Latest / Inside the Birds: A Philadelphia Eagles Podcast / Football at Four: Taking an Overview of Eagles Matchup vs. Commanders
Transcript
- 0:00Speaker 1: And Football at four powered by the Inside of the
- 0:01Speaker 1: Berths podcast. It has brought to you by the Fanatic
- 0:04Speaker 1: Sports Book at Ocean Consumer Resort in Atlantic City. We'll
- 0:08Speaker 1: be there on Monday. Today we're at Chiggy's and Pete's
- 0:11Speaker 1: here in a Harvard township. My last show in the year.
- 0:15Speaker 1: We rabbits some fun today. People are texting in their
- 0:17Speaker 1: favorite guests, their favorite segments, and of course many people's
- 0:21Speaker 1: favorite segment as somebody texted in a little bit earlier,
- 0:26Speaker 1: an industry staple Football at Four. Another person also gave
- 0:31Speaker 1: praise to Andrew to Checko during draft season about all
- 0:35Speaker 1: his insight and analysis and he joins us right now
- 0:39Speaker 1: for today's Football at four. Andrew, welcome back, man, how
- 0:43Speaker 1: you been.
- 0:44Speaker 2: What's up? Mike doing well? And I appreciate the praise
- 0:47Speaker 2: from the listeners. It's always fun whenever I'm able to
- 0:50Speaker 2: join you on the airways.
- 0:51Speaker 1: Yeah, man, today we're kind of my last show of
- 0:54Speaker 1: the year. I'm off till the end of the year.
- 0:56Speaker 1: And just had people texting their favorite guests, their favorite segment,
- 0:59Speaker 1: you know, or least favorite guest or least favorite segments.
- 1:02Speaker 1: And the Football at four has been a big thing,
- 1:05Speaker 1: and obviously it started with John McMullen, and then when
- 1:08Speaker 1: John moved on, we switched over and did the inside
- 1:11Speaker 1: the Bird's crew. And you were just a young buck
- 1:13Speaker 1: back then, man, and now you have come a long, long,
- 1:16Speaker 1: long way in your coverage of this team, which is
- 1:18Speaker 1: now second to none. And a lot of people look forward,
- 1:21Speaker 1: but somebody does. You know, it's great to hear, you know,
- 1:24Speaker 1: pointing like Andrew specifically during draft time. They like to
- 1:27Speaker 1: hear that kind of stuff, and that's kind of like,
- 1:29Speaker 1: we're one of your favorite things at that time of
- 1:31Speaker 1: the year, looking at the draft and uncovering those those
- 1:34Speaker 1: guys the Shrine game. That kind of stuff is kind
- 1:36Speaker 1: of where you were originally, Like was one of your
- 1:39Speaker 1: favorite things to do?
- 1:41Speaker 2: Yeah, that was my bread and butter. Now you know,
- 1:43Speaker 2: I really enjoyed the week to week grind of an
- 1:46Speaker 2: NFL season. Training camps probably my favorite thing to cover
- 1:50Speaker 2: in totality, So I like to cover it all. Man.
- 1:54Speaker 2: You know, draft season will be here before we know it.
- 1:56Speaker 1: It will be. But this team's not thinking Draft Andrew.
- 1:58Speaker 1: They're thinking about winning the division. And I don't know,
- 2:01Speaker 1: let's get your takeaway from their win over Oak over
- 2:05Speaker 1: Vegas and kind of like extrapolate a little bit on
- 2:09Speaker 1: what you saw from that game. And you know the
- 2:12Speaker 1: take up, well it was only Vegas. Do you look
- 2:14Speaker 1: at it as a bigger than it was only Vegas?
