PHLY Philadelphia Eagles Podcast - Philadelphia Eagles-New Orleans Saints kickoff show: Can Jalen Hurts outscore Derek Carr?

Episode Date: September 22, 2024

It’s time for a huge Week 3 game for the Eagles as they try to rebound from their calamitous collapse against the Atlanta Falcons last Monday night. Next up? Another NFC South team, this one the suddenly high-octane Saints, who have had the best offense in the NFL through two weeks thanks to Klint Kubiak’s Shanahan system. That will be a tough test for a Vic Fangio defense that has struggled, especially along the defensive line. That all could mean the onus is on Jalen Hurts and an offense without A.J. Brown to keep pace in a stadium where the Eagles have long struggled.Join Fran Duffy, Jamie Lynch and Bo Wulf for our kickoff show to preview everything you need to know about the matchups that matter. Plus, a live check-in with Zach Berman from N’Awlins. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hello everybody and welcome to the P. H.LY. Eagles pregame show presented by Miller Light. Get Miller Light delivered right to your door. Visit Miller Lite.com slash pHLY Birds or you can find it pretty much anywhere that sells beer. Celebrate responsibly Miller Brewing Company, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 96 calories per 12 ounces, fewer calories and carbs than premium regular beer. We are here, week three, to talk about the Eagles a half an hour away from taking on the high-powered two and no New Orleans Saints, that all of a sudden seems to matter a lot. But Wolf, Jamie Lynch, Fran Duffy, how are we doing on this football Sunday, Jamie? Excited because I think you're going to find out a lot about this team today, this week. I think this week kind of dictates the next several weeks in a way that, you know, fans and the town is going to feel about this team. Because if you go out there and win the day and steal one on the road, people are going to go, all right, you just screwed up week two.

You can move past this. A whole new season ahead. If you lose this and get boat race today, I mean, there's going to be a line up to the bridge over there. I mean, there is the potential that the Eagles lose this game by double digits. Sure. It's like the entire wind has come out of the sales of the season already. Absolutely. There was also certainly the possibility.

You know, you just look at these rosters. The Eagles probably have a more talented roster. They can, you know, they can bounce back from last week. No, AJ Brown. But you got seeing Chi J. Gardner Johnson active today. Then maybe pop a surprise, Fran. And all of a sudden, yes, we sort of take a. deep breath and like, okay, there's still a long road ahead.

It's a long football season. There are a lot of matchups in this game that I think are fascinating, but to me, it's going to come down to the coaching staffs on both sides. I think when you look at New Orleans, the way that they are going to present some challenges that's the problem, though, is that when you look at Clint Kubiak and you look at Dennis Allen, those are two of the better in terms of the first two games the season with what we've come to expect coming in. Both of these coaches are doing an excellent job on their respective sides of the football.

So I think to me, it's a big challenge, not just for Nick Serial. Johnny, but certainly for Kellan Moore, for Vic Fangio as well. All right. We're going to hear from Zach Berman from Nalans in just a few minutes, but some good news for the Eagles on the inactive report, Fran. C.J. Gardner Johnson, who was questionable for this game, is active playing in this game. The inactives, the rest of them, AJ Brown, out as expected, and then no big surprises elsewhere. Eli, Rick, Byron Young, Trevor Keegan, Darien Kinnard, Devin White,

remains chasing the Feeley with three straight inactives, and Terry McKee, your third quarterback, Jack Stoll, and Paris Campbell, promoted from the practice squad for this game with C.J. Garner Johnson. I mean, a little bit of a better chance of halting, slowing down this, the Saints offense. Yeah, for sure. I mean, he definitely would rather have him than not. And honestly, a mild surprise, right, considering the fact that he did not practice on Friday. So typically, if you don't practice on Friday, especially for a road game, you think, all right, maybe he's not going to be available. But having him in the lineup certainly is a boost to the secondary that, you know, maybe you weren't expecting coming in. And obviously,

this is a guy who played for New Orleans, agitator. He's going to say, he's going to be a player to watch in this game. I hope that Clint Kubiak doesn't use his hypedness for this game, his aggressiveness, his desperation to make a play against him and kind of bait him into something where and he has no doubt how to have an up and down start to the season so far. And Taysam Hill also out with a bruise lung that just came out. That's a tough one. That sounds like it hurts. 34 years old. That's, that's tough. The three of us know. Once you get into those mid-30s, so that's tough to bounce back from. Absolutely. So with C. Digarne-Johnson playing, we'll find out if if it's Avanti Maddox in the slot,

