PHLY Philadelphia Eagles Podcast - A.J. Brown melodrama continues as Nick Sirianni gets FEISTY with reporters

Episode Date: November 12, 2025

Loaded Philadelphia Eagles show today! Jaire Alexander made it two retirements for the Eagles in one year and A.J. Brown went on an interesting Twitch stream, as that story will never go away. Elsewhere, the Eagles defense and Vic Fangio put on a masterclass in Green Bay, in part thanks to the addition Jaelan Phillips and the shocking rebound from injury of Nakobe Dean. Might they be rounding back into their 2025 form? In other news, Mina Kimes joins the show to talk about what she saw in Green Bay last week. And finally, Jamie Lynch and Rich Hofmann look ahead to the Eagles going up against the Detroit Lions this weekend. It’s all on the PHLY Eagles Show. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hello, everybody, and welcome to the Xfinity Studio and to the Ph.LY Eagle Show presented by Bet365 and Ashley Furniture. My name is Rich Hoffman. I am here with Jamie Lynch. And for the first segment today before we have Mina Kimes on him before Jamie and I talk about the Eagles win over Green Bay the other night. We've got our guy, E.J. Smith, because guys, unfortunately, I don't really want to talk about this, but it is the biggest topic in Eaglesland. This A.J. Brown thing will not stop. I thought you were going to talk about the Northern Lights that should be visible tonight. No? I didn't know that. Yeah, last night it was a little too cloudy, so I'm hoping we can talk about that rather than a change. A change of time. Yeah. Unfortunately, when AJ opens his mouth the way he did, it's an unavoidable topic.

I would say so. Yeah. We don't have much say in this one. Well, thank you. Thank you to Lindsay for putting up the schedule for today's show. The Northern Lights is not on that. But hey, we could, you know, we could make an audible at some point here. I guess E.J., this has sort of been something that happened overnight. And then at Nick Siriani's press conference earlier today, you were there for that. me catch everybody up on what yeah so for the for those who are not aware of uh what's the guys named janky rondo um i think it's i said it like two minutes ago i have no idea um so per janky ron joe rondo had it first yeah uh jrown was on a twitch stream playing madden with a i presume a popular madden streamer uh and had some interesting comments uh about how he is you know

the streamer asked him how how are things is everything good and uh j basically said where you been no things are not good you know my family's fine but uh everything else he said it was a bleep show an s show um and said that you know he he's struggling so uh he said some other things too said that if you have him in fantasy you should get rid of him um and then said that in the the like his production in madden is the only joy he's really getting from football right now so So, yeah, it was definitely, I mean, not great to hear if you're an Eagles fan, if you're someone who's hoping that the AJ Brown thing was kind of behind the team. But honestly, guys, and I'll be curious to hear what you think, like, this to me is just

the latest chapter in what has been the constant for AJ Brown all season. He's been frustrated with the way that his role in the offense, the way the offense looks. And, you know, after the game against the Packers where he basically went almost the entire game without a target after getting too early in the game, you know, it doesn't necessarily surprise me that he's vocally, vocally frustrated once again. James, the content wheel just keeps on going. I saw it first thing when I woke up and I think I audibly went, damn it, because I kind of was with E.J. where I thought this was kind of behind us.

Like, not that the problem itself was behind us, but the public. display. Like I was just thinking, all right, AJ Brown's going to kind of just bite the spoon here for the rest of the year. You're a productive team with another chance to win a Super Bowl. He's just going to play the good role. He was blocking downfield. He was doing all the right things on the field of play. So I was like, all right, maybe he's just going to do the right things publicly. So I kind of thought it was behind us a little bit to wake up and see that. I just went, damn it. This is very much the opposite of what I was hoping for because, Not only is it a streaming platform, but it hits social media hard and furious, gets spread everywhere in a short amount of time. And here we are talking about it. As much as you want to get on Diana Rossini for another anonymous AFC executive saying, hey, you know, AJ Brown, I think some things are wrong there. It's like, who cares about that? A.J. Brown is going on public platforms and voicing his displeasure, leaving it in no uncertain terms. I don't think you can blame the media for this one. No. No, I don't.

I don't think you can blame this. Like, A.J. Brown is putting this out there right now. You know, Howie Roseman has the quote last week after the trade deadline where he basically says, look, you don't trade a guy like that. There's a reason he is our captain. But then just one game later, A.J. Brown is not involved in the offense. And, yeah, he goes back online. And E.J., I guess that leads us now into Nick Siriani's press comments today because

Nick Siriani was asked about not only the final play of the game, the curious non-pun. Instead of a, instead of punting the football. It's just got weirder since Sunday, or since Monday night. A go ball to A.J. Brown after not targeting him the entire game. But then he was also asked about A.J. Brown not being targeted the entire game. Yeah. So on that topic, he said, if you look at the game and how the game went, there's lots of plays in that game that are going to him for that for different reasons they don't. For instance, Devante Smith's touchdown, that play was going to AJ.

And then he pointed to, I think also Dallas Goddard's touchdown was one. Okay, yeah, we have the quote here from our friend, BLG. Yeah. So, and then later on, he did mention Nick Siriani mentioned that he's about done answering questions about A.J. Brown and I guess how, where A.J. Brown is at, like, emotionally. And said that when he comes into the building, he's working hard and that, you know, it's business as usual. So I think, like, I've always believed that the perception of what is, like, when these types of

things happen with AJ. I do think the public perception is different than how it's viewed internally. Like, I don't think it has as many ripples through the locker room as is it like a, oh, this is just AJ being AJ type of thing. Well, and this is, I wanted to talk to you guys about this because you guys are like, you have a rooting interest in the team in a way that I have to obviously catch myself from. Big Jay over here. Yeah. It's not the first time I love, not the first time I've been called that. Yeah, I've been called Big Jays too. Yeah. Just not as a former big jay i like calling people big jay go ahead a j um to me i don't think that a j's wrong now you might disagree with the the message the the the method behind sure what he said no i think he's

i think he's justified in being upset and i think like this has been the theme with a j this season is that he is willing to be vocally frustrated and make people uncomfortable when he feels like the offense isn't where it needs to be and if you look through the last few years when he has been vocal about the offense he's almost been like justified or you know it's almost like um it's been like it reinforces what he's doing now because usually like if he's pushing for the offense to look a certain way pushing for the offense to be more aggressive it usually does result in the offense being more aggressive and being more productive as a result now this year it didn't really work the way that it had in years past and i talked to him about that probably about a month ago and that was

when he said he's just starting to not care anymore and he feels like he's fighting by himself and I think these comments kind of are in line with that where it's like, I think he is starting to just not care about like how his words are going to be perceived and also really like the effect it might have on the overall product. I think it's also like he is sometimes it seems like fighting on his own for the offense to be more aggressive. You know, I actually was thinking Tim McManus wrote a pretty good article, another good Big Jay.

He wrote a good article in ESPN this week. And it was about something that I think we talk about as fans allowed, Jamie. And it's like, is winning good enough? Because the Eagles continue to win, but it seems like within that locker room, there is a bit of Jalen Hertz turning it into Alabama and maybe even a little bit of Georgia with those guys continuing to win where it's like winning is great, but is the, what are you playing against the standard, basically? And there are positives and negatives to that, right? Because you were always chasing excellence and perfection. But on the other hand, is it healthy to chase excellence and perfection, right? And I thought it's pretty interesting.

I don't know exactly what the right answer. is. But when I look at AJ Brown and what he has done so far this year, when it's the case when you are chasing perfection and chasing excellence and you have this specific element of your team, the passing game to AJ Brown in particular, falling woefully short of what the preseason expectations are, then it becomes kind of a weird situation. Well, I think with him in particular and E.J. chime in here because you know him a little differently than we do. But I just think back immediately to the comments from after winning the Super Bowl. Yeah.

