Latest / Inside the Birds: A Philadelphia Eagles Podcast / Football at Four: One Final Update Before Cowboys vs. Eagles
Transcript
- 0:00Speaker 1: Football at Four is powered by the Inside the Birds podcast,
- 0:03Speaker 1: and it is brought to you by the Fanatic Sportsbook
- 0:06Speaker 1: at Ocean Casino Resort in Atlantic City. That's where we
- 0:09Speaker 1: are today. And the Eagles tonight trying to save their season,
- 0:13Speaker 1: at least for another week here, as they take on
- 0:15Speaker 1: the Dallas Cowboys, breaking it all down, and how big
- 0:18Speaker 1: tonight's game is for the rest of the season. Jeff
- 0:22Speaker 1: Mosher from the Inside the Birds podcast, which you can
- 0:24Speaker 1: get on all podcasting platforms, joins me right now. Eagles-Cowboys
- 0:29Speaker 1: on Monday Night Football. I think it was your colleague,
- 0:32Speaker 1: Jimmy Kemski, over at phillyvoice.com that said he's had more
- 0:37Speaker 1: buzz for a week 18, you know, saving the starters
- 0:42Speaker 1: game than this game here. Is he right? Does this
- 0:45Speaker 1: game feel like it's flat or does it feel like, hey,
- 0:48Speaker 1: win this game and save the season?
- 0:51Speaker 2: I mean, it certainly doesn't have the same kind of
- 0:54Speaker 2: juice that Cowboys-Eagles typically has. And that's because, you know,
- 0:59Speaker 2: both teams are looking pretty bad right now.
- 1:02Speaker 3: So Jimmy was absolutely correct about that.
- 1:05Speaker 2: I do think some of those like season week 18
- 1:08Speaker 2: games have had some. excitement in the past because like
- 1:12Speaker 2: two years ago, I was like, Oh, Tanner McKee is
- 1:14Speaker 2: going to make his first start. Let's see what the
- 1:15Speaker 2: kids got in his first start. And then he, you know,
- 1:18Speaker 2: throws a touchdown to an IS Smith. That's a name
- 1:20Speaker 2: from the past already.
- 1:23Speaker 3: But yeah. So there were some juice to these games.
- 1:25Speaker 3: I don't know that.
- 1:27Speaker 2: And I'm, you know, you'd have to ask fans like that.
- 1:29Speaker 2: That's all about, you know, what your interactions are like.
- 1:32Speaker 2: I have no idea how the general public feels emotionally
- 1:36Speaker 2: about this game in terms of, am I back on
- 1:39Speaker 2: if they win or is it a sunken cost season
- 1:42Speaker 2: or regardless?
- 1:43Speaker 3: That's a great question.
- 1:45Speaker 1: Well, it's funny because, uh, years ago you and I
- 1:48Speaker 1: famously debated, you know, they had lost a game to
- 1:50Speaker 1: the Miami dolphins. That dolphins team was tanking for Tua.
- 1:54Speaker 1: And at that point, everyone was like, they're done. Can't
- 1:57Speaker 1: believe on them. And I was the one who was like,
- 1:59Speaker 1: I don't care that they lost to Dallas. And one
- 2:01Speaker 1: of my reasoning was is Every week is different, but
- 2:05Speaker 1: I saw them that year beat a team. I think
- 2:07Speaker 1: they went on the road and beat the Packers that
- 2:10Speaker 1: year on a Thursday night or something. I know at
- 2:12Speaker 1: your best you can beat a team that's a playoff team,
- 2:16Speaker 1: and at your worst you look like that. This team
- 2:19Speaker 1: at their best, I don't know that I believe in
- 2:22Speaker 1: them at all. That's the one issue that I'm having
- 2:24Speaker 1: with where this team is right now. They have given
- 2:26Speaker 1: me no indication that they can raise their level at
- 2:30Speaker 1: any point to beat a good team because the two
- 2:33Speaker 1: wins they have were struggles against, let's be honest, not
- 2:36Speaker 1: very good teams.
- 2:38Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, very, very fair, very fair.
