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Eagles vs. Panthers Postgame Show, Week 14 · The Philadelphia Sports Table | Philly Sports News & Views

0:21
Speaker 1: You are listening to Eagles postgame analysis here at the
0:23
Speaker 1: Philadelphia Sports Table podcast show, the longest running weekly Philly
0:26
Speaker 1: sports podcast show in the world. That's right over eleven
0:30
Speaker 1: and a half years strong. And this week fourteen matchup
0:34
Speaker 1: between the Philadelphia Eagles and the Carolina Panthers is now
0:37
Speaker 1: in the books. The Eagles winning this game down at
0:40
Speaker 1: the link by a score of twenty two to sixteen
0:43
Speaker 1: in a nailbier. Folks, we've seen this game play out
0:47
Speaker 1: plenty of times as Eagles fans. My goodness, the Eagles
0:50
Speaker 1: are now eleven and two on the season. Carolina Panthers
0:54
Speaker 1: are three and ten. This quite frankly, was a game
0:57
Speaker 1: that really could have gone either way for the Philadelphia
0:59
Speaker 1: Eagles in terms of the score. My goodness, missed opportunities,
1:04
Speaker 1: they seized on certain opportunities as well. It was just
1:07
Speaker 1: a roller coaster of a game. And I just want
1:10
Speaker 1: to start off by saying, folks, for a team in
1:13
Speaker 1: the NFL to win nine games in a row, it's
1:15
Speaker 1: quite a feat. It's quite something. Even the great teams
1:18
Speaker 1: don't win nine in a row. This Eagles team did. Yeah,
1:22
Speaker 1: they were on the ropes by the Carolina Panthers, and
1:25
Speaker 1: we're certainly gonna get into some of the themes here with
1:28
Speaker 1: regard to this game. My goodness, first and foremost, Yeah,
1:33
Speaker 1: it's just gonna be me this week. My co hosts
1:36
Speaker 1: had some other obligations, and some of the guys that
1:39
Speaker 1: fill in for them also had some obligations. So it's
1:43
Speaker 1: just gonna be me giving you this analysis here this week. Here,
1:47
Speaker 1: as we're analyzing Week fourteen, let's start off first and
1:51
Speaker 1: foremost by talking about the guy that really has made
1:54
Speaker 1: this season for the Eagles what it has been. First
1:58
Speaker 1: and foremost, Saquon Barkley. Saquon Barkley is now the number
2:02
Speaker 1: one Eagles rusher in the history of this Eagles franchise.
2:06
Speaker 1: He passed Lashawn McCoy in this game. Just an incredible season.
2:11
Speaker 1: As we know, Saquon Barkley now with one thousand, six
2:14
Speaker 1: hundred and twenty three yards rushing and again beats the
2:18
Speaker 1: all time single season franchise rushing record that was held
2:22
Speaker 1: by Lashawn McCoy for so many years. Lashawn McCoy one thousand,
2:27
Speaker 1: six hundred and seven yards and that was broken today.
2:31
Speaker 1: I gotta tell you, folks, as we're moving along here,
2:34
Speaker 1: it seems like the Eagles are still very very committed
2:37
Speaker 1: to starting very very slow on offense. Yet another game
2:42
Speaker 1: this year where they do not score in the first quarter,
2:46
Speaker 1: and the Eagles they ended up in the first half
2:50
Speaker 1: leading the Panthers by a score of fourteen to ten.
2:54
Speaker 1: But honestly, you take a look at this game, like
2:57
Speaker 1: outside of Saquon Barkley, outside of Saquon Barkley, at least
3:00
Speaker 1: from an offensive perspective, I mean, it was a boring
3:04
Speaker 1: game from this Eagles team. It was a roller coaster
3:07
Speaker 1: of a ride of emotions. We're thinking to ourselves, how
3:10
Speaker 1: is the play calling happening the way that it is,
3:13
Speaker 1: How on earth is Jalen Hurts making some of the
3:16
Speaker 1: decisions that he is making. Jalen Hurts at the half
3:21
Speaker 1: seventy passing yards from him on fifteen passes. There were
3:25
Speaker 1: also fifteen rushes in the first half. Pretty much a
3:28
Speaker 1: balanced type of approach to the offensive game plan. But
3:34
Speaker 1: we got to talk about Jalen Hurts too, because as
3:36
Speaker 1: much as Saquon Barkley was fantastic in this game, carrying
3:40
Speaker 1: the ball ultimately twenty times for one hundred and twenty
3:42
Speaker 1: four yards, and he averaged six point two yards per carry.
