PHLY Philadelphia Eagles Podcast - Eagles have a defensive historic day in shut out of the Raiders

Episode Date: December 17, 2025

React to HBO's Hard Knocks Episode 3 & enjoy the Eagles dominant day on defense as they held the Raiders to under 100 total yards of offense & didn't allow a single point. Observations & notes from inside the episode & what we learned about the Philadelphia Eagles defense & the offensive side of the ball righting the ship vs. a poor Las Vegas Raiders team and head coach Pete Carroll. The Dallas Cowboys season was all but ruined as well in a loss to the Minnesota Vikings, so we'll laugh at that as well. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hello and welcome in to a little P. H.L.Y. Eagles After Dark, live from the Xfinity Mobile Studios. Jamie Lynch joined by Mr. E.J. Smith. E.J., how are we? I'm doing well. You know, I don't think we can have as much of a profanity-laden exchange as Jalen Hertz and Nick Siriani did against the Raiders. But no, I'm doing well, feeling good. Yeah. Yeah, that one made my notes. Yeah, that's the top minute. Yeah. But thanks for, thanks for joining the show. The instant reaction to episode three of HBO's hard knocks inside the NFC East. I've really been enjoying the series. I have an unbiased love for hard knocks where I feel like it's become less popular in the recent years, but I love the end season look to it. I think you get some good footage, some good insight into your team and been enjoying it so far.

It was nice to watch an episode, E.J., where they won, and they weren't in the middle of a two-game skid losing to a division rival. So that was a nice little turn of events. Yeah, no, and I think each of the last couple of weeks it's been an interesting window into what's going on with the team, like even as somebody who's in the building, as much as I am like you don't get access to like meeting rooms and sideline exchanges the way that we do with the show. So no, it definitely helps kind of fill out the picture for me as I try to figure out what's going on with this team. It's been, been quite a year trying to figure that out. Yeah, and we'll get into all the notes, but I did think my second note on my not notepad

here is the presence of Scott Loughler last year's Bowling Green. What was his title there? Not head coach, no, he was head coach. He was head coach. Yeah, no, yeah. So Scott Loffro, now he's the passing game coordinator. Is that the title? No, he's the quarterback's coach. Quarterback. Parker is the past game coordinator. Okay.

I did find that little tidbit or appearance into Hard Knock somewhat interesting. It was a look into the quarterback room with Jalen Hertz, but some people are speculating online if there's been a heavier influence from other sources in the Eagles offense the past two weeks. Yeah, no, I mean, I thought his presence was. was noteworthy. You know, I think also, like, I think it's pretty apparent even just from watching the Hard Knocks clips.

Like, I'm not saying that Nick Siriani isn't always somewhat involved in me in the offensive process, but I do think you could kind of tell even just from watching some of the conversations he was having during practice with some of the guys, the exchange with Jalen Hertz that we'll get into here. It did seem like you can see the hints of his increased involvement from the last couple of weeks even in the show yeah uh the episode kicked off tonight with seriani in the team meeting kind of really leaning into the they and us together thing uh the narrative of the fans and media you know thinking that the sky is falling but all they have is is each is each other so once

again in eagles locker room uh and i guess it's a good thing ultimately but it's funny that we always end up back here that it's us against yeah no and what's one of the biggest like upsets for this episode of my opinion is that there really wasn't much acknowledgement to the conversation around Jalen Hertz locally. You know, they love to show like, or love to, you know, kind of like indulge the like local conversation, you know, some of the local radio stations. And I was really surprised that that didn't become a talking point for the episode. You know, there were moderately loud calls for Jalen to get benched last week and they kind of glossed over that. So, no, that surprised me a little bit. But I think, you know, to your point, Scott Leffler addressing that,

Nick Siriani addressing that, I think they did try and allude to some of the conversation around the team last week. Yeah, I too was a surprise that they didn't have another WIP montage because in episode two, I mean, they sounded like absolute lunatics in the way that it was packaged together. But it was the narrative of the week there. And I was surprised they kind of skipped it over coming off of a third loss. Then we got to Sequin Barkley kind of talking in the training bubble with head coach Nick Siriani about the past or the rushing attack this year and kind of what's been the downfall, but they feel kind of comfortable the last two weeks in the direction it's heading. Yeah, no, I found it interesting. You know, the, the exchange of

Sequin, he was talking about finding ideal looks. I thought that was noteworthy. But yeah, no, I mean, just generally, you know, I do feel like, like I said, like Nick's presence on that side of the all, his sort of being involved, talking about the plan. I think you can kind of tell in hindsight that he's taking a bigger role there. And then finally, we've got to look inside the barn. It opens with Leav Schreiber saying Lane Johnson one day will be in the Hall of Fame, but right now he just misses the field. And you've got to look inside Lane Johnson's famous barn.

