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OPPOSITION TERRITORY: Eagles vs. Commanders, Week 16 Pregame Preview · The Philadelphia Sports Table | Philly Sports News & Views

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: What's going on everybody. I wanted to let you know.
• 0:02
  Speaker 2: We recorded this podcast episode on Tuesday, December seventeenth, twenty
• 0:06
  Speaker 2: twenty four. By the time you hear this, some things
• 0:08
  Speaker 2: may have changed here or there, but we hope you
• 0:10
  Speaker 2: enjoy the show. Welcome to Opposition Territory here at the
• 0:29
  Speaker 2: Philadelphia Sports Table podcast show, the longest running weekly Philly
• 0:32
  Speaker 2: sports podcast show.
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: In the world, eleven and a half year strong.
• 0:36
  Speaker 2: We've got a great discussion and Eagles Commanders preview show
• 0:40
  Speaker 2: coming your way this week. We got a brand new
• 0:43
  Speaker 2: guest coming to us here at the PSD podcast show.
• 0:45
  Speaker 2: We're going to dive into what we can expect to
• 0:47
  Speaker 2: see during this upcoming Week sixteen matchup again the Philadelphia
• 0:52
  Speaker 2: Eagles the Washington Commanders. It's gonna be a fun game,
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: a very interesting game in terms of the future of
• 1:00
  Speaker 2: these two teams potentially in the postseason.
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: So let's get to our discussion right now.
• 1:05
  Speaker 2: Joining us this week he comes to us from Fan Sided.
• 1:08
  Speaker 2: You know, we love our fan sided sites out there.
• 1:11
  Speaker 2: You can head on over to rigoserag dot com. He
• 1:15
  Speaker 2: does some reporting and contributing with regard to some commander's
• 1:21
  Speaker 2: Commander's content over there as we dive into this preview,
• 1:27
  Speaker 2: we've got the one and only Seth Jones.
• 1:28
  Speaker 3: How you doing, buddy, Hey, what's going on, guys? I'm
• 1:31
  Speaker 3: doing good, doing good. Ready for the matchup?
• 1:33
  Speaker 2: Absolutely, I'm getting really ready for this because it's an
• 1:35
  Speaker 2: important match up. I mean, it's gonna be an important
• 1:39
  Speaker 2: game for both teams heading into Week sixteen. Here, Seth,
• 1:42
  Speaker 2: because look, the Eagles can clinch the division with a
• 1:45
  Speaker 2: win over the Commanders. The Commanders, they can still determine
• 1:50
  Speaker 2: their fate in terms of possibly getting into the playoffs
• 1:53
  Speaker 2: and where they may possibly be seated. So I'm wondering, Seth,
• 1:57
  Speaker 2: when you look at this Commander's season, after all the
• 2:00
  Speaker 2: ups and downs, especially the unknowns coming into the season
• 2:03
  Speaker 2: with a rookie quarterback, what is one word that you
• 2:07
  Speaker 2: would use to describe this Commander's season and why.
• 2:11
  Speaker 4: There's a lot of different words that came to mind
• 2:12
  Speaker 4: when I was thinking about this, but I think the
• 2:14
  Speaker 4: one word that sticks out to me is uplifting. You know,
• 2:17
  Speaker 4: you think you look at the last like two decades, yes,
• 2:20
  Speaker 4: and there was nothing to be happy about.
• 2:23
  Speaker 2: You know, one of my best friends has been a
• 2:24
  Speaker 2: Washington fan his entire life.
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: Bless his soul.
• 2:28
  Speaker 4: I know, I know, my dad always tells me he
• 2:31
  Speaker 4: wishes I was born in his there so I could
• 2:33
  Speaker 4: see all the Super Bowls, But I was born No.
• 2:36
  Speaker 3: Three, so I haven't really seen anything.
• 2:41
  Speaker 4: Yeah, we had we had RG three in there for
• 2:43
  Speaker 4: one year, but we know how that went.
• 2:46
  Speaker 3: A little bit of Kirk Cousins was fun.
• 2:48
  Speaker 4: But this is the first year where I can say,
• 2:50
  Speaker 4: you know, we have hope for the next decade on.
• 2:53
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 2:53
  Speaker 4: So Adam Peters, Josh Harrison has done a great job.
