PHLY Philadelphia Eagles Podcast - Saquon Barkley could still be DRIVING FORCE for Eagles offense

Episode Date: October 3, 2025

Saquon Barkley has yet to run for 100 yards, but the offensive line has a chance against a tough Broncos front to get him untracked while the focus remains on A.J. Brown, DeVonta Smith, Dallas Goedert... and Jalen Hurts. Denis Selman joins EJ Smith and Bo Wulf for a freaky football Friday. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Transcript
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Starting point is 00:00:13 And welcome to the PHOI Eagles podcast live from the Xfinity Studio presented by Bet365. And Ashley, I'm Bo Wolf. My left. The esteemed professor himself. Dane is, how are you, my friend? I'm doing well. I wouldn't say esteemed, but thank you. Why not?
Starting point is 00:00:36 I guess I don't know. Would you call yourself esteemed? Yes. Okay. All right, well. How would you describe the sauna? Oh. It's themed.
Starting point is 00:00:47 Are you, are you, uh, off to a rolling start? Julie, I can't believe that hit you so hard. We stayed in a place that had a sauna in Columbia this summer and... I am not. How did, how did, um... I am not a sauna guy. How did...
Starting point is 00:01:07 Oh man. Uh, Danieli DeRossi describe A.J. Brown after the Bucks game. It's steamed! Luckily E.J. will be here soon, so... Happy Friday, everybody. Super Chad from Frank Barber, who astutely asks the question, is Dana's drinking water from a wine glass? That's actually Uzo. Rooka, come on. I would never drink Uzo.
Starting point is 00:02:02 What else? What else? Ready? Should I try? Down the hatch. Oh, man. All right, we'll have it covered on Sunday with everything you need to know. Pre-game show, halftime show, post-game show.
Starting point is 00:02:19 That'll do it for the PHA. I Eagles post-game show. All right. It's been a fun week. I went to, my wife and I went to the performance of falsettos at the Arden Theater.
Starting point is 00:02:43 Oh, okay. Last night. I had a great time. Shout out to everybody who put that on. Thanks to Ms. Aniland. for hooking us up. And I did have an awkward experience at the concession stand. Okay. You know, it's a classic tablet situation. You put the, you know, I flip it over.
Starting point is 00:03:02 Yeah. You got to do the tip. And it's, and it's so, you're really on performance. Like, you know that everybody's watching, right? Yeah. But I was, and so because of that, I was really trying to just do it as quickly as possible. That was, my main goal and it was like a $10 thing so I was just going to do a dollar and so I just hit one go
Starting point is 00:03:28 okay because usually it's just the dollar yeah but instead I tipped a cent and Riche was looking at me like what are you doing? So insults it so then I took a dollar out of my pocket and put it in the actual
Starting point is 00:03:44 tip jar which maybe I should have done in the first place that's good I was like I mean, that seems like an interface issue more than a new issue, but that's great. Do you ever do the custom tip? Yeah, this was a custom tip. Okay, okay, so you were doing the custom tip. I see.
Starting point is 00:04:00 And I was, but I know, I'm so, you know, normally the custom tip you have to type in the whole thing. Yeah, I just got to do one thing, but yeah. Yeah, some of those default minimums are so high these days. Yeah. You know, like a $3 espresso and it's like a, you know, like a, a.
Starting point is 00:04:18 Where are you getting a $3.00? It seems like a great deal. Yeah, it was, you know, it was rounding. $3.50. But yeah. Do they still have the wine in the sippy cup at the Arden? They do. Oh, that's fantastic.
Starting point is 00:04:28 Speaking of water and wine glasses, you can get wine in a sippy cup at the Arden. Well, then you bring it back the sippy cup and you get a nice discount on the refill. Yeah. That's what it's all about. No, you know. No dummies here. No. Plus, you're tipping a cent.
Starting point is 00:04:43 Well, now that they know you're tipping a cent. All right. Let's get into it. The Philadelphia Eagles are a football team that is undefeated. Everybody hates each other, but that's fine. 20 and 1 in the last 21 games. 17 and 0 in the last 17 games, Sheila Hertz, I started and finished.
Starting point is 00:05:01 Unbelievable. I asked Evren to make sure that Evren is my 7-year-old son, and I asked him just last night, I was like, when's the next time in your life? The Eagles will be 20 and 1 in 21 games, like other than this current team. And he like rolled his eyes and he was like, never, I know. I was like, stop telling you his dad.
Starting point is 00:05:25 I was like, say you live to be like 97 years old, so 90 more years. When's the next time? And he's like, never, I know, never. It's never going to happen again. I think he, I think he appreciates. Do you think you're sucking the joy out a little bit of that from him? I'm trying to do exactly the opposite. Like, appreciate this team.
Starting point is 00:05:43 Don't take it for granted. You're trying. I think it's working. Okay. I think it's working. The other thing, the other thing that was like just fantastic from earlier this week, Monday night, I'm walking by his bedroom, he's talking to Emily, I'm overhearing them. It's Monday night.
Starting point is 00:05:59 And he says, I saw from my dad's graphs that the Broncos play a lot of man and they blitz a lot. But about the man, mesh. I think we're going to use a lot of mesh. And I was just like so happy. Like, first of all, that he's onto the next opponent on a Monday. Oh, yeah. That he's studied their tendencies, and he knows the answers. I mean, this is just fantastic.
Starting point is 00:06:23 Well, do you think he's going to be right? Yeah, I think we'll see Mesh a lot. Okay. I don't know if it'll work. They've run Mesh a lot against Zone as well. And it's looked kind of silly, but yeah. Okay, well, let's use that to get into, you know, the discrepancy from the offense
Starting point is 00:06:42 and how good we've seen them be at their highs. Yeah. In three halves of the eight halves? Three incredible halves, right? Better than any half of football they had in the first half of last season for sure. Okay. Like all three of those halves were better than any of the halves from the first half of last season. Right.
Starting point is 00:06:57 And they're all, yeah, they're all among the, you know, top 10 percentile halves of any offensive performances this season. Sure. But on the whole of the season, they've been out gained. Yeah. 29th in yards. Yeah. Right. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:07:11 When you look at their, like, it's half to half. So what do you make of it? because of half to half, you also have the drive to drive. Yeah. They're fourth in the league at touchdown rate on drives. 37% of their drives have ended in touchdowns. Like that seems like a pretty important stat, right? Like they're sixth in the league in points per drive.
Starting point is 00:07:30 I mean, these are all stats that like before the age of analytics and everything, you'd be looking at this and be like, this is like, you know, like a high flying, you know, great team. But yeah, like you said, 29th in yards. And you turn around and you're like, well, how can this be? well 37% of the drives are ending in touchdowns another 37% are ending in three and outs which you know the touchdown one is fourth highest in the league the three in outs is depending on how you measure
Starting point is 00:07:54 like highest or second highest or whatever you mentioned pretty funny earlier this week like how I've talked about this in the past because this was true in the past as well at least up to a certain point in the season 11 for 11 in the red zone and only one turnover all year right so what this results in is
Starting point is 00:08:11 a team that's 29th in yard per drive and sixth and points per drive. Incredibly efficient use of yards and first downs. Like, it's like anytime you get a first down, you score a touchdown, right? Like, it's great. They're actually scoring at the same rate as last year. If you were a statistician in the laboratory, that's what you, you know, that's how you try to maximize. Yeah, like, oh, yeah, don't get tired, like getting first downs and then punting the ball.
Starting point is 00:08:33 Like, what good is that? And they're also not turning it over. And so what that means is that they're scoring all these points and winning all these games without A.J. Brown. Devante Smith Sequin Barclay Like I don't know anything about fantasy I don't play fantasy
Starting point is 00:08:47 I don't condone fantasy But I'm sure if you have those players In fantasy you're not happy Right because they're not getting Individually yards You condone the genre The genre of fantasy like literature Yeah
Starting point is 00:08:59 Yeah that's fine Yeah I don't mind mind that Just getting the record straight No yeah that's all good But when you look at like If you're not If you're not watching every If you're not watching every
Starting point is 00:09:12 Eagles game and you just have like those one of those players in fantasy and you're wondering like how are they winning these games and my guy's not getting any yards well don't worry no one's getting any yards like the team is 29th in yards right like so that's the weird that's the that's the thing about the and that's kind of goes back to what a j brown is talking about like it's he's like it's not about me it's about the offense isn't good right and I want to make the offense better and it's true I mean like um that's been how it is and if you look at like the lack of big plays Like this is related to that as well. Nick Siriani talks about the double positive.
Starting point is 00:09:46 Like I don't know if we have a graphic on this one, Julia, about like big plays and turnovers, but I don't know. Yeah, it's as a date is. Like if you look at this season so far, the Eagles offense is 25th in generating EPA from big plays, 20 plus yard plays. But they're third in avoiding EPA loss from turnovers. So Nick Seriani talks about the double positive,
Starting point is 00:10:10 of winning the explosive play battle and winning the turnover battle. So this is the graph that's up right now is last year's where the Eagles were really good in both, right? And you see all the way to the right, that means that they benefited from 20 plus yard plays offense minus defense more than any other team in the league last year. And this year, they're all the way down to 26th in that, right?
Starting point is 00:10:31 Like the defense is giving up big plays, the offense isn't generating big plays. And in turnovers, everything's going great, right? Both the offense and the defense are doing really well turnovers they're doing fourth than that. But typically you think of like there are more big plays than there are turnovers like in football. It's more of a sustainable thing.
Starting point is 00:10:49 Yeah. And I'm just worried that the turnover luck is going to run out at some point and the inability to judge. I think on defense they'll be fine. Like they'll stop the big plays eventually. But on offense they have to start to generate big plays. As AJ Brown said in a very insulting manner to the past opponents, let's get this thing fixed before we run into a serious team. which I missed that. One of the best things he said.
Starting point is 00:11:13 I watched his entire, entire screen. And this was the tough part of the schedule. No one's talking about this quote was so good. Like, I mean, after you face spags and Todd Bowls. Yeah, it was so good. Like before we run into a serious team, fantastic. So. You think he thinks the Giants are that team?
Starting point is 00:11:28 Yeah, I'm not sure. I don't know who he thinks is a serious team. When you win every game, it's hard to take any opponent. Yeah. Seriously. When you look like schematically, right? I think you want to talk about the culture thing on this, right? Like how do you deal with all the winning?
