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Gearing Up For The Eagles Season! (PST Episode 621) · The Philadelphia Sports Table | Philly Sports News & Views

• 0:42
  Speaker 1: Welcome to the Philadelphia Sports Table podcast show, the longest
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: running weekly Philly sports podcast show in the world. That's right,
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: twelve years strong. We've got a great show, but an
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: abbreviated show coming your way this week. Unfortunately, schedules happen,
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: life happens at times. Unfortunately, you're not gonna be able
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: to hear from Lenn or Eric this week. However, we've
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: got a great discussion and a great interview coming your
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: way about this Philadelphia Eagles upcoming twenty twenty five season.
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: What's it gonna look like when it comes to the offense,
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: when it comes to the defense. Are there certain areas
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: of this team that we do have a concern with.
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: We're gonna be getting into them in just a bit. Here,
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: We've got one of our good friends from the Eagles
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: Pin Pull podcast network. We absolutely love having him on
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: to dive into a lot of NFL talk and a
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: lot of Eagles talk. We've got a great discussion coming
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: your way. Let's get right to it, all right. We
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: are back with our good friend Shane Half. He is
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: coming to us from the Eagles Pin Poll podcast network
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: on the Shane Page podcast. He and his buddy doing
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: great stuff. They're just doing great stuff over there at
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: Eagles pin Pool Network. Shane, Buddy Man, thanks so much
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: for jumping on this week.
• 2:00
  Speaker 2: Happy to jump on, Jeff. I'm so used to being
• 2:02
  Speaker 2: on camera. I just saluted when you were introducing me
• 2:04
  Speaker 2: forgetting that we're audio only. So I'm gonna try to
• 2:08
  Speaker 2: not talk with my hands too much. Dude.
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: We're are not audio only. We're not audio only. Up
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: on YouTube, my friend, we are there. You go, salute
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: everybody on YouTube.
• 2:18
  Speaker 2: There we go, see that. We're already just gonna have
• 2:21
  Speaker 2: to like click rerecord or something. O. This is excited
• 2:25
  Speaker 2: to be here.
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: This is how long Shane has been coming on the
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: PSD Podcast Show, folks, because we are so used to
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: like connecting over video, knowing that it's only been an
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: audio podcast. But back in April we changed some things
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: and we're now doing video and we're uploading to YouTube
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: first time. Shane's on YouTube here at the PSD Podcast Show.
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: So there you go, Buddy, We're yeah, we're in the
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: next dimension. Click subscribe now. Yes, we are in the
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: next dimension. Yeah, I gotta tell you too, man. All right,
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: Shane and I were talking a lot before we hit
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: the record button, and I'm gonna say something right now,
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: building an audio podcast a platform. Over the twelve years
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: we've been doing this fun and and it's great where
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: the show is right now, The amount of downloads, the
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: listens the home, the base of listenership is great. Man.
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: It's it's starting. It's like starting all over from scratch.
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: When you're on YouTube, my friend, not everybody comes over.
• 3:19
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's that's great. It's it's even like I've built
• 3:22
  Speaker 2: a big Twitter following and then it's like the YouTube
• 3:24
  Speaker 2: it's like not very big, and it's like it's the
• 3:26
  Speaker 2: same stuff, but it's just people. You end up in
• 3:28
  Speaker 2: a niche in one place. But I just became your
• 3:31
  Speaker 2: eightieth subscriber on YouTube.
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: Oh I appreciate.
• 3:33
  Speaker 2: Hopefully everybody else will go subscribe because you deserve far
• 3:36
  Speaker 2: more than that.
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: Well, I appreciate it, buddy, Thank you, and and I
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: appreciate you jumping on this week to talk about this
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: Philadelphia Eagles off season and what we can expect this
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: coming season from this team. There's so many different storylines
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: and I want to have a little fun right off
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: the bat here because I really do. I want to.
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: I want to like whether it's making fun of some
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: folks and some storylines that have been absolutely ridiculous, and
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: the ego discourse and online media world over the past
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: few weeks. Here there's an entire media ecosystem, excuse me,
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: the world of Philly sports around this time of year,
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: as you know, Shane, that aims just to gin up stories,
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: invent completely stupid narratives, throw some nonsense against the wall,
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: see what sticks. And we see that within the Philly
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: sports radio scene around this time every year, right before
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: training camp starts. So there have been at there's been
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: a lot out there it recently, what has been, in
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: your opinion, the most ridiculous Eagles storyline so far during
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: this off season?
• 4:39
  Speaker 2: Man, I might not have the Yeah, I might not
• 4:42
  Speaker 2: have the best answer here, So to be honest, I
• 4:45
  Speaker 2: am never that engaged in the Philly radio.
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: Scene, Bless your soul.
• 4:51
  Speaker 2: Partially it's because I'm removed geographically in Oklahoma I have
• 4:55
  Speaker 2: to search it out, and partially because it's mostly garbage.
• 4:59
  Speaker 2: But also I tend to unplug for most sports media
• 5:03
  Speaker 2: when like games aren't being played because all there is
• 5:06
  Speaker 2: to talk about is fake, made up drama, and so
• 5:09
  Speaker 2: I'm like locked in through the draft and then once
• 5:12
  Speaker 2: the draft happens, I almost am on like a cleanse
• 5:15
  Speaker 2: from like sports media. I'm still producing content, right and
• 5:19
  Speaker 2: you know, like I'm doing like all twenty two stuff
• 5:22
  Speaker 2: about the Eagles rookies, so like games aren't being played,
• 5:25
  Speaker 2: but I'm analyzing games, and I'll do like your QB
• 5:28
  Speaker 2: rankings and your head coach rankings and things like that.
