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OPPOSITION TERRITORY: Eagles vs. Patriots Preview, Week 1 · The Philadelphia Sports Table | Philly Sports News & Views

• 0:00
  Hey everybody, it's Jeff. This podcast episode was recorded on Tuesday, September
• 0:04
  fifth, twenty twenty three. By the time you hear this, some things
• 0:07
  may have changed here or there, but we hope you enjoy the show.
• 0:35
  All right, folks, welcome to Opposition Territory here at the Philadelphia Sports Table
• 0:39
  podcast show, the longest running weekly Philly sports podcast show in the world.
• 0:42
  That's right over ten years strong, and we have got a great discussion coming
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  your way. Our Opposition Territory pods from here on out here in twenty twenty
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  three are going to focus on the Eagles opponents before they take the field that
• 0:57
  particular week. This week, we are looking forward to speaking with our guests
• 1:00
  to focus on the New England Patriots Week one of the Eagles twenty twenty three
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  twenty twenty four season. We're gonna be focusing on these Patriots as the Eagles
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  head up to Foxborough. What are we going to see from this Patriots team?
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  What can we expect? We have got a great guest coming your way.
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  Let's get to it, and it's great to have back on the podcast.
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  She joined us this summer to talk about the New England Patriots and the
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  kind of off season that they were having to get into our Week one Eagles
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  preview podcast here and a great discussion we have from fans Siden's Must Get Fire.
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  You can find her on the Twitter dot com at s marsh exo.
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  One of our good friends of the podcast, Sarah Marshall. Sarah, how
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  are you doing? I am great. Like I said, I'm so excited
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  that we're gonna be able to talk about actual football fight regular season football.
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  You know, I do love the preseason because I'm a nerd when it comes
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  to depth with teams looking to see what other type of talent is out there,
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  whether it's with the Eagles, the Patriots, you know, it could
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  be any other division in the NFL. And I absolutely love the preseason,
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  but of course we love the regular season that much more. I can't believe
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  it's here, Sarah. I know, and I think I say it every
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  year. You know, once the season's over, you're like, oh my
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  god, it's gonna take forever to get here, and then it's a September
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  and you're like, it got here self. Assess, no, it has
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  it, but okay, it just feels that way. I guess. Well,
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  Week one, the Philadelphia Eagles against the New England Patriots. We appreciate
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  you coming on, absolutely love talking to you. So let's start off with
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  the offense and particularly what we were going to see from the quarterback position.
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  Last time you were on the show, we talked about Mac Jones as well.
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  Part of me thinks that Mac Jones is going to have a better year
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  than he did last year, simply because you can't fall out of a basement
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  window. But I'm not sure how he's going to fare against what is slated
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  to be one of the best off one of the best defensive lines, I
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  should say, in football when it comes to the Philadelphia Eagles. How do
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  you envision Mac Jones starting off this regular season? Sarah? So, I'm
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  with you. I do think that he's going to be better. As you
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  said, it's kind of hard to fall when you're at the bottom, and
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  you know, I think that the Bill O'Brien addition is going to play a
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  huge part in that. He's not just the offensive coordinator, he's also the
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  quarterbacks coach, which both positions were taken over from Matt Patricia and Joe Judge
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  last year. Plus they have a new new coach in Adrian clem for the
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  offensive line, so that again a huge plus. But I do think,
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  yeah, you know, the first game is against the Eagles. There are
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  the reigning NFC champions for a reason, so it's going to be a huge
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  test, especially for a quarterback needing a bounce back season and an offensive line
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  that has it looked too great. So I don't expect them to win this
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  game, and I think most Patriots fans are kind of okay with that.