Starting point is 00:11:43 Yeah. While it doesn't look good on the field necessarily. And I think this is where Nick Siriani comes in because he lived through and coached through both the experience of the 2023 and 2024 season, both seasons in which at various points in time, the team was winning and it didn't necessarily look great. and I'm curious what lessons like Nick learned from 2023 especially
Starting point is 00:12:14 and then the beginning of last season which it didn't feel like was a learned experience and then things got better but I just think from a you are the culture guy and you have whatever disagreements are happening in the locker room like let's this is it like this this is what the money is for for Nick Siriani right like if he can if he can if If he can design help with the offense, great. That's not what he's here for.
Starting point is 00:12:41 He's here to make sure that everybody's pulling in the same direction, whether they agree with each other or not, whether they like each other or not. And so I just, I think this, all of this is a, is a test of Siriani. Yeah, I mean, it was noteworthy that A.J. Brown said that Siriani, like, facetimes him, like, even on the days that he's not coming in the building, certainly didn't say the same about, about Jayland. No, no.
Starting point is 00:13:03 The quarterback, my quarterback. To be fair about the my quarterback thing, he also said, my head coach, my coordinator in that same sentence. But then he did quickly name all those other people and he never named Jaylen. So yeah. Without getting into that, I totally agree that Nick has an very important role
Starting point is 00:13:20 in managing this. 2023 is fresh in all of our minds. The fact that the team's undefeated. I think that's actually really helping right now because if we didn't have the 2023 experience, I think there would be more of a feeling. Yeah. Like not just among fans, but in the building too.
Starting point is 00:13:36 Like we're undefeated. Like what's everyone talking about? Right. Like, but we know that the team can be 10 and 1. Right. It should help them guard against. Yeah. We think we're great because we're winning games.
Starting point is 00:13:46 Yeah. And I think Nick has openly talked about using 2023 as an example. Right. And it's harder to compare to last year because last year there were also losses early in the seasons. That makes it a little easier to be like we have to get our act together because we actually just got killed in Tampa Bay as opposed to just won in Tampa Bay. Yeah. What do you think is going to happen?
Starting point is 00:14:03 What's your, do you think he's going to pass this test? of keeping the culture together. I think so. Okay. Yeah. I think, I mean, you know, I don't think they're going to have
Starting point is 00:14:19 like knives out in the locker room. I don't think it's going to be a steady ship. Mm-hmm. But, yeah, I think he deserves some benefit of the doubt. That's another thing AJ said that I really liked when he was like, he's like,
Starting point is 00:14:33 I think everyone's cool with me unless they're putting on a facade, which I like, which I really liked, the idea that like, they're just pretending that they're okay with him, but they really hate them or something. Well, I have an A.J. Brown question for you
Starting point is 00:14:45 that I would like to get to after the break, Dennis, but let's hear a word from our sponsors first. Evren knows ball. We know that. He's ready to run mesh this weekend. Unfortunately, he doesn't know TV set up because he invited me over the other weekend for the big game, and I get there, and it was a terrible situation.
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Starting point is 00:16:48 I forgot that I was gonna have to do both reads because E.J. is not here. And I will tell you, I don't believe in all of the rotation of ads that we have at P.H.O.I. There is a more perilous phrase than hot online slots. Because if you get that one wrong,
Starting point is 00:17:17 It could go a different way. We could get yourself together. We're professionals here. Someone wrote, you have to stop getting invited by children. And that's not just that the story ends with him then saying, I don't like it here. Come to my face. That was yesterday's episode when we talked about minors, I believe.
Starting point is 00:18:10 Okay. Here's my AJ Brown question for you, Dennis. Okay. In all of the consternation about his usage and his target rate and all that stuff, are we underrating the possibility
Starting point is 00:18:31 that he is just not the same player himself? I don't think it's being underrated because it has been discussed. Okay. It makes you wonder the way that he's being used. we can talk about like the ways, you know, what routes they're having him run and those kinds of things. One thing that opened my eyes a little bit this week, I saw a clip of Jason
Starting point is 00:18:58 Avant, who, for those of you who aren't old enough to remember Jason Avant, he was a very good like kind of slot possession type receiver on the Eagles back in the Andy days. He was not fast. And he said about A.J. Brown, they're playing him as if he's Jason Avant out there running go routes. They're sitting on everything, which is a great quote coming from, Jason Avant himself. So, and they asked him like, what do you mean? Like, has he lost the step? And he even said, like, I don't know if he's lost the step, but I know the way corners play people. Yeah. And they're playing him basically as if he's me. They're sitting on everything. And he might be referring like, kind of anecdotally to that three play sequence from the last game where they threw like little
Starting point is 00:19:45 hitches to him like three times in a row and they were clearly sitting on it. There are, examples, Fran mentioned one, they're running dagger and AJ Brown is running the dig and McCollum's Ion McCollum is like trailing him and if he just goes he's going to be wide open like but he's like he knows he's going to run a dig now is that AJ Brown not threatening him with speed or is that I know this is dagger because you guys run this a lot right and I'm I'm just going to trust that like Malcolm Jenkins used to be the king of that like he would know the route the receiver's running like better than the receiver did and he would just like not even bother trying to, you know, like trust the other thing.
Starting point is 00:20:23 So I don't think it's, I personally haven't seen enough to know that, to think that it's AJ Brown has lost a step or something like that. We know he was somewhat injured in camp. Yep. He might not be as full speed now as he's going to be later in the season or something. But I don't think that's the main thing. Do you? I don't think it's the main thing, but I also think it could be part of the equation.
Starting point is 00:20:43 I don't think he's being used the right way necessarily. Right. But I also think, you know, he could be down a half step. I think that's certainly possible. I mean, even in the past when he has not been targeted, yeah. His efficiency numbers have still been outstanding. Sure.
Starting point is 00:21:00 And that's part of the usage problem. But I think it's, I think there's also something too. Potentially he could be just one of the 20 best receivers in the NFL. Yeah. No, for sure. One of the three best. Like, we should talk about this now. like his route
Starting point is 00:21:17 frequencies and the team in general not generating any yards after catch like so AJ Brown this is our number four AJ Brown this season has run slants 15% of the time
Starting point is 00:21:33 which is second most out of a hundred wide receivers with at least eight targets okay so there are 100 wide receivers with at least eight targets all these stats are going to be ranking out of 100 second most slants in the league 24% have been hitches, those little short hitches, that's among the highest as well,
Starting point is 00:21:51 and then 24% have been go routes, but a lot of those are clear-out routes. They're not intended really to go to him. Just 5% of his routes have been crossing routes. That ranks 97th out of 100 wide receivers. He's run six crossing routes all year. He's only been targeted on one of them, and that was broken up by the safety cook
Starting point is 00:22:11 in the first quarter in Kansas City on a play action pass. I had to look up what that was. He's never in motion, I mean, except for little short motions that everyone has memorized and doesn't really react to. When you look at Devante Smith's usage, this is kind of like talking about like the general offense here, right? Only 7% of Devante Smith's routes are crossing routes. That ranks 85th.
Starting point is 00:22:34 So they're both in the bottom 15 out of 100 in crossing routes. Nobody runs crossing routes in this offense. I've talked about this before. Yeah. 30% of Devante Smith's routes have been hitches. That's fourth most among wide receivers. Basically, the offense isn't designed to get yak. And sure enough, if you look at this graphic we have here,
Starting point is 00:22:55 this is yards after catch per completion. Jalen Hertz ranks 32nd out of 33 quarterbacks in this year, down to 3.7 yards after catch per completion. That's almost two full yards less than last year. and when you look at the like number of routes that those same receivers ran last year they were running like more than double the number of crossers it wasn't nearly as you know
Starting point is 00:23:22 like with little variety as it is this time Jeff McLean asked to Monte Smith earlier this week like it was on his podcast whether there's enough route variety and he said sometimes there is sometimes there's not like you know I just I just make the play when it comes my way something like that but I mean, we can see all this when we watch the game, and especially when you watch the film, that they don't have answers when the defense is basically covering those little hitches and stop routes and those kinds of things.
Starting point is 00:23:53 And this takes me back to the Tampa Bay game where in the first half, the Eagles were awesome. And part of it is because Bowles was blitzing like crazy. Eagles had one of the most successful games against the Blitz of any team this year. 82% success, right? And then second half, 11 drop back. 0 for 8, 2 sacks, and a scramble. There was only one blitz there. There were five exchange pressures,
Starting point is 00:24:15 and two times he dropped eight into coverage. One of the times he dropped eight into coverage, there was a sack. And Milata earlier this week on his radio show said, when he stopped blitzing, we looked around, and it was like, oh, this is nice, but there's nobody to throw to. I didn't see that coming from Todd Bowles.
Starting point is 00:24:33 For me, as a professor, this kind of reminds me of like, when I'm writing an exam, I have to make sure that a student who only studies, like, half the topics doesn't get, like, a really good grade on the exam, right? Because if you only put half of the material on the exam, some lucky student who only studied exactly that stuff, like could end up doing well. It's like the Eagles offensive staff only studied for part of the test.
Starting point is 00:24:56 They studied for the part of the test where, like, Bulls was going to blitz the whole time. We were going to have hots. Guys were going to be open on those little hitches. It's like they thought they had the answers. Or they had the questions ahead of time. They had the questions. And then when the questions changed midway through the test
Starting point is 00:25:08 and both started doing something else, they had no answers for that. And it takes them so long to adjust. Like, just like it's taking them really long to realize like the running game's not last year's running game, like stop trying to build it around the running game. It's also taking them a long time within games to be like, hey, wait a second,
Starting point is 00:25:25 like they stopped doing the things that these plays were working against, maybe start calling different plays or have different plays ready for those situations. And we just haven't seen that. one of the things they've been doing a lot this year, which is different from last year, is they're keeping the running back in to protect a lot. And part of that's because they're playing teams that blitz more,
Starting point is 00:25:45 but they've been doing it at an alarmingly high rate, even when they're not blitzing. Like, Sequin's just staying in. And what the Eagles often do is they'll have the running back check release. So he checks for blitzers, and then he releases to the flat. That's usually what he does. And it gives obviously the quarterback an extra option, but it also keeps one of the linebackers eyes on that running back
Starting point is 00:26:04 and opens up passing lanes for the guys in the middle for the routes they love to run, the slants, the hitches. This year, if you look at how often the Eagles have all five guys out in the route, which is basically a measure of whether the running backs running around, they're dead last in the league, 56% at having all five guys run in the route. This is Jeff Stoutland's offensive line that doesn't need help ever
Starting point is 00:26:30 that we always talk about, like, left on islands, dead last. When Nick Siriani said a wise man avoids all extremes, by the way, in his defense, he didn't say he was a wise man. Like, he just, he's just presented that wise man,
Starting point is 00:26:45 wise men avoid all extremes. Now, the Eagles are ranked like 30th or 32nd and everything, like every tendency thing. So take from that what you will. Last year they were at 73%, which is 15th. I think there's a graphic on this, Trulia. This is the first one.
