PHLY Philadelphia Eagles Podcast - Eagles-Niners Preview: How can Vic Fangio’s defense SHUT DOWN Kyle Shanahan’s offense?

Episode Date: January 7, 2026

On this side, Jalen Carter, Jordan Davis, Zack Baun, Nakobe Dean, Quinyon Mitchell, Cooper DeJean and one of the league’s best defenses with Vic Fangio masterminding it all. On the other, Brock Purdy, Christian McCaffrey, George Kittle, Jauan Jennings and Kyle Shanahan’s precise trickery. Fran Duffy, Deniz Selman, EJ Smith and Bo Wulf get deep into the weeds on the most interesting matchup of Sunday’s huge Wildcard Game. Plus, ESPN’s Mina Kimes joins the show to break down the matchup and talk big-picture playoff thoughts. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

That's right. Hello everybody. And welcome to the P.H.O.Y. Eagles podcast live from the Xfinity Studio and presented by Bet365 and Ashley, what better time to lean into sports over everything than the playoffs. That's right. We're unpacking everything on one side of the ball today. The Eagles defense against the Niners offense, good on good. and who better to take us through it than Franny Films,

E.J. Smith, and the professor Dana Sellman. How's everybody doing? Fran, how are you? My head is like scrambled eggs right now. Like, I've got so much information thrown in here for this game. This is going to be a really fun conversation. E.J. My head is not like scrambled eggs.

I'm excited. Fried eggs. See, like, maybe a fried egg. Overeasy? No, I don't like an overeasy. I'm not an egg guy. Well, I don't dislike eggs. I can't eat them.

They hurt my stomach. So, anyway, I am very excited to hear these guys talk about this matchup. Like in a cake or something like that? That's a point of contention in my household is that I can't eat like if it's cooked, if it's baked, it's fine. It's just like the actual egg. I think it might be like a, it might be mental. I ate a lot of eggs in college.

Like I basically lived off of eggs because I was so broke. Pulling a Paul Newman over there in college. Cool hand Luke over here. I can't wait to hear these guys talk about this matchup. Do you know who Paul Newman is, DJ? The salad dress. How about Newman Paul? How do you like your eggs?

I just, I, I, I just, uh, definitely scrambled. Turkish. I definitely scrambled, uh, in Turkey when, when we do do, like scrambled eggs, it's very, they're very scrambled. Like, you can't see the white and the yoke, like, separated at all. And that's, and that's, well, that's the thing. Well, they've got better chicken. But no, no, but this is like a, this is like a, I don't really like eggs.

Like, I don't eat boiled eggs. Like, I, I just don't like the, like, deviled eggs. Like, I, like, run away from the room. Interesting. So they have to be scrambed eggs. for me to not really taste them. But I love omelets and stuff, so, but they have to be very scrambled. All right, let's get into.

We got a lot to get to. My brain is like that too, by the way. I don't know how many texts Fran and I sent to each other yesterday, like preparing for the show. But I'm not sure how organized we are, but we're going to do our best. We're going to find out. And we're going to start. Well, here, there's a little preview of what we've got to come. Obviously, lots to get to.

Where does Kyle Shanahan want to attack? What might be Vic Fangio's counterpunches? Meena Kimes is going to join the show in the middle, and we're going to do a little. the middle and we're gonna do a little draft that we do every year just drafting playoff teams combined wins that'll be a fun little intermission in this very football dense episode let's get into it a new sponsor of ours Wawa and we've got the big deal Wawa Wednesdays and remember at Wawa you can get any sizzly any hot or ice coffee and a hash brown for just five dollars and the big deal we

start with just general Kyle Shanahan how does he want to attack? And actually, E.J., Vic Fangio, broke this down pretty well in his press conference yesterday. Yeah, no, Vic was very complimentary of Kyle Shanahan, had a lot of nice things to say, so they were friends, which, again, I thought was high praise from Vic Fangio, but I thought...

Talk about two surly guys. Like, what do you think their hangouts are like... Well, I think there's a mutual respect there, which is, I don't think that they hang out. I think that them being friends is probably like, that was pretty good what you did right there. Yeah. I think it's one of those...

And listen, I've got plenty of these myself where the friendship is based on mutual hatred of someone else. Right? I mean, oftentimes, that's a nice path to friendship. It is. That's a good one. The enemy of my enemy is my friend, right? Okay, I can see where you're coming from there.

So yeah, Vic Fangio on the 49er scheme, he says they have a really good scheme. It's all packaged together very nicely. They give you a lot of good motions. Everything they do is with a purpose, and they do a really good job of it. You know, just again to kind of catch the little listeners up on the Vic Fangio and Kyle Shanahan lower, like Vic City almost worked for Kyle

Shanahan in 2018. He almost joined Kyle Shanahan staff as a defensive coordinator. All right. So as you look at Kyle Shanahan, Fran, what is sort of like the operating philosophy you think? I think it comes down to we want to put as much stress on you as possible. So we're going to do that in a lot of different ways. It's a high volume of motion. The play action game is very, very strong. It's not as voluminous. We're going to, we're going to dive into a lot of these in a deeper way, but it's a lot of condensed formations, a ton of motion, really good play action. They're going to stick to running the ball, even though it's not like super explosive and not quite as efficient as it has been in the past, high volume run game, and then you've

got the ability to create yards after catch, like schematically, it hasn't been as fruitful, but I'll tell you what, like down the stretch, once Purdy was back in the line, I mean, that's the, that is the big thing, is that their number one receiver throughout the year has been Ricky Pearsall, he missed a large chunk of time. George Kittle missed a large chunk of time. Brock Purdy missed a large chunks of time. So, you know, it's been kind of a Frankenstein of an offense, but from week 11 to week 17, yeah, they average 35.7 points per game during that span.

Obviously, look, this week 18 game against Seattle, not good. We'll get into that. I want to get into that, yes. But, yeah, it's, look, this is, it's a good sound offense. Now, Professor, you are famously a Shanahan hater. and skeptic, but even you acknowledge that he can coordinate an offense. Oh, absolutely. I think he's a very good play caller.

He's obviously been very influential in the NFL. I think we can save some of the bigger picture stuff for tomorrow when it comes to the history of these teams and the history of the coaches' careers and those kinds of things. But Shanahan, as an offensive coordinator, as a play designer, as a play caller within game, I think has been, has been, yeah, like one of the best in the league for sure. And he's influenced a lot of other offensive coordinator.

who have had a lot of success as well. And, you know, is what makes this a dream matchup for football nerds, I think. Like the Fangio, you know, they've all said that Fangio is the hardest defensive coordinator to play against. And we get that, we get the matchup of like, you know, none of the imitators, but like the actual guys here

between Shanahan and Fangio. All right. Well, let's put a bow on the big deal on this Wawa Wednesday. Remember any sizzly hot or iced coffee and a hash brown for just $5 at your local Wawa. Make that happen. Okay, let's get into the snaps here, Fran. And I think you wanted to break this down into two segments to start, which is Shanahan may be circling a specific player on defense and trying to exploit an individual versus trying to exploit sort of schemes and coverages that might be thrown his way. Let's start with the individual. And I think we all agree that if there is someone, it's probably a Dory Jackson. I think we could maybe wonder about Nikobi Dean. The safeties as well. The safeties as well. But let's start on the outside because as I think of the Niners offense, I'm thinking less about

guys on the outside and more about exploiting the middle, but there are ways in which he might try to do that. Yeah, I think that when you look at it, it really honestly, I go back to when he was in Washington and you watch like, oh man, like RG3, he's a rookie and it's like bombs away, down the field. And so much of it was we're going to run

the ball with Alfred Morris and we are going to force teams to play heavy box, single high, and make you predictable, and then we're going to attack those single high coverages. And it's the same idea just in different packages where, hey, we're going to do things to manipulate you as a defense, get you into more predictable looks, and then either isolate a defender, Nikobie Dean, Adori Jackson, read language, ship, whoever it is, or make you predictable from a coverage standpoint and say,

all right, now we're going to call plays to attack that given coverage. So we've got a handful of plays dialed up, and we'll go to this first one here, Lindsay, where this is a play, and Dana has brought this one up as something that he thinks this is something that they could try and replicate, where this is a couple of weeks to go in the week 16 game against Washington, where you've got Adori Jackson one-on-one with Terry McLaren. Now, the big thing you see here is that this is a thing that you would call formation to the boundary, where you've got four eligible receivers to the short side of the field, to the boundary side, which is where Quinnion-Mitchell always lines up.

So you're going to line up four receivers over to the one side. That means you've got a whole lot of space over here to the field side. So it's basically ISO, one-on-one. one Terry McLaren against Adory Jackson. Now, what you're going to see here is just basically a stutter go. It's going to be one-on-one vertical route down the field, and Marcus Marriott

drops one down the field over the shoulder, and it's McLaren winning one-on-one. Now, the big thing about this is that the 49ers, I would say, from a weak pointer of this offense, personnel-wise, they don't have those dudes on the outside. They don't have the Terry McLaren. The closest thing to that is Ricky Pearson,

who is a really good vertical route runner, first round pick last year. He's missed some time. each of the past two years. He is good on running these kinds of routes. So it could be a situation where it's second and eight, it's third and 12, you know, whatever it is. And they line up this way.

And they just say, all right, we're going to line up one on one. And you've got to go and win. You could see that. What do you think, I know that you've been like analyzing the biometric data of everybody in the Niners facility to figure out whether or not they're going to play? What do you think about Pearsall? It seems like Pearsall is, I mean,

I mean, Pearsall is going to play, he's going to play, yeah. I mean, I would be very surprised if he didn't. I think Pierce Hall threw the league under the bus. They would have played if it was a Sunday. They were so upset that they had to play on a Saturday. I mean, poor guys. Like, I mean, Saturday instead of Sunday. Yeah, no, it seems like, Trent Williams seems to be the one that everyone's like,

if he plays, if he plays. But I thought, I don't know, reading between the lines, it sounded like he's going to play as well. I would imagine how, how concerned are you about Adore? Well, I mean, throughout the year, I've been kind of noting every time a team picks, on Adori Jackson, like how a good offensive coordinator in the playoffs could replicate this kind of thing. Earlier in the season when Quignon hadn't gotten settled

on the boundary, teams were attacking him when he was on the boundary by running crossers from the boundary to the field. The Eagles don't have a structure where they can catch those crossers and so they weren't able to protect Adory from those and he got beat by Bobby Engram, you know, whatever,

like a couple of different plays. Since Quignan's been on the boundary, it's been harder. This 4 by one example is a great example where you run, you know, your best wide receiver, put him to the field. You're not going to have help for a Dory then. The same game, friend, you're going to talk about the Trail and Berks one. I think that one relates to two different plays where the Bills also kind of picked on the Eagles cover eight, not necessarily a Dory Jackson, but that cover eight structure where they've got the safety apps rotated over a Dory Jackson. So the Eagles are trying to protect Dory Jackson

and then the Bills will attack in a different way. So after Fran does the, does the Trayland Berks one, we can talk about those. All right. Well, let's get into it then. It's the same idea where, you know, again, you're going to want you to try and see if you can throw a bunch of routes this time at Adori Jackson side. This time they're going to motion, this is Traylin Burke's coming across the formation, making this a three-by-one-one set. This is Adory Jackson to the field side, Quinnion Mitchell, on the boundary, where now you're releasing two receivers vertically down the field. This is just the dagger concept we talk about all the time. Where now, Berks, who was in motion, he comes in late, he's matched up

on Adore Jackson outside the numbers, and then he's going to work the dig route here on that side. You're keeping the tight end in to hold Quinnian Mitchell's eyes to try and make it so that he can't impact any of those throws on the backside. So what they're doing here on this play, and that's the thing is like Adori Jackson, he's the nearest defender in coverage. I'm not killing Adori for giving this up. Again, this is just the nature of the concept. You've got these vertical clear-out routes, and you could see that's got the attention of Cooper de Gene and both safety. So that's removing coverage from the middle of the field. What you would love here, if you're the Eagles is you've got Jehad Campbell, work in the middle of the field, and you've got Quignat.

