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A Critical Eagles Offseason For Their Future (PST Episode 555) · The Philadelphia Sports Table | Philly Sports News & Views

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Hey, everybody, it's Jeff. We wanted to let you know we recorded
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this podcast episode on Wednesday, February twenty eight, twenty twenty four. By
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the time you hear this, some things may have changed, but we hope
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you enjoy the show. All right, everybody, you are listening to the
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Philadelphia Sports Table podcast show, the longest running weekly Philly sports podcast show in
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the world, over ten and a half years strong. We've got a great
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show for you. I'm Jeff Warren. I'm here by good buddy Len Hunsicker,
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Len Man. Good to talk to you, and we've got some good
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stories we're gonna getting into, Buddy. Yeah, I mean, things are
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kind of starting up here. We you know, we've got you know,
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Baseball is now in spring training, We've got MLS has started up, We've
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got a continuation of seasons, but you know, curious as to see where
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the flyers are going, and we got the Sixers going on, and then
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you know, within the next probably a couple of weeks, we're going to
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be ramping up with the NFL Draft. So yeah, I mean it's all
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you know, it's a busy time. Yeah, I mean, in all
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honesty, I don't have anything here on our agenda that we're going to be
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talking about in terms of the sixers. But my god, Tobias Harris is
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getting to the point where he's just like unplayable at this point. I mean,
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we know who Tobias is at this point, you know, year after
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year after year we've talked about on this show. We know who he is,
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and like, he's not even who he is at this point. Man,
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Like it is so tough to watch him playing on the court anymore.
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Yeah, I mean, at this point, the countdowns just on for him.
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This albatross of a contract is finally going to be up. And that's
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all he is to me, is his open cap money. Come you know,
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JUNI or July or whatever. I mean, that's that's what he is
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to me. In a good begin That's the only purpose he's going to serve
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between now and then. He'll have a good game every now and again,
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but you know, you can't have like one out of every five or two
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out of every five games be good. Yeah, when you're making forty million
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dollars a year or whatever it is he's making. I mean, it's just
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it's unacceptable. Absolutely, He's definitely on the downslide, And like I said,
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we're not gonna get into some Sixers talk right now because we just I
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mean, we're seeing what's happened with seeing what's happening with this team. Of
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course without Joe l Embiid. It's really amazing how how he is the glue
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and honestly one of the best athletes in Philadelphia, as we've been saying for
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years. But what we are going to get into this week, we're gonna
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get into that issue that we are now talking about from the Wake Forest and
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Duke game this past week, court storming. Should it be banned in college
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sports maybe the sports world in general. We're gonna certainly get into that Phillies
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players that we are gonna need to see more from this coming season from what
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we saw last year. Who are some of those players? And then from
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there we're gonna get into some union like Len was talking about, their season
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has started, a couple games under their belt right now, what have we
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been seeing from them? And then the Philadelphia Flyers man just losing guys left
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and right here and somehow this team is still in the mix in terms of
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the playoffs. Looks like they're gonna be making a push for a playoff seed
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here sitting third in the metro. So and then what we're throwing down on
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the table. We've got Oj Spivey from the Philadelphia Tribune. He's gonna join
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us for a discussion about the Philadelphia Eagles offseason and some of the storylines were
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following there, especially after Howie Roseman's presser this week, Nick Sirianni talking to
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the press as well, We're gonna get into some storylines there. So,
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Len, why don't we just start off with court storming and whether or not
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it should be banned either in college sports or the sports world in general.
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After what happened at the conclusion of the wake Forest and Duke game this past
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week, I mean, it was pretty unbelievable to see how Kyle Philipowski,
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who was a Duke player of course, who just he got railroaded by some
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wake Forest fans who just spilled onto the floor following their wake Forest win.
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It was an eighty three to seventy nine win over Duke. It was Saturday,
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I believe, And this incident, from my understanding because I didn't see
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it unfolded just weeks after a fan ran onto women's basketball ran right into Caitlyn
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Clark. I didn't see that. Eric and I actually talked about Kaitlyn Clark
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last week on the show anyway. So it did that upset loss at Ohio
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State, Kitlyn Clark got hit as well, so a lot of stars getting
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hit. And with Philipowski, you know, he was actually carted into the
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not carded, but he had to be helped into the dressing room because his
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knee was all messed up. And it's like how many times do we have
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to see this type of stuff? You know? And it's like I get
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that, I get that allure of Okay, your team just upset another team
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and you're so excited you want to celebrate storming the court or storming the field
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or whatever. It's kind of been this tradition, especially within college sports,
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but it's getting to the point where people aren't even they're not even cognizant of
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other folks playing, of existence on this earth, where they're just running into
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them, running into players. Can they could actually really injure players who are
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looking to possibly go pro. It could ruin their careers, you know,
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I mean, I know that sounds maybe a little intense to say it like
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that, and maybe a little far fetched, but still it's it's a real
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possibility. I don't know, what do you think about this, buddy,
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Well, you know, look, let's assume, okay, it's a tight
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game, and you know, when it's a tight game, like if it's
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a blowout, it's one thing, all of Duke's bench warmers are going to
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be in. But if it's a tight game, who they gonna have on
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their floor? They're gonna have all their best players to goose out. And
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Kyle Philipowski is probably Duke's best player. Yes, just like Caitlin Clark has
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no doubt Iowa was best player. So yeah, I mean, when you
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have a game that's kind of still in doubt and the game ends, you
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know your best players are basically you know what's for dinner out there on the
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floor. So yeah, and you've got a massive humanity all running at the
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same time, you know, you're not cognizant of forget the players that are
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on the court, you're not cognizant of who's directly to your left, who's
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directly to your right, who's right behind you. There's bumping, they're shoving,
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there's tripping. I mean, yes, star players could get hurt.
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Those kids running out on the court could get hurt too. I mean,
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you could get trampled. I mean, all takes is one person a trip,
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and then you know that causes you know, a bunch of people piling
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up and all of a sudden you've got a situation. And that's that's if
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they don't already get to the guys on the on the on the court.
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Yeah, I don't think there's anything malicious with any of these fans going on
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to the court. They're not trying to hurt these players. But I don't
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see anybody coming in with a clothes line or anything like that. You know,
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it's nothing like that. But I mean, and that's the thing I
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don't want to I also don't want to take away from you know, Yeah,
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it is a cool thing when you upset the number one team or a
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top ranked team, and you do want to celebrate with your with your players,
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and you know those players probably you know, think it's cool to celebrate
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with their fans. And I don't want to ruin that either. There's got
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to be like a thing of like and I don't know how you do it,
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of like, Okay, security forms a perimeter and it's like, Okay,
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losing team, you've got this time to get off the court, and
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then our kids are coming, but you got to give them time to get
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off the court after that. You know, listen, if you want to
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do it, then go ahead and do it. You know, I was
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still even even as like the winning team, I'd be scared one of these
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kids are going to jump on one of my star players and hurt them.
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But you know, if you want to have that court celebration or that field
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celebration that happens in football too, then you know, go ahead and do
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it. But I mean, I just feel like there's got to be some
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way to stall these kids enough so that you can get the losing team off
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the court and then not have to worry about anything in there. It means
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more security, you know what I mean? But like you and that's what
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it would Yeah, that's what it would have to come down to, is
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more security. Yeah. But my question then is like, because that that's
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what it comes down to, more security, But like, how do you
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know if a game is going to to you know, how do you know
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if what upset game is going to happen? To hire more security? You
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don't and you. Obviously you you kind of you look at your matchups too.
