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OPPOSITION TERRITORY: Eagles vs. Packers Pregame Preview · The Philadelphia Sports Table | Philly Sports News & Views

0:24
Speaker 1: Welcome to Opposition Territory here at the Philadelphia Sports Table
0:27
Speaker 1: podcast show, the longest running weekly Philly sports podcast show
0:30
Speaker 1: in the world, twelve and a half years strong. We've
0:33
Speaker 1: got a great preview coming your way. Yes, we're gonna
0:35
Speaker 1: be previewing the Philadelphia Eagles in Green Bay Packers week
0:38
Speaker 1: ten matchup that is just around the corner. Joining us
0:41
Speaker 1: from Acmepackingcompany dot com. You know we love our Spnation sites.
0:45
Speaker 1: We've got our good friend and you saw him last
0:47
Speaker 1: week as well, Evan tex Western from again Acmepackingcompany dot
0:52
Speaker 1: Com twice in two weeks. Buddy, I mean, it's great
0:55
Speaker 1: to talk to you. Thanks for joining me, man.
0:58
Speaker 2: Yeah, thanks, Jeff. I thought you'd be sick of me
1:00
Speaker 2: by now. Never keep asking me on, so I'll keep
1:02
Speaker 2: coming and talking Packers, even though this was a rough
1:04
Speaker 2: one too, to talking about coming off of Sundays.
1:07
Speaker 1: To Bok, I appreciate we got to get into that.
1:09
Speaker 1: We got to get into it right off the bat.
1:11
Speaker 1: So like last week when we had you on the
1:13
Speaker 1: Opposition Territory Show, here, we got into how the Panthers,
1:17
Speaker 1: you know, really aren't a basement dwelling team this year.
1:21
Speaker 1: I thought This was a team that's been kind of
1:24
Speaker 1: interesting to watch, even though their victories have been against
1:26
Speaker 1: teams that are just not so great in the NFL.
1:30
Speaker 1: They're not a great team, but I think they're growing.
1:33
Speaker 1: That's kind of what we were talking about last week
1:35
Speaker 1: on Opposition Territory, And frankly, like your tone was basically like,
1:38
Speaker 1: you know, yeah, they're you know, they're they're kind of
1:42
Speaker 1: going somewhere. But you know, Packers probably should have won
1:45
Speaker 1: that game. That was kind of the tone. Never in
1:48
Speaker 1: a million years text did I think that the Panthers
1:51
Speaker 1: would beat the Packers and also beat them in lambeau Field,
1:55
Speaker 1: for God's sake. So let's unpack this all here in
1:58
Speaker 1: terms of what happened. First, from an offensive perspective, what
2:02
Speaker 1: the heck happened? What happened with this Packers team?
2:05
Speaker 2: Yeah? Where where do we start? Yeah? Gosh, there's there's
2:09
Speaker 2: so many things that went wrong. So first off, like
2:11
Speaker 2: this team basically played an f performance, yeah, and still
2:14
Speaker 2: lost on a last second field goal to Carolina. So
2:18
Speaker 2: I still stand by my point, my point from last
2:21
Speaker 2: week that I don't think Carolina is a good team, right.
2:23
Speaker 2: I think the Packers just put forth about the worst
2:27
Speaker 2: performance he possibly could could could put forth. So it's
2:31
Speaker 2: red zone execution, right. The team got inside the thirty
2:35
Speaker 2: yard line on every just about every drive in this game.
