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Football at Four: The Challenges Ahead For the Eagles vs. Buccaneers · Inside the Birds: A Philadelphia Eagles Podcast

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  Speaker 1: Football and four powered by the Inside of the Merged
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  Speaker 1: podcasts brought to you by the Fanatics Sports Book at
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  Speaker 1: Ocean Casino Resort in Atlantic City. And of course it's
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  Speaker 1: a Thursday. We're getting closer to the Eagles and the
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  Speaker 1: Buccaneers will break it all down. Adam Kaplan's in today.
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  Speaker 1: The Eagles suffering injuries. Sixers now have an injury problem.
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  Speaker 1: As we just told you, Jared McCain suffered a torn
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  Speaker 1: UCLA tear in his not UCLA a ucl tear in
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  Speaker 1: his right thumb that will probably force him to miss
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  Speaker 1: the start of the season. Nolan Smith yesterday and others.
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  Speaker 1: We're gonna talk about the Eagles and how it affects
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  Speaker 1: them and more. Right now, Adam Kaplan is in for
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  Speaker 1: today's edition of Football at four. Well, the hits just
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  Speaker 1: keep on coming for these teams all of a sudden, Adam,
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  Speaker 1: what's going on, man?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, I didn't know about the mccains things. See,
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  Speaker 2: that's I know that injury a little bit. Yeah, he
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  Speaker 2: obviously want to be ready, not season ending or anything
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  Speaker 2: like that. But that's disappointing with McCain coming back from
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  Speaker 2: his torm meniscus. So cheez you know, the guy was
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  Speaker 2: so good before he got hurt, but getting to the
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  Speaker 2: Eagles MIC. So the Eagles are wrapping up practice so
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  Speaker 2: they won't have the injury report. Yesterday was really late,
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  Speaker 2: so we're hoping we get it before six o'clock to night.
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  Speaker 2: We should should be here with the next hour, but
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  Speaker 2: we'll see what happens. But Mike, yeah, they have. It's
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  Speaker 2: just really funny. We were talking about this. Jeff and
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  Speaker 2: I were talking about this on our show this morning,
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  Speaker 2: that you know, all of a sudden, what is with
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  Speaker 2: these last two buckss, this one and the prior one
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  Speaker 2: where Lane Johnson and Johnny Smith and A. J. Brown
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  Speaker 2: didn't play, So we thought Eagles were in good thrugh
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  Speaker 2: shape all the sudden. Zack Bond's got a knee injury,
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  Speaker 2: John Camps triceps, Daryland Smith that you mentioned out of
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  Speaker 2: nowhere reinjureders left tryps. He strained. It's it's not torn,
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  Speaker 2: but he's when when you stretch your triceps, when you
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  Speaker 2: strain it, you're stretching the fiber. So that's not good.
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  Speaker 2: So they've got a problem. Dry Jack's with the Gordin injury,
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  Speaker 2: Jakorin Bennett, Jeff saw he watched the All twenty two.
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  Speaker 2: He did say he might have unfortunately hurt his shoulder. Now,
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  Speaker 2: Mike Jaccorryan Bennett. Although Andrew had reported that Andrew check
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  Speaker 2: were where that the surgery was not needed for whatever
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  Speaker 2: the injury is, we should mention that ja Corey and
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  Speaker 2: Bennett has had shoulder surgeries on both, so let's hope
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  Speaker 2: it's not too bad. But Mike, yeah, all of the sudden, Mike, Yep,
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  Speaker 2: the Egles have injury problems.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, you know, obviously the big one would be right now,
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  Speaker 1: Nolan Smith because we know he is not there Bond
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  Speaker 1: if he couldn't play Campbell, if he couldn't play, you'd
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  Speaker 1: be looking at Smile Manden and Jeremiah Trotter. I would
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  Speaker 1: imagine as the linebacking corps there, Dorry, Jackson and Bennett
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  Speaker 1: if both those guys don't we know Bennett is out,
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  Speaker 1: if Jackson couldn't go, I guess Ringo's knee keeps coming up.
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  Speaker 1: They did activate Perry Nickerson, they elevated Eli Rix to
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  Speaker 1: the practice squad, so they are preparing for some things here.
