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Is There Any Hope Left For The Eagles? (PST Episode 547) · The Philadelphia Sports Table | Philly Sports News & Views

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Hey, everybody, it's Jeff. We wanted to let you know we recorded
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this podcast episode on Wednesday, January third, twenty twenty four. By the
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time you hear this, some things may have changed, but we hope you
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enjoy the show. All right, everybody, you're listening to the Philadelphia Sports
0:38
Table podcast show, the longest running weekly Philly sports podcast show in the world.
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That's right over ten and a half years strong. Got a great,
0:44
great show coming your way, a lot of great topics, certainly diving into
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the world of Philly sports. We're gonna be talking about some Phillies, We're
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gonna be talking some flyers, talking some sixers, and of course the Philadelphia
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Eagles. I'm Jeff Warren and I'm here my good buddy Len hunsicker Man.
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Happy new year to you and good to have you back in the pod,
1:03
my friend. Yeah, Happy new year to you and everybody else. And
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it's good to just here. After almost eleven years. You still having trouble
1:12
getting the show started? Yeah, exactly. I'll have to put that into
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some sort of blooper reel at the end of twenty twenty four. I don't
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know if folks heard the outtakes from twenty twenty three and me messing up.
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But there's plenty of that going on. It happened again before we hit the
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record button. Here, isn't amazing after all all this time, and I
1:34
still screw it up, and I still can't do the technical thing. It
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wasn't even you just slaughtering somebody's name, right, but it was like a
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technical which you know, you have a master's degree in this. I know,
1:46
is that possible? You should be a master of this. It's just
1:49
giving them out like it's nothing, you know, give this master's degree to
1:53
this guy. I've thought about going for one of those things, like do
1:57
I want to add that much student debt onto what I currently Oh, exactly
2:00
exactly. A man really well, look, i know you still have the
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same job that you've had now for a little while, right, and and
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I'm hoping, I'm hoping twenty twenty four, hoping it brings you better fortunes
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with employment opportunities. Get me out of there. Look, you're you're one
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of the senior guys there at this point, right, Yeah, Yeah,
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there's something to be said for that. You know, you're you're a leader,
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You're you're you know what's going on when people need questions answered, You're
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the You're the guy they come to. Now that means nothing at a new
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company, though, that's true. That is true. It is a new
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area where you're an unknown quantity. That is true. Well, let's let's
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hope you're employment opportunities, you know, work out a little bit better for
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you here in twenty twenty four. That's what I'm hoping for you, buddy.
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We'll see. It's been my I think it's been my New Year's resolution
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for the past couple of years now hasn't come to fruition. Yeah, we'll
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see. All right, Well we got we got a great show, and
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we are gonna be talking about right off the bat here in terms of the
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Philadelphia Phillies. What Phillies player that we are really excited to see, you
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know, either take the mound, take the field, get in the batter's
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box here in this twenty twenty four season that I feel is like right around
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the corner, and Len I think it's gonna be. I mean, it's
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like this every single year, and I know we say this every single year
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around this time. It's like, can't wait for baseball season to come,
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can't wait to see you know, especially now with the Phillies and what they've
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been doing the past couple of years, what they're actually going to produce this
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year, and expectations again going to be very very high after a very very
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disappointing end to their postseason last year. But I really wanted to just kind
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of like talk about that, that one player that we're really excited to see
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here in twenty twenty four. I mean, I've got my guy, I'm
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wondering, who are you thinking about here? We're you know, right at
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the beginning of January. Who are you thinking that you are really excited to
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see playing twenty twenty four here for the Phillies. Well, but before I
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get to that, I will say, you know, you're talking about,
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you know, this time of year, you're thinking about, you know,
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baseball, maybe for the first time. And I did have that, like
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right after at the end of that Cardinals game, My first thought was I'm
4:24
ready for baseball. They broke me. Anyway, It's weird. It's I
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guess it's an interesting postseason or off season so far, because you know,
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last year we got Trey Turner, and it feels like the past couple off
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seasons there's been like some you know, big new addition or whatever, and
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really, you know, yes, the Phillies have spent money, but it
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was spent on a guy that we've all known for years in Aaron Nola.
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So you know, it kind of feels like they're just running it back,
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and maybe to some extent they are. And listen, you know, the
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off season's not over, so they could add somebody after the fact here,
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either a bullpen piece or maybe another rotation piece that could become the answer to
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this question. But they just haven't done anything yet for the guys that they
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have so far. I'm interested to see if there is a jump for Johann
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Rojas, and that is because in the playoffs he was a black hole offensively.
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He was an automatic out. It wasn't that way during the season,
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but once the playoffs came, it was, you know, clearly like,
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okay, this is an automatic out every time up. It seemed like,
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and they basically told him at the end of the season, yeah, you're
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awesome defensively, but your spot in center field is not guaranteed next year.
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You need to put in the work and come back a better offensive player or
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else. There is not a guaranteed spot for you on this, you know,
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in the Majors in twenty twenty four, So I know that I've been
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reading stuff that he has been putting in work. So really, that to
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me is kind of the something I want to see because if they're not going
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to go out and get a big name free agent, then it's going to
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have to come from within. It's going to have to be either him or
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Alec Boehm or Bryson Scott is going to have to make a further jump offensively.
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So that to me, he seems to me to be the greatest,
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you know, possibility of you know, ground heat from where he is to
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where he could be. He seems like like somebody that you know, there's
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more in him, hopefully, So I'm interested to see if he does that
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or if we're just looking at Brandon Marshon Center this year, I wonder what
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the if we're talking about a quote jump for Rojas, like what that would
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actually look like or what the expectation of that quote jump should actually be,
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because like you said, it was basically an automatic out when he would be
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in the bat in the batter's box, you know, from an offensive standpoint,
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Like what what I wonder what it would actually look like, you know,
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like I mean having a you know, having a two like what two
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maybe two thirty batting average or something like that. I mean, that would
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probably be a significant jump for him, correct, But it's not like he
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be somebody. It's not like he'd be you know, knocking our socks off,
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you know. Yeah, and I mean look in and again going back
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to you know, the regular season. You know, in one hundred and
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sixty four played appearances, he did hit three oh two, you know,
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didn't walk a ton, you know, forty two strikeouts against only five walks,
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hit three oh two, and had on base percentage of three forty two.
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So you know, now out there, so you know, obviously that
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average is not sustainable. He's going to hit for a lower average this year.
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But Kenny cut down on the strikeouts. Can he bump up the walks
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a little bit, just be more of an on base presence? You know,
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if he can hit two fifty two sixty and give you good defense,
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like you know, the great defense that he gives you, then maybe that's
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the guy that you put in your lineup every day. Because let's face it,
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now that Harper's back full time you want Kyle Schwerber in the DH role.
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You would love to be able to put Brandon marsh out in left field,
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Johann Rojas and center field and have those guys be you know, because
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that's that's all of a sudden, you know, a pretty decent you know,
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defensive outfield for them. That's pretty nice. So yeah. Yeah,
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and then castianis and right and you can live with that, you know,
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defensively, So yeah, to me, I mean, if he could even
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like situationally, bunt better, because that's something he wasn't good at this year.
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If he could do stuff like that, I think it would go a
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long way towards helping the team. Absolutely, I like it. I like
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Rojas being that player that you're going to be watching, uh, you know,
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especially early on in twenty twenty four. If for me, believe it
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or not, I'm actually going to more of a reliever type of position.
