PHLY Philadelphia Eagles Podcast - Running on Empty: Can Saquon Barkley and the Eagles running game get going vs. the Raiders?

Episode Date: December 12, 2025

Naked pictures of Roger Goodell and Shakira are not what will be discussed on this episode about Saquon Barkley, Jalen Hurts, A.J. Brown, Grant Calcaterra and the struggling Eagles running game. Instead, the professor Deniz Selman is here to tell us about the intricacies of Sunday’s Eagles-Raiders matchup with EJ Smith checking in from the NovaCare Complex. 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 show, live from the Xfinity Studio and presented by Bet, 365, and Ashley, beautiful Friday afternoon, the professor, Daniz is here. We'll hear from E.J. Smith live at the NovaCare Complex in a little bit. We're going to talk about everything. We're going to talk about some things that everybody is saying about the Eagles offense after last week's game that may not quite be true. We're going to revisit some of Danes' solutions for fixing the Eagles' offense, see if the Eagles have tried to incorporate any of those things,

talk about some of the issues that continue to persist with the in-game operation and a bunch more. Professor, how are you? I'm doing all right. You know, it's tough. I don't handle the losing streaks very well just as a fan and also you know just arguing with people online

about reasons for losing like is tiring you know just you will indulge those arguments but not people saying that you don't know anything about football listen I mean you know people can decide whether I know anything about football or not that's not for me to say but I will say that like people are like oh you just you know you're you're frustrated because

you constantly are arguing with people who you know think something that that's wrong about about the eagles or whatever and I'm like it's it's about losing in particular that it makes me annoyed like like everyone was wrong last year about why the team was winning and I was okay with that you were okay yeah yeah I was able to kind of like you know laugh about that that was fine but when people are wrong about the reasons for the losing that that really that tires me out would it make you feel better to know that as I was writing down we know we're trying to plot out the graphics that we're going to show throughout the

show and I have late play clock one late play clock two would it make you happy to know that I forgot the L and clock and so it just says just as late play cock yes yeah it does say that one and two does that make you feel better no you're laughing it's funny yeah okay and what did you think of save those graphs for overtime what did you think of um viny the venison oh my goodness Oh, man. I was really hoping E.J. would be here today so I could ask him more questions about that. Let's get to the big takeaway presented by Xfinity, the big takeaway.

EJ hasn't been in the studio very much this week. Sorry, I mean, that's totally interrupted the sponsor. That's your editorialization. I'm not going to throw that on him, but he knows. I want to ask you a big takeaway, because we've been waiting for the Eagles to have an overtime game. You have some thoughts on how overtime went, and I wonder if we agree about it. this so go ahead yeah well i mean we we talked so much about the overtime rules when they changed that we i just thought we had to lead with a discussion about it because it's the first time the eagles

had ever been in an overtime game since the rule change and um yeah so look the the trade off obviously right is the information advantage of going second versus the possibility of getting the third possession and in this game you could argue there was the one added dimension of the defense was tired right because they just played a long drive at the end of regulation so So those are the factors to consider. One thing about the, is the game going to go to a third possession argument that might, like a lot of people have probably thought this through. But like one thing that you, that I think should be realized is the odds of the game getting to a third possession are very small, especially in a 10 minute overtime, but really in general with these overtime rules. Because when you think about the ways that normally, like in a normal game, like the first two possessions could be in a tie, right?

Like it could be zero, zero. sure it could be 3-3 it could be 7-7 right it's never going to be 7-7 first of all right very unlikely no team that isn't just like really really stupid is going to not go for two on the after the second touchdown it requires a very specific end-of-season yeah like a tie where you know where you know that a tie is enough yeah yeah but but even then like the odds of the other team picking a field goal are so high if there's enough time left and if there's enough time left that's not really a third possession so like right right right Yeah, you know, like so, so 7-7 is kind of out the window.

Most likely. 3-3 is also less likely in overtime than it is in like a run of the middle. Less likely, no doubt. Regular time because like think about the Eagles in this game. Like they have kicked the field goal if it was fourth and three there. You know what I mean? Like maybe in the regular like middle of the second quarter, you tie the game. Yeah.

But in that situation, you're like, if we tie it here, we have no chance to win and we might lose. So like the team going second knows that the team going third has an advantage and their core is going to try not to give it to them. And then also with 10. minutes there might just not be enough time for a real third possession so i think the information at least zero zero is the most likely for sure but these days with these field goal kickers and how long they can kick field goals from like that's not super likely either so um yeah i just i just think um well i did some reporting here yeah talk to talk to a uh a high ranking analytics person not with the eagles with a different team okay to get their thoughts and you know you can make

analytics tell any story you want to any story you can't just be you can't just be you can't we're talking to analytics people. The thinking is the NFL did do a very good job making this a close to a toss-up. In the playoffs, you take second possession for sure. In the regular season,

tilt, in their opinion, towards get the ball first just because of the possibility of that third possession. But... Wait, you mean the other way around, right? Because in the regular season, the third possession is less likely

because the clock might run out. No, in the post-season, you would want the second advantage, the knowledge with the second possession to know what you need is more valuable than in the regular season. Why? Shouldn't it be the other way around?

Because the 10-minute limit makes it such that the third possession, which is the only advantage of going first, might not happen. So I would have thought. I know those simulations made it look like a toss-up for the playoffs. Okay.

And I thought that like the 10-minute limit would make it even more of a have-it-second. thing I could be really out of backwards but my framing for this game though for the Eagles specifically yeah is the idea that you know you want to know what you need so you get the ball second but if you're the Eagles it's almost like you want the defense to know what it needs you want the better unit to know what it needs does that you know what I mean yeah I know but the one thing that like I have been nervous at the ends of games when the other team has had four downs like against the fan right defense because like the one thing that like this defense even

last year like wasn't great at was was three outs four an ounce yeah like getting off the field fast yeah exactly so like because you know he's willing to let you complete the ball to the running back in the flat for four yards on first down you know like he's like okay with all those things and when you have four downs against that it makes it it's just so hard to string together four downs like on on defense like when you only are you know they only need 10 yards to keep the drive going like it just just makes such a big difference, like, between three downs and four downs. Sure. So, yeah, I don't know.

I mean, the Eagles obviously benefited from that fourth and four, right? If it's, if it's, uh, the first possession, are you going for that? Like, I feel like they probably do for that at that distance. Yeah. Like if it was a little closer, like you probably kick the field goal. Yeah. Yeah. I don't know.

Okay. Well, I'll do it for the big takeaway presented by Xfinity. It is worth mentioning that teams have gone both ways with it this year. Like teams have chosen to take it first. And also, I think, in terms of the number of teams that won the game, like, I think it's close to 50-50, which is what they wanted. Yeah, so, okay. That's good.

All right, let's get into a discussion about the Eagles offense. And you think there are a couple of myths out there. So let's bust those myths, Professor. Yeah. Let's start with the first one being. This is part of, like, the argument thing. I thought that, like, some people were like, hand the ball off on first and ten from the 17. From the 17.

Right. And in general, like, I've heard a lot of people. you know, more old school types saying, look, like, you know, Sequin had a bunch of good runs in the first half. Like, why were, after the 52-yard touchdown, like, you know, why were seven of the next 10 plays passes, you know, things like that? And it's like, okay, look, let's not go crazy with how good the running game was in this game. The Eagles were 7 for 23, success rate-wise, in the run game.

That's 30%. That includes the 52-yarder on the gimmicky run. So really only six, like, real runs that were successful. The last nine runs in the game had been unsubes. successful yeah like i mean at that point like that's nine runs of various sorts and which we'll get to in a second that had not been working there's been a pattern this year by the way of the eagles having like a couple of good runs in the first quarter and then like true those just going away and one of the things you notice on film is that like they'll run the same run again from the same formation with the

same motion and the defense will be all over it for example there was a first quarter run that i noticed watching live like it was a split zone from under center with de monti smith motioning and darius cooper in the box as an extra blocker and he blocked irwin james who's the who's on the backside of the play with ease beautiful by the way to have darius cooper in there instead of grand calcutera right it's just everything about it it's like better to have a wide receiver out there whatever all that under center split zone is a very rare run for the eagles that's something they do a lot out of shotgun i thought that was a great play and you know it went for 19 yards two drives later on the first play of the drive

they're on the exact same play same formation same motion and this time Durbin James who's a very good veteran player anticipates it sprints into the backfield gets inside a Darius Cooper gets around Dallas gutter and makes the play

and it's a total stuff right and this is something that's been happening a lot in the run game like just not being able to dress it up and make things look different and that's why just watching like the Bears run game

and like how many different variations and wrinkles are the same runs they had the same run from shotgun and under center the same run from you know like different kinds of motions like it's just kind of frustrating to see that and then when the eagles try to do things like that it doesn't work so end of the game all eight under center runs so far had been some sort of zone either split zone or mid zone or whatever half of them had been successful and then fourth quarter crunch time comes around 333 left eagles ball at their own 40 the first play they run is counter they hadn't run counter the whole game ran calcuttaire

as the rapper of course who else and you know my name was grant and i'm here to block it's good and you'd think like okay that's a change up because when it when they run counter out of that formation it goes the other way from the way the zone run didn't do it well that wasn't a shock it's good i like this the entire defensive line slants towards the run so like it absolutely didn't work it's like something keyed off to them that that's what they were going to do and then four plays later they run it again and it does even worse they lose a yard this time because they're even more all over it. So my conclusion about this is by overtime,

they were basically out of ideas for the run game. Like nine unsuccessful runs. They try under center. They try shotgun. They try all these things. None of it works. And at that point, you're at first and 10 at the 17.

