PHLY Philadelphia Eagles Podcast - The Eagles’ Path To Relevance Must Be Led By Saquon Barkley | PHLY Eagles Podcast

Episode Date: October 23, 2026

Saquon Barkley spoke at length for the first time in about a month with thoughts on Jalen Hurts, Lane Johnson, the NFC East, his history with losing and why he believes this Eagles team has a chance to turn things around. If they do, there’s a good chance Saquon Barkley will be a big reason for it. Brandon Lee Gowton and Saquon’s biggest fan, Deniz Selman, join Bo Wulf for the final episode before Monday’s Cowboys showdown.   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.HLY Eagles podcast on Friday. A football Friday live here from the Xfinity Studio and presented by Toyota. An extended look at that beautiful thumb, courtesy of expert producer award-winning. Lindsay. Bo Wolf, the professor, Danis, Brandon Lee Gouten. BLG, if you're familiar, bulge, if you want to get nasty. that's right now we're talking professor how are you doing i am tired oh please i am oh please well you back to my office well you did ask i was gonna ask back uh i am sleep deprived i stayed up till

seven belg was like when did you stay up till and i was like seven and he was like that's not even a time you know that you would stay up till but um yeah i'm and then you know excited to be here as always well and then what slept until like 11 15ish I got some sleep. I'm good. You don't have to feel sorry for me or anything. It's just because you asked. How are you doing? I'm great. I'm happy to see you. You do like three shows a day. I'm a little tired.

I'm a little tired. That's okay. Yeah. Yeah. I did not stay up until 7 in the morning. So I have. Okay. And what was keeping you up so late? I was like trying to finish up the film, get some numbers, things like that. Get ready for the show. Teaching's kind of intense these days. Okay. Yeah. I'm super well truly the workflow of a Monday night game I would have thought that this would have made next week more tiring yeah I when it's when it's a short week I do so much stuff ahead of time like I've got all my stuff for the next opponent already done before the game like I'm going to do that stuff like Monday so so so I'm ready for that I wasn't ready for it this week this week I was like oh it's a long week it'll be comfortable snuck up on it but then all that like yeah everything else like yeah so you know it's been it's got more time so you have and

exactly and then it goes away yeah saw a couple of films at the film festival okay all right so too bad yeah no you don't have to feel bad for me what's the best thing you saw this week um there was a an english movie called ice what's old you thin was it called what's old is then it was called it had a really long name it's called i see u p i see tall buildings falling down completely or something like that okay um it wasn't completely it was like like lightning or something It was very good. A resounding endorsement.

Yeah. Socialist, realist. Okay. Mike Lee-esque. But like a younger director, so there's like club scenes and stuff. Okay. Yeah. It was very good.

Ball like lightning. Paul like lightning. There you go. Thank you, Lindsay. BLG, what's the best thing you saw this week? The Sixers. Yeah. That's all I can think about.

I just keep thinking about them. It's so much fun. It's so much more fun to watch your team when like all the players are good. Yeah. You know, like the Sixers have been like so annoying because there's always been these like weak links. and then you watch yesterday. I find the whole thing so fast. I started watching yesterday in like the middle of the third quarter.

So like for me it was just like pure joy. Yeah. Yeah. It was like, okay. This is and like half the comeback had already happened. But Jane is doing this thing now where she wakes up in the morning and asks to watch the highlights. That's great. That's really fun.

15 minute highlights. That's great. Yeah. Yeah. Good way to experience it. But I just, this whole team is so fun. I'm running to spend too much time with this is the Eagle Show. What I love?

is all 15 different iterations of the two person combinations of the big five. I find each one of those relationships fascinating. Yes. And not even to me, like just the encore, but like their personal dynamics too. Yes. Yeah. Every single, every single iteration of that is like so interesting to me. Okay.

Anyway. Let's talk Philadelphia Eagles. They play the Dallas Cowboys on Monday night. Not sure if you've heard about them. long injury list remains, but it seems like they might be getting some of these guys back. Sequin Barclay among them. And Sequin spoke yesterday for the first time in a while in the locker room.

For a long time. He was there for a long time. And it was one of those ones where it was very clear. He had some things he wanted to be pointed about and had some things to say and get some things off of his chest. some of them about like, you know, first of all, I've been through this before. I've been on bad teams and boy, has he, we got like, the young guys got to step up.

The NFC East is there for the taking and all it takes is one game. My honest takeaway from that was without Jalen Hertz, this team does need a face, a leader. Yeah, I think he's auditioning for that role. He would like that to be him. I think it's sort of been Milana

just in terms of the spokesman of it, but it's a little bit different when you're, when you're alignment. Sequin's got to stay healthy to be able to do that. But I think if you are imagining a scenario in which the Eagles are able to turn this around, I could see it being, Sequin is dragging these guys with him.

I know that that's not necessarily how you think football works. And I don't think that that's how, I don't think that that would be the, the actual on-field what's happening, but I think that could be the narrative of what it's happening. happening. Yeah, some of the stuff he said, like I just, I just watched the part that they posted on the

website, but it was, it was so long that might have been most of it. But I mean, he's saying all the right things. Like, it's not that he's doing anything wrong. It's just like some of it was like, we're getting into desperate territory. Yes. You know, like, it's like, don't, don't give up, like keep coming in. Like, it's week seven. Like, do you have to care about today's practice? Like, don't let it get you down. Like, I've been there before. It's not like those Giants teams like turned it around like he's been there before and then those seasons ended up terribly exactly he's never been on a team that was bad and then got good yeah exactly so um yeah i mean that kind of stuff is usually not the reason for things getting better usually things getting better is the

reason for things getting better like for sure like something randomly gets better and then players see it succeed right and then they start believing in it i'm sure they respect saiquan i'm sure like especially the younger players like think of him as like this legend that they can't believe they're on the same team with and all those things. But it's only going to take you so far. Like if you can't block the guy in front of you or if you never call the protection right, like it doesn't matter.

But it also how much you believe in things. It also sort of contextualized for me, BLG, why, even if this becomes a fire sale, I don't think they're trading Sankwan. Interesting. It would just be such a bad signal to the, to everybody, right? It would just be like, okay, we've given up. like to the other players.

And it's less about, that's less about him on field and more about, I do think they care about like the, the captain culture, like the tent pole leaders of the organization. You know, Seikon's talking about he was one of the few guys who was at Jeffrey Lurie's thing the other night.

Like, I think they view him as a franchise leader. And I think they, I think they wouldn't trade those guys. I think they would certainly weigh his opinion more than other players in terms of like what he actually wants. I think that's not necessarily how you want to operate if you know for the GM and you're thinking about what's best for the team

But I do think with the equity that he's built up here I think they're gonna get like they're gonna have deference to him and what he wants If like he doesn't want out I don't think they're gonna trade him what do you guys think his Return on field is going to do for the team I mean he's a 30 year old running back he's played 25% of the snap so far Yeah, but there has been a noticeable change since he's left the lineup which is that they've gone crazy pass heavy, including with a backup quarterback. Yeah. And so the, and then they were very run heavy the first couple of weeks. So it's not because like Sean Mannion decided to throw the ball.

It was like the first couple of weeks, they were run heavy in neutral situations. The last couple of weeks, it's been like really like very noticeable shift to throwing it. You could argue the offensive line like isn't good at run blocking. Well, they're certainly not good at pass blocking either. So like I don't, I'm not really. sure that you can use the offensive line as the reason. I honestly think like the running back was part of the reason. I think that's right.

