PHLY Philadelphia Eagles Podcast - Saquon Barkley, Philadelphia Eagles entrenched as Super Bowl contender after Commanding win

Episode Date: November 15, 2024

Take your pick between Jalen Carter, Quinyon Mitchell, Saquon Barkley, Cam Jurgens, Zack Baun, Vic Fangio and a growing list of heroes from the Eagles’ 26-18 win over the Washington Commanders on Thursday Night Football. One day later, we’re here to discuss it all, from the struggling pass game to the dominant secondary and historic season from Saquon Barkley.Join Zach Berman and Bo Wulf in studio before Fran Duffy joins with his early thoughts on the film as the 8-2 Eagles enter the mini bye. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hello, everybody, and welcome to the P. H.LY. Eagles podcast on a Friday afternoon, a day after Friday, Bo Wolf, Zach Berman in studio. And of course, we are presented by the good folks at Bet365. Download the Bet365 app. Use code P.HLY365 when you sign up. Whatever the moment, it's never ordinary. At Bet365, we're going to hear from Fran Duffy in a little bit for his thoughts. He has been in his, in his his cave in his house, just crunching tape, just gobbling it up. And he's going to tell us what he has learned. But before we do that, and after we do that, you know, a little hang sesh, Zach, a little bit of a throwback, both of us on not a ton of sleep. I would imagine you had even less. How you doing? How are you feeling?

I'm more excited to be in the studio with you and Julia. And it actually, as I was driving in, it brought back some memories of our first. So I said this the other day. Our first week here was a Thursday night game, right? Well, week two last year was a Thursday night game. So it was like that quick turnaround that the Eagles had. And so our first day after show was actually like in studio a few hours after the game ended. And it's cool to see how far we've come since then.

And the Eagles now, now eight and two. Eight and two, Super Bowl contenders, Zach, a team that is firing on three of four cylinders, the running offense, the passing defense, and the running defense. Passing offense needs a little bit of work. We can talk about that. A lot of work, I would say. Fair to say. But last night was an impressive performance from the gritty and the grime that Nick Siriani talked about.

But just, I mean, defensively, an absolutely impressive performance. And, boy, is Sequin and Barkley having an a historic C-Sycepherson? You go A historic or N historic? Good question. I like to say A historic, but technically it's supposed to be and historic. But I prefer A before the vowel or B for the consonant. Okay. Well, what I've done to go through our topics today, Zach, I get a little rubric for you.

It's a bit of a tick Bozac. And Joe, Bo, I like this, man. I'm going to give you the three categories. Yeah. And then I just, it's A, B, and C. And you can pick ABC. The three categories are Stork rank. Okay. Sturk rank meaning?

It's like a stack rank. Okay. Luried thoughts. Luried thoughts. Luried thoughts. I try to think like Lurie often, so this is good. Okay. And finally we have Let's Get Into It.

And what's that? It's just big picture conversation. Ah, okay. So let's go with Luried Thoughts B. Luried Thoughts B. How do you think that Jeffrey Lurie feels about the fact that he has a good team, but a team that is identity-wise, a run-first team knowing how he feels about wanting to have a team that is on the vanguard of the passing

offense in the NFL. It's a fair question. I think that he's probably encouraged by the idea that they should be able to pass, like that he's probably the rules do allow it. Yes. Yeah. No, but that the big difference between 2021 and 2024 Eagles is the 2021 Eagles didn't have that component to it. Sure.

They had to do this. So the 2024 Eagles, in theory, should be a team that can beat you any which way. Could beat you on the ground, could beat you through the air. Now, they're not efficient enough through the air to do that at this point. But you would think that a team with A.J. Brown, Devante Smith, Dallas Goddard, with this offensive line with J.1 Hertz, a quarterback, can have. those prolific passing offense games. So if you're operating under the like the premise that Sequan Barkley had last week

that they haven't even scratched their service offensively, I can't imagine Sequant was referring to the running offense, right? So it's probably like there's significant upside from the passing offense. So I think Jeffrey is, first off, happy about eight and two, right, understands that the best path to the Super Bowl is being in content. for the top seed. There's more advantage now than ever before because it's the only team that gets the buy week, right? And the Eagles are in contention for the top seed. And I think he also would probably be encouraged by the idea that they're not playing. Well, unless, you know, there is a chance

that the defense regresses, but that offensively there's another gear for them to go into. You don't want the team that's playing their best ball in October or November. So that there's another gear in December and January that they're going to need to tap into. And I think that was a little bit of the concern, but like back in 2022, the Eagles were so hot. And then they kind of hit that lull, if you remember, around Indianapolis. And it's like, uh, Chicago. Exactly. So you, you, you want to be able to start the peak in December and in the January.

and for the Eagles to be a contender, it's going to have to be with the passing game being better. I think that's right. And it goes to one of the conversations we had on the post-game show last night about this season has been sort of an exercise in patience, I think, for Eagles fans and us who talk about the team every single day,

which is difficult to talk about the team every day and preach patience. But I think you're right that there is hope that this team is 8 and 2 and playing like one of the best teams in the league and they still have room to grow on the most important of those four aspects of the game. Right now, there's no guarantee that they're going to get better. They're going to fix it.

And, of course, you could get better at that while other things drop back. But there is, there is like real untapped upside where if that comes together, this would be the best team in football. Absolutely. And that's the, because the pieces are in place for that to occur. And that's why I think there is a reason to be optimistic. like AJ Brown, Devante Smith, we know what they can be. I have another question about just in general how bullish are you on them getting that together. But just to underscore the point, like they are the most run first team in the NFL based on design runs.

That doesn't even include Jalen Hurts scramble. So it is a little bit against Jeffrey Lurie's, I think the identity he would want the team to have. Then again, you know, he cut the check for Sequin and Barclay. So that is looking pretty good. And this offensive line. and he holds Jeff Stoutland in high esteem. So I think Jeffrey wants to be able to pass, but it's not as if he doesn't think running is important.

He just doesn't subscribe to the idea you need to establish the run, per se. Fair enough. Okay, you're ready for your next? Let's do it. By the way they played in the fourth quarter last night, I think that's how Jeffrey wants to play, be able to run, run, run when the other team. Yeah. And I do like the framing that I believe it was,

a boy, Bill Belichick, who said, like, you know, the mark of a good team is that you have to be able to pass when they know you're going to pass, to run when they know you're going to stop the run, and all that stuff. And so in the fourth quarter, when they know that the Eagles want to run, they have done a very good job at that. Well said. All right. What's your next prompt here? My next prompt.

Stork rank, worry thoughts. Let's get into it. Let's do, let's get into it. A. Do you think this will go down as the best Eagles defense you have ever covered? I have a hard time saying yes. Because, in your time of the beat. Yeah.

They have finished third in defensive DVOA twice. Yeah. They have finished third two times both Super Bowl years, 2002 and 2017. 2009 before your time, they're also third then. But the defense right now might be better than that. I would go 22's defense over this, but just, well, based on personnel. Here we go.

Relitigate, baby. No, no, no. That's relitigate. That's not it. But I would. would say, I think schematically and scheme, like, like, game plan wise, they're better here. I am so impressed with Vig Fangio. And I'm a player's guy.

Like, I always say, we give coaches too much credit often. Or, and too much blames. It's a players game. But I see a team that is so well prepared. Game plans each, each week are sound. Like the way they played, they played Jaden Daniels better yesterday than almost any team in the league has. I don't think that's, and they did it on a short week. I don't think that's a coincidence.