Our own Brian Baldinger, friend of the program, graces the walls of the barn over there, as well as some other, I believe, Landon Dickerson's up there. Anyway, very cool look inside Lane's kind of rehab and training with his trainer, Gabe. Look like late at night, barefoot outside over in New Jersey. Kind of cool to see how dedicated he is and how much he's trying to get back here. Yeah, no, I mean, I thought it was important that like you see Gabe Rangel there because from being around Lane for such a long time, it's like, you know, Gabe is a huge part of this.

know he is a big part of not just like lane's hyper intensive workout regimen but also like lane the person um they're very close so uh i thought it was cool i thought it was cool that he was uh kind included there and um yeah no i i do i think it's also like a good reminder of like what it takes to be lane johnson you know i don't know about you jamie but like 60 pull-ups sounds pretty ridiculous to me you know my wife was like did they just say 60 pull-ups like not like not six not a more reasonable number it's not in the cards for me jay i wouldn't even know i mean just a total freak of nature um and yeah there's a lot of work that goes into it so yeah i mean i think a lot of eagles fans are aware of the bro barn by now but yeah it is always cool to see it uh and kind

of understand like you know i did a story last year uh about like who who spends the most money on their body in the eagle's locker room and the answer is sequan but i think lane is a close second and i think yeah brog barn is an illustration as to why it's very cool i mean if you're if weightlifting is your thing and that's a cool place to just hang out with the fellas um where does a j brown rank on that list of uh body investment it's a good question a j latin when i talked to him about it last year he kind of downplayed his like massive investment i think the thing is like the thing i heard about sayclan is that like he's got people you know he's got like masseuses and probably i don't know about nutritionist

but like you know there's just a lot of you know personnel that uh help him get two each week. I mean, even down to, like, Sequam will, like fly trainers in a lot, even in season, he'll have trainers come in for a few days and he'll pay for their hotel when they're there and everything else. So that stuff definitely does add up. But for Lane, it's like equipment. Again, it's like you see the bro barn. Like he's got like a hyperbaric chamber. Like, you know, these guys, man, they are pretty intense about this stuff. Yeah. I didn't spend too much time. I did gloss through kind of the commanders and giant stuff a little bit, but I did want to see the Zacherts kind of send off

or touch point this week. Tough to see. I hope for Zach, like if he wants to come back and give it another go, like he's able to. But, you know, it's kind of sad to see a guy

and Eagles all time great kind of career end there before he wanted it to. Yeah, just kind of like walking around on crutches and the commander's facility. It has been, you know, interesting watching the like last few years

of Zach Gertz's career. You know, he's got like a longevity now that I think is admirable. But yeah, no, I mean, it is, it's, I don't know. I'm curious to see, like, if and when he does, well, when he does retire eventually, whether it's this year or next year or a few years from now, like how he's received by Eagles fans, because obviously he's going to be like a franchise legend, but I do, I'm just, I want to see, like, to what degree he falls on that, on that spectrum there. So, yeah, I found it noteworthy because some, some guys,

like when they tear their ACLs like they're out you know they are doing their thing you know understandably so you know they are focused on the rehab element of thing so I thought it was noteworthy that he's still around the facility you know and he was seemingly like taking apart and trying to help them finish out the season yeah then we got back to the Eagles and it was the Jalen Phillips portion of the evening uh cool to see him kind of just integrate himself with the teammates and be one of the guys the Kobe Dean popped on a couple of several times talking about like what a kind of seamless fit it was for JP as they refer to him to join the team fit right in. Cool little look into a new teammate getting mixed in.

