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Eagles vs. Steelers Postgame Show, Week 15 · The Philadelphia Sports Table | Philly Sports News & Views

0:21
Speaker 1: You are listening to Eagles postgame analysis here at the
0:23
Speaker 1: Philadelphia Sports Table podcast show, the longest running weekly Philly
0:26
Speaker 1: sports podcast show in the world, eleven and a half
0:29
Speaker 1: years strong. And we've got week fifteen of this Eagles
0:32
Speaker 1: twenty twenty four twenty twenty five season now in the books.
0:36
Speaker 1: They beat the Pittsburgh Steelers down at the link by
0:40
Speaker 1: a score of twenty seven to thirteen. Quite the game,
0:44
Speaker 1: and we're gonna dive into it here. Gotta save folks
0:47
Speaker 1: right off the bat. The Philadelphia Eagles. They have now
0:50
Speaker 1: won ten games in a row. Not too many NFL
0:53
Speaker 1: teams can say they've done this over the years. We're
0:56
Speaker 1: gonna get into what we saw on the field here
0:58
Speaker 1: on our postgame show. I'm Jeff Warren. I'm here my
1:02
Speaker 1: good buddy from Philadelphia Soccer Now dot com. He helps
1:04
Speaker 1: us out with some Eagles analysis every now and again
1:07
Speaker 1: after these games. We've got Josh Shuster, buddy, how you
1:10
Speaker 1: doing and thanks for jumping on here.
1:12
Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely, I'm doing good. Jeff. I think I believe
1:17
Speaker 2: this is the first time ever in the history of
1:19
Speaker 2: the Eagles that they have won ten games in a row.
1:22
Speaker 1: I think it is right I've heard.
1:23
Speaker 2: That on sports talk radio, so take that what it's worth.
1:27
Speaker 2: But I do believe this is the first time ever.
1:29
Speaker 1: I don't think they even did it during the twenty
1:31
Speaker 1: seventeen run where they ended up winning the Super Bowl.
1:34
Speaker 1: I don't even think they did it there. Yeah, so
1:37
Speaker 1: I correct. We are making history here week fifteen. It's
1:41
Speaker 1: really amazing what this team has done this season. They
1:45
Speaker 1: haven't played perfectly by any stretch of the imagination, Josh,
1:48
Speaker 1: but they find a way to win games. They find
1:51
Speaker 1: a way to convert on third down, to keep the
1:55
Speaker 1: chains moving, to keep drives going, to inevitably score touchdown.
2:00
Speaker 1: It's not necessarily in the first quarter all the time,
2:02
Speaker 1: or on the first drive, I should say, because they
2:04
Speaker 1: did score I believe in the first quarter here in
2:06
Speaker 1: this game. But man like, they scored a field goal
2:09
Speaker 1: on their opening drive of the game, and on that
2:12
Speaker 1: opening drive it really seemed like the passing game was
2:15
Speaker 1: working well. Four passes attempted, four passes completed. There was
2:19
Speaker 1: one rush in this game, again on the opening drive,
2:23
Speaker 1: and then on that drive where the Eagles scored their
2:25
Speaker 1: first touchdown of the game, the very first which was
2:29
Speaker 1: I believe their second drive plenty of passes from Jalen
2:32
Speaker 1: Hurts getting the ball down the field, passing the ball
2:35
Speaker 1: to aj Brown with apparent ease, and at the half,
2:40
Speaker 1: Jalen Hurts was twelve of thirteen for forty six yards
2:43
Speaker 1: and two touchdowns with a rating of one hundred and
2:45
Speaker 1: fifty three. Josh Heurtz had more passing yards today than
2:50
Speaker 1: he did in the last two games combined. I think
2:53
Speaker 1: we can put to rest the fact that the Eagles
2:57
Speaker 1: passing game quote does not work. The drama of this
3:00
Speaker 1: past week, I think we can really put that to rest.
3:03
Speaker 1: Is it gonna be perfect moving forward in the coming weeks?
3:06
Speaker 1: Maybe not? Maybe not. And I'll tell you right now,
3:09
Speaker 1: I was hard on Jalen Hurts last week after the
3:11
Speaker 1: game against Carolina, and rightfully so, a lot of people were.
3:14
Speaker 1: And I am so glad to see that he was
3:18
Speaker 1: able to turn it around, you know, getting that right
3:21
Speaker 1: frame of mind that he obviously was at today. So
3:25
Speaker 1: the drama within Eagles media and with folks on the Twitter,
3:30
Speaker 1: dot com and x and everything over this past week
3:33
Speaker 1: really was kind of ridiculous because at the end of
3:35
Speaker 1: the day, he showed us that he can still pass
3:38
Speaker 1: the ball and pass it to his top receivers in
3:40
Speaker 1: this game, which we're going to get into in a bit,
3:43
Speaker 1: but I just wanted to throw that out there first,
3:45
Speaker 1: my friend.
3:46
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think, well, this game was interesting from a
3:49
Speaker 2: couple of standpoints. I don't ever I mean, I had
3:52
Speaker 2: text you at halftime. Yeah, And you know, I don't
3:56
Speaker 2: ever remember feeling so good about a game in the
3:58
Speaker 2: first half, at the end of the first quarter to
4:02
Speaker 2: the beginning of the second quarter, then all of a
4:03
Speaker 2: sudden going oh my goodness, what is happening. The comment
4:08
Speaker 2: I'll make with Hurts is this, and I'm currently wearing
4:11
Speaker 2: his jersey right now, you are. And I have been
4:14
Speaker 2: very consistent in saying I judge Hurts based off of
4:19
Speaker 2: where his contract ranks amongst the NFL quarterbacks, right, and
4:25
Speaker 2: I feel that that's fair. He's the middle third. I
4:28
Speaker 2: think he plays the middle third quarterback. The interesting thing
4:31
Speaker 2: with today's game is the first two drives, it was
4:36
Speaker 2: very clear that they wanted Hurts to throw the ball,
4:39
Speaker 2: and the first two drives they got three points and
4:41
Speaker 2: then he fumbled the ball. Yes, right, But then once
4:46
Speaker 2: they started incorporating the run and they got away from
4:49
Speaker 2: him having to pass it all the time the offense
4:51
Speaker 2: began to move. What I'm saying is, I think Hurts
4:56
Speaker 2: is I'm going to use the term an elite game manager.
5:00
Speaker 2: That he will make plays when it needs to be made,
5:03
Speaker 2: and he is a winner, and there's no one that
5:05
Speaker 2: can say otherwise. I know winning is a team stad
5:08
Speaker 2: and all of that, there is something about Jalen Hurts
5:11
Speaker 2: being a winner. But at the same time, I do
5:16
Speaker 2: think even when he's had a good game today, I
5:20
Speaker 2: really think trying to put the game solely on him
5:24
Speaker 2: is going to be a mistake, which is unfortunate because
5:28
Speaker 2: you are paying between the quarterback and your top two
5:31
Speaker 2: wide receivers one hundred million dollars a year, which is
5:34
Speaker 2: almost half of your salary cap. But considering how well
5:40
Speaker 2: they are able to run the ball, I'm okay with it.
5:43
Speaker 1: Absolutely because that was the caveat we saw it last year.
5:47
Speaker 1: There was only so much DeAndre Swift was going to
5:49
Speaker 1: be able to do. During the twenty twenty three twenty
5:52
Speaker 1: twenty four season, Howie Roseman went back to the drawing board,
5:55
Speaker 1: they went into the office, they all talked about the
5:57
Speaker 1: fact that they needed to have an elite rusher to
6:00
Speaker 1: help with Jalen Hurts because his game is at a
6:03
Speaker 1: certain level as well. It may not be Josh Allen level,
6:06
Speaker 1: it may not be Patrick Mahomes level, but Jalen Hurts
6:09
Speaker 1: is at that level that you're talking about where he
6:13
Speaker 1: can do important things within the course of a game
6:16
Speaker 1: that mattered, that means something. He is a winner. Like
6:19
Speaker 1: you said, Saquon Barkley is so absolutely important to where
6:23
Speaker 1: this team is going to go in the future and
6:26
Speaker 1: where they have been all year. But it was interesting
6:30
Speaker 1: to see today. It was interesting to see how Saquon
6:34
Speaker 1: Barkley was out for much of the second quarter. He
6:36
Speaker 1: came back after the half, but we kind of saw
6:39
Speaker 1: this offense. I don't want to say stall necessarily, but
6:43
Speaker 1: it was like a putt putt, putt putt type of thing.
