PHLY Philadelphia Eagles Podcast - Philadelphia Eagles Kickoff: Saquon Barkley ready to run Eagles to NFC Championship victory

Episode Date: January 26, 2025

Super Bowl, here the Philadelphia Eagles come. Jalen Hurts, Saquon Barkley, A.J. Brown, DeVonta Smith, Dallas Goedert, Lane Johnson and Jordan Mailata are ready to take on a Commanders defense worse than any they’ve faced this postseason. On defense, it’s up to Jalen Carter, Nolan Smith, Milton Williams, Zack Baun, C.J. Gardner-Johnson and Darius Slay to slow down Jayden Daniels for Vic Fangio’s top-ranked defense. The whole season has been leading up to this.Join our PHLY Eagles crew for the NFC Championship kickoff show, with word from the LINC as Zach Berman tells us about Cam Jurgens’ status, the vibe of the crowd and much more. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hello and happy NFC Championship Sunday to all out there. This is the P HLY Eagles podcast. And of course, we are brought to you by our friends at Bet365 and TrueMark Financial. At Bet365, download the Bet365 app. Use code PHLY365 when you sign up. And whatever the moments, it's never ordinary at Bet365. And of TrueMark. dot com slash compare for full details and to apply today.

True Mark Financial federally insured by the NCUA Equal Opportunity Lender. Jamie Lynch, Rich Hoffman here. We're going to be joining a little bit here by Fran Duffy and then Zach Berman and then Rich. It's going to be an emotional roller coaster at 3 o'clock as for the, what is it, the third time in seven years. The Eagles are playing in an NFC championship game. Don't take it for granted, man.

No, it's great. I mean, they are the gold standard. They got mocked a long time ago for saying that, but they truly are. How are you feeling on this NFC championship Sunday? I think it's fitting that we start our day before we get to the professionals, ran down at the Shrine Bowl, the Stone Cold Newsman down at the stadium, that you have the two fans here right now that are, and we got Julia. Julia pacing the offices telling me about all the steps she took the other day in the fourth quarter.

Yeah, James, I mean, I'm excited, I'm nervous, I'm all of these things at the same time. I guess I go back to, if you told me at the beginning of the playoffs, absolutely. That it was Washington at home for a trip to the Super Bowl. I'd feel pretty good about that, right? It seems like a very winnable game. I am not oblivious to how that quarterback is playing. They just go through stretches this team, the Washington team, where they don't punt.

But this is a good spot. This is a very winnable game. And the Eagles have an excellent chance to go to the Super Bowl. I am a little worried that the Hard Rock has fallen. Yeah, yeah. Shout out to the Hard Rock. Cafe. It went down last night to those 47 commanders fans that took over the place. So it had a good run, but, you know, everything comes to an end.

I drove by it. It was like burned down to really one of our city's great landmarks has fallen. Where I always go to watch every Eagles pre and post game. Everybody's local favorite haunt to go to. To everybody in the chat, hello, happy Sunday to all of you. Would love to hear your predictions for the game. I see a lot of confidence. Our man, Real Prince. I saw a couple 34-24s. Let's get a little thumbs-up action. Let me, 49 to 6, Lord Poopingson in the house.

Love it. 31-17 from Derek. Love it. Let us know your predictions for the game and how you're feeling. Let's do a little temperature check in the chat. Now, Rich, let's fast forward to the victory post-game show. It's going to be me, you, not Fran. He may be joining virtually, but Vinnie Curry and Bo-Wolf.

And we're going to be handed out the Xfinity Game Ball. The Xfinity Game Ball is proudly brought to you. by our friends at Xfinity Mobile, join the millions who have switched to one of the fastest growing mobile services. I myself have switched. It's delightful. If we are handing out the Xfinity game ball,

the big news of the day, obviously, is that Senator Cam Juergens is not going to be playing in this game due to the back. Does that affect the running game? Are we handing it to Sequin? Are we handing it to Jalen? Is this a Jalen Carter type of game?

