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Inside The Birds Week 16 Pregame Show With Greg Cosell: Philadelphia Eagles V. Washington Commanders · Inside the Birds: A Philadelphia Eagles Podcast

• 0:09
  Speaker 1: Hello, everyone, Welcome to the Inside the Birds pregame show.
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: I'm Jeff Mosher with Adam Kaplan, and of course we
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: have Greg Cosel. He helps us break down the tape
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: of the Eagles and their opponent and their opponent on Saturday,
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: you get another unconventional slot for the Eagles is the
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: NFC East rival Commanders, and at the beginning of the
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: year we all thought this might be a very big game.
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: They're gonna play each other twice over the final three weeks.
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: It's a big game for the Eagles because they can
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: wrap up the NFC East, but not necessarily one for
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: the Commanders, who are playing it out as they have
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: had an abysmal season. Eagles are nine and five and
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: the Commanders are four and ten, and Adam, We've talked
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: about it so much, so I'd be remiss if I
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: didn't start the show saying that the Eagles are this
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: close doing something that no NFC East team has done since.
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: The Eagles actually did it more than twenty years ago,
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: and that's repeat as NFC East champs.
• 1:12
  Speaker 2: Yeah, they did it four years in a row, one
• 1:14
  Speaker 2: for ROH four. Yeah, it's really hard to believe. I
• 1:16
  Speaker 2: remember when I told you this like three or four
• 1:18
  Speaker 2: years ago, we talked about EGO. You sure about that,
• 1:20
  Speaker 2: I said, dude, I couldn't believe. When I looked it up,
• 1:22
  Speaker 2: I heard it so insane. I'm like, this can't be right,
• 1:24
  Speaker 2: but it is.
• 1:25
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 1:25
  Speaker 2: So look, Washington's been besieged by injury. That's why they're
• 1:28
  Speaker 2: in this spot. It really started early on. They lost
• 1:31
  Speaker 2: to Austin Eckler, who was their starter at running back
• 1:33
  Speaker 2: to begin the season. They were gonna sort of hand
• 1:36
  Speaker 2: it off to Crosskey Merritt as the season would progress.
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: But things change heat tours Achilles Eckler did, and they
• 1:44
  Speaker 2: had significant problems at receiver with McLaurin. He signs his
• 1:48
  Speaker 2: contract and he's out for several weeks. Then McCaffrey he
• 1:53
  Speaker 2: suffers a serious injury. He's on injury reserve. Then both
• 1:56
  Speaker 2: edges are lost for the season. Latimore, you could argue
• 1:59
  Speaker 2: whether he's the same notty towards ACL. Bobby Wagner is
• 2:02
  Speaker 2: a lingering knee injury. We'll see about that and we'll
• 2:06
  Speaker 2: get the injured port later. But just bring this up
• 2:08
  Speaker 2: because you can't predict these things. But the one thing though,
• 2:11
  Speaker 2: where I think the Commanders went wrong is they became
• 2:13
  Speaker 2: the oldest team in the National Football League.
• 2:15
  Speaker 3: That's not what you want to do.
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: Nope, No, that's definitely it. And Greg, I mean the
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: guys who have been hurt for the Commanders this year,
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: because Adam and I said going into the year that
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: the one knock on Washington, even if they're at full strength,
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: is that they really didn't have a bonafide electric playmaker.
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: I mean, Terry mclaurin's are very good, consistent thousand yard receiver,
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: but you looked at their running back corps, their tight
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: end core, and even with Deebo Samuel added with a
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: couple of years past his best year, it didn't feel
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: like they were going to have a real game changer.
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: And then when guys started getting hurt, like Adam mentioned,
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: Eckler and McLaurin missed for a while, I mean, and
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: then of course Jayde Daniels missing all that time, they
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: just don't have a whole lot of offensive firepower.
• 3:00
  Speaker 4: I wonder you don't know what their thought process was,
• 3:03
  Speaker 4: but you wonder if they thought that Jayden Daniels was
• 3:06
  Speaker 4: that guy. But again, and he certainly had a phenomenal
• 3:10
  Speaker 4: rookie season you can't. You're not going to change your
• 3:12
  Speaker 4: view of his rookie season. But even when he played
• 3:15
  Speaker 4: this year. You know, it's funny I thought that this
• 3:18
  Speaker 4: year he was running too much. He got into that
• 3:21
  Speaker 4: mode of I'm gonna make plays as opposed to you know,
• 3:25
  Speaker 4: I'm gonna throw the football. And I'm not saying that's
• 3:28
  Speaker 4: the reason he got hurt. You never know, there's quarterbacks
• 3:30
  Speaker 4: that run that don't get hurt. There's quarterbacks that play
• 3:32
  Speaker 4: in the pocket that could hurt. So I'm not going
• 3:34
  Speaker 4: to make a generalization that he got hurt because he moves.
• 3:37
  Speaker 4: But I'm just talking about the way in which he
• 3:39
  Speaker 4: was playing. I felt like he got caught up and
• 3:41
  Speaker 4: feeling like, you know, I've got to make plays. And
• 3:44
  Speaker 4: maybe what you said, Jeff was the reason. Maybe he
• 3:46
  Speaker 4: felt like, hey, if I don't make plays, we you know,
• 3:49
  Speaker 4: particularly since McLaurin missed so much time, maybe he felt
• 3:53
  Speaker 4: that he he was the only one who could really
• 3:56
  Speaker 4: quote unquote be a playmaker in their offense.
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: Well, they didn't really have what I felt, and what
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: Adam felt was a real establishable run game with a
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: running back. So I think if you add up Jayden
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: daniels rushing totals and add them to Mariota's rushing totals
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: this year that leads the team in rushing. They have
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: a guy and we'll talk about in Jacory Krossky Merrit
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: who has some promise. And you know, they had Rodriguez
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: and Eckler, but they didn't have like the way the
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: Chargers went and got Omar and Hampton in the draft,
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: they didn't have that guy.
• 4:26
  Speaker 4: Well, the crazy thing is their fourth in the league
• 4:29
  Speaker 4: in rushing if you just look at the yardage total.
• 4:31
  Speaker 4: But you don't feel that way watching the tape. I mean,
• 4:34
  Speaker 4: you know, sometimes you know there's certain teams you're watch,
• 4:36
  Speaker 4: you to go out, they're really good at that, and
• 4:38
  Speaker 4: then the numbers validate that. There's other teams you watch,
• 4:42
  Speaker 4: like the Commanders in their run game, and you don't
• 4:44
  Speaker 4: come away or I don't, maybe others do. I can
• 4:46
  Speaker 4: only tell you my feeling when I'm watching their tape.
• 4:49
  Speaker 4: I don't come away saying, boy, this is a really
• 4:51
  Speaker 4: good run game that you better stop or else. I
• 4:54
  Speaker 4: don't feel that way watching the tape.
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: Yeah, that's true. And it's not just that they run
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: the ball a lot. I mean they do average about
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: four point eight yards per Yeah.
• 5:04
  Speaker 4: The numbers are very good because you know, I looked
• 5:07
  Speaker 4: up the numbers because, like I said, I I usually
• 5:09
  Speaker 4: look up up after I watched tape, not before, and
• 5:12
  Speaker 4: I you know, I've been watching them. You know, I'm
• 5:15
  Speaker 4: not gonna sit here and say I've watched every game, obviously,
• 5:17
  Speaker 4: because their season has not been one of those where
• 5:19
  Speaker 4: I felt like, oh, I got to get to the
• 5:20
  Speaker 4: Commander's tape. You know. It depends on who they play, right,
• 5:24
  Speaker 4: you know, But but I just never felt watching them.
• 5:27
  Speaker 4: And we can talk about the backs that will play,
• 5:29
  Speaker 4: because those guys I'm pretty familiar with, but I just
• 5:33
  Speaker 4: never felt like, Wow, this is a run game. You
• 5:35
  Speaker 4: better shut down or you just can't can't stop this offense.
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: Yep, yep. All right, So this will be an interesting
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: game for the Eagles. Obviously. They're coming off a thirty
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: one nothering win over the Raiders. The Commanders, you got
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: to give them credit. They got humiliated, and they two
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: weeks ago they are three. They played a great game
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: against the Broncos, should have won it, lost it, but
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: they really showed up. Then they go and play the
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: Vikings and they get completely white in that game, and
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: then they come back and they beat the Giants. So
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: for the second straight week, they're they're playing an opponent
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: that's bad but gets off the bus. I mean, whatever
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: happened in Minnesota happened. But two of the last three
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: games they played pretty tough and they won one of them.
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: So you expect them, Adam to be looking at the
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: Eagles and and remember, you know last year.
• 6:21
  Speaker 4: I don't think that.
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: I think the Commanders are a veteran team. That's the
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: one thing about being an older team.
• 6:25
  Speaker 3: They're very veteran.
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: I don't think we're going to show up and be like, Eh,
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: we're gonna hand the Eagles a game. I think they're
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: gonna want to show up and be representative.
• 6:32
  Speaker 2: Well, it's a divisual game. As you've said for many years,
• 6:35
  Speaker 2: you never know about these games though. Man, they're just
• 6:37
  Speaker 2: this one. I know this one. Although look it and
• 6:41
  Speaker 2: we'll see Brandon Coleman's going to start at left tackle,
• 6:43
  Speaker 2: who's not really left tackle at the NFL level. They
• 6:46
  Speaker 2: found that out the hard way. But they have some playmakers.
• 6:48
  Speaker 2: They have some guys who could, but not not what
• 6:51
  Speaker 2: you're looking for it explosive guys. They don't really have that,
• 6:54
  Speaker 2: and that's been the problem, and they're playing guys who
• 6:56
  Speaker 2: really shouldn't be playing a lot on defense. But when
• 6:58
  Speaker 2: you run out of players, but they play hard. For
• 7:00
  Speaker 2: Dan Campbell, they did beat the Giants rather thoroughly, and
• 7:04
  Speaker 2: that that Denver game is probably one where they go wow.
• 7:07
  Speaker 2: I'm sure the coaches had a trouble sleeping that night,
• 7:09
  Speaker 2: that they had to get up early because they had
• 7:11
  Speaker 2: to get the work for the next day. But yeah,
• 7:13
  Speaker 2: it's a situation where you kind of know what you're
• 7:16
  Speaker 2: getting from Washington. We'll go into the matchups because I
• 7:21
  Speaker 2: just talk to them. I kind of know how that
• 7:22
  Speaker 2: what they're thinking is on offense and how they try
• 7:24
  Speaker 2: to shorten the game a little bits. That's it's interesting
• 7:28
  Speaker 2: that the yards per carry.
