Latest / Inside the Birds: A Philadelphia Eagles Podcast / Football at Four: Where Eagles Stand After Two Weeks; Explaining Roles Of Two Signings
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- 0:57Speaker 2: And up Football 4 powered by the Inside the Birds
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- 1:41Speaker 2: Sports Bash. All right, Adam Kaplan's here from the Inside
- 1:44Speaker 2: the Burns podcast. Where do the Eagles stand after two weeks?
- 1:49Speaker 2: We'll get into that and more right now with Adam
- 1:52Speaker 2: Kaplan on the Sports Bash. And, Adam, obviously a couple things,
- 1:56Speaker 2: news and notes before we get to where they stand
- 1:59Speaker 2: is they bring in Zach Ertz. Yesterday, we'll get into him,
- 2:02Speaker 2: but Kenny Moore today. This is a Pro Bowl player
- 2:05Speaker 2: a couple of years ago, 11 years. He's a veteran.
- 2:08Speaker 2: Why bring a veteran player in? What's the messaging here?
- 2:11Speaker 2: A little interested to see what you think, where he
- 2:13Speaker 2: kind of fits in, and why a veteran player is
- 2:16Speaker 2: coming into the secondary.
- 2:19Speaker 3: All right, so a couple things. So Kenny Moore's going
- 2:21Speaker 3: to go on the practice squad. The report on the
- 2:23Speaker 3: money is up to $ 3 million, so it means it's
- 2:25Speaker 3: not $ 3 million. It could be actually significantly less than that.
- 2:27Speaker 3: But they fully expect him to be on the active
- 2:31Speaker 3: roster at some point. They're going to take a look
- 2:32Speaker 3: at him. The Colts tried to trade him. They couldn't.
- 2:35Speaker 3: They moved on from him. uh... he's in the background
- 2:38Speaker 3: career he he's a backup the starter he was once
- 2:42Speaker 3: for a couple years the best nickel the national football
- 2:44Speaker 3: league mike a couple things so it can be more uh...
- 2:47Speaker 3: he could play corner and he could play nickel nickels
- 2:50Speaker 3: in the general inside position though it's a little different
- 2:52Speaker 3: victory and she was going to learn the defense yet
- 2:54Speaker 3: of it's not easy by the way we've learned that
- 2:56Speaker 3: the hard way with vick it's not easy to be
- 2:58Speaker 3: traded create that went through that and it didn't work
- 3:01Speaker 3: he's been a big disappointment also ninja reserve but Ken Moore,
- 3:05Speaker 3: who I met the Super Bowl a couple years ago,
- 3:09Speaker 3: Moore started his career with the Patriots. He loved Bill Belichick.
- 3:11Speaker 3: He said he learned a lot from him. Remember him
- 3:13Speaker 3: telling me that? And his rise as an undrafted free agent,
- 3:17Speaker 3: a great story. But the Colts have gone from him.
- 3:21Speaker 3: He's in his 30s now. And then what will happen
- 3:25Speaker 3: is they'll take a look at him, see what he's got.
- 3:28Speaker 3: And the thing is, he adds depth to not just nickel,
- 3:31Speaker 3: but to corner. In base, he could play outside and nickel.
- 3:34Speaker 3: He always plays inside. That's been his job, and he's
- 3:37Speaker 3: really good at it. Competitive guy, smart player, but it's
- 3:41Speaker 3: going to take him some time to figure it out.
- 3:42Speaker 3: And then, of course, the big move with Zach Ertz,
- 3:44Speaker 3: who also is going to the practice squad. So this
- 3:49Speaker 3: has been on for a while. We thought it actually,
- 3:52Speaker 3: at the birth, we told our Patreon members this actually
- 3:54Speaker 3: could have happened last week. We told them that it's
- 3:57Speaker 3: in the works. He's going to be an Eagle at
- 3:59Speaker 3: some point. I suspect, Mike, that goddard's mcl sprain move
- 4:05Speaker 3: this up a little bit now we'll take a look
- 4:07Speaker 3: at zach who's 35 years old coming back from a
- 4:10Speaker 3: second acl reconstruction in less than four years mike that's
- 4:14Speaker 3: concerning um but this is such a great way to
- 4:18Speaker 3: end his career with eagles what and don't forget mike
- 4:20Speaker 3: how it ended it didn't end well five years ago
- 4:22Speaker 3: here of course he's coming back yeah and of.