3:47
Speaker 1: Jalen Hurts did not have a good game. This was
3:50
Speaker 1: definitely the worst Jalen Hurts game that we have seen
3:53
Speaker 1: in some time. It has been a while since we've
3:56
Speaker 1: seen a stinker like this one. Let's go back to
3:59
Speaker 1: the first drive of the game. Jalen Hurts missus AJ
4:03
Speaker 1: Brown who is absolutely wide open and it would have
4:05
Speaker 1: been an easy touchdown, but he missed him. And then
4:09
Speaker 1: throughout the rest of the first half, there were so
4:11
Speaker 1: many missed opportunities when Hurts was just missing wide open receivers. Again,
4:17
Speaker 1: we are seeing how Jalen Hurts is not seeing the
4:21
Speaker 1: entire field. He's not getting the ball out of his
4:23
Speaker 1: hands quickly. And again we've talked about this time and
4:26
Speaker 1: time again on this podcast platform, but this is who
4:29
Speaker 1: Jalen Hurts is and it's likely not going to change
4:32
Speaker 1: anytime soon. However, it really could have been a detriment
4:35
Speaker 1: in this game if not for the playmakers that they
4:38
Speaker 1: do have on offense again Sakuon Barkley, but also AJ
4:41
Speaker 1: Brown and also Davonte Smith. There was another bizarre play
4:45
Speaker 1: that I want to mention. However, it actually resulted in
4:48
Speaker 1: an Eagle's touchdown, which was fantastic. It was the touchdown
4:52
Speaker 1: pass right before the half. There was a rub route
4:56
Speaker 1: and Jalen Hurts he had his eyes on Davante Smith
4:59
Speaker 1: the entire play. Meanwhile, Aj Brown ran a slant route
5:04
Speaker 1: that was wide open in the middle of the field,
5:06
Speaker 1: right in the end zone. Again, I'm not complaining about
5:09
Speaker 1: the touchdown that Jalen Hurts through to Davonte Smith. Beautiful pass,
5:14
Speaker 1: beautiful throw, it really was, but it was an easier
5:19
Speaker 1: throw over the middle of the field, and for some reason,
5:23
Speaker 1: Jalen Hurts just had his sights honed in on Davonte
5:27
Speaker 1: Smith instead of really seeing the field and knowing that
5:30
Speaker 1: Aj Brown was open right in front of him. Ah,
5:34
Speaker 1: it just gets so so frustrating. And this was on
5:40
Speaker 1: a touchdown throw, and maybe I shouldn't be complaining about that,
5:42
Speaker 1: quite frankly, But then we have in the third quarter
5:46
Speaker 1: Hertz head Aj Brown open for an easy completion. It
5:50
Speaker 1: was on a second down, but he just he couldn't
5:52
Speaker 1: cut it loose because he abandoned a clean pocket. We
5:55
Speaker 1: saw that time and time again in this game. And
5:57
Speaker 1: also in the third quarter there was a backside dig
6:01
Speaker 1: where Brown was open on a third down that resulted
6:05
Speaker 1: in a third down sack. Actually, so we saw time
6:08
Speaker 1: and time again, Jalen Hurts just not playing a good game,
6:11
Speaker 1: not making great decisions. AJ Brown was only targeted four
6:14
Speaker 1: times in this game. He was only targeted two times
6:17
Speaker 1: in the first half. He ended with forty three yards
6:20
Speaker 1: on the day average ten point eight yards per reception.
6:25
Speaker 1: That's unacceptable to me. Yes, Devonte Smith had six targets
6:28
Speaker 1: in the game, came down with four balls for thirty
6:30
Speaker 1: seven yards and a touchdown, his long actually being twenty
6:34
Speaker 1: seven yards. That again is unacceptable to me. It's unacceptable
6:38
Speaker 1: where the passing game is right now. And I know
6:41
Speaker 1: it's a constant theme. Well, Jeff and other Eagles fans
6:45
Speaker 1: that do every now and again complain about this. We've
6:47
Speaker 1: got Saquon Barkley. He's now the all time franchise rushing
6:51
Speaker 1: record leader. Yeah, but I really don't want over the
6:56
Speaker 1: course of these next few weeks to have an injured
6:58
Speaker 1: Saquon Barkley. I don't want that because if Saquon Barkley
7:01
Speaker 1: is injured, We're going to be seeing a lot of
7:04
Speaker 1: Kenny Gainwell and a lot of Will Shipley. And Yes,
7:06
Speaker 1: Kenny Gainwell carried the ball three times for twenty six
7:09
Speaker 1: yards averaged eight point seven yards per carry. It's pretty
7:12
Speaker 1: nice day for Kenny Gainwell on three carries. But I
7:14
Speaker 1: don't want to see Kenny Gainwell and Will Shipley leading
7:17
Speaker 1: this rushing attack in the future when it really matters
7:21
Speaker 1: for this team in terms of its playoff implications. I'm
7:24
Speaker 1: a little concerned about where the passing game is right
7:26
Speaker 1: now with the Jalen Hurts, he certainly uses his legs.
7:30
Speaker 1: We saw an amazing thirty five yard scramble from Hertz
7:35
Speaker 1: where he is seeing from a rushing perspective the entire
7:38
Speaker 1: field in front of him, and that's kind of what's boggling.
7:41
Speaker 1: At times. Jalen Hurts is able to see the field
7:44
Speaker 1: when he wants to use his legs. We see that
7:46
Speaker 1: time and time again. It's not one hundred percent perfect,
7:49
Speaker 1: but he utilizes his legs well and sees the field.
