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NFC East Pre With Greg Cosell: Can Eagles Still Be "Super" While Introducing New Offense? · Inside the Birds: A Philadelphia Eagles Podcast

0:09
Speaker 1: Hello, everyone, Welcome back to our Inside the Birds annual
0:12
Speaker 1: NFC East Preview and we are at show number four
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Speaker 1: right now. I'm Jeff Bocher with Adam Kaplan and of
0:18
Speaker 1: course we have gregco So with us in show number
0:21
Speaker 1: four means we round out our NFC East Preview series
0:24
Speaker 1: looking at the Philadelphia Eagles, the first team in more
0:29
Speaker 1: than twenty years last year to repeat as NFC East champs.
0:34
Speaker 2: And I have not gone into the data to look
0:36
Speaker 2: see the last time it was three in a row.
0:38
Speaker 2: I think it was the same Eagles team that had
0:40
Speaker 2: done it two in a row. Yeah, it was three
0:41
Speaker 2: in a row.
0:42
Speaker 1: So it's been that long since some team has done
0:44
Speaker 1: it three straight years.
0:46
Speaker 2: Can the Eagles do it this year?
0:48
Speaker 3: Craig?
0:48
Speaker 1: Do you think we haven't started any of the shows
0:51
Speaker 1: like this, But just from a talent standpoint, a fifty
0:54
Speaker 1: three man, now that there's no AJ Brown, Eagles have
0:57
Speaker 1: made some maneuvers.
0:59
Speaker 2: Are they still in your mind? Do they have the
1:01
Speaker 2: best fifty three in the division?
1:04
Speaker 3: Oh, you know, haven't thought of it that way. So
1:07
Speaker 3: you're asking me, you know, I don't think in those
1:09
Speaker 3: terms normally.
1:10
Speaker 2: When I used to be he used to be a
1:12
Speaker 2: pretty easy. Yes, I mean, yeah, I.
1:15
Speaker 3: Mean I would say that there's for the first time
1:18
Speaker 3: maybe in a couple of years. I mean, there's always
1:20
Speaker 3: questions with teams at this time of year, but I
1:22
Speaker 3: think the Eagles have more questions both in terms of
1:26
Speaker 3: personnel and schematics than they've clearly had in recent years.
1:31
Speaker 3: I mean, again, it all could turn out great, and
1:33
Speaker 3: they could be you know, thirteen and four, and they
1:35
Speaker 3: could win the division, and you know, it could all
1:38
Speaker 3: be great. But I think there's more questions about the roster,
1:42
Speaker 3: the personnel, and the change in schematics than than in
1:47
Speaker 3: you know, previous seasons.
1:51
Speaker 4: What side of wall you want to start on, I
1:53
Speaker 4: don't know.
1:53
Speaker 1: There's question marks now about the offense, but I actually
1:57
Speaker 1: do want to start on defense, Greg because to bring
2:01
Speaker 1: him off the conversation we just had, I think this
2:05
Speaker 1: defense has a real chance to be as elite as
2:07
Speaker 1: they've ever had. Yeah, I mean maybe yeah nineties Buddy Ryan, Yeah, notwithstanding,
2:12
Speaker 1: but I'm just talking about from a blue chip, elite
2:15
Speaker 1: player standpoint, it is hard to find an area where
2:18
Speaker 1: they are not tip top with either talent or great
2:22
Speaker 1: fits for the scheme.
2:24
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, you know, and a lot of times,
2:28
Speaker 3: the way that Vic Fangio plays defense in many ways.
2:34
Speaker 3: And we know they signed Jonathan Grenard, you know, or
2:36
Speaker 3: traded for him, and that was a great move in AA.
2:39
Speaker 3: I think Adam they signed him right then, they signed
2:41
Speaker 3: him to a big deal. Yeah yes, yes, yeah, but
2:45
Speaker 3: he's obviously a very good edge rusher and they didn't
2:47
Speaker 3: really have an age rusher. But this style of defense,
2:51
Speaker 3: the Fangio style, and the way the Eagles want to
2:54
Speaker 3: play it, you know, and I've studied it in detail,
2:58
Speaker 3: and I've talked to people. In some ways, the coverage
3:02
Speaker 3: is the pass rush. Think about this, because what they
3:05
Speaker 3: do on the back end, you know, yes do they
3:08
Speaker 3: very often start with a quarter's look, but there's so
3:12
Speaker 3: many changes. Now we know they played a lot more
3:14
Speaker 3: man last year, but I think that's a misnomer to
3:19
Speaker 3: some extent, and I'll explain why. But they do so
3:24
Speaker 3: many things on the back end with movement post snap
3:28
Speaker 3: that all you need in the NFL is the quarterback's
3:32
Speaker 3: internal clock to speed up. So the coverage in many
3:36
Speaker 3: ways becomes the pass rush because when the quarterback's internal
3:40
Speaker 3: clock speeds up, he starts to lose his clarity and
3:44
Speaker 3: when a quarterback loses his clarity, you know. And I'm
3:48
Speaker 3: not saying this happens on every play obviously, Guys you
3:50
Speaker 3: know what I'm talking about. But when a quarterback loses
3:52
Speaker 3: his clarity, everything changes because then he's not certain where
3:57
Speaker 3: to go with the football. And look, three seconds is
4:00
Speaker 3: not a lot of time, I mean, and you know
4:02
Speaker 3: quarterbacks know this. So the fact that you know that
4:06
Speaker 3: they brought in Woolen, okay, I think what they're hoping
4:10
Speaker 3: happens in the context of whatever defense they're playing, single
4:15
Speaker 3: high man, single high zone, quarters, cover six, cover eight,
4:19
Speaker 3: which are two two high shell coverage concepts, whatever coverage
4:23
Speaker 3: they're playing. Their belief, I'm sure is that with Quinnon
4:28
Speaker 3: Mitchell and now Greek Woolan, that those two guys can
4:32
Speaker 3: match up man to man on the outside and they
4:35
Speaker 3: can do a lot of things in the middle of
4:38
Speaker 3: the field. Think about their Super Bowl victory versus the Chiefs,
4:41
Speaker 3: when they pretty much went man to man, zero man
4:44
Speaker 3: on the outside and they squeezed everything in the middle
4:48
Speaker 3: of the field because they knew that Patrick Mahomes and
4:51
Speaker 3: the Chiefs offense do not really attack outside, and they
4:55
Speaker 3: squeezed everything. And that's you know, again, none of this
4:59
Speaker 3: is every play, you you know, I hope people understand
5:02
Speaker 3: that that's you know, no one does something one hundred
5:04
Speaker 3: percent of the time. But I think with Woolen and
5:07
Speaker 3: with Mitchell, Mitchell has obviously proven it. You know that
5:11
Speaker 3: they feel that they can do an awful lot coverage
5:14
Speaker 3: wise post snap, that in a sense becomes their pass rush,
5:19
Speaker 3: you know, because it'll just speed up and and and
5:23
Speaker 3: make the quarterback lose clarity.
5:26
Speaker 5: So Greg staying in the secondary, Cooper g now is
5:28
Speaker 5: going to be changing positions. No more corner still Nickel
5:32
Speaker 5: now safety, you've seen it for.
