PHLY Philadelphia Eagles Podcast - Philadelphia Eagles Super Bowl: Final thoughts as Saquon Barkley hopes to lift Lombardi
Episode Date: February 7, 2025We’re closing it out from Radio Row as Saquon Barkley, Lane Johnson, Jordan Mailata, A.J. Brown, Jalen Hurts, Devonta Smith, Jalen Carter, Zack Baun and Quinyon Mitchell prepare for the biggest game... of their lives. So too is this the biggest show for Deniz Selman, who is trying to land and make it to the show in time.Join Zach Berman, Bo Wulf and maybe some special guests make their final thoughts and predictions ahead of Super Bowl LIX. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
Transcript
Discussion (0)
Hello, everybody, and welcome to show 9 of 9, the Friday show from Radio Road, presented by Bet365 and Ace Hardware Home Services.
Download the Bet365 app and use code P-HLY365 when you sign up, whatever the moment.
It's never ordinary at Bet365 and visit Ace Hardwarehomeservices.com to get started on your next project.
If you are watching, you will see Zach Berman to my left.
You will see Jamie Lynch on the far side
and in the middle
fresh off the plane with, I would say,
three minutes to spare.
The professor himself.
Dane is, welcome to knowledge.
You know what they say? If you're early, you're wasting time.
So, yeah, just got here,
got a Go Birds from Hollis Thomas on the sidewalk.
Nice.
Was shocked to see how tall Greg Gocelle is.
Okay.
And that's all I had time for.
Other than that, good to see you guys.
Thank you for making the...
effort. Good to see you. This is awesome. This is great. Jamie, how you doing? Doing all right.
Looking forward to my flight this evening and giving my girls a big hug. The level of enthusiasm
about being on Radio Row right now, like 7,000 percent of it is right here. It's like extremely
like three guys who are sick of this. Not Zach Berman. If you're watching, you will notice.
I'm like, oh my God, it's Dave Zangero. Oh, my God, it's Brian Westbrook. I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm
I'm excited.
The people who have been watching all week, I think will notice that Zach is looking a little fresher, a little fuller color in the cheeks today.
You got a good night's sleep last night, didn't you?
You must have gotten at least five hours.
Five and a half hours.
All right.
Let's go out there.
You know what?
I'm excited for the show, a little bit sentimental about, I'm so excited for this week.
And now our army of, you know, 30 plus is down the two after tonight.
Yeah.
Just you and Bo.
Yeah, but just what we need.
But you know what?
I'll be here, Zach, if you want to get away.
But no, the reality is this has been so much fun being with everyone this week.
And the coverage isn't finished, but this was a fun week.
It was.
All right, we have a, I mean, when you're in the Super Bowl,
some of this stuff doesn't super matter,
but we have a little bit of news on the Eagles front.
Zach, give us the locker room report presented by True Mark Financial Credit Union.
Yeah, last night it was the NFL honors.
and Sequin Barclay became the first player in Eagles history
to win offensive player of the year.
Pretty cool.
He did not win MVP, but he won offensive player of the year.
Zach Bond did not win defensive player of the year.
Cooper DeGine and Quignan Mitchell did not win defensive rookie of the year.
Don't even get me started on that.
You creep, Jared, verse.
And then Vic Fangio did not win assistant coach of the year.
So the Eagles only had one player honor.
But in terms of the prestigious Hall of Fame honor,
Eric Allen at long last makes it to the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Very cool.
The first Eagle player to get in since Harold Carmichael in 2020.
Hello, Eric.
Congratulations.
You're going to the Hall of Fame.
They don't do that anymore.
He's not the president anymore.
I'm aware.
He's very lucky it took them so long to let him in.
He doesn't have to go through that.
He didn't want to be in until David Baker was gone, lest he.
Terrible sleep for the rest of his life.
And then the Eagles had their most intense day of practice of the week yesterday,
and they will be back on the practice field today for one final time.
It will be a lighter Friday session.
And tomorrow's the walkthrough.
And Sunday, 5.30 local time, 6.30 back home.
The Super Bowl.
Oof.
The Super Bowl.
That'll do it for the locker room report presented by True Mark Financial.
Jamie, how are your nerves?
You're eager to get home.
You've got to do the pre-game.
game show and the half-time show and the post-game show on Sunday, but as an Eagles fan,
how are your nerves this?
Surprisingly calm.
I feel an eerie level of confidence.
I think the Eagles are the better team.
More oftentimes than not, the better team wins the game.
Screw Patrick Mahomes and Andy Reid.
Just because they've won before doesn't mean they'll win again.
And I really like their chances.
I'm not going into Sunday with any sort of nerves or feelings of ill.
will. So I'm looking forward to a parade. That's kind of where my mind's at.
Yeah, but Professor, if it's like snowing all week next week, can they do a parade?
I know. Yeah, it's a good question. I mean, they might have to wait until Friday, maybe,
for it to get dry. I'm not sure. I will say in terms of Jamie's confidence that I am also
very confident. I was pretty confident two years ago, but I had in the back of my mind that
that Eagles team had a very clear weakness. And that was, of course, Jonathan
than Gannon.
And this time, I think you could not ask for a bigger upgrade.
Oh, fantastic.
You cannot ask for a bigger upgrade from that defense to this one.
And I don't have that fear that I had on either side of the ball this time.
And Nick Siriani told the team before the NFC championship game was on the unscripted thing,
that they should feel confident.
And the way that he said it, I thought was perfect.
It was like, he kind of was saying, like, you guys are the better team.
You should know that.
That's how you should play.
and I think that he should be able to say the exact same thing tomorrow night.
I think he should be just as confident that this Eagles team is better than this chief's team.
Everyone's seen Mahomes win a bunch of coin flip games, both this season and in past playoffs.
And the best way to avoid another one of those is steal the coin early and don't give it back.
Don't let it come down to a coin flip.
And there's no reason that this game should.
Steal the coin.
What if Brandon Graham gets activated comes out for the coin toss?
Literally steal the coin.
It runs away.
Not bad.
Yeah.
Okay.
Now, let me ask you this, Professor,
as someone who consumes as much Eagle's content as anybody I know,
how has this week been for you?
Yeah.
Have you been overloaded?
We're trying to figure out like the YouTube algorithm this week.
Have you just been overloaded with Eagles content?
It's hard.
I always have a list every week of things that I want to do
and things that I want to consume going into both doing the show
and also for the game on Sunday.
And Super Bowl week, it's a little bit longer.
Now, the week before helps a lot.
I did most of my film watching and charting and X's and O's type stuff.
Then I was pretty much ready by last Friday's preview show for the game.
So that made it a little easier.
And then a lot of times two this week, like times two, times 1.7, 1.8, depending on what it is.
Oh, wow.
For both this show and, you know, a couple of other things.
What speed do Zach and Bogot?
The Chiefs Media Availability, which I just have to put myself through,
just to build up my hatred of Juju Smith-Schuster or whatever.
Number five, I always love you.
I was doing that on Times 2, and it was still incredibly boring.
But, yeah.
What's the best piece of Eagles content you can see?
Yeah, I was about to ask that.
I think it was the reunion show with you guys, Sheel and Marissa.
That was awesome.
Appreciate that.
That was great.
Now, I personally like Fran better than Dane Brugler, but, you know, it's just.
Best piece, honestly.
The game ball presented by Xfinity Mobile is proudly brought to you by our friends at Xfinity Mobile,
joined the millions who have switched to one of the fastest growing mobile services.
I'm going to award the game ball to Julia.
Yes.
What a week it's been for Julia.
Yeah, she's been outstanding.
I was actually, I was going to say Fran as a joke.
And then I thought, well, you know, why don't we actually be sincere and let's get to Julia for all the hard work that she's been doing behind the scenes.
Yeah.
I know we're tight on time today,
but I would like to say the viewers, the listeners,
don't know how much goes into doing,
not just any show, but a remote show.
When we have people coming in and out,
we're playing clips on the show.
We added extra shows.
Bo and I, we're just here talking, right?
Julia and Jamie as well, we're just here talking.
On the record, I'm not doing anywhere.
Yeah, no.
I didn't say that.
No, Julia has been an all-star since she started,
but especially this week.
Let's go a little thumbs up in the chat for Julie.
Yeah, give it up for Julia.
You're only as good as your producer,
so we appreciate it.
Julia.
Julia is literally tearing up.
This is awesome.
You're not the first person to cry on the show.
Don't worry.
Happy tears, though, maybe the first one.
I cry laughing all the time.
I cry.
What did I get myself into?
No, I'm kidding.
Mom and dad have had a long week together.
You know what?