- 2:41Speaker 2: I think it's hard to say what the Eagles' best
- 2:43Speaker 2: is because, A, we haven't seen it yet. A lot
- 2:47Speaker 2: of reasons because injuries, that's not all, but that's a
- 2:49Speaker 2: big part of it. Injuries have not allowed us to
- 2:52Speaker 2: see what they are at their best yet. Now, tonight's
- 2:55Speaker 2: going to be interesting, Mike, because we at least have
- 2:57Speaker 2: an opportunity, right, to say, all right, Landon Dickerson, he
- 3:01Speaker 2: just got activated.
- 3:01Speaker 3: That's great. He's going to be out there at left guard.
- 3:04Speaker 2: That means and we'll see about Drew Kendall if he's
- 3:07Speaker 2: able to play center. You know, the injury report made
- 3:10Speaker 2: it seem like it's there's a good chance of that. So,
- 3:14Speaker 2: I mean, you don't have Cam Juergens and you don't
- 3:16Speaker 2: have Lane Johnson, so it's still not the offensive line
- 3:18Speaker 2: you came into the year with, but it is your
- 3:20Speaker 2: healthiest and biggest offensive line. And you got Grant Calcaterra active.
- 3:26Speaker 2: Eli Stowers active. Munt has been fine.
- 3:28Speaker 3: Goddard is... going to try to play through it, so
- 3:32Speaker 3: that's good. You have four tight ends, right, that you
- 3:35Speaker 3: can use.
- 3:35Speaker 2: You should be able to run the ball if you're
- 3:38Speaker 2: at your, at.
- 3:39Speaker 3: Least it's a litmus test. If you can really run
- 3:42Speaker 3: the ball again.
- 3:42Speaker 2: Then tonight should be, especially against a bad Dallas defense, right,
- 3:47Speaker 2: then tonight should be at least an indication that you
- 3:50Speaker 2: can get closer to that.
- 3:51Speaker 3: If it's not, right, win or lose.
- 3:54Speaker 2: If you can't run the ball, then you're probably going
- 3:56Speaker 2: to say forget it for the rest of the year.
- 3:58Speaker 1: Well, one guy that will help the run game, Saquon Barkley,
- 4:01Speaker 1: he said that he's going to at least try to
- 4:02Speaker 1: give it a go tonight. We'll see what that actually means. Jeff,
- 4:06Speaker 1: how much is just getting Barkley back actually help the
- 4:08Speaker 1: run game as opposed to does it matter who's running
- 4:11Speaker 1: the ball with this offensive line?
- 4:15Speaker 3: How much is getting Barkley back help the offensive line?
- 4:18Speaker 1: No. How much is getting Barkley back actually help the
- 4:22Speaker 1: run game as opposed to does it matter the offensive
- 4:26Speaker 1: line is still what it is?
- 4:27Speaker 3: Well, I really like, I think we all like Saquon
- 4:30Speaker 3: Barkley a lot.
- 4:31Speaker 2: We know he's a fantastic home run hitter of a
- 4:33Speaker 2: running back. And he's very unique to have that sort
- 4:36Speaker 2: of second level explosion at his size.
- 4:39Speaker 1: Right.
- 4:39Speaker 2: I mean, you know, like just like Derek Henry is
- 4:42Speaker 2: a little bit of a unicorn for his size, but
- 4:44Speaker 2: Saquon even more because he's just so unbelievably dynamic. But
- 4:49Speaker 2: the thing about Saquon is he is not the guy
- 4:51Speaker 2: that gets skinny through the holes. You know, that's never been,
- 4:54Speaker 2: he's not downhill one step skinny through the hole. kind
- 4:58Speaker 2: of running back, like say the way Bajon Robinson might
- 5:00Speaker 2: be or Jameer Gibbs, even McCaffrey. So I think that
- 5:05Speaker 2: the bigger development needs to be that Landon Dickerson and
- 5:09Speaker 2: Drew Kendall are your starters and not Jake Majors and
- 5:12Speaker 2: Willie Lampkin because I believe this Eagles offensive line needs
- 5:16Speaker 2: to be able to create those holes for Barkley, for
- 5:19Speaker 2: Barkley to flourish again. So it's great to have Barkley
- 5:21Speaker 2: back because Damian Pierce has just no explosion whatsoever to him.
