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OPPOSITION TERRITORY: Eagles vs. Saints, Week 3 Pregame Preview · The Philadelphia Sports Table | Philly Sports News & Views

• 0:23
  Speaker 1: Welcome to Opposition Territory here at the Philadelphia Sports Table
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: podcast show, the longest running weekly Philly sports podcast show
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: in the world, over eleven years strong. We got a
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: great discussion come in your way before this upcoming Philadelphia
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: Eagles New Orleans Saints game this Sunday at one pm
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: down in New Orleans. We're going to be getting into
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: some storylines that we're going to be following here on
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: our Opposition Territory podcast and a little bit of a
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: little bit of a different structure to this particular Opposition Territory.
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: As you know, we usually have various reporters and writers
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: on who covered the other team that we're gonna be
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: talking about, but had some things fall through, and luckily
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: we have one of our really good friends of the podcast,
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: Josh Schuster from Philadelphia Soccer now good friend of the show.
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: He's stepping up and joining us on this Opposition Territory pod. Josh, Buddy,
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: how you doing, man.
• 1:16
  Speaker 2: I'm doing all right. Jeff doing all right?
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: Coming forward to it. Yeah, I'm glad you're doing all
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: right because I'm still like reeling from this past week's game, Buddy,
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: like that the Monday, this Monday night, game couldn't have
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: I feel like it couldn't have gone any worse. Even
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: though it technically could have gone worse. They couldn't. They
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: might not have scorn it scored any points at all,
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: that would have been worse. But and the offense could
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: have looked worse too. But I'm sitting here as we're
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: recording this on Wednesday, thinking to myself, this Eagles team
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: is in a really difficult spot right now after Monday Night.
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: And I know we've read a lot on social media.
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: You know, we've gotten some data about where this Eagles
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: team is at after two weeks of the season. The
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: season's not gone by a stretch of the imagination, but
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: they're deafly concerns in the fallout from Week two against
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: that game of the Falcons. I mean, there's there are
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: real concerns. Josh.
• 2:08
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm actually gonna agree with what you originally said.
• 2:11
  Speaker 2: I don't think that Monday Night could have gone any worse. Yeah,
• 2:15
  Speaker 2: and simply because the pass rush. And we'll get into
• 2:19
  Speaker 2: this in one of the other questions. I mean, everyone,
• 2:22
  Speaker 2: I think was expecting Kirk Cousins to be under pressure
• 2:26
  Speaker 2: and he wasn't. I The other thing was you know,
• 2:30
  Speaker 2: I think overall, Hurts played a great game, and I
• 2:32
  Speaker 2: think you did a great job talking about this with
• 2:34
  Speaker 2: the postgame show. I think Hurts did a great job
• 2:38
  Speaker 2: up until that last drive. And I really felt myself
• 2:41
  Speaker 2: looking and going, Okay, he's looking more explosive, he's making
• 2:45
  Speaker 2: good decisions. Look at that the pocket is breaking down,
• 2:48
  Speaker 2: he's not just running to the right. He's doing good things.
• 2:52
  Speaker 2: And then the last drive happens. Yeah, where it's like
• 2:54
  Speaker 2: you have two timeouts left, there's thirty something seconds, you
• 2:58
  Speaker 2: need fifteen maybe twenty yard yards, and here we are
• 3:01
  Speaker 2: throwing into multiple coverage. What are we doing? And so
• 3:08
  Speaker 2: I don't know. I Monday really was not very good.
• 3:12
  Speaker 2: It was literally looking at a win and then just
• 3:16
  Speaker 2: deciding we don't need it.
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: Yeah, because it should have been a win. It really
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: should have been a win. And I hate when certain
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: teams say that. I hate when certain fan bases say
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: that about their team. Dallas Cowboys, Cowboys Nation are always
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: saying it should have been a win. We're a better team.
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: I gotta tell you, though, I am taking that with
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: me with regard to this Falcons game, this Eagles team
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: from an offensive perspective and this is an offensive base league. Generally,
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: this Eagles team is a better offense than the Atlanta Falcons.
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: There is no reason why. I mean, we saw good
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: stuff from Saquon Barkley. He didn't get in the end
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: zone unfortunately, and that was an issue. Of course, he
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: probably would have gotten into the end zone or very
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: close to it on that drop in the fourth quarter. However,
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: the Eagles have a good offense, but they did not
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: have the support from the Nick Fangio defense. So I
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: think we need to really talk about the Nick Fangio
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: defense as we are heading into week three here. Interestingly enough,
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: our good friend of the of the podcast here from
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: CBS Sports, Jeff Kerr, he put out some He put
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: out some stats on Twitter just about a day ago
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: or so. Yards per carry allowed by the Eagles defense
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: six point four, thirty second in the NFL. Josh. And
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: then we have yards before contact per rush two point
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: five to five. That's thirty first in the league. The
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: yards after contact per rush three point nine zero, twenty
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: ninth in the league. Also, twenty plus yard plays allowed.
