Latest / Inside the Birds: A Philadelphia Eagles Podcast / Football at Four: How Can the Eagles Defense Rebound From Last Week Without Carter?
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- 0:00Speaker 1: And Football at four is powered by the Inside of
- 0:03Speaker 1: the Birds podcast. It is brought to you by the
- 0:04Speaker 1: Fanatics sports book at Ocean Casino Resort in Atlantic City,
- 0:08Speaker 1: and of course the Football at four today focusing a
- 0:11Speaker 1: lot on the Eagles and Chargers the Jalen Carter injury.
- 0:14Speaker 1: Andrew de Cheko is here. We'll get to him in
- 0:16Speaker 1: just a second, but don't forget visit my friends over
- 0:20Speaker 1: at the Nizam's get a free order of spicy Tanjory
- 0:24Speaker 1: chicken wings for dining customers.
- 0:27Speaker 2: When the Eagles win, you win.
- 0:29Speaker 1: Nizam also has a great lunch buffet today Saturday Sunday.
- 0:34Speaker 1: They also have a great banquet space that can set
- 0:37Speaker 1: up to one hundred people for private events and celebrations.
- 0:41Speaker 1: I'll have my Friday five coming up in just a
- 0:43Speaker 1: couple of moments as well. We'll get you our five
- 0:46Speaker 1: favorite games of this week fourteen slate, But with the.
- 0:50Speaker 2: Eagles playing on Monday night.
- 0:52Speaker 1: We'll take a little look at that one and what
- 0:54Speaker 1: the Eagles might be looking at in this matchup with
- 0:57Speaker 1: the Chargers. To do that right now for Football at four,
- 1:00Speaker 1: we bring in Andrew to check out Inside the Birds
- 1:02Speaker 1: dot Com. The Inside the Birds podcast. He joins us
- 1:05Speaker 1: right now on a Friday edition of Football at four.
- 1:08Speaker 1: Let's dive into Eagles and Chargers, and of course Jalen Carter.
- 1:12Speaker 1: I want to get your unique take on this because
- 1:15Speaker 1: obviously the Carter injury has an impact, but you know
- 1:20Speaker 1: this team pretty deep down the rotation, down the depth chart.
- 1:24Speaker 1: How does this look behind Carter? How do you anticipate
- 1:28Speaker 1: this kind of looking on Monday night.
- 1:30Speaker 3: Well, however long Jalen Carter is out, is going to
- 1:33Speaker 3: be pretty and it's an enormous loss for the PHOTOFF Vehagles.
- 1:37Speaker 3: I don't want to sure change it at all. Look,
- 1:40Speaker 3: Jalen Carter is a force in the middle of that
- 1:43Speaker 3: defensive line, and he even saw that even though he
- 1:46Speaker 3: wasn't efficient and run defense, he was able to get
- 1:49Speaker 3: to Caleb Williams. He had a couple of batter passes
- 1:52Speaker 3: in that game, but he clearly wasn't himself in fact,
- 1:55Speaker 3: in terms of run defense. I think that was probably
- 1:58Speaker 3: the worst game that I've seen Jalen Carter play as
- 2:01Speaker 3: a member of the Philadelphia Eagles, and he was clearly
- 2:03Speaker 3: dealing with something. I know the shoulder has plagued him
- 2:06Speaker 3: since really over a year now a training camp, he
- 2:09Speaker 3: missed the first three practices and it's it's something that
- 2:15Speaker 3: you know it was. It was evident when you're watching
- 2:17Speaker 3: him not be able to disengage and maybe go around
- 2:20Speaker 3: certain blocks instead of attacking him like he normally does,
- 2:23Speaker 3: that he was dealing with something. Then after the game
- 2:25Speaker 3: he said something that was a little bit cryptic and said,
- 2:27Speaker 3: it's it's my problems. I'm not you know, I'm paraphrasing,
- 2:31Speaker 3: I'm not going to tell everybody what I'm dealing with.
- 2:33Speaker 3: And Vic Fangio of course confirmed that. So now the
- 2:36Speaker 3: onus falls on Moro, Jomo falls on Jordan Davis, Byron Young,
- 2:41Speaker 3: Ty Robinson, and they have you know, Gabe Hall on
- 2:44Speaker 3: the practice squad as well, And it's going to be
- 2:46Speaker 3: week to week, so we'll see where it goes from here.
