Latest / Inside the Birds: A Philadelphia Eagles Podcast / NEW: Special Guests Ray Didinger, Derrick Gunn Preview Eagles Season

Transcript

NEW: Special Guests Ray Didinger, Derrick Gunn Preview Eagles Season · Inside the Birds: A Philadelphia Eagles Podcast

• 0:09
  Speaker 1: Hello, Welcome everybody to a special edition of Inside the Birds.
• 0:13
  Jeff Mosher and Adam Kaplan really thrilled to be joined
• 0:17
  by two special guests that not only are you gonna
• 0:21
  hear talk some Eagles in this episode, but all throughout
• 0:25
  the NFL season right here on the Inside the Birds platform,
• 0:29
  we are pleased to bring in the two new hosts
• 0:32
  of a new show called Birds Weekly on Inside the Birds,
• 0:35
  featuring none other than Ray Diddinger and Derek Gunn. And
• 0:39
  these two guys are gonna talk some Eagles football twice
• 0:43
  a week on the Inside the Birds platform.
• 0:46
  Speaker 2: Usually on Tuesdays and Fridays.
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: You never know what the NFL schedule, but they're gonna
• 0:49
  recap the game that was and then then later in
• 0:52
  the week talk about the game that we'll be And
• 0:54
  Adam and I were.
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: Really excited get fellas to have you on, to have
• 0:58
  you talk some Birds.
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: And this won't be new for either of you, because Gunner,
• 1:01
  you did gun on one for the last two years
• 1:03
  on Inside the Birds, and we noticed that every time
• 1:06
  you had.
• 1:06
  Speaker 2: Ray on it was like must see.
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: All your shows are musty TV, but the views on
• 1:11
  those and the listeners on those were special.
• 1:13
  Speaker 2: So we figured, let's get you guys together. How excited
• 1:15
  are you?
• 1:17
  Speaker 3: Well, you know, when you presented this opportunity to be
• 1:21
  back in the spring, Jeff, I immediately said yes because
• 1:24
  of my longwithstanding admiration and respect for Ray, and of
• 1:28
  course we worked together for years. Who better to sit
• 1:32
  and chop up football with than a walking encyclopedia of
• 1:36
  football knowledge. But then I said to myself, would Ray
• 1:39
  want to stoop and lower his level to work with
• 1:42
  lowly me on a football show weekly? I said, he
• 1:46
  could work with the best of the best, not the
• 1:49
  worst of the worst. And I said, well, Jeff, let's
• 1:52
  see what happens. And I lo and behold, I was
• 1:54
  happy when Ray said, you know what I'd be happy
• 1:56
  to do with I will lower my standards for Gunner.
• 2:00
  Speaker 4: Not very true, That's true. I Gunner and I worked
• 2:05
  together for about twenty years yea at Comcast Sports Net
• 2:08
  and the launch the literal launch of that whole network,
• 2:13
  which which actually started with an Eagles post game show,
• 2:16
  and uh, we just had a ball together and I
• 2:19
  love talking football with him, and uh, what could be
• 2:23
  better than launching this show? And you're the defending Super
• 2:25
  Bowl champs? And I think there's so.
• 2:28
  Speaker 5: Much to talk about and so much a little forward to.
• 2:30
  I can't wait to get started.
• 2:31
  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, no, Adam, the symmetry is great.
• 2:34
  Speaker 6: You know.
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: They they were at Comcast Sports at Net now NBC
• 2:38
  Sports Philly for quite a while. I hopped in, uh
• 2:40
  then started to work closely, both with Derek.
• 2:43
  Speaker 2: And and Ray.
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: We did that Eagles rewind show with Jamal Jackson, the
• 2:47
  tape breakdown show together and that was really cool, Adam,
• 2:49
  you did you know?
• 2:51
  Speaker 2: Was it Daily News Live?
• 2:52
  Speaker 4: Right?
• 2:52
  Speaker 2: And then then what they turned the name of the
• 2:54
  show into something else.
• 2:56
  Speaker 7: Philly Sports Talk, namely Sports Talk.
• 2:58
  Speaker 6: Yeah?
• 2:58
  Speaker 2: Yeah, so so right.
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: Fortunately for you, you have worked, as Gunn said, uh, with
• 3:03
  the best and the worst.
• 3:04
  Speaker 2: It's best and the worst because none of us are
• 3:09
  still there anymore.
• 3:11
  Speaker 5: I guess that's true, isn't it? Oh?
• 3:14
  Speaker 2: But good stuff. It's going to be a great show.
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: I know our viewers and our listeners are really going
• 3:19
  to be excited to hear a different perspective each week,
• 3:23
  especially from two guys who have covered the team for
• 3:26
  as long as you guys have had and seen the
• 3:28
  team through your.
• 3:29
  Speaker 2: Eyes and you know Ray.
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: Later a few minutes, we'll get to you on this
• 3:33
  Eagles linebacker inside stack linebacker situation, because for as long
• 3:37
  as you cover the team, I don't know if you
• 3:40
  would ever I didn't know if it was ever going
• 3:42
  to come full circle again where you could say, Wow,
• 3:45
  the Eagles are actually really.
• 3:46
  Speaker 2: Good at inside linebacker. It's been a long time.
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: Since they they've been this deep and talented there, haven't they.
