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The DiCecco Daily: Detailing Latest Eagles Roster Moves and More · Inside the Birds: A Philadelphia Eagles Podcast

• 0:08
  Speaker 1: Hey, what's going on, everybody? Welcome in to another episode
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: of the Checo Daily. It's Andrew DiCecco, Eagles beat reporter
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: for InsideTheBirds.com. And it's Friday, the end of the week,
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: but we have a lot of news to get to.
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: And we'll start with the injury report because there are
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: some some names here that we have to get to
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: out for the Eagles. Running back Saquon Barkley, hamstring. Wide
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: receiver Marquise Brown, ankle. Safety Marcus Epps, groin. Center Drew Kendall, knee.
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: Wide receiver Devontae Smith, hamstring. Questionable outside linebacker Jonathan Grenard
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: with the ankle. So not really a lot of surprises there,
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: and that's the way things were trending. But I also
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: want to get for you the Friday practice report. Not
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: practicing Saquon Barkley, Marquise Brown, Marcus Epps, Jonathan Grenard. Drew Kendall,
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: Devontae Smith, limited. Outside linebacker, A.J. Epinesa, back. Wide receiver,
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: Dontavian Wicks, hamstring. Full participant, linebacker Zach Bond, concussion. Linebacker,
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: Jahad Campbell, knee. Tight end, Dallas Goddard, knee. Quarterback, Jalen Hurts, calf.
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: Tight end, E.J. Jenkins, toe. Tackle, Fred Johnson, knee. And cornerback,
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: Quinion Mitchell, knee. knee so good news there I mean
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: this is as good a news as you can hope
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: for if you're an Eagles fan listening because going into
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: the week it was a dire situation in terms of
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: injuries and it still is to a degree Drew Kendall
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: was a surprise popping up on Wednesday with the knee
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: not practicing he didn't practice Thursday or Friday That was
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: one that I think back to in the game against
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: the Rams. He was briefly in the medical tent and
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: then he ended up finishing the game. But he's not
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: going to be playing in this game. So we'll get
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: into more of that in a second. But the Eagles
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: also made. Some roster moves here. Signed to the 53,
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: center Jake Majors and running back Carson Steele released quarterback
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: Andy Dalton and placed on the practice squad injured list
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: defensive tackle Uar Bernard. So Andy Dalton is released. Remember,
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: they already had one roster spot available after trading Cam Juergens.
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: So that accounted for either Majors or Carson Steele. And
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: then the release of Andy Dalton created the other spot.
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: And you still have the two practice squad elevations, to
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: be clear. The Eagles have until Saturday afternoon at 4 p.m.
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: Eastern to make that decision. I would imagine that John Ajuku,
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: who can play tackle and guard, would be a logical choice.
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: Maybe Zach Ertz, if they want to burn that last
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: elevation and then make a decision from there. Maybe there
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: is a special teams player that they like that maybe
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: can help them a little bit. But That's kind of
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: the way that I'm leaning in terms of their elevations
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: on Saturday afternoon. But Andy Dalton ends his Eagles career
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: 0-1 and that interception. And this isn't really a surprise
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: to me when you look at the roster and the
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: positions where they were a little heavier, where you're going
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: to have to trim to account for some of these injuries.
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: Carrying four quarterbacks just never felt feasible throughout the whole season.
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: And Andy Dalton lost his number two quarterback job to
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: Tanner McKee. And you have a developmental guy in Cole
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: Payton who they like, and at this point you're not
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: going to subject him to waivers, although I'm not exactly
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: sure at this stage of the season who would be
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: willing to claim him. But nevertheless, they're committed to his
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: growth and development. But Andy Dalton, it was a really
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: odd quarterback situation all throughout training camp, trying to establish
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: the number two job. I thought Dalton in the beginning
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: was a little bit better than Tanner, and then Tanner
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: overtook him there and performed well. A little bit better,
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: but to be clear, neither quarterback really sees the opportunity.
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: What I liked about Dalton is his understanding of the
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: offense and his mentorship behind the scenes. But if you
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: really can't play and you don't really factor in as
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: the number two quarterback, then there's not really a role
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: for you on this roster. Certainly not right now when
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: you have injuries, an abundance of injuries at key spots.
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: So not really surprised by this. And we'll see. Maybe
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: he gets looks elsewhere. Maybe he opts to return to
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: the Eagles practice squad. If they want him there and
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: he agrees to do it, we'll have to see how
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: that all plays out. But on the day that the
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: Eagles are leaving for London, and it's my understanding it's
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: going to be later Friday evening, depending on when you
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: hear this, Andy Dalton will not be making the trip.