if maybe Cooper DeGine gets a little bit more time. But as you know, Fran and as you've talked about this week, probably less nickel for the Eagles in this game than most weeks if the Saints are going to do what they did in the first two weeks. Without question, the first thing I'm looking at, the first time the Saints have the football and the Eagles are on defense, how do the Saints line up? Are they going to line up in their three receiver sets without Tassim Hill on the field?

Are they going to play with three receivers? Or are they going to lean more into their heavy personnel sets, multiple backs, multiple tight ends? That is how they've lived so far through the first. first two games. But do they say, you know what? The Eagles have had trouble stopping the run out of their nickel sets. We're going to lean more into three receivers and force the Eagles to try and defend us with five DBs on the field or do they lean into what their identity is and how did the Eagles respond? To me, that's one of the interesting chess matches early on in this football game.

And absolutely a like a put up or shut up game for the defensive line. Like let's go. Let's see what you can do because those first two weeks were pretty dire. Yeah. If they don't stop the run, they're screwed because I think it's 50% of, since passing plays come out of play action. So like it's almost like you have to stop the run and almost kind of sell out to do it early in this game to kind of stabilize the rest of it. So like, am I confident in that?

You know, not really. But it's only two points spread, you know? It's a double digits. I really do think it's an eagle's line. A possible surprise here brewing. And on the other side of the ball, every reason to expect that the Eagles should be able to move the ball on the Saints defense.

A good Saints defense and no AJ Brown. But I think to your point about the coaches, friend, this to me is an interesting test of Kellyn Moore who brought some really interesting stuff week one, week two, a little bit more static and we sort of speculate that maybe that was because of the late week injury for AJ Brown. Now you get a full week to prepare the offense for not having him, very curious to see what kind of stuff they do schematically. Yeah, what is the plan of attack? You don't have AJ Brown against a defense that loves to be able to play man-to-man coverage.

And so are you going to be able to find ways to get Devante Smith free, use the stacks and bunches and motion and the different formations to try and see if you can create space for your number one wide receiver. Are they able to get Dallas Goddard involved early and often in the passing game? And to me, you have to split up the past game from the run game because the Saints have not been tested on the ground yet, guys.

This has historically been a really good run defense under Dennis Allen, but when both boat racing, Cleveland and week one, Dallas and week two, we haven't really been able to see what this run defense looks like. So for me, I almost want to see what the Eagles are going to do to try and come out early and see if they can kind of establish it, get that run game going and put that to the test. See if they're able to stop the run, especially if you factor in Jalen Hertz

and what he can do with his legs. I think that's like, I don't know if it's the new trend of this season yet, but a quarterback hasn't hit a overpassing touchdown one and a half yet this season. Like the good teams, the two and O teams are having success running the ground. And that's why I feel good about the Eagles chances today. I think what Hertz showed you last week and his abilities are back.

And Sequin was the best player on the field. So I don't want to forget about that. So I think you can to France. point win this on the ground today. Yeah, it does sort of feel to me like, let's, let's establish our identity. Yeah. Let's be the bigger. Let's punch them in the mouth here.

Let's, let's run behind Sequin. And then there's the, you know, the report that last night, Nick's showing the team like Connor McGregor video, attack, attack, attack, which you could argue was a little bit disparate from picking a field goal, but that's maybe a reminder for himself. I mean, no doubt Nick, Nick's got his game management in this game is going to be in focus. Yeah, I mean, it has to be because especially off the week that it had, you know, that he he just went through. I got to think that he knows, like, all right, I have to be ready to go from that standpoint in this football game. But to me, it would be a surprise if the Eagles didn't come out

and tried and establish themselves early with the rushing attack, lean into Saquan Barclay. And we talked about all the football guy tropisms earlier this week, the short in the game aspect, which I think does matter against an offense in New Orleans that was just bombs away the first two first halves of the season. Yeah. And I do think, I see the professors in the chat. I completely agree with them. I think that the Saints slurping has gone way too far. I was watching the national media today and everybody's Saints

