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The Jalen Hurts And Sean Mannion Connection (PST Episode 679) · The Philadelphia Sports Table | Philly Sports News & Views

0:42
Speaker 1: Welcome to the Philadelphia Sports Table podcast show, the longest
0:45
Speaker 1: running weekly Philly sports podcast show in the world. Great
0:49
Speaker 1: to be in your ears if you're listening to us
0:51
Speaker 1: on audio podcast platform, if you're watching on YouTube, Hi,
0:54
Speaker 1: it is good to see you. And there is Len. Yes,
0:58
Speaker 1: I'm Jeff Warren. Here's my buddy Hunsicker, my friend. Good
1:01
Speaker 1: to see you. It's great. We just had we basically
1:04
Speaker 1: just had a half hour therapy session prior to us
1:07
Speaker 1: hit the record button.
1:08
Speaker 2: You see, man, Yeah, it's yeah, it's good to just man,
1:12
Speaker 2: it's all you.
1:12
Speaker 1: Know, works, life and all that stuff like stuff.
1:16
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, it's good to get some of that off
1:19
Speaker 2: your chest every now and again.
1:20
Speaker 1: Absolutely a lot of good stuff going on in the
1:22
Speaker 1: world of Philly sports. Seriously, I think that. I Yeah,
1:25
Speaker 1: it never ceases to amaze me with the teams that
1:29
Speaker 1: we follow and the up and down nature of all
1:33
Speaker 1: the teams in this in this city. It's amazing. Like
1:37
Speaker 1: a couple of weeks ago feels like it feels like
1:39
Speaker 1: everything's terrible, nothing's nothing's working out right, and then just
1:43
Speaker 1: two weeks later, it's like, oh, okay, yeah, good things
1:46
Speaker 1: are happening. You know, it's just amazing the way sports
1:48
Speaker 1: works man.
1:49
Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely, yeah, And it's crazy how stuff stuff can flip.
1:54
Speaker 2: I mean, you know, I guess at the which we're
1:58
Speaker 2: going to talk about later on. But the ultimate example
2:00
Speaker 2: of that is, you know, you go from the Sixers,
2:02
Speaker 2: who after they got you know, blasted by the Knicks
2:05
Speaker 2: out of the playoffs, is just like, look at this roster.
2:08
Speaker 2: They're dead in the water, blah blah blah, and now
2:10
Speaker 2: we're gonna talk about it tonight. I mean, look, Jesus God,
2:13
Speaker 2: look at this roster, like you know, so, yeah, as
2:18
Speaker 2: they say, life comes at you.
2:19
Speaker 1: Quick, absolutely it does. Look, folks, we're going to get
2:22
Speaker 1: into on this podcast episode or first going, of course,
2:25
Speaker 1: get into some Phillies talk. Moves were made at the
2:28
Speaker 1: trade deadline. We're gonna get into those moves. And also
2:31
Speaker 1: the question is will we actually see a different Phillies
2:35
Speaker 1: team for the remainder of the season based on these
2:38
Speaker 1: particular acquisitions, and then from there, like Lenn said, gonna
2:42
Speaker 1: get into some Sixers talk.
2:43
Speaker 2: Here.
2:44
Speaker 1: Excitement is just off the charts in terms of where
2:46
Speaker 1: this team is at, and the fan base is absolutely
2:50
Speaker 1: stoked and for good reason. Going to dive into some
2:53
Speaker 1: Sixers talk for sure, and then haven't talked about him
2:56
Speaker 1: in quite some time, because why would we. The Philadelphia
2:59
Speaker 1: Union have been at the basement of the Eastern Conference
3:02
Speaker 1: in Major League Soccer. But guess what, folks, they've won
3:05
Speaker 1: three games in a row. We're gonna give our thoughts
3:09
Speaker 1: on the Union. Are they actually making a comeback here
3:12
Speaker 1: after the World Cup break? And then we're gonna get
3:15
Speaker 1: into some Eagles talk. Len and I are going to
3:18
Speaker 1: dive into what we're focusing on this week particular storyline,
3:21
Speaker 1: and then we have our good friend Ed Kratz from
3:24
Speaker 1: Eagles Today over at SI. He's going to join us
3:26
Speaker 1: to break down some of the ongoing storylines within Eagles
3:29
Speaker 1: training camp so far NFL season, Eagle season is right
3:33
Speaker 1: around the corner. So Lenn, why don't we start off
3:36
Speaker 1: with the Phillies acquisitions at the trade deadline. My gosh,
3:41
Speaker 1: Luis Arise second baseman. And with that acquisition, you've got
3:46
Speaker 1: guys who are moving around in terms of their positions.
3:50
Speaker 1: Bryce Harper out in bright field, Alec Baum playing first
3:53
Speaker 1: base and interesting we're gonna get to all that in
3:58
Speaker 1: just a bit, but also reliever Brooks Raley and also
4:01
Speaker 1: reliever Caleb Killian as well. And in terms of like
4:06
Speaker 1: assessing these acquisitions here, Lenn kind of wanted to go
4:10
Speaker 1: through the three of them really quick with you and
4:13
Speaker 1: maybe maybe we'll give a grade. So how about Luis Rise.
4:18
Speaker 1: I'm actually giving this an a minus in terms of
4:21
Speaker 1: the grade here, because he's an amazing hitter. This team
4:26
Speaker 1: absolutely needed that offensive help that Bryce Harper so eloquently
4:32
Speaker 1: put just a short time ago. Brandon Marsh has certainly
4:35
Speaker 1: fallen on hard times after a breakout first half of
4:38
Speaker 1: the season, basically leaving Bryce Harper and Kyle Schwarber as
4:42
Speaker 1: the team's only consistent and productive hitters. Arise, I think
4:46
Speaker 1: is very welcome. I'm going to give that move an
4:49
Speaker 1: a minus. What would you give it?
4:52
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, particularly when you look at you know,
4:54
Speaker 2: how he started off with Phil's In the two games
4:57
Speaker 2: he's played so far, yeah, I mean he had a
4:59
Speaker 2: couple hits in the first game and the home run tonight,
5:02
Speaker 2: So I mean, yeah, he's been as advertised. You know,
5:05
Speaker 2: It's just nice to have a guy that you're just like,
5:08
Speaker 2: oh man, he can compete for a batting title because
5:13
Speaker 2: he's he's won a few batting titles, and he's consistently
5:16
Speaker 2: one of the better hitters in baseball. So I mean, yeah,
5:20
Speaker 2: it's it's it's a much needed shot in the arm.
5:22
Speaker 2: I was a little surprised that, you know, maybe he's
5:26
Speaker 2: not hitting higher in the order so that you know,
5:29
Speaker 2: if if, if you know, Harper or Schwarber does hit
5:33
Speaker 2: a home run instead of a solo home run, it's
5:35
Speaker 2: a two run home run because the rise is on base,
5:38
Speaker 2: because he gets on base. But you know, they they've
5:41
Speaker 2: utilized him by using him in the four hole and
5:43
Speaker 2: five hole right now. So yeah, I mean, as long
5:48
Speaker 2: as he just does what he's done, which is just
5:51
Speaker 2: hit and hit and hit and hit. Defensively, he's he's
5:55
Speaker 2: improved greatly over over the past couple of years. I know,
6:00
Speaker 2: at one point he was a pretty not very well
6:03
Speaker 2: regarded defensive second baseman. He went over to I believe
6:07
Speaker 2: he was in San Francisco where he hooked up with
6:09
Speaker 2: Ron Washington long time, you know MLB coach who has
6:13
Speaker 2: greatly improved his defense both at at second and at first.
6:18
Speaker 2: So yeah, he's become a more well rounded player than
6:22
Speaker 2: a guy that is just I think he had a
6:24
Speaker 2: reputations like oh, he just hit singles. He does it
6:27
Speaker 2: all the time, but he just hit singles, whereas you know,
6:30
Speaker 2: maybe there is a little bit more to him than that.
6:33
Speaker 2: So yeah, it's hard to complain about this at all.
6:36
Speaker 2: I'll give it an a.
6:38
Speaker 1: All right, very good look within that acquisition of Luisa
6:42
Speaker 1: Rise they ended up getting, and we're going to talk
6:44
Speaker 1: about him in a second. Caleb Killian from San Francisco
6:47
Speaker 1: for Ramon Marquez. He's basically MLB pipeline's number four prospect,
6:52
Speaker 1: and Marty Gayer is to say his last name, I
6:56
Speaker 1: think I think Geyer, but I'm all right, I want
6:59
Speaker 1: to make sure I'm saying that right. But let's move
7:04
Speaker 1: on to a trade that was made with the New
7:07
Speaker 1: York Mets here, and this is one I love Brooks
7:10
Speaker 1: Railey for John Spikerman and Luke Gabersh. I'm given this
7:17
Speaker 1: actually an anus as well in terms of what this
7:21
Speaker 1: trade was. Look, the Phillies have been desperate for a
7:24
Speaker 1: left handed reliever all year. Jose Alvarado has completely imploded.
7:31
Speaker 1: I think at this point here, Tim Mazos basically burned out,
7:35
Speaker 1: and Kyle Bacchus, I think he belongs to the miners
7:39
Speaker 1: here at this point, the inability to play matchups in
7:42
Speaker 1: late innings has made the bridge to Johann Duran. Yeah
7:49
Speaker 1: quite rickety Actually so I think with Brooks Raley, who
7:53
Speaker 1: is in the midst of a career year at the
7:55
Speaker 1: age of thirty eight, believe it or not, I think
7:58
Speaker 1: this is a fantastic trade. It's something they needed. Again,
8:02
Speaker 1: the fact that this team has been desperate for a
8:04
Speaker 1: left handed reliever all year. I'm giving this. I'm giving
8:06
Speaker 1: this trade an a minus here.
