Latest / Inside the Birds: A Philadelphia Eagles Podcast / Ask Greg Cosell On Patreon: How Big Of An Issue Is Linebacker And Safety Play?

Transcript

Ask Greg Cosell On Patreon: How Big Of An Issue Is Linebacker And Safety Play? · Inside the Birds: A Philadelphia Eagles Podcast

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: The following is a shortened version of our Ask Greg
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: Cosell show on our Patreon platform for our Tier 3
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: Bomb Post Touchdown members. Our Tier 3 members get to
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: talk directly to Greg in a live chat room and
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: have Greg answer their Eagles and NFL questions. To become
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: a member and get your chance to talk directly to
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: Greg or to enjoy other bonus ITB content on Patreon,
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: go to patreon.com slash insidethebirds and sign up.
• 0:39
  Speaker 2: And what I see on the Eagles defense right now,
• 0:42
  Speaker 2: and again, this is why I ask you, is I
• 0:43
  Speaker 2: just feel like they're very weak in the middle.
• 0:46
  Speaker 3: Well, I think they got a number of issues on
• 0:48
  Speaker 3: defense that you can only mask up to a point.
• 0:52
  Speaker 3: They do not have a pass rush. Now, Grenard played
• 0:54
  Speaker 3: 18 snaps Monday night, last night, and he did show
• 0:58
  Speaker 3: some signs of being a pass rusher off the edge
• 1:00
  Speaker 3: as he's been throughout his career. And I assume he'll
• 1:04
  Speaker 3: play more snaps going forward. But all the snaps he
• 1:07
  Speaker 3: played were a nickel, by the way. He did not
• 1:08
  Speaker 3: play in the base. but they do not have a
• 1:11
  Speaker 3: pass rush. And I would agree with you about Campbell.
• 1:15
  Speaker 3: I think Campbell is still struggling to sort of understand
• 1:20
  Speaker 3: the nuances of the position.
• 1:22
  Speaker 2: I think Makuba is being more exposed because next to
• 1:25
  Speaker 2: him is somebody who is just, you know, not a
• 1:28
  Speaker 2: starting caliber safety.
• 1:29
  Speaker 3: There's a lot of safeties in the league, like teams
• 1:33
  Speaker 3: I watch that I do radio for. So like for
• 1:37
  Speaker 3: the Titans, Amani Hooker is a great example. Amani Hooker
• 1:40
  Speaker 3: needs a really good player next to him, and then
• 1:42
  Speaker 3: he's a really solid player. But if he's your number
• 1:45
  Speaker 3: one safety, he's not good enough to be your number
• 1:48
  Speaker 3: one safety. I'm not ready to say what Makuba is
• 1:51
  Speaker 3: or isn't just yet, but maybe he's that guy. Maybe
• 1:54
  Speaker 3: Makuba is just going to be a really solid player,
• 1:56
  Speaker 3: but not a number one big-time safe. Don't forget, he
• 1:59
  Speaker 3: wasn't a first-round pick.
• 2:01
  Speaker 4: In 2024, both lines were tremendous, and the Eagles were
• 2:06
  Speaker 4: a consistent team.
• 2:07
  Speaker 5: Right now, neither of them. Nirovan is.
• 2:11
  Speaker 6: Playing well. Well, I'm talking about Jalen Carter. He's not playing.
• 2:17
  Speaker 6: He's not doing anything. A lot of defensive players play
• 2:19
  Speaker 6: with that.
• 2:20
  Speaker 3: That's relatively common throughout the league. But the one thing
• 2:27
  Speaker 3: he hasn't shown is that he's a consistent pass rusher.
• 2:31
  Speaker 3: And that's what they're lacking. They do not have a
• 2:34
  Speaker 3: true pass rusher. They don't have one player that is
• 2:37
  Speaker 3: someone you have to say, hey, he's the guy. that
• 2:39
  Speaker 3: an offense really has to worry about.