Yeah. So maybe this week we see Dallas isn't good at defending anything, but like, like maybe this week we see them say, look, like we do have to run it. I think so. I think if he's back, I think he's going to be by far the engine of the offense and in their mind at least theoretically. And he looked good the last time we saw him. I don't agree with the notion that he looks like he's like aging or anything.

anything he looked he looked really good in that bear's game for the game you know kind of I thought so too but but him aging does include sure getting in being more injury prone and he said he's never dealt with a hamstring before and he's found shocking and was only limited worth noting not yeah full participant and he said he was hoping he could go last week and the trainers were like take talking him out of that and he was sitting there was like okay they were probably right so I don't know you know this it is a hamstring is when you don't want to rush back from well I're seeing that with Devante and Danteian wakes too who weren't able to practice on Thursday.

Not good. We know all the money he spends on his body and all the time that he spends making sure he's fit and ready for the season. But like week two, he gets the singer and he says, you know, like this has never happened to me before. I need to work on my neck like exercises. And then now this happens. It's the first time he's out of hamstring.

Unfortunately, when you're 30 years old and you're running back in the NFL, like this is usually what happens. Right. And so yeah, he looked good. But then he leaves the game in the fourth place. You know what I mean? Like, it's like, how do we know that's not going to happen again?

Well, exactly right. Yeah. Okay. What is giving you hope? And man, Damian Pierce is not good. I'll tell you what, he certainly can't catch the ball.

No. And yeah. No. He has 10 targets in the last two games combined. Yeah. It's not good. Yeah. Suddenly they decide to start throwing to the running back

when you have a running back. Now the touch. Do you embrace Professor, which I'm sure we will get to a bunch of, of stats here. When a team is, is this bad. Yeah. When you're in the, when you're in the content sphere, there is, there is sort of the, the competitive arms race of how can you find a stat that makes them look even worse? What, what sliver can you produce that's like, oh, they're the worst in the league at this? Well, and this Eagles offense is making it very easy.

Yeah. But it's like, there are so many different things. Oh, well, you could date back to 2000 or, you know, this is the worst in franchise history or, you know, it's all, it's all there for the taken, right? I mean, it's almost like, uh, it's almost like, like therapy for me, you know, like it's like, it's like, it's like I hate it because I want the team to be good, but it's like, okay, since it's so bad, let me look up just how bad it is. And then I think we have, uh, Lindsay, there's the, um, the three and out graph, I thought was funny.

Oh, yeah. Like this team's going three and out like crazy. This was the whole conversation last year. This is the last two years, all 64. offenses and I just did weeks one through six because there's some like I mean the eagles are dead last and three and outs this year too but but last year's team wouldn't have been second to last because you know there's just some outliers this year so far okay the worst two teams in the last two years at going at avoiding three and outs in the first six weeks are the 2025 eagles at number two

and the 2026 eagles at number one and the one difference is and you can see on this graph like last year's team was at least scoring touchdowns at like an above average rate this year's team is certainly not doing that. So it's just a very funny graph to look at like because not only it's like not only is it the worst too but they're like kind of far away from like the rest of the rest of the bunch there. Interestingly this year's undefeated Vikings are like the only team close to them. Yeah. Yeah well the Colts have had like I'm not really good last year but yeah well they're good at avoiding three and outs. They're not necessarily good at much else this year. Okay.

Dallas very good at avoiding three and outs as well which is something we should discuss when we talk about the defense a little bit later. Yeah. Okay. Why don't we settle in here? Take a break. Catch our breath. Come back on the other side.

Get into the Eagles offense. Maybe a plan for this week against the Cowboys defense. Later in the show, E.J. Smith will join us to tell us what practice looked like. Eagles are on the practice field as we speak. Be back in two minutes. Oh my God. Right now, it's like totally the Ashley Fall Savings event. You are not going to believe this.

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And with Ashley's private approval process, you can buy now and pay later with no interest for five years. That's 60 months inches free when you shop in store. Don't miss Ashley's fall savings event shop in store or at ashley.com today. Hey, hey, hey, back on the PHAB. White Eagles podcast, Bo the Professor and Bulge Bulg

blug however you want to Belrog Okay Do you Do your friends from like high school and stuff call you BLG? No because I didn't really start

Do you have a sinking chair? No Is your chair low? I just lowered it a little bit. Oh you lowered it? Yeah so because then if I'm sit too high then I'm above the mic here Okay.

All right. Okay. So go back here. Anyway, no, I originally started writing when I was back in my, you know, formative early blogging days under first and middle name because I didn't want to dox myself. Okay. And then it became a career. So I was like I should probably start using my last name as well. So.

So what does that have to do with what your high school friends call you? So I didn't use my middle name like growing up. Oh, you just. They just used it. Okay. Yeah. Gotcha. Okay.

So they just called you Brandon? Yeah. Okay. BG sometimes. Okay. Oh. Yeah. It's interesting that you made that choice early and it's become a personality.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I never tell anyone to call me that. Okay. I don't mind it and I respond to abuse to it. Sure. It's kind of funny.

There's a very like a delegation of people who call that in my life. When you're when you were on the dating scene. Yes. Just introduce yourself as Brandon? Yeah. Okay. What? In something else?

Batman? Like, there was some hesitation there. No, no. Yeah, I don't. No, I wouldn't go by my initials. Okay. No, yeah, it's first name. Brandon, nice to meet you.

Yeah. Okay. What's your middle name? I do not have a middle name. Wow. Yeah, neither of my parents liked their, like, secondary names. Okay. In their generation in Turkey, the first name is the one you don't use.

Okay. And the middle name is the one that's your normal name. At least it was that way for my mom. and she hated the second name so she was like, I'm not going to give my kid a second name. Okay. Yeah. So I do not have a middle name.

There you go. What's Bo's middle name? William. Bo Willie. Bo Bill. Sure. How do you feel about the Geeland Hertz thing? We haven't talked to you about it.

Yeah. I mean, it sucks. I hope that whatever happened. I mean, first of all, obviously, I hope he gets better and all those things. But like, I mean, not that it matters because it's happened already, but I hope it wasn't

because of negligence, right? I hope it wasn't because of some overaggressive mistake, like, you know, decision that they made. I'm sure it would be very easy to convince Jalen himself that he can play. I'm sure it would be very hard to do the opposite. So, yeah, I mean, I just hope

that they did everything correctly. and I wish that they would come out and talk about it. I mean, I know it's not, I know it's not easy for them. Everyone talks about like how Rick Berkholter used to talk. Like, I'm guessing that this day and age of like litigation and everything else, like it might be a little harder to do that to have a doctor come out and like talk. Or older did talk this week. Yeah.

No, I know. But like I was going to say like without the players permission and all those things. So, but yeah, I mean, I think. It sucks. I mean, before Nick did a Zoom call Monday, I was like texting people being like, there's no way they're going to have Nick just do his Zoom call today. Of course they are. Like, like, they're not going to just have him do it by himself.

I thought that was very predictable. Not that I didn't think they might, but like that like they can't. You know what I mean? Like that it's clearly the wrong thing to do. It's clearly not the way to handle this. And it was so obvious the way it was going to go. And it went that way and it wasn't useful to anybody. And it didn't make the team look good at all.

So I do, I mean, I am sure that they followed the protocols, right? I would be very surprised that they didn't. Yeah. But there is no doubt that this is wrapped up in the NFL's big business of world expansion. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Right? If this same sequence of events had happened in Dallas, they would have driven Jalen home.

even if it was the exact same situation where it was discovered on the setting was good to go, he probably would have been driven home, I think. Interesting. Like without playing in the game? Even if he played in the game. Okay, after the game.

I think he would have played in the game and then if they would have chartered somebody to drive him home. Yeah. And so it's, it is hard to fight the notion that of course the league is saying nothing to see here. when there's a larger question of having to handle guys.

I don't know. I don't know what their numbers are on how many guys play with superficial blood clots. Right. But are they going to, you know, before you travel to Australia, does every single player need to have an MRI or an ultrasound rather?

Yeah. These super long international flights, if there's going to be one for every team, like, I don't know. I think that's hard not to fight the thought that that's part of their calculation. Yeah. I mean, teams fly from the east coast to the west coast all the time, too, and that's also a long flight. So I think a little bit too much is being made out of that.

