PHLY Philadelphia Eagles Podcast - What are the Top 10 most infamous "What Ifs" in Philly sports history?

Episode Date: July 18, 2025

What are the Top 10 most infamous "What Ifs" in Philly sports history? Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

It's the final day of rank week here at PHLY, and it's been a blast across all four sports. We hope you had a great time following along with us. And today, we come together like the Avengers to get it all done to wrap up the week with the team here. It's going to be a great one here today as we talk about the Sixers, the Flyers, the Phillies, and the Eagles. And we do so starting to my far left, we go with the Flyers, of course, with Bill Met. What's up, Bill? What's going on today, Devon? It's going to be a blast, man.

Can't wait to talk about Eric Lindross, all the stuff that what-ifs and how ticked-off Flyers fans are going to get. Can't wait to do that. For the Eagles, we got Jamie Lynch, Jay. The Eagles have never had a misstep in the history of their franchise. Devon. There just can't possibly be any what-ifs here. They just won a Super Bowl. What's the complaint about?

Nothing. Absolutely nothing. And for the Phillies, we have Tyler Zuli. Tyler, I still can't get over to Cliff Lee part of it where you started the week off. Still don't know how he ended up with the Mariners. Yeah, the Phillies in their franchise, have lost 11,300 games in counting. I think there's probably a lot of room for what if over 142 years.

Yes, indeed. And I'll be, I'll be representing six. Nothing went wrong there. Nothing at all. I can't possibly think of one. What if the last six years didn't happen? What if the last six years have not happened? What if they were just still called the Warriors?

Would everything be okay? We'll get into it all today right here on the what if. Rapping it up here on the Friday. Sented by Rothman Orthopedics, visit rothmanortho.com slash p.h-h-l-Y. They can fix a lot of things. I don't know if they can fix these egos with the what-ifs and the frustration. Julia is producing a show. It's great to be with Jules.

Today, all of you, thank you. And let's start off. Let's get right into it at number 10. And as I just said it with Tyler, Cliff Lee, the Mariners Trade. I mean, even though we're going to go to Tyler to start it off, Bill, I'm just, I'm looking at you. And I'm just like, even then, I'm like, what? How? How? Why? I just like, I remember where I was and we get the, like, get the news, me and a bunch of friends. And it's, oh, we got Doc. All right. And like, and like, we needed Cliff Lee to do it. Like, oh, well, all right. I get it. And then you find out, this was not a three-team trade. These were completely separate moves having nothing to do with each other. And it just starts to like, oh, so they just didn't want to pay two guys. Like, that's really what it comes down to. But, man, it's, It was such a disappointment because you're coming off of that World Series appearance where,

yeah, man, it was Cliff Lee and no one else. It was Cliff Lee and Chase Utley against the Yankees. And that's all you remember. And now he's gone. It's, well, how much of an upgrade is this? Fast forward. Well, we did get to see a perfect game and a no hitter out of it. But did it really change the fortunes of at least the 2010 season?

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, when Cliffley, like, chose us in the... first place. Like he won over the hearts of all of us. And then to get like, I think Rubin called him the white whale. Doc was his white whale. Yeah. To get that, it was such a high. And then to realize you were shipping another out. And of course, I talked myself into Philippe Amant and some others. But like, sure you did. This was before John Middleton and Tyler can take it from here, before John Middleton kind of entered that new stratosphere of ownership where it was just like,

boom, boom, boom, you know, throwing down money. So I think it was just financially driven. And that sucks in hindsight, knowing what he became somebody who didn't care about those types of things. Especially because we don't care about that stuff. You figure it out, make sure the right team is out there. So, Tyler, what if the Phillies didn't trade Cliff Lee after signing Roy Halliday? Yeah, I mean, that's number 10. Anytime you have the chance to restock your farm system with Philippe Almond, Tyson, Gilles, and J.C. Ramirez, you got to do it, right?

Like, you just have to take the advantage. But, yeah, you guys brought it up. Two separate moves, and they used the quote, restock the farm system. I think if you checked back in with Rubin, But tomorrow today, he would tell you that he got a little bit pressed by ownership because of money and things like that to make a, to make a, you know, subsequent move. Roy Halday won 21 games that year. He won a Cy Young. He threw a perfect game.

He threw a no hitter in the postseason. Lee was 12 and 9 with a 3-1-80RA. He split time between the Mariners and the Rangers. And funny enough, Lee ended up going to the World Series with Texas that year in 2010. So I think the big fallout of this whole thing in the regular season, that is, is that the Phillies, probably don't acquire Roy Oswald because they don't need them. They have Roy Halliday. They have Cliff Lee.

They have Cole Hamils who was much better in 10 than he was in 9. And I think they feel comfortable with either Blanton or Kendrick. Moir wasn't very good in 9 but was better in 10. You probably feel better with two of those guys and that three. So I think the big thing is they don't go get Roy Oswald. But I do think if you have Cliff Lee the entire year, this team won 97 games in the regular season. Like there's a very realistic chance they win 100 in the regular season and do it a year prior. So that's probably the regular season fallout to this, is that they don't go get Roy Oswald.

But I think the bigger question is, do they make a further run in the postseason than they did? And that's, I think, the big question of this guy. See, do they beat the Giants? That 12 and 9 record for the Mariners means absolutely nothing to me. Because if he's in Philadelphia, I saw what I saw. He wins more games than 12th. I know what I saw in Philadelphia, a much better team, much better situation, and then when you pair him with Roy Halliday, yes, it may have been financially driven and ownership driven, but when you acquire Roy Halliday, and if the egos are good enough where one and two understand that it's one A and one B at that spot,

okay, great. I don't worry about Roy Oswald at that point, as great as he is, and as great as he was in the Philly's uniform, I'm not even worried about that. That's just cherry on top. Now I'm feeling great because, hey, I just added some whipped cream on my, you know, on all of this. You got a Sunday already. I'm adding whipped cream on every dessert there that's possible. And I'm happy because maybe it's not Royals well, but maybe it's someone else that we weren't that we're not thinking about right now. Sure.

At that time that they do acquire that's a little bit lower there in the rotation, but is better than Blenton or Moyer at that spot. And that's where it is for me. And to your point, then it's the Rangers and he gets to the World Series. that's where I'm going. Because if it's with the Phillies, that 12 and 9 record is probably something totally different

where you're looking at what? 15 and 4, you know, something like that. And it's totally different. It's kind of crazy. They only won five more games with the four aces than they did the year prior. Right, yeah.

That's kind of crazy. Two, I think maybe because we have to live in the world where, well, they did this because it was financially driven. So if they keep both pitchers, maybe they don't add a bat. But it's a year later

that they're like, yeah, Hunter Pence, Adam, Adam on. Like, do they then- Can you sign Cliff Lee by the way too? Bring in Lee already for a premium price. Oh, he took less to come here, sure. Yeah, maybe. But like, maybe at that 10 deadline, it's instead of Royoswall,

the bat that helps us get a hit with runners and scoring position against the Giants. So here's the big fallout of that Giants series. The Phillies were eight for 45 with runners and scoring position. They hit 216 as a team. They struck out 56 times in six games. So my question is, guys, with Cliff Lee, do the Phillies beat the Giants? Because I still think the answer is unfortunately no.

I think what Bill said is the crux of it. Like maybe if you have those more trade chips, you go out and get a different type of bat. Sure. 100%. And that's where this pivots to maybe beating the Giants and Cody bleeping Ross. Yeah, because all those names, maybe they're somewhere else for another bat. Yeah, we'd have to like really dive into the 2010 trade deadline and see what kind of bats were out there to be had. But I would have to think they'd have more ammo to go make a

trade and be more willing to make that trade. Yep. Absolutely. All right, let's get to number nine here as we shift to Bill and discuss what if Lindross goes to the Flyers. I don't think I'm a Flyers fan in the 90s. I don't think I'm a Legion of Doom fan. So our, our episode of the top 10 aired last night. And that was the thing to me, more than anything, it's personal. Like, am I in the position I'm in? Because my neighborhood, like, growing up, it was the sandlot but for street hockey. Like, everyone, like, a couple of houses. That was your team.

