PHLY Philadelphia Eagles Podcast - Why Vic Fangio’s Philadelphia Eagles defense could have its way with Deshaun Watson | PHLY Sports

Episode Date: October 10, 2024

Bryce Huff? Yuck. Devin White? Gone. Jordan Davis? Who? The Eagles defense has been pretty bad through four games, but this week presents an opportunity against Deshaun Watson and one of the worst offenses in football. With a week off, has Vic Fangio figured things out for his defense? Can Jalen Carter and Josh Sweat take advantage of a beleaguered Browns O-line?Fran Duffy joins the show to give his expert opinion as he and Bo Wulf preview this Sunday’s game before Zach Berman joins from NovaCare for an update on all things Eagles. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hello, everybody, and welcome to the P-H-L-Y Eagles podcast on a Thursday afternoon. We are presented by the good folks at Bet-365. Whatever the moment, it's never ordinary at Bet-365. Download the Bet-365 app and use code P-H-L-Y-365 when you sign up. I am Bo-Wolf. Next to me is the sharpest football mind in the business. Fran Duffy, we're going to hear from Zach Berman coming up a little bit from Noviare, Fran. How you doing? Doing great. Nice job getting the Bet365 at the top.

Yeah, I'm thinking I'm creeping my way up to like 30%. Well, look, in baseball, that's a pretty good average. Hey, listen, self-scouting, you got to get better. We've got to get 1% better every day. So the buy week's all about. So you're back on the... Standard as the standard. We have our moments. That's right. You're on the better side of it after the buy. Yeah. How are you doing? How are you recovering as a Phillies fan? Not well. That was an ugly showing, certainly the last night was brutal. The night before was tough. So it's, uh, it's been a rough couple of nights in the, in the Duffy household.

Francis has taken it well. Um, last year when the Phillies lost. Okay. The way that he responded, it was, it was actually, honestly, it was heartbreaking. Because he, he responded, he was like, that's okay. The sixers are up. Next. And they, and they always win. And I was like, oh, no. That's, uh, Francis. Uh, so he's, uh, now he is now converted to someone where like in the middle of the game last night when they, when, uh, when, when, when they hit the Grand Slam, the Mets. He's like, I knew they were going to lose the whole time. And I'm like, yeah, this is now he's.

Well, there is, there is a little bit of a sweet spot there where, like, the Sixers winning regular season games, like the regular season games and the difference between that and the playoffs isn't substantial enough. So that, like, the regular season, the more of those, it does feel like it makes up for stuff. But that's, that's not a long sweet spot. It is funny, too, how he does separate, like, Eagles games from the other sports. I think it's because, like, the season, like, there's.

There's games on at night, like throughout the week. And so it just feels a little bit longer, whereas Eagles games, he gets completely locked in for once a week over a 17-week stretch. So it is interesting. Just seeing how that compartmentalizes in the mind of a five-year-old. All right. Well, we will do our part to distract from the Phillies end of the season by talking about this exciting Philadelphia Eagles team coming off a buy. Don't worry about what happened those first four weeks. They're nine-point favorites against the Cleveland Browns this week.

So we're going to do our usual Thursday exercise, look at the opponent on both sides of the ball. And let's start, Fran, with the Eagles offense against the Brown's defense. And as we talked about with Vinnie Curry on Tuesday, this means that our old friend Jim Schwartz is coming to town. And whereas the Eagles defense against the Brown's offense as a matchup of two of the worst units in the league, this is two units that should be good. We're good last year and have been sort of middling and underperforming, middle of the road, so far. far. Yeah. What I like about the Jim Schwartz defense, it goes back to the identity discussion that you, Zach and I had back on Monday, where you know what the identity is of this Jim Schwartz defense with

the Cleveland Browns. And it's very similar to what he was here in Philadelphia from 2016 to 2020. They're going to rely on that rush. They do blitz a little bit more than what we're accustomed to seeing from a Jim Schwartz defense. I do think that time in Tennessee in between did kind of, you know, maybe impact his decision making a little bit there. But also, I mean, they've got a really good secondary so they play a lot of man coverage so they play a ton of man they lean on miles garrett and that front they're going to blitz a little bit more but it's pretty self-explanatory that's kind of what you're expecting here from this jim schwartz unit okay so they are 15th in epa per drive 16th in dbowa way 15th and epa per play 14th and epa per dropback 12th and apia per rush so very middle of the

road and part of the story of that is sort of the boom or bust nature of their defense and i know that you wrote about it which people can read on all p hl y dot com today. A lot of missed tackles. Yes. And I think that is sort of told in the story of they are seventh in success rate on defense, but 29th in terms of the percentage of plays that they've given up that go for 20 yards or more. So there will be opportunities for the Eagles who are getting back AJ Brown and presumably Devante Smith, although that is not officially yet in Lane Johnson to create some big plays. Yeah. And I think when you play the amount of man coverage that they play,

that's one of the downsides to playing a lot of man coverage is that it is that it is is essentially it's one-on-one right so if you make that mistackle or if you make that first tackler miss well now you've got a better chance in an explosive play whereas if you're playing more soft zone coverage what we saw the last time the eagles plate took the field against tampa there's going to be more bodies to the football more uh you know eyes on ball carriers and so in this in this game i think for the eagles if you can make that first-man mess especially against the blitz because that's the difference between a jim schwartz blitz and a todd bulls blitz everybody kind of thinks of todd bulls it's all it's all zero blitzes you know sending

a bunch of guys after the quarterback. While it is, they are typically playing more of a zone coverage behind it. And so you get more bodies to the football when that ball is thrown short. Against the Browns, they're playing a lot more straight man to man. And so if you do get a mistackle, now you've got that ability to turn what could be a short completion into an explosive play. Okay. So let's play the exercise of you are Kellynne Moore this week.

You're getting all kinds of information from Howie Roseman, all kinds of emails about this is what works against Jim Schwartz. this is what we've seen while he was here. How are you putting this game plan together? Well, this was an interesting exercise for me because obviously watching how teams would try and attack Jim Schwartz from 2016 to 2020 on a weekly basis on film. I'm pretty well versed. These are the tactics that teams are trying to use. Well, you just see you watch it every single week.

Anytime you start a sentence with I'm pretty well versed, that's a flex. That's fair. So the way I think the Eagles are trying to go about this, you're always going to try and incorporate a lot of more screens into this kind of this kind of defensive game plan. So I think that they'll try and see more of the screen game, play action, move the pocket, quick throws. Get the ball out of Jalen Hertz's hands as often as you can. I do think that there will be some misdirection elements thrown in. And so you'll see, you know, maybe like the jet sweeps and things like that. Those kind of quick hitting types of runs to the perimeter can be effective against a Jim Schwarz defense.

And also in terms of the run game, we haven't seen too many both like those quick hitting runs where it's like the whams and the traps where you've got a blocker coming from the blind side to earhole of three tech. or a defense event. I think you'll see more of that in this game because you're trying to invite the rush upfield and then you try and get the running back going behind it. And so that might be some draws as well. I don't think people are going to big draw to me.

They're going to motion the running back out to empty and then they're going to call a quarterback. It's going to be third and six. They're going to call that, I mean, book it. Yes, I think that that's a good, that might be a swooper here for later in the show. But I think that would be the game plan. I don't think you're going to see too many.

Look, they're going to dial up some shot plays, I don't think you wanted the ball to be in Jalen Hertz's hands too, too long. Because Miles Garrett. Yeah, let's talk about Miles Garrett. He's unbelievable. Who did not practice yesterday with an Achilles. I think the expectation is he's still going to be able to play, but we don't know that yet. But go ahead.

Yeah, I mean, he's got, we all kind of know that he's one of the best players in football. And that can kind of, you can almost get bored by that. And then you watch him on film. And for a guy that is, he's listed 64-275 to bend and accelerate the way that he can. He's an alien in the way that he moves. And then the numbers kind of speak through himself. And next gen, they put a bunch of stuff out on him the last couple of days. I mean, leads the NFL by a wide margin in terms of quick pressure.

So those pressures on under two and a half seconds. His ability to win fast at that size, it's unmatched in football right now. He is also, I mean, just like in terms of like a specimen, he's just, he's a creative player. It's like, you know, some of not always the best players in football are the guys who look like. like if you were just lining up on the school yard that's the guy I'm picking and they turn out to be the best players like it is Miles Garrett he might just be that first pick I don't say this

like lightly like I remember where I was the first time I saw Miles Garrett in person like I remember like exactly like me with Demica yeah he is I mean he's he's remarkable he's an outstanding player and so Jeff Stoutland who has for so long put together good game plans against those elite

pass rushers you know Jason Kelsey has talked about their success against Aaron Donald and how it was like under no circumstances will we let him beat us. He's going to be double teamed on everything, even if it means we've got to leave a running back on a defensive end. What kind of plan do you expect Stoutland to have for Miles Garrett? Yeah, I think if you get into trying to prey on their aggressiveness, and so you obviously want to stay out of the third and longs

because that's where he can really do a lot of damage. But I think that if they do try and keep in a tight end or a running back to help and designate it, not just like Chip and then release, but he's going to stay in, a Dallas God, it's going to stay in, a Jack Stoll or a Sacred is going to stay in to help Jordan Milata in those situations. Cleveland is a very good green dog blitz team where, let's say they're playing, because again, they play a lot of-of-time with Jim Schwartz.

