PHLY Philadelphia Eagles Podcast - Kenny Pickett set to start as Philadelphia Eagles aim to clinch NFC East vs. Cowboys

Episode Date: December 27, 2024

All signs point to Kenny Pickett getting the start for the Eagles on Sunday as they look to lock up the NFC East and continue hoping for help in the quest for the No. 1 seed. With no Jalen Hurts, the onus will be on Saquon Barkley, DeVonta Smith and A.J. Brown to carry the Eagles offense. And with no CeeDee Lamb for Dallas, Vic Fangio should be able to let Jalen Carter, Josh Sweat and Nolan Smith feast on a mediocre Cowboys offense.Deniz Selman joins the show to break down the latest playoff scenarios and what the offense can do better with Pickett at the helm before Zach Berman rolls in with the latest from the practice field. 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 P.H.O.I. Eagles podcast on a Friday afternoon, Bo Wolf, a professor, Dana is Selman in studio here as we await the arrival about halfway through the show of Zach Berman, who is checking out of practice at the Novacare Complex as we speak. A big game coming up for the Eagles as they look to clinch the NFC East against the Dallas Cowboys. A Cowboys team that we now know will be without C.D. Lamb should look easy, but, you know, Stranger things have happened, Professor. How you doing? Oh, yeah. Far stranger things have happened, and you always have to be prepared for stranger things when you follow the Eagles, I think.

How are the newspaper sales this morning? I was wondering, see, so here's the thing. Julia complimented me on the hat. And I knew this was coming. The paper boy thing was exactly the thing I was expecting to, so I'm a little disappointed that it wasn't something. but you know the newspaper industry is not doing so well yeah so you've had to get into podcast my routes gotten shorter and shorter extra extra we've got playoff scenarios here that's right for the audio listeners I'm wearing a hat that Bose clearly jealous of so I was thinking it's not

quite Oliver twist but I was that is where my my head went but yeah yeah I wanted to change it up a little yeah I think it looks good thank you but it's also worth remarking on I'm bald you know Well, I wouldn't know anything about that. All right. You want to hop to the playoff scenarios? Should enough foreplay? Let's get to what you're really here for? Sure.

Playoff scenarios. How about that? NFC West, strength of victory race. I don't know if anyone's following that. You've seen this? You heard about this? It's pretty good. Well, you haven't covered.

It's an interesting one, but it's, I wish it was a little closer. The Rams official website used my tweet to describe the situation. which I was very proper credit. Well, yeah, I mean, they just embedded my tweet in the thing and they wrote my name in the article. And it just made me think, I mean, you know, all these years that I've been doing this for Eagles playoffs and areas. And the team that I love, like, has never...

You think about changing your allegiances? No, but I'm saying, you know, it's not like a... No, you know, not going to say anything. The Eagles... I mean, certainly the Rams have never stolen your bicycle. That is true. That is true. Maybe they just haven't had enough opportunities. Yeah. The Eagles need either a win or a Washington loss to clinch at least the two seed. And that's not matchup specific over the last two weeks.

Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. At any point. So, you know, Washington doesn't play until Sunday night. And so when the Eagles take the field, like, you know, it'll be, everything will be still possible. And then in terms of staying alive for the one seed, Eagles need to win and have both Minnesota and Detroit lose. Minnesota plays at 425. Those two games got flipped in the schedule early this week, which I think is a good thing. I think it's better to take the field without that being dead. And just in terms of the juice of the game,

Vikings could very well lose to Green Bay at 425. And then the Eagles would then stay alive for the one seed until Monday night when Detroit plays at San Francisco. And then... That Minnesota Green Bay, I know you'll get to it, but a huge game for the Eagles, not just because they want Green Bay to win to knock Minnesota off into the possibility of the 1C, but also if Green Bay loses, it sets up a likelihood that Green Bay could be the team coming here. Yeah, so people have asked, like, so right now Washington is one game behind Green Bay.

And no matter how that ends up, if it ends up tied, Washington does have the tiebreaker. Right. And so all Washington needs to do is gain a game on Green Bay, and they'd then move up to the six. This is, of course, assuming the Eagles win the division and are the two seed. So if Washington does beat Atlanta, Washington plays Dallas next week,

they would have control over the six seed and then that could lead to Green Bay coming here, which I know is like the big concern that a lot of people have. You have to beat everybody to get to the Super Bowl. I don't know if it's that big a deal like who you're playing in the wild card round, but yeah, that is a thing.

Now, what the Eagles would need the last, weak to get the one seed is a little bit simpler. Just need to win and have Minnesota beat Detroit. So you don't need two things. You only need one thing. Right. And people have asked like, what about the strength of victory thing? Not a factor anymore because if the Vikings lose to the Packers, the Eagles would have the common opponent's tiebreaker over the Vikings. So the earlier strength of victory stuff we were doing with the Vikings is now out the window. Like that's not, it's not going to come down to strength of victory. It's either going to be the Eagles have the tie breaker because the Vikings lost to Green Bay or it's just not going to be a tie and the Eagles aren't going to get it. So those are the two things. And then there's

one scenario in which we would know at the end of this week that the Eagles are playing the commanders for sure. So not only that the Eagles are locked into the two, but Washington would be locked into the seven. For that to happen, Tampa Bay would have to lose, Green Bay would have to win and Washington would have to lose. And then either Detroit winning or the Eagles losing would have to knock the Eagles out of contention for the one seat as well. So if those, you know, I guess it's which is not crazy. It's not completely crazy, but that is the scenario

in which the Eagles would know. More importantly for the Eagles is, do you know if you're playing for anything in that last week, right? So I think there are probably some fans, and actually I'm curious what you think about this, who would rather the one seed just be over with so that the team can at least rest.

Now, I'm definitely not of that school because if the one seed's still possible, it's not like a crazy long shot. No, that's just it's just the lions losing to the Vikings. I could see thinking that in the macro, but in this specific scenario, if you get there, it's really not that far fetched.

That is worth playing for. Right. And so I guess the thing is like at the end of the day, like they would put that Lions Vikings game on Sunday night football for sure the last week. So the Eagles would have to play for real against the Giants in that situation. And so I guess the scenario that people have in their minds

that they don't like is the Eagles play really, hard, no one gets any rest, and you don't get the one seat anyway, right, because the lines end up winning that game. And in hindsight, that would be worse than if you just don't have a chance and you go into the week thinking of it almost like as a by week, especially because there won't be another by week in that scenario. Yeah, I think in this specific scenario, if you, if you, I mean, the longest shot of those five or four results is the lines losing on Monday night to right. And that's before and that's before next one. And that's before. And that's before. And that's before you even get the planning going, right?

That's true. If that game were the last week, that would be annoying because then you're like playing with the hope that they lose to San Francisco. And that would be the one where you might convince yourself it's not really worth it. But if you get that, that's the real long shot. If you get that, then yeah, I mean, absolutely play for it.

And hope that Minnesota beats Detroit, which is, I mean, what's probably going to be like a four-point spread? Yeah, that's probably right. It's in Detroit, right? It's in Detroit. Yeah, but I mean, it's two teams with the same record. Yeah, yeah, for sure. gambling odds wise

63% chance right now that it's going to be Eagles commanders so that's that's higher than it was earlier in the week so like the the way the gambling odds are going is like people don't think Washington is going to catch Green Bay

do you think they think Atlanta's going to win this week or they think the I haven't looked at the line for that specific game but I think that line might be tighter than perceived yeah you can you can check that but and then it's 24 it's a four point

okay Washington spread okay so 24% that it'll be Green Bay. That's the second highest. And then it gets really low after that. It's 6%. It'll be Tampa Bay. 5% that it'll be the buy.

And then, of course, there's like the doomsday scenarios of falling down to the six or the seven are less than 1%. Okay. Anything else to go over? Playoff scenario wise? Yeah. It's so boring in the AFC. Like things are getting locked in. Like Denver and the chargers are likely to, like possibly going to clinch tomorrow.

We'll know the seven teams. The chiefs are locked into the one. The Texans are locked into the four. Denver loses both and Cincinnati wins both. They could and they play Cincinnati directly. So that's going to be like a game that has the most juice in the AFC race this week. But yeah, I mean, it's just compared to some of these past, like I'm always like preparing my mentally preparing for making my playoff scenarios start for week 18. And the AFC chart is likely to be the smallest.

As you look in the mirror coming out of the shower you're preparing for it, what goes into that? Just in my head, I'm always thinking how many. rows is it going to have? How many columns is it going to have this year? And the AFC chart, which in some past years has been like, you know, taken me hours to make sure it was all correct, could really be like a tiny little thing where it's just a matter of who gets the five and who gets the six or something like that. And for your lovely wife, is this a known thing that week 18 you're going to be, your head is going to be entirely elsewhere? It's funny. Emily is the kind of person who maybe for her own mental health forgets these things.

happen every year. Every year she seems surprised. Yeah, like the... That you turn into the... That there's playoffs in January, you know what I mean? Like, I think it's better for her mental health and better for our marriage. This monster visits the household once a year. Yeah, exactly. She jokes about how her mom forgets her dad's jokes, and it's like really good for

their marriage because he can tell the same jokes and she laughs every time. And this is kind of the same thing. She's, like, disappointed every year that there's playoffs in January, and I want to watch all the playoff games and do the playoff scenarios and all that kind of stuff. But yeah, I think it's good. Okay. All right, let's talk about this Eagles offense under the expectation that it's going to be Kenny Pickett. Now, Nick Siriani did go as far today as to say during his press conference that it would be a stretch for Jalen Hertz to play in this game.

