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OPPOSITION TERRITORY: Eagles vs. Commanders Preview, Week 8 · The Philadelphia Sports Table | Philly Sports News & Views

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Hey, everybody, it's Jeff. We wanted to let you know that this
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podcast episode was recorded on Tuesday, October twenty fourth, twenty twenty three.
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By the time you hear this, some things may have changed, but we
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hope you enjoy the show. All right, everybody, Welcome to the Philadelphia
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Sports Table podcast show, the longest running weekly Philly sports podcast show in the
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world. That's right over ten and a half years strong. We got a
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great opposition territory pod come your way this week. It is our Philadelphia Eagles
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and Washington Commander's Preview podcast. These two teams met just a few weeks ago
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and it was a very close game that went to overtime. The Washington Commanders
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they're gonna try to give the Eagles their second loss of the season. For
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sure. They are gonna be rallying. They want to make a statement.
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They want to let the world know that they should have won that first matchup.
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So with that being said, we're gonna get into this preview. We're
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gonna talk about both teams here. Let's get to our awesome guest this week,
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and it is great to have back on the podcast. He joined us
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last year for one of our Eagles Commander's preview podcasts coming to us from the
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Believe In Commander's podcast over at the Believe Podcast Network. You know, we
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love our Believe podcast. We've got the one and only Anthony Armstrong. How
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you doing, buddy, man, I'm good man, glad to be back
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with y'all. I wish to Washington was kind of giving me a little bit
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more something to believe in. But we're still here, nonetheless, absolutely absolutely.
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Look, I mean it's not like this team is not like this Washington
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team isn't gonna win another game. Who knows they could win this game against
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the Philadelphia Eagles this week. The Eagles lost of the New York Jets two
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weeks ago. For God's sake, anything that happened in the NFL, right,
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Anthony, on any given Sunday, that's what they say that. Well,
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I mean you're a former NFL player too. I mean, it's is
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there, okay that any given Sunday mentality? Is there like a magic to
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it where it's like, oh my god, everything is clicking on all cylinders.
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You know what, maybe we shouldn't be beating this team right now,
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but my gosh, we are actually gonna beat this team, is there like
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that magic that just comes through and shines through during those any quote, any
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given Sunday moments, Man, you know when you walk in there, everybody
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is gonna believe, hey, we can win this game. And if the
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coach does a good job, they give you that recipe. Now, I
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was listening to a lot of coach Tomlin today and is your routine happening routinely
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right now? It is it difficult for your team to just do the things
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that you need to do to win, then you're gonna have a tough time
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week in and week out. But if you're one of those better teams who
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just find their way to just click and be all on the same page day
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in and day out, those teams tend to win a little bit more so.
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So it is true you walk in and you're like, Okay, yeah,
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we can we can hang with these guys if we do X, Y
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and Z and and generally, if you know, most teams they have to
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do all three to get a win. Absolutely, and some of the better
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teams they can do one or two and then and then make it make up
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the area that they lack. But it is very true any given Sunday man,
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the greats can fall, absolutely and the Commanders are going to be looking
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to make sure that those three things click this Sunday when they face the Philadelphia
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Eagles at one pm. So, Anthony, I want to start off by
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talking about this past Commander's game. You know, I know that you've been
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talking about it, and it's kind of it's kind of bizarre even to think
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about how in the world the Commanders lost that game to the New York Giants
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the way that they did this past week, Because as I was looking at
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that game heading into week seven of thinking to myself, Okay, Commanders,
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I think are going to win this game because I think on paper, at
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least, they look a lot better than what the New York Giants have been
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producing on the field. It's a division game, thought the Commanders again should
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have won this, even on the road. How did they end up losing
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this game? May all the things fell off the car at the same time.
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I mean, the all season, the offense has been notorious for slow
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starts. You know, they take a little bit of time to kind of
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pick up with what's happening with the defense and then they go from there.
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Now, you know, this game New York was able to apply the pressure
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the whole time through. I mean they were able to get six sacks.
