The Philadelphia Eagles made a fairly bizarre in-season coaching move by demoting defensive coordinator Sean Desai and giving his play-calling duties to Matt Patricia. There is some evidence that the change may have done more harm than good, at least based on what one of the team’s most important defenders said.
Cornerback Darius Slay admitted on Wednesday that the change in play-callers had created some difficulty for the Eagles’ defense. Slay compared the situation to “having two marriages,” since Desai technically remained defensive coordinator even though Patricia was in charge of calling the plays.
Darius Slay's analogy for how challenging def. coordinator switch became: "Trying to find two identities. It's tough. It's like having two marriages. You know how hard two marriages would be? …One might want her feet rubbed, one might want her shoulders rubbed. That's crazy."
— Zach Berman (@ZBerm) January 17, 2024
“Trying to find two identities. It’s tough,” Slay said. “It’s like having two marriages. You know how hard two marriages would be? … One might want her feet rubbed, one might want her shoulders rubbed. That’s crazy.”
In other words, Desai and Patricia prioritized different things, and the Eagles had to adjust to that on the fly.
The team made the change after Week 14, when they were 10-3, and performances did not really improve. Philadelphia finished 1-3 with Patricia calling plays, giving up back-to-back 400-yard games in their final two losses. That does not even count the ugly performance in Monday’s playoff loss to Tampa Bay.
At the time, reports suggested that players were not totally buying into Desai’s efforts. Perhaps that was true, but the decision to switch play-callers wound up looking like a desperation move that did not provide any real benefit.