Yeah, this is a big man-to-man coverage team. And so let's say you're Jordan Hicks or you're Jeremiah Ousu-Koramo, two of their star linebackers in the middle of that defense. If you see that Dallas Goddard or that Seqwan Barkley is staying in to protect, well, now you are going, instead of just laying back in coverage and kind of waiting for Jayland Hertz to throw the ball, you are inserting as a blitzer. And so we've seen a number of sacks and pressures already from both Hicks and J.O.K. I do think that's something you have to be alert of if you are Jalen Hertz in this game.

You don't want that late blitzer to add in and be the guy that gets you down to the ground. And then what is your confidence level in Jordan Milata at this point in his career to sort of take this matchup on one-on-one? I mean, it's a tough block for anybody. It's a tough ass for anybody. I do think that Jordan has taken a little bit of a step this year in the right direction and past protection. I think he's been a little bit inconsistent over the course of his time. That's to be understood just because of how new he is to the game. But I think overall, he's taking steps in the right direction.

We know the physical gifts that he has at his disposable. He's so big. He's so athletic. He's so light on his feet. But Miles Garrett, again, just getting into his physical tools, he's got that ability. When he lines up as that wide nine technique and he's got that two-way go to beat you inside or outside, he's just really tough to block.

And so it'll be certainly a huge, huge test. You just want to limit those pure drop-back opportunities for him as often as possible. And that's why you get the screen game, the misdirection, the play action, move the pocket, all of those different things. They are tools to help Jordan Milata

and then also essentially Jalen Hertz. Fair to say that, that, no, Miles Garrett is like 100% on the bar and sort of both of these things, but fair to say that Milata has generally struggled a little bit more with speed than with power?

Yes, I think so. I think when you're looking at guys that, you know, have that ability to win at the top of the rush. You know, that's why, like Joe O'Sman always gave him some issues early in his career. you know, and this we're talking like Joe O'Sman's down here, Miles got it's here, but that ability to win with your hands at the top of the rush.

That's what Joe O'Sman always could do. He wasn't the fastest, the biggest, the strongest, but he could win with his hands really well. And that's the thing about Garrett is that he's not just like a height, weight speed guy. He also is a really technically proficient player as well. On that front, who else is worth worrying about? Yeah, I think you get into Zadaria Smith as a veteran defensive end.

He'll kick inside at times. And he can be a terror on stunts. And that's been an issue for the Eagles at times. So, you know, he'll line up both. inside and outside. He'll be on Lane Johnson's side for the most part. And so you would expect that with the issues that the Eagles have had with picking up some of those stunts, you look at Mackay Beckton. I think they could try and pick on him at times in this football game. Delvin Tomlinson is the nose tackle. Shelby Harris, the defensive tackle, two veteran presences that they've got that ability to do some

things in the run game specifically. One other name that I think is certain is interesting to kind of circle here. The rookie Mike Hall. So he's, Mike Howell who? Michael Hall from Ohio State, rookie second round pick coming off suspension. It looks like he's going to be playing in this game. The Browns made some roster moves this week in terms of like letting guys off the practice squad and getting guys off the 53. It seems like they'll make Michael Hall available.

And he is a guy that can win with the first step. He's got quickness. He's got power. So he would be a guy if they do incorporate him on sub package because they lost Alex Wright, who was a part of that sub package on third down. Just the former WCW German wrestler. Of course. So they lose Alex Wright.

Michael Hall might be a guy that could step in and give them some good snaps on third down. Okay. Now, linebacker, you mentioned J.O.K. And Jordan Hicks, who missed last week but is supposed to be back this week. It's a pretty good group of linebackers, right? It's a good pair. J.O.K. has really come on very, very well. And is playing much better downhill in the box than I anticipated when he was coming out of Notre Dame.

He was a space player. He was essentially played that, like, Davian Taylor role for Notre Dame when he was coming out. So it was a big projection, but watching how fast he plays, how quickly he's able to defeat blocks playing downhill in the box, really, really impressive player. He's going to have a share of mistackles. He had one down in the red zone this past week against Washington, but he also had a diving interception in that game against Washington as well. And so I think you look at J. O'K., he is certainly a player, you would say, as an impact starter for that defense. Denzel Ward, one of the best corners in the league, usually travels a bit? Do you expect him to be following A.J. Brown across the field?

Yeah, I think what they'll probably try and do. And it's interesting because they've got faith in all of those three corners. Now, they don't travel Ward into the slot because they like Greg Newsom, their slot corner. They stuck them on Malik neighbors. They stuck them on CD Lam in the slot in both those games. So they're comfortable saying Newsom, you've got this guy one-on-one on the inside. If A.J. Brown and Devante Smith both go. Will Jim Schwartz say, hey, you know what?

We feel good about these matchups on either side. Ward will stay on one side. Emerson will stay on the other. Michael Emerson is the other starting corner. And that's fine because you have two A talents against two A talents. Or do they say, you know what, Denzel Ward, he's a little bit of the quicker, shiftier player. Let's put him on Devante Smith. And then Michael Emerson, who's like in that Richard Sherman mold is like a big physical, wants to get up on the line of scrimmage and beat you up and press coverage. Maybe he goes up against A.J. Brown.

I think that they'll probably just play at sides. That would be my guess here. I think you'll probably see Emerson more at right corner with Ward more at left corner. but I do think that they'll try and mix things up at times. And so personnel-wise, is this a game where the Eagles maybe want to lean on 11 and keep the Browns and nickel? Or do they want to maybe go heavy in this game? I think they'll probably stay in 11. I think they keep John Dotson on the field.

Well, at all times, obviously. No, I think the bigger thing is for the Eagles in this one, you're coming out of the bye week. You want to talk about all the talk about like identity and things you want to fix. Rather than being game plan focused here in this one, I think you want to come out and just say like this is what we do well let's come out of the by week and really lean into the things that we want to perform it at a high level the things that we've worked on and talked about and studied over the last few days we want to make sure we put that into action here this week against the browns okay anything else from a game plan standpoint that you think

is something we need to keep an eye on for the eagles looking through my notes here obviously you can check out the notes over on all p hly dot com obviously you have to be ready for the blitz i talked about the difference in the blitz is there between jim schwartz and todd bowles a that aggressiveness from Jim Schwartz. And then also, I mean, look, I talk about the man-to-man coverage. You have to be able to defeat man-to-man coverage, especially on money-down. So you think back to that Saints game, the Eagles dialing up those mesh concepts to Dallas Godder on third down.

That's the kind of game plan you need in this one. Understanding this is a play where we're probably going to see man-coverage. I think Cleveland play play play man-coverage on close to 90% of third downs. So you expect man-to-man. You want to call those routes to defeat man-to-man with AJ Brown, Devante Smith, and Dallas-Gotter. Okay. Now, before we keep going and get to the other side of the ball, let's take a minute to talk about some of our friends. I think you're going to want to stick around for this ad break, but I'm going to start here with our friends at Rite Aid and their pharmacy services because we have talked about this.

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all city at checkout just pay five dollars in shipping that's bluechew dot com promo code all city to receive your first month free visit bluechoo dot com for more details and important safety information and we thank blue chew for sponsoring this podcast the only thing more guaranteed to get you in the mood than watching stevedazio do a terrible job on television. That's the opposite effect. All right. Let's talk about the other side of the ball. Two pretty bad units, Fran. We know where the Eagles stand. 27th, I believe, in EPA per drive. They had that one good game, but have struggled than

the others. The Brown's offense is way worse than even that. 32nd in EPA per drive. 32nd in DBOA. 31st and EPA per dropback. A very impressive 11th in EPA per rush. So when they do get to run the ball, they're okay. 32nd in success rate, 30th in explosive play percentage, and 31st in sack rate. Is it as simple as

Deshawn Watson is one of the worst quarterbacks in football? He's terrible right now. It's one of those things where you're watching on TV and it's really, really bad and you listen to every analyst under the sun and they all say it's really, really bad. And then you turn on the film. You're like, all right, like, how bad is it? And it's worse

than that. It's so, it's so bad. Now, It's not, he's not the only problem. Yeah, tell us how, because this is very interesting. This is fascinating. Think of like, we all know and have like encountered somebody like complains about Jalen Hertz and the way that he plays. And like, oh, he's not seeing the field and he holds onto the ball too long. Think of like their worst version of Jalen Hertz.

And he is like twice that. It's, it's really bad. I mean, like he drops back and he's staring at a wide open read. It's right there. Let go of the ball. And he just stares at it and then doesn't throw it. And now look, it's not. The problem is it's not just him.

It's one of those things. It's like when Carson Wentz in 2020 wasn't playing well, but then you looked in there like the offensive line's not playing well either and there's lots of drops. That's kind of what you're dealing with here in Cleveland as well. There was the play this past week against Washington where Deshawn Watson, he breaks the pocket, he rolls to his right.

