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Birds Weekly: Eagles Should Probably Get Ball To A.J. Brown Earlier · Inside the Birds: A Philadelphia Eagles Podcast

0:10
Speaker 1: Hi. Once again, everybody, we are glad you are locked
0:12
Speaker 1: and loaded for this week's edition of Bird Weekly. That
0:15
Speaker 1: man right there is a Hall of Famer Rad Dinger.
0:17
Speaker 1: I'm Derek Gunn, and hopefully your heart rate has come
0:22
Speaker 1: down a little bit because for a third insecutive week,
0:26
Speaker 1: this Eagles team keeps you on the edge of your seats.
0:29
Speaker 1: But they find a way to win, which is the
0:31
Speaker 1: most important thing. And Ray, be honest, when it was
0:34
Speaker 1: twenty six seven, did you think this game was over?
0:37
Speaker 2: Yes? I cannot tell a lie I did. I mean
0:42
Speaker 2: there was at that time, early and third quarter, there
0:50
Speaker 2: was nothing. If you were an Eagles fan, there was
0:52
Speaker 2: nothing you could grab a hold of. That makes you good.
0:54
Speaker 2: There was nothing. There was nothing happening, you know. I mean,
0:58
Speaker 2: there was nothing near the well, you know, maybe they
1:01
Speaker 2: can kind of get it together, or they were I
1:04
Speaker 2: mean they were they were out of the game. I
1:06
Speaker 2: mean it was it was the Rams game totally. They
1:08
Speaker 2: were in complete control. So I had no expectation, you know,
1:14
Speaker 2: a little bit, going to as bad as they played
1:16
Speaker 2: in the first half. You know, you're thinking, Okay, they
1:20
Speaker 2: get the ball to start the second half, maybe they
1:22
Speaker 2: put together a drive. They soar and they're back in
1:24
Speaker 2: the game. But then your first possession of the second half,
1:27
Speaker 2: you wind up quarterback at sacked and fumbles. Rams pick
1:30
Speaker 2: it up, and now they put another seven points on it.
1:33
Speaker 2: And at that point I thought, no, there's no way
1:36
Speaker 2: they can come back. Here we are twenty four hours later,
1:39
Speaker 2: and I still can't believe they came back. You know,
1:42
Speaker 2: I'm still trying. I'm still trying to process what we saw.
1:46
Speaker 2: Because that was a good team, Yes it was. That
1:50
Speaker 2: was that. That was not a that was not a
1:52
Speaker 2: just a so so kind of team that came in here.
1:55
Speaker 2: That the Rams, I mean, never going to be a
1:57
Speaker 2: playoff team, There's no question about that. And the Eagles
2:00
Speaker 2: very well may play them again. I mean, this may
2:02
Speaker 2: be a year like last year where you have to
2:04
Speaker 2: beat these guys twice. But for the Eagles to come
2:07
Speaker 2: back and do what they did yesterday pretty damn impressive.
2:11
Speaker 2: I mean, what they did, what they did in the
2:13
Speaker 2: fourth quarter, and what Jalen Hurts was able to do
2:17
Speaker 2: and getting that offense going was was pretty impressive. And
2:21
Speaker 2: I could tell it's really funny. I mean, you can
2:23
Speaker 2: tell a lot by Nick Sirianni's press conference not so
2:27
Speaker 2: much by what he says, but the emotion that he demonstrates.
2:33
Speaker 2: And it was clear that he was pretty emotional about
2:35
Speaker 2: this because he knew this was a big effort by
2:38
Speaker 2: his team and a very very big win.
2:41
Speaker 1: You know. Right to me, it felt like in the
2:43
Speaker 1: first half, this Eagles team was playing not to lose
2:47
Speaker 1: a game. You know, the run calls. They kept trying
2:51
Speaker 1: to run Saquon between the tackles, wouldn't run him to
2:53
Speaker 1: the outside. I don't get I still don't understand that.
2:56
Speaker 1: Why you're not running this man more to the outside.
2:58
Speaker 1: The receivers weren't getting open, or Jalen was just holding
3:01
Speaker 1: the ball too long and would not just put the
3:03
Speaker 1: ball in harm's way in any way, shape or form.
3:06
Speaker 1: Once they jumped out to that seven oz thing lead,
3:08
Speaker 1: it was like this, Okay, we got what we wanted.
3:11
Speaker 1: Now let's just coast from here for a while. And
3:14
Speaker 1: you know, people are screaming, what the heck kind of
3:16
Speaker 1: offense is Kevin Batulo calling here? And of course it
3:20
Speaker 1: had backfired on him over the first thirty minutes.
3:23
Speaker 2: Yeah, it did. It did, and there didn't seem to
3:26
Speaker 2: be I mean, there was nothing there that if you're
3:31
Speaker 2: rooting for the Philadelphia side. There's nothing there to give
3:33
Speaker 2: you any confidence. I mean, you're down, you're down by
3:36
Speaker 2: nineteen points. Yeah, and you're missing Lane Johnson, which is
3:41
Speaker 2: a big loss, and you're getting beaten up on that
3:45
Speaker 2: one side of the line because of it. You're looking
3:48
Speaker 2: at that and say, no, there's no way they can't
3:49
Speaker 2: come back and win this game, not against a good team.
3:51
Speaker 2: They can't. But you know, I think there are there
3:56
Speaker 2: are lessons to be taken away from this, I think,
3:59
Speaker 2: and clearly at this point, Look, the bottom line here
4:04
Speaker 2: is three and oh is three and oh, okay, and
4:06
Speaker 2: you've got you You were three and oh and You've
4:08
Speaker 2: played a pretty tough schedule so far. They've all been
4:11
Speaker 2: close games, they were all nip and tuck in the
4:13
Speaker 2: fourth quarter. But I think that's going to be the
4:15
Speaker 2: way it's going to be most of this season. You
4:17
Speaker 2: and I talked about that last week. I think, you know,
4:20
Speaker 2: strap yourself in because I think you're going to see
4:22
Speaker 2: a lot of games like this. But you know, you
4:25
Speaker 2: come back to it and you say, you know, sak
4:29
Speaker 2: one Barkley averaging three point three yards per carry through
4:32
Speaker 2: three games. You know, at some point that's got to change.
4:36
Speaker 2: You know, at some point the coaches and everybody have
4:39
Speaker 2: to they have to sit down, they have to start
4:41
Speaker 2: figuring out how to get him. I'm not saying back
4:44
Speaker 2: to on a two thousand yard pace. I don't think
4:46
Speaker 2: we're ever going to see that again, you know, but
4:48
Speaker 2: get him back to where he's he's you know, he's
4:51
Speaker 2: cranking out the yards again, and when he's getting the ball,
4:54
Speaker 2: he's getting opportunities to do something with it, because right
4:57
Speaker 2: now he's not.