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Okay, if you're Wake Forest and you're playing NC State, who's not
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a ranked team, nobody's storming the court for that game. But if you're
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Wake Forest and you're playing Duke or North Carolina or a legitimate, legitimate giant
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like that, Okay, then you make sure they're they're just on the off
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chance that you happen to win, and that's a big win, and kids
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are going to want to storm the court. But yeah, you're you're you're
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lesser teams in that conference or whatever, You're not going to worry as much
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about that. Yeah, I agree with you. And I think what else
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I think is interesting is after this was that eleven Conferences, the Atlantic Ten,
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Big East, Big South, Big Ten, Big Twelve Conference, USA
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Mid Eastern Athletic, the PAC twelve, the Whack Southeastern and West Coast Conferences.
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They recently told the ESPN that the homeschool for a court storm could be
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the subject to a fine under certain circumstances. And what I think is funny
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is like, are all these conferences and when these games are occurring, is
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somebody gonna say over the loud speaker or the announcer. Now it's getting close,
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folks, it's getting close. Don't get don't get crazy and storm the
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court yet, because we don't want to get fined. Do you know what
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I mean? I mean, I can see it maybe maybe maybe in the
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last like five seconds of a game, as good is trickling down. Yeah.
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Or let's say, you know, you know, the the underdog winning
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team is up by like four points and then the losing team they got a
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guy with the free throw line and you know, okay, it's essentially over
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after after these two free throws. Maybe you have somebody come over to a
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loud speaker and say, you know, say something. Then I can see
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the kids though, sticking up their middle fingers and say it. There's sure,
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and they probably will. They probably will because the college kids and you
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know, you know, we we've all been that age and we've all been
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stupid like that, so you know, yeah, I mean that those kids
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probably are going to do that anyway, and and that hey, that's a
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coming upon the schools and to say, you know, you're taking money out
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of our out of our pocket, You're taking you know, money out of
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maybe our athletic program's pocket. I mean, I don't know, I don't
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know. It's such a tough thing to enforce. I don't I don't know
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how you do it, and and get the kids to care because again,
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their kids, they want that college experience of you know, oh I remember,
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you know, someday you know, they're going to be you know,
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old and talking to their college buddies and like come, oh man, remember
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that big win against whoever. And then we store the court and we had
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a great time, and you know they want that. All right, I
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get it. You know, I'm not you know, blind that, but
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you know, I guess the older you get, the more you're like Kyle
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Philipowski has a future in basketball. Caitlyn Clark obviously has a future in basketball.
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So it's like, you know, you don't want to see anything happen
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to somebody like that. Yeah, that very very true. Look, there's
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no easy answer, like we're talking about here, folks, but we'd love
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to hear from you. Let us know what you're thinking about this particular issue,
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and we'd love to talk about it more here on the show Philadelphia Sports
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Table at gmail dot com. We'd love to read your email here in the
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show and respond to it about this and just about anything in the world of
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sports, and Philly sports in particular. But len Is, we're moving along
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here with the show. Let's get into the Philadelphia Phillies. Here the Phillies
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are playing some baseball. We've got some you know, we got some some
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exhibition games. And it's great. I get these notifications on my phone every
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time that, you know, every time somebody hits a home run or every
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time a running score, I should say, And it's just I love seeing
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the notifications. The baseball season is here, they're playing ball. It's just
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it's like, you know, we had we had that, you know,
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two weeks after the Super Bowl or wherever. We were like, oh my
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gosh, this is just getting a little rough here in terms of sports,
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you know, and especially with Embiid being out, it's just great to be
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able to flip on the TV and yes, these games really don't mean too
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much. But the coach, but the coaching staff, the front offices,
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they are looking at some of these players and seeing, you know, who
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they're gonna keep on the roster for this twenty twenty four season. But in
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terms of where the Phillies are gonna go this year, of course, bring
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bringing in at least one with Maryfield, which was a great, great signing
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in this offseason, re signing Aaron Nola, of course, but there are
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guys that are gonna need to step up a little bit more this season.
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They're gonna need to have bounce back seasons. Lan And wanted to get into
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that with you, who are we going to need to have more from this
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coming season than what we saw from them last year. I have a couple
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guys that I'm gonna be honing in on. I know you do as well,
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So why don't you give me one, like who specifically are you going
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to be looking at this year to say, you know what, we're gonna
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need a little more from you this year. Well, the the person that
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I am going to be you know, I got one one position player and
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one pitcher that I'll give you. The first one of mine is going to
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be Johan Rojas. Uh. You know, he's you know, had it
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decent. You know when he came up during the Rigulo season, he had
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good numbers and then obviously he was just an offensive black hole in the playoffs.
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I mean, he just it's it's hard to get less production offensively out
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of a player than the Phillies got out of you know, Rojas. In
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these in those twenty three playoffs. You know, clearly the glove is there.
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He's an em will be ready glove on day one, possible Gold Glove
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candidate on day one. Defensively, he will profile there, and you know
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you're fine with him there. It's just what what has he done in the
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off season? You know, I know he's bulked up some what kind of
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you know, what kind of pitch recognition? You know, has he picked
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up? What kind of approach at the plate? Has he has he worked
14:26
on in terms of that. So that's the big thing for me, because
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he you know, he I think he's basically they want him to win that
14:33
job. They want him to be the center fielder. I mean, no
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question about it. But is he going to you know, perform enough at
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the plate to at least you know, say, okay, this isn't a
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question. He's the guy. So after these, after the playoffs that we
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saw last fall, I think everybody kind of wants to see if he can
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turn it around offensively and be that guy. I think that's a really good,
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good would pick in terms of some guy that's gonna need on this team
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that's gonna need to bounce back, because I mean they again, they ended
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up signing with Meryfield, and I think as that insurance policy for for marsh
15:11
and for Rojas as well, because if some re if for some reason,
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Rojas just doesn't have it, they do have Merrifield. They're going to be
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able to put out there perhaps a little bit more. He's not going to
15:20
be an everyday starter. We know that they're going to be able to put
15:22
him in different areas of the outfield. He's played second base before, so
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I do like I do like your your pick, and I want to see
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him develop that much more this coming season. For sure. For me,
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Lan my pick, my first pick is going to be jt real Muto.
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I mean, look, the the the conventional wisdom was that he did of
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a down year, and he certainly did. I think in twenty twenty three,
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for sure, he still has one of the strongest arms, uh for
15:52
a catcher in the game. His his throwing time to second base, I
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think is in the NFL or it's I'm reading something here, it's four hundredths
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of a second ahead of second place. I'm sorry, and of second place,
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and it maybe it might not be the best one considering hit the velocity,
16:11
but he's tied for seventh at in the league at eighty six point seven
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miles per hour, so he's not exactly slouching when it comes to being able
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to throw to second base. But when you take a look at some of
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the other metrics with him, he had the worst walk rate since twenty seventeen,
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worst strikeout rate since his eleven game debut in twenty fourteen, and the
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fewest wins above replacements since that same rookie season. And he had the worst
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season by runs via Baseball Savant and the worst framing season of his career too.
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So there were issues that he had in twenty twenty three, and I
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certainly think that he's going to be able to bounce back from them. But
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I think we need to see a little bit more from JT. Realmuto,
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and you know, even when it comes to even when it comes to being
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in the batter's box as well, I think we're gonna need to see more
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from him. So he's one guy I think needs to have a bounce back
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season. And don't get me wrong, signing him to a contract extension was
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the correct move by the franchise. I think, you know, being able
17:15
to field a playoff team, it means having players be at or near the
17:19
top of their positions, and J t Romuto I think still is that.
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But I still think he needs to have a bounce back season. Yeah,
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he's still up there. I mean to me, I think, you know,
17:30
age might be starting to catch up to him a little bit. The
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days of you know, hashtag BCIB best catcher in Baseball might be over.
17:38
I don't know that you can make a credible case for him being the best
17:41
catcher in baseball anymore. But he's still you know, if you're doing your
17:45
ranking of top ten catchers in baseball, which I know MLB network is done,
17:49
they're doing their top ten in their position. Now, you know,
17:52
this time of year, he's easily in that top ten catchers in baseball.
