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ITB: Examining Nolan Smith Jr.'s Pass Rush Arsenal – And Is This Really It For Lane Johnson? · Inside the Birds: A Philadelphia Eagles Podcast

0:09
Speaker 1: Inside the Birds is back. What's going on? Everybody? It
0:15
Speaker 1: is Jeff Mosher and Andrew de Checho. And one of
0:19
Speaker 1: the things I love about where we've come in our
0:22
Speaker 1: nine seasons now of Inside the Birds Andrew, is that
0:25
Speaker 1: I can go away for a couple of days, celebrate
0:27
Speaker 1: my fiftieth birthday with my family, take a little bit
0:30
Speaker 1: of trip at the start of training camp, and then
0:32
Speaker 1: you and Adam can just seamlessly handle all the duties
0:36
Speaker 1: and do all the training camp updates, and then I
0:39
Speaker 1: get to slide in Adam's not here and you and
0:41
Speaker 1: I can chop it up. As this on Saturday was
0:44
Speaker 1: the first time I had a chance to see training camp.
0:47
Speaker 1: We're like a well oiled machine. We just sub in well.
0:50
Speaker 2: First of all, happy, belated, and it's good to have
0:52
Speaker 2: you back. Adam and I were able to hold down
0:54
Speaker 2: the fort, and we have a lot to get into today, Jeff,
0:57
Speaker 2: because there was a two hour practice right the sweltering
1:01
Speaker 2: temperatures at the Jefferson Health Training Complex, and I'm very
1:05
Speaker 2: curious to hear what some of your takeaways were and
1:08
Speaker 2: see how it maybe corresponds with mine.
1:10
Speaker 1: I kind of like Andrew that I didn't go to
1:13
Speaker 1: the first seven that I was away for the first
1:15
Speaker 1: two weeks, because when you get back and everybody's in
1:19
Speaker 1: the in the mid thick of it, right, and I
1:21
Speaker 1: watch it for the first time, it sort of recrystallizes
1:25
Speaker 1: why you and Adam and I emphasize why there's only
1:30
Speaker 1: so much you can take from training camp because you know,
1:33
Speaker 1: I'm there and I'm watching and I'm trying to process
1:37
Speaker 1: everything I'm seeing that's new, and I'm realizing, you know,
1:41
Speaker 1: when you're watching the first and Saturday was a good day, right.
1:44
Speaker 1: It was a two hour practice and we saw the
1:47
Speaker 1: first team offense scrimmage against the first team defense in
1:51
Speaker 1: about six or seven different drills, and there was some
1:53
Speaker 1: red zone, there was between the twenties, there was a
1:55
Speaker 1: backed up drill, and then I realized, you know, they're
1:59
Speaker 1: on the field and they're all the field, and they're
2:00
Speaker 1: on the field and they're all field. It's not like
2:02
Speaker 1: a real game. You're not preparing all week for that
2:05
Speaker 1: defense and vice versa. The offense is trying to learn things,
2:09
Speaker 1: the defense is trying to learn things, and so this
2:11
Speaker 1: is why it's it's to me and watching some of
2:15
Speaker 1: the newness and things that come together. That's the beauty
2:19
Speaker 1: of training camp. It's not to sit here and go
2:21
Speaker 1: through stats or to say this guy is having a
2:24
Speaker 1: great camp that means he's gonna be awesome. This guy's
2:27
Speaker 1: having a crappy camp that means he's gonna be terrible.
2:29
Speaker 1: Or the offense is winning all these days, they're gonna
2:33
Speaker 1: be great. There's nothing to be determined from a success
2:37
Speaker 1: or a failure standpoint that I re learn every year,
2:41
Speaker 1: but this today especially, But there's things that I seeing
2:45
Speaker 1: them under center, right, seeing them using pre snap motion,
2:50
Speaker 1: which is what you and Adam have seen and talked about,
2:53
Speaker 1: that was really interesting. But I also thought it was
2:56
Speaker 1: fascinating Andrew that you know, and I did a little
3:00
Speaker 1: but a charting, not like a ton, just in terms
3:02
Speaker 1: of percentages. I think there was forty one it's called
3:06
Speaker 1: forty snaps between the offense and defense first teams, and
3:09
Speaker 1: there was forty percent under center. That means they're still
3:12
Speaker 1: shotgun sixty percent of the time. So yeah, I think
3:16
Speaker 1: that we're learning that this offense, they're still learning what
3:18
Speaker 1: they are. It's not gonna be this like they're always this,
3:23
Speaker 1: They're always that, They're they're they're they're making this transition
3:27
Speaker 1: from the old to the new, and everything old gets
3:30
Speaker 1: thrown out the window. In fact, you heard Sean Manion
3:33
Speaker 1: even talk about we're gonna lean into the touch push, right. So,
3:37
Speaker 1: my my initial impression was that it was very interesting
3:40
Speaker 1: to see them trying to execute some of these new
3:43
Speaker 1: concepts while maintaining some things they've done in the past,
3:47
Speaker 1: some of the shotgun three you know, one by three
3:50
Speaker 1: or two by two, not always condensed formations and bunch sets.
3:55
Speaker 1: They're they're integrating the newness, but also, as Nick Sirianni
3:58
Speaker 1: said before, right, trying to keep and preserve some of
4:02
Speaker 1: the successful things they've done in the past.
