PHLY Philadelphia Eagles Podcast - Are Saquon Barkley and the Philadelphia Eagles better than they were two years ago?

Episode Date: January 3, 2025

We’ve got a relatively meaningless regular season finale on tap for the Eagles, so let’s zoom out. As Saquon Barkley, Jalen Hurts, A.J. Brown, Jalen Carter, DeVonta Smith, Zack Baun, Quinyon Mitchell and Darian Kinnard prepare for a playoff run, is the team better off than it was in 2022?The professor Deniz Selman is in studio to debate that and to continue carving out space as the city’s foremost Saquon Barkley denier before Zach Berman joins Bo Wulf for their final thoughts on Jalen Hurts’ status and more. 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 PHAY Eagles podcast on a Friday afternoon. Bo Wolf, the professor, Dana's studio. We're going to be joined by Zach Berman in just a little bit. Planning to talk about Jalen Hertz still not practicing for the Eagles. How concerned should we be about that? What else is going on at the NorbiCare Complex? Zach will fill us in, but we do start with the professor. Good for you for doubling down on the hat.

You look great, and congratulations are in order. If there's one thing that this show, is about, it's leaning into a bit. That's exactly right. So I had to come back with the hat. And so with that in mind, obviously you must have had some kind of New Year's celebration, but how did that pale in comparison to the celebration for you that Sequewan Berkeley will not be playing in week 18? Yeah, I think it's very important that Saquan Berkeley plays in the playoffs.

And so as well as all the offensive linemen and, you know. Although I guess now that I think about it, you probably, you wouldn't have minded if he played in week 18 because he's so inessential to the Eagles' chances in the playoffs. It's funny because before the show, we were talking about the hypothetical question of where we would rank Sequin if you had to ask, if you knew one player from the Eagles offense was going to miss the entire playoffs, and you could rank them in order of preference of that not happening. Where would you rank Sequin?

And Bo and I ranked him in exactly the same place. Exactly the same place. We both have him sixth. And we both have them in the same place. I think I could make the case for him as high as four. Okay. But you have him. J.

J. Brown is for sure. We both have those three. But for you, it's like he's somewhere between sixth and tenth. For me, he's somewhere between fourth and sixth. And yet we both landed at sixth.

So actually, one of the things we want to talk about later in the show today is, is how Sequin Berkeley could be more valuable to the offense than he is. Yes. If they threw the ball to him more. Yes. And, you know, that's one of the things that Sequin himself was talking about, about how he thought that he could maybe have 2,000 all-purpose yards.

He said he expected when he came here to be a part of the passing game, but they've got A.J. Brown and Devante Smith and Dallas Goddard and so. Sure. But since they're not throwing to those guys either, they're just running into that now. We were talking about it. Let's talk. Yeah, I think that it's interesting that he himself thought that he'd be used that way. He'd been used that way before in his career.

There's all this talk about how he can be the first, second, and third down back because he's good in the passing game as well, whether it be past protection or just catching the ball. And one of the things we saw in that very first game in Brazil was a really cool play where he ran a wheel route. There were like a double post on that side and that opened up the coverage and he was able to run a wheel route

and make a play that, frankly, the other Eagles running backs of the past would not have been able to make. I made an awesome catch. And it was like, wow, this is really cool. You know, like in addition to being a threat to be explosive at all times, which is, I think, the thing that they think

is the most valuable thing that he brings, he could also be doing more that way. I've always been fully aware that Sequin is probably one of the most talented players on the field, if not the most talented in some ways. I totally get that. I just think that when you hand somebody the ball behind the line of scrimmage and have them run it,

it's not as efficient as when you throw them the ball. And that's just true. And so... That's okay. I mean, that's fine. I think this offense runs the ball a little too much. and I think that that could come back to bite them in the playoffs if it's second and 10

and they're running the ball against the team that can stop the run we saw what happened against Washington and I wish that they had more plays like the one in Brazil like I mean we saw that they were in that play again like maybe once maybe twice the whole year and there haven't been a lot of areas so much in training camp too yeah it's like him running wheel routes and stuff you mean

not even the wheel route though the touchdown in Green Bay right yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah like like releasing through the formation. Yeah, that was so cool. Like, why did they just go away from that? It's very strange to me that the running back usage in this offense, and it's been this way, for the most part, since A.J. Brown has been here.

Like, we can be predating it, but go ahead. Oh, yeah, you have numbers on individual running backs, right? Yeah. No, you want to share this? So let's start with Sequin. And I think this is a real conversation. I mean, it's probably too late now, but maybe it's something that they could break out in the playoffs. But on the season, Sequin Barclay has 33 catches for 278 yards in 16 games.

That's 17.4 receiving yards per game, which is the lowest mark of his career. Now, obviously, the Giants were running everything through him. They were trying everything. They could to get him the ball, but I think that's interesting. And if you look at the advanced numbers, okay?

So for this season, Seekwan Barkley, 42nd of 71 qualifying running backs in yards per route run, which is just under one. And a lot of those qualifying guys are like people who don't play that much. I mean, if you're going down to 71. It's like 10 receptions. Yeah, exactly. Right, right. Because I mean, Sequin plays a very high percentage of the snaps.

Right. And he's 56th of 71 in target rate, okay. But he's 29th of those 71 in yards per target. So six and a half yards per target. Now, how does that stack up with the running backs, the lead running backs of the Nick Siriani

Jalen Hertz era? It's interesting because like the yards per target is the best. That's 6.5, you go to DeAndre Swift last year. He was 61st of 75 in yards per target at 4.4. Miles Sanders was dead last. Couldn't catch the ball.

Dead last in 2002, tied for 78th of 79, which means he wasn't last at three yards per target. And then in 2021, Sanders was 68th of 83 in yards per target down in 4.6. So if you're throwing him the ball, he's being productive, right? And now six and a half yards per target is more than his yards per carry. To your point that they can get in the ball. We can all think about those plays when they just get sick on the ball in the flat, and there was one or even two guys ahead of him.

He very often makes those guys miss, and obviously the reverse jump was on a pass, as you talked about. Yeah, yeah. And I think, like, I mean, I'm not saying he's going to reverse hurtle somebody every time he catches the ball in the flat. But his chance of being explosive when he catches the ball on the flat on a per play basis is, like I think conventional, wisdom would tell you it's higher than its chance of being explosive on a counter run or an inside

zone run or you know what I mean like it's like like of course he's but of course you remember the long touchdowns but the percentage of plays in which you get those long touchdowns is still I think that's small enough that like what about all the second and 10 runs that go for one yard because the tight end missed his block you know what I mean and that has nothing to do with sake one like like those a lot of run plays fail because one guy blocking right didn't do his job correctly and that's precisely why running the ball is such a kind of typically like inefficient way to move the ball because like all it takes is one person failing at their job

and it doesn't work no matter who the running back is and that's and that's nothing to do with Sequin it's just about the position he plays now just to follow up here in terms of the the target rate how Sequin's target rate compares so obviously when he's running a route how often is he throwing the ball this year as I said 56th of 71 running backs at 14.7% last year DeAndre Swift was still in the middle, 44th of 75, but that was a higher rate than Sequans. Sanders in 2022 was even lower because, as you talked about, like, they just realized that he could not be valuable there.

But the year before, he was higher at 18%. 56th of 83. So I do think that it is obviously a thing that in whether it is the Nick Siriani offense or with Jalen Hertz as a quarterback, they are just not going to prioritize throwing to the running backs. It's very similar to the discussion we always have about. whoever the third receiver is, is not going to get the ball. And in 2021, it was a little different because you only had Devante Smith and not both guys to funnel up the targets. But still, like, it's funny to be thinking back to when Nick Siriani was hired, how much he talked about loving Nahim Hines and like what he brought to the table. And that was going to be a big part of the offense.

And it has been so little a part of the offense. It sort of was in 2021 as a team. So like the like so the numbers I have to compliment the those are great numbers that you gave with the. individual running backs. As a team, the Eagles were seventh in the league at percentage of targets that were two running backs. They were at 23%. Okay.

So that first year. That was Gainwell then, right? Yeah, yeah, it was exactly. Because Gainwell was playing on third down. Like he was getting a lot of those. But that went down to 32nd dead last the very next year when A.J. Brown arrived. Yeah. So the way that I think about it is like something changed when A.J. Brown arrived.

