PHLY Philadelphia Eagles Podcast - Philadelphia Eagles-Baltimore Ravens: Superstar showdown set for Jalen Hurts, Lamar Jackson

Episode Date: November 29, 2024

It’s the closest thing to a Super Bowl preview the Eagles will have during the regular season. Lamar Jackson vs. Jalen Hurts. Saquon Barkley vs. Derrick Henry. The best offense in football against Vic Fangio, Quinyon Mitchell, Cooper DeJean and the hottest defense in football.We get you ready with a mega preview as Fran Duffy and Deniz Selman provide the scouting report on the Ravens and how the Eagles are likely to put their gameplan together, while Zach Berman provides the latest news from the NovaCare Complex and Bo Wulf makes the affirmative case for Saquon as MVP (sorry, Deniz). Plus, Swooper! 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 PHLY Eagles podcast on a beautiful after Thanksgiving Friday, a loaded show. And it is all presented by the good folks at Bet365. Download the Bet365 app and use code PHLY 365 when you sign up. Whatever the moment, it's never ordinary at Bet365. We got a quad box, Bo Wolf, Zach Berman, looking drippy. Fran Duffy, Danny's Selman, maybe taking us, putting us all to shame with the way that he's looking. And we have a monumental game to discuss on Sunday. Two of the league's Super Bowl contenders going up against each other, the Eagles and Ravens.

We haven't talked since Tuesday. We got a lot to talk about, gentlemen. How's everybody doing? Doing great. Excited for the show. to me this is a Super Bowl preview so obviously we've been a lot to chew on here with this matchup oh Super Bowl preview how about that potential potential Super Bowl preview potential okay that's fair just take it from the thumbnail yeah this is this is very exciting now

a couple things to get to first of all it is black Friday so if you want to support us and support yourself with some drippy pHLY merch today is the day to do it go to all city Allcitynetwork.com, the store, and check that out. And on Sunday, if you want to watch the game with fellow sickos, the garage at Fishtown is the place to do it. We've got our official watch party starting at 345 at Garage at Fishtown, a great place to watch a game with some fellow sickos, and it's all presented by Miller Light. Okay. Now, we have a lot to get to. Zach, you have just come back from the practice field. We're going to talk about the Eagles offense against the Ravens defense, a great run defense, but a leaky secondary.

We're going to talk about the best offense in football going up against Vic Fangio. We're actually going to do super early in the show today because Zach is going to leave for a locker room later on. But first, we've got to get the scoop from the Novacare complex. Zach, what is the news of the last 48 hours? Is Devante Smith going to play? What's going on? Give us the vibes. Yeah, the news of the past 10 minutes is that Devonte Smith is at practice now as we speak in uniform.

So this is a good sign for this reason. He returned yesterday on a limited basis. And sometimes with hamstring injuries, what you want to see is how do they respond the next day, right? So we don't know the level of participation that he's going to have today. But yesterday was his first time practicing since the Washington game. And he didn't practice all week last week. do not practice on Wednesday or do or do not participate in the walkthrough Wednesday, limited yesterday on the field today.

So we'll have more information later today when the final status report comes out. But I think that can only be interpreted as a positive sign. It's a sign of progress. Darius Lay was not out there when I was out there. Now, I was only out there for three minutes because I need to get back for the show here. But it did not seem as if he was out there. He's in the concussion protocol. typically if you don't practice Friday and the concussion protocol, you're unlikely to play.

So that could mean, or I assume that means Isaiah Rogers. Now, Keeley Ringo was limited in yesterday's practice. We'll see what happens with him. It also did not appear that Johnny Wilson was practicing today. So we'll get more information on that. But the real, the two big ones are Devante being out there and then Darius Lay not participating. Well, listen, Devante, his status is obviously huge. in this game. And we will get into the specifics of that side of the matchup, but for a Ravens

defense that is very good against the run, but very vulnerable against the pass. Obviously, AJ Brown is a player to watch. But if they don't have Devante Smith and if they don't have Johnny Wilson even, then all of a sudden you become a little bit one dimensional in the passing game. And so the return of Devante Smith would be huge for the Eagles. Go ahead, Fran. Yeah, I was going to say, I think when you look at this matchup, knowing what that Baltimore defense has struggled with over the course of this season, you know, you would love to have your full compliment of weapons, obviously. Johnny Wilson's injury or, you know, lack of practice today. We'll see what that means. But obviously, getting Devante back into this lineup, I think that that really just kind of

because Baltimore can get creative in terms of what they try and do from a coverage standpoint. And so if you go into this game and you say, all right, we just have AJ Brown. If you're the Eagles, well, then now they can really divert resources to really try and take AJ away in some of those high leverage downs. And so, you know, having Devante Smith, and obviously Dallas Goddard in the lineup, I think that certainly helps the Eagles offense, you know, going into this game just from a flexibility standpoint, especially if they don't have to divert all of the resources towards AJ.

Danes, what's your understanding of the Ravens injury status these days? I guess Riquant Smith is the big question for them. And I'm not sure if bad job, I mean, I'm not sure if our ball's already spoken today or not. But you think you know a guy. Yeah, seriously. I know. My dad's for Thanksgiving.

Everything is like, everything is just like thrown off. My regular Friday radar for opponent head coach presser is a little bit off. But I can check real quick. Yeah, I mean, that's that's the big one. I mean, he missed the game last week. And with him not playing, it meant that they had a little bit of a hodgepatch at inside linebacker. I mean, in base, they were using Christian Welch with Trenton's, with Chris Ford rotating in.

And then in Nickel, it was mostly Trenton Simpson and Malie Karrison playing. Malik Harrison would play on the edge, kind of like a almost like in that sock bond roll when they were in base. And they don't play a lot of base, by the way. So that's actually like an important topic to get to in a second when we get to that side of the ball. But I feel like the way that they handled the linebackers without Rochuan Smith was not, you know, like very well suited to stopping the eagle run game. I mean, they didn't look very good against the run at all without it, my thought. Yeah, two things add to the, up to the Ravens Injury Report there, what would be Kyle Van Nuoy and Travis Jones both in practice yesterday. So those are going to be two big ones to monitor today.

Like Professor Selman, I have not seen any updates from Baltimore today, but I will be paying close attention to those. Those are two big things. And just say a light heart of the side, because I know Professor Selman follows all the press conferences. There was a I know it was a funny moment, but there was a moment in the Ravens Press Conference two days ago when John Harbauls asked what he's thankful for. And he's like, you know, he's talking about, he's thankful for the media for covering the team. He's thankful for God. He's thinking, you know, he's going.

And then like the next question is, you know, I heard Charlie Colourne's arm. Yeah, yeah, exactly. And John's like, we went from the heavy stuff to Charlie Colars arm. Like, what's the transition here? Right? So that was just the funniest side from that press conference. I wanted to make sure everyone knew that I have been following the Ravens Press Conference. I just didn't know if today's happened yet.

So John Harbaugh did speak about 25 minutes ago, 30 minutes ago. Kyle Van Nuoy does not have major injury, but he'll be touch and go until Sunday. Ropan Smith was a full participant today in practice. It does look like Travis Jones did go today in some fashion today in practice. So we'll see exactly what he's. his status is, but it looks like Roquan is definitely good. Doesn't seem like it's great for Kyle Van Nuoy, who is tied with their lead in sacks, uh, going into this game.

Uh, so that would be a big loss from them as well. Long time sickos, of course, very familiar with Kyle Van Nuoy, which is short for Kyle V. annoy. Very annoying. Uh, you're all too annoyed with that. Frank, one of the guys, one of the guys who would get snaps, uh, if Van Nuoy doesn't play, like more snaps, I guess.

I know he wanted to talk about Adafé O'A. Anyway, but the rookie, Adisa Isaac, I guess, would play a lot more than he has been. What's your report on him? Adisa Isaac, he was a, I believe a third round pick. Yeah, I think he was a third round pick this past year out of Penn State. Yes, he was a third round pick this year, six four, two hundred fifty five pounds.

You know, when he, coming out last year this spring, I kind of thought he was more of a rotational backup profile for the next level, you know, high effort player. He doesn't stand out from an athletic standpoint or from like a power standpoint, but he does like fit that Ravens mold and can be like a Kyle Van Noy type of presence off the edge. But obviously he has not played a ton for them coming into this game. And so if Van Nuoy does miss, yeah, he would see an increased snapshot. And that would be an area where the Eagles could potentially find some success just because

he'll be a green player coming in. Yeah, I feel like it's kind of similar to the Eagles missing BG and that like it's not clear how they would make up for all those snaps, the one thing that they could do, especially if Roquan Smith is playing, the one thing that they could do that the Eagles wouldn't wanna do with Sack Vaughn is just have Malik Harrison play on the edge more, right? I mean, because he's not necessarily

one of the top two guys out there at inside linebacker anyway. That's a good point. A super chat from Chase Daniel Plainview who says, dumb donkey Eberflus got sacked today. Any worry that Siriani will be distracted this week with his former coworker deservingly losing his job. I don't anticipate Nick, yeah, I don't anticipate Nick being distracted by that. My guess is that if there's any distraction, it was probably Nick letting up the text messages with his coaching staff about that sequence yesterday.

I mean, knowing Nick, he tends to look at the game situations that happen elsewhere in the league and try to figure out what he might do. And so that being a hot button one that happened right in front of everyone's eyes, my guess is there was a lot of, behind-the-sease discussion about what they would do and what they wouldn't do in that spot. Now, Zach, as Fran and Dana is trying to figure out what the Ravens are going to do with their edge-rush depth, we have an update since this group was together. We have some resolution on Shaq Barrett, and we also have a new Eagle in the House. Give us the update. Yeah, Charles Harris was claimed off waivers.

the veteran was was was waived by Carolina on Monday, Eagles at him. And, you know, really, it's probably the best you're going to do this this time of year. I'll let Fran to give the drafty bow, but he's someone who, you know, had seven and a half sacks in 2001, three sacks and nine games this year, first round pick in 2017. Not a move-the-needle guy, but he's better than what you're getting on a different team's practice squad. There was intrigue about Shaq Barrett. It certainly sounds like I saw the UNRACPorts report that the dolphins aren't going to let him out of his contract and aren't bringing him back. So he's kind of in this no man's land. As we said on Tuesday show, the dolphins have his contract rights.

And unless they forgive those rights or waive him, then he cannot return. So we'll see if anything changes in that regard. But as of now, certainly it looks like Charles Harris or I think he prefers Chuck Harris, will be in the, lineup or will be my guess if he gets up to speed enough the fourth edge rush run Sunday. And just mechanically, if they were to change their mind and waive him, he would go through waivers because it's after the trade deadline. Yes, he would go through waivers and Eagles are pretty far down that waiver claim, but it might be the type of thing where, you know, when a player had retired, a team might not

want to claim someone who doesn't want to play for them. We'll see what happens there, but the points move here. We should also say because we haven't spoken since the Vic Fangio press conference on Wednesday. I know I was on the P.H.L. Y. Eagles Show Wednesday, but we haven't spoken before of us. Vic was was was pretty cut and dry about the way this is this is going to work. He says it's it's it's going to be committee. If you read between the lines, Nolan Smith and J. Yel Exxon are going to play more. Josh Sweat's playing time is not going to be adjusted. William's won't get a steady diet of Edg Ruffer Snaps. Zach Bond, they don't want to disrupt two spots.

