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London Calling: Eagles Head Across the Pond Amid Total Chaos · Bros on Birds

• Mike: Welcome back, everybody, ladies and gentlemen. We're live. What a fucking week it's been hell. We said it was probably going to be shitty. It didn't look like it was going to be shitty, but then it continued to get shitty. The Eagles lose to the Rams 24-20. We're two and two. We blew a 10-point lead. the offense produced just 172 yards. Lane Johnson abruptly retired. One of our linebackers may or not be doing some very questionable post-game social media scouting. And now we're getting Joe: Mm-hmm. Mike: on an airplane taking the entire shit show across the Atlantic. Bros one birds is going to London. So we got a lot to talk about. But Joe, before we go into retirements repost in international football, what the fuck happened Sunday and how are ya? Joe: we had a good first half and I made a TikTok and people were like, Yeah, yeah, we're doing good. This is great. And then fucking second half happened and you know how this team is in the second half. Like Mike: Yeah. Joe: th there's just I don't I don't know what it is. I'm at I'm kinda at a loss. Like I I just don't know what the problem is. I mean, they do nothing Mike: It's in Joe: in the third quarter, like nothing. Mike: No, the third quarter's horrible. But Jamal's here at Sar, what's going How was your Sunday? Jamal Smith: not great. I'd have to say it was less than less than I w you know, the worst part about it is I walked into that game and you know what, say what you want. But I think that most fans were coming to terms with the fact that the Rams are gonna possibly beat the brakes off of us. And then our Eagles give us that hope that we always get. And I just knew that we had game in hand. And then we literally just pissed it down the fucking drain. horrible Sunday. Mike: All right, before we get moving, let's hit the normal things. follow us on YouTube, bros on birdspod, Instagram, bros on bird pod, email us bros on birdspod at gmail.com, TikTok bros on birds podcast. you can also join us live every Tuesday at nine riverside.fm riverside.com. They changed used to be.fm. It's now riverside.com backslash bros on birds. or if you go on Riverside.com to search for pros and birds, you'll see us live there. We also go live on YouTube at the same exact time. So follow us there as well. Leave comments, email us, whatever you want to do. If you want to call up the show while we're live on Riverside, you actually have that ability now on Riverside. So let's do that. All right. Joe: People can call. Mike: Yeah, now we're the new Riverside. When they join, they can actually like hit a button to request to like call into the show. It's like a live call Joe: Mm. Mike: or type function. Jamal Smith: That's pretty dope. Mike: Yeah. All right. Let's get into it. Rams 24, Eagles 20. Here's the part that I really struggle to get past. The Eagles were winning 2010 at home in a game that we all thought we were going to lose. The Rams turned the ball over twice. We didn't turn it over at all. We still found a way to lose. And offensively, 172 yards. Jalen Hurts, 12 of 27, 93 yards, two touchdowns. He had 93 passing yards. I Jamal Smith: Yeah. Mike: don't think. You can do that in Madden on the hardest setting with the worst player, you could still manage more than ninety three passing yards. Joe: I don't Mike: We're playing NFL football, gentlemen, in 2026, and our quarterback finished with less than a hundred yards. And we went, that this is my favorite one, for twelve on third down. That is fucking incredible. Not one third down. and as Joe said, the second half collapse. once again, the offense disappeared. We're up 2010. You got opportunities to put the game away. Instead, zero. Absolutely nothing as far as score goes. The Rams score two touchdowns in the fourth call quarter. Kyrie Williams gets both. And with a minute and 17 left, it's 24 20 Rams. The Eagles get one last chance, and what happens? Jalen gets sacked twice. Game over. Joe. Who gets the biggest biggest piece of the blame this week? Jalen, the offense? I got questions. Jalen, the offense, Sean Mannion, or are we just handing everybody a fucking fork? Just Joe: a little bit of handing everybody a fork and just I mean, where are we at with Jalen Hurts? I think everybody's kind of coming around to where some people were and I know there's gonna be a lot of like, I told you so, all that kind of shit. Like, where are we at with this guy? Mike: I he's gotta be better. He he he Joe: Like 'cause where the Eagles are at right now is they had a rookie because it's starting I forget who said it, but he's he really looks like a guy who's been carried by like superstars around him. Because right now the Eagles are in a position where they had to pay the quarterback and they had to like downgrade the ought and we knew this was coming. The money was gonna flip to the other side of the ball because of the young guys we had on defense and starting to do that. But a franchise quarterback is supposed to carry you through that time and still maintain a certain level of competitiveness with the offense, even if you don't have the best talent. And it's really starting to look like he's not the guy that can do that. Mike: Yay. Joe: And I know there have been people that have been saying it the whole time and, you know, all that other stuff. But it's kind of undeniable right now with him. Mike: But let's be realistic. I we we get the offensive line situation. It's he had a whole new line basically this week. There were tons of injuries. The play calling's a little suspect, but 12 completions for 93 yards. Eventually he's Joe: That's ridiculous. Mike: he's gotta create something, right? Joe: Right. Yeah. Like and he's not. Like I just I I don't know. And the other thing too, on the other side of it, like the Rams, like I don't think the Rams are what the Rams were. So it's not like they're they're a great team. Like I don't think they're a great team this year either. You know, Stafford did Mike: No Joe: not look sharp and they just couldn't take advantage of any mistake that they made. Like did they convert anything off of the turnovers that they got? Mike: No. I mean, Jamal, are you worried? I mean all right, it's n we're not we're not saying does Jalen suck. Jamal Smith: Mm-hmm. Mike: D not do you want him benched because I don't think that's thing. But like are you concerned with him right now? Jamal Smith: The thing that's odd is when I watched the game, I was starting to come to some of the same conclusions that you guys were coming to, and it's impossible not to because everything that we saw is all the things that we worry that he'll always revert to in the worst situations. I I mean, it felt like at times he was holding the ball too much. It seemed like he was struggling to make quick decisions under pressure. all these things that we feel like we might need to flush our quarterback down the drain very soon in order to not get stuck with him. while I was listening to you guys talk, I kinda came to a position where I think maybe we're overreacting. I think it's it's fair to look and be like, it's week what are we coming into week five. Mike: Five. Jamal Smith: they essentially just kind of finished their preseason. We do have a new offensive coordinator. The line, admittedly, completely not what we were looking to see this year. But Even with that, they have to build some kind of chemistry with all the different changes and maybe they aren't quite as bad as they look as compared to maybe just needing to grow a little bit of synergy. It it's hard to be positive right now, but I'm kind of feeling like maybe we're overreacting. The Rams aren't great, but they have a f very high powered offense. And I don't know. Mike: I yeah, and I maybe we are quarterback wise, right? But here's the thing, and I saw people online are misconstruing this and getting all pissed off because the coach said we don't have an identity. But if you listen to what he said, he was very clear in his messaging. He's like, We don't consistently run the ball, we aren't generating explosive plays, we can't convert on third downs, we can't protect. The defense is looking like shit in the third quarter or fourth quarter, so How do you have an identity when you can't do anything good? So, and that's what he said. But people were like, How is he going to say we don't have an identity? I mean, we don't. We're not doing anything good. We don't run the ball well. Like, we're we're not doing we we're not throwing the ball well. So I get why he's saying I'm sure he has an identity that he would like us to be, but if we can't do it properly, how how are we going to have one? Jamal Smith: there's no argument with what he said, and I it troubles me to think that people even got upset about that. We do not have an identity. And it breaks my heart because I feel like even with our line being slightly compromised, running should still be our identity to a certain extent. We both were about to give the opportunity, well all three of us were about to get the opportunity to see Tech Bixby for an entire game, perhaps Mike: Yeah, we Jamal Smith: run the way he needs to run behind the line like this. And it gets stolen from us. But it looked like it was there. It was there. Mike: we Yes. Jamal Smith: The besides him getting hurt and them just kind of s I don't know, we go down by seven points and all of a sudden we can't run. Like I don't understand why we turn into this s like super passing team every time we go down by a single touchdown. It's just it's just a it's so frustrating. Mike: We lost I mean, we lost Saquon early, which we know about. And then, like you said, we thought we were gonna get tank. There was a clear opportunity for him to get a touchdown. and look what happens. our new interim left guard fall basically false starts, cuts his angle off way too early before the ball is even snapped, makes the play have to become