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Football at Four: Eagles Update Day After Big Win Over Titans · Inside the Birds: A Philadelphia Eagles Podcast

0:00
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Speaker 1: and up.
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Speaker 2: And Football at Four powered by the Inside the Burns podcast.
1:02
Speaker 3: And of course, it is brought to you by the
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1:07
Speaker 3: where we are today. On a Monday at the Fanatic Sportsbook.
1:11
Speaker 3: It's Monday night football. And you can get on out
1:14
Speaker 3: here tonight to check out the Giants and the Rams.
1:17
Speaker 3: And find out if this Giants team will be a
1:19
Speaker 3: factor in the NFC this year. Of course a win
1:22
Speaker 3: would put them at 2-0. The Eagles are 2-0. That
1:25
Speaker 3: is thanks to Jalen Hurts and his return in the
1:29
Speaker 3: fourth quarter. He had two interceptions today. leading up to
1:32
Speaker 3: that moment, but a 39-yard, excuse me, a late touchdown,
1:36
Speaker 3: the 20-yard reception by Wicks on third and sixth from
1:40
Speaker 3: the 39, I thought was really the throw of the game,
1:44
Speaker 3: and that kept that thing going. Let's bring Jeff Mosher
1:46
Speaker 3: in for today's football at four and get his takeaways
1:49
Speaker 3: from the game, and you wrote about this over at
1:51
Speaker 3: Philly Voice. You know, the ground game, can it get
1:54
Speaker 3: its mojo back? I thought to me, Nick Sirianni, Jeff,
1:58
Speaker 3: today said, we found a way to win, but we
2:00
Speaker 3: need to be better. We need to be better in
2:02
Speaker 3: the run game specifically. And he said, we're close.
2:07
Speaker 2: We're close. I feel like we heard a lot of
2:08
Speaker 2: this last year. We're close. We're right there. We're close.
2:12
Speaker 3: Specifically in the run game, you wrote about the run game,
2:15
Speaker 3: and I think the same problem here. I look at
2:17
Speaker 3: this offensive line, and I wonder, is there room for
2:20
Speaker 3: improvement in this run game?
2:22
Speaker 1: Oh, God, is there room for improvement? Well, yes, there
2:25
Speaker 1: is room for improvement, but I think two things can
2:28
Speaker 1: be true. I think one truth is that this offensive
2:35
Speaker 1: line can play better, it can get healthier, and the
2:40
Speaker 1: scheme can help a little bit. But I also think
2:43
Speaker 1: the other truth is that I don't even think at
2:46
Speaker 1: peak health this offensive line can be what it was before.
2:49
Speaker 1: Two years ago, they just do not. And because this
2:52
Speaker 1: is not just a Cam Juergens discussion, it's not just
2:55
Speaker 1: a Drew Kendall discussion. It is a all five offensive
3:00
Speaker 1: line as one discussion. It just does not move people
3:04
Speaker 1: off the ball the way it did two years ago.
3:08
Speaker 1: And even before, you know, for a long time, obviously
3:11
Speaker 1: the Eagles will have to address this going forward. It's
3:14
Speaker 1: a bread and butter of theirs. They'll probably have to
3:16
Speaker 1: draft a few more offensive linemen higher. in the draft
3:20
Speaker 1: and get some bigger guys. They already started with Markel Bell, right?
3:23
Speaker 1: But they just don't create the openings and the gaps
3:28
Speaker 1: that they used to create. And Barkley, Mike, is the
3:32
Speaker 1: sort of the unspoken part of this. He is the
3:36
Speaker 1: type of running back who really flourishes when he can
3:39
Speaker 1: use his athleticism that is superhuman. He is not like
3:44
Speaker 1: the kind of guy, especially on outside zone, that's going
3:46
Speaker 1: to just stick one foot plant and go. He's got
3:49
Speaker 1: to find the hole. He's got to use his body.
3:51
Speaker 1: And sometimes when your offensive line isn't creating those massive
3:55
Speaker 1: holes and you're doing that two footed stutter step. that
3:59
Speaker 1: allows the defense that's already kind of pushing back your
4:02
Speaker 1: offensive line to get a little bit more control. And
4:05
Speaker 1: I think that's, I'm not, he's still great. He's still
4:07
Speaker 1: Saquon Barkley. He can figure things out, not putting some
4:10
Speaker 1: kind of ceiling on him as like he's not a
4:13
Speaker 1: good running back anymore. But it just adds to the
4:15
Speaker 1: discussion about why this running game hasn't looked like it
4:18
Speaker 1: has in more than a year now.