Right. And you had like two good wide receivers to throw to. It went down from 22% to 12%. Remember, there was no change in offensive coordinator. that year. It was Shane Steak in both years. So, and then it stayed at, and then it, and then it kind of went back up to league average last year. And it's a little bit below league average this year. The fact that it's lower this year than last year is crazy. I mean, like you had Miles Sanders, the guy who couldn't catch the ball. And, and this is percentage of targets. Keep in mind that

the number of total targets is also way down this year because the team is just running the ball. And so, like, they've decided that the way to use Saquan is to hand them the ball, which, of course, that's the main way you're going to use them. He's a running back. but to not have him be part of a past game that we've talked so much about how can this past game be more interesting? How can it be more creative? How can it be more dynamic?

They're not doing under center play action. They're not doing this. They're not really using motion the way we thought they would. It seems like an easy button to press to have some more priority in throwing the ball to the sky who's like this super talented player.

And it's interesting as we think about a likely matchup with the Green Bay Packers in the wildcard round looking back to that week one game when like it, That is what we saw, right? Like they were throwing the ball to Sequin. They were doing all that motion stuff.

They were doing interesting things in the passing game. And so what is your... It's still the most interesting game on offense, I think, all year. And so what is your level of confidence that they're going to do something in the playoffs schematically that, you know, they haven't really done most of the season and surprise us a little bit? I don't know. I mean, maybe more hope than confidence. Like, I've been surprised constantly by an interesting new wrinkle or an interesting

new play. We talked before in past weeks, many weeks, in fact, about how, hey, they tried some under center play action this week, or they tried this like empty this week. They keep on trying new things and kind of like leaning into them on a week by week basis. Will they have the right answer for the right defense in those playoff games? We're going to see. Yeah. It's going to be very interesting. Okay, so since we're doing this cross-year comparison, let's address the question in the title of this episode, 2004. versus 2020. Now, obviously, the road to the Super Bowl for the Eagles team is more difficult than it was then.

They don't have a buy. Other teams in the NFC are better, right? But I think that's right. I mean, that team played the Giants in the divisional round. Right. I mean, it's about as easy as it gets. They had to win one game, really. But if you're just lining these two teams up, how do they compare in your eyes?

I mean, if we're sticking, if we're sticking to the offensive side of the ball, I think it's worth noting that if you believe in DVOA is a good measure of how good an offense is. The 22 team was third in DVOA on offense, fifth and passing, first in rushing. And this team is 12th, 14th in passing, fifth in rushing. So it's ranked lower in both passing and rushing, not only than the 2022 team, but than any of the teams

in the Syriani Heurz era, including 2021. Even 2021 was 11th in DVOA. series of 12. And there's a big reason for that, which is, I honestly, like, want to pose this question. Like, what is that reason? Oh, you just think it's Seqa? Isn't the big reason that the DVA is worse is because of the schedule? They've played all these very easy defenses. Yeah, yeah, okay, sorry, sorry. The DVOA being worse. Yes, we've talked about that before. Yeah, yeah. I thought you meant, like, if you believe in DVOA that this offense is actually worse, what are the reasons it's worse? That's a different question. Okay, okay. But yes, the schedule is a huge part of this.

This offense is going to finish the year. having played two games against teams that ended up in the top 10 in defense, Green Bay and Baltimore are going to finish on the top 10, it looks like. So there are two games. But 13 of the 17 games have been against bottom 13 defenses. And you didn't hear that wrong. Like 13 of the 17 games are against defenses ranked 20th or lower for the season by DVOA.

By a mile, the easiest slate of defenses space faced by any offense this year. And so even though in absolute numbers, this offense is pretty good, seventh by EPA per drive, seventh by points per drive, et cetera. Those DVOA numbers fall to that kind of like 12th, you know, part of the, part of the rankings. And I don't think you disagree that if I told you at the beginning of the year that the Eagles offense is 12th at DVOA, you would not think this is going to be a two-seed team or a team that has a chance that's considered a contender for the Super Bowl. Correct. For sure.

So that brings us to what are some of the differences between this team and. the 2022 team. I think the three biggest differences are two that we've already touched on. The run frequency is just much higher this year. And that's a stylistic difference, which is changing kind of the way a lot of the players are used. I think that I hope that we don't come on here. I hope we don't have to have a show after a playoff loss.

But if we do, one of my biggest worries is that we're going to be talking about, like, you know, they kind of did this all year and they did it again. They're running the ball a little too much on second and ten, you know, first and ten. those runs didn't work then you're up to some coin flip plays on on third down and then the passing game creativity just wasn't enough you know

um so that's a concern run frequency the opponents faced as the second one and the third one and we talked about this like maybe a month ago or so it still holds is the 2020 team was 68% touchdowns on the red zone that was third

in the league this year's team is 58% which is 14th and red zone can be a kind of random thing And you've pointed out that in recent weeks they're throwing the ball more in the red zone it's been promising to see. But that's making a difference in the bottom line of how many points they're scoring.

That makes sense. And I do, I mean, I don't know if it's just my mind playing tricks on me and like the highlights of 2022 pop up. But I felt better about the 2022 offense heading into the playoffs than I do this offense. That doesn't mean, you know, we'll see what happens. The flip side is,

I mean, I feel so much better about the defense now than I did then. Yes. The defense is just by a mile better, which we've kind of said now for a while. The defense is currently first in DVOA, which is crazy. I mean, again, we were on here like after week four talking about how they were 31st. And now they're first, third against the pass, first against the rush, comparing it to the 2022 Jonathan Gannon defense. That defense was also very high in DVOA. they were third, first against the past, mainly because of all those sacks,

19th against the run. And I would say that that's the biggest difference between that defense and this one, is that that defense relied on like splash plays like sacks that end of drives that way, whereas this one has just been so consistently good from down to down, you know, like so good at getting two third down, for example, right? Like one of my favorite stats. This defense is second at getting to third down. That defense was 11th.

and you could feel that in the stands in some games where it's just like, you know, man, like they're just not getting off the field. They were 24th in opponent, like, plays per drive. Okay. So, you know, whereas this defense is ninth, like, in those stats where it's like, how does it feel watching the team, this defense is so much less frustrating. Like there are more three and outs, there are shorter drives,

like consistent success from play to play. And I think it's very telling, and we'll talk about this more when we get into Crystal Bald Eagle as well, not a single cornerback has an interception. The team's like 11th or something in sacks, right? And yet, the defense is the best defense in the league, and we can all feel like we're watching a good defense

when we watch them. It's such a great example of why interceptions and sacks and things like that are splashy and easy to look up if you're lazy. But that's not the way that we should feel any concern about the way the defense has finished the season the last two weeks, you know, nine terms.

Turnovers is awesome, but on a success rate basis, they have not been as good. Yeah, I thought there were a couple of concerning things against Washington in the, in the, like the, you know, some of those deep balls. But I'm mostly with Fran that that it's not the kind of thing that you should worry about too much. Like maybe there's been a little bit of luck in some of those not getting completed before. You're going to have some completed at times. Eagles are still, I think, second in the league at the rate of deep passes that are incomplete against them. I think the Texans are like first by a lot. and then it's the Eagles

and then it's like a big gap to the third team. So like in terms of like passes that go deep getting completed, third and serious conversion rate which I think is a very stable stat and like I said, second and getting the third down,

that hasn't really changed that much in the last few weeks. And there were a couple of issues at the very beginning of the game against Dallas, just going through the film of that, but for the most part, it's, I think this defense is going to be ready.

So who do you take one game, 2022 versus 2024. That's such a good question. Wow. What's your perception of how big a difference there is in the way Jalen Hertz is playing? It's a good question. I think it kind of comes down to that. I mean, I also, this is another one where like I think our mind plays a little bit of tricks

because the best game he played was the last game he played, right? Yes, that Super Bowl game was unbelievable. He was injured going into those playoffs. It's kind of similar to this year where he was like, practicing practice and right and there was yeah there was some trepidation about what he might look like I felt I felt better about him then than I do now I think I think um yeah also because it felt like the offense trusted him more than it does now um so I don't know you think that makes that makes you lean 22 his numbers are so similar between the two years like and and and I always have to

figure out how much of it is just my memory you know memory of the of the Super Bowl versus, you know, everything else. I don't think the perception in 2022 was like Jalen Hertz is going to be the main reason the Eagles win the Super Bowl. I don't think it was. Maybe it was. I would go 2024 because of the defense because of the defense. I just, I was, you know how I felt about that defense at the time going into the playoffs. Yeah.

I said it before the playoffs. I'm like very scared. But I'm not. I feel about this offense. I think this offense has a lot of potential and it should be better than that offense. It's the same offense except with a better with a better, with a. better running back you like yes you don't have Kelsey but cam Juergens is probably deservingly going to the Pro Bowl that's not a major downgrade right McIbeckton has been good enough that you can't point to him and say like he's such a

big downgrade over Isaac Siamalu that this offense is worse like that just hasn't been the case right and so what's the difference I mean we'll talk about Dallas Goddard's impact and how Dallas Goddard has missed about half this season and maybe that's a that's gonna be a big difference we'll see when if he comes back and if he comes back But I just think that because of Sequin Barclay, if the Eagles win the Super Bowl, it will be your least enjoyable Eagle Super Bowl. I continue to not understand why you think I don't like Sequin Barclay. I just think that I just, all I'm saying is that this often, maybe it comes down to the thing.