• 2:57
  Speaker 4: So yeah, I would say uplifting is definitely the the
• 3:00
  Speaker 4: best word to use there.
• 3:01
  Speaker 2: I think it's a great word. So I think it's
• 3:03
  Speaker 2: a great word because you look at what Jaden Daniels
• 3:06
  Speaker 2: has done, and it's a really good segue into talking
• 3:10
  Speaker 2: about the quarterback position, as we do on our Opposition
• 3:12
  Speaker 2: Territory shows every week here. Jaden Daniels at this point
• 3:16
  Speaker 2: in the season, has just over three thousand passing yards.
• 3:19
  Speaker 2: He has a seventy point five completion percentage. I mean,
• 3:24
  Speaker 2: it was during that Steelers game though, where I think
• 3:26
  Speaker 2: he kind of kind of came back down to earth
• 3:29
  Speaker 2: a bit. I mean, he was on fire for some
• 3:31
  Speaker 2: time the team was everything really was clicking, and things
• 3:34
  Speaker 2: still are clicking to an extent. There are some challenges
• 3:37
  Speaker 2: here and there, but he's still a tremendous talent. Of course, again,
• 3:42
  Speaker 2: given you that Steelers game and again coming kind of
• 3:46
  Speaker 2: back down to earth, I'm wondering, how have you seen
• 3:49
  Speaker 2: Jaden Daniels continuing to develop this season as we're heading
• 3:52
  Speaker 2: into Week sixteen, even after facing some adversity with injuries
• 3:56
  Speaker 2: and again the overall ups and downs of play, getting
• 3:59
  Speaker 2: used to the feel of the NFL game and professional
• 4:02
  Speaker 2: football style that you know, he hasn't been used to
• 4:05
  Speaker 2: during his college career. Again, since that game against the Steelers,
• 4:10
  Speaker 2: how have you seen him develop even given the adversity
• 4:13
  Speaker 2: that's been in front of his face? What are your
• 4:14
  Speaker 2: thoughts here?
• 4:16
  Speaker 4: Yeah, so he had about three week two months stretch
• 4:20
  Speaker 4: where he really struggled.
• 4:22
  Speaker 3: It was after that rib injury.
• 4:24
  Speaker 4: But yeah, you know, I gave him the benefit of
• 4:25
  Speaker 4: doubt for the first like two games where he struggled,
• 4:28
  Speaker 4: but after that I was like, all right, you need
• 4:29
  Speaker 4: to start picking it up here. But I'm happy he
• 4:32
  Speaker 4: actually struggled a little bit because he needed to face
• 4:34
  Speaker 4: some tough defenses during that kind of insanity run if
• 4:38
  Speaker 4: you will, that he had in the in the beginning
• 4:40
  Speaker 4: of the season. It was against you know, bad team
• 4:43
  Speaker 4: for the most part. So I feel like I was
• 4:45
  Speaker 4: one of the few Commanders fans who realized, all right,
• 4:48
  Speaker 4: he's maybe we need to tone down on him a
• 4:50
  Speaker 4: little bit. He's still a great talent, but he's a rookie.
• 4:53
  Speaker 4: You know, he's going to get better, so we need
• 4:56
  Speaker 4: to look at that and say, all right, he's struggling.
• 4:59
  Speaker 3: He he's not.
• 5:00
  Speaker 4: Exactly the quarterback we thought he was right away, but yeah,
• 5:04
  Speaker 4: ever since that game, he has, uh, he has picked
• 5:07
  Speaker 4: it up a lot. My favorite part of his development
• 5:11
  Speaker 4: is how often he's been looking at Terry McLaurin, because
• 5:14
  Speaker 4: I've been waiting for a quarterback to use Terry McLaurin
• 5:16
  Speaker 4: like the talent he is for a long time now.
• 5:19
  Speaker 4: So that's my favorite part of his development. But the
• 5:23
  Speaker 4: past few weeks he has been I feel like every
• 5:26
  Speaker 4: week improving more and more back to almost where he
• 5:30
  Speaker 4: was in the beginning of the season.
• 5:31
  Speaker 3: So he's uh.
• 5:32
  Speaker 4: With the adversity with the injuries, you know, it set
• 5:35
  Speaker 4: him back, but I feel like every rookie needs to
• 5:37
  Speaker 4: go through something like that because it's gonna happen throughout
• 5:40
  Speaker 4: your whole career. Yeah, so yeah, I'm I'm happy with
• 5:43
  Speaker 4: how he's developed, not only throughout the whole season, but
• 5:46
  Speaker 4: these past few weeks too.