• 2:42
  Speaker 5: One of the things last year, the year before, that
• 2:45
  Speaker 5: was constantly said about Reed Blankenship was he's the one
• 2:51
  Speaker 5: that helps make sure all the communication was happening. They're
• 2:55
  Speaker 5: just not communicating because they don't have that one sort
• 2:59
  Speaker 5: of coach on the field.
• 3:01
  Speaker 6: And I would say that's a fair statement.
• 3:03
  Speaker 3: They had some issues in communication in this game, particularly
• 3:06
  Speaker 3: on the Raymond touchdown, the 41-yard touchdown. was a clear
• 3:10
  Speaker 3: communication issue between Dijon and Wolin. I couldn't tell you
• 3:13
  Speaker 3: who was right or wrong, but I obviously they did
• 3:16
  Speaker 3: not communicate.
• 3:18
  Speaker 6: And Blankenship was that player.
• 3:20
  Speaker 7: I was thinking, Hey, yeah, we've had success in the past,
• 3:24
  Speaker 7: success in the past, but part of that was success
• 3:27
  Speaker 7: was the dominance of the receivers that we have on
• 3:30
  Speaker 7: the outside. And if we don't have that type of
• 3:32
  Speaker 7: receiver core anymore, would this be something that teams just
• 3:36
  Speaker 7: go up to a lot and say, Hey, he's not
• 3:39
  Speaker 7: really a read guy. He's not going to read the
• 3:41
  Speaker 7: middle of the field. So let's try to do this
• 3:44
  Speaker 7: more because they don't have that type of receiving court. Okay.
• 3:46
  Speaker 8: Yeah.
• 3:47
  Speaker 3: And I think some teams will do that. Not every team,
• 3:49
  Speaker 3: you know, believes in that as a, as a philosophy,
• 3:52
  Speaker 3: but there's different ways to show pressure looks. We saw
• 3:55
  Speaker 3: what the bears did last night. Cause Dennis Allen's been
• 3:57
  Speaker 3: doing this a long time and, you know, Sean Mannion
• 4:00
  Speaker 3: has not. So, you know, you're dealing with a guy
• 4:03
  Speaker 3: coaching his third game and Sean Mannion, and you're dealing
• 4:06
  Speaker 3: with Dennis Allen, who's been doing this for close to
• 4:08
  Speaker 3: 30 years. and is viewed by offensive coordinators around the
• 4:11
  Speaker 3: league as one of the best defensive coaching minds in
• 4:13
  Speaker 3: the game. So, you know, you're dealing with that. But
• 4:16
  Speaker 3: you're right. They do not have that. I mean, obviously,
• 4:19
  Speaker 3: he threw the one fade ball to Devonta Smith, which
• 4:22
  Speaker 3: was their only 20-plus yard pass play in the game. And,
• 4:27
  Speaker 3: you know, sometimes those plays work, but you certainly can't
• 4:29
  Speaker 3: live on those plays. But if you have a receiver
• 4:32
  Speaker 3: or a couple of receivers that theoretically can win on
• 4:35
  Speaker 3: the outside like that, it does change the equation for
• 4:38
  Speaker 3: the defense.
• 4:39
  Speaker 4: That's just asking the quarterback a lot to do a lot.
• 4:42
  Speaker 4: If you don't have other stuff in your offense, I just,
• 4:46
  Speaker 4: I don't think, I mean, I'm going to give it time,
• 4:48
  Speaker 4: but I just don't think that hurts will ever be
• 4:51
  Speaker 4: that kind of quarterback where you can rely on him
• 4:54
  Speaker 4: to go 12 and 13 play drives all game. Yeah.
• 4:58
  Speaker 3: And I guess that remains to be seen. I mean,
• 5:00
  Speaker 3: last night they actually ran the ball very well in
• 5:02
  Speaker 3: the first half and it was all outside zone, predominantly
• 5:05
  Speaker 3: to the left side of the offensive line. and they
• 5:08
  Speaker 3: actually came out on the first play of the third
• 5:10
  Speaker 3: quarter and ran it well, and then the game got
• 5:12
  Speaker 3: away from them. So, you know, obviously, you can run
• 5:18
  Speaker 3: a pass game without, let's say, a true big-time vertical dimension.