I just told you where the 22 Eagles ranked in EPA per rush and in DVOA in rushing. first and both with Miles Sanders and Kenning Gaynewell. So I think the thing with Saquan Barkley that I kind of, as a fan of the team, and I think most Eagles fans should feel this way, I don't think there's anything wrong with saying that Saquan has benefited more from this relationship than the Eagles' stuff.

And you look at Seikwan's career before this, and you look at how the Eagles were doing in the same division as Saekwon in the years before this, and then you look at how they're doing now together, this is a kind of normal season for the Eagles winning a lot of games going to the playoffs, pretty normal. For Sequin, this is a very unusual year. And there's a reason for that.

There you have it. That's why you, Seacquan-Barkley, should not be proud of this season that you have had back with more after this. I think he made a great choice. He came to the right team. We got a little situation going on at the house where the water is not hot enough. I keep turning up the water heater a little bit

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Visit Rothmanortho.com slash p.h-h-o-y to learn more and make an appointment today. And thanks to some television magic, we are joined by the 1010. teleported Zach Berman. Zach, how you doing? Doing great.

Excited to be here. Excited to see Professor Selman. And yeah, looking forward to the show. Sorry, I missed the first 20 minutes or so. I was in the Eagles locker room. Talking to a number of different people from Jack Driscoll to Milton Williams to Lane Johnson. To you go on around that room. I spoke to a lot of guys today.

So I'm always good catching up. Friday is an important day for that. Are there more guys available than normal because they're not. going to be playing and that kind of thing? No, there's fewer guys. Oh, fewer. Yeah, players are out of there quickly. But by Friday, a lot of the heavy scrums have dissipated unless A.J. Brown or Devante

Smith is still there. So you're able to get meaningful conversations with a number of players. What did Jack Triscoll have to say? It's for a story I'm working on. I have a few different things brewing. So I've got to wait on that. Any relation to Patrick Triscoll? I did not ask him that

Driscoll is a fairly common last name So says you So says me I would imagine It's how many Driscolls do you know Two Yeah I was just gonna say I think Jack Driscoll and Patrick Driscoll

Driscoll might be the only two Driscoll I know more Triscoll Actually know James Driscoll Former professional golfer I don't know golf that well But yeah Driscoll I don't think Driscoll's abnormal An abnormal name

Well there's a difference between very popular and abnormal. There's a lot of room in between those two things. We're going to fixate on the semantics again? Okay. I will defer it. What are the important things that you learned from the locker? Honestly, there wasn't much learned from the locker today.

You just told us how important. No, from the purpose of talking on the show. The stuff I was working on was little details for different stories I have going on. It wasn't necessarily this hot button issue to come in. in here and I was wondering about that mic placement yeah lead the show with um Tanner McKee drew a crowd Tanner McKee is ready for this weekend I uh both you and I spoke to Tanner on Wednesday you were gonna see a lot of Tanner McKee you might see a little bit of Ian book I don't think that will be the plan though you'll see Tanner McKee

at practice today g Allen Hertz was not out there neither was was was Kenny Pickett a J Brown Devante Smith were not on the practice field Saquan Barkley was on the practice field. The quarterback situation, I did not hear the first 20 minutes of the show today. We were waiting for you. Yeah, so, Gione Hertz has not practiced in two weeks. He's still in the concussion protocol.

Nick Siriani says he's progressing through the concussion, or he's progressing in the concussion protocol. Nick Siriani would not say what stage he is at in the concussion protocol. He would need to be in stage four in order to have a, what we would consider a practice. In stage three, he could have 30 minutes of practice. Now, I don't think you need to practice to be in stage four. You need to practice for stage five.

You need to have a full practice and then get cleared. But whether he's at stage three, whether he's at stage four, this is taking longer than I anticipated. Now, I say that not being a doctor. And I say that also with the understanding that they can and should slow play this. But I did think we would see him on the practice field by this point. So is your understanding that there is connection between he has not been cleared yet and the Eagles wouldn't plan to play him this week anyway?

Yeah, there is, but this is the one variable here is that on the, so Wednesday they had to walk through. They give an estimation for that. The estimation would be what it would, how it would be relative to what it typically would be. So by virtue of there being an estimation, it would mean if he was able to be limited in practice, they would need to list him as limited in practice. So that's, that's the, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, you know, it's, it's, you know, it's, it's, you know, it's, you know, it's, like Rick Berkeholder said, and I say this line all the time on the show, you see one concussion, you see what you've seen one concussion. That said, yeah, they are a week in two days or a week in a day from a postseason game, and he has not been on the practice field yet. I still expect Jaylen Hertz to be on the practice field,

whether it's Tuesday, if they have a Saturday game or Wednesday, if they have a Sunday game. But, I mean, my antenna is up for sure. I'm sure you wish the Eagles still let the trainer do press conferences, the way they let Rick Berkholder do press conferences. You know, it's like you were on the field with myself and a few other reporters today talking about that. We were reminiscing about the Rick Berkholder day. Does Andy still do that?

Does he have his trainer do press conferences still? I would be surprised. Yeah. I think Andy's kind of pulled back a little bit more since he left. But those were, I mean, we all talk about. That was great. As a fan, that was great. I remember thinking like, yeah, you don't have to wonder, like the trainer's just telling you.

Yeah, the concussion. I remember when Michael Vic had a concussion in 2012, Burkwater literally took you through every stage of the protocol that he was at when Todd Harriman's heard his first. foot, he brought a, I was about to say a cadaver, not a cadaver, a model of a foot. Okay. He brought a model of a foot and showing the specific bone that broke. So, yeah, I do miss those Rick Perk older days.

Now, speaking of the pedantics, good job that you didn't just say a foot model, because that would be something different. A foot model would be different than a model of a foot. Correct. That is true. Now, one thing you mentioned there, I want to get Dennis' take on, because obviously you have done. this work day,

is what do you think is the likelihood that the Eagles will be playing on Saturday versus Sunday in the playoffs? Yeah, I think it'll be Sunday. Now, when we look at the

playoff scenarios right now, first in terms of the Eagles opponent, if you go by the money lines, Washington has a 31% chance of losing to Dallas, and Green Bay has a 79% chance of winning against Chicago.

Both of those things would have to happen for it to be Washington and not Green Bay coming in here. So when you do the quick math on that, there's a slightly over 75% chance it'll be Green Bay and slightly below 25% chance that it'll be it'll be Washington now independent of that when you talk about what day the game will likely be my guess is that the Saturday games will both be aFC games

and the reason that I'm saying that is because this is the fourth year now of this format where there's a game on Monday night the first three years it's been the NFC 4 or 5 game and with that game being the only one on ESPN it's very likely that ESPN's going to tell the league, like we don't want the Houston Texans in that game, right? And so it'll likely be the NFC 4-5 game again. That would then feature the loser of the Vikings and the Lions.

Which would be the South versus the North, presumably? The second place in the North first, the first place in the NFC South? Yes. In terms of the 4th seed? Well, no, McVeigh is resting everybody. And so it's more likely that the Rams are the 4th seed because he's decided he's going to rest everybody

in the game against Seattle. Now, that doesn't mean they're going to lose, but the money line on that is that they are going to lose. And so it's more likely for the Rams to be the four seed than for the winner of, because Tampa Bay is expected to win, Tampa Bay can still get the three seed. So that's a good matchup then. That's the matchup ESPN.

Yeah, like Vikings Rams or Lions Rams, right. Exactly. And so what they've done. That's turned into a bit of a rivalry. Right. So what they've done in two of the last three years is they've had both Saturday games be AFC. So 2022 wasn't like that, but 21 and 23 it was.

And I'm guessing it'll be that way again. If I had to predict, it would be the Texans will lead it off in that 4.30 Saturday game. And then Saturday night, it's like every year. I feel like Bengals Tech. It was Bengals Texans like six years in a row. I watched Andy Dalton every year. They always lost too. Yes, yeah, exactly.

