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Football at Four: Further Discussion on Eagles Running Game · Inside the Birds: A Philadelphia Eagles Podcast

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: They have to figure out a way to run the football. That,
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: to me, is where they need to start. But without
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: running backs, it's kind of hard to run the football.
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: But that's, to me, I think where they really got
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: to focus on that to help Tanner in the play-action game,
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: you know, to be able to continue to, you know,
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: push the ball down the field, get the ball out
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: of his hands quickly, if need be. And it's really,
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: they're going to have to lead on defense.
• 0:30
  Speaker 2: Earlier today on the show, he said they really have
• 0:32
  Speaker 2: to figure out how to run the football. Is it
• 0:36
  Speaker 2: as simple as that? He said, well, they don't have
• 0:37
  Speaker 2: any running backs. So he was pretty honest about it,
• 0:41
  Speaker 2: that this is a challenge. We'll talk about it now.
• 0:44
  Speaker 2: Jeff Mosher from the Inside the Birds podcast, InsideTheBirds.com, set
• 0:48
  Speaker 2: to join us now on the Sports Bash Live. on 97.3 ESPN.
• 0:51
  Speaker 2: Good to catch up with Doug Peterson. And he recognized
• 0:54
  Speaker 2: the challenge that they have right now, Jeff Mosher. One
• 0:58
  Speaker 2: of the things he thought they could try to do
• 1:01
  Speaker 2: to get this offense going is run the football. Easier
• 1:04
  Speaker 2: said than done. But is that something that they really
• 1:07
  Speaker 2: need to try to focus on getting back into their offense?
• 1:10
  Speaker 2: They just have not tried to run the football.
• 1:14
  Speaker 3: Well, I think they have, Mike. I think last game
• 1:17
  Speaker 3: was an anomaly of not trying. The reason why they
• 1:21
  Speaker 3: didn't try last game, and I'm sure even Doug would
• 1:24
  Speaker 3: tell you, and I think Doug was hinting at this.
• 1:26
  Speaker 3: He said they got to run the football, but they
• 1:27
  Speaker 3: don't have any running backs, right? You're already down your
• 1:30
  Speaker 3: top three, and then you lost Carson Steele early. So
• 1:34
  Speaker 3: all you really have is Damian Pierce, and Damian Pierce
• 1:37
  Speaker 3: is not an explosive runner at all. And the Panthers
• 1:40
  Speaker 3: are sitting there putting, like many teams are now, six, seven,
• 1:43
  Speaker 3: eight guys down. at scrimmage, I am a wholehearted believer
• 1:47
  Speaker 3: that you don't run into a brick wall just to say, Hey,
• 1:50
  Speaker 3: we ran. You got to try to figure out ways
• 1:53
  Speaker 3: to loosen up those seven and eight man fronts so
• 1:56
  Speaker 3: that you can run the ball. You can get those guys,
• 1:59
  Speaker 3: those defenses to start giving you more traditional zone looks,
• 2:04
  Speaker 3: for example. And hopefully if Saquon Barkley gets back, then
• 2:07
  Speaker 3: the Eagles can, can start to do that. But, you know,
• 2:10
  Speaker 3: they also have still an issue with their interior offensive
• 2:12
  Speaker 3: line and, They were not running the ball well even
• 2:15
  Speaker 3: before Barkley got hurt. So it's a bit of a
• 2:18
  Speaker 3: big– we talked about this. God, it almost feels like
• 2:21
  Speaker 3: ad nausea now. The Eagles have really struggled to run
• 2:24
  Speaker 3: the ball going back to the beginning of last year.
• 2:26
  Speaker 3: They've had some decent spurts, but consistently they have not.
• 2:30
  Speaker 3: So it shouldn't be a surprise that their passing game
• 2:34
  Speaker 3: and their whole offense as a result has really hit
• 2:38
  Speaker 3: the skids.
• 2:39
  Speaker 2: Yeah, look, I'm not sitting here arguing that they have
• 2:43
  Speaker 2: the talent to run the ball. They certainly are down
• 2:44
  Speaker 2: to their fourth back. They're down to some backups. But
• 2:47
  Speaker 2: I would ask you this question. Offensive linemen generally get
• 2:50
  Speaker 2: into a better rhythm trying to run block than pass block.
• 2:53
  Speaker 2: Do we not see that that is a possibility with
• 2:57
  Speaker 2: this offensive line, that they might be better suited to
• 3:00
  Speaker 2: just try to run the ball with the offensive line?
• 3:03
  Speaker 2: Or are you asking guys to pass block, and that's
• 3:05
  Speaker 2: maybe not their strong suit either?
