PHLY Philadelphia Eagles Podcast - Philadelphia Eagles Pregame: Kenny Pickett charges ahead as QB as Eagles D prepares to FEAST

Episode Date: December 29, 2024

The Eagles can clinch the NFC East and no worse than the No. 2 seed with a win, so our eyes are on Kenny Pickett taking over for the injured Jalen Hurts, Saquon Barkley in his quest for 2,000 rushing yards, A.J. Brown looks to make more big plays and the offensive line tries to stifle Micah Parsons. On the other side of the ball, Jalen Carter and C.J. Gardner-Johnson try to bounce back from an emotional game, Bryce Huff returns to the fold, Quinyon Mitchell continues his case for defensive Rookie of the Year and Zack Baun holds down the fort at linebacker with Nakobe Dean out.Join Fran Duffy and Jamie Lynch as they preview the action before Zach Berman checks in from the LINC with the latest. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hello and welcome in to the P.HLY Eagles podcast, backup bowl, NFC, East Clinching division game. And of course, we're brought to you by our friends over at Miller Lite. Get Miller Lite delivered right to your door. Head to MillerLight.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. Fran, Zach Berman is going to be joining us momentarily from Lincoln Financial Field, but it is the backup bowl. Cooper Rush versus Kenny Pickett with the NFC East on the line today. Yeah, obviously, look, the storylines abound on both sides from that standpoint. No CD Lamb for Dallas. So a lot of injuries here on both side lines. But for me, the way I look at this game, just, you know, 50,000 point foot view. I think this is a bounce back opportunity for the Eagles on both sides of the ball, Jamie. Obviously defensively was not their best effort. last week. It wasn't a terrible game against an explosive

offense with the Washington commanders and Jaden Daniels, but certainly not to the standard they've set. From a run game standpoint, it was a non-factor in the final three quarters of that game. When they needed it most, when you needed to lean on Sequan Barkley in that rushing attack, the offensive line and the tight ends really let them down against the

front that they should have been able to take advantage of. I think that's the case here in this game. Dallas by every metric is probably the worst run defense in football, man. To me, this is a great opportunity here for Seekwam Barkley to get going. I expect a big day from the Eagles rushing attack, even with Kenny Pickett under center. Yeah, old double gloves picket today.

We'll say, look, I think what's the key to this game, Fran, and correct me if I'm wrong, but the Cowboys Red Zone defense allows touchdowns nearly 75% of the time. I think it's as simple today as if the Eagles can convert field goals and touchdowns inside that red zone, it's game over. Yeah, I will hear from Zach in a little bit. I think he's got some insight into what the Eagles thought process is. from a past game standpoint, strategically with Kenny Pickett,

what we can expect to see there, with Pickett getting the ball to AJ Brown and Devante Smith and the rest of the past catchers. But for me, you're going to get some, I would imagine you're going to get some inconsistencies there. It should still be better than what it was a week ago. Obviously, he was still nursing that rib injury,

but he was a full go in practice on Thursday. So you would expect that he's going to be ready to go here from a mental standpoint going into this game. Yeah, and it is pretty cool. As much as I hated on Kenny Pickett last week, you know, he can't allow them to make them a one-dimensional team today. He has to challenge something in the throwing lane.

But for a kid that grew up to be an Eagles fan, to be putting on a Kelly Green jersey at Lincoln Financial Field, he's probably going to have like 100 friends and family there with a chance to win the division. That's a pretty cool freaking moment. No, no question. I got that grew up very close to our co-host, Vinnie Curry, just

the next township over. So a great opportunity for him for him here in this game, something that you don't get too often. Yeah. So Bo is going to be joining us for the second half watch along post game. Vinnie will be in as well. We're going to talk to Zach in a little bit here. But Cooper Rush seems to be playing pretty good football, except when he plays the Eagles. They seem to have his number a little bit here. What are you expecting from Cooper Rush today? And then we'll get into the Eagles defensive line. You know, Bryce Hoff might make it return. Yeah. Nikobi Dean injury, we'll talk about. But Cooper Rush, been playing pretty good ball, but the Eagles seem to have his number. Yeah, I would say the skinny on Cooper Rush is that he's not a plus physical. talent. He's not going to wow you with his arm strength. He's a moonball thrower. That ball's going to hit some of the lights in the upper deck there when you see him just trying to attack vertically down the field. The question now becomes, you know, are you able to rattle him early? Because he does a nice job

