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The DiCecco Daily: Some More Perspective In The Aftermath Of Another Eagles Loss · Inside the Birds: A Philadelphia Eagles Podcast

• 0:09
  Speaker 1: What's going on, everybody? Welcome into another episode of DiCecco Daily.
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: It's Andrew DiCecco, Eagles beat reporter for InsideTheBirds.com. Today's podcast
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: is really going to be devoted to some more talking
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: points after having given some more thought to the Eagles
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: 38-21 loss to the Dallas Cowboys. Keep in mind that
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: Nick Chiriani does not speak after Monday night games, so
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: there's nothing to react to. But there are a lot
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: of things that I've been pondering since that game happened
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: and want to kind of run through some of those
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: talking points here. And first and foremost, we'll go with
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: Saquon Barkley because. I thought Saquon Barkley just epitomized what
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: it means to be a leader and a team first guy.
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: He put his health and body on the line to
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: go out there and give the team whatever he had.
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: And in a season like this, I think it's fair
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: to understand or be able to rationalize a decision to
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: scale it back and maybe wait another week and be
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: a little bit more cautious with your injury. But he
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: went out there. He played with urgency. He had good explosiveness.
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: He provided a shot in the arm to the offense.
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: And just listening to Saquon after the game, he reminded
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: me of a player that is doing whatever he can
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: to to salvage this season. And that is not only
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: with his on-field performance, but it's also the messaging. And
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: he mentioned talking to the team after the game. He's
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: trying to keep everything together and ensure that this thing
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: doesn't get off the rails, even though many would argue
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: that it already has. He's been through a lot of
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: tumultuous seasons with the New York Giants, and I just
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: get the impression that Saquon being the the character character
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: person that he is is is recognizing that and trying
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: to get out in front of it and do whatever
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: he can to instill positivity and confidence and he's not
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: alone in that you have Jordan Mailata who I've outlined
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: quite a bit but just looking at Saquon's performance and
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: he mentioned that on the first carry he aggravated the
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: hamstring and he compensated it compensated for that later in
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: the game and that's where the back issue came into
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: play and Clearly, he was compromised, and that's why he
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: wasn't out there for the full complement of snaps as
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: he normally is, but I think it's fair to wonder
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: if he should put his health at the forefront here
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: and recognize that sometimes you have to protect yourself from yourself,
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: and that means banishing him to the sideline and just
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: allowing him time to heal so that you're not further
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: injuring yourself and making it worse. But I think you
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: have to tip your cap to Saquon for what he
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: was able to do and just his overall tenacity and
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: getting out there and putting his best foot forward and
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: trying to rally everybody and provide a spark. I thought
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: he did that while he was out there. He touched
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: the ball on every snap that he was out there,
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: every time he was on the field. So Saquon Barkley,
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: when you want to know who some of the leaders
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: are on this Philadelphia Eagles team, I'm here to tell
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: you Saquon Barkley is one of them. Jordan Mailata is
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: one of them. Landon Dickerson is one of them. Javante Smith,
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: while not a vocal guy, he's been more vocal this year,
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: he's one of them. However, on the defensive side, and
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: we're going to talk a lot about the defense here,
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: I wonder who their leaders are. Who is their official spokesperson?
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: To the media, it's Jordan Davis. And Jordan Davis will
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: get in front of the cameras, he'll take ownership when
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: things need to be those tough conversations, those tough questions,
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: and he'll also stand there and talk about what went
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: right when things are going well. But I think that
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: kind of comes with the territory. The Eagles invested a
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: lot of money in him. They believe that what they
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: saw last season indicated that he was ready to take
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: the next step forward in his progression. That hasn't happened
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: to this point. He's still largely a one-dimensional player, a
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: two-down player. They're paying him to be a game-changing three-down player,
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: a complete player. And his snaps last night, maybe not
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: being the best example, have really been on the lower
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: side this season, which is curious considering that they committed
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: to him because they expect him to do more. You
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: don't pay for what they've done. You pay for what
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: they're going to do. I think we all understand that.