8:09
Speaker 2: Yeah, He's a guy that's been solid for for a
8:12
Speaker 2: couple of years now consecutively. I mean, he really once
8:16
Speaker 2: he got to New York with the Mats, he really
8:18
Speaker 2: kind of you know, turned things up a little bit
8:21
Speaker 2: and so and he's having, like you said, probably the
8:23
Speaker 2: best year of his career. H one ninety six r
8:25
Speaker 2: coming into tonight. He did in the game against Washington
8:29
Speaker 2: to night, he did give up, you know, a couple
8:31
Speaker 2: of runs in his first you know, appearance in the
8:34
Speaker 2: Phillies uniforms. So not the best first impression to get
8:38
Speaker 2: off to but you know, that happens. So you know,
8:41
Speaker 2: as long as it doesn't continue, I just I just
8:44
Speaker 2: want to have a couple guys that I just I
8:48
Speaker 2: can just depend on. Like I was a few nights ago,
8:52
Speaker 2: we were down in Baltimore. We caught a Phillies game
8:55
Speaker 2: at Camden Yards and we were there with you know,
8:57
Speaker 2: my wife's friend and her family who were all Ors fans,
9:00
Speaker 2: and you know, I was talking to her her one
9:02
Speaker 2: son who's in high school and plays baseball, and he's
9:04
Speaker 2: asking me about the Phillies bullpen, and I said, to
9:07
Speaker 2: be honest, I don't trust any of these guys. And
9:09
Speaker 2: that's you know, other than Doron, and you know, unfortunately
9:13
Speaker 2: I don't. So I just want a couple guys in
9:15
Speaker 2: here that when they come in, if they do, you know,
9:18
Speaker 2: surrender a couple of runs, I'll be like, oh wow,
9:20
Speaker 2: that's surprising, instead of them surrendering a couple runs and
9:23
Speaker 2: ME going, well, okay, there it is. So yeah, I
9:27
Speaker 2: just want a couple guys that I can feel good about.
9:29
Speaker 1: Yeah, real quick with Caleb Killian here breakout twenty nine
9:34
Speaker 1: year old reliever who could really see some high leverage
9:37
Speaker 1: work if he continues at this pace. Here, he's twenty
9:41
Speaker 1: years old, kind of came out of nowhere. He's got
9:43
Speaker 1: I believe. At one point six y eight e R
9:45
Speaker 1: A and fifty nine innings this year across two minor
9:48
Speaker 1: league levels generated a lot of buzz, of course, so
9:52
Speaker 1: I think there there's some some high ceiling perhaps for him.
9:56
Speaker 1: And I'm gonna give this basically A yeah. I'd say
9:59
Speaker 1: probably a B B minus. Uh what do you what
10:01
Speaker 1: are your thoughts on on Caleb Killian.
10:05
Speaker 2: Him? I I know less about just with him being
10:08
Speaker 2: out on the West coast this year with San Francisco
10:10
Speaker 2: prior to being here, and you know, I know he
10:12
Speaker 2: did have a couple of years in in Chicago as well,
10:17
Speaker 2: didn't perform overly well there, So I don't really know
10:22
Speaker 2: a lot about him. So it's kind of one of
10:23
Speaker 2: those things where like, you know, I'd love to give
10:26
Speaker 2: you more of a detailed answer on him, but until
10:28
Speaker 2: I see him some He looked good the other night
10:30
Speaker 2: he was in there, so you know, in the first
10:34
Speaker 2: first game against Washington in this series, so he looked
10:36
Speaker 2: good there. So you know, hopefully that continues and you
10:39
Speaker 2: know he can you know, find something perhaps with his
10:43
Speaker 2: coaching staff and maybe you know, with with the bullpen
10:46
Speaker 2: guys that are here, Uh, that will help him and
10:49
Speaker 2: hopefully he turns into something that's somewhat reliable.
10:53
Speaker 1: Yeah, absolutely, and just real quick too. Philly's acquired Colby
10:56
Speaker 1: Thomas from the Athletics for Seth Johnson. Nothing to write
11:00
Speaker 1: home about there, and they also acquired Manuel Cologne from
11:04
Speaker 1: the Kansas City Royals for Nolan Hoffman. Honestly, who cares
11:09
Speaker 1: kind of about.
11:10
Speaker 2: Me, you know, minor league organizational depth exactly exact shuffling
11:14
Speaker 2: deck chairs there. So yeah, I mean that's you know,
11:17
Speaker 2: that's what that is. But yeah, so we'll see. You know,
11:20
Speaker 2: I think we both are on the same page in
11:23
Speaker 2: terms of our thoughts on what it does for the
11:25
Speaker 2: Phillies defensively, and it's not the move we would make.
11:29
Speaker 2: I was listening to MLB Network on on XM yesterday
11:34
Speaker 2: when I was coming home there from the supermarket, and
11:36
Speaker 2: they were talking about that and they said the same
11:38
Speaker 2: thing I think you and I have been saying, like
11:41
Speaker 2: Trey Turner is your worst in field defender and he's
11:43
Speaker 2: the one guy that didn't move exactly.
11:46
Speaker 1: It's incredible. It's incredible.
11:48
Speaker 2: Mean for me, you know, your two most important, you know,
11:51
Speaker 2: spots defensively on the field are shortstop and center field.
11:55
Speaker 2: It's it's where that when you when you're coming up,
11:58
Speaker 2: the best athlete on your team is going to if
12:01
Speaker 2: they're an infield, or they're going to play short, if
12:02
Speaker 2: they're an outfield, or they're going to play center. Yeah
12:05
Speaker 2: and yeah, Trey Turner is a really good athlete, but
12:08
Speaker 2: he's not the best defender on his team. Bryce and
12:11
Speaker 2: Stott is the best defender on the team, and that's
12:13
Speaker 2: why I think he should be playing shortstop. Absolutely, if
12:16
Speaker 2: it was me, Turner would have been the one going
12:18
Speaker 2: to the outfield, not Bryce Harper, because Harper has you know,
12:22
Speaker 2: you know, it's an aspect of his game that I
12:24
Speaker 2: think a lot of people don't, you know, really appreciate.
12:28
Speaker 2: But you know, he didn't come up as a first basement.
12:31
Speaker 2: He has turned himself into a pretty damn decent defensive
12:34
Speaker 2: third first baseman. So you know, maybe you lose something
12:37
Speaker 2: there because Bom, I think is more of a natural
12:40
Speaker 2: third baseman. So and Boem, you know, to his credit,
12:43
Speaker 2: he has given you nothing at the play this year,
12:46
Speaker 2: really too much. But defensively, from where he was when
12:49
Speaker 2: he started his career, he's fashioned himself into a decent
12:53
Speaker 2: defensive third baseman. So you know, so far, it hasn't
12:57
Speaker 2: really hurt them in terms of, you know, the two
12:59
Speaker 2: games that I've seen so far defensively, but I don't know,
13:02
Speaker 2: I just feels like a lot of unnecessary moves when
13:05
Speaker 2: the one piece that isn't good is still where he is.
13:09
Speaker 1: Exactly, And it begs the question, will we actually see
13:13
Speaker 1: a quote different Phillies team for the remainder of this season?
13:17
Speaker 1: And I think in certain spots maybe I have hope
13:21
Speaker 1: that yes, the bullpen has been altered somewhat, so we
13:24
Speaker 1: may see some yeah, we may see a little bit
13:28
Speaker 1: more consistency there. And maybe that's just my optimistic hope there.
13:31
Speaker 2: But with a Rose, it was great tonight.
13:33
Speaker 1: No, not at all. Wait wait hold on did they look?
13:38
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, they really loved it.
13:40
Speaker 2: Was because I was like, because we had said, okay,
13:43
Speaker 2: we're gonna start recording around ten to fifteen to night,
13:46
Speaker 2: so I'm like, we went got past the ninth inning
13:49
Speaker 2: and it was like tied three to three, and I'm like,
13:50
Speaker 2: come on, come on, just win this in regulation, you know,
13:53
Speaker 2: let's not go to extra innings. And then I just
13:55
Speaker 2: happened to look at my phone while we were recording,
13:57
Speaker 2: and I knew that the Nats went up four to three. Yeah,
13:59
Speaker 2: I didn't really there. Now they were up ten to four,
14:01
Speaker 2: and holy hell, what happened since we started recording? So
14:05
Speaker 2: uh yeah, apparently things went south. Alvarado could not find.
14:11
Speaker 1: He can't, he can't do it.
14:12
Speaker 2: He walked in, he walked in, you know, the leading
14:16
Speaker 2: run to put the Nats up four to three. Yeah,
14:20
Speaker 2: and it was just overthrowing everything. Everything was high in
14:22
Speaker 2: the zone. Just I don't, I don't know. He was
14:25
Speaker 2: just I don't know if he was too amped up
14:26
Speaker 2: or whatever.
14:27
Speaker 1: But he just can't do it anymore. Man Like, he can't.
14:30
Speaker 1: Like I, I just he doesn't have it. He just doesn't.
14:32
Speaker 2: He's been bad all year long.
14:34
Speaker 1: Yeah. I the Arise trade I absolutely love, you know,
14:39
Speaker 1: and of course bringing in Caleb Killy in that trade too,
14:42
Speaker 1: I do. I love it, But I don't think it's
14:46
Speaker 1: actually going to make the quote difference, you know, with
14:50
Speaker 1: this team, the difference that it actually needs. Yes, they
14:53
Speaker 1: needed the type of batter that Arise is. But at
14:56
Speaker 1: the end of the day, is it really going to
14:57
Speaker 1: move the needle too much. It's going to move the
15:01
Speaker 1: needle a little bit, but I don't think it's gonna
15:03
Speaker 1: move it to where it needs to be.
15:05
Speaker 2: I think I think it'll it'll definitely help. I mean,
15:07
Speaker 2: having a hitter like a Rise on your team definitely helps.
