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(DEBUT SHOW) Birds Weekly: Where Do Eagles Go For Veteran Leadership On Defense; Hurts Does What He Does Best · Inside the Birds: A Philadelphia Eagles Podcast

0:10
Speaker 1: One down, sixteen to go, as we kick off the
0:13
twenty twenty five NFL season, and the Eagles start in
0:18
the plus column in what was a wild and crazy
0:21
season opener against the Dallas Cowboys. Hi everybody, I'm Derek
0:25
Gunn and welcome to a new fresh audition on here
0:28
inside the Birds. We call it Birds Weekly, and I
0:31
am pleased, honored, and excited to be talking some Eagles
0:35
football this season with a longtime friend, a man I
0:38
respected for decades and had a pleasure of working with
0:41
for many years, the one and only Hall of Famer Ray.
0:44
Speaker 2: Didn't you?
0:45
Speaker 1: Ray? How you doing my man?
0:46
Speaker 2: I'm doing great, Derek, how are you doing? Good?
0:48
Speaker 1: Man? Hey? The first thing I gotta ask you is,
0:51
with an hour five minute lightning delay, did you stay
0:54
up and watch the entire game? Oh?
0:57
Speaker 2: Yeah, I did. I did. I was amazed when I
1:01
found out the next day how many people told me
1:04
that they went to bed during life. I mean, I
1:08
don't know how you do that. I I mean, nobody
1:11
likes to sit through a one hour rain delay. But
1:15
I wasn't gonna walk out. I wasn't gonna walk away
1:17
from that game, not all the stuff that had happened
1:19
up to that point. I mean, anything could anything could happen,
1:23
so well, I hung with it to the end.
1:25
Speaker 1: I did all right, Ray, let's get get the elephant
1:28
out of the room. And of course everybody was talking
1:31
about how the game ended and so many different elements
1:34
of the game. But one of the biggest stories coming
1:37
out of the game happened before the first play of
1:40
the game, with Jalen Carter spitting on Dak Prescott. Now,
1:44
as we got further along in the game, we saw
1:47
a video where Dak spat first towards the ground he says,
1:51
which basically baited Jalen into spitting on his jersey. Ray,
1:57
I don't care how you describe it. That is one
1:59
of the most via things you can ever do. It
2:02
is to spit on somebody. And I have to ask you,
2:05
what was your initial thoughts When the announcement came down
2:09
Jalen Carter has been ejected from the game.
2:14
Speaker 2: I was not surprised. I was not surprised because I
2:18
knew that the NFL every year sends out before the
2:23
season begins, for actually before training campigins. They send out
2:27
what constituted kind of a memo to the officials, the teams,
2:32
the executives, and the coaches about things that are going
2:36
to be points of emphasis this year, and this year
2:41
is all about sportsmanship and respecting your opponent and all
2:43
that kind of stuff. So they were really going to
2:45
crack down on taunting and all those kinds of things.
2:48
And so knowing that, knowing that that was sort of
2:53
the backdrop to this whole thing, I thought, Yep, when
2:57
I saw the flag go up, I said, this isn't
2:59
just going to be a penalty. I think this is
3:00
going to be an injection. And now, obviously it changes
3:04
the game dramatically at that point when you lose your
3:07
best defensive player, and you can try to rationalize what
3:11
Carter did and the fact that he was clearly baited
3:14
into this by the veteran, which he was. There's no
3:17
doubt that that's exactly what Dak was doing. But still,
3:21
you know, I mean, you got to be smarter than that.
3:23
And you know, the more I thought about it, Derek,
3:26
what I kind of said to me and you can
3:30
I want to hear your take on this. That Eagles
3:34
defense they've lost in the last couple of years, They've
3:36
lost a lot, They've got good players there. For sure,
3:39
they lost a lot of veteran leadership, you know. And
3:42
if there had been a Fletcher Cox there, if there
3:46
had been a Brandon Graham there, if there had been
3:49
a Darius Slay there, somebody would have seen Carter and
3:54
Dak face to face there during that injury time out,
3:57
and that veteran I think would have gone on over
4:00
and grabbed him by the arm and said, hey, what
4:01
are you doing. What are you talking to him for?
4:03
Get back over here, get back to our huddle. But
4:06
I think what you've got now is you have so
4:08
many young players, so much youth on that defense. Now,
4:12
you know, Ojomo Dejeene, Mitchell Hunt. You know who's going
4:18
to do that? I mean, who's who's the veteran guy
4:21
when you're looking at a situation you say, oh, oh,
4:23
this isn't good, you know, and go over and take
4:26
your best player, get him by the arm and say
4:28
come on, get over here. I think that that was
4:32
a case where the youth of that defense, there was
4:34
nobody there that felt like that they had they had
4:38
the dot on the currency to go over and tell
4:42
Jalen Curtier and knock it off, let's get over here.
4:45
I think the more I thought about it, I thought
4:47
that having so many young players over there and nobody
4:50
they know what was going on, but nobody wanted to
4:52
take the initiative. If somebody had, I think a Graham,
4:55
a Cox or somebody could have averted the whole thing.
4:59
Speaker 1: You know, I couldn't have with you more. And I
5:00
asked that very question on our postgame podcast the other
5:05
night on the Seth Joiner YouTube channel with Seth and
5:08
Mark Barzetta. I don't know who a leader is on
5:12
that defense right now, you know. They talked on the
5:14
bron game broadcast about this is the youngest starting defense
5:18
now in the National Football League. And with that said,
5:22
who do you turn to in a crunch time? Who
5:24
do you turn to when things get out of control
5:27
like that? Who is a player that the other players
5:31
will respect the most, Who will be the most verbal
5:34
on that side of the football. Is it Cooper de Gen?
