PHLY Philadelphia Eagles Podcast - Why the Eagles, A.J. Brown and Howie Roseman may be the sneaky winners of Super Bowl LX

Episode Date: February 9, 2026

Just how valuable is a general manager like Howie Roseman for the Eagles? What should we make of A.J. Brown’s media tour? PHLY Eagles Show hosts Bo Wulf and EJ Smith discuss what they learned from Super Bowl LX, how the Seattle Seahawks took a similar path to the Eagles, and how the state of the roster stacks up against the new champions now that the offseason is upon us in earnest. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Welcome to the P.HLY Eagles show on a new season. Live from the Xfinity studio and presented by our friends at Bet365 and Ashley, I'm Bo Wolf. Sitting next to me, E.J. Smith. Nice to see you, my friend. Long time, no see. I know. It's like you said, it's good to be home. And yeah, no, some people call this Howie season, don't they? I mean, it's a good segue into what we're talking about today. I guess, I mean.

Some people call it Howie season? Don't be a Howie season guy. I didn't, I'm clearly not a Howie season guy. Some people call it Howie season, don't they? Does that sound like I'm a howie season guy? Get these some people out of my business. We've got a lot to talk about on the show today. I want to get your thoughts on having watched the game last night.

What pop to mind from an Eagles perspective, a little bit of A.J. Brown within that. But let's start. We got some breaking news off the top. And let's do it. Thanks to our friends at Wawa with What's Brewing. Smells like a new coach, E.J. What do you got? Yeah, so the Eagles are hiring Chris Cooper as an offensive line coach.

You're laughing because we had some discussion about how to pronounce the man's name. Pro football reference, I think, is just a little bit unclear. But I don't even think pro football reference said what you thought it said. I come in talking about Chris Cooper and you come in all haughty. It was like Cooper. I didn't come in haughty for sure. Nothing about me is hot. Pretelette Cooper.

I think it's pronounced Cooper. but like P-E-H-R is pair it's not per so I stand with my initial reading but I think it is wrong I think it is Chris Cooper and it's like such it was so disappointing that we went on this big like it was this big to do just to end on it's pronounced all you think it's pronounced so yeah Chris Cooper he was the Vikings offensive line coach for the last three seasons and his contract expired with the Vikings earlier this offseason and before that he worked with Josh Grizzard in my Miami from 2017 to 18 and worked with Vic Fangio with the Denver Broncos from 2019 to 2021. Former player played with the Broncos.

See, he's got a lot of experience as an offensive line coach. We can talk about some of the players that have played under Chris Cooper and kind of the, we'll talk with Alex, actually. Alex Lewis joined us in about a half an hour. The reception to Chris Cooper leaving Minnesota. But I think it's an interesting hire. It's a little surprising to me. we talked on the show about

maybe he was going like the college route trying to find the next Jeff Stoutland I don't think that this is necessarily that's definitely not the mold that you would have followed if that were what you were going after but again this is a guy with a lot of experience

and he has coached not that much experience well relative to what I expected yeah I mean listen do yourself a favor and go on YouTube and just search the guy's name Chris Cooper

and it is very funny. Yeah, the thumbnails. Just seeing a bunch of different thumbnails from Viking shows that are like, praise the Lord. Finally. Or finally. Like, we're free about like people just like, I mean, he was, he was their scapegoat, right? Yeah. And I mean, if you look at it.

And it's very funny. If you look at Minnesota while he was there, they had some high draft picks that either haven't panned out left to, went to different teams and, you know, became like average starters elsewhere. You know, Christian Derosol is probably the biggest success source. like he played better under Christian Cooper and his struggles are mostly due to injuries. But yeah, I mean, honestly, because I was looking to see what his record was with players who were drafted high, you know, the types of players that you'd expect him to be working with with the

Eagles. Donovan Jackson was a first round pick last year. Struggled with injury. I can't say for certain whether he played well before the injuries or not. Again, Christian Derrissol played better under Chris Cooper. And then Garrett Bradbury and Ed Ingram, they both left during Christian Cooper's time and played or Chris Cooper's time, it's Christian Cooper, it's Christian Parker, ended up and played, I would say they ended up elsewhere.

They were in the bottom quartile of the league. It was actually four seasons. Yeah. In all four seasons and pressure rate allowed. Oh, you use pressure rate. I work around pressure rate. And more importantly, sacks allowed or like sack rate. They were in the bottom quartile three of the four times.

And the one time they weren't, they were 18th. So they were never above average in the league. I think he is thought of as more of a run. We'll talk to Alec about this, but I think more of a run guy than a past pro guy. Obviously, there is some connection with the scheme type. I think it's okay. We don't know how this is going to work out.

Yeah. It's fine. There's a lot of uncertainty here. There's also, this is not a long-term commitment for the Eagles. This could be, you know, a one-and-done type deal. It's okay to be underwhelmed from the outside. Oh, I think so. And also just like, okay, the reason he's hired, most likely is because first and foremost, he was available.