• 5:31
  Speaker 2: But I don't really like consume a lot of sports
• 5:34
  Speaker 2: media in the Offseason's like I hit summer, the kids
• 5:37
  Speaker 2: are out of school, I've been grinding the draft. I'm
• 5:40
  Speaker 2: just gonna take a breath. But knowing what I know,
• 5:44
  Speaker 2: I'm just gonna go out on a limb and say
• 5:46
  Speaker 2: they probably said some dumb things about Jalen Hurts, and
• 5:48
  Speaker 2: you could probably throw a dart at the dartboard and
• 5:51
  Speaker 2: about anything that WIP has said about Jalen Hurts probably
• 5:55
  Speaker 2: qualifies among the most ridiculous storylines.
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: I wish I had off so far. I wish I
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: had a bell. I'm looking at my I'm looking at
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: the background music stuff I have here. I don't have
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: a bell to go.
• 6:04
  Speaker 2: Ding ding ding ding ding.
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: Yes, you are absolutely correct. I mean that that really
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: has been the most ridiculous. Straight. So it's it's w
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: IP guys creating their top eleven lists of best Philly
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: sports athletes and Jalen Hurts is left off and it's like,
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: are you really kidding me about this? And it's just
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: it's ginned up garbage and nonsense and what type of
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: an athlete he is and where his career has gone
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: even though he's a Super Bowl winning champion right now,
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: it's the narratives about Jalen Hurts absolutely ridiculous. So, yeah,
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: you hit the nail on the head there, buddy.
• 6:39
  Speaker 2: It's a big missed opportunity not to have a throwback
• 6:41
  Speaker 2: and do your top eleven Philly sports athletes and make
• 6:44
  Speaker 2: number eleven Carson Wentz and like got the thumbnail on
• 6:48
  Speaker 2: the graphics. So big missed opportunity for the WIP guys.
• 6:52
  Speaker 2: Absolutely all right.
• 6:53
  Speaker 1: Well, aside from that nonsense here getting into this Eagles season,
• 6:58
  Speaker 1: I think the majority of folks who followed the NFL,
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: I think the Eagles are probably going to be one
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: of the top teams in the NFC. I mean, it
• 7:06
  Speaker 1: seems apparent. It seems like, yes, that's common sense, and
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: when you look at the offseason of other teams like
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: the Commanders, like the Rams, like the Lions, some other
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: possible top teams in the NFC. I think the Eagles
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: are still right there at the top, Shane, especially from
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: an offensive perspective. Is this how you're seeing things in
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: terms of how the NFC is looking as we're going
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: to be getting into this twenty twenty five season.
• 7:31
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I think so. I mean, if you look around
• 7:34
  Speaker 2: the NFL, the Eagles return ten of eleven starters on offense,
• 7:39
  Speaker 2: and the one starter they don't return as an interior
• 7:41
  Speaker 2: offensive lineman. That I personally think Eagles fans overrated and
• 7:45
  Speaker 2: Mackai Becton because he had some highlight reel blocks also
• 7:49
  Speaker 2: down in and down out, he had some struggles from times.
• 7:52
  Speaker 2: I'm not trying to just do the revisionists. He's not
• 7:54
  Speaker 2: an Eagle anymore so he's not good, but he's a
• 7:57
  Speaker 2: good player. If you can't replace an interior off offensive lineman,
• 8:01
  Speaker 2: what are you doing so offensively? I expect them to
• 8:04
  Speaker 2: be good defensively. There's some questions, you know, they lose
• 8:07
  Speaker 2: a lot off of the defense, but I just generally
• 8:10
  Speaker 2: trust Vic Fangio and his ability to get things done
• 8:13
  Speaker 2: and the complexity of his scheme and year two with
• 8:17
  Speaker 2: you know, rookies that were playing significant roles that are
• 8:21
  Speaker 2: now second year in the league, second year in the system.
• 8:23
  Speaker 2: So I think he'll be able to do more and
• 8:25
  Speaker 2: push the right buttons. And if you look around the
• 8:28
  Speaker 2: rest of the NFC, you know you've got the commanders
• 8:31
  Speaker 2: in the division. And I expect some falloff in year
• 8:34
  Speaker 2: two of Jayden Daniels and Cliff Kingsbery. Yes, now I
• 8:37
  Speaker 2: expect them to be very good. But this time last
• 8:41
  Speaker 2: year I expected c J. Stroud to do the same
• 8:44
  Speaker 2: things in year two with the Texans, and he took
• 8:46
  Speaker 2: a step back.
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: YEP.
• 8:48
  Speaker 2: I think Jayden Daniels is in a better situation than
• 8:51
  Speaker 2: c J. Stroud is, and especially since they just got
• 8:54
  Speaker 2: c J. Stroud's left tackle. But Washington's offensive line is better.
• 8:58
  Speaker 2: I think they're playmakers better. Cliff Kingsbury is a guy
• 9:03
  Speaker 2: that I have much maligned as a head coach and
• 9:07
  Speaker 2: how he would fall off in the second half of seasons.
