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The Flyers Continue To Figure Out Their Rebuild (PST Episode 605) · The Philadelphia Sports Table | Philly Sports News & Views

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: What's up everybody. Hope you are doing well. It's Jeff here,
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: and I wanted to let you know. This podcast episode
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: was recorded on Wednesday, February twenty sixth, twenty twenty five,
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: so by the time you hear this, some things may
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: have changed here or there, but we hope you enjoyed
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: the show. Welcome to the Philadelphia Sports Table podcast show,
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: the longest running weekly Philly sports podcast show in the world,
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: over eleven and a half years strong. We've got a
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: great show coming your way. I am Jeff Warren. I'm
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: here with my good buddy Eric Leonard. Eric, we're gonna
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: get into some Major League Baseball talk, some Phillies talk,
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: got some Eagles and NFL talk. They're gonna get into
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: six Ers and some NBA talk. And I won't let
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: you stick around for the Flyers talk because I don't
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: want you to fall asleep. But how you doing, my man?
• 1:18
  Speaker 2: Good? We're getting near the end of basketball, the winter season. Yes,
• 1:25
  Speaker 2: bring seasons around the corner. I'll have more stories. I
• 1:29
  Speaker 2: do have a quick one. I probably sound a little
• 1:32
  Speaker 2: different tonight on the show because it was a USB mic.
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: Yeah, why are you using a different mic?
• 1:37
  Speaker 2: Here? Eric?
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: You know when you jumped on earlier tonight, I'm like, boy,
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: this sounds a little different. Listeners are gonna say, what's
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: going on here.
• 1:45
  Speaker 2: So my son, Finny, he has a wax museum project
• 1:49
  Speaker 2: where they him and his classmates had to choose one
• 1:52
  Speaker 2: famous person, celebrity of history, whatever, and they had to
• 1:57
  Speaker 2: take in three items and kind of of the people
• 2:01
  Speaker 2: go up and touch their hand or something or button
• 2:04
  Speaker 2: and they do like a thirty second presentation on who
• 2:06
  Speaker 2: they are and one of the three things. Well, first
• 2:10
  Speaker 2: of all, he chose Steve Harvey, which you know, he's
• 2:17
  Speaker 2: a middle aged African American man with a very thick mustache.
• 2:21
  Speaker 2: And my son is a twelve year old white kid
• 2:24
  Speaker 2: who weighs like eighty pounds and it's it's uh, it
• 2:28
  Speaker 2: was a bizarre choice. But he's kind of a you know,
• 2:30
  Speaker 2: he's kind of a goofy kid. And yeah, you know,
• 2:33
  Speaker 2: right away, I'm like, you know, we'll get you the suit,
• 2:36
  Speaker 2: the bald cap, the mustache. But that's where we're stopping
• 2:38
  Speaker 2: because I don't want to be in the news day.
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: So not using any face paint of any kind.
• 2:45
  Speaker 2: Absolutely, not no, no, no, but no. One of his
• 2:48
  Speaker 2: one of his is three things. One is a family
• 2:51
  Speaker 2: feud game, I forget the other one, and but one.
• 2:54
  Speaker 2: The other thing is a microphone to you know, because
• 2:56
  Speaker 2: he's a stand up comic for years. Yeah, and so
• 2:59
  Speaker 2: I gave him a good microphone that he used for
• 3:01
  Speaker 2: the show, not realizing that it would have to stay
• 3:03
  Speaker 2: at school tonight. So yes, I am on this crappy
• 3:07
  Speaker 2: eighteen dollars USB mic that I bought like eight years ago.
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: Well, we hope everybody sticks around for it. I hope
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: they haven't left yet. Oh boy, all right, Well, like
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: I said, we're gonna get in this some major league
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: baseball talking. Some Phillies talk right off the bat here.
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: I absolutely love that story. By the way, I'm gonna
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: have to I'm gonna listen. I'm gonna listen to this
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: in my car and absolutely crack up with your son.
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: I need to see a picture of this, please please,
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: can somebody please take a picture of this.
• 3:38
  Speaker 2: I'll make sure a picture is taken. I have to
• 3:39
  Speaker 2: be out of work, out of town for work tomorrow,
• 3:41
  Speaker 2: so I'm not gonna be able to go, but I
• 3:42
  Speaker 2: will absolutely make sure my son. Steve Harvey, apparently I
• 3:48
  Speaker 2: think the suit he's swearing is gonna be one of
• 3:51
  Speaker 2: my daughter's old dance outfits. Really green sequence. Yeah, like sparkles,
• 3:58
  Speaker 2: to kind of match how he dresses on the show.
• 4:00
  Speaker 2: You know, he's just a little flamboyant, so it should
• 4:02
  Speaker 2: be it should be interesting.
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: All right, very good, All right? Like I said, well,
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: let's get into some Major League Baseball, some Phillies talk,
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: some NL East talk, because you know, we're finally seeing
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: Major League Baseball players reporting for spring training. Games are
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: already being played and the expectation game is already brewing
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: in the NL East. We just wanted to give our
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: thoughts on some of the top teams in the NL East.
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: As we know, certainly the Eagles, the Braves, and the
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: Mets the three top teams in the NL East that
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: we don't have to get into the Nationals and the Marlins,
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: they are far enough away from contending that they really
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: don't factor into the equation much in terms of the division.
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: But Eric, when we look at the Phills, Braves, and
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: the Mets here, if we're talking about rosters, like on paper,
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: the Phillies have assembled basically well, I mean, they didn't
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: do much during the offseason except for the pitching but
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: they have assembled a really good team and made League
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: Baseball that I think can go toe to toe with
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: just about anybody in the league, let alone the Division.
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: Are there holes, Yes, there are holes with every single
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: team in Major League Baseball, But for the most part,
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: I think this Phillies team is a very good team.
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: Two other contenders, like we're talking about, you know, the
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: questions are with the Braves, are they gonna bounce back
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: from the injury bug that absolutely plugged them last year?
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: Two major players that are coming back for them, Ronald
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: Lacuna and Spencer Stryder there are Are they gonna return
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: with the same type of production right away or is
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: it gonna take them some time? And with the New
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: York Mets, what's their starting pitching really gonna look like,
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: especially in the back part of the rotation, that number four,
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: number five spot. If you go back in the feed,
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: our Opposition Territory Pod this week dove into the Mets,
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: and there's questions about their bullpen too. I mean, are
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: they gonna be good enough to make end of games
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: a non issue for them? I mean that really remains
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: to be seen. So I think the Phillies are really
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: gonna be contending and it could be a back and
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: forth like who knows. The Braves could be up one
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: week in the NLCS, then the Mets, then the Phillies
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: for a month. Who knows. But I think the Phillies
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: aren't looking terrible by any stretch. And I think it's
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: gonna be uh, you know, it's it's gonna be a
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: battle for be a battle for sure. But I think
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: the Phills are looking good heading end of this season.
• 6:16
  Speaker 2: One thing they have going for them, unlike the other
• 6:17
  Speaker 2: two teams, is just consistency. I mean, we kind of
• 6:21
  Speaker 2: know what we're gonna get. But on top of that,
• 6:23
  Speaker 2: they actually have might have the best starting rotation in baseball.
• 6:25
  Speaker 2: They seay healthy, which we talked about a few weeks
• 6:27
  Speaker 2: ago on the show. I think they have that definite
• 6:31
  Speaker 2: advantage over the Braves and Mets. The hitting concerned, I'm
• 6:36
  Speaker 2: definitely concerned with the hitting. Every one's a year older,
• 6:40
  Speaker 2: and we saw what happened to the playoffs last year.
• 6:41
  Speaker 2: The same thing happened where if they didn't hit five
• 6:44
  Speaker 2: of them runs, they just kind of, you know, just
• 6:46
  Speaker 2: had two runs a game and couldn't eke out runs,
• 6:50
  Speaker 2: just had left a lot of guys on base you
• 6:54
  Speaker 2: know that the Mets. You know, they had that amazing
• 6:57
  Speaker 2: run last year, and I think everyone thinks, well, they're
• 7:01
  Speaker 2: gonna come out and win one hundred games this year,
• 7:04
  Speaker 2: and because they look so good the end of last
• 7:05
  Speaker 2: season and they got they had the huge the Huge
• 7:08
  Speaker 2: Reasons signing. But how often do we see after that
• 7:13
  Speaker 2: run a team like just keeps up that pace the
• 7:18
  Speaker 2: whole next season. Yeah, I think they're gonna have a
• 7:23
  Speaker 2: a little bit of a setback. I'm hoping they come
• 7:27
  Speaker 2: out hot in the beginning and not at the end
• 7:28
  Speaker 2: like did the last year. I'm not sure what to
• 7:30
  Speaker 2: think of them because the starting rotation is very shaky
• 7:34
  Speaker 2: in my opinion, Yes, I'm looking at it now, Minaya Sega,
• 7:39
  Speaker 2: Montaz Peterson, Holmes like, it doesn't blow me away, Paul Blackburn,
• 7:44
  Speaker 2: it's they. I think they overachieved last year and they
• 7:49
  Speaker 2: didn't scare me, even though they beat us in the playoffs,
• 7:51
  Speaker 2: I'll admit that, but they their starting rotation did not
• 7:54
  Speaker 2: scare me overall. Edwin Diez was kind of a mess
• 7:57
  Speaker 2: last year, So I don't know who their closer is
• 7:59
  Speaker 2: going to be, So I'm not I not as fearful
• 8:03
  Speaker 2: of them. The team I am actually kind of scared
• 8:05
  Speaker 2: of as the Braves. They even without even without Acuna
• 8:10
  Speaker 2: and Strider, they're a scary team. Got Harris out in
• 8:14
  Speaker 2: center field, he's a stud. They're starting, pitching rotation is
• 8:18
  Speaker 2: always going to be decent. It's never going to be
• 8:20
  Speaker 2: in the toilet.
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: And yeah, and their bullpen it's always good.
• 8:25
  Speaker 2: And the thing that scares me the most about them
• 8:28
  Speaker 2: is them making, you know, coming out and being like
• 8:32
  Speaker 2: five or six games over five hundred, and then come July,
• 8:34
  Speaker 2: Strider and Akuna hit full stride, Yeah, and all of
• 8:38
  Speaker 2: a sudden, they're they're they're just absolute fire going into
• 8:43
  Speaker 2: late August and everyone's scared of death of them, and
• 8:46
  Speaker 2: they take you know, they take the East, but they
• 8:49
  Speaker 2: would be back far my biggest concern in that division,
• 8:53
  Speaker 2: even even more so in the Mets.
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: They're still holes. There's still questions with all of these teams, again,
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: including the Phillies, and of that's what makes baseball fun
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: during the course of the year, watching it, following it.
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: But if there's I personally believe like you do, Eric,
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: that the Braves are, it's probably gonna be the Phillies
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: and the Braves jockeying for that number one spot. Look,
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: I as much as getting Juan Soto in terms of
• 9:20
  Speaker 1: you know what the Mets front office did. That is
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: all fine and well, and I think he is a
• 9:25
  Speaker 1: fantastic player, and who knows, he made bat three hundred
• 9:29
  Speaker 1: for the year. But just because Wan Soto is batting
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: three hundred doesn't mean that this Mets team is going
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: to be riding into the postseason with some sort of momentum.
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: I just baseball doesn't work that way. We know that.
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: You know, yes, offense is important, and one offensive weapon
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: isn't going to completely change the table for you. It
• 9:48
  Speaker 1: really matters in the postseason with pitching. And I just
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: don't I just don't think the Mets are gonna have it.
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: They're gonna struggle and things are gonna get in their heads.