5:00
Speaker 1: I think I think the word is out crowd the
5:05
Speaker 1: line of scrimmage, take your chances against the receivers one
5:08
Speaker 1: on one, because I don't think and I said this
5:12
Speaker 1: in our first show, I don't think Saquan is going
5:14
Speaker 1: to get close and obviously not after three games the
5:17
Speaker 1: two thousand yards of this season, but I do still
5:19
Speaker 1: believe he can get to twelve or thirteen hundreds, which
5:22
Speaker 1: is still an outstanding season. But it's not going to
5:26
Speaker 1: be easy because I just believe everybody from here on
5:28
Speaker 1: end is going to try to duplicate what Dallas did,
5:31
Speaker 1: Duplicate what the Chiefs did, duplicate you know, what the
5:35
Speaker 1: Rams did. We're not going to give Saquon holes to
5:37
Speaker 1: run through. Whatever he gets, he is going to have
5:40
Speaker 1: to earn it, and we're going to force you to
5:41
Speaker 1: beat us other ways. And so far they have found
5:44
Speaker 1: other ways to beat their opponents.
5:45
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's right, and I think that you've seen it
5:49
Speaker 2: now for three games.
5:50
Speaker 1: You've seen that.
5:51
Speaker 2: You've seen the defensive approach of the opposition, and it's
5:56
Speaker 2: absolutely what you said. It's going into it and saying
5:59
Speaker 2: we got to stop Barkley. You know, we got to
6:02
Speaker 2: stop Barkley. And so you're seeing them jamming the line
6:05
Speaker 2: of scrimmage, filling up the box, run, blitzing, bringing guys downhill.
6:10
Speaker 2: I mean that's they're all attacking a line of scrimmage
6:13
Speaker 2: because that's where they feel like they have to start.
6:15
Speaker 2: They have to stop Barkley to have a chance. Okay,
6:19
Speaker 2: I get that. I think the Eagles what what I
6:24
Speaker 2: have my feeling is, you know, I think they're playing
6:27
Speaker 2: into the hands of the other team by running right
6:29
Speaker 2: into it too long. You know, I think if if
6:32
Speaker 2: teams are going to do that, and it makes perfect
6:34
Speaker 2: sense that they're doing that, then you as the other team,
6:38
Speaker 2: have to turn that to your advantage. Okay, if they're
6:42
Speaker 2: going to load up at the line of scrimmage here
6:43
Speaker 2: and they're going to sell out to stop Saquon Barkley.
6:47
Speaker 2: That's going to give us opportunities in the passing game
6:49
Speaker 2: that we have to take advantage of. You know, we
6:52
Speaker 2: have to come out, we have to start taking advantage
6:54
Speaker 2: of some of these one on ones, throw some passes,
6:57
Speaker 2: make some players in the passing game, makes big plays
7:00
Speaker 2: in the passing game, and then have them rethink their coverage,
7:04
Speaker 2: say okay, we can't do that. We got to back off.
7:07
Speaker 2: We got to play a little bit more coverage now
7:09
Speaker 2: and then give yourself a little more breathing room at
7:11
Speaker 2: the line of scrimmage, and then you can turn Barkley loose.
7:14
Speaker 2: I think, right now, that's what I if the way
7:19
Speaker 2: I look at it, I think you've got to come
7:21
Speaker 2: out now and maybe throw the ball a little bit
7:24
Speaker 2: more earlier to try and loosen up the defense to
7:27
Speaker 2: make it easier to run. And you know, I mean,
7:30
Speaker 2: to me, that seems pretty fundamental and pretty basic, but
7:35
Speaker 2: I think that's kind of where you got to go.
7:37
Speaker 2: And you know, you're if you're looking at this Tampa
7:40
Speaker 2: Bay team that you're going to be playing this week,
7:42
Speaker 2: right now their defense is they're very good against the
7:45
Speaker 2: run and just kind of so so against the pass.
7:48
Speaker 2: So I don't think I want to come out running
7:51
Speaker 2: running it right into that that front, But I think
7:54
Speaker 2: I would like to try and start throwing the ball
7:56
Speaker 2: and listen, it wouldn't be the worst thing to start
8:00
Speaker 2: getting the ball of A. J. Brown early in games.
8:02
Speaker 1: Whoa.
8:04
Speaker 2: I mean, it seems like every game you're going into
8:06
Speaker 2: halftime and he hadn't touched the ball yet. He's too
8:09
Speaker 2: good for that to happen. I mean, I just think
8:12
Speaker 2: they got to find a way to get the ball
8:13
Speaker 2: to their playmakers in the passing game, starting with him
8:16
Speaker 2: sooner and earlier in the games.
8:18
Speaker 1: You know, that first half was abysmal. They couldn't run
8:21
Speaker 1: the ball, they couldn't complete passes. They had four straight
8:24
Speaker 1: three and outs. From your seat, what were you seeing
8:27
Speaker 1: in terms of what the offense couldn't do. I'm looking
8:31
Speaker 1: at them and I'm like, you have guys open, and
8:35
Speaker 1: not wide open, but open enough to throw the football.
8:38
Speaker 1: You got sequa running between the tackles instead of running
8:41
Speaker 1: to the outside. Let that man get on the edge
8:44
Speaker 1: and lower his shoulder or wiggle and do some of
8:46
Speaker 1: the moves that we've grown accustomed him seeing over last season.
8:49
Speaker 1: But yet they did the opposite of what we were
8:52
Speaker 1: hoping they would do. And I don't know if it's
8:56
Speaker 1: Patullo still trying to learn his position as he goes along,
9:01
Speaker 1: or if they just basically came out with cobwebs in
9:05
Speaker 1: the first thirty minutes of this game.
9:07
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think that, Well, maybe we were partly responsible
9:12
Speaker 2: for it, because I remember we were doing the show
9:14
Speaker 2: last week, You and I were looking at this matchup,
9:19
Speaker 2: and I remember saying, and I'll admit to it, that
9:24
Speaker 2: I thought this was going to be the week that
9:26
Speaker 2: Saquon broke out. You know, I thought that, Look, I
9:31
Speaker 2: didn't think he was going to go for two hundred
9:33
Speaker 2: and fifty five the way he did and break all
9:36
Speaker 2: the records. But I said, you know, he's he's due
9:39
Speaker 2: to have one of those games. And I really felt
9:41
Speaker 2: that the way the Eagles offensive line was able to
9:44
Speaker 2: handle the Rams front seven last year, that they could
9:48
Speaker 2: probably do that to a fair degree again, and this
9:51
Speaker 2: was going to be the week that they were going
9:52
Speaker 2: to get Saquon rolling, and that didn't even come close
9:56
Speaker 2: to happening. So I I was surprised. I was surprised
10:02
Speaker 2: that the Rams were as stout as they were. I mean,
10:04
Speaker 2: I knew they were going to sell out to try
10:05
Speaker 2: and stop Barkley, but the fact they were able to
10:08
Speaker 2: do it to the degree that they did it surprise me.
10:11
Speaker 2: And I was expecting the Eagles to start counterpunching sooner
10:17
Speaker 2: than they did. I mean, they got they didn't start
10:19
Speaker 2: doing it till they were down twenty six to seven,
10:22
Speaker 2: and you know, look, they were able to come back
10:23
Speaker 2: and win the game. Good for them, but I just
10:27
Speaker 2: thought that they needed to that adjustment that you saw later.
10:31
Speaker 2: I would have liked to have seen them ad just
10:32
Speaker 2: sooner because I thought in the first half they offensively
10:35
Speaker 2: they I mean, they just completely stalled out.