And, like, we all were, like, we were Flyers fans. That's what it was. And immediately leading up to acquiring Lindrauss, no one cared. Like, that was the worst time in franchise history. They're five years in a row out of the playoffs. And then suddenly they have the next one. What if he goes to the Rangers? Because this came down to arbitration.

He's drafted first overall in 91. He says, I'm not playing in Quebec. The Rangers and the Flyers strike a deal with Quebec at the 92 draft, and it comes down to an independent arbiter to decide who he actually goes to. The Flyers win, get Eric Lindross. What happens? Now, the Flyers have a ton of assets if they don't get Lindross. They have like $15 million in cash.

They have Peter Forsberg, Ron Hextall, a whole bunch of draft picks. but they don't have the guy who drove the popularity of the team through the 90s. What happens then? To me, it's more about the Rangers. The Rangers win the Cup in 94 around Mark Messier and Brian Leach

and a whole bunch of guys who wouldn't have been involved in this trade anyway. Now they have Lindrosse too. They're a dynasty with Lindrosse and Messier together and like Mike Richter and that. And Flower Town's finest Mike Richter.

Yeah, exactly. I wonder. though, are the Flyers as big as they were even if Peter Forsberg becomes Peter Forsberg here, like the Legion of Doom isn't the Legion of Doom. It's more about the popularity

of the team than anything they accomplished. I distinctly remember I had a Legion of, remember the old school fairs and like the plaques, they still have plaques, but like they were real cheesy plaques back then. I had a Legion of Doom plaque on the, yeah, everyone had those. Because I grew up around Flyers fans

and their Lindraud. excitement was palpable and I became a legion of doom fan. They were like my real gateway into Flyers hockey. So to Bill's point about just like on a personal level, I don't know if I ever dive into the Flyers as a kid if Eric Lindross isn't here. 88 was the Flyers for a decade. Yeah, like he was huge. He was skilled.

He was just a bulldozer. Yeah, like he was just fun to watch. For me personally, he put hockey on the map for me. So I don't know where I go. with hockey if it's not for Eric Lindros. And I think for me the big fallout is like what is Forsberg actually as a flyer? Because that was Joe's a

He's no Sackick and no walk. Right. So you have a premier player in Sackick, the premier goaltender maybe of the late 90s and he and Brodor the two goalies of the 90s and the early 2000s. An elite defender and Adam Foote, like that was a complete team and they got

really, really good with the addition of Forsberg. Is Peter Forsberg the same guy in Philadelphia? that he was in Colorado. See, that's the, like, I think Peter Forsberg played 20 more regular season games than Eric Lynn Jaws. Like, both of them dealt with a ton of injuries.

It was just Colorado can deal with it, man. They have Joe Sackick, who's probably better, and one of the two or three best goalies in the league. Now, I do try to get down the rabbit hole. Well, maybe we then, maybe the Flyers then have the assets to get Patrick Waugh when he leaves Montreal. Maybe instead of going to the Rangers, is Wayne Gretzky is a flyer, because I don't think Ed Snyder sits there without a superstar for very long.

But is it a guy in his prime, like Lindrosse, or more, as we saw years later, oh, we're going to go with an aging, Tony Amante, an aging Jeremy Roanick. Is it more in that vein? And then ultimately... You just named like two of the greatest hockey players ever. Oh, yeah, yeah. That's what's unhurt to think? Bill, what's his... What's, what's, what's, what's, what's relationship today with the Flyer fans?

Much, much better. Yeah. When he came back for the 2012, like outdoor alumni game, I think people really, like, that was kind of the, hey, man, it's all good. Like, thank you for making hockey cool. It's not your fault. Like, you were too big, really.

If he comes around a few years later when, like, the sticks are super light and you can feel the puck without looking down, even if you're six, six on skates. Right. Like, maybe he never gets hit in the head. And he's here for 10 years and is the next one. I think it's much stronger now that time has passed and we see how hard it is to find a guy that great.

But during that glimpse of Flyer fans frustrated with Eric Lindross, what if he actually played for the Rangers? That's what it would have looked like. They would have cleaned up. They would have cleaned up. That is it for number nine and the Flyers. What if Eric Lindross went to the Rangers? When we come back, we got a Sixers one.

We'll talk about that one on the other side. right here. What if? We're wrapping it up on the Friday, our top 10 of what if the rank week right here on P-H-L-Y Network. All right, let me tell you about Rothman Orthopedics, my good people, presenting the show today, my good people. I was telling everybody early in the week on my flight back on Monday morning, ran into a young lady on the plane. She was my seatmate. She was right next to me in the middle eye when she had a brace on her knee and I said, what happened? She said, my meniscus and my ACL. And I said, sister, I'm right there. with you. I showed her my knee, my scar, and said, Rothman, right here, they got it done in

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P-H-L-Y. You heard that right, $350 off with discount code P-H-L-Y. Restrictions apply. Visit Empiretodday.com slash p-l-Y for full details. Welcome back to the show as we ranked the top 10 of rank week, the what-ifs across all four sports here presented by Rothman Orthopedics, and we've gone through 10 and 9 Phillies and Flyers. Jamie, what do we have for number 10?

Well, Devon, number eight, I got a toss in your direction. Not only is this a personal issue, but it was also a massive pivot point in the franchise history. And I think you remember this draft. The 2018 draft, the Sixers are picking. Number 10, a pick acquired, I believe, from the Lakers via Phoenix. And they select this... Via Phoenix. Ironic.

They select this lanky kid out of Villanova. He's a 3-D type. I think he's gone on to have a pretty good NBA career. Won some titles in the Wells Fargo Center. Mother works for the team, and the team selects him at number 10. And everybody's ecstatic. And that lasted, what, 27 minutes, something like that? Yeah.

And they trade away the pick to take a tweener in Zaire Smith, who eventually... He's doing well, I heard. Yeah, eventually he gets poisoned by the team and doesn't do well. Unfortunately for him. But what if number eight, Devon, what if they don't trade Mikhail Bridges for Zaire Smith and assets? You know how we say, oh, I love that guy. Yeah. It says fans and all.

I really do love this guy. Yeah, so this was a tough one. So I know we talk about the, I've told this story many times. So, Kail, obviously I'm not at the draft, but I'm doing the draft from the Sixers facility in Camden during the show for on radio that night. And we're sitting there and it just laid out perfectly of how this, all the lead up to it was what if they actually, what if, what if they actually do select him at pick number 10? the six is our playoff team. This is a bonus for them to get a young player to come in that can still be a core player for them currently and in the future.

And people were yammering for Villanova kids for however. Forever. Yeah, yeah, because. They'll get one of Jay's kids. Josh Hart the year before, Ryan Archie Diakano also going to the NBA. But this year was not only McHale, it was Cail, Jalen Brunson, Dante Divenzo. And I want to say, no, Eric went back to school. So Eric Pascoll was a year later.

Omar Spellman also in this one. So this was right off the championship in 18. So of course, we're on cloud nine. The whole city is feeling good about kale and all. So pre-draft, I remember one day specifically. We've all had these conversations as a family and we're talking. Pre-draft, I remember specifically me and his two younger brothers, we were going to the gym.

