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Inside the Data: Metrics On Carson Steele, Mac McWilliams, More From Eagles-Patriots Preseason Game · Inside the Birds: A Philadelphia Eagles Podcast

• 0:09
  Speaker 1: Hello, welcome back to another Inside the Data on Inside
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: the Birds. I'm Jeff Mosher, and of course, we got
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: our man with all the data and the analytics, and
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: that is Sam Finkel, and it is a frustrating time
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: for Sam. I know this because he's so into the
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: new wave data, and with preseason games, you don't get
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: the new wave data, and as I joke with Sam
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: on air, I can understand why even the most ardent
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: nerdy analytic statistician would not want to be calculating epa
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: in the of a fourth quarter play in a second
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: preseason game between like the 75th guys on the roster
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: and no no disrespect to those guys but like come
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: on you know i mean that's it makes sense why
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: some of those uh statistics are not are not charted
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: in the preseason.
• 0:53
  Speaker 2: But they will be there. As soon as the season starts,
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: we will be back in action.
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: I can't wait. I can't wait. And, of course, now
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: is a good time. I think we mentioned it last pod,
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: but we'll do it again, that Sam will be with
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: us all season long. And I think we're going to
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: have two Inside the Datas a week, recapping the past game,
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: previewing the next game, all from an analytic standpoint, finding
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: the matchups, the underlying data that will tell us a lot,
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: of things that maybe aren't discussed on some of our
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: other programming on Inside the Burns. So with that being said, Sam,
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: the Eagles played much better in their second preseason game
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: against the Patriots than they did against the Ravens. Fell
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: apart there at the end. I guess the fifth string
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: and sixth string corners got exposed a little bit there.
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: I feel like fans... understand that preseason games don't matter,
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: but when you have a lead in the fourth quarter
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: and you blow it like that, it still kind of
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: sucks for viewing, especially for those who stuck it out.
• 1:52
  Speaker 2: Yeah. I remember it was like maybe five years ago,
• 1:56
  Speaker 2: there was somebody that did like an analytics. It was
• 1:58
  Speaker 2: like a reverse correlation though, with preseason performance in terms
• 2:02
  Speaker 2: of like winning games and a regular season outcome. It
• 2:05
  Speaker 2: was like the teams that lose the most preseason games
• 2:08
  Speaker 2: end up doing better than the regulars. Again, it was
• 2:12
  Speaker 2: not causation, just purely a random thing that happened. I
• 2:15
  Speaker 2: don't know if it's still true, but I do remember
• 2:17
  Speaker 2: that happening a couple years ago.
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: That would be hysterical if they found some reason to
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: say there was causation between losing in the preseason and
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: winning more in the regular season. I don't know how,
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: but that would be kind of funny.
• 2:34
  Speaker 2: That would be pretty funny.
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: I'm trying to remember what the Eagles' 2024 preseason was.
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: schedule was and how they did. I think they played Cleveland.
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: They lost to the Vikings 26-3. They beat the Patriots 14-3.
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: They beat the Ravens 16-13. They were 2-1.
• 2:54
  Speaker 2: That's not bad.
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: We'll see if they can finish 1-2 after their Cincinnati game.
• 2:59
  Speaker 2: I do believe that this study was either right at
• 3:01
  Speaker 2: COVID or right before COVID. I remember seeing it and
• 3:04
  Speaker 2: thought it was interesting.
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: You're right. I do remember. You might remember. I'm not
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: sure if you're too young to remember, but the Colts
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: under Peyton Manning, they cared so little about the preseason.
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: They would lose all the time. They were infamous for
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: going 0-4 back when there were four preseason games and
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: then winning 12 games a year with Peyton Manning. But
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: on the flip side, to your point, the Ravens under Harbaugh,
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: they treated the preseason like it was the Super Bowl
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: and they had that really long winning streak going on.
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: They won a lot of regular season, I'm sorry, preseason games,
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: and they also won a lot of regular season games.
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: So No rhyme or reason, like you said.
• 3:39
  Speaker 2: I just think it's fun to throw out there right now. Absolutely. Absolutely.
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: Any thoughts before we get to the charts from an
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: analytic standpoint on that game against the Patriots or just
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: conceptually anything we've been discussing?
• 3:51
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, we're obviously going to focus on the
• 3:54
  Speaker 2: third downs. I mean, there was improvement there, but it's
• 3:56
  Speaker 2: really easy to improve when you go from 0% to
• 4:00
  Speaker 2: any percent. They cleaned up a lot of the penalties,
• 4:03
  Speaker 2: which was something we talked about. And they... did better
• 4:08
  Speaker 2: with just moving the football. They had the ball more consistently.
• 4:15
  Speaker 2: They ran more plays. They had a better time of
• 4:17
  Speaker 2: possession than last week. So there were general improvements.
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: I would agree with you, and you just hit on
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: something as we bring up the chart that I wanted
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: to discuss when we look at the basic stats because
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: we spent a lot of time in the last show
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: talking about penalties and wanting to see improvement there. And
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: I know all the green is on the Patriots side
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: here in the chart, even though it's much closer than
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: it was last week against the Ravens, but only six
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: penalties for 50 yards. I think some of those, obviously
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: there was the late one, right? The, there was a
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: PI late in the game, but I thought from a,
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: from a, I don't want to call players that mattered standpoint,
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: but from an early, as far as running game, running
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: and passing symmetry, I thought that they looked more disciplined.
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: And that's what you want to see as they start
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: to go along here in the preseason.
• 5:05
  Speaker 2: Absolutely.
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: Um, last time we looked at the basic stats, it
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: was really lopsided this time. The Patriots win, like, I
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: don't know, the first six categories here in terms of score,
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: total plays, 20 yards, yards for play rush and pass,
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: but obviously a lot, a lot closer. I mean, this
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: was a neck and neck game.
• 5:27
  Speaker 2: Yeah, definitely. And I think even though the color seems
• 5:32
  Speaker 2: to skew it, like you said, it was a lot
• 5:34
  Speaker 2: closer of a game. And the numbers are pretty close too.
• 5:38
  Speaker 2: I mean, there were, the Patriots ran 10 more plays,
• 5:41
  Speaker 2: but they only had the ball for about five more minutes.
• 5:45
  Speaker 2: They only had 87 more yards. They were slightly more
• 5:49
  Speaker 2: efficient in, you know, passing and running the ball and
• 5:52
  Speaker 2: just in total, but the numbers aren't terribly far off.
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: Right. How does, how did their averages in terms of
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: yards per pass, yards per rush, yards per play, right. Compare,
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: to week one against the Ravens.
• 6:08
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: But like how much?
• 6:11
  Speaker 2: So in yards per play in preseason week one, they
• 6:14
  Speaker 2: were at four. Okay.
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: So that's a four yard more.
• 6:18
  Speaker 2: Yeah. It's a, basically that that's huge. That is pretty substantial.
• 6:24
  Speaker 2: And then for yards per pass, they were at 3.2.
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: Oh my gosh, so we're talking about almost double the
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: amount there.
• 6:31
  Speaker 2: I will say they did downgrade for yards per rush
• 6:36
  Speaker 2: from 5.4 to 3.8, but again, you have to remember
• 6:40
  Speaker 2: a lot of the rushing efficiency was from Cole Payton.
