Latest / The Philadelphia Sports Table | Philly Sports News & Views / EAGLES POSTGAME: Eagles vs. Commanders, Week 4

Transcript

EAGLES POSTGAME: Eagles vs. Commanders, Week 4 · The Philadelphia Sports Table | Philly Sports News & Views

0:21
All right, folks who are listening to Eagles postgame analysis here at the Philadelphia
0:24
Sports Table podcast show, the longest running weekly Philly sports podcast show in the
0:29
world. That's right over ten years strong. Week four of the Philadelphia Eagles
0:34
twenty twenty three two twenty four season is now in the books. They get
0:38
a victory at the link over the Washington Commanders, a score of thirty four
0:42
to thirty one. Boy, it was a nail biter that went into overtime,
0:47
first overtime game of this season. And I gotta tell you, we
0:51
saw we saw some good stuff from this team. We saw some dog crap
0:54
from this team. And to get into it with us this week, filling
0:58
in for Len and Air, we have got our good friend from Philadelphia Soccer
1:03
now. He joined us earlier this year, talk about some Philadelphia Union news
1:07
and notes. It was earlier this summer. It was great to have him
1:11
on. But now to get into this Eagles postgame show here, we've got
1:14
the one and only Josh Schuster. How you doing, Buddy, I'm doing
1:18
good, Jeff, I can breathe now. We're just here talking all things
1:21
football, whether it's football overseas here in America, or American football. There,
1:26
you got it all covered. There, you got hey Union not doing
1:27
two two bad in terms of their standings, right, I know we're doing
1:30
the Eagles post game, but man, they're doing all right. Yeah,
1:33
they're kind of they're they're kind of rolling along until playoffs now, so yeah,
1:38
they're they're doing all right. They're all right. All right. We
1:40
can talk about the Union at some other point here, because really, this
1:42
this Eagles Commander's game, the very first matchup between these two teams in this
1:48
twenty two twenty four season. Josh, is I think a real indicator that
1:53
this Eagles team has a lot of work to do on both sides of the
1:57
ball. First divisional game, and we know that this is how these divisional
2:01
games usually go. You know, somebody says the Washington Commanders, Okay,
2:05
yeah, the Eagles should really kill them this past week, when folks would
2:07
say that to me, I'm like, stop, No, these games,
2:10
these division games, they're always close, they're always competitive. There's always one
2:15
team that does great things, other team does not so great things throughout the
2:20
course of the game, and then vice versa. And we saw that today
2:23
in this game here in week four, and I guess if we start going
2:28
through our takeaways, I mean, for me, Josh, it was really
2:30
a tale of two halves. It was a tale of two halves where you
2:34
had such a lack of productivity coming from the Eagles offense and the struggles with
2:38
the defense in the first half. Second half they turn things around on both
2:43
offense and defense basically until halfway through the fourth quarter. But for me,
2:46
it was really a tale of two halves here and again, I'll go back
2:50
to the point that this team's got a lot of work to do on both
2:53
sides of the ball. They really do. So I don't what are your
2:54
thoughts at this point in terms of themes takeaways from this game as well.
3:00
Yeah, I was gonna ask when we get to the grades portion, if
3:02
it was going to be possible to do a first half grade in a second
3:06
half grade, because I felt like that was the most appropriate way to do
3:08
it, because otherwise everything would be like seized across the board and it might
3:13
think, Yeah, it might be you know, we're just gonna do one
3:15
grade. It might be c I mean, I honestly, and pull back
3:17
the curtain, folks, whether it's you know, Josh myself, you know,
3:22
Matt Rodgers was on last week doing the postgame show. Whether it's Leon
3:24
or Eric, we don't talk about our grades prior to hitting the record button.
3:28
We kind of just do it on the fly. So I'm sorry,
3:30
go ahead, buddy. Yeah, I think you know. One of the
3:32
things that I'm sure we'll get into is officiating because it's a real hot button
3:38
topic sports. Yeah. Right. You had Angel Hernandez this week, and
3:44
I think one of the things that I am beginning to take away from,
3:47
especially with the NFL, is what is a good rule or a bad rule,
3:53
and what is good officiating and what is bad officiating? Yes, I
3:55
mean you can have an individual who makes a good all because it is based
4:00
off of the rule, but the rule is just an atrocity. And so
4:04
I think we're kind of getting into that zone both in baseball and here.
4:09
And we saw today with the Sam Howell running out of bounds. I mean
4:12
literally at this point, quarterback's mind as well just run down the sideline because
4:16
you can't touch him. And so it's really becoming a problem. Technically,
4:20
by the book, it was a good call. We may not like it,
4:24
but it's a bad rule. Absolutely, no, it absolutely is.