something completely different. And then when they show you it, there's a massive hole that tank spid the tank Bigsby would have ran through and we could have got a touchdown for. Jamal Smith: Heartbreaking. Mike: It's extremely heartbreaking. all right, we until now defensively. there's plenty to discuss here too. Matthew Stafford threw for 317 yards. Puka Nakua had 125 yards, which seems like they all just came in the second half. but we also picked Stafford off twice. And Jahad Campbell actually made a huge play in the fourth quarter, getting a handle on the fourth down pass to force a turnover on downs. So the defense gave the offense opportunities, but when we absolutely needed one stop at the end, they couldn't get it. are you more concerned about the offense right now or this defense's inability to finish games? Joe: Defense overall, I don't think they played terribly. This is I Mike: No, I'm not. Joe: this this isn't this isn't all a a a defense has like almost no blame, I think, in this loss. Jamal Smith: Yeah, I think that's fair. Mike: I I mean, they created opportunities for the offense and the offense didn't give them any opportunities to stay off the fucking field. I I I like Joe: Like, if they would have converted those two interceptions to field goals, they would have had six. It would have been twenty six, twenty four. Right? Jamal Smith: Yep. Joe: I don't know what else they can do. I mean, you're not gonna hold every team under twenty points, like in the NFL. It just doesn't happen. So Mike: All right. Well speaking of those those those field goals, wha what what are your thoughts on on on the coach? 'Cause he's getting destroyed this week in Philadelphia, that he should be fired. It I mean, liking him to Rich Kotite. Joe: Mm. Mike: That's what's going on right now by some people. Jamal Smith: I I'm tired of him. I'm not gonna lie. Like I was positive on Jalen. I hate to be the positive on Jalen down on Siriani guy. But it was really, really unwise against a team that y he had to know that there was a high chance they could have possibly really got whooped on. And they were in it. And you destroy the momentum by just not taking the points for what? It it just seemed so irresponsible and almost Joe: The Jamal Smith: like childish. Joe: y you know what it is? They're not the team they were three years ago where you getting a first down was inevitable. Like they run for three yards, run for three yards, run for two yards, you know, tush push and convert. And I think that he's still coaching the team. Like that that's that's still what they are and Mike: Well, I I I agree. Is he trying to show that he has like a faith in them or like, hey, I still believe that you guys are this team, so I want to call it? 'Cause I mean, I personally think not taking the three is the biggest for me that was the most egregious of them. I I I didn't like the the fourth and two call, but I mean, whatever. He stayed aggressive and I guess that's kind of the MO, so I can at least understand that. But the not taking the three, that was the one that I'm like, what are you doing, dude? Joe: R right now, the way this offense is and the way this team is, whenever there's points there, you have to take them. Like I don't think Jamal Smith: Gotta take them. Joe: we're we're a kind of team where we can say, we're gonna go for it. You know, we're inside the 10. Can't do that anymore with these guys. I don't we just I I don't have any faith. I don't have any faith in Mike: Well, I mean, Joe: them. Mike: especially when you're missing nine of your starters due to injury, right? Jamal Smith: W mean there that's that too. You can't even overlook that. It was clearly a compromise Eagles team out there. Smitty's a number one receiver. He was not there and no one even came close to replacing him in this game. Like, you gotta take those points. This is embarrassing. Mike: this is ridiculous. All right, we got a lot to talk about this week, so let's do this. What's let's do our bro and the bird. Bro and a bird and bro and a donkey for this week. Cause I like I don't even want to keep beating this this game to death because it was an absolute joke. I I and I don't wanna I'm gonna I'm gonna wrap it up with this and you guys can tell me what think. It is not one particular aspect of this game that it was that was bad. The worst. It was an overall team effort to be this bad. Coaching, Jamal Smith: Yeah, no. Mike: special teams, defense. Offense, the quarterback, all of them played a hand in this. Joe: I the only thing I I would defend the defense, but it it's not like they're completely blameless. But it I don't think it's anything that we should even be thinking about with the way the offense is playing and the way the team is Mike: And and Joe: being coached. Mike: yeah, and honestly, if they would have gotten their ass beat from the jump, Joe: Yeah. Mike: I would have been like, Okay, this is what we expected. Everybody's hurt, Jamal Smith: Yeah. Mike: but you were winning the game by ten points. Joe: Right. Yeah, it was under control. Mike: Yeah. Ridiculous. All right, Jamal, who's your brona bird? Jamal Smith: I struggle to pick one. I I'm Mike: Yeah, I'm just saying that. Jamal Smith: I'm gonna go out on a limb only because I saw him make a couple of plays and it's been a while. I don't know if he deserves bro on the bird, but Nolan Smith. I'm gonna give it to Joe: There you go. Jamal Smith: I felt like he actually finally showed up a little bit this game. especially early Mike: Yeah. Jamal Smith: on. everyone kinda got burnt out and then kinda faded into the mix, but it it was nice to see no one doing a little bit of something and them actually kinda stopping to run a little bit. Mike: Who was your donkey? Jamal Smith: Ooh, the donkey is extremely tough. I'm gonna go with the I gotta go with the O line. I gotta go with the O line. Saquon had that big run to start off, and you could like literally see the hole that he ran through. Joe: Yeah. Jamal Smith: But it's been happening these last couple of weeks, and I feel like even if he stayed in the game, those holes would start sealing up and they would have started just he would have been hit behind the line. I just don't understand it. Like, they're just not good enough. Mike: Joe? Joe: my Brona Bird and I struggled a little bit with this too, but I'll get Paul's guy, Jeremiah Trotter Jr. I got hiccups. Mike: yeah. You're okay. Jogie that was Paul. He's a Joe: My donkey's Jalen Hurts. I you know, I don't have anything to add that no one's probably hasn't heard on sports radio all week. Mike: Yeah. I I don't even know who I I'm gonna go with my donkey first and I'm gonna stick with Chris's thing that he's been doing. I I'm going with Hallie Roseman. Joe: Well, I wish Chris was here because I would like to chant I we I want to have a discussion about that. Mike: Well, I mean, you there's no talent. How do you coach when you don't have talent? We clearly don't have the right talent. I don't know. my bro and a bird. This is a tough one. To I'm gonna give my bro and a bird to the Pennsylvania Parking Authority or whatever they're called. They lightened up the tailgating. They lightened up the tailgating regulations and it actually supposedly worked pretty well. The cars were allowed to go wherever they wanted, and they, I mean, I guess it was still a little shitty. It was a little shitty Joe: didn't Mike: for the what's his names for the the the the oversize, but they did add an extra Joe: Yeah. Mike: lot in. So now it's it's DNNP is back in the mix over at Citizens Bank. So I guess they Joe: Okay. Mike: did talk to some of the regular people and made some concessions. So I I'll give them the browner burr but that's about it. Joe: That's good. Mike: That's about it. There's not much else I could say about that. Because then, and then Tuesday happened. This is much bigger than one football game. Lane Johnson retired. Not after the season, not after a fail world tour. Right now, like as in 24 hours ago. Lane was a surprise inactive Sunday for personal reasons. Then Tuesday he announced that after 14 season, he's done. And he was very open about why. His priorities with his family have changed. And he said that right now it's critical to focus on his mental health. And before we talk about football, good for Lane. Seriously. this is a guy who's been very public about his struggles with anxiety and depression. if he's reached the point where he's saying, I need to take care of myself and my family, then then then go. You you earned it, Lane. I'm I'm I'm okay with it. he was declining this year. Maybe it was because of, you know, the stuff he's dealing with. Good for him for for saying I'm I'm just not gonna I gotta worry about myself. so let's look at his career. 