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Football at Four: A Continuing Look at the Eagles Offensive Issues and More · Inside the Birds: A Philadelphia Eagles Podcast

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: They can't get the run game going. The offensive lines
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: of problem, and the offense right now is in the
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: bottom half of every statistical category. So we'll bring Jeff
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: Boscher from Inside the Birds dot Com into the conversation
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: for Today's Football at four and we'll ask him the
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: question with Duff the Eagles. Should Eagles fans be worried
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: about the Eagles offense? And do you think the Eagles
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: themselves are worried about this offense?
• 0:28
  Speaker 2: Do I think the Eagles are worried about the I'm
• 0:30
  Speaker 2: sure that they're concerned about it. I mean it's not
• 0:33
  Speaker 2: like it's been one or two weeks. I mean it's
• 0:36
  Speaker 2: been six weeks. They haven't gotten the results that they've
• 0:40
  Speaker 2: looked for. You know, they obviously had some meetings they
• 0:42
  Speaker 2: talked about during the bye week. You know, I don't
• 0:45
  Speaker 2: know if they are losing sleep at night, but coaches
• 0:48
  Speaker 2: tend to be, you know, process oriented people, and their
• 0:52
  Speaker 2: process so far is not delivering the results. So they
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: have to go back and look at it. So I'm
• 0:57
  Speaker 2: sure they're not resting easy.
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: Right So that you you think the coaches are watching
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: this offense and think that they have a problem, Well.
• 1:07
  Speaker 3: That's that's tough. You know.
• 1:10
  Speaker 2: I think that they know that some of the things
• 1:14
  Speaker 2: they've tried to do they can't probably can't do because
• 1:18
  Speaker 2: of some of the injuries they've had on the offensive
• 1:19
  Speaker 2: line or the ineffective of the offensive line. You know,
• 1:23
  Speaker 2: they've some of their past game for whatever reason, it's
• 1:27
  Speaker 2: either not working or there's openings. And I know, like
• 1:30
  Speaker 2: they ran I think I heard you say this on
• 1:32
  Speaker 2: the radio today where people are saying they're predictable. They
• 1:35
  Speaker 2: run three straight of the same routes that Brian Baldinger
• 1:38
  Speaker 2: points out, but there's people open on those routes.
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: And I compared it to you know, last year, I
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: went to the right. And I know there's been some
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: some talk about playing Tanner McKee, which is you know,
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: laughable ass But I was at that game. Tanner McKee
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: ran the same play for a whole half. Didn't wanted
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: a third. Now he ran it the whole half. And
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: if you can't stop it, why should I stop running it?
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: And I think the coaches are saying, I'm calling a
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: play that's got guys open.
• 2:11
  Speaker 2: Yeah, but you know what, the coaches have been doing
• 2:14
  Speaker 2: that for three to four years now. We've seen that
• 2:16
  Speaker 2: there are just certain throws Jones Hurts isn't gonna make
• 2:19
  Speaker 2: at certain times, and then there's gonna be a game
• 2:22
  Speaker 2: or two where he just decides he's gonna make that
• 2:24
  Speaker 2: throw that day and whatever.
• 2:25
  Speaker 3: So obviously, I think if you're asking me, what the coaches.
• 2:28
  Speaker 2: Are probably thinking and not telling people is that they've
• 2:31
  Speaker 2: got to fix the run game first, and they have
• 2:35
  Speaker 2: to now work around some of the deficiencies they have
• 2:40
  Speaker 2: on offense because of the offensive lines situation. Now, it's
• 2:44
  Speaker 2: good that Landon Dickerson is back. We'll see how if
• 2:47
  Speaker 2: he can, you know, make it through practice this week.
• 2:50
  Speaker 3: I still don't expect him to.
• 2:51
  Speaker 2: Be looking like the Landa Dickerson of last year, but
• 2:55
  Speaker 2: that's certainly better than having Brett to with the left guard.
• 2:57
  Speaker 2: And we'll just see if they can and maybe diversify
• 3:01
  Speaker 2: the run game a little bit or do something different
• 3:04
  Speaker 2: to it, maybe adding a blocking tight end to or
• 3:07
  Speaker 2: an extra offensive lineman, just something a little bit different
• 3:10
  Speaker 2: to try to spring that run game.