- 2:19Speaker 2: Well, you have to keep everything in perspective. They're an
- 2:22Speaker 2: NFL team, they entered with two, you know, two wins
- 2:25Speaker 2: on the season. But I think you have to look
- 2:27Speaker 2: at what the Eagles were able to do. You'd feel
- 2:29Speaker 2: a lot differently, I imagine. And the Eagles won that
- 2:32Speaker 2: game twenty three to twenty. They did what they were
- 2:34Speaker 2: supposed to do. They weren't you know, complacent or anything
- 2:39Speaker 2: like that after the game, whether it's Jordan Davis saying
- 2:42Speaker 2: we did what we were supposed to do or Cooper
- 2:44Speaker 2: Dejean saying that's how that game should have looked. They
- 2:48Speaker 2: know what kind of talent that they have and they
- 2:49Speaker 2: can see that the units coming together, and that's what
- 2:52Speaker 2: you want to see. You want to see a team
- 2:53Speaker 2: like the Philadelphia Eagles, hoor are viewed rightfully so among
- 2:57Speaker 2: the NFL as elite and put away a team like
- 2:59Speaker 2: that and don't even make it close. And that's what
- 3:01Speaker 2: they did. And so I think you have to look
- 3:03Speaker 2: at that as a positive for sure.
- 3:06Speaker 1: Of the things they did offensively, obviously, that's been the
- 3:08Speaker 1: big bugaboo for this team, and everybody keeps kind of
- 3:10Speaker 1: breaking down what they do, what they don't do, what
- 3:12Speaker 1: they've done, what they are doing. What are some of
- 3:15Speaker 1: the things you like that they can build on these
- 3:18Speaker 1: last three weeks.
- 3:20Speaker 2: Well, offensively, I like it they've gone under center quite
- 3:23Speaker 2: a bit thirty thirty snaps. I believe under center against
- 3:26Speaker 2: the Raiders, and I don't think there is any mistake,
- 3:28Speaker 2: whether it was the Vikings game or the Giants game
- 3:32Speaker 2: before the bye week, those three games when they were
- 3:35Speaker 2: under center, they probably put together their best offensive performances
- 3:39Speaker 2: of the year, and under center leased to so many
- 3:42Speaker 2: other things, and it gives you a lot more variety
- 3:46Speaker 2: in terms of what you're able to do off the menu,
- 3:49Speaker 2: if you will. And so I think you see what
- 3:51Speaker 2: this offense can sort of do. It looks like they're
- 3:54Speaker 2: turning the corner a little bit. And they thought they
- 3:56Speaker 2: did some good things against the Chargers as well. They
- 4:00Speaker 2: built off that in the Raiders game, and I certainly
- 4:03Speaker 2: think two games against the Commanders to you know, down
- 4:06Speaker 2: the stretch here gives them more opportunity to work through
- 4:10Speaker 2: some of those things and fine tune it so that
- 4:13Speaker 2: when you get to the postseason, you're able to really
- 4:16Speaker 2: hit the gas. And I think when you look at
- 4:19Speaker 2: what they were able to do in the intermediary levels
- 4:21Speaker 2: of the field with Dallas Goddard, Jalen Hurts fitting the
- 4:24Speaker 2: ball in the tight windows, not being as reluctant to
- 4:27Speaker 2: do so throwing you know, inside the numbers at those
- 4:30Speaker 2: are all positives and something that I think that they
- 4:32Speaker 2: can build off of. Now. He run the football very
- 4:35Speaker 2: effectively against the Raiders as well, and I think, ultimately, yeah,
- 4:39Speaker 2: you want to be careful with that because Jalen Hurts
- 4:42Speaker 2: has suffered, you know, injuries the past couple of Decembers,
- 4:45Speaker 2: and he's vital to what the Eagles do and ultimately
- 4:48Speaker 2: where they want to go. You got to have a
- 4:50Speaker 2: healthy Jalen Hurts to get there. But I think that
- 4:53Speaker 2: that's another key to unlocking another element of this offense
- 4:56Speaker 2: and certainly helping springboard the running game.
- 5:00Speaker 1: If you watch the Hard Knocks the last couple of weeks,
- 5:02Speaker 1: really you've seen him in Saquon talking about the run
- 5:05Speaker 1: game and we're getting close, We're getting there, and they
- 5:07Speaker 1: seemed to indicate that they've made some changes and they
- 5:09Speaker 1: seem like that's being implemented. Are you getting a better
- 5:14Speaker 1: feel that this run game is about to take off
- 5:16Speaker 1: or is this still a byproduct of their offensive line
- 5:18Speaker 1: having issues?
