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Analysis Of The NFC East Division (PST Episode 525) · The Philadelphia Sports Table | Philly Sports News & Views

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Hey, everybody, it's Jeff. We wanted to let you know that we've
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recorded this podcast episode on Wednesday, August second, twenty twenty three. By
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the time you hear this, things may have changed, but we hope you
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enjoy the show. All right, everybody, you're listening to the Philadelphia Sports
0:38
Table podcast show, the longest running weekly Philly sports podcast show in the world,
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ten years strong. It's great to be in your ears as the football
0:47
season is almost upon us. The Philadelphia Phillies tonight as we are recording this,
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just dropped a terrible game to the Miami Marlins. Of course, the
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Marlins and Trey Turner just absolutely stinking it up. We're certainly gonna be talking
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about him on this podcast show, talking about the Phillies. We're gonna be
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talking about the Philadelphia Union, I'm gonna be talking about the college football season,
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Eagles and NFC East. I am Jeff Warren and I'm here about good
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buddy Len Hunt Sicker. Len Man, It's good to talk to you,
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and congratulations to finally embarking on the path of homeownership, my friend. Yeah,
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we're talking about a little bit before we start recording, and we'll see
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how it goes. But but yeah, so we're we're in. We're not
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quite completely unpacked yet, but you know, it's kind of been a slow
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roll out there. So I'm I worked the past four days and now I'm
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I'm on vacation for the next twelve. So I'm hoping by the end of
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that, like you know, that'll give me some time to get some stuff
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done. We like are are. We ordered new bedroom furniture and that's coming
1:51
tomorrow, so we won't be sleeping on a mattress on the floor anymore.
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We'll actually have, you know, a new bed. Exciting, exciting.
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I'm very I'm very excited for that. In our mid forties here, Everyboddy,
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we're excited for mattresses and drapery. Oh yeah, just near death closer
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and closer day by day. We got a great show again for you folks.
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And like I said, we're gonna be getting into some Phillies talk.
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We're certainly going to be getting into some Philadelphia Union talk as well. We
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got lenon, so we're gonna be able to talk intelligently about the Philadelphia Union.
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And as I also mentioned too at the top, were gonna talk about
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the college football season a little bit what we're excited for, which Eagles unit
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or are we gonna be keeping an eye on during training camp, perhaps because
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we're excited about it or what we're concerned about. And then this week,
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well we're thrown down on the table. We've got Matt hollerin from eSPI Nations
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blogging the Boys. He's gonna be jumping on to talk about the dynamics within
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this NFC East Division as the Eagles look to remain champs at the end of
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this year, and we're gonna be taking a look at the three other teams
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as well and dive into them see if any of them could potentially dethrone the
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Philadelphia Eagles. It is doubtful, but got a great conversation with Matt hollerand
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coming your way, len I did want to start off first and foremost by
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talking about really quick. There's a nonprofit that that we love to support and
3:23
have over the years they've been supportive of us as well, and that's the
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Redding Hot Stovers. They give out baseball scholarships and softball scholarships to high school
3:30
students, especially during their banquet that usually takes place. I believe it's February
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January February when they're banquet somewhere there. Yeah, yeah, and they have
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a golf tournament coming up. And I would highly recommend if you were in
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the Berks County area or even in some of the surrounding counties listening to us,
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that you go to their website reading hot stovers baseball dot com. It's
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the eleventh Annual Memorial Golf Tournament that they are sorry, the Burtmore Memorial Golf
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Tournament that they are doing this September sixteenth. Here you can still not only
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sign up to be included within this particular golf tournament, but you can actually
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play with Mickey Morandini, Yes, former Philadelphia Philly. They're gonna be picking
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an entry at random to play with Mickey Morandini, and the winning entry is
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gonna have Mick and Morandini play with their threesome at a cost of four hundred
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and fifty dollars. So all you need to do is send an email to
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Redding hot Stovers at gmail dot com by August six And I know when you're
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listening to this maybe a little close to that date, but again, just
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send an email to Redding hot Stovers at gmail dot com. By August six
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for your chants, and they're gonna randomly pick an email out and you can
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possibly play with Mickey Morandini. And again, we just want to support the
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Redding Hot Stovers. They've been so good to us over the years. And
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Len, I don't know if you're gonna be at the golf tournament. I'm
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not unfortunately, But wait, I don't think you golf, right, buddy,
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I don't even known golf clubs. Yeah, although I will say this,
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I'm on record with how I feel about golf charity. Yes, is
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the only is the only good reason for golf tournaments, So I will I
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will sign off on this one because it's for a good cause. There you
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go, all right, sounds good. Unfortunately, I'm not actually going to
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be participating this year. Of course, Philadelphia Sports Table is going to have
5:25
a whole sponsorship there for My daughter and I are actually gonna be going to
5:29
a metal festival up in Scranton together throughout the throughout the course of the day
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and into the evening, so we are not going to be able to go.
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I'm not going to be able to go to the golf tourns. First
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time. I'm missing it any probably like I feel like it's like ten years
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I've been going to it. Probably not, but I been going to it
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for a while. So anyway, folks head on over to Redding hot Stover's
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baseball dot com check out the golf tournament there. So, Lennon, let's
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get into some Phillies talk here man trade deadline acquisitions, and then we're going
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to be getting into some listener feed back from one of our listeners. Lou
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sent an interesting email to us. We're certainly going to get into it about
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Trey Turner starting pitching as well, but the trade deadline for me, Len
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not just from a Phillies standpoint, but I was really hoping, and I
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think I put it out on Twitter that somehow the Phillies were going to be
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able to get Taoscar Hernandez from Seattle. But I think what was really interesting
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about this trade deadline is, I mean, Seattle they never dealt Hernandez.
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But you take a look at some of the other teams, not just within
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the NL, but just Major League Baseball in general, teams that didn't trade
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talent away that we thought we're gonna be, you know, out the door,
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and other teams Saint Louis. They never traded any of their young outfielders.
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Harrison Bader, he remained with the Yankees as far as I know.
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So like at this point, just how this all kind of reflects what the
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Phillies have done. The Phillies have basically opted in, and Dave Dombrowski essentially
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said so Johanna Rojas and even in Pasche, you know who might return in
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a few weeks, you know there in terms of outfield talent, they're banking
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on these two guys basically, And it seemed like the pitching, of course,
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may have been a priority over having some power at the plate. And
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I thought that was very interesting in terms of what Dave Dombrowski was able to
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do or maybe just wasn't what he wasn't able to do, and perhaps what
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a lot of other teams weren't able to do. Again, like I said,
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I was really surprised at Saint Louis never traded any of its young outfielder.
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I thought, I thought we might have gotten one from there, perhaps,
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but I don't know. I thought it was really interesting how there wasn't
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as much movement as I thought there was going to be throughout Major League baseball.
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Yeah, I mean, I I'm surprised the Phillies were able to get
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a pitcher. I remember looking at an article and it was like, Okay,
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this is what we think each team should go should do at the trade
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deadline, what they should try to trade for or what they should just try
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to do. And basically, any anybody that was a buyer, the article
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said these this team should get starting pitching. And yeah, there's a finite
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amount of starters on the market and not every not every contender can get starting
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pitching. So I wondered if there was going to be a game of musical
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chairs where the Phillies found themselves without a chair. But they did getting Michael
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Lorenz in for prospect how you lee? Um? So, Yeah, I
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mean I liked the deal. I wish they could have done more. I
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wish they could have gotten a you know, another corner outfield or to provide
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a spark that lineup. But to me, the thing is none that shouldn't
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matter. I mean, you've got a lineup with Trey Turner, Bryce Harper,
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Nick castianos Kysh Warber, j t Romuto. We're not actually getting into
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the two best guys in the lineup this year stot And and Bom. We're
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talking about the five Stars, so this lineup should be plenty good if these
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guys are are you know, playing up the capacity and they haven't been.
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I mean, Turner, we're going to get into This year has been an
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abomination. You know, Schwarber is still hitting one eighty something, Castianos had
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a good first half and now is seeming to be, you know, struggling
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since the All Star Game. Yea, Harper, you know, has been
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hitting well, but where is the power? And then real Mudo hasn't had
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a good year. So I mean, yeah, okay, another bat would
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have been nice, but if this team actually played to its capabilities, that
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shouldn't have even been something you needed to have in the first place. Yeah.