4:20
Speaker 3: Yeah, so there's so much here. I mean, number one,
4:23
Speaker 3: and I don't know if I'm saying this the right way.
4:26
Speaker 3: Maybe you're a writer. Maybe you can help me. I'm
4:28
Speaker 3: asking the question, a running game where Tank Bigsby is
4:33
Speaker 3: maybe your best option, is that a recipe for being
4:37
Speaker 3: a Super Bowl champion? In other words, they need Barkley
4:39
Speaker 3: to be the guy here, right? They need Shaquan Barkley.
4:42
Speaker 3: Bixby's a nice change of pace, but this offense needs
4:46
Speaker 3: Saquon Barkley to kind of excel. And with this offensive
4:49
Speaker 3: line playing the way it is, it's hard to envision
4:52
Speaker 3: Barkley getting going here. And without a run game, it
4:55
Speaker 3: feels like this offense is just an average offense, even
4:58
Speaker 3: with the moments that you saw yesterday. And I think
5:01
Speaker 3: the pass game has more to grow, but without that
5:04
Speaker 3: run game, it has to be a joint venture here.
5:07
Speaker 1: Right, and just to be clear, I'm not saying that
5:09
Speaker 1: this offensive line can't create good enough lanes for Saquon
5:12
Speaker 1: Barkley or Saquon Barkley's style cannot coexist with how they block.
5:17
Speaker 1: I just, as Nick Shuriani said, he's going to say
5:19
Speaker 1: we're a little bit there. I don't know that I
5:22
Speaker 1: believe that. I just think they need better blocking tight ends.
5:25
Speaker 1: I mean, you only have one, Johnny Munt, who you
5:28
Speaker 1: don't want on the field all the time for obvious reasons.
5:31
Speaker 1: It's not part of the passing game. And then, two,
5:34
Speaker 1: I just think that they've got to be able– to
5:37
Speaker 1: get a little bit more movement and generate more push
5:42
Speaker 1: to give Barkley more room to work with. But unfortunately
5:45
Speaker 1: for them, because as they're struggling now, and you saw
5:47
Speaker 1: the Titans do this, and so did the commanders, they're
5:50
Speaker 1: just putting a lot of guys at the line of scrimmage.
5:54
Speaker 1: So as much as they want to foundationally be about
5:57
Speaker 1: the run, they may have to start being about the
6:00
Speaker 1: pass early to set up the run to help the
6:02
Speaker 1: O-line to get those the better chances to move people
6:06
Speaker 1: off the ball. Or less people. There's not five or
6:09
Speaker 1: six guys in the line of scrimmage all the time.
6:11
Speaker 3: They go with, obviously, Kendall. A little bit of a surprise, maybe.
6:15
Speaker 3: I think we talked about it all week. Oh, he'll
6:17
Speaker 3: be the guy somewhere most people thought left guard. Were
6:20
Speaker 3: you surprised that that was the configuration they went with?
6:24
Speaker 3: And what is the messaging with that decision?
6:28
Speaker 1: The messaging is that they'd rather play Drew Kendall in
6:31
Speaker 1: a spot that he's mostly played his entire life outside
6:35
Speaker 1: of just some training camp cross training and also played
6:38
Speaker 1: Juergens at a spot that at least he's played before,
6:41
Speaker 1: not left guard. At least he's played right guard. So
6:43
Speaker 1: he's played guard. Plus he's been in the league for
6:45
Speaker 1: several years. He's been through a lot of battles. So
6:48
Speaker 1: the messaging was what coaches often tell, tell you is
6:52
Speaker 1: that good coaching is putting players in the best position
6:56
Speaker 1: to succeed. Do you want Drew Kendall to, in one-on-one
7:00
Speaker 1: matchups always up against Jeffrey Simmons? Or do you want
7:03
Speaker 1: to take your chances that Kim Juergens, with his experience,
7:06
Speaker 1: can be a little better and Kendall can be your
7:08
Speaker 1: help guy at center, which is where he's always played?
7:11
Speaker 1: So that's the messaging in it. Now, does that mean
7:17
Speaker 1: it's the best combination? Does that mean it's going to
7:19
Speaker 1: be the one going forward that is going to cure all? No,
7:22
Speaker 1: I don't know. I think that there's a lot of
7:24
Speaker 1: answers still have to be gleaned from that.
7:26
Speaker 2: Well, does this tell you that Dickerson's out long-term, one, right?
7:30
Speaker 1: Mm-hmm. Four weeks is long. I mean, when you got
7:34
Speaker 1: Bears coming up and Rams after that, right, and after
7:38
Speaker 1: that the Jaguars, but yes, I mean, even listening to
7:42
Speaker 1: Landon Dickerson speak, it felt like he felt like he
7:45
Speaker 1: needed more than four weeks. Right, right. We can broaden
7:49
Speaker 1: the conversation. Is Landon Dickerson ever going to be?