• 5:23
  Speaker 3: You know, theoretically, Devonta Smith can run vertical routes. You know,
• 5:29
  Speaker 3: I don't think the issue is the structure of the
• 5:32
  Speaker 3: pass game because he's probably– his playbook, I'm sure, Sean
• 5:35
  Speaker 3: Mannion's that is– taken, I'm sure, from the Shanahan-McVay school.
• 5:41
  Speaker 3: So he's going to run a lot of the same
• 5:44
  Speaker 3: kind of stuff. You know, the question is, and the
• 5:47
  Speaker 3: point you're raising, is really whether Jalen Hurts is the
• 5:52
  Speaker 3: kind of quarterback that can play with that kind of
• 5:55
  Speaker 3: precision efficiency all the time, you know, like a Brock
• 5:59
  Speaker 3: Purdy can, okay? And My guess is a lot of
• 6:02
  Speaker 3: people probably think Jalen Hurts is better than Brock Purdy
• 6:05
  Speaker 3: because he's been in two Super Bowls and he's won
• 6:07
  Speaker 3: a Super Bowl. But Purdy is a certain kind of quarterback. Obviously,
• 6:12
  Speaker 3: Matthew Stafford's in a class by himself if we're talking
• 6:15
  Speaker 3: about running this offense. But Jalen is not Brock Purdy.
• 6:21
  Speaker 3: Just like Brock Purdy is not Jalen in some areas.
• 6:23
  Speaker 3: Did you see them, like Chicago, make any adjustments in
• 6:26
  Speaker 3: the second half to... you know, because we were definitely
• 6:30
  Speaker 3: having success in the first half. They didn't run it
• 6:33
  Speaker 3: enough for that to be a big factor. I mean,
• 6:36
  Speaker 3: he had 11 carries in the first half. I think
• 6:38
  Speaker 3: he had one or two on the first series, which
• 6:41
  Speaker 3: were fine on the third quarter.
• 6:42
  Speaker 6: And then.
• 6:44
  Speaker 3: I only think he had like two more carries in
• 6:46
  Speaker 3: the game after that. So they just, they didn't run
• 6:49
  Speaker 3: the ball because I think they felt the game kind
• 6:51
  Speaker 3: of getting away from them. You know, and by the way,
• 6:54
  Speaker 3: they only ran 47 plays. So that, which is not
• 6:56
  Speaker 3: enough in an NFL game. And by the way, they're among,
• 6:59
  Speaker 3: The lowest in terms of number of plays run. Number
• 7:01
  Speaker 3: of plays, hold on, that I can tell you. But anyway,
• 7:07
  Speaker 3: so offensive snaps. They've run 172 plays, which is 26th
• 7:11
  Speaker 3: in the league.
• 7:13
  Speaker 4: It seemed like there were a lot more guys that
• 7:16
  Speaker 4: when they cut the ball, there wasn't a defender ready
• 7:21
  Speaker 4: to make a play.
• 7:22
  Speaker 6: Like they were open.
• 7:23
  Speaker 3: Yeah, the Bears are as good as any team in
• 7:26
  Speaker 3: the league with their motion concepts, their pre-snap movement. And
• 7:29
  Speaker 3: pre-snap movement, particularly across the formation, which the Bears do
• 7:33
  Speaker 3: a lot of, kind of dictates how you play to
• 7:36
  Speaker 3: some degree. Because now you can't press corners. You have
• 7:40
  Speaker 3: to play off with a little depth. And there's just
• 7:43
  Speaker 3: more space right off the bat. And Keenum was throwing
• 7:46
  Speaker 3: with great timing and great anticipation. So there were throws
• 7:50
  Speaker 3: where you know, the ball was coming out before the
• 7:52
  Speaker 3: receiver even really made his break.
• 7:55
  Speaker 6: And that's hard to defend.