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: Who knows what they're gonna do when the trade deadline
• 9:58
  Speaker 1: comes around. But I think if I had to pick
• 10:02
  Speaker 1: the two teams that are really going to be jocking
• 10:04
  Speaker 1: for a position, it'll probably be the Phillies and the Braves.
• 10:08
  Speaker 2: The Mets had the run last year, they signed one Soto,
• 10:11
  Speaker 2: expectations are through the roof, and if they come out
• 10:14
  Speaker 2: and they're kind of flat. They they play in a
• 10:17
  Speaker 2: city that it'll turn into an absolute like just a
• 10:21
  Speaker 2: hornet's nest with the press, and the fans will start
• 10:24
  Speaker 2: to go, oh no, oh boy, we gave one soda
• 10:28
  Speaker 2: six hundred million dollars and we scored three runs a game.
• 10:32
  Speaker 2: Their situation has an absolute possibility of being like not
• 10:36
  Speaker 2: a disaster like the Sixers, but like a minor disaster
• 10:39
  Speaker 2: where everyone starts to get by end of May and
• 10:42
  Speaker 2: they're five hundred and everyone's like, oh no, that Rue
• 10:45
  Speaker 2: was a fluke. We paid too much money for this guy.
• 10:48
  Speaker 2: Our ownership sucks, and like it could go south fast.
• 10:52
  Speaker 2: I'm banking on that. As a Phillies fan, I just
• 10:55
  Speaker 2: the consistency of the Phillies, and I don't like the
• 10:58
  Speaker 2: consistence of the Braves because they've are always damn good
• 11:01
  Speaker 2: and to have I mean, Strider and Akuna two seasons
• 11:04
  Speaker 2: ago were like the best on field player and best
• 11:07
  Speaker 2: pitcher in baseball team. They were not long ago.
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: They were unstoppable.
• 11:10
  Speaker 2: Yep, that's all I have. Chess.
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: Okay, that's it, all right, fantastic.
• 11:16
  Speaker 2: Well, okay, it's it's weird because because this mic I
• 11:20
  Speaker 2: have to like I have to dive to when I
• 11:22
  Speaker 2: stop talking, and it's like, Jeff, your turn and then
• 11:25
  Speaker 2: my turn, because you can't talk.
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: Of God, I hate Steve Harvey.
• 11:31
  Speaker 2: She wasn't a huge fan of his to begin with. Now
• 11:33
  Speaker 2: I really hate exactly.
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: Messing up our microphones here. All right, all right, well,
• 11:39
  Speaker 1: let's move on to the next topic that we wanted
• 11:42
  Speaker 1: to dive into with just some Eagles and some NFL talk. First,
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: I wanted to get into, of course, you know, where
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: the Eagles need to go with re signing some of
• 11:50
  Speaker 1: these players that you know are are going to be
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: free agents, and where they should really prioritize given that
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: big contract to And then we want to get to
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: the fact that the Green Bay Packers have introduced a
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: proposal to the NFL that would ban the tush push.
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: We want to give our thoughts on that unbelievable. But
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: first and foremost, there are four players, four players the
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: Eagles really do need to consider bringing back and resigning
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: long potentially to long term deals. Josh Sweat, Milton Williams,
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: Zach Bond, Mackai Becton. So wanted to discuss which of
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: these players really should be that top priority and I
• 12:31
  Speaker 1: want to really quick read an email from one of
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: our listeners, Lou. He shot us off an email this
• 12:38
  Speaker 1: past week after listening to some banter here at the
• 12:41
  Speaker 1: PST podcast show recently, and Lou said, I definitely want
• 12:45
  Speaker 1: Bond back, but there's a good reason to bring Becton
• 12:49
  Speaker 1: back to even for a high price. Johnson's getting old
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: playing be playing Becton good guard. Money allows him to
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: be here to replace Johnson if down the road after
• 13:01
  Speaker 1: more time learning from the offensive line coach. So, Lou,
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: thanks so much Buddy for reaching out to us. Appreciate
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: the email. Anybody else can email us. We'd love to
• 13:11
  Speaker 1: read your email here on the show Philadelphia Sports Table
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: at gmail dot com. Lou, I'm totally with you when
• 13:17
  Speaker 1: it comes to Zach Bonn. I actually do eric think
• 13:21
  Speaker 1: that that should be the number one priority for the Eagles.
• 13:23
  Speaker 1: And it's interesting how Howie Roseman this past week, as
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: you know, they're down at the Combine already bunch of
• 13:31
  Speaker 1: interviews going on. You know, he essentially said, in so
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: many ways, you know, we have to rethink what we're
• 13:37
  Speaker 1: doing year by year, and you can go back to
• 13:40
  Speaker 1: last year and a lot of us were so shocked
• 13:42
  Speaker 1: when they signed Saquon Barkley for an over twelve million
• 13:44
  Speaker 1: dollar a year contract when they had never given running
• 13:47
  Speaker 1: backs that type of contract, that type of attention. And
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: with Howie Roseman saying, you know, they go back to
• 13:54
  Speaker 1: the drawing board every year, and you know what, things
• 13:56
  Speaker 1: may change, the philosophy may actually change, leads me to
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: believe that because they had not prioritized linebacker for so
• 14:04
  Speaker 1: many years and did not know that Zach Bond would
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: be this valuable to the defense, leads me to believe
• 14:10
  Speaker 1: that one Zach Bond will be re signed. They're gonna
• 14:13
  Speaker 1: give him a nice size contract, and I think he's
• 14:16
  Speaker 1: gonna be here for some time. And while I do
• 14:20
  Speaker 1: think that's gonna happen, obviously hope that that is going
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: to happen. And look, Nikobe Dean, he took major strides
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: as a linebacker this season too, but he's rehabbing from
• 14:29
  Speaker 1: a knee injury. It's going to take a while for
• 14:31
  Speaker 1: him to come back. Plus there's already a known fit
• 14:35
  Speaker 1: and a clear comfort into Vic Fangio's defense. Looking further
• 14:39
  Speaker 1: down the depth chart with Orrin Burks, you know, Jeremiah
• 14:43
  Speaker 1: Trotter junior probably needs a couple more years of development,
• 14:46
  Speaker 1: but to solidify the linebacker spot that really helped the
• 14:49
  Speaker 1: Eagles get to the point where they were at in
• 14:51
  Speaker 1: terms of being able to play such solid defense where
• 14:54
  Speaker 1: they won the Super Bowl. I think Eric Zach Bonn
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: has to be the top priority. I don't know, maybe
• 14:59
  Speaker 1: you're thinking and something else too, and then now we'll
• 15:01
  Speaker 1: get into lose a response with regard to or or
• 15:04
  Speaker 1: as part of the email with regard to Makai Becton.
• 15:06
  Speaker 1: But what are your thoughts in terms of the top priority.
• 15:09
  Speaker 2: Listen, I Zach Bond was a beast this year, came
• 15:12
  Speaker 2: out of nowhere, an absolute like home run signing by
• 15:17
  Speaker 2: by by Howie. But I you know, I hate to
• 15:20
  Speaker 2: say it. I honestly think out of the four guys
• 15:24
  Speaker 2: listed here in the topics, I think Sweat and Becton
• 15:29
  Speaker 2: are one A and one BAL just because I number one,
• 15:33
  Speaker 2: they're not going to resign all four. It just never
• 15:35
  Speaker 2: happens every year. It's I honestly think you're gonna be
• 15:39
  Speaker 2: able to keep two of them. And if I had
• 15:41
  Speaker 2: to look at our depth chart, I'm not saying I
• 15:45
  Speaker 2: don't want any of these guys to go all preface right,
• 15:48
  Speaker 2: They're all super valuable, especially to a super Bowl winning team.
• 15:50
  Speaker 2: They all performed well during that last game. But you know,
• 15:54
  Speaker 2: depth wise, you have two stud defensive tackles, and Milton
• 16:00
  Speaker 2: is probably gonna get offered a major contract by some
• 16:02
  Speaker 2: other team, like I'm the Raiders tightens the top tier
• 16:06
  Speaker 2: teams or top I've at top tier in terms of
• 16:09
  Speaker 2: like top of the draft. Yeah, and have lots of
• 16:11
  Speaker 2: cap space, are gonna offer him a large amount of money.
• 16:15
  Speaker 2: And you have depth there Zach Bond as well. I
• 16:18
  Speaker 2: would love to see him back too, but he's gonna
• 16:20
  Speaker 2: be pretty expensive for that position. You have na Kobe Dean,
• 16:23
  Speaker 2: you have depth there. I think the Eagles, it is
• 16:26
  Speaker 2: a business in the end. They're gonna want to win
• 16:28
  Speaker 2: super Bowls going forward, and I think they're gonna they're
• 16:32
  Speaker 2: gonna say we have no one, like who's gonna take
• 16:35
  Speaker 2: Josh Sweat's spot?
• 16:37
  Speaker 1: We actually have a question. Yeah, that's that's a big
• 16:40
  Speaker 1: question for me. I think you look at free agency,
• 16:43
  Speaker 1: I think there is a free agent that is likely
• 16:45
  Speaker 1: to be coming him. Do I think it's gonna be
• 16:47
  Speaker 1: a rookie that's drafted. No, I don't. But the one
• 16:52
  Speaker 1: thing I think in terms of the line, this is
• 16:54
  Speaker 1: why I don't think they're gonna keep Milton Williams around,
• 16:57
  Speaker 1: is because Jalen Carter was so phenomenal and has developed
• 17:02
  Speaker 1: into such a phenomenal defensive tackle and in pass rusher
• 17:07
  Speaker 1: and just clogging up those those lanes that it allowed
• 17:12
  Speaker 1: other defensive linemen to really excel. And you know, I
• 17:16
  Speaker 1: don't know if what Milton Williams is going to be
• 17:18
  Speaker 1: able to do what he did this year and even
• 17:20
  Speaker 1: last year not having Carter right next to him. You know,
• 17:25
  Speaker 1: Josh Sweat, I don't know if he's going to be
• 17:27
  Speaker 1: able to have the consistency that he had. I mean,
• 17:30
  Speaker 1: quite frankly, I mean it was really like his super Bowl,
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: the Super Bowl, he was fantastic, bab the best game
• 17:35
  Speaker 1: of his career. Like, I don't know if the D
• 17:38
  Speaker 1: line guys are going to be able to have the
• 17:40
  Speaker 1: type of careers outside of Philadelphia that they have because
• 17:45
  Speaker 1: of Jalen Carter. And and it makes me think that
• 17:48
  Speaker 1: not that you just plug anybody in there, but you
• 17:51
  Speaker 1: can get somebody in free agency that can be a
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: real difference maker in the end, because Jalen Carter just
• 17:57
  Speaker 1: there's so much attention on him. Does that make since?
• 18:02
  Speaker 2: And speaking from the Eagles perspective, like I said, you
• 18:06
  Speaker 2: have no one to take Josh sweat spot if he walks.
• 18:09
  Speaker 2: Not that he's been the greatest Eagles defensive end in history,
• 18:12
  Speaker 2: but with Jalen Carter in the middle, he can perform
• 18:15
  Speaker 2: at a high level. I think the one guy in
• 18:17
  Speaker 2: the list that should absolutely take a contract with the
• 18:20
  Speaker 2: Eagles because it turned his entire career around is Makai Becton.