He makes a pretty nice throw across his body to Jerry Judy in the end zone and it goes right through Jerry Judy's hands. They're one of the leaders right now in drops. They're one of the leaders right now in pressure rate against for Deshawn Watson. some of that is Watson's doing but a lot of that is the offensive line as well they've gone through like six or seven different combinations up front so they're really struggling to protect this is a good opportunity for the Eagles defensive line to have a little bit of a get right moment going up against this Brown's team but the protection's not good they're not running the ball all that well they don't they really miss Nick Chubb and then Watson I mean he's he's just been really really bad the only thing I could think of as to why he hasn't been benched yet because like obviously look contract aside like there's that there's that element of it my guess it because he's been that bad. You almost have to just swallow it and say, just go. I think that they're probably

waiting for Nick Chubb to get back in the lineup to say like, all right, this is what the offense is supposed to look like with Nick Chub and all the weapons. Let's get Chubb back in. Let's see if they can't make it work with Nick Chubb, then I think they got to make a move. And that's the only reason I would think that they haven't made. Because I'm watching the game on Sunday. By that point, the season is going to be over. Yeah, no question. But that's what I was watching last Sunday. And I was like, oh, the Eagles are going to see James Winston next week. There's no way they can keep doing it. And I mean, Stephansky came out after the game. And he said, yeah, like, he's going to be the starting quarterback.

And they haven't backed off of that. That's the only thing I can think of at this point is that they're just waiting for Nick Chubb to get back. And let's say, like with that version with him in there, as opposed to Jerome Ford and Deonté Foreman, that would be the answer. That would be the elixir. I mean, it's one of the all-time disasters from a football perspective. He's been so bad. And I do think, like, from the wide receivers and the offensive policy point, they've had a lot of injuries. upfront.

But you just think about it from like a human perspective, it'd be hard to do your job well if you know that the most important thing to get to make your job look good is that hopeless. He's been that bad. It's like it's got to be brutal for everybody in that building. I mean, like, Amari Cooper has not been like the beacon of positive body language on film over the years. Like you would see like frustration with him when they were in Oakland and even in Dallas at times.

You could see that he's starting to lose it a little bit. Like there would be like overthrown deep balls. where you just see like he just kind of like throws the shoulders up. I don't want to be here anymore. Yeah, there was a play where he was wide open on a dig round on the backside and Deshawn Watson looked over to the right and threw it and it was incomplete. And you just see what like Cook Cooper like do the shrug. My guess is is yeah, like the, I mean, the players all know.

They all are very well aware of what's going on. And they've also, I mean, they've completely sold their soul here for for so many reasons. But even just from like a offensive structure standpoint, like they are six, fifth in the league and 11 personnel usage. Like they're, I think they're towards the top and empty. Yeah. Like, that's not how Kevin Stefansky wants to play.

We know what kind of offense he wants to run. He wants to be heavy and play action and stuff. Like, and they can't even do what they want to do because this guy sucks at everything. And they got to try to placate him somehow. You know, they, they brought in Ken Dorsey this off season to kind of say, right, like, he's, he's had experience operating these spread offenses with 11 personnel. And let's lean into that to try and see if we can get the most out of Deshawn Watson. And they go and they make the trade for Jerry Judy and they say,

all right, we're going to establish ourselves as a three receiver team, Elijah Moore with Cooper and with Judy. And I mean, there's no like getting around it. He's just, he's been brutal. He's been even like the game where they're pointing to, the Raiders game where they're like, oh, like this was the best he's looked. He was still bad.

Like he was still worse than most starting quarterbacks in that entire week. So I think when you look at Deshaun Watson, this Brown's offense right now, I mean, they come out early in games. Every game before this one against Washington, they score points, right? It's like the anti-eagles. Yeah, it's like the anti- Eagles where they come out,

they score points on every single drive, and then they do nothing the rest of the game. And they've been pretty good in the red zone, which to me is like, okay, they're pretty well-coached on offense. Like they put a plan together. In five games, they've had eight red zone trips. They've had eight trips to the red zone in five games.

That's great. It's a bad, it's a bad offense right now. They're the only team in the NFL to not get 20 points in the game. The only team in the NFL to not get 300 yards in a game. Oh, God. It's a dreadful, dreadful watch. Do you think, because we've talked about it over the years, there was a case in which, you know,

entering the 2012 season, the Eagles trade for Deshaun Watson. They would have liked that to be the case. If Deshaun Watson was interested in coming to Philadelphia, he would be the Eagles quarterback right now. Do you think that he is at a point where, like, he would not work anywhere? It's tough to.

Like, watching him right now, it's tough to envision a scenario where he is good in any sense. Like he needs a complete reset. And I don't even know if that would even do anything at this point. I think, look, there's everything with the off field, right? Everything, obviously. With that, it's clear that that has taken some kind of toll. Because he's playing with no confidence right now.

Yeah, it's, I mean, it's an ugly watch. It's bad. Okay. So from a Vic Fangio perspective. Yeah. Now, by the way, we haven't even talked about Devin White, you and I. So let's go to that in a minute. But from a game plan perspective, you want to take advantage of

Deshawn Watson being so bad, what do you do? You want to prevent them from getting into any kind of rhythm. Anything you could do to kind of shake that confidence and keep it from getting from rising at all, you want to make sure that you do that. I think that that would require in this game, I don't think you need to like blitz, blitz, blitz and get after him. I think it's more about just mixing up looks, keeping him on his toes. You want to do the opposite of what he, you don't want to do anything that it would be

within his realm of expectation, right? And so maybe it's third and long, you show pressure and you fall out. maybe it's second and long and you look like you're in a base four down look and then you actually blitz right so those kind of things to just to try and throw him off uh from a because he's doing a good enough job on his own of not playing within rhythm so i don't think you need to do things to necessarily say like force that issue just look make you want to make sure you tackle the catch because everything right now you watch them early in games and i mentioned the the success they've had on these opening drives it's screen play action dump off rpo all right now we're going to go play action

And this is going to be a wide open dig across the middle, Deshawn, like make this throw. Like they want to try and build confidence early. And so you want to make sure that you, A, do the antithesis of what you showed in Tampa Bay. Like make those tackles in the passing game, come out and rally and tackle a catch. Don't let up any cheap explosive plays in that way. Don't give up those chunk gains. But I think the big thing is just trying to mix up those looks from a coverage standpoint and from a pressure standpoint against Watson.

Super chat from Chase Daniel Plainview. A little bit off topic, but that's okay. He says, is it fair to say that the Jets are practicing McCarthyism? Sala was mysteriously scapegoated, and the offense looks a lot like Mike McCarthy's. I don't really know how to respond to that. The offense does look like Mike McCarthy's because that's what Rogers likes to run. Yeah.

You know, so there's that point of it. I think that that's right. Were you surprised by that? The Sala? Yeah. No, I wasn't. I mean, I went on with Anthony on Monday on Monday. and he asked about the Jets

and I said like it's just it's a Tinderbox like you could tell like they were on the brink of that going so you know yeah I was not surprised that that happened I was shocked in that it's like week six and a coach fired this is a team that like as bad as it's two and three but yeah

not surprising given the vibes around that team now how about the Eagles decision to part ways with Devin White what did you make of that yeah I think that we've talked about it on the show that it just felt like it was an awkward situation the moment that it was announced that he wasn't going to be the starter. Because he came in and we had that early press conference in the summer, right, where he had

the group chat with Jalen Hertz and with A.J. Brown. And, you know, it was very clear that he wanted to come in and be a leader on this team. And you could even see it on the practice field. He was that like rah, ra guy, like out there in the defensive huddle. He wanted to be that presence. And you can't be that presence if you're a backup. And so I think that, at least, you know, that's the way that he is, that he perceived that. I think that's, I think that's probably fair.

I think if you're a Brandon Graham, like if you're, you're entrenched, I think that that can work to an extent, but you're a new guy coming in. The moment he didn't win the job, I think it became an awkward situation. Could he have handled it better? I don't know all the details of everything, obviously, but like, he's not a guy that has historically played special teams. So if he's not going to like kind of swallow his pride and be, you know, that special teamer and that backup, that's why he's inactive this whole time.

And look, he reportedly did the, you know, help foster this move by, eating some of the contract and allowing the Eagles to say to basically cut bait at this point. But yeah, I mean, look, they would have, I think they would have liked to have them there because you're an injury away from, you know, going into either a rookie or an unproven vet in Ben Van Sumer. And so, um, yeah, but I think, I think if he was, I think if he was really the next man up at linebacker, he would have been active, even if he wasn't playing special teams. Yeah. I guess it just comes down to like, and you're better with like the roster mechanic in terms of like who's active and who's not. and like, I mean,

Jeremiah Trotter's active and he's not always playing he's not always playing on special teams, but I think that he's, he is present on special teams. I think Devin White could have been present on kickoff coverage. Yeah.

Like, if he was, if he was definitely the next man in, I don't think he would have been in active. So what's your take on that? There's no other position where that would be the case. Right.

Where the next man on the field is not active on game day. So then what's your take on then? Like, you think it's, I think Vic thinks he's not a good player. And I think it's a pretty substantial whiff by the front office.

