PHLY Philadelphia Eagles Podcast - Eagles film review: Did Quinyon Mitchell and the Eagles defense hold up their end of the bargain?

Episode Date: October 6, 2025

It seems like everyone is blaming Jalen Hurts, A.J. Brown, Kevin Patullo and the Eagles offense for Sunday’s loss to the Broncos, but the defense should not get a pass either, as Quinyon Mitchell and Zack Baun made costly errors in surrendering 18 fourth-quarter points. We go to the tape to talk about both sides of the ball with EJ Smith and Bo Wulf. Join us! Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hello, everybody from the X-Finity Mobile Studio. This is the H.LY Eagles podcast, presented by Fed365 and Ashley, Paul Wolf, E.J. Smith. No friend uping today. I believe he is predisposed interviewing for the Giants general manager job. He's a very classy fellow. I think that would be a good hire for them. E.J., how you doing? I'm doing well.

You know, I crunched the film. I buzzed through all of the Eagles offensive film. I was so encapsulated with this film study that I actually almost forgot to, like, drink water and, like, eat something before the pod. So I had to whip up a quick smoothie, and I, you know, worked out perfectly. And I do have a confession about this smoothie that I am excited to tell you about. Well, you can't. I mean, let's hear it. I used AI to help me make this movie. I didn't realize we were out of bananas and I was on a time crunch.

So I asked AI what was a good banana substitute and a smoothie? You would never guess what AI told me. And I got to say, it worked. A dead baby. Like, it's not a good answer. There's no excuse for this, EJ. You can just look it up. It doesn't have to be through AI.

It was applesauce, and it worked. It's a consistency thing. This is awful. What a terrible start to the episode. I can't believe you would do this to us. On the day when we have to fill in for Fran, and we have to carry the load here, this is so bad. Well, I am like, I am out on E.J.

Out? Do you think you're going to make it through the show? You know, can we muddle through? I personally am completely waylaid. I have already lost my train of thought here for what was supposed to be a football-heavy episode. All right. Well, I'm fueled up. I'm ready to talk about the Eagles offense.

This is like, this is borderline turkey melt level. Like, why, why couldn't you just Google it? I mean, because I, because I, needed a quick answer. I told you. I was in a hurry. Why is that quicker? Because you get the answer. I mean, I would have used it if I wasn't using yourself. You should be ashamed of yourself. You are, you are, you are an artist, E.J. Okay. You are a part of the artistic community and to lean into something that is so completely anti-human and anti-art, let alone the environmental impacts. And to lean into something that is so completely anti-human and anti-art, let alone the environmental impacts. And more importantly, the quality of it, the hit rate, I mean, you should, you should hand in your artist card. You are, you are no better than, you know, some, some technology slave. This is, this is, I am. Yeah, I knew you, I knew you would have this reaction.

I can't believe this. All I'm saying is that, like, I don't, I'm not saying I'm an AI, you know, I'm not a chronic AI user, but for this specific thing, it was helpful. Applesauce. I would have not said applesauce as a banana replacement. All right, let's get to the big deal presented by Cherry Hill Jeep. Shout out to Cherry Hill Jeep. All right, let's get to the big deal.

Now, we've got a lot to talk about in this episode, EJ. We split this up. You are focusing on the offense. I focus on a defense. So we'll start with the offense for now. And I want to, you know, let's do the big deal. on the play that we're talking about, the incompletion downfield to AJ Brown. You've done some work on this.

I don't know if you talk to human beings or just robots, but let us know what your day after takeaway is on the AJ Brown incompletion. Yeah, I think there, I think that a few things can be true here. And I think the first one that we should say from the outset is that like AJ Brown needs to run that route with 100% like commitment. admit to it. I think that Fran did a nice job this morning explaining some of the context around like the play and why AJ Brown maybe did slow up on the route, but I just want to get that out of the way from the outset. You know, Fran did have a nice analogy talking to us earlier today about it's like not running out of ground ball. Maybe it's understandable that you wouldn't always

run out of ground ball, but it is an effort thing. And in the, you know, 10% chance that, you know, you do need to run that ground ball out. It makes you look like, you know, your effort. It brings your effort into question. So with that out of the way, it looks as bad on tape as, you know, you would expect, like just how big of a missed opportunity it was. But I do think that the part that maybe we hadn't considered too much in the immediate aftermath of the play is that he does get rerouted on this play.

So to set it up, like AJ Brown is lined up in the slot. They line them up there. They finally get him away from Pat Sartan. And he basically runs like a double move where he's trying to get by Talanoa Hufanga, basically in wide open space. And he does that. But before that happens, he does, again, get rerouted by Nick Benito, basically just like pushed inside. And I think that's where, like, if AJ were on the outside, if he was the lone receiver

in a three-by-one set, you probably expect him to give up on that route even sooner because of the fact that he got rerouted and probably just doesn't think the ball is going to get to him as a result of him being off of his spot. But he has to challenge the safety because he's part of a more intricate route concept. So I think honestly, he's probably just, you know, working up field as a way to occupy the safety, not expecting the ball to come to him. And as a result, like, you kind of see him look over his shoulder. And, you know, I've seen people, let me just say, like, I've seen people who have like screenshoted exact moments from this play and been like, look like this is jalen you know he hitches or he pump things i don't like operating i mean like

obviously like what fran does is different because he's showing you like sequential screenshots to explain things i really don't like when people like take one snapshot of a play and like point to it as like the end-all be-all of a play um and i do think like while the ball maybe comes out a tick later than you would expect from you know from a receiver standpoint it isn't like a glaring like man the ball's out late. Like, you know, it's a slow developing route. So because of that, I think, like, zooming out, I think that it actually was, like, indicative of a bigger issue,

but sticking only with this one play. Like, I think this is the case of, like, these guys not being on the same page because they are relying on a scramble drill. You know, this is, like, late in the down. I don't think that AJ really expect, you know, I don't think. AJ wasn't expecting the ball to come his way. His effort reflected that. And when you, like, at the bottom line of it all,

is like AJ has to run that route. Like he has to actually give the effort. I think you put it well. Like he has enough plays, even in this game, you know, there are missed blocks on screenplays. And, you know, there are just instances where you can tell

that AJ is not fully committed to the thing that he's doing on the field. This was the one, this was one where like, man, they got this thing drawn up perfectly to get him a shot down field. For him to not be running 100% on that one,

it's definitely tough. It's a tough look. And it's part of a larger picture of a team that right now is not, it does not look on the field like a well-coached team. And I don't, and I don't mean that, you know, schematically. I mean like there are times when on offense especially, there seem like there's some effort stuff going on. Sure.

