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ITB Week 7 Pregame Show With Greg Cosell: Philadelphia Eagles Vs. Dallas Cowboys · Inside the Birds: A Philadelphia Eagles Podcast

• 0:09
  Speaker 1: Hello everyone.
• 0:10
  Speaker 2: Welcome to the inside the birds pregame show. I'm Jeff
• 0:13
  Speaker 2: Mosher with Adam Kaplan and Greg Cosell here to help
• 0:16
  Speaker 2: give us a tape based preview of a game that
• 0:20
  Speaker 2: a long time ago, almost every year had a lot
• 0:22
  Speaker 2: of juice, but week seven Eagles Cowboys Monday night, Adam.
• 0:26
  Speaker 3: It just, the juice is a little flat this week.
• 0:29
  Speaker 3: You'd have to admit, right?
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: It's odd. Yeah, it's odd.
• 0:32
  Speaker 4: Um, you know, both teams are struggling at two and
• 0:35
  Speaker 4: four and Each has their own issues. The Eagles with
• 0:38
  Speaker 4: the injuries significant on both sides of the football. Dallas
• 0:41
  Speaker 4: can't really use injuries as an excuse. They just are struggling.
• 0:47
  Speaker 4: Brian Chatham is questioning the discipline of the team while
• 0:49
  Speaker 4: he's the head coach. But being honest, it's an ongoing
• 0:53
  Speaker 4: problem we've talked about for years with them. It's the
• 0:56
  Speaker 4: hero ball they play, especially on defense, the mental errors.
• 1:00
  Speaker 4: Mike Patton was brought in out of semi-retirement to help out.
• 1:04
  Speaker 4: That tells you enough.
• 1:06
  Speaker 5: Yep.
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: It's just, yeah, it's not what we were expecting.
• 1:08
  Speaker 4: Although, look, we can't take away the Eagles' injuries, but
• 1:11
  Speaker 4: we thought pretty good about the Eagles to be a
• 1:12
  Speaker 4: 9-10-11-1 team, but injuries have decimated them that way. But
• 1:16
  Speaker 4: the Cowboys don't have any excuses. Injuries are not a
• 1:19
  Speaker 4: factor with this football team.
• 1:20
  Speaker 3: That is correct. A lot of the same problems for them.
• 1:22
  Speaker 3: We'll get into it.
• 1:24
  Speaker 2: And we'll even break the myth a little bit about
• 1:25
  Speaker 2: how explosive their offense is, as many people think it is,
• 1:28
  Speaker 2: but lately it is not. And we'll, of course, get
• 1:30
  Speaker 2: into that with Greg. Adam, you did mention the injuries.
• 1:33
  Speaker 2: And for the Eagles, once again... They are significant. They
• 1:37
  Speaker 2: are expecting maybe, you know, as we, when we did
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: our show on Thursday, a little bit more positive news
• 1:43
  Speaker 2: on guys like Dallas Goddard, but overall they will be
• 1:46
  Speaker 2: without their top two wide receivers. No Devante Smith, no
• 1:50
  Speaker 2: Don Tavian Wicks. Both of them are still out Smith
• 1:53
  Speaker 2: with the hamstring Wicks.
• 1:54
  Speaker 3: With the ankle.
• 1:56
  Speaker 2: So that means you're starting wide receivers will be some
• 1:59
  Speaker 2: combination of Makai Lemon, Darius Cooper, Hollywood Brown, and we'll
• 2:05
  Speaker 2: see if they somehow throw the guy who you always
• 2:08
  Speaker 2: say is not allowed to be on the field into
• 2:10
  Speaker 2: the mix, Elijah Moore. But that is their situation at
• 2:13
  Speaker 2: wide receiver.
• 2:14
  Speaker 4: Yeah, Cooper's definitely starting. The question is, we've kind of
• 2:18
  Speaker 4: laughed that they refused to use Hollywood Brown.
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: Well, now they have no choice.
• 2:22
  Speaker 5: Right.
• 2:22
  Speaker 4: Because they've run out of receivers. Elijah Moore, who's been
• 2:24
  Speaker 4: their designated motion man, he could play inside or outside.
• 2:30
  Speaker 4: We know, but he's not an X receiver. But we're
• 2:32
  Speaker 4: going to learn a lot about Darius Cooper. This is
• 2:35
  Speaker 4: something you and I have talked about on our platform,
• 2:37
  Speaker 4: and we asked Greg about it, and Greg has given
• 2:38
  Speaker 4: us what he's seen on tape. But this is a
• 2:40
  Speaker 4: guy who's been a great story. Now he's going to
• 2:43
  Speaker 4: be starting. I mean, he's going to play that. As
• 2:45
  Speaker 4: a matter of fact, two weeks ago when they were
• 2:47
  Speaker 4: in London, and that was a game Smitty didn't play.
• 2:49
  Speaker 4: Wicks played the entire game. Cooper had one more snap
• 2:53
  Speaker 4: than Wicks. So Cooper's probably– Lemon and Cooper will play
• 2:57
  Speaker 4: the most snaps. But they're going to have to manufacture
• 3:00
  Speaker 4: a passing game here. When it's protected well, Who can
• 3:03
  Speaker 4: make plays? You mentioned Goddard was cleared. He was cleared
• 3:05
  Speaker 4: for the game. With the knee issue, he does not
• 3:09
  Speaker 4: have a game status designation.
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: So that's good. He'll be available.
• 3:12
  Speaker 4: But the big news is that Saquon Barkley took the reps.
• 3:16
  Speaker 4: He took the starters reps on Saturday, but he's questionable.
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: It's a hamstring. You got to be careful. But right
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: now they're expecting him to go, barring a setback.
• 3:24
  Speaker 3: That is correct.
• 3:25
  Speaker 2: He was a full participant in practice, set to go.
• 3:29
  Speaker 2: It sounds like just even his own quotes, he feels
• 3:31
  Speaker 2: like he's good to go. And other good news is
• 3:33
  Speaker 2: the tight end Dallas Goddard, who was really hurting with
• 3:37
  Speaker 2: that knee, He said he expects himself to play, so
• 3:41
  Speaker 2: that is good news for at least the passing game.
• 3:44
  Speaker 2: But Adam, the two alarming things from an injury standpoint
• 3:47
  Speaker 2: about Goddard, who is listed as a full participant and
• 3:51
  Speaker 2: does not carry a designation going into the game, is
• 3:53
  Speaker 2: that he did confirm– that it was the same knee
• 3:56
  Speaker 2: that had put him out for a couple of weeks
• 3:58
  Speaker 2: and that it had a reflare up. So it's great
• 4:00
  Speaker 2: he's able to play, but just like with Devontae Strick
• 4:03
  Speaker 2: Smith in the hamstring here, always obviously the potential that
• 4:07
  Speaker 2: a reflare up could force him out early. And then
• 4:10
  Speaker 2: the second bit of not so great news on top
• 4:12
  Speaker 2: of it with Devontae Smith is Nick Sirianni was asked,
• 4:16
  Speaker 2: are you considering shutting him down? And Nick didn't really say, no,
• 4:19
  Speaker 2: that's not a consideration. So we'll have to see what
• 4:22
  Speaker 2: happens with him. He clearly could only play some of
• 4:24
  Speaker 2: the game against the Panthers, and now he's out again.
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: Remember, this injury he's had going on three months. He
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: got hurt. He suffered a hamstring strain the first week
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: of August, okay? Almost in November.
• 4:35
  Speaker 4: Like, this is, you know, some people might say, why
• 4:38
  Speaker 4: did he play last week? This has been a problem,
• 4:40
  Speaker 4: and he re-injured it, so he had a setback. They
• 4:43
  Speaker 4: don't know when he's going to play exactly, so that's
• 4:46
  Speaker 4: a problem. And then Goddard borne something in Worms he's playing,
• 4:50
  Speaker 4: but we'll have to see what happens. And then In
• 4:53
  Speaker 4: terms of usage, in terms of how they deploy the formations,
• 4:55
  Speaker 4: one thing we should add before we move on is
• 4:58
  Speaker 4: both teams have until Monday afternoon at 4 p.m. Eastern
• 5:01
  Speaker 4: to add somebody. The good news is Grant Calcaterra with
• 5:04
  Speaker 4: a back injury.
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: Full this week. Same with Eli Stowers. And boy, they
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: could use him. Those guys can move. They could run.
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: They could use anybody who could move at this point.
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: For sure.
• 5:17
  Speaker 3: For sure.
• 5:17
  Speaker 2: And I would think another underlying theme here that is
• 5:20
  Speaker 2: very significant is that we might actually see Landon Dickerson
• 5:25
  Speaker 2: at left guard and Drew Kendall at center. And Tyler
• 5:29
  Speaker 2: Steen was a full participant in practice. He should be
• 5:32
  Speaker 2: the right guard. We might actually see the Eagles starting
• 5:36
  Speaker 2: offensive line now in its full health.
• 5:39
  Speaker 5: Yeah.
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: So here's everyone who's cleared. But Willie Lampkin had that
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: illness that showed up. He's cleared. Ojomo's cleared to play
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: with the abdomen injury. Steen, you mentioned. Jordan Davis, remember,
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: we saw him, and he was hobbled, but he was fine.
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: He got treatment. He took all his reps. He's cleared. Covey,
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: people saw on the sideline with a shoulder. He was
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: cleared to play.
• 5:58
  Speaker 5: Yep.
• 5:59
  Speaker 4: Hollywood Brown, we mentioned. Again, he's been cleared for two weeks,
• 6:01
  Speaker 4: but they wouldn't play him. Oh, this is interesting before
• 6:04
  Speaker 4: we move on. Grenard said it's going to be a
• 6:07
  Speaker 4: game-time decision. He did not practice the final two days.
• 6:10
  Speaker 5: Yeah.
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: Doesn't sound great. Jalex Hunt did get work each day.
• 6:13
  Speaker 4: He's got a chance to play. And then also we
• 6:18
  Speaker 4: should mention Ja'Cory and Bennett continues to practice. He's a
• 6:21
  Speaker 4: death piece, but the guys are out are Carter, both Smiths, Devontae,
• 6:25
  Speaker 4: Nolan Smith, Wicks you mentioned. So it's actually, the injury
• 6:29
  Speaker 4: report's a little bit better than we expected, but it
• 6:33
  Speaker 4: doesn't mean it's great. And they still have a lot
• 6:34
  Speaker 4: of guys who will go up to game time.
• 6:36
  Speaker 3: Right.
• 6:36
  Speaker 2: So, Grenard got the did not practice questionable, which we
• 6:40
  Speaker 2: always say you don't practice on that last day. And
• 6:43
  Speaker 2: he even said it was going to be a game
• 6:44
  Speaker 2: time decision, like you said. And then JLX Hunt got
• 6:47
  Speaker 2: the limited final practice and questionable, which is also not
• 6:53
  Speaker 2: always a great sign, but we'll just have to see
• 6:55
  Speaker 2: how it goes. He was going to probably be limited,
• 6:57
  Speaker 2: as you mentioned last week anyway, because he's coming back
• 6:59
  Speaker 2: from that injury and they probably were going to not
• 7:02
  Speaker 2: put him full throttle. So we'll see what he can give.
