PHLY Philadelphia Eagles Podcast - Eagles Film Review: Fran Duffy explains how Jalen Carter, Eagles Defense DOMINATED

Episode Date: December 29, 2025

It’s a snappy-snap Monday as Fran Duffy breaks down what you need to know about the dominant defensive performance by Jalen Carter, Jordan Davis, Jalyx Hunt, Zack Baun, Cooper DeJean and co. in their throttling of Josh Allen and the Bills offense. And yes, we’ll also discuss why Jalen Hurts and Nick Sirianni’s offense couldn’t muster more than one first down in the second half. Plus, do you play the starters this weekend or not? 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 PHAI Eagles show live from the Xfinity Studio and presented by Bet365 and Ashley. It's a Monday. It's raining. And the Eagles have to decide whether to play for the two seed or rest up for the playoffs. I'm Bo Wolf. They got E.J. Smith over there doing his best Bo Wolf impersonation. And we got the great friend Duffy here

To break down the screen grabs And everything else about the game yesterday How are you guys doing? Doing great Better than EJ having to get off an airplane And come right here But yeah, doing all right That was the flight

It was good I just slept in a little bit Like three minutes Whatever I'm moving past that It was good I was glad that it didn't get canceled and I'm glad that I could make the show.

You know, last time it was a road game. I'm so mad you took this from you. I was going to do this at the top of the show. I shouldn't have mentioned it. I was going to say, last time when there was a road game, there was some talk about E.J. not being in the studio. I don't hear that talk anymore. Not so much anymore.

That's so good. So good. All right, we've got a lot to get to. Fran is going to break down what was unbelievable defense. performance against the bills. He's also going to tell us, you know, what the offense can do, what they didn't do, what is driving you most crazy about watching that second half performance. But let's start, let's get into the big takeaway presented by our friends at Xfinity

as we sort of analyze how things set up here. So because the bears lost last night, it's pretty simple for the Eagles. If they win on Sunday and the bears lose to the lions, they will be the two seed. If either of those two things does not happen, they will be the three seed. So I want to know what you guys think. First, what you would do about this because the calculation is the benefit of the two-seat versus the three-seed.

Obviously, you're guaranteed at least two home games. You get a more favorable first-round matchup, chance you get the NFC championship game at home, times the likelihood of beating the commanders with your starters and the bears who are two and a half-point favorites over the lines holding on versus the benefit you would get from resting the guys also keeping in mind there's a good chance your backups could still beat the commanders right and so you'd still get that shot how would you play it if you were you were in charge

fran i think i would lean rest in this scenario uh especially like after watching the offensive film i think uh cam jergins landin dickerson i think those guys could benefit for some time with the defense you know playing of the amount of snaps they did uh in this game i think there are a few guys on that side that could certainly use some rest. I do agree that in, you know, in theory, on paper, their backup should be able to win. Now their starters struggled to win that game last week. But I think I lean more towards her, especially we saw Jalen Phillips go out briefly in this game. I saw Sequin Barclay go out briefly in this game. Like, God forbid, like something happens to one of those guys that, you know, and it's what 2023 happened with

AJ Brown. And now they miss that first game. You don't want that to happen. So I think I would lean rest. Jay, how about you, and then tell me what you think your sense is? I think I would, I agree with Fran. I do think that, like, the value of the two-seat. I think we've really, we have shown that we value in the two-seat, right? Yes. Not only because of the match-up that it grants you against the Packers, but also just generally, you know, what it means in the later rounds of the playoffs.

But with that said, I think that the rest that you can afford the guys. I know you framed it this way before. It's like a holistic view of the playoffs versus that, initial week, where you feel like the rest will benefit you. What's your best chance to get to the Super Bowl? Exactly, yeah. And I do think that there is a really strong argument there. It's funny, if you had, if you had asked me before this game, I would have told you that

I really thought there was a strong possibility that they would rest a lot of the starters against the commanders. I'm wavering a little bit on that, but I still feel like, I don't know. I really have wavered a lot in the last, like, few hours on that one, I would say. I think that it's I think at the very least what I would say is it's going to be a real discussion in the building this week but maybe they will decide that the two seats too valuable to rest the starters for it is one where you would imagine that there is not going to be lockstep I would imagine there are different camps in the building and you would probably think that I would probably think that I would probably prefer they get the rest I would think that how I would want that I would I feel very confident that Jalen wants to play yeah he said his mind you know right absolutely would welcome the opportunity yeah and I don't know I

don't know if you can even really truly split the difference because I don't know you're getting the benefit right that way right like you're still exposing them to injury what how much score we're watching are you doing when are you gonna pull that when you're gonna feel comfortable pulling the plug I don't know it's difficult now it's also you can't just rest everybody you know right it's still guys three men roster you can only promote two guys from the practice squad let's take a look actually what what what a projected lineup might look like

if the Eagles were to rest everybody and tell me if you think this group could beat the commander so you've got Tanner McKee Tank Bigsby Jahan Dotson, Grand Caceterra now the offensive line is tough I think you probably go

Fred Johnson left tackle Brett Tooth left guard Drew Kendall at center Steen has to play and then Matt Prior at right tackle you got Kyle and Granson flown in there and then I don't know you're probably promoting like

Jake what's his name from the practice squad to be a game day backup. But like there's not a lot of O-line depth. Right. Defense is easier. Ushay, Byron Young, Ty Robinson. I'm waving A.J. Dylan and promoting Patrick Johnson back to the 53-Men roster here. Smile Mondin, Jeremiah Trotter, Jacorian Bennett, Brandon Johnson, Sidney Brown, Marcus Hepps. He had to get Brandon Johnson on that.

I thought about Mack McWilliams, but listen, they've been promoting Brandon Johnson. He's going to get in there. I mean, I think that that was actually well-earned for Brandon Johnson. I didn't think that this was like chicanery from Bo. I think I wanted to point out that we talk a lot about like, oh, well, you saw how getting the two seed worked for the Eagles last year. We've also seen what playing the starters for seeding implications in the final week, the risk of it in 2023 when A.J. Brown got a hamstring injury going into the playoffs.

I think it was against the Giants leading into that Bucks game. He, I think it was a hamstring or a knee? I think it was a hammie. Okay, yeah. Okay. So, yeah, I think that like you see the risk there. But yeah, I mean, everybody who matters who is banged up at all should not be playing. Yeah, but I think.

Even guys who are, like, reasonably healthy, you're still taking on risk for your impact players. So I think that's got to be a big part of the calculus. But I don't think that that's how they're wired. I think, I think they are going to play guys. I was thinking this morning about the 2017 season going into week eight, or I guess was week 17 back then, where you had, you know, the offense didn't look great in the weeks before. So, all right, we're going to play.

foals and the starters on offense and on defense both sides but only for the first few series and i remember listening to chris long within the last couple years he hated that game he yeah he hated that game uh and i don't want to speak completely out to everybody for freezing and he was like why are we out here like what are i doing it was uh but honestly like some of that's it's going to it's going to be hard for that not to creep in for some of those guys yeah it's brutal okay now here's my other question for you uh playoff wise as we as we look at the potential matchups and linds if you don't mind flipping up that Danes graphic about the possible matchups here.

The Eagles can still play any of four different teams in the first round. If they get the two seed, they're going to play the Packers. But if they're the three, they could be hosting Seattle, they could be hosting San Francisco, or they could be hosting the Rams. And as you think about it, less specifically about those teams,

but knowing what those team's strengths and weaknesses are, as you think about an ideal matchup for the Eagles, would you rather play a team with really good offense and gettable defense? or a team with really good defense and mediocre offense. So I was thinking about it this morning because Cuzz asked me when I was on with them. And I think I landed on the mediocre offense. That's what I would rather play.