• 3:07
  Speaker 3: Well, I actually think this iteration of the offensive line,
• 3:11
  Speaker 3: when we're talking about, I guess, Jake Majors at center,
• 3:14
  Speaker 3: or even if you put Drew Kendall in there, right,
• 3:16
  Speaker 3: and Willie Lampkin at left guard, probably is better in
• 3:21
  Speaker 3: pass protection when it's one-on-one, if they're facing a four-
• 3:25
  Speaker 3: or a five-man rush. Now, the Panthers, like we talked
• 3:28
  Speaker 3: about on Monday, just sent some crazy blitzes and broke
• 3:32
  Speaker 3: down their protection schemes. That's not... a fault of a person,
• 3:36
  Speaker 3: but more of a scheme and a protection, right? But
• 3:38
  Speaker 3: the reason why I don't think it's great run blocking
• 3:42
  Speaker 3: line is because they're short-armed, they're undersized, they don't move
• 3:46
  Speaker 3: people consistently off the ball. And unfortunately, even the right tackle,
• 3:51
  Speaker 3: who's 300 and what, 60 pounds? Markel Bell, he's a
• 3:55
  Speaker 3: big man. The knock on him coming out of Miami
• 3:58
  Speaker 3: was that he just had to get stronger. I know
• 4:00
  Speaker 3: that's hard to say about a guy who's 6'9 and
• 4:02
  Speaker 3: 350 pounds. who could probably throw me halfway across the
• 4:07
  Speaker 3: football field. But in NFL terms, he has to get
• 4:10
  Speaker 3: stronger as well and work on technique. And the reality
• 4:15
  Speaker 3: is when you watch the tape and even when you're
• 4:16
  Speaker 3: watching in real time, when they run, they don't move.
• 4:21
  Speaker 3: They don't reset the line of scrimmage. They don't open
• 4:23
  Speaker 3: real big holes. And right now, down to their fourth,
• 4:26
  Speaker 3: fifth running back, you're not finding really talented guys. You
• 4:29
  Speaker 3: get skinny through the hole and can give you a
• 4:31
  Speaker 3: second gear of explosion.
• 4:34
  Speaker 2: Moshe, one of the things that we talked to Doug
• 4:38
  Speaker 2: Peterson about was he said, you know, the verbiage that
• 4:43
  Speaker 2: he uses, you know, that they changed quarterbacks here in
• 4:46
  Speaker 2: this situation, which, yeah. And I said, well, ironically, I
• 4:48
  Speaker 2: have a guy who had to go through that. What
• 4:51
  Speaker 2: can they do there? And he said, you know, he
• 4:53
  Speaker 2: can really try to help simplify things. But. Do they
• 4:56
  Speaker 2: want to try to run their offense that they put
• 4:59
  Speaker 2: in in training camp with Tanner McKee, or was this
• 5:03
  Speaker 2: offense put in for Jalen Hurts?
• 5:07
  Speaker 3: Well, the thing about them, Mike, is that I don't
• 5:10
  Speaker 3: think that the quarterback, I don't think this offense, and
• 5:14
  Speaker 3: I don't think most offenses in the NFL are designed
• 5:17
  Speaker 3: specifically for the quarterback unless you get a situation like
• 5:20
  Speaker 3: Doug was referring to where Nick Foles' strengths were a
• 5:24
  Speaker 3: lot different in terms of how he saw the passing
• 5:27
  Speaker 3: game than Carson Wentz and how things needed to be
• 5:30
  Speaker 3: simple for him. But I don't think this was a
• 5:34
  Speaker 3: complex offense to begin with. The whole point was let's
• 5:37
  Speaker 3: run the ball, get some good manageable down distances, and
• 5:40
  Speaker 3: then work under center play action when we can. Let's
• 5:43
  Speaker 3: get into shotgun and do some of the things that
• 5:44
  Speaker 3: we've done well in shotgun in the past. And they're
• 5:47
  Speaker 3: going to continue to do that. So I don't see
• 5:50
  Speaker 3: radical changes in offense. like route design concept blocking scheme.
• 5:54
  Speaker 3: I do think you will see radical. You may see
• 5:58
  Speaker 3: them being even more shotgun than they'd like to be
• 6:02
  Speaker 3: because right now going under center is not helping them
• 6:04
  Speaker 3: in the past or the run game. Well, no, that
• 6:07
  Speaker 3: might be more quick game might be more RPO. You
• 6:09
  Speaker 3: might see some tweaks and adjustments that do fit what
• 6:13
  Speaker 3: not only what Tanner does well, but what they need
• 6:15
  Speaker 3: just to start getting positive yards.