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: And he has been someone who has done a lot
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: of the talking, but the team really misses N'Kobe Dean,
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: not just from an on-field perspective. They miss him from
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: a locker room perspective, someone who is going to hold
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: each and every player accountable. After every game, win or lose,
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: he would stand at his locker for at least a
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: half an hour and answer the questions from waves of reporters,
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: whether they were there from the beginning or whether they
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: were just filing in or making their way over to
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: his locker. And he answered it with the same grace,
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: the same conviction as he did when he started taking questions.
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: And he would have those tough conversations. He would challenge.
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: He would be someone on the field that would be vocal.
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: And when you wear the green dot, he just has
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: an inherent leadership qualities about him. And so not having
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: him in the mix, I think I've mentioned this before
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: when they lost them. You're not just missing a player
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: who can make an impact on the field. You're missing
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: one who is a locker room pillar and sort of
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: encompasses what it means to be just a leader both
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: on and off the field. And Reed Blankenship to a
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: lesser degree as well. He became more of a vocal
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: spokesperson last season because his role grew. No more C.J.
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: Gardner-Johnson and all those things. So you take both of
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: those players out of the mix and you have to
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: ask yourself who's the person who's going to stand up
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: and kind of have a state of the defense address
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: and at a moment's notice you need them. They're going
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: to stand there and they're going to tell you exactly
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: what went wrong and what needs to happen moving forward
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: to get it rectified. Zach Bond, by all accounts, you know,
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: from my time covering him, he has been that guy.
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: But he didn't talk. I don't believe he talked after
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: the game. I know Rick Wolin and Jalen Carter politely declined.
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: And for Jalen Carter, look, the Eagles are paying you
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: an exorbitant amount of money to be more or less
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: the centerpiece of a defense. And so with that comes
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: great responsibility. You're getting paid, of course, because they believe
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: that you're an elite talent, but also when there's a
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: certain level of expectation, you have to be able to
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: take it on the chin, stand there and answer questions.
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: And I'm not saying this from an immediate perspective. I'm
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: saying it because Nick Sirianni talks ad nauseum about accountability
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: and how critical it is to core value. And when
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: you have those heightened responsibilities and everyone's looking to you,
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: you are the face of the defense. You've got to
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: be able to stand tall and answer those questions. So
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: a little disappointing. We didn't hear from Jalen Carter, and
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: we haven't heard from him a ton this season. Rick Wolin,
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: he politely declined doing interviews after the game as well.
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: Didn't have a really good game. But I go back
• 7:40
  Speaker 1: to last year and years prior. even further back. Now,
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: I didn't cover Malcolm Jenkins. I certainly covered Brandon Graham.
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: He was one of those guys that even if he
• 7:50
  Speaker 1: had a tough game, he was going to stand there
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: and he was going to tell you what went wrong,
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: what needs to happen, and try to keep everything together.
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: Jonathan Grenard, when Jonathan Grenard was acquired and he had
• 8:03
  Speaker 1: his introductory press conference, he exuded leadership. And it all
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: sounds great in April. And I'm guilty of this myself
• 8:12
  Speaker 1: because I thought to myself, man, this guy is going
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: to be someone who is going to be the next
• 8:17
  Speaker 1: Kobe or he's going to be the next Brandon Graham.
• 8:20
  Speaker 1: You can see, you know, how infectious in a positive
• 8:23
  Speaker 1: way his personality is and how he's going to bring
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: young players along. That very well may happen. But I'm
• 8:30
  Speaker 1: looking at it strictly through the scope of Sunday night
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: or Monday night's game where he's one of those, the
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: faces of the defense. He's well compensated. You want to
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: hear from him. You want to know what went wrong.
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: Why weren't they able to generate pressure? What did he
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: identify as maybe a common theme? Or what did Dallas
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: do to combat what they do defensively? You want to
• 8:54
  Speaker 1: hear from guys like Jonathan Grenard because the edge rusher
• 8:57
  Speaker 1: group was radio silent against the Cowboys. That's just the
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: way that it was. No pressure. Well, five pressures, but
• 9:05
  Speaker 1: no quarterback hits, no sacks. I know you didn't have
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: Nolan Smith, but you had everyone else at your disposal.