2:38
Speaker 2: They came away one for five with touchdowns in the
2:41
Speaker 2: red zone. They had a fumble on the very first
2:43
Speaker 2: drive from rookie Damian Williams that that cost him points
2:47
Speaker 2: in the in the red zone early on. Also, Matt
2:50
Speaker 2: Lafleur had some major questionable decisions in this game. So
2:55
Speaker 2: there's the whole The whole offensive scheme made no sense
2:58
Speaker 2: to me. Really. There was of throwing behind the line
3:01
Speaker 2: of scrimmage, trying to rely on guys to pick up
3:05
Speaker 2: yak out of the backfield, and that's actually one area
3:08
Speaker 2: where Carolina's defense was pretty decent. Was was kind of
3:11
Speaker 2: limiting those types of opportunities. So that was a questionable
3:15
Speaker 2: approach just from a game planning perspective to me. Then
3:19
Speaker 2: he had questionable decisions with There was some fourth down
3:22
Speaker 2: stuff that was really ugly. There was a fourth and
3:25
Speaker 2: eight early in the fourth quarter after a bunch of
3:27
Speaker 2: injuries had hit that offense, where you know, the Packers
3:31
Speaker 2: are sitting with a third and three at like the
3:32
Speaker 2: fifteen yard line. They lose five yards on a running
3:35
Speaker 2: back like bubble screen out to the outside. It seemed
3:39
Speaker 2: like Lafleur was going for it no matter what. On
3:42
Speaker 2: fourth down. He was calling it that way, and he
3:44
Speaker 2: didn't think about the timing of the game. They were
3:46
Speaker 2: down seven, there's twelve minutes left. You know you're going
3:49
Speaker 2: to get the ball back, kick the field goal, and
3:52
Speaker 2: you know close it down and go trust your defense
3:55
Speaker 2: to get a stop because the defense was for some issues.
3:58
Speaker 2: They weren't letting Carolina put points on the board. So
4:01
Speaker 2: you've got issues there. You've got Brandon McMahons missing another
4:04
Speaker 2: very makeable field goal, even though I know it was
4:06
Speaker 2: a windy day, but I mean, you go out there,
4:09
Speaker 2: you're a professional kicker. Hit hit the field goal from
4:11
Speaker 2: forty three cars so, and then you've got the injuries
4:15
Speaker 2: that hit this team. Tucker Craft out for the year.
4:18
Speaker 2: We'll get into that is a big one. Yeah, So
4:20
Speaker 2: that one is rough. Matthew Golden was lost for the
4:23
Speaker 2: game with a shoulder injury after taking a big hit
4:25
Speaker 2: on another wide receiver screen. He gets tackled from behind
4:29
Speaker 2: by a two hundred and seventy five pounds defensive lineman
4:31
Speaker 2: and hurts his shoulder. Christian Watson was out for a
4:34
Speaker 2: short period of that game. He's back, and that's something
4:37
Speaker 2: I want to talk about too. But you had injury
4:40
Speaker 2: issues compounding with all of these red zone execution and
4:43
Speaker 2: play calling issues, and just the offense just had had
4:47
Speaker 2: no answers. Yeah, and so it's it's the worst performance.
4:50
Speaker 2: It's even worse to me than that Browns game because
4:53
Speaker 2: at least with the Browns they have Miles Garrett, who
4:56
Speaker 2: you know, can wreck an offense, yes, at any moment,
5:00
Speaker 2: at any moment, right, Panthers don't have that guy, and
5:03
Speaker 2: Lafleur came out so conservative and so hesitant with his
5:07
Speaker 2: game plan, didn't really push the ball into those intermediate areas.
5:11
Speaker 2: It was all behind the scrimmage or Jordan Love throwing
5:15
Speaker 2: a couple of yolo balls. Yeah, and that's that's not
5:19
Speaker 2: a recipe for a successful offense, especially when you've got
5:21
Speaker 2: questions on the offensive line too, and you had a
5:23
Speaker 2: guy going out in that game, and the run game
5:25
Speaker 2: is not really getting moving. So from top to bottom,
5:28
Speaker 2: just an embarrassing offense.
5:31
Speaker 1: What about the defense On the flip side of things here,
5:33
Speaker 1: there were some things, you know in terms of watching
5:35
Speaker 1: the game, there were some things that went right from
5:37
Speaker 1: a defensive perspective, there were also things that went wrong.
5:40
Speaker 1: I mean, Rico Dabble just having a fantastic game in
5:43
Speaker 1: terms of rushing. Where did it go right? Where did
5:45
Speaker 1: it go wrong? From a defensive standpoint?
