The defense

[NoDakIggle]

This is kind of a take off on some comments in other threads. Injuries played a part and talent played a small part (at LB essentially) and I am not a great fan of the Fangio system but more and more I believe the big issue on defense last year was coaching. The Fangio system can work although the league has caught up with the in and outs so you better run it well.
In my eyes the bigger problem was coaching. I didn’t like it at the time so I believe the first problem was bringing in Patricia. I don’t think Sirianni Desai and Patricia ever gelled nor were they in sync. I don’t think Desai is a good coordinator but having Patricia in the building exacerbated his deficiencies. I also don’t think the three of them communicated well nor connected with the players.
Players have come out in defense of Sirianni. No one has come out in support of Desai or Patricia. I would love to someday hear the inside dope.

[FairOaks]

Yeah, I hated the Patricia move from the outset. Having a veteran advisor around makes sense in the abstract, but you'd hope it would be someone that Desai would trust or at least be familiar with the desired scheme. Really not sure who was behind his hiring, Sirianni or the front office, or the midseason move. Desai certainly seemed too easily schooled but things went to complete pot once he was removed -- I have to assume there were locker room issues with Desai, and Patricia just made things worse. Certainly injuries played a part -- neither DC adjusted well to them or incorporated new players.

Sirianni seemed way more uptight at press conferences all year, even early. I'm guessing he saw some of the problems coming. We could end up with coordinators who the game has passed by this year, but there shouldn't be any of the novice mistakes. So yes, I am much more hopeful on that score. I'm sure we will have another boring preseason where the Eagles don't want to show their true schemes in order to keep some surprises for the regular season.