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TABLE TALK: 10-Years Ago With Brandon Lee Gowton Talking Eagles · The Philadelphia Sports Table | Philly Sports News & Views

0:22
All right, everybody, you're listening to Table Talk here at the Philadelphia Sports
0:25
Table podcast show, the longest running weekly Philly sports podcast show in the world.
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That's right, ten years strong, and we're actually going to go back
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in time on our Table Talk interview show this week to ten years ago.
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That's what we're doing. We're going back ten years ago to one of our
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initial interviews that we had. Of course, when we were celebrating our ten
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year anniversary last month, we talked to Rich Scarcella from The Reading Eagle.
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He was the very first interview that we ever did that Lenn and I ever
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did ten years ago when we were talking about Penn State football. But then
1:00
we wanted to dive into the Philadelphia Eagles with a particular writer at that time
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ten years ago who we really enjoyed and still to this day enjoyed reading his
1:10
content on Bleeding Green Nation dot com. And that is one Brandon Leegauton as
1:14
many know him as BLG, who listens to the BGN radio podcast and he's
1:19
on other podcasting platforms as well. We did an interview with BLG Lenn and
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I did ten years ago, and we wanted to go back to that it's
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interesting to hear the topics the subject matters, and also how terrible I was.
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Lenn was not bad in terms of the questions that he asked BLG,
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but just how we've all kind of grown within this podcasting world and industry.
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We got into blg's background, how he actually got started with regard to the
1:49
blog over at Bleeding Greennation dot com. We also talked about his thoughts on
1:53
the Eagles twenty thirteen first round pick in Marcus Smith and what that meant to
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him in terms of his work at Bleeding Green Nation dot com. And we
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also talked about too from an offensive perspective, as many Eagles fans back then
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remembered, DeShawn Jackson was out of town heading to Washington. We talked about
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how much the Eagles offense was going to miss DeShawn Jackson. We talked about
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the Eagles three four defense and Trent Cole back then and what it meant to
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his sacks and how he was going to be a difference maker potentially not a
2:25
difference maker with that Eagles defense. And to kind of end the interview,
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we just talked to Brandon about some Eagles coaches, some you know, assistant
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coaches that were really, really great to talk to and that he had the
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opportunity to get to know a little bit more. So, we hope you
2:42
enjoy going back in time with us this week here on Table Talk, going
2:46
back in time ten years ago with Brandon Lee gout in his very first interview
2:52
here at the Philadelphia Sports Table podcast show. We hope you enjoy it.
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All Right, we are back here on the table. You know, Lenn,
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I can't believe we've been able or we're able to get this interview.
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Who we have on the line with us right now, Brandon Gouton from Bleeding
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Green Nation. Brandon, how you doing, buddy? Hey, I'm doing
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great. I'm glad to be here. Well, we really appreciate you coming
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on board and kind of just you know, kind of just to get it
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out of the way. Want throw out some plugs at this point. Yeah,
3:22
that sounds good. Obviously. You can read my work at Bleeding Greennation
3:25
dot com. You can follow the Bleeding Green Nation Twitter account that's just at
3:30
Bleeding Green. You can follow my Twitter account that's at Brandon Gouton that's b
3:35
r A N d O N DW t O N. You can also find
3:38
BDN on Facebook leave or Facebook page. And also, you know, I'm
3:42
going to be writing for the Eagles Almanac, which is a collection of various
3:46
Eagles writers and bloggers, you know, good quality stuff. It's only ten
3:51
dollars to buy the pdf. Check that out at Eagles Almanac dot com.
3:54
Awesome, great, ye really cool great U. I saw today you posted
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on Bleeding Green Nation dot com. You are going to be a busy man
4:03
over the course of the next month with training camp. It's right around the
4:08
corner. That's why I love the fact that you were so willing to come
4:11
on here. We're recording this Wednesday. This week, training camp starts,
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literally, it starts tomorrow on Friday, oh is it Friday? Friday,
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the players report, and then on Saturday the first practice beginning. Okay,
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I'm like, I'm so excited for the Eagles to start. I got my
4:27
days mixed up anyway. Well, first and foremost, branded the one thing
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we've been enjoying doing here on the podcast show the people that we have been
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interviewing as of late. You know not we don't want to just really get
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into the Eagles right away. We kind of want to learn more about you,
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your background, you know, before even coming to the sp Nation family.
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With regard to your website, Bleeding Green Nation, I mean, how
4:51
did you how did you get started? What is your background? Sure,
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it all started back in twenty ten. I just you know, I saw
5:00
this Bleeding Green Nation site on Facebook. There was actually an article about I
5:04
believe it was Marty r. Now it was the DM of the of the
5:10
Browns at the time. It used to be the Eagles DM Tom Heckert.
5:13
Oh. Yeah, there was an article about him saying he would trade two
5:15
first round picks for Kevin Cobb. And I was like, two first round
5:18
picks for Kevin Cobb. I was like, why isn't this getting done?
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So, you know, obviously that was just you know, flought for or
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whatever. But you know, I read the site. It was real interesting.
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Uh you know, I just started commenting over time after reading for a
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while. And that was back in twenty and ten. Fast forward to two
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thousand and thirteen, I think it was last year I actually finally got a
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chance to write for the site. I was I knew I'd become friends with
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the editor Jason Brewer and some of the other writers on the site, and
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really, you know, I started as a contributor, and then uh,
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you know, Jason left and Jimmy Kemski, who now writes for Philly dot
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Com. Yeah, yeah, you know, he's a great writer. He
6:01
took over for a little bit, but you know, he was kind of
6:04
focusing on getting his Philly dot Com job, so that left the editor in
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chief position wide open. And then you know, that's where I stepped in
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because I you know, I was doing a good job covering training camp and
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everything, and I figured, hey, why no, I can do this.