5:48
Speaker 2: Yeah, Another big injury that really hurt them up front
5:51
Speaker 2: was to Kolby Wood in the defensive tackle and this
5:53
Speaker 2: team has virtually no depth at tackle, so they kind
5:58
Speaker 2: of got eaten alive up the middle with with Doubtle
6:00
Speaker 2: in particular. Yeah, I couldn't believe how bad the defensive
6:05
Speaker 2: line was, even the edge rushers. The Panthers had three
6:09
Speaker 2: or four backups in on their offensive line throughout much
6:12
Speaker 2: of that game, and Rashan Geary and Micah Parsons didn't
6:16
Speaker 2: even sniff Bryce Young basically the entire game. Now, Bryce
6:19
Speaker 2: Young still played like crap I think he had. He
6:22
Speaker 2: had a terrible game. We'll go look at the passing
6:24
Speaker 2: chart from from that game, and you're going to wonder,
6:26
Speaker 2: how the hell did this team beat the Packers, Right,
6:28
Speaker 2: because that effort against a more functional offense would have
6:35
Speaker 2: given up thirty points. I think I think a lot
6:37
Speaker 2: of it was due to you know, Bryce Young struggling
6:41
Speaker 2: to throw the ball, throw the ball accurately. The wind
6:43
Speaker 2: I probably affecting that a little bit because the secondary
6:47
Speaker 2: played okay, But again, Panthers, I don't think have a
6:50
Speaker 2: lot of really great receiving weapons, so that was kind
6:53
Speaker 2: of the saving grace. There was the secondary played all right,
6:56
Speaker 2: but I think up front, the defensive line really struggled.
7:00
Speaker 2: And that's an area I'll be watching certainly this week,
7:03
Speaker 2: you know, for Monday Night.
7:04
Speaker 1: Yeah. Absolutely, Look, coming off this lost tech, I'm wondering
7:08
Speaker 1: what the actually, what the vibes of this Packers team
7:11
Speaker 1: is really going to be heading into Week ten here,
7:14
Speaker 1: how is this team feeling? And it might this actually
7:17
Speaker 1: be a key component and aspect of this upcoming Monday
7:21
Speaker 1: Night game where they're facing an Eagles team coming off
7:23
Speaker 1: a bye, who is at the top of the NFC,
7:27
Speaker 1: feeling good about where their offensive line is, finally having
7:30
Speaker 1: some sort of cohesion, the running game got going that
7:34
Speaker 1: last game against the Giants, and I'm just wondering what
7:38
Speaker 1: the vibes of the Packers are going to be again,
7:42
Speaker 1: you know, after this kind of a devastating loss to
7:46
Speaker 1: the Panthers, what do you think this team is feeling
7:48
Speaker 1: and what we're going to see on the field this week.
7:51
Speaker 2: Yeah, I can certainly tell you the Packers fans vibes
7:54
Speaker 2: are down in the dumps right now. Again for the
7:58
Speaker 2: Tucker Craft thing. You know, I'm going to keep coming
8:01
Speaker 2: back to that. That's going to be a majorly impactful
8:04
Speaker 2: injury for this offense and it's going to, i think,
8:06
Speaker 2: change how this offense has to look moving forward. So
8:08
Speaker 2: that's got people down. That's certainly a big blow to
8:11
Speaker 2: the locker room too. He was a really well liked
8:13
Speaker 2: and appreciated player in the locker room, was grown into
8:16
Speaker 2: a leadership role. You know it. It feels to me
8:20
Speaker 2: like this could go one of two ways, right, this
8:22
Speaker 2: could be right now. It feels like this is kind
8:24
Speaker 2: of how it must have felt in Philly after that
8:26
Speaker 2: first Giants game two weeks or two three weeks again.
8:29
Speaker 1: Yes, where you're like, what the hell is going on?
8:31
Speaker 2: Out of nowhere? Kind of unexpected loss where you know,
8:35
Speaker 2: just a lot of self inflicted wounds and it's a chance,
8:40
Speaker 2: certainly a chance to write the ship this week, right.
8:43
Speaker 2: I think there's a level of complacency that has worked
8:46
Speaker 2: its way into this team when they're playing against teams
8:50
Speaker 2: that should be significantly worse than them. We saw it
8:53
Speaker 2: with the Browns, you know, we saw it again this week.
8:56
Speaker 2: This was the biggest upset by upset loss by a
8:59
Speaker 2: Packers team apparently since the merger based on points, was
9:03
Speaker 2: it really your whole thirteen and a half point favorites?
9:05
Speaker 2: They had never lost a game when favored by that
9:07
Speaker 2: much apparently in the last like fifty sixty years.
9:11
Speaker 1: So they're either going to come out depressed in terms
9:13
Speaker 1: of the vibes, or they're going to come out strong
9:16
Speaker 1: and say, screw what just happened to us. We're going
9:19
Speaker 1: to show this league who we are and what we
9:21
Speaker 1: can do.
