PHLY Philadelphia Eagles Podcast - PHLY Eagles Podcast | Game week!: On the record with our bold Philadelphia Eagles predictions as São Paolo nears

Episode Date: September 3, 2024

We’re three short days away from the season opener in Brazil as Jalen Hurts, Jalen Carter and Thomas Booker IV prepare for the start of a season with high expectations. Who will break out this year ...for the Eagles? When will there be bumps in the road? Will Nick Sirianni stay quiet on the sideline?Fran Duffy and Bo Wulf run things in studio while Zach Berman checks in from the NovaCare Complex ahead of his flight to Brazil. Join them for a round of predictions about the season ahead. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Transcript
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Starting point is 00:00:03 Hello and welcome to the PHLY Eagles podcast on a Tuesday, three days away from the Eagles season opener in South Palo. Bo Wolf and Fran Duffy here in studio joined momentarily by Zach Berman, our beloved world traveler who is preparing for his trip to South Palo. Fran, how you doing? Zach, I'm doing great. Bo, I'm doing great. There he is. As we welcome in, Zach. I'm still excited.
Starting point is 00:00:32 We're three days away from a real game. I can't wait to like really jump in and start breaking down the same. Obviously it's been fun the last week and a half. This is for you like the point of the draft season where you're like, I'm done with this draft class. I need next year's draft class. Believe or not, that actually never happens.
Starting point is 00:00:47 I usually am like watching guys up until like draft morning. So it is actually like just a feeling of I'm done with the off season. I'm ready to actually talk about games that matter. Zach, how you doing? How you feeling? I'm doing well. I'm excited. I'm sorry I'm not there in studio with you guys.
Starting point is 00:01:04 and I'm going to miss being in studio with you this week. But now I'm excited. And to the sentiment that Fran was just saying, right, like I'm real excited for a football game, number one. But I'll say, you know, and Bo knows this. We've been in the locker room this this week. And all the conversation has been this flight so long and the safety in Brazil and all that. And the perspective I have is like how awesome is it that I get to be there for historical, moment in this franchise's history.
Starting point is 00:01:35 Like all the football eyes are going to be on this game Friday night. I'm fascinated from a football perspective, but even just from like chronicling this franchise, that's the perspective I have. So I'm real excited to go down there and see what this is like. Well, Zach, let's talk about that. What are your plans for how to chronicle this trip for the Eagles? What are you going to be doing?
Starting point is 00:01:59 And are you going to be tweeting? Yeah, the tweeting thing, It's a good question. I don't know, I don't have a good answer. I'm giving my wife a crash course on tweeting before I go because there will be times when I text her some stuff I want to put up there. Like for instance, we have showing her drill. What are you doing? How are you teaching her Twitter? Well, she doesn't have she doesn't know how to or I should say she. She's a smart capable woman. Yeah. She's very smart. She knows. But she she she does not tweet. So. I will be texting her, like things to put up. For instance, we have, I'm so excited, an awesome series of stories coming out tomorrow. There's a story I've been working hard on, spend some time, you know, reporting it, writing it. And I want to put that out to the world.
Starting point is 00:02:48 But typically, you know, on all-PHY.com, a lot of our traffic comes via social media. So I need to put that out there. So there's like the administrative stuff there. But then I'm on the scene. Thursday, I will be at practice. I will be, there's press conferences, there's a walkthrough. You very rarely get to be around the team the day before a game. The NFL is making this exception because they're in Brazil.
Starting point is 00:03:11 So because I'm there, I want to make sure that I chronicle it. I don't know what it's going to be like outside of the work hours. Really, I'm tomorrow night and Thursday night are the only times that I am not working when I'm there. So we'll, I'll see if there's Eagles people out and about. People in the comments are already asking for vlogs. They want all kinds of video content from Zach Berman's trip abroad. Yeah. So I will do my best to vlog.
Starting point is 00:03:41 Also on all p.chly.com, we will have an old school blog, right? Like basically the pre- Twitter, how you know, you'll put stuff up. Maybe there'll be time stamps throughout the, throughout the day. But yeah, there would be a vlog. What I'm curious about is during the game. And I keep hearing, I keep hearing people say, go with the VP. Go with the VPN. And for full disclosure, like, you know, a VPN, that's when I try, I don't travel internationally
Starting point is 00:04:07 that often, but if I do, I typically do that so I can watch American games abroad, right? But I don't know. I don't want to risk any type of punishment. So we'll see how this materializes over the next few days. Everybody's excited also about this story that apparently is about a hard on. Excuse me? You said you've been working on a story about a hard on. I said I've been working hard on a story.
Starting point is 00:04:39 Oh, okay. I must have misheard. I'm sorry. I look forward to that. That'll be on all-PHLY.com tomorrow. Your sophomore humor never fails. And I'm excited for you guys have, I've seen the work from both you guys. It's going to be awesome.
Starting point is 00:04:56 So make sure the audience checks that out tomorrow morning. and throughout the next few days. And what, Zach, you know, all the questions of the players, as you talked about in the locker room this week, you know, what are you going to be doing on the flight? What are your plans? How are you going to pass the time? What are you going to be doing on the flight? How are you going to pass the time?
Starting point is 00:05:14 Will you allow yourself to sleep? Also, I'm going to need to sleep because there's no time zone change and I'm flying through the night. So actually, so the Eagles, they're flying during the day tomorrow. They're leaving at 10 a.m. and because they want to get to sleep in the hotel. So their flights during the day, and because their charter, they go nonstop throughout the day.
Starting point is 00:05:35 Mine's overnight. And because there's no time zone change, if I don't sleep, I won't sleep. So I need to sleep on the second leg of the plane. So I'm flying Philly to Miami this evening. And on that flight, I will work. There's stuff for tomorrow's packages that, you know, I want to get out there.
Starting point is 00:05:53 And then I have an hour and a half layover in Miami. And then there's eight and a half hour flight from Miami to Brazil. That flight, I'm hoping that I can sleep. That leaves at 1145. I didn't sleep much last night. I'm hoping that I can get comfortable and close my eyes and doze off. I do have some stuff to watch. I have a Connor Stallion's documentary.
Starting point is 00:06:18 Looking forward to watching that. Recommended by Marissa. That's on Netflix. I don't, I scanned American Airlines' website to see what movies they're showing on the screen in, in front of you. Not really any movies that pump me up. But if you can get like a mindless, you know, if David Kirby enthusiasm, boom, I'll be good, right? That'll put me out. But I'm hoping I can get, you know, six, seven hours on that flight, drops it down to an hour and a half flight.
Starting point is 00:06:47 It makes it easy. But I need to fall asleep on that flight. That's imperative. A lot of pressure. Zach, was there any consider? whatsoever rather than burdening Emily with all of your tweets and texting her non-stop throughout the course of the week to just giving Bo and I the credentials to tweet on your behalf I should consider you actually someone said I said I would never
Starting point is 00:07:09 never give Bo my Twitter that would be my my worst thing you know I've spent 13 years building a professional reputation and I could lose in 13 seconds with with with with Bo running that Jack, your instincts are correct. Additionally, I don't want Bo to see my DMs either, right? I mean, that's a big part of this job. What do you have to hide mistress talk over here? Not both.