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: So there you have it. And let's get into the
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: two roster additions here, because I sort of alluded to
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: both of these players at different points and I mentioned
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: that I believe that between Jaden Blue and Carson Steele
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: would be Carson Steele knowing that he's been with the
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: Eagles for the entirety of the offseason I thought he
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: did some good things in the preseason didn't get a
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: ton of opportunities in practice and that's typical for a
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: fifth running back but He gives you some size. He
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: maybe can help you on special teams, so maybe that
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: fills a little bit of a void there potentially. I
• 5:24
  Speaker 1: thought he's decent in pass protection. That's an area of
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: his game that I really liked. But as the number
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: three running back, and I don't think that this is
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: something that's prolific or anything, but I don't think he's
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: going to see a ton of opportunities here in terms
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: of just getting the ball. I think he's more going
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: to be a special teams guy, pitch in, In the
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: case of injuries, maybe sporadically on offense because Will Shipley did,
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: when he was the number three, he was getting work
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: on offense as well. But that's the Eagles running back
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: situation right now. I imagine it's going to be, well,
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: I don't imagine it's going to be Will Shipley and
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: Damian Pierce. Damian Pierce is more of the volume runner.
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: He's a between-the-tackles guy. I'm not exactly sure how he
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: fits the wide zone stretch type of plays, and that's
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: not really his forte. He's really good at squaring his
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: shoulders and getting downhill, and I would imagine that in
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: short yardage and goal line situations, and if you want
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: to get him some more work and carry more of
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: a workload, I think that suits his skill set a
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: little bit better than maybe it does Will. Now, I
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: do expect Will to start the game, and there's other
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: areas of Will's game that I think complements what they
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: have in Pierce, so I'm trying to sort of illustrate
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: the running back situation right now, and obviously... The Eagles
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: would love to have Saquon Barkley out there, but this
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: is what they're working with. And Will is the Eagles'
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: best pass-receiving running back. He's also their best pass-protecting running back,
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: so that carries a lot of weight. It seems like
• 6:53
  Speaker 1: they do trust him. He's established a role as the
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: third down and situational. He's their situational back as well.
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: You remember Kenny Gainwell, of course, held that role for
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: a while. And I think Will's going to do fine.
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: It's just a matter of the offensive line, and I
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: would imagine that the Eagles are going to try to
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: craft a game plan that caters to the skill set
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: of the players that they're working with. And I think
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: the outside zone and, and just schematically it suits what
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: we'll can do, but you also have to atone for
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: the newness along the offensive line and Willie Lampkin and
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: Jake majors and Markel bell. Now we'll played behind these
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: guys in the preseason. We'll see if that counts for anything,
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: but they definitely got a lot of time on task
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: and not only training camp, but the preseason as well.
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• 10:42
  Speaker 1: Damian Pierce, as I mentioned, will be more so the
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: volume guy. And that's the running back situation right now.
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: Jacksonville has a really strong run defense. I believe they're
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: third in the NFL, giving up around 74 yards a game.
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: And you couple that with the fact that Jacksonville also
• 10:58
  Speaker 1: has Eric Armstead in the middle of their defensive line.
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: They have a couple of good edge rushers and Trayvon
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: Walker and Josh Hines-Allen. So this is a very difficult
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: task for an Eagles offensive line that's sort of in
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: flux right now. Both Jake Majors and Willie Lampkin are
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: making their first NFL starts. No NFL snaps offensively for
• 11:17
  Speaker 1: either player, of course. And then you have Markel Bell,
• 11:21
  Speaker 1: who made his first NFL start last week. So there
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: could be some growing pains. I'm expecting there to be
• 11:28
  Speaker 1: some growing pains in this game. Now, the question that
• 11:31
  Speaker 1: I'm sure a lot of you are wondering is, who
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: is Jake Majors? I've written about him. I've talked a
• 11:37
  Speaker 1: lot about him in training camp. Coming out of the
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: 2025 draft, he was one of my sleepers, my day
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: three sleepers. I really liked his tape coming out of Texas.
• 11:47
  Speaker 1: He's dependable. He's tough as nails. Set a Texas program
• 11:52
  Speaker 1: record with 56 starts. So that sort of points to
• 11:56
  Speaker 1: his durability there. But his name came up a few
• 11:59
  Speaker 1: times last season in terms of what he was doing
• 12:02
  Speaker 1: behind the scenes, talking to some different offensive linemen and.
• 12:07
  Speaker 1: I sort of coupled that with the knowledge and the
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: information that I had on him coming out of the draft.