this, Campi stopped, Alvin Camaro's back, Clint Kubia. It's gone too far. They are the New Orleans Saints. I think that's fair. I think there is a degree and this could be wishful thinking of a comeback to Earth reality here for the offense today. We'll see how the Eagles deployed the defensive backs. I think that's kind

of an interesting thing to throw at them with some of the young athletes they have back there. So I'm with you, Prof. I think the Eagles are very much alive in this game today. Yes, the professor offering just a reminder that it's week three in the Eagles, I believe, are still fifth in Super Bowl odds, he says, but, you know, maybe Vegas doesn't always know. He says, stop treating the same. It's like the 72 dolphins and RIP to your boy. Yeah, Mercury Morris. All right. Do we have, do we have Mr. Berman? Not quite yet from the once, the place once called the Superdome. Is Derek Carr saving New Orleans? Is

New Orleans saving Derek Carr? I like that. That was the million dollar question. after Drew Breeze and Katrina. Oh, that's good. And then you got the Drew Breeze refusing to, well, I'm not going to. I don't need to take you down that wrap at all. Now, Zach wants caution here because we're going to go to him at the Superdome. But this is an indoor stadium very loud. You know, he wants to pre-apologize for what the audio might be.

I mean, look, as long as he's got that great background. We know that the video matters to Zach a great deal. So as long as he can have that great background shot, I know he'll be happy. Vinny set the backdrop standard this week with the Lombardi Trophy and the wine. So Zach is on the grill. That was fantastic. All right. Well, if we don't have Zach yet, let's tell you about our friends at Bet365 because you know that it's never ordinary at Bet365.

Our dear friends sponsoring most of our shows, not this one. This is a Miller Light episode. That's okay. Bet365 has 90 million users worldwide and live streams 780,000 events each year. early payout offers across the NBA, NHL, NFL, and MLB, Bet365 pioneered live in-game betting.

And today, Bet365 offers the widest range of games and markets available for live in-game betting. Right now, new customers can get $200 in bonus bets when you bet just $5. Use the code P-HLY365 to sign up, deposit $10 and place a bet for $5 to get $200 in bonus bets. Bonus bets can be used on the spread, totals, player props, futures, and more.

We've got our own little play our prop bets coming up. Bet365, never ordinary. Download the Bet365 app. Use code P.HLY365. When you sign up to get $200 and bonus bets when you bet $5. Whatever the moment, it's never ordinary.

That bet 365 must be 21 or older and physically located in Pennsylvania. If you or someone you know has a gambling problem and wants help, call our text 1,800 gambler. Bada Bing, Bada boom. Yes, and our PHLY custom boost is up on the homepage there. You can get plus 600 right now, Devante Smith over 75 yards.

Sequin combined 100 rushing and receiving yards and the Eagles money line boosted the plus 600. So when I hit that bet today on Bet 365, I'm probably going to go right to the beer fridge and crack open a nice ice cold Miller light. It's the original light beer since 1975. And to this day, it's still the best one. Why? Because I haven't messed with it. It's a light beer that tastes like light beer should taste. It's cold, refreshing, and less filling.

You're not going to get bloated. So whether it's a tailgate, the golf course, the mountains, at home with friends and family, watching the birds, whatever it may be, Miller Lite always hits the spot. It's the original light beer since 1975, and it's still the best one. It stood the test of time. You don't have to choose what's best. Miller Lite has great taste and is less filling. It tastes like Miller Time. To get Miller Lite delivered right to your door, visit millerlight.com slash p.gly birds, or you can find it pretty much anywhere that sells beer.

celebrate responsibly Miller Brewing Company, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 96 calories per 12 ounces, fewer calories and carbs, and premium regular beer. All right. It's a big game for the Eagles, but it's a bigger week for our friend, Zach Berman, who was traipsing around down there in the bayou, went to a nice LSU game at Baton Rouge yesterday.

Now he's back in Nalins for this bad boy. And of course, on Tuesday, the release of the franchise, the second Zach Berman banger of a book. So we look forward to talking about that all week. But first, let's talk to you, Zach. You're away from your family this week. How is it down there in the bayou? Well, it's great.

