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Football at Four: Assessing the Eagles Brass Comments From This Week's Press Conference · Inside the Birds: A Philadelphia Eagles Podcast

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  Speaker 1: So if you're at Ocean Casino Resort tomorrow, stop by
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  Speaker 1: and see me there all right. Right now, Football at four,
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  Speaker 1: we're wrapping up the end of this season for Philadelphia
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  Speaker 1: and obvious a lot has happened since the last time
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  Speaker 1: we spoke to Andrew to Checko, who joined us right
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  Speaker 1: now from the Inside the Birds podcast Inside the Birds
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  Speaker 1: dot Com. Andrew, where did it all go wrong? Man?
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  Speaker 1: If I was to ask you overall most disappointing part
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  Speaker 1: about the way this season ended, what do you.
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  Speaker 2: Got it ended abruptly? Look? It was it was the offense.
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  Speaker 2: The offense failed to reach expectations. It was something that
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  Speaker 2: had been a prevailing theme off season, and to expect
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  Speaker 2: the unit to be able to flip the switch and
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  Speaker 2: get it going when it mattered most was not very realistic.
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  Speaker 2: And even in a weakened NFC playoff field, it never
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  Speaker 2: quite felt like the Eagles were going to be primed
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  Speaker 2: to to reach the reach the heights that they did
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  Speaker 2: last year. And I'll tell you this, you know, when
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  Speaker 2: the season ends abruptly like that, as a beat reporter
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  Speaker 2: at least, I'm just speaking for me, it's a it's
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  Speaker 2: a weird feeling because you get used to doing the
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  Speaker 2: you know, being a part of the daily grind, and it's, yeah,
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  Speaker 2: it just ends and you have Rocker clean out Monday.
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  Speaker 2: By Tuesday they've removed Kevin Patulo from the offensive coordinator role,
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  Speaker 2: and Thursday they had the end of season press conference,
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  Speaker 2: and now it's time for offseason talk and draft.
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  Speaker 1: Well, on a day where Boba Schett has signed with
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  Speaker 1: the Mets, I just saw that. Yeah, yeah, that has
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  Speaker 1: put a little damper on everybody. And now the microscope
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  Speaker 1: goes right back to the Eagles, because you know, everybody's like, okay,
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  Speaker 1: maybe the Philly No, So what's next for Philadelphia? We
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  Speaker 1: heard the end of season press conference yesterday. Offensive cordinator
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  Speaker 1: is obviously on the list. What would you like to
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  Speaker 1: see from them? A lot of people have an opinion,
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  Speaker 1: this is Mike McDaniel offense work here. You want to
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  Speaker 1: bring in a guy like a McDaniel or a Stefanski
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  Speaker 1: or a Kingsbury who might be a one and done.
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  Speaker 1: Is there a veteran guy that will be here for
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  Speaker 1: the long term. What makes most sense to you?
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  Speaker 2: Well, the Eagles made it clear, both Hallie Roseman and
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  Speaker 2: Nick Sirianni that the urgency is to win now. And
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  Speaker 2: if that happens to you know, come with a coordator
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  Speaker 2: who's here for one year and then they move on
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  Speaker 2: because of their success. Then they said, so be it.
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  Speaker 2: With that being said, I think if you're the Eagles,
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  Speaker 2: you would like to get an innovative coach, a younger
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  Speaker 2: coach who has a lot of fresh ideas and concepts
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  Speaker 2: and will ultimately force Jalen Hurts and the offense out
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  Speaker 2: of their comfort zone to really move this thing in
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  Speaker 2: the right direction. Now you mentioned Mike McDaniel, I personally
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  Speaker 2: don't view Mike McDaniel as an ideal fit in Philadelphia.
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  Speaker 2: As much as I like his offense, as much as
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  Speaker 2: I think that that's what they need, I don't know that.
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  Speaker 2: I mean, it's a timing based offense West Coast. It's
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  Speaker 2: there's a lot of complexities there and you have to
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  Speaker 2: get the ball out quickly, and that's not something that
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  Speaker 2: Jalen Hurts has done in his career. Not saying he
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  Speaker 2: can't do it, but they're there hasn't been any evidence
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  Speaker 2: to suggest that he can, and that could lead to
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  Speaker 2: a lot of challenges. You may have to alter the scheme,
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  Speaker 2: and ultimately you need the coordinator to be able to
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  Speaker 2: have full autonomy and try to really maximize the talent
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  Speaker 2: that they have. Because the offense that we've seen has
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  Speaker 2: really been the same iteration of the offense that we've
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  Speaker 2: seen since twenty twenty one and that's going to obviously
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  Speaker 2: have to change.
