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OPPOSITION TERRITORY: Eagles vs. Packers, Wild Card Pregame Preview · The Philadelphia Sports Table | Philly Sports News & Views

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: What's up everybody. Hope you're doing well. I wanted to
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: let you know. We recorded this Opposition Territory Podcast interview
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: and show on Wednesday, January eighth, twenty twenty five. So
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: by the time you hear this, some things may have
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: changed here or there, but we hope you enjoy the show.
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: Welcome to Opposition Territory here at the Philadelphia Sports Table
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: podcast show, the longest running weekly Philly sports podcast show
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: in the world, that's right over eleven and a half
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: year strong, and we are getting ready for some NFL
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: playoff football. This Opposition Territory Podcast is your preview for
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: the Philadelphia Eagles and Green Bay Packers game happening this
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: Sunday at four thirty pm. Boy, this game is going
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: to be interesting. This game is going to be one
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: for the books in my opinion, and we are certainly
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: going to be getting into this game even more on
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: our regular show that's going to be uploaded Thursday morning
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: this week, January ninth. So we're gonna gett into more
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: Eagles talk here at the PST podcast show. But for now,
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: we've got our Opposition Territory Podcast. We've got a great guest.
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: We bring them on when we talk about the Green
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: Bay Packers and what we may expect from this team,
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: let's get to it right now. Joining us to get
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: into this preview, he comes to us from Acmepackingcompany dot com.
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: Great espanation site. We love them over there, and he
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: is on blue Sky. Search him out at text Western.
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: We've got text Western here, buddy, how are you, my friend?
• 1:43
  Speaker 2: Hey, I'm doing great. Wish the Packers were playing a
• 1:46
  Speaker 2: little bit better coming here.
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: Yeah, we'll get to it.
• 1:48
  Speaker 2: Yeah, but now, other than that, you know, was the
• 1:52
  Speaker 2: recipient of a nice big snowstorm through the lower Midwest
• 1:55
  Speaker 2: this week, so digging out a little bit. But no,
• 1:59
  Speaker 2: we're we're having a good time. My wife and I
• 2:02
  Speaker 2: made it up to her first game at Lambeau two
• 2:04
  Speaker 2: weeks ago through three weeks ago for the Monday night
• 2:07
  Speaker 2: game against the Saints. Uh, saw a really good one
• 2:09
  Speaker 2: up there for us. But yeah, looking looking forward to
• 2:14
  Speaker 2: you know, who knows. Let's see if we can shock
• 2:16
  Speaker 2: the world as a seventh seed again, let's say this
• 2:18
  Speaker 2: year after we did it last season.
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: I hope it doesn't happen, but let's see.
• 2:22
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm sure you were very happy about it last year.
• 2:25
  Speaker 2: That's how much this time around.
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: Well, hey, listen, I know that you an acme packing
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: company and some of the stuff you have before the
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: NFL Draft, you guys are doing some cool stuff. You're
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: you're gonna be doing some interactive stuff stuff with not
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: only you know, Green Bay Packer fans, but draft fans
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: in general. You know, some of our listeners, they just
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: love NFL content. They love being a part of different
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: events and things like that with regard to the NFL
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: even other teams. Why don't you throw out what you're
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: doing with regard to the NFL Draft.
• 2:53
  Speaker 2: Yeah, definitely. We've got several of our staff members on
• 2:57
  Speaker 2: the acting packing company writing staff are going to be
• 2:59
  Speaker 2: in Great and Bay for the Draft. Myself, I just
• 3:01
  Speaker 2: bought my my plane tickets this week, so I'll be
• 3:05
  Speaker 2: going up there, and we're working on putting trying to
• 3:09
  Speaker 2: put together an event for Friday. Sometime Friday during the day,
• 3:13
  Speaker 2: Day two is a great time to do it, assuming
• 3:15
  Speaker 2: kind of everybody's kind of going to be coming in
• 3:17
  Speaker 2: descending on Lambeau Wednesday, Thursday, and and and Friday stuff
• 3:22
  Speaker 2: doesn't start until later on in the evening, So we're
• 3:24
  Speaker 2: working on putting together some events, some sort of of
• 3:28
  Speaker 2: thing for you know, those of us who are familiar
• 3:30
  Speaker 2: with our work at Acney Packing Company who are going
• 3:32
  Speaker 2: to be around uh, you know, Draft weekend and and
• 3:36
  Speaker 2: we're really kind of excited about the possibilities. So I
• 3:39
  Speaker 2: would just say stay tuned to our various social media
• 3:43
  Speaker 2: feeds at Acne Packing Co. On on all of the
• 3:46
  Speaker 2: socials and and certainly it's the Acney Packing Company and
• 3:50
  Speaker 2: to my feed as well. We'll have details as soon
• 3:52
  Speaker 2: as we know some more. But we've got I think
• 3:54
  Speaker 2: we've got some really cool stuff planned that that might,
• 3:57
  Speaker 2: you know, be a really good opportunity yet to meet
• 4:00
  Speaker 2: with with just football fans in general and draft fans
• 4:04
  Speaker 2: in what could be a really cool setting. So I can't,
• 4:08
  Speaker 2: I can't confirm anything yet. We're in the very early
• 4:10
  Speaker 2: planning stages of everything. But but yeah, if if you
• 4:13
  Speaker 2: do have, if anybody's listening, is coming up to Green Bay,
• 4:16
  Speaker 2: please check our feeds out and keep an eye out,
• 4:19
  Speaker 2: because I do think we're gonna have some cool stuff
• 4:21
  Speaker 2: coming for especially for Friday.
