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The DiCecco Daily: Status Of Some Eagles Uncertain Heading Into Saturday Vs. Commanders · Inside the Birds: A Philadelphia Eagles Podcast

• 0:10
  Speaker 1: Hey, what's happened? Everybody? Welcome into another edition of the
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: Checko Daily.
• 0:14
  Speaker 2: It's Andrew Decheco here, Eagles Beat reporter from inside the
• 0:17
  Speaker 2: Birds dot Com. And today is Wednesday, but it was
• 0:22
  Speaker 2: a Thursday in typical Eagles week, which means that they
• 0:27
  Speaker 2: had a longer practice. It's their most intense of the week.
• 0:30
  Speaker 2: They had it at Lincoln Financial Field today due to
• 0:32
  Speaker 2: the frozen fields at the Novacare Complex. We'll get to
• 0:36
  Speaker 2: that in a moment, but let's get to the practice report.
• 0:42
  Speaker 2: Not practicing today. Defensive tackle Jalen Carter's shoulders, guard Landon Dickerson,
• 0:46
  Speaker 2: caf rest, tackle Fred Johnson ankle, tackle Lane Johnson foot limited,
• 0:52
  Speaker 2: tight end Cameron Latu stinger, full running back say Kwon
• 0:56
  Speaker 2: Barkley stinger, linebacker Zach Bond hand, running back Tank Bigsby illness,
• 1:01
  Speaker 2: outside linebacker Jalen Phillips knee, and tackle Cameron Williams shoulder
• 1:07
  Speaker 2: a lot too with the stinger is something to keep
• 1:09
  Speaker 2: an eye on. He was limited, but he was estimated
• 1:12
  Speaker 2: to be a non participant in the walkthrough that took
• 1:16
  Speaker 2: place on Tuesday, So trending in the right direction there now.
• 1:19
  Speaker 2: Not practicing It's not a surprise that Jalen Carter didn't practice.
• 1:23
  Speaker 2: Lane Johnson not really a surprise when you look at
• 1:28
  Speaker 2: what the.
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: Situation is with the Dallas Cowboys.
• 1:30
  Speaker 2: Maybe there isn't as much urgency to rush him back,
• 1:33
  Speaker 2: not even that they would be rushing him back, but
• 1:35
  Speaker 2: they're now giving him optimal time to recover from the
• 1:39
  Speaker 2: Liz franc injury, and I think that's the right approach.
• 1:43
  Speaker 2: Fred Johnson's done a nice job holding the ship, holding
• 1:48
  Speaker 2: the fort down in the interim. But obviously Lane Johnson's
• 1:52
  Speaker 2: one of the best in the business, if not the
• 1:54
  Speaker 2: best in the business for a reason. And Fred Johnson's
• 1:58
  Speaker 2: interesting because he was there at but he didn't participate.
• 2:02
  Speaker 2: I saw him sitting there on the bench taking in practice.
• 2:07
  Speaker 2: But we'll have to wait and see what Friday or
• 2:10
  Speaker 2: not Friday Thursday holds. Thursday will be the equivalent of Friday,
• 2:15
  Speaker 2: and that'll be the final practice of the week ahead
• 2:17
  Speaker 2: of Saturday's game at in Landover, Maryland where the Eagles
• 2:22
  Speaker 2: take on the Commanders at five o'clock, and we'll get
• 2:25
  Speaker 2: a better sense of the finality, if you will, of
• 2:29
  Speaker 2: the injury reporter, at least where players stand going into it.
• 2:34
  Speaker 2: So Fred Johnson certainly somebody that I'll be keeping an
• 2:37
  Speaker 2: eye on there. Landon Dickerson calf rest the rest part
• 2:42
  Speaker 2: should quell some concerns. And again that's another one. Landon
• 2:46
  Speaker 2: Dickerson and Fred Johnson are two players, and I'll be
• 2:49
  Speaker 2: keeping an eye on.