• 7:56
  Speaker 4: And so do you think, I mean, I heard a
• 7:59
  Speaker 4: lot of people just tearing up Jack Campbell.
• 8:02
  Speaker 8: Do you think he played bad?
• 8:05
  Speaker 3: You know, we talk with linebackers about key and diagnose
• 8:08
  Speaker 3: and having a quick trigger, you know, he's not there yet. Now,
• 8:11
  Speaker 3: whether some guys never get there, I mean, there have
• 8:13
  Speaker 3: been linebackers who come in the league who have tremendous
• 8:16
  Speaker 3: athletic talent like Campbell does. And, uh, They never I mean,
• 8:20
  Speaker 3: I could name one right now who's been probably with
• 8:22
  Speaker 3: three or four teams. I don't even know if he's
• 8:23
  Speaker 3: still in the league. And he came out as a
• 8:26
  Speaker 3: first round pick and he's just was a physical presence,
• 8:30
  Speaker 3: you know, explosive, big, physical presence. Some guys don't see it,
• 8:34
  Speaker 3: and they can hang around because everybody thinks they can
• 8:37
  Speaker 3: make them into a player.
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: Football is finally back, and PrizePix is bringing out their
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: best offer yet. New users who sign up will get
• 8:45
  Speaker 1: $ 150 in lineups if you win your first $ 5 lineup.
• 8:46
  Speaker 6: That's right.
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: If you win your first $ 5 lineup, you get $ 150
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: in lineups. Prize picks is available nationwide. So what are
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: you waiting for? Lock in for kickoff. Everyone and everything
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: is on prize picks. Okay, so what you on in
• 9:05
  Speaker 1: this football season? I'll tell you what I'm all in on.
• 9:08
  Speaker 1: The Bears win. offense all right you've already heard their
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: head coach say he wants to score the most points
• 9:14
  Speaker 1: in NFL history and they have the personnel to do
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: it go over check out Luther Burden wide receiver Luther
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: Burden's receiving yards for the season I pick more on
• 9:24
  Speaker 1: his receiving yards and I'm not even sweating it you
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: can thank me later He's going to be the guy
• 9:29
  Speaker 1: on that Bears offense. Trust me on that. PrizePix is
• 9:33
  Speaker 1: going crazy with the deals to start the football season,
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: giving users a new promo every day during stacked September.
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: Make sure to sign up now for guaranteed picks every Sunday,
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: along with profit boosts and daily discounts throughout the month. Plus,
• 9:48
  Speaker 1: the app is simple to use. You just pick two
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: to six players, then pick more or less on their
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: projected stats, like pass yards or rush yards and fantasy score.
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: It's the best way to get more locked in.
• 10:00
  Speaker 5: In on game day.
• 10:01
  Speaker 6: That's super fun.
• 10:02
  Speaker 1: You can make all the picks you want across any sport.
• 10:05
  Speaker 6: All in the same app.
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: Download the app today and use code BIRDS to get
• 10:10
  Speaker 1: $ 150 instantly in lineups if you win your first $ 5 lineup. Remember,
• 10:15
  Speaker 1: download the app today, use code BIRDS to get $ 150
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: instantly in lineups if you win your first $ 5 lineup.
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: Prize picks run your game. Hey, Philly fans, game day
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: is stressful enough. Parking, traffic, long lines, we've all been there.
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: But when it comes to your cannabis, Camden Apothecary makes
• 10:34
  Speaker 1: it easy. This is the dispensary for sports fans. Just
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: minutes outside of Philly with plenty of free parking. You'll
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: be in and out fast. No hassle.
• 10:44
  Speaker 6: No waiting.
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: And they don't just care about convenience. Camden Apothecary is
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: all about the guest experience. Their staff makes sure you
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: feel taken care of every time you walk in. Plus,
• 10:56
  Speaker 1: they carry only the best quality cannabis at the fairest price.