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: From the first game, right. And I also, I would,
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: we don't need to get too deep into it, but
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: I think they Did not run the ball very well
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: in the second half when they had the third string
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: line in, right? But they seemed to move people. They
• 6:58
  Speaker 1: didn't seem to. They did. I thought they moved people
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: pretty well when they had that line of Markel Bell
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: and Jake Majors and Willie Lampkin at center, right? And
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: then your left guard was, I forget at the moment. Oh, Kendall, right? Yeah. Yeah.
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: Kendall was at left guard because Willie Lampkin was at center. Majors,
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: right guard. And, of course, Fred Taylor and Markel Bell
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: were the tackles. So I would imagine that their first
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: half rushing stats were probably a little better than 3.8.
• 7:25
  Speaker 2: I wonder if I can find the split. I probably can.
• 7:31
  Speaker 2: Not right now, but I definitely can find it. Yeah. Yeah.
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: I might be able to look that up too. But
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: I mean, anybody who has eyes could see that they were,
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: you know, they were moving the ball fairly well at
• 7:40
  Speaker 1: times on the ground. Not every play because there were some,
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: some blow ups and that's what, as preseason games are about.
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: But for the most part, and obviously we're talking about
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: having your backups in, but Will Shipley looked like he
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: had juice. I think he helped him and certainly Carson
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: Steele with some of that hurtling going on. That Saquon
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: Barkley-like hurtling probably were a big part of why the
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: yards per pass were at six because there were not
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: a lot of balls thrown down the field.
• 8:08
  Speaker 2: Right. All right.
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: We mentioned the penalties. Those were cut down. Turnovers were
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: the same. And time possession, a lot closer.
• 8:18
  Speaker 2: Absolutely.
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: What was your overall, just like when you looked at
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: the offense, right, with McKee in it, seeing more under center,
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: two tight ends. What was going through your mind, the
• 8:30
  Speaker 1: way they were moving the ball compared to against Baltimore?
• 8:33
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, it seemed like the timing was a
• 8:35
  Speaker 2: lot better. Interestingly, I believe the average depth of target
• 8:40
  Speaker 2: for McKee was actually lower. than last week.
• 8:45
  Speaker 1: Okay.
• 8:46
  Speaker 2: To me, that just seems like his timing is like
• 8:49
  Speaker 2: kind of what we kind of harped on last week.
• 8:52
  Speaker 2: It at least visually, that's what it felt like. And
• 8:54
  Speaker 2: the stats at least seem to, you know, go towards
• 8:58
  Speaker 2: that conclusion for sure. Yeah.
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: I mean, it looked like he was getting rid of
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: the ball quickly within the construct of the offense. I
• 9:05
  Speaker 1: thought there were here a couple of times he dirted
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: the ball.
• 9:08
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: Because he thought there might've been pressure. Maybe there was pressure.
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: I wouldn't quite, The way I looked at it, Sam,
• 9:14
  Speaker 1: was he looked a lot better and clearly looked better
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: than Andy Dalton, who missed two guys in a row
• 9:20
  Speaker 1: on the drive. But he still, to me, is not
• 9:24
  Speaker 1: looking like the Tanner McKee preseason god that we have
• 9:28
  Speaker 1: seen for two years. The guy who we're like, wow,
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: that guy might be a starter. He looked a lot better,
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: but there's still some work to be done there with him.
• 9:38
  Speaker 2: 100%. I was impressed enough, especially with the new offense.
• 9:44
  Speaker 2: I liked it. I mean, he answered a lot of
• 9:46
  Speaker 2: the efficiency questions that we were kind of talking about
• 9:49
  Speaker 2: last week. For sure. For sure.
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: I did a bad job. Now I'm blowing this up
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: so that people can see uh again the total plays
• 9:58
  Speaker 1: to you know 69 to 59 yes the.
• 10:00
  Speaker 3: Patriots 388 yards the eagles at 301 that's still a
• 10:04
  Speaker 3: lot closer than the opener there was just more fluidity
• 10:08
  Speaker 3: to this offense and um you know yards for play 5.1 and.
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: It's kind of funny too because i thought the patriots
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: I would think some of their stats were like, you know,
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: DeVito had a few runs that were freelance that helped
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: inflate that.
• 10:23
  Speaker 2: Those helped significantly, like more than people think.
• 10:27
  Speaker 1: And he did hit. So this was a game that
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: was very close, right? His ability to drive the ball
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: down the field. It was either him or the third guy.
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: I forgot who hit Kyle Williams deep down the side.
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: I think that was DeVito, right?
• 10:41
  Speaker 2: I think it was two.
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: Yeah. I can't even remember. The third guy that they
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: brought in was a guy who I, just was not
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: familiar with which aaron morton yeah it's just surprising usually
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: i know even the third guy on a on a
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: quarterback on.
• 10:54
  Speaker 2: I was pleasantly surprised watching him especially not this week
• 10:58
  Speaker 2: but last week i thought he played pretty well yeah
• 11:01
  Speaker 2: well both obviously but for sure.
• 11:03
  Speaker 1: Surprised yeah you know who else was who's that ambry
• 11:07
  Speaker 1: thomas You know who else was Sean Wade? I think
• 11:11
  Speaker 1: that they were both– they were unpleasantly surprised by the
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: ability of those quarterbacks. All right. Situationally, big improvement for
• 11:21
  Speaker 1: the Eagles. And that, to me, is another big thing
• 11:24
  Speaker 1: you were looking for. What were they, like 0 for
• 11:26
  Speaker 1: 8 or 0 for 9?
• 11:27
  Speaker 2: They were 0 for 9, yeah.
• 11:28
  Speaker 1: Yeah. I mean, God, that was like regular season last
• 11:31
  Speaker 1: year kind of stats. So this year– sorry, this game
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: against the Patriots, 4 of 11. At 36%.
• 11:39
  Speaker 2: Still not good enough.
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: Still not good enough.
• 11:42
  Speaker 2: But I'll take it over anything from last week.
• 11:44
  Speaker 1: All right, so wait. This is how numbers can get
• 11:47
  Speaker 1: skewed really easily, right? So they were 4 of 11
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: on third down. And I believe Andy Dalton had two
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: third down passes that were really off the mark. Let's
• 11:57
  Speaker 1: say that those were McKee, right? Let's say it's complete
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: because he did a better job. And let's say it's
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: overall 6 for 11.
• 12:06
  Speaker 2: You feel good about that?
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: You feel good about over 50. Right, right. So 11
• 12:12
  Speaker 1: is kind of a small number to begin with. Obviously,
• 12:14
  Speaker 1: the Patriots had 17, and they converted nine. So good
• 12:17
  Speaker 1: for them. That's a really nice conversion rate. But I
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: think that the Dalton struggle really contributed. And listen, that counts.
• 12:26
  Speaker 1: He was in there. He's competing. But if you're of
• 12:29
  Speaker 1: the mindset that McKee is still going to be the backup,
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: then I think you feel better about his production on
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: third down as opposed to the total.
• 12:37
  Speaker 2: Here's the thing even if they were five of 11
• 12:39
  Speaker 2: you feel good about that like we're talking about six
• 12:41
  Speaker 2: of 11 you feel good you feel good at five
• 12:43
  Speaker 2: of 11 but you also want more than 11 like
• 12:46
  Speaker 2: you want to well not necessarily you don't necessarily always
• 12:49
  Speaker 2: want to get the third down but you want to
• 12:50
  Speaker 2: be able to move the ball you know i think
• 12:53
  Speaker 2: you and i both would be okay if the eagles
• 12:55
  Speaker 2: never saw third down if they're always scoring on first
• 12:57
  Speaker 2: and second right but that was not the case here. Right.