• 9:13
  Speaker 1: J-Looks Hunt was playing injured. I'm surprised that he was
• 9:15
  Speaker 1: out there given the apparent severity of the injury. And
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: I think he's very fortunate that he was able to
• 9:22
  Speaker 1: bounce back as quickly as he has. But his snap
• 9:25
  Speaker 1: share shows you that he was on a pitch count
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: and he was playing in a limited capacity. He gave
• 9:29
  Speaker 1: you what he could. I've gotten a lot of questions
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: about J-Looks Hunt because... You heard these podcasts. You read
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: my work. You know that I was bullish on him
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: going into this year, and he did have a good
• 9:41
  Speaker 1: training camp. That happened. He did have a good 2025 season.
• 9:46
  Speaker 1: That also happened. So there is a reason. There's demonstrated
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: evidence to support that progression, and it really shouldn't have
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: been a surprise that he was having a good camp.
• 9:55
  Speaker 1: He certainly was. Had one of, if not the best
• 9:58
  Speaker 1: camp of any player on the team has he performed
• 10:02
  Speaker 1: well this season no even before the injury he was
• 10:04
  Speaker 1: quiet and the pressures weren't there but that doesn't mean
• 10:09
  Speaker 1: that those things didn't happen that doesn't mean that jay
• 10:11
  Speaker 1: wicks hunt is suddenly a player who doesn't have it
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: or isn't an answer because no edge rusher on the
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: eagles has had their, their imprints on a game or
• 10:21
  Speaker 1: been able to, to make a noticeable impact on a game. Now,
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: Nolan Smith has three sacks, but this all starts with
• 10:29
  Speaker 1: Jonathan Grenard and he had the pec injury weightlifting in
• 10:32
  Speaker 1: the Eagles, you know, training weight room.
• 10:35
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• 12:55
  Speaker 1: That's a freak injury. That happens. And then he gets
• 12:59
  Speaker 1: an ankle injury. I mean, he does have a history
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: of injury, so maybe... That should have been known when
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: they traded for him or taken into account maybe a
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: little bit more when they traded for him, but that
• 13:12
  Speaker 1: doesn't take away from Grenard the football player. The injuries
• 13:15
  Speaker 1: are one thing. This isn't Bryce Huff 2.0 like I've seen.
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: When he's on the field, he's not giving you anything,
• 13:23
  Speaker 1: but I don't know that it's that he lost a step.
• 13:26
  Speaker 1: There was, I think, the Rams game where you can
• 13:29
  Speaker 1: see The rushes that he was having and winning his matchups. Now,
• 13:33
  Speaker 1: he didn't get home, but I also think that you
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: saw a little bit of what he was all about
• 13:37
  Speaker 1: against the Bears as well. It's been in a cameo
• 13:40
  Speaker 1: size role, granted, but this isn't someone who can't do
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: it anymore. And like like a Robert Quinn or something,
• 13:49
  Speaker 1: injuries have happened and you can question the decision to
• 13:51
  Speaker 1: get them for certainly what you invested to get them.
• 13:55
  Speaker 1: But I think the thought process was pretty sound. And
• 13:58
  Speaker 1: this isn't a player that simply had all of his
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: talents evaporated. So I know that everything is looked at
• 14:03
  Speaker 1: in a vacuum. And I know that frustrations are high.
