PHLY Philadelphia Eagles Podcast - Can Jalen Hurts, Saquon Barkley and the Philadelphia Eagles keep it up against the Commanders?

Episode Date: December 19, 2024

We look ahead to an NFC East-clinching opportunity for the Eagles as Saquon Barkley, Jalen Hurts, A.J. Brown, Lane Johnson and Kenny Gainwell (Nick Sirianni loves that guy) prepare for their rematch with the Washington Commanders. Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro joins the show to weigh in on Saquon’s standing in the state, Nick Sirianni’s leadership style and, if you’re lucky, the Dylan McMahon waiving.Join the PHLY Eagles crew, with Zach Berman and the professor Deniz Selman taking you through everything you need to know. 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 P.H.L.Y. Eagles podcast on a Thursday afternoon. Bowulf, the professor, Dana's Salman in the middle. Zach Berman on the end. We are here to talk about the Philadelphia Eagles and the Washington commanders. And it's all presented by Bet365. Download the Bet365 app and use code P.HLY 365 when you sign up, whatever the moment. It's never ordinary. At Bet365, we have the Eagles first repeat game of the season to discuss. NFC in East clinching opportunity for the team. We're going to talk about all that. And in the middle of this show, we're going to talk about it with Josh Shapiro, the governor of Pennsylvania. Zach, I know you're excited. Oh, yes, anytime you can have someone.

You got your best posture ready to go. No, I was excited to speak with Governor Shapiro. I was excited to talk Eagles with him. I like to say I don't get political, but I do get parochial, right? And so I appreciate the fact that, That seems like an insincere laugh at a sincere comment. So, no, it was a fun, it was a fun conversation. I get that a lot too, Zach, just so you know.

And then it's throwing to be next to Professor Selman because often on Fridays I'm over at the facility and I see you on the screen. So it's great to be here in studio. It's too bad. No, full disclosure, the conversation with John Shapiro happened before this episode. So we're going to bring it to you. but unfortunately we forgot to ask. This could have been the person for us to go to, Dana, is to see if there's anything we could do about your bike.

Oh, my goodness. Yeah. My bike got stolen at the last Eagles game, and I was pissed. I park it right next to like a swarm of cops right next to the stadium. And when I called the Eagles, they were like, oh, there's no cameras there. We don't know what happened.

So, you know, I've only been. been a season ticket holder for 25 years and you know, biked every game for a decade. There was no reason for them. You were due then. Yeah, I guess that's right. Statistically speaking. Well, that's a good point. Yeah. I had my bike stolen once. I haven't gotten a bike since. Tough. Yeah, so you got

you can't let the, can't let the terrorists win. You got to just keep buying new bikes and getting them stolen. So, yeah, that's just the way. There we go. Cycle of life. Now, there are worse things that happen to people. Fortunate enough to be able to afford a new bike and life goes on.

All right, let's get into it. Big game for the Eagles on Sunday, Professor. But as for last Sunday, anything from the offensive change that was particularly interesting to you. I mean, throwing the ball down the field was nice. Yeah, that was awesome. The empty stuff, you know, I almost mentioned on the show last week and I wish I had.

Not that I was expecting it, but that there just been so little empty this year. It's crazy when you look down. Yeah, the snaps per game. game know how good Devante Smith has been out of empty playing in the slot like I remember you were talking a lot about that um what two years ago especially but continued a little bit last year um the empty usage in this game was awesome uh pre snap coverage tells and when you get those pre snap tells it's not as simple as if it's man throw it to a jay if it's zone devante smith will get open right it's not quite that simple but it's almost i mean in this game there were 14 actual throws against man

10 of them went to a jay okay this includes one's negated by penalty and everything, so it might not match the stats exactly. Nobody else had more than three, 10, go to AJ out of the 14. And then you look at... Well, nobody else had more than three targets in the whole game aside from the two guys.

That's right. And then you look at... Well, no, but I mean, like, Devante didn't either. Sure. And then 18 actual throws against zone, and nine of those go to Devante Smith. After the game, Devanti Smith said that, you know, it was cover two every third down

and knowing what they were in was a big part of the success. interesting in the game so that was a big part of it and then when you look at the way I do love just how that I'm sorry I just I love how that that tracks with their two skill sets if you just think about like AJ Brown like there's no man in the world who could cover AJ Brown so if you're gonna put a man on him throw him the ball yeah and then Devante we know that he has this superpower of manipulating space he understands spacing better than anybody else and so if it is own you would trust Devante Smith to be the guy who knows exactly where to be absolutely and you know that that play the the the drive play that Fran discussed as well. They ran it four times out of the exact same formation. And in the first half, there were two examples where it was man. It was clearly man pre-snap and it just went to AJ against Joey Porter. And then when it was zone, you know, he hit Devante on the crosser.

Now, at some point, teams will begin to start disguising that. And that did happen on the lost fumble, right? So the lost fumble is a play that is probably worth discussing. got a pre-snap read of man. It was E.J.J.J. wasn't empty, but it was E.J. Jenkins on one side and all three wide receivers on the other. And both corners were over with the receivers. And they had the linebacker Patrick Wilson lined up against E.J. Jenkins.

So it looked like it was manned coverage. Now, they also only had three linemen on the field. There were only 10 guys on the field. The 11th guy was jumping on and off the field. And Jalen bails a little early. Right. So what happens there is they have a mesh call thinking that it's man coverage with E.J. Jenkins setting like rubbing. for AJ. Now, they

drop into a cover two, so the mesh isn't there. And because they don't have the 11th defender on the field, one of the gaps is just wide open. Brilliant defense by the Steelers, really. I mean, their best defensive call at the game. The 10-man, 10-man cover two, yeah, it was great. It completely baited Jalen to scramble. And then, because his finger's broken, he has the ball in the wrong hand, which I know... You talked about yesterday. Yeah, I heard him talk about it yesterday,

and I was really curious after the game when he said, like, it affected my play what he was talking about. That's probably the main thing it affected is that he can't carry the ball. He can't bring it on the outside arm, yeah. That's kind of a problem, you know. But I was, I was surprised that he gave that away, or not that he gave that away, but that he was, he was admitting it. Now, we've talked in the past, Jalen likes a little myth-making.

So he doesn't mind saying something if it will, and make him look, you know, tougher. But yeah, I thought that was an interesting admission. Yeah. No, I didn't want, I didn't mean to jump to negatives right away because it was a very positive. It was a very positive game. But like, that type of. of thing where you're repeating the same play over and over will eventually, and that wasn't exactly the same play, but they did that disguised, like zone man disguised against that drive

concept later in the game as well, destroyed the blitz on the first half. I don't know if this has gotten enough attention. We talked before the game about how they were high volume man blitz in 2020 and how they probably wouldn't do that this time. They blitz seven times in the first half. I'm not counting when like 5D linemen in base rush, just real blitzes seven times in the first half. Four of them were the big blitzes that you've been waiting for about because they do green dogs. So they had they had four times they rushed six guys. Seven blitzes. Jalen, seven for seven, 77 yards, two touchdowns, four to AJ three to Devante, two of them out of that empty formation. So they showed that they could beat the blitz in the first half. That discouraged

blitz in the second half. They were mostly just in cover two like DeVante was saying. And that's when they hit them with the zone beaters, the smash concept, things like that. And it's nice that you have answers to those kinds of things. The one thing that I think kind of happened in the game was they kind of ran out of place. You know, like, I don't think they were expecting to be out there for 80 plays. Yeah. And the run wasn't working that well.