4:27
And you take a look too. And look, when we started this podcast
4:30
show over ten years ago, I was the guy who was always constantly complaining
4:33
about officiating, and Len kind of had to talk me off that ledge,
4:36
saying, Jeff, you know it, officiating is officiating, and you're gonna
4:42
get bad calls in games. You know you're gonna get calls that go your
4:45
way in particular games. But when you take a look at this particular officiating
4:49
crew, Ronald Torbert's NFL officiating crew had a reputation coming into this game for
4:55
calling a lot of penalties. And at the end of this game, there
4:59
were eighteen total penalties that were accepted in this game, and I believe there
5:03
were three that were actually declined that don't show up on the stat sheet here.
5:09
Josh, So, you're absolutely right. I mean, it was just
5:13
amazing to one hundred and twenty one yards of total penalties on eighteen of them.
5:17
It's just it's absurd to me. It doesn't do any good for the
5:20
game. Josh. No, you know, my six year old watches and
5:27
I had to explain to them why they're throwing a flag on the field,
5:29
and I said, it's because they're not listening. And so the reality is
5:33
is some of it was self inflicted. Yes, And that's kind of the
5:36
other takeaway. I have a j Brown needs to do better because two things
5:42
that allowed Washington to score. Was one that taunting penalty and the fourth I
5:46
get it, you scored the path the touchdown, great, go celebrate on
5:48
the sidelines. That have a blast fifteen yards cost them. The other thing
5:53
is what was the coaching staff doing when there's five seconds left? There's one
5:58
second on the play clock and Eagles call of time out? Yeah? Why?
6:01
Yeah? Absolutely really two things that led this game to overtime. But
6:04
even going with officiating, I'm in the opposite boat. I rarely ever complain
6:10
because to me, the outcome of a game is never determined by officiating,
6:14
and here today we see it. There was bad officiating, but the Eagles
6:17
were able to overcome it. So I'm kind of in the opposite camp.
6:21
I've been there for a while. I know I'm mostly on an island by
6:24
myself on that. But yeah, we can, we can get into the
6:29
rest of the game. But because we're just kind of my thoughts, I
6:31
think it's very valid. It's definitely a theme that we're gonna be able to
6:34
take away from this game. You know, if folks are listening to this
6:36
podcast a week or even two down the road, you know that this was
6:42
a particular game here week four of this Eagle season, where the officials actually
6:46
had to say and what was going to happen. They sustained drives, specifically
6:50
for the Commanders, they sustained some drives for the Eagles too, on some
6:55
very questionable calls as well. And it's just it's mind boggling that this stuff
6:59
kind of continues to happen. That you know a certain officiating crew is coming
7:02
into the stadium, and you know that that crew has a reputation for calling
7:06
a lot of penalties and can actually change the course in direction of the game.
7:13
But like I said initially, Josh, a tale of two halves with
7:15
this game, some numbers that really stood out to me at the half were
7:19
the penalties. Of course, we'll go back to the penalties. The Eagles
7:23
had six penalties for thirty yards at the half, and several of which either
7:26
extended Washington's drives or stalled their own drives on offense. And then what really
7:32
really was striking to me was that the Eagles offense only had twenty seven rushing
7:38
yards on nine attempts at the half. That's three yards per carrying. This
7:43
is DeAndre Swift, but we've seen from him the past two weeks just incredible,
7:47
incredible rushes behind this prolific offensive line. Wasn't necessarily getting it done in
7:53
terms of in terms of the first half. And then the Eagles were two
7:56
for five on third down their third downs in this game. I'm not too
8:01
pleased with them, not too pleased at all, four of twelve. Meanwhile,
8:03
the Washington Commanders go eight of seventeen on third down. It's amazing they
8:09
won this game given their third down efficiency. In my opinion, yards per
8:13
play in this game usually a team is going to end up winning, and
8:18
this is simply because the Eagles had a lot more big boom plays than the
8:22
Commanders did. Six point two yards per play from the Eagles and four point
8:26
nine yards per play by the Commanders at the end of it. But at
8:30
the end of the game. But like I said, holy cow, it
8:33
was just a tale of two halves. And at the you know, at
8:35
the end of this game, you have the Eagles actually rushing for over one
8:39
hundred yards, which I didn't think that was gonna happen looking at this box
8:43
score leading up to the end of overtime, but they did have one hundred
8:46
and four total yards rushing, only averaging three point nine yards per attempt tear.