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And in a particular gentleman who put together a career year for the Phillies in
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twenty twenty three, and that guy is Jeff Hoffman. How is he going
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to be used? How is Rob Thompson going to be utilizing him in the
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bullpen? Because as we know he had. He had a five and two
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winning record. He had a stellar what two point four to one er,
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a zero point nine to two whip, giving up only three home runs all
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season, along with sixty nine strikeouts fifty two and one thirds innings pitched.
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I think what the future holds for Jeff Hoffman, And again, you know,
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it was a career year for him. You know, it's tough sometimes
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for guys in this position to continue to do what they did the previous year,
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you know, giving these stats, Lynn and I think fangraft steamer projections
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as well has him not having the greatest twenty twenty four. And again,
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those are just projections, you know, and predictions don't always come to fruition
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with regard to Fangraft's Steamers, So I don't know. I think how they
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utilize Jeff Hoffman and the bullpen is going to be very very interesting this year.
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Yeah. If I had to do a list of my top pleasant surprises
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for the Phillies in twenty twenty three, he would be right near the top.
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I mean, he was a guy that was like, okay, you
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know, he's pretty much journeyman, you know now at this point, and
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he had a real nice year for the Phillies out of the bullpen. I
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think the bullpen in general is going to be real interesting. And that was
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like, if there's one thing about the coaching staff you're interested in, it's
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to me, what Rob Thompson does. I feel like if there's an area
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where the Phillies were still willing to go out in free agency and spend money,
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I think there are a few bullpen pieces, and I'm not even talking
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about Josh Hater, but just in general, there's a few guys out there
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that they could still add. You lost Kimberrel to the Orioles, So who's
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your you know, quote unquote closer. Yeah, but they've got it guys.
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They've got Hoffman, they've got Soto, they've got Sir Anthony de Bingez,
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they've got Alvarado. Even guys that you might not you know, you
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might have forgotten about, like Connor Brogden and Andrew Bilotti, who you know,
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shown in the past they can do some things. You have Ryan Kirkering,
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you know, we'll see what he does with a full season work.
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So and again that's you know, maybe they go out and sign somebody too.
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But I feel like like from a situational standpoint, there's not really defined
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roles and uh Rob Thompson's going to really be able to mix and match guys
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as he pleases, and Hoffman's one of those guys and I think is one
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hundred percent in that group. Yeah, absolutely, all right, Well,
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we'd love to know what you're thinking out there, Philadelphia Sports Table at gmail
11:46
dot com. Who are you really excited to see take the mound again,
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get in the batter's box playing the field in twenty twenty four for this Phillies
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team. Would absolutely love to hear from you and Len. Let's move on
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to a segment that I brought to the show probably about a month ago or
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so when Eric was on. It was called shoot them Off a DM.
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If you had the opportunity to DM anyone in the world of Philly sports,
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whether it's players, a coach, an owner, anybody about anything, and
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you were told that you would actually get a response from that individual, who
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would you DM and what would that DM be? So it's awesome, I'm
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talking to you for the first time as we're you and I were doing this
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segment together. So who is that one person in the world of Philly sports
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that you'd love to shoot shoot them off a DM and get a response from
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him. I would say probably in the wake of all the stuff that's been
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going on recently, I would say, I guess maybe aj Brown, And
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it would just be along lines of like, look, I know a lot
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of people tend to because let's face it, wide receivers are nuts. They
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have diva tendencies they do, and they don't have the best reputation and in
13:05
terms of that kind of stuff, so that they are quite often when things
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go south, you know, they're seen as the bad guy see also Terrell
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Owens. But you know in general that they can get that perception. And
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this is a case where I feel like some people are you know, because
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he wasn't really talking to the media or I've seen people on both sides of
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like, oh boy, here we go, diva wide receiver, but then
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other people being like he's right. And I would just be one of those
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people saying him, Hey, man, I think you're right. And if
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it was down between keeping you or Sirianni, I'd rather keep you. Yeah
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we see today. Did you see today he was defending Nick Sirianni idifically?
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Yeah. I thought it was interesting, an interesting part of the narrative that
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the Philly sports media has really been trying to push with regard to AJ Brown,
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Nick Sirianni, They've been trying to push this this guy against this guy,
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and it didn't and it seemed to kind of backfire. It's on the
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Philly sports media today and specifically Eagles reporters. Yeah, and even like after
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the Cardinals game, you know, he was like not talking and then he's
14:15
getting ready leave, and he stopped and said, Hey, just so you
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guys know, you know, to the media, this is nothing against you
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guys. You know I'm not, you know, being a jerk to you
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guys. It's just there's nothing for me to say at this point. So
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the fact that he went out of his way to say, look, guys,
14:28
no offense, because not every athlete does that. I thought that was,
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you know, a nice touch by him to be like, hey,
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listen, I know things are contentious. I don't mean this towards you guys.
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I thought that was a nice move on his part. Yeah, all
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right, very good. I like I like that one a lot for me.
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And then I would say, yeah, can you give me some money
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too, I would add that yes, he's got he's got a decent amount.
14:52
He's got a few million here and there, you know, yeah,
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no something for the effort, you know. Yeah, it's only fair well
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for me if I had to shoot him off a DM. Shoot anybody off
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a DM in the world of Philly sports right now at this moment. And
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it's going to go to conversation that I had this past week on the Table
15:11
Talk interview show with Kelly Hinkel from broad Street Hockey, and we were talking
15:15
about the Flyers and I would love to DM Carter Hart to say, what
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the hell happened with Team Canada? Tell me right now. I want to
15:26
get the response so that I have a better picture of what is going to
15:30
happen with you long term or short term with this team. Because as Kelly
15:35
and I were talking about Carter Hart just having an amazing year, Len,
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he has been an incredible goalie in front of that net this year, and
15:43
it's like it's like we want to keep him around that But the Team Canada
15:46
stuff, it's still like dangling in the background. You know, it's like
15:50
this little tiny bell in the background. Oh, don't forget about this,
15:54
you know, ding, ding, ding, don't forget about this, And
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I just wish I knew the answer to that. Flyers front office probably wish
16:00
is they knew the answer to it as well, so we could have a
16:03
little bit more clarity on where his contract is going to go. Now,
16:07
I'm not saying that the contract or future contract that he gets with the Flyers
16:11
or any other team is going to be contingent upon the Team Canada investigation.
16:15
However, it's definitely a part of it. And I think that if he
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continues to perform the way that he is, and if we were to get
16:22
some clarity with regard to that particular situation, I think it'd make the front
16:26
office decision making for the Flyers a little bit easier in terms of where they're
16:32
going to be going with regard to the goalie situation. Because Sam Yerson,
16:36
he's having a nice season as well, when Carter Hart is taking a night
16:41
off here and there, So I kind of want to know where the goalie
16:44
situation is going. At the end of the day, for me, it
16:47
shoot them off a dm about how we're going to figure out this goalie situation
16:51
for the Philadelphia Flyers. Here is it gonna be Carter Hart, Sam Yerson?
16:55
Possibly, and you know, there's some Russian guys that are going to
16:57
be coming up as well, so you know, that's what I want to
17:02
know, Len, I need to know. I think he would say to
17:07
you, because there is you mentioned this in the segment of them responding to
17:11
you. He would say, every lawyer I've talked to, and every lawyer
17:15
every other one of these guys have talked to have said, don't talk to
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anybody, right, so no, So no, you're not getting any answered,
17:23
dumb Jeff. That's what he would say. Yes, as whether he
17:30
was one of the guilty parties or not, as he should absolutely absolutely.