And so, like, at some point, you're just like, okay, let's just run that drive concept again. And by the end, the Steelers had answers. So I don't know if that's, like, a deep cost for concern going forward. But it is the kind of thing that, like, some of the film grinder types, like the JTO Sullivan's, the Sean Syed's, like, both had vocal complaints about, like, look, this offense, like, really is starting to repeat these plays. And that's kind of what, and that's kind of what I was thinking as well.

Like if that game had gone on for another half, like that stuff would have stopped working, you know? So. But, you know, we're being nitpicky. It was a great, great performance, obviously. Yeah, I would hope that that's not just their entire playbook. But it is weird that they can't just expand beyond what they have in their weekly game plan. Yeah, we still just haven't seen it all come together schematically, right? Like, so there was a lot of good empty this game, but there was like no almost no play action.

You know what I mean? Like, I know there was, there were a couple of plays of play action. The counteraction play was nice. The touchdown was play action. But, like, it's almost like they can't quite, it's like they have to focus on one thing. And the watering the garden statement by Jalen, like, it's like, like, they can only work on the run or the pass each week. I mean, like, like, you know, obviously he's simplifying there. But this idea that you can't just be ready to do all of them at once.

Now, when you're winning every game, it's like you might not be forced to, right? But when you face like a Brian Flores in the playoffs or something like that, you know, you might be having to like try different things during the game. Yeah, I mean, they punted once. They won three and out all game. Like it was working. So I agree you want more diversity in your scheme.

But when it's working like that and you hit it on the head in terms of empty, I asked Jay Owen about what he likes about empty. He says completions. He says they're definitely on to something. Passing. Yeah. So I think it's a look they should use more often. Now, there are certain teams where they have more depth at Corner.

The reality is they're not passing it to the third and fourth guy anyways, the Eagles, right? So if a team's better, you know, you don't like to spread a team out that's so deep at Corner, but you're really only focused on the looks that J Allen and AJ are getting. You're not as focused on how someone's covering Johnny Wilson or Jahan Dotson. So I would be in favor of them doing this more often. Johnny Wilson, who is like kind of a tight end now. Not a very good one.

I mean, I do wonder if like when he's attached to the line and has to not let anyone inside him, like that's something where it seems like an easy assignment, right? It's like counterer run to the other side. All he has to do is not let Highsmith inside him. But he failed on those kinds of things two times in the first half. And then they kind of stopped using him in that role. Yeah.

I understand. You want that diversity. You want to stay in the same person. Rupus callback because like a guy who's a really good blocker for a wide receiver, you think, oh, he could be a, he could just be a tight end. But then once you make him a tight end, he's not that good of a blocker for a tight end. Right. No, that's right.

And the run game was kind of not very good in general. Tyler Steen definitely had some issues against Cam Hayward after he came in. He had a couple of holding penalties as well. You know, he's never had problem with Cam Hayward. Michael Dunn, Pancake City. Oh, yeah, that's right. The famous pancake. Playoff game.

Yes. Yeah, I remember that. Let's wind the clock back four or five weeks to when the commanders and the Eagles played and that was a game in which Jalen Hertz was 18 of 28 for 221 yards but this was a big Sequin Barkley game 26 for 146 and two touchdowns.

What was that matchup like schematically? It was the famous Jahan Dotson orbit motion package game. Five times they were in that play. The famous one. Everyone around the NFL knows it is that. Five first play in the game. It's 10% of the plays, Zach. There's a lot of John Dots in orbit. The run game did not get going early in that game.

Mackay Beckton struggled some against Duran Payne. There were several moments of those. It's Thursday night football, and these teams clearly haven't practiced moments. Two guys running into each other on mesh. There was an RPO where Jalen pulled the ball to throw it, and no one was running a route. Like every single person was just blocking.

We didn't really see things like that in any other games. I think that's just like Thursday night stuff. Jake Elliott missed two field goals and an extra point. All in the same direction, so there was no cause for concern in that one. And then we had the four big runs that everyone will remember late in that game. The double trap and the wham trap with Kenna Gainwell, followed by the two long touchdowns by Seguan. One was on a split zone.

One was on an under center toss where Kim Drogans blocked the Percy Butler two times on the play. So that was incredible at the end. But remember, the Eagles were down in the fourth quarter. Like it was a close game, even though it seemed like the Eagles were the better team. throughout and relating it to what just happened against the Steelers there was only one snap of empty in that game from the Eagles you know and that's kind of what it had been going in and that was on a third and forever just to get a little closer for a for a field goal now since then did you have anything else on on to

talk about in that for that game since then I'll just talk about a couple of changes for Washington on defense the biggest one I think is that Marshawn Lattimore who was on the team then but hadn't played yet because he was he was injured is finally healthy enough to play he made his debut last week in New Orleans against his old team and it wasn't targeted a single time now I mean the Saints don't really have a quarterback that's probably one of the reasons but they did make a schematic change where Lattimore just played on the right side and he played and he just stayed on the right side the whole game okay with the rookie Mike Sanerstrill

playing on the on the left Xx boy good player I was I thought Jameson Crowder was Axe boy. That was like the big guy. He's got a lot of boys. Yeah, the big go-to for later in the show. He's got a lot of boys. I can't pronounce this guy's name. The nickel. Noah Egbenagene.

Yeah, for him first round pick. Yeah, he was the nickel here. Jaden Daniels. He was the nickel here. And he's still the nickel. But Benjamin St. Juste. I mean, who was playing, who was starting when they came to Philly, is now basically.

on the bench. A quick Benjamin St. Ju's question. I don't mean to enter. No, no, no. Can you name the eagle who has a Benjamin St. Ju's jersey in his locker from the Jersey exchange?

Do you know the answer to this? Slah. Slah. No. When you hear it, it would make a lot of sense. Another French guy? Why? Well, you're focused on the origin of the name

and not the origin on the passport. or not the country on the passport. Oh, I see. What? Sidney Brown. Sidney Brown has Benjamin St. Juice's jersey in his locker to Canadian defensive backs in the NFL. There you go. No, no, no, that's a good nugget.

I just like to bring people inside the room whenever I can. Uh-huh. You know, as my, as a son of a Canadian, my mom has never talked like that in her life. That little, that thing you did. My mom, 38 years. What? I joke with her about her Canadian accent, but she's never gone, oh, ha, ha, ha, like that. So, yeah, I think that's something we need to kind of eliminate from the lexicon.

No. All right, proceed. Yeah, I'll proceed. So Zach's other boy, Emmanuel Forrest, was on the team then as well. But he no longer is. This just isn't going to end, does it? When's that Shapiro? Not soon enough.

Sooping like during Shapiro maybe he forgets about this. But yeah. So they were playing. Comont de Tom, Dylan McMahon. You know, I was wondering before the show. I was like, I was like, should we get to the governor at the top? And it's like, no, we have real important things to discuss. No, we need the governor to break this up.

People in the chat, extremely curious if the governor is going to weigh. and on the sitting to P debate, but I think that part might have been cut. Yeah, for her, for the minions, let's let's say it was cut. So that question came up to to the governor of Pennsylvania. I think I would have walked out in the interview in shame. Like, you know, I think there is a certain decorum that one needs to operate with. So yes. Should I continue?

Yeah, go ahead. Okay, okay. The main thing that Lattimore joining this defense does is, like, gives them two competent outside corners, right? They just didn't have that before. And when you look at San Ristill in that first game, there were a lot of times where he was matched up. He was playing to the field side in that game.

There were a lot of times he was matched up against A.J. Brown. It looked like there wasn't really safety help. And from the stands, I was like, man, got to pick on the rookie. And it just didn't really happen. And the one time they did kind of throw at him. He made a great play in the end zone against DeMonte. He's a very good player. And I know Fran is a big fan of his as well.