• 7:29
  Speaker 3: I didn't know it was that high.
• 7:30
  Speaker 2: Overall, I wouldn't have thought that, but I know Crosskey
• 7:33
  Speaker 2: Merrit has been a big part of that. But overall
• 7:36
  Speaker 2: they're just a team that's so decimated by injury. They're
• 7:39
  Speaker 2: hanging on. But I give Dan dan Quinn, not Cambell. No,
• 7:42
  Speaker 2: I said Campbell, but dan Quinn credit coach is hard.
• 7:45
  Speaker 2: You see him on hard Knocks. By the way, he's
• 7:48
  Speaker 2: got the attention of his players. But our friend Zach
• 7:51
  Speaker 2: Ertz is going to play. I mean, that's another guy.
• 7:53
  Speaker 2: You lose all of these players. It's just hard to compete.
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: No doubt about it. So that's a good segue. Let's
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: talk about the injuries. Start off with the Eagles injuries.
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: I don't think it's any shock the way the week started,
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: especially that Jyllen Carter and Lane Johnson are not going
• 8:09
  Speaker 1: to play in the game. They've been ruled out of
• 8:12
  Speaker 1: the game.
• 8:12
  Speaker 4: Now.
• 8:12
  Speaker 1: They thought originally, obviously they didn't put Blane Johnson on
• 8:16
  Speaker 1: IR because they were hoping he'd be able to make
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: it back for this game, because this would be the
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: fifth straight game he'll miss. But that is not the case.
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: He didn't even get out and be able to practice. Adam,
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: and then of course we know, we know what Jillen
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: Carter and I forgot to mention this, so I'm gonna
• 8:32
  Speaker 1: mention this now in this show. Greg, you may have
• 8:34
  Speaker 1: recalled last show, I teased talking to a medical sports
• 8:40
  Speaker 1: orthopedist about the PRP injections, and I never went in
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: to what he told me and what there's a lot
• 8:45
  Speaker 1: of skepticism in the medical community about the actual efficacy
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: of PRP injections because but the platelet rich plasma where
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: they take your blood, they spin it, they separate the plasma,
• 8:57
  Speaker 1: and they reinject it into the area that is hurting.
• 9:00
  Speaker 4: For it's the thing you can't have done in the
• 9:02
  Speaker 4: United States, and you have to go out of.
• 9:04
  Speaker 2: The Kobe Bryant had it, Yeah to Marco Murray had it.
• 9:08
  Speaker 2: But now it's now it's you're able to get it trendy.
• 9:11
  Speaker 2: Now you're hearing about more guys get it.
• 9:13
  Speaker 1: But the feedback I got was that there's no actual
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: proven data that this works. And someone suggested to me
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: that they feel like, you know, some kind of treatments
• 9:24
  Speaker 1: can be considered more mental than physical, Like you think
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: you're helping yourself out, so you automatically feel like you
• 9:29
  Speaker 1: feel better, and that that's how it was put to me.
• 9:32
  Speaker 4: So well, sometimes I think I'm thirty years old, but
• 9:35
  Speaker 4: somehow my body doesn't react like that.
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: You need an injection.
• 9:38
  Speaker 3: Then, when you were a shortstop and a small forward
• 9:45
  Speaker 3: in college at Amherst, did you what did you do
• 9:47
  Speaker 3: to rehab?
• 9:48
  Speaker 4: Uh? I Now, back then you didn't really you did
• 9:51
  Speaker 4: kind of what about your business?
• 9:53
  Speaker 3: You know, did you go to the outhouse or something
• 9:55
  Speaker 3: back then?
• 9:57
  Speaker 4: Yeah? Yeah, we didn't have in our plumbing then, so yeah,
• 10:00
  Speaker 4: I had to go to the outhouse.
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: Greg. Was it a leather batting helmet right right, right,
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: right right, kicking Greg baseball?
• 10:11
  Speaker 4: The real small one that was yeah?
• 10:12
  Speaker 3: Yeah, oh wow that that I got that one. I
• 10:15
  Speaker 3: get go ahead. That is funny.
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: I'm shocked you didn't sign with the Commanders this off season,
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: to be honest with you, because you know, they got
• 10:20
  Speaker 1: every other old guy an athlete.
• 10:22
  Speaker 4: They After my junior year in high school, I got
• 10:25
  Speaker 4: letters from major league teams. You know, it's pretty cool.
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: It's pretty good.
• 10:29
  Speaker 3: Nice, it was very cool by looking at you, that's
• 10:31
  Speaker 3: pretty good.
• 10:35
  Speaker 1: Sure you weren't an athlete, all right, right right?
• 10:38
  Speaker 4: Right?
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: Uh So anyway, Adam, obviously the Eagles and and Greg
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: will be without there. Maybe their two best overall players
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: went healthy, and that's Lane Johnson and Jaylen Carter for
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: another game. As for everybody else, now, Caim law to Adam,
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: I want to talk to you about this. Yeah, he's
• 10:56
  Speaker 1: questionable with a singer. Now, we always say when you're
• 10:58
  Speaker 1: questionable and you're able to practic this on that last
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: day of practice right, which I believe on Uh he
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: was able to be a full participant.
• 11:06
  Speaker 3: Yeah he took whatever. Yeah, so he should go.
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: He should go. But the stinger, you and I know
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: this is a tricky one in that I've seen guys
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: practicifying and then wake up the next day or have
• 11:18
  Speaker 1: a walk through or do something or pregame warm up,
• 11:20
  Speaker 1: and they're right back out. So this is the one
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: case where I expect I'm sure we expect cam Latser
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: to play, but it wouldn't surprise me if he had
• 11:28
  Speaker 1: a setback or if he comes out of the game early,
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: because that's it's.
• 11:32
  Speaker 4: Real interesting we're talking about him, whereas a month ago,
• 11:35
  Speaker 4: you know, the name probably wouldn't even have been mentioned.
• 11:38
  Speaker 4: Now we're coming off a game where he played approximately
• 11:40
  Speaker 4: twenty snaps and was clearly a meaningful part of their
• 11:44
  Speaker 4: game plan because on their first series, as we discussed
• 11:47
  Speaker 4: on inside the tape, he was out there for three
• 11:49
  Speaker 4: or four snaps and it was clear and they used
• 11:52
  Speaker 4: him meaningfully. He wasn't just out there because they wanted
• 11:55
  Speaker 4: three tight ends. They used him as a essentially a
• 11:58
  Speaker 4: lead blocker in the run game. So I mean, we're
• 12:01
  Speaker 4: not talking about him playing throwaway snack. He was clearly
• 12:05
  Speaker 4: part of their game plan, all.
• 12:06
  Speaker 2: Right, So with lots of Jeff on your point, that's
• 12:09
  Speaker 2: why they listened to him as questionable because they're not
• 12:13
  Speaker 2: totally sure. They probably part of the sting of rehabits.
• 12:17
  Speaker 2: You want to see how the player reacts to practice,
• 12:20
  Speaker 2: because you get massaged out. The typical way is the
• 12:22
  Speaker 2: player gets the shoulders or the neck massage or both,
• 12:27
  Speaker 2: and you see how he feels. You communicate with him,
• 12:29
  Speaker 2: and then he gets either clear for practice, he doesn't. Well,
• 12:31
  Speaker 2: he got clear for practice. Whatever reps he gets, he got.
• 12:34
  Speaker 2: He took his normal reps on Thursday. Today, it's Friday,
• 12:37
  Speaker 2: so he's going to get go through the walk through.
• 12:39
  Speaker 2: You hope for they fly I believe Friday afternoon. Yep,
• 12:43
  Speaker 2: so we'll see what happens.
• 12:44
  Speaker 3: Yeah, but he Greg just said it all of a sudden,
• 12:47
  Speaker 3: this guy's very important and it's not just as a fullback,
• 12:50
  Speaker 3: you know.
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: Right, No, And just so people understand, who are listening
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: to the show. In week fifteen, on your final practice
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: of the week, it's usually Friday. This one's Thursday. First
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: Saturday game. You are not in pads. This is not
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: a heavy practice, you're not really testing the ability of
• 13:06
  Speaker 1: someone's shoulder or neck to hold up to contact. I mean,
• 13:10
  Speaker 1: you're you're having really light practices right now. They'll walk
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: through earlier in the week on Tuesday. So that's why
• 13:17
  Speaker 1: I say this is one time where you look at
• 13:19
  Speaker 1: at a guy who's expected to play and listen is questionable,
• 13:23
  Speaker 1: and you just you expect them to play, but you
• 13:26
  Speaker 1: just never know.
• 13:27
  Speaker 4: No. And your point is a good one, Jeff, because
• 13:29
  Speaker 4: at this time of year, for most teams, it's the
• 13:32
  Speaker 4: mental reps more than the physical reps, especially for a
• 13:35
  Speaker 4: team like the Eagles that pretty much you know, they
• 13:37
  Speaker 4: know they're going to be in the playoffs. I mean
• 13:39
  Speaker 4: pretty much. I don't know is it official that they
• 13:41
  Speaker 4: that won the division.
• 13:42
  Speaker 3: Or you know, no there magic numbers one.
• 13:47
  Speaker 4: I mean, you know they're going to win the division
• 13:48
  Speaker 4: be in the playoffs. You certainly don't want to go
• 13:50
  Speaker 4: into the playoffs with guys that are worn out and tired. So,
• 13:53
  Speaker 4: I mean, at this time of the year, you know,
• 13:55
  Speaker 4: it's more of the mental reps and the classroom work
• 13:57
  Speaker 4: and and those kinds of things that it is going
• 13:59
  Speaker 4: on on the field and smacking people around. You're not
• 14:02
  Speaker 4: doing that right.
• 14:03
  Speaker 1: And secondarily, to add to this, Saquon Barkley has also
• 14:06
  Speaker 1: been on the injury report all week with a stinger.
• 14:08
  Speaker 1: Now he practiced in full on Thursday, and I believe
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: he carries no injury designation. Is that correct? No game
• 14:14
  Speaker 1: status designation. I'm sorry, game status, which which shows you.
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: I mean, he and lat two have the same thing,
• 14:20
  Speaker 1: but a lot too is carrying an injury designation. And
• 14:23
  Speaker 1: that's why I wanted to make that distinction there, because
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: as you just said, Adham, they clearly have a little
• 14:28
  Speaker 1: bit of concern about that stinger.
• 14:31
  Speaker 2: Correct, Yeah, but not all singers are the same the
• 14:33
  Speaker 2: way you feel it could be different from the other guys.
