Latest / The Philadelphia Sports Table | Philly Sports News & Views / EAGLES POSTGAME: Eagles vs. Vikings, Week 2

Transcript

EAGLES POSTGAME: Eagles vs. Vikings, Week 2 · The Philadelphia Sports Table | Philly Sports News & Views

0:21
All right, everybody, you're listening to Eagles postgame analysis here at the Philadelphia
0:24
Sports Table podcast show, the longest running weekly Philly sports podcast show in the
0:29
world. That's right, over ten years strong. Week two of the Philadelphia
0:33
Eagles season here in twenty twenty three, is now in the books. They
0:37
beat the Minnesota Vikings at home, the home opener at the link, by
0:41
a score of thirty four to twenty eight. They are two and oh on
0:45
the season. Here, I'm Jeff Warren. I'm here at my good buddy
0:48
Len Hunt sicker. Lenn. A win is a win. I am happy
0:52
this team is two and oho now right out of the gate. But dude,
0:56
this is an Eagles team that certainly isn't playing their best football. They
1:00
were a team again, it's two and oh, and at the end of
1:03
the day, the wins are most important. All right. So two things.
1:07
First off, we had been doing this for over ten years, but
1:11
if you would have just heard Jeff trying to get this show started, you
1:14
would have thought, deep, we've been doing the show for ten minutes.
1:18
I just want to clear that up. I don't know what's happening to me,
1:22
Yeah, what's happening? Who knows what I'm gonna say here today.
1:25
Who knows what I'm gonna say with this postgame show? I all right,
1:30
so along with that, now you are right in it, like, yeah,
1:37
it's kind of a continuation of Week one where it was just like,
1:40
okay, it's a win. Wasn't really overly through. I mean there are
1:44
things that, don't get me wrong that I was thrilled within this game,
1:47
yes, but you know, the overall performance. I think everybody is still
1:52
you know, you know, thinking about that team from last year and how
1:56
they were you know, really, I mean, you know, let's face
1:59
it, I mean side of the super Bowl. I mean, really the
2:01
second half of the super Bowl. We're really a juggernaut, and I think
2:07
people are just expecting that to show up and that hasn't shown up yet.
2:09
They're also expecting the top three quarterback in the league two in jail Hurts to
2:15
be at a certain level and he's not. We have not seen that anywhere
2:19
close to that yet. Yeah. Absolutely, I'm sorry, did I interrupt
2:21
you where you're getting ray? Something? No? Nothing, nothing really earth
2:25
chattering, But I mean, hey, the fact that they're you know,
2:29
we are having these complaints, so they don't look that good, oh,
2:31
Jail and Hurts doesn't look that good. And they're still two and o.
2:35
I mean, you could be a lot worse. But that's what I mean.
2:38
Like I said, they're not playing their best football, but they're two
2:40
and oh and that's and that is what matters at the end of the day
2:44
in this division where you haven't had a division win or two years in a
2:47
row since two thousand and four. But moving, you know, moving along
2:52
with our themes here, Lenn, I gotta say this right off the bat.
2:54
Okay, I gotta say this. I really do like Kirk Herb Street,
2:58
I really do. But man, Al Michaels is getting to the point.
3:01
Man, he called the link, he called it veteran Stadium when the
3:05
second half started. Did you hear that? Yeah, he's can I think
3:10
I think it's time to take it out of the home. Yeah, that's
3:14
the first theme, first takeaway. Al needs to go. But I mean,
3:19
I don't know if Kirk Hurstreet did pro games last year. I guess
3:22
I just didn't pay enough attention. But but I was thinking to myself,
3:24
like it's just weird to have to like hear Kurt Herb Street calling a game
3:31
and not being a college game or something. It is strange. Men.
3:36
I mean, good for him, you know, it's good for his career
3:38
or whatever. But yeah, it just it just I heard it earlier night
3:43
and I was like, man, this just feels weird. Yeah. Absolutely,
3:46
Well, to get more serious in terms of the theme, so this
3:49
game here for me, Land, I got a few here. I'm sure
3:52
you have a few as well. But first and foremost, injuries. Injuries
3:55
injuries of Ante Maddox going out in this game, Quiz Watkins going out,
4:00
Boston Scott going out. Plus they come into week two without James Bradberry,
4:04
Nakobe Dean, read Blank and Ship and Kenneth Gainwell. And I'll be honest,
4:09
Shawn Desai, he had some major issues going on throughout the course of
4:13
this short week, a very short week, but he called one hell of
4:16
a game and I know the score ended up being thirty four twenty eight.
4:20
Minnesota ended up putting up fourteen points in the fourth quarter. But still,
4:26
I think Shawn Desai, with the injuries and these young players, especially in
4:30
the secondary, and I'm gonna get to those guys in a bit, you
4:33
know, are the depth in terms of the defensive backfield though, buoy.
