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OPPOSITION TERRITORY: Eagles vs. Panthers Preview, Week 6 · The Philadelphia Sports Table | Philly Sports News & Views

• 0:25
  Speaker 1: Welcome to Opposition Territory here at the Philadelphia Sports Table
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: podcast show, the longest running weekly Philly sports podcast show
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: in the world, over 13 and a half years strong.
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: As always, we've got a great Opposition Territory pod coming
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: your way this week as we dive into this upcoming matchup.
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: The Philadelphia Eagles were taking on the Carolina Panthers. Look,
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: both these teams, a lot of question marks heading into
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: week six and joining us for the first time here
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: at the PST podcast show from cat scratch reader dot
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: com over at SB Nation. You know, we love our
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: SB Nation sites. We've got Brian Beversloos, my friend. Thanks
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: so much for taking the time to jump on here
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: to do this preview show with us.
• 1:07
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm happy to do so.
• 1:08
  Speaker 3: Actually, I don't know if you saw in our emails
• 1:10
  Speaker 3: back and forth, but I actually live in a Lancaster PA,
• 1:13
  Speaker 3: so I'm actually very familiar with the Eagles.
• 1:15
  Speaker 2: Yes.
• 1:17
  Speaker 3: In fact, in 2023, I want to say, when the
• 1:20
  Speaker 3: Panthers were horrible, I actually was able to successfully gaslight
• 1:24
  Speaker 3: people into thinking I was an Eagles fan for a
• 1:26
  Speaker 3: little bit.
• 1:27
  Speaker 2: Nice.
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: Very nice. And look, Lancaster, you talk about an area
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: that has been more, you know, quote, up and coming
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: over the course of the past decade. I've had some
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: pretty good times in Lancaster there. So yeah, we're going to,
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: we may have to meet up at some point down
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: the road and.
• 1:41
  Speaker 2: Talk some sports for sure. Absolutely. All right.
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: Well, let's get into this Eagles Panthers preview here. And
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: as we are recording this, Panthers are two and two
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: in the season. Eagles are two and three. Panthers are
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: coming off their bye week, and this is a team that,
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: even though they are 2-2, they are first in the
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: NFC South. And we're seeing this Panthers team, Brian, taking
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: those next steps this season in a number of areas.
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: It's not a perfect season for the Panthers, of course,
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: but I'm wondering, what's one word to describe this Panthers
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: season thus far and why?
• 2:16
  Speaker 2: Surprising. Surprising.
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: Okay.
• 2:20
  Speaker 3: Um, so I was going into the season expecting the
• 2:23
  Speaker 3: defense to be better and the offense to once again, struggle. And, uh,
• 2:28
  Speaker 3: I would not, you couldn't have given me a hundred
• 2:31
  Speaker 3: to one odds that Bryce young would be leading the
• 2:33
  Speaker 3: NFL and almost every passing crazy passing category.
• 2:36
  Speaker 2: Yes.
• 2:37
  Speaker 3: Um, that first bears game, like that was, I, I
• 2:41
  Speaker 3: think a lot of people thought that, well, you know,
• 2:43
  Speaker 3: the bears put up almost 70 on them. So the
• 2:45
  Speaker 3: Panthers were going to get points just because of the
• 2:47
  Speaker 3: spread there, but the offense has just maintained such momentum
• 2:51
  Speaker 3: and it's just kind of insane. Um, obviously they've been
• 2:55
  Speaker 3: very injury riddled, but, and so they've been a little
• 2:58
  Speaker 3: up and down like they were last year, but it's
• 3:01
  Speaker 3: a very different vibe because they, the games.
• 3:05
  Speaker 2: They've won, they were really, really good.
• 3:07
  Speaker 3: And the bears game was tough, but Chicago and Ben Johnson,
• 3:12
  Speaker 3: very good offense, very good coaching staff. Um, and then
• 3:16
  Speaker 3: the Browns game was just one where they could have
• 3:18
  Speaker 3: won it. They pretty much shot themselves in the foot
• 3:20
  Speaker 3: enough times that the Browns were able to win it. Um, it's,
• 3:24
  Speaker 3: it's weird watching the Panthers and not being sad. Um,
• 3:27
  Speaker 3: even times last year they won games that they probably
• 3:30
  Speaker 3: shouldn't have, but the game was like, they could have
• 3:32
  Speaker 3: lost it where this year they're there. They just look good.
• 3:36
  Speaker 3: And so, yeah, I'm very surprised. I mean, I could
• 3:39
  Speaker 3: see them coming back down to earth a little bit,
• 3:41
  Speaker 3: but right now they're, they're definitely cooking on offense, which
• 3:44
  Speaker 3: is not at all what I would have expected.
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: I don't think any of us expected that. And look,
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: like I said, Brian, you know, there are strengths and
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: weaknesses certainly, you know, on, on, every single NFL team,
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: no NFL team is perfect. They do. Every team has weaknesses.
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: We're certainly seeing a ton of weaknesses with the Philadelphia Eagles.