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  Speaker 1: But Nolan Smith, we know is out. So now, what
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  Speaker 1: what's the plan at edge with no Nolan Smith. How
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  Speaker 1: big of a loss is this for the Eagles defense?
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  Speaker 2: It is He's the best sadedrusher. Now, say, Darry Smith
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  Speaker 2: has way more experience. He's much bigger physically, and that
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  Speaker 2: does matter. But none of their edges really without help.
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  Speaker 2: Without Blitzemester, they just could not get consistent pressure. But
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  Speaker 2: when they blitzed Fanjo's blitz rate his way up this season.
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  Speaker 2: Why because he has to. We told you for the
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  Speaker 2: whole off season we had we had concerns about their
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  Speaker 2: past rush. It's come up if Fano had their same
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  Speaker 2: concerns because he's blitzing. So yeah, they've they've got a problem.
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  Speaker 2: We expected Darius Smith to see a lot of those reps.
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  Speaker 2: Josh Uche is very good in that third role now
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  Speaker 2: a Conkero, we expect him to actually play this week?
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  Speaker 2: Is he as ULARI should be active. Mike's not a lot,
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  Speaker 2: but he should be. We know that they only played
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  Speaker 2: three or four edges anyway, but they've they've got to
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  Speaker 2: figure out They've got to figure out a way to
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  Speaker 2: get a pass rush from Baker Mayfield, who, by the way,
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  Speaker 2: and won't get to the Bucks injuries in a second,
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  Speaker 2: is playing really, really well. What a story he has
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  Speaker 2: been to turn out around a career where he was
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  Speaker 2: the first pickover on twenty eighteen and until he got
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  Speaker 2: to Tampa, Mike, he was a bus But he's playing
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  Speaker 2: really good football. Last couple of seasons.
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  Speaker 1: Had of last year the Eagles, you know, they had
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  Speaker 1: pass rushing questions and then all of a sudden, you know,
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  Speaker 1: Brandon Graham ended up getting hurt. Uh, But by the
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  Speaker 1: end of the year, they're pass rushing questions kind of
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  Speaker 1: went away. Do they feel that they have the in
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  Speaker 1: house options here for the next couple of weeks or
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  Speaker 1: you know, they already brought Zadarius Smith in. Do they
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  Speaker 1: need to kick the tires outside the organization or do
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  Speaker 1: you anticipate o jalari Ouche getting you know, some more reps.
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  Speaker 2: No, that's what we just said. They're going to get
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  Speaker 2: those reps, Mink. But let's extrapolate and go down And
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  Speaker 2: you mentioned a couple of weeks. So we're now in
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  Speaker 2: week four, when we get to week eight, when we
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  Speaker 2: get to the trade deadline in four weeks, Mike, if
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  Speaker 2: it doesn't improve, and Howie Rose loves trading draft picks,
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  Speaker 2: that's when you do it. Yeah, uh, And they're not
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  Speaker 2: done a corner. They'll evaluate that one that it's corner
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  Speaker 2: is a much bigger need. And I'm not saying they're
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  Speaker 2: set with edge. They know they're not. But they like
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  Speaker 2: to be able to see. I like to get They
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  Speaker 2: love to get Ojelari on the field. You know, he's
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  Speaker 2: he's there. He's the guy who they signed to be
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  Speaker 2: that that hopefully the starter. It didn't work out or
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  Speaker 2: at least compete against jokes On and never doubt he's
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  Speaker 2: actually not playing at all this season. A conker who
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  Speaker 2: was signed off the street. The Browns cut him. Ouche's
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  Speaker 2: kind of revived his career. He's a smaller quick edge wresher,
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  Speaker 2: but the big one is a Darius Smith. He's a
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  Speaker 2: good football player who just turned thirty three. The Lions
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  Speaker 2: were not going to pay him. They caught him in
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  Speaker 2: the offseason. They did as I'm told they were interested
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  Speaker 2: in bringing him back at some point potentially, but there
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  Speaker 2: was a money problem there. They just didn't agree with
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  Speaker 2: the money he was making and any potential for him
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  Speaker 2: to come back to the lines his be because he
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  Speaker 2: goes got him and he's going to play a lot
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  Speaker 2: this week. So and He did talk about it yesterday
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  Speaker 2: with the media. He knows that it's still a learning process.