• 6:18
  Speaker 2: Yeah. Sean Mannion was asked, you know, you're struggling against
• 6:21
  Speaker 2: under center stuff. He said, you know, I do feel
• 6:27
  Speaker 2: good about it. I can't imagine he's telling the truth, right?
• 6:29
  Speaker 2: That he feels good about his under center stuff right now.
• 6:32
  Speaker 3: No, I mean, how could they had a 0% success
• 6:35
  Speaker 3: rate against the Panthers past success under center. How could
• 6:38
  Speaker 3: you feel good about that? What is your, remember how
• 6:43
  Speaker 3: Nick Sirianni always says you never want to be last
• 6:45
  Speaker 3: in the league in anything. Did I lose you?
• 6:51
  Speaker 2: Mangan said that a he said i think it's a
• 6:53
  Speaker 2: commitment to the fundamentals and i think it's just a
• 6:55
  Speaker 2: cleaner execution this starts with us as a staff making
• 6:58
  Speaker 2: sure we're doing everything possible to put a our guys
• 7:01
  Speaker 2: in the best possible position and b we're making coaching
• 7:04
  Speaker 2: the details the fundamentals and the communication that need to
• 7:07
  Speaker 2: be done you know he says do you feel good
• 7:09
  Speaker 2: about the under center stuff there's no way he could
• 7:13
  Speaker 2: feel good about that and i think that jeff was
• 7:14
  Speaker 2: kind of uh and there's jeff um was kind of
• 7:17
  Speaker 2: outlining there that he cannot feel good about the under
• 7:20
  Speaker 2: center stuff and that you would most likely, and it's
• 7:22
  Speaker 2: not something that McKee did a whole heck of a
• 7:25
  Speaker 2: lot of.
• 7:27
  Speaker 3: Correct.
• 7:28
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 7:28
  Speaker 3: And I don't know if I got cut off or not,
• 7:30
  Speaker 3: but they had a 0% pass success rate under center
• 7:33
  Speaker 3: against the Panthers. Not sure how you would feel good
• 7:35
  Speaker 3: about a 0% success rate in anything. And as Nick
• 7:39
  Speaker 3: Sirianni likes to say, you never want to be last
• 7:41
  Speaker 3: in the league in anything. Well, they were on Sunday.
• 7:45
  Speaker 2: Yeah. Now, you know, without like saying, I got to
• 7:50
  Speaker 2: try something, you know, try out a, you know, how
• 7:52
  Speaker 2: long do you stick with McKee? Is that even a question?
• 7:56
  Speaker 3: It's not a question, Mike.
• 7:58
  Speaker 2: No, it's not a question.
• 7:59
  Speaker 3: And go to who?
• 8:01
  Speaker 2: I don't know. Milton? I mean, do you want to get,
• 8:03
  Speaker 2: do you brought him in here? Do you even want to?
• 8:05
  Speaker 2: I would only say, and I'm with you, like. He
• 8:08
  Speaker 2: at least can move, right? I mean, McKee just can't move.
• 8:13
  Speaker 2: So he has to be so pinpoint perfect in an
• 8:16
  Speaker 2: offense that is struggling to protect. If you're not protecting,
• 8:21
  Speaker 2: do you get somebody in there that can just avoid
• 8:23
  Speaker 2: and maybe do something with your legs?
• 8:26
  Speaker 3: Yeah, no, I don't think so. I mean, that's like
• 8:28
  Speaker 3: just rearranging the furniture on the Titanic.
• 8:30
  Speaker 2: I agree. Yeah. I mean, I agree. It just, you know,
• 8:34
  Speaker 2: people are going to say, look, hey, why not just
• 8:36
  Speaker 2: take a look at the guy?
• 8:37
  Speaker 3: Well, I mean, you don't take a look at a
• 8:39
  Speaker 3: guy until you're totally out of it. And then at
• 8:41
  Speaker 3: that point, who knows like that, that we can have
• 8:44
  Speaker 3: that discussion, you know, six weeks from now, if they
• 8:47
  Speaker 3: have one, like one game, less game, they're not.
• 8:49
  Speaker 2: Well, I guess the reason is most because your season's
• 8:53
  Speaker 2: teetering with three division games right here. Right. I mean,
• 8:56
  Speaker 2: this is it. This is, this is your shot to
• 8:58
  Speaker 2: really turn this thing around.