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: And we can certainly get into that in a bit
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: here as we're moving along, but to get into the
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: biggest strengths and weaknesses heading into this game and this
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: matchup against the Eagles, as it pertains to the Panthers,
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: let's start off with the biggest strength on this Panthers team.
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: What is that? What do us Eagles fans really need
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: to be looking for in terms of that biggest strength?
• 4:22
  Speaker 3: Right now, the strength is Bryce Young being absolutely lights
• 4:26
  Speaker 3: out under pressure.
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 4:28
  Speaker 3: And the fact that he's confident and throwing the ball
• 4:30
  Speaker 3: down the field. This is a very different Bryce Young,
• 4:33
  Speaker 3: even when he was playing really well at times through
• 4:37
  Speaker 3: the last two years. he still really wouldn't rip the
• 4:40
  Speaker 3: ball down the field. Like he has been.
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 4:42
  Speaker 3: And I think that's been the biggest difference maker for
• 4:43
  Speaker 3: their offense is that a lot of times teams would
• 4:46
  Speaker 3: go into these games and try to stop the run
• 4:48
  Speaker 3: for Sprice young to throw the ball down the field
• 4:51
  Speaker 3: and take kind of make him kind of, cause he,
• 4:54
  Speaker 3: a lot of times would take the short yardage throws.
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: Right.
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  Speaker 3: So I think a lot of times the way to
• 4:58
  Speaker 3: beat the Panthers was to make them throw the ball
• 5:00
  Speaker 3: down the field where now they are doing that and
• 5:01
  Speaker 3: they're doing it successfully. And it's kind of keeping defenses
• 5:04
  Speaker 3: really on their toes.
• 5:05
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
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  Speaker 3: Um, So that would be the strength on offense. I
• 5:08
  Speaker 3: would say the strength on defense right now is definitely
• 5:10
  Speaker 3: the front seven. Devin Lloyd being back is huge. He's
• 5:14
  Speaker 3: been a very good defender for them. Their front seven
• 5:16
  Speaker 3: has been excellent. They're still struggling to rush the passer
• 5:20
  Speaker 3: at times, but it's starting to come along quite a bit.
• 5:23
  Speaker 3: But aside from a bad Bears game, they've been actually
• 5:26
  Speaker 3: doing quite well, at least not necessarily like shutting the
• 5:30
  Speaker 3: rundown completely, but stopping it to a point where the
• 5:33
  Speaker 3: other teams can't just run the ball down their throats.
• 5:35
  Speaker 3: So Those are the two strengths I would say on
• 5:38
  Speaker 3: offense and defense right now. And it's all very good
• 5:41
  Speaker 3: ways to win football games.
• 5:42
  Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely.
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: And look, we're going to talk about trenches a little
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: bit later because I think at the end of the day,
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: trenches are going to be so absolutely critical to whichever
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: team is going to be winning this week six matchup
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: for sure. Let's talk about the weaknesses here. Weakness on offense,
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: weakness on defense. What have you seen so far?
• 6:01
  Speaker 3: Uh, the, the, the weakness on offense actually kind of, uh,
• 6:04
  Speaker 3: marries the strength, which is that Bryce young has been
• 6:06
  Speaker 3: under so much freaking pressure.
• 6:07
  Speaker 2: It's ridiculous.
• 6:09
  Speaker 3: Um, their offensive line is actually getting better grades than
• 6:12
  Speaker 3: I think they, they should, because Bryce has been so
• 6:14
  Speaker 3: good at moving in the pocket and getting out, getting
• 6:17
  Speaker 3: away from pressure.
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 6:18
  Speaker 3: But he has been the most pressured quarterback in the
• 6:20
  Speaker 3: NFL from a snap per snap percentage standpoint. Um, so
• 6:25
  Speaker 3: it's definitely the, the past pressure, their offensive line is
• 6:28
  Speaker 3: very patchwork right now. Um, for those of you who
• 6:31
  Speaker 3: aren't familiar with the Panthers, they are starting right. Tackle
• 6:34
  Speaker 3: is typically Taylor Moten and he's been out with blood
• 6:37
  Speaker 3: clots all off season. He's finally back practicing this week.
• 6:40
  Speaker 2: He may not play.
• 6:42
  Speaker 3: Um, so they had their rookie tackle that they drafted
• 6:44
  Speaker 3: in the first round Monroe Freeling, who was expected to
• 6:46
  Speaker 3: compete at left tackle. All of a sudden they had
• 6:48
  Speaker 3: to shift them over to right tackle. And then Ika McQuad,
• 6:51
  Speaker 3: who got hurt in the playoff game last year, he
• 6:53
  Speaker 3: was their starting left tackle. So they have the two
• 6:55
  Speaker 3: guys that were slated to be backups in this offense,
• 6:58
  Speaker 3: at least, uh, at least in theory are both starting
• 7:02
  Speaker 3: when Rashid Walker and Monroe Freeling, then their best offensive lineman,
• 7:07
  Speaker 3: Damian Lewis, their left guard.
• 7:09
  Speaker 2: He got hurt. He's out for multiple weeks.