Right. Right. He's out there. And, you know, the fact that he's, he has cohabitation matrix touchpoints with. Yeah, I don't love that. Manion and Grizard is like, oh. That doesn't make me, like him knowing these guys does not make me feel amazing about the quality. I agree with you.

We, we have, I think we've necessarily couched that he could be great. I mean, you know, there are some success. in his time in Minnesota. But yeah, no, I don't love some of the... I'll be curious to hear what the selling point is. Well, and I think... I think it's okay. I think it's...

This is a case where I don't know how much better the Eagles could have done right now. This is more of a reflection of how much up Poops Creek they were with Stout moving on and then parting ways with Stout this late into the process. Yeah, I think if they had known... that it was going this way at the end of the season and given Stout his flowers and sent him off then,

I think they would have a different offensive line coach. You don't think that they could have poached, poached one of the best offensive line coaches in college. I think it's late. I think it is late to do that. I don't know if it's late. I mean, I think that there were other options. I agree with you that some of the top options in the NFL

are probably already signed up elsewhere. But again, like the way they found Jeff Staland, I don't think it would have been hard for them to find somebody in that, in that lane again. So to me, this speaks more to, He's someone who has experience with the new faces on the Eagles offensive staff. And yeah, that does give me a little bit of pause. And the other thing I wanted to mention, we'll talk about this with Alec.

The Vikings made like significant investment in their interior line last year. It seemed like they played better last year and that they were trying to like shore up the interior. And it just went terribly wrong for them this season. They had injuries, but still, it did not seem like their offensive line played particularly well last year. Sure. That'll be the thing. The coach he was then doesn't mean that's the coach he'll be next time. Yeah.

We'll see how it goes. It'll be interesting to hear from Alec on whether the backups who came in played well. You know, like that is always, I think, a real good test for a coach. Okay. Well, we'll do it for what's brewing presented by Wawa. And that means what do we have left on the staff, EJ? We have heard that Greg Olson is likely as quarterback's coach, but that has not been locked down yet. So we're waiting to hear about.

We don't have confirmation on. Simleton. Right. So my guess is that they hire a wide-outs coach and that Jamal Singleton stays on the staff. That would be my guess. Okay. Interesting. All right.

What did you think watching the game last night? Yeah, I enjoyed it first and foremost. I've been at the last three Super Bowls and this was a chance for me to kind of get back to like, really what is one of my favorite experiences, which is watching the game at my dad's house. You know, get some, some chili. Did you make the chili or did he make the chili? My sister made the chili. Shout out of my sister. Shout out.

Yeah, it was great chili. What kind of you're talking? It's turkey chili because she doesn't eat red meat. Okay. But it's just like your, you know, classic. Good, eating that bad boy? Good what? Heat.

No, she's not big on the spicy. Now, I'll add some hot sauce and some sour cream. We didn't have the sour cream, but that's okay. That's okay. It's fine. Doesn't sound like it was okay. Well, you know, fine. We can do this.

I can talk about this. You know, my sister has done an amazing job, like stepping into the role that my mother played in our lives. but like sometimes you know you got a reminder like you know mom would have had that but no but no we had a nice time okay we had a great time food was good company was great my dad he really enjoyed the game i know the game was a little bit like controversial uh in terms of its entertainment value but um defensive guy yeah but he's like calling out stunts he's calling out different coverages and he like he's a big uh seahawks guy now like he loves the seahawks he loves mike

McDonald's. So yeah, no, he had a good time. I didn't watch the game quite as analytically as him. But one thing that did stand out to me, and Mike Sando had a really good piece about this in the athletic this morning, is that the last two Super Bowls have been won by opportunistic general managers. And if you think about the path that the Seahawks took to returning to the Super Bowl and winning the Super Bowl, it does resemble the Eagles in a lot of ways, you know, moving on from a franchise quarterback, making hard decisions with some of your star players like D.K. Metcalf is another one that, again, it's like they made some unpopular decisions and they worked hard to rebuild their defense. And they built their defense really from

back to front in the same way that the Eagles have. So I know you want to make a joke about back to front there. But I just, I do. I think that they resemble each other. I think oftentimes today is a day where people overreact to whatever the most recent champions path is to winning. And I think obviously the Eagles having a similar path really reinforces that. I'm not saying that this is now the new NFL where, you know, having an aggressive GM who's willing to make hard choices is the ultimate, you know, advantage gain. I do think it is true that it is a big advantage in the way the league is now, you know, because of the fact that there aren't, I don't think all 32 front offices.

operate, I mean, I know that they don't operate the same way the Eagles do. I think that most Super Bowls probably will come down to who has the greatest quarterbacks, but I do think that we are seeing, like, it's being further illustrated that having a general manager like Howie Roseman, like John Schneider, really gives you an opportunity to, you know, kind of win the Super Bowls in between those quarterback dynasties. It's interesting because my biggest takeaway from like just looking at the Seahawks roster building is much more naval gazing. And that is, it is all about Fran Duffy.