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: It's interesting how we're already thinking about the offseason even
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: though our teams are in the playoffs. But that's how
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: the world works. That is how the world works when
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: it comes to the NFL, when it comes to college
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: football prospects and folks. We're gonna be getting into a
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: lot more of that talk and that type of content
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: as we always do. You know, as the as the
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: NFL season concludes, we're gonna be talking to you know,
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: our buddy Matt Waldman who dives into prospects. We're gonna
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: be talking to a lot of other scouts as well
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: on the PSD podcast show here in the coming weeks
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: and months ahead. But in front of us this week
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: the wild card matchup the Philadelphia Eagles against the Green
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: Bay Packers. Here, look, the Packers are heading into this
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: wildcard game having lost their last two games. The team
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: is banged up a bit here, and I do wonder
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: where their confidence level is headed into this wildcard game
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: against the Eagles. How does this team really try to
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: come together in that effort to beat the Eagles who
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: are going to be playing in front of a very
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: rabid crowd in South Philly, a team that is a
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: very well rounded Eagles team. Quite frankly, how does this
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: Packers team try to come together based on the adversity
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: they've been facing the past couple weeks here.
• 5:36
  Speaker 2: Yeah, the first thing is just to be a goldfish, right, yeah,
• 5:41
  Speaker 2: get it. It's just forget about what's happened these last
• 5:45
  Speaker 2: two weeks, because those two games came off of a
• 5:47
  Speaker 2: stretch where they scored thirty points in five straight games.
• 5:51
  Speaker 2: The offense was clicking, the defense was really starting to
• 5:54
  Speaker 2: play really well in this second half of the season
• 5:56
  Speaker 2: under Jeff Hafley in his first year. And so it's
• 6:02
  Speaker 2: this team knows it's a good team, right. They've been
• 6:04
  Speaker 2: in every one of these games against the top three
• 6:07
  Speaker 2: teams in the NFC, the Eagles, the Lions, and the
• 6:09
  Speaker 2: and the Vikings. Yeah, and and the biggest problem has been,
• 6:14
  Speaker 2: you know, some self inflicted mistakes that have cost them dearly,
• 6:17
  Speaker 2: whether that was latent games or early in games, putting
• 6:19
  Speaker 2: them behind the eight ball a little bit and making
• 6:21
  Speaker 2: them come back. And so they need to just not
• 6:26
  Speaker 2: not focus on that and and just kind of forget
• 6:29
  Speaker 2: about it and really focus in on their own kind
• 6:33
  Speaker 2: of self scouting, I think, and their own game strategy
• 6:35
  Speaker 2: and gamescript because if you get if you start looking
• 6:39
  Speaker 2: at the numbers too much, I mean, the matchups don't
• 6:41
  Speaker 2: favor the Packers, especially, you know, with how good that
• 6:43
  Speaker 2: Eagles defense has been this season, so you just can't
• 6:48
  Speaker 2: you can't dwell on that, and just you know, trust,
• 6:50
  Speaker 2: trust your preparation, trust your you know, your teammates and
• 6:53
  Speaker 2: your coaching staff, and you know they need to focus
• 6:57
  Speaker 2: on the little things. Again, it's it's the it's the
• 6:59
  Speaker 2: little things. They're super impactful. It's ball security, it's not
• 7:02
  Speaker 2: having any pre snap penalties. You know that those are
• 7:05
  Speaker 2: the kinds of things that have really scuttled drives and
• 7:08
  Speaker 2: in some cases scuttled games for this team. The snowball
• 7:12
  Speaker 2: could have won exactly. Yeah, that's right, yep, yep.
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: Well, you know, I can go back to twenty seventeen
• 7:18
  Speaker 1: and you know all of us Eagles fans that went
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: through that playoff run underdog, underdog, underdog, each in every
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: game and they ended up coming out on top. You
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: never know what's going to happen. But I mean the
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: reality is right now, at this particular point in time,
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: the Packers are facing some tough situations, you know, not
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: having certain players on the field. But I really wanted
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: to get into the quarterback situation here because Jalen Hurts
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: was just on the field practicing for the first time
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: after you know, getting going through the concussion protocol. Jordan Love,
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: we know that he has been nursing an elbow injury.
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: Apparently it's a funny bone type of thing that he
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: faced during his last regular season game against the Bears.
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: And Jalen Hurts too, he's got a broken finger on
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: his non throwing hand. You know, again, we know he's
• 8:09
  Speaker 1: coming back from the concussion. I'm wondering, text, which quarterback
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: do you think really has the edge heading into this
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: wild card game here based on the physical adversity that
• 8:20
  Speaker 1: both of these guys are facing. Who has the edge
• 8:23
  Speaker 1: do you think? And why?
• 8:25
  Speaker 2: Yeah, that's a really tough call. I mean, you've certainly
• 8:28
  Speaker 2: got Loved with the benefit of having played the last
• 8:31
  Speaker 2: couple of weeks, right, It's not like he's missed games.
