PHLY Philadelphia Eagles Podcast - The Airbender: Eagles’ DeVonta Smith moves Time And Space As Bona Fide No. 1 Wide Receiver | PHLY

Episode Date: September 22, 2026

Zach Ertz is back with the Eagles with Dallas Goedert on the sidelines with a knee injury, but as Howie Roseman tries to patchwork the tight end position, he’s safe at wide receiver with DeVonta Smith proving everyone right who thought he could hold up the No. 1 WR mantle. He sideline ballet against the Titans was another reminder of how great he can be.   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 for the P.H.M.Y. Eagles podcast on a rainy Tuesday, live from the Xfinity Mobile studio and presented by Ashley Bowulf and E.J. Smith, the friendly confines. I have a home episode. How you doing, E.J.? We got some news. Yeah, I'm doing well. We do. We have a lot of news. Been a busy 24 hours here. Dublin down on the emergency pods yesterday. Yeah, it's funny. Right at the end of the Dallas got her when I said, I said to Fran, if they sign arts tonight, I'm going to feel like a fool. You know, we could have just waited and done two for one, but it was fun. You know, I had a good time. And you get those numbies. You get the extra numbies.

From those breaking news podcast, man. Yeah, no, I was happy to do it. And yeah, glad that we had something to talk about. And I'm excited to hear what you think about it, too. You know, and not that you had a chance to really ruminate on this one. Yeah, I'll tell you. I have a slightly different take about it. So we'll get into that.

We're going to talk a little bit about Devante Smith, who, you know, in week two, did he prove that he can be the number one wide receiver, bona fide stud? We'll talk about him, and we'll just sort of run through the positions on this roster. What have we learned through two weeks of the season? What is a little bit different than maybe we would have thought entering the year? But let's start with the right people presented by True Mark, E.J., because the Eagles have added not just Zach Ertz, but another former pro bowler to the practice squad.

Yeah, so the Eagles are signing Kenny Moore to the practice squad. 31 year old defensive back. And I say defensive back for a reason here. We'll get into that in a second. He's primarily been a nickel corner in his career, a former pro bowler. As you said, he most recently played,

I believe for the Indianapolis Colts. I really was only played for the Colts. Yes, only played for the Colts. I wanted to make sure there wasn't another stop in there somewhere that I missed. Yeah, obviously an interesting, oh,

you have a face here, like something big just happened. Something huge just happened. Oh, no. There is turnover in the Eagles secondary room. The Atlanta Falcons are signing Robert Longerbeam to their active roster off the Eagles Practice Squad. Oh, man.

Stop the britch of, should we end the show and just do an emergency podcast? People got to know. The Eagles Practice Squad had in the new section for the practice squad lockers, they had one after another, Large and Tucker Large, Maximus Pulley and Robert Longerbeam. They had the three phallic names on the practice squad, one after the other. I think it was done on purpose, but now from three down to two. I would have never in a million years thought that Tucker Large's name was phallic. I just never would have even thought about that.

Just an electric start to the show here. My beams longer. All right. Well, maybe the Eagles are comfortable with this move because they side Kenny Moore. What I can tell people who are curious, I think the Eagles view him more as a safety. than a nickel, despite the fact that he's played primarily in the slot throughout his career. So something to keep an eye on, you know, signed to the practice squad. We'll see what it looks like when he's out there.

I don't have a great sense on like if this really reflects at all on Marcus Epps or Drew McCuba, probably more so would have reflected on Marcus Epps if it does. I think it's probably taken a flyer on a guy who's been a very good player in the past. Yeah, it's interesting that he is essentially exactly the same profile as Michael Carter. just a little bit older than when the Eagles traded for Michael Carter at the deadline last year and then and then resigned him this off season. This is a guy who has played nickel at a very high level and you would think that if he's done that, that there's the ability to transition to safety. He's a little bit smaller. Yeah.

5-9-190. You know, as ever, when a player like this signs, the reporters tell us that there were a few teams that were interested and, you know, the Eagles offered enough to make it worth his while. I'm sure that this is take a look and see what they've got. And they're not super comfortable with the room itself, but between him, Carter, and Jonathan Jones, in theory,

you've got some flexibility to maybe mix and match a little bit. Yeah, yeah. And I don't want to say that they only view him as a safety, but I think that they primarily view him as somebody who can fit into the safety room. So an interesting one. And a little bit of a, you know,

Nick Siriani connect point. Yeah. Maybe he's got some, like, fun practice stories about yelling at Kenny Moore or something like that. Eagles have now, uh, over the past few years acquired two of the three pro bowlers on the 2021 Colts defense. So they've not yet gotten to Forrest Buckner though,

you know, there's there's still time, but of course they, they did have Darius Leonard. Oh, yeah, but I was like, there's no way that Isaiah Rogers made a pro bowl.

Yeah. Okay. Yeah. All right. That's interesting though. I think Kenny Moore is going to be fun to, fun to see what he looks like out there. Kenny Moore. Welcome to the Eagles. Let's close the book on The Right People,

presented by True Mark Credit Union, and talk now about Ertz. No such thing as it relates to this podcast and the conversation as too much hurts, as far as I'm concerned. E.J. You and you and Fran covered it well yesterday. Now Eagles announced it, and I think purposefully vague, they did not say that they're signing him to the practice squad, but they are, in fact, signing him to the practice squad. So there's still one spot open on the 53-man roster. I'm curious to see if the Eagles take advantage of that or not. I am a little bit more bullish on this signing than you and Fran are.

Oh, really? Interesting. I thought you're going to go the other way. No, I'm actually, I think my expectations are even higher. And I don't, this is, this is to me a step above, you know, the Julio Jones conversation from a couple years ago. Because Zackertz was very productive last year and the year before. Now, it's impossible for me to know how he's doing physically. That looked like a really gnarly injury that he suffered in December.