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, it was about this time last year.
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: They were two and two at the time when they
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: went to the by and then everybody kind of said, hey,
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: I think we need to focus on running the ball more.
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: Is that a solution for this offense.
• 3:25
  Speaker 2: I think the solution is running the ball better, which
• 3:30
  Speaker 2: will lead to running the ball more. You know, I
• 3:32
  Speaker 2: think it's gotten away from them the last two games
• 3:35
  Speaker 2: as they've been into either bat.
• 3:38
  Speaker 3: So here's another thing.
• 3:39
  Speaker 2: I'm not to interrupt myself, but their average starting field
• 3:43
  Speaker 2: position sucks teeth.
• 3:44
  Speaker 3: Let's be real. They suck in kickoff and punt return now.
• 3:49
  Speaker 2: And I don't use language that strong unless the Eagles
• 3:51
  Speaker 2: are really bad at something, because I'm not trying to
• 3:54
  Speaker 2: rip on players, but I don't have to rip on
• 3:56
  Speaker 2: player because there's been like five different guys who just
• 3:59
  Speaker 2: suck right now getting the ball in kickoff return or
• 4:03
  Speaker 2: punt return.
• 4:04
  Speaker 3: And they know it and the team knows it.
• 4:06
  Speaker 2: So I believe that's had a bigger impact than we've
• 4:09
  Speaker 2: discussed on the offense, because if you're you know, the
• 4:12
  Speaker 2: Eagles used to be like three plays away sometimes from
• 4:15
  Speaker 2: just being in field goal territory, and one of those
• 4:19
  Speaker 2: plays could be a Barkley fifteen yard run. But they
• 4:22
  Speaker 2: are so pin deep in their own territory way too
• 4:26
  Speaker 2: often that even if they have a bad run or
• 4:29
  Speaker 2: just a one or a two yard play that they're
• 4:32
  Speaker 2: already what we call off schedule or behind the sticks.
• 4:35
  Speaker 3: So if there's two areas it got to be fixed.
• 4:37
  Speaker 2: It's got to be how they get better field positioned
• 4:40
  Speaker 2: to start off of the ball, and then what they
• 4:42
  Speaker 2: do on first down.
• 4:43
  Speaker 3: I wrote this yesterday on Philly Voice. I talked to
• 4:45
  Speaker 3: you about it on Monday.
• 4:46
  Speaker 2: First down has to be better and that really does
• 4:48
  Speaker 2: start with running the ball better.
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: Well, we're talking with Jeff Mosher of course football at
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: for Philly Voice dot com. You can read more of
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: his stuff over there. Coverage of the Eagles as well.
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: You guys did the Inside the Tape show with Greg
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: co Sell. He said he didn't think predictability offense was
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: the problem. So that's interesting because the players are saying, hey,
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: we're too predictable, But what is the real problem.
• 5:09
  Speaker 2: Well, you know, I do think that when players get frustrated,
• 5:14
  Speaker 2: they're like anybody else. You know, they say what comes
• 5:17
  Speaker 2: to their mind or that every coach I've ever talked to,
• 5:21
  Speaker 2: and even a lot of players like quarterbacks, you know,
• 5:23
  Speaker 2: they don't like to tell you what went wrong immediately
• 5:26
  Speaker 2: after a game because they want to watch the tape
• 5:29
  Speaker 2: and figure it out. First, it's hard to have answers
• 5:32
  Speaker 2: in a game of football where's twenty two guys and
• 5:34
  Speaker 2: all sorts of schemes. You know, in basketball, you could
• 5:36
  Speaker 2: say what went wrong in baseball? You probably could basketball,
• 5:39
  Speaker 2: we got out reinbounded thirty to ten.
• 5:40
  Speaker 3: It was obvious.
• 5:41
  Speaker 2: You know, football is a whole lot different. You got
• 5:43
  Speaker 2: to really watch the tape and see where the breakdowns are.
• 5:46
  Speaker 2: And I'm not trying to say Lane Johnson is wrong.
