PHLY Philadelphia Eagles Podcast - After ELITE Jalen Hurts game, do the Philadelphia Eagles have a new blueprint?

Episode Date: October 22, 2025

On Sunday in Minnesota, Jalen Hurts went 19-23 for 326 yards and three touchdowns as the Philadelphia Eagles improved to 5-2 on the 2025 NFL season with a 28-22 victory over the Minnesota Vikings. DeVonta Smith caught a beautiful 79-yard touchdown pass that he, and not Eagles offensive coordinator Kevin Patullo might have called for. A.J. Brown had a season-high 121 yards, including two touchdowns and the game-sealing catch on the final drive. Is this now how the Philadelphia Eagles have to play, letting Hurts throw in a pass-heavy offense that is the opposite of the 2024 Eagles’ Super Bowl team? Jamie Lynch and Rich Hofmann discuss that and more on the PHLY Eagles podcast, while EJ Smith will join from the NovaCare Complex to provide updates from Nick Sirianni’s mid-week press conference and Eagles practice. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hello, and happy Wednesday. We're here for another edition of the P.H.O.I. Eagle Show presented by Bet365 and Ashley Furniture. My name is Rich Hoffman. I am here with Jamie Lynch. Our elevator is not working again. But it's still great to be here because we're up on the top floor of the Xfinity Studio. Well, you haven't been affected by the elevator yet, Rich. I just was because I went down to the mailroom and the elevator broke on me. So if there's some loud breathing from Jamie in the first segment, you all will know why.

It's not just because that the Eagles have activated Sue Opetta's practice window, Jamie. Also, Jacori and Bennett's practice window as well. We will be waiting with baited breath for Bowulf's thoughts on that in the coming days as well. Suea coming back to the nest. But, James, how you feeling, man? Good. Outside of the stairs, which I think is 109 steps on the way up. other than that, feeling good.

I'm excited by BG, Rich, I got real sick of the narrative yesterday. And it was mostly just online and probably fake people saying fake things for, you had the perfect ending. You went out on top. To you, if Brandon Graham still thinks he can play,

let the man play football. Like, what the hell are we talking about storybook ending? It's his ending. I got real sick of that narrative yesterday. So that's what was on top of my mind. I mean, it would have been.

been the storybook ending, but it sounds like BG just wanted to play some more football. And he didn't want to retire in the first place. And he still thinks he can contribute. And he was really good last year before he got hurt. No, I am very bullish. And that is one of the ten questions that I am going to ask you about the Eagles. Nice little tease there on this Wednesday edition of the P.H.Y. Eagle show. But yeah, I'm bullish on BG, man.

I think, like if we remember, when he got hurt in Los Angeles last year, he was playing great football. I think all of us were super sad at the time because we thought, hey, that might be the final play of his career. And this is a legendary eagle. But also, man, he was really helping the team so far this year. Also, he had some juice in the Super Bowl as well, despite the fact that he was playing with a very injured arm and he hurt that triceps again.

Yeah, wow. I enjoyed BG saying that he has a brand new arm. I was thinking like, does he have like a bionic type of arm for this year? Yeah. Anyway, yeah. I'm excited for him. Yeah. I think he's going to help this team a lot.

You know, Nolan Smith is going to be due back soon. And look, we didn't see much for Nolan before he left, but you're adding two needed pieces back to this team into this defense. So I'm really excited for Brandon to join the team. And then Nolan probably right after the buy or hopefully shortly thereafter. Because, you know,

look, the offensive and defensive lines is the first time you can say this in a long time for the Eagles. They kind of need some help. They need a little work. Yeah. They do. They do. And BG.

Yeah. I mean, look, I made the joke a couple weeks ago that how he was going to present him with a contract offer live on the show. I mean, it was pretty close to being the gates. Yeah, we probably should have tried to work that one out there. But working with Brandon getting to know him over the past like couple weeks, months, he's the absolute best. Everybody should be in his corner. This is an awesome feel good, you know, thing for the Eagles. So I think it's going to raise the vibes of that locker room immediately.

Like you saw the players kind of asked about it on Sunday, Rich, and everybody just lights up. It's like, oh, yeah, they were calling him onk and the OG. and like everybody's excited for him to be back. And you're hearing him yesterday with Bo. Shout out to Julia Bow and BG. What a show yesterday. And Bray, yes, and several other people behind the scenes. Just seeing him be like, man, I can't wait to get out there and talk smack to Lane.

And I'm going right up to Jordan. And I'm talking smack to him. And like the fact that he's so excited to be back is so cool. Mr. Wolf in the chat, very excited about Suea returning, by the way. Again, you're going to have to tune in tomorrow. I'm sure that'll be the first two segments. I'll sue a talk. But Jamie, on the subject of BG,

we do have a nice little diehard sale going right now. Yeah, we do. In honor of BG returning to the Eagles, 55% off your first year of your diehard membership. And Jamie, you get a ton of really good stuff. Like you get a shirt included from the All-City Store. You get premium writing.

And for all the people watching the Eagles show, I assume you're also college football sickos as well. This is unreal. France draft guide is now live on the site. The living, breathing document. He's going to update it during the season for everybody this year. I was taking a look at that thing last night, Jamie. I mean, he's already, like, look, he's done a lot of guys already.

Yeah. For sure, yeah. I mean, he's up to like 100. Yeah, I mean, I think Fran's draft guide alone is worth the price of admission, not to mention the great writing of Bo and Les and EJ, Kyle and Derek and Charlie and Jim Salisbury. And it just goes on and on. That's worth it.

Then the merch, like you said, the Discord. invite. Discord is a big deal too. A ton of fun. There are a lot of sickos that we have in that discord. And, you know, if you like maybe one sport or maybe two of the sports, trust me, that discord, there are plenty of like-minded people that just want to be talking ball all day with that.

And now I got to talk to Fran. I think he's in tomorrow, today's Wednesday. Everything. That sounds right. Yeah. I'm going to have to talk to him because he's doing guys for free now. He's got a free newsletter as well. He's joining the newsletter game.

Yeah. So Fran is doing guys for free. So if you want to join us as a diehard, that's the best way to support us. But if you also just want to sign up to see Fran do guys in email form, you can also sign up for that. And he will be updating you via newsletter for free. Won't cost you nothing. And Fran will do guys right in your inbox. I don't understand how they don't laugh with the whole doing guys. You did a great job there with the three of those.

Yeah. Well, Julie's in the background laughing. I had to submit. So our supporters club, which is a lot of fun. and I think I see some of them in here. We have a doing guys emoji. Nice. And I had to submit that to our sisters station or network out in Denver.

How did that go on me? I had to call the person. Trust me. It's okay. I was like doing guys is like great and it's like a really funny thing and segment and theme of the show. But I was like, let me just explain this to you. So it's not like. It's not explicit.

It's fine. It's about draft analysis. So yes. Okay. Support Fran. He puts his whole. heart and soul into it. It's, it's awesome. So, James, we have one more game before the bye week. Yeah. It's very much a, uh, I know you play a decent amount of golf. It's, it's very much a, like,

let's post a score. I don't think I should play golf anymore. I think I should just retire. I suck. Yes, go on though. Do you have a bad round? Yeah, and a real bad round. Like 18 bad T shots, couldn't do anything off the T's. And I was like, what am I doing? Why am I playing this game? That makes it very not fun. Not, not being able to, not, not being able to put, not being able to check. I was on fire from putting, though. And around the green, I was locked in. That's not as much fun.

T-shots are the worst. It's the worst. It's very deflating. So, yes, I play, but I suck. But this, I think this Giants game this week is very much, uh, just post a score. Get it in the house, right? Get it into the buy week and then, uh, sort of regroup from there. Were you surprised by the line?

I don't even know what the line is. Oh, all right. Let's play guess that line, Rich. Let me pull up the most accurate, but I saw it last night. I was a little surprised. Four and a half. So I think you're going to be a little surprised too because currently on bet three six five the Eagles are seven and a half point favorites. I was thinking where you are.

I was like four and a half maybe five seven and a half. It's a lot for a team that has not outgained an opponent yet all season. Yeah. I was shocked by that. Well, like look, that Giants lost. By the way, Giants Broncos. Wasn't the best played game of the year? But man, that was a lot of fun.

that was it was right it was approaching we were taking the girls upstairs for like bedtime and Skyler was asking me to like play a game and I had just gotten home from the Eagles post game show and like I could sense the weirdness of the game ratcheting up and the fourth quarter was getting nuts and she was asking me to do things and I was like Skyler not now like I need a couple minutes to just like take this in because this is this is wild Jackson Dark's starting to take some chances yeah yeah she was like who are we pulling for I was like the team in the orange I by the way I am so, I shouldn't say this because of our all city affiliation. I am so anti-Shone Peyton.