He has to prove that he can stay healthy. But if he is healthy, I think Zacherts is going to be like a borderline major part of the offense. Okay. He stays out. Like, I think that he is maybe taking over the middle of the field targets. You might have thought that Mikhail Lemon was going to have. Wow. Okay.

We have the graphic here, Lindsay, of Ertz and Goddert over 24 and 25. So the previous two seasons before this year, where they rank among all tight ends in the league. Because Eckert had more receiving yards over the past two years than Dallas Goddard did. Now, Dallas Goddard was banged up, but so was Ertz. and that's part of the deal. 10 yards per reception versus Goddard's 10.7. That's pretty similar. Similar in touchdowns.

Gotter slightly better in yards per route run, but Ertz was on a much worse offense and is only ever running routes. It's not really a blocker by trade. They're going to not, he can't just step in and be an every down player in 11 personnel and just fully replaced Dallas Goddard. But given Goddard's injury history,

like I think there's a chance that Zachertz has 450 receiving yards this year. 450, wow. I don't think that's, that's not crazy to me. I think that I think that upside is in there. Man, okay. Yeah,

you are a lot more bullish on this than I am. I think you make a good point. He's been a very productive tight end in the NFL, even in recent seasons. And, you know, we will see what he looks like out there on the field. Everything I've heard is that he is back to 100%. His game was never predicated on like, you know,

athleticism, especially late in his career. It's not like he was like a vertical threat or something like that. He really has always been a finesse player and someone who can find soft spots in zones. I mean, I think your strongest argument is that Grant Calcutera in 2024, now that's, he had 13 starts because Dallas got it was out for most of that season, but he had 300 received, he had 298 receiving yards in that Dallas got it replacement role. I think Zach Hertz is probably at this point, a better player in 2026 than Grant wasn't.

in 2020. If he's healthy, he's a better player. Yes, health is why I'm couching it. Yeah, of course. Zacherts is what he was last year. He is a huge. Yeah. And for that reason, I mean, listen, I'm not going to go as high on you as you are here,

but I don't, I could at least see your argument. I kind of, I like this for you. I like this argument. I, I, I'm bullish. Now, I'm also putting the on-field expectations aside. I'm very excited about having Zachert's back. Oh, yeah. It's a, it's, this is a really fun, full circle.

And I've, you know, I've, I've, I've, I've, I've, I've poked fun at the Eagles, bringing these guys back in the past, because sometimes I think it really is like a lack of creativity. This time it's not really that, I feel, because I think he is the best option out there, and it makes real sense football-wise. So there's nobody underneath him on the roster that he's blocking, like it might have been the case in certain other conversations.

But it's also, it's a beautiful thing because Zackerts never wanted to leave. Yeah. Zacharts loved this team and there was a point where they didn't love him enough back. And so he went out. And even when he is, you know, producing for the commanders and putting up productivity at that age, he's sort of doing it like in spite of the Eagles. And it's almost like, it's almost like, you know, at least from my vantage point, like see what you guys are missing out on. Like I could have still been doing this for you guys. And there's always like one side, you know, you know, side eyeing the other.

obviously there's the back and forth with Nick. But, you know, he as you guys talked about yesterday, this is this is a guy who has stayed in Philadelphia. He views this as his hometown. He does like work in the community for the team. This is a guy who deserves to come home and deserves to go get Harold's record. I hope I hope it works out for him. Yeah. Yeah.

I mean, I think he gets the record. I know that that's something that's important to him. And yeah, I think that there's a real, there's something really special about the idea that he spent really the last month plus pushing. to come back to Philadelphia. You know, I'm not, I'm not clear if there were other opportunities for him to go elsewhere. But what I do know is that he really wanted to be back here. And, you know, saw the fit, was willing to accept the fit.

You know, I mean, because of the numbers you just listed, like, is there a chance he could have been number one for a team that maybe wasn't as competitive? I, you know, wouldn't shock me. So, yeah, I think that there's a lot there to kind of make this an even more special story. And then there's also the element of like the Eli Stowers mentorship. I don't want to overstate it, but there is something there. You know,

he's worked with Trey McBride before, obviously, uh, in Arizona. Um, and I think that he probably will be good for Eli as he kind of goes through a rocky, for rocky part, uh,

rocky beginning of his career in Philadelphia. I'm also fascinated by the dynamic with Goddard because those guys were never like the best of friends. I'm sure that they've stayed in some kind of touch over the years. And it's funny because Goddard has been treated like Ertz was. except there was no new Goddard. So he had just had to come back on the rookie deal and the Eagles were willing to have him back,

whereas if they had somebody else, they would have pushed him to the side. And so, you know, Goddard, I think, has sort of done what Ertz wanted to do, which was like, you know, as you reported over the off-season, EJ, like Goddard kind of made it known to the team that he was willing to come back, even if it was not the best deal,

because he wanted to stay in Philadelphia. And I think Earth's probably felt that way at some point, too. So I'm really interested to see how this plays out. Does he play on Monday night? If so, is he playing like 60% of the snaps? And it's him in month. And he's actually the past catching wide receiver slash tight end. I think that's possible.

But does he play on Monday night? Now is a question for Tyson Baygeon. Yeah, I'm about to say. Now you've got even more breaking news at the top of the show. So Tyson, Bejant, the backup quarterback for the Bears, assuming that Caleb Williams is going to miss Monday night with the hamstring injury. Bayjant is in the concussion protocol, the national guys tell us E.J., which if he misses the game, would mean Case Keenum comes back to the link.