Who is Riches' Xfinity Game Ball in the post game show? I'm going to go to the injury on the other office. defensive line to give out that game ball. And that is Sam Cosby, the commander's right guard being out. I think they're going to have to double Jalen Carter the whole game, Jamie. And that means the left side of the Eagles defensive line, they got to eat, right? And I'm looking at Milton Williams. I'm looking at Morrow Adjomo. And I am looking at Josh Swet. They're going to get their one-on-ones. Good players for

Washington. They have Brandon Coleman, who's, you know, who has settled in a little bit as the year has gone on. Nick Aligretti is the left guard. Those guys have to win their one-on-one. because Jalen Carter is going to have two guys on him. Yes, I think they will. Let me correct my phrasing of that because Bo Wolf in the chat pointed it out. Cam Jurgens is active, not expected to start. Yeah, pretty weird sits, right? I guess he's the emergency if things go poorly, which I got to be honest,

and we're going to talk to Fran Duffy here in a second about that. Maybe it's implicit trust in Jeff Stoutland, but Tyler Steen, this is a guy who's been prepared for two years. My guy, Tyler, yeah, to get. time for Tyler today. And Landon Dickerson, I have complete trust in switching over to center. He said this week in practice, it's like riding a bike. So hopefully that's the case. I'm actually going to go out and say that Jalen Hertz is going to get the Xfinity game ball. I think he's going to have a game today where he shut some people up. Did you see how he was looking going into the stadium? Yeah. He really thinks it's the 90s, man. He really did have quite the outfit on.

but we'll be talking here with Fran Duffy momentarily live from Dallas at the Shrine Bowl. Julia, is he with us? All right. Let's bring them in. Let's get to some X and O talk with one of the best in the business. Live from Dallas, Texas at the Shrine Bowl, it wouldn't be a pregame show, Fran. If you weren't here, I wanted this to be a jinx free pregame show. So we had to get you in.

How you feeling on Championship Sunday? I'm feeling good, guys. Definitely a little bit of FOMO, not being. in the city for the game, but obviously following from afar, talking to a lot of people about the game since I've been down here. Most people expect that the Eagles are going to win this one. And basically every conversation is couched with, you know, the Eagles are better in every, basically in every position.

It's like, but Jayden Daniels, but Jayden Daniels. So I think everybody recognizes that he's the X factor, but it's about shutting him down here in this football game. So, Fran, I just asked Rich, who's going to get the Xfinity game ball if we're doing a victory post-game show here. If the Eagles are doing the victory post-game show, who's getting Fran Duffy's Xfinity game ball at the end? Yeah, my guess is that it would be Sequin Barclay, right? That would be the chalk answer. I think he has been the engine that has made this team go for the majority of this year and going up against the defense that, yeah, look, the Eagles are missing Cam Juergens. He's not going to

start in this game, it looks like, but they're missing Duran Payne, who's a really good player on that defensive interior. So I think when you look at a defense that has already been struggling to stop the run, we saw what Detroit did to them when they were healthy last week. I think there's a lot of reasons to think that Sequin Barkley, the Seagull's rushing attack should be able to replicate that here in this football game. Fran, let's talk about the injury for the Eagles that everybody is talking about. Cam Juergens active but not starting. So maybe he'll be used in an emergency role.

But it does seem like Landon Dickerson will move over to center where he played at Alabama. And Tyler Steen steps in it left guard. now I would probably think the Eagles knew that this was at least a good chance of coming all week. And, you know, Tyler Steen has played not at left guard. I feel like he's been at right guard a lot for the Eagles. I guess with Jeff Stoutland, what do you think the adjustments are here for the offensive line, having to move two guys to different spots here? Yeah, I think the big thing, Rich, is that when you look at the areas where Washington has been gashed on the ground,

it's been a lot of those perimeter runs. That is where they have really struggled. that's where Cam Juergens is a weapon for this Eagles offense is when he is a puller, he's out in front on those outside runs, on those pin pull sweeps. So that is something to watch certainly. And maybe I'm speaking a little bit out of both sides of my mouth here. I've just talked about how, you know, Sequin is going to be the engine that makes this group go. But not having Cam Juergens, I do think that that changes something schematically on what

the Eagles can do in the run game, just because Landon Dickerson is not that level of athlete. And so will they need to get creative? Is it more that they try and lean more into Steen out? in front, you know, as that polar, he's got the ability to do that. So that would just change up some of the blocking assignments up front. But I do think the Eagles are still able to try and move the football on the ground. I think when you look at the past game standpoint, you know, Jalen Hurks has been responsible for the protection schemes here this season.

Landon Dickerson is one of the sharper minds along that offensive line. He is a guy that has kind of taken on a lot of that mental load as far as that group is concerned. you can often see him before the snap being a very active participant in pointing things out beforehand. So I think that there shouldn't be too much of a drop off there from a mental standpoint and getting all those guys lined up. But more in the run game, what they do structurally, that could change, you know, what the game plan is here without Cam Durgan's. So, Fran, on the command. Oh, well, apparently we have a special guest.

Joining from the Hard Rock Cafe. It stands. It is still there. Bo Wolf at the live on the street at the Hard Rock. What's up, Bo? You would not believe in the scene here, guys. It's madness. There are heads decapitated.

