Jalen Hurts Leads Eagles To London, Drew Kendall & Tay Wicks’ Status In Doubt | PHLY Eagles Podcast
00:00Welcome in everybody to the PHOI Eagles podcast.We are live from the Xfinity Studio on a very perfect fall Friday in Philadelphia, might I say.And we are presented by our good friends at Toyota.I'm in the host chair again because, you know, our friend Bo Wolf, he's across the pond.He's enjoying some time in London.I am on Baby Watch, as our longtime listeners will know.be sure to hit the like button hit the subscribe button and i am joined by dan is the professor andthe one and only belg guys how we doing how we doing today you first i am doing quite well and uh you know
00:45belg made it a nice tradition last week to to ask the host back i know how how are you doingi well i was actually i was doing great today but you bringing that up reminded me that that kindof felt like a shot across my bowel you know it's a little bit like oh you sit in that chair every dayand you don't ask the person in this chair this i mean i mean you'reIt was clearly a shot against.I mean, I had just answered.You know, Bo well enough to know how he's doing.That's what I was thinking.
01:09That's the thing.Bo and I have like a telekinetic thing.I know when Bo's not doing well.But I'm doing pretty good.You know, like I said, on Baby Watch.Got 10 days more or less before Baby Smith is scheduled to be here.And you know, I'm a little bit fomoed out about the fact that I'm not in London.But I'm excited to be here with you too.
01:26We have a lot to get to.And I believe we have a special guest on the Xfinity Mobile Call.line, Bobby Coyote.How are you doing, Bo?You're muted.Ah, how are you?Almost all this said.It's a little bit different doing it in front of the other people now, isn't it?
01:51You don't have to do it.A bit is a bit, E.J., you know that.A bit is a bit.how is London?Tell us about the sights, the sounds.Take us behind the scenes.All right.I'm going to break the bed for a little bit
02:08just to get this done.It's been fun.As I told Jamie and VG this morning,so I flew in yesterday from JFKand they were like, I don't know, like 10 flightsto London from JFK within like a two-hour window.And it was like the Eagles fans going to Nashville.It was just nothing but Eagles fans on these.
02:30It's to London.It is outrageous the degree to which the city is just crawling with Eagles fans.A little bit, a little bit dystopian, I think.But great.I mean, that's impressive, especially, you know, I guess they booked this trip before they knew the circumstances.But you never know.Maybe the traveling fan base will push the Eagles over the edge on this one.Well, I don't know.
02:55How are your arm?So anyway, so today was there were a couple events for NFL.fans. I went to the eventfor the Pennsylvania Tourism Bureauthat had a couple Eagles personnel peoplethere. Betsy Rosswas there and a lot of peopleask me, you know, is Betsy
03:12Ross going to do a go birds chant?Buddy, they won't even let me do a go birds chant.Did we get an exclusive with Betsy?What happened betweenme and Betsy is going to stay between me and Betsy?Oh, I can't say that. Come on.Nothing?No, that's across the pond.
03:38Does not travel back.Oh, it's a little like Sin City.Go ahead, B.L.G.You have an important question.Yeah, Bo, how are your arms feeling?Exhausted.You know.I got in this morning at 645, went to the hotel,
03:54and all I asked for was a place to rest my arms.And they were able to give me a place.for for an hour and a half that I could just put my put my arms down because boy were thesethings tired the key is like the key to flying is like you can't do it with just your arms it'sactually all about lower body strength yeah you got to get so yeah next time you got to put yourwhole body into it and then we did have a nice we had a nice we had a nice tail win we were I was ableto coast for a little bit but I mean it was still it was a was a workout for six hoursbut I wanted to ask you is your did your travel experience change how you feel about the
04:30plans. You know, obviously they're flying out in a couple hours to come out here. And I think theirplan is to just stick to East Coast time as closely as they possibly can, basically pretend that they arenot in a different country for the time that they're there. Yeah, I don't know that it changed it,but it did make me kind of double down. And I, it just, it seems a little bit bizarre to me.And I understand that the point of doing it this way is really more about the next game than itis this game. But I don't know, I have all my life, I have been told an experience.that it's not the sleep the night before.It's the sleep from the day before that always affects you.
05:06And they're putting a lot of pressure on themselveson being able to sleep on the plane tonight.Like tonight is the sleep that's going to affect themon the game on set on Sunday.And it's a six-hour flight overnightand they're going to be in podsand they're going to be taking drugs and all that stuff.But like, I don't know.
05:26I feel like if you put pressure on yourself to sleep,it's harder to sleep.It seems a little bit odd to me.Not if you get the good stuff, you know what I'm saying?I'm sure they've got access to whatever stuff they need,and I still don't know if it's going to be enough.Yeah, I mean, it's too short a flight for that.I mean, I understand if you're flying to Brazil,
05:46you can be like, okay, we're going to sleep on the plane.But like when you fly to, I'm used to flying to Turkey every summer,and when we don't fly direct and we fly through Europe,I'm always like, oh, this flight's too short to sleep.Like, I don't even try.So London is just not a long flight.It's not, you know.Yeah, talking to people at the facility this week, it seems like the instruction is like,
06:07do not nap when you get to London.And I think that is conventional wisdom is you don't want to try to sleep when you get there.But it's hard because the instinct is going to be like, I got to rest, you know,especially getting off the plane.I get not going there on like Tuesday or whatever they did in 2018.Yeah.But like, why not Thursday?Like, why not just one day earlier?
06:25Or why not?Why not just leave Friday morning?Like then you can go to sleep when you.you get there if you want to stay on east coast time it's yeah i don't know it's it's kind of weirdall right but before we let you let you get out of here let you know just tear up the town indowntown london we need to head on over to the westham game yeah oh yeah so you're going tomorrowmorning right no it's tonight i'm i'm i'm going to walk over from here west ham q prs okay all rightwell before you take in that game do you have any big picture thoughts on this game beagles jags
06:54that you want to you know this is the last time we hear from you before before pregameI think given the fact that we talked about this so much over the summer, E.J., if you had told me in week five that deals were going to be starting Jake Majors, like, what catastrophic event has happened? Is this a 28 days later situation?You know, I did indulge myself on the flight over and watched About Time.My favorite romantic comedy, just get myself a nice cry.And boy, I wonder what, I wonder what Harry Roseman would do if he had access to that kind of, you know, ability to go back in time to be where they are in week five.Man, yeah, the Jake Major's experience.I don't know if London's ready.All right, Bo.
07:41Go enjoy the game.It was great seeing you.We'll see you Sunday morning.How do you feel about Bobby Coyote?with Bobby Coyote? Where did this even come from? Well, your name's Robert Wolf and you know,you come up with all kinds of crazy names for me. So, you know, Bobby Coyote. Is it Bobby or is it Bob E.E. Coyote? Like, while E. Coyote. When you first said it, I thought that's what's what'sfor. Bob E. Coyote. I don't hate that. I'm in. Robert E. Coyote. I think you're being a bit of
08:08a wanka. It's not even Bover time. You can't say that. Get this guy out of here.Is Jaden Nob's going to play?What's that?Is Jaden Knob's going to play?I don't think so.That's not his name.I don't think so.We got to get this guy out of here.
08:28He's getting out of control.All right, Bo.We'll talk to you Sunday.Have fun.Enjoy it.Enjoy your time out there.We love you.All right.
08:39Joined by the great Bobby Coyote from London.We're going to take a quick break.And then we're going to really settle in.We're going to talk through what the Cam Juergens trade means for the Eagle aswhat the Lane Johnson retirement news means for the team.Are they punting on this season?Plenty to get to.A quick 120 second break will get to it all.
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10:37and dining sets to modular stain-resistant sectionals. And with Ashley's easy private approval processyou can buy now and pay later with no interest for five whole years.That's 60 months interest-free when you shop in store.Don't miss the Ashley Fall Savings Event shop in store or at ashley.com today.Andy Dalton.And we are back on the P.H.O.I. Eagles podcast.All right.I really wanted to give us a lot of time here to settle in and talk about some of the themes around the Eagles this week.