14 seasons, two Super Bowl championships, six Pro Bowls, two first team all-pro selections, five total AP All-Pro selections, and every single game the NFL career was played in an Eagles uniform. He is one of the all-time Eagles. Joe, what did you first say, or how did you react when you saw the announcement? Joe: I was surprised, especially since it was, you know, in the middle of the season, like after week four. The only thing I can think of, and unf hopefully this isn't like he's got something really big happening in his personal life. You know, either that or like his entire life he's been like a high level athlete and even up until last year, like there were parts of the game of his game that were still the best in the league. He was the best pass protecting right tackle in football last year, according to like all his meta stats and stuff that you get online. So you're still highly regarded, performing very well fourteen, you know, after thirteen or fourteen seasons. He did deal with some injuries last year and he's dealing with some injuries again this year. Maybe his body is just starting to fall apart all at once. Mike: Well, I I think he was having some issues with it. Not issues, but I think there's some things going on with his parents too, because he did have that Joe: Yeah. Mike: in the preseason where he missed some time because there was things going on with his parents. So I think that might have something to do with it. But Joe: Yeah. But the guy I mean, he's done enough. It's he can walk away when he wants to walk away. I wish it would have been a little bit more you know, we were able to the team was able to really do something for him, but you know, it's right. Mike: Yeah, yeah, right. Like we all knew he came out this year and said this is my last season. We all, Joe: Yeah. Mike: you know, kind of expect we knew that. It's just like, wow, week four, I'm done. And I think I think all of us wanted that like hero send off game. Yeah, like this is Yeah. Joe: Yep. The goodbye. Yeah. Everybody wants to see him come out of the tunnel one last time and we didn't know that, you know, the Sunday was gonna be the last time. Nobody knew that. We thought, you know, we're gonna be able to see him play for the rest of the year at least. You know. But Mike: Yeah. And now we have to have a new conversation. Markel Bell isn't filling in for Lane Johnson anymore. He's replacing Joe: The guy now. Mike: Lane Johnson. Like it's two very different things. You know, before it was like, okay, we survive until Lane comes back. Well, he's not coming back. and Jamal Smith: Yeah, coming back. Mike: here's a stat that tells you everything you need to know. Over his career, including the playoffs, the Eagles were 122, 63, and one with him. Without him, 18 and 30. That's staggering. Joe: Yeah. It's bad. Mike: Jamal, how much does Lane retiring change what you thought the ceiling of this offense was going to be this year? Jamal Smith: It changes it significantly. It I I mean, when when he came back in the condition that he did, I had already had an altered view. Like we know, we saw what he put on the field, the the games that he played this season, and they were they weren't lane level. but him retiring that's oof. It's gonna be earth shattering. I I do think that the Lions are gonna really struggle to rise to the level of prominence that they once were at, at least in this season. We need retooling now. Mike: It it's gonna be it's gonna be rough. It's gonna be really rough. I think when we all saw this yesterday, we all said like, shit, what are we doing offensive line wise now? Like this is gonna be crazy. Jamal Smith: Yeah. Mike: but but I but I think in honor of Lane, does anybody have a favorite Lane memory? Joe: Nah, you know what I don't? And that's it's kind of weird because he that's like good. You know what I mean? Like nothing 'cause who do we have as a right tight? John Runyon. Like my my menu who was Jamal Smith: Yeah yeah. Mike: That was the last big name, right? Joe: who was a very, very good player in the NFL. Like he was really good. But what I remember about No, I don't Mike: Did he make he may did Runyon make the Hall of Fame? No, right? Joe: think so. No. What what I remember most about John Runyon is him getting his ass kicked by Michael Strahan. Like twice a year for like however long he was here. You know what I mean? So none of that stands out for for Lane Johnson. And usually when you don't hear about an offensive lineman, that's a good thing. You know, so Mike: Yeah, I I I I think for me the biggest thing that I thought was always awesome was like he started that whole like garage gym thing where he was bringing all the right tackles and all the linemen in and like they were doing that crazy gym shit at his house. Like, was he Joe: Yeah. Mike: last year or two years ago? That one fucker came back and had like a six pack. And I was like, This is Joe: Yeah. Mike: crazy. Jamal Smith: It's wild. Joe: Well, did you see he was the guy who did the dog mask thing, like that big thing for the for the Super Bowl, you know? Mike: Yeah, it was him and him him and Bo, right? Joe: Yeah. It was it was him. He he was the first guy to wear it like after that game and you know, the couldn't buy a German Shepherd dog mask anywhere on the internet for like, you know, a few weeks. Mike: Yeah. People were buying poodle masks because that was always available. Joe: Yeah, yeah, yeah. 'Cause you couldn't get the other ones. But yeah, he's you know, he'll be missed. First Mike: Yeah. I mean Jamal Smith: Sucks, man. Joe: I you know, he's I don't know if he's a first ballot hall of famer, but he's definitely gonna be a hall of famer. He's definitely gonna be in the ring of honor for the team and you know, hopefully Mark Helbell can fill his shoes. Mike: Yeah, I mean definitely will say he was one of the best Eagles we've ever watched in our lifetime. Joe: Yeah. Mike: so whatever comes next for Lane, I I hope he enjoys the hell out of it and I hope you know he gets, you know, the the rest and the the mental clarity that he that he deserves. Joe: And I hope he he doesn't miss deer season again this year. Sorry, Jamal. He's he's he's gonna be home for Mike: Mm. Jamal Smith: No, no, no, it's all good. I just Joe: that. Jamal Smith: I had to fact check it before I said it because I didn't want to be wrong about this, but I have a favorite lane man. I'll never forget it. I don't know, it was replayed on the radio back in 2017. his grandmother is like a Cowboys fan. He was like, She better set her Mike: Yeah, yes. Jamal Smith: ass up if she wants to make it to seventy five. She caught he caught her rooting for him. Mike: Yes, yes, I do remember that. That is a great moment. Okay. So we just had a very, you know, mature like conversation here about mental health, family, and and Lane's career. So naturally, like let's fucking destroy that on this podcast. Jamal Smith: yeah. Mike: Because Joe: Mm-hmm. Mike: apparently, native to to to our hometown, the three of us are all from this area. Joe: Yeah, body. Mike: It's John Campbell was doing some postgame film study. Joe: Yeah. Mike: Just apparently not Rams film. Joe: Someone was getting rammed, but wasn't anything to do with the rams? Mike: Yeah. For anybody who hasn't for anybody who hasn't seen this, after Sunday's game, his screenshot started circulating online. It appears to show Jahad Campbell's it's his ex account. We're posting an adult video. Now, before somebody clips this and we get sued, nobody Jamal Smith: Mm-hmm. Mike: nobody has authenticated this. Jihad hasn't come out and confirmed it. The Eagles haven't confirmed it. So we're not saying that he definitely reposted porn. Joe: Allegedly. Mike: We're saying allegedly there's a screenshot and the internet does what the internet fucking does. But if it is real, Jahat, buddy, we just lost the ramps. The fan base is going absolutely Jamal Smith: Yeah. Mike: fucking crazy. Calling for your coach to be fired, and your first thing you repost is some Thursday throat goat action on swingers nineteen sixty-seven. Jamal Smith: Mm. Mike: so forget. Joe: Who who let me ask you a question. Who was the who who was the the subject of the video? Was it a famous actress? Mike: No, no, no, no. No, the link was like it was an area code. It was like two one seven swingers or something. And it said like Jamal Smith: man. Mike: it said like goat throat action. And it was just like the Joe: Jesus. Mike: like you know, the traditional, you know, adult video view of like the nose to head to to top a head. So Joe: Ugh. Jamal Smith: Look, ev everyone deals with loss differently. my like that's Joe: no. Jamal Smith: just that's just how he processes it, you know? Mike: So he said forget Rams film. Apparently this man was breaking down an entirely different kind of coverage. Jamal Smith: This is probably wild all twenty two. Mike: Yeah, yeah. Joe: god. Mike: all right. But here's the real conversation about jihad. Here's the part that's actually like football related. He finished with nine tackles and had a huge fourth down pass breakup. So this wasn't some completely terrible performance for him. But there were also coverage issues. And on the other side, Jeremiah Trotter had 15 tackles with Zach Bond dealing with the injury. Trotter got his opportunity and he took advantage of it. So forget all the social media shit. Do we have a legitimate linebacker conversation now? Jamal Smith: man. I'm still worried about the linebacker position. I g I I can't lie. Jahad Campbell, is he the guy? Like is he really the guy? Yeah. I'm just not convinced. Mike: Well that's that's the big question, right? Like so when when Zach comes back, when Bond comes back, is jihad in or is Trot in? Jamal Smith: I don't know if we saw enough yet, but I I'd rather see try. Joe: So you said you're not convinced. What do you 'cause what do you need to see in order to be convinced? What do you what are you looking for? Jamal Smith: When you ask that it almost feels unfair that I said I'm not convinced. I think more or less I feel like without N'Kobe Dean out there, we've taken a step back and I know what's because we're looking towards the future. I just don't think he's there yet. I feel like he's still a little young and he doesn't really, he's just not fully developed enough. no. Joe: No, right. 