Philadelphia Eagles Fan Outside NovaCare Calls for Sean Desai's Firing, Darius Slay Reacts
It’s no longer about running the ball. At least in some fans’ opinions.
After some fans showed up at the Philadelphia Eagles’ training facility last Monday shortly after sunrise holding a sign that read, “Run the ball,” this week’s advice was more pointed, more personal following Sunday night's 33-13 loss to the Dallas Cowboys.
There’s a photo of one fan making the rounds on X who is dressed in Eagles gear and wearing a helmet holding a sign that reads, “Fire Sean Desai.” Nearby are two trash cans with signs taped on them.
One says, “No Big Play Slay.” The other simply says “Bradberry,” as in James Bradberry.
Darius Slay reacted to the pics on X.
“Yall tough for this one,” followed by four laughing face emojis.
That seems to lend legitimacy to the display. If it is legit, it appears to be the feelings of only one fan, though he could be speaking for many.
The Eagles have fallen on hard times the last two weeks. After riding high with 10 wins in their first 11 games, they have dropped two in a row and face another daunting task Monday night when they travel to Seattle to take on a Seahawks franchise that Philly hasn’t beaten since 2008.
Fletcher Cox came to the defense of the team in the aftermath of the Eagles’ second straight lopsided loss, this one to the Dallas Cowboys, 33-13, on Sunday night in primetime.
“We’re 10-3,” Cox told reporters in Dallas. “We won 10 professional football games against 10 professional football teams, really good football teams that get paid a lot of money to do it. You have to be excited about getting another chance to play next week.”
Desai is the Eagles’ first-year defensive coordinator.
Early in the season, when the Eagles were doing nothing but win, he was lauded for his ability to make adjustments, to trust the backups that he was forced to play with due to several injuries, and for a teaching background that seemed to have his players ready to answer the challenge no matter how inexperienced they may be.
Now, his defense has been ravaged in the last two games, having allowed 75 points combined over that time.
It has looked completely underprepared, giving up touchdowns on nine of 10 drives dating back to the loss to the San Francisco 49ers last week and allowing the Cowboys to score three touchdowns and kick a field goal on all four first-half possessions in building a 24-6 halftime lead.
As for Slay and Bradberry, the 30-something cornerbacks have been mostly inconsistent this season and, as a result, the Eagles entered Week 14 with the 29-ranked passing defense. They are near the bottom in allowing third-down conversions and surrendering touchdowns in the red zone, rather than forcing a turnover or a field goal in that area of the field.
Some of that falls on an inconsistent pass rush and subpar linebacker talent, but Desai is the one responsible for bringing it all together, and the results haven’t been there for quite some time now.
Firing him now, though, probably won’t help even if it is senior defensive assistant Matt Patricia who gets elevated. Head coach Nick Sirianni probably needs to shake something up to get the team out of the funk it is in, but a late-season firing on a team with 10 wins seems very extreme.
