The Philadelphia Eagles' defensive struggles have become increasingly noticeable the past couple weeks, particularly with the Eagles losing to the San Francisco 49ers and Dallas Cowboys. Against the 49ers, Philadelphia's defense gave up six straight touchdown drives to end the game. They then allowed the Cowboys to score on seven of their nine possessions the following week.

This is far from the defensive standard they set a year ago, when they were ranked No. 2 in total defense and first against the a pass under former defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon. Under new defensive coordinator Sean Desai, the Eagles rank 22nd overall and fifth-last both against the pass and in scoring defense.

These struggles are particularly poignant on 3rd down. The Eagles currently rank dead-last on third down defense, allowing 48.07% of third downs to be converted this season. Over the past three games this mark is even worse, allowing offenses to convert 61.22% of third downs. The Cowboys were 9-16 on third down last week versus the Eagles, while the 49ers went 8-11 the week before. These figures are frankly unsustainable if Philadelphia wants to win in January.

Coach Nick Sirianni addressed their issues, while confirming Desai will help the Eagles improve.

“That’s why we hired him for the job,” Sirianni said. “I think really where (the problem) is, the yards pile up on you when you are giving up some third downs. Again, the problem is everywhere there, right? … We got to coach them better, put them in better spots, detail it out for them and execute better,” via Brooks Kubena of The Athletic.

Sean Desai added how he plans to get his defensive guys back on track after the back-to-back losses.

“The last two weeks are not our standard,” Desai said. “We accept that. We know that. We’re going to lean back into what we really believe in ourselves, in our standard, and we’ve got to go back and achieve that from a coaching standpoint and a player’s standpoint. And it’s going to be all of us working together to do that. And I think we’ve got the guys and the leaders in this building to help us do that.”

They'll get their first chance to put this revamped plan in place against the Seattle Seahawks on Monday.