And I will tell you why. If you followed Fran Duffy in the pre-draft process last year, he had basically three guys who were his guys that he was pounding the table for early on. Those three guys were Gray's able, Nick Eamon, and a lot of. and Elijah Arroyo. Now, Elijah Royo didn't make a huge impact in the game or in the season, but in turning the Seahawks around, John Schneider basically did nothing but just follow Fran's advice.

And this was the first year that all of Franz Scouting reports were available for everybody to read, and John Schneider realized that that was a market advantage for him to take advantage of. And so now the catch should be out of the bag. I would imagine that every other right-thinking general manager in the league is just trying to poach whatever Fran's grades are because that is proven now as the easiest way to hot shot yourself to the Super Bowl. And so I imagine that all of them will be taking advantage of a good deal.

I mean, why are you stopping? I mean, yes, become a die-hard. You know, I got a story about Sean Mannion up on the site today. But why are you stopping short there? Just hire Fran as the GM. Well, I mean. What are we doing? Obviously, that's what they should be doing.

Yeah, exactly. But if they're just looking to keep their own jobs. Yeah. I mean, run from it all you want. Frank is going to take your job. We're borrowing, yeah. Yeah. There you go.

All right, we're going to talk about the AJ Brown of it all. And a little story about our Super Bowl week with him and then what you thought of the game last night. We'll do that after these words from our sponsors. Bet365 has 90 million users. Worldwide, and they live stream over 780,000 events each year with early payout offerings across the NBA and NHL. Did I happen to make a little late sugar on the big game on Sunday night? Yes, I did.

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All right, we're back on the P.H.O.I. Eagles podcast, Go-Wolf and E.J. Smith. E.J., would you like to tell the story? I don't know. Do you want to tell the story? I mean, we kind of have to now, but, um, I mean, yeah. I think this is interesting. Yeah, I just, I don't know where this falls in the, the capital J ethics of it all. I don't think there was anything. I think it's fine.

We are, we are walking back to our hotels. Yeah. After Wednesday nights. Yeah, it was Wednesday. Marathon Day at Radio Row. Yep. And you and our friend, Shield Capadia,

are just buried in our phones. Just either my least favorite thing about myself, you know, phone addiction, no doubt about it. You know, the least favorite thing?

Oh, without a doubt. Okay. Yeah. All right. Far and I respect it. Really the only thing. Yeah,

it doesn't surprise me. And I'm, you know, Mr. present. Oh, sure. Yeah.

I'm taking it. in the scenes. Sites. Not the smells, but. Yeah, not never the smells. And I see one AJ Brown

walking down the street. Yeah. And so we're like, oh, wow, AJ Brown is in town. What could this mean? I wouldn't have expected

AJ Brown to be in town. I wouldn't, of all the Eagles players. And so I think our, I wouldn't have expected. Both of our initial reactions were, I wonder, obviously he's going to be doing some media.

Mm-hmm. Is this like, ask for a trick? situation. And very counter to that, he was on, was it Edelman's podcast with Grunk? No, I don't think that one's come out yet, but he was on there. At least I don't think it has. Something else. He can correct me. He was on with Michael Parsons. He did Michael Parsons podcast. And AJ said all the right things. He said he, you know, Kevin Petullo did a tremendous job, said that he's excited for what's to come for the Eagles and him. He made it sound like.

It was, it was not a we. It was not a them and me situation. Happy to be. a part of the leadership group. Yeah. Right? So what did you make of that? Do you buy that? Yeah. I don't want to be the bearer of bad news for the Eagles fans who want this to be.

If you are one of the Eagles fans, it's like you heard him say that stuff and you're like, great, everything's fine. They squashed it. Nothing to see here. I hate to be this guy, but I don't think it is that simple. I actually my read on it and I could be wrong but my read on it was AJ not like rocking the boat

publicly is a sign that he doesn't think he has to rock the boat to get off of the boat like they and then maybe maybe it is maybe they squashed it but my guess AJ's smart he's very smart people I think are often reductive when they talk about AJ like he is like

you know it's like so easy to read what he's doing I think AJ knows that it doesn't benefit anybody for him to come out and say, like, yeah, I want to leave. But that doesn't mean that when he comes on Micah Parsons podcast and talks about the Eagles positively, that he doesn't want to leave. Yeah, I don't think he's definitely not telling the truth. I think that is possible. I think it is within reason that he thinks that Kevin Petal... That things have turned around. Yeah.

And he's happy to be here. it is also, if he wants to leave, in his best interest to play this game. Yeah. Because presumably, if the Eagles have talked to him about this, they are not going to trade him unless they can get full value back. Right. And they are not going to get commensurate value if everybody in the league thinks that AJ is demanding to get out and they can low ball and the Eagles will just hold firm.

Yeah. No, the way I put it earlier is that, They're like right now, what the conversations we had last week. I know and I know that this is frustrating for people. Of course. Like, oh, you're just saying he's not telling the truth. And like if both both possibilities exist with the exact same information. And I know that that's like, oh, you guys are just muckraking.