This is pre-ACL, pre-A-L, pre-Aquilles for me. We go to the gym. We go on Sunday morning and get a workout in. play and we just start talking about the draft and where he can end up and we get back to the sixers and we were so into this so knee deep into this what's his jersey number going to dig because ben simmons was wearing 25 so he couldn't wear 25 so i'm like five looks good on them i don't think ameer johnson's coming back what about number one what mike scott's on the contract so you know all this stuff so we'd figure out that's how deep folks we were into this of

we were like all right he if there's one play you always sometimes you worry about about players playing at home, he was not going to be phased by playing at home. And the expectations of a playoff team, a player, young player stepping into a championship contending role, can he fit his role? Can players like this accept a role as a star from wherever a school they're coming from, they want the rock. We just talked about this with Ace Bailey, right? Well, Kale was a ultimate team guy.

And we were prepared for him to go to the team. And as you mentioned, his mom is still with the team at that time. I've talked about it enough on radio at that point and you didn't need me to talk about him anymore because he already did what he did to make his own name and we were talking about a lottery pick and forget about all of that, the player fit with what Joel and Bede,

Ben Simmons and everyone else on that roster what it would have looked like. It was fun. That night was great for the 27 minutes. I'm texting them like, yo, I see tomorrow at the press conference. I'm not even working now. I'm just going to the press conference as I just want to see this.

and I remember his workout. His workout was great. So if anybody wants to tease and see what McKell looks like in his Sixers gear, Jules, you can show the people what it looked like in, like, his practice stuff. And he had his, look at that, look at that. Look at that on the screen there. He had his workout. We're just busting it up after the workout.

Is I photoshopped? No. And that was fun, man. And so, so, yeah, it was a big deal for the family. It was great. was excited. Everybody had talked themselves into, because we even talked about it specifically, do you, everybody want him to go somewhere else? Does he want to go somewhere else? He was bought in. Yeah. He was ready to stay here at home and do it. And everybody, even, because mom and dad

handled the tickets at Villanova, just so he didn't have to worry about it. And I imagine that a lot of that through the team would have been the same here had he stuck it out with the organization. And we were ready, man. It would have been fun to experience. And there's a lot of ripple effects of this move. Like, does Tobias Harris end up a sixer at all? They don't have the first round picks. Yeah, they don't. If you don't take McHale, do you pass on a future MVP in SGA right after him?

Michael Porter Jr. was the guy that I was clamoring for that summer. Those two were the ones of if Kale doesn't get taken here, what about those two? Because Michael Porter's back, that was a red flag because he's probably going to top five. Yeah. Shea Gildjus, do you need another point guard? next to Ben Simmons and Kim Ben Simmons handle this. We saw it with Jimmy Butler

that year where it became an issue with somebody else taking the ball out of his hands and all of that. So, Bill, it was a time, man. I'm just looking at Bridges' career. It doesn't look like he's missed any if any games. I don't think he's missed a game. I don't think he's missed any games.

And I look after he never could have been a six. After this season, he's going to have made $108 million. Thank God. He got traded, especially you having a personal relationship with him. You'd like all his extremities intact. I do. He seems like he's doing well.

He's doing all right. He's not diabetic and his foot's going to fall off. Like, I think good for him. A local kid who's made something of himself and hasn't been afflicted with the curse of the Sixers. Tremendous for him. Lucky. Lucky man. Devon, you and I did almost four years of radio together on a pretty much

much nightly basis. And other than like, hey, what's up, pleasantries, the number one thing that I heard and you heard said on the airwaves when we were together was, should have never trade it your cousin. Every night, unprompted. Well, we weren't talking about it. Unprompted. That was the one thing for me, everybody, like in a chat and all. It was early on, yes, I brought him up. When he committed to Villanova, I was a producer, but at that time, I was remember, I was doing Joe Steyzak. I was producing with Joe Steyes. Shout out Joe Steyzac. And he let me come on the air. And he let me come on the air and say, hey, my cousin just committed to Villanova. It was great. He was known locally and all, but again, this radio, maybe everybody doesn't know who he is. So it was, it felt great

to be able to say that. Like I said to you guys, maybe five minutes ago, at that point when he, in 2018, when he became McHale Bridges, NBA prospect, I didn't have to say anything else anymore about him. Game spoke for itself. It spoke for itself. He did his job. So to your point, people would then say, hey, we should have never traded your cousin. What do you want me to say anymore? I don't have anything else to say except for, you're right. And it was great. Bill, you're right.

He has the longest running streak in the NBA. He's the Iron Man in the NBA of games played consecutively. And even at the end of the year, when they have playoff locked in seeded stuff, all he does is start the game. they tip off a fouls committed he comes out to keep the street going that's where it is right now for him hit the under hit the under and game in that final game like what if yeah um ben and joel yeah so you go pushing for a jimmy or something down the line the only thing about that is with the jimmy piece i'm glad you brought because i did want to say this with the jimmy butler trade um seven games

into the season there was a possibility that minnesota would have said no we want him so to all of this There's a very real possibility that the Timberwolves say, all right, we're going to give you Jimmy Butler, but we want McHale Bridges back in this deal along with Robert Covington, Jared Bayliss. He's the headliner at that point along with the pick. So much could have changed with a what if with that. Well, I think too, even if it's not the Jimmy Butler trade, if you're unwilling to move McHale Bridges at that deal, you take a look at the off season the next year and some of the free agents.

The Sixers then have cap space to make the move because they're not putting $35 million into Tobias or $35 million into Jimmy Butler. So, you know, is it a Kauai Leonard? Probably not. Is it a Kevin Durant? Probably not. But like, you look at the list. Are they able to sway Clay Thompson?

Are they able to sway Chris Middleton? Like, they could end up with a legit, bonafide NBA star with that $35 million if it's not Tobias Harris or Jimmy Butler in that instance. I love that guy. A lot of what-ifs there. Yeah, a lot of what-ifs. This thing branches in a lot of degree. Yeah.

That one goes in a lot of different ways. Past MVP's, you almost kill a guy with a peanut allergy, free agents and trades that could have been, like so many ripple effects of that one decision. And poor Brett Brown, like I always felt bad for Brett Brown a little bit too, getting thrust into that situation. Like, he should have never been GM that summer.

And that was, thank you, Brian Colangelo, see you now. He also should have been, like, spokesman for the doctors. He was like, you got the, we're paying you. It's not like we're asking you to win. Yeah. His problem, though, is to you, he had to watch what he said. Yeah. When he goes out and says 1A and 1B, the guy that is not in the league anymore, the 1B, you know, or 1A, excuse me, however you want to put it.

Trying to build a bomber. Yeah. All right. What did he say? Is that what he said? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's move on. All right. Kaui when they're load managing him. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. So, all right. Enough about me. let's move on to number seven Jamie what if they select if Philadelphia Eagles do Justin Jefferson over Jalen Rager we all have thoughts on this

now this is another I think massive pivot point for the Eagles because if they take Justin Jefferson over Jalen Rager there are some massive effects here one how he isn't mocked and ridiculed by Vikings GM Chris Spielman online for the whole world to see 2. A.J. Brown and Devante Smith very well might not be here, which are, were and are, massive pieces of this Super Bowl team. Number two, Carson Wentz is playing pretty much his last season in Philadelphia. How much does that change playing with a Justin Jefferson in a wide receiver depleted room over Jalen Rager change his trajectory here?

And then the third ripple effect that I think is a massive one too is how he kind of changed his draft style after this, whether he started listening to Scouts more, just started taking best player available and stopped kind of reaching for needs. I think there's a lot of ripple effects by passing over Justin Jefferson, who Randy Moss just said, I think in these past two or three days, that Justin Jefferson is on the trajectory of being the best receiver ever. So when you think, about adding that talent to a Carson Wentz on his way out, to not having AJ and Devante here because you were so successful with the pick. Do the Eagles win the Super Bowl last year? What are the ripple effects of it? How does Howie change or not change his draft styles? There's so much there with this pick. That's the, this feels like the mistake worth making. Almost. Yeah. So many things changed because of this where this is when they went. You know what? We're not going to try to be the smartest people. We don't need to win the draft because we had this genius idea that no one else saw. We're going to take the players from Bama and Georgia because these are the guys who've been

on the pro track since they were in seventh grade. And LSU wide receiver and one of the greatest wide receiver to college rooms ever or a TCU tweener who didn't have a catch rate that was really up to part. I feel like what happens here is our receiver room is Justin Jefferson, Quez Watkins Travis Fulgum and Jefferson makes up for it just enough that we are

yeah but we got this one right so we're just gonna keep going here like this doesn't stop Carson Wence's body from betraying him this doesn't stop Doug Peterson from just losing his mind I wonder how much or tethering himself to press Taylor for his entire career

yeah like I just think this was the like that relationship that was toxic but once you're out of it you go you know I learned a lot I think I have learned what is good and not good for me. Like, this was the mistake worth making. Yeah, it would be dope to have Justin Jefferson. Sure.

