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Eagles vs. Bengals Postgame Show, Week 8 · The Philadelphia Sports Table | Philly Sports News & Views

0:21
Speaker 1: What's up, everybody? You are listening to Eagles postgame analysis
0:24
Speaker 1: here at the Philadelphia Sports Table podcast show, the longest
0:26
Speaker 1: running weekly Philly sports podcast show in the world, over
0:29
Speaker 1: eleven and a half years strong, and right here in
0:31
Speaker 1: week eight, the Philadelphia Eagles beating the Cincinnati Bengals on
0:35
Speaker 1: the road by a score of thirty seven to seventeen. Boy,
0:39
Speaker 1: I'm really glad I was able to get through that
0:42
Speaker 1: intro there. God, it was the third or fourth time
0:44
Speaker 1: that it took me to get through it. I'm Jeff
0:47
Speaker 1: Warren and I'm here with my good buddy from Philadelphia
0:51
Speaker 1: soccernow dot com. Huge Eagles fan loves doing Eagles analysis
0:56
Speaker 1: with us here in our postgame shows, Mister Josh Schuster, Josh, buddy,
0:59
Speaker 1: thanks for joining us here on the postgame show. What
1:02
Speaker 1: a game this was, buddy.
1:03
Speaker 2: Yeah, it was? Uh this is They had said it
1:06
Speaker 2: on the radio. I because of it being political season,
1:09
Speaker 2: have turned off the volume on the television, which you
1:13
Speaker 2: can relate to. Yes, so I I had the radio on,
1:18
Speaker 2: and I may I may do this more often.
1:20
Speaker 1: Sure, Eric does it all the time. Eric does it
1:22
Speaker 1: all the time. He well, mainly because of the commentators
1:25
Speaker 1: he can't stand the commentators. He's like, I'd rather listen
1:27
Speaker 1: to Meryl and Mike, and I may do that too
1:30
Speaker 1: at some point because it's rough. Anyway, go ahead, I'm sorry.
1:34
Speaker 2: Yeah, And I enjoy the playful bickering that the two
1:38
Speaker 2: of the uh they do back and forth. But they
1:41
Speaker 2: were they were mentioning that this is probably the most
1:44
Speaker 2: complete game that we've seen from the Eagles, even including
1:48
Speaker 2: the first half, which was a little rough. Yeah, but
1:52
Speaker 2: I was very impressed walking away from this game, just
1:55
Speaker 2: kind of all around.
1:56
Speaker 1: Yeah. Absolutely, Look, I think this game really was a
1:59
Speaker 1: tale of two halves. The first half, the Eagles scored
2:02
Speaker 1: ten points, Bengals scored ten points, tied again going into
2:05
Speaker 1: the half, Eagles offense and Jalen Hurts were shaky at times.
2:09
Speaker 1: There were some good plays that were being run by
2:11
Speaker 1: the offense. There were some good plays and good play
2:14
Speaker 1: on the field from the defense, but just inconsistencies I
2:17
Speaker 1: think throughout, and it was really, I think difficult for
2:19
Speaker 1: them to get consistent execution during the first half. Then
2:22
Speaker 1: they come out in the second half and it's a
2:24
Speaker 1: completely different ballgame. And for me, Josh, I look at
2:29
Speaker 1: one drive of this game and it was the drive
2:32
Speaker 1: that ended up sealing the game for them that I
2:35
Speaker 1: really looked at as a statement drive. You know, not
2:38
Speaker 1: just with what you know, Mike and Merrill we're talking
2:40
Speaker 1: about on the radio that you just mentioned, but with
2:43
Speaker 1: regard to this game being a statement game, but this
2:46
Speaker 1: one statement drive. It was right after the CJ. Gardner
2:50
Speaker 1: Johnson interception that Isaiah Rodgers helped create. The Eagles were
2:53
Speaker 1: at their own fifteen yard line, their own fifteen yard line,
2:57
Speaker 1: with twelve minutes and sixteen seconds on the clock in
3:00
Speaker 1: the third and the offense just completely took over. Was
3:04
Speaker 1: it the third of the fourth? I think it was
3:07
Speaker 1: the fourth It was the fourth quarter, yes, yes, the
3:09
Speaker 1: fourth quarter. Offense then took over, went eighty five yards
3:14
Speaker 1: in twelve plays, seven minutes and thirty seven seconds off
3:17
Speaker 1: the clock. That was a statement drive in a statement game.
3:22
Speaker 1: This Eagles team is here to play on both offense
3:24
Speaker 1: and defense. And what I also think is interesting is
3:27
Speaker 1: that Bowolf some may follow him on Twitter, he shot
3:32
Speaker 1: off a really interesting stat that I thought, and I
3:37
Speaker 1: want to get into it here. I'm trying to find it.
3:40
Speaker 1: I can't find it right now, but I'm gonna have
3:42
Speaker 1: to get to it in just a minute here. I
3:44
Speaker 1: thought that I actually had it in my notes, and
3:46
Speaker 1: of course I don't have it in my notes here.
3:48
Speaker 1: But this game, again a statement game, that was a
3:54
Speaker 1: statement drive. And I think it's important for us that
3:58
Speaker 1: even though the Eagles do not score in the first quarter,
4:01
Speaker 1: and this is where that stat comes in that I'm
4:04
Speaker 1: gonna get to in just a bit in the fact
4:07
Speaker 1: that it's still the longest streak of any NFL team
4:09
Speaker 1: not to scored one point in the first quarter. It's like,
4:12
Speaker 1: what nine straight games at this point. What Eagles are
4:15
Speaker 1: able to do in the second half of games. They
4:17
Speaker 1: are able to turn things around, They're able to make adjustments,
4:20
Speaker 1: They're able to not get in their own heads and
4:22
Speaker 1: let games really get away from them. Again, like you said,
4:26
Speaker 1: it's a statement game. And right now at this point
4:30
Speaker 1: in the season, going five and two, they play the
4:33
Speaker 1: Jaguars next week. Things are looking good. I'm optimistic for
4:37
Speaker 1: this team as they're moving forward. Again, a statement game
4:40
Speaker 1: on the road. I like what this Eagles team is
4:42
Speaker 1: at this season.