Quinyon is, I'm going to go back one more frame. Quinion Mitchell sees this. You can see he's like, he's got eyes on it. And he says, yeah, I get what you're trying to do. You're trying to hold me here on this side. I see this concept and he kind of gets his way into the middle of the field. I'd love Jahad Campbell to be able to work on this as well to be able to try and take these throws away.

But Quinyon is just a step too late. The ball ends up getting there. But I think that at the end of the day, again, that's not like picking on a dorae. That's picking on the coverage content. I understand that, hey, like, on third and long, third down, they love to play cover six. They love to play cover eight, where it's the quarters to one side, cover two to the other, isolating Quinnion Mitchell on the other side. I think that's something that we definitely could see them try and do in this game.

To kind of relate it to the different answers that Fanju has in terms of how he rotates his coverages, the first play that Fran broke down, that was cover six where Adori Jackson is a quarter's corner, right? The rotation is on the other side where they have the four receivers. this last play that he broke down this is cover 3 buzz it's a little different where reed is kind of poaching that that crosser from the other side but because they bring

two guys he can only catch one of them right the classic coverage that he's used to actually protect the dory jackson have him just play as a as a flat corner is cover 8 and two times with using cover 8 they got burned by brandon cooks

against the bills like two deep routes by brandy cooks the two biggest plays the bills had in that game were both against cover eight where the design of the play was epps over adori jackson so they can't attack adore deep in both of them they run from the field to the boundary and cooper de jean doesn't cover that guy and so what's happening is apse who's playing as a as a high um safety on that side like is basically too close to the sideline to do anything about that post and one of them read blank and ship has to catch a dig it's very similar to the trail and berks one where there's two routes coming to his side. He can only catch one of them.

And the other one on the mic up, he says it's my fault. He just kind of caught in between. His eyes are in the wrong place. He probably should have caught it. But the point is that Shanahan is definitely all over all of these plays, right? Like, he's looking at these. He's saying, okay, these are the things that I can do to attack these. And look, I mean, the Siegel's defense has been awesome. Like, we're really looking at ways to, you know, to find holes in it. But these are definitely things I think that we're going to see. And so how Fran does, if we transition to more attacking coverages, how

How does motion play into all of this? Well, that's the thing, is that they do such a good job of using motions and shifts. And I think it's like second in the league, Dana is, right, in terms of motion rate. Buffalo was number one. San Francisco is right behind it. Second overall, fourth at the snap or something like that. So they're constantly guys in motion, and they do it from all the different personnel groupings. This is a good example, you know, where they use motion out of empty, where you've got Christian McCaffrey lined up out wide.

He's the movable piece, and now he comes in. You can see this creates communication. here on the back end where Arizona, they're playing cover four here on this side. So that meant that this corner, he's responsible for McCaffrey before the motion starts. Well, as soon as McCaffrey bumps inside, all right, well, now the new number one is this receiver. That's who that corner is going to be responsible for on this play. The problem is that that was the number one receiver. Well, he stems behind this receiver.

So now this is the new number one. And all of these pattern match rules, Kyle Shanahan is going to push. these buttons, he's going to pull these levers to try and test all of these guys and say, all right, well, if, you know, you've got to be on your P's and Q's when you go up against these route concepts. Well, now they're working everybody vertically down the field. And basically you're going to see, all right, this corner, now he's picking up his third assignment here just before the snap, working vertically down the field. And now you've got a receiver working behind it. McCaffrey holds the underneath defender there. And now you've got a receiver wide open for

an explosive play. And again, that's quarters, cover four, to the field. We see the Eagles do this time and time again. I don't know that this exact concept is something we'll see, but something like it. This is something that they have a lot of success with. And that's the motion at the snap. We can get into like the shifts and some of those things. But Danes, I know that's something that we can expect to see in this game.

For sure. If a fan sent me this clip yesterday, and the first thing I did was I looked up like, okay, three by one against cover four, how have the Eagles handled this. I didn't have to look very far, like very first game against Dallas. Like Dallas runs a three by one similar to this.

They run the same three-level stretch concept against cover four. Cooper dejean does not he's the flat defender in this case he does not care about the running back and this has been we've talked about this with Fangio in the past preparing for the Washington games last year where they will let the running back catch the ball in the flat

like that is not something where I expect that sale to ever be open with that in that concept because Cooper dejean is likely to get depth with that sale if anything like he might switch off with the middle linebacker like who's getting that running back but usually what they do is they let the running back catch the ball and they tackle them but do you think that will be the same

thing if the running back is Christian McCaffrey? No, it's a good question. I mean, like, one of the things that San Francisco is known for is yak. They haven't gotten as much yak this year as they have in the past, but McCaffrey is kind of their answer to, you know, like he's, he's like, they don't keep him into protect. Like, he's always going to be out in the flat, like against blitzes, those kinds of things. But yeah, I think so.

I don't think they're going to, I don't think they're going to have a guy glued to McCaffrey in the flat on a play like that and leave the sailover. A play like that, yeah. Right. Now, Fran, I know that the, Vic Fangio's quote about pressure stood out to you. So I guess what does the pressure package look like against the Shanahan offense? What can you and can't you get to? Yeah, that's something I know we're definitely going to hit on from a breakdown standpoint is, you know,

what are the things that have worked against getting pressure against Purdy over the course of this season? But motion can make that tricky at times. That's what, but at the end of the day, it's one of those you call it early. And if it works, if it works great, if you get burned by it, then maybe you call the dogs off a little bit. and now you have to rely on that defensive line to be able to win up front. I think, you know, Zach Berman has had just a brilliant year

of asking scheme questions to Vic Fangio this year, and I thought he asked a really good one yesterday as well about how motion can impact his pressure calls. And he said, it depends on what type of pressure. We have a graphic for this. Oh, excellent. Yeah. All right.

I was going to read it, but go ahead. Okay, I'm sorry about it. Yeah, I'm sorry. No, I don't need to talk. I've been talking all week. No, no, go ahead. Go ahead, E.J. Okay.

So Vic said, it all depends. upon what type of pressure you're doing. Some of them, the motion has no effect. Some of it, it does. So, yeah, they're really good at motion. They have a variety in it. They have different types of it. They do it for a reason, and they're good at it.

Yeah, I mean, the question was asked so well. I mean, of course, you got a good quote. But, you know, I know, Fran, you had a couple of examples that you had mentioned on the show before. One where the chargers, they motioned the running back to empty. And I text the chance I had about this to ask about, like, you know, whether it's typical. whether it's typical to have the linebackers kind of switch roles. Like if one of them's planning the blitz before the snap and then they motion a guy and then, you know,

that was a man coverage play where Bond looks like he's ready to blitz. He ends up covering the running back and Nicopi blitzes. The thing that happens there, though, is Nicopi ends up blitzing the A-gap, which isn't the original plan. And it's easier to pick up those blitzes because the center can just pick him up. And I thought that was interesting. There's another one against the lions where the tight end motions at the snap, the linebacker's bump, Nicopi blitzes anyway,

but because of the bump, he's blitzing the A gap instead of the B gap, and that's not what Fangeo does. And Sean was very specific about, like, the reason Vic likes to blitz the B gap and not the A gap is because he wants to get the linebacker on a running back. Like, that's the goal. Whereas when he blitz the A gap, if you don't have like a double mug or whatever,

which Fangio doesn't usually do, the center can just pick that up usually. So, yeah. Yeah, I think the big thing, too, and we'll just get into these couple plays really quickly. shifts that also happen because a shift is different than a motion. A motion, you see one guy go on the move. A shift is when you like turn the kaleidoscope and the entire picture changes,

the formation changes. A couple good examples here from them in the high red zone or in the fringe area where like you said the fringe area, like the 35 yard line and in, where basically you're in the strike zone. You're in the scoring zone as an offense and as a pass game. And here on this play, you're going to see that the 49ers come out. You've got Purdy under center. You've got McCaffrey in the backfield.

What they do is they just kind of do a little yo-yo motion with him. where he starts working out to the flat, and then he comes back, just to see, did anybody move with this? Just to give you some kind of a coverage tell, nobody moved from Arizona. That told them, all right, they're definitely playing zone coverage here,

and when they're inside the 30-yard line, they play cover three, 75% of the time. All right, so now what's our cover three-beater? So now they completely change this whole picture. They shift, everybody bursts out. So now you've got UCHECK lined up out wide. You've got Kittle lined up in line. You've got your receivers all.

You're spreading the form. and basically where you're going to get here from this play is one-on-one, ISO ball, George Kittle is just running a slot fade. Your holding use check is going to hold that corner here on the outside because, again, you're attacking the coverage. You have an idea. You know what the answer to the test is, and now you're just saying, all right,

we love this matchup, George Kittle, one-on-one, and Purdy just puts a beautiful ball over the shoulder for a touchdown. You get down to this Colts game. And this one, they shift out, or they motion out to empty, where you're going to take the running back, you're going to send him out wide, you're going to get the safety, he's going to come down, and it's again you're now it's a whole different formation than what you saw before and you're just attacking the coverage all right they're they're they're they're it looks like it's one high

but tendency wise we think this is actually going to be covered two we think it's going to be and we're going to run a cover two beater where you're going to have uh use check running down one seam you're going to have kendrick bourne running down the other he's going to attack the leverage of this safety who's trying to disguise the fact that he's not going to drop as a too high player i'm going to try and widen keep him wide and then i'm going to break into the post we know that this cover two safety he's looking over to the other side. He used check. Purdy does a good job of hiding contentions,

and he's going to loft this one over the middle of the field, and you can see it, like, that's the void and cover too. But Prudy understood it because he had the answer to the test beforehand. They do such a good job of keying and diagnosing early on, giving the answers to the quarterback to say, like, okay, this is what we think we're going to get. Now you've got to go out and execute. That's what makes the scheme as good as it is.