• 5:47
  Speaker 2: You mentioned the chemistry that he and Terry McLaurin have,
• 5:51
  Speaker 2: and I think it goes back to the first topic,
• 5:53
  Speaker 2: and that the very first word that you used, hopeful
• 5:57
  Speaker 2: with regard to Commanders fans. I think that that chemistry
• 6:01
  Speaker 2: between a quarterback, a rookie quarterback, and a veteran receiver
• 6:05
  Speaker 2: who's been here in the league for quite some time.
• 6:07
  Speaker 2: The fact that they have found some level of chemistry
• 6:10
  Speaker 2: with each other and it continues to get better week
• 6:13
  Speaker 2: after week, I think there is that hope and that
• 6:17
  Speaker 2: optimism that good things could happen for this Commander's team,
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  Speaker 2: even if, you know, even if they do make it
• 6:22
  Speaker 2: into the playoffs and kind of control their own destiny
• 6:25
  Speaker 2: within the playoff picture itself, you know what that looks
• 6:29
  Speaker 2: like for the future. I think that Jaden Daniels and
• 6:32
  Speaker 2: Terry McLaurin are really setting that foundation for themselves for
• 6:35
  Speaker 2: many years to come. And if I was a Commander's
• 6:39
  Speaker 2: fan again, given like you said, the past two decades,
• 6:41
  Speaker 2: I'd be really excited about where this team is possibly
• 6:44
  Speaker 2: going to go. But as we're moving along with a
• 6:47
  Speaker 2: conversation here, Seth, you know, the last time that the
• 6:50
  Speaker 2: Eagles and Commanders faced each other in Philadelphia, the Eagles
• 6:54
  Speaker 2: offense pretty much had a balanced passing and rushing attack.
• 6:58
  Speaker 2: The Commanders, however, called correctly in that game, they did
• 7:02
  Speaker 2: struggle in the run game. They only had ninety three
• 7:05
  Speaker 2: total yards of rushing. Brian Robinson he averaged three point
• 7:09
  Speaker 2: nine yards per carry, Austin Eckler averaged three point five
• 7:12
  Speaker 2: yards per carry. And I'm thinking the Commanders that probably
• 7:16
  Speaker 2: going into this week's game want to control the clock
• 7:19
  Speaker 2: in the pace of the game as much as possible
• 7:21
  Speaker 2: via the rushing game. So how do you see this
• 7:25
  Speaker 2: Commander's offense really doing this effectively against the number one
• 7:29
  Speaker 2: rush defense in the league, that is the Philadelphia Eagles.
• 7:32
  Speaker 2: What are your thoughts here?
• 7:34
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I think last game, yeah, the running game did
• 7:38
  Speaker 4: struggle a lot. Part of it was that I think
• 7:41
  Speaker 4: Jane Daniels did not rush as much as he usually does.
• 7:45
  Speaker 4: I'm trying to pull up the box score right here,
• 7:47
  Speaker 4: but I'm pretty sure he only rushed. Yeah, he rushed
• 7:49
  Speaker 4: seven times for eighteen yards. Yeah, a lot of it
• 7:52
  Speaker 4: was just trying to get away from pressure real quick,
• 7:54
  Speaker 4: and to your defensive credit, he wasn't able to scir
• 7:58
  Speaker 4: them out of the pocket and you know, get that
• 8:01
  Speaker 4: straight line speed going and barely evade players like he
• 8:04
  Speaker 4: usually is able to. But that was part of the reason.
• 8:06
  Speaker 4: I feel like the run game did not work as much.
• 8:09
  Speaker 4: But yeah, it's it's not like the offenses of the past,
• 8:12
  Speaker 4: where you know, you look at even last year, our
• 8:15
  Speaker 4: offense is pretty much ran through Brian Robinson and even
• 8:18
  Speaker 4: when he was struggling, we just kept on toning the rock.