Starting point is 00:27:00 This was the five-man round. percentage. So in this game against Tampa Bay, Sequin was staying in to protect even when they weren't blitzing. And I think that that's, that comes from the inability to adjust. This idea that like all week they were like, he's going to blitz, he's going to blitz, he's going to blitz, he's going to blitz. So like we're going to design these concepts where you don't think that it could have been because they're worried about the offensive line? That's the other question. Could it be? Because they don't think that the offensive line can hold up even against a four man rush. And we're keeping, we're keeping the running back in. But there were plays where they weren't
Starting point is 00:27:30 blitzing or even exchanging. the 4D linemen were rushing, and Sequan was staying in and just kind of like helping one of the guards or something. And I'm just looking at this and I'm like, this doesn't look like the Eagles. Like this has not been the Eagles with Jeff Stoutland, like under any of the head coaches. So for me, that's a little bit of an alarm because that makes certain concepts that the Eagles have not work because the running back's not out attracting attention from somebody else. I'm not saying they throw to the running back a lot because they don't. But it opens up some of that other stuff when the running back is out on.
Starting point is 00:28:01 a route and that's been a change this year from past years. That feels like a waste. Yeah. I mean, that, but that also feels like something that, to your point, could have been, okay, we were slow to react to Bulls. Let's actually make sure that we don't let this happen again. I hope so. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:28:24 Yeah. I don't know. All right. Let's get to more of the Saquan-Barkley discussion and what's going on with the running game after these words from our sponsors. E.J's on his way in. We'll hear from him shortly. But you know what E.J. can't do? Fix a goddamn thing in your house.
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Starting point is 00:30:36 Call 1-800 gambler. All right, Professor. Let's talk running game. Where are you worried about? Well, we talked a little bit last week about how the variety in the running game hasn't quite been the same. And what about me? I'm sitting right here. I mean, yes.
Starting point is 00:31:08 So we talked about the variety of, in the run game how they didn't run any gap scheme runs against the Rams, how they didn't run any quarterback designed runs the first two weeks. Last week we finally saw them play a game where they actually ran some of both. The run game success just hasn't been there. And I loved your guys show on Monday with Fran breaking down all of those. I had the film in front of me. I was listening to Fran.
Starting point is 00:31:31 I was looking at the film at the same time. It was great a way to kind of dive into the run game. And as Fran very nicely put it, and as you guys discussed, like it was a little bit of everything, right? Sometimes Calcutera is losing on a block. Sometimes Steen's losing on a block. Sometimes Sequin's not seeing the right thing. At the end of the day, it's not working.
Starting point is 00:31:51 Like, Seekoine Barkley is 20th in EPA per rush out of 32 running backs. He's 31st in rushing success rate, which when you're running on first and 10 and you have an unsuccessful run, the way this coaching staff calls second and long and especially third and long, like you're basically just giving up, right? And, I mean, they had a third and 13 that they gave up on
Starting point is 00:32:10 in the red zone in the, last game. It's driving me crazy. Like, I know you're up 21 to 3, but like, you can score a touchdown and pretty much end this game right here, make it like a four score game at half time. They didn't even try. And so, that makes it even matter more, if they're going to do that. Like, it makes it matter more that you're successful
Starting point is 00:32:25 on those early down runs. And they just haven't been, a lot's been made of the yards before contact, right? And so... Now here we get your nerd to really come out. Yeah, yeah. So everyone says average yards before contact was this last year, and it was... And it's
Starting point is 00:32:41 worse this year. Yeah, obviously it's worse this year. But when you quote those average yards before contact, there's like a 70 yard touchdown he had against the Rams where he wasn't touched. Well, guess what? Those are 70 yards before contact and skewing the numbers a lot, right? And so, what you, what I think you should do, and this is what I did, is look at what percent of his runs are getting one or more yards before contact. What percent of his runs are getting negative yards before contact? And you can see this year, he is... These are the run percentage ones, Julia, two and three. He is being contacted before he gets to the line of scrimmage,
Starting point is 00:33:18 33% of the time. Last year, that was down to 24%. That was down at 24%. So that's a big difference. And then in terms of getting one yard before contact or more, right? It was 58% last year and it's down to 51 this year. That's a significant difference.
Starting point is 00:33:36 Like, it might not sound like a lot, but that's a significant difference over this largest sample. we're talking four games worth now. And Sequin last year was like the king of turning that play where he could get that initial blocking into an explosive run. He was first by a mile.
Starting point is 00:33:54 I think we have a graph on this one where Sequin's like up by himself in the upper left of the graph. Like he was first by a mile in EPA per rush when he got that one yard before contact. He was below average when he didn't. And so
Starting point is 00:34:09 the fact that they're not getting him that one yard this year is not is basically not letting him shine in this way. Now he is 29th in success rate whether he gets the yard or not this year unfortunately. So like there is a little bit of like Sequin isn't maybe doing as much
Starting point is 00:34:25 with this as he can. Part of it might be that Sequin's expecting the blocking that he had last year. Right. And he's not in that mode where he was you know on the Giants where he knew he had to create by himself. And when you're expecting the block to be there and it isn't, like those runs aren't going to be successful
Starting point is 00:34:41 whereas when you know like the guy in front of you can't block and you're going for the crazy spin move or whatever you're going to get more explosive. So I don't know what to make of how this is going to continue whether Landon Dickerson like being a little healthier or like everybody getting used to playing together with Tyler Steen or whatever it is is going to fix this problem but right now I mean the run game's not working
Starting point is 00:35:04 and until it is like they should stop calling it like it's going to. What do you think? see somebody is here. What do I think? I think I have some faith that it's going to get better. But I agree with you that they need to stop treating the script like they're going to just flip a squitch. Yeah, no, that's the thing.
Starting point is 00:35:30 And I think you're also, I mean, you were on it early as well. Like the lack of variety in what running plays they are running is not ideal. And you wonder why that is the case. And the sequencing and the not pairing it with, and not pairing it with play action and all those things. I mean, like, and we've talked so much about those things for so long now that I don't want to expect to think that those are going to change. But one of the things that had been good in the Eagles play calling in the past few years is the sequencing of the run plays at least. And that includes involving the quarterback.
Starting point is 00:35:59 And it would be nice to see some of that, especially this week against Denver with those edge rushers who are like fast getoff guys who are going to be trying to rush the passer. If you can get them thinking pass and run and involve the quarterback and do zone reads and read those guys, that could be a, that could be a good approach this week. The reason I brought in E.J., who is here now, from the Nobucare Complex, is that the next thing we're going to discuss is the running plays with and without Dallas Goddard. Oh, yeah. I mean, you know,
Starting point is 00:36:28 as we know, Dallas Goddard is the MVP of this team. This is some local. And in this last game in Tampa, the Eagles were 47% on success rate in plays with Dallas Goddard on the field, where they ran it 19 times and were successful on nine of them. Seven times without Dallas Goddard, E.J., how many were successful?
Starting point is 00:36:49 You did send this, but I didn't commit it to memory. One out of seven, just one out of seven without Dallas Goddard. I find it insignificant. I did find it to be strange that Dallas Goddard wasn't on the field and a lot of those 12 personnel runs. It was like Granson and Calcutera on the field. Like there were certain runs that they repeated a bunch of times that Dallas Goddard wasn't part of that.
Starting point is 00:37:10 And then he was on the injury report with a knee on Wednesday. like they're clearly managing him like any and it's and this is something that like availability matters right like they can't rely on him to be out there on all these plays and the running game is worse without him that's just clear it's not like he's been great at blocking this
Starting point is 00:37:28 this year but like the other guys are really bad right and so he's gonna play this week E.J. I think he'll play he had a bulky brace on his left knee in the locker room just now so yeah no I expect him to play but again to Danez's point Like, is he going to be as setting aside our, like, arguments about Dallas Goddard as a run blocker in 2025, is he going to be close to 100%. I think is more of the question.
Starting point is 00:37:55 Yeah, he only, I mean, he only played 43 snaps out of, out of 57, and that's like a lower percentage than he normally plays. I know it was hot. I know he was injured before. But, I mean, part of the issue with the run game is the tight end is blocking. And your most reliable blocker as a tight end is being like load managed. so he's not out there for like more than a third of the runs in a game, that'll have some impact on the results as well. Julia, I really like to load managed.
Starting point is 00:38:24 You don't get to come in here. Excuse me? I don't get to what? Excuse me? I don't get to what? Julia, wait till you hear that Jonathan Cooper gets off in 0.69 seconds. Best, best in the NFL. Good thing Jamie's not in here for that one.
Starting point is 00:38:45 Okay, before we get to special teams and defense and everything that you have from the locker room, E.J., let's close out the Eagles offense. The discussion we had last week about getting to the line of scrimmage quickly, feels like the rest of the media corps is picked up on this this week. You know how it is. We talked about something. Come on. Suddenly everyone's talking about it. But you think in particular this week, this will be a bigger deal. Yeah, so Jonathan Cooper gets off in point.
Starting point is 00:39:12 six, nine seconds. This is actual stat. This is from Luca Evans of the Denver Post. That's the fastest get-off of any any defensive end in the NFL. This side of friend. Nick... What is happening,
Starting point is 00:39:32 Nick Benito on the other side, he gets off in 0.72 seconds, which is tied for second. I just love Jamie. Expressing his approval. from the middle side of the glass. So against these defensive ends that get all so fast, Bo makes a point about how you might not want to let them know when you're going to snap the ball.