There are some undisciplined penalties and silly and procedural pre-snap penalties that we see that have hamstrung needles. Then you get to the, you know, getting to the line late stuff. Like this is not a team. you would think that it's not okay the team's four and one let's let's get that out of the way first but if you expected a a team that just won the Super Bowl to not look its best at the start of the next season I don't think that you would have expected it to manifest in this way where it's like the team it's not like they look tired or they're too injured or you know it's like lack of

activity because you because of the brain drain or whatever. There are so many things where it's like, well, this is a team that has a lot of continuity. Why are they forgetting the basics? And that's that is part of what is a little bit frustrating for Eagles fans, I would imagine. Yeah, no, it's like a mental hangover, you know, more than a physical one. I mean, offensive line wise, I think we, we can talk about the physical nature of the long season, the workload and the run game that they had. but with with the receivers in particular,

it is strange that like there are some effort stuff. Like, you know, I, we'll get to a lot of this stuff later, but there definitely is some effort stuff, some mental mistakes that really hamstrung them. But yeah, no, it's a great point. Like, I think, like, AJ's play for most of this season, well, I'd say for stretches in each of the first five games, like, there have been times that have really, like,

kind of aligned with, like, the way that he sounds after some of these games. like, you know, kind of resigned to the way the things are, maybe sometimes even like a little defeated or dejected. So, um, again, I don't want to like make a few, make excuses in this for him. Like, because I think it really is just as simple as like when you watch it on tape, it's like if he isn't slowing down right as Jalen Hertz throws the ball, then they hit for a 60 yard touchdown and they pretty much put this game away. And I do think it's a really interesting parallel because like we've seen before,

when AJ's not the primary in the read, that Jalen has thrown it to them. Now, this is a few years ago when things were a lot different, not only in the locker room dynamics, but really the dynamic between the two of them, but there's that trust element there. And I think, like, the, I don't know, I wanted to ask you about this, you know, again, like the... Well, you mentioned it.

I'm sorry, you can ask this question in a second. But, I mean, the clear, you say that clear comparison, like, that Steelers game in 2022 when, you know, Jalen throws the ball down the middle of the field to AJ on what's supposed to be a clearout route. And afterwards, AJ's celebrating is like,

you know, my quarterback's always going to keep his eyes on me. I mean, it couldn't, it could not, it could not be any different. Yeah, no, exactly. You know,

like I remember Jalen saying, like I tell these guys all the time, like just because you're not in the progression, doesn't mean the ball is not going to come your way. And it's such a departure. from that, you know, with this current offense. I want to ask you what you thought about both, like, so I'll be honest. Like, the first thing I wanted to ask you is about the locker room after when AJ and

J. and Jlin both said that they hadn't discussed it. What's that? I can hear you. I can hear you. You can't hear me still. I can't hear you. I'll reload. Okay.

All right. So, yeah, I will. I'll pull the listeners behind the curtain a little bit about what I was doing in the press box. You can hear me now? They can hear you now. Cool. All right. So the second that they missed on this, I pull my binoculars out, and I just watch AJ.

I want to see what he's doing in the aftermath of that missed opportunity. So basically, I want you to tell me if this surprises you at all. Like he comes out, he comes off the sideline. He's obviously not in for the next play after running that far. and he just walks down the sideline, and I didn't notice him talking to anybody. Like, I didn't see any exchange with, you know, Nick Siriani, Aaron Moorhead, Kevin Petulow.

And as he entered the huddle, like, I did not see him and Jalen say anything to each other. So I'm just curious from your vantage point. Like obviously, like, you know, I wasn't watching him closely the rest of the game, but I didn't notice very many conversations, if any, between AJ and Jalen on the sideline. So, again, I'm curious, like, does that surprise you at all?

That they never really addressed that. It doesn't surprise me. Now, I don't think that Jillen is necessarily in the habit of doing that in midgame in general, right? I think he's usually sort of sticking to himself on the sideline and the wide receivers are separate. But I don't know that that would have been the case three years ago. Yeah. No, that's fair. Yeah, I just, I think that there is a real trust element here that is important to keep in mind.

And I think this like dovetails into one of my bigger. takeaways from watching the film, which is that like as the Broncos transition to Moore's own coverage looks, they actually kind of got away from blitzing and just dropped seven or eight guys into coverage a lot of times. What we, what you ended up seeing a lot of the time was like, the Eagles in structure offense really lacking answers for Jalen Hertz. Like there were not very many like hit the top of your drop and find somebody in rhythm because there's somebody opened downfield. And because of that, it really became overall. rely on scramble drills.

And the nature of scramble drills is like the guy, like the receivers and Jalen need to be on the same page. They need to be thinking the same thing. Like, you know, you think about Dallas Goddard, the crossing route that he runs, where Jalen throws it upfield and Dallas like has to turn over his shoulder. There was another one of those to Jahan Dotson in the second half. And obviously the one day, AJ is not necessarily like so much like cut and dry a scramble drill, but it's kind of like that transition into a scramble drill.

And you just really saw how. these guys aren't on the same page with those. I think, like, it was really exacerbated by the fact that they just didn't have a lot of, like, there are so many instances when you're watching the tape back where it's like they ran a route concept that clearly was not designed to beat the zone coverage that they were facing. Like, there are guys blanketed in coverage, and there's just nowhere for Jayland to go with the ball. That's something we've seen a lot of from the Eagles offense this season.

But, yeah, it was really glaring, especially in that second half as they really struggled to get things going, just how, like, so much of it fell on Jalen's plate to create out of structure. Okay. I have some follow-ups, but we do have to get to a break. So we will, we will get to those momentarily and also get the rest of your big takeaways from the offense, E.J. after these words from our sponsors. Julie was going to the game tonight, the Phillies game. We're happy for her. It's weird, though, that her fiance, Dwayne invited me over to watch the game. And, you know, this was on Saturday, I get there. The place is, they couldn't watch the game.

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All right, back on the PHAY Eagles podcast. Okay, so EJ, as you were going through that game, how did you feel about the game script and the calls that Kevin Betula was making in context of what was happening in the game? Yeah, I actually, if I'm being honest, I didn't come away feeling terrible about the way that Kevin Petullo managed the game.

I know that Sequin Barclay's carries are a big conversation. And I understand that to a certain degree, but it's like, I think that those arguments need to consider that like the Eagles run game has been really, really unreliable this season. And I think like, especially if you're asking me like, okay, the Eagles are, you know, they just went three and out. The defense just gave up a touchdown. And like they need to get on the field and they just need to like kill some clock right now. I don't think that like the Eagles run game is in a place where just handing it off to SACON Barker on an inside zone is the answer. We've seen them have too many negative plays or just, you know, get behind the sticks too frequently with that run game.

So I understand that in this game, it felt more like the RPO's were the answer on the early down stuff. You know, there were a lot of, you know, completions to Dallas Goddard and Grant Calcutera in the flat. Like, you know, I actually like kind of feel like it's, I mean, I know it might be a little bit of a stretch. But I feel like when you look at the run game numbers, I almost want to include like Dallas Goddard and Grand Calcutera having almost 40 yards in reception, like, in receiving yards. Because like a lot of those- They had one of those RPO's as well. Exactly. Yeah. So a lot of a lot of that production came as a result of like leveraging Seacquan Barclay's gravity, which is something that we've been saying the Eagles offense needs to do a better job of. So I again, I understand like six carries to 40 something dropbacks is staggering. And, you know, I think even Nick Siriani said after the game, like, you know, they probably got away from the run a little bit in the second half. But I do understand like you're going up against a man heavy team. You have those RPO's that open up space in the flats. And like honestly, that stuff worked for them for us.

a lot of the time. If you ask me, like, what kept them from being able to sustain drives? Like, you know, you think about the four series where they really just could not stay on the field. The first one is an AJ has a false start. He said he was trying to block a safety. Basically, in the run game, false starts, gets them behind the sticks. And that leads to now the infamous slowdown on that drive that leads to them not being

able to sustain a drive. The next drive, it's a holding penalty from Brett Tooth on what was a productive Saquan Barkley carry. You didn't see a replay that one on the broadcast. So as you were watching, did it look like a fair call? I think it was a fair call, but I don't know. I mean, you see those. It's one of those where the guys pulled away.