It's fun to come on. I apologize right now for the background noise. I enjoy an open-air press box for the viewing experience, but from a pre-game show experience, certainly not ideal. I hope you can hear me okay. I got the noise cancellations in so I can hear you. you did your

Brian Kelly impersonation. I can tell you I was at Brian Kelly's press conference yesterday and he didn't eat. He used his Northeastern. He's from Boston. He lived in the Midwest. He didn't sound like someone from

Norlands during that press conference, but certainly we all saw that halftime clip at the LSU game. The LSU basketball game, he was hired. Now you and BK go back. Did he recognize you? He was fired up yesterday,

honestly. Yeah, he was, He was fired up in that press conference. No, he would not recognize me. Last time I saw him, actually, I did spend with him leading up the orange hole, but this puts in perspective for the Eagles listeners. The starting guard for Cincinnati that day was Jason Kelsey. The starting edge rusher for Cincinnati that day was Connor Barlow.

So that's how long ago we're talking about. All right. Let's talk about the game at Hans-Zack. CJ Gardner Johnson, active for this game. What can you tell us about, I guess, that decision and the way that he's been used. and warm-ups, how are they looking on defense? Yeah, so he is active. He missed those.

I'm sorry for that background noise. He missed those two days of practice. He's questionable. The Eagles did not elevate any safety practice squad, which should be in the indicate they were confident he would play. He worked out before the game. He was on the field, and he'll be full go for this game. So you will see him out there.

pre-game warm-offs, there were no changes with the Eagles defense. It's the same guys you would expect. You know, Bryce Huff, still a starter, of course. Quinnian Mitchell was on the outside. Cook of the Chief was with the second team, not the first team. On offense, pre-game warm-ups, so it was interesting. Devante Smith was on the outside. Kirk and Covey was in the slot a week ago during those pre-game warm-ups.

You remember, I was there watching with you, Beau. Devonte Smith was on the inside then. What do you make of a Devin White situation, Zach? A few comments in here asking about Devin White. Obviously not a special teams player at this point in his career, but what's the plan here? Yeah, he doesn't play special team. So unless he's in the starting lineup, he's not going to be active.

Now, we can't rule out the possibility of him becoming a starter at some point, right? Because we've seen that over the past five, six years here. They have these changes in the lineback. course. So we'll see it if that if that does materialize, but unless there's an injury or performance issue, Devin White will be enacted. Zach, it feels like this is an opportunity for the Eagles to win one old school style on the ground with Sequin Barkley today. Did you get any sense of that being around the team this week? We just kind of, you know, keep the Saints offense off the field a little bit and use that new toy

of yours. Yeah, I mean, I projected that, you know, in our predictions on phtly.com. I said I can see that going. Now, I say this like tongue and cheek. They didn't give me their game plan this week, right? So I would imagine that's the way to go. If we're kind of looking for some signals for it, they elevated Jack Stoll as the tight end. Now, they only had a certain amount of elevations they can use for E.J. Jenkins. But Jack Stoll in the past has been used in these 12 personnel heavy packages to help with run blocking. So perhaps that's something to do. As Fran has pointed out this week, The Eagles have had success running the ball against Dennis Allen's defense in this Jeff Stoutland run-game coordinator scheme.

So it is something that I can see the Eagles doing, but I'd be lying if I said that they gave me that indication. And obviously, Jalen trusts Jack Stoll, as you well know, Zach. Give us anything else any sort of vibe there, any lay of the land, any scenery that you'd like to pass along before we let you go. Yeah, so I can tell you that, well, as you mentioned, I was in Baton Rouge yesterday, but I got into New Orleans. last night. I walked around this morning, as you would expect, loads of Eagles fans. You see Kelly Green everywhere. I think that's, that's like the popular jersey now is the Kelly Green Jersey. Kelly Green Jersey is everywhere. We went out to breakfast this morning, saw a lot of Eagles people out. And this is naturally a tough place to play. The Eagles haven't won here since 2007,

but I do think there's going to be a lot of Eagles fans in the building. This is my fourth time coming here for an Eagles game. The Eagles have not won in any of those games. They got blown out in 2018. They lost the playoffs in 2019. We all remember that. And then 2012, they had that memorable Riley Cooper fake kickoff return that was called back because Brandon Boykin did not throw it backwards, but they lost that game too. So Eagles have not had a lot of success in this building.

