January 20, 2026
Colleen Claggett/for PhillyVoice
Did the way Kevin Patullo was treated in Philly scare off potential OC replacements?
Philadelphia can be a tough city to play or coach in, everyone knows that. For some fans, holding the superstar athletes and coaches accountable is a merit badge, a true test of whether their favorite sports figures are "Philly" enough to win in front of one of the nation's most passionate, and outspoken, fan bases.
Whether or not the image of the Philadelphia fan as aggressive and occasionally over the top really hurts the local teams' ability to attract, or keep, top-tier talent has been debated for decades.
The city's hardcore reputation didn't stop Bryce Harper from taking the Phillies' offer of a 13-year deal, or Saquon Barkley from fleeing New York for another sports-rabid fanbase, or Paul George from leaving his cozy hometown of L.A. to link up with Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey in South Philly.
But those are just some examples.
Eric Lindros and Scott Rolen couldn't stand the fishbowl here and demanded out. J.D. Drew never wanted in. Ben Simmons and Carson Wentz buckled under the spotlight and requested trades. A.J. Brown hasn't talked to the media for months.
Shoot, Simmons didn't even appreciate some fan encouragement.
This timeless debate about Philadelphia's reputation and its impact on the sports landscape came back into the news cycle again Wednesday morning after former NFL offensive lineman Ross Tucker, a Reading, Pa., native who does color commentary for Eagles preseason games along with NFL games for CBS, made his weekly appearance on WIP's morning show to discuss the Eagles' current search for an offensive coordinator.
In discussing why Mike McDaniel agreed to be Chargers offensive coordinator and never interviewed with the Eagles despite reportedly being at the top of the their wish list, Tucker said some Eagles OC candidates are leery of coming to Philly based on what happened with former OC Kevin Patullo and because of the city's overall reputation.
Ross started out by mentioning that McDaniels' wife is from California and added that expectations are lower for the Chargers, who haven't won a playoff game with quarterback Justin Herbert.
"He wins playoff game, he's a hero," Tucker said of McDaniel during the show. "And this is where I think sometimes a little bit the passion – I guess I will call it – of the Philly fans and media probably hurts the Eagles a little bit in some of these scenarios ..."
As Tucker was explaining, his thought was interrupted by morning show co-host John Ritchie, a former Eagles fullback, who asked if being "a hard to please" fan base could also impact the team's search for other candidates. Former Giants head coach Brian Daboll reportedly interviewed with the Eagles on Tuesday but left without a deal and is reportedly headed to be the offensive coordinator of the Titans if he doesn't land the Bills' head coaching job.
Before Tucker could answer, morning show host Joe DeCamera brought up Patullo's house egging following the Eagles' loss to the Bears in Week 8 on Black Friday as an example of potential red flags for other coordinator candidates.
"That is 1,000-percent correct," Tucker said. "Look, I'm not blaming anyone; I'm just saying the way Patullo was treated last year, which I thought was unfair because I thought more needed to be put on the players, even the players had said that ... The way Patullo was treated, let's just say this – anybody that's a coach in the NFL is very well aware of what it is like to be in Philadelphia in general, to be the offensive coordinator in particular.
"They know about Patullo's house being egged, they know what the environment here is like. It's not a positive. I'm not blaming anybody, I'm just telling you it's not–..."
DeCamera interjected that he does blame people who "freakin' egged his house."
"Correct," Ross continued, "but the point is when any of these guys that have other options, like Brian Daboll... when these guys are sitting down with their wife and their kids or their family and they're talking about, 'OK, where do you live, what are the expectations, what's the weather like, where do we want our kids to go to school' the way Philadelphia is, it's not a positive."
Tucker's viewpoint isn't just based on his own personal experience growing up outside Philadelphia, playing collegiately at Princeton, or calling Eagles preseason games for the past few years. He travels around the country often, calling football games for CBS and Westwood One.
In another recent appearance on WIP, Tucker had talked about Nick Sirianni's coaching reputation being less favorable nationally than locally based on conversations he had with people around the NFL during his travels.
On the plus side, earlier in Wednesday's morning show, Tucker mentioned the Eagles' track record of finding good coaches who weren't their first choices, including both of their Super Bowl champion head coaches, Sirianni and Doug Pederson. Tucker also noted that Kellen Moore, the offensive coordinator for the 2024 Super Bowl team, also wasn't the most popular choice for the position when he got the job.
"My point would be, especially when they hire someone from another organization, the Eagles' track record with coaching staffs and with coaches is pretty darn good," he said, "and their philosophy of casting a wide net and being patient seems to be the right one."
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