4:43
Speaker 2: Buddy, Yeah, I think this game was important for two
4:48
Speaker 2: primary reasons. One, the Birds had started mounting some good
4:54
Speaker 2: games together, but the competition was always, well, it's the Giants, right,
4:59
Speaker 2: while it's the Brown Yeah, you didn't want to lose
5:01
Speaker 2: that momentum. And I know the Bengals have losing record,
5:04
Speaker 2: like I'm aware of it. But just in terms of
5:08
Speaker 2: their offense, one of the big questions we still had
5:11
Speaker 2: that everybody kept saying was is this defense for real?
5:14
Speaker 2: Now I'll get into that in a little bit when
5:16
Speaker 2: we gets coordinators, because I'm probably not going to give
5:20
Speaker 2: as great of a grade as you might think, and
5:22
Speaker 2: I'll get into that later. But the main thing that
5:27
Speaker 2: this showed is that the defense can be for real
5:30
Speaker 2: if the game script goes their way, and it did,
5:34
Speaker 2: but they capitalized on that, right like they forced turnovers.
5:37
Speaker 2: I don't even care that they were in the fourth
5:39
Speaker 2: quarter because you know what, if they get turnovers, then
5:43
Speaker 2: it puts the game away, right, So I'm not going
5:45
Speaker 2: to say, well, it was only the fourth quarter, no
5:48
Speaker 2: one of which the one that you highlighted. The Eagles
5:50
Speaker 2: were up by ten, and if you know, the Bengals
5:53
Speaker 2: catch that, they at least get a field goal probably,
5:56
Speaker 2: So now you're looking at a one score game. That
5:59
Speaker 2: turnover wasn't important, and the one to steal the game
6:01
Speaker 2: was important, right, because you're not giving them the opportunity
6:04
Speaker 2: for an on sides kick. The other reason why this
6:07
Speaker 2: was important is, I know next week is a relatively
6:10
Speaker 2: easy game, but then we're going to get into a stretch,
6:13
Speaker 2: and the stretch is going to be playing good quarterbacks, right,
6:18
Speaker 2: And I put Joe Burrow as a good quarterback.
6:20
Speaker 1: Absolutely.
6:21
Speaker 2: I think that he's I would be very happy if
6:24
Speaker 2: you were here in Philly. He's a good quarterback. The
6:28
Speaker 2: Eagles needed to show that they can beat a good quarterback. Now, granted,
6:34
Speaker 2: the Bengals were missing one of their top wide receiver options,
6:39
Speaker 2: but you know, the Eagles are missing players on the line,
6:41
Speaker 2: like every team is injured, so I kind of view
6:43
Speaker 2: it kind of as a wash in terms of injuries.
6:46
Speaker 2: And I never like blaming a loss on injuries, and
6:48
Speaker 2: I never like claiming a win off injuries because it's
6:51
Speaker 2: just not everybody's injured. So anyway, being able to show
6:55
Speaker 2: that they can beat a top tier quarterback I think
6:58
Speaker 2: was important.
6:59
Speaker 1: Absolutely. I wanted to give you that stat and give
7:03
Speaker 1: those who are listening that stat in terms of this game,
7:06
Speaker 1: in terms of this Eagle season, even the Eagles offense
7:10
Speaker 1: this season. During the first half, they're number sixteen in
7:13
Speaker 1: the NFL in EPA per drive estimated points added, that's
7:21
Speaker 1: what the EPA is. Second half of the season, they
7:24
Speaker 1: are number three in the NFL in terms of EPA.
7:29
Speaker 1: It's an incredible turnaround going from number sixteen in the
7:33
Speaker 1: league to number three in the league. We saw it
7:35
Speaker 1: again in this game again a tale of two halves.
7:38
Speaker 1: The Eagles are consistently making adjustments, especially at the half,
7:42
Speaker 1: and maybe it is Jalen Hurts getting a little bit
7:45
Speaker 1: more comfortable. I think we see week after week, Josh
7:47
Speaker 1: that Jalen Hurts just has a bit of inconsistencies and
7:51
Speaker 1: struggles at the start of games and it takes him
7:54
Speaker 1: a little bit of time in order to get comfortable
7:57
Speaker 1: in order for him to begin executing as well. And
8:01
Speaker 1: the stats there the Bowl Wolf tweeted out, I think
8:04
Speaker 1: really kind of go to show that just not in
8:06
Speaker 1: terms of Jaalen Hurts, but the offense overall and the
8:08
Speaker 1: offense clicking and executing. So I just wanted to provide
8:11
Speaker 1: that context as to what we've been seeing from this
8:15
Speaker 1: Eagles team as a theme for this season.
8:18
Speaker 2: Yeah, and you know I'm going to give today a
8:21
Speaker 2: pass because the Bengals had quite literally and Merril Reese
8:25
Speaker 2: was talking about the perfect opening drive, like as a
8:28
Speaker 2: head coach, as an offensive coach, you could not ask
8:32
Speaker 2: for anything better than what they gave on the first drive.
8:36
Speaker 2: But so today I kind of give it a wash, Like,
8:39
Speaker 2: even if they drove all the way down the field
8:41
Speaker 2: and did it in a couple of quick plays, they
8:43
Speaker 2: still probably weren't going to score in the first quarter
8:45
Speaker 2: because they got the ball for the first time with
8:48
Speaker 2: like five minutes left. Right, Yep, I'm circling back, and
8:52
Speaker 2: that goes off of your numbers are obviously going to
8:56
Speaker 2: be lower. If you're not scoring in the first quarter,
8:58
Speaker 2: your numbers are going to be lower. Yes, So back
9:01
Speaker 2: to the Hurts inconsistencies. This is the approach that I've
9:05
Speaker 2: had that I think Philadelphia fans need to take. Okay, today,
9:10
Speaker 2: Jalen Hurts only through the ball twenty times, right, he
9:14
Speaker 2: was efficient.
9:15
Speaker 1: Yep.