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: Eagles have had ten. The defense has given up ten.
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: I should say that's thirtieth in the league. Dude, this
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: is a bottom three defense in the NFL so far, yes,
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: only after two games no pass rush. As you mentioned,
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: I am so concerned about going down to New Orleans
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: with what Derek Carr has been doing slicing and Dyson.
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: I am so concerned. But the Eagles have a bottom
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: three defensive front here they do, and there's no easy
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: fixes here.
• 5:18
  Speaker 2: Josh, No, I am really not looking forward to this
• 5:25
  Speaker 2: week's game, and I'm not really looking forward to the
• 5:29
  Speaker 2: following one either, And part of it stems from where
• 5:31
  Speaker 2: I thought the beginning of the season was. I thought
• 5:34
  Speaker 2: that these were going to be two easy games. The
• 5:37
  Speaker 2: NFC South has been terrible for a long time, yep.
• 5:40
  Speaker 2: And it's you know, Baker Mayfield and Derek Carr, you
• 5:44
  Speaker 2: know who really cares, and they aren't great around. The
• 5:48
  Speaker 2: NFL used to have a podcast where they would say
• 5:52
  Speaker 2: they would have something for quarterbacks called the Dalton Line
• 5:54
  Speaker 2: around Andy Dalton. If you have a quarterback that's better
• 5:58
  Speaker 2: than Andy Dalton, you're in good shape. If you have
• 6:00
  Speaker 2: a quarterback worse than Andy Dalton, you probably need a
• 6:03
  Speaker 2: new quarterback. The same as how I kind of feel
• 6:06
  Speaker 2: about Derek Carr until the last two weeks. I mean,
• 6:09
  Speaker 2: he has been This new system he's playing in is
• 6:13
  Speaker 2: just he seems to be seeing the field so much better.
• 6:16
  Speaker 2: And because he's actually proficient, now you have Kamara, who
• 6:21
  Speaker 2: looks like he's back in college again.
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: I was just gonna mention, Yeah, I was just gonna Yes,
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: he could be.
• 6:27
  Speaker 2: He could be.
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: He could be a top top three running back in
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: this league. He could be. He could be going for
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: the rushing title here.
• 6:35
  Speaker 2: Yeah. The the problem is there was somebody that was
• 6:39
  Speaker 2: talking about, and I apologize I can't remember who it is.
• 6:43
  Speaker 2: They were talking about the fact that you can't be
• 6:47
  Speaker 2: bad at multiple levels on the defense. You can be
• 6:50
  Speaker 2: bad at one and have the other two cover it.
• 6:53
  Speaker 2: They have no pass rush, and right now the secondary
• 6:59
  Speaker 2: they've shown flashes, Yes, but the problem is flashes aren't
• 7:03
  Speaker 2: gonna do it. When you have no pass rush. It
• 7:05
  Speaker 2: doesn't matter. You could have all pros for both corners
• 7:08
  Speaker 2: and a slot corner, but if they have all day,
• 7:12
  Speaker 2: the receivers are gonna get open. The other thing that
• 7:15
  Speaker 2: I'm really struggling with in terms of this game against
• 7:18
  Speaker 2: New Orleans and the following one is I expected more blitzing.
• 7:23
  Speaker 2: You know, I looked it up today. Yeah, because I
• 7:26
  Speaker 2: was told Fangio likes to blitz right, and to me,
• 7:29
  Speaker 2: I like to operate under common sense. To me, if
• 7:32
  Speaker 2: you're getting no pass rush, you gotta do something. You
• 7:35
  Speaker 2: gotta try anything. The Eagles are literally in the bottom
• 7:39
  Speaker 2: half of the league in blitzes. They're blitzing twenty four
• 7:42
  Speaker 2: I'm sorry, twenty three point five percent of the time.
• 7:45
  Speaker 2: That I feel like is not much different than last
• 7:48
  Speaker 2: year than Matt Patricia. Yeah, I mean I'm looking at
• 7:51
  Speaker 2: it when I'm watching the games. I expected with two
• 7:54
  Speaker 2: new coordinators on both sides of the ball, to say, Wow,
• 7:58
  Speaker 2: this is a totally different game that they're running. And
• 8:01
  Speaker 2: I'm looking and I'm going, well, that's a little different,
• 8:04
  Speaker 2: but the basic principles remaining the same. And it didn't
• 8:07
  Speaker 2: really work last year, So why are we doing it
• 8:10
  Speaker 2: again this year?
