PHLY Philadelphia Eagles Podcast - RANKING the Eagles offense and defense among NFC playoff contenders

Episode Date: December 30, 2025

Where does Vic Fangio’s defense rank among the NFC elites? How about Jalen Hurts and Co. relative to the likes of the Los Angeles Rams, Chicago Bears, and San Francisco 49ers? Bo Wulf and EJ Smith power rank the respective units as the NFC playoff picture begins to take shape. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hello everybody, and welcome to the P.H.O.I. Eagles podcast live from the Xfinity Studio and presented by Bet365 and Ashley Bowulf, E.J. Smith, at the helm, ready to talk some birds as we close in on the regular season finale. What was your question that you were asking me? I don't understand. So you said in the cold open You said you can't spell loopy Tuesday without Lou Or Oop Or Oop But I was curious Or P

I was wondering well that's related What Lou were you talking about Are you talking about? And I said are you talking about To the Lou And you didn't know what that was I mean I know Lou is the bathroom Yeah in England

But what do you mean? You said have you seen to the Lou In London you can go to these like Bathrooms You have to pay money to go to the bathroom. And it's called to the loo. Okay. To the loo. Like two to loo. Okay. You've never heard of these. I'm unembreast. I mean, it's actually kind of nice. Like, I think we should have them here because it sounds crazy to like pay a dollar to go to the bathroom, but it's a clean bathroom. Like you're paying for somebody to clean the

bathroom, which I think is really valuable in the city. They're a hotel lobby. Not everybody knows that trick and I don't know if that's as prevalent in the I think there should be free public toilets that the hotel lobby trick is great you just walk in there with some confidence you don't make any eye contact with anybody yeah if you've seen there's somebody online who like reviews hotel lobby bathrooms just a good niche yeah everybody needs to know is it you it's not me no okay no show tomorrow I was going to say are you going to say that I'll do it for the

PHAY Eagles podcast No show Thursday, but we'll be back on Friday with a forehander. All right, well, before we get to Vic Fangio and Kevin Petullo and Michael Clay and what the coordinator said today, E.J., a day later, what's your spitey sense telling you about the Eagles playing this weekend? You know, it's funny because Nick Siriani has been playing coy about this, as expected. He has kind of been playing. I would say he's tried to play it down the middle.

I think he's tried to play it down the middle. Sort of. But I think he's... I think he kind of let the cat out of. the bag with his answer to the last question on his press conference yesterday. I think he tried at the beginning to play it down the middle and say, oh, you know, we're still evaluating everything. We haven't made that decision. But yeah, at the end of his press conference, he said, we're leaning and we're getting all the information and going, but this is a marathon of a season. I look back

and I guess to say why we, why we would not play because that's your question. If I look back and how beneficial some of the buys that we've had have been, that's part of the reason why you think through it. So I think he was really emphasizing how important buy weeks. in the past going into the postseason have been for this team and you think about the injuries that they have up front really just the injuries across the team and not stuff that's going to sideline players necessarily but just you've seen Cam Juergens Landon Dickerson

play through so much this season I think that they could probably view it as a reset if they could get these guys a break and that's my guess on where this is headed I don't know if it'll be like Jalen Hertz and company are inactive they're not even dressed for the game maybe it's a series or two but yeah I think that the game will probably transition and those guys resting. Just the roster math of it, like people have to be active.

So I think that might be where I'm leaning, is that they play just a couple series or something like that. Now, my understanding is just, you know, from calling around, making calls. They weren't so sure what to do. And then Jeffrey Lurie watched yesterday's show and he said, all right, we're sitting guys. He heard, so whose argument was it? Was it yours? Probably.

Yeah. Probably. What were you going to say? I was going to say that the real question is, like, Jalen Hurts after the game didn't really make any. He made it clear. Like, he would welcome the chance to play on the regular season finale. And especially with the way the offense looked in the second half, maybe that's part of the decision is whether or not you feel like Jalen and the offense would benefit from being out there for a couple series. You don't probably put Jailen out there without the full offense.

You know, you wouldn't put him behind a backup offense in line. So I think that's probably the, if you decide to, if you decide you want to rest guys, then that is what you then have to figure out. Are they going to play two series? Are they going to, who's going to be part of it? Even if you are, even if they're going to play two series, does somebody like Landon Dickerson need to be out there at all? So I think those are all the things that they're trying to figure out.

And the other question is, we can get, you know, we get a sense of this in the preseason. Do you think that Vic feels differently about the defense than what they might do in offense? I mean, I actually don't, I'm going to zag. I would imagine that Vic probably feels good about this group. Okay. And would probably feel better about giving them, like not having them play in the game. Vic cares about practice. I think Vic would be like, if you tell me they're not playing in the game,

but we can have pads on in the week leading into the playoff game, that's probably what Vic would prefer. That's good. You know what I mean? Yeah. It was funny. Practice hard. Vic was talking about Jalen Carter

and the first thing he said is he hasn't really practiced so I didn't really know what to expect. He just can't help. He just loves practice so much. I mean, listen, we're going to get to it later. Like, I really appreciate how like

Vic is, he's complicated, but he's simple. You know, the guy cares about what he cares about. He has like, you know, these core beliefs that he does not waver from and everything else. Like, it can look complicated from the outset, but it all drills down to like two or three things. Yeah, I agree with that Before we get into it

I want to just close the book here And I'm curious from your perspective Does the Rams lost last night Change how you feel About the calculation this weekend Knowing that if the Eagles are the three It is now a little bit more likely That it would be the Rams

I mean If the season ended today they would be playing the Rams It doesn't change it much for me Because I am I have evaluated it Always understanding how important the two seat is relative to the three seed but also looking at it holistically what gives them the best chance to make a run in the playoffs and what really do they need most going into the

playoffs so i mean yes i can acknowledge like being the three seed and having to play the seahawks or sorry not the seahawks the 49ers or the rams like that's a tough matchup that will be a tough game but i still feel like if you get if you have a rest team going into that game i feel a little bit better and also they can still we've said it a million times they can still win the game if they are, you know, resting starters. Right. If it's Tanner McKee and, you know, Cam Latu gets some more snaps, I think that they still have a good chance of winning that game.

Well, it's going to be a little bit more Cam Latu in the show today. It's a little tease for you. Oh, no. Now I'm worried. Who knows? Who knows where that's going to come from? Lindsay doesn't look like she's got anything up her sleeve. So I think this is just you.

It's a one-man job. That's just Lindsay's poker face. Yeah. Haven't we talked before about I have a good poker face? Yeah, I mean, no doubt. But she had like no reaction at all. If we had a full PHLY poker tournament, my money's on Lindsay. I would agree, but you didn't have any, like, it wasn't even, like, trying to have a poker face.