- 2:48Speaker 3: But it's certainly a big loss in a in a
- 2:50Speaker 3: big spot for the Eagles.
- 2:52Speaker 1: Yeah, and I know that Ojomo's play a lot. In fact,
- 2:55Speaker 1: he played the most snaps of all the defensive tackles
- 2:58Speaker 1: last week, one more than Jaylen Carter played. Is there
- 3:01Speaker 1: a guy that maybe hasn't got a lot of playing
- 3:03Speaker 1: time that you think maybe can step in and help
- 3:06Speaker 1: this team out.
- 3:09Speaker 3: Well, it's kind of hard to ask any player to
- 3:13Speaker 3: be able to play more. I think they need to
- 3:15Speaker 3: be careful about asking Morojomo to play too much because
- 3:19Speaker 3: he's already playing a lot. He's a little bit more undersized.
- 3:22Speaker 3: Jordan Davis is having a really good season, playing a
- 3:25Speaker 3: lot more snaps than he has in his career. It's
- 3:27Speaker 3: hard to ask him to handle more. Byron Young, he
- 3:30Speaker 3: played thirty eight snaps against the Bears. It wasn't good.
- 3:34Speaker 3: I mean, I don't know if he's in a position
- 3:35Speaker 3: where he can really take on more. Ty Robinson has
- 3:38Speaker 3: only played thirty five snaps this season. I've gotten asked
- 3:41Speaker 3: about Ty Robinson Mike perhaps more than any other player
- 3:44Speaker 3: that I can remember this season. Lewis Sceene was another
- 3:47Speaker 3: one that comes to mind. But Ty Robinson six games,
- 3:50Speaker 3: thirty five snaps hasn't been a part of the rotation.
- 3:53Speaker 3: It's hard for me to say that he's going to
- 3:56Speaker 3: make a noticeable impact without having seen him play much
- 4:00Speaker 3: besides the preseason. And then they have the Typwon Graham
- 4:03Speaker 3: on the practice squad who's been around the league for
- 4:06Speaker 3: a while. Believe he's with the Falcons even a starter
- 4:08Speaker 3: for the Falcons, and he's a pretty good run defender.
- 4:11Speaker 3: We'll see if they either elevate him or Gabe Hall
- 4:14Speaker 3: just to absorb some of those reps. But there's nobody
- 4:18Speaker 3: that immediately comes to mind, because you're already that Eagles
- 4:21Speaker 3: are already asking a lot of the top three players
- 4:24Speaker 3: that I mentioned.
- 4:24Speaker 1: All right, So, and obviously you know they've been gassed
- 4:28Speaker 1: on the ground, just gassed, I should say, on the
- 4:29Speaker 1: ground the last couple of weeks, especially last week against Chicago.
- 4:33Speaker 1: So this is not ideal. Even though you kind of
- 4:34Speaker 1: hit it that Carter has not been as strong against
- 4:37Speaker 1: the run. They're gonna have to try to figure things
- 4:40Speaker 1: out against the run here. And what do you think
- 4:41Speaker 1: of this running matchup against this Charger team, which is
- 4:44Speaker 1: kind of a weird situation. We don't know if Herbert's
- 4:46Speaker 1: gonna play or not. We think he is. Would they
- 4:49Speaker 1: be more inclined to run the ball more or less
- 4:52Speaker 1: because of this hand situation? And how is this matchup
- 4:55Speaker 1: against the Chargers whose offensive line, much like the Eagles,
- 4:58Speaker 1: has a lot of injury problems.
- 5:00Speaker 3: Yeah, I think they would have run it a lot
- 5:02Speaker 3: without with or without Jayleen Carter just because of the
- 5:05Speaker 3: hand situation, even though it's on his non throwing hand,
- 5:08Speaker 3: They're gonna want to probably try to alleviate as many
- 5:11Speaker 3: unnecessary hits as possible for Justin Herbert. And by the way,
- 5:16Speaker 3: for Carter, I mentioned that he's been dealing with that
- 5:19Speaker 3: shoulder for a while, not you know, in training camp
- 5:21Speaker 3: as well. So it's the entirety of this season, the year,
- 5:25Speaker 3: and yeah, it's something that you hope that he can
- 5:28Speaker 3: get it right and help the Eagles down the stretch here.