- 4:25Speaker 2: Course uh he was traded to arizona and then ended
- 4:27Speaker 2: up playing in washington and Had a couple of good
- 4:30Speaker 2: years in Washington. We'll see how much he has left
- 4:34Speaker 2: in the tank. I mean, he's coming off the ACL.
- 4:36Speaker 2: I don't know. Do you anticipate that he plays in
- 4:40Speaker 2: the game on Monday night and he's the leading target
- 4:42Speaker 2: guy at tight end?
- 4:43Speaker 3: Well, I'd say this. Two things. If I know Steve
- 4:48Speaker 3: Carrick as agent well and Zach, who we've known as
- 4:52Speaker 3: their family for a while, Josh Weinfeld, our business manager,
- 4:56Speaker 3: For Zach and his family, Jeff and I have known
- 4:59Speaker 3: Zach for a long time. He's super competitive. It's not ideal.
- 5:04Speaker 3: He hasn't been in practice since last season. But if
- 5:08Speaker 3: I understand it right, they've been in contact. I don't
- 5:11Speaker 3: know that they sent him a workout video, but they
- 5:13Speaker 3: kind of know where Zach is in his rehab. And
- 5:16Speaker 3: they're going to take a look at him. Once they
- 5:18Speaker 3: start practicing on Thursday, they'll be able to see. No pressure. Now,
- 5:22Speaker 3: if by a big surprise, you can't rule it out,
- 5:26Speaker 3: because if he's fully healed and he feels like he
- 5:28Speaker 3: can do it, and the medical staff says he can play,
- 5:32Speaker 3: you give him a small package of plays. But, Mike,
- 5:35Speaker 3: the big thing that Jeff and I talked about in
- 5:37Speaker 3: August was, if Goddard gets hurt, they're in major trouble
- 5:41Speaker 3: at tight end. Well, what happened was not only did
- 5:45Speaker 3: Goddard get hurt, and we'll see if he goes on
- 5:47Speaker 3: IR or not, he's got the MCL sprained, But let's
- 5:50Speaker 3: not forget, Greg Calcaterra's on IR. Most people forgot that
- 5:53Speaker 3: they brought him back. So he's out for four weeks.
- 5:57Speaker 3: Stowers is out for four weeks. So all they have
- 6:00Speaker 3: is Josiah Jaguar, who is strictly an in-line tight end
- 6:04Speaker 3: like Johnny Mudd. Neither of them use it. When I
- 6:07Speaker 3: saw Johnny Mudd lining up the slot, I laughed. I
- 6:08Speaker 3: was like, please don't throw him the ball. And they did, actually.
- 6:12Speaker 3: But Zach, look, he's not going to block. Not going
- 6:16Speaker 3: to ask him to block. But he's a great runner,
- 6:19Speaker 3: and he's super tough. They need anyone at the tight
- 6:21Speaker 3: end position who can catch Mike. At this point, if
- 6:24Speaker 3: you could get 15 to 20 touchdowns, Zach, in any
- 6:27Speaker 3: game over the next three weeks, consider it a plus.
- 6:31Speaker 3: If he gets four or five catches, Mike, look, they
- 6:35Speaker 3: need anything they can get from that position right now.
- 6:37Speaker 2: No doubt. I think you're 100% right, especially with Eli
- 6:39Speaker 2: Stowers certainly not looking ready as a second-round pick. He's
- 6:43Speaker 2: injured right now. And as you mentioned, Calcaterra. So they
- 6:46Speaker 2: got really not a lot of options. So we'll see
- 6:49Speaker 2: if Ertz contributes as soon as Monday night. Where this
- 6:52Speaker 2: team stands now two weeks in, let's look at the
- 6:56Speaker 2: offensive side of the ball. Where does this offense stand,
- 6:59Speaker 2: this Sean Mannion offense?
- 7:01Speaker 3: Yeah, Mike, I think now it's time we could go
- 7:04Speaker 3: a little bit harder on it. One week, you just
- 7:06Speaker 3: go by what you see, but you don't really know
- 7:08Speaker 3: a lot. It's hard to make any conclusions. But now
- 7:11Speaker 3: we could start digging and say, okay, I think we've
- 7:13Speaker 3: got a good handle on this. Let's go to the
- 7:17Speaker 3: top story of this team, Mike. As I told you
- 7:19Speaker 3: coming into the season was the passing game, the timing
- 7:22Speaker 3: of the West Coast offense, which I talked to you
- 7:24Speaker 3: about in February, which we knew they were going to run.