• 8:23
  Speaker 4: This this game against Eagles, I we do need to
• 8:27
  Speaker 4: identify the wrong game because I feel like it's gonna
• 8:29
  Speaker 4: be more of a low scoring game. Again, I don't
• 8:32
  Speaker 4: think it's gonna be in an offensive shootout, but we
• 8:36
  Speaker 4: need to. I think we need to get away from
• 8:38
  Speaker 4: the run a little bit if it's not working because
• 8:40
  Speaker 4: we have a fast paced offense. We have an offense
• 8:42
  Speaker 4: that can go no huddle and start airing it out.
• 8:46
  Speaker 4: So if the run game does start to struggle, like
• 8:49
  Speaker 4: it probably will because you're you're guys, defensive line is
• 8:52
  Speaker 4: no joke. I think it would be time to start
• 8:56
  Speaker 4: to start airing out a little bit. You know, your
• 8:58
  Speaker 4: guy secondary is great too, but you know, we know
• 9:01
  Speaker 4: that chemistry that Jayden and Terry has, so try and
• 9:04
  Speaker 4: get them going, because they didn't get going at.
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  Speaker 3: All last time we all played.
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  Speaker 4: Y'all, Terry had one reception for ten yards, so that's
• 9:11
  Speaker 4: something to look out for too. I think that's part
• 9:13
  Speaker 4: of the reason they leaned on the run game so much.
• 9:16
  Speaker 4: So if Kerry can get going, then you can start
• 9:18
  Speaker 4: to lean away from the run a little bit, get
• 9:20
  Speaker 4: back to Star Youth and play action once that run
• 9:22
  Speaker 4: game starts working again. That's what I would be looking
• 9:25
  Speaker 4: to do if I was Cliff Kingsbery.
• 9:27
  Speaker 2: All right, folks, again, we're talking to Seth Jones, writing
• 9:30
  Speaker 2: contributor over at fan Sided and specifically Rigosag riggosag dot com.
• 9:36
  Speaker 2: You can check out Seth on the Twitter slash x
• 9:40
  Speaker 2: at Seth Jones FFB and he's a great great follow
• 9:45
  Speaker 2: check out everything he's.
• 9:46
  Speaker 1: Doing over there.
• 9:47
  Speaker 2: But as we're moving along with the conversation here, I
• 9:49
  Speaker 2: wanted to get into the commander's defense from a defensive perspective.
• 9:52
  Speaker 2: Seth commanders now have Marshaun Lattimore basically taken away half
• 9:58
  Speaker 2: the field. This is something that this defense and the
• 10:00
  Speaker 2: back end of this defense is really needed for quite
• 10:02
  Speaker 2: some time. I'm wondering, how are you viewing the defense
• 10:06
  Speaker 2: overall here at this point in the season from a
• 10:09
  Speaker 2: pass rush and a coverage standpoint, What are your thoughts here?
• 10:14
  Speaker 4: Yeah, so obviously Marsha a lotta more, huge upgrade for
• 10:18
  Speaker 4: our secondary that was really struggling in the season. Yes,
• 10:21
  Speaker 4: it already came into effect last Sunday when we faced
• 10:25
  Speaker 4: the Saints. Fifty three defensive snaps, zero targets the whole game.
• 10:29
  Speaker 4: So it wasn't against great receivers, to be fair, but
• 10:34
  Speaker 4: you know, he was locked down the whole game. So
• 10:36
  Speaker 4: hopefully against the Eagles he can. I'm guessing he's gonna
• 10:40
  Speaker 4: be shadowing aj Brown. Probably he might not be, because
• 10:42
  Speaker 4: Vonte Smith is a great talent in his own so
• 10:46
  Speaker 4: he should be taken away. Maybe not taken away half
• 10:49
  Speaker 4: the field, but he'll be a great challenge for a
• 10:52
  Speaker 4: Brown and Devonte Smith respectively. I also believe that Mike
• 10:57
  Speaker 4: Sanders still is a great talent. You look at our
• 10:59
  Speaker 4: game Eagles, last time we played y'all. He only led
• 11:03
  Speaker 4: up three receptions to A J. Brown the whole game.
• 11:05
  Speaker 4: I believe it was for twenty yards or something like that. Yeah,
• 11:08
  Speaker 4: so he he's a great talent on his own. Now
• 11:11
  Speaker 4: that we have Latimore and san Risto playing off side
• 11:14
  Speaker 4: of the fields, I think our secondary is actually gonna
• 11:16
  Speaker 4: be a very good secondary. I like our safeties and
• 11:20
  Speaker 4: Jeremy Chin. We got Derek Forrest over there, so I
• 11:24
  Speaker 4: like our safeties there, and now our cornerbacks are good
• 11:27
  Speaker 4: now that we don't have Benjamin Saint just out there,
• 11:31
  Speaker 4: you know, he he I'm not gonna lie he's been
• 11:33
  Speaker 4: He's been our weak point in the secondary this whole year.