17:33
Well, we're gonna get into more flyers talk in just a bit after our
17:37
break here, but if you're new to listening to the PST podcast show,
17:41
subscribe on whatever podcast platform you're on. Let other Philadelphia sports fans know about
17:47
the show. There are lots of folks who do know about the show since
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we've been doing this for over ten and a half years. If anything happens
17:52
to your podcast feed, you can also head on over to Philadelphia Sports Table
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dot com. We've got all of our shows over there, and as I
17:59
mentioned earlier, we do have an email address and we'd love to hear from
18:02
you at Philadelphia Sports Table at gmail dot com. Email us about anything in
18:04
the world of Philly sports if you'd love want us to talk about it.
18:07
We'd love to talk about whatever subject matters you want to get into. Again,
18:11
Philadelphia Sports Table at gmail dot com. And Len has been on the
18:18
Twitter. In fact, he had a great tweet yesterday to Giant food Stores
18:22
after getting some green meat at the store. Dude, all of my tweets
18:26
now, the one tweet I haven't every three months will be just me complaining
18:30
it at a company, yes, because of their terrible customer service. That's
18:36
all I use Twitter for now. I lark all the time. I'm on
18:40
there literally all the time, just looking at like news stories and stuff like
18:44
that, or seeing if there's anything interesting in the world going on. But
18:47
as for actually tweetings, that's pretty much what I That's it. Yeah,
18:52
Well, follow Len folks at Len Hunsicker. You can follow me at Jeffrey
18:56
Underscore Warren in the Show at Philadelphia PSD. It's the first time I've put
19:00
the Twitter quote x handles up for a little while. As I've been getting
19:04
getting a little way from that. I've been over on threads. You can
19:07
find me there at mister Jeff Warren and the Show at Philadelphia PST. We're
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gonna take a quick break here, pay some bills. We'll be back in
19:15
just a bit. All right, we are back, Lenn. Good to
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have you on the show, my friend, because we're gonna be able to
19:22
talk about the Flyers with Eric being on as often as he was towards the
19:26
end of twenty twenty three too. Man, haven't had the opportunity to talk
19:30
about this Flyers team. Who is Man, it's been fun. It's been
19:33
fun this year, and yeah, they're I've like, Man, I don't
19:38
I don't know that I watched a whole game at all last season. It
19:41
was tough. I've been tuning in a lot more recently, and man,
19:45
it's it's been fun. It's been fun to watch. I mean, you
19:48
know, they have a penalty kill, which I can't remember last time to
19:55
say that. Yeah. Yeah, I even I saw a shorthanded goal really
19:59
a couple games ago. So yeah, I mean, it's it's crazy,
20:03
it's it's it's a better team to watch. Uh, no power play,
20:07
no power play? Yeah that's I mean baby steps here, But yeah,
20:14
I mean you can we're we're you know, there's going to be that debate
20:18
back and forth. Are they are they cutting off the rebuild too early?
20:22
Because believe me, I you know, if it was up to you know,
20:26
John Tortorella, I think you know there, there wouldn't be a rebuild
20:29
at all. He's that's just not how he's wired. But yeah, you
20:34
can have your arguments back and forth as to what you think, you know
20:37
it should be, and we'll talk about that, but there's no doubt about
20:41
that. The quality of play exactly is exactly. It's faster and and like
20:47
I said, I talked to Kelly Hinkle this past week, and if you
20:48
go back in the feed folks, and if you want to listen to some
20:52
Flyers talk Kelly Hinkle from Broadstreet Hockey dot com. She was on the Table
20:56
Talk show this past week. We talked about the culture of the Flyers and
21:00
the foundation that's being laid right now for the future. Len. But I
21:04
wanted to really talk about, you know, and it's it's just it's a
21:08
double edged sword as to whether or not we want to see this continued success
21:12
of this team this season, because my gosh, we are clamoring and we
21:18
are just wanting to grasp onto Flyers postseason. A Flyers postseason would be fantastic,
21:26
but might a dive be a little bit better in terms of future assets
21:32
and draft picks? And yes, you know, Kelly and I we talked
21:33
about, you know, the possibility of trading Sealer, you know, because
21:37
of the season he's having and the type of value they may be able to
21:41
get for him and other veteran players on this team with expiring contracts. So
21:45
you look at the good with the team and we love it. However,
21:48
like you just said, too are like, is this rebuild getting cut off
21:52
a little too quick here? I mean after that Canucks game last week,
21:57
Len, it was basically like this Flyers team just said, you know what,
22:02
We're just going to shove it up everybody's buttholes here at this point,
22:06
everybody telling us that this is going to be an awful season, a terrible
22:08
season, that this rebuild is going to be just brutal, blah blah blah,
22:12
We're just going to shove it right up your butttholes. And that's what
22:15
they did with the Canucks and it was fun to watch. What a great
22:18
game that was. I'm not sure if you had an opportunity to see it,
22:22
buddy. But you know, that's what this Flyer season really has been
22:26
for me, and I really do want to see the continued success because they
22:30
are going to have assets in this upcoming draft, and I think that at
22:33
the trade deadline they're gonna be able to get even more assets if they get
22:36
rid of some of the veteran players because they probably are going to be selling.
22:38
So that's where I'm standing right now. Yeah, and they are going
22:44
to be selling. You mentioned Seiler. I think Sean Walker is another defenseman.
22:48
Yep, that's going to get them more than Sealer and would be a
22:52
nice piece. You know, you have to straddle that line of you know
22:56
where you know, are you you know, selling people to get you know,
23:00
to get better long term versus you know, the message, are you
23:06
give a sending message to the team of we're basically quitting, so why should
23:08
you care about the season? That's the delicate balance that they have to strike.
23:11
But I mean, I will say this the thing, it's amazing,
23:17
you know how much better you can do as a team when you do two
23:22
simple things, and that's play play hard, which you know you could you
23:26
could get bad body language sometimes. I think you saw that over the past
23:29
couple of years more than a few times. Play hard, and then just
23:33
more importantly, eliminate dumb mistakes. They're making so many less dumb mistakes than
23:40
I think they've been they've made the past couple of years. And it's amazing
23:44
how much better a team, any team can be if you just do those
23:47
two things. And that's what the Flyers are doing this year. So if
23:51
it ended up being a thing where they were just getting out talented every night
23:56
and losing games, but we're continuing that thing. Okay, you may be
24:00
better than us, and you may beat us, but we're not going to
24:03
beat ourselves, right that. I mean that, That's what I hope happens.
24:11
Honestly, I would like to. And I have you know tankthon dot
24:15
com up right now. I love that site. Yeah, and you see
24:19
you can see the picks right now. You know they've lost three in a
24:22
row on their West Coast swing and that puts them sixteenth. Their pick,
24:26
which is the dead last back end of the lottery, only a five percent
24:33
chance or I'm sorry, a point five percent chance of I guess moving up
24:37
to a top three pick, and a zero percent chance of getting the number
24:41
one overall pick, so you know, best case scenario they move up to
24:45
two or three, which let's face it isn't gonna happen. I mean there
24:49
was a time when they were like, you know, twenty second or twenty
24:52
fourth as it stands right now with according to this, they would have sixteen
24:57
and they would have twenty five from from Florida. So you're you're still going
25:02
to get two first round picks, so you know, and you can package
25:06
them, you can do whatever you want with them. Maybe that would be
25:11
awesome, uh you know, and you know, I imagine that would go
25:15
to a playoff team, so it would be back into the first round pick,
25:18
but that would still be awesome. I would love that absolutely. Get
25:22
as many chances as you can. That's that's what we always talk about with
25:26
these rebuilding teams. Get as many lottery tickets as you can. So I
25:30
would love to see them, you know, get closer to you know,
25:34
ten or eleven, you know, actually give yourself some semblance of a chance.