It's really, I'm big. Are you safe? Is everything okay there? Yes, the Eagles and Actives have arrived to help the barricade situation. Trevor Keegan, Darren Kinnard. They're all here with guns blazes and to make sure that the hard rock will be here when this game is going. Bo, after everything, Josh Harris has already put Market Street in that area through, when is enough enough? When he said that he was going to revitalize the economic situation at Market East, what he meant was that he was going to send 70 people to buy drinks at a hard rock cafe.

Bo, what do you make? It's the perfect thing. I didn't say it's, I've never seen anything like it. It's, it's so funny. And it is, you know what is great, is that it would track that people from the D.C. area would think that a national chain constitutes local culture. Very funny stuff. I've been dying at those videos. The guy is acting like he stormed the beaches of Normandy, and he's at the hard rack cafe on Market Street. Just gold. It's so funny. I love it. All right, so while we have you here, what do you make of Cam Juergens being active and presumably not?

starting. Yeah, it's interesting. Now I will let I will let Zach give you the full rounddown when he goes, but I was watching as Juergens was going through warmups, you know, with Jeff Stoutland and Howard Rosman walks over and they have a conversation. They talk, Jurgens walks off. Notable that it's that it's howe Rosman was there and not Nick Siriani, which is what you would expect, but at least worth mentioning. I do think that part of this is that Jurgens didn't practice all week, really, right? And so, So the things that Brian was talking about, about some of the different things in the running game,

I think there's part of, you know, we put the game plan together thinking that he wasn't going to play. That's part of it. It's interesting that he's active, obviously, because, you know,

if Dickerson goes down, I guess he'll be ready to go in. It's curious. Like, I'm kind of think of another position where, like, aside for maybe Mackay Beckton, like the starter is healthy enough to be a backup,

but not healthy enough to play for a guy who was like a pro bowler. It's kind of odd. But I also don't think that it's the wrong decision. I think, you know, if you're also thinking beyond just this game, this is a really interesting game from an offseason playing perspective because if Tyler Steen does the job today, then you probably feel good letting Mackay Beckton walk in the off season if it's necessary. And on the other side of the line,

we have a couple of people in the chat that want to know, I guess both of your opinions on this. Are the Eagles going to be able to execute tush pushes today? You think that's something above Tyler Steen and Landon Dickerson's not skill level? but just muscle memory, haven't done it much level. Yeah, I mean, I think you would think that they would be able to do it better because Dickerson are powerful. Yeah.

But, yeah, they don't have actual reps running it live. And so that would be the concern for sure. It's going to be an interesting day, Bo, before we let you go and get to Mr. Berman. What is your, we don't get to do this with you often. What's your prediction here today? You know what? I was on the fence and then the hard rock thing happened. I think the ones went by 20 points.

And somebody in the chat wants to know, Bo, is it hard rock or is it rock hard? On that note, I will let you guys go. There is Mr. Bo Wolf. He'll be joining us for halftime and the post game. Fran, from an X&O standpoint here, the commanders obviously have a big loss with Sam Cosmy at right guard. Just happens to be the spot that Jalen Carter lines up the majority of the time. Is this a game where you think?

think Jalen Carter can go out and dominate? Or is this a guy, as Rich pointed out, where Milton Williams and a Joe Mo and Josh sweat from the other side, because there's going to be so much focus on Carter, can kind of take this over. How do you see this playing out? Yeah, I mean, I guess it remains to be seen. There's been no confirmation about who the starting right guard is going to be for Washington, regardless of who it is, whether that's Andrew Riley kicking inside, their right tackle kicking into guard, or if it is going to be Trent Scott, that player's not going to be able to block Jalen Carter one-on-one, the way that Sam Cosmy was able to do over the majority of the last two matchups.

So I think that either way, Washington is going to have to divert extra resources to block Carter more often than not. It'll be similar to what the Rams did last week where they were doubling them on over 50% of the snaps. What that means then, Milton Williams, Nolan Smith, Jeff's across the board, Jordan Davis, you look at all of these guys, Josh Sweat, they have got to win those one-on-one.

Morrow and Jumma, like if you get those opportunities to win one-on-one, you have to, win your one-on-one's run game and pass game. If they're able to do that, it'll go a long way towards a win. Fran, another thing that you mentioned in your piece earlier this week is that Jaden Daniels is really good at scrambling, but he's also really good at scrambling to his right.

