Eagles' downfall being blamed on head of security's suspension

One NFL reporter chalked up the Philadelphia Eagles’ end-of-season collapse to the loss of a big sideline presence.

According to Derrick Gunn, one of the reasons Philly collapsed down the stretch was the lack of presence from Dominic “Big Dom” DiSandro on the sidelines. DiSandro, the Eagles head of security, was suspended from the sideline after a physical altercation with San Francisco 49ers linebacker Dre Greenlaw. The ensuing 42-19 loss to the 49ers kicked off the Eagles’ end-of-season woes.

Gunn reported that DiSandro’s big responsibility involved controlling Sirianni’s emotions while on the sidelines. The absence of the head of security led to “numerous arguments with players/coaches during games.”

The Eagles’ collapse through the final six weeks of the season was the biggest end-of-season decline by DVOA since the 2011 Chicago Bears (although it does not fall into the top 20 declines since 1981). Philadelphia dropped five of their final six games after a 10-1 start, falling out of their lead spot in the NFC East. DiSandro was allowed back on the sideline for the Eagles’ wild card game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, but Philadelphia went on to drop the road matchup 32-9.

Players also noticed the absence of DiSandro. The Philadelphia Inquirer reported Big Dom was a “fix-it” guy who brings “good juju” to the sidelines back in January.

“Well, to be honest, you don’t really notice the significance that he played on our team till he was gone,” left tackle Jordan Mailata told the Inquirer. “And it’s like, [expletive]. We haven’t been executing since he was gone. We’re getting our [expletive] beat since he was gone. So maybe he was a little bit of that good juju.

“So I think the positive vibes, man. Believe it or not, he’s actually a very positive person. Especially on game days. He’ll get you locked in. So it’s gonna be great having him back, for sure. Just the energy. The energy that we needed.”