6:17
That's fantastic. Yeah, and before we go forward, I mean Bleeding
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Green Nation, all the eSPI Nation sites, I mean that I look up
6:25
which is the Philly teams, whether it's Liberty Baller, is the Good Fight,
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broad Street Hockey. I mean the content on all of them is excellent,
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fantastic. And you contribute to Liberty Ballers too, don't you. Yeah,
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yeah, yeah, fantastic. So I mean, obviously you are a
6:38
fan though of the Eagles for such a long period of time. That's why
6:42
you were contributing, That's why you were leaving your comments. I mean,
6:45
do you ever find it difficult to, you know, separate your work at
6:48
Bleeding Green Nation as the manager, editor in chief and actually being a fan
6:54
of the team. And you know, has there ever been a situation in
6:56
the past where your job and feelings about something as a fan, whether it's
7:00
on or off the field, is conflicted with each other. No, that's
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a great question, and it really hasn't been a problem for me because I'm
7:08
a pretty calm person. I'm pretty tame, you know. I don't get
7:10
too emotional and crazy when I'm watching the games and stuff like that. So
7:14
when I'm in the professional setting, you know, I know, you know,
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it's it's a job, it's a career, and you know, I
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know I have to be professional. And really it doesn't bother me at all.
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I don't really have any problems with that. Uh, you know,
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it's fun. I just try to enjoy it. I try not to,
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you know, to I know my role. You know, I'm not I'm
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not here to you know, trying to do anything crazy. I just you
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know, I'm I try to act, you know, blend into the crowd
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when it comes to the media and everything. Okay, So it's it's pretty
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easy, I think to make that to transition from kind of being you know,
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just fan on the internet to actual kind of like media member, Okay,
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very cool, very cool, Len, do you have anything here?
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Why? I kind of wanted to get into what you think of what the
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Eagles are doing this year. We when the NFL Draft was having the first
7:57
round, we actually were kind of recording as it was going and just so
8:00
we could get our immediate thought of what happened with the pick. So when
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it came time for the Eagles to pick after they had originally traded back,
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you know, I had a couple guys that I had stuff up on,
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and obviously, when Marcus Smith's name was called in the first round, my
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first thought was who, Like, I don't have anything up on this guy.
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We looked at each other like deer and headlight. Yeah what I'm going
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on? Did you have that same reaction? I mean, did you know
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anything you know ahead of time? I did not. And it's you know,
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it's funny because for stuff like this, when you know we know there's
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going to be something going on at Bleeding Green, Nason, we do some
8:33
pre rights, you know, like I have a post scheduled out for like
8:37
Darkus Denard, I have a post scheduled out for like the Eagles select Kyle
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fooler, you know, et cetera. But I did not have one obviously
8:46
for Marcus Smith, because that was just completely out of the blue. When
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his name was called, I was like, I was like wait what,
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So I had to like it was crazy. I had to fire up a
8:54
post real quick because you know, I didn't have the pre right done.
8:56
It was definitely a surprise. In hindsight, you know, maybe it shouldn't
9:03
have been surprising. There was a tweet by Daniel Jeremiah, you know,
9:05
pretty well respected the scout works for NFL Network. He used to be an
9:09
Eagles scout that said Marcus Smith and I think to Marcus Lawrence or there's another
9:15
pass rusher. He mentioned they were going to go no later than thirty five.
9:18
And then after the draft, when Marcus Smith was interviewed for the first
9:24
time at rookie Minicamp, he said that I think the Cardinals at picked twenty
9:28
six or twenty seven, a few behind where the Eagles picked him. EAGs
9:33
picked him at twenty six, so they twenty one of those picks, and
9:37
then the Redskins at thirty five, he said, were teams that were looking
9:39
at him. So maybe now it shouldn't have been as such in a surprise
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in hindsight, do you overall do you like the pick? I mean,
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do you overall do you like the pick? I know fans really wanted the
9:50
team to concentrate on defense with that first pick. Team obviously did that,
9:54
But do you like that pick? I like the pick in the context of
9:58
the situation, And you know, you have to realize, apparently there was
10:01
six players that the Eagles won in at twenty two. I think, you
10:05
know, it's like Brandon Cookes, there was the safety that the Packers took,
10:09
Hasan Clinton Dick there was, and there was a couple other players,
10:13
and I think they were all off the board at that point. So you
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know, at that point, those are all your Tier one players. And
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then you know, you get to that point and they're all gone. So
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it's like, all right, well, the Cleveland Browns are offering you to
10:26
trade up and they're going to give you pick eighty six, which is a
10:28
third round pick, and that's a pretty good pick to have just to move
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back forward spots, So why not? So you get back to that to
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twenty sixth there and then at that point, you know, the Eagles said
10:39
they kind of got nervous when the Chiefs took d Foward because you know,
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that was one of the like second tier pass rushers off the board, and
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so they figured at that point they have to stay at twenty six and get
10:52
Marcus Smith because he might not make it to their next pick if they trade
10:54
down again. So in the context of the situation, I definitely like to
10:58
pick because even going back to free agency, there weren't any pass rushers available
11:03
in free agency. Because it's very true, yeah, franchise tagged in Pittsburgh,
11:09
the raccoon got tagged in Washington. There was this really no three four
11:13
outside linebackers on the market. The Eagles are actually looking at Michael Johnson,
11:18
who played for the Bengals for the three defensive end, but you know then
11:22
you have to convert him. So really the Eagles needed a pass rusher and
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there weren't any available in free agency. Why not take one of the top
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tier guys in the draft exactly. And we've talked about the fact that you
11:33
know, some of those linebackers, as we know, it's not anything new.
11:37
I mean, whether it's Damiko Ryan's or whether it's Trent Cole, they're
11:39
getting old, they're getting up that, especially Cole. I mean I think
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it's that's exactly where where Marcus Smith slots in. Yeah, yeah, absolutely,
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and I guess and also to get off the draft pick. At this
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point, we all heard the news today it was official. The NFL has
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officially suspended Lane Johnson for the first four games of the season. It took
12:01
a long time for that to happen. I mean, I was actually pretty
12:03
surprised by it. Maybe I shouldn't have been surprised, but we do have
12:09
and I know that something we wanted to ask you was regarding the offensive line.