Yeah, I mean, look, I think the way that they looked at the lineback position was congruent with the way that they've looked at it every year where they were just going to keep taking stabs, right? And so they go in, they sign two veterans to one-year deals in Zach Bonn and Devin White. They drafted a day three player in Jeremiah Trotter Jr. You brought back Nicobi Dean that you're hoping to be the starter, but you had a competition for two jobs. You got a starter from one of the free agent players in Bonn. Then you didn't from the other. And the other was, I think. Yeah, but I, and I've seen that.

like, oh, they took a dart throw at Devin White and it didn't hit. Like, no big deal. I object to that because this is not, it's not Corey Nelson or like this is, it was a real contract. Yeah. It was a contract that they gave him. It's not, they didn't give him the veteran minimum. It was a four million, right? I think that's right.

Right. With upside, but obviously they don't, they didn't have to worry about the upside. But like, just the opportunity cost of that, that, you know, bump two and a half million dollars of that up and sign, as we've talked about, you know, Jonathan Gernard instead of Bryce Huff or whatever. Yeah, $4 million is, like I'm looking at the other guys who have $4 million contracts right now.

Like, that's what Jordan Hicks is making in Cleveland. He's got a one year $4 million deal. E.J. Speed out in Indianapolis, he's making $4 million. It's kind of like a middle of the road starter at this point. So like it wasn't like a huge, huge swing. But yeah, but more than certainly more than Zach Bond. Zach Bond got, I think it was like 1.3.

in terms of his guaranteed. So, yeah. I mean, it is wild how many free agent linebackers that Eagles have signed over the past decade who have not made it to week eight. There's, it's probably like a, similar to like the Browns quarterback jersey. Like you could do like an old like Jeremiah Trotter Jr.

or senior jersey and do the other duct tape with all those names. Do you think that that's an evaluation issue? Or just like the, it's a result of the pools that they're fishing in? The ladder. Yeah, I think it's that. I think it's because you go in. But sometimes it's like because then you see like they cut LJ Fort and he goes and turns into a really good player for the Ravens. Like some of it has to be.

Well, a really good player. He was a he was a solid. He was a solid complimentary piece in some of their packages. Like, oh, he became an every down player for that one year. Ah, great. But yeah, I think that, uh, you know, it's a, it's a tricky position. He turned into LJ fived. That's, that's right.

I can't sell that one. I think that when you look at that position and the way that they have gone about trying to address it, yeah, I think you're going to have those misses. But I think you want to be a volume shooter there. Well, I agree. And I don't disagree with their general philosophy there. I think it's actually, I think a lot like bullpens in baseball. Like you want to take a bunch of dark throws because it's such a volatile position unless you're going to have one of these studs. but the, like, the hit rate that they have is,

it's almost statistically significant enough that they're doing something wrong. Well, the thing is, is that they've had misses on like both ends of the spectrum, right? Like you had the Davion Taylor, like, all right, we're going to draft like the Tracey player. Yeah. That's developmental. And then you get players like, you know,

that are on the other end of the spectrum that also don't work. Right. So I think that you just, I think you just have to be a volume shooter there. So do you think if they lose somebody, if somebody gets hurt? Do you think it'll be trotter? or in Berks have been Van Sumeran. Hmm.

But that's, it's funny. I guess it goes back to the question about like Devin White. Was he actually the next man up? Probably Burks. Right? That's the, that's the,

coaching, give me a floor. This guy knows where he's supposed to be answer. If it's a, a guy gets hurt and, you know, one of the guys gets hurt in the first quarter, I think Burke steps in.

Yeah. One of the guys gets hurt. One of the guys gets hurt and they're out for three weeks. I'd like to see Trotter. You probably want some Trotter. Okay. I agree. Elsewhere in terms of this matchup, you know, Amari Cooper you talked about.

Yeah. Not a guy who's going to like burn you deep probably? No, not at this stage of his career. Really good route runner still. Okay. He just doesn't have like that juice, that explosiveness to really take the top off at this point. He's got, if you look at like a lot of like the fantasy numbers, they look at like air yards and stuff. It's just been a lot of throws from Deshaun Watson.

It's like uncatchable 10 yards beyond where Koober. is. But I think when you look at Amarie Cooper, he's certainly the number one. His ability to kind of create that separation stands out. Judy is also kind of cut from that same cloth, but not to the level that Cooper is. And then more, he's a smaller player, lines up primarily outside, actually. And he's got some juice, but they don't really do much to kind of get him involved. And just because of the nature of that past right now, the volume's just not there. David and Jokul would be the next guy to me like it's Cooper then it's in Joku who's now healthy he missed the majority of the first few weeks he came back last week against Washington they did a great job in the second half of last

season of getting him the ball in space and just letting him work he's got he's like Dallas Goddard and that he's really good after the catch and so he would be the other guy outside of Cooper that you want to make sure you kind of keep him keep him contained but you know outside of that I think that's kind of the book on the past game because this is such a bad offense on paper at least through through five weeks and they're coming out the by, do you think that this is a good opportunity to try to push Cooper DeGine onto the field?

Yeah, I mean, I think that you want to try and just get them in. At some point, like, it's going to be sink or swim time for them. I think this is a good chance to kind of see they test those waters just because of the volatility of the Cleveland Pass game right now. I think that if you were going to put him in, this would be a good opportunity to do that.

Now, there are going to be times in this game or if he does play, he's going to be matched up one-on-one with Cooper. he's going to get matched up one-on-one-law with Judy, and that's going to be a good test for him. Cooper on Cooper. Cooper on Cooper crime. Cooper-sharp. Cooper better be sharp.

Nice. Cooper flag. Riley Cooper. Blue Cooper. Remember Blue Cooper? Were you there for Blue Cooper? No, it was B-LU-E. It was B-L-U-E.

No, I wasn't there for Blue Cooper. I don't think. Alfred Blue, Blue, the ball carrier. Yeah, right. I do. I remember that one. Yeah. All right, let's hear from one of our friends,

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And it turns out he can do even more than you thought. There's a skill set that he had that you did. It wasn't on tape before. You didn't know. When PHY brings in Fran Duffy, we know we're getting expert analysis. We know we're getting draft pedigree. We know we're getting a guy who is comfortable on camera. I don't know what anybody knew.

We were getting like the best ad read man in the business. I mean, I don't know about them. I was excited about ad reads coming in because I've never done them. Okay. But I mean, best ad read. I'm not going to sell that one. All right. Thank you, though.

Yeah, but you'll sell everything else. Throw it my way. Let's bring in the man. Yes. Zach Berman live from the NovaCare Complex. Zach, the Eagles making a big move today, releasing. Caden Stearns from the practice squad for what seems like the 45th time. What's going on?

I'm doing well. So you want to know what's going on with C.J. Uzama, Cadyin Stearns. Is that what you're asking? Eagles made a move on the practice squad, bringing in C.J. Zahma, like you said. Is it on our TV? That's the speaker. Okay.

Am I okay? Yeah, go ahead. Okay. Well, I should say, okay? Hey, you guys could probably laugh because you can picture this. Bo says, all right, now we've got to talk about or talk to our good friend, maybe our best friend. And so I pick up my mic and I get like position in the camera. And then you're like, bet 365.

So you've got a good job selling. You know, Fran will be happy for you there. We're pretty proud of you there. But yeah, it was a letdown because I thought you were pitching to me because you're like, you're playing up. Here comes our best friend. Bet 365. I get that ad read in. Otherwise, we're not going to get it on time.

You're going to keep the lights on. I get it. Trust me. I appreciate all our advertisers and keeping the lights on for sure. The Eagles, their lights are on here. They continue to make practice squad transactions like you mentioned. I don't think that's the big news, but that is news. CJ is on us here.

Devante Smith. This affects Caden Stern's life, Zach. You can't tell them it's on big news. Yeah. How close is he Julian Vandervelde You're right numbers

All news is big news What's the deal? Are they? Is this just roster obfuscation manipulation like they're going to bring him back whenever they like Yeah, just seeing when his knee is healthy? What's the deal?

Yeah, that's my guess. Honestly, one of the things that I have learned in the past, you know, Fran had talked about Julian Vandervildi when I was covering the Giants. Ryan Perilu had this distinction. If you keep a play on practice squad beyond Tuesday, then that player gets paid for the week, I believe, right?

So it's essentially a way of like double dipping on the payments for practice squad players. So it's a way to kind of hook up practice squad players. Now, why was there a need to bring in C.J. Uzama? It's a good question. I don't have a firm answer for it. I got to be honest or some other things I looked into today. I did not look into the C.J. Uzama acquisition. But I will try to get to the bottom of it.