You're trying to win the game. Like, running it for three yards isn't going to get you anywhere. I mean, like, that's just... Can I offer another variable here? Yeah. The Eagles are very clearly not as confident in the tush push. well sure and so if this was their old school you know every it's first to nine every time yeah yeah first and 10 from the 17 needing a touchdown i think they would be running it three times to

get to push push's area yeah i mean jimmy kemsky asked nick after the game about like you know you guys have done like touch push till you're in from the two in the past yeah was like no not from the two they ran like four times in a row against the giants this year yeah what is you talking about so um look I mean, yeah, for sure. I think that's part of the play calling. I think they're not comfortable. No, I think that's right. But you know what else they're not comfortable in

or they shouldn't be is second and long, which is what's been happening when they run the ball on first down. They get into second and long. They're in second and long almost 11 times a game, which is greater than league average. Lindsay, I think we have that second and long graphic. The Eagles are really bad at having successful plays on second and long, can look at this graphic you know how many terrible offenses there are in the NFL the eagles have a

24% success rate on second and eight plus this year that is the worst in the NFL it's the worst of any team in the last five years in that situation and 41% of the neutral situations in second and long they run the ball right and that's the second highest in the league behind only Seattle only 19% success on those runs 26% success when they pass it so I mean to talk about like again like should have run the ball there. I mean, this idea that getting into second and eight, second and seven, this kind of distance is going to put you in an advantageous position just hasn't been true this year. And I think at some point, like you realize, like, you know, maybe we have to get a chunk on first down, which is something that they tried to do a lot more

in this game, to their credit. I know Fran broke down a lot of the concepts and a lot of the cool things that they did on offense this game. And I think that that was a positive sign. Like, I'm with you and also with Fran on like a lot of encouraging things to take out of the game in terms of the approach, not necessarily obviously in this game with the results. okay time to take a quick break hear from some sponsors on the other side

we'll continue this conversation there's another myth you want to bust find out what it is on the PHLY Eagles podcast so the other day I was over at Big P's house and he's like

whoof whoof I was like I know you're a big football fan of course I'll come over watch the game but I get there he turns on the game you're not going to believe this

lagging buffering switching apps I thought he was a big football fan. Turns out I was fan-fished. So instead, brought him over to my place.

Love dogs. Love having them over all the time. And put on the game, it was like a fan flex. Perfect fan flex. Because with Xfinity, you get all the action right in your living room.

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Xfinity. Imagine that. Restrictions apply. Multiview requires Xfinity 4K capable TV box. Elkins Chevrolet is run by not one, not two, but three brothers, real brothers, who also happen to be, by the way, Big Eagles fans. So this holiday season, they're making sure that you get a deal that will make you feel kind of like deals got to win because we're not giving you enough of those these days that's where elkins chevalet comes in they've got a big inventory of Chevy trucks and SUVs and there's no better time to grab one at a price that won't last whether it's getting to the game getting to work or hitting the holiday road you will roll into the new year and the perfect ride at the perfect price elkins chevrolet real brothers real deals and a whole lot of

honking good service elkins chevalier route 73 sound in Marlton, New Jersey, shop now. They have blooms. Elkinschevrolet.com. Together, let's drive. Back on the P.HL. Eagles podcast. Bo and the professor. How you doing?

You know, like I said, I'm doing okay. Shout out to everybody in the chat. Have any short weeks. Good. I know. You're telling me. You know, it throws up the unblocked recording schedule. Yeah, that's right.

All kinds of stuff going on. That's right. good to see everybody in the chat make sure you like the video subscribe all that good stuff and give it up give it up for Jillian who's joining us watching the show for the first time

shout out to Jillian also married to an Eric right here there you go there you go all right myth number two what do you got yeah so the second myth is

and I've heard people say things like this like eagles are good no no that wasn't one of them it was like yeah sure the film nerds like the passing concepts but Jalen threw a lot of interceptions because he can't run them, so they should go back to keeping it simple.

I heard a lot of that. So the interceptions, right, at least three of them, came on plays. The Eagles have been running for years, right? Like, I mean, the Hosswey juke play where he throws it to AJ over the middle and he didn't see the defensive tackle dropping out. That's more about Jalen having issues

with exchange pressures, which we've seen throughout the season. Eagles are still facing exchange pressures at a really high rate, 11% of their dropbacks that's second most in the NFL. We've seen teams that don't normally run them, run them against the Eagles. By the way, we'll see this week because the Raiders, like, never run them.

So it'll be, like, if the Raiders run them too, the Raiders are 31st in the league at running them, they've run like six all year. Who's 32nd? I don't remember. Yeah, don't remember. Sorry, Bo. I can look it up. I'll look it up with the next thing.

No, no, don't let us bother you. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's not a team the Eagles have played. But remember Denver hadn't run a single one, and then they ran like 10 against the Eagles. So anyway, so that's been a problem, and we know that that's a problem. But, like, that concept wasn't like a thing that, like, you know, Jalen wasn't used to. slant flat to the boundary and spacing to the field possibly the play the Eagles run more

than any other play that they ever run the interception where he was throwing it to Devante Smith and Devante Smith slipped on the on the hitch that's one where it's like okay he should have thrown the slant probably but like that's a concept they throw all they run all the time like that's not something the double post with the backside dig that he threw high to AJ Brown like that's a play they run all the time

and then the interception and overtime like that's like their bread and butter RPO it's like the play they've run more than any other play in the last, you know, five years. So the idea that the interceptions came because of, you know, the, the interesting things that happened in the passing game, not at all true. And in fact, a lot of the reason that the film nerds like the plays, and I like them, too, like watching is that they worked. Like, he made a lot of good throws.

Like, he made a lot of those, like, they were completions. Like, you know, a couple of under center play action ones, a couple of other ones with flood concepts, four to one side, which they rarely do. The 16-yarder to Goddard was one of those. do you think so i mean but could there could there be connectivity between hey jalen we're going to open it up this week grip it and rip it baby and he's just like and he's not going to be careful anymore right yeah i don't know i mean like there were still some turn downs i mean fran broke down the one on the man beater vante smith is open in the middle tough i just think like every single

quarterback in the nfl has plays like that sure like you know like you watch my homes closely enough like which I certainly did going into the Super Bowl last year like he has he has those too like it's like man that guy was wide open why didn't you throw it like so to talk about like you know with a magnifying glass cherry picking like the plays that didn't go well you're always going to get that and you know that's just just something where like I definitely blame the coaches more than I blame Jalen for the offense as woes and I think that I've made that pretty clear throughout the throughout the years here I think like this game gave people an excuse to I don't know have shows where the theme was should Jalen be benched for example like and I and I know you're doing that because like that's what's being that's what's being talked about but like said no I know you said no but like I mean you like okay I mean there's a lot of questions that you could ask and then say no to and be like why'd you ask the question right but like I just I just think I just think that like if you are gonna if you're gonna like use this as an excuse to blame Jalen I don't even think this was Jalen's worst game like interceptions are very like small

sample small percentage things and so there's a lot of noise and like when you have them and you can have a bunch of them in a game uh there were more drives in this game like you know there were more passes whatever there's going to be more interceptions like it's weird that he normally doesn't ever throw interceptions right like and so like to talk about the one time you actually tried to throw it and made some of the throws that we wish he made like you can't turn around and be like that was a terrible game like you threw interceptions like of course it was a bad game we know interceptions are bad but like to say that like you know should you bench him and should you go with Tanner McKee like come on man like what are we what are we talking about so anyway well yeah but

you have to you have to appreciate that those are not just rumblings happening on sports radio yeah discussions being had in the building that's what which is the thing which which i absolutely know and i was i was not actually like saying you shouldn't have had a show like that i'm just saying the the thing that that like the people saying that in the building are people who get paid like one percent of what jalen hurts gets paid who are desperate for like keeping their jobs and like for like I really liked what Nick Fulles said earlier this week on his podcast by the way Nick Fulles is really good at the whole thing um he was talking about like if you're if you're coaching a player and you say well he you can't teach him do a certain thing like why'd you get into

coaching like right and I thought that was a really good way to say it like he was like why did you get into coaching then like it should have done something else right and as someone who as a you know my day job is an educator like my job is to like understand what students can learn and what they can't learn and teach it in a way where they can learn it and students are different and I don't have the luxury of only having one student that I can that I can teach like you know cater to their abilities I have to teach you know sometimes 70 students at once and so it's hard to find that balance but when you're just teaching one person how to do certain things if you can't teach it to them and you can't take advantage of I think that is a

little bit unfair that's just one they're teaching in theory teaching no but when you're like offense but there's only one quarterback okay you only have to teach one quarterback yeah okay well you should be able to do it like the guy's talented enough and he's shown that he can win and all these things yeah i agree with that if you need to if you need to get him to play a certain way or see a certain thing or whatever it is if you can't do it that's either because you haven't gained his respect or it's because you are making him throw into you know drop eight two-man coverage with four iso routes you are here you are here you are here to take all the arrows for jalen you want to make sure that no jalen didn't

play a good game he misses people just like every quarterback misses people like he has flaws in his game just like every quarterback has flaws in his game like we're gonna talk later about why isn't he running more and those things and like i'm gonna talk about some of the things that i think are shortcomings with him i just think that like the narrative in the in the city this week because they're interceptions now yeah yeah it's suddenly like oh now that they're interceptions like let's let's blame the quarterback when sure and maybe people just got tired of blaming petulow you know or whatever but like I just think, like, yes, there were some good concepts in this game. And I think, like, Fran did a great job of breaking a bunch of them down.

