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The Flyers Are a Mess: Breaking Down the Nightmare Start (PST Episode 688) · The Philadelphia Sports Table | Philly Sports News & Views

0:01
Speaker 1: Thank you. Welcome to the Philadelphia Sports Table Podcast Show,
0:45
Speaker 1: the longest-running weekly Philly sports podcast show in the world,
0:48
Speaker 1: over 13 and a half years strong. Got a great
0:51
Speaker 1: show coming your way this week, as we always do.
0:53
Speaker 1: I'm Jeff Warren, here with my buddy Eric Leonard, better
0:56
Speaker 1: known as the King. Man, it's good to see you.
0:59
Speaker 2: Good to be talking sports.
1:02
Speaker 1: A lot of stuff in life going on that we
1:06
Speaker 1: were talking about prior to hitting the record button.
1:08
Speaker 2: We talked for, what, an hour and ten minutes here? Basically, yeah.
1:11
Speaker 3: For the show?
1:12
Speaker 1: Yeah.
1:12
Speaker 2: There's a lot going on in life.
1:14
Speaker 1: I'll tell you, as we're getting older here, a lot
1:16
Speaker 1: going on. There's family stuff. There's professional stuff going on.
1:22
Speaker 2: I'm telling you, if we did the show the first
1:25
Speaker 2: hour we just talked, and that was the show... Dude,
1:30
Speaker 2: this thing might take off.
1:31
Speaker 1: We'd have 250,000 subscribers by tomorrow.
1:34
Speaker 2: We'd be on Netflix in a week. Yeah, exactly.
1:37
Speaker 1: Yes. Interesting. We do have self-respect, amazingly enough. Well, some
1:44
Speaker 1: of us do.
1:48
Speaker 2: Oh, boy.
1:49
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm not kidding. There's an individual in my life
1:53
Speaker 1: who listens to the show, and he's like, he goes,
1:57
Speaker 1: I like the show. He goes, you guys are really
2:00
Speaker 1: good about talking sports. He's like, but when you don't
2:03
Speaker 1: talk about sports, he's like, it's so much better.
2:06
Speaker 2: Yeah.
2:08
Speaker 1: It's my campaign manager who said that.
2:10
Speaker 3: Yeah, I know.
2:11
Speaker 1: I know. Yeah.
2:11
Speaker 2: He's like, yeah, he told me that. And I was
2:13
Speaker 2: just like, Jeff, I've been telling you this.
2:16
Speaker 1: I know.
2:19
Speaker 2: I know it's the sports table, but like, yeah, yeah.
2:21
Speaker 2: Stuff's really fun.
2:22
Speaker 1: We need to, we need to, we need to, we
2:25
Speaker 1: need to like an, an offshoot of like Pablo, you know,
2:29
Speaker 1: Pablo Torres, like we need like an offshoot or something
2:32
Speaker 1: like that. You know, maybe we just don't talk. these
2:35
Speaker 1: five Philly sports teams anymore. You know, maybe we just,
2:38
Speaker 1: I mean, we're, we're, we're dwindling down to teams. We
2:41
Speaker 1: actually want to talk about very true. This show might
2:43
Speaker 1: become the life show. It might actually. Yeah. I mean,
2:47
Speaker 1: first and foremost, folks, we're going to get into the
2:49
Speaker 1: Philadelphia Eagles and what a shit show this is for
2:52
Speaker 1: this team. Holy cow. Unbelievable. We've got two offense, two
2:58
Speaker 1: starting offensive linemen who are here and pro bowlers. All
3:04
Speaker 1: of a sudden.
3:04
Speaker 2: Super Bowl winners. Yes, Super Bowl winners.
3:07
Speaker 1: Gone. Not here anymore.
3:08
Speaker 2: Done.
3:08
Speaker 3: Gone.
3:09
Speaker 1: We're going to be getting into Lane Johnson, Cam Juergens,
3:12
Speaker 1: not on the team anymore. What does this mean, not
3:14
Speaker 1: only for the offensive line, but what does it mean
3:16
Speaker 1: for the trajectory of this Eagles season? I think all
3:18
Speaker 1: of us know at the end of the day. Then
3:20
Speaker 1: we're going to get into some Phillies talk. Alex Cora
3:24
Speaker 1: has turned down the Phillies offer again to be the
3:27
Speaker 1: manager in 2027. Is Don Mattingly going to end up
3:31
Speaker 1: being the guy again? And also we're going to talk
3:34
Speaker 1: about what we want to see in this offseason. And
3:36
Speaker 1: after that, we're going to get into some Sixers talk
3:38
Speaker 1: and what we're throwing down on the table. Ryan Gilbert
3:41
Speaker 1: from BroadStreetHockey.com, the Broad Street Hockey podcast. He's going to
3:44
Speaker 1: join us for a discussion about the horrendous Philadelphia Flyers
3:48
Speaker 1: team and the first four games of the season that
3:52
Speaker 1: we've seen thus far as we are recording this. Seriously,
3:54
Speaker 1: this is a shit show. Everything hinges on the Sixers
3:58
Speaker 1: at this point, Eric.
3:59
Speaker 3: Everything.
4:00
Speaker 2: And that's the... most dangerous comment to make in Philadelphia sports. Yes.
4:05
Speaker 2: Everything hinges on the Sixers and it beats knees.
4:08
Speaker 1: Yes.
4:09
Speaker 2: And a 41 year old LeBron. I'm scared to even
4:12
Speaker 2: say it out loud, but they really are our last
4:13
Speaker 2: hope right now.
4:14
Speaker 1: Absolutely.
4:14
Speaker 2: Well, I will say this too.
4:16
Speaker 1: I know, I know you and I, we don't talk
4:17
Speaker 1: about the Philadelphia union, but the Philadelphia union absolutely is.
4:21
Speaker 1: doing amazing things right after the World Cup break. I mean,
4:26
Speaker 1: they were just winning, and they're just one of the
4:29
Speaker 1: top-ranked teams in Major League Soccer. So I will say
4:32
Speaker 1: the Philadelphia Union, for those soccer fans out there, those
4:35
Speaker 1: MLS fans, the Philadelphia Union are doing some good stuff.
4:39
Speaker 1: So let's talk some Eagles here. Maybe we'll talk for
4:43
Speaker 1: 30 seconds. Maybe we'll talk for 30 minutes about it.
4:48
Speaker 2: I have some comments.
4:49
Speaker 1: Oh my God. Well, I think for me, the biggest,
4:55
Speaker 1: I mean, honestly, it was like a gut punch when
4:57
Speaker 1: I saw that Lane Johnson was retiring. I've mentioned it
5:00
Speaker 1: before on the show. And as my buddies know, I'm
5:04
Speaker 1: a huge Lane Johnson fan, bought his Jersey, his rookie
5:08
Speaker 1: year at the pro shop at the link when I
5:10
Speaker 1: was there, because I followed him when he was at
5:13
Speaker 1: Oklahoma and, I was hoping that the Eagles would actually
5:16
Speaker 1: draft him. Miami Dolphins got to a point where in
5:20
Speaker 1: that draft, I thought they were going to take him.
5:22
Speaker 1: They ended up taking Deion Jordan. And I was like,
5:25
Speaker 1: oh my gosh, Eagles might actually get Lane Johnson. They did.
5:29
Speaker 1: Chip Kelly actually made a fantastic decision there. And one
5:33
Speaker 1: of the greatest to ever play that particular position at
5:35
Speaker 1: right tackle. One of the greatest ever. I'm going to
5:38
Speaker 1: continue to wear my jersey today. until there are multiple
5:42
Speaker 1: holes in it, in the armpits. And it's just, it
5:47
Speaker 1: was kind of a gut punch, man. We had no
5:48
Speaker 1: idea it was coming.
5:50
Speaker 2: You met him too, right?
5:51
Speaker 3: Yes.
5:51
Speaker 2: At the draft. At the draft, when the draft was
5:54
Speaker 2: in Philly.
5:54
Speaker 1: Yes, I was waiting for my car outside the hotel
5:57
Speaker 1: that we were all staying in. I had to go
5:59
Speaker 1: back home. My daughter had broke her arm. She had
6:01
Speaker 1: surgery the next morning. I was driving back to Bethlehem
6:04
Speaker 1: from Philadelphia. And I'm wearing my Lane Johnson jersey. All
6:08
Speaker 1: of a sudden... Lane Johnson walks right up to me
6:11
Speaker 1: and says, Hey, would you like a picture? And I'm like, yes, please. Yes. And, uh,
6:18
Speaker 1: she's just such a, such a boy fan. I go,
6:21
Speaker 1: I go, I've been following you since you were at Oklahoma.
6:25
Speaker 1: I know. What a dope.
6:27
Speaker 2: Oh, my gosh. And you were in your 40s at
6:28
Speaker 2: that point. Yes.
6:29
Speaker 1: Right?
6:30
Speaker 2: Or late 30s? I think it was late 30s.
6:32
Speaker 1: Yeah. I love how I have to stipulate that. I
6:34
Speaker 1: think it was late 30s.
6:35
Speaker 2: Oh, it's much better at age 39. Yeah. Fanboying out.
6:39
Speaker 2: I get it. I mean, I have a penchant for
6:42
Speaker 2: meeting band members when I go see shows. And almost
6:47
Speaker 2: every time I'm like the hoodie you're wearing, the hoodie
6:49
Speaker 2: you're wearing.
6:50
Speaker 1: I took a photo of you with, with some members
6:52
Speaker 1: of that band and you were.
6:53
Speaker 2: Like, it was, it was bad.
6:56
Speaker 1: Yeah.
6:58
Speaker 2: Oh my God. I like, I put my arm around
7:01
Speaker 2: them a little too hard.
7:02
Speaker 3: Yeah.
7:02
Speaker 2: It was one of those like, come here, buddy.
7:04
Speaker 1: Come on, get over here.
7:06
Speaker 2: Give him a noogie. Like, yeah, it was, it was bad.
7:08
Speaker 2: So I get it. Um, no, he's, he's, he's probably
7:13
Speaker 2: the best lineman in Eagles history.
7:15
Speaker 1: Oh, absolutely.