• 18:23
  Speaker 2: I think he'd be crazy to sign anywhere else, not
• 18:26
  Speaker 2: in the hands of our incredible offensive line coach. I
• 18:30
  Speaker 2: think he'd be making a grave professional error in going
• 18:33
  Speaker 2: somewhere else, and I'm pretty sure he knows it. He
• 18:37
  Speaker 2: was extremely emotional all year long and gave a lot
• 18:41
  Speaker 2: of thanks to the Eagles. I'm sure he got an
• 18:44
  Speaker 2: offer somewhere else, But if I was him, I would
• 18:47
  Speaker 2: definitely resign here. I think Williams thing true. It'd be
• 18:52
  Speaker 2: really smart of him to stay and play next to
• 18:54
  Speaker 2: Jailing Carter and have a great career. But I just
• 18:56
  Speaker 2: think he's going to get offered the amount of money
• 18:59
  Speaker 2: that he just not gonna get here in Philadelphia. That
• 19:02
  Speaker 2: like I could set my family off for life. Yeah,
• 19:05
  Speaker 2: with that next contract, and I and Zach Bond as well.
• 19:07
  Speaker 2: I just think he's gonna get and he was just
• 19:10
  Speaker 2: he was an absolute stud all year long. And some
• 19:13
  Speaker 2: team that needs a linebacker leader, you know, a tough
• 19:18
  Speaker 2: guy that has a bad off I have a bad
• 19:20
  Speaker 2: defense right now. I think it is going to offer
• 19:22
  Speaker 2: him a major sum of money. But if that happens,
• 19:26
  Speaker 2: right like I, if it keeps sweat and Beckton, you're
• 19:29
  Speaker 2: gonna have to take some some shots, you know, some
• 19:31
  Speaker 2: swings to the fence like they did this year, and
• 19:34
  Speaker 2: maybe you're gonna get another Zach Bond or another Milton
• 19:37
  Speaker 2: Williams signing or Mackai Becton. Probably not. That's I mean
• 19:42
  Speaker 2: to hit the lottery like four times in free agency
• 19:45
  Speaker 2: on like bargain basement pickups is huge. I mean that
• 19:50
  Speaker 2: teams don't typically do that. But then that sets you
• 19:53
  Speaker 2: up with the situations like this where oh hell, now
• 19:55
  Speaker 2: we got to pay these guys like sixty five million
• 19:58
  Speaker 2: a year like total if you had at their contract,
• 20:00
  Speaker 2: and the Eagles are really smart with the cap, and
• 20:03
  Speaker 2: you know, I think they're gonna go after Miles Garrett.
• 20:06
  Speaker 2: Maybe I think they're gonna try and keep this thing
• 20:09
  Speaker 2: going because they you know, they have a window of
• 20:11
  Speaker 2: like another three years probably with this core. Yeah, and
• 20:15
  Speaker 2: just start like filling the get no. If that happens,
• 20:18
  Speaker 2: like you could let Josh sweat walk, But if they
• 20:22
  Speaker 2: go conservative and just kind of like keep plugging in holes,
• 20:26
  Speaker 2: I go sweat backed in and then just kind of
• 20:28
  Speaker 2: figure out the rest.
• 20:29
  Speaker 1: Interesting. I think it's interesting. I think with Mackay Beckton
• 20:32
  Speaker 1: as well, and it depends on what his market is
• 20:35
  Speaker 1: going to be out there. The thing is that you know,
• 20:38
  Speaker 1: when he started this year, it was gonna be he
• 20:42
  Speaker 1: and Tyler Steen, and he just beat out Tyler Steen.
• 20:45
  Speaker 1: And I remember us thinking, Okay, what's gonna happen with
• 20:48
  Speaker 1: this right guard situation here? What is Mackai Becton gonna
• 20:51
  Speaker 1: be able to show us? And he really wasn't all
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: that great in terms of the beginning part of the season,
• 20:56
  Speaker 1: but boy did he develop because of Jeff Staltlin. That
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: Jeff Stotland University moniker is something that is very real.
• 21:05
  Speaker 1: And if Becton wasn't here, if there is a team
• 21:07
  Speaker 1: that decides to give him Buco Bucks to be a
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: right guard, somewhere else and Tyler Steen has to come in.
• 21:14
  Speaker 1: I believe we're going to see success. I think this
• 21:16
  Speaker 1: Eagles or this Eagles offensive line is going to see
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: success with just about anybody who they put on that line.
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: I mean, I don't mean to make it sound so simplistic,
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: but in terms of what lou was talking about in
• 21:27
  Speaker 1: his email, I just I don't think the time is
• 21:30
  Speaker 1: right for Lane Johnson. I would I just don't. I
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: don't think they need to replace or have drafted, even
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: in this coming draft, lane Johnson's replacement of the future.
• 21:43
  Speaker 1: I still think Lane Johnson has another two to three
• 21:45
  Speaker 1: years left in him. He is incredible, and he was
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: healthy for the majority of this year. Just a few
• 21:52
  Speaker 1: plays off the field, and he the Eagles training staff,
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: they did a fantastic job with all the play throughout
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: this entire season. And uh, I don't know. I I
• 22:04
  Speaker 1: would not pay McKay Beckton buco buco bucks. I would
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: hope that he would want to stay in Philadelphia, maybe
• 22:10
  Speaker 1: taken a little bit less. I'd love to see him there.
• 22:12
  Speaker 1: I'd love to see him continue to develop because he
• 22:15
  Speaker 1: was a he was a he was a little bit
• 22:17
  Speaker 1: above above average, right guard, but uh, I mean for me,
• 22:21
  Speaker 1: it's all about Zach Bond because I think he just
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: really transformed the defense. So I don't know, do you
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: have anything else, buddy here before we go to break.
• 22:29
  Speaker 2: Just real quick, I follow I follow Brian Baudinger on instagramming,
• 22:33
  Speaker 2: Oh yeah, he does a really great breakdown of every
• 22:36
  Speaker 2: week of the Eagles, and he did one of the
• 22:38
  Speaker 2: Super Bowl and he did want to McKai Beckton a
• 22:42
  Speaker 2: couple of them on Instagram, and I man, he was
• 22:46
  Speaker 2: an absolute monster in that game. And just watch it,
• 22:49
  Speaker 2: like the on the Hurts long pass to uh to
• 22:53
  Speaker 2: uh to Sanse Smith, Yeah, yeah, where he pulled U
• 22:59
  Speaker 2: Beckton pulled left and knocked like knocked the linebacker out,
• 23:04
  Speaker 2: And it's just I would just hope he would watch
• 23:07
  Speaker 2: that and be like, I've never been better professionally than
• 23:10
  Speaker 2: I am now, And I really owe everything to this,
• 23:14
  Speaker 2: to Stalin and this organization and will stick around because
• 23:18
  Speaker 2: I agree with Lou like he's young and if they
• 23:20
  Speaker 2: could keep him around when Lane Johnson's ready to kind
• 23:23
  Speaker 2: of move on, you know, financially, you could like this
• 23:29
  Speaker 2: contract would be up and the next one would be
• 23:30
  Speaker 2: ready when Lane Johnson's ready to retire, and that's when
• 23:34
  Speaker 2: you get like the major right tackle money, like the
• 23:38
  Speaker 2: Monster Bucks. I think professionally and just for personal reasons
• 23:43
  Speaker 2: that he should just stick with the Eagles and maybe
• 23:46
  Speaker 2: take take maybe a little less money on this one
• 23:48
  Speaker 2: and then get the major contract when when Lane's ready
• 23:51
  Speaker 2: to go.
• 23:51
  Speaker 1: All right, well moving along something, we hope that's going
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: to be sticking around. With regard to the Philadelphia Eagles,
• 23:57
  Speaker 1: his the tush push. But boy, the Green Bay Packers, boy,
• 24:01
  Speaker 1: they don't like that play at all. The Packers have
• 24:03
  Speaker 1: introduced a proposal to the NFL that would ban the
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: tush push. Nick Sirianni was talking about this, and I'm
• 24:09
  Speaker 1: gonna be honest, Sirianni hit some great talking points, and
• 24:12
  Speaker 1: of course, you know talking points are probably already planned out.
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: How are you gonna respond to this? But I really
• 24:18
  Speaker 1: thought it was very logical in terms of Sirianni saying,
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: we have worked hard to get this play where it
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: is at. We have worked hard with it. Just like
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: AJ Brown works hard to catch the balls that he catches.
• 24:35
  Speaker 1: You know, AJ Brown had two drops this year. That's it.
• 24:38
  Speaker 1: AJ Brown works hard at his job doing what he's doing.
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: The tush push and how we implement that play. The
• 24:44
  Speaker 1: guys have worked hard. We've all worked hard with it,
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: even said like Patrick Mahomes when he's making plays, like
• 24:51
  Speaker 1: when they're doing their trick plays, like they work hard
• 24:53
  Speaker 1: to do those type of plays, and you know those
• 24:58
  Speaker 1: plays aren't anywhere near. Uh. The threat quote that the
• 25:03
  Speaker 1: tush push is of being banned, But I just I
• 25:06
  Speaker 1: thought this was incredibly soft coming from the Green Bay
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: Packers and their owner or GM or whoever the hell
• 25:12
  Speaker 1: it was saying. Bart's Starr never had to do this.
• 25:16
  Speaker 1: You know. It's like Jesus, what era are we living
• 25:19
  Speaker 1: in here? So I think it's incredibly soft. I hope
• 25:23
  Speaker 1: it doesn't happen as boring as it is sometimes to
• 25:26
  Speaker 1: be like all right, tush push is coming up here.
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: All right, they're gonna get the first down, or okay,
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: they're gonna get the touchdown. It's still a touchdown, I know,
• 25:35
  Speaker 1: but it's this really is quite stupid in my opinion.
• 25:39
  Speaker 1: I don't know what are your thoughts, Buddy.
• 25:42
  Speaker 2: No offense to old school football, But like Bart Starr
• 25:46
  Speaker 2: was doing, like this statue of liberty plays, I mean,
• 25:48
  Speaker 2: let's he can perform NFL it's a joke, like take
• 25:54
  Speaker 2: a compare of that era to this era is ridiculous
• 25:58
  Speaker 2: and it's very fitting. The Packers are the ones interest
• 26:00
  Speaker 2: use this proposal because they're a quarterback Jordan Love to
• 26:05
  Speaker 2: quote the great classy Freddy Blassi is a pencil neck
• 26:08
  Speaker 2: geek and he weighs one hundred and twenty five pounds
• 26:13
  Speaker 2: soaking wet. They can't do that push push with him
• 26:15
  Speaker 2: because he's like he's bill like a pencil. Right, it
• 26:18
  Speaker 2: makes sense that they're they're they're up in arms over
• 26:20
  Speaker 2: this and for the rest of the NFL, I the
• 26:24
  Speaker 2: play's legal. The Eagles have mastered it, like Nick Serani said,
• 26:28
  Speaker 2: they worked really hard on it. And any other team
• 26:32
  Speaker 2: that complains about it, it's just you're like a first grader.
• 26:34
  Speaker 2: I don't like that. I don't I want to go
• 26:37
  Speaker 2: way like, that's not how this works. How about you?
• 26:40
  Speaker 2: How about you come up with something yourself right that
• 26:43
  Speaker 2: you that may help you score more, Like it's pretty base.
• 26:46
  Speaker 2: This is a pretty simple argument, like you can't do it,
• 26:50
  Speaker 2: so too bad, we can't, right, Yeah.
• 26:54
  Speaker 1: They should just come out on the field looking like
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: Steve Harvey and just surprise, everybody got Harvey's.
• 27:06
  Speaker 2: I did learn in uh the research, Steve Harvey's kind
• 27:09
  Speaker 2: of he's a bigger guy. You know, maybe he could
• 27:11
  Speaker 2: do the toush plush.
• 27:12
  Speaker 1: Could He probably could. He does look like a decent
• 27:15
  Speaker 1: sized gentleman.
• 27:18
  Speaker 2: In his green suit and like alligator skin.