• 7:11
  Speaker 3: Um, So it's, once again, having a bit of a
• 7:13
  Speaker 3: patchwork offensive line. Their center kind of sucks, too, just
• 7:17
  Speaker 3: to be blunt. So, yeah, the offensive line is definitely
• 7:21
  Speaker 3: the struggle. I mean, they've managed to game plan around
• 7:24
  Speaker 3: it with things like the read option, which they beat
• 7:26
  Speaker 3: the Lions to death with. And the running game has
• 7:30
  Speaker 3: still managed to be pretty.
• 7:33
  Speaker 2: I'd say, not.
• 7:36
  Speaker 2: It's effective.
• 7:38
  Speaker 3: It's not like a strength, but they've managed to keep
• 7:40
  Speaker 3: things moving and on schedule with it.
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 7:42
  Speaker 3: So, yeah, offensive line, definitely. Defense, unfortunately, is a secondary,
• 7:46
  Speaker 3: which is very, very injured, at least in the sense
• 7:50
  Speaker 3: that their two starting corners, who were one of the
• 7:52
  Speaker 3: best tandems in the league last year, are both not
• 7:54
  Speaker 3: playing right now.
• 7:55
  Speaker 1: Right.
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  Speaker 2: They have.
• 7:56
  Speaker 3: They have a fourth-round rookie starting in Will Lee. He's
• 7:59
  Speaker 3: the number one corner, which.
• 8:00
  Speaker 2: Was not the plan.
• 8:03
  Speaker 3: And they have a Caleb Evans, and they have a
• 8:06
  Speaker 3: Chal Smith-Wade, who are all just supposed to be depth
• 8:08
  Speaker 3: guys who might have to fill in in a pinch.
• 8:11
  Speaker 3: And all three of them are going to have significant roles.
• 8:14
  Speaker 3: So it's definitely the secondary for the Panthers. The Lions
• 8:17
  Speaker 3: beat the crap out of them in the passing game,
• 8:19
  Speaker 3: but they just– They did just enough containing the run
• 8:23
  Speaker 3: with Jameer Gibbs that they were able to stay ahead
• 8:25
  Speaker 3: of the line.
• 8:25
  Speaker 2: So it's definitely the secondary for them. For their weakness, yeah.
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: And look, folks, that's a bit of a teaser because
• 8:34
  Speaker 1: we're certainly going to be getting into this Panthers secondary
• 8:37
  Speaker 1: in a lot more detail. After the break, and we're
• 8:40
  Speaker 1: also going to be getting into some trenches talk, too,
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: about this Eagles defensive front going up against the offensive
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: line of the Carolina Panthers. But before we do go
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: to break, and I wanted to get into Bryce Young
• 8:50
  Speaker 1: a little bit more with you, Brian, because one of
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: your colleagues at Catch Scratch Reader wrote a piece this
• 8:57
  Speaker 1: week about Bryce Young, how the Panthers fans are optimistic
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: about his hot start to the season, but many aren't
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: actually convinced that his current level of play can really
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: sustain itself. throughout the season. Thought it was interesting. And
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: I'm wondering if you can kind of talk about that
• 9:13
  Speaker 1: in more detail, what you've really kind of seen from
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: Bryce Young from a developmental standpoint this season that may
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: be ending up taking him to another level of quarterback
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: play here in the NFL.
• 9:27
  Speaker 3: So for Bryce Young, his biggest issue was consistency throughout
• 9:30
  Speaker 3: his first few years.
• 9:31
  Speaker 2: Obviously the first year was a disaster.
• 9:33
  Speaker 3: Because they had they basically got, gave up a bunch
• 9:36
  Speaker 3: of their resources to go up and get him.
• 9:38
  Speaker 2: So they didn't really have anybody.
• 9:39
  Speaker 3: To throw to aside from a 34 year old Adam Thielen.
• 9:42
  Speaker 3: I think he was at the time, maybe 33, um,
• 9:45
  Speaker 3: offensive line stunk as well. Um, so, but as he's
• 9:49
  Speaker 3: gone along the last couple of years, we've seen him,
• 9:52
  Speaker 3: we've seen the flashes.
• 9:53
  Speaker 2: We've seen what made.
• 9:54
  Speaker 3: Him the first, the first overall pick, yeah but it
• 9:57
  Speaker 3: was never consistent you'd have you'd have where he'd go
• 9:59
  Speaker 3: into Atlanta for some reason he's really good there and
• 10:02
  Speaker 3: go throw for four touchdowns on him and then he'd
• 10:05
  Speaker 3: have a game where he threw for 95 yards and
• 10:08
  Speaker 3: it was a lot of times there were he didn't
• 10:10
  Speaker 3: always look confident what he was doing he kind of
• 10:12
  Speaker 3: throw the ball away in situations where you didn't want
• 10:15
  Speaker 3: to see him do that um or you really couldn't
• 10:18
  Speaker 3: like you couldn't get third and 13, you couldn't get it.
• 10:21
  Speaker 3: I throw in the ball two yards down the field. Um,
• 10:24
  Speaker 3: this year he's just been more consistent and he's looked confident. Um,
• 10:28
  Speaker 3: and he's consistently looked confident that there were many of
• 10:31
  Speaker 3: his really good games in the past.