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: Yeah?
• 8:11
  Speaker 2: I don't know.
• 8:12
  Speaker 1: I'm concerned. Yeah, I'm concerned too. Look, I hate coming
• 8:16
  Speaker 1: down on just like one or two players on offense
• 8:20
  Speaker 1: or defense who may not be performing, because at the
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: end of the day, you know, there's eleven guys on
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: both sides of the ball, and everybody needs to come
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: together to make sure they're doing their jobs to make
• 8:30
  Speaker 1: sure inevitably that there's some sort of positive outcome. Like
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: we mentioned earlier, Eagles are not getting any edge. Rush
• 8:37
  Speaker 1: has Bryce huffed the big offseason acquisition even played, doesn't
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: really even seem like it. I mean, he cannot penetrate
• 8:45
  Speaker 1: get through any of these gaps. I mean there were
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: seven lead changes in the eagles thirty four to twenty
• 8:52
  Speaker 1: nine season opening win over Green Bay, six lead changes
• 8:56
  Speaker 1: against the Falcons. I mean, I guess we need to
• 8:59
  Speaker 1: get you to this twenty twenty four roller coaster ride
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: of a season. But I'll also say that I'm wondering
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: what's going on with the two big guys. The two
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: big guys on this defensive line. Jalen Carter looks good
• 9:13
  Speaker 1: at times, he looks invisible at other times. And man
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: Jordan Davis, He's supposed to be a run stuffer, Josh,
• 9:20
  Speaker 1: he's supposed to be eating up the gaps, and he
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: is beginning to look like a first round flop in
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: my opinion. And I hate saying that, I hate singling
• 9:30
  Speaker 1: out certain guys, but what we see is what we see,
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: and these are gentlemen that needed to step up this season.
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: They needed to take the roles of Hassan Reddick or
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: at least contribute to a certain extent from what Hassan
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: Reddick and Fletcher Cox did before the no longer being
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: on this team anymore. I am really really just surprised
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: at where this defense is. And look, the Eagles place
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: the onus on the twenty twenty three teams one in
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: six collapse on coaching. Right that the onus was placed
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: on coaching, and who knows where this personnel is going
• 10:09
  Speaker 1: to be going and what's gonna happen with this coaching
• 10:12
  Speaker 1: staff here. Again, it's early to be talking about whether
• 10:14
  Speaker 1: or not coaches are going to be let go in
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: my opinion, but these next couple of games, we need
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: to see something, especially with this Saints game. I mean
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: they Vic Vango really needs to show us something.
• 10:27
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I agree. I think part of the issue, and
• 10:31
  Speaker 2: I'm not about blaming one person either. I think part
• 10:35
  Speaker 2: of the issue is around Huff. Yeah, he only needs
• 10:40
  Speaker 2: one blocker on him, right, one guy to block him,
• 10:44
  Speaker 2: and sometimes don't even need that because he's.
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: Falling on the ground.
• 10:48
  Speaker 2: Yes, at the link, you know this isn't We're not
• 10:50
  Speaker 2: talking Brazil. We're talking like the link with a field
• 10:54
  Speaker 2: that's made for football. I was always in tree by
• 11:00
  Speaker 2: that signing. Yeah, and when I say intrigued, that's different
• 11:03
  Speaker 2: than excited. My thought process was, Okay, someone has double
• 11:08
  Speaker 2: digit sacks, the team has cap space that's letting him walk.
• 11:12
  Speaker 2: Why right, I feel like that's a normal You know,
• 11:15
  Speaker 2: anybody who comes in for a job interview, if they
• 11:18
  Speaker 2: have all these accolades, all these awards, why why are
• 11:22
  Speaker 2: you here at this smaller company looking for a job.
• 11:26
  Speaker 2: That doesn't make sense? Right? Well, the final drive, where
• 11:30
  Speaker 2: all they were going to do is pass huff is
• 11:32
  Speaker 2: nowhere to be seen on the field. I mean that
• 11:34
  Speaker 2: is not great. This this line is really going to
• 11:40
  Speaker 2: be a problem. And I give kudos to the Eagles
• 11:44
  Speaker 2: with saying, all right, we invested young talent in it,
• 11:47
  Speaker 2: so you know what, it's time to let the young
• 11:49
  Speaker 2: talent play. Because I'll use the Flyers as an example.
• 11:51
  Speaker 2: They have signed so many veteran defensemen, their young prospects
• 11:55
  Speaker 2: are just going to sit in the high valley and
• 11:57
  Speaker 2: there's only so much development, right you can do there.
