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While fans of the Philadelphia Eagles have made their feeling clear about Kevin Patullo, borderline demanding he lose his job after a brutal season capped off by a poorly schemed Wild Card Weekend loss to the San Francisco 49ers, how do the team’s actual players feel about the widely panned OC?
Jalen Hurts sidestepped post-game questions about Patullo. Saquon Barkley cut his offensive coordinator some slack. But how does Jason Kelce, now free from being a member of the team, feel about Patullo, who was an offensive assistant during his final tenure in Philadelphia? Well, on the ESPN Monday Night Football preshow, the future Hall of Famer did just that, defending Patullo as a good coach while throwing some shade at his former teammates.
“And I know that everybody is out on Kevin Petullo. I happen to know the guy. I love Kevin Petullo. I know he’s a great coach. I know it wasn’t the best performance this year offensively. They had the number one highest-paid offense in the league and were mediocre across the board. That’s unacceptable. They had their chances to win that game yesterday. And they, the players, didn’t make the plays,” Kelce declared.
“What Robert Salah did with that defense is commendable. What they’ve done to get to here is absolutely a testament to that organization and how well they’re built, and they function across the board. Kyle Shanahan with the trickeration, finding a way to get things open and everything like that. You tip your cap to them, but Philly had their opportunities.”
Is Kelce correct that some Eagles players didn’t quite meet the moment on Wild Card Weekend? Yes, there were three passes AJ Brown should have caught that would have made a huge impact on the final score, and Saquon Barkley dropped a screen in the open field that could have been impactful in the second half, too. And yet, it’s hard to watch the 13 other teams in the NFL playoffs fielding interesting offenses built to stress opposing defenses and not feel jealous as an Eagles fan, as Patullo simply didn’t provide the same level of creativity to his first season as an offensive coordinator.
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