• 9:00
  Speaker 3: Yeah, absolutely. It's your shot to turn it around and
• 9:04
  Speaker 3: get healthier. And I know people don't want to hear this,
• 9:07
  Speaker 3: and I'm not sitting here beating any drum for Tanner
• 9:10
  Speaker 3: McKee is great. I don't want this to be construed
• 9:12
  Speaker 3: that way. But when he was protected... in the few
• 9:15
  Speaker 3: times he actually made some pretty decent throws. I mean,
• 9:17
  Speaker 3: he hit Goddard on a nice bender. I thought the
• 9:19
  Speaker 3: throw Devante Smith was a great catch by Devante, of course,
• 9:22
  Speaker 3: but putting it in only a place against that coverage
• 9:25
  Speaker 3: where Devante would be able to get it. I mean,
• 9:28
  Speaker 3: everything about that day was an abject disaster, but if
• 9:31
  Speaker 3: you actually looked at the times when he had a
• 9:33
  Speaker 3: couple of seconds to throw the ball, it wasn't, it
• 9:35
  Speaker 3: wasn't bad by the way, again, and this is something
• 9:40
  Speaker 3: I want everybody to listen to inside the data tomorrow,
• 9:42
  Speaker 3: but with me and Sam Finkel, the Eagles are doing something.
• 9:45
  Speaker 3: I'll shed a little light on it here. That is
• 9:48
  Speaker 3: so amazingly good yet bad at the same time. Mike,
• 9:54
  Speaker 3: they continue to not turn the ball over despite the
• 9:57
  Speaker 3: fact that they're playing a bunch of backups. They're going
• 9:59
  Speaker 3: to quarterback's getting hit. They have an unblocked free rides
• 10:03
  Speaker 3: to the QB. They've got no run game. They're forced
• 10:06
  Speaker 3: to pass the ball 49 times what it was, right?
• 10:09
  Speaker 2: 45, yeah.
• 10:09
  Speaker 3: Bad snaps, and yet no interceptions, no fumbles, just like
• 10:14
  Speaker 3: we credited Jalen Hurts when things were bad. They are
• 10:17
  Speaker 3: amazing players. at not turning the ball over despite so
• 10:22
  Speaker 3: many reasons that you see teams turn the ball over.
• 10:25
  Speaker 3: Rush passing, quarterback getting hit, behind the line of scrimmage,
• 10:29
  Speaker 3: backups in the game, penalties.
• 10:31
  Speaker 2: All that. This would be pure opinion on your part.
• 10:34
  Speaker 2: I get that. But if you have Kendall and Dickerson,
• 10:37
  Speaker 2: and I don't know when those two guys are back.
• 10:38
  Speaker 2: I know Kendall was active last week. He didn't play.
• 10:41
  Speaker 2: Dickerson's at least practicing. Maybe he's getting closer. Should you
• 10:45
  Speaker 2: think that you could run the ball better? Better? Yes.
• 10:51
  Speaker 3: But, you know, let's go back to when they were healthy, right?
• 10:55
  Speaker 3: When Cam Juergens was at center and when Dickerson was
• 10:58
  Speaker 3: at left guard, season opener, and you had Saquon Barkley
• 11:01
  Speaker 3: and you had a healthy Goddard and you had Munt,
• 11:04
  Speaker 3: you weren't running the ball well. But I do think
• 11:06
  Speaker 3: just running the ball better opens the door for at
• 11:10
  Speaker 3: least a more functional offense. Now, whether or not they
• 11:12
  Speaker 3: can score 24 and hang with other teams, that's a
• 11:15
  Speaker 3: whole other ball of wax. You're just right now trying
• 11:19
  Speaker 3: to get functional again. But you still will face obstacles, Mike.
• 11:24
  Speaker 3: Johnny Munt is not doing a great job blocking. He's
• 11:26
  Speaker 3: doing okay.
• 11:27
  Speaker 2: Not great.
• 11:28
  Speaker 3: And he's had some bad moments. You still have a
• 11:30
  Speaker 3: right tackle who, again, is making his way through. And
• 11:33
  Speaker 3: Tyler Steen did not play. I don't know if the
• 11:36
  Speaker 3: shoulder was bothering him a little bit from the week before,
• 11:39
  Speaker 3: but he really got blown up. And, again, that might
• 11:41
  Speaker 3: be because the guy to his left is Jake Majors
• 11:44
  Speaker 3: and the guy to his right is making just his
• 11:46
  Speaker 3: second start. And he's worried too much. We saw Mailata
• 11:51
  Speaker 3: have a couple of bad snaps when Lampkin was next
• 11:54
  Speaker 3: to him in Lampkin's debut, and maybe that had to
• 11:56
  Speaker 3: do with it too. I don't know, but they've got
• 11:58
  Speaker 3: so many things they've got to figure out, Mike. But
• 12:00
  Speaker 3: I do think if you can just run the ball honestly.