In Nick Siriani speak, that's about as much of a certainty as you will get. And so it certainly sounds like it will be Kenny Pickett. I know that you obviously crunched the tape on the Kenny Pickett performance against Washington. And I think you were left a little bit wanting from some of the play calling variety. Is that fair to say? This is something we've discussed in past weeks. So like when I talk about how the Eagles don't have like they don't seem to be concerned with calling the same exact pass play four or five times game. Without even just a little bit of sprinkling.

Like I think when I see it at least and I would need to you know like look at the film and like with Fran and ask him about certain elements of it I think usually the only little bit of differences on those plays comes from the way the defense is aligned like like to me it seems like the play calls the same every time So in this last game that play where Devante Smith caught the short out just before the 56th aired field goal yeah they ran that play that was the first time they were in it they ran it three more times in the second half and all of them were on late downs. And I looked, and they called that play four times in a stretch of nine late down dropbacks. Okay. Now, to me, that's a little bit too often. And you see Percy Butler and Bobby Wagner, like, pointing out exactly where their outs are

going to go and they pass it off perfectly. And you know the ball's not going to Jahan Dotson anyway. Jim McKimski pointed that out on that one play. And I think this is this the one when they finally do the change up on the fourth down, Devante drop, where it looks like Devonte is going that way and then he pivots back inside? No, that's different. That one was different. And so I think, I think when you look at,

the one Fran pointed out, you mean, right? Like, that was a different. The one that changed off of was a different play. So yeah, they do, they do wrinkle sometimes. I mean, I would hope you're going to do some wrinkles something. But we talk about like, you know, I posted this on Twitter and people were like, come on, it was the backup quarterback. But we saw against.

It's my fault. This whole show. For everybody, pretend that this is the first. second of the show, we're just re-beginning, Danes. I want you to know that today we're presented by the good folks at Bet365. Download the Bet365 app.

Use code P-H-L-Y-365 when you sign up. It's never ordinary at Bet-365. For a moment, I thought like none of that had recorded. And we were just going to talk about playoff scenarios again, which I'm happy to do. We're a peeky bloinda. We talked about against the Steelers. They ran that same exact drive concept out of

empty five times. Yeah. Right. So this is not a Kenny Pickett thing. Like this is just when they have a play, they seem to like it. And what's weird to me is it's not the same play every week. Like it's not like they only have three plays and they keep calling the same three plays. Right.

Every week they surprise us with a new play. But then they use that play in that game like four or five times. All the thinking about like, like we don't want to be easy to scout. We don't want to be predictable. It's one thing to change it up week to week. but like what's more predictable than running the same play you've been running against that team

you just ran it like five minutes ago you know like so that I've been a little bit surprised by a little bit disappointed by like I can sort of understand that in a because it's not the same staple play week to week but it does feel like by like

the third time should be enough like you spend like this is a play that's going to work again if we know their rules in specific situations this is a play that we know is going to beat those rules but yeah, I mean, you show it enough in game. If you're converting and getting success, like, who cares how you're doing it? Yeah.

The problem is, like, I'm pointing at situations where you can see by the end of the game, and the same thing happened with the Steelers. Yeah. By the end of the game, they're pointing it out to each other. You can see pre-snap. They're all like, oh, they're doing this again, and then they do do that again. Mm-hmm. You compare that to some other teams who do, like, have more wrinkles and, like, you're not,

you know, you're not able to predict what they do and things like that. There was a play in this last game where Niko B.D. is signaling screen, screen, screen. And then it's not a screen. And afterwards, he ends up being like, that was my fault. Like, I was wrong. You know what I mean? Like, and with players, like teams playing against the Eagles,

it seems like they're always right, like about what the play is. Now, when it's Kenny Pickett, I think that's even more important to not be so predictable. Because when you look at the way the Eagles succeed with Jalen Hertz, a lot of times it's out of structure. He's making, he's making like an awesome play on a scramble. Like that last play, the fourth time they were in that play was the Kenny Pickett scramble where he got hit late and then they picked up the flag. If that's Jalen Hertz, maybe he scrambles for a first down, right?

Like because the play broke down. It was all covered perfectly and then he had to scramble. When it's Kenny Pickett, you're not going to get explosive plays off of him scrambling. And so it's more important that the actual pass play wins. And when you look at the first Dallas game, the Eagles pass game was not very good. They were very past heavy, but not very good in the past game. And most of the positive plays came from out of structure. But when you look at that game, there were like five sacks and two turnovers and like all in the past game.

And the big plays were like scramble drill and things like that. So, like, you're not going to get that with Kenny Pickett. You know what I mean? Like, so you're going to need to produce within structure. And for that, you might at some point, like, and when a team shuts down the run and the playoffs, like, what are you going to do then? So I've been a little concerned. I've been, as you know, I've been a little bit of a Kellynne Moore skeptic the whole year. I don't know if it's because he's just not allowed to do everything he wants to do.

But I don't think that we've gotten the creativity. I think it's safe to say we haven't gotten the creativity from Kellynne Moore that we were hoping for. Would you say that's? Yes, I think that's right. But I am less willing to put that all on Kellynmore. Right. Well, I added the caveat. It might be that he's not allowed to do everything he wants to do.

Because of his past stops and his more creative offenses elsewhere, there is reason to think it's not because of him. Who would you put it on? I think Nick takes it. I think Nick is still very involved in the offense. Okay. I'm not saying that he's saying to Kellynne Moore be more predictable. But I think there are a lot of reasons to think that he's still very involved there.

Okay. Interesting. Kind of on this topic. Milata was on the radio earlier this week and he said on the Louvo interception where there was like the flat route and he baited it and he came back. He said that was one of a bunch of plays where they had six on the line of scrimmage to stop the run. And then the two on the edges. It was usually Louvoo and one of the other stand-up linebackers like at the last second bailing out into zone.

and he said that they hadn't seen that on film and it kind of messed up their run game as well and this is like I don't know how many times we've heard this now where like oh they did something we weren't ready for and like it messed us up meanwhile they're ready for everything you're doing you know what I mean like so so I just think like

tactically like on the chalkboard the Eagles have not been winning as much as they've been losing to the other coaching staff and this should be clear from the fact that the Eagles are like almost always the more talented team and you're not getting like the kind of Listen, I think this is, I think, obviously this is a very good team, 12 and 3. No, but I think that that's a real concern when you think about the playoffs.

And when you're playing the best teams, there are a lot of times when the Eagles are not winning on the margins beyond the talent that you're talking about. Yeah. Whether that is, whether that is like specific game management stuff or schematic stuff like that. Like, I think there was reason to believe that like when they play the best. teams and you need to, like all those little things are going to add up, it's hard to believe that they're going to win those little edges. Yeah, I am concerned with that. And like, look at this game as an example. Washington hadn't used any base personnel at all in the first game.

In this game, they come out to use a bunch of base, even against 11. They had a base package that had three corners and one safety, which is creative. Yeah. You don't normally see that. One high safety. Three corners to cover the wide receivers. Mm-hmm. But then willing to cover Grant, Calgary.

Katara with a linebacker, basically, which is not something most defenses do these days, so that they have the numbers to stop the run. And they obviously did stop the run. I mean, they bottled up the run very well throughout the game. I mean, there was like one big run in the first half. And he was never threw the ball to Grand Calcutera. Exactly. Zero targets for Calcutera. Zero targets for Jahan Dotson.

John Dotson was out there for 47 snaps and didn't get a target. And then Calcatera never got a target either, never got a play that was designed for him. You never got one of those like three-level stretches that looked like it was designed for him and it was a checkdown. I'm like, you didn't get any of that. No, no under center play action. When you're asking about, like, what advantage is the coaching giving you? Like, I know that I, of course, I want the ball to mostly go to AJ Brown and Giovante Smith. Right.

Of course. But, like, you can't scheme up one unpredictable thing for these other guys who are on the field, as you're saying, like 80% of the time. Like, just to make the defense respect it. No, that's right. And, I mean, you saw the Eagles offense just continually. I mean, like, you know, I'm a big serious conversion rate guy. Like, the worst serious. conversion rate game the Eagles have had we got to work on the branding we got to work on the

that's a that's a good offseason project yeah got to get the whole analytics community together yeah come up with a better name for that so serious conversion rate the worst the Eagles have had all year was that we can hire the 33rd team or something like that get one of those joe banner you think he's a big one of the creative guy uh yeah you know if if it's working for head coaching searches that organizations can't figure it out themselves then maybe they can help us with the marketing Yeah, series can... It's too long, right? That's the main problem.

Yeah, and it's not... Not clear what it is. It's not clear what it is. Yeah. I remember... First down rate. Mm-hmm. It kind of reminds me...

Chain rate. You remember Rod Smart had the... He hate me. He hate me on his jersey? And do you remember what Merrill said about that? No. When Rod Smart was on the Eagles later, he was talking about the he hate me,

how it said he hate me on the back of the jersey. And Merrill goes... goes, he goes, not only is it grammatically incorrect, but the sentiment is unclear. That was fantastic. One of the great Merrill quotes. So it's kind of like that is like, not only is it like too long and like hard to say, but it's not clear what it means. So serious conversion rate is the percentage of times that you end up converting a first down when you have first down.