17:56
He's probably you know, maybe halfway through that list at this point. But
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yeah, there's guys that are better at this point. But yeah, I
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think a lot of that has to do with his workload. He does,
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you know, take on a eight maybe a heavier workload than any other catcher
18:12
in baseball. I'd have to look at the numbers there, But I think
18:15
that's a good point. Yeah, it seems like he could use a breather
18:19
every now and again. I mean, Garrett Stubbs has a you know,
18:22
nice player, but you know, maybe I don't know what their confidence level
18:26
is in him if real Mudo was starting that many games. Yeah, so
18:32
yeah, I mean I think that kind of plays into it a little bit.
18:33
All right, very good. Is there another player you have that you
18:37
want to really see have a bounce back season here in twenty twenty four.
18:41
It's funny because it's not a bounce back season, it's a build upon season,
18:45
and that is Christopher Sanchez. You know, there's a lot of talk,
18:48
you know, Okay, what are the Phillies going to do in the
18:51
off season? They need to resign Aaronola. I was of the opinion that
18:55
they needed to sign a second pitcher, like big name pitcher in addition to
19:00
Nola. I would have liked to have seen that. But the Phillies were
19:04
really happy, and for good reason, what they saw in Christopher Sanchez last
19:08
year so much so that they decided he's our guy, He's our fifth starter.
19:15
We don't need to go out. I think more for depth purposes.
19:18
I think you needed to go out and get somebody else because guys are always
19:21
going to get hurt. They do every single year, and I think that
19:23
is going to end up biting the phillies in the rear end. But you
19:26
know, but that's not Sanchez's fault. He did enough. His change up
19:32
was absolutely phenomenal, one of the best, maybe one of the best pitches
19:36
in baseball last year. Honestly, his change up was that legitimately that good.
19:41
He dropped his walk rate to around four percent, which is way lower
19:45
than ever. Strikeout percentage was about the same, but you know, but
19:52
yeah, when you're low in your walks like that, when you've got that
19:53
change up that you know nobody can hit and they had a tough time with
19:59
it, then that just it makes your fastball that much better. It makes
20:03
everything better. And man, did he have a good year last year.
20:06
So I just want to know, you know, because a lot of people
20:08
have, you know, a good half a year. Yeah, is that
20:12
or is this a twenty seven year old guy who has finally figured it out
20:18
and is now ready to be you know, a pillar of a rotation.
20:22
So that's what I want to see out of Christopher Sanchez this year, which
20:26
one is it. I think that's an interesting build upon because he seems to
20:30
be one of those guys And I don't going to sound like hokey about it,
20:33
but like confidence is going to be everything for him. I think April
20:37
and May, the type of performances he's able to give out on the mound
20:41
are going to determine how the majority of the season's going to go for him.
20:45
He seems to be one of those players where you know, look,
20:49
the Phillies have been optimistic about his you know, his control, you know,
20:55
especially last year. I remember they talked about it every now and again
20:57
that they were optimistic about it. Again. If he's able to have that
21:02
control and he's able to just ride April in May with some confidence, I
21:07
think he's gonna have a successful season. You know, it might it might
21:11
not be like lights out or anything, but I think he's gonna be able
21:15
to build upon what you're talking about it. I think he's gonna be able
21:17
to build upon some of the positive attributes of his you know, of of
21:21
his throwing. So confidence, I think is going to be everything for him.
21:25
Yeah, and that would be interesting that first couple of months where it's
21:27
not as hot, the ball isn't traveling as far and jumping as far.
21:33
You know, if he can get off to a good start, maybe that
21:36
is something that kind of you know, it just like a ball rolling downhill,
21:40
just seeing, you know, just gathering as it goes down. Hopefully
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that's something that that he can do and that you know, it's not a
21:48
mirage. That control is not a mirage, and it carries over to the
21:51
season. Yeah, absolutely, all right, Well, look, my last
21:55
guy that I think really has to have a bounce back season. It may
21:56
seem may seem obvious to some, but I think it's going to be really
22:00
important, and that is Trey Turner. The fact that we needed to give
22:06
him a standing ovation last year and get him to hit the damn ball.
22:10
But not just with regard to offense I'm talking about I'm talking about from a
22:15
defensive standpoint. Look, I don't think he's suddenly going to be great with
22:19
his glove. I think for most of his career he's been average at best
22:26
in the field. But I do I really don't want him to be as
22:30
error prone as he has been, you know, the past couple seasons,
22:34
I mean twenty three errors that he had last year, it was a career
22:38
high. He had sixteen errors in twenty twenty two. He also had nine
22:44
errors and just fifty nine games during the COVID twenty twenty season, so over
22:49
a full season, that would have translated to twenty four errors. So errors
22:53
are a growing problem for Trey Turner. So look, despite his speed and
23:00
other aspects of his game that he plays that he is really good at,
23:03
I guess he's never been that great of a fielder. Certainly solid at times.
23:08
He can make some plays, for sure, and he kind of just
23:11
masks everything because of that elite speed that he has. We kind of forget
23:15
maybe at times that he really isn't that great of a glove. But we
23:21
need to see some better defense from him, and certainly those errors really need
23:25
to come down. If those errors come down, it's going to help this
23:27
Phillies team a lot. He's going to have to bounce back in terms of
23:30
his defense out in the field. Len, Yeah, I think he just
23:36
needs to. I just think that's who he is as a player. I
23:40
don't think he's all of a sudden going to turn into Ozzie Smith. He's
23:42
a guy that he's not. This is who he's shown to be pretty much
23:48
his whole career. Yeah he can. I mean he's a really slick player.
23:53
He can make, you know, really tough plays look easy, and
23:57
he'll do some things out there to fensively they'll make you go wow, look
24:00
at that. But then you know he will botch, you know, routine
24:03
plays. I mean, that's just who he is. Looking They had their
24:07
choice of probably shortstops, you know, in that offseason where where it was
24:11
like him and Beaux Arts and Dansby Swanson. I mean, they probably could
24:15
have gone in a safer direction defensively, but Turner was the guy they wanted
24:19
and the reason for that was offensively. I think this year, okay,
24:25
he's got a year under his belt. He you know, knows where everything
24:27
is now in terms of you know, he's not navigating a new city.
24:30
He's you know, I know a lot of times when when a guy will
24:34
sign a monster deal like Trey Turner did, that first season can be tough
24:40
sometimes because there's a pressure to live up to that contract and they crack under
24:45
that sometimes that first year. I'm hoping that's what that was last year for
24:48
Trey Turner and that it was just like, Okay, I've been here here,
24:52
I know what everything is. I'm more comfortable, and I just be
24:57
the offensive player that I've been and that the Phillies, you know, paid
25:02
all that money for, because defensively, I think that's just who he is.
25:06
Yeah, I think you're right, But I hope we see some improvement
25:11
this year, because I mean, yeah, it would be great. I
25:14
mean, I'm sure he wants to be better too, I have no doubt,
25:17
but you know, sometimes you are what you are exactly, so we'll
25:22
see. Yeah, well, we'll see hopefully gets that back going as well.
25:25
And if you're new to the PSD podcast show, subscribe on whatever podcast
25:29
platform you're on. If you're on Apple Podcasts, appreciate a rate and review
25:32
there, and if anything happens to your podcast feed, you can find us
25:36
over at Philadelphia Sports Table dot com. We've got all of our shows over
25:40
there, and as I mentioned earlier after the court storming story that we did,
25:44
we'd love to hear from you a Philadelphia Sports Table at gmail dot com.