• 3:53
  Speaker 5: It is it is a different look.
• 3:54
  Speaker 4: I mean you don't have to go back quite as
• 3:57
  far as Ben and Eric but close. But I mean,
• 4:01
  actually you look at the players they have there now.
• 4:05
  I mean one of your linebackers last year was a
• 4:07
  finalist for Defensive Player of the Year. I mean you
• 4:10
  probably for that, you legitimately probably have to go back
• 4:13
  to Burgee, right. I mean it's a different it's certainly
• 4:17
  a different set of circumstances this year. And you know,
• 4:21
  you've got Bond coming back, who I don't think was
• 4:23
  by any means a fluke or a flash in the pan.
• 4:26
  I think he's a really good player, and I'm very
• 4:29
  excited about the addition of Campbell. I think that I'm
• 4:33
  very surprised. I think they were sort of fortunate that
• 4:36
  he was available to them at thirty one because to me,
• 4:39
  he's a top twelve talent that they got and I
• 4:42
  think he's just going to make that position even stronger.
• 4:47
  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, no doubt.
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: By the way, we can all say, because I know
• 4:51
  that there was some confusion about the whole Jerry Robinson.
• 4:54
  They haven't drafted he This kid Campbell is an off
• 4:57
  ball linebacker.
• 4:58
  Speaker 2: That streak is over the fact.
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: That he can rush the passer and maybe also used
• 5:03
  as an edge rusher down the road is is significant.
• 5:06
  Speaker 2: But I think the streak is finally what Adam, The
• 5:08
  streak is broken?
• 5:09
  Speaker 6: Right? Yeah?
• 5:12
  Speaker 8: It was funny, was it? Two years ago? I came
• 5:14
  up with that line. I promise you the Eagles linebackers
• 5:16
  will not embarrassed fans anymore.
• 5:18
  Speaker 7: Yes, I mean Dark's.
• 5:20
  Speaker 5: Nobody agree with you.
• 5:21
  Speaker 7: Yeah, yeah, exactly. But Dark's been around so long.
• 5:24
  Speaker 8: I mean think about it, right, so you can't When
• 5:27
  was your first year at sports ninety first.
• 5:28
  Speaker 3: Year was ninety seven. That was when a sports net
• 5:31
  started ninety seven.
• 5:33
  Speaker 7: So you've seen it, both of you and Ray have
• 5:34
  seen it.
• 5:35
  Speaker 8: But would you say Trot it's amazing that Trot Unions
• 5:40
  playing He would you say it was one of the
• 5:41
  best linebackers you covered.
• 5:42
  Speaker 6: Yes, absolutely, no question about it.
• 5:45
  Speaker 3: You know, he wasn't the biggest linebacker out there obviously.
• 5:50
  Uh he was thought very little of when you think
• 5:53
  about where he was drafted and and I think at
• 5:57
  the time the team thought he would be nothing more
• 5:59
  than a special team But man did he He basically
• 6:03
  take the Bowl by the reins and turned himself into
• 6:06
  one of the best linebackers the Eagles have ever had
• 6:10
  in this organization. And you know, every time I would
• 6:13
  talk to Trot, he said, I came from nothing and
• 6:16
  I had to prove myself. He said, every day I
• 6:18
  played the game, I had to prove myself from the
• 6:21
  time I started to the time that my career ended.
• 6:24
  And he just had this tenacity about him. It was
• 6:26
  like a light switch. You know, nicest guy in the
• 6:28
  world off the field, but once once you got on
• 6:30
  the field between the stripes, this light switch went on
• 6:33
  and he became this downhill type linebacker and he was
• 6:36
  virtually unblockable and a lot of I mean, you think
• 6:38
  about a guy of his size when you look at him.
• 6:41
  He was excellent against the run. He was a very
• 6:44
  good pass rusher, and you know, teammates fed off of him.
• 6:49
  A lot of team you know, people talk about Dark
• 6:50
  and how teammates fed off Dark, A lot of people
• 6:53
  fed off off Trot and the way he approached approached
• 6:55
  the game. And Trot was very open about speaking his mind.
• 7:00
  You think about the talent they haven't the teams that
• 7:02
  he played on, and once he got himself comfortable with
• 7:05
  the organization and within himself in the team scheme, he
• 7:08
  was not shy about speaking his mind in any way
• 7:11
  shake before him and players gravitated towards that. Yeah, absolutely,
• 7:15
  I think that I think Trot.
• 7:17
  Speaker 4: I think Gunner said it very well, but I think
• 7:19
  Trot is an example of a guy that was found
• 7:24
  the right system that plaid to his strengths.
• 7:26
  Speaker 5: And it's just.
• 7:27
  Speaker 4: Sort of testimony to what a great coach Jim Johnson
• 7:30
  was because when he came up as.
• 7:33
  Speaker 5: A rookie, I mean he hardly saw the field.
• 7:35
  Speaker 4: I mean, Emma Thomas and Ray Rhodes couldn't quite figure
• 7:37
  out what to do with him. You know, small college
• 7:40
  player in the NFL. They weren't quite sure that he
• 7:43
  could do all the things they wanted him to do,
• 7:44
  so he wound up just sort of sitting on the sidelines.