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  Speaker 2: This is different from Jim Schwartz's forty three front. It's
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  Speaker 2: different from the other thirty four fronts that he's played in.
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  Speaker 2: This is over five man front. The responsibilities are different.
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  Speaker 2: He'll probably line up in side a little bit here,
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  Speaker 2: so it's going to be different. But Mike Howie Roseenmoll
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  Speaker 2: assessed this because one thing you got to understand, Mike,
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  Speaker 2: and I felt this way coming too the season. I
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  Speaker 2: think it's definitely true. There are no dominant football teams
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  Speaker 2: this season. The Ravens are disappointing one and two. Their
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  Speaker 2: defense isn't very good. The Chiefs are one and two,
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  Speaker 2: The Bills are three and oh, Mike put their defense
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  Speaker 2: isn't very good. So it's completely wide open Mike in
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  Speaker 2: both conferences to make another run. And Vegles are a
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  Speaker 2: edge rush away right now from being a major factor.
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  Speaker 2: Plus they're one of six teams three and oh. You
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  Speaker 2: could say what you want the way that they've looked,
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  Speaker 2: but they are three.
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  Speaker 1: And oh they are. And obviously this Nolan Smith thing,
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  Speaker 1: as you said, it kind of came out of nowhere. Hey,
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  Speaker 1: all of a sudden, he's on the injured list and
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  Speaker 1: he is out now, so we will watch closely to
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  Speaker 1: see what they do to replace him. How they kind
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  Speaker 1: of divvy up those snaps this week, and obviously that
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  Speaker 1: means someone's gonna flip to the other side too, right,
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  Speaker 1: I mean that's the other thing is he primarily took
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  Speaker 1: one side and then Hunt and the other guy's kind
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  Speaker 1: of rotated on. But he was pretty much getting a
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  Speaker 1: bulk of the snaps where the other guys have kind
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  Speaker 1: of been rotating.
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  Speaker 2: Right, Well, are you talking about edge right when you.
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  Speaker 1: Look at Nolan Smith on the one side of the field.
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  Speaker 2: Heason Nolan Smith. Yes, yes, I'm sorry, I didn't hear
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  Speaker 2: what you said. Yes, yes, So look that that's going
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  Speaker 2: to be their plan. Zadarius should be able to play
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  Speaker 2: both sides, and that's what they're going to have to
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  Speaker 2: do to play the left side, Hunts their right ed tressure.
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  Speaker 2: So and then of course you got the quarnerback position,
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  Speaker 2: which is absolutely decimated Mike that you know, Look, Mike
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  Speaker 2: Kevins is not going to play with his Grade one
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  Speaker 2: plus hamstering strain. He's had major hamstering challenges over his career.
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  Speaker 2: That's really the one injury he's had since college, since
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  Speaker 2: text A and M he's had constant hamstering problems. But yeah,
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  Speaker 2: they've got they've got a problem obsequent Mitchell Tonic. We
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  Speaker 2: didn't know that before the season started. You mentioned Joey
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  Speaker 2: Jackson earlier here, Mike, and we know it's going to
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  Speaker 2: be struggled with the door. He hasn't played, particularly while
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  Speaker 2: he's been up and down, and you look at the
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  Speaker 2: situation now with what they have with Jaquorian Bennett going
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  Speaker 2: on IRN. The next up is Keiley Ringo. Now Ringo,
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  Speaker 2: you know he was beating out Sally. We know that
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  Speaker 2: it wasn't close in training camp for the second straight summer.
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  Speaker 2: It was over very early. He was actually at times
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  Speaker 2: running third team, So Harry Nickerson was added from their
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  Speaker 2: practice squad. He's a nickel, He's a shorter corner. Rigo's
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  Speaker 2: got ideal speed and length. But as we reported at
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  Speaker 2: the time when he was drafted, personal people told us
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  Speaker 2: he had significant stiffness in his lower hips. It's still there.