Starting point is 00:07:37 Some of us, it's about the reporting of the work. It's not mistress talk. When I say DMs. What are you hiding from me? We're partners. We're supposed to share everything. Well, I mean, there's conversations you have with different people via Twitter. That's only supposed to be for the eyes of the person.
Starting point is 00:07:55 because you're talking smack about me. That's why you don't want me to see it. I promise you with these people I'm DMing, we're not talking about you. We're talking about why so vain. Isn't that the song? Isn't that the song? No, we're talking about stuff with the Eagles, right?
Starting point is 00:08:11 Zach, for our... What are you hiding from me? For our viewers that haven't been paying attention. We're coming off the holiday weekend. I saw you tweeted earlier today. Speaking of Twitter, the vibes around Nick Siriani and just him being a little bit loose here as we go into game week.
Starting point is 00:08:27 Can you just expand on that a little bit? Because I wanted to ask you about just what went into your thoughts there. Yeah, good question there. Because I thought last year he was pretty tight. And I remember from marking that to Bo. Like I thought going into the year, there was a lot in terms of like the repeating. There was there was stuff that he was doing. It was almost, I don't want to say out of character, but he seemed a little tighter last year,
Starting point is 00:08:53 like almost like he was trying to play. he was trying to play somebody. He seemed more like himself this week. You know, today he goes on these meandering stories, but like that's who he is. And just in having the chance to talk to me, it struck me that he seemed looser, given that there's a lot of pressure on him this year.
Starting point is 00:09:15 He knows that. There are a lot of questions swirling around the team. He knows that. But I think that he's confident going into this season. we can take that for what it is. But, you know, Bo and I talked during the Super Bowl week, how there was a difference in jail in that week compared to the other parts of the season. If I compare Nick going into the last season compared to going into this season,
Starting point is 00:09:38 I do think there is a difference that I see from him going into this season. All right. Let's talk about some of the actual news because what you're talking about right now is vibes. And you may call it something different, but that's what you're talking about. Give us the hard news, Zach. give us a stone cold newsman injury-wise. Are there things that Eagles fans need to be worried about about this game? And what else have we missed over the long three-day weekend since we last spoke?
Starting point is 00:10:06 Yeah, the first injury report comes out today. But we've been in practice the past three days, and everyone is practicing. That includes Isaiah Rogers who had like a mysterious illness last week. Or I shouldn't say illness. I'm sorry, a mysterious ailment. We don't know what was holding him back. Okay, I take back illness. Rewind that, delete that from the record.
Starting point is 00:10:28 Then Dallas Goddor, he had that oblique injury. He's back. I spoke to Dallas about it, and he's like, he was fine. It was end of August. They were just being careful. There were no installation days on the days that he missed. So it was literally just like, take care of yourself here. They seem to have all 53 players on the active roster healthy going into this game.
Starting point is 00:10:50 James Bradbury, of course, no longer on the active roster. I are now. So they're healthy there. Now, as far as some of the lineup type stuff, Mackay Beckton's clearly the right guard. Beatles aren't saying that. Mackay Beckton, I asked Mackay Beckton this week, you know, what he did this summer to, like, earn that role. And he said, I don't know who your sources are. I mean, I wanted to say, I'm not picking a fight with six foot eight, 350 pound Mackay Beckton. I'm going to say my sources aren't my eyes. Like, I was at, I was at practice. and you've been there.
Starting point is 00:11:24 I was at practice this week. You're lining up next to Lane Johnson. If he's not the starter, it's the most ridiculous form of deception that they've ever encountered. So you'll see that. I'm very curious cornerback. So as Bo predicted at the starter camp,
Starting point is 00:11:38 this is coming to fruition. Vic Fangio said yesterday that Cuenot Mitchell is ready to play at the whole game, basically, every snap. Whether that's on the outside all the time or on the outside and then moves inside and nickel, we'll see. Beau floated out the idea that he could stay on the outside,
Starting point is 00:11:54 and Avanti Manix could play it in the nickel. Vic Fangio did say Maddox is ready to play both safety and nickel, so he's not purely safety right now. So Bo has a good eye for that, so let's kind of pay attention to that. It doesn't sound as if Cooper Gene is kind of ready for that role yet. Vic Fangio intimated as much. So it's either going to be Quignon on the outside the whole game or Quignon on the inside and then Keeley or Isaiah Rogers on the outside and base.
Starting point is 00:12:23 But I'm expecting I'm expecting Quignan to be the starter. Zach, you also have a story up on all p.hly.com now about the trip to Brazil. John Ferrari, the assistant GM for the Eagles talked yesterday to reporters. What were your main takeaways? Yeah, so we're going to have much more on all p.hly.com from our conversation, which with John Ferrari, to kind of show people how the sausages is made. I didn't want to leave the website blank with Eagles News for two days before the stuff came out tomorrow.
Starting point is 00:12:57 So I needed something that I can get up there kind of quick. So this is like a quick version of an extended conversation, Bo I and others had with John Ferrari yesterday. But there's a lot that's been made throughout the summer and certainly last week about the Eagles jersey selection. John Ferrari said they're wearing the black and white as a nod to Corinthians, who, who's kind of the host team here. They're playing in that stadium. So that's why they chose that they weren't told that they can't wear green, but it's it's kind of more in honor of the team that plays there.
Starting point is 00:13:27 Of course, there is gamesmanship here by them choosing white instead of black to do so. It puts the Packers in green. But John Ferrari said, like there's no safety concerns for fans going to the game in green jerseys. Big picture here, kind of the logistics of it. It does seem that, well,
Starting point is 00:13:45 they're obviously well prepared for this. I don't want to use the term guinea pig. Like there's a little bit of figuring it out as you go to. You know, there's no precedent for it. But the good side there, and I asked John Ferrari about this, is that they can create their own precedent for it, right? So they're kind of instituting the best practices for them, and that's kind of being adopted.
Starting point is 00:14:05 I thought Bo asked a really good question to him, which was like, does it help that this is week one? And he said, yeah, like because basically it's harder to do what they're doing if this was like a week seven game and they had a road trip the week before like they've been able to kind of prepare for the lead up to this and that includes the schedule today it's like an in-season Friday for them and then tomorrow uh is a full travel day the reason why i said i said earlier why they're flying out when they are um they chose that to kind of keep the guys on schedule so they have a full day flying they're told to stay awake stay hydrated in the air and then when they land
Starting point is 00:14:42 which will be around 10 o'clock local time you know there's a one hour time difference then they'll get to their hotels and they'll go to sleep. That do's and don'ts meaning that we heard from H.A. Brown, John said it wasn't necessarily like, you know, like do this, don't do this. It was kind of introducing them to the logistics of the trip. But my understanding is that these guys aren't really venturing out of the hotel. Like they are part of the reason why they're going when they're going is to make this as comparable to an in-season trip as possible. there's a one-day difference than that, you know,
Starting point is 00:15:19 typically they do their walk-through in Philly. Here they're doing their walk-through in South Palo, but this is not like a London thing where these guys are going to have, you know, a few days to see London. All right. Last thing for you, Zach. As somebody points out on the chat,
Starting point is 00:15:36 it is a Tuesday, a Tuesday in September. That means we are now three weeks away from the release of the franchise. Why? You plug that bad boy. I appreciate that. Yeah, the franchise, a curated history of the birds comes out September 24th. I am eager to talk about it. There's some events coming up, including the Friday before the book comes out. I'm at the Barnes & Noble in Philadelphia with Ray Dittinger. Ray Dindinger and I are going to have a conversation about the Eagles, about the book. So actually, if you want the book before it comes out, you can do that on September 20th at the Barnes & Noble in Center City.