So it's like, do you get it on first down, second down, third down, fourth, that doesn't matter. the worst game the Eagles have had all year was in Tampa 68%. And Kenny Pickett, after he came in this game, it was only at 61%. So it was by far the worst the offense had been at just moving the ball consistently. Just 14 to 23, 61%.

Jalen was 6 for 6 before that. So the overall game number was a little better. And the reason is because the passing game wasn't interesting and working very well and the running game was a disaster and they kept on running it on early downs, getting into those third downs and then calling the same play on every third down.

You know, like that combination wasn't good. And obviously it's not going to be Kenny Pickett in the playoffs. But I think it's a reminder that the offense could use a little bit more the schematic advantage. The one thing Kenny Pickett did that was good, threw the ball deep and drew a pass interference flags. Three of them. How many the Jalen Hertz have coming into this game? For the whole season, Jalen Hertz had drawn one flag that was accepted. There was one other one that got, it was like offsetting penalties or something, both in the Rams game. And that's because the Eagles, throw it deep less than any other team in the league.

2.6 deep passes a game is dead last in the NFL and Hertz's deep pass percentage is like 25th or something like that. Both of those are much lower than they've been in past years, by the way. Do you know the only team in the league that has drawn fewer defensive pass

interference penalties than the Eagles? Fewer than four? Fewer than four. There's only one. Is it the Lions? It is the Lions. Yeah, and they are the second lowest deep pass percentage number. Yeah. So maybe it's overrated. Maybe the best teams are just going to be there. We don't want your guards. We'll get them

ourselves. Yeah. I don't know. I think when you have AJ Brown and, you know, the lines have good receivers as well. I mean, when you, when you have AJ Brown and Devante Smith, you should probably be throwing a deeper a little bit, a little bit more often. And one of the things it does when you rely on the run so much is it, as you are flipping a coin on late downs more.

Eagles are only 13th at not needing third down and other stat that I like a lot. Jumps up to sixth because they've been decent on late downs. The teams that fit that profile this year in the league are. the chiefs who look like they've been doing it with smoke and mirrors all year, and the commanders who have been really good on late downs. Yeah. You know, so those are good teams, but... All right, well, we have good news.

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All right, he's here. I think he feels a little uncomfortable. He doesn't like to be this close to me. Zach, how you doing? Good to see you. I'm great. Throte to be here. Excited to be in studio.

Excited to talk about Eagles Cowboys. Huge game. You look like a well-arrested king. I don't know about that. I am better rested. I'm hopefully on the fourth quarter of a cold here. I hope it's not the first quarter. Yeah, my hope too, as you breathe in my direction.

You know, Bo wanted you to sit next to him, Zach. We talked about this before the show. I appreciate that. Where should we have Zach sit? But he didn't know that you were sick. He did know, actually. Yeah, he didn't know. I mean, sick.

You guys saw each other this morning. Yeah, six is a relative term. I'm fine. All right. I'm fine. Well, it's easy for you to say. I'm fine. But no, just got out of the hour.

You got like nine hours last night. I did. I did. Do you think that's your high for the year? It is actually. I looked on my aura ring. It is my high for the year. Just in time.

Wow. Yeah. Wow. On the wire. Yeah. Now. What was the previous high? Six and a half?

No. No, I had eight hours and 12 minutes during the summer one time. So this took the cake. It has on the app, it has a line chart. Yeah. Yeah. And so I was able to easily tell the last high. So this was yeah, I went to better old.

I did not watch any of the game last night. I did not write. You did not miss much. I did not write a story last night. I started transcribing and I just, I had a brain fog, you know, that feeling. And I was like, I'm probably better off going to sleep. And so I wrote this morning about Kenny Pickett. T-H-I-S-S-M-O-R-N-I-N-G.

This morning. I see what you did there. That's my son's favorite joke where he says, are you smart? and I say, well, don't ask Poe, but I think so, yes. And then he says, can you spell it? And then the answer, of course, is IT. He loves that joke. But, no, I was able to write this morning about Kenny Pickett,

who after speaking to him yesterday and speaking to the locker room yesterday, I felt like, all right, he's going to start. And then Nick Siriani essentially confirmed that today. So it's going to be an interesting game. I'll share what Kenny Pickett said. I'm sure that's what you've been talking about the first 30 minutes of the show. Not really, but go ahead. A big point of emphasis from Kenny and from others that I spoke to, whether it was A.J. Brown, Devante

Smith, Jordan Milata, Cam Jurgens, Sequin Barkley, was getting the reps this week and not going into the game cold. It is true that Kenny, as he said after the game, has never really taken reps with A.J. or Devante. He doesn't do it in practice, didn't do it in training camp. And so he kind of goes on the fly. Now, AJ sits next to Kenny during games. He has throughout the year. I asked AJ today why he does it. Since it just kind of worked out, that that's where he sits.

But he's able to kind of speak to the game or speak to Kenny about the game. So he has an idea of how Kenny thinks about the game. Do you think that in the Kenny's sitting there and be like, you know, I would have thrown that ball to you, by the way? You think that's the root of the H. That's why he sits there. is all sinister. Like, man, I can't believe you did get that ball, man. Yeah, maybe so.

He came in the game and threw to him like three straight time. Sure. The proof is in the pudding there. I mean, Kenny knows what's like, I'll get you that ball down field, man. It's kind of funny because there's a storyline this, this week. And I'm not, look, everyone has storylines they pursue. I'm not bashing anyone's storylines. But this.

As you're about to bash. No, no, no, no. This, like, storyline that, like, you know, they only throw to two guys and do you need to get the other guys involved? Yeah. And I'm like, no, throw it to AJ and Devonte. We were just talking about this. Yeah, like good things happen when you took this. I think throwing to two guys is fine.

I was saying, I think the storyline should be have more than like one play a week that you use over and over again to get it to the issue. I think it's not. It can be both things. Let's give three targets that are schemed up for other guys. And isn't the tight end supposed to be like the backup quarterback's best friend? Like you're supposed to have plays where you like throw it to the tight end. But they don't have a tight end. They do.

could have cockatara. Oh, wow. Wow. No, I meant they're missing their starting tight end. I guess that Korean Calcutera feature isn't happening. No, I meant they don't have it. They're down their starting tight end. It wouldn't surprise me if Calcutera is more involved this week, actually.

It can't be less involved. Precisely. But yeah, a big point of emphasis. It's one target. A big point, thus more involved, right? A big point of emphasis has been getting these reps and practice, being able to to speak to Cowan more about plays that Kenny likes, plays that Cowan likes, and being able to merge these two things together. Kenny and Devonte and AJ have had a lot of conversations

this week, not just on the field, but in the cafeteria, in the hallway, in the locker room. This has been, this was a big theme today. In the showers. That did not come up, but if you say so, I mean, your level of. important there. That's because you're doing masks. But yeah, so pay attention to the chemistry between

AJ, Devante, and Kenny. That's one thing to watch. The offensive lineman spoke about the command that he has in the in the huddle that he does speak up. Jordan Milata said that today that, you know, one of the adjustments they have with the backup quarterback

is the cadence, is the voice. But Kenny is, is, is, is, is, is, vocal. That's something that came up. He's not a wallflower in that regard. Speaking of speaking up, Alshan Jeffrey, honorary captain at this game. Yeah, I spoke to both to AJ and Devante about Alshan today. Oh. Yeah, AJ said like he's, he really, you know, looks up to the role that Alshan had in Philly. And he remembers watching that Super Bowl catch. He was a Patriots fan, AJ. I remember he recalls watching it there, but just like a big-time player.

He spoke to A.J. He spoke to Al-Shan in L.A. when Al-Shaun was at the game, and he told Al-Shaun like how much respect he has for him. Devante didn't know much about Al-Shawn before he got here, but he's seen Al-Shan on teach-tapes here. Interestingly, the play that was on a teach-tape was not Al-Shan with the Eagles. It was Al-Shan with the Bears, which I found kind of interesting. It was high-pointing a ball. But, yeah, he thinks highly of Al-Shawn as well. Yeah, I think people forget that like the first game that Jalen Hertz won as an eagle.

His only touchdown pass. So that game was to Alshan. Yes. Like when he and Alshan were kind of talking to each other after that Rams game, my first thought was like, this is like, like, hold on. And then it was like, oh, yeah, of course. They were teammates. And he actually threw him a touch to Alshan was injured a lot of that year.

So it's easy to forget that they played together. And also Jalen wasn't starting most of the year. Exactly. Yeah, the first touchdown, as you said. So, yes, that was the weird. It was like a weird play, but it was the first touchdown in a game that he won. It was kind of like a near pylon kind of turned going right to left. It was COVID game with no fans.

So, yeah. So that, yeah, that did come up there, but with the offensive line, the cadence is a big part of this. If you recall after the game, I mentioned Jordan Milata on that first down on the final three and out. Yes. there was a little miscommunication from the cadence. So that's a big point of emphasis. Cam Juergens was speaking yesterday and essentially saying like, yeah, I mean, he's like any backup quarterback. You know, they've confidence in him.