I believe every word he says about how grateful he is to be here when you come from the dolphins. Yeah. And it does stand out. He's he's just a good fit, right? You know, he just both from a profile perspective, like high draft pedigree, high high school recruit coming out of school like you know just height weight speed type of player like but also just you know age profile personality um i thought i don't know if you picked up on um jihad campbell and him like talking about like throwing a snowball ball i wrote that down what is like the most like jihad campbell conversation you could have like he is it's funny because like you know he got to the eagles and he's got like the alabama like you know like straight laced very you know buttoned up persona but

the more you the more i feel like everyone gets to know him the more they realize he's like a big kid you know like he has like that goofy energy so uh yeah no they think that uh him and jalen phillips are a good match in that way and i i i respect jalen phillips for sticking to this like the greatest thing that's ever happened to me like i now i do actually i i actually believe him at this point you know when he first said i was like that's just some like high high level pandering going on yeah i think i think he realizes the significance for his career and you know I, as I, like, I can understand from a financial perspective, maybe you do feel like this is the greatest thing that ever happened to you, a chance to play some high leverage games on a big stage before free agency. Yeah, very cool to see that.

By the way, if Jihad Campbell is watching right now, I'm pretty sure you'll get a 15 yard unsportsman like or something. If you do that. You can't even stand over a guy these days. So, yeah, I feel like it's going to snowball might be against the rules. Yeah. then they sent back down to Dallas in the episode and the defensive line coach there in Dallas basically was like, yeah, we're losing us games.

I talked about the investment of Quinn and Williams and Kenny Clark in the middle and how it's transformed. It's very fun for me to watch that knowing the result of the Minnesota game and to see the hope and then the disappointment of an entire city of Dallas all at once. I really enjoyed those highs and lows there for the Cowboys fans. Yeah, definitely a different energy in the Cowboys' defensive line room compared to the Eagles defensive line room.

I feel like Clint Hurt has been a big winner from the Hard Knock series so far. You can kind of get a good look at what his room is like and sort of the presence that he has in there. So yeah, no, I definitely, it was interesting the different, even like the commander's defense. Look at myself in the mirror. Yeah. Look at myself in the mirror. Yeah, it was pretty intense.

Pretty intense stuff there. The commander's defensive line room is pretty like naval gasey too, you know. know, like a lot about like the, like, I understand that you try to bring perspective to it, but it definitely was a different energy than what, what Clint Hertz bringing to that room. Yeah, yeah. And then we got to the game. And one of my first notes is our co-worker, Mr. B.G, gets the fountain of youth shout out in the game. It was very cool to see BG, you know, get those two sacks and cool of them to highlight and point that out.

Yeah. No, I really enjoyed his. explanation as to for the second sack where he's like I was going for the ball I fell to the ground I just grabbed somebody's foot like he watched him back after hearing that so you have to check out BG unblocked to hear him talk about that second sack and how it was kind of a chance encounter for him. Yeah new episode of BG on block tomorrow because of the Saturday game this week so make sure you subscribe get it where you can get your podcast but unblocked with Brandon Graham check it out and Bo Wolf it's a great podcast.

then we got to Siriani and Hertz yeah this is a big one for me yeah I thought it was a cool playful um not very head coachy

kind of like cool exchange between the two of them like you better bleep and say that was a great design and it looked like it looked like they had a good relationship yeah no I mean I think yeah they definitely

like it looked like two guys who had been yeah who get along and understand but the thing that stood out to me was like you just don't see Jalen that demonstrative and I thought it was like significant like Jalen gets to the sideline he says I told you I got you and like it was almost like the trust to call that play

the trust to you know believe that he was gonna because he said like I ripped it up the seam like you know it was like almost like hey look like I can do this like we can't we can do this right and I thought when as we go through these next couple of weeks where we're really kind of like evaluating on the margins of, you know, games that are against defenses that, you know, aren't the level that the Eagles are going to see in the playoffs. Like, the thing that you're going to gain meaning from is stuff like that where it's like, is this offense playing with a confidence with a belief with an identity

and the fact that they had that exchange where Jalen is like, look, I did this. Like, we can do this. And Nick is saying, you better say it was great design because, you know, the coaching staff, you know, had to put this in. You know, them kind of like meeting in the middle or, you know, just kind of like, you know, having that that shared thing there. I did think that that was like, if you're, if you're like evaluating the Eagles offense over these last, the next, these next couple weeks, like, this is the stuff you want to see. Like, you want to see, you know, not just Jalen Hertz, like ripping the ball up the seam for a touchdown past AJ Brown. You want to see like the residual effects of it lasting into the postseason. And I thought that exchange did show that.