Talk about dreams and nightmares for Case Keenum. Yeah, I mean, this is significant. I, like, I am so shocked by this news. So Bejan, I guess he didn't come out of the game, did he? Just, I guess, reported today that he must have had concussion-like symptoms. Yeah, I mean, that game was one that we had circled, but really for the run game element of it, now it's going to be even more pronounced. I mean, the Bears run the ball 50 times if they can stay on the field that long.

So, yeah, definitely changes the complexion of that one. I misspoke, by the way, of course. The game is in Chicago, not in Philadelphia, but I think Case Cannon will have those, we'll have those flashback PTSD memories anyway. I'm sure that the location isn't the significant thing there. Man.

Yeah, what do you make of that? What a fun story. Well, not a fun story. Case Keenum, the case Keenum of it all is fun. But I mean, yeah, again, I think that this bear's offense is going to look a lot different

even than what it would have looked like with just Tyson Bejan in there. So it kind of takes a little bit of the juice out of the game in a way that's, you know, not maybe as instructive, but I think that the Bears run game against the Eagles defense was going to be the thing that took center stage. Just from the from an Eagles perspective of remembering what that game looked like on Black Friday last year. Yeah, Ben Johnson's going to be he's going to he's going to love the the idea of springing a surprise with Case Keenham and doing the unexpected stuff.

Is there a is there like a trap game element here now? Is there an element like you can't lose to Case Keenham and the Bears on Monday night football? Sure. where Ben Johnson is just like scheming up like ridiculous, you know, everybody's running wide open and they're running all over them. Yeah, I think that the Eagles still need to come with their A game in this one. What would you take? Zachert snaps on Monday night or bears points?

Ooh, Zachert snaps for sure. Yeah, I think so too. I think he's, yeah, I mean, I was told that he's going to be ready to play, you know, that he's like available. You know, I think the Eagles will probably want him in the lineup as well. Well, yeah, I think he plays a decent amount. Like, how many staffs are we talking here? Week three, we got a completely different team.

Yeah, it's crazy. It's going to be an interesting one. That's going to be an interesting game now. We could be coming out in like wing T sets. A couple superchats to get to before our first break, EJ. Drip Sensei, tell me more about Kenny. See what I did there. Of course, he spelled it.

I was about saying, does you really want to know more about Kenny Moore? There was a player on the Wake Forest football team when I was there named Kenny Moore. Different player. Not the Keeney Moore. Maybe Kenny Moore the first. Kenny Moore is the second. I don't think that this is a father and son duo, too close together. Don't be presumptuous.

Things have not aged well for that 2007 Wake Forest football team. Rob Milner, why haven't we seen 6-0-0-0 fronts with this tight-endrew? We see your burner. This really is, this is Fran. Great question. Pet project. Who's to say we won't see it on Monday night?

They got an extra day to prepare. I think that's possible. Rivera. Eagles are getting a mini preseason, two bottom 10 opponents in the third string quarterback. Yeah, you still got to beat those teams, though.

We've seen it across the league, you know, like great teams have lost games we wouldn't have expected. I had to do like a double take when I saw the Chargers Raiders score. Like, you know, because when you're when you're, covering a game, you are like so singularly focused. And then it's like the next morning, I'm taking an Uber to the airport and I'm just scrolling

through all the scores from the other games. And yeah, I mean, you see some examples. You got to win those games early in the season. You know, it can be a little bit more highly, I guess there's more variance early in the schedule, even from teams you think will be really good. So I don't think we should just look past these games at the Eagles of won just because they are against teams.

we don't really expect to be that good. Before we go to break, let's flash up the picture of the Eagles put out there because I know Lindsay hasn't of 86 is back. Now, they say 86. That means he's going to get that number, right? Yeah, yeah, I think the roster's already updated. He looks good.

He does. I'm happy to have Zach Earth back. Xavier Gibson. We talked about the emergency pod. He's number 47 now. So congratulations, Xavier. You must have gotten a nice bonus today. I don't know.

I don't know what kind of bonus he was getting necessarily. Oh, you don't think Zach gave him anything? Maybe. Zaguergne dinner, but. Zach's a generous guy. I'm sure he gave him something. Yeah. That's CTC right there.

You know, I wish somebody came into PHOI and was like, hey, E.J, this is my seat. You know, I'm going to give you $500 for this seat. And I go, hey, it's all yours. I'll move over. I'll take a different seat. I think this is a very low level. ZB comes in. This is my like E.J.

No chance. All right. Let's get to our first break here from some sponsors on the other side talking about Devante Smith, the wide receiver who can bend space and time and moves his body and controls it like nobody else. The football season is heating up

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and a whole lot of honking good service, Route 73 South in Marlton, tell him PHLY sent you. Back in the PHLY Eagles podcast, Bo in EJ, Devante Smith, E.J. Through two games, 13 catches for 170 yards. That ranks 13th in the NFL, but 10th among wide receivers. Obviously, he was the focal point of the game-winning drive and was not too shy about that in the post-game locker.

Is that right? He was not. And I appreciated the candor from Devante there because, you know, he hasn't always been one to jump right out. and say what I think a lot of us know about him, which is that he does view himself as not just like a number one receiver in the NFL, but really like one of the best guys in the league. You know, I remember the quote from my story before the season. You know, he's got the heart of a diva receiver beating inside his chest.

He thinks he's 6.5-280. You know, he plays like that sometimes. And shout at the Lindsey flashing the read now up there. I mean, look at the graphic in the lower third. Wow. He's producer Lindsay. Or no, what do we call her? What do we call her?

