Tim McManus
PHILADELPHIA — Eagles offensive coordinator Kevin Patullo said a “line was crossed” with the recent vandalism incident at his house because it involved his family.
“This is such a unique place to coach and play. It’s very special,” Patullo said during his weekly news conference Wednesday. “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. 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.”
Patullo’s New Jersey home was vandalized with eggs early Saturday morning, according to the Moorestown Police Department. It happened hours after the Eagles’ home loss to the Chicago Bears.
A video surfaced on social media of multiple people appearing to throw objects at Patullo’s home, and a Moorestown Police representative said it was eggs. An investigation is still ongoing.
Patullo, 44, has been under scrutiny amid the Eagles’ offensive woes this season. The highest-salaried offense in the NFL ranks 24th in yards (304.8 per game), 23rd in passing (196.3 YPG), 22nd in rushing (108.5 YPG) and 19th in scoring (22.5 PPG).
Patullo has been on the Eagles’ staff since Nick Sirianni was hired as coach in 2021. He was promoted from passing game coordinator and associate head coach to offensive coordinator this offseason to replace Kellen Moore, now the coach of the New Orleans Saints.
“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 of dealing with the criticism. “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. 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.”
Sirianni reiterated during a conference call with reporters Monday that Patullo would remain the Eagles’ playcaller following a weekend of evaluation. Philadelphia has lost two straight and now is 8-4 entering Monday’s road game vs. the Los Angeles Chargers.
Patullo and Sirianni were both on the Indianapolis Colts‘ coaching staff from 2018-20. Patullo came to Philadelphia as the pass game coordinator and was given the added title of associate head coach in 2023.
“When you talk about what had happened, ultimately you want to be able to separate job from your family. That line was crossed. It was an unfortunate incident and that was the part that happened. Us as a family, we know we’ve got to stick together,” said Patullo, noting that his family has received a lot of support from “great people in the community” in recent days.
“We’ve had a great experience here in Philadelphia. It’s a very special, unique place to work and I look forward to all the more games we have and finishing strong in the season.”