- 7:26Speaker 3: And Sean Manning is a first-time play caller. I've been
- 7:29Speaker 3: super impressed with Hurts' ability to play on time and
- 7:33Speaker 3: on target. His ball location, that's getting the ball where
- 7:37Speaker 3: the receiver could go get it. It actually is better,
- 7:41Speaker 3: I'm told, from tape. It's not perfect. No one is
- 7:44Speaker 3: ever perfect. It needs to be a little better. But
- 7:47Speaker 3: it's much better. It's much better. But he's throwing on
- 7:49Speaker 3: time like he's never done consistently. And he's been great
- 7:53Speaker 3: so far. Anyone has to complain. They don't know football.
- 7:56Speaker 3: He's been really good. And Mannion called a great game
- 7:59Speaker 3: on Sunday. Lots of variety of under center. Hurts was
- 8:04Speaker 3: under center about 25 or so percent of the time.
- 8:08Speaker 3: It's working. But the big downer, Mike... Though their pass
- 8:13Speaker 3: protection is really good, it's not great, but it's good.
- 8:16Speaker 3: It's not quite as good as last year, but it's good.
- 8:19Speaker 3: Their running game has been absolutely horrific. This goes to
- 8:24Speaker 3: show you, you've got to be careful what you see
- 8:26Speaker 3: in practice and training camp. It doesn't mean a lot,
- 8:27Speaker 3: and I think we've probably learned that so far. Their
- 8:29Speaker 3: running game has got to be better. It's been bad.
- 8:32Speaker 2: No doubt about it. I would follow that up with,
- 8:34Speaker 2: is it bad because the offensive line is bad? And
- 8:36Speaker 2: if that's the case, do you see this offensive line
- 8:38Speaker 2: as being a perpetual problem?
- 8:41Speaker 3: It is the interior, Mike, with Juergens and Kendall and Steen.
- 8:45Speaker 3: Pass protection, they did a good job of communicating. I
- 8:47Speaker 3: thought they did a nice job. Drew Kendall, he did
- 8:50Speaker 3: a workman's like job. Yeoman's job as a pass protector,
- 8:53Speaker 3: run blocking inside. Look, I know that Barkley got hurt early.
- 8:59Speaker 3: No question that hurt him. He came back and he
- 9:02Speaker 3: shouldn't have come back, to be honest with you. Give
- 9:04Speaker 3: him credit for trying to come back.
- 9:05Speaker 2: I think the betters agree with you.
- 9:07Speaker 3: Yeah, that was just awful. Yeah. I hear you. Surely
- 9:13Speaker 3: for fantasy, it was terrible. I had him on one
- 9:14Speaker 3: of my fantasy teams.
- 9:16Speaker 2: That was one of the big stories of the weekend
- 9:18Speaker 2: is that, you know, a lot of these betting sites
- 9:20Speaker 2: will void your bet if the guy ends up getting
- 9:23Speaker 2: hurt in the first quarter. Well, that's what happened.
- 9:25Speaker 3: I didn't even know that.
- 9:26Speaker 2: Yes. So Barkley gets hurt in the first quarter. Everybody
- 9:29Speaker 2: who had Barkley player props were like, oh, okay, they're
- 9:33Speaker 2: going to void him and void the bet. Well, he
- 9:35Speaker 2: ends up coming back for like three carries and, you know, obviously.
- 9:38Speaker 3: Yeah.
- 9:40Speaker 2: No good.
- 9:40Speaker 3: Yeah, so to finish it off, Mike, look, it was
- 9:44Speaker 3: one game that, you know, Kennel had a start at center.
- 9:47Speaker 3: They're going to have a little extra preparation time. They
- 9:49Speaker 3: don't practice until Thursday this week. And they'll get a
- 9:52Speaker 3: better idea of where they're at. But the offensive line
- 9:55Speaker 3: run block has been atrocious, let's call it. It's been bad.
- 9:59Speaker 3: And it's got... to be better. And it's been over
- 10:02Speaker 3: a season now. They've been bad. They were horrific. They
- 10:04Speaker 3: were historically bad last season after being elite. One of
- 10:07Speaker 3: the best in NFL history in 24. And it's concerning, Mike.