8:52
And I gotta say it's because this Washington Commander's defense, especially the front,
8:56
is pretty good. Josh, yeah. I think overall, I think
9:01
one of the reasons why the run wasn't effective is because you saw this Washington
9:07
front that's kind of had a really rough start to begin the season, and
9:09
a lot was made of that, especially this week, and I feel like
9:11
maybe that was hurt. And I had said to my dad at one point,
9:16
I said, you know, the run game hasn't gotten going, and
9:20
we were talking about that and he said, well, maybe it's just not
9:22
being very effective. And my comment was, while either A it's not being
9:26
effective or B the offensive coordinators have chosen not to make it effective, which
9:31
they have a tendency to do. I think we've become very run happy the
9:35
last couple of weeks, but overall, the run just wasn't there today,
9:39
And honestly, it was kind of a I don't want to say a rough
9:43
game from the offensive line, but it was not up to the standard I
9:46
would say of the offensive line. I think that contributed to not really being
9:48
able to run the ball. And I'm trying to figure out what's going on
9:52
with Jalen Hurts that that let's go, Yeah, that was my next theme
9:56
that I wanted to get into, so feel free. He seems I want
10:01
to use the word hesitant, and I think part of it is I think
10:05
they've talked with him about preserving himself. And you can see when it's a
10:11
designed run, it's almost like he goes two yards and then falls over.
10:15
But then you see the incredible breakout when he picked up like twenty five thirty
10:18
yards when a pass play broke down. Yeah, I'm not sure what's going
10:22
on with Jalen Hurts in the run game. I mean he's been you can't
10:26
complain about him in the past game twenty five or thirty seven, three nineteen
10:30
yards and two touchdowns. He's doing exactly what they need him to do.
10:33
The problem is, I don't know how much longer they're going to be able
10:37
to do option plays if he's not effectively running the ball exactly. Absolutely,
10:43
how does his play And I'm so glad you brought this up. How does
10:46
his play or how he's not necessarily quote playing like Jalen Hurts, how does
10:50
that affect the RPO game? And that's what I wanted to talk about too,
10:54
because he's not out there. There was one play in particular where there
10:58
was a cornerback that it was just he in the cornerback in open space.
11:01
He rolled out to his right and he didn't even try to juke the defender
11:07
in the open field. And we're seeing this after he scrambles a number of
11:11
times. As you mentioned, Josh, he's doing a lot of sliding and
11:13
falling down. Again, like you mentioned, you had that nice twenty four
11:16
yard carry in the fourth quarter, but that plane itself was about it all
11:20
season in terms of real long rushes where he really made nothing out of something.
11:26
But on the designed RPOs he is, he's just falling down. He's
11:31
not juking defenders like he did last year. And yes, again we want
11:35
Jalen Hurts to be healthy and the coaches are probably telling him, you need
11:37
to preserve yourself too. The last thing we need is an ACL injury coming
11:41
from you because we've got Marcus Mariotta on the sideline. So with that being
11:46
said too, I think from a run game perspective, it's going to be
11:50
a challenge for this Eagles team in Week five and beyond to see how they're
11:54
really going to utilize him in the running game and the RPO game, but
11:58
also conversely on the on the passing side of things too. I don't know
12:01
if you saw it on a number of instant replays, Josh, there is
12:07
a receiver who is wide open who he is completely missing, and it's just
12:11
incredible. And it seems like another aspect of Jalen Hurt's game that seems to
12:16
have changed a bit from last season, whether there's a guy completely open or
12:20
there's somebody like a j Brown or Devonte Smith who has their defender beat and
12:24
he is just not seeing them. I am a little concerned about this.
12:28
Again. You use the word hesitant from Jalen Hurts. I think we're seeing
12:33
in a passing game as well. Yeah. I think you bring up an
12:37
interesting notion here, and I think I can speak for both of us and
12:43
saying, please, if you're listening to this, don't say you know Jeff
12:46
and Josh Hay Jalen Hurts, That's not what we're saying. I think part
12:50
of the problem is Jalen Hurts played at such a elite MVP level last year
12:58
that that is just what we expect moving forward. Word, and I don't
13:00
know how much it's fair of us as fans to have that expectation of it.
13:05
The guy I read off his numbers and they were they were good,
13:09
right, Like, we're not sitting here saying he's he's a horrible quarterback.
13:16
The concern that I have, and I'll use the word hesitation again. Today
13:20
he didn't throw into double coverage, but it's the first time this season that
13:26
he has not done it multiple times, which he never did last year.
13:31
And I'm not so concerned about the missing wide receivers because I think he has
13:35
improved his arm enough that he's shown he can do these basically rain drop passes
13:43
right when he needs to. And honestly, today was probably one of the
13:46
most clutch moments he's had taking the Super Bowl out of it in the last
13:52
two seasons, and he rose to the moment, and honestly, it was
13:56
one of the best drives that he had to get them down into field goal
13:58
position and at the end of the game to give him the lead. YEP.
14:01
Absolutely I'm not super worried about the open receivers. I'm more encouraged that
14:05
the receivers are running the right routes. And when we get to receivers,
14:09
I'll harp on it a little bit more. But I was very encouraged today.