15:10
Speaker 2: But the biggest move that they probably could have made
15:12
Speaker 2: in terms of a something that was going to alter
15:16
Speaker 2: the rest of their season significantly, would be to get
15:19
Speaker 2: another starter in there that you you depend on. Because
15:24
Speaker 2: right now, you know you have Sanchez, Wheeler, Lozardo. We
15:28
Speaker 2: feel good, very very good to at least pretty good
15:31
Speaker 2: about all three of those guys, and after that you
15:34
Speaker 2: got Nola, who nobody feels good about anymore. And then
15:37
Speaker 2: you know, Painter started tonight and he you know, he
15:39
Speaker 2: had a hamstring issue that he left with. But outside
15:42
Speaker 2: of that, that fit spot you have, you have no
15:44
Speaker 2: idea what you're getting. So if you're gonna you know,
15:47
Speaker 2: first of all, to get to the playoffs, you could
15:49
Speaker 2: have used the fourth good starter. And then once you
15:52
Speaker 2: get into the playoffs, you know, I mean to have
15:56
Speaker 2: four good starters. Then at that point you're you're pretty
15:59
Speaker 2: much set your you need to be as far as
16:00
Speaker 2: your playoff rotation. The Phillies don't completely have that. You
16:04
Speaker 2: have three good starters, and then Aaron Nola, who yeah,
16:07
Speaker 2: just again you talked about guys that you don't think
16:09
Speaker 2: have it anymore. I know, the best of Aaron Nola
16:13
Speaker 2: went bye bye a couple of years ago, if you
16:16
Speaker 2: ask me, so, yeah, that would have been really the move.
16:20
Speaker 2: Like just even to get like a Kevin Gossman type
16:23
Speaker 2: guy in who went to the Cubs would have been
16:25
Speaker 2: a you know, a good move. You know, I'm not
16:28
Speaker 2: asking for Tark School. You know, we always knew that
16:31
Speaker 2: the evil Empire out West was going to get him. Yeah,
16:34
Speaker 2: but you know, just to get a good quality starting
16:37
Speaker 2: pitcher arm in there would have probably been the biggest
16:39
Speaker 2: thing for the Phillies. And that's the one thing they
16:42
Speaker 2: didn't do with the deadline. So maybe that's the thing
16:44
Speaker 2: where by the end we're like, oh, should have done that.
16:47
Speaker 1: Absolutely, let us know you're thinking about these Phillies moves here.
16:51
Speaker 1: Leave a comment below on YouTube if you are listening
16:54
Speaker 1: to us on audio podcast or if if you're watching
16:57
Speaker 1: on YouTube, shoot us off an email Philadelphia Sports Table
17:00
Speaker 1: gmail dot com. Love to read your email here on
17:02
Speaker 1: the show and respond to it. We're gonna take a
17:05
Speaker 1: break and when we come back, folks, we are gonna
17:07
Speaker 1: get into some sixers talk, some Union talk and Eagles talk.
17:11
Speaker 1: Stick with us, We'll be right back, all right, We're
17:16
Speaker 1: back into get into this this next topic here, and
17:20
Speaker 1: I just like I can't believe we're actually here with
17:23
Speaker 1: the Philadelphia seventy six Ers. As you said at the
17:26
Speaker 1: at the top of the show, Len, my gosh, this
17:30
Speaker 1: I mean Eric and I were talking about what the
17:32
Speaker 1: moves last week, the Lebron move, of course, but the
17:35
Speaker 1: Sixers roster now appears to be set for this coming season,
17:39
Speaker 1: and the excitement is really off the charts when it
17:41
Speaker 1: comes to where this fan base is at. And for
17:44
Speaker 1: absolute good reason, I really do wonder if Mike Gansey,
17:49
Speaker 1: in his first year, as you know, director of you know,
17:53
Speaker 1: personnel operations here, has built the NBA's most complete roster
17:58
Speaker 1: at this point. A very dramatic offseason transition we saw
18:02
Speaker 1: from him, this new look core here, I mean the
18:06
Speaker 1: Jalen Brown acquisition. I cannot wait to see him in
18:09
Speaker 1: a Sixers jersey doing what he does down at the
18:12
Speaker 1: Xfinity Mobile Arena. But I will say this too, with
18:17
Speaker 1: all the excitement that is around this team right now
18:19
Speaker 1: and this roster, championship teams they do need more than stars.
18:24
Speaker 1: It takes more than just assembling elite players too. I
18:27
Speaker 1: mean you got to look at roster balance, the depth,
18:31
Speaker 1: defensive adaptability, and players who who know and accept their
18:36
Speaker 1: duties and characteristics of what a successful team looks like.
18:40
Speaker 1: So again, I'm not trying to pooh pooh any of
18:43
Speaker 1: this at all, but championship teams need more than stars here,
18:48
Speaker 1: and I think that's something important for us to keep
18:50
Speaker 1: in mind. But damn man, it's an exciting time for sure.
18:54
Speaker 2: Yeah, no, for sure. I mean, and like you said,
18:57
Speaker 2: you need more than stars. Well you know, okay, yeah,
19:00
Speaker 2: obviously all the oxygen is going to be taken up
19:03
Speaker 2: by by you know, the acquisitions of Jaylen Brown and
19:06
Speaker 2: Lebron James that you know, there's nothing you can do
19:09
Speaker 2: about that, but you know they also brought in and
19:11
Speaker 2: Fredy Simon's good, you know, score off the bench, Dean Wade,
19:15
Speaker 2: you know, a decent three, and d you know, big
19:18
Speaker 2: off the bench, who is going to require the ball
19:21
Speaker 2: in his hands. You know, you've got a lot of
19:24
Speaker 2: guys that have high use Ae Draates, so you're gonna
19:26
Speaker 2: need You're gonna need guys that don't need the ball
19:29
Speaker 2: in their hands. And he's a guy that you can
19:30
Speaker 2: put on the floor that's going to give you that. Yeah,
19:32
Speaker 2: Cantavious Caldwell, Pope. They just brought in so I mean
19:36
Speaker 2: all of a sudden and that and that's that's just
19:38
Speaker 2: the new guys you brought in. You still have, you
19:39
Speaker 2: know guys you know like you know, uh, Dominic Barlow,
19:43
Speaker 2: Adam Bona, you know you still have I'm I'm excited.
19:48
Speaker 2: I don't think you're going to see a lot of them,
19:49
Speaker 2: but LeBaron fillin the guy that they drafted. He looked
19:54
Speaker 2: really good in Summer League. I kind of want to
19:55
Speaker 2: see what he can do. But are you going to
19:57
Speaker 2: see him that much? Because you know, there's just there's
20:00
Speaker 2: only so many minutes on this team. The one area really,
20:03
Speaker 2: the only area that that gives me concern on this
20:07
Speaker 2: roster as it stands right now is obviously you know
20:11
Speaker 2: embiid the you know the availability. Who are your backup bigs?
20:17
Speaker 2: I mean, you know you have Barlow, you have Bona,
20:19
Speaker 2: But like are you are you good with that or
20:23
Speaker 2: or do you think that they have they shown you
20:25
Speaker 2: enough last year to be like Okay, if you know
20:29
Speaker 2: m beads out for a long spell, who do we
20:31
Speaker 2: have as our as our center. I know they brought
20:34
Speaker 2: in Ariel hook Porty from from the nixt last year.
20:37
Speaker 2: Maybe he might be a guy that, you know, in
20:39
Speaker 2: training camp you really look at to see, like, you know,
20:42
Speaker 2: is he a guy that could get some minutes if
20:45
Speaker 2: he performs well enough in practices and stuff like that.
20:48
Speaker 2: Is he a guy that could get Nick nursees trust to,
20:50
Speaker 2: you know, throw him out there in the five spot,
20:53
Speaker 2: you know, I don't know, I don't know, but that's
20:56
Speaker 2: you know, it looks like a very complete team except
20:59
Speaker 2: for that backup center position. And when you've got a
21:02
Speaker 2: guy like him be that misses as much time as
21:05
Speaker 2: he does, that goes from being a smaller concern to
21:08
Speaker 2: a larger concern. So, you know, we'll we'll see what happens. Yeah,
21:12
Speaker 2: maybe a small a lot. I don't know.
21:14
Speaker 1: They might, they might. And look, I think it's interesting
21:18
Speaker 1: that Nick Nurse is still here, you know, given the struggles,
21:21
Speaker 1: given the challenges of this team over the past how
21:23
Speaker 1: many seasons. Now he's going to have to make the
21:27
Speaker 1: most of a team just full of elite players while
21:29
Speaker 1: making sure that each player again is aware of their
21:32
Speaker 1: responsibilities and not to reiterate or beat a dead horse.
21:36
Speaker 1: Championships are not guaranteed by talent alone, and developing that
21:40
Speaker 1: chemistry is going to be crucial to where this team
21:45
Speaker 1: ends up going. I mean, this isn't like we're all excited,
21:48
Speaker 1: absolutely and we should be, but we all I think
21:50
Speaker 1: we all need to take a step back and say,
21:52
Speaker 1: you know what, how is the chemistry actually going to
21:55
Speaker 1: work out? And Nick Nurse is going to be a
21:57
Speaker 1: big part of making sure that that all comes together.
22:00
Speaker 2: Yeah, and that's yeah, That's the other concern I had was,
22:04
Speaker 2: you know, I mentioned about guys that you know, don't
22:07
Speaker 2: unnecessarily need the ball in their hands. I think and
22:11
Speaker 2: this is kind of just I guess a prediction I
22:13
Speaker 2: have for this season if you go and it's easy
22:16
Speaker 2: to say about a guy that's in his forties, but
22:18
Speaker 2: I think this will be from a scoring standpoint, Lebron's
22:22
Speaker 2: lowest you know, average points per game, Yeah, in his career.
22:26
Speaker 2: I think it will a because and age. I mean,
22:28
Speaker 2: he still looks like a million bucks, but he doesn't
22:32
Speaker 2: have to. I mean, Jalen Brown, you know, scores a
22:34
Speaker 2: ton of points, Tyrese Maxie scores a ton of points,
22:37
Speaker 2: and b when he's there can score a ton of points.