of making throws under pressure. There will be defenders bearing down. And he has no conscience in that way. He'll stand in the pocket and deliver. But if you can hit him, if you can do a nice job of kind of getting to him early, he will step away from throws. His mechanics can kind of deteriorate. So I think if the Eagles pass rush can get to him early. And then certainly it'll come down to stopping the run game. If you're able to keep them from staying on schedule, we talked about that a couple weeks ago against Carolina, what Chuba Hubbard was able to do against this Eagles defense.

And it wasn't, oh, wow, they're getting gashed for seven, eight, nine yards of pop. It was more three and four yards in a cloud of dust. And then Bryce Young on third and four, third and five is much more effective as opposed to when it's third and nine, third and eight, third and ten. And so I think that's the formula here for the Eagles in this game. Go back to something that has worked for them for the majority of this year, stop the run on early downs, and then you're not going to let Cooper Rush beat you, especially without CD Lamb. I was just going to say his security blanket, one of the best receivers in the NFL who was having, look, the Cowboys have not quit.

You know, they have performed really well over the last six, seven weeks here from Mike McCarthy. And C.D. Lamb, like, took it up a level. Yeah. And that security blanket is gone today. That might, that might be the biggest injury. I mean, Jaylon Hertz is obviously huge. Sure. But no CD land for the Cowboys is a huge blow. Yeah, I mean, he is the funnel for that past game. That's what they want to be able to try to try to. to funnel the offense through him from that standpoint, from the passing attack. You don't have him. He can make plays inside or outside. They were doing all kinds of creative things with them. Now, the run game has been a little bit better. It's a little bit better than what it was back in week 10 when these two teams played. They're putting Cavante Turpin, who's really explosive. They're putting him in the backfield a little bit. And they're getting

better, more efficient from Rico Dowdal. So he's going to be the primary ball carry between the 20s. He's probably one of the, you know, bottom five, like least talented starters in football right now. He's not a guy that you're going to be impressed with from like a height, weight speed standpoint, but he's been efficient. That offensive line is starting to gel together. They're creating some movement at the point of attack. They benched their first round pick. Tyler Guyton last week, and he didn't play for the first quarter and change. We'll see what that looks like here in this game. If that's something that they stick with. But I think ultimately, again, the talent wins out here in the Eagles favor. I don't anticipate being this,

this one being that difficult of a football game. So defensively today, you mentioned, you know, uncharacteristic and it certainly was. I think in the 10 weeks prior, they had allowed over 20 points like zero times and then allowed 22 points to the commanders in the fourth quarter. We'll pick up on this question, but I want to get to Zach because he's down at the link. But that certainly was a very uncharacteristic second half. No doubt. But let's welcome him in. I don't like to waste this time. Bo might, but I don't, Zach. I respect your time. There he is from Lincoln Financial Field. Mr. Zach Berman. What's up, Zach? Hey, done great. Good to see you guys. as well. So, Zach, we were just talking about some of the injuries today. We can kind of go through

the inactives with you, but obviously Jalen Hertz, we all know. Kenny Pickett with a really cool opportunity to win the division for his hometown team that he grew up rooting for. But Nicopi Dean, C.D. Lamb, we were just talking about a lot of injuries in this one. Yeah, the lineup is going to be interesting to monitor. Obviously, we know about Pickett. I'll get to that in a bit. Let's start with the linebacker situation. You'll see Orrin Burke's out there next. obviously to Zach Bond. Zach Vaughn's been wearing the green dot in practice this week. He wore it in Washington last week when NCOB went out.