He pretty much goes to his right at all times. Is there anything that the defense can do to take that away? I mean, I'm also thinking because Jalen Carter is going to have basically two guys sliding to him in that direction for most of the game as well. Is there anything that the Eagles can do, or is it just like be disciplined in your rush lands all that good stuff. Yeah, there's a few things that you typically try and mix it up, right? One aspect, too, is that you want to make sure that you're always keeping. If you are the edge

rusher, so if you are Nolan Smith in particular, you want to make sure you're always keeping him on your inside shoulder. Don't make sure that you don't get too deep in the pocket and give him that escape patch to be able to get out towards the outside. That's if you're not, if it's just a four-man rush, you want to make sure whoever that is on the left side is really holding that edge and keeping him constrained in the pocket. There are other times, though, we are trying to set a trap for him. And that might mean that you're going to spike Nolan Smith

or whoever that left defensive end is, spike him inside, slant him inside, and then loop somebody around. So you're basically saying, okay, Jayden, go ahead. So you know, you want to break to your right, break to your right, but then you're going to have someone there waiting for him. And we saw that sack that Jalen Carter had,

that he called, remember that he pointed and gave Nolan Smith, that those little ET stunts that way are a nice little trap to be able to set for a quarterback that likes to roll to his right. And then you also just have, you know, that ability where, you know, those linebackers at the second level, if Jaden Daniels does escape the pocket, those guys have to be able to come up rally and make the stop. And that's honestly one area where the spotlight is going to be on Warren Berks in those situations, because I can remember clear as day in both of the matchups in this season, week 16 and week 11, Nicobie Dean making one-on-one tackles against Jaden Daniels as a scrambler on the open field on

third down. And so in those situations, if it's Bond, great, you feel good about it. If it's Warren Berks, you need Berks to come through, you know, in that situation. And we know that what Jaden Danis can do as a scrambler. We saw that in that fourth quarter of that week 16 games. So you can't give up those explosives. He's been so good in those situations this year. All right, Fran, as we prepare to go down to the Lincoln Financial Field and talk to the Stone Cold Newsman, Mr. Zach Berman. What is your prediction for today? How do you see this one playing out? I just think the Eagles are a more talented team. I trust this run game.

I trust this defense. I think they get the job done. You're not going to completely shut out Jaden Daniels. I do think that they're going to put some points on the board. But I just like this offense to be able to get the job done as well, you know, on the back of Saquan Barclay in this offensive line. And so I'm going to go Eagles 33, weird score. Ooh, miss extra point in there.

We'll go 33 to 24. So Eagles win by nine. here 3324. All right. Well, you'll have to join us for the post game then to celebrate with us all back in studio. Great work down at the Shrine Bowl. Really looking forward to your senior bowl stuff this week. It's a great time to hop in and become a diehard here at all pHLY. And that man right there is a big reason why it's worth every penny you'll spend with us here. And it's a great deal going on. So hop in if you ever wanted to get all of Franz notes. The true sicko draft process is underway. So there it is. There's the link for you. Head to all phtely.com. Fran, we'll talk to you after the game, my friend. Sounds good, guys.

The draft database goes live tomorrow on all-ch-l-y.com. Nice. That'll be a big one tomorrow. Bye, bye, bye. Everybody get in. All right, Fran, we'll talk to you soon, buddy. All right, let's take a quick moment here to tell you about our friends at PHLY, and then we'll talk to the Stone Cold Newsman, Mr. Zach Berman.

And that's our friends over at Bet365. Whatever the moment, it's never ordinary at Bet365. They have over 90 million worldwide users. And why? Because they perfected live in-game betting and they stream over 780,000 events every single year. And they offer the widest range of games and markets available for live in-game betting across 78 sports.

And they have the best early payout offers across NHL, NBA, Major League Baseball, and of course the NFL. When you hit the criteria, you don't even have to wait until the end of the game. you'll just get cashed out right then and there on the spot. They got great parleyes. They have NFL same game parlay offers that you can get and hop on. And they're just great. So win or lose, new customers get $150 in bonus bets when you bet $5.

Win or lose. Sign up using code P.H.L.Y. 365. Deposit $10 and place a $5 bet to get $150 in bonus bet if your bet wins or loses. Bonus bets can be used on spreads, totals, player props, futures, and more. Whatever the moment, it's never ordinary at Bet365. Must be 21 and physically located in Pennsylvania. If you or someone you know has a gambling problem and once help, you can call or text 1-800 gambler.