I mean, the flight to London is only like an hour longer than the flight to L.A. But there's an ocean. Yeah, I understand. But I don't know. The flight is obviously dangerous for blood clots. And I just think, like, I think there's a, I think there is a faction of people who are just against the international games already. and they're using this as like, oh, like it's because it was in London. Not you don't like they don't know that is the point.

It might have that might have made it worse. But I don't think that that's necessarily like the main difference. I mean, if it were in L.A. instead of London, it still would have been a long flight. So. All right. Let's talk ball. Tanny Mack. All.

How do you feel about an offense led by Tanner McKee? Are you more worried about Tanner McKee or Sean Mannion designing something different? Well, I mean, we've gotten to the point now that every film. review on Twitter about defenses doing cool things features the Eagles offense like in a key supporting role where the Eagles offense is the one that they're doing the cool thing to. Cody Alexander who does great stuff for match quarters like has a cool video this week. Nate Tice, friend of the show has an excellent video breakdown this week. These all begin and some of the begin and end.

The whole video sometimes is just about what they did to the to the Eagles. Like the Eagles offense is the best thing that's happened to defensive coordinators like Anthony Campanelli is a genius. like EJ. E.J. Evereaux is a genius now. Whoever plays the Eagles is a genius that week. And I'm not saying that they don't deserve credit. But like because the Eagles can't solve like the same problems week in and week out, you're able to do these like overload blitzes from the weak side with like the edge rusher on the other side dropping out. I had just like Sean Zayyad had tweeted like a clip of that and I had like posted I had quoted that just before

the Carolina game with like Evereaux already does this. Like we're going to see this for sure. And then we see it on the first play and it results in an 11-yard sack like the very first play and and and you know we know like franz broken it down they tried to flip the play and they messed it up or whatever but the point is they mess it up somehow every time at this point 21 percent of the eagles dropbacks have resulted in an unblocked pressure that's more than one out of five the second place team viral marketing for unblock second place team the dolphins are at 14 percent so you go from 21 to 14 and to pull a shield here, the difference between first and second is the same as the difference between second and 28th. The Raiders are 28th at 7%. So 7%, 28th, 14% second. The Eagles are at 21%. And you can see it. Like you can see it happening when they run under center play action. Everybody's blitzing them. Lindsay, I think we have the graph with the under center play action. I mean, this is like I showed this graph to Emily the other night and she actually

looked at it and was like, where are the Eagles? I can't find them. Because they are at the bottom left, all by themselves, zero percent success rate when they've run under center play action and been blitzed. And you might ask like how many plays? It's been 18 plays that they've, that they've been blitzed running under center play action. They have no successful plays. They're losing one point of EPA each time they run it. So they've already lost like 18 points in six games from running these plays. So it's a disaster. And I think, think like because they, and this is because they can't block it. And maybe because of this, I thought Tanner McKee was playing way too fast on Sunday. Like he was way too hurried and he said

so in himself and his presser yesterday that he needs to get through his progressions. He was, he was getting rid of the ball in 2.5 seconds on average. If he qualified, that would be the fastest in the league. 79% of his throws came under three seconds. That would also lead the NFL. He threw to his first read 77% of the time and checked down another 12% of the time. Okay. That total 89% would lead, like, was the top in the NFL in week six by a mile. And several times, he clearly heard him. That one was actually posted by a, I hate this because he's a 49ers fan, but SF data,

Niners has like, as the FTN data. And he always posts like cool charts of it. Okay. Yeah. And it hurt Tanner McKee. key that he was that he was doing this like i mean early in the game mckeye lemon is wide open on a dagger concept on third and twelve against man coverage he never looks at him he never gets off of tewicks even though tay wicks is clearly covered on a corner route completely plastered by the

corner multiple times his first read was the checkdown and he just checked down to damien pierce like even though like there's a concept working down the field fran broke one of them down where mcky lemon is open on the over route and tanner checks it down there was one later where it looked like devante smith was about to come open on a glance and tanner threw the check down to Pierce so fast the Pierce wasn't even looking for the ball yet like like and it was just and it was just incomplete probably would have dropped it anyway um and on that play the pocket was clean and there was no need to hurry but you wonder if like the aggregate like you know like it's not usually clean the pocket like well we talked about this with jalen before the blood cloud situation

where it was starting the offensive line was starting to get so bad that it was playing into his worst tendencies where he was starting to bail too early even when he did get get a clean pocket and you couldn't blame him for it because there weren't a lot of clean pockets. Exactly. Exactly. Now, on the other hand, you could say like he's, he seems confident like he's quick with the pre-snap stuff. The play clock only got down to two seconds on 15% of the snaps. That was the lowest of any Eagles game in the last two years other than the other one that

Tanner McKee started. So he is faster than that stuff at Jalen. I'm not sure how much that matters. But then you have one play where like, you know, the one where he's flipping the play and doesn't communicate it at the first play. There was another play where he was still checking his wristband. like after everyone had lined up and he's like he checks his wristband

and then he like tells somebody to motion and you know he's talked about how it's wordy and how there's a lot going on in the offense like and I just wonder if he's not playing as freely as he would be if it wasn't so wordy like he keeps trying to make it seem like it's a good thing that it's wordy he's like it gives us it gives us options like

but I've never seen like you don't normally see a quarterback checking his wristband after everybody's lined up already to like to figure out which way to motion I agree you know like that that's that's kind of that's got to make you think he's not like fully comfortable, right? So do you have hope he will be better this week at all? Given that they have the full week to prepare,

given that some of the stuff you're talking about, they would hopefully look at and try to adjust. I mean, this is a good question. I mean, I think the main question is like, how do you have, like what kinds of answers to these kinds of issues with protection, especially against the Blitz, are you going to give him?

And I came up with a list of things. And I was going to ask you guys, bounce these off you, like which ones do you think they can maybe lean in on more? And I'll talk a little bit about how it went this last game. So the first one,

you can chip to help the offensive line. Keep guys in to chip, right? If it's the running back, sure. If it's Johnny Mont, why not? He's not going to catch the ball anyway. He's probably not going to whiff on the chip too, but whatever. Dallas Goddard?

No, okay? The most disturbing pattern for me on this film, and this is a high bar, especially in the first half was how often they use Dallas Goddard as a chipper to help Mark L. Bell, in some cases to help Jordan Milata, like really?

Yeah, he's your second most important weapon, get him out in the route. Exactly. And it takes him completely out of the progression because he ends up engaging with the edge rusher for way too long. Like, it's not something he's good at. You know what I mean? Like, it takes skill to like chip and actually run your route. But his route's not part of the progression at all on those.

And they always say when there's a backup quarterback, the tight end is a safety blanket. Well, you have a good receipt and tight end. And then after that stretch of plays where he chipped for like seven dropbacks in a row, the next one, he runs that bender and catches a 15-yard ball. And they run an exchange pressure on that and the protection holds up. Mark Elbelle did fine. Like give the quarterback the safety blanket instead of using an extra guy to protect.

It's not like you're protecting well anyway. So that's my, that's the first one. I would say like stop doing that. Like I'm and I take it you guys agree on that one. screens are usually a way to discourage this. Lindsay, I think we have a graphic of how the Eagles are doing in the screen game. I bet they're doing pretty well.

The Eagles are still 32nd in the NFL in screen success rate. And in this game, they used this swing screen to the running back with McKay Lemon in motion. And it was just a... Did I not send you the screen one? No, there's like a screen... It's okay. It's probably my fault.

Like I said, I'm asleep to brag. But they're dead last in this. And they tried to run the same screen this week that they ran a couple of times with success last week. And it was a disaster. In fact, they threw the ball backwards, like which, you know, could have resulted. Yeah, what are they doing?