• 11:36
  Speaker 4: Now that we don't have him out there consistently, we
• 11:39
  Speaker 4: have Mike Sandersto on one side, Marshall Lattimore on one side,
• 11:43
  Speaker 4: I think our secondary should do a good job. What
• 11:46
  Speaker 4: I'm really worried about is our past rush getting getting
• 11:49
  Speaker 4: pressure on the quarterback. That obviously makes an easier time
• 11:53
  Speaker 4: for the secondary. But when it comes to the secondary,
• 11:55
  Speaker 4: I think we're pretty solid now.
• 11:57
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I think what we're gonna see from the Eagles
• 12:00
  Speaker 2: and Jalen Hurts too, I think it's gonna be a
• 12:01
  Speaker 2: little bit more difficult getting the ball down the field
• 12:04
  Speaker 2: those explosive plays that the Eagles have been used to
• 12:06
  Speaker 2: seeing throughout the season. I think it's gonna be a
• 12:09
  Speaker 2: lot more dumpoffs. I think Saquon Barkley could actually end
• 12:12
  Speaker 2: up with six or seven receptions in this game. The
• 12:17
  Speaker 2: tight end position with Grant cal Katara. I don't think
• 12:20
  Speaker 2: Dallas Goddard's probably gonna be playing, but I could see
• 12:22
  Speaker 2: those intermediate routes kind of and the dumpoffs really being
• 12:27
  Speaker 2: the crux of the Eagles passing game. And who knows,
• 12:30
  Speaker 2: you know, maybe some some quick outs from aj Brown
• 12:34
  Speaker 2: and Devonte Smith's some mesh concept plays which I absolutely
• 12:38
  Speaker 2: love seeing.
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: From this Eagles team. We'll see it.
• 12:40
  Speaker 2: We'll see if they're able to get that done. But
• 12:43
  Speaker 2: you made some great points there about the defense. And
• 12:46
  Speaker 2: I really like to ask Seth our Opposition Territory, a
• 12:49
  Speaker 2: guest that come on every week about matchups and about
• 12:54
  Speaker 2: sneaky players as well, for US Eagles fans to continue
• 12:58
  Speaker 2: looking at into to keep our eyes on throughout the game.
• 13:02
  Speaker 2: So let's start with this two point question here in
• 13:05
  Speaker 2: terms of the matchups coming into Week sixteen. Here, what
• 13:09
  Speaker 2: is your biggest concern with any of the commander's offensive
• 13:13
  Speaker 2: matchups against this Eagles defense.
• 13:16
  Speaker 4: Definitely, my biggest concern is going to be. As much
• 13:20
  Speaker 4: as I love Terry McLaurin, he's really our only receiver
• 13:23
  Speaker 4: we have, yeah, and in terms of a great talent
• 13:27
  Speaker 4: at receiver, So my biggest concern is going to be
• 13:30
  Speaker 4: if he can if it's going to be a replication
• 13:33
  Speaker 4: of what happened last game against the Eagles where it
• 13:35
  Speaker 4: was one or sep for ten yards, because he's the
• 13:38
  Speaker 4: only person y'all are focused on, or is he going
• 13:40
  Speaker 4: to be able to start getting open? So I would
• 13:42
  Speaker 4: say my biggest concern is just Terry McLaurin getting in
• 13:46
  Speaker 4: a roll in a rhythm, because if he can do that,
• 13:48
  Speaker 4: then are often start moving. If we don't get Terry
• 13:51
  Speaker 4: McLaurin on a roll, then it's probably gonna be a
• 13:54
  Speaker 4: little bit of the same of last time we faced y'all,
• 13:56
  Speaker 4: where we struggle to put up just eighteen points the
• 14:00
  Speaker 4: last touchdown came garbage time.
• 14:02
  Speaker 1: Garbage time.
• 14:03
  Speaker 3: Yeah, that's my biggest constern.