If you're that dumb, you maybe don't know what the word muckraking means. But we're, you know, we're not speaking out of our butts here. Yes. Obviously. the thing I was going to say is that conversations we had last week, a lot of people said a second round pick would be the value they'd expect AJ to get traded for. And I don't think the Eagles would do that. And I think the reason that a lot of those people pointed to a second as the potential compensation

is if you view AJ as a distressed asset. I never like talking about players like this, but let's just do it. If you view AJ as a distressed asset, then yeah, a second might be all. the Eagles can get. For AJ to make himself more of a distressed asset is not going to help the case then. Because, again, I think the Eagles will hold out for something a little bit higher. Maybe it's a future first. Maybe it's a late first.

And that was, you know, the headline of the show is pointing to, I actually think the Eagles were a sneaky winner from the Super Bowl. We had the same reaction. Yeah, because if you're the Patriots waking up this morning. That game could not have gone any better for the Patriots need AJ Brown. Now, I think the Patriots also probably could use a left tackle and they move Campbell inside. You know, I think that they, that their issues are bigger than just a star receiver, but I do think if you're the Patriots waking up this morning, you say, we have a,

we have a Super Bowl, like what did Jeffrey Laurie say? We have a Super Bowl defense. We need to reload on offense and we need to get back there. And I think A.J. Brown would be enticing for them for that reason. Right now, would you do AJ for 31. I probably would if I were the Eagles. And if I'm the Patriots, I probably do that as well. So there you go. I think the Bills are another team. And I think the Ravens are the one. If you're the Eagles, if you're the Eagles, the Eagles, you're holding out for the Ravens, right? Because the Ravens are at 14 overall. I don't think that they would trade 14 overall straight up for AJ, but 14 for

AJ and a fourth, a third, probably a third. Probably a third. But still, I mean, so Buffalo is at 26. I think if you're the Eagles, you were hoping that those three teams started bidding more. And if the Patriots are Super Bowl champions this morning, you have one fewer suitor. I mean, not to say the Patriots wouldn't have also been interested, but I think the urgency picks out. Sorry.

We will put a pin on the AJ speculation until we have further information. But yeah, I do think that game worked out for them if that was their end goal. Yeah, subtle, sneaky winners. Coming up this week, by the way, on Wednesday, we are finally going to do the show that we've been teasing, where Fran is going to join us and it's going to be an exercise in just throw every roster idea you have at the wall. It's gonna be a fun one. You know, no bad ideas.

We will discuss that. And then on Thursday, Frayn will be with us as well. And it's time for Flu World Order. Very excited. I'm very nervous about Flu World Order. Because like how many games can I hurt you? No, but how many games can I lose on the show before like, I'm the guy that loses games on the show?

I mean, there can only be one guy who wins games on the show. So, no, there can. That's not literally not true. Super chats to get to before we get to Alec Lewis Corey Sito Will Campbell

looked like Joe Tune at left tackle You know who I thought he looked like actually He looked like King Dunlap He couldn't look anything less Like King Dunlap His play

He was reminiscent of King Dunlap I was trying to think like Man have I seen a left tackle That just got destroyed The entire game Oh that's mean to King Dunlap What do you mean? Are you thinking of Winston Justice?

No King Dunlap was getting just torched during my childhood as an Eagles fan. Come on. I like King Dunlap. Did you cover him? Yes. Okay, maybe he was nice, but I mean, as a fan, I was very frustrated. He got a lot better.

He got a lot better over time. Pink Dunlap was, I mean, he really struggled. I can't believe you're like caping for King Dunlap. He's one of the most improved players. Is it Winston Justice, the guy who owns Elixir? Yeah. Shout out to Winston. I like Winston Justice.

Oh my God. That coffee is, I'm, that is like, that's probably my number one place I get coffee beans from. shout out for yeah and mine is uh heady cup oh yeah our guy uh we have an imposter in the super chat who says interesting is it interesting or enter yeah i saw i've heard this i've heard that people say i say it funny i say interesting i'm sorry it's fine i talk a lot guys don't let them don't let them bat you down no i mean listen, I don't say everything perfectly.

I'm not going to. You guys listen to me a lot. I understand it. But yeah, I say interesting. And I say it a lot. I find things interesting. Very important question here on a super chat from Yager Lazzania, who says, thanks for a great season.

Love you guys. We love you too. When do we get E.J's dad on an off-season pod? Now we're talking. I mean, I'm sure you would do it. Yeah. What's the hook? What kind of ball can we get them to talk?

Um, well, he's a defense guy. Yeah, I mean, he coach, he's a head coach. So he knows both sides of the ball. But I mean, whatever you want. You guys should hear our phone conversation sometimes when he gets talking. It's like I always remind myself like, like he listens to me talk about the Eagles a lot. So he has a lot of things he wants to say. Yeah, yeah.

And it's like, you know, with some people like I'm always like, all right, like I talk about the Eagles all day. Yeah. But with him, it's like, no, like we're doing this. Yeah. Let's, let's get into this. So I was watching the game with him last night. Yeah, we've talked about there's a certain kind of person who will find out what you do. And then it's like, oh, let me ask you a question about what you do.