4:38
But still I think Shawn Desai had one heck of a game. He called
4:42
one hell of a game, and that's one of my takeaways and themes from
4:45
this particular game. Win. Yeah, I would definitely agree with that.
4:48
And hey, look, I mean, okay, we had the bad part
4:53
of the week. We had the short week with guys being out and shorthanded
4:57
and all that stuff. And now they don't play again until the t twenty
5:00
fifth, which I'm assuming what is that is that a Sunday night game?
5:02
Yeah, against Tampa. So now you've got a super long week. You've
5:06
got, you know, the ability for guys to you know, rest and
5:10
recover. I know Brad Berry was out of the concussion, and that short
5:13
week just there's I mean, if it was a Sunday, maybe he would
5:15
have played, maybe he would have passed a protocol, but that wasn't going
5:18
to happen playing on a Thursday night. So so yeah, so now you've
5:23
got you know, ten days whatever it is and to get healthy to recover.
5:27
And we got through it two and how so I mean, you know,
5:30
they're, like I said, there are a lot worse fates, but
5:33
yeah, I mean there were I can't tell you how many times during the
5:36
course of that game where it was just like justin Jefferson, you know,
5:42
or somebody just making a catch on on a rookie or a second year guy
5:46
and me just thinking, Man, I wish we had James Bradberry right now.
5:49
Absolutely the same thing. Yeah, probably at least three or four times
5:55
during the course of this game. Absolutely, you don't know how bad you
5:58
miss Avonte Maddox in Nickel coverage when you got Mario Goodrich out there, who
6:03
is terrible. He was terrible and stinkses Avante Maddox's backup, I mean,
6:10
holy cow. And and it scares me because Maddox seems to have become kind
6:15
of I hate using the phrase injury prone, but the guy has been dealing
6:19
with some injuries here over the years, and in this game it was his
6:23
shoulder. And I just do not want to see Mario Goodrich out there again.
6:27
I really don't. Yeah. Goodrich was a guy that like when it
6:30
was like, Okay, they're not gonna not have a punter, so who
6:33
are they going to drop down the practice squad in order to get a funner
6:36
on the theme that was the guy was looking at was good rich And I
6:41
mean, obviously injuries happened and he had to play, but yeah, him
6:45
and Josh Job and guys like that who and I like Job, you know,
6:48
and I like what I've heard about him in terms of them being high
6:51
on him and all that stuff. But I mean, the youth showed absolutely,
6:57
The inexperience showed absolutely. Yeah. Do you have a certain theme you
7:00
want to get into. I mean, I've got a few more here,
7:02
but I want to let you go any specific theme that really stuck out to
7:06
you from this game, just that I think after last week's game, Nick
7:14
Sirianni pulled Dallas Goddard and DeAndre Swift aside and said, hey, guys,
7:18
I'm sorry. I'm gonna get you guys at ball as much as I possibly
7:23
can next week. And boy did he do it. Yes, he did
7:27
so. Yeah, which you know, hey, wasn't a bad thing.
7:29
I mean, look, we're gonna I'm sure we're gonna talk about the running
7:31
game because we have to, because it was you know, basically this team
7:35
saving grace. Yes, good segue into my next theme is the fact that
7:41
DeAndre Swift can be a bell cow running back for this Eagles team one hundred
7:46
and seventy five yards rushing on twenty eight carries. That six point three yards
7:53
per attempt I'm sorry per carry, and one touchdown on the day his long
7:57
was forty three yards. Again, DeAndre Swift, folks, he can be
8:03
a bell cow running back for this Eagles team. Len, that's it's a
8:07
huge takeaway from me and theme of this game because you have such a diverse
8:11
backfield. You saw what Kenny Gainwell did last week, now DeAndre Swift this
8:16
week. Who knows when and if Rashad Penny is going to get featured.
8:22
Boston Scott in this game as well. By the way, before he was
8:24
injured, No Slouch had five carries for forty yards of course, eight yards
8:30
per carry. It's a diverse backfield here with a lot of different moving parts.
8:35
And unless Jalen Hurts kind of gets it together from the passing game standpoint
8:41
and his pocket presence in pocket management, you know, I think seeing these
8:46
games where the rushing is two hundred and fifty nine yards as it was total
8:50
in this particular matchup here, I mean we may be seeing these games a
8:54
lot more. And if it's quote boring for some people, but in the
8:58
end, it produced a win, and I think there's a fantastic aspect of
9:01
football for this Eagles team. Yeah, I don't necessarily think it's boring.
9:07
I mean, I feel like football has skewed so far to the passing game,
9:13
like just you know, all right, we're gonna throw it for five
9:15
thousand yards and we're just gonna chuck the ball down the field and get passed
9:18
interference penalties and just throw our throw, our throw. I mean, I
9:22
kind of liked it tonight. I kind of like seeing, you know,
9:26
a power running game, something you really don't see in the NFL anymore.