25:48
Shoot us off an email about anything in the world of Philly sports,
25:51
the sports world in general, and we'd really enjoy reading it here on the
25:53
show and responding to it. Follow Len on Twitter slash x at Len Huntseck,
25:59
or you can follow me at Jeffrey Underscore Warren in the show at Philadelphia
26:02
PST. I am on threads at mister jeff Warren in the show is on
26:06
threads as well at Philadelphia Sports Table. We are going to take a quick
26:10
break. We will be back in just a bit. All right, lean,
26:14
we are back in. Let's get into some MLS talk here with this
26:18
Philadelphia Union team. First couple of games of the season have come and gone,
26:22
and what did we learn from the first match against Chicago and the win
26:30
against Costa Rica as well? In the first leg of the contact I knew
26:36
I was, I know, I knew I was gonna mess it up.
26:40
I knew I was gonna mess it up. And you knew too exactly God,
26:48
I stink my gosh. Anyway, Oh boy, well, look,
26:53
so first game of the season Philadelphia Union, they tie the match two to
26:59
two against Chicago, and with regard to the win against Costa Rica, they
27:07
advanced and they advanced in the first leg. So what did we see in
27:14
that first and even in the second game against Costa Rica? Lens some of
27:18
the same stuff that we saw last season as well. I don't know if
27:23
you want to kind of get into any of the takeaways that we've seen thus
27:26
far. It's an early season again, only two matches have been played,
27:32
so you know, what are your thoughts here? Yeah, I mean the
27:37
you know, the game against Chicago, you know, ended up kind of
27:41
being a bit of a comeback win. You know, Gozdog scored with in
27:47
ninety minutes and then the three additional minutes to tie it up. You know,
27:52
when you look at the team stats from that, you know, the
27:56
the Union out shot Chicago. They had more possession fifty five percent of the
28:00
time rut to forty five percent for Chicago, more pass accuracy, you know,
28:07
a little bit more offside, so that was an issue. Maybe that's
28:10
something they need to work on. But I mean it seems like they kind
28:14
of dictated it, even though they had to kind of come from behind to
28:18
win. So I mean that that would you know, I didn't see that
28:21
game. I'm just going off with the numbers here. I did see,
28:25
you know, most of both the games in the Cocka CAF Championships Cup against
28:30
Deportivo Soaprisa out of Costa Rica, as you mentioned, and and those matches.
28:36
I mean, it's good to see uh Michael uwa kinda. He's a
28:41
guy that like last year was like okay, I mean he was kind of
28:44
like this big deal coming from Europe and I haven't really seen it. He
28:49
looks like he's kind of off to a decent start when it comes to scoring
28:52
goals. Julian Caronza is off to a hot start scoring goals, get winning
28:59
that first game three to two, should have been three to one. They
29:02
gave up a late goal that you know, kind of made things a lot
29:04
tougher than it had to be. But then they drew against Sapriza last night,
29:11
Michael coming up with a big goal late in that game to tie that
29:15
game up and then move them on to the next round against Pachuca. So
29:19
yeah, I mean, so far, it's kind of you know, maybe
29:23
kind of like a little a little bit of the same. It does seem
29:27
like they're working different guys into the lineup a little bit, so you know,
29:32
maybe there's that thing of like and we saw that last season where it
29:36
was like okay, kind of newer faces were in the lineup and things weren't
29:40
gelling, and then as the season went along, things started to click a
29:44
little bit more because maybe there was a little bit more familiarity and I'm kind
29:48
of hoping that that might be. I'm hoping like from the start, just
29:52
because I mean, a lot of those guys are still here, so maybe
29:55
it starts off a little more familiarity and then the newer guys that come in
30:00
that gels a little bit quicker than it did last season, because it felt
30:03
like it took quite a while for things to click last year exactly. So
30:07
I want to you know, I want to see that happen a little bit
30:08
sooner and then they can maybe make a little bit stronger push here. Yeah,
30:12
well, I looked like one of the younger guys, Quinn Sullivan looking
30:15
like one of the better players on the field that in there. He had
30:18
a really nice game. Yeah, he had an assist as well. He
30:21
also put in some pretty good defensive effort too. So I mean, being
30:26
nineteen years old making a second start, you know, in as many games
30:32
like you know, he he looks ready for possibly a bigger role in the
30:37
future. And again, you know, he certainly performed and it wasn't something
30:42
I think a lot of us were talking about before the season started. I
30:45
mean our our friend of the pod, Josh Schuster, who's been been on
30:49
our Eagles postgame shows, and he's he's a contributor over at Philadelphia Soccer Now.
30:55
I think they were even talking about it in one of their in one
30:57
of their recent articles. Now, Quinn Sullivan was looking like one of the
31:02
better players on the field, and that's good to see. Considering young talent,
31:04
you want to groom these guys, and that was a positive that I
31:07
was able to take away from the game against Chicago. Yeah, and he's
31:11
a guy that, you know, if you're looking for somebody on this team
31:14
that's gonna maybe break out a little bit and make a little bit of a
31:18
leap, he's I think the obvious name. So yeah, I mean,
31:21
it's good to see him get off the start he's gotten off to and you
31:23
know, hopefully he can continue that. But you know, we'll see what
31:26
happens is Saturday against against Kansas City. You know, I think that's an
31:32
eight o'clock start. I don't know how much of that game I'll get to
31:34
see, but yeah, yeah, it'll be interesting to see how they continue
31:38
on here and then just see what happens once they I don't know, I
31:42
haven't looked at the schedule yet. I don't quite know when when they start
31:47
up against Pachuca, but you know, that'll that'll be an interesting set of
31:51
matches as well, so we'll see what they can do. I mean,
31:53
these I you know, I know, I'm you know, I'm excited for
31:56
the MLS season, but you know, you always you just think of like
32:01
with Okay, the United States and soccer, it's always exciting when you go
32:06
up against those teams from other countries. Yeah, you kind of I kind
32:08
of just look at it as a little bit more of a measuring stick.
32:13
So I mean, yeah, I'm kind of a little bit more excited for
32:16
the CONKERCAFF Championships Cup right now. But I mean, obviously you got to
32:21
handle business in the in the MLS regular season as well. Absolutely, and
32:24
we're still going to follow what's going on with this Union team, specifically talking
32:29
about it when Len's on the show. I don't think Eric's going to give
32:30
us too much Len Well, I figure that's why that's why there's no sixers
32:36
this time, because we're saving that for her. But I mean, in
32:40
all honesty, I was just thinking to myself, as I said at the
32:43
beginning of the show, I'm like, you know, without Embeid and this
32:45
team is just falterning. It's like, what are we going to talk about
32:47
with them? You know, it's it's it's a lot harder. And look,
32:51
Maxie, obviously he's an All Star, he's a dynamic player. But
32:53
yeah, it's it's harder when you don't have one of the five best players
32:59
in the NBA there, Yeah, makes all the difference exactly one of the
33:01
best athletes in the world is not there. But I'll tell you there's a
33:07
team that has been doing some interesting stuff in hockey and that is one Philadelphia
33:13
Flyers. I didn't think at the beginning of the season i'd use that phrase.
33:16
But here we are at the end of February, beginning of March,
33:21
and this team is still third in the Metropolitan Division. When my gosh.
33:27
But but unfortunately a slew of injuries and players just being out. You know,
33:32
it makes me think, where is this team gonna go? Where should
33:36
they go? Because now they are without Jamie Drysdale, Rasmus Ristelane and he
33:40
is out. Of course, the issue with Carter Hart and look, man,
33:45
that game against the Lightning this past week was probably one of the most
33:49
bizarre games of the season, with the power going out at the Wells Fargo
33:52
Center. One of the worst periods of hockey that I have seen from the
33:57
Flyers in the second period in that game, and then all of the sudden
34:00
turning it around in the third period like it like it was nothing. It
34:05
was one of the most bizarre games of the season in general. But overall,
34:08
Len, it looks like this team maybe making a push for the playoffs,
34:14
and I find it amazing that we're here. It stinks that Jamie Drysdale
34:20
now is week to week with that upper body injury, took a hit from
34:24
it. Took a hit in the Penguins game. I forgetting who it was.