Sure, go ahead, beat the Giants, man. I am, they are on my, you know, what list, man. I am, I'm not happy with them. Anyway, that is a topic for a different day. But yeah, it seems like a get right game. Okay, but I do have 10 questions for it. All right. And Jamie has not seen any of those questions.

Now, look, unlike some other shows, I'm not going to make Jamie like pick a number, a random number. and go with those questions. Hit me however you see fit. I'm just going to hit Jamie in order with these questions coming off. I think a very interesting win for the Eagles. Like it was,

might not have been their best win of the year, but it was definitely like there was a ton to talk about after that game. It was unexpected how the game turned out. And so that's my first question, James. We're going to get a little more specific as we go along. But the first one is just a broader question. Did last week's game make you feel better or worse about the 2025 Eagles.

I think it made me feel better. And for simple reasons, they did play action under center. And they showed a new wrinkle and an adjustment to their norm, which wasn't really working. They were getting by, but we all know the woes of the offense

and the pitfalls they were encountering. And, you know, you hear whispers that Jalen isn't trying to run as much this year. And maybe that's why the PR, RPO, PRO options aren't really. being implemented. So to see them go back on the...

I like the PRO. You're making it sound like it's like... Fast run option. It's like an Adobe thing or a Microsoft. So it makes me feel better that one, Jalen was like, yeah, sure, we need to change something here. Two, that Petulo was like,

all right, this needs, something needs to change. And then three, the byproduct of that is Devante and AJ had the best combined game they've had together in a long, long time. And DeMonte Smith is just... 304 combined yards.

Yeah, I mean, what a beastly game from that. To see AJ and Jalen kind of freestyle on some of those plays and connect and communicate. That had me feeling the warm and fuzzies again. So, yes, I'm more positive after last week. It's a little similar to the second half of the Rams game where, look, the Eagles were lucky to win that Rams game. But even before Jordan Davis blocked that kick, I saw the passing game get opened up. In the second half, I saw A.J. Brown dominating like, AJ Brown should.

And I said to you, even before Jordan Davis's block kick, that was an encouraging second half. It seemed like something that they could build on and then they won the game anyway. I think this game is sort of, it's that feeling, but it's over an entire game. And that's that over the four quarters, I thought the Eagles on a per play basis were worse than the Vikings in that game. Now that is both an offensive and defensive stat. Look, they had three straight, three and out.

in the first half. They go down and score a touchdown. They go three straight three and outs and then you get some Nick Siriani cowardice. Cowardous at the end. Before the half of the first half. That was bad. It is now the Eagles are going to have to fix that at some point, Jamie,

because it's just they have, it should be like a branded segment at this point. The three and out hour presented by Xfinity. It's crazy. They just go a full hour with no offense. And you don't know at what point of the game it'll be. It might be in the second half. It might be early on,

whatever it is. That's kind of like, the theme of the season is like they look great at times and then they'll go three and out for four or five straight series and you're like oh no the sky is falling again and we can't quit it it's awful yeah and then you look at the defense look that a little simmy simmy with jaylix hunt straight out of ithaca that interception i think coach flynn our buddy from uh from princeton prepared jellick's hunt very well for facing carson wends uh anyway that was nice that they hit on that play but But Carson Wentz was moving the ball up and down the field on that defense.

Pretty much the entire game. Only one punt for the Vikings. Now, some great red zone defense and some colossal Wentz mistakes. We're going to get to both of those things as we go later on. But look, the Eagles hit on some huge plays. Yeah. And Jalen Hertz was freaking awesome. And to me, despite the fact that on a per play basis, yeah, there's a lot that you can,

I wouldn't even say nitpick. There's a lot that you can point out, wow, that's got to get better. Hopefully BG can help with the run defense. There's a lot, the number two corner. Wow. I mean, God, it's a disaster every single week. But Jalen Hertz and the offense getting it going and the passing game, particularly in a game where you thought, this is probably going to be a run the ball game. Because Brian Flores does all of these goofy blitzes and we have the graphic up on the screen.

Thank you, Julia. Jalen Hertz was phenomenal, man. I think it was, I don't know, probably top three best game I've ever seen. him play and maybe the two others are the Super Bowls. But it's certainly one of the better games he ever played. Bo and I talked about it on the post game show. I thought the best play he made all day was that third and 15 to AJ on the sideline, just threw a dart, stepped up in the pocket, kind of looked downfield, you know,

did everything basically textbook and then threw a ball on a rope to AJ on the sideline. And if they didn't pick that up there, the third and 15, there's probably a really good chance we're talking about a loss on Sunday. That was a monumentally huge play in the game and Jalen looked awesome on it. Well, James, you jumped the gun. Oh, because I was going to ask you, number two, was that the best regular season game

of Jalen Hurts? Oh. You can't ask with a straight face if it was the best game of Jalen Hertz's career because on two Super Bowls, he played lights out football in those games and with the stakes and the pressure involved in playing in such a big stage.

don't think you can say with the straight face that this game would eclipse that. But because we thought, all right, you know, Brian Flores is going to, he's going to have all of those crazy sim pressures and all those crazy blitzes. And this is probably going to be the game where Sequin Barclay has to get going because Flores's defenses, those, you know, sometimes the gap integrity is not where it should be. DeAndre Swift a couple years ago when the Eagles face them. DeAndre Swift even ran through a bunch of yards. But the Eagles get into that game and like they have all season, they can't run the ball

all. And some of that is, look, you put, put breathed-thote thin at, uh, that's a problem. At center, that's an issue, but they can't get really anything going for Saquan Barkley. Even Saquan Barkley's good runs. I mean, that, that, that's spin move he made on that. Yeah. That one play where the guy was like two yards. That was the best minus one rushing play. No, no, he got a couple yards on it. Oh, did he? Okay. I thought that was the one he does it. Should have been like minus three. Yeah. But, but, but yeah, I mean, that goes to show that I think Seekwan still has the juice. Okay. So in the middle of the game, they realize, all right, this is not going to be a run the ball game.

And despite the fact that the Eagles were facing what was one of the best defenses in the league? I call Brian Flores the boogeyman. Like I have a lot of respect for his defense. I think they were up there in EPA per play. And that goes to show. It's just like you never know what you're going to see every week. Sure. Eagles the week before they're facing a terrible Giants defense that you think,

okay, this is going to be a get right game for the entire offense, the passing game. It wasn't a disaster, but Jalen Hertz made some costly mistakes. in that game as well. You thought, oh, man, this is not the get right game because that Minnesota Vikings defense has been awesome against the past the entire season. And Jalen Hertz, the third ever perfect passer rating in Philadelphia.

Wow. Do you know the other two, all fan? I do because I looked it up, and they're two pretty memorable games, actually. Do you know him? Coy Detmer? No. That'd be funny.

Coy Detmer would fit in on the Eagles show, man. Do you remember his celebration where he was like, Anyway, that's why you got to watch. That's why you got to watch on YouTube. Our audio listeners did not watch Jamie and I do that celebration at the same time. The reason I said that is that game where he hurt himself and Sam Fran, wasn't he like absolutely lights out on fire? Wasn't he like perfect before he?

Yeah, and then he got hurt. Yeah. That was a very memorable game. Let's go. Number five had to do it once. Nope. No. I'll give you the two quarterback.

Oh, yeah, you're right. Sorry. Number five did do it once. I'm sorry. Was it a Cowboys game? No. Okay. Number five did it.

And Nick Foles also did it. This Raiders game? Raiders game. Seven touchdowns in the Coliseum. That was back when Chip Kelly's offense. Nobody knew what to do with it. News Flash, you fast forward a couple years later.

Everybody knew what to do with that offense. But that was when, man, Riley Cooper was even running wide open. No, the McNabb game. How far we've come from those days, Rich with Devante and AJ?

I'll give you the year on the McNabb game. 2007, not a particularly memorable game. Oh, I was going to say that's when it started to be bad. I think you're going to remember the game when I let you know what it is. So it was week three against the lions when they wore the very ugly blue and yellow uniform. B. West and Kevin Curtis had three touchdowns and 200 some yards in that game.

I believe the Eagles started 0 and 2 that year. And that was sort of their get right game. Man, that was a crazy game. Those were the only two 158.3 passer race. prior to Sunday in Eagles history. So yeah, for Jaylen to have that performance, it was, it was great. And I guess the last question I have for you, Jamie, and this is the topic of the show before we go to break for the first time,

is have the Eagles found an identity? Are they primarily a passing team now? And I wonder if, you know, you saw the video from the tunnel, that sacred area when they run from the field to the locker, room Jalen says we're not effing. I think he said losers. Losers. Lusers losing. Whatever. The sentiment is the exact same.

I wonder how much longer the media is going to be allowed there because it was either Nick or Howie. One of them was like, that's a sacred space with like a lot of energy and, you know, emotions coming off the field. Like that they kind of were like, that shouldn't have been captured but it was. And it was like, well, yeah, you know, it's the bowels of the stadium.