And then they're just unloading their own Eagles takes and they don't have any interest in what you're saying. And they just want you to validate it. But then they could be saying some very dumb stuff. And, you know, it's kind of a delicate dance. I don't like to argue with people about the Eagles. So if they tell me, I mean, it had to be really outlandish. The only, you know, it's funny, AJ is actually somebody that I get into arguments about a good amount though because I defend AJ yeah I think he I think he is misunderstood I don't know what are

about to say no I have I have a problem with someone who uh fancies themselves smarter about the thing when they have clearly no idea what they're talking about that's shocking I can't believe that that doesn't sound like you at all like you know what if I what if I came to you and you're like a you're like a professor or like a you know a doctorate or something and I'm like well actually not to say that I'm not but like yeah you know just because you know about this thing doesn't mean you know about this thing I would agree but they're just people I don't we talk about football like it's football oh believe me I am not I am not thinking that we are some city on a hill yeah but are you ever disappointed when people don't want to talk about the

eagles with you no what a delight no like they don't even find you like they don't find what you do interesting at all yeah I guess I had a friend who didn't know who Jalen Hertz was and like when he asked me who Jalen Hertz was like, oh, you're so special. Like I love you so much. It's great. All right. We're going to go a break because on the other side, we're going to bring in Alec Lewis, who covers

the Vikings for the athletic. He's going to explain to us why it is that Vikings fans have been throwing a parade that Chris Cooper is no longer their offensive line coach. What can the Eagles expect? Stay tuned to find out. Hey, E.J. what's your favorite hard tea everybody's got one

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Go on. Do we have Alec? Let's bring him on. Covers the Vikings for the athletic. And I would put him at... Yeah. I would say... Higher. Whatever you're about to say higher.

Well, I don't want to... I'm going to go... I'm going to go... top higher top three of my favorite ex-colleagues at the athletic i think he's got to be he's got to be this way nobody knows who the other two are okay yeah i i remember reading alex stuff uh before the viking's game this this past season i'm like man this guy is good oh i don't really care much for his work but as a john i mean i care for his work he does great work um thank you yeah um it's good to be here Beau, you're definitely one of my top favorite 17 former colleagues.

It's good to be here. I really, I'd never expected that I'd get the invite to the PHLI show. I really didn't think it would come as a byproduct of Chris Cooper. Happy to be here and whatever you need for me, I'm here provided I thought. All right. So explain to us why we were laughing about this. As E.J. was like, he just, he just looks up Chris. Cooper on YouTube and it's nothing

but you know, you know those YouTube thumbnails and it's nothing but like praise Allah, he's gone. Or like, finally. O-line coach sucked me off. Here we are. And why is it that he's such

like a lightning rod for Vikings fans? Yeah, I mean, the Vikings offensive line over the last four years has been terrible. I mean, I think that's the that's the easiest way to begin and frame it. Now, how much of that is a result of Chris Cooper? It gets murky when you're trying to evaluate and analyze things.

And I think as you guys know very well, fan bases are often looking to someone to point to and blame things for. And so I'm really personally fascinated to see when you plug Chris Cooper into an entirely different environment with different players. a different scheme, different personalities. Like what is it? What will it look like? I'll say this about Chris Cooper. He is he was very respected by the players. Kevin O'Connell really liked him for a long time.

I mean, for multiple years, he sung his praises. And then his contract ran out at the end of this season and it was pretty clear that they were going to move on. Now, that's a kind of a rosier view. I'd say the reason you see a lot of those thumbnails is because the past protection has has just been pretty putrid. And it's, I mean, there were a lot of changes made on the offensive line, different guards, a different center, you know, tackles in and out. There's a lot of factors at play.

But in the end, if Chris Cooper was an offensive line coach at the level of Jeff Stoutland, he would still be here for a team that needs the offensive line to be much better in a 2026. Yeah, I wanted to ask you, Alec, about the moving pieces. From an outsider's perspective, it does seem like the Vikings have had to deal with a lot of. of injuries up front. But I always think it's a good indicator on how the position coach is his, you know, managing the room, how the backups perform when they're called upon. So how would you say some of the reserves have played over the last few seasons under Chris Cooper? Yeah. I mean, you know, you can you can pick out specific guys. Like Blake Brandel has been a perennial backup in his time in the NFL. And this past year, he was thrust in there to play center

and different guard spots. And he did not sink. He definitely swam. Now was he an exceptional interior offensive lineman? No. I mean, you could look at a guy like Justin School, who was a backup this past year, who had to step in for Christian Darrasaw.

And it didn't go spectacularly. But again, it's really hard to evaluate Chris Cooper because there were a lot of games in 2025 in particular where they didn't know entering the game. Is Christian Darrasaw, arguably, their best offensive linemen going to be healthy. And there were pregame workouts where you'd look down on the field and looks like they're arguing over who's playing and why they're playing or why they're not.

