Latest / Inside the Birds: A Philadelphia Eagles Podcast / Ask Greg Cosell on Patreon: Is Philadelphia Eagles Rookie S Andrew Mukuba Regressing?

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Ask Greg Cosell on Patreon: Is Philadelphia Eagles Rookie S Andrew Mukuba Regressing? · Inside the Birds: A Philadelphia Eagles Podcast

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Speaker 1: The following is a shortened version of our Ask Greg
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Speaker 1: Cosell live stream that we do every week during the
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Speaker 1: NFL season for our Patreon Tier three members. Each week,
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Speaker 1: our Tier three members get into a live chat room
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Speaker 1: with Greg Cosell and get to ask him their tape
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Speaker 1: breakdown questions directly and they get Greg's responses. It's one
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Speaker 2: One of a billion things that we need to be
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Speaker 2: talked about tonight, I'm just going to ask you one.
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Speaker 2: Our rookie mccouba uh had a lot of mistakes lately,
1:05
Speaker 2: namely that one that he bumped into somebody in the
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Speaker 2: secretary and then on top of that, missed the tackle
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Speaker 2: for one of the first touchdowns. Is he getting worse? Like,
1:17
Speaker 2: what's going on? Are you seeing him make it any play?
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Speaker 2: Because I haven't seen it probably since the KC game.
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Speaker 3: He had a bad game in this game, and you
1:28
Speaker 3: know when a guy's a rookie, those things do happen.
1:32
Speaker 3: But he had a bad game. His eyes, in my view,
1:34
Speaker 3: based on watching the tape, I thought his eyes were
1:37
Speaker 3: in the wrong place several times. I thought on the
1:40
Speaker 3: Robinson thirty five yard touchdown, he was uncertain of his
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Speaker 3: responsibility even pre snap, and then he tried to account
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Speaker 3: for it by running inside with Robinson, and then when
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Speaker 3: Robinson broke outside, mcooba just kind of stood there. So
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Speaker 3: that play he was just mentally uncertain of what he
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Speaker 3: should be doing. There was a third down completion to
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Speaker 3: Theo Johnson on an outcut where I thought mccooba clearly
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Speaker 3: had his eyes in the wrong place. So he had
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Speaker 3: a bad game. We'll see what happens going forward. I
2:12
Speaker 3: still think he's a very good player. You have to
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Speaker 3: remember he's a rookie who's just been a full time
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Speaker 3: starter now for I believe three games. You know, it
2:20
Speaker 3: does happen. You know, obviously there's only seventeen games in
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Speaker 3: the season, so if it happens and you lose, it
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Speaker 3: becomes magnified. But he had a bad game. There's no
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Speaker 3: other way around it. He had a bad game.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, I expected the ups and downs because he's a rookie.
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Speaker 2: You know, you gotta expect it, So I just wanted
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Speaker 2: to make sure we're not on like a bad streak
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Speaker 2: of a lot of guys.
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Speaker 3: Oh, we don't know that. I mean, you know, I
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Speaker 3: guess we're gonna find out as we go forward. He
2:47
Speaker 3: still plays very well and aggressively downhill in the run game,
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Speaker 3: but in this game and coverage, he he had issues.
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Speaker 3: And my guess is they were mental more than physical. Obviously,
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Speaker 3: big fan joke and would know more specifically than I do, obviously,
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Speaker 3: but I thought they were more mental than physical.
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Speaker 2: Appreciate you.
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Speaker 1: It's amazing how fast things happened in the NFL, because
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Speaker 1: it was just like three or four weeks ago that
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Speaker 1: he had the interception in the end zone on the ball,
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Speaker 1: and then before that he was the star of the
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Speaker 1: preseason with the fumble recovery of the interception for a touchdown.
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Speaker 1: And you know, we see You're right. We see this
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Speaker 1: with a lot with rookies. They got they go up
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Speaker 1: down all their tape, their tape, so all their foibles
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Speaker 1: are on tape as well, and teams can go after them.
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Speaker 4: Greg, I wanted to talk to you about a player
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Speaker 4: that you raved about last year. He was one of
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Speaker 4: my favorite players too, and that's uh, the loss of
3:41
Speaker 4: Milton Williams. And you know, it's like I think a
3:45
Speaker 4: lot of people just you know, recklessly just to say, oh,
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Speaker 4: he's good because Jalen Carter plays next to him. And
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Speaker 4: you know, we were in this room with you all year.