22:40
Speaker 2: It's not that he can't. It's just Lebron isn't going
22:42
Speaker 2: to really need to score as much. I think, you know,
22:46
Speaker 2: when he was the Lakers, he had Luca and Austin Reeves. Maybe,
22:49
Speaker 2: but I mean he's just got options. I mean, pick
22:52
Speaker 2: your poison. And then when those five starters, those four
22:55
Speaker 2: and Edgecomb are out on the floor, another thing I'm
22:58
Speaker 2: looking at is edge Comb, you know, okay, maybe he
23:01
Speaker 2: gets lost in the shuffle, but also you know, okay,
23:05
Speaker 2: all your best defenders, you're gonna have to pick who
23:07
Speaker 2: you're going to put him on. And I think VJ.
23:09
Speaker 2: Edgecomb is going to see some maybe weaker defenders than
23:11
Speaker 2: he normally would, and he may be able to exploit
23:14
Speaker 2: those matchups too, knows, So it's another thing to kind
23:18
Speaker 2: of to kind of consider. So yeah, it's it's just
23:22
Speaker 2: it's amazing my level and I don't think I'm alone
23:26
Speaker 2: in this, My level of interest in the Sixers coming
23:30
Speaker 2: into this year from last year when you just saw
23:35
Speaker 2: two big contracts in and beating Paul George that you
23:37
Speaker 2: knew you were rolling going to get half a season
23:39
Speaker 2: out of. Yeah, just the man, what a difference what
23:43
Speaker 2: a gigantic difference in just perception and excitement for this
23:47
Speaker 2: upcoming season.
23:48
Speaker 1: Dude, they should just get They should just give Mike
23:50
Speaker 1: Gansey the key to the city after this. I don't
23:52
Speaker 1: even care, don't even play a game yet. Just give
23:55
Speaker 1: him the key to the city.
23:56
Speaker 2: He deserves it him, him and and Bob Myers as well. Yeah. Yeah,
24:02
Speaker 2: President Harris Splitzer Sports Group. You know guy that was
24:05
Speaker 2: basically the architect of those Golden State teams that won
24:08
Speaker 2: those those wart championships. I mean, you know, he's I
24:12
Speaker 2: think they worked in tandem, and I think you know,
24:15
Speaker 2: I mean, Ganz even said it himself the other night
24:17
Speaker 2: when he was on UH on with the with Kruk
24:20
Speaker 2: and and uh McCarthy the Phillies game. He said, if
24:23
Speaker 2: we don't get Jalen Brown, we're never even in the
24:26
Speaker 2: conversation for Lebron j He's not even about us. It
24:28
Speaker 2: was wasn't until we got Jalen Brown and that we
24:32
Speaker 2: became a potential destination. So I'm being able to make
24:36
Speaker 2: that trade and bring him in. I mean, unbelievable. I
24:40
Speaker 2: would I would have never pictured any.
24:42
Speaker 1: Of this, I know because I do how many times
24:44
Speaker 1: on this podcast other podcasts. It was written in articles.
24:48
Speaker 1: There's no way they're going to be able to get
24:49
Speaker 1: rid of that Paul George contract. What's going to happen
24:53
Speaker 1: over all these years? And he fucking did it.
24:55
Speaker 2: He did And that's and that's why I like like it.
25:00
Speaker 2: That's the kind of negative in me coming out. It's like, Okay,
25:05
Speaker 2: why would they give us jael and Brown? For Like,
25:08
Speaker 2: is Jaalen Brown secretly the most person of all time? Like,
25:12
Speaker 2: why why would they do that?
25:15
Speaker 1: Yeah?
25:16
Speaker 2: Who knows? Yeah, but but yeah, I don't know. I'm
25:19
Speaker 2: I'm just I'm super excited. I actually can't wait to
25:24
Speaker 2: watch them this year. And it's been it's been some
25:27
Speaker 2: time since I felt that way about the Sixers.
25:29
Speaker 1: Gonna be fun, gonna be fun. Folks, were gonna take
25:31
Speaker 1: a break and when we come back, Union talk, Eagles talk.
25:33
Speaker 1: Stick with us, all right, We're back for some Philadelphia
25:39
Speaker 1: Union talk. Yes, I know it has been a while
25:42
Speaker 1: since we have talked about this team. Why because they
25:44
Speaker 1: have sucked. They have been at the basement of the
25:47
Speaker 1: Eastern Conference in Major League Soccer now for just about
25:51
Speaker 1: this entire season, except for their past three matches. My god,
25:55
Speaker 1: they have actually won three matches in a row at
26:00
Speaker 1: this point here in term uh interim head coach Ryan
26:06
Speaker 1: Oh my god Richter. Yes, Ryan Richter has had quite
26:09
Speaker 1: a month that he's gonna have quite a busy month
26:12
Speaker 1: in August with the League's Cup next up on the
26:16
Speaker 1: docket here. But it's it's everything's been positive with this
26:19
Speaker 1: team len since the World Cup break has ended. And uh,
26:24
Speaker 1: I do wonder if the Philadelphia Union are going to
26:26
Speaker 1: be kicking it up into some gear here. You know,
26:29
Speaker 1: this is the spark that this team needs. I it's
26:32
Speaker 1: amazing that that they're actually thirteenth now in the East.
26:37
Speaker 2: Yeah they're not. They're not in last place any or
26:39
Speaker 2: in the East, which is which is crazy to think
26:42
Speaker 2: about it. Yeah, I mean, i'd be curious to know,
26:45
Speaker 2: and I haven't looked into it enough. I'd be curious
26:47
Speaker 2: to know exactly, you know, what happened in the in
26:52
Speaker 2: that in that World Cup break. I mean, not a
26:55
Speaker 2: lot of these guys were playing in the World Cup.
26:57
Speaker 2: I think Danley John Jocko played for Haye, but they
27:01
Speaker 2: were bounced relatively quickly. But I don't really know that
27:03
Speaker 2: a lot of other people with the Union played in
27:07
Speaker 2: the World Cup. So it was at rest. Was it
27:10
Speaker 2: getting back together? Was it maybe maybe they got together
27:13
Speaker 2: during that break and were able to like just work
27:16
Speaker 2: on a couple of things in terms of like getting
27:18
Speaker 2: more familiar, getting more comfortable. It's quite possible. But yeah,
27:23
Speaker 2: I and so I don't quite know. I do know
27:27
Speaker 2: that in those three games since they've been back, Milan
27:31
Speaker 2: Alaski has has scored a goal in all three of
27:33
Speaker 2: those games, so he's kind of come on a little
27:35
Speaker 2: bit as a score. And then Neil Pierre, who has
27:39
Speaker 2: been a revelation on the back end. You know, six seven,
27:43
Speaker 2: you know, fullback, a guy that you know, and he
27:47
Speaker 2: and he had a nice header. I think I might
27:50
Speaker 2: have been the last game against Atlanta, but you know,
27:53
Speaker 2: you're doing a corner kick and you have a six
27:55
Speaker 2: foot seven guy that you know can get up in
27:58
Speaker 2: the air and had you know, ball in. That's a
28:01
Speaker 2: weapon right there, especially a young athletic guy like him.
28:05
Speaker 2: So yeah, it's it's been amazing. And then maybe the
28:08
Speaker 2: most encouraging thing to me is the last game against Atlanta.
28:12
Speaker 2: You know, the Union typically it feels like the past
28:15
Speaker 2: couple of years. Whenever I watch them, they'll be up late,
28:18
Speaker 2: they'll be up by a goal and there will be
28:21
Speaker 2: a goal for the other team in stoppage time and
28:24
Speaker 2: they they they pull, you know, a drawl out of
28:28
Speaker 2: the jaws of victory, like like instead of you know,
28:31
Speaker 2: getting the getting the full points, they you know, they
28:34
Speaker 2: just get a draw because they just let in a
28:36
Speaker 2: bad goal or whatever at the end of the game.
28:39
Speaker 2: And that's been something that feels like they've done a
28:41
Speaker 2: lot the past couple of years. Well, this game against Atlanta,
28:44
Speaker 2: they were down two to one going in the stoppage time.
28:46
Speaker 2: You get two goals, not one, but two goals in
28:49
Speaker 2: stoppage time and you come back and you win that game.
28:52
Speaker 2: That is not something I'm used to with the Philadelphia Union,
28:56
Speaker 2: and that was something when I saw that, that is
28:58
Speaker 2: something that really made me take notice. And then, of course,
29:03
Speaker 2: the other huge thing is Kai Wagner's back. You know,
29:09
Speaker 2: it sounds like maybe it was a family decision. You know,
29:13
Speaker 2: he went over to Birmingham City last year and you know,
29:17
Speaker 2: maybe they gave England a try, and I don't it
29:20
Speaker 2: sounded like in his goodbye address to the you know
29:24
Speaker 2: social media address to the Birmingham City supporters group, you know,
29:28
Speaker 2: he he did say it sounded very much like a
29:30
Speaker 2: family thing. So you know, he wanted, they wanted to
29:33
Speaker 2: come back to the States, and I believe him, you know,
29:34
Speaker 2: I believe you know that that was the thing of it.
29:37
Speaker 2: But you know, he also you know, since he's come back,
29:40
Speaker 2: he's been like it, it feels good to be home,
29:42
Speaker 2: like it. It feels like, you know, Philadelphia is his home. Yeah,
29:47
Speaker 2: maybe he wanted to give, you know, being in the
29:49
Speaker 2: the the Champions League a try, but you know, this
29:52
Speaker 2: was always a good soft landing spot and you know,
29:56
Speaker 2: having him back, you know, is only going to help
29:58
Speaker 2: that defense. So suddenly one of the big losses that
30:01
Speaker 2: you had from your team is back and that could
30:04
Speaker 2: only help too.
30:04
Speaker 1: So I think real quick, I think it was after
30:08
Speaker 1: the Atlanta game a Lotto actually said, the King is back. Yeah,
30:14
Speaker 1: I mean it.
30:16
Speaker 2: Matters. I mean, Evan, when you have a guy that
30:18
Speaker 2: has been a stalwart, a guy that's been you know,
30:22
Speaker 2: on the you know, the the best eleven team for
30:25
Speaker 2: the past few years in in MLS, I mean that matters.