Starting point is 00:16:20 I will be there with Ray Dinger. But yeah, I'm excited for that. And now, the thing is this, I have, as it was pointed out to me today, like two road trips before then. I had by Brazil before then, obviously the home game against the Falcons is a game week. But then, you know, the Saints game and the Bucks games. So this September is a really busy month right there. What's that song by Green Day? Is it Green Day?
Starting point is 00:16:47 Wake me up in September ends. Yeah, wake me up in September ends. It was an HBO promotion one time. That's why I know the song. Was it Green Day who said that? Is that a Green Day? Yeah. Okay, look at that.
Starting point is 00:16:58 That's the green part, right? We're going down to Brazil. So, yeah, September is going to be a busy month. September 24th is when the book comes out. But honestly, what's on my mind right now, I say like one day at a time. Obviously, this flight is a bear. I get that.
Starting point is 00:17:16 But really, I'm excited for tomorrow morning when all our work from these past few weeks is going to come out on all-PHLY.com. And then really, I want to flood the zone with coverage on our show. So we have Anthony's show. We have John Marks' show. We have the P.HLY Eagle Show. So I hope our- You should just call to the other team shows too and just
Starting point is 00:17:41 interrupting mid-show. I hope that the PHL-Y viewers are like sick of me by Friday because that means that our company's getting our money's worth with me being down there. Like I want to be on every show I can. I want to give you like up to the minute updates, what's going on. I'll try to paint the scene, although I probably won't be galvanning around town.
Starting point is 00:18:01 But if I can get a nice piece of steak or good pasta or good sushi, sign me up for that. Well, I know that you're feeling good just to bring it down a peg because that is part of our job here. I know the reporting FOMO and you. You have missed the scoop in the locker room today. What? Jack Driscoll is back with the Eagles, presumably on the practice squad. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:18:24 Okay. Yeah, Jack Driscoll's back. It's going to be okay, Zach. I mean, I believe Jimmy Kempski had it first. My bad. I'm sorry to the audience. I, um, I, I came, I, I came home to, to kind of get things together before the flight.
Starting point is 00:18:46 Say goodbye to the kids. Oh, please. You are fine. Yeah. Also, I have a long flight ahead of you. And boy, your arm's going to be tired. Thank you so much for spending some time with us. We look forward to talking to you in Sao Paulo.
Starting point is 00:19:02 If I can add one quick thing here, because Vince just, just texting me, be on the lookout. We are going to have a P.HLY diehard. book signing in studio as well. So we'll have details for that once everything's finalized. Both thank you so much. I look forward to seeing you guys on the screen from South America. Tomorrow I land at 10 a.m.
Starting point is 00:19:24 Or I'm sorry, I land at 8 a.m. The P.H.L.Y. Eagles show at 2 p.m. Eastern time. I plan to be on that show. We look forward to it. Safe travels, my friend. Say travel, Zach. Thanks, guys. Appreciate it. All right.
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Starting point is 00:21:30 Must be 21 or older and physically located in Pennsylvania. If you or someone you know has a gambling problem and wants help, call or text 1-800 gambler Mr. Duffy, over to you. Well, Bo, I left this morning to take my son to kindergarten, walking to school. Maybe. 52 degrees outside.
Starting point is 00:21:47 Yeah, what was up with that? The season's changing, man. But you know what? A lot is changing, but one thing that has not changed over the years, that is the great taste of Miller Light. Another thing that has not changed is that it is less filling.
Starting point is 00:21:59 So what is the best thing about the original light beer? Miller Light sparked this debate back in 1975, and we still have not settled it. Look, NFL kicks off this Thursday. The Eagles have their first game on Friday. We've got a full slate, once again, of college football on Saturday. What could possibly be better
Starting point is 00:22:17 than sitting around with your friends and family, taking in all of the football on your screens and slinging back a few Miller Lights. That just feels like Falbo. And look, people might be out there asking, Fran, what do you love most about Miller Light? And the answer is twofold. It's the great taste and it's less feeling.
Starting point is 00:22:35 Great taste. Bo, I don't love a heavy beer. I don't love a hoppy beer. I like a beer where I can drink one or two or a few and not just enjoy them, but not feel terrible immediately afterwards. That's where Miller Light delivers. It tastes better than any light beer. And because it doesn't fill me up, I can enjoy it with pizza or wings or a cheese steak
Starting point is 00:22:53 or whatever. I'm pulling off the grill that night. So many other beers, you have to make that choice. But with Miller Light, you do not have to choose what is best. Miller Light has great taste and is less filling. tastes like Miller time to get Miller Lite delivered right to your door, visit millerlight.com slash p.hly birds, or you can find it pretty much anywhere that sells beer.
Starting point is 00:23:13 Celebrate responsibly Miller Light Brewing Company, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 96 calories per 12 bounces, fewer calories and carbs than premium light, irregular beer. All right. Fran. I want to ask you before we get to our big, bold predictions. We talked about this last week with Sheal when you were not here. this you know you are now outside of the eagles umbrella as an official employee you grew up an eagles fan
Starting point is 00:23:40 yep you worked for the team now you're away from the team what's i mean you may be curious yourself about the emotions you're going to feel week one how are you feeling like what what is the what is the fandom level here well i i did hear uh you guys having that conversation i listened to the podcast after most of the shows i haven't been on uh i've been watching live and so i've been able to interact with everybody on the chat but This one I listened to afterwards. Just a thumb your nose at chill. Not giving them the live.
Starting point is 00:24:06 Of course. Yeah, I didn't want to get the live view. But no, to me, I think when I started working in football period at Temple, I feel like I was able to then separate like fandom versus I think I don't know if it was the just being, you know, kind of in the thick of it like every day, every night. But I, you're in the process. Yeah. Or where I was able to kind of like separate that.
Starting point is 00:24:28 And honestly, it was the feeling, especially when I was a temple and, you. being with the coaches every single day, that was even a different feeling than being with the Eagles for 13 years, where you still felt it. I think for me, it's going to be hard not to have like root for individual people. Sure. Right.
Starting point is 00:24:44 So you root for Brandon Graham's success, right? Guys that have been around for that long. And, you know, there are coaches and people in that building that you root for their success. But I do think I'll be able to kind of separate the fandom from me being able to follow and certainly break down and analyze because I've had to do that over the last time. Your objectivity, no doubt about that. Of course. Curious about the emotions bubbling inside.
Starting point is 00:25:07 Yeah, it'll definitely be a little bit different, but no, not something I'm terribly worried about. Nobody's worried about it. Well, yeah. We're just checking in. Sure. Okay. All right, let's get to it. This is an exercise we do every year.