5:33
Speaker 3: Two seasons in base So question there's no more corner,
5:38
Speaker 3: there's no more corner.
5:39
Speaker 5: I mean, well right right now, rumber Vick says, corner's corner,
5:46
Speaker 5: Nichols Nickel, there's different positions in this way.
5:48
Speaker 3: He's not going to be an outside corner, correct.
5:51
Speaker 4: He's not gonna be a cornerback outside.
5:52
Speaker 3: Right.
5:52
Speaker 5: So you've seen him now for two seasons, and we'll
5:56
Speaker 5: see how how safety looks. You know, there are a
5:57
Speaker 5: lot of teams that Jeff and I talked to who
5:59
Speaker 5: didn't think he would be a great corner. But from
6:02
Speaker 5: what you've watched. How did he play at cornerback outside
6:05
Speaker 5: for the first two seasons?
6:07
Speaker 3: Well you heard, oh, well he played outside corner in
6:10
Speaker 3: their base last year. Yeah, yeah, you know, he wasn't
6:14
Speaker 3: he didn't get burned. I mean, you know, he wasn't
6:17
Speaker 3: a problem. Let's put it that way. I mean, but obviously, look,
6:21
Speaker 3: they they they didn't want him to be an outside
6:25
Speaker 3: corner because I talked to I can't remember what coach
6:28
Speaker 3: it was, and I wouldn't say who was anyway, but
6:29
Speaker 3: I can't remember who was who told me, in his opinion,
6:33
Speaker 3: this guy's been in the league and he's considered really smart.
6:35
Speaker 3: I just can't remember. I've talked to a bunch of
6:36
Speaker 3: people this offseason who they who thought that Cooper Degene
6:40
Speaker 3: was the key to their whole defense, so, you know,
6:42
Speaker 3: and he's talking about him as a nickel, you know,
6:45
Speaker 3: So so you know, I mean, they're not taking him
6:49
Speaker 3: out of the nickel spot obviously. So now the outside
6:53
Speaker 3: corner deal's done. He's not going to be an outside
6:55
Speaker 3: corner because you know, now, again, let's hope nobody gets hurt.
6:58
Speaker 3: That can always change things. They also brought in Jonathan Jones,
7:01
Speaker 3: who I'm sure that they would put it outside corner
7:04
Speaker 3: before they put the Jene there if indeed, you know,
7:06
Speaker 3: somebody got hurt. But uh, you know, I think with
7:11
Speaker 3: Wolan and Mitchell, they feel like they're going to be
7:13
Speaker 3: really really good on the outside. Big guys, you know,
7:17
Speaker 3: guys who can run, you know, Greek Wolan. If you
7:20
Speaker 3: can get him to play to what he is, and
7:22
Speaker 3: again the obviously there were concerns about that in Seattle,
7:25
Speaker 3: which is why he's not in Seattle anymore. But if
7:28
Speaker 3: you can get him to play, I mean, he's he's
7:30
Speaker 3: got big time trades. I mean, you're doing the guy
7:32
Speaker 3: six feet four and can run, He's long, he's athletic,
7:36
Speaker 3: Mitchell's long as that, Mitchell's proven it. You know, this
7:39
Speaker 3: is potentially a really really good secondary because they don't feel,
7:43
Speaker 3: you know, that they had a safety that they that
7:46
Speaker 3: I think they felt great about. You know, I think
7:49
Speaker 3: it probably would have been apt if they didn't want
7:50
Speaker 3: to move to Gene. But I think when they go base,
7:53
Speaker 3: it's going to be de Gene.
7:54
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, And as Adam and I talked about it, Greg,
7:57
Speaker 1: there's a lot of teams on the schedule, including the
7:59
Speaker 1: Rams who live in twelve and thirteen personnel, So we
8:02
Speaker 1: might see the gena's safety more than we saw him
8:05
Speaker 1: at outside corner.
8:06
Speaker 2: We might see them.
8:07
Speaker 1: In base defense upwards of thirty to forty percent of
8:10
Speaker 1: the time, if that's what it's, If that's how Vick
8:13
Speaker 1: wants to respond to those.
8:14
Speaker 3: Looks, and we don't know that now. I mean, again,
8:17
Speaker 3: he could stay in nickel, you know, because de Gene
8:21
Speaker 3: is really good close to the line of scrimm. And
8:23
Speaker 3: now again if he if he's playing safety, that doesn't
8:25
Speaker 3: mean he'd never be close to the line of scrimmage obviously,
8:28
Speaker 3: but you know, he's so good in nickel. I mean
8:30
Speaker 3: he just because he's physical, he's competitive. I mean he's
8:35
Speaker 3: a run defender. I mean, you know, it's it'll be
8:39
Speaker 3: really interesting. Yeah, that's a great point, Jeff. And we
8:41
Speaker 3: don't know the answer right now. But you know last
8:44
Speaker 3: year they I think they were second or third highest
8:47
Speaker 3: percentage of nickel in the league if memory serves me correctly.
8:50
Speaker 3: We'll see if that stays the same or if you
8:52
Speaker 3: know that changes.
8:55
Speaker 4: About personnel.
8:56
Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely interesting. I also saw that the Eagles last
9:00
Speaker 2: year faced.
9:02
Speaker 1: The number one amount number of snaps of eleven personnel
9:05
Speaker 1: from an offense.
9:07
Speaker 2: So the Eagles were in nickel a lot because.
9:12
Speaker 1: Right, yeah, yeah, And now remember they played the Rams
9:15
Speaker 1: at a time where the Rams had not yet been
9:17
Speaker 1: the thirteen personnel that they were, and then they played
9:19
Speaker 1: a couple of twelve personnel teams at injuries like this,
9:22
Speaker 1: The Niners in the playoffs had to go and play
9:24
Speaker 1: a lot of twenty Well, they played a lot of
9:26
Speaker 1: three receiver formations, we'll say, because right, but.
9:29
Speaker 2: Kittle got hurt.
9:30
Speaker 1: So just yeah, I'm fascinated to see how it all
9:33
Speaker 1: works out. Greg Johd Campbell now being the guy next
9:36
Speaker 1: to Zach Baughn here's the reason why I think the
9:39
Speaker 1: Eagles can can really be just elite defensively, especially if
9:43
Speaker 1: Campbell can go in and develop as a second year linebacker.
9:47
Speaker 1: I thought his athleticism and range is better than the Kobe's.
9:51
Speaker 1: Nikobe's a better downhill player. But if Jihad just can
9:55
Speaker 1: get in there and do what he's supposed to do,
9:57
Speaker 1: that alleviates what we saw last year, which is the
10:00
Speaker 1: safeties have to kind of play traffic cop and help
10:02
Speaker 1: them out. If they don't have to do that, they
10:03
Speaker 1: can be so much more in sync this year. And
10:06
Speaker 1: then his athleticism could really shine through Johad Campbell's.
10:10
Speaker 3: Yeah, and I think that's the key. The reason that
10:12
Speaker 3: Nakobe replaced him last year was simply the mental part,
10:14
Speaker 3: because the Eagles are a team that literally makes an
10:17
Speaker 3: adjustment on every play. And then it's just the mental part.