34:27
I think it was Jansen Harkins that in the second period that nailed them.
34:31
But it kind of stinks because we wanted to see how Jamie Drysdale was
34:36
really going to develop and whether he could potentially and of course there's still time
34:39
for this, you know, into it possibly a top pair type of player.
34:44
But man, I just I'm all over the place when it comes to
34:46
this team. It's like I just I want I want to see them have
34:49
success. They are having success, but it's like at what cost here?
34:53
As we're in this rebuild and I don't even know if I guess you don't
34:58
call it a rebuild. They're doing well, they really are doing well.
35:01
They've had some losses recently, but still they're doing well from what we thought
35:06
they were going to be lent. I don't know, what are your thoughts
35:07
here? Like I see even you are like you're like, oh God,
35:16
like what do we do here? I just like, I don't know.
35:21
I get frustrated with with you know, I know, I know you want
35:24
them to be good. Yes, I know, and it's it is exciting.
35:29
It's cool to see them playing a lot better than we thought they would
35:32
play, you know, But I just I have a feeling, Okay,
35:39
this this rebuild is going to turn into Okay, we we get knocked out
35:44
in the first round every year. Yeah, I have a feeling that's what
35:47
it's going to turn into because we're we gotta win now. We got to
35:52
win now. We gotta you know, we we we we There's just I
35:54
don't know, Like I I work with a couple of guys that like the
35:58
Flyers and they just want to win, and it's you know, and as
36:00
I get it, you know, nobody wants to watch a losing team.
36:04
But I just so, you know, the Athletic is in the midst of
36:08
like a series right now of doing their you know, they they they're doing
36:13
the top you know, farm systems in all of hockey, and Flyers clocked
36:16
in at number six, and you know, I read the article and it
36:21
goes through all their prospects and all that stuff. And I was reading the
36:23
comments and there were quite a few comments of like, if this, if
36:29
this team doesn't have Mitchkoff, this this farm system is probably bottom third,
36:36
and it's hard to argue with that. They're one elite guy and that and
36:39
that's what really sucks about the whole Cutter got thing. And it's why,
36:44
God, I hope Jamie Drysdale, like this isn't his first upper body injury
36:47
or his first shoulder injury. So I don't want to see this become a
36:52
thing that that plagues him because I like what I see Adam so far.
36:57
I think he's a good player. I like him a lot, but like
37:00
I'm like, oh man, due, are we starting to get a track
37:01
urger to here with this because this was the guy that we got back for
37:07
because because Cutter got wanted to be a piss baby. And despite you know,
37:13
me calling him names, there he is showing that he is an elite
37:17
offensive prospect. And you need more than one guy and I and you need
37:22
and I'm talking about elite talent and from everything we're hearing, Mitchkoff is that
37:28
guy. But you gotta have more than one, and the Flyers only have
37:31
one. And the way that where you're gonna end up drafting, you know,
37:37
you you're hoping for a Kucharov situation like in Bay where he falls and
37:42
no, you know, he just he's a surprise. You're hoping for a
37:45
surprise at this point. And I just I just feel like it's going to
37:50
be Mitch Coaff if he comes over. You know who knows? You know
37:54
who knows. I mean that was the whole gamble, the whole thing.
37:58
But it's him, and then you know, I look, Tip, it's
38:01
good. He's a good player. He's a top six guy in connect Me
38:06
is obviously as well, but like it's them and then a bunch of middle
38:09
sixers. I mean, Bobby frank Is, he's a nice player, but
38:13
you know, is he is he elite talent? No? Yeah, Tyson
38:17
forrest Or No. I mean they're they're they're deaf guys and that's cool,
38:22
but you need studs and the Flyers don't have a lot of them. They
38:27
don't have any anybody that I would consider an elite stud right now. Connect
38:32
me. He's a good player, don't get me wrong. So is tipp
38:35
It. You know, Sean Couturier was, I mean, really good player.
38:39
He was never more than a second line center in my opinion. He's
38:44
not a front line guy. It never was even before the back injury.
38:46
So I don't know, Like, yes, this is exciting right now,
38:51
it is okay at this point, you know whatever, you might as well
38:53
go ahead and make the playoffs. But you know, I just I don't
38:59
see them having a you know, I don't know that they're ever going to
39:04
have. Okay, we have a Cup contending team because they can't do free
39:07
agency anymore. You know, back in the Ed Snyder days, there wasn't
39:10
a salary cap, so you could go out and you could offer them most
39:14
money. You can't do that anymore because you have a cap. Okay,
39:16
so what else do hockey players want? They once they get off the ice,
39:21
they want a nice warm climate. They want to go hang out by
39:22
the pool. Guess what. That ain't happened in Philadelphia in February, you
39:27
know, so you know, yeah, I just I don't know. I
39:30
don't know how you're going to coax people here. And you know, if
39:35
you can't, if you're not going to draft them because you're not going to
39:37
be in a position to well, then what so that That's that's where I
39:43
worry. And I know'd like if you're listening to this and you're in the
39:45
you know, we want to win all the time, you're probably getting ready
39:50
to throw something across the room or call me a wet blanket and get you
39:53
know what you have ever your right too, and that's fine, you know,
39:57
agree to disagree. I just don't see what's there up front that is
40:02
elite. I don't see it. Yeah, I mean, it's it's not
40:07
there. I mean sure, Seankctrrier is a really, really really good player.
40:10
Travis Connectney is, Yeah, he's the scoring leader of the team.
40:14
Cam Atkinson is older. He's an older Wiley veteran. And you mentioned Owen
40:20
Tippett a rising type of player for this team Yams the most exciting guy on
40:24
this team right now. Yes, he absolutely is. But are they stars
40:30
like you're saying, you know, that's that's that's the real question. And
40:34
I don't necessarily think that they're that they are. However, we do know
40:38
that once the playoffs come, things can happen, bounces can go their way.
40:45
This is a team. This is gonna sound so ridiculous, and I'm
40:47
half kidding and half serious. This is a Flyers team and organization that just
40:52
haven't had a lot of bounces going their way in front of the net over
40:54
the years, and they are to do. They've had awful, awful luck.
41:00
Nolan Patrick, Carter Hart, Oh god, Linn Blom the answer.
41:08
I mean, just the craziest things that can happen, Yes, have happened
41:14
to this team. So yeah, yeah, they have had They are,
41:17
they are due. They are among all the organizations in hockey. They are
41:23
probably at the tippy top of teams that are due for something nice to happen.
41:28
Absolutely, that doesn't mean that it will exactly exactly. Oh my gosh,
41:32
but I'm still gonna enjoy watching this team on the ice, dude,
41:35
I'm still gonna enjoy watching them because it has been a fun season. I'm
41:38
actually seeing speed on the ice and it sounds ridiculous to say that, but
41:43
it's something that we haven't seen for a long time with someone with some of
41:46
these Flyers players, like it seems speed on the ice and just a sense
41:51
of urgency. It has been so nice to watch this team this year.
41:54
Oh, it's a market difference, and you know, yes I'm complaining and
42:00
I probably shouldn't be, but I mean, just from from a you know,
42:04
a sloppiness standpoint, there's so much cleaner than they used to be in
42:07
that and that's Torderella. I mean it is. He's done one hell of
42:09
a job with this team. There's no, it's not even a question.
42:15
Yeah, you're absolutely correct. All right, Well, buddy, it's gonna
42:17
do it for us. Before we get to our OJA or our OJ our
42:21
interview with OJ Spivey, I could go for some OJ right now we are
42:24
we are recording. It's it's after it's about twenty after eleven here Wednesday night.