So they have two good outside corners. Fran Ristill. competent, you know? Yeah, that's right. You can put Fran at the beginning of any name, and it works. Governor Fran Shapiro. There you go. And then just one other thing.

I mean, Frankie Louvo did have two sacks in that game. It's a versatile player. He plays next to... He was going to say, didn't you not like him? I mean, now that the Eagles have Zach Bond, you don't need a Frankie Louvre. But, you know, Frankie Louvre plays. as an edge rusher when they're in big dime. They take a defensive tackle off.

They kick one of the edrushers inside, and then Louvo and Dante Fowler are on the outside. And that's the other change they've made schematically, I think, is that Dante Fowler just plays more. Like, he actually starts and plays. They were kind of, I don't know, they were kind of, like, messing around with, like, Cleland Farrell and all that,

and they don't really play him as much anymore. So, yeah, that's what I've got on. So you're not super concerned. I mean, I don't think I said that. I'm concerned about every game, but, you know, the Eagles are only favored by, what, three points or something in this game? Which is a little bit surprising. It's like three and a half

or something like that. I don't know. Ryan Robinson said the commanders are a better team. I mean, I heard him say that, yeah. I think the other big thing... He said they shot themselves on the foot. Yeah, so the other big thing to monitor for this game from a personnel perspective for Washington

is that Jonathan Allen could potentially return. They opened his 21-day practice window. He has not played since week six. so this might be too quick for him to return. But if he's back, that's one of the best players on Washington's roster. So we will see about that. That was, I think, a little bit of a surprise yesterday when they started his clock. No chance that Bryce Huff's going to play, though, right?

You don't think. You know what? I wouldn't rule it out. This week, really? Well, I don't think he's going to play just because I don't think they have the natural roster spot for them to kind of put him in. but if you simply go based on the practice report, Bryce Huff would have been limited yesterday, okay? Which, so he's not, he.

Not DNP. But I don't, I think they're going to exhaust his clock here. I think they'll use the 21 days or maybe 14 days, get them back for week 18 just to kind of get them prime. Also see if a roster spot opens up naturally. Yeah, but but there's there's, there's not really, so generis Robinson disease.

Yeah, there's, There's not a roster spot. I know fans were projecting last week. Maybe Britten Covey goes on IR. Britain Covey would have been a full participant in yesterday's practice. So Britting Covey's, unless there's a setback, is on pace to be back on, is on pace to play again. I mean, yeah, Jaylen needed to just spend that game in his chain.

And then once he was done wearing it, Covey's released and he can play again. I just missed, that went over my head. Because the chain was big. He's both saying, Bozeman. Oh, you're fixated on the chain. He's still fixated on the chain. Yeah. It's a great chain.

It's a very big chain. It's breed of one. I cannot even begin... I cannot even begin to guess the price of that chain. Like people ask that kind of thing, and I'd be off by probably a couple orders of magnitude if I tried to guess. Yeah. I think what my guess would be $250,000. I mean, again, I'm not even going to try to guess, yeah.

I never had a chain, so I couldn't tell you. I'm probably underselling it, right? It's probably more than that. I don't know. Whatever it is. Why doesn't somebody try to steal that instead of my bike? Let's not go there because I think that has been a problem right now with quarterbacks in the NFL. Sorry.

Here's my question. Do you think that like the NFL sent a security memo about these guys being targeted? Do you think that breed of one is a direct passive aggressive rejoinder to audience of one? No, I don't. But I see what you're saying. I don't think so. Is it a, yeah, like, will the Eagles next franchise quarterback

have to do something of one too? Like, will it be Tony Robbins' power of one? No, you see, because the fundamental difference is the audience of one was referring to God in the case of Carson once. The breed of one in Joan Hertz's case is referring to him. So, right. Yeah, so there's, it's a...

But just for parallel phrasing. Because of the one. If you were of one, what would it be? If you had to have a slogan. If I was of one, one. Yeah. A slogan of one.

Oh, man. I'll think about and get back to you on that one. Okay. Yeah. What do you think about the audience of one versus breed of one Super Bowl? Did that happen? Is Mahomes injuries? Yeah.

Mahomes was a full participant and it looks like Marhomes is going to play. Yeah, I guess injuries are so phony. I do want to give a little piece of housekeeping because I've seen this in social media today when we've been taught moment we've been teasing Governor Shapiro's appearance and Professor Shalman's appearance in no particular order is that. But Swooper will not be today. Swipper's going to be tomorrow because we are going to be in the Reading Terminal. And I can't wait to see everyone there.

Yes, and Fran will be with us there. You can put Fran in the middle of Fran Duffy and it works pretty well. And Dana is going to be there as well. So we're looking forward to that. Come say hi at the terminal tomorrow. And we're about to get to John Shapiro in just a second. But first, a word from our sponsors. Got any prescriptions?

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now is the perfect time to introduce your kids to Greenlight. Get signed up today, visit trumark.com slash greenlight for more information. All right, on the heels of the Eagles winning the state championship last weekend in their victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers, we had the opportunity to talk to the governor himself, Josh Shapiro. Let's watch and listen to that now. All right, what a pleasure we have now on the PHLY Eagles podcast.

We are joined by the governor of Pennsylvania, Josh Shapiro. Now, my friend, my friend Zach here cares a lot about manners. Governor, Josh, what should we call you? Yeah, I mean, I think you guys are stuck calling me governor or gov, but Josh is, you know, great to. I think governor, let's, yeah, let's appropriately level set the power dynamic here. We appreciate you being with us. And we know that, that obviously Sunday was a big game. You were there in attendance.

We appreciate that you do not make, you know, you don't hide. that you are an Eagles fan. You're not trying to ride the fence here. So as you went to that game and you soaked in the atmosphere, were you Governor Shapiro or were you, you know, Josh from Elkins Park? How did you experience that? Well, first off, my name when I call in the sports radio

is Josh from Juniata, just so you know. So, but yes, I, it was a little hard to just kind of be a regular fan. I was getting pulled in a lot of different directions, but getting pulled in those different directions by By Byrds fans was just awesome. I mean, the environment was amazing. Out in the parking lots, with the tailgating,

I got to do Eagles pregame live, which was a ton of fun. And then just being in the stadium. And I got to say, even the Steelers fans, like, it was Steelers fans travel really well. It was a great environment. And I thought Byrds fans were pretty respectful

to the Steelers fans, unlike if, you know, Dallas were in town or something like that. But it was just, it was a ton of fun. And it was just great to, be there. And I also thought it was a great win for the birds. It answered a few questions that Jalen had been kind of nagging at Jalen Hertz and A.J. Brown. I thought this was probably the most

physical team we've played all season and certainly the most physical team we're going to play in these final three games of the season. But this is playoff football. This is smash mouth football. And you got to be ready for that. And I think that that's, that was exciting. And I thought it was a great win. So what's that tailgate scene like when you're the governor of Pennsylvania? You grew up in this area. I'm sure you've experienced tailgates before. How is it different? And what's the conversation like in the parking lots before that game? I mean, look, it's totally cool. I was kind of mobbed by folks, which was really nice. And just having folks actually give a damn about who their governor is, the work that we're doing at the state, that's pretty cool. It's pretty special. But I must say we

probably spent, you know, 2% of the time talking about the work I'm doing as governor and 98% of time talking about the game, which is what I prefer. And it was just great. It was just really exciting to see the look on folks' faces when I showed up with their tailgate and to be able to just interact with them as Josh from Junietta. So you talked about, you know, the changes that the Eagles had to make in this game. And I'm thinking about the Eagles passing game. Tell me how how ham-fisted you think this metaphor is. I'm thinking about a football team as a working highway. So you've got the defense, which is humming on one side.