It's exhausting watching the 49ers film because they get to the line super early. They're on the opposite side of the Eagles, on those tempo graphs. Like, if you look at all those graphs I've been posting where the Eagles are on the upper right, look to the bottom left. I mean, that's where the 49ers always are.

They shift, then they motion, then they shift again. Like, they're calling different things. So it can get hard, I'm sure, for a defense to prepare for all that. This last play, they motioned into empty. Fran and I were, you know, looking this up earlier this week

where what do the Eagles do against empty? And it's not, like, clear. I mean, the 49ers are top 10 in empty usage. They're top 10 in empty success rate. The Eagles defense is top. 10 in empty defense and so you know what does Fangio do and we looked it up and it's like they're just all over the place like it's like you know 37% cover 3 24% cover 1 21% cover 6 like there are teams that have like an answer to empty where they always do the same

thing Fangio is not like that I mean like his numbers for empty look a lot like his numbers overall where it's just like a mix of all kinds of things so it's not going to be one of those where Shanahan's going to know what he's going to get when he goes to empty that was just the first segment that was the media's quote I think the first the first I don't know if that's true. The first of five segments. So buckle in. Much more to come.

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All right, back on the PHLY Eagles podcast. Let's keep it going here. Let's talk. We mentioned middle of the field. That seems like what everybody expects from Kyle Shanahan, and the numbers back that up, Professor, that this is where they attack and they're very good at. it. Yeah, when you look at the top two quarterbacks in the NFL at throwing between the hashes. In terms of frequency? Yes. Okay. Out of the 33 qualifying quarterbacks, can you guess the top

two in the NFL? Brock Purdy and Mack Jones. That is correct. So you might have known that. But yeah, Mac Jones is number one, 16%. Brock Purdy for getting into the 33rd qualification spot. For those of you who don't know, Mac Jones is also on the 49ers. So like, you know, Brock Pretty played in nine games, Mac Jones played in eight, and you can tell that this isn't necessarily about the quarterback, it's about the scheme, right? When both of your quarterbacks are top two in throwing between

the hashes, they're very good success rate-wise when they throw between the hashes, right? There's sixth highest success rate, 61%. The Eagles, it's good on good, as usual, are fifth lowest success rate allowed between the hashes. But one thing I was looking up, and I wanted to watch some of these throws, you know,

he's made 43 throws between the hashes, and I was like, I'll just look them up and watch them. 15 of them have been thrown to wide receivers. Five of those were intercepted. And that is like obviously a shockingly high number. Now, Purdy has 10 interceptions total in his nine games. Five of them, between the hash is two wide receivers. Four of them on early down play action plays.

Three of them are under center play action. Two of them are under center play action dagger, where the dig gets undercut. None of the 28 attempts to running backs and tight ends were intercepted. But it's just the ones to wide receivers. No other quarterback in the NFL through more than three interceptions between the hashes all year, Purdy, throwing half, you know, playing half a season through five.

They have not been an offense that's been good at protecting the ball. I mean, they're 29th in interceptions per drive, their 23rd and turnover rate overall. They've been moving, they've moved the sticks consistently, but they do turn it over. And so this is going to be an opportunity for the Eagles defense, especially on those throws. Fran, I'm curious what you...

It's just like, you know, all of this, the whole season, all of it, like the narrative of the entire scope of the franchise could just be decided on like, does Zach Bond catch that ball or not? Oh, absolutely. You know? Absolutely. It's just like, it's clear the playoffs. Absolutely. When you look at those interceptions, like two

of them are to the middle linebacker. And then there are other ones where it's like a post or a dig and the corner like undercuts it on that side. J.C. Horning had the one. Yeah, there was one that was like thrown high to Kendrick-Born and caught by the post safety against the Colts. The rest of them are all kind of short. And

three of them are against blitzes. And at least two of them, he's throwing off his back foot and it ends up being short. So the pressure matters there as well. So is Kittle the guy you're worried about here? Well, here's the thing is that I was looking at, all right, because when you're talking about different matchups and different buttons they could push, you know, Kittle's numbers are crazy this year in terms of like efficiency.

He's missed a chunk of time. He had an ankle injury. Do we have that graph of the EPA per target? Like Kittle is like one of the top in the league among all players in EPA Borderman. One of the last ones I sent you, Lindsay, if I have it. If I remember the stack correctly, I can pull it up. He has the, it's the, when Purdy targets George Kittle, it's the highest quarterback rating of anyone with at least 40 targets.

Like, it's extremely efficient, extremely explosive. Yeah, Purdy has a 140.6 passer rating when Targeting, George Kittles, highest among all quarterback receiver duos with at least 40 catches. Now, he missed five games, including Week 17 with an ankle injury. But here's the big thing. Dana is talked about, hey, like middle of the field, Eagles have been. been nails. They have the number one in the next gen has like the over expectation stat that we've talked about a lot. Defensively, number one completion percentage over

expectation on targets to the middle of the field against this defense. Number one in the NFL by like a good margin. Basically they make it extremely difficult to catch those passes over the middle of the field. So to me like I wonder do they say like, all right, we're going to lean more into some of the Adori Jackson stuff that we covered earlier. And even also like with Kittle, you know, Bo, you asked me, like, oh, like, is, do you think it's, hey, middle the field, we're looking at Kittle, a lot of kiddle stuff is outside the numbers. A lot of the best work, you know, I showed that fade earlier in that one play down in the, in the high red zone that went to him.

But they love being able to get him outside where he's, I saw him beat Denzel Ward one-on-one on a route where he's able to, you know, get him working one-on-one against corners. Like, he offers Purdy a target and Purdy has shown a lot of faith in him to win one-on-one. And then that challenges cornerbacks to tackle him, which I don't know. I think it was a couple of weeks ago. I said, like, Kittles was one of my favorite players to watch, and you guys were all kind of surprised by that. I think he is a fun.

He's fun to watch. Oh, he's absolutely a fun watch. I agree with that. Eagles have had crazy kind of injury luck against tight ends this year. I mean, you look at that Green Bay game, Tucker Craft doesn't play. Detroit. Sam LaPorte gets hurt just before against Buffalo. Concade.

Yeah, Kincaid, like was injured. So when you look at the way the Eagles have matched up against, like, tight ends this year it's like they haven't there haven't really been examples I was asking friend like what's the best example like maybe Cortland Loveland for the Bears like in terms of a receiving threat was the closest when you look at the way teams have attacked the Eagles with tight ends the thing that earlier in the year there were a lot of issues with Drew McCuba like in man coverage like rotating down losing leverage since EPS has been playing that's happened less

but there are a couple of examples where like Loveland in that game against Buffalo there's there's a man coverage snap on a fourth and five where he just runs a short out. Yeah. And Reed is just a little bit slow to get down there. And like, he'd already been rotated down. Like, it wasn't one of those rotation ones. He was, it was clear man coverage. There was no disguise, which is rare with Vic. And Reed just got out muscled on a fourth and five. Like, since McCuba's been out, Reed's been the more likely man-covered safety against tight ends, right? Like, back when it was Macuba playing, they would structure it so that McCuba ended up

being the man-coverage guy. In week 17 against the bills, there was the one. one against, what's his name, Knox, where it was a safety rotation in man coverage. And on the mic'd up, you can hear Reid saying, he ran away from me, right? It's one of those where he's coming down from the post, and it's hard for him to catch that. It'll be interesting to see, like, how they handle Kittle in these situations, because this is a team where Kittle is their best receiver, right? It's like, Kittle and McCaffrey, like the tight end and the running back are the two main threats.

And the normal Fangio philosophy of, like, prioritize those guys less, might not. be the way to attack this team. I mean, no team targets the running back more. 31% of the targets go to the running back. And only 46% of their targets go to wide receivers. Like, that's 29th in the league. So, like, this is a, it's a kind of, it's a very different kind of passing game. Eagles defense, by the way, 25th in EPA per snap on targets to the running back and 27th in success rate. I do, I'm less worried about that because aside from the Jamir Gibbs game. That's the one to look at, yeah. All of that other stuff is like, you know, like the Bucky Irving beating Jehad Campbell down the field.

It's not like the Bears have a lot of success. It's not like Vic was putting the game plan together with that in mind. Yeah. With the exception of the Gibbs one. So I think that's right. It's on my radar, but I'm not terrified of it. This fits into the discussion, too, of how this has not been an explosive offense for San Francisco, right? Like, they're fourth in 10-plus yard plays, but they're 25th in 20-plus yard plays.

Oh, interesting. So, like, and this is not like back in the days of, like, Debo Samuel and Ayuk, like, we saw like McCaff or Purdy was always at the top of the list in Yak. I think we have that yak graphic, Lindsay, where Purdy and Jalen are like at the bottom of the graph. This year, and we were talking with Fran before the show about this, like they're at the like, like, you know, you know Shanahan is like a like a, like Shanahan is known for like, like, yeah, generating yak. Like, and if you look at like a historical list, Purdy is at the top of the list in 22. He's at the top of the list in 23. This year, Jalen Hertz and Brock Purdy are both bottom three.

in Yakper completion and Fran, why do you think why do you think that is? I think it's a talent thing this year with this group because schematically they're doing a lot of the same things. I think it's more they just don't have the horses. You know, you look at Debo Samuel

who it's like, all right, like strength, really good through contact, you know, forces, mistackles that way. Iyuk is such a slasher in the middle of the field and they would get those quick slants, those shallow crosses to him and let him work. Those just, it's not those guys. Pierce saw it's been a really good downfield threat for them.

You know, Juan Jennings has been banged up he's not the most dynamic athlete anyway. He's been more of a red zone, like, you know, between the numbers threat. Kendrick Bourne, not that guy. Like, they just don't have a ton of, like, playmakers beyond Kittle. Is there a difference in the way you would expect Shanahan to attack based on whether he views Epps or, let's call it, Nacobi, as the guy he wants to attack? The fish.

Yeah. Yeah, probably, but I can't say with certainty. I know, like, this is the button. This is how he'll do it. But yeah, probably. Has anyone else been as surprised as I am and how good Epps has looked? Yes.

Yeah, I think he's been fine. I think he has been a steadying force. I agree with that. When he was, was he cut or what happened like in August? I was the first one to be like, I was the first one to be like, eyes open, like let's sign this guy.

He went to the Patriots and then he was cut. And people were telling me like he can't move anymore. Like, you know, people were watching his film and stuff, they were like, I can't move anymore. Like, it's not worth signing him. He's looked really good.

Yeah, and I think he would certainly take for that spot a guy who was a little bit limited athletically but is in the right place and is reacting to the right thing and is acting as one with the rest of the defense versus Maccuba right now who is better athletically but might bust.

Yeah, that's exactly right. I mean the main plays I can think of where it's like oh man they got ups on that one like the Cook's one like that was like a great cat. I mean it was a great play you know like you haven't really seen the ones where like Maccuba where he was out of position. I will say like going back to the question too about like Nicopi versus Epps like my guess is especially with

Kobe coming off the injury. All right, like trying to get McCaffrey dialed up on him one-on-one. Like, you could absolutely see them try to do that. All right, we got a lot more to get to. Make sure, by the way, as someone says in the comments, if you're watching, like the video. Have to. Got to do that.

