Here's what Eagles fans need to know about their new defensive play-caller Matt Patricia
The Philadelphia Eagles will have a not-so-new face calling plays for their defense from the sidelines against the Seattle Seahawks on Monday Night Football. The Eagles quietly made a coaching change over the weekend and handed defensive playcalling duties over to Matt Patricia. Eagles' defensive coordinator Sean Desai will still help out from the booth. […]
The Philadelphia Eagles will have a not-so-new face calling plays for their defense from the sidelines against the Seattle Seahawks on Monday Night Football.
The Eagles quietly made a coaching change over the weekend and handed defensive playcalling duties over to Matt Patricia.
Eagles' defensive coordinator Sean Desai will still help out from the booth.
Who is Eagles' Assistant Matt Patricia?
Patricia is nowhere close to being "new" to the NFL and has been around the league since 2004.
After spending three seasons as a graduate assistant at Syracuse, Patricia entered the NFL as an offensive assistant for the New England Patriots and worked his way up the ladder.
From 2005 to 2012, Patricia spent time working as the Patriots' assistant offensive line coach, linebackers coach and safeties coach. During that time, he's best known for coaching Mike Vrabel to a Pro Bowl and All-Pro honors after Vrabel posted an astounding 12.5 sacks and five forced fumbles in 2007.
In 2012, Patricia was named defensive coordinator for New England where he spent six seasons calling plays for the Pats.
During that span, the Patriots won two Super Bowls (2014 and 2016), three AFC Championships (2014, 2016 and 2017) and six AFC East titles (2012 and 2017).
After 14 seasons with the Patriots, Patricia was named head coach of the Detroit Lions in 2018.
His first win as a head coach came against his previous team, New England, beating Bill Belichick and the Pats 26–10.
His stint with Detroit didn't last too long as he led the Lions to a disappointing 13–29–1 record in two and a half seasons.
Patricia returned to New England in 2021 as a senior football advisor and also coached their offensive line and called offensive plays in 2022. He was relieved of his playcalling duties after the offense regressed to an abysmal average of 18.1 points per game.
Patricia then joined the Eagles this past April as a senior defensive assistant.
After quite the career downfall, Patricia will now get a chance to prove himself in primetime in a must-win road match at Lumen Field.
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