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Absolutely, look an extra bat, yeah absolutely. Look. They did
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get a bench bat in Rodolfo Castro, and I think he will end up
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helping to a certain extent. Len But again, Dave Dombrowski basically is said
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in so many words, you know, he's leaving it up to the superstars
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and the youngster is currently on the roster to perform and to make you know
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good on one of the four highest payrolls. In baseball. That's essentially what
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he has said here. And he has confidence as a and I'm not sure
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how much confidence I have. Because it's interesting because and maybe we should get
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into the listener feedback that we had this week from from Lou here, Um,
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Lou callingder I messed up his name, of course I did. Lou.
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I'm sorry I messed up your name because I freaking mess up everything for
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God's sake. I mean, I don't know, I don't know, you
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know how it's pronounced. So apologies name genuinely. When there's one, I'm
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not When there's one, I'm not sure on um. Usually it's because we're
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talking about an athlete and I just go and look at look at YouTube first
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so I can hear clips of them and hear how the name is pronounced.
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I can't do that with with with Lou's last name. Yeah, so apologies
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Lou uh anyway, Lou, Yeah, I mean, we really appreciated getting
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your email, and folks out there at Philadelphia Sports Table at gmail dot com,
10:48
we'd love to read your email like we're gonna do with Lou's here.
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So let me just get into it here, len Lu said, Turner has
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not lived up to expectations, but he has not been absolute garbage. Lou,
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I don't know. After this Mariners game that we just saw here August
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second, I don't know about that, buddy. He is average, is
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still above the Mendoza line. And while Castianos has made the jump we were
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hoping for and everyone thought would make all the difference that expectations was in place
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before Hoskins went down for the season. Should the Phillies as a team be
11:24
doing better, sure, should Turner stop chasing pitches, sure, But considering
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how far Nola and Wheeler had fallen off since last year, we are lucky
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to be in a position to make the playoffs at all. I am as
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worried about our starting pitchers as any other area. And Lou, it's a
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great email because you touched on a lot here first and foremost we're being worried
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about the starting pitching. I think a lot of us were len and I
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think that's why Dave Dombrowski did what he did bringing in Michael Lorenzen, and
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that's why I like it. And if I had to give a grade,
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specifically two that particular acquisition, I would I would give it a B.
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I would give it a straight up Bee, I'm not sure what you would
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give it. But in terms of what Lou was saying in his email,
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definitely concerned about the starting pitching. Now. It seems as though this team,
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you know, they have that they have that sixth spot, you know,
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six man rotation basically, and I think it puts the team from a
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starting pitching perspective in a better position than they were, say, you know,
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three weeks ago. Yeah, I mean if you're looking to you know,
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manage innings and stuff like that and maybe give guys a breather. You
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know, Nola has been you know, up and down, Wheeler has started
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to come on. I think, um, you know in the past couple
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of weeks, as as Taiwan Walker he's been, He's been really good since
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having a rocky start the season. Christopher Sanchez has been great past half starts.
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Um. So you know, you're you're starting to get more and so
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adding a guy like Lorenz into that is only in help matters. Um.
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But again, you know, maybe you want to conservating, so you go
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to a six man rotation and then you you know, you just got to
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figure out who your four are for them, you know, for for a
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playoffs, you know series if you happen to get it in the playoffs.
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But you know, I'm fine with their with their staff right now, as
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long as you know, again, guys pitch up to you know, their
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capability, Nola. It's just like, you know, sometimes he looks great,
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and sometimes it's like, oh man, they better not give an extension
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to this guy because of how much he's gonna ask for and is it worth
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it? You know? But yeah, I mean, so many things have
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not gone to expectation this year, and every time I look, there's still
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basically on the same pace that they were last year in terms of wins and
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losses, in terms of position, you know, for a playoff position,
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they're still they would still be a wild card team season end of today,
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um as of this last loss to to Miami. So you know, it
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just feels like for months now there's been a the sky is falling sentiment about
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the Phillies and then you'll get the standings and like, oh, there's still
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right there. And no if if it's strange year in that were hard,
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that's the thing. And you look, let's reflect here again on Lou's email
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as he's talking about one Trey Turner, who I think his average is like
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two thirty seven at this point, his ops is like six sixty one.
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I mean, I mean, he has been a below average defender this year.
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Obviously, we know he's having the worst season of his career. But
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I don't know, Lou, I gotta disagree. I actually think that he
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really is on that that verge of disaster in terms of his contract. Of
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course, and yes he should he have gotten that contract based on his play
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throughout his career. You know what he did last year as well. Absolutely,
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Phillies gave him a fair deal. But my gosh, the falloff this
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season has it's almost at a disaster point, isn't it Land at this point
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here, Look, this year hasn't been good as far as the fielding goes.
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You know, he was always an offensive shortstop first, I mean,
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fielding was always like, okay, he's an average shortstop. The thing with
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him is he hits, he gets on bass, and he's fast as hell.
15:05
So okay, that's what we thought we were getting. I don't know
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what is happening, you know, in Philadelphia, but basically this is the
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same you know, conversation we had about Nick Castianos last year. Yeah,
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oh my god, we sign this guy for these these years and all this
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money, and he's in the toilet right now. He can't you know,
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he can't get out of his own way. It was Nick Castianos this year,
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he turned it. Last year, he turned it around. This year.
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Um, at least in the first half. I have to assume that
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that's going to be Tredy Turner next year, turning it around, refinding whatever
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happened, because you know, look at this guy's career up until before this
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year. This guy has been, you know, a really good player,
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you know, you know, maybe one of the twenty best players in baseball,
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you know, in the in his career leading up to this year.
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I don't think this guy suddenly forgot about how to play bass, forgot how
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to play baseball. But maybe there's something too, you know, Okay,
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whether it's in Philadelphia in that market, or it's just okay, I signed
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this gigantic contract that I need to live up to it. Maybe that gets
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in certain guy's heads. Maybe it gotten cascianos has head last year. Maybe
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it's in Turner's head this year. I don't know, but I'm holding on
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to what Cassianos has done this year in terms of Turner for next year,
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I can't believe that this guy just forgot how to play baseball. I refuse
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to believe that. I refuse to believe it too. There has to be
16:30
something, seriously when when coming to this particular ballpark or this organization. I
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don't know, something in the water. There's got to be something in the
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water. I don't know. Look, I love Deeric's text to us during
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this game, Tray Turner is pissed with a glove. Yeah, yeah,
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I mean maybe there's something too, you know, Okay, there's Oh,
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the Philly market is tough, which you know, the same goes for It's
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northeast. You know, a ball the same. New York is tough,
17:02
Boston is tough. Yeah, it's it's the northeastern part of the country.
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It's it's that you know, has that thing to it where you know you
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perform or else you hear about it. Maybe that is tough for guys to
17:14
get an adjustment too. And maybe that is part of the case with Turner.
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I don't know. Maybe maybe it's again trying to live up to a
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contract, a huge contract that you sign, and that is getting in somebody's
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head and you just need to mentally take a year to adjust to it.
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I don't know. I hope that's what it is. Yeah, all right,
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well, let us know what you're thinking out there about this Phillies team.
