PHLY Philadelphia Eagles Podcast - How do the Eagles STACK UP with the Rams, Seahawks going into the playoffs?

Episode Date: December 19, 2025

Can Jalen Hurts and Nick Sirianni will the Eagles to keep pace with the NFC’s elite teams? Can they even beat the Washington Commanders on Saturday? Bo Wulf, EJ Smith, and Deniz “The Professor” Selman discuss the Seattle Seahawks’ Thursday night win over the Los Angeles Rams, what it means for the Eagles, and where the team finds itself going into the final stretch of the regular season. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hello, everybody, and welcome to the PHAI Eagles show live from the Xfinity Studio and presented by Bet365 and Ashley Bo Wolf, E.J. Smith, the professor is here. Who's going to offend today? How you doing? We don't get a lot of shows the day before an Eagles game, you know? Yeah. It's rare. good to see you how do you guys feel about a saturday game i think we talked about that yesterday let's not do the same conversation it's interesting it's interesting for uh you know fran to to just find all these stats on next gen or wherever he finds them and just not thinking about all of the huge saturday wins the eagles have had in the playoffs i mean you know the real important saturday games wow just saying five in a row okay the beef continues big beef guy yeah i guess the playoffs don't count they just

don't matter. Wow. Explains why it doesn't like Jalen Hertz, too. Shots fired. Just saying. Big Jacorian-Benned guy over here. Hi, Jay, how are you? I'm doing well.

Am I allowed to say what we were up to before the show? Yeah. No, please don't pick off where we left off yesterday. I beg of you. Yeah, we had a nice time, had a nice lunch with a certain handsome podcast host. the one and only shield Capadia so yeah I'm you did you were there I mean where does you have this barely I don't remember the name of the place I have to look it up no free advertising I don't care about but give me come on oh wow okay

meanwhile we had to you know last time I invite you but poor Lindsay's here getting the show ready we're we're coming in 25 minutes before uh-huh yeah someone's got to bang out the I appreciated that you banged out the ads You didn't need to make it First. All right, let's get to it Big game last night Awesome game Between the Rams and the Seahawks

Really fun Come back Love the overtime going for two Now The playoff picture is a little clear Professor You are the experts expert here What were the ramifications for the Eagles

And also just as you watch that game I know how you feel Because you're a fan But yeah That's what I have That's all I am. How did you feel like the Eagles could stack up with those teams? I mean, I was, when the Rams were ahead by a lot,

I was thinking the Rams looked like the best team. And Seattle sort of started coming back. He was like, they're probably not going to come back. But I was thinking the best thing to happen would be for the Rams to lose this game, end up not getting the one seed, have a kind of somewhat iffy, fraudulent one seed. And that's probably what's going to happen now, Both Seattle and San Francisco have full control over the one seed now. They play each other in week 18.

And if they keep winning, that last game in week 18 is going to be for the one seed. I think I like that better than the Rams being the one seed. Okay. Just because it makes it more likely that the Rams lose earlier. It also just makes it more likely that the Eagles as the two or three seed would end up with an unexpected home game in the later round. I have a counterpoint to that, though. I think I feel better about the Eagles playing it so far. than I do about them playing at

it's Lumenfield now, I believe, in Seattle. I don't know. The Eagles don't have a great record in Seattle and... No, I mean, Eagles haven't beaten Seattle anywhere since 2007. So I feel like if you're telling me that the Eagles have to pick one of them for a road game in the playoffs, I'm picking SoFi Stadium.

I don't agree. I think you play the worst. I think the team matters. Yeah, I think the team matters more. Of course, the Eagles fans would take over Sofi, but I don't know. I think the odds of Seattle even getting to that game they're likely going to have to play the Rams to get there

you're thinking about the confidence you feel an Eagle Seahawks matchup I probably don't have as much confidence in it as you guys I also think there is a with this Eagles team in particular as you game out the playoffs there's kind of like a survivorship bias thing where like if the Eagles got to the NFC championship game

where'd you learn about survivorship bias well I know if the Eagles got to an NFC championship game they would presumably be playing at a level where I think they could beat anybody and it wouldn't matter and you would just take whichever field whereas like if we're talking about

the first round of the playoffs then I think you're more worried about the specific conditions I don't really believe that they're going to get there but if they get there they're going to be playing at a high level I mean what do you think

this is a question for you Dan is what do you think the most likely path is right now for them to get to playing the road game against either the Seahawks or the Rams I mean it's probably what right now the most likely first round game would be for the Eagles

as the three-seat to host San Francisco. The loser of San Francisco, Seattle, assuming San Francisco Seattle, like both keep winning, they play each other week 18 for the one seed, which is far from a given that they're going to both keep winning. But if that happens, if the Rams also keep winning, if the Rams keep winning, they will be the five seed and the loser of San Francisco, Seattle would drop all the way down to six.

And that's because in San Francisco's case, they would have a worse record. In Seattle's case, they would lose the tiebreaker to the Rams. So if the Rams keep winning and the Rams two games are against Atlanta and Arizona, then they can't drop to six.

The worst they can be is five. And so for Eagles fans who want to avoid the Rams on the first round, you basically just need Sean McVeigh to care about seating. Now, historically, Sean McVeigh has not cared about seating. Last year he arrested everybody in the last game and he pretty much intentionally fell down to the four seed, seeding the three seed to Tampa Bay.

In the past, he's done the same thing. In 2017, he seated the last game, fell lower. People thought it was because he was trying to match up with Nick Foles and the Eagles. Like in the second round, people were talking about that. They ended up losing the wildcard game, so it didn't matter. But that's something that would be very interesting if McVeigh knows Seattle, San Francisco, is for the one seed. And so he's not going to get it anyway.

Yeah. Will he play his starters against Arizona at home? Maybe he can win that game anyway. in order to get the five seed. Otherwise, you were talking about the Rams falling to six and they could be coming here to get the three. We should talk about the Eagles chances of getting the one seat and the two seed as well.

That could still happen. But the most likely path right now. And the most likely game. If the Rams don't care, they go one in one, can they still be the five? If the Niners lose out of her. They would have to lose before that week 18 game.

Like just them losing that week 18 wouldn't be enough. Yeah. But I think so. because the Niners would have the tiebreaker on the Rams and so what would happen then is like even if they lose that game to Seattle they would stay above the Rams and if they if Seattle loses it they would just have a better record and so they'd be above as well but like playoff machinations aside I do feel like I'm picking up from you guys

that you both feel pretty good about an Eagle Seahawks matchup which surprises me like my one of my takeaways from that game I feel like my my overarching takeaway is that that the Rams have had like this weird variance and I can't decide if it is, they just don't have very good special teams. You know, like they, like, because I look at it and I go,

well, they would have beaten the Eagles if not for the block kicks. And they would have beaten Seattle last night if not for the return, the kickoff return for a touchdown and the miss field goal. But at some point it's like, okay, like your special teams are part of,

part of the equation here. But I still feel like if you're the Rams, the way you've lost games against some of the NFC juggernauts, you feel pretty good about if we play them again, we, you know, we're banking on not have, that volatility but I took I also came away from that game feeling a little bit more

with a little bit more respect for the Seahawks and the the challenge they present especially at home it was such a weird crazy game and it's you can point to like any part of it and be like wow they looked good doing this they look bad doing that I keep going back to two things one it's Sam darnold in the playoffs yeah which we saw last year that's fair two it's Clint Kubiak against Big Fangio, which we saw last year when KK had been scoring 50 points a game and everyone thought it was like the best offense in the world and Fangio's defense wasn't even good yet

this was before Cooper DeGine was playing and he just completely shut him down so I don't know I think push comes to shove like that's the matchup I want is the Eagles offense going to struggle against Seattle's defense probably is the Eagles offense a candidate to struggle against any defense like yeah Yeah, and so yeah, I don't know.