And then, of course, our friends over at True Mark Financial Credit Union. They're located right here in Fort Washington, and they have 24 area locations all over the Delaware Valley. And if you've never joined a credit union, you should really consider it because they're tons of great things that normal banks just can't give you. And maybe all that holiday shopping juiced up your credit card bill a little bit more than you would like. Well, right now, what if you could pay it off faster? And with zero interest until 2026, True Mark Financial is offering zero interest on balance transfers for 12 months. So all your payments can go towards

reducing your balance, not just covering interest. You can transfer an existing balance from another institution to a True Mark financial visa credit card and take advantage of this amazing offer. But hurry, you have to apply before February 28, 2025. Whether you're interested in earning rewards, cashback, or simply prefer a lower rate for everyday purchases. With TrueMark Financial, you can choose the credit card that best fits your needs. Visit trumark.com slash compare for full details and to apply today. True Mark Financial, federally insured by the NCUA, Equal Opportunity.

lender, terms and conditions apply, all loans subject to approval, 3% balance transfer fee applies, standard rates apply after the promotional rate. All right, this is the PHLY Eagles podcast presented by Bet365 and True Mark Financial and Rich, I believe he's there because he's never late. The stone cold newsman, Mr. Zach Berman. Let's go down live to Lincoln Financial Field and check in with Zach Berman for the locker room report, which is brought to you by Valley For Visit valleyforge.org and you can help discover hidden gems, endless activities, and tons of places to stay in Monco. Get started planning that next getaway today.

Valleyforge.org. Make it family time and make it Monco. Zach, happy NFC, championship Sunday. I'm sure it never gets old for you. This is a fun one here, right? The third time in eight seasons. that the NFC championship game is in Philly. I tell Eagles fans, like, appreciate this.

This is not the norm in the NFL that this happens at the frequency that it has. So we'll see if there's another game next week. But the last two times it was here, it worked out pretty well. Yeah, let's get a little thumbs up in the chat for Mr. Berman here. Zach, obviously the big news today is Cam Juergens is active, expected not to start. Landon Dickerson slides over to center, Tyler Steen presumably at left guard. What did you make of warm-ups? What do you make of Cam Jergens being active, kind of all of it? Yeah, so I was just watching pregame warm-ups. I'll fill in whatever Bo did not provide for you

there, which was that Cam Jergens, there were questions active, inactive leading up throughout the day. before the official pregame warmups worked out, Talley Roseman watching him. Then he went inside. You saw Landon Dickerson then take snaps and practice next to Tyler Steen. Nine minutes before the game, inactive's come out. Cam Juergens active. That was on there.

And I think that caught a lot of people by surprise because those reports were circulating that Cam Jurgens isn't playing. So Cam Jurgens is up and he's in uniform and he was snapping before the game. But this is the key here. He was snapping before the game would tell to, two Kenny picket. And when the Eagles in their official pregame warmups, when they had the first team offensive lines,

so they were the first team, the whole starting lineup out there, it was Landon Dickerson at center, Eilerstein, at left guard. Cam Jurgens took reps with the second team. So that would make you think Cam Juergens is active, obviously, but in emergency situations, and Landon Dickerson is the starting center today.

Zeeb, that was the, the big news of the day. I am going to ask you a question that I think all of us have answered so far, and that is if the Eagles do win the day, who's getting the game ball? Good question. So I would probably say Sequan Barkley, if I'm being honest with you, just because, look, Sequan's had three big touchdown runs already against Washington. This is a Washington rush defense that's susceptible.

You saw what Jamarke Gibbs did last week. Jalen Hertz obviously banged up here. I think the Eagles are going to rely on the run. run to Ron Payne is a big absence for Washington, put those factors together. You'd say, Sequin Barkley. I would also need to point to Jalen Carter. Let's continue with the injury theme. Jalen Carter, who every week is a force.

And you saw what he did that first Washington game. He blew up the fourth down. Zach Long cleaned it up. The Eagles had a key stop. Yelan Carter now going up against an interior offensive line that doesn't have Sam Cosme, who's the best offensive lineman on Washington. So put those two, so those are the two guys I'm watching for. You're looking for under the radar and this guy's never under the radar,

but I don't know if people are talking about him having a big game. That's A.J. Brown because I do think Eagles are going to have to pass the ball today. And I think AJ is, it's a matchup he's done. When you saw what he did in that last Washington game, when Marshall, when Marshall Lattimore was out there. And it was what, nine catches, 87 yards or a, round there. Eight catches, 97 yards, I believe.

That does not include the past interferences that he drew, right? So I think this is a matchup that could be advantageous for AJ Brown. So those are three players that would really jump out to me to fit that category. So, Zach, we saw the commander stand fans storm the front door of the Hard Rock Cafe last night. One of the storylines out there is that, you know, close to a third of all secondary market tickets have been sold to Maryland and Virginia residents. the professor's in the chat. He says the vibe check in the stadium is at championship levels.