It's like Marvin Lewis once upon a time. I think they lost five. I think they lost five straight wild card games. Not all to the Texans, but like three of them were to the Texans. But it was always that. time slide. Yeah, yeah. And then Saturday night is the Amazon Prime game. The only thing I don't know about that is

does Amazon Prime have like a high pecking order in choosing the game? Because then the Eagles could be in that game, right? That's the only thing I'm thinking. I'm guessing that'll be the Harbaugh Bowl instead. Oh. Okay. And then Sunday I would guess they'll start with the bills at 1 o'clock and then

the whatever the 6-3 game is in the NFC followed by the Eagles. Now, it would make... So my guess, and it's just a guess, is that it'll be Sunday night. Correct me if I'm wrong here, but it makes scheduling sense for them to have the NFC games on Sunday, if the NFC games Monday. So you don't have a two-day advantage over the winter of Monday night. Exactly.

Okay. Exactly. Right. What's more appealing from a fan perspective? Which time slots the best? As far as going to the game? Yeah. I don't really care that much about that.

I mean, it's more likely to be freezing cold at night. But I kind of wish it were Saturday just because the team's already getting rest this week. And so you'd have an extra day of rest for the next week. There's a chance that it could be a Sunday to Saturday turnaround. Oh, that's a good point. And that wouldn't be something they could control because the winner of the 4-5 game has to play on Sunday.

And they've never done two AFC games on one day and two NFC games on one day in the divisional round. They've never done it. I actually went back and looked at every single season. They've never done that. don't do that. They always split it. It used to be because of the networks, like, were predetermined. And so they didn't want the networks to have a double header, you know. And so my guess is that we won't know when the Eagles, like, divisional round, I mean, we're not

going to know anyway, but like, it'll depend on who wins the three-six game, basically. So assuming the Eagles win, if the three-seed wins that game, then the Eagles game will have to be on Saturday, right? Like, because the four-five against one game would have to be on Sunday. So just don't A little look ahead. Yeah. I would rather have Saturday for the extra rest. I just don't think it's going to happen. Just based on the way of they've done it the last few years,

I'm planning on thinking about it being Sunday night. Zach, where do you land on 2022 versus 2024, which Eagles seems better? Well, that has to get to be written because the postseason has much better. What's the expression? History is kind for I intend to write it.

I would say that the 2020, 24 team I would give them the edge because the defense has been better all year. Like I said yesterday, the chance that I understand we shouldn't judge it based on total yards or points. But if you finish number one in yards and points, that's a sign of a outstanding defense. Well, they're also number one in DVOA. Yeah. So you don't have to like whether you're a nerd or not like yeah, yeah, whether you're a nerd or

you're just counting yards. Sure. This is the best defense. Uh, and then you then obviously the presence of Sequin. I think Janwin was playing at a higher level in 2022 than he is this year and can quarterback's the most important. But again, that has that has yet to be written. Okay.

I also think the conference is much tougher this year. And that's the part of this that you have to consider. I mean, like I say all along, you know, you can only play who's on your schedule, right? But the Eagles had, you know, the Giants and then the Niners. Yeah. at home. And this year, the Eagles could, if they face the Packers, that's a legit Super Bowl contender that you're seeing in the opening round.

We'll see who it is in the second round. And then there's going to be two 14, you know, game winners, basically. Yeah. So this is interesting. Yeah, on this topic, I mean, there's probably going to be a week of Packers preview shows next week. But just to get a head start on that in case it happens, the Packers are one of four teams ranked above the Eagles. is an overall DVOA.

They're actually fourth and overall DVOA. They're fourth on offense and fifth on defense. In DVA, they're the only team with a top five offense and a top five defense. They have five losses this year. Every single one of them is to a team with 13 wins or more. They lost to the Vikings twice, the Lions twice, and the Eagles. And so when you look at their losses,

now they don't have like the great quality win. So they lost all five of those games, but they haven't lost to anyone else. And so when you look at the path, possibly being through the NFC, North, I was looking just at those three teams, the Vikings, the lions, and the Packers, they are a combined 34 and 4 this season. Wow.

In games, not against each other. I mean, obviously, they play each other a bunch because they're in the same division, but that's it. Like, those are the only losses. They only have four losses. One of them is to the Eagles. And the Eagles might have to beat all three of them to get to the Super Bowl. So the Eagles, if that happens, the Eagles would have beaten those teams four times.

And the rest of the league combined would have beaten them three times. that would be pretty cool but I mean it's it's a much much tougher path than 2022 for sure Zach what's your sense and then 2017 by the way when it was the Falcons and case Keenham that's true I mean yeah that's true um although I think we can make it maybe that Vikings team there's some there is some potential uh similarity between that one and this one I think yeah a quarterback that doesn't immediately scare you and all that kind of stuff Yeah, but, but, yeah, and the defense is the main thing about it. They are similar.

Interesting. Yeah. From the locker room, Zach, today and yesterday, I'm just, what's your, like, what's your sense of how much they care about this game on Sunday? Like, what's the, what's the vibe in the locker room heading into Sunday? Yeah. Look, it's, it's very clearly the regular season version of the final preseason game. I think pack, I think backups are really excited for this game.

Like, we talked about Tanner McKee. This is a huge opportunity for Tanner McKee. There are a number of players on that team who this is showcase games for them. This is a chance to get some meaningful film or film that they haven't typically gotten. I think for Nick Chiriani probably selfishly, he would probably want to have two 14 win seasons on his on his resume, right? That's pretty the two best seasons. Now, I understand it's in a 17 game season, but the two highest win totals in franchise. history would be his

coaching, you know, I would imagine even if they lose in the first round, it's hard to move on from a 14 game, a 14 win coach, right? Maybe I'm wrong, we'll see. But yeah, I imagine Nick wants to imagine Nick wants to win this. But it is

a laid back, like it's a locker room that knows this. And just from reading the Giants reports this week, it seems like the Giants aren't like gutts. like gung-ho about making this their Super Bowl either, you know. For organizationally, you would think they want to lose. As far as season finale games, this is not quite the 2007 Giants Patriots, right?

Like, this isn't, you're not going to see the most valiant performance ever here. But you spoke about the locker. I did a lot of Pro Bowl reporting yesterday. Okay. You know, speaking to all those guys, Landon Dickerson says he hopes he doesn't play in the game. he also said they're not a game or in the event okay like the tug of war yeah well so we'll get to that in a bit um yeah landin because because landin called the for words i don't want to use on on the air he was ripping the process that doesn't

get jordan myelada elected now jordan you didn't want to use the words on the air when you did curse today during nixirani's press conference yeah but i was quoting him just saying you love to work blue i was quote i was quote i I was quoting him. I was actually debating in the car today. I was saying, because I asked. Do you want to tell the audience what you're saying?

Yeah. Can I say the word on here? Zach allowed. It's the S word? It's MF. No, it's the S word. It's the S word. Yeah.

Okay. Yeah. Nick has been saying in all his post game, like his post game speeches throughout the year. He's been saying, you can say stuff. Okay. He wants to do. He says,

we want to do special stuff. But he's been saying this every... But he's saying S-H-I-T instead of stuff. Every game. And so I wanted to ask him kind of what the backstory is for this because it's... I mean, look, it's not like the most creative expression in the world, but I want to know why he, like, settled on this. Like, what's the rationale behind this? He was thinking about the Jalen Hertz quote from a couple years ago.

There you go. You want to tell people with that quote? You take it with dues? What are you going to do? Flush it. Yeah. So I was thinking in the... the car today because I wanted to ask the background

to this. What I say to him, you know, I apologize for my son's listening to this, but I'm quoting you, special beep. But you didn't apologize to your son. Well, that's what I was off the record. No, I didn't. You didn't.

Oh, yeah, no, I didn't. No, because I didn't want to make the question about me. I just wanted to direct, I just wanted to directly quote him. I just, I can't remember a press conference question being, using such colorful language. Okay. Okay.

So Landon Dickerson said, I don't know how the voting beep works or whatever. That's probably the most rigged flaw beep in the world because I think that's the best left tackle in the league right now. Now, Jordan said that it's not something that he's like he's overly prioritizing. He thinks he's been better this year than he thinks he's on the right path. He told his teammates not to pity him. I did ask him about the conversation point that we had on the show yesterday. There's only three left tackles, right?

And this is three tackles. And this is an outstanding class. And he said, I'm going to quote him here, if there will be more offensive tackles, what are we going to do? It's not like we're playing a game. It's not like we're put there for the flag portion. What are we going to do? More tug-of-war? He said, let's be real.

If there are more tackles, what's the point? Let the skill guys have it. Now, Zach Vaughn. Interesting. yeah Zach uh Zach back actually he had an

incentive in his contract for the pro bowl that he kind of like laughed at when he was in there right he was like all right this is never gonna happen

so this is this kind of like found money for Zach Bond texting the agent on the side like hey put this in for your boy well speaking of do you know how much it was I'll find that out $45 million dollars

I will find that out for you though um I can easily get that uh when when Vic found out bond was making it you know what he said to he you know what he said to

Who said to who? Zach? What if Vic said to Zach? What if you said to Zach, no. Vic said, remember in the spring when you asked me about, I'm sorry, he said, in this spring you asked me about getting those outside linebacker reps, right? Like Vic was like poking fun at him for wanting to be on the edge. Yeah, Jordan Carter was like emotional about it.