I mean, the Rams defense is good too, so. Yeah, I just, the defense is then, you know, going into this Thursday night game, going into last night's game, I was saying that I felt like an Eagle Seahawks playoff game would be 139 and it was just a matter of which team scored 13. I mean, seeing them put up, put up 450 yards against the Rams made me a little bit less convicted in that. Okay, so how about the Eagles chances of getting the two seed, professor? Yeah, so let's start with the one seed because the two seed is just, if that's okay.

first of all what can happen this weekend the Eagles will clinch the NFC East with a win or Dallas loss we know that they'll also clinch the three seed a lot of people have been asking about this like can they can they clinch the three seed and just rest the Eagles can clinch the three seed this week if they win and Carolina loses to Tampa okay okay so those are the two things that would have to happen for the three seed at least the three seed to be locked up the Eagles will also be completely eliminated from the one seed this

weekend if they lose obviously but also if the Bears and 49ers both win So the Bears play Green Bay, the 49ers play Colts, right, exactly. And so if they both win, if San Francisco and Chicago both win, there would be no combination of events that the Eagles could get the one seed. Okay. Anything else, they're still alive for the one seed. They'll be eliminated for the two seed if they lose

and the bears win and the lions lose, which is like this weird thing where they need the lions to be involved in the tie. Now, in terms of getting the one seed, can it still happen? Yes. But the following six things all have to happen. And I think it's worth just kind of going through this, not only because it took me hours to figure it out, but because it'll be clear how specific it is. This is for the one. This is for the one seed. And this is going to relate to the two. Need Seattle to lose twice. They play Carolina and San Francisco. In turn, because San Francisco has to beat Seattle for that first thing to happen, need San Francisco to lose to Chicago, specifically to Chicago. Not the Colts. Not the Colts because it's an AFC game that doesn't help.

Rams have to lose one more time, Atlanta and Arizona. Then one of the following two has to happen. Either San Francisco has to also lose to the Colts or the Bears have to lose to both Green Bay and Detroit. Remember, they have to beat San Francisco and so they have to lose somewhere else. They'll have to lose both of those if the 49ers don't lose. You then need Chicago to either lose those two or they lose one. And then all the stuff that I just said also happens. and it's a three-way tie

and the Eagles jump to the top and on top of all of that you also need Green Bay to lose once and they play Chicago, Baltimore, and Minnesota probably need them to beat Chicago and so they would need to basically lose to Baltimore or Minnesota. It's so many things

that the odds of it all happening are like 0.3% or something like that. So that's the one seed. For the two seed it's much cleaner. Is it goodbye? So the two seed, you either need the bears to lose twice and Green Bay to lose once.

They play each other, they play each other Saturday night. Yeah. If they tie, that would be awesome because it would essentially be the same as a loss for both of them. Okay. Because of the way the tie breakers work. Green Bay already has a tie in their record.

It would give them a second tie, and then they could be tied with the Eagles because two ties count is the same as a win and a loss according to the NFL. And then it would be the head-to-head would help the Eagles and then don't have the tie-breaker against the Bears, so a tie would be good with them as well. So that's the easiest path to the two.

You can also get the two if the first three things I said earlier all happen. then you could pass the NFC West. I just have gotten three miscalls from unknown numbers since the start of the show so I'm just a little bit freaked out. I mean, might need to just like make sure

my loved ones are okay. I mean, go ahead. No, it's fine. I mean, if they call again, go ahead and answer. All that different numbers. In terms of the stuff that has to happen for the two seed, if the Eagles went out,

according to the athletic playoff simulator and depending on if you look at different gambling sites things like that, it's a 45% chance that the Eagles would get the two seats. If they went out. If they went out. If they lose one, it's only a 7% chance that they get it. Okay.

So, I mean, I guess the question would be like, is it worth the, and by the way, you can find all of this on my social media on Blue Sky or the other app to read the details of this. If you'd like, 45% chance of the two seed. A lot of people think it's not worth it. they'd rather see the team rest and I was curious how you guys felt about that part well I think if you I think you're a lot to be patient

about it like let's wait and see what what it sets up like in week 18 but do I think it would be worth playing your guys to get the two instead of the three in week 18 yes for the reasons we saw last season yeah yeah no I think that's right

one now you can maybe pick and choose maybe Lane doesn't have to play but yeah i don't know i kind of think i mean last season the eagles were able to get the two seed and rest guys right and so we didn't really see yeah you know it was the one seed that was out of reach and so they arrested guys and got the two seed ended up getting to play three home playoff games after having the rest which was nice is it is a different let yeah i don't know i think the calculation you're making and this is what we were talking about before the show when it when it goes to McVeigh and his choices.

It's much less to me about who's going to be a better matchup in the wild card round or whatever and maybe even more so than the chance of getting the home game in the NFC championship game and more about what maximizes the calculation is what maximizes

our chance of getting to the Super Bowl, not what maximizes our chances of getting to the division. Oh, that should always be what it is. And that's why. If you think that those guys really need the rest to set you up for a run to win three straight games, then maybe you do take it.

You can make the argument that they do need the rest too. Now, everything that we've seen from the Eagles all season suggests that they don't feel like pulling back Landon Dickerson or Cam Juergens to get them healthy is either a viable solution or really something that they've prioritized. But I do think it, going into that postseason run, I personally would make the argument, like getting those guys a week to be ready for that postseason

And Claire is on the jet and she's right. The Eagles have a tremendous luxury here where they can do both because you sit Jalen Hertz, you play Tanner McKee, it doesn't matter who's on the other set. You roll the ball out. You're going to win that game. We saw it last year. I mean, they won that game. Like, they arrested everybody in that game and still won it.

They only dressed like 40 guys or something. Like they played like 37 guys on the game or something like that. It was a shocking, like shockingly well done in terms of like the getting guys rest execution. and they also beat the Giants in that game. So can you beat a checked-out Washington team with your backups in that last game if it comes down to we need the Bears and Packers to both lose the last week

so it's not likely, you know what I mean? And they'll probably put the games at the same time or they'll put the Eagles first so they won't know. And so like that makes it so that you could probably have it both ways. But now let me drop this take before we get to the first break here. Okay. I feel like the further we get removed from the three game losing streak and really just how dire things look for so long, the more you could talk me into this team being the flip switch, switch the switch flip team.

Mr. Reasonsie Buizance over here. Okay. I'm maybe, maybe. I'm not saying that that's not what I'm talking about here. I just, I do think that as we have like rode the roller coaster of the season, if you get this team to the post. season with the two or the three seed, I think you will talk yourself into, because how wide open the field is, I think you could talk yourself into it. I'm not saying that I'm talked,

I've talked myself completely into it, but it has been hard for me to dismiss that idea, like, that this team can't get into the postseason and start to ride that wave a little bit more. It would be hypocritical of me not to agree with EJ here. I bought my flight and my Airbnb in San Francisco for the Super Bowl this week, may or may not be refundable in both cases, but have you ever pulled this move when the Eagles didn't eventually make the Super Bowl? No, I've pulled this move exactly twice, and the Eagles were in the Super Bowl both those times. This was last year and three years ago.

I am just a fan, and I'm very biased, but I will say that all the talk in the building about we want to be playing our best football at the end of the year. Nick says that every year though Yeah but they like the players say it too I know the players just repeat what he says But they seem to really believe it And I think like a like a short win streak here at the end Could convince them that that's what's happening

And so much of like what happens is confidence I was going to say so much of the offensive issues This is more for the offense So much of what is the defense is good confidence It is like do you have a confidence Of what you're doing a belief in what the scheme is that week what do we do what do we do that's sci-fi by the way

we can talk about that later go ahead no no EJ was talking no I said we'll talk about the sci-fi thing later I thought you were like perplexed by wait oh no no no no no no go someone has to say something

okay no I take a break yeah that's a good idea we've come to a screeching all there All right. I'm going to hear from some sponsors. On the other side, before we come back, we've got a brand new segment for you. Our friend Bill Mats has a little something to say. So check that out on the other side.