• 27:21
  Speaker 1: Yes, by the way, I get some of those family
• 27:25
  Speaker 1: feud questions that come over like my my feet every
• 27:28
  Speaker 1: now and then, like on Instagram and stuff where he's like,
• 27:31
  Speaker 1: name something your wife tells you you shouldn't be touching
• 27:35
  Speaker 1: at dinner, and it's like you just want the contestants
• 27:40
  Speaker 1: to say like wiener or something. I don't know. I hope,
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: I hope that he does something like that.
• 27:47
  Speaker 2: Never, I never watched the show, but I get those
• 27:49
  Speaker 2: same things, and I'm like, that's the dirtiest ship I've
• 27:52
  Speaker 2: ever seen. It's a dirty show, yes, like guys being
• 27:55
  Speaker 2: like sit on my face, like whats this is on
• 28:00
  Speaker 2: a six o'clock on TV? Like what's happening on that show?
• 28:03
  Speaker 1: Exact? You put your thumb up some of his butt,
• 28:07
  Speaker 1: you know.
• 28:08
  Speaker 2: Yeah, like kids are watching it?
• 28:11
  Speaker 1: Yes, right, Well, we are gonna take a quick break.
• 28:14
  Speaker 1: But before that, if you are new to listening to
• 28:17
  Speaker 1: a subscribe on whatever podcast platform you are on listening
• 28:21
  Speaker 1: to us you get on Also head on over to
• 28:23
  Speaker 1: Philadelphia Sports Table dot com. We've got all of our
• 28:25
  Speaker 1: shows over there. You can follow Eric and I on
• 28:28
  Speaker 1: various social media sites. Over on Twitter, you can follow
• 28:31
  Speaker 1: Eric at brick Poly. You can follow me at Jeffrey Underscore,
• 28:34
  Speaker 1: Warren in the Show at Philadelphia PST. We are on
• 28:37
  Speaker 1: threads as well. You can follow Eric at Slen ten
• 28:40
  Speaker 1: twenty three. Can follow me at mister Jeffrey or no
• 28:43
  Speaker 1: at mister jeff Warren and the show at Philadelphia Sports Table.
• 28:48
  Speaker 1: We are going to take a break here and we'll
• 28:50
  Speaker 1: be back in just a bit. All right, we are back,
• 28:54
  Speaker 1: and we're gonna dive into some sixers in NBA talk
• 28:58
  Speaker 1: right now. At this point, there are some surprising storylines
• 29:02
  Speaker 1: at this juncture in the NBA season, and quite frankly,
• 29:08
  Speaker 1: it's amazed me how the New York Knicks they have
• 29:12
  Speaker 1: what I think like a thirty eight and twenty record
• 29:14
  Speaker 1: this season, that they're not a very shiny team, but
• 29:18
  Speaker 1: they're a team who despite their record, they're like zero
• 29:21
  Speaker 1: to seven against the combination of teams like Boston, Cleveland,
• 29:26
  Speaker 1: Oklahoma City, teams that are real contenders in the NBA,
• 29:32
  Speaker 1: and then of course you have a shocker with the
• 29:36
  Speaker 1: Detroit Pistons, a shocker by a mile. The Pistons were
• 29:39
  Speaker 1: one of the worst teams in the history of sports
• 29:42
  Speaker 1: last year, and I believe there's something like thirty two
• 29:45
  Speaker 1: and twenty six right now, they've won like seven straight
• 29:49
  Speaker 1: games and they are comfortably in a playoff spot. And
• 29:54
  Speaker 1: then you have, of course the favorites to possibly win
• 29:58
  Speaker 1: the NBA Championship, whether it's Okay see, whether it's the
• 30:03
  Speaker 1: Boston Celtics, and of course we're going to get into
• 30:05
  Speaker 1: the Philadelphia seventy six ers, who certainly had high hopes
• 30:08
  Speaker 1: for this season and they are just in the toilet
• 30:11
  Speaker 1: at this point here. But Eric, I mean, in terms
• 30:14
  Speaker 1: of the stories that have been like really surprising to me,
• 30:17
  Speaker 1: I mean, it really is the Detroit Pistons. And I
• 30:20
  Speaker 1: never thought Tobias Harris would would get the team to
• 30:23
  Speaker 1: this point. Kidding, of course, but Jesus, I didn't think Detroit,
• 30:28
  Speaker 1: after the season they had last year, would get to
• 30:31
  Speaker 1: the point where, I mean, again, they're going to comfortably
• 30:33
  Speaker 1: make the playoffs this year and the postseason. I honestly
• 30:37
  Speaker 1: didn't see that coming.
• 30:38
  Speaker 2: I mean, I think the biggest surprise would be the
• 30:40
  Speaker 2: Calves and just how dominant they've been this year.
• 30:43
  Speaker 1: You think, so, okay, forty there's six half.
• 30:47
  Speaker 2: Teams up in the Eastern Conference. I think they're the
• 30:49
  Speaker 2: top team in the league. Just pulling that up now,
• 30:52
  Speaker 2: Yeah they have Okay, see by one game, Yeah, okay, see,
• 30:56
  Speaker 2: not as surprise at all. I think the Calves are
• 30:58
  Speaker 2: a big one. Memphis is the fourth best team in
• 31:01
  Speaker 2: the league. That's Karen Jackson. Yeah, yeah, Jaron Jackson Junior
• 31:05
  Speaker 2: has just been a beast this year. He's a free
• 31:07
  Speaker 2: agent that's going to be a huge, huge contract. Denver consistent.
• 31:13
  Speaker 2: But yeah, I think the Knicks. The Knicks have the
• 31:16
  Speaker 2: fourth best record right now in the NBA, right there
• 31:20
  Speaker 2: with Memphis and Denver. But if you watch them, I'm
• 31:23
  Speaker 2: not not blown away by them. And I think I
• 31:26
  Speaker 2: think Tibbs and how he runs his starters into the
• 31:29
  Speaker 2: ground is going to become an issue.
• 31:31
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 31:31
  Speaker 2: We're not even a march yet and they're already starting
• 31:34
  Speaker 2: to look a little tired. Towns is not Towns is
• 31:38
  Speaker 2: not a grinder by any stretch. You know, He's got
• 31:41
  Speaker 2: some grinders on that team that can do forty minutes
• 31:43
  Speaker 2: a game. But like, I think Towns is going to
• 31:45
  Speaker 2: start to wear down. I wish Houston would have done
• 31:48
  Speaker 2: a couple of moves honestly to they're they're a good
• 31:52
  Speaker 2: team right now. I wouldn't want play him in the
• 31:54
  Speaker 2: playoffs because they play really hard and tough, just like
• 31:56
  Speaker 2: the Pistons, who are I think they have about the
• 31:59
  Speaker 2: same record. You're right though, the Distins are like last season,
• 32:04
  Speaker 2: like the last few seasons, they were atrocious. They were
• 32:08
  Speaker 2: a team where, yeah, well I have the NBA package,
• 32:12
  Speaker 2: the league pass, and they were always like one of
• 32:14
  Speaker 2: the first teams. It was like this Sins Whizzards of like, nope,
• 32:18
  Speaker 2: not watching this, Like I don't like shitty basketball, so
• 32:22
  Speaker 2: I didn't watch those games. But they are legit fun
• 32:25
  Speaker 2: to watch. They played hard to sell, They're really tough.
• 32:28
  Speaker 2: They I think they have a guy in the team
• 32:31
  Speaker 2: nicknames roast Beef for something like it's a perfect Detroit
• 32:35
  Speaker 2: team and they have a superstar in place. Kate Cunningham
• 32:38
  Speaker 2: is an absolute stud, yes, but take him over any
• 32:41
  Speaker 2: six or superstars, even Maxie. Right now, I put superstars
• 32:47
  Speaker 2: in quotes because the Sixers have none right now. I
• 32:50
  Speaker 2: think the Lakers, unfortunately, are gonna be scary that they
• 32:54
  Speaker 2: If you have Luca, if you have at least Luca
• 32:57
  Speaker 2: or Lebron on the court at all times, like you're
• 33:01
  Speaker 2: gonna be good. There's just no way around it. But yeah,
• 33:04
  Speaker 2: i'd say Detroit is the biggest, like underdog surprise, ye,
• 33:10
  Speaker 2: But I still think it's gonna wind up being OKAYC
• 33:12
  Speaker 2: in Boston in the finals, which will be a great
• 33:16
  Speaker 2: final series. Okay See is scary as hell. They got
• 33:20
  Speaker 2: chet back. Defensively, They're They're just monstrous. Sga is going
• 33:25
  Speaker 2: to be the the MVP of this year. I think
• 33:28
  Speaker 2: there's no doubt he's reached that point where, oh I
• 33:33
  Speaker 2: need to score forty two tonight for us to win.
• 33:34
  Speaker 2: Okay cool, I'll just do it like he is. He
• 33:38
  Speaker 2: is an astoundingly good basketball player and I love watching
• 33:41
  Speaker 2: him play. He can score wherever he wants to in
• 33:43
  Speaker 2: the court. I could go on and on about the NBA, Jeff,
• 33:45
  Speaker 2: because you know that's my thing. I know.
• 33:47
  Speaker 1: Yeah, we had a question with I had a question
• 33:50
  Speaker 1: I wanted to bounce off of you because I read
• 33:52
  Speaker 1: I read something about okay See and they currently have
• 33:55
  Speaker 1: the greatest margin of victory in NBA history at this time.
• 34:00
  Speaker 1: Teams that win like this usually win the title, but
• 34:04
  Speaker 1: the Thunder may be in a similar situation like the
• 34:08
  Speaker 1: Bucks were before they traded for Drew Holliday. Just regular
• 34:11
  Speaker 1: season dominance rarely puts them in close games, but it
• 34:17
  Speaker 1: kind of gets them unprepared for the tightness of what
• 34:20
  Speaker 1: postseason basketball is. And I wonder if we should be
• 34:23
  Speaker 1: feeling that way towards OKC at this point.
• 34:27
  Speaker 2: I would say so. But the difference is defensively, they're
• 34:32
  Speaker 2: so height on defense, like they just shut teams down.
• 34:36
  Speaker 2: They're that scary combination that they score fast and they
• 34:39
  Speaker 2: can shut you down. Defensively, Sga has never been a
• 34:42
  Speaker 2: good defender. They've put guys around him that they're just
• 34:45
  Speaker 2: perfect complimentary players for his style. That's on the defensive end.
• 34:50
  Speaker 2: They can hide him. They could put him on the
• 34:52
  Speaker 2: other team's worst player and it doesn't matter. So I
• 34:56
  Speaker 2: think they're going to be an outlier in that regard. Well,
• 35:00
  Speaker 2: you know, we'll see what they're gonna have to, Like,
• 35:03
  Speaker 2: they're gonna have to play Denver in a seven game series.
• 35:05
  Speaker 2: That's to stop Jokic is ridiculous, Like he's he's one
• 35:09
  Speaker 2: of the best players of all time. That's gonna be
• 35:12
  Speaker 2: a real challenge. I think Memphis is gonna be tough,
• 35:14
  Speaker 2: and there's some really hard nose, tough teams in the
• 35:18
  Speaker 2: West that are gonna give Okay, brook See is tough
• 35:20
  Speaker 2: of shit too. I think their biggest I think their
• 35:23
  Speaker 2: biggest hurdle is gonna be if they get to the
• 35:26
  Speaker 2: finals and have to play Boston. Boston again, I watched
• 35:30
  Speaker 2: them the other night. Just kicked the shit out of
• 35:32
  Speaker 2: the Knicks. Yeah, that was the game. I'm like, are
• 35:35
  Speaker 2: the Knicks for real? I don't know, man, Like they
• 35:37
  Speaker 2: were done about like twenty four points at one point,
• 35:39
  Speaker 2: and I'm like Towns was lipping off the court, and
• 35:41
  Speaker 2: I'm like, man, this is not good all I care
• 35:43
  Speaker 2: about right now. Honestly, the Sixers have lost ninth straight.
