Patricia now on the spot after failure in debut
Leader of defense takes blame for Seahawks’ late game-winning drive
PHILADELPHIA — Eagles de facto defensive coordinator Matt Patricia knows how to make an entrance.
Before his first Philly presser Thursday, Patricia, trademark pen above his ear waded into a crowd of reporters at the NovaCare Complex to introduce himself, shaking hands with basically everybody in the room while saying, “Hi, Matt Patricia.”
The grip was firm, no squeezing or bullying and Patricia looked you in the eye as if to get acquainted at one of those big Christmas parties like the one the Eagles had last week.
Considering how guarded the rest of Nick Sirianni’s staff is, including Sean Desai, the defensive coordinator in name only who for whatever strange reason is still around, the shake was a gutsy, disarming move as well as a subtle, yet symbolic turn of the page.
When Patricia, the 49-yearold product of nerdy, academically prestigious Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute wasn’t explaining why it was “the Eagles’ defense,” not his defense or Desai’s he was talking about how helpful Desai has been during the transition and how there isn’t one NFL defense, rather 17 different schemes for each game of the season.
“I don’t think there’s any one great playbook where you come in and it’s like, ‘Here you go, this is the one that’s going to do it all, all the time,’” Patricia said. “I think the art of it is trying to adapt to what helps your players the best and give them a chance to go play fast and aggressive and gives them a chance to win. That’s what we’re trying to do as a collective group. Where are we good? What do we need to add? What are we missing? And grow that through the weeks.”
Patricia spoke articulately in generalities like someone who wasn’t going to be hostile while giving nothing up at a deposition. The handshaking and the hellos are akin to the manner in which Bill Belichick, his mentor, functions according to people who know Belichick.
What we do know about Patricia from his days with the New England Patriots, as head coach of the Detroit Lions and this past Monday against the Seahawks is he runs a lot of Cover-1, which is man coverage with a single-high safety.
“That’s his coverage,” former Eagles linebacker and Jakib Media analyst Seth Joyner said. “That’s what he likes to run. It’s aggressive but it’s not overly aggressive.Butifteamscangetthe matchupstheywantthenitcanbe detrimentallikewesawMonday.”
Much of Monday the Eagles had cornerback James Bradberry covering D.K. Metcalf,
sometimes with help and it worked. But the triumphant Seahawks series in which Drew Lock marched them 92 yards for a touchdown ended with a weary Bradberry trying to track down Jaxon Smith-Obija, who was in solo coverage. The 29-yard score put the Eagles on the ropes.
“Obviously, I would take it all back,” Patricia said. “That drive starts with me. I’ve got to do a better job to get them in position to get them off the field, and obviously help us win. I think our guys played really, really hard. I was really proud of them for the way they went out, and I give praise to them for what they did. We tried to play aggressively, we tried to play physical upfront, and we covered really well. Obviously, in the 2-minute drive, it wasn’t good enough. I’ve got to get something in there, some calls in there, whatever it may be, to help them a little bit more so they can go out. But give [Seahawks] credit too. They made a great play too.”
What bothered Joyner, and tons of Eagles fans is that the Eagles didn’t blitz Lock once the winning 10-play drive. Not once. Joyner felt Patricia should have blitzed the career backup quarterback much more earlier in the game to let him know how uncomfortable
it would be at money time.
“I’m not saying blitz like you’ve lost your mind,” Joyner said. “But this kid completed three third-and-10 plusses on the winning drive. And you didn’t think on one of those third-and-10s to bring some pressure and put the heat on him? I know Nick Sirianni believes in explosive plays down the field and minimizing them on the defensive
side of the ball. But in every game there always comes a point in time where you have to risk something, OK? Not blitzing gave the Seahawks confidence.”
Patricia’s next welcome to Philly moment is Monday when the Eagles entertain the New York Giants. Considering the team’s three-game slide it’s going to take a lot more than a handshake to pacify the fan base.