We'll be back with much more as we turn the conversation to Eagles Commanders specifically. If joint or muscle pain is keeping you from doing the things you enjoy, whether it's walking the dog, working out, just moving comfortably throughout your day doing your holiday show. shopping, getting in a fight with E.J., all of that stuff, it's time to get the care you deserve. At Rothman Orthopedics, you will find expert treatment for injuries and chronic conditions alike with personalized care focused on helping you move better, sooner. Listen, it's the winter. Your bones are getting achy, you're getting creaky, you're not moving around as much. Rothman's going to help you. They're going to help you get back to the person that you want to be. How do you do it? I'll tell you how. You visit Rothmanortho.com

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has over 5 million users and has saved a total of $500 million in canceled subscriptions, saving members up to $740 a year when they use all of the app's premium features. Download the Rocket Money app today and you enter the show, P-H-L-Y Philadelphia Eagles podcast on the survey so they know we sent you. Don't wait. Download the Rocket Money app today and tell them you heard from us. All right. First and foremost, congratulations to the Philadelphia Eagles. You're nine and five. You won a game 31-0. You stopped the bleeding. The three-game losing streak has come to an end. But that's really all you did, right? Yes, you won 31-0. That is impressive on the face of it. But really, you just did what you had to do. You did the thing that was expected of you. This is by no means to denigrate what the Eagles. did. I am not trying to take anything away. I am just trying to put it into context. The Las Vegas Raiders have scored the fewest touchdowns in the NFL. They have the fifth worst third down percentage. They have the eighth worst red zone percentage. They are dead last

in yards per rush. Their expected points added from the run game is negative 50. And only five teams have allowed more touchdowns. Only one team has allowed more rushing touchdowns. This is a terrible effing team that you did what you were supposed to do against. They want Pete Carroll fired. They cannot wait for their offseason to begin. You defeated a team that had no interest in this game from the coin flip on. That is all you did. Now, all you can do is beat the team. You in front of you, 100%. And again, 9 and 5, that is the most important thing. But in terms of alleviating my concerns about what you're going to do in the playoffs, because my expectation remains Super Bowl repeat, this game did nothing for my confidence in this team. You still lost three in a row.

You still scored 26 points in your wins between Green Bay and Detroit. You still blew a 21-0 lead to the effing Dallas Cowboys. You still turned it over five times against the Chargers. This doesn't take away any of that. That Black Friday performance against the Bears? No, this doesn't erase that. This simply gets you back on track to where you're supposed to be. The Raiders absolutely stink and you played like that, like you're supposed to.

You beat an already beaten team. But now it is about getting back. to where our expectations are. Getting back to being a true Super Bowl contender. And guess what? There's nothing you can do against the commanders that will change my opinion either because they aren't any good either.

Maybe when we go to Buffalo, if you put an impressive performance together, I will have a little bit more confidence in this team's ability to beat high-end competition in meaningful games. But right now, I'm not feeling that and the win over the Raiders did nothing for it. there's really nothing that will change my opinion until we get to the playoffs.

And that's unfortunate because, listen, that's not the Eagles fault. It's just the schedule's fault. But here we are. You beat the Raiders. Congratulations. But this was by no means, eh, is that what you all wanted to see game? This is not a victory lap situation. This is simply beating a team that it would have been season ending to lose to.

There you go. The intro, we got Bill Adelphia, part of the Eagles show, presented by Togo. Thanks to Bill. Yeah, I love Bill. Okay, what do you want to talk about? I see your enemies in the chat. It's been... Fran of me?

Hi, Fran. It's all, it's all good. So, so you say, well, I'm, well, listen, more on that in a bit. How are you feeling about Fran in a fight? Like, for you and me, it was maybe... Fran is 100% correct. He would kick my... I can't win a fight I've never gotten a fight in my life I would also lose to you in a fight

DJ we've been we've been we wouldn't fight I don't think you I don't think we would think we would fight either that's right there's gonna mean there's I would just turn around a scenario I would like turn around and run I mean like you know Fran's intense you know Fran friends friends seems like I mean I feel like I can say this with confidence it's probably just a fact 15 years ago like I think I would have been really afraid of Fran like it's bubbling under the surface with Fran he could yeah he's got I mean he's watching play Swipper it's that right yeah he has an intensity during swooper yeah he'll look at you and it's like this guy looks like he could punch me in the face right yeah but I think

we all know the person here who would kick anybody says well I mean you're talking about Lindsay absolutely yeah Lindsay she's not even not even a smile not even a smile scared of Lindsay I wasn't listening to anything I just heard my name and I Lindsay, how many fights have you been in? Physical fights? Yeah, actual fights. Like zero? Yeah, because everybody knows they're going to take the rest with you.

I have two sisters and we didn't like, we did mental warfare growing up, not physical. I had two sisters and I can attest to that. My sister one time slammed a remote into the back up, like into my back so hard that I couldn't breathe. Wow. My favorite story of this, I don't even remember who it was. But there's like a, the difference in. and fighting between a boy and a girl, a brother and sister. The brother, like, you know, hit the girl with something, whatever it was.

And so the girl responded, the daughter responded by going on her dad's phone and deleting all the pictures of the son. Oh, wow. Speaking of a brother hitting a sister, I'm going to save it for overtime. I have a very good story for this. Uh-oh. Can't wait. I mean, I'll tease a little bit of it that I was like a toddler when it happened.

But, yeah, it's a doozy of a story. Super chat from SRG. Any truth to the rumor? Danes said he wouldn't come in today if Fran was in studio. This is just, like, shocking to me that this is a thing. And then I'm going to, again, more on it in a bit. Wow, it's got a whole thing planned. Well, I wouldn't say a whole thing.

Real quick, the things that are at stake this week with the Seagulls games, I'll talk about that. Everyone knows it would be the first repeat NFC. winner since 2004 yes I think every player was asked about it like 50 times this week how they feel about that and and like they were like three years old when it happened last I don't know why they're supposed to feel anything about it Quinnion Mitchell like it's like how do you can you believe this like he's never not won the Super Bowl like what are you talking about it yeah it would also be the fifth straight season in the

playoffs which would tie a franchise record is the the only time the eagle said made the playoffs five years in a row was 2000 to 2004 it's an notable that it's the first five years of Nick Siriani's tenure here. It would also be the first time they've ever been in the playoffs in eight out of nine seasons. That has never happened in franchise history, eight out of nine seasons. And that would also be tied with the Chiefs and probably the bills for most in the NFL in this last stretch of nine seasons. And Siriani would tie Greasy Neal for the second most wins as an Eagles head coach needing 18 fewer games to do so. now there's been some dispute about this

people have been like it says Gracie Neal has 61 wins not 58 well here's the thing three of those wins came as head coach of the Stiegel's during World War II and they combined the Eagles and the Steelers and so I don't think of that as Eagles wins I mean that's the Stegals

it's not the Eagles yeah and so with the Eagles Greecey Neal 58 39 and 4 Nixiriani 57 and 25 he would be second behind only Andy Reed he would need another 72 wins to get to Andy Reed. So there you go. How do you get the nickname Greasy?

That is every time it is the best. It's so funny. Now, in talking about all this stuff that the Eagles can achieve, Stinky Todd, like, you know, like it's just like any, Greasy Neal. Creasy Neal is really good.