14:13
So okay, all right, very good. One of the last themes
14:18
that I had for today actually dealt with the defense. I think again it
14:22
was a tale of two halves with the defense. We saw some great plays
14:24
from the defense. We saw some not so great plays from the defense.
14:28
When Sam Howe is putting up two hundred and ninety yards a touchdown, and
14:33
of course Sam Howe was just eating this team alive during especially during his first
14:39
three drives of the game, so really quick and again self inflicted wounds that
14:46
you were talking about really helps Sam Howe and the Commander's offense as well.
14:50
Zach Cunningham with a holding penalty inside the red zone on third and eleven on
14:54
that command on the Commander's first drive, it really helps to sustain that drive
14:58
for them where they you know, they ended up scoring. They probably wouldn't
15:03
have ended up scoring a touchdown on that opening drive, but it was it
15:07
was an incredible. It was incredible offensive performance at first drive from the Commanders.
15:13
Seven minutes and eight seconds on that opening drive, six pass attempts,
15:16
eight rushes. Washington owned the ball for more than forty minutes beating the Eagles
15:22
in Philly last November, and I kept thinking about that game and how very
15:28
similar this game was in a lot of ways from an offensive and defensive standpoint
15:33
for this Eagles team and for this Commander's team as well. And on the
15:37
Commander's second drive as well, again more self inflicting wounds and just not making
15:43
plays. Terrell Edmonds, he ends up having a penalty. It was a
15:46
helmet to helmet and then just right after that drops an easy interception in the
15:52
end zone that would have given the Eagles offense the ball back. Commanders should
15:56
not even have scored on that drive at all, but they did because Terrell
16:00
Edmonds was actually a liability out there. And yes, it was a tough
16:03
penalty. Maybe the ref should not have called that because it's a game of
16:08
football. Helmet to helmet, I understand, but still, but the what
16:12
should have been an interception in the end zone that was so enraging he should
16:17
have had it. It was into his hands and it wasn't like it was
16:19
some dart that of a ball that Sam held through and it was just lobbed
16:23
up there and oh my gosh, because of Brandon Graham actually, So anyway,
16:29
a lot of self inflicted wounds. Again, we saw some good stuff
16:32
from the defense. We saw some crap from the defense as well, and
16:36
I think the crap kind of stood out a little bit more today. Josh,
16:40
Yeah, No, I I agree. I The challenge for me is
16:45
because the Eagles don't play starters at all during the preseason, not not even
16:48
a little bit, right, And I'm not going to argue with it because
16:52
for the most part they're very healthy and so I can't I can't argue or
16:55
to meet it. But we're now in the fourth week, and to me,
16:59
the mistakes that are happening today need need to be cleaned up by week
17:03
three. Yeah, I feel like the grace is gone after week three,
17:07
like you've had you're in your fourth game of the NFL season. You need
17:11
to have it together. And the Eagles really haven't under Syrianni, really haven't
17:18
been a heavily penalized team. But they're getting the penalties in the worst possible
17:26
spots. Yes, and it's really it's kind of getting alarming. Now.
17:33
The good news is, even with them shooting themselves in the foot, especially
17:37
on defense, great teams are able to win these games, and that's what
17:41
the Eagles were able to do. But this defense, I'm trying not to
17:45
jump off off the bridge here, but I am really getting tired of this
17:51
ten yards back and just letting players just drive down the field. It doesn't
17:56
matter who the quarterback is. It's not working at all. And look,
18:00
look this team's four. And oh here, okay, I know, Josh
18:03
and I we seem like we're crapping on our shoes. We got crap on
18:06
our shoes here and stuff. But look their four. No, it's not
18:11
the end of the world. We know that, folks. So you know
18:12
you don't have to email us and say calm down and relax. Yes,
18:15
we know, calm down, relax their four and oh they're they're they're gonna
18:19
be playing some teams here in the future where they're gonna have the opportunity to
18:23
remain potentially undefeated, and they have the time and opportunity to kind of write
18:29
what has been wrong. So that being said, I'll just said, I
18:33
think it's more of an indictment of this standard. You know, years ago,
18:38
Jeffrey Laurie said that he wanted to create the gold standard in the NFL,
18:41
and I think they've done that. I mean, this Eagles front office
18:45
is fantastic. They are every single year. They are competitive. Now.