• 7:05
  Speaker 2: But that does leave, and Greg will invite you into
• 7:08
  Speaker 2: the conversation here, that leaves the Eagles pretty thin at
• 7:12
  Speaker 2: edge regardless. I mean, unless Grenard and Hunt can magically
• 7:17
  Speaker 2: both play and both play a decent amount of snaps,
• 7:20
  Speaker 2: we're looking at guys like, obviously, Keyshawn James Newby again.
• 7:25
  Speaker 3: And, you know, what was the status on Nolan Smith?
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: He's out.
• 7:29
  Speaker 5: He's out. Yeah.
• 7:30
  Speaker 2: So we're talking about Arnold Ebikidi, Katie, and Keyshawn James Newby.
• 7:34
  Speaker 2: I wanted to ask you, Greg, how you felt about
• 7:36
  Speaker 2: Newby's play because he played a significant amount of snaps
• 7:40
  Speaker 2: last week.
• 7:42
  Speaker 5: Yeah, he played, I think, close to 50 snaps, if
• 7:45
  Speaker 5: not 50 snaps. I don't think he stood out, to
• 7:50
  Speaker 5: be honest with you, either good or bad. I mean,
• 7:52
  Speaker 5: I thought he was out there. There were a couple
• 7:53
  Speaker 5: of times I said, oh, that's not a bad rush.
• 7:55
  Speaker 5: But for the most part, he didn't stand out to me. But,
• 7:59
  Speaker 5: you know, what's so interesting about Vic Fangio, and we
• 8:01
  Speaker 5: know this, is The Eagles this season have essentially been
• 8:05
  Speaker 5: a four-man D-line pass rush team. I think they've done
• 8:08
  Speaker 5: that at the fifth highest rate in the league in
• 8:12
  Speaker 5: terms of not sending an extra rusher. So it'll be
• 8:18
  Speaker 5: interesting to see how Vic handles that if he doesn't
• 8:20
  Speaker 5: feel that he has players that can get to the
• 8:22
  Speaker 5: quarterback and impact the quarterback. We know just by nature
• 8:27
  Speaker 5: he's not someone who thinks about pressure, you know, sending people.
• 8:30
  Speaker 5: And it's funny because I've been watching so much take
• 8:32
  Speaker 5: of teams that have been so great with their pressures.
• 8:35
  Speaker 5: I actually watched yesterday, I watched the Thursday night game
• 8:38
  Speaker 5: because it was two really good teams, and I wanted
• 8:39
  Speaker 5: to make sure I got through that. And Dennis Allen's
• 8:41
  Speaker 5: been doing a great job with that, as the Eagles know.
• 8:45
  Speaker 5: Green Bay, Eagles fans probably are blown away by this,
• 8:48
  Speaker 5: but Jonathan Gannon is doing some really cool stuff in
• 8:51
  Speaker 5: Green Bay with pressure, which he, of course, did not
• 8:53
  Speaker 5: do when he was the Eagles defensive coordinator.
• 8:56
  Speaker 1: Mm-hmm.
• 8:57
  Speaker 5: But so many teams are doing that, and Vic kind
• 9:00
  Speaker 5: of sticks to what he believes. And when you have
• 9:02
  Speaker 5: a really good pass rush, that works. Because then you
• 9:05
  Speaker 5: have seven in coverage, and they do a great job
• 9:07
  Speaker 5: in coverage with their principles. But when you can't get
• 9:11
  Speaker 5: to the quarterback, and I rely on my old buddy
• 9:14
  Speaker 5: Rod Rust, who's since passed away, who always said if
• 9:16
  Speaker 5: you can't get there with four, you've got to send
• 9:18
  Speaker 5: someone else. And right now, as we sit here on
• 9:22
  Speaker 5: a Saturday afternoon talking about this, I don't know if
• 9:26
  Speaker 5: anyone knows that they can get there with four.
• 9:29
  Speaker 2: I think that that is going to be something that
• 9:32
  Speaker 2: we'll be paying attention to big time on Monday night.
• 9:35
  Speaker 2: Let's quickly get into the Cowboys injuries. There aren't many.
• 9:37
  Speaker 2: They have three players out. Two of them are impact
• 9:40
  Speaker 2: players for them. Obviously, Dee Winters, their linebacker, although he's
• 9:43
  Speaker 2: been struggling, he is out. And with a calf injury,
• 9:47
  Speaker 2: Kavante Turpin, their quick wide receiver, who has beaten the Eagles.
• 9:50
  Speaker 2: He's gotten some touchdowns against the Eagles today. In the past,
• 9:53
  Speaker 2: he's also out with a rib injury. They also have
• 9:55
  Speaker 2: a backup offensive tackle, Drew Shelton from Penn.
• 9:58
  Speaker 3: State, who is out for the game.
• 10:00
  Speaker 2: Now, the question is this, Adam, with Dee Winters out.
• 10:03
  Speaker 2: You were mentioning a linebacker who could fill him, but
• 10:05
  Speaker 2: Damarian Overshawn practiced this week in full. Wasn't he on
• 10:10
  Speaker 2: his way to sort of getting demoted? It'll be interesting
• 10:12
  Speaker 2: to see whether they want him to fill a role
• 10:14
  Speaker 2: or not.
• 10:15
  Speaker 1: Well, here's what we know.
• 10:17
  Speaker 4: Jay Sean Barham has been a good story for them
• 10:19
  Speaker 4: in terms of playing earlier than they expected.
• 10:21
  Speaker 1: It's a third round pick out of Michigan. He's starting.
• 10:24
  Speaker 4: And Shamar James is the guy who filled in last week.
• 10:27
  Speaker 4: So he should, after, after the winners got hurt. So
• 10:33
  Speaker 4: what the heck? So that's, that's what you see. Shamar
• 10:36
  Speaker 4: James will start there. And then here's the question. Cause
• 10:39
  Speaker 4: we remember now Turpins are special teams for Turner. Well,
• 10:43
  Speaker 4: what happened is after he got hurt, they had a
• 10:45
  Speaker 4: good center as a backup running back, sort of a
• 10:46
  Speaker 4: young journeyman, you know, kickoffs and, Jonathan Mingo, returning punts
• 10:51
  Speaker 4: of all people, that Jonathan Mingo, more second-round pick for
• 10:54
  Speaker 4: the Panthers.
• 10:55
  Speaker 3: Right, right. Now, Overshawn was not available last week, if
• 10:58
  Speaker 3: I'm not mistaken, or was he?
• 11:01
  Speaker 4: I'll double-check, but I just know he is– he has
• 11:04
  Speaker 4: not been a player that they thought.
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: Correct. You know, you don't have the injury history.
• 11:07
  Speaker 5: Yeah. I just didn't know if I can tell you
• 11:09
  Speaker 5: that from watching the tape.
• 11:11
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 11:11
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 11:12
  Speaker 3: I mean, I think all Dallas linebackers are, have under before.
• 11:15
  Speaker 2: I just didn't know if they would go with the
• 11:16
  Speaker 2: experience of overshown over Shamar, uh, the player.
• 11:19
  Speaker 5: Yeah.
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: Overshown didn't play last week.
• 11:21
  Speaker 5: Yeah.
• 11:21
  Speaker 1: He was inactive.
• 11:22
  Speaker 5: Right.
• 11:22
  Speaker 2: So now that he's active this week, perhaps maybe they
• 11:25
  Speaker 2: try to get him back on the field.
• 11:26
  Speaker 5: He's not, he's just not a very good linebacker. He's correct.
• 11:30
  Speaker 5: Lacks physicality. He looks like a safety. Um, I mean, again,
• 11:35
  Speaker 5: the tape tells you that. I don't know how they
• 11:37
  Speaker 5: feel about it, but they would have to know this.
• 11:40
  Speaker 5: I mean, Shamar James is a better player than Overshawn.
• 11:46
  Speaker 3: All right, cool. Good stuff.
• 11:48
  Speaker 2: We will go into looking at the Eagles now offensively
• 11:51
  Speaker 2: against this Dallas defense.
• 11:53
  Speaker 3: The Dallas defense has struggled.
• 11:55
  Speaker 2: We'll get into that in a second with Christian Parker, Greg,
• 11:57
  Speaker 2: and what he's trying to do. But if there's ever
• 11:59
  Speaker 2: a time where The Eagles can try to resurrect or
• 12:02
  Speaker 2: reprise or get going their run game, especially if you've
• 12:06
  Speaker 2: got Dickerson at left guard. If you've got Kendall ready
• 12:10
  Speaker 2: to play center, you have Barkley back, and Goddard's going
• 12:13
  Speaker 2: to give it a go.
• 12:14
  Speaker 3: You're at your healthiest, especially with tight ends.
• 12:18
  Speaker 2: You might even be able to play some 12 personnel, Greg,
• 12:21
  Speaker 2: and see if you can't get your run game going here.
• 12:24
  Speaker 5: I mean, I think that's the way they're going to
• 12:25
  Speaker 5: start the game if it's Barkley for sure. Mm-hmm. But
• 12:29
  Speaker 5: what's fascinating about the Cowboys defense is where their weakest
• 12:32
  Speaker 5: is in the secondary. Now, obviously, they have Joey Porter Jr. now,
• 12:36
  Speaker 5: and he's sort of working his way in and playing.
• 12:40
  Speaker 5: But this is a team which might surprise people, given
• 12:43
  Speaker 5: that it's Christian Parker, that's played a lot of single
• 12:46
  Speaker 5: high safety coverage. You know, we would assume, you know,
• 12:50
  Speaker 5: based on the fact that he's a Vic Fangio adjacent coach,
• 12:53
  Speaker 5: that there'd be a lot of two shell coverage. But
• 12:56
  Speaker 5: they've played. a high percentage of single high safety. And
• 13:00
  Speaker 5: we'll see how Porter helps. But until Porter sort of
• 13:03
  Speaker 5: gets his footing, they're not very good at corner on
• 13:06
  Speaker 5: the outside. Deron Bland is not an outside corner in
• 13:11
  Speaker 5: this league. And, you know, he made his name initially
• 13:13
  Speaker 5: as a slot corner, and he was actually very good.
• 13:16
  Speaker 5: And then he made his name because he had that
• 13:17
  Speaker 5: season where he had eight interceptions, six for touchdowns. It
• 13:20
  Speaker 5: was literally all on the same play. But he's not
• 13:23
  Speaker 5: a very good outside corner, and in an ideal world,
• 13:26
  Speaker 5: should not be playing there. And until they got Porter,
• 13:29
  Speaker 5: I mean, they were playing a number of guys on
• 13:31
  Speaker 5: the outside. I think they're the only team in the
• 13:34
  Speaker 5: league that has had one corner, one corner, play 50%
• 13:39
  Speaker 5: of the snaps on the outside. And that's unheard of
• 13:42
  Speaker 5: in this league. Yeah.
• 13:44
  Speaker 2: With Porter healthy, is there a way for them to
• 13:48
  Speaker 2: get Dromland back to the nickel spot?