Starting point is 00:25:22 Yes. Sort of bold predictions of the Eagles. Now, this is a game that Danes hates because part of the rules of this game are that he has to assign points based on how unlikely these predictions are to come true. Yep. And then whatever happens, you get those points if your predictions do come true. So you, me, and Zach are all going to come up with five predictions. Now, Danes will be on the show on Thursday with you and France,
Starting point is 00:25:50 so he can let us know before them how he has graded our predictions. But let's see how we go. You want to start us off? I'll start with the Zaqua. You know what? since we had to let Zach go on such a sour note, because you ruined his nine-hour flight with that. He was going to find out anyway.
Starting point is 00:26:06 You were, but just the look on his face, so you just see the color drop out. I mean, it was like the life had come out of it. Yeah, that was heartbreaking. That was tough to watch. So we'll start with the ZB one. All right. Do you have one, Julia?
Starting point is 00:26:21 Devante Smith, according to Zach, reaches 100 receptions. Now, last year, Fran, Devante Smith, had 85 catches, but he had 95 the year before, yep, 22 at a slightly lower yards per catch.
Starting point is 00:26:43 What do you think about that? So let me ask one quick question before I comment on this. As we go around the horn here, if I have things that are also topical to this, should we or we're drafting them technically, right? Yeah. So if I don't feel because I do have a Devante Smith one for a little bit later.
Starting point is 00:27:00 Okay. A hundred catches. 100 catches is a lot. a lot. I mean, he was five away two years ago. Yeah, I don't think it's completely out of the question, but that's the thing is that he had that great year in 2022 and he was still shy of that. So he would need, obviously, he will need to surpass what he did two years ago in 2022. That was an Eagles team that was nursing leads mostly in the second half.
Starting point is 00:27:23 They weren't throwing as much. They were running to win. Miles Sanders went for just shy of 1,300 yards that year on the ground. Is the formula going to be the same here for the Eagles? A hundred catches a lot. That's a good one. Now, let me ask you this. This I think rolls in with the conversation we had with Danes on Friday about using Devante in the slot.
Starting point is 00:27:42 Yep. He has been so effective, one of the best wide receivers in the league on a per snap basis in the slot, less so on the outside. He's still hovering around just under a quarter of his snaps inside. Do you think we will see that increased this year? Do you think we should see that increase this year? Mike, my guess is that we will see that increase. My big thing, and not to give too much away for a piece that I'll be dropping tomorrow, tease it a little bit.
Starting point is 00:28:09 But I think that the bigger thing for me will not necessarily be a Devante in motion or in the slot or A.J. Brown in the slot. But it would be Devante Smith in motion, A.J. Brown in motion. And getting the ball off that motion. To me, I think we'll see more of that. Because for me, over the last couple of years, we've seen these guys, they have to work very, very hard for every single catch they make. A lot of other players around when you look at their peers, they didn't have to work nearly as hard for a lot of their production. And so when you look at Tyree Kill and Justin Jefferson, you go down the list,
Starting point is 00:28:41 C.D. Lamb, all the other top target getters in their respective offenses, so many where it's, hey, either it's bubble screens, like easy completions, or they were in motion and they found space to work, and there was a nice, easy kind of pitch and catch, whereas how often did we have to see A.J. Brown, Devante Smith, make these crazy contested grabs. I don't know that we'll have to see that as often here this fall. And so why is that? Because obviously the idea is like, well, we should get them easy targets.
Starting point is 00:29:09 That's probably easier said than done. Why have they not been able to do that? I think that part of it is just the way that they wanted to play offensively. So, you know, when you look at all the numbers and they were 32nd in motion, the width of the formations, a lot of stuff that was just kind of the identity of that offense and of that scheme, the way that they wanted to play structurally. And there are positives to that. There are good things to that. Like what? I think mainly it's especially if you have a quarterback that can be that guy to kind of run the show pre-snap and say, hey, you know what?
Starting point is 00:29:38 Because it gives you more flexibility. If you are, you think of Peyton Manning. If you think of Philip Rivers and you think of the quarterbacks that just kind of have, you know, carte blanche before the snap to reset things. If you've got everybody kind of spread out across the formation with no movement and it's very static, you've got the same picture pre-snap all the way up until the ball is snapped. for that, you know, 25 seconds or so. So that gives you a lot of flexibility. And then also it can lead to some predictability defensively,
Starting point is 00:30:06 where if you are lining up and moving guys all around and you're changing things, well, now defenses, they kind of have to stay, they have to get into specific coverage looks, specific front looks to try and counteract that they can't disguise that stuff. And so, you know, for me, I think that's the big thing. So at like a base level, if you think that you are more talented than the team on other side of the ball. You think you are the team that's going to win the one-on-one matchups. Staying static makes a little bit of sense? Yes, but also I think the quarterback
Starting point is 00:30:38 is part of that, you know, and that's one of the things about it is that when you look at where Nick Siriani came from and, you know, he cut his teeth mainly with the chargers, you know, that's where he came up as a quality control and as a position coach. You know, Frank Reich was there for some of those formative years as he moved from QB to receiver. And, you know, Frank Reich came from Peyton Manning and the Colts. And that's, you know, That was the way that they operated was, you know, we're not going to use motion. We're going to spread everybody out. We're going to line up two receivers to the left, two receivers to the right, and we're just going to give the quarterback the keys to the offense.
Starting point is 00:31:09 I feel like a lot of teams back then wanted to play that way. And not to go completely down a rabbit hole, but to me, that was why we had so many quarterbacks coming in the league and bust in the NFL back in those days was that everyone said, that's what we want. We want exactly what Peyton Manning is doing. That's obviously very, very difficult. And so, you know, I think that you're putting a lot on your quarterback when you're. you asked him to play that way. I think Jalen Hertz is certainly capable of doing that. We saw him do it in 2022.
Starting point is 00:31:35 But in today's league, when you compare it to the way that all 30 other teams are playing, it's tough. It's tougher than your average quarterback. And so now to circle back to Killen Moore and Zach's Devante Smith prediction. Yeah. Do you think to Eagles fans,
Starting point is 00:31:50 Devante Smith is the player who they will notice most being used differently than he has been used in the past? No, I think they'll do it with both he and AJ. I think that and that's the thing is that when you look, AJ Brown gets paid, Devante Smith gets paid, those guys both are going to produce at a high level. Yes,
Starting point is 00:32:06 there will certainly be games where, oh, like, AJ went eight for 112 and two touchdowns, and Devante Smith went three for 34, but I think you can kind of count on a week later that things will go back the other way. And so I think both guys will benefit, and I think that will be huge for the Eagles offense. All right,
Starting point is 00:32:22 let's get to your first prediction. I'm going mine in ascending order of unlikelyhood. So I'm going to start with what I think is the most likely of my prediction. You're going to start with one that's most likely. Okay. For me, I'm going to go with this one. And this is a related thing. I think the Eagles finished in the top 15 in motion in the NFL this year.
Starting point is 00:32:42 Interesting. I thought about going the other way and saying they still finish in the bottom 10. Okay. So let's talk through this. So the Eagles, as we talked about, they were 32nd last year, 31.6%. The Chargers with Kellan Moore, they were 5th, 68.1%. Now, when you look at Kellan Moore's career in Dallas, he was 70, he was 7%. 17th, 16th, 10th, and 6th.