Could have resulted. Well, it's because they ran it from the pistol. I honestly think, like, they sit there and they're like, we ran this from shotgun last week. Let's run it from pistol this week so they don't see it coming. Even though, like, Mackay Lemon's right in the same exact motion and it's clearly the same play.

It worked twice against Jacksonville, once for seven yards, once for six yards. And they're running the same thing out of pistol. But pistol means the running back is so far behind the quarterback. It ends up being a complete disaster. He lost three yards on the play. And it could have been a fumble. Like, we saw Damien Pierce drop other passes.

If you dropped that one, it's a live ball. So what do you guys think about the screens? Like, is that something that they just get rid of them out? Just get rid of them completely, not even to keep people on it. It's so funny that we haven't even seen the payoff to the McCoy Lemon screens. We haven't seen one of those pumps. They called it last week. They called it last week.

But then, but then the guys were covered. And he ended up throwing it, he ended up throwing it the other way. That was the, past interference off. Yeah, that was the Goddard.

Yeah. Yeah. But it was my kind of, Mike Lemon was like wide open on that play. Yeah. There was a moment where he came open, but I think the timing wasn't right. So like it was,

it was one of those where like, but I was sitting in the stands and the moment he pumped that screen, I was like, there it is the book screen. pay off and started yelling but then he didn't throw it. Did you have a good angle on Dallas Scott Arts butt? Oh man, that was crazy. Yeah, that was crazy.

Actually, they had the binoculars out. Did you? No, yeah, I did. I did. Yeah, I was like, did I just see that. Yeah, that's very funny. That was very funny. Yeah. I think that, I mean, that must have happened before, but I don't really remember seeing it. I remember it happening at, was it gronk? Maybe. Oh, yeah, yeah. Gronk always seemed like a spanisher about to fall off. Yeah. And then what was your in stadium experience of the John Hussie situation?

Oh, that was hilarious. That was so funny. I mean, I was like, I was just like, man, we can convince this guy of anything. Like, it's just like, yeah, it was so good. Like, he's just like, you know, he's pleading. I mean, pleading with us, yeah. And I'm totally with you guys that he should have leaned into it. Yeah, when he corrected it.

I mean, you know. My bad. Yeah, yeah. You guys were, I gave something. Yeah. Yeah. That would have been, that would have been amazing. Super chat from Fresh Prince.

Shout out to the professor being committed to the Jalen Hertz's sleep schedule. Hmm. I like that. And that's a real fan. There it is. That's a real fan right there. There it is. Well, there's no mystery about when I slept.

Well, I don't know that there's a mystery about that during thing. It's just that nobody misreported your sleeping. That's what I, that's what I mean. That's all. Okay. Let's take a break. See in two minutes. Talking more ball.

I am a little bit tired of people talking about things that they don't know anything about. Just because you don't like the outcome doesn't mean that the team shouldn't have followed the medical advice of Dr. Ray. But that's not what we're here to talk about. No, we are talking about Shady Ray's. Yes, of course, Shady Ray's the brilliant sunglasses company where they've got your back even while they've got your eyes. That's right, because if you lose or break your sunglasses at any time,

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All right, we are two possible solutions deep. What's number three here? We've talked about chips and screens. Friends have been talking about spread them out a little bit more, right? And I think they did that a little bit more this game than they had been with Shalin, like, running out a spread. They had like a whole drive where it was kind of no huddle. They didn't have a single snap of empty, which I thought was strange. Like they had been doing that and then they didn't have any empty at all this game. I don't know why. I mean, I don't know like what about, is it Tanner McKee? Is it like the way. You think if you don't have a reaction, all the better. Yeah, I mean, I don't know. But I mean, that's usually a way to

you know, discourage blitzes. Yeah. The one way that they discouraged blitz is the best, I thought, was no huddle. I mean, the Eagles are using no huddle second most of any team. And when they use no huddle, they get blitzed less often, right? Because teams don't have as much of a time, much of an opportunity to get into their stuff. In the fourth quarter, there was a sequence where they completed like four or five passes for 33 yards, two first downs. Like not a huge like, you know, production, but they were moving the ball.

And they were all against vanilla coverages and four man rushes, which they barely got it all from Carolina. The blitz numbers probably don't indicate enough in this game how much of the sim pressure stuff Carolina was doing. They were almost always rushing somebody from the second level, but in that stretch with no huddle, they weren't. And so since you can't handle that stuff, you know, not that you can do no huddle the whole game, but it's something they should probably continue to to lean into. And then it was frustrating because the very next play after that stretch, they went back to the condensed and they got a zero blitz. And it was incomplete. So it was like, I don't know.

I, I, I, I, I'm, it seems like a nice solution, at least part of a solution.

I do like the idea of, uh, the pregame meeting with the coaches where for the first time, Vic Fangio learns that the plan to fix the offenses for them to go no huddle. And it's like my guys knee are going to get even west for this. Right. Yeah. That's that that one's interesting to me.

But like and you know, I'm, I'm guessing we're going to have like, well, like a block for the defense or something. Yeah, of course. Um, That one's interesting to me because I totally agree that the defense can blame the offense for part of their troubles.

But man, they have not had. Yeah. Like they have not had a good time getting off the field themselves. Yeah. And at some point, and it's happening at the beginning of games too. So like, like you do wonder how much of that is. Yeah. I think it's a little bit of us.

Yeah. Do you have another possible answer here? I don't know. I mean, BLG, talk to them. Wednesday about how the schedule is going to get easier. So playing worse defensive yeah might be one of the one might be one of the solutions and better players on the field I mean if that happens yeah I'm not sure about that what like depending on where you look the Eagles have either the easiest or the second easiest

strength of schedule of defenses remaining Seattle and San Francisco and maybe the Steelers to some degree are like the only decent defense is left on the schedule like you're talking like Dallas terrible Washington the Giants Arizona these are all defenses that are ranked in the bottom 10 and so in DVOA at least and yeah I mean

when you look back at the defenses they faced other than the first two weeks which were two wins they've all been good I mean you know they've all been they've all been decent so yeah I don't I don't know I don't know if that's gonna help because I'm sure those defenses are like oh great we get to play a terrible offense exactly yeah

I think it'll depend on who they have on the field on Monday night. Which doesn't look good. It doesn't look good. We'll hear more about that from me, Jay. All right, what do you want to talk about for the defense? Oh, let me ask this question. Let me frame it this way for you.

Let's think about the Eagles defense and tell me as you watch that film, what was your big takeaway presented by Xfinity? Thank you, Lindsay. Saving the day. She's not all thumbs. Did you guys think Devandé Smith looked right? No. Yeah, not at all, right?

I mean, he was often taken away by Will Lee, who's a fourth round rookie, who I actually think he's going to be good. Like, it seems like he's going to be good. And I thought Evereux made an interesting switch because Akeleb Evans had played to the boundary on every snap the week before against the lion. Who did they get destroyed by the week before? Yeah. My week. Lions. Lyons, yeah, two weeks before.

They, I mean, their defense got destroyed. Caleb Evans played to the field every snap this game. They switched roles. And Will Lee played to the boundary. and the Eagles are using Devante Smith as that like boundary receiver, whether he's by himself or not. And so he ended up with Will Lee on him like pretty much the whole game, not because Will Lee was following him, but kind of by the Eagles choice.

Fran had described Will Lee before the game as like stiff, upright, like you can get separation on him. And it just wasn't happening. And it didn't look like Devante Smith to me. And he's not practicing now. Like it seems like, yeah, it doesn't seem good. Well, let's talk about the Eagles defense. what do you want to say well they complain about the offense putting them out on the field too often

yeah um they have on there when they are out there they're out there for over six plays per drive which ranks 24th they're also 24th in series conversion rate allowed the one thing i'll give them is in the first half they're allowing teams to get first downs on 68% of some of sets of downs, which ranks 14th, in the second half that goes up to 77%. Which is 27th. So you could point to that and be like, look, they are getting tired. And we have seen them get worse in the fourth quarter. But I was gonna ask you guys, like, I mean, at what point do you say this is supposed to be the strength of the team?