But I'll take AJ and Devante over just him. It's almost a weird positive now with hindsight being 2020. But in the moment, like, fire and brimstone in every bird's fans, eyes and ears and eyes. It was unbelievably at that point, stupid. Yeah. As we, as sitting there just plain stupid. It was just dumb. Yeah.

Right. It was a stupid pick. And to your point, everything worked out where they got to two Super Bowls and they won one and all. But in the moment, we were all sitting there saying, oh, he fell to them. And when you see the wide receivers that went off the board before him, you're like, oh, okay, they're in a pretty good spot. They're not going to mess this one up. And then you take Jalen Rager at that spot over Justin Jefferson because he's more of a slot guy and he can't play on the outside. Justin Jefferson had just put up like 1,300 yards with LSU with like 19 touchdowns at season.

And who else was that? In the slot the year prior, by the way. He's just the slot. He's just the slot receiver. It was dumb. It was dumb. By the way, just off the top of your head, do you guys know who led the Eagles in receptions that year?

Is it Folgamania? No, he was third. He only had 38, though. He led the receivers. And Dallas Goddard was second. Was it? It was Greg Ward. Greg Ward was the lead in terms of receptions.

How many did Jaylen Reg have? 31. And he played how many games? And he played 11 out of 16. At 13 at that time or 17. All right, 11 out of 16. 31 reception. This receiving core was trashed, guys.

Justin Jefferson was the rookie of the year. He was 1,400 yards receiving seven touchdowns. Pro bowler. Now, the other part of this is, does Justin Jefferson become Justin Jefferson if he's here? I think he does. I think he does because he's that talented. Yeah, he's that talented. And Bill, you're probably right where it's foal going.

and all these other guys next to him. But at some point, they were going to hit on another one. Probably. At some point, even if it was free agency and they brought in the number two behind him and it worked out because it was Fogelman and Greg Ward and all those players behind him, somewhere along the line they would have gotten it done. It's darkest before the light. Yeah, yeah, somewhere there.

And it wasn't going to be A.J. Brown, I'm sure of that. And most likely not Devante Smith. But there was some other talented wide receiver that was going to be there for the Eagles. and but Denzel Mims Yeah Or you go trade for Calvin Ridley Just not AJ Brown

But it did work out pretty damn good That's the like It's a ridiculous thing Before that Until it all comes together It's like it's hell How we so how we learn nothing Like we are back to

Like 2017 Who cares Like how he has learned nothing Yeah He's still the guy who belongs At the broom closet He got lucky One off season

With all the mercenaries But now we see it all come together and I'm because it's not just that pick in that draft. They take Hertz in the second round. It's, oh, that's what we needed? Yeah. I went off on that one. What are you doing?

I was a man. Reger Hertz. This is not at all what this team needed. Oh, man, crazy stuff. Big what if. Big what if for the Philadelphia. And look, not all what ifs are bad. This worked out in a great way. Yeah. This move is kind of like a crux of it. And now Howie Roseman

is a Hall of Famer probably. Yeah. Now he's greatest GM in sports. No, they're trying to change rules. They're the best run organization in the city and in most of sports. Crazy. The Eagles now basically say, oh, yeah, we'll pay you in 3,084. It'll be your great, great, great, great, great, great, grandchildren will get this money. And you're going to get paid now, but in reality, that's where it's going to get paid

in, in cap space. The way that they've manipulated cap space and put together the roster that they have in four year span is unbelievable. Think about the Jalen Hertz narrative now from, oh, well, you know, the Vikings are laughing at Howie to, it's not even fair. Jalen Hertz is the super team. All he has to do is run the push push. It's basically, I don't know how they do it. We need to kick them out of the league.

It's like, this is the guy that chose Jalen Riker. How far we've come. How far we've come. Howie Roseman is a Hall of Famer in the Philadelphia Eagles are defending Super Bowl champions. Well, Devon, the next one. I think you can make the case that this deserves to be number one on the list. Because we just saw Sam Presti and the Oklahoma City Thunder raise a trophy in the state of Oklahoma. And what if the man that kind of paved the road for Sam Presti in OKC, Mr. Sam Hinky, was allowed to see out his plan?

What if Sam Hinky played the media game was more friendly to people in the building, didn't hide behind, closed doors and write manifestos. What if Sam Hinky was able to execute his plan? How different would the Sixers organization be? See, I'm the wrong one to ask because... Yeah, you were vehemently anti-processed. I was anti-the-rebuild

in the way that he went about it. I drank the Sam Hinky Kool-Aid, man. I was all in. Many people did. And when you say, and when I say, I don't fault you, look, we all have our different reasons of how we like to build a team.

And I was just at a place where I thought there were a couple of players on that team that were worth keeping. Yes, you traded Drew Holiday, and you got Nerlin's Noel and the other picks and all that stuff, the assets and all. I was one that said, you're the GM, figure it out, fix it. Yeah. You know, fix this. And you came in here to do this.

Everything doesn't need to be torn down the way that it was. And ultimately, what if he was able to keep it? I still don't know. I don't know what it would have looked like. I have no idea who he would have selected, who he would have traded for, and how this would have played out when they would have eventually gotten to the playoffs because there was also those reports out there

that he wanted a 10-year contract. A 10-year contract to run this plan and execute it the way that he wanted it to. No, man, you don't just get that runway of that. You need to figure this out in a couple of years. And yes, the NBA butted in, and Calangelo comes in, and Bernergate happens, and Sam Presti now does this,

and the NBA does not step in for the Oklahoma City. Thunder and he now has 10 first round picks over the next couple of years because of what he's able to do and takes these young players from Holgren to Williams and of course SGA, I don't know that Sam Hinkie would have done the same thing. I don't know that because the ones that he did select Michael Carter Williams, Dario Sharge, Nirling's Noel, Juleo Oklefore, they were just guys. Yeah. They were just guys. That's, he never drafted a franchise. Joel Embed is different, of course. He did draft him.

I'm sorry. And I'm sorry, I excluded him. We know about Joel Embed. Yes. But if it's not for an injury, but if it's not for an injury, he's number one. And then you're talking Andrew Wiggins at pick number three. And I doubt that he's here, the amount of time that Joel Embed is here. So I don't know that Sam Hinky would have been Sam Presti.

That's the, it comes down to the process. Yeah, it's a fine idea. Sure. We've seen it work. You do have to make the right picks eventually. And he showed absolutely no ability to do that. And what if Joel and B did not break his foot pre-draft? It's the number one pick.

They don't even get a chance at him. Well, and I think, too, the one thing, guys, like the one thing that Sam Presti and the Thunder had that the Sixers never had over that time frame, one player, Paul George, because Paul George went for the most ridiculous trade hall I've ever seen because you end up getting SGA in that trade who becomes the superstar that he is.

And then I'm looking at here, here's the trade, right? Clippers 22 first, Clippers 24 first, Clippers 26 first, Miami 21 first, Miami 23 lottery protected first, Clippers 23 first pick swap, Clippers 25 pick swap as well. That's one of the largest trade halls I've ever seen. The Sixers didn't have the luxury of a Paul George to move for those type of trades. And then it gets back to your guy's point where you got to hit on those draft picks, even if you get them.

