Eagles’ Matt Patricia will remain defensive play caller for remainder of season, Nick Sirianni says

There won’t be a change in defensive play calling for the Philadelphia Eagles.

Nearly 24 hours after the Eagles gave up 35 points and 449 yards to the Arizona Cardinals, Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni said they will stick with Matt Patricia as the defensive play caller for the regular season finale against the New York Giants — and for the remainder of the season. 

“We’re going to continue to go in the direction we’re going in on defense that we’ve been these last couple weeks,” Sirianni said to reporters Monday. “Again, we made an adjustment earlier in the year to get things going back on track. For a couple weeks, we felt like they were, and then yesterday obviously wasn’t up to what we wanted to be able to do and play to our standard or coach to our standard.

“But we’ll continue in that direction.”

While the Eagles defense has been slightly better under Patricia, the numbers have suggested the change hasn’t been significant. The Eagles gave up points in six of seven possessions (not counting end of half) in Sunday’s loss. The second half was even worse as the Cardinals scored 29 points in the final 30 minutes (haven’t scored more than 29 in a game all year) and scored four touchdowns on four possessions.

The defense was supposed to be better under Patricia, but instead has allowed 26.6 points per game (25th in the NFL) and 346.0 yards per game (20th in NFL) in the three games Patricia has been the defensive play caller. Entering Week 15 (when the Eagles made the switch from Sean Desai to Patricia), the Eagles were 32nd in the NFL in third down defense (54.8%) and red zone defense (78.3%) since Week 8. They also allowed a league high 428.2 yards per game and 297.8 passing yards per game. 


Source link : https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/eagles-matt-patricia-will-remain-defensive-play-caller-for-remainder-of-season-nick-sirianni-says/

Author : Jeff Kerr

Publish date : 2024-01-02 13:34:59

Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.

Check Also

Cowboys All-Pro Zack Martin to undergo season-ending ankle surgery, football future in doubt

FRISCO, Texas —  Right guard Zack Martin, one of the pillars of the Dallas Cowboys …