The offense is obviously beaten up. Yes, the defense has injuries too, but can we communicate like who's covering the number one receiver when he runs vertical? Like can we do that? I mean, like this can't be happening. It's already happening with the offensive line. It can't be happening with the defense at this point, right? I think that's right. I think the offense is so bad that it's they deserve a lot of the blame.

But the defense was always supposed to be better and it was supposed to be good. And it's not even close to good. And yeah, they're missing guys, but they're not missing the same caliber. of guys and we're seeing mistakes to your point that are like day one mistakes from players who shouldn't be making it yeah no I mean and and I feel like Vic has has tried different things like he blitzed a lot this game he's stunting more than he normally does he still hasn't settled on how to play the safeties like and I know it's changing who the safeties are but like Drew McCuba had been

playing either left or right before this game he played to the boundary the whole game and I actually thought like Carolina saw that and was like okay well macuba's going to be to the boundary he's often rotating down too fast and too aggressively let's try to get McMillan on him right and they ran like that motion with with with Waller on one of the earlier plays in the game which makes waller the number one and then macuba has to take McMillan who's the slot receiver on that side McMillan's usually to the boundary anyway and they get they get a huge gain out of that and I feel like they were doing that kind of thing throughout the game where they were picking on McCuba and this is the kind of thing that when you have a weakness,

like they're going to pick on the weakness. And I'm not sure Vic is hiding that stuff as well as he could be. Yeah. I also think that some of Vic's tendencies are actually hurting him the way this year is going. Like, and I'm not going to say like he doesn't know what he's doing or something. Obviously, he's had a lot of success with this stuff. But sometimes you disguise yourself out of advantageous situations, right?

Like so, like they run these exchange blitz, exchange pressures where one of the edge rushers drops out and one of the linebackers blitzes. Well, there was a long gain on a play in this last game where Jahad Campbell was that blitzer. And he blitzed so late and from so deep. And he had no chance to get there. And I actually think it was like a mental error by him too. Like he didn't he didn't remember that he was going to blitz. In fact, you can kind of see Zach Bond telling him to go. Like, but that's one where it's like if you're going to blitz just blitz. You know, like other other teams are like putting guys on the line and like pressuring and and and it's making more of an impact. And then of

course the one where cocker beats sack bond. I mean, that's man coverage, man. Like, it's like, if you're going to play man coverage, just play man coverage. Like, put Bonn out on the running back at number one. Bring, like, a corner in to, to cover, like, one of their fastest wide receivers. Like, you're not gaining enough from them thinking it might be zone there to, and then they, and they figured out that it was man. And they're like, you know, they, I mean, they exploited that. I just think some of Vicks's tendencies might be, might be hurting him. But, I mean, this is the least of the, like, compared to the offenses problems, these are like maybe being bicky,

but a big takeaway from the professor, Vic Fangio, ain't got it anymore. And that is presented by Xfinity. Let's see what they do. I don't know, what were you going to say? So I think there's a lot of focus on if the Eagles offense can't get it going

against this Dallas defense. It's like, what are we doing? Yeah. I'm interested to see the litmus test for this. defense when you consider Cowboys have only scored 29 points over the last two games that is the fewest amount of points they've scored in games that Dak Prescott is both like started

and finished. Oh interesting since 2019 like this is like unprecedented I think we all get the image of the Cowboys of yeah offense is great defense is terrible it's not been the case over the past two weeks like I think the offense is almost getting a pass it seemed like from this is the the opposite of the old sides of this match up yeah so yeah I'm curious to see you like if the if because I think if we normally it'd be like oh if the Dallas offense is having success against the Seagulls defense that's the expectation they're a pretty good unit and they still have talent so I'm not gonna say like it should be impossible for them to have success but I think it would be really

alarming if they this is like their get right game on offense they ran into a bus saw and Jonathan Gannon yeah exactly crazy like I mean Gannon's peckxing all the place and everything I mean I'm sure I'm sure there will be some sort of reversion there but It's been weird too because they have these weapons on offense, but they can't create explosives. I know Fran was talking about yesterday. I mean, they're 28th in the league at generating 20 plus yard plays.

They're actually been moving the sticks very well. Like, I mean, their third in series conversion rate for the season, but most of that is from the earlier, from the earlier games. But, you know, there's still fifth any paper drive as an offense for the season. So, I mean, it's still a good offense. It's just not maybe doing quite what people thought that it would be doing. and they can't overcome what's really the worst defense in the week. It's going to be high quality football out there when the Eagles have the ball.

Apparently Jonathan Grenard, we'll talk to E.J., but how do you feel about this edge group? I mean, Jonathan Grenard had been the right, had been playing on the right and Nolan Smith had been playing on the left. In this game, Jonathan Grenard played exclusively on the left. And it must be because of his ankle, right? Like, I'm not even, I don't even remember which ankle it is, but like it must be. Right. Like he's playing on a side that he's not used to playing on and making Nolan Smith play on a side that he's not used to playing on right That's what that's how the game started and it continued that way

So that must be due to entry right and then he's tapping out after two plays like every drive Second half he plays the first play and he's already tapping out and I'm like I don't I would love to hear what vick saying right now in the booth Like as as he realizes that a K. I'ma K. K. Abiketti has to play 72 snaps which is The most... I couldn't believe that yesterday. He was talking about it. Oh, he's like yelling over at him. Like, you can play 72?

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, that's like... I felt terrible. I mean, Kachian James Nuby had to play 48 snaps. A practice squad elevation. Like, playing that much is crazy. Yeah, yes. And the 72 and what, Newby was 48 or something?

Yeah. That's out of 79. Like, I mean, it was a lot of snaps, but it's not that crazy. It's the most snaps played by an Eagles defensive lineman, Abiketti's 72. Since the Buffalo game in 2023, when Hassan Reddick, Josh Swet, and Jalen Carter all played more than that,

but that's because there were 95 snaps that game. It was an overtime game. Yeah, overtime and the defense was out there already a lot. And Jordan Davis's energy bar. Oh, yeah, done. Yeah, yeah. Amazing. Okay.

Totally random thing felt out of that game like you feel right now. Did you guys realize that Jake Majors is a lefty? I was wondering about whether that mattered. Like, you know the snap that he messed up? Yeah. Obviously, that was in the dirt. but it's got to be different when it's a lefty center, right?

You know how like you can't really do certain things when you're a lefty? Like you can't play like shortstop or whatever? Like how they bring it lefty punters to like... Yeah, exactly. Yeah. It's got to... Creed Humphrey is a lefty, I believe.

Okay. I remember that being a thing when he was coming out. That it's a disadvantage or that it... Or that it's different. It's different. Yeah, quarterback has to get used to it. Okay. I don't know.

Good stuff. That's what I got. Let's take our last break. On the other side. J. Smith will join us on the Xfinity mobile call-in line. I don't know what we'll talk about. We'll figure it out. Here comes the hot stepper. Walking out of his house. And then he stops.

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back. Good to be back. Back in the saddle. You know, I just came from Eagles practice and it's only fitting that now that I'm back, I am the bearer of bad news given what's transpired while I was away. So I can give you some updates from the practice field

who was there and more importantly, probably who wasn't there. Well, let's get to that in a second. How are you feeling this is the first time you've really flown the coop from young Eliza? How do you feel? Do you feel like you need to be rushing home? You know, I would say I cried more than Eliza on my way out the door, which, you know, it's to be expected. I'm glad to know that Eliza was doing well. She didn't seem that phase by my departure. But yeah, it's good to be back. Like, it's good to have the structure. You know, I enjoy this job, obviously. So I'm fortunate to be excited to go to work. But I'm also excited

then they go back home and hold that little baby. You know, it's going to be a nice, nice return when I get back there. So I appreciate you asking. Anything you guys want to say to E.J. No, you get to see him. Congrats, E. Yeah. Thank you.