He said when his mother called or when he called his mom, that's when it really sunk in. Like she was like overtaken with joy. That's great. It meant a lot to him. that he's there with Dexter Lawrence and Vita Vaya. I did not speak to Lane Johnson about it yesterday, and I did not speak to Sequin about it yesterday. Danes, here's my Lynn Johnson question for it.

Oh, and Cam, by the way, real quick. Cam said, Cam was like, yeah, I had a great, you know, I played well, I earned this. He's like, you guys were asking me about. I love the confidence from, I watched the video that. He's like, he's like, I watched the other centers on film. Like, I'm better than that. Yeah.

And it's like every day this all season, you guys are asking about Jason Kelsey, every single day. He's like, and then the season started and I played well, and you never asked me about that. So it was kind of his chance to say I told you so. That's fair. All right. I have an interesting Lane Johnson question to pose after these words from our sponsor. Bet three, six, five. Do you think they changed the name to Bet three, six, six during leap years?

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Again, create an account, redeemed code P-H-O-I for $20 off. Download game time today. Last minute tickets, lowest price, guaranteed. And then download game time today. What time is it? Game time. Quickly, some super chats to get to. We have one from Dang who says,

have we considered kangaroo tails on Jalen Carter? Good question. That's yours. You're the tail guy. You know it. I think that would be fun. Now, is he talking like a, are we talking like a tuxedo thing? Is that what he's going for?

Or like, that's a penguin suit. Because kangar, the tails, the plural is confusing me. Remind me to send it to you, Shalany, uh, input the question, like, what would tail, how would, like, how outfits change if humans had tails to chat GPT? And it gave a very long answer that was very entertaining, talking about how you have to accentuate the tail with like, you know, low cut, you know, low cut backs. and things like that. You're missing me with this AI. Oh, I've never used chat GPT in my life. I'm just telling you that, yeah.

Chase Daniel Plainview says, if the Dolphins don't make the playoffs, can Jack Stoll rejoin the birds for the playoff run? I am his agent and I don't know the rules. Please help. He cannot, unless he's released. They would have to release him, I think, before the regular season finale.

Unfortunately for the Eagles. Okay, here's my question for you. Dana is. Who you got? Lane Johnson or Jason Peters. I can have one of them on the roster at their prime. Yeah, who's a better eagle? Who's a better, you know?

Who's more likely, who more deserves to go to the Hall of Fame? Who's the better player? I'm not a big Hall of Fame debate person because. Now, of course, we're doing, we're thieving some joy here because both of these guys deserve to be celebrated. I was just going to say, like, I don't think like the Hall of Fame is an area that I'm like an expert in because some of the people in there are weird to me and some of the people not in there are weird to me. Especially the guy running it. Well, the guy right. Yeah, the guy.

It's more it's less about. If we can get the accent out of this conversation, then it's less. It's truly less to me about who is actually better and more about. I surprised myself thinking because Jason Peters holds such a. Yeah. Like such a place in my mind of like the best players I've ever covered. And like I can't imagine there's ever been a better left. tackle than he was and now that Lane's been doing it for so long and as good as he is maybe he is better I don't know with these two guys in terms of Hall of Fame I mean they should just shut it down if both of them aren't in right but I think my memory as a fan of the two players it will probably be it's hard to say I have like a I have like a the shirt that all the guys were wearing of Jason Peters like like I bought that I like have that shirt and it's one of the few

items of clothing that I own that's like about a player like I'm not really I've never owned a player jersey for example this kind of goes back to the sake one record versus the team resting thing like I'm just like Fran brought this up yesterday as well like I've always been like I'm a fan of the team not the player because I think your heart can get broken when you're a fan of a player and then they go play for your a team you hate you know what I mean yeah yeah exactly and then you just kind of like you believe that the laundry matters right like like like like and that's that it's like the suspension of disbelief as a fan having said all that I think my memory of lane will be a little bit more

positive than JP maybe maybe because some of that nonsense at the end like the coming back and like demanding to play yeah like stuff like that I don't know I feel like I've because Lane's also spoken to the media a lot more than JP did

like in terms of like I feel like I've heard him talk a lot and I've and I usually enjoy listening to him talk about things I think my memory of him will be a little bit fonder in terms of who's a better player really hard to say and they're both so good

they were both so so good you know I think I think I might frame it like I think that Lane at this point has maybe had the better career even though JP's like

like the longevity is insane and it's crazy to say this about Lane Johnson who like was the best testing tackle like ever I think that Jason Peters was more of an alien in like the things that he could do

I think Lane is like, I mean, he's unbelievable. And like that 2017 season when he shut down everybody and like the amount that he allows them to do on offense because he can just be kept on an island against the best pass rushers ever and lock him down. But I feel like JP was in his time, at least, when he became a superstar, was a little bit more rare of a player.

I don't know. No, that might be right. And it's so hard, it's so hard for me to trust my name. myself in comparing something that's like present versus something that's in the past. Like as I'm getting older, I've like I've learned to understand that I don't have a great memory of things that were like 10 years ago. So like I'm probably forgetting some of the awesome stuff JP did. Chat seems leaning Lane and I think it seems like maybe the one of the sentiments is

JP better player Lane better Eagle is interesting. Yeah and Fran agrees with that. Yeah, maybe that's kind of what I was getting at with like some of the stuff at the end and like you know Lane has always seemed to be someone who cared a lot about team success and not that jp didn't but hopefully we'll be making a jpbg comparison when bg's holding the lombardi on the on the flight back uh there you go yeah i think as yeah i would watch out for brandy graham playing this year again if it was uh really wow yeah he hasn't ruled it out on his on his on his radio show and stuff he hasn't ruled it out they ask him every week and

every week he like yeah it's just just something to keep in mind okay because i've been talking to people It feels like something It would have to be the Super Bowl, right? Maybe not. We'll see. We'll see. No, no, no, no. Zach, Zach,

come on, Zach. No, no, no, no. This is exciting. No, I don't know this. He's been watching Bryce up go out there. I would just say, can't last two plays without breaking his wrist or whatever. It's a moot point right now.

If they, yeah, if they win, you know, two games, we'll start having that conversation. maybe maybe three games but oh well yeah it's it's oh the people are getting riled up no no no that would be so that would be so excited like that would be awesome look and again he hasn't rolled it out that's what I'm saying yeah he has not really so it could just be brandy Graham optimism but I think it's it's what did he do what did he tore his peck is that what was what was his injury tri-set tri-ststreise the running back for the the Rams blocked him really hard yeah fired Williams I blocked them really hard yeah

I want to turn off your sound yeah I'm sorry about that Zach that's actually you had been kicked out of my class it's an amazing it's an amazing podcast so it's it just took some chukapata yeah wow um he is he's awesome got nothing bad um I mean if you're gonna say it then well then I'll say it they're texting about you saying that you got the notification while driving that's the guy who has the toilet etiquette bod right on Friday on Fridays to answer your question Zach Bonn $500,000

$500,000 that's the incentive okay and what was the salary for the year I think it was up to four and a half or okay so it's a big chunk of percentage wise to and the up to includes like when you talk about the up to so it's like for instance Josh Sweat has escalating performance incentives that includes

you know 10 sacks he hit the eight sacks incentive which I believe was 500K and then I hate talking about this stuff, but like if you, you know, the next one 10 might be two X 500K, right? Why do you hate talking about this? Why do I? Because it's like, I don't like talking about someone else's money, basically, but I understand for the context of this conversation. Yeah, but it's what they're, it's clearly part of your job.

Yeah, exactly. Yeah. So, so, yeah, so I'm curious to see if, I'll try to find out. I don't know if I can if the Eagles are taken care of. Now, because the Josh Sweat thing, it's like, you don't know if he's going to get that. If there's like a playing time incentive, then that's one thing. But he would have to have a really good game to hit 10 sacks this year. That said, it's a lot of money.

One question that Jamie asked me this morning, as he was hosting the Anthony Gargana show, is like, you know, obviously as you think about who is interesting in this game on Sunday, like McKee is obvious. I do think that the linebackers are maybe the most interesting to me, because that's the one where in the playoffs, one injury to either of those two guys, one of those guys is going to be playing, whereas at the other positions where guys are playing,

it's probably not really the case. I mean, we know what Isaiah Rogers has shown this year. Getting Jeremiah Charter Jr. or Orrin Berks, those snaps is probably more impactful. Do you think it would factor in team? Steen would be the one other guy who's like that.