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  I think once we saw that they were the first game on the schedule,
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  we were like, okay, we're starting oh one, you know, and
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  get it out of maybe of right. Although I don't want to put the
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  cart before the horse either, because this game is up in Foxborough, it's
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  on the road. We have seen countless times, just year after year there
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  are teams that are supposed to win on the road and they struggle. And
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  this is the first game of the season. Both teams are going to struggle
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  at some point in time during this game. We say out of the gate,
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  but they are. Because it is the first regular season game. Guys
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  are really really getting hit for basically the first time, especially starters. It's
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  gonna take a toll on their body. So I wouldn't necessarily say that it's
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  a guarantee win that the Eagles are gonna take this, but probable probable,
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  yes, I could see. But look, I never want to say never
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  in the NFL. Oh yeah, and given Sunday right like that, that's
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  why they say it and their favorite, they are favorite. I think it's
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  by like four points right now, I want to say. And it is
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  a huge day in New England because it is the Tom Brady ceremonies, so
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  there's that add pressure. But I do hope at least that Mac is going
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  to look better, as I said, and I really want to just see
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  him revert back to that confidence in poise that he had as a rookie,
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  and so many people complimented him on that, like looking like a veteran in
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  his rookie season. So even if they don't win, I just want to
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  be able to see that attitude shift in him, because he certainly was,
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  you know, like a dead horse last year. Like you can see when
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  I'm looking for photos for my articles of Mac Jones, it's actually sad because
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  he's just the energy is just out of him, you know. There's just
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  like no smiling photos of him. So I'm that's just my hope, you
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  know, like, even if it's if it's not a win for them,
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  at least they look better and mac Jones looks better. That's that's my biggest
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  takeaway that I want to see. Yeah, I think with regard to Patriots
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  fans, the one thing that you know, you all probably hope is that
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  Bill O'Brien and company will allow mac Jones to hone in and utilize his skills
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  that he does very well. I'm not sure we really saw that from him
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  over the course of the past, uh, you know, especially last season.
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  And I think what's interesting moving along too, is that mac Jones is
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  going to have some new receivers this season, ones that he's been working with
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  during the preseason. DeVante Parker and Juju Smith Schuster could be some consistent receivers
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  from mac Jones, and I think that's going to be important for him,
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  the consistency here. But as I'm looking at this Eagle secondary as well,
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  and this matchup here in Week one with Darius Slay and James Bradberry, who
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  could be, you know, one of the most dynamic cornerback duos in football.
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  And let's not forget Avonte matt in the slot as well. It could
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  be a tough outing for these Patriots receivers. So I wanted to get your
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  thoughts about the Pats receivers matching up with this Eagle secondary. Get your thoughts
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  on that. Yeah, So I think it's I'm really interested in this.
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  I think, I mean, most Patriots fans probably are when it comes to
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  the team, it's the offense. I think Parker will be a really interesting
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  intriguing person to watch because he is known for the fifty fifty balls and they're
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  going to try and utilize him in that in that area. So him matching
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  up against these this type of secondary, I think is going to be interesting.
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  But I do think it's can you know Juju coming into it. We
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  haven't seen him play with the Patriots yet. There's not been a whole lot
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  that we saw on the Pretason either. Yeah, so I think that kind
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  of gives him a little bit of an upper hand, and I mean,
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  like, you know, the teeniest little bit of apper hand. But I
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  expect to probably see Hunter Henry invovolved a lot more. We saw how how
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  vital he was the Patriots offense in twenty twenty one, so I think they're
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  going to try to do that again. I mean you have to. It's
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  he's a giant, a giant man. And then they have the two rookies
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  also, Kashawan Booty and Demario Douglas. So again there's no tape on them,
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  so you know, you can prepare obviously because they're rookies, so they're
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  going to be inexperience. But again, I think that gives the Patriots a
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  little bit of an upper hand because it's a little bit more difficult to prepare
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  for guys that you have no tape on. You have no idea how they're
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  going to be used and what they can do on the field because you saw
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  a little snippet of them in the preseason. So I'm hoping, you know,
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  we'll see. But also I forgot to mention the resurgence of Kendrick Bourne
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  that yeah, I need that too. I think you know, there's there's
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  there's some really great pieces on this offense. It's just we haven't seen it
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  all together yet. So I think that's the thing is that's good for the
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  Patriots and bad for the Eagles, but you don't know how it's going to
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  translate onto the field. I don't want to see a resurgence from Kendrick Bourne
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  this week Week two? Yeah, fine, by me. Let's some of
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  that happen in week two. So, Sarah, I remember the last time
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  that you were on the podcast, we talked about the loss of Devin mccordy
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  and a player that could potentially take that leadership mantle from him. It's a
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  great part of our conversation a few months back. Who might we witness in
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  Week one perhaps, you know, from an on the field standpoint, you
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  know, the first week of the season here against the Eagles, really picking
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  up that leadership mantle from a defensive perspective. Is there anybody that haven't mind?
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  Well, ironically, some Patriots reporters actually spoke to the team about this.
