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Football at Four: Which Issues Will Eagles Answer on Sunday? · Inside the Birds: A Philadelphia Eagles Podcast

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  Speaker 1: Football at Four is powered by the Inside the Birds podcast,
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  Speaker 1: and it is brought to you by our good friends
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  Speaker 1: at InsideTheBirds.com and the Inside the Birds podcast, Adam Kaplan
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  Speaker 1: and Andrew DiCecco flopping today.
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  Speaker 2: So, Adam on a Thursday, Andrew tomorrow's show. We're getting
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  Speaker 2: you ready for the Eagles and Commanders.
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  Speaker 1: And speaking of the Eagles and Commanders, if you want
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  Speaker 1: to win tickets to the game, stop out tomorrow and
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  Speaker 1: see us at Jersey Cal in Northfield. For their fourth
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  Speaker 1: anniversary party, Jersey Cow in Northfield. We'll be there tomorrow.
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  Speaker 1: It'll be their fourth anniversary. You know, I was there
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  Speaker 1: the first night that they opened.
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  Speaker 2: And you got that chocolate, peanut butter, and banana, I'm sure. Well, actually,
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  Speaker 2: they were closed.
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  Speaker 1: And as I pulled up with my girlfriend's son, the
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  Speaker 1: sadness on his face to see that they were closed
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  Speaker 1: was so evident. And they grabbed me and said, sir, sir,
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  Speaker 1: what would you like? And they gave me a bunch
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  Speaker 1: of ice cream. And I've been hooked ever since.
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  Speaker 2: Well, I got my cooler filled up with ice. You
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  Speaker 2: ready to go tomorrow? I'm bringing it down here.
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  Speaker 1: I know who's ready to go right now. Adam Kaplan
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  Speaker 1: is here for football at 4. But the Eagles getting
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  Speaker 1: ready for the Commanders on Sunday.
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  Speaker 2: Adam, welcome.
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  Speaker 3: Mike, good to talk to you. Let's definitely talk Eagles.
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  Speaker 3: I can't take the Phillies. I'm still mad. But anyway,
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  Speaker 3: it is what it is.
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  Speaker 2: Tough one. Tough one. Yeah, yeah.
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  Speaker 1: They fall 2-1, the Phillies, for those of you who
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  Speaker 1: just tuned in. But what answers will Sunday's game give
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  Speaker 1: us about the Eagles? I talked about this.
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  Speaker 2: With Jeff yesterday. I want to get your take on this. Okay.
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  Speaker 1: I feel like this is maybe– remember when Chip Kelly
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  Speaker 1: took over in 2013? We had no idea what the
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  Speaker 1: offense was going to look like.
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  Speaker 3: It's so funny, Mike. Real quick, I actually just talked
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  Speaker 3: to someone about that. I can't believe you brought that up.
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  Speaker 3: So what you're referring to is the anticipation. Like if
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  Speaker 3: you follow college football in Oregon– This is where Chip
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  Speaker 3: went really fast. He's innovative, going for it in his
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  Speaker 3: own 25-yard line, and a lot of the things that
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  Speaker 3: we thought we'd see, we didn't. So go ahead. That's
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  Speaker 3: what you were referring to. My anticipation, because we saw it,
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  Speaker 3: by the way, in OTAs and training camp, it was
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  Speaker 3: the first OTAs. Mike, I was like, wow, this is
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  Speaker 3: super cool. I've never seen anything like it.
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  Speaker 1: Right, and we went through all of the preseason and everything,
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  Speaker 1: and we're like, what is this offense going to be?