• 14:35
  Speaker 2: So yeah, and this is what unfortunately we're less enna.
• 14:38
  Speaker 2: Jordan Howard's career is the stingers. It was really bad
• 14:42
  Speaker 2: if you remember folks, he had it real bad. So anyway, yeah,
• 14:47
  Speaker 2: that but other than that, though, we were not expecting
• 14:50
  Speaker 2: all week Carter Johnson to play because once Lane did
• 14:53
  Speaker 2: not participate in the walkthrough on Tuesday, that was a
• 14:55
  Speaker 2: bad sign.
• 14:56
  Speaker 3: So they're out.
• 14:57
  Speaker 2: We know it's going to replace him, but if they
• 15:01
  Speaker 2: are on a short week, well, but the good thing
• 15:04
  Speaker 2: is Jeff as I sent it back to you. It's
• 15:06
  Speaker 2: not like they had a lot of snaps in this
• 15:08
  Speaker 2: pass game, not on defense anyway.
• 15:11
  Speaker 3: No, But I mean, like twenty five because one of
• 15:14
  Speaker 3: the shortest game.
• 15:14
  Speaker 4: We were probably very happy about that. What's that You're
• 15:18
  Speaker 4: probably very happy about that. Yeah, a week fifteen game
• 15:22
  Speaker 4: and not have to play. And you know, probably the
• 15:24
  Speaker 4: starters with a few exceptions, played less than forty snaps
• 15:28
  Speaker 4: because they did on the last series put in you know,
• 15:30
  Speaker 4: the Trotters of the World and the Mondings of the World.
• 15:33
  Speaker 4: So I mean they played less than forty snaps, and
• 15:37
  Speaker 4: you know, I guess it gives Cooper Degene more time
• 15:39
  Speaker 4: with his girlfriend.
• 15:41
  Speaker 3: I don't know anything about that, but I saw the rumors,
• 15:43
  Speaker 3: but I just don't know.
• 15:46
  Speaker 1: The good news is full participants and ready to go
• 15:49
  Speaker 1: or Zach Bourne with the hand Tank Pigsby had an
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: illness throughout the week. Fred Johnson, who I believe missed
• 15:55
  Speaker 1: practice or he was at practice but didn't participate. I
• 15:57
  Speaker 1: believe that was Wednesday, good to go, Jalen Philip's good
• 16:00
  Speaker 1: to go, and away we go with the Eagles. Now
• 16:03
  Speaker 1: Washington at him obviously the big injury for them is
• 16:08
  Speaker 1: the oblique that is going to keep their left tackle,
• 16:11
  Speaker 1: Laramie Tunsell out. So Brandon Coleman, as you already mentioned,
• 16:15
  Speaker 1: is going to fill in. He played left tackle last
• 16:17
  Speaker 1: year as a rookie and had some down moments. I mean,
• 16:20
  Speaker 1: he was a rookie. You shouldn't have been playing left tackle.
• 16:23
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and he replaced Tunsell last week and he also
• 16:28
  Speaker 2: started a guard earlier this season. They knew as soon
• 16:30
  Speaker 2: as last season was over that Colmo will not return
• 16:33
  Speaker 2: as their left tackle, but they saw him as a
• 16:36
  Speaker 2: right tackle a guard. But they don't have anybody else,
• 16:39
  Speaker 2: so he's going to have to do it. And again
• 16:41
  Speaker 2: he filled in last week. The other guys are out
• 16:43
  Speaker 2: Jane Daniels is. So what they're doing with Daniels is
• 16:45
  Speaker 2: he'll practice every week, but he will not dress for
• 16:47
  Speaker 2: any game. They're trying to protect him with that left
• 16:50
  Speaker 2: elbow dislocation. Now Tunsell did that. This is what's interesting
• 16:54
  Speaker 2: about this one that he's out. He did get some
• 16:55
  Speaker 2: work in a Wednesday, but either he didn't he probably
• 16:58
  Speaker 2: didn't rack well enough to it.
• 17:00
  Speaker 3: Obliques.
• 17:00
  Speaker 2: If you're a baseball if you're a pitcher, you're out
• 17:02
  Speaker 2: two months with an oblique injury. Yeah, it's a side injury.
• 17:08
  Speaker 2: Kolston Yankov, who they actually like that he's kind of
• 17:10
  Speaker 2: like there, he's kind of a developmental tight end. Who
• 17:14
  Speaker 2: who's filling in as the second ten end and the
• 17:16
  Speaker 2: third tenand depending who's been available. He's out with an
• 17:18
  Speaker 2: acco injury. So they're down obviously, ERT's Ben Sinnett is
• 17:21
  Speaker 2: now their move tight end, and Jonathan Jones, by the way,
• 17:25
  Speaker 2: they thought they were going to have him, Jeff veteran corner. Well,
• 17:29
  Speaker 2: he took a lot of reps Tuesday and Wednesday. He
• 17:31
  Speaker 2: obviously didn't feel right. He didn't work on Thursday. He's questionable.
• 17:34
  Speaker 2: And Johnny Newton has got an illness who was added
• 17:37
  Speaker 2: after Thursday's practice. So but the good news they're gonna
• 17:40
  Speaker 2: get Chris Rodriguez back, who they like because he is physical,
• 17:45
  Speaker 2: where Crost Merret is not. Bobby Wagner was cleared. He
• 17:49
  Speaker 2: did get work. He took all of the ones on Thursday.
• 17:52
  Speaker 2: Now this one I mentioned on my I did that
• 17:55
  Speaker 2: injury update on Thursday morning. Jeff Drake Jackson will make
• 17:58
  Speaker 2: his Washington debut. As a matter of fact, Greg he
• 18:01
  Speaker 2: hadn't played in the last two years, but he's going
• 18:02
  Speaker 2: to play in this game. What do you remember about him,
• 18:04
  Speaker 2: Drake Jackson?
• 18:05
  Speaker 4: Do you mean the kid who was drafted by the
• 18:06
  Speaker 4: forty nine ers? Yes, yes, yeah, usk wow, God, it
• 18:10
  Speaker 4: seems like that was about ten years ago. I'd have
• 18:15
  Speaker 4: to look him up because it's been a while. But
• 18:17
  Speaker 4: you know, he was long. He was not explosive, but
• 18:21
  Speaker 4: he was somewhat athletic, and that that's the difference. You
• 18:24
  Speaker 4: can be athletic and not explosive. And there were a
• 18:28
  Speaker 4: lot of people who thought he had a chance to
• 18:29
  Speaker 4: be a good player. I can't remember everyone, you know,
• 18:31
  Speaker 4: every detail about when I when I evaluated him, because
• 18:35
  Speaker 4: I did. He you know, came from a big program
• 18:37
  Speaker 4: and one round was he initially drafted? Yeah, twenty twenty two.
• 18:42
  Speaker 3: Second major knee problems, major injuries.
• 18:45
  Speaker 4: So is that why he hasn't played the last couple
• 18:47
  Speaker 4: of years. Yeah?
• 18:48
  Speaker 3: The Niners cut him.
• 18:49
  Speaker 2: Yeah, the Niners cut him earlier in this offseason in May. Okay,
• 18:54
  Speaker 2: they kind of moved on and had enough. It's really
• 18:55
  Speaker 2: it's crazy that Notiners don't have a lot of patience.
• 18:57
  Speaker 4: Guys.
• 18:58
  Speaker 3: They just don't know that well.
• 19:00
  Speaker 4: They cut I believe I believe he failed or physical
• 19:03
  Speaker 4: and that's why he did right.
• 19:05
  Speaker 3: Right.
• 19:07
  Speaker 4: I'm not saying they would have kept him. Who knows,
• 19:08
  Speaker 4: No one knows the answer to that. But if you
• 19:10
  Speaker 4: fail a physical, you know you're not being kept.
• 19:13
  Speaker 3: No, but you could always bring him back if he
• 19:14
  Speaker 3: clears waivers. That that was the point, right. I don't
• 19:17
  Speaker 3: want to They didn't bring him back so anyway.
• 19:18
  Speaker 4: But I mean, you know, at this point in time,
• 19:21
  Speaker 4: you know, look, they're looking for players on their defensive front.
• 19:24
  Speaker 4: I mean, you know right now, Look, they're still playing
• 19:27
  Speaker 4: von Miller twenty twenty five snaps the game. He's certainly
• 19:29
  Speaker 4: not the same player he was in his prime. Jacob
• 19:32
  Speaker 4: Martin's been around the league. He flashes every once in
• 19:35
  Speaker 4: a while. They still have Preston Smith, they have Jalen Holmes.
• 19:39
  Speaker 4: I mean, they have guys. They don't have the guy,
• 19:42
  Speaker 4: but they have guys. Yeah.
• 19:44
  Speaker 1: And by the way, the real injury report for the
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: Commanders is not going to be on their injury report
• 19:49
  Speaker 1: other than Jayden Daniels, who, unless you're living under a rock,
• 19:53
  Speaker 1: you know that he's not going.
• 19:54
  Speaker 3: To be playing.
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: It'll be Marcus Mariota. But their real injury report is
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: they're injured reserve list, which as we've mentioned, includes people
• 20:01
  Speaker 1: like Austin Eckler, Trey Amos, their second round corner Luke McCaffrey,
• 20:05
  Speaker 1: their second year receiver Daurreance Armstrong, who is actually doing
• 20:08
  Speaker 1: a pretty good job.
• 20:09
  Speaker 4: Greg.
• 20:09
  Speaker 1: If I'm not mistaken the first half of the year,
• 20:12
  Speaker 1: I think they're better guys. Yeah, Mark, if I didn't
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: say it, Marshall Lattimore, Tetrich wise is an EDG rusher,
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: that Greg is a lot yep zach Ertz Adam mentioned
• 20:22
  Speaker 1: is on IR, Noah Brown is on IR. So that's
• 20:25
  Speaker 1: the story of the season. That's who's not playing. So
• 20:28
  Speaker 1: what will their cornerback Adam tandem look like and who
• 20:32
  Speaker 1: will play the nickel for them?
• 20:35
  Speaker 3: Yeah, So it's Igbohogany, It's Saint Rastral and this guy,
• 20:40
  Speaker 3: this uh Antonio Hamilton. I give this guy credit.
• 20:43
  Speaker 2: Yeah, he's been He's seems like he's been around since
• 20:45
  Speaker 2: like nineteen ninety.
• 20:46
  Speaker 3: I know it's I'm joking.
• 20:47
  Speaker 2: No, he's a guy, a journeyman, you know, who's been around.
• 20:53
  Speaker 4: Yeah, he's gonna play ten plus years in the league.