6:45
Speaker 1: You know, the engine's not necessarily running on all cylinders,
6:49
Speaker 1: so we've got some cylinders that are going not all cylinders.
6:53
Speaker 1: But we of course saw how important Saquon Barkley is.
6:56
Speaker 1: We know we know that he is too and we
6:58
Speaker 1: know now though also I think, which is interesting as
7:01
Speaker 1: well in another theme, that he doesn't need to necessarily
7:04
Speaker 1: have six yards per attempt or I'm sorry, six yards
7:09
Speaker 1: per carry like we have seen basically all season for
7:13
Speaker 1: this team to win. He had nineteen carries for sixty
7:16
Speaker 1: five yards, three point four yards per carry, and as
7:18
Speaker 1: long was twenty two yards on the day. They didn't
7:22
Speaker 1: need Saquon Barkley in this particular game to go absolutely
7:26
Speaker 1: crazy against a defense, a run defense in the Pittsburgh
7:30
Speaker 1: Steelers that are fourth in the league. I think that's
7:34
Speaker 1: important because the offense was able to adapt at the
7:37
Speaker 1: end of the day, and that's why we have the
7:39
Speaker 1: twenty seven to thirteen score and at thirteen that the
7:43
Speaker 1: Steelers scored. We're gonna get to that in a minute,
7:45
Speaker 1: and why that's so low because of this Eagles defense.
7:47
Speaker 1: We're gonna get there in a minute. But I think
7:49
Speaker 1: this offense really showed something here in Week fifteen. It
7:53
Speaker 1: really did when Saquon Barkley was not the dominant force
7:56
Speaker 1: as he has been, so they were able to adapt.
7:59
Speaker 1: Josh I absolutely loved it.
8:01
Speaker 2: Yeah, no, I agree. And the other thing that's important
8:03
Speaker 2: to remember. I mean they at the end of the
8:06
Speaker 2: fourth quarter, I think they got the ball back with
8:08
Speaker 2: what like six minutes left, five six minutes left, and
8:11
Speaker 2: they just drained the clock. I mean they were in
8:14
Speaker 2: the red zone, they were at goal right, it was
8:17
Speaker 2: like second in goal and they're kneeling the ball right,
8:19
Speaker 2: So let's they would have put up thirty points.
8:22
Speaker 1: Yes.
8:22
Speaker 2: The interesting thing for me is, you know, I had
8:25
Speaker 2: heard that this week the only top ten defense that
8:28
Speaker 2: they faced this year was three Bay Packers in Week one,
8:32
Speaker 2: so I kept hearing they hadn't faced anybody. So now
8:36
Speaker 2: my question is what is it going to be like?
8:39
Speaker 2: To some extent, the NFL is not college football. In
8:42
Speaker 2: college football, you make your schedule, so when you have
8:45
Speaker 2: a cupcake schedule, you have made it. It's one of
8:48
Speaker 2: my arguments is to why Penn State and Indiana's going
8:51
Speaker 2: to be in They literally had cupcake schedules, right, and
8:54
Speaker 2: they scheduled those. In the NFL, it's set based off
8:59
Speaker 2: of your positionlast year and what division you have to play.
9:02
Speaker 2: So you know, that's the argument with you know, with
9:07
Speaker 2: the NFL, I'll never understand that they played a week schedule.
9:10
Speaker 2: It doesn't matter, they didn't pick it. I'm interested to
9:16
Speaker 2: see what the dynamic is going to be in terms
9:18
Speaker 2: of moving forward, because I do think, and you alluded
9:23
Speaker 2: to this, this Eagles defense is definitively legitimate, like, let's
9:29
Speaker 2: they had put up the stats today of what it
9:31
Speaker 2: looks like since Russell Wilslm took over the starting job
9:34
Speaker 2: seven weeks ago. He was six and one coming into today.
9:37
Speaker 2: They were scoring. The Steelers are a good team. I
9:42
Speaker 2: don't want to hear. I don't want to hear that
9:44
Speaker 2: they're not a good team. Is it different with Pickings
9:48
Speaker 2: not playing? Yeah? Sure, But at the same time, the
9:52
Speaker 2: Eagles didn't get to use that excuse when aj Brown
9:54
Speaker 2: was out, DeVante Smith was out. Every team has injuries
9:57
Speaker 2: in the NFL, so I hate a fish eating excuses,
10:02
Speaker 2: which you'd know very well, and I hate injury excuses
10:05
Speaker 2: like every team has them. So it's next man up.
10:08
Speaker 1: Absolutely, look this, let's let's talk about Steelers defense here, okay,
10:13
Speaker 1: because I think that you know, when you look at
10:20
Speaker 1: when you look at this ego, did I say Steelers
10:21
Speaker 1: defense or Eagles defense?
10:23
Speaker 2: You said Steelers Steelers.
10:24
Speaker 1: I'm sorry, Eagles defense, deer lord. When we look at
10:27
Speaker 1: this Eagles defense here, you look at the end of
10:31
Speaker 1: the half here the Eagles had the Eagles offense had
10:34
Speaker 1: one hundred and seventy six total yards. The Steelers only
10:37
Speaker 1: had eighty yards. It was five point seven yards per
10:41
Speaker 1: play by the Eagles and only two point seven yards
10:44
Speaker 1: per play by the Steelers. But I mean, this defense
10:49
Speaker 1: just firing on all cylinders into the third, into the
10:52
Speaker 1: fourth quarter. And the one thing that we can consistently
10:57
Speaker 1: look at with this Eagles defense is consistency, consistency and
11:02
Speaker 1: getting pressure. And there's one guy that I want to
11:04
Speaker 1: mention and he has been incredibly disruptive, not just in
11:08
Speaker 1: this game, but in a number of games leading up
11:12
Speaker 1: to Week fifteen here. And he doesn't have the greatest
11:15
Speaker 1: stats in the world, Josh, but he had now has
11:18
Speaker 1: five point five sacks this season. And that is Nolan Smith.
11:22
Speaker 1: Nolan Smith a guy that people were talking about last
11:25
Speaker 1: year that he was a bum because of where he
11:28
Speaker 1: was picked in the draft. He was a first round
11:30
Speaker 1: draft pick towards the back of the back of the
11:33
Speaker 1: first round. And I really have to, I really have
11:37
Speaker 1: to say that he has come on strong. He has
11:40
Speaker 1: again been disruptive. He is one of the under the
11:44
Speaker 1: radar storylines for this Eagles defense. Absolutely, we know that
11:49
Speaker 1: Jalen Carter's dominant, you know, we know that Jordan Davis
11:51
Speaker 1: has done a very good job in terms of run stoppage,
11:54
Speaker 1: clogging up you know, a certain gaps on the line.
11:57
Speaker 1: Josh Sweat, you know, he's he's disrupted of every now
12:00
Speaker 1: and again as well. But Nolan Smith is that under
12:03
Speaker 1: the radar storyline with again five point five sacks on
12:06
Speaker 1: the season, who has really stepped up, developed and been disruptive.
12:10
Speaker 1: I he was very important in this game this week.
12:14
Speaker 2: Yeah, you actually hit on the other team I wanted
12:21
Speaker 2: to talk about, okay, which is also along the defensive line.