Starting point is 00:40:04 Right. The more predictable it is that you're about to snap the ball, the easier it is to have a quick get-off. Right. And everybody's talking this week about why the Eagles are so slow at getting to the line of scrimmage. Jordan Milata made a couple of points this week on. its radio show. He said it's not just about like, you know, the get-up thing. It's also, he says they practice all week watching film to find cues in the defense, right? So he's like, Brandon Brooks used to talk about this. You look at the three-text foot, is the inside foot up,
Starting point is 00:40:32 which foot is back? You can tell which way he's going to go from that. You want to recognize those cues. Are the linebackers fitting certain gaps? You have to look up and see all those things. And he said, you have 35 seconds to do this. And then he said, in our case, because our procedure was so slow we're breaking the huddle at 14 seconds now we have 10 seconds to make these adjustments we go through all that coaching all these clips and then we don't have time to actually like execute that's very interesting so it's interesting to hear an offensive linemen say that you know that when they asked him like they asked him like why are you so slow sorry jay go ahead i just was going to say you know what that brings some mind to me we're takers we should take what we
Starting point is 00:41:05 want like stop taking what they yes you know it's like do you want to be in attack mode or do you want to be in React in react mode. So yeah, no, just sorry, I didn't mean to cut you off, but just thinking about, like, who cares about the three-text foot, like just play kind of thing? A little bit. It's like you have, you know, eight or nine pro-ball caliber players in that offense. Like, do you need to give up the advantage of like the time of the time of the timeing of the snap count in pursuit of like which way is, I mean, Vita Vaya is not a good example,
Starting point is 00:41:35 but which way is this three-tech going to go, you know? Well, I think what Milata is saying is they want to be able to take advantage. of those things. Like, because they've, they've, they've taped studied on stuff
Starting point is 00:41:43 like that. Yeah. Like, why, why are we wasting that time? Yeah, it's like, I think,
Starting point is 00:41:48 like, just, just having had the pleasure of talking to Brandon Brooks about this, like, like, he really, you could tell
Starting point is 00:41:54 that he appreciated those coaching points and the ability to be able to tell what the opponent's going to do. And Brandon Graham has talked about this on the other side,
Starting point is 00:42:01 like watching the way that, you know, where a guy's weight is on his feet and stuff like that. Like, that little chess match is a fun thing. Jalen Carter is awesome at that.
Starting point is 00:42:10 like he says he's light, you know, that kind of stuff. Like when they asked him why they were so slow and he said, we don't have any urgency. He said, especially as the offensive line, we have to break the huddle faster, get to the line. Like he was kind of blaming the offensive line for being slow at getting back in the huddle, getting from the huddle.
Starting point is 00:42:27 I don't know. It's going to be a continued point that we make. The Eagles continue to be by a mile the slowest team. Like the team with the highest rate of plays where the play clock is under five, under two, all those things. So I don't think it's going to change. It's been this way for three years. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:42:42 But there was a week last year where they made this. But this is one where I think we do know that it is not intentional. It is. Yeah. This is something that they would like to do better at. They want to fix. Yeah. Do you think it's mostly because it takes them a long time to decide what played around?
Starting point is 00:42:58 And they only have like three plays. So you'd think it'd be fast, you know? I guess it's a confluence of things. I think if it was one thing, they probably would have fixed it by now. Yeah. Yeah. I would be actually, I would be curious if it is any different. home versus away?
Starting point is 00:43:14 You can check that. Okay. I mean, I went on that, I went on that low. I went on our rant last week about how they were using the silent cadence at home and because the crowd makes too much noise. So if they, if they're using the silent cadence. I think this is one where Jalen actually needs to like say this during a press conference. Tell the crowd to be quiet. Tell the crowd to be quiet on fourth down.
Starting point is 00:43:34 Interesting. Don't you think? That's the only way to get that message across. It would sound like he's like against his personality. It would sound like he's making an excuse. I don't know. I think if Jalen just more adamantly told people to be quiet, that would work too. Yeah, that's true.
Starting point is 00:43:47 Sometimes like Calcutera or somebody will do it. He's always hoarse after games in his press conferences. So maybe just one time. So like, sorry, I had to yell over the crowd today. That's more petty, though. That's what I'm worried about. It's like not his personality. I'm a little petty.
Starting point is 00:44:05 Not above being petty. Okay. All right. Use their speed against them this one. week is what I say. Invite them upfield. Don't block them. Read them. You know, like run some of those RPO's where you're, like they did with Vaughn Miller eight years
Starting point is 00:44:18 ago where like you just leave them on block. They've done it with Micah Parsons with this stuff. So that's, that's what I would do. But yeah, the RPO part of the playbook seems to be missing. Petulow found Andy Reid's Red Zone binder in his office. That was great. It'd be great if he could find the RPO
Starting point is 00:44:34 binder too. It's just gone. All right. Much more to get to including this Denver defense. The Eagles defense against the Broncos offense, special teams, EJ's nuggets, lots of good stuff, one more ad break. Got two minutes to do this and he was wasted like 40 seconds. Don't say a word during the ad break, Beau. Don't do it. No, Ray, I will. I will talk about it. Not that, Ray. Shady Ray. Here's the best part about Shady Ray's. Not only is it the best sunglasses that you can get, but they're protected.
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Starting point is 00:47:29 Fran talk about how he's not sure. Devanté Sartan has their old teammates. DeVante had a nice game against him in Denver. It was four years ago. They were both rookies. But I'd be shocked if they have Sartan follow DeVante. That would be so insulting to AJ, don't you think? Can you tell the story?
Starting point is 00:47:50 We're going to put the white guy on AJ? No. No. I shouldn't tell the story now. Oh, no. What I would say is that I think they are expecting Sartan to follow AJ. Okay. And because of that, I feel like I'm on friend's side.
Starting point is 00:48:03 of this. Right, that's exactly why I don't think you do the opposite because they're because, well, and we know they don't have any plan ready for when they see something they don't expect. The thing is like, if you have Certain on AJ, you're getting man coverage for A.J. Brown, which is still a favorable situation for A.J. Brown. To me, I know Fran talked more about like, Riley Moss is physical enough to hold up against A.J. To me, I almost wonder if the Broncos, I mean, the Eagles C zone at an unprecedented rate so far. Like, to me, it's like, that, That would be giving the Eagles what they want. We're giving A.J. Brown what he wants if he's getting man coverage,
Starting point is 00:48:38 even if it is against somebody as good as Pat Sartan. You know A.J. Brown doesn't care if it's Pat Sartan or anybody else. If he has a one-on-one matchup in man coverage, I think that plays into what the Eagles want. They run man coverage 40% of the time, fourth in the league. They ran a decent amount of man against Cincinnati last week, obviously, backup quarterback, but you're talking about Jemar Chase. And they had Certan follow Chase. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:49:05 When you look at Chase and Higgins, Chase is more like AJ Brown. Higgins is more like DeWante's. There's a lot of reasons to think that they'll have him follow AJ. You hear the Eagles talk so much about unscouted looks and not getting exactly what they expect from the defense. I wonder if it's that type of situation where,
Starting point is 00:49:21 again, it's like we've seen the Eagles struggle so much with zone coverage. Why would you play into their, why would you not present what they struggle with? I guess. I mean, I don't know. It's not like Devante Smith is getting targets either. He's getting targeted less than AJ is. Like, do you... Yeah, I don't know. What is the tactical advantage you're getting from having that go the opposite of what the Eagles expect? Again, it's like, do you think they can beat zone coverage and have they shown that they've been able to? I mean, the tactical advantage you get is AJ Brown might murder somebody in the middle of the game.
Starting point is 00:49:57 Yeah, that could... I mean, yeah, if you're playing with that, if you're like, okay, like these guys are... you know, going to force it to AJ. Let's really make them force it to him by putting Riley Moss on him instead. Not that Riley Moss is like terrible, but like, I mean, I don't know. Do they really want that, though? Do they want it to become an AJ game?
Starting point is 00:50:18 I think they might dare them to have an AJ game. I think the Eagles agree with you though. I think that they are expecting AJ or certan to follow AJ. One thing that Denver has not done that has given the Eagles trouble is those SIM pressures. Yeah, I mean, the last three games, it's been a theme with Spags does it all the time, Bowls does it all the time, and what's his name, Shula on the Rams did it a lot as well, is dropping D-Linman into coverage, taking away some of those hitches and short little things that they like to throw, and then, you know, blitzing somebody else, and only rushing four. The Denver Broncos, I was shocked at this, I had to check the number over and over, and then I had to confirm it by watching some film to make sure they're not missing something, have not run a single one of those. pressures this season. They ran it like 5% of the time last year. Zero this year. They've never
Starting point is 00:51:06 sent linebackers or safeties and dropped defensive linemen on the same play and ended up with only four rushing on the play. They will do a lot of double mug like both linebackers are in the agap like the sprinkling a little sugar in a gap. They'll do that. But either those guys will actually blitz or the linebackers themselves will drop out. They won't do ones where the D-Linman drop out and the linebackers go. So that might make things a little bit easier to diagnose. But at the end of the day, like this is a good defense. They're going to, you know, disguise coverages.
Starting point is 00:51:40 They'll spin into different versions of cover two and those kinds of things. I don't know what the Eagles are going to prepare for this week, but we haven't seen a game where they seem prepared for everything. Like, you know, they're prepared for one thing or they're prepared for another thing. And then one half it'll work, one half it won't. It would be great to see a complete game, but I'll believe it when I see it. Let me know in the chat,
Starting point is 00:52:03 do you also, when someone says D-Linman, do you also think of D-Line-M? Oh, yeah. Absolutely, yeah. Used to see D-Line-M around the neighborhood a lot. Shout out to D-Line-M. I don't know if she moved, but used to see her in the neighborhood a lot.
Starting point is 00:52:15 I've ever met her, but like, this is going to sound like a flex, but like, she's just like message me before to compliment my work and just very kind. Wow. Wow. Shout out to D. How about that? I don't know if this is,
Starting point is 00:52:29 going to sound like a flex. I mean, of course it sounds like a... I wanted to express how nice it is that she's reached out before. Yeah, and listen, I appreciate all the letters that she sent me to telling me that I'm the most talented person in the city. And the most handsome guy in the show, right? Yeah, that's exactly right. But, you know, thank you, Dee. Okay.
Starting point is 00:52:46 Before we get to the Eagles defense, let's talk special teams. I guess we got to take like, let's give it 10 seconds to give you credit for the Cam Latu thing. I mean, look, who else in the city? E.J. is going to... E.J. just says... like, oh, look at Cam Latu, he's going to be good. Look at this look at this look off. I on the show said
Starting point is 00:53:06 Cam Latu is going to block a punt. Now, Bo mentioned that it was before the Rams game and not before the Bucks game. However, in the Rams game, the Rams only punted once, and it was like a fourth and one, and so the Eagles had the entire defense stay on the field. So Cam Latu wasn't out there.
Starting point is 00:53:23 Now, Cam Latu blocked the very next punt after I said that he's going to block a punt. I think I should get some pretty. credit for that. That is a very specific... Let me set the record straight here. Thing to predict. You deserve a ton of credit for predicting this. I've got no issue with that.
Starting point is 00:53:39 I'm not coining this. I did not coin that he would block a pun. All I would like to point out is that I was the original and don't, do not cut me off, because this is important. I get this all out in one sentence. I was the original Camlato appreciator. And I was told, settle down, E.J.