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  Speaker 1: What is it going to look like? So we're in
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  Speaker 1: a similar situation here, Adam. What is this offense going
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  Speaker 1: to be? And Hurts and the offensive coordinator and the
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  Speaker 1: dynamics of this, what this offense in the passing game
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  Speaker 1: is going to look like.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, Mike, it's been what we thought. There's been no
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  Speaker 3: real surprise. It's a West Coast offense, timing offense. That's
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  Speaker 3: not the surprise. But what we don't know is what
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  Speaker 3: it's going to look like when we– get to 425
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  Speaker 3: Eastern on Sunday. We don't know because, first of all, Mike, yes,
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  Speaker 3: what you see in training camp is going to be
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  Speaker 3: what they're going to run, but first of all, the
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  Speaker 3: starters don't play in the preseason. So you don't– and remember,
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  Speaker 3: you can't touch the quarterback in practice. So you don't
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  Speaker 3: know how Hurts is going to do on this offense.
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  Speaker 3: I mean, we can be optimistic. The people don't think
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  Speaker 3: he'll do well at all. I understand that. But you're
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  Speaker 3: going to learn– and by the way, the– You know,
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  Speaker 3: we're going to, me, Jeff, and Greg Cosell, Greg is
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  Speaker 3: back with us, by the way, on Into the Birdies
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  Speaker 3: on our pregame show, which the Patreon members will get
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  Speaker 3: Friday night and the rest of the public will get
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  Speaker 3: Saturday morning. But, you know, Greg's going to be, because
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  Speaker 3: one of the things I'm going to ask him, give
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  Speaker 3: us an idea of this personnel group that Washington has,
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  Speaker 3: because it is way better than last season. And, Mike, this,
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  Speaker 3: and if they could disrupt Hurts' timing, or if he's
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  Speaker 3: holding on to the ball too long, which is, It's
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  Speaker 3: something of an issue for them. What do they do?
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  Speaker 3: If they're not going back to Syria, you can't do that.
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  Speaker 3: You have to stay with the West Coast. But you
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  Speaker 3: could scale stuff down. You could do less of it.
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  Speaker 3: You could run a shorter playbook. You could have them
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  Speaker 3: do less. But that's not what they want. They want
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  Speaker 3: a dynamic passing game. And we're not going to start
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  Speaker 3: to get an idea until this game, to be honest
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  Speaker 3: with you.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, so obviously Hertz is under the microscope, and so
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  Speaker 1: is Sean Mannion, who's going to talk today in about
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  Speaker 1: 25 minutes. We'll hear what Sean Mannion's anticipation is for
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  Speaker 1: his first game. And by the way, he has announced,
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  Speaker 1: or I guess Sirianni announced, that he will call plays
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  Speaker 1: from the booth in the game on Sunday. One of
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  Speaker 1: the big things we're all looking at is, what about
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  Speaker 1: Saquon Barkley and the offensive line? And it all comes
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  Speaker 1: back to the offensive line and their ability to create
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  Speaker 1: space and holes for Barkley.
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  Speaker 3: Mike, I would say if we had to, if you said, okay,
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  Speaker 3: what are your top five questions for the football team?
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  Speaker 3: It's the Hurts. They're off at the quarter dynamic. There's
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  Speaker 3: no question about that. That's number one. Number two, it's
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  Speaker 3: actually number 1A. Where is this offensive line around blocking?
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  Speaker 3: I have to tell you, though, they look really good.
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  Speaker 3: And the thing is, Mike, I'm so glad I went
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  Speaker 3: to the joint practices in Foxborough, New England, with the Patriots,
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  Speaker 3: because they were phenomenal. Like, I get that they're not tackling,
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  Speaker 3: but they look really good. So we're going to learn Sunday.
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  Speaker 3: The two biggest things we're going to learn, and Saquon
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  Speaker 3: Barkley's involved in this, we'll talk about him in a second,
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  Speaker 3: is can the South for the blind be remotely close
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  Speaker 3: to what they were two years ago, which was historic?
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  Speaker 3: It's just they've got to do better with the run game.
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  Speaker 3: And then, obviously, I know people want to know about Hurts.
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  Speaker 3: Will he run more? He's got to run more. I
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  Speaker 3: couldn't tell you exactly per game how many more rushes
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  Speaker 3: he's going to have. But the bottom line is, Mike,
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  Speaker 3: We're going to learn so much about their offense that
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  Speaker 3: you can't tell because the starters don't play in the preseason.