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: Now.
• 2:50
  Speaker 2: Without Landon and Fred practicing today, Brett Toth filled in
• 2:55
  Speaker 2: at left guard and Matt Pryor filled in at right tackle, respectively.
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: Matt Pryor, of course, has been getting a.
• 3:02
  Speaker 2: Lot of looks as the sixth offensive lineman and I
• 3:07
  Speaker 2: would expect that to continue as long as Fred is
• 3:09
  Speaker 2: in the plans. This week we'll see. But yeah, practice
• 3:13
  Speaker 2: was at Lincoln Financial Field. We got a chance to
• 3:15
  Speaker 2: see about twenty five ish minutes of practice. It was
• 3:18
  Speaker 2: great because the quarterbacks were closer to us, so we
• 3:22
  Speaker 2: got a chance to see, you know, Jalen Hurst, Tanner McKee,
• 3:26
  Speaker 2: Sam Howell, and Kyle McCord practice and you just get
• 3:31
  Speaker 2: a really unique vantage point of a Thursday practice, which,
• 3:34
  Speaker 2: as I mentioned, is their most lively.
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: So you may have seen some of my photos on X.
• 3:41
  Speaker 2: Where you saw the position skill position players, running backs,
• 3:47
  Speaker 2: tight ends, wide receivers and even quarterbacks go through the
• 3:49
  Speaker 2: gauntlet of ball security. There's a cool action shot that
• 3:53
  Speaker 2: I was able to get of Saquon Barkley going through it,
• 3:57
  Speaker 2: further indication that he was, you know, at the time
• 3:59
  Speaker 2: when I posted it, that he practicing.
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: And I think.
• 4:02
  Speaker 2: The Eagles, when you look at their practice report, they're
• 4:05
  Speaker 2: healthier than a lot of teams are at this stage
• 4:08
  Speaker 2: of the season. So you have to give a lot
• 4:09
  Speaker 2: of credit to the training staff, the athletic trainers and
• 4:15
  Speaker 2: team doctors, and also Nick Sirianni and his staff for
• 4:19
  Speaker 2: crafting the schedule, the practice schedule to optimize recovery and
• 4:26
  Speaker 2: health and you know, just.
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: The overall wellbeing of the players.
• 4:31
  Speaker 2: And I think that there's no mistake that more often
• 4:34
  Speaker 2: than not at this point in the season, the Eagles
• 4:38
  Speaker 2: are one of the healthier teams in the NFL. So
• 4:41
  Speaker 2: cool practice at link in Financial Field, great weather for
• 4:44
  Speaker 2: it being December seventeenth, It was about forty five degrees
• 4:48
  Speaker 2: and the.
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: Energy was up.
• 4:52
  Speaker 2: Everybody was really upbeat, and I think that that certainly
• 4:55
  Speaker 2: bodes well going into a game in which the Eagles
• 4:58
  Speaker 2: can be NFC East champions the first time, and I
• 5:01
  Speaker 2: believe twenty years for there to be a repeat team,
• 5:05
  Speaker 2: and he will have a really good chance to go
• 5:08
  Speaker 2: ahead and do that. This weekend, I spoke to in
• 5:14
  Speaker 2: the locker room wide receiver Darius Cooper, who has an
• 5:17
  Speaker 2: interesting story Tarboton State. We all know that, but he
• 5:21
  Speaker 2: was the star receiver there at Tarleton State, and he's
• 5:24
  Speaker 2: taken on a pretty prominent role as a blocker here
• 5:27
  Speaker 2: in Philadelphia, and I more so wanted to get into
• 5:31
  Speaker 2: his adapting to that role and how he's gone about
• 5:35
  Speaker 2: refining that area because he didn't have to do an
• 5:38
  Speaker 2: awful lot of blocking at Tarleton State when he was
• 5:40
  Speaker 2: the star receiver, especially within the offense that he was in.