18:48
Part of the reason why we're upset and their four and oh is because they
18:52
probably really should have lost this game, but also we expect them to be
18:56
in the super Bowl this year. Yeah, And I think you know,
19:00
when you do this to yourself and you create these standards because of how well
19:03
you play, it's fair to kind of look at things afterwards and say,
19:07
well, and we don't really have other things to nitpick over. It's not
19:11
like they're wanting three. You know, we can't really ever be happy in
19:15
Philadelphia sports, right exactly. And look, you know, I want to
19:19
say some good stuff about the defense too. Five total sacks in this game,
19:23
five tackles for a loss. There were nine quarterback hits. Nick Morrow
19:27
with three sacks today, folks, three sacks, eleven total tackles on the
19:33
day. Ten of those were solo. And you've got some productivity coming from
19:38
a linebacker. Position, because Zach Cunningham as well had thirteen total tackles.
19:42
That's what you like to see. I remember the days in the box score
19:45
when the cornerbacks and safeties would be right at the very top of the tackles
19:52
with total tackles, and that's not what you want from your defense in terms
19:56
of the box score. You want your linebackers getting those tackles, and that's
20:00
we are seeing here. So I gotta say one of the weak links on
20:03
this team and defense, specifically the linebacker position, they showed up in a
20:07
big, big time today. Zach Cunningham made some key tackles, not allowing
20:14
a conversion on third down again Nick Morrow with three sacks on the day.
20:18
There were some good things and I wanted to make sure we at least highlighted
20:22
a few of those there. Yeah, I mean, I'll continue to praise
20:27
Zach Cunningham. I mean he has been better than anything I ever thought when
20:32
they were bringing him in. I in fact, I kind of rolled my
20:34
eyes when I saw it. I'm like, this is this is just great,
20:37
Jess great Zach Cunningham. He was great like two years ago, fantastic,
20:41
but he's been wonderful for them and the other player. I'll really kind
20:45
of praises read blank and Ship. I mean, if you can ask me
20:48
like a year or two ago where he falls awkwardly on his shoulder, I'm
20:52
like, oh, no, I need you to get back out there.
20:55
I probably would have called you crazy. Yeah, but really, they can't
20:57
afford for him to get hurt. He has just been tremendous. The only
21:03
fear I have is that it feeds into their philosophy of not investing in safety
21:07
exactly. But at least they have the scouting end coaching to be able to
21:11
develop players or to make them fit the system. Absolutely, mister controversy on
21:17
Twitter out there, if you are listening to this Eagles postgame show, Yes,
21:19
read Blanket Ship doesn't stink. Okay, I just want to respond to
21:22
your tweet. He doesn't stink. Yeah, And yes, I know he
21:26
missed the tackle with Brian Robinson getting into the end zone. It was like
21:30
the one tackle that he did miss today. Other than that, he is
21:33
making tackles out there. He's making very easy on the defense. Yes he
21:37
is. Yes, he absolutely is, especially in the secondary. So I
21:41
don't know, do you have any more themes here? Josh before we take
21:42
a quick break and then we'll get back to uh, we'll start to do
21:47
our grades. Do you have any other themes, buddy, I'm just happy
21:51
they want yes. Right, that's a great way in that first segment,
21:56
folks were going to take a quick break. We will be back in just
21:57
a bit. All right, we are back and again we're with our friend
22:02
Josh Schuster here and we're gonna get into the grades. We're gonna grade by
22:06
unit and then grade the coaches, and then we're gonna get ready for Week
22:10
five. So let's start Josh with the quarterback position. I am going to
22:15
give Jalen Hurts this week because again Taylor two halves with him. He ended
22:21
up having one of the best drives of this season and who knows, perhaps
22:26
maybe of his career, as you mentioned earlier in the show, to really
22:30
help solidify this win for this team, getting them at four. And oh,
22:33
I'm gonna give Jalen Hurts this week a B actually, and I know
22:37
the numbers are pretty good. Twenty five or thirty seven for three hundred nineteen
22:41
yards, eight point six yards per attempt, two touchdowns. He ended with
22:44
a one hundred and twelve point three rating. So I'm still gonna give him
22:48
a B based on what we were talking about Jalen Hurts from our themes and
22:52
takeaways. What grade do you give him this week? I'm gonna give him
22:55
an A. All right. I think that there are certain things that you
22:57
can teach, and there's certain things you can teach. Obviously, Jalen has
23:00
shown you can be taught arm strength and location. The one thing you can't
23:06
be taught is to be able to perform under pressure, which I think he
23:10
does weekly. And I think just the overall composure. I mean, we
23:15
talked about the run game, but honestly, if he's going to develop this
23:18
way as a passing quarterback, I'm not going to complain. And I can
23:22
never complain when a quarterback is completing, you know, seventy percent of his
23:26
passes for over three hundred yards, two touchdowns and no turnovers, I can't.