9:31
I'm not, you know, saying they're going to do it every week,
9:33
nor should they, but you know, it's nice to know that they have
9:37
that in their back pocket if they need it. Yep, absolutely yeah,
9:41
absolutely So another theme, you know, before we get into some grades and
9:46
before we talk a little bit more about some of the offense and defense land
9:48
is the fact that you can go back to being a little worried about this
9:54
offense out of the gate, like being worried specifically about the passing offense,
9:58
I should say, right out of the eight with this game in the first
10:01
quarter, just so many missed opportunities, so many missed opportunities. I mean,
10:05
this could have been a game where the Eagles could They actually could have
10:07
scored over fifty points probably in this game if they had a passing game that
10:13
was actually working for them. The Vikings turned the ball over twice and the
10:16
Eagles could not capitalize on it in the first quarter. In fact, it
10:20
took the Vikings one half to match their turnover total from their last primetime game
10:26
against the Eagles, and that was three, So they had three turnovers in
10:33
the first half. The Eagles could not capitalize on those turnovers. And it
10:37
makes me think, man, this high powered offense when you have a Jail
10:41
and Hurts a j Brown, Devant DeVante Smith was fantastic, but Dallas Goddard
10:46
just the coverage was a little I guess maybe too much for them, or
10:50
maybe Hurts wasn't seeing it. We got to see some of the film here,
10:52
but I just I'm a little concerned about the slow starts and the fact
10:56
that the Vikings just completely gave this game to them a first quarter and the
11:00
Eagles couldn't capitalize on it. Yeah, and kind of like what you're saying
11:05
with with Hurts a little bit. I mean that, you know, that
11:09
first drive of the game, Okay, you got a field goal, you
11:11
got three points. If he hits DeVante Smith in stride, they get a
11:15
touchdown. Yea. Demante Smith made a hell of a play to wait for
11:18
that ball and come back and make a contested catch, you know, on
11:22
a ball that you know, if Hurts hits him in stride, that's easy
11:26
money. Absolutely absolutely. One quick. One quick aside in terms of a
11:31
theme, is that I love Jake Elliott. I just do. I know,
11:35
every field goal kicker misses some every now and then, unless you're justin
11:39
Tucker down in Baltimore. But another sixty one yarder from him, he ties
11:45
his record and the Eagles record from that game back in twenty seventeen when he
11:50
kicked that sixty one yarder against New York Giants. Len another sixty one yard
11:54
or in this game too. I just love this guy, I really do,
11:58
because he has been clutch for this team over the past like six years.
12:03
At this point, he really has. Man, it's a funny thing.
12:07
You know, you talk about offensive lineman where like you know, if
12:11
you don't have to think about them and you don't hear their name, then
12:13
they're doing great. Yeah. I feel that same way about Jake Elliott,
12:16
Like I never worry about Like there's teams out there. There's plenty of teams
12:20
out there that worry about their kicking situation. Yeah, I don't think about
12:24
him. I just don't worry about him because I just I trust them,
12:28
and then that's that's probably. I mean, God, if we did a
12:31
list of things that we as a fan base, you know, take for
12:35
granted, he's probably pretty far up there. Absolutely absolutely. I think that's
12:39
a great discussion point in the future. Do you think that, Folks,
12:43
Philadelphia Sports Table at gmail dot com, we'd love to hear what you have
12:46
to say about that. I think it's a great point that Len makes there,
12:48
and I don't know about it. You have anything else here before we
12:52
move on to our grades and some other aspects of this game. Just the
12:56
fact that, I mean, you know, they were really helped out by
13:01
the Vikings here with four fumbles. Yeah, you know, it's Kirk Cousins.
13:05
I thought maybe there'd be some interceptions here, but but now just just
13:09
being able to get those four fumbles, you know, the Vikings kind of
13:13
did it themselves, and you know, thank God, because the Eagles didn't
13:18
play their their best game, not even approaching their best game. And I
13:22
think the Vikings in a way kind of like, you know, fumbled that
13:26
game away right right, one last to take away from this game for me,
13:31
And it's not something that's positive at all, and it's something I don't
13:35
know if we should be concerned about at this point, Len from a defensive
13:37
standpoint, and it's a certain gentleman who was the most dominant individual on this
13:43
Eagles defense in twenty twenty two. Last week he had two tackles. This
13:48
week doesn't even show up in the box score for having a tackle. I
13:54
don't know how much pressure he had. I didn't see much of it.
13:56
And that is Hassan Reddick just nowhere to be found in this game last week.
14:03
I don't know if he's being doubled. You know, we gotta go
14:05
back and look at some things. But Lenn, I'm wondering what the heck's
14:09
going on with Hassan Reddick here, especially after the season he had last year.