But for every good concept, there was also, there was also some head scratchers, which we'll get to when we get to some of the, whether they're incorporating the solutions. Like every third down, essentially. Yes, yes, in particular. Okay. All right. A couple weeks ago, how long ago was it? Eight weeks ago.

Eight weeks ago. After the week six lost to the Giants. So the last losing streak. You came and presented your case for turning around the offense, what the Eagles, it to do. They haven't scored over 21 points in five straight games, which is a very long stretch for them. Yeah. But they've started to do some of them.

To be clear, I just randomly said some stuff I thought they could do. It's not like I went and took over the offense. Well, I hope you're not blaming me. I'm not not blaming it. Let's check it on how it's going. Yeah. So the first one of those was more play action. Eagles ranked 27th in using play action, which is about what they did.

at the time. 44% success rate on play action ranks 21st. Under center play action, they're running two plays a game, which ranks 31st, only Washington runs fewer. On the course of the whole season? Yes. Okay. And 37% success rate on those ranks 29th. So,

it's just funny because the league average is like 50% or something. Under center play action. I think we have a graph for under center play action. Yeah, so there's the under center play action. As you can see, only Washington runs fewer of them. Washington didn't have any until like a few weeks ago. they're good at it. Well,

yeah. Yeah. So the Saints are the only one who is somehow worse, essentially, in terms of both. Yeah, the Washington ones are all like fake quarterback sneak type stuff too. Like, it's like they're not real, you know. Yeah, the Saints, yeah. The Saints offensive coordinator, by the way, is in any case. Look, it's supposed to be a tool that gets God's open.

It's supposed to help their, right. It's supposed to help their run game because linebackers have to hesitate before they fill run gaps because they think it might be play action like eagles don't benefit from from any of those things now they experimented with more play action in some games which is a theme by the way of all of these solutions they had 11 play action plays in green bay at 15 this last game against the chargers uh but it's been like one week of a bunch of it and then you get games like dallas chicago where it's just a handful of play action game uh play action plays and it's just like you know most of them are from the shotgun and not it does that is the way that it feels to me watching the games this

season is and it speaks to them not having an identity for sure is that every week it's like oh this is the week we're going to do this right this is the week we're going to do this right and it's never like oh the game is playing out in this way let's pivot and do this other thing that we weren't expecting to do but probably is a good fit for the way that this game is being played yeah stay tuned that's going to be a theme as we go through these six things for sure uh the second one is more crossing routes. The Eagles run the third fewest crossing routes in the NFL. That's kind of still the case.

It's 8% of all their routes. We know by now that they run more hitches. When you went when you did this, you didn't know yet about the hitches. We were so focused on the absence of crossing routes. And in fact, you hadn't yet had the pin drop moment like, you know, from the middle of a movie like the record scratch of

the hitches. Oh my God, the hitches. That's right. That's right. So we know we know now, we didn't then, that they run more hitches than any team in recorded. history, 25% of their routes are hitches. And as players, they still have the top three hitcherout runners in the NFL in Dallas Goddard, John Dotson, and Devante Smith. Now, I think Dante Jackson knew that, right? When he was jumping that hitch route from Devante Smith on that spacing concept, linebackers are just waiting for the hitchh route king, Dallas Goddard. Like, they're waiting,

they have like tea ready for him, like, and they mean between the hashes. Like, they are totally ready. They know he's going to be there. They're like sitting down waiting for it on all these plays and this has remained steady throughout the games like there were a few more crossing routes against the lions and the bears a few more but never more than 12% in a game all year and you know like fran uh texted me and said like you know there must have been fewer hitches and he mentioned this on the show yesterday like he thought there must have been fewer against the chargers and there weren't it was like exactly the same but it was number between first and second down and third down yes there were there were definitely a lot more on there

We're definitely a lot more on late downs. And also the ones that were that were on early downs or on late downs were like really like nice use of them, right? Like the rap concept to Devante Smith like, you know, Fran mentioned another one. The rap concept of Devante Smith, like that's a beautiful use of a hitch, right? You have Dallas County running that curl underneath. It holds the linebacker. It held what's named Henley like underneath for just long enough that he wasn't able to quite get his hand on that on that ball to Devante Smith. What I would love to see the breakdown on is.

not just hitch route percentage, but percentage of plays in which more than one person is running a hitch rat. Because of course there is always, there's always purpose for somebody to run a hitch route occupy this space and then someone else can take advantage of everything else. But when they're running, you know, three hitches,

and it's like, just pick your matchup. Well, first point of the game, that is what is like maddening. First play of the game, there were three hitches, right? And AJ Brown runs a hitch. It's like immediately covered and then it becomes scramble drill right away. The spacing concepts, like, you know, those are, those have at least two hitches because it's like basically two hitches in a flat

on that one side so yeah the eagles run i think it's something like one point one point three hitches per play and so you have no other teams over one like the saints are the second highest that like slightly under one that's crazy the average for the league is like point seven or something so yeah i mean like the fact that it's more than one per play it tells you that there's a lot with more than one obviously um i thought that this is another not to like keep quoting nick foals but i thought like one thing he said was was was really like dead on it's something that i had been thinking but had never been able to put this nicely. He said a lot of the routes they're

running are routes on paper. They look like the playbook. And I thought that was really cool. Like it was like like they and because I like you know I trace every route as you know like on my iPad like I can tell you that that's absolutely true because they run them the same way every time same distance like same

everything and sometimes they're running to get covered like they're running into cover and the guy that Nick Foles mentioned that he said that he'd like to see routes more like was Zach Ertz. He was like I'm not seeing enough of these Zach Ertz routes. And if you compare like Zachertz to Dallas Goddard, like that's one of the things that I think is definitely

like a negative for Goddard is like Zachert's was so good at using leverage to get all you ever heard about. Not running not running like the route exactly the way it was designed, but running it based on the way that the defender is playing him. Travis Kelsey is obviously famous for this as well. Dallas Goddard is just running those routes

like right into coverage. And I don't know if he doesn't have the freedom to do what Zach ard's did and what Travis Kelsey does or if he just doesn't have like the initiative to do that. But, like, it's something that I thought Nick Foles said it, and I thought it was very well put. I like that. Shout out to Nick Foles.

Time for a break. We'll come back on the other side. I got some super chats to get to. I see you CDP. The professor continues taking us through his fixes for what the offense could look like. We'll hear from me, Jay Smith. Much more to come on the PHLY Eagles podcast. ORA frames is the hidden jam that becomes

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Although I did say breast present That's okay Sounds fun too You also wrote Play We already talked about that Just Yeah I know

All right You want to take me down a peg I'm gonna take you down a peg Let's do a guess the player My favorite Lindsay's got it hooked up Guess the player Here we go

We're gonna We're gonna start with We're gonna try to guess the player Based on the teams They played for in the order Okay, you positioned that camera right there, so I can't really see the screen. I'm undefeated. An advantage for you.

All right. All right. Do we begin? We can just yell it out when we're ready, right? Yes. I just forget. I'm in preview. We begin with the Rams.

Rams. Old logo. Bengals. Bills. Rams. Bengals. Bills. Titans?

Oh. Texans Jets like a list of teams I think the least about in the NFL Jets bucks nobody's saying in the chat

oh my goodness dolphins what on earth Rams bengles bills Titans Texans Jets

Bills or sorry bucks current is this a current commander so this is not an eagles player never was okay that changes that changes my mindset washington um do you want a clue rams so it's like a backup quarterback bills titans texans jets bucks dolphins i was thinking josh johnson but uh it's gonna be like i know the answer

and you know why i know the answer because the silhouette is very good there's a big Oh, yeah, yeah, it's, it's, it's Patrick, yeah, yeah, okay. My clue is going to be that there's so many teams. You have to think of somebody who, like, played for this many teams. Right. What kind of clue is that? We see it. We see you.

Like, like, think of people who have, like, are known for playing for so many teams. Like, his daughter's friends, they all wore a different jersey one year for Halloween. Josh Johnson's played for, like, 14 teams or something, right? I think he has the record. Started with the Bucks. Remember that game against Kevin Cobb, young, early on? Josh Johnson's Oh yeah, yeah, of course

Yeah There you go Another win for me Not my most Decisive win But I'll take it nonetheless You're playing that as a win How was that a win?

I said it first We said it like at the same time No I said it I was building up to it Because of the Beard All right, go ahead What do you got next?

Oh yeah More empty Remember I said more empty Empty? They finally listen So this, look, this was one of my solution. I did not mean this much.

Like, first of all, like, why is it always all or nothing? Like, of everything. Like, it's like, I didn't mean, like, have a game where it's just empty. Like, well, what? Was it 16 snaps? 18 total plays, including penalties and stuff. Okay.

That were empty. 12 in the first half. 12 of the first 24 dropbacks were out of empty. And I talked about this after the Bears game, like the first play was like an under center run. And then the second play was empty. And then the third play was like a pistol run. the next one was empty players are not talking to each not at all right like so empty you know what

empty is like there's a stretch in the first you know what empty is it's when there's uh no go ahead tell me go for it are you asking me what empty is what are we doing here i don't even that was empty uh there you go there was a stretch in the first quarter when seven plays in a row it was like empty not empty empty empty not empty every play that wasn't empty. Every play that wasn't empty was a run. Every single one of them was a run. And then all four of the empty ones were passes. It's like the opposite of marrying the run in the pass, right? It's like divorcing the run. It's like divorcing them except like they've already been separated for like five years under this coaching staff. Like they've been living separately

for five years. And then this time they finally went to court and like divorce them. They're like, we're not even going to pretend like that this might be a run. We're just going to, we're just going to make it like empty on this. They get to the goal line first and goal from the two. It's like cucking the run in the past. They run up. Yeah, that's exactly what it is. First and goal from the two, they fail on the run because Cam Juergens, like, you know, he's struggling and he's, you know, he's climbing to the linebacker before he blocks the decal. It becomes second and goal from the two. They go empty, sprint left.