7:16
Speaker 2: First ballot Hall of Famer. The way the Hall of
7:18
Speaker 2: Fame works, he'll definitely get in right away. Two rings.
7:23
Speaker 2: And just the, my God, the amount of like, what
7:26
Speaker 2: is it? The PFF stats or whatever they are that
7:29
Speaker 2: started in like 2006. He's the best offensive lineman in
7:33
Speaker 2: 20 years. He's basically per those stats. And he's given
7:36
Speaker 2: up three sacks in his 30s.
7:38
Speaker 1: Yes.
7:39
Speaker 2: And just mind-boggling numbers from this guy. And you knew
7:44
Speaker 2: something was wrong. going into going into the season, both
7:48
Speaker 2: his parents were really ill and there were, there were
7:52
Speaker 2: murmurs about this. I, I never thought what happened after
7:55
Speaker 2: week four. Um, I thought he would write it out
7:59
Speaker 2: for the season and then hang them up. Um, one
8:02
Speaker 2: day we'll know the real story of why everything happened. Um,
8:06
Speaker 2: Brandon Graham said recently, he's like, I know more than
8:10
Speaker 2: I can say. Yeah. Whatever that means.
8:13
Speaker 1: Yeah.
8:13
Speaker 2: Um, And Of course Stephen A. Smith today Just Ruined
8:20
Speaker 2: the moment Because that's what ESPN does Oh what did
8:22
Speaker 2: I didn't even say it No He was talking about
8:25
Speaker 2: Mental health stuff And he was like Suck it up
8:28
Speaker 2: Buttercup Essentially Oh get out of here Really Yeah But
8:31
Speaker 2: he came out later And he apologized But didn't apologize
8:34
Speaker 2: He talked about It was just It was a shit
8:36
Speaker 2: show Yeah And you know Of course Leave it to
8:39
Speaker 2: the Eagles Who are a shit show Now Yes That
8:42
Speaker 2: became a shit show Um Yeah, no, as far as
8:46
Speaker 2: the fallout from this and then the Cam Juergens, you
8:48
Speaker 2: want to talk about the Cam Juergens trade?
8:49
Speaker 1: Yeah, Cam Juergens.
8:50
Speaker 2: What it means for the Eagles?
8:51
Speaker 1: Yeah, Cam Juergens traded to the Baltimore Ravens. And look
8:57
Speaker 1: how he's accumulating assets here at this point. He is
9:01
Speaker 1: making sure that these next two years from a draft standpoint,
9:04
Speaker 1: from a rebuild standpoint, the Eagles are going to be
9:07
Speaker 1: in a quote, better position. than what they are right now.
9:11
Speaker 1: And it basically at the end of the day means
9:12
Speaker 1: that this team is not going to be competing here
9:15
Speaker 1: in 2026. I mean, that is the message here at
9:18
Speaker 1: this point. That is the message folks that the Eagles look.
9:22
Speaker 1: So what they're getting is a two, a 2027 fifth
9:25
Speaker 1: round draft pick back from Baltimore, along with a two,
9:29
Speaker 1: a 2028 second round pick. So when paired with the
9:33
Speaker 1: 2028 first that they got, for, uh, the AJ Brown
9:38
Speaker 1: trade with the Patriots, there's so much value and it
9:42
Speaker 1: lays out this timeline. I think for Howie Roseman to
9:47
Speaker 1: gear up, to get this team, you know, back up
9:49
Speaker 1: on its feet and get the offensive line back to where,
9:52
Speaker 1: you know, we, we.
9:53
Speaker 2: All expect it to be.
9:54
Speaker 1: Yeah.
9:55
Speaker 2: I i think i have my notes here how he's
9:58
Speaker 2: a smart guy yeah and he knows when to go
10:01
Speaker 2: for it he knows when not to go for it
10:02
Speaker 2: and after that devastating rams loss you know they're they
10:08
Speaker 2: could have gone up 23 to 10 with seven minutes
10:10
Speaker 2: left The coach made a horrible decision. I'll get to
10:15
Speaker 2: him later.
10:15
Speaker 1: Well, it was actually, if you don't mind me, yes,
10:19
Speaker 1: they could have kicked the field goal.
10:20
Speaker 2: Of course.
10:21
Speaker 1: But that play where Jalen Hurts bobbled the ball, Cam
10:27
Speaker 1: Juergens actually false started, ran into Hurts, and that's how
10:33
Speaker 1: the ball bobbled. You know, it's just undisciplined and the
10:36
Speaker 1: guy's not on the team anymore. Cam Juergens not on
10:38
Speaker 1: the team, but that's, he, he, he ruined it. It's like,
10:43
Speaker 1: he basically ruined the game right there. Yeah.
10:46
Speaker 2: And, but how are we smart enough to realize we
10:49
Speaker 2: barely won the first two games against two subpar teams
10:54
Speaker 2: and got throttled by the bears. And then the Rams
10:57
Speaker 2: game was such a disaster. I know that it was
10:59
Speaker 2: a close game, but Saquon goes out, tank Bigsby's out now.
11:04
Speaker 2: Lane Johnson retires and it's like, maybe this year's a wash.
11:09
Speaker 1: Yeah.
11:10
Speaker 2: And I, I think even how he recognized it, it's
11:12
Speaker 2: like this offense sucks.
11:13
Speaker 1: Devante's injured. Dallas Goddard injured.
11:16
Speaker 2: Yeah.
11:16
Speaker 1: You know, Landon Dickerson, you know, he was, I mean,
11:19
Speaker 1: he's been out on our.
11:22
Speaker 2: Our coaching staff appears to be in free fall. Like,
11:25
Speaker 2: I think that's another thing. Um, but so yeah, this,
11:30
Speaker 2: this season is done. He's building assets. He knows how
11:33
Speaker 2: to rebuild the, on the fly. He's, he's shown that,
11:36
Speaker 2: believe me. And like, yeah, look at the defense that
11:38
Speaker 2: won the super bowl two years ago. Like, I mean,
11:42
Speaker 2: Cooper to Jean, can you, you know, uh, Mitchell and like,
11:46
Speaker 2: he just drafted those guys. Like he, he knows what he's,
11:48
Speaker 2: what he, what he knows, what he wants to do,
11:50
Speaker 2: whether he can do it or not. I think he can,
11:52
Speaker 2: because he's done it before, but I, I honestly think
11:56
Speaker 2: it was smart to do this and to get a
11:58
Speaker 2: second round pick for a guy who's had back surgery and,
12:04
Speaker 2: who physically didn't look like himself and he, he might
12:08
Speaker 2: turn out to be a great center down the road. Right.
12:10
Speaker 2: But right now for this team, who's going nowhere, like
12:14
Speaker 2: I think we can kind of agree on that.
12:16
Speaker 3: Yeah.
12:16
Speaker 2: Um, it's, it was like, well, if I can sell
12:19
Speaker 2: high on this guy, you're giving me a second round
12:22
Speaker 2: pick for a guard essentially. Yeah. Like second round picks
12:26
Speaker 2: is what you get for like disgruntled wide receivers. Like, yeah.
12:30
Speaker 2: it was, it was a great pickup, but yeah, the
12:32
Speaker 2: season's done for this year. I'm pretty sure. Um, but some,
12:36
Speaker 2: some two other things has jumped out to me when,
12:39
Speaker 2: when the Juergens trade happened, because the Juergens trade to
12:42
Speaker 2: me was like, Oh, so this is really done. Like you're,
12:44
Speaker 2: you're moving on from this year.
12:46
Speaker 1: Yeah.
12:47
Speaker 2: What the fuck is going on in that locker room?
12:49
Speaker 1: Yeah.
12:49
Speaker 2: Like we, we still haven't gotten the real story of
12:53
Speaker 2: what happened last year. Cause the locker room was toxic,
12:56
Speaker 2: was a toxic mess. And, AJ Brown got sent out
13:01
Speaker 2: of town and I think everyone was like, all right,
13:04
Speaker 2: everything's cool now. Locker room's good.
13:06
Speaker 1: Yeah.
13:07
Speaker 2: But Lane Johnson retires four weeks in everyone's getting hurt.
13:13
Speaker 2: The coach appears to have no handle of this team whatsoever.
13:17
Speaker 2: Like I just would love to know, I would love
13:21
Speaker 2: to get a real insider and be like, what is
13:24
Speaker 2: happening in those, in those walls? Because It felt off
13:29
Speaker 2: as soon as the season started, and it feels even
13:31
Speaker 2: worse now. Yes. And that comes from the top, not Howie.
13:34
Speaker 2: That comes from the coach, and he has just lost
13:36
Speaker 2: complete control. This has to be his last season. This
13:39
Speaker 2: is a disaster. Yes.
13:41
Speaker 1: I mean, unless they somehow, and I don't think it's
13:44
Speaker 1: going to happen, but unless they somehow make the playoffs,
13:47
Speaker 1: because that's all this team does. That's all Nick Sirianni
13:50
Speaker 1: has been doing, despite what you were just talking about.
13:54
Speaker 2: Something going on.
13:56
Speaker 1: In the locker room, this team is still having some
14:00
Speaker 1: sort of success. When you go to the Super Bowl
14:03
Speaker 1: twice as a head coach, you win one of them
14:07
Speaker 1: and have the winning record that Nick Sirianni has. I know. Yes,
14:11
Speaker 1: there's something to be said for that, but it doesn't
14:13
Speaker 1: mean that everything is lollipops and rainbows here. So I'm
14:17
Speaker 1: trying to look at this offensive line restructure here as,
14:21
Speaker 1: And it's me grasping at straws, trying to look at
14:24
Speaker 1: the positive that, okay, we are going to see Markel Bell,
14:28
Speaker 1: a rookie who is a massive human being at 6'9,
14:32
Speaker 1: 340 pounds, coming out of Miami. He fell to the
14:34
Speaker 1: third round. A lot of folks thought he was going
14:41
Speaker 1: to be drafted well before that, basically due to a
14:44
Speaker 1: lack of technique. But he showed a lot during training camp,
14:47
Speaker 1: during the summer, during preseason as well. So I'm going
14:53
Speaker 1: to try to look on the positive, whether it's Markel
14:55
Speaker 1: Bell and whether it's Willie Limpkin, who's going to be
14:59
Speaker 1: apparently filling in for Cam Juergens here, like the development
15:04
Speaker 1: of these guys. and what this new offensive line coach
15:07
Speaker 1: is going to be able to do as well. I
15:09
Speaker 1: do wonder, and I said it on the post game
15:11
Speaker 1: show too. It's like if Jeff Stoutland had been here
15:14
Speaker 1: this year, like would all of this stuff have happened?