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  Speaker 2: Can't get rid of it. He runs well on the
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  Speaker 2: straight line, he has trouble stopping. As Greg co Sell
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  Speaker 2: told us, So these are the issues, folks, but you're
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  Speaker 2: not gonna have to The Eagles will not have to
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  Speaker 2: face Mike Evans. Look for a Mecca Obuka to play
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  Speaker 2: that exposition. If Chris Godwin plays, and the Bucks are
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  Speaker 2: very optimistic that he will, it wouldn't make more sense
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  Speaker 2: to him to play inside. Nothing set yet, but it
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  Speaker 2: would make more sense. And that's it. They're not. They
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  Speaker 2: don't have great depth because Jalen McMillin, a third round
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  Speaker 2: a couple of years ago, who would be the third
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  Speaker 2: receiver this week, He's on injury reserve, so they're down
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  Speaker 2: two receivers. This absolutely helps the Eagles. There's no question
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  Speaker 2: about it. If Mike Evans was playing, and I know
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  Speaker 2: I'm not on tomorrow, Andrew Is I would be. If
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  Speaker 2: Mike Evans was playing, I'd probably picked the Bucks. But
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  Speaker 2: without him, Mike the you could say what you want.
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  Speaker 2: I know the Eagles have problems at corner opps at Mitchell,
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  Speaker 2: but that you don't have to worry about Mike Emontson
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  Speaker 2: his strength. He's an incredible football player and in a
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  Speaker 2: sure higher fire Hall of Famer someday.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, and you know the Eagles had struggles with Tampa Bay.
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  Speaker 1: But one of the big things is is AJ Brown
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  Speaker 1: has not played last year. A J. Smith and Lane
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  Speaker 1: Johnson did not play in those games. That does change
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  Speaker 1: the perplection. But one of the things, and we played
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  Speaker 1: this last hour, Chris Canty was talking about this morning,
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  Speaker 1: which is and I want to get your opinion on
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  Speaker 1: this is you know, he says a team like Tampa
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  Speaker 1: has given them problems because you know, of the now,
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  Speaker 1: of course they've missed key personnels, but that they're willing
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  Speaker 1: to be physical enough with the Eagles, where a lot
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  Speaker 1: of teams can't match, like the Rams can't mismatch their physicality.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah. Well, look, you could throw out Week four last
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  Speaker 2: yer at one o'clock with those three key players on offense.
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  Speaker 2: It has no relevance to me. It means nothing to
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  Speaker 2: me when you're valued waiting the game because they Schmidty
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  Speaker 2: and Brown din't played Lane Johns. Of course they can't
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  Speaker 2: compete that game as a blow. I remember thinking like
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  Speaker 2: maybe because the Eagles are so competitive than Mack and
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  Speaker 2: I picked the Bucks the win. That's that they can
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  Speaker 2: make the close. No, that was it was thirty three sixteen.
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  Speaker 2: Now let's go to that playoff game, Mike. You know
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  Speaker 2: you mentioned you know what happened, and this is in
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  Speaker 2: the midst of the Eagles being an absolute train wreck
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  Speaker 2: and they lost thirty two to nine. Mike. That was
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  Speaker 2: just that was just really really bad, Mike. I mean
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  Speaker 2: that that was they were not competitive. And you might
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  Speaker 2: remember some years ago also when they played the Bucks.
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  Speaker 2: That's when uh, who is the guy? Uh oh Adam
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  Speaker 2: Bryan Kerrigan, you know, a sign and then Josh went
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  Speaker 2: went up not playing through that illness that came up
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  Speaker 2: crazy right before the game. Was very serious, but he
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  Speaker 2: fought obviously was fine afterwards. Yeah. Yeah, context matters, man.
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  Speaker 2: You don't get that on the internet or social media.