• 7:46
  For first year or two until Jim Johnson came in
• 7:49
  and just said, hey, and Gunner used the term downhill,
• 7:53
  that's what this guy is. We just got to let
• 7:55
  him attack the line of scrimmage. We got to let
• 7:57
  him attack the a gap, blow it up inside, and
• 8:00
  just shut down the run. And that's once once he
• 8:03
  got in there. And that was what Jim did so well.
• 8:05
  I mean, he took Brian Dawkins and put him in
• 8:07
  positions to do all the things he could do.
• 8:09
  Speaker 6: He saw the.
• 8:10
  Speaker 4: Strengths that Trot had and put Trot in a position
• 8:12
  to do exactly what he could do. And Trott was
• 8:15
  a Pro Bowl player, went to Washington and they couldn't
• 8:18
  figure out what to do with them, and again he
• 8:20
  kind of went back to being a guy in the shadows,
• 8:23
  came back to Philadelphia and went right back to the
• 8:25
  Pro Bowl.
• 8:25
  Speaker 5: So I mean, credit to him, and he did.
• 8:28
  Speaker 4: He had a terrific career as an Eagle, and you know,
• 8:31
  Eagles Hall of Famer without a doubt.
• 8:33
  Speaker 5: But it's once again it.
• 8:34
  Speaker 4: Speaks, I think to the the what a great coach
• 8:37
  Jim Johnson was that I don't know that I ever
• 8:39
  saw a defensive.
• 8:40
  Speaker 5: Coach come through here.
• 8:42
  Speaker 4: That was so good at evaluating defensive personnel and then
• 8:46
  putting them in exactly the right place to play to
• 8:49
  their strengths. That's that was. That was Jim was very
• 8:52
  good coach for many reasons. But I think it kind
• 8:54
  of started there.
• 8:56
  Speaker 9: Let's stay on that for a second, because I've often
• 8:58
  thought that in many ways, Vic Fangio reminds me of
• 9:03
  Jim from the really straightforward, straight shooting press conference and
• 9:08
  just the ability to put certain players in.
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: A position where maybe they hadn't succeeded before, but then
• 9:14
  doing it now. Zach Bond good example to being known
• 9:19
  as someone Now Jim was a little bit more of
• 9:21
  a blitzer, but he didn't blitz as much as people thought.
• 9:24
  He just knew how to disguise it and then show
• 9:27
  breakdown a protection scheme. But you guys have been have
• 9:30
  seen many of the defensive coordinators, Ray, do you feel
• 9:33
  like there's a common I guess DNA thread there between
• 9:38
  Vic and Jim.
• 9:39
  Speaker 4: Very very similar, very and it's I mean I thought
• 9:44
  that all last year. Part of it was the press conferences,
• 9:48
  you know, part of it was the way he answered questions,
• 9:51
  you know, very terse, very to the point sort of
• 9:55
  didn't suffer fools gladly.
• 9:56
  Speaker 5: I mean that was certainly, that.
• 9:58
  Speaker 4: Was certainly Jim, and that's the way Vic is. I
• 10:01
  mean they are both, you know, just old school coaches
• 10:06
  that come through the system and have their way of
• 10:08
  doing things, but have similar attributes. And I think that
• 10:12
  the ability again, the ability to evaluate players, look at players,
• 10:18
  figure out what their strengths are, and then put them
• 10:22
  in positions within your defense where they do exactly what
• 10:24
  they're suited to do, as opposed to what so many
• 10:26
  coaches doing saying here's my system, here's what I want
• 10:29
  you to do, Now go do it, whether it applies
• 10:32
  to his skill set.
• 10:33
  Speaker 5: Or not to me.
• 10:34
  Speaker 4: In the NFL, how many coaches just continue to coach
• 10:38
  that way. Jim didn't do it, and Vic didn't do it,
• 10:41
  and you saw, well, first of all, you saw what
• 10:43
  a tremendous difference Jim made in this Eagles defense right away,
• 10:46
  going way back, and then last year when the Eagles
• 10:49
  hired Vic. I think Gunner and I even talked about
• 10:52
  it on a gun on one early in the season
• 10:54
  that I think this guy, nobody's really talking about it much,
• 10:57
  but I think he's going to be a huge difference
• 10:59
  maker for the team, and he was. It took him
• 11:02
  about four weeks to get everything kind of sorted out
• 11:05
  and learn what his players could do, and they learned
• 11:08
  his system. But boy, once they once that all kicked in,
• 11:12
  by the end of the year, they were playing the
• 11:13
  best defense in all NFL.
• 11:16
  Speaker 3: And when you're taking a consideration Ray and Adam and
• 11:19
  Jeff that look at the volume of youth he had
• 11:22
  to use to get to where this defense got is
• 11:25
  the number one defense. And all off season I'm listening
• 11:28
  to a bundance of people talk about how this defense
• 11:31
  could take a significant step backwards. I don't see that
• 11:34
  being the case when you think about because you asked
• 11:37
  a bunch of kids to step in and they played
• 11:40
  the game to the highest level on the highest platform
• 11:43
  you can possibly play in their first and second years
• 11:46
  in a lot of ways. So these approve events, they
• 11:49
  got to do something a lot of NFL players. When
• 11:51
  you think about the percentage of NFL players they get
• 11:54
  a chance to play in a Super Bowl and to
• 11:57
  exceed axpectation the way they did, that doesn't happen very often.
• 12:02
  Speaker 6: So, yes, did they lose a Brandon Graham, You.
