The precocious Eagles child got his wish, sort of. The Philadelphia Eagles announced Tuesday that offensive coordinator Kevin Patullo has been removed from his position, though he will not be banished to a career of burger-flipping, and may even remain on head coach Nick Sirianni's staff. This was Sirianni's statement in full:
I have decided to make a change at offensive coordinator. I met with Kevin today to discuss the difficult decision, as he is a great coach who has my utmost respect. He has been integral to this team's success over the last five years, not only to the on-field product but behind the scenes as a valued leader for our players and organization. I have no doubt he will continue to have a successful coaching career.
Ultimately, when we fall short of our goals that responsibility lies on my shoulders.
You know things have gone bad for an offensive coordinator when knowledge of his poor job performance has escaped the usual confines of the most dedicated parts of the fanbase. Any conversation with a Philadelphia resident in the past four months was likely to feature Patullo's name being derisively spit out, and with good reason. The Eagles' season ended Sunday in a 23-19 wild-card loss to the San Francisco 49ers, the perfect capper to one of the most lifeless 11-6 campaigns ever produced. The team that rampaged to a Super Bowl title last season was nowhere to be found, and in its place was one that seemed structurally incapable of moving the ball down the field. Jalen Hurts threw for 168 yards in that game, and when his team's season was on the line, all Patullo's offense could muster was a limp pass over the middle to a triple-covered tight end.
The Eagles ranked 17th in offensive DVOA, 19th in points per game, and 23rd in yards per game. Hurts threw for over 300 yards one time in the regular season, and for fewer than 200 yards nine times. Saquon Barkley, who broke the 2,000-yard mark and reverse-hurdled over a guy's head last season, could only muster 1,140 rushing yards and nine total touchdowns under Patullo. AJ Brown had basically the same season he did in 2024 despite an increase in targets, which meant that he was underperforming and pissed off pretty much the whole time.
That the Eagles' season landed with such a thud isn't necessarily a surprise. The Sirianni era has established something of a pattern, owing to the head coach's hands-off approach when it comes to play-calling: All he really cares about is winning the turnover battle, and he's happy to leave everything else to his coordinators. When he has good ones, like Kellen Moore in 2024 and Shane Steichen in 2022, things tend to go well. Good offensive coordinators tend to find head coaching gigs, though, and things can go south quickly for the Eagles when an overmatched coordinator steps into that role.
Not all of the Eagles' issues can be laid at Patullo's feet—Sirianni can make enough dumb decisions on his own—but his failures stood out. It didn't help that the Eagles, if nothing else, look like a team that should be good on offense. Even by the standards of your average NFL player, AJ Brown is huge; DeVonta Smith is fast as hell; Jalen Hurts seems like he could squat 9,000 pounds; Saquon Barkley looks like an action figure—you see guys like that on the field and expect 30 points to be on the board every game. Watching the 2025 Eagles play offense was one of the least fulfilling things a person could do with their time last year, and now Patullo has to pay the price for that.
The good news for Eagles fans is that there's every chance the offense could be excellent again next season if Sirianni hires a good OC. Then again, maybe he'll hire a bad one. There's no choice but for the people of Philadelphia to spend every waking moment worrying about this.
