Latest / Inside the Birds: A Philadelphia Eagles Podcast / Football at Four: Updating Changes With New Eagles Offense

Transcript

Football at Four: Updating Changes With New Eagles Offense · Inside the Birds: A Philadelphia Eagles Podcast

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Football in 4, powered by the Inside the Birds podcast, insidethebirds.com,
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: and it's brought to you every day by Ocean Casino Resort,
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: the best place for game days, the fanatic sportsbook at
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: Ocean Casino Resort, the gallery bar booking games, your go-to
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: destination with huge screens, great drinks, and all the sportsbook
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: action you want. It's the perfect place in Atlantic City
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: to catch and play every game. Don't forget about Sebastian Mascalzo,
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: September 17th through 20th, and 24th through 27th, or more
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: at TheOceanAC.com. It is a Wednesday, and that means we
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: talk to Jeff Mosher, Josh Henning, PG, filling in for
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: Mike Gill on the Sports Bash on 97.3 ESPN. As
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: we are getting closer to the start of the NFL season,
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: and there's an interesting piece over at PhillyVoice.com where Jeff
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: Mosher and the Philly Voice team did a little research
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: about the snap counts what are they actually doing in
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: practice you know jeff we've talked so much about what
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: the offense is going to be this year but no
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: one i think until you guys wrote this article has
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: actually documented what they actually did in practice so first
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: of all welcome back how you doing.
• 1:10
  Speaker 2: Today i'm good fellas how are you guys doing all right.
• 1:14
  Speaker 3: We're doing good so your houses.
• 1:17
  Speaker 4: And residences clear of any trees or power lines Is
• 1:22
  Speaker 4: your neighborhood okay?
• 1:23
  Speaker 2: Because where I am, it's pretty rough out here, man.
• 1:26
  Speaker 3: Is it storming pretty bad right now?
• 1:29
  Speaker 2: Well, it's not right this second, not. But last night
• 1:32
  Speaker 2: was pretty bad.
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: Last night I was telling Pete I saw a ton
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: of crazy lightning last night. The lightning was absolutely nuts
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: across the sky and.
• 1:41
  Speaker 2: Jumping around the clouds. It didn't stop. It wasn't like
• 1:44
  Speaker 2: a flash.
• 1:45
  Speaker 4: It was just like the northern lights were in the
• 1:47
  Speaker 4: sky all night long.
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: Continuous. Yeah, it was like literally the sky was lit,
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: and you were like, am I going to the sunlight?
• 1:53
  Speaker 2: Like, why am I going there? Exactly, yeah.
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: Let's shed some light, though, Jeff, on the Eagles' offense,
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: because I think it's one of the more important conversation
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: points is what is this new offense? And that's why
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: I like the article you guys wrote at Philly Voice.
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: And so before we get to the particulars, talk to
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: me for a moment about why this conversation has been
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: had about under center versus shotgun defense. is such an
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: important highlight to make. We're talking about the Eagles offense.
• 2:23
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 2:24
  Speaker 4: So, um, there, there's been a, there's been, obviously you
• 2:31
  Speaker 4: guys seen it, right?
• 2:32
  Speaker 2: There's, there's been a real proliferation of.
• 2:34
  Speaker 4: Uh, coaches who come from the Shanahan tree, the McVay tree. Uh,
• 2:39
  Speaker 4: and it's really starting to reach a ridiculous amount. I mean, now,
• 2:43
  Speaker 4: you know, obviously the Sean Mannion comes from Matt LaFleur,
• 2:47
  Speaker 4: who's a, McVeigh disciple.
• 2:49
  Speaker 2: Right. And if you look around the league.
• 2:52
  Speaker 4: There's just a ton of new hires, either as play
• 2:54
  Speaker 4: callers or head coaches that are going to.
• 2:57
  Speaker 2: Come from that tree and bring that. Even the commanders
• 2:59
  Speaker 2: are going to.
• 3:00
  Speaker 4: Do that with David Blau, who was under Ben Johnson
• 3:03
  Speaker 4: just a few years ago as a player, as a
• 3:05
  Speaker 4: quarterback there.
• 3:06
  Speaker 2: So you're seeing a lot of it.
• 3:09
  Speaker 4: And Why you're seeing a lot of it is because,
• 3:12
  Speaker 4: you know, things in the NFL tend to be cyclical
• 3:15
  Speaker 4: and those offenses typically perform pretty well. You know, Shanahan, McVay,
• 3:20
  Speaker 4: of course, so everybody wants to kind of hop aboard
• 3:23
  Speaker 4: the concepts. It's a very quarterback and wide receiver friendly offense.
• 3:28
  Speaker 4: But everything starts with the running game. And the under
• 3:30
  Speaker 4: center running game is a big element because the whole
• 3:34
  Speaker 4: objective of these offenses is to be able to marry
• 3:38
  Speaker 4: your under center running game.
• 3:40
  Speaker 2: With your play action passing game.