12:26
Speaker 2: To me, this was the Josh Sweat game. Yeah, and
12:29
Speaker 2: it's mostly because last week he did not play and
12:35
Speaker 2: the Eagles really struggled to get pressure. But as soon
12:39
Speaker 2: as Josh Sweat came back. And he's much like Nolan Smith,
12:43
Speaker 2: he doesn't have crazy stats as in the process of
12:47
Speaker 2: looking him up. Yeah, he does have seven sacks this year. Right,
12:50
Speaker 2: He's not double digits and he may not hit double
12:53
Speaker 2: digits by the end of the year, but he has
12:56
Speaker 2: passed deflected. Like, there's a number of things Josh Sweat
13:00
Speaker 2: does really well, and this is another one of those things,
13:03
Speaker 2: like people saying they overpaid and all this. Well, when
13:07
Speaker 2: Brandon Graham went down, the question was who's going to
13:10
Speaker 2: step up, And I think the answer has been pretty
13:12
Speaker 2: clear that it's Josh Sweat. Yeah, and so I've it
13:16
Speaker 2: was very impressed just actually with the whole defensive line. Yes,
13:20
Speaker 2: and I continue to be impressed by Vic Fangio. I
13:23
Speaker 2: mean he pressed the right buttons today, He brought pressure
13:27
Speaker 2: when he needed to, and he had people drop back
13:30
Speaker 2: played zone. It was really good.
13:34
Speaker 1: It absolutely was. Look, we got it. I think a
13:38
Speaker 1: storyline coming out in a theme coming out of this
13:40
Speaker 1: particular game two is the fact that the Eagles fumbled
13:45
Speaker 1: the ball twice in one minute in this game. One was,
13:49
Speaker 1: of course, the Jalen Hurts fumble that you mentioned earlier.
13:52
Speaker 1: The other was Cooper de Gene on a punt return
13:54
Speaker 1: in the first quarter. After it was all said and done,
13:57
Speaker 1: the Steelers only scored three points off of those two turnovers,
14:01
Speaker 1: which speaks volumes about this Eagles defense in this NFL league.
14:07
Speaker 1: And there, I mean there were there was hardly any
14:10
Speaker 1: juice coming from the Pittsburgh offense this week. And yes,
14:13
Speaker 1: George Pickens was not playing. They had some other injuries.
14:16
Speaker 1: This game was a game of injuries anyway, when you
14:18
Speaker 1: look at it on both sides, with both teams quite frankly,
14:22
Speaker 1: but really when you take would you take those two
14:24
Speaker 1: fumbles within a minute of each other and the opposing
14:27
Speaker 1: team only comes out with three points, man, there is
14:30
Speaker 1: something to be said for that defense.
14:33
Speaker 2: Yeah, And I had actually, I think in the first
14:36
Speaker 2: half both teams played really good defense and special teams.
14:40
Speaker 2: And I had tweeted out just before halftime that I
14:44
Speaker 2: don't know that I have seen a sloppier game from
14:47
Speaker 2: two teams that are both seven games over five hundred
14:51
Speaker 2: in a regular season. Like it was just it wasn't
14:55
Speaker 2: like playoff football top It was just really really sloppy,
14:59
Speaker 2: lots of lots of fumbles like it was Oprah out there.
15:02
Speaker 2: Everybody gets a fumble, right, But then everything kind of
15:06
Speaker 2: turned around, and at least it did for the Eagles anyway.
15:11
Speaker 1: Absolutely, kind of Yeah.
15:13
Speaker 2: I was really surprised with just how dominant, especially when
15:18
Speaker 2: they needed to be, This Eagles defense.
15:20
Speaker 1: Was absolutely I mean they're the number one defense. I
15:23
Speaker 1: think for a reason We're continuing to see it time
15:26
Speaker 1: and time again, what they did down in Baltimore. Yeah,
15:29
Speaker 1: I mean, they they took they had to take care
15:31
Speaker 1: of business against Carolina Panthers last week. A quote lesser team,
15:34
Speaker 1: but the offense was on the ropes. Defense really bailed
15:37
Speaker 1: them out last week. But as we're moving along with
15:40
Speaker 1: the themes, here a couple more that I wanted to
15:42
Speaker 1: dive into before we get to our grades and have
15:45
Speaker 1: to take our first break here, Josh, I think we
15:48
Speaker 1: got to give Kenny Gainwells some credit in this game.
15:50
Speaker 1: I think we have to do it. My friend picking
15:53
Speaker 1: up first downs throughout this game. He was key, key
15:57
Speaker 1: on some third down plays. Look again, and the stat's
16:01
Speaker 1: not incredible by any stretch. He ran the ball seven
16:04
Speaker 1: times for twenty yards. It's like two point nine yards
16:07
Speaker 1: per carry, but he was the third leading receiver on
16:10
Speaker 1: this team. He caught all three targets for forty yards
16:14
Speaker 1: thirteen point three yards per reception. I gotta give Kenny
16:18
Speaker 1: Gainwell some credit here. There's a lot of Kenny Gainwell
16:22
Speaker 1: I don't want to say necessarily hate, but we just
16:25
Speaker 1: get tired of it. We get tired of Kenny Gainwell
16:28
Speaker 1: every now and then. But man, when Barkley was out,
16:31
Speaker 1: he definitely stepped up, and he stepped up on some
16:34
Speaker 1: key third down conversions as well. I'm gonna give the
16:36
Speaker 1: boy credit this week.
16:38
Speaker 2: I have never seen Twitter or X have such a
16:42
Speaker 2: victory lap tour over a running back who can't even
16:46
Speaker 2: get three yards per car exactly. Wait, we're talking about
16:48
Speaker 2: the fact that he got sixty yards for the game
16:53
Speaker 2: and everyone's treating him like he's Barry Sanders. I know.
16:56
Speaker 1: Well, there was a lot of down plays, there really
16:58
Speaker 1: were that he converted.
17:00
Speaker 2: Jet Aj McCarran has had good games, That's true, was
17:05
Speaker 2: a decent game. It's the bar set for people to
17:08
Speaker 2: lose their minds over. Kenny Gainwell is decent. He had
17:14
Speaker 2: a decent game, yes, But at the same time.
17:18
Speaker 1: I just want to give him a shout out, just
17:20
Speaker 1: giving him a shout out.
17:22
Speaker 2: Congratulations Kenny Gainwell for the first time in years having
17:26
Speaker 2: an actual NFL game. What a job, My.
17:30
Speaker 1: Goodness, Oh gosh, well, look I did I did want
17:34
Speaker 1: to mention again, just a couple more things really quick.
17:37
Speaker 1: We don't have to necessarily get into this, but we
17:39
Speaker 1: know how it lead. The Eagles offensive line is but man,
17:43
Speaker 1: when Tyler Steen came in and he's on Cam Hayward, boy,
17:47
Speaker 1: that was really tough to watch. Stein was getting penalized
17:49
Speaker 1: a couple of times for holding. But we just see
17:52
Speaker 1: how important land And Dickerson is to this Eagles offensive line.
17:56
Speaker 1: We always say the Eagles offensive line is dominant, but
18:00
Speaker 1: I just don't name these guys necessarily. I mean, yes,
18:02
Speaker 1: Jordan Mailatta and Lane Johnson, they get a lot of love,
18:05
Speaker 1: but when it comes to Makai Becton, even you know,
18:08
Speaker 1: Cam Jurgens, even though he had a snap that went
18:10
Speaker 1: awry in this game. And when you're talking about Landon Dickerson,
18:14
Speaker 1: like that inside interior the offensive line, when one of
18:18
Speaker 1: those guys goes down, and yes, Cam Hayward's a very
18:21
Speaker 1: very good defensive lineman in this league for sure, and
18:24
Speaker 1: going up against Tyler Steen was pretty rough to watch
18:26
Speaker 1: every now and again. But I just wanted to give
18:29
Speaker 1: a shout out to that interior the offensive line that
18:32
Speaker 1: just doesn't get enough love. I don't know if you
18:34
Speaker 1: have any any thoughts on this, but it was really
18:37
Speaker 1: it was really, it was really something to watch. Tyler
18:39
Speaker 1: Steen just not the type of talent that Landon Dickerson
18:42
Speaker 1: is for sure.