They told us because we're,
We're hoping to have Greg Rosenthal and Jordan Rodriguez join us towards the end of the show.
And so they said, okay, why don't we put the two people who are going to go off when they come on the end so they can slide in?
But that has meant that Zach and I are next to each other.
And no.
My parents.
Not necessarily the best recipe.
My parents got divorced, but it's been like 40 years since I've been through this.
All right.
Danes, we got you.
We got you one time.
Let's bang through this.
What are the things that we have not yet talked about that you think are worth bringing into attention for our fans?
I've got stuff that I'm going to be watching for early on on each side of the ball.
Okay.
Which side should I start with?
Let's do Eagles offense.
Eagles ball.
All right.
The first thing, how is Spaggs aligning against the run?
Where are the safeties?
In particular, where's number 20, Justin Reed?
He's the Chespeas who is going to either be in the box or not in the box typically.
You're going to see Brian Cook typically away from the line of scrimmage.
But Justin Reed could be close.
He might not be close.
What kinds of runs will the Eagles run based on that alignment?
Looking back at the 2023 game in week 11,
the three biggest Eagles runs were all outside runs.
There was a same side pin pull run to the outside.
These were all D'Andre Swift.
There was an outside zone lead run with the tight end lead blocking
also to get to the outside.
And then there was a jet sweep to the Andre Swift,
which kind of changed the game in the third quarter.
Those were all outside runs in part because they were kind of,
you know, stacking the box in that game.
That was, of course, without Sequin Barkley in the game.
So that's the first thing I'm going to be looking.
What do you expect to see from Eric Reed in those situations?
I'm kind of expecting them to stay too high for the most part so they don't get beat by the big run.
That's the thing we talked about last Friday, and I kind of agree.
I think he's going to try to beat the Eagles into those three-yard, four-yard,
and possibly, you know, negative-yard runs, just because some runs end up, you know,
someone misses the block up front or not kind of thing.
Well, that's the thing.
I mean, and the question is going to be, are the Eagles going to kind of fall for that bait?
Are they just going to run through that anyway?
That's going to be the question.
But I don't think they're going to stack the box to the extreme that the Rams did and the commanders did.
I mean, they were just like, you know, from the stands, you could just see it.
I mean, like the safety was in the box.
The nickel was like, was down.
I mean, it was a single high.
Let's stop the run all the way.
And we saw that that led to some big runs.
In terms of the aesthetics of the game that you would like to see ideally,
who would you want to be the Super Bowl MVP?
Good question, both.
Jalen Hertz.
Okay.
Yeah.
Yeah, yeah.
I mean, I saw him have an incredible Super Bowl two years ago.
And the reason I say Jalen Hertz and not another player is because that means...
Well, no, I mean, I would be fine if it's Sakeman Barkley.
Fucking fine.
In fact, if it's a completely dominant performance where the defense, like, shuts him out and everything,
it probably would be Sakevon Barkley.
So maybe that would be better.
But I think Jalen Hertz being the MVP would mean that he got a bunch of different people involved.
That he was able to hit AJ when they play man, that he was able to hit...
Dallas and Devante when they play zone and had the kind of game.
Brought his legs as an impact.
Exactly.
Yeah.
Okay.
How about you?
How about you, Jamie?
If you could...
I kind of think Seekwon getting the Super Bowl MVP would be the perfect cherry on top of
just magnificent season.
But if you go Quignan gets two pick sixes, something like that.
Oh, I mean, that's just erotic.
Then the parade's not going to be on Broad Street.
It's going to be like to your house.
Oh, my goodness.
Yeah, I mean, that would be very cool.
Highly unlikely.
A defensive player.
gets it. Jalen Carter, like that would be like, who was the guy, was it Larry Brown who got it?
Like, Neil O'Donnell just like threw him the ball three times and they gave it to him.
And the Raiders gave him a big contract based off that game.
That's right. That's wild. Yeah. Who was the linebacker? The Seahawks.
Malcolm Smith. Malcolm Smith. Oh, that's right. That's right. I was that I covered that Super Bowl.
I was working that Super Bowl as well. Yeah, Metal Lans.
Zach, how about you?
I know you're not rooting for a team, but in terms of the style of the game who would be the most of
Please don't step on that.
Thank you.
Sorry.
That's okay.
So what would be the best for the Eagles would be, I think if Jaylon Hertz wins it, it means that the offense is prolific.
Sure.
That means we don't have to have a Jillen Hertz conversation all offseason.
Yeah.
That would be nice.
But I think if the Eagles win the game, I think Sequin Barclay is the most likely to win it.
And then I think Devante Smith is the wild card to watch.
Ooh.
He owns the Chiefs.
What is it?
320 yards in three games?
They're right. Okay.
It's possible.
All right, number two thing that you're watching.
Number two, where are the cornerbacks lining up and are they getting help?
So Trent McDuffie was the nickel back last year in nickel situations last year and the year before.
Since they've lost Sneed, he is now playing exclusively as an outside corner.
That takes away some of his ability to blitz.
He's only blitzed one time in these playoffs.
It was a very famous time, that fourth down at the end of the game.
But that's the only blitz he's had on 76.
passing downs in these playoffs. He's not their main blitzer anymore. And then the question becomes
if he's on the outside, are they going to match him up against AJ or against Devante or are they
going to play sides? What are they going to do? It's been really hard for me to decipher watching their
last three or four games. What is dictating who lines up where in terms of the corners?
They're platooning at the opposite corner. I'm not sure if Jalen Watson is still somewhat hurt,
but they're platooning him with Nazi Johnson, who by the way, Nazi Johnson, when he's
out there. If the Eagles can design runs
that gets Sequan to his area,
he is not bringing down Sequan Barkley.
He's had trouble tackling in the run game
in the time that he's been playing.
That thing's going to the house if it gets, if it's
Sequin and Nassie Johnson.
You got to clip that and be ready
to go if Seekwine has
one of those. The A.J. Brown, 45-yard touchdown
in the Super Bowl two years ago. That was
against McDuffie. That was base, and
he was playing on the outside and base.
And it was McDuffie
who was on AJ and then Thornhill was the other guy.
they don't have Thorne Hill playing either.
So that's the next one.
Are they going to try to match?
And honestly, whoever isn't being covered by Trent McDuffie,
that's going to be a mismatch.
Sure.
Sure.
Okay.
How about number three?
Number three, Nick Bolton, number 32.
He had a fumble recovery for a touchdown in the last Super Bowl.
He almost had two.
They called Miles Sanders's half-fumbole.
Not to be confused with Bolt-Tunned the Pokemon.
So he is a...
Good Pokemon knowledge.
Yeah.
He is a blitzer.
He's blitz ten times in the playoffs.
He's also a chess piece to bluff pressure.
That infamous third and three that we talked about last week
where Kelsey got the protection wrong and Willie Gay rushed off the edge.
Much out.
When the Eagles are going, are not going no huddle, which is most of the time,
they snap the ball very late in the play clock, more than any other team in the NFL.
And that's something that we discussed at length in October when the players were making a big deal about it.
Lane Johnson and the media availability yesterday talked about how Kansas City likes to shift late or adjust the defensive call to make the protection call wrong.
It'll be interesting to see if that's something that the Eagles get caught on.
I mean, Jason Kelsey was really good at that, and he got caught on it last two years ago.
Now it's Cam Juergens and Jalen Hertz doing that.
That's going to be something that I'll be watching for.
Where's Nick Bolton?
And are they kind of keying him on the protection call?
And then when he drops out, does that bring somebody off the edge?
in particular opposite of Chris Jones,
which is the way that they normally are going to points.
What's your level of confidence
in their ability to decipher those things correctly?
My guess, based on the number of zero blitzes
that Spack sends, he sent about five
in each of the last two games,
that there will be one or two times,
that there's gonna be an unblocked guy,
and that's where the one thing
that I think Ellen Moore has done unambiguously well,
find more answers in those types of situations,
whether it's with his legs or with just a hot route,
that's gonna be key.
There were only two sacks in the entire Super Bowl last time,
and they were both Jalen Hertz running out of bounds against Zone without a blitz.
So it's not like he was getting sacked,
but there were those where he was running around like crazy.
On some of them he found Zach Pascal for one.
I mean, he made a few really heroic plays in that game.
And looking back, the one thing about that game that makes me a little bit less confident
is that by no means was Spaggs out-schemed or anything.
Like it was a lot of Jalen Hertz's Superman.
Tight window throws.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Okay.
What about your expectations for blocking Chris Jones?
Well, I think that you can't really have a plan for blocking somebody who lines up somewhere different every single snap.
I mean, it's been crazy, how diverse where he's lining up was.
I charted just their third downs from the last two playoff games, and it's like almost an equal number of snaps on every part of the defensive line.