• 3:43
  Speaker 4: And that doesn't mean you have to have to. I'm
• 3:45
  Speaker 4: not saying you need an effective offensive. under center running game.
• 3:49
  Speaker 4: You just need to be able to show it because
• 3:51
  Speaker 4: you're trying to build passing options off of the same
• 3:55
  Speaker 4: looks that you would ordinarily run out of to keep
• 3:58
  Speaker 4: the defense guessing. And that's really a big part of
• 4:01
  Speaker 4: what Sean Mannion intends to do here. And it's a
• 4:06
  Speaker 4: big deal because the Eagles really haven't done it that way.
• 4:09
  Speaker 4: They've been a very successful up the middle run type team,
• 4:12
  Speaker 4: inside zone duo, things like that. And now they're adding
• 4:15
  Speaker 4: something now i wouldn't call it completely going one way.
• 4:19
  Speaker 2: Or another they're going.
• 4:19
  Speaker 4: To be a you know we'll talk about it they'll
• 4:21
  Speaker 4: they'll have they'll still be a shotgun team plenty um
• 4:25
  Speaker 4: but they're adding this part to their offense is that
• 4:27
  Speaker 4: the answer you're looking for why they're doing it or
• 4:30
  Speaker 4: why it's becoming important around the league.
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: Well, why is it becoming a conversational topic? Because I
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: remember one of the things that you guys talked about
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: last year on the ITB pod was about how they
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: started trying to implement the under center stuff last year.
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: And it was like, well, they didn't really practice it.
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: During training camp, the guys started inserting in the season,
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: whereas now, as you guys documented at Philly Voice, they
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: are actively making it part of training camp practice. These
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: sessions where they're saying, Jalen, you're under center. Jalen, you're
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: running play action. Jalen, you're running this one. Whereas last year,
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: it felt like it was like a, ah, we're just
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: going to add it in because we feel like it.
• 5:11
  Speaker 4: Well, that's just it because last year, as the offense
• 5:15
  Speaker 4: continued to regress as the running game struggled last year,
• 5:21
  Speaker 4: they were, the coaches collectively met and thought, what can
• 5:24
  Speaker 4: we do to offer something that looks a little different
• 5:28
  Speaker 4: to spice this thing up this year?
• 5:30
  Speaker 2: It's not about spicing anything up.
• 5:32
  Speaker 4: It's about last year when they were going under center
• 5:35
  Speaker 4: and trying these new parts of their offense, what they
• 5:38
  Speaker 4: were doing was trying to freshen.
• 5:41
  Speaker 2: Up an offense. I was getting stale this year.
• 5:42
  Speaker 4: It's not about, it's about, what the offense is and
• 5:46
  Speaker 4: what the staple of their offensive concepts will be. And
• 5:50
  Speaker 4: under center and wide zone running and under center play
• 5:54
  Speaker 4: action passing will be a big part of that.
• 5:57
  Speaker 3: The offense, we were talking about that.
• 5:59
  Speaker 5: The run game specifically, because we know the passing game
• 6:03
  Speaker 5: might be a work in progress, which is fair. But
• 6:05
  Speaker 5: the run game, trying to get back to maybe not
• 6:09
  Speaker 5: that 2,000-yard season, but getting that run game back to
• 6:12
  Speaker 5: where it can go. Is that maybe kind of why
• 6:16
  Speaker 5: you saw a guy like Cam Latu get sacrificed in
• 6:20
  Speaker 5: a way to where they have to keep four tight ends?
• 6:23
  Speaker 5: Because they need to get that run game back to
• 6:26
  Speaker 5: where it needs to be?
• 6:29
  Speaker 2: I'm confused on that one. I mean, he is a
• 6:31
  Speaker 2: tight end.
• 6:32
  Speaker 4: Right.
• 6:33
  Speaker 3: But his value to the roster is more special teams.
• 6:37
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I would argue. Yes, that's fine.
• 6:40
  Speaker 4: He's a very good special teamer, but I don't know
• 6:42
  Speaker 4: that he's any less of a blocker than EJ Jenkins.
• 6:45
  Speaker 2: But I mean, clearly they felt differently. So EJ's on
• 6:50
  Speaker 2: the roster. Yeah. So that's a fair point. He became
• 6:54
  Speaker 2: a casualty. He's now with the Patriots.
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: And.
• 6:58
  Speaker 4: They are trying to get this running game going again, Pete,
• 7:00
  Speaker 4: and that's sort of a complication that they have right now. Well,
• 7:04
  Speaker 4: I don't want to call it a complication because with
• 7:07
  Speaker 4: the tight end picture they have, it all depends on
• 7:10
  Speaker 4: how much better. if at all, Goddard is at blocking
• 7:14
  Speaker 4: than he was last year.
• 7:15
  Speaker 2: When he kind of took a step back. Johnny Munt
• 7:17
  Speaker 2: can block. We know that. He'll be on the field.