It's like she wasn't even listening to it. That's what makes it a good poker face. No, because I wasn't listening to what you guys are just like. I was going to say, she was just like, so. All right, let's unpack this Vic thing you're talking about. What do you mean by, you know, the simplicity with which he's able to communicate? Well, as someone who sat through a lot of coordinator press conferences over the years, I think that Vic, there's a few things that make his press conferences so productive and honestly, like,

illuminating. It's not only because he is brutally honest about everything. So when he's giving someone a compliment, you know that it's a compliment. Like, you know, it's not lip service. You know, he's not just saying it to say it. And he will, you know, be, he will hold players accountable publicly in a way that can be refreshing and, again, insightful. But he also, like, the thing I can appreciate about Vic is that, again, like, you look at

what he's done schematically with the Ziegles defense and really over his career and you talk to other people about it and there's so much complexity to it. It's the, you know, the foundation of it is disguising things pre-snap, making it all look the same, but there's so much that he can get to off of that. And it does kind of lend itself to making you think like, okay, like if you could get into a room with Vic Fangio and you could ask him about, you know, the fundamentals and the core tenets of his scheme, boy, would that be so enlightening. And like, it was funny because, you know, Living the Sean Syed Dream. Right, exactly.

And my former colleague, Jeff McLean, kind of tried that today, like asking him about, you know, the light boxes that the Eagles operate in. You know, the fact that they operate so much with the too high safety shell and the fact that they make everything kind of work out of that. And I think it is, like, a marvel for a lot of coaches to see how Vic operates out of these things. But so Jeff asks him, like, about that philosophy and, like, you know, where does it come from? How did he come up with it? Something that literally is changing the NFL, changing the landscape of the league,

league-wide, and Vic goes, you just don't want the quarterback to have a pre-snap read on what you may or may not be in. And he goes, and it's like, yes, it does, like, for him it is that simple. It is that simple as like he built the entire thing off of this very basic idea, which is we don't want to give the quarterback clues pre-snap. Everything else is like the genius of Vic Fangio, right? The fact that he has figured out how to build an elite defense out of that one very specific specific thing but I just I think sometimes you know we are fortunate to like talk to a lot of good football uh football minds let's call it and like these guys do a good job of breaking it down and making it easy to understand but you hear a lot of people like who when they explain it it is like a

700 level course it's like I can't understand this it's refreshing to hear like one of the most influential coaches of a generation like kind of just be able to drill it down that simply it probably is part of what makes him such a good coach I agree with that yeah I think I think that's probably there's some there's some wisdom of age in there right just keep it simple stupid yeah it doesn't have to be hard it's not that hard there were two other things from vix press conference then we can get to the petulow stuff lofa tutu yeah i knew you're gonna you keep going with that yeah um so uh he said that this group has been fun to coach and again for vick to say that it means that it's like very true um and stands out to it stood out what do you think fun means for him what do you think that

to? When I was asking the guys about who Vic Fangio's favorite player was, it does seem like he really loves Jordan Davis. Like he just like loves Jordan Davis's energy, which is funny because you wouldn't expect that. You know, you would expect him. It's like Jordan Davis has finally cracked the shell. Yeah, right. Yeah. I think it's probably fun because they fly around. They do their jobs. And they all, I think one thing that stands out about this Eagles defense is that, like, I don't remember who said this now. But I remember hearing recently that someone said that they feel, I think maybe it was Jordan Milata saying that he felt like there were a lot of guys

on the Eagles defense that would go on, that can go on to be, like, coaches, whether it's coordinators or head coaches. And if you go around, like you talk to Zach Bonn or Nacobi Dean, Reed Blankenship is an example of this, like they all do, like, have like a passion for the system. And like, you know, like Zach Bonn's got a bucket list of different, like, interceptions he wants to have from different coverage looks. And I think that there are a lot of, like, players who are, like, passionate about what, like, their role is within the overall defense.

So maybe that's part of what Vic enjoys about it is, like, I mean, Quinion, it would be another player like this where it's, like, they have, like, a real, a capacity to learn the higher levels of a Vic Fangio system and what they can do within it. So, I don't know. There's, like, a synergy there that probably makes it fun. And they're a young group. And, again, they're just, and this is the other thing that he said that I enjoy. he was talking about like coaching young players and he said if they're good players he said he likes it if they're good players

he likes having a lot of young guys if they're good players says I like a lot of good players they make me look smart fair yeah that's that is like quote of a coach that has like been around for a long time and probably knows what it's like to make chicken salad out of chicken you know what and is understanding that like yeah having cooper to gene

and Jordan Davis and Zach Bond like makes me look like a tactical genius. Yeah. Smart guy. Yeah. It was good here. He's also partly responsible

for some of those things. Oh, for sure. Yeah. And his player development in general, I think, can't be overlooked. And the staff that he put together, you know, Christian Parker with those, that young secondary in particular.

By the way, did you catch this on one of the recent mic'd ups where, I think it was the Zach Bonn interception against the Raiders, Christian Parker comes over to him afterwards? No, he's talking about like, oh, we were talking about that all week. So, you know, it's not just the DBs.

Yeah, it's past game coordinator. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, that's a good point for, like, Jahad Campbell, too. Like, what role does Christian Parker play in those guys' development? There is something I need to go in the locker room and find out. There you go. Was Vic asked about the 515 nickel stuff at all? No. Sorry. I should have gotten to that.

Dayniz is going to be upset. Oh, you having fun out there, Vic? I didn't ask that question. Put some ball talk. I was taking notes. And I'll be honest with you, I was also struggling with my technology. I was trying to record with my laptop. Flash that finger again.

What? Flash the finger for the people who miss. yesterday's show. I don't have to flash it every day. Flash that finger. I don't like that. Julia earlier talking about her fiance, Dwayne, who works in a kitchen.

Shout out Dwayne. Use the phrase finger condom earlier. Stop overtime. Boy, is that a business idea. The worst part about burning my hand, as I've been thinking about it, is the fact that I gave my brother-in-law heat-proof gloves. Like, four grilling.

Yeah. Like, I literally own these. I could have avoided this whole thing. Yeah, it's been tough. Now is that thumb band-aid that's from the same incident? Yeah, it's just less of a burn. Yeah, the middle finger is actually the worst. It just isn't as big.

My pointer finger's like up and down, the whole thing. Yeah, so, not fun. It's hard to get my pants on in the morning. It's a good thing that we do this show with no pants. Make my life easier. We're here to support you, E.J. With that in mind, let's take a quick break. We'll come back with more on the other side.

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New customers are now getting $150 in bonus bets when you bet $5, win or lose. Once again, sign up and use the code P.H.O.I. 365 for that offer. You must be 21 and physically located in Pennsylvania. If you or someone you know has a gambling problem and wants help, call 1-800 gambler. Back on the P.H.O.I. Eagles podcast. Bow and E.J. L.T. L. T. Loopy Tuesday. Oh, but I thought, I was like, that's not Lindsay's last name. She knew. What was your maiden initial? C, I was L-C.

L-C. Like, you know, Lauren Conrad, L-C. Oh. That's the most excited I've ever seen, Lindsay. A little Lauren Conrad shout. Nice. Julia, my Julia, used to be G, J-E-T, not G-T, like Jet. Oh, Ben of the Jet.