I think I'd rather get into a rock fight and like what yesterday was where it's 1312, as opposed to counting on the offense to score 24 points against a supposedly bad defense. I think I go the other way. I could go there. I could be strong. Because I think this defense is good enough to shut down. any good offense and not maybe not shut down right but corral okay i mean they they they basically shut down the bills and the bills have a top five offense yesterday tough tough uh game in terms of weather

and all that stuff but you know they went and beat them up i think they could do that to the rams to some degree and the flip the way that i feel about the offense is the offense has really good players who who will make a couple plays a game i think the offense can score 10 points on anybody the worst defense in football and the best defense in football. I think they will put together two scoring drives. They might not do that, but like I don't, I agree that I don't feel confident that if it becomes a shootout, it's against a bad defense that they're going to score 30 points. I think you framed that well, but I think when you look at what the Eagles have done

against bad defenses, it's not encouraging. Like the bills run defenses was terrible. You know, I think it was like 30 first and defense's success rate going into this game against the run. and the Eagles had 82 rushing yards in the game. So for me, I actually feel like we've seen, I know that it's been few and far between and it's often come on short weeks,

but we've seen the Eagles defense at least struggle against high-level offenses in small samples this year, where you maybe, you feel good about them in any matchup, but there's that inkling of a possibility that, like, you know, the 49ers run this, you know, just run an outside zone the whole game and get rolling in that.

It turns into 24 to 20, game a 24 to 17 game and I feel worse about the Eagles offense keeping keeping up in that scenario than I do the Eagles offense like being able to figure something out against a bad defense what's the number what's the lowest number where I guarantee you the Eagles score this number of points in the first round you don't know what the defense gives up how comfortable would you feel like that you feel like they're going to win so if I tell you right now the Eagles are going to score 17 points in the wild card round without knowing the opponent And you think they win that game?

I might say yes. If the offense score 17. I'm going yes. I think it would take 18. Yeah, all right. 17 doesn't feel quite right. I think I would sign up for 18 points against anybody right now. How many times did they hit 18 in the last month and a half?

I can tell you. I think at least twice. In the last six weeks, like, well, yeah, because they hadn't top 21 until a week ago, right? Or two weeks ago against the Raiders. If you discount those games since the buy, they've scored 18 or more points, one, two, two times. So four times total, but two times against. Oh, okay, but still, yeah, okay. 18.

All right. That'll do it for the big deal presented by X-Fennity. Let's get into the grabbies here. I love who you had the suspense. Is he going to say? Which way is we're going? Happy. Yeah, whatever.

When I was with the Eagles, we just called the, and I, I, I was. And shout out to Ben Fennell on this, because he labeled it this way. And it always stuck, the doodles. We used to doodle doodle. I like doodles. I like that. I actually let that loose with you guys on our group chat this morning. I was like, oh, I don't know if I'm going to doodle that.

And I was like, oh, that's a callback to, I did it like just naturally. The doodles. Any doodle comes to town. I'm riding on a night pad. Of course, you're going to find a way to ruin doodles. Very quick Ben Fennell story. My former colleague, Paul Domowich told me when he introduced me to Ben Fennell, this guy's going to be an NFL GM one day.

Love Ben. I mean, I love Ben too, but I don't know if that's going to be a correct call. I mean, it's got plenty of time. Both of you guys have plenty of time. It's not get crazy. I mean, listen, I love Ben. Come on the show anytime, Ben. Of course.

I'm probably betting against the likelihood of him becoming a general manager. And myself as well. I would throw myself in the pocket. I think that Fran would make an excellent general manager. I know that Fran would make an excellent general manager, but there are barriers in place here. Yeah. I mean, you know,

Alec Halliby isn't a general manager yet. That's right. You think Ben Fennell is going to leapfrog him? I'm saying, let's focus on Fran here for a minute. I think that Fran could do it. I think Fran's going to, you know, his star is going to rise. And, you know, some NFL owners are going to take that Fran Duffy. We're borrowing, Fran.

We know that. Yeah, that Fran Duffy. Give me that guy. He's a good evaluator of talent. This is making me very uncomfortable. All right. Well, if you think that makes you uncomfortable, stay tuned because we're actually going to take a break now

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offer. You must be 21 and physically located in Pennsylvania. If you or someone you know has a gambling problem and wants help, call 1-800 gambler. All right. We're back on the PHOI Eagles podcast and Fran. Let's start with the big guys up front. Jalen Carter is back on the Eagles defense. Jordan Davis is still there. More woe Jumo. How do they look against the bill's front? Yeah, the defensive front was outstanding. And I think that that can be certainly an X factor for this team for this defense going into the postseason is what they're able to do against opposing quarterbacks and opposing run games by just winning their one-on-ones up front. It's funny when you played the, when you looked at the graphic of, oh, who could start? I forgot Josh Usha was on

this team and he was playing significant snaps for them in the first half of the year. It's just such a huge difference now when you're rolling in, not just the fact that you have Jalen Carter and Ojima, but the guys in the edge, you know, Jalen Phillips continue to play really good ball for them, Nolan Smith back healthy, BG out there. The rotation is really, really strong and that showed up in this game. Can I ask you about Jalen Phillips? Yes, we had a bit of a debate about this on the post game show where, you know, he had a sack yesterday. Obviously, he forces that huge fumble.

Only two sacks since he got here, had one in the first game. But he's playing a lot of snaps. And I don't think there's any doubt that his addition alone has just strengthened the group overall and they feel much more powerful with him there. Yeah, I think that he plays

extremely hard. He can win with length. He can win with explosiveness. He can win with technique. He can win with effort. like he's he's just just a good player do i think that he's on the tier of like the top a one rushers in football no but i think that he certainly raises the ceiling and honestly like raises the floor of this defense do you see him getting a lot of attention um i wouldn't say like more than normal like you know but he's i mean he's just he's just a really good player he honestly he gets a lot of one-on-ones and to me like he he comes through with a lot of those where maybe it's not for sacks

but impacting the quarterback winning at the point of attack in the run game consistently shows up. All right, where do you want to start in terms of the breakdowns here? Well, honestly, I was thinking about this and it was like, all right, like how do we talk about this defense?

What are some of the themes? Because honestly, when this defense is humming, it can be a little bit boring because it's an execution defense. Like it's like, hey, like, you know, yeah, there are coverages where I'll look at how they execute here, look at the pass off there.

But to me, I was thinking about it, this is a defense that is predicated on impacting the quarterback right up the gut, like up the middle. And I think about this defense over the course of this season, and it showed up in this game in all of the ways that they've been able to consistently do it all season long. And we'll start with this first one here, Lindsay, where again, it's all about getting after

the quarterback and trying to impact him up the gut. And obviously, the number one way you're able to do that with this defense is when you've got a couple of guys inside, whether it's Jordan Davis, Jalen Carter, Morrow Ojamow, Brandon Graham, like those guys have the ability to win one-on-ones. And right here, this is just a pure four-man rush. you've got one, two, three, four. And sometimes, hey, if it's five-man protection, it really does come down to who's going to get the one-on-one

and can you win? On this play, they decide Buffalo that they're going to slide towards Jordan Davis. That leaves Jalen Carter one-on-one with Osiris Torrance, and he just goes, you know, he's got the nickname, or my friend, Ike Reese, the baby rhino. Like, he just goes full on right into his chest, rocks Osiris Torrance back, goes with an arm over,

and is able to get home, and he ends up sacking Josh Allen here. It's a great play and it gets them off the field. Now what I like here, and this is something just kind of a callback to last week when I previewed this matchup, the bills I said like that they love to get these running backs vertically down the field. And here on this play, they leaked James Cook out. Reed Blanketship was one-on-one there, was able to catch the vertical. And Josh Allen wasn't even looking in that direction.

That was the first read, but he got off of it really quickly because Reed picked up the running back vertical out of the back field. You can see Carter's already about to get home. Now, you go to a little bit later in the game, Buffalo and the same kind of deal. it's going to be another five-man protection. The center's like, no, we're not making that same mistake twice. We're going to slide towards Jalen Carter here on this play. Well, now that leaves more Ojima one-on-one with the left guard.