23:30
I can't complain. All Right, very good, I think that's fair
23:33
for sure. All Right, Let's go to the running backs. This week
23:36
felt like they just weren't given the opportunities that they have been given in previous
23:41
weeks. DeAndre Swift carried the ball fourteen times for fifty six yards, the
23:44
average, four yards per carry, and a touchdown. Jalen Hurts was the
23:48
second leading rusher with thirty four yards on nine carries, and Kenny Gainwell had
23:52
four carries for fourteen yards as well. This team averaged in terms of it's
23:57
rushing three point nine yards per carry. I'm gonna give the running backs in
24:02
general, and yes I mentioned Hurts in there too because we just know that
24:06
he is part of that RPO in terms of the running game. So I'm
24:08
gonna give the rushing this week. I'm gonna give it a B minus.
24:14
What do you give it? I'll go a little bit above. I'll give
24:18
it a B. Okay, I think I think the best that they possibly
24:22
can when their numbers are called. But like I'll be honest, I'm over
24:26
the game wall experience. I don't need to see Kenny game wall. Yeah,
24:30
I'm a swifty. Yeah, just just play Deandres with There's no It's
24:36
night and date. I don't even need statistics to tell me. I just
24:38
watch the two players, and I don't understand why we keep running him out
24:42
there. Like enough, we gotta get that audio of Josh and I gotta
24:45
send it to him where he says, I'm a swifty so he can play
24:48
it for everybody. He's a swifty folks. All right, Let's move to
24:56
the receiver's tight end and wide receiver. In this game, boy AJ Brown
25:00
made some key, key plays. He was targeted thirteen times, came down
25:03
with nine balls for one hundred and seventy five yards two touchdowns. He averaged
25:07
nineteen point four yards per reception, and as long the game was fifty nine
25:11
yards, DeVante Smith had seventy eight yards on the day on nine targets.
25:17
He came down with seven balls. Dallas Goddard, interestingly enough, only targeted
25:22
four times, came down with two balls for twenty five yards. And we
25:25
had some running backs and uh and uh ze Caius Zakius catched caught one ball
25:33
for eleven yards. Look, I think, well, I'm gonna just say
25:37
this. I'm gonna give the receivers in this game because they made some amazing
25:41
catches A J. Brown, DeVante Smith, in particular, Dallas Goddard made
25:45
one of those two catches he made was absolutely phenomenal with regard to that coverage.
25:52
And I'm gonna give the receivers an a minus here, But I do
25:55
have to say that Dallas Goddard twenty five yards in this game, Josh,
26:00
he came into this week with sixty three yards, averaging five point seven yards
26:04
per reception on eleven targets. I don't know what is happening with him.
26:10
If he's just not part of the game plan here or if he's not getting
26:15
open. I'm not really sure what it is, but I do have a
26:18
concern with Dallas Goddard as we're moving forward to Week five and beyond. But
26:22
overall, for this game, I'm gonna give this crew, this receiving crew,
26:26
and a minus. What do you give him this week? So my
26:29
initial grade is an akay, But out of Fantasy Sports bitterness, I'm going
26:34
to go in a minus because I'm one of those people that foolishly bought into
26:38
the Goddard hype and how grade he looks and he's going to be in the
26:42
part of the game plan. Yeah, I have those same concerns. Dallas
26:48
Goddard is a very good tight end. Really think about it. The Eagles
26:53
have been blessed with two incredible tight ends, one right after the other.
26:56
Zach hurts right into Dallas Goddard right one of the reasons why I give this
27:03
wide receiving core is an A is. I'm going to talk about kiss for
27:07
a minute. On that AJ Brown long touchdown, he literally sprinted, not
27:12
because he had the football, but because he wanted to go and block and
27:15
make sure A. J. Brown got into the end zone. Yeah.
27:18
That kind of team player if you look at it. Dante Smith is a
27:22
number one on a number of teams. You don't hear that man complain,
27:26
not once. The way they work together is incredible and so outside of my
27:33
fantasy bitterness because they're just not using Goddard, which is in his fault.
27:38
I would say in AA minus all right, very good. I like that
27:42
grade. And the offensive line a lot of ups and downs for this offensive
27:47
line. Landon Dickerson had two penalties, Jordan Mailatta had a holding penalty as
27:52
well, and I again tail two halves. I think I'm gonna end up
27:56
giving the offensive line a B this week, you know, because at the
28:00
end of the day, Jalen Hurts did have a pocket to throw for much
28:03
of the game. The run game wasn't necessarily what we had hoped it was
28:07
going to be, But I don't know. The offensive line very up and
28:11
down throughout this game. I'm giving him a bee. What do you give
28:14
him? So we were very different on the quarterback. Yeah, we're gonna
28:18
be very different here. I'm gonna give the offensive line a C minus.