- 5:21Speaker 2: Well, to me, it looks like the offensive line's getting
- 5:24Speaker 2: healthier and that's certainly going to be even more so
- 5:27Speaker 2: when Lane Johnson returns to the fold. But I think
- 5:31Speaker 2: that they are really close. And Jordan Milatta has said
- 5:34Speaker 2: this all season long that they're a hair off. They're
- 5:36Speaker 2: really close. And I know that for fans listening that
- 5:40Speaker 2: may sound like lip service, but if you go back
- 5:42Speaker 2: and watch the film, there are a lot of instances
- 5:45Speaker 2: this season where they are really close to hitting a
- 5:47Speaker 2: home run. And I just get the sense that in
- 5:50Speaker 2: the postseason there's going to be that signature Saquon Barkley game,
- 5:54Speaker 2: that vintage Saquon Barkley game, if you will, where he's
- 5:59Speaker 2: going to remind everybody that, yeah, you know, I'm the
- 6:01Speaker 2: same guy, and things that are now starting to click.
- 6:03Speaker 2: But I think to a larger point here, this Eagles
- 6:07Speaker 2: team has never once waivered, and I if you're someone
- 6:11Speaker 2: who you know takes vibes into consideration. I can tell
- 6:14Speaker 2: you that the vibes feel a lot different at this
- 6:17Speaker 2: point compared to maybe where they were during the losing
- 6:20Speaker 2: stretch there or even earlier in the season. It just
- 6:22Speaker 2: feels like they believe and they know what they have
- 6:26Speaker 2: as a team, and now it's about going out there
- 6:28Speaker 2: and proving it and being more consistent week in and
- 6:30Speaker 2: week out.
- 6:31Speaker 1: Yeah. And then of course you had Jalen last week
- 6:34Speaker 1: had good game twelve or fifteenth through the ball. Well,
- 6:37Speaker 1: what are you seeing in the passing game opening up here?
- 6:39Speaker 1: The last really two weeks. He didn't have as much
- 6:41Speaker 1: success the week before, but it seems that there was
- 6:44Speaker 1: some meat on the bone that week.
- 6:46Speaker 2: Yeah, even against the Chargers. I was intrigued with the
- 6:49Speaker 2: advanced route concepts. And when your offense is struggling, you
- 6:53Speaker 2: have to go back to the drawing board. There's always
- 6:55Speaker 2: so many different cars that you can play, right, You're
- 6:58Speaker 2: not going to swap out personnel. And when you get
- 7:01Speaker 2: later in the season, you have to sometimes start to
- 7:05Speaker 2: learn to get comfortable being uncomfortable and trying some different things.
- 7:09Speaker 2: And I'm noticing for Jalen the play action has really,
- 7:14Speaker 2: i think has been added some good flavor to the offense,
- 7:17Speaker 2: and it's been something that I think is some you
- 7:20Speaker 2: should be encouraged with that. And the Jalen Hurts running
- 7:24Speaker 2: the football, being able to utilize the middle of the field,
- 7:27Speaker 2: which I believe will ultimately open up things down the
- 7:31Speaker 2: field for the Eagles and give them a much more
- 7:34Speaker 2: varied passing attack. So I think there's a lot of
- 7:37Speaker 2: positives to take away. Even in that Chargers game where
- 7:40Speaker 2: there are five total turnovers, but it's looking more like
- 7:44Speaker 2: the offense that I sort of envisioned going into the season.
- 7:47Speaker 1: Yeah, and obviously their offense last year was up and
- 7:50Speaker 1: down and all around, but Andrew, it was their defense
- 7:52Speaker 1: that really led them through those first early rounds of
- 7:55Speaker 1: the playoffs. Yeah, they had some big offensive explosions, but
- 7:58Speaker 1: really even in those games, defense led them. Where do
- 8:01Speaker 1: you put this defense next to that one from last year.
