Eagles DC Sean Desai addresses criticisms amid skid

Philadelphia Eagles defensive coordinator Sean Desai addressed criticisms and even some calls for his ouster amid the club's two-game losing streak. 

"That’s part of the job," Desai told reporters during a news conference, as shared by Chris Franklin of NJ Advance Media for NJ.com. "There is always going to be criticism. If you go back to every week of this season, there was criticism based on different things that happened in the game. When you play a couple games the way we have and not being the performance or the standard we want to, that’s going to magnify and amplify. I get it. That’s okay. Everybody, fans, you guys, everybody is entitled to their opinions."

The Eagles were 10-1 when they lost 42-19 at home to the San Francisco 49ers on Dec. 3. Philadelphia then suffered a 33-13 defeat at the Dallas Cowboys this past Sunday that dropped the Eagles beneath Dallas in the NFC East standings via tiebreaker advantage. 

According to ESPN stats, Philadelphia enters Week 15 ranked 28th in the NFL in scoring defense (surrendering 24.7 points per game) and 28th in passing defense (259.9 passing yards allowed per contest). Per Myles Simmons of Pro Football Talk, the Niners and Cowboys went a combined seven-for-seven in red-zone opportunities against the Eagles in Philadelphia's past two matchups. Opponents also are converting 48.1% of third-down chances against Desai's defense this season. 

Desai expects his players will respond in a big way when the Eagles play at the 6-7 Seattle Seahawks this coming Monday night. 

"I feel really good about where we’re going with it, feel really good about our planning process towards it, and our players' mentality in approaching that situation, being able to put guys in spots to go win those," Desai added about the defense getting off the field in the red zone and on third downs.

As of late Thursday morning, oddschecker listed the Eagles as four-point road favorites versus the Seahawks. Philadelphia seemingly could use a get-right game ahead of the Christmas Day showdown with a New York Giants team that is enjoying a positive run of form thanks to the play of undrafted rookie quarterback Tommy DeVito.