5:38
Don't know? Is it quin Mitchell? I don't see that
5:42
leadership in him yet, not to say it won't emerge
5:44
somewhere down the road. Jordan Davis, I don't see that in.
5:47
Speaker 3: Them yet, you know, I mean you could say Zach Bond,
5:53
Zach bond, except he's only in year two, I even
5:58
longer than he has, so I don't know that he
6:00
felt like he was in a position to do that,
6:03
But I think that that's I never really I mean,
6:06
we made it.
6:06
Speaker 2: In fact, during preseason we made a point of saying
6:10
how young this defense was and what a good thing
6:13
that was because they had so much speed and they
6:16
had so much athletic a building on that side of
6:18
the ball, which is all true, it's all true, but
6:21
there's something to be said for that leadership, you know.
6:24
And and okay, who is that guy now? Yeah, because
6:27
I think you saw the other night that that was
6:29
a situation where one strong leader over there could have
6:32
diffused the whole situation. It didn't happen, but you know what,
6:35
moving forward these next sixteen games, they're going to have
6:38
to find it somewhere.
6:39
Speaker 1: Yeah. You know, as we sit here and talk about
6:42
this way, the only definitive leadership that can get in
6:46
Jalen Carter's ear, because let's face it, he is considered
6:49
somewhat of a loose cannon. The only definitive leadership that
6:53
can get in his ear is on the sidelines, Big
6:56
dom Nick Sirianni that's it, you know, and maybe Fangio,
7:01
But they're all on the sideline. They're not on the field,
7:04
So I don't know if there's a player on the
7:06
field that can corral him. Now, after the game, he apologized,
7:10
He said, it will never happen again, and never should
7:12
have happened. And luckily this, this learning tool happened in
7:17
game one and not a playoff game or another trip
7:20
to the super Bowl. So so luckily you get this
7:23
out of the way now. Now, now, Jalen Hurts said
7:26
he talked to him after the game.
7:27
Speaker 2: But you know, I don't know.
7:31
Speaker 1: I don't know what kind of vocal influence Jalen has
7:34
in that locker room. He is the leader, yes, and
7:36
we see him after the game, you know, you know,
7:40
cheering on the guys after winning the locker room with
7:42
a postgame speech, very low key spoke postgame speech, I
7:45
might add, compared to other coaches and other players we
7:49
see giving speeches after a big win. But I don't
7:52
know outside of the three people I mentioned that there's
7:55
anybody else right now that can bend his ear and
7:58
to get him to listen, to.
8:00
Speaker 2: Do right right now a learning experience for him, for sure,
8:04
but I mean they're going to have to They're going
8:06
to have to address this now. I mean, because it
8:09
kind of carried over, you know, I mean all the
8:12
scuffle on after whistles. I mean, there were a couple
8:14
of times when I thought the officials were going to
8:16
throw a flag because there's a lot of after the
8:18
whistle stuff going on. But even at that, the Eagles
8:22
had ninety three yards and penalties.
8:23
Speaker 1: Yeah, in the first half.
8:26
Speaker 2: They didn't have that many penalties in a single game
8:29
last year. So that's something that they're going to have
8:31
to rein in. You know, when I was on WIP
8:34
this week the day after the game, which obviously everybody's
8:39
talking about this, and I said, you know, I've been
8:42
around this game long enough that I was covering the
8:46
lake in the seventies. I was covering this lake when
8:49
me and Joe Green came along, and I'm going right
8:52
into your wheelhouse as a Pittsburgh Steeler guy. But when
8:56
Joe came up, it was a great player right from
8:59
the Joe. I mean, everybody knew that. And in a
9:02
lot of ways, I will tell you this, Derek, In
9:04
a lot of ways, Jalen Carter reminds me of Joe
9:06
Green in a lot of way has a lot of
9:09
the similar, similar strengths, his game very similar. But when
9:12
Joe came up for the first couple of years, and
9:15
it was partly because the Steelers were so bad and
9:17
frustration was sort of baked into it. But but Joe
9:22
was playing out of control, uh and he had. There
9:25
was a game where he spit in the face of
9:27
fran Tarkenton. There was a game where there was a
9:30
scuffle on the sidelines. He spit on Dick Bukusu. There
9:34
was another game that played at Franklin Field where he
9:37
got so frustrated about being held by the Eagles and
9:40
the officials not throwing the flag that he picked the
9:42
ball up, picked the ball up and threw it into
9:45
the upper deck at Franklin Field, gets ejected again. So
9:48
this is becoming like a pattern there. And finally Chuck Noll,
9:52
the coach, called him into the office and he said, listen, Joe,
9:56
you're you're you're the leader on this team. And Joe's
9:58
I don't want to be. He said, that doesn't matter.
10:00
What you want, doesn't matter. The fact of the matter
10:03
is you're the best player. You're the guy everybody looks
10:06
at you're the leader. The only question that you have,
10:09
the only thing that you have to decide now is
10:13
moving forward. Are you going to be a good leader
10:16
or a bad leader? Are you a guy that's going
10:18
to help make this team better or you the guy
10:20
that's going to be destructive. He said, you have to
10:23
decide that because you can say I don't want to
10:25
be a leader, but doesn't matter. As the best player,
10:27
you're going to be that anyway. You just have to
10:29
decide what kind of leader you're going to be. And
10:31
I remember I was doing a book on the Steelers
10:34
and Joe told me that story and he said, you
10:38
know that moment, that conversation with Chuck was the turning
10:42
point of my career. That was when I understood that
10:44
just being good, good enough, there's a maturity part of
10:49
the game that you have to also have. And he said,
10:52
that's when I embraced that. That's when I became a
10:54
leader on the team. And that's when they went on.