11:08Starting with, obviously, this is your chance now, Dana is and BLG,to react to, like, the Lane Johnson retirement and the Cam Juergens trade.I guess starting with you, Danes.What was, what were your thoughts from those two huge moves this week?Well, I'll start with Lane.I mean, Lane, like when people argue about whether he's like the greatest eagle of all time.Like, I don't think it's a silly question.You know, like, I don't know if the answer is yes or not.
11:32But the fact that you can ask that question, all of the stuff that we know about is,you know, I posted a chart of like his on versus off splits, like, which we don't needto get into those details.But like everyone knows, like how good the Eagles were record wise.like offensive performance wisewhen he was on the fieldversus when he was off the fieldand of course
11:51it's kind of silly to say likeone player was the cost for all thatbut then you look at what it looked like on the fieldlike the fact that like you could goup against these likeleague dominating edge rushersand every other team like when they're playingagainst those players like would spend the whole week
12:08like panicking like what are we going to doI guess we're going to have to do quick gameI guess we're going to have to keep like you knowtight end into help like we're going to have to chip withthe running back like like lane johnson i mean for what 13 plus years like never we never saw thatwe never saw him got that kind of help we never needed to he was able to shut those guys down by himselfand not to mention like how effective he was in the run game i mean it's silly to talk about like howgreat he was and then like you know all the stuff that we know he's done for like mental health
12:39helping other players on other teams like the o l masterminds thing i mean that's that's kind of crazy i thinklike some fans think it's kind of weird.Like, why are you helping these players who are on other teams or whatever?But it's like, this is a job.Like, you know, this is like a profession.And you're helping your other people who do that profession.I mean, like that advances like everybody.It advances the entire product.
13:00It advances those people's careers.Like it gives people opportunities they wouldn't have had otherwise to learn from all of his expertise.And that's stuff that like, he doesn't have to do any of that.You know, like you could just go home and, and, you know, like enjoy his money.and show up at practice and not do anything else.I just think, like, just so many of the things he's donehave been, like, exemplary.And, yeah, obviously, the team success
13:24while he's been here also, like, makes it stand out, right?Like, people say, like, Reggie White,and it's like, unfortunately, Reggie White never playedin, like, an important game for the Eagles.You know what I mean?Like, past, like, the divisional round,which was like a blowout loss when he did.So, I mean, that matters, too, to some degree.
13:40So, yeah, I think Lane's getting proper credit from everyone,but I do wish he could have had made this decisionjust from a standpoint of if it's an off-season decision that gets madewe have like the whole week, you know,we have more time to celebrate him properly is my pointthan we kind of do in the middle of a seasonwhere then we're like, oh, who's going to replace themand what does this mean?
14:00And so, I mean, that's kind of unfortunate,but I do think he's getting his credit ultimately.And I know offensive line jerseys aren't necessarily the most popularfor fans, although Jason Kelsey, the exception there.Yeah.I would like to see more lane jerseys out.about in the wild because he like that's a player you can absolutely be proud of and uh i do hope to seethat yeah yeah i think it's going to take time for everyone to kind of process it to your point belg
14:24because it's happening in the season you're right it doesn't we haven't had a chance to reallyprocess it and to that point you know the cam jurgens trade uh you know i said it on the yesterdayshow it felt like there was like a compounding effect of a compounding emotional reaction likethese guys are still processing lane retiring yeah justifiably so it's going to take them some timeI think that the way that they reacted to the cam trade was indicative of the fact that they were still really raw from the fact that Lane had just retired.So I guess like a big topic for today's show is going to be about are the Eagles punting on this season?I know you guys have opinions on this.And I just, I guess, like the audience knows how I feel about it.
15:03So I'm curious how you guys feel about what the cam trade really signals to the fan base and honestly the players about what this year is going to mean.Professor?Well, I mean, it's super rare that you can get a second round pick, dump salary,and not lose a player who's actually positively contributing at the same time.I mean, I appreciate Cam Durgan's, like, physical sacrifices.I appreciate his contribution to the Super Bowl title.He was very good that year.He fought through injury, like to get through those playoffs.
15:36But sadly, like he's been at the forefront of the offensive line struggle.goals ever since. Yeah. And people are like, well, it's not fair that they moved him to leftcard. Like, I'm including the entirety of last season. It's some breaking news. I'm sorry. I got to interruptwho's traded now. There's a player that's been released. Oh, Andy Dalton. Mike Garafalo is reportingthat the Eagles are releasing Andy Dalton. Okay. Honestly, both should call back in their sirens outside.And honestly, it's not surprising that, you know, there's a lot of emotions. Hold on. Did they release them or didthey arrest him.Like,
16:10oh,like,why are theresirens?Yeah,so the Eagles arereleasing Andy Dalton,again,
16:16according to Mike Garifolo,you know,obviously it justlost the backup quarterbackrole.And this movedoesn't necessarilysurprise me,
16:24given the waythat he has playeddating back to the summer,dating back to the spring.He struggled all summer.This,to me,puts an end to a weird
16:33backup quarterback situationthat has unfoldedfor months nowand clears the wayfor really what,I think a lot of us expected it to be from the outset,which is Tanner McKee being the backup quarterback again.So, yeah, I guess what is your reaction?
16:46He announced that Tanner McKee was the backup last week.Right, right.Yeah.No one had to be emergency because they only dressed like 46 guys or whatever.But how funny is that that he ends his Eagles career with one pass a time for bothfavorite.Bo's favorite thing.But also like, come on, man.
17:03Come on, Howie.You can do better than this.Like, how he can do better than this.He had to release.No, I'm saying like, why was he ever on the table?Why was he ever on the team?Of course.This is ridiculous.
17:13They lost players, potentially multiple, at least one,because they've been keeping him around for so long.Like, do those players, they lost, you know, make or break the Eagles championshipoutlook in the bigger picture?No.But it's just, it's a total unforced error.There was no reason to ever keep him around.We all said that, I think, the people observe practice.
17:33And now they're finally admitting it.Way too late, but better than never,but it's just it's very silly.Yeah, the thing with the thing with this move is that it's,you're right in that it's like you're,you're happy that they finally got to a place.And honestly,it probably is a result of the fact that they have roster machinations
17:50that they need to figure out.They need to field a healthy football team in Londonand they can't afford the luxury of carrying four quarterbacks anymore.But the fact that they carried four quarterbacks this late into the season,I do think it's head scratching.So, you know, there was a, there's a lot of like,there was,You don't want to admit we made a mistake.
18:08Right.There was definitely the thought about maybe they wanted to show respect to Andy Daltonby keeping him on the roster.But honestly, that's now compounded by the fact that, well, you didn't need to do that badlyif you're cutting them in week five.So ultimately probably the right decision, but not one that you can even feel good aboutbecause of the fact that it's been this far into the year.Like they didn't have eight healthy offensive linemen on the roster for that game
18:30against the ramps.Didn't, you know, ultimately bite them, obviously.But still, just really calls out like some of the roster construction.and the roster decisions that we've seen from the Eagles so far.So yeah, definitely a head-scratching one a little bit here.To get into the roster math a little bit, right now, the Eagles have 51 players on the activeroster.Seven of them, including Lane Johnson, who is still on the 53, will not be available.
18:56So that's 44 healthy players.You're allowed to dress 49.So think about that.Like, they're five players short of what they're allowed to do.So even with two practice squad call-ups,you would imagine Jake Majors and presumably Zach Ertz would get called up.That leaves them with only 46 total players who are healthy.That's three short of what you're allowed.