42:29
I'd go for some OJ, some orange juice. Get to me in
42:31
about eight hours for that. Yeah, right, you got anything else,
42:36
buddy? Any final thoughts for let you go, and before we get to
42:39
our interview this week, I do not. All right, Well, we
42:44
are gonna take a break everyone, and again make sure you're follow on Twitter
42:46
at Len Hunsicker and Buddy, I'm gonna let you go. We're gonna take
42:51
a quick break. We will be back in just a bit. All right,
42:53
we are back. Let's now get to what we're thrown down on the
42:57
table. We got a great discussion coming your way. Let's do it,
43:00
and now on the table. You can find him on Twitter and on threads
43:07
at OJ Philly. He is an award winning journalist at the Philadelphia Tribune.
43:13
Absolutely love talking to him. His content is fantastic. Again, search him
43:17
out. Make sure you're following everything he's doing on the interwebs. We have
43:22
the one and only OJ Spivey, oj Man. How are you, my
43:24
friend, and thanks so much for joining us this week. I'm great,
43:28
Jeff, and it's always great to be on with you as well. Exactly.
43:31
You know, I love talking to you because you are always transparent,
43:36
always honest in your assessments with regard to the world of Philly sports, specifically
43:40
with regard to the Eagles, the Sixers as well. Our mutual friend Matt
43:45
Rogers, I love when you go on his podcast. I listen to on
43:49
Apple Podcasts as well. I know I'm throwing a shout out to Matt right
43:52
now, but really I wanted to get into this Eagles offseason with you,
43:57
OJ, because of you know what we've been seeing as of late. Of
44:00
course, we know that Howie Roseman did a presser this week, and we're
44:04
gonna get into some of that and get into some of those themes from that
44:07
press event. But I'm really glad that during that presser we didn't really hear
44:12
anyone talking about the nonsensical AJ Brown storyline that shouldn't even have been a storyline
44:19
in the first place, and I wanted to get into that first and foremost
44:22
here with you. There's a sports talk radio station that not only created a
44:29
controversial story here, but they actually went out of their way to antagonize a
44:32
professional sports player, a player that means so much to the Philadelphia Eagles,
44:37
the team in general, and to the city overall. It's something that's really
44:40
been on my mind a lot, quite frankly, OJ, and in terms
44:45
of like a lot of different emotions like upset about it, disappointed, furious,
44:49
quite frankly, and I don't like to listen to this type of crap,
44:53
to be perfectly honest with you, when it comes to Philly sports talk
44:57
radio. It's why I listened to knowledgeable and likable podcasts. But I'm wondering,
45:02
Ojay, how do you see this type of media landscape, the kind
45:07
that is kind of denegrating sports media in a way? As you are a
45:12
seasoned, reputable sports writer in this city, how do you see this type
45:15
of media landscape not necessarily changing, but how we are continuing to absorb information
45:22
and the type of information that we are actually getting. Like as it pertains
45:25
to this situation, I don't know how you felt about it, but I
45:29
was extremely upset by it and quite frankly enraged from a professional like the sports
45:35
media standpoint, how have you seen all this shaping up? Yeah, I
45:39
felt the same way that you do, Jeff. But you've got to look
45:44
at the landscape of sports media. You have to look at the landscape of
45:49
the need and the desperation for content. These radio stations are competing with shows
45:55
like yours, shows like Matt where you know they have to find they have
46:01
to find a way to get content. And if they don't get it.
46:06
They have to create it. And the way traditional sports talk radio works is,
46:09
okay, do you throw something against the wall, even if it doesn't
46:14
stick, you go with the residue. So that's kind of that's so that's
46:20
kind of how it works. And now that you have you know, we
46:23
we have the social media platforms. Whether it was what we knew was Twitter,
46:29
now you have threads, Facebook, everything. You can do a poll
46:32
question, so it doesn't even matter if there was any teeth to so called
46:39
trade. You just put it out there. And the whole idea is to
46:46
is to entice a reaction, is to entice you know, fans to be
46:52
in rage. And it doesn't really matter what the subject is, doesn't really
46:57
matter how much fans like you and I will get in rage because that makes
47:01
for their show. Like the pole question, the second pole question on social
47:07
media is actually the facto producer for the show. So it does be a
47:12
matter if you know a J. Brown proposed trade or rumor h and everything
47:19
is legiti or not, because you know that works for them and they can
47:22
talk about it for a week. They talk about for two weeks. So
47:25
much so to where you had the player come on and say, hey,
47:29
you know I don't want to be traded. I love it here. You
47:32
or I knew that. But you know, for him to have to take
47:36
time out of his off season, he should he should be relaxing, whether
47:39
it's here in Philly or down south where he's from. You know, he
47:43
should be enjoying his off season and not having to call into a radio station.
47:49
And it's bad for a couple of things. Number One, that happens
47:51
to be the flagship station of the Eagles radio broadcast. Yes, I still
47:54
do know how they get away with all that stuff. It was back in
47:58
the day where you would have. Ironically, we have an owner like the
48:04
Ed Snyder the Flyers who actually used to own that station, and you know
48:07
he would call in or he would say, you know, get them out
48:10
of here, get them fight whatever. But anyway, you know, it's
48:15
to the point where everyone is just desperate for content. And what I don't
48:19
like the most, Jeff, what enrages me the most is when you call
48:22
them out on it. You know, they're the type to where they throw
48:25
stones, but then they want to hide their hands absolutely, So that's the
48:28
worst thing about it. If you're going to perpetuate things. If you're want
48:30
to conjure up things, just own it. Yep, yeah, we get
48:34
it. We get that you had that you had to have content, but
48:37
own up to it absolutely. I think that's a great way to analyze what
48:40
this particular situation in a lot of different situations as well. And and folks,
48:45
you know what's not to stop certain radio stations from saying, Okay,
48:49
the Eagles are going to trade Jail and Hurts, the Eagles are going to
48:52
trade Dallas Goddard. Just making stuff up as we saw with the aj Brown
48:55
situation. I mean, we're probably gonna hear some nonsense and garbage throughout the
49:00
course of this offseason. It's the media landscape that we're in, so just
49:02
be on the lookout for it, folks. So anyway, Ojays, we're
49:07
moving along here, buddy. I want I wanted to like get more into
49:09
that Howie Roseman press conference with you, and specifically with regard to certain players
49:15
certain positions here. First, I wanted to get your take on the James
49:20
Bradbury situation where he said James Bradbury is under contract and the Eagles really do
49:23
plan to move forward with him, that he is in their plans considering how
49:29
James Bradbury struggled time and time again this past season. Is this how we
49:35
having to kind of just accept that contract that was signed last spring basically essentially
49:39
saying, you know, this is what it is right now? Or is
49:43
this how he's hoped that Vic Fangio would be able to come in utilize and
49:47
coach James Bradberry kind of maybe in a different way or have some sort of
49:51
alternate plans for him within that defense. What are your thoughts? Well,
49:54
first of all, I look at it more so this way, Jeff.