But I think getting SGA on top of hitting on the picks, and SGA becoming the player that he has is kind of a launching point that maybe the Sixers don't ever actually get. Yeah, and the thing I just keep thinking about, what if the Calangelo Stink wasn't on this organization? You know? And that was a big mistake, clearly.

It was a big mistake. If you're going to do it, it needs to be someone else. Barnard Gate. Like, think about how crazy that is. When they eventually do the, and the slogan, the trust the process slogan, what if that's never in Philadelphia? But like when they do the trust of process 30 for 30 one day,

what if the Calangelo era never happened? You know it's funny too because Bill, I know you were about to say something else. Is that a wild story? While we were in Summer League, I saw a story about Jerry Calangelo, his dad, of course, Hall of Famer, says he still thinks Brian got a raw deal

on the Burner Gate stuff. What? That's rich. That's rich. No, that's the... Barbara Botini? Yeah, because wasn't it some of the phone numbers that they were, he's going to blame the wife. That's because they were, they were registered to her, right?

It's a normal collar, find a new slant. I got a roll deal not winning the lottery. Oh, my gosh. Just, everything that happened after is so ridiculous. I mean, there's Markle Foltz tied into it. Because Brian Kalanilo takes Markell Fultz, and our friend Bob Cooney was in the gym for his workout. I was there. Oh, you were there.

And apparently it was a disaster. but they had committed. We were all there. Yeah. Danny Ains doesn't fleece, Ryan Colangelo, and Markell Fultz doesn't happen. Like the ripple effects of this

are just unbelievable. Unbelievable stuff, so, folks, I was never on board. You got Joel Embed out of it, and I love Joel and Bede, Hall of Fame, or Fantastic Play, all that stuff. He did hit on that.

He needed something to work out his way. Sometimes you need luck. But at the other stuff, you get all that to find one guy. You found the one guy. You found the one guy. The injury stuff, that's unfortunate. But you didn't find the others to go along with him.

And even though you did have the Ben Simmons piece come into it, then that has its own story as well along with Markell Foltz. And it all goes into it. All right, our final break here as we pause here on the top 10 of our rank week of what ifs. Man, we've had some stuff already. Let's get to number five. goodness gracious, when we get to number five with this Flyers 1, folks. We'll talk about it on the other side right here on our top 10 for Rank Week, presented by Rothen Orthopedics.

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and we get to number five. I think this guy's name has come up a lot over the last couple of weeks, and you heard Bill right there. I think they're still paying them. They're still... What if they never sign Ilya Galov and kept

Bobrowski. Yeah, the Ilya Brazgalov signing is one of those great missteps. One of the, and it's really the turning, one of the turning points to 15 years later, here we are. Well, you got it.

Series even though. Is it Brzgalov? Siri is upset. No, no, I won't Siri. Is anyone else, Siri is a dude now for me for some reason? And it's very off-putting. He just starts talking. Anyway, yeah, so in the summer of 2011, Siri knows hockey.

Yeah. In the summer of 2011, Paul Holmgren decided, you know what, we need to change this team up. They get swept in the second round by the Boston Bruins team probably quit on Peter Lovillette in the playoffs. They weren't playing with Jammin. It was, uh, it was, it went really poorly. So they go out and sign the best goalie available in Ilya Brezgalov.

And to make room, they trade Mike Richards and Jeff Carter to do it. Now, they're coming off of an excellent rookie season from Sergei Bobrovsky, who they just kind of found, and he comes to camp and wins the starting job and does an excellent job for them in the regular season, starts to wear down, gets pulled in the playoffs, and the goalie carousel in the playoffs, embarrasses Ed Snyder to the point that he says, no more, we're just going to go spend money on a goalie,

whoever it is that happens to be Briss. And, well, 15 years later, Sergey Bobrovsky has, won the Vezina Trophy twice and is now a back-to-back Stanley Cup champion. While Ilya Brezgalov is using the money, they're still paying him to be a season ticket holder. It's one of the all-time disasters in this team's history. Briz gets bought out within two years of signing the contract. Meanwhile, they'd already traded Bob because he said, I'm not here to be a career backup.

You just signed this guy to a nine-year contract. I'm going back to Russia. I'm going back to Russia and you get nothing. So they end up trading him to Columbus. And that begins his run of being one of the best goalies of a generation. It's just so frustrating. Now, I don't know if Bob is still here because the first few playoff runs of his career don't go well. And we probably run him out of town before he becomes this guy that he's become for Florida.

But still, it would be nice to have a number one goalie throughout Claudeau-Jour's 10. just to see how that would have gone. Yeah, it's not like he went on and won the Vesna, you know, his first full season. The very first year. Yeah. Yeah, it's hard to think about this one because he's probably going to end up being a top 15 goaltender of all time. He's going to the Hall of Fame.

He's got two cups and two goalie in the year awards. He's going to the Hall of Fame. I mean, you talk about the hardest positions in sports and it's quarterback, it's hockey goalie. You can maybe throw a catcher in the mix. I mean, goalie is a top two. hardest position in sports, and they found the homegrown, foreign Russian goaltender, lucked into him, and they just gave it away. Yeah, I mean, to be as, as, to be as, like, corny as possible, like, this was a humongous

big mistake. That's a humongous, we never get, we never get the hilarious HBO commentary, which was it all worth it for that? Well, you know, it's funny, too, Bill, like, I remember distinctly where I was when Ily Rizgoloff early in the season his first year was it 2011 I think it was. 1112 was the first season tossed a shutout against the devils and it was the first time a golee a flyer's goalie had thrown a shut out in like two years and it was like oh my god this guy is legit and the funny thing about 2011 like you look at his numbers 909 save percentage 2.48

goals against like his first year he was pretty good yeah in in philly and it just like the fallout was so dramatic not only for him But on the other side, as you guys bring up, you know, multiple Vezna's, multiple cups for a guy who is going on to be, as Bill, you brought up, like, going to walk into the Hall fame. The fallout's significant. It's tremendous. Like, it falls. He has a good start. Yeah, that devil's game.

It's his second game as a fly. Right. I knew it was early in the year. And he gives up one goal in his first two games. Like, oh, you know, I did like Bob, but this seems to be working. And then all of the nonsense of the middle part of the season and, like, you know, he gives up. going into that outdoor game, there is, he gets benched. Bob starts that game.

We have all the commentary on HBO, which is hilarious. But then he comes back strong. He has like a really long shutout streak. It looks like, okay, things are going right. And then the playoffs are a freaking disaster. That first round series against the Penguins is basically slap shot in real life. And they somehow win it. Then they get killed by the devils.

The following year, he just stinks. And then they've bought him out. It's over. and they have already traded Bob, and they've been searching for a goalie ever since. Wow, man. All right. That's a tough one.

Tough one right there. That is a tough one. Oh, and Richard and Carter go on to win two cups. There you go. That one too. Let's get to number four. What if Jamie Carson-Wins never tears his ACL against the race? This is a fascinating one because it's a good story.

It resulted in a Eagle Super Bowl. I don't think anybody would trade those results for anything. But what if Carson Wendz doesn't tear his knee in L.A.? I remember I was in New Orleans that weekend with my wife and we got home and I had gone radio silence, shut off my phone because I was missing the game while flying. And I was like, all right, I'm just going to settle into the couch. And I turned on my phone and somehow it got spoiled for me. I ended up fast forwarding and seeing the results and the torn ACL.