4:07
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's a good way to put it, Jeff. It's
4:08
Speaker 2: sort of a marrying You're not just going to scrap
4:11
Speaker 2: what they've done, some of the things that they've done
4:13
Speaker 2: to be successful, right. I mean, that wouldn't be feasible
4:17
Speaker 2: in one off season to be able to completely rip
4:19
Speaker 2: out the foundation and re establish a whole new mindset
4:22
Speaker 2: and a mentality. But I think what you're seeing is accurate,
4:26
Speaker 2: and it is really fascinating to see how the Eagles
4:28
Speaker 2: are going about trying to still implement what's been successful
4:33
Speaker 2: for them, but also implement some of the new concepts.
4:37
Speaker 2: And I think it's important to emphasize and reemphasize that
4:42
Speaker 2: they are still installing this system, and so there's going
4:46
Speaker 2: to be days where the offense looks like they're turning
4:49
Speaker 2: a corner, then the next day it could be a
4:51
Speaker 2: step in the opposite direction. That's what training camp's all about.
4:54
Speaker 2: And that's why we I know, you, me and Adam
4:57
Speaker 2: in particular, we're all of the same mindset where you know,
5:00
Speaker 2: ever want to make too much off of one practice.
5:01
Speaker 2: You don't want to make too much off of one week.
5:03
Speaker 2: You have to continue to learn more and gather information
5:06
Speaker 2: as the summer rolls on.
5:08
Speaker 1: Yeah, and when I talked to you, because we were
5:10
Speaker 1: both there obviously a practice, and one of the things
5:13
Speaker 1: I said, we could maybe because I've listened to every
5:16
Speaker 1: inside the Birds and every to CHECKO daily while I
5:19
Speaker 1: was away, Well yeah, yeah, I felt pretty well versed
5:22
Speaker 1: on what's been the talking point. You know, I knew
5:26
Speaker 1: obviously Darius Cooper has had another really good camp, which
5:29
Speaker 1: which pleases me because I in the off season he
5:33
Speaker 1: was one of those guys that Adam and I talked
5:35
Speaker 1: about a lot where I was really looking forward to
5:36
Speaker 1: seeing if if that was just a training camp darling
5:40
Speaker 1: thing last year, if that was real and it's starting
5:42
Speaker 1: to feel real, like like they've got something here in
5:45
Speaker 1: this kid.
5:45
Speaker 2: Yeah he can play, he can play.
5:47
Speaker 1: Yeah. So I knew that was going on. I knew
5:50
Speaker 1: some of the things that we talked about formationally were
5:53
Speaker 1: going on. I think what really stood out to me
5:55
Speaker 1: in this practice was seeing Jalen Carter and Jordan Davis
6:01
Speaker 1: on on a just a just a definitely hot morning, right.
6:06
Speaker 1: I mean, those guys were up to the challenge, and
6:08
Speaker 1: then to take it a little further. I thought watching
6:13
Speaker 1: Bonn and Campbell behind them, with those two guys in
6:16
Speaker 1: the middle there, it's obvious the defense is playing really well.
6:20
Speaker 1: It should it's it's been together longer. It's the same
6:23
Speaker 1: scheme they make. They make it really hard on an
6:28
Speaker 1: offense that's trying to learn. I was really impressed with
6:31
Speaker 1: the athleticism, the quickness, and then the durability and hanging
6:36
Speaker 1: up in those elements and how hard they were making
6:39
Speaker 1: it to just give up some ground there.
6:42
Speaker 2: Yeah. And I would also add Moro Jomo to that.
6:45
Speaker 2: I thought Jomo was really disruptive as well in that
6:48
Speaker 2: final sequence where Jalen hurts through the touchdown to Dallas
6:51
Speaker 2: Goddard where Campbell was in coverage. The play before that
6:54
Speaker 2: was an incompletion, and that was Moro Jomo providing that
6:56
Speaker 2: interior penetration. I thought he was also very impactful to
7:00
Speaker 2: run as well. Really, that's been a common theme throughout camp.
7:03
Speaker 2: All three of those players have had a really nice
7:06
Speaker 2: start to training camp. And then he kind of he
7:09
Speaker 2: mentioned something interesting. It got the wheels turning with me.
7:12
Speaker 2: What I like to look at in training camp, Jeff
7:14
Speaker 2: is certain traits and how does a player return from
7:17
Speaker 2: the previous year. So for someone like Drew mccooba, I'm
7:20
Speaker 2: looking to see how he's processing things. I'm looking to
7:23
Speaker 2: see how he returned from the injury, of course, but
7:25
Speaker 2: also where is he in terms of his understanding of
7:29
Speaker 2: his role within this defense. There's a lot of complexities there,
7:32
Speaker 2: and I think in the case of someone like that
7:34
Speaker 2: and Jahad Campbell, they look to be playing a lot faster,
7:38
Speaker 2: with more confidence, and they seem to have just a
7:41
Speaker 2: better foothold on what their role is in this defense.