• 7:19
  Speaker 4: But, you know, what if he gets hurt or if
• 7:23
  Speaker 4: he's not going to be on the field forever? He
• 7:24
  Speaker 4: gives you almost nothing in the passing game. So if
• 7:27
  Speaker 4: you want to be out there with some guys who
• 7:29
  Speaker 4: can both block and catch.
• 7:31
  Speaker 2: Then it becomes a little bit of an issue.
• 7:33
  Speaker 4: But for getting the run game going, he should be
• 7:36
  Speaker 4: a big part of that, Munt.
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: Well, and I think that's part of the reason why
• 7:40
  Speaker 1: they kept Jenkins, right? Is that, you know, they know
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: what Jenkins can and can't do. And he's kind of
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: like a placeholder till Calcaterra comes back from the injured list.
• 7:47
  Speaker 4: Right. I, you know, they, I would say it's tough
• 7:51
  Speaker 4: to say that they know what Jenkins can and can't
• 7:53
  Speaker 4: do because he's not really played very much in the NFL.
• 7:57
  Speaker 4: He has played, I think in one or two games. Um,
• 8:01
  Speaker 4: they obviously have been pleased with his development. So they
• 8:04
  Speaker 4: feel like they can throw him out there and, and
• 8:06
  Speaker 4: trust him. Um, But I just don't know how much
• 8:10
  Speaker 4: time he's going to see on the field.
• 8:13
  Speaker 3: That's what I'm asking.
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: Like, is he just a placeholder until Calcaterra comes back?
• 8:16
  Speaker 2: It could be.
• 8:18
  Speaker 4: And then you get complicated because then.
• 8:19
  Speaker 2: You really lose his blocking, right? You gain the.
• 8:23
  Speaker 4: Pass catching you're looking for out of the position. But,
• 8:25
  Speaker 4: you know, I still think there's got to be some
• 8:28
  Speaker 4: moves to complete this room because.
• 8:31
  Speaker 2: If you.
• 8:32
  Speaker 4: Lost Goddard for a game or two or even a half, whatever,
• 8:35
  Speaker 4: you know, then you don't really have a wide tight
• 8:40
  Speaker 4: end who can also catch. You just have Munt who
• 8:42
  Speaker 4: can block and, you know, then you try to replace
• 8:45
  Speaker 4: it with somebody else and it's just not the same.
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: By the way, Jenkins is a total of 10 games
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: with the Eagles, but most of them he was playing,
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: it looks like mostly special team snaps. So it's not
• 8:54
  Speaker 1: like he was getting a lot of offensive action. But
• 8:57
  Speaker 1: I think that's where the interesting thing is, you know, Jeff,
• 8:59
  Speaker 1: before you jumped on, we were talking about this whole,
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: the could Zach Ertz come back kind of thing. And
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: I know how I was asked about it the other day.
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: And it's like, but Ertz is coming off of a
• 9:08
  Speaker 1: pretty serious injury. So it's like, who knows what even
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: he's like. So it feels like, and maybe, maybe I'm
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: not asking the right questions. So feel free to kind
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: of like pivot Jeff Mosher. We're repurposing football at four
• 9:22
  Speaker 1: at football at four here on the sports fashion on
• 9:25
  Speaker 1: 973 ESPN because technology is a wonderful thing. Uh, Josh
• 9:28
  Speaker 1: and APG filling in for Mike Gill live at URIs
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: in Wildwood, where we are watching the Phillies game and
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: it is still nothing, nothing, but Bryce Harper extended his
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: 36 game on Bay street. So he's got going that
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: going for us. Um, So, my question to you then
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: about the tight end is, because Pete and I were
• 9:46
  Speaker 1: talking about this before you jumped on, were they hoping
• 9:48
  Speaker 1: that Eli Stowers would be further along, and now he's not,
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: and that's put them in this predicament, or was there
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: another reason why they seem to have been caught in
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: this weird enigma when it comes to the tight end room?
• 10:05
  Speaker 2: No, I don't think that they.
• 10:06
  Speaker 4: I mean, I'm sure when you pick a guy in
• 10:08
  Speaker 4: the second round, you hope that he can at least
• 10:11
  Speaker 4: be what you saw.
• 10:12
  Speaker 2: You know he has to develop, but he.
• 10:14
  Speaker 4: Can at least give you components of what you saw
• 10:17
  Speaker 4: from him in college. And unfortunately for Stowers, what stood
• 10:21
  Speaker 4: out about him in college was that he was a
• 10:23
  Speaker 4: great athlete, caught a lot of passes as a tight end,
• 10:27
  Speaker 4: and created separation as a tight end because of his
• 10:30
  Speaker 4: natural fluid movements.
• 10:32
  Speaker 2: But he's not.