25:38
But I again, there's a way to do that in a way not
25:41
to I don't want them to, you know, go back to making dumb
25:44
mistakes and do the oh all is lost, so I'm not going to play
25:48
hard anymore. That that's the habits you don't want to see. But you
25:51
know, if if the schedule gets harder and they're just they're putting forth the
25:55
effort and playing well and still getting beat, that that I can I've got
25:59
no problem with that. That's that to me is the ideal situation, because
26:02
I just I everybody's like, oh, playoffs, let's let's go for it.
26:07
Now, let's do it now. I just still find that so short
26:11
sighted. Yes, I think cutter cutter Gotier is going to be a good
26:15
player. I think Mitchkoff is going to be a good player. I think
26:18
those you know, if everything goes right and those are those two fill out
26:22
their potential. They're two top end guys. I don't think that's enough.
26:26
I think you need more depth, and you know, you get quality depth
26:33
by you know, hopefully getting higher picks and hitting on the picks that you
26:36
have. So I want to see them continue to do that at least for
26:38
another year. Yeah, really quick, Kelly said too, Like if they
26:44
were perhaps to get a first round pick for Walker and who knows, maybe
26:48
they take the two first round picks, like the two later first round picks,
26:52
package those together in order to move up. You know, that's absolutely
26:57
something you can do. I mean, there's always a team that's going to
27:00
be like, oh, we you know, we would rather have, you
27:03
know, the two picks later than this high pick. Maybe you're worried about
27:07
I don't know, like I don't know how the NHL does, if it's
27:11
like draft slot position or whatever. I don't I don't think there's that,
27:15
but you know, maybe a team would rather have the more picks and is
27:18
willing to let you trade up to you know, whatever it is, fifteen
27:22
or fourteen or whatever. Yeah, you know, yeah, I mean I
27:26
would be all about that. Yeah. All right. Well, we're certainly
27:30
going to be following what the Flyers are going to be doing in the future
27:33
here at the PST Podcast Show, and we're also going to be following what
27:37
the Philadelphia seventy six ers are going to be doing. And thank goodness,
27:40
Joel Embiid is back on the court after missing seven games. Len, and
27:47
I don't know, man, I had that feeling recently where I mean,
27:51
he's played in twenty six of thirty three games this season and with this injury,
27:56
his first major setback this year and first streak of games missed, and
28:00
I'm thinking to myself, my gosh, is this going to be or is
28:03
this a sign of potentially things to come as he is getting older. But
28:08
I mean, luckily over the past few years he hasn't been like downright plagued
28:15
with injuries as he often was in the past. But it still makes us
28:18
fans, I think, really nervous to see him, you know, take
28:21
a second or so to get up after taking a charge, or you know,
28:25
grabbing his hand for a moment after a collision with another player, and
28:29
it leads me to think that, you know, I hope that whether it
28:33
is Nick Nurse maybe trying to do a little bit more load management with him
28:37
after this injury, to make sure that he's staying as healthy as possible as
28:41
we're even now looking toward what the playoff picture might look like for this Sixers
28:47
team. I mean, we all know at the end of the day,
28:48
he's got to stay healthy, and we know that man in the second round
28:52
of these playoffs. Over these past few years, he just hasn't been a
28:56
healthy guy. And I don't know, I just got that feeling past week
29:00
where I was like, I'm gonna be let down again because Joel Embiid is
29:04
going to be injured. But then again, I don't know, maybe maybe
29:07
we get lucky this year. Maybe we get lucky where he's he's gonna be
29:11
okay. You know, Look, it still seems he's dedicated to Philadelphia.
29:15
It seems like he's dedicated to wanting to win a championship with this Sixers organization.
29:21
Maybe the MVP status thing isn't as important to him as a championship,
29:26
but I just his health is everything and we all know that, and I
29:30
know him being kind of, you know, preaching to the choir saying that.
29:33
But I was really really nervous this past week thinking about what this team
29:37
could be and could not be a little bit later this season based on where
29:44
Joel Embiid is with his health. Yeah, to me, it's you know,
29:48
look, if you're telling me, okay, he's got this injury and
29:52
he's gonna be out for two weeks, Okay, I can live with that.
29:57
You know. I'm fine with that, you know, because there is
30:00
that the thing of like you know, and listen, it could happen both
30:04
in the regular season and in the postseason. But if you're giving me a
30:07
choice, given his history the past couple of years of always some freak thing
30:14
happening, yes in the playoffs, I would rather this happen now. And
30:18
again, I know it's no you know, guarantee guaranteed that you know it's
30:21
not going to happen in the playoffs. But this this stuff here, the
30:25
seven games here and there as almost as it doesn't happen too often, right,
30:29
that doesn't bother me, honestly, And you know, we we've seen
30:33
him, you know, no real rust coming back from the injury. He
30:37
is now up to fifteen straight games played of thirty and ten at least,
30:42
which is you know, only Kareem and Wilt have done that ever. Yeah,
30:48
So I mean he's playing out of his mind, you know, maybe
30:52
even better than last year somehow, you know, if that's possible. So
30:56
yeah, I mean he's it's amazing to walk. But man, I just
31:00
want one good, healthy playoff run where you know, he's just doing what
31:07
he does and dominating. That to me is where I really want to see
31:11
him. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, look, because Tyres Maxie is
31:15
developing into a young superstar. Patrick Beverly is actually, you know, just
31:22
doing unbelievable things. The age of thirty five here is and he's a guy
31:26
that's been in the playoffs every year. Yeah, he seems like he's constantly
31:30
in high stakes playoff games. He's clearly battle tested. He's been through that.
31:33
They've got a veteran team, They've got, you know, a good
31:36
bench scorer in Kelly Hubray, you know, and there is you know,
31:41
the potential you know, you do have you know, Tobias Harris is you
31:45
know, expiring contract. You know, there is been there has been the
31:48
talk pretty much all season of are they going to add a piece of the
31:52
trade deadline that's going to give them a clear cut you know top three of
31:56
MB Maxie and whoever the third guy is, and you know who is that
32:00
person? Will they fit? You know? How does all that work?
32:04
So you know, really, you know, you can look at the sixers
32:07
roster, but is it what it's going to be? You know come March?
32:10
You know who knows? Right right exactly? Who know? And I
32:14
as much as I was kind of being pessimistic about the whole you know thing
32:17
in my brain over this past week, you know, with his injury,
32:21
missing those seven games, too. And I also am trying to think too
32:25
from a more optimistic standpoint that although the Sixers obviously they flounder in tough matchups
32:31
without having Embiid on the court, they're no longer an absolute train wreck where
32:38
they used to be when Embiid was not on the court. They're no longer
32:43
that train wreck. You know, I haven't we haven't seen that that much
32:45
this year. So I think with having that guidance from Nick Nurse, this
32:50
year has been absolutely absolutely imperative to where this team can go. The seventy
32:57
six Ers have become a powerhouse in this Eastern con Conference quite frankly. I
33:00
mean, they're currently sitting third in the standings. I just want to mention
33:04
also d Anthony Melton, he is proving himself an incredibly important piece to this
33:10
team in this contract year. And also you know what, Paul Reid give
33:15
him credit to. He's becoming a solid center as well backing up Embiid too.
33:21
It's really amazing to see that this team they're not again, they're not
33:25
a train wreck when Embiid is not there like we have seen a number of
33:30
times in the past. So maybe that should lead us to some optimism too.
33:34
Yeah. I mean they've got a good supporting cast of guys that have
33:38
been there before around them. Yeah, you know, I like this team.