Not what I would do there, but like, okay, fine, you know, whatever. It could have worked. Myelada gets called for the holding. Now they're at second and goal from the 12th. Empty again. My lot is blocking like it's a quarterback draw. I don't know if it's supposed to be a quarterback draw, allows a quick pressure.

That one doesn't work. Third in goal is the Devante turned down that broke down. Also empty. That's three straight plays of empty after it was second and goal from the two. Jason Kelsey, I think it was on his podcast this week, said that if you live in empty as a center, as someone who thinks about protections, he says that you're basically telling the defense

that's going to be a five-man protection and that they can make you hot anytime they want by rushing more than you can bring or making it look like you're going to rush more than you can bring which is something the Chargers did and when the Chargers did that what did they know what the hot answers are

they threw bubble screens like the Eagles threw bubble screens like at those like cover zero pressures where they you know they dropped out people they threw bubble screens on those and those bubble screens suck like as we know they never work the wide receivers don't know how to block

they're usually like predictable one of them there weren't even any blockers like that third and 11 so what you need to do according to Kelsey he offered the solution is motion the running back in and out once in a while motion a tight end towards the formation

and have him block when you weren't expecting him to block like do something so that they're not just able to tee off on that and know that you're going to be hot every time so I thought that was that was like an interesting thing to hear Kelsey say yeah like he obviously wasn't comfortable when you know

they were going to be an empty and you don't have the answers for that those bubble screens were maddening to me. Like the two plays that I was most angry about watching the film, watching the game too, other than maybe the four ISO routes into two man, like that was terrible too.

But those bubble screens, like the Eagles ran three bubble screens in the game, they were all out of empty and the three times the chargers ran those cover zero exchange pressures like two were bubble screens and the other one was the interception to the to the detackle, right? And what was the third down right before

the two minute warning? Right. The, hold on to DeVon. day where he drops it oh yeah yeah exactly yeah the third and 11 right exactly so so like on that one like j brown is running the guy off like no one's blocking anybody like it's you can hardly call it a screen like what is the purpose of that play it's third and 11 and you're already in field goal range like you're not going to get 11 yards on that like anyway like this is why i blame the coaches more like because like yes okay they they had a nice like three level stretch play in this game like is a nice thing but like that's that should be table stakes for but that signing an offense that made you

angry than the last play of the first half? The last play of the first half made me angry too. I really, I really think that, like, at this point, I've given up on the end of half. Like, we've talked about the end of half so much. I have no idea what that way. I mean, I posted the end of half play, and I talked about how angry I was at it. But, like, the third and 11, like, I mean, if you can appreciate the dark humor, that's,

that was very funny. Oh, it was, it was completely ridiculous. I mean, to the point that they don't even expect to go onto the field. On film, like, where's my hands? The play that they called did result in a massive void in the middle of the field that Jalen could have just ran into.

Like, he could have easily taken like 15 yards there and gotten down in time to kick a much closer field goal. Take my helmet, please. What the hell was that? Take mine, take mine. This is like eighth. Take my wife, for example. This is like eighth grade football.

Like, you can't find your helmet. It was just ridiculous. But, yeah, look, the bubble screens, I thought we were done with those. Kellan Moore came and got rid of them and he, like, replaced it with hot routes. and everything. Siriana gets involved in the offense for a week

and we're back to the bubble screens now. But this is the problem with empty, right? Like when you run empty and you don't have answers out of it, then, you know, it's not useful. What would make empty good? Run more QB draws. Like one of the things we're going to get to, like with the more quarterback runs

and that we just haven't seen. Well, let's talk about that. Let's get to the disappearing quarterback run game from the offense. This is the non-sneek routes graph, Lindsey and how do you feel about my framing that

obviously the offense would look better and maybe the running game would look better if there were more Jalen Hertz designed runs but they're not good at it

right now and so I don't to me it's not just run Jalen just to run him I miss him as a scrambler more than I miss him as there have only been

21 design runs this year the success rates been fine I mean 57% the 0.15 EPA per run is also very good it's the number that's shocking I mean 4.3 in 2021 4.6 3.4 3.5 last year all the way down to 1.6 per game this year but that's we know that they're partially because they're not doing the touch push as much no no none of these are non-s sneak so so like if you if you go game by game the design non-street rushes by game this year, zero, zero, four, four, zero, one, one, three, three, three, one. And recently, they've, they've almost all been draws. Like, so they're not running that zone read. And we talked about

this before. They're not running the zone read that he keeps. They're not running bash counter read, which is a play that's favorite. It not only is it the best play in football, but it's, it really complimented the running back runs in this offense really well in past years. You're running counter all the time. Like, why don't you run the bash counter read once in a while? and they're not going to know which way the run's going. It's something that Jalen's been asked about. He says he's going to do whatever it takes to win, but we haven't seen that, like,

is the number going to go up as the year goes on? He hasn't had more than three in a game since September. He averaged almost four a game coming into this year. So he hasn't had a single game where it's been more than three a game. And like I said, a bunch of them are draws. And I don't think we're going to see it at this point. And I don't think that this is the kind of thing where you can just flip a script.

flip a switch rather because you do need the reps blocking it live for it to for it to look good probably and you also need to you need to have it installed in the game plan to call as well now i mean petullo said this week like when he was asked about this he said like well there are some of those that he's handed off and then there are other ones that he's pulled and thrown on rpeos and so maybe he would run on those in the in the past i think he's a little bit more careful that he doesn't want to get injured and i understand that Do you think there could be hesitants, whether from the staff or from Jalen to do this less because the offensive line is not as good?

It's possible. That could be the case. Now, the zone reads, like, the offensive line isn't really a big part of it because you're running into space based on the way the guy's reading. I think one of the things might be that the regular running game isn't as good. And so defenses are like, we can stop the Seguan run without the edge defender. Like, we can just stay out here. Not that they're leaving him on blocked a whole lot anyway, unless it's,

an RPO. So I don't know. I mean, it's hard to say what it is, but at this point, it is not a coincidence. Like, it is a clear intentional decision by the team, by Jalen, by whoever it is, to not have him as involved. And I think like, you know, when you talk about Jalen as, well, we should relate to this to the scrambling, which is you're missing him as a scrambler more. Scambling is what he hasn't been good at this year. I mean, his scrambling percentage is 7.3% of his dropbacks, which is a little bit lower than it's been in the past, but not as dramatically lower as the design runs, but his success rate and his EPA per scramble are bad this year, 35th percentile in EPA per scramble and 24th percentile in success rate. Last year,

those were 95th and 76th, respectively. So like his scrambles last year, 0.91 EPA per scramble this year down all the way down to 0.3. And that's, you know, something that is hard to put your finger on exactly what it is like I think the the graph lindsay with the scrambles and the sacks and everything that we showed last week i updated that to include this last game lane johnson gets injured you have games against it's the non-tar you know like teams that have good pass rushes and you stop taking sacks like that's not what you would expect to happen right this has been like an approach where the the five games with the lowest sack percentages this season are the last five games, the five games since the buy.

And the offenses look terrible in those games. So you wonder, like, and not a lot of scrambling in these games either. So in other words, your solution to fixing the ego's offense is get sacks and more interceptions. More sacks. Interceptions aren't that bad. And all of a sudden, we're cooking. Well, it may be not the interceptions.

But I think, like, the sacks were maybe a sign that he was willing to stay in there a little longer. Yeah. The other thing, sacks and scrambles are sometimes the same thing, right? Like, a lot of sacks are scrambles that didn't quite get to the line of scrimmage. Yeah. So it means you're trying to scramble, but it's still called a sack if they, if they run you out of bounds, you know, right at the line of scrimmage. And so not all sacks are like you're in the pocket and somebody, you know, like blows a pass protection.

The fact that there are fewer sacks is is a sign that he's scrambling less and trying to scramble less. Nick Foles, again, the offense has been chased. In a way, in a way, yeah. And look, I mean, Jalen's never been known as somebody who goes through all of his progressions in a way that Matt Stafford does, for example, right? So a quarterback like Stafford who doesn't ever scramble How is he able to be successful in the NFL? Well, he's going to stay in there

He's going to work through his progression He's going to hit the backside dig or whatever You know, all those things Jalen's never been known to be that guy But the thing that's made him successful is If his first read isn't there A second read isn't there He's been able to create something with his legs

And this year I think he's a little more focused on And he said this himself He's focused on making plays down the field Out of the scramble drill And sometimes he does But I'm not sure it's worth like the one time a game that happens and doesn't always work, right, to take away that threat of scrambling because you notice teams are spying less, you notice teams are, you know, more willing

to play man coverage against the Eagles, like something we've seen this year, teams that don't play a lot of man normally will play more man against the Eagles, like, and that shows that they're not as worried about the scrambling and it's changing the way that they're playing defense and able to use more defensive tools. So I don't know. You know the Jordan thing, right? Jalen has to either scramble more, run more, all those things, or he has to actually make that step and develop the mid-range jumper, right,

that Jordan did. Like, once he knew he couldn't dunk on dudes anymore, he develops the mid-range jumper. There's no way Jalen hasn't studied this, right? And talk to Jordan about it and all that. He, like, either has to go through the progressions and become more of a pocket passer or he has to run. Like, otherwise, there's going to be a ceiling to this past.