28:22
Okay, part of it, ghoest what I mentioned earlier that they've kind of
28:25
set a standard and I think they played well below their standard. Actually,
28:29
okay, and so that that's kind of the great I give him. They
28:32
committed too many penalties, they didn't open up enough holes, and really Hurts
28:36
was under pressure all day. Yeah, yep, alc A right. Well,
28:38
let's move over the other side of the ball, defense, defensive line.
28:42
Look I again, Brian Robinson was fourteen carries forty five yards. Sam,
28:51
how you know he would He was the next leading carrier with six carries
28:55
for forty yards. He averaged six point seven yards from carry. A lot
28:57
of those are those long run just up the sideline, but one hundred and
29:02
seven yards on the day, very close to what the Eagles did in terms
29:04
of they're rushing. But I'm gonna give I'm gonna give the defensive line this
29:10
week, and again it's based on you know, the not just the rushes,
29:15
but just the pressure with Sam Hall as well terms of the five total
29:18
sacks tackles for a loss and just I'm I'm like beating around the bush here.
29:23
I'm gonna give them a B this week. What do you give them?
29:27
Yeah, I'll do about the scene because I think the first half and
29:30
the final quarter it was about a sea and then I think for you know,
29:36
the end of the first half and for the third quarter it was an
29:38
ayah. And so I'm just gonna settle in and a B. All right,
29:41
sounds good linebackers this week. Boy, I never in a million years
29:47
thought I'd be dishing out an A for our linebacker core. But that's what
29:52
I'm gonna give them again. Like I said, you got Nick Morrow with
29:55
three sacks, Zach Hunningham nine solo tackles, thirteen total TA. The linebacking
30:00
corps did what it needed to do today in this game. They get an
30:03
A for me? What do you give them? I'm in the same boat.
30:07
I'm gonna give him an A. I mean, Cumming him is much
30:10
better in coverage as well, Andmorrow did just find good point. I don't
30:14
think you can ask any more of them. When we get to coordinators,
30:17
I think the play of the players and game plan are wildly different things,
30:22
and so we can kind of get into that later. But yeah, I
30:23
give him an A. All right, And finally the secondary this week,
30:26
man again, I go back to Terrell Edmonds. I'll go back to you
30:30
know, you know, even as great as as much as I love read
30:33
blanket ship out there making tackles, he missed a key tackle that led to
30:37
a Brian Robinson's score. And I'm gonna give the secondary this week a C
30:42
minus. I just just it was. It was not one of their best
30:47
performances, for sure. I'm gonna go B minus. I don't think they're
30:51
being put in the right spot. I think they're doing everything they're pretty much
30:53
asked of. To ask every player to hit every tackle on every play is
30:59
impossible. You and I at were We're not going to return in perfection every
31:02
time. So I'm gonna go with B minus. Okay, all right,
31:06
Well, those are the grades for the units. Let's grade coaching now special
31:10
teams. I gotta tell you, Michael Clay has not been doing that awful
31:14
of a job this year getting these units, the punt unit, the kicking
31:18
team, the field goal kicking it. He has not been doing a bad
31:22
job getting these guys into a good position. I will say, holy cow,
31:29
what Braden Man the first couple of punts. Its first punt of thirty
31:33
four yards, I just put my head back and I was like, oh
31:37
my gosh, we just got rid of a terrible punter. His second punt
31:40
was for forty eight yards, but it was a line drive which helped allow
31:44
a fourteen yard return. And yes, I know Michael Clay Folks is not
31:47
out on the field actually making these returns and punting the ball and kicking field
31:52
goals like Jake Elliott, who is who is a master and just the probably
31:56
the best field goal kicker in the NFL at this particular point in time.
32:00
But I am going to give Michael Clay and special teams and a minus this
32:04
week. I think they did a good job of keeping this team in a
32:07
good position on the field. And I don't think they didn't screw anything up
32:13
either. We've said so many times on this postgame show in the past where
32:15
the special teams have been a liability in terms of field position, and they
32:20
worked. In fact, they did a great job, and especially Jake Elliott
32:23
kicking a forty one yard or forty seven yard or thirty six yarder, and
32:28
the game the game winner was a fifty four yarder. Jake Elliott is freaking
32:32
awesome and that's part that's a lot of what this great is. But what
32:36
do you give special teams of Michael Clay this week? Buddy? Yeah,
32:39
I'm going to give him an a minus too, because this is the way
32:43
I look at it. There was the tale of special teams. Comparing the
32:47
two teams. I would rather have the failings when the Eagles had him happened
32:52
at the beginning of the game, because it crumbled for Washington at the end.
32:57
Yeah, And so to me, that's assigning good coaching. You see
33:00
what's happening, you make an adjustment. I'll give him the name minus.
33:02
Okay, let's move to Seawan Desai and the defense defensive coordinator. I have
33:08
been loving what Shawn Desai has been doing for the majority of games this year.