• 20:55
  Speaker 2: I mean, yeah, he's actually this is his tenth Yeah,
• 20:58
  Speaker 2: that he's been on seven teams. J He's played Dime,
• 21:01
  Speaker 2: He's played Nickel, And this is what happens, Jeff.
• 21:04
  Speaker 3: When you run out of players, you play journeyman.
• 21:06
  Speaker 4: That's hell he'll play. You know, if last week was
• 21:10
  Speaker 4: any indication, when they when they're in their base defense,
• 21:13
  Speaker 4: he won't be on the field. It'll be Iggy and
• 21:15
  Speaker 4: sand are still on the outside. And when they go
• 21:17
  Speaker 4: to their their you know, Nickel and Dime, then he
• 21:20
  Speaker 4: will be on the field. He'll play outside and Iggy'll
• 21:23
  Speaker 4: move inside.
• 21:24
  Speaker 3: He played a lot of fact, he played eighty two
• 21:26
  Speaker 3: percent of the staffs last week. So there you go.
• 21:28
  Speaker 3: The matchups are good.
• 21:29
  Speaker 2: And by the way, I do want to mention or
• 21:30
  Speaker 2: the weather low forties, low win though leading leading up
• 21:34
  Speaker 2: to it on Friday, there's a ton of win, but
• 21:36
  Speaker 2: there's not going to be so maybe when they throw
• 21:39
  Speaker 2: the ball won't be moved a little bit, so it'll
• 21:42
  Speaker 2: be good.
• 21:42
  Speaker 1: Well, finally, finally the end of that. All right, so
• 21:47
  Speaker 1: this is good. Let's let let's analyze. Let's let's talk
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: about the Eagles against the Commander's defense, because we just
• 21:52
  Speaker 1: talked about how beat up they are on defense and
• 21:55
  Speaker 1: their cornerback situation. This is normally when we say, hey,
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: come out throwing, take advantage of when of these corners,
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: like Biggy is going to play outside corner with Sanders
• 22:05
  Speaker 1: still and you can make an argument that both in
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: base yeah, in base right, and both of them are
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: slot corners by trade or where they've played before. So
• 22:15
  Speaker 1: if Greg philosophically, ever since dan Quinn kind of took
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: play calling away from his defensive coordinator Joe Witt, how
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: have they looked? What do they do? Are they more man?
• 22:25
  Speaker 1: Are they more zone? Do they still blitz a lot?
• 22:30
  Speaker 4: You know, they're a team that they don't play as
• 22:33
  Speaker 4: much man as you would think with dan Quinn, although
• 22:37
  Speaker 4: they do play man. They're probably in the top ten
• 22:39
  Speaker 4: in the league if you look at Cover one. But
• 22:41
  Speaker 4: I mean when he was with the Cowboys of their DC,
• 22:44
  Speaker 4: they were playing forty five percent man. They're not going
• 22:47
  Speaker 4: to do that. They don't have those players, and they
• 22:49
  Speaker 4: certainly don't have those players who can match up to
• 22:51
  Speaker 4: Brown and Smith. But you know, I would say that
• 22:54
  Speaker 4: they are a predominant single high safety defense. So that's
• 22:59
  Speaker 4: that's what they predominantly. So you're going to see Cover one,
• 23:02
  Speaker 4: You'll see a lot of Cover three, you'll see rotations.
• 23:06
  Speaker 4: You know, everybody does that now, late coverge rotation. That's
• 23:09
  Speaker 4: one of the major trends in the league, which has
• 23:11
  Speaker 4: led to a fascinating discussion in social media this week
• 23:15
  Speaker 4: about pure progressions, which you know, I don't know if
• 23:18
  Speaker 4: you guys saw Kirk Cousins what he said, it was great.
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: Say it was a long, long.
• 23:24
  Speaker 4: Two minutes and eight seconds. It's worth your time, Adam, It's.
• 23:27
  Speaker 3: Fine to watch that. That's all. I'm glad you pointing
• 23:29
  Speaker 3: that out.
• 23:29
  Speaker 4: Off. It's absolutely phenomenal because he lived through the transition
• 23:32
  Speaker 4: from sort of the old school way to play quarterback,
• 23:36
  Speaker 4: where you know, hey, you had a man side on
• 23:38
  Speaker 4: his own side, and you'd come out, you'd see what
• 23:40
  Speaker 4: the defense was and you'd know, hey, if it's man,
• 23:42
  Speaker 4: I'm going to this side, those are the man routes.
• 23:45
  Speaker 4: If it's own, his own routes are to my left.
• 23:47
  Speaker 4: But now with so much I'm summarizing he did it
• 23:51
  Speaker 4: better than I. But with now so much late coverage rotation,
• 23:55
  Speaker 4: you can't really do that because the man side may
• 23:58
  Speaker 4: not stay the man's side. His own side may not
• 24:01
  Speaker 4: stay his own side. So that's how you get into
• 24:03
  Speaker 4: pure progression where you don't necessarily have to know nothing
• 24:07
  Speaker 4: about the defense, but the defense is really not a
• 24:10
  Speaker 4: major factor, and how you go about determining where you
• 24:13
  Speaker 4: throw the ball. So anyway, it's worth your time. Oh yeah,
• 24:17
  Speaker 4: I'm really good at that.
• 24:18
  Speaker 1: I couldn't help to think of everything Vic Fangio tries
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: to accomplish. When Kirk Cousins was explaining how modern defenses
• 24:25
  Speaker 1: that start off too high but then end in a
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: variety of different looks have changed how offenses play.
• 24:31
  Speaker 4: Without question, and that that's why Kirk Cousins, who lived
• 24:34
  Speaker 4: through it all, was it was so good, so good.
• 24:37
  Speaker 4: I mean, any a lot of people have commented on it.
• 24:40
  Speaker 4: You know, I've talked about that even before Kirk Cousins,
• 24:42
  Speaker 4: and in fact had a really good talk with Brian
• 24:46
  Speaker 4: Hoyer about it too.
• 24:47
  Speaker 3: So oh what was this? When did you talk to Horror?
• 24:49
  Speaker 4: That's awesome? Yeh, he's he's now. He's been on the
• 24:52
  Speaker 4: thirty third team the last number of weeks. So nice,
• 24:54
  Speaker 4: we reconnected and we're gonna, you know, keep talking.
• 24:57
  Speaker 3: He's great, he's great.
• 25:00
  Speaker 4: Oh, anyway, they're not a high percentage blitz team. Just
• 25:02
  Speaker 4: to get back to what you asked, me about Jeff
• 25:05
  Speaker 4: Relative to the rest of the NFL, they rarely ever
• 25:07
  Speaker 4: use defensive backs as blitzers as well. They're very low
• 25:11
  Speaker 4: percentage of doing that. So you know, there, I think
• 25:14
  Speaker 4: he's ultimately playing to his personnel. He just doesn't have
• 25:17
  Speaker 4: the people, you know. I mean, look, Bobby Wagner's not
• 25:20
  Speaker 4: a blitzer at this point in his career, so you know,
• 25:23
  Speaker 4: he was five six seven years ago, but he's not now.
• 25:25
  Speaker 4: And when they played Dime, Frankie Luvu ends up being
• 25:29
  Speaker 4: an edge rusher or part of the four man front.
• 25:32
  Speaker 4: You know, they just don't have people. So although Luvu
• 25:36
  Speaker 4: did that last year as well, but still that's the
• 25:38
  Speaker 4: way they deploy him. So they're just you know, and
• 25:41
  Speaker 4: when they're in their base defense, the Temple linebacker McGhee
• 25:45
  Speaker 4: is it McGhee or ma is that he pronounced it?
• 25:50
  Speaker 4: He plays in their base four to three, right, So yeah,
• 25:53
  Speaker 4: I mean they're let's put it this way. I don't
• 25:57
  Speaker 4: want to sit here and say, because you know, obviously
• 26:00
  Speaker 4: teams do things schematically and tactically that I don't know
• 26:03
  Speaker 4: how they're coach. So when I watch tape, I can't
• 26:05
  Speaker 4: sit here and say, well, he's doing this exactly or that,
• 26:09
  Speaker 4: or what's the little adjustment? You know, you'd have to
• 26:11
  Speaker 4: be in the meetings to know that. But when all
• 26:13
  Speaker 4: said and done, they're not a defense that you look
• 26:15
  Speaker 4: at tactically and go, man, are they going to cause
• 26:18
  Speaker 4: you all kinds of issues? Right?
• 26:21
  Speaker 1: And to that point, Greg, I'll just give out the
• 26:23
  Speaker 1: rankings really quickly. They're thirty first in the NFL in
• 26:26
  Speaker 1: yards allowed, thirty first, in yards for play twenty eighth,
• 26:30
  Speaker 1: in rushing defense twenty ninth, and pass defense third down
• 26:33
  Speaker 1: defense twenty third. So there's really and they allow twenty
• 26:37
  Speaker 1: seven points per game, which is also.
• 26:39
  Speaker 4: So given that there's thirty two teams. Given that there's
• 26:42
  Speaker 4: thirty two teams in the league, I guess that thirty
• 26:44
  Speaker 4: one number is not very good.
• 26:45
  Speaker 1: Huh. So here's the thing though, right, we have had
• 26:54
  Speaker 1: a lot of discussions throughout the year about teams that
• 26:57
  Speaker 1: aren't very good at this or aren't very good at that.
• 27:00
  Speaker 1: And the Eagles can attack with the run or attack
• 27:03
  Speaker 1: with the pass, and it hasn't manifested. We can't ignore
• 27:06
  Speaker 1: the fact that the Eagles are still playing without Lane Johnson,
• 27:09
  Speaker 1: and even in a good running game last week, they
• 27:13
  Speaker 1: only averaged less than four yards per year. But I adam,
• 27:17
  Speaker 1: I imagine that they're not going to chan. They're going
• 27:19
  Speaker 1: to try to come out. I imagine they will piggyback
• 27:22
  Speaker 1: off last week and maybe even go with a lot
• 27:24
  Speaker 1: of thirteen personnel some twenty one personnel and try to
• 27:28
  Speaker 1: run the ball against this team, because I think they
• 27:30
  Speaker 1: know that if they don't run the ball, well, they're
• 27:32
  Speaker 1: not going to win the Super Bowl. So you gotta
• 27:34
  Speaker 1: get it keep going.
• 27:35
  Speaker 2: Yeah, Greg was right last week when he said, listen,
• 27:38
  Speaker 2: they're going to play to their identity.
• 27:39
  Speaker 3: They want to run the football. Yes, it hasn't looked great.