J-E-S. A little worse. Downgrade. She could be J-E-T-S if she had a hyphenated name, but she doesn't, so I don't really know why I said that. I'm surprised my husband didn't try to do that with one of our kids. Jets? yeah something yeah you you could figure out you could maybe no there's really no way to do it

yeah it'd be tough yeah anyway what did kevin petulo have to say i thought you're going to ask you about the ass and villa lineup actually um maybe for overtime maybe all right uh so kevin petulow actually you know what we already did this but i should have made i should have saved this for the pod if you had to let's let the chat do it if you had to guess what kevin petulow pointed to as the reason for the struggles in the second half. What would the chat guess, Kevin Petullo pointed to? It's the primary reason, the primary thing that was plaguing the Eagles offense that caused

them to have so many issues moving the ball in the second half. Got behind of the sticks? Yep. First downs. He said, we're still going through the tape as we speak. We have a graphic for this one, Lindsay. But he said, but really when you look at it, the amount of drives and starting positions, it was the first down thing again.

We had four drives with inefficient plays and put us in four second and longs and from there three third in longs and when that's happening it's going to be very hard to move the ball. So again, this is an on-schedule thing for them and I think I have like... I mean it is also what we talked about yesterday

where in third and long they're fine relative to the rest of the league it's just that they're always in third and long and the whole entire league struggles in third and long. I just think I... I've been workshopping this. I've kind of slow playing this declaration about the Eagles. I wonder where all that sawdust came from.

I see what you did there. I think that this Eagles coaching staff has really been slow and has not happen. They have yet to realize they're not coaching the team that they think they're coaching. Like you can't, they've been, the Eagles have been bottom, like bottom five in success rate, pretty much all season so to me like pointing to being behind the sticks not being able to stay on schedule that's been all year and I think that part of the reason that that has been the case is because when you are running on early down so often especially I understand that in the second half like they were protecting a double-digit lead and they were trying I think again

in that fourth quarter they were really trying to do the form in an offense thing but they don't have that run game and they keep acting like they have that run game yeah and it is confounding so again I thought it was very telling that Nick Siriani said, like, that he thought the play action game, especially on the, as the opener on a series, was what they needed to get to. You know, Kevin Petullo was really talking more. With the Nick stuff, he said that Nick has always been that way. Nick has always been involved, you know, between series and, you know, the sequencing of plays. But I do, I just think that, like, when you hear Kevin Petullo, like, unpack what's been going on with the Eagles' offense

and like these prolonged stagnant stretches, the fact that he, like, is always pointing to, like, oh, we can't stay on schedule. It's like, well, yeah, like, that's not going to change. Like, you don't, they don't have the quick game, they don't have the run game to think that they're going to be a team that's like, all right, we finally, it seems like so much of like what Kevin Petullo is like,

so much of the call sheet, the part of the call sheet that he's excited about. It seems like so much of it is like, when we get in this third and sixth scenario, that's when we can really open it up. You know, when it's third and four, that's when we really have what, you know, We can really, like, you know, access the stuff that we worked on all week.

And it's like, you're not an offense that's going to get in those situations enough to hinge the whole game plan on it. I understand that it is harder. If you're going to be behind the sticks, it's just hard to operate from there. But, I don't know, I think it leans into a lot of the stuff that Fran talked about yesterday where it's like they need to be, you need to lean into that explosive or that variance more. Yeah. And be less focused on the few times a game where they are finally going to get those looks

where then they can, you know, get to the things that they're so excited to get to. Right. Like if you're, if you know that you're not going to be able to actually have a sustained long drive. Yeah. Instead of trying to get into using first and second down to try and get into a better third down, just use first and second down to also take a shot down field and say take three shots instead of one. Exactly. Yeah. I just, I do. I think that they, it's, I don't want to be overly like critical because the team is obviously doing well and this coaching staff has been very successful. but I do think hearing like the explanations the last few days and it is ironic that like they're going we're still going through the tape it's like it was like 17 plays in the second half it's like I think like you guys probably have a good idea of what happened here by now but I do I just think

that like this coaching staff they are they know how to do it the way that they've done it and they've been highly successful at it but there are certain conditions that need to exist for that to work and I just, again, not to be like alarmist, but it's like I just don't know if they have the answers if those conditions aren't there. And those conditions are an elite offensive line and a run game that can grind out games and control games.

They don't have those things right now. And, you know, I just at that point, it's like, okay, so how else can you build it? Is it screen game? Is it quick game? Is it like a quick passing game? Is it under center, you know, play action shots? And I think that's got to be the answer.

But for me, it's just like, I don't know if they have that answer. You know, it's been 17 weeks. I'm not, I just, I'm not really leaving much space for all of a sudden, it's going to just look the way it did last year or it's just going to look significantly better. If they are so focused on being an on-scheduled offense, I just, I don't think they're going to make it.

Are you holding space for the possibility of them just flipping a switch and being a good offense in the playoffs? And then we can be like, what did we do with those last four months? What do we waste our time talking about this terrible offense? They're talented enough to do it. But in terms of I'm not holding space. When did holding space become like my thing? When you started saying it a lot?

Well, I guess I've always said it a lot. I like it. I'm not leaving the door open for like the scheme to all of a sudden make perfect sense. I do think another thing I say a lot. There is a world where the Eagles talent just wins out, but as we'll get to in the second half of the show, like there are some really good defenses that they're going to be playing where that talent advantage isn't always going to be as pronounced.

And again, that's where it comes down to the Eagles have built their teams a certain way. They've built their teams around, you know, highly paid elite offensive linemen for a reason. It's hard to overcome that. And I just don't know what they have that they, that overcomes it. I mean, we've seen it. It really hasn't been, like, it's not quick passing game. It's not screen game. It's not, you know, being like a really high variance, explosive team where you're just

going to take downfield shots the whole game. I just, I don't know what it, how, I don't know how it can look. It's funny, I was on with Anthony this morning, and one of the things we talked about is the under center, like, you know, our fixation with the under center stuff, because I know if Danes is listening right now, he's probably ripping his hair out, like, why are they talking so much about under center? I think the reason why, we're not saying that it's been especially like productive, down and down out. But I do think that when they get under center and they have the play action

game off of it, at the very least, you start to see it and you go, that's something that they can do. Like, you can wrap your head all the way around. Like, they could build it off of this. Maybe it's not always the most productive, but it isn't productive consistently out of anything. At least with the undercenter stuff, it's like you can see a passing game that builds off of it that makes sense. And to me, that is like the way that they should go forward. Again, I know the numbers are not amazing with it, but you could talk me into this offense being under center, hitting your head against a wall, but you're taking some downfield shots and you're getting at least some cohesion between the past game and the run game, and you're just trying to score, what is it, 24 points, you're just trying to get to mid. I can at least see it when they get into those under center looks. Okay.

Do you disagree on the under center thing? Because I know Day Niz is going to have something to say about this on Friday. I don't really disagree. I think I don't think that they need to lean into it all the way because I do think that there are certain things where they are just more comfortable in shotgun. But yeah, I think they should be doing it. I think they should be doing it to the degree

that they did it in the first half of the Bulls game. I think that to me, like the way that that looked, and not to say it was incredible, but the way that it... It looked better married. You can, again, you can wrap your head around. It's like, this is what it... They could do this.

They could do this. When it's the shotgun run game and it's the same side of, runs and it's the all hitch patterns out of shotgun, it's like they can't do this. Yeah. That's not an identity. I guess, you know, to overuse the word identity, like that doesn't feel like an identity for this team.