You've got the running game in one of the lanes, which is working pretty well. But there's like a crater in the passing game, and you've got to fix it as everything else is working on. How difficult would that be to do in theory? Yeah, I mean, it's like, you know, fixing an airplane while you're flying it, right? I mean, by the way, that's governing. We're constantly trying to fix problems

while running others. Look, I think to some extent, the chatter about the passing game going into that game against the Steelers was kind of overblown, to be honest with you. And I think that, you know, Jalen Hertz is absolutely capable of, you know, having a big game, you know, with his arm.

He showed that against the Steelers. I think he'll continue to do that. And we've got to remember, we've got the best running back in the league, maybe the MVP of the league. We've got to make sure he's getting his touches. I think what oftentimes gets ignored, it is the fact that we got the best offensive line in the league as well.

And that is something we've got to be, you know, continuing to just tweak and focus on and make sure those guys have everything they need. They are really, really special. I was actually with Jordan Milata and Lane Johnson and one of the former guys on the offensive line, you know, Jason Kelsey this morning. We were giving out toys in South Philly to students, which was really awesome. But those guys are special. need to be protected as well. So look, every part of this team is important. Every part is humming

along now in a good way. And remember, we're three games away from a single elimination tournament. And we just got to do everything in our power to make sure every piece of the puzzle, every piece of the machinery is operating at full steam ahead and strength. And I think they are. Well, I wonder what your perspective is on, you know, the AJ Brown calling it out sort of and the importance of having, difficult conversations. I imagine that that must be something that you have to do often. Yeah, I mean, look, I always wish,

no offense, guys, I wish the conversations wouldn't have taken place in the media, right? That said, it did light a fire under their asses, and they came out, and I thought in the first quarter, they were aggressive. Remember, this bird team's been playing from behind a lot.

We're not scoring a lot of points in the first quarter. You cannot play from behind in the playoffs and do well, you know, on a continual basis. You've got to be playing with a league. And so I actually thought the aggressiveness that they came out with in the first quarter was really, really impactful, I should say, and showing that this passing game can work both to A.J. Brown and to Smitty, making sure that he got the touches he needed. So I'm feeling really good about these guys right now. You mentioned Saquan Barkley. I know in your line of work, approval rating is a big deal often. It's hard to get a bigger approval rating in the state of Pennsylvania than MVP candidate for the Eagles who grew up in Lehigh Valley, who went.

to Penn State and was a star there. You think he's got a better approval rating than I do, guys? That was my lead into the question. Yeah. What perspective do you have on Sequin Barclay? And are you willing to concede that he might be the most popular Pennsylvania in right now? Hell, yes. Look, Sequin is obviously having a career season.

And another example of just how stupid the giants are that they gave him up. I'm so grateful that we got him back. I think what folks I think don't always appreciate, maybe they just don't know, is, I mean, he is Pennsylvania through and through, grew up in the Valley, was an all-time great at Penn State. In fact, when I saw him the other day,

we were talking about Penn State football in the big game on Saturday. I just think he's a special guy, he's a special guy on and off the field. He's clearly locked in. He's healthy, you know, knock on wood, he's healthy, which is really important. And I'm just feeling really, really good about him as we go into the playoffs.

You're going to have these stretches of the game where you just need to control the ball for five, six, seven minutes at a time and just grind ahead, you know, four yards, five yards, six yards each time. Saquan Barkley's great. I would also say don't sleep on Kenny Gameball. I thought he had a really good game, and that's important for him to have that confidence as well. You sound like someone who has maybe had a conversation with Nick Siriani before because that is, that is his. favorite player. They sort of joke with him. Is that right? But I am curious, you know, having encountered as many

different leadership styles as you have, what is your take on the Nick Siriani experience? Yeah, it's hard for me to judge from the outside, right? I'm not in the locker room. But I tend to look at leaders in any field, business, politics, sports, you know, you name it, media.

I tend to look at leaders when they are facing adversity and see how they bounce back from that. Let's go back 10 weeks, whatever it's been, when we were two and two, right? And a lot of folks were calling for Sariani's hit, and they were saying, get him out of here. And they were saying, remember, he gave up play calling, and is he really doing anything? What, you know, can this guy really coach? And I don't pretend to have a ton of insight into what's happening in that locker room with him, but it is clear that he faced adversity and figured.

figured out how to turn it around, figured out how to motivate his coaching staff, figured out how to motivate his players, and get them rolling in the right direction. And so I admire that. Any leader who faces adversity and is able to come through it and come out stronger, I really do admire that.

And it's clear that that's what he's doing. I'm curious from a big picture perspective with sports, a smart person in politics once told me that sports is one of the few things that really brings us together. How do you see that? How do you see it in whether it's across the state of Pennsylvania? whether it's with different constituencies, the connective threat of sports. Yeah, Zach, you're totally right.

And I don't want to be political in any way here. But I think it is clear. I'm stating a fact that our politics are pretty divisive right now. I think if you're Republican, Democrat, independent, you feel that way. And I think you also probably feel, you know, some division with your neighbors and a sense of cynicism at times. And I work every day to try and bring people together and find common ground. But I also work every day to find areas where we can have conversations or engage with one another where it's not as divisive. I think that there are a few things where you can bring people together and actually talk to someone who you might disagree with on politics or governing.

Sports is number one. I think music and art and the outdoors are other things as well. Those are things that I value and I spend a lot of time doing. My wife and I, the First Lady of Pennsylvania, started a lecture series at the governor's residence where we are privileged to live as your governor and first lady. And we do a lecture series roughly every quarter. And we focus on one of those topics, right? Something in history or sports, music, art. We invite all kinds of different people from the community together for reception and to hear a lecture or hear a presentation.

And it's incredible. yet Republicans and Democrats, people from rural communities, urban communities all coming together. Why do I raise this? Because the last lecture series we had, you know, give or take a month ago, we had Jay Wright speak to us about leadership, about the way in which, you know, his career trajectory went. And we use sports as a way to bring people together. Now, not everybody there was a Villanova fan or a Hoops fan or even knew a lot about the sport. but it was a way to engage people in different ways. I actually find that there's a lot more that unites us than divides us, but our politics and in some parts of our media are set up in a way to pull us apart.

So I like to use sports, outdoors, music, things like that to bring people together. And when you bring people together, it's easier to solve problems. Now, to circle it back to you as an Eagles fan, like you when you're watching a game, Are you a, are you like a rabid Eagles fan? And what gets you more excited, a like a long touchdown pass, a long Sequin, Barkley Run, or are you like a defense first guy you want to see, you want to see this defense hit people? And this defense does hit people.

Yeah, I guess all the above, but I'm more going to cheer for the offense, but not necessarily the one deep play. But, you know, the old. You like the sustained excellence. Yes, the kind of old West Coast offense, right? Drop back, get the ball out to, you know, two and a half second. six, eight yards, you know, the screen pass where everybody hits the right block and you get a 25-yard run after the catch.

I mean, I love that kind of stuff, just good, solid football where you control the ball for a significant part of the game and obviously put more points on the board than the other team. That's what I love. And I'll tell you, as cool as it is to go to the game, especially that Eagle Steelers game, to me there is nothing better than being in my sweatpants with my kids on the couch, yelling at the TV, and just enjoying the company and my family. That is the one thing we don't get to do because we're working on game days. And so we have some jealousy about that.

Right, right. Well, we thank you so much for taking the time, Governor. I have one final thing. Well, two parts. I would be remiss. One, completely unrelated. How often do you get L.O. Governor on a daily basis? And then two...

Just yesterday, somebody did it. I would be... That was for Zach. For the people, for the listeners among us, who are entering 2025, feeling maybe a little bit politically nihilist. What is your advice for those of us looking for something, a positive way to channel that?

