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OPPOSITION TERRITORY: The NFC East, Week 10 · The Philadelphia Sports Table | Philly Sports News & Views

• 0:00
  Hey, everybody, it is Jeff here, and I wanted to let you
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  know we recorded this podcast episode on Monday, November sixth, twenty twenty three.
• 0:08
  So by the time you hear this, some things may have changed here
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  and there in terms of dynamics within the NFC East, but we hope you
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  enjoyed the show. All right, everybody, you are listening to Opposition Territory
• 0:43
  here at the Philadelphia Sports Table podcast show, the longest running weekly Philly sports
• 0:47
  podcast show in the world, that's right over ten and a half years strong.
• 0:51
  Got a great discussion coming your way here on Opposition Territory. As we
• 0:54
  know, on these particular shows, we preview the next Eagles game. The
• 1:00
  Eagles do not have a game this week. Yes, it is their bye
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  week, Week ten, the bye week for the Philadelphia Eagles, So we
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  are going to be diving into the NFC East in general. We're gonna talk
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  about the Eagles, of course, gonna get into the Cowboys, the Giants,
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  the Commanders, and some narratives that have been going on with these teams
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  during the course of this twenty twenty three twenty twenty four NFL season. We've
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  got a great guest coming up absolutely love talking to her. Let's get right
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  to it and joining us here on our Opposition Territory podcast this week to get
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  into this NFC East we have from fan Buzz and she's got a great substack
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  as well. Love having her on every now and again. Miss Laurie Fitzpatrick.
• 1:42
  Hey you doing, Lorie. I'm doing fantastic. How's it going,
• 1:46
  man, It's it's been. It's great an at least a couple of months
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  or a month and a half since I've been on here last, So I'm
• 1:52
  glad that I'm back on you. It's great to have you back on.
• 1:55
  Absolutely. You know. I love having you on, Laurie, because you
• 1:57
  bring a unique person infective I think, to not just the world of sports,
• 2:01
  but of course the football world in general, especially on this podcast.
• 2:07
  You know, we have a lot of diverse individuals. Come on, but
• 2:08
  you know, you've actually played the game of football. You've played the game
• 2:12
  of football, You've worn the pads, you know, the x's and the
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  o's. That's why we love having you on. Yeah, I've gotten the
• 2:17
  CTE so I can say funny stuff, you know, without any percussions,
• 2:22
  you know, so you know it's it's good stuff. It's fun. Make
• 2:27
  sure you're following Laurie on Twitter at Lori Fitzpatrick. She has a great,
• 2:30
  great follow And let's get into this NFC East because you know, as the
• 2:36
  Eagles have their bye week here, you know, we we saw an incredible
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  game this past week. Eagles just having a big win against the Dallas Cowboys,
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  and they certainly need this bye week to get healthy. And it's it's
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  important, you know, I thinks as Eagles fans, yes, Eagles,
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  they look like the most dominant team in the NFL, if not one of
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  them, and Jalen Hurts is arguably the best quarterback in the league at this
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  point, aside from you know, Lamar Jackson as well. But this team
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  is not perfect, you know, as much as we love that that the
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  game against the Cowboys, I was getting ready to say a beat down,
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  but it really wasn't a beat down at all, but it felt like it.
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  After the win, it felt like, oh my god, they finally
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  beat this team in a way that was was very convincing. I thought,
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  Okay, not from an Eagles defensive standpoint, but just from an offensive standpoint,
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  being able to hang with a division rival that is a talented team in
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  the Dallas Cowboys. So you look at this Eagles team, there are some
• 3:36
  deficiencies. What should they be most concerned about as we're moving to the second
• 3:42
  half of the season, as they're evaluating who they are what they are in
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  this bye week. What are your thoughts on this Philadelphia Eagles team and what
• 3:49
  should they really be concerned about? Lorie, Well, it's it's crazy because,
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  like I don't know if you've seen that meme where it's like there's the
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  Eagles logo and like the first part is like, we're super excited for this
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  Eagles team or this Eagles game. Yeah, and then like pretty much ninety
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  percent of the logo is like you're super anxious, and then like five percent
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  is just like, wow, how did they win? Yeah? Like that's
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  the entire season. I feel like, so like they're they're dominant, but
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  like they're also like why do they have to give us anxiety attacks like and
• 4:24
  heart attacks storing these games? Like one of the biggest concerns in my head,
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  and when I watch this team is the defense. I just feel like,
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  you know, they're they're not fast enough in the secondary, they're old.