It's not going to be a big adjustment. Sequin was saying how, because I asked Sequin quite a bit about the effect on the running game. And Seekwon said Jalen's running ability is a big part of this. but Kenny don't underestimate his his legs. Sequin brought up the fake slide that Kenny Pickett had at Pittsburgh. Although Kenny said anyone in the world knows that on those RPO's like handing the ball to 26 is the way to go. But he does need to need to keep them honest. I think we're going to see on the first two series of this game there's going to be like a zone reader where Kenny Pickett keeps it just to prove to the defense and he can do it.

Exactly. So those were some of the points of conversation. I mean, I know publicly, even before today, you know, Nick was trying to play coy about this in the locker room. There's not much playing coy. God, my... I don't remember this. Mr. Sandman is in my head. Zach reminds me of Michael from the office.

As a big office fan, I'm insulted. Mr. Jesus. Wise. Got a good heart. Michael? Are you kidding me? You remember Scott's tots? I was I was appalled by that.

Yeah, he also said, wait till you watch the beginning of the show and hear what they were saying about my hat. He says racist things. He's like, God, I mean, funny character, but I resent that characterization. I don't know. I don't think it's that bad. All right. Wow. But no, but I'm trying to chase single playview says that I said it was the easiest touchdown catch ever on the post game pod, the A Sean Jeffrey.

catch, which I don't remember. He said it and it was true and it was funny. I don't remember it. But that sounds good. And Khalif also brings up that was the year that Alshan Jeffrey couldn't jump. I do remember that one play where he was just like

ugh. Always appreciate Alshan. I've told this story before but he once called me over and told me, don't let them F with you. And I don't know if he was trying to prepare me for my future in podcasting.

but I still need to heed your call. I'm sort of confused that as someone who loves the office, your characterization of Michael as like the devil here. I mean, he's... The whole, isn't the whole arc of the show? Is that this goofus is actually well-intentioned underneath it all? I mean, he's like the business school episode. He doesn't know a thing about, like, I mean, I resent that characterization.

To be compared to Michael, I don't appreciate that. No. I'm a little bewildered. You're bewildered? Yeah. You think that's a compliment. If someone says you remind me of Michael Scott, that's a compliment. Well, no, it's not that.

It's not that you resent the characterization. It's just that like to treat like one episode of Michael as if that's him instead of the arc of the entire show. K. Rod knows no one wants to be Michael Scott. Nobody wants to be Michael Scott. Yeah. So, no, as I said, I don't appreciate that characterization. All right. Anyway, what else did you want to talk about on the offense, Dennis?

Just to relate things a little bit to the Dallas game, the first Dallas game and what this Dallas game is likely to be like in blocking Parsons and all that. A couple of changes. I know Frank got into a lot of the Dallas stuff yesterday. A bunch of changes to the lineup. Both of the outside corners will be different than the first game. First game, it was the rookie.

What's his name? Kaelin Carson and Trayvon Diggs were both playing. Diggs had an interception and the game. game and then AJ B Carson a couple times it'll be Oroirier and or on bland this game so they're both different Dallas defense been playing a little bit better but you pointed out correctly that a lot of the numbers are just better because of turnover luck I mean it's really been just like the turnover let's me crazy overshone is also out he's on I for a while yeah yeah more like undershown like I was like I was overshone is such

a perfect name for a Dallas Cowboys player right like it's like the most overshone team in the NFL like in I he's guys name is literally overshone he's like Sunday night football in like a like a terrible game he's a really good player I don't know he's a he's a good player but the team is overshone it's on the right team is the point um Eagles you did more under center that game than any other of the year uh and like even had four under center play action passes Fran was talking about how that was the part of the year where they were experimenting with that a little bit Eagles are still dead last in the NFL in under center passes uh and then in terms of the way Parsons lines up and the way the Eagles handled it the first game remember he was coming back

from injury that game and he still had you know a couple sacks strip sack all that the eagles are fifth highest in the league at at like just leaving five people to protect right putting everybody else out in route so they only 23% of the time does the does a sixth person stay in to protect in that game it was almost 50% it was the highest it had been the entire year for the eagles and typically that is something you see when there's a blitzer and the running back is scanning for the blitzer and he stays in. That game it was by design like the running back was staying in and helping

against Micah Parsons. Like something we rarely almost always specifically for Parsons. Almost always yes. When it wasn't a blitzer when it wasn't because you were scanning for a blitzer it was like go over to the Parsons side either stand behind the tackle or chip or something like that and that's something that like watching the film it was very notable because

other teams do it all the time but the Eagles just don't right like it was a different thing and it kind of reminded me of the way they talked about the way they blocked Aaron Donald and like, you know, you're not going to let this guy beat you. Parsons still had some production in the game, but it's going to be a team effort to block him for sure. And the way he lines up, he'll mostly line up across from Milata on early downs with Goldston on the other side. And then on late pass downs, they'll typically kick Golston inside.

Carl Lawson will come in and rush against Milata. He only rushes from that side. And Parsons will either be inside as well or he'll be against Lane Johnson. So unlike the big money downs, like he'll be. against Eileen Johnson or what Zach would call the money downs. We all know. First down is actually the most important down. Third down was pretty important in the game they just played. I would add to that.

Third down is best when it doesn't happen at all. Sure. But it does happen. Yeah. Well, with this team it does, we were talking about that before. Like they haven't been good at avoiding first down, doing the talent. And then the run game in that game was like not explosive at all. They didn't really have any explosive runs. The longest run was a 13-yarder by Kenny Gainwell.

And then there was a lot of like, you know, garbage time. running at the end, but it was a very pass-heavy approach. And like we said, the Eagles didn't really win, like, in the past game, schematically. They won on, like, some broken plays and things like that. But the reason that game was a blowout was because of the other side of the ball, which we're going to get to. I mean, that performance by the Eagles defense is still the best performance of any game all year by any defense out of 460 performances by APA per drive.

So that's the reason it was a blowout. We'll get there in a second. Will this be, if Kenny Pickett hands off to Kenny Game, well, the first time an Eagles history in which a quarterback has handed off to a running back with the same name? I would have to look that up. My guess is no. But honestly, there's a lot of things I know about Eagles history. That is not one of them. I will defer that one to you. Worth looking into.

I don't know if that's worth looking into. Sounds like a story idea for you. Well, he did it in the last game. So wouldn't that be the first time? Well, yeah, I guess so. Was that the first time? Right. same name if I can get if I can give a little tease for after the break I did catch up with CJ Garner Johnson 101 today so well when we talk about the defense I'll mix that one in but it was a colorful conversation yeah it was more diplomat I mean I think he was being

diplomatic as he was doing that thing where he was like it was like he was like he was over emphasizing how rehearsed this answer was but it was it was good catching up with him And I explained to him, I said, CJ, I don't want to write about you or talk about you, I should say, I should have said, without coming to you first, without giving you a chance to explain yourself first. And see, he understood. All right. Good tease. Let's hear about it right after this.

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as well. In that game, the Eagles won, but it was a bad season for the Eagles. It was the final game of a forgettable Eagle season. And a lot of people might forget that season. But you know what those people who are watching that game won't forget. That's being around their friends enjoying the great taste of a nice cold, Miller light. Because a lot has changed over the years. One thing that has not is the great taste of Miller Light. Another thing that that has not changed is that it's less filling. So what is the best thing about the original Light Bureau? Miller Light sparked this to be in 1975, and we still have not settled it.

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slash p.h-l-y-birds, or you can find it pretty much anywhere that sells beer. Celebrate responsibly. Miller Brewing Company Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 96 calories per 12 ounces, fewer cows and carbs than premium regular beer. All right. So you saddle over to CJ Gardner Johnson. You say, what the F did you say to those risks? No. And what did he say?

So I went over to CJ And he made like a reference to how He's sick of like answering the same questions from different people And then he's like I scared you And I was like yeah, I didn't scare me I was just I just was coming up to talk to you But no he was very gracious with his time I appreciated that

I asked him if he thinks the rest are targeting him He says the rest are not targeting him The rest are doing their job He has to play by the rules in summary that's that's what he said and it seemed like he was saying that with an affect of this is what i've been told to say yes exactly you know like if you're um if if you're telling if you're asking your son to repeat like rules that you said you know like um no whining crying you're complaining you know they'll say it with the fact right um that's that's

that your role in your house among yeah that's that's rule number one with with my kids no whining crying or complaining yeah okay Yeah, that's part of being appreciative. We don't need to get into all that. I'm not going to nitpick your parenting. I actually think you would. Do you think I should allow crying or whining or complaining? No, I don't think it is my place to talk about anyone else's parenting.

Fair enough. Okay. So then I said, but isn't part of your swagger, like I'm part of what makes you, you, your swagger. And he said yes, but he says that this isn't swagger. He needs to listen to his coaches. He needs to not talk on the rules. I'm sorry, not talk, follow the rules. And I said part of being 12 and 3 is kind of the physicality, the toughness. He said swagger. I said, yeah, to use your word swagger. He said, yeah, but your identity is what you do every day. And they've shown what their identity is, and he thinks he can still be a good player, but follow the rules.

So that was kind of the messaging from him. Yeah, I think this... Oh, and then I should say, I asked what happened. And he said, you saw what happened. And I said, well, I didn't hear. Like, I can see there. There's an altercation, but I didn't hear. And he said, the rep was doing his job, that kind of thing.