Exactly.
Not only all four spots, but also like how wide he is or, you know, are they setting it up for a stunt for him?
and a lot of times the blitzes do come opposite him
because they're used to people sliding over to him.
Now, I think the Eagles' offensive line
is better than any of the offensive lines they've played.
And so hopefully some of those one-on-ones
they're going to have to do.
Now, will they line him up over Mackay Beckton
and say, this is a mismatch?
Are they going to line him up more to the Eagles left
so they can blitz from the right
the way that they've done more against Jalen
because Spaggs, I guess, for whatever reason,
seems to think that Jalen is more bothered
when he can see the blitz.
So that'll be an interesting thing to see as well.
He would go up, he'd be up against Maillata.
And not the, because I, as Fran was explaining yesterday,
I think it maybe does make sense for them
to have him over a tackle a little bit more
so that they can't just double team him.
Well, the Maelada thing is interesting
because the Eagles don't, as Fran was mentioning
on the show yesterday, the Eagles rarely help the tackles,
right? So I think if you're talking about a slide towards Jones,
that's gonna be more when he's lined up inside.
So if he's lined up over Landon Dickerson
and Cam Juergen slides to him, then the
the blitz could come from the other side.
I don't think you want to use Jones as a piece like that,
you know, to set up the blitz if he's on the outside.
I mean, they still might do that.
Okay.
But, you know, there it would just be because Jones feels like he,
I don't know, it seems like Jones just stands wherever he wants,
like lines up wherever he wants,
and then they have very versatile other players on that line.
Oh, many who in particular, he'll line up as a nose
on pass rush downs, and then he'll line up as an edge on early downs.
They need to have those versatile guys,
Because wherever Chris Jones isn't lining up, those guys have to be able to fill in.
So Mike Dana, Omenahue, those guys line up all over the place.
Karloff, this is the one guy who's basically always going to line up over Lane.
Everybody else is kind of just all over.
Super Chat, Zach from Chase Daniel Plainview, who says,
Travis Kelsey is dating an evil wealth hoarder who pollutes the air more than David Baker's farts.
Do you consider him a class trader?
Ooh, hard-hitting question.
I mean, I think if he and Taylor Swift are in love, then let them.
love. Live in love, right? Amen, brother. Yeah. Yeah, love who you love. Did you see the meme going
around of Taylor Swift's legs? No. She's, she's got Sequin S thighs, and she's like jacked up.
Her legs are huge. And the meme says, what's Taylor working out for? And it says, well,
somebody's got to stop Sequin on Sunday. It's gone viral. It's pretty good. Okay. Yeah.
Muscular life. I'm worried the way that that started. I'm still worried that it's not over.
I'll have to pull it off.
Very muscular legs from Taylor.
Let's take a break and hear from our sponsors on the other side.
We're going to flip sides to the Eagles defense against the Chief's offense.
We might even hear briefly from Brian Westbrook.
Ace Hardware Home Services.
If you've got a leaky pipe at Ace Hardware Home Services,
they are around the block with everything you need to fix it,
including the person to do the fixing.
If you've got an air conditioning issue, they got a person for that.
If you've got a faucet you said,
would fix last fall.
They've got a person for that, too, because now they're not just the helpful hardware folks.
They're also the helpful home service and repair folks, from plumbing to heating and cooling.
They've got the trusted pros to keep your home.
Humming all year long at Ace Hardware Home Services.
We're bringing Helpful Home, the helpful you love from the store now to your front door.
Visit Ace Hardware Home Services online at www.
at www.Asehardwarehomeservices.com to get started on your next project.
And our friends over at Bet365 will show you why it's never ordinary at Bet365.
When you sign up for new users, use promo code P-HLY365,
and whatever the moment, you'll find out why it's never ordinary at Bet365.
There's over 90 million worldwide users,
and they stream over 780,000 events every single year,
and they have the best early payout offers across MBA,
NFL, NHL, and Major League Baseball, and they offer the widest range of markets available for live in-game betting across 78 different sports.
They have NBA tip-off Tuesdays, so keep your eyes peeled for those offers on Tuesdays.
They have same game Parlay Sundays.
There's only one big game left, so make sure you're checking it out,
and keep your eyes peeled for the custom pH-L-L-Y odds boosts.
So right now, win or lose, when you sign up,
You can get $150 in bonus bets when you bet just $5.
Win or lose.
Use that code.
P.H.L.Y. 365.
Deposit 10 bucks.
Place a bet for $5 to get $150 in bonus bets if you win or lose.
Bonus bets can be used on the spread, total player props, futures, and more.
Whatever the moment, it's never ordinary.
It's bet 365.
Must be 21 or older and physically located in PA.
If you or someone you know has a gambling problem and once help, call or text 1-800.
Gambler. We were walking around Radio Row earlier. Jamie spotted an old friend. We said, hey,
Brian Westbrook, you want to talk very quickly about Saquan Barkley? And since we know that
Danes is not going to give the guy his flowers, we found somebody who would. Let's hear now from
Brian West. Be West. All right, we are here with Eagles legend, Brian Westbrook, Brian. How are you
feeling about the game on Sunday? Well, I'm super excited. I think everyone in Philadelphia,
of course, is super excited. And all the former players that I've seen and run into over the last
few weeks are excited that the Eagles are here again, and so it's going to be a great weekend.
What are your expectations, and what's your perspective on the season that Sequin has had?
Well, I think Seiquant has been special. He's as good as advertised, I would probably say better
than advertised. He's just done a great job of being a great teammate. Obviously, he's a great
player. We can see that by his play on the field, but he's provided something that has made guys like
AJ Brown, great player, guys like Devonte Smith, great player, guys like Devonte Smith, great player,
Guys like Jaylen Hertz and Dallas Goddard really good players.
He's made those guys almost not mentioned.
That's how good Sequin has been.
And so it's just a great year.
I'm excited for them.
I'm excited for the team.
I think Sunday would be a good day for them.
Nick Siriani likes to say,
you can't be great without the greatness of others.
And I feel like the offense is a good example of that.
Obviously, Sequin, surrounded by everything he is,
has helped him have this season.
If you could go back in time and have like one part of Seekwine's game,
add it to yours,
what would it be. He has so many
good parts. I mean, I want all of his
game. I mean, you know, when I look
at Sequin, I look at he has speed.
He has long speed, right?
So he can run away from people. He has quickness
making people missing the hole. He's explosive.
He can catch the ball.
I mean, he does so many things well.
It's just hard to pick one thing.
I think the long speed probably is what I would pick.
But, I mean, he's just, he's special
in every category. Now, on the other side
is Andy Reid, obviously, and you know
him very well. What is it
about Andy that with extra time to prepare makes him so dangerous?
Well, he could diagnose defenses and offenses and see what your tendencies are
and then capitalize on those things.
He's just done a great job of that over the course of his 30-year-plus career.
And so we have to be worried about our tendencies, the things that we do all the time.
But at some point, you know, if you're this team, you say,
we're going to line up and they're going to have to stop us.
And I think that's what's going to have to happen if we want to be successful.
Here's the one thing I'd like to see a little more from Seekwan.
And this is really more of an offensive thing than Sequin.
And this is a Brian Westbrook thing.
I would like to see him a little bit more involved in the passing game.
I feel like they have underutilized that a little bit.
Maybe on Sunday that's something that could be a difference maker.
Well, he has the ability, but you also have, you know, all pro, A.J. Brown, great player, Devonte Smith.
You know, you have so many other options in the past game.
So I certainly understand that.
But I love the way he runs the ball, and I think he'll continue to do that.
And we'll see.
Maybe in the next couple of years, if he'll get involved more than the past game.
You want to go on the record with a prediction?
Yeah, I think Eagles win, 3530.
All right, Brian Westbrook.
You heard it here first.
All right, thank you to Brian Westbrook for taking a couple minutes to talk, Sequin.
A couple super chats, Grace Min.
Jamie appreciation post.
Every friend group has a Jamie.
Oh, thank you, Grace.
That is true.
Yeah, let's give it up, give it up for Jamie.
Thank you, Grace.
Thank you, Grace.
Jamie, Jamie.
It's like hanging out with the boss, right?
He's a suit now.
Yeah, I know.
You've got to be on an amazing fuse.
Exactly.
It's a little bit awkward.
Yeah, seriously.
And then I-Bem every day says, professors, if a student don't fall asleep, keep in your class, what do you do?
Don't fall asleep?
I think they meant do.
What would you do if a kid falls asleep in your class?
Oh, they don't fall asleep.
I mean, you know, keep things in high energy.
Yeah.
If you go to Wharton, you're motivated.