- 8:06Speaker 2: I mean, I view it as pretty close because this
- 8:09Speaker 2: pass rush without Jalen Carter by the way, and yes,
- 8:12Speaker 2: you can look at the Raiders offensive line, you can
- 8:14Speaker 2: look at the Chargers offensive line, but they generate pressure.
- 8:18Speaker 2: They they force quarterbacks off their spot, They make them uncomfortable,
- 8:21Speaker 2: and that's something that travels in the postseason. So I
- 8:25Speaker 2: look at this defense, is it as good as last season?
- 8:28Speaker 2: Probably not. That's a tough that's a tall order, but
- 8:32Speaker 2: they are pretty darn close. And I think that they're
- 8:34Speaker 2: starting to really gel and come together. And that all
- 8:37Speaker 2: starts from, in my estimation, the messaging from Nakobe Dean,
- 8:42Speaker 2: his mentality, his perspective of how he views and wants
- 8:45Speaker 2: the defense to look, and he's just a tone center.
- 8:49Speaker 2: And you couple that with Zach bad who's having a
- 8:51Speaker 2: better season stats wise than he did last year. When
- 8:55Speaker 2: he had when he was an All Pro. He could
- 8:56Speaker 2: look at the force fumbles and say, okay, well he
- 8:59Speaker 2: forced more fun last season. That's fine. But I think
- 9:02Speaker 2: the back end, Dori Jackson has settled in nicely as
- 9:05Speaker 2: the number two corner, and that's going to be even
- 9:08Speaker 2: more so when you're able to pressure the quarterback and
- 9:12Speaker 2: take a little bit of pressure off the back end.
- 9:14Speaker 2: Cooper Dejen spoke a lot about that after the game Sunday,
- 9:17Speaker 2: And I think the defensive line with Brandon Graham sliding
- 9:21Speaker 2: in there, and you know from the interior, but Moro
- 9:24Speaker 2: Jomo Jordan Davis is having a hell of the season.
- 9:27Speaker 2: And I think what you're seeing is all levels of
- 9:29Speaker 2: that unit gel and come together. They flow the football
- 9:32Speaker 2: with urgency, and this is an elite it's it's growing
- 9:36Speaker 2: into an elite defense. Maybe not quite there yet if
- 9:39Speaker 2: you're looking at it from a stats perspective, but I mean,
- 9:42Speaker 2: this is something that I believe will travel and take
- 9:45Speaker 2: and help take the Eagles far well.
- 9:47Speaker 1: And you wonder, you know, how many teams would have
- 9:50Speaker 1: a guy like jo Hot Campbell just standing on the
- 9:51Speaker 1: sideline not really contributing. That kind of shows you the
- 9:54Speaker 1: talent level of this team, because he played really well
- 9:57Speaker 1: early in the year and you're almost like, man, they
- 9:59Speaker 1: can't find.
- 9:59Speaker 2: A for him.
- 10:00Speaker 1: But I guess he's kind of a square peg in
- 10:02Speaker 1: a round hole at this point.
- 10:04Speaker 2: Yeah, And I said it then and I didn't think
- 10:06Speaker 2: it was hyperbole then. I certainly don't now. But the
- 10:09Speaker 2: Eagles have an embarrassment of riches at linebacker. And it's
- 10:12Speaker 2: further evidence that you can't get your first round pick
- 10:15Speaker 2: on the field who's played well, by the way, when
- 10:17Speaker 2: his number has been called when he was starting earlier
- 10:19Speaker 2: in the season. But as I go back to Vic
- 10:22Speaker 2: Fangio doesn't traditionally rotate linebackers, and when the Kobe Dean's
- 10:26Speaker 2: playing as well as he is, and Vic Fangio said
- 10:28Speaker 2: as much, it's hard to take him off the field.
- 10:31Speaker 2: And so I mean, Johatt Campbell is sort of a
- 10:35Speaker 2: luxury to have right now. But he also compliments I
- 10:37Speaker 2: think ideally what they have in n Kobe Dean and
- 10:40Speaker 2: Zach Bond because he has a different type of frame.