Starting point is 00:53:58 The guy's got one good. good block and all of a sudden you can't stop talking about Cam Lutu. Fram just hates Cam Lottu. You're a touch and uncle because you like the fullback tight end hybrid player. And now that Danez appreciates something about Cam Latu. No, he predict something. Oh, we got to clear it out. We got to make sure that Danez gets a victory lap here. Oh, good job, Danes. I didn't say he's going to the pro. I'm just saying. The thing I predicted actually already happened. I didn't say he's going to the Pro Bowl either. All I'm saying is that, you know, there's a little bit of a different energy here about certain people appreciating
Starting point is 00:54:28 Cam Latu. And as I have said, what predates even that is the correct call that if you had Cam Latu all along, you didn't need Ben Ben Sumrin on the active roster, which makes me correct. Which is why you lost the King of the Beats. Well, that makes me, I should just beat the general manager.
Starting point is 00:54:44 If we are, if we are talking special teams, it is worth mentioning, and E.J, this is going to boost your Cam Latu thing. Cam Latu's a monster on special teams. Not just the block, not just the pun he blocked. He's awesome on kickoff. He drew a hold calling against Anthony Nelson.
Starting point is 00:55:00 That's a huge play in special teams. Drawing holding is like the biggest thing you can do on special teams. It totally sets them back. He just destroyed Anthony Nelson on another rep. Good, good player. I like Anthony Nelson. That was my guy. It reminds me, Fran shared this on social media probably
Starting point is 00:55:16 might have been after week one that the Eagles, I think they're either first or second in the RAS score, like on their roster. They're just a young athletic team. And when you have those players, it benefits your special. You get guys like Kam Latu who become cult heroes on podcasts and you know some podcast hosts. They appreciate him as a player and they get ridiculed for it and you know, just saying.
Starting point is 00:55:40 This is also interesting in conjunction with your thing about how like give Michael Clay a break if the, if the special teams isn't good because they don't put a lot of resources into that. Yeah. How do you explain Kam Latu? I mean, well, it's not a lot of resources. He's like a third year player. But it's like they around the margins of the roster they seem to who have sued more aggressively toward athleticism. You know, just like getting really good athletes in, raw players. And yeah, you're seeing it show up on special teams for sure.
Starting point is 00:56:08 Even like Jordan Davis is an example of like traitsy. You know, like he's even contribute like he's the edge protector on the field goal unit because he just has really long arms, you know? I think that that starts to show up in your special teams and you have a really athletic team. A lot of discussion about the K ball this week.
Starting point is 00:56:26 I had a nice chat with Jake Elliott yesterday. Oh yeah? Yeah. This is serious, Julia. Can I give you a quick story about your chat with Jake Elliott? Sure. Jeff Nyberg, my former colleague, was waiting to talk to Jake. And he turns to me and he's like, does Bo even have his recorder out?
Starting point is 00:56:42 Like, was he just chatting with Jake? I was like, we do a podcast. Like, he doesn't need to like have a tape recorder about. I mean, he didn't say like that annoyed. I think he was genuinely curious. Like, is he actually gathering or is he just chatting? And I was like, no, like he's probably gaining insight for the show. So I defended your honor.
Starting point is 00:57:00 Plus, I was recording the conversation. Oh. That don't have to be. Since we're, hold on, about the K-balls. I know we're going to talk about it. Since we're keeping like, you know, receipts of who said what and when people said it. Vic Fangio talks about the K-ball on his own. No one asked him about it.
Starting point is 00:57:18 Yeah. And now suddenly everyone's talking about it. Okay. So during... He was too busy asking questions about Denver. so we didn't get to the cave all over time. It's not quite bovertime, right? So we can't say what he said.
Starting point is 00:57:31 You guys talk. I'm going to find, I'm going to find the... So you cut me off and you don't have me. I thought I had it. I know you want to talk, but let me just say something. You've definitely... All right, you vamp while I find it. Found it, found it.
Starting point is 00:57:47 All right, I found it. All right, he found it. He found it. Yeah. But we're not going to get to here. No. September. Bovertire.
Starting point is 00:58:00 September 28th during the game 343 p.m. I posted letting teams treat the K-balls all week. This is a coining situation. This is... Letting teams treat the K-balls all week was a bad rule change this year.
Starting point is 00:58:13 It's just too easy to get into field goal range now. Okay, so here's and here's the discussion I had with Jake Elliott. Yeah, what did he say? A couple things. One is, and Michael Clay said this too. It is still early in the season. Right, so the weather is warmer, the ball is going to travel farther.
Starting point is 00:58:31 That's a clay special. It is a clay special, but it is true. It's just the truth, yeah. Jake Elliott's... He coined the summer. Yeah. Michael Clay. Jake Elliott's point about this is less about, he believes,
Starting point is 00:58:44 it's less about like the ball is different. And they're doing, you know, the same treatment that they do during the day over the course of the week. And more about the ball becomes predictable for them. So his point is that like the push from the special teams guys to make this a week-long thing is it's also not just they get all day to treat it all week to treat it There are like three of them as opposed to just one of them So when it used to be the K ball day of you just had one ball and now they get multiples of them and like you get to kick them all week Yeah, and so there's there's predictability and how it's going to come off your foot Okay and so that's not only like it makes it easy
Starting point is 00:59:27 easier for them. But there's also probably like some kind of psychological effect to that too, where you're not standing over the ball and wondering how it's going to react. And that's a bigger, a bigger, in his mind, a bigger part of it than scrubbing the ball for a week. You remembered all that without a recorder when you were talking to him? That's impressive. It was an active listener. Were you actually, so were you recording or not? Now this is unclear. I was recording, but not to write it. Just, yeah. In case he said something. So did you listen back to it? No. Oh, so you did just commit it to memory.
Starting point is 00:59:56 Yeah. I'm interested. So do the punters also get to use K balls? It's a good question. Because Clay said there were six. Because Braden Man is just dropping palms. I'm just wondering, like, and also can you, Clay said there were six of them,
Starting point is 01:00:10 and he said it was a problem when you lost one. I'm not sure how you lose one. If you get a kick blocked, then the other team just literally steals the ball. I don't know. Or it goes in the crowd. Or something. Maybe.
Starting point is 01:00:21 But, like, are they using different balls for kickoffs and field goals? There's so many things I'm, wondering about because like when Cardi, who's been really good at the kickoff so he really messed one up last night, I'll tell you about that as well. Like is he using a
Starting point is 01:00:37 like a different ball for the kickoff? That's a good question. Yeah. I'll ask him that. Yeah, what did he say? So then I asked him about the kickoffs because that first kickoff against the bucks was like perfectly executed. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And he said like, yeah, we saw what the Rams guy did. We saw like the technique of it and this is me editorializing.
Starting point is 01:00:54 But like we've always talked about how Jake Elliot is like such a good athlete, you know, like he's a great golfer. He was a great tennis player when they play the softball games. He's the best softball player. I think it's nice to have, it's a nice thing to have Jake Elliott as your kicker for the kickoffs now. Because to me, the kickoffs are more, they've become more art than science, right? It's not just line back and boot the ball far. It's, you know, it's a difference between like a trackman golfer or like a shotmaker, right?
Starting point is 01:01:20 I was just about to say that. Oh, I'm so mad you took my analogy. He can, he can, he can. he's like the guy with the soft hands around the kicks, right? That's so cool. And so yeah, it is kind of cool and it makes it much less predictable and like he can, they can take advantage
Starting point is 01:01:35 of the different looks they're getting because he can execute those different kinds of things because he is that talented. It's like the athletic version of like the musical genius who can hear a song and just like play it on guitar. Yeah, right, that's really cool. And he, and I was also asking like, is this how you expect it to play out?
Starting point is 01:01:49 And he said they practiced a bunch of different kicks over the course of the off season, but they weren't exactly sure. And he said like watching the Rams guy like did change their thought process a little bit. Yeah, it was interesting. I mean, last night, the 49ers were trying to catch those, like on, like, without letting them bounce.
Starting point is 01:02:04 Right. And they, and they, they muffed one and it almost got recovered by the kicking team, which is crazy, like, on a, right, on a kickoff with the current rules that you could, like, actually, yeah, I thought, I thought, like, the whole league was going to shift towards more of those. It was weird that Jake did it on the first one, and then they didn't do it on the other ones. Right. Afterwards, I guess they're trying to mix it up, the look was different or what, but
Starting point is 01:02:25 something yeah. All right, let's go to the other side of the ball, Eagles defense. You have a very quick summation of how you feel about the Eagles defense right now. I mean, four legitimate superstars on the defense being coached perfectly, like full of young players, a pleasure to watch. I always watch the offense first, and it takes me like a day and a half, and then I have a day and a half on the defense. And man, like when I switch from offense to defense, like you know you're in good hands. It's like, ah, I'm just like. Like, is that a, I'm not sure where you're going with that. Was that like a reference?
Starting point is 01:03:02 Okay. Yeah, no, just watching Quinyan Mitchell. You think I'm pulling out of Mr. Hands reference? No idea. It's been a weird show. Yeah, it's been weird. Quinion and Mitchell, just how ridiculously good he was this game. And we all know how ridiculously good he was last year.
Starting point is 01:03:17 But because he wasn't getting targeted, he was like so good they weren't targeting him, that we didn't really have a chance to see him actually play the ball. like the as often as we did in this last game right and for whatever reason they kept on attacking him and I know he was on Akuba and that's the guy they wanted to throw to but like man like he was just awesome like I mean I know you guys are talked about it everyone's talked about it but he was just awesome Cooper to Gene just ridiculous there's that one snap that I was hoping you guys would ask him about like it was the cover two snap post cross no nobody all right well um you had a little bit of an online meltdown about about this. It was awesome.
Starting point is 01:03:58 Did I? It's not a nice characterization. I don't think that's what it was. I was just excited. Post cross, they're running two routes and Cooper DeGine covered both of them. I mean, he ran with the post and then he almost intercepted the cross on the same play. This is ridiculous. And then I think it is worth talking about
Starting point is 01:04:13 the blitzing. Fangeo was asked this week, are you blitzing more? Because you can keep talking. Okay, okay. I'll worry about the show notes. Are you blitzing? Are you blitzing? more because you're worried about the pass rush. And he said, I haven't felt an epidemic
Starting point is 01:04:31 where I'm calling the game that our rush isn't good enough. But do you guys believe him? No. I don't believe him at all, right? And it's like he's blitzing more than he did last year and he's having a lot of success with it.