What makes you assume it's not his real name? It's not. I looked it up. Alfred Earl, Greasy Neal. That's great. It must have been like a tan. But it works very well because

Neil is also a first name. So, oh, there you go. You know what I mean? like is it it's not a full sentence though no no no no no it's too bad yeah eagles he was great head coach smelly frank oh can you guys name by the way so so it'll be read neil syriani can you guys name the next people next people on the list with most wins as an eagle's head coach next people on the list yeah after after andy read greasy neal and xiriani uh I would guess and Pat Schumer doesn't count no he counts he's just not

next is is Doug fifth no wait is it winning all time all time wins okay I apologize okay so Doug was next is no no Doug was six okay so we're missing one I feel like Vermil was not there long enough Vermil is fourth he is 54 and 47 I should have known that just passed Okay. Yeah, you passed for a meal earlier this year. Okay. And then so is the next one, I feel like, I feel like buddy is ahead.

Buddy is one ahead of Doug. Oh, wow. 43, 35 and one. Doug 42, 37 and one. Can you get number seven? It's not Rayroads. It is not Rayroads. Danes, why don't you just close your laptop and stuff?

Yeah, it's because I don't want them to. Let's see. Is it slippery Joe? I'm sorry. I'm a little bit fried at the end of the week. Have we said Chip Kelly? No, it's not Chip Kelly. Okay.

I just wanted to, you know, for the sake of the podcast, trying to throw a name out there. I mean, the way you're asking is. It's surprising. People get surprised. They're like, what is he doing on the list? Not that old. I'd say, is it a coach,

the coach during my lifetime. We can't be. Uh, no. Well, wait, hold on. What year were you born? 94? Uh, yes. Oh. Well, it depends on what month you were born. I would say who was the coach the year that I was born? Well, who was the coach when Jeffrey Lurie bought the team? That's the answer. It wasn't Ray Roe. Oh, no. I thought it would have been. Uh, you guys are young, man. I remember a rich go tight declining the declining the declining the penalty and punting. Uh, 36 and 28 rich go tight is, was, uh, was this is the seventh most. Okay, there it is. The people are upset at Chip Kelly wasn't.

It was a bad guess. All right, we've got to move things along here. Let's take our, let's take our second break. We're going to come back and actually have a conversation about football. There's a new jerky in town. That's right. Our friends at Righteous Felon Crap Jerky, these guys have been running a flavor racket for over a decade, slinging bold, rebellious, small batch meat snacks

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Do you believe... We thought we're going to talk about football. in the Eagles turning this thing to an under center offense. Yeah, that's a good question. So much has been made of the under center stuff. And like watching the film, also just watching in the stands, like it was kind of annoying me how much first down under center runs there were. Yeah.

Because they weren't good. Like they weren't successful, right? And so like, you know, the game starts first snap. They run this under center counter with Cam Latu in. with that spear motion that um that you know shan sly had talked about this week like this is a shanahan thing we wanted to see more cam latu i'm glad that's cam lot too as the lead blocker encounter instead of grand calcutera as the rapper you know that kind of stuff fine but they ran that same exact counterplay two more times on the drive those three plays got one yard three yards

and zero yards and the amount of like praise that the eagles have gotten for running this counterplay and running this under center play and like having it be different when it got one yard, three yards, and zero yards on first down each time. Like, what are we praising and celebrating here? Oh, but it set up the play action, they say. Did it? The Eagles didn't run a single play of play action until the third drive of the game. Jalen Hertz only ran four snaps of under center play action the whole game.

Tanner McKee ran too later. There were eight under center runs before the very first under center play action pass. Of those eight runs, none of them got first downs. Only two of them were successful Two of them got negative yards Another three got zero or one yards Those three plays from The counterplay that I'm talking about

All came from the exact same formation in motion And by the end The Raiders, the terrible Raiders defense Was all over it They like knew exactly what was coming They ran three midzone runs from under center Using the exact same formation And the same Devanti Smith motion

Different than the counter formation So you could tell exactly what that was either Those weren't good either The last one went for minus three because they had already completely gotten out of it. Is it worth all of those inefficient runs to set up four under center play action passes

that happened to work in this game against possibly the worst defense in football? Three of those four successful plays, I think Fran did a great job of breaking down the one where actually the play action mattered. The other three, I learned like, you know, everything from Fran. Which is why I don't understand, like, you know,

what the beef is. Why you would take chance of it? More on that, more on that in a bit. But here's the thing. I never said he was cherry picking. Lindsay, this is a good time to play the clip. Oh, let's play the clip of what I actually said. And then we can talk about it.

Hey, Jalen, we're going to open it up this week. Grip it and rip it, baby. And he's just like, and he's not going to be careful anymore. Right. Yeah. I don't know. I mean, like, there were still some turn downs.

I mean, Fran broke down the one on the man-beater. Devante Smith is open in the middle. Tough one. I just think like every single quarter. back in the NFL has plays like that sure like you know like you watch my homes closely enough like like which i certainly did going into the super bowl last year like he has he has those too like it's like man that guy was wide open why didn't you throw it like so to talk about like you know with the magnifying glass cherry picking like the the plays that didn't go well you're always going to get

that and you know that's just just something where like i definitely blame the coaches more than i blame Jalen for the offense's woes and I think I've made that pretty clear throughout the throughout the years here I mean talk about a case of what is it the lady doth protest too much like what are we talking about frana I wasn't talking about fran I was talking about people who cherry pick plays to to make a quarterback look bad and that you could do it with patrick mahomes it was literally in that context the only reason fran has even mentioned in that clip is because I wanted to give him credit for talking about a play on which Jalen Hertz missed that one guy because he's right he's absolutely not not right what are we talking about he's right also you

mentioned that he breaks down that play and then a sentence later you're talking about you could cherry pick bad plays for any quarterback and it turned down to any quarterback also not only that but it was it was it was the entire city was blaming Jalen Hertz it was in that context were you here for the rest of the show we were talking about did you guys have a show earlier in the week where you asked if Jalen Hertz should be benched I mean like we're talking about an entire city attacking Jalen Hertz

because he threw some interceptions and I was just saying like yeah there are there there were actual plays that he messed up in that game I agree I thought that breakdown by friend was good and correct I do not think going to the tape was the right are you kidding me

also you guys are you in middle school like Fran accuses me of telling him saying that that that he cherry that I told said that he was cherry picking which first of all is absolutely false I was not talking about him second you guys without any evidence or anything are just like oh yeah I'm gonna stop sending Denny's the media schedule oh yeah like I'm gonna give I'm gonna give Dennis a wedgy the next time I see him like are you guys in seventh grade I said you the media schedule I don't know what I have to do with this yeah look I can get the media schedule okay I don't need you to send you to

to me. Also, well, you know, in case they're taking fan questions at the pressers, I need to know when they are. And also, he's doubling down harder than Puka did. Oh, just, just absolutely ridiculous. Thank you for the people in the chat who are correctly saying that I'm correct here. Unbelievable. And you know, there are two other clips that I was going to send Lindsay, but I didn't want to give her extra work in which Fran blames first Jalen Hertz and then me for his swooper struggles. Okay? He says, oh, the only reason you're winning, E.J. is because Dennis gave that stupid item that you got a point from every week. And then he also said, oh,

Jalen Hertz is just like throwing the slant on the RPO, then Thomas Booker wouldn't have gotten a TFL. What about the fact that Cam Juergens just let Thomas Booker beat him in the backside Acap on that play? Is it really just on Jalen Hertz? Or can we break down that play and maybe blame Cam Juergens for getting beat by a guy

who was in front of him, swimming behind him, to get a TFL who hadn't gotten in TFL all year? We can blame anybody for anything. Fran, obviously, needs to blame Jalen Hertz. I would not have thought this and I did not say that he was cherry picking beforehand but given how much he protested and given that he claimed that I said he was cherry picking