7:45
Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah, I was trying to see if I detected
7:48
Speaker 1: Vic doing anything differently yet, and I'm not sure in
7:54
Speaker 1: that one. In the one practice I watched that I
7:56
Speaker 1: thought I did see that, and then he may be
7:58
Speaker 1: playing it may have been a day where he's playing
8:01
Speaker 1: it straight. Who knows, but I was. I do think
8:05
Speaker 1: Campbell looks like he's ready to step in. Now, how
8:08
Speaker 1: if how they'll use him remains to be seen. Are
8:11
Speaker 1: they gonna blitz him the same way in that four
8:13
Speaker 1: man rush as a sim or a creeper pressure guy.
8:16
Speaker 1: I don't know. You know, he obviously has that ability.
8:20
Speaker 1: We'll see if Vic wants to do that. You're right, Jomo,
8:23
Speaker 1: with someone who's been disruptive. I came into the day
8:27
Speaker 1: listening to you guys talk a lot about Jelex Hunt
8:29
Speaker 1: and off to a good start. So one of the
8:33
Speaker 1: names I brought up to you was Nolan Smith. I said,
8:36
Speaker 1: I feel like his name just in listening and reading
8:39
Speaker 1: hasn't come up as much as the other guy. So
8:41
Speaker 1: I'm I'm gonna really pay attention to him on Saturday.
8:44
Speaker 1: So I did in both the scrimmages and then in
8:47
Speaker 1: the one on one drills. And you know, it's again
8:52
Speaker 1: not trying to make any long term prognostications here, I
8:55
Speaker 1: didn't think I saw from him anything out of the
8:59
Speaker 1: ordinary or like the way that we talk about the
9:01
Speaker 1: other guys. And then the one on one drills and
9:04
Speaker 1: I watched him going up against my Lotta and in
9:06
Speaker 1: his first rep he tried to just a basic outside
9:09
Speaker 1: move and my Lada just rode him around the spot,
9:12
Speaker 1: which is what you're supposed to ride the guy to
9:14
Speaker 1: the outside. Yeah, so on the second rep, no one
9:18
Speaker 1: tried to go inside. I almost felt like he I
9:22
Speaker 1: don't want to say he gave it away, right, but
9:26
Speaker 1: if you knew you weren't gonna beat my hell out
9:28
Speaker 1: of the outside, you're probably gonna take a different tack
9:30
Speaker 1: the next time. And that's exactly what it did. And
9:32
Speaker 1: my a lot I was able to just funnel him
9:34
Speaker 1: away from the QB to the inside, and I thought
9:37
Speaker 1: to myself, I was looking for a counter move there,
9:39
Speaker 1: something where as he's either getting ridden outside or a
9:42
Speaker 1: block to the inside and away from the quarterback where
9:45
Speaker 1: he was going to have a CounterPunch or a rip
9:47
Speaker 1: or a spin. And I didn't see that. So I'm
9:49
Speaker 1: not gonna judge anything on one practice, but I think
9:52
Speaker 1: that is one area for him where he has learned
9:55
Speaker 1: to channel speed to power, but we're still waiting to
9:58
Speaker 1: see a variety of pass rush moves. Would you say
10:01
Speaker 1: that that's like a refinement to his pass rush that
10:04
Speaker 1: I just haven't seen yet.
10:06
Speaker 2: Yeah, No, that's a pretty accurate description and that's something
10:09
Speaker 2: that I've observed through all eight practices. He's still a
10:13
Speaker 2: force against the run. He does a really good job
10:15
Speaker 2: setting the edge. But where you want to see an advancement, Jeff,
10:18
Speaker 2: as you outlined, is you want to see it in
10:20
Speaker 2: terms of pass rush more of a refinement there, have
10:24
Speaker 2: a plan, have a counter, and I just haven't seen
10:27
Speaker 2: a ton of that from Nolan Smith again training camp.
10:30
Speaker 2: We're not going to make any any you know, grand
10:33
Speaker 2: assumptions here or determinations, but we're just basing it off
10:36
Speaker 2: of what we've seen. And what we've seen is Noan Smith,
10:40
Speaker 2: and you talk about Jay loox Hunt, you would expect
10:42
Speaker 2: no one to kind of be able to perform to
10:44
Speaker 2: that level. He's been around and he's a decorated prospect,
10:47
Speaker 2: but I just haven't seen it. And then on the
10:50
Speaker 2: opposite end of that, I'm sure you observe jaylox Hunt
10:53
Speaker 2: with a much more. He just has a much more
10:57
Speaker 2: refined approach. And I think that his attention to detail
11:01
Speaker 2: and all those different things that you need to be
11:04
Speaker 2: a very good pass rusher, it really revealed itself when
11:07
Speaker 2: you watch him.
11:08
Speaker 1: Yeah, sometimes with Hunt in what I was able to
11:11
Speaker 1: see Saturday, it's not always the most refined way, but
11:15
Speaker 1: he figurs. He's just like constantly he's in perpetual motion
11:20
Speaker 1: and he figures out a way he just to clapse
11:23
Speaker 1: the pocket. And I think with Nolan Smith is he's
11:28
Speaker 1: really become good if we go through like Nolan Smith's
11:31
Speaker 1: best pressures, right, He's got a good bull rush. He's,
11:34
Speaker 1: like I said, he's learned to convert speed to power,
11:38
Speaker 1: which is something coming out of college he wasn't really
11:40
Speaker 1: good at doing because they didn't use him that way.