10:38
Speaker 1: You know, Lane Johnson goes down with a stinger, and
10:41
Speaker 1: they put Matt Pryor at right tackle and were sitting
10:45
Speaker 1: in the studio with Rai Dinger and mar F Rozenna
10:49
Speaker 1: as we're, you know, watching the game to get ready
10:51
Speaker 1: for a Verizon postgame show, and I'm thinking, what the
10:54
Speaker 1: heck are they doing putting Matt Pryor at right tackle.
10:57
Speaker 1: He's a decent guard, but that man has there's no
11:00
Speaker 1: business being at the tackle position number one, number two?
11:04
Speaker 1: How many times can you cut this guy and bring
11:06
Speaker 1: them back? I don't even know if he should be
11:08
Speaker 1: on a roster ray.
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13:17
Speaker 2: Yeah, I thought the same thing. I thought the same thing.
13:20
Speaker 1: I thought.
13:21
Speaker 2: I was surprised when they brought him back. But my
13:24
Speaker 2: thinking was, Okay, you need a backup swing guy. Okay,
13:27
Speaker 2: I kind of get it. But to me, I mean,
13:32
Speaker 2: if he's a guard, he's a guard. If he's anything, yeah,
13:36
Speaker 2: I mean he can. Can he play in there?
13:39
Speaker 1: Yeah?
13:39
Speaker 2: A little bit. Uh, but you're sure as heck, don't want.
13:43
Speaker 2: I'm outside he is not a tackle, he's killed he is.
13:49
Speaker 2: He is not a tackle. Uh. And the fact that
13:52
Speaker 2: they the fact that they did that and they had
13:54
Speaker 2: Fred Johnson sitting on the bench made no sense to me.
13:58
Speaker 2: When I saw Lane, when I when I heard that
13:59
Speaker 2: Lane was out, I figured, okay, Johnson's going to go in.
14:03
Speaker 2: I mean I looked up and I saw it was prior.
14:05
Speaker 2: I couldn't I couldn't imagine what they were thinking, because
14:10
Speaker 2: what happened was actually pretty predictable. You know, Matt Pryor is,
14:13
Speaker 2: he's not a tackle. He's just not Johnson is. And
14:17
Speaker 2: you saw that when they made the change and they
14:19
Speaker 2: put Johnson in, then the Eagles offense looked a whole
14:23
Speaker 2: lot better, you know, and not just and not just
14:25
Speaker 2: in terms of pass protection, but they also ran the
14:28
Speaker 2: ball better. You know. Johnson is a I mean, he
14:32
Speaker 2: was a backup here. Before and when they needed when
14:34
Speaker 2: they needed him, he played well. He was there. Why
14:38
Speaker 2: they went to Prior first, except for maybe the fact,
14:40
Speaker 2: you know, the Prior was here the whole preseason, uh,
14:43
Speaker 2: and they felt like he had full understanding of the offense.
14:47
Speaker 2: Johnson came in later. Maybe that's what influenced him to
14:51
Speaker 2: make that decision, but it was pretty obvious pretty quickly
14:54
Speaker 2: that it was the wrong decision, and when they made
14:57
Speaker 2: the change to Johnson, the offense seemed to function a
14:59
Speaker 2: whole lot better.
15:00
Speaker 1: I would go so far as to say one of
15:03
Speaker 1: the best moves how He made this year was bringing
15:07
Speaker 1: Fred Johnson back because there were teams out there that
15:11
Speaker 1: wanted him and I don't know what how he did
15:12
Speaker 1: to lure him back, but getting him back, especially after
15:16
Speaker 1: what we saw yesterday, kudos to Howie for somehow, some
15:20
Speaker 1: way getting this guy back in the fall, because if
15:23
Speaker 1: he wasn't there yesterday, there's no telling what might have happened,
15:26
Speaker 1: not just to the team, but Jalen, because Jalen was
15:28
Speaker 1: getting wrecked in that first half.
15:30
Speaker 2: Listen, the one sack that became the I mean, that's
15:36
Speaker 2: that is a clean shot, and that's the kind of
15:40
Speaker 2: hit that could put a quarterback out for a few weeks,
15:44
Speaker 2: maybe put him out for a season. I mean, I
15:46
Speaker 2: know Jalen's a strong, tough guy, but you don't want
15:49
Speaker 2: him taking hits like that. You just don't. And that
15:53
Speaker 2: was that was pretty scary. But when Johnson came in there,
15:56
Speaker 2: I mean he played really well. And you know, I
16:00
Speaker 2: mean we saw this this offensive line in the preseason,
16:04
Speaker 2: the guys that they were playing, and none of the
16:07
Speaker 2: starters were playing except for Steen. None of the starters
16:10
Speaker 2: were playing. And frankly, I didn't think that group looked
16:14
Speaker 2: at I was worried about that group. I mean, my
16:16
Speaker 2: feeling after watching them after the preseason with man, if
16:18
Speaker 2: the Eagles get any injuries in the offensive line, they're
16:20
Speaker 2: gonna be in trouble. I don't know that any of
16:22
Speaker 2: these guys can play. And I think how he saw
16:26
Speaker 2: the same thing and that's when he made the move
16:28
Speaker 2: and he brought Johnson in and that and that helped
16:30
Speaker 2: a lot. But that's that's a concern, you know. I mean,
16:35
Speaker 2: you watch Landon Dickerson playing right now. He's a good player, man,
16:39
Speaker 2: He's I mean, he is a legit Pro Bowl player,
16:41
Speaker 2: has been, and justly so. But Gunner, he's struggling right now. Yes,
16:47
Speaker 2: and I think it's like multiple I think he's not
16:50
Speaker 2: just got like one physical problem. I think he's playing
16:52
Speaker 2: through a couple of them. And good for him. I mean,
16:55
Speaker 2: I give him credit for being a tough guy and
16:57
Speaker 2: playing through it, you know. But right now he's you know,
17:01
Speaker 2: he's not playing like landeron Dickerson, and that's one of
17:04
Speaker 2: the things that's hurting his team right now. And I
17:07
Speaker 2: will give credit to Steen, who was sort of a
17:10
Speaker 2: question morek coming into this. Nobody knew how he was
17:13
Speaker 2: going to step into that right guard spot, and there'll
17:16
Speaker 2: be a big drop off from Beckton to him. I
17:19
Speaker 2: actually think he's played pretty good. And you look at yesterday,
17:23
Speaker 2: I mean he had to play with three different right tackles.
17:26
Speaker 2: He had three, you know. He started with Johnson, you know,
17:29
Speaker 2: and and then goes to Pryor and then goes to
17:31
Speaker 2: Johnson again, and it's that's not easy to do. But
17:35
Speaker 2: I thought, I thought over the course of the whole game,
17:39
Speaker 2: I thought that he played pretty well, and actually through
17:41
Speaker 2: three games, to me, he has played pretty well.