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  So mccordy obviously has been a huge conversation because he's been such a big
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  part of the Patriots organization that this is the first season in who you know,
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  however long that he's not there. So their answers were interesting to me
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  because they were different than what I said, what my guesses were. So
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  they actually spoke to Adrian Phillips and he said he was up for the role.
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  So I could see that he seems like a little bit more of a
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  quiet guy, so I was a little bit surprised about But obviously we don't
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  see him behind the scenes, so I don't know. But he mentioned Jonathan
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  Jones, which I can see. He's obviously a pillar in that secondary Jalen
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  Mills. You know, your former guy, Jalen Mills. Yes, we
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  know Jalen Mills. Love hate relationship with Jalen Mills. Yeah, and then
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  he also mentioned Jabrill Peppers, which I Peppers is one of my guys.
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  You know, you have those players that like they're just your guy. He's
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  one of my guys. So I like Jabrill Peppers because he's known for having
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  a big mouth, like he talks a lot on the field, and all
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  the players have said that he even talks crap to his own teammates, so
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  I could see that. But yeah, I the thing I found most interesting
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  about what Adrian said was he doesn't think that it will necessarily be a one
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  person job to take over from mccordy, and thinks that it's going to be
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  a collective thing. And you know, basically, whoever is the most passionate,
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  the most vocal, whatever that day on the game day, that they'll
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  maybe be the voice. And I feel like that's kind of a good idea
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  because one person trying to step into the shoes of Devin mccordy is a big
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  task and I think it's, yeah, that will be overwhelming. So I
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  think it's that takes the pressure off a little bit and I kind of like
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  that. Actually, all right, very good. Well let's get into some
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  matchup talk here, Sarah, because I'm looking at the matchups here. Some
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  matchups I really like as an Eagles fan, and we're a Philly sports podcast.
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  Some matchups I don't particularly care for either, quite frankly, so getting
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  into this this week's matchup here, Week one against the Eagles, where do
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  you where do you think the Patriots are going to be most vulnerable on offense?
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  I think even you know this the offensive line right right offensive. I
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  wasn't sure if there was a specific area or person and player on the offensive
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  line that you may be thinking about too, because yes, it is a
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  weak spot of course within the Patriots offense. But they're some are weaker than
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  others. My friend, yes, so you know we have good pieces and
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  you know, like on WINU is great. I think Trent Brown can be
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  great when he's checked in one hundred percent, but obviously that's he was a
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  little problematic last year, not as much as Isaiah Wynn who has gone now
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  to the Dolphins, but you know, he also had I think nine penalties
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  or something last year, and a lot of them were pre snapped. So
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  it's like, okay, thank you, like we don't we don't need that.
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  And they just placed Riley Reef on ir So that's another guy that was
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  a projected starter to be out. And then we have Calvin Anderson who was
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  coming back, who was apparently ill, severely ill. No idea what it
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  is, but so there are a lot of question marks there, I think
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  with the consistency of the pass protection and how that's going to impact the run
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  game, which we know the Patriots are liking to rely on that, especially
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  with Rumandre Stevenson and Ezekiel Elliott. So I think, yeah, I'm just
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  nervous about the entirety of the line. I was thinking the left side,
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  to be honest, I was thinking the left side of that Patriots line,
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  it's gonna it's gonna that's gonna be rough, especially with some of these edge
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  rushers the Eagles have coming off that side, that's well, it could be
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  a long day for Patriots. Yeah, and that's and that's the thing is,
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  you know, like people, I think underestimate the importance of an offensive
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  line, and so you know, we want to blame Mac Jones for being
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  really bad last year, but it's like, well, the offensive line was
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  a gigantic contributor to that. Because if he's getting thrown down to the ground
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  and point two seconds after the snap, like, what do you expect a
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  person to do at the point two seconds? I think, yeah, I'm
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  I'm very worried about that. Okay, most vulnerable the offensive line on offense.
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  Let's shift over to the defensive side of things. Where do you think
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  the Patriots are most vulnerable on the defensive side the ball? For me,
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  I would say it's just stopping the run. So the edge, I'm a
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  little bit nervous about stopping the run. It's been a problem for them over
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  the last couple of years. And you know, they've improved obviously, and
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  they added some great players like Keyon White and obviously josh Ucha was like a
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  huge star and making last year. But when they're playing against a team that
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  has a very mobile quarterback, they are historically not very good at that.