It was all with Diami Brown, right? Because Diommy Brown, he was, Deaumby Brown was the one he got into it with earlier, and he like knocked off his helmet and then he got kicked out right after Diami Brown lost a fumble so I'm assuming that he just went over to Diami Brown and he's told him what he thought of the whole day or whatever his family I imagine he said very colorful yesterday yeah but I don't know if it's has has from the outside and everything's relative and this is just compared to how he was two years ago and before that has he seemed a little bit more mature this year C.J. Gardner

I don't have enough exposure to him to really say. That's fair. You know, I would like to speak to him more. I don't. Is it fair to say he has been less consistently vocal in the locker room? Yes, I think that's fair to say. Okay.

Yeah, that is fair to say. But I... I do think that like, when you sign CJ Gardner Johnson and you go out and get C.J. Garner Johnson, you do it knowing that you're going to get some penalties. Yeah, and they said that. Yeah. Like, like, didn't Howie say that.

And I think that... And I actually do think that what they're saying behind the scenes and what he said to you about like, listen, if you want a physical defense, you're going to, like, some of that's going to come with you across the line every now and then. I think that's true. And obviously, you would take the trade off.

Like, let's have a top three defense that occasionally gets penalized. Yeah, that's definitely, one of the things he's always broad is that he gets under the skin of the opponent and he has them flustered and possibly playing worse, but also drawing penalties on them. Sure. And under any kind of sane officiating, in that last game, that would have been offsetting penalties.

You're not allowed to knock off a guy's helmet. Like, that's a penalty. Like, it's a penalty if you do it during the play. It's a penalty if you do it, not during the play. It doesn't matter what you said to the guy. That's offsetting penalties. Like, the officiating in this game was horrendous. So, I mean, there's also that.

I mean, like, I don't think, like, in a normal game, he would have been kicked out of the game. Like, well, even if, even if that was upsetting, he still would have then. I know, but you also wouldn't have kicked him out for just saying something after that. Like, I don't think that's really either. Clearly, he said something that was worth the flag, I think.

And if... A second one, even though you know it kicks him out. Because it's so abnormal or atypical that a player is ejected for something they say. Right, but it's also a typical to... I think it has something to do with who he is. But the ref clearly, like, had a view of that interaction between him and Diami Brown, which was not normal. Like, normally, if a guy knocks off your helmet, like right in front of the ref, that's a penalty. Like, by any kind of definition, that's a penalty.

You're not allowed to do that. And he didn't call it. He pointed at C.J. Gardner Johnson as if he was like his dad or something, like, teaching him a lesson. Like he was like a complete activist referee. Like he was not enforcing the rules. Yeah, but my sense. Like, I mean, as a fan, that was annoying. Like, because that's, that's not, that's a penalty. By the way, there's another penalty in the NFL. It's called 12 men in formation. If you're in formation for three seconds or more, and I did indeed use a stop watch on the film. The Eagles were in formation for four seconds. That's a dead ball foul.

Like, I'm sorry, like the Eagles totally messed up that play where Slayer ran off and Zikaas was wide open. But that's a dead ball foul. That should be whistled as a dead ball foul before the play and the only reason it wasn't is because the refs were slow to count to 12 and they didn't realize it was a great point until Slay started running off that's reparable you can say after the play like we messed up like that should have been a dead ball foul they didn't want to do that like you know with everyone celebrating the touchdown but like the officiating in the game was was horrendous and like obviously the eagles did a lot to lose the game but like well i do think that listen if these two teams do play again obviously this is the the eagle the commanders did get under the eagle skin

this game. They got them off their game in some ways. Even the head coach after the game, right? And so if you're thinking about how is this talented team going to lose in the first round, that is a possibility. I just think, well, in the game against Washington, my guess is that the officials made clear to both teams that they were trying to clean things up and that the Eagles and CJ did not adhere to said warning.

That's my guess about what occurred. But if he's told you not today, he's talked to the coaches and he seems to have taken away the right lesson, that's fine. But to your point about it being- But to your point about it being bad officiating, it could be bad officiating in an NFC championship game. It could be bad officiating in a Super Bowl. So it's inexcusable to me to be ejected when you already have one on sportsman-like conduct. That's your warning. It's like, you know, yeah, that's your warning.

It's like playing with 4,000 basketball. You've got to know that you've got to be careful when someone's driving to the rim. I think it was kind of the perfect storm. Like if it's anyone other than Diami Brown who loses that fumble, it's probably not going to happen, right? It's like the perfect opportunity to like go to the guy who's been, you know, annoying you. He did it. He did it.

As to whether the Eagles like have this reputation league-wide, I was just looking at the penalty types. I mean, they have six unnecessary roughness penalties on the season, I guess two or three of them in this game. That's tied for seventh in the league. It's not outrageous. They have four roughing the quarterback penalties. That's tied for 50s.

if it's not outrageous. But those are the only, this is a team that is penalized 15th most in the league. Those are the only penalty types in which they are, they rank that highly. So it's a little bit of an outlier,

but it's a small little thing. And John Carter is first in the league in unnecessary roughness. Yeah, and that's fine. And you know what else though? The Eagles are... The call on him in this game was also outrageous. The Eagles are tied for 29th.

And this is one where if you really want to get what reputation stuff matters, we hear there's a holding call on every play. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Eagles are tied for 29th. They've only drawn 12 offensive holding penalties. And forget the penalty.

Forget the penalty types. The Eagles have drawn fewer penalties on the opponent all season of any team. So like just all flags, period. The Eagles have drawn something like 70 flags the whole year. And so if you're thinking about where with the reputation matter, that is potentially one. They also have not drawn a single roughly quarterback call all year long. Right. Okay.

It's a good stat. All right, Danis. On this defense, you talked about. the first performance against the Dallas Cowboys was the single best performance by EPA for drive of any defense in the game. It was crazy. It was five,

five actual three in punts. Then there was a three in field goal because they got the ball at the six yard line and kicked the field goal. So that's kind of six three and outs. And then you have five turnovers. Yep. There were only 13 drives.

I've already talked about 11 of them. And then there was one. A three in field goal is going to count as a three and out on the swooper thing, right? Three in field goal does not. Three and four and out does though. You guys were talking about that. When they kick a field goal, it doesn't count as a three and out by any efficient.

I think by the spirit of it, it should. By the spirit of it, Fran has that one, I would count that. Okay, you guys didn't talk about that. You guys talked about four and out. If you go for it on fourth down, that does count as a three and out. And don't get it. If you don't get it, if you don't get it, it counts. A field goal typically doesn't because a three and out implies there was no scoring.

Yeah, I would count that. Yeah, I think that's the spirit. Even if it's a field goal. They get the ball and they, yeah. They don't get a first down on three and then kick it. Yeah, I would count that. This was the question I had. Does a turnover on the opening three plays count as a three and out?

Well, we're already... That's why it had turnover to be a separate out. So you wouldn't count it double. Yeah, you wouldn't count it double. According to like the three and out official stats, it does not. It's not. Okay. Yeah, it probably should, but...

Yeah, true media has it as two separate stats. They have three in punt, and then they have like drives with no first down. It's like two separate. And true, I trust. Two separate things. Ha ha. You get a very self-satisfied smirk after that. Something I wanted to ask you about, Zach, Zach Bonn.

Yes. Yesterday in the locker room. I saw your tweet. On a video that he said he was going to have the green dot on Sunday. And when he was asked, he said, it's just in case we go more dime. And the Eagles have not played more than four snaps of single linebacker dime all season. They only played three against Dallas. time. It's very, like, hard to imagine that that's the real reason. Nikobi Dean, listed as

limited with an abdomen yesterday. What was Nikobi Dean's practice status today? So he was at practice today. We only got to watch warm-ups today. So we'll have a better idea in about an hour. But, yeah, you very well could be correct there that because of Nikobi's uncertain status, they prepared Bonn for it. Right. And I know when Warren Burke's came in the game last week, Zach Bond got the green dot for a brief time. And the way that he said, like, yeah, I'm going to have it this week. I don't think he was quite prepared for like the follow-up to that. Like, it's like, why?

You know, like, it's kind of weird. Like, why are you having this week? So just something to keep an eye on that Nikobe Dean might not play or at least might be in and out or something like that. I think he's going to play. But I think when you're probably putting stuff in early in the week and especially, you know, because they had a walk through Tuesday, they did not practice Wednesday. So Tuesday was a day when Nkobie was clearly recovering from something. And that was probably when they started really putting things into the game plan.

Okay. Hey, what did you think of Warren Berks on his few snaps? There were like a couple of plays where he was good for the first time, I thought, this year. Like where I actually noted like that was good from Warren Berks. I'd have to check my notes to like remember exactly what he did. But why do you ask? I just don't. Is he good enough?

He looked like, first of all, it really seemed like, don't want those guys on the field like given the way that Zach Bonn could have been this like van ginkle style player who lines up as an edge sometimes and you bring in we talked about that when bg got hurt right like are they going to use Zach Bonn more as a defensive end steal some defensive end snaps that way and put oren berks or jeremiah trotter out there and from the way fanjio talked about it and the way that like he hasn't used those guys it didn't seem like he wanted them out there Which also is worth bringing up because, as we talked about with Fran yesterday, the little nugget that Fangio sprinkled about the reason that they blitzed more in this game is because they were not getting enough from the four-man pass rush. Yes.

And you asked about... What do you make of that? Yeah, I thought it was a little bit more to do with the scrambling quarterback than it was with pure dropback passing, is my guess, is what he was referring to. because there were instances... Thanks for watching on TV! Check us out on AllPHLY.com as we finished the episode. Ooh, did you get that in end time?