• 9:10
  Speaker 2: I was waiting on the shoe to drop last year
• 9:12
  Speaker 2: and it didn't. So, you know, maybe he's just a
• 9:15
  Speaker 2: better offensive coordinator. Maybe in year two, teams make some
• 9:19
  Speaker 2: adjustments and he struggles there. I don't know, but I
• 9:22
  Speaker 2: think it's reasonable to expect them to not be quite
• 9:25
  Speaker 2: as good in year two, although I still think they're
• 9:27
  Speaker 2: going to push for the division. Yeah, and then if
• 9:30
  Speaker 2: you look around at the other teams, the Lions, they're
• 9:33
  Speaker 2: in the spot the Eagles were coming off of the
• 9:35
  Speaker 2: twenty twenty two season. They got to replace both of
• 9:38
  Speaker 2: their play callers. They have to replace their center, which
• 9:42
  Speaker 2: is a bigger deal than people think, probably losing Frank Ragnow,
• 9:46
  Speaker 2: especially so late in the cycle when it's hard to plan.
• 9:49
  Speaker 2: They've got Tate Ratledg, who is a rookie that I
• 9:52
  Speaker 2: loved for the Eagles taking snaps at center, but he
• 9:55
  Speaker 2: never took a snap at center in his collegiate career.
• 9:58
  Speaker 2: He was a right guard. And so there's potential for
• 10:01
  Speaker 2: concern there. With the Lions, their run game is going
• 10:05
  Speaker 2: to be awesome, but we'll see how it plays out overall. Honestly,
• 10:09
  Speaker 2: the Rams are the team I would probably be most
• 10:12
  Speaker 2: scared of. Sean McVay. I think he's probably the second
• 10:16
  Speaker 2: best coach in the league. He's a tremendous play caller.
• 10:20
  Speaker 2: They've been a remarkably young roster that's grown up over
• 10:23
  Speaker 2: the last few years, and so as they continue to mature.
• 10:27
  Speaker 2: And you know, Matthew Stafford, if he's healthy, he's always
• 10:30
  Speaker 2: capable of going on a heater, and I think that's what.
• 10:34
  Speaker 2: Can he sustain it a whole season? Can he stay
• 10:36
  Speaker 2: healthy a whole season? Those are questions, But I think
• 10:39
  Speaker 2: the Rams are the team. If you told me the
• 10:41
  Speaker 2: Eagles don't win the NFC, who did, I think my
• 10:44
  Speaker 2: money would be on the Rams?
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: All right, very good, Well, moving along here with the conversation.
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: We mentioned Jalen Hurts earlier in terms of the ridiculous
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: Philly sports radio narratives that are persisting at this moment.
• 10:58
  Speaker 1: But he's certainly had his share of offensive coordinators over
• 11:03
  Speaker 1: the years, and I really wanted to get into what
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: may possibly change with him this year with a new
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: offensive coordinator, and really how he could elevate his passing
• 11:14
  Speaker 1: game and the passing attack with this Eagles offense this
• 11:17
  Speaker 1: coming season is something that you all talked about on
• 11:20
  Speaker 1: your podcasts as of late. Here. I mean, he's had
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: to adapt. Jalen Hurts has had to adapt over these years,
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: having new offensive coordinators year after year, which is one
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: of the reasons I think he's a pretty special quarterback
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: and one of the best in the league. Now he's
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: got Kevin Patulo coming in as offensive coordinator again. In
• 11:40
  Speaker 1: listening to you and your co host talking about Jalen
• 11:42
  Speaker 1: Hurts's game as of late and how we might see
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: it changed for the better, I'm wondering what type of
• 11:50
  Speaker 1: changes might we see with this new offensive coordinator in
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: Kevin Patulo, and how might Jalen Hurts really continue to
• 11:57
  Speaker 1: elevate his passing attack in this offense.
• 12:00
  Speaker 2: Yeah, Johnny and I recorded with James Foster from Wide
• 12:04
  Speaker 2: Left last week episode the Evolution of Jalen Hurts and
• 12:08
  Speaker 2: not to drive people away from my monetized podcast feed
• 12:12
  Speaker 2: to a YouTube channel, but it's probably better on YouTube
• 12:14
  Speaker 2: because we showed film clips of like Hurts in twenty
• 12:17
  Speaker 2: twenty one versus twenty twenty four and just his growth
• 12:20
  Speaker 2: as a player, and it's undeniable. And it's one of
• 12:22
  Speaker 2: those things that like, you know, you have kids and
• 12:25
  Speaker 2: you're like hanging out with your kids every day and
• 12:28
  Speaker 2: then you go see somebody you haven't seen any year,
• 12:30
  Speaker 2: and like, man, they've really grown up, and you don't
• 12:32
  Speaker 2: see it because you see him every day. It was
• 12:34
  Speaker 2: like that with Hurts going back to twenty twenty, I
• 12:37
  Speaker 2: was like, man, I remember how bad he was and
• 12:39
  Speaker 2: how much I thought they needed to replace him, because
• 12:41
  Speaker 2: it really is. It's really bad. It's phenomenal that what
• 12:44
  Speaker 2: he was in twenty twenty one to twenty twenty four.
• 12:49
  Speaker 2: It's just unbelievable.
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: But go real quick, folks, go search on YouTube. Where
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: should they search for it? I'm forgetting where it was
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: at because it was really great analysis that you guys did.
• 12:58
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's Eagles Pinpoll YouTube tube channel. It'll be back
• 13:01
  Speaker 2: into the last weeks. But the evolution of Jalen Hurts
• 13:04
  Speaker 2: was the title of the episode and I've got some
• 13:06
  Speaker 2: links out on Twitter for it as well. But yeah,
• 13:09
  Speaker 2: we talked about different areas of growth, and I think
• 13:12
  Speaker 2: when you look into twenty twenty five, I mean, if
• 13:15
  Speaker 2: you look at the last three years combined, so eliminating
• 13:18
  Speaker 2: that twenty twenty one is first full year as starter.