• 14:06
  Speaker 1: And I'm not telling you that those listening that you're
• 14:09
  Speaker 1: irrational in your thoughts. Because what happened on Monday night
• 14:13
  Speaker 1: was confounding. It was troubling. And when your offense figures
• 14:20
  Speaker 1: it out just enough. where they should be able to,
• 14:23
  Speaker 1: the defense, based off of everything that we saw this year,
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: do enough on their end to give you a more
• 14:28
  Speaker 1: balanced approach to the point where you can win a
• 14:31
  Speaker 1: football game and get back in the win comma and
• 14:33
  Speaker 1: start feeling better about yourselves. The defense has a collapse
• 14:38
  Speaker 1: that I don't know that anyone could have foreseen. So
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: what does that mean moving forward? What do I attribute
• 14:43
  Speaker 1: that to? Well, I'm not necessarily going down the avenue
• 14:46
  Speaker 1: of it being because they're fatigued. we're too early into
• 14:50
  Speaker 1: the season. This is largely a young nucleus of players
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: on that side of the ball. And they're certainly not
• 14:55
  Speaker 1: going to make excuses for it. So maybe what it
• 15:00
  Speaker 1: comes down to in my estimation is that they're not
• 15:04
  Speaker 1: getting high end production from their high end talent. And
• 15:07
  Speaker 1: that is Jalen Carter. That is Jordan Davis. That is
• 15:10
  Speaker 1: Cooper to Jean Jihad Campbell, a second year, first round pick, not,
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: necessarily getting off to the fastest of starts and has been,
• 15:20
  Speaker 1: you know, quasi benched for the past two years. So, yeah,
• 15:25
  Speaker 1: I mean, some of these cornerstone pieces that you're relying on,
• 15:28
  Speaker 1: you went into the season with the understanding that they were,
• 15:31
  Speaker 1: or the belief or the expectation that they were going
• 15:34
  Speaker 1: to elevate their game to another level. And all of
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: a sudden they're not, or they're not, there's a little
• 15:39
  Speaker 1: bit of a drop off in their play. That's kind
• 15:42
  Speaker 1: of where the, the disconnect is. And I, Don't really
• 15:46
  Speaker 1: know what you can do for that. You can coach
• 15:48
  Speaker 1: it up as well as you want. You can scheme
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: it as well as you want. But if you're just
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: not getting the production from the players, that necessarily doesn't
• 15:58
  Speaker 1: always fall on the coaching. And I think you have
• 16:00
  Speaker 1: to start looking at the personnel a little bit. You
• 16:03
  Speaker 1: have to start looking at the fundamentals. You have to
• 16:05
  Speaker 1: start looking. Like when I see poor tackling or miscommunication,
• 16:12
  Speaker 1: that is something that is within their control. Now, Vic
• 16:16
  Speaker 1: Fangio has done a little bit more in the past
• 16:19
  Speaker 1: couple weeks to generate more pressure, which is something he
• 16:21
  Speaker 1: doesn't typically do. But when you're not getting home, and
• 16:24
  Speaker 1: the Eagles have invested a lot in not only their
• 16:27
  Speaker 1: defensive tackles, but I point to Jonathan Grenard, you have
• 16:30
  Speaker 1: to do something else to shake things up. And in
• 16:33
  Speaker 1: the case of the Dallas Cowboys game, the secondary was
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: back there and forced to cover way longer than they
• 16:39
  Speaker 1: should have given the talent in front of them. And
• 16:42
  Speaker 1: now you're defending a receiving core with CeeDee Lamb, and
• 16:45
  Speaker 1: George Pickens. So it was just a total debacle, really,
• 16:52
  Speaker 1: across the board. Now, the offense, I think, offered glimpses
• 16:56
  Speaker 1: of promise. We'll see if they can build off of that.
• 16:59
  Speaker 1: Tanner McKee, I think it's important that you know who
• 17:01
  Speaker 1: he is and what he is. This is someone that
• 17:05
  Speaker 1: is limited. There are flaws in his game, but I
• 17:08
  Speaker 1: think that if tailored around his strengths, you can be
• 17:13
  Speaker 1: a competent offense. You can remain on schedule. You get
• 17:16
  Speaker 1: the ball quickly into the hands of your playmakers in
• 17:20
  Speaker 1: space and then allow them to do some of the
• 17:23
  Speaker 1: heavy lifting. And you're, you're essentially keeping the offense on, on,
• 17:27
  Speaker 1: on schedule comes down to timing. I think he can
• 17:30
  Speaker 1: do that, but there's always so much that you can
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: ask of a Tanner McKee, because at least from my perspective,
• 17:37
  Speaker 1: I wasn't overly bullish on the player, but, I thought
• 17:40
  Speaker 1: he offered some glimpses that were encouraging, but having seen
• 17:44
  Speaker 1: him just in the preseason and in training camp, it
• 17:46
  Speaker 1: was hard for me to get to the point where
• 17:49
  Speaker 1: I thought, yeah, I kind of see why a lot
• 17:52
  Speaker 1: of NFL teams believe that he– or some NFL teams
• 17:54
  Speaker 1: anyway– believe that he has starters upside. I didn't necessarily
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: see that. I thought it was a little strong because
• 18:01
  Speaker 1: I just needed to see more. I needed to see
• 18:03
  Speaker 1: more– more meaningful NFL experience that I just hadn't seen.