7:53
Speaker 1: But when it comes to the passing game, when receivers
7:55
Speaker 1: are running their routes, we're not seeing it as much.
7:58
Speaker 1: And again it's a theme we've been talking about in
7:59
Speaker 1: this pott Cast platform for some time. But as we
8:03
Speaker 1: are moving along with the conversation here in these discussion
8:07
Speaker 1: points and themes, this offense had way too many third
8:10
Speaker 1: and long situations throughout this entire game and well into
8:13
Speaker 1: the fourth quarter. It was an offense that sputtered throughout
8:17
Speaker 1: the entire game. And guess what, you know what, it's
8:20
Speaker 1: okay to point these things out. It's okay to be
8:22
Speaker 1: critical of the offense. It's okay to be critical of
8:25
Speaker 1: Jalen Hurts, because guess what, this is still a damn
8:28
Speaker 1: good Eagles team and a team that is inevitably eleven
8:32
Speaker 1: and two on the season. You know, you play who
8:35
Speaker 1: you play on the schedule, and the Carolina Panthers, they
8:39
Speaker 1: were not a terrible football team today, folks. They were
8:42
Speaker 1: converting on third downs, they were making plays. Bryce Young
8:48
Speaker 1: was making plays, My goodness, he was. Look it was
8:54
Speaker 1: only one hundred and ninety one yards throwing on thirty
8:57
Speaker 1: four passes. He completed nineteen of them, a touchdown on
9:00
Speaker 1: an interception. But with those nineteen passes that Bryce Young
9:04
Speaker 1: completed a lot of those, look good, folks. I wish
9:07
Speaker 1: Jalen Hurts was completing some of those. This this Carolina
9:11
Speaker 1: Panthers team, as we talked about in the Opposition Territory Podcast.
9:14
Speaker 1: I mean, they almost beat the Kansas City Chiefs. They
9:17
Speaker 1: should have beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers if not for officiating.
9:22
Speaker 1: This is a team that held the I'm talking to
9:25
Speaker 1: I am straight up talking like the stats game here
9:29
Speaker 1: in terms of time of possession, they held the ball
9:31
Speaker 1: for thirty three minutes and thirty three seconds the Carolina
9:34
Speaker 1: Panthers did to the Eagles twenty six minutes and twenty
9:38
Speaker 1: seven seconds. The Carolina Panthers had more total yards than
9:41
Speaker 1: the Eagles in this game, three hundred and two total
9:44
Speaker 1: yards to the Eagles two hundred and ninety two yards.
9:47
Speaker 1: I know you're gonna say, yeah, that's close, that's close.
9:49
Speaker 1: First downs the Carolina Panthers had twenty Eagles had eighteen.
9:54
Speaker 1: And yes we know at the end of the day
9:56
Speaker 1: we talk about it on our post game shows. A
9:57
Speaker 1: lot that yards per play usually will determine who wins
10:02
Speaker 1: the game. The Eagles had five point two yards per play,
10:05
Speaker 1: while the Panthers had four point four yards per play.
10:08
Speaker 1: Each team was penalized seven times, Carolina forty three yards
10:14
Speaker 1: worth of penalties, the Eagles forty yards worth of penalties.
10:18
Speaker 1: But I really do find the third down efficiency to
10:21
Speaker 1: be interesting too. Both teams converted seven times on third down.
10:26
Speaker 1: The Carolina Panthers had sixteen attempts on third down, they
10:30
Speaker 1: completed seven of them. Eagles went seven to twelve on
10:33
Speaker 1: third down. Not terrible by any stretch. And again, this
10:36
Speaker 1: is a game that certainly wasn't perfect by the Eagles.
10:39
Speaker 1: There was a lot of good plays and there was
10:41
Speaker 1: a lot of terrible crap as well. All right, well,
10:44
Speaker 1: now that we've talked about the offense here, let's move
10:48
Speaker 1: over to the defense, because I gotta tell you, if
10:50
Speaker 1: you watch this game, or if you didn't watch this game,
10:53
Speaker 1: maybe you see in the stat sheets the defense did
10:57
Speaker 1: not have that great of a game. If you take
10:58
Speaker 1: a look at what this Eagles did. Defense has been
11:01
Speaker 1: up until week fourteen here giving up you know, yes,
11:06
Speaker 1: they gave up sixteen points and they were averaging I
11:08
Speaker 1: think fifteen point three points per game since week six.
11:13
Speaker 1: I believe that's what it is off the top of
11:14
Speaker 1: my head. But you know, it seemed it seemed when
11:19
Speaker 1: you watched this game that the Carolina Panthers gained two
11:24
Speaker 1: more yards than they should have on just about every
11:26
Speaker 1: single run play because there were mistackles or some kind
11:30
Speaker 1: of miss que from the defensive side of things. And
11:35
Speaker 1: I do have to say that it was getting burnt.