15:17
Speaker 1: Maybe Lane, of course, because it's a mental health issue.
15:19
Speaker 1: It's family stuff going on. But with the, with what
15:25
Speaker 1: has happened with Landon Dickerson, it's called Stoutland university for
15:30
Speaker 1: a reason. And without him here, it's been a fucking disaster.
15:34
Speaker 2: I know. Is there another offensive line coach? I'm sure
15:39
Speaker 2: there is in history of football that was that important
15:41
Speaker 2: to a team. I don't think so.
15:43
Speaker 1: I really don't.
15:43
Speaker 2: I don't think so either. I couldn't name you one
15:45
Speaker 2: other offensive line coach in history. I just don't know.
15:49
Speaker 2: And I'm not a total football head, but this guy
15:53
Speaker 2: seemed to be paramount to their success.
15:55
Speaker 1: Yeah.
15:55
Speaker 2: There's no other way around it. And, you know, I
16:00
Speaker 2: think the defense... is coming along. I think they're on
16:03
Speaker 2: the field too long against the Rams. They got kind
16:05
Speaker 2: of tired, but the Rams have a good offense. It
16:07
Speaker 2: wasn't like that. They gave up what? 23 points, 24
16:10
Speaker 2: points to the Rams.
16:11
Speaker 1: Yeah.
16:12
Speaker 2: That's not the end of the world.
16:13
Speaker 1: Yeah.
16:13
Speaker 2: So like that side of the ball. And what I'm
16:17
Speaker 2: getting at is like Vic Fangio, he's a good coach.
16:21
Speaker 2: He's not the problem, but Sirianni to me, it just
16:26
Speaker 2: feels like was Sirianni propped up much like Doug Peterson
16:30
Speaker 2: by his assistant coaches.
16:31
Speaker 1: Yeah.
16:32
Speaker 2: And did he does he have the success when he
16:34
Speaker 2: had really good assistant coaches, when he went to the
16:36
Speaker 2: Super Bowl, when he won the Super Bowl? You know,
16:39
Speaker 2: all those coaches got hired away.
16:42
Speaker 1: Yeah.
16:43
Speaker 2: And like, is he is he a product of who
16:46
Speaker 2: you surrounded with? Because right now the offense looks as
16:51
Speaker 2: dismal as it did last year. And Petullo was his
16:54
Speaker 2: hire and he has no grasp. Why is Petullo up
16:58
Speaker 2: in the booth?
17:00
Speaker 1: You mean Sean Manion?
17:02
Speaker 2: I'm sorry, but not Patil. Yeah, yeah. But he hired Patil.
17:05
Speaker 2: Sean Manion.
17:05
Speaker 1: This year, yeah.
17:07
Speaker 2: Why is he in the booth? Like, that's weird to me.
17:09
Speaker 2: There's just a lot going on behind the scenes. And
17:12
Speaker 2: you would think with all this intrusive social media shit,
17:15
Speaker 2: I would have the real story by now. But this
17:19
Speaker 2: just sounds like a quagmire shit fest. Yes. And I.
17:26
Speaker 2: He has to be the fall guy because this is
17:28
Speaker 2: just not working with him anymore. No, it's not. It's not.
17:31
Speaker 1: Folks, if you're watching on YouTube, in the comments, let
17:34
Speaker 1: us know your thoughts on what's happening with this team.
17:36
Speaker 1: We'd love to hear from you. And with that being said,
17:39
Speaker 1: we are going to take a break here. And when
17:40
Speaker 1: we get back, we're going to dive into some Philadelphia
17:42
Speaker 1: Phillies talk, Sixers talk, and Flyers talk. Stick with us.
17:49
Speaker 1: All right, the Philadelphia Phillies, the season, of course, is over.
17:54
Speaker 1: I think we all knew that it was going to
17:56
Speaker 1: be a quick exit for them in the wild card
18:01
Speaker 1: as they basically limped into the postseason. But as we
18:05
Speaker 1: look towards this offseason, the real question is, like, who's
18:09
Speaker 1: going to manage this team? Who is going to... be
18:14
Speaker 1: trying to take these guys, these veterans, and perhaps get
18:19
Speaker 1: them into a more competitive nature even. Alex Cora, who
18:24
Speaker 1: the Phillies wanted last year, turned them down. Phillies gave
18:29
Speaker 1: him an offer again this week, folks. And yes, Alex
18:32
Speaker 1: Cora turned them down again to be the manager in 2027.
18:35
Speaker 1: Guy said he wants to.
18:39
Speaker 1: Stay unemployed. He wants the summer of 2027 to be his.
18:44
Speaker 1: So the team may elevate Don Mattingly to the full-time job.
18:49
Speaker 2: We're going to give our.
18:50
Speaker 1: Thoughts here before we really talk about what our hopes
18:52
Speaker 1: are for this offseason. I had Justin Clue on the
18:58
Speaker 1: Table Talk interview show this week. We had a really
19:00
Speaker 1: good discussion about the offseason and the fact that there
19:06
Speaker 1: isn't necessarily... a guy that you can point to and say,
19:09
Speaker 1: you know what? I think that'd be a really great
19:11
Speaker 1: manager for this crew that for this, for the talent
19:14
Speaker 1: that's on this team, it says something about the roster
19:18
Speaker 1: and it says something about these contracts and these guys
19:21
Speaker 1: who are underperforming and these guys who are in their
19:24
Speaker 1: own heads. I'm talking about Trey Turner. I'm talking about
19:27
Speaker 1: even Aaron Nola, um, even Bryce Harper, you know? So, um,
19:33
Speaker 1: The fact that we have no idea what's going to
19:35
Speaker 1: happen with the managerial position, you got a guy who said, yeah,
19:38
Speaker 1: no thanks, twice with this team.
19:40
Speaker 2: I don't know, man.
19:41
Speaker 1: What are your thoughts here? We're going to, I think
19:44
Speaker 1: we're going to see Don Mattingly again, probably.
19:47
Speaker 2: Yippee.
19:48
Speaker 3: Yeah.
19:48
Speaker 2: Um, like wasn't overly impressed with the guy.
19:53
Speaker 1: Um, Nope.
19:54
Speaker 2: Not, not, not managing a bullpen.
19:56
Speaker 1: Tell you that. Jesus.
19:57
Speaker 2: No. And, and to start Aaron Nolan, that third game
20:00
Speaker 2: against the Braves was just, I think I texted you
20:02
Speaker 2: guys as malpractice.
20:03
Speaker 1: Yep.
20:04
Speaker 2: Um, the first curve ball he threw that just hung
20:06
Speaker 2: over the plate. I was like, Oh, this is over.
20:08
Speaker 1: Yeah.
20:10
Speaker 2: And then the home run, I was like, oh, the
20:11
Speaker 2: season's done. But number one, is Alice Cora fucking Tommy Lasorda? Yeah, exactly.
20:20
Speaker 2: Is he that good? No, I don't know. Why does
20:24
Speaker 2: this guy's name keep coming up?
20:25
Speaker 1: I know. It's like, why do they want him so bad?
20:29
Speaker 1: You know, he was the architect also of... one of
20:34
Speaker 1: the biggest scandals in Major League Baseball history is the Astros.
20:39
Speaker 2: I know. Like, what are we doing? What are we
20:42
Speaker 2: doing here? I don't understand that infatuation. Thank God he
20:48
Speaker 2: said no, honestly.
20:49
Speaker 1: Yeah.
20:52
Speaker 2: As far as the team goes, it's going to be Mattingly, probably,
20:55
Speaker 2: because why would they, what are they going to, who
20:58
Speaker 2: else are they going to go get? Like, the guy's
21:00
Speaker 2: already in the house.
21:00
Speaker 1: Yeah.
21:01
Speaker 2: You know, and Dombroski's I'm sure he just wants his
21:07
Speaker 2: life to be easier because he's going to have to
21:09
Speaker 2: revamp the entire roster. So I'm sure they'll just throw
21:12
Speaker 2: Mattingly the job to make it easier.
21:14
Speaker 3: Yeah.
21:15
Speaker 2: But as far as what you do with this team,
21:18
Speaker 2: I mean, I just watched Tampa just, uh, just, just
21:22
Speaker 2: went to the next round, knocked the Yankees out. Um, we're,
21:25
Speaker 2: we're nowhere near that team. We're nowhere near the Braves
21:29
Speaker 2: and this team just gets older and older and it's
21:32
Speaker 2: the same story pretty much everywhere. every year since like
21:36
Speaker 2: 2024 at this point, 23, um, that the, the bats
21:40
Speaker 2: die and the bullpen sucks. And it's like, it's, they're
21:46
Speaker 2: really old and really expensive. I don't know how you
21:49
Speaker 2: fix this. I, to me, it feels like they're going to,
21:52
Speaker 2: this is sad, but it feels like it's going to
21:54
Speaker 2: be the exact same thing next year. The exact same
21:56
Speaker 2: record they're, they're going to, they're going to, they're going
22:00
Speaker 2: to flounder for half the season and be red hot
22:03
Speaker 2: for half the season. And then they're going to limp
22:05
Speaker 2: into the playoffs and it's going to, I feel like
22:07
Speaker 2: that's going to be the same thing. Cause Turner signed
22:10
Speaker 2: until he's like 41. Harper has four or five more years.
22:13
Speaker 2: Like no, these contracts, it's unbelievable. And I want Harper.
22:18
Speaker 2: I want Harper and Schwarber back. Of course, Turner, I
22:22
Speaker 2: wouldn't give a rat's ass if he left town. But like, well,
22:25
Speaker 2: do they trade? Do they actually try to trade some
22:28
Speaker 2: of these guys? Because, yes, even though it seems like
22:31
Speaker 2: they're on.