What are you making of the split of fans here? How well are the commanders going to be represented in the stadium, do you think? Oh, well, I mean, this is not like an Eagles road game where the Eagles fans take over by any means, right? Now, there are, you see Burgundy and Golden in the parking lots and in the drive here. You saw some of it, but, I mean, it is a very, very, very clear. minority, right? This is, this is not like an 80, 20 crowd. This is, this is, this is the crowd where now, you know, there are commanders fans here. I, I don't want to pretend like it's only the people who are at the Hard Rock Cafe last. They've had 40 years to save up for this. Yeah, yeah, there are

commanders fans here, but I, I don't think by any means, is this a split crowd? I don't think by any means is this a crowd that's that's influenced by managers fans at all i think this is going to be a a rocking um lincoln financial field now i would say i don't know if it's comparable per se to what it was like in 2017 but i think this is this is a good this will be a good so it off your crowd so zach what does your gut tell you about how jaylain hertz is going to perform today i feel like between him and a j brown you mentioned them and just feel like it's really hard to go three games without those two kind of connecting a little bit better, injured or not. How do you feel like Jalen Hertz is going to perform today out there?

Yeah, I think that's the big variable here, right? Because I don't know. He's, he's wearing a brace on his left knee that's going to affect him. This is a real injury. Like, like, this is, this is something that cannot be ignored, cannot be dismissed. I think it would be who the Eagles to get Jaylen moving early. I think from the Eagles perspective, there's a thought that just having Jalen on the field will keep Washington's defense honest. I'm not sure that's the case. I think you need to show Washington early on that he can move.

So that's something that I would really pay attention to early on in the game. I think Jalen, look, he's been inconsistent per se during these past few weeks, but he hasn't really turned the ball over. And I think that's going to be the key, right? I know Washington won in Detroit last week. They won, in large part, because Detroit had five turnovers. Eagles aren't going to turn the ball over five times today. I would be shocked if it's a high turnoffer game for the Eagles.

So I think Jalen plays within himself. But if Jalen struggles the move and if that's apparent, and that's going to affect the offense for sure. All right, Mr. Berman. You're going to be joining us on the post-game show here. or lose. What is your prediction for this game? Is it going to be a victorious post-game show or a sad season wrap post-game show?

What are you feeling? Yes, we mentioned those N.S.A championship games passed in 2017, so January, 2018, 387. Against San Francisco was 31-7, two years ago, 31-7. So blowouts in both those games. I understand that Washington is a potential upset to, they haven't lost since Thanksgiving. They went into Detroit last week

and really commanded that game, if you will. I think this is a better chance of being a blowout than an upset, if I'm being honest with you. I think the Eagles are the superior team on both sides of the ball. I tend to always look at the lines of scrimmage. Maybe that comes from covering the Eagles for 13 years. I think the Eagles are superior on both lines of scrimmage.

The one cab is, I've said this all week is you're facing a hot quarterback and a hot quarterback in a one-game playoff. It's like facing an ace pitcher in game seven. It's like facing a goalie standing on his head in game seven. But the Eagles are the better team. They're better on both lines of scrimmage. I think this is a double-digit win for the Eagles. I'm going Eagles 31, Commander 16. All right. Love it, Zach. That's good stuff. Now you're going to be joining us post game and of course if you want to get access to all of zach and bow and less and ed barkowitz's great eagles writing and of course mr fran duffy now's a great time to become a diehard

with us just head to all p hl y dot com and you get full access to zach berman's brain it's really it's really a treat uh yeah all right well i i i guess we'll say that i mean uh no full access to my brain but full access to my heart i think you're here that don't trade on the show it's also you know you You know, Bo tries to get it out of me, but I'll do my best. All right. Great. Great, Zach. We'll be following along during the game and we'll talk to you post game.

Thanks, guys. Enjoy it. See you. See, man. ZB with a double digit. I did not see that coming. Double digit ZB. Yeah.

Wow. All right. We're going to get to our best bets here that are presented by our friends at Bet365. Find out why. It's never ordinary at Bet365. Use promo code. H-L-Y-36-5 at sign-up, and you can get yourself $150 in bonus bets, guaranteed. Now, Rich, I forgot when I used my bonus bets in, like, August,

I put two sizable bet, well, sizable for me, one on the Eagles to win the NFC championship, and one on the Eagles to win the Super Bowl. And I kind of forgot about them. And then I went to my bet tab, and I was like, oh, yeah. So I got some skin in the game here today with bet 365. What were the odds on those? I think the Super Bowl was plus 1,200, and the NFC was like plus 650 or 700.

All right. So two nice bets. Couple of units. Yeah. It's set up nicely here being a home field NFC championship game. But let's get to our best bets of the day. We'll start with Bo. And you react and tell me if you like or dislike all these bets.