11:42
Speaker 1: It with sort of this blitzer who would move around
11:44
Speaker 1: and just attack the quarterback from different spots at Gwardia.
11:48
Speaker 1: What I'm looking for is to have like some highlights
11:51
Speaker 1: of Nolan Smith where he shows like a ripoff or
11:55
Speaker 1: an arm under or a spin like it just seems
11:59
Speaker 1: like he's determined to get to the quarterback through either
12:03
Speaker 1: twists and stunts, which does make use of his athleticism
12:06
Speaker 1: or a bull rush and then not much more to that.
12:09
Speaker 1: And I think as the tape on him develops right
12:11
Speaker 1: and offensive tackle study him, they're going to see that.
12:14
Speaker 1: So that's just an area that I think that will
12:17
Speaker 1: help him if he can start to develop, and if
12:19
Speaker 1: he doesn't, it might make him fall behind and we'll see,
12:22
Speaker 1: you know, I mean, I guess Ebiketty has been playing
12:25
Speaker 1: well from what you've Yeah, yeah, and you know, the
12:29
Speaker 1: Epinesa becomes kind of a he kind of becomes important
12:33
Speaker 1: here because if he proves himself worthy of the fifty
12:37
Speaker 1: three man, then you just wonder how the pecking order
12:40
Speaker 1: is going to look.
12:43
Speaker 2: Yeah, And I would say that Epinessa and Ebiicadi have
12:46
Speaker 2: have flashed at different moments, probably Epinessa a little bit
12:49
Speaker 2: more than Ebicadi. Ebicadi hasn't manifested in terms of providing
12:54
Speaker 2: a ton of pressure, but I have noticed him when
12:56
Speaker 2: it comes to like bull rushes and being active and
13:00
Speaker 2: run support and things like that. And then Vic Fangio
13:03
Speaker 2: I mentioned that a couple days before, but then it
13:05
Speaker 2: was nice to hear Vic Vangio sort of co sign that,
13:08
Speaker 2: so it suggested it told me that I'm seeing it
13:12
Speaker 2: I'm saying it correctly, but yeah, I think that's a
13:15
Speaker 2: good problem to have. They don't traditionally rotate any more
13:18
Speaker 2: than three edge rushers, but I think in this case
13:21
Speaker 2: you might have to find a way to get both
13:23
Speaker 2: Ebicadie and Epanessa involved. I think is interesting because he
13:28
Speaker 2: mentioned the other day that he's never had to drop
13:31
Speaker 2: into coverage, so it's a little awkward. He's getting used
13:33
Speaker 2: to it, but you can kind of see the development there,
13:38
Speaker 2: the more opportunities that he's getting.
13:41
Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah, he's going to be a guy who I
13:44
Speaker 1: think we're all going to be watching in the preseason
13:47
Speaker 1: to see, like how he acclimates to the new defense,
13:50
Speaker 1: because if he's playing well, he's a smart veteran. I mean,
13:53
Speaker 1: he's been out there and he's played multiple spots and
13:56
Speaker 1: he's got a power to his game that some of
14:00
Speaker 1: the other edge guys are don't all have. So, I mean,
14:03
Speaker 1: the Eagles have a nice mix of guys who have speed,
14:05
Speaker 1: uh some guys who are just more powerful. So it'll
14:08
Speaker 1: be interesting to see if if and I feel like
14:10
Speaker 1: Vic likes veterans who know what they're doing, like he
14:13
Speaker 1: trusts them more. Yeah, and I feel like Epanessa is
14:16
Speaker 1: a kind of guy who could earn Vic's trust quickly
14:19
Speaker 1: as long as just you know, assignment sound. So we'll see,
14:23
Speaker 1: we'll see how that shakes out. Defensively, I just know
14:28
Speaker 1: I thought that I felt they were fast, I felt
14:30
Speaker 1: they were athletic. So we saw Jalen Hurts probably leave
14:34
Speaker 1: the pocket five or six times on on passes. Right.
14:40
Speaker 1: There was once where there was one play where he
14:42
Speaker 1: ran because they motioned Barkley out of the backfield took
14:46
Speaker 1: the linebacker oute, and that was one of those we
14:48
Speaker 1: see in the path where he just runs up the
14:49
Speaker 1: middle in the design QB run, which is again goes
14:53
Speaker 1: back to they are going to keep elements of the
14:58
Speaker 1: offense in the past that have wor It's not like
15:00
Speaker 1: a complete throw it all out the window. That's a
15:03
Speaker 1: play that has worked well for them in the past.
15:05
Speaker 1: But for the most part, you know, the five or
15:07
Speaker 1: six other scrambles, Andrew, I didn't know what to make
15:10
Speaker 1: of them, And I was gonna ask you this based
15:12
Speaker 1: on what you've seen so far, because this was a
15:16
Speaker 1: pretty intense scrimmage. But in terms of like like if
15:20
Speaker 1: Barkley broke a run, he didn't run the whole way.
15:22
Speaker 1: They would stop it after two or three yards, right, like, yeah,
15:25
Speaker 1: it wasn't full tackling to the ground. So what level
15:30
Speaker 1: would you say of intensity and physicality do they have
15:33
Speaker 1: Saturday compared to other days and pads.