• 5:45
  Speaker 2: And that's just one of those unique type of stories
• 5:47
  Speaker 2: that I try to really shed light on throughout the
• 5:51
  Speaker 2: season that I'm sure some of you may be wondering.
• 5:53
  Speaker 2: He's drawn some pass interference penalties, he had won in
• 5:56
  Speaker 2: the end zone against the Raiders. He's gotten some more
• 5:59
  Speaker 2: looks as a risk receiver, and I do believe that
• 6:01
  Speaker 2: if the Eagles are able to take care of business
• 6:04
  Speaker 2: and get to that final game of the season where
• 6:06
  Speaker 2: it probably isn't going to have all that much meaning,
• 6:10
  Speaker 2: that's where you could see players like Darius Cooper and
• 6:13
  Speaker 2: Mac McWilliams, who I conducted the interview for the latest
• 6:17
  Speaker 2: edition of The Rookie Diary, which you'll be able to
• 6:20
  Speaker 2: hear and read later this week.
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: Those players are.
• 6:23
  Speaker 2: Going to be able to have a larger opportunity to
• 6:28
  Speaker 2: go out there and play meaningful snaps and be able
• 6:31
  Speaker 2: to get that NFL experience in a larger capacity. Darius
• 6:36
  Speaker 2: Cooper has a good rapport with Tanner McKee. We'll see
• 6:40
  Speaker 2: Sam Howe probably later in the season. Again, if the
• 6:42
  Speaker 2: Eagles are able to take care of business, there's no
• 6:44
  Speaker 2: reason why we won't see some of those players. But yeah,
• 6:49
  Speaker 2: so it was really good talking to Darius. I enjoy
• 6:51
  Speaker 2: my conversations with him. Offered really good perspective and a
• 6:55
  Speaker 2: high character guy.
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: Can't say enough good things about him.
• 6:58
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  Speaker 2: Up caught up with you know, Will Shipley, as I
• 10:44
  Speaker 2: like to do throughout the week, throughout the weeks, I
• 10:47
  Speaker 2: should say, and Yeah, a lot of good conversations today
• 10:51
  Speaker 2: in the locker room. Tomorrow, which is Thursday, will be
• 10:54
  Speaker 2: the final day of media availability for the week, and
• 10:58
  Speaker 2: we'll see what else we're able to Boy, we're able
• 11:02
  Speaker 2: to get in terms of you know, storylines, insight, and
• 11:08
  Speaker 2: maybe we'll get a chance to talk to Fred Johnson,
• 11:10
  Speaker 2: depending on what the practice status is for him tomorrow
• 11:13
  Speaker 2: and get more clarity on that situation. But let's get
• 11:17
  Speaker 2: to Eagles defensive coordinator of Vic Fangio, because he spoke
• 11:20
  Speaker 2: today and he had a lot of really good things
• 11:23
  Speaker 2: to say, especially in terms of the you know, we'll
• 11:33
  Speaker 2: start with the safety position, right because you look at
• 11:38
  Speaker 2: Jerue mccouba and the injury happened all the way back
• 11:41
  Speaker 2: into the Dallas game that ended that Dallas game and
• 11:43
  Speaker 2: he had a fractured ankle.
• 11:44
  Speaker 1: But believe it or not, he's technically.
• 11:46
  Speaker 2: Eligible to be removed from injury reserve next week to return.