Thank you. I appreciate it. Thank you guys for holding down the floor. It's good to see you guys. Hopefully I see you in person soon. Give us set the scene a little bit for you returning to the facility for the first time. Which reporter gave you the most. excited reaction and which reporter like stiffed you the most nobody stiffed me first and foremost everybody

was very gracious um i'd say jeff nyeberg gave me the hardest like pat on the back it was one where you felt it like 10 minutes later it's like oh yeah he really he really got me uh and tim Mcvanus you know him and i had a moment because you know uh like my wife was very moved by tim you know giving eliza and her a shout out on the post game show uh so yeah lots lots of good moments you know There was some talk about dad strength, which I don't know if I got that strength. You know, hopefully when that test comes, I'll be ready. But yeah, it was nice. It was very nice.

Everybody was happy to see me. And, you know, I was happy to see them. Happy to be back. Well, listen, it's a dog-eat-dog world out there. The people in that media trailer are thinking, oh, this guy's got an extra, something extra to play for now. He's coming. He's going to even bite our heads off more.

Yeah, you know, I got mouths to feed. That's right. He's got to put some bread off there. You've got to take care of. Yep. All right. What did you see at practice? All right. So no Devante Smith and no Taywicks for a second practice in a row. Devante hamstring Taywick's ankle.

I wouldn't feel optimistic about either of those guys at this point, especially Devante. And I think we can have a bigger conversation about that. But another important one, Jonathan Gernard was out of practice with an ankle injury. He was limited yesterday. And usually when you're limited the day before and you're a DNP the following day, it means that you've suffered an injury in practice. So I think his status is going to be very much in doubt. as well. You know, you guys are just talking about that edge rusher rotation. I think that will be

stressed again. Obviously, Jaylux Hunt is coming back, but Nolan Smith was also not at practice with the concussion. And then Dallas Goddard was sideline with a knee injury still. So, you know, obviously we keep talking about these important pieces, you know, these guys who the offense can't afford to lose. A lot of them were out today. And obviously, again, the Jonathan Grenard thing is one that you really got to keep an eye on over the next couple, really the next 24 hours, you know, before the Eagles break for the Monday night game. All right, let's go position by position there. At wide receiver.

So you're now looking at potentially Mikhail Lemon, Darius Cooper, and Howie Roseman calling up all 31 general managers and saying, make sure you do nothing but watch this game tonight and focus on the Hollywood Brown Showcase game. Hollywood prime time, baby. Can he have a quieter 17 snaps than he had in week two when he played 17 snaps and we didn't notice him at all? Well, today he was nothing but quiet.

He had on some pink cleats. People were wondering if it was Devante out there because his cleats were so fresh. He's ready to peacock on Monday night football. There we go. He's like, it's my time to shine. There we go. So yeah, not looking great at receipt.

That's what. Not great. Tight end. You know, they released DJ Jenkins yesterday. So how does that make you feel, E.J.? That they got rid of E.J. Jenkins. Whose name they never spelled right on the website, by the way. Yeah, it makes me sad for my fellow EJ, hopefully, you know,

see them again in the Eagles locker and whether it's practice squad or active roster. But, you know, I got to be honest, it just drives the knife of the Camelot to waving even further. Because, you know, we all knew in the moment that there was special teams loss and everything else. but the vision that they sold us was that this guy could be a combo tight end in the NFL and that lasted all of what six weeks. So, yeah, just another chapter in this weird roster management season. The tight end chapter in particular has been piercing to my heart as someone who is a big fan of the heavy personnel packages you see across the NFL.

So yeah, that's what comes to mind. And, you know, it will be a bummer though. Every time E.J. Jenkins walked by me in the locker, it was a fun thing where we go, hey E.J. Like, hey E.J. So hopefully I see him again at some point. I was irrationally angry that they released a tight end and that it wasn't Johnny Munt. I mean, honestly,

like, yeah. Like, the guy, the guy sucks. Like, he can't do anything. And he's a veteran. Like, it doesn't matter for the future or anything. Like, just get rid of him. Like, I cannot imagine, like, what he's doing behind the scenes that's valuable enough to keep him around. He's just been a complete disaster.

Yeah. And, like, why not get rid of him if you're going to get rid of a tight end? I mean, E.J. Jenkins can do whatever he was doing. You can't be worse at it. Yeah, I don't disagree. Yeah. There's got to be someone on the street who can do exactly what he does. And probably better. The question, but the question now is how are they going to fill that spot? You've got Zach Hertz who can promote and you've got Grant Halkitare and Eli Stowers who are eligible to come off injured reserve. We know Eli Stowers isn't going to fill the blocking role, but I don't know. He worked with Tanner McKee in the summer. Yeah, and at some point with the way the season's going, do you just say, like, let's just get it out there?

Like, let's just get them reps. You know, these games aren't as high leverage as we originally anticipated. So, yeah, that'll be interesting because both Eli Stowers and Grand Capitara were full participants in practice yesterday. They're obviously out there again today. So it's kind of shaping up. We're at least one of those guys going to take a roster spot, I would imagine. And they're only allowed to practice for one more week before they have to make a decision on both of them. So yeah, I imagine

There are three open roster spots There are three open roster spots So I imagine I imagine both of those guys If they were full Are gonna get pulled back Then what are you doing with Hertz You're leaving arts on the practice squad?

I don't know Yeah He would just This is one I mean you can't I hope so I hope this is one where like Ask me again next week

You know I apologize That I'm getting back to it Like I don't have any like intel on what's going to lock up. But right. Yeah, but I will be asking around and trying to figure it out.

So ask me in a few days, but it'd be so surprising if they just, as you said, vote, it's a die on the vine. That's the expression. Yeah.

It'd be very strange to do that. It'd be really mean. Yeah. And then the edge, you know, I guess Jalick Hunt is going to hobble through playing through this thing. And it's going to be him and Epicady

and they'll elevate James Newby, but you can't only have three guys. right so who's your fourth guy who even is it i it's just moving a defensive tackle over i think yeah what's say to they have anybody else on the practice like like he's not going to actually have him play like as don't even have another guy on the roster they have done these like personnel groupings where it's three d tackles and uh and only one edge and then he'll have kind of like cooper de gene kind of act like the other edge or something like he's he did that against chicago a bunch last year he might do that to steal some snaps but you could only steal so many snows but you could

only steal so many snaps that way. You know what you could do. It's going to be Gishon James Newby out there again the whole game. If we're talking about. Mason Rymer. No, but. Joshua Wareer. Joshua Wareer.

If we're talking about Eli Stowers, like just get him out there, get him reps. Yeah. Who's to say that Joshua Wareau wouldn't make sense. Yeah, probably. But E.J. What are the odds that Vic kills Jonathan Grenard, like actually murders?

I mean, non-zero, but pretty close to it. I don't know. Vic's got that in at least one turkey. Yeah, I put two turkeys on it. When he limped off after the first play in the second half last week, I think I could hear Vic from my seat, like, you know, like cursing in the booth. Yeah, the old man jog. Like the most obvious eye roll you've ever seen in your life.

Yeah. Yeah. Stay there for one minute, AJ. We've got to get two baby time. What a swipe. Love it. All right. What other emotions are you feeling?

I think I've kind of canvassed my emotions. You know, now that we're in overtime, hopefully I can, I listen, like the listeners of the show and the viewers of the show know that I talk about my wife all the time. I'm going to be even worse about the baby now. Like, I'm just going to be talking about my kid all the time. She had a great pediatrician appointment this morning. And you know what? They did the same.

Bo, have you seen this? The pediatrician, like, hell. held the baby up by the, I'm trying to get my fingers, by like just the pointer fingers like this. Yeah. And swung the baby back and forth. I've never seen this happen before. And my daughter's just like holding on for dear life. Like, please don't let me fall.