30:29
Speaker 2: That matters a whole ton. So you know, I'm sure
30:32
Speaker 2: just that alone probably picked the Union up as a
30:35
Speaker 2: team quite a bit in terms of just just the
30:38
Speaker 2: attitude towards you know, how the season is going. Stuff
30:41
Speaker 2: like that matters.
30:42
Speaker 1: Absolutely, there's optimism with this team now at this point.
30:45
Speaker 2: And and you said, now League's Cup is coming up. Actually,
30:50
Speaker 2: I actually tomorrow night they have a cruises at home,
30:55
Speaker 2: and I actually toyed with the idea going the game.
30:57
Speaker 2: I just have too much stuff I got to do
30:59
Speaker 2: the next day. Life drive down there. Yeah it sucks
31:03
Speaker 2: because I really was planning on doing it.
31:07
Speaker 1: Freaking life can't do anything. As we're getting older. I
31:11
Speaker 1: thought it was supposed to be easier.
31:13
Speaker 2: And my wife was like, you know, we aren't you
31:16
Speaker 2: going to do stuff on your vacation. So it's like, okay,
31:18
Speaker 2: I'm gonna go to this game. And then I told
31:19
Speaker 2: her about She's like, yeah, we have this, this and this.
31:21
Speaker 2: It's like you do stuff on your.
31:24
Speaker 1: K exactly exactly. These ladies, these ladies in our lives
31:28
Speaker 1: every now and again. Yeah, well let's move on here. Yeah,
31:35
Speaker 1: let's let's let's move on here to the Philadelphia Eagles, buddy,
31:38
Speaker 1: because I mean, you know me and football. You know
31:40
Speaker 1: football love it. I know absolutely we know Eagles storylines. Man,
31:45
Speaker 1: there's a ton of them. But you know Lennon and
31:48
Speaker 1: I wanted to get into like what we're specifically focusing
31:50
Speaker 1: on here this week, any specific storylines. And I got
31:55
Speaker 1: to tell you the one storyline that I'm I'm really
31:57
Speaker 1: honing in on from this week is the connection that
32:01
Speaker 1: Jalen Hurts and Dantavian Wicks are having. And I mentioned
32:05
Speaker 1: this because this is almost a new wide receiver room. Yes,
32:09
Speaker 1: Smitty is back, Dallas Goddard still hopefully going to be
32:14
Speaker 1: a very capable and a I hesitate to say dominant
32:20
Speaker 1: tight end, but I mean what he had twelve touchdown
32:23
Speaker 1: receptions last year. This wide receiver room, there's a lot
32:28
Speaker 1: of skepticism out there about how they're going to perform.
32:30
Speaker 1: But this week at camp when Dantavian Wicks, who came
32:34
Speaker 1: over after leaving the Green Bay Packers and somebody who
32:39
Speaker 1: I think has a ton of talent. First year in
32:41
Speaker 1: the league back in twenty twenty three had five hundred
32:44
Speaker 1: and eighty one yards twenty twenty four went down to
32:47
Speaker 1: four hundred and fifteen yards. Last year he only played
32:50
Speaker 1: fourteen games, three hundred and thirty two yards. But the
32:53
Speaker 1: connection and from the reports this week that Jalen Hurts
32:57
Speaker 1: in Dantavian Ontavian wis has is something something that's going on.
33:06
Speaker 1: I'm sorry, I'm referencing something that I'm seeing my campaign
33:09
Speaker 1: commercial in front of me. I'm like, oh my gosh,
33:13
Speaker 1: what is this? Sorry? That was that was not professional, folks,
33:18
Speaker 1: Not that we're the most professional outfit here, but geez,
33:20
Speaker 1: for sure, that really stopped me into my tracks. I
33:22
Speaker 1: saw my campaign ad right here is.
33:25
Speaker 2: Looking up Dona about one hundred times exactly.
33:28
Speaker 1: Yes, But anyway, that that's the storyline that I'm really
33:31
Speaker 1: honing in on this week, the fact that almost a
33:33
Speaker 1: new wide receiver room. And it's good to know that
33:36
Speaker 1: Jalen Hurts has a connection with Dntavian wis here. I
33:38
Speaker 1: think it's important.
33:41
Speaker 2: Yeah, And that's the thing. It kind of feeds into
33:44
Speaker 2: something that I was thinking about, Yeah, what's yours? You know,
33:47
Speaker 2: it's it's you know, you mentioned it is a whole
33:49
Speaker 2: new wide receiver room, and you mentioned oh and Devontae
33:52
Speaker 2: Smith's back. Yeah, he's back. But he went from being
33:55
Speaker 2: you know, I don't know if you'd call him a
33:57
Speaker 2: number two receiver, I'd say he's one beat Brown. But
34:01
Speaker 2: now he is the undisputed top dog in that receiver room.
34:05
Speaker 2: He is the number one option. He is the guy
34:08
Speaker 2: that all those defenses are going to be keen on.
34:10
Speaker 2: How does he how does he adapt to that? How
34:13
Speaker 2: does he What happens there? And you know you mentioned
34:16
Speaker 2: Dantavian Wicks. That opens up a big, you know, opportunity
34:20
Speaker 2: on the other side of the field, opposite Devonte Smith
34:23
Speaker 2: for that number two receiver. Who steps into that void?
34:27
Speaker 2: Is it Dntavian Wicks? Now he you know, if he
34:29
Speaker 2: is building that rapport with Jalen Hurts, you know what
34:34
Speaker 2: happens there? Who who fills that void? I mean, I
34:37
Speaker 2: think you know Lemon is going to be a good
34:41
Speaker 2: player for them, but you know.
34:43
Speaker 1: Got to ease him in, got to ease him in.
34:46
Speaker 2: Yeah, have it. You know, you can't just draft a
34:48
Speaker 2: rookie offensive player and say, okay, you're gonna just I mean,
34:52
Speaker 2: very few people do it. There. You'll have the occasional
34:57
Speaker 2: like Justin Jefferson or somebody like that just comes in
34:59
Speaker 2: and blows the doors off the league as a rookie.
35:02
Speaker 2: But that's the exception and not the rule. So I
35:05
Speaker 2: wouldn't expect anything like that Oudam mckaye Lemon this year.
35:08
Speaker 2: But you know, that doesn't mean that, you know, somebody
35:11
Speaker 2: else in that completely revamped receiver room doesn't step in
35:15
Speaker 2: and take that number two jobs. So it's there for
35:17
Speaker 2: the taking who wants it, absolutely so. And then that's
35:21
Speaker 2: the thing, like all of the I think all the
35:23
Speaker 2: storylines that are really intriguing about this team this year
35:27
Speaker 2: are on the offensive side of the ball, given what
35:31
Speaker 2: a disaster the team was offensively last year, how much
35:34
Speaker 2: just wildly inconsistent it was. And then also, you know
35:39
Speaker 2: Sean Mannion's here, but you know, okay, here's another offensive
35:43
Speaker 2: coordinator for Jalen Hursts to work with another one? How
35:45
Speaker 2: do you how do you ever gain stability when that
35:50
Speaker 2: position is always changing on you? So you know, how
35:52
Speaker 2: does Jalen Hurts navigate that? How does that relationship build
35:56
Speaker 2: with him and Sean Mannion? I think I've seen some
35:57
Speaker 2: reports that the Eels are using a lot more motion
36:01
Speaker 2: than they have in practice and they absolute best. So
36:04
Speaker 2: how does how does that you know feed in? Is
36:06
Speaker 2: Hurts comfortable with that? Is it something that's going to
36:09
Speaker 2: help his game? Hurt his game? So you know, and
36:12
Speaker 2: until you see those very few amount of drives that
36:16
Speaker 2: they're going to get in preseason you're you're not going
36:18
Speaker 2: to really be able to tell anything, but you know, yeah,
36:21
Speaker 2: I think it's a viable question coming in. What is
36:23
Speaker 2: this offense going to look like? Hard to imagine it's
36:25
Speaker 2: going to look worse than I did last year, But
36:28
Speaker 2: until you see it, you know absolutely.
36:30
Speaker 1: And we're going to get into this with Ed Kratz
36:32
Speaker 1: and just a bit our good friend from Eagles today
36:34
Speaker 1: over at SI We're gonna be talking about the offensive line,
36:37
Speaker 1: the struggles from last year, what we may see from
36:40
Speaker 1: them this year, and also that at the end of
36:43
Speaker 1: the day, it's going to be the Jalen Hurts and
36:44
Speaker 1: Sean Manyon connection too. We're talking about Jalen Hurts and
36:48
Speaker 1: Dontavian Wick's connection. It really is Manion and Hurts coming
36:52
Speaker 1: together with that connection that that is going to be
36:54
Speaker 1: so key, so far, so good, and the fact that
36:57
Speaker 1: Jalen Hurts is absolutely in love with Sean man at
37:00
Speaker 1: this point and how he's running into the offense brand
37:03
Speaker 1: new plays play Sean mannon playing to Jalen Hurts his
37:06
Speaker 1: strength so far that connection is so key man.
37:10
Speaker 2: Yeah, and it just you just want good vibes, just
37:14
Speaker 2: given how it felt like Nobody on that offense was
37:18
Speaker 2: on the same page last year, I mean nobody. So, yeah,
37:22
Speaker 2: you just want to come into camp with feeling like, Okay,
37:26
Speaker 2: these guys like to work with each other and they're
37:29
Speaker 2: building a rapport and just just that is enough of
37:35
Speaker 2: getting off on the right foot, you know, just to start.
37:37
Speaker 1: With Yep, absolutely all right, buddy. Well I'm gonna let
37:39
Speaker 1: you go. We're gonna get to our interview with Ed
37:41
Speaker 1: Kratz and we got more Eagles talk. Uh, coming everybody's way.
37:46
Speaker 1: Any final thoughts here before we head out.
37:50
Speaker 2: No, just stop watching your campaign videos during the show.
37:53
Speaker 1: Oh my gosh, boy, that happened to me. That actually
37:55
Speaker 1: happened to me last week too, and Eric and I
37:57
Speaker 1: were on and I did it wasn't as large as
38:01
Speaker 1: this one was. This one took up about half the screen.