You know, the half-field read stuff where Jalen Hertz has not been consistent this year, that doesn't feel like an identity for this team, at least like the simplified, we're going to get under center, we're going to run the ball, we're going to have play action shots over it, at least like, okay, I can wrap my head around that as a system going into the playoffs. With Michael Clay, did he invite you up to the podium to take the arrows for Cam Latu's decision? He did not. And again, I was having technology. I was having technological issues. It didn't have to do with my hand. It was, for some reason, I was trying to record on my laptop, and it kept trying to use my phone microphone to record. And I just was like so flummoxed

by that. What do you mean? Get your stuff together. But like, I don't know why it was doing that's never done that before. Have you ever done this? I've never had my phone, had my computer try to record through your phone. So if I hit record, right? Yeah, I think it's doing it again. See? Like, why does that happen? Clearly you've clicked something along the way. No, I didn't. Have you connected your phone to your computer via Bluetooth before?

Probably. Is that how you were doing Anthony's show? Probably why. No, I did Anthony's show on my laptop. I don't usually do Anthony show on my laptop, but, no, I don't know what it was. It was really bothering me. So I don't have Michael Clay's quote on Cam Latu because of my technological issues. What did he say about jailing, say about, jailing, say Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

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and a fan cave built by you courtesy of Ashley. Hello, can you hear us? Are we back? E.J. struck again. No, no, no. He brought down our audio. Your technological issues have infested us like a virus. See, in the era of fake news running rampant everywhere,

you can't be lying to the audience. It was not my phone or my laptop. Yes, it was. Maybe I, don't make me invoke, Lindsay. Or you kicked something out like, you. No, I mean, it was uncanny, but I don't think it was anything on mine. Maybe I jinxed us because I mentioned technical difficulties. I'd say so.

Knock on wood. Anyway, you were talking about fish. Find the fish, yeah. Jalen Carter. Yeah, so sorry, Michael Clay said that Callais Campbell is the only player that he's been around, who is as good at blocking PATs and extra points as Jalen Carter. Would you like to guess who has the most blocked extra points, field goals, and puns combined for the Eagles since the start of 2000?

For the Eagles? Jalen Carter is second with three. So it's got to be somebody who was on the team for a long time. Was it a defensive lineman? Yes. Okay. Is it like obvious? That's why I'm asking the question.

Well, if it was like Fletcher Cox, you would have just said yes. Meanwhile, I will tell you across the league, number one, since 2000, Sean Rogers, number two, DeNico Autry, number three, Julius Peppers, number four, Callais Campbell, and then five is a tie between Israel Adonagee and a defensive tackle from the Seattle Seahawks, who if you can name in the chat, I will give you $3. It's not Vinny, right? It is not Vinny. Like early 2000s, we must be talking? All right, this is bad podcasting. Just give it to me. It is a player you covered.

I covered him. Oh, no. It's definitely not BG. You would have said it was BG. It is not BG. Oh, man. Give me another hint. It's not Josh Sweat, is it?

He's tall. It is not Josh Sweat. Okay. Am I close? It's the same position. Okay, so an edge rusher that I covered on the Eagles has the chat gotten in it? Have you seen it in the chat? No.

So I can just steal it from the chat. It's not Michael Bennett. There's no way it's Michael Bennett. It's not Michael Bennett. He wasn't here long enough. Chris Long wasn't here long enough. An edge rusher that I covered. Just tell me.

I'll give you three words. They will give it away. Okay. It's always here. Yeah. It's, oh, Derek Barnett. Yes. Really?

Yes. We could have been here all day. I would never guess Derek Barnett. He's not, he's not the profile that you would expect to block it. Yeah. And not super long arms, but yeah. I mean, good penetration. Anyway, speaking of Eagles defense events, caught up with Brandon Graham.

After our recording of Unblocked today for a little bonus segment for the show, let's play it for you now. All right, we're back on the PHA by Eagle's show. You see him. You love him. Brandon Graham. BG, we talk a lot on Unblocked this week about the defensive performance against the bills

but we didn't talk enough about Vick and so in terms of like a defensive game plan what impressed you about what Vick put together this week because everything that we went over in practice I mean it showed up on the field and really we knew it was going to be a run game we knew the conditions even if the conditions wasn't they was going to run the ball

and that's what they had been the top running rushing off in the league they got the top rush of offense in the league and for us we knew that they um we knew that they o line coaches like he was like the the top guy of like who came off like the different like because we was talking about this with the uh the bears the bears one of they coaches is off the tree of the head the head oh stuff that the bears did in that game it's going to be similar you see and they they like the cutbacks and all that stuff and every time what's the name was cutting back we was right there because it was like we understood how they was trying to hit us this like like

i was saying like with chicago we understood towards the end like you know how they was really trying to hit us and they they they did a good job that's why i say i would love to play them again did you did chicago yes yeah did you view this as kind of like a a playoff test yeah yeah i did i did i was like man this could be a potential rematch you know i'm saying if if whoever win this is Like, you know, whoever, for Super Bowl, because they're going to be on the other side, we're on this side, and it's like, you just never know. You just never know how stuff, how stuff go. But I knew going into that game, we just want to, for one, stop the run,

because we know that Chicago film out there, everybody going to try to test us, see where we're at. And so I thought we did a good job. Does Vic ever, does Vic talk to you guys at halftime? Yeah, yeah, he talked to us. What kind of stuff does he say? It just talks about, like, what good of a job we're doing or this is where we're struggling right now.

We need to pick this up. And then he just give us a little nice love. All right, now let's go finish this. You know, that like type of rah-rah at the end. But it's all about where they're trying to hit us and what they're doing right now, how great we taking care of this. We told you that this was going to happen right here and look how you're handling it, stuff like that.

That's funny. I just because it's always I mean we love the photos of the videos of Vic in the booth so he's always usually stoic he had a big reaction to the flag on Quinyan down the field this week sure because that wasn't it that was pretty tick attack that was I don't like that one very much but to imagine him like you giving you guys a rah-rah speech is kind of funny yeah I like that yeah yeah no he bringing the energy for sure and I think that's just from him being comfortable with where we who like the players of the team I mean you got to know we just all got

got to know each other and I feel like like that's his safe space now where he he trusts us and we just go out there and we execute the first Jalick's sack comes you know on a little move with with Morrow was that one where that was scouted or they called it on their own they call it on their own like it's all all about what you see coach trust us to call

okay make calls on their own sometimes he he calls it for us depends on the situation that we know they like to do quarterback runs so we try to do a bunch of different twists in there to try to take something and is that usually like moro's like hey i'm going to set you up for this one or is jelix like hey do this so that i can get well well it's always that's why i say it's selfless because if someone says a te that's the tackle first and then because that's what they ran that's what they ran so he's the one that got us like sacrifice trying to take too yes because he got to go hit uh jail's guy um the

He got to go pick, make a pick on a tackle. And he comes just right through. He comes around, but Jaylitz got to sell it like he steals rushing around. And to get him to kick out and believe, and then Morrow come, hit him. And then he comes around and not a guard has to either pick Jalick's up or let Morrow sneak through. Because once you get picked, it's hard to kind of like turn back. And so Morrow just got a good pick. And, you know, Jail's just came straight through and smacked him.

do you get like uh if if you're the end who's coming through on that like what do you do to make it right for the for the defensive tackle well you know we used to we used to give we used to give a little generous okay here you go man this we I appreciate you like 500 used to be like five hundred dollars yeah that seems nice yeah that's cool yeah 500 you would get 500 in your locker and I appreciate you uh sacrificing for for me to get that set all right last thing I'm to ask you about uh because I know you got to get going you you told us on Unblocked that you paid for dinner this week with the D-Line up in Buffalo. What kind of, like, what's the spread like?