I don't know.
I actually don't think that that's necessarily true at all.
Like, what's the percentage of people in Wharton, Dana,
is who just don't show up to class?
That's actually surprisingly low.
Okay, yeah, yeah.
It's only, yeah, yeah.
There's actually a surprising difference between Wharton and non-Warton Penn in that regard.
Okay.
Yeah, Wharton attendance is somewhat surprisingly high, honestly.
Okay.
Yeah, yeah.
More Super Chats.
Conan, shout out to all the P.H.O.I. Sports crew for such a tremendous week of content.
Thank you.
Absolutely killed it.
Thank you very much.
Conan.
Rob says...
And we'll be better next year, I promise you that.
Don't make a promise you can't keep.
God forbid I say we'll be better next year
You promise that we'll try to be better
But you don't know that we will be better
We'll try to be better next year
That's a promise you can keep
Okay
Rob says if Spags deploys too high safety to defend Saquan
How does that impact their usage of play action?
Real quick, that's Rob's 20th Super Chat
So big shout out to Rob, thank you
It gives you a little number up there
I think that makes play action even more valuable
if you can suck the linebackers in towards the line of scrimmage on play action and the safeties are high,
that should leave space in between for whatever it is.
Both play action and RPAs are more likely to work better when it's too high, I think.
Mike says, when you think about what will give you the most confidence,
what does an ideal Eagles offensive drive look like high to Danes from Emily and Mustafa?
Oh, wow, that's awesome.
That's Emily's brother, right?
Emily Arrows is a good friend of ours from Turkey.
All right.
And that's her brother.
I totally spaced that on the question, though.
What was the question?
What's an ideal offensive drive?
Yeah, what's an ideal ego's an offensive drive?
I mean, to me, it's a touchdown.
A touchdown pass on the first player.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Or Seguine running one for 65 yards and a touchdown.
I don't think this is the kind of game where you're worried about, like,
is it going to be a lot of drives or not a lot of drives?
Like, you know, I've never bought into the, like, keep them off the field or whatever.
I've never even understood what that means.
Like, it's not winners.
Like, you don't get the ball back.
when you score.
They're going to have the same number of possessions as you.
Well, it's like, you know, it's the opening drive of the commanders game,
the NFC championship, it's 19 players or whatever,
and then you see, you get the miced up of Slay on the sideline being like,
goddamn, he scored too fast, we got to go back out there.
But then they force a turnover right after that.
So like.
Yeah.
Yeah, so the argument for limiting the drives, and I hear what you're saying.
You do get the same.
I know that this is tough suck, but you got to, thank you.
All right.
I'm sorry, but you're pulling me over.
It's okay.
It's hard.
Okay.
The argument you hear when you face prolific quarterbacks or prolific offenses,
and I know because Nick Siriani said Washington did this to the Eagles back in 2022 when the Eagles lost,
is if you limit the drives, then you create more variability for, you know,
if the good offense goes three and out or there's a turnover there, you know,
it just changes the math of the game.
Yeah, I think just statistically it's like the difference is usually are there, you know,
does each team get 12 drives or does each team get 10 drives?
You know what I mean?
Like, very rarely doesn't go below that.
Sometimes it'll be eight or nine,
but it's not like you're changing.
It's not like UVA basketball
where they, like, bleed the clock so much
that it's actually a significant difference.
So, I don't know.
I think that that variance difference is negligible.
But I do think explosives are going to matter in this game.
And so I'm with Bo and Jamie that the ideal drive is the first drive of the last game
is, you know, getting, you know, the big explosive play
is critical in this game.
Zach, Poo Ragu has been disquietingly silent this week,
haven't heard from him, but we do have a super chat from Shark Gallery
who says great work on the coverage this week in all season.
Are there any limitations on Jurgens and Dickerson going into Sunday?
Yeah, good question.
No, they were full participants in practice.
They've both expressed optimism they're going to play.
Clearly, if they're playing through something, right?
These aren't like A.J. Brown declared himself completely healthy.
I don't think Cam Jurgens or Lennon Dickerson
would declare themselves completely healthy,
but I don't think these are players who are like there's there's risk in you don't know how they're going to play or you don't know how they're going to perform they might be in pain after the game and during the game but I think you'll get the full Landon Dickerson and Cam Jerkins experience and Maddieo has another super chat to say thank you for the great coverage thank you very much
that really does mean a lot we're working hard dan is let's let's bang through some of the other things that you're looking for you got one more on offense one more on offense in the in terms of how the Eagles have dealt with the spag's pressure looks I keep going back to the when you look at those last two games
There was a third and five from the Chiefs 10,
and Spag sent a zero blitz against an empty
from the Eagles.
And the Eagles ran a quarterback counter run
for a touchdown in that game.
And that's the kind of thing
that discourages those kinds of blitzes, of course, right?
So it wasn't even just the normal draw.
It was a counter, it was designed,
and it fit their blitz perfectly.
That's something that I would definitely be looking for
from the Eagles when they're an empty.
It could definitely be quarterback run.
That's obviously one of the advantages
when you have a quarterback who can run,
is that empty doesn't mean you're definitely going to pass the ball.
Eagles haven't been a huge empty team this year,
but when they have gone empty, they've been pretty good.
And so I would think that some of that will come back.
The other thing is there was a middle screen in that game that went for 20 yards.
And in the last Super Bowl, the Eagles set up two perfect screens to Dallas Goddard.
He slipped on both of them.
The film shows that one of them would have been probably a touchdown.
The other one would have been a huge gain as well.
On one of them, he slipped before he caught the ball.
On the other one, he slipped right after he caught the ball.
I think that that's something that they had going into that game plan then,
and I'm sure it's in the game plan again this year.
So I would look for screens and design quarterback runs from the Eagles
at a higher rate than we've seen during the regular season.
Well, good thing is the Sodfather will be nowhere near the Superdome.
That rack can stay away.
Also, Vic Fangio, this was pointed out by John Clark,
and I spoke to Fangio about this yesterday,
as pointed out, the Eagles have been outstanding this year on turf.
Oh, they're averaging 11 points per game.
The next closest team in the NFL was 18 on turf.
In terms of allowing it.
And you've got to think the exciting whites and the secondary and the athleticism has a lot to do with it.
All right.
All right.
As we flip sides to the Eagles defense, this is going to be our big takeaways presented by Khan Murphy's, the Irish pub.
I like this.
In Center City, the big takeaways.
All right.
What are we looking to take away as we're watching this game from the Eagles defensive perspective?
Yeah, we talked about some of this stuff last week, and you guys have talked about it this week with Fran as well.
well, this Chief's offense has played less and less 11 personnel every year.
It was like 70% or something like that in 21, down to 60, down to, and now they're below 50%.
They line up in 12 or 13 personnel on a wildly high, 45% of their snaps, which is crazy.
It's the most of any team in the league.
And they're only 11 personnel on 38% of first down.
So we talked about how Fangio has matched this with Nickel, keeping Cooper DeGene on the field.
And so the question is, I'm not too worried about them running the ball.
when they throw the ball out of those heavy looks,
who is going to be responsible for Travis Kelsey
is the biggest question I have.
I'm not worried about anything on the outside,
but who's going to be responsible for Kelsey?
The way that the Eagles have done this
for most of the season is they'll have one of the safeties
rotate down.
That safety is typically Reed Blankenship.
If it's man coverage, they'll typically have CJ DJ on the tight end.
Now, last week against Washington, for whatever reason,
Reed Blankenship was that guy who was in coverage on Zach Kurtz most of the game.
He didn't have a great game in man coverage.
I don't think he's as good a man coverage safety as C.J. G.J.,
who used to be one of the best nickelbacks in the league,
I would anticipate that it is not going to be Reed Blankenship on Travis Kelsey a whole lot in this game.
I think C.J. G.J. will be down in the box more than he normally is.
And I also think that if they can get it set up that way,
they'll try to have Cooper DeGine be responsible for Kelsey when there are only two wide receivers on the field.
I do think the chiefs will often have both tight ends on the same side,
both wide receivers on the other side,
and that kind of takes the gene off of Kelsey,
as we discussed a little bit.
Yeah, do you think, well, as you have said,
Darius Slay and Quinion and Mitchell have not taken a single snap
all year long on the other side of the field?
No.
I don't imagine we're going to see that now.
No, no.
I mean, and by that, what I mean is Darius Slay has not taken a single snap
like to the right of the hash marks,
and Quinyon Mitchell has not taken a single one to the left of them.
Obviously, that means they've never been on the same side, right?
They never go over with the wide receivers.
A lot of teams do do that.
Fangio just doesn't.
And so, no, I don't think they're suddenly going to be changing the thing that made them the best defense in the league.