I now understand the real situation here he is so upset about his super struggles and he thinks that Jalen Hertz and me are the two main people who are culprits and I can totally see how this all came together in his head and you two go back to seventh grade I sent you the media schedule I was nice to you all week listen EJ it's too late now

okay listen I can get the media schedule alright I don't know what I did wrong yeah I mean listen I tried to explain what you did the wrong book and I do all right we have a we have a graph to break down the early center under center on early down that felt good that you can tell us about just sitting there minding my own business getting ready to annotate swooper for you to lose this Dan is like yeah he sucks screw you guys all right all right let's flash up that graphic yeah the the thing is like all this praise the eagles are getting or center early downs all this praise the eagles are getting for marrying the two things together this is a graph

which is a little bit hard to to explain but like it's basically how much our teams under center when they run on one axis and how much are they under center when they pass on the other axis and that red line is the one that like no team is on the other side of the line like no one you know throws more from under center than they then they run from it but the teams close to that red line or the teams you'd expect are the ones would be there like the rams the packers the bears those are the teams who marry these two things the best the eagles you can see on the graph are nowhere near the red line they don't you know they basically just don't throw it from under center enough this last raiders game they were a little bit closer to that line but again so

many unsuccessful runs to get to it. And I just don't think that it's worth it. And the thing with the unsuccessful runs, too, is it gets you in second and long, which the Eagles are terrible at. Yeah. It gets you into third down, which they were good at last year. They're not good at this year. And Siriani and Petulow, week in, week out, keep talking about, and you know this is a pepeva mind, though, like get to third and manageable. Get to third down. E.J., just curious, do you know what the third down distance has to be in order for the conversion on third down to be more likely than it was for you to convert when it was just first and ten like what does the third down distance have to be for you to be in a better position than you were when you

were in first and 10 and I'm excluding fourth down conversions from this just to convert by third down league wide or for the Eagles league wide last five years you wouldn't be asking me if it was like third and four so I'm going to guess third and seven no no no no way lower I think third and three or third and two but would he be asking us if it was third and two that's why he would be asking that's the whole point oh I miss I misunderstood these

the whole point is like getting to third and manageable is a complete fallacy that like all of the analytics nerds know this the league wide conversion rate by third down when you just have first and 10 is 68% of the time you end up getting the first down

when you just have first and 10 the conversion rate on third and one is 59% the same like third and one is only as good as where you started

like you haven't accomplished anything if you got third and one you just made it come down to one play instead of having to come down to more now if you're going to go for it on fourth down etc that's a different story

but you know that's part of the numbers as well I didn't give the added the fourth down numbers to the other one third and two conversion rate 57% really third and three

50% people think third and three is manageable you get third and three 50% of the time. Third and four, 48% of the time teams convert on that compared to 68% when it was first in 10. So no, it is not an accomplishment to get to third and manageable. I've called third downs makeup tests before. And good students don't need makeup tests, right? They, they ace the first

test. And when you look at this, even this last game, as dominant as the Eagles were, and you know, all the high, you know, points per drive, EPA per drive, all that. They needed third down on four straight sets of downs to start the game. They got bailed out by a tiki-tack PI call on one of them. They needed third down on over half the series for the game overall. They're 20th and avoiding third down for the season, right? They need third down 54% of the time. By comparison, the Rams only need it 40% of the time, for example, right? Like, good offenses don't need third down. And so, like, when we talk about how bad they are on second and long and all these kinds of things, like I understand running the ball these last few weeks because you need the

wraps like Jason Kelsey was on the radio yesterday talking about how he'd like to see the Eagles run as much as possible because he wants to, he thinks they should have that available. in the playoffs because the run game is all about reps. I think the past game is just as much all about reps, isn't it? I mean, like, I'm like, as a center, he's probably thinking, like, the run game is... So much from Eagles wide receivers about the timing being off in the past game and, like, the cohesion not being there.

And, yeah, that's like game reps are how you get there, I would imagine. Yeah, I mean, I'm sure that's true. Like, but, like, for him as a center, like, I'm sure he thinks, you know, like, it's important, like, to practice the double team blocks and all those things. But, like, I think reps are important to the, you know, yeah, and France saying despite all this, Dennis still got a strip book for the Super Bowl, absolutely. Like, I still

think watching those two teams last night, if those are the main two teams that are the competition, it's going to be the kinds of playoffs where every game is basically a coin flip. So it can still happen, just because the defense is good, because you can get those explosives from AJ Brown, because you will maybe involve Jalen Hertz in the run game

more. It was nice to see a little bit more of that, this last game, four designed runs for Jalen hits. This time, the most he had had in a long time. So I thought there were some good things but like I just wanted to like So all of that is to say A little bit on the the under center

The asser has changed their effectiveness Also I was texting with it also it does I mean to the point to the things you're saying Where even all this all of those plays look the same it does feel I mean they're they're They're cause playing as an under center offense when they're when they're going under center It is not who they are in their bones. It's like there's nobody on the staff that really majors in that you know I see someone in the chat saying third and manageable isn't about analytics it's about playbook options all these numbers like embed that they're all embedded like you were able to call anything you wanted and you still only convert at 69% of the time on third

and one so i i just think like if you and the eagles by the way have not been good on third and one and fourth and one this year they're 23rd in the league despite the tush push which hasn't been as good this year uh so when you include the penalties on they haven't run a regular touch push in the last two games right they ran one this last game oh that's right they ran it out a 14 push no no they've gotten rid of all the wide receivers they bring in Kamlau too they have got they had got it as a single pusher from the side which was a little bit different um but i just like i really wish that they had done this earlier like tried to incorporate under center play action earlier and i wish they could do it the way that the bears do it for example where the under center play action

formations look the same as the under center run formation i was texting with fran earlier this week about that i was like fran like don't doesn't it like worry you that like it's not not even the same formation. Like you ran this room three times and then the first under center play action plays actually a little bit different. And he said that that wasn't that big a deal for him. And I can see why.

Like I'm there sitting there, especially if it's early, writing it down. In this supposed evolution, it will be worse if that remains the case over the next couple weeks. Yeah, no, that's true. This is kind of related to that. They don't vary formations very much at all

within the game. Yeah. Like they have a look for the week And they run it over and over again. So this week it was the Cam Latu spear motion play. And it was like the exact same formation, exact same motion, exact same play. And then they do a change up off of it where it's a toss. But if you look carefully, it's a slightly different formation when they run the toss.

They do a change up off of it where they run the shovel pass. But it's a different formation when they run the shovel pass. Like it's never exactly the same. And when you look carefully at the McVeigh, the Ben Johnson, like, you know, Shanahan, like all those coaches, it is the exact same formation. Like it does look exactly the same. And so they haven't, they haven't majored in that. And so that's not going to be something that they're going to be able to do really well.

And they're just kind of, Lindsay, do we have that other graphic about the, like, how often they've been going under center? Yep. When you look at under center and heavy personnel, we have this, it's, I think it's the other one, yeah. You can see that the Eagles have like all, pretty much all of the wins this year have been the ones where they've been heavy, heavy personnel and heavy under center. Like all those green circles are wins and the red circles are losses and the red circles are all in the area where they were like 11 personnel shotgun And this is just neutral situations in one score game. So this isn't because they were behind or whatever like I excluded all of those If you look at that you can say like well, they should be heavy personnel under center more But again like it's not the causality isn't I'm not sure like I think this I think they'll look at this and they'll say like we should we should do this like we lost three games in a row trying the 11 personnel stuff yes and then

then in the Raiders game they went back to the under center stuff and then it worked and so I'm guessing this is what we're going to see the rest of the way I'm just worried that when push comes to shove against a good defense yeah they're going to be running their heads into a wall and ending up in third and eight all the time and then you know there's no marriage between the run in the past at all at that point so all right time to take our last break on the other side a little a j. brown nugget to keep your eye on more from the professor do you really want jaylain hurts returning punts, even Devante Smith? No, don't be daft. It is a waste of time, money. It's too risky. You keep your stars focused on doing the things that they do best. The same goes for

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scale smarter, work faster, and stay focused on winning. So the other day, we had hope. on the show, Adam Hogue from C.HGO covers the NFL. And right beforehand, I was talking to my buddy Ray, and he says to me, Hey, Bo, you should say something about the wives not wanting to watch football. And I don't know why I listened to him. It was so stupid. But that's not the Shady Ray. We're talking about here.