17:33
Like Glenn was saying, I mean, it's bizarre that they're in the
17:36
position that they are in right now. It doesn't necessarily seem like the sky
17:40
is falling when you look at things from an overall perspective, but when you
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drop one like you did to the Marlins right here on this Wednesday evening,
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it's just it's just really rough. We'd love to hear from you Philadelphia Sports
17:51
Table at gmail dot com, like we did with Lucy. Yeah, we'll
17:53
read it here on the show Go Ahead. But I heard it. I
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heard one one thing on Twitter and I can't I can't remember who said it,
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or maybe there's a couple of people that said it. But like kind
18:06
of going looking at these Phillies games with you know, an Eagle schedule mentality,
18:11
where with the Eagle schedule, it's seventeen games, so every game is
18:15
so important and it matters so much, um, whereas the baseball season is
18:19
one hundred and sixty two games and it's not live or die with every game,
18:25
which seems to be what this fan base is doing, where it's just
18:26
like, oh my god, every game and you're you're driving yourself absolutely bonkers
18:32
over the course of one hundred and sixty two games season. I do think
18:34
that there is a little bit of perhaps that that we do here. I
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think that's fair in Philadelphia. Yeah, I think it's definitely a fair,
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you know, thing to consider. Absolutely absolutely all right again, Philadelphia Sports
18:48
Table at gmail dot com. I'd love to read your email here on the
18:51
show and respond to it. Len. Let's move on to a move that
18:55
was made this past week by the Philadelphia Union. Wanted to get into it
19:00
with you. An interesting move that they loaned twenty two year old midfielder Andreas
19:07
Perea two New York City FC for the remainder of the two thousand twenty three
19:11
season, and in return, the Union will receive three hundred thousand dollars in
19:15
general allocation money for the two thousand and twenty four season. I mean,
19:22
Pereya was once capped by the US men's national team and he just joined the
19:27
Union in a trade from Orlando City. This passed offseason, he signed long
19:33
term contract. But as we have seen as he's been out on the field
19:37
Land, he struggled to really actually struggle the fine time on the field,
19:41
as he's only played in eight games with the Union. He just had one
19:45
start, one hundred and forty six league minutes for the Union and he only
19:49
scored once. So despite his departure and him leaving and again going to New
19:56
York, the Union's midfield still is a signific again, I think with its
20:00
depth and uh, it was interesting again how they gave him this contract.
20:07
Yet I think because of the depth, they were able to say, Okay,
20:08
you know what, we actually don't need him and he isn't actually performing
20:11
the way that we thought that it was going to be performing. But I
20:15
also think that that three hundred thousand dollars in GM to the twenty twenty four
20:19
season indicates kind of a forward thinking approach for the team, you know,
20:23
providing them with some resources that could be used to strengthen the team in the
20:27
future. I don't know what were your thoughts. Those were my thoughts when
20:30
I when I read this news. Where were your thoughts with regard to Paraye
20:33
ahead in to New York Yeah. That that to me seems to be what
20:37
this is for the Union, which is basically, okay, right now,
20:41
there's not enough minutes for this guy. Yeah, so if we can you
20:45
know, send him somewhere where he's going to get more minutes and maybe hopefully
20:48
develop a little bit and get some money out of it, um, you
20:52
know, then then great, or we'll do that and we'll put that money
20:56
maybe towards the academy or whatever they're going to do. You know, there's
21:00
no option to buy at the end of this loan, so he's coming back
21:03
to Philadelphia after this year. So it's not like you know, there's any
21:07
kind of great um, you know, risk of losing him long term if
21:12
it's a guy that you want to hold on to. So to me,
21:15
it seems like a it's a deal that makes sense in that, you know,
21:18
Okay, you're you're going to get this guy a little bit more time,
21:21
hopefully elsewhere, and you're gonna get paid for it. That's a win
21:25
win to make. I you know, have no problem with it, you
21:29
know, especially given you know the talent that they have in the midfield right
21:33
now and kind of the way the team is playing right now. It's it's
21:37
not going to do pray any good, you know, setting most games,
21:41
which which is what he's been doing. So yeah, I'm totally fine with
21:44
him. Something I didn't put on the U something I didn't put on the
21:48
agenda lend, was the fact that the Union did announce the signing of a
21:52
striker on the team, Ty Burrebo. I believe is how you say his
21:56
last name. He's is from Israel. They signed him, twenty five year
22:02
old Israeli striker um, adding a much needed forward to their front line just
22:07
ahead of the uh, you know, knockout rounds of the League Cup here.
22:11
So um interesting that they made this signing um. I believe the transfer
22:17
fee, which wasn't disclosed. The Union reportedly spent about one point five million
22:22
on a transfer fee, perhaps something like that there. But head coach Jim
22:26
Curtin said this past or this Wednesday today that he was in the locker room,
22:32
that Buribo was in the locker room meeting his new teammates and said,
22:34
quote, he's a player that we've been monitoring for some time. We were
22:37
fortunate enough to sign him. A lot of European interests came in for tie
22:42
and we were able to beat out some really big clubs. So I guess
22:47
this is a win here for the Union, right, Yeah. I mean,
22:51
I mean if this is a guy that you know, had interest throughout
22:53
the league and you know the teams we're trying to get him. Um yeah,
22:59
I mean, and that's a good thing because normally, I don't know,
23:02
with the Union, it feels like they you know, any anytime there's
23:07
and I'm not saying this guy's on the level of like messy or a big
23:10
name, right, you know, silly to say, but but yeah,
23:14
it feels like, you know, a lot of times those you know,
23:17
guys from overseas, you know, maybe not as often as we would like,
23:19
don't come to Philly. There are some that do. Obviously God's Dog
23:23
is probably you know, best example of that in recent memory. But yeah,
23:27
I mean, so the fact that this is a place where he wanted
23:30
to come and they were able to beat out other teams you know for his
23:34
services. Um, it's a good time. Absolutely. Yeah. Good things
23:37
are happening in MLS for sure, and specifically with the Union. Here,
23:42
Len, we're going to take a quick break here and just a bit um,
23:45
but if you were new to the Philadelphia Sports Table podcast. We'd appreciate
23:48
if you would subscribe on whatever podcast platform you are on. Give us a
23:52
rate and review on Apple Podcasts. That does help out our rankings there,
23:56
and if anything happens to your podcast feed, you can head on over to
24:00
Philadelphia Sports Table dot com. We've got all of our shows over there.
24:03
Follow Len on Twitter at Len Huntsker. You can follow me at Jeffrey Underscore
24:07
Warren and we are uh at Philadelphia PST. Yeah, I did, I
24:11
almost forget that. I'll tell you, man, the Twitter is not the
24:15
Twitter anymore. I don't think Lenn. It's called the X right, yes,
24:18
god, yes, it's It's horrible, man, Like it's everybody.
24:25
We all complain about changes in life, generally at times about things, but
24:29
man, this really sucks. Well. The thing about it is it was
24:33
a it was a wildly popular app that was you know, I don't know
24:38
if it was you know, a moneymaker whatever. Clearly it was for the
24:41
people that sold it to Musk. But it's just like, man, he
24:45
he really just bought this thing and then every wrong move that you could make,
24:51
he's doing it. So I don't understand him. I mean, I
24:55
know that he was, you know, basically born into money. You know
25:00
these people that you know was born on third base and thinks he hit a
25:02
triple. But but yeah, like I don't. I don't see any of
25:07
this genius at all. I don't. I don't know why this person's successful.
25:12
I really don't. I'm tired of looking at the actual X. I
25:15
hate my notifications so they come up to my phone. It's just like X,
25:21
I should just turn him off. I guess should I turn them off?
25:22
I haven't. I haven't gotten any of that stuff. Maybe because I
25:26
haven't up. There's probably a new version of Twitter, there is, um,
25:30
and I just haven't. You know, that's probably because I still have
25:36
the bird um. You know, I still Twitter, you know, So
25:38
maybe I just never Maybe I just never download the new thing. It's always
25:42
gonna be Twitter to me. It's always gonna be Twitter to me, Like
25:47
honestly, yeah, like, I don't know. I'm not gonna all of
25:51
a sudden start calling this exit. It's just not gonna have I wish I
25:53
could quit you. I've been calling this. I've been calling this thing this
26:00
thing for twenty years or however long it's been around. I'm not gonna just
26:06
all of a sudden. Oh okay, sex, yeah exactly. How It's
26:08
Twitter. It's always been Twitter. It's always gonna be Twitter. I'm not
26:11
changing. We're on the Instagram, folks, search us out there, Philadelphia
26:15
Sports Table, and we are going to take quick break to pay some bills.
26:18
We'll be back in just a bit. All right, we're back,
26:22
Len. It is time to get into just say, you know, some
26:25
football talk. Here. We got the football season here, you're looking forward,
26:27
we're looking forward to the the Eagles postgame shows. College football. Right,
26:33
let's get into it. Sure I love football season, you know me.
26:38
You know remember the video that was sent around football? Oh yeah,
26:45
it's great. I can't wait to send that around even more this year.