• 11:51
  Speaker 2: But Vic Fangio said, just because he's eligible, it doesn't
• 11:55
  Speaker 2: mean that he's coming back, and he said he won't
• 11:58
  Speaker 2: be coming off that list. Those of you who maybe
• 12:01
  Speaker 2: had some questions about Macouba and if that would be
• 12:04
  Speaker 2: a possibility now, vicvangel poured cold water on that he's
• 12:09
  Speaker 2: going to be out indefinitely. He also spoke about Adri
• 12:14
  Speaker 2: Jackson and how Adri Jackson has You know, Vicvangiel earlier
• 12:19
  Speaker 2: in the season said that he needed to be more
• 12:20
  Speaker 2: consistent and how do you do you feel like he's
• 12:23
  Speaker 2: gotten there? And he said it's a process. He's done
• 12:26
  Speaker 2: well here lately. I personally been rooting for him all
• 12:28
  Speaker 2: year to play well. He's had his ups and downs
• 12:31
  Speaker 2: like a lot of us. Hopefully he can stay on track,
• 12:34
  Speaker 2: stay on the track that he is. But I don't
• 12:36
  Speaker 2: think it's any magical thing. It's just a process of
• 12:39
  Speaker 2: getting comfortable and getting confident. So the Eagles had a
• 12:44
  Speaker 2: defensive performance for the ages, right, I mean that was
• 12:48
  Speaker 2: holding a team to seventy five yards, regardless of how
• 12:50
  Speaker 2: many wins they enter with or anything like that is
• 12:53
  Speaker 2: something that should be acknowledged and celebrated. So the Eagles
• 12:58
  Speaker 2: haven't held a team to that few yards since nineteen
• 13:04
  Speaker 2: fifty five, and that was the Chicago Cardinals that they
• 13:06
  Speaker 2: held to forty nine yards and Vic Vangio when he
• 13:09
  Speaker 2: was asked, have you ever seen or been around a
• 13:12
  Speaker 2: defense that kind of threw that effort out there in
• 13:15
  Speaker 2: a shoutout, he said, I mean the answer is yes,
• 13:17
  Speaker 2: but it's rare. But our offense played a big part
• 13:19
  Speaker 2: in that too. They moved the ball, got the run
• 13:21
  Speaker 2: game going. Anytime you have a game like that, usually
• 13:24
  Speaker 2: the whole team contributes.
• 13:25
  Speaker 1: But the guys really played well.
• 13:29
  Speaker 2: Brandon Graham, at thirty seven years old, played just seven
• 13:32
  Speaker 2: snaps against the Raiders, had two sacks. Vic Vangio spoke
• 13:36
  Speaker 2: about what he's seen from Brandon Graham, who's been transitioning
• 13:40
  Speaker 2: inside as I've written and talked about on this podcast.
• 13:43
  Speaker 2: He said, he's done a good job in there. We
• 13:46
  Speaker 2: didn't have a lot of plays last week, but we
• 13:47
  Speaker 2: are confident and comfortable playing him in there. And I
• 13:56
  Speaker 2: think this is also really important because, in case you
• 13:58
  Speaker 2: missed it, Patrick Queen, the Stewers linebacker, ranked his top
• 14:02
  Speaker 2: five linebackers, and then coming in at number five is
• 14:06
  Speaker 2: Nikobe Dean. And those who have read my work over
• 14:09
  Speaker 2: the years, who have listened to me on this podcast.
• 14:12
  Speaker 2: You know that I've lauded the play of Nikobe Dean,
• 14:15
  Speaker 2: not just the play, but the person that he is,
• 14:18
  Speaker 2: the leadership, the mentality that he instills in this defense.
• 14:22
  Speaker 2: And I think last season, given the play of Cooper
• 14:25
  Speaker 2: dejen and Quinnon, Mitchell, Zach Bonn, Josh Sweat, CJ. Gardner, Johnson,
• 14:32
  Speaker 2: Nikobe got overshadowed. And last season I did the best
• 14:36
  Speaker 2: that I could to make sure that that didn't happen
• 14:38
  Speaker 2: because he was instrumental in the overall functionality and impact
• 14:43
  Speaker 2: of that defense. And so we talk about the on
• 14:46
  Speaker 2: field portion. I've mentioned before about how smart he is.