And you can see that explosiveness getting upfield. And one of the worst positions you can be in as an offensive lineman is parallel to the line of scrimmage. Because if you are working parallel to the line of scrimmage, or sorry, parallel to the sideline perpendicular to the line of scrimmage, if you are parallel to the sideline and you have a defensive tackle that is still working upfield, you have no base, you have no anchor. And so now he's getting worked up the field and Ojima was just going to walk him back

and he ends up sacking Josh Allen here. So again, you're seeing those defensive tackles, they have that ability to consistently win one-on-one. Now, one of the other things that you're able to see from this defense. And again, it's something where you're attacking the interior is the use of stunts. And we've seen this time and time again

where, again, you're going to get defensive tackles, they're going to slant inside, and you're going to get the edge rushers. Nolan Smith, Jalick's Hunt, Jalen Phillips, These guys are long, they're explosive, they're athletic, they're rangy. When you've got that ability, and look, we broke this down on the game on the postgame show last night, but you get Ojima working up field, and now you've got Jalick's Hunt looping inside. Look at all of the space.

If the center is going to slide opposite of this stunt, the tackle's got no shot here. He is not going to block Jalick's hunt on this play. And look at all the space that he's got to be able to get home to Josh Allen, and he gets home for a sack. And by the way, another example where this was a running back running out of the back field, against Jahad Campbell, he wins over the top. If Josh Allen has time here on this play, this is going over the top.

This is going to be a vertical attempt to the running back against Jihad Campbell, but the rush gets home and it turns into a sack. Another example, again, where you've just got all of these guys show that ability to be able to get home from a lot of different ways and impact, again, right up the middle. What's another way that they've done that this season? Using the linebackers.

Nikobi Dean, Jihad Campbell, here at Zach Bond. What I love here on this play, we talked about this package last night, This is the first time that they've done this the last couple of years where you've got one, two, three, four, five defensive linemen on the field. The Eagles are a nickel and you have one linebacker. So 5-1-5 personnel grouping, but this is a blitz that's designed to get Jack Bond, rather, upfield to the quarterback. You've got both defensive tackles. They're working outside, they're crossing face.

And again, that's all designed to create a wide runway for Zach Bond to insert as a rusher. Now, he does not get home for the sack. Josh Allen does the superhuman thing that he's able to do where he's able to shake off Zach Bonn. But you can see he's not settled. He steps up. He's rushed. He's throwing from a very poor base here. And he ends up throwing, honestly, a terrible ball.

The ball comes out. It's not catchable. It does not look good whatsoever coming out of his hand. And the receiver is unable to make this catch. Dori Jackson's able to come back. That starts, again, with pressure right up the gut. You see Nukobi Dean. You see Zach Bond.

You see Jehad Campbell. This was a play a little bit later where you've got the center. he's pointing up both Campbell and Bond like hey alert for these guys blitzing here on this play Zach Bond just before the snap creeps up towards the line of scrimmage these guys change the protection and now they slide the protection that way Josh Allen is looking like all right I'm going to try and get this ball out hot but bond doesn't come and said it's actually going to be Jihad Campbell going through the B gap right up the middle right into Josh Allen's face well now he's going to try and dump this off but it's not a five-man rush you're still having

the exchange presser so Jalen Phillips with that versatility he drops back. Zach Bonn is right there as well. So when Josh Allen thinks, oh, I'm going to throw hot to the running back, that throws gone. He ends up making a throw away. So I can go on and on and on here. But at the end of the day, this defense is predicated on getting pressure right up the middle. Quarterbacks hate having nowhere to step up when you've got pressure. They hate when you have that. It's the fastest path to the quarterback. And this defense, they find multiple ways to be able to do it week after week after week. Go ahead. I was going to say, like, I feel like the peak thing you hear from, like, football, tacticos, and again, I don't consider, I consider you kind of a level above that. You know, oh, quarterbacks hate pressure up the gun. There's nowhere to escape. And then the other thing you hear is to beat an elite quarterback, you have to be able to win with a four-man rush.

So to me, this is, like, one of the more encouraging things you could see going into the postseason. You know, when you look at some of the matchups that the Eagles might have, being able to impact the quarterback with a four-man rush. Did you read the next-gen stat on the show yesterday about the four-man rush? No, I did the offense. Okay, I wanted to make sure I wasn't positive. So I pulled this. The Eagles, all five of their sacks came with a four-man rush against the bills,

and they have 18 sacks in the last four games while rushing four, seven more than any other defense over that time, according to next chance. Seven more. You said it was a four-game? Four-game sample. Wow. And to me, that is like just like stamp it. playoff ready like that that is uh you know that's huge against ely quarterbacks it's a super

ball caliber defense yeah like there's no debating that this is a super bowl caliber defense that they've got and it's it would be uh terrible if they were to waste that effort uh just because they're not able to match that on the other side there you go that um the drive that included the jailing carter sack right not since the super bowl have i seen a uh it reminded me of that that three play defensive sequence in the Super Bowl where it went where it went Josh Sweat Sack Jelix Hunt sack

Cooper DeGine pick six right where it was just three plays in a row of absolute physical domination and it started with the you know Bonn you know decletes James Cook and Cooper DeGine makes that awesome play on the fumble

which like if that just had been a fumble we've been watching the play forever I still love that play you know throws the Olinman out of the way and then recovers the fumble second down is Jalen Carter just destroying Osiris Torrance and then third down is a little dump off

and Reed Blankenship just like decletes the guy and he crashes out after he's smacking his hell and he's going crazy that was you know that was like

you just you just see them all beating people up yeah that is so fun it's a it's a great great unit and you know they're healthy yeah it's a it's a it's a fun group to watch

here's here is the true media I just looked it up since the Eagles buy okay 24 sacks on a four man rush most in the league, one more than the Texans. So there you go. It's a good group. All right.

Do you want to keep going? I got... Or do you want to take a break? Let's take a break. We'll come back. We'll do Jihad Campbell on that fourth down stop on the other side. You heard it. Shop bestsellers at Ashley, where no matter what your holiday traditions are, you are always at home. Whether you're making an extra room with extendable dining tables so your family can make something delicious together,

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Shop holiday deals and make lifelong memories with Ashley. Back on the PHOY Eagles podcast, we move now one level back on the defense to the linebackers. Jihad Campbell, we talked about it on the post game. show yesterday looked live like he really accepted the challenge of playing in this game against a very good bill's offense how did it look on tape yeah it wasn't perfect but it was good it was

i thought it was a good performance i thought we saw a lot of positives uh and continue i mean it's it's been part for the course honestly like i've seen good flashes from jahad campbell anytime he's been out there in a full-time role and and this game was no different um i think the big thing with him coming out of alabama was this is a guy that again hadn't been not a lot of time on task playing as a pure off ball stacked line back When he first got there, he was an edge rusher, and that's kind of how he was used early on. And so, you know, there's only two years really playing the position. So, all right, what is it going to look like early on in the NFL?

So how is he going to key and diagnose things? What is he going to, in terms of like reading run pass and being where he needs to be, defeating blocks, you know, at an NFL level. To me, like you saw, you've saw, it hasn't all be perfect, but I think you've seen some really good things. And there was some good ones on film. Let's get to the doodles. Let's get to the doodles. Look at that.

All right. Rankie doodle. Let's get the doodles. So, Jihad Campbell, smack in the middle of this Eagles defense here. And again, one of the things you wanted to see from him early on was his ability to to recognize, you know, attend to and defeat blocks. And one of the things, there are a lot of different ways that you're able to defeat blocks, but a big thing is understanding, like, what is the offense trying to do on this play?

The faster you're able to key that and diagnose that, now you know where the block is coming from. and then we talked about this with Jordan Davis was that last week where it was so much of it is block attention hey they're going to block down from this way outside of my peripheral so now I need to make sure that I'm able to defeat that block and then I can find the football. It's the same

kind of idea here on this play it's a draw from the bills where again Josh Allen initially takes a little bit of a beat then hands the ball off you can see it's high hats early on and that initially might give the linebacker that it's going to be a pass play so now I'm going to try and drop back

but Jihad Campbell did a nice job just staying disciplined here on this play. They're trying to get the center up to Campbell quickly. This run is going to hit outside Jordan Davis. So you have Zach Bond there, but you have an offensive lineman coming his way. You've got a hat on a hat here. If Jihad Campbell can defeat this block, he can get to the football. He does a good job of just kind of dipping and slipping this block. Now, sometimes you have to take the guy on.