12:13
There's not too too much depth there, Brandon, And do you have
12:18
some concern with those first four games, whether it's Alan Barbary and whether or
12:22
not he's going to be able to come in or whoever it's going to be
12:24
able to come in to that position to be as effective, not necessarily as
12:31
Lane Johnson, but to be able to get the job done those first four
12:33
games. Yeah, there's definitely concerned. I mean, obviously there was something
12:37
to like about Barbarie after you saw him play, not only when he filled
12:41
in for Jason Peters against the Packers in Week ten, but even in the
12:46
preseason. You know, he kind of looked like he knew what he was
12:48
doing out there. He's thirty now, he's twenty ninth a time, so
12:52
you know, he's been a vet around the NFL. He knew you know,
12:54
he knows the role. So I mean there is some question marks beyond
13:00
him though, because you know there's this no clear option. I mean,
13:03
you have Matt Cobin, and he's a guy that the Eagles are high on,
13:05
but I mean he was an undrafted free agent last year, so we
13:09
don't really know what he's all about. Right, Maybe that's the player to
13:11
watch him this summer, is that somebody you're going to be keeping an eye
13:13
on. I saw your post to day asking people, you know who who
13:16
you want to or who people want to watch? Are you really going to
13:22
be keeping your eye on him throughout the course of this next month? Yes,
13:24
I am. Tobin is a guy that you know. I just I
13:26
don't have anything concrete that I should say. I know why the Eagles like
13:30
him. I just have this weird feeling and I have heard some things,
13:33
but they're not like concrete. I just there's some for some weird reason,
13:37
there just seems to be this like kind of minimal buzz around him that we
13:41
should be watching him the Eagles. Actually he was drafted as a tackle and
13:46
he played tackle in college, but the Eagles they moved him to guard during
13:50
the season. They're apparently practicing him there. He's a guy that I think
13:54
they kind of want to be their next Barber, you know, a guy
13:58
that can not only play attack, whole the guard too. Yeah. Even
14:01
maybe Todd Harriman's junior in a way with that versatility. Yeah, yeah,
14:07
Okay, if you if you don't mind, let's kind of maybe get into,
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you know, Chip Kelly the program. I mean, there's so much
14:15
emphasis on that, and I'm gonna be honest with you. As a fan,
14:18
I love what I see, and frankly, all I see is this
14:22
escalator going up and up and up in terms of what he is able to
14:26
do for a team, in terms of development, in terms of health even
14:31
I mean last year, I mean we saw a dramatic decrease in muscle tears
14:35
throughout twenty thirteen season. Not a great deal. There were injuries, of
14:39
course, but not a great deal of them. Do you think Chip Kelly
14:43
has a pulse on something that the rest of the NFL coaches don't. With
14:48
his sports science philosophy and the program he's implemented, I definitely think they have
14:52
an edge to an extent. I don't know that you know, Chip can
14:56
weave a magic wand and make everyone, you know, completely healthy for the
15:00
the whole season like they were last year, like when you think about like
15:03
the offensive line and things like that. I think one thing he has talked
15:07
about specifically is is his sports science program kind of limits the non contact injuries,
15:15
like things that you know that are happening off the field. And that's
15:18
important because you know, you think back to when Jason Peters like reinjured himself
15:22
and everything, or you know, you get these these weird freak injuries that
15:26
kind of just come out of nowhere. I mean it's important that you know
15:31
the players aren't just walking around and you know they're tearing their acl or whatever.
15:35
So it sounds like that's the kind of area they're going to target.
15:39
I mean, there's there's only so much you can do when you know player's
15:41
leg is twisted around or or stepped on or whatever. So I mean the
15:46
contact stuff is just what it is. But I think they really focus on
15:50
somehow their sports science program eliminates the non contacting Okay, all right. I
15:56
mean when we're talking about this Chip Kelly fullosophy, this Chip Kelly system that
16:02
is in again, as a fan, I just absolutely love what I'm seeing.
16:04
And it's of course because they had a successful season in twenty thirteen,
16:08
went to the playoffs. Nobody really expected that to happen. But in terms
16:12
of that program in the system. With DeShawn Jackson being released, I mean,
16:18
and there's always speculation as to why, and I think at some point
16:22
somewhere down the road we're going to learn why he was released. Do you
16:27
think it's just because he didn't buy into the overall philosophy, overall philosophy doing
16:33
things off the field, like what you have been talking about Brandon those things
16:37
off the field he just wasn't not necessarily buying into, but just wasn't practicing
16:42
in a way. Do you think that was part of the release. I
16:45
definitely think it's part of it. I think when you look back to DeShawn
16:48
Jackson, I don't think you can find any one reason why he was released.
16:52
I really do think you know, something like that as a big reason.
16:56
You know, they said it was for football, reasons. I think
16:59
that point to Kelly's deceiving. You know, he's what he's doing is doing
17:03
DeShawn a favorite because you know he's not saying the real reason at that point.
17:07
I think when you look at DeShawn Jackson, obviously a very talented player,
17:12
and to me, for him to be so talented and for them to
17:15
just, you know, just to just dismiss him so quickly, I mean,
17:19
you could say, well, the legal they're stupid. But on the
17:22
other hand, he could say that he must have been such a pain in
17:25
the butt to work with or just have a round, that he wasn't worth
17:29
his tremendous production. And that's how I look at it, right, do
17:32
you think it was? And not to say that, you know, DeShawn
17:34
is daddling in anything like this, but is it almost like a Buddy Ryan
17:37
Chris Carter situation where he kind of got rid of him to kind of maybe
17:42
give him a wake up call. I think that could be part of it.