- 10:12Speaker 3: If they want to make a big run in the
- 10:13Speaker 3: playoffs and everything's setting up great, by the way, in
- 10:15Speaker 3: the division right now, NFC East. they've got to block
- 10:18Speaker 3: better for the run. And one thing I want to
- 10:21Speaker 3: add to this, I didn't think I'd be talking about this,
- 10:23Speaker 3: but this is something which Jeff and I are going
- 10:26Speaker 3: to talk about later this week on our Thursday morning
- 10:28Speaker 3: show at 6 a.m., is that I know the Eagles
- 10:32Speaker 3: absolutely do not want to be a passing team, but
- 10:33Speaker 3: I'm going to tell you, Mike, Hurts handled it extremely well.
- 10:37Speaker 3: They didn't want him dropping back 40 times. That's not
- 10:39Speaker 3: what they want. But if you can't run the ball, Mike,
- 10:41Speaker 3: you've got to do something else. So just keep an
- 10:44Speaker 3: eye on it. They may be passing a little bit
- 10:46Speaker 3: more than we expected this season.
- 10:47Speaker 2: Over 30 passes on Sunday. And, of course, Hurts has
- 10:51Speaker 2: a really good game there. And, you know, where this
- 10:54Speaker 2: thing stands after two weeks, we're looking at this run game.
- 10:57Speaker 2: I would have to think that we feel pretty good
- 11:01Speaker 2: about the wide receiver room now, though, no? I mean,
- 11:03Speaker 2: you get some big contribution from Wicks. Cooper makes a
- 11:06Speaker 2: play at the back of the end zone. I'd like
- 11:07Speaker 2: to see maybe them get Brown a little bit more
- 11:09Speaker 2: involved with some stuff down the field. But I got
- 11:12Speaker 2: to think that this wide receiver room, which maybe was
- 11:14Speaker 2: a question, maybe you feel a little better about after two?
- 11:18Speaker 3: Yeah, I do. Like, I'm charting the game. I started
- 11:21Speaker 3: charting a little bit just to get a better idea.
- 11:23Speaker 3: And I didn't expect Hurts to drop back 37. He
- 11:26Speaker 3: actually dropped back 40. He got sacked three times, and
- 11:29Speaker 3: he had 37 attempts. I thought, look, we talked about
- 11:35Speaker 3: this at training camp on Football 4 and all of
- 11:37Speaker 3: our platforms. Andrew and I saw it a lot. I
- 11:40Speaker 3: know Jeff saw it. And I've mentioned it, I don't
- 11:43Speaker 3: know how many times on our shows. The chemistry between
- 11:46Speaker 3: Hurts and Wicks has been absolutely phenomenal. And the thing
- 11:49Speaker 3: that I love about Wicks, Mike, is he's always in
- 11:51Speaker 3: the right spot. They have this. I noted this, and
- 11:57Speaker 3: I saw it in the game, too. Hurts throws it
- 12:00Speaker 3: to a spot. He makes Wicks go get it, particularly
- 12:02Speaker 3: on the sideline throws. Their timing's great. Obviously, Smitty and
- 12:09Speaker 3: Hurts are great together. And Darius Cooper and the trust
- 12:12Speaker 3: that Jalen has with him. So you're right, Mike. Now,
- 12:15Speaker 3: Mekhi Lemon, they've got to get him unleashed. Remember, folks,
- 12:20Speaker 3: people want to beat him up about all the slow start.
- 12:23Speaker 3: We warn people, if he does anything for the first
- 12:27Speaker 3: half of the season, I'd be very surprised. Because he's
- 12:32Speaker 3: got to build trust with the play caller and the quarterback.
- 12:35Speaker 3: He doesn't have that yet. What I would do, and
- 12:37Speaker 3: you mentioned Hollywood Brown is, I'm not saying they have
- 12:39Speaker 3: to play him over Lemon, but Because they're so bad,
- 12:43Speaker 3: I mean, they're so beat up at tight end, why
- 12:45Speaker 3: not start playing Brown, not only in 11 personnel, and
- 12:49Speaker 3: they could play a little 10. 10 is one back,
- 12:51Speaker 3: no 10 at the four receivers. It's not a common formation,
- 12:55Speaker 3: but getting Hollywood Brown out there, he was there for
- 12:58Speaker 3: 20 snaps, but you wouldn't have known it. They're not
- 13:00Speaker 3: throwing the ball downfield to him. Let's start using him
- 13:04Speaker 3: for the reason why he's there and being paid $ 5
- 13:06Speaker 3: million this season, to run downfield. They've got to start
- 13:08Speaker 3: doing that.