You can't really close it off forever. But so I wonder how long media is going to be allowed after something like that. Because I'm sure Jaylon behind closed doors is like, guys, it's not good for my brand. You know, like, you got the F bomb out there. I got it, I got the world of Jordan opening in town. I'm a business, man. I got kids that look up to you.

Yeah. So I'm sure he didn't love that. But it is what it is. I mean, like, look, Jill and Hertz is a competitive guy. And he clearly has let a few F bombs fly when miced up. You know, I'm thinking back to the Chris Jones play against Kansas City.

But to your question, we won the game. I think, yes, I think this has to be their identity now. I think they need to lean into the passing game controlling the running game. With the state of the offensive line right now and Juergens and Dickerson is banged up as they are, Lane seems to have righted the ship a little bit there. But with the uncertainty and Brett Tooth playing as much as he has, I don't think you're going to be able to rely on the run game like you once could.

And I do think you have to shift to more pass protection heavy offensive schemes. And you have maybe the best or second. best wide receiver room in the entire NFL lean into it. I thought the pass blocking was pretty good. It was, yeah, not bad. The difference between run blocking and pass blocking on Sunday felt like it was a pretty sizable gap. I mean, even on the on the deep ball to Devonte, the 79 yard touchdown, that was blocked

up well. That was the six rushers, I believe, and the Eagles, they blocked it up well. Jalen was able to hold the ball and the Vikings were in a weird zone where Isaiah Rogers unfortunately got burnt. It wasn't really his fault. Like if that play gets blocked up like that, the middle of the field is just wide open. And on that rep,

kudos to EJ for having this nugget after the game, but he was the one that, you know, spread it out there that DeVante was going around to anybody with a set of ears that would listen saying that play was going to be open. And he kind of called his shot. And it led to the biggest play of the game.

I mean, that was a thing of beauty. Devante Smith, Eagles, 2034, offensive coordinator. Sure. I mean, I'm in up. Yeah, I love Devante. Smith. Yeah. Yeah, just to see how calm and coolly is

like away from the field and then to see him on the field just get like so fired up and curse and do all that. Like I just love those guys that flip a switch once they get in between the lines of play. Like they're just and Jalen's kind of like that too, right? Like two totally different people. I thought the under center

play action was really good. And look man, play action is something that you don't even have to be that good at running to run play action effectively. It's still like it's still plants the seed in the linebackers head. If it gives them that naturally going to take a little bit of a flinch moving forward. And as we have the graphic up, this was E.J. who looked this up via true media. Oh, good job, E.J. I've plays in their first six games. That's on, that's offensive.

Undercenter play action. And then they bring it out. They bring that chapter of the playbook to the game against Minnesota four for four for 121 yards and a touchdown felt like Devante was running wide open, maybe bring that chapter of the playbook to the games moving forward. I mean, you see that stat, how do you deny it? Right? Like, it's that sometimes, like, football gets overcomplicated sometimes. Sometimes it's just keep it simple, stupid. And I just want to like, hold that up on a poster board outside Nick Siriani's exiting the Novacare.

Like, four for four, 121 yards and a touchdown. That's it. Keep it simple, stupid. Do you remember the guys? Not that you're stupid, niggum. It's just the same. It's okay. It's okay.

Do you remember the guys who would stand outside of Novacare with the run the ball? And Nick, Nick got him donut. It would be very funny if it was like a very nerdy Eagles fan that was like under center play action. Maybe it would have to be like a big sign. Like Nick would be like, it's like small fun. I can't.

I can't exactly read that. Yeah. But obviously getting to, to more of that would be good. And I wonder though if Jaylen's comment too of, of we're not losing anymore. It might have been the light bulb going off in his head that, okay, we got to play a little bit of a different way this year.

And it's tough because right now it's close to the exact opposite formula that got you to the Super Bowl last year. And look, I believe Jalen Hertz when he says like, look, I'm trying to win the game. Sure. It might not look perfect. It might not look pretty, but it's going to be effective to win the game.

I don't always give him the benefit of the doubt on that. It's like winning the game and playing, you know, kind of effective. passing football, those things are not always mutually exclusive. But I do believe in terms of like turnover for prevention and other things like that, there's certainly some element of that in his head. But I do wonder if the light bulb went off in his head. Okay, we got to air it out a little bit more this year.

Defense is not, you know, they're not getting those three and outs. We're not getting a lot from the running game. So hopefully that will be something that they look at. And I think back to that quote, Bo said it on Anthony's show Monday morning. Like, I think it was an interesting look into the mindset of Jalen that like those two losses weighed on him so much that he was so fired up to be like we're not like he hates

losing that much so to your point I think yeah I think this game was so positive because I think he's going to go all right whatever it takes to not lose two in a row again if I have to go under center if I have to run more like maybe that was to your point like the light switch going off and as jean mentioned maybe devante should be the Eagles 2025 offensive coordinator I don't think many people would fight you there I wait till the 2030s when he's done playing Okay, we are going to hear from a couple of our sponsors. And then on the other side, we have an interview with Bow Wolf and your starting safety for your Philadelphia Eagles, Mr. Reed Blankenship. And Jamie, speaking of Bo Wolf, man, I was at his place the other day and he was pumped to watch football.

But his setup, it was a total mess. Boobo. Lagging, buffering, and switching between apps to find the game. He claimed he was a big fan, but I felt like I have been fan fished. See, if you call yourself a football fan, you gotta have Xfinity. It's the ultimate sports destination. I can find the best games and my favorite teams all in one place. And the way that I watch, it's next level.

It's the perfect fan flex. I've got all the action right there in my living room. Plus, Xfinity's best picture and sound with enhanced 4K, so clear that it feels like I'm in the actual link. Sometimes I've got four games going at once too, Jane, because why not? So on top of that, I get real-time notification. and live stats right there on my TV. It's the best seat in the house every time.

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Jamie, speaking of Bochie Jewelers. Reed's got some nice jewelry. Yeah. Big old ring sitting on his finger. We have a new segment presented by Bochie. It is called the secondary. It is Bowulf and Reed Blanketship

talking about the birds and we will be back on the other side. Back on the P. H.L.Y. Eagle show joined by one of the exciting mics, Reid Blankenship, and this is, of course, presented by our friends at Bucci Jewelers. Reid, I got to start. Got to ask you, the news of the day. News of the day.

How do you feel about, you know, your all-city fellow employee, Brandon Graham, coming back? Oh, man, I'm so excited. Obviously, just his presence in the room in the facility, you know, it's huge. You know, I saw him today in passing, and you know how he is. He's all smiles, all joy and laughter. And we need that. You know, we're not going to say no, don't bring BG back. You know, we always love his presence, like I said, and his ability to play.

Yeah, it's like there are two things to getting Brandon Graham back. Like on one side, there's on the field, which we will get to because I think you guys could use him there too. But off the field, I mean, like you're going through the slog of the season to have a guy who always has that energy. You know, you tell me, but it feels like it does matter. Oh, absolutely. Like you said, he brings the energy no matter what, no matter what day it is, how you feel, how he feels. He's always going to bring that same type of energy. And like you said, I feel like it's going to benefit us tremendously. Now, how about on the field, you know, the things that he brings to the table, what comes to mind? Well, first off, he doesn't need to talk too much trash to somebody that he's not going against, you know. Hopefully he's learned from that, but I don't think he has. I just feel like that trash talk is going to be on another level. I feel like he's had time off and the adrenaline is going to start pumping again and some more things are going to flow.

So I'm excited to hear that. But like I said, I can't wait for, I can't wait to get him back at practice either, you know. And if we talk about just, you know, one of the things that it feels like you guys can maybe take a step forward on maybe the run defense right now, which has not been up to quite the level of last year. And I feels like BG's physicality on the edge is something that you tell me, but could help you guys. Oh, yeah, absolutely. You know, we're not going to shy away from help at all.

I mean, this is what, year 16 for him? So 16 is crazy. So he's still going to perform at a high level. Now, along those lines, we got to see a few different things from you guys and Vic last week in the win over the Vikings. And that base defense, which you leaned into a little bit more based on what they were showing you. but N'Cobi really back in the mix and jihad on the edge, how did you feel like that worked? You know, it's a pretty good package, especially having Nikovi back. I mean, you saw him last year just flying around making plays and kind of just being the heart of the defense, you know, in the middle, him and Zach.

And, you know, with him being at practice, you could tell that he was just ready and just hungry to get back out because dude's flying to the ball. I mean, it didn't even look like he had any trouble, like any injury whatsoever. And then you get to the game and he's bringing that same intensity. you're not really surprised, you know, like, you're not really surprised at the plays you make the, the, the big hit he had, you know, in the backfield. It's, like, we, we saw it in practice and we know what he can do, and, you know, he, he didn't shy away from it one bit. What is it like for you as someone who has sort of ascended to a leadership role on defense? You know, you're a captain now. When you're getting other guys back who have been in that role before, you get BG back in the room now, N'Cobi has been a vocal leader before.