Vic Fangio, he's worth what, he was worth the aggressive pursuit here. That said, I do have a thing for edge rushers. And I thought the edge rushing from that team back in 2022, like Hassan Reddick was so good that year. And the Eagles don't have that. But Jaylon Carter is so good this year. And these corners, like Coyneyeye Mitchell's playing outstanding. So, yeah, I guess there is some anchoring bias here because going into the year, I wasn't sold on the defense.

And I said, like, after the Bengals game, I'm like, all right, I believe these guys. But I didn't look at it as like a top five defense. And now I kind of have to say all three levels are getting production from. Yeah. So, I mean, just go post-by, right? The last five games. The commanders against Eagles had their worst EPA per drive of the season. the Cowboys. Now, obviously, this was their first game without deck for a full time,

but that was their worst game by EPA per drive of the season. Jacksonville was their third worst. Cincinnati was sixth of ten, so still below average, but closer to the middle. And the Giants was their second worst of the season. I mean, since the by the Eagles are just dominating teams, and it is not just the bad quarterback teams. And I think what is impressive, and I mean, you can correct me if I'm wrong, but in 2022, I mean, that pass rush was amazing. But there were a lot of times where they were just sort of feasting late in games and like obvious past situations.

And it wasn't like they were definitively the better unit on that team. Like right now the defense, I mean, Seguan is doing a lot of heavy lifting. But the defense is clearly the better unit on the team right now. I also think there's like it's because it's a little bit different in Philadelphia because it's built a little bit more back to front or at least it is performing a little bit back to front, it's different than what we're used to. I think it's a lot of fun. I think this defense is more fun to watch than that 2000.

I don't know. I mean, that 2002 defense, you had Hassan and sweat on the edges. Like they were driven. But it was basic. Yeah, but it was, it was player driven. Like Hartgrave was awesome. All of their players were awesome. Exactly.

No doubt about it. But it was very much like, we're just going to line up. We're going to play a very static style in this like basic zone defense and we're just going to beat you man on man. I think this is a little bit more, a little bit more fun. I think this team is a little bit one to 11, a little bit more physical, a little bit more violent. Well, that's, it's interesting you say that because, you know, Siriani for as, as much as like he gets mock sometimes, if you listen to what he says, it's, it's like the message that he's often delivering to the team. And he's so insistent now on this concept of like toughness and physicality.

And our identity is is being physical. But really the team is playing that way, right? There is, it's like on my piece on all phti.com, I kind of referenced that because I kept hearing it in the locker room. Like Jordan Myelot, I kept saying, you know, like the will of this team and players talking about the toughness that they have and that the fact that they're the more physical team every week. This is, this is the mess. And you're seeing that on the defensive side. and Zach Bond encapsulates that for now. I also think from a fan perspective,

this is a little bit more fun group because it is more homegrown and 22 is a little bit more mercenary. You bring in Bradbury and boy, he's awesome, but he was awesome other places. Yeah, like, you know, now Reddick is a little different because he's from here.

He sort of made him your guy. But yeah, he was like, you know, you've got a first and a second round pick who are playing awesome. You know, you've got Nicobie Dean who was finally looking like a good player, same with Nolan Smith. you know, even C.J. Garner Johnson now had been here before.

It's a little bit more like these are our guys, I think, as opposed to 22. That's a really good point. And it's also a younger group. So there's a little bit more long-term hope. Yeah, absolutely. And it's, you know, we'll have enough time to talk about it. Jamie asked me today about a potential bond contract. And I know we're getting a friend, but the quick point.

But the quick point that I made that I think is worth considering. considering is I understand the Eagles historical investments in linebackers, but what's different with the cap allocation going forward is the fact that they hit on corners means you're not going to spend as much at that position. So you might be able to redistribute some of that the caps that the cap space, the linebacker if you want. Oh, interesting. Yeah, that's fair. All right. Give me a stork rank A, B, or C. Where do you want to go? Stork C. Stork C. Okay. Rank the likelihood of these three. three people still being with the Eagles in 2025. Okay. And we just talked about one of them. Zach Bond, Jake Elliott,

Kellyn Moore. All good questions. I would still put Jake Elliott number one. I agree with that. Under contract for a lot of money. Yeah, it's also like prohibitive to cut it. Yeah, exactly. And sort of locked in.

And there's equity bill for him. It would have to keep on good. I think it would be pretty short-sighted to. Yeah. I would probably go Cowan, too, because he's under contract and you have to get, you know, like, there's a chance. If you're Zach Vaughn, you're like, why am I signing a team-friendly deal? You know, I mean, I'm playing great. I'm going to hit the market. And I'm going to force you to pay linebackers, right? But it, so I would say Zach Bonn would be the priority of those three.

But it'd probably be, if you're just projecting it. there's more uncertainty there because he is, he's the only one not under contract beyond this season. Yeah, I think that's probably fair. Do you think there's any path toward Kellen Moore not returning? If, like if Nick and Vic both return and they move on from? No, no, it would have to be he gets a head coaching job somewhere else. Okay.

We have a super chat from our benefactor, CDP, who says, Siriani is tied for second in regular season wins in the Lurie era. Is Nick actually a good coach, or is he a dumb donkey with a good O-Line? Yeah, I mean That's CDP's work We've had this conversation a number of times

I stand by this You can say all right, I'm in I'm in the can for Siriani That's not what it is Simply his job is to win games And he wins games at a real At an like an incredible rate And he's going to have to do it in the postseason

Like his if they're if they have this great season And they lay an egg in the postseason That that changes the equation but Nick wins, his players respond to him. I think it's, I don't know what's going on here. Nick, I'll just say this. The players play for Nick. Nick keeps winning three years in a row with a start of eight and two,

of at least eight and two. We'll see what happens with the Chargers, but as of now, the second highest winning percentage of any active coach, he wins a lot of games. And I don't think you back into that. This isn't a Barry Switzer situation. I mean, literally two and a half minutes ago, you said, I'm all about players over coaches.

You know, they have a pretty loaded roster. Sure. It's not just him. I mean, they play for him is a very low bar. I'm not. But it's a binary question. Is he a good coach or is he a donkey with a good offensive line? And I don't think he's a donkey with a good offensive line.

That's fair. So, yeah, I think there's a lot of middle ground in the Nick. Sure. conversation. I don't know if we need to make the whole show about that today. I think there are a lot of things. The passing offense is a real problem. And if you don't think that he is responsible for that,

it matters that you have an offensive head coach who has no say in the passing offense and the team doesn't trust him to have a say there. And if he is involved, it's not good. And the stuff that he that is under his purview that we actually know is or his purview is the in-game management stuff, and that continues to be a real issue, and we will get to that with one of the later questions. If I can just ask you,

I don't know if you heard Jason Kelsey in WIP this week, but he asked, like, why is Dan Campbell, like, praised for all this, for the same, for the same responsibilities that Nick Seriani has, you know, setting, like, the culture, making it. And, like, Campbell, it's, you know, he makes these, these bold decisions. He runs, you know, he runs the fake punt, but this team plays really hard. They win game for him.

and it's like you have this Dan Campbell identity. It's a fair question. I think there are a few answers to that. One is that that was the job Dan Campbell was hired to do. Nick Siriani was demoted into this job, right? He was in charge of the offense, and that was taken away from him. So that's one of it. Two is that I think Dan Campbell's actual decision-making in game is much more consistent than Nick's is.