Warren Berks has, you know, has 15 starts in seven NFL seasons, played in the Super Bowl, right? So he brings experience to that group. Obviously, Nicobo Bidine's been playing at a high level. Burks has been with the team throughout the offseason, was banged up in training camp,

but got meaningful work in camp as well. So, look, I'm not saying you'll get Nicobo Gaines production out there, but obviously Warren Birx is not, you know, like a roster hopeful. He's someone who's been in this league has played meaningful snaps. As far as Kenny Pickett, it's a great narrative, as you said. You know, I've been to Ocean Township, New Jersey. I've been to his high school, Ocean High School.

I've been to Gianni's his local sub shop where he got the chicken vodka wrap. Ooh, chicken vodka wrap. That sounds good. That's, yeah, that's his favorite meal here. He grew up an Eagles fan and how many Eagles fans, you know, around our age kind of grew up thinking you have a chance in Kelly Green against the Dallas Cowboys, late December in Philadelphia to clinch the NFC East. It's an awesome story. So the football part of it aside, just from my storyline perspective, it's pretty cool to monitor this today. it.

Zach, I know you dropped some hints late in the week here on the show about how you envision this passing game being executed here with some more high percentage throws. I wanted to do, would you be able to shed some more light into how you envision them going about things from a past game standpoint in this game? Do you know, Dallas's secondary is really banged up. You know, they're, they're down to their fourth outside corner starting today when you, when you look at the players on IR. So there's going to be opportunities for the Eagles.

Now, you know with Kenny Pickett, you're not getting the big arm-gown field, but I think what they can do is the quick-todding patterns to AGA, to Devonte, really the opposite side of what, of blend. So wherever bland is, you go to the other side, that's the weak spot in the Cowboys corner in the Cowboys secondary. I think the Eagles can exploit that. So I know the conventional thinking is, Janu Hertz is now here, run, run, run. I think the Eagles are going to have the opportunity to move the ball through the air.

And I think that's, I would not dismiss it just because it's a backup quarterback. The passing game might look different. As I said, it might be a quick passing game. It might be more timing based, but it wouldn't surprise me if they really try to pick on this cowboy secondary. So, Zach, one of the other things besides the backup quarterback is Sequin Barclay is 268 yards away from an NFL record. Eric Dickerson does not want them to get it. how much do you think it's being valued in the building? Is this something you think here in these last two games?

Because depending on what happens today, affects next week and yada, yada, yada, do you think they're going to go for it? Well, I know the offensive line wants it, right? I mean, Sequin, he has said if it happens, it happens. If it doesn't, it doesn't. I've spoken to Seacuan about this on a few occasions. It's getting real now with two games out.

There's a lot of factors here. I think first off, people see how far away he is after today. You have to see what happens in the Eagles game today, what happens in the Lions game and the Vikings game. I don't know yet how the Eagles are going to approach next week. I think if it's too far away, if you're looking at like 130, 140 yards away going into next week, I don't know if that's something that people's will push.

But if it's within striking distance, like, there is precedent here. You think back the 2021. Now it's not the same gravity of recommendations. But Devante Smith was going for the Eagles' rookie receiving record. Nick Siriani kept him in the first quarter of that game, a week 18 game when Eagles were resting their starters going into the postseason so Devante could get that record. Of course, that was within striking distance. That wasn't, it didn't require him to play a full game.

So I think it's a fascinating story. Personally, I want to see him go for it. I think it's cool to cover. I think he needs 150. today and they go for it. Yeah. Yeah, it's history. And I, look, I like history.

And I know, by the way, Sequin's a student of history. You know, he, he really follows the running back position, knows all these guys inside out. That's, that's a significant record. So, I mean, I think it'd be a cool story. But I think if the Eagles have nothing to play for next week and he's far out, you won't see it. But just think how interesting that would. be going up against this former team for the chance to set this single season

Russian record in the NFL. Another layer to that I would imagine would be the health of Jalen Hertz, right? Because if you're the Eagles, if Jalen Hertz gets out of the protocol early this week, I would imagine so. You would hope that that would be the case that Jalen Hertz would be available to play next week. Do the Eagles want to go into the playoffs with him not having played for two and three quarters of the last three previous three games?

I know they kind of did that back in 2022, and then he ended up playing in that final week. How do you think that they would envision going through that over the next several days? It's a great question. I asked Nick Siriani that very question on Monday. I said, do you want to see Jalen get work before the postseason? Nick said he's not going there.