• 12:00
  Speaker 2: So kudos to the Eagles on giving their young guys
• 12:02
  Speaker 2: a chance. The problem is for all the stars that
• 12:05
  Speaker 2: come out of Georgia and how he may have picked
• 12:08
  Speaker 2: the wrong ones.
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: Right, We'll see, we'll see. You made have a really
• 12:11
  Speaker 1: good point about the young players, because look, let's be
• 12:15
  Speaker 1: honest with ourselves, folks. Throughout this entire offseason, we were
• 12:19
  Speaker 1: looking forward to this. There was nobody saying that I
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: don't care who you are. There was nobody saying, you
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: know what, I'm not sure about this. I don't know
• 12:26
  Speaker 1: if this is gonna work. We were all excited about
• 12:29
  Speaker 1: the young guys. We were all excited about the direction
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: of the secondary. So yeah, it's something that's something we
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: really need to keep in mind. This is what we wanted.
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: This is what we wanted, folks, and we could not
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: wait on the offensive side of the ball here to
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: see what Aj Brown, to see what DeVante Smith, even
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: Dallas Goddard, what these guys were gonna do in terms
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: of the passing game. I think this loss against Atlanta
• 12:54
  Speaker 1: and as we're looking towards this Saints game, Josh, I
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: think it proved something like twenty twenty three. The Eagles
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: are heavily reliant on AJ Brown, who didn't play due
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: to a hamstring injuries, likely not going to be playing
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: this week against the Saints. I mean, if opposing defenses
• 13:12
  Speaker 1: can take out Brown, you know, forcing the Eagles other
• 13:16
  Speaker 1: weaponry that they have to beat them, the Eagles are
• 13:19
  Speaker 1: gonna have a tough time this season. They're gonna have
• 13:21
  Speaker 1: a tough time. And yes, I love Davonte Smith, and
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: we saw what he did. He had a really really
• 13:26
  Speaker 1: nice game. Outside of Deamonte Smith and Saquon Barkley and
• 13:30
  Speaker 1: of course Jalen Hurts and using his legs and his
• 13:33
  Speaker 1: I believe over eighty yards of rushing. There really wasn't
• 13:38
  Speaker 1: too much else going on from an offensive perspective. Grant
• 13:41
  Speaker 1: Calcatara amazingly enough having I think he had like five
• 13:44
  Speaker 1: or six targets in this game. Somehow, Dallas Goddard I believe,
• 13:48
  Speaker 1: only had three or four targets.
• 13:49
  Speaker 2: And we're.
• 13:51
  Speaker 1: You know, maybe we talk about Goddard too, because I've
• 13:54
  Speaker 1: been on the Twitter dot com an X talking with
• 13:57
  Speaker 1: some people about Dallas Goddard and I am very concerned
• 14:01
  Speaker 1: about where he's at in his career. Again, concerned about
• 14:05
  Speaker 1: not having aj Brown as well. I don't know what
• 14:09
  Speaker 1: are your thoughts here, Josh, because you know, the the
• 14:12
  Speaker 1: the offense was able to work around not having AJ
• 14:14
  Speaker 1: Brown out there, but it created it created challenges, and
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: it's gonna be that much more difficult for this d
• 14:21
  Speaker 1: Eagles defense to cope with an offense that doesn't have
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: an AJ Brown and a Dallas Goddard who should be
• 14:29
  Speaker 1: stepping up into certain roles. So I don't know what
• 14:31
  Speaker 1: are your thoughts here.
• 14:33
  Speaker 2: Yeah, so this is where you and I think are
• 14:36
  Speaker 2: gonna divert a little bit, okay in terms of Dallas
• 14:40
  Speaker 2: Goddard and I am by no means giving him a pass.
• 14:43
  Speaker 2: But the one thing I do know is that Hurts
• 14:47
  Speaker 2: really struggles with reading the middle of the field. Yes,
• 14:50
  Speaker 2: on every team, in every scheme, where does the tight
• 14:54
  Speaker 2: end work over the middle of the field.
• 14:56
  Speaker 1: Yep.
• 14:57
  Speaker 2: I would like to see them line him up more
• 15:00
  Speaker 2: we're in a wide receiver position if we're not gonna
• 15:02
  Speaker 2: have AJ Brown, and then see what happens, because my
• 15:05
  Speaker 2: fear is they trade Dallas Goddard because they feel the
• 15:09
  Speaker 2: contract isn't worth it or whatnot, and he goes I'll
• 15:11
  Speaker 2: just say, Cowboys, Giants, wherever, and he turns out to
• 15:15
  Speaker 2: be a great player because the quarterback can read the
• 15:17
  Speaker 2: middle of the field. This isn't a knock on Hurts.