And the pediatrician's like, oh yeah, like that's the, that's the reflex or that's the, the grip reflex. Like that's, that's looking good. I was like, I sure hope so. You're just going to drop my baby. And if it wasn't, yeah. Yeah. I think your pediatrician might have just been bored.

I don't think that's a thing. How did you get the same doctor as the Eagles? Yeah, that has been the prevailing message I've gotten from people. It's like, oh, well, you didn't miss much. You know, nothing happened while you were away. No news, that's for sure. Yeah, right. It's different complexion around here.

Okay. I should say, go ahead, go ahead. How is your diaper game? Oh, I'm so good at diapers, well. So, so good. I got the whole system. I mean, you know, Julia is a pediatric nurse, so she taught me like the game. Yeah.

So I timed one this morning under 90 seconds, you know, like nothing, no big deal. It's like 75 seconds. It was only a wet diaper, though. It wasn't the full shebang. Well, you did famously say you were thinking about going gloves. Yeah. It has not happened. I sanitized before and after, but no, no gloves. Sanitized before and after, and then I wash my hands once you get the baby situated, you wash your hands. So, yeah.

I'm good at the diaper parcel, like getting it nice and like tiny when it goes in the pale. I do that. I do the new diaper underneath once you get the baby situated, you know, for ease of cleaning and, you know, everything else. Yeah. Yeah. No surprises of so far. Knock on wood. All right. Nicely done. Yeah. What were you going to say something else? I was going to give you an update from practice.

So Seyquan was out there. He looked like he's going to be limited again today. And then Landon Dickerson was taking reps at left guard. I mean, that's my expectation is that he will play left guard. He will start there with Drew Kendall at center. And that's what it looked like at practice today. Does that make you feel better about the offensive line? Yes.

Linden also added with a actoral, right? That's different. from last week from before that's a new injury listing there yeah yeah yeah because yeah was the reason that he that he went on i are right and now it's knee slash pectoral not great what is your but yeah i mean it makes me feel better that at least there's an ups i mean yeah i feel like willie lampkin it's a it's a fun story i know it's but like i mean he's playing exactly the way you'd expect a guy who's like a foot too short for the job. Yeah.

To play you know what I mean? Like it's like and I totally agree with Fran. It would be fun to have him out there as a six. Well, that's what I was going to. Yeah. And ask you about as a potential solution. Yeah. I've just playing a little bit of six of line.

Yeah. You could do that. I mean, you're going to better than having Dallas gutter chipping. Like, you know, taking him out of like where he's not really blocking a guy. Mark Elbell still has to block that guy and he's not running a route.

Like instead of that, they may as well, I don't know, shore it up with six, I guess, but yeah, at this point, I don't know. There's not a lot of enthusiasm from Ben is here. It's just like, I mean, I guess you can try. You haven't been in the, until seven of the morning. You haven't been in the locker room yet, E.J., but do you have any sense of if the vibes are terrible or not?

I mean, like, we know what can happen with these kinds of teams. It's been a while since we've had one here, but it can get, it can get ugly fast where guys like guys who would normally be, practicing aren't like you know I was going to ask like is part of the reason this this injury report is so long is because like is the causality the other way around to some degree like guys are like this isn't worth it you know yeah it's a fair question anytime you have like 20 plus names on the injury report you have to wonder what that's doing for morale and if that's a reflection of morale um yeah I don't know again I'll get in the locker room and I'll have a better feel for what things

are like um circling back though on some of the guys who were out the Devante hamstring thing to me like my antenna's up on that one again I'm looking forward to asking around about some of this stuff this is what the third time that he's going to miss time because of a hamstring injury and I remember last year he said

that the hamstring injury it was the type of thing where he could just keep making it worse and play through it or he could take the time to make sure it gets right at some point are we talking about just shutting them down for a while and just say like okay you've tried to play through it you've tried these like two week

absences, do you just need like an extended period off? So again, that's speculation on my part. It's not like I've talked to somebody about that, but that's on my radar because he just keeps popping up with the same thing. And, you know, we also know with Devante, like he takes care of his body. It's not like this is a, you know, a lack of, you know, preparation, prehab, as they call it, or rehab. It's just, it won't go away. And I think that that's, that's a real concern, especially if we are talking about then is like this idea that, well, you know, at some point, do you just want to manage guys' health? I think Devante with this hamstring might be one that comes up. It was in 2024 when he missed games with the hamstring, right? And he didn't go on IR then. I think he missed one and he came back. And then later he missed two and he came back. Was that also something like that? Yeah.

I missed the Ravens game that year. Yeah. The Ravens and the Rams before it. For some reason, I can envision a media session with Devante in his locker where he said, like, you know, I was just going to keep making it worse. Maybe it was 24. Maybe that's what I'm thinking of. Yeah, last year he didn't miss any games.

He did. He left the Raiders game early and he missed about half of it. But then he came back the next week. Okay, so that was 24 then the year where the hamstring popped up and he just needed to be in Yeah, he missed Tampa Bay where it was like John Ross was the number one receiver. Yeah. And then he missed the Rams and Ravens later in the season. I just didn't remember if both of those absences were because of hamstring.

I know one of them was. But in any case, he didn't go on IR then. But this is exactly what I'm talking about. It's like if the team were four and two would we be talking about this. But now it's like he might be like, yeah, you know. Yeah. Tanner McKee's throwing it to Damien Pierce in the first half second of every play anyway. I may as well hang out on IR.

It's better be a Darius Cooper game. I'm kicking myself. I went big on a Devante Smith item yesterday. Now here I am like, oh, maybe they need to shut them down. Did you watch the game live? The Eagles Panthers game? Yeah. Yeah, I watched it with Eli.

Yep, I watched it. I probably didn't watch it with, as quite like a discerning eye as I normally would. I would hope not. diaper changes and everything, but I did watch the game. Yeah. Okay.

Did you explain to Eliza that it's not always this bad? I mean, that like, you know, this isn't, she's going to like, she's going to hate football. I'm going to send you a funny picture of her.

Like she's in like green, not an eagle's green, but just in green after the game and she's got her hand on her face. Like she's like, oh my God, I can't believe that she had me watch that. And I have a picture of her in a sixers onesie where

she's just like, like smiling, super happy. Like, this is awesome. So she's picked up on the vibe of Philly Sports pretty quickly. All right, E.J. Have fun in the locker room. Yeah, it'll be good to be back. Like the temperature of that place, I'll be the, I will be the thermometer, not the thermostat.

I think that's my role as a reporter. I'm off my question for you. I'll ask you later. Okay. Is it that personally? You can't just ask it now? I just want to know if you're going tomorrow as well. Oh, yeah, I'll be there.

Yep. Oh, that's great. That's good. Really good. Yeah. That's like every, every egos of Eliza, like holding her face.

Oh, yeah. After watching another under center play action, probably. Yeah. No, yeah. After watching Johnny Munt, Missa Block. She's like that. I thought you had told me. Just run by the guy.

He's supposed to be blocking. Yeah. Thank you, EJ. Good to see you. Yep, good to see you too. I'll talk to you guys later. Love you. Love you, too.

All right. One of the notes you got. Beautiful. You stay up until 7 a.m. I don't want to make this worth your while. Oh, no, no. I mean, I think we got through pretty much everything. I was, I was, I mean, I'm trying to focus on the stuff happening on the field.

It's just so hard when it's like, okay, you're thinking about things that could be a little bit better. And then you hear, oh, by the way, Devante Smith, Tewicks, and Dallas Goddard might all out? It's like, okay, like, what is it going to be then? I mean, like, who's he going to be throwing to? It's truly like, it really is the season from hell right now. Are you? It's crazy. Like, how, how bad it is. The division is so bad that you have this weird fake hope that, yeah, right?