• 12:04
  Speaker 3: Know, did they lose a lot of talent along a defense, absolutely,
• 12:08
  but I don't think I'm not gonna sit here and
• 12:11
  say I think is going to repeat as the number
• 12:13
  one defense in a national football league. But I do
• 12:16
  believe they have enough talent in house if they can
• 12:18
  stay healthy, and of course eventually when they get in
• 12:21
  to Kobe Deanbek, I do believe it can be a
• 12:23
  top ten, top twelve defense.
• 12:25
  Speaker 6: It's a defense.
• 12:26
  Speaker 3: And when you look historically at winners of the Super Bowl,
• 12:28
  you know, defenses between the ranges of eight and fifteen
• 12:32
  were successful enough because they had such potent offenses to
• 12:35
  get over the hump. And I think that's where this
• 12:36
  team is sitting right now in terms of overall personnel.
• 12:39
  The offense is going to take care of itself. Everything's
• 12:41
  back on the offense. Can the defense make just enough
• 12:45
  stops to turn the ball back over to the offense.
• 12:47
  And as I sit here right now looking at this
• 12:49
  defense on paper, I can say, yes, is a road
• 12:52
  tougher this year. That schedule is murder, no question about it.
• 12:56
  But you're not playing with a bunch of scared kids.
• 12:58
  You know, kids who are wet behind you ears. They
• 13:00
  have a wealth of experience, it's going to translate into
• 13:03
  what this defense could potentially be in twenty twenty five.
• 13:08
  Speaker 8: Right, and Derek, I actually I want to what you
• 13:11
  both do address this. So twenty twenty one, this guy,
• 13:13
  Nick Sirianni gets hired. Right, I want to switch gears
• 13:15
  a little bit because you both covered Andy Reid in
• 13:17
  twenty twenty one. You have that first press conference too,
• 13:20
  is this guy's never called plays? Yeah, and in nineteen
• 13:23
  ninety nine the Eagles higher guy never called plays and
• 13:26
  Andy Reid it was shocking.
• 13:28
  Speaker 7: So Jack, let's go to you because you live that one.
• 13:31
  Speaker 8: As a reporter. No one lived more with the Eagles
• 13:33
  than you did. So any Reid gets hired, what did
• 13:37
  you remember? What did you know about him? What were
• 13:39
  your initial thoughts on Reid?
• 13:41
  Speaker 3: Sitting there listening to his press conference, I'm thinking to myself,
• 13:44
  this is not going to work. Obviously obviously he was nervous,
• 13:49
  and we came away saying, man, he doesn't give you much,
• 13:52
  does he? You know, he gives you the u RA
• 13:54
  Ross Beach, but he doesn't give you much in depth.
• 13:57
  And then as you got to know and he read,
• 13:58
  the more successful they be came, the less he would
• 14:01
  give you when he got before the podium and when
• 14:03
  things will go bad, I'm thinking, this team, this town's
• 14:05
  gonna tear this guy up. The one thing, the one
• 14:08
  definitive thing that saved Andy Reid, was the fact that
• 14:11
  people overlooked his lack of personality because they were so
• 14:15
  consistently winning, you know, five divisional championships, conference championships, and
• 14:19
  eventually a super Bowl. But he was now your typical
• 14:22
  coach at a city of Philadelphia wanted. They wanted somebody
• 14:25
  who rolled up on the sleeve. I hate to say this,
• 14:27
  like a Chip Kelly. What was the one definitive line
• 14:30
  that Chip Kelly told us one day? We're from Philly,
• 14:32
  we fight people, gravitate towards that stuff. Look how long
• 14:35
  we use that in the media across multiple platforms. Andy
• 14:38
  Reid never gave you that. And as I got to
• 14:40
  know Andy Reid, he's a good friend of mine. Now
• 14:42
  I would always sit away from the cameras and ask him,
• 14:45
  why don't you ever show the personality I get to
• 14:47
  see away from the cameras Because Andy Reid is naturally
• 14:51
  a funny guy.
• 14:52
  Speaker 6: You're thinking about it.
• 14:53
  Speaker 3: I mean, he could be a borderline stand up comedian
• 14:55
  in a lot of ways. And he says, you know what, Gunner,
• 14:58
  that's not what I'm here for. I'm able to give
• 15:00
  him exactly what I want to give him. And that's it.
• 15:03
  And I said to myself, as a unique way of
• 15:06
  looking at especially in a hardcore sports talle a Philadelphia
• 15:10
  that lives, eats, and breathes Philadelphia Eagles, and you want
• 15:13
  to know everything possible about the Eagles, and he would
• 15:16
  give them virtually nothing week in the week out.
• 15:19
  Speaker 5: Yeah, I think that's that's very good description.
• 15:21
  Speaker 4: Uh. I had kind of the same reaction Andy's first
• 15:24
  press conference. I remember him. People were asking very specific
• 15:29
  questions about what is your system, what is your philosophy,
• 15:33
  what is your scheme? What are you And Andy kept
• 15:36
  answering everyone by saying, I like, you just have to
• 15:39
  trust me.
• 15:43
  Speaker 5: I'm sitting there thinking why basically trust you?
• 15:49
  Speaker 4: Why what do we do you know? And I and look,
• 15:52
  I mean, he just got crushed by the media. I
• 15:56
  remember getting in my car and driving back to the
• 15:58
  office and put on wi ip to get the immediate fallout.