I'm going to start dunking again. There's go. All right. I mean, time to take a quick break. Sometimes he looks like he can. Our last break of the show. On the other side, Eagles Insider, E.J. Smith joins us on the Xfinity Mobile call in line from the NovaCare Complex. Hope he's wearing clothes.

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is federally insured by the NCUA. That's not for Ultimate Frisbee, but then we have to play, like... She's talking about his ultimate Frisbee days. Yeah, yeah, yeah, the glory days. Back on the P. H.O. Eagles podcast. So great, I love a good street sign like for a business.

So a great one on my drive-in today. Took a picture. AI can't wax your hoo-ha, but we will. It's pretty good. So they got my business. I still think of Alan Iverson every time. Let's bring on E.J. Smith live from the Novacare Complex. E.J., oh, sharp camera.

Looking good, E.J. Very high-deaf. Is that Xfinity 4K? You know, you're going to have to ask Jeffrey Lurie about the internet subscription here because I meant to know a public care complex. I don't know what their internet is. Well, you're cutting out, so maybe Jeffrey's not paying on. It's obviously not.

How are you, Jay? What did you learn at the locker room today? I'm doing well. I think the most important thing I learned in the locker room was that Fred Johnson is definitely playing. That's how he characterized it in the locker room today. Obviously, popped up. on the injury report yesterday with an ankle injury.

Usually when guys are like pop up on the injury report limited, it means that they left midway through practice. And that was the case with Fred. He said he got nicked up during practice, but he said he's been dealing with an ankle injury for the last couple of weeks. But he said that after he basically couldn't finish practice yesterday, he talked to the trainers about the injury.

And I'm not exactly sure. I'm not, listen, he didn't really divulge on the details and I'm not a doctor, but he said that, that the injury was something that they addressed. It wasn't something they had really thought about, like addressing it the way that they ended up addressing it, but he feels good now. So not really sure what that entails,

but I think the bottom line is that he's playing on Sunday. He said he's definitely playing. Was not looking forward to the Matt Pryor versus Max Crosby matchup. So that's, yeah, I'm going to say banged up Fred Johnson against Max Crosby. Yeah, I mean, it's not ideal, but it's certainly better than Matt Pryor there. And again, Fred made it, again, I, he didn't get too much into what

the exact injury is. I don't know what it what type of like rehabilitation cycle you go through it's like we hadn't even considered trying that but no, he said he feels good now. So yeah, I expect to see him as a full participant on the injury report and ready to go.

I'm guessing a lot of help for him. Yeah, more chipping. Yep. For the Raiders game, I guess that makes sense. All right, what else do you got? I have one from actually yesterday's locker room that surprised me, or not surprise me, but I want to hear what you guys think about this. I was talking to Britton Covey about Nick Siriani's presence in the meeting rooms in the

last week. You know, obviously he's been more involved in the game. I saw you've saddled over there with Britain Covey yesterday, having a nice long conversation. What's going on over there? I thought to myself. Listen, I enjoy a conversation with Britain Covey. He is one of the friendlier players on the Eagles roster. And also, I don't know if you know this, though.

Ashton Villa fan. I did not know that. Oh. Yeah. That's why you call him great Britain Kirby. So let me tell you some interesting perspective that Britain Covey had on the adjustment to the offensive game planning meetings with Nick Siriani. And I listen, I want to hear what you think about this. So he said that he actually feels like the fact that Nick did not make such a.

a drastic change this year. Instead, opting for a more subtle tweak to the coaching operation where he, you know, is speaking in meetings more. He's got more of a presence in the room. He says that he thinks it is like a reflection of 2023, where he obviously, Nick Siriani made a bigger change going from Sean Decide and Matt Patricia. And I think, like, you know, we've talked on the show before about how they didn't really have like a ready made play caller on the staff to replace Kevin Petullo. If they did take play calling duties away from him, It kind of was similar with Matt Patricia. Obviously, he had called defenses before, but had a shaky track record doing so.

So I found it to be interesting insight. You know, he thinks that this was maybe a more measured take and that it signaled maybe less panic to the Eagles players. But again, I don't, I take him out his word there. I don't know if it's a unanimous thing that players feel, but I did think it was interesting insight from Britt and Covey there. I think it's the, we said it at the time when they made the move to Patricia, that it was it was a crazy thing to do in part because it signaled to the team that you felt like

this was a plane that was you know going down um so i think i think that's probably fair no i think it's fair again it's it's how he feels about it uh but i like listen i know some people were going to say like that it wasn't the right decision that nick made and i think the results are really going to inform whether or not it was the right call but i just i hadn't considered like the signal that it sends to the locker room that, like, Nick did not make a rash decision here. You know, instead it was just being a bigger presence in the room, you know, guys talk about how Nick is as a teacher.

During Nick's press conference today, he kind of went through something I've heard him talk about several times over the years, like how the coaching point isn't catch the ball, don't drop the ball. It's, you know, the fundamentals. And I think that that is one of Nick's strengths. So again, I mean, listen, the results are going to be the determining factor here, but I found Covey's perspective on it to be, like I said,

refreshing and interesting in a way where I hadn't really thought too much about how do players feel about this change that's happened here over the last couple of weeks. EJ, and both of you, really, I mean, would you guys agree with my outside perception that the players have more

respect for Kevin Petulow and maybe like Kevin Petulow more than the 2023 defense had for Sean Desai? Yeah, I mean, it's a lot. bar. I think it's fair to say that, though. I think that it's just a more established group, you know, like the 20203 defense had so many moving pieces and had just become a mess, you know, and I think that when you talk to guys in the locker room, it wasn't necessarily

like a lack of respect for Sean decided that you could pick up, but just like a lack of, like, confidence and belief in like what they were doing. And I'm not saying that that's like not, I don't say that there's none of that with the Eagles offense right now. I mean, you see some of it on tape where it feels like there's, you know, they're still searching for that. So, but again, it is a low bar with the side there. So I do think it's fair to say that. I think it's, I think that's true, but it's a, it's a very uneven comparison because

you've got a guy who's been here. Yeah. And an offense that has 10 of 11 returning starters. Right. Versus a guy who hadn't been there and you had a bunch of new players on that defense. So, yeah. of course of course this group feels better about the guy that they know and the head coach is an offensive minded coach and so like he's here too so yeah okay but it would make it

makes sense that you wouldn't make this change in part because of that too yeah the way that you did with the defense yeah that's fair uh what did davante smith have to say e jay uh you know honestly the thing that stood out to me with what devante had to say about the eagle's offense was that he kind of is like admittedly like devoid of answers you know it's he doesn't really have like a great answer for why he hasn't had the production over the last couple of weeks and uh you know really just kind of harped on the penalties but obviously the penalties weren't as big of a thing against the charges so uh he just talked about the self-inflicted wounds from the offense and you know but we're going to have to discuss this on the other side of oh wow wow lindsay says you're wrong

I told you guys it's an hour of streaming not the hour on the die so one minute to get your point in before we'll have to tune in to YouTube this was positivity prancer yesterday

brought the audio issues and now here I am throwing up overtime too early for the record I still don't understand all the time like I don't understand what it is why it exists I've never gotten it don't get it

nothing boe is he staring daggers at my at my uh i'll tell you what we're gonna talk about it we're gonna talk about it in bovertime still wrong no that's right here look i'm showing you 15 second yeah but i thought it had to be between 59 and 60 how about lindsay throws it to bovertime this time this is that right but it's between 59 and 60 I don't know we'll talk about it in it's supposed to be the window the last minute window if there's better this way I don't have any idea what why overtime exists I'm with you Well, listen, you tell us what you want to talk about. You're the one there?

What do you mean? I know. We were talking about Devante Smith. Yeah, he just, he didn't have a great answer for why his production has dropped and whether or not teams are scheming, scheming him out of games, which I think is reflective of where the Eagles offense is right now. You know, I think he's took some encouragement from it from the charges performance, but not as much as maybe some of the other guys.

So, yeah, those are my takeaways from Devante. It was a brief media session for- Can you read that? I can't read that. No, I can't. Too white. Just like our, just like our DHSY staff. Oh, Jesus.

I guess I'm glad you saved that for overtime. I had one of, I've got two other ones for you. First off, we're standing in the Eagles locker room. Okay. And we're talking about lockers. And then it kind of hits me like, these aren't actually lockers they're like there's not a locker

in the perceived locker they have little things they can lock don't they they sound like a drawer with a lock on it I wouldn't call that a locker what do you call it though stall yeah it's a stall I went back to my high school

you can call it a locker though for a high school reunion a few years ago and they had gotten rid of all the lockers and they had turned it into like a new age kind of like Google office style to where the kids put their stuff yeah they put their stuff just like an open open cubbies like throughout the school

but like you don't get one that's yours so they're like putting their laptops and stuff just like in these like open things probably for the better I mean I don't know if it's like more like a like so you can't hide stuff in your locker or whatever I don't know it's like a nerd magnet school I don't think they're that worried about that

but I don't know I thought it was weird I thought like decorating your locker was like a kind of cool part of like showing your personality in high school and like you don't get that at all in this in this case. What did you decorate your locker with? Yeah, just like band posters and stuff. Yeah. Like who would have been your like freshman year celebrity crush, E.J. That you would have put on your on your locker. Hmm.