Probably not for tomorrow before maybe next week. I'll find out why C.J. Zama's in here. All right. What did you learn at the locker room today? Oh, I did not speak to Devante Smith today. That's because DeVante Smith is still in the concussion protocol. Now, I think that there are some like protocol mechanics, if you will. I expect C.J. I'm sorry, I expect, I had CJ.E. Zama by the mind. I expect Devonte Smith to play on Sunday, but he still has not officially been cleared. I think this has to do with the contact practice. Yesterday was the contact practice. My guess is he's going to be evaluated later today, and I would expect him to

be clear tomorrow, but we will see. You know, there are interesting mechanics there. Speaking about the concussion protocol, I spoke to Lane Johnson yesterday, and Lane said that the reason that he was not clear to play in that Tampa game is that he did not have contact in Friday's practice. So everything else was like he was fine with everything else, but there was that one part of the protocol that requires you to have contact in practice and then like recover from it and he did not have contact in that Friday practice. He said had he done something in that Friday practice, then he would have been cleared to play. So it was like a it was a little small technicality, if you will, in the protocol. Now my understanding on this too is that the eagles were also particularly

vigilant in Lane Johnson's case because it was his fourth concussion. So they wanted to be mindful there. but if you remember that that Jake Glazer report before I'm sorry not the Bucks game yeah the Bucks game I'm sorry it's up learning together the Jay Glazer report that that day suggested that lane thought he was going to play had was cleared to play that two doctors came in and said you're not going to play and my understanding of that yes the the team was being careful with it but we're putting the lane because of the Friday practice and the fact that that he did not do any contact work there, that he was not able to get clear through the protocol. He thought that on Saturday he did like some contact stuff, so to speak, during the walkthrough, but that is not sufficient for the purposes of the protocol. So I know we're in the weeds of the concussion protocol, but there was a matter of public interest about Lane's status for that game last week. Lane will play this week, by the way. A report earlier this week, Zach, from, I believe, Jeremy Fowler of ESPN, that Cooper DeGine is expected to take over as the

full-time slot nickel corner for the Eagles? Did Cooper DeGine speak this week? And what's your sense of the pulse there? Yeah, so this is something that the three of us spoke about last week. If you remember, Vic Van Gio said that Cooper the Gene is closing in on that slot point about job. I asked Nick Siriani about this yesterday. Of course, Nick said they'll have to see how the week goes. Cooper's got a lot on his plate right now. And talking around in the in the locker room, there's a lot of optimism about the way Cooper de Gene has been looking recently. I did speak to Cooper, Cooper, who has not, he said he hasn't been told,

like if he's the guy this week, but he said that he's so much farther along than he was from the injury or then when he came back from the injury, he's completely back. He knows his role here. I would expect Cooper the Gene to be in there. Uh, Zach, real quick, to go back to the offense, Nick Siriani yesterday, I believe you asked the question about just what they talked about from the, uh, from the from the from the by week, things to improve on. And it seemed like he was playing a little coy and like lean into like the turnovers and, you know, the making sure that they weren't turning the ball over as much. I know that was a big focus, uh, in the media availability portion of practice yesterday, right? They went through those turnover circuits. Have you gotten the sense that there was anything else like schematically that they, that they tried to harp on behind the scenes? I like this question, Fran. Thank you. You're also, in addition to a terrific ad reader, a terrific contributor on all our shows, our draft coverage. You also ask excellent questions in these back and forths here.

Excellent. Yeah. So actually, this is something that I've been working on in the locker in this week. And I have some thoughtful answers on this because I suppose, you know, if you're taking shots, now take a shot because I mentioned Jonathan Gannon's name. and this is actually in a mocking way in a mocking way Bo and I used to joke Bo and I used to joke how Jonathan Gannon said no we we forced turnovers here because we coach it more than other teams and I always thought that was ridiculous

and I said it at the time like they don't you know Nick Sirioni focuses on forcing turnovers and keeping the end not turn over now and they're and they're doing it so I've been asking guys like can turnovers be coached or that can takeaways be coached. I've been asking some of the defensive players. And interestingly, these guys say yes. And they're giving examples of stuff that's coming up this week. Now, there are times when, when, you know, like a ball gets deflected and it comes to you. But one thing that's really being talked about is is always thinking about the ball. And this was

an example that Nicobino is when I spoke about it today. One guy's tackling. And then the other guy comes in and and and and punches the ball you know i i spoke to a few different guys who specifically mentioned the peanut punch technique that is something that has come up i spoke to reed blanketship about this concept and he really talked about it's also in it's also in the auditorium right there's an there's an image on a team meeting room where they go every single day there's a picture of it yeah yep um so read blanket ship i he he spoke to me about i i sound like one of these national reporters like he told me but he actually did tell me this was a one-on-one um he uh he he he said that a lot of it too is looking at like like really studying the film

to see how these turn over how a player turns the ball over so maybe some player turns the ball over because of the way of holding it right uh maybe it's it's like a transfer uh in some cases like there's specific um almost poker tells if you will that certain players have and it's incumbent upon the players and know it. You know, Darius Slay, when I spoke to him about this, he mentioned catching, like you have to have good hands. You know, not everyone has good hands. You remember he used to rag on Josh Joe about his hands. Both wrote that in the practice observations last year. And I asked him who can't catch on the team right now. And he kind of looked around, wait, so there's two, there's a funny nugget here and then there's a good nugget here,

Okay. The funny, I should ask you, which one do you want first? This is like when my son says, good news and bad news. Which one do you want first? The funny nugget or the good nugget. Whichever one you want to give us. Thanks for playing ball, though. Funny nugget.

Funny nugget. Okay. So the funny nugget. All right. So with Sidney Brown, he was like, Sydney Brown has he got there. Put him away. He's like, Sydney Brown needs, yeah. Or Sydney Brown, I need to see his hands.

And I was like, Sydney Brown. had that big interception last year. And he's like, he's like, no, that was a punt return. And I was like, that wasn't a punt return. That was an interception. And he's like, no, like the punt return, it means it's like the quarterback just throws it up and it lands in your hands. He doesn't count that.

He's like, a good hands interception. A good hands interception is like when you're in coverage, the ball comes out and it's right there and you have to adjust to it. And he's like, I need to see Sidney do that. I haven't seen Sidney do that yet, okay? Now, Quinyon Mitchell, okay, who's gotten his hands on a few this year, but it's not got interceptions. Lay said the reason this is happening and is because the footballs in the NFL don't have

the white on it, you know, like the white on the noses of the ball. And he says for a college player, you're reading the white when it's coming at you. And it's much harder in the NFL for those. So he thinks Quignan is having an adjustment with seeing. with literally seeing the ball. He doesn't think Quignon has bad hands. He thinks Quignan's not seeing the ball because of the white ball and football.

Or just he needs to get used to this here, right? Now, it's certainly, say, though, friend, that he was not a prolific, like, interceptor in college, right? This is a little bit of the book on him. Stand by. Like so many past deflections, but not a ton of interceptions. Yes. I wait for my

wait for my sheet to while you look at that I'll tell you something completely off topic since we're talking about nuggets Zach we were in the locker mystery and it did occur to me

I feel like a good euphemism for testicles is canards like Darren's oh he got hit right in the canards ah my poor little canards what in the world does you think that though

gnarred I'm not selling that one there yes I'm not I'm not selling that one a matter of fact I have a wolf friend tomorrow coming on it's not related but I was looking closely at the names in the locker room I I I can't wait for the wolf then I missed the wolf then okay the wolf dead I I miss the wolf's fan I miss the wolf stand I miss the wolf's den I miss the wolf's Okay. What hell is that? I miss the worst day.

I'm so eager to see this tomorrow morning. Yes, I do. I miss it quite a bit, okay? So can't wait for that. I am not speaking about anything regarding, like, you know, what you just refer to in conjunction with the locker. It's just a wordplay. It's nothing to be a...

would never be afraid of. Well, to answer your Quignan Ball's question, he had one interception. He had one interception last year in 2023 when he was an All-American, but he had five in the year previous. Okay. So. And how many deflections? Do you have that? A ton.

Yeah. He had 19 in 2022. He had 18 last year. Right. I think there's maybe something to the ratio of interceptions per. That sounds like a BF. That might be a BFF. It probably is.

Yeah, why not? For a future wolf then. Yeah, so what else is going to find? Well, no, it's just different things that I've learned in the locker. Speaking about SLAI, I should bring this up because I do think it's important to not just talk about what you think is important, but what the audience thinks is important or what the fans might think is important. So I wasn't, and I said this last week, the Slai podcasting thing and being on, Mike's podcast and all that.

I didn't think it was a big deal with the tweet that he had. I do know some fans were really upset about this. So, natural, you know, he was in on Slay, spoken. If there are people, Zach, who were not tuned into this, what were fans upset about? Thank you. Great job as a host. You're an outstanding host.

There were two things there. There were two things. First off, in an interaction with a fan after the Bucks game, who he was being criticized, so he put up his career accomplishments on there. And then also he was on Micah Parsons' podcast that week, laughing it up with Michael Parsons. And I think fans were, some fans, I don't want to put fans in one bucket, were, like, pissed off to see that and see him after a loss doing that. So he said he won't stop going on Michael's podcast. Mike is his friend.

He likes that. He says you're intense between the lines. and then you dapped it up afterwards, him and Mike are going to be friends long after his NFL career is done. So he will be on Mike's podcast. If Mike asks him to come on Eagles Cowboys Week, he will come on Michael's podcast. He'll talk crap on there, but he will go on Mike's podcast, all right? He said he should not have put the tweet out about his career stats. He likes interacting with fans.