Right, but Steen's first guy in. Yeah, he's got, you know, that's true. You know, if Jeremiah Charter Jr. has a great game in like getting to finally play, then he probably is going to be the next guy up. Do you think Tristan, McCollum or Sidney Brown but have a chance

Cindy Brown is the other interesting one have a chance at being promoted to first safety in over Avanti Maddox as it is now based on how they play in this game I don't think that McCollum can because he's kind of lost it already I think the Sydney Brown reticence

from Vic Van Joe is like he hasn't had a chance to really see him play in practice I think that's part of it and so if he has an actual good game I think he could potentially leapfrog Matt I was very surprised that it was Maddox. Yeah. Like,

like, like, like I saw Maddox on the field and I was like, really? Like, that's,

that's shocking. That, like, like, it's not that shocking that Tristan McCollum didn't. Right.

Get that, but that, that's Sydney Brown still not the next guy. And it is, it is, you know, it's not great for Sydney Brown

that that happened. I mean, Sydney didn't practice all summer for fit. By the way, if you're watching on, on fast, to make sure that you check out the all pagely. com for the rest of this episode.

Good work. you didn't even need any prompting that was that was well done but I I mean far be it for me to delete us astray what's what's that drink you have there it's a coffee with uh what's the purple grimace well and and what is that for the initiated grimace the McDonald's uh mascot yeah grind them up into a bowl it just grated some of his

fur into there it's ube hmm uh What is Ube? Well, tell you what, the podcast host you mentioned before. Now, personally, I think that Sheila is more than just his job. I think he's a human being with many facets. But when we went to, we were all there at Cafe Lift together, he got that. Oh, yeah. They sold him on the coffee with Ube.

Yes. And I sampled it. And I quite enjoyed it. So every now and then, I'll treat myself to a little, little Ube foam on the ice coffee. Oh, okay. I'll give that shot one there. Yeah. It's good?

It's sweet? It's not super sweet. It's a little bit sweet. Health benefits to that? I believe so. You sold me then. All I have to do is say health benefits in your soul. Yes.

Easy sell. What were we talking about? I don't know. You're the one who let us distract. I was going to ask, since Dallas got her. Yeah, let's talk Goddard. Well, no, no. I was actually going to.

I was going to ask if you want to say, tease that for next week, since he'll actually be coming back next week. Yeah. And talk about Crystal Bald Eagle nonsense now. Okay, that's fine. And he's going to play next one. We're not going to know that I did some opo research here. Are you going to lose that pad there?

I mean, almost definitely. Okay. But I will just, just. By the way, I've come very scared. So you guys have like an interactive platform on which you can write your, you can submit your articles. And that's where you actually type the article. Thank you.

That sounds insane to me. Thank you. Do you not have, uh, some other trusted way there are listen to me if it is a if it's like an article that I am like really crafting and I need to go through transcripts and I'm I'm you know figuring out exactly the structure and I'm

okay to like perfect it I will write it and I need to like look at transcripts and then have a separate window for the one that I'm working on yeah I'll use Google Docs okay but oftentimes if it's if it's for instance like a Wolfstead and I'm just transcribing right into WordPress yeah I will do it in WordPress It auto saves. It's not that dangerous. But someone can,

because someone could read it. Well, yeah. I got to like lock it up now. I mean, come on. I have so many thoughts on this. I don't want to get into it. Well, let's get back into it.

Because, I mean, if you have thoughts on it. No, no, no. Let's talk about that. I remain violated. So just a quick tease. Dallas gutter is coming back. Don't you feel that way? Please, if you're writing,

I think he's going to. No, no, let's not. Let's not talk about that. I know Fran really wanted to. hear the Dallas gutter thing as well. I think let's do it justice. Let's save it for next week. How dare you, Fran? That's not what I'm saying at all. Let's save it for next week. And I like to write in WordPress. It's a little bit dangerous. It makes me, it makes me feel alive. Wow. I don't, see, I'm trying to think of an analogy in my job that would be similar

to this and I can't even think of one. So where something's like just like shared space. I'm a freewheeling personality, baby. Type in straight into there. Can it like get lost or Not really or something? Okay. All those saves like every 15 seconds. Zach almost deleted it. Go ahead. Well, now that, yeah, I had never in my life considered the possibility that someone might just delete my work.

Well, I didn't know it was your work. It would. Anytime you click, but the things that you're saying, you can see who created it and you can see when it was created. So the idea that you might then just go in and delete it is baffling. I you're gonna trigger me and I don't want to say anything that that is not nice

so I'm not gonna Fran is pointing out Fran is pointing out how funny it is that that's what makes you feel a lot something not nice about me and then they're not want to say it no no no no no look I won't

I should not have looked at it I can understand I didn't realize what it was yeah I didn't read through it well you did because you said you compared no at the top of it I wanted I saw something

in there. To be honest, like I, I'm in there every single day. I know what it looks like. I know what stories are going up. So, yeah, yeah, I mean, yeah, this was abnormal to see something else in there. So I just wanted, oh, is this a mistake? Was this meant to be in there? That's, that's, that's, that's what you're seeing. And I saw that, I saw, I opened it. I saw there was no, there was no headline. I saw the warning at the top, which is since no one else is going to write it. I'm like, huh? And then I saw the first paragraph about Sequin and said, oh, I see what he's doing here. And then I clicked out of it.

I knew I was going to regret bringing this up. Yeah, honestly, we have arrived at that point. It would be like, yeah, I'm not going to say anything mean. Crystal Bald Eagle? You can't say it. It's not a nice thing to do to say I'm not going to say anything mean and then not say it. No, it would be like if if you're, um, Um, let me think of a, uh, uh, if, if a roommate that you lived with for a long time, like, moved out of the house or, or moved out of the apartment and came back one day. I was just hanging out on the couch and had the TV on and you're like, oh, what are you in? And you're like, what do you want? This is odd. What are you watching? And the person's like, how dare you ask me that? Like, this is a, yeah, I haven't seen you. So you think I don't live here anymore?

No, I really don't understand. I haven't seen you on that couch. I haven't seen you on that couch. So when you walk into the apartment and you see someone, you're just like, oh, my roommate's back on the couch. This is interesting. Okay. That's kind of what it was like.

That's a nice way of framing. Right? Oh, that's a nice way for me. Yeah. Yeah. It's like you moved on to bigger, you know, you started dating the girl. You've been staying in her place for a while. But now you came back to get your stuff and you're laying on the

couch and it's like, I walked into our apartment and you're back on the couch after a few months. And it's like... I mean, I understand what you're saying. I understand what you're saying. There are some holes in the analogy, obviously. Some holes. Jack in the chat asks if I got a new bike. I actually have an update on bike gate.

So yes, I did get a new bike. Wouldn't you feel... At the last game, I asked some of the security people about it. And they told me that the cops did a sweep of bikes and that they took my bike. And they were adamant that this was the case. So I have not called to confirm that this is true. But they don't have a place to go. I'd have to call that district.

Yeah, yeah. And you haven't done that? Yeah, no, I was too lazy to do it. It was like, yeah, I should do it. I did get a new bike. So. But as a writer, though. Yeah.

From the other side of it. Yeah. Would you feel some kind of way if somebody was reading and judging your work in progress before it was ready to publish before you would send it? Oh, for sure. But number one, I wasn't reading your work. Like, I wasn't judging your works to use that verb. And number two, I write if someone hacked into my Google Docs and was reading myself. Aside from the WordPress of it all.

In the violation as a writer, would you feel that? if you left up your laptop and you were mid-story and you had the window open and I just sat down and read it would you feel I mean aside from me just looking at your laptop yeah I mean I would be like if and then you offered all these notes on and I'd like why were you reading my rough draft yeah it's like the example I've used about training camp practice I don't put my rough drafts out there right but again this was this wasn't an evaluation this was housekeeping this was seeing something in there and it was like oh what's what's what is that because it's like you don't want a thing full of drafts, right? So I didn't know what the draft was. But then you then commented that it was missing the thing. I'm happy to see that the chat cares about my bike and also has the correct view of the police. Well, you don't care about it enough to even see if they still haven't. I just think it's hopeless because I don't trust the cops to do anything.