17:45
I think, you know, I obviously I don't know DeShawn personally enough
17:48
to speak about him like that, but I mean I definitely think there are
17:52
question marks and I think maybe that does you know, maybe wake up DeShawn
17:57
and say, hey, look I need to I need to for you know,
18:00
focus on the game more. But you know, we'll see how that
18:03
goes in Washington. Cool um to kind of stick with the wide receivers.
18:07
How much do you think they're going to miss him? I mean, what
18:10
do you think of their wide receiver group. I tend to think that it's
18:12
kind they're kind of in a show me stage with maclean's injury, with Matthews
18:18
being a rookie. I don't think Riley Cooper has everybody you know as a
18:21
believer. Yet what do you think of their group? And how much do
18:25
you think they'll miss the Shawan. They're definitely going to miss DeShawn because you
18:27
know, obviously these thirteen hundred plus yards receiversistant crow and trees here, and
18:33
you know it's not going to be easy to replace his production with any one
18:37
player. As you said, you know, there's a bunch of question marks.
18:41
There's a bunch of players who need to prove they kind of have that
18:44
capability. I think when you're replacing DeShawn, you're not looking at one player,
18:48
but you're looking at, you know, a committee of players that will
18:52
combine to you know, kind of replace his production. I mean, you
18:56
have this receiving core that does have some question marks. I just mentioned with
19:00
Riley Cooper needing to prove himself again because he had a couple of big games
19:04
last year, but then you know, other games he was inconsistent. You
19:07
have Macklin coming back from the injury. You know, I think there there's
19:11
definitely a lot of potential with this with this course, and that's about how
19:15
I think of it, because I think, you know, on one hand,
19:18
they could be pretty good, but on the other hand, you know,
19:22
it's kind of concerning because there's no proven option like you had with the
19:26
Shawn. But then again, you know, the Shaun didn't have a career
19:29
year until Chip Kelly was here. You know, I think last season or
19:33
at eighty catches, he was only averaging fifty five, which obviously isn't bad,
19:37
but I mean that's a big difference. So you have to have some
19:40
kind of optimism here about these wide receivers. But it seems, yeah,
19:42
it seems like DeShawn also when he wanted to be productive, he was productive,
19:48
and when he didn't want to be productive, he wasn't productive. He
19:51
kind of decided when and how he was going to perform on the field.
19:56
I mean that might be one of the reasons why also he was let go
20:00
as well. Right, the effort, you know, there's always an effort
20:03
to be in question. That's that's definitely a thing that Chip would actually not
20:07
be too happy about if he has to worry about that. Yeah, and
20:11
I think the Eagles probably headed their bets a little bit in terms of even
20:14
picking up a guy like Darren Sprowles, you know, not a receiver,
20:17
but still great you know, pass catcher out of the back. He's a
20:19
threat. Yeah, yeah, yeah. He just caught over seventy passes in
20:23
the last three seasons, so I mean get seventy seven last year. Yeah,
20:27
he's definitely going to be part of the committee too. All Right,
20:32
we are going to pause this interview and discussion with Brandon here to pay some
20:36
bills. We do need to take a quick break. We will be back
20:38
in just a bit. All right, we are back, and let's get
20:42
back into this discussion with BLG back from two thousand thirteen. Here it is
20:49
right now. Well, I mean get into shifting from the offense to the
20:55
defense. You know, last year they were ranked thirteenth in the NFL for
21:00
sacks, they had thirty seven. They were tied with the Bears and ranked
21:03
eighth. For interceptions, they had nineteen forced fumbles, they were ranked fourteenth.
21:08
You know, they were kind of middle of the pack, and even
21:11
though they ended up being statistically at number twenty nine in defense at the end
21:18
of the season. I don't know, Brandon, I don't think they are
21:22
necessarily going to be the dismal type of defense that they initially started out as
21:26
at the beginning of the last season. You know, do you think it's
21:32
going to be like that? I think there's a lot of optimism because of
21:33
what Bill Davis was able to do during the course of the second half of
21:37
last season. They're gonna be looking at some serious offenses with the schedule coming
21:42
up. So what are your thoughts on the defense? Do you think they're
21:45
going to really have some problems? I personally don't, but I wanted to
21:51
get your take on it. Here's my philosophy on the Eagles defense. They're
21:56
never actually gonna be I really never see them anything close to like what Seattle
22:00
has or anything close to this top defense. And I think, yeah,
22:06
that's because Tim Kelly is in town. He's all about offense, and he's
22:10
not only is he about offense, but he's about an offense that scores quick.
22:12
And what's that means for the defense. That means they're going to be
22:15
facing more plays like they did last year. Damiko Ryans himself played more snaps
22:21
than any defensive player. I mean, they're just always going to face a
22:23
lot of plays at the offensive scoring so quickly. So that's why you know,
22:27
you look at these volume stats like yards and everything, and they're always
22:32
going to be high because the Eagles face so many plays. So what you
22:34
kind of have to do at that point is look at like a metrical like
22:37
yards per play. And when you do that, you know the Eagles aren't
22:41
last in past defense. If they're not, you know, twenty ninth in
22:45
yards, they're more like twenty eighteen nineteen in yards per play, And obviously
22:51
that's still below average, but that's a lot closer to average than being at
22:55
the bottom of the NFL. Yeah, So I think they have a unique
22:59
style of defense where it sounds weird that they're not actually trying to be good,
23:02
but I think they just have their own style where they're not focusing on
23:06
counting yards like you know, as we would as fans, but they're more
23:08
focused on they talk about it these X plays, like limiting big plays and
23:14
forcing these turnovers. You know, I think that's what they care about more,
23:17
and that's what they were able to do, as he pointed out last
23:18
season. And you know, honestly, when you have an offense that's good
23:23
and the Eagles defense like they did last year, there was a point where
23:26
they hold They held opponents to twenty one or less in nine straight games,
23:30
and that's the winning recipe right there. Because their offense, the Chip Kelly
23:33
often should be able to score more than twenty one points a game, right
23:37
exactly. And I also think it's interesting too how the Chip Kelly offense you're
23:44
talking about, when a touchdown is scored, it took on average, what
23:48
was it, two minutes and eight seconds. Yeah, it was quick.