22:32
Speaker 1: I know.
22:32
Speaker 2: And that's the thing.
22:33
Speaker 1: Even though it seems like they're on the downslide, I
22:36
Speaker 1: do think that there would be Major League Baseball teams
22:39
Speaker 1: that because Trey Turner may be available because his name
22:42
Speaker 1: is Trey Turner. and because of his history in Major
22:45
Speaker 1: League Baseball, not necessarily concentrating on what he's doing now,
22:49
Speaker 1: but that could bring some butts to seats in certain
22:53
Speaker 1: markets and certain teams that it could be a possibility.
22:57
Speaker 1: Could you trade him? I have no idea. I really don't.
22:59
Speaker 1: Probably not, given his recent struggles over the past couple years,
23:05
Speaker 1: but still, he is, quote, Trey Turner, and that could
23:10
Speaker 1: be of value to some team out there. I don't know.
23:13
Speaker 2: But the problem is I think he has a no-trade clause.
23:16
Speaker 2: Harper has a no-trade clause. They all do.
23:18
Speaker 1: They all do, yes.
23:18
Speaker 2: That's the problem. You gave him the key to the
23:21
Speaker 2: city on top of– you gave him too much. The
23:26
Speaker 2: no-trade clause thing is wild. Bryce Harper, Schwarber, they deserve
23:31
Speaker 2: no trades. They're superstars. They put butts in seats. Trey
23:36
Speaker 2: Turner sucks in the field and he can't hit. I
23:38
Speaker 2: don't know what the fuck he does anymore. So like–
23:41
Speaker 2: To give that guy no trade clause is just, again, malpractice.
23:47
Speaker 2: Things are so bad that two or three days after
23:51
Speaker 2: the last playoff game, I saw many accounts saying, oh,
23:55
Speaker 2: this is what the Phillies should do. And it was
23:58
Speaker 2: literally like, on Instagram, you slide through the pictures. It
24:01
Speaker 2: was like eight different moves. And I'm just like, that's
24:05
Speaker 2: not going to happen. And I know they're just trying
24:07
Speaker 2: to like make, get views and stuff. And some of
24:09
Speaker 2: the ideas are good. Some are just like that. Why
24:12
Speaker 2: would they do, why would the other team do that?
24:13
Speaker 1: Like, yeah.
24:15
Speaker 2: It's like when guys used to call in a six,
24:16
Speaker 2: 10 WIP, like we should trade for a Dwight Gooden. Well,
24:20
Speaker 2: they're not, that's not good.
24:21
Speaker 3: Why not?
24:22
Speaker 2: Like, like, okay, idiot. Like, because I'm not going to,
24:26
Speaker 2: it's not how it works.
24:27
Speaker 1: Yeah.
24:28
Speaker 3: Yeah.
24:28
Speaker 2: Like, but it's so bad that like, it would take
24:33
Speaker 2: those eight moves to make this team competitive and they
24:36
Speaker 2: just don't have it in them.
24:37
Speaker 1: Yeah.
24:37
Speaker 2: I don't think Dombrowski has it in them. I think
24:40
Speaker 2: this team makes a shit ton of money and I
24:43
Speaker 2: don't think they're going to rock the boat too much.
24:45
Speaker 2: I think they're going to, they're going to poke around
24:48
Speaker 2: like the Alec bomb spot, probably the marsh spot beyond that.
24:53
Speaker 2: Who else? Besides moving a Trey Turner, I think it's
24:56
Speaker 2: going to be little dinky moves around the roster.
24:59
Speaker 1: Probably is.
25:00
Speaker 2: Probably is.
25:00
Speaker 1: I mean, honestly, could we see four or five, even
25:03
Speaker 1: six new faces in the bullpen? We probably should. But
25:07
Speaker 1: at the end of the day, what type of talent
25:09
Speaker 1: is that going to be? Bryson Stott, on the other hand,
25:12
Speaker 1: actually does have some value. Arguably a golden glove, the
25:16
Speaker 1: second baseman. like could really have some value too, but
25:21
Speaker 1: you probably want to keep that type of talent in
25:23
Speaker 1: your infield moving forward.
25:26
Speaker 3: Yeah.
25:26
Speaker 2: I mean, they're, they're talking about putting Turner in center
25:28
Speaker 2: field and it's like, well, if that doesn't work, what
25:31
Speaker 2: do you do? You put them in the stands? Like what,
25:33
Speaker 2: like where does he go after that? Like put them
25:36
Speaker 2: up on a third level.
25:37
Speaker 3: Yeah.
25:38
Speaker 2: I've seen enough of the guy to know it's over
25:40
Speaker 2: for him. So I just, and you're talking about making
25:44
Speaker 2: all these moves, like the brand new bullpen. The guy
25:46
Speaker 2: who's in charge of doing that is the guy who
25:48
Speaker 2: traded for two relief pitchers that didn't even make the
25:51
Speaker 2: postseason roster. Yep. I have no faith in Dombrowski making
25:58
Speaker 2: the right moves, making like ballsy moves. I don't think he's,
26:02
Speaker 2: I just don't see it from him. Yeah. And I
26:05
Speaker 2: want to make light of it. He's an older guy.
26:08
Speaker 2: So it's almost like, kind of set in his ways.
26:11
Speaker 2: He like every trade he makes is kind of reeks
26:13
Speaker 2: of the same thing.
26:14
Speaker 1: Yeah.
26:15
Speaker 2: I thought the Arias trade was like kind of the
26:18
Speaker 2: ballsiest thing he's done in like two years, maybe three years.
26:21
Speaker 1: And that didn't work out at all. So it's like
26:23
Speaker 1: the Adolis Garcia thing too. Like it's those type of
26:26
Speaker 1: moves that are made to acquire that type of talent.
26:29
Speaker 1: And then at the end of the day, nothing happens.
26:31
Speaker 1: Nothing manifests itself, man.
26:33
Speaker 2: Do you remember when I said, I think in the pre-season,
26:35
Speaker 2: the pre-game or pre-season season, Show like the predictions. I
26:38
Speaker 2: thought Garcia was going to be like a key cog. Oh,
26:42
Speaker 2: my God. You know what?
26:42
Speaker 1: Next time you're on the show, we got to we
26:44
Speaker 1: got to go back in the vault and bring out
26:46
Speaker 1: the predictions from. Yeah.
26:48
Speaker 2: Oh, we got to do that.
26:49
Speaker 1: I got to put some stuff together for us.
26:51
Speaker 2: I think I said 90 some wins. Garcia is going
26:53
Speaker 2: to have a monster year. Yeah. super bowl win prediction
26:59
Speaker 2: their own.
27:00
Speaker 1: Fault we know sports i know this.
27:03
Speaker 2: Is why i do a live show we don't know
27:04
Speaker 2: anything yes this is stupid.
27:09
Speaker 1: Gonna be interesting to see what this team does all
27:11
Speaker 1: right we're gonna take another break here when we get
27:13
Speaker 1: back we're gonna be diving into some sixers talk vj
27:17
Speaker 1: edge come and jalen brown they they definitely have a
27:21
Speaker 1: connection after that first game for sure let's uh take
27:24
Speaker 1: a break we'll be back in just a bit All right,
27:29
Speaker 1: let's talk about this Philadelphia 76ers team. The preseason is here.
27:34
Speaker 1: It has begun. First preseason game. Sixers look pretty good.
27:39
Speaker 1: They took the New York Knicks to town. I think
27:43
Speaker 1: they beat them, what, by 25 points or something? Yes,
27:46
Speaker 1: I know, folks. It's the preseason. I get it. But
27:49
Speaker 1: Jalen Brown and Vijay Edgecombe had a pretty good night,
27:53
Speaker 1: and not only did you know, their interviews after the game,
27:57
Speaker 1: just praising each other and praising this connection that they
28:01
Speaker 1: have just on and off the court as well. And
28:05
Speaker 1: that this connection could really be huge this upcoming season, Eric,
28:08
Speaker 1: it really could. And it's amazing to just know that
28:13
Speaker 1: Jalen Brown is on this team. Everybody's got LeBron fever,
28:17
Speaker 1: but like, my God, Jalen Brown is on this team.
28:19
Speaker 1: This is fantastic.
28:21
Speaker 2: It's, it's wild to think that a first team, I'll
28:23
Speaker 2: be NBA guy. and someone with a ring almost was
28:27
Speaker 2: like a forgotten note from the Sixers off season.
28:30
Speaker 1: Yes.
28:30
Speaker 2: Like, yeah, it's just, it's wild to me. Um, and
28:34
Speaker 2: to see him on the court, to see him on
28:37
Speaker 2: the court playing and not hate watching him.
28:40
Speaker 1: Yeah.
28:41
Speaker 2: Cause he was a Celtic. I always hated him.
28:44
Speaker 1: Yeah.
28:45
Speaker 2: He should have been a Sixer. Like, look at the drafts, right? They,
28:47
Speaker 2: they screwed that up. Um, he is, God, is he good? He, he,
28:53
Speaker 2: he's a really good defender.
28:55
Speaker 1: Good.
28:55
Speaker 2: He's, he's really gotten better at shooting. His ball handling
28:59
Speaker 2: is still, it's not, it's not perfect, but like, he's still,
29:03
Speaker 2: he's much better than he was. Um, and the nice
29:07
Speaker 2: thing about this team is they have five, the five
29:11
Speaker 2: starters and pretty, pretty much the whole team. I think
29:14
Speaker 2: there's no, there's no head cases on this team.
29:16
Speaker 1: Yeah.
29:17
Speaker 2: There's no like it's me, me, me time.
29:19
Speaker 3: Right.
29:20
Speaker 2: Um, like, Jalen Brown last year was me, me a
29:23
Speaker 2: little bit because, but, but he had to be, cause
29:25
Speaker 2: there's no Tatum.
29:26
Speaker 1: Yeah.