It's the relevant like you can call it on any play kind of deal? Yeah, I mean, I sort of lean on it was deserved. I mean, it's one of those where the guys pulling away and Tooth just holds him for an extra tick. So I get why it was called. The next one's an illegal man downfield at the start of the 11th series. That one, I mean, it was the Steam, was pretty far downfield.

Jalen said after the game that that was on, what's that? That would be the kind of thing that most people would point to as coaching. Yeah, for sure. Jalen said after the game that that's one where he could have just, he said he could have easily handed that ball off instead of throwing the bubble screen. But, I mean, the bubble screen was open. Maybe he was a tick late getting it there. But, I mean, they had a numbers advantage and they took advantage of it.

It was just the fact that C was downfield. And then even they're like, you know, the final drive of the game, like they started with a sack. I am still, I'm still so mad about that. I mean, I know that all the drives that preceded it were better chances to score touchdowns than this opportunity. But I have, we can have a larger Jailen Hertz conversation. I feel like I am like really on his side this season.

I feel like he is playing things better than he ever has. And he's at times playing his best football. But this is a broken record from me, but these, he doesn't have, he doesn't end up in a lot of these situations because the Eagles are not often in these close games. But whenever it's an end of the half or end of the game situation where he's dealing with the clock, it's, it is always maddening. He doesn't have, it seems like he doesn't have that gene where it comes as second nature. And the first two plays of that drive, they, it takes them 40 seconds. they get the ball with a minute and six seconds left to go three yards. You can't take a sack.

And I know the pocket collapses, and that's easier said than done, but throw the ball away, you know, and if you get called for grounding, you get called for grounding. And then after you've taken the sack, you cannot just dump the ball off to Sequin Berkeley over the middle of the field. You're way better off just throwing it in the ground. Yeah, and he was quick to Selein Barkley on that, too. It wasn't like he was under duress. A quick point on the opening play, the opening sack.

honest NFL on a social media said that that's that the the concept that they called there is like unacceptable against a split safety look so and again this goes into what was my biggest takeaway which is that like there are just too many times or it feels like the route concept that's called is just not doing him any favors so because I agree with you I think I don't think this was I mean by no stretch of the imagination was this one of Hertz's cleaner games but like there have been more times where we feel like the scheme has let him down rather than him, you know, just like having turned downs like he has in the past, you're not seeing things efficiently enough. So let's get into the bigger conversation here because it wraps into this.

It has been hard to square the competing truths that, to our eyes, Jalen is playing very well, playing very well this year. And at the same time, everybody on offense is very frustrated with the scheme. and it doesn't seem like they're frustrated with the coaches, at least based on some of the vibes from last week, right? It seems like there is more frustration with Jalen. And so the possibility exists, which does help explain some of this stuff,

that Jalen himself is very involved in the game plan, right, during the week. And so part of the lack of options in the passing game, it could be that those are the concepts that Jalen likes. and it would make sense if these are Jalen's favorite concepts that he is seeing things quicker because if these are his favorite plays he knows where the answers are no matter what's coming at him

like if that were the case it would help explain those competing realities and we've we've also heard that that is something that is potentially going on I kind of believe that that is to be a case yeah I mean I just I always go back to like it's going to look the way that Jalen Hertz wants it to look. And I think that that's a, it's a really good point by you that like, is he seeing things better?

Is this his best season diagnosing, getting the ball where it needs to go? Because these are his concepts. These are the concepts he's most comfortable running and he's most confident running. So, no, I do. I think that there's evidence that like him, Kevin Petulow and Nick Siriani are sort of aligned in their vision for what this offense, what they want this offense to look like. you know, I've also found it notable that, like, there haven't, I know that after the, after the Rams game, Jalen came out and said, like, we got to stop this playing not to lose thing. That's really the only time this season that he is, and he walked, he even walked that comment back in his postgame press conference. Like,

and that was really the only time that he's spoken about wanting the offense to look a different way than it has looked. You know, AJ and Devante have obviously been pretty, pretty vocal about this. Even like, Jordan, Lata has talked before about like the want for more play action in the offense. So you've heard it from a lot of like the main characters, but you have notably not heard it as much from Jalen Hurd. So no, I think you're on to something there. I think that that's a fair observation to make. I don't really know where it leaves the Eagles off.

I mean, either. But yeah, no, I think that that's a, that's a fair conclusion or not maybe a fair, a fair inference to make. The only other shot he's taken, though, was after the game last night, as you explained on the posting show yesterday. about the calls coming in late. And I'm also been trying to figure out just what's going on there because they spent all week talking about they needed to get this better.

And, you know, as Danes put the graph out, this was their worst game of the season in getting to the line super late. And so, I mean, the explanations that are possible here are, it takes Kevin Petullo too long to decide what play he's going to call. there's an actual like kink in the uh the the the the flow the information flow does somebody have to the does kevin padjillo have to run his play call decision by nick syriani or jalen hurts like is there somebody else who has to approve it is there somebody else along the line that's that's making it uh take longer or is it jailan hurts not like not going quick enough once

he gets the call. I mean, it can only be one of those three things, right? I mean, it could be multiple of those things. Yeah, and I think that's something that, like, Nick Siriani has talked about is that it's not just one thing. I do think that there's something to that, though. I think that operationally there's something that is like, I mean, it's not, it's not like it's an aberration at this point. It's been very consistent through the season. And yeah, no, I don't, I, I understand, like, some people might be fatigued with, like, us, like, you know, parsing something that Jaylen said in a press conference, but the reality is, like, I've been listening to Jayland

do press conferences for five years now, or however long it's been. I think it's been five years. This is, he is somebody who's very, like, he's very intentional with the words that he uses. He is, like, if he, let me put it this way. Like, it's not an accident that Jalen takes a long pause and then does not answer that question yes or no. You can attribute too much meaning to but you also would would it's not wise to to just hand wave it and be like oh whatever he was just you know thinking about his answer like you know he said maybe that's what's going on is that what's that he's maybe that's what's going on is he's using that power pause as part of the as part of the play calling he's like oh i don't like this one call i'm just going to be silent for eight seconds

but no i mean he he inferred that something is going on with the operation and that it's his responsibility to make it work anyway um so yeah no i mean i mean I mean, and it's a type of thing, like, I don't know. I don't know if you watch back the illegal shift penalty on Sequin. That's another thing I have in my notes here. Like, they got to the line with like 16 seconds left. It was really that Jahan Dotson wasn't set for a few seconds thereafter. Like, the rest of the Eagles offense is set, and Jehan Dotson is sort of like looking back and forth with the ref.

And he just has, like, one last, you know, inch up toward the line of scrimmage as Sequin starts his motion. So I don't know. to me it's like, I guess all of these things can play a factor into it. If they're at the, if they're to the line three seconds earlier, then they probably can get Jahan Dotson set before the motion. Or Sequin Barkley could get set after running the exit and return motion that he runs. So I think there are a lot of different ways that it could have been avoided. But I'll be honest with you.

Like my biggest takeaway was like Dotson has to be set there. You know, like Dotson can't be like, you know, going back and forth with the ref. But to your point, that goes back to come. coaching because that goes back to like communicating with the wide receivers like if sayquins got this exit motion and there's a chance he's returning to be part of the protection everyone just needs to be set like when you get to the line there's not time to be like going back and forth with the official so and you saw the rest of the guys do it so I think that um I don't know I sort of left that one thinking it was a little bit more like individual men an individual

mental error rather than the operation which is what those guys alluded to yeah I mean it's like It's like Friends breaks into the running game last week where every play, it's something different. But that's sloppy. Yeah. All right. Time for another break. We'll get the rest of EJ's offensive takeaways after this.