26:48
Anyway, I know inside jokes, I know inside jokes from people. Um
26:53
look college the college football season. Like every year, I think to myself,
26:56
I'm like, Okay, of course you know I'm Pence say football fan
27:00
or graduated from and of course I'm excited about certain player there. But I
27:04
mean in general, I think for this college football sty I gotta tell you
27:10
one guy, I can't wait to follow an Alabama cornerback and punt returner kool
27:15
Aid mckinstreet name kool Aid, kool Aid man, I cannot every time I
27:22
every time I see or hear you know, I read the word kool Aid
27:27
or I hear it, I think of that Andy Reid YouTube video or busting
27:33
through the old kool Aid commercial from the eighties and Andy Reid bust through with
27:37
the music. It's it's fantastic. So really, this kid, this kid,
27:41
it is going to be interesting to see what he can do and then
27:44
where he eventually does go, if he does go to the NFL. H
27:48
He had thirty five tackles last season, fifteen pass breakups and one interception.
27:52
He finished second nationally at fifteen point nine yards per punt return, so he's
27:59
very prolific in terms of the special teams game. So aside from his name
28:03
kool Aid, I can't wait to see what he is going to be able
28:04
to do on the field, and I think it's gonna be interesting. But
28:08
for me and yes, looking at Penn State Nick Singleton man what he's going
28:14
to do from a rushing standpoint, I am so excited because only two players
28:19
had more carries of thirty and forty plus yards than Singleton last season. Who
28:25
notched nine and seven, respectively in those categories, and among all FBS players
28:30
with ten plus rushing attempts per game, he tied for seventh nationally at six
28:36
point eight yards per carry. And he had all Big Ten honors last year
28:41
this and it was his freshman year. So sophomore year coming up here.
28:45
I can't wait to see what Nick Singleton is gonna do it. Like,
28:48
That's what I'm really as a Penn State fan. That's what I'm really looking
28:51
forward to. But like, is there anything that's on your mind, Len,
28:53
in terms of the college football season, anything specifically Big Ten or SEC.
28:57
You know, what are you thinking about? Are you get excited for
29:00
college football? Yeah? I do. Like this time of year, maybe
29:04
late July, early August, I start getting those first things of I could
29:11
watching football game right now, Like I start getting those first pangs of it
29:17
round this time of year. I haven't done it yet, but I will
29:21
probably, you know, within the next couple of days. Go on like
29:23
ESPN dot com and look at the schedule and see like, Okay, what
29:27
are what are games I wouldn't mind watching for the first week or two of
29:30
the season. What are the big matchups? I'll eventually do that as far
29:34
as Penn State goes. I also, you know, follow them, root
29:37
for them whatever. I'm just excited that for the first time since what feels
29:42
like nineteen ninety seven, Sean Clifford is at the quarterback of this team.
29:48
So you know, they have a kid that everybody's excited about and Drew Aller,
29:55
so let's see what he can do. You know, the line seems,
29:57
you know, U like, it's you know, at least respectable.
30:02
Um you have, is it Fashanu the guy that's projected to be a first
30:06
round pick offensive tackle? And then you got the two running backs you mentioned,
30:10
Singleton also Kate ron Allen. So they, I mean, everybody's like,
30:17
you know, I you know, everybody whenever you talk about the Big
30:18
Ten, it's always Michigan and Ohio State. And then I'm hearing, you
30:23
know, more and more like, hey, don't sleep on Penn State by
30:26
the way there, you know, So there, I think they're starting to
30:30
be a little bit more expectations there. But you know it is it's time,
30:34
especially with Franklin as coach, to maybe start winning some games that maybe
30:40
you shouldn't win, maybe maybe beat you know, Ohio State and Michigan.
30:44
You know, it's time for that to start. Otherwise, you know,
30:48
it just feels like it's you know, never gonna happen. So yeah,
30:51
I'm looking at that with regard to Penn State. But the funny thing is,
30:56
almost all last week when I was moving back and forth between my old
30:59
place or and my new one, I was on XM and I was listening
31:04
to like they have specific channels for each conference, and I was listening going
31:08
between the PAC twelve and the Big twelve with the whole news about Colorado leaving,
31:15
and you know, just the whole thing of like, man, is
31:18
the PAC twelve going to disintegrate because they got Colorado? Um? You know
31:23
there there's talk of this, you know, this new um you know TV
31:27
deal for the PAC twelve. You know, maybe it's going to be all
31:32
streaming. From when I heard on Apple, I don't know what the what
31:34
the dollars are, but is that enough? Does Arizona go in Arizona State
31:38
and maybe Utah? Okay? If they go, then does the Big Ten?
31:41
Because I've heard the Big Ten. You know, the the word was
31:47
we don't want the PAC twelves blood on our hands as if they didn't already
31:49
poach, you know, the biggest brand in USA. But you know,
31:52
maybe maybe if that happens and and those seem to go to the Big twelve,
31:56
maybe the Big ten, it goes well, they're dead. We don't
31:57
feel bad about taking Oregon and Washington and maybe callin Stanford two since they're big
32:04
time academic institutions. So just is the PAC twelve here a year or two
32:09
from now? I don't know. UM, so that's kind of interesting.
32:13
I hate these sixteen to twenty team mega conferences. I was reading an article
32:22
in The Athletic like a couple of weeks ago about like, okay, what
32:24
if we did common sense regional things and it was back to like eight to
32:29
ten conferences that had like eight to ten teams each and the rivalries made sense
32:35
and the geography for the most part makes sense. And I was like,
32:37
man, I wish you went back to this, Like I wish it went
32:40
back to the way it was before TV and TV money ruined everything in college.
32:47
But you know that, you know, the toothpastees out of the tube
32:51
at this point, it's not going back. But I don't know. Like
32:53
that kind of stuff interested me and just going. Just listening to those two
32:58
stations and just the difference in tone, it was fascinating for me last week.
33:02
So I don't know something I was interested in. I don't know with
33:07
one hundred percent certainty if we're not going to go back. And the reason
33:09
I say that, Len is because, excuse me, I think I think
33:13
what you said is fascinating in terms of the storyline this season in college football.
33:16
It just with so much movement, and we're going to continue to see
33:20
this movement. Teams leaving certain conferences, joining other conferences, perhaps conferences just
33:24
completely dissolving. But I think at the end of the day too, a
33:29
lot of these moves, and even future moves that haven't been made yet,
33:32
they are not going to end up working out, either for certain programs or
33:37
for certain conferences. So I think we are going to continue to see shake
33:39
up after shake up, after a length of time, of course, where
33:45
somebody comes back to the table and says, that was a terrible decision.
33:49
Maybe we should get back to so and so conference, Maybe we should get
33:52
back to this and this that actually was working. Because you were talking about
33:57
perhaps you know, Big twelve streaming, whether it's on Apple TV, whatever,
34:00
platform, the ala carte streaming is actually getting to a point within within
34:06
within our society where it is actually getting a little crazy, a little too
34:09
much, where people are starting to pull back a bit from it. I
34:14
was actually listening to um digital Media based podcast about this this past week.
34:20
It was it was very fascinating and interesting how we're probably gonna end up seeing
34:23
the slowing of streaming because a lot of these streaming services aren't actually not that
34:30
they're losing money, but they're not bringing in the revenue an income that either
34:34
they had projected to or the market is becoming saturated a little bit. And
34:37
that's where I'm going with And there's this and that, and you know,
34:42
an Apple and so like, like, at what point, especially if you're
34:45
one of these people that's cutting the chord and getting all these streaming services,
34:50
Like, all right, now I've got twelve streaming services and I'm paying just
34:52
as much as that was exactly, So it's not really cutting the chord.
34:57
Yeah, not at all. And That's where I'm going with the college football
35:00
phenomenon, as we're seeing team after team leaving conferences and again we're talking about
35:05
possible conferences dissolving. I don't know, not all these deals are going to
35:09
end up working out in the end. And I think we're just going to
35:12
continue to see shake up after shake up, and perhaps there might be a
35:15
point in time where and listen, we've we've talked about the NC double a
35:20
how many times and criticize them and and rightfully, so they could see them
35:24
saying, hey, we need to get back to this, this or this.
35:27
I could potentially see that happening in the future. Yeah, I mean,
35:30
and again this is you know, just the old man and me just
35:34
you know, remembering, you know, you hear about certain rivalries and and
35:38
that stuff matters. And you know, if you you know, were like
35:43
an in state, you know rivalry, like you know, I don't live
35:45
in Arizona, but you know I bet Arizona, Arizona State really matters to
35:50
those people. Yeah, you know, Um, so what if one of
35:52
them leaves and one of them stays in the in the PAC twelve M does
35:57
that matchup go away? What is that like for those people? So?