After all the work that these guys have put in. We're going to take a break on the other side. We're going to hear from Meena Kimes. We're going to do our fun draft of playoff teams with her, me, and E. Talk a little bit more about the matchup. After that, stay with us. We're going to get into how will the Eagles match 21 personnel? One of the biggest questions of the game.

One of the biggest questions of the game. We got Brock Purdy. Will the Eagles pressure in this game? Because the Niners do struggle against pressure. Vic has done it a little bit more this year, but not a ton. What might that look like? And all kinds of other football. Good stuff coming your way.

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Lock in your price and unlock the possibilities with Xfinity. You can learn more at Xfinity.com, Xfinity. Imagine that. Select plans-only restrictions apply. Welcome back to the PHLY Eagles show. Join now by the great Mina Kimes of ESPN and the Mina Kimes Show, featuring Lenny, and to get the playoff started, Mina, we're going to start with a very quick draft that we do every year. We are going to draft 12 of the playoff teams, and we're just going total wins. Bies don't count. So if people want to know how you actually stack rank these teams, they can listen to this week's episode of the Mina Kimes show, but we are going just total wins, taking the path into account. And because you are a guest, we will let you

decide if you want first. Go ahead. buys don't count what does that mean so the Seahawks don't get a win for going to the second round you know oh so you're punishing the teams with the buys yes yes you can't just draft the one seats okay got it okay sorry okay so do you want we will let you take

the spot that you want it's going to be a snake draft uh I'll go I'll go second second okay okay EJ this is your first time too I'm gonna let you pick first or third I want the third pick I want to turn around all right well in that case i feel like there is i feel like there is an obvious number one and that is that is the rams i'm going to take the rams yeah they've got what seems like the easiest win

week one and i think of the teams playing this weekend they are they are probably the most likely to go to the super bowl so i feel i feel like that is that is chalk but i will take the ramps so i'm taking the texans really oh man good for you and my thinking here was that yeah if the favorites win, the Rams get Seahawks, which is a tough matchup. Yes. Whereas Houston, I don't know, because it depends on the other ones. Yeah, I know. It's tough.

But I do, I really like the Texans. On my pod, we talked about it. We ranked power-wink the playoff teams. And one of the things we kind of realized was the Texans are basically the Seahawks and the Seahawks are basically the Texans. So I'm going to take the Texans, who I do think win on Monday. And you're, and you're, you are theoretically locking in this. That's the other matchup this weekend where you feel really good about that.

That's definitely who was going to win. I feel very good about that. Yeah, that's probably the second highest conviction pick I've got. Yes, all right, over to you, EJ. Now, I'm upset because I thought the Texans are going to make it to me at number three. And now, you know what, Mina, I did the work before this. So I know who I thought Mina was going to take. I know who you had her pegs.

Who the real ball knowers, who they like going into the playoffs, I'm going to take the Jaguars. Okay. We have a former Jaguars fan here. Mina was singing their praises. I feel good about this pick. I do love the Jags. But, man, I was. I had a philosophy here.

I was going to bet on like quarterbacks I believe in. Okay. Man. All right. And then on the other side, I feel like I need to get the who I need to increase my chances of getting a team that makes a run in the AFC. I'm going to take the Patriots. Okay.

I feel like, yeah, I feel okay about this, this. I'm trying to go like elite quarterback and a defense I trust here. So I'm going to, I feel good about these two. Okay. I think that's reasonable. And I think they are, they are likely to win this weekend. I think there's a tier skip after this. I have two left.

this year but we'll let me decide this is a chance to be a homer no i'm in the whole buy thing through me i didn't quite understand i'm taking the eagles here that's probably my second highest conviction game wow yeah just because i do think and then if the eagles get to face hypothetically like the two seed i like that for them yeah um at chicago yeah like i imagine we're going to spend a little bit of time talking about this game but if the eagles can't move the ball in San Francisco, then just call it. It really does. I mean, yeah, we will get to it, but it does feel like a, if they are serious about

who they think they are, they will win this game. And if not, it was all a facade, and that's fine. Yeah. You know, we'll see you in September. All right, I will go quickly here. I'm taking the bills. I'm sorry about your Jags. I know they might lose this weekend, but I will, I will, in a wide open AFC, I will, I will go

with the guy who is the best quarterback. I think, you know, it's, I can, we can all picture. like, okay, Josh Allen's in the Super Bowl, you know, he did it, he finally did it. So I will take the bills. And then I will, I will take the Seahawks because I know, I mean, if it's Seahawks Rams next weekend,

they might, you might, you know, I might get zero points, but I feel like if that's the game, I feel like the Super Bowl team from the NFC comes from that game. So I will take, I will take the Seahawks. So now I'm wondering. It's not you, it's Mina.

Oh, man. I'm so bad at snake job. You don't know this, but EJ cannot handle a three-person snake it somehow boggles his mind math all right i'm going to go broncos here then just because man i don't want to touch bears packers so obviously you have to buy you would be facing potentially the team that i picked earlier the texans but if the bills win you get the bills broncos defense feel good about offense is streaky enough where if they get they get a hot bow knicks i could see them winning

I think that's fair. They get home games. Go ahead. I'm torn here. I'm going to go. I feel like there is a tear drop here. Like there's not a single team I feel great about.

So I'm going to go with the bears. Yeah. I'm going to give them the benefit of the doubt with the home field advantage. And who knows, maybe they can be like the commanders last year, get on, you know, with a young quarterback, get hot in the playoffs. I don't feel amazing about it, but I'll take the bears.

All right, you get one more. Okay. All right, so I don't need to be torn. I can take the 49ers too. Yeah. You could talk yourself into a 49ers route. Again, yeah, I think so. The offense is good enough.

We're squinting to see these at this point. Okay. All right, Mita. Packers or Chargers? But yeah, so those are the only two teams that are left? Well, you could go Steelers or Panthers if you want to go really frisky, but yeah. They're off the board for us. All right.

Give me the... Because I could see the Chargers winning the first game. I could see the Packers. Packers winning the first game, but then I think the Packers will lose. Aye, yeah, yeah, yeah. Give me the Packers. Screw it. Oh, wow. I'm surprised. I love Packers' offense. Love the Packers' offense.

Daring Kinnard has only ever won the Super Bowl. He's on the roster. It could just hold up. I don't like this because I could definitely see the Chargers winning this weekend, especially after doing that matchup, but I'm going to take the Packers are the better team. All right. Bolt up, baby. I've got the Chargers. So I've got Rams, Bill, Seahawks Chargers. Mina's got Texans, Eagles, Broncos, Packers, EJ's got Jaguars, Patriots, Bears, Niners. We'll see how it all plays out and we'll follow as it goes along.

All right, let's get to the matchup this week, Mina. We are focused today on the good on good side of the ball here, Eagles defense against Niners' offense. I know that's what everybody wants to see. But what is like when you put the film on after the game, what's the first thing you're going to be interested to see, like, how these chess masters went up against each other? yeah so what we did that side of the ball or sure let's start with that yeah okay because that's definitely the strength on strength match up here right um i'm really first thing i'm interested in seeing

is if the niners can actually run on philadelphia which i think is possible we know that the eagles run defense is worse than the past defense by design in many ways and the niner's run game has been real iffy right um it is quietly kind of like the story of the season for them that they actually weren't that good at running the ball. Christian McCaffrey's rushing stats are really bad. He's just been so impactful as a pass catcher. Feel like they've kind of started figuring things out in the second half of the season, you know, with Kittle and Eusecheck and they've been using motion in ways that have really

displaced a lot of defenses. But that came to a halting stop in Seattle. And the Seattle defense and the Eagles defense share some DNA schematically, I think, also in terms of their personnel and the way they can defend the run without playing base. So I feel like if San Francisco cannot run on Philadelphia, which is distinctly possible, then Philadelphia probably wins this game. Yeah, I guess from last week's awesome defensive performance by the Seahawks,

what was like, is there something schematically that the Eagles should look to borrow? Or was it really just like them beating them up up front and you hope that you can have the same kind of talent advantage? It was really just a lot of it was, I think going back and watching some of the runs, I was curious to see how they responded to some of the motions, and I thought the Seahawks played it really well. The linebackers were just always seemed to be in the right position, right?

But then a lot of it was just not, yeah, just like the defensive line being dominant, quite frankly. And I think they're better than Philadelphia's when it comes to stopping the run, right? I think you guys would agree with that. But Philadelphia is capable of these performances. We've seen them in some of these rock fight games, you know, Buffalo, different style of wrenching attack.

That's all they do is rock fight games, yeah. Yeah, right. That's how they're going to win. The Packers game, too, comes to mind. So, which there's some schematic similarities there. So I think, yeah, I think a combination of just like holding the line and then I do think that, you know, Kyle will probably try to play action them a bit in this one. But again, the Eagles defense, the lineback group is built for this. Go ahead, E.J.

Meena, how do you feel about Dory Jackson in this game, the potential for Kyle Shanahan to put him under the microscope. I don't know if you've seen the meme of Kyle Shanahan putting somebody under the microscope and laughing. Of course, but it's usually linebackers. Yeah, that's a thing. Not corners. And that's why, yeah, I don't think this Niners off at famous last words, because, you know,

they do get really good play out of their receivers, but this isn't like a group that's stacked in a way that I think can really take advantage of that. you know and I mean who are you worried about the most on this Niners team offensively on the Niners I mean like which skill player worries you the most through the year probably McCaffrey right yeah I think McCaffrey but Pearsall too I mean especially if you're worried about that outside corner spot like and then just isolating adory Jackson somehow but that it feels a little bit less the Niners thing right you know for for this eagle's defense to be so strong in the spine feels like a good matchup for them, as good of a matchup as it can be against a really good offense.

Well, Pierce saw, I'm glad you mentioned him because I think he is quite, like his absence was quietly a big deal, even though nobody ever talks about him because he gets hurt so much. But when he does play, he's like really awesome. And of course, with Purdy, too, there is a willingness to actually attack outside the numbers downfield. So, you know, I think if you're Vic Fangio, who does Quinn and, Quinnian, pardon me, blank in this one and then who do you give help to I think they're sticking with I think they're sticking with him on on the boundary yeah but say he hasn't traveled very much in the

second half of the season they've kind of gotten away from that I don't know if this is the game that you you break that tendency and the other big question which which we are on opposite sides of on the show today is when the Niners go heavy when they're in you know 21 do the eagle stay a nickel with and trust that Cooper dejean can can be a factor at the line of scrimmage and Jordan Davis, the force multiplier that he is in the run game, can have them hold up, or do they go to base? And then you wonder, like, if they go to base, is there a chance that Vic could do something crazy and put DeGianate's safety there and keep a Dori Jackson on the field instead of Marcus Epps? It's an interesting chess match. The Eagles run defense isn't better

in base, right? At last I checked. Yeah, and they just, they don't play it a ton. Yeah. And one thing I was looking at this week is, you know, the Eagles have had, and you've been all over the light boxes, they've had more snaps against the run. on first and second down with six men in the box than any other team in the league. But they're still, you know, seventh in success rate on those plays. And I do feel like that is,

that is a Jordan Davis stat as far as I'm concerned. Yeah, it is. I really think you trust that you can win, honestly, there. Because, again, like, this Niners team reputationally is very different from who they've actually been this season when it comes to running the football. And even if Trent Williams plays, he'll play, I'm sure, he's coming off the hammy.