• 13:51
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 13:52
  Speaker 5: Well, then they have to figure out if they have
• 13:54
  Speaker 5: another outside corner. They've been playing this kid, Amir Speed,
• 13:57
  Speaker 5: who I remember when he was in college. He played
• 13:58
  Speaker 5: in a number of colleges, but I think he ended
• 14:00
  Speaker 5: up in Michigan State in the Big Ten, and that's
• 14:02
  Speaker 5: where I remember him. He's long and athletic. Now, the
• 14:06
  Speaker 5: guy that they've obviously has not turned out is Ravel.
• 14:09
  Speaker 3: Right.
• 14:10
  Speaker 5: Third-round pick. The third-round pick who had good college tape,
• 14:15
  Speaker 5: albeit at a lower level of competition. Long. He was
• 14:19
  Speaker 5: very good in press. pretty good athlete, but obviously in
• 14:23
  Speaker 5: their mind, because you can just tell by snap counts,
• 14:26
  Speaker 5: they don't think that he's good enough to play meaningful snaps. Uh, and, uh,
• 14:31
  Speaker 5: so his snap count fluctuates week to week simply because
• 14:34
  Speaker 5: they're looking for another outside corner. But with Porter now
• 14:38
  Speaker 5: they'll keep, I assume they'll keep land outside because they
• 14:42
  Speaker 5: don't really have another outside corner. And they played this kid, uh, uh,
• 14:50
  Speaker 5: and he's essentially become kind of their slack corner. Right.
• 14:54
  Speaker 4: Jeff, one thing you should know about Amir Speed, he's
• 14:56
  Speaker 4: been on six teams in four years.
• 14:58
  Speaker 5: Yeah.
• 14:59
  Speaker 4: Ravel, remember, he had the ACL injury at Eastern Carolina,
• 15:04
  Speaker 4: and he just did not be able to break the lineup,
• 15:06
  Speaker 4: but that was not their thought.
• 15:07
  Speaker 1: They thought he'd be a starter by now.
• 15:08
  Speaker 5: Without question.
• 15:10
  Speaker 1: As Greg said, their secondary's a mess.
• 15:12
  Speaker 4: We'll talk about Caleb down soon, but this is.
• 15:17
  Speaker 4: We always say this, well, could the Eagles protect? And
• 15:21
  Speaker 4: that is a million-dollar question every single week now because
• 15:24
  Speaker 4: of all the changes.
• 15:25
  Speaker 5: Right.
• 15:26
  Speaker 4: And it's funny because Dallas has a lot of talent
• 15:29
  Speaker 4: on their front, but it's the back end that they
• 15:32
  Speaker 4: continue to give up production. I mean, each week it's
• 15:35
  Speaker 4: like somebody new for whoever goes up against them in
• 15:38
  Speaker 4: terms of receiver. So could it be Darius Cooper? We'll
• 15:42
  Speaker 4: have to see this week.
• 15:43
  Speaker 2: In an ideal world, you would love to see, and
• 15:45
  Speaker 2: I'm sure the Eagles believe this too, you would love
• 15:47
  Speaker 2: to see them be able to run the ball, forget explosively,
• 15:52
  Speaker 2: just efficiently on first down, Adam, so that they can
• 15:56
  Speaker 2: attack the secondary without feeling like they're going to get
• 16:00
  Speaker 2: blitzed every single time they drop back. Because every time
• 16:02
  Speaker 2: they drop back, it's been telegraphic and they've been in
• 16:05
  Speaker 2: second and third.
• 16:06
  Speaker 3: And long all the time.
• 16:07
  Speaker 5: What you would like, of course, is running the ball feet.
• 16:11
  Speaker 5: Running the ball helps in so many ways. It's not
• 16:13
  Speaker 5: just the fact that, oh, let's run the ball. People
• 16:16
  Speaker 5: say you want balance, balance, balance. Yeah, that's nice, but
• 16:19
  Speaker 5: it helps in so many ways. But as you said, Jeff,
• 16:22
  Speaker 5: and you're 100% right, just to get to second and four,
• 16:26
  Speaker 5: be in those situations, just changes everything you do as
• 16:30
  Speaker 5: an offensive coordinator. Whereas if it's second and nine or
• 16:34
  Speaker 5: second and 11, as is too often the case been
• 16:36
  Speaker 5: this year, then obviously it's a whole different ballgame. And
• 16:40
  Speaker 5: they've not been really able to have any sustainability. I mean,
• 16:44
  Speaker 5: they go three and out much too much, obviously. And
• 16:47
  Speaker 5: the other thing, too, is they had Tanner McKee in
• 16:49
  Speaker 5: a game that was relatively close last week drop back
• 16:53
  Speaker 5: 48 times. You do not want to do that. I mean,
• 16:57
  Speaker 5: no quarterback, no matter how good they are, should be
• 16:59
  Speaker 5: asked to drop back 48 times in a game. Look,
• 17:05
  Speaker 5: we know that philosophically they don't want to play that way.
• 17:10
  Speaker 5: The problem is when you're an offensive coordinator and the
• 17:13
  Speaker 5: run game is poor, as the Eagles' run game has been,
• 17:16
  Speaker 5: you see a one-yard run or a two-yard loss, and
• 17:20
  Speaker 5: at some point you say, I just don't want to
• 17:22
  Speaker 5: hand the ball off. But the problem is if you
• 17:25
  Speaker 5: can't protect, then it makes it even worse.
• 17:28
  Speaker 2: For sure, for sure. Obviously, Saquon back. They're going to
• 17:33
  Speaker 2: see if they can move the check. I want to
• 17:34
  Speaker 2: see if this offensive line can move people off of
• 17:38
  Speaker 2: the line of scrimmage and create those holes that give
• 17:42
  Speaker 2: Saquon something to work with. You know, we know if
• 17:46
  Speaker 2: he has to make every single run on his own,
• 17:48
  Speaker 2: that's very difficult. But if you can give him a
• 17:51
  Speaker 2: couple of yards before contact, then he can make one
• 17:54
  Speaker 2: or two plays, especially against that second level of Dallas,
• 17:58
  Speaker 2: which doesn't play very well. He can get into the
• 18:00
  Speaker 2: backfield and do something really nice for them.
• 18:02
  Speaker 5: Just have the pace of the game be in your favor.
• 18:05
  Speaker 5: I mean, it's not likely they're going to put up 35.
• 18:07
  Speaker 5: I don't think anybody's expecting that. But just have the
• 18:10
  Speaker 5: pace of the game be somewhat in your favor where
• 18:13
  Speaker 5: it doesn't feel like you're playing– that you're working uphill
• 18:18
  Speaker 5: the whole game, which is what it felt like. It
• 18:21
  Speaker 5: felt like even in the close games– It just feels like,
• 18:25
  Speaker 5: I mean, think of the Jacksonville game. They went ahead,
• 18:28
  Speaker 5: but then in the second half, it just seemed like
• 18:29
  Speaker 5: they were battling uphill the whole half. There's been no
• 18:33
  Speaker 5: rhythm or flow to their offense.
• 18:36
  Speaker 3: I tell you, it would be really nice to see.
• 18:38
  Speaker 2: We always talk about can the Eagles hit the opponent
• 18:40
  Speaker 2: where it hurts, and a lot of times when we
• 18:42
  Speaker 2: say that in the past, it's usually because you're facing
• 18:45
  Speaker 2: a team with bad corners or beat-up corners, right?
• 18:48
  Speaker 3: And the Eagles couldn't because they couldn't get their offense going.
• 18:52
  Speaker 2: And this will be an interesting situation, Adam, especially because
• 18:56
  Speaker 2: hitting them where it hurts would be attacking Theron Bland, especially.
• 19:01
  Speaker 2: But do you have, without Devontae Smith and without Tay Wicks,
• 19:06
  Speaker 2: the kind of receiver that you feel comfortable with lining
• 19:08
  Speaker 2: up in a 2x2, like outside in a 2x2, to
• 19:11
  Speaker 2: go and run those kind of routes where you can
• 19:13
  Speaker 2: exploit it? Unfortunately, it doesn't feel like they can hit
• 19:16
  Speaker 2: them where it hurts unless we see an emergence of
• 19:18
  Speaker 2: Darius Cooper that way.
• 19:20
  Speaker 1: If the Eagles had an experienced coordinator, I'd feel better
• 19:22
  Speaker 1: about it. We're okay. He goes, okay, here's who we have.
• 19:24
  Speaker 1: We've got these four pass targets plus Goddard. Let's see
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: what we can do with it.
• 19:28
  Speaker 4: He doesn't have this experience to know how to do it.
• 19:32
  Speaker 1: Just look at what we've seen so far. It's been
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: a little ugly. Now, saying that, we talked about the
• 19:38
  Speaker 1: Cowboys can have problems with the secondary. They're tackling.
• 19:42
  Speaker 4: Bucky Irving is a nice back, but he's not 160
• 19:45
  Speaker 4: yards back. I mean, he, they gave up over 240
• 19:47
  Speaker 4: yards against the Buccaneers a couple of weeks ago. So
• 19:50
  Speaker 4: despite Jerry Jones, the owner general manager addressing what he
• 19:55
  Speaker 4: thought was stopping the run, it hasn't really happened. And
• 19:58
  Speaker 4: this is the thing that's puzzling. The lack of discipline
• 20:01
  Speaker 4: or the defense is astounding.
• 20:02
  Speaker 5: It's been a big issue, but you know, it's interesting.
• 20:05
  Speaker 5: Tanner McKee last week through the ball, a ton outside
• 20:08
  Speaker 5: the numbers. And I don't know if that's because first start,
• 20:11
  Speaker 5: you know, it was cloudy. It's always, it can always
• 20:14
  Speaker 5: be a little cloudy in the middle of the field
• 20:16
  Speaker 5: for a quarterback who hasn't played a lot because there's
• 20:18
  Speaker 5: a lot of bodies there. So we'll see if they,
• 20:21
  Speaker 5: if he continues to work outside the numbers, obviously felt
• 20:23
  Speaker 5: comfortable throwing it there. And Adam's right. I mean, you
• 20:27
  Speaker 5: do want to attack them on the perimeter. I mean,
• 20:29
  Speaker 5: you certainly want to go after a bland, but can
• 20:32
  Speaker 5: they do that? And we don't know that, but. I
• 20:35
  Speaker 5: still agree with you, Jeff. I mean, I think they're
• 20:37
  Speaker 5: going to try to be physical up front and run
• 20:40
  Speaker 5: the ball.
• 20:40
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I will say, I thought Greg Dallin, I mean,
• 20:43
  Speaker 2: you probably have watched every game of theirs, if not
• 20:46
  Speaker 2: most of them.
• 20:47
  Speaker 3: I thought against the Packers.
• 20:49
  Speaker 2: They looked improved against, I mean, it was hard not
• 20:52
  Speaker 2: to after giving up, what, like 240 yards to the Bucs.
• 20:56
  Speaker 2: But I thought their biggest issue against the Packers, they
• 21:00
  Speaker 2: had the Packers in third.
• 21:01
  Speaker 1: And so many longs last week.