11:38
Speaker 1: The Eagles defense was getting burnt throughout the game on
11:41
Speaker 1: a lot of those ten to fifteen yard intermediate routes
11:45
Speaker 1: by the Panthers' wide receivers. Adam Thielen had himself a
11:50
Speaker 1: very nice game. Honestly, did I think it was gonna happen? No,
11:54
Speaker 1: But he was targeted eleven times, came down with nine
11:56
Speaker 1: balls for one hundred and two yards. He was averaging
11:59
Speaker 1: eleven point three yards per reception. Xavier Leget he was
12:04
Speaker 1: targeted eight times, although he came down with two balls.
12:07
Speaker 1: He averaged nineteen point five yards per reception on those
12:11
Speaker 1: two balls. I mean, this was all Adam feeling. It
12:15
Speaker 1: was all Chewba Hubbard as well. Chewba Hubbard carried the
12:17
Speaker 1: ball twenty six times for ninety two yards. Not necessarily
12:21
Speaker 1: a great stat line, but he was picking up yards
12:24
Speaker 1: where he needed to pick those yards up in order
12:27
Speaker 1: to achieve first down or to get themselves into a
12:32
Speaker 1: pretty good position on third down. And I gotta say,
12:34
Speaker 1: I want to give a shout out to one specific
12:36
Speaker 1: guy on this Eagles defense who some folks have been
12:39
Speaker 1: down about this year not necessarily performing to the highest
12:42
Speaker 1: level that he has in previous years, and that's CJ.
12:45
Speaker 1: Gardner Johnson. My gosh, ah man, what a hit that CJ.
12:49
Speaker 1: Gardner Johnson put on Xavier Legett on the Panthers' very
12:53
Speaker 1: first drive of the game. What a tremendous game. I
12:56
Speaker 1: think that CJ ended up having He ended up going
12:59
Speaker 1: out in the first quarter with a head injury, came
13:01
Speaker 1: back then had a great interception his third of the
13:04
Speaker 1: season in the second quarter, which really helped the Eagles
13:08
Speaker 1: get that final score before the half, and then he
13:11
Speaker 1: came out again in the fourth quarter with a head injury.
13:16
Speaker 1: So I gotta say I am worried at times about CJ.
13:19
Speaker 1: Gardner Johnson the head shots that he's been taking as
13:21
Speaker 1: of late, and specifically in this game. Unfortunately, this was
13:25
Speaker 1: a safety unit that was down, read blank and ship here.
13:28
Speaker 1: We saw a little too much of Avonte Maddox out
13:30
Speaker 1: on the field this week for my liking. But CJ.
13:33
Speaker 1: Gardner really stepped up in some moments during this game,
13:37
Speaker 1: as did Darius big Play Sligh at times, you know,
13:41
Speaker 1: you get frustrated with some of the plays that he
13:43
Speaker 1: does give up throughout the course of weeks and throughout
13:46
Speaker 1: the course of the season as well. But see but sorry,
13:50
Speaker 1: Darius Slay just really getting it done in this game,
13:53
Speaker 1: specifically the last play of the game when he's covering
13:55
Speaker 1: Adam Thielen. They needed to convert that fourth down, wasn't
13:59
Speaker 1: able to do it because Slay just got his hand
14:01
Speaker 1: in there able to knock that ball away. A great,
14:04
Speaker 1: great pass defended. And I think it's important for us
14:08
Speaker 1: to talk about the pass rush too. This Eagles pass rush,
14:12
Speaker 1: I mean, they were getting into the backfield and yes,
14:16
Speaker 1: Bryce Young you know, was able to be as mobile
14:19
Speaker 1: of a quarterback as he is and has been since
14:22
Speaker 1: his time in Alabama. He was only sacked once in
14:25
Speaker 1: this game. Should have been sacked a lot more. It's
14:30
Speaker 1: it was frustrating to see the amount of pressure that
14:35
Speaker 1: this pass rush got on on Young. On Bryce Young, however,
14:41
Speaker 1: you know he was able to make some plays. It
14:43
Speaker 1: was just amazing. The Eagles defense ended, like I said,
14:46
Speaker 1: with only one sack. There were six tackles for a loss,
14:49
Speaker 1: five passes defended, and eight quarterback hits. Jalen Carter once
14:54
Speaker 1: again my gosh, even though his stat line is three
14:58
Speaker 1: total tackles, two tackles for lost, three quarterback hits, just
15:02
Speaker 1: completely disruptive. And I also want to give a shout
15:06
Speaker 1: out to Jordan Davis as he was running down Bryce
15:10
Speaker 1: Young at one point in this game and actually ended
15:12
Speaker 1: up tackling him as Young was going out of bounds.