• 13:21
  Speaker 2: Twenty twenty two through twenty twenty four, the Eagles have
• 13:24
  Speaker 2: been number four in the NFL in EPA per play
• 13:27
  Speaker 2: on offense, they've been sixth, then drop back EPA second
• 13:30
  Speaker 2: and rushing EPA. So the offense has been really good,
• 13:34
  Speaker 2: and so I think we start there and say the
• 13:36
  Speaker 2: offense has been phenomenal. Aside from that blip on the
• 13:39
  Speaker 2: radar at the end of twenty twenty three where they
• 13:41
  Speaker 2: couldn't beat the blitz and the OC couldn't figure it out,
• 13:45
  Speaker 2: the offense has been really good now. It's also been
• 13:48
  Speaker 2: very simple, and that annoys film guys that want you
• 13:51
  Speaker 2: to do cool schematic things, and the Eagles just don't
• 13:53
  Speaker 2: do that a lot because they haven't needed to, right,
• 13:56
  Speaker 2: And so you have to balance, like, at some one point,
• 14:01
  Speaker 2: presumably maybe not, defenses are going to be able to
• 14:04
  Speaker 2: stop that and you need something else that you can
• 14:07
  Speaker 2: go to. But you're not gonna be as good at
• 14:10
  Speaker 2: those other things when you start doing them. So how
• 14:12
  Speaker 2: do you balance like trying to work that in while
• 14:15
  Speaker 2: not endangering your chances to win now? And that's a
• 14:17
  Speaker 2: juggling act they've got to work out. But to me,
• 14:19
  Speaker 2: the biggest thing is Hurts is so good throwing downfield.
• 14:24
  Speaker 2: Outside the numbers intermedia outbreaking routes, the intermediate middle of
• 14:29
  Speaker 2: the field is not targeted a lot, and it's a
• 14:32
  Speaker 2: more difficult area of the field for Hurts to throw to.
• 14:37
  Speaker 2: If that anything they can do to start to target
• 14:39
  Speaker 2: that area of the field. More will be helpful down
• 14:42
  Speaker 2: the stretch. But at the same time, it's like, man,
• 14:45
  Speaker 2: you can't cover aj Brown one on one deep, you
• 14:47
  Speaker 2: can't cover DeVante Smith one on one on a slant route,
• 14:50
  Speaker 2: and so you also can't stop Saquon Barkley without stacking
• 14:54
  Speaker 2: the box. And you can't do all of those things
• 14:56
  Speaker 2: at the same time. So to me, I don't think
• 14:58
  Speaker 2: you're gonna see great change. I would like to see
• 15:02
  Speaker 2: some more concepts to target the middle of the field.
• 15:06
  Speaker 2: I would like to see more Saquon Barkley sitting five
• 15:10
  Speaker 2: yards over the middle of the field for checkdowns instead
• 15:13
  Speaker 2: of flaring out to the flats, because those are just
• 15:15
  Speaker 2: ways to get the ball in his hands downfield, easier
• 15:17
  Speaker 2: to keep Hurts in rhythm. And I would like to see.
• 15:20
  Speaker 2: My refrain last year was less backside timing routes. To me,
• 15:25
  Speaker 2: you can't run a front side concept and then your
• 15:29
  Speaker 2: backside be a curl route or some sort of timing
• 15:31
  Speaker 2: route because Hurts just isn't going to progress to that
• 15:33
  Speaker 2: quickly enough. And very that's not a knock on Hurts.
• 15:37
  Speaker 2: I would say there's maybe like two or three quarterbacks
• 15:39
  Speaker 2: in the NFL that can so more things coming into
• 15:41
  Speaker 2: his field of vision from the backside, more things targeting
• 15:44
  Speaker 2: the middle of the field. That's what I would like
• 15:46
  Speaker 2: to see. That said, I don't think you're going to
• 15:49
  Speaker 2: see big shifts in the offense this year. Kevin Patulo's
• 15:53
  Speaker 2: been in the building, he knows the systems. I think
• 15:56
  Speaker 2: it'll be largely similar to what we've seen in the
• 15:58
  Speaker 2: years past, with a few wrinkles.
• 16:00
  Speaker 1: I really hope to see more passes over the middle
• 16:03
  Speaker 1: of the field. Like you mentioned, Shane, I mean, it
• 16:05
  Speaker 1: was it was a storyline consistently talked about and discussed,
• 16:10
  Speaker 1: especially last season, when when they're and when there are
• 16:13
  Speaker 1: guys open over the middle and he's preferring to throw outside.
• 16:18
  Speaker 1: It's an interesting storyline that we're definitely going to be
• 16:20
  Speaker 1: getting into, I think more, and talking about more this
• 16:23
  Speaker 1: upcoming season. But you know, one of those guys who
• 16:26
  Speaker 1: at times we want to see Hurts hitting over the
• 16:29
  Speaker 1: middle is Dallas Goddard. And we know how important Goddard
• 16:33
  Speaker 1: has been to this team over the years. And in fact,
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: I mean I truly believe that this team may not
• 16:39
  Speaker 1: have won the Super Bowl last year without Dallas Goddard
• 16:41
  Speaker 1: and his performance in the postseason. I mean, the tight
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: end position has always been an important part of the
• 16:48
  Speaker 1: Philadelphia Eagles offense. I mean going back like decades. Now
• 16:51
  Speaker 1: at this point, I'm just wondering what we should be
• 16:54
  Speaker 1: making of the future of the tight end position and
• 16:57
  Speaker 1: the tight end room with this Eagles team, and if
• 17:00
  Speaker 1: it's still going to be important in the future when
• 17:02
  Speaker 1: Goddard's no longer on the team. Have you been given
• 17:04
  Speaker 1: this some thought?
