It's Time For Eagles To Soul-Search, Not Panic And Fire Kevin Patullo

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. – You can call for Kevin Patullo’s head until you’re blue in the face. The offensive coordinator is feeling the heat these days, but he won’t get burned. Not yet. Not during this mini-bye the Eagles have, one in which they will carry around all weekend the heavy weight of a 34-17 drubbing at the hands of NFC East rival New York Giants.

Besides, the players seem to have Patullo’s back, at least publicly.

“I think he’s doing an amazing job,” said a surprisingly calm and collected A.J. Brown in the aftermath ot the team’s second loss. “He’s trying to get us the ball and talk about things that we may see and ideas that he has. It’s nonstop communication. He’s getting a lot of scrutiny, but I think he’s doing a good job and keeping this thing going.”

A few lockers away from the cramped visitors’ locker room at MetLife Stadium, Saquon Barkley was chiming in, too.

“I don’t get into predictability or pointing fingers,” he said. “I think KP is doing a hell of a job, but we all gotta be better. That’s the truth. If anybody thinks anything different, they gotta wake up, in my opinion.”

No Time To Panic And Fire Kevin Patullo

It would be a panic move to can the OC after just six games. Besides, who replaces him? Going outside the organization doesn’t make sense. It would take too long to get the new guy up to speed. In-house, there is run game/offensive line coach Jeff Stoutland or running backs/assistant head coach Jemal Singleton, but are they any better?

Special team coordinator Michael Clay would be an intriguing option, but, like Patullo, Stoutland, and Singleton, has never called plays.

Could Sirianni take over the play-calling duties? Doubtful. He likes being a CEO head coach.

When head Nick Sirianni lobbed a grenade into the coaching offices in mid-December during the great collapse of 2023, stripping defensive coordinator Sean Desai of his power, he had an experienced voice in Matt Patricia to turn to. And Patricia didn’t do any better.

So, Patullo isn’t going anywhere anytime soon.

Play calling is probably the bigger issue than scheme right now. Patullo has never done it, and it takes a deft approach and a feel as the game goes on for what’s working, what nots, and what adjustments he needs to make.

The answer isn’t replacing him. The answers have to come from looking inward, or, in a phrase the players like to use, "look in the mirror."

Rookie linebacker Jihaad Campbell may have said it best.

“To me, it’s ‘so what, now what?’” he said. “We can’t feel sorry for ourselves, we can’t have any excuses. It’s just a simple statement of getting back to work and figuring it out. It’s a loss. Of course nobody likes losing, but it’s ‘so what, now what?’

“We still have a whole season ahead of us. This is not the end. We’re gonna keep external stuff…let it be external. We have to worry about what we can control, and that’s internal. That’s us, that’s our habits on a day-to-day. How can we help each other? How can we stay detailed and be the team we really want to be?”

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