23:51
It was ridiculous quick, fastest time in the NFL. So, like you
23:55
said, obviously the defense is going to be on the field a lot more.
23:57
I'm hoping that we're going to be able to see some more sacks this
24:00
season because I think last year they ended up with what, like I think
24:03
it was a total of thirty seven sacks. Wasn't too too impressed with that,
24:08
I think, But I think Trent Cole if I'm not mistaken, Brandon
24:11
had the most sacks last had a great second half. He did I think,
24:17
like eight sacks in the last eight weeks. Do you think that we're
24:18
going to see more sacks, a lot more pressuring on the quarterback with the
24:22
front and also with the linebackers coming from the outside. I think there's reason
24:27
for optimism there, and that's because a lot of what the Eagles have been
24:32
talking about this offseason is the continuity in the three four defense. You know
24:34
that obviously that doesn't mean anything until they prove it. But you have Trent
24:38
Cole back, maybe he looks more comfortable as three four outside linebacker. You
24:45
brought in Marcus Smith, maybe he can get after the quarterback. You have
24:48
any curry you know coming off the bench. Fletcher Cox last year had only
24:52
three sacks, but he had I think something like thirty nine quarterback curries,
24:56
which was third among NFL three four defensive ends. It was almost as if
25:00
like he was getting unlucky, like he was getting closer every time, and
25:03
for whatever reason, it wasn't getting him down. So and then you know
25:07
the Eagles. You know, like you said, it's not only the h
25:11
you know, your front seven, but you're bringing guys on blitzes like Billy
25:15
Davis likes to do because he's he's a guy likes to blitz. You actually
25:18
look at a guy like Malcolm Jenkins, who's a safety they brought in,
25:22
you know, free agency, But if you look at his pass rushing numbers,
25:26
you know, like on a site like Pro Football Focus, I mean,
25:29
he's a pretty good blitzer. I forget the exact numbers, but you
25:32
know he had I think a couple of sacks and he could get pressure as
25:36
well. So you know, it's not just about your your outside linebackers or
25:40
one position, it's really the whole defense that needs to step up as a
25:42
pass round. Yeah, I think he had. I think he had like
25:45
three or four sacks, didn't he last year? It was something like that.
25:48
It was like that pretty amazing for a safety. But speaking of safety,
25:52
I mean kind of just heading into that direction the secondary. We obviously
25:56
weren't happy with the safety position. Corner position was I guess you would say
26:00
questionable every now and then, are we going to see and in your opinion,
26:06
do you think we will see some dramatic improvement. What I mean by
26:10
dramatic improvement is not as many past interference penalties actually able to have that safety
26:17
covering the tight end effectively. I mean, do you think we're going to
26:21
see that a little bit more? And I think Malcolm Jenkins possibly gives that
26:23
secondary secondary more of an edge. Now, yeah, I think Tenkins is
26:29
a big upgrade. From the fact too, that he's not Patrick Chung.
26:32
I mean, he was just rough. I mean, there's there's no way
26:37
to really to sweeten that one. He was just really bad last year.
26:41
He really struggling, and you could see the defense was significantly worse with him
26:45
on the field. Look, I think I put him. I think I
26:48
put him on my slug list, a slug list that's going on here,
26:52
and I'm pretty sure i'd put him on there. Just terrible, It was
26:56
awful. He was bad. Even he was so bad that like you bring
27:00
in a fifth round rookie safety and Earl Wolf, and like Wolf looked so
27:04
much better just because of the fact that he wasn't making this huge mistakes that
27:08
Patrick Chung looked. No Wolf look like a pro bowler out there, right,
27:11
he really did. So you know, just the fact that he has
27:15
gone is a huge upgrade. And you have a guy like Jenkins who is
27:19
a starter in the league, you know, and has the experience and is
27:22
not Patrick Chunk. As far as the corners go, I think you definitely
27:27
have guys that are below average. I think, you know, Fletcher and
27:32
Kerry Williams, they're probably number two corners on a on a good team.
27:37
But he also brought in Nolan Carroll this year, who was a starter in
27:41
Miami, and he looked pretty good in the spring. I was down the
27:45
Eagles facility for the spring practices and I'm glad you said that. I'm glad
27:48
you said that because we've been hearing reports and I know that you've said that
27:52
on Bleeding Green Nation as well, that he is looking pretty good and he
27:55
could potentially be, uh, you know, battling with Bradley Fletcher, right
28:02
yeah, And you know, the Eagles like Fletcher to an extent, but
28:07
you know, it's really question mark because he's going to be an unrestricted free
28:10
agent after the season, and you have Carol who's signed you know, not
28:12
only this year, but next and I definitely think he can earn a job.
28:17
Okay, you mentioned Fletcher and Carrie Williams. Is number two is do
28:21
you see Brandon Boykin in that same realm or sight or just in the slot
28:27
because he's so good there. Yeah, that's see, that's the tricky question
28:33
here now because he obviously is I would say he's the best slot cornerback in
28:37
the league. I mean, why not. He had six interceptions last year.
28:41
He can tackle. I think he only had like like maybe one or
28:44
two miss tackles. Uh. I mean he's he's such a talented player.
28:48
The only thing going against him obviously is his size. And I think that's
28:52
a concern for the Eagles because they have this philosophy that they want these bigger
28:56
cornerbacks because you know, these wide receivers in the NFL. Now, you
29:00
know they have Calvin Johnson, A J. Green, you know, the
29:02
list goes on, Dez Bryant. You know these guys are big, and
29:06
you know boy can can jump, but obviously, you know, there just
29:07
comes to a point where you need the size and you know, so it's
29:12
really it's tough because you do want to see a talented player like boy can
29:17
play on the outside. But at the same time, you just, you
29:18
know, you wonder, you know, how would you hold up out there?