19:22And they only have two running backs, for example,like, you know, in Will Shipley and Damien Pierce.They played this way last week, but they only have three safeties.You know, like, so this might not be the only move.I mean, they might have to put Hollywood Brown on up.or something like that because they also don't have by the way an eighth offensive lineman like evenwith jake majors that's only seven so they're gonna they're gonna have to bring up ojuku so that means likethese are going to be like they're going to have to cut more people like like because otherwise you're
19:51you're yeah i mean you can you can bring up yeah you can bring up two so they have two spots maybethey can do it without cutting people but like they wouldn't get to 49 they would be short of 49 whichthey were fine being last week but you just think about all of the players that they lost on thewaiver wire, not just on cut down day, not just Camelot, too, as a fan of Camelot, too. The fact that theyhave lost so many players by not having them on the 53 to only go four weeks with Andy Dalton on theactive roster and his contribution being an interception in a game that you lost in a blowout, a red zoneinterception in a game that you lost in a blowout. It is, yeah, it kind of just underscores the pointthat we've been making for a long time. And yeah, it points to the stubbornness that they've had.
20:30Because now that they have to make decisions like this and it shows you that like, you know,Well, once you force your hand, you have to get rid of some guys like that.And what was ever the upside?That's the biggest thing.Yeah.Like they did this whole quarterback competition so maybe they could get a day three draft pick.Like what was the upside in this scenario?What was the best possible outcome realistically?
20:51Um, hard to see.And I think they submarine their backup quarterback situation in service of trying to get draft compensation.When you could have just actually prioritized getting the backup ready for the season,giving them the proper reps.So we've already.you know, beat a dead horse on this, but it's just, I'm laughing because it's just so, it's so silly.This is always so silly.Yeah, this is definitely a window into like the downside sometimes of like Howie Roseman's
21:16stubbornness where, you know, it is a little bit like, okay, I think I can get something for thisguy.Now maybe, to be fair, to be totally fair, maybe the, the way that Tanner McKee finished lastseason, what they saw from him behind the scenes, maybe this was more, maybe they were accountingmore for not having confidence in Tanner McKee as your backup quarterback and thinking likeat least the aggregate of the two of them, maybe you can get good play.But yeah, to me, this is a sign that, like, they, they were, they were hoping that somebodywouldn't call their bluff at some point.
21:44And, you know, obviously the league did.Here we are.Bo is going to be, like, parading through the streets of London now.Yeah, it's a shame that happened right after he got off the call.He's going to call back in.That's the word from producer Lindsay here.So, you know, we will get Bo Wolfe's reaction to Andy Dalton.All right, you want to circle back and talk about the Juergens trade and how it sort of,
22:12what it should signal to fans and the team about what this, what this season, you know,hasn't, hasn't stored for us.Well, I don't, I don't, because of the breaking news, we didn't get BLG's thoughts on the,on the trade, right?I mean, it's, I think it's a no-brainer of a trade, you know, the compensation.I do think it's interesting to consider Baltimore's perspective.Obviously, I think they were desperate for a center, but they are making a bet on he's goingto be healthy.
22:33And they could be wrong about that.And everything we've seen doesn't really have encouraging signs to that.But they're not like a dumb organization that you're taking advantage of.It doesn't mean they get every decision, right?So I just thought that was interesting.I mean, I think it's worth it even if he does start to play well again.Yeah.I was just going to say that if the Eagles were three and one or four and O,
22:54I'm not convinced that they don't make this trade still.You know, I've seen that argument out there that, oh, well, if the Eagles were three and one,would they have traded Cam Juergens?you know, if Jalen Hertz had not, had mishandled the snap, and if Cam Jurgens had, ironically, if Cam Jurgens had knocked the ball almost out of his hands on that third and two and they score there, is Cam Juergens still a Philadelphia Eagle?I sort of think he's, I think they still trade him if they win that game against the Rams.I agree with that much. I think if they were playing a lot better and were 4 and O and they were like looking like one of the front runners in NFC, I think that could be different. I do.Yeah, I just, I think then you would have to make a decision about how would it affect the locker room?like what would the players think
23:32compared to how it actually affects the product on the fieldbecause if Cam Juergens were playing exactly like he is nowwhere he keeps on sticking out on filmlike I'm writing down his name like once every three playsas a player who's at fault for somethingI mean I posted the clip of thisbut like the play that Drew Kendall gets injuredit's one where Cam Jurgens gets beat right away
23:51and the player I mean obviously like you can't blame him for an injurybut the play the tank pigs gets injuredlike that's also Cam Jurgenslike the play that lost the game on that third downlike that. So it's not just those plays. Like it's like just constantly like cam Juergens just just gettingbeat and this was happening throughout the year last year when like people were yelling at KevinPatulo and I was one of them obviously like yelling at Kevin Petulow all year. It always came with the caveat.It's hard to run any offense when your center can't block the one technique. Like so you know I don't
24:21know like Jimmy Kempski tweeted like this is this is you know related to what you were just sayinghe said if the Eagles thought they were serious contenders would they trade a startingoffensive lineman, right? And I love Jimmy. Like, he's around the team all the time, like,like, he has connections. He may very well know that the team thinks that they're cooked,like behind the scenes. He might know that. However, I don't think the Cam Juergens trade isevidence of this. Like, I disagree that the trade made their chances of winning this yearlower in any meaningful way because he was playing so poorly. You could argue that he deserved tobe bench regardless of his trade value. Right. So I don't think the trade emits any meaningful
24:57information about whether they think they're cooked. Like, they might.think they're cooked, but I don't think this trade like, like, like tells us that.Yeah.Now, does it affect the players in a way where the players are like, man, they must thinkwe're cooked?That's a different story.And that's why it's very important for Nick and Howie and everyone else, like to manage the,the message to the, to the current team.
25:17Because like, we still need like the guys on the team to continue to think that theyhave a chance.Yeah, I totally agree.And I think that's where the lane retirement kind of factors in here is the, the,the energy in the locker room definitely was shaken by all.the moves that happen before we go to break here we've got a special guest with a big reactionto the Andy Dalton release welcome back Bobby Coyote oh oh Andy Dalton does the ceiling match the flooroh Andy Dalton what was it for um well said impressive song um
26:00Oh, no, we lost it.They said, get this guy off here.He's too inappropriate.He's got too much bovertime.It was a reaction.Honestly, 10 out of 10 hit from.Oh, perfect.Perfect.
26:11No more or no less.Drop the mic on us.All right, we're going to take a quick break.On the other side, we're going to dive deep into the Eagles offense.Some of the carryovers from last year, some of the bad habits that we thought theywould maybe get rid of in the 2025 season with this new staff.Stay tuned.We'll talk about it right now.
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28:27doing what you love. And we are back on the PHI Eagles podcast. One quick, one last note onAndy Dalton. Mike Garifolo reports. Maybe you don't know. He might return on the practice squad,which would be very funny. And also probably again, what they should have done all along.You know, I imagine if I had to guess, this isn't reporting, but I would imagine they probablywent to Andy Dalton and said, listen, we need to make some moves on the roster. If you want tocome back on the practice squad, like we'd love to keep you around, but you can't be on the activeroster anymore and he probably obliged to that so uh an interesting one we'll see how many how many turkeysbelg on a on a team signing andy dalton his number is 14 i'll say 14 okay you never know maybe he's he's
29:12i mean he's really been available the whole time right um all right we wanted to so danes you havesome thoughts on the eagle's offense overall some of the um historical comparisons to years in the pastand sort of them being a little bit behind the curvein terms of like what they're doing schematically.I guess I'll turn it over to you to kind of break down what you have here.Well, we all know the offense hasn't been good this year,but sometimes like I think perspective is useful.Lindsay, there's a graph of the like just the EPA per drive by like just like the one
29:45that's like a scatter plot.No, no, not the historic one.Just like as of the game last night.So after Tampa Bay's performance against Dallas last night,And boy, does the Dallas defense look terrible?It does, yeah.The Tampa Bay offense was 32nd in the league in EPA per drive.Not anymore.
30:02The Philadelphia Eagles now officially have the worst offense in the NFL by EPA per drive,which is, you know, for those who don't know, EPA per drive is like a pretty good metric of overall,like how good an offense has been.And they're like dead last in the NFL.And then if we look historically at the Nixiriani era, there have been years,where we criticized the offense.This is the like, yeah, just looking through the last,you know, six years.