That said, Nick gets credit for the culture that they have in the building. There's no doubt about that. But I think that is an actual difference between the two of them. What's the, I try looking at up, I forget it offhand. What's the fallacy of like you judge it based on the way someone looks? You know, like if someone seems, no, there's you, I'm not making this, in the politics, you hear this sometimes in like, you know, this person looks presidential or this person, this person looks senatorial, right?

I wish you wouldn't bring that up. No, no, but I'm saying. So my point is Is that sometimes with Dan Campbell It's like he looks like You know he looks like football coach You know he says and I think there's that's a I don't know if that's it

I mean people talk about Nick being like Nick's personality on the sideline And and he looks like you know You keep hearing he looks like a clown out there And I mean the players respond The players respond It's that simple people in the building think that too I mean it's not a that's not a

It's not a made-up thing. Okay. Because there's a way that a head coach is supposed to look and sound, right? And act. We don't need to make this the Nick, the show. I mean, the team is coming off their best one in the season. We don't need to get into this. Let's take a quick break.

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Nobody does the film better than our man, Fran Duffy, who's in his cave. He has emerged. He's unshowered. He's just stinking of Vic Fangio. Fran, how you doing? Oh, he doesn't, he doesn't feel camera ready. He's, he's just. No, it's, it's part of a film guy the day after.

Yeah, he hasn't showered. He's all greasy. He's greasy Neil over here. He's, he's got just, you know, potato chips hanging all over his body. You see that? You see that? Yeah.

He dozes off. He sees cover three in his eyes when he dozes off. How you doing, Fran? Doing all right. I'm not. Just you going off like that reminds me of the, the Fran Brown quote from this week, the Syracuse head coach that he does not shower after losses. Because he, you know, the only, only winters wash.

Yeah, it's a zero-sum shower count for Syracuse grads. If Zach gets to three, Fran Brown's not allowed to have one. You're just got to pick up his slack. All right, Fran. Would you like to start with the defense? Let's start with the defense. The defense has been so awesome. You said last night, before we signed up on the postgame show,

the thing you were most excited to watch was Quinyon Mitchell. So you did it. How impressive was it? What were your takeaways from Quinyon Mitchell against Terry McLaurin? Terry McLaurin. The next-gen stats said 20 snaps. of the two of them going up against each other, no targets on those 20 snaps.

Yeah, I mean, it was really good. I think when you look at Quinnian Mitchell, the fluidity and the instincts and coverage all show up, the Eagles played a ton of zone in the game last night. And it was, I was interested to see like, okay, or are they going to throw anything special at Shaden Daniels? Were they going to mix up coverages? Were they going to disguise those looks pre-snap and change?

I mean, honestly, they just went out and they said, we're going to execute our game plan. It's a short week. We're not going to put anything in crazy. Let's just go out and just play and do what we do. And they did it at a high level. You know, on third down, they played some quarters. They played some cover two.

They played some cover one at times. But, I mean, they didn't go nuts in terms of, you know, mixing things up and disguising. So I think when you look at Quinyon in this game, I wouldn't, like, the thing is, the numbers of the numbers. They were outstanding. And he did a great job of taking McLaren away early in the progression for Jaden Daniels a number of times. It was a ton of zone, but it's not like they gave him a lot of help. The only time I saw like a designated double team, ironically enough, was on the final play of the game.

They did a bracket coverage down in the goal line on the touchdown of Zach Kurtz. But outside of that, I mean, they gave him no help when it came time to go up against Terry McLaren. I said on Anthony's show this morning that the way Jaylon Carter played because he was outstanding. You guys discussed that on the postgame show. But it's the type of thing that you can only fully appreciate by watching it. The statistics don't necessarily show like how dominant of a performance it was, played every snap. When you went back and watched the film

on Jalen Carter, what stood out to you? And was there a point in the game when you saw Jalen Carter pointing directly in your direction for doubting him over the course of the last week? First of all,

all I said last week was that he was not, he did not, how exactly did I phrase it? I think I phrased it that I think it's fair to say that he has not been as dominant as what, yes. Yes,

said that before the game, I said it was that it's fair to say that he was not as dominant as what our preseason expectations were consistently throughout the year. But every game, he had these wow moments, right? And so I think that, I think that's fair. I mean, he was excellent against the New Orleans. Yeah, we talked about in the summer. Our expectations going into the season, where a borderline defensive player of the year level season. Like, what we saw last night was what we expected. Look, it's tough to expect that every single week from a second year player, right? But you expected to see that more often than not. And we haven't seen it more often than that, which perfectly fine. It's not that he's a bad player, but he's still been the best player on the

defense. Yes. Yes, exactly. So I think when you look at Carter, what you saw last night, I mean, he played every snap, as Zach pointed out at like 530 this morning, ZB, I don't know how you did that, getting up that early to sweet the snap counts out. But when you look at Carter, he played every single snap. He was outstanding against the run. He was disruptive against the pass. He had three quick pressures in the game, which was the highest that he's had, and the next gen stats defines a quick pressure as a pressure in under two and a half seconds.

Now, I went back and I looked and I was like, all right, like, what was his getoff time? It was actually over the course of the game, he had his slowest getoff time at the season, average getoffs,

but look, he played every snap, so that's to be understood. I can't believe he played every snap. That's insane. I've never seen a D-Line in my time covering team do that. Yeah. So he played every snap.

The average get-off time was down, but again, there were a number of these snaps where he's like, flying off the ball. And we even saw it when we were watching the game last night during the watch long. A number of times were like, man, the D-line is just flying out of their stance. So I went and I just looked at his like average time to pressure. And it was one point seven seconds flat. And I was like, holy cow, like that is that is like really insanely fast, one point seven seconds. So I just went and I

looked and I said, all right, for defensive tackles that have had at least three quick pressures this season, there have been 29 times this year where a defensive tackle has had that many quick pressures in a game. The previous low in terms of like average time to pressure was 2.03 seconds. That was Christian Wilkins. One point seven. I mean, you're talking point point three seconds there. That is a huge amount of time, a huge disparity between number one and number two. He was flying off the ball. I would say most of his wins came against the center or the right tackle. He, I would say Cosme was able to get him in pass protection more often than not. Now, obviously he had that one win against Cosme earlier that helped set up the sack for Josh.

sweat. But overall in this game, Jalen Carter, that was what you expected, especially in these crunch time games and these big high leverage moments. He came through in a big way. Did Washington do anything different? Was he double teamed at a lower rate last night than he was the past few weeks? Or was it just Jalen Carter's level of play? Yeah, I can look as we're talking and try and see what the double team rate was over the course of this, over the course of this game. But I I mean, he was, in terms of like the run, they didn't do anything in particular to say, all right, we have to take out Jalen Carter. You know, they went out and, you know, basically they ran their offense.

They actually, they were able to create some, some really efficient runs. I mean, Robinson had a really nice day. I think that Zach Bond got sucked in a couple times in terms of his gap responsibilities at times in this game. So he was able to, let's see, okay, so he was doubled 40% of the time. actually that was one of the lowest rates of the season for Jayla Carr. Yes, that was the third lowest rate of the season so far. So the New Orleans Saints only doubled them on one third of the snaps, 33.3. And it was actually the same exact for the Cincinnati Bengals game, 40%.