36:00
Um, obviously if Oregon bolts to the Big ten, guess what, the
36:05
Big Ten doesn't have a seat for Oregon State. So does that go away?
36:07
Yeah? Um, you know, so I would love to see Penn
36:12
State play Pit every year. You know, I would like to see pitt
36:15
play West Virginia every year like that kind of stuff. You know, those
36:20
those regional rivalries that were so good. I just I don't know, I
36:24
don't know why we got away from that. In the name of the Almighty
36:28
dollar, exactly exactly. Let us know what you're thinking, Philadelphia Sports Table
36:31
at gmail dot com. I'd love to read your email here on the show
36:34
and respond to it in terms of the college football discussion we just had and
36:37
lend to end things here during our first segment here before we get to what
36:43
we're thrown down on the table this week and our interview Philadelphia Eagles or a
36:46
training camp here, and we're keeping a close eye as all most Eagles fans
36:51
are about what's happening with this team. There's just a lot of excitement in
36:53
the air of this season, you know, can they get back to the
36:55
Super Bowl? We've been talking about this on on this podcast and certainly Eagles
37:00
Nation on the other what maybe three thousand, eight hundred and fifty two Eagles
37:06
podcasts that there are out there, they're talking about it as well. But
37:10
I'm looking at this team unify unit, and I'm like, my god,
37:15
this team is just completely stacked in so many areas. But I have to
37:21
say, man, I am really concerned about and I'm gonna be keeping an
37:24
eye on during training camp the safety position because I know and I know last
37:29
week, I think the Eagles brought in and tried out a safety special teams
37:34
Ace DeAndre Houston Carson. They brought him into the Novacare Complex who worked out.
37:38
I don't think they signed him, but I mean, at this point,
37:42
it's looking like Terrell Edmonds read blank and Ship read Blanketship recently said the
37:47
safety backfield is very strong, and I appreciate his optimism, but I'm a
37:53
little concerned because when you lose Chauncey Gardner Johnson, when you lose Marcus Epps
38:00
as well had had a really nice season ended up getting paid big time money
38:06
had in free agency, there was a void there and I do have concern
38:10
about the safety position. Len Certainly things are going to work out and manifest
38:14
themselves in training camp the way that they're going to there's only a certain amount
38:17
of talent there. I think perhaps how we may bring somebody in like he
38:22
did with that trade with Gardner Johnson last year. But I don't know,
38:28
we could see a safety coming in if blanket ship and if Trrell Edmonds don't
38:34
don't impress the coaches and Sean Dasai. So I don't know, that's the
38:37
one unit that I'm really looking at and I'm gonna be looking at throughout training
38:42
camp. Is there a unit or is there anything particular about this training camp
38:45
that you're really going to be focusing on. Well, at first foremost health
38:51
just everybody staying healthy, Yeah, which is obvious. Yeah, the safety
38:55
does seem kind of like the soft underbelly of this defense was a place you
39:00
could exploit them. It feels like that would be the area you would attack
39:04
um to me, I don't know if it's a function of the whole you
39:07
know, Zoom running Back Summit that was done earlier in the fact that he
39:12
was weren't really involved in that, and they don't have any kind of like
39:15
say Quon Barclays or Josh Jacobs, you know, guys trying to make a
39:19
huge amount of money. But just the running back group in general is interesting
39:22
to me. I want to see how Swift does coming over from Detroit.
39:27
Um, you know where is Kenneth Gainwell and Boston Scott's spot on this team?
39:34
Now? Yeah, I completely forgot Rashad Penny was was an acquisition until
39:40
like last week. Oh yeah they got that guy too. Um yeah,
39:45
I just completely forgot he was there. Um So yeah, like that group
39:49
who emerges? Is it going to be a complete committee? Is swift lead
39:53
guy? And they just kind of mix and match here and there with other
39:55
guys as needed. Um, how did they utilize that group? Is it?
40:00
Is it mainly going to be out of the backfield receiving? Is that
40:05
the way they can kind of continue to go with that? Um? So
40:08
yeah, I mean to me, the running back group is pretty interesting.
40:12
Yeah, I would agree with you too. And again, you know,
40:15
shop Penny, it's all about his health, whether or not he's going to
40:16
be able to stay healthy, because he could definitely be that goal line running
40:21
back and he's just he's got some speed too, and once he makes contact,
40:24
he's going to be able to get you some yards. But whether or
40:28
not he's able to dip that shoulder, able to stay healthy, it's gonna
40:31
be it's gonna be, uh you know interesting. But I think DeAndre Swift
40:35
is actually going to be a fantastic running back for this team, and I
40:38
think it's a good, good pick. The running back unit for you,
40:42
safety unit for me, buddy. Um, you got anything else here before
40:45
before we head out? Um? Not really? Just uh, wish a
40:51
happy birthday to my beautiful wife Creston Whoa. I didn't even know it's her
40:55
birthday? Whent's it her birthday today? Yeah? Oh, for God's sake,
40:59
I didn't even know. I gotta, I gotta get on the Facebook.
41:02
Ok, there you go. That's what I know people's birthdays. I'm
41:07
pathetic. Was this announced somewhere? Oh? What was on Facebook? I
41:14
really haven't been on faceboo the Facebook much today? Boy, I feel I
41:17
feel terrible right now. Well and also I think I, um, did
41:23
you text something? Well? I think I said something you and like when
41:27
I was like, hey, we're going to record later, um because I
41:30
mentioned, you know, just the stress of moving him. But I was
41:31
like, it's also I think I mentioned it was their birthday and that's why
41:36
I wanted to record later because I wanted to, you know, I spend
41:38
time with her after I got home from work. Um, I maybe I
41:42
didn't put that in the text. You. I don't know either way.
41:44
I don't know, man, I'm I need to check this right now,
41:49
and I we'll let the listeners know. I'm just kidding. Listeners. You
41:52
don't know. You don't need to know. It's a need to know basis.
41:55
Oh boy, what a terrible friend. All you need to know is
41:59
Jeff as a terrible friend. If this happened, you don't believe. There
42:02
you go, there you go. I wish Shark was here that Oh my
42:07
god. I Now, all right, we're gonna take a quick break,
42:10
and when we get back, we're gonna be thrown down an interview on the
42:15
table. It is going to be a great discussion. Stick around for it.
42:19
We're gonna take that break right now. All right, we are back,
42:22
folks. Let's get to what we are throwing down on the table,
42:23
some NFC East talk. We're gonna be talking about the Commanders, the Eagles,
42:28
the Cowboys, and the New York Giants. So let's get to it.
42:31
It's what we're thrown down on the table. And now, all right,
42:38
we gotta keep talking NFL football. Just got done talking about the Eagles,
42:43
and we may get into them a little bit more here, but we
42:45
got to dive into this NFC East division. It's a very intriguing division as
42:51
this twenty twenty four NFL season is upon us and joining us from blogging the
42:55
Boys dot com. We've had them on before, love talking to them about
43:00
football, about whether whether we're talking about the Cowboys, whether we're not,
43:02
we're talking about the NFC East. We've got the one and only Matt hollerand
43:07
Hey, you doing, buddy. I'm good, Jeff, thank you for
43:08
having me on. I appreciate the opportunity. Love talking football with you.
43:13
Some Eagles, Cowboys. Yeah, excited, it's getting going. Training camps
43:16
getting in full swing and we're getting close, absolutely getting close to get there,
43:22
get to the finish line here shortly. Absolutely, And folks, you
43:25
can find Matt on Twitter at hollerin MDH. He's a great, great follow
43:30
And uh yeah, I know writing for the Cowboys. I know it's like
43:34
enemy territory or like opposition territory here, but it's great having you on,
43:38
man, because, like I said, this division is going to be really
43:40
interesting this year. You know, not just because of you know, the
43:44
various rivalries here, but just a lot of different storylines that we are going
43:49
to be following, And I think a lot of different story lines are gonna
43:51
be manifesting themselves throughout this season. And I, personally, Matt, I
43:54
think one of the biggest storylines heading into this NFL season as it pertains to
43:59
the NFC East and just the various teams dynamics, which is, you know
44:04
which quarterback is going to help get their team to the postseason and through the
44:08
playoffs. Look, we know what we've seen from Jalen hurt especially last season.