And then we'll talk about the defense because I believe the defense is getting off a little bit too easy after yesterday. And I watched the film today, and I feel even stronger about that. Get your home ready for cozy season during Ashley's fall savings event happening now. Discover the season. warmest and coziest hot buys for every room in your home, from stylish living rooms to welcoming dining rooms to relaxing bedrooms, you'll find beautiful looks starting at just $299. And right now,

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It's a feeling. Visit your local Ashley Showroom and start saving today. All right, back on the PHOY Eagles podcast. What of your offensive takeaways have we not hit yet, AJ? Okay, let me pull them up here. I really, so first and foremost, we kind of hit on it earlier, but it was like staggering how the Broncos just like, I actually think it's like more of an indictment on like their first half plan of like,

oh, it's like what we do is play man coverage and blitz. So we're just going to keep doing that. Like, you know, the big completion to Devante Smith early in the game, like, they're in cover one robber. And I just, like, don't really know why you would be in cover one robber on like third and 17. Like, maybe like, okay, we're going to force a turnover. Like, we're going to steal like a backside dig or something. Because the Eagles were setting up that tendency all season long. We're only going to run the ball here.

It's going to run down for it. Yeah. It's just like what, why? Like, it's just like, it's actually like really funny to watch it back on film. But again, they sort of evolved over the game. It seemed like maybe the plan B was like, okay, like if they start to gash us in the past game through, you know, in-man coverage, then we will lean on zone coverage instead. They had a lot of instances where they had like the double mug look where they're just got all these guys up on the line of scrimmage and they just drop out of it. And I think we have a graphic on like the four-man rush put like the amount of pressure the Eagles were allowing on a four-man rush.

A lot of those did come again. like pressure looks that the Broncos dropped out of. And then Dana's had a stat that I thought was really eye-opening. The Eagles EPA per dropback against man coverage was 0.38 yesterday. And against zone, it was negative 0.31. So, you know, we've heard the Eagles skill players talk. This graphic is for the defense. We'll get to that one later.

Go ahead. Oh, sorry. Sorry about that. So, yeah, it was just like we've heard these guys talk about the fact that, like, they're going to keep getting zone looks until they can prove that they can beat them. But I think that was a big, big reason for the struggles in the second half. But the other thing is like,

like, Jaylon Herschel sacks six times in this game. And I know that some people are talking about like the protection. To me, like, I mean, a few of those sacks, sacks were like him running out of bounds behind the line of scrimmage. Right.

And a lot of, first of all, what is he doing? But it is bizarre. It's like, why not just throw that away? Like, I don't,

I imagine there's a, The first one actually thought that he got like a half a yard. I thought they had a bad spot on that one. Yeah, I don't know. The second one, yes, like, just throw the ball away. Yeah, but overwhelmingly, like, the sacks are hard to place the feet of the offensive lineman almost across the board because, I mean, the average 3.09 seconds, time to throw, which is the second highest of the season.

And generally, like, you know, like, there were, the sacks were a product of, like, nothing being opened downfield and Jalen trying, again, to lean on those scramble drills. So I actually thought, it. at least in the past game that the offensive line had a pretty good day. In the run game, I had Kim Juergens' name in my notes a few times for, you know, blown up runs, especially there was one late in the game where he just gets completely walked back into the back field and it kind of blows up an outside zone run. I'll be honest, like the Sequan illegal shift penalty, like was kind of the tip of the iceberg

for what I thought was a sneakily bad Jahan Dotson game. Yeah, like I had him in my notes a few times here. Um, so yeah, like, they, they, they targeted him on the stutter and go against man. This is, uh, like, I think it was probably the second quarter, uh, where he doesn't get his feet in bounds. And then he convinces Nick to throw the challenge, even though he clearly was not in bounds. Yeah, that one was tough. Um, and then I, uh, I had him here of the scramble drill where they turn up field, uh, or he turns up field and like, it's again, like him and Jaylen are on the same page. that's hard to like completely blame on john dotson but like again just a missed opportunity there

and then on the third and six uh they had the two-yard completion to devante smith in the fourth quarter like the the bronco sent a slot blitz and john dotson has like one of those classic like everybody's moving but he's not moving it's just like oh no i didn't realize that guy was coming off of the edge here so and that was literally the play before uh he doesn't get set for the for the illegal of the illegal shifts. So definitely definitely just a tougher a tough game for Jahan Dotson.

I don't want you know, I know it's like not the headline of the game, but I did take take note of a few things. How about Tote? Did you have any notes on Brett Toth? Honestly, not too many. I mean, the holding penalty. And then yeah, I had one

one other note on Toth. This is the third series of the game. It was a Seekwan run. I think it was a four-yard run. And I just noticed that Cam Jorgans got walked back into the exchange. And I wondered if it was because Toth didn't help him enough on the combo block, but I'm not sure. Okay. Yeah, I mean, listen, I think the macro here is like this is not a team that on the whole of the season deserves to be 5 and 0.

And so, yes, like if a bunch of those little referee decisions or, you know, other little little little. plays in the game go the other way. The Eagles probably win that game, but you could say the opposite about the Rams game, right? And maybe even the Bucks game. So, like, I don't know. This team is probably playing more like a, I think 4-1 is fair. I think 4-1 is the record that they deserve, probably. Yeah, I think that's fair. I mean, it's like, I don't know. We just grade, we grade them on such a high bar because, like, they have high aspirations, and I think we are constantly judging if they'll make it there. But overall, like, they have enough talent to win most of these matchups. All right, AJ, we have amazing in the chances. We are, we are too negative.

We're only talking about negative stuff. So what on offense did you like? I like the amount of RPO's that they ran. We were calling for them. And I think that, I mean, I said, I thought Kevin Petullo actually called a pretty good game. You know, I think they'll do. Yeah. So I haven't not rewatched yet. No, I mean, I thought like there was more creativity in like, you know, some of the early down stuff to keep them on schedule. Again, it's like, it's hard to lay a lot of the penalties at the feet of like Kevin Petullo. I think that's probably more of a Nick Siriani and really just the players. So, yeah, I thought that the RPO involvement was good.

I thought there, the way that the, the Sequin touchdown, right? Oh, yeah. Well, I think that was a check from Jaylen. But yeah, I like that. Yeah, I mean, you can tell like, you said, you said, He did a little shrug, did he? He did, yeah. Yeah, I mean, no, I thought that was like a perfect, I mean, obviously,

Mina Kimes coined that. But, but yeah, no, I thought it was like just a good example of like, this is man coverage and we can take advantage of our matchup. Like, we can take advantage of Sequin Barkley being matched up with Alex Singleton. Yeah, it did look like a check from Jalen Hertz, but no, it was a well executed play. I even thought, like, the balance, especially to start the game, was good. I thought that like there was more just like easy buttons to guys like AJ Brown, Devante Smith.

Now, again, those kind of went away by the second half. But yeah, I don't know. I don't think we're being overly negative. I think that we're viewing it as a whole. And offensively, they, I mean, they were negative about it in the locker room. They did not play very well. So I think the real negativity is going to come from you because to me, I don't know how you're going to try and lay this at the feet of the defense.

I don't know how you're going to try and pin them into the wall. they were in the field a lot. So I really, I want to hear, I don't watch the film. They couldn't get stops either. They got, they give up a lot of first downs. We'll get there. All right. Let's take our last break.