Starting point is 01:04:42 Julia, there's a graphic. He has been, yeah, he has been much, in the past, his defenses have not been very good when he has felt like he had to blitz. Right. And he's still below average at blitz rate. Right.
Starting point is 01:04:53 But he's close to average. And in success, success rate by the opponent, the opposition is only 31% successful winning blitzes. That's number one in the entire NFL. The Eagles, I mean, I'm shocked to see this graphic, but the Eagles are at the very top of the graph of best blitzing defense. I mean, like, they're not the most frequently blitzing, but they've been very successful when they blitz, and you can really tell that the pass rush just isn't there when they
Starting point is 01:05:17 don't. So I have a take about this, and this may have necessitated me, and I should have texted you about this day, Niz, but it's late. night. I'm texting Sean Syed. Oh, you know, I'm up. Oh, hold on. You can text me. Before we get to this, let's get to something else here. Oh, no. Tell me how you feel about this kind of etiquette. Oh, come on. You're really going to, you're going to air this out and you're going to be all
Starting point is 01:05:39 fake. You, nobody does fake aggrieved as well as both. I'm sorry. My God. I'm sorry. Tell me how you would feel about this. And I'll name names. E.J. C. I can't. I can't. Don't say the subject. Okay. and says, how would you, what do you think this situation? How do you think this situation would play out? Okay? And I have, and I tell him my response.
Starting point is 01:06:06 And he goes, oh, that's why we're a co-host, baby. Like, same page. And he then, he sends me a screenshot of a text thread with him, Sheel, and Sean Syed discussing this same thing, as if I'm going to be happy to see that we're on the same page and not mad that I wasn't involved in the country. conversation in the first place. Okay, so I'm not allowed to have group chats that don't include you?
Starting point is 01:06:32 No, no, but why would you share? I didn't know that that was the terms of this podcast marriage and I can't just text Sheel and Sean about something. You have to be included. You're allowed to, but then don't screenshot. That's like she... I thought you would be happy. I thought you were like, yeah, we got synergy.
Starting point is 01:06:49 That's like, that's like texting your spouse and being like, that's why we work so well together, baby. And like, you know, and then a screenshot. What would you order from this menu? And then a screenshot of you, like, texting your mistresses talking about the same thing. It's not a mystery. What would you order from this? What would you order from this, sweetheart?
Starting point is 01:07:07 That's why we're the best. Me too. Here's a picture with me with my guma. Yeah. I didn't. We, with our relationship is not like an exclusive relationship. I'm allowed to talk about football with other people. I didn't say you weren't allowed to.
Starting point is 01:07:23 But to then screenshot it and send it. Oh, yeah. think I'm going to be patting you on the back. It's just like, I don't, again, I'm allowed to talk about football with other people. I figured, like, you would, I didn't know that that was going to cut, cut any part of you that E.J. is talking. I think you must be talking about football with Shield. Like, I didn't know, I didn't know, I didn't know it's going to strike a cord.
Starting point is 01:07:45 That's all I'll say. I mean, Julia. Just like, yesterday I said to my former Inquirer colleagues, like, oh, I missed the Inquirer huddle. You know, they always huddle up after the locker room. right next to me when he says this. You know, one of us is secure in our podcast marriage here.
Starting point is 01:08:02 You know, I feel like I can say those types of things. I'll be more sensitive. Oh, man. Moving forward. Anyway. Absolute party foul. So I have a take.
Starting point is 01:08:12 Fran says, at least you got a screenshot. I have to hear about it here on the show. Oh, Fran. I'm sorry. Oh, man. Okay. Eagle's linebackers.
Starting point is 01:08:27 I was texting Sean Cyanne's well past my own bedtime. You decided to text them on your own instead of needing me to tell you to text them this time. About like, because I don't know enough about a 3-3-5 defense. And I'm not, listen, I'm not suggesting the Eagles should be doing this. But I was just curious if there was a defensive coordinator
Starting point is 01:08:45 out there that would look at the linebacking trio of Nikobe Dean, Zach Bonn, and Jihad Campbell, and go, yeah, that fits. Like that works. And it seems like the answer is yes. with a necessary caveat that like it still puts Jahad Campbell and Zach Bonn in positions
Starting point is 01:09:00 like they can do it, you really wouldn't want them there. Like they are so good in the middle of the field. And from what I understand from talking to Sean, it's like a 3-3-5 plays like a 5-1 a lot of the time, like those penny fronts that they use to use a lot. And I just,
Starting point is 01:09:15 I don't want any part of having those guys on the edge that much. But what I do think we've seen Vic Fangio lean into and I think that what they should lean into more is the fact that they've got three linebackers who can blitz. Maybe there are only two of them on the field at most of the time, but we've seen them have a lot of success
Starting point is 01:09:30 with SIM pressures. I said this on the show yesterday, that Zach Bond got a lot of pressure against the Bucks with SIM pressures, blitzing from depth as a linebacker, dropping Jalick's Hunt, you know, Josh Hushet or Zadaria Smith into coverage.
Starting point is 01:09:42 If you don't feel great about your eddrusher group, that's a perfect way to compensate for it. Like have those guys operate from the spaces that they are elite in, but send them on blitzes more often. I think we've seen, we've seen Vic Fangio lean into that. If I can follow up on several of those things.
Starting point is 01:09:59 So in this last game, the Fangio sent nine exchange pressures and 11 blitzes. Ooh, I like an exchange pressure. I like that expression. Yeah, that's good. Yeah, last year there was this whole rhetoric of is it a sim pressure? Is it a, I don't know? Zach Bond rushed the passer 12 times in the game. On those 12 plays, Tampa Bay got zero first downs.
Starting point is 01:10:18 There were two sacks and negative two totally yards. So those plays were working. Wow. Now, in terms of Jihad Campbell being the edge rusher in those, if you were to play all three of them at the same time, Shahad Campbell lined up on the line of scrimmage 18 times this last game. It was 19 times the game before. There were five snaps of nickel with three defensive tackles
Starting point is 01:10:40 and only one edge rusher on the field. Now, it's only five snaps. This happened for the first time this year. Fangio hadn't done this before. This is, of course, post-Nolan Smith injury, right? So you're trying to steal some edge snaps in the heat, et cetera. He did do this 51 times last year. Okay, so it's not like he didn't do it at all.
Starting point is 01:10:58 When I first saw that, this was before I watched the film, I was assuming those were plays where Jahad Campbell is basically a quasi edge rusher. Yeah. But that's not true. These were all in nickel where the quote-unquote other edge rusher in the 5-2 box was the great Cooper DeGine, right? Because Cooper DeGene can play that role where he can be the edge in case it's run, but he can also just like cover the slot receiver if it's,
Starting point is 01:11:22 if it's a pass. So that's kind of a way to play more nickel rather than base. I've been thinking like about, are they going to get Nacobi on the field? Are they going to do like a 3-3? Where what would that look like? One of the linebackers would have to basically be a, an edge. Yeah.
Starting point is 01:11:44 And then you play with the other three like kind of in this, in this kind of like you kind of make it a penny from the other side. We look at Fangio's history, and I'm sure Sean either talked about this or thought about this or whatever. When he was in Miami, Van Ginkle was sometimes one of the two linebackers on the field in a regular 4-2 nickel,
Starting point is 01:12:06 but sometimes they would play with two other linebackers and Van Ginkle was basically just an edge. Yeah. And the Eagles could do that. What Fangio would do was he would just take one of the edges off the field and put Van Ginkle there. So who do you think occupies that Van Ginkle role?
Starting point is 01:12:25 Because I just, I don't think. Oh, it would definitely be Jahad Campbell. Okay, good. Like he's the one that he's the one that he's putting. No, no, no, no. Zachon could do it too. And he did it a bunch last year where he was the guy on the line when the Kirby was in the middle. The Eagles defense right now is set up where they put all of their best players in the best positions possible.
Starting point is 01:12:41 Yeah. Putting Zach Bon on the edge is not that. Well, right now, I mean, those numbers are, it's not like anecdotal. It's like 18 times. Jahad Campbell lined up on the line of scrimmage of this game. He's clearly the one that Vic wants to be on. the line and he said that it's because he feels more comfortable with Zach Blahn being in the middle now. Yeah. At the same time, they asked him, like, would you think about putting Jihad Campbell
Starting point is 01:13:00 at edge when Nikobe comes back? And he said, not right now, right? So, like, but maybe that is, like, there's a, there's a nuance there that he is taking advantage of. He can do that sometimes at the podium. Like, he will answer it maybe more literally than, uh, than it is actually true. Yeah. Well, I mean, listen, I think if the, if the edge guy, continued to be as unproductive as they've been. I wouldn't be surprised if we see them mess around with that a little bit. Yeah. Fanjo just doesn't, like, other than the Vangelo?
Starting point is 01:13:33 They have two sacks all season long from four-man pressure. Right. Yeah. And half a sack from the actual defensive line. I mean, from the Eddressers. Jaylix Hunt says that there's not concern in the Eddresher group. He said that it hurts their feelings that there's not, that they don't have a full sack yet,
Starting point is 01:13:50 but he said that they come in bunches in that. He really, like, leaned into, like, or emphasize. One of the great just NFL sayings that is just accepted as a truism. Sax coming bunches. Well, he talked about, he really, like, emphasized that, like, they're playing good football and that sometimes what their job. Like when Luke Falk comes to town, then we're going to get our sacks. I mean, there is validity to that.
Starting point is 01:14:12 That is why they come in bunches. You're going up against Winston Justice one game. But, yeah, he emphasized the importance of, like, the role that they're playing within the defense. and I thought it was interesting that he said in a Vic Fangio defense, like you don't have like, it's not set up for one position group or one player to really just go for it
Starting point is 01:14:30 or like have the freedom to do what they want to do. It's you're always kind of part of a cognitive machine for lack of a better expression. So because of that, it does seem, because you know, we've seen Eagles defenses before where it's like it is built around the defensive line creating havoc, getting upfield. And Jalick's Hunt was talking about the fact
Starting point is 01:14:49 that this really isn't that type of defense That said, there's really no way to dress up the fact that they just have not gotten great production from that group. Yeah, and they're getting really thin there. I thought it was funny. Zadaria Smith last week was talking about, I mentioned on the show. He said he had to learn the base defense
Starting point is 01:15:03 now that Nolan Smith is out. Eagles play 13-snap a base. Zadari-Smith's not out there for any of them. And then yesterday, he was asked again, like, how's it going or whatever? And he was like, I got to learn the base defense. That's very funny. I hope it's a continuing bit.