• 10:33
  Speaker 4: Playing, yeah, as they say, playing fast. You know, his
• 10:36
  Speaker 4: play speed is down right now. He's not showing that
• 10:38
  Speaker 4: great athleticism because he's swimming in it, in the physicality
• 10:44
  Speaker 4: of the game. I don't know how much of that
• 10:46
  Speaker 4: they anticipated. So it does, but it still doesn't really
• 10:50
  Speaker 4: change the fact that even if he was able to
• 10:52
  Speaker 4: contribute and you put him out there that you've got,
• 10:58
  Speaker 4: he's not a guy who can block either. So you're
• 11:01
  Speaker 4: a little bit short behind Goddard on guys who can
• 11:04
  Speaker 4: do both.
• 11:06
  Speaker 5: Jeff, now go to the four quarterbacks. Is there a
• 11:10
  Speaker 5: reason why the team kept four quarterbacks? Is there a
• 11:15
  Speaker 5: reason why Howie Roseman himself wanted to keep four quarterbacks?
• 11:20
  Speaker 5: Because you talk about a guy like Kyle McCord, right?
• 11:25
  Speaker 5: He was picked by the Birds last year, but then
• 11:28
  Speaker 5: he gets traded for a six-round pick. They kind of
• 11:30
  Speaker 5: lost that value to him. Is there a reason why
• 11:34
  Speaker 5: this team kept four quarterbacks?
• 11:36
  Speaker 2: Well, there's a reason. I don't know if it's a
• 11:39
  Speaker 2: good one. Well, there's a reason for everything.
• 11:44
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 11:45
  Speaker 4: I mean, look how he how he likes to have
• 11:48
  Speaker 4: the three guys. Right.
• 11:51
  Speaker 2: Even last year, if you remember when. McKee fractured his
• 11:55
  Speaker 2: thumb in training camp.
• 11:57
  Speaker 4: That pushed McCord to the number two behind Hurts and
• 12:00
  Speaker 4: how he didn't waste two.
• 12:00
  Speaker 2: Seconds before he traded for Sam Howell. And then he
• 12:03
  Speaker 2: kept Howell entire.
• 12:05
  Speaker 4: I think a lot of people forget Sam Howell was
• 12:07
  Speaker 4: on the 53 all year last year as the number three.
• 12:11
  Speaker 4: But at least Sam Howell was young through the ball
• 12:13
  Speaker 4: a lot. I mean, Dalton comes here and he's 39.
• 12:16
  Speaker 4: He's going to be 39 if he's not already.
• 12:20
  Speaker 2: And he's not.
• 12:22
  Speaker 4: Looking so great and You know, you factor in the
• 12:25
  Speaker 4: Panthers are paying to get rid of him. So they
• 12:28
  Speaker 4: even signed Kenny Pickett of all people. That really brings
• 12:31
  Speaker 4: it full circle. I think if there were an opportunity
• 12:35
  Speaker 4: to move Dalton, how he wouldn't shy away from it.
• 12:41
  Speaker 4: But the question really becomes is why are they.
• 12:44
  Speaker 2: Keeping Cole Payton, right?
• 12:46
  Speaker 4: They feel like he's a developmental guy with a lot
• 12:49
  Speaker 4: of plus traits.
• 12:51
  Speaker 2: He has a.
• 12:51
  Speaker 4: Long way to go as a quarterback throwing the football.
• 12:54
  Speaker 4: He only had 21 preseason snaps. You know, he's a
• 12:58
  Speaker 4: guy who likes– he's fun to watch. He'll launch it deeply,
• 13:01
  Speaker 4: but– He'll throw it into like double.
• 13:03
  Speaker 2: And triple coverage.
• 13:04
  Speaker 4: So he's got a lot of work to do, but
• 13:06
  Speaker 4: it's hard when you're the fourth quarterback to get working, right?
• 13:09
  Speaker 2: I mean, who's, is he the scout team quarterback?
• 13:12
  Speaker 4: Cause then what are, what are McKee and Dalton doing
• 13:16
  Speaker 4: all week?
• 13:17
  Speaker 2: Cause those guys don't get first team reps. They don't
• 13:19
  Speaker 2: get any reps.
• 13:20
  Speaker 4: So you really can only develop Peyton in developmental periods
• 13:24
  Speaker 4: after practice before games.
• 13:27
  Speaker 2: If you take them out, have them warming up at
• 13:29
  Speaker 2: the link and having.
• 13:30
  Speaker 4: Your quarterbacks coach work with them, your coordinator work with them.
• 13:34
  Speaker 2: If you can.
• 13:35
  Speaker 4: You know, I guess they were afraid to expose them
• 13:39
  Speaker 4: to waivers, but.