• 14:05
  Speaker 2: I'd say, I what is zach Ertz looking like he
• 14:08
  Speaker 2: may play based on his injury status and I know
• 14:11
  Speaker 2: we're recording this on Tuesday, December seventeenth here, but you know,
• 14:15
  Speaker 2: zach Ertz has been able to catch the ball in
• 14:17
  Speaker 2: key situations, getting some key third downs over the weeks.
• 14:21
  Speaker 2: You know that he has been healthy and on the field,
• 14:23
  Speaker 2: not necessarily the greatest stats in the world, five hundred
• 14:26
  Speaker 2: and twenty six yards receiving four touchdowns. He's averaging nine
• 14:29
  Speaker 2: point seven yards per reception. What do you is, zach Ertz,
• 14:33
  Speaker 2: do you think going to possibly play this week?
• 14:36
  Speaker 4: So what I've seen so far is that is a
• 14:39
  Speaker 4: head injury. So he does look to be concussed. So
• 14:43
  Speaker 4: it's all going to depend on how it goes throughout
• 14:46
  Speaker 4: the week if he clears concussion protocol. The concussion protocol
• 14:49
  Speaker 4: has gotten stricter throughout the years, so I would probably
• 14:53
  Speaker 4: lean towards him not playing this week, which is going
• 14:56
  Speaker 4: to hurt for the offense. He's not the best, you know,
• 14:59
  Speaker 4: after they catch you know, he's about thirty six years
• 15:02
  Speaker 4: old now. But but he is a safety blanket for
• 15:07
  Speaker 4: Jane Daniels, and you have seeing that Jane Daniels loves
• 15:09
  Speaker 4: to throw us to him when he doesn't see anyone
• 15:11
  Speaker 4: else open.
• 15:12
  Speaker 2: All right, Well, on the flip side of the coin,
• 15:14
  Speaker 2: I'm wondering, what is your biggest concern with any of
• 15:17
  Speaker 2: the Commander's defensive matchups against this very prolific Eagles offense.
• 15:22
  Speaker 2: What are your thoughts here?
• 15:24
  Speaker 4: I would say my biggest concern is just the pass
• 15:26
  Speaker 4: rush against your guys offensive line. You guys have one
• 15:29
  Speaker 4: of the best offensive lines in the league. You always
• 15:31
  Speaker 4: do credit to y'all's coaching staff. You all develop lineman
• 15:37
  Speaker 4: year and year out.
• 15:38
  Speaker 3: Yep.
• 15:39
  Speaker 4: So the pass rush, it's been probably the weakest part
• 15:43
  Speaker 4: of our defense this whole year. You know, sometimes we'll
• 15:46
  Speaker 4: get some sacks in there, but I'm one of the
• 15:49
  Speaker 4: people who say sacks are great, but they're not the
• 15:51
  Speaker 4: most important stat When it comes to pass rush. Soot
• 15:53
  Speaker 4: pressures and we don't get a lot. That's just the
• 15:57
  Speaker 4: way it is. We do get a decent amount just
• 15:59
  Speaker 4: because we we it's a decent amount, and Dan Quinn
• 16:01
  Speaker 4: is a great defensive play caller, but when it comes
• 16:04
  Speaker 4: to talent, we don't have that great talent at the
• 16:07
  Speaker 4: defensive pass thrusher positions. Frankieluvu likes to come in there
• 16:12
  Speaker 4: and play defensive end sometimes and he usually gets pressure
• 16:14
  Speaker 4: when he does that, but if he's not playing defensive
• 16:17
  Speaker 4: end for a snap, it's very rare that we get
• 16:19
  Speaker 4: pressure from, you know, Dante Fowler, Cleveland Farrell. So I
• 16:23
  Speaker 4: would say that's my biggest concern of just getting pressure
• 16:25
  Speaker 4: on Jalen Hurts, because when he has a clean pocket,
• 16:28
  Speaker 4: he's a great quarterback.