14:13
I don't see him getting in the backfield. I was seeing Josh Sweat
14:16
getting in the backfield a lot more than Reddick. Yeah, I think that
14:20
that, you know, I mean, obviously we would have to go back
14:22
and you know look at you know, film or whatever. But I mean,
14:26
I I we would not surprise me just to see, Okay, we're
14:31
not going to let that guy beat us again for a second year. Yeah,
14:33
to know that they're king on him, It wouldn't surprise me. I
14:37
don't think, you know, I didn't hear anything about Hassan Reddick in the
14:39
off season. They would you know, make me think he's loafing it or
14:43
you know, something happened where he's not, you know, doing everything he
14:46
needs to do. But you know, listen, when when you pile up
14:48
as many sacks as he did last year, you're gonna show up in people's
14:52
game plan and they're gonta key on you. So Josh Sweat might just be
14:56
the beneficiary of all that. I have, good point, good point.
14:58
All right, Well, we we're gonna take a quick break, folks.
15:01
When we come back. We're gonna get to our grades, integrate the box
15:05
score a little bit in there as well. We're gonna take that quick break.
15:07
We'll be back in just a bit, all right, folks. We
15:11
are back, and let's get into some of the grades. We're gonna grade
15:15
by unit, as our longtime listeners have known for quite some time. Then
15:18
we're gonna grade the coaching as well. So Len, let's start with Jalen
15:26
Hurts, the quarterback of this Philadelphi Eagles team, who went eighteen of twenty
15:30
three for one hundred and ninety three yards eight point four yards per attempt,
15:33
which is so much better than last week's five point two yards per attempt,
15:37
which was pretty pathetic. He had one touchdown on the day, one interception,
15:41
and had he ended with a rating of ninety eight point zero. He
15:46
was sacked four times. So I am going to give Jalen Hurts because he
15:52
had a much better game I think this week than he did in Week one
15:54
where he's getting that rust off of himself. Still think he's getting some of
15:58
that rust off. But I'm gonna give Jalen Hurts a B minus this week.
16:02
What do you give him? I don't know that he had that great
16:07
game. I will probably give him. It's probably gonna be one of my
16:12
lower marks for him all year. Hopefully I'm gonna give him a straight See.
16:17
You know that that should have been a touchdown on that on that first
16:19
one to you know, DeVante Smith, that interception was basically thrown into double
16:26
coverage. Yeah, and you know, I feel like he's just kind of
16:30
taking too many sacks. Getting sacked four times. I mean a lot of
16:34
that. Look, you know, you got to give credit to you know,
16:37
Minnesota Secondary. They there were a couple of plays where he just had
16:41
nothing to throw too. But it felt like he was in some instances,
16:45
I feel like he was holding the ball maybe just a little bit too long.
16:48
Agreed, So you know, hey, he did what he did on
16:52
the ground. He you know, they had two of those patented you know
16:55
plays at the goal line where you're not going to stop him, another one
16:57
on on a first down play, which you know, that's the guy you
17:00
want back there with his leg strength. I mean, he still does amazing
17:04
things on the field. He's still you know, you know, a great
17:10
player. But we have yet to see Himb that guy from last year yet.
17:14
All right, very good. I think it's fair. I think C
17:15
grade is fair for sure. Let's go to the running backs. I mean,
17:19
I'm gonna I'm gonna give him an a straight up a here. You
17:22
know, I can even give him an a plus because you had again DeAndre
17:27
Swift with six point three yards per carry. I don't know, I might.
17:30
I might actually give him an A plus in this game with two hundred
17:34
and fifty nine total rushes. That does include Jalen Hurts rushing for thirty five
17:38
yards in this game, although we rushed twelve times, so he's definitely not
17:44
the jail and Hurts of rushing that he was last year. Through two games
17:47
this season, I'm gonna give an A plus for the running backs. What
17:51
do you give him? Lenn? I also did have a point or two
17:55
in the game where where I was like, I feel like he's rushing too
17:59
much. Yeah, what hurts? Which you know, that's not his fault.
18:03
That's you know, I guess design of the offense. But yeah,
18:06
I mean it's it's hard to ask for anything more than what you cut out
18:10
of out of the you know, the rushing attack today. I mean,
18:12
you mentioned Boston Scott's day that he had. But you know, if anybody
18:17
on this team is getting the game ball, it's DeAndre Swift canils down yep.
18:21
So I'll go a all right, all right, sounds good. Let's
18:25
move to the receiving corps wide receivers and tight ends. Look, DeVante Smith
18:30
was just incredible. He was targeted five times, came down with four balls
18:36
folks for one hundred and thirty one yards. He averaged thirty two point eight
18:40
yards per reception. At a touchdown, his long was thirty three yards,
18:45
which, by the way, which that sixty three yard touchdown pass from Jalen
18:49
Hurts. It was the longest of DeVante Smith's career, surpassing his earlier catch
18:53
in the game of fifty four yards. So he was a record breaker.