• 8:34
  Speaker 2: But at the same time, he hasn't played especially well
• 8:38
  Speaker 2: these last maybe two or three games. Even in that
• 8:41
  Speaker 2: Saints game a couple of weeks ago on Monday Night,
• 8:43
  Speaker 2: which which I was actually able to be at at
• 8:46
  Speaker 2: Lamba for for my first game at Lambo in a
• 8:48
  Speaker 2: few years. I mean, that was a thirty four to
• 8:50
  Speaker 2: zhering win. But he didn't look great and he missed
• 8:54
  Speaker 2: a couple of throws in that game. He looked a
• 8:56
  Speaker 2: little bit off. So I don't know, maybe Toyota Thon
• 8:59
  Speaker 2: ended a little bit early here, but the it just
• 9:05
  Speaker 2: has has felt like maybe these last two three games,
• 9:08
  Speaker 2: he's been a little bit off, and some of that
• 9:09
  Speaker 2: I think has been he's been dealing with a lot
• 9:11
  Speaker 2: of pressure. There's been a lot of pass rush, and
• 9:14
  Speaker 2: I think, honestly that could be, you know, more of
• 9:17
  Speaker 2: a factor in the quarterback play than either of the
• 9:21
  Speaker 2: physical states of these two guys. Yeah, yeah, is yeah,
• 9:25
  Speaker 2: which pass rush can can reliably get pressure on the quarterbacks,
• 9:30
  Speaker 2: and that's something the Packers have had issues with this season.
• 9:32
  Speaker 2: They have had a very inconsistent pass rush. They've really
• 9:35
  Speaker 2: only had significant success against quarterbacks who like to take
• 9:39
  Speaker 2: a lot of sacks and who also have poor offensive lines.
• 9:42
  Speaker 2: Like I think they've had forty four sacks this season.
• 9:44
  Speaker 2: Fifteen of those games came in two games against the
• 9:47
  Speaker 2: Titans and Will Levis and the Seahawks and Gino Smith
• 9:51
  Speaker 2: and Sam Howell. So outside of those two games, they've
• 9:54
  Speaker 2: really been been struggling to get consistent pressure on the quarterbacks.
• 9:57
  Speaker 2: That's going to be a problem, and certainly that's that's
• 10:01
  Speaker 2: something they need to do something about and change if
• 10:04
  Speaker 2: they think that, you know, they're going to be able
• 10:06
  Speaker 2: to to keep Philly, you know, let's say under twenty
• 10:08
  Speaker 2: points or so. So it's it's kind of a cop out.
• 10:11
  Speaker 2: I don't know that I can you know, the concussions.
• 10:14
  Speaker 1: Are always it's a tough question. Honestly, it's a tough question.
• 10:17
  Speaker 2: Concussions are so hard to evaluate and and without being
• 10:20
  Speaker 2: kind of the you know, in the room and knowing
• 10:22
  Speaker 2: what's going on, and especially at the quarterback position where
• 10:25
  Speaker 2: it's it's so cerebral and you're so dependent on your
• 10:28
  Speaker 2: field vision to play that position. If there's you know,
• 10:34
  Speaker 2: if there's any lingering it's at all, that's the position
• 10:37
  Speaker 2: where you're going to get hurt the most by that. Yeah,
• 10:38
  Speaker 2: so that's a tough, a tough question. I certainly would
• 10:41
  Speaker 2: you know, expect hurts that he's going to play this
• 10:44
  Speaker 2: week exactly how those rights and and that and that
• 10:49
  Speaker 2: could be you know, that could be enough where you know,
• 10:51
  Speaker 2: the Packers can can maybe get a little bit of
• 10:53
  Speaker 2: pressure on it. Maybe he's not you know, seeing things
• 10:55
  Speaker 2: like kind of quite like you normally is after having
• 10:57
  Speaker 2: a couple of weeks off, we'll see, Well.
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: We're gonna get into some more defensive talking a little
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: bit in terms of the Packers secondary and also the
• 11:03
  Speaker 1: Packers' linebackers too, which I think is an interesting storyline.
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: But before we really talk about the defense, want to
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: talk about this offense what we're going to possibly be
• 11:11
  Speaker 1: seeing from the Packers. Really want to get into the
• 11:14
  Speaker 1: balance in terms of the passing and the rushing attack
• 11:17
  Speaker 1: that we may see from Green Bay this Sunday. Look
• 11:21
  Speaker 1: running back Josh Jacobs. He is he's put up some
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: really good results, really great results actually this season, but
• 11:28
  Speaker 1: he's going to be pursued by two very good linebackers
• 11:31
  Speaker 1: for the Philadelphia Eagles, Zach Bond and Nakobe Dean, who
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: are both still as Eagles fans. We are still shocked
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: that both of these players and linebackers have performed at
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: the level and a high level that they have this season.
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: If Jacobs is at all bottled up early on techs,
• 11:50
  Speaker 1: Jordan Love is going to need to get the ball
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: down the field and he's going to need to be
• 11:52
  Speaker 1: aggressive about it against an Eagle secondary who has also
• 11:56
  Speaker 1: been playing very well since Week six of this regular season.
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: So how do you see the offensive balance between the
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: Packers rushing game and passing game really taking shape this Sunday.