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They came into the game of five, Washington had ten penalties and they were
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one for fifteen on third down. You do those things right there, you're
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not winning any game. I don't care who you playing, You're not gonna
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win any game in the NFL with that type of recipe. So this seems
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to be the one game that the offense really didn't get a lot, didn't
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get a lot of things rolling. And I guess think you'd say the previous
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week as well. They didn't do two too much. They did get twenty
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four points, but all in all, it's just this is one of those
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games where everything went bad at the same time. And for me, it
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comes down to the fact that, hey, you put seven weeks of the
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same stuff on tape, You're gonna have to find a way to mix it
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up. Yep, You're gonna have to put in some wrinkles. You're gonna
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have to create some momentum for this offense. That's what they need right now.
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And it that was just the It leaves a bad taste in your mouth
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with dut Chicago win was bad. But for whatever reason, this one against
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the Giants feels much worse, probably because it's a division game. Those division
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games just mean a lot in the end. You know that better than anybody,
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my friend, That is a fact. I mean, they can really
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determine who goes to the postseason, and I yeah, absolutely, folks.
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If you want to follow Anthony on Twitter at rated Armstrong on Twitter is a
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great, great follow, give him a follow. And offensively, when it
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comes to the Commanders, it really seems like the rushing game has been an
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issue here for the Commanders. It's tough to sustain drives, as we know,
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without really having a a pretty good and solid ground game. I mean,
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they put up seventy six total rushing yards this past week against New York
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Giants. Against the Seahawks in Week six, they only put up seventy two
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yards on the ground. They did put up one hundred and seven rushing yards
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against the Eagles just a few weeks ago, but that was with Sam Howe
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rushing for forty of those one hundred and seven yards. The Commander's rushing attack
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really has been having some issues, at least as somebody on the outside look
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looking on the outside in I think they're having some issues in terms of the
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rushing attack. Anthony, is this a running back thing or is this an
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offensive line issue or possibly both? What are your thoughts? Yeah, I
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think it starts with offensive coordinator Eric the enemy. When you look back at
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what Kansas City has done in the past, they didn't run for more rushing
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yards than Washington did last year. So this is more on trend to how
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Eric Banamy would like to run his offenses. Now do I agree with it?
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I think that you need to get to running the ball some more to
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help out your young quarterback. I'm all for, you know, getting your
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receivers in space and trying to find ways to get the ball in the hands
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of Terry McLaurin, John Dottson, Curtis Samuel, those guys, but not
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to the tune of, you know, on pace to obliterate the sack record
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in a season and it's seventy six and you're on pace for ninety seven.
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I think I think you're going to have to truly change up what your scheme
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is. And if it means that you're only going to put two receivers on
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the field, two tight ends, then so be it. But if you
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don't make a drastic change to address how you're going to protect your quarterback by
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running the ball and through protection, it's a big loss for me. The
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offensive line has done well. I mean, yeah, Washington ran for over
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one hundred yards three times this year, three or four times three three times
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this year. I think they were close another time, but getting away from
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the run, and it seems like it's not as effective whenever they do run,
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it's kind of an aside when they run. I needed to be an
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effective part of this offense. I wonder if they're going to be playing more
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twelve personnel. Quite frankly, you know, over the course of these next
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couple of weeks, I think they have to. Having that second tight end
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out there as a blocker I think can only help them. And I think
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we've seen it with the Philadelphia Eagles over the course of not just this season,
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but even last season as well. The run game helps to establish other
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parts of the offense. You probably know this better than anybody, and I
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think playing twelve personnel is really gonna help out Washington, especially this week against
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the Eagles. They're gonna need it. I mean, you got a defensive
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line and some defensive ends and linebackers that like to get after players. And
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I think you just picked up Kevin Byerd. So the rich keep getting richer.
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Stop doing deals with the Eagles, Okay, stop just stop doing deals
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with them. I don't get it. Teams are like, here you go,
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have my young superstar. We're cool with it, Brown, you know,
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yes, seriously, like my goodness, between Georgia and Tennessee. Yes,
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Philly needs to be donating too any charitable foundation both of those both of
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those states. But but but in all serious yes, you need to change
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some things up. You're going to have to protect your guy. And the
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one good thing though, Washington plays up to play Philly. Yeah, they
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like their play up to they do opponent when they when they go against Philly.