Yeah. I mean, look, obviously, first and foremost, here in Pennsylvania, I'm going to be out there protecting your interests, your rights, and ensuring that you don't get left behind, left out, or harmed in any way. But I know that a lot of people feel that, you know, they're trying to figure out what do they do with these emotions, these feelings, these sentiments that they have. And I would argue that you should just do something in your community, something around you, that engages you with your neighbors and that makes some positive change in your area.

I was walking, talk about the outdoors. I was walking on a trail the other day with my wife, something we'd love to do and get out. And someone came over to me and kind of asked me a similar question. And I said, you know, what are you passionate about? And they were particularly passionate about this sort of development in their community that they were working on. And I said, well, get involved in that. Organize your neighbors. See to it that some change happens in your community.

And then what happens is, A, you accomplish that task that's really important to you in your neighborhood. But B, you feel a little bit more in control of what's happening around you. And so I would just urge people to be involved in their community, continue to lift up their voices, and do something constructive. I know some people love to pick these things up and just host a bunch of stuff and make noise, but that oftentimes doesn't accomplish something. Get in the game and do something concrete where you're making an impact in your community. and that's going to make you feel like you've got some real agency and some real power in an environment where you feel a little bit uneasy right now. Well, we thank you so much for that advice.

Thank you so much for taking the time. And we will note that there is precedent for a Pennsylvania governor to be part of an Eagles post-game show. So if you're not too busy on Sundays and you want to join Vinnie Curry, the invitation is open. Man, I would love it. I got to do pre-game live on Sunday sitting next to Jaws. I couldn't believe it.

I mean, I grew up watching Jaws. So any opportunity I get to talk about sports in any format. I'd love to do it. So maybe we'll hook up on Sunday. We also need to spend some time talking about the Sixers and where we go from here with them and, you know, some other stuff. So I'm happy to talk about any of those sports. You didn't have to bring us down. We were up so high.

I'm a huge Sixers fan. And I'm just, you know, it's just, I'm just very, very frustrated right now. Now we do speak like a real fan, so I think the people appreciate that. Thank you so much, Governor. Hopefully we will talk to you again. We appreciate it. I look forward to seeing you guys soon. Thanks for having me on.

Thanks so much, and we'll be back with more on the P.H.O.Y. Eagles podcast just after this. All right. Well, you heard the governor, get in the game, he says. Get in the game with Bet365. Let's talk about it right now. That's right. Bet365 has 90 million users worldwide, and they live stream over 780,000 events each year.

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That was fun. I would tell the governor, you're welcome back anytime. I enjoyed that conversation. Bad job, I mean, I put on that PHLY sweatshirt anticipating that I could, you know, keep the continuity and wear it again today, and then I forgot. And some would say that your change of costumes during the show is whoopi Goldberg-Az.

Or whoopi-Goldberg-esque. People curious, like how you square, you don't want to talk politics with that interview. Yeah, we didn't talk politics. But there are certain things to transcend politics, sports among them. But, yeah, as the governor spoke about, sports can bring us together, right? It's one of the few things that is not divisive in the regard.

You know, it's divisive in terms of you're rooting for the commanders, you're rooting for the Eagles, but we all can join in and enjoy Thursday night football, Sunday night. Saturday this weekend is going to be amazing, all the football games on. So, yeah, it was, that's part of what. I love sports. I used to say when I wrote for the Inquirer that the sports section was the only thing that every reader,

not every, but almost every reader really cared about, right? And would kind of be interested in. So sports is very powerful, and I appreciate Governor Shapiro recognizing that. Okay. You're excited about that Saudi Arabian World Cup coming up? Saudi Arabian World Cup. The World Cup is going to be in Saudi already.

And what, 2030? 34. 34. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, am I excited for that? I haven't put much thought to it yet. I imagine, I mean, we'll see what the world's like in 2034. But I'm very excited, very excited for 2026, including here in Philadelphia.

Yeah. I hope to run into Governor Shapiro at a game. I hope he's okay. You hope he's okay. You hope he's okay. You'll run into him? I hope to see. Governor Shapiro at a World Cup game here.

There's actually a game on July 4th, 2026, right? U.S. versus England. Or it could be U.S. versus England. Is that correct? I don't think they don't know. Yeah, yeah. No idea who the game is. England hasn't even qualified. Yeah. No, but it could be.

Yeah, it could be the U.S. versus Iceland. England has to first qualify, and then there has to be a draw. Yeah, it could be anybody. Yeah. Okay. The U.S.'s games are set, but. The other 47 teams have to. But the U.S., are they playing in Philly on July 4th or not? I don't think their locations are determined yet.

Gotcha. That's a possibility. Gotcha, okay. Yeah, it could be Japan, Turkey. That would be great. We haven't been in the World Cup since 2002. Made the semis, but it's been a while. But yeah, I appreciate the interview.

That was great. Okay. Well, let's talk about this matchup from the other side of the ball. But before we do that, let's talk, let's talk playoff scenarios. Yeah. Professor, I know that this is your special time of year. Are you checking like your social media metrics? Like, do we get a big spike in Dana's searches this time of year?

I don't know. I'm just, I'm too busy pumping out content to. If I can be a professor. I will. You are a professor. No, a professor stand for a second. Like, defend you here. A pet peeve of mine is when.

And people in the Media Corps clearly use your information, but then don't attribute it, right? Like, uh, pull a test at it were at this at this juncture. The, um, scenarios are not like well known. You know, if you're saying the Eagles can clinch the NFC East this weekend, you don't need to cite Professor Selman. The NFL puts that out. We know that. But if you're outlining the different paths to the number one seed, you're not calculating that on your own.

You're clearly taking that from Professor Selman. So a call to the reporters out there, give credit words to do. Listen, my dream as a child was to enlighten society about playoffs and areas. And, you know, thanks in large part to you guys, I've been able to accomplish that. And if people feel the need to crop a graphic I made and take my name off it and post it on Twitter, then, you know, at least it helps enlighten others. So that's all I can say. All right.

Well, why don't you enlighten this mass audience that we have here? Yeah, so pretty simple in the following sense. The Eagles, in order to get the two-seed, just need to win one more game, right? Like, just win any game, two-seat is clenched. Now, for the one-seed, the lions absolutely have to lose a game. They play at Chicago, at San Francisco, and at home to the Vikings. The Vikings probably have to lose another game. I would say about a 95% chance that the Eagles,

will lose that strength of victory tiebreaker to the Vikings. Now, if you're interested in how strength of victory works, please check my Twitter or Blue Sky account. I prepared a graphic, a color-coded graphic with a rooting guide for the 27 games left that will determine the Eagles' Vikings' strength of victory tiebreaker situation. And that graphic has all the teams the Eagles need to win in green and all the teams the Vikings need to win in purple. It has how many points each one's associated with.

It's a very long shot. When you count it up, it might look like it's possible. but I would put it at around 5% chance. What that means is the Vikings also need to lose. They play at Seattle, at home to Green Bay, and then at Detroit the last week. Now, when people see this, a lot of people have said, well, the easiest path is the Vikings lose, probably to Green Bay,

and then they beat the lions the last week, and that way they'll both have a loss. The problem is, if the Vikings lose before week 18, and the lions don't, the lions will have already clinched the NFC North. So the Vikings at most would be playing for the difference between the five seed and the six seed. I do not see a scenario where they would care enough about that to play their starters in that game. The Lions will be playing for the one seed. So it's just not like on paper the Vikings look like the Lions hardest game.