10:20
Speaker 3: And you know, obviously he's got another off season, and
10:24
Speaker 3: an off season is the starter, so he's working, you know,
10:27
Speaker 3: working through that. I mean, this guy is a freakish athlete.
10:30
Speaker 3: You're dealing with a guy that's six three, two forty.
10:32
Speaker 3: You can run. We saw elements of it a year ago,
10:34
Speaker 3: the way he could you know, run and coverage. While
10:38
Speaker 3: Dean was better at at sort of diagnosed and triggering
10:42
Speaker 3: downhill in the run game. It's not as if Campbell
10:45
Speaker 3: is it does not have those traits. It's just a
10:48
Speaker 3: matter of seeing it the right way, you know. So
10:50
Speaker 3: if all that happens, you know, then you're dealing with
10:53
Speaker 3: Bond and Campbell. I mean, just in terms of athleticism
10:56
Speaker 3: and size, I mean, don't forget those are big linebackers.
11:00
Speaker 3: You know, these are not like two hundred and twenty
11:02
Speaker 3: pound guys. These are big guys. So yeah, Campbell becomes
11:05
Speaker 3: a key in many ways. But you know, we know
11:08
Speaker 3: how they felt about him. We know because they put
11:10
Speaker 3: it out there about you know, for everybody to see
11:13
Speaker 3: for that draft. So they really wanted to hide Campbell,
11:17
Speaker 3: so you know, and I'm sure Vic had a lot
11:19
Speaker 3: to do with that. I'm sure that was not just
11:21
Speaker 3: you know, there's no way they drafted johhid Campbell. Let's
11:24
Speaker 3: Vic saying, hey, that's a good guy to get, you know.
11:27
Speaker 5: So he kept dropping, you know, he dropped farther than
11:30
Speaker 5: expected because of the injuries the acker.
11:32
Speaker 3: So Craig Stay, I'm really exous to see that chef.
11:35
Speaker 3: I think Campbell, because Campbell can be a really good
11:37
Speaker 3: football player.
11:38
Speaker 4: Staying Greg at linebacker.
11:40
Speaker 5: We got a great question from so on our patron group,
11:42
Speaker 5: Matt Puskar, who asks, with a potential trend of offenses
11:46
Speaker 5: going with more twelve and thirteen personnel, especially with the
11:49
Speaker 5: way the Eagles open up early in the season, let's.
11:52
Speaker 4: Stay at linebacker.
11:53
Speaker 5: How do they How do the Eagles linebackers match up
11:56
Speaker 5: against these teams that are going to play a lot
11:57
Speaker 5: of two tight ends, maybe three?
12:00
Speaker 4: How do they match you up?
12:03
Speaker 5: Well?
12:03
Speaker 3: I think that comes down to do they go to
12:05
Speaker 3: their base or do they stay in their nickel because
12:08
Speaker 3: you know last year, you know they stayed in nickel
12:11
Speaker 3: a lot, because Degene is essentially another linebacker the way
12:15
Speaker 3: he can play the run and the way they deployed him.
12:18
Speaker 3: So that question becomes dependent on, I think, on the
12:22
Speaker 3: personnel that's on the field, because if they're gonna go bass,
12:27
Speaker 3: I would assume they'd be in a five to two
12:29
Speaker 3: front if they're gonna go base, So you know, again
12:35
Speaker 3: that's a hard question to answer. Uh, if they're gonna
12:38
Speaker 3: go five to two, I would assume the outside players
12:42
Speaker 3: would be Hunt and Grenard. You know that that would
12:47
Speaker 3: be my guess. You know, I don't know where Nolan
12:49
Speaker 3: Smith fits into this whole equation at this point. You know,
12:52
Speaker 3: I ultimately think Hunt's a better player, but you know,
12:54
Speaker 3: I don't know what they think. But Grenard wouldn't be
12:57
Speaker 3: coming off the field.
12:58
Speaker 5: Question on that with uh, with Bond down Campbell, well,
13:02
Speaker 5: wall have to see because Campbell remembers coming back from
13:04
Speaker 5: shoulder surgery. But with Bond and Campbell with that kind
13:07
Speaker 5: of length, how good could they be together? Because you
13:11
Speaker 5: don't find guys that they've got really good size greg
13:13
Speaker 5: for inside back, in.
13:14
Speaker 4: Terms of length.
13:15
Speaker 3: How good? Yeah, yeah, yeah, I mean to me right now,
13:22
Speaker 3: it's the question for them and the vic Vangel's a
13:24
Speaker 3: hell of a lot smarter than I am, obviously, is
13:27
Speaker 3: what they do from a personnel standpoint when they face
13:30
Speaker 3: teams that play, you know, two tight ends or three
13:32
Speaker 3: tight ends, because they could go any number of ways.
13:35
Speaker 3: I mean, you know, de Gene is so good at
13:39
Speaker 3: at nickel, but do they want to you know, go
13:42
Speaker 3: base and put him as safe because don't forget even
13:44
Speaker 3: at safety, you know he can come down and be
13:46
Speaker 3: a factor in the run game. It's not as if
13:48
Speaker 3: you know he's he would not be a factor in
13:50
Speaker 3: the run jur You know, then it comes down to
13:52
Speaker 3: you know your schematics, how you how you want to
13:54
Speaker 3: line up, and how you you know, how you want
13:56
Speaker 3: to get people involved. I mentioned when we talked about
14:00
Speaker 3: the Cowboys and our last segment that what the Seahawks
14:04
Speaker 3: did a year ago with the linebacker Thomas, who's not
14:07
Speaker 3: a two hundred forty two hundred and forty five pound guy,
14:10
Speaker 3: is the way they used him as a blitzer, as
14:12
Speaker 3: a run blitzer into the B gap. There's ways to
14:15
Speaker 3: play that you can be in your in nickel and
14:19
Speaker 3: still be an effective run stopping defense. And and you
14:22
Speaker 3: know vic nos schematics far better than I do, so
14:25
Speaker 3: you know that there's no I guess my response to
14:27
Speaker 3: the question, and I know I know it's not you know,
14:31
Speaker 3: a two and two plus four kind of answer. Maybe
14:33
Speaker 3: I'm but there's rarely two and two plus four answer
14:37
Speaker 3: to two plus four two and two equals four answers.
14:40
Speaker 3: And with these kinds of things, you know what I'm saying.
14:42
Speaker 3: So it's I don't know the there's no one answer
14:45
Speaker 3: to that question.
14:46
Speaker 1: I'll tell you what. I'll tell you what. We will
14:49
Speaker 1: have the answer soon enough. I would tell Matt and
14:51
Speaker 1: anybody else to make sure they watch inside the tape
14:54
Speaker 1: specifically the week after Week four, right because the Eagles
14:59
Speaker 1: are to play the Bears and the Rams in week
15:02
Speaker 1: three and week four and even Washington in week one
15:05
Speaker 1: is a team that we think is going to play
15:06
Speaker 1: a lot more to tight end with David blown Now
15:09
Speaker 1: running that offense, and.