I started it on time. Okay, got it. So they just heard, thanks! And then it just cut off. What happens at three? It just cuts off? Yeah, straight to porn. No, that's not true.

Is it straight? No, no, no, no, no. It's the other programming. It's two other PHY programming. Straight. Appreciate all our fast channel listeners that you did not see that. Or the fast channel viewers.

Is it straight back to porn? Is it like an hour? Is it like an hour of rude interruption for the viewers? We have wonderful programming. We have a number of terrific shows here that you can watch on our fast channels. Eagles fan porn. You know? So it's just footage of like, I don't even want to.

Stay far away from that one. It's like, just because I say it doesn't make it true. he undercut a since you asked me I had to like check like what Orrinberg's did that I thought was good he love your notes here in he got around on a run he got around the right tackle and it was a run

to the left he got around the the right tackle and was able to make like a backside like force it that like led to a two yard run best play is made all year he hasn't been on the field that much but it was a it was a positive play yeah so super chat from me

Chase Daniel Plainview, who says, more impressive feat for Andy Reid, getting the one seed or having the Missouri governor reduced, oh, Jesus Christ, reduce Britt Reed's sentence after he drunkenly hospitalized a five-year-old. You know what? Super chat.

There you go. Speaking about Orrin Berks, I'm sorry, speaking about Zach Bond. Probably the one seed. In Zach Bond's locker, he has a framed photo of the last Cowboys game. Okay.

And so I asked him, Is, are you looking at that this, this week? Is that bringing back good memories? And he said, he forgot that it was there. And then I said, oh, well, what comes to mind when you see that photo? Did he have it framed or did someone give it to him? Someone gave it to him. Okay, okay.

And because he played well in that game, I imagine he was probably a player of the game, a team player of the game that gave him a frame photo. And he looked at it and he said, force a lot of turnovers. So it's just something to keep in mind. I'll link that to something I was about to ask you anyway. One of the things Zach Bond did in that game, if I recall correctly, was he recovered a fumble. That was forced by Bryce Huff. Oh, great.

Which leads to my next question. Is there a chance we see Bryce Huff on Sunday? Good question. I was talking about that with a few people. Beatles have some interesting roster decisions ahead of them here. Yes. Got to cut a bunch of guys. Yeah.

So Bryce Huff technically has one more week that if they wanted to wait and play him next week. I think we could. Practice window-wise. Yes, practice window-wise. I think we could see Bryce Huff. My guess is that Bryce Huff takes the Chuck Harris spot on the roster. It's worth noting when you're thinking about different roster possibilities. Britton Covey did not practice today.

So he's been a full participant and he did not practice today. You wonder if that leads to an IR spot for Britain Cove. Did you think Nick's answer about Covey earlier this week was cryptic? It was cryptic because the way it was framed. He'd been listed full practice. Yeah. It won't. for the last two weeks.

Because he had been listed out. But full practice out, which I've never seen before. But the question was framed to him like he's been practicing, but he hasn't played, is this based on performance. But the thing is, he's been listed out in the injury report each week. But then he wouldn't just say that it was injury related that he was out. So that's why I thought the easy answer would be Nick saying, well, he's been injured. Like he's been out for each game.

And Nick kind of answered it based on almost like performance. Right. But he was asked if it was a depth thing and it can't be, right? Anaya Smith is the guy dressing over him. And Anah Smith doesn't do anything. It doesn't even go into the game. Exactly. Because like someone asked me today how would they have... Talk about a guy who would be good

if you could, you know, just get a stub toe. Yeah, someone asked me today how they could get Ian Book on like the 48, you know, are you really going to sit a healthy player? And I was like well, a nice... I was like, a nice... I was like, Ana Smith doesn't play. So it'd be the same thing.

So, roster decision-wise, they've got this price-hop thing. I think you You would imagine if he comes up, it's probably Chuck Harris. That's about it takes. And I would like Harris is getting stoned one-on-one by tight ends in the last game. I mean, you just bring nothing. Some of the quietest snows ever seen. I would like to see Bryce off this week.

Sure. Because if next week is a game that doesn't matter, I mean, yeah, I would still want to see him to get ready for the playoffs. But I would like to see him in a game that matters. I agree. So Bryce Hoff who. In the role that you expect to use him in, you know. And it's worth noting, too, that Vic Fangio said now, I wasn't there. You were there Tuesday.

Vic Fangio said that he had been playing scout team exclusively last week. And so my guess by him being a full participant in practice this week, that he's taking more of a workload. It's not just scout teamwork. They also have if they want a fullback, they would have to elevate or move to the active roster, Kari Blasling game. They can't have him.

They can't elevate him anymore. So that could be the coffee spot. But if they're already elevating TDP, they're not going to elevate. They're not going to like, they're not going to have. they'll probably just do without Blassing game, don't you think? No, they can't elevate him to the 53.

I know, but it's not worth it for these two games. You can elevate unlimited in the playoffs. So if you want Blassing game to be part of your playoff plans, like you don't need to put them on the 53 for these last two games.

Like you can just go without him for two games and then bring him back for the playoffs. You can elevate him an unlimited number of times in the playoffs. They change that rule. Yeah, that's the route I would do and I would just use Uzama or Calcutera in the fullback role.

Now I think probably if they need another spot, I would imagine Usama or E.J. Jenkins is where... Once Goddard is back. There's no reason to keep E.J. Jenkins, right? Yes. But what's the reason that keeps E.J. Uzama? Well, just because they've shown that when...

I don't know, they've shown that they prefer Yuzama to E.J. Jenkins. It's not like I think either one is worth having on the roster. They're... They've both been bad. But... Look, I don't understand why they cut Jack Stole when you had Nick Gates, you had Eli Ricks, Like, you get other guys that you easily could have cut and, you know, I know

it didn't get quite as much attention as some of the other cuts. It's a bad one. I agree with that. But, like, Jack Stoll was a guy that they trusted to have on the field and actually, like, blocked okay, as Fran was also saying this week. Like, he was the best of these guys. And we're watching runs just get blown up

because these guys are not, it's not that they're not physically dominant. It's that like, it's like, like, Fran pointed it out. It's like, you're clearly blocking Frankie Louvo on this place. instead he goes and messes up my lot as well. That's the thing is I can't like. If CJ's not, I can't get that right,

then what's the point? I, on the Blossengen game question, I did have a question for both of you. I don't want to deviate from the defense. Did you have more? Well, good.

No, yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay, yeah. Well, so Blosseng game, he had one snap last week, right? I've heard this idea that, well, without Jowen, maybe you'll want to play more fullback.

My question to you is, do you think the running game looks different this week with Kenny Pickett in there or than what we saw with Pickett in there last week? Or is it functionally the same running game or is it going to be all of the sudden, you know,

having a two backs in there, having a loss game as a lead blocker, maybe more of a traditional run game? I'm curious about this and I think it would be a mistake for it to be the same staple running plays that they've been running with Gillen Hertz. Now I'm sure that they

are thinking through what are the ways and we can solve for those same plays without having a running threat. But yeah, as we talked about with Fran, like I'd like to see some six offensive linemen sets because they're not getting what they would like from the blocking tight ends. But I don't think they're going to all of a sudden

turn this into an under center eye formation running game. I just, I think I would like to see a few different wrinkles. Well, it's weird because when Ben Van Van Sumeran was playing, they would have a package of plays where he would come in and they'd run like five or six plays, basically out of eye formation or eye over or whatever. They did against Dallas in the first game in the second half. There was a whole sequence of Ben Van Sumerun package plays.

It was weird to me that last week, and I don't think this had to do with Kenny Pickett, because the game started this way. The Eagles didn't run a single snap from under center the whole game, including when they ran duo, which they've been running from under center the whole season, and they ran duo from Pistol. It was the first time all year that they, as far as I remember, that they run duo from Pistol. They ran it four or five times.

So it was an active, like something about Washington that made them. Now they ran under center stuff against Washington the first time. So I don't know what it was, but it was a very, like the difference between the way they played Dallas the first time, which was the highest under center game of the year, including in the run game, with the Van Sumer and stuff included. And then last week when they just, for whatever reason,

just didn't go under center at all, it was hard to disentangle like what they were thinking about Washington with the Kenny Pickett thing. I don't think the Kenny Pickett thing changed it because they ran duo with Jalen Hertz in the game, and they ran that from Pistol as well. So it's hard to, it's hard to say, like going into the playoffs,

like how much of a focus there will be, it'll probably be opponent dependent, is my guess, right? I would think so. And that opponent very well might be Washington. So there'll be interesting. That's true, yeah. And also you haven't,

you haven't like seen Blasling game nearly as much as we saw of Van Sumeran, so they don't seem to maybe trust him quite as much as they did Van Sumeran in that role. Like they seem to really like the Van Sumerun package. Like, yeah, I don't know. All right, what else you got in the defense? Defense, what?

What else do I have? We're talking about like the safeties earlier with CJGJ. Frank got into some of this as well. There were some issues with communication with passing guys off. CJGJ was at fault on one of them. Tristan McCollum was at fault on another like on two of the touchdowns. Is there a Mr. Communication? I was trying to think about what the typical, oh yeah, okay. There's like a, forget it. There's a clever answer to that joke but I can't remember what it is. So I got a really tough.