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  You know, they they're playing they're playing more man to man instead of
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  zone, and it's because you know, they don't have their two safeties that
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  they had last year. Yeah, so I think defense is a big concern.
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  Their offense somehow pulls it together, yes, Like but they they really
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  only use like two or three guys on their offense, you know, A
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  J. Brown, Devant Smith, and now Goddard is out. So that's
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  a big concern for me, is you know, do they have enough threats
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  on their depth chart in order to handle you know, the rest of the
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  season. Are they they're pretty much just relying on a J. Brown and
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  Devonte Smith. Then you can do that because they're great players. They're really
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  hard to stop. But like when if the offense has a terrible if the
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  offensive line has a terrible game like they had against the Jets, then they're
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  gonna lose. It's just like it's it's rough because like I feel like there's
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  just such little leeway with like every part of the team. It's just like
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  can they handle the whole rest of the season, Like they pretty much have
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  to play perfect because like their their depth isn't really there, So it makes
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  me nervous they're there. Their starters are obviously good enough, like better than
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  good enough, because they're you know, they're a and one now. But
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  it's just like is that sustainable? You know, they're going against a pretty
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  good second half of the schedule, you know they you know, after they
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  the Chiefs, Bills and Niners and Cowboys, it's pretty much a free ride
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  after that. But those four games after this bye week is going to be
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  the biggest four games of the season. Yeah, But luckily they already went
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  eight and one, so it's pretty much they have to go. Like Tom
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  Brady, at this point, if they lose, it really doesn't matter because
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  they're already eight one, so like, yes, it's important, But on
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  the other hand, like they already won these games that they needed to win,
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  so I'm not as worried. I'm just like thinking about the sustainability when
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  they get to that, you know, when they when they get to the
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  playoffs. You know. Yeah, well, I think coming out of the
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  buy, we're gonna have to see a little bit more from the rushing attack
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  with this with this offense, because I mean DeAndre Swift, Yeah, he
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  had eighteen carries, only forty three yards. He was averaging two point four
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  yards per carry in the game. Against Dallas and Kenneth Gainwell, you know
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  they everybody's saying, you know, he had that quote bounce back game,
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  but he was given the ball three times, give it all three times.
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  He ran for twenty two yards, yes seven point three yards per carry there,
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  and had a touchdown as well. But I think we're gonna need to
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  see some more from the rushing game given the fact that, yes, Dallas
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  Goddard is going to be out for some time. As of us recording this,
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  we're not sure how long he's gonna be out. Don't know if his
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  season is over, but it's I don't know. I think the rushing attack
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  for this Eagles team is really gonna need to ramp it up as they did
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  earlier this season to start the season. Yeah, they need to. They
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  need Boston Scott back too. Yeah, he was he was out for a
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  personal reasons. I think I'm not really sure what's going on with him.
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  When he did play against the Commanders, he didn't get the ball at all,
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  So I'm not really sure you know what is going on with that.
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  But yeah, something definitely needs to happen with this running back crew because you
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  can't rely on you know, uh, Jalen hurts to get it done without,
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  you know, without a number one tight end. Yeah, absolutely,
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  like you mentioned, so that's definitely something you know, we all got to
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  kind of keep our eye on. Absolutely. All Right, Well, let's
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  get into this next little exercise with regard to the Philadelphia Eagles before we head
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  into the Dallas Cowboys, New York Giants, and Washington Commanders too. On
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  our opposition territory pod here looking at the NFC East, let's give some grades
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  to some of these Eagles units over the course of the season so far.
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  And just a brief reason as to why you gave that specific grade, Lourie,
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  for looking at this running back unit, what grade would you give them
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  at this point in the season and why? Uh So, the running back
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  unit, I'm gonna kind of it's so tough, right because they need to
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  be better. Yeah, but you know, when you look at Swift,
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  he's actually playing some of the best football that he's played in his career.
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  So you know, it's tough either a B minus or C plus. Yeah,
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  but you know, I'm gonna go with a C plus just because in
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  general, like as a whole unit, I don't think they're playing as good
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  as they should be. Yep, So okay, yeah, it's tough,
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  all right. Well let's move to the offensive line here. There's certainly been
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  some challenges, specifically with the right guard position. Tyler Steen rookie made his
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  first start because Cam Jurgens has been out. There's just been a lot of
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  movement with regard to that right guard unit. But overall they're still one of
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  the best offensive lines in the NFL, but again having some challenges on the
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  right side in that chemistry with Lane Johnson too with regard to the right guard
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  spot. So anyway, what grade would you give the offensive line thus far?