49:58
You know how you Boseman. You know he doesn't speak much, but when
50:01
he does it's always you know, he's good at this now, so he
50:10
always tries to put put himself in a good light, put Eagles in the
50:15
good light, and kind of make a little bit of comment relief kind of
50:19
like a little bit of a distraction everything. But as far as Bradbury is
50:22
concerned, or the way he spoke about brad Bury, I think he's just
50:25
trying to be even keel about it, because again, you never just want
50:31
to admit that you may have to cut somebody, and who knows he may
50:37
be able to conjure up a trade, you know, during draft day or
50:39
so, so he has to you know, keep it on an even keel
50:44
and speaking about Bradbury and maybe even try to talk to him, talk about
50:46
him in a positive light because of the possible cat pit and you know,
50:51
maybe if they do acquire a cornerback via trade and everything, and they be
50:57
able to trade James Bradbury. So it's really not in the Eagles' best interest
51:01
to talk bad about Brad Barry as bad as he's been. And one more
51:06
thing, Jeff, I kind of feel bad for James brad because he really
51:10
is a good guy. I mean, he's one of a good guy,
51:13
one of the one of the best guys in locker room, always eager to
51:17
talk. He owns up to his mistakes and everything. I know, you
51:21
don't want him to make any mistakes and everything, and you know he's lost
51:24
his step clearly and everything. But he really is a good guy. I
51:29
wish the best for him. But the Eagles are in a tough position as
51:32
far as what they need to do, you know, as far as upgrading
51:36
that position and possibly moving on from him. Absolutely, and we're certainly going
51:40
to be following that here at the PSD podcast show, folks. But moving
51:44
along oj and sticking with the defense in terms of defensive personnel and what we
51:47
may be seeing this coming season, but how it pertains to this offseason as
51:52
well, There's going to be a need for a concentration on the linebacker position,
51:57
given that linebackers, you know, in Vic Fann's defense, they need
52:00
to cover in space. I think linebacker safety are going to be priorities in
52:05
terms of talent acquisition, whether it's in the draft, free agency. How
52:08
do you or I should I should say, how should the Eagles address this
52:14
linebacker situation that they're currently in. I mean, outside of Nikobe Dean,
52:19
who essentially still unproven because of health issues, how do you see the linebacker
52:23
course shaping up during the course of this offseason. Well, they have to
52:29
do everything they can and at the SALI help will probably help, by the
52:32
way, the raising of the record raising of can but they have to do
52:37
whatever they can to get a plate making linebacker in here. I mean,
52:40
we saw, especially in the second half of the season, how helpless they
52:45
were at that position. I know they suffered some injuries as well, but
52:50
you know, guys like Zach Cunningham, Nick Morrow. They did all they
52:53
could with what they were asked to do. Yep, but can't keep getting
52:58
guys off the street and plugging them in. And you know, asked him
53:00
be a playmaker. And unlike previous seasons, the linebacker position in the National
53:07
Football League has become a priority. I mean we saw this. You look
53:12
at the top five teams. I was looking at this again, the top
53:15
five teams who gave up the fewest points in the league. You look at
53:17
Baltimore, you look at San Francisco, you look at Buffalo. Those three
53:22
teams they were to sting these defenses in the league, you know, giving
53:25
the Chiefs as well. I should say they were defenses in the league giving
53:30
up sixteen seventeen points a game. So that's part as a linebacker position.
53:37
I mean, you have to be able to have somebody there that'll make plays,
53:39
that'll make some tackles. And going back to Nakoby Dean, even though
53:45
he's unproven, I did think that the Eagles defense took a down turn because
53:51
say what you want about him so far, he did call our defensive signals
53:55
and if you look back at the tapes early in the season, even though
53:58
he's not a playmaker or you know, he has yet to become a playmaker.
54:01
The defense was much more solid when he was a captain. Very true.
54:06
Yeah, absolutely, it's going to be interesting to follow that storyline as
54:09
well throughout the course of this offseason. But you know, during the presser
54:14
as well that Howie Roseman, you know, is talking to talking to members
54:19
of the press, he admitted that some young players should have seen more time
54:22
on the field, such as Nolan Smith. It was a first round draft
54:25
pick the last draft, and I really wanted to see Nolan Smith on the
54:30
field a lot more as well, just based on the fact that the pass
54:32
rush wasn't necessarily there. Let's give a young guy who's hungry the opportunity to
54:38
try to excel when the defense was struggling. That's where I was coming from
54:44
throughout this season. So, of course it's tough to predict anything, oj,
54:47
but do you think we should be seeing first year guys playing more on
54:52
the field during this coming season? Do you think it may happen, whether
54:55
it's you know, this past draft the upcoming draft, do you think the
55:00
may implement that a little bit more? Well, first thing is they may
55:05
be forced to if they can't work out a deal with how signed Reddit,
55:07
that's true enough. Uh, Nolan Smith is the next guy up. But
55:12
I do agree with you, Jeff, we probably should have seen more Nolan
55:15
Smith. From what I've heard. He may not have been necessarily ready to
55:21
take all the snaps that we probably expecting him to. But sometimes the only
55:24
way you learn is by getting reps, getting snaps everything. And you know,
55:30
as I had talked to him training camp, as all the other reporters,
55:32
I mean, he was eager to hit somebody, you know, he
55:35
was able to hit the bleep out of somebody. Yes, that was a
55:37
kind of one of the best sound bites coming out of training camp last year.
55:40
But yeah, you have to rely on your young players. You know,
55:45
sometimes it's hit or miss. We saw that with the cornerback position where
55:47
you saw guys like uh Ringo and Eli Rick sign they made a player too.
55:52
They did struggle. But you know, if you have a belief that
55:57
you've drafted these guys or you sign these guys as you believe that they have
56:00
talent, you have to put them in position to make plays. And part
56:04
of ads putting them on a field's never heard. Yeah, absolutely, and
56:07
I think they may have to do that with this defense in general. Honestly,
56:10
OJ, I am really concerned, and I know we're here and at
56:15
the end of February early March is right around the corner here, but I'm
56:17
just concerned about where the defense is going to go. Yeah, you bring
56:21
in a new Cover six defense with Vic Fangio and what he's been able to
56:24
do in the league, but still there's questions with the cornerback position, safety
56:29
position, linebacker position, and the defensive line. A lot of young guys,
56:32
guys that we want to take that next step forward and hope that they're
56:37
going to take that next step forward. Nothing is one hundred percent. Like
56:39
I said, we don't have a crystal ball, But man, I am
56:43
really really concerned about where the defense is going to be going this twenty twenty
56:46
four year. Yeah, I am too. And I was just looking at
56:51
a few stats before we came on, and only Arizona, only Washington gave
56:57
up more points per game than phill Off Eagles. Yeah, up nearly twenty
57:00
six points a game. And that's something that that I didn't realize. So
57:05
they really have to do a great job and just retoling his defense. So
57:08
much focus has been on the offense this past this off season so far,
57:14
Jeff that I've been saying it at nauseam, I said, the defense is
57:20
the biggest problem. I mean, the offense can bounce back because you're so
57:23
very much talented, but they are just lacking talent. They're just lacking playmakers
57:29
on that defense, and that has to be the number one thing in my
57:31
opinion. It has to be addressed in this free agency season and then the
57:37
draft and so forth. Absolutely, again, folks, we are talking to
57:39
OJ Spivey from the Philadelphia Tribune, Award winning journalist and columnist over there.
57:45
There's a reason why his stuff is fantastic. Check out everything he is doing
57:49
on the interwebs out there at OJ Philly on threads, at OJ Philly on
57:53
Twitter as well. And as we're moving along here, Oj, I also
57:59
wanted to, you know, again talk about what the future may hold.
58:04
Don't have a crystal ball here. It's impossible to predict certain things. But
58:08
I'm wondering if there are any surprises that you can envision for us US fans
58:14
from this Eagles front office during this offseason, because I do think that Howie
58:19
Roseman and the personnel and the front office. You know, it's not that
58:22
they like to surprise us, but they have a certain vision about what they
58:24
want to do with the team, with the organization in general. As they
58:29
look into the future, it's become certainly an offensive minded in passing a passing
58:36
league, for sure, but there are certain changes here and there. I
58:39
think this past season really was kind of I looked at it as the year
58:43
of the defense, and you were just mentioning how the Eagles defense given up
58:46
lots of points in those stats that you just just rolled off to us.
58:51
And I'm wondering if there are perhaps any re signings that might be a surprise
58:57
to US fans, or maybe them doing something in the draft maybe, I
59:00
mean you mentioned, you know, maybe they trade James Bradberry on you know,
59:05
first or second day of the draft. Perhaps. I don't know.
