Philadelphia Eagles offensive coordinator Kevin Patullo said criticism comes with the job but a “line was crossed” when his house was vandalized because his family was targeted.
Patullo spoke to the media Wednesday for the first time since the incident early Saturday morning, when vandals egged his New Jersey home, according to the Moorestown Police Department. The incident, still under investigation, followed the Eagles’ 24-15 home loss to the Chicago Bears on Friday.
“Unfortunately, (the vandalism) happened,” Patullo said. “I’ve been here five years now, and it’s been awesome. This is such a unique place to coach and play. It’s very special. We’ve been to two NFC Championship Games we’ve won at Lincoln Financial (Field), a Super Bowl, the parade, it’s an amazing atmosphere to be a coach and a player. And as coaches and players, we all know that part of our job is to handle criticism.
“It’s perfectly acceptable to sit up here and talk about what’s going on, how to fix it, what we’re going to do going forward, and we know that,” Patullo continued. “But when it involves your family, obviously it crosses the line. And so, that happened. At this point, we’ve just gotta move on. We’re trying to win. That’s all we want to do is focus — whether it’s my family, whether it’s the team — all we’re trying to do together is focus on this week.”
The defending Super Bowl champions are 8-4 and lead the NFC East but have lost two straight, 24-21 at Dallas and at home to the Bears.
Patullo, 44, is in his first season as offensive coordinator after Kellen Moore left to become head coach of the New Orleans Saints.
Philadelphia ranks 19th in scoring (22.5 points per game), 24th in total yards (304.8), 23rd in passing yards (196.3) and 22nd in rushing yards (108.5).
The offensive woes, despite the overall record, have brought greater scrutiny to Patullo, who came with Nick Sirianni from the Indianapolis Colts staff (2018-20) to the Eagles when Sirianni was hired as head coach in 2021. Patullo was the passing game coordinator and added the title of associate head coach in 2023.
He will continue to call plays as the OC, Sirianni confirmed on Monday.
“Nick does a great job with all of us as coaches, just preparing us for these kind of moments, and different mentors you have,” Patullo said Wednesday. “You know the pressure is there, but we all accept it because we ultimately want to be at the highest part of our coaching career and continue to work through that and this is part of it.
“It’s a challenge but it makes it fun, and when you look back on it, you hope that you have more good than bad memories,” he added. “And when you go through the process like this, it defines you as a person in your career but not as an individual and not as your family.”
Patullo said the job should be separate from family, but “that line was crossed.” He said his family has received support from “great people in the community” since the incident.
–Field Level Media
Comments