29:26
Speaker 2: So he had, he had to take on the scoring
29:28
Speaker 2: role and he, and he, and he definitely fulfilled it
29:31
Speaker 2: to the, to the maximum of his potential. And, but
29:34
Speaker 2: I also, I could also see him working well with
29:37
Speaker 2: a maxi with edge cone. Like we saw, two nights
29:40
Speaker 2: ago that, and then you, and then you intersperse LeBron
29:44
Speaker 2: into this, who can play with anybody. And, and then
29:48
Speaker 2: you just have the, the possibility of Embiid being just
29:53
Speaker 2: awesome for like 50 games this year. I, I, I
29:57
Speaker 2: couldn't be more excited for a season because I like,
29:59
Speaker 2: that was just a little glimpse. And I, I, you know,
30:02
Speaker 2: people are saying like, well, what's VJ going to do
30:04
Speaker 2: this year to score 10 points? Like, no, I think
30:06
Speaker 2: VJ is going to be key component of this team.
30:08
Speaker 2: I think it's going to be one of the, he's
30:10
Speaker 2: going to be their best. He's going to be their
30:11
Speaker 2: best wing defender.
30:12
Speaker 1: Yeah.
30:13
Speaker 2: And he's just going to get better at that. And
30:15
Speaker 2: he's going to be, he's going to be the, the
30:18
Speaker 2: re he's going to reap the benefits scoring wise from
30:21
Speaker 2: having those guys around him. I just think this is
30:23
Speaker 2: going to be such a high of scoring, uh, fast
30:27
Speaker 2: running up and down the court team. And if they
30:29
Speaker 2: have to go half court offense, they can do it
30:31
Speaker 2: with LeBron and Embiid.
30:33
Speaker 1: It's just, well, watching this first preseason game. And I
30:37
Speaker 1: should say, I wasn't able to watch the entire game
30:41
Speaker 1: for various reasons, but what I was able to watch it,
30:46
Speaker 1: you know, I thought to myself how valuable it is
30:48
Speaker 1: to have two good, uh, like have really two really
30:52
Speaker 1: good athletic two way players like Brown and VJ two
30:57
Speaker 1: way guys, of course can basically connect any lineup, you know, and,
31:03
Speaker 1: and Jalen Brown plays with a force that, that you
31:07
Speaker 1: can't teach, nor can you like improve upon during the
31:12
Speaker 1: course of, of a season. So it causes players on
31:16
Speaker 1: the other team to alter how they are playing at
31:19
Speaker 1: the end of the day. because you can't match up
31:21
Speaker 1: physically with them. It's something that doesn't show up in
31:24
Speaker 1: analytics at all, but it is incredibly value nonetheless. So I, I, I,
31:31
Speaker 1: I think his value is going to be so much more.
31:35
Speaker 1: And again, how he is going to be able to
31:38
Speaker 1: connect with VJ. Like you said, VJ is going to,
31:41
Speaker 1: I think he is going to have a tremendous season
31:43
Speaker 1: and I think it's going to be due to Jalen
31:46
Speaker 1: Brown and those intangibles I was just mentioning.
31:49
Speaker 2: It's really nice to have, two solid wing defenders that
31:54
Speaker 2: are uber athletic and strong as hell. Like I, I,
31:58
Speaker 2: the one thing I, I was like, I don't know
32:01
Speaker 2: why I didn't notice this when he was at the Celtics.
32:03
Speaker 2: I can't believe how big and physical he is on
32:06
Speaker 2: top of being basically a small, a small guard or
32:11
Speaker 2: a small forward. He's kind of in between guard and forward,
32:14
Speaker 2: but like, my God, is he strong and big and,
32:19
Speaker 2: the key thing I watched for in the game, like
32:21
Speaker 2: besides Jalen and BJ was the bench. And we talked
32:24
Speaker 2: about the bench, I think two weeks ago on the show.
32:26
Speaker 2: And man, this is the first time I like, I
32:30
Speaker 2: feel pretty rock solid about the bench. Like two guys
32:34
Speaker 2: jumped out to me. Well, Dean Wade looked good. I
32:37
Speaker 2: think I said during the show, like he's going to
32:39
Speaker 2: be a key component to the team, but Caleb love
32:43
Speaker 2: looked fantastic. He dominated the G league last year. If
32:47
Speaker 2: he can give you anything, just some guard scoring off
32:50
Speaker 2: the bench, maybe some defense. He's kind of a bigger guy.
32:55
Speaker 2: But the guy who really impressed me was Phylon, the
32:57
Speaker 2: guy they drafted. I've heard nothing but good stories about
33:02
Speaker 2: him coming out of training camp in the preseason so far.
33:06
Speaker 2: I think he had 13 points, four rebounds. There's no
33:10
Speaker 2: way to deny he handles the ball like Shea, like SGA.
33:14
Speaker 1: Yeah.
33:17
Speaker 2: He has kind of the same handle, kind of the
33:18
Speaker 2: herky-jerky thing going on. A sixer buddy of mine and
33:22
Speaker 2: I were texting, and we're like, does he remind you
33:25
Speaker 2: of a young Rod Strickland? Ooh. His handle's sick. Strickland's
33:31
Speaker 2: handle's like top five all time.
33:32
Speaker 3: Yeah.
33:33
Speaker 2: But Phylon's got kind of the same rhythm. He's kind
33:36
Speaker 2: of off speed when he has to and goes by
33:38
Speaker 2: the guy. He had a great one. He's right-handed, but
33:41
Speaker 2: he took a guy left. and just left the guy
33:44
Speaker 2: in his socks behind him. And I was just like, wow, okay,
33:47
Speaker 2: they got something here. And I have heard from more
33:50
Speaker 2: than one, like, like podcasts and stuff that he's been
33:54
Speaker 2: taking it to the veterans in practice.
33:56
Speaker 1: Yeah.
33:56
Speaker 2: Like he has no fear. Like he goes right at Maxie,
33:59
Speaker 2: right at edge comb. Love that. He gets shows up early.
34:01
Speaker 2: He's like, let's, let's fucking go. Like, I am not
34:04
Speaker 2: here to like, I'm not, I know I'm a rookie,
34:06
Speaker 2: but like, fuck that. And I couldn't be happier having like,
34:12
Speaker 2: they had a good draft pick. and they got Brown
34:14
Speaker 2: and they got like, yeah. After what we just talked
34:17
Speaker 2: about the previous two fucking teams, my Gans, he's King.
34:22
Speaker 2: This is it, man. Like this, they've never been more
34:25
Speaker 2: set up to actually win something.
34:27
Speaker 1: Yeah.
34:28
Speaker 2: We saw it on the court, just a tiny bit
34:30
Speaker 2: of sliver and it looked fantastic with only two of
34:32
Speaker 2: the starters in the bench. Looks solid. I know it
34:35
Speaker 2: was the, I know it was the Knicks backups basically,
34:38
Speaker 2: but yeah, I don't care.
34:39
Speaker 1: Like, yeah.
34:40
Speaker 2: Brunson played yeah um like i think two or three
34:44
Speaker 2: cat played so like they got something here and and
34:48
Speaker 2: it's not just the it's not just the key five
34:50
Speaker 2: that we talked about like i i think filing off
34:53
Speaker 2: the bench we didn't see simons yet they they have
34:56
Speaker 2: everything they need to actually succeed and there's no there
35:00
Speaker 2: there's actually the nice thing is i love the process
35:03
Speaker 2: it was it was a fantastic time it was fun
35:07
Speaker 2: It's dead.
35:08
Speaker 3: It is.
35:08
Speaker 2: This is just a solid, well put together team.
35:12
Speaker 1: It died like three years ago.
35:14
Speaker 2: Like a while ago. Ben Simmons killed it in 2021, honestly.
35:19
Speaker 2: But this is the first year it doesn't feel like
35:22
Speaker 2: there's any of that overhead. This is just a wholly
35:26
Speaker 2: new team. And Bede's the only one still here from
35:29
Speaker 2: the whole thing. Maury's gone because I was souring and
35:32
Speaker 2: falling apart. So this actually feels right. going into a season.
35:38
Speaker 2: And I, of course now someone's going to break their
35:40
Speaker 2: fucking knee. Cause I just said that and everything else
35:43
Speaker 2: is falling apart in Philadelphia sports and our lives, Jeff.
35:46
Speaker 2: And yes. Yeah. But we have the Sixers, Jeff. I
35:52
Speaker 2: think we actually can like rely on them to give
35:54
Speaker 2: us a good season. I think so.
35:56
Speaker 1: I think it's going to be that opening game against
36:00
Speaker 1: the Knicks. Oh my God.
36:01
Speaker 2: Oh, I, I did. You have no idea. It's so
36:06
Speaker 2: circled on my calendar. It is a venue of practice.
36:10
Speaker 2: I don't give a shit. Find your way to practice.
36:12
Speaker 2: You're not going. You can go. I'm not taking it.
36:16
Speaker 2: I am in front of the TV watching this game
36:18
Speaker 2: like I am not. It's going to be fun.
36:21
Speaker 1: Going to be fun. We're going to be talking about
36:23
Speaker 1: this Sixers team a lot more in the coming weeks
36:24
Speaker 1: for sure as a regular season. It's right around the corner.
36:28
Speaker 1: I'm Jeff Warren. He's Eric Leonard. We are going to
36:31
Speaker 1: take a break here. Buddy, you got any final thoughts
36:33
Speaker 1: before we go and before we get into some Flyers talk?
36:37
Speaker 2: Let's start plotting out the live show. Let's start doing
36:40
Speaker 2: bullet points.
36:41
Speaker 1: Oh, yeah.
36:46
Speaker 2: How much do we want to say, though? That's the
36:48
Speaker 2: only thing.
36:48
Speaker 1: Yeah, I know.
36:49
Speaker 2: Yeah. We're going to talk about that. Exactly.
36:54
Speaker 1: Oh my God. Oh my God. I know. All right, folks,
36:57
Speaker 1: we're going to take a break. When we get back,
36:59
Speaker 1: we got flyers talk for you. We're going to be
37:00
Speaker 1: talking about some dog shit for sure.
37:04
Speaker 2: What a, what a, what a promo.
37:07
Speaker 1: What a, what a great segue into the break discussion.
37:12
Speaker 1: I know Ryan's going to say the same thing for sure.