I got we have to think of a real title for Lindsay Lee the the I know what you I know what you're trying to make sure you don't call her yeah exactly you do you do know that one great producer Lindsay I appreciate it as always um but yeah he said after the game like that that game winning drive and I think watching it back today you know really no stop looking at looking back about that game winning drive the influence that he had not just with you know the catches that he made

not just with the catches that he made, but also, you know, the attention that he draws for Darius Cooper's touchdown, I think you really can. It really crystallized like what Devante Smith means to this version of the Eagles offense. And, you know, after the game, he wasn't shy about that. He said that he felt like that was a moment for him to really show that he's that guy and make an imprint on the game. He went out there and did exactly that. And I think that this is going to be the first time of many this season where Devante does prove that he is one of the wide the NFL's elite wide receivers. You know, I don't want to talk about him in top five conversations quite yet, but I think

fringe around the top 10 is where a lot of people in Philadelphia think he belongs. I think he, you know, will be in that conversation by the end of the season. Yeah, and I think we should say it's only two games, right? So we can't take too much of a sample size. but it's not like this has been what we talked about in the lead-up where like, oh, is he going to get kind of Jackson Smith and Jigba level target share? It's not. It's marginally higher than his career highs.

He's right now through two games at 28% target share. And last year he was at 22, the year before he was at 25. This is the highest, but it's not to a crazy degree. And it frankly wasn't even that high until the final drive when Jailen Hurts. was really peppering him. I think there's still more to come here from from Devante. I'm curious, we've talked about it already. I've talked about it.

Is Sean Maney going to use him in some more interesting ways and move him around? Because right now, you know, his slot rate is pretty low because they're having Mackay Lemon when he's on the field, be inside. Obviously, he has not spent much time outside. Are we going to see a little bit more creativity about the way they use Devante? But also, I think it tells you that. that they think there doesn't necessarily need to be because he can win when opposing defenses know that he is the primary target.

Yeah. Yeah. I think it was encouraging that they solved that against the Titans. You know, after the first game against the commanders, DeVante saying, oh, well, they had a lot of cloud coverage. And, you know, for that reason, I didn't see the ball a lot because, you know, if you look at his yards per route run, and he's not even where he normally would be. Now, it's a small sample size.

and the first game that's dragging down his yards per out run because he didn't have a huge role in that game. But I agree with you. I think that as I've thought more about what we've seen from the Eagles offense in the first two weeks, I've gotten more encouraged because I realize that there are a lot of elements that they just haven't been able to really get into quite yet. That I am confident will be a part of the offense, play action game. I think creative usage with Devante Smith is another. one where you can there's an explanation for why it might be dragging a little bit behind he wasn't available during camp for most of the summer and that's not to say they couldn't have drawn this stuff up

with him and mind but i do think that as the season progresses i'd expect sean mangan to have more answers for like how to keep devante involved and how to leverage his presence on the field again i think you saw it against tennessee you saw the glimpses of what it can be um so yeah i i think after that momentary pause in week one where it's like okay like he didn't really have like the emphatic game that you expected. I think that, you know, as we're 48 hours away from the Titans game now, we've had some time to digest it. I do think that his impact on that game really was that, you know,

in line with being a number one receiver in the NFL. Yeah, I think that's right. I'm just trying to look up his actual slot. Slot usage? Yeah. And it's very minimal. Yeah. And I think as we pivot to what we're going to talk about with the other

positions about like what have we learned i just think that the combination of devante and dantavian wicks especially with wicks is better than we would have thought a couple weeks ago yep i completely agree what i did so i what i did is for every position group i wrote a sentence that is like what i learned and wide receiver i cheated i had two sentences um because i wanted to add like dantavia and wicks has earned Jalen Hertz's trust in a way that we just haven't seen a new receiver really accomplished this quickly. And those two, they don't have like the blocking ability of, you know, like if you're running 12 personnel with both of those guys tight to the formation, you feel okay about both of them. You don't feel great if they are integral to like an outside

zone run. But those two are a good combo. Like, you know, you can feel good about those two guys being the two out there. So, you know, the number three spot, I think there's some conversation you can have about who is the best fit for the offense. But yeah, I think Wix is ahead of schedule. You know, all the things we heard about him internally all summer and, you know, from Sequin and a few other Eagles players, like, I think he's just going to, I don't

think he's going to go away, you know, it's funny. I was talking to someone about like fantasy implications at receiver. And, you know, if Mackay Lemon's going to like come along and start. start to eat into Don Tavia and Wix's target share and just his route, his route to run. And I'm like, I really don't think so. You know, I think Wix is the number two this year. I don't think he's somebody that's just like an early season flash on the pan. I agree with you.

I think it's, I think it's Wix for the long haul here. And I think he's earned that so far based on the way he's played and the way that Jalen trusts him. Yeah. And just back to Devante, you know, he's such a cool player. The things that he's able to do, you know, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, Balletics on the sideline, the toe taps, his ability to go up and get it, even that one that he caught that was out of bounds in the end zone. His just his ability to understand space and move his body is something that, you know, I don't remember seeing the same way.

And it's a special thing. And I think it's, you know, it's part of the reason that he's such a universally beloved player, but for Eagles fans. Yeah, he really is just such a unique player. He's such a unique watch. Like his highlight tape, 20 years from now, his highlight tape will be one that like kids are still watching just because it is like he's the only guy who can do some of the things that he does. And then you add to that the thing I've always said about DeVante on the show, that he's a

receiver's receiver, you know, the detail level that he has with routes, you know, attacking different coverages, the angles to take and just like the release package in general, you know, the Chad Ochos Cinco like, like crying. watching Devante Smith run routes, I think rings true. And it's been fun to watch it play out. And I think now that he's getting his opportunity, it's probably going to become even more pronounced, like nationally, you know, nationally, league wide,

as they start to really ramp up his usage this season. Now, one thing I want to ask you in terms of usage and the Sean Mannyin offense and what our expectations were, given the Shanahan tree of it all. Devante's towards the very bottom of the league he's got like no yak at all. The Eagles as a team in terms of yak per reception

they are 31st of 32 teams 3.2 yards after the catch per reception. We have not seen a lot of springing guys for big plays, broken tackles. Some of this goes to the kinds of routes that are being run. Some of this for Devonte in particular is because it's like those sideline catches obviously and he's falling out of bounds.