So all the other games were higher than that. So yeah, the Washington commanders clearly came into this and said, you know what? Sam Cosby's playing in an all pro level. We're going to leave Sam Cosby one-on-one with Jaylon Carter and feel uncomfortable with that. And look, in pass protection, Cosme held up pretty well. I would say Cosmy probably had more wins against Carter over the course of the entire game. But obviously, Carter was able to be disruptive more often than not. What about just generally the defense overall, Vic Fangio's plan coming into this game?

You told us that they sort of kept it relatively simple in their zone defenses. What did they do to corral Jaden Daniels, especially with his legs? Yeah, I thought that the defensive line did a really good job of just making sure that they were disciplined with the rush lines. And when they weren't, they were able to make up for it with guys just being able to make tackles. I mean, you remember the play early on, the second third down of the game where Jalen, Jaden Daniels is able to step up and Nicopi Dean is able to make that tackle one on one

on third and three, third and four for a two-yard gain and get off the field, right? So you saw those a number of times. I would say Jaden Daniels, you know, he probably had one of his worst games to the season. He had a few misses, especially down the field that have been uncharacteristic. There was one play where Noah Brown actually beat Darius Slay. on like a deep crossing route. Beat him at the top of the route. It was a really nice route from Noah Brown.

And Jaden Daniels threw it low and behind Noah Brown. And so you saw those kind of uncharacteristic misses there from Jaden Daniels over the course of the day. But overall, I thought the defense did a really good job of just making sure we're going to pinch everything in. We're making sure that we're not going to let him outside. You know, Dana is brought up the point of Josh Schlett. You know, sometimes he can get a little bit nosy. And there were times where I was like, oh, my, here he comes. he's going to cheat a little bit too far inside,

but it was like there was a little fairy on his shoulder and said, no, no, no, get back outside, Josh. And they did a nice job. You think it was Danis? Making sure that he didn't let him outside. What's that happened? You think it was Danes? Might have been.

It might have been Dana's in up in his seat, just making sure that he was whispering and Josh sweats here. What's the most impressive things Zach Bond did on tape? I mean, the fourth downstop was awesome. He did an outstanding job on that play. Obviously, the finish was big, but, you know, he's buzzing out into the flat on that play. because he's wrong.

Jaden, I was wondering what the play call was. And obviously with the bumbled snap, they kind of threw it off a little bit. But it looked like they were trying to run where it was just going to be a basically a QB keeper off of play action where they were going to fake the run to the left. And then Jane Daniels was going to roll right

with no intention of throwing and actually was just going to run it for himself. Not even an option to throw. I don't think so because it looked like Noah Brown was going to block the whole time. So I think it was going to be a QB keeper the entire way. But they were trying to sell like it was. going to be passed. So Bond is buzzing out. Did a great job of, again, like playing contain, okay, outside in, outside in.

And he had to kind of tow that line of, you know, making sure that I'm being judicious in coverage. But I also want to be aggressive to try and make sure I make this tackle and don't let Daniels run for the first. And he did an outstanding job there. Blankichick did a great job of stringing that out. I love, I love it. That was awesome.

Yeah, just a full team effort. It was big time, certainly, on that one. I think Nolan Smith is a guy, I thought, really popped on film a number of times. Obviously, he had that sack. the range he showed in the run game and in the screen game. The screen defense was once again really good in this game. It has been over the last few weeks. And so you're seeing defensive Lyme and chase downfield.

The mistackles certainly popped up, especially in the first half. I know Nick Siriani talked about that in the post game yesterday. I think when you look at that, that's probably the one area where the coaches would not be happy overall in this game. But outside of that, you've got to be thrilled with the way that they performed it against what was one of the most explosive offenses in the game. all right let's talk about the offense yeah we'll talk about the run game first let's let's keep it positive you are so excited just as excited as the offensive line was after the play when they ran

those back-to-back plays to Kenny gainwell in the fourth quarter explain why well because there are so much it's like when when those plays hit they are like as pretty as it can possibly be like it's poetry and motion and for me just seeing that that trap play which you know how to a staple. Like the Eagles, what's that? What are the plays? Yeah. So they ran the tackle trap play where basically you're inviting the defensive tackle up the field because no one's blocking the defensive tackle. And then you have Lane Johnson coming from the backside to block him just basically like earhole him. And Lane comes from a long ways away and he's able to create that seal. Gainwell gets up to the

second level because nobody blocks the defensive tackle. The two guys that are in front of that defensive tackle are able to get up right away to the linebackers. Right. So they are unencumbered up the second level and that keeps Kenny Gainwell cleaning. As long as you can escape that first level of the defensive line, now you're home free. And he goes for 14 yards. And then they come back with another version of that play is called the WAM play, where instead of it's being a tackle that's coming and blocking the defensive tackle, it's a tight end. So you have Dallas Goddert, he's going to block the defensive tackle this time. You've got everybody else getting up to the second level of the defense. And just hitting those plays back to back again, this was,

this has been a staple for the Eagles for a long time. Miles Sanders hit some explosive plays. Jordan Howard hit explosive plays. Corey Clement, Jay-I-Ji. I mean, they've been running these for a long time under Jeff Staltern. And so it was, I was texting with somebody today. It was like, man, it feels so good to see the wham and the trap back in the Eagles playbook. It's like seeing an old friend for the first time in a long time.

It was fun for me. Just seeing that last night, that's why I got so excited watching it with you, Bill, because I was like, man, they haven't run it yet this year. And we just, I know Dane is. It just said it on the show a couple weeks ago. Like, yeah, they used to run this. this wham trap and they haven't done it yet. And I was, I had been waiting for it and they busted out just the right time.

If I can ask a follow up to that, I know you're not calling the plays, but you do have a good beat on kind of the way coaches think. So the players were saying afterwards they kind of kept that in their back pocket for that situation. What situation calls for it? Is it based on the down and distance? Is it based on the time of the game? Is it based on certain looks they might have done earlier in the game? And what would be the impulse for kind of keeping it for a certain situation?

Well, you know, Zach, you don't like when coaches say that there are, sometimes it's good to be predictable. And it's like, all right, if the defense feels like they have a beat on what we're going to do, you know, over the course of the game, you saw that Washington was getting really aggressive with their slants against the Eagles zone rushing attack where they, you know, the guys just flying up the field, crossing face of Cam Juergens or Mike Becht in and just disrupting those zone runs. there were a lot of plays in this game where it was like man like if this one block hit this would have gone for a nice chunk but instead it went for one player or one yard or two yards or three yards and so you could feel throughout the game right Washington kind of has a beat on it and so again they're really aggressive getting upfield the trap play and the wamp play it's a great way to combat that aggressiveness you're praying into it and and you know just basically sucking them in to then just get the running back out the back door all right fran it's time now for our Ace Hardware Temperature Check. We're going to check in on which part of the Eagles team is heating up or cooling off with our Ace Hardware Temperature Check. Visit Ace Hardware Home Services online at www.com to get started on your next project. So, Fran, let's talk about the one part of this game for the Eagles. That was disappointing, and that was the Eagles passing game, not their best performance

against what should have been an advantageous matchup. what stood out to you from what was not working for for the eagles yesterday you know what honestly like after watching it this i just finished it at two o'clock so like 40 minutes ago as the show ended as the show was starting was that when i watched take one barclays a long touchdown so sitting back and i mentioned earlier that about the run game and i was like man they there were some missed opportunities where if this block happens or that block happens this is going to be an explosive play instead of it going for two or three yards I kind of felt the same way about the past game.