- 5:31Speaker 3: But I'm expecting the Chargers with and they could have
- 5:34Speaker 3: him Mariin Hampton, their rookie running back available for Monday night.
- 5:38Speaker 3: So that's that's the approach that I'm expecting a run
- 5:41Speaker 3: heavy approach. I don't think it's going to be a
- 5:43Speaker 3: very high scoring game, and I do believe that when
- 5:46Speaker 3: you look at the Chargers offensive line, they have two
- 5:49Speaker 3: reserve tackles. They lost Joe Alt and they lost Slater,
- 5:53Speaker 3: two really strong tackles on the outside. Makai Becton is
- 5:57Speaker 3: not playing well this season. But all that, you know,
- 6:00Speaker 3: all that taken into consideration, I still believe that they're
- 6:03Speaker 3: going to try to establish that run, especially based off
- 6:06Speaker 3: of what you just saw in that Bears game. The
- 6:09Speaker 3: Eagles struggle two hundred and eighty one rushing yards combined
- 6:11Speaker 3: from Chicago, and I'm sure they'll pick their spots in
- 6:14Speaker 3: the passing game. They do have a very deep receiving cores,
- 6:17Speaker 3: led by Keenan Allen, Lad McConkie, who is a terrific
- 6:20Speaker 3: route runner. Keenan Allen one of the best route runners
- 6:22Speaker 3: in the NFL, Quinton Johnson's coming into his own, and
- 6:26Speaker 3: Aronde Gatson the second is a player that I may
- 6:28Speaker 3: have mentioned with you during the draft out of Syracuse.
- 6:32Speaker 3: He might be a good mid range option in intermediary
- 6:35Speaker 3: levels for Justin Herbert to get the ball out of
- 6:37Speaker 3: his hands.
- 6:37Speaker 2: Yeah.
- 6:38Speaker 1: I really liked some of their weapons on offense, specially McConkie.
- 6:40Speaker 1: He's the kind of guy, Andrew, I feel like the
- 6:42Speaker 1: Eagles have just never had that guy who can just
- 6:45Speaker 1: terrorize you from the slot and just works the hashes,
- 6:49Speaker 1: knows where he needs to get to. I feel like
- 6:50Speaker 1: the Eagles have lacked that type of receiver basically our
- 6:53Speaker 1: whole lives. I've never had that guy, and this is
- 6:56Speaker 1: a really interesting matchup. Who gets that assignment? Is that
- 6:58Speaker 1: a Cooper Dejine thing.
- 7:01Speaker 3: Yeah, I think it's a Cooper Degene thing. And Lad
- 7:03Speaker 3: McConkey to your point. Not only is he a good
- 7:05Speaker 3: route runner and good at creating space, but he's also
- 7:07Speaker 3: good at finding the sauce spots in zone. And he's
- 7:11Speaker 3: a very quarterback friendly receiver because he always seems to
- 7:14Speaker 3: be able to shake open And I do think that
- 7:16Speaker 3: that'll be a Cooper Degene assignment, a daunting one at that.
- 7:21Speaker 3: And I'm curious to see who handles Keenan Allen and
- 7:25Speaker 3: because he's such a good route runner, even at this
- 7:27Speaker 3: stage of his career, and he knows how to he
- 7:30Speaker 3: has a lot of savbiness and he's able to create separation.
- 7:33Speaker 3: So whether it's Quinton Johnson or Keenan Allen, it's going
- 7:36Speaker 3: to be a tough task for Quinjon Mitchell and Adorri
- 7:39Speaker 3: Jackson if the Eagles aren't able to provide a lot
- 7:43Speaker 3: of pressure, which I don't necessarily foresee because they do
- 7:46Speaker 3: have the two reserve tackles as I mentioned, But yeah,
- 7:49Speaker 3: we'll see how it plays out because they have a
- 7:50Speaker 3: plethora of weapons.