I can't get it out of my, like he was so underwhelmed at this goal, as you say. I thought that was a good thing at the time. I did too, but now I don't think he cares. Like, not to say that he doesn't care about winning, but like the fact that he got to the top of the mountain top and planted a flag and he went,

that wasn't as cool as I thought it was going to be. Yeah. Like, I can't get that out of my head and what it means now. It's strange because it's what makes him a great player is the need to dominate a game. Yeah, which you love. You want a guy that wants the ball,

that wants the final shot. Because of that, I understand, like, listen, I watched the All-22 back of all of Jalen Hertz's dropbacks, and it's frustrating for me to watch. It's like, you know,

like Fran and I went back and forth on this, and I was like, oh, man, so they were just like shading the coverage to A.J. side every time. And Fran's like, no, they shaded it to the boundary every time. So the Eagles just never said, oh, well, what if we put AJ on the other side of the field?

Let's see if we can open it up that way. So is this on Petullo? Is it on Hertz? I think there's a little bit of everything because if there were instances where AJ was open, he got wide open on a shallow cross. The Eagles put him in a bunch formation, right?

And that's a perfect way. If they're shading the coverage to AJ's side, get creative about how you deploy him. They put him in a bunch. They get him open on a shallow crosser. Shailan doesn't throw him the ball because there's pressure in his face

and he's not comfortable making the throw. And there were other instances that Fran pointed out yesterday did a really good job of breaking down some of the mirrored concepts the Eagles would run. You should become a diehard, get the France breakdowns.

He's the best. Yeah, some of the mirrored concepts that they, that they were, that the Eagles ran in the second half. And there were times where A.J. Brown is open on one side of the field. Jalen Hertz is reading the opposite side of the field that, that, uh, the third down incompletion of Jahan Dotson, that wasn't a mirrored concept. But it was one where, again, Fran pointed out, like, it's man to man. And Jalen's reading the side that you probably would read against zone in that instance. So there's, there's a execution equal to blame to go around. Yeah, there's execution from the quarterback.

There's execution from the coaching. staff again like how does it take so long for you to figure out like oh they're not shading at a j's side it's just the boundary side so um yeah i think that there's it's a multitude of reasons it's not so it's not so simple to fix maybe but it also doesn't have to be that hard with the player like a j brown i feel like there's also been a couple times this year like on the devante touchdown and and troyickman actually he broke this down on the broadcast where a j brown is running that in breaking route carries the safety a little bit up devante smith sneaks behind him touchdown yeah i mean I feel like there's been a few of those plays this year, right?

Sure. Yeah, he impacts the game even without the targets. But if you're him, you are frustrated about the fact you see how other other receivers, other star receivers on different teams are featured, how the game plan starts with not just taking advantage of their gravity, but getting the ball in their hands because they can make a difference. It's just not happening for the Eagles offense right now. And again, I kind of, I do. I understand why he's frustrated.

I don't necessarily think he's wrong. And now I think back to the other comment about in training cam, and you can tell me it was probably August, where he said, yeah, I do want to be, I want to put a standpoint. I want to be considered one of the best wide receivers in the league. So for him to come in with this season, getting to the mountaintop, making that statement of like, yeah, I am the best and I'm going to go improve it. And then to be here, like I, I 100% get why he's frustrated. As a fan analyst, I'm going, can you please just shut the bleep up, win another Super Bowl,

and the Eagles will take care of you in the off season. Yeah. So like, it's getting to the point now where it's like intruding on potential. the success of the team and that's where it gets frustrating because I think he's justified but I'm also like dude please nothing is going to change right now you have to deal with this for another two months and the ultimate goal is still very achievable because you're one of the best teams in the league can you just stop playing this game in public so the two things I would say is like the reporter who maybe is representing like some of the different sides

at play here first off I would say that I think AJ's like frustration is in pursuit of the same things that you're in pursuit of. I think he doesn't believe they can get where they need to go. Fair. Without the offense looking the way that he's pushing for it to look. He's right. The offense stunk on the way. Yeah. Yeah. So I think Devonte has looked so good the past three or four weeks. If there is a little bit of a tradeoff, it's not to say the passing game is like good or anything right now, but Devante is like the previous two weeks. Yeah. That also like speaks to because I've been, I've heard some people say like, oh, Devante is the wide receiver one now. AJ needs to like just kind of like accept that. If the wide receiver ones. To me, Devante is,

is a top 15-ish receiver. Like you could maybe somebody who argues top 10 if you really love what he brings to the game. AJ, when he is at his... Top five, yeah. Is a top five could be the best receiver in football. The ceiling is different. So like I don't think it's a good idea

to just accept like, oh, this is just Devante's ear because you need AJ to make an impact. So, and then the second thing I was going to say is that like they have navigated AJ being frustrated in the past and won. So to me, this isn't like a... Thanks to our friend's EG last year. Yeah.

Making some public comments by mistake. I still don't buy that. That was a mistake. I don't think it was a mistake either. I think he did that. He's like, you two need to talk. We've tried behind scenes now get together

because it's public information. So they can navigate this. Yeah. Yeah. E.J., I want the last question I have for you, I do want to touch on that topic because you mentioned something earlier that was pretty interesting to me. Like I think it's pretty clear.

AJ Brown, I think he's right that he needs to get the ball more and that the Eagles offense will function better if he gets the ball more. I think that's very clear. at this point. But I also can't defend him going on stream and just lobbing passive-aggressive-aggressive bars. Like it's just, I don't know.

I just don't think that's as helpful. That said, you mentioned that maybe it's not quite as big of a deal in the locker room as we think it is. Can you kind of expand on that? Yeah, I just think that there's a big portion of the Eagles locker room that isn't phased by this at this point, whether it is, I mean, you can call it what you want, whether it's AJ being AJ or, frankly, a lot of guys agreeing with him and understanding

what he's doing. That's what I'm curious about. I think that there are a lot of guys in that locker room that agree with what he's saying. And like, all I can say is that, and listen, I'm not sitting here pretending I spend, you know, I mean, we spend 45 minutes in there with the Eagles practice. We're not in there a ton. It's not like I have like, but I do feel like I have a good sense of where things are from talking to guys. And it doesn't seem to me that there is like, oh man, what did AJ say? I can't believe he said that. Why would he say that? I think that they understand where he's coming from. And, you know, in past examples of when he's done this,

I do think that it hasn't had the waves in the locker room like it has, I guess, externally. If you had to guess what portion of the locker room agrees with AJ, EJ? I mean, obviously the wide receiving core, that part of the locker room. I'd say probably more than you think, though. I think that there are more people who understand where AJ is coming from. So that leads me to the question. how is Jalen I don't want to say perceived because I think he's liked by some or maybe a lot but is he on an island in a way in that like he's like this is the way this is I lead this is how

I'm going to do my head's down I'm not like because we saw it with wence and folds not to make but like yeah but there's a locker room splits with people is my point yeah like do you see it being like him on an island versus the majority does he have a select few with them like how does, to an outsider, how does that break down? I think it's fair to, like, say that there's like a certain, I don't want to say detached in like a, you know, a negative, irreparable way, but just like the nature of being the franchise quarterback who aren't one of the guys as much as somebody like AJ Brown would be.

But I do think that, you know, I think Jalen has made strides in those areas. I think he's gotten better at being part of the group and more open is what you'll hear from guys in the locker room. But I do think, like, it's not necessarily like a divide. It's more about, like, because I don't think what AJ hasn't really come out and done is just say it's the quarterback, right? That would be the type of thing that would divide a locker room. He has called him the quarterback. He has called him the quarterback and he has said passing before.