I have not seen an Eagles win in this building. We'll see if that happens today. But as far as seen before the game, I could just tell you that there are a lot of lot of Eagles fans. I would imagine if take Brazil out of it, the three trips that I can see Eagles fans are really wanting to go on this year are New Orleans, Tampa

Bay, and Los Angeles. And they haven't been to New Orleans since that playoff game in 2018. So I imagine this was, or in January 2019. So I imagine this was the most popular attraction for Eagles fans. And, of course, the most popular attraction for

Eagles fans on Tuesday, Zach, is what? I appreciate you asking is the release of the franchise. Felt of Eagles, the Curated History of the Birds, available. Whatever books are sold, you can DM me directly if you want me to send you a signed copy. We can work that out. There is a website coming, but the easiest thing is just DMing me

and we'll work it out via email. But you can get it wherever books are sold. And more importantly than any type of transaction is I hope you read it and enjoy it and get to relive some of the fun memories in the past 25 years. and that it can make you think of where you were at that time. Well, thank you very much, Zach. We will look forward to talking to you after the game. Good luck to you.

Get those tweets out. I promise you it will be quieter after the game. There's Jimmy Kensky behind me. I'm going to get smarter by saying. All right. Thanks, guys. I always love the Jimmy Poppin. Let's get to our Bet 365.

Best bets. Yeah, Bo, it's funny. You know, Zach says it's a tough place to play. It is a tough place. to play. I did a lot of games there in my Sunday night football days and it's loud. They're actually over the last 20 years, the fourth worst against the spread team at home. Oh, interesting. They are. Everybody's baking in. Yes. They bake it in too much. And I think that's part of like why the credit is a little swayed in the New Orleans way today. They're a great

against a spread road team. Really struggle at home actually against the spread. Doesn't mean they're losing these games. So my bets bets today. I guess I'll kick it off. So the Eagles will lose by one point today. I'll kick it off here and don't forget to use code P.HLY. 365 when you download the Bet365 app and get that $200 free dollars. You know, look, it wasn't a, it was a good Devante game last week. I expected a little bit more. I think he gets it today. I think they're going to feed the beast when they're not running Sequan. I'll take them to get six catches or more today. And then Sequan, I think that's,

I think that's how you win the game today is on the back of Seekwan. And I'm not about beating running backs into the ground week three but i think you really need a big saiquan game so i think i'll take a combined over uh a hundred rushing and receiving yards total one way or another he's going to get his yards today so i think that's a pretty safe bet now fran with devonte with marshalladamor back what's their what's their typical plan if they've got an obvious one a guy is he going to follow him you think they will they will travel marshan ladimore uh more often than not i think that he would have traveled against a j brown uh would be my guess they've been not afraid to do that against bigger receivers. Lattimore is a bigger corner, but I would guess that Lattimore should shadow

Devante Smith even into the slot. Good. Okay. Slim Reever likes a challenge. It likes a challenge. And I'm going, I'm a total sucker's bet here. I'm just, I'm buying one play for John Dotson over a 22 and a half receiving yards on the day. The splash play comes. Total sucker's bet. A week to actually get him into the game plan. If, if he matters at all, let's see it today. And then, yeah, I think, I think Sakewon has just shown the explosiveness this season, than over 15 and a half yards for his longest run.

I see a little, just whether, whether the, it happens all game long, we'll see. The Saints do have a traditionally good run defense, but one pop is what I, is what I'm betting on.

I like that. I think that they've got the ability to go and try and see if you can do that against the secondary because, you know, they love to play in their sub package. They'll get out 5 dBs, 6 dBs on the field. And so I think the opportunity will be there for the Eagles in the years past. in years past, they have been fine with trying to run third and four, third and five,

traditionally would be a passing down handing the ball off. So I think we haven't necessarily seen that yet with Sequin, but I think in this situation, you might. All right, Fran, let me phrase it to you this way. If things go well for the Eagles today, give me one player who could be a big part of that. Jordan Davis. Okay, I like that.

I think that if the Eagles come out and they play in their base defense and they try and get that downhill run game going, I think we see Jordan Davis pop a little bit more in this game than what we have in weeks past. That's a good one. How about you, Jamie? Somebody in the second day has got to make a play. So I'll go with Quignan Mitchell. I think a big interception is needed.