9:22
Speaker 2: Absolutely, and I think it's a complete toss up as
9:24
Speaker 2: to which one you're gonna get. Yeah, I have no
9:27
Speaker 2: idea which way it's going to go. I think that's
9:29
Speaker 2: very much. It's either going to be a catalyst for
9:31
Speaker 2: rallying around this to say this is not going to
9:33
Speaker 2: happen again, and we got a really good team coming
9:35
Speaker 2: in here, and we need to make a statement that
9:37
Speaker 2: this isn't who we are or it could be really bad. Yeah.
9:41
Speaker 1: Yeah, well, look you've mentioned this player a couple times
9:44
Speaker 1: here during the course of the discussion, and we got
9:47
Speaker 1: we got to get into how this Packers offense has
9:50
Speaker 1: lost tight end Tucker Craft for the season after tearing
9:54
Speaker 1: his ACL. This Packers offense now needs to really pivot
9:58
Speaker 1: and make a shift. You've alluded to it here. How
10:01
Speaker 1: do you foresee this pivot and this shift really taking place?
10:05
Speaker 1: And you know, we're certainly going to see some of
10:07
Speaker 1: that against Philadelphia Eagles on Monday Night Football this week.
10:10
Speaker 1: How does that look to you?
10:13
Speaker 2: Yeah, Craft, I think was the most integral part of
10:16
Speaker 2: this offense, besides Jordan Love, the most important non quarterback
10:20
Speaker 2: on this offense because he does so much right, he's
10:22
Speaker 2: that he's the I think he is the premiere inline
10:27
Speaker 2: tight end in the NFL right now. He's certainly demonstrated
10:31
Speaker 2: that he's he's a yak machine. I mean, he's got
10:33
Speaker 2: over three hundred yards after the catch this year already.
10:36
Speaker 1: So I picked him up in fantasy I'm not kidding,
10:38
Speaker 1: that's why.
10:39
Speaker 2: Yeah, And he's been a red zone weapons. He's a
10:44
Speaker 2: phenomenal blocker, which again is kind of a quality that
10:47
Speaker 2: a lot of tight ends lack these days. Yeah, you know,
10:50
Speaker 2: he's the he's kind of the George Kittle from five
10:54
Speaker 2: six years ago, right, and and he's developed into that role.
10:56
Speaker 2: And I was saying the week before that I think
10:59
Speaker 2: he's the best all around tight end in the NFL today.
11:02
Speaker 2: And so you lose that guy, they can't replace his production.
11:06
Speaker 2: I think even in the aggregate, let alone, with one player,
11:09
Speaker 2: you're going to be relying on Luke Musgrave to do
11:11
Speaker 2: a lot of stuff at tight end. Well, he showed
11:14
Speaker 2: in his rookie year that he's not really cut out
11:15
Speaker 2: as a blocker, at least certainly not the way the
11:17
Speaker 2: craft is. So you're going to have to work multiple
11:19
Speaker 2: different tight ends into the game in different situations. I think, honestly,
11:24
Speaker 2: what I would do is I would be retooling this
11:26
Speaker 2: offense to be a lot more built around eleven personnel,
11:29
Speaker 2: a little bit more spread out. You've got a lot
11:31
Speaker 2: of bodies at receiver, guys who are decent players who
11:35
Speaker 2: you can trust. There. Christian Watson's back and is really
11:39
Speaker 2: starting to look comfortable in the offense again, So I
11:43
Speaker 2: think what the best approach would be is to work
11:46
Speaker 2: out of the three receiver sets most of the time
11:49
Speaker 2: and start really ramping up the intermediate passing game that
11:52
Speaker 2: we didn't see against Carolina. Again, it was all of
11:54
Speaker 2: this short passing stuff, relying on Yak. You got one
11:57
Speaker 2: of your biggest, biggest producers in that area as gone,
12:00
Speaker 2: so work the intermediate crossers, work works, some mesh stuff,
12:04
Speaker 2: the things that the Packers have done in the past
12:07
Speaker 2: in the passing game that have worked really well. And
12:10
Speaker 2: Jordan love Is has been very good throwing intermediate you know,
12:14
Speaker 2: routes over the middle. He anticipates, well, he's got a
12:17
Speaker 2: you know, certainly got a strong arm. That's where I
12:19
Speaker 2: would like to see it. I don't know if we're
12:22
Speaker 2: going to get that on a mat with floor. I
12:24
Speaker 2: think sometimes he gets stubborn and he gets set in
12:26
Speaker 2: his ways with this is what my offense needs to
12:29
Speaker 2: look like. And there's there's a balance between dictating to
12:34
Speaker 2: defenses this is what we're going to do, and taking
12:37
Speaker 2: what the defense gives you and adjusting to to the
12:41
Speaker 2: defensive schemes, and I think he struggles to find that balance.