Give us a breakdown of like what you're. What I've learned over the weeks that I know, oh, people like this, okay, well, we end up getting like this maple bacon. I always get like four orders of that because we had like, we had like 15 guys there. Okay. Just D-line? D-line, O-line, not O-line, D-line, D-line, line, line backers. and then you got a lot to he come in uh even keely came okay he came and um you know

he had a whole deal on both sides like you know you got a nolan all them everybody and um then you got like your miscellaneous like you know one one guy here tight-in latu okay good for latu yeah yeah he come get that good food yeah he needs a dummy hey yeah i wouldn't be either you know but um yeah it was cool uh And then we, what we get, we got the, like, different, like, chopped salads that they had. So they put, like, a bunch of bowls on the table. They hook it up. Like, you know, we just order, like, a bunch of appetizers.

Yeah. And everybody ordered their main, like, steaks or. What kind of steak you got? I got a, I got a little 12-ounce filet. They had, it was good. Got a butterfly, you know, medium well with some shrimp on the side, shrimp, scampi style. Nice.

and man making me it's nine o'clock in the morning and i want to go to a steakhouse right now well that was so good oh it was good but who do you who do you sit next to uh it just depends it's not like i mean me and jp just happened to be close okay and but we were the first ones there they rolled me in the car so it was like six of us in the car was uh uche me uh matt leo then you had uh jp and then uh pat johnson a good group yeah it was good we had a good group and then uh yeah we all just uh dessert no sometimes sometimes we ain't do nothing this time we we was trying not to we already had before a game yeah yeah and then we then this was before we had the meetings so oh so it was early yeah it was probably like

we got done we got there like 445 5 o'clock they opened at 5 like that that that senior citizen timing oh yeah five o'clock right away yeah and um but that's that's that's only because because we got a, we got meetings by seven, seven, 30. So they give us a little time. And it was only like 20 minutes away. E.J., who does the show with us, is going to be so happy to hear the Cam Latu. Was that the defensive line?

Oh, yeah. He loves Latu. Yeah, Latu, man. He's, man. That's another guy that I've gotten to know real cool. Not that. I wish I'd have said him because that's one that, you know, he knew about me, but he's like, man, I'm so thankful that.

I got to play with you, man. and you know I just love your reputation you know I just appreciate you know just the words that you was giving because I was just giving them words without even knowing that you know the much respect that he had for me I just was just telling him like man I see you out there working you know that's just me just observing yeah you know it's been cool I've been building with him every day that's great yeah oh man this is this is going to be huge for the show people are going to love this lots of information okay that's great we'll be back with more on p hely eagle show Thank you, BG.

Much more coming up. Still to co. Good thing you got those pants off. How about that? I got to say, out of nowhere, Cam Latu. Everybody loves Cam Latu, except for you and Fran. Oh, no, no, no. We like him the appropriate amount.

I love him like I love my fellow man. It's funny to hear of BG, well, I mean, it's great hearing BG talk so, you know, positively about Cam Latu in general, but it's funny. He knows a deal when he sees one. Go have to go go to the steakhouse of the defensive line. Yes, thank you very much. He kind of is built like a lot of those guys too, so it makes sense. I, my like appreciation for Cam Latu started, I mean, it really was reinforced in that

Chiefs game. And I hadn't talked to him before that. Like, I just saw him, you know, blocking with great effort and was like, sign me up. And like, you know, as a reporter, like, I'd take, you know, what we have a lot of fun on the show, but when I go in the locker room, I am trying to be a good reporter and objective at all time. So I never, like, you guys might be surprised, like, I never go up to Cam Latto him. Of course. We talk about you a lot on the show or anything like that. But the first conversation I had with him. You do stare at him from the other side of the locker room,

just wistfully, but. The first time I had a conversation with him was probably like a month and a half ago. And yes, he is a very, like, you know, kind, like personable guy. kind eyes like you know he shakes your hand introduces himself wants to learn your name like yeah good guy so it doesn't surprise me to hear like that he had nice words to bej is what i would say i go i like that all right before we go to the last break lindsay has brought us another round oh man of were they teammates were they teammates the game where we decide were they teammates Lorenzo Neil and Mike Allstott Speaking of fullbacks

Oh that's fun No there's no way these guys could have been on the same team together I mean this is a classic psych myself out The fact that the question is even being asked Makes me feel like they must have at some point I'm trying to read Lindsay I think you're right Lindsay's not listening to us

This is her game I'm going to say yes only because I don't know why otherwise it would be asked. I'm going to go no, just to Zag. Yes, in 1998. On what team? Which team had two fullbacks? Well, they could have been in camp.

All right, what's next? Another, that's it. Oh, yeah. No, we got more. Oh, we got more. Darren Sprouls and Brandon Cooks. Yes. I'm going to say

well Brandon Cooks came in like was it the same year as to Sean is it I think they did overlap in New Orleans never teammates they were one year apart in New Orleans oh man

Brett Farve and Randy Moss that one did they play together in Minnesota Randy Moss? Randy Moss went back to Minnesota at the very end of his career, but I don't think that, I think that was not the far of here. I'm going to say no.

E.J. are you cheating? I am cheating now. I already gave my answer. Yes, he was. He caught Forbes 500th touchdown. Oh. Randy Moss, man.

The both of those guys. Gloucissim, Glouce, I catch a be running like Randy a mouse. Just as players, not as people. Both of those guys when I was a kid, man. Oh, yeah. My brother's favorite player was Brett Far. He was. incredible to watch as a football

player. Yeah, what do you think? You could just tell the way that he played with reckless abandon, that is a man who was going to try to defraud as many black people as possible. I was about to say, I feel bad, like, talking about how great he is, but he's not,

no, how great he was as a football player. Do you think, like, the way that he played, like, would it work in the modern game? Of course. How? I mean, I'm not saying he wouldn't have, of course. He obviously was incredibly talented.

on the field. So it would, like, but what would it look like? Would it be like Josh Allen? Well, I mean, not the running, but. It probably would be like the best possible version of like Jackson Dart. No, too athletic. Come off. I'm just saying, like, who plays with that much risk and that much, like, aggression, you know?

Like, you don't see very many quarterbacks who are as committed to just, like, I can squeeze up in there. Like very early career Mahomes without the athleticism? Yeah, to me, like early career Mahomes is more Rogers-y, like arm talent, off-platform. Far of is like just canon for an arm and like the just peak level of like I can fit this into this tight window. Yeah. I would say it's like Matthew Stafford but with worst decision-making.

Matthew Stafford without a brain. Yeah, like a dumb Justin Herbert. Dumb Justin Herbert might be the best. That presupposes that Justin Herbert isn't already dumb. Well, no, isn't the thing about Justin Herbert is like, you just wish he played dumber? I think Robert May said that. Shout out to Robert. Robert had such, I don't know if I ever told you this.