• 12:08
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I'll start by saying what I would like to
• 12:10
  Speaker 2: see out of this team, and I would like to
• 12:12
  Speaker 2: see them use a lot of play action early, yeah,
• 12:14
  Speaker 2: and take some deep shots right off the bat. They
• 12:17
  Speaker 2: have been really really run heavy early in games so far,
• 12:21
  Speaker 2: this for most of this season really, and especially in
• 12:24
  Speaker 2: this long stretch here in the second half where they
• 12:27
  Speaker 2: have been playing good ball and they've been putting a
• 12:29
  Speaker 2: lot of points up on the board. But they've just
• 12:32
  Speaker 2: been a really run heavy team early in games and
• 12:35
  Speaker 2: early on drives. And I'd rather see them, I think,
• 12:38
  Speaker 2: in this game come out with more play action taking
• 12:42
  Speaker 2: some deep shots. One of the reasons is that the Packers,
• 12:48
  Speaker 2: with being such a run heavy team, they end up
• 12:51
  Speaker 2: having a lot fewer possessions than a lot of average
• 12:54
  Speaker 2: teams do and just running fewer plays on offense, and
• 12:57
  Speaker 2: there's such a big play group. They're not great, you know,
• 13:02
  Speaker 2: getting into some of the advanced stats and things, they're
• 13:04
  Speaker 2: not great in success rate. They don't necessarily, you know,
• 13:07
  Speaker 2: have a good rate of, you know, getting yardage to
• 13:10
  Speaker 2: put themselves in a better position. But they have a
• 13:12
  Speaker 2: really big explosive play rate. They get lots of big plays,
• 13:16
  Speaker 2: and so you're only going to have more big plays
• 13:19
  Speaker 2: if you have more opportunities. And so I think that's
• 13:22
  Speaker 2: an area where I'd like to see them try to
• 13:25
  Speaker 2: stretch a little more, is take some deep shots early,
• 13:28
  Speaker 2: especially off of play action. Now, I don't know that
• 13:31
  Speaker 2: I necessarily expect that to happen. I think the way
• 13:34
  Speaker 2: Lafleur has has tended to go this season, especially having
• 13:37
  Speaker 2: Josh Jacobs, a running back who can take as many
• 13:39
  Speaker 2: carries as he have has is seriously a workhorse, right,
• 13:44
  Speaker 2: He's really leaning on Jacobs early in games. There was
• 13:47
  Speaker 2: one drive I want to say it was the Seahawks
• 13:50
  Speaker 2: game a couple of weeks ago. They ran eleven plays
• 13:52
  Speaker 2: in the first drive and ten of them were touches
• 13:54
  Speaker 2: for Josh Jacobs, and I don't think that's a good
• 13:58
  Speaker 2: recipe in this game. Give then, again, the strength of
• 14:01
  Speaker 2: the Eagles defense, and so I think you need to
• 14:04
  Speaker 2: be a little bit more aggressive, a little more high variance,
• 14:07
  Speaker 2: and hope that you hit on a couple of those
• 14:09
  Speaker 2: big plays early to sort of loosen up and soften
• 14:12
  Speaker 2: up the back end of the Eagles defense and then
• 14:15
  Speaker 2: maybe you find a little more running room. It feels
• 14:17
  Speaker 2: like he's been sort of the pass to set up
• 14:20
  Speaker 2: the run, or the run for the sake of the
• 14:22
  Speaker 2: run this season. I'd much rather be more along the
• 14:26
  Speaker 2: lines of throw the ball early and then run to
• 14:28
  Speaker 2: set up your play action pass and set up your
• 14:31
  Speaker 2: passing game. And I think that's where they would have
• 14:34
  Speaker 2: a better chance of having success, at least this weekend.
• 14:37
  Speaker 1: I actually think that's going to be part of the
• 14:39
  Speaker 1: Eagles game plan on the offensive side of the ball,
• 14:42
  Speaker 1: quite frankly, getting the ball out down the field early
• 14:45
  Speaker 1: on in the game and then letting Saquon perhaps take
• 14:48
  Speaker 1: over much of the second half. I think that is
• 14:51
  Speaker 1: actually a game plan that we may end up seeing,
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: and it's going to be interesting to see what the
• 14:55
  Speaker 1: Packers do in terms of that balance. But shifting over
• 14:58
  Speaker 1: to the defensive side of the all for the Packers,
• 15:01
  Speaker 1: I mean, when it comes to the Eagles passing attack,
• 15:04
  Speaker 1: AJ Brown and Devonte Smith are near the top in
• 15:08
  Speaker 1: terms of wide receiver duos in the NFL. Packers, as
• 15:12
  Speaker 1: we know, they don't have Jyrl Alexander covering either receiver
• 15:17
  Speaker 1: as he is done for the season. The Eagles love
• 15:20
  Speaker 1: thrown to the perimeter though, however, uh and we talked
• 15:24
  Speaker 1: about this recently on the podcast, and I'm gonna be
• 15:27
  Speaker 1: dropping it on a regular show this week. Eagles love
• 15:31
  Speaker 1: throwing it to the perimeter of the field where the
• 15:33
  Speaker 1: Packers corners really may potentially be vulnerable, but the Packers
• 15:37
  Speaker 1: are gonna know that it's coming. So I think these
• 15:39
  Speaker 1: matchups could actually really decide how this wild card game ends.
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: Is this the most concerning matchup for you techs heading
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: into this playoff game? Eagles receivers against the cornerbacks here,
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: and what are your thoughts as to what we may
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: see from the Packers.