But in reality, the Eagles need the Lions to lose before that game. Because either if that game means something, it means the Vikings haven't lost and they can't both lose. And then the Eagles would need them to tie. which would be fun, Sunday night football, Vikings, Lions, and the Eagles need a tie for the one seed. That would be kind of fun, but it would also be very, very unlikely. And so we really kind of need the Lions to lose before that, either in Chicago, and I'm going to get an ulcer if I have to watch the Bears

and root for the Bears again. So luckily that's at the same time as the Eagles game, so they don't have to watch it. And then they play at San Francisco, a rare case of me rooting hard for my boy, Kyle Shanahan. So there we go. Yes. And then odds-wise right now,

the gambling markets give the Eagles a 35% chance to get the one seat. Okay. And then it's 39% hosting Washington in the wild card round. 11% hosting Green Bay. 7% hosting Atlanta, 6% hosting Tampa Bay. Those are the highest likelihood scenarios.

How do you feel about that? I just think the buy matters so much. Like, it's just such a big advantage. And as much as I feel fine about the Eagles against any of these teams, including the Lions, honestly, including at Detroit, the way that they're injured and all that. But man, the buy is so nice. Get to rest up wildcard weekend, watch those other losers beat each other. And then get to host the divisional game and the championship game. I mean, that's like the greatest thing as a fan.

Yeah, I think the home field advantage is a significant advantage this year. Like I said, I wrote about today on all p.chly.com, particularly because of the Lions. I mean, Jared Gough is 6, 7, 1, and games played 40 degrees and under in his career. That's a team that's playing 14 and 17 games in a home in a dome this season. I am curious your perspective on there's a school of thought that... This game coming up for them in Chicago is only their second game outside all year long. Yeah, yeah. And their home game against Chicago came down to the wire.

There's a school of thought that you want to avoid Green Bay. And Green Bay would be locked into the team that plays the one seed if Green Bay wins in the opening round. to you not pay much attention to that because the best Green Bay would do in that case is be the what, six seed, right? So they, yeah. You mean playing Green Bay in the first round?

Yes. If Green Bay wins, they'll play the one seed in the second round. Yeah, if you're the one seed. Yeah, so they'll win the 6-3 game and then they'll play the one seed. And that's the team you want to avoid, whereas you would rather play the 4-5 winner. I don't know.

There's a decent chance Green Bay would be the five-seed. I mean, if they beat the Vikings and the Vikings also lose to the lion. then the Green Bay has the tiebreaker over them and they would be the five and the Vikings would be the six. In fact, like that scenario we just discussed where the Vikings might rest people and drop down to six that way.

I think the odds of any specific team being the one that comes here on divisional weekend are there just too many. Nothing's like said enough to like worry about that. Even I'm not worrying about that. Is Green Bay the team you're most worried about in the NFC? Probably. Probably.

Though, I don't know. It's hard to say. Part of me would just maybe irrationally worry about Tampa. It just hasn't gone well, you know. Sure. So until it goes well. Yeah. Although H.J. Brown hasn't lost to Tampa.

That's true. AJ Brown hasn't lost anybody. In a long time. Yeah, yeah, he didn't play that playoff game last year. Yeah, the last time AJ Brown lost the game to anybody that he actually played the whole game was Arizona last year. So it's about a nine and a half hour drive to Detroit. I think if the egos are going there. for the NFC championship game.

We're going to do a little road trip. Wow. Make some content out of it. What do you think, Julia? Who's we? You know what's more likely than Julia? What's more likely than any of the governor? Wait, do I was saying this?

I feel like the Lions could get the one scene and lose that first playoff game. They could. For sure. You know, if there is all banged up and all that kind of stuff. And so then that that opens the door for the second time in history that a team will have three playoff games at home. the chiefs did it a few years ago so there could be three

playoff games at the link which would be very exciting but I don't know I think of all the likes people get out of it seriously three shots to steal my bike you losers

someone said in the chat put the air tag inside the seat of the bike and then I'm going to go after people and tackle them or something well you know where I gotta do is figure out where Sequin lives

I know where Sequin lives he's not taking a... He's not riding his bike we know you know where he lives what percentage of the roster do you know where they live oh um I don't know this is like Seinfeld I feel like you've had this conversation before

you know what a lot of the young guys that probably does so I would say 60 70% yeah okay wow creepy all right let's talk about this matchup on the other side of the ball and I think a reasonable concern not not even concern but but thought process for for Eagles fans is We believe in this Eagles defense. This Eagles defense can stop anybody.

But the variable of a running quarterback does bring something a little bit different to the table. They handled it well in that first matchup. Yeah. How do you feel about that? Is that a thing that sort of nags at you? I mean, it's obviously always a concern, though the Eagles did very well against Jaden Daniels the first time. Now people were talking about his rib injury and all that. Did well against Lamar Jackson also.

I mean, had some opportunities against this. Now, the Eagles defense is now up to third in DVOA, just stepping back. I mean, we were sitting here after week four, joking about how that really good performance against the Saints boosted the DVOA up to 31st. I mean, it's crazy to think that this defense, 31st in DVOA and looked like it on the field

after that Tampa game, is now up to third. And, I mean, I just love the vibes of this defense. defense right now. I love the quote by Fangio and espresso this week. He said we have no control over how we get on the field or where the ball is, but we can control how we get off the field. A quote that he said to the Stanford defense back 15 years ago. It was awesome. I mean, I see Fran complaining in the chat that he wasn't invited in the Detroit road trip. But I believe he's going to be at he's going to be at all-star games then. He's kind of draft work to be grinding. I mean, I'm sitting right here. I don't think I was invited either, Fran. So, you know, I don't know what to say. Yeah. I mean, if no one steals my bike, yeah, I can bike. Okay. Oh. Yeah, no, I like that quote too from Fangio. Yeah, that was really good. Now, there are a couple of moments from the last game, and this is like super nitpicky now.

The last commander's game. No, the Steelers game. We'll talk about the commanders game in a second where Brian Robinson said they shot themselves on the foot. And it really looked like they might have shot themselves on the foot before the game started. Like, that's how they played. But we can talk about the Steelers. I thought you were making a Brian Robinson joke for a second. That's what he said.

I believe referencing. He keeps talking about. Oh, gotcha. Okay. He said Brian Robinson himself said, we set ourselves on the foot and we're the better team. And when you look at that first game, you can tell we're the better team. Gotcha. So I don't know.

Perspective is different from the field and watching. But Fran broke down the play where Reed Blankenship like catches the third receiver from the other side. And that's happened a bunch of times this year. There was one play in that Steelers game. It reminded me of a couple of plays. from earlier weeks as well, where it's like a three-by-one set, and Reed Blankenship has to decide whether to rotate down or not. And you can sort of hear Reed Blankenship saying to himself,

thank you to the people who are watching on television, make sure that you watch the rest of whatever episode is going to be coming up on all-PHly.com. It's like his internal monologue. You can see it popping on the film. You've got to get these TV people to open up a 90-minute window for the show. Well, that's a different question. All right.

I don't know how TV works or what TV it even? Fast networks. Or Windows. But yeah, so read Blankenship has to decide at times. It looks like it's going to be cover four. We've talked about this before. It looks like it's going to be four over the top, two high safeties. And then Reed Blankenship decides whether to rotate down or not.