• 16:02
  And I remember, God love of Jody McDonald was was
• 16:06
  doing Middays then and Jody said, Dad, I thought I
• 16:10
  was less than under rich Codsite.
• 16:12
  Speaker 6: I gain.
• 16:18
  Speaker 4: You know where I really turned the corner with Andy
• 16:21
  was his Going into year two, I was working at
• 16:27
  NFL Films then UH and Steve Sable assigned me to
• 16:30
  be the producer of a show called Six Days to Sunday,
• 16:34
  which meant that we were going to be embedded with
• 16:36
  the Eagles coaching staff for an entire week while they
• 16:40
  prepared for a game, go day by day by day
• 16:43
  how that process works. And he assigned me to be
• 16:46
  the producer, which meant I was going to be working
• 16:49
  in Andy's hip pocket all week. And I went into
• 16:52
  it thinking this is going to be He's not going
• 16:54
  to give us anything. Over the course of that week,
• 16:58
  I got I learned two things. I got tremendous insight
• 17:01
  into what a good coach he was and how thoroughly
• 17:04
  he prepared for games. I mean he was really good,
• 17:09
  really good, way better than he would ever have suggested
• 17:12
  in a press conference. And you just watch the way
• 17:14
  he installed things, the way he saw things, the way
• 17:17
  he was bringing along his young quarterback Donovan McNab. I
• 17:20
  mean I thought every day I thought, oh this guy, yeah,
• 17:23
  this guy, he's smart and The other thing I learned
• 17:27
  was I got to know all of his assistant coaches,
• 17:30
  and I began to see what what a great staff
• 17:32
  he has. These guys are really good. I mean even
• 17:36
  guys like I didn't know Jim Johnson. You know, until
• 17:39
  that week, I had knowing I had never heard of
• 17:41
  Steve Spagnulo. That week, I mean, by the end of
• 17:44
  the week, I thought, man number one, the guy on
• 17:47
  top is a really smart guy, and I think he's
• 17:50
  going to turn this team around.
• 17:51
  Speaker 5: And he has a tremendous staff behind him.
• 17:53
  Speaker 4: So that week, I mean I had a lot of
• 17:55
  doubt coming into that second season based on what we
• 17:58
  saw the first season. You're spending that week and seeing
• 18:01
  the way that that coaching staff prepared that team, I
• 18:05
  felt like, no.
• 18:06
  Speaker 5: This is a coach.
• 18:07
  Speaker 4: If they leave him in place, these are guys will
• 18:09
  turn this thing around. And sure enough, wasn't that far
• 18:13
  down the road that went to a super Bowl.
• 18:15
  Speaker 1: Wow, that is a that is great access And funny,
• 18:18
  oddly enough, the guy, now, if he's won his Super Bowls,
• 18:21
  he's very successful. And now you're now you see Gunner
• 18:24
  the personality coming out in these State farm commercials. I'm
• 18:28
  like that Andy Reid like Fumble Ruski and having fun.
• 18:33
  Speaker 6: Yeah.
• 18:34
  Speaker 1: Yeah, he just needed to win and get that pressure
• 18:36
  off he needed, honestly, Gunner, he needed to listen to
• 18:40
  his own advice. He just needed to trust himself that
• 18:44
  the win, he was gonna win and he could be
• 18:45
  okay and let loose of himself in public.
• 18:48
  Speaker 3: I think Andy Reid finally got to a point in
• 18:50
  his career where he's accomplished everything you want to accomplish
• 18:54
  as a coach in the National Football League. There's no
• 18:57
  question to me. He's all head coach. He's won multiple
• 19:01
  Super Bowls, He's had consistent winners in two major football
• 19:05
  markets in Philadelphia in Kansas City. And I think basically
• 19:09
  he's still coaching now because number one, I don't think
• 19:12
  he knows what else to do with himself.
• 19:13
  Speaker 6: Coaching is his life.
• 19:15
  Speaker 3: And number two, he enjoys mentoring and teaching young men.
• 19:19
  He still does at this stage. There's no pressure on
• 19:21
  Andy Reed at this stage of his life. There's no
• 19:24
  pressure on Andy Red anymore. He can walk, he can
• 19:27
  ride off into the sunset is on, and even if
• 19:30
  he got fired as he did in Philadelphia, he rides
• 19:33
  off and his legacy is intact. When you think about
• 19:36
  how long he is coached in the league, how many
• 19:39
  coaches get to coach for as long as he has
• 19:42
  number one and number two stay with the same organization
• 19:46
  for as long as he has. That doesn't happen very
• 19:48
  often in today's football. Organizations get generate and coaches are
• 19:52
  gone through. Look how many organizations are turning over coaches
• 19:55
  every two to four years. You know there's no consistency
• 19:58
  in those organizations. They don't win. But luckily a town
• 20:02
  like Philadelphia, town like Kansas City understands consistency, breathe success
• 20:07
  even when you have failed her follow your process and
• 20:10
  it'll pan out. And it has for both organizations.
• 20:13
  Speaker 8: Derek reroll quick and you want to get raised point
• 20:15
  on this, So we fast forward twenty two years. Nick
• 20:17
  Sirianni's hired in twenty twenty one. Yeah, did you have
• 20:20
  a feeling similar like who is this guy?