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Nice. Saying that they are on hashtag team Dane is. 31% on Team Fran. Surprises me. Yeah, I'm surprised. That's 31%. It's really high. I mean, it's disappointing.

I thought we had reasonable viewers. All right. AJ Brown. Yeah, I thought the touchdown to A.J. Brown, and the follow, the, the, um, the, the, um, the, the, um, the miced up with Nick Siriani, right, right after it. You better say, great. F and design. F. And design. Will Shipley on the outside, Franbrook, this one down already. You get A.J. Brown in the slot with Jeremy Chin over him. Yes. Like, more of that. Like, please. Like the post safety is cheating to the other side for some reason. I thought it was cool on the Eagles miced up that they posted. They're talking on the sideline about they're like, they said 26 is going to do something. And they were all over, all over on my side. And Dallas was like, I was open too. Like, I don't know why they were cheating away from AJ Brown. Yeah, AJ Brown's on a safety.

But in any case, that's a play where AJ Brown catches that ball from the slot. On the drive before the touchdown, he caught a 14 yards slant on third and eight. Dallas, Dallas got it ran the little kind of looky route inside of him, where he was started in the slot and motioned outside, which I thought was, which kind of set that play up as well. And so it made me kind of wonder, like, how often has AJ Brown been in the slot this year? I mean, he's been in the slot very little. We have a graphic, Lindsay. AJ Brown has only been in the slot on 10.8% of his snaps this year. It was 30% back in 2022, down to 25, then down to 19, and now down all the way to 11,

just 75 snaps in the slot the whole season, 14 targets, 1002 yards, a touchdown and interception. 79 of those 102 yards, by the way, came in the last two games. And we had the interception, of course, to the detackle against the chargers, he was in the slot, but more A.J. Brown in the slot would be really nice. I think one of the reasons that the number got so low last year is because they were so run heavy that they don't want A.J. Brown being like the wide receiver who was helping with the run blocking inside. You know, they'd actually prefer to have Devante Smith in there, like, like to block the safety or whatever. Um, so I think that was one of the reasons he, he kind of came out of the slot last

year. But I mean, when they're throwing the ball, like in those situations where it's third and past, like, I really do wish that they used them in the slot more. I mean, it's, it's something that they can get mismatches that way, and we've seen them do it. And to me, like, you know, you don't, that's interesting because I, I, my first thought is to look at Devantes. Yeah, yeah, I have Devantes, too. And it's funny because as has gone up. Right. As AJs have gone down every year, AJ's, Devonters have gone up every year. Right. 21.5 in 2022, 24%, 47 and a half percent last year. And now 54% the time yeah he's in the slot and 51 targets from the slot for yeah today this year which at I this used to be one of my pet things so this is like this was their

skeleton key in offense putting in the Smith in the slot and now it's almost like they've they've they've stopped or rotating them and so yeah you wrote was it an article you wrote about like Devanti I think so out of empty like how effective he was out of empty yes and the thing with like like people might be thinking like well if he's in the slot is he gonna be in the middle of the field Jalen doesn't like to throw in the middle field well I mean that touchdown looked pretty good he really it up the seam, as he said himself, but also, like, just because you start in the slot doesn't mean you're going to end up in the middle of the field.

I mean, like, AJ Brown can run those routes, like, that go out from the slot as well, where you have that initial mismatch against the safety or against maybe a nickel who might not be their best corner cover guy. If they bring in the corner, it could be a coverage towel. Like, there are all kinds of advantages from it. I'm not saying do it all the time, but 11% seems a little low. And he had an awesome year in 2022. Like 30% of the snaps coming from the slot that year.

He had 18 targets from the slot. It wasn't that many targets, maybe. But just the fact that he was there, he had four touchdowns from the slot in that season in 2022 as well. I just wish that they would do that a little bit more. I mean, like, it's a very simple thing to change. And I think that it would be nice to see. It is indicative of something that is very clear about

just the way that they put the offense together. And this is easy for me to say. And maybe it's results driven. but it doesn't look like they're having fun putting the plan together. You know what I mean? There's not stuff they're excited for. Yeah. You know what I mean?

It's not like, oh, like, let's move these guys around. Let's switch their places. It's like, like, there's no excitement to it. It's like, oh, all right, I guess we've got to do this. Okay, let's just trust AJ to win on the outside. And maybe that's, maybe that's unfair, but that's how it feels. Did you guys watch the JTO Sullivan? I haven't watched the, Patreon.

He did the whole game of Jalen against the Chargers. and at one point he was just like all of these plays looked like they were like designed for people who hate each other I thought it was like a very interesting way to say it like because he at that point he had just been driving him crazy like all the Hank and all the inverted hank and all that stuff and watching those JTO Sullivan things with the Eagles

is always very funny like because everyone watching like knows he hates the offense and he always talks about the offense and he had a lot of criticism of the past protection communication as well like he was like I would hate this if I were a quarterback and you've got like the left guard is getting involved and the center is pointing to one guy the right guard's pointing to another guy the running backs like you know slapping his calf

like what does that mean? He's like he's like you shouldn't have seven different people signaling at the same time because there's no way they can all be like listening to each other right and that also goes back to what we say about why they snap the ball with one second left on the clock every every play it's because like you know eight different people have to weigh in on

the thing and it's not even that complicated a look a lot of the time so yeah but I agree yeah oh yeah but it's within the last minute

it's with from 59 to 60 bovertime is really no but I like to hit the graphic so that it doesn't come back to you and then cut off okay so you want to hit the graphic at exactly 60 well like five seconds before

so they know to go to YouTube we have the bovertime yips like we were doing this fine and now I'll have the yips I've been doing it all along in the way that I was told to do it. I think the chat knows the yips are happening here. It's 59 minutes.

The show just like, it's a grind. It grinds to a screeching halt. I don't see the thing anymore. I'll continue to say it. I've never understood overtime or overtime and I still don't. No one's ever fully explained it to me. I don't know what we're doing. At this point, it's kind of a fun bit.

Yeah, I'm not explaining it now. Well, Dana, we can explain it more to you in. In. In. Lindsay time. I like Lindsay time I like Lindsay time will we ever get an EJ

EJ time doesn't really know no no no probably not EJ had some time in Julie's office yesterday you know you got called to the principal's office no I should know no

wow this proof that D-Nez doesn't watch the show every day a certain loved one of mine Oh, the lotion thing. Are you kidding? I watched the show. A certain love one of mine told me that I should rebuke the nickname Lotion Boy and instead adopt smooth operator. And I like that. But to put that on social, man.

Just for everybody to see. Cotton 4K. Okay. What's your story about hitting your sister? I was very young and I'm not proud of this, but it is like part of the Smith family lore. I was probably three or four years old. I was still in daycare and my parents were late to pick me up from daycare, like really late. Like, you know, the teacher's staying after with me.

Throwing them under the bus. Okay. It's just part of the story. It's an important part of the story. So I was really off. Like, I don't know. Have you ever, did you ever experience that? Love somebody so much.