30:30This was a 78th percentile offense in 2021,83rd in 2022, 74th in 2023, the Brian Johnson year.I spent that entire year yelling at everybodythat the defense was the problem,the offense is actually fine.Yeah, it was the 74th percentile offense.It might not have been good relative to expectation,but it wasn't a bad offense.
30:5088th percentile in the Super Bowl year,and even last year,with Kevin Petulow, it was an above median offense,52nd percentile. This is among all teams for the last 15 years. So this is likelooking at a big sample. This year the offense has a fifth percentileperformance like across all offenses for the last for the last 15 years. And youcould say like it's early in the year there will be some some regression and likeprobably like there'll be some reversion to the to the mean or whatever.
31:19It's not going to end up being a fifth percentile offense, I hope. And and and now you couldargue like, well, what about all the injuries? Like, it's silly to talk about like how, I mean,that is true for maybe the last game, right? Like before that, there weren't like. Yeah, I mean,basically, Dallas Goddard has been injured. I guess you could point to saying they can't do all thethings they want to do schematically, but right. I'm not really here to make excuses like that.Right. And so like, it's fine. You can easily argue like, look, it's a new coaching stuff.You have to give them time. It's not fair to test them based on the situation where all these guys areplaying who you weren't expecting to be playing. That's all fair. At the same time, there's a league
31:59wide trend where some of the things that they're trying to implement are becoming less effective thanthey had been. And we spent the whole offseason, like the moment they hired Sean Mannion,we said, are the Eagles late to the party? Like, are they late to this under center play action,like Shanahan family offense party? And the answer seems to be yes in a variety of ways. There was a reallygood piece in the athletic by, I love citing authors, but there are five authors on this thing.Austin Mock, Tedwin, Daniel Popper, Jordan Rodriguez, and Mike Sando, had this really cool articlewhere they went through all these like trends, statistical trends in the NFL.And they found that, for example, the rate of explosive pass gains from under center on early downs
32:43has fallen to its lowest average since 2013.Teams are blitzing their inside linebackers.We talked about this on the show.on 21% of under center dropbacks,that's the highest it's ever been.And they're playing too high coverage behind those blitzes,which they hadn't been doing before,which means that you don't have the easy answer
33:00of throw it to your guy on the outside one-on-one,which we know Jalen loves to do.And teams aren't doing that.And so the result of all of thisis that the Eagles have no idea how to protectwhen they use play action.They're not very good of protectingwhen they don't use play action either.
33:15But when you look at the pressure rate faced,Eagles have been pressured on 36% of their dropbacks,which is like around league average.But when you look at how many of those are unblocked pressures,and this was a tweet from Hayden Winks.Yeah, that's Hayden.23% of the plays, not of the pressures, of the plays, dropbacks,they are getting pressured by an unblocked player.
33:4123%.I mean, that is crazy.The league average is something like 10%.And so when you look at it,the film, like that's what you're seeing. And Fran broke it down really nicely on, on Monday's show wherehe went through all the third downs and talked about how the, how the, how the, you know, the,the line is sliding in a way that you wouldn't think they would normally be sliding. Right. Ifthey're sliding this way, then the quarterback has to understand this is going to happen and so on.
34:03And, and this has just been happening. And so now you have to ask the question, like,who's calling the protections, right? Can Jalen change the play at the line of scrimmage? Like,does he have the ability to do that, right? And you're looking at these protection calls where it's like,you don't have enough guys to block on one side.Well, before, when you were in shotgun,at least the quarterback could see all that, right?Yeah.Now you're under center, you're turning around.
34:24Like, by the time he turns, like, there's two people in his face.Like, there was one play.It was like an under center duo play where Jalen just started rolling.And Fran said, this is unusual because, like,the natural handoff motion, like, doesn't have you rolling out on this.Yeah.I honestly think they're doing that because they don't trust the production.Like, they're rolling him out at the same time as they're doing this other thing
34:43because when he has stayed in the pocket, he's had somebody in his face.So it's just a disaster for a variety of reasons.Would you say this falls under the scope of coaching?Yeah, but look, I mean, you want to blame this on Nick Siriani,but the reality is like they hired, they hired like a whole new,it's absolutely coaching.But you hired like a bunch of new offensive coaches.You hired a new offensive line coach.
35:09You have a new tight ends coach who's the run game coordinator.You hired a new offensive coordinator.They talked about marrying the run to the pass.and we haven't seen that through sequencing.We haven't seen it through, you know,like using the same formations to do like runs and passes in any waythat looked any better than honestly last year's Frankenstein offense.So, yes, definitely coaching.
35:28BLG, you pulled a good clip that I think kind of like ties in nicely with this,which is that, and that's a question I asked during the film review with Fran,how did some of this stuff survive, the scorched earth coaching staff?and what really was like a total pivotfrom an approach on offense.So we have a clip here.I think this was a couple of days after the draftand this is a suggestion that Beau made
35:51about what could potentially happen this season.There is a worldin which this Eagle season very early onstarts to feel like the current Sixers seasonwhere it's like, oh man.Oh, man.Or the Phillies where the...It's like, okay, we had some bad vibes.
36:14The offseason came.We made some tweaks.We're back and the bad vibes are still here.I didn't think this is where we were going.It's a week of the draft.It's supposed to be energy.Inject some new youth and talent into the team.Maybe that'll fix it.
36:30Well, to kind of bridge those two points,I think the Eagles might be,this is where my kind of general state of the Eagles in my mind,where they're at is where I have a lot of optimism.about them in the long term just because of the sustained success we've seen and the confidenceI have in Jeffrey Lurie and Howie Roseman to if things go wrong in the short term ultimatelywrite that ship.Yeah.
36:52But about that short term, yeah, I'm feeling a little uneasy about that coming off of last year.But that's why the draft to your point again, like represents hope for not just the season,but also multiple years down the line.Now, I get the sense that the two of you have a little bit of a disagreement on if that's whatwe're seeing play out right now.Now remember that clip was before they drafted Eli Stowers to solve the problem.That is true.It's honestly where I'm at, though, still.
37:17Yeah.And I kind of, I think regret not.Because I think we all, you guys alluded to this on the show, I think earlier this week.You know, you go into the off season or you're thinking a certain thing.You might be a little skeptical.Then the season gets closer.We go to training camp.You're trying to think positively from the standpoint of, that's how the fans want to think.
37:36Yeah.But sometimes you, I think you can trick yourself into getting away from some of thethe skepticism that you have and and I do I don't think deals are in a good spot right now I thinkthey it's so early we can say they were two and two in 2024 professor I think you said just lastweek like you can't expect that to be the baseline yeah that's not that's very anomalous yeah I wastexting with Sean Syed and and flex yeah uh I didn't always answer my text and he was like areare you uh are you you know how like doom and gloom are you about the offense and I was like I meandon't ask me that.
38:09Like, I'm always going to be looking for my Airbnb in LA in February until the team ismathematically eliminated.However, I understand that the 2024 going from two and two doom and gloom, wow, thisteam really looks bad to winning the Super Bowl was a 100th percentile outcome.And that's not the norm.And this team, by the way, I mean, this team, 32nd in EPA per drive on offense, 31st andnet EPA per drive, including offense and defense.This team doesn't deserve to be, deserve to be two and two.
38:41I'm going to graph, magu here.I have a graph that I sent to Lindsay that we can pull up here.Oh, man, I can't wait.It shows like kind of the Eagles and where they're basically, like, look at them all the way down there.Who are they keeping company with?Keeping company, they're above them.The Miami Dolphins.Yeah.
38:55Like, I think that's everyone would agree.Like, that's probably the worst team in the NFL right now.You probably see them dead last in the Bauer rankings.Like, that's their company right now.It doesn't mean they can't get better than that, but they played poorly.They're two and two.sure, but there are a couple plays away.We can say they're a play away from being 3 and 1.