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: And right now you're seeing some of the limitations to
• 18:12
  Speaker 1: his game, but that doesn't mean that Sean Manning can't
• 18:14
  Speaker 1: continue to craft an offense. That's going to best suit
• 18:17
  Speaker 1: what McKee can do well. But I would in the
• 18:20
  Speaker 1: same breath say, and I always mentioned this is because
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: I know what's coming. There's going to be calls for
• 18:26
  Speaker 1: Joe Milton, who the Eagles have, you know, they signed
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: off a Dallas Cowboys practice squad. He's the QB too.
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: He leapfrogged over, uh, Cole Payton. Look, if you think
• 18:39
  Speaker 1: the offense right now is lethargic and disappointing and uneven,
• 18:46
  Speaker 1: whatever you want to use to describe it, imagine what
• 18:49
  Speaker 1: it would be with the quarterback who not only is
• 18:51
  Speaker 1: new to this offense and he has an immensely strong arm,
• 18:54
  Speaker 1: but you don't know where the ball is going. So
• 18:57
  Speaker 1: it can get worse. So I would say with that,
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: be careful what you wish for. And I understand that
• 19:02
  Speaker 1: in a season that many believe is lost, And, again,
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: it very well may be. It's not always as it
• 19:10
  Speaker 1: appears to be. And you plug someone like that in,
• 19:13
  Speaker 1: and all of a sudden the offense isn't able to
• 19:16
  Speaker 1: generate any sort of consistency or a rhythm, and it's
• 19:19
  Speaker 1: not synchronized, and there's not a lot of positivity to
• 19:24
  Speaker 1: take away from it. I think Joe Milton is an
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: intriguing player. I liked him a lot in college. but
• 19:31
  Speaker 1: I don't think that you pull the plug on a
• 19:33
  Speaker 1: Tanner McKee unless he just completely falls on his face
• 19:37
  Speaker 1: and you're just trying to create a spark or at
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: least evaluate another young player. In that case, it would
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: be Joe Milton. I don't know that the Eagles are
• 19:46
  Speaker 1: there yet. Tanner McKee certainly isn't at the top of
• 19:49
  Speaker 1: the list of players that you look to in terms
• 19:53
  Speaker 1: of why the game didn't go their way on Monday night.
• 19:56
  Speaker 1: But that's just kind of my thoughts there. And then lastly,
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: I'll leave you guys with this. Special teams is kind
• 20:05
  Speaker 1: of becoming an issue. And I say kind of because...
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: with the exception of the Jacksonville game, it hasn't really
• 20:12
  Speaker 1: burned them. They took that kickoff back in that game
• 20:15
  Speaker 1: that was called back. They had, of course, the late
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: game sequence there that hurt the Eagles. But then Tyler
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: Goodson takes a kickoff back 91 yards. Doesn't count, but
• 20:24
  Speaker 1: it was for a touchdown. The Eagles have had trouble
• 20:27
  Speaker 1: fielding kickoffs. They've had trouble generating productive returns. There's a
• 20:31
  Speaker 1: lot of reasons for that. And I'm not here to
• 20:33
  Speaker 1: make an excuse for Michael Clay. He certainly isn't going
• 20:36
  Speaker 1: to do that. If you listen to any of his
• 20:38
  Speaker 1: press conferences, he He sits there and he says, I
• 20:42
  Speaker 1: work with who I have. And that's on me as
• 20:44
  Speaker 1: a coordinator. He takes ownership of that. But I'm here
• 20:47
  Speaker 1: to tell you my perspective of the whole thing. Because
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: he is working with the players that are available to him. Now,
• 20:57
  Speaker 1: he's lost a lot of his key contributors over the
• 20:59
  Speaker 1: last couple years. Think about this. Ben Van Sumeren. Cameron Latu.
• 21:05
  Speaker 1: EJ Jenkins was waived from the 53. Will Shipley's on
• 21:08
  Speaker 1: injured reserve. Michael Carter has missed two games with an
• 21:12
  Speaker 1: abdomen injury. Not to mention you lose Sidney Brown, who
• 21:16
  Speaker 1: was a top two contributor for your units over the
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: last couple years. They also lost Kylan Granson in free agency.
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: So there's a ton of players that I just listed
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: that Chance Campbell got hurt this year. So you're working
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: with players that maybe are inexperienced in the special teams realm,
• 21:35
  Speaker 1: and it's not as simple as just plugging them in
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: and saying, oh, gap discipline, you know, take proper angles.