15:16
Speaker 1: It was a fantastic play by Jordan Davis. You don't
15:20
Speaker 1: see a guy like that running as fast as he
15:22
Speaker 1: did across the field. So look when we look at
15:25
Speaker 1: the pass rush to the Eagles edge snaps in the
15:29
Speaker 1: first half, and this is via nex gen stats, Nolan
15:32
Speaker 1: Smith had twenty four, Josh Sweat had twenty one. Jylex
15:35
Speaker 1: Hunt getting some time playing here since Brandon Graham's injury,
15:39
Speaker 1: he had nineteen. Charles Harris had two. So you're seeing
15:44
Speaker 1: these younger guys really getting the chance to take advantage
15:48
Speaker 1: of the situation that they're in with regard to the
15:51
Speaker 1: pass rush. And while while it was really enraging that
15:56
Speaker 1: Bryce Young was able to just get away from the
15:58
Speaker 1: rush time and time again, the front, the front was disruptive,
16:02
Speaker 1: disruptive enough, but Young just able to complete a lot
16:05
Speaker 1: of really nice passes on some third and long opportunities
16:10
Speaker 1: and just using his legs to the best of his ability.
16:13
Speaker 1: So I think we're seeing Bryce Young developing as a quarterback, folks.
16:17
Speaker 1: I think we're really starting to see that. I did
16:19
Speaker 1: mention Darius Slay as well. I mean it, what a
16:21
Speaker 1: great turnover on downs in the fourth quarter by the
16:23
Speaker 1: Eagles defense on a fourth and two Sleigh again, might
16:28
Speaker 1: have been past interference, I don't know, but it was
16:31
Speaker 1: a great pass breakup from him. And of course we
16:33
Speaker 1: have to mention on this Eagles defense. Zach Bond, my gosh,
16:38
Speaker 1: absolutely on fire once again, absolutely on fire with eleven
16:42
Speaker 1: total tackles on the day, six solo, one sack, three
16:47
Speaker 1: tackles for a lost, two quarterback hits, and Nakobe Dean
16:49
Speaker 1: actually ended up with twelve total tackles on the day.
16:52
Speaker 1: You love to see your linebackers at the top of
16:54
Speaker 1: the defensive stat sheet. You'll absolutely love to see that.
16:58
Speaker 1: We are going to take a quick break here and
17:00
Speaker 1: when we get back, I'm gonna dish out some grades
17:03
Speaker 1: and then we're gonna be looking to week fifteen. Stick
17:06
Speaker 1: with us, all right, we are back and let's do
17:10
Speaker 1: some grading with this Eagles team starting off on the offense,
17:14
Speaker 1: Jalen Hurts, I'm telling you fourteen to twenty one, one
17:18
Speaker 1: hundred and eight yards passing today, five point one yards
17:23
Speaker 1: per attempt, two touchdowns, fantastic, and he ended with a
17:26
Speaker 1: rating of one hundred and ten point eight folks. Stat
17:29
Speaker 1: line not terrible, but man, the decisions he was making
17:34
Speaker 1: at times, missing wide open receivers. Jalen Hurts is going
17:38
Speaker 1: to be getting a C from me this week. I'm
17:42
Speaker 1: just concerned that there is something. And again it goes
17:46
Speaker 1: back to I mean, I've got a million thoughts in
17:48
Speaker 1: my head right now, but it goes back to what
17:49
Speaker 1: I said earlier in this postgame show, where you know,
17:52
Speaker 1: winning nine games, and if you're the quarterback of a
17:54
Speaker 1: team who has won nine games in a row, it
17:56
Speaker 1: is very difficult to do that. There are going to
17:59
Speaker 1: be drop every now and again, whether it's with the
18:02
Speaker 1: quarterback position, whether it's the running back position. We don't
18:05
Speaker 1: have a problem with that in Philadelphia, thank goodness, or
18:07
Speaker 1: with various aspects of the defense. There will be dropoffs
18:10
Speaker 1: here and there because sustaining success winning every game just
18:16
Speaker 1: doesn't happen in this league. You've seen the way the
18:18
Speaker 1: Carolina Panthers have played over these past few weeks. They
18:21
Speaker 1: are beating team or close I should say close to
18:24
Speaker 1: beating teams that are very good teams in this league.
18:28
Speaker 1: But Jalen hurts he's getting a C from me because
18:31
Speaker 1: of a lot of bad decision making in this game.
18:34
Speaker 1: Move into the running back position. Saquon Barkley with one
18:37
Speaker 1: hundred and twenty four yards on the day, Kenny gain
18:39
Speaker 1: Weill with twenty six yards on three carries. I got a.
18:43
Speaker 1: You have to give them an A. You gotta give
18:47
Speaker 1: them an A. Give them an A plus if you want,
18:50
Speaker 1: especially since Saquon Barkley is now is now the all
18:55
Speaker 1: time season a single season franchise rushing record that he
19:00
Speaker 1: now has for the Philadelphia Eagles. So you know what,
19:02
Speaker 1: I'm gonna give rushing and a plus in this game.