37:15
Speaker 2: Wait, Hey, stay tuned everybody for this shit interview. I
37:21
Speaker 2: love it. Ryan is fantastic. So we're going to get
37:23
Speaker 2: to him in just a bit.
37:25
Speaker 1: We're going to take a break. We'll be right back, folks.
37:29
Speaker 2: And now on the table.
37:34
Speaker 1: All right, folks, we got to get into this Philadelphia
37:36
Speaker 1: Flyers team. Yes, I know we have to get into it,
37:39
Speaker 1: even though we may not want to. But we got
37:42
Speaker 1: a great guest this week joining us here at the
37:44
Speaker 1: PST podcast show to talk about this early Flyers season,
37:48
Speaker 1: this absolute disaster season. We can't ignore it. We can't
37:52
Speaker 1: just slough it off to the side. And I'm glad
37:55
Speaker 1: we have with us Ryan Gilbert from BroadStreetHockey.com, the Broad
37:59
Speaker 1: Street Hockey podcast as well. My friend, thank you so
38:02
Speaker 1: much for taking the time here. I don't want to
38:05
Speaker 1: be too depressed, but man, the feels are not good here.
38:09
Speaker 3: No, it's always good to come on and talk with you, Jeff, though.
38:12
Speaker 1: Thank you.
38:12
Speaker 3: It's not necessarily good to talk flyers, but coming on
38:15
Speaker 3: to talk with you. We always have good conversations when
38:18
Speaker 3: we're on. It always seems we try to be a
38:19
Speaker 3: little bit positive, more upbeat. So we'll try to keep
38:24
Speaker 3: that going as best we can.
38:26
Speaker 1: Sounds good, man.
38:27
Speaker 2: Sounds good. Ryan.
38:30
Speaker 1: As we know, the start of this Flyers season isn't
38:32
Speaker 1: what us fans had hoped for, isn't what we thought.
38:35
Speaker 1: I mean, they're the only team in the Metropolitan Division
38:38
Speaker 1: and Eastern Conference overall at this point, as of us
38:41
Speaker 1: recording this, not to have a win. After four games
38:44
Speaker 1: being played, a disastrous opening game of the season against
38:49
Speaker 1: the Penguins, and we're just seeing a lot of crap
38:53
Speaker 1: from this team on the ice in just about all
38:56
Speaker 1: areas here. I guess just to start us off, what
39:00
Speaker 1: are your initial thoughts right out of the gate with
39:02
Speaker 1: this team? And what should the level of concern be?
39:06
Speaker 1: I can't believe I'm asking this question after four games.
39:08
Speaker 1: What are your thoughts?
39:10
Speaker 3: It is really all levels. It's really just every aspect
39:14
Speaker 3: of the game besides goaltending, which is very weird for
39:17
Speaker 3: the Flyers. Joseph Wall, thank God for him. He stole
39:20
Speaker 3: two points and both of those overtime losses there. But
39:24
Speaker 3: you know, I've, I've gone back and forth. I yelled
39:27
Speaker 3: a little bit on the brother hockey podcast this week. Very, negative, but.
39:31
Speaker 3: I I'm hopeful it's four, it's four games, four games
39:34
Speaker 3: out of 84. It's not four games out of 17,
39:36
Speaker 3: like the Eagles. There, there's some more concern over there
39:39
Speaker 3: in a short, in a short season, but we have,
39:41
Speaker 3: we have a long season to go and it was
39:44
Speaker 3: against four pretty good teams. The Penguins were better than
39:47
Speaker 3: the flyers last year. You had a back to back
39:49
Speaker 3: against the devils. You played three games in four nights,
39:52
Speaker 3: four games in six nights, but at the same time,
39:56
Speaker 3: they didn't look good for five minutes of any of
39:59
Speaker 3: those games. They get stuck in their own zone. They
40:02
Speaker 3: can't break it out. They're passing it to nobody. They're,
40:06
Speaker 3: they're dumping it on, on three on twos. They're not
40:10
Speaker 3: winning a battle. There's very, very little positive to say
40:13
Speaker 3: about this team right now. Besides like, Hey, You played
40:17
Speaker 3: some pretty good teams. So at least they got two
40:20
Speaker 3: points somehow.
40:21
Speaker 2: They have.
40:22
Speaker 1: However, I will say that, and I'm not actually saying
40:24
Speaker 1: this like as a joke or any sort of hot
40:27
Speaker 1: take here, Ryan, they looked like a bunch of rookies
40:31
Speaker 1: out there. I mean, they looked like they just started
40:34
Speaker 1: playing professional hockey, trying to understand their skates, trying to
40:39
Speaker 1: understand where the puck should be, where they want it
40:44
Speaker 1: to inevitably be. Shots on goal. My gosh, just horrendous,
40:49
Speaker 1: which we're going to get into in a little bit,
40:51
Speaker 1: but they looked like rookies. And I wonder how much
40:54
Speaker 1: of that is Rick Tockett getting this team prepared for the,
40:58
Speaker 1: for this 2026, 2027 season.
41:01
Speaker 3: You have to look at everybody. Obviously it's on the players.
41:04
Speaker 3: They're the one that goes out there and play, but
41:06
Speaker 3: Rick Tockett has to get this team prepared. I asked
41:09
Speaker 3: to get this team ready, a shortened training camp, I
41:13
Speaker 3: think I haven't gone back and looked at the film
41:16
Speaker 3: and everything, but I think he's changed up some of
41:17
Speaker 3: his systems, which the players have kind of alluded to, like, hey,
41:20
Speaker 3: let's get back to what we're doing. Because their forecheck
41:23
Speaker 3: was such a strength last year. They were able to
41:26
Speaker 3: break things out. And I'm concerned with Tockett really having
41:30
Speaker 3: no consistency in the lines whatsoever. The most a line
41:34
Speaker 3: has played together. besides the fourth line is like 13 minutes.
41:38
Speaker 3: Like through four games, you need to have stick three
41:41
Speaker 3: forwards together that are playing somewhat comprehensive hockey, competitive hockey,
41:47
Speaker 3: and keep that going. Even in training camp, there weren't
41:50
Speaker 3: many lines that were stuck together. And we're seeing that
41:54
Speaker 3: early on in the season. Like there weren't a lot
41:56
Speaker 3: of practices. And Rick Tockett doesn't stick to the same
42:00
Speaker 3: story of what he's blaming. After the first game, he
42:03
Speaker 3: threw the players under the bus. Then he said that
42:05
Speaker 3: didn't practice enough. Then he said he doesn't want to
42:07
Speaker 3: hear about practices. Then he said it was on him
42:10
Speaker 3: while also blaming the players.
42:12
Speaker 2: We don't know who to blame.
42:13
Speaker 3: And Rick Tockett doesn't know who to blame.
42:15
Speaker 1: Yeah, exactly. I mean, no identity here. One bit whatsoever.
42:19
Speaker 1: And I mean, it kind of transitions into the next
42:22
Speaker 1: topic here because you wrote a really interesting piece over
42:25
Speaker 1: on BroadStreetHockey.com recently about the Flyers. biggest training camp mistake
42:30
Speaker 1: which is already coming back to bite them early this
42:33
Speaker 1: season you wrote about the Flyers having a quote preset
42:37
Speaker 1: mindset heading into camp you know a few weeks ago
42:40
Speaker 1: as they were starting camp Ryan can you talk about
42:44
Speaker 1: this and why this is an important point for us
42:48
Speaker 1: here to really grasp at the start of this Flyer.
42:50
Speaker 3: Season Yeah, that preset mindset thing is something that Danny
42:54
Speaker 3: Breer said in an interview with Jason Mertitis on Flyers
42:58
Speaker 3: Daily that came out a week ago.
42:59
Speaker 2: He said, you know.
43:00
Speaker 3: With the shortened training camp, we kind of went in
43:02
Speaker 3: with a preset mindset of who was going to make
43:05
Speaker 3: the roster. He even said, you know, Cole Kniebel had
43:08
Speaker 3: a great camp. Jet Luchenko had a great camp. And
43:11
Speaker 3: he said, if the camp was longer, maybe they would
43:13
Speaker 3: have won a roster spot out of that. And now
43:16
Speaker 3: we've seen Alex Bump got sent down. They signed Michael Bunting.
43:20
Speaker 3: We'll get into that more. But going into training camp,
43:23
Speaker 3: you want to have some sort of roster battles. You
43:27
Speaker 3: want to have some healthy competition and there really wasn't
43:30
Speaker 3: anything going on. Like, like the forwards had to be
43:34
Speaker 3: better than Zach Aston Reese, who was never going to
43:37
Speaker 3: be an angel, but, or even Carl Grunstrom, who I
43:39
Speaker 3: like Carl, he's a fine bottom six forward, but like
43:43
Speaker 3: there was no one in there to compete with. And
43:47
Speaker 3: on the blue line, it was, was even worse. Like David,
43:49
Speaker 3: you're a check. He's a project. He might still turn
43:52
Speaker 3: out to be a decent defenseman, but he was penciled in.
43:56
Speaker 3: He can't clear waivers. He would have to go on waivers,
43:59
Speaker 3: so they don't want to lose him there. Then you
44:02
Speaker 3: have Simone Benoit, who's like a seventh defenseman. Now we
44:05
Speaker 3: have Ristolainen hurt already, so we're seeing just the Flyers.
44:10
Speaker 3: Breer took some big swings in the offseason and missed
44:12
Speaker 3: on them, and you know, not a lot of roster turnover,
44:15
Speaker 3: a lot of complacency going into a training camp and
44:19
Speaker 3: not having that competition seems to maybe have carried over
44:22
Speaker 3: to the regular season. If they gave, if they gave
44:25
Speaker 3: a spot to canoeable, if they gave a spot to Luchenko,
44:28
Speaker 3: maybe that's like, okay, it's holding some players accountable for
44:32
Speaker 3: what they look like on the ice, not what they
44:34
Speaker 3: did last year.
44:35
Speaker 1: And I think it's important to have that competition because
44:39
Speaker 1: at the end of the day, you have the competition.