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: This is how we have this, you know, mapped out.
• 21:43
  Speaker 1: This is what you need to do. You have guys
• 21:46
  Speaker 1: out there like A.J. Epinesa, A.K. Epikady, Ty Robinson's on kickoff.
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: If they have anybody who they call from the practice squad,
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: Keyshawn James Newby's on kickoff. Mack McWilliams has only played
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: 46 snaps, I think, this season. Three on defense. So
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: if you're only playing three snaps on defense and you're
• 22:04
  Speaker 1: active for every game, but you only played 46 snaps
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: on special teams, what role are you providing? What value,
• 22:10
  Speaker 1: I should say, are you providing to the roster? You
• 22:12
  Speaker 1: need to be on every special teams unit. Jonathan Jones,
• 22:15
  Speaker 1: another player who has had to step in and do
• 22:19
  Speaker 1: some special teams. But I think right now they're just
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: trying to find some guys who they can really lean on.
• 22:27
  Speaker 1: They had Elijah Mitchell, the running back, running down kickoffs
• 22:30
  Speaker 1: as well. E.J. Jenkins was second on the team leading
• 22:37
  Speaker 1: up to Monday night in special team snaps, and the
• 22:39
  Speaker 1: Eagles waived him. So Michael Clay is now thinking he
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: now has to replace that production from someone. You have
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: Grant Calcaterra, but he's not on the same level in
• 22:50
  Speaker 1: terms of giving you those same contributions. So I say
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: all that to say, from a kick coverage perspective, He's
• 22:57
  Speaker 1: trying to piecemeal it together and find a way to
• 23:01
  Speaker 1: make things work on that end.
• 23:03
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• 24:03
  Speaker 1: With regard to the return game, which the Eagles have
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: seemingly had some issues, especially last night, fielding kickoffs, Will
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: Shipley again, injured reserve. That's one of your top kick returners.
• 24:15
  Speaker 1: Tank Bigsby, injured reserve, injured top kick returner. Britton Covey
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: gets hurt on the first return of the game with
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: the knee injuries, ruled out. He's out of there. So
• 24:26
  Speaker 1: then they had Damian Pierce and Elijah Mitchell, who Elijah
• 24:29
  Speaker 1: Mitchell was just called up off the practice squad, and
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: you're throwing them back there. So it's a lot of,
• 24:34
  Speaker 1: you know, trying to take a player from here, take
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: a player from there, and hope that it all melts
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: together into a cohesive unit. So until that works itself out,
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: until you get some players back healthy, until others maybe
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: establish themselves as being a core player, it's hard to, well,
• 24:54
  Speaker 1: I should say it should be on your radar as
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: something that could continue to creep up in the coming weeks. Oh,
• 24:59
  Speaker 1: and by the way, Jeremiah Trotter Jr., a core guy
• 25:03
  Speaker 1: playing more snaps on defense. Darius Cooper, another prominent piece
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: on special teams. He is clearly playing a bigger role
• 25:12
  Speaker 1: on offense. So sometimes your hands are tied. And when
• 25:16
  Speaker 1: you look at the roster right now, who is going
• 25:19
  Speaker 1: to be some of those players that can step up
• 25:20
  Speaker 1: and make an impact on special teams? Who can step
• 25:23
  Speaker 1: up and force a fumble like Oren Burks did to
• 25:26
  Speaker 1: start the game against the Packers in the postseason and
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: kind of flip momentum that way? They don't have At
• 25:32
  Speaker 1: least it doesn't appear that they have those guys. So
• 25:35
  Speaker 1: those are all my day after the game thoughts and
• 25:39
  Speaker 1: things I've been kicking around and just some things to
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: keep an eye on as the Eagles prepare to take
• 25:44
  Speaker 1: on the Washington Commanders this coming week in Landover, Maryland.
• 25:49
  Speaker 1: I think it's Northwest Stadium, unless they've changed that name
• 25:51
  Speaker 1: as well. But that's going to do it for this
• 25:54
  Speaker 1: episode of the Checo Daily. I'm Andrew DiCecco, and I'll
• 25:57
  Speaker 1: catch you all on the next one.