• 10:33
  Speaker 2: He looked really confident. He looked loose.
• 10:35
  Speaker 3: He was very aggressive, but it wasn't ever consistent where
• 10:38
  Speaker 3: this year, even the Browns game where he, he had
• 10:41
  Speaker 3: a bit of a struggle just because the Browns defense
• 10:43
  Speaker 3: is pretty good. He still was throwing the ball down
• 10:47
  Speaker 3: the field, being aggressive, looking confident, Um, and using his legs, he,
• 10:52
  Speaker 3: the biggest thing with him as well has just been
• 10:54
  Speaker 3: development in the pocket. He's become one of the better,
• 10:56
  Speaker 3: I shouldn't say one of the better pocket passers, but
• 10:59
  Speaker 3: he's been way better than he ever was as a POC,
• 11:03
  Speaker 3: as a guy navigating the pocket. Many fans were always
• 11:05
  Speaker 3: worried about the fact that he's so short. Can he
• 11:08
  Speaker 3: see over the line? I mean, that was never a
• 11:11
  Speaker 3: problem for him in college, but that's, that's how an
• 11:13
  Speaker 3: NFL fans minds work.
• 11:14
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 11:15
  Speaker 3: Um, And he's just done everything well and he's done
• 11:18
  Speaker 3: it all consistently this year.
• 11:20
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I find it. I find it amazing, too, because,
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: of course, he's in a contract year here. He's in
• 11:26
  Speaker 1: his fourth season. First year. Well, two and 14. I
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: think the team was then four and eight in 2024, 2025.
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: Last year, they get to the playoffs on an eight
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: and eight season. um, eight, eight record. And it just
• 11:40
  Speaker 1: seems that things are clicking for him now. And perhaps
• 11:44
  Speaker 1: the game is slowing down a little bit as well.
• 11:47
  Speaker 1: Do you think that's safe to say?
• 11:48
  Speaker 2: Absolutely is. And it was, we were seeing it last year.
• 11:51
  Speaker 3: Um, it started, it kind of started as the season
• 11:55
  Speaker 3: went on, but it really showed up in games like the,
• 11:57
  Speaker 3: the first Rams game and then the playoff game against
• 11:59
  Speaker 3: the Rams. Um, They've surrounded him with talent as well,
• 12:05
  Speaker 3: which every team's excuse whenever their quarterback sucks is they
• 12:08
  Speaker 3: don't have enough talent around them. But he finally has
• 12:12
  Speaker 3: a number one wide receiver in Ted Iroa and McMillan,
• 12:13
  Speaker 3: and I'm sure we'll get into more of the offensive
• 12:16
  Speaker 3: breakdown as far as just position by position. But he
• 12:18
  Speaker 3: finally has... He finally has the weapons and the confidence
• 12:23
  Speaker 3: to trust his weapons and is throwing the ball down
• 12:25
  Speaker 3: the field, giving them a chance to make a play
• 12:27
  Speaker 3: on the ball like a good quarterback in the NFL
• 12:29
  Speaker 3: does because sometimes the throw is just not there. So yeah,
• 12:32
  Speaker 3: he's definitely– the game slowed down. He's definitely understanding it better,
• 12:36
  Speaker 3: and he's making a lot of adjustments to the line
• 12:38
  Speaker 3: of scrimmage. So he very much has control over this scheme,
• 12:41
  Speaker 3: which is great because he's been in the scheme for–
• 12:44
  Speaker 3: three seasons, technically Brad Idzik is a new offensive coordinator,
• 12:48
  Speaker 3: but he was just, or he's, or as a new
• 12:50
  Speaker 3: play caller, but he's been offensive coordinator for them for
• 12:53
  Speaker 3: the last three years. He worked with Dave Canales in
• 12:55
  Speaker 3: Tampa Bay. So this is all kind of just the
• 12:59
  Speaker 3: snowball effect of being in the same offensive scheme as
• 13:02
  Speaker 3: the scheme evolves and understanding it.
• 13:04
  Speaker 2: So, yeah.
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: Yeah. And then last year, I believe 23 touchdowns, 23
• 13:09
  Speaker 1: or 24 touchdowns he threw. And at this point he's
• 13:12
  Speaker 1: already at nine. on the season. So that development, understanding
• 13:16
  Speaker 1: the game that much more understanding the system. And again,
• 13:19
  Speaker 1: the game slowing down for him. I mean, it's going
• 13:21
  Speaker 1: to be interesting to see how this all manifests this week,
• 13:23
  Speaker 1: week six against the Philadelphia Eagles. And again, folks, we
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: are talking to Brian Beversloos from cat scratch reader.com over
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: at SB nation. Brian, before we go to break, why
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: don't you tell everybody where they can find you on
• 13:36
  Speaker 1: the interwebs out there if they want to connect with you.
• 13:39
  Speaker 3: So obviously you can find us on cat scratch reader.com.
• 13:43
  Speaker 3: I do have an open fan mailbag I do every week.
• 13:45
  Speaker 2: So if you.