Probably a good tactic.
Yeah.
Now, Kansas City will try to exploit the flats.
That's a big part of their game anyway.
They don't throw the ball deep.
Mahomes has completed one ball of 20 air yards or more since week 13.
And that was that jump ball to Xavier Worthy last week that should have been intercepted.
He's won for his last 21 throwing deep.
I don't think he's suddenly going to get good throwing deep against this defense,
which has been the best in the league at preventing those deep passes.
And so they are going to try to exploit the flats with RPO's, slant flat, curl flat, wheel.
They looked like the dolphins last week running a bunch of those dolphin-style RPOs.
They're going to run a lot of screens as well.
And the Eagles have been one of the best defenses against screens this year.
They've only allowed a 33% success rate against screens.
A lot of the things the chiefs do, as you guys were talking about yesterday,
is exactly the stuff that the Eagles typically want the other offense to do
because they're good at stopping that and good at limiting it.
Xavier Worthy, didn't he break the record for like the fastest 40 or whatever?
I mean, they're using him like a motion gadget player right now.
He's not running deep routes.
He's catching the ball behind the line of scrimmage.
30% of Mahomes' passes are thrown behind the line of scrimmage.
Like the target is behind the line of scrimmage.
And so this is going to be a huge game of focusing on the fly.
maybe a little bit more than Fangio normally does.
He normally doesn't prioritize the flats
and also tackling when they catch the ball in that area.
And also the running backs rarely stay in to block
for the Chiefs.
Interesting. They are second in the league
at having all five players out in the route.
And so those running backs, even when it's Pirine
who plays on third down,
Piron's played on almost every third down pass play
in the playoffs, he stayed into block one time
on 17 of those plays.
So he's going to run or out.
They're going to try to isolate him or somebody else on all
Orrin Berks and pick on him in the flats.
Andy, you know Andy's looking at this defense and saying,
if I can get Orrin Berks in the flat in cover four where he's responsible for a third of the field,
that's going to be a mismatch for me.
And so I would say that Fangio will play less cover four in this game.
He'll have more defenders.
He doesn't need four deep defenders like Gannon had in the Super Bowl last time where they were just completing under that.
I think he's going to, I think the Eagles defense in general will be closer to the line of scrimmage.
And I think there will be a safety rotating down more often than not.
Some super chats from Mike who says y'all have made this week great for a Philly guy living in Oregon.
Go birds and go Nolan Smith at 200 to 1 MVP.
That's my buddy Mike in Bend, Oregon.
So thank you, Mike.
Nice.
I think Joanne Taylor, who Nolan Smith is going to be up against, is definitely a weakness on that line.
I like those odds.
Very awkward player.
I mean, like, he's like, he tries to set up like, kind of like Lane Johnson and that he tries to set up fast.
Yeah, this is one where like before the game,
Siriani is going to be on the reps.
Like, hey, watch for this.
And if you see it called early,
it means that he did a good job.
Right, that, but also like just where he starts.
I mean, the helmet of the right tackle
is supposed to be aligned with the belt of the center.
This guy lines up like in the stance, you know,
like absolutely illegal on almost every snap.
Now, some have argued that Lane Johnson fall starts on every snap as well.
So I'm not saying they have to call it every time.
But that is something that could make him susceptible to moves inside to stunts.
I think that that is going to be a weakness.
And one reason to line Jalen Carter up in his normal place is that if similar to the way Gerald McCoy told you guys that the right guard for the Rams was overcompensating for the right tackle because Nolan Smith was beating him so much that he forgot about Jailen Carter, which is very funny.
It's exactly what he did.
That's one thing that Nolan Smith and Jalen Carter being together on the same side could maybe be more effective than.
trying to get the mismatch with Calliando on the other side
and doing something that you haven't done all year.
I be me every day says, are you sleepy, ZeeB, and you're not sleepy.
You got all kinds of sleep last night.
The new man.
Yeah, no, I mean, look, I shouldn't be, it doesn't matter.
It's a super chat.
Yeah, I appreciate the super chat.
It doesn't matter.
What matters is I got to bring it every show and every article.
It does matter.
But no, my big takeaway, can I just add real quick for the big takeaway?
Yeah, the takeaways are going to be the key here.
and the giveaways in the sense that.
Oh, the big takeaway is the takeaway.
Yeah, because look, I'm not defending Jonathan Gannon.
I'm not going there.
But in that Super Bowl to you...
I'm so glad we got this opportunity to talk about Jonathan Gannon again, by the way.
No, in that Super Bowl two years ago.
It's been great these last two weeks.
In that Super Bowl two years ago, a big key was Eagles were up 14-7 and driving,
and J-1 Hertz fumbles.
It gets returned all the way.
The Eagles were in the red and turnovers.
They've been...
The major difference since the buy has been not turning the ball over
and taking the ball away, and Patrick Mahomes has been outstanding and not giving the ball away.
So if the defense can get a takeaway in this game, that's going to be critical for their success.
I will say this about that fumble.
On the very next drive, Jalen Hertz led the team down the field and scored a touchdown and made up for that lost fumble.
If that had just been a three-and-out and punt, no one would be talking about it.
So the base rate of that game was the offense was playing great, and Jonathan Gannon did not have that high a threshold to reach to win.
All right.
It's very astute, professor.
We're going to take a quick break.
Go to our ads.
Bring in Greg and Jordan,
and we'll be back right after this.
Tell you about Rothman Orthopedics,
our friends at Rothman Orthopedics.
If your joints are raking or your hands are cramping
or your back is out of whack,
Rothman's got you at Rothman Orthopedics.
Practicing specialized care has been their passion
for over 50 years.
Their mission is a high quality,
compassionate, and affordable care rooted in research.
Rothman's over 200 fellowship.
trained physicians sub-specialize in specific areas of the body and a multitude of orthopedic
services including hip knee, spine, shoulder and elbow, foot and ankle, hand in risk, wrist, sports
medicine, physical medicine, and rehab, orthopedic oncology and trauma and fracture care.
Rothman Orthopedics specialized in orthopedics and you visit Rothmanortho.com slash p.h-h-h-l-Y to learn more
and make an appointment today. I always enjoy talking about Truemark Financial Credit Union,
headquartered in Fort Washington where Julia went to high school.
If you are looking for your, if the credit card balance you have is weighing you down,
think about this.
What if you could pay it off faster and with zero interest until 2026?
It's true because True Mark is offering zero interest on balance transfers for 12 months
so all your payments can go toward reducing your balance, not just covering your interest.
Hurry, you have to apply by February 28, 2025, whether you're interested in rewards, cashback,
or simply prefer a low rate for everyday purchases.
TrueMark Financial can add TrueMark Financial.
You choose the credit card that's best for your financial needs.
Visit trumark.com slash compare for full details and to apply today.
TrueMark Financial is federally insured by the NCUA.
Eco Opportunity lender, terms and conditions apply.
All loans and subjects are subject to approval.
3% bounce transfer fee applies, standard rates apply after the promotional rate.
All right.
I think it's a nice way to close out the week of Radio Row.
You know, there have been, like, people coming on.
I don't even, there was one interview.
I didn't even know who the person was when they brought them to me.
Figured it out midway through.
Like, you want to interview Jason Worth?
Sure, that's fine.
But it's nice to have people.
We know.
And respect, yeah.
Jordan Rodriguez and Greg Rosenthal, I would say the co-stars of the NFL Daily
podcast.
How do you guys do it?
Hi, it's nice to see you guys.
It is so amazing to listen to you guys, do a live read live.
Best live reads of the game.
I have no idea why.
Zach has 3.5 font for his ad read.
Is that not the most Zach Berman thing you've ever heard in your life?
Because he's so meticulous and so...
I have a theory.
Can I start out my theory?
Read the screen.
So it's not like your eyes are that great, right?
I did like how he was leaning in to read it.
It was like, yeah.
My theory is, Zach seems like he's always trying to improve himself.
So actually, he makes his font even smaller for personal development,
for more of a challenge to get better at reading.
I'm going to roll with that one.
You're too good at your job.
You need to create roadblocks for yourself.
I should make them bigger.
How is the week going for you guys?
It's fun.
It's been crazy.
It's been so much fun.
Greg is like,
I've just kind of his shadow all week,
and he's been amazing.
Greg, turn your earphones off.
We got bumped for Jordan Love, I think.
That was a problem.
I've guessed envy with them.
Also, he's handling all the bookie.
No, I'm just kidding.
It is tricky.
I mean, you this, by this time,
of week. I'm loving seeing you guys now because you have to be so frazzled and so gone.
Because you have been here the entire week. This is a show nine of nine.