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: And I thought that that was a nice savvy pickup
• 12:15
  Speaker 1: for their practice squad last year. He spent all of
• 12:17
  Speaker 1: last season on the practice squad. He signed after week one,
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: but he was originally an undrafted free agent signing of
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, got hurt. and was waived during
• 12:26
  Speaker 1: cutdowns that summer, and then eventually signed with the Eagles
• 12:29
  Speaker 1: practice squad, and then they reserved Futures deal, came back,
• 12:33
  Speaker 1: and I thought had a decent training camp. Really, after
• 12:36
  Speaker 1: the first couple of weeks, I thought he settled in
• 12:38
  Speaker 1: a little bit. He cross-trained at guard and center. He's
• 12:42
  Speaker 1: really a center, but he proved that he can play
• 12:45
  Speaker 1: both positions, and he played well enough in the preseason
• 12:48
  Speaker 1: games that I thought there was an outside chance that
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: the Eagles might keep 11 offensive linemen with him being
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: the 11th. Because I thought that given the quality of play,
• 12:59
  Speaker 1: the state of offensive line play in the NFL, I
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: was under the impression that Jake Majors was somebody that
• 13:06
  Speaker 1: might entice some teams on the waiver wire. But he
• 13:09
  Speaker 1: returned on the Eagles practice squad, and now he is
• 13:12
  Speaker 1: slated to probably make his first NFL start at center.
• 13:17
  Speaker 1: So this is now the third different center that Jalen
• 13:19
  Speaker 1: Hurts will have worked with this season. And that's... a
• 13:23
  Speaker 1: pretty tall task for any quarterback. So he hasn't had
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: a lot of time on task with Jake majors, but
• 13:30
  Speaker 1: that's what this week was about. And what I can
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: tell you from watching his tape at Texas and in
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: the preseason and talking to people, very cerebral player knows
• 13:39
  Speaker 1: how to read and diagnose defenses pre-snap. He is someone
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: who has a really good feel and command for the position.
• 13:46
  Speaker 1: He can be sort of a traffic cop there. He's
• 13:49
  Speaker 1: good at directing traffic and, yeah, just a sharp-minded football player.
• 13:54
  Speaker 1: And he'll be playing alongside Willie Lampkin. Those two repped
• 13:58
  Speaker 1: alongside one another quite a bit in training camp. So
• 14:02
  Speaker 1: while that was impressive a lot of times, I will
• 14:05
  Speaker 1: say that performing in the regular season is a totally
• 14:08
  Speaker 1: different beast. So I'm not going to sit here and
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: tell you, as much as I like Willie Lampkin, as
• 14:13
  Speaker 1: much as I like Jake Majors, I'm not going to
• 14:15
  Speaker 1: sit here and tell you that I think that They're
• 14:17
  Speaker 1: going to go out there and perform well. I don't
• 14:19
  Speaker 1: know that. We have to see them play a game
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: first and get a better understanding of where they are
• 14:24
  Speaker 1: in terms of their own development and how they fare
• 14:27
  Speaker 1: against a starting level, a pretty high caliber defensive line.
• 14:33
  Speaker 1: But I'm just basing it off of what I know
• 14:35
  Speaker 1: and what I've seen. And what I've seen is two
• 14:37
  Speaker 1: players that have certainly earned their spots in some capacity
• 14:41
  Speaker 1: on the Philadelphia Eagles. Willie Lampkin had a really strong
• 14:43
  Speaker 1: training camp. It was a no-brainer that he was going
• 14:45
  Speaker 1: to make the 53, and now he gets his opportunity
• 14:49
  Speaker 1: at guard. And Jake Majors, I thought, did everything he
• 14:52
  Speaker 1: could to make the roster, but you get down to
• 14:56
  Speaker 1: a numbers crunch, and you can't keep everybody. They have
• 14:59
  Speaker 1: Michael Morris, who they drafted in the sixth round, who
• 15:02
  Speaker 1: was going to make it as a draft pick, as
• 15:04
  Speaker 1: a developmental prospect, and... We'll see how this offensive line fares. Again,
• 15:09
  Speaker 1: expect growing pains. It doesn't mean that they can't play.
• 15:12
  Speaker 1: It doesn't mean that these players aren't going to be good.