17:45
Speaker 1: You know, when you're talking about Dickerson, obviously he's in
17:48
Speaker 1: some kind of pain that the team is not letting
17:51
Speaker 1: onto at this particular time. But you know, I saw
17:55
Speaker 1: Poona Ford, who's like the five three hundred and ten
17:58
Speaker 1: pound nose tackle for the Rams, go up under him
18:00
Speaker 1: a couple of times to put pressure on Jalen. Now
18:03
Speaker 1: that's a little difficult when you got a guy who's
18:04
Speaker 1: six five sixty six blocking down on a guy who's
18:08
Speaker 1: five to ten. But obviously on those couple of plays
18:11
Speaker 1: that I saw, Landon was not moving his feet the
18:15
Speaker 1: way we were accustomed to see him move his feet,
18:18
Speaker 1: which leads me to believe that whatever's bothering him sometimes
18:22
Speaker 1: affects his foot placement and his foot motion as well.
18:27
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think so. I mean, we've seen him over
18:31
Speaker 2: the last couple of years. He can He's a dominating player, man,
18:36
Speaker 2: I mean he is. He is strong, he is powerful,
18:40
Speaker 2: he moves better than you would think.
18:42
Speaker 1: And the.
18:45
Speaker 2: Pairing of he and my lot on that left side,
18:48
Speaker 2: I mean, at this point they know each other so
18:51
Speaker 2: well that they work together so well that that left
18:55
Speaker 2: side of the line is really good. I mean, you
18:57
Speaker 2: look at some of most of I think Barkley's big
19:01
Speaker 2: runs last year when he broke off and took the
19:04
Speaker 2: big runs. We're running off of that side. And you know,
19:08
Speaker 2: right now, I think Milana is still playing, still playing
19:12
Speaker 2: well in the grades would reflect that, but Dickerson struggling,
19:16
Speaker 2: you know. And look, I know he's going to try
19:18
Speaker 2: and play through it because he's just that kind of competitor,
19:21
Speaker 2: but it's it's affecting him for sure. And you know,
19:26
Speaker 2: I don't know where where we are with Lane Johnson
19:29
Speaker 2: right now in terms of his availability for this week.
19:32
Speaker 2: But if he's not, if he's not ready to go
19:35
Speaker 2: next Sunday, I don't see them going back to Matt Pryor.
19:38
Speaker 2: I mean, if they don't have Lane Johnson, I think
19:39
Speaker 2: now Fred Johnson is absolutely the way to go.
19:43
Speaker 1: We touched on Jalen for just a second a moment ago.
19:48
Speaker 1: Minus one yard passing in the first half, minus one
19:52
Speaker 1: yard passing in that first half. Second half, after Jalen
19:56
Speaker 1: fumbled at football, he put this team on his back.
20:00
Speaker 1: They dared him to throw the football, and all of
20:02
Speaker 1: a sudden, the light switch, light switch went on. He
20:04
Speaker 1: couldn't miss ray in the second half. Basically, I mean,
20:07
Speaker 1: you know, we know what he is. Phenomenal athlete, a
20:13
Speaker 1: good passer, he's not the strongest I'm out there, But
20:15
Speaker 1: so what the bottom line is can he get the
20:17
Speaker 1: job done? And my goodness, did he get the job
20:19
Speaker 1: done on Sunday against the Rams?
20:21
Speaker 2: He did? He played, He played really good. And I
20:24
Speaker 2: think that, you know, for all of the complaining and
20:29
Speaker 2: second guessing, and you know, people wondering about the passing game,
20:33
Speaker 2: and they're right twenty ninth, they're right thirtieth. No touchdown
20:37
Speaker 2: passes through two games, blah blah blah. And a lot
20:41
Speaker 2: of criticism directed at the quarterback and you know, some
20:44
Speaker 2: of the some at the offensive coordinator, but a lot
20:46
Speaker 2: of at the quarterback, which I don't quite grasp. I
20:50
Speaker 2: don't understand it, but you know, it's it's in part
20:54
Speaker 2: just the nature of playing the position in Philadelphia, you know.
20:58
Speaker 2: I mean I've been following Eagles football, covered Eagles football
21:01
Speaker 2: since since Sonny Jurgensen was a rookie. Wow, And I've
21:06
Speaker 2: seen I've seen them all come through here. Uh, you know,
21:09
Speaker 2: the good, the band, the ugly, uh, and they all
21:13
Speaker 2: get it, you know. I mean, if you're playing quarterback
21:15
Speaker 2: in this town is not easy. Playing quarterback in the
21:18
Speaker 2: NFL is not easy. But playing quarterback in Philadelphia is
21:22
Speaker 2: really not easy. And I mean, here's a guy that's
21:26
Speaker 2: just won the Super Bowl, was her MVP. Uh, And
21:29
Speaker 2: here we are there already questioning him and asking, you know,
21:32
Speaker 2: is this his proven year. I mean, things like that
21:36
Speaker 2: will drive you crazy. But I thought that this this
21:39
Speaker 2: game was a real example of what he did in
21:42
Speaker 2: the second half of doing exactly what you said, which
21:45
Speaker 2: is nothing's working. We're not running the ball at all
21:49
Speaker 2: right now. If we're going to get back in this game,
21:52
Speaker 2: we're gonna have to throw our way back into this game.
21:54
Speaker 2: And he did it, and I thought it was really funny.
21:57
Speaker 2: If you look at the historians went and looked up,
22:00
Speaker 2: when's the last time the Eagles came back from a
22:02
Speaker 2: nineteen point deficit in the second half to win a game,
22:07
Speaker 2: And the last time was the Deshaun Jackson walk off
22:11
Speaker 2: punt return game up at the Meadowlands back at twenty ten.
22:15
Speaker 2: And if you remember the play that kind of jumps
22:20
Speaker 2: start at the Eagles on that comeback, that crazy comeback
22:24
Speaker 2: that they wound up winning. The play it was sending
22:28
Speaker 2: Brent Selick down the scene and Michael Vick hit him
22:32
Speaker 2: down the scene with a pass. Selick took it in
22:34
Speaker 2: for a long touchdown, and that seemed the lightest spark,
22:39
Speaker 2: and the Eagles came back and won the game on
22:41
Speaker 2: Deshaun Jackson's punt return his time ran out. This time,
22:47
Speaker 2: the play that got them going again was the tight
22:49
Speaker 2: end down the scene. It was Dallas Goddard. It turned
22:53
Speaker 2: he was actually a little more wide open than Selick was,
22:55
Speaker 2: but he catches the ball and it just felt like,
23:00
Speaker 2: to the question that you asked me first that I
23:01
Speaker 2: think the team was dead, yeah, I kind of did,
23:04
Speaker 2: but I have to tell you when they hit the
23:07
Speaker 2: touchdown pass to Goddard, I just felt like that was
23:11
Speaker 2: a spark and I felt like at that time, you know,
23:14
Speaker 2: they got a chance right now, you know, all of
23:16
Speaker 2: a sudden, that changed my whole feeling about the game,
23:19
Speaker 2: and I thought, you know, these guys could these guys
23:21
Speaker 2: could come back and get back in this game right now.
23:23
Speaker 2: And it's so funny that the play that started the
23:26
Speaker 2: big comeback in the Meadowlands yep and twenty ten was
23:29
Speaker 2: the seam routes of the tight end and in this
23:32
Speaker 2: game exactly the same different quarterback, different tight end, but
23:35
Speaker 2: the same route and the same result.