15:10
Speaker 2: You know, we'll see bait baits and on conco out.
15:12
Speaker 1: There, and we will have a pretty good idea for
15:14
Speaker 1: we will the year of what Vick wants to do
15:16
Speaker 1: in those situations.
15:17
Speaker 3: And and and no team's going to do exactly the
15:20
Speaker 3: same thing that they did the last time they played.
15:22
Speaker 3: But I'm sure many Eagles fans sadly remember what the
15:26
Speaker 3: Bears run game did to them a year ago later
15:28
Speaker 3: in the season. Now, that doesn't mean Ben Johnson's going
15:30
Speaker 3: to come out and do the same thing, because you're
15:32
Speaker 3: dealing with two super smart guys, and Ben Johnson and
15:35
Speaker 3: Vic Fangael, So it's not going to be exactly the same.
15:38
Speaker 3: It never is. But that's a great point, Jeff. We're
15:41
Speaker 3: going to have an early, an early test of how
15:45
Speaker 3: the Eagles want to play, because I was just gonna say,
15:49
Speaker 3: when the schedule comes out, I know the way teams
15:52
Speaker 3: think because I've had this conversation. You guys have probably
15:54
Speaker 3: had it too. Teams obviously focused on Week one big time,
15:57
Speaker 3: because you want to be one and oh, but they
15:59
Speaker 3: focus on the first quarter of the season. There they've
16:03
Speaker 3: gained planned already for the first quarter of the season,
16:06
Speaker 3: you know, so the coaches have I mean, when they
16:10
Speaker 3: get to training camp, the players will too, but the
16:13
Speaker 3: coaches have already game planned for the first quarter of
16:15
Speaker 3: the season. Jeff.
16:17
Speaker 5: The good thing is they've got length They've got two
16:19
Speaker 5: linebackers over six too, and Bond. Greg could correct us
16:22
Speaker 5: if I'm wrong here, but I don't think Bond's lost anything.
16:24
Speaker 5: I think he's still really, really good.
16:26
Speaker 3: He's really good.
16:27
Speaker 5: He's one of the best coverage linebackers the National FOOTBA League.
16:29
Speaker 5: Nobody knew this before he was strained. Excuse me, he
16:32
Speaker 5: signed it is a free agent. So as they sent
16:34
Speaker 5: it back to you, man, They've got length, which is rare.
16:36
Speaker 5: Because this is our ninth year doing the show. How
16:38
Speaker 5: many times we talked about how legals linebackers are too
16:41
Speaker 5: small really for well over a decade, maybe twenty years.
16:43
Speaker 3: The bottom line is and I think the Vic Fanjoe scheme,
16:46
Speaker 3: which you know obviously is permeating throughout the league, has
16:49
Speaker 3: made people realize because I remember having this conversation with
16:53
Speaker 3: someone when Vic first got to Chicago as decoordinated, which
16:57
Speaker 3: was maybe twenty seventeen is a twenty eighteen is somewhere
17:00
Speaker 3: around there?
17:01
Speaker 2: Wasn't it?
17:02
Speaker 3: Doesn't that sound about right? Yes? And I remember I
17:06
Speaker 3: remember people telling me that in Vic Fangio's scheme, linebackers
17:11
Speaker 3: are really important. And I thinks as lined as his
17:15
Speaker 3: scheme permeates. You know, throughout the league, you know, different
17:18
Speaker 3: coaches using park you know, even if they're not one
17:22
Speaker 3: full fangio, they're using a lot, you know, elements of it.
17:26
Speaker 3: People are realizing how important linebackers are, and the Eagles
17:29
Speaker 3: have realized that too. I mean that's just the way
17:31
Speaker 3: the trends in the league.
17:33
Speaker 4: Yeah.
17:33
Speaker 2: Yeah, took two decades that it's pretty good, pretty twenty
17:39
Speaker 2: fifteen to twenty nineteen.
17:40
Speaker 3: When would the Eagles have taking Johat Campbell ten years ago?
17:43
Speaker 2: Never?
17:44
Speaker 3: Or no?
17:46
Speaker 5: Because I mean you can go back to the late
17:49
Speaker 5: great Jim Johnson wanted smaller linebackers, and Joe Banner, the
17:54
Speaker 5: form Eagles team president, came on our show a couple
17:55
Speaker 5: of years ago and he discussed I think Jeff might
17:57
Speaker 5: have asked it, what was the issue with linebacker. They
18:01
Speaker 5: were not going to put resources. It's kind of where
18:03
Speaker 5: Greg's going. They were not going to put money or
18:05
Speaker 5: draft capital and linebacker they rarely did it. They tried
18:08
Speaker 5: Matt McCoy because he was small. It didn't work. They
18:12
Speaker 5: just put it in up front. That was and you
18:14
Speaker 5: can't blame him.
18:16
Speaker 3: And that was a different year. I mean, Jim Johnson
18:19
Speaker 3: that was old school where you lined up in a
18:21
Speaker 3: four to three, and he wanted a strong sambacker think
18:24
Speaker 3: Carlos Sammons, but sure the stack backers weren't like you know,
18:27
Speaker 3: the key to everything. He wanted a strong sambacker that
18:30
Speaker 3: could line up over tight ends back when the game
18:33
Speaker 3: was different.
18:33
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Speaker 2: All right, Greg, let's transition over to the offense. A
19:35
Speaker 2: lot of questions with the office there.
19:37
Speaker 3: We can do that in a minute.
19:38
Speaker 1: Yes, I think the biggest question I have for you
19:42
Speaker 1: schematically is, you know, we make sometimes a big deal
19:46
Speaker 1: about positional responsibility, whether you're an EX, whether you're.
19:51
Speaker 2: A Y, whether you're a Z.
19:52
Speaker 1: Does that matter less in these Shanahan style offenses because
19:57
Speaker 1: of trips and bunch formations and tight splits and things
20:01
Speaker 1: like that. Can they compensate for not having a dominant
20:07
Speaker 1: X like AJ Brown?
20:08
Speaker 3: Yes they can, I mean would everybody like one, of course,
20:12
Speaker 3: But I don't think it makes or breaks your offense
20:14
Speaker 3: in this scheme because there are so many reduced splits,
20:18
Speaker 3: there's so much motion shifting, there's so many elements to
20:21
Speaker 3: this offense where you just don't line up here's your
20:24
Speaker 3: boundary X. So now again, would you love for there
20:27
Speaker 3: to be one guy that could do that? Sure, because
20:30
Speaker 3: you do line up that way at times obviously, But
20:32
Speaker 3: I don't think that's foundational to the way in which
20:36
Speaker 3: this offense you know can run to be successful. Right,
20:39
Speaker 3: Let's put it that way. That doesn't mean you know,
20:42
Speaker 3: they're not missing, they're not missing something that would prevent
20:45
Speaker 3: them from being successful. Maybe that's the better way to
20:47
Speaker 3: say it.
20:48
Speaker 1: Sure, I think my big question is and a lot
20:50
Speaker 1: of what you describe the motion, the type, formations, the
20:53
Speaker 1: but I mean that's a way to marry like your
20:55
Speaker 1: run game and your pass game.