19:05
Speaker 1: We move over to the wide receivers and the tight ends. Look,
19:09
Speaker 1: they weren't asked to do that much in this game
19:11
Speaker 1: because Saquon Barkley carried the ball for twenty of twenty times. Really,
19:16
Speaker 1: there were only fourteen receptions total in this game, four
19:20
Speaker 1: from aj Brown, four from Devonte Smith, three from Grant
19:24
Speaker 1: cal Katara, two from Kenny gainwell one from Johan Dotson,
19:28
Speaker 1: Davonte Smith and Grant cal Katara both catching a touchdown
19:32
Speaker 1: in this game. I'm gonna give the receivers because they
19:35
Speaker 1: were asked what they were asked to do. I mean,
19:37
Speaker 1: I'm gonna give them a B plus in this game.
19:39
Speaker 1: Could be an a minus as well, but it's interesting
19:44
Speaker 1: where the receiving is going. As we are on this
19:47
Speaker 1: latter part of the Eagles regular season. Here you have
19:50
Speaker 1: AJ Brown and I think it's pretty criminal that he
19:53
Speaker 1: was only given four targets, quite frankly, but perhaps we
19:57
Speaker 1: see something new and improved with the Eagles offense next
20:01
Speaker 1: week against the Pittsburgh Steelers. I don't know about new
20:04
Speaker 1: and improved, but I don't know. Maybe we can see
20:07
Speaker 1: Aj Brown getting at least seven or eight targets. I
20:09
Speaker 1: would really really like to see that. Let's move to
20:12
Speaker 1: the offensive line up and down for them throughout the
20:15
Speaker 1: course of this game. Jalen Hurts certainly seeing pockets collapsing
20:20
Speaker 1: throughout the game again, him taking a lot of time
20:23
Speaker 1: in the pocket and having to be rushed outside the
20:26
Speaker 1: pocket as well. I think from a rushing perspective, the
20:31
Speaker 1: Eagles offensive line again you're not gonna have one hundred
20:33
Speaker 1: and twenty four total yards from Saquan and another twenty
20:37
Speaker 1: six from Kenny Gainwell if you don't have outstanding blocking
20:41
Speaker 1: up front. So I'm gonna give the Eagles offensive line
20:44
Speaker 1: this week a bee, a straight up bee for what
20:46
Speaker 1: they did. Let's move over to the defensive side of
20:49
Speaker 1: the ball. The defensive line. As I was talking about
20:51
Speaker 1: this pass rush, you have some younger guys trying to
20:53
Speaker 1: get some opportunities in there. You know, whether it is
20:56
Speaker 1: Nolan Smith, Josh Sweat, Jlyx Hunt, Charles Harry even you know,
21:01
Speaker 1: they were getting some pretty good pressure on Bryce Young
21:03
Speaker 1: throughout this game. And I have to say, you know,
21:05
Speaker 1: that's what you want. You want, you want these young
21:07
Speaker 1: guys to get the experience. And from what we've been
21:10
Speaker 1: seeing with Nolan Smith this year, a lot of growth
21:12
Speaker 1: and a lot of development specifically from him. Didn't have
21:16
Speaker 1: the absolute greatest stat sheet in the world, just one
21:19
Speaker 1: tackle and one quarterback hit, But I like that Nolan
21:23
Speaker 1: Smith has been disruptive. All right. I am gonna give
21:27
Speaker 1: this crew a straight up B this week. Let's move
21:31
Speaker 1: to the linebackers. I mean, Nakobe Dean and Zach Bonn.
21:33
Speaker 1: It seems like every week we're giving them like an A,
21:36
Speaker 1: A minus A plus. I'm gonna give them a straight
21:39
Speaker 1: up A this week. As always, this Eagles linebacker corps
21:43
Speaker 1: is fantastic. That is a sentence that I never thought
21:46
Speaker 1: that I would say. Ever, when talking about the Eagles
21:49
Speaker 1: linebacker corps, let's move to the secondary up and down
21:53
Speaker 1: for them again, folks. How many times did we have
21:56
Speaker 1: to see Adam Thielen converting on third down for the
22:00
Speaker 1: Carolina Panthers? How long? How many times did we see
22:04
Speaker 1: Bryce Young actually you know, rushing. He rushed seven times
22:09
Speaker 1: for twenty nine yards. He averaged four point one yards
22:11
Speaker 1: per carry, with his long being eleven. It was so
22:15
Speaker 1: frustrating that we saw the Carolina Panthers offense converting, whether
22:20
Speaker 1: it was on third down, whether it was even a
22:23
Speaker 1: first down situation, they're getting another first down because of
22:28
Speaker 1: the secondary at times. But then again, I loved how
22:32
Speaker 1: Sleigh was playing in this game. I loved the majority
22:36
Speaker 1: of how, oh my gosh, we had Cooper Degen, of
22:40
Speaker 1: course was playing. You get a few mishaps. We saw
22:43
Speaker 1: Cooper Degen being human in this game. But Quinnon Mitchell
22:47
Speaker 1: a shut down corner still to this day. And Tristan McCollum.
22:51
Speaker 1: You know, look, he didn't have the greatest game in
22:53
Speaker 1: the world. He did make some places here and there.
