The Philadelphia Eagles lacked the patience necessary to give a rookie defensive coordinator like Sean Desai the opportunity to develop in his position.PHILADELPHIA: The Philadelphia Eagles’ buyer’s remorse over former defensive coordinator Sean Desai may have begun in the summer, specifically on August 9.
With the preseason opener approaching, the Eagles shifted their planned training camp session from the NovaCare Complex across Pattison Avenue to Lincoln Financial Field on that particular day. The apparent reason for the change was to improve communication.
The Eagles’ head coach, Nick Sirianni, stated at the time to SI.com’s Eagles Today, “We have to get ready to play and coach in game-like scenarios.” “I felt like it was a wonderful chance for us. When we visited the stadium the day before—sorry, Sunday—I realized that, as head coach, there were some aspects of game management that I needed to improve.
“I also requested that the coaches rehearse communicating more before our opening preseason game.”
GM Howie Roseman was tasked with rectifying Desai after the player, who had already publicly chastised himself for various mistakes made during prior practices, failed to field the appropriate squad against the No. 1 offense during the second team period of the real session.
The “incident” was swiftly forgotten, despite the Eagles’ best efforts to downplay it, as many onlookers found it unforgettable.
A league source claims that Sirianni sacked Desai on Sunday, almost six weeks after removing him from defensive play-calling duties. This move stripped the forty-year-old of his authority over a defense that was having trouble winning games.
Even though Desai officially remained the DC until the end of the season, he
had over a defense in trouble.
Though Desai remained the DC until the end of the season, he and senior defensive assistant Matt Patricia essentially took on different roles, with Patricia managing the defense during the last month of the regular season and the team’s 32-9 playoff loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Even against an easier schedule, the defense may have gotten even worse without Desai, suggesting that personnel concerns rather than coaching or system were the main causes of the team’s woes.
Patricia, whose contract is up in 2024, likewise has no intention of playing in Philadelphia again.
The 2023 Eagles’ defense appeared its strongest when Desai was in charge of it earlier in the season, in Weeks 3 at Tampa, 7 against the fierce Miami Dolphins, and possibly even as late as Week 11 at Kansas City in inclement weather.
In Weeks 13 and 14, the wheels came off against two of the top offensive teams in football: Dallas and San Francisco. In the latter game, which was Desai’s final stand, he already had his third-down authority taken away from him, according to a team source.
Even earlier, when the club was 8-1 during the bye week, self-scouting laid the groundwork for the Desai removal
The criticisms of Desai that we have heard seem pointless. Being an Ivy League graduate and educator by profession, not many doubted the ex-DC’s intelligence or comprehension of defensive football. His covering methods were likely overly intricate for a club with a lot of shifting pieces at the back end as a result of injuries and departures.
Before Desai, Jim Schwartz and Jonathan Gannon, two DCs who had previously played for NovaCare, exuded confidence, while Desai’s appearance was much more subdued, which made some wonder if he had the right kind of personality to manage a locker room full of veterans.
At least twice, in the games against the Los Angeles Rams on October 8 and Dallas on November 5, five-time Pro Bowl cornerback Darius Slay begged Desai to ease up on the newcomers and younger guys in order to help them with some of the communication problems.
Desai responded, “We take everything into account,” after learning of Slay’s remarks from Eagles Today following the Rams game. Although I was unaware of that comment, he did visit us, and we discussed our approach and our goals for the contest.
“And to aid our guys with their matchups, we kept with our calls and adjusted some of our approaches within the calls. Then Slay is correct. One of the main takeaways from all those guys, including the coaches and all the veterans, at halftime was to simply go about doing what we do best—play our skills and win the leverages that are required of us. You have a chance if you act in that way, and it was evident.
“Our guys took that really personally.”
What was happening was that a rookie DC was finding his feet, learning as he went along, and even pushing the players to take some pride in the final result.
That sort of stuff might perhaps have been supported by a more seasoned veteran defensive mentality.
It was seen as weakness by Desai in the face of unachievable expectations, as was the later admission by Kevin Byard that he pushed all of the defensive backs to contribute to the game plan by concentrating on certain opponents.
If Gannon had been healthy this season, it would have seemed unreal that the Eagles could build on a season in which a number of players had career years and the team finished with the No. 2 defensive overall ranking, the No. 1 pass defense, and a franchise-high 70 sacks.
It was a death sentence for an ascending coach who needed time to acclimate to the task without five starters from the 2022 squad.
The Eagles ought to have been more patient with Desai and gave him a greater chance.