'cause it linebac like Zach Bond, Jahad Campbell, and now Trott Jr., who, you know, I thought he was gonna be a fine special teams guy and contribute to an NFL team and have a pretty long career in the league. He looks like he might be like a like a player. So and i it's not just because of this game, he has had other opportunities throughout his two or three year career and he has done well when he's been Playing in those games, like toward the end of the year when season's over and they're, you know what I mean, the seed's locked up and he gets to start a game against the Giants in week, whatever. He always plays well, solid, but he had a ri this is really kind of like a breakout game for him. The problem with the linebackers, and like you said, we're missing the Kobe, dude. Zach Bond is really good. Zach Bond's really Jamal Smith: Really good. Joe: good. starts up front, the two guys who are playing defensive tackle, and I know I hit them pretty hard last week, but I'm gonna hit them hard again this week. Mike: You should hit him hard again. Joe: It really starts with them. If they can't it if they're not causing problems, it frees up blockers to get into the second level and harass your linebackers and therefore they can't make plays. So I don't think see the pri like if you said we're concerned about our line, I'm not concerned about the linebackers. I'm concerned about our defensive line. You know what I mean? Like, you know. Mike: Yeah. I I mean you like I mean Chris has been saying it like where Chris and Jamal both been saying it. Where's Davis been? You haven't even heard his name. At least we heard Carter's Joe: Nothing. Mike: name this week. Not that we heard a lot, but a couple of times. yeah, so it's kinda Joe: No. Another another game, another game with those two guys where there's virtually no impact. Like none. Mike: But yeah. Joe: Like what was I mean, at least be disruptive. Like you would hear you'd hear, Jalen Carter really got in Stafford's face there. And they're playing against quarterbacks who can't move. Like the the minus the the commander's game. Like the Stafford ain't going anywhere, right? Mike: No, exactly. That's why we mean we that's why we were able to get to him and hit him w I mean we hit him this week. Joe: You know, they had they had like a forty six year old guy the week before that and nothing. You know what I mean? Like they're just not getting after they're not causing problems. And that's just terrible. Mike: Yeah. It's not as much pressure as we thought it was gonna be. I it looked bet actually I will say this, the pressure this week looked better than last week than than against the Bears, because that was just ridiculous. Like like like we le Joe: Yeah. Yeah, it did. I think they got a sack, didn't they? They got two sacks or something. Yeah. Mike: This week, yeah. Yep. Joe: So as far as like Trotter, he's earned he's earned some reps. Like he's gonna get in there and it might be, you know, no, no, no, no. Zach Bond's on the field. Like Mike: So so maybe we rotate all three of them? Well, you rotate the other two. Jamal Smith: and Joe: yeah, the other two guys are, you know, middle linebacker, those guys are gonna be, you know. Trotter's gonna be in the mix now, I think. That's good for him. Mike: It's not really breaking 'cause it already broke. But apparently Lane Johnson retiring wasn't enough offensive line news for this fucking week. We got crazier because right before we're getting ready to leave for London in two days, right? Yeah, two days. Cam jer Cam Jurge, no, they're leaving they're leaving Friday. No, they're leaving Friday. The team's leaving Friday. They Joe: Tomorrow. No, the teams is the team already over there? I'm sorry. That's fucking stupid. Jamal Smith: Friday, wow. Mike: are taking McVay's playbook. Jamal Smith: Yeah, don't do that. Mike: Yeah. Cam Jergens has been traded. The Eagles are sending Jurgens and a 2027 seventh round pick to the Baltimore Ravens. In return, we are getting a 2027 fifth round pick, a 2028 second round pick. So let's understand this, right? Let's let's breathe this in. Sunday, Cam Jurgens is starting for the Philadelphia Eagles. Monday, he puts himself in concussion protocol. Tuesday, Jamal Smith: What? Mike: yeah, he put himself in concussion protocol. Tuesday, Joe: Okay. Mike: Lane Johnson retires. Wednesday, Jamal Smith: cheese Mike: Cam Jergens a Baltimore Raven. What the fuck is going on at Novicare right now? Joe: yeah, them them trading do you guys think that the that they're kind of punting on the on the season? Like after this b kind and we're saying it's a bad start, they're five hundred, you know, it's not a disaster, so Mike: Well so let well well before we t let's talk about Jurgens, right? He had a bad start to the season. The first game, we all said he looked like shit playing in center. They then move him over to to left guard after Dickerson Dickerson went down. That's not his spot. It hasn't worked. He struggled last he struggled against the Bears. He struggled last week. he literally cost us a touchdown because he false started, which he didn't get caught for. He started to make his pull before the ball was even fucking snapped, which Jamal Smith: Ha Mike: caused the quarterback to have to go the opposite direction he was supposed to go to hand the ball off and just create a play. And then when you look at it in slow motion, there was the hole that would have been a touchdown. There's no doubt in my mind. And it was all because of him. And he was the turnstile for the last two weeks that was getting the most that was allowing the most pressure to Jalen. But he is only 26 years old. He's a second Joe: Yeah. Mike: round pick, and he went from a Pro Bowl at center to us trading him. Jamal Smith: Yeah. Joe: Well right. This I think that a lot of the criticism that that I mean, there's some on this show too with him too, but that that a lot of Eagles fans had with Cam Jugens over the last couple of years is is not isn't correct. I think as Eagles fans we've been spoiled because we had probably the best I mean, I don't know, if there's somebody better than Jason Kelsey, okay. But that guy was the best center to arguably ever do it. And you go to a guy like Cam Jergens, who's a second round pick, and the level isn't the same. You know, it's not going to be the same. But like Cam Jergens' reputation as a center around the NFL is he is like much better than average. And if you look at his center play, he's better than average. I wouldn't argue with somebody who said, he's pretty good. The the thing is is like he's not physical, which is weird to say. Like, but there are centers in the league that aren't, you know, road grader type blockers. They're more athletic. And that's a little bit more of his game, which moving him over to guard where your guards are just supposed to be smash mouth dudes, like I knew he was gonna struggle over there. Jamal Smith: Mmm. Mike: Well, all right. Does the second round pick like make this any better for you? But I'm asking both of guys. Does that Joe: Well get well the Jamal. Mike: make it make sense? Jamal Smith: was happy to get a second round pick because of the product that, like I said, it's very unfortunate. Like Joe said, he wasn't playing his main position and I never noticed what you had pointed out about him. Like he does the job, not in the way where it's brute strength, just like manhandling. And that was correct. Joe: He's not Jason Kelsey. Kelsey would just smash dudes and that's not the kind that's not what he was. Jamal Smith: not what he was and it didn't work when they moved his position so I Joe: Yeah, 'cause as a guard you need the you need the bust heads, you know, and that's not n not really what not anything I I'd ever seen him do. He was like an athletic kind of center that could move and pull and do some stuff. Jamal Smith: So it's not us not getting to see what he really kind of got back to at the center position for the most part this year. Mud is the waters. Maybe it's a good thing because I do think that injury, no matter how good he even managed to play this year, was eventually going to come back down. I feel like his back backs are problems. I think they Joe: Mm-hmm. Jamal Smith: thought they had to do who they just needed to unload because his physical issues were going to become greater the older he got. So he just Joe: Yeah. Jamal Smith: fucking got what you get. can get get what you can get Mike: It well, Jamal Smith: for the guy. Mike: yeah, and I think that the the well that's the like the interesting part, right? Like when you look at it, strictly just should have, you know, should have Cam been traded. And I'm kind of like, no, but then you hear, well, it's a second round pick for a guy who's not playing well, and and we don't think he's going to be playing well, all right. Then then you take the pick, right? But the bigger question that we get because of this is well, who's playing offensive line Sunday? two months ago Jamal Smith: Yeah Mike: we had Jordan Mulata, Lander Dickinson, Cam Jurgens, Tyler Steen, Lane Johnson. Now Lane's gone. Jurgens got traded. Dickerson's on IR, and we're getting on a plane to play Jacksonville in London. And the offensive line has gone from one of the supposed strengths to a football team that basically it's like, hey, my name's Mike. I've played Madden. You want to put me in a guard? Like what are we doing? Like so Jamal Smith: Yeah. Joe: Well the the Mike: is this about is is is it about 2026 or is it about Joe: Mm. Mike: beyond? Joe: Yeah. It's about the future because Jamal Smith: Meh. Joe: some people have started talking about it online, but Cam Jurgen's got an extension. I mean, he they're Mike: Mm-hmm. Joe: they're paying him eighteen million dollars a year. And the the guy who I forget his name, who's playing center first now, the the rookie, Fox are center. Why am I drawing a blind Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Jamal Smith: Of course I can't remember it. Mike: The new kid that they put in shit, who's b he he well now it's all about Cam Jurgens when I Joe: Yeah. Well anyway, he is a guy that the team possibly identified as being someone who is going to play that position as well, if not or better, than Cam Jurgens. Drew Kendall. Okay. Right. So he's might not play either. So Mike: Drew Kendall, who is questionable Jamal Smith: No. That's good. That's good. Makes Mike: But Jamal Smith: sense. Mike: but and I agree with you, Joe, because that's what I think it was. I think they were like, Drew Kendall can play his position well enough. We're Joe: Yes. Right. Mike: not gonna keep which makes me also think that they're not keeping him at guard because Wood Stame's coming back. I think he's gonna be back faster than they think. Yeah. Joe: Dickerson. Yeah, Dickerson. Jamal Smith: there. Joe: That'll help. If he comes back and he's 80% of what he was before, that'll help because