It's a little bit dicey. you know, the run game when he's out, this was my big key with the C-Ox game, the run game is so much more. It's more, his presence, I would say, affects the Niners more running the ball than it does actually passing the ball at this point.

And even if he's in and he's not 100%, I think you feel good about your guys against theirs straight up and run defense. It just clearly comes down to not being, I would say, moved by the motions and too affected by, the Niners' run game wins more with displacement and angles

than it does with ass kicking. Other side of the ball, you know, we've sort of made the joke that like, you know, the Eagles offense is talented enough to put up, I don't know, 17 on a really good defense, but they're also in their own way enough

to only put up 17 on the worst defense in football. Like, what is the number where you would feel comfortable as an Eagles? Like, I don't know what it is, but I don't believe that they can just flip flip a switch, even if Lane Johnson comes back and the week off helps Lennon Dickerson and Cam Juergens look better up front. But I do believe that they are talented enough to, if they can just pop six plays over the course of the game, then that that probably is enough. I don't know.

What do you think? Yeah. I mean, yeah. Well, okay, let's start with the obvious glaring weakness here. I asked everyone on NFL Live yesterday to name the Niners Mike Linebacker. Yeah, right. Unfortunately, Dan cheated because he had called a Niners Colts game, so he knew Eric Kedricks was on the practice squad. I feel like most of America does not know that, right? They have literally run out of linebackers in that room. And if Kevin Petulow can't find ways to attack that position,

we've already discussed, you know. I mean, there's other places you can attack. We'll get to that. But they've got to find a way to move the ball on the ground in this one. I would, Jalen Hertz to me, has to be a big part of that. The run game draws, scrambling out of empty, what have you, power. And then, you know, RPO's, I mean, you got to this. I would like to say, I know I'm like a broken record, but in this game, come on, right?

Passes to Sequin, I would say could be a big part of that to get Gary Kendrick's moving side to side. The right receivers need to be a part of the blocking effort. I would actually spread to run instead of getting condensed, which I hate when the Eagles do because they're bad at it um yeah this is i mean this is you guys saw the seahawks even though the offense obviously ran into some issues as they always do they were just like running through them like a knife through butter the lanes were just massive the run defense isn't just about the backers with the nineers the defensive line with the loss of many players frankly is just so so ungapsed out at this point um the other thing i would tack you know i mentioned this with the cx game it ended up

not being an issue but it should be a factor for the uh the eagles given their makeup outside of Lenoir. I mean, the Niners CB2 is, Renardo Green is a real problem. They're 32nd against wide receiver 2s in DVOA. Devante Smith step right up. That doesn't mean AJ Brown's not gonna be part of the game because I still like him against,

am I saying Lenoir, right? I always give a little French flavor on it. Anyways, Devonte Smith versus Leonardo Green. I like Devante lined up wide here. That's just such a mismatch that favors Philadelphia. You don't have to reinvent the wheel. You just have so many matchup advantages across the board. And then the other thing is just the Jalen Hertz myth-making of it all.

I mean, we will not remember a mediocre, at best, regular season if he turns it on in the playoffs again. And I'm not going to count him out from doing that, but it really does like it's all prologue for Jalen Hertz, you know, the playoffs. He also doesn't have to be great. I'm sorry, this defense is abysmaly back. y'all did you watch the bears you watch this like they're just and it's not their fault it's not robert salas fault they're just out of people yeah right so again yeah this is a great i actually

i think you and i talked about like which matchup do you want in philadelphia the more i think about it the more i feel like you want this now granted the bear's defense the packers defense are all they're both bad as well and that is the the thing that's an eagles fan said is you want to circle those linebackers, but it was the same deal with the bears on Black Friday, and they didn't do anything to get those linebackers in conflict. I don't have a great feeling about them isolating the linebackers. I do, I know I've been like the boy who cried wolf with this. I do think this is a week where Jalen Hertz is finally included in the right. I think that's right. Yeah, I think that's right. All right. Oh,

Mino, you know, we got to let you put you on the spot and make a prediction for the game before we let you go. Well, as evidenced by my draft pick, I feel, it's pretty clear. I'm taking the Eagles here um and yeah like i i i i don't this isn't obviously i feel the best about the four or five seed games but i would say this is the third game that i probably feel the best about okay well there you go mina kimes check out the minikimes show featuring lenny you see her all over the place thank you so much mino we'll talk to in a couple weeks guys thanks manx appreciate it back with more on the pho by eagles podcast whether your favorite team wins or not there is always another way to win on the bet parks online casino app.

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So get breathable clothes. You can feel comfortable in all winter. Go to macweldon.com and get 25% off your first order of $125 or more with promo code P-H-L-Y. We made it. Guess what time it is? Lindsay time. Are you laughing when I'm laughing at? No.

Shea says like E.J. folds laundry. Go see his charge. You don't fold laundry? I mean, I will fold laundry, but it's... Huge waste of time. Huge waste of the time. Shout out to my amazing wife. What are we folding it for?

What's the point? She'll fold my shirts. She folds them in a way. I... Webinized in common. I can't fold them. We don't need to harbor. You came at me for not being on a wrap a Christmas gift.

You don't do your own laundry. Shaving and folding laundry are like the two ways that I save time. It's like the way I have time to do things. I don't do those things. Not shaving is what allows you to spend eight hours at night. I used to shave. It took me forever. I hated it.

So I stopped. I used to fold laundry. And then I realized. I mean. I can fold laundry. It's a fool there. I'm very fortunate to have a wife who doesn't seem to mind. So does someone fold your laundry or you just...

No, I just throw everything in the drawer. What needs to be folded? I have a way to put it in there so it's not like crazy wrinkled, but like it's not... Are you putting away your own laundry? Yes. I handle everything. Yes, I do my own laundry. I just don't fold it.

You hang some things up on hangers. What does that look? Other things, you just, you know. You guys do separate laundry? We've just started... I do all. of our friends laundry as well. Yeah, we've just started.

Interesting. Yeah. We had been combined for years, so we just started doing several laundry. Whose decision was that? Megs. You were holding up your end of the bargain, or what's the deal?

No, it was more like, like, you know, separating, like, the lights from the dark, and just, okay. I'm more, I just throw all my stuff in. But I throw everybody's stuff in.

So that's what, getting away from that. Okay. She has, like, a certain way, she likes to protect you of her own stuff. Exactly. That's what it is. It's not anti you.

No, it's. You ruined something? I did not. Good question. No, I did not. I've ruined things before. I think that's why I'm on the bench. Purpose for it.

Yeah, but you're having on the bench here, yeah. Weaponized incompetence. Yeah, that's fair. Can I give you guys some injury updates? Please. All right. So, let's give this, our friend Elliot Shore Park. Sorry, it's always like there's like 10 people who put it out there.

So I just have to spread it out. Lane Johnson is at practice, first time since the injury. My guess is that this is an important day to see how he, how he feels out. there and how the injury responds I think we'll probably get a better sense on whether he'll play later in the week and then for the 49ers Ricky Pearsall and Trent Williams neither of them practiced today yeah interesting so again I know Kyle Shanahan said they know would have had a better chance at playing last if they played on Sunday last week but still makes a Super Bowl they'll have a

better chance yeah D Winters and Keon White also didn't practice today yeah D. Winters sounds like he's he's a no-go it sounds like full name full sentence all star though more more on that side of the ball tomorrow but they're down to like I mean Eric Kendricks is going to play the whole game I mean who we can all agree as I have said for a very long time looks like Jason Siegel I've been with you on that one yeah Coby Dean also is at practice today per Dave Zankero they did say yesterday he expects Nicobi to play he said it in a pretty definitive way which is always nice to hear.

When it's a defensive player, you can get the news from Vick. Lane hadn't been on the sideline even until this last Sunday. Yeah, he has been weirdly just fully absent. Yeah, he was, that beard is getting impressive. Saving time. Impressive.

He's getting all that rehab and he doesn't have time to shave. Yeah, I mean, look, you don't have time to shave. I'm sure he's not folding his laundry either. Huge waste of time. Plus, how can he fold if he's just doing everything with his neck? Yeah, no. You're just going to wear it later. What are you folding it for?

All right. Let's get to it. Big question. First off. I'm how we're in three minutes into the show. Let's talk the 21 personnel thing. Yeah. But it is a little bit less everybody talking about like the best lineup in football than it was, you know, three years ago.

People got tired of talking about that. It's as untrue now as it was then that it's the best lineup in football. But they, at 37% 21 and 7% 22 personnel. So that's 42% of the time. they have two backs on the field and it's Kyle Eustech who's a fullback so we're not talking about like pony looks these are these are like you know fullback snaps

and you know friend and I were going back and forth about how the Eagles will match this what do you think so I think that when you look at Vic Fangio's past with the Eagles these last two years the one button that can get him to get into base is a fullback I mean even last year when the Eagles played

only 50% of the time in base against heavy personnel. Even last year, when it was a fullback on the field, it was base almost every time. Okay. This year, it's been much higher base anyway, 71% base against all heavy personnel. And the last three games against teams

that used a fullback, Dallas, eight of nine snaps with a fullback on the field, were in base. Chargers, all four snaps with a fullback on the field were in base. The Vikings, four of five snaps with a fullback on the field were in base. So that's 16 of 18 snaps against a fullback

that they were in base. Even against the lions who were using Pony, two of the three snaps were against base and the only one in Nicol was like a third and long. And just to clarify, in this, you mean five defensive linemen, not three linebackers. That's right.

So what that means for the Eagles when you're playing in base is it means you have a third defensive tackle on the field. You're taking a Dori Jackson off and you have Cooper DeGine playing to the field in base. And that actually matters a little bit. The field corner is the furthest away from the run. It makes Quinyan the forced defender to the boundary.

And we saw that play out a couple of times against Buffalo where they ran to his side. One of the times he missed, one of the times he made the play. But the reason that he was playing so much nickel last year is because he didn't want to take Cooper DeGine off the field at all. Yeah. What it does this year is it just moves Cooper DeGine away from the play. But it's replacing him, of course, with a defensive tackle.

So you're able to handle those gaps a little bit better and get into those, like, 6-1-type looks that he likes to use. So it'll be fascinating to see. I know Fran has some clips about this. Well, I know that this is a pet topic of our friend WandaBGM who makes the case that if they, this week, would might make sense to put Dijin at safety in base and leave a d'Orie on the field and take Marcus Epps off.