23:38
Speaker 1: You know, I've talked to a lot of people about
23:39
Speaker 1: this right and I've had my opinion, and I've never
23:43
Speaker 1: had a chance to ask you your opinion. Describe what
23:47
Speaker 1: Jalen Hurts is in terms of how you view him
23:51
Speaker 1: from the quarterback position. You know, we like to put
23:54
Speaker 1: quarterbacks on the elite status very good status, good status,
23:59
Speaker 1: subpar status. You've covered this game a long time, You've
24:03
Speaker 1: covered some of the greatest quarterbacks in the history of
24:05
Speaker 1: this game. Obviously, the quarterback play has changed significantly over
24:09
Speaker 1: the last ten years compared to when you and I
24:11
Speaker 1: both started covering pro football. In terms of today's modern quarterback,
24:16
Speaker 1: describe Jalen Hurts if you can and the best way you.
24:20
Speaker 2: Can the best way, and it comes off as a
24:28
Speaker 2: it'll sound like a cliche, but I don't know any
24:31
Speaker 2: other I don't know any better way to say it.
24:32
Speaker 2: He's just a winner. Yeah, he's just a winner. I mean,
24:36
Speaker 2: from week to week, what you need, what you need
24:41
Speaker 2: him to do, he'll do. I mean, if you need
24:45
Speaker 2: him to run the ball, he'll run it. If you
24:46
Speaker 2: need him to push push it, he'll do that. If
24:48
Speaker 2: you need him, if you're behind it you need to
24:50
Speaker 2: throw it, he'll do that too. Whatever it takes to
24:53
Speaker 2: win the game is what he'll do. And at this point,
24:58
Speaker 2: I mean, I don't know how many more time he
25:00
Speaker 2: has to prove it. I mean of this team's won
25:02
Speaker 2: nineteen of its last twenty games, I mean never, they
25:06
Speaker 2: have never had a run like this in their history.
25:09
Speaker 3: Hey, you know that one guy in the group chat
25:11
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25:14
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25:17
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25:18
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27:41
Speaker 2: I mean the history of this franchise that have never
27:43
Speaker 2: won nineteen out of twenty ever ever. So if you're
27:47
Speaker 2: on that kind if you're on that kind of track,
27:49
Speaker 2: and you're having that kind of consistent success, winning week
27:54
Speaker 2: after week after week, finding ways to win week after
27:57
Speaker 2: week after week against all dimmer Kinds opponents, then you
28:02
Speaker 2: got to go to the guy who's the trigger man.
28:04
Speaker 2: And and he's obviously, from week to week he's doing
28:08
Speaker 2: he's making the plays that allow you to win, and
28:12
Speaker 2: more importantly, he's not making the mistakes that will cause
28:16
Speaker 2: you to lose. And that's kind of where Hurts is
28:19
Speaker 2: at this point in his career. And I think that
28:24
Speaker 2: few a little bit to the beginning of this year,
28:28
Speaker 2: this team and the coaching staff, and I understand it,
28:32
Speaker 2: were so wrapped up in the idea of winning giveaway
28:37
Speaker 2: takeaway in other words, and it starts with don't turn
28:40
Speaker 2: the ball over. Don't turn the ball over, and that
28:43
Speaker 2: is preached and that is practiced with this team every day,
28:45
Speaker 2: and I understand it. I mean, if you look at
28:48
Speaker 2: giveaway takeaway across the NFL, that's absolutely the bottom line
28:52
Speaker 2: between winning and losing teams. I totally get that, but
28:55
Speaker 2: it seemed to me with some of the play calling now,
28:58
Speaker 2: it just seemed so conservative and some of the formation
29:04
Speaker 2: allocation fell to me in very predictable patterns that I
29:09
Speaker 2: think they became an easier team to play against. And
29:12
Speaker 2: I think they have to kind of review all that
29:14
Speaker 2: and maybe loosen it up a little bit now moving forward,
29:17
Speaker 2: because you don't want to have you don't want to
29:20
Speaker 2: have Barkley average and three point three yards per carry
29:23
Speaker 2: for a week. I mean, I don't nobody expects them
29:25
Speaker 2: to do two thousand yards again, you don't, I don't
29:27
Speaker 2: nobody should, but I think they can get him back
29:31
Speaker 2: to be in a game changing back. I mean, a
29:35
Speaker 2: hundred yard can pretty consistently kind of back. But they
29:38
Speaker 2: need to loosen up the defense a little bit more,
29:41
Speaker 2: get them off the line of scrimmage. And the way
29:42
Speaker 2: to do that is by throwing the ball. And you
29:46
Speaker 2: have excellent receivers here. You have Brown, you have Smith,
29:50
Speaker 2: you have Goddard, you have Dodson in the slot. I
29:53
Speaker 2: mean you have It's not like you have substandard receivers.
29:56
Speaker 2: I mean you have a group of receivers that's as good,
30:00
Speaker 2: not better than anybody in the league. You got to
30:03
Speaker 2: run through them sometimes too, And I think that might
30:06
Speaker 2: be something that Eagles might want to think about moving forward. Now,
30:09
Speaker 2: what changes this and what has to be part of
30:12
Speaker 2: your thinking now and I'm going to be real curious
30:15
Speaker 2: to see how this plays out is Todd Bowles has
30:19
Speaker 2: given Jalen Hurts a lot of trouble now, Yeah, And
30:24
Speaker 2: I mean his you know, his blitzing is both relentless
30:29
Speaker 2: and very clever. He's a very good guy at disguising
30:32
Speaker 2: blitzes and he will bring blitzes from all angles at
30:35
Speaker 2: any point in the game. And he has been a
30:38
Speaker 2: really tough coach for Hurts to play against. And I
30:42
Speaker 2: think that's going to be the challenge for Hurts and
30:45
Speaker 2: for Patulo and for Nick Siriani. This week is to
30:49
Speaker 2: put together a game plan. Look, they know what Todd is,
30:52
Speaker 2: they know what he's going to do. In that sense,
30:54
Speaker 2: he's fairly predictable. The Eagles need this week to figure
30:58
Speaker 2: out a better plan to take down to Tampa than
31:01
Speaker 2: the one they took down there the last couple of times.
31:04
Speaker 1: Ray go back to the Eagles offensive line for just
31:06
Speaker 1: a moment, because I'm just thinking now, even with Lane
31:09
Speaker 1: in there, we were talking about how defenses are stacking
31:12
Speaker 1: the box against the Eagles offensive line. But if you
31:15
Speaker 1: go back to last year, teams also stacked the line
31:17
Speaker 1: of scrimmage, but they were able to move people consistently
31:20
Speaker 1: off the ball, I e. Which led to Saquon getting
31:23
Speaker 1: his two thousand yards. Why do you think it's so
31:25
Speaker 1: different now. I've seen offensive line and miss blocks. I've
31:30
Speaker 1: seen them not sustaining blocks in some instances. But I
31:36
Speaker 1: don't understand why they're having such difficulty finding a measure
31:41
Speaker 1: of consistency, whether it's in the second quarter, third quarter,
31:44
Speaker 1: or fourth quarter in terms of freeing up Saquon more.
31:48
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, simply put, they just haven't played that well.