It's absolutely outrageous. And yeah, I did a bad job. A rookie mistake booking like days and days
in advance. And then suddenly they're like, yeah, you have Jordan Love at that time. I'm like,
well, sorry, but I'm exactly. Totally understandable. Respectfully.
Absolutely. Definitely could not pass that one up.
Do you, Greg, you have been on the Eagles pretty much all season long? Yeah.
And then you get back.
It felt like you backed off in the NFC championship game.
Yeah.
Like, do we need an apology to the Eagles?
I've made a lot of apologies this week.
I do.
I do apologize to the Eagles, the front office, the team.
I somehow got convinced just by Bram Weinstein.
Yeah.
The forces of his personality went from a two-score win from the Eagles.
And just like, I saw the vision that he had.
He was, he thought they were better.
And then I just heard how derogatory you were to all the Washington media.
It was a great hand again.
they thought something magical was going to happen, and I felt for it.
I'm sorry.
It's okay.
Do you guys saw part of what happens often on our show NFL Daily in real time as Greg nearly
slapped me in the face once again with his Greg gestures?
Oh, accidentally.
Yeah, accidentally, yeah.
But also, I think, in part, to assert power and put the fear of God into me.
Worked.
Good job.
I mean, that's a power move.
That's a good host.
I think that's, I mean, I think Zach can probably identify.
Yes, the fear of God is in me when they work with both.
So I can't identify.
I'm back on the Eagles, though.
For this game, you are?
Yeah.
Thank God.
I never left.
Tell us why.
Well, why not?
It's what I want to happen, first of all.
But that they're more talented.
Yeah.
Yes.
I mean, there's a million different ways why.
It's a coin flip that could go anyway.
It's a football game.
We all know that.
But, yeah, I mean, it's a better team against the better quarterback.
I think if you play this game 10 times,
I think the Eagles would win like six of them, but I don't know.
I do worry that the chiefs are much better offensively.
People still talk about the chiefs as if they're the chiefs that you saw all season,
and none of that really matters.
It's the last five weeks.
And actually, they are the complete juggernaut offensive chiefs over the last five weeks of the season.
But they're still not explosive.
They still have to sort of matriculate the ball downfield a little bit.
They are more explosive, though.
They have more dimension because Xavier Worthy has been activated into more elements of the route tree.
And then also because Hollywood Brown, I mean, you have now these,
layers that Andy Reid can play with that he really likes to just use and then he'll show you one
thing in the first quarter and then he'll do something totally different with Xavier Worthy
in the third quarter and I think that that is something that does create explosives unscouted looks
tendency breaking plays those types of things the chiefs if you look at their DVOA of their
explosive passing success rate like all of these things it's terrible but you can almost you also
have to throw out so much of it because it's almost like they don't even care for the first
half of the season. They're the only team that you can, like, usually I think it is, it is wrong to say
like a team can just flip the switch. They really do use the regular season as sort of like a
training ground for the playoffs. It's just one big petri dish. They're just like fiddling with
things. But they're also healthier. Like Omenah who changes their four-man pass rush.
Reed wasn't there for much of the season and is a huge upgrade over what they have. Jalen
Watson is a huge upgrade on Nazi Johnson. They had this weird roster where they keep playing all
these guys that really are borderline NFL players because you have so much, you know,
top shelf talent. And Hollywood Brown changes them. You're saying they're not explosive, but on
tape in that AFC championship community, when they're, when Worthy and Brown are coming at you and
they're doing some comeback routes, they went from like the slowest team in the entire
NFL to a pretty fast team. But I think, and also somewhat ironically, to our point that
we're collectively making, you know, me and Greg both. Sure. We're just honking too much right now. I know. We talk
way too much.
This is great.
I think that the way
that the Chiefs played earlier in the season
is actually better against Vic Fangio's
defense. So I'm very curious
to see because that's a Death Buy
1,000 paper cuts defense and it is
take earn every inch, take every
little piece bit by bit and how
can he basically stay more
patient than you? And I think that
you know, this is what's interesting
is because now I do think the Chiefs have
these explosive playmakers and a
little bit more capability of doing that.
particularly when Patrick Mahomes creates out of structure and then extends plays,
because now they have the speed to do that,
I don't think that's the way to beat the Eagles.
I think going back to that, like, creaky sort of piece-by-piece screen game,
let's just, like, throw little checkdowns and Pat Mahombs scrambles a bit, you know, into the flat.
Like, I think that's actually the best way to beat Vic Fangio, who, by the way, can I just say,
Vic Fangio is one of my idols.
Okay.
I have been covering him and following him.
No, I don't know him as a person.
No, I don't know him as a person.
I did have an interaction.
I was in Miami.
I was following the cheat motion around the league last year.
I was in Miami when he was in Miami and clearly did not want to be in Miami.
And I was asking him.
Too hot.
I was asking him if, yeah, he feels like kind of like me, like a face sweater probably.
Yeah, I would just hypothesize on that.
So I was asking him if they had now gotten to the full circle point where they were
seeing their own cheat motion plays and some of the routes that they would build out of them
on their scout team cards as the Miami defense.
So they're starting to see their own plays almost used against them.
And he looked at me for a second that made me want to die.
And he goes, yeah, we see a lot of motion.
And I was like, oh, I can't even hate it.
I love him so much.
Like, I just, he's awesome.
You guys know this.
I've been covering his defense and his structures and how to change the league for like 10 years at this point.
Like ruin Sean McVeigh's life essentially.
Yeah, and I love that.
It's so, I mean, he can, he's like a game breaker, in my opinion, and a brain breaker.
I mean, he just has that reputation.
It's one of the reasons I've been on the Eagles the whole time.
I sort of, that's why I feel like, and I said this before, the Chiefs offense against the Eagles defense in this game,
there's kind of a narrow band of outcomes, I feel like.
I don't think either side is going to totally dominate that matchup.
I think they're both going to get theirs.
It's like they're going to score between 17 and 28 points.
The variance in this game is on the other side where I think the Eagles could score 40 points,
and I think they could get totally shut down.
I think both of those things are possible.
Yeah.
I want a little more of the banter between the two of you.
That's what I come to, P-H-L-Y.
I know, Zach, or excuse me.
You got too much sleep last night.
That's the problem.
Greg actually came to watch the show.
Like, we're big fans.
So we actually came to watch you guys.
It's the best two-man comedy.
The P-H-L-Y listeners don't know how lucky they are to have the one-two-punch of
But it only works because Zach doesn't know the show that he's on.
Yes.
I love this show here.
It's a sisyphian thing for him to try to crawl out to a different show that he will never get to.
This is so blissful for me right now.
We're talking about the game.
We have all these great points.
I think he took a little nap just now.
We're not talking about the days.
We're not talking about peeing habits.
You guys remember your first kiss?
Of course.
I don't think I do.
Okay.
Yeah.
Let me see.
There's just been so many.
No, I'm just kidding.
I don't remember the make of the car, but, you know, it was like, it was like, it was like, oh, I thought you were going somewhere totally different with that.
Holy crap.
I was like, Greg.
I was a freshman in high school, and she was a junior and drove.
Wow.
And sort of was taking advantage of being in hindsight.
Wow.
Yeah.
Wow.
Spicy.
Wow.
His was, he was an early, he was early at it.
I didn't think he was actually there for Julia's first kiss to spend the.
bottle, so.
I didn't think to spend the bottle counted, though, because that's like, that's an
unearned kiss, okay?
So, sixth grade was the first, if we count.
I mean, you spun the bottle, you know?
Yeah, but it's like a requirement of the game, right?
So that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's
earning.
playing by the rules.
Exactly.
Yeah.
So the first earned kiss was sixth grade.
Okay.
The unearned kiss, yeah, then we'll go fifth grade.
Okay.
Yeah.
Jordan, I want to ask you about, uh, Sequin.
And one thing that we've been talking about for a while is that this season has been sort of a nice
example of how situation matters so much for a player.
And it's not just Sequin.
It's Zach Bond getting out of New Orleans and getting to be a linebacker for Vic Fangio.
It's Mackay Beckton getting out of the Jets and getting to play next to Lane Johnson and Cam Juergens.
And Sequin going from a very good running back to now everybody knows that he's the best running back in the league, right?
And having covered teams as much as you have, are there guys who you think of who are like, man, if only he had been in a different situation, I can't imagine.
I can't imagine the career he would have had.
You mean John Matthew Stafford?
That's right.
You covered that.
That's good point.
That was my second Super Bowl that I covered.
Actually, somewhat ironically, I covered the Rams Patriots Super Bowl as well.
Didn't know what the hell I was doing.
Yeah.
It is interesting because I covered Sequin at Penn State.