And then on the other side, we're going to hear your super chats. And then, yes, I'm going to explain why. I don't, I don't think the defense played a particularly good game yesterday. And I think Sean Payton actually really outcoached Vic Fangio yesterday. But first, we talk about our friends at Bet365. You know it's not ordinary with Bet, bet three six five and you know what we got the big fillies game tonight maybe maybe the phillies

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You bet. Bet parks. Gambling problem, call 1-800 gambling. All right. back on the page of why Eagles podcast, let's run through the super chats first. And then we'll get to my thoughts on the defense, starting with CDP. As Siriani's emphasis on collectivism blocked the Eagles killers from excelling. It's more individualism needed.

Should I stop reading Ayn Rand? Sure, yes. Nikki loves music. We see what good coaching and adjustments look like on defense. Haven't seen it on offense in four years. Something's got to give. Philly 1727, E.J. If the season derails, does Nick get fired?

No, I don't think so. I mean, it took Doug an extra season. I do find it hard to believe that he would get fired this year. It's crazy that we're talking about that, let's just say. It lost their first game. The calendar year that Jill and Ernst finished. No, I don't think so. Sensei, Sergio, do we quibble with this offense if Dodson gets his feet in

or AJ runs routes or we don't kill drives with those penalties, play calling or execution. I think that's fair. I mean, at some point, we can't just blame coaching for players not executing. Yeah, I mean, yeah, I think we, but I think we talked about this and like, if AJ catches that pass, like they run away with the game. Like, I don't know. It's like they're a thin margins, and I don't think that there's anything wrong with that.

Temple tough, not excusing penalties, but if you take them away, does the offense feel different? as in better than previous weeks, maybe a small positive sign. I thought this was a good passing design. I thought so. Yeah, I mean, like I said, I think there were some encouraging moments.

They still are worryingly, like, prone to just having a stretch of three and outs in the worst possible time. They have to figure that out. But that's more of a function of the run game and, again, the penalties against the Broncos. So, yeah. All right.

Let's get to the defense. All right, Julia, flash up the success rate graphic here. These are the worst defensive performances for the Eagles by success rate since Vic Fangio got here. So the worst of those was week one this year against Dallas at 49.2%. And what you see on there is two of the games from the start of last season, right, that Falcons game and the Bucks game. We all remember those games. And then you also see three games from this year. And coming in at the sixth worst performance is yesterday's game against.

against the Broncos, where it was just a 53.2 defensive success rate. Yesterday's game, E.J., the scoreboard was lying about how well the Eagles defense was playing yesterday. They gave up a lot of successful plays. Sean Payton had a good plan coming in yesterday, and Bo Nix let him down a couple times. But here's how they're, like, let's just run through their drives, okay? first drive of the game ends on a Cortland Sutton drop. It's a good throw by Bo Nix. Cortland Sutton gets behind Devante Smith.

It's that diving play down the sideline, and he misses him. And that play, by the way, there are three guys wide open for Bo Nix to throw to, and he chooses the one who's the least wide open in Cortland Sutton, but still makes a good throw. And if that ball is completed, they're in scoring territory. They probably get a field goal or something like that. Second drive, they go 32 yards and get a field goal. third drive, and this is like indicative of what I'm talking about, this is the drive that ends on the Zadaria Smith sack. But you know what happens on the play right before that on second and long?

Bonix sails a should be touchdown to Trent Sherfield, who gets behind Keeley Ringo and Zach Bonn. And Bo Nix overthrows it. Should have been a touchdown. And they're, I mean, they're already at like the 35-yard line. And then the sack comes from Zadari-Smith puts them out of field. go range and they have to punt. That's a seven-point swing. They should have at least had,

they should have had 10 points. And if that had been Jillyn Hertz, we would be talking about that's, you know, that's exact. Now, I'm not comparing Knicks to Hertz, but I'm saying we would be pricing that into the score of the game. It's the same thing as the AJ Brown thing.

If A.J. Brown stops running. If Bonex doesn't sail Trent Sherfield, they've got 10 points. Fourth drive, they did a good job. They gave up a first down, but then Azizzo Jolari had like probably the only good individual four-man rush I saw all day long. Like, we'll get to the pass rush, but this is a very good Broncos offensive line.

But the pass rush is a real problem right now. I mean, the Zadari-Smithsack comes. It's a nice game they play with Jalen Carter picking off his man and Zadari-Smith explodes inside. But like in terms of just like lining up one-on-one against your guy, this O'Jolari rush was like the only good one all day long. Um, fifth drive, which is at the, uh, at the end of the first half, uh, Knicks misses a throw on, on second and medium, it's like a checkdown to Tyler Beatty, I think that would have set up third and short. That one, you sort of price in. That's not a terrible miss, but that they could have kept the ball going. They were, they had already moved the ball a little bit. Uh, six drive is the end of the half. And that's the one where they actually got, Eagles got lucky that they picked up that pass interference on Ringo down the field. Do you think it was lucky or do you think that it was? I thought it was the right call, but I, but I, but I, but I, but I, but I, feel like it's lucky that it actually got picked up. Okay. Yeah. What I mean?

And then, from then on, the last four drives of the game, Broncos get exactly what they want. They, oh, no, I'm sorry. There's one more here where they don't score, which is they get into field goal range, and then that grounding happens, the grounding that they did call on Bo Nix. So that one pulls them out of field goal range,

but they were into field goal range. And then the next one is they get a touchdown. the next one they get a touchdown, then the next one they go all the way down into the Eagles red zone until the final field goal. So this was not a dominant defensive performance. And I got to tell you, E.J.,

I stand even more firmly about what I thought after the game. Quinion Mitchell, I'm sorry. You can be in tight coverage. That's fine. He's going one-on-one against Cortland Sutton. Cortland Sutton had a very big day. And there were three plays in this game where they were like,

got to have it moments, two in particular, where Quignan Mitchell is the one at fault. There's the third and long, the third and 16, where, you know, Cortland, this is a good throw by Bow Nix. He comes inside and Quignan slips.

He slips. And then Blanket ship misses the tackle and they go down to the 11 yard, line and score touchdown on the next play. That's a bad job by Quinion. That ball has to come out quick. There are only so many places it can go, and I think he needed to do better there. But he slips. It's not like he had poor technique.

It's not like, you know, it's just he slips. So I don't know. I guess like my counterpoint is just like what, what do you like? But if we're, I mean, last week we're talking about this guy is maybe he's the best corner in football. Yeah, but it's even the best quarterback. I mean, Sertan got beat by AJ a couple of times. And it's just the nature of good offense will be good defense sometimes. Okay.

Well, but I mean, this one. And then the next one, the other one, the third and like 11 or whatever, where the ego send a blitz, this was, he got beat on this play. You know, Corlin Sutton is lined up tight to the formation. He's got the whole sideline to work with. So Quignon is lined up to his outside because he knows he needs to have outside leverage. And then Coralynne does him a little move inside and Quinyan turns, like half turns. And then all of a sudden, Coralynne Sutton goes to the outside. And it looks like tight coverage because Bo Nix sort of floats this ball, but it's it's wide open.

Like he loses that rep. And there were a couple other plays that he lost. Coehan Mitchell is a very good player. I'm not, you know, he's allowed to have a game that's not his best game. But I didn't think he had a particularly good game in this game. And I actually didn't think, you know, Zach Bond played up to his level in this game. Like, I'm telling you, I came into this game. I came into watching it today.