44:14
We know, I think what to probably expect from Jalen Hurts. Dak
44:16
Prescott. I mean, he's been a very good quarterback, a very good
44:20
quarterback in this league over the years. Daniel Jones, He's played well enough
44:24
last season to earn himself a contract extension. How that works out, we
44:30
don't know. And Sam Hall, if he is going to end up being
44:34
the starter down in Washington, what to actually expect from him. So I
44:37
think the storylines of the quarterbacks this year in the NFC East are going to
44:42
be very intriguing to follow. And I'm wondering, like, which quarterback in
44:45
the NFC East do you see as being the most critical to their offense's success
44:51
during the course of this season. Yeah, I think it's a great question.
44:54
When you break down the quarterbacks in the division, I think there's pretty
44:59
clearly a gap between the top two and the bottom two. Now you could
45:02
rank the top two Jalen Hurts and Dak Prescott. Either way, I don't
45:06
see how anyone after what Jalen did last season, even if you're a Cowboys
45:10
fan like I am, can say that at this point Dak is playing better
45:15
than he is. Hurts was phenomenal last year. He probably would have won
45:19
the MVP. I think if he didn't get hurt. Even though he didn't,
45:22
he was neck and neck with Pat Mahomes, which that's pretty darn impressive.
45:27
But when you talk about who's the most vital to the team's success,
45:31
I might be biased here, but I think it's Dak. I think last
45:36
year Dak shouldered I think a little bit too much of the blame for some
45:39
of the Cowboys shrubles on offense. He did lead the league or tied for
45:44
the league league with fifteen picks, but if you go back and look at
45:46
all of those on tape, there's at a minimum five or six that bounce
45:52
off the hands of a receiver and go into a defender's hands. Obviously,
45:55
that's not on Dak. Now, it's not to say that he wasn't at
45:59
fault at all. He definitely made his fair share of bad decisions. Especially.
46:04
I think a term that's got thrown around a lot, and it's very
46:06
accurate is reckless, not aggressive. He was reckless too many times last year.
46:10
There's nothing wrong with being aggressive. He's an aggressive player. He's going
46:14
to take chances. But recklessness is different. And I think a great example
46:17
of that is at the end of the first half of the playoff game that's
46:22
the forty nine Ers, Dak gets too aggressive, throws a pick intended for
46:25
Lamb over the middle, completely changes the tune of that game. The Cowboys
46:30
could have gone in and scored there and who knows what happens. But that's
46:32
an example of reckless not aggressive. Now, I don't think Dak's a guy
46:37
that's going to throw a ton of picks for the rest of his career.
46:39
You look at from twenty eighteen to twenty one, so four seasons he was
46:44
below two percent at an interception rate. I think he gets back to that
46:47
point this year, and I think that will make the biggest difference. I
46:51
think this offense has a chance to go from very good and scoring a lot
46:54
of points in the regular season to elite if they and particularly can limit the
47:00
turnovers. I think he'll do that still be aggressive but not reckless this year,
47:04
and I think that that'll be the biggest impact quarterback wise in the division.
47:07
I think it's interesting and it's a good segue to Matt into the next
47:10
topic I wanted to dive into with you, and it's dealing with offensive lines
47:15
here within the nfcast, because I mean, it's interesting to look at these
47:20
offensive lines within the division just how they can help solidify and provide that foundation
47:25
for each team's offense. And I mean the Eagles offensive line, as we
47:30
know, you know, they're stacked, and the Cowboys offensive line is a
47:34
very very solid unit as well. But I'm wondering as it pertains to the
47:38
Cowboys. It pertains to the Cowboys offensive line here, I'm wondering what the
47:44
level of concern is given that Terrence Steele is coming off the ACL injury.
47:49
You know, you've got Smith who's only played fifteen of the thirty four eligible
47:52
games that he's been able to to play over these past two seasons and how
47:58
that correlates with what Dak is able to do from the pocket or if he
48:00
has to move outside of the pocket too. So, what's the level of
48:04
concern about where the Cowboys offensive line is at right now amongst Cowboys Nation?
48:09
What are your thoughts? Yes, I think there's it's a very interesting topic
48:15
to get into. I think there's a different view from inside what Cowboys fans
48:21
and people that really follow the Cowboys field versus a league wide view. I
48:24
think that this Dallas offensive line in a league wide view still sort of lives
48:30
off that reputation that they had in twenty fourteen, twenty fifteen, twenty sixteen
48:35
when they were consistently one of, if not the best unit in the league.
48:39
They're not that anymore. Not to say that they don't have talented players,
48:43
but they're not that unit anymore. And I think that if I had
48:46
to pick one position group on the entire roster that concerns me the most,
48:51
I think it would be the offensive line. Interesting they have Tyron Smith is
48:55
an outstay, He's been an outstanding player. He's probably going to be a
48:59
Hall of Fame. But there's no reason to realistically believe that he'll be healthy
49:04
for even a majority of the regular season. He hasn't done it in the
49:08
past seven to eight seasons. You know, it's unfortunate at this point,
49:14
but it seems like he's going to get hurt. There's really no way around
49:17
it. So if Tyrant is to get hurt, and if history shows us
49:22
anything, he's going to Tyler Smith will be forced back out to tackle,
49:25
then you'll have to insert someone into play left guard. Not to mention Terrence
49:30
Steele, who you talked about coming off an ACL injury. That's a lot
49:32
of question marks, and especially at left tackle and right tackle, there's a
49:37
chance. You know, you knock on what and hope it doesn't happen.
49:39
But if Smith suffers an injury, and if Steele has a problem coming back,
49:44
you could be without both of your tackles, and that's you know,
49:46
that's obviously a problem. So I think that there's not it's not talked about
49:51
enough, you know, the potential concerns that could happen with this line.
49:57
I haven't even mentioned Zach Martin's currently holding out now. I do think right
50:00
you show up eventually, but if for some reason that doesn't get figured out,
50:05
then we get into a whole other stratosphere of potential problems. Yeah,
50:07
but I think this offensive line is going to be tested big time. They
50:14
need Tyrn Smith to be healthy. I hope it happens, but I don't
50:19
think there's a great chance of it. And like you said, the health
50:22
of this offensive line will play a big factor. And can deck in this
50:25
offense not turn the football over? And can they play good, clean football
50:30
If they're going to do that, I think they're gonna need Tyrn and Terrence
50:32
Steele to be healthy at this point. It's just hope and pray that that
50:37
does happen. The foundation of any offense really does start with the offensive line.
50:43
It's something we've said many many times or the course of over the course
50:45
of the years on this podcast. And you take a look at the Giants
50:49
offensive line, such a large gap between its floor and it's ceiling. I
50:53
believe this season and the Commanders, I mean, they could potentially have one
50:58
of the worst offensive line in the NFL. Who knows, And maybe Eric
51:01
b Enemy is going to be able to release some magic down there to help
51:06
them along the way. And speaking of the Commanders, actually I think it
51:09
could be interesting to follow this team throughout the season. Do I think they're
51:14
gonna be in contention for the division? No, absolutely not. But given
51:17
the fact that they do have that new offensive coordinator in Eric b enemy Matt,
51:22
it wouldn't surprise me if Washington does make at least some waves this season,
51:27
because they do have a lot of talent on that team, they just
51:30
have never been able to get it to mesh in gel together. I mean,
51:34
whether you're talking about Chase Young Terry McLaurin, I mean, these are
51:37
two guys, at least from an offensive defensive standpoint, who are very prolific
51:42
players in the NFL. So and I'm just wondering with this Commander's team and
51:47
the talent they do have, I wonder what that means for the top of
51:51
the NFC East and if whether it's the Cowboys or whether it's the Giants,
51:55
mainly you need to be concerned about them, possibly, you know, maybe
52:00
taking a spot perhaps. I don't know what are your thoughts here, Yeah,
52:04
I definitely agree with you. I think that the Commanders will take a
52:07
step forward this season. You brought up Chase Young, I think he's in
52:10
for a big balance back year. I don't think he didn't look fully healthy
52:15
last year, and I think he's going to get back healthy and look like
52:19
he did during his rookie season. Talk about their defense, they have an
52:22
outstanding defensive front, obviously young, with Montes Sweat, Jonathan Allen, they
52:29
have a great front seven. They have some talented players on offense. You
52:31
mentioned Terry McLaurin. He's up there with one of the best receivers in football.