39:11Say there are a couple plays away from being 0 and 4.Oh, and 4, yeah, absolutely.So I don't have a lot of faith right nowin this iteration of the team.However, I still am pretty optimistic about the future.And part of my reaction to the-When you say the future, you're saying the long-term out-long-term.Absolutely, yeah.
39:27Because, and that's part of what I actually felta little bit excited about the Cam Juergens tradefrom a standpoint of, I don't think it's how he throwing in the towelin on the season entirely.But I do think it's acknowledging, okay, it's not all just about this year.And we do have to kind of position ourselves here for a reset, which he's been very good at resetting, in arguably.And how he's been very vocal about how he has to always weigh the future with the present.And whenever he trades away something that helps today for the future, like he says that.
40:01I think one of the things about the Ravens trade to understand in general about any trade that how he makes,because of his job security, he values the future more than basically every other GM in the NFL.Yeah.Every other GM in the NFL is looking at 2028 and they're like, I might not be here in 20208.Like, you know, trade them picks.Like, who cares?I'm not going to make them anyway if we lose this year.And so.
40:24Yeah, obviously a different GM probably.I know Cam was, he started the week in the concussion protocol.We'll see if he plays for the Ravens.But any other GM probably would have said even that 2028 second round pick, even though that's great value,Like we might be starting Jake Majors at center if I trade Cam Jerkins this week.At least it gives me a chance to survive this week.Yeah.Jimmy mentioned that too, but like because of the concussion thing.
40:45Yeah.It's very hard to imagine him playing anyway.15% chance.If you were pushing all your chips into this season,I do think you probably wouldn't pull the trigger on that trade this week.A lot of GMs wouldn't be able to make that pick necessarily.And Tigger's time.Right.
40:59Wouldn't be around on the team to make it.That's what I'm saying.And like, and so like.Yeah, I think we're all agreeing.Yeah.I mean, but I mean, that also explains the trade.Like when people are like, oh, the Ravens are crazy, you have to understand, like, this isn't like the owner, like the owner and the fans have a longer term, you know, like, like relationship with the team.And I think one of the things that makes it nice for us as Eagles fans here, like we're still going to be fans in 2028.
41:25And so I kind of like that how he knows he's going to be here in 2028 because he cares about 2028 about as much as I do.Whereas not every GM cares about 2028.as much as their fan base does.And so when you trade away all these future picks,the fan base is like, wait a second, what are we doing here?You know, are we really focused on this year?Like, is the team really good enough this year?And so sometimes it works out, like the Rams are able to win and stay good.
41:48But a lot of GMs make these short term decisionsto maybe keep their job for an extra year,but then the team ends up being terrible for decades as a result.Yeah, I'm interested that you both are optimistic about maybe not the Eaglesgetting out of this this season.You know, we'll see how things look in Jacksonville.I think we all agree that there's a chance that they come back from that trip to Londonand, you know, the potential rebuild is going to be imminent or feel imminent from there.
42:16You know, it's a long season.I still think they could turn it around.Stranger things have happened, obviously.Also, the division is garbage.Right.The division is garbage.Could you like to win the division and get a home playoff game?Like, these are all things that are easily doable.
42:28And, you know, at that point, it always turns into like, well, it's only X games that you have to win at this point.That's what happened in 2020, you know,where they had a bit down here,but like the division wasn't decided until the finale.Yeah, yeah, yeah.But in terms of being optimistic about the long-term outlook,like nothing about the degradation along the offensive lineand, you know, the Eli Stowers and Mackay Lemon picks in the last couple of years,
42:50obviously Jod Campbell even has been criticized.I wouldn't go that far,but I do think that there are some signs that, like,the Eagles draft efficiency is starting to regress to the mean.You can argue that it was always going to do that,but it's, I find it interesting, you both are optimistic about it,even given that reality that we're starting to face here.Yeah, we're in a very uncomfortable place in terms of the lines.
43:15Like, we're just not used to the offensive line and the defensive linebeing weaknesses on the team and their weaknesses.And when those are weaknesses, we haven't been used to it in years now,it makes everyone else look bad to.Like, you're just not able to function as an offense when your offensive line is bad.And when your defensive line spends the whole game,not getting any pressure.Eventually, like, Sean McFay
43:37picks apart McFanjillo's, like,out of nowhere usage of cover twothat he'd never done before,which was like a clever twist on,on what he, you know,the way he approached that game,but it doesn't end up workingacross 83 plays because of the defensive line.
43:52So, I mean, like, I'm kind of like,I kind of shifted this to a discussion about the lines,but I think like, but I mean,because this team has prioritizedoffensive line and defensive linein its roster construction,to see those as we,weakness is, it's got to be killing Howie too.
44:06Like, it's like, man, like, this is like what I'm supposed to be prioritizing.And my offensive line is terrible.And my defensive line is terrible.Like, it's like, like, how did this happen?Right?Like, we have to ask that question.Like, how did this happen?Yeah, I think he would tell you that the runs on offensive linemen have happened before them,
44:21each of the last few drafts.Now you could make the argument.Could the Eagles have moved up in some of those scenarios?You know, Maxi Honachor instead of Mackay Lemon was something that I actually argued for.People are probably tired of hearing me say that on the show at this point because I said it like five times this week.But I think that there were opportunities.But again, I think he would argue that the blue chip talent, they haven't had access to it.And that is kind of making this full circle and maybe why you guys are optimistic.
44:49The Eagles probably could benefit long term from a reset year.You know, we've heard how he Rose been talked before about taking all the dead cap money.I think it was a 2020 season that they did that, where they just took all the dead cap money on the chin so that they could go again.I guess is that why you are optimistic BLG?I think it's just the sobering look of it all.It's like we have to, this isn't good enough.We have to change things now.We can't just sit on our laurels.
45:11And not that,to suggest that how he does that when they're good,but I think it's more than it would be in the situation nowwhere they kind of have to reinvent the lines.The tough part, I will say,to counter my own argument is some of the money they have investedin the defensive line with Jalen Carter and Jordan Davis.Like those are investments that you made that are really big
45:29that you just made them.So I don't, like, I don't really know that you're,moving on from that or they kind of just need the players to play better that's not really like a greatsolution other than hope but i just do think ultimately i've seen how he do it enough for i'm gonna bewilling to give him the benefit of the doubt that he can take a bad situation and spin it aroundin not too long of a time frame yeah okay all right um we are gonna take our last break and when we comeback we've got some leftover offensive thoughts some tewicks three by one charts some real sick of stuff toget through and we'll transition over to the defense. So be right back in two minutes.
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48:09You guys just missed a riveting argumentabout who chart-mogged who on this set here.Was it BLG's charts?Was it DeNiz's charts?Who was the one doing the mugging on these graphics here?I feel attacked.It's like Fran saying, like,oh, Sumer Sports has a great color-coded,
48:28color-coded game preview.Get out of here.Let us know in the comments, who chartmogged who.I will be in the comments to say that Lindsay chartmogs everybody, every single day.All right, Danes.Let's talk about these three by one sets of Taywix.Oh, man, yeah.I mean, BLG was asking earlier, like, is it a coaching thing?
48:47Like, there are a bunch of different things that, like, to be solution oriented,like, we can talk about, like, things the Eagles could do differently.We can talk about the Taywicks thing.As one example, I mean, obviously, like, this team, when Devante Smith was healthy,they were in three by one sets,which they don't do as much as some other teams.Devante Smith was that ISO receivers.So you have three receivers to one side,
49:09including a tight end,and then you have Devante Smith by himself to the other side.Now, Devante Smith has only been targeted twice all yearfrom that position,so it's not like that was like a big part of the offense.But Tay Wix was that guy for basically the entire game against the Rams.There have been 13 plays total this seasonin which Taywix was lined up as the ISO receiver in three by one.
49:32Actually, 14 if you include one by penalty.So I'll include that one first.That was the good one.Okay.Where Trent McDuffie accidentally pulled his undershirt and got the pass interference.Okay, so that was one of the plays.Like the shirt caught in his hand.It was like a 25-yard pass interference.