20:56
Speaker 2: Make it all look alike.
20:57
Speaker 1: But you're going to come across third and six and
20:59
Speaker 1: the NFL in any NFL game, five or six times,
21:02
Speaker 1: depending on how well or how well you aren't moving
21:05
Speaker 1: the ball, and when the Eagles are in those situations,
21:08
Speaker 1: it's third and six and that stuff doesn't matter as
21:11
Speaker 1: much because the defense already knows you're passing. Are they
21:14
Speaker 1: going to feel that missing presence of the guy who,
21:19
Speaker 1: even on third and six could run that hitch come
21:21
Speaker 1: back as he ran a billion times, get you those
21:24
Speaker 1: yards right at the sticks, turn it out, make more.
21:26
Speaker 1: That's where I wonder if this offense will be as effective.
21:30
Speaker 3: The way I would answer that, and again this is
21:32
Speaker 3: I don't view this as a roundabout way to answer it.
21:35
Speaker 3: You know, maybe maybe it is, but I'll give you
21:38
Speaker 3: an example of a team that's been really, really good
21:40
Speaker 3: and third down offense over the last number of years,
21:43
Speaker 3: particularly you know, you know, third down overall, and that's
21:47
Speaker 3: the forty nine ers. Forty nine ers have not had
21:51
Speaker 3: what you'd call a boundary X. I mean, last year,
21:54
Speaker 3: the forty nine Ers had the number one third down
21:57
Speaker 3: offense in the NFL. Okay, So you know, you don't
22:01
Speaker 3: need that player to be successful. And many would say,
22:05
Speaker 3: of course that Kyle Shanahan is, if not the best,
22:09
Speaker 3: top three in the league in terms of scheming up
22:12
Speaker 3: how to you know, how to convert on third down?
22:15
Speaker 3: You know, So does that mean the Eagles are going
22:19
Speaker 3: to be great? You know, we don't know the answer
22:21
Speaker 3: to that obviously, But in answer to your question, you
22:25
Speaker 3: don't need that in order to be successful. It's not
22:29
Speaker 3: is it great to have? Of course, you know everybody
22:33
Speaker 3: would like better players than lesser players. That goes without saying.
22:37
Speaker 3: And obviously they don't have a j Brown, who at
22:40
Speaker 3: his best is a top five receiver in the league,
22:42
Speaker 3: and they don't have a top five receiver in the
22:45
Speaker 3: league on the roster right now. As good as DeVonta
22:47
Speaker 3: Smith is, you wouldn't put him in that category. So yes,
22:52
Speaker 3: would they miss him in that way, sure, but that
22:55
Speaker 3: which should not prevent them from being able to run
22:58
Speaker 3: a third down pass game.
23:00
Speaker 5: Let's stay on that X receiver because former patron group
23:04
Speaker 5: chrisy asked a great question.
23:05
Speaker 4: I'll just summarize it like this.
23:08
Speaker 5: Wicks and Wilson, if you look at the exposition, probably
23:11
Speaker 5: will be those guys, and Wilson has to.
23:12
Speaker 4: Make the team first. Jan Wicks, let's yeah.
23:15
Speaker 5: Johnny Wilson, Yeah, he's he's there for the run game.
23:17
Speaker 5: To be honest with you, but Wicks is a guy, Greg,
23:20
Speaker 5: you've studied. The Eagles gave the extenders contract. They guarantee
23:24
Speaker 5: twelve million over two seasons, so he's gonna probably play
23:27
Speaker 5: a lot.
23:27
Speaker 4: Yeah, how good could this guy be?
23:30
Speaker 3: You know, it's funny. I remember doing Dantavian Wicks his
23:33
Speaker 3: next to last year at Virginia. He had a great
23:36
Speaker 3: year and I'm really liked his tape a lot, and
23:38
Speaker 3: I thought he had boundary X traits. Then Virginia. His
23:41
Speaker 3: final year at Virginia, the whole offense was awful. I mean,
23:45
Speaker 3: the past game was awful, The numbers were bad. He
23:48
Speaker 3: personally wasn't quite as good. He had a few drops
23:51
Speaker 3: that were problematic. But he's big, he's physical. He's not
23:55
Speaker 3: a burner, but he's at his best, he can work
24:00
Speaker 3: the intermediate areas of the field very very effectively. So
24:04
Speaker 3: to me, of all the receivers on the roster, he's
24:08
Speaker 3: the most likely if all goes well, you know, through
24:11
Speaker 3: all this offseason stuff and through training camp, he's the
24:14
Speaker 3: most likely boundary X candidate, you know, if they do
24:18
Speaker 3: line up at three by one and you know, and
24:20
Speaker 3: he's the boundary X. Johnny Wilson to me, is not
24:23
Speaker 3: a boundary X. But that's that's just my opinion. You know,
24:26
Speaker 3: maybe I'll be proven wrong. I mean, I'm not even
24:28
Speaker 3: to be honest with you. Looking at this group, I
24:30
Speaker 3: think he's going to struggle to make the roster unless
24:32
Speaker 3: they keep him essentially almost like a hybrid wide receiver
24:36
Speaker 3: tight end in the run game.
24:38
Speaker 5: Exactly, because that's really Jeff.
24:41
Speaker 4: That's why he's in the league. That he does sell
24:43
Speaker 4: it with it, you know, you know, but he's gonna have.
24:45
Speaker 3: To struggle because look now it gets into and this
24:48
Speaker 3: is again you know, so people understand I said this
24:50
Speaker 3: in our last talk with the Cowboys, we don't plan
24:52
Speaker 3: any of this, and I'm just you know, thinking about
24:54
Speaker 3: their roster. But he's in a tough spot because that's
24:57
Speaker 3: why they brought in Johnny Munt. I mean, you know,
25:00
Speaker 3: if they want to go multiple tight ends, whether it's
25:03
Speaker 3: two or three, you know, and again, this is going
25:06
Speaker 3: to be really interesting for someone like Green Calcaterra, who's
25:09
Speaker 3: probably in a tough spot too. But you got Goddard
25:12
Speaker 3: Stowers is making the roster. We don't know how much
25:14
Speaker 3: he's going to play at this point in time, but
25:16
Speaker 3: he's making the roster. And they brought in Johnny Munt
25:19
Speaker 3: because he knows this offense like the back of his hand,
25:21
Speaker 3: and he's a really really good blocker in the run game.
25:24
Speaker 3: So you know, it's there'll be a few personnel decisions
25:28
Speaker 3: here that you know, we don't know how it's all
25:30
Speaker 3: going to play out. Yeah.
25:32
Speaker 1: Yeah, And listen, we haven't talked about him, but Darius Cooper,
25:35
Speaker 1: who had a really nice camp last year and as
25:37
Speaker 1: a guy you can develop, he threatens other receivers on
25:41
Speaker 1: this team, and you wonder about one you because your
25:44
Speaker 1: fourth and fifth guys have to play special teams. So
25:46
Speaker 1: in a sense that favors a Cooper or a Johnny Wilson,
25:49
Speaker 1: maybe over a veteran like Elijah Moore or Marquise Brown.
