NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - Eagles vs Packers Thursday Night Recap

Episode Date: September 27, 2019

Chris Wesseling and Gregg Rosenthal recap the Thursday Night Football game between the Philadelphia Eagles and the Green Bay Packers from Wess Manor!Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comNFL Daily YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/nflpodcastsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Hey, everybody. Daniel Jeremiah here. And I'm Bucky Brooks. On Move the 6th, we take you inside the game from breaking down college prospects and NFL rookies to evaluating team building philosophies, coaching trends, and how front offices construct winning rosters. We study the tape, talk to decision makers, and give you a perspective you won't find anywhere else.

It's everything you need to understand the why behind what happens on Sunday. Don't miss it. Listen to the Move the Sticks podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Marcus Grant. And I'm Michael Florio, and together we host the NFL Fantasy Football Podcast. Ready to dominate your fantasy league this season? Then you need the NFL Fantasy Football Podcast, your ultimate source for player news, draft tips, and winning strategies. Whether you're a rookie manager or a fantasy vet. We've got the insight to help you crush your opponents.

Listen to the NFL Fantasy Football Podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Toyota, the official automotive partner of the NFL. Visit Toyota.com slash NFL now to learn more. You have a chance to get everybody reset as Rogers keeps balls out. And recovered by Philadelphia and Brandon Graham. Big play was made by Derek Barnett. Rogers flushed out to his right.

End zone, incomplete for Graham. And the Eagles will take over with nine minutes left and the ball sitting at their one. One second down in the air and picked off by Bradham. Philadelphia will take over. As Malcolm Jenkins and Craig James just into the ball game combined and knock it up into the air and Bradham gets the interception to, in essence, end this night. You never know who's going to make the game-winning play. That was Eagles defensive back.

Craig James elevated off the practice squad. He tips the ball to Nigel Bradham, and they somehow stop the locomotive. That was Aaron Rogers on Thursday night football. 34 to 27. The Eagles get a circle of the wagons win to write the ship at 2-2. Alston Jeffries hopping around. Deshawn Jackson's out of this game.

They lose a couple defensive backs and they find a way to get it done despite trailing 10-0 early. What a massive victory for the Eagles and what a disappointment for how it ended with the Packers. I thought this was the full football experience in America. You had big plays. You had one quarterback transcending injuries and lack of talent around him. You had a defense overcoming their own.

injuries and staying in the game. We're losing our minds over stupid rules and penalties. You're losing your mind. I was fine. We'll get into that later. Guys carted off the field, tension released throughout the game, and then a big play to end it and seal it for the Eagles.

Yeah, a little anticlimactic, as is me telling the listeners right now that we're at West Manor, and my name is Greg Rosenthal, and I'm with Chris Wesleyan. It's just the two of us tonight, although we do have the paramour in the house. Jimmy Graham's biggest fan just sitting right next to us.

You know she's a real fan when she's still a fan after that performance. And you know, I'm not a real fan when I'm, you know, or a real host, at least, when I'm introducing the game this late. There's so many ways we can go in this game. It was fascinating. It was kind of the Thursday Night Classic we're waiting for, you know, these Fox games, they give Fox the great matchups. And this one delivered, but Matt Lafleur didn't deliver.

I don't think with his play calling, I'm hesitant to kill the guy on a night where they did put up 491 yards, the offense. was better, but I thought his decision to run on first and second down very often early in the game, especially in the red zone when they were up 10 to 7, really gave the Eagles a break. And then all these established the run teams, they get near the goal line, and they just love passing the ball. You have four chances on the goal line, on an earlier fourth down drive. You end up having six plays in two different drives in the fourth quarter, inside the five. They did not give Aaron Jones the ball on any.