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  And why I'm gonna go with the A minus only because they rely on
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  them to win. Yeah, and you know that one game when they were
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  just injury ridden and they didn't win, Like, you can't really lower their
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  grade because of that. Like just like this is my own personal opinion,
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  but when players are considered a bust because they get injured, I just don't
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  think that's fair. Yeah, you know, I think they should be a
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  bus because of their talent alone. You know, after they get drafted.
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  Maybe they played really well in NANC Double A, but them getting injured shouldn't
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  really hinder their overall grade. So that's why I'm gonna stick with the A
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  with the O line because they're literally, you know, the bread and butter
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  of this team. Jason Kelsey is just you know, super dominant, just
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  like Lane Johnson is, you know, Mantalla and Dickerson. You know,
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  there's just one of the best of offensive lines in football. So yeah,
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  they're in a no matter what. Yep, I think that's fair, very
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  fair. All right, let's head over to the defensive side of things.
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  What do you get the defensive line in terms of a grade? Because I
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  think we've seen some ups and downs with this unit in particular, but overall
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  pretty solid. Brandon Graham coming through big time against the Dallas Cowboys the first
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  matchup of the season. Uh just he only played eighteen snaps, but boy,
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  I gotta tell you, Brandon Graham getting it done. What do you
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  think of this Eagles defensive line? Greade to give them? Then? Why
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  this is so tough? Right because I feel like they're not super consistent,
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  but they're consistent when you need them to be. Yeah, so like to
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  win the game, they can do that, But like all game, where
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  are you? Like? I understand they're pressuring Prescott. They were. So
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  that's why I give them a solid B because they are getting it done when
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  they need you know, when they need them the most. But it's just
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  like, I don't know, I just wish they had more sex, obviously,
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  but it's just like at the end of the game when you need them,
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  they step up and they you know, and they get it done amazingly
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  enough. Hassan reddick Man ten plus sacks over the past three seasons. He's
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  getting it done. He's definitely getting it done for sure. Well, I'm
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  wondering, as we're moving along here the last unit, I'd like for you
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  to grade and give us a brief description a reason why the secondary a secondary
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  that has had so many challenges. They're not the greatest secondary in the NFL
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  by any stretch of the imagination. What grade do you give him? And
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  why? So? I give them a C almost almost a C minus.
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  Yeah. Yeah, definitely like they're old, you know, like they have
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  someone some of the oldest defenders, you know, Bradbury's getting up there,
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  Sleigh is getting up there, and they're not playing to their strengths. So
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  teams are able to kind of pick this defense apart because they're not a man
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  man to man man coverage type of defense, as we all know from even
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  Bradberry's days. You know, with the New York Giants, he cannot cover
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  ext receivers man's man. He just can't. And when you have to rely
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  on his speed, he's gonna get burnt every single time. So when teams
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  isolate him to one side. And for some reason, the Eagles are playing
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  the most cover one in the NFL, which makes zero sense because they're not,
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  you know, a team that's supposed to be playing manda man but they're
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  playing that now. Just I don't know why. You know, maybe they're
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  maybe they're you know, their safeties aren't as good in coverage, and they're
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  better manned man, but it's just like they're just not consistent across the board
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  in terms of their you know, in terms of their play styles. And
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  they have a new they have a new defensive coach, right, So it's
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  just I still think they're kind of getting it together. You know, blanken
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  Ship, you know, he's better in zone, but they're playing twenty nine
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  man a man. Yeah, So I just think they're getting beat with those
• 13:37
  rub routes. You know, when teams are coming out in bunch formations and
• 13:41
  they need to have more communication. And you got Eli Rix covering CD Lamb
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  like in the nickel or in the slot, when when Eli Rix isn't even
• 13:52
  a slot defender, like he's better on the outside. But it's just like
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  you don't really want to take Bradberry out, like you don't want to put
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  him in the slot. So it's just like there's injuries and it's just like
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  you know, it's tough. Yes, So I just don't think that they're
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  getting it together enough for that great to be any higher. It's gonna be
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  communication, yeah, C minus fair grade, I think. But as we're
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  moving along here, I really think in terms of the Cowboys that you know,
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  the Dallas Cowboys, and uh, I should say after the game against
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  the Eagles this past weekend, Dak Prescott once again just wasn't able to come
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  up with a big play in crunch time. Loriie, I think it is
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  fair to continue saying he's a very good NFL quarterback, but he's not really
• 14:39
  anything special to write home about. I'm at that point with Dak Prescott where
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  he's been on the verge of being something where it's like he could be great,
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  but now because in crunch time he consistently falls short. How do you
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  describe and analyze Dak Prescott as a quarterback in this league at this point in
• 14:58
  his care man, He's not good when it matters. That's like to how
• 15:05
  to like sum it up. And it's a shame because you're right, like
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  if you look at his numbers, he plays. He played really well yesterday,
• 15:13
  but there were two plays specifically that you have to put the blame on
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  him. And when you look at a team and you look at it superstars
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  of the team, they have to step up when it matters most, and
• 15:28
  he's just consistently falling short in late games, like he it's a complete collapse.