He goes on to Twitter and checks the replies. That's something that he does, but he should not have done that. he said he owns up to that. Regarding like questions about his, his leadership, he said this is how his personality's always been, is that he's, and both you guys can attest to this,

is that his, secret sauce, if you will, like what's special about him in there, and Bo wrote about, a great story on this a few years ago, is like he brings like happiness and energy to the locker room. He's, he's not one of these leaders who is going to be,

like, you know, really serious, like, in your face about things and maybe after losses that can rub fans the wrong way. But this is something that teammates and coaches have spoken about with him is that, like, his ability to be light and lighthearted is, like, welcomed in the locker room. And he said, this is, this is how he was raised. This is how he's always been in football, and he's, he's not going to change that. Okay. Good scanning. I appreciate that. Go ahead. Yeah. So some other nuggets from the locker room, you know,

Sidney Brown's progressing will will see more there. But obviously that window to return opened up with him and the Eagles do have an open roster spot. So we'll see what happens with Cindy Brown. But he is out there at practice, nothing to worry about with the COVID dean. I know he popped up on injury report yesterday. He said he's going to play. Don't give him an injury.

right. Johnny Wilson is still in the concussion protocol, so we'll see what happens with Johnny Wilson there. Now, you talk about that open roster spot. Like, you know, the Eagles can't elevate Paris Campbell anymore. So if they need an extra receiver, they need to bring Paris Campbell to the 53, or it needs to be someone else who was elevated.

I had a nice chat with Landon Dickerson about snapping. I didn't speak to him after the Bucks game. I want to know what goes into that, right? And he said he works on it every week with the other emergency centers. It's not like something that he puts a lot of time into, but he's always ready. I asked him how he thought it went out there. He said, they lost. And I said, how's it different for you?

And Lane Johnson, who was sitting like a few feet away, was listening to the interview and our conversation, however you want to frame it. And he said, harder mentally, mentally, easier physically. And then I said to Landon, is that true? And Lenin said, yeah, that's a good quote. That's true. Harder, mentally, easier physically.

Interesting. Now make sure you become a diehard. On that front, Zach, I had one little nugget from practice yesterday. A good nugget or a funny nugget? Kind of a very bow wolf nugget. Okay. Funny nugget then. Backup offensive line nugget on the center front.

Who do you think was the second team center yesterday? Well, the fact that you're asking the question makes me think that it was not Landon Dickerson? Well, no, no, because they're not doing. Oh, yeah. Landon is lining up with the ones. Yes, yes, yes, yes. Am I permitted the answer? Oh, this is a friend.

Yeah. Not Nick Gates, I guess. Not Nick Gates. Not Nick Gates. Who is it? I don't know. Jack Driscoll. Whoa.

So, as we think through what the ramifications. are potentially Jack Driscoll, a guy who has most, who has only played card and tackle here. Did get a little work at center with the dolphins, I believe, over the summer. Yeah. Now practicing with the Eagles as a center. That was the thing with him coming out of college when he was at Auburn was that some people thought he might be a better center than anything else moving forward in the NFL. Go ahead, Zach. He were waving your arms.

No, I was going to answer the question. Okay. So, yeah. But you told you told Fran. It was Jack Griscoll. Well, you're allowed to also talk about it. Okay. None of this would be necessary if, as Claire points out in the chat,

the Eagles had not gotten rid of their best backup center in Dylan McMahon. Fran hitting on the head. I recall actually the draft, the COVID draft press conference, 2020 when Jack Trisco was drafted and he mentioned he had been working on his snapping. So, yeah, that is a good thing. Speaking about kind of about Nick Gates, but Boa will get a good crack at this was the Ed Block Courage Award, like committee or whatever. They were in town today.

They were doing like interviews in the locker. I saw them talking at Nick Gates at one point. And so someone asked me, another media member, and said, is the Ed Black Courage Award, like, league-wide or is it just, or is it like each team? And I was like, it's each team. And I asked him who his favorite Ed Block Courage Award winner was. And the person found out of being an odd question. And they're like, why? Who's who's yours?

And I was like, well, it has to be when Joe Walker won over Brandon Brooks. When Brandon Brooks, when Brandon Brooks was an enduring mental illness. And Joe Walker came back from a tourney CL to be like a bit player on specialties. Yeah. Yeah. So that... Medo he more me, Joel Gutball. Yeah. That's... So when I think courageous, that's exactly what I think of.

I see in the chat, Ultra Ronan says that Jaylon Hurst press conference is... I want to ask you about this. Go ahead. Yeah, please. Well, yeah. No, I'll let you ask. What did Jalen say? I mean, I think it was sort of tossed to him as another opportunity to hit a very easy softball out of the park, or even just put a bat on it about his relationship with Nick Siriani.

What did he say? Yeah, well, actually, what's interesting is he wasn't even asked first about the relationship with Siriani. He asked about the biweek, okay? And he said it was a good biweek. He said it was the most efficient, or I think he said one of the most efficient bi weeks he's had since he came into the NFL. And he said, like, a lot of great moments.

Wait, hold on a second. What does he have? Five buy weeks? I guess six if you got the playoffs? Seven if you got the Super Bowl? Yeah. Okay. Yeah.

But he said, he said a lot of great moments with Nick is what he said. And then he kept in a few different answers when he was talking about the meetings with Nick. He was talking about he kept referring to moments. And as we've talked about very little with Joan Hertz is unintentional. I think, you know, Jalen saw the, uh, though we have our moments. I don't know if we saw our clubs. No, he saw, I saw, probably saw the reaction to, though we have our, our moments. And he, I think this was, I mean, I don't want to compare it to, you know, West Welker with the feet.

But I think he was going to make sure he mentioned moments whenever he could. Interesting. Anything else from Jailen that, you thought? Yeah. Yeah. So. So you made that. great point when you were talking about the book the franchise, which is available

wherever books are sold, about the Jalen and the Jalen Nick dynamic back during John's first year as a starter. And I referenced this. I said, you still want to be coached this way. And he said, he said it really depends how you define hard coaching. He said he believes in like honest conversations or and he thinks communication is is really important but he kind of like push back on the idea that like you need to be that hard hard coaching is being like screamed at or or kind of maybe the way it was back in in 2021 so I I thought I thought that was an interesting answer I have the full quote up on social media you can check that out at Z berm on X or Twitter whichever what you call it. But yeah, I thought that was a thoughtful response there. As far as like the

communication during the bi-week, he said that he said they covered a lot of things. He doesn't want to get into what it specifically was, but they had a lot of great moments there. He was asked like what what led to it or like I guess what was the impetus of this kind of summit, if you will. He said it just kind of happened. But it seems like he got away for a bit, but football was, there was a lot of football for him during the biweek. All right. Good stuff, Zach.

Are you ready to move on to the main event? My discussion about the locker room wasn't the main event. It was not. Okay. I mean, it was the third segment. You're the three-hole. That's the most important hitter. But now it's time for the slugger to get up.

Let's do it. Let's do it. Let's play a little swooper. And as we know, Zach, you are in last place so far. That's okay. 0.3, a third of a win. I'm in second place with, what is this, 5-6th of a win. And Fran is in first place with 1.5.6, 1.83.

Zach, you have four turkeys left over, which gives you 28. for today. I have seven turkeys left over, which gives me 31 for today. And Fran has negative four, which gives him 24 today. The order for today's proceedings will be Fran, Zach, Bo, and then Danes. And if you are new here, welcome. You look great. I'm not going to explain the rules. You're going to just have to sort of pick it up as you go. How many turkeys was that for Zach? Zach has 28 turkeys. 28. Got it. 28.

All right. By the way, if I'm looking down, it's because I am holding, I brought my mic today for the audio quality. Still trying to work on the video quality here. But I can't write when I'm holding the mic. So I'm using my phone for this year. Okay. The guys making excuses already. Unbelievable.

All right. So I'm up first. You're up first. All right. Here we go. So my first entry here this week, Sequin Barclay rushes for at least 100 yards on Sunday against the Browns. Now, for some context, he was the first Eagles running back in the Super Bowl era to run for at least 80 yards in each of the team's first four games.

He's the third running back in the entire NFL to do that since 2018. Now, he has hit 100 yards in two of the four games so far this season. So it's been a 50-50, it's been a 50-50 split with what he has done so far on the. the ground. Does he hit 100 yards rushing against the Browns? We will start the bidding at two turkeys. Five. Five turkeys. Five turkeys to bow going once. Going twice. Wow. Sold to bow. A quick sequence on Berkeley Nugget. Barclay can become the second player in NFL history with at least 115 scrimmage yards in each of his first five games with a new team. I don't want to extend this any longer than it has to be.

So I'll just tell you, the answer is good product placement there. Adrian Peterson is the only other player who's done this in NFL history. All right, Zach, over to you. Over to me. And so I appreciate that one from Fran. My first swooper item is the Eagles score in the first quarter and lead at halftime. If you recall, the Eagles are the only team in the NFL, not the score point in the first quarter. The slow start is something that the Eagles happened that the coaching staff has looked into.