But do you think that this is a area of focus for Mannion? Are they, they're fine with it because it's just the, these are just the routes that they've been throwing through two weeks. It's only two weeks. Is this something that we should keep on our radar? The first thing that comes to mind is the lack of play action that they've had in the first two weeks. I feel like a lot of those big yards after catch opportunities are when you kind of get

the defense flowing one way. you get the ball to somebody going the other way over the middle of the field, they can kind of go against the grain. Now, I don't think Devante is, I mean, he's clearly, he's not bad after the catch, but I don't think that's one of his superpowers. But I think the lack of play action is the first thing that I would point to for like the lack of yak opportunities. I think, you know, and that's something that they have, they're going to have to unlock it eventually. It's actually a reason why I'm encouraged about the offense is because it's just been such an extreme two-week use case in terms of how few times they've been in like a good neutral second

down situation as they get more of those opportunities and can start to you know try and leverage the defense i'd expect that to cut probably uh i'd expect that to probably you see an uptick in the yards after catch as a result of that one area where probably zachert is not going to help in particular no yak zach i had a couple people tweeting that at me yesterday that's okay It's five. Yeah. All right. Let's take a quick break.

We'll come back. We will move to some other positions here. E.J. as the P.H.O.Y. Eagles podcast presented by Ashley rolls along. Wayfair helps you create a home that stands up to real life with quality products, great value, and trusted reviews. Wayfair verified products are hand vetted by product specialists using a 10-point quality inspection. So you can shop thousands of products, across every style and budget, whether you're trying to refresh your space or transform your space

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Is it sad that like I'm so skeptical of everything I see on the internet now that I thought that that was like a filter? Oh, that's funny. No, that's that. No, we do. We don't use CGI in the Wolfhouse. All this is all natural props. I did just learn how to, um, yeah.

I learned how to change my face on, to me emoji on FaceTime. Oh my God, my niece, she loves that. She's like, make yourself the poop emoji. We're in spooky season. Halloween. We got this is part of Kakey's costume this year. Man, Halloween, right around the corner. It's coming up quick.

Would never AI. Oh, man. We got somebody the other day was was was bragging about you know the usage of AI and that's just like immediately you're I'm at on I'm out on this whole conversation I'm out on you. This is stop it. It is crazy. I was just talking to Julia about this yesterday how how like quickly things progressed with AI like a year ago. I feel like people were like complaining about the AI overview and not many people would have you would have would have been using it in their everyday life like to think of how quickly. it is taken over in a year. It's a little scary.

Yeah, forced upon us. You know, it's not fake. That Taylor Swift has coming out with a new song this weekend. Lindsay, that was the news. Just one song? There's got to be more coming. She usually does something extra. Okay, do you think it's a wedding song? It's called Patient Zero. So. zero. I don't know.

Well, I'm happy for you, Lindsay. Yeah, congratulations, Lindsay. John Mayer was teasing like this big release, and it was just more of his signature guitar in the color of Land Rover Defenders. So, Lindsay's living better than me right now. This is anybody anywhere has some kind of anecdote, and EJ's response is, well, John Mayer,

well, I thought he was saying it. It reminds me of something John Mayer did. I thought she was saying it because that's an ex. Taylor Swift. Yeah. They had some nasty songs written about one another. Oh. Dear John.

Dear John. And Paper Doll by John Mayer. That was your Taylor Swift update. Goodbye. Thank you, Lindsay. We take it as a shot across her bad. She was not described as sexual napal. I hate how often you bring that up about John May.

I'm never not going to bring that up about John, man. It's a little thing. Oh, man. All right. Let's get to the rest of the offense, E.J. As we've learned. Things we've learned. The quarterback position, I think we've learned Jalen Hertz is good.

Yeah. I don't want to harp on this too much. We talked about it yesterday, but I do think this is significant. I actually pulled the clip for social media of Jalen Hertz, getting to the backside dig onto Mackay Lemon. Because I just, again, These are old arguments.

Nobody's making this argument anymore. But we spent years hearing, well, they can't run the offense that they want because Jalen can't do it. Jalen can't throw over the middle. We can't have the things we want because of Jalen. So I don't want to just brush past the idea that like we've seen a new version of Jalen, one that is accessing the middle of the field. One is that is throwing with timing and anticipation, one that has been, has had much improved

footwork. You know, it's had really good footwork in the pocket and has been. mouthwash, you know, the answer for things that aren't going well for the Eagles offense. So I just, for those who have been argued in the past that Jalen can't do the stuff that the coaching staff wanted to do, maybe you wouldn't have made that argument anyway going into this season. But we heard that argument like as recently as three months ago. And I think Jalen has proven it wrong.

I think he's proven that those people were not making a compelling argument. I think that it might be a credit to Sean Mannion, like explaining these concepts to Jalen and getting him to buy in to an under center. an under center system that leverages the middle of the field. But I do think that if you're asking me what we've learned through two weeks, I think that those arguments being wrong is one of the things we've learned. Yeah, and listen, it has only been two weeks. He's got to keep it up.

Sure. Do it against better defenses. I totally agree. Right. And tighter windows. But, yeah, the early signs are super positive from Jalen in particular. I think in terms of like what's something that sticks. He looks more.

quick. He looks faster than he did last year. That's a real thing. And as long as he doesn't get banged up, I would imagine that will that will keep up. But yeah, we don't need to go too crazy. But for two weeks against a pair of bad defenses, he looks like an MVP candidate. Yeah. I just, I think that the way that he's, as he would say, he's playing the position. You know, he's going through pure progression reads, finding the answers. You know, even I was talking to Cuzz about the interceptions this morning. And I, I, I, I really don't mind the interceptions for a few reasons. You know, I said it's kind of the cost of doing business in this system to some degree. Not to say that you're going to live with it, live with it every week. But it goes back to the thing we talked about, what, more news? More news. Oh, man, what? Jackson Darts, MRI, worse than initially anticipated.