You're right, though. But I think that in general, like, because of that, you can still have respect for both guys and agree with what AJ's saying. Yeah, I think, honestly, I'm viewing it through just following the Eagles for, you know, 30 years or whatever it's been. Like the- Why can't things just be normal? No, I mean, the T.O. McNabb. sure that feud split up the locker room it does seem like as e j pointed out that the locker room dynamics here are different right it's just it feels like a lot of guys sort of have their head down and are and i don't want to say even just doing their own thing but at least not letting this

become like a major distraction but it's it's very interesting kind of the locker room dynamics because you clearly have something that has torn teams apart before and they just i know they do it in a weird way but they just continue to win and this is this is going back you know 380 plus days you know like this isn't a new problem that just arose this season there's clearly something bigger happening between those two whether it's as simple as hey you're missing me when I'm open here and you're causing me to be considered the best wide receiver in the league or whatever but it's this this sucks because it's not going away it's not going to like we're past the point of it getting repaired yeah and it's just a matter of if they can navigate it and they have been able

to in the past they've done it so far this season but i also think ahead to the off season and I'm like, well, AJ's gone. Yeah, I think it's, I think it's a real conversation this offseason. As, as CDP points out, this season is on hard knocks. I got to imagine. When is the Eagles start? The Eagles have final, they have final cut on that, right? Yeah, I doubt.

It's probably not going to see it. It's not going to be as good as I, as you probably. Yeah, Lurie said none of that's hitting in the editing floor. You can just zap that right now. Yeah, fictionalized. When does that start? A fictionalized version of the 2020. Because I do like the in season hard knocks more than the training camp hardnone.

That's fair. Yeah. I like the off season. Hard Knocksmore, of course, because it was the Joe Shane disaster class. He ruined that for the whole. I think we have a couple more weeks before it starts. I think it's sometime sometime in December. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. I think we do need to get to a

break. E.J. Thank you for informing us on as, as A.J. turns. As the world turns. The A.J. Brown of it all has to be so, so often on the show. So, guys, we're not going to be all negative because, again, the Eagles just did win a game. It was a little weird, but it was their fourth. I

would say really impressive win. Defense. When you look at their resume, we're going to talk about their defense a little bit. E.J., I believe you and Bo talk to Mina Kimes. Yeah, we did. Yeah. So we're going to play that interview after the break. And then afterwards, Jamie and I are going to talk about Jalen Phillips, the Detroit Lions. But after we hear from a few of our friends, we are going to play the interview with E.J., Bo, and Mina Kimes.

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It is cozy season only at Ashley. I think open book is the right way to phrase it. I think sometimes there are things left to interpretation. but this has been going on all season. Welcome back to the P.H.O.I. Eagles podcast joined, as we are every other Wednesday by the great Mina Kimes of ESPN and the Mina Kimes show featuring Lenny in which you talked a lot about the Eagles this week, Mina. You were there in Green Bay. What were your big takeaways from that slug fest on Monday night? Just a barn burner of a game.

We were talking a little bit before about who should be angrier. I mean, clearly, Packers fans, not just because of the loss, but, you know, I also think with the Eagles, while offensively, it was obviously frustrating and we can get into that. You got to be encouraged by what you saw from the defense, right? Like, that to me felt like the biggest takeaway from the game. Oh, cool. The Eagles have a four-man rush. But Jalen Phillips looks awesome. Nolan Smith back in the fold. But it seems like the defensive improvement is being overshadowed by the constant anxiety over the offense, shall we say. So I don't know if many. Eagles fans are celebrating the win like they should.

Well, it's Philadelphia, so we always have drama. But let's save the drama. Let's talk about the defense first because, yeah, I mean, it really did. It looked like a completely different front in this game, which makes sense. I mean, they added three guys to the top of the rotation. You have like Josh Ushay, who was their second best pass rush for two weeks ago, and he can't even get on the field because you've got Jalen Phillips, Nolan Smith, and even Brandon Graham in the mix now.

What looked different to you with Jalen Phillips added to that group playing as well as he did? Well, I thought he was really complete. You know, we talked about the pass rush, which is kind of the story in a lot of ways. But I was really impressed by his run defense, obviously on the final play. But even before that, it felt like he was constantly in the backfield making tackles. I think that's a big part of why the Eagles traded for him, right? It's because they viewed him as a complete edge. But, you know, as far as the pass rush goes, I think, you know, on all of the impact plays,

he was being chipped or doubled or so you saw other players taking advantage of the one-on-one's Jalick's hunts early on, Nolan Smith coming through on the Blitz. So yeah, it just gives them, you know, up to this point, it felt like Jalen Carter, who was obviously excellent in this game, was the only player being given extra attention. And of this result, you know, it didn't feel like anyone was able to take advantage of those opportunities. But now, finally, you have another player that the offensive, you know, Linderly has to worry about it at times they were giving an extra tight ender back.

So that to me is really helpful. And Nolan Smith looked good too. So, yeah, it just makes things so much easier for this defense to have an edge rusher like that in the mix and for Vic Fangio and it looked like a perfect fit. It's only a matter of time before. Morrow Adjomo starts to get some of those slides to some of that attention. But I digress. You have only one objective on the show and it is to pump up. Yeah, this is an agenda on the mic moment, though.

That was him, right? Yeah, the inside zone call out. Yeah, he's a smart player, impactful player. I do think, though, just on the four-man rush, like we have seen it because they could not affect the quarterback with just four guys the first half of the season. And so Vic had to do so much designing to create pressure that now it's kind of like that that may serve them in the second half of the season because you can rely on the four-man rush, it seems like, but you also now have these new tricks up your sleeve. And so it can really be kind of a guessing game for the opposing quarterback. Yeah. And I mean, I wanted to ask you sticking with the front seven here,

You know, with Nikobi Dean playing at such a high level, it's been a surprise to us. Like, obviously, it's really always a dice roll guys coming back from that injury. But it kind of leaves the Eagles with the proverbial, like, good problem to have with him and Jehad Campbell rotating every two series, it seems like, in the nickel defense. I'm curious if you think there's a way for the Eagles to get all three of those guys on the field because I think Nikobie, like, he's playing at a high enough level. Obviously, he's a free agent this off season. Like, I almost wonder if he's playing at a high enough level where the Eagles aren't.

going to want to lose him. But again, because they have Jahad Campbell and Zach Bond, like it's a little bit harder to figure out the math on how they could accommodate all three of them on the field. I think it's a matchup issue because so, you know, most teams don't have even two quality linebackers, to be honest. And there's a real trend around the NFL right now where a lot of the really good offenses are just killing teams in base defense, right? They're putting multiple tight ends on the field. The Ram Seahawks is kind of like the, Super Bowl of this trend, right? Because those teams are just annihilating teams by forcing them to put an extra linebacker on the field. So if you're Philadelphia and you actually have linebackers who can cover, I view it as not just a bonus, but actually could be really important. And against a team like Detroit, in particular, by the way, that also allows to put bigger bodies on the field. So, you know, the contract is a problem for another day. But for right now, that ability to actually cover. base defense and have really good players you can play off the ball is really rare in the NFL

at the moment. Well, let's zero in then on that side of this matchup on Sunday. And what do you think the Lions will try to do to their franchise defense? It's funny because actually, you know, I mentioned that, but they actually haven't been using that much 12 person. I was just looking this up. I was working on the matchups for this. The Lions, I think, will actually, I wouldn't be surprised if they play a decent amount of 11 in this game. It's a way I would against that. For the reasons you said yeah i mean that's where the the eagles are weakest depth wise want to get in the secondary so we might as well get those guys on the field right you want the third corner in the field honestly i was befuddled that green bay didn't attack him and i think i posted this at some point during the game because

i was just whining about the green bay offense the whole time but like at one point quinn and mitchell had like seven targets to jackson's two or something which is crazy absolutely insane uh yeah right like as an eagles fan the whole game you're like just don't find the guy who's not mitchell or de jean And then when they don't, you're like, what's going on? Like, okay, cool. And it's not in service of them having like a star receiver who you, okay, we got to get him the ball, even if he's covered by Quinn Young. It was, no, it's like, okay, let's get Christian watching the ball, I guess.