44:41
Speaker 1: It creates some sort of consistency as well. consistency on
44:45
Speaker 1: the ice within that competitive, that competitive back and forth
44:49
Speaker 1: that's going on. And now they don't have any consistency here.
44:52
Speaker 1: So it's just, it seems like coaching malpractice in a
44:56
Speaker 1: lot of ways here. And we're going to kind of
44:58
Speaker 1: get to that. You know, we did talk about Taka
45:00
Speaker 1: here already, but we're going to, when we close out
45:02
Speaker 1: our discussion to talk about, you know, who's to blame
45:05
Speaker 1: for all of this. But what's astonishing to me, Ryan,
45:10
Speaker 1: is the, how the Flyers have been outshot in such
45:14
Speaker 1: a crazy fashion in the first four games of this season.
45:17
Speaker 1: I mean, when they were playing the lightning, they were
45:19
Speaker 1: outshot 36 to 14. It's just astonishing to me. How
45:25
Speaker 1: and why are we seeing this kind of hockey malpractice here?
45:30
Speaker 3: Like you said before, it looks like they just put
45:32
Speaker 3: some skates on, got some sticks in their hands for
45:34
Speaker 3: the first time, and they're just playing together for the
45:37
Speaker 3: first time. It doesn't look like they're largely the same
45:40
Speaker 3: group of forwards and defensemen that made the playoffs, won
45:42
Speaker 3: a round last year. And at five on five, overall
45:46
Speaker 3: shot attempts are 246 against, 122 for. So two shots
45:52
Speaker 3: against for one shot attempt for. They're just getting no
45:56
Speaker 3: consistent pressure. it seems like every time they have a
45:59
Speaker 3: chance in the zone, it's one and done. They're just
46:02
Speaker 3: trying to get the puck deep and they can't win
46:04
Speaker 3: a battle in their own zone. They can't win a battle.
46:07
Speaker 3: They can't get it out. I don't know if like their,
46:11
Speaker 3: their conditioning wasn't good enough going into training camp because
46:15
Speaker 3: they're just losing battles. They're not being first to any
46:18
Speaker 3: pucks whatsoever. And I think there has to be some
46:23
Speaker 3: sort of chain change in the systems where the players,
46:25
Speaker 3: they don't know who they're playing with necessarily.
46:27
Speaker 1: We're talking basic shit here. We're talking basic shit. Yeah.
46:31
Speaker 3: They needed to have some sort of semblance of lines
46:34
Speaker 3: together in training camp. I just wanted one line. Like,
46:38
Speaker 3: Keep Forster, Cates, and Michkoff. That was a line that
46:40
Speaker 3: played together. Or Forster, Cates, and whoever's there. Like, we've
46:44
Speaker 3: seen that with Brink. You can put Konechny there. Put
46:46
Speaker 3: Martone there. Put Michkoff there. Put Tippett there. Like, whoever.
46:50
Speaker 3: Get a trio going that you can trust. And you're
46:54
Speaker 3: not jumbling the lines every single period, it seems like.
46:58
Speaker 3: It seems like Rick Tockett's just pulling the lines out
47:00
Speaker 3: of a hat. Which, on one hand, he has to
47:03
Speaker 3: try to do something to get this offense going when
47:05
Speaker 3: the players aren't performing. But You had two weeks training
47:09
Speaker 3: camp to figure something out. You had all summer to
47:11
Speaker 3: figure something out with the same group of forwards. It's
47:15
Speaker 3: just– it's inexplainable. It's like we can try to come
47:19
Speaker 3: up with, oh, it's because of this. It's because of that.
47:21
Speaker 3: But it's just– It's just all of that and more.
47:25
Speaker 2: Exactly. And look, I mean, pull back the curtain a
47:28
Speaker 2: little bit, folks.
47:29
Speaker 1: When I reached out to Ryan last week to talk
47:31
Speaker 1: about coming on the show to talk about the Flyers
47:35
Speaker 1: beginning start of the season, my hope was to actually
47:38
Speaker 1: talk about specific players, like to talk about where Porter
47:41
Speaker 1: Martone is after a few games. to talk about where
47:45
Speaker 1: some of these young guys are. And we're not going
47:47
Speaker 1: to be getting into that because it's the overall picture
47:51
Speaker 1: of where the team is at right now. We cannot
47:52
Speaker 1: get into specific talent and where they are in terms
47:56
Speaker 1: of their development, even after four games. Yeah, but we
47:58
Speaker 1: can't do that right now. It's the overall picture here.
48:01
Speaker 1: So- That being said, we're going to take a break here, folks.
48:04
Speaker 1: When we get back, we're going to talk to Ryan
48:06
Speaker 1: more about this Flyers team, the beginning of this season.
48:09
Speaker 1: But Ryan, let folks know where they can follow you
48:11
Speaker 1: on the socials out there. If they want to, they
48:13
Speaker 1: want to, you know, interact with you, let everybody know
48:15
Speaker 1: where they can find you.
48:17
Speaker 3: Yeah. You can follow me on Twitter at R Gilbert
48:20
Speaker 3: S O P. And I'm also over on blue sky
48:22
Speaker 3: at Ryan Gilbert dot B sky dot social. And yeah,
48:24
Speaker 3: follow up broad street hockey, follow the podcast on YouTube.
48:27
Speaker 3: We appreciate all the support.
48:29
Speaker 1: All right, folks, we're taking a break. We'll be back
48:30
Speaker 1: in just a bit. All right, we're back with our
48:35
Speaker 1: buddy Ryan Gilbert from BroadStreetHockey.com, the Broad Street Hockey podcast
48:40
Speaker 1: as well. And I really wanted to get into the
48:43
Speaker 1: defense here as well and actually how bad it is.
48:46
Speaker 1: I mean, we're really not going to be talking about
48:48
Speaker 1: anything positive in this conversation here. You look at the
48:51
Speaker 1: stats and it's pretty terrible. What are you seeing from
48:55
Speaker 1: the defensemen that have really put this team in a
48:58
Speaker 1: pretty terrible position, just from a defensive standpoint here, Ryan?
49:02
Speaker 3: Yeah, you were saying before the break, like we can't
49:04
Speaker 3: even go player by player because like you can't dig
49:07
Speaker 3: into things. But I think one player that has maybe
49:10
Speaker 3: played the best is Travis Anheim. He had that one
49:13
Speaker 3: slap shot goal. Yeah, he's still the top pair of defensemen.
49:17
Speaker 3: He started with Ristolainen, Ristolainen got hurt. Now, now York
49:21
Speaker 3: was up there. Santa had moved over, but he's still not,
49:23
Speaker 3: he's still not playing well. Like it's not like he's,
49:25
Speaker 3: he's playing great. Nick sealer, Nick sealers doing Nick sealer things.
49:29
Speaker 3: Third pair. He's, he's out there blocking shots, trying his best.
49:31
Speaker 3: So no negative things about Nick sealer, but cam York
49:35
Speaker 3: and Jamie Drysdale, both, both, Drysdale took a huge step
49:39
Speaker 3: forward last year. I'm a fan of Cam York. I
49:41
Speaker 3: think he's underrated as a second pair guy, but both
49:44
Speaker 3: of those players have been, both those defensemen have been
49:47
Speaker 3: horrible on the top four. The one Cam York pass
49:51
Speaker 3: against the lightning where he just passed it back into
49:53
Speaker 3: his own zone into a two on one the other way.
49:57
Speaker 3: But like we've been saying, it's everything. It's on the defense.
50:02
Speaker 3: They don't have players to break it out to because
50:04
Speaker 3: the players clear the zone or get possession. Then have
50:08
Speaker 3: to go change. Then you have to wage it out.
50:10
Speaker 3: And there's new systems. You don't know what you're doing.
50:15
Speaker 3: It's really just awful. And I feel bad because I
50:18
Speaker 3: do want to provide some analysis and things. But it's
50:23
Speaker 3: the same defense. Maybe, like I said before, Breer needed
50:26
Speaker 3: to go out and get a better defenseman for the
50:29
Speaker 3: third pair. Just so you knew you would have six
50:32
Speaker 3: plus good defenseman. They're reportedly looking to get more defensemen depth,
50:38
Speaker 3: depth guys, but like, yeah, if, if Jamie dries down
50:42
Speaker 3: in Cam York, if both of those guys, if one
50:44
Speaker 3: of those guys isn't playing at a second pair level, this,
50:48
Speaker 3: this thing goes downhill pretty quickly because Sanheim is your
50:51
Speaker 3: only top pair guy. Risto can get there at some point,
50:56
Speaker 3: but otherwise you're, you're relying on York and Drysdale to
50:59
Speaker 3: be those top. I thought there were top four defensemen.
51:01
Speaker 3: I thought maybe they could, they could be, you know,
51:03
Speaker 3: top pair if they had to, but right now, like it's, it's,
51:07
Speaker 3: it's looking ugly and you're having Benoit on the third
51:09
Speaker 3: pair and, and you're a check on the second pair.
51:12
Speaker 3: And that's just a recipe for disaster.
51:14
Speaker 1: Ryan, let me bounce this off of you. Cause this,
51:16
Speaker 1: this thought just came into my head and I'm thinking
51:18
Speaker 1: to myself, could this be part of the issue here
51:21
Speaker 1: from an overall perspective? This team absolutely exceeds expectations last year.
51:27
Speaker 1: They get to the playoffs. They did something nobody thought
51:33
Speaker 1: that they could do in getting past that first round, okay?
51:37
Speaker 1: And the team must have been just high as a kite. Like,
51:40
Speaker 1: oh my gosh, this is really happening. The rebuild. that
51:43
Speaker 1: we all hear about with all of us, and they're
51:46
Speaker 1: talking about it in the locker room, or they're talking
51:47
Speaker 1: about it on their text threads. Wow, this is actually happening. Wow,
51:50
Speaker 1: I cannot believe that we've been able to do this.
51:53
Speaker 1: Front office really knows what they're doing here. And we
51:56
Speaker 1: are going to next year take things to another level.