So I think Zach Bond would only be used there in kind of the penny front that we've talked about, but not any more often. And then, yeah, Charles Harris, Vic didn't know much about him. But it certainly sounded, you know, Vic said regarding Jail's Hunt, if he's ready, Vic said we're about to find out. And then about Nolan Smith, he said he could stand to take on a few snaps. So you're looking at about 25 snaps a game thereabouts, depending on how long the defense is on the field.

And my guess is of the return, of the existing players, it'll be Smith and Hunt will be the biggest beneficiaries of it. And then Charles Harris or Chuck Harris will eventually, if he is active this week, if not the practice fight elevation, we'll get a few snaps here and there as well. If I can follow up with you. Go ahead, go ahead, Dennis. Yeah, if I can just follow up on Zach,

Zach, with two things there. I thought it was notable that when, Zach, when you asked Fangio the question about using Bond in that role, the way that he said, I don't want to weaken another position. You can really tell he doesn't like what he has beyond Nikobie and Bond at inside lineback. Like he does not want Orrin Berks or Jeremiah Trotter on the field. I'm pretty sure that, you know,

just based on other things he said also, like that kind of seems to be the case. Speaking of that thing is before you get to your second thing, let's stay there. because we have some deep insight on the state. Oh, yes. On all p.gloy.com today, a banger from Zach on Zach Bonn and the Kobe Dean and how they have become the glue of that Eagles defense and making the Eagles linebackers good again, right, Zach?

Yeah, I appreciate the plug. You can check that out. If you're not a diehard, you should be for all friends stuff. I mean, I'll put it that way. But right now, Black Friday, we have a promotion there. This story, I've been teasing it on the show. And Bose right to mock me forward sometimes because I don't think the Ravens hook is as much as I wanted. But it was interesting.

The Ravens hook is this. The Ravens are kind of like the model or they've, I mean, they've used first-round picks on linebackers twice since 2014. Roquant Smith was the highest-paid lineback in the league when they gave them their deal. He makes more than the entire Eagles linebacker position, like by a significant number. So the Eagles don't value this position. But I really enjoy talking to Bobby King. I thought he had some good insight. I spent time one-on-one with Zach Vaughn with Nikobie Dean.

I really like their insight about where kind of they were thought of before the season, something they were very cognizant of, how this has progressed. The scouting of Zach Vaughn, the development behind the scene. of Nikobi Dean, the state of this linebacker core. I have a lot in there on how Vic Banjo views linebackers within his team. So please check that out on all-P-H-L-Y.com. And then as a part of this, but also to reference the point that Professor Selman made, and I thought Fran did a great job outlining this on the show earlier this week.

Zach Vaughn, they don't have anyone else like him on the deck chart, right? If Nicobie Dean went down, I think like, all right, they can put Schrotten there. Maybe you get like a fraction of the player. but if Zach Vaughn were to go down, if they were to move Zach Bond, there's no one else who can play that Zach Bond role. And one of the things that Bobby King was really emphasizing was Zach Bond's versatility and the fact that they used them in a lot of different ways throughout the game. And I thought Fran outlined that on Tuesday.

And I thought that Bobby King's perspective on Ngoby Dean's assent this summer was really interesting and worth the price of admission to become a diehard just for that exclusive. Okay, your second point in is. I mean, real quick on the Zach Bonn thing, I mean, last year he used Van Ginkle in that way, in that way, where he would play as the edge on some snaps and as the inside linebacker on others and the other people around him would adjust based on that. So my first thought when BG went down was maybe he will use Bond that way. But last year he had Jerome Baker and David Long, like two guys who are inside linebackers who he's happy to have out there. He just doesn't have that on this roster.

So that would be a reason he doesn't do that. The second thing is BG was on, I know you can get BG to say anything in an interview, so take this with a grain of salt, but they asked him about Taron Jackson on WIP earlier this week. And he said something along the lines of, ooh, I wasn't going to spill the beans about what they were going to do, but since you asked me, and then he kind of like talked about Tarrant Jackson. So it seemed like they at least initially told him something like, you know, Tarran Jackson might have to play or something. But that was before the Charles Harris signing. So I don't know if that's something where Taran Jackson's been here. Like, you know, maybe Charles Harris doesn't know the terminology. It's possible that the first week or something like that you do with Toronto elevation.

Charles Harris is inactive. But then eventually it's Charles Harris. So, Fran, let's talk to you about Charles Harris. Because long before Zach Berman had established himself as a Derek Barnett hater, you were on the side of Charles Harris over Derek Barnett in that draft, Fran. you loved him then what have you seen from him as a pro what what are the eagles getting now yeah i mean he's only had more than three sacks in a season of one time so you know it's a little uh it's a little crazy to take a victory lap there uh but i think with when you're looking at charles harris um this is

a guy that can line up off the edge and give you replacement level snaps as a veteran like it is the guy he's not i don't think he's going to move the needle keep in mind that he's coming from the carolina panthers who have been the worst team in the NFL creating pressure on opposing and quarterbacks all season long. Now, you would make the argument that he, you know, obviously he's a little bit older. They're trying to get a little bit younger. They signed DJ Wanam this offseason.

He finally came back from injury. He had like a dislocated hip or something at the end of last year. And so missed the entire, the first like nine to ten weeks of this season. And as he was starting to get healthy, they said, all right, let's put Harris onto the practice squad. But, I mean, he had just over a 9% pressure rate coming into the year, or coming into this, coming to the Eagles this season, three sacks earlier this year for Carolina.

But I think when you look at him, best kid, like this is like a Bryce Huff type of Russia in terms of like he's going to, he's going to line up off the edge. Most of his best reps have come from a two point stance over these last couple of years. He can run the hoop. He can win inside, but he's much more of like,

all right, line him up out wide and let him play off the edge. I think it's fine compared to some of the other names that we had kind of talked about on Tuesday and what the answers could be from a free agent market. Like I think that I'm more moved by that than what KJ Henry could give, right? Where they signed in the practice squad on Tuesday. So, you know, I don't think it's anything to move the needle about. But again, replacement level snaps of that.

That's kind of what they need right now with BG's injury. You might say, Fran, that the Eagles are just looking for a safe floor with that signing. We're going to talk about that. And then after that, it's time for Swooper. That's right. We're talking flooring. We're talking Empire today. With Empire Today, you get shop at home convenience, the right product for your needs, quick and professional installation, and a price match guarantee.

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lives. Change your hair, change your life. Ball is now optional if you want to improve how you look and how you feel about yourself. Glad hair has the right training for you. Regame your confidence visit glad hair mctr.com or call 6109804000 to get started uh zibi a super chat from shea who says please tell his cuban friend steff who is a columbia grad that comparison is the thief of joy she's upset because her little cousin is moving in with her boyfriend while she is still single well yeah i mean i i would say that first of you should feel good for your cousin you You shouldn't derive. I'd a pleasure and joy.

Well, if we like the guy. Yeah. But I'm saying, but no, you shouldn't compare. You have all these wonderful things going for you, Steph, and you shouldn't focus on somebody else now. You know, Jay. That sounds wonderful. Now, that said, I did use that line at Thanksgiving last night.

I got to admit. I don't want to be disingenuous. I said, I always say, because we're going around the table, saying what we're thankful for, and I always, I said, I always say, like, comparison is the thief of joy. But sometimes when you look at get a pop from the rest of the burns. I think they rolled their eyes. They're like, oh, Zach's at it again.

Like, I spoke up. You know, like, or like, I stood up. They're like, Emily's like, why are you standing? You know, I'm like, I've got to project, right? But, but no, I was saying, I was getting a genuine sentiment, how, you know, this time of year, you realize how, you know, things you're thankful for. I read an incredible Matt Delph story on the athletic about Ned Rice,

the Philly's assistant GM. And like, you know, I'm, it brought tears my eyes. Like, I'm so thankful. My kids are healthy. I, you know, I would, it's just that's something, you know, I'm thankful to be with the three of you, to be with Julia. Like, you know, I have a job that that is a passion of mine that excites me every day. I have a lot of friends who don't have, you know,

I'm thankful to have a wife that I love and adore. There's so my, my point is is that, yeah, don't compare. But sometimes when you want to realize how thankful you are, like you can appreciate what you have. So anyways, I don't want to be disingen. So was this a situation where there were other people talking or you, you just went yourself. No, we were going around the table. We were going around the table. Everyone's doing it.

But Emily did say, Zach, we don't need a lecture here. He just, you know, bang, bang. There's a lot of people in my family, right? but yeah i was going to ask like the standing the standing sounds funny but like how many people are we talking at this dinner i mean oh like 20 people it must have been okay okay yeah okay yeah 25 people but no it's it's when i sit you know when i stand i project better so you guys do let me also a lot of a lot of cousins in the house what are we doing like kids table wise yeah the kids uh whole long adults a lot kids or yeah yeah the the kids eat eats eat separately

You know, and they're not going in for, like, the turkey and all that. You know, they have just the kids pasta. Kids pasta, nice. Like the buttered noodles, yeah. Yeah, you don't need the way to see. I ran grabbed the drumstick and just, like, didn't put it down the whole dinner. He was just like, like, until it was gone. Yeah, it was like the only thing he ate.

It was great. Would Francis go for, Fran. He did a little bit of turkey, a little bit of ham, a little bit of mac and cheese. Yeah, he was dipping in. And so a little bit of everything that at the end, I said, what was your favorite thing? He said, the roll with butter. I said, okay.

I mean, the kids love rolls, nothing to run. Yeah, absolutely. All right, let's get to Swooper. Now, we're doing it early so that Zach can get to a locker room. So a little bit of a subversion of the normal rules here. And it's time for a little. I mean, I obviously object to Danes' his framing and his tweet just now that this was controversial in any way.

It was not. But I did come home with Invict. I'm just reporting the controversy. I'm not sure. Sure, sure. Zach, you had a Devante Smith has at least 60 receiving yards. Did not happen. Devante Smith has at least six catches. Did not happen. The Sixers win before the Eagles. You got that one. And then Devante Smith is the target of Jill and Hertz's first pass in the second half. So you had one. Fran, you had AJ Brown and Devante Smith combined for more receiving yards than Cooper Cup and Pook and Okua.