• 21:04
  Speaker 2: And yet the Packers converted, I think 10 of 11
• 21:07
  Speaker 2: third downs last week. And they were all third and five,
• 21:10
  Speaker 2: third and six, third and eight. But Adam, the worst
• 21:12
  Speaker 2: part is those conversions weren't even like at the sticks.
• 21:15
  Speaker 2: They were at like a 14 yard pass and a
• 21:16
  Speaker 2: 21 yard pass and a 27 yard pass, all on
• 21:19
  Speaker 2: third and six and third and seven.
• 21:21
  Speaker 3: They were getting way more than they needed.
• 21:23
  Speaker 4: One thing we should mention also about the Packers. Now
• 21:25
  Speaker 4: let's not, yes, they stopped the Packers run. Pierre Strong
• 21:28
  Speaker 4: was signed off their practice squad.
• 21:30
  Speaker 1: Led them in carries. So let's not get carried away.
• 21:32
  Speaker 3: They weren't looking to run the ball against them. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: So we need to understand. But Matthew Golden got him. Yep.
• 21:37
  Speaker 4: Who's their big play receiver. So there are opportunities here.
• 21:41
  Speaker 4: To me, now Greg mentioned the physicality up front. Well,
• 21:47
  Speaker 4: Landon Dickerson's got to play to do that. We know
• 21:50
  Speaker 4: he's got all physical issues. But with his mass, he's
• 21:54
  Speaker 4: so big.
• 21:55
  Speaker 1: They need that.
• 21:56
  Speaker 4: How many weeks can we talk about this? I mean,
• 21:58
  Speaker 4: Jake Majors, God bless him. What a great story he is.
• 22:01
  Speaker 4: just to be able to play at the NFL level.
• 22:02
  Speaker 4: That's a third string center.
• 22:03
  Speaker 1: Like you can't be physical with a guy like that.
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: It's just not going to work. Yeah.
• 22:09
  Speaker 2: I think there's no question to piggyback off that item
• 22:11
  Speaker 2: that Landon Dickerson for me is the guy most under
• 22:14
  Speaker 2: the microscope this week. He's finally back on the field.
• 22:17
  Speaker 2: It was a bone bruise that kept them off. He
• 22:19
  Speaker 2: didn't look good week one, obviously. He did not look
• 22:22
  Speaker 2: good last year, obviously. So what we need to see is,
• 22:25
  Speaker 2: was it just the bone bruise? Is he much healthier
• 22:28
  Speaker 2: and can move better? Or is he still the Landon
• 22:30
  Speaker 2: Dickerson who just is not the same guy from two
• 22:34
  Speaker 2: years ago? And listen, he's a worrier. Put his through body.
• 22:38
  Speaker 2: I'm not looking to rip him apart and criticize him.
• 22:40
  Speaker 2: I just want to see... Is he a functional left
• 22:43
  Speaker 2: guard anymore? And I think we're going to find out
• 22:45
  Speaker 2: on Monday night.
• 22:45
  Speaker 4: It's crazy, and I'm not criticizing what you just said,
• 22:48
  Speaker 4: but to put it that way, it actually encapsulates where.
• 22:50
  Speaker 1: He's at in his career.
• 22:52
  Speaker 5: Right.
• 22:52
  Speaker 1: Like, can he be functional enough? That's just– Yeah. Because
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: it's really– I mean, other than Willie Lampkin, who's definitely physical,
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: but he's too short. Mm-hmm. I mean, you got– Kenny
• 23:01
  Speaker 1: Clark's a player, okay? Quentin Williams is obviously very good.
• 23:03
  Speaker 5: They're pretty good inside on the D-line with Williams and Clark.
• 23:05
  Speaker 5: I mean, that's a strength. But, you know, it's interesting.
• 23:08
  Speaker 5: We're talking about this, and you're talking about third down
• 23:10
  Speaker 5: and the Packers last week. Well, the Eagles, through their
• 23:14
  Speaker 5: first six games, yeah, two and four, they've had the
• 23:17
  Speaker 5: most average yards to go on third down of any
• 23:20
  Speaker 5: team in the league. They've had more than eight yards
• 23:22
  Speaker 5: to go on average on third down. You can't live
• 23:24
  Speaker 5: in that world. You can't live in that world. It's
• 23:27
  Speaker 5: too hard in this league to do that.
• 23:30
  Speaker 2: And then the Packers said, oh yeah, watch us.
• 23:32
  Speaker 3: And that's what they did in the first half. But that's,
• 23:34
  Speaker 3: that's an anomaly.
• 23:35
  Speaker 1: That was really hard to do.
• 23:38
  Speaker 5: It was crazy. Not something, you know, no, you know, it's, it's,
• 23:44
  Speaker 5: you can, you can talk all day long about quarterback
• 23:46
  Speaker 5: play and, you know, Jalen Hurts, Tanner McKee, but you know,
• 23:50
  Speaker 5: there's not many quarterbacks in this league that if they
• 23:52
  Speaker 5: had a steady diet of third and eight, third and nine,
• 23:55
  Speaker 5: third and 10, third and 11, that are going to
• 23:56
  Speaker 5: have a high conversion rate.
• 23:59
  Speaker 4: Craig, I want to ask you about two players before
• 24:01
  Speaker 4: we move on. From the pass rush standpoint, Donovan Ezeraku
• 24:05
  Speaker 4: and Malachi Lawrence.
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: What have you seen from them this season?
• 24:07
  Speaker 5: Yeah, Ezeraku's a starter, and Lawrence has played about 20,
• 24:10
  Speaker 5: 25 snaps a game. I think they've both shown flashes. Ezeraku,
• 24:16
  Speaker 5: he's got some quickness to him. I mean, I think
• 24:17
  Speaker 5: he can develop into a good pass rusher, maybe not
• 24:20
  Speaker 5: a stud pass rusher. Lawrence is, I think, still trying
• 24:24
  Speaker 5: to figure it out. You know, he's a young player.
• 24:26
  Speaker 5: I liked his tape a lot. It did not surprise
• 24:30
  Speaker 5: me that they took him in the first round. I
• 24:31
  Speaker 5: thought he was, you know, again, I don't make lists
• 24:33
  Speaker 5: like that, but watching his tape, I thought he was
• 24:35
  Speaker 5: right on that borderline that if he was a first-round pick,
• 24:37
  Speaker 5: I wouldn't have been surprised, and so therefore I wasn't.
• 24:41
  Speaker 5: But you haven't quite seen the emergence of his traits
• 24:44
  Speaker 5: just yet, and that normally tells me he's trying to
• 24:46
  Speaker 5: figure it out because now, as you guys know, and
• 24:49
  Speaker 5: we discuss this about a lot of players, when you
• 24:51
  Speaker 5: get to the NFL, it's not just about the physical attributes.
• 24:54
  Speaker 5: Now it becomes how to use your hands, how to
• 24:56
  Speaker 5: play off contact, how to figure out the offensive tackle
• 25:00
  Speaker 5: you're going against and what he likes to do. You know,
• 25:03
  Speaker 5: all those things factor in. There's many, many variables because
• 25:06
  Speaker 5: he's a good athlete, but, you know, we're not talking about,
• 25:09
  Speaker 5: you know, one of those Micah Parsons type athletes, you know,
• 25:11
  Speaker 5: so he's got to figure all that out.
• 25:14
  Speaker 2: Imagine attending a Williamstown-Timber Creek high school football game four
• 25:18
  Speaker 2: or five years ago and thinking, man, these guys are good.
• 25:21
  Speaker 2: And then four or five years later, Jihad Campbell and
• 25:24
  Speaker 2: Donovan Ejiraku are perfect.
• 25:26
  Speaker 3: Playing against each other on Monday Night Football. Amazing, right?
• 25:28
  Speaker 5: How cool was that? I know, I know.
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: Yeah, pretty cool.
• 25:30
  Speaker 5: Yeah, wow, that's a great point.
• 25:32
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, they're rival high schools.
• 25:33
  Speaker 2: They're all, you know, right across from each other, basically.
• 25:35
  Speaker 2: So good stuff there. Hey, Greg, I wanted to ask you,
• 25:38
  Speaker 2: and Adam brought this up earlier, just from my untrained eye,
• 25:42
  Speaker 2: trained eye watch, I think Caleb Downs in the slot
• 25:44
  Speaker 2: has not been helpful so far for the Cowboys, unless
• 25:47
  Speaker 2: you disagree.
• 25:48
  Speaker 5: Well, Caleb Downs has moved away from the slot.
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: Oh, okay. Okay.
• 25:51
  Speaker 5: It started a few weeks ago. He's now put, I
• 25:54
  Speaker 5: think it was after three games, they basically moved him
• 25:57
  Speaker 5: back to safety. He doesn't play very much in the
• 25:59
  Speaker 5: slot anymore.
• 25:59
  Speaker 2: Okay, and the Packers, I saw a couple of times
• 26:02
  Speaker 2: he was, and Samuel Williams beat him on a third.
• 26:04
  Speaker 3: Down, and Watson, he looked lost covering Watson.
• 26:08
  Speaker 5: Yeah, I think that in an ideal world, they would
• 26:11
  Speaker 5: like him to play safety. Yeah. Because to me, anyway, again,
• 26:15
  Speaker 5: I'm not Mike Patton. You know, he's come in. He
• 26:17
  Speaker 5: could start changing things around. Don't forget, a lot of
• 26:20
  Speaker 5: times you play guys because you don't have someone else there.
• 26:23
  Speaker 5: I mean, right now they've been playing this ready steward
• 26:25
  Speaker 5: in the slot, and I think that they would like
• 26:26
  Speaker 5: to be better there. But the question is, if you
• 26:29
  Speaker 5: play downs there, then who's going to play safety? You know,
• 26:32
  Speaker 5: they've got Malik Hooker, who's been around. I guess Jalen
• 26:35
  Speaker 5: Thompson is on IR, is he not?
• 26:36
  Speaker 1: He is.
• 26:37
  Speaker 3: That was a big loss for them.
• 26:38
  Speaker 5: Yeah, so that's been the issue. I mean, it's very
• 26:40
  Speaker 5: possible that when he comes back, downs will become a
• 26:43
  Speaker 5: slot player again. Maybe that's where they want him because
• 26:46
  Speaker 5: he's their best slot player. Ultimately, you've got to play
• 26:48
  Speaker 5: your best guys. But, yeah, they moved him back to
• 26:52
  Speaker 5: safety when Thompson got hurt, and that's where he's mostly played.
• 26:56
  Speaker 4: Oh, to add to that, Greg, Kobe Durant got cleared
• 27:01
  Speaker 4: for the Rams.
• 27:02
  Speaker 1: So what are your thoughts on him from your tape
• 27:04
  Speaker 1: study over the years?
• 27:05
  Speaker 5: Solid. It would not surprise me. Well, again, they have
• 27:08
  Speaker 5: Joey Porter now. But I can make the argument that
• 27:12
  Speaker 5: he's a better outside corner than Deron Bland. I mean,
• 27:14
  Speaker 5: I don't have to make that argument.
• 27:15
  Speaker 1: All right.
• 27:16
  Speaker 2: So this could be the game that Durant plays outside
• 27:19
  Speaker 2: and Bland maybe goes to nickel.