And it wasn't a thing where I was like, man, like, Jaylen Hertz just didn't have to have a good game. I actually don't think that Jaylin played that poorly. I think that there was, look, the low point for me was that sack that he took where he stepped up and he had Devonte on the shallow crosser. That ball's got to come out. He was a pretty clean pocket. If he doesn't try and escape and try and run through it, he doesn't run right into that sack.

I think he thought he could just scramble for it, right? I think so. I think he thought that, hey, it's third and three. third and four like i'm just going to try and run for this but i mean uh devante smith is running into daylight you know that he probably he takes that for not just the first down but for a really explosive play you know and look he he had a couple misses in the game there was the miscommunication with a j brown and and bow you nailed that when you got back uh at halftime you said that that was a that was that looked like a miscommunication on the broadcasting i couldn't tell if it was like if that was a

bad throw or a miscommunication and yeah you you were exactly right it was absolutely he thought that a j was going to start retreating back towards the line of scrimmage and AJ instead was working up the field. And so the broadcast made it look like it was a worse throw than it actually was. Honestly, like, I didn't think a lot of his checkdowns were poor decisions. I didn't think a lot of his scrambles were poor decisions in this game. I think that overall, like you had guys running into each other. You had guys slipping on the route. There were a number of plays, honestly, where I was like, yeah, I'm not sure. Like, Jaylin hits the top of his drop. I'm not sure where he's supposed to go with this ball if this guy's not open.

And like there wasn't a lot of like clear like true progression reading from that standpoint. Now that could be something where maybe he makes a wrong pre snap read. And so he should have started here instead of there, you know, based off the leverage or based off the coverage. And those are things that obviously we don't know on the outside. But too often I felt like he hit the top of his drop. I'm like, all right.

Like that first read's not there. The second read's not there. I'm okay with him throwing the throwing this checkdown or I'm okay now where he's going to, he's going to break out of the pocket. I'm okay with him not throwing that throw in the middle of the field. So overall, I actually felt a little bit better about the day. And honestly, like, the Eagles should have won this game going away, guys. To me, like, when I look at so many of the mistakes that this team made offensively,

this should have been, like, Kenny Pickett should have been in the game late in the fourth quarter. That's how this game should have gone if you take into account some of the mistakes this team made. Certainly the missed field goals playing to that, but, I mean, they shouldn't have even gotten to that point with some of the points they left on the board. So specifically with the passing game being stagnant in this game, if it's not Jalen, was it offensive schematic design or was it just good defense from the commanders? A little bit of both. I think obviously you always look at the way that the defense was able to deploy their guys and try and take things away.

They tried dialing up some bigger plays down the field. There were just a number of plays from like, yeah, I didn't love this design or I didn't love this play. You know, we get back to like the things we talked about last week against the Dallas Cowboys where it was a lot of like that iso ball mentality of, all right, we're just going to ask these guys to win and we're not going to try and, you know, craft anything up to, to create separation on their own. You know, they tried that, the shot, the shot play downfield for Devante Smith, off the, the faking the bubble screen and then trying to work him down the sideline, Washington swallowed it up.

They took that throw away. And there were just a couple plays like that where, you know, they had some things dialed up for down the field. Washington sits on it. And it's like, all right, like, if there's no other option for Jaylin to go with the football, he ends up throwing it away. And so when we're sitting there watching, we're like, man, like, how is there nothing open down the field?

There was nothing there. I just felt like Jaylin actually in this game overall, I didn't think he made that many poor decisions with the football. But there was a clear difference, at least statistically, between the first half and the second half with Jalen. The ball was on the ground a lot in the first half. It was his most incompletions of the season. In the first half, he was eight of nine in the second half.

The passing efficiency was much better now. I know the Seekwan play kind of skews those numbers in Jalen's favor, and that was more Saquan than it was Jalen, you know, with the yards after the catch. but did you see adjustments that they made going into the second half? Obviously, we saw the running game, but the passing game was much better too. But what did they do differently in the second half? Yeah, I thought that we saw, you know, there was a couple under center play action boot plays

where, you know, Jalen was it, basically he's rolling to his right or rolling to his left and just, you know, very decisively, all right, like, I'm going to throw this ball to the flat. Easy throw, not a lot of thinking involved. And to me, you know, when you look at what this offense can be in terms of all the reads that, you know, especially like the, how much RPO and how much zone read you put on the quarterback. I've heard a lot of quarterbacks say this in the media over the course of the last few years as RPO's has become more prevalent, that even though that's a run, you know, that can be a run play play play. It still requires like a lot of thinking for the quarterback. And it's like, you know what, just give them some handoffs or even some of these play actions, these play action boots where it's just, there's not a lot of thinking involved.

You can almost like give your mind like a little bit of a respite, like a little bit of a break, you know, mid drive as instead of just having to make these calls. time after time after time. And so just working more of those easy button throws it in, I think it's beneficial. One thing I thought that, you know, I actually wrote down a little bit as well. You know, there was the, I want to say it was a 15-yard completion to A.J. Brown on a slant route.

I think it was in the second quarter. It might have been the third quarter where it was a first and 10 slant route. And it was an RPO. And you could see the linebackers come straight up, they fly downhill. And it occurred to me, like, as this team has become more, you know, leaning into the, into the run game on early downs, we haven't really seen like the RPO game

become like a hugely prevalent with this offense and I wonder if that's something that they can start to lean into a little bit more and it goes against what I just said about the how the RPAs can be tasking for the quarterback at times but just because it just can it can give you a little bit of space in terms of the past game if those linebackers are going to be that aggressive coming downhill and that's the thing Washington they were a little bit different with how they were playing against the run in this game

they were absolutely worried about stopping the Eagles rushing attack on early downs with loaded boxes, bringing guys up to the line of scrimmage. That is not what Dan Quinn defenses have typically looked like. They were putting Louvo down in the line of scrimmage. They had chin down in the line of scrimmage. They were playing with five and six-man fronts at a higher rate than what I've seen from Dan Quinn, certainly this season. And so if teams are going to take that mentality, then the Eagles are going to have to start

making them pay, you know, whether that is with the RPO or if it is downfield, getting back into making some of those throws on early downs. If they're going to dare Jalen hurts to pass, they have to take advantage of some of those opportunities. All right, Fran. We look forward to the more extensive recap on all-P-H-O-Y.com. That's coming, what, this weekend? Yeah, it's coming this weekend.

Maybe Monday more day. Yeah, if not just on Monday. Okay. And then we will talk to you, of course, next week on the show. Make sure you shower up now that you finish the film. Shows are good. Winters wash. So we'll see how that goes.

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rest of the league by hiring Vic Vanjio away from Miami. Yeah, I think he's probably like this was, you know, Vic really wanted to come to this organization. That's what he says. Do you think that's really what he thinks? Jeffrey? Yeah. Oh, yeah.

I mean, it's like he got, he got Vic to leave Miami to come to Philly. You know, it's probably, you know, in Jeffrey's eyes, it's like it shows the type of organization that he has that people want to come work here. I was thinking about this actually from a Howie standpoint of like it, it is fun to sort of make fun of Howie for the Zach Bond thing. Like he brings Vic this guy as an edge rusher, special teams team, and then Vic turns him into the best inside linebacker and football. But I do think it is fair to say that like Howie deserves credit because he wanted Vic all along.