22:55
Speaker 1: So I'm gonna give the secondary this week a B
22:58
Speaker 1: plus and that's and that's what that one in interception
23:00
Speaker 1: two from CJ. Gardner Johnson, So a little bit of
23:04
Speaker 1: a rougher rougher day, I think for the secondary against
23:07
Speaker 1: a Carolina Panthers team, which you know is three to
23:10
Speaker 1: ten on the season. Now, so let's move to the
23:14
Speaker 1: coaching here and let's get into special teams first and foremost.
23:17
Speaker 1: We gotta have a conversation, folks. You know what's coming.
23:20
Speaker 1: We gotta have a conversation about the kicker. Jake Elliot. Wow,
23:25
Speaker 1: Jake Elliott. It's just not really having that great of
23:28
Speaker 1: a season here. Last year from fifty plus yards he
23:33
Speaker 1: was seven of eight. Had a pretty good year, right,
23:36
Speaker 1: Jake Elliot last year was a solid, solid kicker in
23:40
Speaker 1: this league, solid special teams player. You fast forward to
23:43
Speaker 1: this year, he has missed all five fifty plus yard
23:47
Speaker 1: field goals here in this twenty twenty four twenty twenty
23:50
Speaker 1: five season, including a fifty two yarder in this game,
23:55
Speaker 1: zero to five folks in the NFL. That can happen.
23:58
Speaker 1: There are offenses that get them in a situation like
24:01
Speaker 1: the Eagles certainly have from time to time this year,
24:04
Speaker 1: where you want your kicker to be able to kick
24:06
Speaker 1: from fifty plus yards. Jake Elliott has not been able
24:09
Speaker 1: to get this done. What has happened with his accuracy?
24:14
Speaker 1: What has happened with him kicking long field goals? That
24:18
Speaker 1: needs to be the question to be answered. I mean,
24:20
Speaker 1: coming in this game, we knew, and I knew he
24:23
Speaker 1: was zero to four and if he had missed another
24:25
Speaker 1: fifty plus yard er I was going to get into
24:27
Speaker 1: it on our postgame show, hence this discussion. He then
24:31
Speaker 1: misses an extra point that was actually negated from a
24:34
Speaker 1: Carolina Panthers penalty. Then at the end of the game,
24:38
Speaker 1: the Eagles are deciding whether or not whether or not
24:43
Speaker 1: to trust your kicker to put the game away, or
24:46
Speaker 1: you take a delay of game penalty and allow your punter,
24:49
Speaker 1: your star punter who was just recognized for his abilities
24:53
Speaker 1: this past week, to help you out instead, So the
24:57
Speaker 1: Eagles decided to punt it instead out of trusting Jake Elliott,
25:02
Speaker 1: and now folks, we have to start thinking about whether
25:05
Speaker 1: or not Jake Elliott is the kicker of the future
25:06
Speaker 1: on this team. Why because you take a look at
25:09
Speaker 1: his stats this year. His field goal percentage is seventy
25:13
Speaker 1: eight point three, thirty third in the NFL. His extra
25:19
Speaker 1: point percentage ninety seven percent that's twenty eighth in the NFL.
25:23
Speaker 1: Is long on the season is forty nine. He's almost
25:26
Speaker 1: kicking fifty yarders, but not there yet, thirty fifth in
25:30
Speaker 1: the league. Jake Elliott is not having a good season.
25:34
Speaker 1: It's an under underrated storyline that we really haven't been
25:37
Speaker 1: talking about a lot when it comes to his play
25:40
Speaker 1: on the field and in this particular game, when you
25:45
Speaker 1: cannot trust your kicker to put the game away and
25:47
Speaker 1: you would rather punt the ball instead. There is a
25:50
Speaker 1: huge storyline there, and there is a lot to be
25:53
Speaker 1: said about the type of kicker that Jake Elliott is becoming.
25:57
Speaker 1: It's just something that's just something we need to put
25:59
Speaker 1: out there. Maybe he can write the ship. I hope
26:02
Speaker 1: he can, but this has not been a good year
26:05
Speaker 1: for him. I hope he's able to write the ship.
26:08
Speaker 1: I talked about Braden Man having to use your punter
26:11
Speaker 1: at the end of the game. Wow, he and Avante Maddox,
26:14
Speaker 1: Avante Maddox making a fantastic special teams play by doubting
26:19
Speaker 1: it at the two yard line, and then it puts
26:21
Speaker 1: so much pressure on that Panther's offense to get themselves
26:25
Speaker 1: down the field, which they were in the process of doing.
26:29
Speaker 1: And they were doing not too bad of a job
26:31
Speaker 1: against this Eagles defense, number one defense in the NFL.
26:34
Speaker 1: But at the end of the day, again Darius Slay
26:36
Speaker 1: comes up big time with that pass defended against Adam Thielen.
26:43
Speaker 1: But anyway, I'm gonna be giving special teams this week
26:45
Speaker 1: because of Jake Elliott. I'm gonna be giving them a D.
26:48
Speaker 1: I'm gonna give them a straight up D. We're at
26:51
Speaker 1: that inflection point right now where you can't trust your
26:54
Speaker 1: kicker to put the game away. It's a serious, serious
26:56
Speaker 1: issue for special teams. They're getting a D this week.
