'My Apology!' Slay on Patricia: 'He's Been a Great Dude!'
PHILADELPHIA – Before meeting the media earlier this week, and for the first time since being hired on April 20 as a senior defensive assistant coach for the Philadelphia Eagles, Matt Patricia said something interesting during his 20 minutes in front of reporters.
He said he hugged Darius Slay before heading to the podium.
It was no secret that the two did not see eye-to-eye when Patricia was the head coach of the Detroit Lions and Slay roamed the secondary for the Lions before being traded to the Eagles in 2019.
Clearly, they have hugged and made up, something Slay confirmed on Friday as the Eagles prepare to host the New York Giants on Christmas Day (4:30 p.m./FOX).
Matt Patricia
Ed Kracz/SI Eagles Today
“He kind of gave me a hug at least once or twice throughout the week just to holler at me,” said Slay. “Like, ‘Hey man, how you doing?’ And just be chopping it up. Sometimes we talked ball. Sometimes we talked other stuff.”
Patricia took over play-calling duties on defense from Sean Desai last week after the Eagles opted to hire him initially even though they knew the backstory between the two of them.
“Of course, me and him have got to put our personal differences to the side about what my personal feelings about him were at the time,” said Slay. “I just know he’s a coach that likes to win, and I like to win as well. I told them whatever’s best for the organization let’s do it, because I wanted to win.
“I wanted to sacrifice what I’ve got against him to help this team. We set up a talk. We talked about it. it went well. We got a great understanding. And then a friendship and how we just kept on growing and growing."
Patricia said that people change, and he is certainly not immune to changing.
“You know how it is when you go to a new place, and you are trying to learn people, you gravitate towards the ones you know,” said Patricia. “He's out there with arms open and helped me fit in and feel comfortable. I'm really very grateful to him for that.
“As you go through life and you grow and learn and hopefully improve and get better as a person, from me personally, where I was whenever that was, I'm just trying to be a better person every day. I'm just really thankful to him for that.”
Added Slay: “He’s been a great addition to here, man. He’s been a great dude. He for sure is a whole different dude than he was in Detroit. I must say, man, like I told him I appreciate him for being a man about the situation and coming in and trying to fix the situation.”