31:54
Speaker 2: I mean for an offensive line that is as as
31:58
Speaker 2: good as you know, this is for an offensive line
32:01
Speaker 2: that is as decorated as they are, with Pro Bowl
32:05
Speaker 2: invitations and everything, they haven't played as well they I mean,
32:10
Speaker 2: they just have it now. Part of it we already
32:11
Speaker 2: talked about Dickerson to you and I both feel he's
32:14
Speaker 2: he's he's playing, but he's playing. Hurt. Jurgens to me
32:19
Speaker 2: has uh has struggled, you know, and I, I mean,
32:24
Speaker 2: he played really good last year. I was Pro Bowl,
32:26
Speaker 2: Pro Bowl player, he was, but we know he had
32:30
Speaker 2: back surgery in the off season. You know, maybe that's
32:32
Speaker 2: still bothering them. And right now the offensive line is
32:38
Speaker 2: just not playing up to the level that we're used
32:40
Speaker 2: to seeing them play. Now. Part of it is of
32:44
Speaker 2: that whole group. Stein's the only one who played in
32:47
Speaker 2: the preseason, so I think in some in some ways,
32:51
Speaker 2: these guys are just sort of trying to get round
32:53
Speaker 2: into shape and developed their timing, not just in terms
32:58
Speaker 2: of past protection, but they're timing and the running game.
33:00
Speaker 2: You know, they're good, they're good players, but they're not
33:04
Speaker 2: where they need to be or they we have we
33:07
Speaker 2: were used to seeing them being. I think that they'll
33:11
Speaker 2: we know how good they are, and I think over
33:13
Speaker 2: the course of the season, assuming we don't develop a
33:17
Speaker 2: whole bunch of injuries here, over the course of the season,
33:19
Speaker 2: they're going to get there, you know. And over the
33:22
Speaker 2: course of the season, this offense is going to get
33:24
Speaker 2: to be in the kind of offensive machine that was
33:26
Speaker 2: seen it be before. I would fully, I fully expect that,
33:30
Speaker 2: But right now they're just not right there. It's a
33:32
Speaker 2: combination of they need some more work coming out of
33:35
Speaker 2: an early, inactive preseason, and they were thrown into a
33:39
Speaker 2: meat grinder of a schedule to start the season, and
33:42
Speaker 2: those things together have got what is what we know
33:45
Speaker 2: to be a really good offensive line not playing and
33:49
Speaker 2: dominating opponents the way we've seen them in the past.
33:51
Speaker 2: But do I think they can get back to that, Yeah,
33:54
Speaker 2: I think they I think they will. It's just hasn't
33:56
Speaker 2: We just haven't seen it yet.
33:58
Speaker 1: I don't know what vic vagh Angels said to his
34:00
Speaker 1: guys at halftime, but man, it was a tail of
34:03
Speaker 1: two halves in terms of the way his defense played.
34:06
Speaker 1: Rams ran up and down the field their first half,
34:08
Speaker 1: but the way they attacked the middle of that Eagles
34:10
Speaker 1: defensive front and we're gashing them for yards with Karen
34:13
Speaker 1: Williams and the kid korm Blake Korum. Just I was
34:17
Speaker 1: baffled at how easily the Rams were able to run
34:19
Speaker 1: the football up the middle, but somehow, someway they were
34:21
Speaker 1: able to clamp down in the second half after that
34:24
Speaker 1: initial gaff which allowed the Rams to go up twenty
34:27
Speaker 1: six to seven, they got the Rams off the field offensively.
34:31
Speaker 1: They stuffed them a couple of times on fourth down situations,
34:35
Speaker 1: but they played a much better scheme in that second half,
34:39
Speaker 1: and obviously Pook and the Coupa got his But outside
34:42
Speaker 1: of that, I mean, they shut down DeVante Adams. You know,
34:45
Speaker 1: Tyler Higbee was nowhere to be found. And overall, I
34:49
Speaker 1: don't know what Vic said to these guys, but man,
34:52
Speaker 1: it was like the light switch came on when they
34:55
Speaker 1: needed it most.
34:56
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's very funny, Chris. We've seen this now before.
35:01
Speaker 2: I mean, in the first half of games, the other
35:04
Speaker 2: teams are moving the ball and scoring points. In the
35:06
Speaker 2: second half, the Eagles defense shuts them down. So we've
35:09
Speaker 2: seen this before, and Vic has been asked about it
35:14
Speaker 2: several times in press conferences, and people ask them about
35:18
Speaker 2: adjustments halftime adjustments, and Vic just pooh poos it, no
35:24
Speaker 2: such thing. There's not enough time, you know, not enough
35:27
Speaker 2: time and halftime to make any adjustments. Really well, you're
35:31
Speaker 2: doing something, I mean that's pretty obvious. But I was
35:35
Speaker 2: a little I was a little surprised that the Rams
35:39
Speaker 2: were able to run the ball as effectively as they
35:41
Speaker 2: were early. I mean, they were just going up the
35:44
Speaker 2: middle and getting five to six at a pop and
35:47
Speaker 2: making it making it look really easy. But you know what,
35:50
Speaker 2: I think one of the real keys to the game
35:53
Speaker 2: is because everybody, everybody just thinks about what happened at
35:58
Speaker 2: the end, uh, and the was come back and that
36:02
Speaker 2: final drive and then obviously the black field goal. Everybody
36:05
Speaker 2: sort of concentrates on all of that, which was wildly entertaining.
36:11
Speaker 2: Uh and just nutty in the way it was playing out.
36:14
Speaker 2: I mean it was it was all of that. But
36:18
Speaker 2: I think you got to kind of dial it back
36:20
Speaker 2: to the early part of the game when the Rams
36:22
Speaker 2: were really moving the ball and the fact that the
36:25
Speaker 2: defense was giving up yards and they didn't look great,
36:28
Speaker 2: but they were stopping. They were stopping the Rams in
36:31
Speaker 2: the red zone.
36:32
Speaker 1: Uh.
36:32
Speaker 2: You know, the Rams had four red zone drives and
36:35
Speaker 2: they only got one touchdown out of it, you know,
36:37
Speaker 2: and there were there were a lot of possessions and
36:39
Speaker 2: a lot of yards gained, and but they were kicking
36:43
Speaker 2: field goals, kicking field goals, kicking and to the point where,
36:48
Speaker 2: from what I understand, there's a lot of second guessing
36:50
Speaker 2: of Sean McVay in LA right now, yep, about you know,
36:54
Speaker 2: the way he coached his game, because he's you know,
36:56
Speaker 2: he's sort of one of those offensive guru types who
37:00
Speaker 2: also is a very analytics driven kind of play caller,
37:04
Speaker 2: who generally those kinds of guys aren't guys who kick
37:10
Speaker 2: field goals, you know, I mean, they're looking for the
37:12
Speaker 2: big score. I thought that McVeigh played quite conservatively, maybe
37:18
Speaker 2: more conservatively than normal in that game. Yeah, and it
37:21
Speaker 2: hurt him, you know, it hurt him. Settle into those
37:23
Speaker 2: field goals left them in position where even at twenty
37:26
Speaker 2: six seven, you don't think there's going to be a comeback,
37:29
Speaker 2: but there was. And I think they would have liked
37:33
Speaker 2: to have had some of those points that they left
37:34
Speaker 2: on the field earlier. But the Eagles defense, even though
37:37
Speaker 2: they didn't play great in the first half, and they
37:38
Speaker 2: didn't I mean, it was almost two hundred fifty yards
37:40
Speaker 2: they gave up, but they were keeping them out of
37:43
Speaker 2: the end zone and just close enough if they were
37:45
Speaker 2: able to catch him in the second half.