• 12:04
  Speaker 3: I'll give you an example. The Texans have a bad
• 12:06
  Speaker 3: run game. The Packers have an atrocious run game, right?
• 12:10
  Speaker 3: But they can run the ball honestly to at least
• 12:13
  Speaker 3: set up some of their more functional passing offense, and
• 12:16
  Speaker 3: that's where the Eagles need to be.
• 12:19
  Speaker 2: Obviously, it's been a trying week for this organization. I mean,
• 12:25
  Speaker 2: the NFLPA getting involved in this, the NFL saying we
• 12:28
  Speaker 2: welcome it, this is still clouding over top this organization
• 12:32
  Speaker 2: as they get ready for this game, correct?
• 12:34
  Speaker 3: Oh, and by the way, the owner is going to
• 12:36
  Speaker 3: get inducted into the Eagles Hall of Fame on Monday night.
• 12:39
  Speaker 2: In the midst of all this controversy. Yeah, not the
• 12:42
  Speaker 2: best choice of game, I guess. I got asked this morning,
• 12:45
  Speaker 2: if I thought Laurie would get booed. And at first
• 12:47
  Speaker 2: I'm like, yeah, probably not. And then people were like,
• 12:49
  Speaker 2: what are you talking about? And I'm like, Oh, maybe,
• 12:53
  Speaker 2: maybe he will get booed. Yeah.
• 12:55
  Speaker 3: I mean, but we'll see. Now the interesting thing is
• 12:58
  Speaker 3: everybody's been inducted into the hall of fame has done
• 13:01
  Speaker 3: a press conference beforehand. Does Laurie face the cameras and
• 13:05
  Speaker 3: the microphones before the game in a press conference? I
• 13:09
  Speaker 3: would say no, I'm leaning toward no on that, but
• 13:11
  Speaker 3: we'll see.
• 13:12
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I know Monday you had said, and so far
• 13:14
  Speaker 2: you're right, and I don't think it's going to change
• 13:16
  Speaker 2: the fact that they're just hoping this kind of goes away.
• 13:18
  Speaker 2: But the NFL getting to this level with the NFLPA,
• 13:22
  Speaker 2: does it change your mind at all that they might
• 13:24
  Speaker 2: actually have to make some sort of address here? Because
• 13:28
  Speaker 2: Nick's going to talk, although Nick's talking on Saturday, which
• 13:31
  Speaker 2: is a little less because they play Monday night. His
• 13:34
  Speaker 2: regular Friday is now on Saturday. But do you think
• 13:37
  Speaker 2: on Friday when Nick speaks that they will have somebody
• 13:41
  Speaker 2: with him this time?
• 13:42
  Speaker 3: No, no, I don't think so. I think the NFL
• 13:47
  Speaker 3: PA getting involved is, I don't want, I'm not, I'm
• 13:51
  Speaker 3: grandstanding would be too much. I think that the NFL
• 13:54
  Speaker 3: PA just wants people to know it fights for its players.
• 13:57
  Speaker 3: And it's also not just going to accept, answers from
• 14:01
  Speaker 3: the NFL and the NFL employed doctors. Right. Which is fine.
• 14:05
  Speaker 3: I think that's what the NFL PA should do. It
• 14:08
  Speaker 3: should make sure it's acting as a watchdog when the
• 14:10
  Speaker 3: NFL is citing its own doctors and its own investigation.
• 14:15
  Speaker 2: Right.
• 14:15
  Speaker 3: So I think that's fair. That's fine. I thought from the,
• 14:19
  Speaker 3: I still think this is more, not a break in
• 14:23
  Speaker 3: rules or protocol issue, flagrant break in that and more
• 14:28
  Speaker 3: just a common sense issue. Right. I mean, from what
• 14:31
  Speaker 3: we understand, if we're taking the NFL, the doctors, the Eagles,
• 14:35
  Speaker 3: Jalen Hurts' agent, all at face value from what they say,
• 14:40
  Speaker 3: then they just, they followed what the doctors said would
• 14:45
  Speaker 3: be acceptable. And that is, there's nothing wrong. You're supposed
• 14:48
  Speaker 3: to do that, right? But then there's the common sense
• 14:51
  Speaker 3: of it all where you take a step back and say, OK,
• 14:54
  Speaker 3: just because he can doesn't mean he should.
• 14:57
  Speaker 2: Right.