• 13:41
  Speaker 4: This is one where you guys got to remember, I
• 13:43
  Speaker 4: think I talked to you about this in the pre-draft
• 13:45
  Speaker 4: process on some shows. There were teams that didn't even
• 13:48
  Speaker 4: think Cole Payton was a quarterback. They wanted him to
• 13:53
  Speaker 4: work out at different positions at his pro day, and
• 13:55
  Speaker 4: he declined, which is his absolute right to do. But
• 13:59
  Speaker 4: there are teams that did not even see. That's where
• 14:02
  Speaker 4: the Taysom Hill comps came in. There are teams that
• 14:04
  Speaker 4: don't think he can... to be a quarterback so how
• 14:08
  Speaker 4: he knows that I'm a little surprised he felt like
• 14:10
  Speaker 4: exposing Colt Payton the waivers was a risk when you
• 14:14
  Speaker 4: know that a certain percentage of the league doesn't even
• 14:16
  Speaker 4: think that he is a quarterback.
• 14:18
  Speaker 5: Yeah and that really goes to like keeping him on
• 14:22
  Speaker 5: the 53 as opposed to risking losing a pair of
• 14:26
  Speaker 5: draft picks last year and Cameron Williams and Miles Hinton.
• 14:31
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 14:31
  Speaker 3: Was that a miscalculation or, you know.
• 14:34
  Speaker 2: I don't think so. I mean, they don't.
• 14:36
  Speaker 3: Really care about losing those guys.
• 14:38
  Speaker 4: They were hoping to see more development. That's, that's more
• 14:41
  Speaker 4: like it. You know, they were hoping to see specifically,
• 14:45
  Speaker 4: I think with Cameron Williams, cause he got to play
• 14:47
  Speaker 4: in that season finale last year and showed like he
• 14:50
  Speaker 4: developed a little bit.
• 14:51
  Speaker 2: He came out of Texas with this kind of.
• 14:53
  Speaker 4: Reputation where he's, real raw product and you got to
• 14:56
  Speaker 4: get into him and you got to coach him and
• 14:58
  Speaker 4: he had a year in this training camp and they
• 15:00
  Speaker 4: just didn't like what they saw apparently enough to put
• 15:03
  Speaker 4: him on the 53 I think Hinton as soon as
• 15:06
  Speaker 4: they started cross training in the guard you knew his
• 15:08
  Speaker 4: days were numbered he didn't really play like that in
• 15:11
  Speaker 4: college and in guard it takes sort of a mentality
• 15:13
  Speaker 4: like more of nasty inside offensive lineman mentality. And he's not,
• 15:18
  Speaker 4: he never struck me as that kind of guy to
• 15:20
  Speaker 4: begin with. So I don't think that there, I know
• 15:23
  Speaker 4: how he Roseman said, he's upset about losing guys. I'm
• 15:26
  Speaker 4: sure he is, you know, losing who chicken, the defensive
• 15:29
  Speaker 4: back campaign of who chicken to the Colts.
• 15:31
  Speaker 2: I think probably is one.
• 15:33
  Speaker 4: That he wishes he didn't because that guy was a
• 15:36
  Speaker 4: special teams missile.
• 15:38
  Speaker 2: He was fun to watch. But I don't know if
• 15:40
  Speaker 2: the two linemen.
• 15:42
  Speaker 4: Matter as much because they drafted Markel Bell. They got
• 15:47
  Speaker 4: something out of Willie Lampkin. They were happy with Drew
• 15:51
  Speaker 4: Kendall's emergence. And then they got a couple of guys
• 15:54
  Speaker 4: in the practice squad that were with them.
• 15:56
  Speaker 1: Well, Jeff, I think that's kind of where we can
• 15:58
  Speaker 1: circle back to what we were talking about at the
• 15:59
  Speaker 1: beginning of the hour about, you know, what they're doing
• 16:02
  Speaker 1: in practice. And that is, you know, we're talking about
• 16:05
  Speaker 1: tight end. We're talking about these quarterbacks. We're talking about
• 16:07
  Speaker 1: these offensive linemen. And I just have to think that
• 16:10
  Speaker 1: after reading, you know, what you guys did at Philly Voice,
• 16:14
  Speaker 1: which is a very detailed description of– You know, what
• 16:17
  Speaker 1: they were running under center, what they were doing with motion,
• 16:20
  Speaker 1: how they didn't really practice much motion before Devontae Smith
• 16:23
  Speaker 1: and Makai Lemon came back from their injuries. Like, it
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: feels like so much this roster is a byproduct of,
• 16:28
  Speaker 1: and I'm not trying to speak for anyone, so you
• 16:31
  Speaker 1: can correct me if I'm wrong, Jeff, but doesn't it
• 16:33
  Speaker 1: almost feel like that some of these roster decisions were
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: made because it was like, you know what? We may
• 16:39
  Speaker 1: have liked this guy, whoever that is, but they weren't
• 16:42
  Speaker 1: picking up. What we want them to do within the
• 16:46
  Speaker 1: confines of what we want to do on offense.
• 16:50
  Speaker 2: Possible, Josh.
• 16:52
  Speaker 4: You know, I don't know if a guy like Cameron
• 16:54
  Speaker 4: Williams wasn't picking up the offense or just wasn't good
• 16:57
  Speaker 4: enough in any offense or in any scheme to have
• 17:01
  Speaker 4: beaten out.