That was my first real beat job was covering.
Center Daily Times.
Center Daily Times.
I remember.
I remember.
I remember.
Zach?
Yeah.
Oh, my God.
Oh, yeah.
I mean, name a story you've written.
He has read it.
New favorite.
New favorite.
I've read every story you've ever written.
Oh, Zach.
I'm actually going to cry.
That actually came off weird.
It sounds sweet, but it also goes for like every reporter here.
Yes.
Especially like the cold, icy way he said it.
I'm not listening to anybody talk right now.
I've got them all like poster boarded on my garage.
He actually throws knives.
He throws knives at, he printed out the Alec Halloween interview for play callers and he throws knives at it before he goes to bed.
No, one of my problems.
It started as an appreciation, and as you started getting more and more Eagles people, it grew to hatred.
No, as an aside, one of the social things I've needed to learn is when someone says, nice to meet you, not to correct them.
Like, not to be like, I have to say, yeah, it's nice to meet you.
I can't be like, we actually met in an elevator when you were the beat writer for the Kansas City Chiefs.
And, you know, yeah, so you got to roll with it.
Yeah, nice to meet you too.
Nice to see you as the move everyone does at the Super Bowl now.
Yeah, but everyone knows the trick, so it's like, it's kind of...
Yeah, what are you going to do?
I forgot the question.
Sequin Barclay.
Yeah.
Yeah, it's just cool.
Do you remember the lead of any of those stories?
I can tell you, he's got the date line down, though.
He knows the paper.
It had its own printing press.
It was wild.
It was very cool.
Yeah, I just, it's cool because he's been that dude, right?
But it is so wonderful to see him being expressed to his full potential, right?
And I think that they're using him in so many ways that the Giants should have been using him for a long time,
inclusive to just some of the dimension that they have in their run game.
But also, one of the things I loved about the way that they beat the commanders was you could tell that the commanders had really thought carefully about,
especially their pressure strategy against Jalen Hertz.
And they were going to try to send very calculated and specific blitzes.
They were going to pull that lever at just the right time.
And a lot of it was sending Frankie Louvo to Blitz whenever Saquan Barkley was not on the field
because they knew what he's capable of in pass pro.
And I liked what Kellynne Moore did.
And I have criticized Kellynne Moore a lot because I don't think that when your quarterback has a hurt knee,
you should drop him 100 feet into the end zone.
You and I both.
But I digress.
But I also think.
First criticism with the Eagles this year.
Proud of you, Zach.
That's not true.
He literally wrote the book on the Eagles, guys.
The Eagles kind of skated about the end of that first half of that game,
which the Rams game was just very strange to it.
And I'll say this, like what I liked about what Kellyn did in that game
was you could see he was adjusting on the fly
because that lead quarterback draw that they ran,
Sequin Barclay was fainting as if he was just going to pick up a pressure in pass pro.
And then he shot the gap, and then Jalen Hertz just runs behind him.
And I thought that when you take someone who is capable of,
being Sequin, first of all, and all the things he can do.
But then you manipulate different looks,
and then you use some of those scouted looks and then create something unscouted.
And I just think that he is a player who can do everything in that way.
I'm really happy for him because he's deserved this for a long time.
You know, I'm going to give Nick Wright credit here.
I know our listeners won't like when I do that.
He brought up a good point I thought yesterday,
which was that when we bring up the way James Cook played two weeks ago,
a lot of that was the chiefs were like, that's fine.
if James Cook beats us, right?
Josh Allen can't beat us.
The inverse is probably going to be the case.
The Chiefs are going to be focused on Sequin,
and it's like, let Janowan beat us.
Do you think Janowen can beat them?
Yes, because weirdly, like, the best mismatch in this game
is, like, all the Chiefs players
that haven't gotten mentioned all week,
like, Jaden Hicks, has he come up much?
Brian Cook, Jalen Watson.
Like, when you have Devanta or Dallas, Gada,
or A.J. Brown,
whenever they get those matchups, whether it's zone or man against those guys.
Like, that is a mismatch.
And they've shown they can take advantage of those.
So if they're daring them to do it, I think they'll be a little anxious about that
because he was the best quarterback on the field two years ago in the Super Bowl.
That was a preseason pick for the Eagles to win the Super Bowl.
Now I feel bad.
I really have been annoyed that I picked against them.
I knew that that was going to bother.
We're annoyed too.
Let's get you guys on the record with your predictions.
Okay.
I had at 32, 29.
But it was kind of like they're up by two scores,
and then the Chief's score late.
So it's less about having to make smart decisions at the end.
But maybe you've got to get one first down at the end,
and that's where Sequin does.
That's what they got them for.
How about you, Jordan?
Yeah, I have been picking 24-21 Eagles.
I've been on the Eagles all year.
They've been one of my favorite teams to follow,
not just because I really, really like you guys,
but also because I like how messy they've been.
and I like how it's something different every week, but somehow it's like one good game all year.
But somehow it all works and it works in ways that I just think the collective is so strong when it's on.
And you could really see that a couple weeks ago.
But even when the collective is like upset about something or the head coach is upset about something and letting people know about that or there's different discrepancies in how they attack people or how they defend people, like it always works.
And I just think that's a really, really damn good football team.
Well, we thank you for watching on Fast.
Check out the rest of this episode on all pHLY.com.
Greg Rosenthal, Jordan Rodriguez.
Thank you so much.
The NFL Daily podcast.
We look forward to the free agent list from Greg to soft season.
I'm curious how high Jordan's going to be on that list.
Jordan Rodriguez.
Oh, Bo!
Number one, let's go.
Very high.
Oh, I love this man.
I mean, we'll try to keep her off that list, like the signing before.
before that even gets the far.
All right, we'll see you guys around.
Thank you so much.
Expo and Zach.
Love you.
We're going to bring Danes and Jamie back to close out this bad boy
and a couple more super chats to get through.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you so much.
How many do we have here, Julia?
As are you.
Five.
Wow.
I appreciate that.
Rich Bobby says we love and appreciate ZB.
Thanks for all the coverage this week, pal.
Rich, I'm very grateful you say that because there are,
like three extra stories in my notebook that I haven't been able to get to.
And it has literally, I mean, it has kept me up at night that I haven't been able to get to all these stories.
And my show notes, like, I haven't been thrilled with all the shows.
So I appreciate you saying that.
I really do, Rich.
Thanks for your love to you.
I just showed your super chat to Jordan.
It says it's Jordan, my girl.
Hope you are enjoying New Orleans.
So that's very nice.
Conan says a crossover between two of my favorite shows.
What a way to end the week.
Those are the only ones I can see for now.
All right.
I've heard the Wi-Fi isn't good.
Oh, my God.
It's brutal.
It is so bad, and it's just pathetic.
Roger Goodell.
What are we doing, dude?
Is that not impacting the, like, the...
They're hardwired, yeah, but do you have to pay for the hardwires?
You think that's why you think they're suppressing the Wi-Fi so that you pay for the hard wire?
Probably.
Everything's a scam, right?
Classic Roger.
Yeah, classic Roger.
I don't think Roger cares about the media house or the media.
Roger was running that meeting solo.
They were like...
Yeah.
Somebody told them.
hey, got a good idea to make us more money, and he said, great.
Yeah.
He didn't listen to the rest of it.
Make it worse for the people.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I need to value my, what, $57 million he makes a year?
Yeah, underpaid.
That's crazy.
Yeah.
All right.
Now, Julia and Chris have to get going to the airport,
so we've got to wrap this bad boy up in a minute.
I will be joining them as well.
I got a little bit of a later flight.
I already got delayed once, which is great.
So airport beers, I think, are in my future.
It's a good airport to get delayed in.
Why?
I got delayed here.
back in October or September.
How many banyers did you eat while?
I didn't.
I'm trying to be careful with that.
I was going to say because that's...
Yeah, no, it's just they redid the airport in the past three years.
And so there's more, it's a better, it's more conducive airport for waiting than it used to be.
And the food options are really good, which so many food cities, good food cities, the airport's
terrible.
Here, they do a great job representing the food.
I will say Philadelphia has gotten a lot better in the last two years with the food options as well.
Not Terminal A so much.
Well, yes, B and C have upgraded, yeah.
I had Chickies and Pete's chicken tenders for breakfast.
Nice.
I've done that before.
Got a big thing of fries.
What's the best thing you ate this week, Jamie?
It probably is between the steak from N7 the other night.
That was a good spot.
And the brisket from Coshone.
Okay.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I had the worst cheeseburger of my life last night.
So highs and lows, peaks and valleys.
Okay.
Yeah, man, it's tough.
You think cheeseburger is relatively safe for a floor.