7:52
Speaker 2: That's fair to say, too.
7:53
Speaker 3: But I guess my reason for that question is they
7:57
Speaker 3: think that Juergens can– you put him against Jeffrey Simmons
8:01
Speaker 3: in week one, you're going to struggle a little bit.
8:02
Speaker 3: But they think long term that he can acclimate to
8:05
Speaker 3: playing guard probably faster than Kendall and that Kendall would
8:08
Speaker 3: give you– he might even be a better option at
8:10
Speaker 3: center than Juergens was who wasn't playing all that well there.
8:14
Speaker 1: Well, if that's the case, then they have problems.
8:17
Speaker 3: Well, and that's another part of this whole thing. Are
8:20
Speaker 3: you going to have interior issues essentially all season long
8:23
Speaker 3: that will not allow this run game to really get
8:26
Speaker 3: to where it needs to be?
8:27
Speaker 1: Yeah, I can't answer that. I think it's very easy
8:29
Speaker 1: right now to say yes without factoring in growth and
8:33
Speaker 1: development and coaching and scheming and trying different things. I mean,
8:38
Speaker 1: we have said a lot that if you look at
8:40
Speaker 1: the 49ers and the Packers and some other teams that
8:43
Speaker 1: run These style of offenses, they're pretty good at masquerading,
8:47
Speaker 1: not having fantastic offensive linemen all the time, which is weird.
8:51
Speaker 1: It's almost antithetical to how the Eagles have operated as
8:54
Speaker 1: an organization for the last, God knows, 15, 20 years.
8:58
Speaker 1: So I don't want to slam the door. I don't
9:00
Speaker 1: want to say every game is going to be like this.
9:01
Speaker 1: But Mike, we do have a 22 weeks. Well, how
9:04
Speaker 1: many games they play last year?
9:05
Speaker 2: 18, right?
9:07
Speaker 1: With the playoffs?
9:08
Speaker 2: Yeah, 17 plus one, yeah.
9:08
Speaker 1: And then now two more games. We have a 20-game
9:11
Speaker 1: sample here of the Eagles really not being able to
9:14
Speaker 1: run the ball like they did in 2024 or before that, 2023, 2022.
9:20
Speaker 1: So I think that's pretty telling.
9:24
Speaker 3: Jeff Mosher, Football at Four. There were positives in the
9:28
Speaker 3: past game. Last year, I think we were gloom and
9:30
Speaker 3: doom on this past game all year long. We couldn't
9:32
Speaker 3: find the positives. It was an elementary school-level, like, route tree.
9:37
Speaker 3: What are we seeing in the pass game that maybe
9:39
Speaker 3: suggests that there could even be some more to grow
9:41
Speaker 3: with this pass attack, if you're seeing that?
9:45
Speaker 1: Well, yeah. I mean, we just finished doing Inside the
9:48
Speaker 1: Tape with Greg Cosell. The offensive version will be out tomorrow.
9:52
Speaker 1: And I got to say how impressive it is to
9:54
Speaker 1: see Jalen Hurts make so many throws that are timing
9:58
Speaker 1: based throws that are leading receivers I mean if you
10:02
Speaker 1: think about it Mike and this again speaks to how
10:06
Speaker 1: bad their first down and running play offense is but
10:08
Speaker 1: if you look at their top 10 plays from against
10:11
Speaker 1: the Titans I think eight of them are second or
10:14
Speaker 1: third and long all right you got the longest play
10:17
Speaker 1: was 27 yards to wicks third and 12 First and
10:20
Speaker 1: 17 to Darius Cooper for 23 yards. Second and 19
10:24
Speaker 1: to Devontae Smith for 22 yards. You're not supposed to
10:27
Speaker 1: live in these down in distances, Mike. Third and six
10:30
Speaker 1: to Wicks for 20 yards.
10:32
Speaker 2: No. I'll tell you what, though.
10:33
Speaker 3: That throw to Wicks, the third and six is the
10:35
Speaker 3: play of the game. I mean, I know everyone's talking
10:37
Speaker 3: about the drive, but that throw there, it's third and six.
10:40
Speaker 3: They don't convert that, and you're going 20 yards down
10:42
Speaker 3: the field.
10:43
Speaker 2: That's the play of the game.
10:45
Speaker 3: 100%.
10:45
Speaker 2: It was.