9:16
Speaker 2: I think that we need to stop expecting Jalen Hurts
9:21
Speaker 2: to be an MVP like he was for one season.
9:25
Speaker 2: He's played multiple seasons in the NFL. One out of
9:28
Speaker 2: multiple seasons is twenty to twenty five percent of the time.
9:32
Speaker 2: That is not a fair expectation. Also, his contract, and Jeff,
9:36
Speaker 2: you and I talk about this. Yep, he is now
9:39
Speaker 2: in the middle third of contracts. He's not in the
9:42
Speaker 2: top ten, he's not in the bottom third. I think
9:46
Speaker 2: expecting him to be an above averaged game manager is fair.
9:50
Speaker 2: Today he played a little bit better than that, right,
9:52
Speaker 2: but he wasn't put in a position where he had
9:55
Speaker 2: to play hero ball.
9:56
Speaker 1: Right.
9:57
Speaker 2: The other thing that he did today, which was very encouraging,
10:01
Speaker 2: is that he wound up stepping up in the pocket,
10:04
Speaker 2: whether it was to run or whatnot. The big thing
10:07
Speaker 2: that still needs to be worked on is the middle
10:09
Speaker 2: of the field. If you watch the game, if you
10:12
Speaker 2: watch the all twenty two, they aren't even trying to
10:15
Speaker 2: cover anyone in the middle of the field because they
10:18
Speaker 2: know Hurts is not gonna throw it there. So I've
10:22
Speaker 2: just come around to the fact that he is an
10:25
Speaker 2: above average game mediator where he's just going to do
10:31
Speaker 2: what is kind of needed and that's okay, and we
10:34
Speaker 2: need to be okay with that, and.
10:35
Speaker 1: Yes he will is absolutely And another aspect of this
10:38
Speaker 1: too that we can't forget is that today third game
10:41
Speaker 1: in a row without any turnovers, from Jalen Hurts third
10:45
Speaker 1: game in a row, folks. When he doesn't turn the
10:47
Speaker 1: ball over, this team has a darn good shot of winning.
10:50
Speaker 1: And that's what they've been doing. They've been winning without
10:53
Speaker 1: him turning the ball over. I think what you said,
10:55
Speaker 1: Josh there is very accurate in terms of what our
10:59
Speaker 1: expectations need to be for Jalen Hurts. They can win
11:02
Speaker 1: with him. They don't need to win because of him.
11:06
Speaker 1: He threw up that ball to Devonte Smith. He threw
11:10
Speaker 1: it up, and what is the expectation DeVante Smith is
11:14
Speaker 1: going to come down with the balls? Because that's what happens.
11:16
Speaker 1: Devantae Smith has been doing that his entire career. It's
11:18
Speaker 1: why he's on this team. That's why the Eagles gave
11:20
Speaker 1: him a contract extension when they did. It's not that
11:23
Speaker 1: it was the most beautiful pass in the world by
11:26
Speaker 1: Jalen Hurts. It was two gentlemen on the field working
11:29
Speaker 1: in concert with each other to make sure that that
11:31
Speaker 1: play happened and that score happens. So I think this
11:35
Speaker 1: team can absolutely win with Hurts. They don't need to
11:38
Speaker 1: win because of him like they did in twenty twenty two.
11:42
Speaker 1: So I think very very interesting and I think a
11:45
Speaker 1: point that we all need to keep in mind as
11:47
Speaker 1: this team is moving forward. But in terms of the defense,
11:51
Speaker 1: if you don't mind, I want to shift over to them.
11:53
Speaker 1: Eagles now have well in this game. They had takeaways
11:58
Speaker 1: on back to back drives after entering this week eight
12:01
Speaker 1: game with just having two takeaways all season long. Turnovers
12:06
Speaker 1: can do some good stuff, right, Josh, Turnovers are good.
12:10
Speaker 2: Yeah, they are. And maybe this will be where I
12:13
Speaker 2: kind of highlight things, all right, the Bengals showed exactly
12:18
Speaker 2: the problem with Vic Fangio's defense. For whatever reason, after
12:23
Speaker 2: the first half they decided they were gonna get away
12:26
Speaker 2: from it. You beat the Philadelphia Eagles and Vic Fangio's
12:30
Speaker 2: defense death by a thousand paper cuts.
12:32
Speaker 1: Yep.
12:33
Speaker 2: Just take what they give you. They're gonna play off
12:35
Speaker 2: the ball all the time. Just do short little things
12:38
Speaker 2: here and there, and you're gonna be able to go
12:41
Speaker 2: as they did today, as the Bengals did on third
12:44
Speaker 2: down with an astronomically percentage high of converting on third down.
12:49
Speaker 1: Yes, but the.
12:51
Speaker 2: Reality is is that if you decide to step away
12:53
Speaker 2: from it and you're losing the game. Script is in
12:57
Speaker 2: Vic Fangio's favor now the defense and get really many
13:00
Speaker 2: sacks today. But you know what they did, They had
13:03
Speaker 2: consistent pressure, especially towards the end of the game when
13:06
Speaker 2: it really mattered, and they got turnovers.
13:12
Speaker 1: How are you gonna how are you going to argue
13:16
Speaker 1: against you know what the Eagles did this game in
13:20
Speaker 1: terms of well, I'll say this, what you said at
13:23
Speaker 1: first was absolutely correct. The death by a thousand paper cuts,
13:26
Speaker 1: because my gosh, they were seven of seven on third down.
13:29
Speaker 1: I believe the Bengals were they ended this game, and
13:32
Speaker 1: it's astonishing to me, Josh, they ended this game ten
13:37
Speaker 1: of thirteen on third down. If I were to see
13:39
Speaker 1: that stat with any other team, maybe in the NFL,
13:42
Speaker 1: playing against any other team in the NFL, I would
13:44
Speaker 1: say that team is going to consistently win the game.
13:48
Speaker 1: They're going to win the game. If you have that
13:50
Speaker 1: many third down conversions, you're converting that many third downs,
13:54
Speaker 1: that means you are getting the ball down the field
13:56
Speaker 1: and you're doing a darn good job. The Eagles were,
13:58
Speaker 1: by the way, six of eleven on third down conversions.