- 5:25Speaker 3: That's just not who he is.
- 5:27Speaker 2: But if this offensive line isn't better and markedly better,
- 5:31Speaker 2: I don't know that you're going to see the best
- 5:32Speaker 2: of Saquon.
- 5:34Speaker 1: Jeff, no Devontae Smith. I guess big picture is that worrisome,
- 5:38Speaker 1: number one. And number two, no Wicks, I think, too.
- 5:42Speaker 1: You're looking like Darius Cooper, Makai Lemon. Maybe they try
- 5:46Speaker 1: to get Hollywood Brown rolling this week. Who knows? But
- 5:50Speaker 1: are you concerned at all about Smith in the big
- 5:52Speaker 1: picture here?
- 5:53Speaker 3: Oh, for sure. I mean, because this is a hamstring
- 5:56Speaker 3: injury that goes.
- 5:57Speaker 2: Back quite a bit now. You know, Adam and I
- 5:59Speaker 2: on Inside the Bird have been talking. This is like
- 6:01Speaker 2: a 10-week injury at this point. I mean, going back
- 6:04Speaker 2: to the start of training camp and even last year
- 6:07Speaker 2: in training camp, he had some hamstring issues.
- 6:09Speaker 3: And he's, you know, not the biggest.
- 6:11Speaker 2: The biggest question that we had about Devontae Smith this
- 6:15Speaker 2: year with no A.J.
- 6:16Speaker 3: Brown is, it wasn't talent at all. You can make
- 6:20Speaker 3: an argument he was a better receiver last year than A.J.
- 6:23Speaker 2: Brown was, but could he handle a Jackson, Smith, and
- 6:27Speaker 2: Jigba-like diet of targets and stay healthy because he's a
- 6:31Speaker 2: slighter frame?
- 6:32Speaker 3: And so far, he hasn't. And, you know, they've been
- 6:35Speaker 3: worried about his knees in the past and just coming
- 6:37Speaker 3: out of college.
- 6:38Speaker 2: And, you know, he does have to move inside and
- 6:40Speaker 2: play the slot occasionally, which can be a lot of traffic,
- 6:43Speaker 2: especially if you're running the ball. They don't like running
- 6:45Speaker 2: the ball with him in the slot for obvious reasons. So,
- 6:49Speaker 2: I mean, so far... The talent's there, but the ability
- 6:52Speaker 2: to endure.
- 6:53Speaker 3: And hold up has not been. So, yeah, I am
- 6:56Speaker 3: concerned about that.
- 6:57Speaker 1: And I think people are wondering whether or not he
- 7:01Speaker 1: could take the volume as a number one receiver. I
- 7:04Speaker 1: think he has the number one talent. It's whether he
- 7:06Speaker 1: can take the volume and hold up as a number
- 7:10Speaker 1: one receiver. So the pass game tonight gets a lot
- 7:13Speaker 1: more difficult with him not there. We'll see if Hollywood
- 7:15Speaker 1: Brown is a part of it. Do you think using
- 7:18Speaker 1: him would help McKee out at all?
- 7:20Speaker 3: A hundred percent.
- 7:21Speaker 2: I mean, I don't see how at this point, Mike,
- 7:24Speaker 2: when you're down your top two receivers and then your
- 7:27Speaker 2: number three and number four are a rookie in Makai
- 7:30Speaker 2: Lemon and an undrafted rookie, who is a nice story.
- 7:34Speaker 2: And I want to find out more about no question.
- 7:37Speaker 2: Hollywood Brown could, a veteran could help you help your quarterback,
- 7:40Speaker 2: help your offense. But I really do think Mike, this
- 7:44Speaker 2: needs to be an education about Darius Cooper more than anything,
- 7:49Speaker 2: because he, Every time the kid's on the field, and targeted.
- 7:53Speaker 3: He does good things. And I think we need to
- 7:56Speaker 3: figure out, and I.