12:44
Speaker 2: There's certain times where he gets so wrapped up in
12:48
Speaker 2: you know, these are the core concepts we want to run.
12:49
Speaker 2: We're going to run him to death, When sometimes you
12:52
Speaker 2: just need to say, hey, these intermediate routes are going
12:54
Speaker 2: to be open. Let's start start throwing those and making
12:57
Speaker 2: that a core component of our offense. So I would
12:59
Speaker 2: like to see, especially with the way the run game
13:01
Speaker 2: has really kind of struggled to develop itself and find
13:05
Speaker 2: its groove so far this season. We kind of talked
13:08
Speaker 2: about it last week. I want to see Jordan Love
13:10
Speaker 2: cook yep, because I think that's the that's going to
13:13
Speaker 2: have to be the way that this team works over
13:17
Speaker 2: the second half this season is getting the receivers more involved,
13:19
Speaker 2: getting Jordan Love comfortable and in a rhythm. That's where
13:24
Speaker 2: this team is going to have to go if they
13:26
Speaker 2: want to really be a top contender in the NFC.
13:29
Speaker 1: It's going to be interesting to see how that how
13:31
Speaker 1: any of this pivot and changes to the offense really
13:35
Speaker 1: manifests itself, because I mean, it's going to need to
13:38
Speaker 1: happen at some point. Will it happen against the Philadelphia Eagles, folks?
13:42
Speaker 1: Not one hundred percent sure here at this point. As
13:45
Speaker 1: Tex has been saying, and again he is evantex Western
13:48
Speaker 1: from Acmepackingcompany dot com. Where can the folks find you
13:52
Speaker 1: on the interwebs out there if they want to connect
13:54
Speaker 1: with you, my friend.
13:56
Speaker 2: Yeah, you can reach me. It's at text Western on
13:59
Speaker 2: most the socials, mostly active on Blue Sky, a little
14:03
Speaker 2: Instagram here and there. You can find my work at
14:07
Speaker 2: Frozen Tundra Pod on Blue Sky. We do the Frozen
14:09
Speaker 2: Tundra Frequencies podcast. I'll be on late late Monday night recording,
14:14
Speaker 2: you know, reactions to the game after after everything wraps
14:17
Speaker 2: up one way or another. We had. We had a
14:19
Speaker 2: pretty explicit tag one this week after the Panthers loss.
14:24
Speaker 2: For sure. Yes, that was that was a little rough.
14:26
Speaker 2: I uh, I'd had to put a beer two down
14:29
Speaker 2: after that game and just let it fly with with
14:32
Speaker 2: my friend Justice Miskata from Acnepacking Company on that one.
14:35
Speaker 2: But and then certainly ACME Packing Co on all the
14:38
Speaker 2: socials and Acmepacking Company dot com.
14:41
Speaker 1: Very good folks. If you're watching on YouTube, please like
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15:02
Speaker 1: on Blue Sky as well, and so are my co
15:04
Speaker 1: host Eric as well. So that said, folks, we are
15:08
Speaker 1: going to take a break to pay some bills here.
15:09
Speaker 1: We're gonna be back in just a bit more with
15:11
Speaker 1: our Eagles Packers preview. All right, we are back with
15:15
Speaker 1: our good friend tex Western from Acmepackingcompany dot com and
15:19
Speaker 1: to dive into this Eagles Packers matchup now here, We're
15:23
Speaker 1: gonna start talking about the trenches right off the bat here.
15:26
Speaker 1: I'm gonna find this to be very interesting because Eagles
15:29
Speaker 1: are likely gonna have some new players upfront in terms
15:34
Speaker 1: of the defensive line that we're gonna be looking at.