14:02
Speaker 1: And I think it's interesting that that pressure, that consistent
14:08
Speaker 1: pressure that you talked about, was there throughout the second
14:11
Speaker 1: half again Taylor two halves. There was only one sack
14:15
Speaker 1: on the day, that's it, and it was Milton Williams
14:18
Speaker 1: with a half a sack and Nolan Smith having a
14:20
Speaker 1: half a sack. But that pressure was absolutely there. There
14:23
Speaker 1: were guys getting into the backfield and it was good
14:27
Speaker 1: to see, you know, making Joe Burrow step up, I
14:29
Speaker 1: mean making Joe Burrow run the ball every now and again.
14:32
Speaker 1: And yes he did convert some of those third down
14:34
Speaker 1: plays that we saw a number of times, but consistent
14:38
Speaker 1: pressure and I think a secondary and I'm looking forward
14:40
Speaker 1: to getting to our grades a secondary that genuinely played
14:45
Speaker 1: good football today. They genuinely did. There were times when
14:48
Speaker 1: I'm thinking to myself, where is CJ. Gardner Johnson? And
14:50
Speaker 1: I know he ended up with the interception, which is fantastic,
14:53
Speaker 1: but I do have some questions about his play in
14:56
Speaker 1: terms of this week here in week, even over the
14:58
Speaker 1: past few weeks, like where has CJ. Gardner Johnson been
15:01
Speaker 1: after the Eagles brought him back this year? But overall,
15:05
Speaker 1: with Darius Slay going out with a groin injury, Isaiah
15:07
Speaker 1: Rodgers stepping up for him, there was really good play
15:10
Speaker 1: throughout and I thought honestly, also Zach Bond and to
15:12
Speaker 1: Kobe Dean having a really good job, doing a really
15:16
Speaker 1: good job and having a really good game this week.
15:19
Speaker 2: Yeah. No, I I agree that that first touchdown the
15:22
Speaker 2: Bengals scored. I couldn't see numbers wise, but it was
15:25
Speaker 2: either a linebacker or a safety. That's on Jamar Chase.
15:29
Speaker 2: That's Nolan Smith.
15:30
Speaker 1: It was Nolan Smith.
15:31
Speaker 2: Okay, yeah, like and Nolan Smith has been he's been improving.
15:35
Speaker 2: But that's just that is just stupid scheming and that
15:40
Speaker 2: that makes no sense.
15:41
Speaker 1: And that was the Bengals offensive coordinator getting the best
15:44
Speaker 1: of Vic Fangio right there. That's what it was. That's
15:47
Speaker 1: what it was. Yep.
15:48
Speaker 2: Yeah, And then you can turn turn the tables and
15:51
Speaker 2: say then Vic Fangio got him the rest of the
15:53
Speaker 2: game because he got in his head.
15:56
Speaker 1: Absolutely.
15:58
Speaker 2: I hate this defensive cis. But you know what, almost
16:01
Speaker 2: every team in the NFL is playing it like it's
16:03
Speaker 2: not going away because teams refuse to run the ball
16:06
Speaker 2: on first down. Yeah, and so they get themselves in
16:09
Speaker 2: bad passing situations. And so this system works right now. Now,
16:13
Speaker 2: slowly we're seeing teams start to move more towards the run.
16:16
Speaker 2: So soon this system is going to become obsolete, but
16:20
Speaker 2: for right now, it is what it is. I hate
16:22
Speaker 2: it with every fiber of my being. I think it's horrible,
16:25
Speaker 2: and I think it's played to lose the game instead
16:28
Speaker 2: of playing to win the game. But that's a whole
16:30
Speaker 2: separate rant for another podcast.
16:32
Speaker 1: Absolutely absolutely, Look, I know we got a couple more
16:35
Speaker 1: themes we want to get into here, and the one
16:37
Speaker 1: theme that I want to talk to you about. You
16:38
Speaker 1: and I were texting about it during the game, and
16:41
Speaker 1: I want to have a serious discussion about where the
16:44
Speaker 1: tush push is going. It is still effective. It's still
16:48
Speaker 1: putting points on the board for the Eagles. It's still
16:50
Speaker 1: converting third downs and fourth downs. The Eagles were one
16:54
Speaker 1: for one on fourth down today using it. However, teams
16:59
Speaker 1: are really starting to hone in on how to negate it.
17:04
Speaker 1: I mean, we did see the Cincinnati Bengals today, you
17:07
Speaker 1: know did they run the toush push three different times
17:10
Speaker 1: in a row? I think on the goal line until
17:12
Speaker 1: it finally got over the goal ball got over the
17:15
Speaker 1: goal line with Jalen Hurts barely by, like maybe three inches,
17:19
Speaker 1: got over the goal line. Teams are really starting to
17:22
Speaker 1: hone in on this play, and at some point it's
17:25
Speaker 1: not going to be the play that it quote once
17:27
Speaker 1: was for this Eagles offense, and I do get a
17:31
Speaker 1: little tired of looking at it, especially when you have
17:33
Speaker 1: a running back like Saquon Barkley who had a phenomenal
17:37
Speaker 1: game today. Didn't score a touchdown, but on the ground
17:40
Speaker 1: today he had one hundred and eight yards on twenty
17:42
Speaker 1: two carries, the average four point nine yards per carry.
17:45
Speaker 1: I'll take that any day of the week. Thank you
17:47
Speaker 1: Saquon Barkley, and thank you Howie Roseman for signing him. Frankly,
17:51
Speaker 1: because you know, the running backs we've had over the years,
17:53
Speaker 1: while serviceable, you know, they're not as explosive as what
17:58
Speaker 1: we have seen from Saquon Barkley in those type of situations,
18:02
Speaker 1: goal line situations, third and one, fourth and one. I'd
18:05
Speaker 1: really like to see more Saquon Barkley. I would like
18:08
Speaker 1: to see some more creativity coming from this offense than
18:12
Speaker 1: just having the tush push. At this point, I think
18:14
Speaker 1: it's a theme Eagles Nation really needs to start talking
18:17
Speaker 1: about a little bit more.