• 13:46
  Speaker 3: You actually still have time if you'd like to– if
• 13:49
  Speaker 3: you're a Bleeding Green Nation fan or have a login there,
• 13:52
  Speaker 3: if you want to go log in and ask me
• 13:53
  Speaker 3: a question, you're more than welcome to. My Twitter handle
• 13:58
  Speaker 3: is BrianBCSR if you want to follow me on there.
• 14:00
  Speaker 3: I'm not as active as I used to be, but
• 14:02
  Speaker 3: that's where you can find me. But I would say
• 14:04
  Speaker 3: check us out on CatscratchReader.com. We've been doing this for
• 14:07
  Speaker 3: a long, long time. The staff that's been on there
• 14:09
  Speaker 3: has– most of them have been on staff for over
• 14:11
  Speaker 3: 10 years at this point, so– We're rocking and rolling.
• 14:14
  Speaker 2: All right.
• 14:14
  Speaker 1: Very good. And look, we've got a lot of BleedingGreenNation.com
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: fans listening to this show. We've got BLG as a
• 14:21
  Speaker 1: guest every now and again on this podcast. So there's
• 14:24
  Speaker 1: definitely some BleedingGreenNation.com fans. Head on over to CatscratchReader.com, folks.
• 14:30
  Speaker 1: Engage with the staff there. Engage with the content. It'll
• 14:34
  Speaker 1: be a good time. So we're going to take a break.
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: When we get back, we've got more with regard to
• 14:38
  Speaker 1: this Eagles-Panthers preview coming your way in just a bit.
• 14:42
  Speaker 1: Stick with us. All right, we're back getting into this
• 14:48
  Speaker 1: Eagles-Panthers preview here. And I got to say, like, I
• 14:52
  Speaker 1: cannot wait to see what is going to happen with
• 14:56
  Speaker 1: regard to these Eagles wide receivers and possibly being able
• 15:01
  Speaker 1: to take advantage of a Panthers secondary. Now, who knows
• 15:05
  Speaker 1: what the Philadelphia Eagles second half offense is going to
• 15:08
  Speaker 1: look like this week. It has definitely been the worst
• 15:12
  Speaker 1: in the league. They are ranked number 32 in in
• 15:15
  Speaker 1: total yards in the second half of games this year
• 15:18
  Speaker 1: in the NFL. So the Philadelphia Eagles have consistent themes
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: that where they are crapping the bed. consistently in the
• 15:25
  Speaker 1: second half, will that persist? But how does that all
• 15:30
  Speaker 1: take into account when you do have talented wide receivers
• 15:33
  Speaker 1: that the Eagles have against this secondary where there have
• 15:38
  Speaker 1: been some injuries and some problems with regard to the Panthers?
• 15:42
  Speaker 1: So I'd like to get your thoughts, Brian, on that.
• 15:45
  Speaker 1: the Eagles wide receivers going up against Panther secondary. And
• 15:48
  Speaker 1: while we're not a hundred percent certain that Devante Smith
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: is actually going to be back, things are looking good,
• 15:53
  Speaker 1: but we don't want to put the car before the horse.
• 15:55
  Speaker 1: Eagles have some pretty solid receivers in Dontavian Wicks, Makai Lemon,
• 15:59
  Speaker 1: Darius Cooper. How do the Panther secondary really match up
• 16:04
  Speaker 1: with these Eagles wide receivers here?
• 16:07
  Speaker 2: Not great.
• 16:08
  Speaker 1: Okay.
• 16:10
  Speaker 3: Um, so Willie has been very good for them. He
• 16:13
  Speaker 3: was a, a fourth round pick. Uh, they already had
• 16:16
  Speaker 3: him slated to be the third corner. So he was
• 16:18
  Speaker 3: playing outside corner a lot of times while JC horn
• 16:20
  Speaker 3: was playing in the slot. Um, now he is the
• 16:24
  Speaker 3: de facto number one corner. Uh, he was very man
• 16:26
  Speaker 3: coverage heavy in college, which was a bit strange because
• 16:29
  Speaker 3: the Panthers, uh, defense is very zone heavy. Um, so
• 16:33
  Speaker 3: he's going to be lined up against whoever they have
• 16:35
  Speaker 3: on that right side, uh, On the outside, pretty much
• 16:38
  Speaker 3: every snap. If that's Devontae Smith, that could be a
• 16:41
  Speaker 3: huge problem because he's been susceptible to double moves. He's
• 16:47
  Speaker 3: been better. He's been getting better every single week. He's
• 16:50
  Speaker 3: very instinctive and makes plays on the ball, but five
• 16:54
  Speaker 3: games into his career.
• 16:55
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 16:55
  Speaker 3: Five games into his rookie season and going up against
• 16:59
  Speaker 3: a guy like Devante Smith is the number one corner.
• 17:01
  Speaker 2: Not great.
• 17:02
  Speaker 3: So they do use their safeties, which are surprisingly very
• 17:07
  Speaker 3: effective as a group to kind of mitigate a lot
• 17:11
  Speaker 3: of things like Trevon Moe rig there or Mary, I
• 17:13
  Speaker 3: should say. Uh, he's a technically a safety, but they
• 17:15
  Speaker 3: really kind of use them as a pseudo linebacker a
• 17:17
  Speaker 3: lot of times.