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  Speaker 1: You know, the offensive line is healthy. You hope that
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  Speaker 1: they're back. You had guys banged up in and out.
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  Speaker 1: You know, center position last year, Juergens was not healthy.
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  Speaker 2: He was in. He was out.
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  Speaker 1: We don't think Dickerson was healthy all the way through.
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  Speaker 1: Lane Johnson obviously missed time. So we hope that that's better.
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  Speaker 1: But what about Barkley? Obviously he had the 2,000-yard year.
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  Speaker 1: Last year was he not as effective or was there
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  Speaker 1: not holes for him to run through?
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  Speaker 3: Mike, that's the million-dollar question. Is he, at 29 years old,
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  Speaker 3: in a regression? Or is it just because the offensive
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  Speaker 3: line was so bad, run blocking? They were atrocious blocking
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  Speaker 3: for the run, Mike. Cam Juergens, Greg Cosell, told us
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  Speaker 3: on Inside the Tape that he does for us that
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  Speaker 3: there were times when Juergens could not even bend down.
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  Speaker 3: He was so stiff because he was coming back from
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  Speaker 3: his surgery. Landon Dickerson, don't forget, Mike. He got hurt
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  Speaker 3: in the evening practice at the link last year when
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  Speaker 3: he should have gone back in. He put the starters
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  Speaker 3: back in, and he went up having a meniscus injury,
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  Speaker 3: and he had the trim. He didn't have the full-blown surgery,
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  Speaker 3: which would have kept him out for the season. He
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  Speaker 3: was never the same, Mike. So that's the question. And, Mike,
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  Speaker 3: to think about this, Mike, in 16 games in 2024,
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  Speaker 3: he ran for over 2,000 yards in 2005. In 16
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  Speaker 3: games last year, same amount. Almost 900 yards last, 1140. Unbelievable.
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  Speaker 3: But the belief was it was mostly on their offensive line.
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  Speaker 3: And all you have to do is charge for contact.
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  Speaker 3: The charge for contact numbers regressed significantly. But, again, to
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  Speaker 3: finish this off, they look better. They look much better.
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  Speaker 3: They look healthy. But we're certainly not going to know
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  Speaker 3: for sure until this game.
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  Speaker 2: Adam Kaplan, football at four.
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  Speaker 1: And, of course, the Eagles commanders, what do we think
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  Speaker 1: Dontavion Wicks' role.
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  Speaker 2: Is going to be? Is he going to have a
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  Speaker 2: big role? Is he going to be a big player?
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  Speaker 2: What are we seeing with Wicks?
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  Speaker 3: It's a big one because Makai Lemon, the thing with
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  Speaker 3: him is we don't know how many snaps he can nail.
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  Speaker 3: He's so far behind. He had the re-injury of the
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  Speaker 3: hamstring that he had in spring, and he started practicing
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  Speaker 3: just after they returned from New England. He was doing
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  Speaker 3: individual drills when I was there. I did watch him
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  Speaker 3: do it. He looked fine, but they didn't let him
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  Speaker 3: do a lot. And now he's going to be playing.
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  Speaker 3: So the question is, because which is going to be
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  Speaker 3: starting on the outside with Smith during his career? He
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  Speaker 3: was way down in depth. It would not have surprised
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  Speaker 3: me if the Packers didn't trade him, if they would
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  Speaker 3: have released him at some point. Because he was so
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  Speaker 3: far down in the depth chart. But they're going to
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  Speaker 3: be running West Coast, and some of the coaches who
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  Speaker 3: are in Green Bay are now with him here. So
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  Speaker 3: they know him. He had a great training camp, Mike.
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  Speaker 3: He was fantastic. He's not half the player of A.J. Brown,
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  Speaker 3: to be clear. But he's got length, really good running
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  Speaker 3: after the catch. He's not fast. But the scheme gets
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  Speaker 3: these guys open. Very impressed with him. He's another guy.