• 27:42
  Speaker 4: They did.
• 27:43
  Speaker 2: Now where I might not agree, it might have been
• 27:46
  Speaker 2: an aberration in terms of thirteen personnel. That's not really
• 27:49
  Speaker 2: what they've been. I know Greg pointed out this is great.
• 27:52
  Speaker 2: I saw this on You're the Matchup Show last week.
• 27:53
  Speaker 2: I didn't know this that McVeigh, of all people, were
• 27:56
  Speaker 2: they not leading the NFL in thirteen personnel.
• 27:58
  Speaker 4: Froh, my god. Seven when he played three tight ends
• 28:02
  Speaker 4: for the first time all year. They've played it on
• 28:04
  Speaker 4: forty one percent of their snaps. Their numbers out of
• 28:07
  Speaker 4: thirteen personnel are absurd.
• 28:10
  Speaker 1: Now one of the by the way, their best one
• 28:13
  Speaker 1: is hurt and they're still playing with.
• 28:14
  Speaker 3: A yeah hicksby yeah.
• 28:16
  Speaker 4: The last games at them at a thirteen personnel, they've
• 28:20
  Speaker 4: gained almost seven hundred total yards and scored eight touchdowns
• 28:23
  Speaker 4: just in the last thirteen personnel.
• 28:26
  Speaker 3: I was because you, guys, I'm not a big stack
• 28:29
  Speaker 3: guy like stats to tell story though, because it gives
• 28:32
  Speaker 3: you good context.
• 28:33
  Speaker 1: I was blown away.
• 28:34
  Speaker 2: I know about some of their tight ends, but getting
• 28:37
  Speaker 2: back to this game because of lots now, because it's
• 28:40
  Speaker 2: clearly now let's call it.
• 28:42
  Speaker 3: It is the coaches finally starting to figure out with him. Yes,
• 28:45
  Speaker 3: take them a while to figure.
• 28:46
  Speaker 2: Out what he is for them, that's fine, but he's
• 28:49
  Speaker 2: he's really been a good story of development, not only
• 28:51
  Speaker 2: on special teams. But our ander de Checo saw that
• 28:54
  Speaker 2: in training camp. He noticed that, he said, out sometimes blocking,
• 28:58
  Speaker 2: but is it a win one week aberration all of
• 29:01
  Speaker 2: a sudden, because okay, is it? I think for the
• 29:04
  Speaker 2: Rams though, if you look at their backup receiver group,
• 29:06
  Speaker 2: it's not great. That may have had something a little
• 29:08
  Speaker 2: bit to do with it. Who knows. McVeigh has been
• 29:10
  Speaker 2: asked about it. He's never been totally clear why they're
• 29:12
  Speaker 2: doing it, but it sure as hell's working. Just Greg,
• 29:14
  Speaker 2: just give the numbers with here. You really would rather
• 29:18
  Speaker 2: not have Calcataro on the field. We've talked about this,
• 29:21
  Speaker 2: but he's a number two tight end. It is what
• 29:23
  Speaker 2: it is. Is this a one week aberration where it
• 29:26
  Speaker 2: helped them or is it by the opponent? Because we
• 29:29
  Speaker 2: look at Washington, do they feel like maybe they they
• 29:33
  Speaker 2: may feel like there's a certain there may be a
• 29:35
  Speaker 2: different way to attack them. That's why I'd be careful
• 29:37
  Speaker 2: fit of saying they're definitely gonna use more thirteen.
• 29:39
  Speaker 4: And I think Jeff's overriding point is correct. They know
• 29:43
  Speaker 4: that they have to run the ball to get where
• 29:45
  Speaker 4: they want to go. They're not they're not even last
• 29:47
  Speaker 4: year winning a Super Bowl. They were not a pass
• 29:50
  Speaker 4: first team. Clearly, now you couldn't expect Barkley to have
• 29:53
  Speaker 4: another historic season, but they have to be able to
• 29:56
  Speaker 4: run the ball, if not with explosive plays, with far
• 30:00
  Speaker 4: more sustainability than they've shown up to this point. So
• 30:03
  Speaker 4: Jeff's one hundred percent right. Whether it's out of thirteen personnel,
• 30:06
  Speaker 4: whether it's out of twelve personnel, whether it's at eleven spread,
• 30:09
  Speaker 4: it doesn't matter, you know. I mean, it obviously matters
• 30:11
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  Speaker 1: for thirty percent off. And you know last week they
• 34:00
  Speaker 1: went under center more than they have all year along, which.
• 34:04
  Speaker 4: Is really time if I'm not mistaken.
• 34:05
  Speaker 1: Overall, Yes, their numbers, their statistics again, Adam, they tell
• 34:09
  Speaker 1: a story. They are really put in the past game
• 34:13
  Speaker 1: more than the run game. They're really getting good, solid
• 34:16
  Speaker 1: games out of play action passing from under.
• 34:19
  Speaker 4: Not running the ball well under center.
• 34:21
  Speaker 2: No, but Greg, you've taught on are many things you've
• 34:24
  Speaker 2: taught of? Is that just from your tape study. I
• 34:27
  Speaker 2: don't know what the numbers would show by the by
• 34:29
  Speaker 2: league standards, but you said it's so obvious. When the
• 34:32
  Speaker 2: quarterback is ut a center, play action is much better.
• 34:34
  Speaker 4: It's smooth, much better. Yeah, And you know, it's funny.
• 34:37
  Speaker 4: I believed that for years, and then I actually saw
• 34:40
  Speaker 4: a quote this year by Josh McDaniel's basically saying the
• 34:42
  Speaker 4: same thing. And again not that i'm you know, it
• 34:45
  Speaker 4: doesn't make me any smarter than anybody. That's not my point,
• 34:48
  Speaker 4: well not as far as you know, but when he
• 34:49
  Speaker 4: said it, and and I've been saying the exact same
• 34:52
  Speaker 4: thing for years just because I believed it, you know,
• 34:54
  Speaker 4: watching tape, it just made me feel like, hey, you know,
• 34:58
  Speaker 4: I'm on the on the right track. Just it's more effective. Yes.
• 35:02
  Speaker 1: By the way, the Eagles are proving two statements to
• 35:05
  Speaker 1: be very true that we talk about a lot. Statement One,
• 35:08
  Speaker 1: you do not need an effective run game to have
• 35:12
  Speaker 1: an effective play action game. The Eagles have been really
• 35:15
  Speaker 1: good at play action for a couple of weeks now,
• 35:18
  Speaker 1: even though they're not running.
• 35:19
  Speaker 4: The ball was growing apart one hundred years ago, but
• 35:22
  Speaker 4: people are.
• 35:27
  Speaker 2: Kevin Stefanski, it's so funny. He was asking an interview
• 35:29
  Speaker 2: about what you just talked about, Jeff and Greg's mirroring it.
• 35:33
  Speaker 3: He was pity passion.
• 35:34
  Speaker 2: He goes, Oh, it doesn't even the down a distance
• 35:37
  Speaker 2: doesn't matter. It doesn't matter how well we're running the ball.
• 35:39
  Speaker 2: There's no there's no evidence to show that you have
• 35:42
  Speaker 2: to be a good running team.
• 35:43
  Speaker 3: We able to play. Yeah, I thought it's kind of funny, right.
• 35:47
  Speaker 1: But the other statement, which I think sometimes people get
• 35:49
  Speaker 1: them confused, they're two separate statements. The other statement that
• 35:52
  Speaker 1: they're showing true is that going under center can help
• 35:56
  Speaker 1: your play action game because that formation in itself, I
• 36:00
  Speaker 1: mean you, like Greg, I think you put you just
• 36:02
  Speaker 1: have such a downhill look and your quarterback kind of
• 36:06
  Speaker 1: turns its back and the linebackers get sucked in. It
• 36:08
  Speaker 1: really can help your passing game.
• 36:10
  Speaker 4: Well, it takes longer too for second level defenders to
• 36:13
  Speaker 4: know whether it's run.
• 36:14
  Speaker 1: Or pass right right, And so the Eagles are certainly
• 36:19
  Speaker 1: functioning well off passing, and now they're now so I
• 36:22
  Speaker 1: will say this, I think just looking at this matchup,
• 36:26
  Speaker 1: I don't usually care about style points, but Adam, I
• 36:30
  Speaker 1: do feel like, in order to make the Raiders win
• 36:35
  Speaker 1: kind of like sustainable, like the momentum s thing, if
• 36:38
  Speaker 1: they go out and have another kind of eighteen to
• 36:41
  Speaker 1: twenty one point game where the passing games are radic
• 36:43
  Speaker 1: and they can't run the ball against this commander's defense,
• 36:46
  Speaker 1: I think it's fair to question just how good the
• 36:49
  Speaker 1: offense is ever going to get at this point.
• 36:51
  Speaker 3: Yeah, because honestly, we talked about the Charger game.
• 36:54
  Speaker 2: Despite what the number showed, Heurts really made some great
• 36:58
  Speaker 2: throws in that game and made some really good throws
• 37:00
  Speaker 2: we showed on inside the tape last week or earlier
• 37:02
  Speaker 2: this week. So yeah, if they don't look right, we
• 37:06
  Speaker 2: don't need to watch the coaching tape to know that.
• 37:07
  Speaker 2: If it doesn't look right, we know what it looks
• 37:08
  Speaker 2: bad with Eagles.
• 37:09
  Speaker 3: It's not a secret. Everybody sees it at home.
• 37:11
  Speaker 2: It's a fair statement because they've made meaningful progress. We
• 37:15
  Speaker 2: love the way that I know they're all sorts of rumors.
• 37:18
  Speaker 2: Scott Leffler is more involved, whatever the case may be,
• 37:21
  Speaker 2: We don't know that. We don't usually address this nonsense
• 37:24
  Speaker 2: because everybody's looking for a conspiracy theory. Oh oh, well,
• 37:27
  Speaker 2: the reason why the Eagles offense is doing bad because
• 37:29
  Speaker 2: they don't want to give Patulo any credit. They do
• 37:31
  Speaker 2: any they go. Fans who don't get it go out
• 37:33
  Speaker 2: of their way to disrespect coaches. The bottom line is
• 37:36
  Speaker 2: it's looked better lately. Yes, And you make a good point.
• 37:39
  Speaker 2: If they they went thirteen to seven and it looks bad,
• 37:43
  Speaker 2: you're gonna go, Okay, this team's clearly not making the.
• 37:45
  Speaker 3: Progress that we thought. It's very fair to say that.