18:18
Speaker 2: Josh, Yeah, I mean, I think context is everything. So
18:23
Speaker 2: like last year, I had zero issue with them running
18:26
Speaker 2: as much as they did because good Lord, especially in
18:28
Speaker 2: the red zone. They love Kenny Gainwell, so I don't
18:31
Speaker 2: want to see Kenny Gainwell touching the ball in the
18:34
Speaker 2: red zone especially, So give me the toush push, give
18:37
Speaker 2: me the brother leash of all day every day. It
18:39
Speaker 2: also was almost shocking last year if they didn't get
18:44
Speaker 2: the first down, the touchdown, whatever it might be. This year,
18:47
Speaker 2: it is no longer automatic, right, and teams really have
18:51
Speaker 2: figured out like they tried it numerous times throughout the
18:54
Speaker 2: game today and they were stopped. The number of times.
18:58
Speaker 2: I'd love to see the numbers on it. I think
19:00
Speaker 2: they got it less than fifty percent, which is becoming
19:04
Speaker 2: more and more of a pattern. The percentage of success
19:07
Speaker 2: is coming down and coming down. It is all that
19:10
Speaker 2: is to say. When you have Saquon Barkley, especially in
19:15
Speaker 2: the first year of this deal, run the ball, Yes,
19:18
Speaker 2: just run the ball. Merril Reeves said it on the
19:20
Speaker 2: radio today. It's like in automatic three yards we're a
19:24
Speaker 2: bad run for him? Is three yards? Yeah, just run
19:27
Speaker 2: the ball. You invest a ton of money in the
19:29
Speaker 2: offensive line, you're paying high money for a running back.
19:35
Speaker 2: Just run the ball.
19:37
Speaker 1: Yep. I'm with you. I'm with you, buddy. The other
19:40
Speaker 1: theme of this game that I really wanted to talk
19:42
Speaker 1: about too, with regard to the defense and going back
19:45
Speaker 1: to it, was the fact that this team seems to
19:49
Speaker 1: really be tackling a lot better than they did the
19:52
Speaker 1: first four to five games of the season. It seems
19:56
Speaker 1: like the past three games tackling has been a lot better,
19:59
Speaker 1: and I think I think that's because of one particular
20:01
Speaker 1: gentleman on this team who has completely, in my opinion, exploded,
20:08
Speaker 1: and that is Cooper de Gene making a lot of
20:10
Speaker 1: open tackles, not just today, which he certainly did last
20:15
Speaker 1: week as well. We saw him making a lot of
20:17
Speaker 1: open tackles as well. He is becoming more and more
20:21
Speaker 1: a key member of this defense. Look, I know it's
20:23
Speaker 1: early in his rookie season and he was late to
20:25
Speaker 1: get on the field at the onset of this season,
20:28
Speaker 1: but Cooper dejen is growing, He's developing. He is turning
20:33
Speaker 1: into that defensive player that is going to be in
20:36
Speaker 1: on just about every single play. But again, making a
20:39
Speaker 1: lot of great open tackles that this team really wasn't
20:43
Speaker 1: doing a lot of the first four or five games
20:46
Speaker 1: of the season. Cooper Degen, and I think the defense overall,
20:49
Speaker 1: especially the linebackers as well, making a lot of great
20:52
Speaker 1: open tackles and that's been important in terms of negating
20:55
Speaker 1: what the opposing offense is doing. And I just wanted
20:58
Speaker 1: to give a Degene a shout out and just the
21:01
Speaker 1: defense overall, because it was a struggle early this season
21:04
Speaker 1: and now they seem to really be honing in on
21:06
Speaker 1: doing something you should be doing in football if you're
21:08
Speaker 1: playing defense, which is making tackles. I wanted to throw
21:12
Speaker 1: that out there, Josh.
21:14
Speaker 2: Yeah, and I think you're right, but I think part
21:16
Speaker 2: of it so I'm going to praise Fangio and then
21:18
Speaker 2: I'm going to criticize him, okay, because I don't think
21:21
Speaker 2: this was just his decision. I think a lot of
21:23
Speaker 2: it was Nick Sirianni. He is loyal to his players,
21:26
Speaker 2: and I think a lot of it is that Vic
21:29
Speaker 2: Fangio has now seen how to put his players in
21:31
Speaker 2: the successful spot.
21:32
Speaker 1: Yeah.
21:33
Speaker 2: That point, when you are the leader, you are the boss.
21:37
Speaker 2: Your job is to put the people that are that
21:41
Speaker 2: you are supervising that you are leading, in the best
21:44
Speaker 2: position possible. And if you don't do that, then you're
21:47
Speaker 2: failing as a leader. That's just the reality of things.
21:50
Speaker 2: I think Vic Fangio has really learned what these players
21:53
Speaker 2: really like, and it's really been especially since the bye week,
21:57
Speaker 2: that this defense has really looked very different. I genuinely
22:01
Speaker 2: think that Vic Fangio spent by week talking with his
22:03
Speaker 2: players and say, Okay, we've played a couple of games,
22:06
Speaker 2: what do you really like to do and what do
22:08
Speaker 2: you feel most confident in. Anybody who has worked any
22:11
Speaker 2: job has had good bosses and bad bosses, and you
22:15
Speaker 2: remember the good ones because they put you in the
22:17
Speaker 2: best possible position because you felt comfortable, not like you
22:21
Speaker 2: gave up a comfortable and confident that you were doing
22:23
Speaker 2: your job. It makes things us better. Now. On the
22:26
Speaker 2: flip side, Avonte Maddox and I like Avonte Maddox. He's been,
22:31
Speaker 2: you know, kind of one of my favorite players as
22:33
Speaker 2: he's been half for years.
22:34
Speaker 1: We've loved him for years.