But I thought it was too easy if I simply said the Eagles score in the first quarter. So this is score in the first quarter and the lead in halftime, not or and lead in halftime. And we are going to start the bidding at three. Three turkeys. I'll take it for four. four turkeys de fran four turkeys de fran four turkeys de fran going once

five five turkeys de beau five turkeys de beau going once five turkeys de beau going twice sold oh wow did that come in before the sold it was simultaneous it's up to you it's up to you

I think I said it oh she thinks she said it she thinks you're laying jack oh sorry it's the delay though it's the delay too So that's not right there. I don't know, though. But you know what?

That's okay. Julia ruled on it. I am going to wear it on my shoulder. I'm like being the judge here, you guys. Yeah. I saw a great Joe Mazzula clip about how Jason Tatum doesn't have to deal with criticism. He gets to deal with the criticism, right? It's like, you know, pressure is a privilege.

So that's kind of how I'm viewing this. Zach Pecknest migrate Joe Missoula Jerksson ProFar and President Bartlett I'm definitely nesting President Bartlett I am migrating

pro far because he was good to my fantasy team I didn't have And then I am I am definitely I mean I have a lot of admiration for

Joe Mazula, but not more than President Bartlett. Yeah, but the problem is I don't think Joe Mazul is going to be very happy about you pecking him, judging by his personal politics. Okay, we go to me. My submission, my first one for today, is James Winston throws. What's so funny about that? James Winston throws more than five passes in this game. So there's obviously injuries the possibility,

but I'm also opening up for the, possibility of a benching for Deshaun Watson this game. I will open the bidding here. I'm going to go with two. Two turkeys to bow. Two turkeys to bow going once. Going twice. Wow. Sold to bow. Yeah, I'll let you have that one. A straight sweep of the first three categories for your boy. Okay. Our first from the professor who will join us on the show tomorrow. I didn't read through these. Okay. This is a regular one. The Eagles recover a fumble on defense.

There are one of three teams in the league still not to have done this, done so this year. Two. Did you say that, Bo? Three. Two to bow. Three. Three to Zach. Go four.

Four to Fran. Four to Fran going once. Four to Fran going twice. Yeah, it's a pretty good buy. Soul de Fran. Zach, you did all that work on this is going to be coached up. and you don't believe in it. I know, yeah, well, my journalistic integrity here,

I didn't want to root for something. Seriously, though, if they're going to tout this line, then it can be coached and they haven't done it yet, are they saying they're not coached well? Well, that's a good point. Or maybe they're not applying it, sure. I also think there's also like a, they can coach this,

but every other team in the league is also coaching this, right? Exactly. Like, where is the real, there's not like there's a delta. here. Yeah, there's not a competitive advantage here. Yeah. Yeah. That's true. What are you're going to say? I just want to add this real quickly to the previous one. If they are losing at half time in this game, that's going to be an ugly place to be. Yeah, you're not going to be. I think if this game doesn't start well, I think the general frothing of the fans on Sunday is going to be pretty significant.

Honestly, if I was a eagle score in the first quarter or are leading a halftime, I feel like that would have been a very but the fact that it was the Eagles score and lead in halftime that was the only thing to trip me up from bidding more. Browns, by the way, middle of the pack when it comes to fumbles and fumbles loss percentage in the NFL right now. Okay, move over to you.

All right, so for my second one, here we go. The Eagles get at least as many sacks on defense as they do offensive touchdowns. Now, looking at it through the first four games, this would have only hit one time. It would have been in week four against Tampa

when the Eagles scored two touchdowns on offense with two sacks of Baker Mayfield on defense. The other three games, it would not have hit. Two touchdowns to one sack with the Saints, two touchdowns to one sack with the Falcons, four touchdowns, one sack against the Packers. So did the Eagles get at least as many sacks in this game as they do offensive touchdowns?

We'll start to... And offensive touchdowns is important. Yes, offensive touchdowns is important. I will go with a bidding of two to start us off. Two to three. Three to Zach. I'll do four. Four to Fran.

Five. Five to Zach. Um, I'll go six. Six to Fran. Six to Fran. Six to Fran going once. Seven. Oh, I wasn't anticipating that. Seven to bow.

Hmm. Do I feel like I'm going to do it for eight? Seven to bow going once. That basically makes a bow out first. The game. Going twice. You take it. I don't like it.

like it you can take it sold about didn't anticipate you coming in there by the way I should say I believe disclosure is important this is um no I there's there's only one player in the in the league who I am not objective about and that is number 68 on the Browns this weekend right so I should just put that out there I was going to say this Browns offensive line is bad so far this year or they've been beat up but they have like all tackles basically. But yeah, I am number 68 on the Browns I am not objective about. What does that have to do with anything, though?

Are you giving a mic? The sacks. The sacks. The sacks. So that's what I was going to say. I was going to give commentary on like this offensive line. I'm sorry. This offensive line is really struggle.

They haven't had their best player out there. Yeah. Yes, exactly. So that's like, but I need to say that I am in the tank for number 68. So yes, as are we all. Over to you, Zach. My next swooper is the Browns are worse on third downs than their league low 18%. So they are worse than the league at 18%.

So are the Eagles going to keep them at 18 or below 18%? Yeah. And the bidding will start at 1. I'm not going to let you have it for 1. I don't feel good about it. I'll take it for 2 though. tune to Fran. 18%.

Eagles have been decent at third down. I think Eagles are 14th in the, let me get my handy numbers here. We're close. We're close to some newsy. So third down defense, the Eagles are 16th in the NFL with that 36.9%. The Browns are 32nd in league at 18.2% in third down offense.

So let's say that to be under 18. 2%. Third down defense. You have a good. Right? The Eagles are. No, third down. It's the Eagles defense.

Brown's offense. That's what. Okay. Exactly. Yes. Exactly. 19% is heinous. We're at two to Fran.

Yeah. Two to Fran going once. I thought I was getting this for one. You're going to let them have it for two? Two to Fran going twice. The season doesn't end today, though. Why do you do? Why do you submit ones that you don't believe in?

Why do you play this game? Wow. Outrage of practice. It's just like, it's just like when you have an auction in fantasy sports and you nominate the player that you don't want to spend money on because you want someone else to spend the money on that player. All right. He got that?

Yeah, I took it for two. Okay. What's the turkey? You have 14. Yeah. Zach has 28 and I have 12. All right. Here we go with my second submission.

And the item here is a PHLY employee tweets a photo before the game of Howie Roseman and Jim Schwartz together on the field. Talking, hugging, caressing. And the bid will start at three. Four. Five. Find a friend. I mean, I can't promise you, I'm going to see this. That's the problem.

I know if Bo's not going to tweet this out. I mean, they're definitely going to meet on the field. Six. Now, this is the one thing. My son's at the game this weekend. So I might be going down to see him at some point. And maybe that's when Hallie and Jim talk. But I will go six.

I'll be there too. Julia, you can tweet this out. Oh, okay. Seven. Seventy. Eight. Eight to Zach. Eight to Zach going once.

You know you want it. Oh, nine. Oh, nine to bow. Yours. And a bow going once. Nine of O going twice. Wow. Sold to bow.

when you went through the amount of turkeys we all had and you said Zach 28 and I was like that's how many you started with and I was like oh he hasn't gotten one yet got it long as view in the room Frank takes blue chew for his view blue chew tablets yeah all right uh let's go to uh day niz's second submission okay item eight the eagles defense forces at least two three and outs the eagle are ranked dead last enforcing three and outs, getting just two on 41 drives so far. However, the Brown's offense has gone three and out on over 30% of their drives, the fourth most often in the league. One. Two.

Three. Okay. Four. Four to Zach. Five. Five to Fran. Six. Six to Zach.

Seven. Seven to Fran. You can have it, man. Seven to Fran. going once. Somebody for I going twice. Sold a friend. Sorry, Zach.

All right. You should be sorry. You're not real. Play the game. All right. Here's my last one. The Eagles win this game by double digit points. The Eagles are undefeated under Nick Siriani after the by week.

In those three games, this is a regular season buys, obviously. average score is 28 to 16. So they're winning by 12 points. So obviously they're favored, what was it, nine and a half at this point? Nine, I think. Nine. Okay. So do they win by double digit points? We'll start the bidding at three. No, for the audience, Zach looks like he was just like hit in this in the knee because Fran started the bidding at three, even though Zach has 28 turkeys. They don't expire tonight, though. They might. You don't know what Dana's his final thing is going to be.

That's true. Four. Four to Zach. I can't bid. I'll go five. Five to Fran. Six. Six to Zach.

Six to Zach going once. Fran go all in on it. Yeah, do I go all in on it? We only have. Oh, he still have three more. Six. Six is that going twice? Yeah, he can take it.

Sold. All right. Zach's down to 22. Poor guy. I had a number I want to carry over. I definitely not looking for a handout. This is the opposite of this. You have four left?

I am. I am not looking to get any. I'm looking to be smart with my resources here. All right, Zach, you have your final proposal. Yes, my final proposal here. A.J. Brown sets a season high in receiving yards. So he had 120, so he had 119, rather, in the season opener. So this is 120 plus.