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: You know, you make a great point. Five of 11
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: is just under 50%, which is good third down conversion.
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: And so if you just take, if you look at it,
• 13:10
  Speaker 1: not from an individual standpoint, but from a conceptual standpoint,
• 13:14
  Speaker 1: did the Eagles and Sean Mannion scheme up a play
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: on third down to get Eli Stowers open to And
• 13:22
  Speaker 1: all he needed to do was have the ball on
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: his hands? Yes.
• 13:26
  Speaker 2: Right?
• 13:26
  Speaker 1: Did Andy Dalton make a good throw? No, he did not.
• 13:30
  Speaker 1: But independent of that, everything else worked the way it
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: was supposed to work. So you can glean a positive
• 13:36
  Speaker 1: from that.
• 13:36
  Speaker 2: Yes. I think that's a really good way to put it.
• 13:39
  Speaker 2: I like that viewpoint for sure.
• 13:41
  Speaker 1: And that one miss is the difference between being a
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: 36% as opposed to something closer to 50%.
• 13:47
  Speaker 2: Absolutely.
• 13:48
  Speaker 1: All right. So this is just the crap on Andy
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: Dalton episode, I guess.
• 13:55
  Speaker 2: We started last week with that too.
• 13:57
  Speaker 1: Yeah, we really did. We did. And I, you know,
• 13:59
  Speaker 1: as we get closer to the cut down, I just
• 14:02
  Speaker 1: don't understand what, I know the Eagles have thought about this.
• 14:06
  Speaker 1: It's not like they're dumb. It's not like they don't
• 14:08
  Speaker 1: realize that or did this aimlessly, but you know, they
• 14:12
  Speaker 1: gave up what a seventh round pick for Dalton. It's
• 14:14
  Speaker 1: really not that it's that I think they own $ 2
• 14:16
  Speaker 1: million and, If they find a taker, fine. If they
• 14:20
  Speaker 1: don't and they have to cut him, you just look
• 14:23
  Speaker 1: back and say, what was that all worth?
• 14:25
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I think it's just they love having cost-controlled backups.
• 14:31
  Speaker 2: And the thing is, Dalton's resume is a great resume overall.
• 14:35
  Speaker 2: I mean, he's just on the wrong side of his career,
• 14:38
  Speaker 2: and he just has not looked even backup worthy. Right.
• 14:44
  Speaker 2: in theory you take a gamble as a seventh round
• 14:46
  Speaker 2: pick and $ 2 million. If he's a guy that comes
• 14:49
  Speaker 2: out and looks, you know, kind of like Flacco did
• 14:51
  Speaker 2: a couple of years ago before they traded him, you know, it's, it's,
• 14:55
  Speaker 2: I understand the logic, but it doesn't always work out.
• 14:57
  Speaker 2: And this is a case where it didn't work out
• 14:59
  Speaker 2: and it's okay to move on.
• 15:01
  Speaker 1: It would definitely be okay to move on. All right.
• 15:05
  Speaker 1: So now we look at their third down conversion rate
• 15:08
  Speaker 1: for the season. It goes up or preseason. Excuse me,
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: it goes up to 37%. They're still allowing... It surprises
• 15:15
  Speaker 1: me sort of that the opponent is up at 41%,
• 15:18
  Speaker 1: but again, that's heavily weighted by the Ravens moving the
• 15:21
  Speaker 1: ball really well against their backup defense in the opener.
• 15:26
  Speaker 2: Sure. Wait, which part are you looking at right now?
• 15:29
  Speaker 1: The opponent third down conversions in 2025? That was last year.
• 15:35
  Speaker 2: That was last year.
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: Oh, you're right. This is 2026. Jeez.
• 15:38
  Speaker 2: Sam, what's wrong with me? You're good. I... The thing is,
• 15:41
  Speaker 2: if you combine last year's, which is an interesting thing
• 15:44
  Speaker 2: to do, they're at, what, 14 out of 28. Okay, 50%? Yeah,
• 15:48
  Speaker 2: exactly 50%, which is not great. But then they're, what.
• 15:53
  Speaker 1: Four for 20?
• 15:53
  Speaker 2: So 20%.
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: All right.
• 15:54
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 16:07
  Speaker 1: That's we'll see against the, now the, the Bengals game
• 16:10
  Speaker 1: will be interesting. We'll get into that in a minute
• 16:12
  Speaker 1: because the Bengals, I believe played their played starters early
• 16:16
  Speaker 1: in the first two games. I don't know if they're
• 16:17
  Speaker 1: going to do that again.
• 16:18
  Speaker 2: But I, I doubt it. Yeah.
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: I would doubt it too. Especially I think Jamar Chase
• 16:24
  Speaker 1: almost got hurt in practice the other day. So they're
• 16:26
  Speaker 1: probably going to play it safe.
• 16:27
  Speaker 2: Did they play starters last game? I know they played
• 16:29
  Speaker 2: the first game.
• 16:31
  Speaker 1: Maybe they didn't, but I thought, I don't think.
• 16:36
  Speaker 2: They played starters against the Bears. I know that they
• 16:38
  Speaker 2: played starters against the Lions.
• 16:41
  Speaker 1: Right.
• 16:41
  Speaker 2: Right. Okay.
• 16:43
  Speaker 1: So let's look at a few standout performers here for
• 16:45
  Speaker 1: the Eagles. We talked about Tanner Rickey. I mean, you
• 16:48
  Speaker 1: really like the 72.7 completion percentage, obviously. It was all
• 16:53
  Speaker 1: within the structure of the offense. What do you feel
• 16:58
  Speaker 1: about the 8.9s per attempt? That's a pretty decent number.
• 17:02
  Speaker 2: Yeah. I mean, it definitely is. I mean, it's more
• 17:05
  Speaker 2: than double of last week's. And we were talking about
• 17:08
  Speaker 2: how concerning it was last week. But again, the, the
• 17:11
  Speaker 2: a dot went down, which is I think super interesting
• 17:15
  Speaker 2: because it means to me, that means the play design
• 17:17
  Speaker 2: is pretty good. Like, I think that's a pretty good
• 17:20
  Speaker 2: indicator for healthy play design when your average depth of
• 17:23
  Speaker 2: target goes down, but your average yard, you know, your
• 17:27
  Speaker 2: yards per attempt goes up.
• 17:30
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 17:30
  Speaker 2: It means you're getting guys open and you're throwing, you know,
• 17:33
  Speaker 2: safer throws. So to me, I feel like that's a
• 17:36
  Speaker 2: really positive indicator of the offense and of just their
• 17:40
  Speaker 2: general health.