And my wife yelled down to me, what's wrong? and the Eagles were a juggernaut that year and Carson Wentz was probably the MVP of the NFL and I still think he got robbed to this day and she said what's wrong and I said he just needed those last couple of games he did to secure yeah yeah and I said

the Eagles season is over I said Carson went towards ACL the season's down the drain I have no hope life is meaningless and she said okay get a grip tell us how you really did I was like I don't want to get a grip this is how I feel And if he's healthy, I don't know if you can say that the Eagles win the Super Bowl

because Nick Foles was perfect that day. From the fourth down pickups to the third downs to the Philly Special to everything, I'd like to believe that the Eagles still win the Super Bowl if Wence is playing. But I don't know if they do. I don't know if it took Nick Foles being perfect on one day for the Eagles. to get over the hump and to beat Tom Brady and Bill Belich. I don't know just because Carson Wins doesn't win it. Carson Wins does it in a different way.

Maybe. He uses his legs. He does those types of things because if we all remember that first game in the playoffs against the Falcons, they needed a lot of luck in that one. Keanu Neal off the knee, all that stuff. Thank you, Jerry Smith. And on top of it, too, Nick Foles was awful in the first regular season game or two that he played after filling in for the Giants.

You guys remember the Raiders on Christmas Day? That was a terrible football game. So I don't know what I lost my fantasy championship because of that. At Ertz and Alshan, they put up a combined four points, I think. So I don't know if you need a perfect game because, to your point, he was the MVP that year. So if we're talking about how good of a season he had, how great Nick Foles was for that perfect game, he had a near perfect season until that injury. So he would have done it differently in that run. I'd like to believe.

And that's how I'm looking at it. I honestly, like no BS, I don't think they beat the Patriots. And that's fair. That's fair. If Nick Foles isn't just like, right situation, right time, right place in history. I think Doug was on such a role play calling. It didn't matter, right? I think he had just, he had just got so hot. You didn't need it.

Maybe like there are moments that are different. That Falcons game might be different. Sure. It might be a blowout. Maybe it's like this past Super Bowl where we're celebrating it happens. I was in L.A. for that game. And it was, I was at L.A.X. the next day, and it was nothing but Eagles fans at the bar, and it was an Irish way.

Because I was convinced, I remember the game. It was Thursday night in Carolina. I remember it was impossible to win on Thursdays on the road. Nigelette Bram. Nigelbram was great in that game. Penalties were 10 to 1. Like, the Eagles should have got killed in this game. I think Keechley got a concussion.

And they come out and win, and I tweeted that night, we're winning the Super Bowl this year. and I was convinced from that point on that they were winning. And then when Wince gets hurt, I'm like, well, that's that. And they go on this magical run. I still think they do it, but it is not the awesome story that it ended up being. Like, that's a movie. Yeah. That happens nowhere but in a Disney film.

Yes. And, you know, like in cool runnings, they don't win. You know? And that somehow happened for us. Like, that somehow happened for us. I still think. they win it, but it is a much, much different still. The script gets rejected by Disney.

Yeah. True preposterous. You mean this guy comes in who you got rid of? Tom Brady? And he's got this awesome nickname. Proposterous. And the funny thing is, like, as you brought up, Bill, they were on a role. And now they weren't playing like world beating teams, but they dropped 34 on Arizona, 34 on Washington, 33 on the Niners,

51 on the Broncos, 37 old Cowboys. Like, oh. Like, this team was on an absolute hair and really the only game from that Kansas City loss until Carson Wentz got hurt was the Seattle game, the night game against Seattle, and Seattle's defense was really good.

Wentz had that, like, you guys remember, he was like falling down, and he tried to like sling it, and they lost that game, but like they were obliterating teams that season. And Rush should have been the MVP if it wasn't Wentz that year.

He also got robbed. Yeah, so tough stuff, man. It ended in a Super Bowl, but whatever. Joe San Luis, Likito, his story comes out later about how bad he was, is a person in the locker room or a teammate and all that stuff. So a lot of Rickerow effects there.

So much goes wrong with his bot. To me, it's about what happens after. Sure. Yeah, because he comes back early because he's jealous of Nick. Yes.

And he hurts his back and he can't tell me that's not from compensating. Sure. And then he can't play like Steve McNair anymore. And he's basically done. Chris Long has a shrine in the locker room to Nick Foles. The BDN grows in legend and lore and like the locker room gets divided. Crazy stuff, man.

And Darren Sprouls confronts Carson Wentz about being a selfish teammate, like, massive ripple effect. Do we ever draft Jalen? That's really not. Like, you might, but you might have already had a Super Bowl in there already where it doesn't even matter later on. You're just reacting to backup at that point. He could have been flipped. And he could have been flipped to something totally different.

Oh, man. And folks, that's number three on our list. So imagine what the top three looks like. Let's get into it and keep it going as we go Tyler to. what if they gave Roy Halliday, just a little run support in that one game, one-th-nothing game against the Brewers and, I mean, and that one,

and we'll see what against the Cardinals. I think everybody can tell you exactly how the first inning transpired, right? Raphael for call, leadoff triple, Skip Schumacher, RBI ground out. That's it. And look, Halliday. That's the game.

The game ends. He did that a lot, by the way. He would give up something early in the first. second inning you like, and then get pissed. And it's settling and nobody touching them after that. Well, the old adage. The old adage with good starters is you got to get to them early. If you don't get to them early, they lock in.

Verlander has done it. Scherzer's done it. Holiday did it. Wheeler does it now. If you don't get to Wheeler early, you're not getting to Wheeler. Exactly. And so I think that like there's a whole bunch of different side effects to this. I think one is the outcome.

But the other one I think is the Phillies don't hit in the ninth inning. And that is the biggest one to me. because if they score two runs and they're not hitting in the ninth inning, Ryan Howard does not tear his Achilles trying to get out of the box to end the game. I was there for that. And you talk about Carson Wentz, you know, just a moment ago, the air getting sucked out of the stadium. I remember exactly where I was, standing room third baseline,

pretty good sight line right at Ryan Howard. And not only did you realize the game and the series was over, but you realized the big piece was probably done for a year and, like, talk about the air and sadness, just setting in a stadium. Absolutely one of the worst experiences I've ever had in a ballpark. Tough. Yeah, and I think, so in the Phillies episode on Monday,

I talked about there was like four or five different teams of what ifs. Could they have won the World Series? 93, 64, 77. I firmly believe of every team that the Phillies didn't go to a World Series or didn't win a World Series, only 77 and 2011 were the two teams that were destined to win World Series. World Series that year. And I believe that they beat the Cardinals.

They're going to beat the Brewers. The Cardinals beat the Brewers for... Randy Wolfe started a game in that series. 35-year-old Randy Wolf started for the Brewers. And then you get to Texas and Texas had a 4-6-5 ERA against the Cardinals in seven games in that series. The Phillies starting rotation is not posting a 4-6-5. You cannot convince me otherwise that the 2011 Phillies were not destined to win a

world series. and losing to the Cardinals, especially by the way, guys, losing to the Cardinals who needed the Phillies to beat the Braves to get into the postseason, there's a lot of,

there's a lot of what if to go. I think that the 2011 team is one of the two best Phillies teams to ever be assembled and the other one 77. All right. Let's just tell the people because we talk a lot

that we need to go to overtime a little bit here. Just for a few. We talk a lot. And overtime, of course, you go to all-PH-L-Y. com. Thanks, everybody, on the television

side for hanging out with us. If you want to continue to see what our number two and our number one are, make sure you go to all-PHLY.com as we head to overtime. That Roy Holiday thing. Randy Wolfe? I know. That hurts, Phil. He was my guy, too. I forgot about that. Yeah. I loved Wolf, but I don't know. I don't know if him at 35 is intimidating me in the NLCS. So do you guys, do you guys tend to agree 11 wins the World Series if they get past the Cardinals? Yeah. I mean, it's the four aces. They have to, right? Everyone, the, they add Hunter Pence, like, yes, the lineup was aging at that point,

but you have the best starting pitching ever assembled. Like, I just don't see how they lose, especially as the series goes from five to seven games where we can, oh yeah, Doc and Lee are pitching again. We're going to have Hamels, we're going to have Oswald in relief in some, like, how do they lose? And the legacies of these players, you know, like Jimmy Chase and Ryan, and Cole, you know, they're multi-winners. Roy Halliday gets his ring.