So to pin it solely on Chris, I think would be faulty. And then the other aspect that I think people listening to this and watching it should know is that the Vikings are a pass first, pass heavy operation. And so with a lot of deep drop concepts. And so there was often a difficulty in evaluating. Is past protection struggling because the guys are losing or because the past concepts are so deep that it's asking a lot of guys who may not be able to protect for that long?

And so again, for me, just looking at this from afar, it's an experiment of sorts of like what happens when you put a guy who was dinged often for the offensive lines performance in an entirely different system and environment and play calling sequence style that Sean Manuel will have. The things that they struggled with in Pass Pro, was it, you know,

was it a lot of missed assignments on handling stunts and twists, stuff like that? Was it guys just getting beat one-on-one? And then also, does he get any credit for Dara Saw's assent to, like, superstardom or did that completely precede him? No, he gets a little bit of credit for sure. I mean, Christian was already starting to show signs of becoming one of the premier left tackles when Chris got here in 2022.

But, I mean, again, Christian liked them. All of the offensive linemen really did. And so, like, I don't think you can remove at all Chris's influence on what Christian Darisaw has been able to do as far as what they struggle with. I mean, this isn't probably going to, you know, I don't know if the H. I think you all why the Coors are going to love this. But yeah, I mean, in 2020, 23 and 24, it was a lot of stunts and twist. There were also some some quick pressures, specifically on the right side with Ed Ingram, who was drafted in the second round. And the Vikings moved on from Ed Ingraham ahead of 2025. And then he had his best season in 2025 in Houston.

So that was a point of contention, I think, amongst a lot of the fans. And then in 2025, it was, I mean, like Will Fries was this highly paid signing to be the right guard to replace that, Ingram, and he lost one-on-one oftentimes in 2025. So it was a combination of all that. And I would say, too, you can mention Ed Ingram here. People also like to reference Garrett Bradbury was the longtime center. He leaves. He becomes the center in New England.

Had a pretty good year. Obviously didn't have a pretty good night last night. So, again, like I- Chris Cooper will drink to that. Yeah. When I cover Major League Baseball, like I used to always think people love to blame the pitching coach or the hitting coach. And oftentimes it's just the talent that you have on the field. But then there are certain pitching coaches and hitting coaches who really do elevate guys performance. So yeah, it's, I think here locally there was very much a feel of the Vikings have to move on from somebody. And Chris Cooper made perfect sense as someone. to move on from now was he the primary culprit and reason that the past game struggled in 2025 absolutely positively not the quarterback play was putrid they didn't run the fall run the ball officially a ton and so that's again one of my curiosities if philly leans into sayquan in the ground

game how much will that help everything else for chris cooper's unit there i think it will help and i think it's going to be interesting to watch yeah how was the run blocking Well, they don't, they haven't run the ball at time. I mean, so they had before 2025, the run game was, was really subpar here and has been under Kevin O'Connell. In 2025, for a couple reasons, the run game took a step forward. One, they brought in Jordan Mason a running back. Two, they realized if they didn't run the football better with the quarterback play, they were really going to have no chance, which they already didn't have much of a chance offensively. So it hasn't been something to ride home about.

And that's, I mean, you're going to get people here in Minnesota that hope that with Keith Carter, who has a checkered history as the Office of Line Code for 2026 and with Frank Smith's inclusion, that this run game really takes a step forward. So that's kind of going to be the expectation in the conversation here. One of the things that Jeff Stoughton became known for was these pinpole schemes that really leveraged an athletic center. I know it was Bradbury for a while there. I guess do you, do you get the sense that he values having an athlete at center,

somebody that gets out in space? I guess stylistically, how do you think it meshes with him and someone like Cam Juergens? Yeah. I mean, I definitely feel like that would be something he'd prefer. One of the challenging aspects for me, you're covering him in the run game, specific over the last four years, is like, and I had a lot of these conversations with fans, with people internally of like, what is the identity here?

You guys want to do some mid zone. You want to lean into duo. There's some power counter gap scheme self sprinkled in, but it really never, never feels like something you're dying to do. So, I mean, that was a constant question here,

both, you know, what is the run game identity? And then out of the gun, like, why aren't you running it more if you're going to live in the gun with certain quarterback? So there's been a lot of, I'd say frustration here about just the lack of consistency.

Now, now I will say this because I'm on here and I feel like it's important. Like I don't know what people there are saying about Sean Mannion. Everybody I've talked to who has spent time around him here. Yeah. Really think he is a sharp guy and that he can manage and handle the circumstances there. Now, I don't know how to wait into Suryani's influence and how all of that will play out. I'll leave that to you guys and you can, you know, crooked tea. That's why they have you guys here to endorse them.

But, I mean, I do think with Sean, you're going to have someone who will have a shared language in Chris Cooper. And that should probably help him. Now, I don't know if it would help him as much as having the best offensive line coach the NFL would be in Jeff Stout. What kind of like personality are we going to get in Chris Cooper? This is what I wanted to get to. Yeah. What am I expecting in this? Are we getting a yeller like an MFer going out guys?