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So you can't just write these guys off. But just ineffective, ineffective
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and incontensive performances all year. I'm looking for some momentum to show up,
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and I'm looking for some consistency. I was really concerned, Anthony about the
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Commander's defensive line when they played the Eagles just a few weeks ago. Before
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that game, I'm thinking, you know, man, it is a prolific
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defensive line and yes, I know the Eagles offensive line is probably one of
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the best in the league, but Washington definitely has that talent up front.
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Defensively, where can the Commander's defense show up big on defense this week against
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the Eagles and possibly take the Eagles by surprise? You know, I think
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that going back and seeing what went down in that first game, changing up
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how they want to handle the passing attack, I think that, you know,
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really the good jobs with curls and then bouncing off and getting some double
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moves, because I mean, the thing about this league is if you show
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some weakness on tape, the very next team is gonna come out there and
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poke that exact same spot, see if you got it fixed. Yeah,
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and no, I know, Philly's gonna probably come out with a double move
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and see if you got it fixed out there, So being able to show
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some different coverages, playing tighter on receivers, trusting your speed and saying,
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Okay, I'm not gonna let these guys get by me, but I need
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to be closer whenever they're running their intermediate routes. That's some That's something I
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think is going to have to happen, because if this running game gets rolling
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then it just becomes a very long, drawn out day. Push pushes,
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brotherly shoves, whatever you want to call it. Those happen often. So
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if you can find a way to defend some of these passes, get Philly
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in third and longs, that will have them operating in a way that they
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really don't want to. Yeah, and the last time the Eagles and the
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Commanders played, it was a really close game that went into overtime. Eagles
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ended up winning thirty four thirty one, But the Commanders were extremely competitive,
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at least I thought in that game they targeted the Eagles weaknesses like you were
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just talking about on defense. I'm suspecting that that is probably gonna happen again
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this week, and specifically with with a secondary that hasn't necessarily been all that
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strong. It was a bend but don't break this past week against the Miami
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Dolphins, and the secondary did end up holding up. But with the Eagles
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coming off that big win over the Dolphins, Anthony, you know, how
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can the Commanders really quell the Eagles momentum in general at this moment, because
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that's what really needs to happen. Eagles are now obviously, you know,
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considered one of the best teams in the NFL, and after that Miami win,
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it's they've got a lot of momentum. How do the Commanders quell that.
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They're gonna have to come out and really punch them in the mouth.
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They're gonna have to make this physical ball game with the run. But then
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they're gonna have to finish drives. I mean, Washington is in the bottom
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two or three in the league in scoring drives and scoring percentages per their drive,
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things like thirty percent of the time they score touch So that's not enough.
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That's not enough, and you're I'm looking for that complete team performance.
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I've seen it in bits and pieces, and for a while there was no
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special teams that were that were getting into the mix. But James and Crowder
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has brought some spark to that side of things. And if you get an
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offense that can just you know, start operating and have a plan for the
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blitz, have a plan for those things hot route sites, understand where you're
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going with the football, and trust in it. That's that's gonna be how
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you get how you're gonna attack these guys, because Philly's trying to pounce on
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you, and then they want to and then they just want to put their
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thumb right in the wound and just wear you down for the rest of the
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game. Like it's it's brutal to sit back and just be on the losing
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side of one of those. So that that's how you're gonna have to do
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it. Man, You're gonna have to just show up and and bring your
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a game. Now. I say this all to say, like, we've
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seen this team do multiple things all year, but they play up to Philly,
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so I expect them to make this a tough, tough performance. Yeah,
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it's gonna needs to be. Yep, it needs to be, or
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else there could be some coaching changes. Frankly, Yeah, that's how these
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division games usually tend to go. I mean again, like we said at
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the beginning of our conversation, I mean I thought the Commanders were going to
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beat the New York Giants, but the New York Giants they ended up winning
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the game. You know, things, certain things fell into place for them.