Now that they are in, does that change? like the way that you feel in terms of your ascension as a leader? I don't think so. I mean, I feel like it affects me positively. We have more leaders in the room. And yeah, the sea on your chest, I mean, yes, it's there for visual looks. And I love being a captain, you know, but at the end of the day, I mean, I feel like we have a lot of leadership in our room. And regardless of who has a sea on their chest, you know, we're going to lead the way we want to lead. And dudes are going to listen. You know, dudes are going to listen to the guys that are vocal that are doing stuff right and,

you know, just playing hard. you know, having two playmakers back like that, you know, it's going to help us out. Well, speaking of playmakers, I want to ask you about Cooper and I want, I want you to gas him up, but not in front of him. So he's not on right now. So he's not going to get to his head too much. I mean, it seems like he's playing at such a high level. You are obviously so close to him. What is your perspective on just the season he's having? You know, and how he's different than last year. Right. And like I said, like I said before, these other guys, I'm not surprised. I'm not shocked. you know, obviously you go through camp and stuff.

He's playing different positions and you don't really know how it's going to pan out, you know, during the season. But now here we are. He gets moved to corner and base. And I mean, I don't know if that's too much on his plate. It doesn't look like it. You know, he's playing like a, like how he, like, I don't know, like a lockup dude. You know, he's playing like a year vet, like a true like a true vet. One on an island with Justin Jefferson in the end zone.

It's insane, you know, like, I don't know. I'm sitting here kind of speechless because it's like it's unreal. Like you go from, you know, Nickel to move to corner. And now you're on, you're really on the island when you move the corner. And especially when we have like a zero pressure on or something, you're by yourself. And he's taking the most of his opportunity and just running with it. So I'm honestly not surprised, but he's just having fun with it. So are you more impressed when he does something like that, the breakup on,

Justin Jefferson or when it's like, you know, he's flying downhill and making a tackle and looking like, you know, one of the best tackers in the NFL pound for pound. Probably, you know, just putting them on the edge and watching them play corner. Okay. You know, I've seen them do the dirty work stuff, especially last year, you know, coming down, making plays and stuff. And, you know, it's condensed when you're in, when you're tighter to the formation. But when you're out there on the island, it's a little different, you know, and he's got a lot of

athletic ability. he can do it all and he could probably play any position on the field, including stup positions on the offense too. Speaking of that play and, you know, what helped you guys win this game, you guys have been so good in the Red Zone this year. Vikings were one for six on Red Zone trips last game. And there have been times where it feels like, you know,

the bend but don't break has really come out. What's the key to that in your mind? It's just our mentality and who we are as a group, you know. I know it's probably cliche to say, but it's the truth. Like when our backs are against the wall, that's the time we thrive. And we kind of just lock arms and say, don't let anybody in our end zone. And that's what we say in practice. And especially NCOB Dean says that in practice pretty much every day.

And we kind of get that quote from him and just having that mentality just to go to work. And wherever the ball is put down, whatever down it is, wherever we are on the field, you know, we just can't let them score. You know, so. All right. Two quick ones. for you before I let you go. Playing a team twice in three weeks and then obviously the way that that game went against the Giants,

does it feel any different? Like what? It doesn't. Here we go again. Pretty familiar. I mean, you're pretty familiar with them. It was definitely a short week, obviously. So the time to prepare for them was cut short.

But at the end of the day, you know, it is what it is. They're going to run what they're going to run. And, you know, they had a, they played a solid game against the Broncos. And obviously we got to learn from mistakes from when we played them. But at the end of the day, I mean, regardless of if we played them back-to-back weeks, you know, we still got to get the job done. Maybe it's like the game prep is less theoretical.

Correct. Because we've just lived it. Correct. Correct. So you're pretty familiar with these dudes. Correct. Yeah. Last thing is just, I want to ask about AJ because AJ was talking the other day about how tight he has become with,

with you two guys, you and Cooper. Why, you know, why is that? What's up with that relationship? I guess he just sees our personalities and just appreciates it. You know, we don't, we don't really change who we are, you know, off the field or on the field. We're just two simple guys having fun. And, you know, we have conversations in the locker room and the trainer room and, you know, just cutting up laughing. And, you know, that's kind of the moments you like, you like to have.

And, you know, AJ lets us do that and lets us have fun. with him here and there at times. So when things aren't too serious, but no, I mean, we both love him to death and pretty much would do anything for him. Now, not saying that you guys weren't tight before, but I feel like that's kind of like the fun of being in a locker room, right, is, oh, I've been with this guy for a couple years, but now all of a sudden I get to know him better. Right.

And you know, like those relationships evolve. That's part of the fun, right? It takes time, and it takes time to build a great relationship. And I feel like we do that and we continue to do that. So like I said, we're having fun with it. All right. We'll read Blankenship. Check out this week's episode of the exciting mics.

Thank you to Bucci Jewelers for presenting this segment here. And we'll be back with more on the P.HLY Eagles podcast. And welcome back to the P.HLY Eagle Show presented by Bet365 and Ashley Furniture. And we're going to hear from a few more of our sponsors now. Do you guys remember when BG, who's back by the way, in case you haven't heard, when he stripsack the goat for the first Philly Super Bowl ever, Well, now BG is bringing us his Crooked Tea Strip Sackpack so we can savor the flavor. What is the strip sack pack you might ask?

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futures and more and whatever the moment it's never ordinary at bet 365 Must be 21 and older and physically located in PA. If you are someone you know has a gambling problem and wants help, call 1-800 gambler. And welcome back to the PHOI Eagle Show. I feel like in the shrinking chair today. Yeah, you feel like a little short, even though you're taller than me. Yeah, I feel like I'm getting. Yeah, I think I've shrunk.

I think I've shrunk, yeah. The chair has gone down as the show. Unlike our elevator. Has gone along. Yes. By the way, the fact that we don't have an elevator, maybe that'll help BG getting game shape a little faster. Somebody made that.

Was that you earlier? Somebody else made the joke. And they were like, well, he's definitely in game shape. He was here when the elevator was out. Let's do it. Okay, James, we only got through three questions, 40 minutes into the show. So we're going to go a little bit of speed round here. You mentioned it earlier.

Where does Devante Smith rank among your all-time favorite? This is a Philadelphia Eagles. Great. Wide receivers. Great question. I mean, T.O. is like, it was so short-lived. but it was so chaotic and so awesome. And it had a mission of like what held them back for years

that he's like almost on this pedestal. But it wasn't like, like AJ Brown is a better Eagles receiver than T.O. Just in terms of like the longevity and what you've gotten out of them. Sure. I think I like like personally. I think I like Devante a little bit more than AJ. I think AJ is probably the better player because of the highly contested catch

great. He can do everything. He can run every route. Not that Devante can't, but I think I, but it's not just to who the best player. Yeah, I know. How much do you enjoy watching? I love Devante. Like, I think, like, Jason was awesome. Deshawn's big play ability was like incredible. It basically comes down to in my life, T.O. Deshawn. Jason Avant. No, I'm just kidding. I did, I did love jazz hands, though. I mean, Alshon and Jeffrey's Super Bowl interview alone. he probably hasn't been in my top five. And then AJ. Play the game.

Yeah. And then AJ and Devante. If I had to, I mean, Devante is probably top two. Yeah. I. Yeah. Chad Hall gets bumped to three.

Sorry, Kevin Curtis. I'm more just thinking if we just started naming random Eagles wide receivers for the next 25 minutes. I actually think Marvin McNutt. People would like that. Reggie Brown? Yeah.

I mean, he's probably like six. Yeah. I, he's definitely in my top. three. Green Beckham? Green slime.

Me and Anthony used to call him. Okay. Macklin was up there. I see Provalone John. I liked Macklin a lot too. I probably have Devante. I feel like it's hard to knock T.O. off of,

but like these two, those two are probably in my top three with Deshawn fourth. How I would rank them. Probably I was younger and more fanish, not spoiled by working in the media. So I'd probably go T.O.1 just because of what he meant.

I'll go Devante to, AJ 3, Deshawn 4. I think Devante by the end of his career is going to be number one for me. I just, and look, I think AJ is a better player than him. I mean, we're talking about the elite of the elite and just below that, like really good, very good, whatever you want to call Devante Smith. Also, there's the question of what would Devante Smith do if he was the number one receiver on the team? Jamie, back up on, on eye level with me as well. I got a weird low level where it was just felt uncomfortable.