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  And obviously Jalen Hurts is a monster on the field, So that is very
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  concerning to me because that guy could run an offense by himself and still score
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  touchdowns and be fine. So I don't love that. I don't love that
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  at all. Alright, folks, again, we're talking to Sarah Marshall from
• 14:48
  Musketfire dot Com over at Fansided. Follow her on Twitter if you're not already
• 14:54
  at s marsh xo. She's a great, great follow, fun follow as
• 14:58
  well. She gets into some WWE talk every now and again, especially on
• 15:03
  her podcast as well. She is over on YouTube, I know with some
• 15:07
  of her colleagues there. Where are you on YouTube? For the folks that
• 15:11
  want to get into some WWE talk you can do. I think it's YouTube
• 15:15
  dot com slash Sarah Marshall. There you go, So okay, something I
• 15:18
  don't know. If you searched my name, I think that should be good.
• 15:22
  Search Sarah Marshall WWE and you're gonna get some really fun WWE content for
• 15:28
  sure. But getting back to this week one matchup Eagles Patriots. Still continuing
• 15:33
  with the matchup talk here in the NFL, like so much of what we
• 15:37
  see on the field really does come down to matchups. We do know this.
• 15:41
  So I'm wondering what matchup you are most excited for with the Patriots facing
• 15:46
  this Eagles team. Is there an area of this Eagles team you think could
• 15:50
  potentially be exploited by the Patriots offensively or defensively based on the talent that you
• 15:54
  have where we may have a little bit of weaker talent. What are your
• 15:58
  thoughts? Oh, well, I don't know about all of that, but
• 16:06
  yeah, I am well, and that is a good point because the Patriots
• 16:11
  special teams is trying to come back because they were horrific last year. We
• 16:15
  didn't have a puncher either, and I was like, oh my god,
• 16:18
  that was That's a whole mess. But anyway, so ironically, since I
• 16:22
  was just talking about it, I am interested to see the defensive line versus
• 16:26
  the Eagles offensive line. That's even something that Lane Johnson was talking about recently
• 16:32
  and praising the Patriots for how good they have been. And again, it's
• 16:36
  a it's an area that they've addressed, you know, So I'm interested in
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  that. I'm nervous about it, but I'm very intrigued by it. Because
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  I think that the Patriots can be better than what we've seen. And so
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  yeah, I think, you know, obviously there's some high expectations there,
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  but I think it's a good test, Like it might not be great,
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  they might not look great, but I think starting off this season with a
• 17:00
  very formidable team, obviously they were just in the Super Bowl, I'm interested
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  to see this. Okay, very good, very good? Well, what
• 17:07
  matchup? As a Patriots fan and somebody who follows this Patriots team, are
• 17:12
  you really most concerned about? Do we go back to the offensive line in
• 17:15
  terms of what you're most concerned about, or is there an area on defense
• 17:18
  you are most concerned about? Two? What are your thoughts? I think
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  I mean the offensive line number one for sure. I think also it's slowing
• 17:27
  down your receivers A J. Brown and Tavante Smith because the Patriots have been
• 17:33
  good about stopping like one star receiver obviously they're known for that. Yeah,
• 17:37
  over the course of the twenty years, and you know, they faced Tyreek
• 17:41
  Hill twice a year, so they've been pretty good at stopping Tyreek Hill even
• 17:45
  when he was with the Chiefs. But then they're not so great at slowing
• 17:48
  down his counterpart in like Jalen Waddle or Travis kelth Right. So the fact
• 17:53
  that there's a J. Brown and DeVante Smith makes me a little bit concerned
• 17:59
  because I think, you know, maybe they'll stop a J. Brown,
• 18:00
  but then Devonte Smith is going to go off and and just like kill them
• 18:04
  in the end zone. So that makes me a little hesitant about Like,
• 18:10
  Okay, I'm not I think that they have a good secondary, but I
• 18:12
  don't know how you can slow down Devonte Smith or a J. Brown completely.
• 18:17
  It's gonna be tough. It's absolutely gonna be tough for sure. Okay,
• 18:21
  Well, our final topic, another two part question for you before I
• 18:25
  let you go, Sarah, I'm wondering, what's the one thing that you
• 18:27
  think the Patriots are really gonna need to hit on this week for a win.
• 18:33
  What do you think, uh stopping Jalen Hurts? Okay, I think
• 18:38
  you know, he's like I said, he's basically an entire offense and he's
• 18:42
  the reason that you could lose a game. He could have been the reason
• 18:47
  that the Eagles won the Super Bowl if we're being honest. He was like
• 18:49
  the sole contributor on that offense. So, uh, you know, the
• 18:53
  Patriots, as I said, do struggle we against these types of quarterbacks.