15:36
Speaker 1: But I really want to talk about what the Packers
15:39
Speaker 1: defense may look like, especially after the Panthers game as well,
15:43
Speaker 1: and how they may stack up against the Eagles offensive line,
15:47
Speaker 1: who seems to have figured some things out right now
15:50
Speaker 1: again at that last Giants game before the Eagles buy,
15:54
Speaker 1: I think it's safe to say that the cohesion with
15:56
Speaker 1: this Eagles offensive line has gotten back in the final
16:00
Speaker 1: They've finally found their foundational approach to how they want
16:04
Speaker 1: this offensive, especially rushing attack, to go. What are your
16:08
Speaker 1: thoughts here about the trenches Packers defensive line against the
16:12
Speaker 1: Eagles offensive line techs.
16:15
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm really worried about this matchup to put it
16:19
Speaker 2: to just put it flat out there right again. The
16:21
Speaker 2: defensive tackle position has been a challenge for the Packers,
16:25
Speaker 2: and that depth was tested again when Kolby Wood and
16:28
Speaker 2: the nose tackle went out with a shoulder injury early
16:31
Speaker 2: in the game against against Carolina. So they normally dress
16:36
Speaker 2: four D tackles on game days, they work in a
16:39
Speaker 2: lot of passing situations, they'll work a couple of the
16:41
Speaker 2: defensive ends inside a little bit. So like Lucas van
16:45
Speaker 2: Ness being gone the last couple weeks with an injury
16:47
Speaker 2: of his own has sort of made them rely a
16:49
Speaker 2: little bit more on the normal defensive tackles even in
16:52
Speaker 2: passing situations. He is supposed to be back, which I
16:54
Speaker 2: think helps and hopefully that helps keep some of the
16:57
Speaker 2: interior alignment a little bit fresher. Would and can't go
17:00
Speaker 2: that's a that's a big depth issue because then you're
17:03
Speaker 2: down to Demante Wyatt Carl Brooks, who are both more
17:06
Speaker 2: kind of three tech a little more pass rushing specialists,
17:10
Speaker 2: and then you got two rookies in Nazier Stackhouse and
17:12
Speaker 2: Warren Brinson, both Georgia guys. Stackhouse has been a turnstile
17:17
Speaker 2: basically this entire time, when when he's been out there
17:19
Speaker 2: in the run game, and yet somehow still he's getting
17:24
Speaker 2: snaps over Brinson, who's been a healthy scratch at times.
17:27
Speaker 2: I think they need to they need to get Brinson
17:29
Speaker 2: worked in because he's definitely showed up better in the
17:32
Speaker 2: run game than Stackhouse has. But I'm really worried about
17:35
Speaker 2: especially if if Colby Wooden can't go. I'm getting really
17:39
Speaker 2: concerned about that defensive tackle depth getting carved in on
17:42
Speaker 2: the inside and Sikun just having a ton of room
17:45
Speaker 2: to run inside. Beckers have done a better job on
17:48
Speaker 2: the edge with the ends than they have in the
17:50
Speaker 2: last several years. Where Shaun Gary has come along as
17:53
Speaker 2: a run defender Micah Parsons, for all the talk about
17:56
Speaker 2: oh run at him like, he's still a damn good
17:58
Speaker 2: run defender. His and Lucas Vanessa's is probably the best
18:04
Speaker 2: of the three of them against the run, so him
18:06
Speaker 2: being back could be a big thing. If I were
18:08
Speaker 2: the Eagles, I would absolutely be attacking up the middle
18:11
Speaker 2: because that's where the Packers match up the worst against them.
18:14
Speaker 1: Yeah, all right, Well, I'd like to move along as
18:17
Speaker 1: well in terms of the matchups here with regard to
18:20
Speaker 1: the Packers secondary against these Eagles wide receivers here, because
18:25
Speaker 1: we talked last week on the Opposition Territory pod text
18:28
Speaker 1: about the Packers secondary and just how it's been so
18:32
Speaker 1: up and down all season pretty much a weak aspect
18:35
Speaker 1: of this Packers team. Eagles receivers really came on strong
18:38
Speaker 1: in recent weeks as AJ Brown and DeVante Smith really
18:42
Speaker 1: have been pulling in some big yardage some touchdowns as well.
18:45
Speaker 1: How do you see the Packers secondary matching up with
18:48
Speaker 1: the Eagles receivers this week?