You know, like, at least it's going to be edible.
Was it a cheeseburger that was designed for a higher level of alcohol consumption?
Yeah, and then they just charted, and I feel like the guy stomped on it with this.
It was just not good.
But I ate it because I was starving.
Well, there you go.
I'm excited about going out to dinner tonight.
If you guys have lined up.
I mean, we'll see.
We'll see how the day goes.
No promises
You should get the charbroiled oysters
There's a very high fee for no-shows at this place
And we're on a group chat
And the only person replying to the group chat is Sheal
Sheal's like, yeah, keep it, like great
And so, and meanwhile,
Nothing from these guys
And so it's going to be
Yeah, I'm not at Friday yet
It's going to be
I have no time to respond to my wife
I'm not complaining that you're not responding
it makes sense that you're not responding.
It's just that Sheal went ahead with the go ahead, keep the reservation, right?
And so now there's like, it's going to be like me and Sheel pretending to be six people.
My kids go to bed.
No, my kids go to bed at seven and like back home, right?
Wow, that's a good bedtime.
And I haven't, like, Emily's like, you haven't FaceTime the kids to say good night.
I'm like, we're on our show at six, right?
There's no time.
So, yeah, I'm going to try to be there tonight, but there's a few different things I'm going through.
No, no, I totally understand.
Sean Walford says one thing that isn't talked about enough.
Eagles sucked in the first quarter on offense throughout the season.
Playoffs, touchdowns on all three of their first drives.
Ooh, I like that point.
It's a great time to save the regression to the mean right there.
Yeah.
Julie has also slacked me the other super chats here.
Rob says, is there a better symmetry to end this postseason than parading down a snow-filled broad street?
Oh, wow.
Snow quam!
Yeah, so real quick, though, like, obviously we've all seen that Bill
Belichick speech before the Super Bowl in 2004 when the parade
I saw you looking at the pics of Bill and his girl last night
she was wearing a ring it was on your phone it came up on the feed oh I saw that
too yeah it came up on the feed by I was on there for a while I was in the whole
man you weren't just scrolling you stopped there was a stop there you know what I
someone emailed me you don't have to respond to everything okay so as I was
saying oh yeah so no so
the Eagles obviously don't release the parade route.
So I know there's, I've received messages from fans saying if they win, what would happen
because of the snow, would they push it back a week?
This is what I would say.
Those players are, they want to get out of Philly.
Like, you know, it's been a long season.
So I can't see them pushing it back a week.
I don't know what they would do.
But I am curious.
Well, meteorologists are wrong a lot.
Yeah, it was Thursday last time.
So if they're willing to wait until Thursday, they should have a day that works.
Yeah.
Musa says the NFLPA supports the LCMC nurse union strike.
Do you think this show of solidarity for labor, militancy, favors the Eagles since we are a union town?
Yes.
Fantastic.
Go birds.
All right.
Wait, guys.
Predictions?
Oh, there's another one.
Yes, let's get to predictions.
Jamie, give us how you're feeling.
I watched the Sequan Barkley voicemail from his daughter this morning, and I am now convinced that the birds are going to win.
by 45 points.
So let's go with 52 to 8.
Did I do the math right now?
No, you missed by one.
I missed by one.
It's in a long week.
Right in front of the professor, too.
How embarrassing.
Grace says sending Jake Elliott good vibes.
We love you, shake it off, and stay away from the massage parlors.
That's a good point.
There you go.
Jake gave me a Marion.
I was wearing Marion at Monday night, and he came up to me and he goes,
Marion, nice.
and that was it.
Look at that.
Good K-Shippe.
He's a good golfer.
He's apparently a great golf.
It's very strange to me that this many people are interested in like a punter screaming.
Like, like, just like shocking.
You have a prediction?
Zach, would you like to go with your prediction?
Yeah, I've been saying it for the past two weeks.
The Chiefs deserve a world of respect.
They're a 15-win team.
They have the best quarterback in the NFL.
I think the best quarterback in NFL history.
their coach is outstanding.
They know, like they're a team where you can say they know how to win.
It's not an accident.
You don't win 15 games by accident.
I agree with what Greg Risenthal said.
I think they're more talented than people are getting credit for.
But I think the Eagles are more talented too.
I think the Eagles are the better team.
I think the Eagles are better on both lines of scrimmage.
I think if I can give some observations,
I think the Eagles have been loose this week.
They've been, this is not a happy to be here team.
Vinista had locked in.
That was his read.
Yeah, this is a team that's like ready, that expected to be here, that expects to win this game.
They are not underdogs.
I know people feel like disrespected by the ESPN people picking.
No, they flip-flop.
The ESPN crew this morning was all Eagles.
Yeah, I mean, like these.
They're both sides.
The same people?
Yeah.
Yeah.
This Eagles team, my sense is like they are confident.
I think it's going to be a close game.
I am predicting Eagles 28, Chiefs 27.
and the Chiefs miss a field goal late in the game
for the Eagles to keep the lead.
Wow, the butt cut.
Sure.
Least-likeable kicker punter combo in NFL history?
Yeah, probably so.
Yeah, yeah.
Normally you just don't care about those guys.
I don't know how many there have yet.
You got one or a professor?
I did not come here to lose,
and I don't like this narrative that the Chiefs are going for the three feet
and the Eagles are in their way.
like that's just not what this is.
Like this is the Eagles season.
It's the Eagles Super Bowl to win.
The Eagles are the better team.
Everything's been set up for this to happen.
And the Chiefs are in the way.
And so as long as this Eagles team plays the way it has all year,
and as long as there aren't random bounces here and there,
I think this should be a more comfortable win than 2827.
I don't think it will come down to the last drive.
I don't want it to be a one-score game at the end with Patcham,
Mahomes in the ball in his hand. So please be up two scores. Yeah. I mean look this Eagles defense the one
thing that hasn't gone great are some of those last drives. Yeah we saw against Atlanta we saw against
Washington I mean they fall into that pre-vary losses were on a last minute drive where
Fangio got up maybe a little bit conservative and we saw also almost blowing the lead against the
Rams at the end. That is that's how I see it going. I see it going very similarly to the Rams game.
I think I think the Eagles will extend a lead to two scores late in the fourth quarter.
with about, let's call it, four and a half minutes left.
Patrick Mahomes gets the ball, and they have their best drive of the game.
So, like, super quick touchdown drive.
Everybody's getting very tight.
It's a three-point game, and it's a very classic situation
where the Eagles need one first down to win the game,
and if they give it up, the Chiefs are going to go down and win the game.
And it's going to be second down.
They're loading the box.
They're trying to, you know, ice their timeouts,
and Seekwan is going to bust it for a big run and slide.
down and not go for the touchdown like everyone was telling him to do in the snow
and that is going to be the end of the game the eagles are going to win this game wow 30 to 27
hmm there you go we'll take that all right what a week the one thing i know is i will be an emotional wreck
when i see bg out there i'm going to be crying when the game starts i'm going to be crying i'm going to
be like seriani during the anthem the whole time and then hopefully it'll be not syriani though
because that would move right off.
It's a super point, yeah.
Ah, yes.
Hopefully it'll be tears of joy at the end.
All right.
So thank you to all of you for, I believe we have one more Super chat, actually, before I close us out.
Grace, oh no, we got that one.
Siriani's buzz cut, oh, the butt cut says, Danea's vlog on his Super Bowl seat setup.
One of those GQ style, what's in my bag.
Feed the sicko parisocial relationships, also nice hat.
And I've been me every day, says 55 to 7.
Also, as we close this show, people have been asking for a meetup information.
We're going to try to do something tomorrow at like 5 o'clock, but we don't have a location yet.
You've been scouting the potential possibilities.
Yeah, the place we're definitely booked.
So there's a taco place.
We're going to tweet it out.
Stay tuned to the Twitter's in the full sky.
Before boat brings us in, I just want to say, too, thank you so much to the audience.
Thank you to all the readers, the listeners, the viewers.
There's a lot that's going on to make this week happen, and we're grateful to be here.
Like and subscribe, thumbs up.
For good luck for the birds.
And yes, Zach Sediments, thank you.
Kickoff show on Sunday.
Half-time show on Sunday.
Post-game show on Sunday, win or lose.
Should be an awesome atmosphere.
It's going to be Jamie, Rich, Fran.
Vinnie Curry, who dominated this week.
Thanks to Vinny, thanks to Fran, thanks to Chris behind the scenes.
Julia for making it all happen.
Jamie for getting us guests and hanging out as well.
Les Bowen, Zach Berman.
Most of all, Brandon Chubb.
We thank all of you for watching and listening this.
week. We will see you on Sunday. And as always, we love you.