• 17:42
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and even though we know that coaches don't game
• 17:45
  Speaker 1: plan against opponents for preseason games, when they are in
• 17:48
  Speaker 1: the middle of the game, they are trying to put
• 17:51
  Speaker 1: the offense in good positions to win. Yes, they're going
• 17:55
  Speaker 1: to call certain plays too, just to see. But I
• 17:57
  Speaker 1: think a good example of that is that Sean Manning
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: clearly saw something in the way that New England was
• 18:03
  Speaker 1: defending them that the screen was going to be open
• 18:08
  Speaker 1: it was going to be there not just to to
• 18:10
  Speaker 1: create some yards but get some yards after the catch
• 18:13
  Speaker 1: so you saw two by carson steel i think shipley
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: took one i mean they were able to throw to
• 18:18
  Speaker 1: the running backs in the flats or on screens and
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: pick up some big.
• 18:22
  Speaker 2: Yards executively too i think it was like yeah yeah.
• 18:26
  Speaker 1: Right so that's gonna that's that would alter the depth
• 18:29
  Speaker 1: of target, right? Because those were not deep throws. But
• 18:32
  Speaker 1: there was an example of, hey, the coordinator likes what
• 18:35
  Speaker 1: he sees here and he's going to the well a
• 18:37
  Speaker 1: few times.
• 18:38
  Speaker 2: No, that's a good point. But to me, it's like
• 18:40
  Speaker 2: when you're getting those and then you're gaining yards, that
• 18:43
  Speaker 2: again goes to the fact that it's a pretty healthy offense.
• 18:46
  Speaker 2: Because you're not, the thing is when you put, it's
• 18:49
  Speaker 2: like interesting, as ADOT increases, so does likelihood of turnover.
• 18:53
  Speaker 2: Just naturally, because you give more reaction time to defense.
• 18:56
  Speaker 2: So a lower a dot typically will mean a more
• 19:00
  Speaker 2: conservative throw. And if you can somehow get a lower
• 19:03
  Speaker 2: a dot and a higher, you know, average yards generated,
• 19:08
  Speaker 2: you feel pretty good about it.
• 19:09
  Speaker 1: For sure. For sure. The six pressures with one sack. Well, how,
• 19:15
  Speaker 1: how would you summarize that 16.7 pressure to sack rate?
• 19:20
  Speaker 2: Yeah. I mean that, that one's like, that's fine. I mean,
• 19:23
  Speaker 2: it's nothing crazy. It just, Last week he had 100%
• 19:26
  Speaker 2: pressure to sack, if you remember, because he was pressured
• 19:28
  Speaker 2: one time and it was a sack. But he obviously
• 19:31
  Speaker 2: felt that when he was like dirtying it, like you said, twice. And,
• 19:34
  Speaker 2: you know, he's not feeling great. But, I mean, one
• 19:37
  Speaker 2: sack on six pressures, you don't feel terrible about. Right.
• 19:41
  Speaker 2: Obviously lower, but the sample size is kind of low.
• 19:45
  Speaker 1: And how did the 2.23 time to throw compare to
• 19:49
  Speaker 1: last week?
• 19:50
  Speaker 2: Yeah. So last week it was 2.19. So he was
• 19:53
  Speaker 2: holding the ball a little bit more, which is, we
• 19:55
  Speaker 2: kind of wanted him to, I know that's kind of
• 19:57
  Speaker 2: what we talked about last week. And that doesn't seem
• 19:59
  Speaker 2: like a lot, that 0.04 difference, but it is a
• 20:03
  Speaker 2: pretty big difference on average. Mm-hmm.
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: To me, it shows that he saw it better, was
• 20:09
  Speaker 1: able to let the play develop, and didn't feel overly
• 20:12
  Speaker 1: rushed or uncomfortable. I don't want to make too much
• 20:15
  Speaker 1: of it, again, preseason, but just watching him with the eyes,
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: it seemed that way.
• 20:19
  Speaker 2: I would agree, and I think the stats would agree
• 20:21
  Speaker 2: with that too. For sure.
• 20:24
  Speaker 1: Darius Cooper, second-time appearance on this list as he continues
• 20:28
  Speaker 1: to have a very good camp. What stood out?
• 20:30
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I just kind of wanted to go over the
• 20:32
  Speaker 2: slot versus wide snaps.
• 20:34
  Speaker 1: It's nice.
• 20:35
  Speaker 2: It's a little, it's pretty close to 50, 50 this time,
• 20:38
  Speaker 2: except for on plays when he was actually, you know,
• 20:40
  Speaker 2: running routes and it was passing plays. It was skewed
• 20:44
  Speaker 2: more towards him playing out wide.
• 20:46
  Speaker 1: Interesting, Sam.
• 20:47
  Speaker 2: Good.
• 20:47
  Speaker 1: I'm glad you went a step further on that because
• 20:50
  Speaker 1: last week we noted that he played more snaps outside,
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: I believe. Correct. Right.
• 20:55
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 20:56
  Speaker 1: All right. And this week, or at least against the Patriots,
• 20:59
  Speaker 1: it was more closer to 50, 50. However, You're saying
• 21:03
  Speaker 1: that he was more wide when they were running routes.
• 21:08
  Speaker 2: Yes, exactly. All right. And that's important. I think it
• 21:12
  Speaker 2: was interesting to keep a track of. Yeah. So I
• 21:16
  Speaker 2: don't know. It was interesting. Again, his receiving stats are
• 21:19
  Speaker 2: nothing that interesting. I mean, 14.7 yards per reception feels
• 21:23
  Speaker 2: pretty solid. His yards per route run at 6.29 was
• 21:27
  Speaker 2: tied for ninth in the NFL all preseason week two.
• 21:31
  Speaker 2: It feels really good, but I thought it was just
• 21:34
  Speaker 2: interesting to track and something to keep an eye on
• 21:36
  Speaker 2: for sure.
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: I believe alignment and usage is far more important data
• 21:41
  Speaker 1: in the preseason than actual production.
• 21:43
  Speaker 2: Agreed. Totally.
• 21:44
  Speaker 1: I mean, for guys who matter, right? Yeah.
• 21:46
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 21:47
  Speaker 1: And I think with Makai Lemon and the Eagles knew
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: he was already limited in those joint practices, even though
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: he wasn't really doing anything, but they knew he'd be
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: back to practice this week, which he has and, And
• 22:01
  Speaker 1: that obviously gives them a slot weapon. And I was
• 22:04
  Speaker 1: at practice Monday and he lined up. He was the man.
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: They ran so much motion, pre-snap motion with him. I swear,
• 22:10
  Speaker 1: I think he ran more yards horizontally than vertically. But obviously,
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: if you know that you've got Lemming coming back and
• 22:16
  Speaker 1: you're going to continue to take a look at Cooper
• 22:18
  Speaker 1: as a passing weapon, you want to see what he
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: can do from that outside exposition.
• 22:22
  Speaker 2: Right. Especially with the vacancy there. So very interesting. but
• 22:27
  Speaker 2: how did you feel about them running a lot more
• 22:29
  Speaker 2: emotion and priest net, like priest net movement?
• 22:32
  Speaker 1: I thought it was great. I thought it was like,
• 22:34
  Speaker 1: all right, this is what, well, it also felt like
• 22:37
  Speaker 1: they were trying to, trying to, um, compensate for three
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: weeks of McKay lemon being on the sidelines, like throwing
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: them out there and having them doing like wind sprints.