52:36
Johan Dotson had a great rookie years. He's a good speech on the
52:39
outside. But you know, you bring up Sam Howe in the quarterback that's
52:44
where I still just don't think. I don't think they have the long term
52:46
answer. And Sam Howe, he's a talented guy. There was a time
52:51
when he was projected to potentially be the first pick in the draft. But
52:55
I just Washington has had chances, whether it be last offseason or this offseason,
53:00
to go out and get a guy like a veteran and Aaron Rodgers.
53:05
There's rumors that the Rams were shopping Matt Stafford. They could have moved up
53:08
in the draft and taken one of these rookies. I just think that they
53:14
keep getting it wrong at the most important position in football, and until you
53:19
get it right at that position, and look at Jalen Hurts. The Eagles
53:22
showed that exactly last season. Once you get it right at that position,
53:25
everything can fall into place. But until they do, then I agree with
53:30
you. I think the Commanders could be a you know, nine eight win
53:32
team, but I don't see them being a real threat to either Philly or
53:37
Dallas at the top of the division. Yeah, yeah, I would agree
53:38
with you as well. And look, you know, when your team goes
53:42
through what forty eight different starting quarterbacks over the courts of the past five years,
53:45
gonna be a bit of an issue. Of course, I'm kidding with
53:47
the forty eight, but it seems like that for sure. But moving along
53:52
here, wanted to get into the New York Giants with you, Matt,
53:54
and I feel as though they're they're just that kind of like the Commanders did,
53:59
just that middling type of team and one that kind of lucked, I
54:02
think, into getting into the playoffs last season to an extent. And I
54:06
know that I have some friends out there and in Giants Nation to maybe up
54:09
set with me for saying that. But still, you know, they do
54:13
have a really good coach in Brian Dable, but I'm not too concerned about,
54:17
you know, the receiving corps, and I do think that they're going
54:21
to have some challenges offensively moving the ball down the field outside of Saquon Barkley,
54:27
and to put the entire season on his shoulders, I think is asking
54:30
a little bit too much of him at this point, given the situation with
54:32
his contract and just how things are played out in New York in general here.
54:37
So I don't know, what are your thoughts about the Giants, their
54:40
offense and how prolific they could potentially be this season. What are you thinking?
54:46
Yeah, I agree with you. I think that the Giants could actually
54:50
be one of the teams to take the biggest step back in the whole league
54:53
this year. It's it's hard to say, but it's it's the truth.
54:59
They locked into to their success last year and now I'll give them credit.
55:02
I did not think they were going to go on the road and win a
55:05
playoff game. They did that against Minnesota. Kudos to them. I completely
55:09
agree about about Brian Dable. He's a very good coach, but they're going
55:14
to be be limited by their talent on offense outside of Sequon Barkley, they're
55:19
receiving corps. They drafted Jalen Hyatt, who has some great speed, but
55:22
it's hard for a rookie to come in and really take over a receiver room
55:27
in his first year. They added Paris Campbell and former Cowboy Cole Beasley,
55:32
who could make marginal impacts. But I don't think they have anything close to
55:37
a true wide receiver one, maybe even wide receiver two on their roster.
55:43
If you look at their schedule, they have an absolutely brutal start to the
55:45
year. They have to face the Cowboys, Cardinals, forty nine or Seahawks,
55:50
Dolphins, and Bills in their first six games, which five of those
55:53
were playoff teams last year, and four of those games are on the road.
55:58
Yeah, I could easily see the Giants getting off to a two and
56:01
four, maybe even a one in five start, and then you're fighting up.
56:06
He'll battle the rest of the way to make the playoffs. So I
56:08
don't think they'll be like the Giants teams we saw back in seventeen, eighteen
56:14
nineteen winning two or three games, But I definitely don't see them making the
56:19
postseason. And I think any team the Cowboys and Eagles are great examples who
56:22
can rush the passer and get after Daniel Jones. You look at the Cowboys
56:27
front, you look at the Eagles front. I just don't see them as
56:30
a real threat. When Jones is under pressure and he's not able to run
56:35
the ball and he has to make quick decisions, their offense usually falls apart.
56:38
So I don't think the Giants like Washington are really a threat to the
56:43
top of the division and the Cowboys and Eagles. Yeah, completely agree with
56:46
you on that, Matt. And again, folks, we're talking to Matt
56:49
Hollerin from blogging the Boys dot Com. You can check them out on Twitter.
56:52
Give him a follow if you're not already at Hollerin MD Age is a
56:57
great, great follow. So let's move on here. Kind of an an
57:00
exercise I wanted to get into with you, Matt, where you're going to
57:05
give us one reason why each team in the NFC East could actually win the
57:09
division. I know once we get to the Giants in commanders here, it's
57:13
going to be interesting for sure. Let's start off with the Giants. Okay,
57:16
what's a reason that you think that they could actually win the division this
57:22
year? If it's a possibility. What are you thinking, I'm gonna say
57:24
two. For the Giants, I think it's coaching and protecting the football.
57:29
You look at Yeah, one thing the Giants did great last year was they
57:32
only turned the ball over sixteen times, which is the second fewest in the
57:36
entire league. That's a great number and that's what you have to do when
57:39
you don't have tons of talent on offense. I think if they're able to
57:44
replicate that success and Daniel Jones is able to take another step forward, which,
57:49
for as much flak as I've given the Giants, he did take a
57:52
step forward last year. He was not turning the football over like he had
57:54
his first couple of seasons in the league. If they're able to protect the
57:58
football, Brian Day is able to keep up doing what he's doing, I
58:01
could see a path to them winning the division. And if they're able to
58:05
say, hey, I talked about that tough start, they could turn around
58:08
the other way. Say they get off to a five and one, four
58:10
and two, you know, Mark, after that that tough six game stretch,
58:15
they could use that momentum to go the other way and win the division.
58:17
So protecting the football and coaching, I think that could lead to the
58:21
Giants taking a home the division crown. All right, very good. Let's
58:23
move on to the Dallas Cowboys. What's the one reason why that they could
58:28
win the NFC East this season? Yeah, I think it's it's pretty pretty
58:34
obvious for me. For the Cowboys, it's their defense. I think they
58:37
have a chance to be one of, if not the best defenses in football
58:40
next year. Michael Parsons has looked unbelievable at training camp. Granted, he's
58:45
going against his own guys, but I think it's a pretty good bet that
58:49
Mike is going to have another outstanding season. They added veteran corners to find
58:53
Gilmore, who I think will play a huge part in the reason this defense
58:59
goes good to great. They have a great defensive front, they have good
59:04
cornerbacks, good safeties. If they're healthy, I think this defense is going
59:07
to be top five at a minimum, and they could be the reason that
59:10
this team wins a division. All right, very good, Washington Commanders,
59:15
what's one reason why they could win the division? This will be interesting?
59:17
What are you thinking? Well, it's going to sound very similar because for
59:22
me, it's it's their defense. Again, in particular, their defensive line.
59:24
They have, like I talked about before, they have Chase Young,
59:28
Montes Sweat Jonathan Allen. They got great a great defensive front. They can
59:32
get after the quarterback. I really do think Chase Young is going to have
59:37
an outstanding year this year. I think he's going to pounce back in a
59:39
big way, and I think he'll lead their defense to be much better than
59:43
they were last season. If they're going to win the division, and it's
59:46
not going to be led by their offense, it's that defense. So I
59:49
think that Young comes back, that front seven plays well. They drafted a
59:53
young corner out of Mississippi State. He's able to create some turnovers in the
59:58
outside. They could could get top of the division. All right, very
1:00:00
good, And I know it's going to pain you, But the Philadelphia Eagles,
1:00:05
what's one reason why they could win the NFC East this season. Yeah,
1:00:09
it's it's gonna be painful to say this, but I think the easiest
1:00:14
way the thing to say is just their roster talent. I you'd be hard
1:00:17
pressed to find a roster in football that is more talented than Philadelphia. If
1:00:22
I'm going after a particular position group, I'd say their offensive line. They
1:00:27
have, I think, without a doubt, the best offensive line in football.