25:52
Speaker 1: Who knows how that's all going to shake out with
25:55
Speaker 1: the numbers.
25:55
Speaker 3: I mean they got they brought in Brown, and everybody
25:57
Speaker 3: assumes he's going to, you know, be there, but that's
25:59
Speaker 3: not given. I mean I was very, very impressed with
26:03
Speaker 3: what Cooper did both preseason and when he got a
26:06
Speaker 3: chance to play. I mean, you know, he did play
26:08
Speaker 3: some meaningful snaps. Now obviously wasn't a bothering target or
26:11
Speaker 3: anything like that because of what they had. But you know,
26:14
Speaker 3: if he comes back and I don't know what he's done.
26:16
Speaker 3: Have you guys heard anything through the OTAs in the
26:18
Speaker 3: mini camps he's as he continued to do well. I
26:22
Speaker 3: haven't heard.
26:22
Speaker 5: Anything that's different because it's early. But one thing on Hollywood,
26:25
Speaker 5: Brown he'll be on the team. He's going to make
26:26
Speaker 5: five million, fully guaranteed. There's no way they're cuting them.
26:29
Speaker 5: So he'll be on the team. Now, Now the question
26:32
Speaker 5: is guys and.
26:34
Speaker 3: Receivers right there that are going to be on the team,
26:37
Speaker 3: you know, because you got Witch, you got Smith, you
26:40
Speaker 3: got Lemon, and you got Brown. So now you get
26:43
Speaker 3: to your fifth and potentially six, they have to play
26:46
Speaker 3: special teams.
26:47
Speaker 5: Yeah, one thing, Greg, just to faull up on Hollywood Brown.
26:50
Speaker 5: It's guy's a former fresh round pick. What everyone knows
26:52
Speaker 5: about is his speed. He's had some injuries. But why
26:55
Speaker 5: has he not been the player that a lot of
26:56
Speaker 5: people thought he would be from your tape study?
27:00
Speaker 3: Well, you know, and I've given this a lot of
27:03
Speaker 3: thought in the last month or two, talking to people
27:05
Speaker 3: and just thinking this through. And I may have mentioned
27:09
Speaker 3: this in the you know, because I've talked I talked
27:12
Speaker 3: to so many people. You know, this time of year
27:15
Speaker 3: when when have guys with very few We talked about
27:18
Speaker 3: this last week, you know, uh and Jeff you mentioned
27:21
Speaker 3: to Sean Jackson and Tyreek Kill, but very few guys
27:24
Speaker 3: who you know, run for under four four are guys
27:27
Speaker 3: that turn out to be like great overall receivers. You know,
27:30
Speaker 3: Brown's been solid. Brown has not been a bad NFL
27:33
Speaker 3: receiver when he's played, but he hasn't been, you know,
27:36
Speaker 3: quite that guy you know that some people thought he
27:39
Speaker 3: might be. But healthy, I think he's a solid player.
27:43
Speaker 3: Maybe at this point in his career, he's and I
27:45
Speaker 3: hate you you know, tagging guys because in this offense
27:48
Speaker 3: it doesn't necessarily work like that. But he's probably a
27:51
Speaker 3: number three type at this point in his career, you know,
27:54
Speaker 3: but you know he's he hasn't been bad when he's
27:57
Speaker 3: been healthy.
27:58
Speaker 2: Right right, No, it's a great point. It's a great point.
28:01
Speaker 1: And I do think this wide receiver group in general
28:04
Speaker 1: has so much optionality that they do different You can
28:08
Speaker 1: have different guys for different situations, for red zone for
28:10
Speaker 1: third and long third and short for between the twenties.
28:14
Speaker 1: I mean, I'm really interested to see how it shakes out.
28:17
Speaker 1: Let's talk about the quarterback greg in this offense. Tell
28:21
Speaker 1: me what you think Jalen Hurts will have to do
28:24
Speaker 1: more of or better of as opposed to the past offense.
28:28
Speaker 1: Is to make this thing really work.
28:31
Speaker 3: I think the number one thing, and I'm going to
28:33
Speaker 3: start with basics, okay, because i know the way this
28:35
Speaker 3: offense is taught. Number one is going to be footwork.
28:40
Speaker 3: He's that footwork has to be married all the time
28:44
Speaker 3: to the ground concepts. That's the way this offense is
28:48
Speaker 3: highly choreographed. That's and again, and I'm not saying it's
28:51
Speaker 3: the only offense that's highly choreographed. But I know for
28:54
Speaker 3: a fact this is so highly choreographed with your footwork,
28:59
Speaker 3: the timing matching up with the route concepts, that all
29:03
Speaker 3: has to sync up. If you're off, the offense is off.
29:08
Speaker 3: And that's the number one thing that has to happen,
29:11
Speaker 3: and that has to become muscle memory second nature, you know,
29:15
Speaker 3: because that's the way it's taught. And you know it's
29:20
Speaker 3: if you can master that, and that doesn't happen overnight,
29:23
Speaker 3: but if you can master that, then that's a great
29:27
Speaker 3: starting point and then everything else will theoretically fall into place.
29:33
Speaker 3: If you don't master that, you're going the timing is
29:36
Speaker 3: going to be off, and you're going to feel like
29:39
Speaker 3: guys are not open when they're open, you know what
29:42
Speaker 3: I'm saying. Does that make sense? Yes?
29:44
Speaker 1: Yes, And that's the challenge because you know, he has
29:47
Speaker 1: been a master at sort of finding the shot plays
29:52
Speaker 1: using his strengths, but also taking sacks to avoid turnovers.
29:57
Speaker 2: And being able to hold onto the ball.
29:59
Speaker 1: He's taking an ab normally high percentage of sacks over
30:02
Speaker 1: the last three years for a guy who has mobility
30:04
Speaker 1: the way he does in an offense.
30:06
Speaker 3: One of those things that I think is critical and
30:08
Speaker 3: this is a mental thing for Jalen is he's going
30:12
Speaker 3: to have to in his mind sort of change his
30:16
Speaker 3: view of what's open versus what's not open. Because there's
30:20
Speaker 3: a lot of tight window throws in this offense. Okay,
30:25
Speaker 3: and by nature, it's just that's the way it is.
30:27
Speaker 3: It's the NFL. There's tight window throws. But this offense
30:31
Speaker 3: thrives on those kinds of throws that as a quarterback
30:34
Speaker 3: you have to turn it loose, you know, second nature,
30:39
Speaker 3: you know. And I'm not gonna sit here and get
30:41
Speaker 3: into the old argument about he doesn't throw in the
30:43
Speaker 3: middle of the you know, we've had that discussion has
30:45
Speaker 3: been had. We don't need to revisit that. All I'm
30:47
Speaker 3: saying is, there's the way this offense because of the
30:50
Speaker 3: timing element, you know, I mean, think of the kinds
30:54
Speaker 3: of throws. And we're not sitting here debating who's a
30:57
Speaker 3: better quarterback. That's not my point at all. And I
30:59
Speaker 3: don't want to get into that discussion because it's pointless.
31:02
Speaker 3: But think of the tight window throws we've seen Jordan
31:05
Speaker 3: Love make Rock Purty, make Matthew Stafford make these are
31:09
Speaker 3: tight window throws. You have to turn those throws loose.