If you're going to try and dip the block, you need to make sure you go make the play. It's not all linebackers coaches will teach you to do this. athletic enough to do it and as long as you're able to still make the play maintain your balance stay out stay upright uh go for it and that's exactly what he did here on this play he's able to meet the running back in the hole and gets a stop there close to the line of scrimmage this is a bobby king his big thing is block destruction right oh sorry you said that like you were explaining it to me and i was wondering what the bit was here yes i trying to involve you in the show trying to give you a chance to pipe in here didn't it sound like um like when he explains things today

Well, Danez needs it. We know that. Yes, Bobby King, I think he calls his lineback room Block Destruction University. So, yes, it is, I mean, Nick, Nick Sirotty Harps on it too. You think he knows what he's doing with BDU? No, I don't think he knows what he's doing. Oh, I disagree. I absolutely disagree.

Do they have it on T-shirts or anything anywhere? That's a good question. Sounds like a wolf's then. I think he's doing it. I think that's intentional. But no, but that goes to your point because. He does it. That's not what he does there. He uses his athleticism. So I'm curious if that's how Bobby King wants him to do it or if he's sort of freelancing there and just using his natural skills.

Well, that's the thing is that in this game, you saw him go about it in a couple different ways. The very next shot, this was, I think the next drive, might have been the drive after that. You're going to see Campbell, again, stacks right in the middle of the defense here, different kind of run play, but different blocks, different plays in different occasions. It calls for different tools in the toolbox. here he strikes this guy right up the middle. Now, the hand placement might be a little high, might

have gotten called for hands of the face there, you know, in some instances, but look, you stay square, you're violent with the strike, he's strong on contact, he doesn't give up any ground, and he doesn't get, now, other guys are doing a great job here too. Jordan Davis is in there, Jalen Phillips is coming in from the other side as well. So he doesn't even get credited with the tackle,

but I thought that Jahad Campbell did a really good job of staying stout, staying square, and playing with the football. And then there's just one other thing that kind of stood out to me as well. This is the second play the game. And this is a completion to Dawson Knox. Knox is going to come on a shallow cross coming across off of play action. Now, on this play, Jahad Campbell is a blitzer. So he's not really trying to like key and diagnose here on this play. He's not reading this out. He's a blitzer. And the reason why you know it's blitzing is because you see Jalen Phillips actually drop out

in coverage as well. They typically aren't doing that unless they're blitzing the linebacker from the opposite side. So you're going to get Josh Allen, who's under center. You're going to get a run fake going that way. You've got the puller going the opposite side. I do, I do think, I do think, that they are doing this to try and mess with the rookie linebacker. They're saying, hey, we're going to throw the pulling guard going the opposite way and send the tight end going into that void. It just so happened that Jahad Campbell blitzed on this one. It ends up being a completion.

Marcus Epps loses inside here, and you've got the tight end knocks. He goes for a 15-yard completion. But Campbell, he was blitzing on this play. A little bit later, and this is what I love to see from Jehad Campbell. Similar kind of set, this is in the, I believe this is the third quarter, late third quarter. you got under center multiple tight ends on the field here's jihad campbell and on this one again you've got pulling guards you've got a run fake here you're trying to bring the tight end across from the opposite side because it worked for him the last time Campbell does an outstanding job of just staying disciplined he keys this

really really well he doesn't get too aggressive or nosy against the run he's able to maintain his spot his landmark in the defense in the zone coverage scheme takes that throw away and now Josh Allen has to settle for the checkdown. And again, because of this defense, just the nature of it, it's a defensive coach that I worked with a long time ago. It's like water to a drain. And you get these guys all flowing to the football. You have a lot of white jerseys, you know, get populations of the ball, all the different things you hear. But that's one of the best things about this defense. It's one of the hallmarks of the unit last year on their way to hoisting a Lombardi trophy. And to me, you need those guys on the back end to do their job, force the

checkdown, and then everybody else can come up and rally. But I thought that was a really good example there on that play of Jehad Campbell. Hey, they did something earlier on and it wasn't even at me necessarily because I was blitzing on the play, but his recognition there stood out. So you remember the last time you brought up a defensive coach? It's actually the same exact coach. So am I allowed to put their name out there? Sure. Yeah. Mark Donofrio. Donofrio. My dad texted it to me after the show. I texted him and said who was out Golden's DC quick and he answered me like hours later. It's all right. Yeah. It was right. Mark's not for real

the play where jihad is covering James Cook and it's an incomplete pass in his direction they never should a replay which happened a few times much to our frustration did he like did he break that up

or was it a bad throw? It was like it was it dropped I couldn't tell it was like he impacted the catch by I don't know if it would necessarily go down as a PBU but he like impacted the catch point yes exactly it was tight coverage

it's one of those like I don't know if the state Statistician, we might call that a PBEU or not. But it was good coverage. It's pressure. I have a question for you guys. How many turkeys would you put on Jihad Campbell eventually moving to Eddresher after seeing him for pretty much all, an entire regular season? Zero.

How many would you have put going into training camp? 12. Um, eight. I never really bought into that idea. Yeah. Fair enough. I was just curious because he has played. well and he kind of like looks more like an off ball linebacker like throughout this entire

sure yeah yeah i viewed it as a hey on third down you can put him down on the on the line of scrimmage and do stuff with him but he would always be as an off ballbacker yeah just as like someone who was sitting there hearing how he rose and like compare him to micha parsons like i probably fell for the bait a little bit more than you guys but uh watching him this season i would agree it doesn't feel like that's in the cards for him gonna break down the fourth down play Yeah, let's do that really quickly. I think this was one of the pivotal plays of the game. I didn't get a chance to break it down in postgame yesterday,

but this is a good example of overall, like just good team defense down in a high leverage spot, fourth and goal on the goal line. And what you're seeing here on this play is that obviously you've got Josh Allen in the backfield by himself. It's an empty set. What they're trying to do with motion in the backfield is they're trying to get attention going this way,

a little eye candy, to try initially get a wide receiver, but a little bit of a rub route, to the pylon. Now, what I like here from the Eagles is that you have an exchange pressure going, where you have Cooper Dijin blitzing off the short side of the field, off the boundary. Jalux Hunt, who was lined up off the edge, he's dropping. He ends up dropping, like basically right into one of the passing lanes, one of the passing lanes here for Josh Allen. But Allen, you could see all day, he's looking this way. He wants his receiver to the pylon.

Now, these defenders, Jihad Campbell and Adori Jackson, they understand, hey, I've got a defensive lineman. I've got an edge rusher dropping here. I can afford to be a little bit more aggressive getting over top of this and take this route away. And so they do a good job of taking that away. Josh Allen, that's going to be a no-go that first read. So he's got to get his eyes back towards the middle of the field. Now, the initial rub from that receiver that was lined up on the boundary, that's taken away by Jalick's Hunt. So Hunt takes that throw away.

You've got Josh Palmer working the back of the end zone. You've got Marcus Epps back there, Quinaw Mitchell's in trail coverage. So Josh Allen, he knows like, all right, I'm probably not going to be able to hit this over the top. There's too many bodies over here, too much congestion. Now, the other read for him, you've got a little bit of an escort screen here at the bottom, where you've got one man out blocking out in front with, you've got the receiver coming out of the backfield here. So, Alan could decide it's on fourth down. Do I want to throw this to the 10-yard line, or am I just going to try and buy time here?

Now, you've got the free run from Cooper Nugent, unblocked here, off the boundary. So he's going to do a good job of just kind of stepping up and escaping, trying to get away from this initial rusher as well. It's a four-man rush. You've got seven guys in coverage. The big thing is as he starts to break the pocket, it's just really good instincts from Jalick's Hunt here on this play. And Zach Bond obviously does an outstanding job as well.