Starting point is 00:33:01 So he's actually progressively used less and less motion as time went on in Dallas, but spiked all the way back up when it was completely his show with the Chargers last year. Now, again, there are just using motion, that's not a magic bullet for automatically making your offense a better offense. But I do think that, look, watching them out there and we weren't charting every single day in practice, but you could feel that this was a team that was using motion at a much higher rate than what we were accustomed to seeing. I do think that Kellan Moore has been given the keys more or less to this offense,
Starting point is 00:33:30 and I think it'll take on more of his vision. And so for me, I think to expect that they're going to be eighth or seventh, that's probably a little bit lofty, but I do think they crack the top half. I'll say that they crack the top 15. Okay. So yeah, that's a relatively, you know, likely-ish prediction. But here's the thing is I don't think. I just said they were fifth in the league last year.
Starting point is 00:33:52 Well, the Eagles have been 32nd. And here's the way, because I know who's grading this. I know Dainez is going to look at that and say, yeah, but Fran, Jeff Stoughtland is still in the building. Because I know Dainez has said on this show numerous times that he feels that that might be more of a Jeff Statlin thing. Well, how much is he going to impact what that looks like? Jason Kelsey no longer there. Do you want to mess them? I mean, mathematically, this is a 50-50 proposition.
Starting point is 00:34:13 Well, everything is a 50-50 proposition. Does Devante Smith have 100 catches? Yes or no. I do think, though, that this is a good proxy for how much of, the offense is actually Kellyn Morris versus Nick Sirionis. I agree. I think that this is a good way to measure whether that's true, to what degree
Starting point is 00:34:33 it's true. If they're like 23rd or if they start the first half of the season high in motion and they're not super effective and you can sort of feel behind the scenes that Nick's like let's get back to the basics, let's do what we do and it sort of comes back. It sort of tells its own story. Yes, I do think that that is one of the things that you can look at and say, okay, how much of Kellyn Moore
Starting point is 00:34:53 of his imprint is on this office? That's okay. All right, I'll give you my first one. Okay. My first one is Bryce Huff leads the Eagles and Sacks. Okay. Relatively basic. I think if you are putting odds on who's going to lead the Eagles and Sacks,
Starting point is 00:35:09 he would probably be the favorite. Okay. Right? You know, he had 10 last year. He's playing a higher percentage of snaps. Josh Sweat could compete. Jalen Carter could really pop. Defensive tackles, it's tough.
Starting point is 00:35:20 I just believe in the efficiency that Bryce Huff has had over the past two seasons. It's a much, you know, the volume is less, but he has hit the quarterback, and you know that I care about actual tangible things like hits and sacks versus pressures. He has hit the quarterback more often than almost anybody in the league. And I think if he's going to play more, I think that's, you know, he may not be quite up at that level because he did play a higher percentage of his snaps on third down than some of those other guys like Miles Garrett and and and co but I still think he's going to be pretty productive.
Starting point is 00:36:00 It's the classic, you know, the baseball analogy of your seven hole hitter that is signs with a new team to back cleanup. So I think the big thing will be if Bryce Huff is going to play a full allotment of snaps, he's going to be an every down player, is he still able to maintain that level of efficiency? He had 10 sacks last year, but he never had more than three and a half in the three years prior. So, you know, what does he look like here? in Eagles Green. That will be one of the biggest one of the highest. Top five the last three years I found my tab. Nick Bosa, Matt Judon, Bryce Huff, Trey Hendrickson,
Starting point is 00:36:31 Micah Parsons. However, the snaps are like a thousand for Bosa, 550 for Judon, also relatively low. 480 for Huff and then, you know, 800 for Hendrickson, almost 1,000 for Parsons. So you're bet, I'm just betting on the level. I have a, much like you had the, the idea of going against the motion one. I have one that goes against Bryce Huff from a little bit.
Starting point is 00:36:53 Okay. All right. Let's get to Zach's second one, Julia. And then we will continue rolling from there. What are we got, Zach? Wow, the Eagles don't have any player reach double-digit sack. So he's betting against Huffy. He's betting against his boy in Josh Sweat.
Starting point is 00:37:09 And he's betting against Jalen Carter. I think that's an interesting one, though. Yeah, I will say I had one of them that Zach kind of jumped me on. So I had, it's a little bit different, but I'll go with no outside linebacker gets more than seven-s. Jacks. Interesting. Yeah. So I had this baby I mean, Josh sweat at six and a half last year. We just hit on Bryce off. You have Nolan Smith, Brandon Graham, J. Lux Hunt, Patrick Johnson. I think Jalen Carter can get to double digit. So that's why I didn't go full bore as Zach did there. Now double digits for a detackle is very, very difficult. I think Fletcher Cox has done did that one twice in
Starting point is 00:37:43 12 years, I believe. So that is a that is a lofty goal. But yeah, I'm with Zach on that one. That was one that is there a path to Bryce off certainly, you know, him going off? Absolutely. But I felt better than not that he would go the other way. Interesting. Why? I think that, again, Vic Fangio, until he proves to not be honest, I'm just going to, I'm going to take him for his word.
Starting point is 00:38:07 And he did say this week that, hey, Bryceov has gotten better over the course of the course of camp, but we don't know. He's bang on his run defense, not his pass rushing. Yeah, but if he's not going to be out there, I don't know, man. Who is he going to put out there? Nolan Smith? That is the one thing is that who are you going to put out there to to take some of those snaps? I don't think that BG, we talked about that earlier, that I feel like BG probably more of an interior presence this year as opposed to off the edge. And there's just not, I mean, it depends on how much of a jump you expect from Jalick's Hunt.
Starting point is 00:38:35 But yeah, I just don't know if Bryce Huff is going to be able to get the double digit this year. So I would agree with that with Zach there. All right. Well, then I will go with mine, which is also related. And that is a Jalen Carter prediction. I'm expecting big things from Jalen Carter this year. A couple things. One of the things we have posting tomorrow is my sort of roster capsules. Okay.
Starting point is 00:38:54 Jalen Carter, the last decade, second year defensive tackles. Okay. Only one of them has gotten to double-digit sex. No surprise. That would be Aaron Donald. Yep. That was 11. Then you have Sheldon Richardson and Jonathan Allen and Greg Rousseau at 8.
Starting point is 00:39:08 Chris Jones at 7 and a half. Quinn and Williams at 7. Jalen Carter had six last year. What I am using as the baseline here is the year that Christian Wilkins had last year. for Vic Fangio. He had nine sacks and 25 quarterback hits. 25 quarterback hits was third in the NFL among defensive tackles. My prediction is that Jalen Carter tops at least one of those marks.
Starting point is 00:39:33 So he will have either nine and a half sacks or better or 25 quarterback hits. I like that. I'm not going to use it now because I had some extras, so we're only doing it on top five. I had Jalen Carter as a first team all pro. Yeah. Only two defensive tackles make it every year. It's a good one. Obviously, no Aaron Donald, so I'm right there with you. I think that he is capable of being
Starting point is 00:39:56 a true game wrecker on the inside. We saw the flashes, certainly in the first half, but even the second half of the season, I do feel like him hitting the rookie wall was a little bit oversold. I do think that he played better than I think our memory kind of recollects, but as everybody else around him was really falling off. That was the problem.