10:57
They won four Super Bowls, and I thought that I
11:00
think the Jalen Carter has just a world of talent
11:03
and a chance to be a player in that strata,
11:07
but he has to learn what Joe Green learned, which
11:11
is the maturity is a big part of the is
11:14
a big part of the equation, and what you saw
11:16
on Thursday night was a total lack of maturity.
11:19
Speaker 1: Well, you know, as the masses now debate what happens
11:22
to Carter beyond penalty suspension, it's like you're sitting on
11:28
the fence because a lot of people say, basically just
11:31
to find some people say he should be suspended for
11:34
a game. At the very minimum, where do you sit.
11:38
Speaker 2: I can guarantee you this, that suspension is on the table, Yeah,
11:44
you know. I mean they're talking about this. They were
11:47
talking about this up on Park Avenue Friday morning, first day,
11:50
Friday morning, debating it. And there are probably some people
11:53
up there, in light of the fact that they're on
11:56
this big sportsmanship thing, that are arguing that here's a chance,
12:00
here's the chance right from week one to us send
12:02
a message about we're not tolerating this anymore and suspend them,
12:07
suspend the best defensive player on the Super Bowl champion.
12:10
That's a message that will resonate across all thirty two teams. However,
12:16
I don't think it's going to come to that. Maybe
12:19
it will, because I'm sure there's some people are calling
12:21
for it. I think it's just going to come down
12:23
as a very very stern letter from the commissioner and
12:26
a hefty fine. I don't think there's going to be
12:29
a suspension because, let's face it, it's not like it
12:31
got thrown out during the game. He's already been suspended
12:35
for a game. That's that's what it amounts to. So
12:38
I think that they will deem that sufficient for what
12:41
it was. They will give, they will warn them, they
12:44
will find them. But I don't see him being suspended.
12:47
I mean, could it happened. It could, but I don't
12:49
expect that.
12:50
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm leaning towards the suspension only because of what
12:54
you had mentioned off the top, and was we discussed
12:56
this the other night, the fact that the NFL is
12:58
putting such an emphasis now on unsportsmanlike conduct, trying to
13:02
clean up the game to a certain degree. They may
13:05
use this to make an example out of Jalen Carter.
13:09
You know, what better way to get a player's attention
13:11
than to take a paycheck from him, you know, And
13:15
I just I don't disagree with you, because there is
13:18
no right or wrong to this answer In terms of
13:20
do you find them heavily, let them keep playing, you
13:22
suspend them. There is no right or wrong. But you know,
13:25
I see where you're coming from. I've talked to a
13:27
lot of people who have your same view, and I've
13:29
talked to people have the other view. And I just
13:31
think that the NFL for some reason. I've always had
13:33
this notion that the NFL doesn't like the Philadelphia Eagles
13:36
for some reason. First and foremost, and secondly, I think
13:39
they're going to use this as an opportunity to possibly
13:41
suspend them. Of course, we sit and we wait to
13:44
find out. All right, let's talk a little football, and
13:46
we got to start with with Jalen Hurts and Ray.
13:49
When I look at the performance he had in that
13:50
season opener against the Dallas Cowboys, the first word that
13:53
comes to mind is flawless. I mean, nineteen of twenty
13:57
three one hundred and fifty plus yard ran for sixty more,
14:02
used his legs to basically keep Dallas off balls, ran
14:05
for a couple of touchdowns. It's flawless and accurate description
14:09
of what you watched Jalen Hurts go through against the Cowboys.
14:13
Speaker 2: Yeah, I thought so, I thought so, But you know,
14:16
what else it is, Gunnar Yep, it's there are those,
14:21
and we're living in a different nature football now right.
14:24
Everything is so number driven and stat driven and analytic driven,
14:29
and to some degree fantasy football driven that that sometimes
14:34
so much has built into the numbers that that's how
14:37
people all of that offseason talk about where does Jalen
14:41
Hurts rank? Is he in the top five, is the tenth,
14:44
is he twelfth, is the eighth among the quarterbacks? A
14:46
lot of that is numbers driven, and people make those
14:49
determinations based on how many yards he threw for, how
14:51
many touchdown passes he threw. But what you saw on
14:55
Thursday night was just the definition of who Jalen Hurts is.
15:01
I mean, he's if that's what you want. If you
15:04
want a fantasy quarterback who's going to throw for a
15:06
million yards and a million touchdowns, and he's not your guy.
15:09
He's just not because he's never going to play that game.
15:12
But if you want a quarterback that's going to do
15:14
the things that you have to have done to win
15:16
when it's all said and done, to just win the game,
15:19
that's what he's about. He's a master at the art
15:21
of winning. And you saw that the other night, you know,
15:24
one hundred and fifty yards. Yeah, I mean tomorrow, you know,
15:28
every you're going to have twelve guys in the league
15:30
are going to throw for three hundred yards twice that
15:33
you know, zero touchdown passes. But does it really matter.
15:37
I mean, every time you needed him to step up
15:39
and make a big play in this game, he did it.