15:36
Speaker 2: I'm glad you brought this up because I noted this
15:38
Speaker 2: in my observations just a little bit ago. I noticed
15:42
Speaker 2: that it was probably the intensity was ratcheted up a
15:45
Speaker 2: little bit more than I can. You know that I
15:48
Speaker 2: can recall during eight practices, and I go back to
15:51
Speaker 2: certain plays. Sakwon Barkley in a red zone scenario up
15:55
Speaker 2: the gut, he'd threw a shoulder into Cooper Degene and
15:59
Speaker 2: there was a little bit of a chit chat between
16:01
Speaker 2: the you know, Cooper and Saquan and Quin got in
16:04
Speaker 2: and there there's a little bit of shoving. I don't
16:06
Speaker 2: know how serious it was. But then I look at
16:10
Speaker 2: Tank Bigsby, and Tank Bigsby had a play where he
16:12
Speaker 2: bounced it outside to the left and he saw safety J. T.
16:16
Speaker 2: Gray and it might have been a play later or
16:18
Speaker 2: a couple of plays later. He lowered his shoulder on him.
16:20
Speaker 2: Bill Shipley had a couple of gritty runs inside runs
16:25
Speaker 2: and Carson Steele showed some some toughness there, and I'm
16:29
Speaker 2: gonna call it right now, I think he's going to
16:31
Speaker 2: be the preseason favorite Carson Steel.
16:35
Speaker 1: That would make a lot of sense.
16:36
Speaker 2: Not at the Henry Josie level, but I think that
16:38
Speaker 2: he's he's certainly going to be someone that's talked about
16:41
Speaker 2: quite a bit.
16:42
Speaker 1: That would make a lot of sense. And there was
16:44
Speaker 1: one play I know he's basically running with the third
16:47
Speaker 1: team right There was a play no or a second
16:50
Speaker 1: as a fullback where Smile Monden was a blitzer at almost
16:55
Speaker 1: a free rusher. It was one of those signature vic
16:58
Speaker 1: Sim pressures where somehow the linebacker does not get picked
17:02
Speaker 1: up immediately coming out coming barreling through the line of scrimmage.
17:06
Speaker 1: But Steele got right in front of the quarterback and
17:09
Speaker 1: he pile drives Smile mind and down into the ground.
17:13
Speaker 1: It was one of the better blitz pick ups I've
17:15
Speaker 1: seen in a training camp practice that's quite a while.
17:18
Speaker 1: So I was, I was. I made a note of
17:20
Speaker 1: that one. I thought that that was pretty cool. And
17:22
Speaker 1: if he does that in games, Andrew for sure along
17:25
Speaker 1: with you know, he's gonna get a few runs and
17:26
Speaker 1: probably like you know, run through three or four people
17:30
Speaker 1: and you know, like get there, get the crowd pumped up.
17:32
Speaker 1: I could definitely see him be in a favorite.
17:34
Speaker 2: So yeah, So to answer your question, I did think
17:36
Speaker 2: it was it was pretty intense. There hasn't There haven't
17:39
Speaker 2: been any scuffles. There's been some jawling with Don Tavian
17:43
Speaker 2: Wicks the other day and some of the defensive backs
17:46
Speaker 2: like Drew mccoba and Quinon Mitchell, and I think it
17:49
Speaker 2: was smile minded and John Ajuguo who kind of it
17:54
Speaker 2: was quickly except that was a few days ago. But nothing.
17:57
Speaker 2: The Eagles really haven't had that creep up too much.
18:00
Speaker 2: They do a good job of knowing when to say
18:04
Speaker 2: when and when to separate. Then you'll see the special
18:06
Speaker 2: teams drill implemented in the middle of it, and then
18:09
Speaker 2: they go back to it. They just have a really
18:11
Speaker 2: good feel for the team and making sure that nothing
18:14
Speaker 2: really spills over. But I thought that today based off
18:17
Speaker 2: and I really noticed it was Saquon that they were
18:20
Speaker 2: they were feeling it a little bit and they were
18:22
Speaker 2: and they were really getting after it.
18:24
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, yeah, Saquon, and I think because space was
18:28
Speaker 1: few and far between for Saquon that when he did
18:31
Speaker 1: get a few you know, openings like the touchdown where
18:36
Speaker 1: he scored in the low red zone that you were
18:37
Speaker 1: referring to, which was a really cool play because he
18:41
Speaker 1: put an outside in move. He faked like he was
18:43
Speaker 1: going to the outside, then he disappeared behind the blocker
18:46
Speaker 1: and then all of a sudden he emerged and he's
18:47
Speaker 1: in the end zone and he couldn't wait to tell
18:50
Speaker 1: Quinya Miniz. Yeah, yeah, that was that was pretty cool.
18:54
Speaker 1: There was another play and this is again where you wonder,
18:58
Speaker 1: this is why it's like who knows what would have
19:01
Speaker 1: happened in the game, right, This is why you're just
19:03
Speaker 1: looking at formational things and not trying to make broad judgments.
19:07
Speaker 1: But the Eagles were doing a backed up drill. They
19:10
Speaker 1: were like basically inside their own five, and there was
19:14
Speaker 1: a hand off the Saquon to the left side and
19:18
Speaker 1: John Campbell's right there, like right there, yes, a little
19:23
Speaker 1: bit of that, you know, he pressed the B button
19:24
Speaker 1: and mad and the other boom and he was gone,
19:28
Speaker 1: Like that could have been a touchdown because he froze
19:31
Speaker 1: JOHH Cambell the line scrimmage or in a game maybe
19:35
Speaker 1: maybe if it's more of like a tackle to the
19:36
Speaker 1: ground environment. Campbell sells out and gets him out the angle.