They did this once for the Philadelphia Marathon. They moved my car. And it was, I just had to walk a couple blocks and there was. Crystal Ball Deagle items Go find it but yeah Are we doing Yeah let's do Crystal Bald Eagle All right

Crystal Bald Eagle There were 15 submissions I ranked them from most likely To least likely Yeah and you did a terrible job Go ahead The first one was by Bo

and it was that Vic Fangio throws the offense Under the bus and oppressor with the added note that Julia decides whether this happened. So Julia, since this was your task for the season, and you must have watched all the fange oppressors,

what do you think this happened this year? I actually don't think it did. Honestly, it did not, although he did once throw the special teams. Yes. Okay, yeah. And the reason that came up, the reason it was first,

and what I said at the time, is that he had just basically done it. He had said like, well, we're not ready for Green Bay's under center play action game because our offense never does that. I did think it was. And so we're not quite ready for it to happen. And by the way, that never changed. Like Eagles are 30th in the league at running under center play action. But yeah, it never really came up again.

All right. So that's a miss. Number two. Eagles finish in the top 15 in motion. This was submitted by Fran. Eagles were dead last in motion the year before. But Kellyn Morris Chargers were fifth. And so Fran reasonably thought.

that the Eagles would finish in the top 15. I said that Kellynne Moore understands that he's here to make the offense more modern. And number one proxy for that modernity might be motion. He seems like a smart guy. And surely he's going to not let the offense's motion rate be anywhere, but in the top 10 or so in the league. So top 15 seems very likely to me.

Boy, was I wrong. The Eagles 53% motion ranks 24th. No chance of moving up to the top 15. So that's a mess. And I was with Fran on that one. I really thought it was likely, but it did not happen. The third one, the Eagles don't have any player reach double-digit sacks. This was submitted by Zach.

And I said at the time that it was pretty likely because until the last two seasons, six of the previous seven seasons, this would have been a hit. And Josh Sweat is the sack leader with eight. By the way, Josh Sweat is now up to eighth on the all-time Eagles list for sacks. And I know this because I noted in the preseason that if he got five, he'd move up. from 11th to 8th and he's he's done that so a player so BG's third now and just what is his 8th

he's a good player Nolan Smith has six and a half I don't think either of those guys is going to play at all in this game so I don't think Nolan Smith's gonna play no they they rested him yesterday he's been like the top defensive end snap getter the last few weeks what's your guess for the game we played yesterday inactive aside who do you think will be the elevation

and the oh yeah I was trying to play along but then I just think KJ yeah oh really KJ Henry over Chuck Harris. Or actually, no, maybe Chuck Harris. I don't know.

I don't think Grand Calcuttaire is going to play at all. Right. And so E.J. Jenkins is the only tight end. So there has to be some sort of tight end move. And there is no other tight end to move up.

So maybe Carrey Blasengame as like a promotion. To the roster. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Which would be weird. I don't.

I mean, they just played Johnny Wilson. They just use a sixth. They could just use a sixth offensive linemen a lot. Yeah. or Johnny Wilson inside. Or Johnny Wilson, that's a good point. Yeah, so maybe, yeah, I don't know.

I was mostly with the ones you guys said. I mean, I don't think Kenny Pickett emergency quarterback probably. It doesn't really matter who's inactive and who's just kind of on the side. Right, right. But, yeah, I don't know. Defensive line is the place you look because they rotate there. Yes. Where if you don't want Jordan Davis to play at all,

and you don't want any of the four top. snap getters there to play at all, you need to elevate somebody. Because otherwise it's just Huff, whose wrist is going to fall off after two snaps. Right. Ojima, Jalick's Hahn, and Booker. Yes. Right. So they'd have to elevate like one of the defensive.

Yeah, either Gabe Hall or probably be Chuck Harris, right? Just because they figure he's the next guy, yeah. When Huff's wrist falls off in the first quarter of the first game, like who's going to be the guy who plays? You know what, though, speaking of Huff, we should mention just as the, uh, The rest for Jalen Hertz? He says that that broken finger. Like so another, another week of rest for him

did not have to deal with that is probably helpful. That is true. And finger is still part of the reason he's listed, right? It's concussion slash finger, I think. Right.

Okay. Okay, so that's almost shortly a hit for ZB. The next one, Jalen Carter, tops at least one of nine sacks or 25 quarterback hits. Yeah, I didn't get there. And that was because

those were the numbers for Christian Wilkins last year. That was by Bo. Interestingly, he had six sacks playing 49% of the snaps last year. And this year he only has four and a half sides. And you could easily argue a better season

playing 84% of the snaps. But yeah, only 16 quarterback hits. So that's going to be a miss. But I don't think anyone could be disappointed with Jaling for your season. Right. And then number five, Devante Smith reaches 100 receptions.

That was by Zach. Yeah. And I mean, look, I was wrong too. I put this pretty high. up on my list and in fact I said that like Keenan Allen had the highest rate of receiving yards when in motion last year I thought that with Kellyn Moore coming in

and adding a lot of motion to the offense that Devonty Smith would be the main benefit from this like yeah put him in the slot put him on the move like have him be the move guy all those kinds of things Devante Smith has the lowest number of catches and targets of any of his seasons here so only 68 catches only 89 targets

he did miss three games but the Eagles just don't throw the ball right and this is what we were talking about AJ Brown's targets are also down this season. All right. So that's a miss. Next, the Eagles have at least three inside linebackers hit at least two sacks. Now this one is still possible to happen. Oh, it could happen in this game, yeah. So it would be the first time this century if it does. Zach Bonn has three and a half. Nikobi Dean has three. Trott Jr. got a half sack in the game just kind of tagging down Cooper Rush last week. So he needs one and a half and then of course Orrinberg's going to get two.

Yeah. So it's still possible for this to be a kind of cheap late season hit, even though basically only two guys played the whole year. That was Fran. That was Fran. Yeah, that was Fran. By the way, if you have not been with us this entire time since August or September, this was a game that we played before the season started

where Zach, Fran and myself all made predictions of various outlandish length about what the Eagle season would look like, and Danes gave them different point values. Yeah, I kind of just ranked them. I didn't even give them point in values, but yet. Number seven, this was by Bo. Tyler Steen will either start a playoff game or if they don't make the playoffs,

the final game that matter. So so far this is a miss. There could be an injury, and he's the first guy in. So if there's an injury, he'll come in. You were expecting him to supplant Bechton by now? Or him or Bexton to get injured. We hadn't heard the last of Tyler Steen

just because he lost the job in the summer. Right, that's right. Eight. Now, this is going to be up for all kinds of debate. I don't think so. This is from Zach. The Eagles win at least seven home games. Yeah, I thought about this.

Now, the Eagles are six and one at the link. Yeah. The standings say they are seven and one at home because the South Paulo game was considered a home game. Now, at the time, Zach said that the South Paulo game counts. I did not rank it with that game counting. But you guys were all over him about how. How can you count that game? That's ridiculous.

It's not a real home game. So if this game ends up being a loss, it's going to come down to whether that game counted. Yeah, I mean, I thought they were going to win seven of nine home games. So that's how I did the math. But the game was played in South Paulo. Like how was it a home game? It's because when you look at home record on the standings, it's, it's a, that counts as a home game. So therefore, do you count the Super Bowl as like a home game for the team that gets to choose the jersey color?

That doesn't count as that's also. I know. It doesn't count. But that doesn't count in there. So if you look in Nick Siriani's career record at home, the Sal Powell game will count as a clear record. I know, but you can use logic to say that like it wasn't. Okay. So then I would have said six games played a Lincoln Financial Field.

Okay. So the way you intended it, you wanted that game to count. It just means that you shouldn't get as many points. Right, right. I mean, six and two is still pretty impressive, but whatever it is. Well, that's six and one. I mean, the last game is. I forgot this game existed.

But you just knew exactly what it was. Well, yeah, now that he said it. All right. He's peeking at my screen. Exactly. The way he was violating you again. Yeah, exactly. All right.

Number nine, Cam Juergens is named to the Pro Bowl. Not as an injury or replacement. So top two. So congratulations to Fran for hitting this one. I think this is on you for making this as much of a long shot as he did. Really? Yeah.