18:51
Speaker 2: Yeah. An injury really has simplified this equation a little
18:55
Speaker 2: bit for the Packers this week. So Nate Hobbs, who
18:57
Speaker 2: we talked about last week a little bit, it got
19:01
Speaker 2: benched against the Steelers. He went out and kind of
19:04
Speaker 2: was rotating with Carrington Valentine a little bit last week. Well,
19:07
Speaker 2: he's out with the mcl sprain now for a couple
19:09
Speaker 2: of weeks. So you're gonna see Keishawn Nixon and Carrington
19:11
Speaker 2: Valentine on the outside. They generally like to keep them
19:14
Speaker 2: to the right and left side. So I don't think
19:16
Speaker 2: you're going to see a whole lot of matchups, you know,
19:20
Speaker 2: playing playing aj Brown or having somebody follow Brown versus
19:23
Speaker 2: DeVante Smith. So so we'll see where that goes. But
19:27
Speaker 2: they tend to stick to those sides, and you're going
19:29
Speaker 2: to see Javon Bullard play play mainly in the slot,
19:32
Speaker 2: So I don't I think that's sort of it's it's
19:36
Speaker 2: they're kind of telegraphing what they're going to do personnel wise. Packers.
19:39
Speaker 2: Guys just need to execute and and and play well.
19:42
Speaker 2: And Keishaw Nixon has been up and down. He's he's
19:44
Speaker 2: been a little grabby. He's gotten a number of flags
19:47
Speaker 2: over the course of this season. I think he's up
19:49
Speaker 2: to maybe seven either pass inferences or holding flags already.
19:52
Speaker 2: Wow on this season. Valentine has played well since he's
19:56
Speaker 2: been back out there these last couple of games. Though.
19:58
Speaker 2: He's he's quick, sticky, he's a ballhawk. He can get
20:01
Speaker 2: a little handsy at times, and as we saw last season,
20:05
Speaker 2: he's not the most physical player. When Dallas Goddard basically
20:09
Speaker 2: sent him into the shadow zone. But if you can
20:12
Speaker 2: if you can get him matched up more often than not,
20:15
Speaker 2: like on a DeVante Smith. I think that's a decent
20:17
Speaker 2: matchup for him. A J. Brown, you know, that's a
20:20
Speaker 2: tougher one. We saw him, you know, make a really
20:23
Speaker 2: nice play on the ball and still have it torn
20:24
Speaker 2: away by Ted McMillan on Sunday, who's a much bigger,
20:27
Speaker 2: stronger receiver. So but he certainly played a lot better
20:31
Speaker 2: than Nate Hobbs has. I think you need a big
20:33
Speaker 2: game from the safeties though, too. You need a big
20:34
Speaker 2: play from Xavier McKinney. And Evan Williams needs to step
20:37
Speaker 2: up a little bit. He's been a little little bit
20:40
Speaker 2: iffy and run support at times this season, so he
20:44
Speaker 2: needs to get back to to whatever it was that
20:47
Speaker 2: he was doing a little differently last season when he
20:49
Speaker 2: was kind of a force as a as a rookie
20:50
Speaker 2: and at that strong safety position.
20:52
Speaker 1: It's going to be a key matchup to watch for sure,
20:54
Speaker 1: going to be very interesting to see how this Eagles
20:57
Speaker 1: wide receiver corps really, you know, it takes on this
21:00
Speaker 1: this Packers secondary. So buddy, before I let you go text,
21:04
Speaker 1: we end our pregame preview shows every week here on
21:07
Speaker 1: Opposition Territory with these two questions talking about what both
21:11
Speaker 1: teams are going to need to hit on for a win.
21:14
Speaker 1: So let's start with the Packers. What's the one thing
21:16
Speaker 1: the Packers are going to need to hit on for
21:18
Speaker 1: a win this week against the Philadelphia Eagles.
21:22
Speaker 2: I think it's got to be explosive pass plays, Okay,
21:24
Speaker 2: I think they need to take some shots. They need
21:26
Speaker 2: to take some intermediate shots and find ways to generate
21:29
Speaker 2: yards after the catch in different ways than the way
21:31
Speaker 2: they've been doing it this season. Getting guys like Christian
21:34
Speaker 2: Watson over the middle on crossers, you know, getting him
21:37
Speaker 2: in you know, against his own coverage, or you know,
21:41
Speaker 2: a couple of instances where they're going to have to
21:42
Speaker 2: take deep shots and throw it up to Watson or
21:46
Speaker 2: Matthew Golden if he's back. I think that's gonna be
21:49
Speaker 2: key to soften up that defense and try to make
21:53
Speaker 2: some space for Josh Jacobs. In the ground game, they're
21:56
Speaker 2: still they've they've always been this team that builds their
21:58
Speaker 2: passing game off a play action in the ground game.