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These division games sometimes you just don't know what's going to happen. So
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you don't know, especially in this division. Yes, the man, it's
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a tough one. It absolutely is. Again, folks are talking to Anthony
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Armstrong from the Believe In Commander's podcast over at the Believe Podcast Network. He
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is a great, great podcast host. Check out what's going on at the
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Believe In Commander's podcast. And let's talk about some matchups here. So maybe
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some weaknesses here of the Washington Commanders. So I'm wondering from a matchup standpoint
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and perspective and what you've seen from the Eagles to date, where do you
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think the Commanders are going to be most vulnerable from an offensive standpoint? Yeah,
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I think it's the same thing has been all years. The same thing
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has been on your Jeff, It's been that offensive line on that side of
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things like how are you gonna protect your quarterback? But the thing is that
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they've they've tried to do with play calling and getting the ball out quickly,
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but the downside is that it just ends up in three yard games and people
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getting tackled. Everybody's onto that. What are you gonna do to step up
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from that and make it bigger plays? You need to find a way to
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gash teams whenever they're gonna blitz against you and apply this pressure. So what
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happens up front with that offensive line is key. Let's see how many sacks
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was in the last matchup. I think they played a fairly decent game the
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last matchup against Philly. I mean they ran for one hundred and seven yards
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through for two fifty eight, you know, and they controlled the time of
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possession, all things that Washington needed to do to win that game, no
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turnovers, limited to the penalties. They were eight for seventeen on third downs,
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like that's the recipe. They also gave up five sacks, so I
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would like to see that number come down. But allowing this offensive line to
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play behind their pads and run the ball will help them out immensely rather than
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having them trying to drop back in decipher who's blitzing or not. Absolutely,
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And I think when we look on the other side of things here from the
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vulnerabilities on the defense, we certainly know the Commanders have some, you know.
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But so in terms of this matchup here, where are those vulnerabilities on
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defense? When it comes to the Commanders it used to be I would just
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point out the line back in court. But I think that they have stepped
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up their game. Even though Darren Waller had a great game last week for
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the Giants ninety eight yards and a touchdown. That's still a point of concern.
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But I think adding Khaliki Hudson in there in the mix, having him
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rotate, gives you a little bit more athleticism. But as of late,
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it's just been the back half as a whole. The back half has just
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been a little bit more soft than I would like, and they're not playing
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to their strength of their defensive line. Yeah, I'm behind. I'd come
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with the thought of saying, hey, I got some guys who are ready
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to go hunt after this quarterback. I need to play closer, all right.
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As a dB, I need to be tighter to these routes. I
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can't be ten yards off and let people run five and seven yard hitches like
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That's not good football, right, play press play a little bit tighter,
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Make the quarterback wait a little bit. That gives Chase Young a chance to
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get back there, That gives Duran Pain and John Allen a chance to get
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after the quarterback. It doesn't do you any good if they're able to throw
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it in the flat and run it for seven yards. I cannot understand.
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And this happens with the Eagles every now and then, not so much with
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Sean Desai at the Helm this year. But I cannot understand when a d
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back is ten yards off of receiver and it's like a third and five type
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of situation. I'm talking on the outside. I cannot, for the life
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of me understand it because you have a little hitcher out and all of a
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sudden you're converting that third down. It's amazing to me. I have no
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idea why defensive coordinators do that. Man, Sometimes it's DC, sometimes it's
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a player, And like, frankly, don't Jeff, I'm gonna tell you
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this. Here's the part of it that you can't you can't emulate in practice.
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In practice, ain't nobody watching when you on that field. It is
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sixty seventy eighty thousand people watching your mama in the stands. It's on TV,
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and you're thinking, do I really want to go up and press this
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guy right now? Because it could be eighty eight out the gate and now
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I'm on Sports Center for a not top ten, right, So yeah,
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people make those business decisions, But I'm with you, dude, up play
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a little bit, at least play seven or eight yards. Make them think
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about it before you just give up third and five and then just run a
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hitch absolutely all right. Well, I've got a two part question here for
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you, Anthony, before I let you go. It's been fantastic talking to
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you, and it's about just what these teams are going to need to hit
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on for a win this week. We like to ask our opposition territory guests
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these questions at the end of our discussion. So, what's the one thing
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the Commanders are going to need to hit on for a win this week against
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the Philadelphia Eagles. They need to run the ball more than they throw the
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ball, all right, to what they need to do. I mean last
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week, Sam how threw the ball forty two times and they ran the ball
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I think a total of like, oh, they ran for seventy six yards,
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but the leading carries was eight and seven and then like one. So
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quick math tells me that's less than twenty. That ain't enough. Okay.