he's one of the best guards in the league, like for a long time now. but this them getting rid of that salary, like we always ask, like, where's the money gonna come from to re sign Cooper DeGene? Where's the money gonna come from for for coin? Mike: Well, this might be it. Joe: You know, this is this is the kind of Jamal Smith: It's gotta come from somewhere. Joe: stuff that happens. They see an opportunity, a team obviously they needed a center down in Baltimore. Hey, we have a guy because we have a guy we're paying 1.5 million, and we have a guy, you're gonna take the 18 million guy, you're gonna give us a two back. You know. So it puts them it puts them in a good position for moving forward for the future. And people might not want to hear that, but you know, I think the Super Bowl window is probably kind of closed, and they're gonna be probably a pretty good team. They'll be decent during if this is indeed a rebuild, they will be probably pretty competitive during a rebuild. but They they are, I think, looking at what their their their options are at this point. I mean, th this team is not not a team that's gonna make a deep push in the playoffs, right? After week four, we can all agree on that. Jamal Smith: I don't think so. Mike: I I I don't think so either, but I mean I don't I don't know. I mean if they come like like like none of the injuries are long-term injuries that we have. They're all back by Joe: Right. Mike: week eight type of injuries, so I don't know. And then the other part, I mean, I guess, all right, Duwon asked you this question. Like in your honest opinion, do you think this is how he's getting concerned about the team where he just saw a way to take advantage of Baltimore? Jamal Smith: No, no, no. think 100%. He saw an opportunity. It was an opportunity. Baltimore had a need and we had something that we could benefit from getting rid of. I'll tell you just like hot take it. I don't know. I'm sure other people have said it. It's not that original. I think that Lander Dickerson and Cam Jergens really just mortgage their future for that Super Bowl. They were fucked up beyond all recognition and played way past Mike: Yeah, the good point. Jamal Smith: where they should have. They, they RG3'd it, but they got the fucking gold. So it's worth Joe: Yeah. Yeah. Jamal Smith: it. But he's cooked, man. Like, And we were able to get him off because he's probably good enough. He's probably better than most, even in his cook. Mike: And like you were saying though, Baltimore is really struggling for a center. Like they have got two guys that shouldn't be playing the position, fighting over that position. So it may maybe this was just hey, how I I do start to think how he got the phone call and he was like, How am I passing up? I don't need is it two picks or three picks? Why do I think it's three? It's just a two. It's it's or the year before, right? It's the it's Joe: It's two picks. It's it's a two and then they get something else the year after, I think a three or f two and a four or something. Yeah. Jamal Smith: Two picks, I think. Mike: the five this year and then a two next year. Joe: Yeah, it's something like that. So Mike: Like I maybe you can't pass that up for a guy who we all thought was done a week ago. Joe: Well, right, and he's he and he is expendable if you look at the you know the way the team is right now. He can't help you anywhere other than center and we have a guy that can do what we think as good as him that makes way less money. So Jamal Smith: Yeah. Joe: it's you know what I mean? Moving him to guard, he's he's not a good guard. Mike: Yeah, and like look, that makes like the lane retirement hit even harder now, right? Because not only did we lose lane, we now lost another tenured person that was on this line. Joe: this is this dude, this is crazy. Like it Jalen hurts, dude. And I and I know because but that cannot be the excuse. That cannot be the excuse. Mike: God well he but but I all right you're going there. So but but but but all right, Jamal Smith: it's gonna be. Mike: not an excuse. But Jalen does not have a lot of money left on his guaranteed money. We didn't get a long term deal signed this year or add an extension this year. So what makes him with this makeshift new line we got, what makes him want to try to go hard? What makes him want to take a hit? What makes him want to run now? Like where are we going back to, you know, Mr. Jordan businessman Jalen, who's not gonna do anything that's gonna jeopardize his career. Because he's playing Joe: Well I Mike: behind a scary, you know, line. Joe: Well, I think if Jalen Hurts takes that approach and doesn't put anything out there for the rest of the season is just very cautious and, you know, business decision type stuff, that money's not gonna be at the end of the rainbow for him because he's in a position Mike: Well not not here. Jamal Smith: Mm-mm. Joe: not not anywhere, I don't think. I don't think he's gonna be like he will not be even it will not even be a conversation. Like, is this guy gonna be what's he gonna get? Is he gonna be reset the market? He's not even gonna be one of those guys. Like if he doesn't do something with this. Because it's very unfortunate, but he is in a position like franchise quarterbacks are put in where, hey, we don't have a lot of talent around you. You need to you know what I mean? It's it's his job as a franchise quarterback to make it work and to sustain. Mike: Yeah. I think Chris Long I think Chris Long just said the other day, like there's a lot of teams in this league with bad offensive lines and they're Joe: There are. There's a lot. Jamal Smith: yeah. Mike: and a good quarterback is asked, Hey, you gotta do something. Joe: Right. And they do. That's because they're franchise quarterbacks. Mike: Well h here here's another question. We've literally just eroded all the Jeff Statlin alumni. Does Jamal Smith: Yeah. Mike: that have something to do with it? Were these guys not buying into the new offensive line coaches scheme? And maybe they Joe: Yeah. Mike: were make maybe it made it a little easier to say, Hey, we're gonna trade you? Joe: Be especially Lane, especially Lane Johnson. Although I we all Jamal Smith: Yeah. Joe: think I think we all agree that there's it's other stuff at work, but but Mike: It's something going on personally, yeah. Joe: it like he's only ever been coached by like Stoutland, you know what I mean? And like Jordan Mylotta has only ever been coached in football by like Stoutland. So it's definitely different. But you know, a guy like Cam Jurgens and a guy like Mylotta have many more years ahead of them, whereas you know, Lane Johnson would just grin and bear it for the last few years of his career. So Mike: Yeah yeah, and I I I wanted to say like that maybe I mean, like, look, it's not that this year isn't the first year that does offensive line look bad. They looked bad last year. Like last year was a start. Joe: Yeah, they weren't good last year. Jamal Smith: They did. Mike: Last year got Stalin fired. Or well, it star Yeah, because Stalin Jamal Smith: absolutely. Joe: Or then move, make a move, whatever. Yeah. Mike: supposedly wanted to control the running game and we didn't want to let him Joe: Yeah. Mike: control the running game and he he left. But now The guy that we have now don't even know his name. He came from Minnesota, right? Minnesota had a good offensive line. No, not Mannion. Mannion's the the the yeah. Joe: Manion. No, not the OC the the offensive line coach. Mike: They like Minnesota had a decent offensive line for, you know, the last few years. This guy knows Joe: Mm-hmm. Mike: what he's doing, but I'm at I'm wondering if it's just completely opposing styles and maybe these dudes just can't get on board. Joe: I one thing that people overlook, like, and I I get into like offensive and defensive line play, like the best offensive lines in the NFL, if you look, it's almost a hundred percent rule where the guys, you know, from left to right have played together for several seasons. And you go back and you look, like there's teams that this team has the worst offensive line in the league or whatever. And if they keep that group together, if the talent's there, there has to be some measure of talent. If you keep them together They get better. And then, you know, further down the line, they're the like the it was a it was a formula that like the New York Giants used, like back when they were winning their Super Bowls every other year. Mike: Yep, yep. Joe: That team, I think when when was their first Super Bowl? Whenever it was. But if you look back, same group of players three years before, they were getting ripped up and down about how bad the offensive line is. And Eli Manning's gonna die and, you know, all this stuff. Three years later, number one offensive line in the league, win Super Bowl. Next year, don't. Year after that, win Super Bowl. Mike: Yeah. Joe: So it's reps, repetition, familiarity. Coaching plays a big part, but just getting the guys in there and having it stable, like left tackle, left guard, center, boom, boom, boom. And these are the guys and they're playing in that spot every week. When you start chopping Mike: I mean, think about it. Joe: and changing and moving the stuff around, it kind of resets it. Mike: And we've been extra for the most part extremely stable there. So yeah, I agree with you. All right. we're gonna shorten around the NFL this week because you know, apparently the Eagles decided to give us an entire all season's worth of fucking news in three days. Jamal Smith: Ha ha. Mike: so we only got two stories. Jamal, you're up first. You have the Patriots finally did something positive. Jamal Smith: What a horrible story to have to talk about. But yeah, yeah, yeah. mean, the Patriots end up getting the win against the Buffalo Bills. Who would have saw that coming? Were you guys shocked by that? Joe: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Mike: I was, especially with how bad Allen played. And Jamal Smith: Yeah, Mike: how I got on my Jamal Smith: yeah. Mike: fantasy football team because Paul told me I should draft him. Jamal Smith: So look, mean, Buffalo, I mean, they lost 29-26. It was just a field goal. And obviously, obviously the big story is Drake-May. New England gets a late touchdown. The defense gets that interception when they need it. And the Patriots walk into Buffalo and beat one of the best teams in the AFC. I honestly would have never saw this coming. So after all the conversations we had about May, my question is. Are we starting to believe in him again? Mike: I don't think so. Joe: Drake May? No, he's got he's Jamal Smith: Ha ha ha ha ha ha Joe: got he's got to do a little bit more. He's got to do a little bit more than have one decent game. I it it's Jamal Smith: Yay! Joe: it's you know, he was awesome last year. You know, and this year it's gotten off to a rough start. So I mean for him, I hope he's turning a c I don't want to see him be terrible, you know, but I don't really care if he if he turns out like if he doesn't turn it around. But yeah, I would say wait a wait a few more weeks. Mike: Yeah, exactly. Joe: You know. Mike: This is I d it was it that was a divisional game, right? Like that's a that that Jamal Smith: It was. Joe: Yeah. Mike: that's that's a tough one to say what goes on there. They're always gonna be hardly con like hard contested against each other. Yeah. Joe: Little bit tougher. Yeah. Mike: I I I look I agree with Joe, give it a couple of weeks. But I mean, he made us look like an asshole 'cause we shot on all four weeks. So Joe: Yeah. Jamal Smith: I mean, I wish I wish nothing but bad things on him and it's not even his fault. It's mainly because AJ's on the team. Like, I just don't want to see him succeed now. Mike: Ex exactly. That's ex a hundred that's all it is. It's pure hate. Like like we Jamal Smith: You Mike: have 100% joined the players haters ball. call me Buck nasty. Call Jamal Smith: haha Mike: me Buck. Joe: Yeah. Mike: That's all this is. well, Chris is not here this week, so I unfortunately got to take his story about Dallas. the Cowboys beat Houston 30 for 30. And this is bullshit because I thought Houston was going to stomp them. It looked like it all game. Joe: Yeah. Mike: And they win because one CD Lamb decided to go fucking insane with 17 catches, 189 yards. Dallas was down 10. down 10 at halftime. And guess what? They came back, just like the Rams. Jamonte Williams scored three rushing touchdowns in the second half, and Lamb eventually scores the game winner with about 40 seconds left. 17. Joe: So like the opposite of last time of last week, kinda, right? Mike: Yeah, I mean ba I mean like look look let's be realistic what this was 17 catches that's not like a normal receiving stat line that was 100% Jamal Smith: It's outrageous. Mike: Prescott being like fuck it CD's down there somewhere but the annoying part is he fucking caught foam Jamal Smith: Yeah, he just kept getting it. Mike: So the shitty part about all this though is Dallas is gaining momentum. We're currently tied Joe: Yeah. Mike: for second in the division with them, with the Giants in first. Jamal Smith: Gross. Mike: yeah. So how's that how's that feel that we're tied? I mean, Cowboys, Dallas is going to Dallas. That's that's my opinion. I don't like Dallas is always a good team. They're never not a good Joe: Yeah, they're always gonna be all right. Mike: team, but they're gonna fuck it up. They're never gonna make it to the fucking conference championship. In Joe: If they if they ever do, it'll be just by luck, I think. Like th things will f everything will fall Mike: Yeah, exactly. Joe: into place and they'll and they'll get through. But I not this year. I don't think it's this year, but you know. Jamal Smith: I don't think they're ever get, I don't think they're getting there with their quarterback. I think he's got like the anti Michael Jordan gene. He's like the most unclutched quarterback maybe ever. Joe: Really? Hmm. Jamal Smith: I mean, his numbers are great during the season. This Joe: What? Jamal Smith: guy chucks it up. Prescott is awesome until anything matters. then he. Mike: Well he's awesome Joe: And you're Mike: in garbage time. Joe: and you're and you're basing this on what, ten years of of his performance? Jamal Smith: Yeah, just chucking the ball up, getting a bunch of Joe: I mean Yeah. Jamal Smith: fucking yards and then not doing shit. Mike: Ten years of hate. That's what it is. It's just Joe: Yeah. All right. Mike: alright, where are we going next? I know where we're going. We're going to fucking London, baby. Pack your bags. Joe, get your passport because you're the only one that's going. Prepare. And Jamal Smith: Hahaha. Mike: the beauty of all this, though, is we get to drink at like nine in the morning. And it's a completely well's inappropriate, but it's completely appropriate because the birds are gonna be. I will. I will. Bird. Joe: Will you guys be drinking that early? Will you guys do it? Yeah. How do you manage your day? Jamal Smith: yeah. Mike: Slowly, you gotta you gotta drink pace your. Stretch your drinks out. You don't need to pound them. Just keep you gotta keep because that's the thing. You gotta keep your buzz going with day drinking. You can't get into that like I'm fucked up level. Joe: Yeah, you can't get hammered. Mike: You gotta just gotta stay even. And then your day Joe: Yeah. Mike: is amazing. all right. Birds are going to London. Sunday morning. Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. Not a Tottenham fan. I don't think anybody on this podcast is a Tottenham fan. I really don't like them. Eagles Jaguars and B a bro on a bird will be there. Joe's officially going, you leave tomorrow, right? Jamal Smith: That's awesome. Joe: Yeah, tomorrow night. Well tomorrow Mike: Morrow night. Joe: it's like five thirty in the afternoon flight. I we gotta leave out of like Newark too. Like I couldn't get a Philly flight. Mike: Where are you staying? Joe: In in Westminster. Right Mike: Okay. Joe: in central London. It's like a train ride to get up to North London for the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. I've never been to that one yet, so Mike: It's I mean it's a big stadium. It's a really big stadium, isn't it? Like compared Joe: Yeah. Mike: like in comparison. I think it's them and what is it, Olympic Stadium? Yeah, and Wimbley and Olympic it's Olympic Stadium, right? Fucking West Hamst. What's West? Joe: Wembley. Yeah, it's the second large the No, where the stadium we went to for the Phillies game, that was where West Ham played. This the stadium's bigger. I mean, like on it Mike: Is it bigger than that? Jamal Smith: Wow. Joe: yeah, honestly though, like none of the stadiums over there are the size of our stadiums. So you gotta you gotta like that's one thing that people Mike: No, no, but this This compared to a regular European football stadium is big. Joe: It's like the biggest. Yeah, it's like the biggest. But they Mike: What do we know what it holds? Joe: Hotspur Stadium, I don't know, 60 something thousand. But that's like one thing when we had the World Cup over here this year. Like a lot of people from Europe were like, man, they have because they were people were legitimately concerned. European soccer fans who had like never been here, they were legitimately concerned that we wouldn't have the facilities and infrastructure to handle the World Cup. And it's Jamal Smith: Ha Joe: like you guys don't understand. We have billion dollar stadiums in every major city and billion dollar stadiums at every major university. Like it and they their minds were blown when they kind of saw our stadiums. The other thing too is the stadiums over there, if you are going and you do hear this, the facilities are not like ours. Like you don't have all the cool Mike: Yeah. Joe: shit to eat and stuff like that. It's like you get hamburger, hot dog, beer, like soda. Yeah, that thing that was fucking Did you ever tell that story? That's fucking Mike: And a weird and a weird nacho platter that I got when I went to No. But like so but that Jamal Smith: Hahaha! Mike: was I I will say that's the weird thing. So Tottenham Hosper Joe, really good on your call. It holds 62,000. Joe: Yeah. So Mike: but the weird thing, and I don't I'm I and I'm assuming it's most soccer stadiums do this, and cause the the union stadium is kind of similar. When we went to the baseball game, all of your awesome like let's party inside the stadium, drink and have fun is outside of the stadium once you get through the gate. So like Joe: Yeah. Yep. Mike: if you think about Eagle Stadium, like where the Headhouse Plaza is when you first come into the stadium down at the link, where they have like the outside WIP tent and all that, like that's where all the food is and your drinks are and for for well was for at least for West Ham. And once you're in the game, which Totally fucked me because I was like, I'm gonna go pee and grab a beer. And they were like, people don't really get beers during the game, it's only during intermission. Joe: Yeah. Well you can't it's against the law to take alcohol into the stadium. I g for soccer, I don't know if that's how it is for 'cause I mean I think we were drinking beer at the Phillies game. Mike: We were drinking beers for the Phillies game, yeah. Joe: But for soccer, they don't it's at halftime they go and they get a drink and then they drink it and then they go back to your seat 'cause you can't can't bring beer into the into the stadium, like where where the seats are. So Jamal Smith: That's crazy. Mike: I Joe: yeah. Mike: two things that I thought were really cool though. The beer you get is fucking massive. Like, I Joe: Yeah. Mike: actually brought one home because I was like, I need to have this. It was like so so all of us that are American listening to this show, when you go to a Chinese takeout and you order the large thing of Wonton soup, that was my fucking cup. That was Joe: Yeah. Yeah. Jamal Smith: Shut up. Mike: awesome. But it also proved to me for how much English people talk shit about how much they can drink. They have nothing on us. Their beer, their beer I I drank like six of those. I drank Joe: No, nothing. It's like four percent, right? Jamal Smith: Hahaha Mike: like six of those giant fucking things and I was still pretty fucking straight. I could sm I waited through a whole game plus went out afterwards. Joe: Yeah. Mike: That's why they can drink all night because their beer is only like four percent. Joe: Yeah, exactly. But just like I said, just the facilities at the stadiums are not like what you're y don't expect to be blown away by that. Like because they're very kind of basic. They're nice, but it's very basic. Mike: Yeah, yeah. It was very, very basic. It was cause even I mean, we were like we said, we went to to West Ham Stadium, which is the Olympic Stadium, the stadium they built Dorn, whatever Olympics, and Joe: Yeah. Mike: that at the time was a big stadium. When you come out of the stands, you go on the concourse, the concourse is just like full cement, and all you see is the back of the stair. You saw like when you look left, you saw the back of the of the seats. Like the the like it looked like you were behind the rafters. Looked like you're behind Joe: Not yeah. Yeah, the steps. Yup. The steps, kinda, yeah. Yeah. Jamal Smith: wow. Mike: the bleachers at high school, except for there was cement Joe: Like you know, when you walk around Citizens Bank Park and you see banners hanging, there's like cool finishes, like team related Mike: Nothing. Joe: stuff. They don't have anything like that. It's very like cement brutalist kind of construction. Mike: Yeah, and I thought like like I said, I thought Jamal Smith: Hmm. Mike: all the cool stuff, like like that kind of shit, was on the outside of the stadium. Joe: Yeah, they Yeah, they they try to do something outside. The other thing too is like there isn't really a tailgate culture in in Europe. Jamal Smith: no. Joe: No. It's like if you go like to England, if you go to sporting events in England, most of their stadiums are they have they're surrounded by like neighborhoods and shit. So there's bars everywhere. That's kind of what people do over there. Mike: But but that that see and I think that was like being in London and seeing like I I always knew, like I in my head I knew like like, there's small towns in London, but then like actually going and being like, Yeah, you're a fucking fifteen minute walk down the street to the other you know, not that close, but you're you're really close to the other stadium. It's like having a stadium in Camden for a major sporting team, and then you have Joe: Yeah. Mike: the one in Philadelphia. Joe: Like the Raven like Jamal Smith: Hmm. Joe: the Ravens play in Camden and the Eagles play right across the river. You Mike: Yeah. Joe: know, it'd be something like Jamal Smith: Okay. Joe: that. Mike: Yeah. I mean and then and then for like in and in Premier League, you're talking you have what? In London alone there's five? Joe: Well, f professional teams, like not even just a because people forget, like League Mike: Yeah. Joe: One and the Championship, those are really big leagues in Europe. Like the championship is a bigger league and a more, you know, quality league than like MLS. You know what I mean? So and that's the second tier. But in London, there's something like thirteen professional teams, you know, and all the they're Jamal Smith: Jesus. Joe: yeah, it's kind of crazy when you look at it, but it's big. And it is Mike: Yeah. London's a big city, but to have thirteen professional teams is like that it's crazy. Jamal Smith: Yeah, that's aggressive. Joe: And it for one sport and it's it i it is carved up into like smaller neighborhoods that all kind of form together to form London. But Mike: Well, that's what it like it kind of reminded me, like Joe, I mean Joe, you've been there more than me, but it reminded me of like when you're in Philly and you have like this is horrible, but you have your segregated towns in Philly. You have the Italian section, Joe: Yeah. Jamal Smith: There. Mike: you have the Italian section, you have the Irish section, but that's what it was, except for instead of being nationalities, Jamal Smith: It's very real. Mike: it was a a a a a football franchise that you were a hardcore follower of. Joe: Yeah. You know, and it's like the names of the the town the people of the towns they really took of these little sections of London, like they really take on the identity of whatever industry has been there historically. Like if it's like Jamal Smith: Nah. Joe: the the dock workers or something, like that'll be a big part of their history in that area. Like the soccer team will be called like the dockers or something like that. You know, Jamal Smith: Not the doctors. Joe: yeah, it's they really the the teams really do take on the identity of the the neighborhood. But if you are going over there, you will have a good time. It is different, like I said. You're not gonna go over there and it's not gonna be like going to the link. You know. Yeah. Mike: Nope. You'll have an amazing time. I had a blast when we went for the Phillies, and I'm really Joe jealous that Joe gets to go and I don't this week because I wanted to go. I've been wanting to go back since we went for the Phillies game. especially for a sporting event, and especially for a Philly sporting event, because when we found that bar that's there's a bar over there called Passion Calve. There's like three of them actually. And Joe: Yeah. Yeah. Mike: we walked in there and I was like, This is fucking amazing that this sport Jamal Smith: Ha ha ha. Mike: V this bar is literally dedicated to the sports life of Philadelphia. Joe: It's like a Philly it's a Philadelphia dive bar is pretty much what it is in London. The guy's an ex Mike: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Jamal Smith: That's awesome. Joe: he's from around here, the guy who owns the place. He's from I think he's from Jersey, like he's from like where we live. I think maybe down toward Atco or something, but he's like a local guy. So who moved over there for some one reason or another and just opened these places that are just like the dive bars. Mike: And he's built a massive English fan base for Philadelphia. Like when we Joe: Yes. For Philadelphia fans, yeah. Mike: walked in, it wasn't just that they were like like was there was a ton of people there for the Phillies game. There's a ton Americans there, but it wasn't even that. Like we looked at like his schedule for what he had in games. He had Villanova games that he was playing. He had like it was everything. And I was like, this is amazing. And he has Joe: Yes. Yep. Yeah. Mike: a draw. Joe: Yeah. There's a in London because of that. There's I I th most of the people in London I think are Jags fans because they're there every year. But right behind them is I think it is the Eagles. Cause you know, walking around like I had Eagles stuff on. We were getting go birds and not just from like people who are from here. Mike: Americans, yeah. Joe: They were they were English people that that saw you and they're like, Go birds. Like they knew. Jamal Smith: wow. Joe: Yeah, they know. Mike: All right, well, let's talk about this. Jacksonville's coming off a twenty two and seventeen win over Cincinnati. so anybody treating this like a autumn like some automatic get rate game, we just need to stop because Jacksonville can absolutely beat this team. Joe: They're good. Mike: they're being touted as the best defensive AFC team right now. they could absolutely beat the Eagles, especially the teams we've watched the Eagles team we watched for the last two weeks. Honestly, the biggest question isn't Jacksonville, it's more about Philadelphia because we lost two offensive linemen. The offense is struggling. We have a ton of fucking industries. I mean injuries. And now we got to fly overseas and play at 9 30 in the morning Eastern time. It's going to be a weird fucking. I mean, it already is a weird fucking week it's going to be even crazier. So I think three things that I think we need to see. number one, and the biggest one, we need to score in the second fucking half. I can't believe that we even have to like say this or or request that an NFL offensive, an NFL offense does that because it should be natural, but we need to do that. I think the second is we need to protect Jalen. we're we you know, without the line, we don't have the ki the like Joe said, we don't have that camaraderie or the the the comfortability with each other that's been there. And Jalen is gonna be running. And then maybe number three, we find an identity this week. Is it run, throw, RPO, quick game? I I don't I really don't give a fuck. Like let's pick something and just try to be good at it. Like, like it's like Hey, what do you want to be when you grow up? Let's have them do that. Let's have them pick that thing and work towards that. Joe, what do you think the biggest key against Jacksonville is? Joe: this is this is a game and Jacksonville's defense is really good, like you said. But if you break it down run versus pass, they're they're they're s they really skew heavily toward being able to defend the run well. the secondary of the team isn't great. I think if you look at just purely passing, they rank toward the bottom of the league. So I absolutely expect I don't think they're gonna win, but I expect our quarterback, yeah. Mike: We'll we'll we'll do that again. Good. Joe: I expect our quarterback to be able to have some kind of a day against the secondary, especially since they'll probably be playing from behind. You know, let's just be honest, Jacksonville right now is a better team than the Eagles. Mike: Mm-hmm. Joe: But he's got to be able, he's and it's crazy because like the guy won a Super Bowl, played in another one, had had some great moments Mike: Was the MVP? Joe: here, but but he's got it like we're back to like, okay, dude, you