33:13
And again, four games down, we got we got how many more
33:16
do we have to go? Thirteen games to go here? If I do
33:20
my math correctly, I am going to give Sean de Said this week,
33:22
based on everything we've said on this post game show, he is going to
33:24
get a C minus from me? What do you give Sean to said this
33:28
week? Oh, I think that's generous, you do. I'm going D
33:32
minus and sign and F is because they won. Yeah, look well,
33:37
I see your Penn States Sign'm I'm a South Carolina fan, so I've watched
33:42
Sam Howell and I've watched him destroy South Carolina. Yeah. What I don't
33:47
expect is to continually play ten yards off everybody, especially on third and five,
33:52
and just allow Sam Howell to carve you up. Yeah, there is
33:57
no way that Sam Howell should have as high the comcletion percentage as he did
34:00
today. I'm sorry. It's just inexcusable, especially with the Eagles defensive front
34:06
and the fact that they gave up over thirty points to Washington is just it's
34:10
inexcusable when I'm sorry. When he brought pressure, it worked on Sam how
34:15
and I don't know why that wasn't done more throughout this game. We saw
34:19
it last week's Game two with Big Rayfield. We saw it last week too,
34:23
and it's like, what continue to bring the pressure. It's like,
34:27
all right, trust your gut, trust your set. And I know we
34:30
gave some crappy grades of the secondary Still, you do have to trust the
34:35
secondary to get it done. If the front is blitzing and it's it's and
34:37
then are getting to a not so great quarterback. But like you said,
34:42
carved him up, absolutely carved him up. And it was bad coaching.
34:45
Yeah, for the quarter and a half where Washington couldn't do anything, they
34:50
were up on the line on him. I don't understand how you're watching the
34:53
same game i am, and it's working and then you decide to go away
34:57
from it. That's an example of bad coaching. And that's why he gets
35:00
a D minus. All right. Moving over to the offense, Nick Sirianni
35:04
and Brian Johnson, they are gonna get ap B straight up B from me.
35:08
I actually thought the play calling was okay from an offensive standpoint. Again,
35:13
I really thought a lot of it was more performance based by the players
35:16
some self inflicted wounds as well. I thought Sirianni and Brian Johnson did not
35:21
do a terrible job. It could be B B minus for me. What
35:22
do you give them? I'm gonna I don't know that this grade has ever
35:29
been given out before, but I'm gonna kind of go incomplete because I look
35:35
at the games I scratch my head at how they've scored thirty something points,
35:40
because it doesn't it doesn't feel like it. As I'm watching the game,
35:45
I had said to my dad, it felt like after last game they were
35:49
getting things going and then it just like stopped. And it keeps happening this
35:53
year. So that's why I'm saying incomplete. It's been four weeks. I'm
35:57
gonna give them a little bit more time. They've looked really great. But
36:00
then I'd say for about seventy five percent of the season so far, we've
36:04
kind of been scratching our head with you. The terrible play calls were just
36:07
what are we doing? Yeah, so yeah, I would say incomplete.
36:10
All right, that's great, And it was great having Josh Schuster on here
36:15
again. Philadelphia Soccer now that's where Josh and his buddies put some content up
36:20
on the innerwebs with regard to the Philadelphia Union and Josh, Man, it
36:23
was great having you on our Eagles postgame show. Buddy, come back join
36:28
us in the future. I'd love to have you, my man. Thank
36:30
you, Jeff. It's always a pleasure to be able to join you again
36:34
some good sports talk. Yes, absolutely, and folks again Philadelphia Eagles winning
36:38
here in week four of this twenty twenty three, twenty twenty fourth season,
36:42
beating the Washington Commanders by a score of thirty four to thirty one. Appreciate
36:46
if you subscribe. If you are not a subscriber already, you can catch
36:51
all of our podcasts over at Philadelphia Sports Table dot com. We are on
36:53
the Twitter dot com at Philadelphia PST. You can find me at Jeffrey Underscore
36:59
Warren. Where can find you on Twitter, Josh if they want to find
37:00
you. Oh, that's a really good question. I did this. I
37:05
think I did this last time too. I don't you know. It's it's
37:10
it's Beia. It's Beia. Trying to remember Doya supporter, Doya supporter.
37:16
There you go, yeah, Doya supporter forty four at Fly Guy The Fly
37:22
Guy, Josh ninety one, I got no, Please don't be I can't.
37:27
I can't close a show to save my life. And we have less
37:29
than a minute here or so. Johha was great. It was seriously,
37:34
as we continue to talk about it on a regular show, I can't close
37:36
out a show to save my life. Anyway. It was great talking to
37:38
you, buddy. Everybody stay tuned for more content this week. Take care,
37:42
we'll catch you next time.