I don't know. Yeah, right. So, but I think Philadelphia, or Detroit, pardon me, is absolutely going to put multiple receivers on the field and find a way to attack Jackson. That's what I would do. So, yeah, for Philly. I think a lot of this comes down to pressure and the way you get pressure. We saw Jared Goff really struggle with the Vikings when they sent interior pressure.

I wouldn't be surprised if Vic browsed from that to some degree. And, you know, I think the Eagles run defense has looked a lot better too as of late. That's really important, obviously, in this one. So it'll be, it'll definitely be an interesting matchup. You mentioned the, like, the use of 11 that Detroit has been having more recently. Is that you think it's a function of Dan Campbell being a part of it or being, in charge of play calling now. And also, I guess, I know it was only one game against not a great defense,

but what are some of the trends you're seeing from Dan Campbell now that he's kind of running, running the show there. Yeah, I used a lot of 11, a lot of motion. It's really hard to know what to take away from commanders games, guys. I mean, the defense is so, by the way, love Dan Campbell taking over play calling against the commanders. That is very savvy. That is very savvy.

You know what? Give me that. I love Dan Campbell. I just. Yeah, I think it's, again, hard to know because they're so easy to attack in a number of ways. But I do think it is also the right way to play Philadelphia for the reasons that we've been discussing. Play action concerns me. You know, that's something that we've seen the Eagles defense struggle with at times a little bit this year.

It's definitely something that obviously Detroit measures in as well. So they're going to kind of spread to run, try to play action them, you know, counting on the Eagles to play with their customary lighter boxes. So it's, I keep going back to the pressure. I think that's just going to be so important in this one, early downs. Can you get to Jared Goff? When they run play action, can you actually, you know, play the quarterback in those scenarios? I'll be interested in seeing if Vic breaks some of his blitzing tendencies because I do, I think there's a lot to learn from the Vikings game.

All right. We've been nice, long enough. Let's talk about the Eagles offense now. What's your big picture, you know, state of affairs? here because, you know, two weeks ago, and it wasn't against the best defense, but it seemed like they were pulling all the right buttons against the Giants. Now, no, A.J. Brown in that game, AJ comes back, and all of a sudden, uh, we're back to doing, you know, 1 a.m. Twitch stream comments and having lots of drama. To be fair, defense plays too. And the Packers defense is

much better than, uh, the Giants defense. So I think that, and I thought they played really well in this game, especially like the spine of the defense. I was really impressed by the DTs and backers and and safeties against the run. So I just want to acknowledge that, you know, Dominique and I joke, for Eagles fans, we discuss this game at length on our Tuesday pod, which you could check out, Meantam Show featuring Lenny. And there's like a category of game I like to call great defense or shitty offense. And this was one of those.

And I do think a lot of it was about the defense. But, of course, you've had the ups and downs with the Eagles offense, so it bears consideration. You know, the AJ stuff's tough because, like when you go back to watch the game all of the big plays happened because of the attention paid to A.J. Brown, right? Yeah.

The play to Devante, the play to Goddard, I guess all the big plays is like three. Right. So he impacts the game in ways that just do not show up in the box score at all. But, you know, that said, obviously you can't be happy with the game where the offense puts up that little production overall.

So I can't look at it and say, actually it's a good thing you know um it's a good ej impression i'll be very interested in seeing if the we talked about some of the eagles defensive tendency breakers i'll be interested in seeing if the lions break tendency and play less man coverage if they play as much man coverage as they usually do this should be an a j brown game right but i think kelvin shepherd is like one of the bright young defensive coordinators in the league i'm not alone obviously that's a pretty common take and i wouldn't be surprised if he mixes it up a little bit given the opponent um

So the Eagles, I think, can't come out here and just expect the Lions to blitz and play, man. They have to be prepared for them to show them some different things on offense. And, yeah, they've got it. I mean, so often as it does with the Eagles, it comes down to if a team plays more split safety and you get more of those zone blitzes, what are your answers? And they've found them at points during the season,

but obviously at other times, they've been stymied by that. How is the Lions run defense? Good. I think it's good. Oh, sorry. Here we go, Jaylor. I just think they've been really good. The Lions, by the way, love to play base personnel.

So I think that would be an interesting one, too, with the Eagles, go back to the six offensive line stuff. I think they'll probably counter that with base, and there'll be an ability to play action off of that. So what would you do, Mina? Because, you know, I... Well, I do that. Because it seems to me, like, you know, the...

I thought maybe the Packers game, like, a zone heavy team, a team that majors in that maybe this was like a styles makes fights type of situation for the eagles offense but i do think you know i you hear a lot about unscouted looks from the eagles coaching staff and how much of a challenge that is but i do sort of think we're at a point now where they're going to keep seeing the looks that they got against the packers until and really they've been seeing these all season those own looks a lot of the same pressure stuff so what do you think is the answer against those specific looks you think it is as simple as like the play action game and the under center umbo packages off of it yeah it's a little bit of everything it's

a little bit of that. RPO's against those looks can be effective. Dallas Goddard can be effective in particular. That's kind of historically been a good answer for the Eagles when they face that sort of cloud coverage. You got to be able to run on them, right? And again, the Lions run defense is quite good. But I think it was a little bit disappointing

that they weren't able to run better on the Packers. Obviously, after watching what Carolina did. But I do think watching it back, the Packers run defense was. just excellent in this, in that game. But yeah, it's, I think that just what's so key for this one is you got to be prepared for that. I really think the lions are going to break tendency against this team. So just coming in with a plan for that, you know, I've been harping the same thing with A.J. Brown,

but you want to see him used on slants. You want to see him on inbreakers in the way that they haven't been using him consistently. And, you know, I think there'll be opportunities in the passing game against this team. They're not, there's flaws in the back end for Detroit, for sure. I'm so, I'm excited for this game because it did, it feels like kind of a year and a half coming. Like this, we all expected this to be the NFC championship game last year. It felt like it was pointing in that direction and now we actually get it. Are you, are you of the opinion that the best team of the NFC is on the West Coast?

Are you going West Coast bias here? Do you think this could be an NFC championship preview? This is so funny. because I both of these games are happening the Rams Seahawks game um I have the Rams and the Seahawks above right now just because of the offense um and I think the Seahawks defense is like you know maybe the best in the NFL but the Eagles defense and they don't necessarily seem to hate each other that helps as well um the Eagles defense though I think taking the leap on Monday it was a big deal I really I agree

I think what they should. And I think that that was my big takeaway from the game. I was like, you know, the SEAL's offense week to week, who knows. But the defense quietly like amidst all the attention paid to the offense nationally, I think we kind of let the lack of a four man rush slide and during a lot of games where even the Giants game, I'm just like, oh man, like come on. And to see that come alive is really important. Yeah, CJ, they were not a good defense the first half of the season. Oh, no, no. Really quick, me and I, we need a, we need a temperature check from the in-laws. I feel like we should make this a biweekly thing here. Who do you think the temperature is hottest on in the in-law's house?