of them, and I think Lafleur is going to get a lot of questions about that. I think he should get questions about it because he was in his own head. I thought he kept calling first down runs that went nowhere earlier in the game. Even in the second half when they were trying to come back, he was still doing first down runs that weren't working when everything Rogers and Devante Adams was, every time they went at Maddox, it was working. So I thought he got in his own head, especially in light of Aaron Jones three times in the last two games, he succeeded in that situation, including earlier in the game. He's really shown well as

a goal lineback. Just as problematic in that sequence to me is just the lack of Jimmy Graham's ability to make a play with multiple chances to do it. Why you got to do that to him? This happened all year last year. And we went into the offseason, many of us believing this team needs help in the receiving core. And the Packers told us what they thought of that opinion by not bringing anybody in. And I think as much as they're still getting used to their offense, still getting cohesive, seeing how things fit

together, it's fair to wonder if they overrated their own players. Yeah, it's not a crushing loss. They're at 3-1. And Eagles fans, we will get to all the good things about your team in a minute, but we're just talking Packers for now. Two of the big problem areas they had coming into this game were

their run defense, they give up 176 yards tonight. Credit to the Eagles and their offensive line. They're a lot to deal with. And Jordan Howard, I think, makes sense on this team as a role player. He's not going to be their every downback. I think Miles Sanders, who also was very good tonight, is ultimately more important. But Howard fills a nice niche for them, and he ran really hard. That rush defense is an issue. And then the lack of depth, as you mentioned. They didn't really have anyone going into this game other than Valde Scantlin and Adams that had over 70 yards on a season, which is outrageous. And they played your boy, Robert Tanyan, more than Jimmy Graham last week,

or very similar. They played Mercedes-Louis even more. And so they're going to have to figure who other than those two guys you would think Geronimo, Allison, would be it, or who knows? Teams get a little crazy with this trade deadline these days.

Like, this is a team, I think, could use a little pick-me-up at the receiver position. They do. With Aaron Rogers, it's so hard for him to get that rapport with his guys that he trusts. I thought Allison looked great

on those back-to-back plays, you know, obviously late in the second quarter to move the sticks and then score the run or score the touchdown. But this offense, I agree with you. They need to do something at the trade deadline. They don't have what it takes. So I wrote down the words push and pull on my notes.

I couldn't figure it out. I embarrassingly stopped down on our first try of taping because I thought I remembered what it was and then I couldn't. And I'm going to make Eddie Spaghetti back in the studio. You know, I have to fix it up because of that. But I've got it. You know what it is? I've been waiting a while for this.

Let's hear it. It's the push and pull of what the Packers Offeds used to be. And Aaron Rogers kind of making his own plays by improvising and what Matt LaFleur wants to do. And you almost could feel during this game, Matt LaFleur just had to recognize the obvious of, let's get in shotgun a little more, which is what Aaron Rogers likes to do.

I think the Packers are second in the league in snaps under center this year. Let's quit it with these early down runs and the running game that we'd like, to have because it's not happening. And let's let let Rogers do what he does because this game was a carbon copy for the Packers in that their scripted plays early

were great. They went up and down the field. LaFleurs and Rogers have really been on the same page with that and been dynamite. And then they failed to score after that. But when Rogers was moving the ball and he had one of the prettiest touchdown drives you ever want to see in the third quarter, that was mostly Rogers

kind of just making place. You know, that he was evading pressure and he was doing his thing and he had his boy, Devante Adams to do it. And that to me is the old Packers' offense. And that's the push and pull, Chris Wesseling, between who's in control of this group? Whose offense is it really going to be? Tonight it was Aaron Rogers' offense and it was ultimately better. Well, nothing I've seen from Matt, as Mark would say, the flower so far would lead me to believe that they're in better hands with his offense than Aaron Rogers. He overcame Alex Light, who came in for Brian

Balaga, and it was an immediate clear downgrade. And I thought Aaron Rogers started looking at his right tackle on every play after that, wondering where the pressure was coming from, and for him to escape and keep making plays on the run. It was awesome. His own legs and then throwing the ball on the run. It was one of those vintage Rogers, as I said on Twitter, just the rising tide lifting all boats in that game, not just on his team, but the referees, Al River Run in New York, the other team.

I mean, Keisha put it well. I mean, she was saying how much she enjoyed talking to Aaron, like watching Aaron Rod, just like that. He made it look so easy. You said, I wish I had that arm. Yeah, Keisha doesn't have a microphone. I'm doing a bad job not leaning over. But just he makes it look so easy.