Yeah, but. Would you almost prefer them to just be out of it? From the relief standpoint? Not obviously, like, in a perfect world, you want them to win it. No, I have a lot of, I have a lot of friends who are, who are, they're good Eagles fans. I'm not going to say they're not good Eagles fans, but I think their focus is, much more on the future than me. Like I can't do that. Like I can't ever be like, oh, it's better to only win four games so you can get a better

draft pick and stuff. I've thought about that stuff. I've tried to think about that stuff rationally and then there's the emotional part of it. Rationally, I think people overestimate a little bit how much better it is to have like the ninth pick than the 15th pick or whatever. Like empirically,

like the ninth pick is better than the 15th pick usually, but not always. Like, you know what I mean? Like it doesn't always work out that that better pick is better. You can always say DeMonte Smith. Like, but I mean, well, I also don't think you need to worry about this team like being too good to tank or like, I think. But if you they're pretty bad enough to like right. No, the argument is though like because of the rules like if you win the division, you're out of the top 18. Right. And so people are like, well, you're talking about dropping all the way to 19th when you would normally be picking, you know, 10th or something. For me, like the season is too long. There are too many games. I put too much energy into each week. Like. like for to be like, oh yeah, I want the team to lose. Right. You know what I mean? Like once you're mathematically eliminated, I might feel a little differently.

But before mathematical elimination, it's different. And we talked about this, Lindsay, I know you know that the Jets play like five games a year, like after they're mathematically eliminated. That's only happened once with the Eagles in the last like decade, basically.

Like, I mean, that one game at the end of 2020 is the only game the Eagles have played since 2016. Yeah. where they were mathematically eliminated at kickoff. And so we're not used to that. You know what I mean?

And I really don't want it to get to that because at that point, it's like, then it really will be just a, I mean, you have to do a show every day. But like, you know, it's at that point, it really will just be a chore, you know. I was going to ask if you are completely out on Sean Mannion. Or are you holding out hope? I'm pretty close to out.

But there's always hope. I mean, it's early. He just reminds me of, this is going to sound a little mean. He reminds me of like some of my, some students I've had in the past who they're very earnest. They're hardworking. They come to office hours. They ask questions. Like, I'm not doubting whether they, I'm not doubting whether they're working hard. I know they care a lot.

Oh, no. But they cannot. They cannot get a question right on the exam to save their life. Like, it's like, you know, like it's, it's, it's, they're just not good test. stakers. They're not good thinking on their feet quickly. They don't have the experience doing that and they're just not good at it. And unfortunately, a big part of being a play caller in the NFL is that. Like, it's like, I'm sure he understands the philosophies well. I'm sure he knows why a play went wrong. I'm sure he can watch the film and figure that out. But when I hear about how he doesn't leave the

building, I rolled my eyes when say, man, Sequan's like, he doesn't leave the building. It's like, well, maybe he should. Maybe he should go home and sleep. You know what I mean? Like, it's like, Um, just a guy who doesn't leave the building is exactly the thing that like usually is a sign of, okay, like he's even more desperate now. He realizes this is going to be his only chance maybe ever to be a coordinator if it continues to be this bad. And, um, yeah, it's not good. And I, and I do think I agree with you that I think he's a little bit too bullheaded in terms of like doing his thing. Like the fact that they were still calling under center play action in the fourth quarter of that game. it drove me crazy.

I mean, like, I almost broke my, I almost broke my seat next to mine. When you were describing earlier what, you know, some of Vicks tendencies being there for the picking, the, the Macuba situation, for instance. Yeah. It's so, it's so clear that they don't do stuff like that. No. They're not worried about where the matchup advantages are relative to the opposing defense.

No, they're lining up Devante Smith to the boundary by himself against a corner who's shutting him down. Like, line him up in the slot. try something different. Like try to get him on a safety. And I get him on a line back here. And I don't think that that has gone unnoticed in the building. I see.

In terms of if if, if being a play caller and an offensive coordinator is a continuum of seeking out matchups versus relying on your scheme and it's got to be a little bit of both. I think there's a sense at least from some people that it's like it's all the way on just the scheme. It's just this is the scheme. This is what we do. And there's. So as much as Nick says players before.

plays. Yeah. Sean Mannion is not buying into that or do you think Nick is also feeding that? I don't know the answer to that. Okay. I don't know to what degree this was like these were the marching orders that Sean Manion was given when he was hired. Right.

And it was you are here to implement this scheme. This is where we want to be. This is your job to do that. Maybe it's not what he wants to do and what he's been told to do. I don't know the answer to that. At what point do you change something? Like materially. Yeah.

Whether it's demoting him or bringing in someone else, like the Cowboys are doing with Christian Parker and now the commanders are doing with Tarante Jones, bringing in someone over him or taking or it's Nick calling the place. Like at what point is that? Is it after this game because this defense is so bad? Yeah, I mean, I would have thought it was this game. I was going to ask the same thing.

If people in the building are saying this, depending on what part of the building it is, do you see a change coming in terms of, whether he's still calling plays by the end of the year. I don't know. Okay. I'm guessing you're not talking about the cafeteria stuff. That's why I'm...

No, but I'm also not necessarily talking about the people in charge. I see. Okay. I mean, he emphasized fundamentals, execution, communication. That's what he walked into the presser with, because he said it as the answer to like four of the questions. And about the under center stuff, he said he still felt good about. it. He said, obviously, we have to clean things up. It's like, it's like comical. Like, it's

like tragic comic. Like, when he says, clean things up. Like, it's like, I don't know. Like, I mean, it's, it's not like you have a slightly untidy living room and you have to clean it up. You know what I mean? Like, it's just like like a pile of crap. Like, and I mean, the whole thing is so rotten that I understand like from his perspective too. It's like, well, what am I supposed to do? Just run like the air raid now. Like, you know what I mean? Like, like, you can't install a completely new offense either. Because if you just do the shotgun spread stuff, they have like seven past concepts out of that.

You know what I mean? Like there's only so many things you can do before the, the debacks start to jump those routes, you know? Like, so yeah, I don't know. It's tough. He called it a double-edged sword that things are going so badly, which I thought was funny. He was like, you get frustrated, but you also know you can fix it

and it'll get better. And it's like, yeah. It's always a good sign when the thing that's good is that it can't get worse. And that's kind of the deal. On Monday night, we're going to find out if it gets any worse. It should be a fun show Monday night. BLG will be with us along with Brandon Graham and Vinny Curry. Yeah.

Nice. Vinny Curry, who, by the way, bad job by us yesterday in the discussion of people's whose last name does constitute spice. Oh, Vinny Curry. Yeah, it's perfect. True. Yeah. Yeah, really good. was there.

Shout out to Vinny. All right. Anything else? Nope. Hope everyone has a good weekend. Beautiful. Beautiful fall weekend coming up. Enjoy at least a Sunday

without an Eagles game. Yeah. There is. Sixers. Back tomorrow night. Woo! And Sunday. Oh.

Back to back. Back to back. So LeBron's going to not play one of them? Is Sunday home also? Sundays away. I do not know. LeBron can't stay as like into it as he was last night like every game, can he? I don't know.

I think he can be as into it, but maybe just playing few minutes. They're both home. Oh, man. Milwaukee and Detroit is going to sit for. They must have. There's got to be a little bit of pressure to play too, right, just because of how much. Especially early. You know what?

And I'm really trying to embrace the cognitive dissonance of it. Yeah. But. Oh man, when you see Josh Harris on the sideline next defense. I like congratulating whoever it was for, uh, Jess. Could you just get out of the shot, please? I'm trying to forget that I'm giving you money. Yeah.

Fair point. It's the world we live in. You're brone. All right. Thanks, everybody. We will talk to you on Monday night. Monday night football. Thank you, Lindsay.

Thank you, BLG. Thank you, Danes. Thank you, E.J. Shout out Eliza. See you on Monday. As always, we love you.