18:44
Speaker 2: Yeah, I want to get the rushing record mostly for
18:48
Speaker 2: the offensive line. Yeah, I think it'd be great for SA. Yeah,
18:51
Speaker 2: but I wanted to get done for the O line
18:54
Speaker 2: and especially Jeff Stoutlin. Yeah, I mean, Jeff, if you
18:58
Speaker 2: look at this offensive line, you have at right tackle
19:03
Speaker 2: or left tackle, the guy who's a seventh round pick
19:05
Speaker 2: who had never really played football in his life, right right,
19:09
Speaker 2: the most correct. You have players on the offensive line
19:15
Speaker 2: that two of them that weren't first round picks because
19:19
Speaker 2: they were so riddled with injuries in college. You have
19:22
Speaker 2: Makai Beckton, who was a first round pick who organizations
19:26
Speaker 2: plural gave up on because he just couldn't cut it
19:29
Speaker 2: as a tackle, while the Eagles decide they're going to
19:32
Speaker 2: try and the guard. Really the only player before this
19:37
Speaker 2: season that really should have had a first round grade
19:40
Speaker 2: on them is Lane Johnson. Johnson absolutely, And that to me,
19:45
Speaker 2: like even tonight, you look at there's parts in the
19:49
Speaker 2: game where two fifths of the offensive line in one
19:52
Speaker 2: of the most critical times you're trying to wind down
19:55
Speaker 2: the clock and secure a lead, and in that time
19:58
Speaker 2: you're missing two fits of your offensive line. And it
20:01
Speaker 2: doesn't miss a beat because Jeff Staltlin, like, there's a
20:06
Speaker 2: reason why my Alotta says Staltlin University. Yes, there is
20:10
Speaker 2: just something and that's probably the best decision. Chip Kelly
20:15
Speaker 2: ever made was to keep him on right. So like anyway,
20:19
Speaker 2: this offensive line, I think Eagles fans take for granted
20:23
Speaker 2: just how good the offensive line is. Talk to New
20:27
Speaker 2: York fans, talk to Bengals fans. Joe Burrow is out
20:31
Speaker 2: playing every single quarterback in the NFL this year behind
20:35
Speaker 2: a porous offensive line, probably the worst interior offensive line.
20:40
Speaker 2: He doesn't have defense either. But like the reality is
20:43
Speaker 2: the Eagles, it is a factory.
20:47
Speaker 1: It absolutely is. It is. We have to give credit
20:50
Speaker 1: to Jeff Stotlin's as you mentioned Stotland University. These guys
20:54
Speaker 1: learn amazing things about the game of football from him.
20:58
Speaker 1: So buy before we go to break. Last time you
21:01
Speaker 1: were on, I believe it was the last time you
21:03
Speaker 1: were on doing the Eagles postgame show, because you did
21:06
Speaker 1: join us for some Philadelphia Union talk. But we were
21:09
Speaker 1: not too happy with the tush push in a way.
21:12
Speaker 1: We were saying the tush push teams are figuring it out.
21:16
Speaker 1: But I gotta say, tush push seems to be working
21:18
Speaker 1: at this point. I I I was thinking, boy, teams
21:24
Speaker 1: are really just going to start to get a hold
21:26
Speaker 1: of what this is, how to really defend it. But
21:29
Speaker 1: over the past few weeks. I mean, it's just it's
21:32
Speaker 1: unstoppable once again. And yes, maybe a team will stop
21:35
Speaker 1: it every now and again, but it was certainly unstoppable
21:37
Speaker 1: in this game against the Steelers. I don't know what
21:39
Speaker 1: are you thinking here?
21:41
Speaker 2: Yeah? The only the only real issue I have especially
21:46
Speaker 2: super successful again, Yeah is it. I don't like when
21:51
Speaker 2: players or when fans utilized tush push touch touchdowns credited
21:57
Speaker 2: them to Jalen Hurts like they're passing touchdowns right, and
22:00
Speaker 2: don't mention any fumbles right, Like I've said it on
22:04
Speaker 2: here before. If you're going to include push push touchdowns,
22:07
Speaker 2: you have to include the fumbles, right. It's total touchdowns,
22:11
Speaker 2: total turnovers, yep. Otherwise, if it works, go for it.
22:17
Speaker 1: There you go, There you go, buddy, were we're gonna think,
22:19
Speaker 1: we're gonna take a quick break right here. You got
22:21
Speaker 1: any more themes before we head to the grades?
22:23
Speaker 2: No, I don't think so.
22:24
Speaker 1: Okay, sounds good, folks. Uh, make sure you're following us
22:28
Speaker 1: out there on various social media sites. We were on
22:30
Speaker 1: the Twitter dot com. We are also on Instagram. I'm
22:34
Speaker 1: over at Blue Sky. You can check me out over there,
22:37
Speaker 1: and uh, just search us out online. We're gonna take
22:40
Speaker 1: a quick break. We'll be back in just a bit.
22:43
Speaker 1: All right, we are back and again we're with our
22:45
Speaker 1: buddy Josh Schuster from Philadelphia Soccer Now dot com and
22:48
Speaker 1: he helps us do some Eagles analysis every now and again.
22:52
Speaker 1: Let's get into some grades by unit. Quarterback position this week.
22:56
Speaker 1: I'm gonna give Jalen Hurts a straight up A this week.
23:00
Speaker 1: Even though he did turn the ball over his first
23:03
Speaker 1: time in five games. I think that he's turned the
23:06
Speaker 1: ball over. I'm still going to give him an A
23:08
Speaker 1: based on, Yes, the stats this week twenty five to
23:12
Speaker 1: thirty two, two hundred and ninety yards, nine point one
23:15
Speaker 1: yards per attempt, two touchdowns, and a one twenty five
23:19
Speaker 1: point three rating. I'm giving him an a straight up
23:22
Speaker 1: A this week.
23:23
Speaker 2: What do you give him, Josh, Yeah, I'd say the same. Okay,
23:26
Speaker 2: you know, no quarterback. Even though I had brought up
23:29
Speaker 2: the tumble there no quarterback. It's going to be perfect
23:31
Speaker 2: every week, right Like, I'll take he's turned into now
23:35
Speaker 2: a turnover every couple of weeks. I'll take that. That's
23:39
Speaker 2: not that's not terrible. He gets tonight.
23:41
Speaker 1: All right, sounds good. Let's move to the running back position. Here,
23:46
Speaker 1: and I am going to be giving Saquon Barkley and
23:49
Speaker 1: Kenneth Gainwell this week. They are going to get a
23:52
Speaker 1: C plus from me this week. It was it was
23:56
Speaker 1: a rough time. Saquon obviously had some sort of injury
24:00
Speaker 1: going on. He was not out in the second quarter
24:02
Speaker 1: very much at all. And Kenny Gainwell, like you said,
24:06
Speaker 1: under three yards per carry two point nine yards per carry.
24:09
Speaker 1: He said, we shouldn't really be congratulating him. However, I
24:12
Speaker 1: thought he did a good job converting on third down
24:14
Speaker 1: every now and again. The rushing attack just wasn't necessarily
24:18
Speaker 1: the main aspect of the offense this week. I'm gonna
24:22
Speaker 1: give him a C plus. What do you give the
24:23
Speaker 1: running backs?
24:24
Speaker 2: I give him a bee? Okay, I mean, when I
24:27
Speaker 2: look at it, the Steelers have a really good run defense.
24:30
Speaker 2: They could be had in the passing gage coming in.
24:34
Speaker 2: I'm not upset with what they did.
24:37
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'll give him a minus. I'll do B minus.
24:39
Speaker 2: Now there you go. It's the Kenny Gainwell effect.
24:42
Speaker 1: There you go, all right, receivers and tight ends. I
24:48
Speaker 1: do have to say that even though Grant cal Katara
24:50
Speaker 1: only had one target and he caught that one ball
24:53
Speaker 1: for twenty two yards in the very first quarter. He
24:57
Speaker 1: just seems to be a guy who can give you
24:59
Speaker 1: just about the same amount juice that Dallas Goddard is
25:03
Speaker 1: able to give this team. Quite frankly, it's something we're
25:06
Speaker 1: gonna talk about, I think more on this podcast platform,
25:09
Speaker 1: and we're talking about the Eagles in the future. But
25:12
Speaker 1: Kenneth Gainwell, like I said earlier, had three targets, caught
25:15
Speaker 1: all three of them for forty yards. But mainly in
25:18
Speaker 1: this game, it's yes, the realization that Jalen Hurts and
25:22
Speaker 1: AJ Brown they're okay. He was targeted eleven times, caught
25:27
Speaker 1: eight balls for one hundred and ten yards thirteen point
25:30
Speaker 1: eight yards per reception, and a touchdown. Guess what, folks.