Probably was Beyonce by then. I had a Sierra phase. Oh my God. I think that was in middle school. Yeah. Yeah, you are very young. Yeah. I realize Elliot Short Parks, our friend Elliot, is like seven years older than me today.

Because Jimmy Kempski, he's going to be mad that I brought this up. Jimmy Kempski had on this North Face jacket. It was like a fleecy North Face. Lindsay will know what jacket I'm referencing here. Because I told Jimmy, I was like, every girl in high school had this jacket. Like every girl, sophomore year of high school, which for me was 2010, every girl had that jacket. Jimmy kind of took offense to me saying that. But listen, I'm not a machissimo guy.

So something wrong with that. It looked like a nice jacket. I think I know the jacket you're talking about. Yeah, like a sleet or Michelle Geller and Katie Holmes for me. Hmm. I guess that's more seventh and eighth grade. Okay. All right.

I had one other note from the locker room. Again, kind of a silly one. But Jalen Hertz emerged from the far side of the Eagles locker room midway through the open media session. It's rare that you see him do that. There's only two things back there, Bo, you probably know this. There's, like, you know, de facto barbershop that guys will go to on Fridays. If you ever see Nick Siriani in the Eagles locker room, he's usually coming from that barbershop. You know what the other thing back there is?

Let's see if they can get it because you know what it is, Beau. I've heard about the ping pong table. You're close. You're very close. What is there, like a pool table? There's a pool table. So he, so Jalen walks out. There's a story on, like, if you're, if you're a diehard, there's a story somewhere

in the all Ph. H.L.I. Archives about Jelan Hertz the Pool Shark. I was so mad when Zach wrote that, too. I was so mad because I had written about Jaylin and it. The guy with David Baker, Zeevy. Like, a little bit of inside baseball here. He's a book writer. He's never written for us. Okay. Well, a little inside baseball here.

I was so mad when Zach wrote that because I think either the day after or the same day, I had like set a scene in one of my stories, like Jalen playing pool with his dad, and I felt like he just stepped over my pool angle there. I was really, really frustrated by that. But anyway, let me let me, let me say, so I said the scene. Jaylon's walking out of that of that room with the pool table. And he's just like got this like triumphant jaunt, you know, he's just clearly very pleased with himself.

and then you see the Sam Howell and Kyle McCord emerge like 90 seconds later, like defeated. So my guess is that Jalen just beat the backup quarterbacks and pool. Only quarterbacks above in the game. I think I could be Kyle McCord and pool. What about jail? Jeez. I'm calling him out. I think I could beat Sam Howard too.

You think you could beat Jalen? That's the real question. You think Kyle McCord would be as good in the flag and a ball as Ben Danucci? No. Okay. Benny Danuch. All right. That's good color.

I like that. Yeah. Friday locker rooms. That's what we talked about. Jaylen needs to go out on Sunday. And he needs the good as. Wagabay! Yeah, Danes, I heard you talking about the, like, how bad Jalen's been with scrambling this year.

do you agree with my alarmist assessment here where like that's the thing that it needs to be better for him to work the way like for him to be the quarterback we have seen from him that's the thing I'm most concerned about you know you can tell me that the Eagles can fix things schematically in the next couple of years but you need those out of structure plays with Jaylon in my opinion well yeah I mean it was such a big part of what made him great right and like even in this last Super Bowl like a lot of his great plays really those awesome scrambles he had in the week one won this year he won the game with his scrambling um basically has stopped doing it since and so it's like you have to either continue to dunk on guys or develop the mid range jumper right and it's like if you don't if you don't have either one then it puts a limit on the offense in a way that that like makes you wonder how sustainable it is for sure so i don't know i think he can i think he can develop i think he's an accurate enough thrower of the ball like we know that and a good and a good off thrower in all distances honestly that he can he definitely

can get good as he ages and like stops having that and I feel like right now we're in this kind of in between area where he's like experimenting with the less running right but but that other stuff hasn't fully developed yet and it hasn't also developed in a way that's cohesive with the coaching right like because the games aren't being coached yeah that way like and so like the passing concepts aren't like schematically you know giving him enough advantages like for him to be great that way and so right now it's like this is

like weird mismatch between like where the coaching staff is where he is in his career like where he's trying to figure it out and we keep waiting it's like well you know it's it's late you know it's getting to be late December like when's it's it going to happen I don't know well maybe it's not going to happen this year right like but but at some point like it has to either has to bring back the running which he seems like when he runs he still looks good like at times it's not like he's like, oh, he's slow or anything like that. So I don't know. I mean, it's just, it's just a matter of like making it work.

And right now the offense is so broken, like the fabric of the offense is so broken that unfortunately he has to compensate for things rather than being a compliment to like the things that are working in the offense. So that's, that's another part of the problem right now. Yeah, it's also fair to wonder how much of like the out of structure like special plays, the individual brilliance type of plays from him. It's fair to wonder if like those you. you need the rhythm of a good structure and identity on offense to, you know, to have those

plays more frequently as well. So I don't want to say it's all on him and that it's like, oh, this is gone. It's just, to me, it's concerning that it's, it's been all, it's been so long this season without those types of plays. Yeah. And, you know, like what makes me more confident in, in, in, like, some of these things, like, I don't want to, like, I can't, like, get inside his head, but, like, he says himself, like, in the few things he says, each week, like, but in public, every week he seems to say, like, we're still searching for the identity, like, we're, you know, I'm still looking for the way to make it work. Like, he's very clearly, like, very deliberate and conscious about this idea that he's

looking for the right answers. And, and you can, you can kind of see it on the, you can kind of see it on the field. And it doesn't help that, like, for four weeks, we get all, like, heavy personnel under center. You know what I mean? Like, like, like, like, the two things we didn't get to with the, with the solutions I had, one was like involved more 12 personnel the other one involved r pos both of those like you know the the short version of this is like there were like four games in a row where they went like heavy you know like fred johnson like 20% of the plays like six offensive linemen and then late

johnson gets her matt prior comes in and lines up wrong once and they've literally not run six o linemen since that play matt prior lined up in the wrong place that's the end of this like we're never doing six o alignment again like they went from 18% to zero percent because Matt Pryor lined up right Like one time They're just like Are not enough Well yeah

You need to keep filling in For the hurt guys in the middle So they probably don't want to work him there But like I mean You know and the same with the RPO's It's like is this going to be the RPO Like six RPO's against Denver Yeah

Very next game like one RPO Like next game zero You know next game like everyone's debating Whether it was an RPO or not You know like it's not The like the identity is like different every week Yeah And even Jalen has even said like

It's different every week Like like the offensive The coordinator says it's different every week. Like, can you imagine, like, Sean McVeigh saying, like, you know, our identity's different every week, like, according to the, to the defense? Like, that's not the way those offenses operate. So, yeah. All right, E.J.

Thanks for the T. Oh, I have one more thing for you. I'm not going to give you any player names because this might, this may have been sort of a, like an unofficial poll. you remember our defensive MVP conversation that we had earlier in the week there was one player that said that Reed Blankenship should be considered

in that in the in the field of options because of all the directing of traffic he does in the secondary which I found interesting I will I believe that is an interesting opinion unless it was in Cooper DeGine I'm not going to I'm not going to reveal the source. So was it an interesting opinion or not?

It was interesting. No, it was interesting. Okay. You can't be guessing sources. What are we doing? No, but I'm trying to eliminate one. No, no, I think I didn't, I mean, listen, he was a part of the feel, but I think it was an interesting, like I said, I'm here to give you guys stuff to, stuff that maybe

we haven't considered, like how important read Blankenship is to the back end of the secondary. okay i like that another is he as important when jihad campbell's not playing another question from the chat was it read blankenship it was not read blanketship no that would be quite the flex like i think i'm pretty important do you ever vote for yourself for something i don't think i've ever voted for myself for something now i have yeah i mean i ran for class president so i voted for myself well yeah that's that's different i won running nothing about me nothing about me would suggest that i like want more responsibility so i've

never run for something like that one time i think it was i think it was seventh and eighth grade basketball we were supposed to like vote on who was on the a team and who was on the b team and i i voted for myself for the a team and i felt really guilty about it after words and I never voted for myself for something like that again so even if even if it was like even if it was like voting for captains although then I was told by the coach if you think you should be a captain you should you should vote for yourself to be a captain so then I did that but I felt I felt very guilty about voting for myself to be on the A team I think that's different again like that's like you got to like back yourself have confidence in yourself

you know yeah I would tell I would tell my children now to do that to to advocate for yourself, but I felt guilty at the time. I get it, I get it, but I bet you deserve to be on that A team. You're a pretty good athlete. I think I did, but it wasn't as obvious as, you know, if it was baseball, I mean, everybody knows something to be on the A team. What are we talking about? But, you know.

Okay. Thanks, D.J. All right, guys. Love you. Love you, too. Okay. All right, we got a few things to do before we clean up here, Professor. We've been talking. This is Chekhov's late playcock that we've got to talk about. And boy, was it at a crazy degree in this last game.