22:01
Speaker 2: To some extent, this might have to be the other
22:03
Speaker 2: way around. Is you you pass to run rather than
22:05
Speaker 2: run to pass. So interesting going to be the big
22:08
Speaker 2: the big factor, I mean certainly turnovers would be big.
22:11
Speaker 2: If the Packers can get one or two big ones,
22:14
Speaker 2: that that would be huge. But I feel like that
22:17
Speaker 2: that goes without saying so Jimmy Jordan love cooking and
22:19
Speaker 2: taking some deep shots.
22:20
Speaker 1: No, right, Eagles have not been turning the ball over
22:23
Speaker 1: too too much this season too, So that's that's something
22:25
Speaker 1: else to certainly keep in mind as well. But let's
22:28
Speaker 1: flip the coin here. What's the one thing the Eagles
22:31
Speaker 1: are going to need to hit on for a win
22:32
Speaker 1: against the Green Bay Packers this week?
22:34
Speaker 2: Text? I do think if their interior offensive line is working,
22:40
Speaker 2: and I think that's again the area where the Packers
22:43
Speaker 2: are weakest right now and where the matchup is most
22:47
Speaker 2: most in favor of Philadelphia is run between the tackles.
22:50
Speaker 2: Don't don't try to focus too much on on getting
22:53
Speaker 2: out to the to the edges. Yeah, run up the gut,
22:57
Speaker 2: because that's if they can. If they can move the
23:00
Speaker 2: line of scrimmage forward, they can get to the you know,
23:03
Speaker 2: get those blockers to the second level onto guys like
23:06
Speaker 2: Edrin Cooper and Kai Walker, who are very good linebackers.
23:09
Speaker 2: But if you can get blockers on them quickly, that
23:12
Speaker 2: kind of washes them out of the play. So the
23:14
Speaker 2: big thing to me is if they can get the
23:16
Speaker 2: ground game established up the middle against the middle of
23:19
Speaker 2: the Packers defensive line, it's gonna be a very long
23:22
Speaker 2: day for green Bay and I don't see I don't
23:25
Speaker 2: see them overcoming that. If Philly can control the game
23:27
Speaker 2: on the ground, it's.
23:28
Speaker 1: A consequential game for both teams as it pertains to
23:31
Speaker 1: the NFC. Folks, go back into the feed or if
23:33
Speaker 1: you're on YouTube, go back last week when Tex and
23:35
Speaker 1: I were talking specifically about the NFC how it is
23:39
Speaker 1: looking Packers and Eagles. We talked about being two of
23:41
Speaker 1: the top teams. This is a consequential game for sure.
23:45
Speaker 1: So that being said, Tech, always appreciate you taking the time,
23:49
Speaker 1: my friend.
23:50
Speaker 2: It is so great to see you.
23:51
Speaker 1: Yes, absolutely again Folks at me packingcompany dot com. Make
23:56
Speaker 1: sure you search out text Western at various social media sites.
24:00
Speaker 1: He's a fantastic follow, my friend. It is so great
24:03
Speaker 1: to always have you on. Thanks so much, and please
24:06
Speaker 1: come back join us again. Always love having you on.
24:09
Speaker 1: I won't have you on next week. That'll be three
24:11
Speaker 1: times in a read. That'd be way too much. But
24:13
Speaker 1: I'd love to have you on in the future to
24:14
Speaker 1: talk more football, my friend.
24:16
Speaker 2: For sure, it should be a fun second half of
24:18
Speaker 2: the season.
24:19
Speaker 1: That's gonna do it for us here on Opposition Territory
24:23
Speaker 1: this week. Please share our podcast with your friends and
24:25
Speaker 1: family members who are Philly sports fans or sports fans
24:28
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24:31
Speaker 1: of this online community with us and within this space.
24:35
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24:44
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24:53
Speaker 1: we will catch you next time.