I think Chase Utley's a Hall of Famer if he gets a second ring. Absolutely. I mean, just those. He might still be, but I think. That's the greatest core in Philly's history if they get a second. Because, you know, like Schmidt

and those guys weren't able to string it together like that. I've always wished and hoped for a baseball dynasty in this town. And that was their chance. Yeah. And with that best chance, man, when you look at that one, that's where Philly fans,

feel like they were cheated of. Yeah. They didn't get enough. Because the whole regular season didn't matter to a lot of fans. It was like, see me in the postseason. You get 95, you get 100. Cool. It's about when we get to the postseason.

No one can touch us. After the way 2010 ends, it's like you owe us one. Right. Now it's, oh yeah, 102 wins. Charlie gets the franchise record. Don't care. Get me 100 Pence. Get me back to the series.

Like, it's so disappointing because it was. I can't imagine. I always think of Ruben Amaro like, what do we think of him? Like, is he still the GM? Yeah, it's a great one. He did everything we wanted him to do. The team just didn't score a run.

He was a GM like I wanted to be GM. Like, go all in. Get every player. Every guy available, go get him. Yeah. Yeah, man, even the Yankees one, man. It was like, two guys were just nuts. And Pedro had the one game of game too.

He was phenomenal. I still think he should do. I was with Charlie. Keep him in there for that. one more and it back right fact right he ran into a head deck and that i know it was just you know but still but with that it was just two guys that went off in utley and lee you didn't get anything from handles and they were still that good and then you're like let's go retool for next year and they do it man we would cheated out of that run yeah dynasty your point you're absolutely right all right

let's get to number two on our list jay what if howie roseman didn't return after the season and as Bill said, he still might be in that closet, right? Yeah, the Chip Kelly, Howard Rosman era was a fascinating one. Fascinating. Because I don't know many people with the pride, the ego, whatever you want to call it, to stick out and endure what Howie Roseman did. He got ushered to the other side of the building, kicked out of his role, basically put in the broom closet, as Bill said, for this hot young college coach.

and he decides to stick it out. And after the 2015 season, Chip is entering what's going to be his final year, and we're like, man, how he's probably gone. Most people in their professional lives, when they get treated like that, probably go, I'm out. Other teams want me. They'll pay me. I'm not at a fear of a job loss here.

And he sticks it out, and he eventually rises to president of football operations and the GM and all of it. He reclaims his throne. and now he's the best GM in sports. And he's won two Super Bowls in this time frame. Hall of Fame. He's completely reconstructed what him and his front office do, how they execute.

Justin Jefferson, as we talked about earlier, was kind of that final piece of the Phoenix rising from the ashes and changing things. He's self-reflected. He changed. He gets Jalen Hertz in the second round when he was ostracized in town. That ends up leading you another Super Bowl.

It's a fascinating thought of what, if Howie Roseman didn't return. I don't think we can sit here and say the Eagles have two Super Bowl parades. As much as I appreciate Jeffrey Lurie's ownership, I don't think anyone would confuse him with genius football man.

Now, maybe he just knows what it takes to run an organization so much. He goes out and hires some other guy. That's a hard thing to do. Who? Yeah. Because we're looking at Howie. Yeah, I was thinking I'm like,

who are the candidates at that time? Every time they've lost the guy, we're like, oh, well, he's really. really, it's like, oh, yeah, how the Jets doing? He's friends with Jeffrey Lurie, who was the name. And weren't they trying to go after Wolf and Green Bay at that? Just because they were taking a swing. Sure.

But they got denied. And what would that have looked like? We have no idea what that would have looked like. It's every time Howie's lost a guy in the staff, it's actually he runs the draft. It's like, yeah, how the Jets doing? Yeah. Like, yeah, how's that going over there. Meanwhile, how he's got a second Super Bowl with a different quarterback and coach.

Yeah, Andrew Berry and Brown. Exactly. You bring up Joe Douglas and the jet. It's so interesting. It's not that easy. How did you feel, though, Ty, when they did bring in Chip Kelly? Forget about the move first to bring him and let him take over, but the Chip Kelly. I think the Chip Kelly thing was super intriguing because it was such a departure from anything that really any NFL team had done where it was like, all right, well, we're going to give this guy kind of, I don't want to say like omnipotence, but like he could do no wrong.

And then he kind of weaseled his way into more and more and more power. but it was so it was a creative difference it was this college system works it worked at oregon it was let's let's be fast let's be quick let's get on the ball let's move and let's punish defenses with our speed and our you know ability to be on the field for for four minutes at a time instead of an eight minute drive and then that well kind of dried up and then you also went and made poor decisions by like signing to marco murray who didn't make sense in an east-west offense he was a north-south runner it was a bunch of different stuff. And then Chip Kelly went power crazy and I think everything fell out from there.

By the way, Ryan Matthews is a better running back anyway. Just saying, you already had him. He was pretty good. So at the time, like, I was intrigued by the hiring of Chip Kelly, but it was also a thought of like, okay, with Chip Kelly, are they going to end up, you guys remember the radio, spiel of do the deal, right? Are they going to trade for Marcus, the trade up to get Marcus Mario. Are they going to bring like Dennis Dixon in to be their quarterback? Like, who is the guy could run this Oregon type of offense. But like, Bill, you brought up, you know, different GMs. In the last 10 years since 2015, when Howie Roseman, you know, this all went down,

25 different teams have hired 42 GMs. I mean, that's, I mean, you're getting close to a team for hiring, for teams that have hired GMs. That is insane. The success rate is not good. And he's one executive of the year at least twice. It's unbelievable. Like, the NFL is this constant.

turnover machine and the Eagles have somehow realized like stability man just yeah there's going to be bad years because other teams just have lucky years sometimes too like it's out of your hands yeah man two quarterbacks got hurt and the coach got in a play calling rut and we had a bad draft so it's a bad year but if you just have a little bit of stability it won't be a disaster yeah and credit to howie for changing and self-reflecting and realizing he could couldn't do things the same way again. It's like, you know, Jordan had to lose to the Pistons before he could become a six-time champion.

Maybe how he had to be sent to the broom closet to self-reflect and become a two-time. Admitting your wrong is hard. The personal maturity where he was a member we heard, oh yeah, he's visiting like Manchester United. Yeah, yeah. What is that going to teach him about football? Yeah. It's like, oh, it's about how you run an organization.

Everybody. And it's like, oh, that's what's good about the Eagles. They're well-run. So thank you, Howie. And guess what? Thanks, Chip. Now they're legitimately the gold standard from the front office perspective. It's crazy how that is gone from a running joke to the actual truth.

Now. Years later. It took 20 years. When we were doing the imaging for the post-Super Bowl time period, our graphics designer was like, you have any thoughts? And I was like, yeah, ironically, gold standard. He was right. Because he was mocked forever, and now they are. And that was the collection when they won the Super Bowl for the gear.

and all the gold standard. By the way, speaking of gear, everybody, new drop. We have some new gear. Before we get to number one, let's talk about the new gear, and Tyler has it on right now. Part of our, you know,

just great layout that we now have with all the very cool look that we have here with all the cool clothing that, the apparel that we have put together. Mascot Love Child. What now? Oh, yeah, there's like a gritty fanatic. So it's like an amalgamation of all of our mascots?

It is up on the store. And there's some great stuff in here. The Sixers, P-H-L-Y shirt. The Spectrum ones are awesome. Spectrum ones are great. Yeah. Really good stuff. This mascot one I love, but it is, ah.