Yeah, but Devante is, he is so cool. Number one, the fact that his outfits, he's just a smart guy, like he's a smart player, like the idea that he's the one who's screaming at Kevin Petullo. Can we run this play? I'm going to be wide open. If you've seen, if you're, if you're a connoisseur of the Eagles miced up videos, weekend and week out, I will say that Devante Smith by a mile is the most psychotic. Yes. He is a crazy person during the game. And guess what? That's exactly how I like my football. Yeah. Also, just insanely aesthetically pleasing as a player.

Crazy route runner. I'm just thinking of the great hands of the ladder. Like, you know, when he does the, I forget what they call the, I think like the ladder. Yeah,

when they do quick steps. Yeah, at training camp. It's as good as it gets. He's obviously insanely smooth. But he's also tough. He took a huge shot the other day for the middle when Jalen

threw a little bit of a hospital ball to him, although he was wide open. well. The fact that he's just able to bounce up because we've seen that so many times and we've seen him make big plays down the field as well. Like in a fashion that somebody with his build should not be able to make. And then there's the fashion as well. The fashion is cool. I mean, the guys, as our old friend Bjorn would say, he's very drippy. But yeah, I love Devante Smith. He's tough. He can do the toe catches. He can go up in traffic. He's nuts. Like, did you see the piece with Brandon Graham's daughter and Sequin's daughter when they were interviewing

like the guys on the team and they and Devante was one of the guys they interviewed and they were asking like who curses the most on the team and they did a cut to Devante just like MF this F that like just going nuts like pound in his chest and I was like what's not to love about this dude plus he's got a really cool nickname the Slim Reaper like he's very just lovable. Yeah. I love Devante Smith. I think I'm with you like in time. I think he might be my number one. Because I think he's here for the long term where he goes drafted him as well. Yeah. And there was like kind of, I don't want to say overly ridiculed, but it was like, I don't know if this dude's going to be able to survive in the NFL.

He's like 160 pounds soaking wet. He was a weird case because I didn't watch a ton of college football that year. But I remember watching the semifinals against Notre Dame and thinking like, first off, this guy's body is ridiculous. I have no idea if it's going to work in the NFL. But in college, is this the best football player I've ever seen? And so the fact that the Eagles were able to draft him at either 10th or 11th. I think it was 11th. I could be wrong.

Whatever. I think it was not in the top five picks. I would not have guessed that at the time of the college football playoffs. Anyway, DeVante Rocks. Great to see him have an awesome game. Yeah. Okay. Next up.

Let's move to the other side of the ball. 10th. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Well, they trade it up, I believe. Is that the move? They traded up ahead of the Giants.

Yes. I think the Cowboys moved back. They got Michael Parsons. The Giants got, I think, like, Cadarius Tony, maybe. Is that right? They traded up ahead of, yeah, the Cowboys got Parsons 12. Where was the Giants traded back, I think. Yeah.

It was over because they couldn't get the receiver. Yeah, I think you're right. And there was some great giant fan reaction videos that day. Mr. Marrow was looking stressed after that one is over. Okay, that is enough on the offense. Let's talk a little bit about the defense. And Bo mentioned this a little bit in his interview. with Reed.

Awesome interview, by the way. Are you worried about the defense being a little bit too reliant on big plays? And they had the stat on the show the other day.

10th in EPA on defense. That's pretty good. And I would say that's the stat I care about a little bit more, although you could make the argument that success rate, you just want to be good on a down-to-down basis.

On defense in particular, 25th in success rate. And you saw it in the game against Minnesota. Carson Wentz was, look, he made four or five of the worst plays. you will see on a football field.

The one was very funny. But he was moving the ball up and down the field the entire game. Eagles were awesome in the red zone. And Reid sort of talked about the red zone mentality and what the Eagles are doing when their backs are up against the wall.

But it worries me a little bit. Yeah. That, you know, even a team like Minnesota with Carson Woods, who was capable of some pretty bad stuff, is able to move the ball on them. Yeah, I mean, Jackson Dart and what?

His second career game was kind of moving the ball over the field. move the ball against them. I mean, granted Quinyon and Jalen and, you know, they were kind of banged up that game, but like, you can't excuse that. Yeah, I'm a little worried. And we talked about the Jalen play to AJ on the sideline earlier. The other play that probably saved the game, Rich was the Cooper DeGine play that Bowen Reid talked about. Not many players, like Justin Jefferson was kind of like, oh, you know, not really giving them full credit for that. He was like, yeah, it was good coverage, but I make that play like all the time. I was like, nah, dude,

Cooper DeGine had his arm all up in your, in your catch zone. Like, you couldn't make that play. Yeah, you couldn't make the ball out of your hands. Yeah, like, sorry, uh, Jedda. By the way, it's stupid nickname, right? Jedda. Yeah. Yeah. Stupid nickname. Um, I will say Greg Olson, who should be a number one broadcaster. He should be so pissed at Tom Brady's existence. What a, what a ridiculous media move to live money, like to take that much money away from Greg Olson. If I was Tom Brady, you have a better broadcaster as your number two. And if I was Tom Brady, I'd be like, no, don't take money from Greg Olson. Just give me the four million less a year. Like, I have a, you have a more money than I know what to do with in my pervert crypto investments and everything else.

Well, he needs money because he gave the Patriots a break because they were circumventing the salary cap all those. TB12 Nutrition Company, the biggest scam in professional sports. Investigate Alex Guerrero in that cheat Bill Belichick and Robert Kraft, a bunch of perverts. Wow. Just a, what a tangent that was, just, just MFing the entire Patriots dynasty. Yeah. I mean, they I was just saying Brady was a bad announcer, but yeah. Screw them. I'm with you, by the way. Yeah, but like Greg Olson shouldn't lose money because Tom Brady has to go, you know,

stroke his ego and be a worst broadcaster. But I like Greg Olson. Anyway, Greg Olson, because he's good at broadcasting, he pointed out like, man, that's just two really good players. And that's Cooper DeGine, you know. That was a play of the game. He's not quite Justin Jefferson's peer, but he is an elite player at his position. And that's good against good.

the idea that Cooper de Gene won that rep unreal is not like shocking to us right so both said this on post game I'm curious you now I'm flipping a question on you he said he could make the case this year and it's kind of been like bouncing around my brain cage all week now brain cage um is that what's in there yeah not much he said he burned wire on the outside you know the Homer Simpson like monkey with the tambourine by the way yeah I could not relate more

to a gift than that one Bo said I could make the case this year that Cooper de Jeanne, in comparison to his counterparts in the league, is the best Eagles defensive player this year. And look, Quignan had a bad game or two. Coop really hasn't had that. Jalen Carter hasn't gotten off to the start. Zach Bonn is probably the closest to that, but you could make that case that Bo brought up, that Cooper DeGine is the Eagles best defensive player this year.

I like that take by him. And I think it's true. And I think, you know, we've talked about that the nickel position is probably underrated league wide. It's still viewed a little bit as a sub-package position. But it completely changes what you're able to do if you have a player like community who can hold up and run defense. Now, imagine if Justin Jefferson was up against, you know, Keeley Ringo or Eli Ricks or Adory Jackson or Jacorian Bennett, you know, like one of those. That's a touchdown, 100 times out of 100. but the Eagles had the flexibility to have Cooper to Gene out there on them and it might have saved the game.

Yeah. Shout out to the orchids of Asia. That was my fantasy football team name for several years. As the Munchinator says. It might actually still be. Okay. One more before we got to go to one more break here. How was the Wence experience for you in 2025?

That was a very funny interception to Drew McCuba. Like that was Carson Wence in a nutshell. And I think I was audibly laughing out on the couches just like, oh, man like he thinks he has the arm to get that ball there rolling out to his right throwing off his right foot like just a very funny kind of like p t ptsd i play of the end of his eagle's 10 year i was straight out of 2020 yeah like that was just him trying to play hero ball when his body like isn't there and i was just like oh man you're just not getting it i saw a highlight reel or should i say a low light reel of Carson Wentz's interceptions from the 2020 season.

I believe you had 15 of them, even though we didn't play the entire season. Jamie, they were so bad. These have been blocked from my memory. I don't know if it was because that was the COVID football season. I don't know if it's just because the Eagles were terrible. We all knew it was done from the jump that year as well. That play was straight out of that year.

Like him rolling to his right, looking confident like, it's like, you know, during the good era of Carson wins, you'd be like, oh, this is going to be awesome. Oh, yeah, you got Alshon or Tori Smith or Aguilar on the back end, wide open and just confidently throwing it and it's macuba catching it like it's a punt yeah it was uh i don't know it was a weird experience the the whole carson wendt's thing where uh i feel like enough time is passed

i don't hate him any i don't hate him no i feel i always wonder a little bit bad and and i also will say too like you do have to give him credit they don't win the 2017 super bowl if he isn't the best player in the league for the first three months of that season yeah he was the MVP of the the league that year before he got hurt. And I don't carry any ill will towards him. I still think he's Captain Cornball. And I don't really care for him. No, I don't really care either.