• 22:46
  Speaker 1: That's what it basically is. He's running motion, right? Motion,
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: left motion, right motion, left. Um, he didn't really see
• 22:51
  Speaker 1: the ball come his way more than twice, I think. But, um,
• 22:56
  Speaker 1: he was obviously getting that experience in the offense. To me,
• 23:00
  Speaker 1: this offense, with him in it, works best with him
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: being the motion man. They have other guys who can
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: be matchup problems in that regard, like Marquise Cooper. I'm sorry,
• 23:10
  Speaker 1: not Marquise Cooper. Marquise Brown.
• 23:12
  Speaker 2: I know who you meant.
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: But that's the guy you want to be, that guy
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: in your 11 personnel.
• 23:18
  Speaker 2: 100%.
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: Carson Steele, the man of Steele. What a game for him.
• 23:24
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I want to start off just saying he was
• 23:27
  Speaker 2: about 39% of the team's yard output. Just him by himself.
• 23:32
  Speaker 2: And it looked like it when he was out there.
• 23:34
  Speaker 2: It looked like it.
• 23:35
  Speaker 1: Right. So this is where I have trouble reconciling the
• 23:41
  Speaker 1: preseason flash versus what's real. I mean, he's a running
• 23:44
  Speaker 1: back with some fullback capability, and yet we're talking about
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: the yards through air that he was able to give, which...
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: is nice, but like how realistic is that? I know
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: the Eagles love to keep a, we joke about it.
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: The Eagles love to keep a fourth running back sometimes
• 24:01
  Speaker 1: and have the guy collect dust on the bench, whether
• 24:03
  Speaker 1: his name is AJ Dillon or Rashad Penny. So there's
• 24:08
  Speaker 1: sort of this movement or this buzz about Carson Steele
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: making the 53. I just don't know that it's the
• 24:13
  Speaker 1: best allocation of resources.
• 24:16
  Speaker 2: It could be if the, if they value his versatility.
• 24:19
  Speaker 2: Because like you said, they could plug him in a
• 24:22
  Speaker 2: couple spots and you feel pretty good about it.
• 24:25
  Speaker 1: Yeah, if they used him as a fullback, a multi-dimensional one,
• 24:30
  Speaker 1: I would agree with you. Yeah, because then you can
• 24:32
  Speaker 1: validate getting him on the field and having that fifth
• 24:36
  Speaker 1: spot on the 53 for a reason.
• 24:38
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 24:38
  Speaker 1: But if he's just A.J. Dillon or Rashad Penny, then
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: why are we doing this?
• 24:43
  Speaker 2: I think he could be a special teams contributor too.
• 24:45
  Speaker 2: There's just so many ways you could play him and
• 24:48
  Speaker 2: you feel good about it. And just having him as
• 24:51
  Speaker 2: a depth option. I just, there's very few players that
• 24:54
  Speaker 2: I feel like are as versatile as, as him, at
• 24:56
  Speaker 2: least like at this point in the season, you know,
• 24:59
  Speaker 2: like guys like that eventually like drafting them and stuff.
• 25:03
  Speaker 2: But I just, I, I feel like if you have
• 25:06
  Speaker 2: a spot, you keep him because you can do so
• 25:08
  Speaker 2: much if you need him and you hope you don't
• 25:11
  Speaker 2: need him. But if you do, you know, there, I
• 25:13
  Speaker 2: get your point though. I do, I do really get
• 25:15
  Speaker 2: your point.
• 25:18
  Speaker 1: I think he can be used. I guess my question
• 25:21
  Speaker 1: would be, and I'm not a GM, so this is
• 25:23
  Speaker 1: for Howie and his staff, is can you have him
• 25:26
  Speaker 1: on your practice squad? Are you afraid of losing him
• 25:28
  Speaker 1: to waivers? Because of all the positions that you see
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: massive amounts of cuts at on cut down day, it's
• 25:34
  Speaker 1: obviously running back. Teams are in camp with five, six,
• 25:38
  Speaker 1: sometimes seven, and sometimes keep just two or three, right?
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: So you're going to see a wave of these guys cut.
• 25:44
  Speaker 1: Is Carson Steele going to be At the top of
• 25:47
  Speaker 1: that list for teams to want to claim because of
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: what he did in a preseason game. I don't know.
• 25:53
  Speaker 2: I would say no. Because if you think about it,
• 25:57
  Speaker 2: he flashed two years ago when he was with the
• 25:59
  Speaker 2: Chiefs when they when they first had him. And then
• 26:02
  Speaker 2: he eventually either didn't do they cut him or they
• 26:05
  Speaker 2: just didn't pick up like.
• 26:07
  Speaker 1: He was on their practice squad last year, so he
• 26:08
  Speaker 1: didn't make the team last year after making it two
• 26:11
  Speaker 1: years ago.
• 26:12
  Speaker 2: I mean, he flashed again, but again, running backs are
• 26:14
  Speaker 2: just– there's so many people that you can put there.
• 26:17
  Speaker 2: It's just the versatility of him makes it interesting, and
• 26:19
  Speaker 2: I think that's how he's going to have to decide
• 26:22
  Speaker 2: is can– because I think he really could be a
• 26:25
  Speaker 2: good contributor on the practice squad, and you feel really
• 26:28
  Speaker 2: good about that. But I think you're right. It just
• 26:29
  Speaker 2: depends on what our team is valuing at that position.
• 26:32
  Speaker 1: Right.
• 26:33
  Speaker 2: All right. So we'll see.
• 26:35
  Speaker 1: We'll see. I mean, it's certainly, I will give the,
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: I didn't give this guy a snowball chance in Hades
• 26:41
  Speaker 1: of making the 53 going in to camp. And he
• 26:44
  Speaker 1: has at least made a claim for, and it wasn't
• 26:47
  Speaker 1: just that game. I mean, he's, he's looked good. He
• 26:50
  Speaker 1: looks fast. He's, you know, like you said, he's in,
• 26:52
  Speaker 1: in practice, he's on special teams. So I can understand
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: some allure there.
• 26:58
  Speaker 2: It just, it's hard. Can you allocate a roster spot
• 27:01
  Speaker 2: to that? Like you said, that's the hard, the constraint
• 27:04
  Speaker 2: is the hardest part. Right.
• 27:05
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• 27:26
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  Speaker 1: tell them inside the birds sent you. All right, let's
• 30:22
  Speaker 1: take a look at the front seven. before we get
• 30:24
  Speaker 1: into the backend, what a game, what is, Hey, it's
• 30:27
  Speaker 1: been a great camp for Ty Robinson, Sam. I mean, he's, he,
• 30:29
  Speaker 1: you know, you heard Vic Fangio say that he was
• 30:31
  Speaker 1: on life support and now he's coming off of it.
• 30:34
  Speaker 1: And then it was important to follow up those good
• 30:36
  Speaker 1: practices with a good showing in the game.
• 30:39
  Speaker 2: Yeah. And you want to talk about win rate? I mean,
• 30:41
  Speaker 2: which we talked about last, last week. I mean, now it's,
• 30:44
  Speaker 2: it's almost an elite cat. It's close at 15% would
• 30:46
  Speaker 2: be elite for interior. It's, he's pretty much at the
• 30:50
  Speaker 2: really great level at 13.3%. He doubled it from last week, essentially. Um,
• 30:56
  Speaker 2: and you know, four pressures on 32 pass rushes, you know,
• 30:59
  Speaker 2: one every eight feels two sacks. I mean, he looked
• 31:03
  Speaker 2: really good.