25:33
Speaker 1: Devonte Smith also had a touchdown in this game. He
25:36
Speaker 1: was targeted twelve times, caught eleven balls for one hundred
25:40
Speaker 1: and nine yards. Boy, what a great, great way for
25:46
Speaker 1: this team to come back after the noise and nonsense
25:49
Speaker 1: of this past week in Philly sports talk media. I'm
25:53
Speaker 1: gonna give the receivers and tight ends this week. I'm
25:56
Speaker 1: gonna give them an a plus actually, considering the nonsense
26:00
Speaker 1: they had to go through this past week. Trying to
26:02
Speaker 1: prepare for this game, and what these receivers and Grant
26:06
Speaker 1: Grant cal Kata did even with that one reception, I'm
26:08
Speaker 1: going to give him an A plus.
26:09
Speaker 2: What do you give them, buddy, Yeah, they get an
26:11
Speaker 2: A plus. I mean, if I go down the list here,
26:15
Speaker 2: aj Brown eleven targets, eight receptions, Fante Smith twelve targets,
26:18
Speaker 2: eleven receptions, gain Well three targets, three receptions, Katara one target,
26:22
Speaker 2: one reception, Barkley two targets, two receptions. I mean it
26:28
Speaker 2: not that it hurts me to throw the ball perfect
26:30
Speaker 2: every time, because that's just absolutely unrealistic. The job of
26:33
Speaker 2: the quarterback is to get it where the wide receivers
26:36
Speaker 2: can catch it, right, yep. And Hurts did that job
26:39
Speaker 2: today and the receivers brought just about everything in. So yeah,
26:44
Speaker 2: they get an A plus.
26:45
Speaker 1: All right, offensive line this week, Josh, I'm giving them
26:48
Speaker 1: an a minus. I thought the rushing game was a
26:51
Speaker 1: little bit rough in terms of the rush blocking, but again,
26:55
Speaker 1: like you mentioned, I mean, this is one of the
26:56
Speaker 1: top rush defenses in the league that they were going
26:59
Speaker 1: up against. Pass protection was just about fantastic in this game. Yes,
27:04
Speaker 1: Hurts was sacked three times some of those, Yeah, kind
27:08
Speaker 1: of his fault one. It was actually on Lane Johnson,
27:10
Speaker 1: I believe. However, I thought the offensive line did a
27:13
Speaker 1: fantastic job in terms of pass pro I'm giving them
27:16
Speaker 1: an A minus. What do you give them?
27:17
Speaker 2: I give him an A? Okay, And there were a
27:19
Speaker 2: lot of moving parts in and out there. And the
27:22
Speaker 2: Steelers are such good run defense. I really can't play
27:25
Speaker 2: if you strow in the hurts rushing yards. They got
27:27
Speaker 2: one hundred yards on the ground today, So I'm not upset.
27:32
Speaker 1: All right, Let's move over to the defense. Defensive line.
27:36
Speaker 1: I'm giving them a straight up A this week. Again,
27:39
Speaker 1: we don't see a ton of sacks from this Eagles defense.
27:42
Speaker 1: They only had two today, four tackles for a loss.
27:45
Speaker 1: There were four quarterback hits on Russell Wilson. Russell Wilson's
27:48
Speaker 1: playing pretty good football this year, folks, if you haven't noticed,
27:51
Speaker 1: and you haven't been keeping up. Although I got to
27:54
Speaker 1: say his fourteen of twenty two for one hundred and
27:56
Speaker 1: twenty eight yards five point eight yards per attempt, you
27:59
Speaker 1: did have one touchdown. Not the greatest day for Russell
28:03
Speaker 1: Wilson by any stretch of the imagination. If you look
28:06
Speaker 1: back on games that Vic Fangio has gone up against
28:09
Speaker 1: Russell Wilson, Russ has not fared too too well in
28:12
Speaker 1: those games. So I'm going to give the defensive line
28:15
Speaker 1: in a this week. What do you give them?
28:18
Speaker 2: Big get a A. And I think that stats can
28:21
Speaker 2: be good, and I think stats can be beneficial, But
28:25
Speaker 2: part of the issue I have with solely relying on
28:27
Speaker 2: analytics is I don't feel that stats tell the whole story. Yeah,
28:31
Speaker 2: and I think that this year is a perfect example
28:35
Speaker 2: of that when you compare to last year. Right. Last year,
28:37
Speaker 2: the Eagles had a tremendous amount of secks, right, But
28:41
Speaker 2: it feels like this year the pressure and the defensive
28:45
Speaker 2: line is far more consistent with numbers that are well
28:49
Speaker 2: below last year. Stats can lie sometimes, Absolutely, I think
28:54
Speaker 2: this year, and part of it may be the coverage
28:56
Speaker 2: is better. Right. All I'm saying is they even though
29:00
Speaker 2: they aren't getting quarterback hits, they aren't getting a ton
29:02
Speaker 2: of sacks. The quarterbacks are definitely under pressure and they're
29:07
Speaker 2: keeping mobile quarterbacks in the pocket.
29:09
Speaker 1: That's key. Absolutely. I love that point, buddy. I love
29:12
Speaker 1: that point. They're playing contain and they are containing the quarterbacks,
29:17
Speaker 1: especially mobile quarterbacks like Russell Wilson, like Lamar Jackson from
29:21
Speaker 1: a few weeks ago. Here, I love that point. All right,
29:24
Speaker 1: Let's move to the linebackers. Nakobe Dean and Zack Bond,
29:29
Speaker 1: still continuing to get it done. They are forced leading
29:32
Speaker 1: the league in leading the league, leading the team this
29:35
Speaker 1: week in tackles, Nacobe Dean with ten total, Zach Bond
29:39
Speaker 1: with five total. Kind of a quieter game from Zach Bond,
29:42
Speaker 1: but still I'm gonna give this linebacker corp and a
29:45
Speaker 1: minus this week. What do you give them?
29:47
Speaker 2: Well, they get an a all right trying we didn't
29:51
Speaker 2: really do a whole lot right, and the other part
29:55
Speaker 2: is contained right. The linebackers, the edges, and the linebackers
29:59
Speaker 2: are responsib will for contain Yep. They have kept up
30:02
Speaker 2: regular play. Initially, I think both of us thought this
30:05
Speaker 2: was just a mirage, but it's not. It's for real.
30:07
Speaker 2: They figured out the linebacker room. And if I'm Howie,
30:12
Speaker 2: I am calling Zach Bonne's agent tomorrow and I'm saying,
30:15
Speaker 2: let's talk.
30:16
Speaker 1: We've been seeing them for weeks now. Darning should have
30:19
Speaker 1: done it after week seven.
30:21
Speaker 2: They they cannot let him leave because I think there
30:27
Speaker 2: is some chemistry that has formed between him and the
30:31
Speaker 2: young guys. Yes, it cannot let him out of the room.
30:34
Speaker 1: Absolutely, the great, great point secondary. This week, I'm gonna
30:38
Speaker 1: give these guys. I think they played one heck of
30:40
Speaker 1: a game. And again, yes, George Pickens not in this game.
30:42
Speaker 1: He was out with a hamstring injury. But I am
30:45
Speaker 1: going to I believe was hamstring injury. Anyway, I'm going
30:47
Speaker 1: to give the secondary and A this week. I'm going
30:50
Speaker 1: to give them an A. I mean, this defense, Vick
30:52
Speaker 1: fanjo is gonna get an A plus for me. I'm
30:54
Speaker 1: just gonna say it right now. But I'm giving an
30:56
Speaker 1: A to the secondary. What do you give them?
30:59
Speaker 2: Yeah? I I agree. Mitchell is just such a fun player. Yeah,
31:04
Speaker 2: I mean, he takes just everything to the next level.