If he rotates down, it's going to be more of a cover three. If he doesn't, it's going to be a stay cover four. When there's three receivers on the opposite side from him and one of them is running a crosser, a lot of times he has to have his eyes on that player and catch him rather than go all the way down to the flat. There was a play in this game, the Steelers ran Scoronic on a shallow, and then Darnell Washington on a deeper over

from the three receiver side, so they're both running overs. And Nikobe... With Darnal Washington, it's more of like a heavy walk. It's slow, heavy walk, whatever, but it's deeper. And so Reed has his eyes on him, and he's catching that over from Darnel Washington. Now, Nikobe Dean,

sees the Skoronic shallow, and he points, but he's pointing to nobody. He thinks Reed's going to be there, having already rotated down to the flat, and he's going to catch Skironic, and Scoronic ends up being wide open, and the play gained 17 yards. Now, nipiki, this was the 19th play of the game,

and it was their first, first down. So, look, the first 18 plays were perfect, so there's nothing to say about it. Now, this defense is awesome. But I do think more teams will try to kind of play with these rules where the rules are so good, and so set in place. And it's getting to the point now

where you can just kind of tell, like, okay, this route's going to be matched by this guy. Cooper DeGine's going to run with this guy. Quignan's just going to erase that his whole side of the field and all that. Teams are going to start to test this a little bit more. Washington didn't do anything of the sort in the first game. So to kind of link it back to that.

This Washington offense, if you remember, coming into week 11, they were second in DVOA. They're now down to six. They've kind of gone down to the pack. And also, if you break it up weeks one through nine, they were first in the league in EPA per drive. 10 through 15, that's, you know, over the course of their last five games, they're down to 16th.

So they are back to the pack. Teams have figured out Jaden Daniels a little bit. I understand he has like the rib injury as well. But that game in week 11 was check down city. Wait, just watching a different show over there? No, it's our show. Watching this show. Our show.

Just on delay. I can't read the comments. Yeah. Got to get some... Why did you... You have the volume, buddy? I heard a sound in the background. I didn't know if it was my computer or not.

I thought it might have been my computer. So I clicked the mute button, but my computer was already on mute. Do you hear that sound in the background? No. All right. I don't either. We also haven't gotten shot at this episode. Oh, well.

Unlike the other, the last two that I've been on. Okay. That game, Jaden Daniels, 70% of... his passes traveled shorter than five yards in the air. It was Checkdown City. Only a third of his attempts were to wide receivers. He didn't throw to Terry McLaurin against Gugnionne Mitchell at all, famously. Those numbers of how much, how many of his passes were short and how many of them were not to wide receivers were both lows for the year. Like, like, you know, so it's not like that's something that's been happening in other games. He was sacked three times. He scrambled three times.

His longest scramble was just seven yards. So to answer your question about the mobile quarterback thing. He also didn't have any successful design runs. He had two quarterback counters, BG blew one of them up, and then there was the fame, the, the big fourth downplay where they ran the pinpole that Zach Lawn and Reed Blankenship stopped. The one thing they did, was there anybody else who was huge on that play, Zach? On the, on the pinpole, Jordan Mileta. Oh, Jalen Carter. Oh, I'm sorry. On the fourth down stop. Gotcha. Sorry. Yeah, John Carter was, John Carter blew it up there. Yeah, and you can they were they were very confused.

They had two where we could read more about their coming on all p h.com hopefully tomorrow. It's going to be a long night tonight and my son's concert tomorrow morning, but we'll get it done. We got some good stuff in that story. They were very confused on that play. They had two linemen pull in different directions and run into each other, which made it a little easier for Jalen Carter. But yeah, that was that was a big play in the game now. The one thing they did schematically that some other teams have since, since imitated. the Panthers in particular.

They came out in 21 pony personnel. And I came out in, I don't mean like the way the Eagles do where it's Will Shipley for one play and you never see him again. It was nine of the first 11 plays were like that, including all four on their early touchdown drive. They exploited the flats with Austin Echler. Now Austin Eccler is now on IR,

but they will do this with Jeremy McNichols as the second running back as well. And there was a 34-yarder on the touchdown drive just leaking into the flat underneath two post-routes and Zach Bond just didn't cover him. I know you were talking to Zach Bon

in the locker room yesterday and he was talking a little bit about this 21 personnel stuff. In the second half they went back to it ran a pistol play action both running backs in the back field and Bond just lost Echler like biting on the play action

and that went for 20 yards. So basically all of their successful plays in the game came out of this like pony two running back stuff where they were actually using the running backs. The fact that Zach Bond was all mostly in that same drive. Well but that one 20-yarder

was in the second half and that was like they're like one of They're only good plays in the second half. So until the garbage time drive at the end where it was like heavy Zach Ertz, who's also out in this game, he's in the concussion protocol. So now Eccler's gone.

Zacharts is gone. In terms of what the Eagles did in the game, they were very heavy zone, just a couple of snaps of man, only blitz three or four times. They only did one exchange pressure. It was very vanilla as a game. This last game against the Steelers

was like that too, by the way. Now, Fangio on the rematch, he was asked like, if you have to do different things. I don't remember who asked him the question, but it was like, do you have to do different things because it's a rematch?

And he said, I think it was Merrill, maybe. Okay. He said he might do a few things here and there, but if you do too much, you're making it harder on your own players. And that really fits. This is the first time we're going to see Fangio.

The next three weeks. Go against the team for the second time. Yeah. But that makes sense. Like, that kind of fits. In that game, the vanilla sound coverage was good enough. Guys went up front.

The rookie left tackle Brandon Coleman was beaten a bunch. And he had a really rough game last week as well. against the Saints and he's going to be out there to be beaten again so I don't know I'll take this defense over anybody and I do think the Washington offense

is going to come back down to the pack now does the last game against the Saints Jan Daniels his longest time to throw of any game this year he took eight sacks and had six scramble so a third of his dropbacks he didn't end up throwing the ball he was he looked hesitant

too I mentioned Zach Ertz is on the concussion protocol you know who they just signed to the practice squad? Yes. I know who they just signed to the practice squad. I know that Arroy Alvrode is in Indianapolis.

Oh, Tyree Jackson. Before there was Albertoe. There was Tyree Jackson. Yes. They'll do 12 personnel stuff with John Bates and the rookie Ben Sinat who I think Fran's a fan of him, right? I like to send it.

Yeah, he's a compared to Kyle Eustach. I think Franz Noot said about him in the draft. Yeah, so, whatever. Terry McLaurin, I mean, we're not going to worry about Ben Sinai. Terry McLaurin has been used on the right side more than before. Whatever. Going into that game.

Yeah, I mean, whatever. I mean, you got Slay on the other side. But going into that game, we talked about that was going to be McLaren against Gwynion Mitchell all night. And it was, and McLaren wasn't even targeted against Gwony on the whole game. They are using him more, a little bit more on the right now than before. or they're motioning him to the right. The other change they have is Noah Brown,

who was their other starting outside wide receiver, is on IR now. I mean, that's a guy who was getting like a fun. A life-threatening injury. Well, I didn't realize that. Yeah. Is he going to be okay? Okay.

Okay. Yeah, I think it was a rib and then an internal. Oh, no. Yeah. I mean, well, he was, I mean, to bring it back to something that matters much less than him staying alive, he was getting about five targets a game.

So that's taking something out of the other offense. Diami Brown and Zakeas play him a little bit more now. And Zach's boy, Jameson Crowder is back. He's returning punts and he's playing some on offense as well. Jameson Clam Crowder. I referenced on a podcast five years ago that I liked him. And now for five years, I'd say it's like I have three children, Reed Sloan and Jameson, Crowder.

Fran is in the chat. He gets those financial literacy and bedtime stories. Fran is in the chat saying that it was Washington that compared Senate to Eustrek and not him. Probably because of Adam Peters. So he's saying he probably, yeah. So is it Adam Peters or is it Peter Adams? It is Adam Peters.

And Brian Robinson saying that they were the better team, they just shot themselves on the foot. You know that's going to be something they're going to want to tell, I don't know. Jay and Carter. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, sounds about right. I feel very guilty.

I was getting, uh, buying some bottle water for the office. I got duped here. I thought I was getting real size water bottles. And I got in all these tiny little ones. Terrible for the environment. And now,

now we look like we're drinking little tiny waters. What you do with the online delivery? Is that what it was? No. I went and it was at, it was how'd you get duped it when you saw it? Because I, you saw it.