Have you ever experienced? If your kids ever experienced that, like being the last person at daycare, it's, it's not a, especially when you're a little kid, it's not great. Yeah. So I get home and I'm sort of off, you know, just a little bit upset and whatever. And my oldest sister was really like picking at me, you know, she's just messing with me. The second I get in the door, right? Kind of like you. You're always just trying to get under my skin, right?

What are you talking about? I love you. I do nothing but gas you up. And I was building like a Lego thing. and my sister kicks the Lego thing like it's something like something out of a movie right like knocks the whole Lego thing over so I was done I had had enough

so I go and I get a whiffball bat and I get a step stool that I used to like watch my hands in the sink and again I'm like three years old I need people to understand this part of the story it's not like a 14 year old This is a story that you don't remember you It's been told back to you

Yes I will know you know how like a traumatic memory like sticks with you a little bit Right I have vague memories love it but yeah the story has been told so many times so my sister she kicked the legoes she walks into her room she's like doing like her makeup in the in the mirror i put the step stool down behind her i get up on the stool and i tap her on the shoulder and she turns around and i hit her right in the nose with the wiffle ball back it's not funny it's not funny you're laughing um i think what were the ages here uh so yeah my sister's 11 years older than me

okay so she's probably 14 and I'm like three okay um I mean no it's not funny she needed to know what time it was oh man she needed to know what time it was um the funny part of the story is actually that I broke my sister well I broke my sister's nose that's not you broke her nose I broke her nose and her nose is really like it's bleeding and she like grabs the first thing she can find to like stop the bleeding and when my mom comes up the stairs my mom goes are you using our good towels for that? Like my mom was appalled that my sister would use the good towel

to stop up the blood. And when the story gets retold, usually I'm not the villain of the story. Right. But for the... I'm surprised the Wifflebat could do that much damage.

I mean, close range. And you know, my dad always said baseball was my best sport. So, you know. Must have had good form there. Three years old. I mean, that's a good, right dead on too.

Yeah. yeah do you think do you think if it your kids are obviously probably much more you know civilized with their interactions but if you had if you don't have the age gap

yeah the four I mean as a parent how would you feel about this can't be can't be messing with the three year old like that yeah that's a big age girl to have a little bit but you're 14 you're 14 you don't know yeah but just kicking over the Lego you are kind of asking for it

I'm not proud of the story, but again, I was three. So I don't know. Yeah, I think three are good. I mean, I appreciate that. Yeah. But if I'm going to put it out there, I got to make space and say, I'm sorry to my sister, Nicole. You know who else has to say sorry? Fran.

He's spelled my name wrong. Oh. I have to call him out. I have to call him out. Wow. Now I'm like, what does he have me in his phone? He has spelled it wrong all these years. It's not like he doesn't see it written.

He's no longer than we have to be now. Yeah, that's what I'm saying. All these years. All these years. Wow. By the way, we got some feedback on the Taylor Swift story. People didn't understand why there's a connection between you and Fran. I don't think we've ever explained that you also worked at the Eagles.

Yeah. worked at the Eagles together and and Brenna who does the fire show defensive coordinator yeah and he was offensive coordinator yes so there you go speaking of defense coordinator I had one nugget on the on the defense here or I guess two nuggets but the the current defense coordinator Vic Fangio was he was taking fan questions this week and was asked about the Quinnion Mitchell playing to the boundary which he's now done six straight games and he said in terms of the advantages,

he said it simplifies it a little bit instead of flipping every other play but it's still something we talk about every week how we might do it. I thought that was interesting because like last year it was like Slay on the left, Quignan on the right regardless of who the other team is.

This year it's been all over the place until the last six weeks where it's been Quinyan to the boundary the whole time. I think he's for the most part found the formula and the advantages of playing him to the boundary. We've talked

about some of these, but, like, it's really kind of stuck out these last few weeks. It's protected, especially since it's the buy. The last six games. Last six games. That's, it's as if it's made a choice. It's exactly since the buy. Now, the, like, the things that it's done, right? It's protected Adori Jackson from some of those quick throws against off coverage.

He has, he plays further off than, you know, Quinion does because he doesn't trust that he's not going to get beat deep as much. A lot of corners play off in the NFL. That's fine. But some teams were taking those short throws against him, especially on like, you know, third and medium type situations. A lot of quarterbacks don't make that throw to the wide side of the field as much as they do to the boundary.

So that's the one thing it does. The other thing it does, and I talked about this specifically in that Denver game and the Giants game right after it, where guys were running guys open from the boundary side to the field side. This last game against the Raiders was a great example because they played three by one and ran the number three guy, which was usually Brock Bowers. from the field to the boundary so many times

and every single time Reed Blankenship was literally waiting for him like just waiting for him like they're playing cover three buzz where he's just kind of buzzing down waiting in the middle of the field the guy coming from the field side to the boundary side

typically is just allowed to go even if he's coming from the outside whereas if you're coming from the boundary to the field the corner has to chase you and so Adori Jackson was getting beat when he was playing to the boundary because when Yan was matched to a guy on the other side or whatever he was getting beat

by those overroutes. And now that he's playing to the field, he's able to stay on his side. Quinyan has his guy locked up on the boundary, and Adori Jackson's able to stay on that side. The other thing that we've seen a lot of, not so much in this last game, but a lot against the chargers, there were 12 snaps against the chargers of cover eight. And cover eight is when you roll a guy over Adori Jackson, basically, to the field side and play cover two on that side, so he doesn't have to play deep.

And then you play cover four on the other side. 12 snaps of cover eight, no snaps of cover six. He had been changing it up But in this game in particular Against the Chargers He didn't have to do any of that stuff Against the Raiders He didn't have to do any of that

Against the Raiders Because they were just playing that Three by one stuff So cover three was better for that But that cover eight stuff tells me I'm gonna consciously protect Adori Jackson From situations that he's not You know that he's not as good

And he's talked about how Adori Jackson's playing a lot better He doesn't have those negative plays And credit to the player always Like he's playing well He had been you know He made a nice play against Tyler Lock at this last game, et cetera. But I think that the quignon to the boundary thing

has been a really nice way to protect Adori Jackson from some of the things that we're giving him trouble earlier. Now, if you match, you were matched up in the playoffs against a team with like a star number one receiver. Yeah, I'm looking at the past six games. But who are we talking about? Yeah, because the Rams have two good receivers and they line up in the slot.

But Devante Adams might not be. He might not be, yeah, that's true. Right. But they have so much motion in that offense and Nakua plays in the slot so much that I would say that like Smith and Jigba is probably the main example. Yeah. Right.

And it was interesting to see last night, Smith and Jigba wasn't getting much done on the outside early in the game. And they started like throwing to him more on the inside. I'm curious how it would go if it starts to look like they're trying to match him up on a dory. But teams that use a lot of motion, like it's a little bit of a myth that you can just like get the matchup you want when you're on defense. Because like Vic will not have the outside corner run with the motion. He's literally never done that.

And so, like, they can get guys off if they want. Yeah, exactly. Okay. Yeah. The one other thing was quarterback scrambles. Like, this is something they've talked about a lot. Quarterback scrambles have not been good for the Eagles this year. I thought that, like, we haven't talked about Washington at all on this show.