• 15:57
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's It's funny. You're echoing a lot of the
• 15:59
  Speaker 2: things that I've been thinking, oh this week too. I
• 16:01
  Speaker 2: told a friend of mine just today that I do
• 16:03
  Speaker 2: think that matchup is going to be what probably decides
• 16:06
  Speaker 2: this game is the Packers outside corners against Brown and Smith.
• 16:11
  Speaker 2: Where the Packers have honestly been more vulnerable to the
• 16:14
  Speaker 2: pass game in the last probably six or seven weeks,
• 16:17
  Speaker 2: has actually been over the middle between the numbers don't
• 16:21
  Speaker 2: throw well exactly right, So so teams have been throwing
• 16:25
  Speaker 2: over the middle so much in the last several weeks.
• 16:27
  Speaker 2: Because Kwai Walker has been out, the linebacker, starting safety
• 16:32
  Speaker 2: Evan Williams, the Forefrond rookie, he's been out, they've had
• 16:35
  Speaker 2: these these gaps in the middle, and teams are just
• 16:37
  Speaker 2: spamming inbreakers all day long, these over the middle intermediate routes,
• 16:42
  Speaker 2: and they've been having a ton of success with it
• 16:44
  Speaker 2: against especially the linebackers or the Packers in zone coverage.
• 16:48
  Speaker 2: So it's going to be really interesting to see how
• 16:51
  Speaker 2: Keishawn Nixon and Carrington Valentine hold up on the outside,
• 16:54
  Speaker 2: just because they haven't really been tested that much in
• 16:57
  Speaker 2: these last several weeks. Now, I think they've found something
• 17:01
  Speaker 2: with their personnel. One of the issues that the Packers
• 17:04
  Speaker 2: have had with JayR Out is figuring out what to
• 17:07
  Speaker 2: do in the slot and what to do at one
• 17:09
  Speaker 2: of the safety positions. So Xavier McKinney, former Giants guy,
• 17:13
  Speaker 2: you guys have seen him plenty. He has been by
• 17:17
  Speaker 2: far at his best when he's a deep post safety
• 17:19
  Speaker 2: this season. So that the problem is their strong safety
• 17:23
  Speaker 2: Evan Williams has been out a bunch in the second
• 17:24
  Speaker 2: half of the year, so they've moved around some safeties,
• 17:28
  Speaker 2: played a little more interchangeable safeties, moved Keshawn Nixon from
• 17:32
  Speaker 2: outside corner into the slot, and put Eric Stokes on
• 17:34
  Speaker 2: the boundary. Well, Eric Stokes has stunk, and they finally
• 17:39
  Speaker 2: figured out that they can get away with a inferior
• 17:43
  Speaker 2: player at strong safety as long as Eric Stokes isn't
• 17:46
  Speaker 2: the guy in the boundary. It seems like that's finally
• 17:48
  Speaker 2: a lineup decision that they've made, and is I think
• 17:52
  Speaker 2: in every Packers fans book a good one. Keeping Valentine
• 17:56
  Speaker 2: and Stokes. Valentine and Nixon, excuse me, are your best
• 17:59
  Speaker 2: options on the bound Jevon Bullard, the rookie safety, is
• 18:02
  Speaker 2: probably going to be the slot guy. And then we
• 18:04
  Speaker 2: might see Evan Williams return in this game, which would
• 18:06
  Speaker 2: actually be a big help, I think for this Pacers defense.
• 18:09
  Speaker 2: He practiced for the first time today in several weeks. Okay,
• 18:12
  Speaker 2: I think it was a thigh or a hamstring injury,
• 18:15
  Speaker 2: so him being back would be good and the McKinney
• 18:17
  Speaker 2: to patrol the deep metal. So but but yeah, it's
• 18:20
  Speaker 2: it's just an area where teams haven't had to throw
• 18:23
  Speaker 2: outside the numbers very much against this team because there's
• 18:27
  Speaker 2: been so many issues coverage wise in the interior and
• 18:30
  Speaker 2: in between the numbers. So I don't know that we
• 18:33
  Speaker 2: know exactly what to expect or you know, I don't
• 18:36
  Speaker 2: know that I that I could tell you. Are they
• 18:38
  Speaker 2: going to match up, you know, Valentine on Smith and
• 18:41
  Speaker 2: Nixon on AJ Brown or are they going to just
• 18:44
  Speaker 2: let them stay on their respective sides. I have no
• 18:47
  Speaker 2: idea what they're going to do there either. It's it's
• 18:49
  Speaker 2: going to be fascinating. But yeah, nobody throws outside the
• 18:52
  Speaker 2: numbers more than Philly does. And I do think that
• 18:55
  Speaker 2: that's gonna be the match the matchup that ends up
• 18:57
  Speaker 2: deciding this game one way or another.
• 18:59
  Speaker 1: And I just I just write a stat on AJ
• 19:01
  Speaker 1: Brown before we jumped on ninety seven targets this year.
• 19:05
  Speaker 1: Zero drops, zero drops, That's a.