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  Speaker 1: Do you believe it can and will? I mean, when
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  Speaker 1: you think about it, everybody keeps wondering, is this Knick's offense?
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  Speaker 1: Will he get involved? There's been some reporting that hey,
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  Speaker 1: whoever comes in, they will get to run their offense.
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  Speaker 1: Do you believe that?
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  Speaker 2: No, not entirely. It's such a tough way to do business, Mike,
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  Speaker 2: to have an offensive minded head coach and then all
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  Speaker 2: of a sudden say, okay, you have no say in
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  Speaker 2: the offense. Vick Fanjos got the defense covered and Nick Sirianni,
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  Speaker 2: while he does a lot of things behind the scenes
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  Speaker 2: that I don't think it's enough credit. You're essentially neutering
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  Speaker 2: your head coach. And I just think that that is
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  Speaker 2: a challenging way to do business, and so I don't
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  Speaker 2: view that as as something that is very realistic. Now.
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  Speaker 2: I think that this could be an opportunity for Nick
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  Speaker 2: Sirianni to be a little bit more hands off, maybe
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  Speaker 2: be adaptable and willing to sort of immerse himself in
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  Speaker 2: a different scheme, open broaden his horizons, and be in
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  Speaker 2: support whoever the coordinator is. But I don't know that
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  Speaker 2: he's going to be completely hands off. He's an offensive
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  Speaker 2: coach and he's the head coach of the Philadelphia Eagles,
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  Speaker 2: So I just don't I don't necessarily think that that
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  Speaker 2: will ultimately be the case.
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  Speaker 1: When talking about we're talking with Andrew to Checko Football
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  Speaker 1: four from the Inside of the Birds podcast. When talking
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  Speaker 1: about the head coach of the Philadelphia Eagles, you know,
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  Speaker 1: Nick hats said, you know, I want to be a
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  Speaker 1: head coach. I don't want to be an offensive play
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  Speaker 1: call and then how we kind of doubled down on
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  Speaker 1: that to say, let me just speak on that. You know,
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  Speaker 1: this is what makes him an elite head coach. And
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  Speaker 1: he went and listed attention to detail and you know,
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  Speaker 1: connection with the players, and there was a whole multitude
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  Speaker 1: of things that he kind of laid out of why
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  Speaker 1: they view Nick as the right guy for this job.
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  Speaker 1: Did you were you surprised at how much of a
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  Speaker 1: stamp of approval that how we put on the job
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  Speaker 1: that Nick has done.
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  Speaker 2: No, because they're very aware of the sentiment that's out
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  Speaker 2: there by some and there's probably a large or a segment,
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  Speaker 2: I don't want to say a large segment of the
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  Speaker 2: Eagles fan base that probably questions what does Nick Sirianni do?
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  Speaker 2: What will he do if he doesn't have any say
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  Speaker 2: in the offense of their defense? And I think that
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  Speaker 2: was more so Howie Roseman having the presence of mind
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  Speaker 2: to bring that up unprompted about what he does do.
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  Speaker 2: And that's something that those of us who cover the
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  Speaker 2: team have expressed. These are the things that he does.
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  Speaker 2: And I know that sometimes that's met with eye rolls
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  Speaker 2: and groans, but he's a culture center. There's a lot
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  Speaker 2: of emphasis on fundamentals. I'm obviously not in every NFL
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  Speaker 2: on the field for every NFL practice, but I have
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  Speaker 2: to imagine Eagles drill ball security more than anything more
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  Speaker 2: than any other team out there, and take certain measures
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  Speaker 2: to ensure that those details are in place on game
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  Speaker 2: day and having your team prepared each and every week.
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  Speaker 2: That's not an easy thing to do. And also have
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  Speaker 2: players one through fifty three, really one through seventy be
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  Speaker 2: fully bought into your messaging and keep it fresh every year.
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  Speaker 2: That that's a challenge in of itself, And so I
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  Speaker 2: look at his leadership and being that CEO head coach
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  Speaker 2: as something that shouldn't be discounted, even though you may
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  Speaker 2: look at it and say, well he's not calling plays
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  Speaker 2: or this or that. I think there's a lot that
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  Speaker 2: he does. And it was I thought it was very
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  Speaker 2: pointed that Howie Roseman noted THO some of the things
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  Speaker 2: that Nick Sirianni brings to the table.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, I agree with that. And so for the people
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  Speaker 1: out there and wonder what Nick does. You heard what
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  Speaker 1: Howie Rosman think Nick does? Not only does does that
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  Speaker 1: an elite, but anybody who thought that maybe they were
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  Speaker 1: wavering on their head coach, think you heard what Howie
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  Speaker 1: said there yesterday. Now they go for a offensive coordinator,
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  Speaker 1: if a lot of other things they need to figure out.