29:22
Right right? I guess again, you know when when when we look
29:27
at this team and I just it bothers me so much that there are still
29:33
some unknowns out there when I feel that Chip Kelly has proved a lot during
29:38
the course of his first year, and like I said before, I look
29:41
at it as an escalator going up. You know that it can only get
29:44
better. That's my optimism coming out. But I mean, do you think
29:47
that there's anybody else in the NFC East that is, you know, that's
29:52
made a noticeable leap and could pose a real serious challenge to the Eagles this
29:57
year? Um, you know, I look at the NFCS. I can't
30:00
really say yes because you look at the Cowboys and their offense is very talented.
30:06
But then again, you know, you have Tony Romo coming off a
30:08
back surgery and he's getting up there, so you don't know if he's a
30:12
shured thing. And the defense, the defense is terrible. I mean,
30:15
you lost to Marcus Ware, you lost Jason Hatcher. It was pretty good
30:19
in my opinion. I think he was pretty underrated. I thought Yeah,
30:22
pretty good player. And then you have Sean Lee who was absolutely vital to
30:26
that. So I mean, I just don't know how that defense is.
30:32
How is it going to do anything? Because they weren't good last year and
30:33
they only lost players so they're best players. So and then moving along,
30:40
you know, you go to Washington, they got to Sean RG three is
30:44
back and you know he's probably healthier than he was last year. But you
30:47
know, you have a new head coach down there. I'm not really inspired
30:49
by Jay Gruden. Bad coach, but yeah, is he really the most
30:53
inspiring guy? I don't like him either, to be honest. Well,
30:56
and I think that learning a new system for him for L three, Not
31:00
that he can't pick it up, but anytime any quarterback has to learn a
31:03
new system, I think there's growing pains. Yeah, And this is why
31:06
I love the Washington Redskins. I love the Redskins because they constantly have a
31:10
new quarterback. They constant for a year for decades now, new quarterback,
31:15
new head coach, new offensive coordinator, You've got new guys on the line.
31:18
It is complete chaos in that organization. That's why I love the Redskins.
31:23
I've got some Redskins fans up here that I'm friends with Brandon, and
31:27
it is fantastic to talk to the deflated nature during the course of the season
31:33
with these guys all the time, is absolutely fantastic. When it comes to
31:36
the NFC easts, I just wanted to throw that out there. I mean,
31:40
do you think the Giants are a threat, because honestly, I try
31:42
to be as realistic as possible, and I'm looking at the other three teams
31:45
and I'm constantly waiting for the other shoe to drop, and I really am
31:49
not impressed with anybody else that I'm seeing. I mean, usually when something's
31:53
too good to be true, it you know it is. But I just
31:57
don't see how anybody steps up. I mean, do you think the Giants
32:00
have a bounce back year or now? I mean, you look at the
32:04
Giants and you know they added a lot of new guys this this off season.
32:07
They signed a number of players in the pres and see one of them
32:10
being former Eagles quarterback Dominique Rogers Camardi, and then they added a new offensive
32:16
coordinator in Ben McAdoo from the Packers. He used to be the Packers quarterback
32:22
coach. I mean, you look at the Giants, and I definitely think
32:28
at this point they are the eagles biggest competition because they were they were bad
32:31
in the areas last year that they probably can't be as bad in this year.
32:36
Like I don't see Ezi throwing twenty seven interceptions again, you know,
32:40
just a number of things that kind of just went wrong for them, and
32:44
they even kind of finished the season relatively strong. I think, you know,
32:46
they got off to that terrible start, but they kind of, you
32:49
know, they picked up their act a little bit. You know, they
32:52
didn't crash and burn did the close out the season, So you know,
32:55
I think there they could be competition. I think the thing with the Giants
33:00
is that, you know, it's kind of an awkward time for them.
33:02
It's kind of like when the Eagles were entering I guess twenty twelve, you
33:08
know, when there's still some optimism, but you know that ended up being
33:12
Andy Reids last year. And I you know, is this Tom Coughlins last
33:15
year? You know, I don't know, I think he could be.
33:17
Yeah, it always seems like anytime they kind of slip up in the slightest
33:22
bit, the New York media has him on the hot seat. I mean
33:25
I don't know how how you really do that with a guy with his track
33:29
record, especially the fact that he's done it with that organization. But yeah,
33:32
it seems like he's already starting out this season on the hot seat for
33:35
them. And one of the things with this Division two is that, and
33:40
especially now that the Eagles, if you talk to your average fan, the
33:45
Eagles are quote really good now, you know, because last season and because
33:49
of what Chip Kelly was able to do with this team and turning it around.
33:52
And frankly, it wasn't even really his team last year. It was
33:55
more so of an Andy Reid team. And the one thing I get really
34:00
concerned about, Brandon is the fan base in a way, and the level
34:04
of expectation to where this team should be not just this year, but in
34:07
the following year as well, and how much pressure that puts on the players,
34:13
how much pressure it might put on Chip Kelly. I don't know if
34:15
it will or not. You've probably I mean, you obviously have had some
34:17
interactions with Chip Kelly, know his personality and his demeanor. The last thing
34:22
that I want to happen. It seems that it happens very frequently in the
34:27
Philadelphia Sports world is that US fans have a certain expectation level of whatever team
34:32
it is, and then all of a sudden, when things aren't going the
34:36
way that we all want it, it's just completely bleak and dark, and
34:42
the teams falter in a way. And I guess I'm not trying to necessarily
34:45
blame it on the fans, but I don't think the fans at times help.
34:47
I don't know. I just don't want to get your take on that
34:50
too. Yeah, the fan perspective is interesting, especially because you know,
34:54
last year the Eagles had been on that streak where they weren't losing at home,
35:00
So at a certain point, it's like, are we in the problem?
35:02
You know, like is this our fault? Yeah, we talked about
35:05
that on the podcast. I think it's a whole calendar year in between home
35:08
wins. Yeah, it was, And you know, I don't think so.
35:13
I think obviously there is more of a passion in Philadelphia for sports.