• 27:21
  Speaker 3: Is that what we're?
• 27:22
  Speaker 5: It could happen. Yes.
• 27:23
  Speaker 1: Yes.
• 27:23
  Speaker 5: Because Bland is, is like I said, he, he made
• 27:27
  Speaker 5: his bones in this league as a nickel and he
• 27:29
  Speaker 5: was very good as a nickel that year or two.
• 27:31
  Speaker 5: He played it. Right.
• 27:33
  Speaker 1: Right.
• 27:33
  Speaker 5: Wow.
• 27:33
  Speaker 3: Adam, that was huge. I didn't realize that this will
• 27:35
  Speaker 3: be the first game that Kobe Durant is up for.
• 27:38
  Speaker 5: Yeah.
• 27:39
  Speaker 4: And look, this is what a big boost for them acquisition, but,
• 27:43
  Speaker 4: They need help at corner, and they have enough guys.
• 27:45
  Speaker 1: They've got to play better. The lack of discipline.
• 27:48
  Speaker 5: For sure.
• 27:48
  Speaker 4: And, Jeff, we talked about this on our previous show,
• 27:50
  Speaker 4: how many defensive coordinators have gone through.
• 27:53
  Speaker 1: At some point, it's not the coaching. It's the players. Right.
• 27:57
  Speaker 1: They just don't.
• 27:58
  Speaker 4: The buy-in, the discipline, the hero ball, which is when
• 28:00
  Speaker 4: not only am I going to do my job, I'm
• 28:02
  Speaker 4: going to try to do yours.
• 28:04
  Speaker 1: It's inexcusable.
• 28:05
  Speaker 5: Well, I think you made a great point, Jeff. It's
• 28:08
  Speaker 5: going to be fascinating to see if Durant plays on
• 28:10
  Speaker 5: the outside because they signed him. They brought him in. Right.
• 28:14
  Speaker 5: And now that they have Porter, who's probably ready to
• 28:15
  Speaker 5: play a full game for them now that he's been there.
• 28:18
  Speaker 5: So I would not be the least bit surprised to
• 28:21
  Speaker 5: see what you said, Porter or Duran on the outside
• 28:23
  Speaker 5: and Bland playing in the slot.
• 28:25
  Speaker 3: Very interesting. All right.
• 28:27
  Speaker 2: And we'll have to assume that Makai Lemon and their
• 28:28
  Speaker 2: 11 personnel will see a lot of that slot. I'm
• 28:31
  Speaker 2: very curious to see what the Eagles will look like
• 28:34
  Speaker 2: when they do go to 12 personnel. We know, you know,
• 28:38
  Speaker 2: I mean, I have to assume that Lemon will be
• 28:40
  Speaker 2: one of the two receivers, even though he's more been
• 28:42
  Speaker 2: used as a slot in 11, but you know, do
• 28:44
  Speaker 2: we see, is it Darius Cooper and Lemon? Is it
• 28:46
  Speaker 2: Cooper and maybe Hollywood Brown just to give them a
• 28:49
  Speaker 2: little bit more of a field extending type of look?
• 28:53
  Speaker 5: Here's one other thing to consider from the Eagles perspective.
• 28:57
  Speaker 5: They've been in the shotgun way more than I think
• 28:59
  Speaker 5: we thought they'd be. You know, when they brought in
• 29:02
  Speaker 5: Sean Mannion and through the preseason, you know, I think
• 29:05
  Speaker 5: they've been in the shotgun percentage wise close to 70%.
• 29:07
  Speaker 5: So the question is, Now that Barkley's back, will they
• 29:13
  Speaker 5: put McKee under center more and run an I-formation run game?
• 29:17
  Speaker 5: You know, I think we don't know the answer. It's
• 29:19
  Speaker 5: just something I thought about thinking about. Gee, they've been
• 29:22
  Speaker 5: in the shotgun way more than we all anticipated, you know,
• 29:26
  Speaker 5: given the offensive coordinator change. But, you know, we'll see.
• 29:32
  Speaker 5: I mean, you know, I'd be in favor of that. Again,
• 29:35
  Speaker 5: no one's called me to ask you my opinion, but
• 29:38
  Speaker 5: I'd be in favor of putting McKee under center. and
• 29:40
  Speaker 5: seeing if we could develop an I-formation run game.
• 29:43
  Speaker 2: You know, Greg, I've been meaning to ask you this,
• 29:45
  Speaker 2: and you saying I-formation reminded me of the question. Do
• 29:48
  Speaker 2: you think the Eagles would benefit from having a fullback
• 29:51
  Speaker 2: for their under center game?
• 29:54
  Speaker 5: Well, that changes a whole bit. That's something you've got
• 29:57
  Speaker 5: to practice. You can't just say, oh, let's play a
• 29:59
  Speaker 5: fullback this week. You know, so that's something you have
• 30:02
  Speaker 5: to practice. Right. You know, I don't know what they
• 30:06
  Speaker 5: do in practice. I don't know. You know, a lot
• 30:07
  Speaker 5: of teams use one of their tight ends as fullbacks.
• 30:10
  Speaker 5: I mean, he's now out for the season, but Cole
• 30:12
  Speaker 5: Komet often lined up as a fullback in the backfield
• 30:15
  Speaker 5: for the Bears. You know, that's something you have to practice.
• 30:18
  Speaker 5: You can't just four weeks say, gee, let's put a
• 30:19
  Speaker 5: fullback back there.
• 30:20
  Speaker 2: Right. But they did do it in 2024, sort of
• 30:23
  Speaker 2: the middle of the year. They signed Cary Blassingame and
• 30:26
  Speaker 2: just kind of incorporated him a little bit.
• 30:29
  Speaker 5: A little bit. He didn't play a ton of slam.
• 30:31
  Speaker 5: But you're right. You're right. But I mean, if you
• 30:33
  Speaker 5: want to do that as a foundation piece of your offense,
• 30:35
  Speaker 5: that's something that has to come through OTAs, minicamps, and
• 30:38
  Speaker 5: training camps. Right.
• 30:39
  Speaker 3: I only ask it because they don't have what you
• 30:42
  Speaker 3: just mentioned.
• 30:42
  Speaker 2: They don't have a tight end, I think, who would
• 30:44
  Speaker 2: do a good job.
• 30:45
  Speaker 3: You're not going to take Grant Calcutta and line him up.
• 30:47
  Speaker 5: In the backfield. The only guy who theoretically could do
• 30:49
  Speaker 5: that would be Johnny Muntz.
• 30:51
  Speaker 3: Right, right.
• 30:52
  Speaker 2: And by the way, would you say Johnny Muntz has
• 30:53
  Speaker 2: been a good blocker this year or not as good
• 30:56
  Speaker 2: as maybe he used to be?
• 30:57
  Speaker 5: I'm going to be honest about that. I haven't really
• 31:00
  Speaker 5: studied that as an individual, so I don't want to
• 31:03
  Speaker 5: throw something out that I don't know.
• 31:06
  Speaker 3: Fair enough. A couple of times he's just jumped out
• 31:07
  Speaker 3: at me.
• 31:08
  Speaker 2: It's like last week there was a guy blitzing and
• 31:10
  Speaker 2: he completely just didn't see him, I guess, or ignored him.
• 31:13
  Speaker 3: I think it was the safety and I kind of
• 31:15
  Speaker 3: was surprised by it. But either way, obviously the Eagles
• 31:19
  Speaker 3: have to block it up a whole lot better or
• 31:20
  Speaker 3: else half of our discussion won't really matter.
• 31:23
  Speaker 5: The bottom line point before we move on to the
• 31:25
  Speaker 5: other side of the ball is they can't ask McKee
• 31:29
  Speaker 5: to drop back 40 plus times. That can't happen. Unless
• 31:32
  Speaker 5: the game gets crazy and all of a sudden they're
• 31:34
  Speaker 5: down 21-0 in the second quarter. But if it's a
• 31:35
  Speaker 5: normal game, they can't ask Tender McKee to drop that
• 31:38
  Speaker 5: 48 times.
• 31:39
  Speaker 1: And Jeff, also, with Goddard returning, let's see the quick
• 31:41
  Speaker 1: game because we were hoping to see more of that
• 31:43
  Speaker 1: last week.
• 31:44
  Speaker 5: Oh, yeah.
• 31:44
  Speaker 4: Because if you're going to have him with shotgun, quick
• 31:47
  Speaker 4: process and get out of his hands quickly, get him
• 31:50
  Speaker 4: accurate and feel good about himself early.
• 31:51
  Speaker 5: I mean, Makai Lemon, one of the reasons he was
• 31:53
  Speaker 5: drafted high, I didn't quite see him the way others did.
• 31:56
  Speaker 5: But I'm just saying that they obviously did or they
• 31:58
  Speaker 5: wouldn't have done that. It's supposed to be a really
• 32:00
  Speaker 5: good run after catch guy. I didn't see that. But
• 32:03
  Speaker 5: what I think is irrelevant, they saw it. So if
• 32:06
  Speaker 5: that's what they believe, then try to get them the
• 32:08
  Speaker 5: ball in run after catch situations. I mean, teams do
• 32:11
  Speaker 5: that with players, you know, where they try to get
• 32:13
  Speaker 5: them the ball in space and, you know, see if
• 32:16
  Speaker 5: they can gain, you know, like, like the Jaguars do
• 32:19
  Speaker 5: with Parker Washington.
• 32:21
  Speaker 2: I mean, the Panthers had a heck of an RPO
• 32:23
  Speaker 2: game against everybody and the Eagles. I mean, you can
• 32:25
  Speaker 2: incorporate that a little bit to get your going going too.
• 32:28
  Speaker 5: Yeah. Yeah.
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  Speaker 3: good stuff.
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  Speaker 2: Let us move it over, and we'll talk about this
• 35:42
  Speaker 2: Eagles defense versus Dallas offense. And, you know, Adam and
• 35:45
  Speaker 2: I have been alluding to this all week, Greg, so
• 35:47
  Speaker 2: I'm excited to have you enter the conversation. But the
• 35:50
  Speaker 2: Dallas offense is a little bit– this year has been
• 35:52
  Speaker 2: a little bit of a myth. People say, oh, the
• 35:54
  Speaker 2: explosive Dallas offense.
• 35:56
  Speaker 5: And, oh, they've got Pickens.
• 35:57
  Speaker 3: And, oh, they've got Lamb.
• 35:58
  Speaker 2: And they can run the ball so well with Javante
• 36:01
  Speaker 2: Williams in that line. And that's not been the case, correct?
• 36:04
  Speaker 5: I'll tell you one reason. There's probably many, you know.
• 36:07
  Speaker 5: You have to be there to know all the reasons because,
• 36:09
  Speaker 5: you know, obviously I don't know how they view all
• 36:12
  Speaker 5: their players. I'm one person. They've got a whole staff.
• 36:15
  Speaker 5: But think about this, guys. Last year, Javante Williams had
• 36:19
  Speaker 5: 153 carries on first down. He averaged 5.1. That's phenomenal.