• 15:20
  Speaker 2: Hearts has improved dramatically in a number of different areas,
• 15:23
  Speaker 2: and Hurts is very good at seeing the field when
• 15:25
  Speaker 2: he's on the run, and that's good. But the problem
• 15:27
  Speaker 2: is you aren't gonna be able to utilize the field.
• 15:30
  Speaker 2: Here's the issue that I have with the offense. I'm
• 15:34
  Speaker 2: not gonna give Howie Roseman a hard time about the
• 15:37
  Speaker 2: dots in trade. Okay, it was a third round pick. Like,
• 15:40
  Speaker 2: let's not get up in arms. There's not a ton
• 15:43
  Speaker 2: of Hall of Famers that are third rounders. We did
• 15:45
  Speaker 2: not give up a first round pick for him, right.
• 15:47
  Speaker 2: The fact that Covey and I like him. I think
• 15:50
  Speaker 2: he's a spunky player. I don't mind watching him. I
• 15:53
  Speaker 2: think you and I have talked multiple times to the
• 15:55
  Speaker 2: fact that he's done pretty well in terms of returning.
• 15:58
  Speaker 1: Kicks knocker too. Yeah, he is.
• 16:01
  Speaker 2: I like him, like I like him on the team.
• 16:04
  Speaker 2: But the fact that he has six design plays is
• 16:07
  Speaker 2: just crazy. I really think part of my disappointment through
• 16:12
  Speaker 2: two weeks is it's really with the schemes that we're running.
• 16:18
  Speaker 2: I'm not seeing as much emotion as was talked about. Right,
• 16:20
  Speaker 2: I'm sure you heard the same thing. I heard just
• 16:23
  Speaker 2: motion all the time. Oh look, wow, they're in motion.
• 16:25
  Speaker 2: Oh this is great. And then I get to the
• 16:27
  Speaker 2: game and it's like, uh, oh, okay, well we're running
• 16:30
  Speaker 2: almost the same thing as last year, and hey that
• 16:33
  Speaker 2: third and nine at midfield QB sneak? What are we doing?
• 16:37
  Speaker 1: Yeah?
• 16:37
  Speaker 2: Anyway, part of it I think is just scheme. I
• 16:41
  Speaker 2: think the Dallas Goddard does have a harder time than
• 16:44
  Speaker 2: I would have liked to originally admit in terms of separation.
• 16:48
  Speaker 2: But I really think that the scheme really needs to
• 16:50
  Speaker 2: be improved, and we're going to have to do more
• 16:52
  Speaker 2: pitches and those kind of things because otherwise I think
• 16:56
  Speaker 2: we're really going to be in trouble because New Orleans
• 16:58
  Speaker 2: has two really good safeties, just like they faced this
• 17:01
  Speaker 2: past week. Yes, so you know, we'll we'll see what happens.
• 17:06
  Speaker 1: Well, the Saints are favored over the Eagles down in
• 17:10
  Speaker 1: down in New Orleans, and I'm not surprised by it
• 17:15
  Speaker 1: you just mentioned. I mean, it's a good good segue
• 17:17
  Speaker 1: for us to talk about matchups. I mean, they have
• 17:19
  Speaker 1: two really good safeties, they're they're they're defense stacked up
• 17:24
  Speaker 1: well against Dallas, a prolific Dallas offense. Look ceedee Lamb.
• 17:29
  Speaker 1: I mean, yes, Zeke has certainly fallen off over the years,
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: but Ezekiel Elliott, when he is able to hit those gaps,
• 17:36
  Speaker 1: he is able to get chunk yards. We also have
• 17:40
  Speaker 1: h Ferguson, who has been a prolific tight end for them. Again,
• 17:44
  Speaker 1: like Dallas got it. Not the greatest tight end necessarily
• 17:47
  Speaker 1: in the world, maybe not top tier, but he's been
• 17:50
  Speaker 1: a very very productive tight end for the Dallas Cowboys,
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: and I believe he was just just non existent really
• 17:57
  Speaker 1: in that game as well. We've got a tough match
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: up here, matchups that we are concerned about here. I
• 18:04
  Speaker 1: think run run deeper than just you know, your normal
• 18:08
  Speaker 1: you know, wide receiver on cornerback. I mean, there's an
• 18:11
  Speaker 1: entire secondary in in New Orleans that really can take
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: take take out some of the receiving core of this
• 18:19
  Speaker 1: Eagles team, which is why the intermediate routes that you're
• 18:22
  Speaker 1: talking about are so important for Jalen Hurts to be
• 18:25
  Speaker 1: able to capitalize on. So it's I'm really worried about
• 18:29
  Speaker 1: some of these matchups. Eagles offense against the Saints defense,
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: they go into Dallas, they absolutely murdered them. And uh,
• 18:37
  Speaker 1: I think the Saints are for real here.