- 10:43Speaker 2: He covers a lot of ground sideline of sideline, and
- 10:46Speaker 2: he's a longer player, so I think that in coverage
- 10:49Speaker 2: he can get his hand up there, his arm up
- 10:51Speaker 2: there and sort of affect throwing windows and things like that.
- 10:54Speaker 2: And yeah, I mean you would like to see them
- 10:57Speaker 2: work you know, work in, work him in a little
- 10:59Speaker 2: bit more into the defensive plans. I think that there
- 11:02Speaker 2: should be twelve to fifteen snaps to find a way
- 11:05Speaker 2: to get your first round pick on the field. But
- 11:07Speaker 2: Zach Bond and to Kobe Deane are playing so well
- 11:09Speaker 2: right now that it's sort of something that's becoming afterthim.
- 11:13Speaker 1: We're talking with Andrew Jeco Football for a couple more Washington.
- 11:17Speaker 1: They played them in the NFC Championship game, you know
- 11:20Speaker 1: last year. Obviously that's not gone the way Washington won it.
- 11:24Speaker 1: They've had a lot of injuries. It seems that they're
- 11:27Speaker 1: doing They did win last week, by the way, after
- 11:29Speaker 1: losing eight straight games. Do you look at this as
- 11:31Speaker 1: a tricky kind of a sneaky trappye type of game
- 11:34Speaker 1: or is this the game that the Eagles should continue
- 11:36Speaker 1: to roll in.
- 11:39Speaker 2: I think maybe early in this game it could be
- 11:41Speaker 2: a little tricky, just with the quarterback run a running
- 11:43Speaker 2: game with Marcus Mariota. When you look at where the
- 11:47Speaker 2: defense has had some hiccups, it's been when quarterbacks are
- 11:51Speaker 2: mobile and they're able to pick up yards with their legs.
- 11:54Speaker 2: I look at Jackson Dart in that first Giants game,
- 11:57Speaker 2: I look at Patrick Mahomes back in Week two, and
- 12:00Speaker 2: then certainly justin Herbert late in that game, the Chargers
- 12:03Speaker 2: couldn't do anything. They were sort of stuck in the mud,
- 12:08Speaker 2: and it was justin Herbert and his legs that were
- 12:10Speaker 2: able to kind of propel them to a win when
- 12:13Speaker 2: they probably had no business winning. So I think this
- 12:16Speaker 2: game with Marcus Mariota is going to be a really
- 12:17Speaker 2: good test. They get to see him twice down in
- 12:20Speaker 2: the last three games. In terms of just being disciplined
- 12:23Speaker 2: and preparing for that, and there's not a lot of
- 12:26Speaker 2: NFC quarterbacks that pose that kind of threat. Maybe Caleb Williams,
- 12:29Speaker 2: but I don't know that the Commanders have enough Jews
- 12:33Speaker 2: there to really threaten the Eagles. I like the receiving
- 12:35Speaker 2: core with Deebo Samuel Jalen Lane out of Virginia, tex
- 12:38Speaker 2: a player who I like coming out. To have Terry McLaurin.
- 12:41Speaker 2: Zach Ertz though, is a huge loss for them. That
- 12:44Speaker 2: was a security blanket and he was playing at a
- 12:46Speaker 2: very high level. So now they have John bats who,
- 12:48Speaker 2: by the way, is one of the best blocking tight
- 12:50Speaker 2: ends in the NFL. And Ben Sinnett, who's going to
- 12:52Speaker 2: probably fulfill that zach Ertz role. He's a second year
- 12:56Speaker 2: player out of Kansas State. And their running game is
- 12:59Speaker 2: sort of nondescript. They have Chris Rodriguez's more of a bruiser,
- 13:03Speaker 2: and then they have a Krossky Merit Bill Krosky Merritt,
- 13:06Speaker 2: who is more of a finess type of player. But
- 13:08Speaker 2: I just don't know if they have enough there to
- 13:09Speaker 2: be able to threaten the Eagles in any meaningful way.