• 36:24
  Speaker 5: You'll take that any day of the week on, you know,
• 36:27
  Speaker 5: every play on first down. This year, he's got over
• 36:30
  Speaker 5: 50 first down carries, so he's on pace for about
• 36:33
  Speaker 5: the same number. He's averaging 3.5. That is a huge,
• 36:37
  Speaker 5: huge difference. And therefore Dak Prescott has dropped back more
• 36:43
  Speaker 5: than any quarterback in the league. And again, you can't
• 36:46
  Speaker 5: play that way. And, and everybody knows Dak Prescott is
• 36:50
  Speaker 5: a good quarterback, but Dak Prescott is past the point
• 36:53
  Speaker 5: where he's a playmaker at the quarterback position. He's essentially
• 36:56
  Speaker 5: a pocket quarterback and you can't ask a quarterback to
• 36:59
  Speaker 5: do that on a weekly basis. I believe he's dropped
• 37:02
  Speaker 5: back 45 plus times on average. And, and, it's too much.
• 37:07
  Speaker 5: They've not been able to run the ball on first
• 37:09
  Speaker 5: down and not quite as bad as we discussed with
• 37:13
  Speaker 5: the Eagles and getting into longer yardage, but it's just, it's,
• 37:16
  Speaker 5: it's a, it's a big problem. And they're not sustainable. Jeff,
• 37:19
  Speaker 5: he dropped back.
• 37:20
  Speaker 4: I mean, he had 54 attempts last week against Green Bay.
• 37:23
  Speaker 4: It wasn't like they were down by six touchdowns. I mean,
• 37:25
  Speaker 4: it was 24, seven at one point, but they just,
• 37:29
  Speaker 4: they can't, despite their really good pass target group, Flanoy is.
• 37:33
  Speaker 1: A pretty good third receiver.
• 37:35
  Speaker 4: It's basically the same offensive line, relatively the same. It's
• 37:40
  Speaker 4: surprising to me that they can't get it going. And
• 37:42
  Speaker 4: Schottenheimer's a pretty good play caller. They just cannot get
• 37:44
  Speaker 4: it going.
• 37:45
  Speaker 2: I did read somewhere on some analytics site or social
• 37:49
  Speaker 2: media post that Dak Prescott is on pace to have
• 37:53
  Speaker 2: the most dropbacks in NFL history.
• 37:55
  Speaker 5: Oh, my goodness.
• 37:56
  Speaker 2: If he continues at this pace, which is mind-boggling given
• 37:59
  Speaker 2: how well they ran the ball last year and how
• 38:02
  Speaker 2: much they were willing to do.
• 38:03
  Speaker 5: It, right? I was just going to say, keep in
• 38:06
  Speaker 5: mind that neither one of their offensive tackles would be
• 38:09
  Speaker 5: considered higher-end one-on-one pass protectors. They're not bad. They're not
• 38:15
  Speaker 5: sieves where guys just run through them, but they're not
• 38:19
  Speaker 5: at the top of the list. When that's the case, too,
• 38:23
  Speaker 5: that just exacerbates the problem. You can't play the way
• 38:28
  Speaker 5: they're playing, and that's why they have games like the
• 38:30
  Speaker 5: last two weeks where They don't– they struggle to score.
• 38:34
  Speaker 5: It's just too hard to play that way. Right.
• 38:37
  Speaker 2: So I guess the question would be, Greg, and I
• 38:39
  Speaker 2: know sometimes with run games it's cloudy, but what would–
• 38:43
  Speaker 2: it's the same offensive line, the same running back, the
• 38:46
  Speaker 2: same quarterback. I know– we do know that.
• 38:48
  Speaker 3: Was it Booker was on IR for a couple weeks?
• 38:51
  Speaker 3: I think the left guard– or the right guard?
• 38:53
  Speaker 5: No, it was Trey Smith, the left guard.
• 38:54
  Speaker 1: Oh, okay.
• 38:55
  Speaker 5: Tyler Smith.
• 38:56
  Speaker 3: Tyler Smith, yeah, right.
• 38:56
  Speaker 5: Yeah.
• 38:57
  Speaker 3: But is that was that the reason that they struggled
• 38:59
  Speaker 3: to run the ball? Want that one guy?
• 39:01
  Speaker 5: I can't imagine the guy that was in their best. But,
• 39:03
  Speaker 5: you know, obviously, I think when you struggle to run
• 39:06
  Speaker 5: the ball, it's not just one guy. Right. You know,
• 39:09
  Speaker 5: as we've learned with the Eagles, it's not just one guy.
• 39:11
  Speaker 5: That's the reason that you're struggling to run the ball.
• 39:15
  Speaker 5: But they have. I mean, and there's no look. Javante
• 39:18
  Speaker 5: Williams even at his best. And I like the back.
• 39:20
  Speaker 5: And I think most people do. but he's not an explosive.
• 39:23
  Speaker 5: You know, he's not Barkley where he's going to break
• 39:25
  Speaker 5: the 60 yard or any point in the game he's
• 39:27
  Speaker 5: a sustainer and a grinder and he's tough and he's
• 39:30
  Speaker 5: physical and he keeps you theoretically on schedule this year
• 39:34
  Speaker 5: that has not happened and it just as and Adam
• 39:37
  Speaker 5: made the correct point you know that's not sustainable to
• 39:39
  Speaker 5: have your quarterback drop back that many times.
• 39:42
  Speaker 4: Right 31st in total carries I mean they are as
• 39:45
  Speaker 4: a group I mean that's just it's not sustainable EPA
• 39:48
  Speaker 4: is bad If you look at the metrics, 3.7 yards
• 39:51
  Speaker 4: per carry is not good. Now, I know Javante's been
• 39:54
  Speaker 4: a great story, but you wouldn't call him explosive.
• 39:57
  Speaker 5: No, but he's a good bat.
• 39:59
  Speaker 1: He is. He's solid. He's done a great job.
• 40:00
  Speaker 4: That was a devastating knee injury he had four years
• 40:02
  Speaker 4: ago or three and a half years ago, whatever it was.
• 40:05
  Speaker 4: But it is really interesting, as you set the show
• 40:07
  Speaker 4: up today, how both teams have their issues. Eagles, the
• 40:12
  Speaker 4: running game is worse than the Cowboys. Not too much worse,
• 40:14
  Speaker 4: but it's worse. And the Cowboys, though, they have a
• 40:17
  Speaker 4: great injury situation, but they can't take advantage of it.
• 40:21
  Speaker 4: For them to be 2-4, it's hard to believe with
• 40:25
  Speaker 4: the talent they have.
• 40:27
  Speaker 2: I know, real quick, Greg, I know just to capitalize
• 40:30
  Speaker 2: on what Adam said, people don't realize this, as bad
• 40:32
  Speaker 2: as the Eagles have ran the ball, they have more
• 40:34
  Speaker 2: rushing yards this year than the Cowboys. The Eagles, who
• 40:38
  Speaker 2: we talk about every week, is unable and unfunctional to run,
• 40:42
  Speaker 2: have more than the Cowboys.
• 40:44
  Speaker 5: And guys, keep in mind, too, with the Cowboys' inability
• 40:46
  Speaker 5: to sustain the way you ultimately would like, they do
• 40:50
  Speaker 5: not have a good defense. Theoretically, the Eagles at least
• 40:53
  Speaker 5: have a defense that can keep them in games. The
• 40:55
  Speaker 5: Cowboys do not. So not at this moment in time anyway. So,
• 41:01
  Speaker 5: you know, that just makes the problem even worse. So
• 41:04
  Speaker 5: they've got a bad mix right now. Now, again, Do
• 41:06
  Speaker 5: they have talented players?
• 41:07
  Speaker 1: Yes.
• 41:08
  Speaker 5: Can they come out any given week? And it could
• 41:10
  Speaker 5: be Monday night on offense and explode. They certainly can
• 41:14
  Speaker 5: with the weapons that they have. That's very, very possible.
• 41:17
  Speaker 5: But you just you don't know what you're going to
• 41:20
  Speaker 5: get on a week to week basis.
• 41:22
  Speaker 2: So for sure, one thing begets another, right? Just like
• 41:25
  Speaker 2: we talk about with the Eagles, the Cowboys are having
• 41:27
  Speaker 2: trouble running. And if that continues with Jordan Davis and
• 41:30
  Speaker 2: Jalen Carter, the way they've been playing, you would think
• 41:33
  Speaker 2: the Eagles feel good about that. That, of course, puts
• 41:35
  Speaker 2: the Cowboys in a ton of third and long situations.
• 41:39
  Speaker 2: And surprise, surprise, or none at all, Greg, Dak Prescott
• 41:43
  Speaker 2: has been blitzed a lot, and he's been one of
• 41:46
  Speaker 2: the lesser quarterbacks against the blitz this year.
• 41:49
  Speaker 5: Yeah, it's, you know, the thing is, and I'm just
• 41:53
  Speaker 5: going to say this as a general point because I
• 41:56
  Speaker 5: watch most teams in the league, is defenses have really...
• 42:02
  Speaker 5: advanced and refined pressure concepts. We're seeing more and more
• 42:06
  Speaker 5: defensive backs involved in pressure this year than ever before.
• 42:10
  Speaker 5: Because I did a little bit of a study this week,
• 42:13
  Speaker 5: as much as I could as one person, but defensive
• 42:17
  Speaker 5: backs are really involved in pressure and they're fast. I mean,
• 42:20
  Speaker 5: offensive linemen can't respond to those guys. They're just better athletes.
• 42:23
  Speaker 5: They're faster. That's why teams do it. I mean, teams
• 42:26
  Speaker 5: now are showing all these pressure fronts and that basically
• 42:29
  Speaker 5: eat up the offensive line and trigger the back as
• 42:33
  Speaker 5: a pass protector, and they know that that has to happen,
• 42:36
  Speaker 5: and then they bring defensive backs who can't be accounted
• 42:39
  Speaker 5: for by the protection, and those guys get there fast.
• 42:42
  Speaker 5: So even if they don't sack anybody, they force the
• 42:45
  Speaker 5: quarterback to either just throw it hurriedly, get out of
• 42:47
  Speaker 5: the pocket, and Dak is no longer a guy that's
• 42:50
  Speaker 5: going to get out of the pocket and make a
• 42:51
  Speaker 5: lot of plays. But now you're raising a really interesting point, Jeff,
• 42:57
  Speaker 5: Vic Fangio is not necessarily a big blitz guy. Now,
• 43:00
  Speaker 5: does that mean he changes this week? Because we've seen
• 43:02
  Speaker 5: him sort of increase the frequency a little bit when
• 43:05
  Speaker 5: he feels like it's not working properly. So does he
• 43:08
  Speaker 5: go into this game thinking, not that he's going to
• 43:10
  Speaker 5: become Brian Flores, but does he go into this game,
• 43:13
  Speaker 5: you know, thinking, maybe I'll just jack up the pressure
• 43:16
  Speaker 5: a little bit more? Yep.
• 43:18
  Speaker 3: Yep.
• 43:19
  Speaker 2: Listen, well, you're setting the tone for exactly what I
• 43:22
  Speaker 2: think we should tell our audience that they should be
• 43:25
  Speaker 2: keyed in on, right? Dallas is living in second and
• 43:29
  Speaker 2: third and long a lot.