- 13:09Speaker 2: Before we get to defense real quick, any worry or
- 13:13Speaker 2: thoughts about Lemon? It's just like, eh, so far.
- 13:17Speaker 3: No.
- 13:17Speaker 2: It's two weeks in.
- 13:19Speaker 3: As I just said, Mike, he's so far behind. Let's
- 13:21Speaker 3: not forget, he missed just about all of their offseason.
- 13:26Speaker 3: And then he missed a lot of their training camp.
- 13:28Speaker 3: He was only back for the final week and a half.
- 13:31Speaker 3: He's far behind, and he just is. And this is
- 13:33Speaker 3: a new offense for him. But, Mike, as I try
- 13:37Speaker 3: to tell people when they– When people thought it would
- 13:40Speaker 3: be a lot of 12 personnel, it was not going
- 13:42Speaker 3: to be because they have to accommodate Lemon. He's the
- 13:45Speaker 3: slot receiver. You've got Smith and Wicks. That tells you
- 13:48Speaker 3: right now that they're playing a lot of 11. They're
- 13:50Speaker 3: giving you the answers to the test. You don't need
- 13:51Speaker 3: to guess. They're telling you what they're going to do.
- 13:53Speaker 3: Then you had Darius Cooper, who's a baller, by the way,
- 13:55Speaker 3: former quarterback, when he went to Charlton State. You're right, Mike.
- 14:01Speaker 3: It's fair to bring that up. You're right. They're deeper.
- 14:03Speaker 3: They're performing. I know it's only two games, though. That's
- 14:06Speaker 3: all we can go on, but Which has been phenomenal.
- 14:08Speaker 3: Smitty is Smitty. He's been great. Cooper, he's carrying over.
- 14:13Speaker 3: As we try to tell people, he's their fourth receiver.
- 14:15Speaker 3: But he deserves to be on the field, and you
- 14:17Speaker 3: saw that on Sunday.
- 14:19Speaker 2: All right, so what do we know about the defense
- 14:20Speaker 2: now through two?
- 14:21Speaker 3: Yeah. A little spotty with the run defense. It hasn't
- 14:24Speaker 3: been bad, and it's not like it's awful or anything,
- 14:27Speaker 3: but they're not stopping the run. They're controlling it. They
- 14:31Speaker 3: need to be a little bit better. They've had some
- 14:33Speaker 3: mental breakdowns. It's really interesting, Mike. Like, they'll go three quarters,
- 14:39Speaker 3: or they'll play really good quarters against the pass, like
- 14:42Speaker 3: where they just completely shut down the opponent. And then
- 14:44Speaker 3: Kim Ward starts to get hot. I know he only
- 14:46Speaker 3: had 183 yards, but he had several good shows in
- 14:48Speaker 3: the game. Look, they haven't been the shutdown secondary that
- 14:53Speaker 3: we thought they'd be, but again, it's only two weeks.
- 14:55Speaker 3: They're still giving up very little production. They're giving up
- 14:58Speaker 3: nothing over the top. They're getting beat on slants, certain
- 15:02Speaker 3: short area passes, which they need to be a little
- 15:04Speaker 3: bit better with.
- 15:06Speaker 2: All right, Adam, of course, Monday night they're going to
- 15:08Speaker 2: have an interesting matchup. It looks like Case Keenum could
- 15:11Speaker 2: be in the center for the Chicago Bears.
- 15:14Speaker 3: Oh, yeah, one thing. Yeah, one thing on that. Case
- 15:18Speaker 3: Keenum played them nine years ago in the championship game
- 15:20Speaker 3: against Minnesota. I forgot to mention, Mike, the pass rush
- 15:23Speaker 3: has been really disappointing. And what they need is what
- 15:26Speaker 3: we call a closer, and that's got to be Jonathan
- 15:29Speaker 3: Goddard when he's ready. He's got to be that guy
- 15:32Speaker 3: on third down or nickel situations that's that gets to
- 15:35Speaker 3: the quarterback and brings him down. They have not done
- 15:37Speaker 3: that at all yet. That's been very disappointing.
- 15:39Speaker 2: All right, Adam. Friday, we're back looking at the Eagles
- 15:41Speaker 2: and the Bears right here on Football at Four. Thanks, man. Thanks.