He's focused on Dallas right now. I do know anecdotally that the situation, Fran just mentioned 2022, the Eagles saw a great benefit to Jalen getting work before the postseason. Now, that was a game that Eagles needed to win to get the number one seed. They also had a buy week the following week for Jalen to get healthier. But I do know speaking to Jowen about that, speaking to coaches about that. They thought it was beneficial in 2022 that he was able to play in week 18. It's not apples for apples. I think we're getting ahead

of ourselves now. We need to see what happens. But it's going to be a fascinating storyline during the next few days, especially if they win this, especially if they win today, the Lions win today and next week's kind of rendered meaningless. Zach, two things I'm curious about from your pregame warm-up observations here. One was Jake Elliott practicing any kickoffs?

And two, Bryce off, how much was he involved? What do you kind of expect from him today? Yes, Jake Elliott was kicking the ball off. And I saw that in practice on Thursday. I saw that in practice on Thursday. I asked Siriani specifically

about that on Friday. Siriani pleaded confidence or pledged confidence, I should say, in Graded Man, but actions speak louder than words. You know, we'll see in about 20 minutes. I'm expecting Jake L. to kick off. Now, this isn't quite the same as last week. It's 61 degrees today.

You're not dealing with the same conditions that you dealt with last week, but you're absolutely right. If you look for variables in this game, Turpin is a variable that you really want to neutralize. in the kicking game. And if you're able to kick it deep in the end zone or out of the end zone, that's beneficial. That hurt the Eagles last week.

Sure. I was about to say more than it's being made, but a lot was made out of it. But I think that's a different game. If Washington is starting their drives inside the 30, as opposed to on the 40, as Fran said on the post game show last week, they gave him a free first down.

And that's challenging for the Eagles defense. So I do think the Eagles will make us. switch. I know what it did Siriani said on Friday. I think that was more gamesmanship from Siriani than anything else. And Bryce Hoff, what do you, did you see him out there? Yeah. What are you expecting out of him today, if much at all? Yeah, I'm expecting a bit role, a deep reserve role. Frankly, I would probably think it's a comparable role to what you saw from Chuck Harris in recent weeks. I think they'll build up Bryce off. Now, I'm not one of these people, I think that was a significant move yesterday. I think Bryce up is someone who can help

them in the postseason. I think if you disregard the contract and you just say, can he give you meaningful snaps as a reserve edge rusher during the stretch run, I believe he can and I believe the Eagles need that. Eagles are thin at that spot. So I'll be monitoring Bryce off today, but I'm not anticipating the workload that he had in the first month of the season, which wasn't even a major workload but he was getting, you know, 40% of the snaps then. It would surprise me if he's pushing above 20% today. Zach, my last question for you. Actually comes from the chat.

Professor Dane is checking in with a question. I think it's an interesting one going back to our Jalen Hertz conversation. Do we know if he's at the game today? He would apparently not on the field during pregame warmups. I'm not sure what the rules are in terms of a player that's still in the protocol, technically with Jalen. If he's allowed on the field during the pregame warmups, but what is your, the insight you can glean there?

Yeah, good question. He was not on the field during pregame warmups. So I have, I've, I've not seen him yet. I know he was in the building this, this week. On Tuesday, he presented the gifts of the golf carts to the offensive linemen. He was, he was there. He has not been on the practice field with the team. Maybe he's, he's been there during walkers,

but I haven't seen him in person, me personally, since the post-game locker room last week. And he was walking around in sunglasses last week. He was walking around fine. I saw video footage of him this week. But no, I would imagine that he, well, I don't want to get ahead of myself. I don't know if he's here today. Depending on the stage of the concussion protocol that you're in, you are allowed to be on the sideline.