• 18:40
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I agree. So my short answer to this is everything.
• 18:43
  Speaker 2: You know what? What matchup? Am I concerned about everything?
• 18:46
  Speaker 1: Yeah?
• 18:46
  Speaker 2: But I took time and I really thought about it,
• 18:48
  Speaker 2: and I went back and I actually watched some of
• 18:51
  Speaker 2: the Cowboys Saints game from last week. And here's my
• 18:54
  Speaker 2: greatest concern when we look at the decision making of Hurts. Yeah,
• 19:00
  Speaker 2: and I'm not a Hurtz basher, I promise, yep. I
• 19:05
  Speaker 2: really thought after last week things had improved. What I
• 19:08
  Speaker 2: also know, particularly Tyron Matthew the honey Badger, he is
• 19:15
  Speaker 2: really good at baiting quarterbacks. He did it a couple
• 19:18
  Speaker 2: of times last week to Dak. And say what you
• 19:21
  Speaker 2: want about Dak. Do I think he's clutch?
• 19:24
  Speaker 1: No?
• 19:24
  Speaker 2: Do I think that he's absolutely a bum?
• 19:26
  Speaker 1: No?
• 19:27
  Speaker 2: I don't think he's a bum. He is a proficient
• 19:30
  Speaker 2: NFL quarterback, yep, A veteran proficient NFL quarterback who has
• 19:35
  Speaker 2: more years experience than Jalen Hurts. I'm a little concerned,
• 19:39
  Speaker 2: without a j Brown, that we are going to be
• 19:42
  Speaker 2: looking at Hurts being baited and it may not lead
• 19:45
  Speaker 2: to interceptions or different things, but it's going to make
• 19:47
  Speaker 2: his decision making a little bit harder. And that's probably
• 19:50
  Speaker 2: my biggest one.
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: And that's why I think you're probably going to see
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: more of Saquon Barkleyon Barkley, I believe had twenty two
• 19:59
  Speaker 1: touches and those are just carries. Twenty two carries. We're
• 20:03
  Speaker 1: seeing what the Eagles want to do with Saquon Barkley.
• 20:05
  Speaker 1: After two weeks. He may he may even get close
• 20:08
  Speaker 1: to I'm not kidding. He may even get close to
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: thirty touches in this game. If there's some screen passes
• 20:13
  Speaker 1: or if he's gonna be catching balls in the flats.
• 20:15
  Speaker 1: Saquon Barkley is going to be used in this game.
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: They're gonna need his shiftiness. He's gonna need to cut
• 20:20
  Speaker 1: on a dime at various times throughout the game. This
• 20:24
  Speaker 1: game against the Saints, it's gonna it's gonna need to
• 20:27
  Speaker 1: be the Saquon Barkley show if they're gonna be able
• 20:29
  Speaker 1: to come out on top of it.
• 20:31
  Speaker 2: Yeah. I have concerns about Saquon at the second half
• 20:34
  Speaker 2: of the year, and they are look, is he fun
• 20:38
  Speaker 2: to watch? He absolutely is. I I text my dad
• 20:42
  Speaker 2: and I said, man is fun to watch? Yeah, and
• 20:45
  Speaker 2: he really looks completely rejuvenated, and that's fantastic. But at
• 20:50
  Speaker 2: the same time, he's not a rookie. He's been in
• 20:53
  Speaker 2: the league for a while and eventually it's getting a
• 20:56
  Speaker 2: little hard. And part of it is they don't have
• 20:58
  Speaker 2: a backup running back. I text you on Sunday, they
• 21:02
  Speaker 2: use Saquan all the way down the field and then
• 21:04
  Speaker 2: they take off their thirty five million dollar running back
• 21:07
  Speaker 2: and they decide in the red zone that they're gonna
• 21:08
  Speaker 2: go with Kenny g Yeah, ball doesn't go anywhere. Yeah,
• 21:12
  Speaker 2: they don't have a backup running back. So really, one
• 21:14
  Speaker 2: thing that how he might want to consider around the
• 21:16
  Speaker 2: deadline is picking up a running back.
• 21:20
  Speaker 1: I know, absolutely, yeah. I mean, or or give Will
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: Shipley some opportunities earlier in the game to see what
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: he can do. And I'm talking like on a second
• 21:32
  Speaker 1: and four, second and three where it is absolutely doable
• 21:36
  Speaker 1: for him to run through the A or the B gap,
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: get that first down, show us what you can do
• 21:41
  Speaker 1: in certain game situations. I think what they should give
• 21:43
  Speaker 1: Will Shipley some extra extra snaps. He really didn't get any.