• 16:29
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 16:30
  Speaker 2: Absolutely, And I gotta say, you actually mentioned something that
• 16:33
  Speaker 2: we mentioned on our Eagles postgame podcast this past week,
• 16:38
  Speaker 2: and my guest actually ended up mentioning it. He was
• 16:40
  Speaker 2: filling in for the guys just how you don't have
• 16:43
  Speaker 2: to have sacks all the time in order to have
• 16:46
  Speaker 2: a prolific pass rush. You don't have to have that
• 16:48
  Speaker 2: in the NFL anymore. He took a look at the
• 16:50
  Speaker 2: Eagles and how many sacks they put up last year
• 16:53
  Speaker 2: when Hassan Redick was on the field for them, and
• 16:56
  Speaker 2: then things just dropped off. The Eagles dropped off a
• 16:59
  Speaker 2: cliff at the end of the season, as we all know,
• 17:01
  Speaker 2: one of the greatest slides in NFL history of any team.
• 17:06
  Speaker 2: And you see this year how the Eagles don't have
• 17:09
  Speaker 2: necessarily all the sacks in the world, but a tremendous
• 17:12
  Speaker 2: pass rush putting tremendous pressure on quarterbacks. Seth, I think
• 17:16
  Speaker 2: you're exactly right. We don't need to see sacks constantly
• 17:21
  Speaker 2: as a metric in terms of how a pass rush
• 17:24
  Speaker 2: is actually working.
• 17:25
  Speaker 4: Right.
• 17:26
  Speaker 2: It's just it's it's really amazing. I think you hit
• 17:28
  Speaker 2: the nail on the head there, buddy.
• 17:31
  Speaker 4: Yeah, that's that's That's one of my biggest things I've
• 17:33
  Speaker 4: always said is, you know, people are always worried about sacks,
• 17:35
  Speaker 4: and you know, obviously sacks are great because they're what
• 17:38
  Speaker 4: really disrupts uh distress play completely. But if you don't
• 17:42
  Speaker 4: get pressure on the quarterback in general, you're not gonna
• 17:44
  Speaker 4: be doing good. It helps your secondary out just getting
• 17:47
  Speaker 4: pressures on the quarterback. So that's that's always been one
• 17:49
  Speaker 4: of my biggest, uh biggest kind of pet peeves is
• 17:52
  Speaker 4: when people think it's all about sacks. You know, you
• 17:55
  Speaker 4: gotta get pressures too, have.
• 17:56
  Speaker 2: To get pressures too. I Mean we talked about one
• 17:59
  Speaker 2: one particular, gentleman Nolan Smith on our Eagles postgame show,
• 18:04
  Speaker 2: just coming off the edge for the for the Philly defense.
• 18:07
  Speaker 2: In terms of the pass rush, he had eight pressures
• 18:10
  Speaker 2: on or the Eagles themselves. The Eagles had eight pressures
• 18:14
  Speaker 2: this past Sunday, Nolan Smith had four of them. Yes,
• 18:17
  Speaker 2: he did have one sack. He has five point five
• 18:19
  Speaker 2: sacks on the season. But he has developed into an
• 18:22
  Speaker 2: incredible pass rusher, incredibly disruptive in terms of the pocket.
• 18:27
  Speaker 2: And again, you know, you just don't need all the
• 18:30
  Speaker 2: sacks in the world to have that type of productivity
• 18:32
  Speaker 2: as a pass rusher in this game. So yeah, before
• 18:36
  Speaker 2: I let you go, Seth, we'd like to ask a
• 18:38
  Speaker 2: two part question about sneaky players that US Eagles player
• 18:41
  Speaker 2: or there's Eagles fans need to look out for during
• 18:45
  Speaker 2: the course of the game. So we'll do one on offense,
• 18:47
  Speaker 2: one on defense. Let's start with the offensive side of
• 18:49
  Speaker 2: the ball. Who is your sneaky player for US Eagles
• 18:52
  Speaker 2: fans to look out for on the Commander's offense.
• 18:56
  Speaker 4: I'm gonna say my biggest sneaky players. This is kind
• 18:59
  Speaker 4: of pending if zach Ertz plays it or not, but
• 19:01
  Speaker 4: since he does have a concussion, I'm gonna lean towards
• 19:03
  Speaker 4: him not playing. Ben Sinnett, a rookie tight end out
• 19:06
  Speaker 4: of Kansas State, It's only my sneaky player. I loved
• 19:09
  Speaker 4: him coming out of college. He looked like a mix
• 19:11
  Speaker 4: of George Kittle and Kyle Yuche from the forty nine ers. Yeah,
• 19:15
  Speaker 4: he's he's a he's a big boy, he loves to hit,
• 19:18
  Speaker 4: and he's great after the catch. I actually just wrote
• 19:21
  Speaker 4: a piece talking about how Ben Sonen needs to get
• 19:23
  Speaker 4: more snaps after the bye week because as much as
• 19:25
  Speaker 4: I love zach Ertz to the safe safety blanket, we
• 19:28
  Speaker 4: need to get center out there for yards, have to
• 19:30
  Speaker 4: catch ability because Arts just does not have that right now.