27:00
Speaker 1: From a defensive perspective, again, you have got you've got
27:04
Speaker 1: a defense that Vic Fangio is running here where Carolina
27:08
Speaker 1: Panthers are only scoring sixteen points and I know you're saying, well,
27:12
Speaker 1: maybe they shouldn't have only maybe they should have only
27:14
Speaker 1: scored six points. Yeah, if you said that, I would
27:16
Speaker 1: agree with you as well. Wasn't the greatest day from
27:19
Speaker 1: this Eagles defense, But again, holding them to sixteen points
27:23
Speaker 1: in their house at the Link, They're a professional football team, folks.
27:29
Speaker 1: Got to hand it to the defense. I'm giving the
27:31
Speaker 1: defense this week a B minus, given Vic Fangio a
27:34
Speaker 1: B minus as well. Uh, moving over to Nick Sirianni
27:38
Speaker 1: and Kellen Moore. Look, I was hard on Jaalen Hurts
27:41
Speaker 1: earlier and rightfully so it's okay to be hard on
27:45
Speaker 1: your players when they're not performing at a certain level
27:49
Speaker 1: of where we expect them to be playing. But really,
27:52
Speaker 1: there was certain play calls in this game as well
27:54
Speaker 1: that were just mind boggling at times, just mind boggling.
27:58
Speaker 1: Whether it's in the first court, I mean this, gosh,
28:01
Speaker 1: this team consistently slow to the start because they just
28:05
Speaker 1: can't get into a rhythm. And that is offensive coaching,
28:08
Speaker 1: my friends. It is we cannot seem to get out
28:12
Speaker 1: of our way when it comes to the first quarter.
28:15
Speaker 1: It's like they it's like, I don't know if they're
28:17
Speaker 1: so pumped up they need to just settle down by
28:19
Speaker 1: the second quarter or what it is. But It's a
28:22
Speaker 1: reflection of this offense and in the offensive coaching in
28:25
Speaker 1: my mind. So I'm gonna be giving Nick Sirianni and
28:28
Speaker 1: Kellen Moore this week. I'm gonna be giving them a
28:31
Speaker 1: B minus in this game. Could be a C plus actually,
28:34
Speaker 1: But I'd love to hear from you. I'd love to
28:35
Speaker 1: know what you think about this particular game as where
28:39
Speaker 1: closing up this particular postgame show, it's nine wins in
28:44
Speaker 1: a row, It's fantastic, but boy, this was. This is
28:48
Speaker 1: one of those Eagles games that we've seen time and
28:50
Speaker 1: time again. As I mentioned right at the top, We've
28:53
Speaker 1: seen it time and time again where it comes down
28:56
Speaker 1: to a last second type of play from either team
29:00
Speaker 1: to seal the game. And the Eagles certainly and Darius
29:03
Speaker 1: Slay certainly sealed this game. So we looked to Week
29:08
Speaker 1: fifteen the Pittsburgh Steelers. This is going to be an
29:11
Speaker 1: interesting game. As we know, the Pittsburgh Steelers have been
29:13
Speaker 1: a very prolific team, and I'm a little worried. I'll
29:19
Speaker 1: say that right now. I'm a little worried against the
29:20
Speaker 1: Steelers team and what they have been able to do
29:24
Speaker 1: this season. We've got a great, great Opposition Territory podcast
29:28
Speaker 1: and preview show coming up this week. We've got a
29:31
Speaker 1: great guest. I can't wait to get into this upcoming
29:34
Speaker 1: week fifteen game with him, Dave Schofield over at SB
29:38
Speaker 1: Nation doing a lot of Pittsburgh Steelers writing on the
29:41
Speaker 1: interwebs out there. We're gonna have a great discussion that's
29:44
Speaker 1: gonna be a dropping this week. But really it's gonna
29:47
Speaker 1: be interesting. Can the Eagles win ten games in a row?
29:51
Speaker 1: Not too many NFL teams are able to do nine
29:53
Speaker 1: quite frankly, so that's gonna do it for us here Again,
29:57
Speaker 1: we'd love to hear from you, Philadelphia Sports Table at
29:59
Speaker 1: gmail dot com. I know what you're thinking about this
30:00
Speaker 1: Eagles team as we are heading into the latter part
30:03
Speaker 1: of the season. Make sure you're following us on the
30:05
Speaker 1: interwebs out there. Just search out Philadelphia Sports Table online
30:08
Speaker 1: and follow us on the Twitter, slash x Instagram. You
30:11
Speaker 1: can always head on over to our website, Philadelphia Sports
30:15
Speaker 1: Table dot com. Got all of our podcast shows over there,
30:18
Speaker 1: all right, folks. Again, Eagles are eleven and two on
30:22
Speaker 1: this season. I can't believe it. Beating the Carolina Panthers
30:25
Speaker 1: by a score of twenty two to sixteen here in
30:27
Speaker 1: Week fourteen. Take care, everybody. We will catch you next time.