• 20:22
  Speaker 5: Like?
• 20:22
  Speaker 7: What were your thoughts when they hired him? What do
• 20:23
  you think of him now?
• 20:24
  Speaker 3: Yeah, when you think about the names that were bantered about,
• 20:27
  about the possibility who they were going to get hired,
• 20:30
  and let's face it, a couple coaches didn't want to
• 20:32
  come here. I mean, when you think about that, there
• 20:34
  were a few they didn't want to come here. So
• 20:36
  when they settled on on Nick Sirianni, again, you're thinking,
• 20:39
  wait a minute, out of all the possible candidates, this
• 20:41
  is the guy you come up with. I mean, he's
• 20:43
  the young, energetic guy. He gave you more than Andy
• 20:46
  Reid did, but you could tell he was nervous about
• 20:48
  not saying the wrong things, and you just had to
• 20:51
  wait and see in that first season, of course, was
• 20:54
  not the greatest season.
• 20:56
  Speaker 6: But as you talk.
• 20:57
  Speaker 3: To the player, the thing that I I try to
• 21:00
  gravitate towards when a new coach comes in and you're
• 21:04
  covering that locker room day in and day out, is
• 21:06
  getting a feel for the mindset of what the players
• 21:09
  are thinking. And because I had such a good relationship
• 21:11
  across the board with players in the locker room, they
• 21:14
  would stand in front of the cameras and they would
• 21:16
  give you the corporate answers. Nobody wanted to step out
• 21:18
  of line because they knew they were going to call
• 21:19
  from upstairs, not from Jeffrey, but from Big don See.
• 21:23
  This is the difference. But then when you talk to
• 21:25
  the players and they tell you that d Gunn. Just
• 21:27
  give this guy a chance. I'm telling this guy knows
• 21:29
  how to coach football. Even the Brandon Graham's off the lane,
• 21:32
  Johnson's all, this guy knows how to coach football. So
• 21:35
  where's everybody would get jiterate because of the inconsistency they saw.
• 21:38
  I would sit back and I would watch from a
• 21:42
  different perspective than a lot of people did, in terms
• 21:45
  of how he coached the game, how he related to
• 21:48
  his players, and then some of the corny stuff he
• 21:50
  came up with, you know. And you talk to the
• 21:53
  players in the locker room again away from cameras, and
• 21:55
  they're like the Gunn. The thing we love most about
• 21:58
  him he has fun with the game. He can be
• 22:00
  hard when he wants to, but he has fun with
• 22:02
  the game. And that's what we're looking for. And Lloyd behold,
• 22:05
  look where he is now?
• 22:06
  Speaker 5: Yeah?
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: Yeah, absolutely took it from Andy and went one step further.
• 22:10
  Speaker 6: Yeah.
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: Listen, just a quick question here before we and the show,
• 22:14
  and the question is really only for Ray. Do you
• 22:17
  have a cell phone yet?
• 22:18
  Speaker 6: Ray?
• 22:18
  Speaker 3: Ye?
• 22:22
  Speaker 1: Judging by that response, I'm gonna say, Okay, that's okay, Ray,
• 22:25
  You're just not gonna understand what I'm about to say next, okay,
• 22:29
  we're going to talk about that one guy in the
• 22:31
  group chat who hit a five leg parlay in week
• 22:35
  one and doesn't shut up about it for the rest
• 22:37
  of the season.
• 22:38
  Speaker 2: Now, if you don't have a cell phone, you're not
• 22:40
  in a group chat.
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: But all the rest of us three we know all
• 22:44
  about group chats and how annoying they can be, especially
• 22:46
  for the guy who wins the five leg parlay in
• 22:49
  week one and talks about it all season. But guess what,
• 22:52
  we don't really hate him. We want to be that guy,
• 22:55
  and my Bookie makes that possible. My Bookie makes it
• 22:59
  stupid easy to get in all the action, whether it's
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  college ball, NFL Super Contest, survivor pools, you name it.
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  Speaker 1: All under my under under one roof with my Bookie.
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  get it right back when you opt in using your
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  bet back bonus token. There's no better time to jump in,
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  no better place to play football is back. Let's make
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  some money with my bookie. Oh great, it's awesome to
• 23:41
  talk Eagles with you, guys, Ray Did and jer Derek Gun.
• 23:45
  You're gonna host co host the show on our platform,
• 23:48
  Birds Weekly. It's gonna be twice a week all throughout
• 23:50
  the season. You're gonna recap the game that was, and
• 23:53
  then later in the week you're gonna preview the game
• 23:55
  that will be. And Ray, everyone knows that not only
• 23:59
  have you tremendous Hall of Fame sports writer in your career,
• 24:02
  but you're also a playwright. Tommy and Me is tenth
• 24:05
  year anniversary coming up of Tommy and Me, right, amazing
• 24:08
  play that everybody should go out and see about Bray's
• 24:11
  relationship with former Eagle Great, Eagle Great Tommy McDonald.
• 24:15
  Speaker 2: But now you've got another play coming out. Is this
• 24:17
  What We Hear?
• 24:18
  Speaker 5: What I Do, I Do.
• 24:20
  Speaker 4: We're in rehearsal right now and the play is called
• 24:23
  Spinner and it is going to be It's it's about
• 24:26
  ice hockey, which is a little bit of a departure
• 24:29
  for me, but top the presence and yeah, and it's opening.