• 43:30
  Speaker 5: Yeah.
• 43:30
  Speaker 3: Eagles. You just mentioned this.
• 43:31
  Speaker 4: All right.
• 43:32
  Speaker 2: Vic Fangio last year, I have the stats right here.
• 43:34
  Speaker 2: He blitzed at an 18% rate. So we know he
• 43:37
  Speaker 2: doesn't like the blitz this year. It's up to 23. However,
• 43:41
  Speaker 2: I would argue that it, that number is sort of
• 43:43
  Speaker 2: skewed low by just 5% against the Rams and week four,
• 43:47
  Speaker 2: because the last two weeks to your point, Greg, he
• 43:50
  Speaker 2: has blitzed. He blitzed the Panthers at a 36% rate,
• 43:53
  Speaker 2: which is, For him, that's like being Brian Flores. And
• 43:57
  Speaker 2: then the week before against the Jaguars, it was 27%.
• 44:01
  Speaker 2: So for the last two weeks, he's somewhere in that 29,
• 44:04
  Speaker 2: 30% blitz range, which is way higher than last.
• 44:07
  Speaker 3: Year's 18% range.
• 44:09
  Speaker 2: And obviously a lot of that is due to the
• 44:11
  Speaker 2: injuries they have at the edge and having to just
• 44:14
  Speaker 2: manufacture and generate and create pressure. And they're going to
• 44:17
  Speaker 2: have the same issues Monday night. So I have to
• 44:19
  Speaker 2: think that if they're able to get Dallas in those
• 44:22
  Speaker 2: longer down distances, they will.
• 44:24
  Speaker 5: Is he going to think that, and again, we're not
• 44:27
  Speaker 5: saying what Vic Fingert should or shouldn't do, because he's
• 44:30
  Speaker 5: a lot smarter than the three of us. He knows
• 44:32
  Speaker 5: more football than the three of us combined. So we're
• 44:34
  Speaker 5: not telling him this is what he should do and
• 44:36
  Speaker 5: act like if he doesn't do it, he's an idiot,
• 44:37
  Speaker 5: because I don't believe in that, because he knows a
• 44:39
  Speaker 5: lot more than we do. But the question is, and
• 44:42
  Speaker 5: it's a legit question just to throw out for us,
• 44:45
  Speaker 5: is he going to look at James Newby and Evachetti
• 44:48
  Speaker 5: as individuals edge rushers that, hey, those guys can do
• 44:54
  Speaker 5: what I need them to do for a full game. Yeah.
• 44:58
  Speaker 2: I'm going to give you the answers to the test,
• 44:59
  Speaker 2: and I could be wrong, but I'm going to stick
• 45:01
  Speaker 2: my neck out and say no. He's going to feel
• 45:03
  Speaker 2: the need to blitz, and I think he's going to
• 45:05
  Speaker 2: know that Dallas has struggled against it. So, hey, if
• 45:09
  Speaker 2: that's where they're struggling, let's do it.
• 45:11
  Speaker 5: Yep.
• 45:12
  Speaker 2: By the way, Dak Prescott this year against the Blitz.
• 45:14
  Speaker 2: This is from NextGenStats. 19th in passer rating at 89.1.
• 45:17
  Speaker 2: 21st in completion percentage over expectation. 15th in pass EPA
• 45:23
  Speaker 2: against the Blitz. And he has the NFL's most pass attempts,
• 45:27
  Speaker 2: not only in general, but also against the Blitz.
• 45:30
  Speaker 3: So, I mean, teams are blitzing him, and it's paying
• 45:33
  Speaker 3: off for him.
• 45:34
  Speaker 5: Yeah, so we'll see. That's a really fascinating part of
• 45:37
  Speaker 5: this game. Another, and not to jump ahead, Jeff, I
• 45:39
  Speaker 5: know you're running the show here, but something I just
• 45:41
  Speaker 5: thought of, George Pickens is lined up on the left
• 45:44
  Speaker 5: a ton this year. And we know now that what
• 45:47
  Speaker 5: Vic has done this year is, Quinion Mitchell's the right corner.
• 45:50
  Speaker 5: He's literally played almost every snap on the right side. Right.
• 45:54
  Speaker 5: You know, unless they've gone man and the guy they
• 45:58
  Speaker 5: wanted to cover is a lot, but he's played right
• 46:00
  Speaker 5: outside corner. I would say on every snap and maybe
• 46:03
  Speaker 5: 15 all year long. So that's going to be, you know,
• 46:06
  Speaker 5: one of those interesting matchups again. You know, Pickens versus Mitchell.
• 46:11
  Speaker 4: And Jeff, you should know here that Brian Schottenheimer was
• 46:15
  Speaker 4: very critical of Pickens' performance for this last game. You know,
• 46:19
  Speaker 4: their run game is obviously bad. We've given you the numbers,
• 46:22
  Speaker 4: but he mentions Pickens specifically in the run game. He
• 46:25
  Speaker 4: needs to make a better effort. And with Pickens, as
• 46:29
  Speaker 4: we know, it's never been a talent issue. It's been effort,
• 46:32
  Speaker 4: being consistent. It's just, he drives people crazy because he's
• 46:36
  Speaker 4: so gifted, but he just has trouble being a consistent
• 46:40
  Speaker 4: football player.
• 46:42
  Speaker 1: And you'd never know on any given day he could
• 46:44
  Speaker 1: have a huge game. Lamb, of course. He can go
• 46:47
  Speaker 1: off against anybody.
• 46:48
  Speaker 5: I know.
• 46:49
  Speaker 1: He's capable. I just don't know because his effort, Pittsburgh
• 46:52
  Speaker 1: never offered him an extension. They knew it was going
• 46:55
  Speaker 1: to be a problem if they didn't move him. They
• 46:56
  Speaker 1: moved him. Now he's the Cowboys problem.
• 46:59
  Speaker 5: Right.
• 46:59
  Speaker 1: And the Cowboys.
• 47:00
  Speaker 5: As Adam said, you know, about his talent. I mean,
• 47:03
  Speaker 5: people probably are unaware that he over 1400 receiving yards
• 47:06
  Speaker 5: last year. I think he was third Malik because he's super,
• 47:09
  Speaker 5: super gifted. Yeah.
• 47:11
  Speaker 2: So, so here's the matchup that I'm really keyed in
• 47:14
  Speaker 2: on based on what you said, Greg, right? We know
• 47:17
  Speaker 2: lamb will move around. He'll play outside. He'll play slot.
• 47:19
  Speaker 1: Okay.
• 47:20
  Speaker 2: Pickens, like you said, more static on the left side,
• 47:23
  Speaker 2: Cooper to Jean, you mentioned on inside of the tape
• 47:25
  Speaker 2: has not had his best.
• 47:26
  Speaker 3: Year in coverage.
• 47:28
  Speaker 5: No.
• 47:29
  Speaker 2: And CD lamb is, has pretty good games typically against everybody,
• 47:33
  Speaker 2: but especially against the Eagles. I mean, the one game
• 47:35
  Speaker 2: he didn't was last year's season opener, but they had
• 47:38
  Speaker 2: a chance to win, and he dropped the pass. I
• 47:40
  Speaker 2: think that that's going to be a– especially if Vic
• 47:42
  Speaker 2: is going to choose to blitz and send some five,
• 47:45
  Speaker 2: six-man rushes, I think Cooper to Gene will probably find
• 47:49
  Speaker 2: himself– it may not always be man when they blitz,
• 47:51
  Speaker 2: but when they do, I think Cooper to Gene.
• 47:53
  Speaker 3: Versus CeeDee Lamb is going to be a very.
• 47:56
  Speaker 2: This might tilt it. If Lamb gets the best of that,
• 47:59
  Speaker 2: then Cowboys got a good chance. If Cooper can play
• 48:01
  Speaker 2: like we've seen him play the last two years, better
• 48:04
  Speaker 2: than he's played this year, I think it gives the
• 48:06
  Speaker 2: Eagles a good shot.
• 48:07
  Speaker 5: Yeah, I agree. I mean, I think that Kajin has
• 48:09
  Speaker 5: had some struggles when he's had to play man. And
• 48:13
  Speaker 5: that will happen in this game at some point. Like
• 48:16
  Speaker 5: you said, and you're 100% right, Jeff, it's not going
• 48:18
  Speaker 5: to happen 25 times. But, you know, it'll happen a
• 48:22
  Speaker 5: meaningful number of times. Whatever that number is, it'll happen.
• 48:24
  Speaker 5: You're 100% right. The one thing with the Cowboys this year, too,
• 48:28
  Speaker 5: and I'm trying to remember back to last year, and
• 48:30
  Speaker 5: I can't, but the Cowboys have not been a motion
• 48:33
  Speaker 5: team much at all this year, relative to the rest
• 48:36
  Speaker 5: of the league. That's the way I judge it. I mean, obviously,
• 48:39
  Speaker 5: they put guys in motion. It's not like they never
• 48:41
  Speaker 5: do it, but relative to the way the league is moving.
• 48:44
  Speaker 5: And my guess is it's less than last year, because
• 48:47
  Speaker 5: to me, Lamb has always been a guy that's been
• 48:49
  Speaker 5: a movement guy, that you get him moving. on the move,
• 48:52
  Speaker 5: free access, gets into his routes. He understands how to
• 48:55
  Speaker 5: run routes at a high level. So, again, I don't
• 48:57
  Speaker 5: know the reason for it, but they've not been a
• 48:59
  Speaker 5: high percentage motion offense, pre-snap movement offense, you know, relative
• 49:03
  Speaker 5: to where the league is. Right.
• 49:07
  Speaker 2: So I would expect, based on this, that we'll see
• 49:10
  Speaker 2: Eagles in a decent amount of nickel, which means Dejean
• 49:12
  Speaker 2: will play in the slot, and it'll be interesting to
• 49:16
  Speaker 2: see Vicks. It clearly Kenny Moore has impressed Vic. Even
• 49:21
  Speaker 2: when Marcus Epps was healthy last week, right? Kenny Moore
• 49:23
  Speaker 2: got a pretty good deal of runs. So when their base,
• 49:26
  Speaker 2: it was Epps, right? It was, it was no, no,
• 49:28
  Speaker 2: it was and Macuba. And then when they went to nickel,
• 49:32
  Speaker 2: it was Kenny Moore. So we've had, we've had an
• 49:34
  Speaker 2: early changing of the, the safety here, the nickel safety.
• 49:38
  Speaker 1: It's crazy. Cause think about it.
• 49:40
  Speaker 4: Vic made it pretty clear he had no interest in
• 49:43
  Speaker 4: playing more at safety.
• 49:44
  Speaker 5: Yeah.
• 49:45
  Speaker 4: When he got here, he wasn't even a thought. He said, yeah,
• 49:47
  Speaker 4: maybe later in the season. Well, everything's changed.
• 49:50
  Speaker 5: Yep.
• 49:50
  Speaker 1: Absolutely. Marcus Epps only played on specials last week, right?
• 49:54
  Speaker 5: Yep.