Robert had such nice things to say about you before I started this job. Like, one of the nicest, niceest people, like, one of the nicest, like, bow endorsements I've ever heard. Really? I think he I don't I mean I don't want to put our conversation out there but I didn't know you were I didn't know you were asking around about me no no it was during camp like you know he had heard about the job and yeah he was he was I remember I left that training camp boy was he wrong no I was like all right like I made the right call here so yeah shout to Robert's very nice shout out to Robert and shout out to our wonderful sponsors and partners who you will hear from in just a minute on the other side we're going to rank the units In the NFC? Keep your finger condoms handy. Jesus. Next, let's talk about Monarch Money.

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All right, E.J., we've got 16 units here. It's funny because when I pitched this show to you, I was like, don't make this weird. Like, I don't know what else to call them, so they are units. Yes, they are units. Sides of the ball. Yeah. We're including both the Panthers and the bucks. Okay, and I want you to rank.

Oh, you have the bucks in there. I didn't include the bucks in mine, but it's fine. Okay, I want you to rank the order that you would draft these sides of the ball if you could just enter the playoffs. And so... I thought we were going to do it together. You want me to go through mine? We can do it together.

Let's do it together. And here's what I've got something for you here, too. I've got tiers because I think that it's important to separate some of these. Okay. So for tier one, I called them the team. Team agnostic Super Bowl winning units. So it doesn't matter what the other units on the team are doing. The task booze?

Task booze. Let's see what you did there. Lindsay liked that. Biggest reaction I've ever got that ever. I was thinking like, what are you thinking about that you have your eyes closed? I didn't even realize. Team agnostic Super Bowl units. Yeah, Super Bowl units.

No, don't look at my notes. There's some improv going on here. Well, what's interesting is as I went through this exercise and I just, I just averaged out their ranking in EPA per drive and success rate for all 16 of these units. And there are seven of them that are elite, like they're top 10 in both. Yeah. And the other nine are all below average. There's not a lot of like middle ground. Yeah.

So when I went through this, I think that I have a tier one and we'll get to tier two. And I've got seven units in those two tiers. And I didn't do it. That would track. Yeah. I wonder if they must be the same. Maybe, maybe. So I have...

Team agnostic. I had three teams. Super Bowl units. I had three teams in my tier one. Like these are the types of units that are good enough to drag a team to the Super Bowl even if the other parts of the team

are only an average of a average. Okay. I'm curious which your number three is here. Okay. Because let me let... There's two obvious. I will start here. Number one, and boy do I love the Eagles defense. Really? If I'm taking any unit to go into the playoffs, I'm taking the Rams offense.

The Rams offense is also in my tier one. Do we know if Devante Adams is actually going to come back? I should have looked this up for this show. No, we don't. Okay, apologies. Even without them, though, I do think, I think that you could make an argument that the Eagles defense is number one. I think you could make that argument, but I would still take the Rams offense.

Yeah, I would agree with. I could go either way, but I'm going to concede that to you. Ramzo number one. And then to me, the question is Eagles defense is number two. Eagles defense or Seahawks defense. Or you could make a case. I'm surprised your tier one is only three

because I think you could make a case for the Niners offense. It's funny. So I texted one person about this. It wasn't Fran. And let me explain, Fran. I know you're listening. I know you're probably about to be outraged.

I didn't want to ask Fran because I wanted Fran to come on Friday and tell us what he thought with actual insane. Easy to say now. No, it isn't. It was easy to say then. So I texted our friend, Sean Syed.

He said he would have the 49ers offense in the tier one. But then I said that surprises me, and he said, I'm a Shanahan guy. Don't let the tactic coach fool you. I would actually... Don't tell me you're putting the 49ers offense over the Eagles' defense. No, but I think that I actually would go. Rams offense, Eagles defense. Niners' offense?

Seahawks defense? No, I think I would. I'm putting the Seahawks defense slightly above the 49ers offense. I think the exercise you should use here is do you think the Seahawks can win a playoff game like 10 to 9? Yeah, but I also think the Niners offense could win a game 35, 32. I see, I feel like we saw it on the Sunday night game and I mean, listen, I watch like the condensed game of that, but I think I actually feel like the way that I came down on this is I actually think the 49ers like their offense could put up 35 but their defense probably would give up 38 in that game so for that reason they fell just underneath that tier for me

because I don't know if I think I'm going to go I'm going to go I'm going to go my tier one is just the two okay Rams and Eagles all right I like that you could you could if you really wanted to convince me on Eagles defense over Rams offense I think I would listen to that argument Yeah, I like this. Yeah. But I think those are the two where, like, those stand out. And I know that some people will say that Seahawks defense over the course of the year is better than the Eagles, and it is by the numbers.

And frankly, so is the Rams defense, but I don't think anybody really believes that the way they're playing right now. There's some playoff-proven nature to these two. Sure. I think Rams offense. And there's also some Vic belief. So I would have those two at the top. There's because really, to put a bow on the tier one, there's really only two units that you would make the strong, to put a strong argument that, Like, it doesn't matter what the game state is.

This, the Eagles defense and the Rams offense, they could just will the team to win. Like, the Eagles offense could score three points. And you'd be like, okay, the Eagles would probably win that game like five to three because they'd get a safety at the end of the game to win. Well, it's very funny to think we're stacking this all up. And what I believe are clearly the two best units, it's a very good chance that they go against each other in week one. Yeah.

And round one. Well, I mean, you look back to last year's playoff running. you, I mean, the Rams gave the Eagles the best chance, like the best game. I think that there maybe you would argue like I could see a world where either of those teams make it to the Super Bowl and say like that round one matchup was the real matchup once we won that one

we knew. So let's work together to get this as a show official ranking. Yeah. Are we going Rams offense or Eagles defense? We can go Rams offense. I think the body of work from the Rams offense is a little bit stronger. The only last thing I'll

say the defense in the playoffs matters more at least anecdotally it feels that way i mean should we talk about it in i'm waiting for lindsay to flash that thing up we still got 30 seconds if she's chill back there then we should be chill over here you're right yeah i know that that's not how you up i've got the overtime yes all right rams offense all right so we're going Rams offense, Eagles defense, tier break. Small tier break, but a bit of a tier break. Yep. Then do you want to make the case for Seahawks defense or Niners' offense?

I want to make the case for the Seahawks defense. Well, we'll talk about it in Bovertime. Do you want to make the case for Seahawks defense? Of course, the season, Seahawks defense, number one, an EPA per drive, fourth, and success rate. Niners offense, sixth, a neat paper drive, fourth in success rate for whatever that's worth. I just feel like, again, this is maybe an anecdotal argument, but I feel like in playoff games, defense is a little bit more weighted. I'm more weighted toward defense, is what I would say.

But how can we intellectually be consistent with that versus if we're doing Rams over Eagles? Because I think the argument for the Rams offense over the Eagles defense is that the body of work from the Rams offense is a little bit more convincing. the Eagles defense in the second half of the season since Jalen Phillips got here since his offense wasn't good enough to beat the Falcons on Monday night football. Yeah, but those games happened. I mean, you could say the same thing about the Eagles defense

wasn't very good against the Bears. You know, you're allowed some missteps in the regular season. I think I know it's crazy because the 49ers have been to the Super Bowl a couple times in the last few years. I just like want to see them in the postseason. Well, this is another fun one where

I mean, the number one seed in the conference is going to be decided by this matchup on Saturday. Yeah, very true. So I guess we'll get our answer. I just, I think that I'm a little bit weighted toward defense, and I just, I know the 49ers have been really good, and they have some players that, like, I have a lot of, like, I love George Kittle.