• 24:34
  We're in rehearsal now and we are opening at the
• 24:36
  Delaware Theater Company in Wilmington on September seventeenth, and the
• 24:42
  show will run for three weeks through October the fifth.
• 24:45
  So I hope folks come out to it. We have
• 24:47
  an absolutely sensational cast. We have seven of the very
• 24:51
  best actors working in this area. They have a combined
• 24:55
  nineteen Barrymore Awards.
• 24:57
  Speaker 5: That's our cast. They're as good as it gets.
• 25:01
  Speaker 4: And I it's a it's a whole different kind of
• 25:04
  story than Tommy and Me, but I think it's a
• 25:08
  story that people find pretty compelling. So go to the
• 25:11
  Delaware Theater Company website or are your tickets to come
• 25:13
  out and see us, and I hope to hope to
• 25:16
  meet you in the lobby.
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: Can you give us the quick blurb blurb on spinner
• 25:19
  like what it's about a hockey player?
• 25:21
  Speaker 2: But it what in particular?
• 25:22
  Speaker 4: Yeah, well, it's a story of Brian Spencer, who played
• 25:25
  ten years in the NHL back through the seventies.
• 25:28
  Speaker 3: Uh.
• 25:28
  Speaker 4: And it's really it's a little bit like Tommy and
• 25:30
  Me in the sense that Tommy and Me people think
• 25:33
  Tommy and means a football story, but it's not really.
• 25:36
  Speaker 5: It's really a story about a little boy and his hero. Uh.
• 25:40
  Speaker 4: And Spinner's a little bit the same way, in that
• 25:43
  hockey is the backdrop to it.
• 25:45
  Speaker 5: But it's really a father and son's story.
• 25:47
  Speaker 4: Uh. And about how this how this kid from the
• 25:51
  wilds of British Columbia has this lumberjack father whose only
• 25:55
  mission in life is to see his son play in
• 25:58
  the NHL.
• 25:59
  Speaker 3: Uh.
• 25:59
  Speaker 4: And it's their journey from Fort Saint James, British Columbia
• 26:04
  to the National Hockey League and the price that both
• 26:07
  father and son paid to get him there.
• 26:09
  Speaker 5: That's kind of it in a nutshell.
• 26:11
  Speaker 6: All right, great, well, I have one question.
• 26:13
  Speaker 3: Ray has all these plays, and he's never asked me
• 26:15
  to be a character in one of his plays. You know,
• 26:19
  I'm the equivalent of the poor Man's Denzel Washington.
• 26:22
  Speaker 1: I want you to know you're enough of a character,
• 26:25
  if you're enough of a character in real life, that
• 26:26
  you got to be in his place.
• 26:28
  Speaker 6: That's a good point, valid point. Okay, all right?
• 26:33
  Speaker 5: You know, all play rights talk in terms of trilogies.
• 26:35
  Speaker 4: Everybody talks in terms of three you know, three works, Gunner,
• 26:39
  You got number three.
• 26:42
  Speaker 2: All right, coming soon to a theater near you. I
• 26:45
  just have to write it. Well.
• 26:47
  Speaker 1: Listen to the link to more information on Spinner Raised
• 26:50
  plays in the description box of this podcast, both on
• 26:54
  YouTube and podcast platforms. So just click the link, get
• 26:57
  the information and when it's ready to go out and see.
• 27:00
  Speaker 2: Really looking forward to it. Right, awesome stuff.
• 27:03
  Speaker 1: Let's finish this off. We'll talk about this Eagles season
• 27:05
  coming up. This is pretty amazing. Thursday night, Dallas. They're
• 27:09
  gonna unfurrol the championship, Bantner. Still a lot of questions
• 27:13
  about the Eagles. You're right, Gunner. They have a lot
• 27:15
  of young talent on defense. It's very hard to repeat
• 27:18
  in the NFL. What is What are the two things
• 27:22
  that are really circling in your mind? I'll start with
• 27:25
  your dun As the Eagles get ready to open their
• 27:27
  season Thursday night.
• 27:29
  Speaker 3: Number one, navigating this schedule, I believe I saw something
• 27:32
  that said, this is the first time in history that
• 27:35
  a defending champion returns the next season, and ten of
• 27:39
  their games are against teams that went to the playoffs
• 27:43
  last year. Ten games are against teams that went to
• 27:46
  the playoffs, and number two, the the cornerback position opposite
• 27:52
  Conyon Miss. As we sit here right now, Dory Jackson
• 27:56
  has won that job, which is a little bit to
• 28:00
  me unsettling when you think about, here's a guy who's
• 28:04
  a former first round pick. You know, he was drafted
• 28:07
  eighteenth back in twenty seventeen, spent four years with the Giants,
• 28:10
  four with the Titans, but he never really panned out
• 28:14
  the way a lot of people thought he would, and
• 28:15
  a lot of that had to do with injuries. And
• 28:17
  then all of a sudden, he comes in here and
• 28:19
  he beats out a lot of the young talent we
• 28:21
  thought would be truly fighting for that spot opposite Quinyon
• 28:25
  and he wins the position. So that tells me there's
• 28:28
  a lot of uncertainty on that side of the football field.