22:37
Speaker 2: But you know, I understand the Cooper gen. The gene
22:40
Speaker 2: was a little bit slow starting, but he's still played
22:42
Speaker 2: in the preseason. The fact that he was benched essentially
22:47
Speaker 2: for Avonte Maddox at the beginning of the season, I
22:50
Speaker 2: texted my buddies, said, this is almost criminal, so I
22:54
Speaker 2: you know, Vic Fangio has to get a little bit
22:56
Speaker 2: of blame, but again I think it's more Nick Sirianni
22:58
Speaker 2: than anything.
22:59
Speaker 1: Okay, all right, well, I think we're gonna take a
23:03
Speaker 1: break here unless you have some other themes that you
23:06
Speaker 1: want to get into really quick here before we lay
23:08
Speaker 1: down the grades here.
23:10
Speaker 2: Now, let's do a break in grades.
23:12
Speaker 1: Okay, sounds good, folks. We're gonna take a break, pay
23:14
Speaker 1: some bills. We will be back in just a bit
23:16
Speaker 1: with our grades. All right, we are back, and again
23:20
Speaker 1: we've got Josh Schuster with us from Philadelphia Soccer NOOW
23:23
Speaker 1: dot com. Good friend to the show, and check out
23:26
Speaker 1: everything they're doing over there by the way. And we're
23:28
Speaker 1: gonna have to get into some union talk, some union
23:31
Speaker 1: talk at some point here in Josh in the coming weeks. However,
23:35
Speaker 1: in terms of this Eagles postgame show, let's grade the
23:38
Speaker 1: quarterback position right now after this break, and I'm going
23:42
Speaker 1: Jalen Hurts with a B plus this week. Actually think
23:46
Speaker 1: it was again because tail two halves up and down
23:49
Speaker 1: throughout this game. He made some amazing plays, and he
23:52
Speaker 1: also made some plays that really weren't all that great.
23:55
Speaker 1: We saw especially in the first quarter, even some in
23:57
Speaker 1: the second quarter. I'm giving him a B plus. What
23:59
Speaker 1: do you give them?
24:00
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think that's fair grade. I would even go
24:02
Speaker 2: a minus. Again what I said earlier, I'm not saying
24:05
Speaker 2: the Hurts is a bad quarterback. I'm saying our expectations
24:09
Speaker 2: need to change, yes, and once they do that, you
24:11
Speaker 2: will begin to appreciate Jalen Hurts even more.
24:13
Speaker 1: Absolutely, Look, folks, I'm not what a great stat line too.
24:18
Speaker 1: Sixteen of twenty two hundred and thirty six yards eleven
24:21
Speaker 1: point eight yards per completion or a per attempt I'm
24:24
Speaker 1: sorry per attempt one touchdown. He had no interceptions this week,
24:27
Speaker 1: as we mentioned, absolutely no turnovers. One hundred and thirty
24:31
Speaker 1: two point five was his rating this week. Darn good game.
24:35
Speaker 1: But really, you know, as our other friend Matt Rodgers,
24:37
Speaker 1: who's been on every now and again with our postgame shows,
24:39
Speaker 1: is said too with regard to Jalen Hurts, you know,
24:42
Speaker 1: just because the stat line say something doesn't mean the
24:44
Speaker 1: grade has to be really high necessarily or really low.
24:47
Speaker 1: So B plus a minus, I think that's a fair
24:50
Speaker 1: grade the running back.
24:51
Speaker 2: I want to one more thing. Yeah, Eagles fans, please
24:55
Speaker 2: listen to me. Either A you include all of the
25:00
Speaker 2: fumbles if you're going to count his rushing touchdowns, or
25:03
Speaker 2: B you don't count the rushing touchdowns if you're not
25:07
Speaker 2: gonna count the fumbles. You can't say Hurts has x
25:09
Speaker 2: number of touchdowns but he only has like six interceptions
25:15
Speaker 2: on the year. No, it doesn't work that way. It
25:17
Speaker 2: has to be both, right, please, exactly love of everything
25:20
Speaker 2: in football discussions, choose one.
25:23
Speaker 1: Or the other exactly the context right in which you
25:26
Speaker 1: were talking about earlier there it is, folks, some context
25:29
Speaker 1: coming from Josh Now. The running back Saquon Barkley carried
25:33
Speaker 1: the ball twenty two times for one hundred and eight
25:35
Speaker 1: yards four point nine yards per rush, and Kenny gainwell,
25:41
Speaker 1: excuse me, five carries for nineteen yards three point eight
25:44
Speaker 1: yards per carry overall total rushing for the team. That's
25:49
Speaker 1: including Jalen Hurts his thirty seven yards, and they had
25:51
Speaker 1: three rushing touchdowns one hundred and sixty one yards on
25:54
Speaker 1: the day four point one yards per carry. I'm gonna
25:57
Speaker 1: give the running backs this week also a B plus.
25:59
Speaker 1: What are you of them?
26:02
Speaker 2: Well, I'm going to give the running backs an A
26:04
Speaker 2: because I'm looking at the stats, and I can't believe
26:07
Speaker 2: that Kenny Gamewell averaged almost four yards per carries. Yes,
26:11
Speaker 2: mark this day down in history. I don't think it's
26:14
Speaker 2: ever going to happen again. But you know, I this
26:17
Speaker 2: just shows that as much as you may think you
26:20
Speaker 2: know about sports, sometimes you just have no idea. I'm
26:24
Speaker 2: in the camp where I hated the Saquon Barkley signing.
26:27
Speaker 2: I didn't understand the point of it. The Eagles don't
26:29
Speaker 2: run the ball whole lot. You know what. I was wrong?
26:33
Speaker 2: The first team decided, yeah, yeah, they've decided to run
26:36
Speaker 2: the ball more. And so hey, you know what, handclapp
26:39
Speaker 2: to Hallie Roseman because this is why he's the GM
26:43
Speaker 2: of the Eagles, and I am on a podcast.
26:46
Speaker 1: There you go exactly, That's why you're here hanging out
26:48
Speaker 1: with me. Yes, yes, all right. The receivers in this
26:54
Speaker 1: game DeVante Smith with seven targets, coming down with six
26:58
Speaker 1: for eighty five yards, fourteen point two yard yards per
27:00
Speaker 1: reception and one touchdown. AJ Brown was targeted six times.