Yeah. They did a really good job. They really make me look like they really did. It really did. It really did. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

I saw a bow carrying them in, and it looked like normal bottles. And I was carrying them in, and I didn't know until I was carrying them in. And then one of these fell out. And I was like, well, where did that come from? That's not what I'm holding. And I'm like, wait a second. Did you see Michael Pennix then? No, I did not.

Do you understand the reference? No. He was in the Costco food court eating a hot dog when he found out he's the starting quarterback. That's a man who knows financial literacy or financial responsibility. I respect it. Now, dolphins may be able to swallow that. hole without choking on it. You know, like that could be one advantage

environmentally. Yeah, I guess so. That's all I can really think. Disappointed we didn't get to ask the governor about the tail discussion. Yeah, that he would have been although I did appreciate the comment I saw that maybe the funniest position for the tail would be center because that would have to watch the quarterback deal with the tail on those under center snaps would be fun.

I'm ashamed to say that I did think about that while you all. Shout out to my friend Shalini from grad school because the tail conversation reminded me of a conversation we had when we were supposed to be writing our dissertations And we were also for an offensive line We were just worried that the tail would cause of

Like would that count as a false start If the tail is wagging If it only if it simulates the snap Like in the- It makes the same move it makes when he snaps the ball Okay I want to hear this conversation with Shalda Yeah

So Shalini and I asked the question It was a different question because we weren't talking about football. It was if we, if humans had tails, would they be like sexualized and like, would there be like,

would people, would people wear like, like, like, like tight leather tail covers, you know, with like, would you have to cover the tail? Just the tip showing and stuff like that.

You know, like, well, yeah, that's a question. Like, like, would it be something that, you know, ooh,

showing a little bit, showing a little tail there, you know, that kind of thing. Zach, what do you think? I'm a fairly curious person. I ask why a lot.

I think about a lot of different things. I have never once in my life have thought about someone with a tail. It's never come up in conversation. It's never been like I thought at 1 a.m. in the morning. I've never thought about what if that person had a tale. So maybe I'm the outlier because you and Sean Lee had discussed it. You brought it up on, I think, three consecutive shows now. But like I think we've spent more.

time on the tail discussion than we have like on Sequan Barclay breaking the rushing record or something like that. If you could have a tail, what kind of tail would you want to have? Like a bunny cotton tail? I have no thoughts on tails. I will defer to you on a tail conversation.

I was dying watching the show yesterday and Zach just goes, I don't talk tail. Yeah, you got it in your head to it. Like just tails in and of themselves are inappropriate. And I don't know where that came from. Probably from the expression chasing tail, in which case I do not want to. Or chase my tail with a tight leather cover.

Yeah, engage in said conversation. Okay. I'm taking a professor, or I'm sorry, I'm taking Governor Shapiro's cue. And like, you know, you can answer the question how you want to answer it as opposed to to like the literal answer to the question. Tale of two cities. There you go. I've,

I've, I've, I've, I'm familiar with, with T-A-L-E. A knight's tail. I'm familiar with T-A-L-E. I tell bedtime tales a lot.

Hmm. How about a bedtime tale about a tail? No, well, perhaps if it's about financial responsibility, but, yeah. Tales from the crypt.

No. Oh, I'm familiar with what that is, but yeah. Now, let's, let's, let's keep rolling here.

I think we've appropriated the end We've hit the tail quota for For today Oh, it's almost like we're at the tail end of the episode Oh, look at that, but that's why you're the best host in the city All right, let's check out the Super Jets Uh Chase Daniel, you don't need to read this one

Yeah, we don't have to read this one Although he's focusing on Uh, the safeties and of course And Twins Uh, and then Barron Roth says, he's thought of some more names for the defense. The Fang Gang. Independence Wall and the bell ringers.

Flying V's. Vicks Brotherhood, aka the Brotherhood. Vic's Chain at the Link. Green slime, because slime covers all. Kid and Nickelodeon favorite. We appreciate your support, Baron. I don't know that we've hit the nail on the head on that one. I got to say, Bo.

I mean, I know, I'm very conflicted here. because in five years you told me don't recommend stories, right? So I feel like if I recommend it, you would want to pursue it. But I think this would be... Know how, yes. You know how this will go. But I think that that'd be a cool wolfsten is to go around to the defense and say, you guys are a top five defense, but you don't have a nickname.

What should your nickname be? And then you propose different nicknames. Zach, only if you don't want something to be a wolf stand. Do you suggest a bow to make it a wolf stand? Obviously, by now, by now, you should know that. Why not, though? you know that I'm not going to do that. I don't know what I don't do.

How many years has it been? It's much more likely that I'm going to ask them about the tails now. Oh, God. You should write a story about tails. How about that? You should do a big ex-moset on tails. You know what? Maybe that's not your worst idea.

All right. That'll do it for this episode of the P.H. White Eagles podcast. Remember, live tomorrow at Reading Terminal. If you have the means and the, Warewithal, come on out and join us. Say hi. We would appreciate that. Show up early. Yeah, we're going to,

I'm going to be there at noon, getting a a cheese steak from Uncle Gus, and there you go. Stick around until the show. And also being there in person is the only way to tell if underneath the desk we're wearing pants or not. So we will be wearing pants. Julia has a handy map up up here. We will be wearing pants.

Julia has. I did not know how that sentence we could have. Joey has a map here of where we will be. Of where we will be tomorrow. So, yeah, it's a nice spot at the terminal. You can't wait. I missed last year because I was coming back from Seattle. The NFL moved that game to Monday. This year, I couldn't go to.

I went to Anthony's show. And we're doing all our shows tomorrow, by the way, at the terminal. I went to Anthony's show at the terminal back before Thanksgiving. But I was not at the P.H.O.I. Eagles show. So I am eager, eager to do a show with a live audience. Now, after this show ends, we're going to head over to the Eagles locker room. What are you looking forward to doing? And anything you want to tease on the site?

Yeah, so make sure, by the way, Fran's opponent preview, it went up this morning. I'm not just saying this because he's my teammate. It's the best preview content you'll find anywhere. You are so much. is sitting right here. It's a different type of... Fran is like the only person. It's a different type of figure content.

It's just like obviously true. Player by player. Player by player. Okay. You get into the... It has relevant numbers. Although I got to say, I do use Professor Solomon's numbers. Because Professor someone does have some numbers that Fran doesn't on there.

I love the... The three keys to the offense and the defense's game plan. And then the core coordination is terrific because you know based on certain color designations like if the player is a blue chip player, if the player is like a solid starter, that kind of thing. And then I have a quick piece up with just some notes and thoughts from the week now. And I am working on making sure a story's up tomorrow on John Carter. I spoke to Clinton Hurt for some background on J-Wan Carter. I spoke to, I spoke to J-N-1-1-1 on one about some things that are in the story. Janwin was, we had a real good conversation.

Yeah, he actually circled back to me the next week about it. Yeah, it was nice. Jordan Davis and Nicopi Dean and spoken, so we'll work that into the story. And we have some good pieces coming up during these next, next, few weeks leading into the playoffs that I'm excited about. All right. Make sure you become a diehard. All that good stuff.

Like the video. Subscribe to the channel. All that stuff, evangelize. We appreciate everybody watching and listening today. We appreciate the governor. Hello, governor. Appreciate him stopping by to talk Eagles.

Hopefully we can make that a running thing. And that's about it for this episode of the PHOI Eagles podcast. Thank you to Julia for making it happen. We will see you at Redding Terminal tomorrow. Pants or no pants. And as always, we love you.