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  Speaker 2: People never use contexts to rarely do. But this is
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  Speaker 2: the context. I'm not a cheerleader. I don't I call
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  Speaker 2: it down the middle. There's no consequence who wins or
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  Speaker 2: loses to me, although it's good for inside of the
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  Speaker 2: Birds of Eagles win more than they lose. But you
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  Speaker 2: got to have concept. So again, throw last week, last
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  Speaker 2: year out. Both teams have significant injury concerns. Mike Evans
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  Speaker 2: is a major one. Oh, but now the Bucks do
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  Speaker 2: believe that Tristan Wurf's they're all pro. Left tackle is
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  Speaker 2: a very good chance of playing, but they won't know
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  Speaker 2: until after Friday's practice. They seem to be even more
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  Speaker 2: optimist to go on Godwin, but they have to go
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  Speaker 2: through the next two days. And I do want to
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  Speaker 2: mention this. We're going to talk more about this on
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  Speaker 2: a pregame show with Greg Hosel. They have five starting
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  Speaker 2: offensive line changes from last season due to injury. Their
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  Speaker 2: center Gram Barton has moved to left tackle. Logic clients
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  Speaker 2: at left guard. He started his first NFL game. Ben Brettison,
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  Speaker 2: who was going to play guard, is playing center. They
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  Speaker 2: signed a kid off their practice squad last week, Luke
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  Speaker 2: Haggard to start a right guard, Charlie hack who is
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  Speaker 2: going to back up a left tackle. He moved a
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  Speaker 2: right tackle for Luca Deck. He was on injured reserve
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  Speaker 2: of Mike Hey. I don't know if it's not playing,
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  Speaker 2: but this has an advantage for the Eagles.
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  Speaker 1: I mean, let's be real here, Well, especially in a
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  Speaker 1: week when you're light a pass rusher right, I mean, hey,
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  Speaker 1: you're down a pass rusher. They're down multiple offensive linemen here,
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  Speaker 1: so you got to figure out a a to get
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  Speaker 1: through these four weeks here. It all starts this Sunday
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  Speaker 1: against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. By the way, they're the
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  Speaker 1: only team since the merger who has won on the
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  Speaker 1: last the last possession. Each of their first three wins
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  Speaker 1: it turned out to be wins for them, So they
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  Speaker 1: are kind of scratching and clawed with these victories, much
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  Speaker 1: like the Eagles have been. They've had a lot of close,
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  Speaker 1: wonky finishes. In fact, they had a block field goal
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  Speaker 1: in their game that almost cost them last week. So
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  Speaker 1: that's an area of this game to watch, right, Adam
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  Speaker 1: is special.
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  Speaker 2: Teams it is now the Eagles have to and I
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  Speaker 2: know they're working on it. The five mishandled kickoffs, they
• 12:37
  Speaker 2: are lucky you didn't fumble they because they were wobblers.
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  Speaker 2: You know. It's the way that it's a strategy that
• 12:43
  Speaker 2: some teams employ where they pop it up and the
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  Speaker 2: ball wobbles, and you know you have to you have
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  Speaker 2: to be better with ball security. But bread Man's been phenomenous.
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  Speaker 2: To the punter Jake Elliott's back, he's been great. They
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  Speaker 2: got to be better just overall kickoff for turns, they're
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  Speaker 2: just not very good at it, and that's something that
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  Speaker 2: they have to work for with. But the overall is
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  Speaker 2: a really good football team. They somehow they're three and zero.
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  Speaker 2: I now I do know some peop reliably. I feel like
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  Speaker 2: it's twenty twenty three all over again. Let's let's have
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  Speaker 2: more information, Let's let's let them get healthier. But folks,
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  Speaker 2: we know going into the season edgra is a problem.
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  Speaker 2: The corner of position opposite Mitchell is a problem that's
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  Speaker 2: not changing right now. And Howie Roseman, well, I'm sure
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  Speaker 2: well addressed. If he's not happy by the trade deadline.
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  Speaker 2: He always does when.
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  Speaker 1: He can, all right, Yeah, and they have a lot
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  Speaker 1: of ammunition draft picks to make something happen. We'll keep
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  Speaker 1: an eye on that. Adam kaplan pinch hitting for Andrew today.
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  Speaker 1: Andrew will be on tomorrow show for Football at four
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  Speaker 1: right here on the Sports Basho when we get a
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  Speaker 1: look closer at the matchups to watch between the Eagles
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  Speaker 1: and the Buccaneers. Adam, thanks man
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  Speaker 2: You gotta thank you.