15:42
You know. I mean, he runs for the two touchdowns,
15:45
creates those plays off script because neither one of them
15:47
are called up that way, and then you know, he
15:50
throws the absolutely perfect ball to Dots that sets up
15:54
the drive that leads to the Barkley touchdown. So I mean,
15:57
all of those plays that helped the Eagles win in
16:00
that game were plays that he made. And you don't
16:03
see him all in the stat sheet, but they're all
16:05
over the scoreboard. And that's the kind of player that
16:08
Jalen Hurts is, and I think I'll always be.
16:11
Speaker 1: You know what, right when people ask me where do
16:14
you rank Jalen? You know what I tell him nowadays,
16:16
I don't care where he ranks. The bottom line is
16:19
he gets to the w's more than he takes an L.
16:22
And I guarantee you there's at least ten teams right
16:25
now in the National Football League that would love to
16:27
have a Jalen Hurts under center for them. You know,
16:31
because he doesn't turn the ball over. You're not gonna
16:33
put up gaudy numbers. But he beat you with this
16:36
overall athleticism. He frustrates a defense with this overall athleticism.
16:41
And they're quarterbacks who are similar to him, I e.
16:44
Lamar Jackson. Quarterbacks like that. They can beat you with
16:47
the legs or their arm, but they're not the finishers
16:51
that are Jalen is. And I'll take that finisher every
16:53
time in the day's brand of football. I'll take that finisher.
16:56
Will he ever be again, maybe considered an MVP. I
16:59
don't think so based on just a numbers. You look
17:01
at Josh Allen what it last year, you know, with
17:04
the gaudy numbers he put up. I don't know if
17:06
Jayalen will ever be considered an MVP candidate the game.
17:08
But so what if he keeps putting up w's, if
17:11
he gets the Eagles one or two more Super Bowl titles?
17:13
Do you think anybody in Philadelphia cares whether or not
17:16
he's an MVP of the league. I don't yeah, nor
17:20
should they.
17:21
Speaker 2: Nor should they? I mean, I think that is what
17:24
it's all about. And the I don't know how you know.
17:27
You and I didn't talk after the game. I thought
17:31
watching him play on Thursday night, God, I thought he
17:35
ran well. Yes, I mean, he looked to me like
17:38
he was running a couple of years ago. He looked faster.
17:41
I thought he ran harder. He was, he was more
17:44
decisive in his running, like he made up his mind
17:47
I'm going and he went, you know, a couple of
17:49
years ago. Over the last couple of years, and I
17:50
think as the year went on and he took more
17:54
hits and stuff, he was he didn't have that same
17:57
acceleration when he made the decision to run. One of
18:01
the things I took away from Thursday and I was, boy,
18:03
he looked fast. He decided a run. He was running
18:06
like he did a couple of years ago, which I
18:08
thought a real positive, that one touchdown run where he
18:11
gets around the outside and then he sees that lane
18:13
open up. That acceleration that he had there. You know,
18:16
I hadn't seen that in the last year or two,
18:18
but I sure saw it Thursday night. A couple of
18:21
times though.
18:21
Speaker 1: The only thing that concerns me, RAI is when he
18:23
got close to the sidelines, how he was pushed out
18:25
of bounds, and of course one time he went a
18:27
little bit further than you should have it ran into
18:30
some camera guy to sidelines. Those are the kind of
18:32
instances where players get hurt and I'd hate to see
18:36
that happen, you know, And let's face it, their defenses
18:39
in defensive courtinators of the mindset if you give them
18:41
a little extra shove, Hey, you get him out of there.
18:44
You know, we'll take the penalty. We'll take that penalty.
18:47
You know you're not deliberately trying to hurt somebody, but
18:50
you give him a little extra shove, hey, you know what,
18:53
so be it. We can see adrenaline took over. You know.
18:57
Speaker 2: That's true. That's true.
18:58
Speaker 1: You know.
18:58
Speaker 2: There are a couple of things that I was I
19:00
thought of it watching the game. A couple of things
19:03
that I didn't think the Eagles were going to have
19:06
this season, but they have, and I'm glad they have him. Okay.
19:09
One of them is Dallas Goddard. At the end of
19:12
last season, there was so much talk about, oh, he's
19:14
thirty now, he's missed a lot of games, he tends
19:17
to get hurt, maybe it's time to move on. I mean,
19:19
there was I really thought, for a stretching this offseason,
19:22
more likely than not he was not going to be back,
19:25
which I mean I disagreed with that. You know, I
19:29
thought it would be a mistake to let him go
19:31
because I thought he was really a valuable player and
19:33
a good player. But nope, they made the decision. They
19:36
brought him back. He agreed to the deal, he came back.
19:38
And the other thing was, so I didn't think he
19:41
was going to be here, but he was, and I'm
19:42
glad they had him Thursday night because he played very well. Again.
19:46
The other thing was, I didn't think that that had
19:48
the toush push. You know, I really thought, I really
19:51
thought the league was going to take that out of
19:53
the playbook. I really did. When they had the vote
19:56
and it stayed and it didn't get overturned, I was
19:59
surpri I was genuinely surprised because all the people I
20:03
talked to around the league in the days leading up
20:06
to the to the vote, sure and seemed to indicate
20:09
that the packers and the teams that wanted to get
20:12
rid of it had the votes, and so there was
20:16
a time there in the offseason, right, But the Eagles
20:19
aren't going to have Goddard this year, and they're not
20:21
going to have the toush push. Well, they had them
20:24
both Thursday night, and guess what, they were pretty important
20:26
at winning that game.
20:28
Speaker 1: Absolutely, you know, and Ray, as we look at this
20:31
Eagles offense, you knew the Dallas Cowboys were going to
20:34
do everything possible to take Saquon out of this game.