Starting point is 00:40:15 I think that the entire unit obviously fell off. So for me, Jalen Carter, arrow way, way high going into year number two. All right, I'm going to tell you now about our friends at Rite Aid. And the nice thing about the Rite Aid is I get to choose which of the reads I'm going to do. Yes. I'm going to do the pharmacy services one today because I look like a Dr. Seuss character with this like B-sting thing I got going on here.
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Starting point is 00:44:31 Odell Beckham giant sweater Severs picture type deal no no pictures we did the we do a little cruise down the Chesapeake canal up and back it's always a good time all right we'll see food always fun very nice yeah All right, let's get to Zach's third prediction. You know what? I was going to say, I put Saquan Barkley in the thumbnail, and I don't have a Sequin Berkeley prediction, just because I knew for a fact that Zach was going to have some kind of Sequin prediction.
Starting point is 00:44:59 Sequin Barclay has more rushing touchdowns than Jalen Hertz. Interesting. It's a good one. Yeah, I think that, you know, I don't know about you. Betting against the tush push. And that's how I was just going to say, because everybody, when you go on any show, you talk with any writer, that's, I feel like, especially in fantasy,
Starting point is 00:45:16 see that's the first thing everyone brings up is is the push push gone d's Kelsey retired is the push but they're still going to do the the brotherly shop they're still going to do that so um now it's just a matter of is the volume going to be there how often last year did we see the and dray swift get tripped up inside the three yard line and then jalen hurts is able to punch it in next play i think the eagles are banking on the fact that saquan barclay's taking more of those inside the 10 yard or inside the 10 yard line runs into the end zone as opposed to getting tripped up and if i'm getting you know my tinfoil hat on like they're calling on down from on high like we want to make this Sequin signing look good let's get him his rushing
Starting point is 00:45:50 touchdown numbers you got that too you know you got like you got a guy on the one yard line let's just give it to the guy we paid so much money too i mean Hertz had uh 15 touchdowns on the ground last year 13 the year before 10 the year before that uh i would i would think it'll be less than 15 this year i don't think he'll have the same amount of numbers there okay what do you got uh i'll stay on the the sequin barclay one uh career high in rushing yards uh this year for saquan barclay so uh his Career high was back in 2020. Yes, in rushing. He had 700 receiving yards as a rookie.
Starting point is 00:46:20 There was 2,000 total yards. But he had 1,300 yards in 22, 1,312. He hit 1,300. One other time, and that was his rookie year in 2018. I go back to 2022. Miles Sanders had just shy of 1,300 yards in this offense. Now, that was a perfect script for Miles Sanders to be able to hit that goal, right? I mean, the offense was outstanding.
Starting point is 00:46:42 The team was excellent. So they were able to run in the second half all day. long and he was able to pile up yardage. I think the Eagles are hoping to have that same same kind of formula. I know, you know, De Niz, you were able to hit him up about the schedule when he was last in last week. And so, yeah, this schedule looks much more like the 2022 as opposed to that gauntlet from a year ago.
Starting point is 00:47:02 I think Sequin Barkley has the ability to hit his career high in rushing yards. So here's another thing from my capsules. Okay. That I was looking at. And you tell me if this matches what you've seen from Sequin on film. I think part of the reason the Eagles have, have invested. in Sequin and some of their frustration with DeAndre Swift last year is that you know this is one of the most running back friendly offenses in football if not the most last year uh deandre swift
Starting point is 00:47:27 led the NFL in yards before contact yeah which i think is probably an offensive line stat yes miles centers was fifth the year before and first the year before that i was going to say this is a this is a classic eagles thing yeah because of the offensive line because of the uh attention that jillen hurts pulls away from the defenses they are offering a better canvas to paint on for running backs and any other team. However, now, and then, so John Drew said it was not very good in yards after contact. Yes, terrible in yards after contact, actually. But Segment Berkeley has not been super great at that either.
Starting point is 00:48:03 Out of 44 running backs last year, he was 21st. In 2022, he was 28th of 41. And in 2021, he was 36th of 47 in yards after. contact. I think they're betting on that being a reflection of just the offense that he was in, but if he doesn't have that tackle-breaking ability that they expect, I don't know that they're going to get what they're hoping for. Here is where I would say it's about which numbers to look at. Because for me, when I look at the Giants offense, the number where they've always been at or near the bottom, basically most of Seikwan's tenure there was yards before contact. They were almost always
Starting point is 00:48:44 at the bottom of yards before contact. He was 32nd of 44 last year. It's actually 12th of 41 in 2022 before contact. And then 38th of 47 the year before that. Typically very, very low. And so for me, when I think of Sequin Barclay as a runner, his best runs are when he's, and this is the case for most guys, is when you're able to hit that
Starting point is 00:49:04 linebacker level with a full head of steam. And that's where he, because he's so big and he's so explosive, he's tough to get down when he does hit that. It's like Derek Henry. that when he hits that full head of steam, he's tough to get to the ground. It stands to reason that the, now it doesn't always bear out this way, but it does stand to reason that the earlier you're getting hit, those are the kinds of hits that would bring you down easier.
Starting point is 00:49:26 Those are the hardest ones to be able to make up, especially the fact that they got stopped so long before they even got off the ground that allows other defenders to get in. Those, the minus three to minus two to minus one yards are harder to come by than yards five, six, and seven from the yard from the line scrimmage, if that makes sense. I think when you look at Sequin, look, I've never been like, oh, pound the table. Like he's one of the best running backs in football.
Starting point is 00:49:50 I guarantee like I didn't love him coming out. I really, really liked him. But he's always been a little bit indecisive. I thought he was a guy that you wanted to have in a situation like this one. You want things to be perfect for him. And so to me, he comes to a place where, yeah, like this is going to be a really, should be a really good situation for him in terms of the run lanes being defined. It's not going to be heavy loaded boxes. and if it is loaded boxes, that's going to benefit others.
Starting point is 00:50:13 So I think when you look at Sequin, this is a perfect ecosystem for him to be able to capitalize on his ceiling. Okay. I'm going to double down on a prediction I made on the Philly Special podcast with Sheal. Okay. This weekend. Great, great discussion. It was a good, wonderful time talking to Sheel, as I always do. The idea that at some point this season, Vic Fangio during a press conference is going to passive-aggressively throw the offense under the bus as a reason for.
Starting point is 00:50:41 something that happened on the defense who decides this data is obviously i think this is up to my discretion but danes can well no because then danes is going to give it low point value right we'll give it up to julia's discretion okay um because she will be objective that way it can be worth more points yeah i think that that's not just want that i want to get actual credit it's not a bad bet to make because he has been like teetering on that line a couple times even just in the last couple weeks so uh you know I think that's a good one to make. All right. Let's get to Zach's number four.
Starting point is 00:51:12 We've got four already. Cooper DeGine has the most interceptions among cornerbacks. Now, this is going to be tough for Zach if Cooper DeGine has to move to safety and get to a bunch of picks. I was literally just going to say that. Yeah. So he, I mean, that's the thing. I guess he was probably afraid of making it safety or defensive backs because of C.J. Gardner Johnson.
Starting point is 00:51:33 Right. I thought about doing. Interceptions are like, they don't happen quite as often. No, they don't. I thought about doing one with Quignan Mitchell and Darrya Slay. The thing is, I do think that Darius Lay, I mean, he's a player. You've talked about this. I think he would shield may have talked about this last week was the, you know, him being over 30.