33:43
I like the way it's set up. So we'll see what happens.
33:45
But yeah, there's guys that, you know, you feel like, Okay,
33:49
Embiid's down, Okay, we can get you know, Paul Reid and
33:53
you know, Marcus Morris to kind of just handle things on the inside for
33:57
a little bit. You know, you can live like that and not you
34:00
know, is it ideal, No, having Embid's ideal, but still you
34:05
can manage. Yeah. The world of Philly sports in general, pretty fun
34:09
with the seventy six ers, pretty fun with the Flyers this season. We
34:14
were talking about the Phillies. I mean, it's gonna be interesting to see
34:16
what they're gonna be doing early this season when it starts, and what happens
34:21
in spring training. But what hasn't been fun when is the Philadelphia Eagles.
34:25
And what a surprise, dude. It's amazing how we all think and try
34:30
to predict what may happen during the course of a season. Nobody knows anything.
34:36
I almost swore there, nobody knows anything. Seriously, It's amazing how
34:39
we were like, oh, this team man so stacked. They're so stacked.
34:44
And yes, they have been producing at a high level. I mean,
34:49
for God's sake, like what thirty two days ago, this team was
34:51
ten and one. Jalen Hurts was the proverbial MVP. You know, they
34:54
had the number one rush defense in the league league if you could believe that.
35:00
And now things are just a mess right now, and I just wonder
35:06
if we should already be looking towards this offseason already, because I really don't
35:08
know if they're gonna beat this Giants team, because I really don't know if
35:14
they can't after this stinker against the car It wasn't even just a stinker.
35:16
It was, in my opinion, the second worst loss that this franchise has
35:22
ever had, first being the NFC Championship game, the last game at the
35:27
VET against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. But this past week, Lend, I
35:31
think it was the worst loss ever. And I truly think to myself,
35:36
should we just already start looking towards the offseason, because I do think the
35:38
offseason could be there's gonna be cap room, you know, there's gonna be
35:44
the ability for them to bring in some free agents. I think with regard
35:47
to some of the younger players on this team, they're gonna mature a little
35:51
bit more. I don't know. I feel like I'm optimistic for the future
35:55
of where the Eagles are, and I think with NFL teams anymore, you
35:59
can see a quicker turnaround. I mean, just look at the Houston Texans
36:01
and what they've been able to do, and I think a lot of that
36:04
is because of the leadership of their head coach Demiko Ryans. But I have
36:08
a feeling that we can still be optimistic about the Eagles in the future.
36:12
But I just feel like this season is over already. And I'm usually the
36:15
optimistic one here, you know what I mean. But I'm just I'm really
36:19
downtrodden right now. Man. Well, I mean, regardless of what happens
36:23
in the Giants game, you would know better than me here. But you
36:25
know, are they are they locked into the fifth spot here? I mean
36:30
at this point, yes, I mean at this point if they even if
36:34
they lose this game, it's not like they can go down to six or
36:36
seven. I don't think so. I don't think so. Maybe they could,
36:40
I'm not sure. Off the top of my head. But I think
36:43
it's gonna be the fifth seed. Okay, yeah, and I from my
36:46
understanding of it, and I'm not one hundred percent sure on it too.
36:50
That's kind of what I thought is fifth seed is almost definitely where they're gonna
36:53
end up. So, I mean, I don't know. You know,
37:00
if that's the case, you know, how much time do a lot of
37:04
the major players on this team even get I don't know, but I don't
37:08
know. To me, it's just it's frustrating because, you know, Okay,
37:12
let's look at this roster. You know, you've got a J.
37:16
Brown, who is an elite wide receiver. You've got DeVante Smith who is
37:21
a very good wide receiver. You've got you Know Swift, who is a
37:25
very good running back. You've got you Know Goddard who is an above average
37:30
tight end. You've got Hurts, who is at the bare minimum a good
37:34
quarterback. You've got supposedly the best offensive line in football. So this team
37:39
should never have problems scoring. I mean, to me, I don't understand
37:44
what's happening here. And to me, that is a coaching thing. If
37:46
you've got all this talent, and I'm sorry these guys all didn't turn into
37:51
a pumpkin overnight here. You're even in the past six weeks that didn't happen.
37:55
Defensively, Okay, there's bigger problems there because that defensively, I don't
38:00
think you have the personnel you've got. You know, Sligh and Bradbury,
38:05
who are still you know, Slay is at least still good, even though
38:07
I see plays where he gets burnt quite a bit. But they're older,
38:12
they're older guys the back seven. There's got to be an overhaul here.
38:17
I mean, I know, I know you love investing in the lines,
38:22
and I know you love all these defensive line toys, and I know you
38:27
don't value the linebacker position. But if you're looking at Nick Morrow all the
38:34
time and some of these guys and Cunningham, who's had a decent year,
38:38
Shaq Leonard hasn't really shown me too much since he's been in here, you
38:44
need and look, I wish it would have, you know, panned out
38:47
with Nikobe Dean, but he just can't seem to stay on the field.
38:52
And next year is really his To me, You're either going to be healthy
38:57
and be a productive player in this league, or it's not going to work
39:00
out for you and I I have a feeling that's what next year is for
39:02
him. Yeah, it's a giganic here for him. But regardless, you
39:07
can't wait around for that. You need to get and I know you don't
39:09
value the position, but you need to get linebackers. I'm sorry you've been
39:15
saying. Yeah, and we've seen the same thing over and over this year.
39:20
Okay, there's a tight end burning one of our linebackers, there's a
39:22
running back burning one of our linebackers. And then your secondary that nobody in
39:29
that secondary scares me at all. So that's you know, an entire seven
39:34
players on your defense that it's no wonder if they I mean, if you
39:37
can't get a stop at the line of scrimmage, you're you're gonna move on
39:42
this. And and even though that that game against the Cardinals, as soon
39:45
as they kicked that field goal rather than score the touchdown, did you not
39:50
know that the Cardinals were going to go right down to the field and score.
39:52
Yeah, absolutely, you know it in your heart. So as soon
39:57
as they kicked for the field goal, I was like, they're in this
40:00
game. And that's I don't know if it's a coaching or a confidence thing.
40:05
But you know, we've seen it a couple of times now. We
40:07
saw it in the Super Bowl, and we've seen it numerous games this season,
40:10
whereas it's never just one touchdown. One touchdown turns to four or five
40:15
drives in a row, where every single time that team goes down the field
40:20
and scores a touchdown, it's it's amazing. Yeah, there's never like,
40:25
Okay, we gave up a touchdown here, and then we forced them into
40:30
two punts, and then we gave up another touchdown there, and then there
40:32
was another punt and then we gave up a field goal. It's okay,
40:36
touchdown, touchdown, touchdown, touchdown, touchdown, and they just they they
40:40
get broken. They their confidence gets shattered. I've never seen a team do
40:45
that ever. Yeah, and that's that to me. To me, it's
40:51
it's more of a defense. I mean, it's coaching problem on both sides
40:52
of the ball, but in terms of personnel defensively, they got to do
40:58
something because it's it's just not there on this team exactly. I'm I'm already
41:04
there kind of looking toward the posty or I'm sorry, the off season,
41:07
Like I mentioned earlier, I'm already kind of there. You know, I'm
41:08
going to I want to start looking at some of this cap room. I
41:12
want to start looking at who some of these free agents are going to be,
41:15
and and and as you know, every year, I love diving into
41:17
the NFL draft and draft. I think I read something earlier night where they
41:22
only had five picks. What are you serious? I thought they had more
41:28
than five picks. I thought, seriously, I thought they had like eight
41:30
or something like that. Right now, maybe maybe what I ever, whatever
41:34
I read was was wrong. Well, I I think that, you know,
41:39
even because I know the cap room is going to be I know the
41:45
cap room is going to be there for them to be able to make some
41:47
significant moves at this At this point, I'm looking here. Also, do
41:53
you have it up? Because I have it up. I have their draft
41:55
picks up here. Okay, now it's saying nine. Okay, so now
42:00
read on Twitter earlier days exactly. Okay, yeah, see that freaking website.