• 19:09
  Speaker 2: Gosh, that would be a dream come true for the
• 19:12
  Speaker 2: Packers this season. Man, the young receivers. Look, there's tons
• 19:16
  Speaker 2: of talents in that Packers receivers room, but man, they've
• 19:19
  Speaker 2: had issues with drops this year. It's Dantavian Wicks kind
• 19:22
  Speaker 2: of reverted after a big season last year. And has
• 19:25
  Speaker 2: had a lot of drop issues. Jaden Reid has had
• 19:27
  Speaker 2: a lot of drop issues this year too. You always
• 19:30
  Speaker 2: get a little one couple here and there with Romeo
• 19:33
  Speaker 2: Dobbs with the hands that get a little bit squirrely.
• 19:35
  Speaker 2: So that's that's gonna be a big thing that I'm
• 19:38
  Speaker 2: watching too. And one of the challenges is I didn't
• 19:40
  Speaker 2: even mention earlier. I meant to mention that Christian Watson
• 19:43
  Speaker 2: being out is a big problem for this team because
• 19:46
  Speaker 2: he's kind of your big man coverage beater guy. You know,
• 19:49
  Speaker 2: he's the take the top off the defense and throw
• 19:51
  Speaker 2: the deep ball type of guy. Well, they're going to
• 19:54
  Speaker 2: need someone like Dantavian Wicks to win against man coverage.
• 19:58
  Speaker 2: He's more of kind of the savvy outrunner type rather
• 20:01
  Speaker 2: than a pure burner, but he can create separations. So
• 20:04
  Speaker 2: I think he's going to need to have a big
• 20:05
  Speaker 2: game as well if the Packers are going to win
• 20:07
  Speaker 2: this game. And then the last thing I'll say about
• 20:10
  Speaker 2: the receivers is just we need to stop giving Jaden
• 20:13
  Speaker 2: Reid jet sweeps. I think he had three carries on
• 20:18
  Speaker 2: jet sweeps last week. One of them was a loss
• 20:20
  Speaker 2: of two yards on a fourth down and three. One
• 20:22
  Speaker 2: of them he fumbled and lost the ball in the
• 20:25
  Speaker 2: first quarter, and I think the other one was like
• 20:27
  Speaker 2: a gain of one yard on like second and long
• 20:30
  Speaker 2: or something. So no more jet sweeps to Jade and Reid, please.
• 20:33
  Speaker 2: I hate the Jets sweep. I hate the Jets sweep
• 20:35
  Speaker 2: play in general. There are a couple plays in the NFL.
• 20:37
  Speaker 2: Just to get off track here for a second, a
• 20:39
  Speaker 2: couple plays.
• 20:40
  Speaker 1: In the NFL. I just cannot stand. Jet sweep is one.
• 20:44
  Speaker 1: It is very rare that you see a jet sweep
• 20:46
  Speaker 1: go for go for a first down, let alone even
• 20:50
  Speaker 1: like seven or eight yards. At times, it is very
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: rare to see that. And I can't stand when when
• 20:56
  Speaker 1: the quarterback is tossing it left or right to the
• 20:58
  Speaker 1: running back, I cannot stand it. I know the blockers
• 21:01
  Speaker 1: need to get out in space, open up those holes.
• 21:04
  Speaker 1: Those toss plays don't work well, they just don't anyway.
• 21:09
  Speaker 1: I completely digress there. But getting back to this Packers
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: defense here, I think there's gonna be a lot of
• 21:15
  Speaker 1: pressure on the Packers linebackers this week.
• 21:19
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: I mean, we've talked about what the Eagles can do
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: in terms of the passing game. You know, just now
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: with Brown and Smith, but Saquon Barkley is arguably the
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: best running back in football. And my question is texts,
• 21:30
  Speaker 1: as I'm looking at this game and analyzing what it
• 21:32
  Speaker 1: can be for both teams, can the Packers really stop him?
• 21:36
  Speaker 1: And if so, how can they do it? And that's
• 21:39
  Speaker 1: where the linebackers come into play for the Packers. I mean,
• 21:42
  Speaker 1: will the Packers linebackers have an impact when they're trying
• 21:46
  Speaker 1: to stop Saquon Barkley this week? What are your thoughts?
• 21:50
  Speaker 2: Yeah, the Packers run defense has been markedly better this
• 21:54
  Speaker 2: year than it has in the last several years under
• 21:56
  Speaker 2: Joe Berry and Mike Petton and going back to Capers,
• 22:01
  Speaker 2: they're significantly better at stopping the run. Some of that
• 22:04
  Speaker 2: I think has to do with, you know, a little
• 22:08
  Speaker 2: bit of the scheme adjustment. There's only so much difference
• 22:11
  Speaker 2: between you know, whether you're running you know, a three
• 22:14
  Speaker 2: to four nickel with you know, a two four five
• 22:17
  Speaker 2: versus a four to two five. But because the Packers
• 22:20
  Speaker 2: are in nickel almost all the time still anyway, But
• 22:23
  Speaker 2: I will say Rashan Gary has been better at setting
• 22:25
  Speaker 2: the edge and he's been a much much better run defender.
• 22:28
  Speaker 2: I think that's probably the biggest reason why he ended
• 22:30
  Speaker 2: up making the Pro Bowl this year. Yeah, is his
• 22:32
  Speaker 2: improved play against the run. But the guy who's the
• 22:35
  Speaker 2: X factor for this linebacker group, who played all of
• 22:38
  Speaker 2: like ten snaps in the opener in the Week one
• 22:40
  Speaker 2: game in Brazil is Edrin Cooper, the rookie linebacker at
• 22:43
  Speaker 2: Texas A and M. He has, especially the last month
• 22:46
  Speaker 2: of the season, really really come on as a force
• 22:49
  Speaker 2: in run defense. He's got eight tackles for loss in
• 22:52
  Speaker 2: the last four games combined. I think he had four
• 22:55
  Speaker 2: alone two weeks ago in the game against the Vikings.