How do you feel about that? I don't think he's going to do it? No, no, no. I mean, that's very drastic, and I think the thing that makes this defense as good as it is is Cooper DeGine. playing at nickel. I mean, like, I really don't... Well, not in nickel.

I mean, when they have to go base. Oh, when they're in base. Choosing a Dorai over Marcus Hepps. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. No, I don't think he'd do that. Yeah, I don't think so. Yeah, I don't think you'd want to stretch DeGene out where he has to...

He has to be playing, like, safety all of a sudden, which he hasn't really played. I kind of like him. Now, I know Seattle played nickel the whole game, and Vic was asked about this, right? And Vic was asked about, like, you know, Seattle played, stayed in nickel. Another great question from Zach, by the way, yesterday. About how Seattle stayed in nickel the whole time.

And, you know, is that something that you can do? And Vic kind of said, like, that's just what Seattle does. And then he talked about how good Seattle is. But he didn't, he, like earlier, McLean asked him about, you know, how are you going to play against the 21 personnel? And he just said, I don't want to get the quote wrong. I can get it for you. Yeah.

I have it written down too. I just can't find it. He said we can play it with anything, basically, right? He said, we just have to decide how we want to play it, but we could play it with any of our personnel groups on defense. Right, which leads to the question of like, what are those groupings, right? You have the base, you have the nickel,

and then he dabbled a little bit in penny the last, you know, the last two games, including with the backups the other day. I don't think we'll see that. I think that was because Jihad Campbell was playing as that second linebacker and he just wanted to take him off the field. You don't want to take Nicobie Dean off the field or Zach Bonn off the field. really any down do you think they might do you think they might stay in nickel I kind of think that they want to stay they would stay in nickel that's my that's my

gut but I know I said Dana's this point like what they have done in the past I guess that at the end of the day is Kyle use check equivalent to you know what's the fullback from Buffalo like you know Gilliam yeah Reggie Gilliam yeah you know he might look at that a little bit differently I looked up in the right I didn't do a deep of dive as I would have like before the show about all right what are there like run pass rates and pass rate over Buffalo hardly played Gilliam so I didn't even I didn't even mention Buffalo because he only

played like two snaps. But you know like in terms of like all the other fullbacks that the Eagle saw CJ Ham yeah right right right the Dallas guy what's his name yeah I will say like their pass rate they're eighth and pass rate out of 21 personnel San Francisco is at the end of the day it just comes down to like

do you feel more comfortable because if they really quickly actually because I think this can illustrate the point a little bit. Lindsay, let's go to this, the 21 personnel header for the film. Basically, you come out in 21 personnel, again, that's two backs, one tight end, two receivers on the field,

with one of the backs being Kyle Eusecheck, and one of the things that they've done a lot with him, and it's very notable, Kyle Eusecheck has been put in motion at the second highest rate of all players that have played like 150 snaps. He is the mojee. He is like the skeleton key. He's the guy that they want to put on the move,

and that's because, they know his movement affects the defense because that's it are they going to are they going to match this way or are they going to match that way are they going to change the defensive front you know so they they love to be able to put him on the move and one of the things that you're going to see them do often is that he's going to line up as a wing or maybe in the near slot and just before the snap they're going to bring him into the backfield on the run and he'll either keep going as a lead blocker he might block a defensive end he might block a linebacker he might work backwards and block a defensive tackle, he might stay in and pass protection, he might run a route,

all these different things, right? And so here on this play, he comes into the backfield and he's just going to run, they're just going to run a simple inside zone toss play. He's going to block a defender on the edge, and McCaffrey's going to get downhill for a nice successful run. Later in the game, again, you see, you see, use check come in motion. He comes up, and it looks like it's going to be the same idea, and he's going to actually release up the field here. Now he gets impacted. close to the line of scrimmage. This was actually a really good play from Purdy. We talked about this last week about like the peer progression

and how Purdy is so good at kind of accelerating the read and getting ahead and skipping ahead. This is a good example where I think he wanted Eusecheck down the field here on this play, but really quickly got to the backside dig. So still within rhythm, saw like, all right, this is going to be not an answer for me. By the time he reaches the top of his drop,

he's getting ready to hit this to, I think this was Joanne Jennings, not Kendrick Bourne, but he's able to hit this play, avoid pressure and get to the first down. But at the end of the day, this is all about, like, true versatility from these base personnel packages. 21 personnel, 12 personnel, 13 personnel. You talk about it with the Rams and McVeigh as well,

and we can get to that later, you know, if the Eagles win this game. True versatility is when you go out there, the defense doesn't know if it's going to be a run or a pass. You might be 60, 40, something like that, but you have to have respect for all the different variations of play there in terms of what you could do and out of this 21 personnel set

Kyle Shanahan has shown like yeah we will throw we can spread you out and play empty we can go under center play action with a heavy look a condensed set like they do lots of different things out of it and so you've got to be prepared and so at the end of the day and we talked about this with Jaylux hunt you know because he had the interception the other day we did this in the post game show right where it's like yeah like when they come in base the Eagles are you got five down linemen they very rarely send all five and so one of those guys is going to drop it's typically Jaylux hunt who do you want dropping into the

flat on that play? Do you feel comfortable with it being Jailix Hunt? Or do you feel more comfortable with the idea of it being either Zach Bond or Cooper DeGine or one of the safeties rolling down? Because if you're in base, you're going to have Jailx Hunt playing in that spot. And if it's not in base and it's a four-man rush, yeah, Jaylux Hunt's

going to be rushing after the quarterback and it's going to be one of those other defenders that's going to be in space. What do you feel more comfortable with and you're still able to stop the run when you get it like this has not been a super explosive passing attack or rushing attack rather. So that's what Vic Fangio on the defensive staff are asking. Can we stop the run from nickel?

If you can stop the run from nickel and then you feel good about where you're at from a coverage standpoint, I think that's the right answer. I think of the edges you'd want it to be Jailikson, but the reality is snap count-wise, it's just as likely to be Jalen Phillips. Right?

I mean, because Jalen Phillips and Nolan Smith are going to be the top two snap getters at edge. That Joanne Jennings dig, by the way, is a great example of attacking the field corner, right? So it goes back to another thing we were talking about watching that one, I was thinking like they would get a Dory Jackson on that play. You know, like that's one where the field corner is being attacked.

It's going to be interesting. This is enough to make you nervous. Yeah, I mean, it's, but it, look, they've got, they've got lots of answers to it. But I do think the other thing at the end of the day as well that I'm fascinated to see, Dana has touched on a little bit is the protection, the past protection end of it. Where, you know, Vic Fangio, they've blitzed a little bit more

over the course of the entire season. They haven't done it as much, like, lately. Yes. But I think that's more the nature of the opponent's kind of deal. But I'm fascinated to see because honestly, when I watch, basically what I did watching San Francisco, I went through and I watched all the good stuff first, and then I watched all like the negative EPA.

Like, all right, let me watch the negative plays. How are teams getting after them and making them pay? One thing that's been really effective against this offense has been second level blitzers incorporated with stunts up front. So like linebackers, nickel corners, safeties coming from distance, but with a stunt that's not necessarily something the Eagles do

we tried to find a play yeah yeah we tried well I mean yeah I mean I was pretty confident there weren't plays like that so I actually texted Sean Syed about this as well

and I was like why doesn't Vic do this and he was like yeah I'd love to see him do the thing that Spaggs does where he blitzes the nickel and then he has a T.E. stunt like on that in that same place to kind of like make the you know make it so that the the nickel has that has that like you know

room to go like you know so the the edge is looping inside leaving open the nickel, and then it puts the tackle in conflict, like, I've just never seen Vic do that. The only time I think I, now that I'm thinking about it, though, I think he did it, I think he did it, week five last year. Oh, man, I can, I can look it up right away. Against the Cleveland Browns, because it was Cooper DeGine's first, uh, it was getting, it was Cooper DeGine's first critical. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, no, because it was Cooper to Jean's first game

starting. Yeah, yeah, let me check. And I'm pretty sure they sent him on a blitz. If not that it was the preseason. Yeah. No, no, no, he, they sent Cooper de Gene for sure in that game, but I just don't, I don't think there was a stun attached to it. I thought that there was something to soften the corner there, that they loop the, they loop the defense. So here's my question for you about the blitz, because the numbers for the Niners' offense. Fourth in EPA per dropback, when they are not blitzed, right? Fifth and success rate.

When they are blitzed, 21st in EPA per dropback, and when they get a big blitz, remember we spent a lot of time talking about this with Eagles in the past, 26th in EPA per dropback. Yep. And yet, they are not blitzed very often. They are only blitz, I think, the fifth least often of any offense in football. Why is that? My guess is that it's the eye candy stuff.

It's the motion. It kind of scare some teams off. I think you get into like the staying ahead of the sticks. And this is an offense that is very efficient in that way. I think that that can scare teams off as well. You're not as many third and longs. That'd be my gut reaction. Yeah.

If I can follow up on this, Lindsay, I think we have a graphic on how the 49ers send all five eligible out on the route about as much as any other team in the league. 80% of their dropbacks, all five are out in the route. when you look at those other 20% a lot of them, and Vic talked about this yesterday, a lot of them are under center play action Max Protects shot plays.

So they basically plan to keep extra guys in a lot. But on the ones where they don't plan it, you don't have the thing that the Eagles do, for example, where the back is scanning and then staying in if you sees a blitz. What that does, I think, is it discourages blitzes to some degree

because they'll just have McCaffrey as a hot option with built-in hots in the flat, over the ball, and they're happy to have that. I think that's why they're so good against the blitz. Sixth best success rate against the blitz, like you said, and then teams don't try to blitz them for that reason. It's the sixth lowest rate of getting blitzed. One of the reasons I was interested in hearing what Fangio had to say about how the motion affects his

pressure calls is because that Chicago game, in particular, the Bears, I thought the motion and the misdirection in that game, and we talked about this then, spooked him a little bit. He sent some edge pressures, which are probably the ones that he was saying don't get impacted as much. Like that quote that EJ pulled, like, don't get impacted as much by the motion. He only sent pressure between the linemen once or twice in that game and there were like 42 dropbacks or something.

And that's the only game all season that he didn't run a single one of his exchange pressures. Like the whip, the slug, like the stuff that we've seen. And I think that's in part because the motion makes it so hard to know like who's going to get who if you do that. Like are you dropping into the right place or you're dropping on the right side. So that's something that we could see.

is where I was going to ask Fran like say that he does that again we don't see the pressures we don't see the exchanges it's just you to rush the front four does this 49er offensive line look getable to you where you know Jalen Phillips is just going to beat McIvitts or whatever I mean especially if Trent Williams doesn't play like Austin Pleasance is the left tackle and he's been he's been beating like a drum when he's been in there the last few weeks especially down the stretch so I do like a lot of these matchups one not just defensive line against the offensive line but even like when I'm looking at yeah all right Quinnian Mitchell against Ricky Pearsall, you know,

I like the matchups for the Eagles from like a pure like one-on-one basis. I do think it'll be interesting to just like it's to me like, and we'll get into this tomorrow and we get into like the prediction of the game. I think this is a low score, lower scoring game like race to 23, race to 24 kind of deal. And then it's just going to come down to like, does Zach Bond make the interception against that dig rat or is it just escape his fingertip and Juan Jennings catches it and then they kick a field goal? You know, it's like those like high leverage moments that you don't know when

they're going to happen in a game. I do think, though, like really quickly, just to put a bow on the blitzing thing really quick, if we could just go to the pressuring party one, Lindsay, I think that I'll be fast through this because of the understanding, like, that they are predictable from a protection standpoint, and they like to get five out in a route so often, and now it's just five guys along the offensive line. I wonder how often we're going to be able to see Vic Fangio take advantage of some of those plays.