• 31:04
  Speaker 1: So, yeah, I mean, I'm one of those sacks. He
• 31:07
  Speaker 1: split a double team right down the middle and neither
• 31:09
  Speaker 1: guy could get his hands on him enough and he
• 31:11
  Speaker 1: got a sack. So, uh, I don't know. This is
• 31:14
  Speaker 1: sort of like the Darius Cooper discussion. It's great. And, um,
• 31:18
  Speaker 1: He's obviously going to make the team, but he's going
• 31:21
  Speaker 1: to be the fifth tackle behind Davis, Carter, Jomo, and
• 31:26
  Speaker 1: Byron Young. So how much he plays, that's to be determined. And,
• 31:32
  Speaker 1: you know, maybe there's some opportunity to get him on
• 31:35
  Speaker 1: as like a second team pass rush line.
• 31:37
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 31:38
  Speaker 1: But I think the big thing for Ty Robinson is
• 31:41
  Speaker 1: to continue to do this, be impressive, work hard, and
• 31:45
  Speaker 1: then next year after Jomo most likely leaves– in free agency,
• 31:48
  Speaker 1: then that's your time to step in and shine.
• 31:51
  Speaker 2: I think that makes a lot of sense. I actually
• 31:52
  Speaker 2: think he could use one more year of development too.
• 31:55
  Speaker 1: Probably.
• 31:55
  Speaker 2: I really do. I think he's an athletic freak, but
• 31:57
  Speaker 2: remember he was a pretty raw prospect coming out. I mean,
• 32:00
  Speaker 2: that's the reason he dropped a little bit in the draft.
• 32:02
  Speaker 1: Yep.
• 32:03
  Speaker 2: So, I mean, he scored crazy on all the athletic testing.
• 32:07
  Speaker 1: Right. Now that brings us to the opposite. A guy
• 32:10
  Speaker 1: who does not test well athletically, but literally needs no
• 32:13
  Speaker 1: more seasoning, no more experience. Um, just has one of
• 32:16
  Speaker 1: the highest IQs you're going to see at the position, processes,
• 32:20
  Speaker 1: and it was all on display. I mean, he gets
• 32:22
  Speaker 1: a sack by timing up the cadence like he's a
• 32:26
  Speaker 1: 10-year vet, Jeremiah Trotter Jr. He's fun to watch, Sam.
• 32:30
  Speaker 1: I almost feel sympathy for him. He was born like
• 32:33
  Speaker 1: five years too late. At any other time period, he'd
• 32:37
  Speaker 1: be the Eagles' best linebacker by 10 miles.
• 32:39
  Speaker 2: Yes. A hundred percent. And I mean, listen, if you're
• 32:43
  Speaker 2: talking about that, he had two pass rush snaps and
• 32:45
  Speaker 2: one of them was the sack you just talked about.
• 32:48
  Speaker 2: Like he's hitting 50% of his, but again, you can't
• 32:51
  Speaker 2: extrapolate that pass, but it is kind of, but.
• 32:53
  Speaker 1: Isn't that like Nicoby Dinas? He would, Nicoby would have
• 32:55
  Speaker 1: like two pass rushes a game last year and he
• 32:57
  Speaker 1: would have a sack or a hurry on at least one,
• 33:00
  Speaker 1: if not always.
• 33:01
  Speaker 2: Yup. Yeah. Pretty consistently. So I, I feel like, again,
• 33:05
  Speaker 2: one of the, do you remember when, when they drafted him,
• 33:07
  Speaker 2: we talked a lot about him and we're just like,
• 33:09
  Speaker 2: We know he has the instincts. We know he has
• 33:11
  Speaker 2: the mental, but can his body actually do it? Can
• 33:15
  Speaker 2: he physically move fast enough? I think those questions are
• 33:19
  Speaker 2: kind of being answered. I think at least in this capacity, yeah.
• 33:25
  Speaker 1: Think about the ankle tackle he made before the sack
• 33:28
  Speaker 1: on DeVito as he was scrambling out of the pocket. Again,
• 33:32
  Speaker 1: this is, like you just said, this is not the
• 33:34
  Speaker 1: fastest guy, not the most athletic guy, but somehow is
• 33:38
  Speaker 1: in the right position to wrap up devito at the
• 33:41
  Speaker 1: ankles before that became a nice scramble for like i
• 33:45
  Speaker 1: think he got three or four yards it could have
• 33:47
  Speaker 1: been 15 yards i mean there was nobody there was
• 33:49
  Speaker 1: an acre of green ahead of devito uh and trotter
• 33:52
  Speaker 1: saved a really really he saved an explosive by making
• 33:56
  Speaker 1: that tackle.
• 33:57
  Speaker 2: Yes and again he had zero percent missed tackle.
• 34:00
  Speaker 1: Rate again second straight week right.
• 34:01
  Speaker 2: Yeah, second straight week. And that's huge, especially at that
• 34:04
  Speaker 2: linebacker position. You need to be a wall. And he
• 34:07
  Speaker 2: is a wall, but we knew that. We just didn't
• 34:10
  Speaker 2: know if he could move fast enough to actually make
• 34:12
  Speaker 2: those plays.
• 34:13
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, I think Smile Mondin Jr. is a
• 34:15
  Speaker 1: nice upcoming linebacker, year two, good special teams player. he
• 34:18
  Speaker 1: got caught out of position once or twice in that game.
• 34:21
  Speaker 1: And that's going to happen. Like it's really hard to
• 34:23
  Speaker 1: have a 0% missed tackle rate because there's play action.
• 34:27
  Speaker 1: There's misdirection. You're going to get caught with a big
• 34:30
  Speaker 1: blocker in front of you that you got to get
• 34:31
  Speaker 1: around sometimes and it's going to happen. But for Trott,
• 34:35
  Speaker 1: he just, again, like the knowledge is there and he's
• 34:38
  Speaker 1: always seems like he's in the right spot.
• 34:40
  Speaker 2: Yeah. So small Munden had a 33% missed tackle percentage.
• 34:45
  Speaker 2: All right.
• 34:46
  Speaker 1: There you go. See, this is why I come to you, Sam.
• 34:48
  Speaker 1: That's a great comparison.
• 34:49
  Speaker 2: Yeah. So just, again, there's not a lot of snaps
• 34:52
  Speaker 2: to go around to be fair. So this is a
• 34:54
  Speaker 2: little bit, can't read too much into it, but just,
• 34:57
  Speaker 2: there is a, you're, you're absolutely right. Yeah.
• 35:00
  Speaker 1: And then of course, one of the two players from Africa,
• 35:02
  Speaker 1: Joshua Rue, he gets his first sack. He gets a
• 35:06
  Speaker 1: quarterback or no, right. Did he have a sack in
• 35:08
  Speaker 1: the first game?
• 35:09
  Speaker 2: He did not.
• 35:11
  Speaker 1: Okay.
• 35:11
  Speaker 2: Right.
• 35:11
  Speaker 1: He gets his first sack and a quarterback already came
• 35:13
  Speaker 1: off the edge. I have to ask you this, though.
• 35:18
  Speaker 1: You have that he had one pressure in 10.5 pass
• 35:21
  Speaker 1: rush attempts.
• 35:22
  Speaker 2: Yes.
• 35:22
  Speaker 1: What is my obvious question?
• 35:26
  Speaker 2: Oh, why didn't I just say?
• 35:29
  Speaker 1: No, what is a half of a pass rush attempt?