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  Speaker 1: You're a big draft guy. They have the twenty third
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  Speaker 1: pick in the draft, corner offensive line, anywhere else what
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  Speaker 1: pops out? I know that's a ways often we'll definitely
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  Speaker 1: got our hands dirty on that conversation. But right off
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  Speaker 1: the bat, what kind of stands out is something this
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  Speaker 1: team has to get better.
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  Speaker 2: At the offensive line. You have to start drafting replacements
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  Speaker 2: and not Day three guys. You have to get first, second,
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  Speaker 2: third round offensive lineman that they can plug in there
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  Speaker 2: and be successors or if injuries sort of persist with
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  Speaker 2: Landon Dickerson and Cam Jurgens and Lane Johnson, you have
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  Speaker 2: to have a suitable replacement because, as we've learned this season,
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  Speaker 2: for as prolific as that offense may be on pape,
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  Speaker 2: if you can't if you can't run, block, and your
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  Speaker 2: pass protection is a little spotty at time. Because I
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  Speaker 2: thought for the most part this season it was fine,
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  Speaker 2: You're gonna have a really challenging time moving the football
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  Speaker 2: and playing offense. You're gonna look almost as if you're
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  Speaker 2: laboring down the field each and every week. And so
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  Speaker 2: I think the offensive line has been the star the
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  Speaker 2: stars for the Philadelphia Eagles offense, and I think for
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  Speaker 2: when you look at the draft, the Eagles always placed
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  Speaker 2: a considerable emphasis on fortifying the trenches, and so that's
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  Speaker 2: first and foremost for me where I think it should
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  Speaker 2: all start.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, it's interesting because and I totally seem to agree
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  Speaker 1: with you on this. The one thing that's interesting is
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  Speaker 1: Malatta not going anywhere, Dickerson not going anywhere, Jurgens, you're
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  Speaker 1: assuming they're all signed, Lane up in the air obviously,
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  Speaker 1: and Steen is the one guy on the roster on
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  Speaker 1: the offensive side the ball that doesn't make any real money.
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  Speaker 1: So it's kind of hard to find who's getting replaced.
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  Speaker 1: But you said you know depth obviously, but you're taking
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  Speaker 1: a guy at number twenty three. Overall, you're hoping to
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  Speaker 1: get some sort of impact. So I guess you're looking
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  Speaker 1: at someone that can maybe replace Lane and then push, yeah,
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  Speaker 1: push Tyler in training hit. Maybe a guy could play
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  Speaker 1: guard for a year or two and then bounce outside.
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  Speaker 1: By the way, is your gut feeling on Lane that
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  Speaker 1: he's backer retires, But.
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  Speaker 2: My gut says that he'll be back just because he
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  Speaker 2: missed eight games, which is kind of going back to
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  Speaker 2: my point with the draft. You have to have a
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  Speaker 2: right tackle of the future, and it's never too early
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  Speaker 2: to start preparing for that. But he missed eight games.
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  Speaker 2: He wasn't available for the playoff game. It's tough if
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  Speaker 2: you're laying I imagine to end your career on a
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  Speaker 2: down note like that. So I would have you know
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  Speaker 2: my gut right now, and obviously it's subject to change
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  Speaker 2: based off the information that we get as the offseason
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  Speaker 2: moves forward. It would seem to me that he would
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  Speaker 2: he would want to return. I would think I.
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  Speaker 1: Would think so too, based on what you just kind
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  Speaker 1: of said. Is you know, this little unfinished business here
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  Speaker 1: with this team. The corners of the spot they got
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: to look at as well, where do you think the
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  Speaker 1: AJ Brown thing goes?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, right now? For me, it seems like that's something
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  Speaker 2: that if you're the Eagles, is it tenable? Because AJ
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  Speaker 2: Brown has clearly expressed his frustrations over the offense and
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  Speaker 2: the quarterback's not going anywhere. The style of play, the
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  Speaker 2: low volume passing attack probably isn't going to change all
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  Speaker 2: that much. And AJ has talked a lot about his
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  Speaker 2: legacy and his willing and his sort of the way
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  Speaker 2: that he views the game and how he wants to
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  Speaker 2: have his imprints on an offense and make that make
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  Speaker 2: those game changing plays, and that's likely not going to
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  Speaker 2: happen here. The Eagles are not a high value passing attack.