Starting point is 00:51:55 I think he's prime for maybe not a huge fall, but not the tier that we expected when he's locking down Justin Jefferson on Monday Night Football just two years ago. So I don't think that he's going to be quite to that tier. Rookie corner, that's tough sledding oftentimes. Yeah. So that's tough. And so I thought, all right, well, could Quinion Mitchell be the interception leader or our team's going at Slebe was a little bit older? I ended up just saying I'm not even going to touch this one. So I think, but I do think to Zach's point, I do think that Cooper Dijian has really good ball skills. Yes. That's part of the bet here. That's, um, whereas Quinnian is like gets his hand on balls, but it's not necessarily good at hauling them in. So I mean, if you envision that by week four, Vic Fangio has a special role for Cooper Degine and that's, um, and that's, you know, like soft inserting him into the defense and then by the second half of the season he's really playing almost every snap he's behind the eight by production i totally agree yeah that's what makes that one that's a good one okay all right what he got all right so i've got four left uh one of them was jalen hurt single uh only has single digit rushing touchdowns we just hit on that so i'm not going to use
Starting point is 00:52:57 that one um i like some of these other ones all right here's one i spent some time on so i'm go with this one. The Eagles have. I think that's a big part. If you, if you spend time on it before the show, you got to use it. That can't be wasted time. All right. So the Eagles have three inside linebackers hit at least two sacks in the season. Oh, that's a good one. For the first time in all the 2000s. Now, there are a few times where they got close. T.J. Edwards and Alex Singleton both hit two back in 2020. Jordan Hicks and Nigel Bradham got close. D'emico Ryans and Michael Kendricks back in 2013. They each had four. Naji Good had one. So they were very close that time.
Starting point is 00:53:37 There were been a couple times, but no matter what, I don't know how this linebacker combination. I like this one for several reasons. Go ahead. Okay. Well, that's the thing is I don't know how they're going to shake out. It could be that two of these guys are full-time players and we don't see the third. It could be. Yeah, I agree. It could be that there's a nice little rotation and maybe, you know, Nicole Dean plays only in dime and you have Zach Bond and Devin White. Regardless, I think Devin White plays a lot. I think Devin White's going to get home for this. I think he gets at least two sacks. Devin White over the past two seasons, Fran, among all pass rushers in the league with at least 200
Starting point is 00:54:11 past rush naps. Second best quarterback hit rate in the NFL behind Patrick Queen. Now, probably a reflection of Todd Bowles. You said, yeah. Calling good blitzes, right? But he is able to get home. To me, one of my biggest takeaways from being on the field, watching the preseason over the course of the last few weeks was this team is going to blitz their linebackers a lot. I thought about making this. a blitz rate thing. But we know that when it comes to like the SIM pressures and it's like, oh, well, they send a linebacker where they drop a defensive end. Some services call that a blitz. Some others don't. It's like, I'm not going to try and get into that. So for me, it looked at
Starting point is 00:54:45 a production standpoint. I think when you look at Devin White, Zach Bond, Nacobi Dean, Jeremiah Trotter Jr., whoever it is, one of their best things that all of them do is blitz. And I think that all of those guys are going to get used in that way. So whatever the combination is, I do feel like they all should be able to hit that mark. I think back to even to like Nicholas tomorrow who was he was bad three sack game right he had the three sack game against washington early in the season if you have a bad linebacker the best thing to do is just send him forward right that was the i remember you and i talking about this you know back in like 2013 was about michael kendrix and it's like all right well michael kendrix is really good
Starting point is 00:55:17 blitzer but if one of the best things you could say about a linebacker is that he's a good blitzer that's usually not a great thing because that's like down the totem pole of what you want that guy to do now you'd love the guy to be able to be really really good and also be a good blitzer but with all these guys i think you're saying okay this is best use of their skill set is get them going forward, get them going after the court. Yeah, I think at a fundamental level, this is a good prediction because they're going to rotate those guys and all of them, like, are capable of moving forward and probably have to come forward at some point. And we saw it reflected over the summer that he was trying out
Starting point is 00:55:50 all these guys coming forward quickly on the Fangio Blitz thing, because you've hit a couple of my little things from this piece. So Vicks, and I agree with you, Vicks, reputation, right, is he's not a big blitzer. Miami was 27th last year in Blitz rate. And of course, there's some noise here depending on these SIM pressures. It was just under 20%. And then if you go to his three years in charge of Denver, they never finished higher than 15th in Blitz rate.
Starting point is 00:56:16 However, when he did Blitz, pretty successful. Last year, I guess of those four seasons, never lower than 16th, but there were two top 10 seasons, including 2020 in Denver. They were the best team in the league, number one. In terms of what? in success rate when they did blitz. Got it. Nice. Yeah. So. I could see that. And to me, again, I think there's a lot of ways.
Starting point is 00:56:36 What if Zach Bond, they end up, he becomes a situational pass rusher. Right. Because they're not getting enough off the edge. You're trying to cheat now. That's what I mean. I think there's a, there's a lot of paths to success here for this to hit. And again, it hasn't happened in the 2000. So it's not a complete slam dunk. All right. Here's a, here's one that'll get a lot of points if it happens. As my second longest prediction. Okay. And you know, this is not based on anything other than just, uh,
Starting point is 00:57:01 seeing into the future. Tyler Steen will start either a playoff game for the Eagles or if they don't make the playoffs the final game for them that matters. Okay. I just, I think
Starting point is 00:57:17 the story has not yet been written on Tyler Steen. Mackay Beckton could be good, but I also think at some point if Jeff Stalyn sees enough of what he wants to see from Tyler Steen, He should be the top backup at four positions. I like Fred Johnson, too, but it should be Steen.
Starting point is 00:57:36 And I think that Tyler Steen has looked fine when he's been on the field. And so I think there is a path where Tyler Steen enters into the lineup and holds a job. Lane Johnson is getting up there. Yeah. Jordan Milata has had injuries in the past. Mackay Beckton certainly has had injuries in the past. So a lot of paths to success here for this one to be able to hit. Okay.
Starting point is 00:57:57 I like this one. Before we get to our final predictions, remember, to become a diehard on all-P-HL-Y.com. We got a big Eagles package dropping tomorrow, all kinds of written content to get you ready for Friday's season opener. We're excited about that, but you can only read it if you're a diehard. So make sure that you do that.
Starting point is 00:58:19 And then, of course, we have the watch party. Yes. Coming up on Friday at the tradesman. Love the tradesman. Jamie will be doing the pregame show from their, live you can watch and hang with him and why not watch with other sickos you know what could be better than that you get to also enter a raffle to win a couple tickets to uh eagles browns a couple weeks uh so that's big i mean it's dunbow yes to me that i think that uh when you look at i look at that is almost
Starting point is 00:58:48 a two for one you get to go and you watch with jamie and friends and the sickos but then also have the chance to win a pair of tickets yeah why not it's not going to be a huge huge party so look chances are you winning tickets let's go it'll be a lot of fun okay Our final prediction, Zach's number five. The Eagles win at least seven home games. Now, is he counting Brazil? I mean, I don't think that should count, but I think he's going to count it, but that shouldn't count. I mean, seven and one in the eight games in Philadelphia is a boldish prediction.
