What we learned from Eagles coordinators: Kevin Patullo on criticism

The Eagles are on their bye week after improving to 6-2 with a blowout win Sunday over the New York Giants. But before the break — which will feature some self-scouting and self-reflection from Nick Sirianni and his coaching staff — Eagles coordinators met with reporters for their weekly press conferences Tuesday at the NovaCare Complex.

Here are six things we learned from the final media session before the bye:

Nakobe Dean’s return to the defense has created a “good problem” for Vic Fangio: He’s flush with linebacking talent. On Sunday, Dean (33 snaps) had a heavier workload than rookie Jihaad Campbell, who played just 21 of the 52 defensive snaps. Eight of Campbell’s snaps came along the defensive line.

Fangio said the Eagles being down to just three healthy and available edge rushers played a big part in the usage.

“[Campbell] has been playing OLB in base, but then we wanted to teach him the nickel [end] stuff, too, in case we needed him there,” Fangio said. “His week last week was choppy from a mental standpoint in learning a new position and learning new assignments that he hadn’t been exposed to before because of our lack of guys at that position. That played a part in him not playing as much, but overall, it’s a good problem.”

It’s one to keep an eye on moving forward, especially as the Eagles navigate the trade deadline with edge rusher as a potential need.

» READ MORE: Eagles’ biggest priorities for the bye week: Grow the offense, get healthy, and bulk up that pass rush

Speaking of which ...

Jalyx Hunt had arguably the best game of his young career. Brandon Graham is on his way back. So is Nolan Smith. The Eagles have Campbell to use in multiple spots. The edge corps looked a lot better on Tuesday morning than it did when Za’Darius Smith abruptly retired after Week 6.

The Eagles will weigh over the coming days whether they need to add to the position, but there’s at least some measure of depth assuming everyone is healthy. Nolan Smith, Hunt, Joshua Uche, Patrick Johnson, Graham, and Azeez Ojulari could be a capable group moving forward.

Capable of doing everything the defensive coordinator wants them to do?

“It has to be,” Fangio said.

Time will tell if the makeup of the unit changes before 4 p.m. next Tuesday.

No person at the NovaCare Complex drew the ire of Eagles fans during a bumpy few weeks quite like new offensive coordinator Kevin Patullo. Maybe A.J. Brown’s social media fingers, but even they weren’t the subject of as much anger as Patullo.

The sentiment was that Sirianni’s right-hand man was handed a job and wasn’t up for it after the offense looked impotent during long stretches of the Eagles’ first six games.

How has Patullo dealt with this type of criticism for the first time after being a mostly behind-the-scenes guy in previous seasons?

“I think it comes with the territory,” Patullo said. “I totally understand that. But really, it’s all about just winning games, and we know we have a really good, talented team and we’re going to stick together.

“You really have to kind of block things out and understand that’s part of it. I totally get that. It doesn’t bother me in that respect. You just have to continue to march forward and understand your job is to put everybody in a great position to win the game and do everything you can and make sure we’re all on the same page.”

» READ MORE: For Eagles, the bye week ‘sets you up for some things for the rest of the season,’ Nick Sirianni says

Two weeks after the Giants successfully targeted him and forced the Eagles to bench him briefly, Kelee Ringo wasn’t noticeable during the Eagles’ win Sunday. That’s a good thing for a cornerback. Ringo and the rest of the secondary benefited greatly from the pass rush finally providing consistent pressure.

But is the job Ringo’s for the foreseeable future?

“He did play better,” Fangio said. “Plan moving forward, we’ve got to see what [Jakorian Bennett] looks like here in practice, what Adoree’ [Jackson] looks like coming off his injury, and figure it out.”

It’ll be interesting to see how the Eagles address the spot opposite Quinyon Mitchell moving forward, especially if they don’t make a move to add another corner before the deadline.

Fangio said Ringo still needs to become a “more instinctual football player and understand what’s happening quicker, faster, and not be surprised by things.”

The job was Jackson’s before his concussion, and the Eagles could turn to Bennett, who hasn’t gotten a long enough look yet.

Dallas Goedert called Fred Johnson an honorary tight end after the game Sunday. Johnson was on the field frequently as an extra lineman. The Eagles deployed their jumbo (six offensive linemen) package on 10 of their 57 plays, and that 17.5% usage was behind only their Week 7 game in Minnesota for the most times a Sirianni-coached Eagles team has utilized jumbo sets.

Eight of the 10 jumbo personnel plays were runs, according to Next Gen Stats, which led to 114 rushing yards and a touchdown.

The Eagles have become more versatile with their new under-center packages. What have they unlocked?

“You just add another element to the offense,” Patullo said. “When you bring in a different personnel package, you’re opening up to what could be a variety of different things, whether it’s play-action passes, runs, drop backs. When you do that, you can put the defense in a different spot to where now you’re saying like, ‘Hey, you have to prepare for this. We’re going to have something for you.’ I think it definitely helps the offense as a whole, not just the run game, but it gives you a different dynamic. It’s not something we’ve done, so it’s been a new thing for us going forward.”

Expect to see more of it after the bye.

» READ MORE: No, the Eagles aren’t better without A.J. Brown, but for one game they were

The Eagles did not ask Jalen Hurts to run the ball in a non-Tush Push situation once on Sunday. His only rushing attempts beyond the Tush Push were scrambles, and it continued a trend of Hurts running less often than he has in previous seasons.

Hurts is up to 58 rushing attempts (including scrambles and Tush Pushes) through eight games. Last season, that number was at 86 attempts through eight games. Is this a conscious thing?

“I think it just really comes down to do we need it? Do we want to do it? Does it present itself?” Patullo said. “It’s not something that’s definitely on purpose, it just kind of happened that way. The way the game unfolded the other day, we really didn’t need it, and so we just kind of kept going.”