But there are certain light sensitivity questions depending on the stage that you're in. So it is a good question. I had my binoculars out for the past hour and 20 minutes and I did not see J. hurts. So, Zach, a lot of former Super Bowl champions in the house and an NBA great, Rashid Wallace. But Malcolm Jenkins, Alshan, Brent Selick, some big

time of former Eagles in the house today for Kelly Green Sunday. Yeah, Alshon Jeffrey is an honorary captain, so he's here. He spoke to A.J. Brown about Alshan on Friday. And what A.J. said is Alshan paved the way for a guy like him. You know, you have to remember

in 2017, that was a huge acquisition for the Eagles. That was the biggest wide receiver acquisition that they had outside of the draft since Terrell Owens. Then Malcolm Jenkins, I saw Malcolm on the sideline. I walked in with Brent Selk. So, yeah, some former, you know, some Super Bowl champions here today. And you mentioned, you mentioned that obviously Sheed Wallace. Look, I grew up.

A Philly high school basketball fan. Yeah, Simon Gratz star. Oh, I love her. at UNC can tell you every NBA stop. So I know that fans might not like the Chiefs gear, but he grew up a North Philly a Chiefs fan, right? So I respect someone who sticks to their loyalties. All right, Zach, before we let you go,

what's your prediction for today's game? Wait, a few other, just a real quick, quick notes. You'll see, you'll see Ty Davis Price today as the third running back. He's up today for his Eagles debut. Dallas Gant is the fourth linebacker today. He's making his NFL debut. I would expect him to contribute on special teams today. So those are two newcomers out there.

Ian Book is on the 53-man roster, but he's the emergency quarterback. Eagles made that move yesterday, putting him on the 53 so he didn't have to take a game-day spot. I didn't have to take a practice spot elevation. As far as my prediction, look, I know the Eagles have a backup quarterback out there. I simply think Eagles are the better team.

And I think Dallas without C.D. Lamb, it's going to have trouble moving the ball. I think the Eagles are going to pass the ball more than fans anticipate, like I said. I can see this being a big AJ and or Devante game because of the Cowboys' Weekends' way that corner and because of the fact that I really think the Cowboys are going to try to bottom up the run. I don't expect this to be a high scoring game. Look, the over-under would suggest this is a game played in the T's and 20s. I'm going 23 Eagles 16 Cowboys. All right.

Love it. We will check in with you post game from down at the link. Enjoy the rest of the Kelly Green Sunday, Zach. Appreciate it, guys. Good talking to you. See you then. There he is, Mr. Z. Burms. All right.

A couple other things to get to. One of the things we left off there was the uncharacteristic nature of the defense. Zach Bond with the green dot today. He's actually going to be part of my best bets coming up here shortly. But Nikobe Dean down. with the abdominal injury. I know Zach Bond kind of joked about maybe seeing more dime this week out of the defense, Warren Berks.

What are you expecting from the shift in linebacker there? You know, I'm almost giving up on the idea of seeing more dime because I've like guessed that. All right, this is going to be the week. This is going to be the week. This is going to be the week. This is going to be the week. This is going to be the week.

That's fair. So maybe this is the week you say with your chest. Yeah, this could be it. But, you know, look, at the end of the day, I think that when you look at Zach bond you say all right you feel good about the impact that he's going to bring orin burks has been a replacement level like high end backup low end starter for the majority of his career more so at the former he's been more of a backup but uh one game against one of the you know especially without cd lamb one of the uh toothless offenses in in football i do think

that they'll be fine yeah uh interesting little nugget there that j gellie could be doing kickoffs last year you do not want to give turpin the same you know fielding position you were giving the commanders last week. Just take it, take it the 30 yard line every time. Yeah. All right, let's get to our best bets here presented by our friends over at Bet365. You can use promo code P-H-L-Y-365 at sign up and get yourself $150 in bonus bets. But when I do this every single week, I'll start with mine because I did just mention Zach

Bonn. I went to the Zach Bonn player prop with Nunnukobie Dean today. I went to the alternate line of 10 plus tackles and assists that pays out at plus 130 there. I like Zach Bond to be in double digits today. Yeah, and I think with the fact that, you know, Dallas is going to try and run the ball. I think there will be opportunities there.