38:04
Speaker 1: Just that was Yeah.
38:05
Speaker 2: I thought you were like, I thought you had a
38:08
Speaker 2: phrase in your mind and it just you couldn't grasp it.
38:12
Speaker 2: Like I thought that's what you were doing. But no,
38:14
Speaker 2: you were you were just watching else.
38:17
Speaker 1: Yeah, watching watching my dumb face.
38:20
Speaker 2: I'm just gonna start putting games on on my phone
38:22
Speaker 2: while we do the show.
38:23
Speaker 1: Sure, sure, why not? Why not? All right, buddy, I'll
38:27
Speaker 1: see you later. Folks. We're going to take a break
38:30
Speaker 1: and when we come back, a lot more Eagles talk.
38:35
Speaker 2: And now on the Seagle.
38:39
Speaker 1: All right, let's get into this Philadelphia Eagles training camp,
38:43
Speaker 1: what we've been seeing thus far, and uh, what some
38:46
Speaker 1: of the talent may do on this team. As the
38:49
Speaker 1: regular season is right around the corner, we have we
38:51
Speaker 1: have preseason football coming and I cannot believe that it
38:55
Speaker 1: is almost here. We've been waiting a long time. But
38:58
Speaker 1: you know, during that time, we've been reading a lot
39:01
Speaker 1: of great content from our guest this week, Ed Kratz
39:04
Speaker 1: over at SI Eagles today, our good friend for so
39:07
Speaker 1: many years. Buddy, thanks so much for taking the time
39:09
Speaker 1: to join us this week.
39:10
Speaker 2: Always a pleasure, Jeff, thanks for having me on.
39:13
Speaker 1: It's great to be able to dive into this Eagles
39:15
Speaker 1: training camp with you. And look, just to start us off,
39:19
Speaker 1: I mean, this Eagles team, the offense, the defense, even
39:22
Speaker 1: special teams, they are in full go mode right now
39:25
Speaker 1: and there's more than a few storylines here that we're
39:29
Speaker 1: certainly going to be getting into. And thus far, it
39:32
Speaker 1: really does seem like from an offensive perspective, it does
39:36
Speaker 1: seem like Jalen Hurts and Sean Manyon are really connecting
39:39
Speaker 1: in terms of how this offense will now be run.
39:42
Speaker 1: That's what I'm getting from the reports out there. You know,
39:45
Speaker 1: what have you seen from Jalen Hurts. We know we've
39:49
Speaker 1: seen him in front of the microphone US fans have,
39:52
Speaker 1: but from what you've seen out there, what have you
39:54
Speaker 1: seen from him? Does he really seem more comfortable, you know,
39:57
Speaker 1: talking about this offense, you know, and his connection with it.
40:01
Speaker 1: It seems like he does. Is that what you're seeing
40:03
Speaker 1: as well? I mean, is that the vibe out there?
40:06
Speaker 2: Yeah?
40:07
Speaker 3: You know, this isn't Jalen Hurts his first rodeo with
40:10
Speaker 3: a new offensive coordinator. Obviously he's been through being through
40:14
Speaker 3: about a dozen of them in the last thirteen years,
40:17
Speaker 3: so you know, he he always talks about learning something
40:22
Speaker 3: new in each offense he's been a part of, and
40:25
Speaker 3: this seems to be the case. And you know, now,
40:27
Speaker 3: Jail and this is what his sixth year in the
40:30
Speaker 3: league or seventh year. He came in in twenty twenty,
40:34
Speaker 3: so I guess this will be a seventh season, So
40:38
Speaker 3: he's no, he kind of likes to help an offensive
40:41
Speaker 3: coordinator out as well you see him, you know, trying
40:46
Speaker 3: to help Sean Manion even and those two talk all
40:49
Speaker 3: the time about, you know, how they want the offense
40:52
Speaker 3: to look, but even even more specifically than that, how
40:56
Speaker 3: a play should look. You know, they go through their
40:58
Speaker 3: plays and they'll talk about them before and after and
41:01
Speaker 3: meeting rooms and kind of diagnose what went wrong or
41:04
Speaker 3: what they liked or what they didn't like, whether they
41:06
Speaker 3: should leave it in or whether they should take it out.
41:09
Speaker 3: But there's a lot of give and take, I think,
41:11
Speaker 3: maybe more so now with Jalen and Sean Manion, who
41:16
Speaker 3: is a former NFL quarterback himself more of a backup
41:19
Speaker 3: h But you know, those two can talk football because
41:22
Speaker 3: you know, Manion's been out there, he has seen it
41:25
Speaker 3: from behind center, something that other quarterback or offensive coordinators
41:29
Speaker 3: that Hurts has had did not have that.
41:31
Speaker 2: So I think that leads to a little bit more
41:34
Speaker 2: give and take.
41:34
Speaker 3: So that's probably the biggest difference I think both guys
41:37
Speaker 3: talked about that is, you know, Jalen wants to be
41:39
Speaker 3: of service to Manion and Manu wants to help Hurts
41:42
Speaker 3: be the best player that he can be.
41:43
Speaker 1: It's amazing it seems like they do have this connection here,
41:47
Speaker 1: a connection I don't necessarily think Jalen had with last
41:50
Speaker 1: year's offensive coordinator. I mean, I don't want to dig up,
41:53
Speaker 1: you know, the garbage of what last season was from
41:56
Speaker 1: an offensive perspective and the challenges that persisted. But I mean,
42:00
Speaker 1: I got to be honest, Ed, I'm looking forward to
42:02
Speaker 1: seeing some mesh concepts this year. I really am.
42:06
Speaker 2: Yeah.
42:07
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think we'll see it. I think, you know,
42:09
Speaker 3: we can get into it. But yeah, I think we'll
42:11
Speaker 3: see some of that more this year between you know,
42:14
Speaker 3: with Hurts and Manion kind of doing that give and take.
42:16
Speaker 2: Yeah.
42:16
Speaker 1: Absolutely. I mean I put up on our screen for
42:18
Speaker 1: YouTube viewers here, you know, Hurts, you know, possibly throwing
42:22
Speaker 1: over the middle. We've all been saying this for years
42:24
Speaker 1: and years hasn't necessarily been part of his game. But
42:27
Speaker 1: reports have said that Hurts has been thrown more over
42:30
Speaker 1: the middle during camp. And yes it is camp. But
42:32
Speaker 1: you talked about, you know, some of these new plays
42:34
Speaker 1: that are being drawn up, Ed, I mean, have you
42:37
Speaker 1: been seeing this as well, because I think it's an
42:38
Speaker 1: important part of the game of football, especially from an
42:41
Speaker 1: offensive perspective. Of course, are you seeing this more? Jalen
42:44
Speaker 1: throwing over the middle. Are we finally going to see
42:46
Speaker 1: Jalen putting the ball, you know, perhaps again just over
42:51
Speaker 1: the middle of the field, just you know, focus instead
42:53
Speaker 1: of focusing on the receivers outside the numbers. I mean,
42:55
Speaker 1: are we going to be seeing more of this?
42:57
Speaker 3: Yeah, well we already have, you know, it's early in camp,
43:01
Speaker 3: but yeah, he is throwing over the middle. They have
43:05
Speaker 3: really seemed to focus and again Day four I think
43:09
Speaker 3: was today, but we are seeing them kind of focusing on.
43:13
Speaker 2: A lot of get the ball.
43:14
Speaker 3: Out quick throwing the ball over the middle maybe sure,
43:17
Speaker 3: but we've also seen some intermediate passes, you know, and
43:21
Speaker 3: DeVante Smith has been fantastic as far as working over
43:25
Speaker 3: the middle of the field nice and Jalen has been
43:28
Speaker 3: throwing it over the middle of the field. And we
43:30
Speaker 3: saw a touchdown pass today from about maybe thirty five
43:33
Speaker 3: forty yards to Elijah Moore down the scene around the
43:36
Speaker 3: center of the field out of the slot, which you know,
43:40
Speaker 3: I thought it was tremendous to see.
43:42
Speaker 2: I mean, it was a great throw.
43:44
Speaker 3: More was covered pretty well, but Jalen put it right
43:46
Speaker 3: where he had to put it, and it was between
43:48
Speaker 3: the numbers where everybody wants to see him throw. Now,
43:52
Speaker 3: you know the cautionary side of that is there's more
43:55
Speaker 3: traffic typically over.
43:56
Speaker 2: The middle, so you know you don't want to put
43:58
Speaker 2: the ball in harms.
44:00
Speaker 3: Uh, you know, it hurts through his first interception today,
44:03
Speaker 3: but that was kind of a misread on a seven
44:05
Speaker 3: on seven throwing to Elijah Moore.
44:07
Speaker 2: I think he expected him to go one way and.
44:11
Speaker 3: Moore did not go that way and hurts through it
44:13
Speaker 3: there and it is picked off by Quinja and Mitchell.
44:15
Speaker 3: But you know, I think that you know, we have
44:17
Speaker 3: seen in camp some struggles with it. I mean, as
44:20
Speaker 3: you would think. You know, he's kind of getting used
44:22
Speaker 3: to it now. Jalen, to his credit, says, I've been
44:24
Speaker 3: part of you know, drop back under center type offenses
44:28
Speaker 3: where I throw the football over the middle. But you know,
44:31
Speaker 3: he in one series earlier in camp he had Jehad Campbell,
44:35
Speaker 3: big six to three linebacker kind of had to try
44:37
Speaker 3: to launch it over top of Campbell who was leaping,
44:40
Speaker 3: and Campbell tipped it a little bit and redirected it
44:43
Speaker 3: and the.
44:44
Speaker 2: Ball fell in complete.
44:45
Speaker 3: So you know, you have to be careful when you're
44:47
Speaker 3: throwing over the middle too. I know it excites people
44:49
Speaker 3: but you want to make sure you're you're making the
44:51
Speaker 3: correct decision to go over the middle.
44:54
Speaker 2: But again, I think I've seen him throw over the middle.