- 7:51Speaker 1: Yeah, they like the Eagles have had some you know,
- 7:54Speaker 1: issues up front and when their line is. When their
- 7:57Speaker 1: line is intact, they're oh line, super Bowl contenders. When
- 8:01Speaker 1: their offensive line is out, they are kind of middle
- 8:04Speaker 1: of the road. And right now they seem to be
- 8:06Speaker 1: a little middle of the road. Is with that offensive line,
- 8:09Speaker 1: right is that where you kind of feel the same thing.
- 8:11Speaker 3: Yeah, it's very beatable and that's why it's a shame
- 8:14Speaker 3: that they won't have Jayalen Carter to take advantage of
- 8:16Speaker 3: that opportunity. I think this could be a spot where
- 8:19Speaker 3: Moro Joemo really is able to create some interior pressure
- 8:23Speaker 3: up the middle. But yeah, I mean there you said
- 8:25Speaker 3: it best. I mean it's a it's a an elite
- 8:28Speaker 3: offense when their offensive line is at full strength and
- 8:32Speaker 3: sort of along the lines of the Eagles, and a
- 8:34Speaker 3: plotting type of offense that labors their way down the
- 8:37Speaker 3: field more often than not because of the state of
- 8:39Speaker 3: their offensive line. Which is why I'm expecting them to
- 8:42Speaker 3: test the Eagles in the ground game first and see
- 8:44Speaker 3: if they're able to get any traction there, and then
- 8:47Speaker 3: that could be their most sound plan of attack given
- 8:50Speaker 3: the injury to Justin.
- 8:52Speaker 2: Herbert and Andrew Checko. Football all four a lot so,
- 8:54Speaker 2: but this is you know, I want to.
- 8:56Speaker 1: You know, we did see The Hard Knocks the other night,
- 8:58Speaker 1: and everybody has their thoughts on what they saw. In
- 8:59Speaker 1: your trying to read things there, I'm not trying to
- 9:01Speaker 1: put a lot of stock into that. One thing I
- 9:03Speaker 1: thought was interesting, though, And you talk about the mood
- 9:06Speaker 1: of this locker room at eight and four, going through
- 9:09Speaker 1: a little bit of a.
- 9:10Speaker 2: You know, malaisee.
- 9:11Speaker 1: Right now, you've been around the locker room in practice
- 9:14Speaker 1: pretty much since the beginning of the season. Do you
- 9:17Speaker 1: sense that morales down they're kind of searching for answers
- 9:22Speaker 1: or does it seem like business as usual in there?
- 9:25Speaker 3: I would say business as usual. They just have a
- 9:28Speaker 3: very business like approach. And I know a lot was
- 9:30Speaker 3: made going into the season to not rest on your laurels,
- 9:34Speaker 3: not reference the Super Bowl and all of that, But
- 9:37Speaker 3: I mean, you have to think about some of the
- 9:39Speaker 3: preeminent leaders on this team and what their character is.
- 9:43Speaker 3: And Jalen Hurts stoic, right, Devonte Smith same way. Look
- 9:48Speaker 3: across the offensive line, Jason Kelsey's not there. He had
- 9:53Speaker 3: a personality, but that's not it would be out of
- 9:56Speaker 3: character for them to be like what you saw the
- 9:59Speaker 3: Dallas Cowboys now that's not to say that they don't
- 10:01Speaker 3: take joy in winning, and you'll hear music in the
- 10:04Speaker 3: locker room after the game and things like that. They
- 10:06Speaker 3: certainly do. But knowing that they are very well aware
- 10:11Speaker 3: of what it takes and they've been there before, I
- 10:13Speaker 3: think that they just kind of approach it like a
- 10:15Speaker 3: business week in and week out, while still having fun
- 10:18Speaker 3: when necessary. But it's not like a young, upstart type
- 10:22Speaker 3: of team. They kind of all follow the lead there
- 10:25Speaker 3: of Jalen Hurts, and he's stoic and very matter of
- 10:29Speaker 3: fact and business like. And I think that that's good.
- 10:32Speaker 3: That's a good way to be. And I think because
- 10:35Speaker 3: he's like that, you're able to not necessarily dwell on
- 10:39Speaker 3: losses or tough, you know, tough patches of the season.
- 10:42Speaker 3: You kind of just get back to work and get
- 10:44Speaker 3: back on the horse and hope you get things right.
- 10:46Speaker 2: You know.
