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

• 0:23
  Speaker 1: Welcome to opposition territory here at the Philadelphia Sports Table
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: podcast show, the longest running weekly Philly sports podcast show
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: in the world, that's right over eleven and a half
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: years strong.
• 0:33
  Speaker 2: And we got some analysis coming your way.
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: We've got some talk coming your way with regard to
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: this upcoming matchup between the Philadelphia Eagles and the Cleveland
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: Browns this Sunday at one o'clock PM Eastern Time, and
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: it's a game that the Philadelphia Eagles definitely need to win.
• 0:50
  Speaker 2: I am Jeff Warren, my guest for this week.
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: Unfortunately, was unable to join us at the last minute,
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: so folks, you just have me talking into your ear
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: during this preview podcast. So let's start off with what
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: is going to be happening, what we are likely going
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: to be seeing this coming Sunday. The Philadelphia Eagles, they're
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: returning from a bye week and again they're hosting the
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: Cleveland Browns this Sunday, one o'clock.
• 1:16
  Speaker 2: It's gonna be broadcast on Fox.
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: And this is a team that the bye week really
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: came at the right time for the Eagles, after a
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: very grueling travel schedule. Quite frankly, they went to Brazil.
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: They were in New Orleans down in Tampa Bay during
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: the first four games of the season, and as we know,
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: this team has dealt with a number of injuries on
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: the offensive side of the ball. AJ Brown had a
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: hamstring injury, Davonte Smith and Lane Johnson both with concussions.
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: This bye week in week five gave them time to
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: heal up. Also gave this team some extra time to
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: reflect on this season where they're currently standing at two
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: and two. There are some issues on the offensive side
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: of the ball. There are issues on the defensive side
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: of the ball, we know this for sure. But in
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: terms of the offense, getting Aj Brown back, getting Devonte
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: Smith back, and of course Lane Johnson, this team wins
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: when Lane Johnson is on that offensive line. This is
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: good news for this Eagles team. And going up against
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: the Cleveland Browns team that is one in four not
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: very good. They have major quarterback problems. You know, it
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: does amaze me sometimes, Yes, Jalen Hurts has not been
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: a perfect quarterback under center. However, Deshaun Watson has been
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: absolutely atrocious for the Cleveland Browns and we're certainly going
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: to be getting into him. We're going to be getting
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: into the Eagles defense as well on this preview show.
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: But really I want to start with what the keys
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: to the victory are going to be for the Eagles
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: and possibly even for the Browns as well. Of Course,
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: I mentioned the guys coming back from injury, but I
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: think it's also important to realize that this defense needs
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: to play how it did against the Saints. Yes, we're
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: gonna get into that in a little bit more detail.
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: That's a key to victory. It's also a key to
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: victory that Jalen Hurts does not turn the ball over.
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: We know the stats. He has been a turnover machine
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: over the course of the past two years. Twenty seven
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: total turnovers by Jalen Hurts so far. It can't continue
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: to happen. Look, he knows it can't continue to happen.
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: He is a guy who wakes up every day wanting
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: to play this game. And yes, I know I sound
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: like a Jalen Hurt's apologist right now, not only wanting
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: to play this game, but wanting to get better under center,
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: wanting to make his teammates around him better. I don't
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: know what's going on with the coaching situation, as we
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: have talked about on this podcast platform, as a number
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: of other reporters and other podcasts have talked about as well.
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: There is something going on behind the scenes that isn't good,
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: that is specifically hindering this offense, and I think it's
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: relationship based. We've talked about how important relationships are on
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: this show a number of times because of you don't
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: have solid relationships between coaches and players, then you are
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: not going to be able to produce on the field,
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: on the court, on the ice, whatever the case is.
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: Jalen Hurts needs to make sure that he is in
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: a good frame of mind where he's able to get
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: out on the field, complete passes, see the field as
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: well going through his progressions. It needs to happen. We're
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: seeing time and time again where he's not completely going
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: through his progressions. If he does, that is a key
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: to an Eagle's victory this coming Sunday. Now, look the
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: Cleveland Browns, as I mentioned, they're one to four. They're
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: having a terrible season because they have an atrocious an
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: atrocious offense defense, not that bad, I mean the Browns
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: are a mess offensively. They got embarrassed by the Washington
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: Commanders thirty four to thirteen. Deshaun Watson was sacked seven times,
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  Speaker 1: and it's while it's possible that Nick Chubb could potentially
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: return this week after missing a full year with a
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: major knee injury, that could certainly help the Browns offense
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: in terms of a potential victory for them. Look, the
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: Browns had the number one defense in the NFL last season,
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: but they're not playing this way this season. They're not
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: playing up to the standards that their defensive staff has
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: had for them. But look, let's take a closer look
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: at what Deshaun Watson has done or I should say,
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  Speaker 1: haven't done. And it wouldn't be a big surprise to
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: most NFL fans that follow this game and these teams
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: closely if Deshaun Watson was actually benched after this week,
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: if they do end up losing to the Philadelphia Eagles.
