The Eagles’ decision to change defensive play callers has not resulted in the kind of change in performance that they were hoping to see.
Replacing defensive coordinator Sean Desai with senior assistant Matt Patricia was a big swing and the team has not been able to pull out of the slump that’s seen them lose four of their last five games. The issues on that side of the ball remained clear last weekend when the Cardinals put up more points and yards than they have all season in a 35-31 win that opened the door for the Cowboys to win the NFC East this weekend.
On Thursday, edge rusher Haason Reddick said that switching to Patricia’s “different style” and way of doing things on the fly has been difficult but that they have to do it in order to be “great in the playoffs.”
“It’s a hard thing to do,” Reddick said, via Olivia Reiner of the Philadelphia Inquirer. “It’s our job at the end of the day, so it’s not complaints about it. But yes, that was definitely a hard thing, right? You spent so much time with one DC, and learning a new DC at that, at the beginning of the year and trying to learn everything he wants us to do. His terminology. The way that he calls things. And then, you know, toward the end of the season, we switch. But like I said, at the end of the day, it must get done. That’s what the higher-ups here felt was needed to get done in order to try to make a change and get some things corrected. As players, we’ve got to go out there and do our best to perform.”
The Eagles have dropped Reddick into coverage more since Patricia took over and he said whether that’s the best way to use him is “a conversation for another time,” but that he will do anything “required of me” in hopes of helping the Eagles get the wins that have been eluding them in recent weeks.