42:05
Man. I'm telling you, I just can't stand the crap on there
42:09
because like somebody's saying five draft picks. This is easy for us to find
42:14
out right off the bat. Do you know what I mean? My gosh.
42:16
Yeah, they have nine. He has he has all right, buddy,
42:21
I'm gonna let you get going here, okay, and uh, you
42:23
have any final thoughts and before we get to our interview this week, yeah,
42:30
I got nothing, all right, all right, man, great talking
42:32
to you, and we're gonna take a quick break here. Remember to follow
42:37
Len on Twitter at Len Hunsiker. I want to say that again because he'll
42:39
be complaining about some sort of corporation. Right, you're for business. There
42:45
will be something. It might not be this week, it might not be
42:47
this month, but it's gonna happen. It'll be there. It'll be there
42:51
for sure. All right, buddy, take a quick break here and we
42:54
will be back in just a bit. All right, we are back.
42:58
Let's get into more Eagles talk. We've got a great guest coming on.
43:00
It's thrown down on the table and now on the table. It's great to
43:07
have back on the podcast. It's been way too long coming to us from
43:12
Inside the Birds dot com. Love the podcast, love all the content that
43:15
they're putting up over at inside the Birds dot com. And you can also
43:20
hear him on ninety seven to three four o'clock PM on Thursdays, we've got
43:25
the one and only Andrew Decheco. How you doing, Andrew? I'm doing
43:30
great, Jeff. How about yourself? Man? Not too bad? I
43:31
mean I'm still coming down from this Eagles like latter part of the season here,
43:37
and it's just my gosh, as a fan, it's just been such
43:40
a depressing time quite frankly, and like it must be interesting being behind the
43:45
scenes, being able to talk to players, being able to talk to coaches,
43:50
being able to ask questions, Andrew, like you have been during this
43:53
period of time where there is some turmoil. I mean, how do you
43:57
how do you compare that to what you've seen in the past with this team.
44:00
Yeah, it's interesting because this team dynamic. These guys are still close.
44:06
In my opinion, they're still tight, but you're not getting twenty twenty
44:09
two. They were steam rolling teams, right, Yeah, and when they
44:14
were doing and when you're doing that, you're putting teams away convincingly. You've
44:16
seen to be having a lot more fun, right. This Eagles team has
44:21
had their backs against the wall many a times and had to find different ways
44:24
to win. Some games have been a little bit closer than they should have
44:28
been, and I think when you do that, you're it's fair to question,
44:31
you know, are we playing at max level? I mean, what
44:35
do we need to do to make sure we're firing on all cylinders? Because
44:37
you get creep, you creep closer and closer to the playoffs. So I
44:39
think there was more of a waiting for the other shoot to drop perhaps type
44:44
of feeling, type of sense. But I think they're coming together at the
44:47
right time. They know it's at stake. They've this is a lot of
44:51
a lot of these guys were on the Super Bowl roster last year, so
44:53
they know what it takes and they know how to flip that switch. And
44:55
they have a good veteran locker room which is going to ensure that everybody stays
45:00
together. So I really do think that it's not really a cause for concern
45:04
because you get a win here against the Giants, and then you kind of
45:07
go into to the wildcard weekend, I presume, and I think it will
45:10
probably be the Ten Bay Buccaneers. You get a win there. I do
45:14
think they're going to get a win in the wildcard round, and then from
45:16
there, you never know once you get in there, once you get into
45:19
the big dance, who knows what can happen, Who knows what can happen
45:22
for sure? Absolutely again, folks talking Andrew to Checko from inside the birds
45:25
dot com follow on Twitter is a great follow at Andrew to'checko. And I
45:30
do have to say that I see. I think it's safe to say at
45:34
this point after witnessing probably the worst Eagles lost the past week against the Cardinals,
45:37
you know, since that last game at the Vet. I mean,
45:42
I personally tend to think a lot of the blame that's happening right now is
45:45
on the coaches in terms of how the team has been spiraling. Andrew,
45:51
I don't think that the coaching staff can actually put together over the next week
45:55
or so that big plan to dig themselves out of this hole in a way.
46:00
And maybe that's you know, maybe that goes against what you were just
46:02
saying about the team. However, I think you were just kind of talking
46:07
about the players, you know, the players being able to get things together.
46:12
But from a coaching standpoint, I just want to know and I want
46:15
to be able to see that plan, and I just don't know if it's
46:17
going to happen. I'm wondering if you're kind of thinking the same way.
46:21
And if not, you know, what kind of coaching changes from a pure
46:25
scheme standpoint might we see over these next couple of weeks, Because I mean
46:29
a change does have to come from a coaching standpoint, correct, Yeah,
46:32
you know. Okay. So one thing that I've seen throughout the season that
46:37
I kind of wanted to, you know, put an opinion too, and
46:39
I've mentioned this in different radio opportunities, is that on field performance and coaching
46:45
they go hand in hand, and both parties are culpable to what the to
46:49
the Eagles shortcomings this year. I think the coaching gets unfairly, They're unfairly
46:54
maligned, and so it seems like it's solely the coaching that's that's getting that
47:00
that's coming under intense scrutiny here, whereas I mean, the players need to
47:05
be held accountable as well, and I think largely you see it on Twitter.
47:08
You see a lot of the fan base and they're they're they're usually quick
47:13
to protect the players and then just as quick to throw the coaching staff under
47:16
the bus. But I mean AJ Brown today even mentioned that Nick Siranni covered
47:21
for them in that Seattle game, in that last stages and that latter stages
47:25
of the fourth quarter where you know, he said something at the press conference
47:30
that they were hoping for a DPI and it was really puzzling to have that
47:34
sort of comment. And it was actually the wide receivers that were freelancing on
47:37
the play that a J said and Nick Siranni covered up for them. So
47:42
that doesn't always happen, but you have to wonder some of those times it
47:45
has to be that the players maybe aren't on the same page, maybe they're
47:47
not executing on the defensively. It's a personnel issue, right, and I
47:53
think that you're seeing doesn't matter that who what who. The play caller is
47:58
Sean Descy, Matt Patrici. The personnel is the personnel, and there aren't
48:01
any reinforcements coming. This is a slower defense. They're older, they're not
48:07
flying to the football like they were last year. They're not getting turnovers,
48:10
they're not sacking the quarterback, they're not tackling particularly well. So I think
48:15
that when you look at like that, there's not much that you can do
48:19
as a coach outside of varying your personnel groupings, which they've done. I
48:24
mean mixing and matching that kind of really is they are. They are what
48:29
they are defensively, and now the pressure is on the offense and Brian Johnson
48:31
and Nick Sirianni to make sure that you're gonna have to outscore opponents because this
48:36
defense is not gonna You're not gonna win a slugfest against the forty nine ers
48:39
of the Dallas Cowboys. So I don't know what more you can do.