10:46
Speaker 1: It was a beautiful throw. I think that was right
10:48
Speaker 1: out of the slot, too, right? Yeah, it was. And
10:50
Speaker 1: that's what I'm seeing. That's what the offense is supposed
10:53
Speaker 1: to be about. And you're seeing Hurts and his receivers
10:56
Speaker 1: with a really good chemistry. And I give Hurts all
10:59
Speaker 1: the credit in the world. You know, he has acclimated
11:02
Speaker 1: to the offense and he has done things more consistently
11:05
Speaker 1: through two weeks than he really didn't do in the past.
11:08
Speaker 1: I mean, you can blame some of that on the
11:09
Speaker 1: scheme as well, but I think you can't just absolve
11:12
Speaker 1: Hurts and say it was all play caller and scheme.
11:14
Speaker 1: He has really taken the challenge.
11:16
Speaker 3: Yeah, but I think you can feel anyway, I don't know,
11:20
Speaker 3: that Hurts is buying into the offense. He's buying in
11:24
Speaker 3: that I can keep growing with this thing. And I
11:26
Speaker 3: have some pieces. It looks like him and Wicks are
11:29
Speaker 3: on the same page right out of the jump.
11:31
Speaker 2: He hits them early. He hits them late.
11:34
Speaker 3: They've got to get Lemon going at some point, and
11:36
Speaker 3: I don't know what his role in this offense really is.
11:39
Speaker 3: But it seems that Hurts is buying into the passing
11:43
Speaker 3: concepts of the offense.
11:45
Speaker 1: What I really liked is that you're going up against
11:48
Speaker 1: the Titans coach to a team coach by Robert Sal
11:51
Speaker 1: and they've played Robert Sal before. And they know that
11:54
Speaker 1: Robert Sal is a guy who's mostly going to rush for, uh,
11:57
Speaker 1: and drop seven. And he's going to play a lot
11:59
Speaker 1: of zone and he's going to try to show some blitz,
12:01
Speaker 1: which he did, but, and blitz at times, but really
12:03
Speaker 1: zone on the backend and hurts just made the type
12:06
Speaker 1: of zone beating throws by putting the ball in, in layer,
12:11
Speaker 1: layering the ball where it needed to be layered. That
12:13
Speaker 1: was really poetic. And, The only negative, this is not
12:17
Speaker 1: a negative on Hurts. This is just something to watch
12:20
Speaker 1: for in the future, okay? You can't live, and this
12:24
Speaker 1: again goes back to the run again, you just can't
12:26
Speaker 1: live in third and long. You can't have 10 of
12:29
Speaker 1: your best 12 plays all happen on third and five
12:34
Speaker 1: or longer or second and 15 or longer, which is
12:37
Speaker 1: what the Eagles had. You can do it against Titans.
12:39
Speaker 3: Unless he's one of these guys that, because I just
12:42
Speaker 3: talked about the third and sixth play that he rips
12:44
Speaker 3: one to wicks. Third down in whatever it was. Third
12:48
Speaker 3: and six again. He throws that throw to Devontae Smith.
12:53
Speaker 2: The 19-yard pass. Yeah.
12:55
Speaker 1: You know what?
12:55
Speaker 2: The Titans.
12:56
Speaker 3: He's one of them guys that needs, you know, it's
12:58
Speaker 3: like I have a deadline. I wait to the last minute.
13:03
Speaker 3: I need that pressure. I need that deadline to get
13:05
Speaker 3: the work done. That feels like Jalen Hurts yesterday.
13:08
Speaker 1: Yeah. And the only reason I say you can't live
13:11
Speaker 1: in it, even though they've done that for two weeks,
13:13
Speaker 1: is because, you know, and not taking away from it. But,
13:16
Speaker 1: I mean, obviously the Titans were down a corner, and
13:18
Speaker 1: they just don't have sticky coverage, guys. They're going to
13:20
Speaker 1: run into a team that can play zone with sticky coverage, guys.
13:24
Speaker 3: And that's the, you know, I know you've got to
13:26
Speaker 3: get out of here in a couple minutes, but that's
13:28
Speaker 3: the genesis of this whole thing. You can't expect Jalen
13:31
Speaker 3: Hurts every single week to just bail you out, you know,
13:34
Speaker 3: when that's not the kind of guy he is. He'll
13:35
Speaker 3: bail you out in the biggest moments when you need
13:38
Speaker 3: him the most, and you can make an argument. The
13:40
Speaker 3: first interception he throws is a terrible one. The second
13:43
Speaker 3: one he gets hit on, so okay. But he threw
13:45
Speaker 3: two interceptions in that game. that kind of forced you
13:48
Speaker 3: into a situation where he needed to bail himself out,
13:51
Speaker 3: and he did. But you can't put yourself in that
13:53
Speaker 3: situation week in and week out.