Like is it, is it Nick Siriani? Is it A.J. Brown? I don't know their A.J. Yeah. Well, maybe AJ is the hottest temperature, but, you know. Here's all the texts my mother-in-law sent me during the game. Yuck. Looking tough tonight.

Yeah. This game's a fight. Lane is back. 20 eagle emoji. Lucky. That's all I can say. Oh, this is after the fourth down. Okay.

What a dumb call. What the hell is. was he thinking? Well, I think the answer is Siriani. Yeah, so the Siriani Yeah. That's good. Although I don't think that that was Nick on the fourth down call. Yeah, it depends on what part you're talking about.

The play call itself or the decision to go for it. Dominique I talked about this and we were like, I think he was mad about the play call, not the Yeah, so was that him? It's very similar to what happened actually in Seattle a couple years ago in 2023 where

Nick had to cover for Jalen and then it came out afterwards that like people didn't love that that Jalen never fessed up to it I mean it was it's a very similar situation I think it's pretty clear that that was not certainly not what Nick expected to happen on that play he's a good manager of people

I think that gets sometimes lost in all the Siriani hate is like there's you can point to a lot of moments in this era where he has covered for other things and also kind of like you know like Tomlin gets all the credit for all the insanity in the locker room, could Siriani also, like, be that dude, you know, I feel like? I think that's true, but at the same time, if that is his superpower, why does the AJ thing continue to persist?

They have a lot of characters. I think that that's fair. I mean, perhaps the AJ thing is, like, worse than we know, and he is managing it, right? Like, he's a receiver. I read, I sat next to the Eagles reporter Brooks Kubina, Cabina, yeah, on the plane to Green Bay. and then we were talking about it and afterwards I read his story which was excellent by the way on AJ Brown

and I came out of it thinking like this must be like worse than yeah well you should I don't want to go competing beats here but you should also read EJ's story on EJ's. Oh okay well AJ is an open book right and so I'll let you I mean we to you say what AJ said to you oh yeah this is probably about a month ago

he said that he's starting not to care and that he feels like he's fighting by himself. So, yeah, AJ, like you, I think Open Book is the right way to phrase it. I think sometimes there are things left to interpretation, but this has been going on all season. Really, it's been going on for years, but this season in particular, there's been a lot there with AJ. Wide receiver's never beating the allegations, I fear. Exactly.

He loves that. All right. Mina Kimes, thank you so much. We will talk to you in a couple weeks. Enjoy Eagles, Lions on Sunday. And shout out to the in-laws. Shout out to the in-laws. And you know what?

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Restrictions apply. Multi-view requires Xfinity 4K-capable TV box. And welcome back to the PHA H.L.E. Eagle Show presented by Bet365 and Ashley. Jamie, I think, you know, I think we're bearing the lead a little bit here, but I think we can probably make this the big deal, even though probably the bigger deal was the A.J. Brown drama presented by Cherry Hill Mitsubishi. The Jaira Alexander. He retired. I wish him the best. I think it's clear. Something's going on, whether personally, physically, whatever.

I'm sure it's a hard pill to swallow being one of the best in the world at your job and injuries derail your career at such a young age to the point where, look, I wasn't counting on him to provide the Eagles with much this year. He couldn't crack a Baltimore defense that needed help wherever it could get it. So clearly he's not who he used to be,

and I'm sure mentally that's a strain on you. So good for him for stepping away and trying to get himself right. I wish them the best. But I think something's up there. Is two in-season retirement record? I've been thinking about that. They've got to be getting close.

It's got to be. It's got a tie at least. I can't imagine anybody that's three, right? The Darius and Jaird, just two very good former players. Just gone, poof. It's bizarre. We were talking about the Eagles locker room dynamic in the first second.

and how this AJ Brown stuff, E.J. was talking about how, you know, I don't really think it affects this whole locker room as much as it seems like it would. But it's just so funny. You got guys, I mean, it's not funny because Jair Alexander, like he's clearly struggling with either confidence or mental health or whatever. And I hope he gets back, you know, gets back to playing on the field or just, you know, I always like to watch it on play. So I hope he gets back. Find some peace. But yeah, there's just, there's just so much stuff going on. So Vinny's look at the entire locker room. Vinny has always told us on Sundays when we watch the game together. He's like, man, this locker room's not for everyone. He says, and he knows, he saw the Jets, he saw the Bucks firsthand, that it's just different here. And whether it be an accountability, the leadership issue, like, I think it's a more tightly run locker room than maybe some others. So I think when some outsiders come in and experience it for the first time,

you know, Vinny said, like, it's just not for everybody. You know, some people just don't jive. with the way things are done here. And if you can't jive with the gold standard of the NFL right now, see you later, you know? Khalif says that he thinks a big piece is that the old heads are not down for Vic's style of practice. It could be that as well.

Again, there's a lot of stuff going on with this. Now, as far as Jair, as far as Jair, and I'm very proud that I haven't said Zaire yet, because we've had. I've been poisoning Rich's brain a little behind this. In my head, Zia Smith, the entire time. We're going to create Obama. in Brett Bound voice. Brett Bound voice, which is probably how Brett Brown would say, Brett Brown.

Look, I didn't really feel all that hopeful about that. No, I didn't think he was going to contribute at all. To me, Michael Carter was clearly of the two dart throws in the secondary. To me, that was the one that I thought might actually pay off down the line. We'll see we didn't see a lot of him the other night. I mean, I get it. He used to be, Jair used to be an awesome player. I get that he was born in Philly and left.

and I know Christian Parker and him have a pretty good relationship, but he wasn't getting on the field for a terrible defense in Baltimore. I guess the other question I have for this, Jamie, before we wrap this up to the Eagles, are they going to get their pickback, like this pick swap? I think he, probably not. Like, it's kind of from the just logistical aspect. Eagles got screwed here.

Like, I wish him nothing but the best. I'm happy he's taking care of what he's got to take care of. But yeah, the Eagles kind of just launched. a round pick for absolutely nothing. Yeah, yeah. It should be rescinded in some way, like a retirement clause or something. Somebody pointed out to me that when the Eagles got a seventh round pick for John Doran boss and then he went to the same. Yes, and they discovered the hard problem.

They discovered the hard issue, which probably saved John Dorimoss. They gave it back. Yeah. I would think. Eric DeCosta, do the right thing. Yeah. Give the pig back. Now, in fairness, am I actually going to care about this?

No. much no, a sixth and seventh round pick are basically, uh, but you're right. It probably should just be like, but yeah, I mean, they didn't even know, like he didn't even get on the plane for the Green Bay game. So I don't know. That's a weird thing. So Jayae Alexander, we wish you the best. Thank you for the content, at least with the emergency podcast. Yeah, he's up there with, uh, Frank Gore and Eagles lore of, uh, never going to see him. Yeah. Well, you know, we are going to see the Eagles defense dominating down the strokes. Man, what? What a great.

I get it. That was a lot of fun. The offense was really frustrating. I am geek to watch these guys play defense over the next few weeks, man. I just, that feels like Vic, I don't know, like Vic after a by week, I just picture him crunch and tape with this Philly's hoodie and just just in some dark room. Do you think he wants Nolan Aeronado or you think he's over that one? He probably does, but he'd be wrong if that was the case.

But Nolan Aranato stinks. Vic, don't, don't do it. But he's just watching tape with this Philly's hoodie. And he gets some sort of... You think he's like a sunflower seed guy? Probably. Yeah. What do you think he's watching tape?