• 17:18
  Speaker 2: So he'll be there.
• 17:19
  Speaker 3: And then as like the big nickel, um, they also
• 17:21
  Speaker 3: use Latham ransom from Ohio state. Uh, he was a
• 17:24
  Speaker 3: rookie last year, big crunching hitter.
• 17:27
  Speaker 2: They use him a lot.
• 17:27
  Speaker 3: There's a key Wheatley Penn state guy.
• 17:29
  Speaker 2: You might be familiar with.
• 17:31
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 17:31
  Speaker 3: He's been the highest graded sit court, uh, rookie safety
• 17:34
  Speaker 3: in the NFL so far. So they kind of use
• 17:37
  Speaker 3: their safeties to mitigate a lot of that. But Caleb Evans,
• 17:40
  Speaker 3: who was their number two corner target, the Lions targeted
• 17:44
  Speaker 3: the crap out of him last time. So I'm sure
• 17:46
  Speaker 3: the Eagles will have a similar game plan if their
• 17:48
  Speaker 3: passing game can get back on schedule with Jalen Hurts
• 17:51
  Speaker 3: and everything. And yeah, they're just going to have, aside
• 17:56
  Speaker 3: from those three corners, and they're going to have a
• 17:57
  Speaker 3: bunch of practice squad guys just kind of getting called
• 18:00
  Speaker 3: up just in case of injury.
• 18:02
  Speaker 2: So it's not a great matchup. I could see.
• 18:05
  Speaker 3: I could see Darius Cooper scoring again. I know he's
• 18:08
  Speaker 3: been on a great run for them. You could see
• 18:10
  Speaker 3: the Makai Lemon breakout game you've wanted because I'm sure
• 18:13
  Speaker 3: he's had a rough go of it from what I've heard. So, yeah,
• 18:18
  Speaker 3: it's definitely not a great matchup in the sense of
• 18:20
  Speaker 3: if the corners are left on an island with these
• 18:22
  Speaker 3: wide receivers and the Panthers can't get pressure, it could
• 18:25
  Speaker 3: be a long game and it might be a high-scoring game.
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: Well, I think it could potentially be a long game
• 18:29
  Speaker 1: also for Panthers fans and for Panthers Nation because With
• 18:34
  Speaker 1: regard to the Eagles defense, because I mean, dealing with
• 18:37
  Speaker 1: the Eagles defensive front, that's really coming into their own
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: over these past few weeks here, making some waves in
• 18:44
  Speaker 1: recent weeks, specifically Jalen Carter, Jalen Carter this past week.
• 18:48
  Speaker 1: basically had what his 2004 season was. That was the
• 18:53
  Speaker 1: Jalen Carter that his Eagles fans have been waiting for
• 18:55
  Speaker 1: here in 2026. I mean, this Panthers offensive line, like
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: you were talking about earlier, just still allowing a ton
• 19:03
  Speaker 1: of pressure on Bryce Young. So when looking at the
• 19:07
  Speaker 1: trenches in this particular matchup, Eagles defensive front against the
• 19:12
  Speaker 1: offensive line of the Panthers, how do you see the
• 19:14
  Speaker 1: Panthers line really handling this Eagles defensive front here? Here, Brian, again,
• 19:19
  Speaker 1: which has been really coming on strong recently.
• 19:21
  Speaker 3: So even if Monroe Freeling was healthy, I wouldn't like
• 19:26
  Speaker 3: his matchup with Jalen Carter on the outside because I
• 19:28
  Speaker 3: know they line him up all over the place.
• 19:30
  Speaker 2: Yep.
• 19:31
  Speaker 3: If Taylor Moten plays, which I still doubt because he's basically,
• 19:35
  Speaker 3: he's been on blood thinners for the last, 90 days,
• 19:37
  Speaker 3: I want to say. So even if he's completely like,
• 19:42
  Speaker 3: I don't know if he's going to be in game
• 19:43
  Speaker 3: shape because he hasn't really done any live contact, Cause
• 19:46
  Speaker 3: if he has a, if he had any kind of
• 19:48
  Speaker 3: bad hits, he could.
• 19:49
  Speaker 2: Have caused huge medical problems for him.
• 19:50
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 19:51
  Speaker 2: Um, so.
• 19:59
  Speaker 3: Taking on one of the better edge rushers in the
• 20:01
  Speaker 3: NFL defensive lineman, I'm very worried about stone Forsyth. I'm
• 20:05
  Speaker 3: sure Jalen Carter will line up somewhere in the middle
• 20:07
  Speaker 3: at some point. And, uh, Uh, he's going to, uh,
• 20:11
  Speaker 3: is that stone Forsyth?
• 20:12
  Speaker 2: I forget who their center is now.
• 20:14
  Speaker 1: Of course.
• 20:14
  Speaker 2: Um, but yeah, their center is not good. Yeah.
• 20:18
  Speaker 3: So that's going to be a problem. Um, yeah, it's
• 20:21
  Speaker 3: not stone for Luke Fortner.
• 20:23
  Speaker 2: There we go. Luke Fortner. Yes.