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Speaker 4: We knew that wasn't the case. We knew that Milton
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Speaker 4: Williams was just a really damn good football player. And
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Speaker 4: you know this year, I obviously Jalen Carter is dealing
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Speaker 4: with some injuries. He's missed some time, missed two games.
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Speaker 4: So it's not apples to apples, But what are you
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Speaker 4: seeing from you know, Jordan Davis, especially the last couple
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Speaker 4: of weeks, because we haven't really heard much on him.
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Speaker 4: Moro Ajomo, I mean, I like Ty Robinson. I think
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Speaker 4: he's flashed a little bit in the time he's been playing.
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Speaker 4: But uh, clearly they're not anywhere close to what Milton
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Speaker 4: Williams was and was given us last year.
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Speaker 3: So and you're right, and the problem is is they
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Speaker 3: don't have a pass rusher on the inside. You know,
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Speaker 3: Carter is can be, but he's been up and down
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Speaker 3: and he has an injury, which I think is who
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Speaker 3: knows if it's worse than is being let on. But
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Speaker 3: he certainly has not played at the level this year
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Speaker 3: that he did a year ago, when for the most
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Speaker 3: part he was a dominant player, but Milton Williams was
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Speaker 3: as NFL d tackles go a pretty damn good one
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Speaker 3: on one pass rusher. Okay, they don't have that guy,
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Speaker 3: I thought. I think Jordan Davis overall has played very
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Speaker 3: well versus the run, but he's still not a pass rusher.
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Speaker 3: He may never be, you know, we don't. You know,
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Speaker 3: he's in a fourth year Jeff Davis, Yeah, fourth year,
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Speaker 3: fourth year. Yeah, yeah, I mean he may never be
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Speaker 3: that guy. I mean, I know they work with him,
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Speaker 3: but you know, there's some people who believe that rushing
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Speaker 3: the quarterback that there's an innate ability. You can teach guys,
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Speaker 3: you can work with them, but on some level there's
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Speaker 3: an innate ability. Some guys can do it, some guys can't.
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Speaker 3: A Joemo I don't think has the tape shows this
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Speaker 3: as well, has advanced as much as they hoped based
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Speaker 3: on his preseason he you know, I think they felt
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Speaker 3: pretty comfortable and Jeff could speak better to this because
5:32
Speaker 3: he was a training camp and I was not that
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Speaker 3: they felt very good about him coming out of training camp.
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Speaker 3: But in the games, he's not become that guy. Maybe
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Speaker 3: he will, he's still a young player, but he hasn't
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Speaker 3: up to this point. So right now they do not
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Speaker 3: have an interior pass rusher. Keep in mind, they have
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Speaker 3: eight sacks in six games. And now keep in mind
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Speaker 3: in twenty twenty two when they went to the Super
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Speaker 3: Bowl and they led the NFL with I think close
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Speaker 3: to seventy sacks or somewhere in that range and close
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Speaker 3: to thirty sacks just on third down alone. And right
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Speaker 3: now they have eight sacks total in six games, so
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Speaker 3: they're not really rushing the quarterback, you.
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Speaker 4: Know, Greg, And before we go, it was around this
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Speaker 4: time last year where I asked you about the D
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Speaker 4: line and we were talking about maybe even Bond going
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Speaker 4: down and taking That's how bad it was coming from
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Speaker 4: the edge. And then you may have, you know, let
6:21
Speaker 4: the bird out of the bag to somebody an Eagles
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Speaker 4: organization about Nolan Smith's playing with power? Can you maybe
6:26
Speaker 4: do something about Jylex Hunts too.
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Speaker 3: You know, I don't really control that rank. I'm just
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Speaker 3: a humble guy sitting in my office.
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Speaker 4: Well, we need all the help we can get, Please,
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Speaker 4: my friend, do something.
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Speaker 3: But right now they're not rushing the quarterback very well.
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Speaker 3: And you know, if Carter, if Carter is truly injured
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Speaker 3: to the point where limits his pass rush, now he'll play.
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Speaker 3: It's not as if he's going to sit out the season.
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Speaker 3: But if he can't be that guy, then they've got
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Speaker 3: to figure out a way to rush the club. You know,
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Speaker 3: one thing I was told by a defensive coordinator who
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Speaker 3: since passed on, who when he retired, came and watched
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Speaker 3: tape with me for about five years and I learned
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Speaker 3: so much from his name was Rod Rust.
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Speaker 5: You know.