Did not happen. Devante Smith is the target of Jalen Hertz's first pass. of the game did not happen. Devante Smith is the target of Jalen Hertz's second pass of the game did not happen. The Eagles win the game by more points than the number, the last number that Julius said at the moment the first player, Yale's SWIPP route that turned out to be eight. You got that, that was one. I had the Eagles score touchdown on their first offensive drive,

or Matthew Stafford has a scramble, or the Rams run a play with a sixth offensive lineman, or an Eagles corner gets an interception. Stafford scrambled, that was one. I had Stafford has a sub-100 passer rating, did not happen. Jake Elliott does not miss a field goal. That did happen. And the Eagles score first in the game that happened. That gives me the win. I am now a half a point behind Fran on the season. He's at four and a third. I am at three and five sixth. And Zach is all the way down at one and five six. But he's got extra turkeys left over. He's got 10 turkeys to play with. I had five turkeys to play with, but I lost one on a bet to Fran during the franing cast. So I have four to carryover. Fran has one to carry over. So we will start today, Zach, with 34, me with 28, Fran with 25.

Any last words on last week's happenings? I think it is notable. We don't need to say anything about how if there was, you know, some weird things happening behind the scenes, but the fact that all of these Devante Smith entries came from one person and that one person didn't have any Devonte Smith entries. That's all, I'll just lay that as low. I bid on all of them.

And as the bidding was going on, it became very clear that there was an arbitrage opportunity to bet against him playing. But I submitted those things before he didn't even, before even knew that he wasn't practicing on Thursday. For a couple of us know. Tell us what Charles Davis tells you to do. So Bo's defense about the way that he submitted only Devante Smith items and was the only person not to win any is that he did indeed at least participate in driving up the price. Right. willing to have some of them. This is what I'll say.

This is what I'll say. The whole thing we talked about all week that week was they're going to need, they need to get Devonte Smith the ball. That's the track I was going on. Yeah. Yeah. Bo is a really good reporter. And he knows a lot more than he says on the show.

But I would, you know, so that's my compliment. My criticism would be, I hope that if you have said information, you're using it for the good of the show. or not the good of spooper or not for the advantage of super. It is impossible for me to decide whether I should be offended or or complimented by this. You either think way too much of me or way too little. No, I mean, you know, it's like when the Bengals game happened

and we're talking about, well, you don't have to tweet the picture of the stadium. And I'm like, you know, you have to maintain your integrity no matter what. So operate as you normally would. Yeah, I did. I was also not, there were lots of other Devante Smith things. I like the conceit of it. And then as there were, there were like, became pretty clear. It was a fine. All right.

There were five Devonthe Smith things and and boated somehow did not get any of them. I mean, like, you know, we have to think about what the odds of that would be. Yeah, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I read what was happening in the middle of the auction and was paying attention unlike everybody else. Oh, this is clear. the first admission of knowledge. No, no, I'm not saying of what was happening.

I mean, in the context of the game, as you guys are scooping up Devante Smith things, obviously a path then becomes clear for me. Bo was reading a stuff. It's from. No, get out of town. It's ridiculous. You guys are, you guys are just one read and throw people.

I'm trying to read a defense. All right, Zach, you get to go first. Yes, I am first here. So my first submission here is there are more total fourth down attempts, so that's either team, then Charles Harris defensive snaps. Okay, so if you think Charles Harris might be inactive in this game, then certainly the fourth down attempts would be the way to go. These are two teams that are aggressive on fourth down, but if you believe Charles Harris is going to play, I'm going to play a good amount. Yeah, so I don't know. By the way, I don't know. not Charles Harris playing or not. We'll see. He's practiced three days, but we'll say it. I don't believe it. No, I trust me.

I mean, I imagine Professor Selman watched the press conference the other day. He ended his own press conference. He's like, all right, guys, it's enough. And he's so. That was so funny. That was so funny. Normally when a player, I mean, like, I don't need to tell any of you guys this, but like when a player just gets here, normally they're eager to talk to the media,

get some recognition. He's just like, all right, guys, look, that's it for me. Yeah, so honestly, so I don't know. You know, I got there in the middle of it. I was about to ask the question. He's like, all right, guys, thanks. You know, so my, I say this in, in all earnestness, I don't know if Charles Harris is going to play or not this week.

He said he was using acronyms to try to remember what the plays are called and stuff. It didn't sound, I don't know. It didn't sound promising. I actually do think Duran Jackson is more likely to be the fourth guy. Now, uh, So I'll start putting on one. Just to clarify, like will a fake punt, fake field goal, does that count? Yes, that counts.

Anything in the statute that said, you know, fourth down attempts, right? That counts. If you attempt a pass on fourth down of any variety or run on fourth down, or then it's 0 for one or one for one, whatever it may be. So yeah, so that that does count. So I'll start putting on one. There are more fourth down attempts than Charles Harris snaps. Yeah.

So equal doesn't, it's not equal to it's more. I'll start to bidding at one. I'll say three. Four. Six. Seven? Eight. You know that you know he's got information.

Yeah. No, I really don't. He hasn't go around eight turkeys willy-nilly. I like the nises. No, I'm actually sold by what B.G. said on, I didn't hear the interview. That was before the Turtle Sarah signing. I did say that. Now, how many snaps?

I don't, I feel out of hand. How many snaps did Robert Quinn play when they traded for him in that first game? He took like six weeks. I'll check. I'll check. 10. Oh, 10. All right, that's too rich for me.

Even if I win that one, I wouldn't have other items. I thought you were talking about Robert Quinn snaps there. 10 going once. 10 going twice. Sold to the Duffman. Okay, since you asked, Robert Quinn played 20 snaps in his first game against Pittsburgh. And he only played more than that one. another time.

Yeah, it was like they saw what they had and that was about it. And that was 22, two weeks later. After that, he never played more than, yeah, it just. All right. I have my first admission. Here we go. An eagle, other than Sequin Barkley, is responsible for the game's longest play from scrimmage. So we know that Sequin has had so many explosive plays and we will get into the fact

that the Ravens do not allow many explosive runs, but this is not only do the Eagles have the longest play from scrimmage in the game, but it is either a run by someone other than Saquan Barclay or a pass to someone other than Saquan Barclay, and I will start the bidding at three. Four. This defense is susceptible to giving up big plays, Baltimore,

but Derek Henry can also, you know, pull off one of those 90-yard runs or something. Yeah, I mean, just, just, I mean, since we're, were on this, the Ravens have given up the fewest they're allowing 20 plus yard gains through the air at the sixth highest frequency of any team

but the absolute lead through the ground. They have less than 1% of the runs they faced have gone for 20 yards. That's the fewest in the league and I think that's only three for the whole season in 12 games that they've allowed a 20 plus yard run. So

there's that. I'll go five. Now, the Eagles are second in the league in the highest rate of 20 plus yard runs. The Ravens are six. Six. Six going once. Six going twice.

Sold to the Berman. All right, I'll take that. That's a pretty good one. Yeah. All right. Fran, your turn. All right. So for my first one, let's go with the Eagle.

Actually, it's a matchup of both run games here. Jalen Hertz and Sequin Barclay rush for more touchdowns than Lamar Jackson and Derek Henry in the game. Start the big. Is it great one? Two. Three. Five. Five going once.

Six. Five going twice. Oh. I said six. Yeah. Nothing for me. I don't love this one, but I can get in the action at six. Seven.

You got it at seven. Seven going once, seven going twice. Sold to the handsomest man in the building. Grants offended. I mean, he's not in the same building I am. Clearly. All right. All right, let's flash up Danez's first, unless Danez wants to read it himself.

I'll read it because I want to say something about it as well. This is going to be a normal auction. It's the only one that's normal, but I thought we shouldn't go too crazy on stream yard with the live ones. It's a platter with only two items, though. It's the Eagles score a touchdown on their first offensive drive, which has still not happened all season. Or the Eagles convert a two-point conversion.

And the reason that I added the two-point conversion is because the last two times the Eagles played the Ravens, both 2016 and 2020, came down to the Eagles failing on a two-point conversion at the end of the game. In 2016, you'll remember Doug went for it, down one. That was late in the year, kind of out of the playoff race already.

And then in 2020, the famous Jamon Brown game at the Link during COVID. I'm proud to be one of the 5,000 or so people who were in the building that day. That was the limited fan COVID game. The Eagles were down two, and failed to tie it on a two-point conversion at the end.

I was also, I'm pretty sure one of the only ten people in the whole building who knew who Jason Kroom was when he caught the touchdown in that game. I got up and yelled like Jason Kroom, baby, and like no one else had any idea who played Jake. Including the Ravens who did not cover him at all. He was, he was one. I remember Jason Kroo. I met Jason Kroom before he became an eel. Friends with Derek Barnett.

Big Flex. Okay. So this is not exactly one, but at least one of these tests off. Three. Three going once. Five. You can have it at five. Five going one. Is it score a touchdown or score? Wait, score a touchdown or score point? Touchdown. Touchdown. Oh, touchdown. Yeah. All right. I'm not doing this. Okay. Okay. I am up here.

A.J. Brown has more receiving yards than Sequin Barkley has rushing yards. Oh, good one. And I will start the end. I'm confident that AJ Brown is going to play. Okay, I just want to make that clear, and I'm confident if I'm Parkley is going to play. So let's start the bidding at three. Go four.

Five. Good six. Brian, Fran, Frank. That's being aggressive on the first one. I tell you. Serve a little more. Seven. Fran's been watching that Brandon, Steve.

film. I know that reference spoke very well. Seven going once. Seven going twice. Eight. How would you do that? Why would you just say eight when you were doing the going once going twice thing? I'm a showman. You are a show. You're building drama. How about more turkeys you have though? 16, eight going once. I got to be in the game somewhere here. Nine. You can have it. Nine going once.

Nine going twice. Sold. Sold to Zach Berman. That's a good one, Zach. Yeah, that's a good one, Zach. I think he will get that. I think you will get that. Yeah.

All right. My next one. A team goes for it on fourth down inside its own 25-yard line. not in garbage time. Of course, I alone am the sole arbiter of what is garbage time or not. But obviously, you saw the Ravens go for it deep in their own territory against the charges last Monday night. Will Harbaugh or Nick Siriani have the Cajonais to do it again? I will start the bidding at one.

What makes you the arbiter of garbage time? Should I'm Professor Sam would be the arbiter of garbage time? Okay, okay. 25 makes it tough the Eagles did go for it up from the 29 last year yeah but but a touch push at the or you know touch push at the one is technically you know fourth down fourth and goal at the one you know count so only 20 no no no their own 25 oh oh I'm sorry oh yeah the drive the drive would have to start like inside the 15 right for this to even for it to be like a sneak situation so what you did once. Does the 25 itself count? Yes. Sold.

Yeah. I get it. Good. Over to you. How much was that? That was one. One. I have 15.

Zach has 19. Fran has 15. All right. Let's go. This actually looks at the past catching groups here. All right. So my next one. The Ravens wide receivers

get more yards. Actually, we'll say the Ravens in general. Sorry, this is just how I wrote this out. So we'll say the Ravens in general. Get more yards after the catch than A.J. Brown has total yards receiving in the game. So the Ravens have more yards after the catch than A.J. Brown has total yards receiving in the game. So all Ravens. All Ravens. Yep. So Justice Hill.

Justice Hill. Yeah. Okay. Yes. We will start the bidding at three. Now you'll notice here in these graphics, which of us respects the periods in AJ Brown's name and who does not? What did you start the bidding at Fran? I said we'll start the bidding at three. Six. Lamar Jackson is averaging 6.9 yak per completion, which is second most in the league. The Eagles have been excellent at preventing yards after catch.