31:13
Speaker 3: That has to become second nature.
31:17
Speaker 2: Interesting.
31:17
Speaker 5: Well, Greg's staying with the rhythm and timing of the offense.
31:20
Speaker 5: Eagles have a first round receiver in McKay lemon. Based
31:24
Speaker 5: on what you know, what we fig this offense is
31:26
Speaker 5: going to look like, how does he fit in? Okay,
31:28
Speaker 5: how does he fit in and what are your feelings
31:30
Speaker 5: about mikayle Lemon going forward here?
31:32
Speaker 3: I think it's a great spot for him because mkayle
31:34
Speaker 3: Lemon is small. He's not truly explosive, but he's short
31:38
Speaker 3: area quick, he can separate. He's, you know, to use
31:42
Speaker 3: a term I views in the past, he's a separation generator.
31:45
Speaker 3: He's he's that's his game and you can line him
31:49
Speaker 3: up in the context of this offense. You can line
31:52
Speaker 3: him up anywhere. You know, if you ran a more
31:53
Speaker 3: traditional offense, he's not a boundary X. In the context
31:56
Speaker 3: of this offense, you can line him up anywhere. I
31:59
Speaker 3: think I think he was a pick made. I don't
32:03
Speaker 3: know how they would have felt about him with a
32:05
Speaker 3: different coordinator, but I think with this style of offense,
32:09
Speaker 3: that's because they traded up to get him. Obviously, that
32:13
Speaker 3: he fits his traits fit this offense. Now again, I'm
32:18
Speaker 3: not going to sit here until he's going to go
32:19
Speaker 3: eighty for twelve hundred as a rookie, but he fits
32:22
Speaker 3: this offense with what he brings to the table.
32:25
Speaker 1: Interesting, Gregor, you mentioned the word explosive, like the way
32:28
Speaker 1: Mackay Lemon is not explosive the way we think of
32:30
Speaker 1: receivers because he doesn't beat defenses over the top. Fact,
32:34
Speaker 1: that's my big question overall about this offense without aj Brown,
32:37
Speaker 1: is that we know that DeVante Smith can beat defenses
32:40
Speaker 1: and will be defenses.
32:42
Speaker 2: Over the top.
32:42
Speaker 1: He is the one guy that you look at this
32:45
Speaker 1: entire offense and say he can do it on a
32:47
Speaker 1: consistent basis. They'll of course play teams to try to.
32:50
Speaker 2: Take that away. Who's the other guy that can do that.
32:54
Speaker 1: I'm not sure the Eagles yet have it, or if
32:56
Speaker 1: we know they have it, But that makes me think
32:58
Speaker 1: that the run game has to be explosive.
33:00
Speaker 3: Again, theoretically, Hollywood Brown, but we don't know.
33:05
Speaker 1: To your point, he's never He's not really been that
33:07
Speaker 1: even in his career, averages around twelve hours.
33:09
Speaker 3: But I mean, if you just look at at athletic trades, theoretically, yes,
33:14
Speaker 3: but we don't know the answer to that.
33:16
Speaker 1: And by the way, it makes me think the run
33:18
Speaker 1: game has to come back and have that explosive element
33:21
Speaker 1: that it didn't have last year to compliment whatever.
33:24
Speaker 3: This is an offense. I'm not comparing any Eagles receiver
33:29
Speaker 3: to to Pokinakua, but think in terms of all the
33:33
Speaker 3: intermediate inbreaking routes that Nakua catches where he has run
33:38
Speaker 3: after catch and they become explosive plays. So it's not
33:42
Speaker 3: a matter of, hey, let's just throw it over the top,
33:45
Speaker 3: you know. But you know, theoretically, with all the reduced
33:49
Speaker 3: splits and the way that changes the way coverage has
33:52
Speaker 3: to play, and then the run game element, which ideally
33:55
Speaker 3: is going to be really good ideally, you know, then
33:59
Speaker 3: you get a lot of those kinds of opportunities. So
34:02
Speaker 3: it doesn't have to be let's throw you know, the
34:04
Speaker 3: goal ball, Let's throw the deep post. You know, Hey,
34:08
Speaker 3: let's hit on Tavon Wicks on a twenty two yard
34:10
Speaker 3: dig with room to run, you know, and it becomes
34:13
Speaker 3: maybe a forty yard game. You know. That's that's sort
34:16
Speaker 3: of the way this offense kind of is put together.
34:19
Speaker 1: And that brings us back to the conversation about the
34:20
Speaker 1: quarterback seeing what's open, hitting the back foot quicker, and
34:24
Speaker 1: feeling it all unfold in front of him.
34:27
Speaker 3: Yeah right, okay, And I'm not one, and believe me,
34:31
Speaker 3: because I've seen too much in my career. I'm not
34:34
Speaker 3: going to sit here and say, Jalen Hurts Knor can't
34:36
Speaker 3: do it. You know, he's a veteran quarterback. He's been
34:41
Speaker 3: two Super Bowls, he's won a Super Bowl, he's had
34:43
Speaker 3: success in the league. You know, we can sit here
34:46
Speaker 3: at which we've done, or we're not going to revisit
34:47
Speaker 3: now his strengths and his weaknesses. We're not going to
34:50
Speaker 3: do that. But you know, the guy's a veteran quarterback.
34:53
Speaker 3: You know, he's a smart player. He understands situations, he
34:56
Speaker 3: understands how to play. You know, let's assume he's going
35:00
Speaker 3: to figure this out. You know, I mean, is it
35:02
Speaker 3: going to happen Week one? Maybe not, But you know,
35:05
Speaker 3: let's let's assume he's going to figure all this out.
35:08
Speaker 5: Greg One thing, for some reason, you know, Hurts last
35:12
Speaker 5: year was healthy. Let's say if he had to play,
35:15
Speaker 5: how do you think Tanner McKee fits the style of offense?
35:19
Speaker 3: Stylistically? He fits this offense because that's who he is.
35:22
Speaker 3: He fits any offense that is totally built on pure timing, choreography, rhythm,
35:28
Speaker 3: because that's who he is. That's probably been who he
35:30
Speaker 3: is since he picked up a football at a you know,
35:32
Speaker 3: at age eight or whatever. That's because he's not going
35:34
Speaker 3: to run around, you know, So he's he's different than
35:37
Speaker 3: Jalen Hurts and how he grew up playing the quarterback position.
35:41
Speaker 3: So he fits that, you know. But there's no quarterback controversy,
35:44
Speaker 3: I mean, you know, not not as we start the season.
35:46
Speaker 3: But you know, mckeeth obviously stylistically fits.
35:49
Speaker 6: This offense, fits it because that's the question Flourish that
35:56
Speaker 6: if he had if he had to play it at
35:58
Speaker 6: a point sure, right, yeah, yeah, awesome.
36:02
Speaker 2: Well, look, I think we've looked at the entire offense.