• 15:35
  So there was one play it was you know, it was one of
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  their last drives. I believe it was where where he's not good when it
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  comes to like processing that's outside of structure, like outside of the structures plays
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  and he has to maybe like scramble and make a decision. He's always failing.
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  And so at that one play where he forced it to see thee lamb
• 15:58
  on the outside and it was it was broken up. He had his tight
• 16:03
  end over the middle wide exactly and it's just like, oh, the broadcast
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  is like, oh, well, you want to give it to your best
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  player and give him a chance, you know, when the game's on the
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  line. But it's just like no, like you give it to the wide
• 16:17
  open player, like because if if the if it isn't there, then it's
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  not there. Like, don't don't put it all on Ceedee Lamb to make
• 16:25
  a play when he has no like way to make the play. So and
• 16:30
  I just think, you know, Prescott is Prescott's always doing that. He's
• 16:34
  always kind of doing too much when he should just read the field like calm
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  down, Like I don't know, he gets like the jitters or something when
• 16:44
  it matters most, Like he's not like processing it correctly, Like how do
• 16:48
  you step out of bounds that that's a short touchdown? I thought it was
• 16:52
  a touchdown like on the when what we were watching the game, We're just
• 16:55
  like, well, that's it, you know, that's a touchdown right there,
• 16:57
  Like they run it back. Could not believe these stepped out. It's
• 17:00
  just like you beat that guy. Like he's not like using his head correctly
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  when it matters most he just gets flustered. Yeah, So it's just you
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  know, he's a great, you know, playmaker on the stat sheet when
• 17:15
  you uncheck that filter playoff include the playoffs exactly. So yeah, that's you
• 17:22
  know, really what you chalk it up. Fourth quarter he is the fourteenth
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  you know, best EPA, which just isn't good enough. And he's twenty
• 17:30
  seventh in net yards in the fourth quarter in so in in my opinion,
• 17:33
  he's just not good enough when it matters most Absolutely, that's Dak Prescott in
• 17:37
  his career, folks. That's that's who he is. But when you look
• 17:41
  at the Dallas Cowboys on the defensive side of the ball this season, Laurie,
• 17:45
  I mean, yes, they have some injuries and especially you know,
• 17:48
  within their secondary and some say it's hampered their ability to really compete in the
• 17:52
  NFC East and in the NFC in general, which I really don't buy at
• 17:56
  all. I mean, good teams are able to combat injuries, and the
• 18:00
  depth on certain teams needs to just step up. And I'm wondering, how
• 18:03
  do you see this Dallas Cowboys team kind of taking that next step, that
• 18:10
  defense taking that next step even you know, can they with this current roster
• 18:15
  are they able to do it? You know, you look at the the
• 18:18
  remainder of their schedule, and they have a lot of winnable games coming up,
• 18:21
  one of them being Carolina. They've got the New York Giants next week,
• 18:25
  and I think to myself, you know, are they gonna be able
• 18:27
  to take that next step? I'm just not sure. What do you think
• 18:30
  in terms of, you know, this current roster with them. It's tough
• 18:33
  because like you kind of go back a little bit too, you know,
• 18:37
  to Dak Prescott and the injuries with the offensive line. But even if they
• 18:45
  were fully healthy, is he going to be that same Dak Prescott collapses under
• 18:48
  pressure. So like, but the O line is, you know, is
• 18:53
  a concern when it comes to injuries. But on the other side of the
• 18:56
  ball, when you look at the defense, they're just not enough when it
• 19:00
  comes to getting turnovers. Like I mean, they have a good turnover differential,
• 19:06
  it's not about that, you know. I think they're like sixth or
• 19:10
  seventh in turnover differential. But you want to be a little bit higher than
• 19:14
  that if if you want to be one of the best teams. Yeah,
• 19:18
  you know in the in the NFL, where are they Cowboys? Yeah,
• 19:22
  one, two three, So they're sixth in turnover differential. But they're I
• 19:26
  just feel like they're not getting enough pressures outside of Micah Parsons. Yeah,
• 19:30
  Like he's clearly one of the best defenders in the NFL. But outside of
• 19:34
  him, you know who is pressuring these quarterbacks? You know, if you
• 19:38
  double him, you know who else is? I mean, yeah, he
• 19:41
  can get past the double teams a lot of the science, but who else
• 19:45
  is getting pressures? Right? There's not really anybody. They're twenty second in
• 19:48
  pressures like as a team, as a unit, you know obviously you know,
• 19:53
  yeah, not great. So they need another pass pressure like that can
• 19:57
  be more of an impact, and not just on the outside. I'm talking
• 20:00
  about in the middle too. You know, you can have those guys then
• 20:03
  put pressure up the middle and kind of get that done. But I think
• 20:06
  that's something that they're missing, is is maybe something more on the defensive line.