1:00:30
They absolutely if you look at it, if you take away the two
1:00:35
games where Jalen Hurts didn't play last year, the Eagles pretty much ran through
1:00:39
the league. They didn't have many close games. They even for the first
1:00:43
two quarters of the Super Bowl looked like they were going to run through the
1:00:46
Chiefs and finish the job. Don't remind me, Matt, Yeah, they're
1:00:51
an absolutely loaded roster. There might pick to win the division, there might
1:00:54
pick to win the NFC. As much as that pains me to say,
1:00:58
it's pretty easy to see why when you take a look at that roster.
1:01:00
They have talent everywhere. They're a great team, and I guess they're my
1:01:06
pick to finish the job and win the division. Again, this show all
1:01:07
right, very good, very good. And finally, what we're gonna get
1:01:10
into here with Matt, folks, we're going to talk about some under the
1:01:14
radar players here that maybe a standout this season for each team. So,
1:01:19
Matt, let's start off with the New York Giants. What's that one under
1:01:22
the radar player you believe is really going to be a standout for them this
1:01:28
coming season? Guy we should keep our eyes on. Yeah, I think
1:01:31
I'm gonna go with Darren Waller, who they just acquired from Vegas. Waller
1:01:37
went healthy. He's one of the most talented tight ends in football. He's
1:01:39
a he's a great athlete, he's a he's a threat deep down the field.
1:01:45
And I think that their lack of a true wide receiver one will make
1:01:49
Waller technically their wide receiver one. Even though he's a tight end. He'll
1:01:53
be Daniel Jones's top target, and I think his ability to stretch the field
1:01:58
and make plays down the field will be a big difference for their offense.
1:02:01
All Right, very good, and sticking with the topic, under the radar
1:02:06
players that could have a standout season. Who do you think that's going to
1:02:08
be for the Dallas Cowboys. Yes, it's a guy I mentioned before us
1:02:13
to find Gilmore. I think that the trade for him was arguably the best
1:02:16
move Dallas made this offseason. I think having him alongside Treyvon Diggs will give
1:02:22
them two lockdown corners to go up against teams like the Eagles, who have
1:02:28
a very good number one and number two receiver. Last year, they got
1:02:31
hammered at the cornerbacks by injury wise, and we're signing guys off the street
1:02:36
in a week fifteen and sixteen to come in and play. That's not going
1:02:39
to happen this year with the depth they have. And I think Gilmore,
1:02:43
not just from an on field standpoint, but from a leadership standpoint, will
1:02:46
play a big role in that cornerback room, and I think that he'll be
1:02:51
making a huge difference on the defense, I think from a defensive perspective too,
1:02:54
in terms of his leadership. I mean, I think that's the one
1:02:57
thing you're definitely getting with Stefan Gilmore as well, not just from the defensive
1:03:01
backfield room, but just the defense in general. I think he's going to
1:03:05
be that veteran presidence who, yes, absolutely under the radar for sure.
1:03:08
But moving along with the Washington Commanders here Matt who's an under the radar player
1:03:14
on this team that you could see being a standout this season. I'm gonna
1:03:17
stick with the defensive backfield them, and I'm gonna go Emanuel Forbes, who
1:03:22
they picked with their first round pick out of Mississippi State. In his three
1:03:27
years there, he had fourteen picks, which is an extremely impressive number.
1:03:30
Washington hasn't had that type of cornerback in a long time. They tried to
1:03:36
sign Josh Norman towards the end of his career that he didn't really translate as
1:03:40
that ball hawking number one corner that they were looking for. I think Forbes
1:03:45
could be that guy. I think that he's gonna be a candidate for Defensive
1:03:49
Rookie of the Year and if he's able to translate that ball hawking mentality into
1:03:53
the NFL, I think he could be a big difference maker and help them.
1:03:58
They already have the front on the defense solidified, he could help solidify
1:04:01
the outside. All right, very good? And last, but not least,
1:04:03
since we are a Philly sports based podcast, the Philadelphia Eagles, that
1:04:09
under the radar player you think is really going to be a standout for the
1:04:12
Birds this year? What do you think? So? I got two for
1:04:15
the Eagles first time I'm going to go with And he might not be under
1:04:18
the radar, probably not to people that are Eagles fans, but it's Dallas
1:04:23
Goddard. Oh, there you go. Every time the Cowboys play Dallas play
1:04:27
the Eagles, Dallas Goddard makes multiple catches that I just I can't believe he
1:04:32
holds onto the ball. I don't see how. Now, maybe he is
1:04:35
inside of Philadelphia, but I don't think he gets the recognition he deserves league
1:04:41
wide. He is a tough, tough, tough player. He makes contested
1:04:45
catches, he blocks, he does everything you want out of a tight end.
1:04:50
I think that he's going to have another major year and it'll get him
1:04:55
recognition. I think he deserves to be up there in the upper echelte of
1:04:58
tight ends with the Travis kell Sees, the Darren Wallace, the George Kittles.
1:05:00
He's that good and my second guy. It's going to be their first
1:05:05
round pick. And I was distraught that he fell to the Eagles, but
1:05:10
it's Jordan Davis. I can't believe that he fell to Philadelphia. I ye
1:05:15
don't know how teams are going to block a defensive front that has Jordan Davis,
1:05:19
Fletcher Cox, Brandon Graham. I just I don't know how they're gonna
1:05:25
do it. He is an outstanding player. He does everything well and I
1:05:30
think that he'll be the best player from the draft and will make a huge
1:05:33
impact in the first year. I think it's gonna be interesting to see how
1:05:36
this division manifests itself of course throughout this season. But Matt, I gotta
1:05:42
tell you it was great talking to you. Loved your insight. Always enjoy
1:05:45
having you on the podcast. And folks again blogging the Boys dot Com,
1:05:48
it's where you can find Matt our buddy r j Ocho as well doing good
1:05:53
things over there. And Matt, I'd love for you to come back and
1:05:56
join us on the podcast. Let's talk more. I know you are all
1:06:00
also do some writing with regard to the Washington Nationals too, my friend.
1:06:02
Right, yeah, definitely in a tough season. Much better on the Cowboys
1:06:08
side than the national side right now. But hey, there's always it's about
1:06:12
to be football season in my mind, so I can put the Nats in
1:06:14
the back of my head for now. Absolutely well, my friend, I
1:06:16
would love to have you come back on the podcast, join us down the
1:06:19
road, let's talk some more football. I appreciate him, man, thank
1:06:23
you for having me on. Always great talking to Matt. In this NFC
1:06:26
East is gonna be very interesting look when we take a look at what training
1:06:30
camp does to each team in terms of injuries, in terms of guys who
1:06:33
are trying to move up that depth chart in terms of their own development,
1:06:38
We're going to see a lot of different shifts and changing dynamics team by team,
1:06:42
whether it's the Giants, whether it's the Commanders, the Eagles, the
1:06:45
Cowboys. We are going to be seeing different changes here and there, team
1:06:48
by team to various units. So we're gonna keep on top of it here
1:06:53
at the Philadelphia Sports Table podcast show, and that's going to do it for
1:06:55
us this week. If anything happens to your podcast feed out there, head
1:06:58
on over to Philadelphia Sports Table dot com. I've got all of our shows
1:07:00
over there. We are on Instagram search out the Philadelphia Sports Table and we're
1:07:04
on the Twitter dot com at Philadelphia p st You can follow me at Jeffrey
1:07:10
Underscore Warren and Len again, you can follow him at Len Hunsicker. And
1:07:15
yeah, make sure you head on over to Redding hut Stover's Baseball dot com.
1:07:19
As we were talking about at the beginning of the show, they are
1:07:23
having a drawing. Their golf tournament fundraiser is gonna be happening before you know
1:07:28
it. They're doing a drawing where you can play with Mickey Morandeini former Philadelphia
1:07:32
Philly You're can play in a four sum in a golf tournament with him,
1:07:35
golf tournament fundraiser. It's a great, great event. I've played in it
1:07:39
many many years, and yeah, that's gonna do it for us folks.
1:07:42
You all take care and we will catch you next time.