But Josh Allen, he starts to break the pocket and roll to his right. He's looking back across the grain at this tight end, working towards the middle of the field. So that's my best shot here at making a throw into the end zone because that throw is taken away. Palmer's not going to try and reverse field quick enough for me here. So this is his best chance. So Jalick's hunt

kind of locks in and you could see that Alan's thinking about making this throw he ends up throwing a pump fake here but Hunt does a great job of just staying latched on and probably is part of the safety background but just having that feel of where that route is in relation to where he is on the field

takes that throw away and now you get to Zach Bonn. You can see that Hunt's in the air. He takes that throw away. Bonn is not no man's but it's in that right in that go-between where, all right, do I trigger and get downhill against Josh Allen and risk this receiver running open, or do I fall back and now Josh Allen is going to scramble in for a touchdown?

He just times it perfectly. Like it was literally like, I'm here, I'm here, I'm here, and now I got to go. And he closes the distance really quickly and obviously doesn't just enough to be able to get Allen on the ground. But I also love to, like, look at all these jerseys all in pursuit. You had Jordan Davis there. You had Jalen Phillips coming from that backside.

Hunt does a really good job. Dejean is trying to work his way back in there. So just the entire group overall, just really good overall team defense. It was a good call from Vic Fangio. You had the nickel pressure. I don't know if DeGine had blitzed at any other time the last like two or three weeks.

Like we really don't see DeGine used all that often as a blitzer. But just a great call in a great spot. On the two-point conversion. Yep. Do you think Alan should have made that? he absolutely yeah he he was unsettled for this pressure in his face it's the accumulation of all the pressure that's been in his face it's all game long but yeah i honestly like i had pulled a couple plays where i'm like oh to go with that the stuff we hit on on the top where it's like all right you could see like all the pressure up front we're starting to get to him a little bit there were a few where he was a little bit unsettled and he took a peek at the rush and it's like oh man like they were getting to him and that was a good example of it uh he and you can see like as he's walking off and you there was the camera got a great shot of him just yelling like uh yelling like i know on the f where he and Meg's laughing was like who's he upset at him like he's upset at himself

he should have made that throw he had time to like set his feet and make that and he just that's the beautiful thing of pressure is like that that builds and compounds over the course of the game and it can impact the quarterback in that way there you go what did you think of like the take out there that like oh if Jalen Hertz played like that people would have the pitchforks out

I do agree with that but I don't know I don't think it's coming from the same place that that's coming from. Right. Yeah. I mean, I thought this last night, like, watching that game between the Bears and 49ers, like, we went two hours of real time without Jalen Hertz completing a pass. Like, you know, it's not like, he made some good throws.

We'll get into it. He made some good throws in the game. And this is not all, like, on him. But, you know, this would not be one where I've hired the offense. I'd be, like, pounded my chest. Like, oh, yeah, like. I don't know. Not so much anymore.

All right, let's take a brick, a brick. We're going to take what they call in New Zealand, a brick, and then we'll come back on the other side and talk about the offense, which, by the way, was quite down under. Fact or fiction, you tell me, why Factor outperforms other meal kits? That's a fact. Because unlike meal kits that require prep and cooking factor, delivers fully prepared, ready to eat meals in just two minutes.

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Winter, use code P.H.O.I. at Monarchmoney.com in your browser for half off your first year. That's 50% off 50. Your first year at Monarchmoney.com with the code P.H.L.Y. All right. Back on the PHLY Eagles show. But Wolf, E.J. Smith, Fran Duffy. Let's talk about the offense, Fran. And in terms of games in which you only get one first down in the entire second half, it was pretty good. right it happened on the first drive in the second half too I know that second barcly run yeah second play sure given that it was pretty good yeah other than that you take the four drives away at the end yeah sure

you know what I found interesting though like just thinking about it is that it is great to have this game after some of the conversations that we had on the show last week about the offense and even just like the debate that Dana is and I had on the Tuesday show

where it was like the two versions of the volatile or the volatility of the offense because in the first half we saw the volatility of like under center play action vertical shots like you know that aspect of it and the second half when that was not a factor at all like we didn't really see that at all in second half and how and what that looked like and I'm not saying it would always look that way but I do think it's it's kind of interesting that we got to see what that what the two versions of the offense look like and how it can be both of them can be painful at times to be able to watch yeah so The first half, they do go under center.

Yeah. Over the course of the game, it ended up being their fifth most of the season, but it was much higher in the first half. And it goes with when they're moving the ball, they'll go under center. Right. But when they continue to get behind the sticks, then they just sort of revert. So tell us what you saw in the search for explosives, I guess. Yeah, I think the big thing is, and this is where, you know,

where Danes and I saw it differently last week when we were talking about it, was like, to me, if you're going to be a volatile office, I think this is the better path to take to that volatility. Like, I feel better about the sustainability of this volatility, if that makes sense. Like, you know what I mean? Like, I don't think that when I say, like, one is more volatile than the other. I'm not saying that there are higher highs and lower lows. I just think that it is more sporadic.

Like, I think that this is a better version of this offense to count on. And this is a good example. Like, honestly, like, you saw a handful of them in the first half. But first play of the game. they come out under center 11 personnel condensed formation it's a very much a run look here so condensed formation meaning everybody in between the numbers here by the way they ran out of these 11 personnel like condensed looks a handful of times in this game I'm sure data is did not love that I did not love that in particular especially when they did it on the goal line with the bear or with the bills in their base defense like did not love that but getting back to this this is a basic like three level stretch off play action vertical shot pot play where you're going to get, you're going to get Jahan Dotson working the deep, like kind of a post corner route, you're going to get A.J. Brown running the over, and then you're going to get Devante Smith working underneath. So you've got three levels off of the hard run action

to Sequan Barkley, and you're just working one to two to three if you're Jalen Hertz. So again, you've got Dotson working this way. You've got A.J. Brown, and then there's Devante Smith. Now, you can see the corner, Tredavius White. He's been around here a few times. Initially, he's like, I'm going to sit on this intermediate route. I'm not going to carry the vertical. But the safety here deep down field, he triggers on AJ Brown. He's going to take this away. So now you're going to see Tredavius White.

He gets back underneath this route for Jahan Dotson. And Jalen, he initially sees this safety coming down. He's like, all right, green light, I'm throwing this to Dotson. Guys, this is one of his best throws of the day. He puts this, like, just a great ball, yeah, like tough drop. Like, I don't know if he would kind of, but you want him to go. make that play. Like, you want Jahan Dotson to come down with that play. Now, we can get into the discussion. Should that be DeVante? Does that need to be Jahan Dots? I can get into

that stuff. But great ball from Jalen. First play of the game. Undercenter play action, vertical shot. They come back very, I think it was the, yeah, it was the next drive. Same idea. Under center, condensed formation. Similar kind of look here. And again, you're going to go hard run action. You've got receiver, you've got A.J. Brown this time working towards the post. You've got Devante Smith coming this way. Now instead of Jahan Dotson, you've got Darius Cooper, who's lined up as a wing. He's going to run the little slide route to the outside. So if you're the defense, it looks like it's the same exact concept.

You're going to have A.J. working this way. You've got here comes Devante. Three levels, one, two, three, down the field, and Jalen can read it. Well, look at the safety. He's like, oh, I saw this before. A.J. Brown, he's going to do the same thing John Dotson did in the last drive. Let me overplay this, except that's not what he does. A.J. Brown actually puts his foot into the ground and goes.

back the opposite way. So they do a good job of playing off of a concept. They ran the previous drive, fool in the safety, AJ's wide open, and Jalen is able to deliver this. So you still have all these other routes working the same way, but he's able to hit A.J. Brown for an explosive play in a first down. Now, he hit, it was the after that play, that's the last one there, Lindsay. There was the play.

Jalen scrambled and he got hit out of bounds. It was the third and long where there was the penalty against Milano. Very next play. They ran a play action. A.J. Brown. Perfect ball. Perfect ball. And it was like, you probably could have been DPI. Sometimes we've seen A.J. make that play, like one hand over the shoulder. He had one at Devante Smith. Well scripted. Like, 13 personnel under center. And he just, he was a worm killer. Like, he just, he short-armed it.