44:56
Speaker 3: I think I've seen him line up under center, and
44:59
Speaker 3: I think I've seen more motion on probably day one
45:02
Speaker 3: of those three things and I saw in any training
45:05
Speaker 3: camp before.
45:05
Speaker 2: Yeah, before Mannion has gotten.
45:08
Speaker 1: I just think it's awesome and it's a new wide
45:10
Speaker 1: receiver room as well ed and I am excited about
45:15
Speaker 1: what this talent is going to bring. Can't wait to
45:17
Speaker 1: see what mkay Lemon is going to do this season.
45:20
Speaker 1: And you wrote a recent story about mkay Lemon and
45:24
Speaker 1: how his teammates being impressed with him thus far during
45:27
Speaker 1: this during this very tiny window of practice. But you know,
45:30
Speaker 1: this is a new receiver room and expectations are going
45:33
Speaker 1: to be pretty high, especially for this rookie drafted in
45:36
Speaker 1: the first round. We're also seeing him return punts. You
45:40
Speaker 1: mentioned that during your article as well. How would you
45:43
Speaker 1: assess what you've seen from kay Lemon and the vibes
45:47
Speaker 1: at camp that he's actually given off here.
45:50
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think his teammates are excited to have him,
45:52
Speaker 3: and you know he's the only rookie in that receiving room,
45:55
Speaker 3: even though the Eagles did rebuild it a little bit
45:57
Speaker 3: after training aj Brown. But you know, I think he
46:01
Speaker 3: has some of the guys excited about what he can
46:03
Speaker 3: do in his skill set and the shiftiness that he
46:06
Speaker 3: can bring to that position. You know, one of my
46:09
Speaker 3: concerns about him is his size. I'm trying not to
46:13
Speaker 3: let that be a concern because I was concerned when
46:15
Speaker 3: they drifted Devonte Smith, yeah, way back when being you know,
46:19
Speaker 3: one hundred and sixty five pounds sticks foot.
46:23
Speaker 2: But you know, Lemon's a little bigger than that.
46:25
Speaker 3: He's about one hundred and ninety pounds, but he's a
46:27
Speaker 3: little smaller or shorter. I should say, maybe a five
46:30
Speaker 3: to eleven, five ten somewhere in there. So you know,
46:33
Speaker 3: that's one of my concerns. But size always concerns me,
46:37
Speaker 3: you know, to me, Jeff, I think he's probably going
46:41
Speaker 3: to do most of his work early out of the slot.
46:44
Speaker 3: I think he could be a very very good slot receiver.
46:47
Speaker 3: I know I've seen comparisons to Amon, Saint Brown, and Detroit.
46:53
Speaker 3: Maybe he could be that kind of slot guy, just
46:55
Speaker 3: because he's so shifty and he's hard to cover.
46:58
Speaker 2: He's got quick bursts.
46:59
Speaker 3: If you get in the all with a little bit
47:01
Speaker 3: of separation, he can take it a long way. And
47:04
Speaker 3: the yards after the catch was a big problem for
47:06
Speaker 3: this team last year. The receivers didn't get much of that.
47:08
Speaker 3: I think the Eagles were near last in what they
47:12
Speaker 3: call the yak the ords after catch. But I think
47:14
Speaker 3: that's one of the reasons they like Lemon too, was
47:17
Speaker 3: that he can do things after he gets the ball
47:19
Speaker 3: in his hands. So you just have to be able
47:21
Speaker 3: to create separation and catch the ball, and these are
47:26
Speaker 3: things he did in college. So we're still kind of
47:29
Speaker 3: learning a little bit about mackay Lemon.
47:31
Speaker 2: He missed most of spring with a hamstring injury.
47:33
Speaker 3: Again, there you go with the size thing, maybe maybe
47:36
Speaker 3: being concerning, but you know, hamstrings can happen to anybody,
47:38
Speaker 3: know how big or small you are. So I just
47:42
Speaker 3: think that as time goes on, he's going to get
47:45
Speaker 3: this offense down.
47:46
Speaker 2: They're kind of.
47:47
Speaker 3: Force feeding it to him right now, they're asking him
47:49
Speaker 3: to do a lot. But once he gets this thing
47:52
Speaker 3: figured out, I think he's going to be able to
47:54
Speaker 3: contribute quite a bit this year. And i'd put him
47:56
Speaker 3: in you know, maybe I know, we haven't seen him
47:58
Speaker 3: probably a snap, but I think he has a chance
48:00
Speaker 3: to maybe contend for the offensive Rookie of the Year.
48:02
Speaker 1: That'd be awesome, that'd be fantastic. I can't wait to
48:05
Speaker 1: see what he's going to do during the preseason, of course,
48:08
Speaker 1: because we got games right around the corner here. I
48:10
Speaker 1: cannot wait to see some of these Eagles players and
48:12
Speaker 1: what the depth is going to do, because that's inevitably
48:14
Speaker 1: what preseason is about. But look, we're going to take
48:17
Speaker 1: a break real quick. Ed, let folks know where you
48:19
Speaker 1: can find you on the where folks can find you
48:21
Speaker 1: on the interwebs. They want to connect with you out there.
48:23
Speaker 3: Yeah, you can hit me up on on the X
48:26
Speaker 3: platform formerly Twitter at Kratz e k r a c
48:31
Speaker 3: Ze And there's all the links that you know that
48:34
Speaker 3: I write and sometimes others that I repost.
48:37
Speaker 2: So that's where you need to go at Kratzy dot
48:40
Speaker 2: at Kratzy on the X platform.
48:42
Speaker 1: All right, very good, folks, We're going to take a break.
48:43
Speaker 1: When we get back, more Eagles talk come in your way.
48:49
Speaker 1: All right, we're back with our friend Ed Kratz from
48:52
Speaker 1: s I over to Eagles today. And to stick with
48:56
Speaker 1: the offense here, because we've talked about it over the years,
49:00
Speaker 1: been so kind to come on this podcast, and that
49:02
Speaker 1: the offensive line needs to be healthy, they need to
49:05
Speaker 1: be productive because if they're not, the offense itself is
49:08
Speaker 1: not going to be productive. And Landon Dickerson a big
49:11
Speaker 1: storyline from this past week here talking to the press
49:14
Speaker 1: about how we probably should not have played Week one
49:16
Speaker 1: last season after having surgery the week before. It was
49:20
Speaker 1: certainly an honest, you know, reflective sentiment from him, and
49:24
Speaker 1: I do wonder if we're going to see the offensive
49:27
Speaker 1: line try not to get through the injury bug this year,
49:32
Speaker 1: try not, you know, to just toughen it out, but
49:35
Speaker 1: to let the coaches and the medical staff know that,
49:38
Speaker 1: you know what, I can't play if it is if
49:41
Speaker 1: there's something that bad that they need to heal up. Perhaps.
49:45
Speaker 1: So I'm wondering, do you think, after Landon Dickerson's situation
49:49
Speaker 1: last year, and also reflecting on what Cam Jurgens went
49:52
Speaker 1: through as well, that we're going to see more caution
49:56
Speaker 1: with the offensive line this coming season. Is there that
49:58
Speaker 1: sentiment at all? Or these just guys were so competitive
50:01
Speaker 1: They're like, I don't care, I don't care. My leg's
50:04
Speaker 1: gonna fall off and I'm going to be out there playing.
50:06
Speaker 1: So what's the sentiment regarding the offensive line, the health
50:10
Speaker 1: and needing to be honest about where they're at.
50:13
Speaker 2: Yeah, well, it's very important.
50:15
Speaker 3: You know, you have to be honest with the doctors
50:17
Speaker 3: and the trainers, and you know, if you're not, you're
50:20
Speaker 3: probably not helping the team. You're not doing yourself any favor.
50:23
Speaker 3: In the long term, you're going to need some kind
50:25
Speaker 3: of a trip to Columbia, which both Durgons and Dickerson
50:29
Speaker 3: took to get the stem cell treatment that isn't available
50:33
Speaker 3: here in the United States. A lot of players apparently
50:36
Speaker 3: do it, according to Dickerson and Jurgons who we talked to,
50:38
Speaker 3: and they said that other veterans have told them they've
50:41
Speaker 3: done it. So I think the Eagles will exercise maybe
50:44
Speaker 3: some caution. I mean, they were early in camp, and
50:46
Speaker 3: I think once we start maybe ramping things up a
50:50
Speaker 3: little bit, you know, these rest days always pop up
50:52
Speaker 3: for various veteran players. Lane Johnson didn't practice today. He
50:57
Speaker 3: was excused for a personal reason. It wasn't necessarily rest day.
51:01
Speaker 3: But I think as you see things ramp up a
51:03
Speaker 3: little bit here as we get into the dog days
51:05
Speaker 3: of August, he might start seeing some guys just you know,
51:09
Speaker 3: taking that veteran day off just to kind of keep
51:11
Speaker 3: their bodies as fresh as they possibly can be. And
51:14
Speaker 3: even once the season gets rolling, I think you'll see
51:17
Speaker 3: guys like Jurgens and Dickerson maybe, you know, and Lane
51:19
Speaker 3: Johnson maybe taking you know, that player rest day and
51:23
Speaker 3: you know, and that's good for their bodies, but it's
51:25
Speaker 3: also good for the development of your depth guys that
51:27
Speaker 3: are going to be their backups.
51:28
Speaker 2: It gives them an opportunity to get out there with.
51:31
Speaker 3: The first team get those reps. So I think it's
51:34
Speaker 3: good all around. If a player is being honest about
51:37
Speaker 3: his health, if he's not well enough to be out there,
51:40
Speaker 3: then he shouldn't be.
51:40
Speaker 2: But Landon, you know, listen, he said that we.