20:37
You know, I think it's going to be a concerted
20:40
effort up and down the schedule this year takes Saquon
20:44
out of the game, Do not less Saquon Peach. And
20:46
of course he had eighteen carries sixty yards, he had
20:48
the ten yard touchdown run. But I think we're going
20:51
to see a little bit more wide open Eagles offense
20:55
based on necessity because teams, it started with Kansas City
20:59
in this Super Bowl, teams are not going to less
21:02
saequand just run up and down the field like they
21:04
did in twenty twenty four.
21:06
Speaker 2: Right, And that's and you know that, and you knew that,
21:09
and you and you saw the first evidence of it
21:12
on Thursday night. And look, I don't think the Cowboys
21:16
are a particularly great defensive team. They they set up
21:19
their defense with the pure idea that they weren't going
21:22
to let Barkley dominate the game, and they were able
21:24
to do that. But you know, football is a game
21:28
of give and take. We all know that. And Okay,
21:30
if you're going to play, you find if you want
21:32
to play that way, you can play that way, but
21:34
you're giving up something on the back end. And the
21:37
Eagles are going to have to find a way too.
21:39
If that's the way teams are going to play us. Okay,
21:41
and they kind of have to because they know the
21:43
threat that Barkley represents. So okay, they're going to play
21:46
that way. Now, how can we turn that to our advantage?
21:49
You know, how can we create opportunities in the passing
21:52
game with our playmakers the other playmakers to take advantage
21:55
of that. And you know, to me, that's kind of
21:58
where you that's kind of your if you're the defensive team,
22:02
that's kind of your catch twenty two. If if we
22:04
want to come out and we want to play that way,
22:05
we're going to create and allow some things in the
22:07
passing game which could wind up hurting us in the
22:09
long run. If we want to play zone if we
22:12
want to play a zone thing and play and play
22:14
the don't let any get any deep. You can work
22:17
with Goddard and the other receivers underneath combination routes, even
22:21
Barkley in the flat and move the ball that way.
22:23
If they want to play press, if they want to
22:26
play jam, and they want to play Manda Man, fine
22:29
let them do that too, because once they start playing
22:31
Manda Man and you run them down the field, and
22:34
that opens up the lane for Barkley to break the
22:36
line of scrimmage and run right up their back. So
22:39
I don't know that there's any really one good way
22:42
to shut down an offense that has as many weapons.
22:45
I think you're going to see from week to week
22:47
that teams are going to take this approach and they're
22:49
gonna say, all right, we can't let Barkley beat us.
22:51
We're going to do what we have to do to
22:52
stop him, and we'll just take our chances. Well, I
22:55
think over time they'll find out that that's not a
22:57
winning strategy either.
22:59
Speaker 1: You know, if you had told me, hey, Gutter, I'll
23:02
bet you one hundred bucks that Aj Brown and Devonte
23:06
Smith will have less than twenty five yards receive and combined.
23:10
I take that bet one hundred days a year, to
23:13
be honest with you. Lo, and behold, they can buy
23:16
for four catches for twenty four yards. How shocked were you?
23:19
I mean, you know, I understand taking away Saint one
23:22
is one thing, but I thought for sure those two
23:24
would be involved a lot more than they were in
23:27
the passing game.
23:28
Speaker 2: Yeah, I thought so too. You certainly never expect that,
23:32
you certainly, you certainly never expect those two guys to
23:35
have a combined less than twenty five yards. That may
23:38
never happen again. It probably should never happen again. And
23:40
the other thing is you never expect aj Brown again
23:43
his first target after the two minute warning, you know,
23:47
and those are things that probably shouldn't happen again. But
23:50
you know, it's first week of the season. None of
23:53
those guys played the preseason, and frankly, Brown and Smith
23:58
hardly practiced this summer if you went to I mean, so,
24:02
I think they're still working through some things. But after
24:07
what I saw last night with the Chiefs, I think
24:11
the Eagles have the opportunity to throw the ball very
24:14
successfully against the Chiefs. I mean, you look at at
24:17
the way justin Herbert was. I mean on that final drive.
24:20
I mean when he's eight for eight, just bing bing,
24:22
bang bang bang. Those throws are there based on the
24:25
way the Kansas City secondary, especially the safeties, are playing,
24:29
And you know, I could see the Eagles coming out
24:32
this week and throwing the ball more and certainly throwing
24:35
the ball more effectively than they did on Thursday night.
24:38
Speaker 1: You know, I don't like to give the Dallas Cowboys
24:39
credit for anything. As much as we hate the Dallas
24:41
Cowboys in his area, and especially after the shocking trade
24:45
of sending Michael Parsons to Green Bay, I thought they
24:47
would come in here mentally on edge, mentally down. They
24:51
had to endure the fans at this stadium, one of
24:54
the loudest stadiums in the National Football League, the banner
24:57
being dropped and Ceedee Lambas said, I would to stand
24:59
out there and watch it. His motivation. I'm going to
25:01
stand out there and watch this. His motivation. And you know,
25:06
dare I say, ray, even though the Cowboys lost, they
25:09
might be a better team than a lot of us
25:11
anticipated going into the season.
25:15
Speaker 2: Yeah, well, having Dak makes a difference. I mean, a
25:19
lot of Eagles fans were saying, oh we killed the
25:21
Cowboys twice last year. Look at the you know, look
25:23
at the scsah. Yeah, but they didn't have Prescott. And
25:27
I know, I know that people here don't want to
25:30
give him any credit. And that's that's the way it's
25:34
been the Cowboy quarterbacks going back to Meredith for God's sakes.