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: prices so whether you're stocking up for the tailgate the
• 11:03
  Speaker 1: watch party or celebrating a big win you know you're
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: getting the good stuff without overpaying they even show love
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: to the community with specials for fans students service members
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: and health care pros camden apothecary top quality cannabis great
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: prices and an experience made for philly fans 21 and.
• 11:23
  Speaker 4: Up you mentioned that the bears ran were in their
• 11:26
  Speaker 4: base a lot in the four, three.
• 11:28
  Speaker 6: Are you surprised that they had a lot of success
• 11:30
  Speaker 6: in that base? Once you think that maybe the Eagles.
• 11:32
  Speaker 1: Would have a more of a, I guess an advantage
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: when they're in their 11 personnel.
• 11:36
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 11:37
  Speaker 6: That's funny.
• 11:38
  Speaker 3: You mentioned that because that's the kind of question where
• 11:39
  Speaker 3: I wish I had the bat phone and could just
• 11:41
  Speaker 3: pick up and talk to Dennis Allen and ask him why,
• 11:43
  Speaker 3: because I don't know why, but he obviously felt going
• 11:46
  Speaker 3: into the game that that was the better way to
• 11:48
  Speaker 3: play than to play in his nickel. You know, they
• 11:51
  Speaker 3: were sort of down corners. So, Because they were playing
• 11:55
  Speaker 3: Cam Lewis at that slot corner and he's really a
• 11:57
  Speaker 3: safety and I think he might have tore his Achilles
• 11:59
  Speaker 3: in the game at the end. But so they probably
• 12:02
  Speaker 3: maybe he didn't feel like he had a slot corner
• 12:05
  Speaker 3: that he was comfortable with and that he thought if
• 12:07
  Speaker 3: he stayed with his base defense that, you know, He
• 12:11
  Speaker 3: could do more things.
• 12:12
  Speaker 8: Just a couple clips that I saw of Cam Juergens
• 12:16
  Speaker 8: last night that jumped out at me, where is that
• 12:19
  Speaker 8: Grady Jarrett that he was lined up across from that.
• 12:22
  Speaker 6: Kind of dominated? A number of times, yeah.
• 12:25
  Speaker 8: It seemed like they changed their defense in the second
• 12:27
  Speaker 8: half because the run game just didn't work or didn't
• 12:31
  Speaker 8: they run it enough?
• 12:33
  Speaker 6: They didn't run it.
• 12:33
  Speaker 3: They didn't really run it because they came out in
• 12:35
  Speaker 3: the third quarter and ran it right away with success
• 12:38
  Speaker 3: and then Like I said, I think after that, they
• 12:41
  Speaker 3: might have only had two carries. So it was it
• 12:43
  Speaker 3: wasn't a case of, you know, the Bears stopping there.
• 12:47
  Speaker 3: And by the way, keep in mind, run games, even
• 12:49
  Speaker 3: really good run games. You don't gain nine or 10
• 12:51
  Speaker 3: yards on every run. You know, it doesn't work that way.
• 12:54
  Speaker 3: I mean, you know, backs that let's say end up,
• 12:56
  Speaker 3: you know, 26 for 140. They they're going to have
• 13:00
  Speaker 3: a lot of one or two yard runs in those
• 13:02
  Speaker 3: 26 carries. So you can't look at a run game
• 13:04
  Speaker 3: as if, oh, they stopped them. You know, that's not
• 13:06
  Speaker 3: the way run games work.
• 13:08
  Speaker 8: I guess the history of the Eagles have been when
• 13:12
  Speaker 8: they show us who they are, they stay who they are.
• 13:15
  Speaker 3: The fans, I've been here a long time, are very
• 13:18
  Speaker 3: overreactive to everything. You know, they're 2-1. They had a
• 13:23
  Speaker 3: bad game on both sides of the ball. They've got
• 13:25
  Speaker 3: some issues, clear issues. But let's not assume now that
• 13:29
  Speaker 3: they're going to go 2-15.
• 13:30
  Speaker 6: Thanks, guys. Really appreciate it, as always.
• 13:32
  Speaker 3: Thank you.
• 13:33
  Speaker 6: Thank you.