Yeah, that was a tough one. But like, DeVante's open. All right. So if you had like six or seven of those shots in the first half, you only hit one or two, some games you might hit four. Yeah. And those are chunk plays. If you hit those, like, you're setting yourself up for success. I think this is a better offense to say, like, let's let our superstars, like, go and make a play for us as opposed to try and matriculate the ball down the field and, like, get into scramble drill and, like, lean on the run game. Because obviously you can't lean on the run game right now. That's why I feel more strongly that this is the better path for this offense.

It's tough, man. Yeah, I get it. It's tough. And here's my question for you. what do you make of the season-long arc where they have some success in the first half and then it all goes away in the second half some numbers for you on the course of the season first half 10th in points 26 in the second half 9th in EPA per play in the first half 25th in the second half 18th in success rate which speaks to it's they're still volatile it's

still a big play-based offense down to 27th in the second half. And I do have to think that this is coaching because, I mean, it's the same thing we talk about with Vic. What makes Vic so great is that he's able to assess what the plan is the first couple series, then adjust to that and their nails for the rest of the game, right? Why does it keep happening that they have their plan in the week and then come the second half, they just, they have nothing? The only game I could think of where it was the inverse was the Rams game.

Yes. Right? That was the only one. And they had to throw in that game. Which I wanted to ask, like, do you think that the fact that the Eagles are winning a lot of these games is influencing this where, you know, it is coaching. It is coaching in not acknowledging what's happening on the field in the sense that I think they've been all year they've wanted that four-minute drive that, you know, that we're going to kill the game, strangle the game. We're going to run it down their throats and we're going to have an 18-play drive and take 10 minutes off the clock. and obviously that's not who they are this year.

It's happened once, right? It was a Giants game. Is that the only one I'm thinking of? Correct. That was it. Yeah, that Giants game where they felt the sequence is felt like last year.

Yeah, right. That was it. They're not that team. They're not that guy. They are not that team this year. But do you think that explains the numbers? I mean, they just hang the defense out to dry yesterday. Yeah.

I mean, one first down on five possessions. Those guys on defense have to play so many snaps. It's a big part of the reason that the bills even score at the end of the, the game because they don't have their best players on the field they're all exhausted like they just need a little bit of help so here's the thing too the comment from seriani after the game yeah i'm gonna get to this like my my ears perked up with it because as i i'm gonna be on i did not

i did not see it until you sent the quote over so that i had gone through the offensive film already i didn't i didn't watch seriani last night um but i was going through the film this morning and i'm like all right like they got back to what they were doing the two weeks prior to last week's wind over Washington where I was you know I was not feeling I was feeling a certain type of way about what the approach was in that game because it was so different than the previous two and I'm like what are we doing here why are we getting away from this like this was is this the plan is that and then I said let's go to the quote I guess so Nick Siriani talking about the second half struggles and kind of what changed for them he said Kevin Petullo did a good job in that first half but

I've got to help in that second half a little bit to get some things that we went we want to get called there. He went on to say we've got to mix. We've got to mix in some some of the play action things that we've done so well in the last couple weeks and not wait there. Again, that's on me. I know what the first play is going into every series. We've got to do some different things there. Obviously, the Eagles were really run heavy on first and second down in that second half. And yeah, I think that this really aligns with something that, you know, the last couple of weeks, I think we've talked a lot about under center. We've talked a lot about empty. But I think really the thing that the Eagles

internally felt the best about is the play action game and some of the things that they've been able to build off in that in that aspect the under center play action game right yeah i think specifically the under center play action game but i think just generally like trying to access some of those explosive plays through play action i would agree with that sentiment or whoever feels that way internally like i i am in full support of that because honestly like that's that's where that's is the most sustainable form of success i think for this offense yeah but when i see that now here's the here's the other element of it when you have like what was it four drives in a row five drives in a row they're three and out or yeah so you have four in a row to end the game you're not getting

any kind of rhythm some and we say this all the time when the eagles play against like the 49ers you play against the rams it's like hey if like you stop the run on early downs you take the play action element out of it you get them into third and long like that's the idea um so like like you know in kevin petulow's defense they would say like all right well if the other stuff's not working uh you know that you don't get into any kind of a groove and that's when the the the under center stuff you made the point earlier like we don't really really see them get into the under center until they start to get the drive rolling.

They didn't get any drives rolling. And as Danes has broken down, I mean, it is nuts. Their percentage of going three and out, it's historically high. It's not just the biggest in the league. It's the biggest in the law. It's crazy with all the players they have. It's nuts.

But I think that's the thing, though, is we say with all the players that they have, they're not playing well up front. And I think that they are going to keep... It's a very important point. They're going to keep hitting their head against the wall saying, like, we think that this offensive line, can generate movement

and create space for Saquan Barkley it's not going to happen this year I don't think but see like that's why I lean towards resting like I watch Juergens Dickerson like Dickerson

didn't look great either I know a lot of people are coming at Jurgens after yesterday like Dickerson didn't look great either you know all right you get Lane back like that'll be a big help

Lane's going to be fresh but man I don't even like I don't even give them the week off send them to Cancun like they need a vacation and then come back for the playoffs yeah it's like they need to come back arrested i that's why i was thinking of the do a giant's boat thing i don't care but that's why i was thinking of 2017

because i wonder if the people that were in the building that are that were in the building back then yeah you know that was a team that was trying to hey like we need the offense to work some things out do they feel like things got worked out from that one game because they came out against Atlanta and they didn't look great anyway like in the beginning of that game um if they felt like they also had a buy week yeah they had a playoff By week, right, you're right. Yeah, I mean, that can backfire. I mean, if it doesn't look good, then you'd feel even worse about it.

Yeah, I just, I do. I think that we've seen enough evidence this year of the, honestly, people in the Eagles organization talking about it, but also just being obvious that when they're in close games against good teams, their instinct is to avoid mistakes, avoid turnovers. And I think you saw that in the second half. And I think, I do think, like, you know, I saw the suggestion in the chat that like maybe this was just Nick taking accountability blanket accountability for everything yeah that's not my read on this i think you're i think you're i think you know you've you've been in enough

nick syria in the press conferences i don't not like him he would say i you know he would have the blanket statement like everything out there my name is on it i take accountability for him to very specifically say he needs to help kevin get to calls that they want to get called i think that is a specific thing that is like a tangible thing that nick seriani thinks that he could have done and I do think that that shows like where their priorities lie on offense right now. You know one of my real bugaboos what the offense is?

Just one? No, we've talked about this. Remember that Sequin touchdown on the wheel route? Green Bay. I think it was the Broncos. Oh, Broncos game. Wheel route?

Yeah. Beautiful. You get Sequan in space down the field against the linebacker. Great job identifying that mismatch. Jalen just just. check to that that wasn't even a play call right yeah how many times you think sakel and barclay has been targeted this season 10 yards or more downfield do

do you want me to pretend that we didn't yeah say it in the chat if you have a guess three times if you can't run the ball can we try to make some other use of him please but so like that's the thing man is like well when I think of like this I wouldn't get into the third down stuff but there's nothing in the early state first down second down like all right we got to find ways to sustain offense they don't have a screen game so that's where like the empty stuff does come in a play hey you want to go empty early downs spread the ball like just get a couple like get a first down get a you know get a cut so yeah like finding exclusive was actually talking about this uh and it was interesting that he his theory

i've talked to frame about this before oh you know yeah his theory is that screen the screen game is tough when you have a mobile quarterback because the types of they're rushing a little bit more scared. They don't want to let the running quarterback free. And so they're not going balls to the wall and they're not as liable to get totally caught against the screen, which I think, I can sort of buy that. Right. But that's fine.

Send them deep. And there's something else we can do. Yeah. But that's the thing. It's like, we can't, all right, if the screen game's out, that we got to do, we've got to do something. There's got to be other things. We talked about that, you know, so often with this offense.