27:04
Speaker 1: He came down with five balls for eighty four yards.
27:06
Speaker 1: Grant cal Katara stepping up for Dallas Goddard, who has
27:10
Speaker 1: been injured with that hamstring three targets. He came down
27:13
Speaker 1: with all three balls for fifty eight yards. He averaged
27:16
Speaker 1: nineteen point three yards per reception. You also had Jack
27:19
Speaker 1: Stall getting a catch, Sakwon Barkley getting a catch as well.
27:23
Speaker 1: Kenny gain Well was also targeted one time but didn't
27:25
Speaker 1: come down with the ball. Overall, two hundred and thirty
27:27
Speaker 1: six total receiving yards, fourteen point eight yards per reception,
27:32
Speaker 1: and I'm going to give the receivers this week at
27:34
Speaker 1: a minus. Here, what do you give them?
27:36
Speaker 2: I'm going to give him an A plus?
27:37
Speaker 1: All right?
27:38
Speaker 2: To me, today showed the reason why you were paying
27:43
Speaker 2: DeVante Smith and aj Brown yep. Right, like you had
27:47
Speaker 2: mentioned earlier, Hertz put the ball up there and let
27:50
Speaker 2: the receivers do what they do. And so for me,
27:53
Speaker 2: they getting AA plus simply because of that. They showed
27:57
Speaker 2: why they're getting paid what they got paid today.
27:59
Speaker 1: All right, good, all right, offensive line this week, I'm
28:02
Speaker 1: gonna give these guys just because look, when you take
28:05
Speaker 1: a look at the fact that Jalen Hurts wasn't sacked
28:08
Speaker 1: at all, I love that, and I love the fact
28:11
Speaker 1: that we have one hundred and sixty one total yards
28:14
Speaker 1: on the ground. They're getting a plus from me this week? Oh,
28:16
Speaker 1: line A plus? What do you give them? Buddy?
28:18
Speaker 2: Absolutely, especially I you know, I say context is everything.
28:23
Speaker 2: It's not like they had a completely healthy offensive line.
28:25
Speaker 2: I right, And it's not like the Bengals, you know,
28:28
Speaker 2: don't rush the passer. This is an A plus. This
28:30
Speaker 2: is hands down an A plus. Probably one of the
28:33
Speaker 2: best offensive line performances that we've seen in the last
28:36
Speaker 2: couple of years.
28:37
Speaker 1: Absolutely, absolutely all right. Other side of the ball, defensive line,
28:41
Speaker 1: I'm gonna give them just because I got consistent pressure today,
28:44
Speaker 1: only one sack, as we mentioned earlier, I'm gonna give
28:46
Speaker 1: them a B plus. And that's something coming from this
28:49
Speaker 1: d line that has been a bit disappointing this year
28:51
Speaker 1: in certain games. Over the past couple games. They've showed
28:55
Speaker 1: us a lot as well in terms of sacks, but
28:57
Speaker 1: not too many sacks today. But they really got the
29:00
Speaker 1: job done when they needed to pressure and Joe Burrow,
29:02
Speaker 1: I'm gonna give him a B plus. What do you
29:03
Speaker 1: give them?
29:05
Speaker 2: Yeah, So I'm gonna give the defensive line a B plus.
29:10
Speaker 2: It would have been nice if some of those were
29:12
Speaker 2: turned into two sacks. The pressures, but I can't complain.
29:16
Speaker 2: They did a good job today.
29:18
Speaker 1: Yep, absolutely all right. The linebackers, as I mentioned earlier,
29:22
Speaker 1: Zach Bond and Nikobe Dean really getting it done. In fact,
29:24
Speaker 1: at the top of the the charts, and they were
29:31
Speaker 1: just on fire. Zach Bond twelve total tackles, Nacobe Dean
29:35
Speaker 1: second on the team with nine total tackles. Nikoby Dean
29:38
Speaker 1: had one tackle for a loss. He had a quarterback
29:40
Speaker 1: hit as well. I'm gonna give the linebackers this week
29:43
Speaker 1: a straight up A.
29:43
Speaker 2: What do you give them? They're gonna get an A
29:46
Speaker 2: plus A. Right linebackers had a couple of quarterback hits combined.
29:51
Speaker 2: They also got a half sack and above everything else,
29:55
Speaker 2: I mean, they just are reading the field very well. Yeah,
30:00
Speaker 2: and so linebacker is no longer a liability. And so
30:05
Speaker 2: we've been able to see the young kids come in
30:08
Speaker 2: and rotate and do different things, and they're doing good things.
30:12
Speaker 2: So and the tackling, to your point, just night and
30:15
Speaker 2: day better from the linebackers.
30:17
Speaker 1: Yep, yep, absolutely all right. Well, let's get to the
30:20
Speaker 1: secondary and then we're going to grade the special teams
30:22
Speaker 1: and then coaching. I am going to give the secondary
30:25
Speaker 1: this week, an A minus could have been around a
30:27
Speaker 1: B plus. Look, Joe Burrow spread the ball around to
30:30
Speaker 1: a lot of different receivers. Jamar Chase was targeted eleven times,
30:34
Speaker 1: came down with nine balls for only fifty four yards.
30:37
Speaker 1: I think there's something to be said for that in particular. Yes,
30:41
Speaker 1: there was that touchdown that Jamar Chase caught, Nolan Smith
30:48
Speaker 1: was on him, but adjustments were certainly made as we
30:50
Speaker 1: talked about as well. And of course that interception Isaiah
30:54
Speaker 1: Rodgers just past defending it right to CJ. Gardner Johnson.
31:00
Speaker 1: You have to be lucky sometimes in this game, and CJ.
31:02
Speaker 1: Gardner Johnson was at the right place at the right time.
31:05
Speaker 1: But at the end of the day, I think this
31:07
Speaker 1: team did a pretty darn good job of really covering
31:10
Speaker 1: these receivers. And I'm gonna I'm gonna give an a minus.
31:14
Speaker 1: Actually it could be a B plus, like I said,
31:15
Speaker 1: but at the end of day, I'll give an A minus.