• 35:33
  Speaker 2: Oh, it's just an average. Yeah, that is a fair question.
• 35:36
  Speaker 1: I'm just messing around with you.
• 35:37
  Speaker 2: Okay. Yeah, no, it was two out of 21, so
• 35:41
  Speaker 2: you just divide it.
• 35:43
  Speaker 1: There you go.
• 35:44
  Speaker 2: That's so funny. Yes.
• 35:48
  Speaker 1: This was an average of one pressure per every 10
• 35:51
  Speaker 1: and a half. So, so that means you got two
• 35:52
  Speaker 1: pressures in the game. It's going to be interesting. Cause he's,
• 35:58
  Speaker 1: you know, the Eagles love their developmental players. They love
• 36:01
  Speaker 1: their developmental linemen, front seven guys, offensive linemen and Waru
• 36:06
  Speaker 1: and UR Bernard who, you know, had some nice two
• 36:08
  Speaker 1: gaps in that game. I mean, they're, Again, I don't
• 36:13
  Speaker 1: know how they're going to do it, if they're going
• 36:15
  Speaker 1: to keep four running backs or three quarterbacks or four quarterbacks.
• 36:19
  Speaker 1: How do you wind up keeping all these guys?
• 36:21
  Speaker 2: Remember, in theory, they can keep one in the International
• 36:24
  Speaker 2: Pathway Program. However, they have to clear waivers.
• 36:27
  Speaker 1: Right, but only on the practice squad they can get.
• 36:29
  Speaker 1: That only applies to the practice squad.
• 36:30
  Speaker 2: Exactly. So they'd have to cut them, and then they'd
• 36:34
  Speaker 2: have to clear waivers.
• 36:35
  Speaker 1: Yeah, you've got to waive them and hope that they don't.
• 36:37
  Speaker 1: And what are the odds? You know that's a conversation
• 36:39
  Speaker 1: going on right now. I mean, it's just tough.
• 36:43
  Speaker 2: It is tough. It very much is. I don't envy
• 36:47
  Speaker 2: Howie Roseman at all. I think this is one of
• 36:49
  Speaker 2: the toughest roster decisions, just in general. The whole construction
• 36:53
  Speaker 2: of this year's roster, I think, is this year's very
• 36:56
  Speaker 2: tough year. Yeah.
• 36:57
  Speaker 1: There's going to be– somebody should put a meme of like,
• 36:59
  Speaker 1: you know, some– did you ever see the movie like–
• 37:03
  Speaker 1: I forget. I was just going to say like how
• 37:04
  Speaker 1: like Waru and Bernard are almost like Would it be
• 37:08
  Speaker 1: surprising if you see them, quote unquote, limping off the
• 37:10
  Speaker 1: field against the Bengals?
• 37:13
  Speaker 2: Oh, man.
• 37:14
  Speaker 1: Or Stinger. Got to have that eye.
• 37:16
  Speaker 2: But seriously, I mean, this is the best problem to
• 37:20
  Speaker 2: have because I think there's just so much talent on
• 37:22
  Speaker 2: this roster. But you're not going to be able to
• 37:24
  Speaker 2: retain it all. You're just not.
• 37:26
  Speaker 1: Yeah, that's true.
• 37:27
  Speaker 2: And I think some of the guys that are cut
• 37:29
  Speaker 2: are going to be contributors on other teams. 100%. Right.
• 37:34
  Speaker 1: Uh, Sean Wade, he's played for a couple of NFL
• 37:36
  Speaker 1: teams before. This was not like, uh, you know, a
• 37:38
  Speaker 1: guy who's, uh, who's never played. Probably the stats don't
• 37:42
  Speaker 1: probably look so great for him, huh? Except for the
• 37:46
  Speaker 1: 0% missed tackle rate.
• 37:48
  Speaker 2: Yeah. They listen, they don't look terrible. Obviously again, with,
• 37:51
  Speaker 2: with corners, you don't love to see tackles being that high. Um,
• 37:55
  Speaker 2: but the three defensive stops, the forced fumble, I mean, those,
• 37:59
  Speaker 2: those go in his favor. And then the receiving stats
• 38:01
  Speaker 2: don't look great. I mean, it was six receptions on
• 38:04
  Speaker 2: seven targets for 54 yards. Yeah.
• 38:06
  Speaker 1: That's not great.
• 38:07
  Speaker 2: So, I mean, that's not ideal, but I mean, it
• 38:10
  Speaker 2: was a mixed bag. I just, I thought it was
• 38:11
  Speaker 2: worth at least talking about to some extent.
• 38:15
  Speaker 1: So the, the fumble is really interesting that he forced
• 38:17
  Speaker 1: because I have watched that play countless times. And because
• 38:22
  Speaker 1: of the angle, it honestly looks like he punches the
• 38:27
  Speaker 1: running back in the stomach and, and the ball comes out.
• 38:31
  Speaker 1: Because if you look at it from the behind, you
• 38:33
  Speaker 1: see him with the ball, and you see, like, the
• 38:36
  Speaker 1: fist doesn't look like it can get there, and the
• 38:37
  Speaker 1: ball comes out. But he kind of keeps running, right? Like,
• 38:40
  Speaker 1: as if there's no way I could lose the ball.
• 38:42
  Speaker 1: I just got punched in the stomach. I've never seen
• 38:44
  Speaker 1: a running back just keep running after they've already– after
• 38:48
  Speaker 1: they fumbled the ball and not, like, try to dive
• 38:50
  Speaker 1: on it. And I just think it's funny. Every angle
• 38:53
  Speaker 1: I've looked at him, I'm like, I really think he
• 38:55
  Speaker 1: decked that dude in the ribcage, and in force of that,
• 38:59
  Speaker 1: cause him to fumble, which, all right, it's still a
• 39:01
  Speaker 1: forced fumble. That's great.
• 39:02
  Speaker 2: It works, I guess, yeah.
• 39:04
  Speaker 1: I just don't know how legal that is. You can't
• 39:06
  Speaker 1: go over and run up to somebody and punch them out.
• 39:08
  Speaker 2: No. I mean, you heard about the peanut punch. Now
• 39:11
  Speaker 2: you got the, I don't know.
• 39:12
  Speaker 1: Yeah, the stomach peanut punch.
• 39:13
  Speaker 2: The Wade.
• 39:15
  Speaker 1: The Wade wallop.
• 39:17
  Speaker 2: Yes, I like that. The Wade wallop.
• 39:19
  Speaker 1: Oh, I like that too. All right, so really, the
• 39:23
  Speaker 1: big guy to pay attention to is Mack McWilliams. He's
• 39:26
  Speaker 1: another guy who's had a better camp what do you
• 39:29
  Speaker 1: make of three receptions on four targets?
• 39:32
  Speaker 2: Yeah, so if you remember last week, it was four
• 39:34
  Speaker 2: receptions on four targets for 37 yards. So, I mean,
• 39:39
  Speaker 2: it's a lot better. I mean, you're allowing one less reception, sure,
• 39:43
  Speaker 2: but the yardage given up is significantly shorter, and you
• 39:47
  Speaker 2: like that. A lot less tackles, which again, you like
• 39:51
  Speaker 2: to see still some tackles from your corners, but you're
• 39:54
  Speaker 2: okay with them. Because remember, last week it was like crazy.