It's like, which makes it even like worse to. got a really thoughtful email. It's like a poor paragraph email. I need to respond to it from a dedicated listener who had, who was giving me advice for doing with Bose jokes. You can take the shield approach and just ignore it. Yeah, no. He did that for years. Yeah. It was actually an approach that would require a lot of time and I imagine money. And I'm like, money. What? He told me to, it was a really nice viewer and I will respond to his email personally. He suggests that I sign up for improv classes and work on the yes and technique. And he was somebody like the advanced level improv classes.

And so, and so I googled yes and this. You've never heard of this before? No, I knew it, but I was like, can I learn more about the technique without physically going to an improv class? It's so funny that the only thing that's holding you back from actually following through on this advice is the money. No, not the money. It's the time.

It's the time. It's more of the money. He's going to have a whole other book to write this off season. Yeah, but you don't shy away from new time commitments, from overloading your time commitments. I'm so, like, I am so behind on so many things right now that I can't go to an improv class right now to work to improve the podcast during the off season. I could, but I couldn't do it.

I honestly think the shield approach of ignoring is the time-tested. The best way to do it. It still works for the audience. but it doesn't it won't stay in your head as long yeah is my guy on the I see I see France saying he really is Michael Scott goodness I should never have uh mentioned yeah yeah yeah will you see Barbie now that the Eagles have a starting quarterback name Ken that's I have nothing against Barbie number one yeah but now's your opportunity number two I actually saw another night home with no family well I won't watch

it tonight but I actually saw that it's it's on Netflix now and so yeah my daughter wants to watch with me. I would love to watch. You keep putting it in that box. It doesn't have to be just if your daughter wants to watch it with you. No, but I don't sit and watch a lot of movies as it is. And so I would love to watch a movie with my daughter. And so she,

one of her holiday presents was a Barbie t-shirt. And so we could watch it together. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. You clearly want to share something. No, no, no, no. No, there's You could have gotten matching, matching.

No, so you know, this is that I saw this meme on social media of, it was Bill Belchick when that guy was signing on signing day, and Bill Belichick standing there in the corner. And the meme was like every dad on Christmas morning when their kids are opening up the gifts that they're, that, you know, that that the mother bought for them. And that, that meme was, was me when Sloan was opening up the Barbie shirt. And I was like, that is a really nice. t-shirt. Yeah. So that,

let's think of that. I didn't realize that we got a reparture. It's a team effort. Parenting. Yes. You can't major in every part of parenting. I think that's okay. Okay.

No, I mean, yeah. I think we were talking about something else. Oh, the safeties. I thought after Tristan McCollum came in the game, I thought Reed Blankenship started playing very differently. That's like one thing I noticed is that there were several calls. I haven't talked to Fran about this, but like I noticed like there were several.

calls of cover three buzz, which involves Reed Blankenship coming down and covering the middle of the field. And the reason you can tell it's cover three buzzes is because that part of the field is left wide open by the other three underneath the fenders. They're expecting him to come down. And after McCollum came in the game, I thought there were at least three times where Reed was clearly supposed to buzz down and he just kind of didn't. I wasn't sure if he like didn't trust McCollum with like the deep route on that side or whatever. Like Zach Hertz caught a wide open pass on one of them. There were a couple of other ones that weren't thrown. But like CJ DJ Jay's had a few issues, but like for the most part, those two guys have been working together really well.

Like it's looked beautiful. Like it looks choreographed. It looks like everyone knows what they're supposed to do. And with McCollum in the game, it just wasn't the same. So I thought that had a lot to do with with some of the late game stuff. And I also thought it was interesting. I was listening to Sean Syed earlier this week. He thought it was like a- He thought it was like a sign that teams in the playoffs can take away from this game that the Eagles can be attacked on the outside. which is interesting. I thought that was like a little bit, little bit like worth discussing

because we've just taken for granted that no one's going to throw it, Coenhan Mitchell. Because no one's going to throw it like, yeah. And like, and we saw on the McLauran touchdown, also on the on the deep one to Diombe Brown earlier against Slay, like that the corners can get beat deep

and the teams might try it and that it's just something to keep an eye on because the structure that the Eagles play with, the corners are left like on islands a lot. And I know it's on your radar as well that those guys never travel. Never. Zero. Zero times all year that the corners have played, first of all, on opposite sides. Like, Slay has zero snaps of right corner back this season, and Quigion has zero snaps of the left corner. And they never travel with motion. They never travel with a receiver. Like, they never, they just never, like, leave their side of the field.

And one of the things it does is it exposes the Eagles to certain kinds of plays. Like, so if you motion the receiver to one side and you've got all three wide receivers on that side with like, and you think, throw a quick bubble screen to the guy who motioned. You win the numbers are there. The numbers aren't there and like the safety on that side has to come all the way down and make a play. So Washington ran a bubble screen like that in this game and they got like 12 yards just from alignment basically, right? Like unless somebody beats their block, that's going to be a big gain.

So that's just the Fangio thing. Like actually that would be a good question for Fangio, I think, like to ask him about that, about his philosophy about that. In his past, he has had corners who travel. So like it's interesting. But I don't think he's ever had corners. chase motion. You know what I mean? Like I don't think he has at least. So that would be an interesting philosophical question. Like why why you don't do that? The Eagles were very bad

against the flats in the first game against Washington. That was a massive improvement in this game. Like they were tackling the guy who caught the ball in the flat like they weren't leaving that. But I almost think like that might have been an emphasis and then they got you know they got beat deep instead this time. But I don't know. Those are high variance plays when they throw deep and for the most part this year the Eagles have been very good at causing incompletions on those deep thrills. Like the playoff of Freud. expression, you know, sometimes a loss is just a loss, right? There's no deeper meaning to it.

I think you look at this game against Washington, and I don't think it exposed the Eagles for the postseason in any way. I just think they lost a game with their backup quarterback with a defense that led up a few plays, but I don't think the rest of the league or Washington unlocked something against the Eagles. I just think it was a fact that it was Washington is more concerned. than if it were some random team. Just because there's like a 60 plus percent chance

that's going to be Washington in the first round. You know what I mean? So I think that for me at least, like I spent a little bit more. I mean, I spent a lot of time on the film every week, but I spent a little bit more time this week, like making sure I noted everything. Yes. Because like this is also like playoff prep right now.

You know what I mean? Like it's very likely to be. And I'm sure the coaches think of it the same way. It's like they got us with this. We might have to play them in three weeks. You know what I mean? Absolutely. So some of the stuff my lota was talking about like the things they were doing

with the fronts or whatever. like they have to clean that up like because they're not gonna you know I guess Goddard's gonna be back but like there are certain things that they're not just gonna be able to rely on getting guys so what specifically would have you most concerned in a rematch well I think this staff has shown that they're gonna commit to the run game like even if it's not working on early downs and so my concern is like what if we enter a playoff game and the run game's not working because McKaye Bechtin ran the wrong play or like whatever and it happens consistently and it's second and ten and you're

still running it and then you're still running it and then and then it turns into a bunch of coin flips on third down like that's my concern like because that's what's happened in some of these games where the run game hasn't hasn't hasn't gone well now the Eagles offense hasn't had a truly terrible game all year like we talked about that even their worst game is like not like horrible by by NFL standards but in the playoffs sometimes you're going to need you know yeah better than not terrible I mean They scored three touchdowns in the first quarter. Yeah, started very good, but that was, yeah. Yeah.

Look, I'm not dismissing that result or propelling that game by any means, but I would have confidence against Washington with the healthy G11 hurts. Okay. I would too. And it's a matter of like, it's not a matter of like they'd be likely to lose or anything like that. It's just that the downside of losing is so great that like you're worried about any little, any little thing. Do you think Jake Elliott's going to do kickoffs? even though it's going to be 62 degrees and Brandon Man will probably be able to pick suchfacts?

Yeah. I think they're expecting rain. It's a good question. I asked Nick Siriani on the record today. And Nick... That he said, good question, Zach. And then he pledged confidence in Braden Mann. He said good question, and then he gave a terrible answer.

Yeah, so it makes me think either one of two things. Either they're going with Jake Elliott. Either it is going to be Jake Elliott. Either it is going to be Jake Elliott. And they, he didn't want to say. or that they watched Jake Y'all yet yesterday. And they're like, yeah, let's go back to Brady or let's stay with Braden. I think it's one of those two.

I don't think it was a good question. I just think it's something that it's a conversation they've had internally. Special teams have been really bad this year. You know, like that game without a turnover or anything like that, it's very rare to see a number like this, but the special teams generated minus seven expected points in that game against Washington. That was the second worst of the year. And when you look at EPA per game on special teams, the Eagles are 27th for the season.

So it's been a very up and down experience with Michael Clay. Like when you look at his four years. They've even got to expand you throwing them under the bus. Well, what is? Yeah, he mentioned the field position. Yeah, that's right. That's right. Didn't he say just the week before?

Like, we don't control where the ball is? Yes. Yes. Yeah. No, with Michael Clay, by the way, year to year, it's been 13th. Oh, this is in the last four years. 13th to 26 to 8th last year back down to 27. And the DVOA is kind of similar.

And this is always both points is that you have to reinvent yourself every year on special teams. Yeah, I think the main takeaway is that special teams is random. Like you look at the best special teams coaches. Especially if you are investing the fewest resources in the league at that unit. That's true. It's like Chip Kelly was obsessed with it and spent resources on Chris Presby. That's the wrong thing to do. Like Chris Prisinski and Brad Smith and the Eagles would much rather have.