• 20:12
  All right, very good again, folks. We're talking to Lori Fitzpatrick
• 20:15
  and you should follow her on Twitter. She's a great, great follow at
• 20:18
  Lori Fitzpatrick and some great, great NFL analysis that she's auditioning out every now
• 20:25
  and again. And Laurie, let's move on to the New York Giants here.
• 20:29
  I mean, Jesus, what an absolute mess this team and this organization
• 20:33
  are. I mean, I mean Daniel Jones having a really bad and an
• 20:37
  unfortunate season. Just about an hour before us recording this news came out that
• 20:42
  he tore his acl He's done for the year. I'm wondering, like,
• 20:47
  what, what do you think is the biggest reason for the New York Giants
• 20:49
  demise this season? Because, I mean, they're coming off a season when
• 20:55
  Coach of the Year Brian Dable was right there leading the charge. You know,
• 20:59
  I was not too happy about Brian Dable being Coach of the Year last
• 21:02
  year. Of course, I thought it should have been Nick Sirianni. However,
• 21:06
  you know Brian, David Pearson, Doug Person, Dougy Pete too exactly.
• 21:11
  But like you look at Brian Dable and this team is now a mess
• 21:15
  under him. And again, yes, a lot of injuries with this team,
• 21:19
  but it seems to be more than that with this New York Giants team.
• 21:23
  It's just a team that gave up after a couple of weeks. At
• 21:27
  least that's how it seemed to me. I don't know, what do you
• 21:30
  think is the biggest reason for this Giants demise. I think the biggest reason
• 21:34
  for their downfall happened in the offseason, and that was signing Daniel Jones instead
• 21:41
  of their playmaker Saquon Barkley. I think that's where everything fell apart, because
• 21:45
  Daniel Jones was never good enough to get that contract, never good enough right
• 21:51
  at all. They fooled himself out of the thinking that he was. I
• 21:52
  think, yeah, like, what the hell like if you looked at his
• 21:56
  stats from play action to non play action and he relied on play action completely,
• 22:02
  And you can't get anywhere with you know, a non dynamic offense.
• 22:07
  And if you're just one dimensional, I don't see how like how you're gonna
• 22:11
  be suddenly innovative and beat teams with with the players that you have. I
• 22:17
  don't really think they have, you know, great wide receivers. Their O
• 22:19
  line is horrible. Daniel Jones stinks. I mean, I just like,
• 22:26
  the only good player is Saquon Barkley. And it's just like when you don't
• 22:30
  I understand that the running back position is just like a dying position, but
• 22:36
  not for a team that solely relies on it in that position, and I
• 22:40
  think that you put a lot of you know, bad tastes in people's mouth
• 22:44
  when you just completely disrespect to take on Barkley, and I think like them
• 22:49
  as a unit, it's hard for them to get together, you know,
• 22:52
  when you don't have like an X receiver to be able to get it done.