But like I don't carry any hate towards him, but I am going to laugh when he plays bad against the Eagles. It's one of those where I didn't want to laugh, but the bad plays were so bad. That one swing pass that was like five yards behind the running back lane? Like, what is going on right now? And Jalen Carter absolutely destroyed him. That was a good defensive play.

Yeah. It's good, good rush. by Carter. He didn't see Hunt. Okay, that's a normal. Yeah, that was a normal. Interception. Man, some of those other throws he was making, though, are so bad. It's funny, I made the comparison in the newsletter to when a, when a

soccer player scores a goal against his old team, he puts his hands up. I'm not celebrating because I'm playing against my old team. That's how I was feeling with Carson and the gambler, Isaiah Rogers. Okay, Jamie, I have... I got cooked a little bit that game. He got cooked a lot of bit, but hey, look, hands up. I love that guy.

He's still got a tattoo on his leg. that says 40 to 22 that's probably still fresh. I'm not going to celebrate, but yeah, the Eagles took advantage of him and whatever Brian Flores was doing. Okay, we have overtime to get to. We have a few more questions to get to, but first, we have to hear from a few more of our sponsors.

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Mando's got you covered with deodorant. plus sweat control. Stay goodbye to sweat and stains. And hello to long lasting freshness. And welcome back to the P.HLY Eagle Show. Presented by Bet365 and Ashley Furniture. And Jamie getting shorter. Yeah.

As the graphics going up. Great job, guys. I feel like I'm slowly sinking again. The nice time lapse there. Yeah. Yeah, what a show for you. Yeah. Just taking a lot of hits there.

You think the elevator's going to be working by the time we finish up here? No. Police going down is easy. Yes. Pause. I love a good pause joke. You know, I used to say pause all the time.

James Harden used to just drop a pause in the middle of like a long test conference answer. He is the mind of a 10-year-old. Yeah, I always thought that was. It was one of his most endearing qualities, honestly. I'm still thinking about that. My guy, Ike Reese is a big pause guy, too. Is he? Yeah.

Still thinking about that when's intentional grounding. Somebody in the chat was saying that they were also laughing. There was nobody even close. And he just was looking. I think he was looking for somebody to point to. And then there was nobody within like 30 yards. He was like, man, I just basically spiked the ball for no reason. And wasn't it third down?

That made me feel a little worse about the Eagles defense. Honestly, I'm like, this is the guy that's moving the ball up and down the field on you. Yeah. That's the Carson Wentz experience, right? Yeah, you're not wrong. A couple of plays, like a couple of those throws were really good. And a couple of those plays that he extended with his legs, like legitimately good job. And we'll talk about the rest of Carson Wentz and the Eagles in overtime.

Wow. It's good work. Okay, Jim. Three more questions about the defense. First one, what did you make about, what did you make of Nacobi Dean's usage on Sunday? I think they, it was probably right. He made a couple nice plays in the backfield. One was like a pitch out to the left side.

I think he kind of was in the backfield right away. He kind of looked to steal the words of BG, springy and bouncy, which was a very encouraging sign. I think they were using jihad in some of those sub packages just out of like necessity, not out of want to. I think when they get the defensive edge room back in BG and Nolan Smith and it's like they actually have bodies there again, it'll be interesting to see what they do and how they implement Nekovie.

but another extremely likable eagle. It's a shame he got hurt, like right before contract and money time was approaching. But I thought he looked pretty good. And I'm curious to see how they implement them once the DN room is like back at full strength. Bowen EJ talked about this yesterday. And they mentioned that from Vic Fangio's comments,

could Nicobi Dean be the base linebacker? Because you mentioned, You're absolutely right. I think that was out of necessity bumping Jehaj Campbell up to the edge because they don't really have anybody right now. And Jacoby Dean and Jehad Campbell, that's the combination of your best 11 players.

But like you said, you get BG back, who is a very good run defender. We'll get to that in the sec. And you'll also get Nolan Smith, another very good run defender back. What does that look like? And we have Vick's quote up there now.

You know, he basically said, I wanted to just like give him some spot duty. I just wanted to, to give him a couple of plays and the plan was to get him in base. He ended up playing 30 snaps though, Jamie. They got him in nickel a little bit. I will be very curious to see how this shakes out with this sort of loaded linebacker room.

Nkobi, I think it's very clear that Shahad Campbell, especially with Nekobi coming off the injury, is going to be a better player in past coverage than Nikobe Dean. But what does it look like in base? And are you willing to take your first round pick who's played very well? Very well. Yeah.

It's a, it's a weird situation. I'm sure Shahad Campbell's still going to play a bunch, but yeah, it's a weird situation. And the fact that

Nikobe did look pretty good against the run because we had no idea what he was going to look like. I mean, coming off the pattern injury, that is one where some guys don't even make it back

at all from that injury. So for him to look pretty good, look like he still has some juice. That's first off, that's awesome. We all love Nikobe. We want the best for him. But yeah,

I think it creates a little bit of a playing time crunch. that linebacker. It's like Eagles bizarro world rich because we have such good wide receivers and such good linebackers that like 16 year old Jamie can't process this. Yeah. Like we have a plethora of linebackers to choose from. We have a best wide receiver room in the NFL potentially. Like it's, it's bizarre, but it's a good problem to have. And it's nice to have Uncle Vic there at the steward to figure it out because I have implicit trust in his decisions. I agree. Okay. Couple rapid fire BG questions.

All right. PHLY affiliation aside. What are you most excited about when it comes to Brandon Graham's return? The presence in the run game. I think you've seen the edge not being there. You have some smaller defensive ends. You don't have that big beefy guy that's really set in the edge and not getting moved by the tackles. So I think at worst, the immediate impact he's going to have on the team.

is just setting edges and forcing things back inside Doyle Jomo and Jalen Carter. So I'm really looking forward to that. One B right under that is the smack talk. I was watching some old mic'd up smack talking. You thought I was gone. There was such a good one with him and Fletch. I think the Eagles put it out where he's, I think they were playing the Niners,

but like you can see Fletch like BG's up on the line and just going and going and going and Fletch is like, yeah, he's not blowing hot air, he's gonna do this all game long. And then BG's like still going and he's like getting more fired up and Fletch is like yelling at him like, three now, let's go, three and out.

And BG's like still just smack talking and Fletch has to like go up to him and smack him. And BG turns around like stunned and he's like, yeah, I got you, I got you. Like just that energy and like the smack talk. I think that's so infectious to a defense. And Reed even mentioned it with, with Bo.

Just like that energy and, and the ability to put smiles on people's faces. I think that's going to have such a reverberating effect on that locker room. You know, it's one A and one B right there. I think the run defense is clearly going to be the biggest contribution. Absolutely. And it's not a small one, considering how much the Eagles have struggled against the run so far this season.

The other element of that is just soaking up snaps. Sure. You have Jalick's Hunt the last few weeks playing like 70% of the snaps. You have Josh Uchase playing like 45% of the snaps. I mean, Jaylen Carter missed like two snaps, just like the whole defensive line rotation. These guys are playing a lot. And if you want to play to the Super Bowl, you got to get these guys some rotation and some breaks. You have Patrick Johnson, who's the king on the edge, king on the edge, king on the edge.

He's playing 35% of the snaps. I know Nolan Smith coming back will also eat in all those guys snaps. But for the time being just getting BG and knocking some of those numbers down, keeping some of those guys fresh when they do play and also letting BG play on early down. is a big thing. I'll also just add to the first time he runs out, the crowd is going to go absolutely berserk, and that'll be a nice moment.

As somebody who gets to cover the games, I'm very excited to... He said he might cry. Yeah. I believe it. It's going to be awesome. I'm very happy for him that if he didn't want to retire and he gets to go back out there again

and kind of bottle that up with his family and kids. It's very cool. Okay. Next BG question. Does the BG edition change the calculus with the other trade that you're probably going to make at the deadline? I made the Phillies comp that BG is David Robertson and they still need Duran,

but maybe they don't feel that way. Maybe they have Nolan Smith back. They feel like there's probably another spot. I would say cornerback two would be the other one where they're best able to spend their resources, whether it's a third round pick, whatever that would be. Does the BG edition change your calculus on that? I kind of want to see it before I say yes, but I think it does because Nolan's coming to, You know, Fran and I were talking off camera a couple weeks ago about BG.

And it was just like, yeah, they probably want to get two more guys. And like this is kind of the layup, see it through the net move that's just right there in front of your face. Jeremy Fowler, I think, has a little nugget out there today about Tarek Wullen and the Seahawks cornerback, potentially the Eagles being one of like four teams that are trying to target them. So I'm still kind of torn if they go for another D-end or a cornerback. I think I have enough faith in Nolan and BG to say go for that cornerback too because it's a problem this year. So I want to say yes.