37:47
Speaker 1: I would go so far as to say, when you
37:49
Speaker 1: look at who the catalyst is on this Eagles defense,
37:53
Speaker 1: I would say, right now, it has to be Jordan Davis.
37:55
Speaker 2: I agree.
37:56
Speaker 1: Through three consecutive games, Join Davis has been the rock
38:01
Speaker 1: of stability along that defensive front. Now, Jalen Carter, obviously
38:04
Speaker 1: he missed the first game, but Jordan Davis losing that weight,
38:08
Speaker 1: controlling his area of the line of scrimmage, disrupting plays obviously,
38:15
Speaker 1: now obviously two it's a money year for him. But
38:19
Speaker 1: you know, kudos to how he was smart enough to
38:20
Speaker 1: sign him to that fifth year extension for next year.
38:24
Speaker 1: But for whatever reason, Jordan Davis has matured a lot
38:31
Speaker 1: better than I think we thought. But this was also
38:35
Speaker 1: the Jordan Davis we thought we were going to see
38:37
Speaker 1: as a rookie. It just took him a little bit
38:40
Speaker 1: while longer to get acclimated to what was asked of him.
38:43
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think you used the right word when you
38:46
Speaker 2: said mature. I think he has really grown up. In
38:52
Speaker 2: terms of and I don't mean that kind of maturity.
38:54
Speaker 2: I'm talking about it on his level of understanding of
38:58
Speaker 2: what it means to be a professional and play professional football.
39:03
Speaker 2: I mean, look, Georgia, Georgia is big time college football.
39:06
Speaker 2: It's about as big time as college football gets. But
39:09
Speaker 2: pro football is yet another level here. Uh, And sometimes
39:13
Speaker 2: it takes guys a little while to understand that this
39:17
Speaker 2: is a real job, you know, and there is not
39:20
Speaker 2: just as simple as going out and play any game
39:21
Speaker 2: or even just practicing. There are things that you have
39:23
Speaker 2: to do in terms of dedicating yourself to your craft
39:26
Speaker 2: to become the player that you're capable of being. And
39:30
Speaker 2: you know, Jordan was, I was. I was a defender
39:33
Speaker 2: of his over his first couple of years because I
39:35
Speaker 2: liked the guy and I thought that people were being
39:39
Speaker 2: a little unfair in the way they were talking about him.
39:42
Speaker 2: People are starting to call him a bust, I mean,
39:44
Speaker 2: which I which I didn't see at all. I mean,
39:47
Speaker 2: I thought he was a I think he's a good
39:48
Speaker 2: run defender. Look, did I wish he could play more
39:51
Speaker 2: snaps in the game. Wish he was on the field
39:53
Speaker 2: a little more? Yeah, Okay, but I started didn't think
39:55
Speaker 2: he was playing poorly, right, but you saw what you
40:00
Speaker 2: saw this year when he went the offseason and really
40:02
Speaker 2: dedicated himself to his conditioning. I mean lost thirty pounds,
40:06
Speaker 2: which I mean that just doesn't happen by accident. You
40:08
Speaker 2: have to work to do that, and he did, and
40:11
Speaker 2: he's come back and he has been really good, starting
40:15
Speaker 2: right away with the first game, the Dallas game. You know,
40:18
Speaker 2: Carter gets kicked out before you can play a snap,
40:22
Speaker 2: and Davis had to play so many snaps in that game,
40:25
Speaker 2: and he played great, you know, and then he played
40:27
Speaker 2: really good in Kansas City, and then he played even
40:30
Speaker 2: better in this game against the Rams. You know, he's
40:36
Speaker 2: a rare talent. He really is. I mean, everybody talks
40:40
Speaker 2: about Carter being that, and he is. But don't dismiss
40:45
Speaker 2: what a special kind of player Davis is. I mean,
40:47
Speaker 2: I remember at the Combine when he came out. I
40:53
Speaker 2: still I still have my notes from that.
40:58
Speaker 1: I'm not surprised.
41:00
Speaker 2: I'm still on my notes from that. When he tested
41:02
Speaker 2: at the Combine, I still wrote it down. He measured
41:06
Speaker 2: him at six feet at six feet six and three
41:10
Speaker 2: hundred and forty one pounds was what he was what
41:12
Speaker 2: he weighed in at there. But you know, when they
41:15
Speaker 2: tested him, he did a thirty two inch vertical, he
41:20
Speaker 2: did ten feet from a standing to a standing long jump, okay,
41:25
Speaker 2: and then on the forty he ran four seventy eight. Now,
41:30
Speaker 2: so we all knew he was a good player. I mean,
41:32
Speaker 2: he he was college Defensive Player of the Year by
41:34
Speaker 2: the Maxwell Club. He won the Chuck Benerick Award, So
41:37
Speaker 2: we knew he was a good player. But it wasn't
41:39
Speaker 2: until you saw him at India you realized what a
41:42
Speaker 2: freakish athlete he was, you know, And that's when everybody's
41:46
Speaker 2: expectations just sort of went crazy. And the Eagles pick
41:49
Speaker 2: him high in the draft and he came in and
41:52
Speaker 2: I always thought he played well, but to this point,
41:56
Speaker 2: I mean, he's never been what he is right now.
42:00
Speaker 2: The conditioning part of it, getting in shape part of it,
42:02
Speaker 2: and I think just learning the ways of the NFL
42:06
Speaker 2: has taken him up to a spot where I agree
42:08
Speaker 2: with you. I mean, we came into this season and
42:10
Speaker 2: everybody kind of said, well, the whole defense revolves around
42:14
Speaker 2: Jalen Carter, and in some sense it does because he command
42:16
Speaker 2: some many double teams right now through three games. If
42:19
Speaker 2: you're looking for who the most productive guy on the
42:22
Speaker 2: defensive line is, it's been Jordan Davis. I mean, you
42:26
Speaker 2: make the case for Zachbond being overall, but in terms
42:30
Speaker 2: of what's happening up front, Jordan Davis is playing lights out.
42:34
Speaker 1: When you go through a game of adversity the way
42:37
Speaker 1: the Eagles did in this game, you know, you gotta
42:39
Speaker 1: have all three phases. You got to have offense contribute,
42:41
Speaker 1: which they did in the second half. Defense sec picked
42:44
Speaker 1: it up in the second half. Special teams they get
42:47
Speaker 1: not one, but two block field goals. And you know,
42:52
Speaker 1: Nick Sirianni said in his press conference on Monday that
42:55
Speaker 1: we practice blocking field goals as much as we do
42:59
Speaker 1: practice seeing field goals itself. And obviously, Ray they saw
43:03
Speaker 1: something with the Rams left guard, because that's where Davis
43:07
Speaker 1: and Carter stacked up over the left guard, penetrated, blocked it,
43:11
Speaker 1: and of course then Jordan Davis minus thirty pounds, Jordan Davis,
43:16
Speaker 1: the rocket stability, took off like he was Carl Lewis
43:19
Speaker 1: down the field.