• 14:57
  Speaker 3: Does it mean it's a good idea for the player,
• 15:00
  Speaker 3: but also for the team to have a guy in
• 15:03
  Speaker 3: this situation go out there, play, fly back and do
• 15:07
  Speaker 3: all the rigors of NFL quarterback life when he has
• 15:10
  Speaker 3: this going on over him? And it's very easy to say, well, hey,
• 15:13
  Speaker 3: he's the player. He was fine with it. He got
• 15:15
  Speaker 3: the medical advice. He got the clearance. The team said,
• 15:18
  Speaker 3: but sometimes guys need to be regulated from themselves, right?
• 15:21
  Speaker 3: So to me, just sitting here now without knowing anything
• 15:24
  Speaker 3: more that might come up, it does feel like more
• 15:27
  Speaker 3: to me of a common sense issue than an actual
• 15:30
  Speaker 3: break in rules issue.
• 15:31
  Speaker 2: Well, it seemingly is at this, if it's superficial, it's
• 15:36
  Speaker 2: normal that a team doctor would have said that's okay.
• 15:40
  Speaker 2: If it was anything further than that, not as normal.
• 15:43
  Speaker 2: So I guess the question is, how did it go
• 15:45
  Speaker 2: from A to Z? in that time frame. What caused
• 15:49
  Speaker 2: the change? And that's where I think the Eagles can
• 15:52
  Speaker 2: at least clear up because he practiced on Wednesday and
• 15:56
  Speaker 2: I guess one of the things was, well, he was
• 15:58
  Speaker 2: told to wait 72 hours before he got rechecked out.
• 16:02
  Speaker 2: But don't you think you would say, hey, listen, you
• 16:04
  Speaker 2: had a superficial, you flew, you're not going to practice
• 16:07
  Speaker 2: on Wednesday. Let's get this checked out and just make
• 16:09
  Speaker 2: sure before, and then this way we can get McKee
• 16:13
  Speaker 2: ready in the event that we need him.
• 16:14
  Speaker 1: For sure.
• 16:15
  Speaker 3: And then I also think, and maybe this is just
• 16:18
  Speaker 3: armchair quarterbacking though, if I'm taking the medical professionals at
• 16:22
  Speaker 3: the doctors at the word and they say it's a superficial, uh, uh, thrombosis, it's,
• 16:27
  Speaker 3: it's fine as it is. He keeps, it's actually good
• 16:29
  Speaker 3: to move around. He can play.
• 16:31
  Speaker 2: He's cleared.
• 16:31
  Speaker 3: I think my next question would be, and I'm not
• 16:34
  Speaker 3: saying the Eagles didn't ask this, but again, this becomes
• 16:36
  Speaker 3: as well. What are the chances at all that even
• 16:40
  Speaker 3: though it's superficial now that something could cause it to
• 16:43
  Speaker 3: become more than super like a pulmonary embolism, um, and
• 16:49
  Speaker 3: I need to, I need.
• 16:49
  Speaker 2: To answer it.
• 16:50
  Speaker 3: If there's any chance that it could, then maybe it's
• 16:53
  Speaker 3: not a good idea to play the guy because, because that's,
• 16:56
  Speaker 3: there seems to be their fallback is like, man, we
• 16:58
  Speaker 3: were told it was superficial. It's okay to play. The
• 17:02
  Speaker 3: doctor said that it's not, you don't want them just
• 17:04
  Speaker 3: like to be stationary.
• 17:05
  Speaker 2: Okay, fine.
• 17:05
  Speaker 3: But what about the fact that it could become something
• 17:08
  Speaker 3: else in a day or two or more? Do we
• 17:12
  Speaker 3: really want to subject him to that? I, and again,
• 17:14
  Speaker 3: that to me is just common sense over medical practice
• 17:17
  Speaker 3: and textbook what the textbooks say, you know?
• 17:20
  Speaker 2: Doesn't help that this game occurred in London.
• 17:23
  Speaker 3: Does not help. And that's got to be taken into consideration.
• 17:26
  Speaker 2: If the game was in Australia, imagine that. Yeah, for sure.
• 17:31
  Speaker 3: Even West Coast. I mean... Look, even by what I
• 17:35
  Speaker 3: just said, even if it's a home game and you
• 17:38
  Speaker 3: just want to know, well, does that mean if it's
• 17:40
  Speaker 3: a deep vein thrombosis and does that mean it'll just
• 17:42
  Speaker 3: definitely stay that way? If he plays a football game,
• 17:45
  Speaker 3: there's like no chance for any other, you know, catastrophic
• 17:48
  Speaker 3: thing to happen with it. Then I would have to
• 17:51
  Speaker 3: hear what the doctors say. If they say, well, you know,
• 17:54
  Speaker 3: let's reevaluate him in a day or two and see
• 17:57
  Speaker 3: if there's movement. Then I'm thinking to think, well, even
• 18:00
  Speaker 3: if there's a chance of movement, I don't know if
• 18:01
  Speaker 3: I want to put this guy in a football game.