36:04
Speaker 1: I mean, I think we're all really you know, excited
36:07
Speaker 1: to see how it works, how it operates, the difference
36:09
Speaker 1: that it makes. There's no question that this time around
36:12
Speaker 1: it has to be and will be different. They cannot
36:15
Speaker 1: regress back to the old Eagles offense of past failed coordinators.
36:19
Speaker 1: So that is going to be their challenge going into
36:22
Speaker 1: the year. And like we said, sort of about the
36:23
Speaker 1: Cowboys run defense. I don't know that like Jalen Hurts
36:26
Speaker 1: has to just one hundred percent improve every element of
36:30
Speaker 1: his game. I just think, like you say, Greg, there
36:32
Speaker 1: are certain throws that he has been fifty to fifty
36:35
Speaker 1: on at times, or sometimes forty sixty whatever, you could
36:38
Speaker 1: be sixty four. There were some games where he would
36:40
Speaker 1: make it way more consistently the others. That's just the
36:42
Speaker 1: element that if you can get that fifteen to twenty
36:44
Speaker 1: percent more than you have an improvement. And you because
36:47
Speaker 1: you have a good enough defense, you should have a
36:49
Speaker 1: good enough running game. You're just trying to get the
36:51
Speaker 1: passing game to back to being a respectable level.
36:53
Speaker 2: And build off of that. It's really fallen off last year.
36:56
Speaker 3: I mean it's it's it's a working anytime you have
36:59
Speaker 3: a new offense that's totally changing, you know, conceptually and philosophically,
37:04
Speaker 3: it's a work in progress, you know, and let's see
37:07
Speaker 3: what happens. You know, they still have good players, you know,
37:09
Speaker 3: we haven't. We didn't discuss the old line and we're
37:11
Speaker 3: not going to get into that now other than just
37:13
Speaker 3: say it's got to be better than it was last year.
37:15
Speaker 5: That was a major issue, well health, Greg, Yeah, the
37:18
Speaker 5: key here is no surgeries that we know for because
37:21
Speaker 5: remember Jurgens was going off surgery. Dickerson was going off
37:24
Speaker 5: surgeries at surgeries. So now the hope is with all
37:28
Speaker 5: the treatment they got overseas, Jeff, as they sent it
37:31
Speaker 5: back to you, will be incrementally better. Now, how much
37:34
Speaker 5: better the run blocking was thetrocious last year.
37:37
Speaker 4: Let's call it like it is.
37:38
Speaker 3: Greg.
37:38
Speaker 5: You told us many times Jurgons looked like he couldn't
37:41
Speaker 5: bend down. He just was Yeah, he was stiff. So Jeff,
37:46
Speaker 5: they're going to be better. Okay, they have to be better.
37:48
Speaker 5: But as you as we've talked about, this run game
37:50
Speaker 5: could set everything up because we saw how beautiful was
37:52
Speaker 5: at twenty four. When you've got a run game, it's
37:55
Speaker 5: elite at it makes everything a lot easier.
38:00
Speaker 4: Easy, but easier.
38:01
Speaker 2: Well, I'm glad you brought that up at him. I
38:03
Speaker 2: wanted to end it on this.
38:04
Speaker 1: This the run, the offensive line, Greg, We've talked a
38:08
Speaker 1: lot about how these Shanahan style offenses maybe don't always
38:11
Speaker 1: have the best offensive lines, Like you know, the forty
38:13
Speaker 1: nine ers have Trent Williams, but everybody else is a
38:16
Speaker 1: guy you know a packer, same thing they had to
38:19
Speaker 1: left tackle for a few years, who is a six
38:21
Speaker 1: round pick and they.
38:21
Speaker 2: Just let him walk in free agency. Could this style.
38:25
Speaker 1: That they're going to implement more horizontal blocking, wide zone,
38:29
Speaker 1: take a little bit more of the physical punishment away
38:32
Speaker 1: from them for that inside zone and that up the
38:34
Speaker 1: gut and duo that they've been running for years, and
38:37
Speaker 1: kind of lighten the load on them and just let
38:39
Speaker 1: their athleticism shine through. In some ways, it might help
38:42
Speaker 1: them stay healthy and be productive.
38:45
Speaker 3: And again, I don't know how Chris Cooper teaches, but
38:48
Speaker 3: I do know how sort of the Shanahan group teaches
38:51
Speaker 3: the old line. And I think they there's multiple ways
38:57
Speaker 3: to teach o line, and there's a lot of guys
38:59
Speaker 3: who are, you know, great teaching multiple ways. But I
39:03
Speaker 3: know they simplify it in the way, you know. So
39:06
Speaker 3: again I don't know how Chris Cooper's teaching it. I'm
39:07
Speaker 3: not there, but you know, they simplify it a lot,
39:11
Speaker 3: and they try not to muddy the old line with
39:14
Speaker 3: so many adjustments and changes, and hey, if the defense
39:18
Speaker 3: to front does this, do this, and if they do this,
39:20
Speaker 3: do this, and they try not to do all that
39:23
Speaker 3: they try to simplify it to you know, angle of
39:26
Speaker 3: departure and aiming point. You know, I mean aiming point,
39:29
Speaker 3: angle of departure. You know, doesn't matter whether it's a
39:32
Speaker 3: three I, you know, a three technique or a four
39:34
Speaker 3: I or a two. You know, hey, that's that's how
39:37
Speaker 3: that's your guy. You know, that's how we're going to
39:39
Speaker 3: do this, so we'll see. You know, sometimes that can
39:42
Speaker 3: help too. Sometimes just hearing it explain differently and a
39:45
Speaker 3: guy might say, you know, oh, I see it a
39:47
Speaker 3: little different doesn't mean that before it was bad. We
39:50
Speaker 3: know Jeff Stallin was great, but we know that coaches
39:53
Speaker 3: teach things different ways and sometimes players it just resonates differently.
39:57
Speaker 2: Sure, absolutely, all right. That is a great look at
40:01
Speaker 2: the Philadelphia Eagles.
40:02
Speaker 1: And that is going to conclude our four part series
40:04
Speaker 1: previewing each nfcas team.
40:07
Speaker 2: We thank you, Greg.
40:08
Speaker 1: You are fantastic as always, and it's been another great
40:11
Speaker 1: year of doing these previews with you, and of course
40:13
Speaker 1: we'll continue to have you back and pretty soon the
40:15
Speaker 1: season will be here and inside the table will be
40:17
Speaker 1: grinding it out twice a week.
40:19
Speaker 2: So but enjoy the rest of your break and next time.
40:23
Speaker 1: We're all together, it's gonna be a lot of good
40:25
Speaker 1: football talk.
40:26
Speaker 3: I gonna wait. The Eagles are one of the most
40:28
Speaker 3: intriguing teams in the league this year. I can't wait
40:31
Speaker 3: for sure.
40:32
Speaker 2: All Right, that's gonna do it.
40:33
Speaker 1: For this episode of Inside the Birds, the leading podcast
40:35
Speaker 1: and the Eagles Intel. For Greg Osel and Adam Kaplan,
40:38
Speaker 1: I'm Jeff Mosher, and of course we thank you for
40:40
Speaker 1: flying with.
40:41
Speaker 2: Us Inside the Ubbirds.
40:44
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40:48
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40:51
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41:02
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