18:59
But A J. Brown not too happy on the sidelines as we saw,
19:03
he only had twenty nine yards on the day Dallas Goddard had. It was
19:07
finally in this game with seven targets, he had the most targets of anybody
19:11
in the receiving corps. Came down with six balls over for twenty two yards.
19:15
A lot of short yardage plays there. I'm going to give the receivers
19:18
a B. I mean, DeVante Smith was, of course, by and
19:22
far just out of his mind in terms of catching balls and doing what he
19:27
did. But the receiving corp they were just kind of taken out of the
19:32
equation for the most part. Aside from DeVante Lenza. I'm gonna give him
19:37
a B this week. What do you give him? Yeah, I mean
19:41
they were to an extent. I feel like A. J. Brown was
19:42
for the majority of the game. And I feel bad for him because he
19:45
did have a touchdown catch which is brought back by a holding call I believe
19:49
was on Rashot Penny. Yeah, so, and then a pass interference call,
19:52
a call that should have been you know, he could have had another
19:56
touchdown. Oh yeah as well, he absolutely would have, you know.
20:00
So it's just one of those, you know, just bad luck games for
20:03
a guy, is what A J. Brown had. So you know,
20:07
I don't put any of that on him. You know, you know,
20:11
that's two touchdowns to get taken away from him overall, say B. I
20:15
mean, Devantey Smith had a fantastic game, Goddard. Even though they got
20:19
him the ball or try to get on the ball seven times, six catches
20:22
for twenty two yards, it felt link a lot of those, you know,
20:26
they didn't really try to extend him down the field, right, So
20:30
that's something that I would like to see a little bit more of as well.
20:33
All right, very good. Let's move to the offensive line here.
20:36
Lenn obviously in the Russian game, they were just a plus. In the
20:41
passing game, I'd say probably a B. So I'm gonna go with an
20:47
A minus this week for the for the Eagles offensive line, I think there
20:51
were some some issues certainly in pass coverage, and there were some false starts.
20:56
There's some holding calls as well that we're not necessary. So I'm gonna
21:02
go with an A minus for the offensive line. What do you give them?
21:06
Yeah, I think that's probably fair. I mean, given you know,
21:08
when when you look at the rushing attack and you look at just when
21:11
they had the chance to just I mean when when you turn them loose and
21:15
when you give them a chance to bull forward. I mean, they do
21:19
it as good, if not better than anybody. But yeah, it's just
21:22
I don't know, it feels like everything with the passing game, from the
21:26
blocking to hurts, you know, is just a hair off, not not
21:30
wildly off, but just a little bit off. So yeah, I mean,
21:36
but but you know, look, the rushing attack was the story of
21:37
the evening, So I'll go I'll go B plus there. Do you think
21:42
it's still rust that is on this team? A little bit? The offense
21:45
at least do you think it's rust still because they just didn't play in the
21:51
preseason, you know, you know what I mean, Like I wonder I
21:53
think that. Yeah. I mean, I know that we're doing one less
21:57
preseason game because we're doing one word regular season game. But like if you're
22:03
a fan, that's you know, you know, unless you're one of these
22:06
people that like, you know, you genuinely care about who the fifth linebacker
22:10
is or whatever. I mean, like the preseason is just worthless. Like
22:15
I watched the game and try to get anybody's like nobody I know is playing
22:19
and this is towards the beginning of the game. So it's just like,
22:22
I don't know, man, Like I feel like these guys would be a
22:26
little bit less gassed and a little bit more in sync if if they were
22:30
playing just a little bit during the preseason. Good point, good point.