• 18:03
  Speaker 2: Yeah. You know, I just four straight losses, the way
• 18:07
  Speaker 2: that they're losing. Do you think that factors into why
• 18:10
  Speaker 2: this has been talked about so much? I mean, it's
• 18:15
  Speaker 2: a major thing for Jalen, but it seems like the
• 18:17
  Speaker 2: Eagles are a carcass. It just as easy to be
• 18:19
  Speaker 2: picked at right now.
• 18:20
  Speaker 3: Well, it certainly feeds into their criticism of decision-making.
• 18:26
  Speaker 2: Right. Right.
• 18:27
  Speaker 3: They have been criticized for, all of a lot of
• 18:30
  Speaker 3: their decisions and chief among them is firing an offensive coordinator,
• 18:36
  Speaker 3: which is fine. That wasn't the issue, but then replacing
• 18:39
  Speaker 3: the offensive coordinator with another one who has no play
• 18:43
  Speaker 3: calling experience, right? That was a justifiably critical decision by
• 18:51
  Speaker 3: the organization that appears to be at this moment, not
• 18:55
  Speaker 3: a great decision, right? And then not on top of that,
• 18:58
  Speaker 3: when you do that, then you got to bring in
• 19:00
  Speaker 3: other people for your staff and then you lose a
• 19:02
  Speaker 3: guy like just that one, of course. And then you
• 19:05
  Speaker 3: bring in other people from elsewhere and they're available for
• 19:09
  Speaker 3: a reason.
• 19:10
  Speaker 2: Right.
• 19:10
  Speaker 3: And then you just question like the acumen. and their
• 19:13
  Speaker 3: ability to just, and this is not like a, I'm
• 19:17
  Speaker 3: not trying to disparage Chris Cooper or Sean Manning. I
• 19:20
  Speaker 3: think it's an unfair expectation of them in this market
• 19:23
  Speaker 3: with this team that's been struggling to just come in,
• 19:26
  Speaker 3: snap their fingers and be geniuses. So that's why you
• 19:30
  Speaker 3: put it on the organizational decision-making.
• 19:33
  Speaker 2: Not good. They'll play the Cowboys. Dallas is a team
• 19:36
  Speaker 2: that can score most, you know, Vic Fangio's defense has
• 19:39
  Speaker 2: been good. It's not, I mean, it's been very good
• 19:43
  Speaker 2: at times on the field way too much. Also dealing
• 19:47
  Speaker 2: with injuries. I just feel like it's one of these.
• 19:50
  Speaker 2: games dallas you know them they'll score 30 30 30
• 19:53
  Speaker 2: 12 14 40 right you know like if you're just
• 19:58
  Speaker 2: waiting for that night for them to break out and
• 20:01
  Speaker 2: with the way everything's going right now it just feels
• 20:04
  Speaker 2: like let me kick you while you're down.
• 20:07
  Speaker 3: You certainly would think that that's the Cowboys mentality, but
• 20:09
  Speaker 3: like you said, they've only scored 29 points in their
• 20:12
  Speaker 3: last two games and they've done it against two of
• 20:15
  Speaker 3: the worst defenses in the league and the, and the
• 20:18
  Speaker 3: Packers and the Bucks. All the Packers have started to
• 20:20
  Speaker 3: play a little bit better, but the Packers, I mean,
• 20:23
  Speaker 3: didn't they give up like, 39 points in the season
• 20:25
  Speaker 3: opener to the Vikings. And then they were down to
• 20:28
  Speaker 3: the Jets and needed a fourth quarter comeback. Then they
• 20:30
  Speaker 3: gave up 35 points to the Falcons. So it's not like,
• 20:34
  Speaker 3: you know, they're having trouble scoring against teams that have
• 20:37
  Speaker 3: played great defense. They're a little bit like the Eagles
• 20:40
  Speaker 3: right now. The Cowboys can't run the ball very well
• 20:43
  Speaker 3: for all their talent on the offensive line. And the
• 20:46
  Speaker 3: year Javante Williams had, they actually have fewer rushing yards
• 20:50
  Speaker 3: than the Eagles, which is hard to believe. So that's
• 20:54
  Speaker 3: been impacting their offense as well.
• 20:57
  Speaker 2: Yeah, to say that is crazy. That they have fewer
• 21:01
  Speaker 2: on the season?