• 22:58
  Speaker 2: So he's the guy to watch. And one of the
• 23:01
  Speaker 2: biggest plays from that Week one game that always comes
• 23:04
  Speaker 2: to my mind is Saquon you know, running the wheel
• 23:07
  Speaker 2: route against Isam mcduffy for the touchdown in the left
• 23:10
  Speaker 2: corner of the end zone. Right. Yeah, Isaam McDuffie barely
• 23:13
  Speaker 2: played last week because Edrin Cooper has taken basically all
• 23:16
  Speaker 2: of his snaps as the second starting inside linebacker, and
• 23:21
  Speaker 2: he's He's so much more athletic than any other linebacker
• 23:23
  Speaker 2: the Packers have had in a long long time. He
• 23:26
  Speaker 2: is also a very talented blitzer, so you can use
• 23:29
  Speaker 2: him on run blitzz, you can use him on attacking
• 23:32
  Speaker 2: the quarterback a little bit. So he's a little bit
• 23:34
  Speaker 2: of a chess piece for Jeff Haffley, and I think
• 23:39
  Speaker 2: if he has a really good game, that's going to
• 23:41
  Speaker 2: go a long way for this defense to at least
• 23:45
  Speaker 2: trying to contain Saquon as much as one could potentially
• 23:50
  Speaker 2: potentially hope for it.
• 23:51
  Speaker 1: Right, I feel you, I feel you, my friend again, folks,
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: we're talking to Evan techs Western from Acmepackingcompany dot com,
• 23:59
  Speaker 1: great SB Nation site. Follow him on blue Sky. If
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: you are on blue Sky at Tech's Western, you can
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: follow me on blue Sky as well at Jeff Warren
• 24:09
  Speaker 1: would love to get that follow from you if you
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: are over there and sharing any content or thoughts before
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: I let you go, Buddy, you recently wrote on ACME
• 24:18
  Speaker 1: Packing Company that while the Packers are a talented team
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: for sure, they're going to need to execute at a
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: grade A level to beat some really good teams here
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: in the playoffs, and that there really is no margin
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: for error with this Packers team. Even though the Packers
• 24:33
  Speaker 1: have essentially lost some momentum here over the past couple
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: weeks heading into this game against the Eagles, how do
• 24:40
  Speaker 1: you think they go about getting some of that momentum back?
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: How can they gain more momentum in your mind heading
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: into this matchup here? What are your thoughts?
• 24:51
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I think there's a couple of things that work
• 24:53
  Speaker 2: in their favor. On the injury front, it does seem
• 24:56
  Speaker 2: like they're getting a couple of guys back. Romeo Dobbs
• 24:58
  Speaker 2: was out last week with an illness. He was full
• 25:01
  Speaker 2: go at practice today, so he should be back, should
• 25:03
  Speaker 2: be fine, So that'll help out with with Christian Watson
• 25:06
  Speaker 2: being out. You also I mentioned Evan Williams in safety earlier.
• 25:11
  Speaker 2: He looks like he might be on track to come back.
• 25:14
  Speaker 2: And then Kai Walker starting linebacker next to next to
• 25:17
  Speaker 2: Eddrian Cooper, looks like he Elsa might be back in
• 25:20
  Speaker 2: the lineup this week too, So you're getting some reinforcements there.
• 25:23
  Speaker 2: Which is something one thing the Packers have done almost
• 25:27
  Speaker 2: all season, which is really bucking the current trend around
• 25:30
  Speaker 2: the NFL, is when they win the coin toss, they
• 25:32
  Speaker 2: have elected to receive almost every time this year, So
• 25:36
  Speaker 2: it seems like they want to try to put points
• 25:39
  Speaker 2: on the board early and start from ahead, and I
• 25:42
  Speaker 2: certainly could see them trying to do that again this
• 25:44
  Speaker 2: week if they win the toss. If they do that though,
• 25:47
  Speaker 2: again to me, I think the key is to take
• 25:50
  Speaker 2: some shots early. You can't just sit back and rely
• 25:55
  Speaker 2: on the run game and try to let Josh Jacobs
• 25:57
  Speaker 2: get you five six yards and carry. You need to
• 26:00
  Speaker 2: try to force some of those explosive plays, which they've
• 26:03
  Speaker 2: been so good at all season long. Now again it's
• 26:07
  Speaker 2: sort of again to pick your poison with this Eagles defense,
• 26:10
  Speaker 2: because you do that, you're setting yourself up for, you know,
• 26:13
  Speaker 2: the pass rush to come after you, or you're trying
• 26:16
  Speaker 2: to attack that, you know, the the secondary, which which
• 26:20
  Speaker 2: is also still a really really good group for Philly.
