Reason No. 3
Sean Desai is not Jonathan Gannon
The Eagles may miss Jonathan Gannon a lot more than they thought. New Philadelphia defensive coordinator Sean Desai and his defense gave up three touchdowns and over 300 passing yards, along with 76 yards on the ground last week to the New England Patriots.
Watching the Eagles' defense, you can tell there is something different about them because other than a Daris Slay pick-six, the unit seemed to struggle against a mediocre Patriots offense.
Desai coaches a different brand of defense than Gannon. Desai employs a system that has a main purpose of limiting the big play, very similar to the defense that Ed Donatell tried to employ for the Vikings in 2022. A large amount of two high safety alignments and a very limited amount of blitzes is what is expected from the Eagles' defense this season.
Gannon, the new head coach of the Arizona Cardinals, is a Mike Zimmer disciple, and although both Vic Fangio and Zimmer share similarities with their defensive structure, Zimmer's defense was much more aggressive than Fangio's, and Philadelphia should not expect anything different from Desai.
A conservative Eagles defense could spell trouble for them against Minnesota's high-powered offense on Thursday.