Like, gnaissance? Because I feel like every football guy gnawes on a little something when they're watching tape. Just like last year, though, I think Vic found a eureka moment in the middle of the week. And he just was like, oh, I got it. And then, you know, maybe he goes home, finally gets a decent night of sleep. And then he goes back to work the next day. And he's like, let me start coordinating the best defense in the league.

And look, I think we mentioned all season last year that Cooper DeGine's starting to play was a huge deal after the buy. Jalen Phillips as a new toy, man. That was an excellent start. 53 of the 68 snaps. I know pressures aren't real, but I think he had six tackles, four solo tackles,

and one tackle for loss, the big one on that fourth down play at the end. Do you buy the bow wolf stance and pressures aren't real? A little bit, yeah, yeah, because they're subjective, right? Yeah, it's totally subjective, but I think it's real.

It's just who's grading it. Yeah, but I don't like that. I mean, I, I, but if you rush a quarterback's throw because you're getting a pressure, like, you affected the play. Look, with all things pro football focus, if it's good, I'm going to cite it. And if it fits my agenda, fair, fair. I'm going to cite pressures today. But the general idea of like, you know, pressures and somebody grading it, I don't know. It's like it when you hit the, it's like errors in baseball.

You have to trust who's grading it, right? I don't trust those either, yeah. Oh, yeah, but it's a thing. Okay, but Jalen Phillips, in particular, though. Yeah, I mean, it felt like we were watching an entirely new defense. You got added BG, who by the way, looked good. His timing was there. He was getting off the ball.

Well, he was still bull rushing guys. Jalen Phillips, obviously his impact was huge in the game. And then you got Nolan Smith back, who also looked quick and violent. So you added basically an entirely new defensive line. And it was a lot of fun to watch. Nikobi Dean is like better than I ever expected to be. The fact that you got to do, I think, 32 snaps with him and 30 with Jihad and kind of balance that

with Zach Bonn as the other, and then Cooper DeGine and Quignan. Like, this defense has the potential to be special now. I don't think that's an over-exaggeration. Jalen Phillips is better than I thought he was going to be right away. Because they talked about earlier in the week, like, oh, yeah, we're going to ease him in a little bit, give him like a snap count.

Dude played like 48 to 52 snaps. Like Vic saw it and was like, I can't take this guy off the field right now. I think with that one game, he is already Howie's second best trade deadline acquisition. Just one game. That's all you need. Jay Ajai. Golden Tate, move on over.

That one catch in Chicago, even though that was a bad trade overall. You are the bronze medalist now. Yeah, and I think the two guys that really stood out to me were Jalen Phillips and the Kobe Dean. Jalen Phillips. Yeah, I mean, playing that many snaps, just throwing him right in. I mean, that's a I can't take you off the field. right now, snap count. Well, and Jamie, as Fran was doing the cut-ups

and kind of showing us what type of player. Yeah, when he was doing guys. And showing us what Jalen Phillips was like as a player, the thing that impressed me the most, like his hands are really violent. And it's like he uses them to jab other offensive linemen so they can't get his hands on him. And Zach Tom, the right tackle,

I would say Jalen Phillips, we talk about, you know, pressures mattering and do they matter or not? I'm sure Jalen Phillips probably got a pressure on the Jalix Hunt snap because he used his violent hands and he got into the pocket. Jordan Love has to retreat and then Jalick's Hunt ends up cleaning up that play. It's just an awesome play. So I was very impressed by him. And then you mentioned Nekobi, man. He's on another level right now.

And again, it's such a weird situation because Jihad Campbell who was potentially in the rookie of the year, Congress. I don't know how I feel about this because. you have a rookie that you spent a first round pick on who is playing well and you're saying, hey, you're going to play a little bit less. I don't love John Campbell as an edge player, by the way. I think he's definitely worse at that. He had a really bad snap in run defense on the edge. But Ncobie's playing amazing and I love Nikobe.

So like I think Vic earned the benefit of the doubt. Like Nikobe, the force fumble on Jordan Love, great pressure by Vic gets three guys to the left side of the line. So he basically isolates Nikobe Dean against Josh Jacobs. We knew from last year, Nicobi, one of his best skills is as a blitzer. He lit Josh Jacobs up on that play. Like just threw him. Oh, my God. It was just an awesome play.

And then he finishes with a funny Jordan love fumble as well. Yeah, Fran said he's just diagnosing. I outsource all my football guy knowledge to Fran Duffy. And seriously, if you aren't to die hard, you should become one because Fran's breakdowns alone are incredible and worth it. he said he's assessing plays faster than anyone on the field and that includes more OJomo who we're going to get into I think on the other side

like what is happening right now with the defense is kind of crazy because we talked about the three new guys adding but what a Jomo and I go back and forth between a Joma me and Lindsay were talking about this on Sunday like Ojomo and a Jomo whatever

what the step he's taking and the step that Jalix Hunt are both taking simultaneously is probably more than I expected from both and it's got to the point where like the tingles are in the football guy you know like you're starting to get like the spighty senses are going like oh wait

these guys can be like special special not just like good special what you're seeing from Jalick's hunt and Ojomo right now is like potential like pro bowl type players because Jalick's Hunt like I didn't expect anything from in the first year and then

he was maybe one of the best defense players in the Super Bowl. And now he's building off of that. And a Jomo in the locker room, I remember Bo did a short in August where he pulled the locker room and everybody was like, no, Morrow's the guy that's going to like bust through in a big way this year. So what those two are giving you plus the three new guys plus, oh yeah, Jordan Davis and Jalen Carter, this defensive line seriously has the potential to be one of the best in football now all of a sudden, which is a wild thing to say, considering where we were like three weeks ago. Morrow also almost killed the ref with his, his, uh, pumping his fists.

Oh, sorry, sorry, that was, that was Jalix, actually, my bad. Uh, was after, after his, yeah, yeah, yeah, it was Jalix after a sack. Uh, luckily that didn't happen because that, um, do with that, that umpire would not be, not work, I'm working, he might not have been, like a fine on him, right? Oh, no, he didn't, purely accidental. He didn't see the guy, but yeah, yeah, but that could have been ugly. Yeah, but you mentioned that the play that Morrow made to say inside zone right here, inside zone. And if you're right here, love. And then he, by the way, he says that and then he splits

the double team, gets into the backfield. And Josh Jacobs has to go the other way. And then you get Jalen Carter, as France said, just bench pressing the right guard back there. He looked good. Okay, I can't go into that whole, that whole. Yeah, Jalen Carter also one of his better games. I thought he was double teamed. I felt like a lot in that game, but he got his hands up and batted down a few passes as well. And then Jalen Phillips comes at the end against the tight end, tight end can't block him, him and Reid come to finish his play. So if you're Jordan Love right there, a Jomo was calling that out with plenty of time to audible.

Yeah, it's not good. What are you doing? That's not good. It's part of the reason why he's mid. Like, dude, what are you doing? You have a defensive tackle calling out your play three and four seconds before you snap the ball. Maybe, maybe get out of it. Yeah. Okay. Jam to dumb, dumb, dumb. We do have to hear from a few more of our friends, but on the other side, we will talk about the upcoming match.