Chris Marigos. Brian Bramon. The Eagles would much rather have ascending players or potentially ascending players on rookie deals in those spots than a 30-year-old special teams guy. Right, which I think probably is the right way to go about it. But that means that you have to accept that there's going to be volatility with that performance.

Okay. What else you guys got going on? You got a game at Connie Mack Stadium to get to, I imagine. man this has been you look sharp I gotta come back with the hat now lean into it man I gotta just lean into it now

there's still the year yeah go with what Jalen Hurts said at that the Super Bowl when Jay one Hertz said I make anything look good think about that that approach you pull it off well

speaking of Jalen Hertz the Jalen Hertz and Sequin Barkley holiday present Christmas present yeah how much of a red flag do you think it is that the quarterback can't get his own gift

well that's actually not what happened because actually from what I understand. So did Sequin jump in? Well, Sequin spoke to J-Wan about it because Sequin and Daniel Jones had teamed up together in New York on Gifts. So it started with Daniel Jones being the Ch-S game.

I spoke to Sake-Wan about it. And so Seek-Wan heard that J-Lan gets gifts for the offensive linemen, and he said he went to J-L-N with it, and then he said J-Lan kind of had it all figured out. He said J-Lan took the lead. The golf carts were J-Lan's idea. That's good.

Yeah, Seqwan said, And Sequin's just riding coattails here. Yeah, I mean, I think Sequin in the pick, because I asked Jordan Maelada and Jordan Maelada said in his seven years, it's never been like a running back and quarterback. Well, they've never had a running back cook could afford it. So, yeah, so it was a joint gift because Sequin said that, he said he always did it with Daniel Jones. So he approached J-Ewan about it. The offensive linemen were excited about it.

It has apparently a stereo system and a backup camera. It's a tricked out. Yeah, and how deep do they go? They go practice squad too, right? Yeah, which actually, Jordan Maelada, I'm glad you brought that up because Jordan said today, that's what he really appreciated was that. Lake and Vakalahi got one. Yeah, like, Lake and Vakalach, he probably doesn't have any other way to get around.

He's going to be riding that thing around the city. Like, he's got to be, like, doubling his income for the evening. Yeah, he said typically, like, the starters get it. And then he said sometimes the backups, but Jordan said it was really cool that the practice squad players get it. Because Jordan's like... I think, to be fair, I think Jalen has always known this. Like, I remember Fred Johnson's first time here when he was on the practice squad.

The Vouton bags. Yeah, they got the Louis Vuitton. And I asked him if that was like the most expensive thing he owned all of us all. He said no. Oh, wow. He took Umbridge to that. This was legitimately did take umbrage to that. This was Fred Johnson.

Yes, okay, okay. This was back when he was practice squad Fred Johnson. And nobody knew the difference. He had played in the league between him and Roger. He had gotten and paid a real NFL salary before. Yeah. So, um, so, so, uh, Jordan said, we really didn't need gifts.

And I was like, don't be modest. You do a lot for these guys. And then he like pointed, he's like, 65 makes X million dollars. 69 makes X million dollars. And I was like, it's not pocket watching here. It's like it's a lot of money for 69. It's a sign of gratitude toward these guys. But Jordan Milata said that he's excited, he's excited to drive this, you know, when he has more property.

Um, Cam Juergens is excited. I don't understand. How are you supposed to get a golf cart from a place to another place? Like, how do you? Yeah. So I asked Mackay Beckton that.

Mackay Beckin said they're all getting shipped to their houses. But then after that, like if you're going to use it. Yeah. So Cam Juergens said he wants to bring this down the shore and drive it around. Hmm. Yeah, it is a good question.

Some of these guys live in the city or they don't have a garage to store a golf cart in. But I asked Cam Juergens if he's going to bring this to Nebraska. And he says, he wants to drive. drive it around Philly and down the shore. Jordan Milata, you know, he's eventually going to have more property to drive this around in. And... I'll leave him the city, huh?

What's that? I don't want to speak on Jordan Milas' business. But you already have. No, I haven't. I haven't. I haven't. I have not. You just said they're going to have more property. No, if he...

If one day he does. I miss the old days of Jordan Milita walking his tiny, tiny dog around Rittenhouse. on a regular basis, and I would actually like say hi to him. It was, that was fun. Back when he was a backup. He's still in this city. Yeah, he's still in the city.

Jordan Milana. It's the swing tackle. Yes, so. Not that kind of swing, Zach. Go ahead. That was some reaction to the present. That's good. His dog is so small.

How small is he? Yes, and? Yes, and? Yes. Yes, of course, the famous teaching of yes and where all you have to do is say yes and And put the onus right back on the other person That's of course exactly how it works I got a train to catch so yes and

What's your prediction? I mean I don't do predictions as you know I always think the eagles are gonna win but I I have a weird feeling that the one seat is gonna still It's still be in play Maybe it's just hope. I mean, I hope that the one seat's in play just because I think the Sequin thing will be... The last game would have juice.

Yeah, like I want to cover, and I have a story that I've been working on that's probably going to appear next week. Oh, for the record? What's that? Related to the record? Yeah, just really, it has more juice if Sequan's playing. As you can imagine, I don't care at all about the record. I know you don't, but the one seed, I mean.

So this has been a volatile line. Vegas, or odds makers caught on that Gia and wasn't playing but now CD-LAMS not playing so I think it's seven and a half with an over under a 40 in which case wait so hold on so seven and a half over under 40 so your prediction is going to be 23 17 23 16 no I'm I thought he changed it up a little bit to hit 24 16 23 17 oh I got it right I got it right 23 17 right right I think I know the The Eagles win, but don't cover. Including the rounding at the end.

Yes, the Eagles win, but don't cover. And the overrunner hits right on. Yeah, no, I actually think Kenny's going to, I think he's going to have a decent game through the air. He's going to feed A.J. He's going to feed DeVonte. I think they're going to throw a, they could use it.

I think they're going to, they're going to throw away from Bland. They're going to throw it to the other side. So whoever's on that. side in the game will be the beneficiary of it. I don't think Sequin's going to have a prolific running game. He didn't last time they played Dallas. I think Dallas is going to be keying in on this. But I could see Seekwan being within, you know, 70 to 90 yards, which makes next week...

A digger center of 2000. No, like him rushing between 70 and 90 yards this week. So not getting 100 yards. For what it's worth, Bland and Oroirier were playing sides last week and they weren't really traveling with Mike Evans. They did switch from left or right for series, but I don't know why. I couldn't really tell why. But yeah, so, but

I think there's they're going to trust Kenny. I think the ball's going to get out quickly. That's going to be a big point of emphasis here. And I can see a high volume game from AJ and Devante. Interesting. I think it's going to go the other way, yeah. You think it's going to be run, run, run.

Very passive in the first game against Dallas. But obviously that was with Jaylen Hertz. But Dallas defense has been bad at run and pass. So it wasn't like an obvious like we should pass it in this game. I thought it was a little surprising how pass heavy the first game was, but you think it'll be similar in this game. I don't think it's going to be overwhelmingly pass heavy. I just think that's that. I think Dallas is going to threaten them to pass the ball. And I don't think the Eagles are going to shy away from passing the ball with Kenny Pickett. I could be wrong. I know on Sunday. They always want to

run. I think Sequin's still going to get 20 carries. I just don't think this is going to be unless he pulls off a long run, which he's apt to do. I don't think this is going to be 5, 8, 4, 7, that kind of game. I think yards might be hard to come by unless he picks them up in chunks. Well, if anyone's looking for something to be concerned about, I'll stay on brand and give a uniform-related trivia note. The last time the Eagles lost wearing this version of the Kelly Green jersey was in the playoffs after the 1995 season in Dallas with Randolph.

Kendall Cunningham having to come into the game because Rodney Pete got injured. Penningham had just, I think his wife had just had a kid that week, and so he wasn't in practice. He didn't know any of the plays. Yes. And you could tell. It was one of the most, like, ridiculous playoff games I've ever seen. The quarterback just literally didn't know the plays. And I don't think that would happen in modern times, but that was kind of wild.

So that was the last time the Eagles wore this Kelly Green jersey and lost. So there you go. And they lost in 2010, but it was with the 1960 jersey. wasn't the same so they're three and oh since bringing these yeah yeah it does I I say this every time I stay out of the Jersey debates but the the images are so much better with the Kelly Green and this the modern Kelly Green just is beautiful yeah it's so good and they should clearly switch to it I mean yeah that's not gonna happen Blanche in the chat says lovely hat thank you Blanche oh speaking of your hat we do

have a submission from from a loyal viewer that's fantastic that might have to be my new profile photo yeah that's really Fran Duffy thanks Fran Photoshop you can always count on you he photoshop's too I respect it respected okay yes and all right that'll do it for this episode of the pHL by Eagles podcast we're back on Sunday full game day of coverage kickoff show at 1230 watch along

throughout the game and the post-scale show afterwards with Jamie Lynch, Fran Duffy, Super Bowl champion, Vinnie Curry, and the schlub, Bowulf. Thanks to everybody for watching. Thanks to Zach for making the effort to get here today. Julia, for making it all happen. And Danes for the insight as he steps back out to sell those papers. We appreciate everybody watching and listening.

We'll talk to you on Sunday. And as always, we love you.