You know, I thought it showed like a confidence in Jalen. you know, what he was seeing out there, what he was able, you know, his ability to make that throw. And again, I think that is why you saw the reaction from him on the field is because of the fact that I think he, you know, he knew he thought he could do it. He was telling him he could do it. And then he finally got to do it on honestly, the last play for him in that game. Yeah. It seemed like he did kind of, you know, make his case for the shot there. And that had to feel doubly good pulling that off. Very cool. The defense just ridiculous. Yeah. I mean, I guess I realized it in the moment. I spoke the words with you on the post game about how good the defense was, but it almost feels like it was. And I tried not to do this to be like, oh, it was just the Raiders. I don't care who it was. It was 75 yards of total offense. They absolutely decimated an NFL team that earlier this year beat the New England Patriots. Like the NFL is weird. They shut them down. Yeah, no, it's it has since dawned on me.

since like the post game that like the goal for the eagles defense wasn't to maintain the shutout it was to keep them under 100 yards which is crazy yeah no it's insane yeah and i it's just yeah i think it's the reason why if you're talking yourself into this team going on a run it's this defense just turning every game into a rock fight the way that they've been able to so no i mean it's crazy the mixture of like young players on because like how do they get here right it's like young players on rookie contracts. It's guys like Jalen Phillips on a prove it deal. And, you know, guys like Adory Jackson and Marcus Epps like really settling in. And all of a sudden, yeah, you feel like this is one of the best defenses in the NFL, which is crazy because they were really,

really good last year. And they might be, they might be better this year, which is crazy to say. Yeah, they might be. My boy Quinyon's numbers this year, E.J. are just out of control. Well, it's like griping, you might have insight to this just because of the personality. was a little more Vic Fangio in hard knocks, but I could see him being an anti hard knocks guy, though. That was my thought. He sounds like the, the angry uncle that's like, no, get the cameras out of my room. But I would have loved the little glimpse into him. Yeah, no, I could see that, especially like whenever I see the hard knocks cameras in the locker room, they're very distinct cameras. They're big cameras. They look like movie cameras. So my guess is that Vic sees those and

turns the other way. Runs the other runs down the hallway. And then to close out the episode, it was absolutely beautiful E.J. I really, really enjoyed it. I know you're Big J journalism and you can't go too hard down this hole, but I will. Give me that scene of Jerry Jones reacting to the season being over, smack in the face to wake up every morning. That was gorgeous. I loved everything about Schottenheimer, you know, just being like, not very good, bad, got to do better. And Jerry Jones, like, couldn't sit still and he was all fidgety in his diapers. A very, very enjoyable final scene to the episode for me. Yeah, I had an ownership take at least so I can piggyback off of that a little bit. I just I find it interesting

how much Jerry's involved. I guess it's not surprising, but by contrast, like, listen, Nick Seriani has meetings with Jeffrey Laurie too, but it's like they're not on camera. You know, I think it's a very, it's, there's a huge difference between those two ownership groups, uh, the visibility in the show. And I think that it's, uh, maybe not surprising, but telling is what I would. Yeah. Yeah. How about them cowboys? Well, that's it for. episode three. Good to see the birds in that locker room and BG getting the game ball, get back in that wind column. I did notice Howie and Jeffrey seem pretty happy also to get back in that wind column in the locker room there. Yeah, no, absolutely. Yeah. That's really all

you see of those guys. You know, it's just, it's a big difference. I mean, yeah, not to say we won't see more of obviously, we had Jeffrey walking through the parking lot a couple of weeks ago, but just like a different, different type of thing. You know, it's not like, look how many decisions the owner makes. It's a lot more just like letting the main characters be the main characters in a different way. Yeah. Enjoyable episode three. If you're hanging out with us tonight, hit that thumbs up button before you get out of here. If you're new to the channel and just discovering us, E.J. Smith, Bo Wolf, Fran Duffy, two o'clock every day of the week right here on the P.H.L.Y. Eagles show. Give us a shot. Like and subscribe. Thanks for hanging out with us tonight.

enjoyed episode three of HBO's Hard Knocks for E.J. Smith, I'm Jamie Lynch, leaving the Xfinity Mobile Studios. Have a great night, everyone. See ya.