- 7:57Speaker 2: Think the coaches need to understand, do we have like
- 8:00Speaker 2: a true outside type X, Z receiver? Especially could he
- 8:07Speaker 2: play the X, right? Because he's a big, strong guy. Like,
- 8:09Speaker 2: can this guy come in and be that guy? Because
- 8:12Speaker 2: if he can, then you got to get him out
- 8:15Speaker 2: there more. You got to draw plays for him more.
- 8:17Speaker 2: You know, Dontavion Wicks has been a good story. He's
- 8:18Speaker 2: obviously hurt tonight, but he's also been kind of a
- 8:21Speaker 2: two to three catch guy, not six seven eight catches
- 8:24Speaker 2: we want i want to find out if darius cooper
- 8:26Speaker 2: is more of what we think he might be.
- 8:29Speaker 1: I agree i like that breakdown jeff mosher from the
- 8:32Speaker 1: inside the birds podcast inside the birds.com eagles uh taking
- 8:35Speaker 1: on the cowboys tonight the winner really hangs around in
- 8:38Speaker 1: the division the losers really up against it uh the
- 8:41Speaker 1: eagles went two and five a couple of years ago
- 8:43Speaker 1: they won seven out of their last 10 they went
- 8:46Speaker 1: to the playoffs a two and five Eagles team, this bunch,
- 8:50Speaker 1: is there something that they are building towards or growing
- 8:53Speaker 1: to that they could rip off seven out of 10?
- 8:58Speaker 3: Boy, you'd have to squint to see it. If they
- 9:00Speaker 3: lose tonight, is there some, I mean, you would let me,
- 9:05Speaker 3: I mean, you can look at the schedule and say, Hey,
- 9:07Speaker 3: does it lighten up a little bit?
- 9:09Speaker 2: You know, they'll have to play the giants and the
- 9:11Speaker 2: commanders and other giants have played.
- 9:12Speaker 3: Well, you got to give them, got them credit.
- 9:14Speaker 2: Jason McCarthy made a few good throws against the, the
- 9:16Speaker 2: Texans yesterday.
- 9:17Speaker 3: But if you can't beat the Cowboys, right.
- 9:20Speaker 2: And not only that, like, they played the Panthers last
- 9:24Speaker 2: week and determined that they just would not be able
- 9:27Speaker 2: to run against the Panthers. So they had McKee like
- 9:29Speaker 2: throwing all these short, they threw 49 times, right?
- 9:31Speaker 3: That was the big thing. Like, Oh my God, how
- 9:33Speaker 3: can you do that with Tanner McKee?
- 9:35Speaker 2: And did you just see how badly the Panthers got
- 9:37Speaker 2: ransacked in the run game against the bucks? I've never
- 9:40Speaker 2: seen anything like it. The buck scored 41 points. Mayfield
- 9:43Speaker 2: had 64 passing yards. My eyes almost fell out of
- 9:46Speaker 2: my head. They ran for like 200 and something yards
- 9:49Speaker 2: against this Panthers defense that they the Eagles were scared.
- 9:52Speaker 3: To run the ball again.
- 9:54Speaker 2: So, I mean, I really don't know what to make of,
- 9:57Speaker 2: like you mentioned, even their two wins don't look so
- 9:59Speaker 2: good and their losses have been bad. Like, I don't
- 10:01Speaker 2: know if they lose to the Cowboys, who you would
- 10:04Speaker 2: feel confident about going forward, even if you saw some
- 10:07Speaker 2: good things against maybe, you know, against commanders, giants, then
- 10:11Speaker 2: by then Steelers, Cowboys, again, Cardinals, like Colts, Seahawks.
- 10:15Speaker 1: Yeah.
- 10:16Speaker 2: You can maybe beat the commanders and the Cardinals, but,
- 10:19Speaker 2: you know, where are the other wins?
- 10:21Speaker 1: Yeah, no, listen, and I think the really, I was
- 10:24Speaker 1: listening to Shady McCoy on a podcast. He was on
- 10:27Speaker 1: with Max Kellerman, and they were really debating Nick Sirianni
- 10:31Speaker 1: as the coach. And, you know, there's this group that just,
- 10:34Speaker 1: and by the way, Shil Kapadia was a part of that,
- 10:36Speaker 1: and he was kind of like the decider.