49:45Yeah.You can call that a successful play.Sure.Let's do it.The other 13 plays.Are you guys ready for the stats?Yes.Okay.
49:52As ready is a lot of them.On those 13 dropbacks,the Eagles are one for eight passing for five yards.That was a completion to tank Big's Bix Bills.on which he fumbled and lost the ball.An interception,five sacks.That goes for an 0 for 13 success rate,
50:08negative 2.16 EPA per play.It's crazy.That means the Eagles have lost something like,what, 28 points.Wow.Expected points in these 13 plays alonein which Taye Wix is the ISO receiver.And you could say like,
50:23why on earth did you look this up?Like, what a weird stat to look up?I looked it up because on film,you can see that on those plays, Jalen Hertz always starts his read with Taywicks.And you can look at the fourth down the fourth and two,the fourth downplay against the Rams that would have put the game away where Taywicks isISO against McDuffie.He doesn't actually trust him enough to throw the ball,
50:43even though it looks like maybe he kind of wins the route.Maybe he doesn't throw it.And then by the time he turns to the other side,the play is dead.The reason there have been five sacks is because that's what's happening on those plays.He starts with Taywicks.Taywicks was supposed to be like the man beating wide receiver,but against like,
50:59top corners, he's not A.J. Brown, like, he's not going to win that often. Like, there's a reasonthat Green Bay wanted to get rid of him. Like, you can't build the offense around him. And so,this is one of those things where it's not like the plays have necessarily always workedthe way the coaches want, but Jalen has had a history where he goes with the player he trusts.And we know that he trusts, stay wicks. He worked with him on the offseason, all those things.But, man, like, sometimes, like, you got to be like, you know, Fran had an example of a few of these playson Monday where he's like, you got to get off of Taywicks earlier here.Yeah.
51:32Because like someone else is breaking open somewhere else.So is that coaching to you or is that indicative of Jalen not necessarily?And listen, it's a new offense.Like we can couch it if we can couch it where we need to, but him not being like in syncenough where that's gone.We got to go somewhere else.I mean, part of it's coaching.You look at the Rams like they rarely line up.
51:53Like they're mostly a two by two team like even though they have these star receivers.Like they're not.not always being like, okay, we're going to play iso ball with the sky. So I think it's,I don't know, it's harder to probably coach like something that involves a more clever routecombination. You know what I mean? Like, like, like, and I feel like maybe you could useTaywicks and McKaylemon together and do that. I mean, it's only 13 plays. Like, so I don't wantto pretend like this is the whole offense, but, um, this part of it isn't working. So maybe don'tgo to this on the biggest play of the year. Like when you've got fourth and goal, maybe be like,
52:24you know, because at that point, it was, you know, they were over 11 doing it this way. Like,And they necessarily have access to that specific stat,but they should be aware that, like,this really isn't working when we,when we have Tay Wix as the ISO receiverand, like, start the read with him.We talk about how big of a factor of trust is for Jalen.It's huge.
52:43It's a good one.It cannot be overstated because there are simply guys,like in the past where he just wouldn't throw to them.And those weren't great players.So you get it conceptually.Like, it's not like, oh, we need to be throwing more toAlbert O or Jack Stoll or whoever.No, but it can't just be the inverse of that where, like you're saying,
53:02they're just locking in on.And yes, he did build chemistry with Tate Wicks because that's who was availablewhen Devante was missing a lot of time.And he had a bunch of huge third down catches in Tennessee.Like, against manned Poveridge.Like, it's not like he, like he can be good.It's just one little, it's like, it's just a symptom of the bigger problem,which is that the offense doesn't have an identity and a structure and a fabric that's helping itself.
53:27you know what I mean and so it's like you almost have to go out of structure and be like hey go winand jay lans used to having a j brown like kind of bail him out in those situations and tay wicks is i meanno one no one thinks this like like he's not a j brown do you think it's unfair to say like the onlytime the offense has really looked good this year is just the first two weeks where jalen's makingplays on third down oh that's i think that's fair absolutely right like they're running the ball wellyes in the first half against the bears like sequin looked pretty good but yeah the run game was good but theystill, I mean, I think that the first two weeks, and even then, we said, this isn't sustainable.Right. It's not a function of the offense. It's a function of a quarterback making plays in situations
54:05you probably can't count them to make plays. Yeah, and this also like dovetails into somethingwe talked a lot about in the summer, which is that the Eagles can't go back to the way that theyplayed offensively before because they don't have A.J. Brown. You know, if this experiment of theunder center play action stuff and, you know, marrying the run in the past, all these things, if theycan't figure this out, having TAY wicks in the three byone and saying, all right, you're up against Trent McDuffie, but go win. That's not an option.You can't be a functional offense that way. So it puts the onus on them to have to figure this out.And the most important thing to figure out is the protection. And I think like this is something that
54:39we talked on the show after week one about how the Eagles condensed sets are inviting pressureand that they're likely to see it consistently, even from opponents who don't usually blitzthat much, who don't usually, you know, like mug up the linebackers that much. The last two games inparticular against the bears and rams have shown that to be the case.And for what?Like, what are the Eagles getting out of the condensed set?So, Sean Syed tweeted that the Eagles went from the sixth widest average formation within the NFL to the 24th, which means they're now one of the narrowest.
55:10And you can see it.Like, you can see there's rarely a player outside the numbers when they line up.And I understand that that has certain benefits, marrying the run in the past together,all of those kinds of things.But you're inviting the entire defense, like, into the box as well when you do that.And guess what?You're the worst under center offense in the league.You're the worst play action team in the league.
55:30You're 31st in the league when you're blitzed.I mean, they're 32nd overall.So, like, it makes sense that they're bad at these splits.But, but, like, especially when you have all these moving parts on the offensive lineand at running back, none of your running backs are good at pass protection.Like, Fran's like, you know, well, they don't have Seekwon.Sequin's not good at it either.Okay, like, like, none of their running backs are good at past protection.
55:49So maybe don't be condensed as much.And you talked to, Fran talked on the show yesterday about maybe you should go to more empty.Like maybe, yeah, maybe you should.Maybe you should go to more spread, spread run game and spread pass game.Like, do something different even if it's, even if it's temporary.And I understand it's hard because these coaches worked so hard on their thing and the thing that they believe in and that they have conviction in.And Nick talks all the time about how he hired Sean Mannion because he loved how convicted he was.Sometimes conviction isn't the way to go.
56:19Yeah.Like sometimes you don't want to be like, we're going to be an outside zone team.we're going to build,build everything around outside zone.Well, guess what?The cornerback can blitz outside zoneand you're going to lose one yardbecause Trent McDuffie is in the backfield already.
56:31Like, you don't want to go into a rock paper scissors tournamentbeing like, I'm a big rock guy.Like, it's like, like rock is the foundationof my rock paper scissors game.Like, you're going to lose if you do that.Like, you have to be unpredictable.You have to be willing to adjust in game.And that's not something that we've seen.
56:47I mean, like, the Rams were using this,like, they're kind of crossing their linebackersto stop the run where like,like the linebacker who would normally make the tacklewas just attacking the tackleand then the linebacker from the other sidewas making the stop.The Eagles never adjusted to that.
56:59Every time they ran that play,they were still trying to block it the same way.You don't see those in-game adjustmentsbecause they have a way that they're supposed to be doing things.You're also not getting the sequencing.I mean, they ran the ball on nine straight first downsin the second half.Like, I mean, like you have to change that up at some point.
57:15And Zach asked Mannion about that.And he said it was because of the weatherthat they were running the ball.I mean, you were throwing it on second down and third down.Like, what does that even mean?So, yeah, I think that they've had this like obsession with being on schedule.And I think a lot of their decisions have you've seen that.And I, that's probably my biggest concern is that I don't know how this team becomes a good early down team.