31:09
Speaker 2: He has no problem talking trash yep. Just amazing And
31:14
Speaker 2: what a good pick. And this is why I am
31:17
Speaker 2: not a GM, because I did not love the idea
31:21
Speaker 2: of taking a cornerback from Toledo in the first round. Right,
31:26
Speaker 2: I am have never been more happy to be wrong.
31:29
Speaker 1: There you go, keep your day job, buddy, all right, right,
31:33
Speaker 1: moving on to special teams and the coaching special teams
31:37
Speaker 1: this week, look, we were all hard on Jake Elliott
31:39
Speaker 1: last week, and rightfully so. It seems. I mean, he's
31:42
Speaker 1: had a tough year. He has not made a field
31:44
Speaker 1: goal from fifty plus yards. He didn't make one in
31:46
Speaker 1: this game, didn't have the opportunity. But he did make
31:49
Speaker 1: one from thirty four yards. He made a forty eight yarder,
31:52
Speaker 1: but there was a penalty on that particular play by
31:55
Speaker 1: the Steelers. Eagles accepted it, which negated that field goal.
31:59
Speaker 1: He made one from forty one yards, so he maybe
32:02
Speaker 1: and hopefully is getting back on track. However, Cooper Dejene
32:07
Speaker 1: fumbling in the first quarter, but I have to say
32:09
Speaker 1: even after that fumble, I give him credit, Josh, because
32:13
Speaker 1: what I liked about his second punt return in the
32:16
Speaker 1: second quarter there he didn't let that fumble get in
32:18
Speaker 1: his head. Next return wet for twenty two yards. He
32:21
Speaker 1: was following his blockers, he was doing what his job
32:25
Speaker 1: was And yes, while braden Mann only had about a
32:28
Speaker 1: thirty yard punt at the end of the second quarter,
32:30
Speaker 1: put the Steelers in pretty good field position, ended up
32:32
Speaker 1: getting a field goal before the half. I think in general,
32:36
Speaker 1: the special teams unit didn't necessarily kill the team this
32:39
Speaker 1: week when they could have in various situations and given
32:43
Speaker 1: the performance level of some of the players, and I'm
32:46
Speaker 1: talking about Jake Elliott over the past few weeks. So
32:50
Speaker 1: I'm actually gonna give them a B this week, a
32:52
Speaker 1: straight up B for special teams, what do you give them?
32:55
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'll give him a D. But at the same time,
32:58
Speaker 2: I'm gonna give a lot of credit here to next Syrianni.
33:01
Speaker 2: I think one of the things that I'm beginning to
33:03
Speaker 2: see with him not doing play calling, not doing the
33:06
Speaker 2: offense or anything, he is really putting all of his
33:09
Speaker 2: eggs in the basket of knowing his players. And we
33:12
Speaker 2: saw it tonight where Dejeene is sent back out there
33:16
Speaker 2: for the very next punt. It would have been very
33:18
Speaker 2: easy for him to put Kenny Gamewell out there, but
33:21
Speaker 2: he opted not to write like he's stuck with Cooper
33:24
Speaker 2: because that's his guy. Yes, then with I forget what
33:27
Speaker 2: field goal it was, but for one of them, they
33:31
Speaker 2: were in go for it on fourth down territory, and
33:34
Speaker 2: I feel like Nick walked up to Jake and said,
33:37
Speaker 2: you're my guy, You're going to make this and we're
33:39
Speaker 2: going to get Paul rolling. So he gets a lot
33:41
Speaker 2: of credit for you know, if Jake Elliot misses that
33:44
Speaker 2: kick and Cooper Jane fumbles again, Philadelphia's losing their mind.
33:48
Speaker 2: But nobody's going to say anything about Nick Trust and
33:51
Speaker 2: his guys.
33:52
Speaker 1: Yep. Absolutely, that's it's It says a lot about the
33:56
Speaker 1: type of coach that he has become over these years,
34:00
Speaker 1: and I kind of wanted to get into that a
34:02
Speaker 1: little bit more once we get to the offense. It's
34:04
Speaker 1: based on something that I mentioned a little bit earlier.
34:07
Speaker 1: All right, let's move over to the defense. Josh vic Fangio,
34:11
Speaker 1: Like I said earlier, he's getting an a plus for
34:13
Speaker 1: me the way that he has these guys playing, especially
34:17
Speaker 1: some of these young guys, young guys that we wanted
34:20
Speaker 1: to step up, young guys that we wanted to see develop,
34:24
Speaker 1: the way that he has them playing. You mentioned Quinon
34:28
Speaker 1: Mitchell and the fact that that kid is able to
34:32
Speaker 1: do what he's been able to do at the cornerback position,
34:34
Speaker 1: the toughest position to learn going from the college ranks
34:38
Speaker 1: to the NFL, and he's he's performing at this level already.
34:42
Speaker 1: You mentioned Josh Sweat, I mentioned Nolan Smith, You've got
34:47
Speaker 1: Zach Bond and Nakobe Dean continuing to make a tremendous impact.
34:51
Speaker 1: It is a cohesive and you use a term consistent unit,
34:55
Speaker 1: and Vic Fangio gets an A plus for me, I
34:59
Speaker 1: was so scouted dude at the beginning of the season
35:02
Speaker 1: when they hired him, or I should say, you know,
35:04
Speaker 1: during the offseason when they hired him, and I'm like,
35:07
Speaker 1: didn't leave Miami all that great. We've seen some ups
35:10
Speaker 1: and downs with him. We know that he's a pioneer
35:12
Speaker 1: in certain areas of defensive football. But my goodness, what
35:17
Speaker 1: a move bringing him in as the defensive coordinator after
35:21
Speaker 1: the nonsense that we had last year and Vic Fangio
35:25
Speaker 1: man just just an incredible, incredible defensive coordinator. I'm glad
35:29
Speaker 1: we have him again. A plus in this game against
35:31
Speaker 1: the Steelers. What do you give him?
35:33
Speaker 2: So, Jeff, you need to mark this so for like
35:37
Speaker 2: three years from now where you can't stand Vic Fangio.
35:41
Speaker 2: You need to be like, I'm so glad.
35:43
Speaker 1: That you have exactly Yes, I think.
35:48
Speaker 2: In all reality what I see from this defense is
35:52
Speaker 2: not what I expect. Yeah, I've moved past that having
35:56
Speaker 2: an impact on my grade in terms of currently in
36:00
Speaker 2: the season. I was just happy that they could tackle
36:05
Speaker 2: like that, to me was just mind blowing. And that
36:07
Speaker 2: the fact that there's people who actually can play linebacker
36:11
Speaker 2: in the NFL that can actually wear Eagles colors, I
36:14
Speaker 2: don't know that's possible. But when you really look at
36:17
Speaker 2: his system, there's a reason why he's the creator of
36:22
Speaker 2: this basically all game prevent defense of preventing big plays,
36:28
Speaker 2: And the main reason is because when he has the
36:31
Speaker 2: players for the system, it doesn't feel like they are
36:36
Speaker 2: playing ten yards off the ball every single play. It's
36:40
Speaker 2: third down and one, oh, look they're ten yards off
36:43
Speaker 2: the ball. You know what, I bet you they probably
36:45
Speaker 2: actually are. But the thing is the way that he
36:49
Speaker 2: dials up pressures, the way that the defensive line goes
36:53
Speaker 2: on stunts, the way that they fake a blitz, all
36:56
Speaker 2: of these things that we really hadn't seen for an
36:58
Speaker 2: extended period of time, and it's just amazing. And I
37:04
Speaker 2: can't remember a coordinator having that big of an impact
37:10
Speaker 2: on the defensive side of the ball for years in
37:13
Speaker 2: terms of development, like the Cayango has had to do
37:18
Speaker 2: defense with basically what was viewed as the scrap pile
37:21
Speaker 2: from last year. Remember how everybody was like, well, the
37:24
Speaker 2: defense can't be any worse than last year. Yes, that's
37:26
Speaker 2: good because they were ranked worse. But he's taken the scraps,
37:31
Speaker 2: added a couple of pieces here and there, and boom,
37:36
Speaker 2: and it's just it's just he's not afraid to play
37:39
Speaker 2: the young guys, right, Like the Eagles still had cap space. Yeah,
37:43
Speaker 2: the Eagles still had cap space. They could have gone
37:45
Speaker 2: out and signed veterans, didn't trade for anybody. And I
37:49
Speaker 2: think a lot of that has to do with Vic Fangio.