• 18:59
  They that's why they have issues with Josh Allen specifically. And I would like
• 19:07
  to them to see if they can use even Malik Cunningham from the practice squad
• 19:11
  as just some sort of like decoy, like some sort of guy that they
• 19:15
  can pretend is Jalen hurt something to help them get prepared, because Mac Jones
• 19:18
  ain't that guy. Baby's Appy ain't that guy. So they need to do
• 19:22
  something because it would be kind of it would hurt a lot if it was
• 19:26
  like, oh, you lost to the Eagles, Yeah, and it's just
• 19:30
  because you allowed Jalen to run all over you like that. That would be
• 19:34
  disappointing. Yeah, it's gonna be interesting to see how if the Eagles do
• 19:38
  win this game, how it is actually manifested, if it is going to
• 19:42
  be during the run game or the passing game. We know that based on
• 19:45
  last season and what Jalen Hurds was able to do and what he was not
• 19:51
  necessarily assigned to do, which is I mean, there's so many games last
• 19:55
  season where the rushing attack was just absolutely on fire for the Eagles, and
• 19:59
  that just comes down to not only the running backs, but the offensive line.
• 20:02
  The run blocking has been absolutely exceptional for quite some time. But as
• 20:07
  would close things out here, Sarah, I'm wondering, like, what's the
• 20:08
  one thing from your perspective as a Patriots fan that the Eagles are going to
• 20:15
  need to hit on this week for a win? Like, what do the
• 20:17
  Eagles need to do? I think that they're going to have to really pay
• 20:22
  attention to how they're using Ramandre Stevenson and Ezekiel Elliott because they are I mean,
• 20:29
  they haven't even taken the field together in a regular game yet, but
• 20:33
  I would say they're one of the best, if not the best running back
• 20:36
  duo in the league from what they're capable of, and they can both get
• 20:40
  involved in the passing game. So when you see them lined up, you
• 20:42
  don't really know how they're going to be used because they can be used in
• 20:45
  so many different ways. So I think, yeah, that is something that
• 20:49
  the Patriots are going to rely on. We know that the Patriots love to
• 20:52
  use running backs in all sorts of formation, so I think that it's something
• 20:56
  the Eagles are going to have to try and figure it out because the pages
• 21:00
  can be a little bit sneaky with with those types of guys. Ye,
• 21:04
  well, I do hope the Eagles get a punner at some point here in
• 21:07
  the near future. That'd be great too. Let's see how this special teams
• 21:11
  units work as well. We know special teams are so critically important to this
• 21:15
  game. You know, it's a third of the units that are out there.
• 21:18
  They need to they need to play well as well. So, Sarah,
• 21:23
  it was absolutely fantastic talking to you again. Folks Musketfire dot Com fansided
• 21:29
  site and Sarah, it was great talking to you. Come back join us
• 21:32
  down the road. I'd love to talk more NFL with you. I know,
• 21:34
  I'm meant to tell you I'm gonna be in Philly. I'm going to
• 21:37
  WrestleMania forty and a awesome guds. Yeah, alright, sighted awesome. Well,
• 21:44
  hey, I will hope to talk to you before WrestleMania for sure.
• 21:47
  Come back and join us on the pod. Thank you so much. It
• 21:51
  is going to be a fun and interesting week one for sure. Whether it's
• 21:55
  this particular game that we focused on here on this Opposition Territory podcast or other,
• 22:00
  it's just any game going on in the NFL. We're gonna learn what
• 22:03
  teams are really hot out of the gate, what teams are struggling. There
• 22:07
  will be teams where we see a little bit of balance of both hot and
• 22:11
  cold. For sure. It's gonna be a great, great NFL season,
• 22:15
  and we're gonna be talking about it more here in the Philadelphia Sports Table podcast
• 22:18
  show. Stay tuned for our Eagles predictions coming up. On this week's podcast
• 22:22
  show, it's our Eagles season preview. Eric and I are going to be
• 22:26
  getting into it with our good friend from Bleeding Greennation dot com, Brandon Lee
• 22:32
  Gout and BLG as people know him, and it's gonna be a great,
• 22:34
  great show, great podcast, a great Eagles preview show. So that being
• 22:40
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