• 15:14
  Speaker 1: I know already that we're going to see some videos
• 15:18
  Speaker 1: on social media pinpointing where their perceived breakdowns were. But
• 15:24
  Speaker 1: as I mentioned on the previous podcast, I personally steer
• 15:28
  Speaker 1: clear of that. And I would rather ask questions to
• 15:31
  Speaker 1: get more information on it because it's not always quite
• 15:34
  Speaker 1: like it seems, right? So just keep all of that
• 15:37
  Speaker 1: in mind when, when you're watching the game and we'll
• 15:40
  Speaker 1: see what they have cooked up because Jalen hurts is
• 15:42
  Speaker 1: going to have to get the ball out quicker than
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: he has in recent weeks. This has always been a
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: timing based offense that Sean Manning was bringing in. And
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: there are many times this year where it just feels
• 15:53
  Speaker 1: like Jalen's holding on to the ball a little bit
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: too long. He's not getting it out. It's gotta be,
• 15:57
  Speaker 1: out and on time for this offense to be fully imagined.
• 16:01
  Speaker 1: And when it is operating as intended, it's going to
• 16:06
  Speaker 1: look something like what you saw Case Keenum do, where
• 16:08
  Speaker 1: you're getting the ball out quickly and you're throwing the
• 16:10
  Speaker 1: spots and you're trusting your receivers to get to the spot.
• 16:13
  Speaker 1: It's all timing-based. So... In this type of game, this
• 16:17
  Speaker 1: is where you really do need to have a quick
• 16:20
  Speaker 1: trigger and get rid of the football and get it
• 16:23
  Speaker 1: out there to your pass catchers and put it in
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: a position where they can run after the catch.
• 16:28
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  Speaker 1: So for sean manion i don't envy him because this
• 17:31
  Speaker 1: is a very difficult week to game plan And you
• 17:34
  Speaker 1: have to do it against a pretty strong defense. Now,
• 17:37
  Speaker 1: their secondary, their pass coverage, leaves a little bit to
• 17:42
  Speaker 1: be desired. But they are a very stingy run defense.
• 17:46
  Speaker 1: But what they've been doing clearly isn't working. So you
• 17:49
  Speaker 1: may have to tweak it for this game, knowing that
• 17:51
  Speaker 1: there's a lot of moving pieces here. And we'll see
• 17:55
  Speaker 1: how the quarterback center exchanges. That's something that I will
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: be keying in on early and often in this game.
• 18:02
  Speaker 1: But the injury situation is interesting because they are getting
• 18:06
  Speaker 1: Dallas Goddard back this week, and Dallas Goddard is a
• 18:10
  Speaker 1: safety valve for Jalen Hurts. He has established a clear
• 18:14
  Speaker 1: chemistry with him. He's a big-bodied guy who can work
• 18:17
  Speaker 1: not only the short to intermediate levels, but he can
• 18:19
  Speaker 1: work the seams, and he can also be a red
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: zone presence. You saw last season how creative they can
• 18:25
  Speaker 1: get with getting him the football, even on shovel passes
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: and things of that nature. Dallas is violent after the catch. So...
• 18:32
  Speaker 1: having him back in the lineup when you're not having
• 18:34
  Speaker 1: Devante Smith, that's a plus because, excuse me, it gives
• 18:39
  Speaker 1: J one another option to turn to. And, you know, it's,
• 18:46
  Speaker 1: it's not, it's not ideal, but in the NFL, that's life.
• 18:50
  Speaker 1: You have to be able to persevere. You have to
• 18:52
  Speaker 1: be able to elevate those that you're working with. And
• 18:56
  Speaker 1: Jalen Hurts, he's viewed as one of the elite in
• 18:59
  Speaker 1: the NFL and rightfully so. Well, this is what elite
• 19:02
  Speaker 1: quarterbacks do. They make do with what they have and you,
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: you elevate. So not having Saquon and Drew Kendall and,
• 19:12
  Speaker 1: And Devontae Smith, not ideal. But we'll see about Jonathan Grenard.
• 19:17
  Speaker 1: He didn't practice at all this week, but he's still
• 19:20
  Speaker 1: listed as questionable going into it early in the week.
• 19:23
  Speaker 1: I believe the report from NFL Network and ESPN was
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: that he was day-to-day with the ankle. I don't think
• 19:29
  Speaker 1: anything's changed there. Probably going to be a game-time decision,
• 19:33
  Speaker 1: but it's kind of odd to be listed as questionable
• 19:35
  Speaker 1: having not practiced all week. I don't know. That's a
• 19:38
  Speaker 1: fascinating one. We'll see how that goes. Marcus Epps not
• 19:41
  Speaker 1: playing means that you're going to see Michael Carter II
• 19:45
  Speaker 1: at safety again, I thought Mike did a nice job
• 19:48
  Speaker 1: holding it down at safety. You can see that he's
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: a much rangier player, better movement in space. He can
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: close gaps a lot faster. I think he takes good
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: angles to the football. Not the biggest guy in the world,
• 20:01
  Speaker 1: but he is tough. And I thought that he did
• 20:04
  Speaker 1: some good things wrapping up as a tackler. And he's
• 20:07
  Speaker 1: just going to get better as things go along. Remember,
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: he's not a safety by trade. He's a nickelback by trade.