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: I mean, he is the worst starting quarterback in the
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: NFL by a mile. I mean, you can go back
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: to last week's game against Washington Commanders. With only seventeen
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: seconds left in the half, the Browns, they had a
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: third and one near midfield. They're trailing the Commanders twenty
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: four to three, no timeouts left, but enough time to
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: get into field goal range for their field goal kicker.
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  Speaker 1: So the Browns dial a dagger, a tried and true
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: NFL passing concept that is a receiver that runs a
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: clear out route followed by a dig route attacking the
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: middle of the field. Most times the dig is open
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  Speaker 1: and then Cleveland can hit that dig route, spike it
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  Speaker 1: and try to get some points on the board. This
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: play was actually run very well by everyone except for
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: Deshaun Watson completely missed an open receiver in the middle
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: of the field, completely missed him. Quite frankly, it's a
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: microcosm of what the Browns offense with Watson at the helm,
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: has been the worst offense in the NFL with a
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: thirty four point one percent success rate, and that puts
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: them dead last in the NFL, and quite frankly, they
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: could be one of the worst offenses in the NFL
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: since the year two thousand. After a miraculous season last
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: year where the Browns got to the playoffs with Joe Flacco,
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: they have absolutely been face planting to start this season
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: with the ssh on Watson and against the defense. Like
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: I mentioned before, they're not the number one defense from
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: last year, but right at this point in time, their
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: defense is fairly good thirteenth in the NFL in EPA.
• 7:12
  Speaker 2: Per play allowed.
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: However, with this offense completely falling off a cliff, the
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: Philadelphia Eagles, if they can get some edge rushing, if
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: they can disturb Deshaun Watson, they have a fantastic chance
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  Speaker 1: of winning this game.
• 7:27
  Speaker 2: It really is.
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: Incredible that the Eagles defense has not gotten to a
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: point where we had hoped. On paper, this defense has
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: looked pretty good before the start of the season. They
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: did look good before the start of the season, but
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: now we have the release of Devin White, who we
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: all hoped was going to be a major contributor on
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: this defense. Obviously that didn't pan out a free agency bust.
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: And then we have Avonte Maddocks, who basically had one
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: decent game against the Saints this year, but he has
• 7:55
  Speaker 1: been horrendous and we now are getting words that Cooper
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: degene is expected to start over Avonte Maddox this Eagles defense.
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: And I and I think it's important to note that
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: while the defense has been inconsistent at best through four
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: games this season, and with the team coming off their
• 8:16
  Speaker 1: bye week, some changes absolutely do need to be made.
• 8:20
  Speaker 1: And one of those changes that need to be made
• 8:23
  Speaker 1: is the slot corner position. So, as we know, defensive
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: back Cooper dejen was injured ahead of training camp, and
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: he took advantage of the you know what they would
• 8:34
  Speaker 1: call the mental reps in the meeting time. Uh, but
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: vic Fangio admitted he wanted he wanted to take a
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: little bit of time for Cooper Dejene to catch up,
• 8:45
  Speaker 1: and since that time he has slowly been incorporated on
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: game days the past few weeks, taken over punt return
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  Speaker 1: duties with Britain Covey signed lined and uh, he's taken
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: a few defensive snaps. But really throughout this bye week,
• 8:59
  Speaker 1: for me, the question about the Eagles defense that really
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: kept popping into my brain, especially if you go back
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: and you watch some of those plays where the Eagles
• 9:08
  Speaker 1: were absolutely laying an egg against the Buccaneers, was how
• 9:13
  Speaker 1: the defense could look good one week in shutting down
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  Speaker 1: the previous high flying New Orleans Saints team who may
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: turn out to be a fraud, and it looks like
• 9:24
  Speaker 1: that could potentially be it. But how one week later
• 9:28
  Speaker 1: after that, after playing so well against the Saints, it
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: looks like they never played a snap together when they
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: were in Tampa Bay, playing the Buccaneers. So there are
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: some issues with this, you know, whether it is the
• 9:41
  Speaker 1: soft coverage.