I mean, like, okay, maybe I was too harsh yesterday. And I felt even more the opposite. Like I thought Sean Payton had a really good design. And I knew he think he knew exactly what was coming a lot of the time. And I do think a big part of the problem is the pass rush because Vic keeps having to sort of figure out ways to create for it. I mean, there were, I think I counted four snaps in this game where they do the exchange where Cooper DeGine comes as a pass rusher. But one of the edge guys dropped so it's still a four men rush. But like, I don't know.

Cooper DeGine might be the best head rusher on the team. I don't know. Yeah, I mean, I think the lack of pass rush is legitimate. I also think that, you know, there's not, Jalen Carter is not having quite the impact. Well, it is just not having the impact that you'd hope. I think he is more of like, it sounds strange to say, but it's like he's more of like a reputation player right now than like an impact player. He's like he's got gravity to open up other guys that Aery Smith's sack comes because of the attention that Jalen Carter commands. But you're right.

They're not getting as much up front as you would expect. I have a hard time like thinking that this game is really a reflection of Quinyan Mitchell. You can say they didn't play well in certain instances, but like there's not, I'm not saying he's not a good player. Or I'm not,

I mean, you said it needs to be better. I just, I don't know. I don't, I, watching the catches that he gave up for most of the game, I'm just like,

you know, well-placed passes to a physical receiver like Cortland Sutton. There's not that much he's going to be able to. I think you let him off easy. I think you let him off easy. Okay, maybe I am. I just,

I think that he's earned the benefit of the doubt in that. So I don't know. And here's the bigger issue. And yes, I know that we all believe, especially after seeing it play out last season, that Vic Vanjo is, you know, deserves to be trusted that he's going to get these guys playing better as the season goes on. But where do you think they rank in success rate as a defense over the course of the season? Oh, probably not great because they're not, they have not been stopping the run well.

And that is like, you know, because I think what, you know, what we're talking about is like the, the like aberration of one game versus like actual concerns moving forward like there's going to be a team that just tries to run at this at this eagles defense for an entire game and they haven't really proven that they can stop that so um because of that i imagine that they are low uh on the on the success rate rankings yeah they're 22nd in the league in in overall success rate they're also 22nd in run defense success rate last year they were 10th which is actually a little bit lower than i expected they were third in the league and in overall success rate, again, 22nd. But last year they were second in EPA per drive. This year they're 10th because they're getting turnovers. Maybe that game changes yesterday if they get the turnover on the overturned Dijin

fumble. See, that's what I'm saying. For me, yesterday's defensive performance was very similar to the same stuff we're talking about on offense where eventually

the stuff you're doing is going to come home to roost. in like within this game that's what happened on defense. They didn't, they weren't playing like a team that had given up three points three quarters on defense essentially.

Yeah, I don't know. I, five bow nicks, misthrows or drops. Like, you know. But we could play that game with the Eagles offense too. Like,

we could play that game most weeks where it's like, well, if AJ Brown catches that pass and the game's over and then this looks a lot different because the Broncos' offense is one dimensional.

And that's like what I really want to convey here The Eagles offense has consistently put the defense in bad positions. You know, they've, and this was the first time that they did not bail the offense out. And I just, I think it's a little bit too early in the season to like, well, really, it's just like given the way the first four games go, like, when I don't think it's fair to say that like the defense has much culpability of this one. I just, they were on the field for 70 plays, you know, the, the Broncos doubled their time of possession in the second half. 70 plays, though, in part because they were giving up, like, Yeah, but they also, they also, again, the Broncos double the time, the Eagles time of possession in the second half.

And that's, like, I know that it's not hot. Like, I know that I think the broadcast mentioned, like, oh, you know, it's a warm day. It was like 84. But I just think it doesn't matter if it's hot. At some point, it's just like they were on the field a lot in the second half. So, I mean, they held the Broncos to six of seven punts. And, you know, for a stretch in the second half before being on the field a lot. And again, I think that there's also an element.

I only watched a couple of those final drives back in the defense. But the thing that stood out to me is how often, like, the Broncos wide receivers had just out leveraged the Eagles that secondary. There were just times where it felt like Sean Payton did do a good job scheming guys open, whether it was with crossing routes. Like, you know, there was a, there was, I actually think it was an incompletion, but I wrote it down anyway because there was a cross there. It was like a three-level flood concept. And like Jehad Campbell and Cooper to Gene are both. chasing after somebody. And it just felt like there were too many of those instances.

And yeah, they have not been good against the wrong in a way that I think is actually mildly concerning going into this next phase of the season. So I don't really think that I'm not, I'm still not buying it. Again, you watch the tapes. I'll have to defer to you a little bit here, but I'm still not buying that the defense had like a real like high stake in responsibility when they held a team to, you know, 21 points. But I hear you. I know that there were other opportunities there.

Yeah. Yeah, there's a difference here between projecting and just talking about this game in particular. But yeah, I did not think that they played a particularly good game here. We're talking about the, you know, like the difference between like a well-coached offense. Like this did look like a very well-coached offense. You know, they're presenting different problems. They have different answers. I don't think, you know, I was a little bit more impressed with Bo Nix on the rewatch than I was live.

But I don't think he's particularly. Well, were you more impressed with like the final two drives or the game? as a whole because nothing thing about it is like for like three quarters like you could have made an argument like this eagles defense was like proving that it's the best defense in football just maybe not like the little like oh what it but others didn't bear that out yeah i know i hear what you're saying but it's just like i don't know you could also say the same thing about the eagle's offense in the in the sense that like they're very efficient in the red zone and if they were not so efficient in the red zone they wouldn't be as good it's like well yeah obviously so i don't know i i i i i don't know i i i

I just, I don't really think that there was any, I don't have much, many long-term concerns about the Eagles defense after this game. I think it's fair to say that, like, they didn't, I think it's fair to say that, like, they didn't bail the Eagles offense out and make a play to win the game. But I don't think it's fair to expect them to do that every week. I mean, they had three, they had three drives to make, to make that play, and they weren't able to. And I will tell you what, what I do think is the real concern about the defense, E.J. in,

Bovertide. So let's flash up that other graphic, Julia, about the, you know, the four-man pass rush because this is less about,

you know, how are the Eagles going to solve this? And more about just, this is such a different kind of Eagles defense than we are used to seeing. So this is the past decade where the Eagles rank

in quarterback hits only from four-man rushes. And obviously this is not perfect because it's a volume and it's not just based on dropbacks. But we're used to the Eagles, you know, Howard Roseman building this team around a fierce four-man rush up front. They're rotating guys. They don't have to blitz a lot. And they're going to get after the quarterback. And there's one year in the preceding nine years when they were outside the top 10 in this. And that's

2021. You see they ranked first a couple times, even ninth last year with Big Fangio. And right now they're 25th in this. And they're just, I mean, they're not getting home. You can see, that Vic Fandio is worried about this, given all the things he's doing to try to manufacture pass rush. And I don't know that this is getting solved, especially if Jalen Carter is going to continue to be obviously hampered. Yeah, I don't know.

It's like, to me, the thing that just keeps bouncing around in my head is like, this team's not built to like be in these types of games. Like, in a way that we're not used to. They're not really like this is a team that is built to win games 31 to 27, 31 to 21. I don't know. They're young on defense. They're talented on defense. But and to your point, like the four-man rush thing, like, it just feels like they have a trade to make there more than anything else.

But I don't know. I just, I don't, I think like the more and more I think about it, the more I disagree with you on like the defense being the thing. So, no. I mean, yeah. Like, you know, I didn't watch the, I didn't watch the tape back. But, like, I don't know. I just, I have a hard time. It was the opposite of the Bucks game.