48:43
I don't know what more you can do defensively, Jeff, given the given
48:45
the personnel that's that's there. But offensively, sure, could they could they
48:50
get a little a little bit more creative? Could they throw some more motion
48:52
out there? Absolutely, I'm not I'm not absolving the coaching staff in any
48:57
of this, but I think that it goes hey good, It goes hand
49:00
in hand. And this offense is far too talented to be struggling to compile
49:06
points and not being able to sustain drives. So I certainly think you need
49:09
to look at Nick Serianni and Brian Johnson in that regard, and the players
49:13
need to be able to make their opportunities win when the ball comes their way.
49:15
I'm glad you did mention the defense, Andrew, because I wanted to
49:20
talk about that specifically this past week, and I've seen it over the past
49:23
few weeks actually, where it seems that when looking at the three levels of
49:29
this defense, and especially again especially the past week against the Cardinals, it
49:32
was almost like all three levels had different play calls which led to just a
49:37
ton of confusion. So I'm not sure if you saw that as somebody who's
49:43
been watching this game for a very long time. We both certainly have been.
49:46
And again, I know you mentioned the defense, there's only so much
49:50
that can be done with regard to personnel in various packages. It is a
49:53
slower defense, as you mentioned, like what are your assessments of how the
49:58
play calling either changed or altered from Seawan Deci to Matt Patricia. Not necessarily
50:04
that there were that it was a mistake to do this, because again,
50:07
the personnel is the personnel, But what are your assessments of what we've been
50:09
seeing and have you kind of been seeing that as well, where it's almost
50:13
like the three levels of the defense are having different play calls where things just
50:16
aren't meshing well. To be clear, I thought I think Shawn Desai,
50:21
you know, relegating him to the booth and having Matt Patricia be the defensive
50:27
play car. I think Shawn de Si was a clear escapegoat because you're not
50:30
seeing a night and day difference. In fact, yeah, Matt Patricia has
50:32
been afforded a much more favorable slate, and the defense arguably looks worse than
50:38
it did under Seawan Decai. Not to say that either either coordinator has has
50:44
done a really you know, stand up, bang up job there, because
50:47
they haven't. But I think under Patricia you're seeing more three safety looks.
50:52
You're seeing a lot more various personnel groupings, which we'll get to that in
50:57
a second, because I don't necessarily think that's a good thing, and you're
51:00
and you know, the pass rush still isn't getting home. But I think
51:04
under decide the run defense, or at least the early part of the part
51:07
of the season, the Eagles said one of the most proficient run defenses in
51:10
the NFL. And now I think you're seeing a lot of tired bodies on
51:15
the defensive line, and as a result, behind them, the linebackers are
51:19
ill equipped to come up and fill those holes. They are what they are,
51:22
and I think they get unfairly maligned as well. You can't ask a
51:24
player to be somebody that they're not. Nicholas Morrow would be is an ideal.
51:29
Third linebacker Jack Leonard doesn't have a ton left and Zach Cunningham is a
51:32
nice player, but he's he's been hurt a lot throughout his career and he's
51:37
had games where he's had his lapses as well. I think they've been fine
51:39
as a group to be honest for what they are. Context is important,
51:44
but in the secondary, getting to my point, I think you're you're,
51:46
you need to find a combination that works and stick with it. You're You're,
51:50
You're shuffling and Eli Rick, Sydney Brown, all these different players and
51:54
there's not a lot of continuity there, and I think that that's where the
51:58
communication breakdowns oftentimes will happen. And you have a lot of guys thinking they're
52:04
they're not playing used to playing with certain guys. Yeah, And instead of
52:07
reacting you have to You're you're instead of being able to play at full speed,
52:14
you're having to try and react and you're a little bit more passive.
52:15
And I think that's what you're seeing there. Also, I mean the tacklinge
52:20
has not been as terrible. Yeah under standard, Yeah, exactly. So
52:23
you're seeing all these different issues and that's why the defense is what it is,
52:27
and that's why there's not a lot that Matt Patrician is going to be
52:30
able to do at this stage of the season to rectify a lot of these
52:32
issues. Yeah. Absolutely, Well, I did want to talk to you
52:36
about the defensive front here because going into this season, you know, so
52:39
many of us were so excited because it really seemed like there was a ton
52:43
of talent, but they just haven't been producing a lot of pressure. They
52:46
have not been getting a lot of sacks, as we know, especially when
52:50
you're looking at the stat sheet after games, and I know certain players like
52:52
Jalen Carter, these guys are getting double teamed out there. Jordan Davis have
52:57
seen it a number of times, a lot of the defensive linemen getting double
53:00
teamed. But guys like Josh Sweat just haven't been finishing plays and it's extremely
53:05
frustrating to watch. What do you make of this Eagles defensive front and essentially
53:09
how ineffective they have been. Yeah, in a nutshell, you see how
53:14
impactful a pass rush can be and how detrimental can be not to have one
53:17
on that play where James Connor catches that touchdown. Josh Sweat almost gets there.
53:22
He's had so many almost this season, and he was a player that
53:25
those who may have read my work or hurt me on air, I depicted
53:29
him to be the Eagles defensive MVP. This year has not had a sack,
53:32
and I believe eight weeks or at least before the buy for sure,
53:37
and he just he's not able to take advantage of his opportunities. Has Son
53:42
Reddick has eleven sacks this year. It's been quiet, but he's the only
53:45
one that generates consistent pressure. Jalen Carter was, you know, start of
53:50
the season really strong. Jordan Davis also started the season really strong. And
53:54
I think what you're seeing is these guys are logging a ton of snaps a
53:59
Son Reddick, Josh Sweat, Jordan Davis, Jalen Carter, Fletcher Cox,
54:04
and ultimately, especially in that Bills game, they played ninety upwards of ninety
54:07
snaps. Eventually, you hit a wall and you're not as productive as you
54:13
as you once were. You have tired legs. And the problem is is
54:15
the Eagles don't have a lot of reinforcements behind them to be able to occupy
54:19
those snaps. Derek Barnett, as maligned as he was, he was someone
54:23
that could come in and give you adequate snaps. And Nolan Smith hasn't his
54:29
snaps. He hasn't been much of a factor, and he's still always playing
54:31
a handful of snaps and Marlon Tully polo to him, Moro Jean, I
54:37
think have done a nice job. But terms we're talking pass rushers here.
54:39
The Eagles don't have a ton of depth there. They've been trying to minimize
54:43
Brandon Grahams snaps all season to make sure that he has the necessary burst when
54:49
you need him down the stretch and into the postseason. So they don't have
54:52
a ton there, and I think you're seeing guys like Reddick and Sweat just
54:55
really I mean, they just look lethargic out there, and that's that's really
54:59
what's what's hampering their pass rush. Yeah, absolutely again, folks, we're
55:04
talking to Andrew to checko from Inside the Birds dot Com. Also check him
55:07
to show out every Thursday four pm on ninety seven point three. Always good
55:14
stuff that Andrew's doing, of course on the air and over at Inside of
55:19
the Birds dot Com. Let's move over to the offense here, because it
55:22
seems like just about every team the Eagles face of kind of I feel like
55:24
they figured out this offense, seems like that it's been written about as well,
55:29
and especially those plays when they are trying to run RPO and Jalen Hurts
55:34
just isn't as effective with his legs this season. And yes, it could
55:37
be because of injury. I have a feeling at the end of the season
55:40
we all may learned that maybe his injury was a little bit a little bit
55:45
more than we thought. Perhaps again, design quarterback draws and bootlegs just aren't
55:51
producing like they used to. Plus, from an overall perspective, I don't
55:54
necessarily think the coaching staff is really putting Jalen Hurts in an ideal position to
55:59
impact the game from the pocket. I know Jalen Hurts his pocket management has
56:04
gotten better over these past few games, at least from the eye test here,
56:07
Andrew, how can this offense keep other teams on their toes moving forward?