• 9:42
  Speaker 2: You know, the.
• 9:42
  Speaker 1: Eagles cornerback played eight to ten yards off the line
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: of scrimmage, allowing some real easy pitching catches on the Bucks,
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: specifically the first two possessions that led to easy touchdowns.
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  Speaker 1: And eventually, yes, they did make adjustments made things a
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: little bit more difficult for the Buccaneers. But the Buccaneers
• 10:01
  Speaker 1: just scored nine points in the second half. The damage
• 10:05
  Speaker 1: had already been done there. But one of the issues
• 10:08
  Speaker 1: that I really want to see and I hope they
• 10:10
  Speaker 1: were able to really improve on, and it's one of
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: the basics of the game of football, specifically on the
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: defensive side of the ball, folks, and that is tackling.
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: Gonna play a clip from Vic Fangio and his answer
• 10:24
  Speaker 1: to a reporter's question after the loss at the Buccaneers
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  Speaker 1: just about the mistackles.
• 10:30
  Speaker 2: Let's play that, now, what was the issue with a
• 10:32
  Speaker 2: tackling for the lack the row?
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, like they're a lot of times we left our
• 10:40
  Speaker 3: feet too early. Sometimes we didn't wrap up well enough.
• 10:46
  Speaker 3: You know, we missed fifteen tackles by our count, and
• 10:50
  Speaker 3: that's way too.
• 10:51
  Speaker 2: Many tackling way, you know, practice tackling.
• 10:56
  Speaker 3: Yeah, you emphasize it through film study, through practiced rules
• 11:01
  Speaker 3: and better technique. If that, if it's a better tackling, gay,
• 11:07
  Speaker 3: does that come put that coverage problem or you still
• 11:10
  Speaker 3: think it was too in other words, that they tackled better. Yeah,
• 11:13
  Speaker 3: I follow you. The answer is yes to a degree.
• 11:18
  Speaker 3: You know, a lot of their bigger plague bigger gains
• 11:22
  Speaker 3: came after miss tackles, so that would have had a
• 11:25
  Speaker 3: major plus four US if we could have tackled better.
• 11:29
  Speaker 1: The team has to tackle better. This Eagles defense needs
• 11:32
  Speaker 1: to tackle better in order for them to stop opposing offenses.
• 11:36
  Speaker 1: I know it's like the most standard general phrase to
• 11:39
  Speaker 1: use in the game of football, the most common sense
• 11:42
  Speaker 1: phrase to use, but it's true. It's an issue for
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: this team. They're not getting down to the fundamentals or
• 11:49
  Speaker 1: they're letting the fundamentals escape them week after weekend. We
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: especially saw it against the Buccaneers. They're really going to
• 11:56
  Speaker 1: need to hunker down and make sure that they're making
• 11:59
  Speaker 1: tackles against this Browns team. Now, look in terms of
• 12:02
  Speaker 1: this Eagles defense from an overall picture, you know, Nick Sirianni.