• 19:34
  Speaker 4: So I've been looking for him to get more and
• 19:37
  Speaker 4: more snaps. I understand that especially in the Cliff Kings
• 19:40
  Speaker 4: very offense. You look at Trey McBride, he zach Ertz
• 19:43
  Speaker 4: were stealing all the reps from Trey McBride's rookie year
• 19:46
  Speaker 4: until he broke out his second year. So now that
• 19:49
  Speaker 4: Ertz does have a concussion, I'm looking for Senate to
• 19:52
  Speaker 4: get more involved as a primary tight end in the
• 19:55
  Speaker 4: offense this week and hopefully gets some short yardage looks
• 19:58
  Speaker 4: where he can, you know, make a couple guys miss,
• 20:01
  Speaker 4: run over a couple guys, and hopefully get some yards
• 20:04
  Speaker 4: after catch.
• 20:05
  Speaker 2: All right, and to finish us off here, who's your
• 20:08
  Speaker 2: sneaky player? For us to look out for on the
• 20:10
  Speaker 2: Commander's defensive side of the ball. Who's that for you?
• 20:14
  Speaker 4: Yes, So I'm going with another rookie here, another second
• 20:16
  Speaker 4: round rookie. I'm going with John Newton, Johnny Noon out
• 20:19
  Speaker 4: of ILLINOISO. He was one of my favorite players in
• 20:21
  Speaker 4: the class in general, I graded out of the class
• 20:23
  Speaker 4: and I had him at his top ten players, so
• 20:25
  Speaker 4: I was super happy to snag him in the second round.
• 20:27
  Speaker 4: He hasn't had a great rookie year yet. He really
• 20:31
  Speaker 4: broke out in that Chicago game and I thought he's
• 20:33
  Speaker 4: gonna take off from there.
• 20:34
  Speaker 3: He really hasn't, though.
• 20:35
  Speaker 4: He's been up and down since then, so I'm looking
• 20:38
  Speaker 4: for him to get back on track against Philly this week.
• 20:42
  Speaker 4: Help out our pass rush because, as we talked about before,
• 20:45
  Speaker 4: the edges aren't a strength of our team. So if
• 20:48
  Speaker 4: we can get some pressure from the inside from Johnny
• 20:51
  Speaker 4: Newton and hopefully Deron Pain as well, that would help
• 20:54
  Speaker 4: out the pass rush on the edges. Make more of
• 20:57
  Speaker 4: your focus towards the d tackles, and that leads more
• 21:00
  Speaker 4: opportunities for Cleveland Farrell, Dante Fowler, Dorrence Armstrong.
• 21:05
  Speaker 3: So probably my sneaky player to look out for.
• 21:07
  Speaker 1: All right, sounds good, good picks there. I like him.
• 21:10
  Speaker 2: I'm going to be looking out for these gentlemen during
• 21:13
  Speaker 2: the game this coming Sunday again, folks. Talking to Seth
• 21:16
  Speaker 2: Jones over at fans Sided. He's a writing contributor over
• 21:20
  Speaker 2: there and specifically at rigosarag dot com. Great fan sided site.
• 21:25
  Speaker 2: Follow him on the Twitter slash x at Seth Jones
• 21:29
  Speaker 2: FFB great great follow Seth buddy. It was great talking
• 21:32
  Speaker 2: to you. It was great having you on for the
• 21:34
  Speaker 2: first time. I'd love to talk to you some some
• 21:36
  Speaker 2: point down the road again, my friend, come back and join.
• 21:38
  Speaker 3: Us, Yes, sir, I would love to let me know.
• 21:41
  Speaker 2: That's going to do it for us here on Opposition
• 21:43
  Speaker 2: Territory this week. Please share our podcast with your friends
• 21:47
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• 21:49
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• 21:57
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• 22:00
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• 22:03
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• 22:04
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• 22:08
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• 22:11
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• 22:12
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• 22:15
  Speaker 1: next time.