I also need to see it before I fully believe it. It's not an easy question, man. No, it's not. You know, BG, I'm not sure he's as well as I think he's going to play because I think he has fresh legs. And I think what he showed last year, he was still playing at a very darn high level, especially if you're able to give him more spot duty and let him shine in those limited snaps.

Yeah, that's definitely going to help. But CB2 is still a huge issue. It's a huge issue. I mean, like last week, Jordan Addison, has he ever been more wide open in the flats? He was just killing him. He probably is like this felt like a high school game. I was so wide open.

I don't even know where he's from, but I'm sure he killed it back then as well. Yeah, it's a big issue. So I don't know what the right answer is. Maybe it's a matter of. And I mentioned, I saw E.J. phrase it this way where it's like,

they don't have to force a move at edge. Maybe they look at edge and CB2 and they think, where can we get the best bang for our buck? Where can we get the best player? And I think that's going to be CB2. Do you agree? Because I think it was Diana Rossini.

One of the national pundits was like, everybody wants the end. And there's just not a lot of people that are going to hit the market. So CB2 might be the easier solution for the team. Might be. Denzel Ward? Anybody.

Yeah. Anybody. Anybody not named Kili Ringo. Jaylen Mills ready to unretire, get the green govlin out there? Like anybody, anybody? You think Jaylen Mills just wags his finger in normal life? He's at the supermarket and he gets, gets ahead of somebody in line. He's like, no, no, no.

Jalen Mills, I enjoyed Jailen Mills. I did as well. Okay, last one, Jamie, and then we will kick it to an interview with Adam Hope that Boe did earlier. Is this a revenge game for the Eagles against the Giants this week? Yeah. Basically, do they enact revenge on the Giants? It is, that's the framing of the game. It should be that setup.

They got their butts kicked by them a week and a half before. Are they going to get Brian Dayball fired? I mean, maybe. I think they're last week. The hope would be that last week, the fourth quarter was so damaging to the giant psyche. Yeah, that they're cooked. And that the Eagles, I feel like the Eagles,

it's a little bit of a kitchen sink game and that they can, they can go all out. They have a full week off after this one is over. They certainly got completely embarrassed by these guys a few weeks ago. Yeah, it would be huge. I mean, to get to six and two at the buy with what is a pretty hard schedule, man. I look at this. And, you know, I think we've been clear-eyed about the Eagles this year where there's a lot of things that need improvement.

There are a lot of things that are just not quite as buttoned up or as frankly dominant as they were a season ago. I looked at the overall standings in the NFL. There are 16 teams with the winning record. The Eagles are one of them. So 15 non-Eagles teams. The Eagles are playing nine of them this season. Wow. And plus two of the 500 teams,

that's three games because you include playing Dallas twice, that they're also added in there. That's 12 of your 17 games. Anyway, this is a hard schedule. This should be one of their get-right games, one of their easier games of the season, it clearly was not a few weeks ago. Yeah, I mean, I would hope that they come out with a professional performance.

They actually outgain these guys and can enact a measure of revenge for sure. Yeah, Anthony this morning was saying like, this is a lock. They're going to beat the brakes off the Giants. I can't get there. I'm not there yet. And that seven and a half line on Bet365s gives me some slight pause. But it also at the same time is like, all right, well, the line is so high because they're expecting kind of blow out, right? Like the Giants were so good against the Eagles. The Eagles were hurt last

game. It was just kind of one of those miserable games from the jump that you just knew wasn't going right. So I think, I think they're going to win and somewhat comfortably, but the Eagles haven't won comfortably all year. No. So it's hard for me to think that, but I do think they win. I don't know if I would lay the seven and a half though. No, I mean, the Eagles have not been that team all season, But, you know, maybe they found something against Minnesota and it can carry over to the Giants game, especially after the Giants had a super rough loss in Denver. Well, James, that's 10 questions. We made it.

Nice. It was fun, my friend. Shout out to Ney Brown and Tarant Small as well. We will have an episode at some point where you and I for 60 minutes just name Eagles receivers. What's that meme? It's like a guy friendship is just sitting around naming random, uh, athletes. That'll be an offseason.

Maybe it could be a by week episode, honestly, where we just... I think we're going to be here a bunch during the biweek. So, yeah. It'll be our highest rated episode ever, as well. Quick shout out before we get out of here tonight, Rich. I don't... I think it's a road game so you're not working. The Sixers, take off the season tonight.

Make sure you're here. Devon, Kyle, and Derek pregame, post game. I've done it. I've talked to myself into Sixers' optimism. They go. I'm believing in Joel and Bede's health. So check out the guys tonight doing pre and post game here on the station. Good luck to the Sixers.

Knock on wood. What's the worst that could happen? I'll be hurt again. Oh, well. Can they just go 500? Seriously, for the sake of us on that show. Like, it just, I don't want to be wearing those tank helmets for all of February and March and April again. You got the tank helmets.

You don't have to be great. Just just get to the place. BJ Edgecom's got the juice. He's going to be fun at a minimum. him. He looks like he's going to be fun. Okay, yeah. So make sure to watch those guys later tonight for the season opener in Boston.

I believe on the Eagle Show. Again, I never check what the actual schedule is, but I do know that it's usually Beau Fran and EJ tomorrow. Julia confirms. Julia is nodding as she usually does when I do this at the end of every Wednesday show. So for Jamie Lynch, for Julia. It's been a great day. Yeah.

And thanks to Lindsay for helping out as well. Yeah. She made the thinking care graphics there. Lindsay did. Yes. She worked by her. That's great, great job.

I hope everybody has a great Wednesday. We are going to kick it to an interview with Bo and All City NFL insider, Adam Hogue. And I will just say before we kick it there, that we love you. The P.H.O.I. Eagles show, Bo Wolf, join now by our biweekly guest, Adam Hogue, the All-City NFL, expert analyst. I keep forgetting, analyst. I think we're going with analysts.

Our all-knowing handsome NFL man. There we go. That should be the title. How are you? We didn't have a chance to talk two weeks ago because of the Thursday night came. So it's been a while since we've caught up. And I feel like since then the league has become very jumbled. So how are you going about making sense of all the teams who are kind of imperfect at the top? Yeah.

no, it's been, it's, it's been weird doing the power rankings the last few weeks because I mean, I think we've had since the Eagles first loss, because I had the Eagles number one up until the time they lost. And then we've had a different number one every week since. And we'll have another one this week because I had the bucks up there. And then they lost. And they're banged up to. Yeah.

Yeah. And then, but below that, it's, it's just sort of a jumble of teams that you don't really know what they are and I'm I'm trying to look at the Ravens this week too and trying to figure out what they are if Lamar comes back because they're one and five but they're I got them back down like much more lower on the list because obviously they lost five guys five games but I'm going like I still think they're better than all these other teams that I it's so it's all really confusing I think what that leads to though though is hopefully a really exciting November December and whoever makes the playoffs from there I think it can be really wide open um probably

makes Eagles fans a little bit nervous, I'm sure. Just sort of the uncertainty. But it's, I mean, for, I think for NFL fans, just sort of the unknown and understanding, maybe with the one exception of the chiefs are starting to really look like the chiefs. Don't tell anybody. But, you know, other than that,

I feel like it's pretty wide open. Yeah, I think there is, I think there's a way to spin it the other way for Eagles fans, which is just that if you're stacking wins, while you're also still trying to figure out who you are, you have some time to play yourself. into the season. And I don't think that the Seagos team seven games in really knows

who it is, what it is. And so that is a continuing process for them. If they can keep racking up wins along that route, maybe that's good. But it does feel like certainly the NFC is much better than the AFC at this point. It does. It does feel that way.

And I think that the Lions probably look like the best team right now in the NFC. But I will say this. I saw a lot of encouraging things in that Vikings game on Sunday for the Eagles. I like while, while they were still frustrating at times, right? Like you have that four, you score those 14 points, won a course off a defensive touchdown, but you're just feel it felt like that could have been

starting to go into blowout territory pretty quickly. And then all of a sudden, the Vikings were getting some stops. That being said, I mean, that Vikings defense, I could tell you from, you know, covering the NFC North team, it's good. And what Brian Flores does, does is is very, very difficult to scheme and prepare for and come up with a better plan then. And that's what encouraged me about what the Eagles did because you start to really look and dive into the tape of what they did. They're running under center more. They're doing play action and it was successful.

The risky thing about what Brian Flores does sometimes is he's, he's good, with all that confusion he tries to create up front, he's going to leave a Josh Mattelis on. a.J. Brown. A very risky move. If you're able to block it up, you've got opportunity downfield. And early on that down, Mattelis was doing just fine bodying up A.J. Brown. But then it was blocked up enough that you have a smart enough quarterback and effective enough quarterback and Jalen Hertz to let him eventually win a rep. He should win because that is a mismatch. And then bam, you have an explosive play touchdown. Then use how do you get Devante Smith going? and they just need more consistency out of him, right?

