For the New England Patriots fans who tuned into ESPN's latest edition of Monday Night Football as the Seattle Seahawks pulled the 20-17 upset win over the Philadelphia Eagles, they may have seen a familiar person holding a laminated playsheet with a pencil tucked behind his ear.
That's right, former Patriots Super Bowl-winning defensive coordinator and then-turned-controversial offensive play-caller Matt Patricia found himself back in a prominent role after being promoted to defensive signal-caller for the Eagles ahead of Monday's game.
“I made the decision,” Eagles coach Nick Sirianni said of the switch. “I did what I thought I needed to do in the best interest of the football team. We made some adjustments there. I didn’t feel like we were playing and coaching well enough on defense, so I made an adjustment. It was my decision and that’s what I did.”
Patricia, who left the Patriots this past offseason for the Eagles as he joined their staff in an off-field role as a "senior defensive advisor." That was before Patricia replaced Sean Desai as the defensive coordinator in duty only, as the latter retains the official title despite being relegated to the coach's box during the games while the former calls in the signals.
This season has been a reverse in fortunes for an Eagles defense that was once considered one of the best in the league and Patricia. Who, after his failed experiment as the Patriots' offensive play-caller, was seemingly left in a weird middle ground of being employed and jobless after the hirings of Bill O'Brien as offensive coordinator and Adrien Klemm as offensive line coach.
Both changes were widely expected to bring about positive results for the Patriots after the once promising offense had regressed from where it had been under Josh McDaniels.
However, nobody envisioned the even steeper decline that the Patriots have endured under O'Brien. Amid a three-win season, the Patriots are averaging 8.1 fewer points per game at 13.3 (worst in the league), down from 21.4 last season, and rank near the bottom in total yards per game, third-down conversion rate, and yards per play.
All the while, the once-promising Pro Bowl quarterback Mac Jones is watching from the sidelines as Bailey Zappe replaced him in the starting role.
Meanwhile, despite the Eagles currently riding a troublesome three-game losing streak, Patricia is seemingly winning the breakup. He will have a chance to get the Eagles' defense back on track before a potential postseason run while the Patriots will watch from home.
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