• 17:06
  Speaker 2: Yeah, Dallas Goddard's so good, Yeah, so important to what
• 17:10
  Speaker 2: the Eagles do. And I thought it was absolutely insane
• 17:13
  Speaker 2: when there was rumors about them trading him for like
• 17:15
  Speaker 2: a Day three pick.
• 17:16
  Speaker 1: I was not happy.
• 17:17
  Speaker 2: Yeah. Last season, Dallas Goddard averaged two point two yards
• 17:23
  Speaker 2: per route run from eleven personnel, which was the second
• 17:27
  Speaker 2: most among all qualifying tight ends. And then you look
• 17:30
  Speaker 2: at the run game. The Eagles averaged six point three
• 17:33
  Speaker 2: yards per carry when Dallas Goddard was on the field
• 17:36
  Speaker 2: four point nine when he was off the field, So
• 17:38
  Speaker 2: that's almost a one and a half yard per carry swing.
• 17:43
  Speaker 2: People under rate Dallas Goddard, I think, and a lot
• 17:46
  Speaker 2: of it has to do with volume. If he was
• 17:48
  Speaker 2: in a different offense that didn't have an AJ Brown,
• 17:52
  Speaker 2: Saquon Barkley, DeVante Smith. I think he would put up
• 17:55
  Speaker 2: a lot bigger numbers. Now, health has been a thing
• 17:59
  Speaker 2: for him. But what makes him so valuable as he
• 18:01
  Speaker 2: is such a good route runner, he's so good after
• 18:03
  Speaker 2: the catch, and he can block really well, and a
• 18:06
  Speaker 2: lot of times it's picked two out of the three there.
• 18:09
  Speaker 2: Most tight ends aren't as good blocking as he is,
• 18:11
  Speaker 2: and if they are, they're just don't offer anything in
• 18:14
  Speaker 2: the receiving department. So god Aart being back is huge
• 18:17
  Speaker 2: for this season. As for what the future looks like
• 18:21
  Speaker 2: at tight end, I have no idea. I've wanted the
• 18:23
  Speaker 2: Eagles to address tight end for a while. If you're
• 18:26
  Speaker 2: going to run the sort of offense the Eagles are
• 18:28
  Speaker 2: gonna run, and they should where they're such a run
• 18:31
  Speaker 2: heavy attack. Grant kal Katara can't be your tight end
• 18:34
  Speaker 2: one lining him up in line and asking him to block,
• 18:38
  Speaker 2: it's just not advantageous. You would be better off going
• 18:41
  Speaker 2: four wide receivers and spreading the field. And you know
• 18:45
  Speaker 2: Kylon Grantson, Harrison Bryant, these guys they brought in. I mean,
• 18:48
  Speaker 2: we'll see they were available for a reason, they signed
• 18:50
  Speaker 2: small contracts for a reason. So I would like to
• 18:53
  Speaker 2: see the Eagles go address tight end. And I understand,
• 18:57
  Speaker 2: you know why you don't make a move at Colson
• 19:00
  Speaker 2: and Loveland went way higher than I thought he was
• 19:01
  Speaker 2: going to. But I understand tight ends got a little
• 19:04
  Speaker 2: crazy in the draft this year because there was a
• 19:05
  Speaker 2: lot I liked and they all went way earlier other
• 19:08
  Speaker 2: than Tyler Warren than I expected. So I get why
• 19:12
  Speaker 2: you don't make the move this year, especially you got Goddard,
• 19:14
  Speaker 2: But I would like to see them aggressively target tight end,
• 19:18
  Speaker 2: maybe as soon as next offseason.
• 19:19
  Speaker 1: If Goddard walks all right, it's an interesting storyline for sure. Again,
• 19:23
  Speaker 1: folks were talking to Shane Half from the Eagles Pin
• 19:26
  Speaker 1: Pull podcast network on the Shane Page podcast. Great great
• 19:31
  Speaker 1: stuff they're doing. They got a Patreon as well. Search
• 19:35
  Speaker 1: out Shane if you're watching on YouTube. He's got his
• 19:37
  Speaker 1: handle right there at Shane Half NFL. If you're listening
• 19:41
  Speaker 1: to us, follow Shane on the Twitter slash x at
• 19:44
  Speaker 1: Shane Half NFL. A great great follow, lots of great content.
• 19:48
  Speaker 1: But moving along here, I really wanted to dive into
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: the number three wide receiver position on this team and
• 19:56
  Speaker 1: really who that is really gonna who It's not only
• 19:59
  Speaker 1: gonna be, but really what's it going to look like?
• 20:01
  Speaker 1: Because I do wonder if if the number three wide
• 20:05
  Speaker 1: receiver is really going to be given a chance this
• 20:08
  Speaker 1: coming season, given an opportunity to catch the ball and
• 20:11
  Speaker 1: be a contributor. We saw, I think at times the
• 20:15
  Speaker 1: skill that Johan Dotson had last season. Of course, he
• 20:19
  Speaker 1: had that big, big catch on the opening drive in
• 20:22
  Speaker 1: the Super Bowl, but was largely unseen. Now whether that
• 20:26
  Speaker 1: was the coaching staff just making it that or whether
• 20:31
  Speaker 1: it was Johan Dotson not necessarily integrating himself into the
• 20:35
  Speaker 1: offense the way that he should. Think the jury's out
• 20:38
  Speaker 1: on some of that. But I'm wondering, Shane, what are
• 20:40
  Speaker 1: your thoughts on the number three wide receiver position and
• 20:44
  Speaker 1: what that position is going to mean to this offense
• 20:46
  Speaker 1: this coming season.