Bo is going with Devante Smith over 49 and a half receiving yards. I like it. Yeah. All right. I'm going to say I like every positive equals. good so you're going to like all six of these i think yes uh jalen hurts for bow goes with the longest rush of the game over 11 and a half yards i actually really like that one so i like that one and zach talked about it a little bit uh during his prediction in that i would love to see jalen hertz

keep a read option early absolutely and spring it for it doesn't even have to be a huge play but just a first down just something for the commanders to think about a third a 13 yard game something like that crowd goes absolutely nuts. They pan the Joe Witt Jr. on the other sideline. By the way, his comments were ridiculous. Yeah, I mean, treating. Like, I get it, but what do you say?

Come on. When you say we're going to treat him like a running back, it's like, yeah, no, duh, right? Like, he is running the ball in that scenario. And also, too, if you watch Jemir Gibbs play last week, I hope they treat him like a running back in that case because they made him look like Walter Payton. Yeah, he was averaging like 10 and a half yards of carry last week. The only problem is you have a dirty middle linebacker in Louvo who. So, uh, so.

Yeah, people are going to be on the lookout for. My best bets today, I've been seeing this kind of in my mind. By the way, Frankie Louvue, he's going to be the Trent Williams of this game. Absolutely. If the Eagles, you know, if this game gets out of hand and there needs to be some fighting, in his opinion. Stay away from Big Dom. I could see Frankie Louvue doing some BS at the end of the game. So, Rich, this one is just purely a guts and vibes thing.

I've seen A.J. Brown in my mind's eye this week having a big game. Bo with DeVante's over. I'm actually going with AJ Brown's over 66 and a half receiving yards in this one. Why not both? That would be great. You know, that's only, what,

108 yards or so? Yeah, that's certainly possible. And then I'm going to go with Sequin Barclay. I think they're going to feed the beast. I'm taking his over 24 and a half rushing attempts. I think this is a game where you can potentially have two weeks off. You know, don't waste any bullets in the chamber.

ride your best player. So I think, I think Sequin's going to get 25 rush attempts today. Especially if the Eagles get up early. Yeah. Yeah. And then Fran checked in from Dallas. He's going with Seekwon Barkley. And it is rare.

You see a rushing attempt yardage total this high. Saquan over 125 and a half rushing yards in this game. Kind of hard to take the under on that, right? That's a big number, though. That is a huge number. But, I mean, considering what Seekwon has done, down the stretch of this season. Really, this entire season,

it's perfectly reasonable to think he would go over. And then, Franz, last bet of the day, and I called him to get these bets, and he said, no way Uncle Vic is going to let this one happen. He's going under 54 and a half rushing yards for Jaden Daniels in this game. I like that too. I think that's going to be, like,

Jaden Daniels killed Detroit on third and fourth downs with the scrambling last week. So I think the Eagles are going to. So the Eagles on third down a month ago. Yeah. So I think they're going to make it a focus. to not allow Daniels. Footdown too.

Yeah, to cut them up on the ground there. So there's our best bets presented by our friends over at Bet365. All right. Pain being out is big. Cosmi being out is big. This should be a great game. Overall, we're going to do our predictions here in a minute, but how are you feeling about Jalen Hertz in this game?

Because I do think you're going to need him in a bigger way than you've got in the last two games. Yeah. And like, look, last week it was snowing. I think there are some build-in excuses. He got hurt in the middle of the game. James, I'm just hoping, like, we've seen this story before with the honorary captain today. Doesn't look that great in the divisional round? These things are one-game seasons, man.

You can bounce back, and the passing game can look great today. Maybe it looks like it did against Pittsburgh. Fran wrote in his notes, you know, that Washington is going to load the box. How are you going to be able to get them out of that formation, make them pay? Is it RPO's? Is it Jalen running? Is it going empty like we saw against Pittsburgh? I think they will find one of those buttons and press it.

I think Jalen has a more efficient game. And the other thing you said, too, this was, I believe, your best bet. AJ Brown has had two substandard, like subpar games for him in a row. And I got to say, that never happens. Yeah. You know what really never happens? Three bad games in a row. That's kind of why I'm going with it.

Big AJ game that I think. I think so too. We got a super chat from Mark Baker. first was $2 with nothing. Thank you, Mark. Appreciate that. The second, Mark said, I still think Hertz is garbage. Takes way too many hits.