19:40
Speaker 1: Who knows what happens.
19:42
Speaker 2: Yeah, I have a feeling Jahid probably sells out there,
19:44
Speaker 2: but probably, I mean your points, well, we've seen Saquon
19:48
Speaker 2: Barkley implement some some video game like movements, that backwards
19:54
Speaker 2: hurdle being the most prominent. But yes, I mean I
19:57
Speaker 2: think Jehid probably would have would have secured the t there.
20:01
Speaker 1: Yeah, but it was good. It was good to see
20:03
Speaker 1: Saquon have those kind of you know, like we always know.
20:07
Speaker 1: I think there was some question after last year, is
20:10
Speaker 1: the explosive isy dynamic has he had too much wear
20:13
Speaker 1: and tear? And they're doing a good job of you know,
20:16
Speaker 1: also getting Tank bigs Be involved, which is what I
20:18
Speaker 1: heard you and Adam talking about that. It's like, can
20:20
Speaker 1: you give this guy some time? And Bigsby did have
20:23
Speaker 1: some runs, although he did have a fumble right he
20:25
Speaker 1: had to jump on it and recover.
20:28
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's actually one thing that I will be keeping
20:31
Speaker 2: an eye on because he plays with such a frantic nature,
20:35
Speaker 2: the urgency that I often talk about. Sometimes you wonder
20:39
Speaker 2: if a hole's not there and he looks to find
20:41
Speaker 2: his own and he's bouncing around sometimes that may lend
20:43
Speaker 2: itself to having some you know, loose ball security. So
20:47
Speaker 2: it's it's that's the one thing that I would be
20:49
Speaker 2: mindful of very much.
20:51
Speaker 1: So one thing that stuck out to me with the
20:53
Speaker 1: run game Andrew is that I thought we saw an
20:56
Speaker 1: interesting blend of the wide zone but also zone run
21:01
Speaker 1: inside zone, meaning like he's still under center and Jalen
21:05
Speaker 1: would turn his back flip to Saquon. But it wasn't
21:08
Speaker 1: necessarily outside zone, left or outside. It was up the middle.
21:11
Speaker 1: And that's where the Eagles have funneled almost all of
21:15
Speaker 1: their runs in the old way, under the Jeff Stelton way,
21:18
Speaker 1: they were inside zone, they were duo. And here's Sean
21:21
Speaker 1: Mannon implementing wide zone looks. But he's also he's even
21:26
Speaker 1: having he's making sure he keeps that integrity of being
21:30
Speaker 1: able to run up the middle. Yeah.
21:32
Speaker 2: Absolutely, I mean I think that Squon thrives in any
21:36
Speaker 2: you know, any system. Tank Bigsby I think is probably
21:40
Speaker 2: going to be better suited for the wide zone because
21:42
Speaker 2: he tends to bounce everything outside. Will Shipley, I think
21:46
Speaker 2: is gonna be better served with the wide zone concepts
21:50
Speaker 2: there as well. But yeah, I think you don't just
21:53
Speaker 2: want to you don't just want to completely rip out
21:55
Speaker 2: things that have been successful. Right. They have players like
21:58
Speaker 2: Landon Dickerson who I think really thrives with the inside zone,
22:02
Speaker 2: that old, that old, the old guard there where he's
22:05
Speaker 2: able to use his power and just drive defensive linemen
22:09
Speaker 2: backwards and moving forward.
22:12
Speaker 1: There.
22:12
Speaker 2: There's other players as well, Jordan Malatta. I think it's
22:14
Speaker 2: well suited for either systems, Lane Johnson, same thing, Tyler
22:17
Speaker 2: Stems the same thing. But yeah, I think it's good
22:20
Speaker 2: that you're seeing a little bit of a blend.
22:22
Speaker 1: A little concerning Cam Jurgen's had a limp off the
22:25
Speaker 1: field for the second straight day, right, I mean, and again,
22:29
Speaker 1: not much ground to be made. This is the interesting thing.
22:32
Speaker 1: I mean, they're going up a great against a great
22:34
Speaker 1: defensive front. So it's hard to say, like if the
22:37
Speaker 1: Eagles were creating space because of their great offensive line,
22:40
Speaker 1: we'd be saying, well, what's wrong with the defensive front? Now,
22:43
Speaker 1: the defensive front is doing an awesome job, and we're like, man,
22:46
Speaker 1: is this offensive line an issue? Still? But it's that's
22:49
Speaker 1: why that's why we need preseason games man. We need
22:52
Speaker 1: we need the actual season to really judge this thing.
22:55
Speaker 2: Yes, everything is looked at under a microscope. I mean
22:58
Speaker 2: it's good versus good. There's gonna be some days where
23:01
Speaker 2: the Eagles offensive line is going to win and there's
23:04
Speaker 2: gonna be other days where the defensive line triumphs over that.
23:08
Speaker 2: So you know, you never want to make too much
23:10
Speaker 2: off of one day. I mean, the Eagles have all
23:14
Speaker 2: pro players on both sides, so that that's going to happen.