And it's easier to say, well, he wanted Vic all along. But one of the things that we know that Howie's very good at is these like inside the relationship, inside the league relationships. He built this thing up. It's part of the reason they were so mad at Gannon. Like they thought they had Fangio. waiting in the wings. And to be fair, this has been Vic Van Joe's best defense of the past since,

since at least that Bears team, the double doink year, right? So they have also given him the infrastructure to succeed in addition to him overperforming expectations. Also, the Bond thing has become like a Howley Punch Line during the past week, but how he brought Bond to him. That's what I'm saying. Yeah. Like Bonn wasn't this guy who everyone was going after.

So he did identify talent, whether it was from the Saints tape or the Cowley. scouting report the idea that he had bond says something okay next up uh let's what's what's the third category driving crazy let's get into it let's let's let's get into it a you already did a hey let's go see let's get into it how much of an issue do you think the not getting the ball to devante smith is i think it's an issue i think it's an issue because i think it's something devante cares about i think that you know we talked about it on the show we're all here this week i keep saying last week because i'm so conditioned to thinking that like the games the weekend um but Every week is a season.

Yeah, AJ, you know, there's this idea that, like, AJ Browns, the, I'm using air quotes for the audio listeners, Diva wide receiver, right? And AJ will, call him, you call him Devante a Diva? No, but like, AJ said, like, Devante asks for the ball more than I do. And, like, Devante will tell you he does ask for the ball. And Devante, I have this, I have all the numbers on. I mean, three of the last five games, he has fewer than 30 yards receiving. And if you just look at his statistical production, you know, or his, efficiency numbers, like his receiving

success rates the highest it's been, his catch percentage is the highest it's been. So he's been productive before this game. I didn't look at it today, but before this game, in terms of when the ball came to him, and pre-buy, he was getting the ball a lot and he was really good with it.

Post-by, he's been the one who's kind of getting hit the most with the way the offense has changed. So I do think it's something that they have to be cognizant of. Yeah, pre-buy in four games. He tops 60 yards in all four games. And then post-by, yeah, he's been under 30, three of the five games.

You got to get him the ball. That birthday cake looked good, by the way. You think so? Oh, yeah, I'm a big birthday kick guy. I thought you were ice cream over everything. Well, it's not either or with that. I'm baked goods over candy. Okay.

Candy you don't like. Yeah, I don't like candy. But give me that birthday cake with a vanilla icing. It's probably freshly made. Peckness migrate, fresh birthday cake, fresh cookie, your favorite ice cream? Well, cookie, I'm always nesting the cook. I'm always nesting the cooking.

Cookie number one? Yeah, I'm pecking the ice cream and I'm migrating the cake. But yeah, I love a good cake. How many subscribers would it take? Would it have taken if you had known ahead of time for you to have asked Devante for a slice of cake? I didn't see Devante last night, but yeah, I mean, if you had, well, there's a journalistic. That's what I'm saying. What's the price?

I would not do it. But if there was like, if the janitorial staff was like throwing out the cake and, you know, and I'd be like, hey, that's a really good cake. Would you have pulled a Costanza and pulled it out of the trash? Well, it depends. If it's in the box, then yeah. Then yeah, I might have, you know. All right.

Let's go with Stork Rankings A. Okay. is the big one. Okay. Moving forward, this team is 8 and 2, evaluating them on a, on a can they win the Super Bowl level, what of these three things is the biggest concern or rank the biggest concerns for you moving forward? The state of the passing game, Nick Siriani's in-game management and decision making, and then the usage rates for guys like Sequin Barkley, the touches that he's getting, the snaps that Jalen Carter is getting, are they, are they front loading a little bit too much?

I would probably go with A, the passing game. You think that's the biggest concern? Yeah, because it just needs to be much better, I think, in order to be Kansas City or Baltimore or Buffalo or Detroit, Detroit, yeah. And look, San Francisco might even go on a run for all we know. I mean, losing IUC hurts them. But I think, you know, the Eagles, they're playing really well.

obviously they're 8 and 2, but it's not like they're scoring into the 30s. And how many times in recent weeks have the sentiment that Fran shared a few moments ago where like they should have won this game like in a blowout? This should have been gain well in the fourth quarter. And it's like this is, it's becoming a pattern. And it's because look, for as impressive as that fourth quarter looked, they did not have a touchdown in the first three quarters of the game. That is bad.

Like we're talking about the Jake Elliott misses because they weren't conversive. converting in the red zone. They weren't converting on, you know, they, they stall drives late. And so, uh, you can't have empty possessions when you're trying to win, you know, the last Super Bowl was an example. You can't have empty possessions to win a Super Bowl. Hmm. And then what's number two? Usage rates or Siriani? Probably usage rates, uh, because these guys are playing at such a high level. And, you know, if, if you're getting 60% or if you're getting 60% of what you have from, say, then that that affects things if you're getting 60% of what you get from jail and Carter that affects things now I think in say in Saqon's case like the passing game can compensate for you know your but in jail and Carter's case uh there's there's not like another blue chipper coming on on that defensive line yeah that's fair and then yeah decision making I I mean I frankly think like Nick needs

Nick needs to make sure he keeps his his his foot on the pedal I don't think Nick coached the Super Bowl well. We discussed it. I think he was too conservative. What did you think of his decisions last night? How did you, the end of the first half sequence? I'm sorry. So Quinn calls the timeout. They've got, you know, they've got first and go from the nine. They run it. They call time out. And they don't let the clock run down. Yeah. And then they run it again. I did not like that. And then on third down, jailing gets sacked. Yeah. Now, I don't, I think the discussion of whether they should have gone for it on fourth down.

It's kind of moot because that's the play where Jalen got hurt and checked for a concussion. So you shouldn't be going for that anyway. Yeah. And I think it was fine to kick that field goal as much as I would usually lean towards going for it. But I didn't, I mean, the clock management there was bad. Like they gifted Washington the chance to get a field goal at the end of the half. I agree. Yeah.

I did not like that. I remember in real time I did not like that. I think the way that I think about it is that like the passing game is a bigger concern in general, like in terms of are they going to get to where they want to go in the playoffs? But I think the Siriani stuff is more likely to come back to bite them when it matters because it's almost like if the passing game improves enough, they're going to be fine. And if it doesn't, they're not going to make it to the NFC championship game or whatever it is. I do think I have more faith that the passing game is going to improve to 10th best in the league

than I do that Nick Siriani is all of a sudden going to come. to Jesus when it comes to, you know, handling these in-game decisions correctly. Okay. But I, the one thing that, I shouldn't say the one thing, a thing that I've come to day news, I should say. A thing that I learned last year or that was kind of my, when I evaluated the way I evaluated the season, I learned that I put too much stock into like the push the button, you know, that you have the talent, you can just push the button.

And I kept saying, uh, during that run last year, like, they have too much talent to play this way. They have too much talent. They're the more talented team than Arizona. They're the more talented team than Giants. They're the more talented team than the books. And it gets to a point where there's enough evidence that it's not what you can be. It's what you are.