It's at 89 yards over the last four weeks. AJ Brown has right about 80 yards per game over the last four weeks. And so this is, these numbers are pretty, pretty neck and neck. It's going twice. Salt. Yeah. Megan's yak over AJ Brown. All right.

Danes, you're up. Okay. This one is going to be, we've been doing this the last couple of weeks here, a fixed price auction with increasing item value. So I'm going to, it's going to cost five turkeys, regardless of who wins. And I'm going to begin at zero and count up until someone yells swooper. So when someone yells swooper, the auction is over and they will win the item for five turkeys. And the item is, let me set it up first. In 2022, Derek Henry against the Eagles, 12 carries. I'm going to read off the results.

242-1-1-6-5-2-2-3 holding penalty, holding penalty. So that was 12 runs. None of them went for seven yards. And none of them went for a first down. So the item this time is Derek Henry has X or fewer runs of seven plus yards. And again, last time, he had zero. That was, of course, when he was with the Titans two years ago. So you can yell swooper as soon as I say zero and then you know you would be betting that it's the same thing that happened last time basically X or if you were runs all right here we go zero one two three four swooper five I heard I did it at four I heard it I heard it at four yeah yeah okay that's a good one

I was going five. Okay. Good job, though. You're on your game today. That was not, it's not first down. So, just the seven plus yard runs. Yeah. Yes, yes, yes.

Yeah, all right. I feel pretty good about that. Yeah. All right, I've only got five left friend. You've got 15. Zach, you've got 19. The Sixers win before the Eagles. And what's Robin here.

So unlike last week, the Sixers only have one game before the Eagles. Last, last time the Sixers, at two games. So tomorrow night against the Pistons. But last time the Eagles were favored against the Rams, this time the Eagles are underdogs against the Ravens. And if the Eagles were to lose this game, the Sixers have four games next week before the Eagles play again, I believe.

So you're either betting on the Sixers winning against the Pistons or the Eagles losing and the Sixers winning one of their four games next week, which considering the fact that if you see who's out there, I was at that game the other night. It's certainly not a given. And I will start the bidding at one. Two. Three.

Four. I'm out. Go ahead. You take it. Okay. If I'm going once. If I'm going twice. So, Fran, I feel like you let him off easy there.

I like this one because I actually think the Ravens are going to win this game. So I don't know. We'll see. All right. Sorry, bad job by me. What was the final price on that? Five. All right.

My next one. This episode, this current episode is longer in minutes than Jalen Hertz's passing yards for the game. Now let's conservatively say that this is going to be about a two-hour episode. Jalen Hertz has not topped 240 passing yards in a game since the Eagles fifth game of the season, the post-by game, against the Cleveland Browns. He hasn't topped 300 yards since week three. And that's the only time he's done it all year. I'll start the bidding at two. Can you flash that again? It's longer in minutes than Jaylen Hertz has passing yards. So this episode, 20 minutes. Yeah, I don't know. Yeah, it's 100. Then Jaylon Hertz is passing. I'll start the bidding at

one. Yeah. Um, yeah, I'm, I'm staying away from this. math wrong. But you said 240, I was like, I didn't get a month by two for no reason whatsoever.

Okay. Yeah, to take away. I will take this lemon for one. Wait, but you did say two at first. Yeah,

but I changed it. Didn't you not? Can you do that? Is that for a minute? Yeah, I heard me. That sounds like two. I heard,

I heard too, yeah. All right. I'll take the two. he could get hurt the first you know first first first first drive of the game something like that or both could keep us hostage for four hours yeah exactly i mean all of a sudden i'm just going yeah all right go ahead friend all right so for my last one we're going to go to the defensive side of the football Milton Williams plays a season high in defensive snaps

We will start the bidding at four. Now Milton played 37 snaps against the Saints. So I'll start the bidding at four. I can't bid. So it has to be more than 37 this time? Has to be more than 47. More than 37, right? Or 37, yeah, yeah, 37.

Yeah, five. Uh, six. Seven. Eight. Nine. Ten. Right. Um, yeah, I mean, I'll go 11. I need to be in this game. So the weeks are getting, the weeks are getting short now, so.

11 going once. 11 going twice. Sold. Yep. Go ahead. Yeah. I don't love that one, but, uh, I, I need, I don't. the items this week, you know, and...

Before we get to the last item, Dennis, we do it to take a quick commercial break. Bet365 has 90 million users worldwide and they live stream over 780,000 events each year with early payout offers across the NBA, NFL, NHL, and MLB. Bet365 pioneered live in-game betting and today they offer the widest range of games and markets available for live-in-game betting across 78 sports. Right now, new customer. can get $150 in bonus bets when you bet just $5.

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ordinary at Bet365 must be 21 or older and physically located in Pennsylvania. If you or someone you know has a gambling problem in one. So up, call or text to 1-800 gambler. All right. And for, let's now hear from our friends at True Mark Financial Credit Union where, look, we all know how hard it is to win without proper coaching. And if you've got kids, True Mark has the ultimate playbook for teaching financial responsibility with a free Greenlight account.

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Just learning how to operate this stuff. It's something I'll definitely be utilizing with Francis as he gets older. Yeah, peace of mind as the adult, as the parent, they get the freedom to make those smart decisions with their money. And it's like coaching your kid through their very own. financial game. For True Mark financial members, it is absolutely free. The holidays are right around the corner. Now is the perfect time to introduce your kids to Greenlight. Get signed up today. The TrueMarkcom slash Greenlight for more information. All right. Let's get to the last one. So Zach can head to the locker room. Real quick on the Milton Williams thing.

That game when he played 37 snaps was against the Saints when the Eagles played 27 snaps in base and seven in that penny with the with the Zach Bond thing since then that's so that's 34 times they had three defensive tackles on the field since then in eight games that's happened 61 times so they're averaging fewer than eight snaps a game of three defensive tackles on the field now the bravens are going to use 21 personnel a lot and Fangio even said in his press conference that he thought organically no one williams would have more snaps because they would play more base and so you know that that could be That's probably why Fran submitted the item, but also, you know, something to look for. All right.

The last one is going to be a Dutch auction. I will begin at 15 turkeys and countdown. And the item is, and you can borrow from next week to bid. We can borrow. So should we start higher? If Fran can borrow, right? Well, you're going to see what the item is and you're not going to want it. No one's going to want it.

it for any more than this. Okay. The item is the Eagles win by more points than the number of turkeys at which this item sells. So when I say 15, that means you're bidding 15 turkeys on the Eagles winning by more than 15. As the number goes down, the item gets cheaper and also more valuable. So two things are happening at once, both going in the direction of you know, making you want to bid more. So as the number goes, goes down, the Eagles don't have to win by as many for it to hit, and it becomes cheaper at the same time. Everyone clear? I'd still.

All right. 15, 14, 13, 13, 12, 11, 11, 10, 10, 10, 9, 9, 8, 7, 6. Super. Okay, I heard Bo at six. Yeah. Oh, I was in there as also, I thought. Okay. Yeah, not a chance. It sounded like Bo by a lot to me. I'm sure the chat can weigh in, but yeah. Might be the NovaCare connection. All right. Yeah.

All right. He goes, now is it more than six or six or more? More than six. More than six. Okay. Yeah. Yeah, it's good. Yeah, the chat overwhelmingly says, Bo not even close. Yeah, that's fair. That's the problem when you do it remote. I get it. All right. I'm going to go. Well, to be fair, everyone's remote. There's a lot of guys to talk to today.

Sequin Barkley, AJ Brown. Looking forward to doing that. You can find all the coverage on all pHly.com. Happy Thanksgiving to all. See you at the posting. And if you're watching on your terrestrial television, make sure that you catch the very long rest of this episode that is still to come on all p.hly.com.

Quick review of Swopper. Zach has someone other than an eagle other than Sequin Barclay is responsible for the longest play from scrimmage in the game. A.J. Brown has more receiving yards than Sequin Barclay has rushing yards. The Sixers win before the Eagles. And Milton Williams plays a season or season high snaps on the season. Pretty good portfolio for Zach. I have Jalen Hertz and Saquan Barkley combined for more touchdowns than Lamar Jackson and Derek Henry. the Eagles either score touchdown on their opening drive or convert a two-point conversion.

There is a fourth down attempt by either team inside their own 25-yard line. The Ravens have more yak than A.J. Brown has receiving yards. There are four or fewer runs of seven-plus yards by Derek Henry in this game. They very stupid one about the length of this episode vis-a-vis Chalen Hurts' passing. yards, but you know, Zach's right, an injury still in play here, or the Eagles win by seven, and I have negative three turkeys to carry over. Fran, all you have is there are more fourth down attempts than Charles Harris snaps, but you've got 15 turkeys to carry over. A nice patient decision as you saw the way that this one was going. This was a weird week. Like, I just didn't

love, even as it was going, I was like, oh, I, all right, I can go heavy on these ones coming up. And there, I just, there was none that I felt like, oh, yeah, I really want to get this one for I like the value with which it was going off the board. So yeah, this was a weird one for me. That's okay. All right. Now that we're an hour in, let's get into the football analysis of this game. And I do want to start, I want to start, usually we're thinking about how is Vic Fangio

going to go up against this interesting offense. And that is certainly the case in this game. But I want to start on the Eagles offense against the Ravens defense because I do think that stylistically, this matchup is very interesting for some of the reasons that we have already talked about. The Eagles obviously come in with one of the best running games in the league, and the Ravens have a very, very good running defense. Eighth in rushing DVOA, but third in rushing success rate. And as you talked about, Danes, they do not give up big runs. First in the league, in 20-plus yard runs allowed. Eagles, obviously, third in rushing DVOA. They've got Sequin

Barkley, who is the star of the league to some degree right now, whether Devante Smith plays, is a huge factor in this game. How do you expect the Eagles to attack this game from a game plan standpoint, Fran? Do you think that this is we lean on our strength and our strength is better than anybody in the league? Or is it a little bit more matchup based? And we think that this can be sort of a bombs away game for AJ Brown. I do think that they are going to try and find those matchups down the field with AJ, Devante, if he's healthy, right?

I think that those will certainly be on the table in the game plan. I don't think the Eagles are going to be bashful about trying to run the football in this game. When I think back to the last few years, not just here under Nixiriani, but really any time, Jeff Stoutland has been building a run game, they have not been bashful about trying to run the ball against defenses that have been really good at stopping the run. There were the back-to-back years where the New Orleans Saints were number one defense and they did it with light boxes and they did, and they proceeded to run for 200 yards. The Jacksonville Jaguars during that.

Hale-Herts his first win, one of those. Yeah, no question. And so you go back year over year. Anytime they've gone up against these really good run defenses, they've done a really good job, number one, putting yards on the board, but more importantly, sticking to the run and coming out early and trying to run the football.