I, I'm waiting for Lindsay to flash a thing. Yep. I'm not jumping the gun. I wasn't thinking about overtime. I'm enjoying the conversation. Oh, okay. This third down pass game is going to, like, give me an ulcer. Well, tune in to find out if Fran is able to make it through the show alive in Lindsay time. All right. Now, if you think that that Sequin and Barclay stat was interesting, I'm about to blow your mind.

where do you think the Eagles offense ranks in success rate on the course of the season in third and long and we were defining that as third and eight or more

given everything we've seen from this offense where do you think because the third down offense in general is like what are they 28th something like that

right now I can look that up quickly there's no way we could possibly look that up I can look that up right now ranking I'm trying to see

France process to look at that looking up numbers. Hmm. It's already different than mine. 24th. 24th. 24th.

Okay. Third and eight plus. Where did the Eagles rank in the league in success rate? Talk amongst yourselves. Put it in the chat. I'll tell you the answer. You're going to be blown away.

I want the big reveal. Seventh. Seventh. on a 28% success rate but that does not tell the whole story because the entire league is not good on 3rd and 8 plus. The Eagles are marginally better on this play.

What is the difference here is that they are in 3rd and 8 plus the 3rd most often in the league. You're talking about the Browns and the Cardinals are the only teams in the league who have been in 3rd and 8 plus more often than the Eagles.

That's the problem. The Giants and Titans are right behind them. So that's the company. They're literally like the top four picks in the draft is next year. That's through the company right now. And so it is not that there are a lot of frustrations of the third date concepts,

but it's not that they are not succeeding at a high enough rate. It's that they are putting themselves in a situation that everybody struggles with. But some of those concepts have driven you nuts a little bit. Yeah, I mean, it's the part of the past game that especially in this like the last few weeks says like you know remember the reporting about like nixiriani becoming more involved with the with the offense in general with the past game where i've noticed the changes and notice the shifts

have been with the early down stuff like that's where we've seen more under center play action and you know the more like aggressive downfield concepts not iso routes like concepts like three level stretches and high low read like you know stuff where the routes work in concert together and you know manipulating a defender so that one one receiver breaks open like concepts as opposed to what we see a third down just yesterday i'm going to go through this just drive me nuts and this doesn't even count the cowards draw stuff doesn't even count those plays first drive the second and 13 handoff the second or 13 handoff like yeah first drive third and 10 corner out to a j brown for eight yards punt then you don't have another third long

for that for three so it's not until the fourth drive third and 10 they had a uh a a corner route that was taken away by cover two so you get scrambled drill pinpoint throw to a j brown like beautiful throw like really now really quickly uh lindsay can we go to that can we go to that film on that one because on this play uh they you know they they come out it's a three by one set and again the ball's going to go to a j here on this one uh bottom the screen he wants dallas goddard on the outbreaking route but it's against cover two and again like with the cover with the corner sinking here that takes that throw so jalen initially wants dallas goddard here on this play i'll give them credit usually when

it's third and long it is usually iso ball like oh it's a it's a fade here and it's a it's uh you know the hitches and all the curls here they actually ran a concept but they ran it right into where the zone coverage defenders were and so that ball's taken away now what i don't like here from this one from jalen is as he's stepping up what do we always talk about like you're stepping up in position to be able to throw the football. He's got edge pressure. We talked about how the Eagles defense loves to be able to impact the quarterback. When you're going against a quarterback like Jalen, it's a little bit different where some

defensive coordinators, you might feel comfortable right now giving him this path because now he's not stepping up in position to throw. He is square to the line of scrimmage. And now he's looking to try and eject. AJ Brown is working a backside dig. Like this ball should have been like climb and deliver to AJ. on the run for a big play like that that would be the that's like how you would draw that up for jane on this play instead he initially looks like he wants to eject this way then he breaks back running to his right

and he ends up making i mean just it's a beautiful throw it's a beautiful throw over the corner benford underneath the safety and he puts this right on the money it's like it was one of his better throws of the day did it need to be as difficult as it was no it did not um but they make that play now again is that sustainable we've talked about how like when jalen holds on to the football the success rate has not been great over the last couple of years like that's not been that the usually the offense is better when he is getting the ball out a little bit faster um so like i would say you know their lone conversion on third and long yesterday like you know it's great that they can make those plays but uh not a sustainable form of offense so same drive third and 12

is so ball you got a defensive holding on uh on matt milano um you know so that that one is taken away by penalty. Third and nine, they run a slant to Dallas Goddard on a high, low reed, short of the sticks. Only one viable route beyond the sticks, and then they kick a field goal. Very next drive, two-minute drill, third and eight. They throw a screen to Dallas-Coddard

in the red zone, nearly stripped at the end. That was such a strange, yeah. Nearly stripped of the end. Of course it was. It was their final position of the half. I texted you guys would happen. Can we just not have a game where they have the ball in the first half?

That would be beautiful. Like, that was just very good for mental health. Six drive. So first drive of the second half, third and 12. They run four verts right into, literally every guy is running immediately into a zone coverage defender. Jayland's got nowhere to throw with the ball throws away. Seventh drive, next drive, third and ten. They're running like a, this is the last play I've got.

This play drove me nuts. So on this one, this is the last one, Lindsay. You've got two by two set here. AJ's running like a shallow cross. I think this is supposed to be what is called like a drive route, which are the Eagles. they've run this a decent amount where you typically have a receiver over the ball and you have the shallow cross and it's kind of like a, you know, a semblance of a high-low read. But here on this play, John Dotson works like this and runs kind of like a hitch and Goddard is

working behind it and looks like he's going to run like a corner route behind it. The spacing here is terrible. Dotson gets held up by the jammer. Then you've got Dallas trying to work behind it as AJ's coming. So you're going to literally have. all three guys within five yards of each other. As Jalen hits the top of his drop, he's uncomfortable because, again,

the routes don't match with his drop, so he starts to drift. The bills are playing coverage we talked about last week. Cover two men, so you've got two high safeties, man-to-man coverage with a spy. It's only a three-man rush. So you've got the spy in Thompson, and when Jalen starts to drift needlessly,

because, again, like, he's feeling antsy because the routes aren't developing and he doesn't feel confident in it. Well, now the linebacker says, all right, well, I'm not letting you get outside the pocket. So this is a pressure that is invited by Jalen. This is not an offensive line pressure. This is a quarterback pressure.

And, but I don't blame Jalen because he had nowhere to go with the ball. So this is like a good example of like, man, like it's third and long. Even if like best case scenario, is he supposed to throw to dots in like short of the sticks? Is he supposed to throw to AJ like at a two yards depth? Like how is this the call on third and ten? I don't know, but they end up punting on that one. So that's the seventh drive.

Eighth drive. Third and six, they again ran that same high, low to Dallas Goddard. This time, that was the driver they started backed up in their own goal line after the fourth down stop. The ball could have come out fast. It doesn't. So they end up punting. Ninth drive. Very next drive.

Third and six again, all curls, scramble, throwaway, terrible play. Tenth drive. Very last one. They throw a fade to Devante. And Jamie said it on the post game show last night. He's like, yeah, like it feels like all these 50-50 balls to AJ and Devante they don't come down with. It's like, yeah, like that's regression. that's the point of the 50-50

but it's like yeah like we could say like oh it's 80-20 it's not there's a reason why we call it 50-50 at some point like regression comes and right now like if that's the what you're saying is like the sustainable part of the offense I don't like that doesn't feel good when it's coming up snake guys time and time again I prefer hey like let's get let's dial up

design shot plays where you had AJ Brown wide open on the post corner on the post corner route you had John Dotson on the corner route where like Jalen put it beautifully like it's it's uh this third down past game's brutal it's a tough tough watch so it's like you're playing like layups and threes but it's like ben simmons is your three point shooter and uh who's the who's going to be taking the layups in this scenario ben simmons you're gonna get around the ram well not a not in uh ben simmons with his with his right hand yeah yeah i mean i also just

just don't get into third and eight yeah i don't know well i think they're trying yeah that's the problem is that that is their goal and with the with the run game not being as good and look they didn't do any of the quarterback run stuff yesterday and so that's what like they bounced back and forthwards like all we're gonna go under center yeah but like so that if we I guess if we're taking like bits and pieces here's our here's the bull case right yesterday bad conditions yeah a game that doesn't doesn't matter yeah matter as much yep right before the playoffs you could sell me on this not the time to necessarily lean heavily into the jail you can sell me on this right to necessarily lean heavily into the jail

You can sell me on that. Yep. You get to the playoffs. We're going to involve Jalen in the running game more. Lane Johnson's going to be back. Yep. And that alone is going to take us to a mediocre offense. And that with our defense is going to be enough.