• 17:02
  Speaker 2: The guys who made the team. Gotcha. And same thing
• 17:07
  Speaker 2: at tight end.
• 17:08
  Speaker 4: I don't know that that was fitting or not fitting
• 17:11
  Speaker 4: the offense as much as just looking for certain traits
• 17:14
  Speaker 4: and qualities that guys possess.
• 17:16
  Speaker 1: So then, with that being said, from what you guys
• 17:20
  Speaker 1: at Philly Voice observe, you, Jimmy Kemski, and everybody else,
• 17:24
  Speaker 1: Do you feel like there were certain guys maybe that
• 17:27
  Speaker 1: seemed to be more adept? Like, obviously, Dantavian Wicks comes
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: from this offense. He was with Mannion in Green Bay.
• 17:36
  Speaker 1: And then we also have Hollywood Brown, who basically him
• 17:39
  Speaker 1: running the wrong route was the reason why Jalen Hurts
• 17:41
  Speaker 1: had the infamous social media interception problem.
• 17:43
  Speaker 3: To Quinnian Mitchell.
• 17:44
  Speaker 1: So like, were there certain guys that when you saw
• 17:47
  Speaker 1: them lining up under center or when you saw them
• 17:50
  Speaker 1: doing motion, that maybe that you were the guys that
• 17:52
  Speaker 1: fill your voice for, or even, you know, you, you
• 17:54
  Speaker 1: and Adam were sitting there and being, cause I know
• 17:56
  Speaker 1: you and Adam talk a lot about some of this
• 17:57
  Speaker 1: stuff where you guys were like, you know what, this
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: guy was really picking up what they were trying to
• 18:03
  Speaker 1: do in practice.
• 18:05
  Speaker 2: Well, you know, obviously.
• 18:06
  Speaker 4: So one of the metrics we tracked was the use
• 18:09
  Speaker 4: of motion.
• 18:10
  Speaker 3: Right.
• 18:11
  Speaker 4: Which is a big part of these kind of offensive
• 18:14
  Speaker 4: backbone identity. And we charted the Eagles motion that's there
• 18:18
  Speaker 4: in the Philadelphia in the Philly voice story, which everybody
• 18:21
  Speaker 4: should check out and their use of motion in this
• 18:25
  Speaker 4: training camp. was slightly above what they've done in the past,
• 18:30
  Speaker 4: but what they've done in the past ranks among the bottom.
• 18:32
  Speaker 4: So you would think there would be more. However, as
• 18:34
  Speaker 4: I wrote, you know, when you, Makai Lemon's a guy
• 18:38
  Speaker 4: who has the just glaring skill set to be able
• 18:42
  Speaker 4: to fit this kind of offense because he's.
• 18:44
  Speaker 2: Not a big guy. He's not a burner. He runs
• 18:47
  Speaker 2: good routes.
• 18:47
  Speaker 4: You don't want him facing a whole lot of press coverage, right?
• 18:50
  Speaker 4: But you want him running east-west and being your tell
• 18:54
  Speaker 4: slot motion receiver. And once he got back from missing
• 18:59
  Speaker 4: a few weeks and sort of Devante Smith, who also
• 19:01
  Speaker 4: could be a motion receiver to get away from press coverage. Um,
• 19:05
  Speaker 4: it was like the second practice after they got back
• 19:08
  Speaker 4: that they used motion more so than any other practice, uh,
• 19:13
  Speaker 4: that year that the camp so that was one thing
• 19:15
  Speaker 4: that really stuck out to me I think from the
• 19:18
  Speaker 4: wide zone running element Josh and Pete you know Tank
• 19:23
  Speaker 4: Bigsby is a guy who I just think his natural
• 19:27
  Speaker 4: running style like plant one foot in the ground and
• 19:29
  Speaker 4: cut is really conducive to that kind of a scheme
• 19:33
  Speaker 4: and Saquon can fit any scheme, but you've seen Saquon
• 19:37
  Speaker 4: sometimes where he becomes a little bit more.
• 19:39
  Speaker 2: Of a freelancer with two feet. Saquon has saved this,
• 19:42
  Speaker 2: not just me.
• 19:43
  Speaker 4: Saquon pointed out he likes to sometimes plant foot, right foot,
• 19:47
  Speaker 4: plant left foot, plant right foot as.
• 19:49
  Speaker 2: He searches for them.
• 19:50
  Speaker 4: Hole or just hurdles into the hole or spins like
• 19:53
  Speaker 4: in a madden game into the hole and does like
• 19:56
  Speaker 4: supernatural things it's not exactly um taylor taylor designed or
• 20:00
  Speaker 4: custom fit for wide zone where you're supposed to just
• 20:03
  Speaker 4: See the hole or the bubble and bounce into it, right? Right.
• 20:07
  Speaker 3: Straight in.
• 20:08
  Speaker 2: I'm sure he'll be fine.
