Darius Slay Offers Strange Analogy About Eagles’ Matt Patricia Move
The Eagles’ final stretch of the season was a disaster, especially on the defense, and Darius Slay offered his assessment of what should have been done better.
After its Super Bowl LVII loss to the Kansas City Chiefs, Philadelphia lost both of its coordinators: Jonathan Gannon and Shane Steichen. The former became the head coach of the Arizona Cardinals, and the latter became the head coach of the Indianapolis Colts.
Sean Desai was hired after a season with the Seattle Seahawks to replace Gannon as the team’s new defensive coordinator. Slay campaigned for defensive backs coach Dennard Wilson to take over, but he departed and became the defensive backs coach for the Baltimore Ravens. It was a move the star corner wished didn’t happen.
“I think he would have made a lot of difference,” Slay told reporters Wednesday, per Marcus Hayes of The Philadelphia Inquirer. “He was loved by us. I thought, for sure, he should have stayed.”
Slay followed up and said it wouldn’t have mattered what position Wilson returned in, but Matt Patricia also was brought on as a senior assistant following his failed run as New England Patriots offensive play-caller.
Nick Sirianni named Patricia the defensive play-caller after Week 13, but Desai stayed on staff to run the defense. Troy Aikman described the decision as a “panic move,” and it was an awkward pairing that failed and led to the Eagles bowing out in the wild-card round to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Slay, who has a long history with Patricia, reflected on the disaster of a decision by using a questionable analogy.
“Trying to find two identities of a coach is tough,” Slay said. “It’s like having, like, two marriages. You know how hard two marriages would probably be? To have a household (with) two personalities of two women? That’s tough.”
The 33-year-old still is married to his wife, and he seemed self-aware enough to acknowledge the female reporters present.
“No offense to the women,” Slay said. “That’s crazy talk. One might want her feet rubbed, one might want her shoulders rubbed.”
It was a bizarre way to describe the downfall of the Eagles’ season. Philadelphia likely will divorce Patricia, who might link up with Bill Belichick on his next team.