• 35:47
  Speaker 2: You need to lose nineteen straight, yep, Like, because guess
• 35:51
  Speaker 2: who's gonna get your pick if you're out of the
• 35:54
  Speaker 2: top six the best team in the league that we
• 35:56
  Speaker 2: just talked about, Okay, see, that is sickening that they
• 35:59
  Speaker 2: get the Sixers and they have like twenty first round
• 36:02
  Speaker 2: picks after that. Yeah, like that that is a scary
• 36:06
  Speaker 2: franchise because they're good. Now they have cap space. They
• 36:10
  Speaker 2: can basically go out and get whatever hell player they
• 36:13
  Speaker 2: want with the treasure trove of like cap space and
• 36:16
  Speaker 2: picks that they have. It's sickening as as Sixers fan.
• 36:19
  Speaker 1: It's a good segue into the fact that I mean,
• 36:22
  Speaker 1: we're gonna get into I don't know how much we
• 36:24
  Speaker 1: want to get into this dog shit team, but it's
• 36:27
  Speaker 1: rehab has failed to improve Joil and Beads health all
• 36:31
  Speaker 1: of this season. It's a storyline We've been talking about
• 36:34
  Speaker 1: all freaking year. It's the most disappointing season that we
• 36:38
  Speaker 1: can remember as Sixers fans. For sure, they have to
• 36:41
  Speaker 1: shut him down at this point. I mean, common sense says,
• 36:45
  Speaker 1: you have to shut him down, let him heal, and
• 36:48
  Speaker 1: then let's see what happens next year. At this point,
• 36:52
  Speaker 1: how the rehab has failed the way that it has
• 36:56
  Speaker 1: is absolutely baffling to me. With the medical facilities that
• 36:59
  Speaker 1: are down in Philadelphia, I don't know. I don't have
• 37:03
  Speaker 1: inside information about what he's doing in terms of physical
• 37:06
  Speaker 1: therapy or how he's treating his knee, what the rehab
• 37:11
  Speaker 1: consists of. And look, I'm not saying these these facilities
• 37:15
  Speaker 1: are dogship by any stretch. However, it's just amazes me
• 37:20
  Speaker 1: that you're franchise player and a guy that you just
• 37:24
  Speaker 1: re signed to a max huge long term deal, You've
• 37:29
  Speaker 1: failed to improve his health in any way, shape or
• 37:32
  Speaker 1: form over all of these months. And we're at this
• 37:36
  Speaker 1: tipping point right now, where like you were just talking
• 37:39
  Speaker 1: about Eric, that OKAC pick, like, what's gonna happen with it?
• 37:43
  Speaker 1: They have to bottom out here at this point. They
• 37:46
  Speaker 1: have to bottom out and I don't even know in
• 37:48
  Speaker 1: terms of the NBA draft, like you know, top five,
• 37:51
  Speaker 1: Like what's going to be happening with the top five players?
• 37:54
  Speaker 1: I don't even know at this point. But they have
• 37:57
  Speaker 1: to put him on the shelf. And this needs to
• 38:00
  Speaker 1: be a tank job from here on out. It absolutely
• 38:03
  Speaker 1: needs to happen.
• 38:05
  Speaker 2: Particular draft is like it's not as good as the
• 38:08
  Speaker 2: Wimby Draft, but it is infinitely better than last year's draft,
• 38:12
  Speaker 2: where they're like the Rookie of the Year run right,
• 38:15
  Speaker 2: Like I have no idea what the Rookie the Years
• 38:17
  Speaker 2: could be this year. This is one of the worst
• 38:18
  Speaker 2: drafts in ages. Stephan Castle might beat the Rookie of
• 38:22
  Speaker 2: the Year and he I don't think he even starts,
• 38:24
  Speaker 2: that's how bad it is. But like you have to
• 38:28
  Speaker 2: be in the top five because there's five legit starters
• 38:31
  Speaker 2: in this draft coming up. You don't get Cooper Flagger's
• 38:35
  Speaker 2: plenty of players there. The nice thing is like they
• 38:41
  Speaker 2: don't even have to bottom out like they did back
• 38:43
  Speaker 2: in like the worst of the you know, the processed days,
• 38:48
  Speaker 2: like I.
• 38:49
  Speaker 1: Wanted to do it.
• 38:50
  Speaker 2: Yeah, but they have some good players. But the thing
• 38:54
  Speaker 2: is that they're playing so horribly and they've given up
• 38:56
  Speaker 2: on their coach. The Bulls game the other night, I
• 38:59
  Speaker 2: watched it with my on and they get where they
• 39:02
  Speaker 2: were down by fifty points at one point, and I'm like, oh,
• 39:04
  Speaker 2: this is over. Like they weren't even playing hard. The guys,
• 39:08
  Speaker 2: the guys on the bench that went in in the
• 39:10
  Speaker 2: second half that are fighting for contracts next season, they
• 39:14
  Speaker 2: weren't even playing hard. And I'm like, oh, like they've
• 39:17
  Speaker 2: completely the nick Nurse has completely lost the team. Like
• 39:20
  Speaker 2: that's over. So don't fire him, Like keep them in
• 39:23
  Speaker 2: house so you can keep being shitty. Obviously, like he
• 39:28
  Speaker 2: can fight for his job all he wants. He's he's
• 39:29
  Speaker 2: done at the end of the year. But like I
• 39:33
  Speaker 2: think they're gonna bought him out without even trying to
• 39:35
  Speaker 2: bought him out, because they are just not very good.
• 39:37
  Speaker 2: Speaking of Embiid, I was wondering his freehab stuff like
• 39:43
  Speaker 2: it's so bad that I was actually like, is freehab
• 39:47
  Speaker 2: like fifth grade gym class? Stuff? Like? Is he doing
• 39:51
  Speaker 2: like the tripod?
• 39:53
  Speaker 1: Oh god?
• 39:55
  Speaker 2: Is he playing with a big parachute? Remember he used
• 39:57
  Speaker 2: to the parish. The whole class would do a parachute
• 40:00
  Speaker 2: to balls in the middle. Is that this guy's rehab
• 40:02
  Speaker 2: at this point, because he looks like he's eighty five
• 40:05
  Speaker 2: years old on the door. Yes, he's falling over six
• 40:09
  Speaker 2: or seven times a game he gets He thinks he
• 40:12
  Speaker 2: gets fouled every single time he's taken underhand layups. He's
• 40:15
  Speaker 2: seven to by the way, And I don't know what
• 40:17
  Speaker 2: the hell's going on with him. Maybe he's so physically
• 40:20
  Speaker 2: beat up that he just has notes two of himself.
• 40:22
  Speaker 2: And I, unfortunately, I think I've told you before on
• 40:25
  Speaker 2: the show. I just think it's over for him of
• 40:28
  Speaker 2: him being like an elite player. And unfortunately, I think
• 40:32
  Speaker 2: he's going to like be walking with a gain by
• 40:34
  Speaker 2: forty five years old. He just looks so bad out
• 40:38
  Speaker 2: there and I'm hoping that they should just shut him
• 40:41
  Speaker 2: down today. They should have done it weeks ago. Have
• 40:43
  Speaker 2: the surgery. See what you got next year. He's under contract.
• 40:47
  Speaker 2: You can't trade him. Just just do it. Let Paul
• 40:50
  Speaker 2: George score twenty points and do eighty YouTube videos a
• 40:53
  Speaker 2: week and just keep losing and keep losing and keep losing.
• 40:56
  Speaker 2: That that's your only hope for this team. What a disaster.
• 40:59
  Speaker 2: And thank god the Eagles won, because what the fuck
• 41:03
  Speaker 2: are we looking forward to until the Philly start?
• 41:05
  Speaker 1: Exactly exactly? Well, the Flyers, there's some good stuff. I'd
• 41:11
  Speaker 1: bean boy, they can't crap out of the Pens this week.
• 41:14
  Speaker 1: Oh my gosh, Tuesday Night only Cow. It was great
• 41:17
  Speaker 1: watching that game. I love I just love seeing the
• 41:21
  Speaker 1: Pens go down whenever when I don't care if it's
• 41:25
  Speaker 1: due to the Flyers or another NHL team. I just
• 41:28
  Speaker 1: hate the Pens so much. In Sydney Crosby, I do too.
• 41:32
  Speaker 2: And I remember when I lived out in Pittsburgh for
• 41:34
  Speaker 2: two years. They're their fans are a little obnoxious are
• 41:39
  Speaker 2: They played the Flyers in the playoffs my first year
• 41:41
  Speaker 2: I lived there, and uh, I just remember walking like
• 41:44
  Speaker 2: I was actually gonna wear like a Flyer shirt. The
• 41:46
  Speaker 2: one day I got this uplay to go to work
• 41:48
  Speaker 2: and I'm like, nah, you know what not gonna yeah,
• 41:52
  Speaker 2: because Penn's fans walking on like I know it's gonna happen, Like, no,
• 41:56
  Speaker 2: don't be stupid, dude, right, you know you know what's
• 41:58
  Speaker 2: gonna happen exactly.
• 42:00
  Speaker 1: All right, buddy, Well, I'm gonna let you head out
• 42:01
  Speaker 1: of here. We are going to get into some Flyers talk.
• 42:04
  Speaker 1: We have got Russ Cohen from the Locked On Flyers
• 42:08
  Speaker 1: podcast and uh uh, he's got He's got a new
• 42:11
  Speaker 1: book too that is coming out, so that's gonna be
• 42:14
  Speaker 1: interesting to talk about. But buddy, before I let you
• 42:17
  Speaker 1: go here, any last final thoughts.
• 42:21
  Speaker 2: Good thing, I'll start watching the Flyers. So this game's
• 42:23
  Speaker 2: on TV or do they show those on?
• 42:25
  Speaker 1: Well only on cathode ray Tube TVs. That's all you
• 42:34
  Speaker 1: can watch them on.
• 42:36
  Speaker 2: Just real quick. Like, I did notice that I was
• 42:38
  Speaker 2: looking at the box score for the six Ers and
• 42:40
  Speaker 2: I'm like, I just noticed Nnie Walker juniors on this team. Yeah,
• 42:45
  Speaker 2: writing of writing high school? Yes, And I'm like, are
• 42:49
  Speaker 2: we approaching twenty thirteen process six Ers basketball? Again? I
• 42:52
  Speaker 2: didn't know they signed him.
• 42:54
  Speaker 1: Oh, really missed it. They signed him a couple of
• 42:57
  Speaker 1: weeks ago.
• 42:59
  Speaker 2: Okay, you know things are going south when I'm a
• 43:02
  Speaker 2: huge Sixers family. Oh on the team And who the
• 43:07
  Speaker 2: hell's do Roddy? What the hell's going on with this team?
• 43:10
  Speaker 1: Do Roddy? Who the hell is that? I don't know
• 43:14
  Speaker 1: who that is?
• 43:14
  Speaker 2: I don't know.
• 43:15
  Speaker 1: Jesus God. All right, maybe they are, Roddy. I don't
• 43:18
  Speaker 1: want him to win another game.
• 43:22
  Speaker 2: David, Roddy. They have Jared Butler. I mean, this is awesome.
• 43:26
  Speaker 2: What a squad.