• 22:57
  Yeah, I just and then the whole with Daniel Jones him getting injured,
• 23:02
  he had already gotten injured, but before his injuries, he he was
• 23:06
  exposed terrible for what he truly was. And so I think the injury is
• 23:11
  just like this is just like a weird psychological thing that I that I think
• 23:17
  that happens, Like when you're a football player and like you get exposed and
• 23:21
  you know that you're not good, it's just like you kind of hesitate,
• 23:23
  and when you hesitate, you get injured. And like when you're not confident,
• 23:29
  you get injured. When your team knows that they're not confident enough,
• 23:33
  they get injured too. It's just like something psychological that happens, like when
• 23:38
  when you know you're not like playing the best that you can, it's just
• 23:42
  you're you're you're liable to injuries. And I just think it's a reflection of
• 23:48
  how good your team is. And some people say, like they'll use the
• 23:52
  excuse, Oh, they got the injuries, that's reason why. No,
• 23:56
  it's because like the injuries are are there because they're not good en all right.
• 24:00
  You don't see the best teams in the NFL injury ridden. You just
• 24:03
  don't. You can see one player the injury ridden, and then they can
• 24:07
  somehow, you know, make up for it with their depth chart. But
• 24:11
  it's just like when everybody's believing in your team, you're just not getting injured.
• 24:15
  Like that's just something that doesn't happen. I think it's a great angle.
• 24:18
  Yeah, it's a great angle to contemplate and think about. You know,
• 24:22
  for folks who are listening to this, you know in the NFL,
• 24:26
  you know, yes, you know, injuries do happen. But it's those
• 24:30
  teams and those players who are able to bounce back from the injuries and the
• 24:33
  and the psychological component of what how it all intertwines together. It's really quite
• 24:40
  fascinating. So it's a great, great topic and great great point, Laurie.
• 24:42
  And as we finish our conversation here, we of course need to get
• 24:47
  into the Washington Commanders, because look, the Commanders seem like they play really
• 24:52
  good football. Sometimes. You know, we saw it against Philadelphia Eagles twice
• 24:56
  this season. They played some good football. Their quarterbacks, Sam Howe played
• 24:59
  pretty good football against Philadelphia Eagles. Then again, they play some bad football
• 25:03
  every now and then, and a bunch of stuff in between as well.
• 25:07
  So with the trade of you know, Chase Young and Montes Sweat recently,
• 25:11
  they know that they need to completely retool this team in the future. And
• 25:15
  actually give them a lot of credit for noticing that, understanding that they weren't
• 25:19
  going to be doing anything from a long term perspective with their current roster.
• 25:23
  They needed to go back to the drawing board. How do you see that
• 25:26
  retooling taking shape in the future with this Washington Commander's team. It's tough,
• 25:33
  Like they're such a weird team. Yeah, you know, if you look
• 25:37
  at you know their schedule and who they beat and who they lost to.
• 25:41
  Yeah, just like how do you let the Broncos score thirty three points?
• 25:49
  You know, like, yeah, you beat them, but it was by
• 25:52
  two points. Yeah, and they're one of the worst teams in football,
• 25:56
  but they lose to everybody that's half decent. Then you get walloped by the
• 26:00
  Bears. It's just like what's like, it's like hard to put a finger
• 26:04
  on the type of team that they are. You know, so I think
• 26:11
  when when you look at like like I pulled up sis so Sports Info Solutions
• 26:17
  and you look at like the EPA, well, I do a lot.
• 26:19
  Sam Howell's like one of the like for some reason, he's like somehow I
• 26:23
  should say he's like one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL. Right,
• 26:26
  He's incredible right now? Yes, yeah, but it's just like, but
• 26:30
  he's not consistent enough. And I guess it's just like the type of roster
• 26:34
  that they have. Maybe they just like, you know, they're not fluid
• 26:37
  enough together, but like they are getting a little bit of turnovers where they
• 26:41
  shouldn't, you know, nine interceptions. But they also they have a lot
• 26:45
  of blown blocks from their offensive line. So maybe it's just their offensive line
• 26:49
  that they kind of need to get together in order for their team to gel.
• 26:52
  And you know, everybody listening they're Eagles fan, right, you know,
• 26:59
  Eagles bread and butter. And the reason why they're good is because of
• 27:02
  the offensive line. And that's just something across the NFL. You're not a
• 27:04
  good team unless you have an offensive line. Unless you're you know, Joe
• 27:07
  Burrow in twenty twenty and somehow you lead the league and getting sacked the most,
• 27:12
  but you're still a really good team, which is really strange, but
• 27:15
  that's an anomaly. Otherwise, you need to have a good offensive line if
• 27:18
  you want to be a good team. So I think maybe that's something that
• 27:22
  they could kind of work on in order to kind of get a little bit
• 27:25
  better as a team. But you can't let the Broncos score thirty three points.