Seas get degrees, as a wise man once said. Shout out to Adora Jackson. Yeah. I don't know. It's not crazy. It's not. I mean, you're writing. You're writing off them playing up to their talent.

Right. That's fine. Can they just get to 24? Can they get to, can they score 24 points? Yeah. Oh. I mean, if they score 24 points, they will win the Super Bowl. Right.

Every week. Right? Like, yeah. That's how they would feel. You're not selling me on it. I mean, I see where you're- I'm not so sure I buy it. But, yeah.

No, I just, I think if the Eagles offense could have figured this out, we would have seen it at some point in the last several months. Probably. I think the formula is 16 to 9. The highest paid offense in football. That's tough swallow, man. That's tough. Not everything, AJ has to be in your dirty, dirty mind. Get out of here.

Swallow was a bird. That's what I was going for. Bird pun. Yeah, he's going for a bird pun. Of course, obviously. Any other little mini nuggets that you enjoyed from the film? A little mini nuggets. How fun is Jaylex Hunt?

I mean, he talks about him. Yeah, he's really fun. Zach Bond, the coverage on that downfield throw to cook was awesome. Just an unbelievable play. Wait, you can throw the ball to running back downfield? Apparently. we talked about the reed blanket should play where he came down and he laid that guy out he did a great so like he sat in the window they were trying to hit a dig and he was right there to take the dig away

and then collapsed on the uh the shallow cross was outstanding um we talked about the jihad camel fumble recover yesterday in the show oh here's one here's one that's interesting and this could just could be this is something just to kind of keep in mind you know we've talked about how like in recent weeks they they love playing um quinion mitchell to the field this is like this is Honestly, like for Dainez and like a handful of other people out there who care about this, the minutei. So they love playing Quignan to the field.

What you're seeing, what we saw yesterday on the, the 50-yard pass to Brandon Cook's second drive of the game. They do what's called formation to the boundary where you had three receivers to the short side of the field. You had one receiver to Quinyan side and that receiver stayed short.

So Quinyon is staying, you're basically removing the top corner and keeping him close to the line of scrimmage. and then they ran a vertical concept it was a dagger cross-country dagger concept to the other side and Josh Allen's like

I'm going to take advantage of this and let one loose over the top that's one to definitely keep like in mind as a this could be a tool that another team could try and replicate to if you know that Quinion Mitchell's always to the field

you can dial up plays to try and take advantage of that that's interesting that makes sense some super chats Mattie Greenwood Well, let's start with Matthew Perch who says, I can't stand Nick's antics

Him in the tunnel acting all tough was a joke. Act like you've been there before. In Nick's half-hearted defense here, it is just who he is. Like, it's his genuine personality. Absolutely.

And he should be himself. And there, you know, as our friend, Z.B., the guy who was on with David Baker, Every time I bring him out I love Zach But when I bring him up I'm always like bracing for you

To just like derail the whole thing I enjoyed that conversation And I just derailed it myself this time I laugh about FIFO FOM Like once a week easy As our friend Zach Berman pointed out on social media this morning Like there have been instances

During Nick's career With the Eagles That the players have wanted more of that from him To be more himself So I think if that's what you are There have also been instances Like the one yesterday where you can see on AJ Brown's face That he is doing the biggest internal eye roll

Anyone has ever done It was like like an internal cringe Yeah The Zach Hertz thing from last year Like maybe a little bit less In that situation Yeah It was a half-hearted defense

I I Yeah to me like Celebrating a big play On the sideline Yeah, like that stuff is It's totally fine Against the lines where he's like running up

And down the sideline I think that that is like what he brings Like that's juice That is the joy That is yeah I think that's I think that's a little bit different Than the I don't know

It's fine You're not gonna be Yeah I don't think that's fine It was funny Objectively funny It's very funny Of the things to complain about With the T's like that's far down

The list of my mind But You can also understand How some people Would be rubbed the wrong way By that Joe Rockett the final play of the game

Cooper Dejean blitz the quarterback he got flattened it looked pretty banged up any word on coop I haven't heard anything yet was a play earlier in the fourth quarter where he looked ginger couldn't tell if it was a groin or just a straight penis shot

he looked uncomfortable I have no update on that I look forward to this week's exciting Mike to get into the bottom of that one. Nick's here, honey, talk shortly here. And... Oh, you think he's going to address?

No, I don't. I don't think he's going to address that subject. The trunk in the room? Looking forward to the last penis gate of 2025. Dinkleberg. Doodles with Duffy brought to you by Insert ad here. Go on to something.

There you go. Jay King Street. Run, run pass in the second half. was super limiting no what you can't run it yeah yeah I mean I I think I think they actually only did that on maybe two of the five drives but yeah I thought it was more than that hold on I got you of the four three and outs right I think I think one of them was at least opened with a pass so the seventh drive you had pass pass pass okay eighth drive you had run run pass okay ninth drive you had run

run pass. Okay. 10th drive had run run past. Now, one of those, one of those was like the tush push, like you're on the one-yard line, a push-push-push run, you know, was running. I think the way I worded in my story is designed to run. Yeah. Yeah.

The offensive, I just said, yeah, it wasn't, it didn't look good. D&B Mix. From that quote, we learned that it takes five, three-and-ounce for Nick to inject himself and play call adjustments. Now I'm like Nick's defense attorney here. I think it's been, well, it's been report. And I think it's been evident that Nick has taken a bigger role in the offensive game playing. I don't know if like, you know, it's obviously a little vague, but I don't think, I think that

that was him acknowledging how his role may have shifted in the last, you know, since the biweek or not since the by week in the last couple weeks. Right. Gotcha. Maddie Greenwood. Was it me or did Hertz look like he's on his way to a great game for the first 28 minutes of the ball game? Can we shut off the time clock for our offense?

I agree with that. I thought Gillen Hertz was playing really well in the first half. half made some really nice throws and tough conditions i thought so too it's it's it's emblematic of the whole offense it's i don't know why they just lose it sometimes well hurts talked about rhythm rhythmic ball i think is how he put it and how they didn't have that in the second half and i think it's been evident with him that he's a rhythm player but no i agree he had some big time throws in the first half um you know like tight window throws or extending some of the ones that you broke down so i don't know

I just think they were overly conservative in the second half. I think that they didn't put enough on his plate in the second half. I know it's crazy to say that when he didn't complete a pass, but I think it also was a sample size thing. Yeah. All right. Anything else? Go back through my notes.

I usually color code stuff. I'm like, all right, this is something to talk about. I think I hit everything. Yeah, I think I hit everything. How many more flights? This season. For me, I guess. You count the Super Bowl if the Eagles are not in the game?

No, don't count that. That would be like a really selfish way to look at it. I mean, how many more times am I going to get on a plane to cover an Eagles game this season? I think if I had to bet, I would say zero. Hmm, really? Okay. Probably in the same way. Yeah, I think that's the most likely thing

because they could still get the two seed, in which case they get two games. And then there's a chance that they get three games at home. So it's possible to be zero and still. Okay. I get where you're a championship game. But also they could lose them in the first round. Yeah.

I think that would be the most turkeys. I don't know. If they're the three seed, let's say, how many flights? You go on one at that point? Because then you still, you know, Chicago could lose. And then you still get a home game. Some of those throws that Caleb made yesterday. Yeah, I know.

It's sick. Got a good arm. Yeah. Yeah. All right, that'll do it for the P.H.O.I. Eagles show. We will talk to you tomorrow, 2 o'clock. A loopy Tuesday. I'm Brandon Graham involved.

E.J. We're off Wednesday and Thursday. So then we'll see you for a forehander on Friday. Lots of big stuff. Friday forehander. Thank you, Lindsay. Thank everybody for watching and listening. We will talk to you tomorrow.

And as always, we love you. We're all silly like the mayor.