13:55
Speaker 1: No, and it's not even about him not being that
13:57
Speaker 1: type of guy. I wouldn't want that for Lamar Jackson,
13:59
Speaker 1: Josh Allen, Joe Burrow. You can't live in third and forever.
14:02
Speaker 1: They call it unmanageable down in distance for a reason. Eventually,
14:07
Speaker 1: that catches up to you. So it all brings us
14:09
Speaker 1: back to the conversation of got to figure out the
14:11
Speaker 1: running game, got to figure out first and second down.
14:13
Speaker 3: Last thing, I know we didn't talk a lot about
14:15
Speaker 3: the defense. I don't know how you want to look
14:19
Speaker 3: at this. Did they not play great? There was a
14:21
Speaker 3: lot of openings here. They only really gave up 13 points.
14:24
Speaker 3: That interception return, you're back to the wall. Did they
14:28
Speaker 3: play well? We're just being critical because we expect domination
14:32
Speaker 3: against a team like Tennessee.
14:34
Speaker 2: Yes.
14:35
Speaker 1: I was harsh on them in my Philly Voice report
14:38
Speaker 1: card because I have higher expectations for them. When you
14:40
Speaker 1: see a running back rip off a 22 yard run, right?
14:46
Speaker 1: Like that up the middle and, and yeah, there was
14:49
Speaker 1: bad tackling. And then you see IO Manor be able
14:52
Speaker 1: to hurdle your safety. And you just, I thought in general,
14:57
Speaker 1: they were a little loose against the run in other
14:58
Speaker 1: situations as well. But to be honest with you, they
15:01
Speaker 1: did not play that poorly. If you look at some
15:04
Speaker 1: of the bigger pass plays, which was like the 25
15:08
Speaker 1: yarder to Ridley, right? There was a 28 yarder.
15:11
Speaker 2: I am wide open.
15:12
Speaker 1: They're wide open because the Titans went under center, which
15:17
Speaker 1: they had not done. They worked off the fake– you
15:22
Speaker 1: know Vic Fangio is going to play zone, so you
15:24
Speaker 1: know your linebackers have to play up on the run.
15:26
Speaker 1: And those were just really good, crisp throws into windows
15:31
Speaker 1: by Cam Ward to his receivers. If we're going to
15:33
Speaker 1: credit– if you know it hurts for doing the same
15:35
Speaker 1: thing against zone, then we've got to credit Cam Ward.
15:37
Speaker 1: It wasn't anything that he goes to badly. It was
15:39
Speaker 1: just some really good throws.
15:41
Speaker 3: All right, before I get you out of here, the
15:43
Speaker 3: number one thing I'm getting so far from friends texting
15:47
Speaker 3: me during the game, they need to play Trotter and
15:49
Speaker 3: get Campbell out of there.
15:51
Speaker 2: Are you getting any of that buzz at all?
15:52
Speaker 1: No, no, no, not at all. Not when you're 2-0,
15:56
Speaker 1: not when your defense has held two opponents under 300 yards.
15:59
Speaker 3: I got three different people yesterday. Yo, they need to
16:01
Speaker 3: get Campbell off the field.
16:03
Speaker 2: I'm like, jeez. Listen. All right.
16:05
Speaker 1: It's an old coaching axiom, but you just work to
16:08
Speaker 1: get better each week and try to improve as opposed
16:11
Speaker 1: to just pulling the plug on a guy who's not playing.
16:14
Speaker 1: It's not like he's a liability out there. Like he's
16:17
Speaker 1: getting beat for touchdowns and giving up all these big plays.
16:20
Speaker 1: He's just a part of a defense that has been
16:22
Speaker 1: loose at times. And I'm sure he's got plays you'd
16:25
Speaker 1: like to have back, but there's no reason to pull
16:27
Speaker 1: a plug on John Campbell at this moment. That's ridiculous.
16:31
Speaker 2: All right, Wednesday, we're back.
16:32
Speaker 3: We'll talk a little bit more about what we saw
16:34
Speaker 3: for the defense and, The Bears are going to be
16:37
Speaker 3: an interesting opponent. It looks like Caleb Williams will not
16:40
Speaker 3: play in the game, so we'll certainly talk more about
16:43
Speaker 3: that game when Mosher's back on Wednesday here on Football
16:46
Speaker 3: at Four on the Sports Bash.
16:48
Speaker 2: All right, Mos, appreciate it, man.
16:49
Speaker 1: All right, take care.