• 20:13
  Speaker 1: And so there's elements of that position that are probably
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: going to require some on-the-job training. But I think the
• 20:22
  Speaker 1: skill set that he has, the football intelligence, The ball skills,
• 20:26
  Speaker 1: he had three pass breakups last week. For what they have,
• 20:32
  Speaker 1: I think Michael Carter is their best option to pair
• 20:34
  Speaker 1: opposite Drew McCuba. Nick Sirianni spoke earlier today on Friday,
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: and one of the messages, well, the message of the
• 20:44
  Speaker 1: week has been locking arms and staying together. Nick Sirianni
• 20:48
  Speaker 1: said it on Wednesday. I asked him about it on Friday,
• 20:51
  Speaker 1: about how he feels the team has responded to that message,
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: given all that's transpired this week. And Jalen Hurts echoed
• 20:58
  Speaker 1: that sentiment as well, locking arms and staying committed to
• 21:01
  Speaker 1: the process. So that's a common theme here. And it
• 21:04
  Speaker 1: seems that that's directly from Nick Sirianni. And they're going
• 21:08
  Speaker 1: to have to lean on their leadership and their and
• 21:11
  Speaker 1: their There are locker room pillars. In this case, I'm
• 21:15
  Speaker 1: talking about Jordan Mailata, who is a fantastic leader. Jalen Hurts,
• 21:20
  Speaker 1: Saquon Barkley, although he's not playing, he's a really impactful leader,
• 21:24
  Speaker 1: really more along the lines of a vocal. Devontae Smith
• 21:27
  Speaker 1: has become more vocal this year as his role has evolved.
• 21:30
  Speaker 1: Then you have Jordan Davis, Zach Vaughn, another player who
• 21:35
  Speaker 1: I think doesn't get enough credit for the leader that
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: he is. And they're going to have to lean on
• 21:39
  Speaker 1: those players. By the way, Zach Vaughn will be back
• 21:41
  Speaker 1: this week. He's cleared concussion protocol. He was full go
• 21:46
  Speaker 1: on the final day. We spoke to him in the
• 21:47
  Speaker 1: locker room. He said he feels good. He said he
• 21:50
  Speaker 1: feels really good. And I'll give you the quote. I'm
• 21:53
  Speaker 1: feeling good, really good, really good. We're back. Had a
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: full week of practice despite a little bit of limitations
• 21:59
  Speaker 1: early in the week. But I feel really good to
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: have him out there, the quarterback of your defense team.
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: The green dot wear, that's going to calm things down.
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: It's going to settle it down a little bit. And
• 22:12
  Speaker 1: I think that this is a spot where you're looking
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: to see the defense get back to its dominance. Now,
• 22:18
  Speaker 1: they played 83 snaps against the Rams. That can't happen.
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: You have to be able to play complementary football because otherwise,
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: this early in the season, this defense, good as it is,
• 22:29
  Speaker 1: will eventually wear down. The offense has to be able
• 22:31
  Speaker 1: to hold its weight. They have to pick up the tab.
• 22:34
  Speaker 1: at some point here, you can't keep having these three
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: and outs. And do I think that they're going to
• 22:38
  Speaker 1: go 0-12 again on third down? No. The law of
• 22:42
  Speaker 1: averages suggests that it's going to balance out a little bit,
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: but they have to be more efficient as an offense
• 22:47
  Speaker 1: and try to be opportunistic and Maybe establish some early
• 22:52
  Speaker 1: layups for Jalen Hurts, but the defense has been out
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: there for far too long, and I'm not excusing them
• 22:57
  Speaker 1: for the too long drives. That isn't Eagles football. That's
• 23:00
  Speaker 1: not how Vic Fangio coaches it, and that's not the
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: standard that these players hold themselves to. But they are human.
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: And when you're out there for that many snaps, which
• 23:09
  Speaker 1: is the amount of snaps that you would play if
• 23:12
  Speaker 1: it was maybe an overtime game, that's just not sustainable.
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: So it's going to take a collective effort here for
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: the Eagles to be able to pull this game out
• 23:19
  Speaker 1: in London. But I'm really fascinated to see some of
• 23:22
  Speaker 1: these younger players, including Will Shipley and Jake Majors and
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: Willie Lampkin. That's going to do it for this episode
• 23:29
  Speaker 1: of DiCecco Daily. I'm Andrew DiCecco, and I'll catch you
• 23:33
  Speaker 1: all on the next one.