Eagles Defense Being Rebranded by Savvy Sean Desai?
PHILADELPHIA - Sean Desai’s NFL experience with the Chicago Bears and Seattle Seahawks is probably far more germane to his new job as defensive coordinator with the Philadelphia Eagles, but don’t discount his start in coaching at Temple University.
The trip from Temple and North Broad Street to South Broad and the NovaCare Complex is about eight miles. It took the 40-year-old Desai 17 years to make it with sojourns at the University of Miami, Boston College, the Bears, and the Seahawks before coach Nick Sirianni came calling with the offer to replace Jonathan Gannon, now the head coach with the Arizona Cardinals, as the steward of that was the No. 2 defense in the NFL last season.
Besides getting an opportunity and his footing under then-Owls coach Al Golden, now the defensive coordinator at Notre Dame, Desai learned what perhaps the most passionate football city in the country is about when it comes to defensive football.
And he played all the hits at what was his introductory press conference on Thursday.
“The one thing that we've agreed on and we've talked about as a staff and a group is there's a certain mentality that we want to reflect,” Desai said. “I really believe the city's teams got to reflect the city, and we've got some grit, we've got some toughness, we want to be able to impose our will.
“We're not going to take really anything from anybody.”
The tough-guy talk is Philadelphia defensive football 101 and the showed the savvy nature of a coach whose foundation is built on education. Desai earned a master's degree in higher and post-secondary education from Columbia University in 2005 and then earned his doctorate in educational administration in 2008 at Temple.
“We want to make sure that people feel us. We want to be able to run. We want to be able to hit, and we want to play smart,” Desai said. “I think that's a reflection of who we are obviously as a Philadelphia Eagles defense, a reflection of really the history of the Philadelphia Eagles defense, and a reflection of this city, and that's what we want to be. We want to be an encompassing part of that.”
Then Desai went into teaching mode.
“One thing I told the team, was it maybe at the end of meetings on Thursday, was I asked them if they knew with the word "palpable" meant. … It's a feeling in you. That's what we want. We want to be able to be felt, whether you're watching us on TV, whether you're in the stadium, and obviously on the field. We want to make sure people feel this Philadelphia Eagles defense.”
The fan base never connected with Gannon despite two top-10 finishes in defense during his two years as the coordinator. A more buttoned-up, almost corporate modern version of an NFL defensive coordinator, it was hardly a well-kept secret that the Eagles were essentially “renting” Gannon, a term general manager Howie Roseman used on multiple occasions to better describe Gannon’s upside as a coach.
Desai surely wants to become an NFL head coach as well, but he’s already got a better grip on the intangibles of coaching in Philadelphia.
The new defensive coordinator will run the same Vic Fangio-inspired philosophy that Gannon did with the spin of hitting all the buzzwords casual fans want to hear.
Call it a rebranding with better marketing.
“The honest truth is this is an emotional kind of homecoming for me to come back to Philadelphia,” Desai said. “There's a lot of pride that we take in this city. My wife went to school here. I went to school here. I started my coaching career here at Temple University down the road, and we helped turn that program around there.
“To come full circle almost and come on the other side of Broad Street where it's a different level of football over here is really special. We don't take this lightly. We're really humbled to be in this role, and really proud to be in this role, and really excited to represent this city and really pour back into this city the way the city poured into me and my family coming up as I was younger."
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-John McMullen contributes Eagles coverage for SI.com's Eagles Today and is the NFL Insider for JAKIB Media. You can listen to John, alongside legendary sports-talk host Jody McDonald every morning from 8-10 on ‘Birds 365,” streaming live on YouTube. John is also the host of his own show "Football 24/7 and a daily contributor to ESPN South Jersey. You can reach him at jmcmullen44@gmail.com or on Twitter @JFMcMullen