This is probably why we disagree on it. It's because I watched the offensive tape, but I'm like, man, these guys really did not do that. They just kept shooting themselves in the foot. They did not take control of the game. And, like, on the flip side, you watch the defense. So I bet you if we watch the inverse, we would probably have a little bit more common ground.

What was the opposite of the Bucks game? The Bucks game, they, down in, down out, they were very good, but they gave up a couple explosive plays. They didn't kill up explosive plays in this game, but they were getting drip drabbed down the field. And, you know, that's part of the Fangio design, right, is you're daring the offense to maintain, you know, that pace and they weren't able to do it. They were, there were plays at the end of drives that killed it.

But yeah, like, this was not a dominant defensive performance for most of the game, even when they- Yeah, I would agree with that. Yeah. Well, actually, for most of the game. of the game, I would say, maybe not dominant, but very solid. And then at the end of the game, it was anything but. So I get what you're saying. I think, go ahead.

No, you go. Go ahead. No, no. You finish your thought, because mine is totally separate. No, I was just going to say, and like, to the, to the, like, four-man rush point, like, they do not, I think that is maybe a part that we aren't, like, well, at least I wasn't considering enough is how many of those instances, it's like, they just need to be, they need pressure here.

So, yeah, are they like on pace to be as good as they were last year, especially after yesterday? Maybe not quite, but I still think like they have more, they've done more than enough for the Eagles to be five and now, in my opinion. The Broncos offensive line very good. Like the run blocking from the size was very impressive. And there was a nice variety to the runs that they were calling on the positive side. I thought Johan Campbell had a very good game in run defense. the Maccuba play on the bond penalty was a very nice play by him. There was a talking on the coaching, the play that started the final drive for the Broncos

to me was a great example of a well-coached team. They're up 18, 17, with five minutes left. And I think we all would expect if the Eagles had the ball in this situation, up one, first down, you know, you're getting run for sure. like the Eagles are going to try to run clock. They're going to see if they can just pick up the first downs with the run. And Peyton calls, you know, that play action, a little flip to the left side to add a Troutman that, you know, it's wide open.

So it's a nice call. He's trusting his second year quarterback to throw the ball in this situation when you know that you need to run clock. And then Troutman also makes the very heads-up play where like he's going towards out of bounds and then he cuts inside to just to go down in bounds to keep the clock running. It was like this is this is an operation where everybody knows what they're supposed to do. Maybe I should go back and watch this just to like see, see some of that offensive synchronicity, as Jalen Hertz would say, synchronization.

So yeah, definitely was not experiencing that watching the Eagles offense. Jordan Davis has played more snaps. He's played 12 snaps this season on third and four or longer. he only played five all last year. So he is getting, he had three of them in this game, I think. So they are trusting, Vic is trusting him a little bit in,

in must rush situations. How do you feel about his run game, or his contributions against the run? I, again, I only watched a few plays and really just one or two drives of the Broncos, but I did have him down

as someone who got, someone who kind of struggled against the run, at least on one of those series. It was, this was a little bit more, of the flash play, bad play variety. Okay. And I do want, like, you know, the other guys get paid to and all that.

And this is a good front. Yeah, it's a good friend. Yeah. There were a couple plays in particular where I don't remember seeing both Carter and Jordan Davis get moved off the ball at the same time on the same play. I think there's two or three of those where I was like, ooh, that's interesting. I got on J.K. Dobbins, 13-yard run. It was a second and four late in the game. Carter gets double-teamed

and then, yeah, what stood out to me is that Davis like, Garrett Bowles, like, seals him off and, like, he does it from like an out-leveraged position. Like, he has to, like, get across Jordan Davis's face and then seal him off. It's a really tough block and he just did it perfectly and basically just spring Dobbins for a 13-yard run. And, yeah, like, Carter gets double-team there,

gets pulling off the ball. It's easier to understand Carter's, you know, Carter losing that than Davis letting somebody beat him with quickness and then power on the other side of it. So again, that was just one play. So I definitely defer to you, but it sounds like you saw a lot of the same stuff. A couple other things, just leftovers in the notes.

And then I have one thing that I want to throw by it that I've been thinking. I have a question for you too. So where was I? Sorry. Oh, there are a couple other other mis-calls in this game. I mean, if we're just throwing miscall on there, there was that one run wide to the right,

where Cooper to Gene. is in the backfield and it's very clearly held if I can find it. But that's like that was a bad miscall. And then there was a third play that should have been grounding on Bownix early in the early in the in the first half when he's rolling left and just throws it to absolutely nobody

and doesn't get it to the line of scrimmage. Like I do, I, the grounding rules do make me very bad. I, to me like, I just can't believe that their explanation for the one was like, yeah, the audio equipment wasn't working. Just like, like, it's just like conspiracy theory fodder. It's just in a very acute way. So I don't know.

Okay, you'll ask me your question while I look and see if I have any other leftovers and then I'll tell you. Okay, I've got two, one quick one and then one that probably warrants a discussion. So the Eagles get that, had that toss play to Saquan Barkley. It's like the same side toss out of like Fran's favorite. Well, I guess it's really my favorite. the Y-Y formation. And then the next play,

they, like, run a play action fake off of the toss. So I want to know, like, you didn't watch it, but, like, again, they run the toss, and then the next play, it's like, all right, we're going to fake it. To me, it feels a little Mickey Mouse. It's a little bit like... Can you do it right away? Like, yeah, it's like, you know,

you, like, it almost felt like, it almost felt like if you come into the podcast and you've got one stat you're really excited about and you just use it in the first, 45 seconds and then you harp on it again like 22 seconds later. Like yeah, like let that breathe a little bit, you know? It's good that you have it. It's good that like you guys have like, listen, like I am not begrudging the Eagles

offense for having play action fakes that, you know, actually marry up to the looks and the formations that they run out of. But like it kind of felt like you should have let that breathe for a series or two before just like ripping it out, ripping it out right then and there. So I don't know. I don't know if that's me being nitpicky, but it kind of did feel a little bit like, oh, they'll never see this cut.

Travis in the chat says, they said the same thing live. It's like, oh, the fake already. Exactly. It's just like, let it breathe just for a few plays. My bigger question for you is, are you, after watching the defense and being the one,

who is concerned about the Eagles defense? Well, hold on, hold on. I'm saying they didn't play that great yesterday. That's what I'm saying. You said this is the Sean Desai experience all over again. Okay, okay. I see what you're doing. That's fine.

But as someone who has maybe some concern about the defense, are you more concerned about the Eagles run game or the defense? It's a good question. I think that I am more concerned about the defense as a whole. Hmm. Wow. Because I do think that even if they can't get the run game going, I do think that they will still be able to pass the ball efficiently.

I would say I'm more worried about the offense than the defense, but if we were just siloing it to the run game, then yes, I would say I would say a little bit more concerned about the defense. I go the other way. I definitely am more concerned about the Eagles run game. I think I'm not quite at like a panic. You can convince me. I don't feel strongly about this.

I'm not quite out of panic, but if the Eagles run game in particular at the offensive line, like obviously Landa Dickerson leaves this game with an ankle injury, and like we'll see if he can, make a speedy recovery for the Giants game on Thursday. Honestly, should he? Like, he's already got the knee at the back. Like, it kind of feels like he needs some time off.