25:37
But the fact is that he is good and his
25:39
career record against the Eagles is a good one. And
25:43
how good are the Cowboys going to be moving forward?
25:45
I don't know. I mean I thought I kind of
25:48
thought the way you thought. I kind of felt that
25:51
what went down with Parsons and the way it went
25:54
down was going to have a demoralizing effect. Yes, I
26:00
mean you you just let your best player, I mean,
26:03
your difference making all Pro player walk, and I just didn't.
26:09
I just kind of felt like, Okay, maybe there's a
26:13
one night circle of the wagons kind of you know,
26:15
we're going to show you kind of thing. And because
26:18
that's kind of what you saw the other night, I
26:19
think the Cowboys played hard on Thursday night. Now can
26:23
you sustain that over seventeen weeks? I don't know. I mean,
26:27
if you know, their offensive line isn't what it was
26:29
that's for sure. The defense, I think without Parsons is
26:34
a lot weaker, and I kind of think that the
26:37
Cowboys are going to be at best a five hundred
26:40
team this year. I don't see them much better than that.
26:42
But I thought they did play I thought they did
26:44
play hard the other night. I just don't know that
26:46
they're going to be able to play that way for
26:50
the course of all season.
26:51
Speaker 1: Hey, you know, another aspect they really stood out about
26:54
this Eagles offense was the fact that, you know, it
26:56
made us creams last season, this team couldn't score points
27:00
on opening drives and in the first half in this game,
27:03
three first half possessions, three touchdowns. What did you think
27:06
of Kevin Batilla's play calling?
27:09
Speaker 2: I thought it was really good. Okay, I thought it
27:11
was really good. And the thing I was really looking
27:14
for was the communication from the sideline to the huddle.
27:18
You know, how quick were the plays coming in? You know,
27:21
did did there seem to be a lot of standing
27:22
around it. There seemed to be a lot of sort
27:24
of uncertainty because a lot of times you see that
27:27
with first time coordinators. I mean, yeah, they've been in
27:30
the offense. They they they've been in the meeting rooms.
27:33
They know all the plays, but calling them on the
27:36
fly like that, you know, while the game's going on
27:38
in the clock is ticking and the crowds cheering. I mean,
27:40
I've seen a lot of first time offensive coordinators, you know,
27:44
almost choke the way players choke in terms of what
27:47
what are we gonna call? What are we going to call?
27:49
When do we get the play in? You know, you're
27:51
you know, wait, you know, taking too long, quarterback, doesn't
27:55
have enough time at the line of scrimmage, and the
27:56
adjustments he wants, wasting time outs. Those are all the things.
28:00
Are the Eagles going to fall victim to any Are
28:02
you going to see any of that?
28:03
Speaker 1: You know?
28:04
Speaker 2: And I did. I mean they looked really, really efficient there.
28:09
So the communication part of it between Patullo and Hurts,
28:13
it seems like they've already got that worked out. And
28:16
and now once these guys get a chance to play
28:18
together some more, you know, once Brown and Smith get
28:21
into the get into the offense more after having really
28:24
done nothing in the preseason. You know, I think from
28:27
week to week you're going to see it get better.
28:29
And let's face it, the way the schedule lays out,
28:30
it's going to have to, you know, because these next
28:33
few games you're playing, you're going to be playing teams
28:35
that are better than this team, you know, I mean
28:37
Kansas City. For whatever you want to say about where
28:39
they are right now, and they lose that game and
28:41
all that stuff, Kansas City is still Kansas City. The
28:44
Rams are still a good team that have a lot
28:46
to prove, and they're certainly working on double revenge with
28:48
the two games they lost last year. Then you got
28:51
the Bucks down there, which is always a tough game
28:53
for the Eagles, and then nobody's talking about the game
28:56
after that. But I think Denver's really good. I agree,
28:58
So I mean, yeah, I mean you worked through I
29:01
think you worked through some things against the Cowboys. There
29:04
are obviously things they can do better, but I think
29:06
moving forward now they have a better idea of what
29:09
they're going to be and what they have to do,
29:11
and they're going to have to because these next four
29:13
games are going to be tougher than the game they
29:15
just played.
29:16
Speaker 1: Defensively, this young Eagles defense, it had some kinks in
29:19
the armor in the first half, settled in in the
29:22
second half, even with the rain enlightening delay, settled in
29:26
in the second half held Dallas to no second half points.
29:28
But the one glaring weakness ring Dori Jacksons. Dori Jackson,
29:34
ain't it It ain't And I'm sorry. You know he
29:36
was getting torsed early on. He took him out of
29:38
the game. He came back in the game later. But
29:41
I don't know how you fixed this problem. There's very
29:43
little out there in the open market. The first name
29:45
that comes to mind to me was a Sante Samuel Junior.
29:50
I don't know how you fixed that problem. I thought
29:52
Keeley Ringo would win that position. That didn't happen. They
29:55
brought a Dorry in later, and all of a sudden,
29:58
he emerges as your starting corner opposite Quinna Mitchell. And
30:02
we got a problem on that side because as we
30:04
face some of the better quarterbacks and teams, as you
30:07
just mentioned, if he's out there, those teams are going
30:10
back on that side of field time and time again.
30:12
Speaker 2: Yeah, they're going to find Number eight. I mean, that's
30:14
for sure. And we talked about that during the preseason
30:19
that okay, where all the all the players you have
30:24
to replace on defense, excuse me, all the players you
30:31
have to replace on defense? Well, will they be able
30:34
to do it, and my biggest concern was the secondary.