Or, you know, is this is this a hug him up? What kind of, what kind of style are we going to get on the practice field? Yeah, I think more of a hug him up style is, is, is Chris Cooper's tact. I mean, I don't think he like, I mean, I've sat with them for multiple interviews. I remember, I mean, I don't really care. I don't really care to say this. But in 2022, I had this great idea in my first year covering the end. NFL. Like, I'm going to watch some film with the offensive line coach. He can point out some

stuff. I'm going to learn some stuff from it. And he just was having no part of it, did not want to give away any secrets and was not and was not willing to be very, I don't know, like, I don't think he respected my knowledge enough to want to really buy people, which I totally understand from his perspective. So my impression of him was always, wait, so hold on, hold on, hold on. Did you, did you, did you start doing that story or he like shot the story idea down? Oh, no, I did the story. You sat down for the story, but he didn't play ball. Exactly.

Exactly. Yeah. And he didn't play ball probably because, again, like my questions on. Yeah, that's on you. You got to get him to play ball. No doubt, no doubt. But his willingness to sit with me, I think, you know, and I will say this on a serious note, like we sat down multiple times over the course of, of,

the last four seasons. And he was, he was always, I mean, easy to talk to forthcoming. He's not, I don't think ever going to be the one walking off the practice field seeking out media members to talk to. It's just not his nature. He's a former player played a long time in Denver and was schooled by Mike Muncheck. And so that unit in that group always was a very kind of tight knit together. We don't need to be out in the media type of operation. And so, yeah, I wouldn't expect him to be the most loquacious personality off the practice field, but he's a good guy. I think he knows how, knows what players want and how to treat players because of his past experience. I love this story of the story. I like to imagine you going through the tape afterwards, like

listening to the audio and then figuring out like early on, you said something that totally soured him on the entire process and then just kicking yourself. It's always a terrible feeling as a replay. It was like, I mean, I remember it was probably like week four. I just moved covering from, covering baseball and I'm looking at all 22 film and I'm like, all right, I'm going to do something

on Christian Derasaw, taking another step. And I'm like, so what do you see here? And he's like, and it was just not, he wasn't verbose with providing me a lot of intricacies that I thought would be the detail that would generate 150 subscribers for that story. It definitely didn't result in that, but I gave it my best shot, and I obviously haven't forgotten it. Good on you.

Yeah. I've got a silly one. I mean, the guy can't like bake cookies, Kenny, you know, because that's a big void left by the Stoughton family, you know, that like the... Well, he's not cooking him. I mean, yeah, so maybe he's, does he have a connection that can provide the familial feel? And so the question here, Alec, is Scatting Report on his wife's cooking abilities? Yeah, I like to think of myself as very versatile from a reporting standpoint, but that was not something that I ascertained over the course of his four years here. I will say this.

I mean, look, you guys are really searching deep on Chris Cooper, but his kids play flag football with Brian Flores kids. They were close. And I think a lot of the staff respected them. I do. Chris Cooper's experience with Brian Flores should help them from a. how to handle every blitz in the entire playbooks. Yeah. But as far as the baking portion of the reporting,

it was something that I wish I, looking back, something that I'm going to regret not digging deep. Now, I'll have to tell you two weeks ago, Matt Schneidman joined us to talk about his scanner report on Sean Mannion. And he joined us from the lobby of Lambeau Field. Great backdrop. So I do need to ask you,

it looks as if you are in the bathroom of an insane asylum, what is it exactly that we have here behind you? Not enough to join us and here you are. I'm in my apartment. Yeah, I'm not at Lambo Field, but you know Matt Schneidman. I mean, he's always out at the highest level, doing it on a consistent basis.

Now, I'm in my apartment. I'm here working on a story on how the Seahawks supported Sam Darnold better than the Vikings did in 2024. Yeah, I'm actually curious about that. What is the, what is like the, you know, we let him get away feeling there with as Donald wins the Super Bowl? So I went to get coffee this morning here locally and I got back to my apartment and the maintenance guy in my apartment. I just got up the elevator. He's like, so we should have kept that guy, huh?

I mean, we've chatted before. But yeah, I mean, I think people are extremely just, it's a classic Vikings type of feel where this team. has never won the Super Bowl. And last year, after losing in the first round of the playoffs to the Rams, you know, you let the guy out of your building and he wins the Super Bowl for the Seahawks. It definitely does not sit well with people. And I mean, you guys will know, I mean, two weeks ago, Quasito Fomitza, the GM was fired. And so there have been.

Can't be taking paternity leave. I mean, not in this business. I've heard that that was a subject worth conversation for a lot of people. But no, so the ramifications of the Vikings decisions of last spring have obviously warranted some serious accountability here. And the Vikings find themselves where they seemingly always find themselves where from February to April, the cycle of the Vikings fan is to assess who the next quarterback is going to be or whether or not they're sticking with the previous quarterback. So I will have probably 90 mock scenarios to generate more subscriptions over there. next month as we do here. Awesome.