Like, he's one of my favorite players to watch. Biggest red flag of anything you've ever said on the show. Really? Why don't you like George Kittle? Look at me. I'm George Kittle. I'm so funny and so cool. I don't care about his persona so much, although I do like the, is.

I don't remember his wife's name. He's got the wife t-shirt. You know I like that as a big wife guy. But no, I like him as a player. I mean, he is what Danes thinks Dallas Goddard is, which is to say he's basically a six offensive linemen in the run game, and he is an effective athletic receiver out in space as well. So what he brings to that offense,

I really have a lot of appreciation for it. Brock Purdy is playing well. But to me, I just think the Seahawks defense is a little bit more like, if I had to like bet something on one of these units, I bet on that defense being awesome in the playoffs. Okay, I'm well, I'll let you have that one. Okay, and then 49ers offense is next. I'm going mini-tier break after that one.

After the Seahawks defense or after the 49ers' offense? After the 49ers offense. Okay. I think that is the elite four units. And then I have a little bit of a drop off to the next. So what do we call in tier two then? It's the 49er, it's the Seahawks defense and the 49ers offense. So they're not team.

Let's workshop that after. All right, fine. Tell me who your next one is, because I actually feel pretty strongly about who my next one is. My next one is the bear's offense. Can I tell you what the tier is called? Yeah. It's called Can Go on a Run because of them. Okay.

What? Well, you work so hard, you're so proud of these. I like the tiers. These tier names. I love. And they're very normal. They're not. I didn't say that they were like fancy, but I like a tier.

I like categorizing them based off of. whatever I define it as. Well, I'll tell you what, the next three, the other three that are top ten in both EPA per drive and success rate. You've got the Packers' offense, which is second in EPA per drive and third in success rate. You've got the Bears' offense,

which you just said, they're 10th in both. And then you've got the Rams defense, which is sixth in EPA per drive. Those are the three in this tier for me. And fifth in success rate. Would you take the Bears' offense over the Packers' offense? I would. I was saying this on Anthony's show,

Like Caleb Williams, I have a soft spot for players. I mean, I do, I really love watching him play. Yeah, I, like, I wasn't a bit, I didn't jump on the Jaden Daniels, like, is so good bandwagon. I think he's very good. But, like, he wasn't like, oh, my God, he's so fun to watch. Caleb, to me, is that type of player. Like, I'm an armed talent guy. I've been pretty clear about that all along.

Like, you know, throwing at 40 yards to Colston Loveland on a frozen rope. Like, that's the stuff that gets me doing the, doing that. for me bears offense with ben jons i mean again especially i usually do like frame my evaluation of teams based off of how they played against the eagles it's the nature of like that's the game that i studied the most closely they looked really good against the eagle so i do think that they've got some of that commanders last season like i could see them going on a playoff run where it's like oh my god caleb's playing out of his mind and i also think that they have an offensive schemer that will like will translate into the playoffs better than cliff

Kingsbury did. I actually think I agree with you that I would take the Bears offense over the Packers offense right now. Yeah. Now part of it is the injury with love, although Malik Willis looked awesome. Malik Willis is in that category for me too. But I also like I do, I like, I think putting some trust in

Ben Johnson, but I do think that this is a, I don't believe that the Bears offense can go out and win the Super Bowl on its own. Right. I think that's, they can go on a run. I think that the Niners offense could. So I think this is a good. tier break. So number five, we're going Bears

offense. I do have Packers offense next. I think I go Packers' offense next too. And then do you just go Rams defense, even though they got humiliated against the Falcons? I do.

And then you do a tier break? You could convince me that the Rams defense belong in the next tier. Yeah. Especially, I titled this next tier. Let me guess. Good enough to surprise you. No, a nice playoff trailer.

Are you familiar? Are you familiar with trucks and trailers? This is Bucky Brooks and Dango Jeremiah. Shout out to those guys. No. You never heard about trucks and trailers, so it's like when you're evaluating, Fran will be familiar with it.

When you're evaluating quarterback prospects. Yeah, yeah. You've got trucks and you've got trailers. Like, can they lead? Can they affect winning? Can they be the reason you win games? Or are they, you know, that's the truck. Yeah.

To be the truck is to drive winning. Okay. And to be the trailer is to just be, you know, to be the reason you get carried by the team, but you know, you got to be a nice trailer. You don't want to have busted wheels and it's hard to trail, you know, hard to pull you around. So to me, like, we are no longer talking about units that will affect winning, that will drag their teams to victories week in and week out, but they won't, they won't be liabilities. They will stay out of the way.

There'll be a smooth ride for that truck to pull them down the highway there. Can I guess how many you have on this tier? I have, too, but I think the Rams. defense could be the nicest playoff trailer, especially since the Rams offense is the truck in the scenario. Okay. I like that.

Let's put the Rams down. Yeah. Okay. So they're in Tier four, a nice playoff trailer. So the Rams defense, Seahawks offense. You go Seahawks offense? They are statistically who would be next. And then you probably could talk me into another

tier skip here, but Panthers defense was the only other one I had so there's there is you could also make a case for the bucks defense yeah I didn't have the bucks Panthers defense is 21st in the EPA per drive but 13th in success rate Buck's defense is 18th in both and you know who's next

statistically is the Eagles offense the Eagles offense isn't that 17th in the APA per drive 25th in success rate which tells you that there are some really heinous units still to come there are five units that rank below the Eagles offense heinous units

I would go let's go Seahawks offense I'm gonna I would actually still just go Buck's defense and for whatever reason put some faith in Todd Bowles

putting a defensive game plan together over the Eagles over the Panthers okay and then we're in tier four and then do you at this point are you making the case for the Eagles

no Really? Tier 5. Do you have them next? Yeah, I do. Or would you rather have the Panthers offense? I would rather have the Eagles offense, but this is officially Tier 5 playoff liabilities. It's just a normal name.

I like, listen, you didn't even come up with tier names. You can't come after mine. You're like the guy who comes to the potluck with nothing and then is like, oh, this buffalo chicken dip is a little, little lukewarm. Oh, yes. And we all know that guy, the guy who comes to the potluck with no food. Oh, that is definitely a guy. Well, there's both a little chicken dip. I was a little too spicy for my white man palate.

I didn't say, I said lukewarm. I wouldn't come after you. I know you like spicy food, don't you? I do. Yeah, I wouldn't come after you like that. Yeah, I wouldn't say like you said it's overseas. Excuse me, where are the raisins in my chicken salad? That came up at my family Christmas party.

Raisins and chicken salad. Could you put grapes in chicken salad? I don't put them in myself, but I don't mind... No, no, if I'm making chicken salad out of them. Yeah, I'm just laughing. But like if there's a chicken salad wrap at the place we go to over here that has grapes, I don't mind that. Yeah, it's fine. But it is kind of raisins adjacent.