And I will start the bidding at three. I can't bid. I know. I'll take it for four. Four to Fran? Five. You can take it from five. Five to Zach.

Sold. Okay. My final proposal. an Eagles player has a catch in this game for the same amount of yards as his jersey number. So, Devante Smith has a six-yard catch. AJ Brown has an 11-yard catch. Dallas-Gotter has an 88-yard catch. Any of those things?

I'll start the bidding at two. Two to them. It's a real. You need... The fun one. The Eagles are two many wide receivers in the 80s here. You're going to need maybe a Barclay 26-yarder, a gain-well four. 14 yarder,

uh, perhaps a Shipley, you know, 38 yarder. Um, but yeah, I mean, it's really AJ.

AJ Devante. You started at what, two? I did. Two to bow. I'll go three. I'll go three. Three to Zach.

I can't bid. I'll let him have it. sold to Zach for three. Zach's getting some, some playable ones. Yeah. That's not something I could have won. You don't have to look like he got kicked in the canards about it.

Right in the funny nuggets. All right. Before we get to the final one, I have three turkeys, Fran has seven, Zach has 14. Here we go. Okay, this is the rule for item 12. Okay.

You want me to read it? Yes, please. This is a sealed bid third price auction. All players submit sealed bids. The highest bidder wins the item and only pays whatever the third highest bid is. The other bidders do not pay anything. Players can borrow turkeys from next week to bid. If there is a tie, each player involved in the tie pays whatever the third highest bid is in full

and then gets an equal share of the point if the item hits. Do we understand that, Zach? So let me get the straight here. So if you win this auction, you get the lowest bid that someone placed, correct? Yes. If you don't win this option, you don't pay. Okay. Correct.

Whoever makes the highest bid wins, but you only pay what the third, what the lowest bid was. Exactly. Okay. Okay. Now, now we all can borrow from next week, right? Okay. And now we don't know what the item is yet, so here we go. Ready?

We're all going to write our bids down. And the highest bidder gets it, but only pays what the lowest bid bids. Okay. Oh, okay. You good? I mean, yeah, but the challenge here is that you guys can all borrow. from next week. Yeah.

And then I'm left with no turkeys next week. So it could behoove me to go really low here and make sure that I still have turkeys next week. Because I did have a number I want to go into with next week. We know. All right. All right. Okay.

You ready? Yeah. Let's hear it. Okay. The Eagles win the game. The Eagles win the game. Okay, Fran is in. What are we going to do?

This is a fun one because it really is everybody's involved and we're all judging everybody else. For the audio listener, Zach, his furiously scraping his forehead. Ed, I understood. I understood I am being, I'm trying to figure out what my colleagues here are going to do. Okay, that is the challenge here. And I do think just for the audio listeners, I do recommend watching the show um in general but if you don't have the time to do that you you sort of do need to watch swooper every week it's it's it's a television show it's not a it's not a podcast yeah all right um wait wait wait wait i all right i just sent it okay all right how do you want did you send it or you

yeah i sent mine okay but i can i can uh all right announce it as well all right i'll go first I have 27 here I went all in Fran 25 25 yeah and Zach it comes down to you

you could have gone all in to guarantee you would get it 21 21 okay so I get it for 21 which is a lot wow

wow Zach good for you I did not think you were going to go that high yeah I didn't think you were going to go that high yeah I didn't think you were going to go that high either. Wow. I had a number in mind. And so yeah. Wow. 21. So that means I will be playing with six turkeys next week. I'm going to be down 18 turkeys. Well done, Zach. Yeah, but I think, I think, I mean, if it had been an item that was not a team favored by nine points to win the game, I don't think we would have all been so aggressive. Right. Yeah, honestly, I mean, both.

got that for 21, I bid seven for them winning by double digits. I think actually the odds, you know, like I might rather the Eagles win at 21 turkeys and win by double digits at seven, right? Yeah, but if I don't win this week, then I'm going to look like that. So, yeah. So, yeah. To recap, I mean, I have six items. You guys both have three and I have some pretty good ones.

But Fran, the Eagles D recovers a fumble. The Brown's offense is worse than 18. percent on third down and the Eagles defense forces at least two three and outs and you have seven turkeys to carry over. Feel good about that one. Zach, the Eagles win by double digits. AJ Brown has at least 120 receiving yards and an Eagles player has a catch for the same amount of yards as his jersey number and you have a nice 14 turkeys to carry over to next week.

I have Sequin Barclay, rushes for at least 100. yards. The Eagles score in the first quarter and lead at halftime. James Winston throws at least five passes. The Eagles have as many sacks on defense or more than offensive touchdowns. Somebody from PHLY tweets a picture before the game of Howie Roseman and Jim Schwartz together and the Eagles win the game. And I am 18 turkeys in the hole for next week. I need some clarity on the Jim Schwartz, Howie Roseman picture. Okay.

It is from the game. It can't be an old picture of Jim Schwartz and how I read that. I mean, I mean, certainly that is the intention, certainly that is the intention, but I don't. I could have seen you posting a picture from 2016. The way that I sent it, we have to go by what it is. It says a PHOI employee tweets a photo of Howie Roseman and Jim Schwartz talking on field pregame or or on field pregame or or.

How Gunfield Pre-name. So I think it has to be. Yeah, you see, so the reason I did not bid on this is because I figured anything with a photo, there's some type of technicality. So if I had said to same, you would have taken a selfie of yourself as that was going on. No, so what I would have done is I would have sent it and then Bo would have said, well, actually, they're not talking at this particular moment, right? If you see their amounts are closed.

When I read it, it is. It's not just like, because if they're hugging, obviously that counts. We can't prove that they're talking in a still photo. So it's the two of them together on the field before this game. Okay. Yeah. Okay. Okay.

All right. Wow. What a journey. Man, a lot on the line for Bo Wolf this week. The chat points out, this is, you've got the, uh, the optimist hall. This is from Claire in the chat. Some biweek reflection. You're feeling good.

Feeling positive. I'm not, I'm not an optimist or pessimist. realist yeah that's fair is it no okay I'm joking uh that'll do it for this exhilarating episode of the pH I equals podcast we will talk to you tomorrow at two o'clock the professor day niz joining me in studio Zach I think we'll decide whether or not he wants to join the show tomorrow he has some other things I can't wait wait can I say this there's there are two players that I meeting with tomorrow. I wanted to come in studio, but locker rooms during studios and do what I did last week, or two weeks ago, rather, where I did 15 minutes and rushed over. But these two players asked to meet with me tomorrow. So I need to talk to these guys, but I'm going to do my best to come on the show via video. I think I wasn't going to ask you about it, but you have now made it sound so sketchy that I need to ask you to clarify what it is.

why two players want to meet with you tomorrow like what is is a drug deal going on what's going on no i'm chatting with two players about something yeah i'm having a nice conversation with two players i wanted to speak to earlier this week they said zach need to do it on friday so i'm doing it on friday you want you got too specific and so now everyone's wondering what is going on you could have just said i have to have a meeting tomorrow when the show's going on okay well You specifically said that if I didn't say what I was doing, you were going to make it seem as if I am standing up the show. The last thing I want is anyone to think I don't want anyone to think I'm standing up the show. I love the P.H.I. Eagle Show. I look forward to it. I am frustrated that I can't be in studio more often this season.

I planned on being in studio tomorrow. But this is a one-time thing. And the following Friday before the Giants game, I will be. in studio. Is it C.J. Usama. It is not C.J. Usama. No. You know it's not Caden Stearns. It is not kidding. Stearns.

But it is, it is somebody who would be great to spend a car ride to Florida with. A joke for four people. We had more for the four people who watched the show, though.

Yeah, but that wasn't on the show. That was at the event on Monday night. I'm sorry. You were absolutely right. Okay. My blame. That Zach, my bad. Now I have to come clean about one of the people that you're meeting with.

No, you don't have to. You don't have to. We can't leave this unexplained. You leave stuff to the imagination, right? It's like statistics, you know, what they, it's just like statistics, you know. What they reveal is telling, what they conceal is vital. So one of the questions asked to Zach during the Q&A on Monday night was if you could spend a car ride with a 12 hour or like a 16 hour car ride.

You're driving from Philadelphia down to Clearwater for spring training next year with any Eagles coach or player of the time that you have covered the team. Oh, wow. And one of the people that Zach answered rhymes with Florin Quarks. What? That was one of the entire time of covering the team. you know it's good to get to know these players personally and not just like uh yeah they're they're they're not just stuffed jerseys these are human beings that's all i'm saying

doesn't that shock you i mean i would have thought like oh braden graham like it's a great one wow now i i can't wait to uh i can't wait to hear why yeah well they got to plan the road trip yeah right Yeah, you got to figure out who's driving when. All right, Zach. Well, it's been a pleasure, as always. I hope that we see you at some point, but there are no guarantees. You might have more meetings. So we'll talk to you on Sunday, I hope.

But that'll do it for this episode of the P.HLYGO's podcast. A nice long one for a Thursday. Thanks to Julia for putting up with us. Thanks to all of you for watching and listening. We will talk to you tomorrow. And as always, we love you. You know,