• 20:09
  Speaker 4: But Bigsby, who was with the Jaguars last year, the
• 20:14
  Speaker 4: Jaguars head coach, Liam Cohen, and their offensive coordinator, Grant Udinski,
• 20:19
  Speaker 4: are guys who come from that tree, that McVeigh-Shanahan tree.
• 20:23
  Speaker 4: In fact, I believe when Sean Mannion was in Minnesota, no, Seattle,
• 20:28
  Speaker 4: Grant Udinski was there on the offensive coaching staff. So
• 20:32
  Speaker 4: Bigsby's already gotten a lot of reps in that kind
• 20:35
  Speaker 4: of a system. And I think it'll just be a
• 20:37
  Speaker 4: natural Taylor fit for him. It'll be interesting to see
• 20:39
  Speaker 4: if he gets the ball a little more this year.
• 20:42
  Speaker 3: Moshe, last one for me. I wanted to ask you
• 20:44
  Speaker 3: about the GQ article.
• 20:45
  Speaker 5: I don't know if you got a chance to read
• 20:46
  Speaker 5: the entire thing, but there is a piece up on
• 20:49
  Speaker 5: Philly Voice, too, about it. Can anyone decode Jalen Hurts,
• 20:52
  Speaker 5: the NFL's most cryptic quarterback? Did you learn anything new
• 20:56
  Speaker 5: there from the Hurts article? Maybe the stuff about A.J. Brown,
• 21:01
  Speaker 5: or maybe how Jalen once.
• 21:04
  Speaker 3: To be perceived, maybe what kind of narratives are out
• 21:08
  Speaker 3: there of our quarterback.
• 21:10
  Speaker 5: Try your best here to decode the NFL's most cryptic quarterback.
• 21:15
  Speaker 1: Are you asking me to decode the quarterback or decode
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: the article about the quarterback?
• 21:19
  Speaker 5: I think it's decode Morse's code because that's how hard
• 21:23
  Speaker 5: it is to decode this guy.
• 21:25
  Speaker 3: Did you learn anything new there?
• 21:28
  Speaker 5: Um he looks great by the way i mean some
• 21:31
  Speaker 5: of the fashion he's rocking is is nice.
• 21:34
  Speaker 4: Yeah i gotta say i don't think i'm a big
• 21:36
  Speaker 4: fan of the mustache i i've watched him and i've
• 21:39
  Speaker 4: looked at it and i i just not feeling that
• 21:41
  Speaker 4: mustache but you know far be it for me to
• 21:44
  Speaker 4: judge somebody else's physical appearance it was just something that
• 21:46
  Speaker 4: popped in my head um it was uh i've only
• 21:49
  Speaker 4: seen snippets of interviews and snippets of what's in the
• 21:53
  Speaker 4: story i haven't had a chance to read it yet uh.
• 21:57
  Speaker 2: He is just a really different kind of cat. I
• 22:00
  Speaker 2: think we all know that. Yeah. And that just.
• 22:03
  Speaker 4: That's what hit me is that, like, all of the
• 22:05
  Speaker 4: things that make him a little bit unique and maybe
• 22:09
  Speaker 4: somewhat unrelatable, which I'm not going to make a big
• 22:11
  Speaker 4: deal of because I don't think you, you know... relation
• 22:15
  Speaker 4: is as important as some other sports fans might but
• 22:19
  Speaker 4: um he is a he's a different breed of cat
• 22:22
  Speaker 4: and I thought it was interesting in the clip that
• 22:24
  Speaker 4: I was watching where he told the interviewer Zach Barron
• 22:28
  Speaker 4: is that.
• 22:28
  Speaker 2: The name right Zach Barron yep Zach Barron was like
• 22:31
  Speaker 2: oh you're done interviewing me well let me ask.
• 22:33
  Speaker 4: You questions right and what's your and I think he
• 22:38
  Speaker 4: just completely caught Zach off guard just by reading Zach's
• 22:42
  Speaker 4: body language there to the point where Zach really didn't
• 22:44
  Speaker 4: know how to answer it and I'm like that's a
• 22:46
  Speaker 4: guy who's like you know hurts who's sort of playing
• 22:49
  Speaker 4: checkers while somebody else is playing chess right there or
• 22:52
  Speaker 4: chess while somebody else.
• 22:53
  Speaker 3: Is playing checkers yeah yeah.
• 22:55
  Speaker 4: Yeah because he definitely caught Zach off guard and in
• 22:59
  Speaker 4: a way he wasn't prepared for it but yeah just
• 23:02
  Speaker 4: an interesting guy it's never just like You know, hey,
• 23:06
  Speaker 4: what are you doing today? I'm going to the store
• 23:07
  Speaker 4: to buy groceries. He's going to give you like a
• 23:10
  Speaker 4: really introspective.
• 23:13
  Speaker 2: It's true.
• 23:13
  Speaker 4: What kind of life is this dude been living, man?