And it is fun to have this Aaron Rogers back in our life. So I hope they do open it up a little more. But let's get to what I think was a gutsy performance by the Eagles. Because if you really look at it, Alshund Jeffrey's on one leg. Kevin King shut him down, nine targets, three catches, 38 yards. not the same. Dallas Goddard's banged up, two for 16. Nelson Aguilar, I think he hung out with the with the unlike Aguilar guy back in Philadelphia. I don't know if he made the trip. He had one target in this game. Matt Collins didn't do it. Your number one receiver is your tight ends,

at Kurtz. You know, Carson Wentz made a lot of big plays. Had one or two misses, but for the most part was really good. And you find a way through special teams with Miles Sanders making a big play. a way with red zone defense, just enough pressure, and a really good running game. And most importantly, I think old Dougie Peterson. In the end, offense wins. I know I said it again, but Doug Peterson had his way with Mike Patton. I think they had a plan going into this that they saw some things in the way that the Packers' defense gets so complex.

I don't even really know what it is. But they were confident, I think, going into this game that they could make some plays. And they did offensively. and I still trust this coaching staff. Ultimately, I'm not surprised between these two organizations in a game that Eagles just kind of had to win that they just found a way because that's what they've done the last few years. Well, you left out the offensive line.

And that first series, Preston Smith, was given Jason Peters all he could handle. And it looked like it might be a long day for the Eagles offensive line against the Packers Pass Rush that was kind of one of the stories of the league for the first three weeks, that the Packers Pass Rush was reinvigorated, to rejuvenated, and they were for real. And they got shut down in this game. And instead, you had a Packers defense that just left Jordan Howard open out of the backfield to be a pass catcher and didn't really cover their tight ends well at all.

So a different Packers defense than we saw the first three weeks. Yeah, they were. They still forced, you know, four or five punts. They didn't have the big play. They were really put on short fields. You know, the three touchdowns by the Eagles in the first half in a row were all 45 yards or a total, I think, of 80 yards on those. three touchdown drives.

So they were put in a bad spot in Philadelphia capitalized. And they got a little lucky. Let's be honest. Nick Barnett could have been thrown out, probably should have been thrown out of this game for a helmet-to-helmet hit that knocked Jamal Williams out. That certainly hurt what the Packers want to do. Williams had played well last week and they want to run the ball.

So that's a huge break. Barnett ends up getting a strip sack on Rogers, which they convert into a touchdown. And they got fortunate not to have a big pass. interference call turned against them on third and long that would have kept the packers going in the first half when they just seemed like they were going to score every drive and you were losing your mind chris i mean it was um i just got to say you know me i don't think since antonio brown we haven't seen you as worked up as this well this role is exactly it's

being played out exactly how i thought it was going to be played out it's like the old catch rule You cannot have a rule that asks the viewer not to believe what his eyes are telling him. And everyone who watched that play said that's clear and obvious that the defender is hindering the receiver from making a catch. And Al Riveron goes on Twitter and says it did not meet the qualification for being clear and obvious that the receiver was hindered from making the catch. My eyes tell me different, and I think most people who are watching their eyes tell them different. it's a farce of a rule it's only going to last one year and there was some like haywire

kind of exorcism where Al Riveron cast out of my mind the willing suspension of disbelief necessary to buy into grown men chasing a bag of wind around a park after that play I just the rest of the game didn't matter as much to me after that you listening out there with this extra podcast

this goddamn poetry he's just ripping this off off the top of his head he's like he's like the he's like a beat poet in 1969 right now. He's flying, Chris Wesseling. We should have a beat poet on the competition committee to add a little common sense. It was a tough one. I always try to, you know, not overreact to these things.

Don't send the tweet if you're not going to really provide any clarity. That, you know, that didn't provide any clarity what Riveron said. If I was going to try to interpret what's happening here, I think they see the plays as bank bang in real life as a judgment call in real life and that when you start slowing it down like crazy that they're still almost using this is such guesswork yeah i guess it's crazy it makes us why they're still using the thought that hey this isn't clear and obvious you know when it's when it's live and and in a way i i think we're not quite at the total disaster that you predicted in the offseason oh it is it's a total disaster

And it's definitely not going well for the NFL either. I think it's somewhere in between and much closer to the initial prediction that you had. What I would say is the coaches are being discouraged into challenging any of these calls unless it's the most obvious thing in the world. But they're not consistent. I've mostly been consistent. I've seen much less overturned and I've watched every single game, much less has been overturned than what happened on that play. And frankly, the one that happened to the Eagles receiver, Alshan Jeffery should have been a DPI tall.