That's exactly right. Yeah, you're right. But I guess it's like a texture thing. It's not bad. Yeah, give me a grape over a raisin, no doubt. Yeah, but I don't really need either. I don't mind grapes and chicken salad, though. Okay.

All right. Playoff liabilities. You're like that guy. You know. Have you not seen, you haven't seen the potluck. Potluck nothing bring guy. The lady who like critiques potluck the things people bring to potlucks

and she like comes up with like all these like medieval torture devices is like the punishment for bad potluck. No, I haven't. Submissions. Well, maybe that's why I got potluck on the brain. Maybe. All right. Eagles offense is at the top of this tier for me. I think of the playoff liabilities.

They're the one you could talk yourself into being a nice playoff trailer, but I still think given some of the games against... I think I would still... I mean, I know that we're all falling for this trap and... You're talking yourself into it? And the rug is just going to get pulled out from under us. I would still rather have the Eagles offense than either of the Panthers or Buck's defenses. I know that they rank lower.

I just, you know, maybe you get Lane Johnson back. There's just enough talent for me to, like, who cares about the Panthers defense? Who cares about the Buck's defense? I guess the strongest argument you can make is that the Eagles won the games against the lines and the Packers. Because I'm sitting here going, like, if it looks like it did against the lines on the Packers,

that is, like, objectively a playoff liability. If you can't sustain drives and you can't put up points against elite offenses and elite teams. But they won those games. They beat the bills last week. So, you know what? You talked me into it.

I don't feel good about that. They can be in the bottom. I think that's a drop-off. They can be in the bottom of a nice playoff trailer. Okay. Let's put them, let's put them where the Panthers defense was. And we'll go, Eagles, Offense, Buck's Defense, Panthers.

I would even take these other defenses, they just don't matter. Like, I would rather have my pick of the, I don't know, I guess the Panthers' offense or the Bucs offense. Maybe you just, you hope that the Bucs offense can get it together instead of the Panthers' defense? I don't feel stronger. Yeah, I don't know. There's a jumble here of both sides of the Panthers and Bucks.

Let's put the Panthers in playoff liabilities. And then you've got, and then you've got three really terrible units at the bottom with the Packers' defense now. Bears' defense, Panthers' offense, 49ers' defense. I would put Panthers' offense ahead of. Bears defense. Okay. We can do that. 49ers defense.

Do you agree it's the worst? I think so. All right. All right. So read it back to us. Okay. With title and everything. I could, yeah.

Okay. Tier one. Really announce it. Lean into it. Team agnostic Super Bowl winning units. What was it? Tasboos? Tasboos.

Tasboos. Tasboos. No, task boos. All right. Tier, we're going to start over. We're going to do this. We're going to do this right. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the state.

E.J. Smith. All right. So, tier one, team agnostic Super Bowl winning units, the Rams offense and the Eagles defense. These are the types of groups that can drag their teams to Super Bowl victories. Tier two, Bo will come up with this. These are units that maybe they're not going to drag

the team all the way to the Super Bowl win, but you could see them getting pretty close. Seahawks defense, 49ers' offense fit in that category for us. Tier 3, they can go on a run because of this unit. The Bears' offense, think the commanders from last year. The Bears' offense and the Packers' offense. Tier 4, a nice playoff trailer. They're not going to drive-winning, but it's going to be a smooth ride because they, you know, they can hold their own.

Rams' defense, Seahawks offense, Eagles' offense, just barely, and the Bucs defense. Tier 5, playoff liabilities. You don't feel good about them. They could definitely lose a game because of this group. I do think the Eagles could have slid in here. Panthers defense, Panthers' offense, Packers' defense, Bears' defense, and then dead last, the 49ers defense. I think we're too kind of the Eagles' offense.

I think we've got to work on the names because the Eagles' offense is definitely a playoff liability. I think that we were too generous to them. When I started this exercise, I thought the Eagles' offense would be, bottom five but I also didn't have the bucks in there well so that changes it a little bit nobody knows about the power of the bottom

better than you no comment all right what do you think in the chat how did we do oh I've got one thing to share this is I should have shared it yesterday but we we were talking my mother-in-law has some feedback on the show okay she says that

she will often watch our show and she says like she'll turn it off and she just go I just really wish that they like said like they loved each other or something at the end of the show you guys should just like go after each other so much

I don't think we go after each other that much she's like you guys will argue it'll be like so contentious and she loves the show are we are contentious I mean we are like we have a lot of fun on the show more contentious iterations of this show

but I are being contentious with my mother-in-law what's her name Her name's Carla. Carla? It could be worse. But I love you, Carla. We love you, Carla. And we love each other for everybody out there.

I don't want to hug. No. I love you, E.J. I love you, too. There's a reason we do the show with no pants on. It's to remind ourselves that we're comfortable with each other. It was probably our Tuesday show where Dana is and Fran were feuding. I was coming after you for Waterboy.

You're calling me. Out of nowhere we're just coming at me on that show. It was fun. It was in good names, good nature. Yeah, but that was funny. And then Sheal came up, and my mother-in-law said she still listens to Sheal's podcast, even though I'm not there anymore, just because she loves Sheel, she loves Sheel's family. And my father-in-law was like, Sheel?

Who? Never heard of that guy. There he is, my man. That's great. That was the feedback on the show over the holidays. All right, we got a couple of super chats. Pat Phenis. It's very telling that the only time the offense operated

with any urgency or aggressiveness was the drive where they were handed the ball at the 50. It's a fair point. It's like this is our chance to take advantage of a turnover. I was about to say it really does reinforce that their obsession with turnovers, which is well founded for the record, but it's like they get the ball of a turnover.

We know how big this opportunity is. We have to pull out all the stops. Yeah, very fair. Good observation. CDP is the commander's front office too phallic. They have both Adam. Peter's and Magic Johnson. And... That's definitely a question for you.

They've also got the dripping, unrelenting, sex appeal. Josh Harris. Oh. Jesus. That was really tough. We were just talking in the media, in the auditorium, about whether or not this is a kid-friendly show.

I was like, I don't really think so. I don't think it's, no, please. Whatever you're doing, you don't have to keep doing it. I think it's kid-friendly. It's not. It's okay, though. It's kid-friendly. Kids need to learn about sex.

As a parent, you'd probably turn this off at overtime, right? if you knew what the show was. No. Okay. I respect it. What are you do? SRG. Wouldn't be a P.H.O.

Y. Eagle Show without starting the title segment 55 minutes in. That is very fair. We did start with the news for the record. Yeah, we were trying to start with the news. I mean, that is absolutely dead to rights right between the eyes. You know what, though? Like, it speaks to, we have fun on the show. Like, you know,

Hey, we have funny. But no, we, like, we genuinely just enjoy talking to each other. We got in the studio at a half hour early, and we were, like, yapping up until literally the show started. Oh my gosh, you would not believe the tea that was being spilled before the show in this room. Ooh. Good stuff. Oh, man.

All right. That'll do it for the last P.H.L. episode of the year wow is it actually the last one on the station on the channel? On the channel, yes we'll see you on Friday all four hands in

to preview what could be Tanner McKee's showcase against the commanders and the final regular season swooper of the year lots of good stuff for all of us here we will talk to you on Friday

day. Thank you, Lindsay. Thank you, Carla. Thank you, chat. We'll talk to you on Friday, and as always, we love you.