• 43:28
  Speaker 1: Tank it out? Yes, Oh my gosh. All right, we're
• 43:32
  Speaker 1: gonna take a quick break and when we get back,
• 43:34
  Speaker 1: we're gonna get into some Flyers talk. Stick with us,
• 43:38
  Speaker 1: all right, we are back. Let's getting some Philadelphia Flyers
• 43:42
  Speaker 1: talk and what is going on with this team after
• 43:45
  Speaker 1: the break and with the remainder of this season is
• 43:47
  Speaker 1: going to look like for this team. It's what we're
• 43:49
  Speaker 1: thrown down on the table and now on the table.
• 43:55
  Speaker 1: Joining us this week to get into this Philadelphia Flyers
• 43:58
  Speaker 1: team and what may be happening with various elements of
• 44:00
  Speaker 1: this team in the future. We have from the Lucked
• 44:04
  Speaker 1: On Flyers podcast. He is also over at the NHL
• 44:08
  Speaker 1: Network radio over at Sirius XM. And he also has
• 44:12
  Speaker 1: a new book out called Game Winners. We've got the
• 44:14
  Speaker 1: one and only Russ Cohen Russ Buddy, How you doing, man?
• 44:17
  Speaker 3: Good Jeff? How are you here?
• 44:18
  Speaker 1: I'm doing all right? Man. Look, you've got this new book,
• 44:20
  Speaker 1: Game Winners, coming out. Talk a little bit about it
• 44:22
  Speaker 1: and let folks know where they can find it, because
• 44:25
  Speaker 1: I know you've got some Flyers pieces within that book
• 44:28
  Speaker 1: as well.
• 44:29
  Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, it's it's out.
• 44:31
  Speaker 4: We ranked the top fifty game winning goals of all time,
• 44:33
  Speaker 4: so we basically that includes Olympics, and we included you know,
• 44:37
  Speaker 4: outdoor games so things like that, but just really just Olympics.
• 44:41
  Speaker 4: In NHL though, we didn't get crazy, so there's no Paul.
• 44:44
  Speaker 4: You know, there's no seventy two Summit series. You know,
• 44:47
  Speaker 4: none of that, right, But yeah, there's Flyers like twenty ten.
• 44:52
  Speaker 4: Twenty ten's in there when they beat the Rangers. I
• 44:54
  Speaker 4: covered that game, so that one, that one's in there.
• 44:57
  Speaker 4: You got Premos five overtime, you got Gany's Was that
• 45:00
  Speaker 4: an overtime goal?
• 45:01
  Speaker 2: I think you think that?
• 45:02
  Speaker 1: Yeah?
• 45:03
  Speaker 4: Yeah, And that turned that whole series. That even though
• 45:06
  Speaker 4: that series was turning, but that was a big and so, yeah,
• 45:09
  Speaker 4: so we have stuff like that. We got Bobby Orr's goal.
• 45:12
  Speaker 4: You know, there's a lot of famous goals, but we
• 45:14
  Speaker 4: also rate them. So after whatever myself or my cowuthor
• 45:20
  Speaker 4: Matthew Blittinger, after we wrote about it, then we both
• 45:23
  Speaker 4: sort of you know, talked about the goal and gave
• 45:25
  Speaker 4: it a rating nice. And so I think that's something
• 45:29
  Speaker 4: that some people have liked because it gets your you know,
• 45:33
  Speaker 4: our opinion on it. So as an example, like the
• 45:35
  Speaker 4: Bobby Your goal, you know, he didn't fly through the
• 45:37
  Speaker 4: air and scored the goal. He got tripped and afterwards
• 45:40
  Speaker 4: he scored the goal and got tripped and then that
• 45:42
  Speaker 4: made that picture. But that didn't make that goal right,
• 45:46
  Speaker 4: but you know there was a flying through the air
• 45:48
  Speaker 4: goal well, I mean be off the chart, off the charts.
• 45:50
  Speaker 1: Yes, absolutely, So.
• 45:52
  Speaker 3: People could pick it up at Amazon dot com.
• 45:54
  Speaker 4: It's out now, and or if they want to sign copy,
• 45:56
  Speaker 4: they could just DM me some fan club too. I
• 45:59
  Speaker 4: don't know if anybody's listening from the Flyers Faring Club,
• 46:01
  Speaker 4: they'll find out about it too.
• 46:03
  Speaker 1: Awesome sounds good again, folks, Game Winners. Russ doing a
• 46:06
  Speaker 1: fantastic job there. But Buddy, I want to get into
• 46:09
  Speaker 1: this Flyer season now that we're done with the break
• 46:12
  Speaker 1: and really talk about where this team is going to
• 46:14
  Speaker 1: be going from here. I mean, the one thing that
• 46:17
  Speaker 1: you and your podcast host Rachel had mentioned on the
• 46:21
  Speaker 1: Lockdown Flyers podcast recently was about certain members of this
• 46:25
  Speaker 1: Flyers team just needing that break, and in particular, you
• 46:30
  Speaker 1: mentioned one particular guy, Matt ved Mitchkov was number one
• 46:33
  Speaker 1: on your list in terms of a guy who needed
• 46:35
  Speaker 1: some rest. This is the most that Beachkov has ever
• 46:38
  Speaker 1: played in his life, and you could really see him
• 46:40
  Speaker 1: hitting that wall. So I'm wondering how should we be
• 46:43
  Speaker 1: viewing Beachkov, his production and his overall development from now
• 46:48
  Speaker 1: until the end of the season.
• 46:50
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I think right right now, he's again like he
• 46:53
  Speaker 4: was at the beginning of the year, shot out of Buchanan.
• 46:55
  Speaker 4: You know, he had the you know, thirteen days rest
• 46:58
  Speaker 4: and it's great, but he's the most games he's ever
• 47:01
  Speaker 4: played is fifty in the MHL, right, so when you know,
• 47:04
  Speaker 4: when he hits game seventy something, he may hit another wall,
• 47:07
  Speaker 4: like that's going to be normal, And so that could
• 47:10
  Speaker 4: be a situation where right maybe he starts slowing down again.
• 47:13
  Speaker 4: Point Wise, you know, he's definitely playing better away from
• 47:16
  Speaker 4: the puck. I think there's a point though, where they
• 47:18
  Speaker 4: can't focus too much on that, because again I just
• 47:22
  Speaker 4: go back and say, you know, how much defense did
• 47:24
  Speaker 4: Yaromir Yagur play, How much you know defense to Mario
• 47:28
  Speaker 4: Lemoux play?
• 47:28
  Speaker 3: You gotta do some, and he's doing some.
• 47:30
  Speaker 4: And I think at some point now I noticed, you know,
• 47:33
  Speaker 4: a couple of games ago, not not last night's game,
• 47:35
  Speaker 4: but a couple of games ago, he was starting to
• 47:37
  Speaker 4: cheat again, and I guess it was okay.
• 47:39
  Speaker 3: Now when it wasn't before.
• 47:42
  Speaker 4: So because again that's in his nature, like he's gonna cheat,
• 47:45
  Speaker 4: like Lemieux used to cheat. Like that's just it's going
• 47:48
  Speaker 4: to happen, and you hope you don't get victimized, you know,
• 47:51
  Speaker 4: when it happens. But I think right now is development's
• 47:53
  Speaker 4: really good. I did write something on the Hockey News
• 47:56
  Speaker 4: because I do Canadians writing for them and about Demadov,
• 47:59
  Speaker 4: and I think he's kind of in a way, sort
• 48:03
  Speaker 4: of sort of helping Demidov, and Demodov watches him. I
• 48:07
  Speaker 4: think he could figure out what to expect and they're
• 48:10
  Speaker 4: different players, like it's just you know again, it's like
• 48:12
  Speaker 4: it's like a prisotn pnar and they're not the same players.
• 48:15
  Speaker 4: Both be Rushian, they're going to score in different ways,
• 48:18
  Speaker 4: and those two are too. But I do think, you know,
• 48:20
  Speaker 4: Mitch Coop's kind of paving the way for him when
• 48:22
  Speaker 4: he gets over here. I think if the Canadians paid attention,
• 48:24
  Speaker 4: or if Demidov calls Mitchkob, I think he'll learn a lot.
• 48:27
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I think you make some really great points. And
• 48:29
  Speaker 1: moving along with the conversation here, Russ I wanted to
• 48:33
  Speaker 1: talk about Sean Couturier because it seems that he is
• 48:36
  Speaker 1: at a point where he may be needing to take
• 48:39
  Speaker 1: some games off here and there. I may be mistaken
• 48:41
  Speaker 1: about this, and you can certainly set me straight here.
• 48:44
  Speaker 1: He recently scored his two hundredth goal of his career,
• 48:47
  Speaker 1: which was really awesome to watch. But he's no Spring
• 48:50
  Speaker 1: Chicken anymore, you know, I don't know. I don't necessarily
• 48:52
  Speaker 1: want to say he's on the wrong side of thirty,
• 48:54
  Speaker 1: But do you see towards giving Coots maybe some games
• 48:58
  Speaker 1: off here and there. As we're looking towards this latter part,
• 49:01
  Speaker 1: of the season. How do you see him in terms
• 49:03
  Speaker 1: of his game where it's going really playing out here?
• 49:06
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean he benefited from the rest.
• 49:08
  Speaker 4: He came out looking like an old like the old
• 49:11
  Speaker 4: Shawn Gatory instead of an old show Katari. And the
• 49:13
  Speaker 4: only reason he looks old is because he's had those
• 49:15
  Speaker 4: back issues and other nagging injuries, and it's taken a toll.
• 49:19
  Speaker 4: You know, even though last night's game they killed in
• 49:23
  Speaker 4: that one, he's starting to slow down already.
• 49:26
  Speaker 1: Yeah, yep.
• 49:27
  Speaker 4: And so I do think he needs like three on
• 49:29
  Speaker 4: one off, no back to backs, things like that. But
• 49:32
  Speaker 4: Towrts just doesn't seem to want to do that, and
• 49:34
  Speaker 4: Katori is never going to ask to do right. But
• 49:37
  Speaker 4: I think if you want to get the most out
• 49:38
  Speaker 4: of him, I think you have to do that. But again,
• 49:41
  Speaker 4: I don't know if it's going to happen with this coach,
• 49:43
  Speaker 4: but I do feel like that's the future for him.
• 49:45
  Speaker 4: I know what happens all the time with NBA players
• 49:47
  Speaker 4: and load management, and I think you kind of have
• 49:50
  Speaker 4: to look at Katoria that way.
• 49:51
  Speaker 1: It really depends on where they view him, not just
• 49:54
  Speaker 1: next year and possibly the following year as well, and
• 49:58
  Speaker 1: how he is going to be managing into or how
• 50:02
  Speaker 1: he's going to be fitting into the play I'd like,
• 50:04
  Speaker 1: I told Rachel when she was on the pod recently,
• 50:07
  Speaker 1: I'm starting to really hate using the word rebuild a lot,
• 50:10
  Speaker 1: you know, I'm liking to use that he's restructuring perhaps,
• 50:13
  Speaker 1: you know, restructuring for the future. It is, it is.
• 50:17
  Speaker 3: It makes you feel better, if you sleep better at night.
• 50:19
  Speaker 1: There you go, exactly. But when it comes to Sean Katoria,
• 50:22
  Speaker 1: you look at the restructuring that's going to be going
• 50:24
  Speaker 1: on over the next two to three years, He's probably
• 50:26
  Speaker 1: not going to be the focal point, right, No.
• 50:29
  Speaker 4: But he's still an important guy and true, yeah, I
• 50:31
  Speaker 4: still want him as a second or third line center,
• 50:33
  Speaker 4: like he was winning face offs last night against Pittsburgh
• 50:36
  Speaker 4: and he's still good. But every game he'll start slipping
• 50:40
  Speaker 4: a little bit and a little bit. And that's just
• 50:43
  Speaker 4: the way it is. You know, he's not going to
• 50:44
  Speaker 4: have you know, remember, I don't know how long ago
• 50:46
  Speaker 4: it was. It was maybe like a month or so ago.