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Speaker 3: He always said to me, he said, if you can't
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Speaker 3: rush with four, you got to bring five. He said,
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Speaker 3: you have to impact the quarterback. He said, that's the
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Speaker 3: bottom line, you know. So we'll see what Vic Fangio
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Speaker 3: decides to do. We know he's blitzed in his past.
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Speaker 3: We know there have been times as an Eagles decordinator
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Speaker 3: he's blitzed. I'm not sure that that's his natural mo.
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Speaker 3: I don't know, if you know, he's not like Rex
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Speaker 3: Ryan where he just wants to send people, you know,
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Speaker 3: all the time. But you've got to impact the quarterback
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Speaker 3: somewhere along the line, So we'll see what happens. But
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Speaker 3: right now they do not have an interior player. And
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Speaker 3: with Zadarias Smith retiring, you know now they've got issues
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Speaker 3: on the edge as well.
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Speaker 1: Yeah, they got one sack right now from an edge
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Speaker 1: rusher without Zarias Smith, there just one sack.
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Speaker 3: Right in six weeks.
7:51
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Speaker 5: So I was just going to say, you know, with
10:30
Speaker 5: some of the route concepts and the offensive the scheme,
10:34
Speaker 5: aren't they basically telling us they don't really believe that
10:37
Speaker 5: Jayleen can do some of the things that, you know,
10:40
Speaker 5: some of the commentators are saying, hey, they should just
10:42
Speaker 5: do this, aren't they.
10:44
Speaker 3: I will say this. All I can do is go
10:47
Speaker 3: by tape. You know, I'm just going to tell you
10:48
Speaker 3: what the tape shows, and it will probably come across
10:52
Speaker 3: as if I'm saying that the coaching staff can do
10:54
Speaker 3: a better job, but I'm just telling you what the
10:56
Speaker 3: tape shows. The way I learned about the passing game
10:58
Speaker 3: from people way smart than I am, the Bill Walshs
11:01
Speaker 3: of the world, who I was very fortunate to be
11:03
Speaker 3: around and get to know. Well, the passing game against
11:07
Speaker 3: zone is really about choreography and spacing, okay, because every
11:13
Speaker 3: zone has voids and weaknesses and stress points. Okay, so
11:17
Speaker 3: what you're trying to do is you're trying to really
11:21
Speaker 3: maximize those stress points. I don't think, based on just
11:24
Speaker 3: watching tape that the Eagles do a great job in
11:27
Speaker 3: their route concepts with their spacing, and that really helps
11:30
Speaker 3: quarterbacks because it helps define reads and throws because if
11:35
Speaker 3: the spacing is right and you're stretching out zone defense,
11:39
Speaker 3: because you ultimately you want to stretch out a defense,
11:42
Speaker 3: you want to expand it horizontally, you want to stretch
11:44
Speaker 3: it vertically, you want to create space. So it's about choreography.
11:49
Speaker 3: Most people don't think this about football, but it's still
11:52
Speaker 3: a confined space sport. You just don't think of it
11:55
Speaker 3: that way like you think about basketball or hockey, where
11:57
Speaker 3: you can see the entire space on your TV screen football,
12:01
Speaker 3: you can't see your entire space on the TV screen,
12:04
Speaker 3: so you don't think of it that way. But in
12:07
Speaker 3: anything that's in any sport that's about confined space, it
12:10
Speaker 3: comes down to choreography and spacing. I don't think based
12:14
Speaker 3: on just watching the tape, they do a great job
12:16
Speaker 3: with that. So can they make Jalen a little better? Yeah,
12:20
Speaker 3: but he's never going to become a between the numbers
12:23
Speaker 3: tight window thrower where you go, whoa, those are amazing
12:25
Speaker 3: throws between the numbers. But I think they can probably
12:28
Speaker 3: help him eric a little more than we're seeing right now.
12:33
Speaker 5: Enough us, No, just my last follow up to that,
12:36
Speaker 5: is there anything that you can just quickly give that
12:39
Speaker 5: you besides what you just kind of explained, that could
12:42
Speaker 5: kind of make their offense functional. It's not to rip
12:45
Speaker 5: Patulo or Sirianni, but kind of like going back to
12:49
Speaker 5: the twenty twenty one season where they kind of change
12:51
Speaker 5: the way they played after a few games and they
12:54
Speaker 5: became a predominantly running team. Is there anything that they
12:57
Speaker 5: can do that you're seeing that that can just at
12:59
Speaker 5: least make them functional at this point.