22:34
All right, let's move over to the defensive side of the ball. Defensive
22:38
line, My goodness. I mean, I've got Alexander Maths in one of
22:44
my fantasy leagues, len he had twenty eight yards on eight carries. Is
22:51
long was seven yards average three point five yards per carry. The entire Minnesota
22:59
rushing attack twenty eight yards twenty eight yards total, Folks, I think the
23:04
defensive line did a pretty darn good job. And yes, the interior of
23:08
the Minnesota Vikings offensive line is terrible. They're not good. You saw Jalen
23:15
Carter just having a hell of a day, Jordan Davis having a hell of
23:18
a day, Fletcher Cox doing what he's been doing for quite some time,
23:21
and it seemed easy for the for an older guy because of that interior the
23:26
Vikings offensive line. But still I'm giving the defensive line in a what do
23:30
you give him this week? Yeah, I think they're very strong. I
23:33
don't I don't think that's you know, I don't think that's a generous grade
23:38
at all. I'll give him an A as well, because yeah, I
23:41
mean, you just keep sidingly seeing these little tastes of Jaalen Carter and you're
23:47
just like, oh man, the more they play him, the more you
23:48
like, you just like, just take the training wheels off, man,
23:52
just let him go. So, yeah, you see him, and you
23:55
see what Jordan Davis did. Cox, like you said, two quarterbacks,
24:00
he had a really strong game and then got Josh Sweat, you know,
24:03
a sack, five quarterback hits. I mean, he was in yeah,
24:07
Kirk Cousins face all night long. So that was hands down the best,
24:11
the best unit on the defense. Absolutely. There were two sacks in this
24:15
game by the Eagles defense, folks, three tackles for a loss, and
24:19
ten total quarterback hits. And again, like Lenn said, five of those
24:23
coming from Josh Sweat. What a fantastic player he has become and how he
24:29
has developed over these years. So let's move to the linebackers, and I'm
24:33
gonna be I'm surprising myself because Zach Cunningham had one hell of a game,
24:37
eight total tackles, one tackle for a loss. Zach Cunningham was making plays
24:42
today and he made one play specifically on Justin Jefferson, which I believe was
24:47
on a third down. He had one hell of a game in a linebacker
24:51
group and corps that ain't two strongs. I'm actually gonna give him a B
24:55
plus this week. What do you give the linebackers, Lenn? Yeah,
25:00
I I don't really. I don't really have an argument there. I thought
25:03
Cunningham was strong. I kind of wondered, Okay, Dean's out, how
25:07
is that? How is that unitch gonna look without him? There? But
25:11
you know, from and when you when you talk about Kobe Dan, you're
25:15
talking about Okay, he's the guy that calls the plays on the defense.
25:18
I don't feel like the defense looked terribly out of sync, you know,
25:22
outside of you know, just blown assignments in the secondary, which you know
25:26
that's not his fault. But yeah, I thought it was a I thought
25:30
it was a good game by the linebackers. I thought, you know,
25:33
dated a good job overall. I don't really have any problem with what I
25:37
saw from the linebackers. I'm good with the B plus there yep, yep,
25:40
Nicholas Morrow, three tackles, one quarterback hit. Gotta love it from
25:44
the kids. So all right, move on to the secondary here, the
25:48
defensive backs, and as we mentioned earlier, it was just you know,
25:53
you have all these injuries and you have the depth here and again the theme
25:57
of the fact that Kirk Cousins was able to really take advantage of that and
26:03
they were able to scheme up the Vikings offense. They were able to scheme
26:06
up some plays that just really took advantage of a young, inexperienced, and
26:11
just at times at times clueless Eagles defensive backfield and you know, Darius Slay,
26:18
he just can't get it done there all by himself. So I mean,
26:22
I'm gonna give him a C minus. Quite frankly, Lenn, I
26:26
think, and that even could be generous given the fact that the receiving corps
26:30
for Minnesota had three hundred and sixty four yards on the day. Kirk Cousins
26:34
ended with three hundred and six again, of course, three hundred and sixty
26:37
four yards that he threw for four touchdowns, and he ended with a rating
26:41
of one hundred and twenty five point six. I mean, he completed thirty
26:45
one passes on forty four attempts. Kirk Cousins had to himself one heck of
26:51
a game because of this inexperienced in young depth. For the Eagles defensive backs,
26:56
I mean, they're gonna get I'm gonna give him a C minus.
26:59
What do you give him this week? I'll give him a D plus.
27:03
I mean again, we talked about how how you know they really you know,
27:07
miss the guy like James Bradberry. I thought that even you know,
27:11
even Darius Slay, I think may have been given a guy like Justin Jefferson
27:15
who's phenomenal. Don't get me wrong, maybe a little too much respect on
27:19
some of the some of the coverages there. And then you saw certain plays
27:25
where you know, I think it was good Rich just let you know Jefferson
27:30
go across the formation and didn't follow him. And if there's one skill player
27:34
on the vikings you have to account for on every single play, it's justin
27:40
Jefferson, Like you cannot not know where he is and not have somebody on
27:45
him. That's inexcusable. And then that touchdown the kJ Osborne's just like,
27:49
dude, He'll never catch an easier touchdown in his life. Josh. Joe
27:53
was so confused about what he needed to do in life at that moment.
27:57
And that's what we're saying with these young guys with good Rich and Joe.
28:00
I mean, man, it's when they have the full crew back and you
28:07
know, just experienced guys in there, it's gonna look a lot better,
28:11
just because you know these guys. I mean, he saw it in the
28:15
stats and I they're not ready for prime time yet, Nope, not at
28:18
all. I never in a million years would think that I would say as
28:22
an Eagles fan, God, I need read blanket ship back as soon as
28:26
possible. But we do. We do as fans. Yeah, I mean
28:30
he's he's he's a decent player for them. Yeah, so yeah, you
28:34
need him all right, very good. Those are the grades for the units.