Oh, no. He's out in an extended period of time, according to Ian Rappaport, possibly this season. Wow. man a lot of quarterback news happening right now um yeah well still lower your shoulder jalen yeah that's so dumb um the jackson dart thing really quick i texted fran actually the second it happened i said oh no he got wenced and then fran had some like funny guesses of what wensed was but a new bed no comment um but yeah srg in the chats is the same thing yeah it looked like wence it looked yep srg totally agree. Yeah, getting hit two different directions like that.

Ugly injury, scary one. If you had to do a top 10 list of what getting wenced meant, how else would you fill that out? If this was family feud, let's say you don't have to get them in order. Do I have to do this? You got the knee injury, you got the big bed, shooting animals. It's definitely in there. Man, that guy loves shooting animals. I would say getting wenced is pushing your wife under the bus for.

like an outfit that is really, really out there. Oh, blaming your, yeah, he went wince. Yeah, okay. I'm not trying to make this personal at all, but that was a pet peeve of mine from Carson. He would come out with like a leopard print jacket and some big hat. And then we'd be like, oh, that's a snazzy outfit you got there cars. And yeah, my wife dresses me. And it's like, dude, just own it.

Like, don't push your wife under the bus right now. He's spoken from you of all people. Well, yeah, you guys accuse me of that. But I, like, that would be like if you said, oh, E.J. like, you know, that's a real interesting hoodie you're wearing today. And it's like, yeah, Julia picked it out. I don't know. Don't look at me.

Although this is a good hoodie, P-H-O-I hoodie. But yeah, you can't be doing that. I never like that from Carson. Okay. Getting benched mid-game for a rookie, for a rookie. Getting once. A little bit getting wenced, yeah. Watching your backup win the Super Bowl, getting winced.

Yeah. That's a good one. I like that one. Getting into a fight with Darren Sprouls. I was going to say people speculating that you got worse because you had sex. Speculating. Happens with Saul, doesn't it? Who among us?

This is not getting once, but this is pulling wince is just absolutely sailing like a swing pass like 20 feet over the running back's head into the sidelines. Yeah, I'm not trying to be mean to Carson. I mean, it was funny. I saw a meme. It was like my, my, like, aunt just woke up from a coma of nine years. And somebody quote tweeted it after week one and said, tell him, Carson Wentz is still out here doing it. I mean, there's some good ones. There's the, you know, the throw he made in that Seahawks game where he's running out of bounds and flings it sidearm,

40 yards down field for completion. Yeah. Some great, get some great escapeability in the pocket in 2017. Who is it against where he, like, threw a pass so hard, like, it hit, Boston Scott and almost felt like it pushed Boston Scott like two yards past where he was like knocked him back two yards feels like it's got to be the Giants but I don't remember that one in particular yeah it was a crazy throw drags drags a roster of of uh jag wide receivers to the playoffs and wins the NFC East that's yeah that's point it might be a cars and wins getting wents could be

if you're a defensive lineman like you like three of you try to tackle them all at the same time and he somehow gets out of it yeah that's a nice one Uh, pre-mo observer says that was Miles Sanders and it was against Washington. Okay. Thank you, Primo Observer. He is a Primo observer. Okay. Let's go to running back.

What have we learned about the running back position? Um, for this one I had Sequin Barclay is still one of the league's elite runners despite a worrying lack of opportunity. Yeah, we got to, he's got to stay healthy. Yeah. I mean, we'll see about the stinger. Um, yeah, I'm not worried about Seaclon. I've seen some stats circulating. I saw one from Josh Norris.

the Bone Man actually sent me one too. Shout out to Anthony De Bona. About just like the yards before contact from the Eagles so far, Sequin and Tank both have negative yards before contact this season. There's only seven players in the NFL that have had more than 10 carries that are also in those in that category. So yeah, it hasn't been good opportunity for them. I'm not, I'm not alarmist about the run game,

which is why I am still somewhat optimistic because Seekwan looks so good. Uh, people curious, given the fact that the Eagles had, now it's, now it's, they're even saying likely lost for the season. Like, so that sounds like ACL. That's what it looked like in the moment. Do you think the Eagles would trade them a quarterback in division? Hmm. In division quarterback trade to the Giants. I wouldn't, I wouldn't say it's impossible.

It says, I mean, in theory, they think they have. We saw how bad James looked last night But I think they think they have A good backup quarterback And Jamis Winston Yeah, Julia was asking me last night Like, I thought this guy was retired Like, how is he still playing?

I got to say, I have never gotten the James obsession. People like like James Like he's like a fun personality No thanks. Yeah I understand I totally.

He's doing like World Cup stuff. Like, what are we doing? Yeah, he has. How short are our collective memories? Yeah, that's what I was going to say. He has done a good job rewriting the narrative around himself. I don't know if I'm not saying I commend him for it, but yes, short memories with James for sure. Yeah, no thanks.

Yeah, I don't, like, I don't, if you were the Giants, you would be more interested in having a guy like Tanner McKee because you want to see if he could potentially be some kind of of long-term possibility but that I don't think the Eagles would do that even though obviously they think that McKee is worse than any Dalton right now yeah you probably would have pause about the idea of trading them like a long-term solution if you thought Tanner McKee was that still which I think obviously the Eagles would I was just trying to see if there's any cohab between the Giants and Eagles front offices after Tanner McKee was drafted they've got Brandon Brown and that front office and he used to be with the Eagles, but he wouldn't have overlapped with Tanner McKee.