• 20:24
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 20:24
  Speaker 2: There we go.
• 20:25
  Speaker 1: I was forgetting too.
• 20:26
  Speaker 2: Yeah. Um, yeah. Fortner has been like great. It is
• 20:29
  Speaker 2: like the 31st out of 32 starting centers. Not great.
• 20:32
  Speaker 3: Um, So as far as handling the pass rush, I
• 20:37
  Speaker 3: could see them running a very similar game plan to
• 20:39
  Speaker 3: what they ran against the lions. Cause it's almost a
• 20:41
  Speaker 3: similar situation, except the secondary for the Eagles is much better,
• 20:44
  Speaker 3: but that read option by Bryce young, it is money
• 20:47
  Speaker 3: for him. It's been one of his best plays for
• 20:50
  Speaker 3: many years now. And now that he has such control
• 20:52
  Speaker 3: of the offense, you can throw those in there. And
• 20:54
  Speaker 3: if the Eagles shut down, what should be the throw,
• 20:56
  Speaker 3: it might not be a problem. So I could see
• 20:58
  Speaker 3: them kind of leveraging that kind of game plan and
• 21:02
  Speaker 3: opening up a little more of the, uh, the short,
• 21:04
  Speaker 3: the short passing game stuff while still being aggressive down
• 21:06
  Speaker 3: the field. But either way, I don't expect the pressure
• 21:10
  Speaker 3: numbers on Bryce young to go down a whole lot.
• 21:12
  Speaker 3: I still think the percentages are going to line up with, uh,
• 21:15
  Speaker 3: what he's been seeing throughout the whole season. Okay.
• 21:17
  Speaker 2: All right.
• 21:18
  Speaker 1: Well, Brian, before I let you go, buddy, on our
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: opposition territory podcast, every week we talk about sneaky players
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: from the other team that us Eagles fans may want
• 21:27
  Speaker 1: to keep our eyes on. So it's a two part question,
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: sneaky player for us to look at on the Panthers offense,
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: sneaky player for us to look out for on the
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: Panthers defense as well. Let's start with offense. Who's that
• 21:39
  Speaker 1: sneaky player that we need to look out for?
• 21:42
  Speaker 3: I'm going to give you two because anybody who's addicted
• 21:44
  Speaker 3: to fantasy probably knows who the first person I'm going
• 21:46
  Speaker 3: to say is.
• 21:48
  Speaker 2: Jalen Coker.
• 21:48
  Speaker 1: Yep.
• 21:49
  Speaker 3: He's been their undrafted free agent gem that every team,
• 21:52
  Speaker 3: every fan base wants to see.
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: Yep.
• 21:55
  Speaker 3: If you're not addicted to fantasy football, you, if you
• 21:58
  Speaker 3: go and look at his stats from the last.
• 22:00
  Speaker 2: Two seasons, you'd say, I mean, he's mediocre.
• 22:02
  Speaker 3: He's only had a few hundred yards, a couple of touchdowns,
• 22:05
  Speaker 3: but especially if you didn't watch the Rams game, uh,
• 22:08
  Speaker 3: in the playoffs where he tore it.
• 22:10
  Speaker 2: Up against them. Yes.
• 22:11
  Speaker 3: Um, so Jalen Coker, when he's healthy and playing, he
• 22:15
  Speaker 3: is excellent. He is a great compliment to Tedaro McMillan.
• 22:18
  Speaker 3: If the other team is, keying in on Ted Arroyo McMillan,
• 22:21
  Speaker 3: then Jalen Coker is going to be wide open down
• 22:23
  Speaker 3: the field. He's an excellent deep threat. He's got pretty
• 22:25
  Speaker 3: good speed for a guy, his size. He has some
• 22:28
  Speaker 3: of the best hands on the team. So he could very,
• 22:31
  Speaker 3: even if the Eagles are able to lock down McMillan
• 22:33
  Speaker 3: quite a bit, Coker could tear him up. And it's
• 22:36
  Speaker 3: one of those things where if you're, if you're not
• 22:38
  Speaker 3: familiar with it, with a fantasy where you saw, he
• 22:41
  Speaker 3: was like one of the highest scoring receivers in week one.
• 22:44
  Speaker 3: you might not think a whole lot of them, but
• 22:46
  Speaker 3: I actually have a lot of Eagles fans that are
• 22:48
  Speaker 3: friends of mine where they were telling me, Oh, Jalen
• 22:50
  Speaker 3: Coker's not that great. I had bets over it and
• 22:52
  Speaker 3: they've all been saying, you know what?
• 22:54
  Speaker 1: Nope.
• 22:54
  Speaker 2: You were right about Jalen Coker. I'm sorry. All right.
• 22:57
  Speaker 3: But number two for anyone who was going to say,
• 22:59
  Speaker 3: Oh Brian, that was an easy answer.
• 23:01
  Speaker 2: Tight end Tommy tremble.
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: Ooh.