37:51
Speaker 2: He's like, I like the guys that we have here.
37:53
Speaker 2: We're not going to go out and change what's going on.
37:56
Speaker 2: We need to let the young players play because it's
37:58
Speaker 2: the only way that they're going to develop. So Vic
38:01
Speaker 2: Tangio probably for the rest of the year, even if
38:04
Speaker 2: they give up fifty points, will probably get an a
38:07
Speaker 2: from it because it's just amazing.
38:09
Speaker 1: I'll say this, if you remember, a lot of us,
38:12
Speaker 1: myself included. I'm putting myself in there before the trade
38:16
Speaker 1: deadline said you know what, we need a pass rusher.
38:19
Speaker 1: We need a pass rusher, We absolutely need it. This
38:22
Speaker 1: team is not getting sacks. What type of pressure is
38:25
Speaker 1: this team getting? How is it affecting the secondary blah
38:28
Speaker 1: blah blah. And now we see after how many weeks,
38:32
Speaker 1: and yes it's been since early November, this team is
38:36
Speaker 1: on fire defensively, like on fire, the number one defense
38:39
Speaker 1: in the league. They didn't need to go out and
38:41
Speaker 1: do that. So I guess that's like folks like myself,
38:44
Speaker 1: folks that are on social media talking about this who
38:47
Speaker 1: aren't reflective at all. You know what, sometimes these coaches
38:50
Speaker 1: actually do know some things here and there, especially veteran
38:53
Speaker 1: coaches who've been around the block. We were all complaining
38:56
Speaker 1: that they didn't get a pass rusher end of the
38:58
Speaker 1: day here in week five fifteen. They didn't need it.
39:03
Speaker 2: Yeah, hey, Jeff, keep your day job exactly.
39:07
Speaker 1: Yes, I got a couple of them. I hope I'm
39:10
Speaker 1: decent at him, certainly not decent at this. Geez. All right,
39:15
Speaker 1: let's move over to Nick Sirianni and Kellen Moore this
39:18
Speaker 1: week here, and I'm gonna give these guys a straight
39:21
Speaker 1: up a this week, as I mentioned earlier, with Saquon
39:24
Speaker 1: Barkley not performing giving us numbers that we have been
39:28
Speaker 1: so used to, there had to be some adaptive type
39:32
Speaker 1: of measures that were provided to, you know, the offense
39:35
Speaker 1: in general in this game and to us fans who
39:38
Speaker 1: are watching, and it was great to see the passing
39:41
Speaker 1: game work. It was rough last week against the Panthers.
39:44
Speaker 1: A lot of us were critical of Jalen Hurt's critical
39:46
Speaker 1: of Kellen Moore and Nick Sirianni and the way they
39:49
Speaker 1: went about facing a lesser team like the Carolina Panthers,
39:54
Speaker 1: who have actually been playing some decent football over the
39:56
Speaker 1: past few weeks. However, however, this game, the the adapting
40:03
Speaker 1: with knowing that Saquan was not going to be the
40:05
Speaker 1: necessarily the focal point given the Steelers rush defense, which
40:09
Speaker 1: we mentioned earlier. I give him an a I give
40:13
Speaker 1: Nick Sirianni credit because as many of us thought that
40:16
Speaker 1: he was going to be fired earlier this season after
40:18
Speaker 1: a two and two start, some some nonsense of him
40:21
Speaker 1: yelling at fans and doing what he does, the ego,
40:25
Speaker 1: the arrogance, whatever it is. Nick Sirianni continues to grow
40:29
Speaker 1: in a lot of ways, and I think it's good
40:31
Speaker 1: that he didn't put that. You know, I have that
40:33
Speaker 1: that chip on his shoulder in a way where he's
40:36
Speaker 1: yelling at folks coming off the field and kind of
40:39
Speaker 1: acting like that. I think I think the guy is
40:41
Speaker 1: starting to grow, and I think this year's teach I
40:44
Speaker 1: should be teaching not just them as a coaching staff,
40:47
Speaker 1: but also as fans what we should expect and want
40:50
Speaker 1: from a coach. And we need to recognize it. We
40:53
Speaker 1: need to recognize it. Nick Sirianni seems to be growing
40:55
Speaker 1: up here before our eyes as a head coach. Again,
40:59
Speaker 1: I give him an a in this game. I don't
41:01
Speaker 1: know what are your thoughts here?
41:03
Speaker 2: Yeah, so I have I have two kind of thoughts,
41:07
Speaker 2: and I'm going to separate Kellen Moore and Nick Suriano. Okay,
41:11
Speaker 2: I really don't want to hear Philadelphia fans complain about
41:16
Speaker 2: Kellen Moore's offense. Yeah, all that If you are complaining
41:19
Speaker 2: about it, to me, all that shows is that you
41:23
Speaker 2: aren't actually watching the game. On every single pass play
41:28
Speaker 2: there is an open wide receiver. Yes, Kellen Moore's job
41:32
Speaker 2: is to create plays and call plays where players are open.
41:37
Speaker 2: He does not control how long the quarterback holds onto
41:40
Speaker 2: the ball. Now, good things can happen when the quarterback
41:44
Speaker 2: holds onto the ball, and Jalen Hurts is a good
41:46
Speaker 2: example of that. Right he picks up these crazy run plays.
41:49
Speaker 2: He scores touchdowns. Sometimes there's a deep bomb, but you
41:54
Speaker 2: can hold onto the ball too long, and then it's
41:57
Speaker 2: bumbles and interceptions and stacks and all of these things.
42:02
Speaker 2: Kellen's moore job. Kellen Moore's job is not to try
42:07
Speaker 2: to convince Hurts well. It kind of is favor of
42:09
Speaker 2: the ball faster. His job is to create open plays
42:12
Speaker 2: and call open plays yes. And he does that every game,
42:16
Speaker 2: every drive, almost every single play. Kellen Moore is a
42:21
Speaker 2: good offensive coordinator. Now I'll move over to Neck. I
42:25
Speaker 2: liked what you said in terms of seeing Nick grow up.
42:29
Speaker 2: The word I would use is immature. I know people
42:33
Speaker 2: who are older than me who are very immature. And
42:36
Speaker 2: I'm not saying that I'm, you know, the be all
42:39
Speaker 2: end all of mature. And but what I am saying
42:43
Speaker 2: is I agree with what you were saying. There is
42:46
Speaker 2: definitely a difference this year, and Jeff, I'm going to say,
42:50
Speaker 2: I think that's why there isn't the side I think
42:54
Speaker 2: that they experienced last year, right where they went on
42:56
Speaker 2: this run of losing games. I think Nick really is
43:01
Speaker 2: gaining confidence. And that's the word that I would use,
43:05
Speaker 2: because I don't view him as being cocky or anything
43:08
Speaker 2: like that. To me, he's too much of a people
43:10
Speaker 2: person and his players love him too much for him
43:12
Speaker 2: to be cocky. Bill Belichick, I may say, is cocky right,
43:16
Speaker 2: Like he's very hush USh with the media. Really, there's
43:20
Speaker 2: a handful of players that like him. Not a lot
43:22
Speaker 2: of people do with Nick. I think it's just a
43:26
Speaker 2: matter of he's gaining his confidence. He understands what he
43:31
Speaker 2: needs to do. I think what happened in the beginning
43:34
Speaker 2: with Nick was he was an individual much like many
43:37
Speaker 2: of us when we start out on a new career,
43:39
Speaker 2: where you think you can do everything because you got
43:42
Speaker 2: the job right and you're just so happy to have
43:45
Speaker 2: the job, and you're working.
43:46
Speaker 1: On your tail off doing it too. By the way,
43:48
Speaker 1: you're working your tail off and putting in the hours,
43:50
Speaker 1: putting in the work, you're doing everything that you can do.