And so if we're, it is what, November 15th today? If the passing game's inconsistent 11 weeks into the season, then I agree the upsides high on that. But we have seen, but I think it's a little different because we have seen them already improve a few things as the season has gone. But I've learned. that I can't just say they're just going to push this button, everything's going to work. No doubt. Yeah, no doubt. All right.

I'm going to give you luried thoughts three. Yep. First, this is a two-part. How much do you? And by the way, thanks for watching on the TV. All of you people watching on the television. If you want to watch the end of the show, go to all p.gly.com and check us out. He's using his Josh Harris face right now.

I'm my Josh Harris face. You crack Julia up. On the Josh Harris front, how much do you think that Jeffrey Lurie thinks he's better than Josh Harris? Oh, yeah. Given not only, you know, he's the better owner in the city. You hired Cliff Kingsbury, my sloppy seconds, and we beat you last night, all these things. And the second part is how pathetic do you think it is that the prevailing conversation in D.C. today is about Dan Quinn's fourth down decision to go for it on fourth and two.

That's a good point. Well, so I do think they're stuck in whatever time on it was the most recent time the commanders were good. Yeah, I think Jeffrey thinks he's a better run. I think Jeffrey thinks he's like an underrated owner. Like he doesn't get enough credit as an owner across the league. I think when it comes to Josh Harris, one thing now, Jeffrey's owned the team for nearly 30 years now, or for 30 years now, rather. So, you know, he's kind of evolved as, as, you know, in his and his, and his, life has has changed too, but I know when he bought the team, one thing that he took a lot of pride in

was moving to Philly, was not being an owner across the country or in a different city, like being part of the Philadelphia community of like raising his family here, that kind of thing. And so one of the, and this is a fair criticism of Joshua Harris as a Sixers owner. Oh, going full Joshua. Like you're calling him downstairs. He's in trouble. Joshua, get down here. Or Josh Harris is that he's, you know, he's owning the team from New York. He's a carpetbagger.

Yeah, and that like, you know, I remember when they were hiring, when they're hiring Brett Brown and Sam Hink, all the interviews were done in New York City. No, I don't want to be hypocritical. The Eagles coaching interviews were done in Florida. But early on in Jeffrey's, that's what I'm saying, Jeffrey's kind of changed. But like when he was raising a family, he was here. Got it. Right. And so, and then also, Jeffrey doesn't own teams in different cities, right?

Like, Jeffrey takes, he, he wants Philadelphia, he'd be such a part of that Philadelphia, of, he wants the Eagles be part of the Philly community. So I, and I think he thinks he has more football shops than Joshua Harris does too. Or Josh Harris does too. So, so, yeah, I do think. But the other side of this is, I think, I think Jeffrey Lurie, when Josh Harris bought the team, was probably like, oh, crap, because Daniel Snyder was not a good owner. And I think there's a very, and you've seen this.

Josh Harris brings, like, competence, brings investment to a team. Like, Washington's going to build a state-of-the-art stadium. They're going to build a state-of-the-art practice facility. These things matter. And for, you know, like Daniel Snyder, I don't know if he was just like pocketing all the revenue or what. I've been to their practice facility. I've been in their stadium. it's a dump, right?

We've heard about the culture in the organization, you know, in terms of like the horrible things that he's been in key. I think Josh Harris brings stability and competence to the commanders. Stability, confidence, unrivaled sex appeal. That's you talking. You're so fascinating by sex appeal. How do you feel about the Washington media? Like that's the number one thing you're focused on.

I mean, we would be, you know, focused on it. That'd be the big, look. You don't think that if, if the Eagles were down to and they. That's not why they lost the game. I know that's not why they lost the game. It's also the right decision. I agree. But, Bo, not everyone thinks like you.

Okay, this is something I need to tell you. And this is not everyone thinks like you. So I promise you. I promise you. But also lots of people are always very wrong. Yeah, but I'm saying. So Nick Siriani, if he was down to and he passed up on a 44-yard field goal to go for it, and they didn't convert, okay? I promise you the questions after the game, the WIP morning show today.

It would be more. They'd be more than that. Fanatic morning show. Like, a lot of it would be take the points. We've seen that. They're not. By the way, take the points. Like, how to take the points?

But I'm saying, Professor Selman did his whole fourth down thing because of the idea, you know, on Dene's had this tweet yesterday that he was walking to the stadium. There was a chant, take the points, take the points, take the points, and drove him crazy. So the idea that, like, this wouldn't be a conversation piece in Philly is, uh... I'm not saying wouldn't be a conversation piece, but the only conversation. It would be the dominant storyline. Yeah. It would be the dominant storyline.

Like, I got to tell you, and I say this lovingly and respectfully, there's a reason why the dominant storyline last year wasn't Christian Ellis got released. there was other stuff because people think differently than you. Like what people make a big deal of compared to what you make a big deal of is often different. Just because I'm early. I mean, you know, who was talking about Siriani before I was? That's true. That's true.

Well done. You're correct. All right. Last two. Let's get into it. Will Brandon Graham retire? Yeah, I still think he's still think he's going to retire. He's playing.

He's playing so, that's insane how good he's playing. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, and I still think he will do. I still think he's going to retire. And I got to say, too, like, Brandon is, Brandon is everywhere. Okay. He, he told us last year, like, he says yes to everything. He's, he is the nicest, like, but he's, he's doing everything.

I can't imagine he's just going to do another year of, like, the Brandon Graham tour. At some point, I think Brandon's going to say, all right, I think, you know, let's, let's leave well enough alone. 15 years is such a round number. And the other thing too Is that's why you think he likes the round number And and if they If they win It's gonna be hard for him that you know

If if they go deep it's gonna be hard for him to come back All right last one stork rank The underrated players from last night's game Cam Juergens read Blankenship Grant Calcutera I would go read Blankenship number one I go Cam Juergens number one I thought Cam had a really good game

He had this one play where he blocked Was it Martin Just knocked a guy down. Yeah. It was great. Blanketship two. Calcutera had a really great play, but I don't think like, but it's actually not underrated. I mean, it got like, there was the third question in Siriani yesterday. Yeah. It got him a little scrum in the, in the, in the locker room. So I think I go to read one, cam two, but okay, yeah, that's fine. We're picking it. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I think read blanket it's unbelievable. He's, he's been really, really good. He's my son's favorite player. Yeah, well,

who invented him? You're welcome. You invented him. Yeah, yeah, yeah, you invented him. Tennessee State didn't invent him. Scott Schaefer didn't help to develop. I invented him as an eagle. Okay. That wasn't the scouting staff. I know. No, they didn't give many money. They gave him like the least amount of money of any of the undrafted rookies. They gave him more money than other teams, right? They brought him here. They got him here. When he got here, he wasn't going to make the team until I said so. Yeah. Were you taking credit for the, uh... I also predicted the Eagles were going to draft Quinnian Mitchell in the first round. Were you taking credit for the t-shirts that he would day him and Cooper Gene was no no no okay because you were all over that storyline from the day. Yeah, they didn't give me any they're not giving me any money off of it. So, you know, also it should be a white t-shirt.

What are we doing? All right. Okay. It could have been two bottles of wine with their faces on it like, you know, come on. It's not that great. I got to say I was, um, you'd have been cracking up like, you know me. I don't know me. I don't know. alcohol very well, right? And I was chatting with a player in the locker room last night. It could go many different directions. No, and he was talking to me about, like, you know, wine and I'm making, you know, so you look, you have an audience with him.