Zach Bond's one of the leaders in football right now in terms of run stops, playing downhill. That's been his specialty. So yeah, I like that one. All right. And then I'm going with Sequot. I think if the offensive line wants it, if that means something,

of those five guys to be the line for the all-time record. I think they're going to go for it a little bit. And I think Sequin's going to get an opportunity today. I think I see in my mind's eye a big chunk play, like a 55 or 60 yarder. And then that kind of eases up the record. So I'm going to go with the alternate line of 130 plus rushing yards. You can get that at plus 155. All right.

Now, Bow's best bets. He has now cowardly retreated from his Grant Calcutera props weekly. I don't blame them, though. I think it abandoned him like eight weeks in a row. His first one today, I like this. Can he pick it under 27 and a half passing attempts? Yeah, it's because he thinks Tamer Kee's going to be jumping into the game. So that's the only reason why that's that one.

Does he actually believe that? I mean, he's got two super bids on it. Oh, wow. Okay. And then the other one, Sequin Barkley, a favorite of Bose, the longest rush over 20 and a half yard. I like that one too. Yeah, I see a big chunk play come today from Seekwuan. I mean, look, you look at the Dowellie.

run defense. This is from my by notes, which are up on all p.hly.com. They're 29th in rushing DVOA. They're 32nd in EPA per carry. They're 29th in rush success rate. They're 30th in yards per carry. They're 26th in yards over expected per carry. They're 26th in yards before contact. They're 25th and explosive run rate. They're 31st and run stuff rate. Every single metric you look at with the Cowboys run defense, they are in the bottom three or the bottom five. This is this is a game where Sequin Barkley, this rushing attack, they should eat. All right. Love to hear that is it the day we get the Quignan Mitchell interception? Cooper Rush has done a good job of taking care of the football.

Except versus the Eagles. Yeah, but so I look at it and I'm like, okay, look, they had five turnovers the last time they played against Cooper Rush, but it was still only one pick. It was four fumbles. He's done a nice job of taking care of the ball. That has not been his bugaboo. But that said, it's like the Grand Calcutara thing. I've sat here for a week.

I'm like, oh, this is going to be the week. He's going to have opportunities and it hasn't happened. So maybe this is the week. Let's hope so. Cousin Grace in the chat says, Unlike a lot of these fake fans who are rooting against Kenny P to fail, sad, I'm rooting for our small-handed king. Now, I may have had some regrets about going overboard with Kenny Pigget.

I do think he's going to have a day. Yeah, I think the opportunity's there. You know, Zach talked about the injuries in that secondary. Amani Orawaray is the starting corner opposite of Duran Blant. And he was on injured reserve the last time these two teams played back in week 10, but he played for a large chunk of the season before that, because Bland was on injured reserve and he was terrible man.

I mean, former Penn State Corner, a ton of explosive plays allowed. So I think that there's going to be opportunities here for Pickett, whether he's going up against Devante Smith or against A.J. Brown, whoever Oroarie is going up against, I kind of like that match up, certainly. All right, before we get out of here, and we're going to be doing a watch along

as we sit out in our comfy office there and watch the game. What's your prediction as we get out of here? I think this one's not close. I think the Eagles win 24 to 9. Okay. Let's go 24-9. I don't think they reached the end zone Dallas. I think it's a couple field goals from Braden Aubrey. Maybe he kicks like a 65-yarder in the 60-degree weather. It's really nice out. I got the flops on the night. Yeah. It's beautiful out. It's great. And of course, it was like still cold this morning when I took the dog out.

But when I came back outside, I went to the sun was out. It was beautiful out. I'm with you. I think the Eagles cover the seven and a half point spread. I'm somewhere similar. I'm like 24. I'll give the Cowboys a little bit of credit and say they get to 13. Okay, there you go. So 2413, Eagles cover the number. But we're going to go outside, watch the game. You can join us, watch along with us. Vinny and Bo will be showing up probably after halftime or around halftime.

Zach will be joining us and then we'll be all live here for the postgame show. With the NFC East on the title on the line today, I think we all agree. Birds will be hoisting another division title. But thanks to our friends at Miller Light. Thanks to everybody in the chat. Give us a thumbs up on your way out of here. tell your friends family everybody you know your neighbors subscribe to p hl y here uh we appreciate it we love you go birds see you soon