One of the teams that also was similar in that rate was Buffalo, and we saw a couple of plays where they were able to get Zach Bonn in clean. If not, all right, they're going to keep in. Maybe it's huge check. It could be McAfrey at some point in on the linebacker. But you can see, like, right now, Mackay Beckton is slap in the center. They're getting ready to snap the ball just before the snap.

Nicoby Dean's going to come up. So now he's here just before the snap of the ball. And we know how this goes. Like the defensive tackle stem out. Now you've got a nice one-on-one. And Nicobie blows up the linebacker and he's able to get home. I think you can do that here against this protection scheme. And the other thing, too,

if you don't think that McCobie can get home, even if you are just sending those guys from distance, understanding where the hot routes are going to be in this offense, and now you can get into, all right, well, Jalick's Hunt, you're going to drop back on those exchange blitzes. Maybe you're sending, you know, Zach Bonn, or you're sending Jihad Campbell or Nikobe Dean, but dropping out Jalick's Hunt into the hot lane,

into the hot lane and understanding like, yeah, like, all right, we're going to put you right where you think you're going to hit these inbreakers. Jalick's Hunt has shown the ability to take those away as well. So that's something that certainly would be watching for in this game. Fran, one thing that surprised me looking through the 49er stats, the two stats that surprised me the most. One is that they're not getting the yak this year.

The other one is that Purdy's time to throw. 3.05 seconds is second slowest in the entire NFL. You associate Shanahan's offenses with like the scheme's going to tell you what to do. He's going to make the throw. They don't keep the extra guys into protect. And yet he's holding on to the ball so long. What does that tell us about how good he's been on kind of scramble drives? type situations. He's been really good in scramble

and being able to like make those plays you know late in the down and we talked about it with with Jalen right is like yep sometimes that can that that looks good and you can make those plays you remember those plays against Chicago like anybody who stayed up and watched that game a couple Sundays ago I mean he made that one where he's rolling to his left

and he finds the guy in the end zone for like just I mean he's made some awesome plays late in the down also the amount of like play and they don't they're not a high volume play action but they do a little bit more play action with Purdy and the whole whole not those are longer developing plays so that's going to extend it a little bit

but I think Vic even said too like did mention the maximum like max protect play action calls where he just got all day to throw and he will on those plays will hold it even more and that like offset makes those even longer plays

so you know I think that that's part of it but he's been nails on those plays but that's one of the things when I'm looking at like some of the Purdy splits versus the Mac Jones splits is that you know with Mac Jones it was like ball out quickly ball out fast with Purdy he's been really good late in the down

he's been really good on third down he's been really good down the field those are not like sustainable numbers that's not like you don't want to live like it lived like that and so if you run into a team like Seattle he didn't have one downfield throw against the Seattle Seahawks they did an outstanding job

of forcing him to hit the check down and rally and tackle they were awesome on third down Seattle got off the field on third down so if you start like chipping away at that especially if you're not getting yak you're not getting those other things it's the same thing we talk about with this eagle's offense all of a sudden you get shut out When you watched that tape and watched what the Seahawks did,

did you think the Eagles can do this? Yeah, because there was a lot of there were plays where it's like, look at Devin Wetherspoon in the slot, he felt the dig working behind. I was going to bring some of these plays in, but we had so many to use. So I didn't grab it, but there's another one with the linebacker, Drake Thomas, he sinks back and takes away the middle of field throw. Oh, yeah, yeah.

And then they all rally and tackle. A lot of Emin Worry, like when they're in dime, like Eminem Worry was playing like a linebacker and you've got, yeah, I know France's getting excited. Even more than Jackson Hawes, I think. just seeing the linebackers sink into coverage and then using Emin Worry as a blitzer I know like they did some stunt stuff

it was really cool hopefully we'll get a chance to talk more about Seattle in a couple of weeks I know Fran doesn't think so but the play action thing is interesting like Shanahan's known for play action they haven't ranked that high in play action the last couple of years they were 18th two years ago 22nd last year 18th this year but the Jones

Purdy split there is interesting Matt Jones was the used play action the least of any quarterback this year out of the 33 qualifying quarterbacks. Purdy was eighth. So, like, I mean, they used a lot more with Purdy than Jones. So we didn't see the difference in the quarterback personalities with the between the hash is metric, but we do with the play action.

Yeah, it's going to be, but then the other thing, too, you asked about, like, what are some of the things that Seattle did to limit this offense? The running game was not existing. Yeah, I think I'm, I think, I'm talking 80 minutes into the show. No, let's talk about the running game. High volume, they've committed to the running game.

Christian McCaffrey led the league in touches. Crazy. Like most touches he's ever had in his career. Crazy coming off the end. Crazy number of receptions as well. Yes, of course. By far the lead target. Crazy.

Yeah, yeah, by a mile. High volume target, but also like they stuck to the run game, not overly efficient, like their middle of pack success rate, and not a lot of explosives either. but he's a good runner he's a decisive runner this offensive line's not great so i think when you're looking at pure from a personnel standpoint that's the difference between this run game and say like chicago is like all right they're going to do all the things schematically in chicago but then also they they will bury you on double teams and they'll get great movement you don't

see as much of that with the san francisco offensive line um but like executing in the zone run game they'll do a lot of that stuff uh i do think that there are things that they can do that to mirror Chicago and some of those things, but at the end of the day, like, this is a classic example of like stop the run early to earn the right to rush the pass around third down. If the Eagles can get them into those third and longs, and that's where they can let those guys loose, I think that'll go a long way. But Seattle, one thing they did a lot of was stemming the front. Like late changes, changing the pitcher for the offensive line to affect like blocking assignments. And it's not something that the Eagles and Fangio do a ton like wholesale, like where it's like, oh, you know,

We talk all the time about, oh, well, they're lined up in a 4-2, and then late you see Zach Bond come down, and then they turn into a 5-1 or turn into a 6-1 front. We've seen them do that. We've talked about that. I don't need to show you any pictures of that because we've seen them do it. One thing that does show up, and it's like on an individual basis, and it's like the more Ojoimo, like, always coach on the field kind of thing.

Yeah. Because I see it most often with Ojamo. We've seen them in Jordan Davis as well. I see it with Jalen Carter. So all these guys do it. But let's go to really the stopping McCaffrey. one here, Lindsay. This is the last thing I think I've got. You got Ojimo here lined up over the right guard. And just before the snap, this is actually a really funny exchange. Nikobi Dean, you can tell

he's already kind of barking at Morrow. And he's like, hey, like, we're going to do this here. And Morrow's waving him off. Like, yeah, I got this, man. Like back on. So he's like, all right, so Nikobe backs up. And you can just see, it's a very slight change. Again, notice where this is. Like you see Mackay Beckton slapping on the center. They're getting ready to snap the ball. Just before the snap, look at what Morrow did. I'm going to go. back and forth. He changes here because they know this is going to be a run to the left. The double team is going

to be right here. So this right tackle is going to come over and try and get a piece of Morrow. So basically he's running away from the double team. So now that's a harder block for him to make. And now this is going to be a solo block with the right guard. And he does a great job. Just standing Mackay Beckton up one-on-one. And so those late kind of changes here

that now the running back's got nowhere to go and you get a run stop. Same deal. Washington game a couple weeks ago. You got Morrow lined up here. After the motion, you're going to get him just very slightly. He's just going to move over one gap running away from that double team. So the right tackle can't get a piece of Morrow, and now it's just a one-on-one block. And so if you are the Eagles and you say, like, yeah, like, I like our matchup, Jordan Davis against their left guard, Jalen Carter against their set, you know, whatever matchups you like.

Because we probably won't even see that much of Morrow on first and second down. Yeah, so now it's like you're dictating to them. Like, yeah, you think you're going to double us? Like, no, we're going to, this is going to be a single block, but it comes down to like the block record. ignition and like we talked about with Jordan Davis like how he that's been such a strength of his game this year so much better than years past that's something I absolutely will watch for in this game and honestly like I would be surprised if the the 49ers had like a huge day on the ground I think the Eagles can absolutely stop this run game to follow up on all of that which

was awesome overall 49ers 15th and rushing DVOA 16th in EPA per rush four runs all year of 20 plus yards. And that's not what we're used to thinking when you hear McAfrey. Yeah, I'm not sure, actually. I haven't checked. More than four. Yeah, more than four. Oh, more than four. Tank Bigsby might have four. Well, I forgot to. And now they're throwing it more on

neutral downs than they used to as a result. So they have adjusted a little bit to the fact. I think they've adjusted better to the fact that their run game isn't as good this year than the Eagles have. I would agree with you. You know what I mean? Like, when you look at their numbers, the way it's gone in terms of neutral down pass rate, it has increased as the season's gone. on as they've kind of realized the run game's not there now mcalfrey had the 43 yarder against

chicago two weeks ago it was an under center mid zone run and we were talking yesterday about how like when they do run it over 50% of their runs are under center zone runs and the eagles have been if they're if they're not good at stopping a certain kind of run that's been that they've been weak against and i know one of bgm in the chat has had a lot of opinions about like reasons for for that by comparison by the way that over 50% like 15% of the eagles runs have been under center zone runs by comparison that first one that you showed with morrow yeah made me think that was his own read where they're reading jalen phillips and it made me think like watching san francisco they will use purdy as a plus one jalen phillips stayed outside on that one they ran a couple like

that and then what happened in the fourth quarter and overtime against justin herbert he got caught being nosy inside and herbert beat him on the outside on those own reads pretty had two big plays against Chicago on keepers in that situation including a late touchdown in that game so that's something to watch I think they're going to try to catch Jalen Phillips being a little bit nosy on some of those own rates I would not be surprised to see that

the Eagles have nine rushes for over 20 yards in the regular season how many of them are Tank Pigsby two okay that is just my very quick okay and Jalen doesn't have any going I need to go to locker room this has been an excellent conversation I enjoyed it I will listen to the rest of it in the car The last thing I wanted to say is that last year, I remember when the Eagles played the Rams,

I talked to Brandon Staley, and he said, like, this is an iPad game. Like, coaches around the league are going to be watching this game with the iPad, taking copious notes. And I think, like, this has been a testament. Like, this is, like, the conversation that people will be having going to this game. Good drop. I know. I was talking to Brandon Staley.