51:43
Speaker 3: Don't get paid to be hurt, So you want to
51:45
Speaker 3: be out there and you want to play. And how
51:46
Speaker 3: many times you know, when you talk about one of
51:48
Speaker 3: the toughest guys on that line, Jason Kelsey, I mean
51:50
Speaker 3: I saw him play through some things that were just gruesome,
51:53
Speaker 3: you know, but he does it and that's what he
51:56
Speaker 3: gets paid to do. And you know, I'm not sure
51:59
Speaker 3: that helps long or if it helps the team in
52:01
Speaker 3: the short term. But you know, it's hard to talk
52:03
Speaker 3: to these guys out of saying, hey, I don't feel good,
52:05
Speaker 3: my leg hurts. Yeah, you know, shoulder sting or whatever.
52:09
Speaker 3: They want to be out there. They want to play.
52:10
Speaker 3: This is what they get paid to do, this is
52:12
Speaker 3: what they love to do. But again, is that for
52:14
Speaker 3: the vetterment of the team. I don't necessarily think so.
52:18
Speaker 2: But we'll see.
52:19
Speaker 3: I think what we'll see is, like I said, these
52:21
Speaker 3: veterans will be given some veteran days off as we
52:25
Speaker 3: hit the dog days of August and then into the season.
52:28
Speaker 1: Yeah, I want to move over to the defensive side
52:31
Speaker 1: of the ball here. And after seeing how the Eagles
52:34
Speaker 1: defense dominated in camp right out of the gate, I mean,
52:38
Speaker 1: there's this notion that this could really be a top
52:41
Speaker 1: three defense in the NFL. ED And I'm wondering, what
52:44
Speaker 1: are your thoughts on this particular storyline and narrative based
52:46
Speaker 1: on what you've been seeing during practices thus far. And
52:50
Speaker 1: you know, are there any under the radar depth players
52:53
Speaker 1: that have really stood out to you as well? So
52:55
Speaker 1: I guess this is kind of a two part question here,
52:57
Speaker 1: but a top three defense in the NFL. What are
53:00
Speaker 1: you thinking here?
53:02
Speaker 2: I absolutely.
53:03
Speaker 3: I mean you have Pro Bowl players at every level
53:06
Speaker 3: of this defense. You know, Jalen Carter on the defensive
53:10
Speaker 3: line Pro Bowl, or Zack Bown at linebacker Pro Bowl.
53:13
Speaker 2: Where you have Quinnyon Mitchell and Cooper de Gen.
53:16
Speaker 3: Pro bowlers, all Pro guys, Tariq Wohen who was a
53:19
Speaker 3: Pro Bowler with Seattle. That's five guys right there. And
53:22
Speaker 3: it's on every level of the defense, you know, So
53:26
Speaker 3: it's tough. And then you add in Vic Fangio. This
53:29
Speaker 3: is his third year as the DC, and he's worked
53:32
Speaker 3: with a lot of these players, so they're not coming
53:34
Speaker 3: in learning new stuff. They're just coming in and fine
53:37
Speaker 3: tuning what they've learned from Fangio over the years. Maybe
53:40
Speaker 3: Fangi will throw something a little bit new or different
53:42
Speaker 3: at him from year to year, so you're not as predictable,
53:45
Speaker 3: but they're little tweaks, and so you would expect the
53:48
Speaker 3: defense first to be ahead of the offense at this
53:51
Speaker 3: stage in early August, but also to be a defense
53:54
Speaker 3: that can be a top three defense overall in this league.
53:58
Speaker 3: And you know, they say the defense wins Chanmceampionships. We
54:01
Speaker 3: certainly saw that when they beat the Chiefs how they
54:03
Speaker 3: harassed the homes and picked him off. So I think
54:07
Speaker 3: this defense can be very very good. I think it
54:10
Speaker 3: will be very very good, and for all the reasons
54:12
Speaker 3: I just mentioned, you know, and Jordan Davis, he could
54:15
Speaker 3: have been a pro bowler.
54:16
Speaker 2: He should have been a pro bowler, So you got
54:17
Speaker 2: him too. You know, Jalx Hunt has looked like a
54:22
Speaker 2: double digit sack in waiting early on.
54:24
Speaker 3: Now we'll start to do more thud at practice on Tuesday,
54:29
Speaker 3: and you know, it's always a different story when the
54:31
Speaker 3: pads come on. But we saw jalx Hunt last year
54:33
Speaker 3: and the year before that with pads on and he's
54:35
Speaker 3: very good and I think he's only beginning to scratch
54:38
Speaker 3: the surface of his ability. So yeah, yeah, he's another
54:43
Speaker 3: guy that you really have to watch out for. Moro
54:45
Speaker 3: with Jomo, this could be his last year with the Eagles,
54:48
Speaker 3: which would be sad. I think Fangio joke that, hey,
54:51
Speaker 3: you know, hopefully how we saved some money from Moro
54:54
Speaker 3: with Jomo because he's just you know, he's like having
54:57
Speaker 3: another coach on that field. He's so smart. But he's
55:00
Speaker 3: a guy that could be a pro Bowler, So I
55:02
Speaker 3: mean you just go up and down his defense, and
55:04
Speaker 3: Jehad Campbell, you know, he looks pretty good. Jeremiah Trotter,
55:08
Speaker 3: who you know is a good backup, maybe he could
55:11
Speaker 3: even start, has looked very good in camp.
55:14
Speaker 2: So you know, if there's any reason to be excited about.
55:17
Speaker 3: The Eagles, it's this defense with its ability to I think,
55:22
Speaker 3: like you said, be a top three defense.
55:24
Speaker 2: Yeah.
55:24
Speaker 1: And do you think Jeremiah Trotter Junior is kind of
55:26
Speaker 1: that under the radar guy at this point here?
55:28
Speaker 3: Yeah, I would certainly put Jeremiah Trotter in there.
55:32
Speaker 2: I would also maybe say maybe Michael Carter. He's kind
55:37
Speaker 2: of transitioning to safety.
55:38
Speaker 3: You know, he was a really good slot back, he
55:40
Speaker 3: played safety when he was at Duke. The Eagles got
55:43
Speaker 3: him in the trade deadline last year from the New
55:45
Speaker 3: York Jets. But I think he could be a guy
55:48
Speaker 3: to keep an eye on as far as that safety
55:50
Speaker 3: spot goust.
55:51
Speaker 2: Because if you look at the safety position, you.
55:53
Speaker 3: Know they're gonna put Cooper to gene back there a
55:55
Speaker 3: little bit. They have Marcus Aps, a veteran. Drew mccoob,
55:58
Speaker 3: a second year was kind of up and down last year.
56:01
Speaker 3: And then got hurt for the final quarter. But Michael Carter,
56:04
Speaker 3: to me, they've been using him at safety.
56:05
Speaker 2: He could be a.
56:06
Speaker 3: Guy under the radar, someone that will play. I'm sure
56:09
Speaker 3: in the preseason. You know, we don't see a lot
56:11
Speaker 3: of the starters. Yeah, but Michael Carter is won for
56:14
Speaker 3: sure and trot to keep an eye on once a
56:16
Speaker 3: preseason starts. I guess it's in Baltimore a week from Saturdays.
56:20
Speaker 3: My gosh, he's coming up.
56:21
Speaker 1: It's coming up, for sure. All right, buddy, Well, before
56:24
Speaker 1: I let you go and look, I know it's a
56:26
Speaker 1: general question here, but I'm wondering if you've noticed any
56:30
Speaker 1: differences or maybe the biggest difference that you've seen at
56:33
Speaker 1: this year's training camp them from previous years. I mean,
56:38
Speaker 1: it could be any subject matter. Is there any difference
56:40
Speaker 1: this year than perhaps in previous years.
56:43
Speaker 3: Yeah, just like we talked about the offense, like just
56:46
Speaker 3: seeing how different it is with the under center, with
56:51
Speaker 3: the over the middle, with the motion. I mean, this
56:53
Speaker 3: is a lot of misdirection stuff. We've seen kind of
56:56
Speaker 3: some some jet sweet motions when the ball is snap
56:59
Speaker 3: where you could hand it to a guy like Lemon
57:02
Speaker 3: or you know, a receiver that they like in the
57:04
Speaker 3: run game that thinks they think can get yards and
57:07
Speaker 3: then they'll pitch it outside the Barkley or to Tank Bigsby,
57:10
Speaker 3: Tank Bigsby and under the rail.
57:11
Speaker 2: Rick Island offense. Yeah, I know.
57:13
Speaker 3: He kind of impressed last year. But he's a guy
57:15
Speaker 3: that maybe can get in line for some more snaps.
57:18
Speaker 3: But I would say it's probably that offensive difference is
57:22
Speaker 3: the biggest thing I see. And I also see a
57:23
Speaker 3: team that it's a new team, you know. I think
57:27
Speaker 3: Jalen Hurts touched on it. He would like to see
57:29
Speaker 3: some discipline and unity and kind of took a side
57:32
Speaker 3: swipe at AJ Brown when he said, you know, we're
57:35
Speaker 3: one hundred percent aligned and zero percent no entitlement.
57:40
Speaker 2: You know that to me is AJ.
57:42
Speaker 3: But I think you're seeing a team trying to all
57:43
Speaker 3: be on the same page. You're taking care of one another.
57:47
Speaker 3: Now that could change as the temperatures rise with the
57:50
Speaker 3: weather and you put the pads on and guys start hitting.
57:52
Speaker 3: But I see a team that you know, is very
57:54
Speaker 3: much interested in building discipline and team unity.
57:57
Speaker 2: Yeah.
57:57
Speaker 1: I got to tell you, it's going to be fascinating
57:59
Speaker 1: to watch this team, and it's also going to be
58:02
Speaker 1: great to read your content ed over at SI Eagles
58:06
Speaker 1: Today again folks. Catch him on the Twitter slash x
58:10
Speaker 1: at Kratze a great, great follow my friend. Thanks so
58:13
Speaker 1: much for taking the time. It's always great talking to you.
58:15
Speaker 1: Love talking birds and NFL storylines with you. Let's do
58:20
Speaker 1: it to some other point down the road. I'd love
58:21
Speaker 1: to have you back on.
58:22
Speaker 2: The show anytime. Buddy, you got it.
58:24
Speaker 1: Thank you, and that's going to do it for us
58:26
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58:41
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58:53
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