Two, you cannot show these replays to people at home and then waste their time by showing them something that they know is a penalty and then not overturning it. You're just wasting everyone's time. I can't argue. And it supports. Can I say one more thing about this? I mean, it's your podcast. It's just the two of us. No one's going to stop you.

It never made any sense to me that one judgment call is reviewable, but others aren't. So you watch a game and you see a judgment call get overturned, which we've seen in the first few weeks, and then other judgment calls ruin the game. For instance, the Broncos Bears game on the roughing the passer call. Why are you allowing some judgment calls to ruin the game, but not others? It's a fair point. And I think your theory that it might only last a year in part because the officials don't seem to like it. And Al Riveron, I think, doesn't seem to like it.

And if you are a-common sense hates it. And if you are a conspiracy, theorists, you'd almost think that Riveron is burying the rule by never overturning things because ultimately they want... I would prefer that than the inconsistency that we've seen so far. Yeah,

it's tough. I mean, it also slows down the game. This was like a... You mentioned this was the total football experience. And it really was because you had, you know, great quarterback play. You had controversial play calls that you could question. And then

you have the, you know, the brain injuries to start and end the game. And it's just like, this is football. And I think if you're, if we still loved watching it, but I can take myself outside of an avid, like, overzealous fan and understand if I'm just being introduced to this game and when it's at its peak with one minute left in the game, Andrew Sendehu comes in here like a flying missile

and has friendly fire against his own team, mate, and you have to watch a guy get a serious brain injury, and the game stops, and there's two guys being stretchered out in the game, including one, you know, right one, and then you pick, right back up, like, that is football, unfortunately. That is kind of the experience, and it's, and it sucks. It's jarring, and you mentioned if you were a new watcher, I think any new watcher would be blown away by how fast it is. And just in the time, since we started following football, for me in the 1980s until now,

how much faster the game is, is remarkable. Well, I think ultimately they put on a show. You can't ask for more. And it was a big game in the NFC. I mean, the Cowboys, I know it's early, but they might have had a chance to go run away with this NFC East. And the NFC North certainly likes seeing the Packers get an early loss. I think the Eagles, they do have the pieces.

If they can get healthy, get a couple players back to Sean Jackson, Timmy Jernigan. They can get things together. And it'll be a lot easier to do out of a. two and two hole. If you don't have anything else, Chris West, I don't know. We're here at West Manor. I don't know if you have anything else planned here tonight. I thought you put a nice bow on it. Oh, I appreciate that. You know, we're, you know, we're not Mark and Dan. We're Wes and Greg. We're going to have our own feel to this little, what do we call it? Minipod,

extra pod? Mini pod. Free freaking content in your ear. Eat it. I mean, love it. Extra podcast. Every week. We're going to be doing it on Thursday nights. We will be back on Sunday night, of course, for the flagship program where we recap all the week for games. I can't wait for it. And

until then, it's been a pleasure, Chris Wesleyan, spending this night with you. Anytime. Every Thursday, you're all welcome here at Westman. I mean, we had, we ordered some nice fa. We, Lecisha, and you know, this is, this was the squad tonight. Again, Eagles, 34,

27. Still talking. We will catch you. Hey everybody, Daniel Jeremiah here. And I'm Bucky Brooks. On Move the 6th, we take you inside the game from breaking down college prospects and NFL rookies to evaluating team building philosophies, coaching trends, and how front offices construct winning rosters. We study the tape, talk to decision makers, and give you a perspective you won't find anywhere else. It's everything you need to understand the why behind what happens on Sunday. Don't miss it. Listen to the Move the Sticks podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

I'm Marcus Grant. And I'm Michael Florio, and together we host the NFL Fantasy Football Podcast. Ready to dominate your fantasy league this season? Then you need the NFL Fantasy Football Podcast, your ultimate source for player news, draft tips, and winning strategies. Whether you're a rookie manager or a fantasy vet. We've got the insight to help you crush your opponents. Listen to the NFL fantasy football podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Toyota, the official automotive partner of the NFL.

Visit Toyota.com slash NFL now to learn more. This is an IHeart podcast.