A turnover is needed. Listen, they've lost the turnover battle first two games. At some point that should correct, right? Yeah. And Quinyon's been close on a couple plays. I feel like he's the type of kid after, you know, Fran broke it down in the film this week, that one play in overtime. Like, they'll probably ate him up.

So I think he's the type of kid that's going to go back out there in response. So I'll go with Quinyan with a big I&T. That's a good one. And then you've also got, you know, we know the CJ Gardner Johnson revenge game, also revenge game for Zach Bonn, who struggled last week, but still bring some oomph. Maybe he's the guy who can force a, he's a bit of a boom or bust player at this point. Sure. But maybe he could force a turnover.

I like that. You use them as a blitzer. You can get them going back in coverage as well. Yeah, I like that one as well. And Vic starts like crotch chopping, like I knew better than you guys. This is my guy. How about on offense? Anybody who is under focus for you?

I mean, Dallas Goddard. I think that that's one to look at. To me, this is not a, oh, man, he looks washed kind of thing. It's more like the game plan. Like, let's see if we can get number 88 going early on in this football game. If that's the mindset for Nick Siriani and Kellan Moore going into this one, then I think that Dallas Goddard can pay dividends here in this matchup. Yeah, I mean, Nick, as said, the offense goes through AJ Devante in Dallas.

And it's like, okay, yeah, I believe you on two thirds of that. I don't know if that's Jaylon not finding them. If Dallas isn't getting a separation, whatever it is, I'd like to see that corrected because, you know, Dallas Goddard has the talent to be a top 10 tight end in this league, but we don't see it consistently. You know, he disappears way too often. So I agree. I would love to see Dallas Goddard give you a little something today. Yeah, and I just think in general, the offensive line has looked so good.

Let's let those guys follow your best players at this point. Let's let those guys eat. All right. We've got a super chat before we get going from Richard Fitzwell. Betty does. I'm sorry, but something about losing to Dennis Allen and Derrick Carr seems to be. bit disqualifying for a team that wants to be taken seriously. Well, Richard, it fits well.

The Cowboys last week got pants by this team. This team has played well through two games. I agree that there's probably some natural regression coming. They're not going to keep performing to this level of production. Yeah, they're not going to do this for a 17 game schedule. But does that happen this week? It's tough to feel good about it after watching the Eagles defense last week. It just is.

All right. Let's get to our predictions before we get off here. Jamie, I'll let you go first. I told Anthony on Friday, 31, 27 birds. Now, it does, it kind of feels like blowout loss or close win, right? Yes, yes, absolutely. There's like 25% of me that wants to say the Eagles just get absolutely boat race and embarrassed today. But until I know officially like what they are, I'm going to go on the side of optimism here.

I think it opened as an Eagles line with the plus one. I think it's still kind of an Eagles line at plus two and a half right now. NFL is weird. It's an ebbs and flow league. I'll stick with it, man. I'm just going to say Eagles 31, Saints 27. Birds get the tough W and the town's feeling good after this week. Franny?

I go Saints 31, Eagles 24. I think they lose by a touchdown here on this one. It's just, again, it's just, it's tough to feel good about it. It's certainly, we've talked about it this week. There is a path for them to win this football game. but I think that that's too fine a needle for them to thread. I think the Saints come out on top. Yeah, and I know that Nick Siriani has been the focus this week.

And if his main jobs are game management stuff, and as Jason Kelsey likes to say, the most important thing is like the culture in the building, right? So the first one didn't do a very good job week one. But now let's see how this team responds, right? Let's see if they're able to come in and as he told them to do last night, you know, punch the Saints team in the mouth, be the bigger team.

I think that would be great to watch. it would be a good story. Right now I will go with you, Fran. I'm a little bit skeptical. I think this will be a good game. I think this will be a good game. I'm going to go Saints. What did you say?

3124. 3125? There you go. Perfect. All right. That'll do it for this episode of the P.H.O.Y. Eagles pregame show. We will be here at halftime for a little quick update.

And then the post game show with the three of us and Vinnie Curry as well. Hopefully, Jamie is the correct one. with his prediction. Enjoy the game, everybody. We will talk to you later. And as always, we love you.