Starting point is 00:59:29 Seven and two is not, I feel like. I'm looking at the schedule now. Let's see what we're looking at here. I know they obviously start with the Falcons on week two. Loss. All right. So we got Cleveland at home. Loss.
Starting point is 00:59:47 We got Jacksonville at home. Loss. We got Washington at home. Loss. Carolina at home. Win. Pittsburgh at home. Loss.
Starting point is 00:59:56 Dallas at home. Lice at home. Loss. I can see how he got there, though. I could see how he got there. It's a matter of a pretty easy schedule. It's a pretty easy home schedule. That's a lot, though.
Starting point is 01:00:10 That certainly puts them, I would think, in the driver's seat to win the division. You win seven games at home. You should be in good shame. As long as you don't go completely inverse that on the road. All right. What's yours? All right. So my final one, I mentioned I had the Devante Smith one.
Starting point is 01:00:26 I ended up not using it, but it was him like leading the team and receiving guards over AJ. I thought there were a few paths there. It's boldish. Yeah, but the one I'm going to go with here. Cam Juergens named to the pro bowl, not as a injury replacement, but he is a, he's a pro ball or one of the top two. The only elite center in the NFC is Frank Ragnow for Detroit, and he's had injury issues. As long as he's healthy, he should be named the starter, would be my guess, for the pro bowl. Outside of that, I mean, obviously Jason Kelsey retires, Ryan Jensen with the Bucks retires, there were the two of the elder statesmen guys that you could guarantee would get those pro bowl nods.
Starting point is 01:01:02 But after that, when you look at who the highest paid like centers, are and the guys with the most pedigree. It's Austin Corbett, Carolina, who I don't even know if he's going to be a start of Tyler Beattish, like the Washington, Eric McCoy, New Orleans. They're all on bad teams. And so to me, I think that Cam Juergens, first he's going to get the Kelsey spotlight. Oh, he's the best part of this bet is that like Jason Kelsey is going to do everything he can to push this case. The only guy I'm worried about and challenging him for it would be Graham Barton, the rookie center for the bucks. And also the way I'm looking at this as well is that I know that Dane is is a little worried about Cam Jerkins.
Starting point is 01:01:37 He didn't love the way he played in the second half of the year after the injury when he came back. I do think that that's tough for Cammy, you know, playing a guard. Give me your Cam Jergins expectations. My expectations are he's going to come in and he's going to play well. I think it's year three, year one, it got the red shirt, just sit behind Kelsey and kind of learn. Year two, first playing action, I'll be in a new position. I do think that when you look at having two very undersized players next to each other, that's not an ideal scenario.
Starting point is 01:02:03 know we know that Jeff Salon wants those big guys at guard and he got the opposite of that last year with cam so he was asked to play something that was a little bit uncomfortable a little bit foreign to him he had to deal with the injury midseason so my expectations are that he's going to come in I don't think anything changes schematically in the run game with the Eagles I think they're able to do all the same things with him that they were able to do with Jason Kelsey and so for me I expect him to come in and have a pro bowl quality season I think that he that will be in the mart running for that I think he's one of the most fascinating players on the team this year And, you know, the sense that this is a season when we're going to learn a lot about the Eagles, we're certainly going to learn about this plan because this is the manifestation of a plan that they put in place two years ago, three years ago, right? And they drafted potential successors for Jason Kelsey before that. But this guy was, you know, this was the center. This was the guy. Jason Kelsey approved, right? Said that this is the guy who reminded him the most of himself.
Starting point is 01:02:59 He got to spend one year just sort of watching and learning what Kelsey. he does, how he and Stout interact, how they analyze defenses. And then last year, obviously, he, by necessity, has to play right guard. Yep. But now this is the year, you know, it's fresh eyes and talking with some of the defensive linemen in the locker room over the past week or so. They've talked about how there have been times this summer where, you know, they've got a, they got a stunt called and Juergens calls it out ahead of time.
Starting point is 01:03:28 He just notices a little bit of a difference in the way that they're aligned or something like that. God damn it. So, you know, he's got the perceptiveness that you're hoping for there. Who's to say how it's going to work with with Jalen? There's also the, you know, the thing that's, I think, sort of whispered about that maybe Jalen Hertz and Jason Kelsey were not the best marriage. And maybe this will be a better one because it's a little bit more weighted in Jalen
Starting point is 01:03:53 Hertz's favor. The offensive line has been sort of protective of Cam Juergens this summer. Like, you know, you guys are going to put the Kelsey comparisons on them, but we know who Cam. like cam is cam and cam is a very good player but also like he has to be the leader of that group even though he's the youngest of the group if macaa beckton is starting he's the lowest paid of the group two of those guys are already captains right but they still have to follow him but he certainly has everything that the eagles hope like you know this is this was the plan and he has on paper
Starting point is 01:04:24 everything to succeed Saturday morning I'm going through the eagles film and I'll probably posting clips and we'll be putting breakdowns together all that I'm expecting expecting to have a package where I'm looking at Cam Jorgans, blocks in space. Like, wow, like, look at this. This is exactly what we've come to expect from the Eagle Center in the last decade plus. I think that he's going to be able to operate a really high level. Nice. Okay.
Starting point is 01:04:45 Well, that was a nice discussion. I'm going to give you a prediction that will not lead to that much of a nice discussion. Okay. I was thinking about, you know, how right Zach is all the time in the year of Zach. Zach, Zach, Zach, Zach. He's been on such a heater. This is our Eagles insider. He knows what's going on.
Starting point is 01:05:02 And so I was trying to think of what could reflect the level of Zach knowing, like, exactly what's coming. My prediction is that Will Shipley finishes the season with exactly 19 catches. Okay. Because Zach said he's not going to have 20 catches. So he can be as impressive as possible without getting to 20 catches. So I'm saying Will Shipley finishes the season with 19 catches. 19 catches, 187 yards in a touchdown. He had 20 yards.
Starting point is 01:05:37 There you go. That's a good one. That's a good one to go out. That's a prediction that if it hits, warps everybody else. I win the game if that one hits, I think. We'll see what Dana says. Find out Thursday. Do what's right.
Starting point is 01:05:50 Okay. All right. Good stuff. That'll do it for this episode of the PHLY Eagles podcast. Boy, do we still have a lot coming your way the rest of the week. Yes. tomorrow. Check out all pHLY.com.
Starting point is 01:06:04 Big Eagles package, written content. We're very excited about that. Zach will be on the scene in South Palo. We got the Anthony Gargano show in the morning. We got the John Mark show in the morning, all kinds of other stuff. We're going to hear from Zach on tomorrow's P.HLY Eagles podcast.
Starting point is 01:06:20 Me, Jamie Lynch, handsome rich, chopping it up. And then on Thursday, Fran and Daniz are with me. And then on Friday, we got it. I mean, we got a game to cover people. There's going to be a 2 o'clock show, a regular show before we even get to the kickoff show, the halftime show, and the postgame show. So all good stuff.
Starting point is 01:06:42 We thank you to everybody for watching and listening. Stay tuned to all p.hly.com. And that's all we got. Thank you, Julia. Thank you to all of you. Like the video. Subscribe, all that good stuff. Become a diehard.
Starting point is 01:06:56 And tune in tomorrow. Well, see you then. And as always, we love you. You all silly like the mayor

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