Now, it's not going to look like him. You dropped him in your fantasy league. I know. It's a huge mistake. Eagles fans are mad at me. Trust me, I'm going to regret it every single week. But regardless, if I want to be the defend myself guy, it hasn't been consistent, right? He had the explosive game early in the season when I brought this up.

And then it's been sort of now, but now this was huge. But what they did was they started getting play action going. And here's the thing. We all want to see more. from Seekwan Barkley right now. It's a little mind-boggling. They aren't getting more. But he's still Sequin.

And the threat of Sequin, the threat of the running game, can still open up more under-center and in-play action. So, I mean, credit the Eagles coaching staff. It's tough to come out of a week where you actually out-skinned Brian Flores, but I thought they did it. Yeah, what is going to be very interesting now is whether that was the result of a specific game plan for a unique defense that Flores has or if they're going to lean into some of the things that worked against more standard defenses that they're going to see, more under

center play action, stuff like that, more six offensive linemen on the field, stuff that worked in this game. I hope that we keep seeing it. I don't know if they feel like this is necessarily who they are. So it does continue to be kind of a learning out, feeling out process for the Eagles. In terms of like the rest of the NFC East, how do you view the Cowboys right now? How do you view the commanders right now? How do you view the Giants? Um, wow, three very interesting teams, aren't they? Let me start with the commanders, because they're kind of what I thought they'd be this season, which it, which is overrated. Um, now I struggled with them at times last year because, and this happens in the NFL, we see worse to first teams and sometimes it's sustainable.

Sometimes it's a flash in the pan. I felt like they caught a lot of lightning in the bottle with obviously a home run quarterback pick and, uh, a guy in Dan Quinn. that I've always respected and thought was a good head coach coming to the right situation. While, oh, by the way, new change in ownership for a struggling franchise. Like, it all kind of came together at the right time, I felt like, for them to catch other teams off guard. Now, that theory was certainly tested when they go into Detroit and they beat the Lions as convincingly as they did in a playoff game. that all of a sudden is like oh well maybe they were more than that i feel like that fueled

too much optimism though in the off season about what this roster actually still is which it's solid but it's old jaden daniels is very good he's also injury prone he just is and that's going to be a continuing storyline and sometimes the league catches up to what you did in that successful season. And so I still think they're a good team. I didn't pick them to go to the playoffs this year. And I think that right now I feel good about that. It's probably spent too much time

of the commanders there, though. The Cowboys are fascinating because they're extremely good offensively and they're God-awful defensively. And I just think that's what they're going to be this season. So they're going to lose a game to the Panthers and then come back and beat that commanders team at home the way they did. They're better than I thought. they'll probably be closer to a 500 team

than I think I pegged them for 5 and 12 at the beginning of the year after they traded Michael Parsons. So it just kind of depends on where you're playing them, when you're playing them. And then the Giants, I don't know. I'm sorry. I just don't take them that seriously.

I don't. I think Brian Davel's probably a better coach than just somebody that should be casted off and fired, but he probably will be. I think they needs to be, yeah. Yeah, and but I don't know. Look, the Eagles should do to them what, like, this should be an easy win this week. After what happened a couple weeks ago, it was a weird Thursday game.

I'm sure the Eagles aren't taking them lightly, nor should they. But from my vantage point, this should be a double-digit victory where the Eagles kind of pour it on and make a point after what happened on Thursday night. The Eagles fans would certainly like to see that. Let me dip into the, you know, the Vic Fangio history that you have. Yeah. And this is an interesting season for Vic where the defense has taken a bit of a step back, but they're still making timely plays, getting turnovers. They've been good in the red zone.

But, you know, by success rate and stuff like that, they're all the way down at 25th in the league. And they've had some injuries. They have had some departures. But it's very clear that Vic is still trying to like figure out the best way to use everybody. you know, he's had to blitz more. He's had to use more sim pressures where he's disguising who he was going to send. Last week against the team that played a bunch of 12,

he changed the base defense and Nikobie Dean is back and Jahad Campbell's on the edge. We'll see what he does once Brandon Graham gets back on the field. Do you remember a season in Chicago where Vic was like in a period of transition and had to sort of figure out what he had? Yeah, I mean, I think the only season, yes, definitely. I mean, I would say it was probably most of the seasons because, you know, early on when he got to Chicago, it was a pretty depleted roster.

And he had, they had to really build that thing up over a few years before they became what they were in 2018 when they finally were the best defense in the league. The defense, of course, the Eagles were still able to beat in the playoffs. But, you know, I think that 18 was probably the only year where he probably felt like, okay, I have this on. I can count on this in every single game. I know exactly what I have. We can play our brand of football. and maybe not need to change things up too much. But most seasons are not that way.

And I think what you're seeing with the Eagles is honestly very similar to what I'm seeing with Dennis Allen in Chicago with the team I cover every week here where, okay, maybe the personnel is not perfect. Maybe we lost some guys. Maybe, you know, Jalen Carter's out this game. How do we adjust to that? and you really have to look at it more of as a week to week, really grind into who you're facing that week, where you can get your schematic advantages and how you can show different looks than, you know,

you did in previous weeks and get away from your tendencies. Sometimes you just have the players where you don't have to worry about that as much. And then other years where your defense isn't quite as loaded, it's more of a week to week grind. Now, I think the personnel in the Eagles defense is, probably overall better than what the Bears have. So credit to Dennis Allen and what he's been doing on a week-to-week basis. So maybe it's not quite to that level for Vic.

But look, whether we're talking about Dennis Allen or we're talking about a Vic Fangio, these are the types of defensive court or Brian Flores for that matter, too, since I brought him up earlier. Like these are the DCs that I love because they're, they're willing to get aggressive. They're willing to get away from tendencies. they're willing to take chances and and change things on a week-to-week defense to try to to confuse the other teams, whereas you have these other guy. Yeah.

I'm sorry, say that again? They're problem solvers. Yeah, exactly. I mean, which is what football coaches are supposed to be. I mean, right? And so then and then you have the mad ear refluses of the world, not necessarily a bad defense coordinator, but they just believe in what they do. And they're going to sit in it and they're going to, they don't care that a jacking. Samborn might be playing out of position right now or that their corners are better in man than zone.

Sorry, I'm a zone. I'm a zone guy. I'm going to sit in the zone. I'm not going to blitz as much. And this is what we do. And we're going to live in it until we get the players that can do it. I don't like that approach. I much prefer the Vic Fangios of the world.

Yeah, you could call it dogmatic or you could call it kind of lazy. And I totally agree. Like, you know, that's what the job is. Figure out what these guys do best. Yeah, it's good to believe in your principles and your identities that you've had success with over over the course of time but i'm sorry this league changes too fast it just just does and so i think it's a credit to a vick fangio who's been in the league forever um but he's never seemed like he's outdated in what he's doing uh where a lot of these these more like tampa two cover two guys

are they just seem a little bit more stubborn and they ride the waves of where two high safeties are are in vogue and work and then there's the other years where they don't and it in it is a way And so, okay, if that's what you're going to do, you're going to ride that wave. Give me just a very quick before we let you go, like a check in on on how good Bears fans are feeling right now. Well, they're hesitant because his team was forward to last year of course. We've been heard before. We don't want to.

Yeah, but I think even, you know, the most casual fan and Eagles fans can can understand the differences of the situation. Whether you believe in Caleb Williams or not, I think the belief in Ben Johnson is there. the belief in what Dennis Allen has done, which I've been comparing to the 2023 Denver Broncos, which was Sean Payton's first season. Vance Joseph came in. You guys might remember they give up 70 points to the dolphins early in that season.

And a few weeks later, they held the chiefs to, I think, nine points and beat them on the road. So maybe that was at home regardless. They beat the chiefs. And the point is some of these good coaches, this is a hot tag. Coaching matters in the NFL. and it makes a big difference.

So do I think that this Bears team is, you know, a true contender in the NFC? Probably not. They're in a really hard division. I do think playoffs are on the table, though, and they're going to be tough. And so we'll check in on Black Friday, right? We get Bears Eagles at that point.

Yeah, the NFL announced this game's going to be on Amazon Prime to the whole entire world this morning. Every 240 countries are going to get access to it. No subscription required. Interesting. So it's going to be a huge audience. It should be a lot of fun. Although Bears trips do a Philly usually go awful, usually horrendous.

So I wouldn't be too optimistic if I was a Bears fan about that one. Well, good news for Eagles fans, if that's the case. Adam Hogue, thank you so much. We'll talk to in a couple weeks. All right, that was good talking about you.