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Bet Parks Online Casino is available in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland, and Michigan for their residents. Terms and conditions apply. Parks Casino. This is how you win. You must be 21 and over gambling problem call 1-800 gambler. And welcome back to the PHLY. Eagle show on the name. By the way, Darlene Harris Lopez says Josh Jacobs made a comment there was no time to change the play and they might have been out of timeouts

to the point. So just basic point is Jordan Love sucks. Morrow Jumo's great. Great job by him. It does provide a contrast between the level of coaching that we're seeing on the Eagles offense versus the Eagles defense when Morrow is calling out the play on the biggest

play game. And BG talked about it. And by the way, new unblocked with Brandon Graham episode tomorrow morning 8 a.m. You're going to want to hear this because BG came right off of the plane into the podcast studio with Bo. He raves about a Jomo and says that's all tape study. He basically says that guy puts in the work and you saw it firsthand right there. So that's awesome to hear and see. And we will talk more about the Packers' predictable offense and the lion's less predictable offense in overtime.

But maybe Cousin Grace is right. Josh Jacobs just covering for their terrible quarterback. I love being a Jordan Love hater. You and Dana is. You are the number one and number two. I love that I'm with the prof in that company. Yeah, I'm with you. He's fine.

At best, he's fine. My thing with Jordan Love is that when he is good, he makes it look really good. He's infrequently very good. Completely agree. And that's why, you know, the football hipsters, I just, I can't see him. I don't get so much love. Maybe it's because his last name is love. But he, uh, he gets ranked above Jalen Hurts pretty consistently.

And it's just like at some point, I don't know, man, you were gifted the worst Eagles game by success rate in like four years at home. And you couldn't win that game. Yeah. I know Tucker Kraft was out, but Lane Johnson was out for the Eagles the entire game. By the way, what a psychopath, Lane Johnson. is in the best kind of way. I mean, especially returning to that game after sitting for two hours, like in the cold. Because you always see those cases in really every single sport of guys just having the adrenaline to gut through the initial injury.

And then when they go home, it's like, ooh, this guy's out for two or three weeks or whatever. So for him to just be like, hey, look, I know these looks with six offensive linemen have been killing it. Let me get back in the game. Big play in the fourth quarter. By the way, did you think, because I thought, I thought when I first saw the replay, I was. was like, oh, that's a season ender. I thought it was his knee bending sideways in. Once I heard ankle, I was, yeah, I thought.

Once I heard ankle, I was like, shoo. Because I thought, I thought it was season over, like season altering injury right there. Yeah, I was, I was cursing at my television, like, Evan Williams, like, how do you miss a tackle by that much? You know, people will be like, ah, he didn't mean to do it. I was like, can you, can you not miss a tackle by that much? Like, good God. Yeah. And by the way.

And by the way, Evan Williams got mossed by Devante Smith at the end. end of that game so that was pretty great so the other uh before we move on to the lion's talk the other egregious thing the michael parson's tripping yeah it was bad how do you miss that it was bad really really bad yeah because that could have been a home run play for the eagles yeah yeah i have no thoughts on that except you're right yeah i don't know yeah yeah i'm just happy the eagles got away with it yeah yeah that was a that was a huge win and the nfc north dominance just continues and now you get the uh the big test on sunday night football like the kind of

what we thought was going to be the NFC championship game last year and there's the there's the- And he's got the graphic up for us It's unbelievable Nick Siriani 10 and oh against the NFC North

I think Jalen missed one of those games So he's 9 and 0 I believe And Nick is 10 and no Trying to think of the game I think it was a Vikings game What I missed I forget me and Bo were talking about Sunday leaving I think it was a Vikings

But who knows But yeah he's 9 and 0 Siriani's 10 and no. Yeah. And have you seen this, this friendship developing with the Bears fans, Eagles fans and Bear fans?

Why? Because the Eagles are beating up on the... So the Bears are 3 and O versus the NFC East. The Eagles are now 2 and O versus the NFC North with the chance to be 3 and O on Sunday versus the Lions.

So until Black Friday when we're enemies again, our friends out at CHGO, yeah, we're handshaking here. We're friends in a partnership. I did not. know that. I did see that there was some level of friendship between the two fan base on Twitter,

but my brain is so scrambled now. I didn't go investigate why that's the case. It's because we're beating up on their divisions. It's great. Look, Jamie, when we're living in the era of Jankey Rondo, I'm not investigating everything on the internet right now, but that makes

sense. That makes sense. Okay, Eagles are beaten up on the NFC North. Hopefully they can get another win this weekend for the Bears. Yeah, what do you didn't you see Dan Campbell's quotes about playing in Philly? He's such a football guy.

He was like, oh, it's the nastiest place. They throw batteries at you. They curse at you. I love playing in Philadelphia. Well, maybe when he was a player,

you know, did Dan Campbell play at the vet? Yeah, I think so. Wait, what was Dan Campbell's actual playing years? I think he played at the vet, right?

Anyway, Dan Campbell took over play calling duties. Yeah, and they're good again. I do think Mina made a good point. His first year was 99. So, yeah. He probably played a couple games at the vet.

He probably played at the vet. Yeah, taking over play calling duties after. So Brian Flores pretty much embarrassed them a couple weeks ago, which, by the way, Brian Flores. He's the boogeyman. He's the boogeyman. He's the boogie man, not for Jalen Hertz in the evening year again. For everybody else, though.

Yeah. And Dan Campbell takes over the play calling duties. Again, they're, look, you mentioned going to Jared Gough's house and, you know, tiny little hands. Tiny little hands. dropping the remote. I don't know what the weather is going to be this weekend. If it's going to be cold, I like the Eagles chances again.

That was the big thing last year. We were like, they're going to have to play Detroit because Detroit just doesn't lose. They're going to have to play Detroit. I want Jared Goff every single time. Who I would love to just see as the Eagles playoff race would be, give me the Packers and Jordan Love will embarrass them. Then give me Jared Goff and his tiny little doll hands and we'll embarrass the lions. And then give me Sam Darnold and Seattle Seahawks and we'll embarrass them.

Those are three quarterbacks. just like, Sam Donald's having a nice year. Like, let me know when he proves it on a big stage. And Jared Goff is the same thing. That NFC divisional round last year versus Washington was embarrassing. And if I was a Lions fan, I would have absolutely no

confidence in the world in my team on a big stage. So give me all three of those overrated ass quarterbacks. Let's go. So I think Mina is awesome. But this prevailing wisdom that, you know, from the national NFL people, that the Rams

and the Seahawks are head and shoulders above the Eagles or in a different tier. Look, I get it. I watch every Eagles game and I want to fire Nick Siriani in the second quarter of every single one of them. I understand that from a neutral standpoint, you look at how ugly they make it look.

The Eagles have good wins, man. You know who does not have good wins? The Seahawks. The Bucks are probably like the Eagles' fourth or fifth best win. Guess what? Would have been the Seahawks best win? Now they lost to them at home. So like, I understand, stand that Mike McDonald,

nice defensive mind, they got a lot of talent on that side of the ball. Sam Darnold is having a good year. I'm sorry. Like the Eagles are the team right now that you just have to, like, you have to give them the credit.

They are the defending champs. They continue to win game after game. I'm sorry, not putting them in that same tier is ridiculous. They are the team that you have to respect at this point, even with how uneven they make it look. So again, if they beat Detroit

this week, too. They're going to have the best resume in the NFL in terms of just the teams they beat by a mile. Yeah, absolutely. And they're just overrated quarterbacks. I mean, like, Sam Donald, yeah, he's having a nice, like, resurgence. Show me on a big stage, you know, like before everybody crowns them. Show it on a big stage. Show it in a playoff atmosphere. And it applies to Jordan Love and it applies to Jared Gough, too. Like, yeah, you can play great regular season football. But if you get on a big stage when the season's on the line are in the playoffs and you absolutely soil your pants, your regular season means nothing to me.

I will give both of those teams. I agree with you. And I would give both those teams credit because they are playing more aesthetically pleasing. Sure. Absolutely. Right now, I think that is undeniable. Undeniable at this point. And the Lions' offense is very good.