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If you're in a position where you're trying to throw the ball over Philly,
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you're gonna have a long day. So if you need to find a way
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to run the ball for thirty times twenty thirty times and throw the ball for
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twenty five and under, that's it's how you're gonna do it. They got
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some pretty good running backs. Now, you got some pretty good running backs,
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and I think if they if the line can give them a chance,
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I think this is I think these are this is a running back cord that
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actually can get over one hundred and thirty hundred and forty yards. Yeah,
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they did it last I mean they did it last year in that matchup.
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They can run for those yards. You can do that and it just opens
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everything else up for you in the back end. Absolutely, that's how you
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got started. All right, Well, to finish this out here, what's
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the one thing the Philadelphia Eagles are gonna need to hit on for a win
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this week? Anthony protect the football. Every time Philly gets in trouble is
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I look at the stats and I scrolled down and you see turnovers. If
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there's been two or more, generally, Philly finds themselves in a tough situation.
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And I think the last game against Washington there was one turnover and it
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came all the way down to overtime. So if they turn the ball over,
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Philly finds themselves in trouble. Because they don't have as many big plays
19:22
as people assume that they do. They're more of a grinded out team anyway,
19:25
so they can't afford to give up those possessions. All right, Well,
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I do have to say your Texas Rangers hat right now as we are
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recording this, oh on Tuesday, October twenty fourth, Yes, the Texas
19:37
Rangers had folks as the Eagles are the Eagles. The Phillies are gonna be
19:41
playing Game seven tonight against the Arizona Diamondbacks. Man, I'm hoping. I'm
19:47
hoping, buddy, it's a Phillies Rangers World Series. That would be a
19:51
fantastic, fantastic baseball extravaganza. Man. I tell you the way that the
19:56
Dallas Garcia is hitting the ball right now, it don't matter what park he's
20:00
going to, it feels like he's gonna knock it out of there. Man.
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As a hell of a win last night, I know this much.
20:06
I had to stay up all the way. I had to make sure all
20:07
twenty seven outs happened because Texas they that liter was a game six, So
20:15
whatever it was, I was like, oh right, and it's like oh
20:18
Altuve, oh no, So it changes quickly, but I'm glad they were
20:22
able to get it handled and close it out down there in Houston last night.
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Well, if it is the Phillies, I do not wish your Rangers
20:30
luck. If it is the Diamondbacks, I wish your Rangers luck. My
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man, again, Anthony Armstrong from the Believing Commander's podcast over at the Belief
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Podcast Network. Anthony, thanks so much for joining us, and I'd love
20:41
to talk to you down the road, my friend. You got it,
20:44
man, We'll see you on the next one. You see, I saw
20:47
Anthony's hat the entire time we recorded and connected via zoom, so like,
20:52
I saw that hat the whole time, and I'm thinking, Oh, those
20:56
Texas Rangers getting into the World Series. Meanwhile, we're recording this on Tuesday,
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game seven of the Phillies and Diamondbacks. Man, I've just oh gosh,
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I'm gonna be on pins and needles for the next few hours here.
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So anyway, that's gonna do it for us here in our Opposition Territory podcast.
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Again, thanks so much, Anthony Armstrong for jumping on. It's gonna
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be an interesting game. I think it's gonna be a close game, folks,
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thirty four to thirty one. The last time these two teams played just
21:23
a few weeks ago, Eagles Commanders this Saturday, I'm sorry, the Sunday
21:29
at one pm, and we got our postgame podcast show that's gonna be coming
21:33
after that. Stay tuned for everything else we have this week. We may
21:36
be dropping a PSD special podcast depending on what happens with the Philadelphia Phillies and
21:41
this Game seven coming up this evening, so we'll see what happens there.
21:45
Got a regular show dropping Thursday morning. Take care, folks, We'll catch
21:49
you next time.