I got to go, but let me just tell you. I talked to Brandon Steele. I had to end strong, right? Yeah. Well, on that note, I will see you tomorrow. Yes. I guess I won't see it. I meant all of you.

You were looking right into Bo's eyes. Yeah, really. You weren't even looking in my direction. I took it for all of us. Yeah, it was for everybody. He's my work wife. I got to make sure I check on him and tell him I'll see him soon.

Trouble in paradise. You'll see him before you. You're going to see him later. Oh yeah, I will see you. I will see you two tomorrow. Thanks. Good point. We've got so much in the show today

that we didn't even have a chance to include a really good interview with Reed Blankenship presented by our great friends at Bucci Jewelers so you can check that out on the PHLY YouTube page she wants you to move to the middle check that out it'll also be on your your podcast feed so our friends at Bucci Jewelers the secondary with exciting mics read Blankenship talking about this matchup and some thoughts on the the regular season finale why is the why is the desk sticky never a question you want to

Ask out loud. Why is X sticky? Never going to be a good answer. All right. What else is on your notes here? Let's say. They are playing from condensed formations, San Francisco, at like the highest rate in the next gen era or something like, here, let me say. A ton of condensed formations, highest rate of any team in the last 10 years entering week 18.

So this is before. Have you noticed like league-wide what a trend there is towards heavier personnel condensed formation? It's been a fascinating, like, last down. decade in the NFL of like going back to that yeah the cyclic nature yeah but the Eagles have the fourth best success rate the season against condensed that so that's something certainly a little game within the game there and the reason why they do that you know get condensed and then you're trying to throw out of those looks give you some more space to work outside I mentioned George Kittle catching those

routes along the sideline a lot of that comes from those condensed sets so you know any other like notable what do you think is the most hateable thing about Kyle Shanahan no I mean Dana is his answer he's got and a whole cash full of... I was going to save most of this stuff for tomorrow. But, like, it just... I don't think I hate Kyle Shanahan as much as I hate how...

There's this PR machine that just ignores the fact that he's missed the playoffs with 10-plus losses in four of his nine seasons. It was four of his eight before coming into this year. And I just don't understand how you can ignore that when that would get, like, literally every other coach ever fired. Like, he had three... three of four years where he lost 10 games.

Like, what coach survives that? Like, there might not be another coach that ever survives that in the NFL. So I just think that it's, like, strange that he just gets the pass for that. He's in his fifth playoffs, so is Nick Siriani right now. Like, you know, he's been to two Super Bowls. Like, so is Nick Siriani.

Like, he's had four extra years to do all this. Yeah. And, like, look, I understand he has more to do with it than Siriani or whatever. He also has more to do with the, you know, drafting Jake Moody in the third round and, you know, like using seven first round picks on Trey Lance or whatever.

Like, I mean, I think... Who would then end up on the Eagles, but... Camelatu. There you go, Camelatu, yeah. What did you think of the Camelatu hair down? Hairdown in the last game. No? Doesn't do anything for you?

Okay, he wasn't doing it for. That was a question for E.J. That was more of a question for E.J., yeah, can ask tomorrow. But, yeah, look, I mean, I'm sure there are a lot of... To me, it's his... I know he's a big micromanager. He gets players injured, like all those things, too, but... Yeah, the disregard for his own player's health, I would say, is what it is what it is for me.

But you could argue with a flat-brum hat, or you could argue... just, you know, his cowardly nature as a game manager. I don't mind. The fashion stuff. That's good for Eagles fans. But if you were a Niners fan, like, go for it on fourth down once, I guess. Yeah. Well, it's interesting, though.

He's gone for it six of seven times this year when he's had a three plus percent win probability boost, which is the best that he's had in his career. So he's a little bit, it's like the woke Shanahan era, you know, like a little bit more going forward in those situations. This actually relates to how good. San Francisco's been at moving the sticks. And we were talking earlier about the run game's not explosive. They are, they're still very good. They're fifth at avoiding third down, despite that.

Like, despite the fact that they haven't been able to run it very well. Fifth that avoiding third down. And then, Lindsay, I think we have the graphics of the, like, the two third down graphics, the five or less and the six or more. They are best in the league on third down itself. They face a lot of third down. down in five or less, as you can see from this graphic, and they're very good at converting them. And then third and six or more, friend, this is the unsustainable thing you were talking about.

I mean, look at this graphic. They're very good at avoiding those situations, six per game, which is pretty low. But look at how much better than they are than every other team in the NFL at converting them. Close to 50 percent on third and six or more, which is crazy. And that makes it so that they're actually first in the league at converting series by third down. They fall to third overall because they don't go for it quite as much on fourth down as some teams. But this has been the way it is. Some of it's sustainable, some of it, some of it isn't,

and it hasn't been with the consistent run game that we've seen from them in the past. How many passing touchdowns? Six or seven. How many passing touchdowns do you think the Eagles have allowed in the last month? Don't think too hard on it. It's not like two.

They've allowed one. Really? Yeah, number one. And they've only allowed 14 all season, best in the NFL. Wait, including the one. against Washington that that's the one pretty sure oh wow so it's just with the backups yeah okay yeah good defense it's pretty good defense that's not by Jahad Campbell on that one I thought mm would like to see him

have a slightly better game some super chats before you yeah we do it before we go let's check out the super chats now let's start with Pat who asked a question yesterday on the super chats and we missed and he wanted to know if we would have a certain Niners beat writer on the show this week to talk special teams and you know grovel at the church of Purdy I think we we can't quite fit it in that's okay but thank you thank you for the super chat Pat Graham Mosley Brown we ready to beat the 40 winers I love to see Kyle Shanahan's very punchable face go from smug to sad go birds thanks to Bo Fran E.J., professor, and Lindsay, and the rest of the best pod team.

Thank you, great. Thank you. That was very nice. Very nice. Gouda boys. Who to boys? Gooda boys. There is. Have you looked into Nate Silver's Kubert rating?

As a long-term Jalen Hertz defender, I want to believe in this stat. EPA is fake anyway. I have not seen Nate Silver's Kubert rating. I would generally advise against believing things by Nate Silver, but I will look into it. Well said. All right. Fresh Prince.

How many turkeys would you put on Jalick's Hunt being the second best player from the 2024 draft class? What is his upside? I imagine you mean the Eagles draft class. Right. Yeah, I don't think. I mean, I can't get there. I mean, but you are certainly cooking with gas.

if that is your third best player from a draft cast. I mean, if he was a first round pick last year, he would still feel, if he was picked, like where Jehad Campbell was picked this year, you'd still be feeling very good. And what a great fit for the Fangio system. Right. Like to have him be able to drop in coverage,

even on those, like, man calls, like the one against the Vikings, that was a man coverage snap where he drops into coverage and gets a pick six. Like, yeah, it's awesome. I mean, my understanding is that, like, Vic was very, he was a huge, huge fan of Jalix in the pre-draft process, and I was like one of his guys.

So, yeah, it's all right through that one. I mean, best Howie Draft class? Oh, Howie Draft Class. I mean, I think it's going to end up being, though. Probably so. Really could. Yeah, I mean, there's two Eagles Hall of Famers and one, like, NFL Hall of Famer in 2013.

Lane and Earth Lane and Earth's Yeah Okay Yeah I mean 2012 You had Fletcher

Vinnie Nick Foles Yeah That's a good one That's pretty good That's pretty good I think that's probably The podium Right there

It's a good one I think that's probably right That's probably the top three Yeah Quinion and Cooper Are already on pace for Eagles Hall of Fame I'd say.

Yeah, I know it's early. I think that's the top three. Yeah. Yeah. Entrepreneur. What about L.A. Rams, Nate Shieldhouse for offensive coordinator. Remember, the Eagles did interview him.

I believe the year they hired Brian Johnson. I think that's when they interviewed him. I think that is correct. Yeah, I think that's right. I think that's right. Yeah, I think that's right. Because he was an Iowa State. He was an Iowa State guy.

state at that point. Sure. So you know that there's a connection. Yeah. Yeah. Yes. Swoopers tomorrow. Swoopers tomorrow.

A lot less to chew on in that side of the ball. We've had the conversation about the offense so often. So it's, you know, we're not as intensive. And we can get into some of the bigger, bigger picture. Yeah. Playoff history type stuff, which is kind of fun to look at it. So after having gone through this exercise. Mm-hmm.

Take a step back. How do you feel? I think, I mean, I like the Eagles defense over the 49ers offense. Like, full stop. Like, I think, at the end of the day, like, I do think the 49ers will find a way to get theirs. Like, they're going to, they're going to make some plays. They're not going to keep them to seven points or ten points. Like, I think that they're going to get 17, like 20, you know.

In terms of this is a top five offense. Yep. stylistically, it does feel like it's given that a pretty good matchup for the strengths of this defense. Yeah, kind of. And I think like the other big point, I don't... What wouldn't be though?

I think if you have two receivers who really that's right, you rely on the outsize. The Dallas, yeah, right? That's fair. That's fair. Not as much short pass as the middle of the field, but more like we're going to burn Adori Jackson downfield. Yes.

Because you can't cover both of the wide receivers with Quinn yeah right right yeah I don't know how do you feel having gone to the exercise no I feel I mean it's it's definitely going to be a challenge it's definitely not the offense you want to see like in the first round like it's definitely the defense you want to see in the first round we're surprised at that tomorrow I was a little surprised by that honestly because they are eighth in EPA per drive right and they are third in EPA per drive in the last like seven weeks or something like that when you look at their best games um their best three games have come in week 15, 16, and 17.

Yep. But their second and overall DVOA, not weighted DVOA, so I was surprised by that because when you look at the strength of the defenses they faced, I'm not so sure I trust the way DVOA waits strength of schedule anymore. You know, like, I know they played Seattle twice and the Rams twice.

That's four games against, like, you know, defenses that are ranked really high. The Rams defense by DVOA is like top three. That's the thing. Like, their worst game of the year was this last game against Seattle. They did have two decent. Like, their other three games were all, like, pretty good. Like, close to one point EPA per drive, which is very good in both of the games against the Rams

and also the first game against Seattle. But that was, like, week one. And actually, the only time, they've only won three games against teams with winning records the whole year. Yep. And two of them were in weeks one and five against the Rams in Seattle. So, like, as a team, they haven't, like, won impressive games. Yeah.

But those games against Tennessee, the Colts, Chicago were so off the charts Like two or higher a behavior drive Like that I think that's what that must have been what drove them When you look at the, there's like someone posted a DVOA graph Where you can actually see like they're in a cluster Like they're really close to being like seventh You know what I mean?

Like two through seven are all very close together So yeah All right, good stuff Thanks to everybody for sticking with us through the whole episode We will be back for the other side of the ball and swooper tomorrow at 2 o'clock. Thank you, Lindsay, for getting all the snaps together. Thank you, Mina Kimes, for joining us.

Thank you, E.J., thank you, Professor. Thank you, Fran. Thank you, the sickos. That's all we got. See tomorrow. And as always, we love you. Thank you.