- 10:38Speaker 3: That's a Motley Crue right there, man.
- 10:40Speaker 1: Right, right, right. And it's like Shady was insisting that,
- 10:45Speaker 1: you know, guys in that locker room that he still
- 10:47Speaker 1: talks to They love playing for Nick and that he's
- 10:50Speaker 1: a great head coach. But that he's not looked at
- 10:54Speaker 1: as like a Harbaugh or a Tomlin, one of these
- 10:56Speaker 1: non-play callers who gets the benefit of the doubt, even
- 10:59Speaker 1: though his resume says he should get the benefit of
- 11:01Speaker 1: the doubt. So I say that in that I don't
- 11:06Speaker 1: know what the endgame of this season is. Do you
- 11:10Speaker 1: surmise that your head coach has only gotten you so
- 11:13Speaker 1: far and you move on from him? The quarterback thing...
- 11:17Speaker 1: But my question for you becomes, okay, they're bad. They're
- 11:22Speaker 1: not good. Where do they even begin to try to
- 11:26Speaker 1: fix things? If you have a top five pick in
- 11:28Speaker 1: the draft, you would almost say, I have to take
- 11:31Speaker 1: something to fix my offense. But I already have a
- 11:34Speaker 1: left tackle. Do I like this left tackle or am
- 11:38Speaker 1: I ready to move on? Because if you're drafted in
- 11:39Speaker 1: the top five and you're trying to fix your offensive line,
- 11:42Speaker 1: you're not drafted in interior linemen. So do you do
- 11:46Speaker 1: what you did a few years ago and take a
- 11:48Speaker 1: left tackle and play him at right tackle until the
- 11:50Speaker 1: left tackle's done? Do I go with another wide receiver?
- 11:55Speaker 1: Do I go with a running back? Probably not. Tight end? No.
- 12:00Speaker 1: Do I take a quarterback? So it's almost like if
- 12:03Speaker 1: I'm one of the five worst teams in the league
- 12:05Speaker 1: and I have a top-five pick, there's really not something
- 12:08Speaker 1: that helps me fix this offense. Oh.
- 12:13Speaker 3: Mm-hmm. That's tough to say. I mean, first of all,
- 12:17Speaker 3: we don't know how active they'll be in free agency.
- 12:19Speaker 3: A lot of people didn't realize.
- 12:20Speaker 2: You know, until it happened that Barkley was coming to
- 12:22Speaker 2: the Eagles and he transformed their running game.
- 12:25Speaker 3: You can absolutely take.
- 12:26Speaker 2: Remember, they're going to have multiple top 100 picks in
- 12:30Speaker 2: both this year's and next year's draft.
- 12:32Speaker 3: They have the A.J.
- 12:33Speaker 2: Brown trade, the Cam Juergens trade. So they can draft
- 12:36Speaker 2: interior linemen in the second round. They can draft the tackle,
- 12:39Speaker 2: like you said, start them off at right tackle. They
- 12:42Speaker 2: may like Markel Bell and think he's going to get stronger.
- 12:44Speaker 3: I mean, that's another thing.
- 12:45Speaker 1: You drafted a tackle in the third round last year.
- 12:47Speaker 1: Are you already willing to say he can't play? We
- 12:49Speaker 1: got to replace him.
- 12:51Speaker 2: Well, they'll have no issue with drafting a better player
- 12:53Speaker 2: and saying, you know, this guy will either learn to play.
- 12:57Speaker 3: Well, I don't know if he might be too tall
- 12:58Speaker 3: to play guard, but. He can be trade bait. He
- 13:00Speaker 3: can be a valuable backup.
- 13:03Speaker 1: I guess you're right. You could go through free. You
- 13:05Speaker 1: could do it. My point is, if people want to
- 13:07Speaker 1: write the season off for a draft choice, just being
- 13:10Speaker 1: in the top five, there is no clear cut thing
- 13:12Speaker 1: for this team that they say they need to get
- 13:15Speaker 1: the top five and they have to this.