• 27:30
  So then on the defensive side of the ball, like their defensive line
• 27:33
  is good, so maybe it's just their secondary I haven't really watched them enough
• 27:37
  to give it like a to pinpoint where they go wrong because they're so like
• 27:44
  unpredictable like the Bears, and then you beat like, yeah, you lose
• 27:48
  the Bears, then what you know, you beat the Eagles. It's just
• 27:52
  I don't really understand them, Yeah, exactly, almost beating the Eagles,
• 27:56
  almost beat eight to thirty one, Like how like, how do you play
• 28:00
  so well? It's just really confusing. It absolutely is again, folks,
• 28:04
  Lauri Fitzpatrick. You can find some of her work on fan Buzz. Also
• 28:10
  check her out on substack as well, and Laurie was great talking to you.
• 28:14
  Thank you so much for jumping on our Opposition Territory pod this week.
• 28:15
  Talk about the NFC East and come back to join us down the road.
• 28:19
  I'd love to talk to you. Yeah, man, when when the Jaguars
• 28:22
  get into the AFC, you know, wild card or whatever, We're gonna
• 28:26
  jump back on. Absolutely. Laurie is a fan of the Jacksonville Jaguars,
• 28:30
  and I remember talking. You know, I grew up in Soul Jersey.
• 28:33
  Yeah, my whole family is Philly, so I know a lot about them.
• 28:34
  But you know, don't don't kill me, guys. I've always ready
• 28:38
  for that. Yes, I've always heard of the Jaguars. Doug e p.
• 28:41
  Absolutely got a root for Doug ep for sure. So we'll talk about
• 28:45
  them more down the road, Laurie. The Eagles are obviously the dominant team
• 28:49
  here in the NFC East, and it was proven in that awesome win over
• 28:55
  the Dallas Cowboys. Yes, it was a nail bier, but it was
• 28:56
  an awesome win at the end of the day, and it really showed how
• 29:00
  much distance I think is between the Eagles and the Cowboys. Look the Dallas
• 29:06
  Cowboys, they have talented pieces on their roster, but they're just not able
• 29:10
  to compete at the level that the Philadelphia Eagles have been. It's it is
• 29:14
  set in stone. You can see that week by week there is such disparity
• 29:19
  with regard to the Dallas Cowboys team with regard to a variety of stats out
• 29:23
  there, which we're not gonna go over right now, but a lot of
• 29:26
  us have seen them on the Twitter dot com and on various social media sites.
• 29:30
  You know, we know that disparity is there, and quite frankly,
• 29:34
  the NFC East, it's the Eagles to lose. It really is at this
• 29:38
  point. They got some tough games coming out of the by But it's interesting
• 29:44
  what Laurie said as we were ending our conversation with regard to the Washington Commanders,
• 29:48
  because I just don't understand how so many NFL teams are not able to
• 29:55
  comprehend that the offensive line is the end all be all, the trench.
• 30:00
  It is the end all be all to success in the league. And I
• 30:04
  think that is so important for us to realize. It's why the Commanders struggle,
• 30:07
  It's why the Giants struggle, It's why you have some inconsistencies here and
• 30:11
  there with the Dallas Cowboys. From an offensive perspective, yeah, their O
• 30:15
  line is solid every now and again, but when they falter, they certainly
• 30:18
  falter. The offensive line means so much in this league. It's one of
• 30:22
  the main reasons why Philadelphia Eagles are so successful. Oh and by the way,
• 30:26
  they have Jalen Hurts too. So with that being said, folks,
• 30:30
  let's sit back, let's chill out, let's enjoy this Eagles bye week as
• 30:36
  they are eight and one and the best team in the NFL at this point,
• 30:41
  at least from a record standpoint, I think they're the best team in
• 30:42
  the league. So let's enjoy this and look to them coming out of the
• 30:48
  bye week. We're certainly going to be getting into those storylines a lot more
• 30:51
  on this podcast, And if you're not subscribed yet, subscribe to us on
• 30:55
  whatever podcast platform you're on, Rate and review us on Apple Podcast. We
• 31:00
  appreciate that you can find us on a variety of social media websites as well.
• 31:03
  All right, folks, you all take care and we will catch you
• 31:06
  next time.