- 10:48Speaker 1: The opening scene of The Hard Knocks is when Brandon
- 10:51Speaker 1: Graham is talking to Nick Sirianni and he says, one
- 10:54Speaker 1: of these you know games, the run games just going
- 10:57Speaker 1: take off, and Sirianni says, I agree, that's why we
- 11:01Speaker 1: stick with what we do. Does that imply to you
- 11:04Speaker 1: that they are stubborn and they do not see a
- 11:07Speaker 1: problem with this line and they think they're getting close.
- 11:09Speaker 1: And would you agree with that?
- 11:12Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean that's one way to interpret it. And
- 11:15Speaker 3: I know that yesterday Jordan Malatta said that there's going
- 11:19Speaker 3: to be some new things in the run games, so
- 11:20Speaker 3: we'll see what that means. But I really do believe, Mike,
- 11:23Speaker 3: you can perceive it, and rightfully so, as stubbornness or
- 11:28Speaker 3: conviction with what works, and they know that they believe
- 11:32Speaker 3: in their formula offensively, they Jordan Mylota said this so
- 11:36Speaker 3: many times this year, where a hair offf we're close.
- 11:39Speaker 3: It doesn't look that way on the field on game days,
- 11:42Speaker 3: but I really do believe that Nick Sirianni and the
- 11:44Speaker 3: team believes in running the football and trying to get
- 11:48Speaker 3: things going, and that they are very close to breaking something.
- 11:52Speaker 3: So I think I look at it more as conviction
- 11:55Speaker 3: in and doubling down in what they believe in terms
- 11:59Speaker 3: of their ideology and principles.
- 12:00Speaker 1: Fangio has asked this week about Johann Campbell's and I
- 12:03Speaker 1: probably should have played him more. I mean, yeah, maybe
- 12:06Speaker 1: I don't know that it makes an impact either way,
- 12:08Speaker 1: But are you surprised at like how because they're problem
- 12:12Speaker 1: against the run. Dean had been the better player against
- 12:15Speaker 1: the run. So I don't know how this camp, it's
- 12:18Speaker 1: a weird situation moving forward here? How do you get
- 12:20Speaker 1: him more snaps? Because this is a talented player that
- 12:23Speaker 1: probably could help this defense.
- 12:24Speaker 2: It just where does he fit?
- 12:26Speaker 3: Yeah, he absolutely is. And even Vic Fangio took ownership
- 12:29Speaker 3: of that. He said, yeah, that's I probably should have
- 12:32Speaker 3: gotten them more snaps. That's on me. And I mean,
- 12:35Speaker 3: you play eighty seven snaps, Mike, there has to be
- 12:38Speaker 3: you have to be able to carve out twelve or
- 12:40Speaker 3: fifteen snaps for your first round linebacker, who, by the way,
- 12:43Speaker 3: was playing good football. It's just the Kobe Dean is
- 12:47Speaker 3: a different is that a different part of his career
- 12:49Speaker 3: right now where he is highly intelligent. He's mastered all
- 12:55Speaker 3: of the responsibilities that are required to be a linebacker
- 12:57Speaker 3: in Vick Fangio's system. It alleviatesimbility from Reid Blank and Shift,
- 13:01Speaker 3: who's also a back end you know, a back end
- 13:06Speaker 3: patrolman if you will, who processes a lot of information
- 13:08Speaker 3: and helps a lot of guys get lined up. And
- 13:11Speaker 3: for Nakobe Dean he's very proficient in run defense, wasn't
- 13:15Speaker 3: the case on Friday for that same could be said
- 13:18Speaker 3: for the whole defense. But he's also a good blitzer,
- 13:21Speaker 3: So I think knowing that he's done it before and
- 13:23Speaker 3: been there before, maybe you were leaning on that a
- 13:25Speaker 3: little bit too much. And I think it's been at
- 13:28Speaker 3: the well it has been at the expense of Jahatt Campbell.
- 13:30Speaker 3: But you have to find a way to get him involved.