35:17
I think that is a thing I think. At the same time, you
35:21
know, I think we might be too hard in ourselves at times because you
35:23
know, maybe we don't have the perspective of being a fan in a different
35:28
city, because we've never really been there before. Maybe some of us have,
35:30
you know, I don't think the majority of us, you know,
35:32
have been another city where you have that that fanship of another team, you
35:37
know, because you grow up near Philadelphia or you have Philadelphia ties, right,
35:40
Yeah, So you know, I don't know, I don't think.
35:45
I don't think we're to blame there, but you know, it's it's a
35:49
factor. Do you think Chip Kelly, because he strikes me as the kind
35:52
of guy that can, you know, blow something off with humor. I
35:55
think he's got the right temperament for when things get a little bit rocky,
36:00
would you I mean, in your dealings with him, would you agree with
36:02
that? That's a that's a good question too, because he's never really had
36:07
to deal with something like that in terms of like his teams have always been
36:10
pretty much winning teams. I definitely thinks he's a He's a good communicator,
36:16
so I don't see that being a problem. Apparently he always has his door
36:22
open. You know, any player can talk to him at any time.
36:23
And this isn't just some kind of clissaria like this is something that players say
36:28
over and over like Chip Kelly, like he welcomes being heards these players to
36:31
talk to him. If they have an idea, he wants to hear about
36:35
it. You know, he wants them to bring ideas to him. You
36:37
know, there was an example of that last year when the Eels are playing
36:40
the Lions in the snow game and Carry Williams came up to Tip Kelly in
36:45
the highline and say, hey, let's throw it deep. You know,
36:46
we're having a tough time covering guys deep out here. You know, why
36:51
not just throw the ball up there and see what happens. And then,
36:52
you know, a few plays later, sure enough Riley Hooper makes the big
36:55
Cats and his offense gets started. So, I mean, you see evidence
37:00
of that the fact that players, you know, are a part of the
37:04
team and they they're expected not only to play, but you know, they
37:07
should be heard in the locker room. And that's a sign I think of
37:10
a good leader anybody that's able to take input from uh, you know,
37:14
people around him, whether whether subordinates or not, and apply that. I
37:19
think that's great, um as smart. One other question I wanted to get
37:22
into is another guy that I don't think nationally is still I mean, I
37:28
think people are still maybe somewhat on the fence about and that is Nick Foles.
37:32
I you know, I'm pretty close to being sold on him, but
37:37
there's some people out there that, you know, still might not fully believe.
37:40
I read some ESPN article where they ranked the quarterbacks in the NFL and
37:45
tiers, and Foals barely made it into the bottom of tier two. He
37:49
was, I think ranked fourteenth or fifteenth. H What do you think where
37:52
do you think have him at? I would say, well, first of
37:55
all, I do like the tier rankings, you know, I think you
37:59
get into the difference betwe mean like seven and eight and nine or whatever,
38:01
any it kind of just split hairs here. Yeah, so I definitely like
38:04
the tier thing, and I think he is in that tier two. I
38:07
do not think he has earned the right to be in the tier one yet,
38:10
you know, because a lot of quarterbacks have had and not only the
38:14
quarterbacks, but players have these, you know, these seasons where they perform
38:16
well and then you know, they never kind of get back to that status.
38:20
So he still definitely does have a lot to prove, you know,
38:22
And I'm among the skeptics that want to see more because sure, you know,
38:27
you look up this season and it's it's almost too good to be true
38:30
in some aspects. It absolutely is seven touchdowns in a game twenty seven the
38:36
two I mean especially right, And this isn't to say that ni Fols is
38:40
bad or anything, but it's just, you know, you kind of just
38:43
want to see more of a consistency over a longer sample. All right.
38:47
I guess another question when I ask you kind of away from on the field
38:52
type of questions and you know, what we're interested in and I think with
38:57
some of our listeners would be interested in too, Brandon, is you know,
39:00
what if any interactions do you have with the players and coaches off the
39:05
field. I mean, you have a you're running a website that has a
39:08
lot of traffic, a lot of fans read it, so you know,
39:13
heads are basically what's been the most interesting type of interaction that you've had with
39:17
any Eagles player or players off the field? If you can get into that
39:22
right. Well, usually when I'm talking to players, that will be you
39:25
know, after a practice or after a game, after games at the stadium.
39:30
You know they're in the locker room after practice at the Novercare facility,
39:34
they're just hanging out, you know, on the side of the field.
39:36
After practice. You know, it's it's nothing too too cool, but I
39:39
mean, I mean it's cool. It's nothing to earth shattering. You know.
39:44
Usually there's just a group of media people that are standing around, you
39:46
know, asking, you know, various questions and everything. I haven't had
39:52
too many funny experiences with players, but you know, some things are.
39:55
One of the things that's cool is is getting talked to some of the uster
40:00
knowing guys. You know, I was talking to Frank Mays, who is
40:02
an undrafted free agent defensive end. Yeah, yeah, or to A and
40:07
M. And he's he's a big guy. He's he's six to nine to
40:10
ninety or so, and obviously he's really a long side to make the team.