So I don't think that they're going to go into this saying, yeah, we're going to lean more into the past game than in the run. Now, I think there are going to be drives in this game where they do try and run the ball, and maybe they don't have success. And so now you're going to lean into its third and seven, and Jaylon Hertz has got back to play.

But I think overall, I think the Eagles are going to come in and try and see if they can assert their will on the ground. What makes this secondary so ripe for to be exposed? Why are they giving up so many big plays in the passing game? Yeah, I went through and I honestly watched all of their explosives giving up, which took me a while. They were a lot.

And then even obviously spent a lot of time, especially over the last couple months. And I think, look, number one, their starting corner, Brandon Stevens, the right corner. He has struggled for a majority of this year. He has bounced between like nickel and safety. and outside corner over the course of his career since arriving and even going back to his days at SMU. But this year he has struggled. He's given them good snaps in years past, but it has not been a good year for him. A lot of air in the coverage, you know, when they play, you know, they're playing in cover four.

And keep in mind, they didn't just lose their defensive coordinator, Mike McDonald, going to Seattle. But they lost that higher coaching staff, you know, that entire all the assistant coaches got plucked from this team. Zach Gore steps up as the defensive coordinator, but all of the other assistant, Card Wolf goes to Tennessee, you know, just that entire group is all gone. Anthony Weaver goes to Miami, yeah. Yeah, Weaver goes to Miami, replaces Vigfango there. So, you know, it was expected that there was going to be some regression here. And I think you're seeing that.

Roquan Smith has kind of come under fire with some of the inconsistencies he's had in coverage. And I think a lot of it is just, you know, those guys are just not playing as fast. They're not sticking two routes as often. The way I wrote it down was just a lot of air in coverage where they're playing zone. There's just a lot of guys running through open grass. And then also just yards after catch plays underneath, a lot of those catch and run plays where you're just seeing a lot of where that wasn't necessarily ever the film in years past. They've just been a little bit more susceptible to giving up those large gains through the air in that way.

Danes, go ahead. Any thoughts on the passing game? Yeah, Lane Johnson was in the locker room talking about how one difference between this defense and others on films is that the linebackers play tighter to the line of scrimmage compared to other teams. And that could explain part of what Frank. saying about the air and the coverage when they play zone and also about why their numbers against the runner better i mean it's just something that they are you know seem to be prioritizing by alignment and just by philosophy um zach war kind of a random fact

but last time the eagles played in baltimore zach war was a starting inside linebacker for the ravens and he intercepted carson wence on the game's third play i don't know if anyone remembers that but uh that was that's the last time we saw zach or the um Rushing defenses are good, as you said, Bo. The rushing offenses in this game, I'm kind of, you know, talking about both sides of the ball here, are historically good. I mean, if you look back since 2012, the current Eagles rushing attack is second out of 416 offenses in EPA per rush. And the Ravens are fourth. So second and fourth out of 416.

And the first is the 2022 Eagles, by the way. And so, you know, the offense, the rushing attacks are, like, better, you know, in an absolute sense than the rushing defenses are, I think, for both sides. And so, like, to your question about, like, that you asked Fran as well about the, you know, will the Eagles try to run the ball? I don't think the Eagles are afraid to run the ball against, against anybody. Like, you know, stylistically, what makes this Ravens defense good as it is against the run in preventing explosives? Is that just short tackling? Is it because they're playing so close to the line of scrimmage? What do you think?

For me, I mean, I think you're certainly to look at the personnel. Yeah, I think you look at the personnel and those guys do a really good job of playing downhill at the linebacker level. Roquine, while he's had issues in coverage, I mean, he's still really good at those run-throughs and making plays at or behind the line of scrimmage. Malik Harrison, he's got some, some liabilities in coverage. You know, if you can get him isolated, that's something that the Eagles can certainly take advantage of. but he is awesome downhill. To me, as good as any linebacker, you know, playing through contact as you're going to find in the NFL. And then you go to that defensive front.

I mean, Nomdi at Matabike is a force inside. He's really athletic. He's been much better than I anticipated he was going to be coming out of Texas A&M a few years back. I think when you look at how disruptive he can be. But then Travis Jones has really come into his own. He's in his third or fourth year coming out of Yukon. To me, it has been one of the more dominant interior defensive lineman against the run that I've studied so far this year. from an Eagles opponent standpoint.

So when you look at the interior guys up front, paired with the linebackers playing as well, that points to the fact that they've been one of the best run defenses in football. We don't have those interior guys. Go ahead. No, sorry, go ahead. No, I was going to say,

we don't need to relitigate the Jordan Davis pick because we talk about it a lot. No. Because they, you know, it's Kyle Hamilton. But that was the thing at the time, was that not only did they get Kyle Hamilton, they got the next best nose tackle by the pre-draft boards with their second round pick. Do you think there is a big difference in the way that Jordan Davis and Travis Jones play right now, Fran?

I think I think Travis Jones is a better player. I think he's giving you more impact against the run. I think it's pretty equal. Travis Jones plays on third down. Yeah. He plays on third down. He plays on third down, but it's not like he's been like a force. But still, yes, he gives you a little bit more in that area.

they certainly feel that, you know, he can give them a little bit more value there. So I would say, yeah, Trajones is the Bayer right now. Yeah, I was going to say those interior guys, I mean, just usage-wise, Madibuque plays the most. Jones and he are usually the two guys out there the most in Nickel. And then Broderick Washington is the third big body who will come in. And they played some five-man fronts the last couple of weeks. And I didn't want to get fooled by that because I only go back.

I don't go back as far as Brand does, probably with the opponent film. I usually look at the last two games. they've played two teams that play a bunch of 21 personnel in the Steelers and the and the Chargers. And so their base numbers have gone up a little bit. Actually, Kellan Moore in his presser on Wednesday referenced how their base numbers are going up because he was asked about how they play so little base. They're 8% base total for the season, which is 30th. But if you take out like the 21 personnel type stuff, I just looked at against 12 personnel since that's what the Eagles play a lot of. They faced 12 personnel 166 snaps this year and only played base on 21 of them.

That's less than 13%. So that ranks 30th in the league in, you know, how often they line up in base against 12. Only Buffalo and Washington play less. And those teams both essentially play zero base of. And so like it's not like they're, it's not what the guys they're choosing to put on the field that they're prioritizing stopping the run.

I think it's more the thing that, you know, that Lane was saying about the linebackers are just, you know, taking on that thing, which actually was going to, I was going to ask you, Fran, And do you see them as a team that's specifically a good target for play action? Eagles have been using play action a little bit more. Do you think you can suck those linebackers in a little bit more than maybe another team? Yeah, I think honestly, I don't know if it's necessarily like a Raven specific thing.

I think it's more just what I've seen from opposing defenses against the Eagles in recent weeks is that play action has been pretty effective for the Eagles because especially the early downplay action. I mean, that's really where you're not going to see a lot of third down play action. but you know what I mean. It's first and 10. The play action game is really effective for the Eagles. AJ Brown has had a couple of nice completions over the last couple weeks where those linebackers are coming hard downhill and AJ has so much room over the middle to work.

And so I do think that that's something that the Eagles will look to try and see if they can push that button. Honestly, they should push that button a little bit more based off what we've seen off film the last couple weeks. And Danes, they've been the Eagles over the past few weeks have been throwing to the middle of the field a little bit more than they have. A little bit more. I mean, this last game, so True Media defines the middle of the field a little bit more broadly than some of the other services. I know some of them are literally do like between the hashes, which is, which is so those numbers are much smaller. True Media, I think just divides it into thirds of the field, like literally like, you know, like, so the middle of the field is the middle of the field. Weeks one through nine, Jalen Hertz was 31st in the league at throwing to the middle of the field 35%. The last three weeks, it's been 50%, which is around league average or 14th in the league. 61% in the game last week against the Rams. And you see like the throat of Johnny Wilson that drew the pass interference. There was like a couple of inbreakers with AJ running across and in play action.

So we're seeing a little bit more of that than we have been for what it's worth. Very small sample, obviously. Now, Dennis, I'm curious, how do you feel knowing how you feel about Sequin and Barclay, the MVP discussion for, for, the Eagles running back because I have some thoughts here but but I want to hear I want to hear what you think first well listen somebody tweeted at me earlier about how um about how Aaron shots tweeted something about how um you know like like Sequin wasn't going to win MVP because he hasn't faced good enough defenses or something and my answer was like like they asked me like

what I think about MVP and this has nothing to do with Sequin it doesn't even have anything to the football. In team sports, like, I just do not care at all about MVP. Like, like, one of the, one of the reasons I hate the current Sixers, like, generation is because of the whole, like, Joel Embed, MVP thing. Like, it's like, like, I don't care. Like, like, like, as a fan for me, like, MVP's not for me. Like, MVP's for the player. I understand if the player cares, it's cool. Like, if the offensive linemen want to get it for him, that's cool. But, like, as a fan, like, that's not, that doesn't affect me at all. Like, like, I want the team to win. I don't care who wins MEP. I don't care what some random people who are voting whose opinion I probably don't

even respect that much like vote for like yeah I just I just don't I just don't care and of course you would feel a little differently if it wasn't a running back in question but no I really just never care about MEP I didn't care in 2017 with Carson Wence I didn't care in 2022 with Chalen Hertz like I wanted the team to get to do well and I wanted to you know be at the Super Bowl cheering on my team as a fan I don't care about MEP at all. Well, I was a little bit bothered because I saw, I know this is going to guarantee that you ask me about MVP every week, but, but I, but I, but I, I'm going to continue that. Well, I saw Ben Baldwin tweet something like, um, like, like, Sequin MVP people can't be serious.

Like, you really, you really mean to tell me that like he, he, he, he, it would be a bigger drop off to the Eagles offense to their backup running back then if Tua went down. Well, the guy, the guy does, the guy literally runs a website called running backs don't matter. Well, I understand. But it's, but it's, but that's such. That's such Takamami framing. It's such a, it's such a straw man. It's not a, to me, MVP is not about like the biggest delta between your backup in the league at an important position. It is about relative to the replacement level player, the average starter at those positions across the league.

Because otherwise, you're factoring in roster construction. That's not fair. Yes. And then it's about, it's about who is providing the big, biggest, like, adjustment upwards to Super Bowl winning odds. Okay? To me, that's how I would think about it. And so replace Saquan Barclay with Miles Sanders and D'Andre Swift,

and we have seen that this offense would not be as great. Can go to the Super Bowl and almost win it. Yeah, we did see that. Yeah, that's fine. But that's a thought experiment. In this year's offense with Miles Sanders, I don't think that. they would be nine and two. I think that they would be six and five, something like that.

Now you want to tell me, like, do I really think that that Sequin is having a more material effect than if, I don't know, Trevor Lawrence was the chief's quarterback versus Patrick Holmes? Probably not. I do not think that. But I think that's the right way to think about it. And I do think that in this Eagles offense and this specific. season, the way that they have turned their season around by leaning on the run.