• 37:48
  Speaker 1: Yeah, Greg, you know, one of the factors I'm going
• 37:50
  Speaker 1: to use to judge this game from the Eagles offense
• 37:53
  Speaker 1: standpoint is how are they on third down? They have
• 37:55
  Speaker 1: been lousy there all year. This Commander's team ranks twenty third,
• 37:59
  Speaker 1: so they're not bottom four or five, but they're not
• 38:02
  Speaker 1: good and they have all these injuries. I mean, the Eagles.
• 38:05
  Speaker 1: If you really want to believe right that they're starting
• 38:07
  Speaker 1: to turn a corner, then you're gonna look at situational football.
• 38:11
  Speaker 1: How do they do one third down? And can they
• 38:13
  Speaker 1: run the ball.
• 38:13
  Speaker 4: You're looking I think the word you're probably looking for
• 38:16
  Speaker 4: is efficiency. It doesn't mean they have to win forty
• 38:19
  Speaker 4: to ten, right, but you'd like to see them run
• 38:21
  Speaker 4: the ball with sustainability. Does Barkley have to break a
• 38:25
  Speaker 4: sixty yard or no, but you'd like to see them
• 38:27
  Speaker 4: run the ball with volume and sustainability. You know, you'd
• 38:30
  Speaker 4: love to see a game where Barkley is, you know,
• 38:33
  Speaker 4: twenty two for one to twenty three and he doesn't
• 38:35
  Speaker 4: have to have a sixty yard touchdown. You know, you'd
• 38:38
  Speaker 4: love to and you'd love to see a game where,
• 38:40
  Speaker 4: you know, Jalen in the course of that kind of
• 38:42
  Speaker 4: game has what we've come to expect is kind of
• 38:45
  Speaker 4: a typical Jalen Hurts game where he's you know, eighteen
• 38:47
  Speaker 4: for twenty five for two hundred and five yards, and
• 38:51
  Speaker 4: you know, that kind of game. That's kind of what
• 38:53
  Speaker 4: the Eagle sweet spot is when they're playing well, you know,
• 38:57
  Speaker 4: and you'd love to see that and.
• 39:00
  Speaker 2: Hit on explosive You saw last week he was he
• 39:02
  Speaker 2: only com played thirteen passes, but almost for two hundred yards.
• 39:05
  Speaker 2: I mean theydeen for eighteen okay whatever, it was fifty
• 39:08
  Speaker 2: to eighteen, but he a bunch of explosives. You like,
• 39:11
  Speaker 2: That's what coaches want. They want explosive plays, and they
• 39:15
  Speaker 2: were able to get some of those in the pass right.
• 39:17
  Speaker 4: And I'll go ahead, Greg, No, I was gonna say,
• 39:19
  Speaker 4: I think your points correct though, Jeff, That's what you'd
• 39:22
  Speaker 4: like to see that kind of thing in this game. Yeah,
• 39:25
  Speaker 4: because you're right, if they win thirteen seven and it's
• 39:27
  Speaker 4: and it's a slog fest, you know, that's then you're right.
• 39:30
  Speaker 4: Then it's like, well, is this going to change it? Andy?
• 39:32
  Speaker 4: I mean, then you've played a lot of games, you.
• 39:35
  Speaker 1: Know, yes, I'll say, especially and we'll wrap it up
• 39:39
  Speaker 1: on offense the first defense with this, especially with Buffalo
• 39:42
  Speaker 1: the following week, because you think you're even if your
• 39:44
  Speaker 1: defense plays a really good game against the Bills, you've
• 39:47
  Speaker 1: got to score more than twenty one, you would say,
• 39:50
  Speaker 1: I mean, you know, you would think you would think
• 39:52
  Speaker 1: to beat the to beat the Bills in Buffalo. So yeah,
• 39:55
  Speaker 1: that's that's what we're looking for. I think the a
• 39:58
  Speaker 1: lot of people are we interact with their are also
• 40:00
  Speaker 1: not just looking at the Raiders game like the corner
• 40:03
  Speaker 1: is officially turned. But this game could help prove that.
• 40:06
  Speaker 1: Now on the opposite end, the Eagles have played really
• 40:08
  Speaker 1: good defense even in a loss against the Chargers. Uh
• 40:12
  Speaker 1: and of course will win against the Raiders, holding them
• 40:14
  Speaker 1: the seventy five total yards. And one thing that we've
• 40:18
  Speaker 1: seen philosophically different over the last few weeks is vic
• 40:22
  Speaker 1: blitz percentage is so down. Remember remember I guess it
• 40:26
  Speaker 1: in the postgame show, and I said it's probably in
• 40:28
  Speaker 1: single digits. Well it was. It was something like eight percent.
• 40:31
  Speaker 2: Against what I think in your notes they had once
• 40:34
  Speaker 2: they only played more than four men.
• 40:36
  Speaker 4: They had pressure this past week. That's what they had one.
• 40:41
  Speaker 1: It was early too, I mean they showed it early
• 40:43
  Speaker 1: and then didn't feel the need to get back through it.
• 40:46
  Speaker 4: That's the fourth lowest flits percentage in the NFL overall,
• 40:50
  Speaker 4: which does not include sim pressures because they're four man,
• 40:54
  Speaker 4: but as far as five or more, is the fourth
• 40:56
  Speaker 4: lowest in the league. And they they have the low
• 41:00
  Speaker 4: percentage of using defensive backs as pressure players of any
• 41:03
  Speaker 4: team in the league. So you know, they're not one
• 41:05
  Speaker 4: of those teams that you know, bring people from everywhere.
• 41:08
  Speaker 4: You know, even when they do blitz, they don't do that.
• 41:11
  Speaker 2: And coaches tell you kind of what they're thinking is
• 41:14
  Speaker 2: if they're not getting home, that percentage going up when
• 41:16
  Speaker 2: they're getting home with their regular front, which they're doing
• 41:19
  Speaker 2: now right and with Coleman at left tackle, I guess
• 41:24
  Speaker 2: he was a left talk of college, but the Commanders
• 41:26
  Speaker 2: found out pretty early it's not going to work. And
• 41:29
  Speaker 2: that's a great advantage for the Eagles, no question.
• 41:33
  Speaker 1: So in October I had written a story for Philly
• 41:36
  Speaker 1: Voice about Vic's blitz percentage because we were all discussing
• 41:39
  Speaker 1: how much more he was blitzing, and he was up
• 41:41
  Speaker 1: around twenty seven percent, which was in the upper half
• 41:45
  Speaker 1: of the NFL, not normally where we associate Vic Fangio.
• 41:48
  Speaker 1: So I recently on Philly Voice did an update, right,
• 41:52
  Speaker 1: and as Greg just mentioned, now they're at the bottom
• 41:54
  Speaker 1: of the NFL in blitz percentage and their last this
• 41:57
  Speaker 1: is basically since the bye week, you know, obviously getting
• 42:00
  Speaker 1: Jaalen Phillips. Their blitz rates in the last six games
• 42:03
  Speaker 1: Raiders six and a half percent, Chargers nine point eight percent.
• 42:07
  Speaker 1: The Bears game is the outlier because I guess they
• 42:09
  Speaker 1: were losing and they needed thirty percent. But Cowboys twelve
• 42:13
  Speaker 1: and a half percent, Lions thirteen percent, Packers nine and
• 42:16
  Speaker 1: a half percent. That is as about as different of
• 42:20
  Speaker 1: an approach as you can get compared to the Front
• 42:22
  Speaker 1: They blitzed Matthew Stafford forty one percent of the time
• 42:26
  Speaker 1: in Week three, So this is obviously a testament Greg
• 42:29
  Speaker 1: to what we're seeing up front with the Front four,
• 42:32
  Speaker 1: even without Jalen Carter recently.
• 42:34
  Speaker 4: Yeah, and you wonder if that's you know, opponent based,
• 42:37
  Speaker 4: or if it's Jalen Phillips based. I mean, obviously bick
• 42:41
  Speaker 4: you know they're not going to necessarily tell us, but
• 42:43
  Speaker 4: you wonder the reasoning behind it.
• 42:45
  Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, I would think three things, right, Nolan Smith
• 42:49
  Speaker 1: came all at the same time for Jalen Phillips, you
• 42:52
  Speaker 1: got Nolan Smith back, and Brandon Graham came out of retired.
• 42:56
  Speaker 1: So you basically, I mean, think about it, first six weeks,
• 42:59
  Speaker 1: who did we talk about most as their most consistent
• 43:01
  Speaker 1: pass rusher first six weeks of the season.
• 43:06
  Speaker 4: Trying to remember what we talking about.
• 43:08
  Speaker 1: You can't remember it because he's basically he was in
• 43:09
  Speaker 1: active last week it was Josh.
• 43:12
  Speaker 3: Yes, a good call. Yeah, I tell you a lot.
• 43:16
  Speaker 4: They trained for the Darius Smith because they could they
• 43:19
  Speaker 4: couldn't rush the quarterback.
• 43:21
  Speaker 3: Signed him, yeah, they signed him, yeah yeah.
• 43:23
  Speaker 1: And then when he retired that he was still leading
• 43:25
  Speaker 1: the edge group in sacks for about three weeks.
• 43:27
  Speaker 2: Can I see a quick question, Greg, and it's it's
• 43:31
  Speaker 2: still on topic because it's about their players in this matchup,
• 43:33
  Speaker 2: But Jaylex where you where do you think he is
• 43:35
  Speaker 2: as a pass.
• 43:36
  Speaker 1: Rusher right now?
• 43:38
  Speaker 4: Probably a novacare right now as a pass rusher, though, well,
• 43:45
  Speaker 4: he's not there. That was my that was my airplane
• 43:48
  Speaker 4: reference at him. Oh oh you know hospital, what is it?
• 43:52
  Speaker 4: It's a big building with pace.
• 43:53
  Speaker 3: Yes, yes, okay, I had to yeah, yes.
• 43:57
  Speaker 4: Yes, he's not where I think they would ultimately like
• 44:01
  Speaker 4: him to be. You know, it's his second year. I
• 44:04
  Speaker 4: think that he's shown flashes of being better, flashes that
• 44:08
  Speaker 4: it's there within his body. And now after this season,
• 44:13
  Speaker 4: with another offseason, I think they would expect him to
• 44:16
  Speaker 4: come back next year. And again, I'm not going to
• 44:18
  Speaker 4: sit here and say he should get fifteen plus. You know,
• 44:20
  Speaker 4: I don't do the numbers like that. That doesn't mean
• 44:22
  Speaker 4: anything to me. But I would think they would expect
• 44:24
  Speaker 4: him after a second season. You know, don't forget he
• 44:27
  Speaker 4: did not really play a lot of edge, you know,
• 44:31
  Speaker 4: in college, so he's still learning. I would expect that
• 44:35
  Speaker 4: next year they would think that he could be equality
• 44:38
  Speaker 4: pass rusher. But he's not there yet in terms of consistency.