40:15
But you know, it's just cool to talk to a guy like that,
40:17
and because they're the guys too that they're not going to just give you
40:21
the clusses like you know, someone like Michael Vicky's too or you know,
40:24
like someone like trank Hole or even Nicholes, you know, because you know
40:28
those guys who get all the questions all the time. So you talk to
40:30
a guy like Frank Mays and you find out that you know, he came
40:32
from a town in Milwaukee, and you know, he never even played sports
40:37
until like his junior year of high school, and he was talking about his
40:40
first moment in the basketball game. So cool, little stuff like that that
40:45
you know, most people aren't going to care about, but you know,
40:46
it's just it's cool. It's cool interaction. Yeah, But I'm sports fans,
40:50
especially Philly sports fans, I think really like that that, you know,
40:53
going deep and with a player. I mean, what do you is
40:58
are there any other guys aside from Maze maybe? I mean, because that's
41:01
pretty interesting to be honest with the fact you're talking about how we started out
41:06
as playing athletics in in high school as a junior. I mean, are
41:10
there any other guys maybe that you can think of that really kind of left
41:14
an impression on you. I can't think of anyone too specific as far as
41:16
players go, but as far as coaches go, legal assistant coaches are usually
41:22
made available a few so less times of the year, and where the Eagle
41:27
set them up is and like their cafeteria or outside where they have like a
41:30
number of different tables and each coaches at a table and you can just go
41:34
up to them and ask them about anything. Very cool. Now you have
41:37
a guy like Jeff Staltlin who's the offensive line coach, or even a guy
41:42
like Jerry as an Arrow who's the defensive line coach and also the assistant head
41:45
coach. You know, you have guys like that, they're just really cool
41:47
to talk to. Last year, I asked as an Arrow, you know,
41:51
what does it mean to be to be the assistant head coach? And
41:54
it was funny because at that point some of the other media members were leaving
41:59
the table and they heard me off. Then you know, a few of
42:00
them came back because they're like, oh, yeah, that's a good question,
42:02
and you know, as an Arrow even had a look of surprise on
42:07
the face a little bit, even like you know, it's like, oh
42:09
yeah, you know you kind of had to think about it a little bit.
42:12
So you know, there's cool little things like that. You know,
42:14
it's it's it's really cool to be around all right, um, real quick,
42:17
only because you brought up something that I kind of have a little bit
42:21
interest in, uh, you know, blogging things like that is I guess
42:24
consider new media. You mentioned other members of the media. Do you ever
42:28
have any is there any ever kind of big timing and you know, I'm
42:31
you know, saying you any names, but is there still something between like
42:35
the newspaper realm and the UH and the blog realm. I would say that
42:39
the line is more blurred than it probably was in previous times. I think
42:45
it's more accepted now. I definitely think there are old media types that you
42:49
know, aren't is receptive to the blogs and everything. And you know that's
42:52
fine, that's that's their preference and everything. But h you know, I'm
42:57
happy with what I do. I think we put out a good product,
42:59
and I'm I'm proud of what I do. So you know, that's all
43:01
I can say. Yeah, we would definitely agree with that as far as
43:04
your products. We read it quite often. Well, there's another thing that
43:07
we really agree with as we you know, start to conclude here, and
43:12
I know this may be the biggest heck thing to say, you're a fan
43:16
of wahwah man I, Oh my gosh, I am a fan of Wawa.
43:20
Len is a fan of Wahwa. Who wouldn't be exactly? What's your
43:23
favorite sandwich? What is your favorite food? Oh it's easy, it's easy.
43:28
I have to go, oh boy with the Pepperonique classic. Oh nice,
43:35
and if I'm feeling you know, I'm feeling like I need the extra
43:37
extra unhealthiness. You know, you gotta add the beacon on there. Yeah,
43:40
absolutely, well, I mean tis the season it is? Oh yes,
43:45
it is. We gotta get I wonder if we can get like a
43:49
cross promotion between I think Wawa. Is this money at this point? They
43:52
really do us mentioning that we could do a cross promotion. I haven't even
43:57
thought about this at all, and it probably makes no sense. I'm thinking
44:00
about it now and it doesn't make any sense. Let's do this like triple
44:02
cross promotion between Bleeding Green Nation and PSD and Wawa. That'd be fantastic if
44:07
they gave us like five wahwah sandwiches a week. Oh yeah, I'd take
44:10
that in a second. I'd take it in a second. Yeah. Anyway,
44:14
Brandon, thanks so much for joining us this week. Really appreciate you
44:17
coming on the show. And I means so much valuable insight that you were
44:21
able to give and to our listeners, You're it's going to be great for
44:25
them to hear what you had to say this week. So we really appreciate
44:29
you coming on board here. Yeah. Sure, thanks for having me on
44:31
and be happy to do it again. All right, thanks so much to
44:34
have you back really quick, plugs feel free go ahead again. That's Brandon
44:38
League outing at Bleeding Green Nation dot com and you can follow me on Twitter
44:43
at Brandon Gouton and follow BDN on Twitter at Bleading Green check out the BDN
44:50
Facebook page. All you to do, you know, it's go on our
44:52
website or just you know, on Facebook, type and Bleeding Green Nation.
44:55
We're verified with this kind of funny because we're just Facebook page, but anyway
45:00
you'll find it. And lastly, definitely check out the Eagles Almanac. All
45:04
you have to do is Google or type in Eagles Almanac dot com. Pdf
45:09
is ten dollars. You can buy a paperback version for twenty five dollars,
45:14
and then you can buy two paperbacks and plus get to write in a prediction
45:19
of your own for forty dollars. So that's all at Eagles Almanac dot com.
45:24
It was fun to go back in time ten years ago with BLG and
45:29
we're definitely hoping that we can have him on the podcast at some point the
45:32
very near future to talk about this twenty twenty three Eagles team. We certainly
45:37
have seen some changes this offseason, whether it's free agency, whether it was
45:40
the draft. It's a team that is looking to get back to the Super
45:45
Bowl. As we all know as fans, we of course want that to
45:49
happen. It remains to be seen whether or not it can happen. The
45:52
Eagles are going to be a powerhouse team in the NFC if they do stay
45:57
healthy. So we're hoping to talk to BLG in the future about this Eagles
46:01
team here in twenty twenty three and what they are likely to do. So
46:06
it's gonna do it for us here on table Talk. Make sure you're following
46:08
us on the Twitter dot com at Philadelphia PSD. You can follow me at
46:13
Jeffrey Underscore Warren and if anything happens to your podcast, speed head on over
46:16
to Philadelphia Sports Table dot com. We've got all of our podcasts over there.
46:21
You can check them out and follow us on Instagram as well, and
46:24
just search out Philadelphia Sports Table you'll find us there. It's gonna do it
46:28
for us, folks. Take care, we'll catch you next time.