Garbage is a bit strong, considering he's playing in the NFC championship game, and the guy won what? All right, let's go win the NFC. But thank you, Mark. We appreciate it, as always, in the chat. Make sure you share with us your predictions and how everybody is feeling. Danes,

the professor says championship level vibes in the stadium. I have thought about the upset here. I do agree with Zach that a double-digit victory is more likely than an upset. But to channel my bow here, Josh Harris potentially raising a trophy on Lincoln Financial Field just cannot happen. That is a nightmare. I don't want to see those images. And Rich, there are five rookie quarterbacks in history leading up to this that have gone to a championship game.

and none of them have won. I don't think that's nothing. You know, Jaden Daniels is cool as hell. He scrambles. He seems unfazed. But there's something about rookie quarterbacks in this game. It's got to be really tough. There's been some Hall of Fame rookie quarterbacks

like Ben Rutherzberg and Joe Flacko, probably is a whole of, I don't know. Regardless, that haven't been able to get it done. I don't think it starts today. He's really good. He's really good. He's going to be a handful to deal with for probably the next decade.

even longer than that. Yeah. Not today. Not today. Not today. So, all right, let's get into our official predictions. Rich will start with you. What are we looking at here?

Low scoring, heart attack-inducing roller coaster like last week versus the Rams? Or is this a feed-up? We enjoy it. And people storm Broad Street in a little while. I'm going to go in between the last two NFC championship games, which were complete blowouts. I was covering the 2017, so 2018, January, a 2018 game against the Vikings. That stadium was so funny.

There was a lot of Vikings fans and everybody was doing the Bulls, in the middle of the game. The throw to, the throw to Torrey Smith. Do you remember the flea flicker to Tori Smith? When Nick Fills, he wasn't even open. It was like the one at the pylon.

Yeah, it was like an awesome throw. And Nick Folls is in the house today. You know, some of the throws Foles made in that game. I don't think it's going to be quite that easy because I think Jaden Daniels is going to score a few more points. To me, this boils down to the Eagles offense. Are they competent in the game? Because to me, the glaring unit in this game that does not match up with the other three is the Washington defense.

Can the Eagles offense at least be competent? I think they will be. I think they'll get to 30 points. So it's not the heart attack game that we got last week. It's not the huge blowout that we got a couple of times in the NFC championship game. Give me 30 to 20 Eagles. Okay. Shout out to my friend Mike Pachione and there says,

Eagle's alternate line minus nine and a half. And who is the guy above it that hit the rowing machine today? I love fan superstition stuff. And somebody, I believe his name was Stephen said, the birds are undefeated since I, oh, Corey, thank you, Corey, for getting on your rowing machine this morning. They're undefeated since he started rowing again on the rowing machine. So let's go, birds.

Appreciate your workout this morning. That's good stuff. All right, I'm, I'm feeling it. I feel a double-digit victory like Zach, too. I think Jalen heard. is going to be good today. I think AJ Brown's going to be good. Saquan Barkley is a given. I implicitly trust Jeff Stoutland to have Tyler Steen ready. Landon Dickerson, I think it's going to be like riding a bike for him. I don't think he's

really going to skip a beat out there. This game is going to come down, Rich, to fourth downs. And who stops who? Because both these teams are going to go for it on a lot of fourth and shorts. Our anxiety will probably be through the roof. But I think probably close first half, Eagles pull away with it in the third quarter and protect the lead on the back of Sequin. I'm going to go 34, 23 Eagles. Ridiculous how efficient

Washington has been on 4th down this entire year. Dan Quinn does a really good job in pressing the right buttons and just like going for it. The strength of your team is your offense. But Jamie, in that first game, one of the very few fourth downs they did not get. Do you remember the play? I think

Jane Daniels kind of fumbled the snap a little bit. Reed Blanketship just comes out of no makes him go wider. And Zach Bon crunched Jaden Daniels on the sidelines. I think the Eagles were up 1210 at that point. It was all Eagles the rest of the way. One of those goes the Eagles way. I like their chances. Yeah. So it's going to be a great one. Kick off here in a couple minutes. We're going to be live at halftime, giving kind of instant reactions to it. And then, of course, Bo is going to be joining us for halftime and post game. Vinnie Curry will be in here for post game. Let's get a little thumbs up in the chat here for the birds. A little good luck thumbs up. And it's a great time to

become a diehard here at pHLY right now. We got some specials going on, all-time low offers. So if you ever consider getting in, there's some great merch you can also get. But head to all-P-H-L-Y.com, or you can hit that little convenient QR code that Julia just put up for you. I already expect Julia's nervous pacing to begin as soon as this show ends. We got to wrap this up. Yeah. I'm already nervous. I'm a ball of nerves, but I feel good. Let's go, birds. We'll see it, halftime. Thanks for hanging out with us, everyone. We'll see you soon. Go birds.