57:39Because of the fact that they don't have the run game to lean on.And I don't think that Jalen is a quick game quarterback.I think he's a great quarterback.I think you can do a lot of things.But I don't think quick game has been his strength.All right.Before we transition to defense, we're going to go to Bobby Coyote time.Any final thoughts on the offense before we transition to defense, guys?
58:04No, I'm done talking about this offense.I wanted to close it with being like, oh, like they could do this.I don't know.I don't know how they fix it, which is a scary thing.The projected starting lineup for this game is pretty like, yeah, what are we doing here?I mean, it's just crazy to think, again, we're at a point where, like, Jake Majors.Poor Jake Majors.He's become, like, the face of, like, the Eagles problems.
58:28He's just crushing Jake Majors on this show.Yeah, it's funny.I did, uh, training camp.I did the Anthony Gargano show this morning.Jamie was filling in.And he asked me about Jake Majors, and I was like, I'm not the guy to ask about Jake Major.He had a bad camp.He didn't look good in camp.
58:43I thought he looked a little better in the games than he did in camp.He did.That's also not saying that's not good.I saw the games.He didn't look good.So yeah.All right,we have a heart out
58:52in the studio.So we got to buzzthrough the defense stuff.What were some of the standout?Real quick thingabout the Jacksonville defense.I know they're really good.Yeah.
58:59They're good at thingsthat are like very unsustainable.Yeah.You know,the bend,but don't break thing all week.They're first in turnovers per drive.They're first in like,
59:07like they're getting 11 expected pointsof game from turnovers.Like the league average is four.That's a full touchdownthat they're getting just from turnovers,which we know isn't sustainable.They're second in red zone defense.They're second in goal to go defense.
59:19Like,so they've been really,good situationally, but they're 30th in yards per drive allowed. And they're 21st in seriousconversion rate allowed. They're 28th in dropback success rate allowed. So play to play, like,like, it's not like they've been successful on all these plays. Like, and, you know, we'll see.I mean, there's secondary is a weakness. Yeah. And there's a chance that you could, you could get themif you are able to attack that. But you have to protect first, obviously. Yeah. All right.So that's what we can switch variance on their side.
59:48All right, I wanted to talk about mistackles on defense.It seems like the numbers actually back up that this is a real concern this year.It's not just an early season aberration.Yeah, I mean, the Eagles are 31st in the league at mistackles per game.If you do it by percentage of plays, it's like they're still like 27th or something.They have faced a lot of plays, as Vic will tell you.It was 83 and not 77 plays last week, which is normally Vic says like,we can control when we get off the field.
01:00:18We can't control when we go on the field.Like he wasn't having any of that.Yeah, I mean, they were not controlling when they got on the field a lot.Yeah.I mean, I don't want to think about the worst here,but like, Vic has been emitting some vibes of like,I wish I had retired.Like the last couple of weeks.
01:00:34But yeah, they were ninth in this metric in 2024,18th last year, 31st this year in terms of how many tackles they're missing.And overall, I mean, right now, this is a below average defense.I mean, if you look at the history of how good the defense has been in the last six years,I think we have that, Lindsay.This is similar to the offense one we looked at before.Lindsay's been nails with the time today, guys.As always.
01:00:57I mean, we know this was a terrible defense in 2023, 18th percentile.But since Vick's been here, I mean, 91st percentile defense, even better than that if you start in like week five, you know,and then 84th percentile last year, right now this is a 41st percentile defense.And, you know, you could argue like, you know, they've played.they played like two good offenses the last two weeks but they also played likeWashington and Tennessee the first two weeks yeah so and they were only average againstthose teams so you can see Vic kind of grasping at straws doing different thingshe called 22 snaps of cover two in his first two and a half years here he called 15 on
01:01:35Sunday against the Rams just out of nowhere I think that's Jonathan Jones thing but I meanit was before that injury he started doing it as well I think part of it is that he doesn'ttrust the safeties to rotate properly.He wants to protect, like,the corners, like, to some degree,but, like, I think it was more that, like,the safety's role becomes much easier.Like, hey, why don't you just play this half field?
01:01:57Like, you just be the left safety and, and stay up there.After the Quignan injury,we saw more of the, like, cover eight,cover six type stuff where they're protecting Jonathan Jones.And then we saw what happened.I mean, the Rams eventually adjusted to it,and they started attacking the middle of the field.They started attacking Jahad Campbell.
01:02:15And I understand what Fran was saying yesterday that like they're attacking the they're attacking the scheme.They're not necessarily attacking Jihad Campbell.But the thing about that is if that's Zach Bond in Jihad Campbell's role, they're not going to build the offense on on attacking Zach Bonn.Right.So it is in part attacking Jihad Campbell.Like I like I don't fully agree that it's not based somewhat on the player.Like you're not just going to attack the will linebacker no matter who the will linebacker is.Yeah.
01:02:42And also like where's the line?because Zach Bonn is one of the best linebackers in football,like how many guys would Sean McVeigh say,even though this is a play we like,we can't run it against this guy?Well, I think that'd be France.But I think it's relevant because you have Zach Bonn,and you can play Trotter and Bonn.
01:02:57And then Trotter would be the micand Zach Bonn would be the will,kind of like the way Nekobi was.And then that would be Zach Bondthat you'd have to attack and you wouldn't be able to.Also, when Jihad Campbell gets beat by Tyler Higbeeand we're like, oh, you know,they're attacking the scheme.
01:03:12Like, isn't the whole point of Jihad Campbell?that he can cover Tyler Higby?Like it's one thing when you're,it's one thing when you're isoing Nakua against himand he runs a slant, okay, like no linebacker'sgoing to win that. But when it's Tyler Higby,like running an out and up,like I kind of want Jihad Campbell
01:03:27to be able to cover that.Like that's supposed to be the point of Jihad Campbell.Yeah, I think he needs to develop.I think to France point, like he's a developmental playerhe needs reps, but I think it was noteworthy that Vick said,yeah, Jeremiah Charter Jr. played well enough,maybe two are in a bigger role.I think that's something to keep an eye on.
01:03:42I mean, I also think it's,like devastating like that the best absolute best snap of past coverage by an inside linebackerin this whole game was the one snap where they let jelik sun do it like jelik sun played insidelinebacker on one play he replaced jihad campbell on that play and he first he like um he jammed nukuaso like nukua's route didn't work and then he was able to also make a play on the actual ballwhich was an underneath pass and then he had that celebration which was cool i mean if jelik's huntlooks better in past coverage as an inside linebacker when you give him one chance to do it.Yeah.
01:04:16And Jehad Campbell doesn't do that all season.It just makes me wonder if like there's something wrong with the way Jahad Campbell is eitheris physically.Like I know he's on the injury.Yeah, he's dealing with an injury.You can tell just walking him walk around the field, walk in the locker room.Like he's got something going on.And maybe that's what's making him slow on the field too because like it looks like he's
01:04:35thinking and reacting slowly.Like if he doesn't trust himself physically, that could explain it.Let's hope that that's what it is.And so Jordan Davis playing time.I think that's the last one we have to hit on here.I mean, just to put it in perspective,last year Jordan Davis played on 61% of the snaps.And we were sold a bill of goods that like he was paid for what he's going to become.
01:04:57Yeah.So far this season, he's played on 46% of the snaps.That's down from 61.It's closer to his 2024 number, which was 37.When you look at third and fourth down and six plus,last year he was on the fieldon 23 such plays during the seasonthat was 20%
01:05:15this year there have been 34 snapsof third and fourth and 6 plushow many of them do you think Jordan Davishas been on the field forout of those 34obvious pass-down situations this seasonBLG you got a guessI don't
01:05:30is it in the double digitsnooh mansevenkeep going downIs it zero?Yes.Oh, no.
01:05:43Zero of the 34 plays that were third or fourth down and six plus.Zero of those plays have involved Jordan Davis.Moro Jermot has been out there on all of those.The guy that you can't afford to pay now.Yeah, exactly.And then what about third and fourth and one yard to go?You'd think like surely, Jordan Davis is on the field every single time.How many have there been?