Yeah. Okay. I feel like we talked enough about the offensive line yesterday. Yeah. And we've obviously. I have one thing I want to say about it really quick. Just let me, I just wrote,

welcome to the real world. This group is no longer talented enough to be scheme agnostic. Because that was something that Fran talked about yesterday about like, can they be a duo team? Can they be an outside zone team? It's kind of an imperfect fit no matter what. This is probably what most teams in the NFL deal with on the offensive line. Like you need a vision for what it's going to look like and like fits for that.

And obviously the Eagles are transitioning where they did have like scheme fits for what they envisioned. Like big guards, athletic center, big guard, huh? Big guard. And obviously like elite tackles. They're transitioning right now. And yeah, the group is not talented enough to just play in any scheme. You know, they're going to have to figure out what runs work for them. I'm not alarmist about it again.

Like I said, I think that patience is required. But yeah, this is a little bit like welcome to the real world for the Eagles offensive line. Fran would like us to know that Giants offensive coordinator or quarterback's coach, Brian Callahan, was Andy Dalton's quarterback's coach in 2019. That's great co-hab right there. That is wishcasting, my friend. There's no way they're trading for Andy Dalton. But it would be funny. All right.

Take a break. We'll come back and talk a little bit about the defense and what we've learned about those guys through two weeks. Stay with us on the PHA Y Eagles podcast. My name is Johnny Munt and Parks Casino is my casino of choice. If you're looking for a great night out, Parks, well, they've got it all. From headline entertainment to award-winning dining, there's plenty to make your night one to remember, especially after a day to forget. And if you want to make a whole night of it, check out the new beautiful Parksview Hotel, located just steps away from Parks Casino with shuttle service available. and there is some great entertainment coming up at Parks.

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if you disagree, but I feel like we've learned way more about the offense than we have about the defense so far. Maybe that is a little bit of me excuse making for the defense because of the elements against Tennessee. I just, I cannot shake the 2024 bucks game out of my head. You know, like even the mistackle numbers from the game have started to circulate from the Titans game. It's like we've, we've just been here before. Maybe I'm being overly dismissive. But I don't feel like we've learned much about the Eddrusser Group. You know, Grinard's been out. Jailuk's high, hunt like you could you could say he hasn't taken the leap yet but again i'm not i'm not ready to really make any declarations about that group right now i think you're right i don't think that we've

learned that much i think it has been on underwhelming first two weeks for that group i'm a little bit disappointed that jalex hasn't done a little bit more given what we saw over the summer and he wasn't going up against great talent at left tackle in either game yeah but i don't know that we've learned anything, you know, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's a marathon, not a sprint. I think Nolan has played at a flashy level. He's made some nice plays. Those other guys, Epinessa and Epicati have not brought you a ton. I think we've learned that they probably need Jonathan Grenard.

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, that's fair assessment. I got one for defensive tackle. Okay. Jalen Carter hasn't taken the leap yet. Yeah. You know, and maybe that'll come later in the season.

I think the fact he's got this wrist injury is really not ideal. I think he's going to be able to play through it, but what percentage of the Jalen Carter we know he's capable of being, are you getting with him dealing with this injury? You know, remains to be seen. And it's funny, I was talking to Cuzz this morning about this too, where he was saying like, Aaron Donald, he's going down like good.

The skeletons going up the stairs down the stairs. What's so funny? The audio listeners are going to be so annoying about this. Like, what's going on? This is, if you're on audio listener, I apologize, because this is probably a tough show. Like, because there's been like three moments where it's like, whoa, like, you know, we're like, we are just like reacting to something happening newswise. And yeah, they will not know that the skull is back.

But yeah, we were talking about Aaron Donald and how he's been out for years and he's already made. I figured how to turn the eyes off. The switch is broken. Is it a battery powered thing? Yeah, I think so. Well, you just got to replace the batteries. Anyway, we were talking about Aaron Donald, how he's in great shape and how he's like, he hit the ground running. But you think about everything we know about Aaron Donald and like his online persona is basically just that he loves to work out.

And, you know, that is a difference between him and Jalen Carter right now is that that is not Jalen Carter's online persona right now. So not to say it won't happen this season. But I think when he came into camp, there was at least a thought like, oh, this guy came back in great shape. You know, the Eagles are excited about his future. we haven't really seen him hit the heights that we know he can and I think that that probably is down to conditioning

and now this injury yeah I agree with you he's had some flashes of dominance but yeah he hasn't been a defensive player of the year candidate like we might have been hoping and Jordan Davis continues to be a early down player

the interesting thing is that like it's a non-zero chance probably 20 or 30% chance that Morrow is their best defensive tackle this year. And he's just, he's gone, you know? I mean, it's possible. Yeah. So I don't know.

That, the thing is that Morrow being here on a rookie contract this year, I mean, it is like a 60% version of like you got the rookie on the, they're the quarterback on the rookie contract. Like, you've got one of the best defensive tackles in football on a rookie contract. Like, you have to be able to extract real value out of that as a pass rush unit. And they haven't quite done that yet. So disappointing.

Well, and it's also, you know, it's a, from a human perspective, it's got to be a weird deal for Morrow, you know, playing the most snaps, yes, sir, on Sunday, arguably being the best guy. I still think that Jalen Carter is a better player. But being a very good player in a room where you're playing more than Jordan Davis, who got paid. Jailen Carter is the highest paid defensive tackle in football. still on a rookie seventh round pick contract and every game because of that is like tense.

You know, it's got to be a weird year for him. Yeah, I would agree with that sentiment. It's just, I can't think of a time that the Eagles have had a player like a of that level so clearly playing out there last year. Like even Nacobie last year, I mean, I feel like we all knew he was going to be gone. I think there was less of a certainty about Nacobi. There was at least like the, well, what if free agency doesn't go as way? Like, you know, could he come back on a one-year deal or something?

