What a way to go out.
It may not have had the flash and absolutely epic implosion at the end that the Dallas Cowboys had, but the coaching staff lead this Eagles roster to what is probably the worst collapse of a team that held the top seed in week 14 to ever end an NFL season.
As should be expected of such an embarrassment, the Eagles are making changes.
The news has been very slow to come in, however, and a week after another embarrassing loss the first decision has been made: firing Sean Desai.
Sources: #Eagles coach Nick Sirianni has let go defensive coordinator Sean Desai, who lost play-calling duties late in the season.
Desai is likely to be in the mix for other DC opportunities.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) January 21, 2024
Although Desai never lost the title of “defensive coordinator”, he was removed from play calling duties and essentially didn’t hold the role after December 17. That means he wasn’t in charge for the last five games (where the Eagles went 4-1) of the season – Matt Patricia was.
It’s basically not an argument that removing Desai midseason was a mistake. The defense got worse in every statistical category after his removal.
That means his removal made the team worse, which makes it even weirder that he would be the first firing announced.
Even Matt Patricia, who was in charge of the even worse defense, has not been formally dismissed. Neither has Brian Johnson, who called plays for an inept offense with tons of talent, or Nick Sirianni, who lost the locker room as a coach who’s supposed to be charismatic.
Desai would seem likely to land another job considering the comparison of this defense under him vs under Patricia.
Fans will still await news on the coaches they deem more responsible for this epic collapse than the guy who was removed from power before the collapse really took hold.
Rumors have speculated that Dennard Wilson, who was the defensive backs coach in 2022-23 and wanted to stay with the team before his firing despite an external DC hire, may be in the mix for defensive coordinator in 2024-25 assuming Nick Sirianni somehow convinces ownership that this collapse wasn’t his fault.
Unfortunately for fans who want Sirianni gone, the wording of this report indicates that it was Nick Sirianni that did the firing himself, which would seem to indicate the Eagles rolling with the same head coach, who’s publicly stated the offensive system (which sucked terribly) was his own, again next season.