• 12:07
  Speaker 1: He arrives in twenty twenty one, and since then, the
• 12:11
  Speaker 1: ownership and Howie Roseman, they have had this desire to
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: play a Fangio style defense. Jonathan Ganton did it, Sean
• 12:20
  Speaker 1: decided it, Matt Patricia and now they have the real
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: thing with Vic Fangio himself, and they also have the
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: same results as well. The team that just struggles to
• 12:31
  Speaker 1: get to quarterbacks time and time again because a lot
• 12:34
  Speaker 1: of quarterbacks are releasing the ball extremely quickly against this
• 12:38
  Speaker 1: defense and defensive backs on the Eagles that allow seven
• 12:41
  Speaker 1: yard cushions and far too many easy completions. This defensive
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: style works really good, as we know when the offense
• 12:48
  Speaker 1: is doing its job and scoring points early, just like
• 12:52
  Speaker 1: the twenty twenty two season, but when the offense struggles
• 12:56
  Speaker 1: early in games, this defense can rarely lift the team
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: up like it did in New Orleans. This is a
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: team that has not scored a point in the first
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: quarter during the first four weeks of the season, the
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: only NFL team not to have done that, and there's
• 13:11
  Speaker 1: something to be said for that. Again, going back to
• 13:15
  Speaker 1: Jalen Hurts, going back to again the injuries that we
• 13:17
  Speaker 1: have seen on this team getting those guys back is
• 13:21
  Speaker 1: certainly going to help in this regard. But if we're
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: being honest, you know, it seemed to be you know,
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: when we look at the New Orleans game, it seemed
• 13:29
  Speaker 1: to be kind of a bad game plan from them
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: more than it did to be an elite strategy from
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: this Eagles defense. And I think, you know, Vic Fangio
• 13:40
  Speaker 1: has said, you know, time and time again about the
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: corners and us talking about that seven yard cushion. The
• 13:47
  Speaker 1: corners have the ability to press on almost all of
• 13:50
  Speaker 1: our calls. So I read that, I look at that,
• 13:54
  Speaker 1: and I say, perhaps the coaches really need to emphasize
• 13:57
  Speaker 1: and coach a defense that instills this into their game
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: plan week after week after week, then actually relying on
• 14:05
  Speaker 1: the players to decide because it has not necessarily been
• 14:09
  Speaker 1: working at this point. And again we are seeing week
• 14:13
  Speaker 1: after week a lack of the pass rush. Look. Individual
• 14:16
  Speaker 1: and team sacks are. They're fun stats at the end
• 14:20
  Speaker 1: of the day, they are, but they should not be.
• 14:24
  Speaker 2: A barometer for what a.
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: Defensive success rate is against a quarterback. And we're gonna
• 14:29
  Speaker 1: we're gonna see this, I think play out this week
• 14:31
  Speaker 1: against the Cleveland Browns. I mean, disrupting pass lanes, not
• 14:34
  Speaker 1: allowing easy third down conversions, pressuring the quarterback into errant throws,
• 14:39
  Speaker 1: challenging receivers at the line, and really putting stress on
• 14:42
  Speaker 1: the opposing offense. Those are some things that are lacking
• 14:46
  Speaker 1: with this Eagles defense here, and this should be the focus.
• 14:50
  Speaker 1: This should be the focus of getting it right. And
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: if they do get it right, the Eagles will have
• 14:56
  Speaker 1: success against this Cleveland Browns team, against Cleveland brown offensive
• 15:00
  Speaker 1: line that really isn't all that great. And again Deshaun Watson,
• 15:04
  Speaker 1: who we talked about earlier, who is the worst quarterback
• 15:08
  Speaker 1: in the NFL. So I have high hopes that the
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: Philadelphia Eagles are gonna come out victorious in this game.
• 15:15
  Speaker 1: We're gonna have to wait and see, and we're certainly
• 15:17
  Speaker 1: gonna be talking about this game in more detail on
• 15:20
  Speaker 1: our regular show that's going to be uploaded this coming
• 15:23
  Speaker 1: Thursday morning. We're gonna talk Eagles, We're gonna be getting
• 15:26
  Speaker 1: into the Sixers preseason. We're also gonna talk about the
• 15:30
  Speaker 1: Philadelphia Phillies. We're gonna be getting into some other fun
• 15:33
  Speaker 1: stuff too. As the Philadelphia Flyers season is starting. Yes,
• 15:38
  Speaker 1: our Flyer season preview is coming. We got a great
• 15:40
  Speaker 1: guest this week. It's gonna be joining us to talk
• 15:43
  Speaker 1: about what this upcoming Flyer season is gonna be about.
• 15:45
  Speaker 1: But we will continue talking about this Philadelphia Eagles team
• 15:49
  Speaker 1: well into the future again as they are two and
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: two as of us recording this, and it's gonna be
• 15:56
  Speaker 1: an interesting season, folks. So if you are on the
• 15:59
  Speaker 1: social media's out there, follow us on Instagram, search us
• 16:03
  Speaker 1: out there. You can like our Facebook page too. Just
• 16:05
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• 16:09
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• 16:10
  Speaker 1: great stuff, interact with us. We'd also love to hear
• 16:13
  Speaker 1: from you as well. Shoot us off an email Philadelphia
• 16:15
  Speaker 1: Sports Table at gmail dot com and we'd love to
• 16:17
  Speaker 1: read your email on our regular show and respond to it.
• 16:21
  Speaker 1: So it's gonna do it for our Opposition Territory show
• 16:24
  Speaker 1: this week, folks.
• 16:25
  Speaker 2: Take Karen. We will catch you next time.