If you told me that, like, this run game looks this way against the Packers on the other side of the buy week, I'm going to have some real concerns about what this team looks like. Just because I hear what you're saying, like other teams insulate for a shaky run game. We just haven't seen the Eagles do it. I'm not sure that they're equipped to do it, as was, you know, illustrated yesterday. I think, like, they can try and scheme up some, like, staying on schedule plays through the RPO's and maybe some perimeter plays. But I don't know. Like, for them to be the offense that we kind of expect them to be with how much talent they have,

I think the run game needs to get going and they have to figure out how it's going to how it's going to happen. I think the buy week is going to be important, though. Like, how that offensive line looks on the other side of the buy, I think will determine a lot of things. I think you might have convinced me. Okay. I mean, they need to get it. They do need to get it fixed. Yeah, yeah.

I mean, I'm sorry. I'm still happy about my shot aside 2.0 to get you. That's right. I want to circle back on the, on the, on, when I said, I didn't think Bonn had a great game. I mean, this is again, to his level. Like, if we're talking about the best linebacker on football, he got washed out of a few run plays. He missed Bo Nix in the open field on that one scramble. I just, you know, I, I think his eyes, he got misdirected a couple times.

Again, you tip the gap to Sean Payton, but, you know, we've got high standards for these guys. There's, they're in conversation for the best in the league at their position. So that's all. Yeah. I still haven't looked to see if Zach Bond had a PBA in the middle of the field. I don't think of them. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. I mean, meanwhile, Cooper DeGine, I mean, we need to have the conversation again about who's the best player in the defense because he needs to be involved in that conversation. Yeah. Some of the stuff he's doing is, I mean, just ridiculous. Like, to your point, like, he's good blitzing off of the edge. He's, you know, usually strong against the run. You know, I guess there are a few times where you want him to set the edge.

But again, you're at, he's, the thing is, like, they ask him to do so many difficult jobs, and he's up to doing a lot of those jobs. Like, yeah, you could make an argument that he is the, maybe the most talented player. Jalen Card is probably most talented. Yeah. Playing the best, I think you can make an argument for Cooper to G. Yeah. All right, here's my big picture, I'm not big picture, but my thing we haven't talked about yet,

that I do think is coming home to Roost a little bit. We've talked about the offensive line we're worried about, right? And given the injuries that they've had, it would be nice to have somebody in the coffer who they were excited about getting into the lineup. I go back to the trade down they made in the third round this year. they moved down five spots to pick up a 2026 fifth round pick. And in that, they lose the two offensive linemen, who they were thinking of potentially drafting at that spot,

both Charles Grant and Caleb Rogers, who both got drafted by the Raiders, which is I think why the Eagles didn't think that they were both going to get drafted. So then the Eagles parachute down, and they draft Ty Robinson. Ty Robinson, whose reason for drafting him is that this guy's going to help, us early. He's 24 years old. He's ready to get on the field. He played one snap yesterday, can't do like can't get on the field. And if they hadn't gotten too cute there, now listen,

Caleb Rogers and, um, uh, Charles, he hasn't got on the field yet. There's still backups for the Raiders. But if you, you know, if you believed in the players and you get them with, uh, Jeff Stadlin, you think that, uh, you know, you'd be happy to have them playing when Steen or Dickerson goes down. I think that decision like you're already seeing it come home to Roos. I don't think I don't I mean listen we're this is a real nitpick where you know where it's 74 minutes into the show but I think this is one that actually really hurts them

because they need some exciting depth on the offensive line and they had one there and they got a little too cute there. Yeah, I agree. And you know, whenever draft takes come out, I think it's always important to like remember whether this is something you'd said in the time, and this is something we said at the time, is that they missed out on that run of offensive linemen.

Yeah, they also missed out on that run of tight ends in the second round, and you wonder how that would affect things. So, yeah, no, I think that there is. I also, like, Mukuba has played well. Sure. But that pick that they traded down from in the third round was Xavier Watts. They could have just drafted Xavier Watts there, and they would have back there from, you know, second offense.

I was Watth playing. Let me see if I can play well. Yeah, yeah, he's got two picks. And Benner-Slinger is playing well who went after that? Xavier Watts has two picks already. And that's like exactly what you would have predicted for him, given how he played in college. So, yeah, it's an interesting what if.

That's all. Who would the tight end of it? Not, in fact, wearing a Ty Robinson jersey. This is my red pH-L-Y. There we go. That was boldly you to move the camera. I would be terrified to touch my camera. Not that ball. I'm not naked.

Yeah, no, I'm just saying, like, I wouldn't touch my camera. I'm just looking at it stresses me out. All right. Anything else that you want to talk about, E.J.? No, I don't think so. I appreciate that you gave me some time to talk about the Mickey Mouse thing. No, I think we hit on most of it. You're ridiculous AI got us off track so early on.

I thought you'd be interested in hearing what AI came up with because it worked. That's like such a pathetic use case. If you think about it in a smoothie, Like a banana, it's the reason I needed to ask AI is because you really can't, you can't make a smoothie without the banana in my opinion. You got to go frozen fruit, but fresh banana specifically. It's a texture thing. It really is the texture setter. You know, it's the tone setter for the whole smoothie.

And I just didn't know what you could use to like compensate for it. And applesauce worked out well. Yeah, you're not selling. It's not applesauce as a replacement that. you need to sell me on. It's having to use AI to figure that out. All right. I'm going to Google banana. You're going to turn off the AI on the Google too. Yeah. Well, no, see, applesauce isn't in here. What else is in there? I'm sure there are lots of things that could have worked. Frozen avocado. Dates. This is a frozen zucchini and tofu. This is why I use AI goes.

Frozen mango? No, none of that would have worked. You don't know that. Why do you implicitly trust AI's Apple sauce recommendation, but not the other ones? Here's the thing. I felt like AI would have been able to read through the human submissions on what were good substitutes more quickly than I could have done. Again, I'm not in the tank for AI. I'm not Mr. AI.

I'm not on AI all day. This is a very specific. You're happy that the economy is going to be tanked by this unbelievable bubble that is completely unprofitable. You love that. Just like you think that this is 2023 for the Eagles defense all over again. No, I just... The only thing you love more than AI is Dorian Thompson Robinson. Oh, no.

This could end poorly for me. No, I don't use it much, but there isn't. And like, usually I'm aligned with you. Like, though, the, no, I think it's great. I think it's great that they're stealing all of the world's artwork and, you know. I just needed, I just needed a substitute. I think that's right. The Smith household is running a little low.

We need to make a grocery run. You know, we got to be better. Well, I got to, no, I got to be better. Let me make that clear. Nobody's going to accuse me to throw my wife under the bus here. Got to get to the grocery store. And as listeners of the show will know, sometimes like the 20 minutes before the podcast, they can be chaotic for me, you know, whether it's like spilled coffee or just like, honestly,

there's been some dog emergencies before the pod before. So I just needed to get the smoothie done and get in here and work that well. All right. Well, they'll do it for the PHA of my Eagles podcast. Make sure you like the video, everybody. Subscribe to the channel, all that good stuff. We're back tomorrow, 2 o'clock, a short week here. So tomorrow's locker room.

The only day the locker room is going to be open for the Eagles. So we got Jamie and Rich, maybe EJ checking in depending on the locker room schedule. Then Wednesday, we're going to have a four-hander, baby. EJ, Fran, Daniz, myself. The pollycule continues. It'll be a lot of fun for our preview before the game on Thursday night. Enjoy the Phillies game tonight, everybody. Thank you, E.J.

Hopefully, enjoy it. Yeah. Thank you, Julia. Thank you, Fran, and the chat. We'll talk to you tomorrow with 2 o'clock, and as always. We love you.