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  Speaker 2: That's not going to change. And then you couple that
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  Speaker 2: with we haven't talked to AJ Brown since December eighth
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  Speaker 2: in the SOFI Stadium locker room after the Chargers game,
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  Speaker 2: so you don't know what he's thinking, you don't know
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  Speaker 2: what's going through his mind, and then the drops in
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  Speaker 2: the postseason game, he didn't speak to us again after
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  Speaker 2: the game. After that final game there, he wasn't that
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  Speaker 2: clean out, And I mean, all you're left with is
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  Speaker 2: the you know, the information that we have the evidence,
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  Speaker 2: and it doesn't seem like he's like he's happy. And
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  Speaker 2: I think a lot of it could be determined with
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  Speaker 2: whoever is appointed to that offensive coordinator role, because you
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  Speaker 2: have to imagine if you're a prospective coordinator and you're
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  Speaker 2: going through the interview process, you're first asking about jaywhen hurts,
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  Speaker 2: and then likely the next follow up question is what's
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  Speaker 2: the status with the wide receiver with aj Brown? Because
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  Speaker 2: that's kind of an important component to the overall success
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  Speaker 2: of that unit, and that can be a determining factor
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  Speaker 2: for an offensive coordinator wanting to be here in Philadelphia
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  Speaker 2: because otherwise the Eagles are really depleted at wide receiver.
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  Speaker 2: So there's still a lot to be determined right now.
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  Speaker 2: I would lean it doesn't seem tenable right now, but
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  Speaker 2: depending on who who comes about, who surfaces as an
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  Speaker 2: offensive coordinator in Philadelphia, that could change things.
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: Do you have a guy that you think is the
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  Speaker 1: right guy, perfect fit that you would say this would
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  Speaker 1: be the guy to kickstart and give a layer to
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  Speaker 1: this offense that we haven't seen who's that.
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  Speaker 2: Guy, Brian Dabele. I would say Brian Dabele. Mike McDaniel
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  Speaker 2: would be I think a home run higher, but for
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  Speaker 2: most teams, not for Philadelphia. I just like his innovation.
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  Speaker 2: He's phenomenal at scheming up runs, and his passing concepts
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  Speaker 2: are advanced. It's just a well run offense. But I
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  Speaker 2: don't know that that would be an ideal fit here
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  Speaker 2: in Philadelphia. But Brian Dabele has a track record of
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  Speaker 2: developing quarterbacks, has he meshes pro style with some college concepts,
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  Speaker 2: and you look, whether it's Josh Allen or whomever. I mean,
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  Speaker 2: Jackson Dart was a player that I didn't think was
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  Speaker 2: ready to step in and be a starter at the
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  Speaker 2: NFL level, And you could look at what he did
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  Speaker 2: and say, well, he didn't look like he was ready.
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  Speaker 2: But I thought that there were some moments that I
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  Speaker 2: think sort of reinforces Brian Dables's ability to develop a
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  Speaker 2: quarterback and play to their strengths. And so I think
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  Speaker 2: he has the pedigree. He has prior experience with jaywhen
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  Speaker 2: hurts in twenty seventeen, Now there may be some who
• 14:14
  Speaker 2: will say, well, that was there that Jayalen hurts got
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  Speaker 2: bench in the National Championship. Well, that wasn't Brian Dabele. Nick.
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  Speaker 2: He's not overriding Nick Saban in that type of decision.
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  Speaker 2: So I think, all things considered, you want experience, and
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  Speaker 2: Brian Dabele gives you that, and he gives you a
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  Speaker 2: commanding presence that I think will will command and a
• 14:34
  Speaker 2: resume that will command respect from that from the offense.
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  Speaker 2: In totality.
• 14:38
  Speaker 1: All right, a lot of stuff to do. Shrine Bowl's
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  Speaker 1: coming up, that kicks off kind of the off season
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  Speaker 1: of the draft, and that is all happening. We will
• 14:45
  Speaker 1: be all over the draft. Sadly, we're taking a look
• 14:47
  Speaker 1: at the draft a little earlier than we wanted to,
• 14:49
  Speaker 1: but it's something. The Eagles have twenty third pick a
• 14:52
  Speaker 1: second round or two thirds two fifth, so they do
• 14:55
  Speaker 1: have a lot of ammunition to get some reloading here
• 14:58
  Speaker 1: and we'll be talking about that. Storing football at four
• 15:01
  Speaker 1: Andrew to check out, and of course the guys from
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: the Inside the Birds podcast right here on the Sports
• 15:05
  Speaker 1: Bats Live ninety seven three ESPN.
• 15:07
  Speaker 2: All Right, Andrew.
• 15:08
  Speaker 1: Stinks at the off seasons here. I won't see at
• 15:10
  Speaker 1: the Super Bowl, I guess this year, but we'll be talking.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, we'll be talking, Mike. I hope you have a
• 15:16
  Speaker 2: good weekend.