Yeah, I mean, the Eagles are still snapping the ball late way too much, way more than every other team. And in this game, the number of times they let it get down to two seconds or less. Yeah. I don't remember the exact number. It was like over 50% or something. It's just like crazy. like this is the first three quarters to take out like fourth quarter strategy stuff and only in a huddle huddle situations but lindsay i think we have the those two graph those two graphs of like the season how often the eagles do this and we've we've looked at these before on the show but great engagement on uh just a on the everything app reminder on the pho i sports account i saw oh yeah i saw that yeah um just a reminder that it is not changed so yeah this is the one that's

like game by game so the red dots are eagles games and and all of the blue dots are like all every other team's and you can see that like of the you know kind of outliers up there is the one low game that's yeah it's like the games where they're like behind kind of earlier in the game okay like are are the ones where they consciously like kind of press it a little bit more so even when they huddle they kind of break the huddle a little faster the rams was like another one that was lower in the past like the rams one is like in the middle there somewhere but The other early ones are all, the other ones that were really bad were all really early in the season.

So I thought it had been fixed. But this last Chargers game, it got even later. I'm wondering if the Siriani involvement in the offense. Right. Add it. Another. Yeah. Like one.

Yeah. And you heard on hard knocks like him saying like keep pounding him, Kevin. Like I have no idea if that's something that he normally says. Like if that's something where he's like getting involved in that part of it. But if Kevin's waiting for Nick to say something to him before he actually calls the play, like would that slow it down a little bit more? I don't know, but like, I mean, the offensive line has talked about it repeatedly. They say that they're not able to use all their tools to diagnose the defense because

they're getting to the line so late. It's something that they want to fix and it hasn't been fixed. I mean, it's, it's been this way. They've been on the slow side of things in the NFL, like all five years of Seriani. But it's extreme this year. I mean, it is like, you know, I had a graph earlier this year that compared this year to the other years. And the other years are also like slow, but this year has been, has been like really

slow the communication issues that we saw like on that two point conversion there were a couple of plays this game where it wasn't clear that like the offensive line was on the same page as the receivers can also be perhaps explained by the fact that everything is rushed and like you're you're sending signals at the last second because you got to the line so late whereas you see other teams get to the line and then they motion and then they shift and then they motion and then the quarterback's calling a thing and you look at the clock and it's still at like 12 seconds and you're like what are they going to snap it and it's it's you know not something that the eagles have have done so and there issues in protection as well like as a as a pathological procrastinator

i can respect it sure i get procrastinating like during the week or something like procrastinating on every play what are you doing with those like i get it on second it's like yeah i mean we'll see what it's like this week because the raiders really only have one good player on defense But like, how dare you? It's been, it's been, uh, Thomas Booker. Okay. Yeah. So you have to,

you have to know where he is on every play. But like the, the, um, issues with protection, maybe I haven't been talked about as much on, with the offensive line as the issues with, um, with the run game because there haven't been sacks.

But you look at that interception by Jackson, for example, like they're running a T. Steen doesn't switch to pick up Kalea Mac and he loops in and gets a quarterback hit on the throw and it kind of affects the throw. Like there have been those kinds of things of the last couple of games. where you're wondering if they have the protection down, if they've talked everything through,

if they've thought everything through, you know, all the things you can do if you get to the line earlier and you're starting to take hints about like the kind of stuff they're going to do on defense. So I don't know. It's, I don't think it's going to get fixed at this point. But as you guys were through yesterday,

the Raiders are awful, just awful on defense. You like awful? You eat awful? O-F-F-A-L. I'm not sure. I think I pronounce everything kind of weird. because like I don't know I never spoke English at home I just picked it up from like various places

I moved a lot so I don't think I pronounce things normally okay so I am look the Raiders offense is terrible the defense isn't as bad but they're still bad the comparison to the 2023 Cardinals game I think is actually pretty good here because if you remember the Cardinals defense was terrible right and the Eagles offense was fine

and the Eagles offense in that game was very good. It was like the fourth best DPA per drive of Jalen Hurts' career, still is. The problem in that game was the defense looked like they had never played football before against an Arizona offense, which was bad, but not horrible.

And this Raiders defense is close to horrible, but not, you know, they're not as bad as that Arizona offense was. And so the offense for the Raiders being bad is not necessarily that important because the Eagles defense has been capable of shutting down.

on even good offenses sure I would rather it be the other way around right like so like there's a risk in this game that the Eagles offense won't look good against the Raiders and it'll be like oh my god they can't even beat the Raiders and like the Raiders defense like isn't actually that terrible like they do have Max Crosby you know whatever they're very boring but they don't do the exchanges they don't the sky standpoint yes for sure I for sure I mean I'm the offense looking good I agree yeah I agree with you yeah I think this could be like a you know 14 six kind of game. This is a game where schematically

the defense is so predictable and boring. They do like, you know, I watch two of their games. They do spot drop cover three on like half the play. So it looks like literally, it's like 995% of the time they're in cover three. And none of them are disguised. Like it's like you know who the high safety is every time. They stay in base a lot, even against

11 personnel on early down. 60% base is the second most in the NFL and you're able to, you know, get those de-linmen like dropping into into certain zones and you know what zone they're going to drop into. Dary and Porter, the third round rookie is now forced to start at right cornerback.

Patrick Graham, the defense coordinator for the Raiders, in case you don't know who Patrick Graham is. And his presser this week said that Porter's definitely going to just play on one side. They're not going to try to move him around. And he was like, he was like, yeah,

he's going to have to learn all the wide receivers because, like, it's not like they line up the same guy on the same side every time. So, like, he made it clear that he was going to line up on the same. And that's how they've done it all year with Eric Stokes on the left. That means you can get matchups against him as you want. Like, like, basically they're telling you,

like this is where we're going to be yeah if you can't scheme a j brown and devante smith open against this defense like that's on you you know like that's on that's on the coaches and so that's something i'll be what it's going to be like famous last words i'm i am absolutely not discounting the eagles collapsing down the stretch here yeah i just cannot get to a point where i see the eagle's defense not winning this game like giving up more than 14 points Yeah And I mean

If we're gonna talk a little about the defense Like the defense had six games In which they were awesome this year Like if you just look at EPA per drive Like you know top you know 25th percentile Type game The team had been six to no in those games Except you know until this last Chargers game

Like in the Chargers game It was finally not good enough Four of those wins were games in which the offense was bad I mean chiefs box Packers Lions Yeah those games like the offense was terrible The defense did enough to win this game it didn't

I really I really liked though what I saw from the defense this game like obviously the defense was great but one of the things I really liked was it kind of got its identity back like the exchange pressures like Nikobi Dean blitzing like the guys dropping like a lot of those

Fangio staples after getting pushed around the week before not just pushed around but I thought that Fangio got a little bit spooked by some of the stuff that Ben Johnson was doing that was the only game since Fangio has been here in which he did not run a single exchange pressure the whole game. There was not a defensive lineman that dropped into coverage the entire game.

Interesting. And I think part of that is because there was so much uncertainty if it was run or pass. There was so much uncertainty. Like he didn't want to like drop a D lineman and then have him run in that direction, you know, those kinds of things. And so I thought it was like nice to see Fangio come up with answers to a lot of the same types of runs. Yeah, just tried a lot of the same types of runs. Now their offensive line isn't as good. But schematically, like he had the answers for that. And I, and you know, like, you know if Fangio wants to play the bears like in the playoffs yeah like he like he's rooting for the bears to get in the playoffs like the not playing jihad thing was part of the same picture where it felt like the first time where where vick was

not dictating yeah that's right the thing that we complain about the offense where they're not dictating they're just responding to the defense that they play it felt like yeah the first time where he was being responsive i think that's right what do you think of what he did with jahd this game just one drive in each half yeah i wish he was playing a little bit more a little more right yeah i mean i understand not wanting to take nicobee off especially because you can see the stuff that Nikobi can do. Yeah. But it was it was troublesome.

Two more notes on the defense. I thought the, the BG usage was fascinating. So, you know, BG's on the field for 30 total snaps, 29 of them with two other defensive ends on the field.

You see on hard knocks that he's in the room with Clint Hurt and the interior lineman. He's basically playing detackle the entire game, like including on first down, including in the base. He said he doesn't think that BG has ever played defensive tackle before in a situation where it's not just go get the quarterback.

It's right. Absolutely. Yeah. I mean with Jim Schwartz, he played on the third down rush package inside, but that was it. Like early downs, he was always on the outside. So the fact, and he's clearly going to be in there again this this week, like it was pretty clear from the way Fangio talked about it. I thought that was great.

Like it's like a really good, and you know, BG plays 30 snaps. He's not on the stat sheet. You might think like, oh, he was ineffective or whatever, but like it's important for him to get, you know, to fill in those stats and like he's taking away the guard and like, He's coming and getting the sack, you know, those kinds of things. Him being on the statute isn't what matter. I really enjoyed his description of it on, on blocked on the one Nikobi play where BG says he accidentally, yeah,

he takes the wrong gap by accident, right? But Nikobi knows exactly what's going on and just reacts and fills the the proper gap. He said it was off and he thought the blitz was off. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. No, that's interesting. But he was actually talking to the end about. Yes, about not, about the end not coming.

Yeah, the running back. motioned out of the backfield empty and I think Niko reacted to that and yeah because the way Bigi described it to you I was watching it like extra closely and it was like okay that must have been yeah no that's really that's really cool

I love the BG's willing to talk about it's great plays yeah that's really cool the other thing that's interesting Marcus Hepps you gotta do me a favor if you see an interesting BG thing during the game just oh yeah totally said I can ask him yeah no I I will you know come on I'm not gonna but I'm just saying so I've I talk to him so early in the week

I don't have time to watch the film. Yeah, exactly. I know. Yeah, you're like, they're off the flight and they're... Literally, he flies a cross-country flight, Red Eye and comes right to the office. The film isn't even out by the time you record the show. That's the problem. But that's not going to happen every week, though, right?