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: I don't think this past week against the Atlanta Falcons,
• 21:52
  Speaker 1: but I don't know, Josh, are you Are you feeling
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: good about any other matchups or any matchups at all
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: in two week three here? Because really, I'm I'm really
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: not other than the fact that Jalen Hurts is a
• 22:05
  Speaker 1: quarterback in this league that is one of the top
• 22:08
  Speaker 1: quarterback winning or I should say, one of one of
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: the top quarterbacks that win games in this league. I mean,
• 22:15
  Speaker 1: those are what the stats are telling us. Doesn't necessarily
• 22:18
  Speaker 1: mean that that's gonna happen with this Saints team, But
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: I like Jalen Hurts and he showed us a lot
• 22:25
  Speaker 1: of promise in week two that he's one guy that
• 22:28
  Speaker 1: I'm gonta where again him and Saquon We're gonna need
• 22:32
  Speaker 1: to really rest our laurels on them in this game here?
• 22:35
  Speaker 1: Do you feel good about any matchups here? Yeah?
• 22:38
  Speaker 2: When he said this question, I chuckled, not even exaggeration,
• 22:43
  Speaker 2: because I my short answer is nothing. And then I
• 22:46
  Speaker 2: started thinking more and more about it, and I want
• 22:49
  Speaker 2: to see how the linebackers do. Yeah, it's been two weeks.
• 22:52
  Speaker 1: You know.
• 22:52
  Speaker 2: They were praised on, you know, endlessly after Week one
• 22:57
  Speaker 2: and week two really for the most part, been pretty
• 23:00
  Speaker 2: quiet about complaints in terms of linebacker play, which is
• 23:04
  Speaker 2: almost a miracle. It's surprising here in Philadelphia. So I'm
• 23:09
  Speaker 2: interested to see how they're gonna do with a Derek
• 23:13
  Speaker 2: Carr that's really kind of reinvented himself, a Kamara who's
• 23:17
  Speaker 2: looking like one of the top backs in the league. Again,
• 23:20
  Speaker 2: I'm very interested to see what they kind of look like,
• 23:25
  Speaker 2: more specifically because Kamara is an elite receiving back. He
• 23:30
  Speaker 2: is and has been his whole time. I want to
• 23:33
  Speaker 2: see how they do and coverage. I think they're gonna
• 23:35
  Speaker 2: be okay, and I'm hoping I have that same feeling
• 23:39
  Speaker 2: on Sunday at the end, we'll see.
• 23:41
  Speaker 1: I'm gonna say this too, I want to put this
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: ad here on our Opposition Territory Show. I want to
• 23:48
  Speaker 1: really drive home this particular fact. It's something I thought
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: about during Week one after watching this Saints team. I
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: said to myself, Well, they played the Carolina Panthers. Of
• 23:59
  Speaker 1: course they should have kicked their butts. All right, Well,
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: they're probably not gonna They're probably not gonna go into
• 24:05
  Speaker 1: Dallas and beat the Dallas Cowboys. Obviously they did. Then
• 24:08
  Speaker 1: I'm thinking about perhaps the Dallas Cowboys said, well, they
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: beat the Carolina Panthers, and this is a Saints team
• 24:15
  Speaker 1: that really, uh, you know, we don't really need to
• 24:17
  Speaker 1: worry about them too much. We've seen Derek Carr over
• 24:20
  Speaker 1: the course of the past ten years. I think that
• 24:22
  Speaker 1: he's been in the league. Now we know what Derek
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: Carr is like. Perhaps they sat on their hands for
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: a bit, perhaps Dallas did early this season thinking, you
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: know what, we don't have to we have to be
• 24:33
  Speaker 1: two two concerned with this Saints team. So my thoughts,
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: my positive thoughts, Josh, as we are entering week three,
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: is that it was just some sort of bizarre anomaly
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: that you had the Dallas Cowboys just completely sitting on
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: their hands, and then Week one the Saints played one
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: of the worst football teams in modern history, and that,
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: you know what, maybe this Eagles team really is good
• 24:59
  Speaker 1: and maybe they had some bad luck this past week.
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: And that's what I'm resting my Laurels. Honest, we are
• 25:05
  Speaker 1: heading into week three here.
• 25:09
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I guess I'm the same, That's my hope.
• 25:12
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 25:12
  Speaker 2: The only counter I have is Dallas at home is different.