30:37
My biggest concern was the corner opposite Mitchell uh and
30:40
the safety, the other safety next to blanket ship. You know,
30:44
who's going to replace Gardner Johnson one weekend? I'm still wondering.
30:48
You know, I think that I agree with you, and
30:51
I felt like you did that it was going to
30:53
be Ringo And if they gave him the first shot
30:56
at it, I think they thought he was going to
30:58
be that guy. They gave him every opportunity to win
31:01
the job, and frankly, he didn't do it. Dori Jackson
31:05
was really kind of just a fallback position, uh, and
31:09
they put him in there because they didn't feel Ringo
31:11
was ready. But every time Vic Fangio met the press
31:14
and Dori Jackson's name came up, you kind of saw
31:18
the way Vic answered it. He just says, well, he's
31:20
you know, he's the guy for now, for now. But listen,
31:24
they didn't bring Jacius Bennett in here for nothing, you know,
31:28
I mean they not only did they acquire them, but
31:30
they told him to get on a red eye flight.
31:33
So now what does what does that tell you? Okay?
31:36
They I really think that and I know he played
31:39
very little the other night and actually got an interference penalty.
31:42
But I think we're not going to be too much
31:44
deeper into the season that he's going to get a
31:46
shot at that job.
31:47
Speaker 1: I really think, Wow, all right, we're gonna wait and
31:50
see get Jordan Davis. Jordan Davis played the most snaps
31:54
of his young career fifty three snaps, eighty seven percent
31:57
of the snaps, and Ray I thought he might have
31:59
had one of his best games, if not the best
32:01
game of his young career against the Cowboys. I mean,
32:04
he was collapsed in the pocket, he was getting pressure,
32:06
he was stuff, he was stuff in a run. You know,
32:09
with Jaylen Carter out of there, I think he elevated
32:12
his role and elevated his play overall.
32:15
Speaker 2: I agree, I really agree. And you know, I've always
32:19
been a Jordan Davis guy. Yeah, when from when they
32:22
drafted him, I saw him play at Georgia, I knew
32:24
what a good player he was. I thought I was
32:26
really happy when the Eagles got him where they got him. Uh,
32:29
And I know there were a lot of people were saying, oh,
32:31
I know, he's been a he's been a bit of disappointment.
32:34
We thought he was going to be better than this.
32:35
He's not playing a lot of snaps. And you know,
32:37
there was a lot of sort of grumbling about him
32:39
over a couple of years, and I didn't really see it.
32:42
I mean I thought they played well. I really did. Now,
32:45
did he have to get in better condition, you know,
32:47
get a little more stamina, play more snaps? Oh yeah,
32:50
I mean I agreed with that, But the idea that
32:53
he was some kind of an underachiever, I didn't. I
32:56
didn't think that at all. And the other night when
32:59
you really need him, the other night, I mean when
33:01
Carter gets tossed out of the game, I mean he
33:04
had to play a ton and I think it told
33:07
me a lot this offseason when I mean he lost
33:11
thirty five pounds. That's not easy to do and you
33:14
have to work at that to make that happen. And
33:17
he did. And you know, a year ago, I don't
33:21
know that he could have played that many snaps. He
33:23
played them the other night and played them well. And
33:25
I agree with you. I thought he played I thought
33:26
he played a good game, and that that pairing of
33:29
those two guys together, they could be very good together.
33:33
I mean, two guys with that level of ability that young,
33:37
they could be very strong on the inside of those
33:39
two guys. Everybody talks about Carter, but don't forget about Davis.
33:42
I mean, he's you know, he's a really good player
33:44
in his own right.
33:45
Speaker 1: Zach Bank picked up from where he left off a
33:48
season ago. I thought he was excellent and coverage, excellent,
33:51
sideline of sideline and tracking down running plays. And I
33:54
think he may have made the defensive played a game
33:57
when he tracked down Miles Sanders the Eagle on their
34:01
forty nine yard run. He tried to punch the ball
34:03
out initially. You know a lot of times we see
34:05
that he try to punch the ball out, the would
34:08
be tackler loses the balance and the runner keeps running
34:11
and scores a touchdown. That might have been the game
34:13
when he touched down the way the game played his
34:15
self outright. But but Zach Bond made an incredible play
34:19
to keep Miles we getting to tenienzo and lo and behold.
34:21
A few plays later, Miles costs up the football. Eagles
34:25
get the momento right back for them. I don't think,
34:28
you know, we talk about Zach Bond's leadership, maybe verbal leadership,
34:32
but his physical playing leadership. It's second to none on
34:36
that team. Yeah, it really is. I mean's he's a
34:39
really and you can see it. He's a really heady player.
34:43
He knows that, he really knows the.
34:45
Speaker 2: Defense, knows his responsibilities, knows exactly where everybody's supposed to be. Uh.
34:50
And his his recognition, his ability to recognize right away,
34:55
whether it's a formation or motion or whatever it is,
34:58
where the ball's going. I mean, he's he's moving before
35:02
as the ball snapped, he's moving right where it's going.
35:04
And you know, you can coach that guy's forever. And
35:09
if they don't have instinct, they don't have instinct. You know,
35:12
you can coach guys all you want, but there are
35:14
certain guys that are great players because they have an
35:17
instinct for an ability to recognize what's ask them, ask
35:21
them how. They can't tell you how, but they feel it,
35:23
they see it, they know it.
35:25
Speaker 1: Uh.