Starting point is 01:15:20 Or he keeps saying he has to learn it and then he just never plays on. To circle back to just the Quignan Mitchell appreciation. Appreciation? Appreciation. Appreciation. Julia. It's about time somebody laughs about. I'm doing this for you so that we can. Use the graphic that you work so hard to create. Oh, come on, come on.
Starting point is 01:15:43 Again, nobody does fake a grief like you. She just laughed at the way you said it. It's okay. You don't have to make it. Into a thing. To circle back to the appreciation of young Quignon Mitchell. Here's what Cooper de Gene said about him. He definitely talks more trash than people realize, and I love it.
Starting point is 01:16:05 He's like a silent assassin because you wouldn't think like talking to him. If you didn't know him, that he'd be the type of guy to go out there and talk trash, but he kind of gets in that mode when he's out on the football field. He's just so locked in and dialed in with so much comments. confidence on the field. He just lets it fly and lets guys know. Good quote, EJ. Great setup. I mean, yeah. Were you there, AJ, when Cooper was talking about how, like, someone asked him if him
Starting point is 01:16:35 and Quinnian had, like, code words for each other? Did I ask it that? Oh, code words for each other? Well, no, like, he said, like, we have certain things we say so we know, like, if we're passing off or out or whatever. Oh, no, I was there. And someone asked, like, does that translate to off the field? Like, do you guys have, like? I asked him something similar.
Starting point is 01:16:52 and he said that they don't have, I mean, at least to me, he said that they don't have a secret language off the field, but I thought in the mic'd up, in the mic'd up, you heard it, you heard of Quinnion asking him about a route, and it did kind of sound like, Oh, that was really cool, up, out, out, or whatever, yeah, he's like out, up out or something, and I thought he was just describing the route, but yeah, I don't know what it was, but Quinnie or Cooper's like, yeah, yeah, like, I don't know, they do seem like they have some code words on the field. Have you, did you guys, not to, this is really, whatever, it's not that off topic.
Starting point is 01:17:22 Did you watch the mic up? Did you hear like Quinyan's like inflection of voice when he like he's like kind of like I can't even do it He's like the really high voice? Yeah, he's like talking like a high pitch voice did you hear this? So I think I deleted the video I got to I'm I have to see if I can find it He one time during training camp the ball like rolls like to my feet and like Quinion runs and grabs it and he used that voice to me It's like I'm gonna have to do it. It's like thank you Thank you.
Starting point is 01:17:53 And I was just like, what a quirky thing for like, you know, the Eagles second year cornerback to do, like to have his voice on the field, but it must be like a thing for him. Like he has like this. Because he does not talk like that off the field. No, definitely.
Starting point is 01:18:07 Not even close. It's like instead of going like Brian Dawkins Wolverine, he's going like Mighty Mouse. Yeah, honestly, yeah. Yeah. The alter ego of Michael. I watch the mic up with Evan. And it's always funny because it's like half,
Starting point is 01:18:20 half beeps. it's like the beeps are there for you but like you oh okay how about this Broncos offense how do you feel
Starting point is 01:18:33 a lot of purposeful motion bringing the motion guy back on routes coming the other way they use mims a lot that way a lot of play action a lot of like naked play action boot and I know
Starting point is 01:18:44 that would get your eyebrows up wouldn't that be great just BG BG was I mean, you want to talk about catching the defense off guard. Just come out on an actual naked bootleg? Yeah. Would they all be naked?
Starting point is 01:18:59 Yeah. No, no, no. You have the quarterback is under center. And you have like the, it's like a 21 personnel. So he's surrounded. You can't really see him. And then you can't realize that as he's underneath the center, he's taking all his clothes off.
Starting point is 01:19:16 And then there comes a naked boot. Wow. You got to get to the line. early. Yeah, you got to get the line early. Yeah. Yeah. So a lot of naked boot. I feel like does eddress yourself? You tell me if this play the naked. If it was just bottomless, so it would be hard to take the shoulder pads off. You wouldn't have time. So if it's just Donald Duck in it bottomless, would you, could you still call it a naked bootleg or would you have to be more prescriptive in the description? Huh. This goes back to which position
Starting point is 01:19:50 would be best off with a tail conversation? Yeah. Which position if one position... I thought I forgot about that. If one of the positions had to be naked, strategically, which player would you have be naked? Fully nude?
Starting point is 01:20:06 Yeah. They get to wear a helmet, though, I imagine. Well, yeah. Okay. This is going to be the second... Why receiver? No, I think it's running back. Definitely running back.
Starting point is 01:20:19 Wait, what? Definitely. No way. Why would you rather be, why would you rather have your wide receiver be naked? Well, because you can, you can send him deep. But he's also, they don't want to cover him too tightly. But the running back, I mean, the running back's going to get, it's going to get in so many pileups.
Starting point is 01:20:37 Like, it's going to get destroyed. People are going to want to touch him. Well, yeah, but he's going to. With the, like, they're going to want to avoid the naked guy. Oh, edge rusher. Ooh, edge rusher is good. Yeah. But they just block him that way.
Starting point is 01:20:51 You know, I could tell you what Devante Smith said in the locker room after today. Like, I could give you some insight about some of the Eagles. I mean, quarterback could be the answer. No. Because if you think about, like, looking guys off with your eyes, I mean, you're looking them off all kinds of ways. It's like a Tuesday show now. I thought Thursday was the exposed bone show.
Starting point is 01:21:21 Oh, man. Oh, man. All right. We did see the run defense make some improvements. Yeah, for sure. And, you know, it would be really hard to be serious here. The run defense hasn't been great so far. Within the Tampa game, I thought it was good.
Starting point is 01:21:40 Like Tampa ran the same runs, like, you know, run. Every team does this. Like, they run the same runs, like, throughout a game. And it seemed like the first time the Eagles saw a run, they didn't know exactly how to fit it or somebody made a mistake or whatever. Tampa ran like the split counter run. They got eight yards the first. time, two yards the second time. They were ready for it. They ran counter with two pulling
Starting point is 01:21:59 tight ends. Got 15 yards the first time. Three the second time. That happened near the end of the game as well where they just had hat on a hat. They got, you know, like seven yards on a duo run, only one on the very next play. I think the Eagles are quick to adjust on defense in general. So much quicker than the offenses. Like, Fangio is so good at that. The other, you can tell, like, the position coaches are so good at that where they're not going to get beat twice by the same thing, right? And so you see, like, and so you see, like, like a mistake that they make giving up that long touchdown, you know, like the one that Makuba gave up, for example.
Starting point is 01:22:31 Like, you just know that they're going to fix those things. And so I think, like, some of the stuff, like the problems against the run, some of its personnel, but a lot of it is stuff that I think will get fixed. So, I don't know. Are you worried about, like, that continuing to be a thing, like giving up runs? I'm less worried about that, I would say. Yeah. I mean, right, right now the numbers.
Starting point is 01:22:50 Specifically their edge defenders are not great run defenders. Yeah, no, that's true. Nolan Smith. Without Nolan Smith for sure. Yeah. That's part of it. And that would be one of the arguments for occasionally maybe taking one of those guys off the field and putting a linebacker there. But again, I don't know if that's like something that Fangio would want to do within a structure. E.J. What did Devante Smith say in the locker room? A few things that I found
Starting point is 01:23:12 noteworthy. He was discussing A.J. Brown at the very beginning of his actually funny joke by Zach Berman. Who? Who? The back sermon, as you may remember him. It was a very beginning. It was the very beginning of his media scrum. And as that goes, do you want to go first? Because AJ's opening statement a few days earlier,
Starting point is 01:23:38 DeMonte did not have an opening statement, but he did address AJ's social media posts and all the drama around AJ Brown this week. He said he's a great leader, and I mean probably like most guys on the team, he wants what's best for the team. Things aren't necessarily going our way offensively, and I don't think there's anything wrong with him to want better in that situation.
Starting point is 01:23:58 So very much aligned with AJ Brown on how he sees things. I also found it interesting that DeVante said that there's ups and downs, I think he's how he phrased it, or highs and lows in how he responds to having quiet games. And when asked how he felt after the Bucks game, he said, I'd rather not say. So, yeah, I've definitely found that noteworthy. Was he asked about his relationship with Jalen? Yeah, I actually asked him like what conversations are like. He was because he was like, I think, yeah, basically I was asking him what it's like in the building after a game, after a situation like that.
Starting point is 01:24:37 And he basically said like what's understood doesn't really need to be said in that like they're frustrated. It doesn't necessarily require a big, you know, like come to Jesus moment. It's, I think they are all aware of the state of things. So honestly, like, I wrote this this morning. Like, to me, like the dust has settled on a lot of the drama that stem from the tweet. But the question remains, like, will the Eagles offense run through these guys more than it has? And if it doesn't, where does that leave them? I think that's right.
Starting point is 01:25:11 I think this week-long tweet gate is over. But everything that started it is still there. Yeah. Right. every like a j brown is not he didn't come out and say i'm not frustrated anymore you know devante smith didn't come out and say like yeah we we feel great about the way things are like the frustration is still there it's just a matter of how they address it moving forward and i just really quick i thought you made a good point about like how nick is kind of the one that needs to be able to navigate this
Starting point is 01:25:41 what i wanted to add is that i think it is a tough job if you're absolutely because and specifically because I think you hear him talk about two separate things that are at odds with each other. You hear him talk about taking joy in the wins. Yeah. But then you also hear him talk about like being hard on the team on a Monday to help them improve. And it almost feels like a loss, right? Because you are correcting things as if it were a loss to get where you need to go as a team. Those two things are at odds with each other.
Starting point is 01:26:13 Taking joy in the win and also like having to be. critical of the wins, it's hard to do both of those things. And I think it's especially hard if, I know how this might sound, but it's just, just hang with me here. It's especially hard if 50% of your locker room is going, we're 4 and O. Why? Yeah. And obviously, I think they are all more nuance. This is pretty granular the way I'm presenting it here, but we're 4 and O, we need to take joy in the wins. And the other 50%, you know, you hear from AJ, you hear from Devante, those guys are saying the way that we're playing isn't good enough. You know, obviously the serious team talk like, you know, the goals that we have do not align with the way we're playing.
Starting point is 01:26:56 So I do. I just wanted to, when I heard your conversation on my drive-in, that was like really what struck me. It's like, it is a hard job to figure out the balance between those two things. And you add that onto, you know, the having to put the game plan together and wanting to be able to take a zoom out to reassess whether the identity of your own. team is what you thought it was going to be coming into the season. It's just like, there's not a lot of hours. Yeah. Do all of those things.