• 5:48
  Speaker 2: I'm sure he feels that in some regard that if
• 5:51
  Speaker 2: so many guys are at the line of scrimmage making
• 5:53
  Speaker 2: tackles behind line of scrimmage, that equals aren't doing something
• 5:55
  Speaker 2: well to disguise. But they have ran a predictable offense
• 5:59
  Speaker 2: the year now, and you know what, handing the ball
• 6:02
  Speaker 2: off to Saint Quon Berkley on first down for inside
• 6:04
  Speaker 2: zone is very predictable.
• 6:05
  Speaker 3: But it was a heck of a play for the
• 6:06
  Speaker 3: Eagles last year.
• 6:07
  Speaker 2: I mean it was a Super Bowl winning play, or
• 6:10
  Speaker 2: at least getting to the Super Bowl winning play. So
• 6:14
  Speaker 2: you can put predictability and play calling in there. I'm
• 6:16
  Speaker 2: not saying it's not an issue, but I far more
• 6:19
  Speaker 2: think that execution and the tape shows it. Execution and
• 6:23
  Speaker 2: injuries up front at certain spots are more than an
• 6:26
  Speaker 2: issue because I think if those things were better, they'd
• 6:29
  Speaker 2: be fine, and they wouldn't be taught.
• 6:30
  Speaker 3: They'd be running the same plays anyway.
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: Most you know, it seems like once a year we
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: kind of get down to, Hey, this team, when asked
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: to throw the ball, they have some problems. Why do
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: we think that.
• 6:42
  Speaker 3: Is objection your honor? You're leading the witness.
• 6:47
  Speaker 2: You're trying to get me to say a bad thing
• 6:49
  Speaker 2: about Jalen Earth's I feel it, and I'm not gonna
• 6:53
  Speaker 2: do it. There's a lot of factors that go in.
• 6:55
  Speaker 2: I will say this, his past protection has been good.
• 6:58
  Speaker 2: You sought against the Giants, he had a lot of
• 6:59
  Speaker 2: time to throw the ball. He made an uncharacteristic interception.
• 7:03
  Speaker 2: It was his first one of the year. So to me,
• 7:05
  Speaker 2: it's not about the turnover. I mean it is about
• 7:07
  Speaker 2: the turnovers. He does such a good job of protecting
• 7:10
  Speaker 2: the ball, which has allowed them to play the quote
• 7:13
  Speaker 2: unquote conservative style of game that they've played, which is
• 7:17
  Speaker 2: running the ball. Quarterback runs, you know, every once in
• 7:20
  Speaker 2: a while, a deep shot, which for him is a
• 7:22
  Speaker 2: high percentage pass. Usually, but this year, if you're gonna
• 7:26
  Speaker 2: ask me what's wrong with the passing game, I think
• 7:28
  Speaker 2: the biggest thing is that he's really not hitting downfield
• 7:32
  Speaker 2: the way he has in the past. And I don't
• 7:34
  Speaker 2: know why or what's behind that. It might just be
• 7:36
  Speaker 2: a little bit of a rut. But I don't expect
• 7:40
  Speaker 2: all of a sudden that Jill and Hurts is going
• 7:41
  Speaker 2: to start throwing the ball between the numbers into tight windows.
• 7:45
  Speaker 3: It's not changing, But what can.
• 7:47
  Speaker 2: Changes him kind of turning around how he throws the
• 7:50
  Speaker 2: ball outside the numbers to is his wide outs.
• 7:53
  Speaker 3: And I would be surprised, Mike if that didn't get better.
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: Well, we'll see because obviously we're well, this is not
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: a great defense to try to match that up, right.
• 8:03
  Speaker 1: This is a tough defense that you're gonna see a
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: lot of different looks. If you were to hand pick
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: a defense to play this week, I'm sure it would
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: be like, Hey, give me Minnesota and Brian Flores. This
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: is a great time to kind of get yourself right, right,
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: I mean, this is gonna be a very big challenge
• 8:16
  Speaker 1: for this offense.
• 8:17
  Speaker 2: Well, very rarely do teams do the same thing twice,
• 8:21
  Speaker 2: especially when they lose. But the last time the Eagles
• 8:23
  Speaker 2: played Minnesota I think was three and they were given
• 8:28
  Speaker 2: the Eagles if I remember correctly. The first couple of possessions,
• 8:31
  Speaker 2: Eagles were a little out of whack, and then as
• 8:34
  Speaker 2: the game went on, the Eagles just decided to shift
• 8:36
  Speaker 2: into ground control because they noticed that Flores was playing
• 8:39
  Speaker 2: the lightest front. I mean he was playing Eric Kendricks
• 8:43
  Speaker 2: up on the line of scrimmage like alignment. I mean
• 8:45
  Speaker 2: he was really just trying to tee off on the
• 8:47
  Speaker 2: passer and blitz.