• 28:30
  So number nine, I hope this doesn't happen. But when
• 28:34
  I look at this schedule, to mean it equates to
• 28:37
  what that Eagles team of two thousand and four went
• 28:39
  to went through. They won a Super Bowl, they turned
• 28:43
  around in two thousand and five. Now, I don't think
• 28:44
  this is going to happen. You know, too lost his mind.
• 28:48
  There's no player on his roster that's going to make
• 28:50
  that happen. But The volume of injuries that team went
• 28:53
  through in two thousand and five was ridiculous, players falling
• 28:57
  by the wayside of finished like ten I believe it
• 28:59
  was in two thousand and five. I hope that doesn't
• 29:02
  happen this year. I think this team is stacked enough
• 29:04
  to where they can have a good measure of success.
• 29:07
  Will they win the volume of games they won in
• 29:09
  twenty twenty four, I don't know. I'm looking at it.
• 29:13
  I'm tea tottering eleven wins right now with this team
• 29:17
  if they can stay healthy. The key is staying healthy.
• 29:20
  So those two things to me jump out first to
• 29:22
  four bos.
• 29:23
  Speaker 2: Yeah, certainly. And Ray, what's circling your mind?
• 29:26
  Speaker 4: I think that that's probably kind of the same fueling.
• 29:29
  I mean, we've seen this team in this position four
• 29:31
  other times coming off a Super Bowl, and each time
• 29:35
  that next year was a largely was a very difficult
• 29:39
  and largely unhappy experience.
• 29:42
  Speaker 5: And it just.
• 29:43
  Speaker 4: Speaks to the challenge of trying to come off a
• 29:45
  Super Bowl and do it again.
• 29:46
  Speaker 5: It's just hard.
• 29:47
  Speaker 4: Yeah, And you had, you know, one of the times
• 29:49
  with Dick Formal, who is a great coach, and another
• 29:52
  time was with Andy who's another great coach, I mean,
• 29:55
  Hall of famers, right, and they couldn't navigate it, and
• 30:00
  so that history.
• 30:01
  Speaker 5: The fact is, you take those four years.
• 30:03
  Speaker 4: Coming off a Super Bowl when you're defending NFC champs
• 30:06
  and put them all together. You won one playoff game,
• 30:09
  you wouldn't make it. You didn't make it back at all.
• 30:12
  Another year, the only game you won was the double
• 30:14
  joint game that you were lucky to win. There has
• 30:17
  been a difficult year, full of injuries, full of controversy,
• 30:20
  full of drama, you know.
• 30:22
  Speaker 5: And I don't know if.
• 30:23
  Speaker 4: That just follows being in a Super Bowl, but it
• 30:25
  certainly does in this town.
• 30:26
  Speaker 5: So they're going to have to deal with that.
• 30:28
  Speaker 4: And then the other part of it is and Gunners
• 30:30
  mentioned it a couple of times, and he's right.
• 30:31
  Speaker 5: The schedule is just brutal, It really is. So.
• 30:35
  Speaker 4: I mean, everybody asked me, now you know how many wins,
• 30:37
  how many wins, how many wins? In all honesty, I
• 30:40
  can't go. I can't go higher than eleven. Yeah, I'm
• 30:43
  just looking at that schedule. I think eleven and six
• 30:45
  And listen, eleven and six is still probably going to.
• 30:47
  Speaker 5: Get you there. It's in the tournament.
• 30:50
  Speaker 4: But everybody should be prepared that there's going to be
• 30:52
  a lot of this during the season. It's going to
• 30:56
  be a rough ride. It's going to be just because
• 30:57
  of the way it lays out. But I think the
• 30:59
  town on this team is good enough that they'll find
• 31:02
  our way through it. But I don't think that. I
• 31:04
  don't think by any means this is going to be
• 31:06
  a cake walk back to the super Bowl.
• 31:09
  Speaker 1: All right, Well, the season starts Thursday night. But the show,
• 31:12
  the new show on the inside the Birds Platform, it
• 31:15
  is called Birds Weekly, features our good friends Derek gun
• 31:19
  Ray Diddinger. It's gonna be twice a week that will start.
• 31:22
  I think Monday is our first day. Now, that's because
• 31:25
  the game's Thursday night, and we're gonna have you guys.
• 31:27
  Probably start off on Monday of the week after, but
• 31:29
  probably be Tuesdays and Fridays for most Sunday games.
• 31:32
  Speaker 2: But the point is.
• 31:33
  Speaker 1: Twice a week, Birds Weekly, Ray Diddinger, Derek Gunn right
• 31:38
  here on the inside the Birds Platform, and.
• 31:41
  Speaker 2: We are so excited to welcome it. Guys.
• 31:44
  Speaker 1: I mean you're already part of the family. You did
• 31:45
  some shows last year for us, Derek had gun on one.
• 31:48
  But we re welcomed you to the family and really
• 31:50
  looking forward to a great season, So thank you for
• 31:52
  joining us. That's gonna do it for this special edition
• 31:55
  of Inside the Birds for Ray Diddinger, Derek Gunn Adam Kaplan.
• 31:59
  Speaker 2: I'm Jeff most Catcher.
• 32:01
  Speaker 1: Coming forward on a great NFL season in the Eagles
• 32:04
  season upcoming.
• 32:05
  Speaker 2: I'm a great to everybody.