56:13
Here? I think by having Jayalen run the ball a little bit more.
56:16
It looks like he's getting healthier as we've gone on here in the season.
56:21
But also I think incorporating different weapons outside of the Big three, and
56:25
obviously the offense runs through aj Brown, DeVante Smith, Dallas Goddard, but
56:30
you have to be able to establish different players like Alamideza Kiyas, like Grant
56:35
Calcata, like a Jack Stole or Julio Jones who had two touchdowns the other
56:38
day, because you have to be able to provide that element of surprise running
56:44
the football, get the running backs actually involved in the passing game. That
56:47
you have two running backs and DeAndre Swift and Kenny Gamwell that are brilliant,
56:52
adept at catching the ball and can provide mismatches. You can line Deandres Swift
56:55
out, you can detach them from the format, and there's so many different
56:59
things you can do, and they just seem to have a very simplistic offense.
57:02
But also you have to look at Jayalen Hurts. I think Jalen Hurts
57:07
has It's been minor, but there has been a regression, whether it be
57:12
mechanically. He was dropping his eyes, not necessarily seeing the field particularly well
57:15
for much of the season, reverting back to some of the things that plagued
57:20
him in twenty twenty one. So you have to look at that there,
57:22
because I mean, but I think that he's largely played some good put together
57:28
some good performances when needed over the past few weeks. But I think they're
57:31
going to start coming together at the right time because I think you saw AJ
57:37
speak today, and I mean he they did a team bonding thing. Like
57:42
I think these guys are. It's never a buy in. I don't think
57:45
that's ever the case. I think they know what they can do, what
57:49
they can do and the talent that they have there, and I think that
57:52
they're gonna be able to flip the switch here, get back to what's made
57:54
them so successful and find ways to make sure the offense gets off the ground
57:59
and makes it more multifaceted and less predictable. Yeah, there's such blue chip
58:04
talent on this team on both sides of the ball, you know, whether
58:06
we're talking about Son Reddick, AJ Brown, Devonte Smith, Dallas Goddard,
58:09
there's a lot of blue chip talent, and I think it needs to be
58:14
utilized more effectively. Of course, moving forward, and to close us out
58:16
here, Andrew, I kind of wanted to get into a process theme with
58:21
you here because the one thing that sports organizations do all the time is they
58:25
point back to previous accomplishments really instead of kind of looking at how the process
58:30
is working right now and how it projects in front of them. And the
58:34
Eagles have definitely, I think, done that this year. And I think,
58:37
you know, hindsight's twenty twenty all the time, especially with this fan
58:42
base, where you know, you could take a look and say, you
58:45
know, how he should have done this, You should have done that during
58:46
the off season. But there's already a lot of talk about how this team
58:51
might handle this off season. It may be too early to start making predictions
58:55
in that regard, but what kind of direction and I'm talking again from a
59:00
your process standpoint, do you think the Eagles may look to initiate this coming
59:04
off season? What are your thoughts? Well, I don't know that Brian
59:07
Johnson's going anywhere. For those who have been clamoring for a new offensive coordinator,
59:13
the Eagles think really highly of them. And I think that this is
59:15
you have to take in again, context matters, and you have to take
59:17
into accounts his first year doing this job, and this is Nick Sirianni's offense,
59:22
and a lot of it's you know, been it's been out there,
59:25
like you know, it's been talked about throughout the season. I think that
59:29
he's I think the Eagles are happy with what he's doing, and so I
59:31
don't know that you're going to see a change their defensive coordinator wise, however,
59:36
is where I do think that you'll see a new a new player in
59:38
that a new a new coach in that seat. I don't know who it's
59:42
going to be. We'll have to see. I mean, Jesse Mentor from
59:44
Michigan the defense, their defensive coordinator was a candidate last season that was interviewed
59:49
before they ended up getting Sean Desai. So I would imagine that he's gonna
59:52
have a ton of suitors this year, giving given what he's put out there.
59:55
But I mean, it's it's an enticing job. But you also have
59:59
to wonder if you're a prospective coach, do I want to go to as
1:00:02
go to a place that they didn't even give the guy that they that they
1:00:07
hired a full season to show what he was able to do. Is that
1:00:09
a stable situation or should I maybe try my hand somewhere else? And I
1:00:14
think when you make those moves like the Eagles did, it can come off
1:00:16
his knee jerk and not stable for a young coach. If they struggle,
1:00:21
are they are they going to look to you know, you know Puol to
1:00:23
cut the cord at the first time of adversity. So, but I do
1:00:28
think there's gonna be a defensive coordinator. Personnel wise, you got to get
1:00:30
younger at corner you need to know, you need to address the pass rush.
1:00:35
There's not a There's not a ton that Eagles have there, and I
1:00:38
think that you got to get younger. You have you have Nolan Smith,
1:00:42
you have Josh Sweat, but you have a lot of older players in Brandon
1:00:45
Graham, Fletcher Cox and and you know cornerstone players like that that I think
1:00:50
you need to get younger there. You have to get younger at corner Slam
1:00:52
Bradbury, Bradley Roby, they're all thirty or older. You got you simply
1:00:58
have to build a round ringo and maybe get a first round corner like a
1:01:01
Terry and Arnold from Alabama. Yeah, I start to really rebuild that defense.
1:01:05
They don't have a lot of blue chip talent there, and I think
1:01:08
that that's where it starts. In order for any coach to have success,
1:01:13
you have to get the Yeah, the talent has to improve defensively, and
1:01:16
maybe a healthy n Kobe Dane adds to the mix there should be able to
1:01:20
help get things in the right direction. But that's kind of the way that
1:01:22
I would see it. All right, Very good again, folks. Andrew
1:01:25
de Checko from Inside the Birds dot com you can hear him as well four
1:01:30
o'clock PM on Thursday's ninety seven point three. Absolutely love talking to you,
1:01:35
Andrew. Thank you so much for taking the time, buddy, come back
1:01:37
and join us down the road. Love to have you back on Yeah,
1:01:39
man, appreciate you having me. Andrew's there, He's in the locker room.
1:01:44
He's understanding the various dynamics that's happening, not only with the players,
1:01:49
but with the coaches as well. A lot of insightful points that he made
1:01:53
during our discussion here, and what I thought was interesting was the optimism that
1:01:59
was really coming from him with regard to how this team is going to be
1:02:01
performing once they do get that first wild card playoff game right in front of
1:02:07
them. I think it's really interesting. I mean, can these players just
1:02:10
galvanize around some sort of positivity given what has happened with this team over these
1:02:16
past few weeks. I mean, hey, look again, Andrew is there
1:02:20
in the locker room. He's seeing what's happening. I you know, a
1:02:23
lot of folks have heard what I have had to say and and my co
1:02:28
hosts have had to say with regard to this team and some of the folks
1:02:30
we've had on this podcast over the past couple weeks talking about the Eagles and
1:02:35
the optimism is it's slim out there. But look, we're always hoping.
1:02:39
We're always hoping that this team is going to do good things. So that
1:02:44
being said, again, many thanks to Andrew. It was great talking to
1:02:45
let of course earlier, and that's going to do it for us this week
1:02:50
here at the PST podcast Show. If you are new to listening to us,
1:02:52
we'd appreciate if you'd subscribe on whatever podcast platform you are on. Anything
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1:03:00
We've got all of our shows over there. Again, We've been doing
1:03:02
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1:03:07
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1:03:10
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1:03:15
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1:03:21
All Right, folks, that's gonna do it for us. Take care,
1:03:22
we'll catch you next time.