01:06:0417.There's been 17?Yep.Is this one in the double digits?barely11.I mean 11. Okay.So he's not even always on the field for those.
01:06:16So here's the thing.Like he's on the field for first and 10 to start the game.Then he'll be out there on second and six.It'll get the third and one and they'll take him off.So what you're telling is-They don't want him to play three plays in a row.Even if the third one is third and one.If it's like a neutral down, third and one might be a shot play,
01:06:30they still won't put him out there.Is that the type of scenario we're talking?They won't leave him out there for more than two plays in a row usually.Yeah.Like that's the thing.It's like you talk about his conditioning.And it's like even if like even if it's third and one,They'll be like, well, third down, let's throw Moro on there, even if it's third and one.
01:06:44And it's like, in this last game, that happened.It was first and 10, second and six.It got to third and one.They bring Morrow on.Morrow actually makes the play to get them off the field.And it's because Morrow Ojamo is like clearly a better player, which then brings us to the question of like, why did you pay Jordan Davis?I talked about like why I had no idea why they paid Jordan Davis that much.And everyone's like, oh, you're a Jordan Davis hater.
01:07:06Well, we're not seeing any of the things that they told us he was going to be.Vic said we're not giving him enough opportunities to rush the passer.Yeah, you've given him zero.You can't give him less, but we'll see.I mean, I guess that means they're going to do it.He is the eighth highest paid player among Interior defensive linemen.Man.He has played the 60th most snaps of any interior defender this year.
01:07:29It's 59 interior defenders who have played more snaps than Jordan Davis this season.Yeah, and this is right now that pass rush is in a place where that is glaring.it will be more glaring next yearwhen Morrow A Jomo is makingwhatever he's going to makesome ridiculous numberto play somewhere elsebecause right now at least you have a rotation
01:07:47that you feel good aboutrelativelythey should be playing bettergiven what you've investedbut yeah that's it's worryinghe played 29 snaps this last gameMorrow Jomo played 60like I understand the Rams
01:07:58played in 11 personnellike for most of the gamebut I mean guess whatlike that's going to happen sometimeslike you can't if all a team has to dois play 11 personnelto keep a guy completely off the fieldfield, maybe he wasn't worth paying that much.
01:08:11This is a tough segue into the overall take I had on the defense before we get out of here.I think that the case for the Eagles not going off the rails this season is that the defensebecomes what we expected them to be before the season.It hasn't happened yet, but I still think it is on the table for them.The pass rush has to improve for them to get there.Maybe Jalen Carter takes the club off in a couple of weeks and he looks more like himself.Jonathan Gernard can finally string together like some health.week so he can settle in.
01:08:40If you told me that this team went 9 and 8, 10 and 7 stuck into the playoffs and could makenoise, it's going to be because that defense, I think it's still like the conversationwe had about the offense, that feels like something that we can't, I mean, I don't wantto curse, but undo, I would say.The defense, I feel like you can undo a lot of these things over the course of the season.Is that at least fair to say?I agree with that.I have more hope for them than I do the offense.
01:09:06No, professor.Yeah.Absolutely.Yeah.The offense might be Fubar.Vic, like, I think, I think it's good that Vic is trying to find solutions.Like, he's doing things that are different than what he normally does.We talked about the, like, the stunt.
01:09:21Like, like, they're 37% stunt rate.It's crazy high for him.That's fourth in the league.He's usually, like, below league average in that.And he said on his press for on Tuesday, like, he said the past rush is inconsistent.And he said, we haven't been consistently good on one-on-ones.Yeah.And he said, you know, like sometimes we're beating running backs and tight ends.
01:09:42Sometimes our stunts cause pressure, but we got to have better, we got to get better in the one-on-ones.And he's probably referring to, like, there was a play where Jonathan Grenard, like, beat first the tight end and then the running back for the pressure.It's like, okay, that's nice.But like, can anybody beat like an offensive tackle?Like, you know, in a one-on-one.About they are just not as dominant on either side of the ball on the line of scrimmage as that we are used to seeing an Eagles team be.So, all right.Well, anything positive to say?
01:10:08And Jonathan Bernard is the only injury.Like, it's not like there's, it's not likea bunch of guys are going to...I guess that's right.I mean, let's hope that that's going to get better.Any super chats, Lindsay?Anything to make us feel better?From Temple Tough, can you make it bigger, Lindsay?
01:10:24I'm sorry.I don't have Bose eyesight.That's one thing I will.He mogs me on the eyesight.From Temple Tough, he says,over under 25 turkeys at Siriani and Liam Cohenand get into some kind of altercation on Sunday morning.Honestly, 35 turkeys, 40 turkeys.
01:10:40Just a combination of personalities?Do they have a history?I'm not aware.No, I just think that they both have that type of personality.I think, you know, they both are kind of, as the kids would say, they're both crash outs.I think on the sideline, they both could have a crash out moment and it could boil over.So, I mean, 35 turkeys are ridiculous amount of turkeys, maybe more like, like, I'll take the under on 25.If you don't put a...
01:11:02Yeah, I'm taking the under on 25, I guess.I'll take the under on that.What about the over under on 12 and a half?If I just don't see this as being like a big like...If equals to get boat race, Nick could still be feisty.Yeah, but he's more likely to get feisty with like one of his own players.Eagles win?Oh, that is.
01:11:21Eagles win.Are you taking the over on 25?Yeah, probably.Yeah, I'm taking the over.If you don't put a minimum game cap on it,Liam Cohen is one of two coaches in the NFLwith a better career win percentage than Nick.Yeah, I...
01:11:38Mike McDonald being the other one.I am probably overstating it at this pointbecause I've said it a few times.He reminds me of Nick Siriani in some ways.Now, even down to the fact that I feel like his scheme ischaracterized is kind of just taking the best thingsfrom other schemes.You know, it's like a little bit more nebulous.
01:11:55It's not as tied to somebody.But he's calling the plays.I mean, well, yeah.He doesn't totally remind me a Nick.Not 100%, but there's some similarities there's some similarities there.The Eagles are still the only team in the NFL who has not had a losing record at any pointsince the beginning of the 2022 season.And that is on that again.
01:12:14That again is on the line.As it was in week one, we'll see if they can survive it this time.And then something that no one's been talking about, schedule release video, Jalen Hertz,inexplicably said that the team should all wear berets when they go to London.Yeah, I mean, is this something that they're going to.to remember and like I have no idea why he associates slutted with berets but yeah there yeah the pregameshow I think they'll win if they do that if they all do that then they're going to win it's the vibes resetyeah and wait and what sorry sorry I'm I'm really bad at this like ending the show thing I just want to
01:12:47stay here I just want to stay here uh what do you guys think about Britain Covey petitioning the NFLI like it to have Britain shout out to Ryan Novosinsky for reporting them the inquire yeahokay so those of you who don't know he wants to be able to have Britainon the back of his jersey rather than Coveybecause the game is inLondon. Yeah, and he's like named Britainbecause his grandparents went on an LDSmission to Britain.
01:13:11I don't think he's going to be successful.I don't think the Eagles are going to let it happen.I mean, I like Britain a lot.I'm not trying to be negative, but yeah,what are we doing?If he's really into this,I'm fine with it.He will do what Chad Ocho Cinco did.
01:13:24And legally change his name.I mean, Chad Ocho Cinco had to go to courtand change his name to Ocho Cinco for the NFL.to let him have Ocho Cinco on the back of his jersey.If Britt and Covey is really committed to this,you can change your name temporarily.I know that's right.Let us know in the comments
01:13:41what you would change your name toif you played in one NFL game.If you made it this far in the video,let us know with that in the comments.Make sure to hit the like button.We're going to take off here.We will be back Sunday morning,bright and early for the pregame show
01:13:54at the post game show as well.We'll have it all covered.We got Bo.Hopefully his arms feel betterby the time he comes on.He'll be live from London.We'll have a cuss from London.A lot to get to over the weekend.
01:14:04But that's going to do it for us today.And as always, we love you.Man.
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