• 14:49
  Speaker 2: I think he's one of the more intelligent defensive players
• 14:52
  Speaker 2: in the game. That goes back to Georgia. That was
• 14:55
  Speaker 2: one of his hallmarks. But Vic Vanjoe spoke about that
• 14:58
  Speaker 2: aspect and he said, yeah, he's got a high IQ
• 15:01
  Speaker 2: as a football player, got good instincts, good knowledge, and
• 15:04
  Speaker 2: has a good feel for the game. That's one of
• 15:07
  Speaker 2: the things among others, that I really like about him.
• 15:14
  Speaker 2: And then as far as Brandon Graham remaining inside when
• 15:19
  Speaker 2: Jayalen Carter returns to the fold, Vic Vangel said, we'll see.
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: I think we'll float back and forth.
• 15:29
  Speaker 2: Let's see here we'll get I'm trying to see if
• 15:31
  Speaker 2: there's any other key points that I want to hit
• 15:33
  Speaker 2: you guys with.
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: Noan Smith. Noen Smith has progressed.
• 15:40
  Speaker 2: He's been playing more snaps. He played twenty six, which
• 15:43
  Speaker 2: was right on par jayaloxs. Hunt played twenty five jaywhen
• 15:47
  Speaker 2: Phillips played thirty, and he was initially on a pitch count.
• 15:51
  Speaker 2: But as far as that goes, Vic Vanjo gave an
• 15:54
  Speaker 2: update as to where he stands. He goes, Yeah, I
• 15:55
  Speaker 2: don't think the pitch count counts there anymore. We've been
• 15:59
  Speaker 2: rowing him JLYX and JP. I think every week he
• 16:04
  Speaker 2: gets a little better. I thank you guys. You know,
• 16:08
  Speaker 2: he said he's getting better and more comfortable, and I
• 16:10
  Speaker 2: think he's back to where he was. And then as
• 16:17
  Speaker 2: far as Reid blanket Ship will end with this read
• 16:20
  Speaker 2: blanket Ship.
• 16:21
  Speaker 1: He has one of those seasons.
• 16:23
  Speaker 2: Well, he's having one of those seasons that he doesn't
• 16:25
  Speaker 2: get noticed all that much, and I think he sort
• 16:28
  Speaker 2: of gets taken for granted in the role and the
• 16:32
  Speaker 2: role that he plays on game day and week to
• 16:34
  Speaker 2: week and things like that. He had to play alongside
• 16:37
  Speaker 2: a rookie for much of the season. He's he takes
• 16:41
  Speaker 2: on a considerable responsibility every week as the safety as
• 16:45
  Speaker 2: and as I mentioned, linebackers and safeties in vic Fangio's
• 16:48
  Speaker 2: defense demand you know, you have to be highly intelligent,
• 16:53
  Speaker 2: you have to communicate well, and so he said. When asked,
• 16:57
  Speaker 2: how have you assessed his performance this year, he said, good,
• 17:00
  Speaker 2: very good. He's a stabilizing player in our defense from
• 17:03
  Speaker 2: that standpoint. But yet I think he's playing his position
• 17:06
  Speaker 2: very well too. So there's an update on Reed Blankenship,
• 17:09
  Speaker 2: who we don't talk about all that much, but it's
• 17:12
  Speaker 2: important to note that vic Vangio remains high on him
• 17:16
  Speaker 2: and he's sort of bullish on the season that he's
• 17:19
  Speaker 2: having despite Reid not maybe getting the interceptions that we've
• 17:22
  Speaker 2: grown accustomed to seeing him getting and things of that nature.
• 17:25
  Speaker 2: Highly intelligent player and sort of the glue on that
• 17:29
  Speaker 2: back end.
• 17:30
  Speaker 1: So there you have it.
• 17:31
  Speaker 2: There are my updates from Wednesday at the Novacare Complex.
• 17:34
  Speaker 2: For now, that's going to do it for this edition
• 17:37
  Speaker 2: of the Czech O Daily. I am Andrew de Cheko,
• 17:40
  Speaker 2: and I will catch you all on the next one.