- 13:13Speaker 1: Well we'll see it all unfold this Saturday right here
- 13:16Speaker 1: on ninety seven three ESPN. It is a five o'clock
- 13:19Speaker 1: Saturday tipped kickoff time, and of course a little odd there.
- 13:23Speaker 1: I feel like the Eagles play Washington on a Saturday,
- 13:25Speaker 1: like all the time, it never seems to go well.
- 13:28Speaker 1: I hate Saturday football. I routs rather the games beyond Sunday.
- 13:32Speaker 1: And you know I talked about this Colin Thompson, you know,
- 13:35Speaker 1: used to join our show who played in the league.
- 13:37Speaker 1: He used to talk about, don't discount these guys getting
- 13:41Speaker 1: out of their routines and like playing on a Monday
- 13:43Speaker 1: night and a Friday and a Sunday night. And you know,
- 13:45Speaker 1: these they got a one o'clock game on a Sunday
- 13:48Speaker 1: last week, and I had said last week, I said,
- 13:50Speaker 1: don't discount playing Sunday at one and then feeling a
- 13:53Speaker 1: lot more secure and they win thirty one nothing. And
- 13:55Speaker 1: then it's funny. There's the scene where Nick says, hey,
- 13:59Speaker 1: we have a game Saturday. They're like, we have another
- 14:01Speaker 1: short week, Like we play Saturday again. Like getting into
- 14:04Speaker 1: those routines is a big deal.
- 14:06Speaker 2: Yeah, it is, especially when you're a creature of habit
- 14:09Speaker 2: and it affects things like treatment and certain things, whether
- 14:13Speaker 2: it's a massage and little things like that that are
- 14:16Speaker 2: part of your daily routine that sort of gets disruptive
- 14:19Speaker 2: and when you have a short schedule. But Nick Sirianni
- 14:22Speaker 2: pretty much said that's that's the price you pay when
- 14:24Speaker 2: you win a lot of football games, is that you
- 14:27Speaker 2: know there's a you're in a lot of these primetime spots.
- 14:30Speaker 2: And so I agree with Colin. There's there's a lot
- 14:33Speaker 2: that goes into it that I think probably isn't taken
- 14:36Speaker 2: into account from the outside, but it definitely does sort
- 14:40Speaker 2: of uproot, if you will, that your your your daily routine,
- 14:44Speaker 2: and I think that it's perfectly encapsulated when you hear
- 14:48Speaker 2: Nick Sirianni say that in the postgame locker room, and
- 14:50Speaker 2: you hear, what because you're just so accustomed to playing
- 14:55Speaker 2: on you know, Sunday, Monday, or even Thursday, that to
- 14:59Speaker 2: play on a Saturday, I think is a little hot.
- 15:01Speaker 2: And that sort of leads to I guess, you know,
- 15:04Speaker 2: it leads to some of those flukey type of games
- 15:06Speaker 2: that the Eagles have had out there and Landover. But
- 15:09Speaker 2: I just I think it really comes down to this, Mike,
- 15:11Speaker 2: the Eagles are a much better team than the Commanders,
- 15:14Speaker 2: and they're starting to play better football. Three penalties last
- 15:17Speaker 2: week compared to what they've been doing. If they just
- 15:21Speaker 2: play their brand of football, don't hurt themselves, and continue
- 15:24Speaker 2: to build off of what they've done over the past
- 15:26Speaker 2: couple of weeks. From an offensive standpoint and a defensive standpoint,
- 15:29Speaker 2: I think they're going to be just fine.
- 15:31Speaker 1: All right. You can listen to the game right here
- 15:32Speaker 1: on ninety seven three ESPN. That is Football at four
- 15:36Speaker 1: and that's Andrew de Checo. Well, enjoy the holiday man,
- 15:39Speaker 1: Happy New Year, and we'll catch up soon.
- 15:42Speaker 2: Yeah, happy holidays, Happy New Year, and yes we will
- 15:45Speaker 2: chat soon. Mike. Take care