• 8:48
  Speaker 3: And then the Eagles were like, fine, we're just gonna
• 8:49
  Speaker 3: go heavy.
• 8:50
  Speaker 2: And I believe Deandris Swift had close to like two
• 8:52
  Speaker 2: hundred yards that day. I mean, he had an amazing game.
• 8:55
  Speaker 2: So it'll be very interesting to see this time around
• 8:58
  Speaker 2: if Flores still comes after him because that's what he
• 9:01
  Speaker 2: likes to do, or if he tries to be a
• 9:03
  Speaker 2: little played, a little down the middle, where you come
• 9:05
  Speaker 2: after him, but you don't leave yourself so vulnerable and
• 9:07
  Speaker 2: light up front. They obviously have different personnel now, they
• 9:10
  Speaker 2: have really good They have better guys on the defensive
• 9:12
  Speaker 2: front than they did two years ago, so it'll be
• 9:14
  Speaker 2: a challenge we.
• 9:15
  Speaker 3: See some teams.
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: Buffalo's having problems, Baltimore's having major problems, Teams that were
• 9:20
  Speaker 1: good last year, teams that you know, many people thought
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: would be good again this year. How perplexing are some
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: of the problems that Philadelphia is having, like some of
• 9:30
  Speaker 1: these other teams where you're like, hey, I couldn't imagine
• 9:32
  Speaker 1: this team that went to the Super Bowl brought back
• 9:35
  Speaker 1: many of those pieces and yet they're struggling. So do
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: we have the feeling that this was just head they
• 9:41
  Speaker 1: had a bad week, was a short week on the road,
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: I know they lost to a bad team, or do
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: you get the feel that the big picture that there
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: are some problems here?
• 9:49
  Speaker 2: You know what, I'm glad you brought up the rest
• 9:51
  Speaker 2: of the league because I feel like their problems are
• 9:54
  Speaker 2: consistent with the other elite teams problems like the Ravens
• 9:57
  Speaker 2: brought back almost everybody from last year your team, and
• 10:01
  Speaker 2: they added JayR Alexander. Now, I know they've had a
• 10:03
  Speaker 2: ton of injuries, but they were not playing good defense
• 10:06
  Speaker 2: even before those injuries on defense settled in. They gave
• 10:10
  Speaker 2: up all those points into the Bills after that turnover
• 10:13
  Speaker 2: and in the first game, the second game, they gave
• 10:16
  Speaker 2: up point I think. So it's surprising to me that
• 10:18
  Speaker 2: a unit that British basically brought back and then added
• 10:21
  Speaker 2: JayR Alexander was looking so bad. The Lions, you know,
• 10:27
  Speaker 2: when they play outdoors, they're a little bit different than
• 10:30
  Speaker 2: when they're at home, and so I guess I'm not
• 10:31
  Speaker 2: totally surprised that they lost to the Chiefs, but they've
• 10:34
  Speaker 2: had more turnover, they're still on two different coordinators.
• 10:37
  Speaker 3: The Bills are surprising me.
• 10:38
  Speaker 2: I mean, that's a team that offensively scores a lot
• 10:41
  Speaker 2: of points and brought back, you know, same quarterback, basically
• 10:45
  Speaker 2: the same old line, same two running backs, same receivers,
• 10:48
  Speaker 2: maybe minus one or two. So I'm not quite sure.
• 10:51
  Speaker 2: It just does feel like the league is a little
• 10:53
  Speaker 2: bit more balanced. I think if you stop playing today,
• 10:55
  Speaker 2: what it's a Colts Bucks Super Bowl. Those are the
• 10:58
  Speaker 2: two first teams, the top seeds, right, So you're.
• 11:02
  Speaker 3: Not going to see that in the Super Bowl.