- 13:18Speaker 3: Yeah. Yeah.
- 13:19Speaker 2: I mean, they could always trade down if they felt
- 13:21Speaker 2: like they were a better team than they're. draft slot
- 13:25Speaker 2: suggested and get extra picks. So there's a lot of
- 13:28Speaker 2: different scenarios there.
- 13:29Speaker 1: It just feels like the fruits of the labor of
- 13:32Speaker 1: having a season that doesn't go your way would not
- 13:36Speaker 1: be as impactful as it could be unless you thought
- 13:41Speaker 1: the quarterback situation needs to be addressed. And that's a
- 13:44Speaker 1: whole cloudy situation because of what's currently going on right here.
- 13:47Speaker 3: 100%.
- 13:48Speaker 1: And that's where I ask this question because McCoy– in
- 13:53Speaker 1: the conversation deems that Sirianni has actually done a good
- 13:57Speaker 1: job this year because of the injuries and how competitive
- 14:00Speaker 1: they've been against teams that are clearly more talented than them.
- 14:05Speaker 1: Is that a fair way to look at it, or
- 14:07Speaker 1: is that absurd?
- 14:09Speaker 3: No, I think that's absurd. I'll just use the 49ers
- 14:13Speaker 3: as an example.
- 14:14Speaker 2: They've lost, what, every single wide receiver that they had
- 14:17Speaker 2: going into the year, their top four or five.
- 14:19Speaker 3: I mean, no Debo, no what's his face? Pure salt,
- 14:23Speaker 3: no stripling. They're, they're high.
- 14:25Speaker 2: They're second, second round pick. Iuke hasn't gotten on the
- 14:28Speaker 2: field for them. They had Kittle coming back from an Achilles.
- 14:32Speaker 2: They lost their number two tight end Todd just already.
- 14:35Speaker 3: And they lost Bosa.
- 14:38Speaker 2: They lost an interior alignment for the year Collins, right?
- 14:42Speaker 2: Like if you go back and look at like, say
- 14:45Speaker 2: last year's teams that lost the most number of players
- 14:47Speaker 2: to injuries last I think the Niners are right up
- 14:50Speaker 2: there and they won. They beat the Eagles in playoffs
- 14:54Speaker 2: and were way high. So I'm not saying that there's
- 14:56Speaker 2: no excuse for how the Eagles have played. What I'm
- 14:59Speaker 2: saying is the best coach teams can overcome their best.
- 15:04Speaker 3: Their injuries, even when they're that many.
- 15:06Speaker 2: And the Eagles have been non-competitive, basically, for, well, yes,
- 15:10Speaker 2: they were up against the Rams.
- 15:12Speaker 3: I shouldn't say non-competitive.
- 15:13Speaker 1: They were up against both the Rams and Jacksonville.
- 15:15Speaker 3: And Jags. But, you know, they've really been outclassed quite
- 15:20Speaker 3: a bit in these games.
- 15:22Speaker 1: By the way, some news about 10 minutes ago. The
- 15:25Speaker 1: Eagles do plan to activate Eli Stowers and Grant Calcaterra
- 15:30Speaker 1: to play in the game tonight. What does that say
- 15:32Speaker 1: to you, Jeff, about them activating to those two particular players?
- 15:36Speaker 1: They do have Zach Ertz here. I guess he's not
- 15:38Speaker 1: going to be active tonight, but Eli Stowers, a second
- 15:42Speaker 1: round pick, Grant Calcaterra. It looks like they will be
- 15:44Speaker 1: active in play tonight. Yeah.
- 15:46Speaker 2: Interestingly, Ertz remains on the practice squad and they have elevations,
- 15:49Speaker 2: but he, I think he's out of his elevations, right?
- 15:51Speaker 2: Cause they elevated them three times. So they did not
- 15:54Speaker 2: sign him to the, the 53. They'll elevate Mitchell, Elijah
- 15:58Speaker 2: Mitchell and, um, James.
- 16:00Speaker 3: Newby, the edge.