Starting point is 01:27:23 Yeah. I mean, I like think about my dad's coaching career and like after a win, they go to Applebee's and they have a good time. Like, you know, having that while also if you're obviously- Always Applebee's? Uh, I think they were, I mean, I wasn't always there. I was, I was young. But I remember some Applebee's trips after wins.
Starting point is 01:27:40 Um, but then, yeah, like the next day, you're watching the film critically. So finding that balance is like probably more challenging. than we give it credit for for a team in a situation like the Eagles. Jay Needs, Peckness, Migrate. Okay. Applebee's, Chili's, T.J. Fridays. Oh, why don't like it to do that? I'm asking him first.
Starting point is 01:27:59 I mean, you just talked for a long time. You know, I'm going to let you think about this because I need to address something that kind of aligns with this. Did anybody notice that Bo thanked literally everybody that was a part of yesterday's show, except for me? Like, thank you, Fran. Thank you, Julia. Thank you, Ethan for the graphics.
Starting point is 01:28:16 Thank you. you know, Francis and Katie. Hey, J. Everybody. Thanks to everybody, except for my co-host. You know what? What's understood? Doesn't need to be said.
Starting point is 01:28:25 Oh, yeah. You know, maybe that's why I was texting Sheel and Sean last night. You know, you've got to go where you feel appreciated. At least he didn't call you my co-host. I got a long find with my co-host. Yeah, my co-host. Yeah.
Starting point is 01:28:41 And Julia. I get along. Do you have an answer? I don't really want to nest any of them. Um, I would... What's that about? I don't know. I don't like big...
Starting point is 01:28:53 You don't have to... I don't like supporting big corporate chains is the main thing. But since you asked, and I don't normally get a Becknest migrate opportunity, I will... To me, this is a clear migrate situation. I haven't been to Applebee's or Chili since I was like 10. So I don't have a great way to distinguish between the two.
Starting point is 01:29:16 TGI Fridays, I think. it was the place I went to for like margaritas at happy hour when I was like in college. They got those at the other places too. Do they? Okay. All right. Well, you need me to step in here? He's a bad job by you. Go ahead. Yeah, I mean, yeah. I'm going to Pek. E.J. was right. It should be. I'm going to peck TGI Fridays. Really? Just because you can get ice cream there. You can, you get by if you're out of TGI Fridays. Interesting.
Starting point is 01:29:39 Nesting Applebee's all day. Oh, man. Applebee's? Well, you have like a history with Applebee's in your family. Like you went there for special. I don't know if I'd be married to my wife if it weren't for Applebee's and like the half-price boneless wings. Yeah. There you go. It was right next to where we worked. We would go there like all the time for half-price apps.
Starting point is 01:29:58 When you're like a high school kid, that is actually good living right there. I agree. On Applebee's getting some chicken bacon, uh, casadies. I think, I think you could make a, you can make a strong case for Applebee's or Chili's. I am, I am flabbergasted that you're not migrating TGI Fridays. CJI Fridays is absolutely the gutter bottom barrel of those choices. Are you getting like pretty mid-barbecue items at Chili's? Because to me, I don't want that stuff.
Starting point is 01:30:23 I don't know. Yeah, I mean, get the same stuff you get at Applebee's. I also am a little scarred because my friends, whenever I send him pictures of my barbecue, he's always like, oh, yeah, that's like a Chili's type thing. It just kills me. He knows what he's doing when he says that. When I lived in Istanbul,
Starting point is 01:30:37 Alan Iverson joined Besiktash in the Turkish League for about half a season. And he lived in my neighborhood. Like, like, their arena and their practice facility was close to where I lived. And I heard him give an interview to, I think it was the Philadelphia Inquirer, about life in Istanbul. And he said that his favorite place to eat in Istanbul was TGI Fridays. Of course. And he said, I didn't realize how good their Philly cheese steak spring rolls were while I was living in Philly. It took me to come to Istanbul
Starting point is 01:31:15 To learn how good the Philly And I was like Every single thing about this is wrong But I thought that that was Like very funny That Alan Iverson's spot in Istanbul Was DGI Friday's and it's the one time I was like maybe we should go to DJI Fridays
Starting point is 01:31:29 Once in a while I'll see if CIFRsen's hanging out See if AI's over there But there's a never saw him There's a Wonder Kid that plays for Bessita Besiktas Bichitas Semi Kulikshai
Starting point is 01:31:38 Semi Kulikshui Your pronunciation of Abal manager guys I know what that is Galatasaray. Well, I mean, I also need some improvement. It was better than Andrews.
Starting point is 01:31:46 Big win over Liverpool this week. Yeah. Yeah. There we go. Is that your team? Yes. My family's team. I had season tickets for years.
Starting point is 01:31:54 Yeah. Okay. Anything else from the locker room, E.J.? Those are the two big things. Sequin spoke after I left. He's been pushing it on the Friday availability. It's like he's like he's counter-programming us or something like that, you know? Yeah.
Starting point is 01:32:09 This is specifically aimed at Danes. This is his retort to a year of you making fun of him during the best year of his career. Also, those in the chat saying that Outback is great. Yeah, Outback is kind of a tier above these in my opinion. You got to know, like, I know my chain restaurants. I like, I'm not a foodie like you. Like, I was a big chain guy until like three years ago. I think I told you, I spent my 21st birthday at an Applebee's.
Starting point is 01:32:41 A lot of margaritas. It really was. What's your go-to Applebee's order? I like the cassadilla burger, but really just boneless ways. When you go on the road, do you find yourself ever at, like, do you make a point to go to like a regional fast food type situation? No, and this reminds me of the time that you embarrassed me in front of all my former colleagues at the Inquirer when we went to the senior bowl and you're like, oh, you got to go to cook at. So I take all of my colleagues to cookout. And again, I'm not a foodie, but some of my former colleagues, they're foodies.
Starting point is 01:33:21 Like, they like good food. And I'm like, both told me about this place called the cookout. And we get there. And it's like $2 chicken wraps and milkshakes. If you want to talk about college living, there is nothing better than a cookout, trade. You didn't frame it as like, this is a good, cheap place to get food. I just thought it was like a good lunch spot. So, like, they were really disappointed to see Jeff McLean's reaction.
Starting point is 01:33:43 That's very funny. That is very funny. He got a milkshake and he's like... Oh, their milkshakes are very good. But they're not milkshakes. They're just, it's just ice cream. Well, yeah. That's what a milkshake.
Starting point is 01:33:54 That's what a milkshake should be. It's like, sick ice cream. That's what a milkshake is. He has a straw and he's just like, what am I supposed to do with this straw? That's very funny. See, I... That's very funny that you took that as like... For it to be very clear.
Starting point is 01:34:10 Like, if people are going to think I'm a snobber or something because of the Applebee's thing, I don't like supporting chains. I love local cheap, like grease joints. Like, I love that. So, you know, McLean's a foodie. Charlie's and Delgo doesn't like that place. Like, like, I think, I think being a foodie and liking places like that, like, definitely go together. Like, you can be a foodie and appreciate $2, you know.
Starting point is 01:34:32 That's a, that's a totally different thing. He, like, will eat, like, a domino's pizza at, like, midnight on the road. That's a little different. Yeah. It's called depression. This is like a Tuesday show We're an hour and 40 minutes into this And we're talking about Domino's pizza
Starting point is 01:34:57 Bojangles Here we go to Bojangles? No, I probably love it How do you feel about Raging Cajuns, though? A Raysian Cajuns, sorry It's good. It's like it's somewhere between Popeye's and Chick-fil-A. Okay.
Starting point is 01:35:14 I was trying to decide if I should say, Chick-fil-A. That's you. We're giving up too much free advertising. Yeah. All right. Well, you've got to close with the uniform stuff probably, right? Eh, just standard. Midnight green on white.
Starting point is 01:35:31 Too much white on the field. Denver's wearing all white, especially both these defense. Both teams have white corners. And the Eagles are wearing white pants and white socks. So is Denver. That shouldn't be allowed, by the way. Like in- In, no, no.
Starting point is 01:35:46 both teams wearing the same color pants. In, like in soccer, like, that's not allowed. Like, you can't wear the same shorts or socks as the other team. In the NFL, they're way too loose about that. You know, it would solve that. The naked bootleg. No pants, yeah. Yeah, there you go.
Starting point is 01:36:02 Okay. It'll be a good game for E.J. Denver plays with a sixth offensive lineman a lot, which means base defense, baby. I didn't get that one in Swooper. How did you feel about the game theory of Franz? You got to sit out the next two items. I loved it.
Starting point is 01:36:19 Loved it. I was so happy about that. Like that, it was, I think it was the first time anyone else has presented a non-standard rules option. You forget about the strip.
Starting point is 01:36:30 Well, okay, I'm not even... And then the penny auction. Yeah, okay, fine. All right, that's true. But I thought, like, like one that involved strategy as opposed to nudity,
Starting point is 01:36:39 first time. And I really liked, no, I have this week's though. Yeah, no, I really, I really like that one. Oh, nice. symmetry on this. He could have gotten, yeah, you guys each got four.
Starting point is 01:36:49 He could have got, he was a little unlucky because the next two items were kind of. Yes. Kind of cheap ones. Yes, I agree. Yeah. Yeah. But E.J. got a half a point shopping in the bargain been last week. So how do you feel about my, my strategy so far?
Starting point is 01:37:05 I mean, you know, those, what is Jordan my letter say? Points don't lie, right? Does he say that? Yeah, he says points don't lie. I mean. I felt like last week was kind of just like recuperating, trying to save up some turkeys, to get a half point out of that. Yeah, I agree.
Starting point is 01:37:24 I was pretty happy with that. No, it was really good. Easy game. A lot of, a huge turkey advantage. DeLine him, can't wait to tell you how well you're doing in Swooper. I think she might have already sent you a note. Those are a huge turkey advantage for next week. Good stuff.
Starting point is 01:37:42 Just a dynamic Friday episode. Thank you, Julia, for making it all happen. you professor for bringing all the stats. Thanks to everybody in the chat. Thanks to everybody here at PHLY. Remember, we will be with you on Sunday. The kickoff show, the halftime show, and the postgame show. Looking forward to it.
Starting point is 01:38:03 Eagles Broncos. We'll have it covered in all different ways. And they'll do it for this episode of the PHLY Eagles podcast. Like, comment, all that's good stuff. We're like four subscribers away from 50,000. Very cool. That's all we got. They are.
Starting point is 01:38:15 And as always, we love you.

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