- 13:32Speaker 3: Could be situational based. I look at a game like
- 13:35Speaker 3: the Chargers, who they can throw the football round, they
- 13:37Speaker 3: can spread you out, and that would suggest that there
- 13:40Speaker 3: should be opportunities for Jahad Campbell to get on the
- 13:42Speaker 3: field where you can see his coverability, his length, his
- 13:46Speaker 3: sideline to sideline range, really be able to take shape
- 13:49Speaker 3: and help the defense, because I think that there has
- 13:52Speaker 3: to be a spot for him in this defense. They
- 13:54Speaker 3: compliment each other well on in n Kobe Dean and
- 13:56Speaker 3: Jahat Campbell because they both had different skill sets, and
- 13:59Speaker 3: I do believe that you're going to see him get
- 14:01Speaker 3: whether it's twelve or fifteen snaps. It's also worth noting
- 14:04Speaker 3: that he played twenty snaps against the Lions, eleven against
- 14:07Speaker 3: the Cowboys, zero against the Bear, So it was trending
- 14:10Speaker 3: in that direction, and I think he almost needed it
- 14:13Speaker 3: to get to that point where it's like, oh, we
- 14:15Speaker 3: got to find a spot for this guy and get
- 14:16Speaker 3: him on the field because you know he's a pretty
- 14:18Speaker 3: damn good football player and can help help the unit.
- 14:21Speaker 1: All right, there, you getting out of here. Let's get
- 14:22Speaker 1: two quick rapid fires one EPs. Is he the better
- 14:25Speaker 1: option over Sidney Brown?
- 14:28Speaker 3: Yes? He is, all right, and I just think he yeah,
- 14:30Speaker 3: I just think he's more. He's fundamentally sound. Started seventeen
- 14:34Speaker 3: games for the Eagles in twenty two and the postseason,
- 14:36Speaker 3: and there's there's less guess work there.
- 14:39Speaker 1: Would you like to see them mix more Bigsby ship
- 14:43Speaker 1: I don't even care if everyone's like bigs b Bigsby
- 14:45Speaker 1: Bigsby just because he has nine yards to carry, I
- 14:48Speaker 1: get it. Those are gaudy numbers. I don't care if
- 14:50Speaker 1: it's bigsb Shipley, just amit. Do you think they should
- 14:53Speaker 1: stick with Barkley as the ninety five percent of the
- 14:57Speaker 1: touch or would you like to see them mix in
- 14:59Speaker 1: either Shipley and or Bigsby.
- 15:02Speaker 3: Well, to be clear, I think Saquon should take the
- 15:04Speaker 3: Lion's share of the work. But I look at what
- 15:05Speaker 3: they did on that first drive against the Packers. They
- 15:08Speaker 3: worked in all three running backs and they all bring
- 15:12Speaker 3: something different to the table. And I think when you're
- 15:14Speaker 3: an offense searching for answers, and you can't turn over
- 15:17Speaker 3: your personnel, but there are certain players you can implement
- 15:20Speaker 3: a little bit more to try and conjure some sort
- 15:23Speaker 3: of creativity. Shipley in the receiving game, it's the best
- 15:26Speaker 3: receiving back that they have, is probably their best pass protector,
- 15:29Speaker 3: and then Bigsby provides a spark. So I think as
- 15:32Speaker 3: those change ups, it should complement what you have in
- 15:35Speaker 3: Saquon Barkley, and hopefully for the Eagles you can jump
- 15:37Speaker 3: start that running game.
- 15:38Speaker 1: All right, we'll see if that gets going. On Monday
- 15:40Speaker 1: Night Football. You can listen to the game right here
- 15:42Speaker 1: on ninety seven three ESPN. You can check out more
- 15:44Speaker 1: from Andrew to check O and the guys over Inside
- 15:47Speaker 1: the Birds, Inside the Birds dot Com, the Inside the
- 15:49Speaker 1: Birds podcast for football at four right here on the
- 15:52Speaker 1: Sports Bass Live on this happy hour Friday.
- 15:56Speaker 2: Enjoy the rest of the weekend.
- 15:57Speaker 1: A little snowy out there today, but I know that
- 16:00Speaker 1: at the football this weekend, got the conference championships, got
- 16:03Speaker 1: some NFL very good slated games. What you're going to
- 16:05Speaker 1: get into in just a minute, Andrew.
- 16:07Speaker 2: Thanks man.
- 16:08Speaker 3: I'll be in LA this weekend, so snow for you.
- 16:13Speaker 2: Man. Take care of safe trip, take care of Mike.