• 20:48
  Speaker 2: Yeah, wide receiver three is one of those things where
• 20:51
  Speaker 2: like I would always like it the Eagles to have
• 20:54
  Speaker 2: a better wide receiver three. Yeah, but at the end
• 20:58
  Speaker 2: of the day, the same thing we talked about with
• 21:00
  Speaker 2: Alice Scodder comes into play at wide receiver three. Are
• 21:02
  Speaker 2: you going to expend significant resources on the wide receiver
• 21:07
  Speaker 2: three in a run heavy offense that features aj Brown
• 21:10
  Speaker 2: and Devonte Smith right, and I just don't think you are.
• 21:13
  Speaker 2: Like the Eagles were the second lowest early down pass
• 21:17
  Speaker 2: rate in the NFL this season, they were only ahead
• 21:20
  Speaker 2: of the Packers in that regard. So I would like
• 21:25
  Speaker 2: to have a better wide receiver three. I would like
• 21:27
  Speaker 2: to have more depth at the receiver position as well. However,
• 21:32
  Speaker 2: it's really hard to develop a guy when they're not
• 21:35
  Speaker 2: going to get a lot of targets. And it's hard
• 21:37
  Speaker 2: to justify drafting a guy in the first or second
• 21:40
  Speaker 2: round that doesn't need as much development when again, there's
• 21:45
  Speaker 2: a logjam at the wide receiver position. And so you
• 21:48
  Speaker 2: know Johan Dotson. I think Johan Dotson is a fine
• 21:51
  Speaker 2: wide receiver three. I don't think he's much more than
• 21:54
  Speaker 2: a wide receiver three. And there's things he really struggles with,
• 21:57
  Speaker 2: like getting off a press coverage. You press him, you
• 21:59
  Speaker 2: can take him completely out of a play. And honestly,
• 22:02
  Speaker 2: there were times last year he was running like the
• 22:04
  Speaker 2: clear out route on a sale concept and he got
• 22:07
  Speaker 2: pressed so hard it also took away the corner route
• 22:10
  Speaker 2: that you're trying to throw that you're trying to run
• 22:12
  Speaker 2: coverage off. He just couldn't get downfield, and so there's
• 22:15
  Speaker 2: issues there. My ideal wide receiver three. It's tough because,
• 22:22
  Speaker 2: like a lot of times, the team will say, let's
• 22:24
  Speaker 2: get a speed guy as our wide receiver three so
• 22:27
  Speaker 2: we can stretch the field vertically. Well. Aj Brown is
• 22:30
  Speaker 2: one of the best deep ball receivers in the league,
• 22:32
  Speaker 2: Davante Smith's not far behind, and neither of them are
• 22:35
  Speaker 2: speed demons. But it's like, what good does the speed
• 22:37
  Speaker 2: do me if I would rather stretch vertically with one
• 22:40
  Speaker 2: of these other guys? Right right, Okay, so what do
• 22:43
  Speaker 2: you want? I see one of two ways that Eagles
• 22:46
  Speaker 2: could go. One is like, give me like a speed
• 22:49
  Speaker 2: gadget type guy that I can manufacture touches for and
• 22:53
  Speaker 2: use as a returnment. A Cavante Turpin type guy. Yeah,
• 22:57
  Speaker 2: so somebody like that would be nice if you could
• 22:59
  Speaker 2: get it. The other option is to go like, let's
• 23:02
  Speaker 2: call it Johnny Wilson, but he doesn't have hands of stone, Like,
• 23:07
  Speaker 2: give me a power slot receiver that's a good blocker
• 23:11
  Speaker 2: that can just be reliable for one or two targets
• 23:14
  Speaker 2: the game over the middle. I wanted Johnny Wilson to
• 23:17
  Speaker 2: be that, and he was pretty bad in his rookie
• 23:20
  Speaker 2: season and hopefully he can bounce back. You know, ideally,
• 23:23
  Speaker 2: I'd love for him to be the long term receiver
• 23:25
  Speaker 2: three if he can develop as a route runner and
• 23:28
  Speaker 2: you know, as a hands catcher a little more because
• 23:29
  Speaker 2: he is a good blocker, especially once he cleaned up
• 23:33
  Speaker 2: the penalty issues. But at the end of the day,
• 23:35
  Speaker 2: Johan Dotson's the guy for this year and help us
• 23:40
  Speaker 2: if AJ Brown or DeVante Smith goes down for an
• 23:42
  Speaker 2: extended time.
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: Yeah, exactly. It's one of the mind boggling decisions I
• 23:47
  Speaker 1: think that Howie in the front office made to bring
• 23:49
  Speaker 1: in John dottson considering, you know, giving giving up that
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: what was a third round pick, correct, you know, yeah,
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: to get him and the under utilization of him. But
• 23:59
  Speaker 1: then you made some great points too him getting off press.