• 49:54
  Speaker 1: They're running out of safeties. You got to do what
• 49:56
  Speaker 1: you got to do. And, you know, Kenny Moore's a
• 49:57
  Speaker 1: smart football player. Great stories.
• 49:59
  Speaker 4: I was able to talk to him at the Super
• 50:01
  Speaker 4: Bowl a couple of years ago. You know, he's brought
• 50:03
  Speaker 4: up in the game by Belichick in terms of as
• 50:05
  Speaker 4: an NFL player. He's a great story. But, you know,
• 50:08
  Speaker 4: he's in the back nine of his career, having to
• 50:09
  Speaker 4: learn this position in season. This is a game where,
• 50:14
  Speaker 4: if you look at Dallas' recent history, a ton of
• 50:17
  Speaker 4: 11 personnel. Flannoy, their third receiver, played 87% with snaps
• 50:21
  Speaker 4: against Green Bay.
• 50:21
  Speaker 1: I know they were behind. That's probably part of it.
• 50:24
  Speaker 1: But we should note, Jake Ferguson has not had a
• 50:27
  Speaker 1: great season.
• 50:27
  Speaker 5: And by the way, you just led me into a
• 50:31
  Speaker 5: beautiful segue. Do it.
• 50:33
  Speaker 1: Do it.
• 50:34
  Speaker 5: They started Spanford at tight end last week because he
• 50:36
  Speaker 5: is a much better blocker than Jake Ferguson. And they
• 50:40
  Speaker 5: probably did that because they know their run game needs
• 50:43
  Speaker 5: to be the starting point of what they do. But
• 50:47
  Speaker 5: the results have been what we've been talking about. So
• 50:49
  Speaker 5: it'll be interesting to see if that continues because Ferguson, Adam,
• 50:52
  Speaker 5: has nailed it. He's not had a great year as
• 50:54
  Speaker 5: a receiver. And because he's not a great blocker, they
• 50:57
  Speaker 5: probably felt, well, at least let's put a guy in
• 50:59
  Speaker 5: as a blocker.
• 51:00
  Speaker 2: Right.
• 51:01
  Speaker 5: Right.
• 51:01
  Speaker 3: Boy, that guy has climbed the ladder, right? First, he
• 51:03
  Speaker 3: had a leapfrog schoonermaker. Then it was leapfrog Ferguson. He
• 51:06
  Speaker 3: went from three to one.
• 51:09
  Speaker 4: Brevin Spanford was an undrafted free agent in 24, over 6'6,
• 51:16
  Speaker 4: over 260.
• 51:17
  Speaker 1: He's a wide tight end. He's only in the NFL
• 51:18
  Speaker 1: for one reason.
• 51:20
  Speaker 5: Did he come from Minnesota?
• 51:22
  Speaker 1: Yeah, he did.
• 51:22
  Speaker 4: He's a big dude. He's He's just one of these guys.
• 51:25
  Speaker 4: You might remember a guy named Farrow Brown who's still
• 51:27
  Speaker 4: in the league somewhere.
• 51:28
  Speaker 5: Oh, yeah. They're in the league.
• 51:29
  Speaker 1: As a Y.
• 51:30
  Speaker 4: If you're a good Y, like Chris Manhurts, you could
• 51:34
  Speaker 4: not be from a basketball school called Canisius.
• 51:36
  Speaker 5: There's a place for you in the league.
• 51:39
  Speaker 1: Yeah, you could play in the league.
• 51:40
  Speaker 5: Look how many years Foster Moreau has played.
• 51:43
  Speaker 1: Foster Moreau who had two touchdowns last week. I know.
• 51:46
  Speaker 3: He actually is a Y with a little bit of
• 51:47
  Speaker 3: receiving ability.
• 51:49
  Speaker 5: Yeah.
• 51:50
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 51:50
  Speaker 3: Johnny Muntz. I mean, that's the most obvious example of
• 51:53
  Speaker 3: a guy still in this league.
• 51:54
  Speaker 5: All right.
• 51:54
  Speaker 3: Good stuff.
• 51:55
  Speaker 5: All right.
• 51:55
  Speaker 2: Really interesting to see the cat and mouse game then
• 51:57
  Speaker 2: between Brian Schottenheimer and Vic Fangio. Okay, you know those
• 52:01
  Speaker 2: pieces in your closet that you find yourself wearing on repeat.
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  Speaker 3: And now, fellas, we'll do what we do best.
• 54:48
  Speaker 2: Now, I gotta say, if the Eagles had figured out
• 54:52
  Speaker 2: a way to beat that win last week. I would
• 54:54
  Speaker 2: have looked terrible because you guys both, both picked the
• 54:56
  Speaker 2: Eagles to win. I was the only one to pick
• 54:57
  Speaker 2: the Panthers. I thought I was going to hear it
• 55:00
  Speaker 2: from the people, especially if the Eagles won.
• 55:01
  Speaker 1: Oh, on YouTube you did.
• 55:03
  Speaker 5: Yeah.
• 55:03
  Speaker 2: Oh, I heard it anyway, because you left me out
• 55:06
  Speaker 2: to dry, but I got the last laugh, even though
• 55:09
  Speaker 2: it's no fun when that happens.
• 55:10
  Speaker 3: So let's go.
• 55:12
  Speaker 2: The Eagles, I believe are four and a half point underdogs.
• 55:15
  Speaker 2: Last I checked, unless the line is moved even more.
• 55:18
  Speaker 2: So that means for the second straight week, the Eagles
• 55:20
  Speaker 2: are underdogs at home and Adam, as long as we've
• 55:23
  Speaker 2: been doing this podcast, I'm not sure maybe in 2020,
• 55:26
  Speaker 2: I'd have to go back and look, but even then
• 55:28
  Speaker 2: I'm not sure they were ever underdogs at home two
• 55:31
  Speaker 2: weeks in a row.
• 55:33
  Speaker 5: Yeah.
• 55:33
  Speaker 4: It, it, it's kind of hard to believe the way
• 55:35
  Speaker 4: the season's gone, but when you don't have enough players,
• 55:38
  Speaker 4: it's hard for sure. Another game where weather will not
• 55:41
  Speaker 4: be a factor.
• 55:42
  Speaker 5: Beautiful. Yeah.
• 55:44
  Speaker 1: Mid fifties when not a factor.
• 55:47
  Speaker 4: I got at the Cowpokes, and it pains me as
• 55:49
  Speaker 4: a native of the area to pick them, but I
• 55:50
  Speaker 4: have to. They're the healthier team. Anything could happen. Look,
• 55:54
  Speaker 4: if the Eagles had a full squad, they could blow
• 55:56
  Speaker 4: this team out, Dallas.
• 55:57
  Speaker 1: But they can't. They don't have a full team.
• 56:00
  Speaker 4: Even though it sounds a little bit better, their health,
• 56:02
  Speaker 4: we still have no idea exactly what it's going to
• 56:03
  Speaker 4: look like from a health standpoint. I'm going to pick
• 56:07
  Speaker 4: Dallas to win 24-20. My player of the game, I
• 56:13
  Speaker 4: don't want to go.
• 56:14
  Speaker 1: With the enigmatic pickings because you just don't know. So
• 56:17
  Speaker 1: I'll go with CeeDee Lamb.
• 56:19
  Speaker 4: How many drops did he have in the 25 opener?
• 56:21
  Speaker 4: Was it four or five? I think he had four
• 56:23
  Speaker 4: or five, yeah.
• 56:26
  Speaker 1: Well, he'll get open. And as we mentioned, Dajin has
• 56:28
  Speaker 1: not been playing well.
• 56:31
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I've got the Cowboys doing that, and we'll go
• 56:34
  Speaker 4: with CeeDee Lamb.
• 56:36
  Speaker 3: All right, so at least you have an Eagles cover, right?
• 56:37
  Speaker 3: You said 24-20?
• 56:38
  Speaker 1: Oh, yeah, yeah.
• 56:39
  Speaker 3: Eagles four-and-a-half point underdogs. Craig, what do you got?
• 56:43
  Speaker 5: I got the birds 20-16 at Saquon Barkley. Nice.
• 56:47
  Speaker 3: I like it. Okay.
• 56:49
  Speaker 2: Well, Adam, this week, we're the ones to hang you
• 56:52
  Speaker 2: out to the dry. I'm actually taking the Eagles as well.
• 56:55
  Speaker 2: I know everybody's going to be surprised by that, but
• 56:57
  Speaker 2: I am taking the Eagles to win 23 to 20.
• 56:59
  Speaker 2: I guess maybe I'm a little optimistic about the state
• 57:03
  Speaker 2: of the offensive line and run game with the three
• 57:05
  Speaker 2: guys back that we're talking about. But, you know, I
• 57:08
  Speaker 2: certainly don't think it's a sure thing. And I am
• 57:11
  Speaker 2: going to use Saquon as my player.
• 57:15
  Speaker 3: Of the game.
• 57:16
  Speaker 2: Actually, I should pick a defensive guy because you win 23-20.
• 57:19
  Speaker 2: I do think that they're going to get a turnover
• 57:21
  Speaker 2: or two, and that's going to be the big difference.
• 57:22
  Speaker 2: So if I were to pick a secondary person, I'd
• 57:24
  Speaker 2: probably say DeGene.
• 57:26
  Speaker 3: I'm going to say Cooper DeGene.
• 57:27
  Speaker 4: So your feeling is that we don't know for sure
• 57:31
  Speaker 4: if Dickerson's going to play.
• 57:33
  Speaker 3: We don't, but I'm getting a good feel. Yeah.
• 57:35
  Speaker 1: It's looking good. It's looking very possible.
• 57:37
  Speaker 5: Right.
• 57:38
  Speaker 1: And boy, could they use him. I mean, they have,
• 57:40
  Speaker 1: by the way, on Monday, 4 p.m. Eastern to make
• 57:42
  Speaker 1: a decision.
• 57:43
  Speaker 5: Yeah.
• 57:43
  Speaker 1: 53 or not, but.
• 57:45
  Speaker 4: Yeah, it would be nice if– look, if they win,
• 57:48
  Speaker 4: Barkley's house is going to have to be a huge factor.
• 57:50
  Speaker 4: There's literally no way they could win without him being
• 57:52
  Speaker 4: a factor.
• 57:53
  Speaker 1: Agreed.
• 57:54
  Speaker 3: Agreed. Absolutely.
• 57:56
  Speaker 5: All right.
• 57:57
  Speaker 3: All right, so you're the bad guy this week, Adam.
• 58:00
  Speaker 3: You can let me know how that feels.
• 58:03
  Speaker 2: All right, everybody, you've been listening or watching the Inside
• 58:07
  Speaker 2: the Birds pregame show for week seven. Monday night, Eagles
• 58:11
  Speaker 2: hosting the Cowboys. It used to be a fun game.
• 58:13
  Speaker 2: Everybody enjoy it. You've been watching the Inside the Birds
• 58:16
  Speaker 2: pregame show for Greg Cosell and Adam Kaplan.
• 58:18
  Speaker 3: I'm Jeff Mosher. Thanks for watching on Inside the Birds.