Yeah, I think that Sequin absolutely deserves to be in the conversation. And I think that he probably makes a bigger difference to me right now than almost any non-quarterback. Yeah, I mean, look, it was too easy to talk about how this team was just in the Super Bowl with, you know, Miles Sanders. But the, I think both things can be true. And we've talked about how both things are true with Sequan. Like, we've seen Seekwon without the Eagles. And he wasn't making that team win. I mean, like a running back by himself, like can't do that.

And then we've also seen this same offense, almost the same offensive line with Jeff Stoutland, with replacement level running backs, which is what I think Miles Sanders and Dandre Swift were. And the rushing attack was not as explosive. Now, the rushing attack was still good. I mean, the best D.K. The best E.E.P.R.R.

of any team the last 13 years was the 2022 Eagles. Saquan Barkley was not on that team. So it was possible for this rushing attack to be very good with, you know, the quarterback ground stuff combined with all the, you know, the scheme variety that we've seen from Stoutland every year, not just this year. So I don't know. I mean, I really do. I think SACON has benefited more from being on the Eagles than the Eagles have benefited

from having Sakewan. I do think that. I mean, I just honestly think that. That doesn't mean the Eagles haven't benefited from having him. But I think the difference between how good and how valuable Sakewan is between how he was it the Giants is a much bigger difference than how good the Eagles like offense is with and without Sequin. The Eagles offense has been almost the same every year as we went through in terms of efficiency. And it's actually worse by DVOA this year than it has been. I mean, you're just

not going to convince me that Sequan is not the main person who's benefited from this relationship. Well, I think that that is part, that is true that he has probably benefited more than anybody else. But I also think, you know, I thought that Mina Kimes put it well. I don't even, I think it was on Blue Sky the other day about like there is a, there was a difference between adding an elite running back to an already good offense as sort of a multiplying force. Then there is like, Sequin Barkley would not be worth this contract to pick your, your middling team, right? Like a, or to the, or to the giants, which is why it's funny how like, you know, I know, I know the giant it's funny it's it's fun to make fun of the giants but like i mean like he

wouldn't have been worth this much to them i mean he was on the giants like uh the uh derrick henry is a very similar thing right like i mean derrick henry going to the ravens where they have lamar jackson involved in the run game already they have you know a good running game they always have had that um we we see these two guys now i feel like fran is being held hostage right now i'm sure fran has a lot to say about me Well, I'll just have the thumbs up or thumb down on Sequin Berkeley. This is a good time to mention that I tweeted out the chart, and it looks very funny. Like, this game features the four of the top six players in the NFL in EPA per rush on designed runs.

Jalen Hertz is first by a mile, mainly because of the sneaks, obviously. Sequin Berkeley is third, and then Derek Henry is fourth, and Lamar Jackson is sixth, and that's just designed run. So for the top six designed run, you know, most efficient rushers in the league are all going to be involved in this game. And by success rate, Jalen Hertz is first and Lamar Jackson is second out of all players with at least 55 design runs on the sea. So it's going to be awesome. If you're into running the ball and you like watching running, this is going to be, it really is like the two best teams you can watch in the league. All right. Last thing on this side of the ball, Fran, as far as I'm concerned, the Ravens pass rush. We know that Jalen Hertz is a guy who sometimes invites pressure. What are we seeing on that front?

So O'Dope Owe is on a little bit of a heater. He's had three straight games with at least six pressures. And he's been getting to the quarterback consistently. I'm pretty sure he's had sacks in each of those three games, certainly in the last two. Former first round pick out of Penn State, really explosive, really long can be a matchup problem. line them up on both sides. So Lane and Flane Johnson and George Milada will see a little bit of O.A. If Van Ney can't go, like we talked about at the top of the show, like three hours ago, then I think that O way really becomes that clear pass rush threat for the Baltimore Ravens. Now, the Ravens are kind of middle of the pack when it comes to blitz frequency. They, I'd have to look at the numbers, but anecdotally, that did they blitz a little bit less

last week without Roquan Smith. Now, when Roquon's healthy, they do a lot. a lot of really creative things with both he and Kyle Hamilton as part of the past rush. But it's also, this is another big thing. Kyle Hamilton has been playing a lot more recently, more as a deep safety and not as often in the box and in the slot. I mean, there are, there are some games here where he has been their primary slot defender. And that's just not the way that they played the last couple of weeks. He's primarily played from depth as they've been matching pieces in the secondary.

Marlon Humphrey is the primary like regular nickel corner. And that's where the rookie Nate Wiggins comes in, the first round pick out of Clemson. in. Nate Biggins can be had. I'd be throwing double moves with that kid all day. I think that that's an area where the Eagles could try and get some wins down the field. I mentioned some of the issues that Brandon Devenson had. They made the trade for Trudevius White.

And Trudevius White was the start of the season with the Rams was not really good in L.A. And the Rams had issued the second area. As we talked about a week ago, they traded them just because they couldn't find a spot for him. White, basically the way I write it down is you see this with guys late in their career. his legs can't take him where his eyes want to go at this point. And so I think when, you know, he's just kind of lost a step from an injury standpoint. But to me, like one of the things, though, this is one of the things that end, Zach would scoff if he were here.

But this is a game where Ken Jalen hurts, like when, when the light shines on him to where like, it's, hey, it's third and seven, especially like first half of games. We've seen that the, hey, like the Eagles are rushing attack and second half of games has been awesome. And in the first half it had been as good. And, you know, Sequin comes out. And that's where those big runs happen. But second quarter.

early second quarter it's third to seven ravens throw some kind of creative blitz at jaylor hurts like are is jalen hurts going to be able to step up and make those kind of plays with consistency against this defense and uh when i went back and just watched some of their explosive runs the the the Baltimore ravens it was a bunch of scramble there were a handful of scrambles in there and i was like all right is that an area where you know are jaylon heard because jail hurts has been really good he's been nails as a scramp for the majority of the season no they're they're number one in EPA per uh per scramble they're number three in success rate against scrambles They've done a really good job at Corrali mobile quarterbacks.

They've gone against. This matchup is going to be so fun on a number of areas. And I do think it's going to come down to a handful of moments for this game. I think it's going to be a really close one. I don't know how I feel about it yet. I do think I'm going to give the Eagles the edge and probably pick them to win. But I think this is this is going to be a fun game. Yeah.

To follow up on the scramble thing. Go ahead. To follow up on the scramble thing, Jalen Hertz, is the leader in EPA for Scramble in the league this year among quarterbacks with at least 10 scrambles for the season. And it's very funny that Matthew Stafford scrambled so early in the game last week, by the way. He had zero for the season. And then he's like right up there now, one of the highest EPA.

But the caveat on that is that he's like that has not been true for Jalen Hertz. Like in past years where his scramble EPA is very good. He hasn't had very efficient scrambles. But his sack rate also hasn't been the size. I mean, like his sack rate is fourth highest. among 35 qualifying quarterbacks right now, almost 10% sack rate. And scramble, you know, scramble statistics are very, you know, tricky because like when, when, you know, you're going to scramble and you get sat,

like you get stopped short of the line of scrimmage against it, or even at the line of scrimand, it doesn't go against the size. So you almost have to, you almost have to like combine the two together. And so, yeah, just something to, um, isn't that is, is that the, uh, the basis of Wharton Boy? Is that where that came? No, no, that was different. Wharton Boy was different. Yeah. I mean, I know exactly what Wharton Boy was about.

And we can talk about it. Yeah, I thought it was about the survivorship bias of, but maybe not. It was, but it wasn't about Saxon scrambles. Yeah, it was about out of pocket, not out of pocket stuff, but don't get me started on that. You know, my, a good friend of mine, shout out my buddy Cronenberg from Kyle. from college. He sent us a Christmas card last year and addressed it to Wharton Boy, which I appreciate it.

Yeah, that's pretty good. Okay, you know what? You mentioned it, Fran, and an hour and a half into this episode, it probably is time to talk about just like how fun this game is. I mean, you know, we're teasing Super Bowl preview, but like to get an accurate gauge on, are the Eagles Super Bowl contenders, which I mean, they are right now. But like how good are they?

This is as good of a chance as we're going to get to see until mid-January because of the way that the schedule is. A trip to Baltimore, but you've got the one-day rest advantage. And so that sort of evens the scales like this game against a historically really good offense and a defense that presents some interesting problems. I just, I can't wait to see how they respond. And to your point, like Jalen Hertz, this is your time. Like, let's make it happen. And this side of the ball is actually somehow a little bit more interesting to me

because I want to see what the Eagles offense does. Yeah. And the big thing, too, is that, you know, the Ravens, they've allowed 22 pass touchdowns over the course of the season. It's 30th in the league. They're taking a lot of pride. In fact, like, they're hoping that these new combinations of work. They actually have not given up a passing touchdown in the last two weeks.

You know, part of that is the opponent they're going up against. but I do think that they're hoping that some of the changes they've made in the secondary, just in terms of a rotation standpoint. Stevens is getting less run. He's starting to play a little bit more inside and sub package as Trinavius White comes out there. Again, Kyle Hamilton playing more deep. They're not putting Eddie Jackson out there as much. I mean, they're tinkering with things.

They cut Eddie Jackson. They cut Eddie Jackson. He's not on the roster at all anymore. Yeah. There you go. And Marcus Williams doesn't play anymore either. I mean, like, you know, he was playing earlier this season. And now Ardarius Washington is the full-time left safety.

Kyle Hamilton is the full-time right safety. And they also play sides with the corners. So in terms of like whether you want A.J. Brown matched up on Nate Wiggins, you should be able to do that. I mean, he plays exclusively as the left corner with Brandon Stevens playing on the right when they're a nickel. Though it was funny last week, the Rams, for the first time all year, we're moving O'G. Wetherspoon to the other side to get him away from A.J. Brown. Like they did not let him line up against AJ Brown. And so AJ Brown just had to beat Darius Williams instead.

But it was funny how they went against what they normally do with him to make sure that he was not tormented by AJ Brown for like what third year in a row or whatever it would have been. There you go. All right. Let's flip sides of the ball. And let's start this, Danez. I want you to tell us how Vic Fangio with the dolphins last year approached having to defend Lamar Jackson. Oh, yeah, it was, it was bad.

I mean, like, in terms of the way he matched personnel, I'll start with this because Fangio mentioned this in the presser this week. He said, we're probably going to play more base this week. And he did match the Ravens 21 personnel last year with base every single time. The Ravens were in 21. So just to zoom out. This was week 17 last year, Ravens, Dolphins, and the Ravens won that game, 56 to 19.

a 2.5 EPA per drive was like the second or third highest in the league all season in any game. So the Ravens just destroyed the Fangio the Fangio defense in that game. They had a lot of injuries late in the season, you'll remember. They went into that playoff

game with like half the roster missing on defense. So that was part of it. But Ravens do play 21 personnel, third most in the league, 21%. In terms of 12 personnel, they kind of matched some nickel, some some base in that game, but nothing worked.

I mean, I went back and looked at a little bit of it. They were going back and forth between zone and man, they played cover three. They played cover six. They played cover one. They tried blitzing. They tried exchanging. None of it worked. I mean, Lamar Jackson was 18.