You can't just be like, I don't know anything about wine. So I'm like, oh, what's your wine of choice or stuff like that? And then he tells me what it is. And I'm trying to like hang in this conversation. but I clearly like I'm not up up to snuff. So I'm acting like I know all about cabs and like mixed. What's the what's like the hybrid wines, the mixed wines? A blend.

Yeah, the blend. Yeah. Just the word blend. Yeah. Yeah, like I know about blends. But then I was asking him, you know, how he stores it as if like I have any frame of reference for how to store it. It was a real good conversation. But yeah, it was not on the record.

That people were saying, is this on the record? No, it was not on the record. That's fun. Yeah. What did you learn? I learned how much this person knew about wine. I learned about the collection. Yeah, and hopefully it's the kind of thing now where when I see him, I can ask him about the cab and I can ask him about, you know.

You can get a touch point. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. That's what you're trying to build meaningful. connections. Okay. I mean, sounds like you're being a phony about it, but yeah, that's good. You're learning.

I'm learning. I actually have my brother's father-in-law is like a big wine guy and he's great guy. And he recommended a book called The Wine Bible. And so I got it and I tried reading it, but it's like it would be like me reading a book in French. Yeah. Oh. Actually, some of these wines were French in there. Well, I would imagine so.

Yes. Yes. Okay. You ready to end this bad boy? Oh, wait. Amusa, we used to have work at you. I spent a lot of time at Triamusa. Good spot.

Back when you were dating Emily. That was actually my first date spot. I remember this. Yeah. And the waitress would like, you know, I would take first dates to Tria. Yeah. Just this rotating It's not like there was

There's there wasn't like a You know like a hundred of them right But um or a few Did the weight Did the weight person uh Pretend as if this was the first I'd seen you every time Were they in on your game or was like well I would always get there early and so yeah So they would they would probably know if like the previous day didn't work out or this yeah

Yeah did you ever cross your mind to maybe Pursue that person No No I'm not no If it had become that friendly of a relationship. And there were two trias. There was the one in Writtenhouse and there's one in like Washington Square. Yeah, it's back and forth.

Yeah, I would alternate depending on where the date lived. Yeah. I do hesitate to bring it up because I don't want to make a big deal of it. Yeah, that's fine. Whatever. Did the moment on the show last night? Did that? Yeah, Emily actually, she's, well, she's the best as it is.

Like, she's incredible. But she, um, she, like, knew exactly what I was talking about. Like, she knew I wasn't, like, she knew that, like, I was being very, sincere. Of course. Yeah. So I, so when I was like to her this morning, I was like, I just want to say there was something on the show. And she's like, oh, God, what? And I explained

to her. And she's like, oh, yeah, I know exactly what she did. And then I was like, well, this is how some people interpret it. And she's like, what? Yeah. So she's kind of, like, she knows that I would never go on a show and talk about something like that. Like, of course not. Yeah. So I think she was

more like mortified at like the interpretation and not the like not like she she knew she didn't even want to watch it I just explained to her she's like I knew what you were talking about and she she remembers the Vinnie she says she well she doesn't remember Vinny but she remembers like

that period of our life and like that sentiment that she had I also felt bad by the way like I think I overstated like I didn't have like 100 people coming up to me it wasn't like that I mean I'm like a nobody compared to Vinny but it was just it was the type of thing where like

she would get into because during football season and especially back then I was in like a mode right and so when we would go out it would be like the only time that like I'm not attached to my phone about every transaction so yeah that kind of thing okay good stuff but I I've been yeah I've been getting uh I've been reading the comments and I got to say like you're giving me far too much credit there's no like comedic timing or that I was just being sincere at 2 a.m. or whatever it was. Yeah, but it was very good. I was I should have, my semantics should have been better. I was, I was starting to, uh, like get, um, a better relation. Like, um, we were getting more serious at the time. I was getting more serious about her. Okay. I'll say that.

That's probably a better way to frame it. But what does that mean? I got to say just like how Vinnie was like, learning more about sushi or like getting more you know he was he was appreciating sushi more I was appreciating Emily more then how about that better way to frame it now you're making it sound like you know she had to win you over well it wasn't like like we weren't I wasn't like married to her from the first date right you know we but I mean Julia can we get this guy a shovel no no no you know we weren't married for the first date. We were, you know, you had to, but I got to say, you know, one of the things that was always challenging, well, especially when we did birds with friends, I got to say,

was like, you and Jill both met your significant others when you were in college, right? So neither one of you, like, experienced the, like, the angst, anxiety or, you know, sometimes the fun, like, in your 20s of, like, meeting people going on different dates. So, like, you guys always had this fascination about dating back then that to me it was just like it was normal for people in their 20s who didn't meet their significant other than they were in college or high school yeah okay yeah so i i i always thought you guys made too big a like too big a deal about that you know okay i'm sorry no no no it's fine it's it's it's kind of like uh you know there's it's like when um you know like national reporters from new york like

like meet someone in a diner during you know it's like it's like this is this is the way you know it's like no this is just this is just normal behavior people eat at diners you know yeah okay yeah that's that works all right i got flag football night i mean i know i know we should end the show but i just kind of want to keep hanging out this is this is we've got some sort of postgame pod energy i feel like uh i am on uh i can i i can i can tell you you exactly how many hours how many hours do you think hold on give the chat give the chat a second to wait okay I'm gonna put the over under at three hours and seven minutes okay so whoop who is it the who what's what is it it's the aura ring the aura

right okay so here you go uh oh okay it was actually longer than I thought oh no that was the night before Hold on you went you went into a Thursday night primetime game on three hours and you only got yeah I actually and a half hours Wednesday night what are we doing man three hours 34 minutes so that was actually last night last night oh wow three hours and 41 minutes he almost 34 last night what was it the night before the night before was three hours 35 minutes sack what are we doing man I went to bed 1121 but I got up at 335. Oh my God.

Why? You gotta take care of yourself. Oh, no, I'll tell you why. It's Wednesday night before Thursday night primetime game. That's because I was doing the book signing and I didn't write the, I didn't finish the notes. And I wanted to get the notes up before. So there was, I needed to get some stories up during the day. So that's, that's what it was for that.

You got a night game coming up. Yeah, but I needed to be more efficient. You know, it's like the health. You can't do everything. It's like how the news says, you know, the way to avoid. third downs is by being better on first and second downs, I need to be better on Monday and Tuesday last week than I was. That's how it was. Zach, we can you after flag football tonight go home, take an Advil PM, go right to bed, please? Yeah, yeah. Actually, that's, that is my plan tonight.

Okay. All right. Well, now I feel bad. I got to get you going because you can maybe, I mean, I would say so you could sneak a nap in, but I think we all know that that's not going to happen. Zach, your prince, thank you very much for barreling for you today. Julia, thank you for making it all happen. Fran, thank you for just climbing into that golem cave of yours to watch the film and come out unshowered. We appreciate that, and we look forward to all of the content to come on all p.hly.com for the diehards.

I mean, why would you not be a diehard at this point? Good stuff. Enjoy the weekend, everybody. You got a free weekend. You got an Eagles win to dream about and celebrate. It's a good time. Good time to be an Eagles fan. We'll talk to you on Monday.

I got a full slate of shows next week, of course, starting at 2 o'clock. That's all. That's all we've got. We'll talk to you on Monday. And as always, we love you.