31:17
Speaker 2: What do you give them, Josh, they get an A
31:19
Speaker 2: plus for me or they weren't responsible for the stupid
31:22
Speaker 2: scheme with that touchdown. That's not their fault. They got sacks.
31:27
Speaker 2: The one thing, Jeff that these defensive backs, especially the
31:31
Speaker 2: young kids are doing so well. Is either they are
31:35
Speaker 2: blitzing in the right places each week or today was
31:40
Speaker 2: a clinic on how to cover screen passes. Yeah, that's
31:44
Speaker 2: all because of these young secondary players. They are fundamentally
31:50
Speaker 2: strong that way, which I can't really say that we've
31:54
Speaker 2: had in while slayh is a good corner, but he's
31:57
Speaker 2: not like a I'm going to shut down the screen
31:59
Speaker 2: path right corner right. He wants to play off the ball,
32:03
Speaker 2: so fine, whatever, But these young kids are just fundamentally
32:07
Speaker 2: sound on how to cover a screen and make a tackle.
32:10
Speaker 1: All right, let's move to special teams. Now, I'm gonna
32:13
Speaker 1: give special teams a straight up B plus. I mean,
32:15
Speaker 1: you got Jake Elliott making three field goals four extra points,
32:19
Speaker 1: didn't miss today as long as forty nine yards. Bradon
32:22
Speaker 1: Man only punted one time today and it was a
32:24
Speaker 1: fifty two yarder. So I'm gonna give special teams overall. Well,
32:28
Speaker 1: I will say this too. I did like the fact
32:31
Speaker 1: sometimes I don't from game to game, but I like
32:33
Speaker 1: the fact that Kenny Gainwell brought the ball out during
32:35
Speaker 1: kickoff returns a couple of times. One of those times
32:38
Speaker 1: he actually got to pass the twenty five yard line
32:39
Speaker 1: right around the thirty yard liner. So I thought special
32:42
Speaker 1: teams had a pretty good day today. I'm gonna give
32:44
Speaker 1: him a B plus. What do you give them?
32:46
Speaker 2: So every time that Kenny Gainwell is on the field
32:49
Speaker 2: for special teams, I'm gonna change the grade and I'm
32:52
Speaker 2: gonna grade the coaching staff, and they're gonna get a D.
32:55
Speaker 1: Okay, I'm fun.
32:56
Speaker 2: You have a great kicker, your punter. We've been looking
33:00
Speaker 2: for a great punter. We have a great punter, but
33:02
Speaker 2: you have Cooper Gene. Every time that kid returns a punt,
33:06
Speaker 2: he does something. Yeah, why is Kenny Gainwell on the
33:09
Speaker 2: field during special teams? So every time Canan Gainwell is
33:13
Speaker 2: on the field to return a kick or a punt,
33:16
Speaker 2: you're the coaching staff is going to get a D
33:18
Speaker 2: for me. Okay, that's what they get. The players get
33:20
Speaker 2: an A, the special teams coaching staff gets a D.
33:23
Speaker 1: All right, very all right. I like I like where
33:26
Speaker 1: you're coming from. I respect it. I respect it. There
33:29
Speaker 1: a defensive coaching Vic Fangio. I am going to give
33:32
Speaker 1: him an a minus this week. Again, that very first
33:35
Speaker 1: drive of the game, consistent third down conversions. In fact,
33:39
Speaker 1: I think I think it was five in a row
33:42
Speaker 1: on that first Bengals offensive drive. But then you know,
33:47
Speaker 1: they just got it together. They made adjustments. I'm giving
33:50
Speaker 1: Vic Fangio and a minus. What do you give him?
33:53
Speaker 2: He gets a B from me because again the game
33:56
Speaker 2: script win in his favor, right, Like I can't. I
34:00
Speaker 2: can't give you an A if the offensive coaches of
34:05
Speaker 2: the Bengals decide to stop doing what was working, right, Like,
34:09
Speaker 2: that's a conscious decision that they're making. They have Joe
34:12
Speaker 2: Burrow too, so I get it. But I'm gonna give
34:15
Speaker 2: you a B. You got the job done.
34:17
Speaker 1: All right? Sounds good offensive coaching Kellen Moore and Nick
34:20
Speaker 1: Sirianni before we head out here, Josh, I am gonna
34:24
Speaker 1: give them an a minus this week. I'm gonna give
34:27
Speaker 1: him an a minus. Even though the first half was boring.
34:30
Speaker 1: I think we got some pretty good stuff in the
34:32
Speaker 1: second half from them, again, adjustments being made. I'm gonna
34:35
Speaker 1: give him a minus. What do you give them?
34:37
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm actually gonna give him an a plus this
34:39
Speaker 2: week because again I said, I'm gonna wash out the
34:43
Speaker 2: first quarter not scoring yet again, it would be really
34:47
Speaker 2: nice to one of these weeks just happened to accidentally
34:50
Speaker 2: even kick a field goal in the first quarter. Yes,
34:54
Speaker 2: but today it's not their fault, and so I'm not
34:57
Speaker 2: gonna hurt them for something that's not their fault. So
35:01
Speaker 2: they're gonna get any for me.
35:02
Speaker 1: All right, sounds good. Well, that's gonna do it for us.
35:05
Speaker 1: Here again, the Philadelphia Eagles beating the Cincinnati Bengals on
35:10
Speaker 1: the road at Cincinnati by score thirty seven to seventeen.
35:14
Speaker 1: We thank you for listening to us here, follow us on,
35:17
Speaker 1: follow us on social media. Just search us out on
35:20
Speaker 1: whatever social media sites you're on, and you can follow
35:23
Speaker 1: Josh on the Twitter slash x at Flaguy Josh ninety one.
35:26
Speaker 1: You can follow me at Jeffrey Underscore, Warren and the
35:29
Speaker 1: Show at Philadelphia PST. We thank Josh for joining us
35:33
Speaker 1: this week, and we'll catch you on the next one.
35:35
Speaker 1: Take care, everybody, We'll see you later.