• 26:22
  Speaker 2: So no matter what, you know, what matchup you're trying
• 26:26
  Speaker 2: to take advantage of against against the Eagles, it's going
• 26:28
  Speaker 2: to be a tough one on paper. But if you
• 26:30
  Speaker 2: kind of let this become a normal game script where
• 26:34
  Speaker 2: you know, you're just kind of trading long, sustained drives,
• 26:37
  Speaker 2: if it's the same type of game the Packers have
• 26:39
  Speaker 2: played the last you know, most of this season, yea,
• 26:42
  Speaker 2: that's not going to work for them because those matchups
• 26:45
  Speaker 2: favor Philadelphia too much with again with Saquon against this
• 26:49
  Speaker 2: this defense with those those receivers we talked about. So
• 26:52
  Speaker 2: they need to force some variance and they need to
• 26:56
  Speaker 2: as the underdogs, and they need to create big plays
• 26:59
  Speaker 2: to to have a chance. I think of pulling this upset.
• 27:02
  Speaker 1: I think that's what quote underdog teams need to do. Again,
• 27:05
  Speaker 1: I'll go back to twenty seventeen the Philadelphia Eagles. How
• 27:08
  Speaker 1: many explosive plays did they have in that NFC Championship
• 27:11
  Speaker 1: game against the Minnesota Vikings. Tons of explosive plays and
• 27:14
  Speaker 1: they ended up winning. They ended up getting that momentum
• 27:17
  Speaker 1: that got them to the Super Bowl. It'll be interesting
• 27:19
  Speaker 1: to see how this turns out for sure. Again, Text
• 27:22
  Speaker 1: Western from ACME Packingcompany dot com, Buddy, it was great
• 27:26
  Speaker 1: talking to you. Thanks so much for taking the time.
• 27:28
  Speaker 1: I know we're doing some travel with work and really
• 27:31
  Speaker 1: appreciate you taking the time as always to jump on
• 27:33
  Speaker 1: the PSD podcast show. Here come back and join us
• 27:36
  Speaker 1: down the road. Love to talk to you again, my friend, Jeff.
• 27:38
  Speaker 2: Absolutely, it's always my pleasure. I'll look forward to it.
• 27:41
  Speaker 2: Hopefully we see a real good entertaining game on Sunday,
• 27:45
  Speaker 2: and as always, go peck out.
• 27:47
  Speaker 1: It's hard to believe this NFL regular season is done
• 27:50
  Speaker 1: and we are into the playoff picture. It's always great
• 27:53
  Speaker 1: talking to text about what the Green Bay Packers may
• 27:55
  Speaker 1: be doing on the field. Love doing our Opposition Territory
• 27:58
  Speaker 1: podcast with him when he say able to jump on again.
• 28:01
  Speaker 1: Many thanks to Texts for taking the time. This is
• 28:04
  Speaker 1: really gonna be a pretty good matchup, folks. I know
• 28:06
  Speaker 1: we're talked about it during the course of the interview
• 28:08
  Speaker 1: and discussion. The Packers they just haven't been playing all
• 28:11
  Speaker 1: that well. They've been having a down couple weeks, but
• 28:14
  Speaker 1: we shouldn't discount what the Packers have done throughout this season.
• 28:18
  Speaker 1: They still have it in them. They still have it
• 28:19
  Speaker 1: in them to win big games. At least. I think
• 28:23
  Speaker 1: I don't want our fan base, I don't want the
• 28:25
  Speaker 1: players themselves, and I don't think they will to take
• 28:28
  Speaker 1: for granted what has happened with the Green Bay Packers
• 28:32
  Speaker 1: because they are a good team. They got a lot
• 28:33
  Speaker 1: of good talent. So that being said, we're gonna finish
• 28:36
  Speaker 1: up our Opposition Territory Podcast.
• 28:38
  Speaker 2: Now.
• 28:39
  Speaker 1: Appreciate you listening, Appreciate you downloading this show. Subscribe on
• 28:43
  Speaker 1: whatever podcast platform you are listening to us on, we'd
• 28:47
  Speaker 1: appreciate a rate and review as well. You can search
• 28:50
  Speaker 1: out the Philadelphia Sports Table on social media platforms. We
• 28:53
  Speaker 1: are on various social platforms out there. Social platforms are
• 28:57
  Speaker 1: probably gonna be changing here and there a little bit
• 28:59
  Speaker 1: over the course of twenty twenty five quite frankly, and
• 29:02
  Speaker 1: some of the engagement back and forth, I mean, some
• 29:04
  Speaker 1: of that stuff's already changed. We all know what's going
• 29:07
  Speaker 1: on of course with X and how things have changed
• 29:09
  Speaker 1: over there. But like I said earlier with text, I
• 29:12
  Speaker 1: am on Blue Sky. Feel free to follow me over
• 29:15
  Speaker 1: there if you're putting up content you want to have
• 29:18
  Speaker 1: some discussions at Jeff Warren, I would love to follow you.
• 29:23
  Speaker 1: Give me a follow over there as well. And again,
• 29:25
  Speaker 1: as it pertains to this upcoming playoff game, we're gonna
• 29:28
  Speaker 1: be doing our Eagles postgame podcast show afterward to dissect
• 29:32
  Speaker 1: what we saw, get into our themes of the game,
• 29:34
  Speaker 1: and we grate each unit as well as the coaching,
• 29:38
  Speaker 1: So stay tuned for that. Also, stay tuned for our
• 29:40
  Speaker 1: regular show that'll be uploaded Thursday morning this week here
• 29:44
  Speaker 1: January ninth. It will be uploaded. So that being said, everybody,
• 29:48
  Speaker 1: take care and we will catch you next time.