• 44:42
  Speaker 1: Gotcha, surely you can't be serious about that, That's the
• 44:44
  Speaker 1: one I am serious. So Greg Marcus Mariota, right, I mean,
• 44:53
  Speaker 1: he's a veteran, he's been for a while. I actually
• 44:55
  Speaker 1: think he's played I know the members aren't great, but
• 44:58
  Speaker 1: he's played in control under a for the last three years.
• 45:01
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 45:02
  Speaker 1: Yeah, that's where I thought he felt him. Well, what
• 45:03
  Speaker 1: I'm curious is I was just watching tape and he
• 45:06
  Speaker 1: still has a good natural feel for when to get
• 45:08
  Speaker 1: out of dodge.
• 45:09
  Speaker 4: You know.
• 45:09
  Speaker 1: The Giants try to try.
• 45:11
  Speaker 4: And that's his game.
• 45:12
  Speaker 1: And the Eagles have been They've been stunting a lot,
• 45:15
  Speaker 1: they've been overloading. I'm wondering if they have to change
• 45:19
  Speaker 1: that a little bit, because you got to rush as
• 45:22
  Speaker 1: a group.
• 45:22
  Speaker 4: Not as an individual when you face it. And I
• 45:25
  Speaker 4: think that's the way he can hurt you. Still, I
• 45:28
  Speaker 4: don't want to say the most, but you know he
• 45:31
  Speaker 4: can't hurt you because as a passer, and it's the
• 45:34
  Speaker 4: reason he's never really been able to maintain as a
• 45:37
  Speaker 4: as your Starughter. You know, he's going to hang around
• 45:39
  Speaker 4: the league if he wants to, for fifteen years because
• 45:41
  Speaker 4: you can certainly line him up and play him. But
• 45:45
  Speaker 4: with him, there's a lot of one read concepts. If
• 45:47
  Speaker 4: he doesn't like it, he scrambles. He's somewhat indecisive as
• 45:51
  Speaker 4: a thrower. You know, there's He's just a notch below
• 45:55
  Speaker 4: everything you want, which is why he's not a starting quarterback.
• 45:59
  Speaker 4: You know, he's not a great timing rhythm guy. You know,
• 46:02
  Speaker 4: he's he's, like I said, everything is just not quite
• 46:05
  Speaker 4: where you want it to be. But it's good enough
• 46:07
  Speaker 4: that if he plays, he's you know, you don't feel like,
• 46:10
  Speaker 4: oh my god, we got to play Marcus Mariota. You know,
• 46:13
  Speaker 4: but but there's no question he can still hurt you
• 46:15
  Speaker 4: with his legs. Yeah. I always, I'm sorry, always got
• 46:19
  Speaker 4: the sense with him, and I don't know what's in
• 46:20
  Speaker 4: his head, Okay, so I don't. I'm just talking about
• 46:23
  Speaker 4: watching him on film. I always got the sense watching
• 46:26
  Speaker 4: him that he was one of those guys that never
• 46:29
  Speaker 4: made truly made the transition from the college game throwing
• 46:34
  Speaker 4: in the middle of the field where there's so much
• 46:36
  Speaker 4: space in college, to the NFL game, where it's very
• 46:40
  Speaker 4: squeezed in the middle of the field. And whenever I
• 46:44
  Speaker 4: watch him, I'm always reminded of the conversation I had
• 46:46
  Speaker 4: with Kevin O'Connell before he decided to become a coach,
• 46:49
  Speaker 4: when he was in our boot camp and thought he
• 46:51
  Speaker 4: wanted to go into broadcasting, and we hit it off,
• 46:54
  Speaker 4: and he, you know, would say to me during the
• 46:56
  Speaker 4: lunch breaks when he was here during those days, You'd say, Hey,
• 46:58
  Speaker 4: can we go to your office and watch And the
• 47:00
  Speaker 4: one thing he said to me, he said, you know,
• 47:02
  Speaker 4: I came out of San Diego State in his spread offense,
• 47:04
  Speaker 4: and I got to the NFL, and you know, he
• 47:07
  Speaker 4: was with Belichick, That's who drafted him in the third round.
• 47:09
  Speaker 4: And he said, man, it always looked to me like
• 47:11
  Speaker 4: they were fifteen defenders on the field. In college, everything
• 47:15
  Speaker 4: is so spread out, and then in the NFL, you've
• 47:18
  Speaker 4: got to make those throws, you know, in the middle
• 47:21
  Speaker 4: of the field, somewhere along the line. And I think
• 47:23
  Speaker 4: Mariota is a guy. Again, I'm just extrapolating from tape.
• 47:26
  Speaker 4: I don't know what's in his head, but I always
• 47:28
  Speaker 4: felt that he just never really kind of made that transition,
• 47:34
  Speaker 4: which is one reason he's never been a full time starter,
• 47:37
  Speaker 4: right right.
• 47:39
  Speaker 1: So I also think Adam the run game, the Commanders
• 47:44
  Speaker 1: run the ball well, this will be an interesting test
• 47:46
  Speaker 1: for the Eagles defense, which, if we're being fair, right,
• 47:49
  Speaker 1: the Chargers had for four backups on their offensive line
• 47:53
  Speaker 1: and the Raiders had four backups or guys who shouldn't
• 47:55
  Speaker 1: be playing in the NFL starting in the NFL on
• 47:57
  Speaker 1: their offensive line. This Commanders team not be great but
• 48:00
  Speaker 1: that and yes, they'll be on the back of a
• 48:02
  Speaker 1: left tackle, but across the board, their offensive line is
• 48:05
  Speaker 1: is much is in better shape than the last two
• 48:07
  Speaker 1: opponents that they faced.
• 48:08
  Speaker 3: Yeah, Cosby's back well back from his ACL injury. Uh yeah.
• 48:12
  Speaker 3: The only story that's not there is uh.
• 48:16
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 48:17
  Speaker 2: And they love this Chris Paul who's their left guard.
• 48:19
  Speaker 2: He started almost the entire season. He's he they believe
• 48:23
  Speaker 2: he's their strongest offensive lineman.
• 48:24
  Speaker 3: He's just very raw. He was drafted by Ron Rivera.
• 48:27
  Speaker 3: So yeah, it's it's Connory.
• 48:31
  Speaker 4: Greg.
• 48:31
  Speaker 2: I don't know about you. Everything I've been told he's
• 48:33
  Speaker 2: to look really good. Have you noticed Josh Connelly the season.
• 48:35
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 48:35
  Speaker 5: I think early in the year he struggled a bit,
• 48:38
  Speaker 5: you know, he I felt watching his college statement Oregon,
• 48:41
  Speaker 5: I thought the two most athletic offensive tackles coming out
• 48:44
  Speaker 5: in this past draft were Connory and Josh Simmons.
• 48:48
  Speaker 4: So I thought the the biggest challenge he'd have would
• 48:51
  Speaker 4: be the the being strong, being you know, anchor. And
• 48:54
  Speaker 4: I thought only in the season he struggled with that,
• 48:56
  Speaker 4: which didn't Again, you know, you say this stuff and
• 49:00
  Speaker 4: none of this surprises me. You know, I've been watching
• 49:02
  Speaker 4: tape for a long time. It's not surprising. I think
• 49:04
  Speaker 4: he's gotten better as the years progress. And don't forget
• 49:07
  Speaker 4: he also made the transition from left tackle at Oregon
• 49:09
  Speaker 4: to right tackle, and a lot of people just assume
• 49:12
  Speaker 4: that's easy. It is not. You know, we all know
• 49:14
  Speaker 4: offensive line coaches and they will tell you that that
• 49:17
  Speaker 4: is not easy.
• 49:18
  Speaker 1: Yeah, so this will be an Eagles defensive line that
• 49:21
  Speaker 1: again won't have Jill and Carter that has dominated up front.
• 49:25
  Speaker 1: Jordan Davis playing extraordinarily really.
• 49:27
  Speaker 4: High level Jordan Davis has been so much fun to
• 49:30
  Speaker 4: watch his progress, you know, because look, like I said,
• 49:34
  Speaker 4: over the years, all I do is watch the tape.
• 49:36
  Speaker 4: I mean there been times in prior years where you
• 49:38
  Speaker 4: just thought, can this guy really play? And this year
• 49:42
  Speaker 4: it's been really, really good. You know, that's what the
• 49:44
  Speaker 4: tape tells me. You know, as they say, the eye
• 49:47
  Speaker 4: in this guy doesn't lie, and he's played really high
• 49:49
  Speaker 4: level football.
• 49:50
  Speaker 2: Jeff It teaches everybody about patients. I know, it's hard
• 49:53
  Speaker 2: when you don't see anything that you're really happy about
• 49:56
  Speaker 2: for two years. Then you're halfway through two year three,
• 50:00
  Speaker 2: you see a sporadically good snap here, good snap there,
• 50:03
  Speaker 2: and then final cord of the scene for the playoffs.
• 50:06
  Speaker 2: You go, Okay, that's probably why the Eagles pick up
• 50:08
  Speaker 2: that fifth year option because they saw what could happen
• 50:11
  Speaker 2: if they didn't.
• 50:12
  Speaker 3: You know, if they didn't pick up that fifthyr option,
• 50:14
  Speaker 3: they would have that leverage. But it's it's it's a
• 50:16
  Speaker 3: pretty interesting story here, and it's he brings it every week. Man,
• 50:20
  Speaker 3: he brings that energy and.
• 50:21
  Speaker 1: Yes thing, yeah, And I think this will be a
• 50:24
  Speaker 1: good test for everyone. I mean, they've, like I said,
• 50:26
  Speaker 1: they've dominated the line of scrimmage for the last two weeks.
• 50:28
  Speaker 1: But the last time they went up against an offensive
• 50:30
  Speaker 1: line that had good players and was mostly healthy was
• 50:34
  Speaker 1: the Bears game, and that wasn't a good showing for them,
• 50:36
  Speaker 1: especially against the run. So we'll see. Greg does Washington
• 50:41
  Speaker 1: outside zone inside zoned? Do they mix it? What are
• 50:43
  Speaker 1: they primarily as a running team.