And probably already given up on Vic Fangio at that point. I think so. Yeah. It's very possible. 18 for 21 for 321 yards and five touchdowns for Lamar Jackson in that game. And they're just explosives. Right. I think what, Flowers got like a 75-yard touchdown.

It was just a just complete just a nightmare. I mean, Fangio was asked about it in the suppressor this week, and he said, thanks for reminding me. But, but yeah, I mean, I mean, I don't know if there's anything to take out of that. I mean, nothing he tried worked. And so, you know, I don't know what else there is to try either. I mean, he tried everything and none of it worked. So he has better players this year.

All right. Fran, this is the best offense. football by the numbers? Why is Lamar Jackson playing at a level that is even higher than he's played in the past or how? Yeah. I mean, you're talking about a guy that's two-time VP. And for me, I mean, just looking at the numbers, he's got the best pressure of sack rate of his career. He's got the best turnover worthy play rate of his career, best adjusted completion percentage of his career, longest time in the box of his career. And the reason why I look at that number, that's from next gen stats. And that's looking at how long, basically, how long a court hangs in the pocket to be able to

And we think of Lamar as kind of like run around and make plays. And he is not doing, I mean, he is doing such a good job at letting the offense play for him and take what's available. One of the stats I really love so far for just from watching them, Jackson is, he leads the NFL 16 downfield passing touchdown. So that's 10 plus, which is not even that far down. But he leads the NFL in those downfield throws. He's also doing that while having the best yards for catch percentage of his career. Like over 50% of his yards come after the catch. He's throwing into tight windows at the second lowest rate amongst NFL starters right now.

He's been excellent against the Blitz. He hasn't thrown an interception when pressured. And also, like, all the run game stuff is still there. Like, he put on weight the last couple of years to, like, you know, add body armor to withstand hits more. He came into this year, and that was a storyline this summer was, like, him losing weight. He's got 16 explosive runs on non-scrambles this year. So, like, design runs. He's got 16 of them explosive.

Anthony Richard is, Richardson is next in that list with eight. you know and they do a lot of different things with them in the run game and so that's when I look at this offense right now I mean they're number one in explosive pass they're number two an explosive run rate real quick just looking at their number yeah number two explosive rate number one an explosive pass rate

so they can beat you with the big plays but they're also like when you look at like success rate and just the way that this team is built it's a big physical football team if you're going to go and have a rock fight like the Chargers did last week like yeah they're going to beat you that way or if you want to get into a showdown like how the Cincinnati Bengals did a few years ago.

They'll beat you that way, too. This team is very impressive with the way that they're built offensively. Lamar is playing an extremely high level. Derek Henry is Derek Henry. That offensive line, like, has looked a little shaky at the start of the year, but they've really started to come around. This is, I mean, that's the biggest test yet for Vic Fangio's group, a question.

What do you think he's going to do? Well, I think that it's, look, it's two phases, right? And it always is when you're going up against a quarterback, like Lamar Jackson. I think you're looking at from a past game standpoint, not even counting against the road and Derek Henry, but from a past game standpoint, what we saw them do against Jaden Daniels

and how are they going to try and contain him was they didn't anything special from, there was like a little bit of contain rushing, but overall, like on the back end, like they just played their basic zone coverages and they said, we're going to out execute you on the back end. I think that's probably what they,

what they'll lean into doing here in this game. I don't think that they'll change that up. I don't think I wouldn't expect like, oh, yeah, they're going to use Zach Bonas as a spy. You know, I thought, I wondered if they'd use more dime with Sidney Brown being a spy in that Washington game. Like they didn't do that once. You know, I think they're going to come out and they're just going to play the way they're going to throw that out first and see how that goes. And then maybe they get into their counters later. I think the bigger thing is that early downs against the run.

This is, like in this game, this is where they miss Brandon Graham is you need those edge guys to reset the line of scrimmage and not let Derek Henry. get rolling. Danes referenced that game against the Titans a couple years ago. And I remember from that game, the knockback at the line of scrimmage at the snap of the ball that Fletcher Cox, that entire group and Hargrave and those defensive ends did such a good job at resetting the line of scrimmage. If you can get Derek Henry to stop his feet, don't build up that momentum. That is a winning formula for defense going up against him. All of his best runs are he's not Sequan where he's loosened the hole and he's going to jump cut and he's going to do this. He's a, he's a, he's a, he's a, he's a, he's a,

a runaway train off the track. So if you're all of his best runs, it's like stretch zone to the perimeter where maybe it's uncut and get downhill or it's he's lined up like eight or nine yards in the backfield and they're running power lead right up the shoot. And he's just going to carry that forward moment downhill. And so what you need from the front is that they've got to get knocked back. They've got to make him stop his feet and they don't want to let him get going. So this is going to be on those defensive linemen inside to really make sure that you're knocking, you're knocking back those offensive linemen on contact and really kind of prevent Henry from getting going. And then you get into the second phase of the down. And that's the lift of defending

Lamar Jackson because he's still excellent at making that first man miss and creating his legs. And whether it's through scrambles, which he still does well, or whether it's him throwing on the run, he's created so many explosives this year in the second phase like late in the down, finding Rashad Bateman downfield, finding Zay Flowers downfield, finding Nelson Agalore downfield. And that's something that the Eagles, you're going to have to plaster coverage, you're going to have to make sure that those guys in the back end hold up. I do think that you can kind of rough up these receivers. I think that that's an area where the Eagles could find some success.

I think Zayflower struggles consistently playing through contact. I can get under his skin a little bit. Bateman is a little bit better at doing it, but he's not a guy that I think you're necessarily worried about like burning you and out-athleting you. He's a really skilled player. But to me, like I think that could be an area where the Eagles try and rough guys make them play through contact and just kind of take away those windows from Lamar Jackson.

I talk about how often he's been throwing into those light windows and with guys, a lot of space around him. Don't give him that space to operate. Make sure the defensive line is containing. And you just have to, you have to steal possessions the best way you can. You know what I'm very curious about is when they're in base in this game where they're going to have to play base a little bit more, do they keep Dijian on the field and pull, pull Isaiah Rogers off, assuming that Darius, is not going to play.

I wonder, Dana, what are your thoughts there? Because to me, like, I wonder if there's where you see a lot of the penny, where it's, it's maybe they play with some of those, those five-man fronts. Nicopi Dean is your stacked backer, and they still play with the nickel personnel behind it. And that's why I submitted the Milton Williams play, because I kind of wonder if that's the way that they go about it where they get the best of both worlds. Yeah, I think, I think that's possible. I'm really, I'm really curious about the distinction between 21 and 12, like,

in Fangio's mind, like the Ravens are going to play, likely to play more 21 than 12, at least like that's how they've been playing recently. For the season, there are 12s actually a little bit more than 21. But looking back at that, just because, Fran, you were talking about Derek Henry, looking back at that Titans game, just looking at my notes from that, most of those runs were 12 personnel. A lot of them were using a tight end as a fullback, though. I don't remember who the guy was, but it was like a guy in the Titans playing,

basically lining up as a fullback, and the Eagles were in base against all of those. That was like, you know, if you're going to go back to that, obviously that was, you know, that was Gannon and it was a different defense. But in terms of the way they're going to match and the penny thing, technically the Eagles have not played any snaps this year of what we used to call penny. Like, you know, they played so much like under Gannon and decide. The Eagles have zero snaps of like actual penny where there's like three, you know, two defensive ends, three defensive tackles and then just one linebacker and then nickel behind it. but if we consider Zach Bonn as a defensive end on those plays, and if you're calling that penny, then, you know,

that's something that they have done, 33 times total on the season. So it's not like it's not like it's been like a huge amount. But I think I agree with Fran that we were more likely to see that. Yeah. More than we are to, like I think we'll see more of that than we'll see base, like actual base. Like I just,

I agree. Like he does not want to take Cooper to Gene off the field. We talked about this last. last week how how you know the amount that he's matching 12 like heavy personnel in general with base is the lowest of his career fan geo I mean he's never like played this much nickel um since cooper de jean's been playing i i really think he wants him out there like a lot of the short yardage type of stuff they do like backs coming out of the backfield things like that like uh i i really think he wants him out there yeah i think that's right i think he has no interest in taking cooper de jean

off the field. What do we expect weakness-wise with this offensive line? And if, you know, can Josh Sweat get home? I know that Roger Rosengarten, the rookie right tackle has been a little bit up and down of late. Nolan Smith, can he get, I mean, you know, would be a heck of a time for Jalick's hunt to sort of introduce himself to Eagles fans. Yeah, I mean, I think when you look at Rosengarten, a really light feat started the season as a backup, but then it was pretty clear that he gave them the most upside in terms of pass protection. Now, the area where you're seeing him lose right now, from a technical standpoint with his hands and from a natural, like, play strength,

anchor standpoint, guys that can get inside his pads and push him backwards. So this would have been an area where like, all right, BG would have been really good in that area because the BG will test that. Josh Sweat, like the only time we've, Dana, like, he obviously had the sack coming off the right tackle last week, which was just, that might be the first. time he's gotten a pressure as the left end in a pure like a rust situation like that this season my that would be my guess like that's anecdotal that would be my guess game ending sack against the cowboys from last year right right going back to me like um you know the only other time

or i think we would see him over right tackle would be in those you know quote unquote penny looks where you've got the three defensive tackles on the field and then you put sweat over that side otherwise he's going to be mostly going up against ronnie stanley who's played better this year than what we've seen from him the last couple years. He looks healthier and back to more of his normal self. Nolan Smith has won with power at times. I do think he could test that, but I think you want,

they're going to need somebody to try and step up and make that kind of play. Who's going to be ready to do that is going to be certain for the big questions going into this game. I don't expect that like, oh, Milton Leo, put Milton Williams over there in the penny and then he's going to beat Roger Rosigarten for a quick win. Like I don't necessarily think that's the answer.

It's a good matchup. One thing I noted was talking about the Eagles edge defenders here, they've been trying, they've been doing a lot of like very basic zone read, the Ravens. And last week, Fran, I'm sure you noticed this as well. I thought, I counted three times when I thought Lamar made the wrong read and he kept it. And he immediately got tackled by the, by the Reed guy. I'm wondering if there's something that, like in terms of the, you know, the less experienced eddrushers on the Eagles, especially with Nolan Smith and Jay Lexon.

And also Josh Sweed, who we know can get nosy at times and can be the victim of those reeds. If you think that's something, they'll try a lot, especially when they have the tight end, like, as an arc blocker for the quarterback. So he's gotten so many. I talk about those explosive runs from Lamar, and he's gotten, I think it was 16 total runs. My guess is like eight or nine of them came from exactly what you just described, the zone read with the tight end coming across the formation and kind of releasing out into the flat as the lead blocker. and Lamar keeping it and just running behind that guy and getting out to the outside. So I think when you look at those guys off the edge, I think Nolan has been pretty good at kind of riding that wave there

and being able to play both and different. But Josh Sweat, as you mentioned, can get nosy at times. And then, I mean, you're putting a lot on the rookie, you know, on J-Lex Hunt in those situations. It's not his. Is it Jack Bond? Is it Josh or is it Charles Harris, Chuck Harris? I think that's going to be something.