52:00
Speaker 1: The mental aspect of it, where they said perhaps to themselves, yeah,
52:06
Speaker 1: we got this, we got this. And perhaps that Laying
52:11
Speaker 1: the foundation for what this intro to the season has
52:15
Speaker 1: been here could be detrimental. And I'm wondering if that's
52:19
Speaker 1: part of it, coming into this season thinking, yeah, this
52:21
Speaker 1: is going to be our year to really raise some
52:23
Speaker 1: eyebrows and completely shitting the bed.
52:27
Speaker 3: It's a great thought. It's a great theory. I've thought
52:30
Speaker 3: it myself. Yeah, this team, like, okay, we won a
52:32
Speaker 3: playoff round. We rallied back in March and April to
52:35
Speaker 3: make the playoffs. We can just keep doing the same
52:37
Speaker 3: stuff and we'll be good to start the season. You
52:40
Speaker 3: have that. You have Breer saying, you know, maybe we'll
52:43
Speaker 3: take a step back, which is realistic. But a GM
52:46
Speaker 3: shouldn't come out and say that. And he then walked
52:48
Speaker 3: that back. Right. You have also teams aren't going to
52:52
Speaker 3: take them lightly now. Teams aren't like, OK, the Flyers,
52:55
Speaker 3: they're rebuilding. It's like, OK, the Flyers, they won a
52:58
Speaker 3: playoff series last year. They were one of the final
53:00
Speaker 3: 18 standings. They're going to be– it's not like, okay,
53:04
Speaker 3: we don't have to prepare for them. They're going to
53:05
Speaker 3: be preparing for them. They got a book on Mieczkow.
53:07
Speaker 3: There's a book on Marton now after playing nine games
53:11
Speaker 3: regular season, 10 playoff games. yeah, the Flyers are no
53:15
Speaker 3: longer this just up-and-coming team that teams overlook, combined with
53:19
Speaker 3: the fact that the players are like, yeah, we got
53:21
Speaker 3: this now. We know what we're doing. We can go
53:23
Speaker 3: into this season and kind of coach a little bit.
53:27
Speaker 3: I think that more so than the narrative that these
53:30
Speaker 3: players got paid and now they don't care. I don't
53:32
Speaker 3: like that. I don't like that narrative because these players
53:36
Speaker 3: want to win more than the fans do. The fans
53:38
Speaker 3: don't always see that, but they do.
53:40
Speaker 1: Absolutely.
53:40
Speaker 3: But there is some sort of lack of preparation. There
53:44
Speaker 3: is some sort of mindset that needs to be changed.
53:47
Speaker 3: And hopefully these two days off here. can help it.
53:50
Speaker 1: Absolutely. They need a spark at the end of the day.
53:52
Speaker 1: They need a spark, but I'm not sure if the
53:55
Speaker 1: front office necessarily has given a spark to this team
53:59
Speaker 1: because the Flyers front office and Danny Breer ended up
54:02
Speaker 1: signing forward Michael Bunning to a one-year deal in response
54:07
Speaker 1: to this horrendous start here. And look, as we know, uh,
54:11
Speaker 1: Bunting has, he's, he's been a role player. He's bounced
54:14
Speaker 1: around from team to team. Um, and in terms of
54:18
Speaker 1: Ryan real and true impact. I don't think we should
54:22
Speaker 1: expect much from bunting. And I mean, look, they could
54:25
Speaker 1: have signed him during the off season. They didn't. Now
54:28
Speaker 1: they are hoping that he can provide some sort of
54:31
Speaker 1: even small spark, as I mentioned, because they certainly need
54:34
Speaker 1: it here. How do you see bunting filling a void
54:38
Speaker 1: on this team, if at all?
54:40
Speaker 3: Yeah, he'll fit in as like a, like a better
54:42
Speaker 3: Carl Grunstrom will probably pay play on the, on the
54:45
Speaker 3: second or third line on the left wing. The Flyers
54:48
Speaker 3: don't have a lot of natural left wing, so that
54:51
Speaker 3: is some help there, I guess. He's good net front
54:54
Speaker 3: on the power play. Not sure if he'll go in
54:56
Speaker 3: the top unit right away, but definitely on the second unit.
55:00
Speaker 3: I think mostly this is just like a warning shot
55:03
Speaker 3: to the players. Like, hey, I'm not going to make
55:05
Speaker 3: a panic trade right now, but we're bringing in this
55:07
Speaker 3: guy from the outside because none of you are doing
55:10
Speaker 3: your jobs. And they sent Alex Bump down. He was
55:13
Speaker 3: awful in camp. He was awful in his first few
55:16
Speaker 3: games before being a healthy scratch. They're like, okay, Michael
55:18
Speaker 3: Bunting is a veteran. He's played decent last year with Nashville,
55:23
Speaker 3: 31 points. in 61 games before being dealt to Dallas.
55:27
Speaker 3: He did play for Rick Tockett a little bit back
55:29
Speaker 3: in Arizona. So there's that connection as well. It's just
55:34
Speaker 3: another guy to be like, Hey, you know, if you,
55:35
Speaker 3: if you young guys aren't playing well, here's someone we
55:38
Speaker 3: can actually put into the lineup because they weren't going
55:41
Speaker 3: to do that with Garrett Wilson. Garrett Wilson's just hanging
55:44
Speaker 3: around as an extra guy. Michael Bunting is someone that
55:47
Speaker 3: can be like, all right, he's in the lineup. And
55:49
Speaker 3: if he has a bad game, he'll come out. But
55:51
Speaker 3: then if you have a bad game, you're coming out
55:54
Speaker 3: for him.
55:54
Speaker 1: Yeah.
55:55
Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely.
55:57
Speaker 1: Close us out, buddy. And it's a general question. We
55:59
Speaker 1: alluded to, you know, this topic as, you know, we
56:04
Speaker 1: all want to play the blame game. All of us fans,
56:07
Speaker 1: you know, the media, you know, podcasters, writers, too. Who
56:12
Speaker 1: is to blame, do you think, at the end of
56:13
Speaker 1: the day for this Flyers horrible start of this season?
56:17
Speaker 1: And can this team really right this ship over the
56:20
Speaker 1: next couple of weeks here?
56:22
Speaker 3: Who's to blame?
56:23
Speaker 1: Yeah.
56:24
Speaker 3: Everybody. Everybody is to blame, Jeff. Danny Breyer in the
56:28
Speaker 3: front office, not changing or improving the roster in the summer.
56:32
Speaker 3: They took the big swing for Leo Carlson. That feels
56:34
Speaker 3: like a fever dream at this point. They're like, OK, yeah,
56:37
Speaker 3: we tried. And we all liked it. We're like, all right,
56:39
Speaker 3: they're trying. This is what they wanted to do. They
56:41
Speaker 3: want to go out big game hunting when they have
56:43
Speaker 3: a chance. And they just missed this time. It's a good,
56:46
Speaker 3: good show of confidence, whatever, for that. He went into
56:50
Speaker 3: camp with a preset mindset, as we talked about before.
56:53
Speaker 3: He said they might take a step back. And they're
56:55
Speaker 3: relying on their players to take a step forward when
56:59
Speaker 3: Rick Tockett is not putting them in a position to
57:01
Speaker 3: do so. So there's blame on Tockett as well for
57:04
Speaker 3: the lack of consistency in lines. potentially changing the systems up,
57:08
Speaker 3: you know, not doing what they know works. And then
57:12
Speaker 3: Rick Tockett even, you know, he said with that top
57:14
Speaker 3: power play in it, he was going to give him
57:16
Speaker 3: runway into the season. And after two games, he swapped
57:19
Speaker 3: out Martone for Konechny. Like, if you're going to give
57:22
Speaker 3: him runway, give him runway, especially with a guy like
57:26
Speaker 3: Martone after the whole Mieczkoff saga last year. Like Martone,
57:30
Speaker 3: like now the national media is like, oh, Martone's down
57:33
Speaker 3: on the fourth line now off the top power play.
57:35
Speaker 3: And it's just, A huge storyline. But it ultimately comes
57:39
Speaker 3: down to the players because the front office can make changes.
57:42
Speaker 3: The coaching staff can put lines together and put systems together.
57:46
Speaker 3: But the players, they have to go out there and skate.
57:48
Speaker 3: They got to win battles and they have to play.
57:50
Speaker 3: They got to put the puck in the net.
57:52
Speaker 2: Yep.
57:52
Speaker 3: And they're too comfortable right now while also squeezing their
57:57
Speaker 3: sticks a bit too tight because they know they need
58:01
Speaker 3: to score and they need to win. And I think
58:04
Speaker 3: that's all it's going to take for this team to
58:06
Speaker 3: get a turnaround is to win a game. It's going
58:08
Speaker 3: to be like, all right, monkey off the back. Let's
58:10
Speaker 3: win a game. We'll see when that is because this
58:13
Speaker 3: road trip continues in Ottawa and then Boston and then
58:17
Speaker 3: a home against Carolina. Then they have the Kraken at home.
58:21
Speaker 3: So I'm looking next Tuesday, 7 p.m. against the Kraken.
58:25
Speaker 3: That could be the first win of the season. If
58:27
Speaker 3: they don't win that game. We'll talk about the hot seat.
58:31
Speaker 1: Yeah, exactly. Absolutely. Boy, what a great way to end it.
58:35
Speaker 1: And I think we ended on a positive note, you know?
58:38
Speaker 1: Once they get that first win, all right, maybe they're
58:41
Speaker 1: righting the ship there, you know? I like that.
58:43
Speaker 2: I like it.
58:44
Speaker 1: Folks, he's Ryan Gilbert from BroadStreetHockey.com, the Broad Street Hockey Podcast.
58:50
Speaker 1: My friend, always great talking to you. Thanks so much
58:52
Speaker 1: for jumping on this week. And let's talk more down
58:55
Speaker 1: the road. Let's talk more Flyers, more NHL. I'd love
58:58
Speaker 1: to have you on again.
58:59
Speaker 3: Absolutely. I feel better just now after this 20-minute talk.
59:02
Speaker 1: Oh, wonderful.
59:03
Speaker 2: Thanks for having me on.
59:05
Speaker 1: And that's going to do it for us this week.
59:07
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59:10
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59:12
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59:22
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59:25
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59:28
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59:32
Speaker 1: great week and we'll catch you next time. Thank you.