43:20
Speaker 2: It's really true, and they did. I mean, they saw
43:24
Speaker 2: something there. They saw a gap that they could hit
43:27
Speaker 2: and get and get through and get a shot at
43:30
Speaker 2: block and the kick. And they did it not once,
43:32
Speaker 2: he did it twice. And I mean, it's funny. Around
43:35
Speaker 2: the NFL yesterday there were a number of block field
43:38
Speaker 2: goals and there wasn't just in this game. There were
43:42
Speaker 2: several games that there were big field goal blocks laid
43:45
Speaker 2: in games that. You know, the way the kickers are
43:50
Speaker 2: in the NFL, now, you you better block it because
43:54
Speaker 2: they ain't gonna miss. You know, if you don't. If
43:57
Speaker 2: you don't block it, it's three points on the board.
43:59
Speaker 2: I mean, these guys, these guys are that good. I
44:03
Speaker 2: remember there was a stat I haven't tallied it up
44:11
Speaker 2: for this most recent set of games, but through two
44:13
Speaker 2: games fifty yard plus field goal attempts all across the
44:18
Speaker 2: league in the first two weeks, thirty five attempted, twenty
44:23
Speaker 2: nine successful.
44:25
Speaker 1: Wow.
44:26
Speaker 2: Beyond thy beyond, I mean, that's I mean to the
44:31
Speaker 2: point where I mean there were a lot of writers
44:34
Speaker 2: around the around the leg that we're writing columns in
44:38
Speaker 2: the last week about this is a problem. I mean,
44:42
Speaker 2: these kickers are too good. It's becoming it's starting to
44:46
Speaker 2: become a field goal kicking contest now, you know. And
44:49
Speaker 2: we're seeing too many long field goals. It's too easy now.
44:53
Speaker 2: And all these ideas were being put out there about
44:57
Speaker 2: what we can do. Can we raise the crossbar, Can
45:00
Speaker 2: we narrow the uprights, I mean all of this. Can
45:03
Speaker 2: we push the back further? Can we calibrate the points,
45:08
Speaker 2: like three points if you're from this distance, two points
45:10
Speaker 2: from this distance. People wanted to People wanted to tear
45:13
Speaker 2: up the rule book and start all over again, largely
45:17
Speaker 2: because they just thought there's just too many. That the
45:20
Speaker 2: kickers are suit are too good now. And so when
45:25
Speaker 2: you're and I gotta tell you, I was thinking it
45:27
Speaker 2: too when he was lining up for that field goal,
45:30
Speaker 2: like forty one yards is nothing to that? Yeah, that's nothing,
45:34
Speaker 2: And I thought, oh, this is a really shame. I mean,
45:37
Speaker 2: the Eagles fought, fought all the way back in this
45:40
Speaker 2: game and are going to lose on a field goal
45:42
Speaker 2: and then lo and behold, here comes Jordan Davis to
45:44
Speaker 2: block it and save the day. But I mean that's
45:48
Speaker 2: I mean, that's the way it is around the league
45:49
Speaker 2: right now. Is these kickers, I mean, they're just they
45:52
Speaker 2: just don't miss. And thankfully the Eagles have a kicker
45:55
Speaker 2: who's who's Who's that good? Too. He's not missing these
45:58
Speaker 2: kicks either. But it's really changed the game. And it
46:02
Speaker 2: has really changed the game.
46:04
Speaker 1: You know, there was a good and the bad when
46:05
Speaker 1: it comes to the Eagles special teams, and my goodness,
46:07
Speaker 1: was their kickoff return bad. Now. I don't know what
46:10
Speaker 1: this Joshua Carty was doing in terms of putting spin
46:13
Speaker 1: on the ball, but man, he had a baffled Now Bigsby,
46:16
Speaker 1: who they brought in, gave up two draft picks to get,
46:19
Speaker 1: you know, to bring in here because of his special
46:20
Speaker 1: teams play. Between him and me and to it was
46:23
Speaker 1: like they had other mits on trying to pick up
46:25
Speaker 1: the football, which cost the Eagles a lot of valuable
46:28
Speaker 1: field position. Now, obviously they're gonna have to work in
46:31
Speaker 1: on that a lot this week because I guarantee you
46:33
Speaker 1: Tampa Bay's gonna try some of the same stuff.
46:36
Speaker 2: Look at where the Eagles drives were starting, yeah, or
46:39
Speaker 2: their drives were starting. I mean I wrote that down.
46:42
Speaker 2: I was just they started nineteen the nine, she's fourteen
46:49
Speaker 2: the ten. That's a tough way to play football with
46:54
Speaker 2: that kind of field position, and it was happening over
46:56
Speaker 2: and over again. I don't know what they do. I
47:00
Speaker 2: really don't know what they do, but they can't keep
47:02
Speaker 2: doing that. I mean, they have to find some answer
47:05
Speaker 2: for it, because I mean, if the Rams had that
47:07
Speaker 2: kind of successful it, other teams are going to try
47:09
Speaker 2: it too, of course, and you watch other teams at
47:13
Speaker 2: other games. I mean this rules thing and this new
47:16
Speaker 2: kickoff thing, I mean, the owners wanted to get competition
47:20
Speaker 2: committee wanted to get more returns in the game. They're
47:22
Speaker 2: retired of the touchback touchback thing, which I understand. But
47:27
Speaker 2: you're saying teams are pretty consistently getting it out the
47:31
Speaker 2: thirty thirty five. I mean, that's pretty common now, and
47:35
Speaker 2: so if that's what most teams are getting, but you're
47:39
Speaker 2: getting the ball at your own ten, you know you're
47:41
Speaker 2: starting you're starting behind the eight ball there. So the Eagles,
47:44
Speaker 2: that's one of the things that the staff there, the
47:49
Speaker 2: special teams guys are going to have to get together
47:50
Speaker 2: and strategize and figure out a way that they can
47:54
Speaker 2: change that and start getting that ball out twenty five
47:57
Speaker 2: or beyond, because that's what they need to start. Part
48:00
Speaker 2: of what the problem is. Part of the problems that
48:01
Speaker 2: the offense was facing yesterday I think was largely because
48:04
Speaker 2: of the badfield position. You know, they didn't want to
48:07
Speaker 2: take a lot of chances because they were starting up,
48:09
Speaker 2: starting to drive so deep. I think that had a
48:11
Speaker 2: lot to do with the play calling too well.
48:14
Speaker 1: It was a nail bider, It was gut wrenching, it
48:17
Speaker 1: was heart stopping. But Eagles Fandom, the land of Eagles Fandom,
48:22
Speaker 1: is a happy place to be this week as this
48:24
Speaker 1: team sits at three and zero, And of course we
48:27
Speaker 1: will be back here to talk more football with you
48:29
Speaker 1: guys next week after the Eagles take on yet another
48:32
Speaker 1: undefeated team in the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Until then, for
48:36
Speaker 1: my colleague and more importantly, my friend Ray did drum
48:39
Speaker 1: Derek Gunn. This has been Birds Weekly, powered by Inside
48:42
Speaker 1: the Birds Salong Everybody,