- 16:01Speaker 2: So what it tells me, though, Mike, as I said earlier,
- 16:04Speaker 2: when you have Calcaterra, you have Stowers, and you have Goddard,
- 16:08Speaker 2: and you have Munt, you have four tight ends, and
- 16:11Speaker 2: you're hurting a wide receiver.
- 16:13Speaker 3: So this is an opportunity for.
- 16:15Speaker 2: Sean Manning to finally play the 12 personnel that he
- 16:18Speaker 2: wanted to play, two tight end packages, get the run
- 16:21Speaker 2: game going, because he's healthy as he's.
- 16:23Speaker 3: Been all year at tight end.
- 16:25Speaker 2: Now, where I would almost counter my own argument is
- 16:28Speaker 2: that That doesn't mean they should be able to run
- 16:30Speaker 2: the ball well because none of those guys can block
- 16:32Speaker 2: other than Goddard, and he's really not a great... And
- 16:35Speaker 2: Munt is a blocker. Goddard has fallen off. Munt, I
- 16:39Speaker 2: don't think he's been the best. I honestly think he's
- 16:42Speaker 2: come down a little bit, which makes sense. I mean,
- 16:44Speaker 2: the Jaguars released him. When they signed him in free agency,
- 16:47Speaker 2: it was because he was a free agent by release.
- 16:49Speaker 3: But they have not blocked on the edges well this year.
- 16:53Speaker 2: Now... We'll see if that changes a little bit. We'll
- 16:57Speaker 2: see if maybe some coaching or some better play calling
- 16:59Speaker 2: helps them. But it's clearly advantageous for them now to
- 17:04Speaker 2: be in two tight end packages, multiple pipe.
- 17:06Speaker 3: Tight end packages.
- 17:09Speaker 1: I would like the Eagles defense to win them a game.
- 17:14Speaker 1: Seattle last night. I'm 3-3. I'm at home. I need
- 17:17Speaker 1: this game. Their defense just said to Kansas City, you're
- 17:20Speaker 1: not coming into our building and winning this game. Can
- 17:22Speaker 1: this Eagles defense... do that against this opponent tonight.
- 17:27Speaker 2: Well this is that you've got no nolan smith now
- 17:31Speaker 2: jaylex hunt will probably be if he plays he'll probably
- 17:34Speaker 2: be on a pitch count has been beat up like
- 17:38Speaker 2: you're asking you have no epinesa has been beat up
- 17:41Speaker 2: i don't know who's going to be lining up at
- 17:42Speaker 2: edges for them uh they'll have to probably blitz quite
- 17:46Speaker 2: a bit but in terms of being healthier that's it
- 17:50Speaker 2: like they're Yes, they're without, what's his face, the safety, Carter.
- 17:55Speaker 3: So that changes around some of the things you're going
- 17:57Speaker 3: to do in nickel. But I agree with you. Otherwise,
- 17:59Speaker 3: there's really no excuse.
- 18:00Speaker 2: This is a bad Cowboys team that actually has not
- 18:04Speaker 2: been a good offense. I don't know if people realize this,
- 18:07Speaker 2: but the Cowboys have less rushing yards than the Eagles
- 18:10Speaker 2: this year.
- 18:10Speaker 3: Think about that. Think about that.
- 18:13Speaker 1: Well, I agree. They've struggled offensively, but they've scored 30
- 18:17Speaker 1: points three times this year. I don't know that the
- 18:20Speaker 1: Eagles will score 30 points in a game all season.
- 18:24Speaker 3: They may not.
- 18:24Speaker 2: You may have trouble piecing two games back-to-back together. But
- 18:30Speaker 2: this is a Cowboys team, Mike, that has no excuses.
- 18:34Speaker 2: They have a healthy O-line. You've got a healthy quarterback.
- 18:37Speaker 2: You've got your healthy receivers. Same running back, same receivers,
- 18:40Speaker 2: same from last year's team that averaged 30 points. They've
- 18:43Speaker 2: really struggled over the last three or four weeks. Those
- 18:46Speaker 2: games you're talking about came a little earlier in the season,
- 18:48Speaker 2: if I'm not mistaken. They've been disappointing for the last
- 18:52Speaker 2: three or four weeks.