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  Speaker 3: We're going to get an answer. Hopefully it won't be
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  Speaker 3: like his former teammate, Romeo Dobbs, last night. Let's hope
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  Speaker 3: it's not like that.
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  Speaker 1: I was going to say, if he's not. He has
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  Speaker 1: the drops like his teammate did last night, Romeo Dobbs,
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  Speaker 1: who we had on at the Super Bowl, by the way,
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  Speaker 1: at Radio Row, if you remember.
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  Speaker 2: Did you?
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  Speaker 1: Yes, we had Dobbs on, and he was on talking
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  Speaker 1: about Sean Mannion last year at the Super Bowl. But
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  Speaker 1: we'll see how Dontavian Wicks ends up here in Philadelphia.
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  Speaker 1: But let me ask you real quick on Lemon. Do
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  Speaker 1: you think Wicks would have as big a role had
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  Speaker 1: Lemon not been compromised all offseason?
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  Speaker 3: Well, here's the thing, though. Lemon is mostly going to
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  Speaker 3: play inside. You could play him outside.
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  Speaker 2: I like that.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, they need a slot receiver, which is going to
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  Speaker 3: play on the outside. He's not an inside receiver. You
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  Speaker 3: could line him up inside if you want, but that's
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  Speaker 3: not what he is. Now, because Lemon's behind, I suspect
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  Speaker 3: they're going to play more 12 personnel, which is two 10s,
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  Speaker 3: two receivers, and obviously a running back. Now, if Lemon
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  Speaker 3: becomes a player, Mike, by midseason, if he's who the
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  Speaker 3: Eagles think he should be or will be, they'll play
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  Speaker 3: more 11 personnel than they probably anticipated. And we didn't
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  Speaker 3: even talk about Darius Cooper and Hollywood Brown. A lot
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  Speaker 3: more now that they're not going to dress six receivers,
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  Speaker 3: most likely. Teams don't do that. They dress five. But
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  Speaker 3: this receiver core is interesting, Mike. There are a lot
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  Speaker 3: of questions with this group, and we're going to start
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  Speaker 3: getting answers in this game.
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  Speaker 1: Well, it's funny. We saw last night how things, you know,
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  Speaker 1: you have pictures in your mind, and then all of
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  Speaker 1: a sudden, boom, Darnold gets hurt, A.J. Brown goes down.
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  Speaker 1: Do the Eagles have the depth at wide receiver? Can
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  Speaker 1: they handle injuries this year on offense? Let's go to
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  Speaker 1: their defense because they do have an injury on defense already.
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  Speaker 1: It is Jonathan Grenard. We don't know if he'll play
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  Speaker 1: or not. Day to day, we'll see what happens here.
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  Speaker 1: I think Vic Fangio.
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  Speaker 2: Was kind of noncommittal, obviously, today.
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  Speaker 1: So, with Grenard out, Jalix Hunt becomes the guy as
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  Speaker 1: the edge rusher, the pass rusher, the main guy to
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  Speaker 1: get the quarterback. Is he ready to have one of
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  Speaker 1: those big breakout seasons?
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  Speaker 3: Mike, it's funny you say that because... He has been
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  Speaker 3: one of the most obvious breakout candidates in the nine
• 10:43
  Speaker 3: years we've done Inside the Birds. He's been our guide
• 10:46
  Speaker 3: since the beginning. We've talked about him. We've told the
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  Speaker 3: story about him. We told Greg to go watch tape
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  Speaker 3: of him. It was hard to get his... You know,
• 10:53
  Speaker 3: Greg worked for NFL Films. It was hard to get
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  Speaker 3: that tape because it wasn't... Houston Christian tape is not
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  Speaker 3: readily available. He wound up getting it. Now, we didn't
• 11:00
  Speaker 3: know that they were going to draft him. To be clear,
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  Speaker 3: we're not saying we knew this. We just got... We
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  Speaker 3: were very interested in him. They wound up drafting him,
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  Speaker 3: which is surprising. Yeah, he's ready to go here. There's
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  Speaker 3: no question. He's going to play over Nolan Smith with
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  Speaker 3: good arts, ready to play full-time. But this is going
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  Speaker 3: to be interesting to see because, Mike, he's got everything
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  Speaker 3: you want. He's explosive. This is only his fifth year
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  Speaker 3: at the Nets, Russia, though. He still has a lot
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  Speaker 3: of learning, but he's probably a year ahead of where
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  Speaker 3: he probably should be.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm interested. You know, and I say break out.