59:07
Do you see any surprises down the road for what this front office may or
59:10
may not do. Yeah, I'll give you a couple. You know,
59:15
as you talked about, you know, how he's speaking to the media out
59:19
in India at the combine and everything, and a lot of folks are taking
59:22
it to where when you know, the question came up about giving a soign
59:28
Reddick an extension. A lot of people were saying that, you know,
59:31
it doesn't sound like, you know, he wants to give him an extension
59:35
or give Reddick what he wants or what he deserves in my opinion, but
59:38
I do think that they'll find a way to work something out. I think
59:43
that the raising of the cap will certainly help. And then you look,
59:46
you look down at the list of the edge rushers, you know Reddick's peers.
59:52
I mean, you look at Booster, you look at Khalil Mack.
59:58
I'm trying to think of oh, Miles Garrett. Of course, yes,
1:00:01
you know, the Reddick's age is coming up to say, oh yeah,
1:00:05
he'll be thirty and everything. Well, Khalil McK is thirty three. I
1:00:08
think Miles Garrett will be thirty. I think Bosa is either twenty or twenty
1:00:14
nine. So you know, they're all around the same age, so you
1:00:16
can't use as an excuse. But I do think they'll find a way to
1:00:19
work something out. I also do think that they'll find a playmaking linebacker.
1:00:23
I think how we has not only I won't say you have to listen to
1:00:29
the fans, of course, but I think he's seen, especially from Jeffrey
1:00:34
Lorid's standpoint, he's seen how embarrassing that defense became the second half of the
1:00:38
year, and they have to again, they have to plug somebody in.
1:00:42
I think they will. I don't know exactly who that will be, because
1:00:45
you do have a decent list of free agent linebackers coming out is going to
1:00:50
become an available. It's going to cost you, of course, but I
1:00:52
think that's probably where you should invest a lot of your money. Giving that
1:01:00
so I have to resigne lann and Dickerson, you have to extend the vite
1:01:05
Smith absolutely, probably some surprises along those lines. Yep, all right,
1:01:09
I like that. I like it a lot, and lastly, wanted to
1:01:13
get into coaching coaching philosophy with you and what we may be seeing as well
1:01:17
in the future. Again not having a crystal ball, but Nick Sirianni is
1:01:22
definitely on the hot seat as we're looking at this upcoming season, and rightfully
1:01:25
so that you know there there are new assistants and we're certainly going to be
1:01:30
seeing I think some new concepts implemented on the field offensively and defensively this coming
1:01:35
year. But he talks about and he talked about in the presser this past
1:01:38
week at the Combine his quote core values, you know, which are accountability,
1:01:45
connecting being those two words there being the cornerstone of his coaching style.
1:01:51
Is this just coach talk? Do you think, oj or have you kind
1:01:53
of seen up close and maybe personal, how this has truly resonated with players
1:02:00
in the locker room because the end of the day, you know he still
1:02:02
is here, and you know the coordinators were let go. He's got a
1:02:07
new crop of coaches coming in in different you know, different position coaches and
1:02:10
unit coaches as well. Do you think it was just bs kind of coach
1:02:16
talk? Or is this really what he has implemented? And do the players
1:02:20
do you think buy in and will continue that. If that is the case,
1:02:23
well I will say the core values are posted up, you know,
1:02:29
in the facility, They're posted up in the locker rooms everything like that,
1:02:32
so you can you can take that kind of as you may, right to
1:02:37
have the signs out there right exactly as a reminder. But anyway, I
1:02:43
do believe the players like Nick. I don't personally, I never really looked
1:02:47
at him as a as an offensive innovator, as you know, someone who
1:02:52
was just innovative, like a Kyle Shanahan, like a Sean McVay. I
1:02:57
mean, those guys are outliers anyway, because they they just both seen to
1:03:01
see the game differently than most coaches want to lose. But I just think
1:03:07
what's important for Nick Sirianne is to get back to this. I was kind
1:03:10
of disappointed at their exit interview, you know, I was just more expecting
1:03:17
him. When people were saying, oh, yeah, you know, well,
1:03:20
what is your role now? He probably should have said to continue becoming
1:03:27
good a great leader of men. That's what I want to focus on.
1:03:30
A lot of coaches get by that. You don't have to be, you
1:03:32
know, an exos guy, but if you're a great leader of men,
1:03:36
which I do believe he is for the most part. But there's so many
1:03:39
moving parts last year and it's hard to simplify it. You really can't.
1:03:45
But it could be been as simple as just the Super Bowl hangover. I
1:03:50
mean, you know, less than about thirty percent of Super Bowl runner ups
1:03:54
even make it to the playoffs next year. And the worst thing about it
1:03:58
was Jeff and I've said this to people before, is that the Super Bowl
1:04:02
hangover with most teams usually happens early on in the season and they usually have
1:04:06
time to recover from it. But the worst thing they had with the Eagles
1:04:10
is that the Super Bowl hangover him after that San Francisco in Dallas game and
1:04:15
it just total panic after that. So Nick has to prove himself. He
1:04:19
will be, I believe on the hot seat. He does have to prove
1:04:21
himself. But they just have to find a way to recover from just that,
1:04:29
just that November and December swoon from last season. Yep. Well,
1:04:33
and we're going to keep following it here at the PST podcast show again,
1:04:36
folks. OJ Spivey from the Philadelphia Tribune at OJ Philly on Twitter, at
1:04:41
OJ Philly on threads. OJ buddy, it was great seeing you. Thanks
1:04:45
so much for taking the time to jump on our little podcast here. Very
1:04:48
much appreciate it. Join us down the road. I'd love to have you
1:04:50
back, my friend anytime. Jeff, always a pleasure. Thank you.
1:04:56
A great discussion with Oj, and as I reflect on our dis discussion,
1:05:00
as I think about how he's press conference from this past week and just the
1:05:03
overall mood of Eagles nation here. While I do think there is some hope
1:05:10
because we have free agency coming up, and the draft is going to be
1:05:14
here before we know it. We're gonna be talking about a lot of draft
1:05:16
prospects here on the PSD podcast show, for sure. But I think there's
1:05:20
this trepidation that I'm feeling right now. I wonder if you're feeling it as
1:05:25
well, if you are an Eagles fan, that trepidation of Okay, as
1:05:30
OJ was saying, They're coming off this absolute monumental collapse, that Super Bowl
1:05:36
hangover happening when it actually did. Can they reboot and get things back together
1:05:43
and have that drive and that fire this coming season. I mean, that's
1:05:46
inevitably, I think the question and is Nick Sirianni gonna be able to just
1:05:51
steer the ship where he needs to steer it? And that's essentially you know
1:05:55
what we were just talking about. And I think there is that, of
1:06:00
course possibility that is actually going to happen. And I do believe in this
1:06:04
front office. I do believe in Nick Sirianni. I know this past season
1:06:10
are really stunk. At day end of the day, it really stunk.
1:06:13
That collapse was terrible. But Nick Sirianni, again, yes, he has
1:06:17
gotten this team to a Super Bowl. Not too many NFL coaches can actually
1:06:23
say that. So gonna be given him the benefit of the doubt as we're
1:06:26
heading into this offseason, Gonna give how He Roseman the benefit of the doubt
1:06:30
as well. This is a this is a serious football team, you know,
1:06:32
folks. I mean, this isn't. This isn't some other professional football
1:06:36
teams that we've seen over the years just continuously fail and fail and fail.
1:06:42
This Eagles team is a very relevant team within the NFC still, I believe.
1:06:45
So that being said, it was great being in your ears. We're
1:06:48
gonna end this week's show there, thanks again to Len, and we are
1:06:55
gonna have some great content for you next week. Make sure you're following us
1:06:58
on the interwebs out there Pladephia Sports Table dot com. We've got all of
1:07:01
our shows over there. I'm on threads at mister jeff Warren. You can
1:07:05
follow the show at Philadelphia PST. Yes, we are on Twitter slash x
1:07:11
at Philadelphia PSD. You can follow me at Jeffrey Underscore Warren again at Len
1:07:15
Hunsicker. And that's gonna do it for us. Everybody, Take care and
1:07:18
we will catch you next time.