and Cowboys. But the defense has been far worse under Patricia than Desai.
But if you were hoping for another change, you’re out of luck.
Sirianni was asked about the defense’s struggles since Patricia came in, and he denied a correlation between the coaching change and the defensive issues.
“You’ve got to understand that we’re not completely changing to just Matt’s philosophy,” Sirianni said. “Matt’s also doing things to fit the defense that’s currently in place. So to me, that’s not what the issue is going on.
“Are we doing some different things and some new things? Yeah, of course, but we’re doing some different things and new things on offense as the year progresses. And so that, to me, is not (the reason). And we understand that when you put something new (in), every detail has to be ironed out.
“So we’re being conscious of how much we’re changing and what we’re doing. Because it is hard to change it to say, ‘Hey, we’re going to run a completely new defense at this point in the year,’ when Matt took over. And that’s why we’re not…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/not-nick-sirianni-sticking-matt-015727038.html
Author : NBC Sports Philadelphia
Publish date : 2024-01-09 01:57:27
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