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: I will tell you this though, in regards to Philadelphia,
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: there's not a lot of marginal error here. You've got
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: Green Bay, Detroit, Minnesota, Chicago. Every team in the North
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: has a winning record. Atlanta's three and two. They've got
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: a winning record, Tampus five and one, three teams in
• 11:17
  Speaker 1: the Western two plus Washington and Dallas on your heels
• 11:21
  Speaker 1: over there. There is not a chance for you to
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: kind of have some bumps in the road. You've got
• 11:26
  Speaker 1: to start winning some football games here.
• 11:28
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean in the NFC for sure.
• 11:30
  Speaker 2: Now in the Division, the Commanders and the Cowboys were like,
• 11:34
  Speaker 2: hold my beer.
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: And they play this week, they play this yeah.
• 11:37
  Speaker 2: Right, So one of those teams that's gonna lose, I mean,
• 11:40
  Speaker 2: is going to have failed to make up any ground
• 11:42
  Speaker 2: on the fact that the Eagles lost too straight and
• 11:45
  Speaker 2: then we'll see what happens against Minnesota. But I mean
• 11:47
  Speaker 2: that what a failure on the part of the Commanders
• 11:49
  Speaker 2: who had that game in the bag. Then they had
• 11:51
  Speaker 2: the awful fumble and give it up and then the
• 11:53
  Speaker 2: same thing.
• 11:54
  Speaker 3: You know what the Cowboys do? They lost also, right, yeah,
• 11:57
  Speaker 3: they lost to Carolina.
• 11:58
  Speaker 2: Carolina, Right, they lose their own running back that they
• 12:01
  Speaker 2: had last year and let go. So yes, in the conference,
• 12:06
  Speaker 2: it does look like the Bucks and.
• 12:07
  Speaker 1: The Lions and the Bars play the Lions this Monday night.
• 12:11
  Speaker 3: That's a good point.
• 12:11
  Speaker 2: So, but I mean in the in the Division, I
• 12:14
  Speaker 2: think the Eagle's got a gift.
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: Well, listen, Yeah, if you win your game and then
• 12:18
  Speaker 1: and somebody loses there, you know you're still you got
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: some buffer there. But right now the method to get there.
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: Last year they end up getting home games because Detroit lost,
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: you do have the tiebreaker against Tampa, but they're five
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: and one. In other words, if you lose a game
• 12:33
  Speaker 1: against like Minnesota this week on the road, which is plausible,
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: you're starting to look at a situation where home games
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: are not going to be in your in your January future.
• 12:43
  Speaker 3: Yeah, a lot of football left to play, we'll see,
• 12:45
  Speaker 3: you know. I think you're right about that.
• 12:47
  Speaker 1: A lot of football, a lot of football left to play.
• 12:49
  Speaker 1: But how much good football is this team showing us?
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: Or is there good football down the road still? Is
• 12:54
  Speaker 1: that where we're going to see their good football?
• 12:56
  Speaker 3: Well?
• 12:56
  Speaker 2: I think Sunday is a really big crossroads kind of.
• 12:59
  Speaker 2: I mean, even if no matter what happens, there's still
• 13:02
  Speaker 2: gonna be a lot of football left to play. But
• 13:04
  Speaker 2: if they don't look right on Sunday, and that's three
• 13:08
  Speaker 2: games in a row, well, I mean they've not looked
• 13:11
  Speaker 2: right really, But I mean if they don't, if they
• 13:13
  Speaker 2: don't win. If they lose, that's certainly gonna be problematic,
• 13:16
  Speaker 2: and it's not gonna first.
• 13:17
  Speaker 1: The Eagles take on the Vikings this weekend. It looks
• 13:19
  Speaker 1: like Carson Wentz most likely will be the guy four
• 13:22
  Speaker 1: minutes lookings, but their defense is very good and that
• 13:25
  Speaker 1: could give the Eagles some problems. This could be an
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: ugly game. We'll see how it all unfolds. That is
• 13:30
  Speaker 1: this Sunday at one right here on ninety seven to
• 13:33
  Speaker 1: three ESPN, Jeff Mosher from the Inside of the Birds
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: podcast Philly Voice dot Com. Today's Football at four. Thanks
• 13:39
  Speaker 1: moch all. Right, there's Jeff Mosher, everybody from the Inside
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: of the Birds podcast, and of course every day at
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: four o'clock we bring you football at four here on
• 13:47
  Speaker 1: the Sports Bash