• 50:49
  Speaker 4: He had that other big game where he had a
• 50:50
  Speaker 4: couple of goals and yes, great, and then you know,
• 50:54
  Speaker 4: and then it was just like it was okay, and
• 50:56
  Speaker 4: that's you know, that's unfortunately where he's at. But he's
• 50:59
  Speaker 4: still a useful good defensively, still good on bace offs,
• 51:03
  Speaker 4: and that's something you could still utilize absolutely well.
• 51:06
  Speaker 1: Russ, I'd really like to get into the new guys
• 51:09
  Speaker 1: who are on this team, Jacob Peltier Andrecuzmenko. I mean,
• 51:13
  Speaker 1: we saw Peltier make his debut this past week after
• 51:16
  Speaker 1: all the nonsense stuff with the visa paperwork. He's obviously
• 51:19
  Speaker 1: trying to find his place here on a new team.
• 51:22
  Speaker 1: But let's goind of go through both of these guys
• 51:24
  Speaker 1: first in terms of what you have seen from both
• 51:26
  Speaker 1: of them. Let's start with Peltier and then we'll get
• 51:28
  Speaker 1: into Kuzmenko. How do you think Peltier is really fitting
• 51:32
  Speaker 1: in at this point with the Flyers and the expectations
• 51:35
  Speaker 1: for him.
• 51:36
  Speaker 4: Okay, so I think he's doing what he can because
• 51:38
  Speaker 4: he's playing a role that he's never played in his
• 51:40
  Speaker 4: entire life. Right, all of a sudden, towards throws him
• 51:42
  Speaker 4: on the fourth line, says hey, play nine minutes a
• 51:44
  Speaker 4: game and get me points and you know, be pesky,
• 51:48
  Speaker 4: and it's like, Okay, he's trying to do that and
• 51:50
  Speaker 4: he got a point last night, and that's fine. You know,
• 51:52
  Speaker 4: he looked pretty good at times, but he's not getting
• 51:55
  Speaker 4: enough ice time. Like I don't think John understands that
• 51:59
  Speaker 4: if you want to get something out of this player
• 52:02
  Speaker 4: in the future, like you really want him to develop,
• 52:04
  Speaker 4: because he still could develop, you've got to play him
• 52:06
  Speaker 4: at least on the third line. You've got to give
• 52:08
  Speaker 4: him at least twelve thirteen minutes. You can't give him
• 52:10
  Speaker 4: I don't know. At some point, I think he had
• 52:12
  Speaker 4: eight and change. I don't know what he ended up with,
• 52:14
  Speaker 4: but I don't think it was much more than that.
• 52:16
  Speaker 4: And you got to do more than that. And so
• 52:18
  Speaker 4: I think it's a situation. And look, I look at
• 52:21
  Speaker 4: advanced stats a lot next to a CYC called instat
• 52:24
  Speaker 4: and so when I looked at him, he's the first
• 52:27
  Speaker 4: player this year I looked up that had zero percent
• 52:30
  Speaker 4: in defensive zone starts.
• 52:32
  Speaker 3: Zero Really wow, And you've got him on the fourth line.
• 52:36
  Speaker 4: So it's like, you know, it's not the thing to do,
• 52:40
  Speaker 4: but this is the way the coach is handling it.
• 52:42
  Speaker 4: I don't think it's the best way to develop him,
• 52:44
  Speaker 4: because again, I don't think you're looking to make him
• 52:47
  Speaker 4: into a future fourth liner. There's plenty of other guys
• 52:50
  Speaker 4: in the organization you could do that with. Eventually you're
• 52:53
  Speaker 4: going to trade someone like Scott Lawton and guys like that.
• 52:56
  Speaker 4: Then you're gonna need other guys to play in the
• 52:58
  Speaker 4: third line, and he could be one of them. But
• 53:01
  Speaker 4: you got to see what he can do there if
• 53:02
  Speaker 4: you're going to keep him with Hathaway, I don't know.
• 53:05
  Speaker 4: I mean, look, Hathaway has moments where he shows moments
• 53:08
  Speaker 4: of skill, and you know, he had a couple of
• 53:10
  Speaker 4: chances last night and he did get a help. You know,
• 53:13
  Speaker 4: he got a point on one of them. But there
• 53:15
  Speaker 4: are stretches where Hathaway can't do it. And he's a
• 53:18
  Speaker 4: higher skill player than Hathaway, and so that's the problem Paling. Sure,
• 53:22
  Speaker 4: Paling shows at his speed is great, but Paling has
• 53:25
  Speaker 4: moments where his skill is really good in other moments
• 53:28
  Speaker 4: where it's.
• 53:28
  Speaker 3: Just it's mostly speed and shot.
• 53:30
  Speaker 4: And so, like, you know, I don't think the I
• 53:32
  Speaker 4: don't think it's the right guys for him to play
• 53:35
  Speaker 4: and develop with. Maybe this will be a short lived
• 53:37
  Speaker 4: thing and they'll figure that out, but you know, just
• 53:40
  Speaker 4: like the power Play, maybe they won't figure.
• 53:41
  Speaker 1: It out, right, right, Well, well, let's move on to Kuzmenko,
• 53:44
  Speaker 1: Andra Kuzmenko. You know, we've seen some stuff from him too,
• 53:49
  Speaker 1: expectations for him and where he may go the latter
• 53:52
  Speaker 1: part of this season here.
• 53:53
  Speaker 4: Russ, Right, Well, I think what John said about him
• 53:55
  Speaker 4: was fair in the sense that they took him because hey,
• 53:58
  Speaker 4: that's who Vancouver wanted to get rid of, salary wise, And.
• 54:03
  Speaker 3: If the Flyers really wanted to take a look at
• 54:05
  Speaker 3: him in the.
• 54:05
  Speaker 4: Offseason, fine, I don't know if he really did, but
• 54:08
  Speaker 4: now they're looking at him now right. He is a
• 54:10
  Speaker 4: good power play guy as far as movement and everything,
• 54:12
  Speaker 4: and his goal was kind of lucky, but he got one,
• 54:14
  Speaker 4: right because you know, two broken sticks, Like he even said,
• 54:17
  Speaker 4: that's never happened to him in his whole life. But
• 54:20
  Speaker 4: before that, in the last game, before that happened, he
• 54:23
  Speaker 4: had a ten minute stretch where he was a minus
• 54:25
  Speaker 4: one and no shots on goal. And last night when
• 54:27
  Speaker 4: I looked up at one point, it was ten minutes
• 54:29
  Speaker 4: again and he was a minus one and I don't
• 54:32
  Speaker 4: know what he ended up. I don't know if he
• 54:34
  Speaker 4: got a point or not. I know there was just
• 54:36
  Speaker 4: ten flyers who've got points. So I just I don't
• 54:38
  Speaker 4: think he did.
• 54:39
  Speaker 1: I don't think he did either last night.
• 54:40
  Speaker 4: Yeah, but I'm just saying, there's these games where he
• 54:43
  Speaker 4: five on five is going to disappear, and that's what
• 54:47
  Speaker 4: they have to decide. You certainly can't pay him five
• 54:50
  Speaker 4: million dollars if you were going to keep him, you couldn't.
• 54:52
  Speaker 4: And the part that really a lot of us don't
• 54:55
  Speaker 4: get is why isn't he playing with meachkop?
• 54:58
  Speaker 3: Why are you not trying to.
• 54:59
  Speaker 4: Get these guys and they're doing the opposite. They're like no, no, no, no, no,
• 55:02
  Speaker 4: we're not going. It seems like they're defiant of it.
• 55:04
  Speaker 4: I don't know why you wouldn't try that. We all
• 55:07
  Speaker 4: thought that's why they brought him over, you try and
• 55:09
  Speaker 4: get a Russian vibe going.
• 55:10
  Speaker 3: And no, so I don't.
• 55:12
  Speaker 4: I'm a little confused by it. And don't be shocked
• 55:15
  Speaker 4: if he's not there next year.
• 55:16
  Speaker 3: But we'll see, Yeah, we'll see.
• 55:18
  Speaker 1: Yeah, absolutely, well, we'll see. It's it's really interesting to
• 55:21
  Speaker 1: follow that storyline. Like you said, we thought we thought
• 55:23
  Speaker 1: he and Mitschov were going to be playing together. Haven't
• 55:25
  Speaker 1: seen it. It's kind of baffling here.
• 55:27
  Speaker 4: But take the game when the junk will put lines
• 55:29
  Speaker 4: in a blender, wouldn't you think you'd try it?
• 55:31
  Speaker 1: Yeah, exactly. Look, I wasn't planning on getting into it.
• 55:35
  Speaker 1: But I do wonder if the John Tortorella quote coaching
• 55:39
  Speaker 1: experiment is really coming towards the end of the leash here.
• 55:42
  Speaker 1: I really do wonder. As much as I like him
• 55:44
  Speaker 1: in certain areas, dislike him in other areas as well.
• 55:47
  Speaker 1: You know, I just wonder if this next phase of
• 55:49
  Speaker 1: this restructuring is going to be part of the coaching
• 55:53
  Speaker 1: aspect of where this team is. I mean, Danny Briere
• 55:56
  Speaker 1: didn't make these decisions, especially with Peltier as well, like
• 55:58
  Speaker 1: we were just talking about to have you know, nonsense
• 56:02
  Speaker 1: when you're looking at the when you're looking at the
• 56:03
  Speaker 1: sabermetrics here, you're right, he didn't. He didn't bring him
• 56:06
  Speaker 1: on board for for nothing. So it's I don't know.
• 56:10
  Speaker 1: I wonder if this John Tornerell experiment in terms of
• 56:12
  Speaker 1: the coaching and where this team is going to be
• 56:15
  Speaker 1: from a restructuring standpoint, John Tornrell is going to be
• 56:18
  Speaker 1: around in a coaching standpoint. Now, maybe front office perhaps,
• 56:21
  Speaker 1: I know the front office likes his you know, quote leadership.
• 56:24
  Speaker 1: But I don't know what are your thoughts there, Russ.
• 56:27
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I think by I could see it hitting an
• 56:29
  Speaker 4: end point. If it hit an end point at the
• 56:31
  Speaker 4: end of this season, it wouldn't shock me. It's gonna
• 56:33
  Speaker 4: be his decision, though. I don't think Danny's going to
• 56:35
  Speaker 4: do it. Yeah, but I do think you need to
• 56:37
  Speaker 4: do it. And it's not a real shot at John.
• 56:40
  Speaker 4: It's just like, hey, he's a certain type of coach. Yeah,
• 56:42
  Speaker 4: like you said, this team's in a certain place, and
• 56:44
  Speaker 4: he's not the right guy to rebuild young players with.
• 56:47
  Speaker 4: He's not you wanted to get the culture installed you did.
• 56:50
  Speaker 4: You wanted to get them, you know, sort of like
• 56:52
  Speaker 4: close to the playoffs you did. After that, you got
• 56:56
  Speaker 4: to bring in somebody else who's going to teach, teach, teach,
• 56:59
  Speaker 4: and he's not doing Like as an example, I like
• 57:02
  Speaker 4: Igers and Mula, right, but I think there's a ceiling.
• 57:04
  Speaker 3: On him, and I think he hid it.
• 57:06
  Speaker 4: And but to John, he's a guy I could throw
• 57:08
  Speaker 4: him in that lineup and I don't have to worry
• 57:10
  Speaker 4: about him, right, I don't have to think about him.