28:38
Let's get into the coaching. Special teams, Lucky and I special teams
28:42
are kind of what they have been. Again, lenn and I talked about
28:45
Jake Elliot earlier. Britain Covey fumbling on a fifteen yard line in the first
28:49
quarter could have been really disastrous. That didn't help in terms of the grade.
28:53
I've just it amazes me the fact that he's still the punt returner on
28:57
this team this year. But to Kille Ringo, I gotta say, had
29:03
quite a game on special teams, just in terms of his hustle getting down
29:06
the field, making some plays on special teams. I'm gonna give special teams
29:10
overall B plus this week. What do you give them? Maybe even in
29:12
a minus around there again, because Jake Elliott kicking at sixty one yard field
29:17
goal and just having himself a hell of a game. He kind of made
29:21
up for you know, Aaron Siposs in his crappy punting. He averaged thirty
29:26
seven point five yards per punt. Oh my god, guys thinks. Yeah,
29:34
I couldn't agree with you more on Britain Commy. I mean, I
29:37
just can't believe that on this team. And I know you don't want to
29:41
burden your skill players and potentially get him hurt returning punts, but you're telling
29:45
me there's not anybody better than him. Yeah, you can't find a single
29:49
person on this team better than him at returning punts. I refuse to believe
29:53
it. Yeah, you know, yeah, Sip. Also, look,
29:56
he got cut from the team for a reason in season. They brought them
30:00
back because they have literally no one else. I can't believe that there's not
30:04
anybody floating around out there that wouldn't do a better job there. I mean,
30:08
they need to really start, you know, looking at their options and
30:14
just taking a look at the at the punter market out there, and just
30:17
seeing what you can do outside of that. I agree with you with with
30:21
with Ringo, I think he's gonna hopefully he takes the heart what his situation
30:26
is on this team. He's not even really considered in the secondary rotation at
30:30
this point, so it's like, Okay, this is what they're giving me.
30:34
They're giving me special teams I'm just going to be a maniac on special
30:37
teams. Hopefully that's what he does all year long, and so far it
30:41
looks like that's what he's done, so good for him there. I'm going
30:45
to give them like a B. I mean again, you know, his
30:48
play, Elliot's play was good, and then you've got Covey and you've got
30:52
Sipos in the other hand, so it's got to even out a little bit.
30:56
Okay, sounds good. I think that's fair to SI defensive coordinator.
31:02
I am going to give him this week in a minus. I'm gonna give
31:04
him a minus. Just again, the talent was what it was in terms
31:08
of the defensive backfield because of injuries, you know, and Avante Maddox going
31:12
down was really huge. I think, I really think it was a lot
31:15
bigger than we initially thought while watching the game again because Mario Goodrich is just
31:23
he was just terrible and just completely unprepared to be out there. So I've
31:29
given what was in front of Sean Desai with the injuries and the fact that
31:33
it really came out and punched the Vikings offense in the face, and especially
31:38
from a rushing perspective where you have their team only rushing for twenty eight yards.
31:44
I'm gonna I'm gonna give him an as like I said, and I
31:48
don't know, I think that's a fair grade. What do you think?
31:51
Yeah, I mean he's making do with what he has at this point,
31:55
and what he has is a wealth of options on the defensive line, which
31:59
kind of tells you that maybe, you know, given the age of the
32:02
two corners, and you know, the fact that they need more than a
32:07
couple of guys even the age of or not the age maybe, but the
32:09
health of a Vonte Maddox. I know they love to build with the lines
32:14
early in the draft. I know they love to to do all that stuff,
32:16
but maybe just maybe it's time to invest a high pick in the secondary.
32:22
Yeah, because you need to infuse a little talent there. I mean,
32:25
the guys that they have now, the starters that they have in Slay
32:30
and Bradberry are good, but they're getting a little long in the tooth.
32:32
I think you need to start investing something there. So that that's just one
32:39
man's opinion, But yeah, he did well with what he had and they
32:44
just focus on the strengths. All right, we're gonna we're gonna rush the
32:46
hell out of out of Cousins. We're gonna make life tough for him,
32:52
and if he's able to get the ball off, then things are going to
32:53
happen. And they did. But uh, it was it was good enough.
32:58
I mean, it wasn't great twenty eight points for the Vikings, but
33:00
it was good enough on this night. I'll give him a B plus.