I wonder how early the game, the Ravens try and push that button. What's your guys? Ravens just general confidence level. I mean, it's hard not to be confident in the defense, but against this offense. How do you feel, DeNus? I mean, I'm so, so excited about this game, like, on both sides of the ball,

but I'm especially just, like, so happy that we can be looking at an offense on the opponent. That's not only the best in the league, but that's, like, one of the best ever. If you look at, like, DVOA and things. like that. They're plus 36 DVOA, which is, uh, Sheel was talking about this earlier this week. Like it was like the gap between them and the second place is the same as the gap between second and 15th or something like that. And when you look at it in, in history, they're one of the best like offenses ever in terms of of their efficiency numbers. Um, I'm so happy that the Eagles are

playing against the team like this. And I'm not thinking like, oh no. Like it's like this is, this has to be a shootout. This is going to be the only way that we, uh, you know, that, that, you know, that, can win this game like like it's not that way at all i think it's good on good it's going to be awesome to see what fan geo and this this defense which has been playing elite um i i think maybe the best if not the second best defense in the league since the buy um i'm very confident i think it's going to be an awesome game i think the eagles are going to be in it and and and i think yeah i think it's going to be a win honestly but um yeah i kind of think that before every game but but i'm not i'm not afraid of the of the of that side of the ball ravens by the way i need to

to talk about early downs. I mean, they're first in the league at getting first downs on first down by a mile. They're best in the league at not needing third down by a mile as well. They're best in the league at converting overall. I mean, they're just best at every step. So they're like the ace student who does well on like the actual test when they do need to take the makeup test, the ace does well. I mean, they're just good at every, you know, every single like metric. They're like top three, it seems in the league. And yes, and then that's the fight starting with one of the worst field position, average field position in the league as well. So because their defense hasn't been getting them the ball back in good situation.

So they've just been, they've just been awesome. How about you, friends? Two bad kickers in this game, by the way. Two bottom 10 kickers. What do you guys think of that? Wouldn't not have expected that coming in. That's all I was going to say. No, I don't think so.

And a father's son head to head too with Tyler Brown and Randy. Yes. Oh, yeah. Speaking of the kicking game. And his, Tyler's sister. Randy's daughter, I believe singing the national anthem as she did at the preseason game a couple years ago. Oh, I didn't know that. That's cool. Yeah. I mean, this is awesome. It's going to be a really fun matchup. That's, Bo, you mentioned, like, you look through the rest of the schedule and there's not

one of these other games. You're like, you know, it's going to be tough to get up for a lot of Steelers game will be good. But, you know, yeah. Yeah. The other ones aren't going to have a ton of juice. You know, I, I force myself to watch that thing, the game between the Cowboys and the Giants yesterday. I've watched a Panthe today and a little bit last night. You know, there's not, there's not a, there's not a ton to get overall, overall juiced about with these opponents. So this is going to be a playoff type maposphere. I mentioned to the very top, like a potential Super Bowl preview.

You know, my notes on the Ravens are up on all p.hly.com. And it, as it is every week, it's color coded, right? So it's blue for positive. If from a number standpoint, if a team ranks in the top eight in any given metric, it's colored blue. If it's in the bottom eight in any metric. bottom quarter of any metrics in red. It's a lot of blue with this Ravens offense. I mean, number one in EPA per play, number one DVOA, number one in series conversion rate, number one in

Red Zone touchdown percentage. Like you go straight down. I mean, they are number one, number two, number three and so many of these pivotal categories. And I talk schematically, you know, and roster construction wise, why they are as good as they are. This is an awesome test. And I think it also, like, there's a little bit of reassertance on my end too. Dana is you've done such a great job with like the tiebreakers and what it means from a playoff standpoint. Like, if the Eagles are going to lose any of these games, like this game, when the paper game are the ones where it's like, okay, like things are still okay,

that you lose this game. Obviously, it would have been, you'd feel a lot better about it if the Chicago had found it to get that W yesterday. But the fact that they didn't now, it almost, to me, like, almost like takes a little bit of that pressure off because it makes them even harder to catch. But that's besides the one I guess. Well, I mean, if they lose next week to Green Bay, that's all the Eagles need.

And so that's the main thing that I've been kind of, um, focused on with that is that if they lose to Green Bay, that's the Eagles would then control the one seat, like would have to win, win out, obviously, if they don't lose any other games. But that, if they lose to Green Bay, what that does is it makes it so the Eagles wouldn't need any other help, but also if they lose to Buffalo the week after that, let's say, you know, the Eagles could then afford to lose one of these AFC games, like, you know, whether it's this one or the Steelers game. That would cancel out with the Ravens,

with the bills loss for Detroit, and that Green Bay game would still give the Eagles the one seed. So, but yeah, what a reminder yesterday, by the way, that two things that I thought about. One is the worst feeling as a fan when you're actually in contention

for the one seat or something good is when you're rooting for these incompetent teams to beat like another good team. Like rooting for the bears against the lions down the stretch yesterday. It was just like so painful. Like the incompetence, And like, you're just like, you need the incompetent team to beat the good team. Like, that's how, you know, those things always work. And that was really frustrating.

And the other thing is, I mean, if we thought Nick Siriani was bad at managing end of, end-of-hav scenarios, I mean, that was, I've never seen anything like that. I've just never. Well, yes, you say that, but that comes, that is an important factor in this game is this, this should be a close game against a very good team with high stakes. Nick Siriani needs to be on his P's and Q's and have everything buttoned up and not be on tilt on the sideline and running the game situation stuff as it needs to be to be run because John Harbaugh is going to do a good job there. Like Nick needs to not be a negative there in this game.

For sure. That's all. The Ravens have been interesting, like five years ago or four years ago whenever they were getting all that, you know, all that press about that. year that sheel was a raven's reporter stole shield's uh right right yeah yeah and didn't give credit and then they had the guy for only lost his job because that's how good shield is at uh at vengeance since then they have not been quite as analytically forward i think shield was roommates that year with that guy from yale that the raven's hired um you know to tell harbaud to go for it um and

and i don't know what happened to that guy but but they had a bunch of years in a row where they were kind of middle of the pack and going for it they were actually making some disappointing. Just to answer that, my understanding is he is now on the coaching side, not on the, not in the game management. Okay. Well, I mean, whatever it is, I mean, like, their personality as a go-for-a-team, like, was not nearly as pronounced the last couple of seasons.

But this year, they're kind of back to going forward a little more. And, you know, last week's game was a good example of how much you can benefit from going forward. And there were three different situations where they went for it that a lot of coaches would not have. And of course, you know, it helped that they converted them all. But yeah. Yes. All right. Does anybody have anything else they want to get off their chest? Because we're going to be here for another three hours just to make sure that is going to win that swooper. Yeah. I mean, we talked about I'm just like going through my notes.

I've got plenty here. We can stretch it as that. I don't think we have enough to get you to get you to that swooper win there, though. That's the only thing. Well, no, no, just honestly, if there's anything else that you think needs to be said? Well, one thing I wanted to mention was that 1997, so the Eagles have never won in Baltimore. And the game in 1997 was the only time that they didn't lose. And I'm very proud that I was there for that game. I was in college, and we drove up to Baltimore from UVA.

And it was Bobby Hoying, I think, in his maybe second start, playing at Memorial Stadium, the old Memorial Stadium, and that game ended in a 10-10 tie. And a lot of people were very confused in the stance. I mean, it was like everyone was Donovan McNabb because there had not been a tie in the NFL in eight seasons at the time. And so this was back when it was like a full 15 minutes, you know, sudden death. So it was like less likely.

And I just remember, and we always like reference this and like do this chant. like on the way out of the stadium, my entire section, like where I was sitting, was chanting, they suck, we suck. They suck. We suck.

It was one of the greatest chance I've ever heard of it. It was great. And it was true. Well, I actually do have one thing that I thought was interesting. So when I was going through and just talking about the, we're reverting back to the Baltimore secondary and the issues in terms of giving up big plays, okay?

So they have faced more downfield throws than any team in the NFL, any defense in the NFL 168, 125. So like pretty well ahead in terms of how often teams are testing them downfield. Now they've given up the most catches, but they're 22nd in completion rate, 22nd in completion rate, 10th and expected completion rate. So basically like teams are dunking on the,

like the receivers are like these like low probability catches on them. They've gone against Jamar Chase twice. And he's made some of those crazy highlight throws down the field. But a lot of those like big is down. field now it just so happens that like that's an area where jlin hurts and a j brown and devante smith have uh always like outshined their peers and so uh just ask it it feels like that's also that has a little something to do with cornerback quality right like you know expected the expected completion percentages against the average corner but if you have sub average corners yeah i mean i i

you've done more into like the expectation stuff i think in the past like uh than maybe i have i don't i don't i don't think of that as something that's like overly sticky though right Like, would you, like, look at that and say, like, oh, that that's something you would, you can, like, consistently count on from that standpoint? Like the quality of the corners affecting? Yes, exactly. To say, like, that that would be a metric. I think, I don't think the model knows, the model doesn't know who the players are.

Right. Right. Right. Yeah. That's what you're saying, right? I mean, that's what I'm saying. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. And then, I mean, the other thing is with the explosive plays given up, when this is the team that's third in the NFL and Sacks and first in quarterback hits. So this is a group that knows how to get after the quarterback. Yeah, in terms of that metric that Jalen Hertz is still by by far number one in the league and completed completion percentage over expected. Lamar Jackson's all the way down at 21st and that speaks to what Fran was saying earlier. I mean, like whether it be by scheme or he's just making the right decision or whatever it is, he's not throwing into as tight windows. And so even though his completion percentage is very high, it's right at expectation.

It's like 0.1% above expectation. And people might think of that as like a negative like oh like that's a you know the Lamarjack is not doing anything like that's where like Mahomes Josh Allen like those guys are down there you know in terms of like finding those those guys the guys that are open you know and that some of that is by scheme too is you know teams giving those guys some of those easy answers. Yeah, Mahomes always has like one of the highest expected completion percentages in the league. And I'm like he tries easier throws than than anybody else. Yep. All right. I think that will do it for this episode of the PHOMI Eagles podcast. Lots of information and lots more to come this weekend.

Of course, we have the watch party at Garage and Fishtown on Sunday. We've got the kickoff show. We've got that halftime show. We've got the post game show with Fran Duffy, Jamie Lynch, myself, and Super Bowl champion Vinnie Curry. What a game we expect it to be. We will learn a lot about this. Eagles team, probably the best game of the regular season as far as the Eagles are concerned.

So we're looking forward to that. Thanks to everybody for sticking around this late. We appreciate it. I hope everybody had a good, happy Thanksgiving. Check out the store on AllSity.com. Get your Black Friday deals. Get your diehard membership, all that good stuff. And we will talk to you on Sunday for Zach and Danes and Fran and Julia.

We appreciate everybody sticking with us. We will talk to you on Sunday. always we love.