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  Speaker 2: I don't know.
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  Speaker 1: I mean, What does that mean, 12 and a half
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  Speaker 1: sacks or just causing havoc?
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  Speaker 3: Just where it's causing havoc. Remember, he led them in interceptions,
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  Speaker 3: which is crazy. Just basically, Mike, where we all watch
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  Speaker 3: and go, wow, he's the guy.
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  Speaker 1: This week is the kind of week he should have
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  Speaker 1: a big game.
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  Speaker 2: If you want him to have a breakout, it's got
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  Speaker 2: to be right off the bat, right?
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  Speaker 3: Yes, and he's going to play a lot, and he's
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  Speaker 3: talking to someone who's scouted him. He really wants it,
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  Speaker 3: and this is a contract drive. Let's not forget, Eagles
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  Speaker 3: can extend his contract after the season if they so choose.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, by the way, Laramie Tunsell, of course, is out
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  Speaker 1: in the game, so he'll be matched up most likely
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  Speaker 1: against a backup over on that side. It's pretty evident
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  Speaker 1: that Vic Fangio is a fan of Woolen. it's going
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  Speaker 1: to be fun to see what he ends up, you know,
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  Speaker 1: how he speaks glowingly about him.
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  Speaker 3: He's kind of been all over him. I'm a little
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  Speaker 3: bit surprised, to be honest with you, because he didn't
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  Speaker 3: have a good week against the Patriots or the two
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  Speaker 3: good practices. One was really bad, and then the other
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  Speaker 3: was better. Yeah, and Mike, they have nowhere else to
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  Speaker 3: go here. They don't. Vic does not want to move
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  Speaker 3: Dajin back to corner. That's the last thing they want
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  Speaker 3: to do. So we'll see what happens, but there's so
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  Speaker 3: much intrigue here. But I'll tell you what, if Woolen plays,
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  Speaker 3: if Woolen is good, if he's who they think he is, Mike,
• 13:02
  Speaker 3: they might wind up over the Texans. Texans have the
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  Speaker 3: best defense. They're elite. It wouldn't shock me if they
• 13:09
  Speaker 3: wound up being better than the Texans. It would be
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  Speaker 3: hard to do because you can't find a weakness with
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  Speaker 3: that team. But let me tell you something, if Woolen
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  Speaker 3: is that guy– Show me a weakness that the Eagles
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  Speaker 3: really have. I mean, safety, it's average, they're very average
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  Speaker 3: at safety. And Vic made it clear today that Epps
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  Speaker 3: is the guy, not surprising. Yeah. But you can get
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  Speaker 3: away with being average at safety. You cannot get away
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  Speaker 3: with being average at corner, I can tell you that.
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  Speaker 1: Well, they'll get their first chance at corner. It'll be
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  Speaker 1: Woolen and Mitchell against Terry McLaurin. Scary Terry. And you're
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  Speaker 1: going to get, obviously, Stephon Diggs. So some veteran receivers
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  Speaker 1: this week. Jaden Daniels is back. He was 2-5 last
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  Speaker 1: year after taking the Commanders to the NFC Championship game.
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  Speaker 1: It's the Eagles and the Commanders right here Sunday on 97.3 ESPN.
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  Speaker 1: That was today's Football at 4 with Adam Kaplan.
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  Speaker 2: Thanks, Adam.
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  Speaker 3: Thank you.