What about Milton? Yeah, but Milton wasn't so obviously going to get the $100 million contract. There was at least like some argument against Milton, like being that guy in that position. Not saying that I would have made that argument, but I just feel like, how many turkeys would you put on Moro with Jomo being on the Eagles next year. Nine. Oh, okay. I was going to say like three.

Like virtually none. I don't know. It's a rare situation. I think it's because usually how I would probably want to trade somebody like that. And I just don't think he's too good of a player to trade for just like a third, especially you'll get that comp pick back. But he's also not necessarily going to, he doesn't play a position where you're going to trade a two and also pay him.

So it's just kind of a weird situation. Um, linebacker. I think we've learned that Jihad Campbell is still a work in progress. I wrote Jihad Campbell is still a rookie. Still feels like a rookie. You need some reps. Yep. Corner.

They look good. I wrote Rieke Willen and Quinion Mitchell can shut down two-thirds of the field. I see that our friend, Sean Syed, uh, posted about the way that Vic Fangio called the game against the Titans. He said he ran a rare amount of strong rotation and what felt like area drops. outside of third and longs where you may where you may not expect it. So I don't know what that says about Cooper to Gene. Obviously, we know he's playing through stuff.

And that is something that's on my radar for the next couple of weeks is if they trust him in the role, they normally trust him in, especially because I think he's under the microscope just because I think what we've learned about Rieke Wollin in the first two weeks is that teams aren't necessarily just going to throw at him a bunch if he's in tight coverage, which puts it's more stress on the middle of the field. So, yeah, something along. I think I read that in this game in particular as kind of daring Cam Ward to beat you

with a bunch of mediocre receivers. But, and then safety, are you, are you really concerned about Marcus Epps? I'm not quite there yet. I mean, he had a couple of plays he definitely want to have. He would definitely like to have a couple plays back from that Titans game. I wonder if like a feisty Marcus Epps is not the one you want back there,

especially because you've got, Drew McCuba who's already a risk taker to a certain degree because Epps was like mixing it up early in that game and then you have had some plays he'll want back I think good defenses will try to stress those guys they'll try to take advantage of those guys they're discipline in their eyes especially McCuba's discipline and then they'll probably just try and test Epps's ability but I'm not quite worried about it yet especially I think Vic will probably find answers for it if I had to guess I think I agree with you you got anything from on the specialists playing on a high level they are yeah me and jake elliott 58 yarder braiden man i wonder what the puntillitics guys

are saying about brademan these days if they puntillics guys if you're listening hit me up on a hit me up on twitter you know a play i liked from the game was covey uh that ball that landed like inside the five and they touched it and he he knew that once they touched it he could go get it and he went to go get it but then he saw that the ball was actually even though they touched it tracking to go into the end zone and he backed off. Good stuff.

Yeah. That's a pro. Nick Siriani, a man after his own heart. Yeah, did you notice that Siriani in the postgame speech called out the returners for their ball security? I didn't catch that. It was one of the first things he said. I mean, you know, he cares about this stuff. Puntalyics guys, punters ranked by punt EPA after week two.

Braden Mann, you want to guess where he ranks or will me to just tell you? Fourth. Not quite fourth. Seventh. Six. So you were close. Shout out to the pun analytics guys. Super chat.

Coming in from Avery. It's officially fall, so I am once again asking Bo to give a full review of the Lori Berkner Halloween album on the pod. Okay, I can do that. Any other children's music wrecks for a future father, E.J. Yeah, this is a new world for me. Love an L.B., love a Berkner. Love a Rafi, can't go wrong.

Best of Rafi all the time. When they're a little bit older, if your child gets into dinosaurs, there's a great playlist, a bunch of different artists, dinosaur-themed music. So many. We listen to that bad guy all the time.

Okay. You'll have to send me the playlist. Do you have a playlist, like, for the kids? Yes. All right, send it to me. If they like a song, we add it to the play. Although, I got like, when do you start playing? Oh, you know, I'll ask you this question in.

Lindsay time. Berkner time. I got what, like two years before my, I need kids music? Well, you're going to want, I think earlier that. We play the Berkner Rafi stuff for the kids very early on. Okay.

Is it good for their development? Yeah, and maybe you want to, what, I mean, you want the wheels on the bus, you're teaching them how to do stuff. Absolutely. All right, all right. I can't just have my kids listen to John Mayer. Sure you can.

You can do it. Don't tell me, don't let me tell you what to do. Play whatever music you want for. This is a new world for me. You know, I'm just a play a lot of Bob Marley for Jane for whatever reason that would help her calm down. you know you got you got to experiment see what they like okay all right I have a little like nursery playlist that I put together but it's not it's just music I like yeah I mean I'm

playing midnight train to Georgia no doubt about it now every time I hear that song now I think about you that's good I'm happy for that we we for those who are not familiar we shared a moment Well, and that's arguably my favorite song of all time. It's up there for me too. It's a great song. Oh, speaking of performers. Shout out to Andrew, sicko Andrew. I won't put the full government out there, but he reached out to me to tell me that he saw

a choir for none other than the pasta man. Yeah. Yeah. Hey! Shout out, Andrew. Andrew. I feel like I had another shout out I needed to give. If I, if it's, if you're listening and it's you, I'm sorry. Shout out to you. If you're listening right now, shout out to you.

Amen. That's what it's all about. All right. Back tomorrow on the P.HL Legos podcast at 2 o'clock. Mina Kimes will join the show. A few other surprises. And don't forget to check out BG Unblocked tomorrow. at noon might have a special guest joining us. So we're looking forward to that. Thanks, everybody. Thank you, Lindsay.

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