How the Eagles’ third-down defense was taken away from Sean Desai before his demotion

Before Sean Desai was demoted, the Eagles’ defensive coordinator had lost his authority over third-down game planning, a process that began after coach Nick Sirianni’s self scouting of the team during the Week 10 bye, NFL sources told The Inquirer.

Sirianni wanted more collaboration and communication between Desai and his staff — including senior assistant Matt Patricia — and conveyed to his coordinator a need to be more open to other viewpoints, sources said.

But after three games, the first two of which the Eagles won and the third a blowout loss to the 49ers, Sirianni handed third down over to Patricia and two assistants. Desai still called all the plays at the Cowboys, but the result was much as it had been during “the gauntlet” stretch of the schedule: a poor performance on third down, and ultimately a second straight defeat.

A day or so later, Sirianni stripped Desai of all his power in favor of Patricia.

Desai, who essentially switched roles with Patricia, remains on staff even though the overwhelming majority of NFL coordinators replaced in-season are fired. Sirianni has said that he kept Desai because he believes he can still help the Eagles.

The 40-year-old Desai hasn’t been made available to reporters since his demotion became public, but he wants to follow through on the season, a source close to the situation said. There’s also the matter of his contract, which would be affected if the team let him go or he quit.

It’s almost certain that Desai will not return next season. The Eagles declined comment through a spokesperson.

The Eagles were 8-1 at the bye. The defense ranked 14th in yards allowed, first in rushing and 28th in passing in the NFL. They were 18th in points allowed, tied for 20th in takeaways, and 14th in sacks per pass attempt.

But in situational defense, the Eagles ranked 26th in the red zone and 25th on third down.

Coaches often tinker with how they distribute assignments among assistants. But with the Eagles’ toughest stretch of the season coming after the bye, against four teams with the best third-down offenses in the league, Sirianni wanted more of a collective approach.

Desai pushed back, sources said. In the Eagles’ first game after the bye, they initially struggled at the Chiefs. They trailed, 17-7, and had allowed Kansas City to convert on 6 of 8 third downs in the first half.

At the break, Desai made adjustments in which he reverted back to the core schematic principals he learned under mentor and current Dolphins defensive coordinator Vic Fangio, sources said. The Eagles shut out quarterback Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs in the second half, allowed only 2 of 9 third-down conversions, and rallied to win, 21-17.

They ran into a buzz saw the next week. The Josh Allen-led Bills moved the ball at will and were 13-of-22 on third down. The Eagles, though, kept pace on offense and won in overtime, 37-34, to move to an NFL-best 10-1.

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Their fortunes took a turn the following week. The 49ers trounced the Eagles on both sides of the ball. Desai’s defense forced two three-and-outs to open the game, but San Francisco scored touchdowns on its next six possessions in a 42-19 victory.

The Eagles allowed conversions on 8 of 11 third downs.

Sirianni then decided there wasn’t enough progress made in collaboration on third downs, and gave Patricia final defensive say in game planning, sources said.

Desai’s coverages were considered by some Eagles to be unnecessarily complicated, so a more streamlined approach was used vs. the Cowboys. The defense still couldn’t get off the field, however, and allowed three touchdowns and a field goal on their first four possessions.

Dallas converted 6 of 8 third downs by the break and cruised to a 33-13 win.

The Eagles had gone 2-2 against four teams bound for the playoffs — the last two of which had three extra days of rest — but Sirianni didn’t like the direction of his defense and benched Desai.

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In the Eagles’ first nine games under Desai, they allowed conversions on 49 of 115 (42.6%) third downs. Their nine opponents currently have an average ranking of 17th in third-down success rate.

In the next four games, the Eagles allowed a combined 38 of 66 conversions (57.6%) to the first- (Bills), third- (Cowboys), fourth- (49ers) and fifth-ranked (Chiefs) third-down offenses in the NFL, which dropped them to last in the league.

The Eagles have been statistically better on third downs since Patricia took over. They surrendered only 10 of 28 (35.7%) conversions in the last two games against the Seahawks and New York Giants. But those teams currently rank 26th and 31st, respectively, on third down.

“The last couple weeks we’ve tried to do a couple things — just add on,” Patricia said on Wednesday when asked about third downs. “But we’ve really — Coach Desai and myself — we have been trying to add into those packages with the assistant coaches.”

Patricia is still, in essence, running Desai’s scheme. The Eagles haven’t had enough time to make wholesale changes this late in the season. But there have been some alterations and every coordinator has his style of calling plays.

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The coverages looked a little more aggressive in Seattle and for three quarters, the Eagles kept the Seahawks at bay. But backup quarterback Drew Lock drove his offense 92 yards for the game-winning touchdown.

Seattle converted two third-and-10s against cornerback James Bradberry, who was in man coverage.

The Eagles have also recorded just three sacks in the last two games despite going against offenses that currently rank 17th and 32nd in sacks allowed per pass attempt.

The downward trend in sacks started before the coaching switch. The Eagles had just seven in the previous four games. But the Chiefs, Bills, 49ers, and Cowboys rank second, first, ninth, and 11th in sacks allowed.

In 13 games under Desai, the defense had 37 sacks and were on pace for 48 — far below the franchise-best 70 they had a season ago under previous coordinator and current Arizona Cardinals head coach Jonathan Gannon. But a finish in the upper 40s would have been among the higher totals the Eagles have had in a season over the last two decades.

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Desai’s unit had shaky outings against the Commanders before the bye, but there were impressive showings against the Dolphins (No. 1-ranked offense), the Rams (No. 7), and Buccaneers (held to 11 points).

And Desai had to start a different combination in the secondary in each of the first eight games because of injuries. But Sirianni saw worrisome signs at the bye that were — depending upon the viewpoint — either exposed by the four-game gauntlet or inevitable considering the competition and personnel inadequacies.

“As a player, I feel like it’s our fault. We failed him,” said cornerback Darius Slay, who has missed the last two games after arthroscopic knee surgery and will be out on Sunday against the Cardinals. “And that’s the sad part about it because I don’t want to see a man get demoted. This a production business … and we all got a hand in that.”