• 23:15
  Speaker 4: Like the only thing I think that it might matter
• 23:20
  Speaker 4: is that a quarterback is supposed to be a guy
• 23:22
  Speaker 4: who brings everybody together.
• 23:24
  Speaker 1: Right.
• 23:24
  Speaker 4: And supposed to be a guy who can speak to
• 23:26
  Speaker 4: you if you're the 53rd guy on the roster or the.
• 23:29
  Speaker 2: Second guy on the roster and be able.
• 23:31
  Speaker 4: To even go across offense defensive lines and you know
• 23:35
  Speaker 4: and through no fault of his own if that's the
• 23:36
  Speaker 4: way he's wired that's the way he's wired but could
• 23:39
  Speaker 4: i understand if people who worked alongside him at the
• 23:43
  Speaker 4: eagles who play alongside him had the same kind of
• 23:46
  Speaker 4: opinions that we might have or that he's just kind
• 23:49
  Speaker 4: of like a unique sidle up or idle up to
• 23:54
  Speaker 4: a bar and have a beer and just start talking
• 23:57
  Speaker 4: like you know just talking anything it just doesn't seem
• 24:00
  Speaker 4: like he rolls that way and maybe that that does make.
• 24:03
  Speaker 2: It tough for some guys to just quote-unquote relate to him.
• 24:06
  Speaker 5: And that brings you back to that article that we
• 24:09
  Speaker 5: had in the offseason right where you had like close
• 24:12
  Speaker 5: to 12 guys go off the record oh the espn
• 24:15
  Speaker 5: article you mean tim mcmanus yeah yeah the tim mcmanus
• 24:19
  Speaker 5: no not you that's the Tim McManus, Jeremy Fowler, where they,
• 24:22
  Speaker 5: they sourced like 12 different guys.
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: Right.
• 24:25
  Speaker 3: Well, let's say, and we, we got, we got to
• 24:26
  Speaker 3: get the break, but I mean that Jeff, you brought
• 24:31
  Speaker 3: it up.
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: Adam brought up previously, Mike, you and I talked about
• 24:33
  Speaker 1: it here on the sports bash on the ISM three ESPN,
• 24:36
  Speaker 1: that ESPN article, if you read it in its entirety
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: was not the couple highlights that people made it out
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: to be a lot of that information was were things
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: that you guys had reported on previously at Inside the Birds.
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: So for anyone who listens to us or listens to
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: Inside the Birds podcast, it's not like what was said
• 24:58
  Speaker 1: in an ESPN article was necessarily enlightening. Just like this
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: GQ article is not necessarily enlightening. It's just a lot of...
• 25:07
  Speaker 1: for lack of a better term, reaffirmation of information we
• 25:11
  Speaker 1: already know about Jalen.
• 25:12
  Speaker 4: Yeah. I also didn't think it was a hit piece,
• 25:14
  Speaker 4: that ESPN article. A lot of people reacted and said, this.
• 25:18
  Speaker 2: Is a hit piece.
• 25:18
  Speaker 4: And there was nothing in it that I thought was
• 25:21
  Speaker 4: inflammatory that made Jalen out to be the problem of anything.
• 25:26
  Speaker 4: So it was just more of, like you just said,
• 25:28
  Speaker 4: an explanation of how he's a little bit wired differently.
• 25:31
  Speaker 4: And that's, you know, not everybody can kind of break
• 25:34
  Speaker 4: through that wall.
• 25:35
  Speaker 1: Well, I was going to say this whole segment has
• 25:38
  Speaker 1: been rewired differently and unique and probably the most unique
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: football at four we have ever done here on the
• 25:45
  Speaker 1: Sports Bash on 97.3 ESPN. So, Jeff, I appreciate you
• 25:49
  Speaker 1: circling back. I appreciate Alex jumping in when we had
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: no clue what you guys were saying.
• 25:54
  Speaker 3: But you know what? We made it work. We brought
• 25:57
  Speaker 3: it to the people.
• 25:58
  Speaker 1: And hopefully when you join Mike Gill when he returns
• 26:01
  Speaker 1: from his vacation next week, all will be fine. Or
• 26:04
  Speaker 1: as Mike Gill might assume, it'll be fine because I'll
• 26:07
  Speaker 1: be back in the studio because we know Mike hates
• 26:08
  Speaker 1: when I go on location.
• 26:11
  Speaker 4: Yes.
• 26:13
  Speaker 2: The cat will go back in the bag. The rat
• 26:17
  Speaker 2: will go.
• 26:19
  Speaker 1: Back in the cage. Put the gerbil back on his
• 26:22
  Speaker 1: hamster wheel. That's what I am.
• 26:23
  Speaker 3: I get it.
• 26:24
  Speaker 2: There you go. That's right. Thanks, Jeff.
• 26:29
  Speaker 3: All's well that ends well, Moshe.
• 26:31
  Speaker 2: I'm going to end this now.