• 21:02
  Speaker 3: Yeah, they have 456 rushing yards, and the Eagles have 493. Now,
• 21:10
  Speaker 3: the 40-yard difference, I know Jalen had some earlier this year.
• 21:13
  Speaker 3: He had some bigger scramble games in the first two weeks.
• 21:16
  Speaker 3: So if you just did a running back by running back,
• 21:19
  Speaker 3: Maybe it's a little bit similar, but even for the
• 21:21
  Speaker 3: Cowboys to even be in this sentence with the depleted,
• 21:24
  Speaker 3: beat-up Eagles when they've only had a few injuries up
• 21:27
  Speaker 3: front is not good for them.
• 21:30
  Speaker 2: Eagles back-to-back games with 35 or fewer rushing yards. It's
• 21:35
  Speaker 2: pretty bad.
• 21:36
  Speaker 3: 35.
• 21:36
  Speaker 2: For sure. Now, that's the first time since going three
• 21:41
  Speaker 2: straight in 2005. Do we remember who those running backs
• 21:46
  Speaker 2: were in 05?
• 21:47
  Speaker 3: Oh, well, Ryan Motes is probably one of them.
• 21:51
  Speaker 2: Poor Ryan Motes has been hammered twice.
• 21:54
  Speaker 3: Yes, he has. I forget who that is because Westbrook
• 21:57
  Speaker 3: got hurt, but I'm sure he might have been one
• 21:58
  Speaker 3: of the running backs. Remember, Mike McMahon was your quarterback,
• 22:02
  Speaker 3: and Todd Hermans as a rookie was out there playing,
• 22:05
  Speaker 3: I think, guard or tackle. I mean, they had so
• 22:08
  Speaker 3: many injuries. No T.O.
• 22:10
  Speaker 1: T.O.
• 22:10
  Speaker 3: Gets kicked off. By the way, go look at T.O.
• 22:12
  Speaker 3: 's stats from 2005. If you want your eyeballs to
• 22:16
  Speaker 3: fall out of your head, Go look at how many
• 22:18
  Speaker 3: yards and touchdowns he had in the limited number of
• 22:22
  Speaker 3: games that he played and extrapolate that over to 16
• 22:25
  Speaker 3: games and your eyes will fall out of your head.
• 22:27
  Speaker 2: He had 47 catches for 763 yards and six touchdowns.
• 22:30
  Speaker 2: He was averaging nearly 110 yards per game. Yeah. He
• 22:32
  Speaker 2: played seven games, right?
• 22:33
  Speaker 3: Yes. So you said 750 yards?
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: 763.
• 22:44
  Speaker 3: So right away you can double that to get to
• 22:46
  Speaker 3: 14 games. You're looking at about 1,500 yards before you
• 22:49
  Speaker 3: get to the last two. That was an even better
• 22:51
  Speaker 3: season than 2004, if we're being honest.
• 22:54
  Speaker 2: Ryan Motes, by the way, played seven games. He had
• 22:58
  Speaker 2: 268 yards rushing. Lamar Gordon was on there. Reno Mahe,
• 23:03
  Speaker 2: Bruce Perry had a couple carries for the Eagles.
• 23:09
  Speaker 1: Amazing.
• 23:10
  Speaker 2: There you go. That's your– the running backs were– and
• 23:12
  Speaker 2: Brian Westbrook, by the way, that was the year he
• 23:14
  Speaker 2: ended up getting hurt. He played 12 games. He was
• 23:17
  Speaker 2: just doing okay.
• 23:17
  Speaker 3: Liz Frank, if I'm not mistaken. I think he had
• 23:19
  Speaker 3: the Liz Frank.
• 23:20
  Speaker 1: Yep.
• 23:20
  Speaker 2: Yeah. McNabb, by the way, played nine games that year.
• 23:24
  Speaker 2: And then Mike McMahon and Coy Detmer were the reserve
• 23:28
  Speaker 2: quarterbacks on that team. That team was pretty bad. Yeah.
• 23:32
  Speaker 3: I mean, I think I joked with you the other day.
• 23:34
  Speaker 3: Me and a friend had a conversation that this 2026
• 23:36
  Speaker 3: season feels like The 2020 season and the 2005 season
• 23:42
  Speaker 3: had a baby.
• 23:46
  Speaker 2: Jeff Mosher from the Inside the Birds podcast, phillyvoice.com, at
• 23:50
  Speaker 2: Jeff P. Mosher. Check him out there. Football at 4, Eagles, Cowboys,
• 23:55
  Speaker 2: Monday night. He'll preview that with us when we talk
• 23:58
  Speaker 2: to him next. Thanks, man.
• 23:59
  Speaker 3: All right. Have a good one, Mike.