I'm not saying it's not good, but like, show me when it matters. We have talked privately how you've been underwhelmed by some of the early Sunday. plates. Two really good games, though. You got Ram, Seahawks. That should be great. Leading into Eagles, Lions on Sunday. That's, again, I don't know what the early slate is exactly this weekend. But for a 425 game leading in the Sunday night football, that is really good. The Eagles are a part of that. So look, it'll be a fun game. I'm excited. You want your weather report to finally get the Lions? Yeah, let's give me their wet weather. It's not, it's not as cold as you would have hoped for on Sunday here in beautiful Philadelphia. It's always sunny in Philadelphia. High of

60 on Sunday with a low of 42 and sunshine. So Dahlhan's gets a fairly great football weather day. Balmy for old Dahlhan. Yeah. So maybe Dahlhan's won't cough the ball up as much. Maybe he'll just throw the interceptions. Anyway, I'm really excited even though I know.

Yeah, this lion's offense is no joke. Like, these defense is going to be tested on Sunday. I know that at the, during the second quarter, I'm probably going to want to fire somebody or whatever. And Nick Suryani is going to be sitting. at the podium.

After this game with another victory, I believe he's second all time in wins now. Crazy. Win percentage among coaches who have coached a couple seasons. Unbelievable. He's ahead of John Madden now. It's just unbelievable. And Peter says in the chat,

Bill's Buck should be a good one too on Sunday. I don't know what's going on with the bills. The Bucks, both teams kind of have broken the last three weeks. The Bucks make sense to me. I thought they were playing a little bit over their heads. And obviously, like, Baker and that offense, they can get chunk plays. That seems like a little bit of a flawed team.

Their defense, what is going on with? Buffalo is like, they look like world beaters one week, and then they are a disaster. So again, and that's the thing with the Eagles. The Eagles really don't have as many of those weeks. No. They make it look ugly, and yes, it's a little bit disjointed and all those things. But at the end of the day, they end up winning the game. And, yeah, that's a big deal.

And Joe Rockhead's right. Only 37 likes in here over 200 people watching. Come on, people. What are you not like us? You're hanging out with us. Just hit that little thund. thumbs up button right there on the page. Well,

James, we are about to wrap up. So we do ask you guys, can you please shoot us a few likes as you were leaving today? So what's your initial guts say? Like, winner of Sunday's game?

You like him where the birds are positioned? Because this is... They win every week, man. I know. But this offense is good. Yeah, the defense is not as good. And you're going to need to score some points on Sunday.

I have faith that the Eagles defense will keep the lions in check. The question is, does the Eagles offense put up enough points to top of the lines. I think they will. I am so excited to watch the Eagles defense against that offense. That is good against good.

And look, we said this a lot last year. Like I remember that Bengals game earlier in the season. Some of the Ravens matchup at the end of the year. Like, I wonder if it's a game where the lions get hot early in the game, maybe their first couple drives. They have seven points, 10 points, whatever it is, a couple good drives. But then Vic gets a beat on them. And then the rest of the game, the Eagles sort of,

wear them down. Now, I will say the difference between this year and last year is that part of the calculus with the Eagles wearing teams down last year is Vic getting a beat on them and the defense taking away what they're good at, but also the Eagles were pounding the rock at an amazing level last year. And that hasn't really happened at a consistent level. Now,

hopefully, against this Lions run defense, they are able to do that, but we'll see. I think they're going to win. Yeah, I kind of did you see they're only, I think they're only like one to half point favorites too? I have not actually check the line out. I actually have to submit my bet 365 PHO.

I say in game parlay, so is that still the case? Let's take a look. L'A.ander here. The Eagles currently minus two and a half on bet 365. I think that's gone up a little bit. By the way, I'm just going to say it.

Which is the disrespect. I'm sorry. Yeah. The Eagles should not be favored by less than three against anybody at home. You're right. I mean, it's not aesthetically pleasing. They were underdogs last week.

And I thought they played a disjointed game. in a lot of ways and guess what they won the game yeah I'm with you they just find a way to win yeah yeah being an underdog at home I know they're favored but like being a half point underdog in the eyes of a neutral site it feels off at worst this should just be minus three what a great moment in eagles fandom where people are complaining about every single win some ways being justified I would say, because I am also one of those people, but also being, you know, looking down when the Eagles don't get the respect nationally that they deserve. Hey, that's Philadelphia for you. Okay, we will be with you guys. And real quick, everybody sign up for Rich's newsletter. Oh, yeah.

Do it. Come on. Just sign up for the newsletter. It's awesome. It's free. It's free. Tell a friend, tell a family member. Tell a, tell a buddy from college. If you like Philadelphia sports, boom, it's free. It's in your inbox every single morning. What time does it go out? 7.30? 8. 7.30. Boom. You get a cup of coffee. You're riding the train in. You get to your cubicle. You don't want to work. It's a great time killer. Got all the information you miss. It's got all the links. It's perfect. So just read it. Sign up for it. Go to our account. You'll see it. Go to Rich's account. You'll see it. There's the website right there. Just do it. Do Rich a favor. He's a nice guy. He doesn't ask for much.

I don't ask for much. And it's free. It's free. It won't cost you nothing. We had an abridged history of Devante Smith Mossing dudes in today's I love that newsletter as well So yeah we get we get a little bit creative The Pat Sertan won a couple years ago That earned his rookie year That might be my favorite one

He's so good Remember the conversation we had a couple weeks ago I think Devante has moved in number one Yeah because he's like Not only is he this technician as a route runner He also makes these insane contested catches In a way that somebody with his body Should not be able to

That's third and 12th play he was open by like four yards. It's the best of both worlds. He's just breaking dude's ankles on routes. But then also when it's a deep ball, he's just jumping over these guys and embarrassing them. It's absolutely wild.

DeMante Smith is the man. We're not worthy. We're not worthy. We're not worthy. Okay, J.M., I think that's enough for today's show. I think we covered a lot of ground. Yeah, retirement. Thanks to me to Kimes.

With some AJ. Yeah, thank you to E.J. Smith. sitting in with us. That was a lot of fun. I rarely get to be in studio with EJ. He's always remote. EJ's the best. No red microphone for him today. Normal microphone for him today. Great job. And Lindsay has the upcoming schedule. We have a six or show going on right now. We have the cheap seats guys who also talk about the Eagles and Connor McDavid in town tonight. He's a bucket list athlete. Unbelievable. I covered a game, his rookie year. I've never seen somebody skate so fast. It's absolutely one. And he's huge.

yeah by the way gratuitous D says Smitty did you catch it I always call him Devante everybody in that locker room calls him Smitty because AJ Brown had to

correct himself the other day the media was like oh what about you know Devante and he repeated Devante and he's like wait wait wait you got me calling him Devante he was like it's Smitty I did see that so are we allowed to call him Smitty well I mean I'm a Devonte guy

yeah it's very big J journalist of us to call him Devante by his name. I call him Smitty sometimes in the newsletter as well. Yeah, that was a funny clip. Yeah, that was pretty fun. Of AJ. See, AJ just keep to the funny stuff. Stay off the Madden streams. Okay, so I think on the Eagle show,

I assume we're going to have Fran, E.J. and Boe in here tomorrow on the short week. We got Swooper this week as well. And then Danes will be in on Friday as well. And then guys, we got a big Sunday night football matchup. I'm excited. Jamie's

excited. We are all excited. But I think that will do it for us today on the Wednesday show. Thank you to always for Lindsay for helping us out and handling all the moving pieces. It was a difficult one today with the late breaking news. And to close the show, as always, I will say we love you. Thank you.