Patriots Ex Coach Matt Patricia Fired By Eagles?
Thanks to his time with the New England Patriots, Matt Patricia is used to making headlines during the Divisional playoffs.
Alas for Patricia, his road to the Super Bowl came to a dead end last week and it appears his career with the Philadelphia Eagles is destined for the same fate.
Patricia appears to be one of several casualties of a Philadelphia staff shakeup in the wake of their disappointing postseason cameo. Per NFL Network's Tom Pelissero, Patricia, who held a variety of roles in 16 seasons in New England (2004-17, 2021-22), is not expected to be retained on Nick Sirianni's coaching staff for the 2024 season.
Mark J. Rebilas, USA TODAY SPORTS
The purge also eliminated defensive coordinator Sean Desai and comes just six days after the Eagles' NFC title defense ended with a 32-9 defeat to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the Wild Card round on Monday.
The 49-year-old Patricia won three Super Bowls in New England, including two as the team's defensive coordinator. Recent history, however, has not been kind to him: he returned to New England after a failed stint at the helm of the Detroit Lions (13-29-1 in two-plus seasons) and held a variety of roles, including offensive playcaller for the 2022 season. He was removed from that spot after New England fell from sixth to 17th in points and 15th to 26th in yardage.
Patricia moved on to Philadelphia over the spring and was named a senior defensive assistant. He was granted defensive playcalling duties for the final four games of the regular season as well as the single playoff game, but he failed to flip the Eagles' fortunes. Philadelphia dropped three of its final four regular season games and wound up losing the NFC East title to Dallas.
Time will tell if Patricia is destined for a third term in New England: DeMarcus Covington likely stands as the favorite for the defensive coordinator spot under new head coach Jerod Mayo after spending each of the past seven seasons in Foxborough, the last four as the defensive line coach.