• 50:46
  Speaker 4: I think it's it's some of everything. I mean, you know,
• 50:49
  Speaker 4: it depends on the back because they have different kinds
• 50:51
  Speaker 4: of backs that that have different kinds of strengths. You know,
• 50:55
  Speaker 4: that's the thing. I mean, Rodriguez and Krusky Merritt are
• 50:58
  Speaker 4: are to totally different kinds of backs, So you know,
• 51:03
  Speaker 4: it's you know, it's just different in what they do.
• 51:07
  Speaker 4: I mean, they're not one, They're not one specific thing.
• 51:10
  Speaker 4: Rodriguez I remember seeing him for the first time because
• 51:14
  Speaker 4: he played at Kentucky in that year when will Levis
• 51:17
  Speaker 4: had the great year his second to you know, last
• 51:20
  Speaker 4: year in college when people thought, Wow, this guy's a legit,
• 51:23
  Speaker 4: a legit you know, first round pick, you know, with
• 51:26
  Speaker 4: the potential to be a star kind of player. And
• 51:30
  Speaker 4: Rodriguez is a hard yards grinder, and there's a place
• 51:35
  Speaker 4: for those guys in the league. I mean, is he
• 51:37
  Speaker 4: good enough to be your feature back? You know that
• 51:39
  Speaker 4: feature back's a relative term. I mean we've had this
• 51:42
  Speaker 4: conversation so many times when you look at the Kiren
• 51:45
  Speaker 4: Williams of the world. You look at what you know,
• 51:47
  Speaker 4: Minonge has done with Chicago. Even though he's not quote
• 51:49
  Speaker 4: unquote a feature back, He's had games where he was
• 51:52
  Speaker 4: the feature back. So you know, Rodriguez, the larger point
• 51:57
  Speaker 4: is is he's a tough, physical inside runner, termin downhill urgent.
• 52:02
  Speaker 4: He's that kind of guy. Doesn't go down easy. You know,
• 52:04
  Speaker 4: it's going to fight you on every snap. Whereas Krosskey
• 52:08
  Speaker 4: Merrit is not that guy. He's more of the explosive guy,
• 52:10
  Speaker 4: right Yeah.
• 52:11
  Speaker 2: And Rodriguez there because they know with Mariot they don't
• 52:14
  Speaker 2: want him dropping it back a lot, so they they
• 52:17
  Speaker 2: moved him ahead of Crosskey Merritt. They're looking for just
• 52:21
  Speaker 2: somehow sustain the running game. It's not easy, yep, you're
• 52:24
  Speaker 2: constantly behind, but they're trying to do that and shorten
• 52:26
  Speaker 2: the game up a little bit. So ye see what
• 52:28
  Speaker 2: happened with Crosskey Merrit is not physical that from what
• 52:31
  Speaker 2: I'm been told, He's not physical at all. No, they
• 52:34
  Speaker 2: needs they but they need his juice though, because he's
• 52:37
  Speaker 2: got that and it'll work as a one two punch.
• 52:39
  Speaker 2: And look, but other than that Chicago game, they goes
• 52:42
  Speaker 2: run defense has been pretty solid.
• 52:43
  Speaker 4: Yeah, and don't forget you if you made the point
• 52:45
  Speaker 4: early on, they don't really have any explosive I mean,
• 52:48
  Speaker 4: mclaurin's a really nice receiver. And again, you know, if
• 52:52
  Speaker 4: he was playing on a team with like a big
• 52:53
  Speaker 4: time passing game and a big time quarterback, you know,
• 52:57
  Speaker 4: we know what he is. He's a really good player
• 52:59
  Speaker 4: and over the years certainly hurt the Eagles. But other
• 53:03
  Speaker 4: than McLaurin, they don't really have much a wide receiver
• 53:06
  Speaker 4: at all. And so the run game, I mean, they
• 53:09
  Speaker 4: have to find a way that's a stay in offense.
• 53:12
  Speaker 4: You know. That's if they can't sustain offensive. If we're
• 53:15
  Speaker 4: in a game where they're going three and out a lot,
• 53:17
  Speaker 4: it's not gonna be it's not gonna look good for them.
• 53:20
  Speaker 1: Yeah, they got to stay ahead of the sticks, and
• 53:21
  Speaker 1: they're probably have to create a turnover on defense to
• 53:24
  Speaker 1: even have a chance to stay in and win.
• 53:27
  Speaker 4: I mean, is this is this Kingsbury? You know, I
• 53:30
  Speaker 4: don't want to use the word gimmick because I don't
• 53:31
  Speaker 4: think he would view it as a gimmick as gimmick plays.
• 53:35
  Speaker 4: But is this a game where he kind of goes
• 53:36
  Speaker 4: deep in the toolbox back to his days, you know,
• 53:39
  Speaker 4: as a college coordinator, where you do kind of, like
• 53:42
  Speaker 4: I said, it's he wouldn't call it gimmick, but funky stuff,
• 53:45
  Speaker 4: you know, stuff that's just a little different that maybe
• 53:48
  Speaker 4: you're not necessarily game planning for because you know, because
• 53:51
  Speaker 4: they've got to find a way to hold onto the ball. Otherwise,
• 53:54
  Speaker 4: if they can't hold onto the ball, their defense is
• 53:56
  Speaker 4: just gonna get ideally just worn out.
• 53:58
  Speaker 1: Yeah, that's why they us the NFC Championship game last year.
• 54:01
  Speaker 1: They couldn't hang on to the ball. They have three
• 54:03
  Speaker 1: really really bad turnovers. All right, let's do what we
• 54:06
  Speaker 1: do best, wrap this up and give our scores and
• 54:08
  Speaker 1: player of the game prediction. We'll start with you, Greg,
• 54:10
  Speaker 1: because I know I'm gonna get I'm gonna beat you,
• 54:12
  Speaker 1: but to the punch. I know you've put a lot
• 54:14
  Speaker 1: of time and thought into this.
• 54:16
  Speaker 4: I'm going Chris Rodriguez Commanders forty to ten.
• 54:20
  Speaker 1: No, really, sit here on early, don't be serious, Greg, Yeah,
• 54:27
  Speaker 1: I just you.
• 54:28
  Speaker 4: Know, look, are the Eagles playing great football now? No?
• 54:31
  Speaker 4: But I think they're they're kind of working their way
• 54:35
  Speaker 4: back to because they're a good team. I mean, they've
• 54:38
  Speaker 4: got good players, you know. So I'm going to pick
• 54:41
  Speaker 4: the Eagles to win this game. I think their defense
• 54:43
  Speaker 4: is going to play really well. I'm going to pick
• 54:45
  Speaker 4: the Eagles to win twenty seven to ten. Is that
• 54:50
  Speaker 4: going to be your score?
• 54:51
  Speaker 1: Unbelievable?
• 54:52
  Speaker 4: That's all right? Great minds, you know, and you know, offensively,
• 54:59
  Speaker 4: I don't know, I was going to offense just because
• 55:01
  Speaker 4: you know, I think they're kind of moving in that direction,
• 55:03
  Speaker 4: you know. I I still feel like they're gonna come
• 55:06
  Speaker 4: out and really work on the run game, which doesn't
• 55:08
  Speaker 4: mean they're not gonna take a shot early and you know,
• 55:11
  Speaker 4: you know what I'm talking about. It doesn't mean they're
• 55:12
  Speaker 4: never gonna throw the ball. But I still feel like
• 55:15
  Speaker 4: there's there's an explosive game here somewhere for Saku and Barkley.
• 55:18
  Speaker 4: So I'm gonna pick him.
• 55:20
  Speaker 1: All right, sounds good, Adam, what do you got.
• 55:22
  Speaker 2: I'm gonna go twenty seven to ten. I'm just gonna
• 55:24
  Speaker 2: go with the score that I was in my mind,
• 55:26
  Speaker 2: and I'm gonna go with eighty eight. God her who's
• 55:29
  Speaker 2: a beast right now. He's got nine touchdowns And we
• 55:33
  Speaker 2: saw this in training camp. But I just remember saying
• 55:35
  Speaker 2: to Andrew, we get fulled every year with with with
• 55:37
  Speaker 2: Hurts and God it doesn't happen, but it looks great.
• 55:40
  Speaker 3: Well, it definitely looks great now.
• 55:42
  Speaker 2: I mean there's no question and when they throw it,
• 55:45
  Speaker 2: and Hurts has shown more of a willingness to throw
• 55:47
  Speaker 2: the ball inside the number. He's don't do a lot,
• 55:49
  Speaker 2: but he's shown more of a willingness to do it.
• 55:52
  Speaker 2: The reason why to go with aj Brown is I
• 55:53
  Speaker 2: just don't know how much they're gonna throw it because
• 55:55
  Speaker 2: they're probably gonna get up. But he does trust Goddard
• 55:58
  Speaker 2: and that's a big thing for quarterback.
• 56:00
  Speaker 1: I like it all right, So I did pick the
• 56:03
  Speaker 1: Eagles to win, but I have to follow my own mantra,
• 56:07
  Speaker 1: which is this game in particular, Eagles commanders Ian Washington
• 56:12
  Speaker 1: never follows the script. So I'm a little reluctant. I'm
• 56:16
  Speaker 1: picking the Eagles to win. The score I'm gonna go
• 56:19
  Speaker 1: with is twenty six to twenty, which is not like
• 56:22
  Speaker 1: crazy because the spread of six Eagles right six and
• 56:25
  Speaker 1: a half, So that's right around around there. But there's
• 56:27
  Speaker 1: something that makes me nervous about this game because I
• 56:31
  Speaker 1: say it every year and I wind up being right
• 56:33
  Speaker 1: every year. This game does not follow the normal script,
• 56:37
  Speaker 1: so I'm giving the Eagles a win. One thing I
• 56:41
  Speaker 1: think will follow script is that Davante Smith always plays
• 56:43
  Speaker 1: really well. Yeah, commanders, and he's gonna be really true.
• 56:47
  Speaker 4: Thought about him.
• 56:48
  Speaker 2: I did the pass down, Yeah, the post when he
• 56:52
  Speaker 2: got nailed and he came back up, was he's amazing.
• 56:55
  Speaker 1: Yeah, so DeVante Smith will be my player of the game.
• 56:57
  Speaker 1: Eagles win twenty twenty and that is a clean swing
• 57:00
  Speaker 1: for the Philadelphia Eagles, according to the Inside the Birds
• 57:03
  Speaker 1: Pregame Show. That's gonna do it for the Inside the
• 57:05
  Speaker 1: Birds Pregame Show for Greg Cosel and Adam Kaplan. I'm
• 57:08
  Speaker 1: Jeff Mosher, Thanks for watching. Enjoy your football. We'll catch
• 57:11
  Speaker 1: you all on the next one.