43:52
Speaker 1: You're not seeing your family, You're killing it and go ahead.
43:58
Speaker 2: And I think the mark of a good leader to
44:01
Speaker 2: some extent is people wondering what you do with your time,
44:06
Speaker 2: because to me, that means that you have delegated extremely efficiently.
44:12
Speaker 2: That means that you have found the right people, You
44:14
Speaker 2: are trusting the right people, and so you're able to
44:17
Speaker 2: do more behind the scenes stuff, and oftentimes when a
44:21
Speaker 2: leader is able to move into creativity, that's when good
44:25
Speaker 2: things really happen. And I think that's where Nick is at.
44:29
Speaker 2: He has an offensive coordinator he trusts, he has a
44:31
Speaker 2: defensive coordinator he trusts him. And Jalen had that heart
44:35
Speaker 2: to heart. I think that's another big thing in all
44:37
Speaker 2: of this. They sat down, had a heart to heart,
44:40
Speaker 2: the offensive line went to him, and I think Nick
44:43
Speaker 2: is just living into confidence right now. Absolutely, you may
44:48
Speaker 2: get a sorry to get an a.
44:50
Speaker 1: A very good, very good look it was. It was
44:54
Speaker 1: a really good game. This Eagles team is beating some
44:56
Speaker 1: very good teams this season, and recently again mentioned the
45:01
Speaker 1: Baltimore Ravens and what this Eagles defense was able to
45:05
Speaker 1: do against Lamar Jackson, one of the best quarterbacks in
45:08
Speaker 1: the league, against one of the best offenses. And then
45:11
Speaker 1: you take a ten and three coming into this game,
45:13
Speaker 1: ten and three Pittsburgh Steelers team, and they were able
45:17
Speaker 1: to handle business. And I read a tweet from a
45:20
Speaker 1: good friend of ours that I said, I really stayed
45:24
Speaker 1: off Twitter a lot, but I ended up like getting
45:26
Speaker 1: on just to check out something, and I wanted to
45:29
Speaker 1: end our postgame show with this, I was gonna I
45:32
Speaker 1: forgot to bounce this off your buddy before we started.
45:34
Speaker 1: But it's our good friend of the pod, Tim Kelly,
45:37
Speaker 1: who used to be over at Phillies Nation dot com.
45:41
Speaker 1: He's since moved on to some brighter pastures, but he said,
45:47
Speaker 1: I think there is a chance Brandon Graham knew exactly
45:51
Speaker 1: what he was doing saying that publicly this week, and
45:54
Speaker 1: this whole thing forced Brown and Hurts to hash things out.
45:59
Speaker 1: Beg is two good at media to step on a
46:03
Speaker 1: rake like that? Actually, wonder if that is true? And
46:07
Speaker 1: Tim Kelly's a good guy, great reporter, has been for
46:10
Speaker 1: many many years, understands the media reporter landscape. He's that Frankly,
46:15
Speaker 1: he's not a hack by any stretch of the imagination.
46:18
Speaker 1: But I wonder if there was something intentional about that
46:22
Speaker 1: which BG actually created that situation that led two guys
46:28
Speaker 1: that maybe needed to communicate more effectively with each other,
46:31
Speaker 1: that we knew if they were going to communicate effectively
46:34
Speaker 1: with each other, Josh, that good things were gonna happen,
46:37
Speaker 1: And good things did happen this week. So I wonder
46:41
Speaker 1: if we do have to credit BG as much as
46:44
Speaker 1: people are saying, God, what an idiot, Why did he
46:46
Speaker 1: say that? What is he doing? Why on earth would
46:49
Speaker 1: you say that? And the examination of it from dopes
46:53
Speaker 1: like myself or just people calling in to Philly sports
46:56
Speaker 1: talk radio, whatever the case is, there could have been
47:01
Speaker 1: some sort of intelligent plan behind him doing that. I
47:06
Speaker 1: just wanted to throw that out there because I thought
47:08
Speaker 1: it was an interesting tweet from Tim again, friend of
47:10
Speaker 1: the show, and somebody's a pretty darn good reporter. Frankly,
47:14
Speaker 1: I don't know what do you think about that being
47:17
Speaker 1: a possibility. And I'm not a conspiracy guy, by the way.
47:22
Speaker 2: Then after us, I know, yes, we've now moved into
47:29
Speaker 2: the sci fi era of the podcast.
47:32
Speaker 1: Let me get my tinfoil hat.
47:33
Speaker 2: Hold on, there you go. I hear what Tim is saying.
47:40
Speaker 2: But if you watch the video of Beg talking, he's
47:47
Speaker 2: pretty impassioned.
47:49
Speaker 1: He is. He is an impassioned guy though too. That's
47:53
Speaker 1: the thing, like he usually is. You could probably talk
47:56
Speaker 1: to him about a ham sandwich and he'd be passionate
47:58
Speaker 1: about it.
47:59
Speaker 2: Yeah. I wonder how much emotion took over. I think
48:04
Speaker 2: maybe he went in possibly with a plan of all,
48:07
Speaker 2: I may stir the pot a little, but it may
48:09
Speaker 2: have shifted over to what it turned out. I don't
48:13
Speaker 2: think he intended to fully say what he said.
48:17
Speaker 3: Gotcha, gotcha, But I'm not doubting that there's a strong
48:21
Speaker 3: possibility that he at least had a plan going in. Yeah,
48:25
Speaker 3: whatever it was, I agree with him that it worked
48:29
Speaker 3: right Like, yeah, I I whatever happened.
48:33
Speaker 2: Even if it was just to get the two of
48:35
Speaker 2: them in a room, it worked exactly.
48:38
Speaker 1: And look, we know we have known for years that
48:40
Speaker 1: aj Brown and and uh Jalen Hurts, they've been friends,
48:44
Speaker 1: like they're actually friends outside of the business of football. However,
48:49
Speaker 1: as BG said, you know, sometimes friendship and the business
48:53
Speaker 1: side of things gets a little tricky, he said, in
48:55
Speaker 1: so many words to paraphrase, gets a little tricky. So
48:58
Speaker 1: I just wanted to end at that. And the fact that,
49:01
Speaker 1: you know, the Eagles passing game looked pretty good today.
49:04
Speaker 1: I think I think, I think things are gonna be
49:05
Speaker 1: okay with this team moving forward.
49:08
Speaker 2: Yep, I totally agree. I think today showed it. They
49:12
Speaker 2: do need to utilize the passing game. I think that
49:14
Speaker 2: they can do it. So that kind of was the
49:17
Speaker 2: last box to check.
49:19
Speaker 1: All right, all right, Well that's gonna do it for
49:22
Speaker 1: our Eagles postgame podcast show here in Week fifteen of
49:26
Speaker 1: the two thousand, twenty four twenty twenty five Eagles season,
49:30
Speaker 1: where the Eagles beat the Pittsburgh Steelers at the Link
49:33
Speaker 1: by a score of twenty seven to thirteen. Big thanks
49:37
Speaker 1: to our buddy Josh Schuster from Philadelphia soccernow dot com. Buddy,
49:41
Speaker 1: I thought our discussion about the union recently was really good.
49:45
Speaker 1: It was. It was really good. It was fun.
49:48
Speaker 2: Yeah, I would agree.
49:49
Speaker 1: Yes, we had some technical difficulties. Hopefully people didn't catch
49:53
Speaker 1: it catch that, but I think it turned out pretty
49:56
Speaker 1: well at the end of the day.
49:58
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, I couldn't even.
49:59
Speaker 1: Tell from the master editor. I'm kidding, of course. All right,
50:03
Speaker 1: that's right, buddy. I'll let you go. It's late here
50:05
Speaker 1: on a Sunday night. Folks. Subscribe on whatever podcast platform
50:10
Speaker 1: you're listening to us on if you are not already
50:12
Speaker 1: a subscriber of the PSD podcast show, and we will
50:15
Speaker 1: catch you for some content that we have coming out
50:18
Speaker 1: over the holidays, a little bit of a different schedule
50:20
Speaker 1: here and there. I be getting into that this week
50:22
Speaker 1: with you all. Take care. We'll catch you next time.