It's usually going to be... Well, this week, I think it'll be a Monday again because they play on Saturday, so Mondays are off day instead of Tuesday. Gotcha. Marcus Epps, the one thing that I was concerned about with Marcus Epps, and we saw this the week before with Sidney Brown. Vic was using Drew McCuba as the matchup safety in Mankub. coverage, right? Which he's playing more this year than before. And we saw in that game against

Chicago, he used Reed in that role. And Reed got beat by Loveland a couple of times in man coverage. Yeah. In key situations, because he didn't want Sidney Brown down there. So it's like, he's not going to want Marcus Epps down there either. So he does a fascinating thing. He plays zone coverage, like nine, 10 plays in a row in the second half. And then crunch time comes, third and four. Takes him off the field. Brings in Michael Carter and says, screw the two safety high rotating stuff. Michael Carter wasn't a safety on that play. Yeah. Blanket lines up as the lone safety. They play cover one, straight up.

Michael Carter is in man coverage against the tight end Gadsden. They motion, so Gadsden and McConkey switch, and Michael Carter ends up being in man coverage on McConkey does fine and turns into a scramble, whatever. The, like, creativity there to be like, screw it, I don't need two safeties on display.

Like, you know, I'm not disguising this. I'm just going to play man coverage with a guy who I know is good at man coverage. Sidney Brown, when he was asked about Michael Carter earlier this year, said that he's the man coverage demon or something like that he's like called that in the locker room like that's not exactly what he said but that's not what he said something like that he said something about man coverage like he's like really good at man coverage like you know like i can learn a lot of things about man coverage

from him so why not just bring him in on me yeah that's great it doesn't always have to be about disguise right so that's the play that's the one play he wanted michael carter out there for the second one was right after that was no huddle so he just got stuck out there so but like that's i thought that was great like it's like look like marcus up there like i don't want him in man coverage down there. I don't want to read Blankenship down there either. Just take a safety off the field and play with a slightly different grouping there. That was cool. Yeah.

Eagles have officially activated Charlie Hewlett off of IR, so he'll be back. And this is this week's test. This is this week's test to find out how much the national broadcasters are cribbing your notes. Oh yeah, Calaida mites. Well, the Cala Atomitis touch is what started it, I think. You know, that's

when the Eagles realized Cala animatis is starting. Well, and I feel like if the touch had hit, he'd still be here. That may be right. It costs you a point. Yeah. Yeah. My Calatomitis video, like, never have I been more convinced that it's just a bunch of bots than the number of views that that thing got.

It's like four million views or something. This is a video of long snaps, but feel free to. Four million views? Yes. That can't be real. 10,000 likes. That's almost as many as this video. 10,000 likes.

I'm telling you, it's a lot of bots out there watching that like long snapping. Yeah. A lot of comments about I'm a former long snapper Thanks for the video I have no idea No way It's so weird

I'm telling you I'm telling you Go on there It is Never have I been more Never have I been more convinced That there are just no humans But Lindsay who was your Sarah Michelle Geller

Slash Katie Holmes Um I don't know I'm trying to think who was like Popular I'm the same age as EJ So we were like the same kind of time Realize was this like a one direction kind of deal?

No, I'm older than that. I don't know. Let me see. Popular heart throbs and do that. Nobody comes to mind. You didn't like, oh, the Jonas Brothers. Okay.

We're big. Taylor Lawtoner, Zach Ephron. I don't think I had like one. Spread it and around. Good for you. Okay. Whoa.

All right. What else you got? Do you have any jersey analytics for us? No, not really. Just regular midnight green jerseys this time. They're wearing free to bike. It's so cold. I can bike in the cold.

I biked here today. But if it snows like it's supposed to, and it's supposed to snow later in the day, I'll probably take SEPTA. Which sucks because it takes forever to get home on SEPTA. It takes forever to like get on a train after the game. So hopefully I can bike, but. Okay.

Yeah. It is going to be freezing. I'm glad the game's, one o'clock because even at one o'clock it's going to be really thought of one yeah it's kind of like a deep cut okay um he got pop a bit more popular after i was already a fan of his bo burnum he's a comedian hopefully i don't know to tell me who bo burn him okay well i didn't know some people may not he's not he's not like totally a list okay bo burnham that's interesting mm-hmm i like him like bo burnham who'd you say yours were

interesting interesting artistic arc yeah pro burnham uh sarah michelle geller and candy homes danis do you know who bo burnham is i do not i don't think know who bo bernam's

you got to check him out you have to check out his show it was like one season did you watch it the one during uh the one during COVID it was around then yeah Zach stone is going to be famous if i see his picture will I know maybe maybe

a hilarious show like funny. No, I have no idea of this. He is very good in the, uh, what's the movie? What's the movie? He produced a movie,

but that wasn't like really a funny one. Oh, he's the director of eighth grade. I saw, yeah, I saw eighth grade. Oh, eighth grade is yeah, so, so affecting. Yeah, I liked eighth grade a lot. Um, I remember thinking at the time that it was gonna, it was gonna be like a nice time capsule

because it's like so specific. to like the types of social media and everything at the time but i think it's actually even better than that i would recommend watching it now promising a woman he's very good at okay yeah no eighth grade is good oh my god eighth grade i have never been in a movie theater and felt that way like i did so cringy so second hand embarrassed like i wanted to crawl but that's like the beauty of the movie oh it's so incredibly well done yeah yeah really good but yeah that was oh I'm still and as someone who like is old enough that we didn't have any we didn't have phones or anything like when I was in even in college like we didn't

know he even have electricity back then and seriously we're just candlelight gas lamp lamp's always full it was like it was I wasn't a parent yet either or I was but my everyone was one year old or something and I was thinking like wow this is going to be really hard to be a parent you know like as as he gets older and sure enough. Like, you know, people already have, they don't have phones yet, but they're close to having phones. People have phones when they're like 10 now. Do you have a limit? Do you have an age that you have in mind for Casey? 30. Yeah, that's a good one. Good luck with that. It's going to be tough. Okay. That's all we got. This has to be a win Sunday. He would think.

I mean, the two seed is still there Need the Packers and the Bears stage lose twice They could happen By the way, a tie on Monday night Would have meant needing each one to only lose once Like I was thinking about that Like for the two seed A tie would have actually been

Pretty much the same as a win Not for the one seed Not for the division but for the two seed Like being ahead of the NFC North winner Ty would have been good Don't have the tie breaker on the Bears anyway So a tie gets you out of of that and then with the packers you do have the tie breaker and they have a tie so it would

have gotten you into a tie with them and it would have been good for that and so part of me was like a tie wouldn't be terrible not that I not that you should play for a tie but super chat cdp does lorry's adoration of his quarterbacks make it harder on coaches wence was coddled by press taylor and nick hasn't publicly chewed jailing out since 2021 I actually have a follow-up question for you on this. Did you notice on Hard Knocks? And this is probably a part of the building that it might have been different when you worked there. But like that the quarterback has like an office.

Yeah, this was not a deal when I was there. That says quarterback on it and has like his picture. Did you notice that? Yeah. I certainly never seen that before. Okay. In the Eagles facility. Okay.

Yeah. So do you think that this was a deal with what I think it was Russell Wilson? Is that when this first became a thing with like he wanted Russell? So Wilson wanted that and people made fun of him. Yeah. And so it looks like Jalen has it. Yeah. And which then leads to the question like, is that the norm in the NFL?

And also do players, do other players, I don't know. Make fun of him? Yeah. Like, I mean, I think players make fun of him about some stuff. Like having an, like, why doesn't he in an office? His own office? Never full. All right.

I just, it's one of those things that's like, I get that the quarterback is different in, in some ways. But giving him an office. that says quarterback it seems a little something yeah but i get it from his perspective i'd if i'm working i want to be at the office you know what i mean i mean studying tape at home his feet kicked up listening to an idiot baker doesn't the right guard like need to watch film too how can there's the right guard office that'd be funny if there's right guard office starting guards starting guards yeah let the starting guard um i don't think that i wouldn't I wouldn't describe Lurie's relationship with quarterbacks as adoration.

I think he's a little bit more clear-headed than that. And I also think there's some belief that he's not necessarily putting G-Lon on pedestal either. But I think that's fair. Publicly chewing out. I mean, it's 20-25. Yeah. Now, I do think there is a, there can be a middle ground where it's not like you, you pretend like the quarterback never does anything wrong you can say well you know he missed that

throw he knows he missed that throw it's not a big deal but when you when you when you when you throw all of that aside then you can't do it because then if you do it it's a big deal but if you are a little bit more honest the entire time then it's not a big deal if you're like oh yeah you know he missed that throw if if you're bending over backwards to praise everything he does in public then leads to you leaking to the media that you're not happy with his play and then people in the building or saying things type stuff starts happening that's not the best to be fair though from nick's perspective he doesn't really do that with anybody he doesn't yeah it's not it's not it's not like he's not doing jalen but he's saying fred johnson missed that block no that's right you know he doesn't

do with anybody and so i think what he would say is as long as he's doing it behind the scenes and in front of the team that's what really matter and that's got to be something that the players appreciate i think so dug was the same way yeah when did dug throw somebody out under the bus Yeah, rare. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. I think that is probably the right way to do it.

I think there's maybe a middle ground, but anyway, that's all we got. Thanks for watching. Thanks for listening. We'll see us Sunday, 1230, 1225 or so for the kickoff show. I'll be in the chat. I'll watch some more. So for Lindsay and E.J. And the professor, talk to you on Sunday.

And as always, we love you. We're all silly like the mayor