NFL world reacts to Eagles making big change involving Matt Patricia after defensive struggles - “Darius Slay punching the air”

The Philadelphia Eagles made a change in their defensive staff. While Sean Desai will remain the defensive coordinator, Nick Sirianni has decided that now it's time for Matt Patricia to call the defensive plays for the remainder of the season.

The change happened amid two big losses from the Philadelphia Eagles. In the biggest game of the season, against the San Francisco 49ers, they lost 42-19 and were completely outmatched by Kyle Shanahan's offense; a week later, Dak Prescott and the Dallas Cowboys easily won in Sunday Night Football and wrestled control of the NFC East.

Considering Matt Patricia's awful recent record following leaving the New England Patriots in 2018, and his public problems with Darius Slay, NFL fans found itextremely interesting to see a 10-3 team making such a drastic change at this point of the season, and even giving more functions to Patricia as he works with Slay again:

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What happened between Matt Patricia and Darius Slay?

In 2018, Matt Patricia was hired by the Detroit Lions to be their head coach. Slay, at the time entering his sixth season in the NFL, was just coming from his first First-Team All-Pro indication, and the pair joined forces.

Patricia's previous job as a defensive coordinator with the New England Patriots ended badly. His defense allowed 41 points in Super Bowl LII to backup quarterback Nick Foles and the Philadelphia Eagles, and not even Tom Brady's 505 passing yards were enough to walk with another ring that year.

But when Patricia joined the Lions, he decided to break Darius Slay's confidence instead of building it. He approached the cornerback in a one-on-one meeting and simply told him that he wasn't supposed to work out with elite cornerbacks during the offseason because 'he wasn't elite'.

Slay said on July that he and his former coach now have a cordial relationship after the 2018 fallout.

Philadelphia Eagles' remaining schedule

The Eagles have four remaining games. After they play the Seattle Seahawks on Monday, their schedule eases up considerably.

Games against the New York Giants in weeks 16 and 18 are separated by a Week 17 meeting with the Arizona Cardinals. This three-game stretch is perfect to fix their defense before the playoffs start.