• 25:17
  Speaker 2: It is they don't really a lot of teams. They
• 25:20
  Speaker 2: showed that pretty much over the last three years. They
• 25:23
  Speaker 2: are a dominant force at home. I think there is
• 25:26
  Speaker 2: some aspect of oh, it's just the Saints. Yeah, that's cute,
• 25:32
  Speaker 2: But I don't like I have. It's been a long
• 25:36
  Speaker 2: time since I have felt really discouraged before a game starts,
• 25:42
  Speaker 2: and I'm having a hard time finding a way that
• 25:46
  Speaker 2: the Eagles pull this one out.
• 25:47
  Speaker 1: If I was a fly on the wall within the
• 25:49
  Speaker 1: Eagles front office this week, I would love to know
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: what's going on. So we are going to be talking.
• 25:55
  Speaker 2: Question, Yeah, for you, why didn't Nick Sirianni address the
• 25:58
  Speaker 2: team afterwards? Just really bizarre.
• 26:03
  Speaker 1: That is bizarre.
• 26:03
  Speaker 2: It is okay, Jalen Hurts gave a great speech from
• 26:06
  Speaker 2: what I've heard, But you're the head coach. You're not
• 26:11
  Speaker 2: running the offense anymore. You're you're not planning any of that.
• 26:15
  Speaker 2: I have no idea what his job is and why
• 26:19
  Speaker 2: he's not talking to the team afterwards.
• 26:21
  Speaker 1: That is a great question. It's a fantastic question. And
• 26:26
  Speaker 1: you know, I got to say, be doing this podcast
• 26:28
  Speaker 1: as long as we have. I remember the days of
• 26:30
  Speaker 1: defending Chip Kelly just because you want to defend the coach.
• 26:35
  Speaker 1: You want to defend personnel, you want to defend your
• 26:37
  Speaker 1: team at the end of the day, but certain things
• 26:41
  Speaker 1: look like they're writing on the wall, and I wonder
• 26:44
  Speaker 1: if early on this is one of those situations where
• 26:48
  Speaker 1: maybe the players feel like they just need to take
• 26:50
  Speaker 1: the take the bull by the horns, and take these
• 26:54
  Speaker 1: situations into their own hands to say, you know what,
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: the coach isn't getting it done. We have to do it.
• 26:58
  Speaker 1: And this could be that. And if that is the case,
• 27:01
  Speaker 1: then we're going to be seeing some changes with this
• 27:03
  Speaker 1: coaching staff during this season.
• 27:06
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's interesting. I didn't necessarily jump that far, but
• 27:10
  Speaker 2: I know that there were a number of Eagles players
• 27:12
  Speaker 2: that weren't super thrilled with Nick at the end of
• 27:15
  Speaker 2: last year. Yep. And if they hit one in three,
• 27:19
  Speaker 2: we could see a Chip Kelly esque wheels coming off
• 27:22
  Speaker 2: the train. Oh I hope not.
• 27:24
  Speaker 1: God, what a disaster that would be. I'd be a
• 27:27
  Speaker 1: disaster and we're certainly going to talk about it if
• 27:29
  Speaker 1: it happens here at the Philadelphia Sports Table podcast show Again, folks,
• 27:32
  Speaker 1: He's Josh Schuster from Philadelphia Soccer Now dot com at
• 27:37
  Speaker 1: fly Guy Josh ninety one on the Twitter slash x Buddy.
• 27:40
  Speaker 1: It was great talking to you. Thanks so much for
• 27:41
  Speaker 1: jumping on Opposition Territory to go through our pregame show
• 27:45
  Speaker 1: this week. It was great talking to.
• 27:46
  Speaker 2: You anytime, Jeff.
• 27:48
  Speaker 1: Always a pleasure, all right, everybody that's gonna do it
• 27:51
  Speaker 1: for us, make sure you're following us on various social
• 27:54
  Speaker 1: media sites. Just search out the Philadelphia Sports table out there.
• 27:56
  Speaker 1: I'm not going to go through everything right now. We
• 27:58
  Speaker 1: are going to upload our Eagle postgame podcast show shortly
• 28:01
  Speaker 1: after this Sunday's one o'clock game. Stay tuned for our
• 28:06
  Speaker 1: regular show, Lennon and I. We're gonna be talking some
• 28:10
  Speaker 1: Philadelphia Union, we're gonna be talking some Phillies. We've got
• 28:13
  Speaker 1: Liz Roscher from Yahoo Sports and the Hitting Season Podcasts
• 28:16
  Speaker 1: jumping on to talk to us about the end of
• 28:18
  Speaker 1: this Phillies season, the stretch here, and what we may
• 28:22
  Speaker 1: see from them during the postseason. So stay tuned for that.
• 28:25
  Speaker 1: Take care, everybody, We'll catch you next time.