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Speaker 1: one and up. I wanted to ask your impression of
26:45
Speaker 1: Eli Stowers because he's had a very quiet camp toy.
26:48
Speaker 1: He dropped his it was a very bad drop over
26:51
Speaker 1: the middle on the first ball thrown to him on Saturday,
26:54
Speaker 1: but then seemed to kind of find a rhythm. I
26:57
Speaker 1: know he called about three or four four balls after that. Again,
27:00
Speaker 1: he's working, you know, with Dalton and Mcki throwing it
27:02
Speaker 1: to him. What did you observe today as it compares
27:07
Speaker 1: to earlier or in the first seven practices of camp.
27:10
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think there's probably three catches that he had
27:12
Speaker 2: during the team period, which is more than I can
27:15
Speaker 2: recall him having in any one session. That's what it
27:19
Speaker 2: was good to see him get involved, Jeff, because reps
27:21
Speaker 2: have been very few and far between for him and
27:24
Speaker 2: sometimes as a young player. I'm not saying it's the
27:26
Speaker 2: case with Eli, but it's understandable if your confidence is
27:30
Speaker 2: shaken a little bit because you're going from being one
27:33
Speaker 2: of the more decorated receiving receivers in college football. Then
27:37
Speaker 2: all of a sudden you get to the NFL and
27:39
Speaker 2: it's tough sledding, you know. So I thought it was
27:42
Speaker 2: good that they got him involved, and that's something that
27:45
Speaker 2: I will be keeping an eye on to see if
27:47
Speaker 2: they're able to get him some of those easy completions
27:49
Speaker 2: and then maybe that sort of spawns into something more
27:52
Speaker 2: where they're able to get some downfield books with him.
27:54
Speaker 2: But there haven't been any explosives with him. He's still
27:57
Speaker 2: work in progress as a blocker. They really haven't put
27:59
Speaker 2: him in those situations. Johnny Muntz very much entrenched as
28:03
Speaker 2: the number two, and this is going to be a
28:05
Speaker 2: work in progress here. It's a he's a developmental prospect.
28:08
Speaker 2: Progress and success is not linear. I like to always
28:11
Speaker 2: say that and throw that out there for those who
28:13
Speaker 2: need that reminder and just just give it a little
28:16
Speaker 2: bit of time. The Eagles have the benefit of having
28:18
Speaker 2: other players in that position right now, where you don't
28:21
Speaker 2: have to fast track a player if they're not quite ready.
28:24
Speaker 2: It's going to take some time and nurturing.
28:27
Speaker 1: Yeah, one hundred percent. In fact, our friend, former Eagles
28:30
Speaker 1: tight end Clay Harbor, was at practice Saturday. Yeah, caught
28:33
Speaker 1: up with him, and you know, at the end, I
28:35
Speaker 1: asked him what he thought of certain things, and he said,
28:37
Speaker 1: you know, I thought this Stours kid is supposed to
28:40
Speaker 1: be like a real athlete, you know, explosive, and I
28:42
Speaker 1: didn't see that. And I said to him, you know,
28:45
Speaker 1: I said, Clay, I've only seen one practice my first
28:47
Speaker 1: time here. Also, but you know how it is. He's
28:50
Speaker 1: a rookie. He is a great athlete, but there's probably
28:53
Speaker 1: so much going through his head right now. He's swimming
28:56
Speaker 1: a little bit. And it's not like he's been playing
28:58
Speaker 1: tight end all of his life too. He's still new
29:01
Speaker 1: to that position two years in college. So it's gonna
29:04
Speaker 1: I think it's gonna take a little bit with him
29:06
Speaker 1: and maybe the light turns on, you know, And and
29:09
Speaker 1: and you have what we had today, which is a
29:11
Speaker 1: couple of nice catches after a drop and and things
29:14
Speaker 1: get better. But you're right, it's it's gonna be step
29:16
Speaker 1: by step with him. And I think people just just
29:19
Speaker 1: got to give it some time. I wanted to finish
29:22
Speaker 1: it off here with the big The really big news
29:24
Speaker 1: was actually press conference news and Lane Johnson, who probably
29:28
Speaker 1: no doubt made his strongest statement to date about the
29:33
Speaker 1: end of his career. And he'd be said it was
29:35
Speaker 1: funny how he said it. He said he's likely probably
29:41
Speaker 1: going to probably be his last year twenty twenty six.
29:45
Speaker 1: So there was a lot of there's a lot of
29:46
Speaker 1: wiggle room there to change his mind, but he did it.
29:50
Speaker 1: Did I mean, I think you would agree strongest statement
29:53
Speaker 1: yet that this is probably going to be his last year. Yeah.