It is kind of frightening. Somebody get like sleep terrors and they woke up in their like T-shirt. There's some great stuff here. Some good stuff. So make sure you now, you know, go check out our website. check out the merch. Look at our new collection that we have going on here. It's the Philly Collection up right now and available to you.

We all have our pieces. I have a black one in this one. We got the Sixers, the P-H-L-Y in the 2001 logo font that has finally dropped in black in other colors as well. The AI 16-bit stepover. So everything is available for our Philly Collection right now at store. all city network.com or you can just simply go to our website at all p hly.com and go to the merch section check out the drop and you'll see everything that is available for you right now. All right, Devon.

Let's get to number one, Jay. I will toss to you the number one because much like I don't think I can be convinced the Eagles win the Super Bowl without Nick Foles that day. I am sure in my heart of hearts that if this thing does not bounce four times and fall into a north of the border Canadian basket in Toronto, I truly believe the process and Sam Hinky and all of that is a success and the Sixers go on to win the title if Kauai Leonard's shot does not drop. I still do not watch it to this day. You know you have no rooting interest because you're covering the team and all that stuff.

That one, though, had an impact. That one was a gut punch. I remember where I was. I think we all remember where we were. Those are one of those moments, you know exactly where you were. I was in the studio because I did pregame, so I always stayed in the studio and watched it. I was in Pennsport, and I dropped to my knees with my hands on my head and couldn't believe it. I got up out of my chair and I said nothing.

It was just one of those silent reactions to the shot. I can replay it, though, even though I don't watch it. What if in this play the officials call Kauai Leonard for a travel on the catch? He took like four steps before he dribble. You're not going to call it because of the moment. So you're going to let it play out. Jimmy Butler gets to steal before to tie the game to force that moment there. What if they call the travel?

What if Joel and B doesn't leave Mark Gassal on that screen that Gassal tries to set on Ben Simmons and he doesn't cut off Ben Simmons's path? What if because of that, Ben Simmons is just with him one-on-one. It was still a great contest because Joel NBee kept up with him, did not foul. And both he and Ben Simmons, so you're talking about 610 and 7-2 extended over Kauai Leonard to force that shot. And he gets a great, great bounce of that. Then we never get the squatting of Kauai Leonard, the photo of all of that. What if we don't get the meme of Joel crying post-game?

Maybe Jimmy Butler and JJ Reddick stay in the next this offseason in a couple of weeks. They don't leave. And you don't give Tobias Harris five years and $180 million. There are a lot of things that go into this that what if he never finishes that shot? Look, they may have beaten the sixers in overtime. They may have. But that shot is not the visual that, we have now

have to live with Bill forever. An all-time moment. It's an all-time heartbreaking. This is all-time. It's Joe Carter asked. NBA basketball moment.

I think it's the only buzzer-beater in Game 7 history, at least it was at the time. That said, I just look at this group that has been assembled as a group of losers and they lose in overtime probably badly.

They were never going to win and they showed us that throughout the years. They showed us that in game four. when Joel had a tummyache, so he put up 11 points at home. Like, I don't know, go up 3-1 in the series, and we never get to game 7. But we are talking about the games.

I just, I can't think of any other possible outcome than they lose in overtime because that's what this team is, a disappointment. Yeah, and Joel and Bede, when you talk about legacy and championships, he's, unfortunately, unless he bounces back to some physicality where he's a, you know, world-class player again, he's going to be remembered probably 20 years from now as one of the greatest to ever put on a Sixers uniform that couldn't get it done in the postseason.

And he had a double double that night. He was plus 10 on the floor. That shot doesn't get in. Yvonne, you say, what happens of Ben Simmons? Joel Embed is credited for getting his seven-foot-three arm in the face of Kauai as he misses. And maybe he wins an NBA championship. And not only is the process cemented as a success,

Joellen Beade's legacy as a Philadelphia 76er is cemented in history. Can I be honest here? Can I speak to? This is the trustee. Can I be honest with you guys? The further removed we get away from this shot, the less it bothers me. And the reason the less it bothers me is because of two-fold. One, it was absurd. Of a million bounces, it probably goes in one time. The second is because what you brought up. That's why it hurts so much. The second is what you brought up, Bill. They had their chance. They should have won game four.

There is no reason as to why that game should have even been played. There should not have been a game seven. The six should have won that series in six games. Live by the doink, die by the doink. Yeah. Sometimes Cody Parky bangs went off three posts. Sometimes the Vince Carter shot actually goes in because it was Guaq. Those were two short, there's two sure fire ones that they at least should have gotten to the, no, three, actually.

They were two that they should have gotten to the conference finals. That was one. and maybe they don't go to the NBA finals, but that's their first appearance in the conference finals where now things, your mentality changes. Oh, totally. They're not roadblocked in the second round.

100%. And then the Hawks won, of course, in game seven, where they are the number one season. Simmons like this. We know what happens after that. Just go up. Those are two right there that you talk about looking at that Philly's dynasty potentially.

Yeah. This is just all about get over the hump. Mm-hmm. If you get over the hump in that one and you're number one in 2021. There's so many things that could be different of the what if that we talk about here. I still have that Sports Illustrated cover

with the best starting five in basketball. It's the best. I love keeping stuff like that. That was a genius idea for that photo. It was perfect. And again, as much as all the stuff for 12, we call him 12 on the Sixers show, as you guys know when we talk about Tobias Harris,

we call him 12. Maybe he's not here. And there's somebody else. in that role of that, you know, for that. And we talked about Kail a little bit earlier. Maybe Kail's on that team. And maybe he's the one that has that assignment. Or something happens with the switch and is he and Simmons instead of being in a bead and whatever.

It could be, you know. There's a lot. There's a lot. And that's the number one as we wrap up rank week. When we put the list together as I did the Sixes list, I didn't know number one was going to be Kauai Leonard for the entire rank week of. of number 10 for what ifs and damn is that one that is a

what if that does not happen. Yeah and please in the comments leave yours, leave your agreements disagreements. We'd love to hear from everybody out there about our list. Rip it, praise it, do whatever you want with it. Tell us what we miss. But tell them what your what ifs are

or tell us what your whatifs are and if you agree with our list we'd love to hear from you. Guys this has been a blast. A lot of fun. And it wasn't all painful. It wasn't all painful. We got to talk about some Super Bowl parades. We got to talk about some Phillies World Series. You know, there was some good stuff in there.

A lot of good stuff, but a lot of, ugh, in there. A lot of almost. A lot of almost. Thoroughly depressing, but this one wasn't as, this one wasn't as bad as like the individual because at least we get to mix it up. Yeah. And I like doing these round tables. Thanks, guys. There was nothing I wanted to do more on a Tuesday morning

than reflect on our misery as a collective unit. What are you talking about, man? At least we had the Eagles topics. Like, at least all the Eagles. one's lead to a road of 2015. Everything is a positive. Yeah. Good times.

Good times. But hey, it gives us things to talk about in the offseason that is obviously fun. So across the All-City Network overall, the what-ifs. And of course here on the PHL-WI network, the what-ifs for the Flyers, the Eagles, the Phillies, and the Sixers. Man, a lot, a lot over our lives, our sports lives as the fandom that it is, which is why you do as fans, which is why we do as fans to have this job. And of course, to speak of it the way that we do, we thank you all week long here for the what if the rank week.

Make sure you go check out the Philly collection again at all phly.com. Go to the merge section and check it out. Check our collective shows for the Flyers, the Eagles, the Phillies, and the Sixers on a daily basis here at the All-City Network here on YouTube. And we once again, thanks as always to the great producing by the one and only Julie Hoff. Thank you, Jules, for the producing. Thanks to all of you for watching. Thank you, Bill, Jamie, and Tyler for hanging out and spending this roundtable here. This has been a blast.

We'll all talk to you once again on Monday at our regularly scheduled times for our shows. Have a great weekend. What if all of that stuff just didn't happen? We'll talk to you on Monday.