- 18:52Speaker 3: And, again, for the year, they have less run. I
- 18:56Speaker 3: was almost.
- 18:57Speaker 2: Beside myself when I saw that. I didn't think there
- 18:59Speaker 2: was anybody who could have fewer rushing yards than the Eagles.
- 19:02Speaker 1: Isn't that a surprise, though? It's a surprise that their
- 19:05Speaker 1: offense has struggled. This was supposed to be, hey, you
- 19:09Speaker 1: brought back all 11 guys. Your offense should be pretty
- 19:12Speaker 1: consistent and pretty congruent, and it's the last two weeks.
- 19:16Speaker 1: You're like, what has happened to this offense? But it
- 19:18Speaker 1: feels like if this season is going the way that
- 19:22Speaker 1: it feels like it's going, the Cowboys come in there
- 19:24Speaker 1: and get their offense geared back up to the 30-point thing,
- 19:27Speaker 1: and it could be a long night at Lincoln Financial Field.
- 19:31Speaker 3: Well, that's the thing.
- 19:32Speaker 2: If the Cowboys get their groove back, it's because, like
- 19:35Speaker 2: you said, the defense didn't hold up its end of
- 19:38Speaker 2: the bargain, and that would be really disappointing from a
- 19:40Speaker 2: defense that's frankly been a little bit disappointing this year,
- 19:43Speaker 2: maybe more than a little.
- 19:44Speaker 1: And one of the reasons, Jeff, to be fair to
- 19:46Speaker 1: the defense, and I'm as tough on the defense as anybody.
- 19:49Speaker 1: they're on the field so much. They're just constantly in
- 19:53Speaker 1: bad situations or constantly on the field so much because
- 19:56Speaker 1: this offense is just so... I watched football yesterday without
- 20:00Speaker 1: the Eagles on. You're watching all these games. And all
- 20:02Speaker 1: you do is see guys open, catching the ball. Now,
- 20:05Speaker 1: they might not be with a lot of success, but catch, run,
- 20:09Speaker 1: it's like Look at this.
- 20:12Speaker 3: This is something.
- 20:13Speaker 2: Oh, I was watching Ravens-Bengals, and it's T. Higgins is
- 20:17Speaker 2: just making catches everywhere. Jamar Chase, Zay Flowers, even in
- 20:20Speaker 2: a losing effort, was like open and getting yards after
- 20:22Speaker 2: the catch. And I'm like, not only have we not
- 20:25Speaker 2: been able to see that from the Eagles this year,
- 20:27Speaker 2: but it feels like it's been forever.
- 20:30Speaker 3: Since you've seen like A.J. Brown, Devontae Smith have a
- 20:34Speaker 3: great game in one game, you know?
- 20:36Speaker 1: A simple catch the ball. A simple catch the ball.
- 20:39Speaker 1: and then run for some yards afterwards with, like, you know,
- 20:43Speaker 1: two to three yards of space around you where I
- 20:45Speaker 1: catch it in rhythm and I actually run in fluidity.
- 20:49Speaker 1: It's just unbelievable. It really is how we got here.
- 20:52Speaker 1: Jeff Mosher from the Inside the Birds podcast, InsideTheBirds.com. You
- 20:56Speaker 1: can get on all podcasting platforms. And tonight the Eagles
- 20:59Speaker 1: take on the Cowboys. And if they win, the Eagles,
- 21:02Speaker 1: the Giants, by the way, with that win yesterday, it
- 21:04Speaker 1: starts to feel like the Giants have now said, hey,
- 21:07Speaker 1: we do want to try to win this division. It's
- 21:09Speaker 1: the first NFC East win in a couple of weeks,
- 21:12Speaker 1: and we'll talk about it tomorrow on Football at Four
- 21:15Speaker 1: right here on the Sports Bash. All right, Jeff Mosher,
- 21:16Speaker 1: we'll talk to you Wednesday.
- 21:17Speaker 3: All right, Mike, take care.