gotta show us something here because And this is a team that you can do that to. Like you can throw on this team. I specifically want to see Jalen Hurts have a productive day as a passer in the NFL. That's what I want to see. Mike: All right, Jamal. You're giving you're gonna give you two questions. First, follow up on Joe w the what Joe just said. What do you need to see from Jalen? And then you can follow that up with what does this defense need to do to control Jackson? Jamal Smith: Well, what I need to see from Jalen is that he evict these defensive line tenants that have been living inside of his head. I think that it's starting to affect his decision-making because in the first two games, he didn't like light the world on fire, but he did look crisp. He looked on time. He looked like he wasn't being like haunted by the line. I think, especially in his last game, we started to see a Jalen who was making fear-based decisions. it didn't seem like he was calm, cool and collected so much. He almost seemed a little slow. I just seen him play with confidence and that's going to be challenging with the line that's in front of him, but he's got to find a way to play with confidence and throw on time. You know, just be on schedule, maybe get under center a little bit more. what does his defense need to do to control Jacksonville? That's tough. This is a team that's hard to. control doesn't seem like anyone's been very successful at doing it. I think Mike: Mm-hmm. Jamal Smith: all that we can do is hope to limit them. We have really good corner well, one of two really good cornerbacks. Do we even know who's going in for Quan Yin? Or is he is he going to be back this week? Mike: I don't think he's gonna be back. It's not definite yet though. No No, he's not he's not. Jamal Smith: So, you know, we're going to have a weakness there on the field. Mike: He's he's got having surgery, so he's not gonna be back. Yeah, Q's got surgery coming up, right? Jamal Smith: Wait, Queen Yacht, damn. Joe: No. Yep. No, tank has a surgery or something, right? Yeah. Yeah yeah. Jamal Smith: So, I know Tank Bigsby definitely has surgery. Mike: yeah. Jamal Smith: I wasn't sure how, like what the severity of Queen Yacht's injury Mike: Let's see. Jamal Smith: is. But if he's not gonna be on the field, I don't even. Yeah. Mike: He's listed as questionable. Initial diagnosis Joe: Yeah. Mike: is hoped. It was no more than a bone bruise, though further medical testing was scheduled to evaluate the joint. Jamal Smith: So chances are even if he's on the field, he's not going to be 100%. And it could potentially, yeah. Mike: He was limited at practice today. Jamal Smith: Well, no, mean, I'll wrap it Joe: So go ahead, Jamal, finish up. Mike: I mean that's not horrible. That he was limited. Jamal Smith: up real quick. You just need some lime. We need good linebacker play and we got to make tackles. can't be fucking arm tackling and diving at people. Stay on your fucking feet and end these drives. Mike: What were you gonna say, Joe? Joe: So we were talking about Jalen Hurts and you know what we need to and that the line's bad because that's gonna be the talking point like all for the rest of the season probably. The offensive line is bad. The offensive if you go around the league and you watch Patrick Mahomes, okay, he hasn't always had the best offensive line in front of him. You know how franchise quarterbacks neutralize that, that weakness that they have built in their team, not having a great offensive line at the top of their drop. Top of the three-step drop or their five-step drop, that ball comes out and they put it on the hands or in the catch radius of a wide receiver. And I haven't seen a defensive lineman break through the line and as soon as he plants on his back foot, someone's in his face. I haven't seen that. I've seen him not get enough time, but he if he is on time and getting the ball out when he's supposed to get it out instead of holding it or whatever, like I think he can. The line isn't as big a problem as Jalen Hurts is right now, is what I'm trying to say. You know, as crazy as that sounds, not having Lane Johnson, not having, you know, Landon Dickerson and and trading the the center away, like his inability to just get rid of the ball on time hurts him. Because how the franchise quarterbacks kind of handle that is they make sure to get the ball out. Because it three step drop, boom. Five step drop, boom. And we're expecting him to do this when he's never done it, which is kind of crazy, you know, to be honest with you. So I, you know, just I think that's it's important to to keep that into perspective. That when he plants that back foot coming out of his drop, that is when the play is designed for the ball. That's when it's designed for the ball to come out of your quarterback's hand. Anything after that, that's decision making. You know, if he decides to hold on it or to tuck it or roll out, if it's not a design rollout, like he's making that decision. And the guy has done that like his entire career. Have we ever said that he's gotten the ball out on time or anything Mike: No. Joe: like that? He's always been a, you know, look around, kind of scramble a little bit and find the guy who's super open, not just regular open, get it in the guy's catch radius and and let your wide receiver make a play. Good quarterbacks do that. And I have yet to see that from him. So Mike: All right. Eagles, Jaguars, London. It's time we put our thoughts to paper. Jamal, winner who's winning? Jamal Smith: Ugh. Mike: And what's the score? Jamal Smith: I'm just keep it simple. I'm gonna go 1324j. Joe: twenty eight to fourteen Jaguars. Mike: Okay. I'm doing this. 2420 birds. I don't say it confidently. Joe: Really? Okay. Jamal Smith: OK. Mike: I'm saying it like I'm desperately trying to convince myself everything's gonna be okay. Jamal Smith: Hehehe. Mike: I think we might f yeah we might finally generate Joe: The NFL is crazy. Yeah, stuff happens. Mike: some offense. I think the defense can create a turnover. We leave London three and two. You know why? Because I refuse to let Joe fly across the Atlantic Ocean to watch. The team lose and ruin his Sunday internationally because they can do that shit for free in Philadelphia. But Joe's spending money Joe: You ain't ruining my Sunday. Mike: and I don't want his Sunday ruined. Joe: I'm having dinner at Fallow tonight, or that night. So yeah. Not knock not I don't know, dude. Mike: Mm that night. Nice. Could be a sad dinner. Jamal Smith: Hahaha. Mike: But anyway, where are we at for our picks for the season? Jamal Smith: let's see. Let me look at my, my picture. Mike: Think I think the person who's probably the closest was Paul. Jamal Smith: Yet, which is Joe: Yeah. Jamal Smith: crazy, who would have thought? He he pulled out. When's the last time we went over this? Did we talk about the joke? Mike: No, we haven't gone over since like week two. Joe: I don't think we talked about last week. Yeah. Jamal Smith: Jesus. Man, my eyes are, yep, so we had Chicago. Mike and I both picked a loss, which, well, we are unfortunately correct. Mike: We got that right. Jamal Smith: Chris, Joe, and Paul picked a win. Let me see, so the Rams, we all picked a win except Paul, so Paul pulled that out. Mike: so me, you, and Paul are now tied. Jamal Smith: Yeah, so we got, ooh, yeah, three, Jesus, three and Me? Mike and I are both 3 and 0. Chris is 2 and 1? Yeah, 3 and 1. I'm sorry. Mike: Well we're three we're we're three and one because we three and one. And Joe: Three and one. It was four weeks, yeah. Mike: so's Paul. With his real picks, right? Jamal Smith: Yeah, with his real pics. Mike: All right. And then Joe and Joe Joe: Not his preseason picks. Mike: and Chris are two and two. Jamal Smith: Which is pretty damn good. It's a tight Mike: Yeah. Jamal Smith: race. Mike: did we all pick a win this week? Jamal Smith: This week, this week's interesting. So Mike, you picked a loss. You picked a loss from the door, yeah. I picked a win, which is starting to feel unfortunate. Chris picked Mike: Ha ha ha. Jamal Smith: a loss. Joe and Paul both picked wins. You know, the upgraded Paul picks. Mike: all right. Okay. All right. That's it for this week's Bros and Birds. Let's just recap. we blew a 10 point lead. Our offense gained 172 yards. We're two and two. Lane Johnson retired. We traded Cam Jurgens. Jahad Campbell may or may not need someone to explain how the repost button works. And now, one of Jamal Smith: Yeah Mike: us five idiots is going across the pond with his Eagles gear to watch the birds play. What could go wrong? Next time you hear from us, we'll have Joe's experiences from London, London, which means one of two things. He's gonna come home celebrating an Eagles win. Or we're all gonna, you know, listen to Joe talk about how he spent an international flight questioning every decision that led to him becoming an Eagles fan. so follow us, bros on birds pod on Instagram, bros on birds podcast on TikTok, bros on birdspod at gmail.com. Like, subscribe, share the show, listen wherever you listen to your podcast, also on YouTube. and if you see Joe in London, say hi to him because he's going to have some items with him that he could give Joe: Yeah. Mike: out to you. he'll be the American wearing Eagles gear, drinking early and complaining about third down place. So basically you won't be able you definitely won't miss him. Go Birds. Joe: will be at I will be at Pass Yunk Ave on Saturday night. So Mike: Which one? Joe: we're gonna go to the one in Waterloo. So if you're there, Mike: Nice. Awesome place. Joe: you see me, say hello. I'll give you like a little little a little souvenirs. Mike: And if you do go there and you happen to have markers or spray paint, you can tag the wall for free. They allow you to do graffiti Joe: Yeah. Mike: on the walls outside of there in the tunnel in London. And London Joe: Yeah. Mike: allows it. Pretty cool. with Jamal Smith: That's dope. Mike: that, I say go birds. Jamal Smith: Go birds!