It's so rare for offensive linemen to get into the Pro Bowl in their early years of playing. There's no good centers, though. Yeah, I guess. All right. Number 10. Cam Jurgens has watched them all. they're not as good. Number 10,

Sequin Barclay has more than 1,312 yards, which would be his career high. This was from Fran. I thought that this would not happen because this, this Eagles offense does not believe in giving running backs a lot of carries. He had never had more than 295 carries in his career. And I didn't think that an offense with these weapons in the passing game and a quarterback who runs the ball a lot as well would give him enough carries to get this number.

obviously he wouldn't have needed as many carries as he had to get that number. But he did end up with 345 carries, which is crazy in 16 games. This is an obvious scouting to know that he was going to get extra points because you hated the guy that he was predicting about. A question that I had for Fran at the time was that I had been reading that Sequan's not as good as inside zone as he is in gap scheme runs. And would the Eagles use more gap scheme runs to kind of fit his team? skill level and I mean I'm really glad I asked that and France said at the time that they thought

he would the in the number of like interesting runs that we've been seeing from the sequel's offense has been awesome like like and in gaps game runs are a big part of it there were three new runs in the game last week there was this really cool wineback run they'd never done a double trap read before they did that a Washington had done it the week before that was cool and then they've now done six different kinds of trap or wham runs which is awesome and then they added a shotgun pin toss play. Really cool variety in the in the run game. So as as wanting as I still am for more interesting past plays,

the run plays have been awesome. All right. Number 11. Bryce Huff leads the Eagles and sacks. Now this can still happen. Who picked this? I'm actually surprised that you, I'm actually surprised that you made this as much of a long shot as it was.

Yeah, I made it a long shot because I just thought there were a lot of candidates and Bryce Huff was just one of them. He has two and a half sacks. So he would need five and a half. in this game to tie Josh sweat. I don't think he can last five and a half snips. Like he just has

not shown. Without a doubt the thing that I was most wrong about about this entire season is Bryce Huff. That's big of you to admit. I was right about a lot. All right, 12. I believe it's actually the only thing I was wrong about.

Sequin Barkley will have more rushing touchdowns than Jalen Hertz. This was from Zach. Zach's what's been on your radar. And at the time I said, as long as the Snoopy is still around like this is very unlikely to happen. It's so weird for you to make this this much of a long shot when it's just a two-person thing. Like if Jaila Herds had gotten injured earlier. This is like Zach's logic and spooper just because there's two people.

Doesn't mean it's, well yeah, but all it takes is I'm right here. It's like who's going to get further in Wimbledon? Like Novak Djokovic or me? Like there's only two people. Not really. I mean, no, no, I'm just saying just the fact that it's two people isn't the thing. First of all, it didn't happen. So I was right.

But I thought that him, he just wouldn't get a meaningful number of of snaps from the one yard line. And he hasn't. And when he did, a couple of times, he didn't get in. So, Jalen Hertz had 10 rushing touchdowns in 21,

13 and 22, 15 and 23. He has 14 this year, Sequin, one short of him with 13. All right. 13. No outside linebacker, that includes,

obviously all the edge rushers, gets more than seven sacks. That was by Fran. I thought this was a long shot because it had only happened twice in the last 20 years. And it didn't happen to Syria. They're sweat with eight.

So that's a miss. 14. Now this one is up for all kinds of interesting debate. You know, I took a philosophy of math class at UVA where we debated the number zero. Yes, and for months. That's what the class was. Shout out to Professor Jim Cargile, great class.

Cooper DeGene has the most interceptions. Zach nodding along as if he also agrees. This is your item. Yeah. Cooper de Gene has the most interceptions among cornerbacks. Yeah, but no cornerbacks have any interceptions at all. So he's technically tied for the most interceptions. But he didn't say tied among cornerbacks.

And I think that the most implies that he's number one. I at the time didn't think he was even going to play very much because Vic was so insistent on he's not where he needs to be. He's not ready. And sure enough, until the bye, he wasn't playing at all. So incredible season for Cooper DeGine and Quinyon Mitchell, but neither of them have an interception, neither to slay. And this is a great argument for why interceptions are a lazy and kind of dumb way to evaluate defensive backs.

Those guys have been awesome. And Quinyon Mitchell, like, being a lesser candidate for defensive rookie of the year is because he doesn't have any interceptions is ridiculous. I mean, that's the kind of logic. That's the kind of logic that that makes you draft Emmanuel Forbes wherever Washington got in. So. Ouch. I'm just taking all kinds of stress. No, because there's also the best corners, but no, no, no, no.

The best corners get thrown at the least. And so you have fewer opportunities. There's a difference between projecting forward and rewarding actual performance. Like the difference that an interception makes in a game is worth reward. It depends. It depends on what down it is. It depends on what situation it is. Okay, yeah, sure.

If it's a third and long chucked down field. But Quigna Mitchell has had balls hit his hand and has dropped them. Like, that is a thing that has happened. On what percent of the plays did that happen? Versus the percent of plays where his coverage was so good, the quarterback didn't throw to like a star wide receiver on his side. I'm just saying if you're if you're rewarding Pro Bowl or defensive rookie of the year

yeah it matters that he hasn't caught a ball yeah okay um and then the last one Will Shipley finishes the season with exactly 19 catches could still happen this is a big thing to watch for of course on Sunday and maybe the biggest thing to watch I agree Will Shipley has zero targets on the season I know but now they've designed the place for him but the ball didn't go there he you know it's doing backwards ones

He could have, that's true, that's true. And then they had that play in Tampa that looked like it might have been designed for him that didn't work. He could catch 19 balls on Sunday. Actually, just coincidentally, I was looking through Twitter and someone had posted that Tanner McKee in the preseason targeted running backs on his, of his passes. Okay. So, you know, 19 for Will Shipley? I'm actually shocked that Will Shipley has 20 carries on the season. Oh, they're all like, yeah, he had like six in a row.

Dallas and garbage time. Yeah. Okay. So it sounds like Fran's going to win this game. Yeah. So Fran has two hits that I had less likely than anyone than any of the other hits. So I would say that Fran is the winner. Yes.

Okay. Congrats, Fran. Congratulations to Fran. Anything to get out of your chest? I'm good. Good. Excited for the weekend. Excited for the show was ahead.

This is the time that raised the performance. You're not playing in the game as a wise woman. As yes. But. I'm going to be free. freezing. Yeah. Like watching

this game. Yeah. Watching Darian canard. Yeah. Well, we'll see. Right in the canards.

It's okay. It's okay. 2017, the last game was similar to this. Yes. And I was freezing there as well. And it led to a Super Bowl win.

So Chris Long tells the story of how he was in that game in 2017. Yeah. Who's this year's Chris Long? Who's the guy who's like, oh, God, I got to play this game. It's tough.

It's tough. Yeah. Probably so. That was really funny, though. Chris Long was like such. Such a veteran. Like,

yeah. I mean, Oren Berks, I guess, is he's got to play this entire game, but he's not a, he's not a starting caliber.

Or a top, like three pick or whatever. Had that nice conversation with Oren today, briefly. Yeah, yeah. Did you drive somewhere with him?

No, that would have been nice. But, depends where you were driving. I don't, it was just a conversation. It wasn't like an interview, so I,

but I'll say it. I don't think it's out of line to say it. So, I was typing Orrin Berks in Twitter the other day. And I guess it's spell checked or like auto corrected rather, Orrin to Owen.

So it made it Owen Berks. And I tweeted it out and I didn't realize it. Turns out Orrin Berks' grandfather's name is Owen. And the Burke's family was enjoying that tweet. It was like a, you know,

Freudian slip, if you will. Right? So he sought you out? No, I saw it because I just want to reach out to me. Like, he probably meant Orrin's uncle, or I'm sorry, Warren's grandfather.

Oh, you're so proud of them. And is his dad's name like Odin? Like are they switching one letter every generation? That I'm not sure about. But, um,

yeah, Orrinberg's a nice man. Cool. Always, always cheerful, always friendly. I got a question. So in five minutes,

one block away from here, they're going to start taping Kelsey's late night show. Can I go tell them I know Bo Wolf and get in? Or Zach Berman? I mean, I don't know what,

I don't know what I'm at. might know, they might know Professor Selwyn. Just that I know you guys. I mean, like, well, like,

give me a chance. Because I wouldn't normally like, go to this, but I'm, it's right here. It's five minutes. You know, lock away.

They might say they don't let, they don't let buskers in, but. Bocares wait with Kelsey. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Maybe I'll try. Maybe I'll try it. Yeah. No, no, seriously. Bo and Kelsey had a really good relationship. So I would, if you're going to drop one of our names, drop Bo's name.

But the people at the door aren't, it's not Kelsey. Don't actually do that. Yeah. All right. What you got to get going. Danes has to go catch the show. And we got stuff to do. So thanks everybody for watching and joining all week long.

We will be with you for the kickoff show on Sunday, 1230, half time show and post-game show with Vinnie Curry, Jamie Lynch, Fran Duffy, and myself. We'll be back then. And then next week, we got the playoffs to talk about, I think we're going to do an extra show next week. We've got to figure out exactly what that's going to look like. But you know what? As Zach says, we've got to up our performance. Playoffs are here. Let's celebrate. So for Julia and Fran and Danis and Zach, we thank you for watching and listening. Make sure you subscribe, hit the like button, all that good stuff. We will talk to you later. And as always, we love you. All silly like the mayor.