33:04
Okay, all right, I think it's fair. I think that's fair B
33:06
plus A minus area, yeah, absolutely, So let's move to Nick Sirianni
33:09
and Brian Johnson. Yeah, I don't know, man, Brian Johnson's play
33:15
calling, especially in the first in the first quarter, Len Holy cow,
33:20
I mean I just I was again, like I said, I was worried
33:24
about this offense right out of the gate. But like, man, I'm
33:30
just very confused about how Brian Johnson is doing this play calling. And I
33:37
wanted Nick Sirianni to basically take over after five minutes of the Eagles having the
33:42
ball. But you know, then again, you look at the fact that
33:45
this Eagles team with the time of possession, they absolutely murdered. They absolutely
33:52
killed thirty nine minutes in twenty eight seconds. So and that's the rushing attack.
33:55
Of course, that couldn't get anything going in the passing attack in the
33:59
first quarter. The rushing attack then works. But long story long, I
34:02
guess I'm gonna give Nick Sirianni and Brian Johnson be plus this week. I
34:08
think that's fair. What do you think? Yeah, I kind of wanted,
34:13
you know, that first drive of the game that ends up you know,
34:15
okay, they end up you know, instead of hitting Smith and stride,
34:21
Smith has to come back to the ball. It catches it, but
34:23
it gets him down into the red zone. They do nothing with the red
34:27
zone possession. That on the back of the New England game, I was
34:30
I was like, okay, when when are we starting with the give me
34:35
Brian Johnson from ac DC as offensive coordinator and said that it is Brian Johnson,
34:38
Like what when did those joke jokes start? But but credit to credit
34:47
to them, they realize, okay, the running game is it's working.
34:52
Yep, We're gonna pound the hell out of the ball and we're gonna we're
34:54
gonna go old school offense, old school NFL offense, and we're gonna run
34:59
the ball. And you know, they found something that worked and they decided
35:02
to run with it, and that's what good coaching is all about. It's
35:06
great about Okay, this isn't working, We're going to make an adjustment.
35:09
And they saw that adjustment was working, and they tailor their plan for tonight
35:13
around that. I'm not expecting that to be in every week thing, but
35:16
you know, but it's good that you have that, and it's good that
35:20
it worked on this evening, and it's good that they saw it and made
35:22
the adjustment and rolled with it. So for that, I'll give them a
35:25
B plus. All right, very good. I think that's going to do
35:30
it for us here. That's our that's our Eagles postgame analysis here on week
35:35
two. Here after week two, I should say against this Minnesota Vikings team
35:38
again, the Eagles winning at home the home open or thirty four to twenty
35:44
eight. Glen, buddy, do you have anything else before we had out
35:46
of here? It's not Eagles related, but I saw a tweet just regarding
35:52
this game kind of that just almost knocked me off my chair. Justin Jefferson
35:59
now right now in his career, at age twenty whatever, he is,
36:05
Yeah, has more yards receiving than anybody in the history of the Chicago Bears.
36:12
Franchise, which has been around for over a hundred years. Wait a
36:15
minute, seriously, I didn't know. I mean, I don't know if
36:19
that's true. But I saw that tweet before we went on, and I
36:22
didn't have time to look at it, but I was like, Holy God,
36:24
there's no way he's twenty four years old. I know. Oh my
36:29
god, I don't know. I have to look. But that sounds insane,
36:37
doesn't it. It sounds it does sound crazy. Look justin Jefferson.
36:40
In two games this year, he's got twenty receptions for three hundred and nine
36:45
yards, and he's averaging fifteen point four yards per reception. It sounds crazy
36:51
what you're saying, But I look at two games and those are his stats.
36:53
That's pretty good. So career totals as of right now with him three
36:59
hundred thirty three receptions four thousand, nine hundred and seventy five yards, that's
37:05
entirely plausible. Nobody in the history of the Bears has that many receiving yards.
37:09
That could be Wow, Jesus, it's unbelievable. Yes, God,
37:15
so yeah, I just I saw it and I was like, man,
37:19
that is bonkers. Wow, that is he's just starting his fourth season in
37:23
the league. Right man, very nice stat I like that throwing that out
37:30
there right at the end. I like that. Very nice. All right,
37:34
that is a good way to end this Eagles Pace game show. Yeah
37:37
we got Jalen Reagor right. Oh yeah, they had Jalen Regor the Vikings
37:45
had and cut him. They caught him at the end of the season.
37:50
He's playing for Walmart. Now. I think he might he might be playing
37:52
for Walmart. He may be uh, you know, he may be going
37:55
he may be going to uh, you know, one of the fast food
37:59
places to say, hey, I need I need a job, I need
38:01
something please. Maybe all right, well I'm gonna go get some ring Bologney.
38:07
Hope everybody had. I'm kidding, by the way, Uh well maybe
38:13
maybe not. You know, I hope everybody enjoyed. We are gonna be
38:17
back next week. Table Talk Show, Opposition Territory, our regular show,
38:22
and Eagles Postgame Show. Get some rests, Eagles, get healed up,
38:27
and welcome back in your podcast feed soon enough. Take care everybody. We'll
38:31
catch you next time.