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: I mean, we know that's an issue. We know that's
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: an issue, and I don't think that's gonna stop at
• 24:05
  Speaker 1: anytime soon. Smaller based wide receiver, that's gonna happen in
• 24:09
  Speaker 1: this league, for sure. But I want to move over
• 24:12
  Speaker 1: to the defense for a minute here, Shane, And as
• 24:15
  Speaker 1: we're getting ready to finish up our conversation, just a
• 24:18
  Speaker 1: couple more topics here. I feel like this Eagles defensive
• 24:22
  Speaker 1: line is gonna need a lot of growth here in
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: twenty twenty five. Nolan Smith, I think he's gonna need
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: to take some steps forward, even as good as we
• 24:30
  Speaker 1: saw his play last year. Mora ojamo in Jalx Hunt,
• 24:35
  Speaker 1: I think they're gonna need to develop more. We're just
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: gonna need to see more from a pass rushing perspective,
• 24:40
  Speaker 1: I think on this team with certain younger players. So
• 24:43
  Speaker 1: I'm wondering what kind of steps do you think we're
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: gonna see this Eagles defensive line in the pass rush
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: really take this coming season. Are we gonna need to
• 24:51
  Speaker 1: be patient with these guys or do you think they're
• 24:53
  Speaker 1: gonna be able to come in and really just be
• 24:54
  Speaker 1: a force of nature.
• 24:56
  Speaker 2: Yeah. Nolan Smith is really interesting because came on so
• 25:00
  Speaker 2: hot down the stretch last year. I think it was
• 25:04
  Speaker 2: going into the Super Bowl, and I mean we dominated
• 25:07
  Speaker 2: the Super Bowl. I don't know how this stat holds
• 25:09
  Speaker 2: up post Super Bowl, but going into the Super Bowl,
• 25:12
  Speaker 2: over the final three weeks of the regular season and
• 25:14
  Speaker 2: into the playoffs, Nolan Smith had the most pressures among
• 25:19
  Speaker 2: any Eagles defender, and I think it was second in
• 25:21
  Speaker 2: the NFL man and he just came out of nowhere,
• 25:25
  Speaker 2: like he's always been good as a run defender and
• 25:27
  Speaker 2: he sets a mean edge and you know, if he
• 25:29
  Speaker 2: can continue to rush the passer at that rate, that's
• 25:32
  Speaker 2: going to be phenomenal news for the Eagles. Obviously, Jalen
• 25:36
  Speaker 2: Carter is a superstar, and we don't even need to
• 25:39
  Speaker 2: talk about him. I don't know. I feel like the
• 25:42
  Speaker 2: biggest room for growth he has left is becoming respected
• 25:45
  Speaker 2: enough to get penalty flags thrown his way when they
• 25:49
  Speaker 2: hold him. That'd be nice if you weren't allowed to
• 25:52
  Speaker 2: hold him. But we'll see. And then, you know, when
• 25:57
  Speaker 2: you look around at Edge, you just start to wonder,
• 26:01
  Speaker 2: you know, Ty Robinson, is he going to kick out
• 26:04
  Speaker 2: to edge? He was kind of a bit of a tweener.
• 26:06
  Speaker 2: I see him more as an interior defense blind guy,
• 26:09
  Speaker 2: and so, you know, I like josh Uca a couple
• 26:13
  Speaker 2: of years ago. He hasn't done a lot in the
• 26:15
  Speaker 2: last few years. Uh Azizo Jalari is a guy I
• 26:18
  Speaker 2: liked in the draft. I think between like Aziz and
• 26:21
  Speaker 2: Jalx Hunt, hopefully you can get a good pass rusher
• 26:24
  Speaker 2: out of that. But pass rusher is a position that
• 26:27
  Speaker 2: the Eagles could stand to add somebody, and I think
• 26:30
  Speaker 2: it's a place that makes sense. Like you can talk
• 26:33
  Speaker 2: about a lot of places that you could bring in
• 26:35
  Speaker 2: a vet, pass rusher is one where there's just an
• 26:39
  Speaker 2: innate rotation and so you could bring in Zadarias Smith,
• 26:43
  Speaker 2: a Jadavian Clowney, assuming they're willing to sign for what
• 26:46
  Speaker 2: you're willing to pay, and you can play him twenty
• 26:48
  Speaker 2: snaps a game and it doesn't overly hinder the development
• 26:51
  Speaker 2: of a Jlyx hunt. Yeah, And so as a place
• 26:54
  Speaker 2: I would be interested in seeing them make a move,
• 26:57
  Speaker 2: But again last year they didn't. Really they weren't awesome
• 27:02
  Speaker 2: because the pass rush was awesome. It was fine. The
• 27:05
  Speaker 2: coverage was so good and the pass rush was good
• 27:08
  Speaker 2: enough and it all married together. And I think you're
• 27:10
  Speaker 2: gonna be relying on a lot of that this year too.
• 27:12
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I think so as well. I think you make
• 27:14
  Speaker 1: some great points there. And as we're as we're winding
• 27:18
  Speaker 1: down with our conversation here, I mean, I think it's
• 27:21
  Speaker 1: it's safe to say that Howie Roseman's gonna make some
• 27:24
  Speaker 1: other type of move with regard to the defense, whether
• 27:27
  Speaker 1: it is the pass rush or whether it is to
• 27:30
  Speaker 1: acquire a safety, because I think that the safety position,
• 27:36
  Speaker 1: it's certainly debatable, potentially the weakest link on this defense.
• 27:41
  Speaker 1: How concerned should we be Shane for the safety position
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: in this group coming into the season, and you think
• 27:46
  Speaker 1: how he's gonna make it a priority to address it
• 27:48
  Speaker 1: before the start of the regular season.