13:04
Speaker 1: Run game going.
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Speaker 3: Yeah, functional is a relative term. I mean, like I said,
13:08
Speaker 3: is there a given week, depending on the opponent, where
13:10
Speaker 3: can he hit you know, Aj Brown on the outside,
13:12
Speaker 3: like in the second half of the Rams game against
13:14
Speaker 3: you know, probably average NFL corners who they're kind of
13:18
Speaker 3: playing against this week in Minnesota. You know, can they
13:20
Speaker 3: have weeks where that happens? Eric, Sure that can happen.
13:24
Speaker 3: You know, I don't want to sit here and say
13:25
Speaker 3: they're never going to have a cassing game and Jalen
13:27
Speaker 3: Hurts is never going to have a good game. That
13:29
Speaker 3: would be stupid on my part, and that's not gonna happen.
13:32
Speaker 3: You know, he's still an NFL quarterback. He's a super
13:34
Speaker 3: Bowl champion, He's an NFL quarterback who's had success in
13:38
Speaker 3: the league. So it's not as if he's never gonna,
13:40
Speaker 3: you know, have good games or make good throws. But
13:42
Speaker 3: it's just with his limitations that working certain areas of
13:47
Speaker 3: the field, they're not going to be able to work
13:49
Speaker 3: with consistency like you can't. They can't build their pass
13:52
Speaker 3: game around that, so you know, ultimately they're going to
13:55
Speaker 3: have to find a way to run the ball. And
13:58
Speaker 3: by the way, their run game was conceptually fine this week.
14:02
Speaker 3: They they just missed. I mean he might have had
14:05
Speaker 3: an eighty seven yard touchdown on It was actually the
14:08
Speaker 3: play before he over through DeVonta Smith. If Steen makes
14:13
Speaker 3: his block on Thibodeaux, that might have been an eighty
14:15
Speaker 3: seven yard touchdown, you know, And then no one would
14:18
Speaker 3: be taught saying anything about the Eagles offense. They'd be saying, Wow,
14:21
Speaker 3: they got the run game going, you know. So you know,
14:23
Speaker 3: it's it's a very fine line when you lose people,
14:29
Speaker 3: you know, particularly the way they've been losing, and the
14:31
Speaker 3: offense has clearly not look good. It's easy to say, man,
14:33
Speaker 3: this offense stinks. But on the other hand, you could
14:36
Speaker 3: say they've been close on a number of runs where
14:39
Speaker 3: blocks just haven't been made.
14:41
Speaker 4: You know.
14:41
Speaker 1: I get I get a little frustrated with a player
14:43
Speaker 1: of Lane Johnson's caliber, and he shouldn't know a little
14:45
Speaker 1: better when he says what he said about the offense
14:48
Speaker 1: be predictable. That was born out of frustration because.
14:51
Speaker 3: Nothing right after the game in the locker room.
14:53
Speaker 1: And what's irresponsible a little bit about it is that
14:56
Speaker 1: it makes the fan think that the offen that that
14:59
Speaker 1: the coaches are bad and not doing their jobs correctly.
15:02
Speaker 1: When I think we've talked about this for a year there.
15:05
Speaker 1: Of course, their offense is predictable. They predictably did better
15:09
Speaker 1: last year than anybody. They handled the ball off the
15:11
Speaker 1: Saquon Barkley on inside down.
15:15
Speaker 3: Did anybody I think it was predictable last year when
15:17
Speaker 3: they would open holes, you know, for Barkley and he'd
15:20
Speaker 3: run for you know, seemingly a fifty yard plus touchdown
15:22
Speaker 3: every week, no one said, gee, that's a predictable run,
15:25
Speaker 3: you know what I mean.
15:26
Speaker 1: It's not like, Yeah, their run game is not like
15:29
Speaker 1: some Shanahan style where five guys are all moving and
15:32
Speaker 1: you know it's it's a it's inside zone for the
15:34
Speaker 1: most part.
15:35
Speaker 3: And by the way, and just and you guys know this,
15:38
Speaker 3: and there's not a thousand running plays.
15:41
Speaker 1: Right right, awesome, good stuff, everybody, Thank you, Greg, thanks
15:45
Speaker 1: a lot. We'll do it again next week. Fellas, ladies, Judy, everybody,
15:48
Speaker 1: thank you so much.
15:49
Speaker 3: Talk to you soon, all right, guys, appreciate it. Thanks