We look forward to it, Alec. Thank you so much. That's just great to see you. Thank you, Alex. Appreciate it. No, I appreciate you guys having me. Thanks for the really kind words of being in the top three, but I appreciate it. And yeah, I'm looking forward to watching Chris Cooper up there, more than most probably.

So I can't wait to, can't wait to see what he can do. Where can our listeners who are now smitten with your presence? Where can they follow you? Yeah, Theathletic.com where I do my day job. And then I have a podcast because I'm a human being and we have to these days. White guy. I mean, what else are you going to do? The very creative name, the Alec Lewis show.

I mean, I really. That's great. Yeah. Yeah. It's good SEO. And if you ever get a job covering a different team, you don't have to, you know, it's not the Viking show. This is, you know. That was a thought, Bo.

I mean, and that's why you're as a student as you are. but I think at this point, having covered this leak for four years, the idea of going somewhere else and doing this all again is it's cumbersome. So thank you guys for having me, and I'll tune in and send me some crooked tea. I'm curious now. All right. Let me will bring some to the combine for you.

Thank you. All right. Thank you very much, Alec Lewis. Back with more on the other side here on the PHA Y Eagles podcast. What if you could have reliable and intelligent Wi-Fi? And what if you could keep it at the same price for five whole years? That's the Xfinity five-year price guarantee. It's Wi-Fi that makes everything in your home work together.

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So start your day strong and fuel up whenever you need with Wawa's $5 deals. Limited time. Exclusions apply. See Wawa.com for detail. Back in the pageau-Ygoes podcast, Bo Wolf and AJ Smith. Fantastic. Just, I mean, it's just what a great cameo, like a... Yeah, but I think you undersold...

You accurately sold him as a person and a character. You undersold him as a reporter. He's a very good reporter, very good writer. Yeah, I was joking. Yeah, but like, come on. Like, I... Because I don't know Alex... He knows my sense of humor.

I don't know, I like personally, but I know his work. Does great work. I agree. You know, when we talk about Sean Mannion and they're like, how much... You want to do a beat writer power rankings? No. When, no, I don't want to get myself in trouble. When he...

I just do the bottom five. That's the tough part. When he, when I talk about Sean Mannion's like emphasis on footwork, part of it is tied to reading how Alec wrote about Kevin O'Connell's prioritization of footwork. And for this system, it is like everything. It is, you know, how did Gene? Seahawks quarterback's coach Andrew Junoco say it.

It is like the, now I'm going to miss it. You got to go to all pHo.com to find out. I'm going to play that on the show this week, I think. Maybe tomorrow's show. Janoko? Yeah. Yeah, I mean, he was great. Yeah.

Great jaw, as we discussed. Yeah, you and Ben both mentioned that he had a great jaw. I didn't think about it. I think it's a beard. John Oco. He had a very John Oco. That's good. Andrew John Oco.

He's from Pennsylvania. So maybe he used the word John, too. Heets guy, not a Wawa guy. Yeah Are we gonna put him I'm curious well I'm honestly curious The number one command of quarterback play is what he said I wonder if he gets an OC job

Either replacing Kubiak or going with Kubiak As they fill that Yeah he's it is interesting like I mean just based off of our conversation with him He seems like an impressive guy And he hasn't had a lot of like chances yet So yeah what makes Will fries by the way

Yeah I knew you were gonna do this What was it gonna do? You were gonna talk about how his name is a full sentence or not a full sentence it is but he's one of the he's one of the rare few where will fries is a full sentence both ways the verb could be will or it could be fries okay so he's in very select company good for him not a good not a good player but will fries yeah will fries I'm sorry I'm not selling this for you you don't need to yeah I think

you like that I don't feel. The beauty of brevity is that it's two sense, two words and two different sentences. Honestly, could be more along the lines of like four or so different sentences. Joe Rockhead said it's not a fan of fries. Must be nice. What? I mean, it must be nice. If you don't, imagine if you didn't like fries. Be so much healthier. Yeah, but you're depriving yourself of one of the great joys in the world. Do you think that fries are in the tier of food that's like, you can't actually dislike it? You know, it's biologically impossible to dislike something like that.

I don't really believe that anyone could dislike fries. That's my thing. Certainly there is a fried type varietal for you. I feel that way about pizza. Now, listen, if you have a dietary restriction, that's different. But if you just don't like the way pizza tastes, it's like, I don't know about that. I don't know how that's possible. I mean, how about just bread and butter?

Yeah, solid. Again, dietary restrictions aside, want to be respectful here. Yeah. Bread and butter with like the little sea salt on it. Man. Fran Duffy never heard of him says, Will Fries famously can't play center. Could never be in the middle.

Fries always have to be on the side. Oh, boo. That's terrible. He's been watching for 55 minutes just waiting for the right opportunity to drop something. Let's be real. Not Fran's best work. I think that's pretty good. I mean, it's not it's not quite winning the Seahawks to Super Bowl, but it's pretty good as far as comments go. French should be a GM.