29:57
Speaker 2: And he's done everything that you could that you could
30:00
Speaker 2: one for a player in a career. He's checked off
30:04
Speaker 2: every box. He's won championships, he's the best player at
30:08
Speaker 2: his position at thirty six years old at some point,
30:11
Speaker 2: and you know, he talked about family and his kids
30:14
Speaker 2: are growing up and things like that. Different priorities sort
30:18
Speaker 2: of come into the picture, and you only have so
30:21
Speaker 2: much that window to see your kids grow up and
30:24
Speaker 2: do some of those things that I think many maybe
30:26
Speaker 2: take for granted. I think that that's that's become a
30:29
Speaker 2: priority for Lane and all of a sudden, everything, you know,
30:33
Speaker 2: your priorities start to align and you realize that this
30:35
Speaker 2: could be it. So, I mean, that's that's really the
30:37
Speaker 2: first that you've heard him say it like this, right,
30:40
Speaker 2: and so naturally that's that's something that he said he
30:43
Speaker 2: wanted to get out in front of and didn't want
30:45
Speaker 2: to deal with the you know, wanted to make it
30:48
Speaker 2: that comment publicly so that it wasn't a lot of
30:50
Speaker 2: pressure on him.
30:51
Speaker 1: Yeah, he sounded pretty dug into me. I mean, I
30:54
Speaker 1: suppose if he has an All Pro season, because he
30:57
Speaker 1: also sounded dug in about being annoyed that he doesn't
30:59
Speaker 1: get more of the All Pro and Pro Bowl recognition
31:03
Speaker 1: or the rankings that come out. So I could see
31:05
Speaker 1: him having this great All Pro season and Eagle's doing
31:07
Speaker 1: really well and then come back. But he was very,
31:11
Speaker 1: very very dug all the things that are going on
31:15
Speaker 1: in his life. He did say his mother is her
31:17
Speaker 1: conditions not great. Dad needs help, about to have his
31:21
Speaker 1: oldest is about to become a teenager, and and the
31:23
Speaker 1: push pull of that has never been greater. Than it
31:26
Speaker 1: is now. So this this is his last year. Everybody
31:30
Speaker 1: hopefully can enjoy it, hopefully can stay healthy. I think
31:33
Speaker 1: that's that's the big thing. You just want to see
31:35
Speaker 1: Lane finish playing at least sixteen games and deep into
31:38
Speaker 1: the playoffs and giving it that one last you know,
31:41
Speaker 1: go before he walks off into the sunset.
31:44
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's that's what I said. I think my message
31:46
Speaker 2: out there at everyone, because he's just been a constant
31:49
Speaker 2: for so many years, just you know, take take advantage
31:52
Speaker 2: of this season and really, you know, appreciate the greatness
31:55
Speaker 2: that he's been, you know, putting forth for all these years,
31:58
Speaker 2: been dependable, the best at his position, and just you know,
32:03
Speaker 2: a pillar for the organization. And so I don't think
32:06
Speaker 2: that that should be, you know, should be lost in
32:09
Speaker 2: all this.
32:10
Speaker 1: No, I agree, And obviously so is why they're fast
32:12
Speaker 1: tracking MARKL. Bell, who you know, my getting my first
32:16
Speaker 1: look at, I thought, very wide. So it makes it
32:19
Speaker 1: tough to get around him. I mean, he's he's got
32:21
Speaker 1: a natural past blocking ability just for his his wideness
32:25
Speaker 1: and his arm length. Coordination probably has you know, I mean,
32:29
Speaker 1: obviously a guy that big is not going to be
32:30
Speaker 1: the most coordinating. If he was a dancing bear. He
32:32
Speaker 1: would have been a top three pick. So he's got
32:35
Speaker 1: to work on the footwork, but clearly something there to develop.
32:39
Speaker 2: Yeah, MARKL. Bell has and I would also add Drew
32:41
Speaker 2: Kendall to this because Drew Kendall's had a really nice
32:43
Speaker 2: training camp. By the way he said that he won,
32:46
Speaker 2: he got he looks noticeably bigger, and he said he's
32:49
Speaker 2: between three hundred and three oh five when he spoke
32:51
Speaker 2: today and said he's probably closer to three oh five.
32:54
Speaker 2: But for Markel Bell, I think that his progress has
32:57
Speaker 2: been notable for the prior repractices, he's been getting those
33:02
Speaker 2: reps at right tackle when Lane Johnson hasn't been participating
33:06
Speaker 2: in team dro So to me, that suggests that one,
33:08
Speaker 2: they're intrigued with what he's shown. He's picking things up
33:12
Speaker 2: and they want to get a longer look at him.
33:14
Speaker 2: They want to give him these valuable opportunities to continue
33:16
Speaker 2: to grow as a young player, and they may need
33:18
Speaker 2: they may need him. They may need him this year.
33:20
Speaker 1: They certainly might they might. All Right, great stuff. Me
33:24
Speaker 1: and Adam We're gonna do a pod Sunday that will
33:27
Speaker 1: come out Monday. Uh, kind of talking about what we're
33:29
Speaker 1: looking forward to now that camp is progressing in the
33:32
Speaker 1: week through what's what answer what questions still need to
33:35
Speaker 1: be answered as we go forward here in training camp.
33:38
Speaker 1: Andrew done amazing work. Thank you for everything you've done
33:40
Speaker 1: and look forward to having more pods with you on
33:43
Speaker 1: down the road. Brother, say the word and I'm there.
33:45
Speaker 2: I look forward to it. Great to have you back.
33:47
Speaker 1: Jeff, thanks your demand. All Right, that's gonna do it
33:49
Speaker 1: for this episode of Inside the Birds of the Leading
33:52
Speaker 1: podcast and Eagles Intel, and as always, we thank you
33:54
Speaker 1: for flying with us inside the Bubbera and