• 23:03
  Speaker 3: Um, so the Panthers tight end room has been considered
• 23:07
  Speaker 3: one of the worst in the NFL for the last
• 23:08
  Speaker 3: two or three years. And, uh, A lot of it
• 23:11
  Speaker 3: has to do with just that they didn't really integrate
• 23:13
  Speaker 3: tight ends into the offense that much. They had Tommy Tremble,
• 23:17
  Speaker 3: who was good for a game or two here and there.
• 23:20
  Speaker 3: We'd have a nice game. They had Jatavian Sanders, who
• 23:24
  Speaker 3: after his rookie year, he was he's been hurt a
• 23:26
  Speaker 3: lot and his game has just changed.
• 23:28
  Speaker 2: He's not really any good.
• 23:29
  Speaker 3: If you're familiar with fantasy football, I'm sure you've seen
• 23:32
  Speaker 3: Darren Waller. He's been a nice streamer as a tight end.
• 23:36
  Speaker 3: But Tommy Tremble, low-key, has been having his best season
• 23:39
  Speaker 3: in the NFL. He has been an excellent little outlet
• 23:42
  Speaker 3: for Bryce Young in the offense. He's probably going to
• 23:44
  Speaker 3: try to hurdle someone and then get dumped.
• 23:46
  Speaker 2: On his head because that's what he does.
• 23:48
  Speaker 3: But he has been very good, and I wouldn't be
• 23:50
  Speaker 3: surprised if he has some key catches that keep drives
• 23:53
  Speaker 3: going so he's not going to have like a three
• 23:55
  Speaker 3: touchdown 100 yard game or anything like that but he
• 23:58
  Speaker 3: could be someone where you might be getting frustrated where
• 24:00
  Speaker 3: you're like who's this guy i've never heard of why
• 24:01
  Speaker 3: does he keep getting first down so all.
• 24:03
  Speaker 1: Right yeah very good well let's uh move over to
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: the defensive side sneaky player on the defense.
• 24:09
  Speaker 3: Sneaky player on the defense so i'm going to go
• 24:11
  Speaker 3: with and if you need me to i can go
• 24:13
  Speaker 3: with the second one but i was going to go
• 24:15
  Speaker 3: with princely uman mielin okay so he was their third
• 24:18
  Speaker 3: round edge rusher last year drafted right after nick scorton
• 24:23
  Speaker 3: uh who was drafted in the second round and a
• 24:25
  Speaker 3: lot of people are probably more familiar with nick skorton
• 24:27
  Speaker 3: just because he was a little more high profile he
• 24:29
  Speaker 3: had a pretty good rookie year then he got injured
• 24:31
  Speaker 3: this year um uman mielan has been their designated pass
• 24:34
  Speaker 3: rusher so he's technically third on the depth chart but
• 24:37
  Speaker 3: he has been coming along very nicely as their designated
• 24:40
  Speaker 3: pass rusher he sucks at contain so i'm hoping he
• 24:43
  Speaker 3: starts to gain to clean that up a little bit
• 24:46
  Speaker 3: um But he has three sacks.
• 24:49
  Speaker 2: He's leading the team. He had a key sack on
• 24:50
  Speaker 2: Jared Goff. He is very fast.
• 24:53
  Speaker 3: He's started to refine his pass rush where he can
• 24:55
  Speaker 3: actually use some power moves now. I'm not saying he's
• 24:59
  Speaker 3: going to blow the game up like a Jalen Carter might,
• 25:01
  Speaker 3: but you might see him get a lot of pressure
• 25:03
  Speaker 3: on Jalen Hurts where it might force some errant passes.
• 25:06
  Speaker 2: So that's my guy.
• 25:07
  Speaker 3: He's been a very good third-round pick for them, and
• 25:10
  Speaker 3: they put him in a position to really shine.
• 25:12
  Speaker 2: Nice. Very good.
• 25:13
  Speaker 1: Well, it's going to be an interesting matchup for sure.
• 25:16
  Speaker 1: We're going to find out a little bit more about
• 25:18
  Speaker 1: the Carolina Panthers, a little bit more about the Philadelphia
• 25:21
  Speaker 1: Eagles and where their season is headed after week six. Again, folks,
• 25:24
  Speaker 1: he is Brian Beversloos from Catscratchreader.com over at SB Nation. Brian,
• 25:30
  Speaker 1: it was great talking to you for the first time here, man. Seriously,
• 25:33
  Speaker 1: I enjoyed the conversation. I'd love it if you'd come
• 25:35
  Speaker 1: back and join us down the road, my friend.
• 25:37
  Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely.
• 25:39
  Speaker 3: If the Eagles find a way into the playoffs and
• 25:40
  Speaker 3: the Panthers do too, maybe we'll be having this conversation
• 25:43
  Speaker 3: again in a few weeks.
• 25:44
  Speaker 1: That's going to do it for us here on Opposition
• 25:47
  Speaker 1: Territory this week. Please share our podcast with your friends
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: and family members who are Philly sports fans or sports
• 25:53
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• 25:56
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• 26:00
  Speaker 1: Make sure to check out our website, PhiladelphiaSportsTable.com, for all
• 26:04
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• 26:07
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• 26:11
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• 26:15
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• 26:17
  Speaker 2: Take care.
• 26:18
  Speaker 1: We'll catch you next time.