35:25
Speaker 2: And that was what that was what Vic saw in
35:30
in Vaughn last year. I mean when they brought him in, honestly,
35:34
they didn't have any bigger role for him in mind
35:36
than what he had in New Orleans. I mean, they
35:38
thought he would be in a situation past Rusher kind
35:41
of guy and a special and a core special teams player.
35:44
But that was it. I mean, they didn't bring him
35:46
in here with the idea that he was going to
35:47
be an off the ball linebacker who's going to go
35:51
to the Pro Bowl. I mean they didn't really think that.
35:54
But I mean once they saw it, once Vic studied
35:56
the tape, he said, I think we can do a
35:58
lot more with this guy. Once they gave him the opportunity,
36:01
he showed you what he could be. You know, I
36:03
anybody that saw him play at Wisconsin knew he was
36:07
a really good player. I mean, you knew that this
36:10
guy had a lot of skill. I mean he was
36:11
a third round draft pick. He was not exactly a sleeper,
36:14
so people knew how good a player he was. But
36:17
you know, he goes to New Orleans and they just,
36:19
you know, they just didn't see it. They just didn't
36:21
give him that opportunity, which is why the Saints or
36:24
the Saints, you know, they can bring in a player
36:26
who like that and then never let him do what
36:29
he's capable of doing. Well. The Eagles brought him in
36:32
and gave him that opportunity, and the guy winds up
36:35
being a finalist for Defensive Player of the Year. And
36:37
I think what he showed you Thursday night was anybody
36:39
that thought that like last year was oh that was
36:42
just you know that he was as lucky or that
36:45
was you know that that was one year. I think
36:51
what you saw the other night is no, what you
36:53
saw last year is a genuine article. I mean, that's
36:55
that's the kind of player this guy is, and he's
36:58
really good. The other thing that came out of Thursday's
37:00
game was I thought jo Hot Campbell looked really good.
37:02
I mean, I question, you know, as your first round
37:05
draft pick. I mean gunner for a big man boy,
37:09
he can move, yes, he can. I mean some of
37:11
the stuff he didn't coverage, I mean covering the receiver
37:13
down the scene with his size. I think with each
37:18
week you're going to see him just get better and better.
37:20
I think he's I think the Eagles were very, very
37:23
fortunate to get him with the thirty first pick because
37:25
I think he's I think he's already played well Thursday night,
37:28
but I think he's going to have impact week to week.
37:32
Speaker 1: You know, It's funny the Eagles have had a stroke
37:35
of luck in recent drafts with getting quality players in
37:38
the in the lower part of the of the initial draft.
37:41
I mean Quinna and Mitchell, Cooper Degene. Now now this guy,
37:45
you know, boy, the boy, they've really got a rabbit
37:48
lucky rabbit's foot upon them. Now we do agree they
37:52
need yeah, exactly exactly, we do agree they need to
37:56
address the quarterback position, and obviously they felt they needed
38:00
to address some more pressure from the edge. They go
38:02
out and sign thirty two year old Zadarius Smith who
38:07
last year with combined with Detroit and Cleveland had nine
38:11
qb sex. But he's thirty two years old. Can he
38:14
be a stabilizing factor coming off the edge for this defense?
38:20
Speaker 2: I think so. I think so. You know they I
38:23
think they recognized with losing sweat and losing by losing BG,
38:30
they needed to they needed to fortify the edge. They
38:34
needed to find somebody else, a couple more guys that
38:36
could give them that edge pressure. And you know Ucci
38:41
and Jare. I think that those signings that's what they
38:45
were supposed to be. You know, I think they brought
38:47
those guys in with the idea that, okay, you know,
38:49
veteran guys, their edge players. You know, they'll they'll be
38:53
part of that rotation. Right, and I don't think they
38:58
saw it. I don't think they got from them this
39:00
summer what they were hoping to get from them. And
39:02
if you watch them and they played some, it isn't
39:04
like they weren't playing. They played some. What you're looking
39:08
for in those guys, the edge players is the ability
39:11
to win, to win off the edge, to beat that
39:14
blocker and win those snaps. And I know it's only preseason,
39:18
but even in practice, they didn't seem to be winning it,
39:21
you know, And I think they were a little concerned
39:24
about that. They didn't talk about it much, but you know,
39:26
Aulu Jari didn't even dress the other night, so so
39:29
there's an indication there that, Okay, I think, you know,
39:32
I think we're find you know, Smith is going to
39:34
be a good player. We've got, you know, we've got
39:37
those guys, but I think we need a little more
39:38
depth and maybe now we'll bring Smith in and see
39:41
what he can give us, because they need that other guy.
39:44
They need that other pass rusher, and Smith is Listen,
39:47
if the guy's moved around, he's I think he's played
39:49
for everybody in the league. I think the Eagles complete
39:52
the cycle. I think he's now worn every jersey, and
39:55
there's and there's usually a reason for that. But the
39:58
one skill he's always had is his ability to rush
40:00
the passer. Ye. Well, you take that guy, you bring
40:02
him in here at this point in his career, you
40:04
put him on a team like this where you realistically
40:07
think you have a shot at winning a Super Bowl. Yeah,
40:09
I think. I think you'll get the best of what
40:11
he's got. And what he's got is something that you need,
40:16
all right.
40:17
Speaker 1: One game down, one game and a plus column and
40:20
hopefully the first of many, many, many more wins to
40:23
come as the Eagles continue on this journey of trying
40:27
to repeat as Super Bowl champions. This has been our
40:31
maiden voyde of Birds Weekly, presented by Inside the Birds
40:35
Network for Rai Dinger. I'm Derek Gunns along everybody