But, like, Marcus Marriota still scrambles a lot. Ninth most in the league. He does it somewhat efficiently. The Eagles have struggled with scrambles a lot this year. They, the opposing quarterback scramble against the Eagles, 7% of the dropbacks. That's third most. the EPA per scramble allowed is fifth most and the success rate is 74% that's sixth highest in the league and vix talked about in his pressers like how that's been an issue and a bunch of the players have talked about this as well e.J right like how they have to worry about the quarterback scrambling and even Kenny picket got like a first down scrambling last week so yeah it's something where the coverage is always very good this kind of goes with like vicks philosophy of not worrying so much about the flats like letting running backs catch the ball on the flat we'll just tackle sometimes that also means you're you don't have anybody there to play the quarterback when he gets out into the

fly yeah I mean the Chargers game stands out to me as an example of where it was like the only thing that they really had access to yeah um by like in half major first down scrambles from Herbert yeah yeah it seems like a tricky thing to fix so because it is like symptomatic of just how they operate on defense yeah no exactly and a lot of times people associate that with playing man fanjo is playing a little bit more man than before than before but a lot of these scrambles are against zone it's just that is it like a match situation yeah you're matching routes and if it's just a running back releasing to the flat you're typically letting that go as well which means that if if you're able to it really is up to the defensive line in a way that doesn't

allow for that escape that doesn't go well with the fact that the eagles are actually stunting more this year the eagles are stunting 18% of the time which is 12 most in the league that was lower last year and so the stunts also make it sometimes you you lose contain yeah you're less disciplined against it i i was going to say like it's hard because it's like what do you pull from with the Eagles defense right now to compensate for it or do you just live with it unless you're playing like a very specific quarterback in a high stakes matchup right and again maybe when we look at the quarterbacks that are the most likely ones that you're going to be facing in these big games in the playoffs i mean stafford never scrambles right darnald's not

really that guy either um maybe it's not maybe it's not like golf isn't either you know what i mean like and Caleb is like a he's the one run he's he's the most like run to throw guy though like he does it yeah yeah he does it some love doesn't really do it right um purdy a little bit

in a different way purdy actually might be like the one that like that's that like sneaky way that purdy does it is exactly like because you're not going to game plan for it right and that's kind of what happens with um with with with fix sometimes

in a different way you just got his lunch pound when he runs Yeah, that's what that's exactly right. We have another super chat from early on from Claire who says, Who wears the heaviest crown in sports? Female Eagles fans, shout out to us. Eagles QB or Bose co-hosts. As in like who's burdened by?

Heavy as the head that wears the crown. Yeah. Yeah. Eagles quarterback. No, I'd say female Eagles fans this week. Had to put up with you. well you guys but now now you're being heteronormative what do you mean female eagles fans can have wives too yeah but i'm saying you made it sound like maybe they're in the relationship where one of them loves football the other one doesn't don't put that don't put that on them no you know what

this is so both five o'clock that's reference five at the time it is five o'clock kickoff when do you get like the wife stuff out of the way in the morning so you're done by like it's not it's not about that. It's about this is a busy weekend. This is a weekend that people need to get stuff done pre holidays. And you know how the wives are. They're always on you. Oh, that's not just the wives. I'm going to stick my neck out here. I'm kind of with bow

because, like, I like, I like football, but I'm always like, like, my husband's dress fan. So I'm always like, when's the game so we can like do other stuff? Yeah. This is a, this is a, but is the Jets. Is the Jets? Really football, though? I mean, like, that's the bus.

It's The guy gets on with Hogue Oh Lindsay Did you put in the lower third Handsome NFL No that's just been there I just have like Rode with it

So it was Julia Well yeah Bow's trying to impress Hogue And show him what a man he is Everybody knows where I stand I know what time it is Oh man Go ahead

You got one You got one nugget you want to get off. Go ahead. Well, I think, you know, I've talked about this before, but like there are 13 teams eliminated from the playoffs already, which is wildly high, given that there are three weeks left. Five of the games this weekend involve two teams that are already eliminated, which is crazy. There are three weeks left. So, Lindsay, you talk about the Jets. The Jets have played 30 games.

They're always catching streets in the last nine years. Even on this Eagles show. 30 games in the last nine years where they were already eliminated when they played the game. They've never been alive. systematically, in the last nine years, going into the last week even. Every other team in the NFL has made the playoffs in that stretch. The Eagles have only played one game in which they were already eliminated in the last nine years, which is the least in the NFC.

Only the Ravens and the Steelers have no games at all. And that one game, of course, was the famous, the tank game against Washington. Yes. Which netted the Devante Smith pick. So just something to be grateful for for the holidays is that, you know, the Giants have played 26 games when eliminated in the last nine years. The Jets 30. Those are the top two.

How about, I don't know, like the full west, but I know there's at least two quarterbacks who haven't played when their team is eliminated. Another competing podcast. Oh, Lamar Jackson probably is one of them. Maybe, but that wasn't one of my two. Okay, because the Ravens haven't had one in the last nine years. I mean, Jalen.

Like, there were games and they didn't, like, play in them. Okay. Mostly because they were in the playoffs. Oh, okay. Okay, that's different. Yeah, yeah, okay. Well, Dieland played in that 2020 game. Right, right, right.

Tom Brady never played when his team was limited and Mahomes. Oh, because he won't play it this week or we won't play the rest of this. He's not going to play, right? Yeah. Yeah, the chiefs were one of those teams that didn't have any in that stretch, but now they're going to have three. What shows are you listening to, Lindsay? Do you really want me to name it?

Yeah, I'm not going to plug another podcast on this podcast. She listens to us. I feel like you're getting two times. here. I wouldn't call it two times just he's listening to every minute of this podcast. Actually more because then I edit stuff. So I got to switch it up. All right. We're going to be with you tomorrow for full coverage of this game. The Eagles have a chance to clinch their playoff spot. We will have the kickoff show starting probably about just about 420. So took up and join and we'll have the halftime show and the post game show. I believe Vinny Curry's gonna be back with us So that's exciting Oh, that is exciting

Yeah And remember to root for a tie And Packers Bears After the Eagles win If you could If you could Prioritize one Non-Eagles result

This weekend What would it be? It would be the Packers Bears tie For sure Aside from a tie Oh Um

See Packers Bears is the only game Involving the two seed and it's not like the leverage isn't that high because one of them is going to lose it's more important about what happens afterwards with whoever went

yeah but that's like I think it's you want to it's better for the it's better for the bears to lose because otherwise the bears would have to lose both of the other two I'm not allowed to say if I'm not allowed to say Thai

I would say wouldn't you want to just get a nineers loss out there because that nineers loss might not even be needed though okay you know because it's not the Chicago one it's the Colts one how about a lion's loss just to eliminate if I could get any no the lines don't matter okay there's no scenario in which the lines matter

to the Eagles yeah just to get them out of the play just to get them out of the playoffs I mean oh so the Eagles don't play them yeah yeah no and also if the Eagles lose a game they might need the lines to win out to get the two seed. Okay. There is a scenario where you need the lions to be in the tie to overpat, overtake Chicago because it lost to Chicago and beat the lions. But yeah, no, I don't care about the lions. Okay. Why are you guys scared of the lions? I'm not scared. I just, they're a better

team. Oh, E.J. mentioned it too. He was like, would you want, would you be afraid, worried about the lions coming to the way that that matchup went for them, leaves me dubious that they can beat them in the playoffs. Look, I don't think it's going to be easy against anybody. Like the way the offense is playing but I mean the way the defense is playing I also don't think that any game is is unwinnable and watching that game last night like it was very entertaining but just watching it from the perspective of like the Eagles might play these teams neither one of them made me think like oh man they can't beat this team maybe because they both had

really bad stretches in the game but I respect that what a week it's been we'll talk to tomorrow thanks everybody for watching please like the video comment all that good stuff Thank you, Lindsay. Thank you, E.J. Thank you, Professor. Thank you, Fran. I kind of like doing you. You didn't thank me.

It was more fun. More edgy. Also, what did Fran do to deserve things? It's not even here. Screw everybody. We'll talk to you tomorrow. And as always, we love you.

Especially the women. Thank you.