• 57:11
  Speaker 4: I don't have to do anything. But instead of Meal
• 57:13
  Speaker 4: Andre's and Lehigh and the Flyers have a better record
• 57:16
  Speaker 4: with the Meal Andre in there. Their power plays better
• 57:18
  Speaker 4: with the Meal Andre in there. But he's not there.
• 57:20
  Speaker 4: So if you're Danny Breer, you have to trade za
• 57:23
  Speaker 4: Mula now to take him away from John TORDREAA so
• 57:26
  Speaker 4: he can't use him and can't have that crutch.
• 57:29
  Speaker 3: And that's part of.
• 57:30
  Speaker 4: The yin and yang of it. And that's the downside
• 57:33
  Speaker 4: of it, because Andre should be getting all these games,
• 57:36
  Speaker 4: like there's no reason not to.
• 57:38
  Speaker 3: He's a future guy for you.
• 57:40
  Speaker 4: Yes, there is something about playing in the AHL and developing,
• 57:44
  Speaker 4: but he I think he's past that.
• 57:46
  Speaker 1: Yeah, there's so many storylines here, so many storylines that
• 57:49
  Speaker 1: as Flyers fans.
• 57:50
  Speaker 3: Are you have a team with a lot of issues? Yeah,
• 57:53
  Speaker 3: got a lot of stories.
• 57:54
  Speaker 1: Yeah, absolutely well. I mean the next topic I wanted
• 57:56
  Speaker 1: to get into is what what are you looking for
• 58:00
  Speaker 1: Rush to analyzing over these next couple months of the
• 58:02
  Speaker 1: season while watching this team on the ice. Is there
• 58:05
  Speaker 1: a specific storyline you're really going to be honing in on.
• 58:08
  Speaker 4: Yeah, that it's going to be how many guys are
• 58:11
  Speaker 4: you going to call up and let play the last
• 58:14
  Speaker 4: twenty five games. When is John gonna realize you're not
• 58:17
  Speaker 4: making the playoffs?
• 58:18
  Speaker 1: Yeah?
• 58:19
  Speaker 4: When is he going to realize? Okay, some of these
• 58:21
  Speaker 4: guys I could ease up on their minutes. I can
• 58:24
  Speaker 4: give some of these younger guys more minutes. I can
• 58:26
  Speaker 4: put meech Komp on the second line at least and
• 58:29
  Speaker 4: not having to be a third liner. If you like
• 58:32
  Speaker 4: that line, fine, make that the second line whatever, make
• 58:35
  Speaker 4: the adjustment, start moving it towards the future.
• 58:40
  Speaker 3: Start figuring that part out.
• 58:41
  Speaker 4: So guys like Andre guy, you know, I mean, there's
• 58:44
  Speaker 4: other guys still in Lehigh that you could call up.
• 58:48
  Speaker 3: I mean, so start calling them up. You know. That's
• 58:51
  Speaker 3: what I think they need to do. I think they
• 58:53
  Speaker 3: need to start recycling some of those guys in and
• 58:55
  Speaker 3: out so you have an idea where they're at.
• 58:58
  Speaker 4: Before the season ends, because some of them become free
• 59:01
  Speaker 4: agents some of them, and that's what you need to
• 59:03
  Speaker 4: kind of figure out.
• 59:04
  Speaker 1: Absolutely all right, Well, to end our discussion here, my friend,
• 59:08
  Speaker 1: I want to get into a specific storyline that you know,
• 59:11
  Speaker 1: I think we got a couple of years reprive on it,
• 59:14
  Speaker 1: but now it is back in front of our faces,
• 59:16
  Speaker 1: and it's what the Flyers are going to do with
• 59:18
  Speaker 1: the goalie situation because sam Erson will still presumably be
• 59:22
  Speaker 1: here next season. We've seen his strengths, we've seen his
• 59:24
  Speaker 1: weaknesses over these past couple of years. Ivan fidoutav doesn't
• 59:28
  Speaker 1: always give us fans a lot of confidence, yet there
• 59:30
  Speaker 1: are times when he does play well. How do you
• 59:33
  Speaker 1: think the Flyers' front office and Danny Briere handle this
• 59:36
  Speaker 1: goalie situation long term as it's not necessarily a strength
• 59:40
  Speaker 1: of this team.
• 59:41
  Speaker 4: Okay, so the first thing is I don't understand why
• 59:45
  Speaker 4: Colos offs in the press box doesn't make any sense. Yeah,
• 59:48
  Speaker 4: captain three goalies makes no sense.
• 59:51
  Speaker 3: There's just I don't get it.
• 59:53
  Speaker 4: Ye, he's getting an NHL paycheck, I get it from
• 59:56
  Speaker 4: that perspective. But if he's legitimately not wanting to play
• 59:58
  Speaker 4: in the AHL, just send him home, right Like, It's
• 1:00:01
  Speaker 4: just that you had a failed experiment here and cut
• 1:00:04
  Speaker 4: ties and that's it. Even if you have to pay
• 1:00:06
  Speaker 4: him for the rest of the year, just do it.
• 1:00:08
  Speaker 4: There's no point in kind of keeping him around. I
• 1:00:11
  Speaker 4: don't know if he thinks another team is interested. I
• 1:00:13
  Speaker 4: don't know if he thinks that you're just going to
• 1:00:14
  Speaker 4: see what Pododo is and decide maybe he's the backup
• 1:00:17
  Speaker 4: next year, which I don't think you could decide that
• 1:00:19
  Speaker 4: he needs.
• 1:00:19
  Speaker 3: More playing time. He's a younger guy.
• 1:00:21
  Speaker 4: He hasn't been playing right, Like, why do you want
• 1:00:23
  Speaker 4: to who has a goalie that you call.
• 1:00:25
  Speaker 3: A prospect that you don't play right? It's bizarre.
• 1:00:29
  Speaker 1: You don't see this around the league too often.
• 1:00:33
  Speaker 4: You know, Sam person and I do think there's probably
• 1:00:35
  Speaker 4: something else that play here that we don't know, but
• 1:00:37
  Speaker 4: it just optics on it are bad. I think Sam
• 1:00:40
  Speaker 4: Meerson's pretty good. He's had a good second half here.
• 1:00:43
  Speaker 4: Uh Do I think he's a one number one pure
• 1:00:45
  Speaker 4: number one?
• 1:00:46
  Speaker 1: No?
• 1:00:46
  Speaker 3: I still think he's more like a one bet and
• 1:00:49
  Speaker 3: gets hot.
• 1:00:50
  Speaker 4: He's good and consistency is still a thing, And so
• 1:00:53
  Speaker 4: everybody's on a two year deal, right, so they got
• 1:00:55
  Speaker 4: one more year left after the next year, So Zavirigan's
• 1:00:59
  Speaker 4: not going to be ready and he's probably the goalie
• 1:01:01
  Speaker 4: of the future, but.
• 1:01:02
  Speaker 3: That's three years away.
• 1:01:03
  Speaker 4: He's under contract, he's playing in Russia, and so that's
• 1:01:06
  Speaker 4: another thing you can't worry about. So they have to
• 1:01:08
  Speaker 4: get something in between. You could resign Rison and make
• 1:01:11
  Speaker 4: him still you're a tandem goalie with somebody else. But
• 1:01:14
  Speaker 4: you've got to bring in somebody else, and I think
• 1:01:16
  Speaker 4: they'll either look to do that be a trade or
• 1:01:18
  Speaker 4: they'll look to do that be a free agency. And
• 1:01:21
  Speaker 4: you just hope it's not somebody that's, like, you know,
• 1:01:24
  Speaker 4: thirty six years old, and you hope it's somebody a
• 1:01:27
  Speaker 4: little younger. So just in case the other goalie guys
• 1:01:30
  Speaker 4: don't pan out, that maybe you have something because sometimes
• 1:01:34
  Speaker 4: guys develop late. So you know, like as an example,
• 1:01:39
  Speaker 4: like Gibson's on the edge, right, he's not going to
• 1:01:42
  Speaker 4: come to Philly, But just as an example, if you
• 1:01:43
  Speaker 4: trade for Gibson, it at least would fill the gap.
• 1:01:47
  Speaker 4: And he's not old, but if you would have gotten
• 1:01:50
  Speaker 4: like Jake Allen, he's a little bit too past what
• 1:01:52
  Speaker 4: this team is, right. He's good for the Devils because hey,
• 1:01:56
  Speaker 4: they're looking to win now, but you can't have a goalie.
• 1:01:58
  Speaker 3: Of that age.
• 1:01:58
  Speaker 4: So that's the there's a delineation there, you know. Like
• 1:02:01
  Speaker 4: Mackenzie Blackwood, I wasn't sure what he was going to
• 1:02:04
  Speaker 4: do with Colorado, but Colorado just needed an average goalie. Yeah,
• 1:02:07
  Speaker 4: he wasn't the star he was with the Devils before
• 1:02:09
  Speaker 4: he started to dip. That's good for them. Yeah, he
• 1:02:13
  Speaker 4: would be a He would have been a good choice
• 1:02:15
  Speaker 4: for the Flyers, but they weren't at that headspace at
• 1:02:17
  Speaker 4: that time, so they weren't going to make a deal
• 1:02:20
  Speaker 4: for him like Colorado made a deal, right, So you know,
• 1:02:22
  Speaker 4: you look for someone like that. But like I can
• 1:02:24
  Speaker 4: Talbot and trust me, he's never coming back based on
• 1:02:26
  Speaker 4: the way things went for him last time. But I
• 1:02:28
  Speaker 4: was using him as an example. It's not the right
• 1:02:31
  Speaker 4: guy to bring in that type of guy. You got
• 1:02:33
  Speaker 4: to bring in someone a little younger who hasn't had
• 1:02:35
  Speaker 4: much of a chance, who wants to sort of still
• 1:02:38
  Speaker 4: be in the league breakthrough. Maybe he's a late bloomer.
• 1:02:41
  Speaker 4: You've had some goalies you see they start making it.
• 1:02:44
  Speaker 4: Devin dub Nick made it at like the age of
• 1:02:46
  Speaker 4: twenty seven, twenty eight. Sometimes that happens, and then you
• 1:02:50
  Speaker 4: see if your other guys developed. Because goaltending is hard,
• 1:02:52
  Speaker 4: it's a hard process. Nobody there's very few goaltending experts
• 1:02:57
  Speaker 4: out there, honestly.
• 1:02:58
  Speaker 1: Right, Well, to be an interesting storyline to follow again, folks.
• 1:03:02
  Speaker 1: Russ Cohen from the Lockdown Flyers podcast I subscribe on
• 1:03:06
  Speaker 1: Apple podcasts. You should subscribe on whatever podcast platform you're on.
• 1:03:10
  Speaker 1: Also the NHL Network Radio on Sirius XM you can
• 1:03:14
  Speaker 1: find them, and also Game Winners by the Book on
• 1:03:17
  Speaker 1: Amazon dot com. My friend, it was great talking to you.
• 1:03:20
  Speaker 1: I'm hoping that you'll be able to join us at
• 1:03:22
  Speaker 1: some point down the road.
• 1:03:23
  Speaker 3: My friend absolutely will there.
• 1:03:26
  Speaker 1: And that's gonna do it for us this week. Make
• 1:03:28
  Speaker 1: sure to share the Philadelphia Sports Table podcast show with
• 1:03:31
  Speaker 1: your friends and family members who may be Philly sports fans.
• 1:03:34
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• 1:03:37
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• 1:03:40
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• 1:03:44
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• 1:03:46
  Speaker 1: this podcast happen and to give us great content, and
• 1:03:49
  Speaker 1: ultimately we appreciate you. Take care and have a great week.
• 1:03:54
  Speaker 1: We'll catch you next time.