• 27:52
  Speaker 2: Yeah, safety is tough to know, right, I mean, you
• 27:56
  Speaker 2: talk about being paper thin somewhere, Like, let's assume Andrew
• 27:59
  Speaker 2: mccoubis stuff and plays good in year one behind Reid
• 28:04
  Speaker 2: Blankenship and Andrew mccuba. If somebody goes down, you've got
• 28:07
  Speaker 2: Sidney Brown, Tristan McCollum, Lewis seen. Maybe it's it's ten
• 28:13
  Speaker 2: for sure. And you know, Avonte Maddox was kind of
• 28:17
  Speaker 2: their third safety last year and he's gone. And I'm
• 28:19
  Speaker 2: not saying they should have brought him back, but it's
• 28:22
  Speaker 2: just a fact of the matter. They put him on
• 28:23
  Speaker 2: the field over Sidney Brown last year. And so, I
• 28:27
  Speaker 2: you know, Justin Simmons is the hot name. He's been
• 28:30
  Speaker 2: the hot name for the Eagles, it feels like for decades.
• 28:33
  Speaker 2: I don't know, we do the Justin Simmons conversation every year,
• 28:36
  Speaker 2: and for me, I would bring Simmons in under two circumstances.
• 28:42
  Speaker 2: One is it's a small enough deal that it works,
• 28:45
  Speaker 2: and two is like, you're not guaranteed the starting job.
• 28:49
  Speaker 2: Are you willing to come compete with Andrew mccuba, And
• 28:53
  Speaker 2: that's the thing, like you don't want to sign the
• 28:55
  Speaker 2: guy in him be like I'm starting, and then you
• 28:57
  Speaker 2: are pigeonholed into it, or if he gets beat out,
• 29:00
  Speaker 2: you've got issues in the locker room. And so those
• 29:02
  Speaker 2: two things have to be clear. But once that happens,
• 29:05
  Speaker 2: I'm like, yeah, I would bring him in a heartbeat.
• 29:07
  Speaker 2: Let him compete with mccuba. May the best man win.
• 29:10
  Speaker 2: You've got depth all around. But if you walk into
• 29:13
  Speaker 2: it as it is this season, I like mccuba and
• 29:18
  Speaker 2: I think he'll probably step in and be fine. I
• 29:20
  Speaker 2: don't think the guy that he's replacing was overly great
• 29:23
  Speaker 2: last year and Jauncey Gardner Johnson. But this is the
• 29:28
  Speaker 2: position that I think you have a chance for catastrophe
• 29:30
  Speaker 2: if you don't make a move and injury strikes. Because
• 29:33
  Speaker 2: I don't trust and I love Sidney Brown. I don't
• 29:36
  Speaker 2: trust Sidney Brown to play post safety. I saw Tristan
• 29:38
  Speaker 2: McCollum do it last year and it wasn't very good.
• 29:40
  Speaker 2: And so that's the place that and Ed Rusher the
• 29:43
  Speaker 2: two places I would keep an eye on if the
• 29:45
  Speaker 2: Eagles were to make a move. I think it's one
• 29:47
  Speaker 2: of those two.
• 29:47
  Speaker 1: Well, it's gonna be interesting with the training camp coming.
• 29:51
  Speaker 1: Before we know it, it'll be here man. And again,
• 29:54
  Speaker 1: it was great talking with you folks. He is Shane
• 29:57
  Speaker 1: Haff from the Eagles pin Pole podcast Network. Buddy, let
• 30:01
  Speaker 1: everybody know where they can find you out there, where
• 30:02
  Speaker 1: they can subscribe to your Patreon platform. You guys are
• 30:05
  Speaker 1: doing good stuff. Let them know about it.
• 30:08
  Speaker 2: Yeah. So, like Jeff said, the Eagles Pinpool Network, it's
• 30:12
  Speaker 2: a little slower right now, but we have a daily
• 30:14
  Speaker 2: show on weekdays. It's like a five to ten minute
• 30:17
  Speaker 2: news update thing. Johnny and I put our film stuff
• 30:21
  Speaker 2: on there. Birds of the Roundtable is doing like positional rankings.
• 30:25
  Speaker 2: So we just did our top sixteen quarterbacks. Next week
• 30:27
  Speaker 2: we're going to do running backs and we're kind of
• 30:29
  Speaker 2: moving through that in the off season. And so you
• 30:32
  Speaker 2: can go subscribe anywhere you get your podcast it's also
• 30:35
  Speaker 2: on YouTube if you prefer video versions everything, but our
• 30:38
  Speaker 2: news show is on YouTube as well in a video format,
• 30:41
  Speaker 2: so you can check those out. And then Johnny and
• 30:43
  Speaker 2: I have a Patreon Patreon dot com slash on the
• 30:46
  Speaker 2: Shane page. For less than a cup of Starbucks coffee
• 30:50
  Speaker 2: a month, you can come support us. We've been doing
• 30:52
  Speaker 2: All twenty two watch alongs for all of the Eagles rookies.
• 30:56
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• 30:58
  Speaker 2: with us, and we're putting out a lot of exclusive
• 31:00
  Speaker 2: Patreon content, so there's still free content, but more and
• 31:03
  Speaker 2: more we've got stuff in our Patreon as well. Just practically,
• 31:07
  Speaker 2: we can't put College All twenty two out anywhere or
• 31:10
  Speaker 2: you get banned, right right. Also, you know, it's just
• 31:13
  Speaker 2: a way to support us and our podcast stuff, so
• 31:15
  Speaker 2: go check that out too.
• 31:17
  Speaker 1: And that's going to do it for us this week.
• 31:20
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• 31:23
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• 31:25
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