• 39:57
  Speaker 2: It was like nine tackles or something like that.
• 39:58
  Speaker 1: Yeah, sure was.
• 40:00
  Speaker 2: Sure was. Or six tackles, but still. I think the
• 40:04
  Speaker 2: game book had them at 10. PFF had them at six.
• 40:06
  Speaker 1: Gotcha. I don't know how tackles can be subjective, but
• 40:10
  Speaker 1: they are.
• 40:10
  Speaker 2: They are. You would think that that would be a
• 40:14
  Speaker 2: very common one. Right.
• 40:16
  Speaker 1: Okay, quick look at the Bengals. They played two preseason games.
• 40:20
  Speaker 1: They've won them both. Big win over Chicago. Now, you
• 40:25
  Speaker 1: said they played their starters against Detroit. Not so, I believe,
• 40:31
  Speaker 1: against the Bears.
• 40:32
  Speaker 2: Correct, correct. Interestingly enough, Detroit did not play their starters
• 40:40
  Speaker 2: against them.
• 40:41
  Speaker 1: Dan Campbell finally learning something.
• 40:43
  Speaker 2: So, I just... I think that's interesting that they only
• 40:46
  Speaker 2: won by two points at that point. True. I just
• 40:50
  Speaker 2: think that's like a little bit interesting thing. And like
• 40:53
  Speaker 2: Cincinnati scored 10 points in the first half. And I
• 40:58
  Speaker 2: don't know how long they kept their starters in. It
• 41:01
  Speaker 2: looks like at least maybe one drive because Burrow was
• 41:04
  Speaker 2: five for six for 39 yards.
• 41:06
  Speaker 1: That's for sure. That's a drive.
• 41:07
  Speaker 2: Yeah. So, and they only had three points in the
• 41:11
  Speaker 2: first quarter. So that's interesting. I mean, again, you can't
• 41:15
  Speaker 2: judge it off of one drive, but that's certainly interesting.
• 41:18
  Speaker 2: And we're not really, you know, talking about the Bengal
• 41:21
  Speaker 2: starters right now, but I just think that's an interesting
• 41:24
  Speaker 2: point to talk about.
• 41:26
  Speaker 1: What are some other interesting side notes?
• 41:29
  Speaker 2: Yeah, they were a lot better at like generating yards
• 41:35
  Speaker 2: in week two and their yards per play allowed is
• 41:38
  Speaker 2: pretty much the same at 4.7, 4.8. Okay. And then
• 41:43
  Speaker 2: I think the thing that's really interesting is they've had
• 41:45
  Speaker 2: a really solid third down defense, you know, six for
• 41:51
  Speaker 2: 25 on, you know, the two weeks combined. Wow.
• 41:55
  Speaker 1: That's really good.
• 41:55
  Speaker 2: Yeah. So, I mean, it's, I mean, it really was
• 41:59
  Speaker 2: driven more about from week two than week one week one,
• 42:02
  Speaker 2: they had the same, you know, as the Eagles did
• 42:04
  Speaker 2: this week, there was both the four at 11, but
• 42:07
  Speaker 2: week two, I mean, two for 14, they did a
• 42:09
  Speaker 2: really good job. So I think it's going to be
• 42:11
  Speaker 2: really interesting when you have a good third down defense
• 42:13
  Speaker 2: versus a really poor third down offense. I say it,
• 42:19
  Speaker 2: but we're hopeful that's not going to be the case
• 42:22
  Speaker 2: this year. But historically, at least in the past year. Yes.
• 42:28
  Speaker 1: And penalties. It looks like the Bengals have committed quite
• 42:31
  Speaker 1: a bit.
• 42:32
  Speaker 2: Yeah, they've committed 19 penalties. But interestingly, I mean, they've
• 42:35
  Speaker 2: only given up like 130 yards. For those 19, so
• 42:38
  Speaker 2: they're making penalties. It's not really costly ones in yardage. Right.
• 42:42
  Speaker 1: A lot of false starts. Yeah, exactly. Effective passing the
• 42:48
  Speaker 1: football against the Bears. Yep, they were.
• 42:51
  Speaker 2: They were 25 for 38 for 282. Interestingly, we're going
• 42:55
  Speaker 2: to see some familiar faces throwing the football. Oh, yeah.
• 42:59
  Speaker 2: Josh Johnson was their main guy. And Nishod Clifford as well.
• 43:04
  Speaker 1: Hey, Philly fans, game day is stressful enough. Parking, traffic,
• 43:08
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• 43:11
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• 43:20
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• 43:34
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• 43:38
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• 43:44
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• 44:01
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• 44:03
  Speaker 2: But josh johnson uh as you know has a storied
• 44:07
  Speaker 2: history against the Eagles so.
• 44:09
  Speaker 1: Of course I can't wait to see Sean Clifford he
• 44:11
  Speaker 1: lit it up in his uh last game and you
• 44:14
  Speaker 1: know you and I were joking about watching Drew Aller
• 44:17
  Speaker 1: all of a sudden lighting it up with the Steelers
• 44:19
  Speaker 1: and all these Penn State quarterbacks who uh suddenly get
• 44:23
  Speaker 1: to the NFL and uh coaching's a little different now
• 44:26
  Speaker 1: they look like they're they're making something.
• 44:28
  Speaker 2: Of it so good for them though yeah absolutely I.
• 44:31
  Speaker 1: Mean, Drew Aller, like, watching his footwork and his timing
• 44:34
  Speaker 1: and was like, holy cow, where did that come from, right?
• 44:36
  Speaker 1: That was impressive.
• 44:38
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it really was. I mean, especially that one throw
• 44:41
  Speaker 2: like 25 yards down on the sideline. That was an
• 44:45
  Speaker 2: incredible throw.
• 44:46
  Speaker 1: Yeah, out of structure, got out of the pocket, whizzed
• 44:49
  Speaker 1: it down. That one was actually one of the more like, oh, yeah,
• 44:52
  Speaker 1: we saw Aller do that quite a bit. He ripped
• 44:56
  Speaker 1: two down the seam off three-step drops. They were actually
• 45:00
  Speaker 1: both dropped, the passes, but they were beautiful passes.
• 45:03
  Speaker 2: There was– the window was– it was so clean.
• 45:06
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 45:06
  Speaker 2: Beautifully thrown. Yeah. A shame they were dropped for sure.
• 45:10
  Speaker 1: I know.
• 45:11
  Speaker 2: All right.
• 45:12
  Speaker 1: We'll talk about Penn State on another day. We are
• 45:13
  Speaker 1: getting closer to the college football season.
• 45:16
  Speaker 2: All right.
• 45:16
  Speaker 1: Great stuff. Great stuff. And, of course, we'll recap the
• 45:19
  Speaker 1: Bengals game. And then really next time we talk, we'll
• 45:21
  Speaker 1: probably be doing some discussion about the 53-man roster. I
• 45:26
  Speaker 1: know we always do like an age comparison of other
• 45:29
  Speaker 1: teams and we'll get into that. Look forward to that.
• 45:32
  Speaker 2: Looking forward to it too. All right.
• 45:33
  Speaker 1: That's going to do it for inside the data on
• 45:35
  Speaker 1: inside the birds for Sam Finkel. I'm Jeff Mosher. We'll
• 45:39
  Speaker 1: catch you all on the next one.