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OPPOSITION TERRITORY: The NFC · The Philadelphia Sports Table | Philly Sports News & Views

• 0:24
  Speaker 1: Welcome to Opposition Territory here at the Philadelphia Sports Table
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: podcast show, the longest running weekly Philly sports podcast show
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: in the world, twelve and a half years strong. Got
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: a great discussion coming your way on opposition Territory. This week,
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: Philadelphia Eagles have a bye week, and as everybody knows
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: here on our Opposition Territory pods, we always do a
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: preview of the coming week and an opponent that the
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: Eagles will be facing. But this week, with that bye week,
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: we're gonna be taking a look at the NFC overall,
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: various storylines. We're gonna be looking at various teams. Who
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: is a real contender, who might be a fake contender.
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  Speaker 1: Perhaps we're gonna dive into it with our good friend
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: from ACME Packing Company dot com, Evan Tech's Western Text Body.
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: Thanks so much for joining us this week. It's always
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: great to talk to you man. Yeah, it's my pleasure.
• 1:08
  Speaker 2: I was I was thinking, I was thinking at first,
• 1:11
  Speaker 2: you were You're a week early getting in touch with
• 1:13
  Speaker 2: me for for Packers Eagles.
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: Right about it?
• 1:15
  Speaker 3: Like, wait a second, let's play the Panthers this week.
• 1:18
  Speaker 2: But no, happy to happy to do it and looking
• 1:20
  Speaker 2: forward to to getting into it.
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: We're gonna I'm gonna have you on again before the
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: Packers game too. If you're if you're gonna be up
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: for it, you know we're gonna have to do it.
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  Speaker 1: I love talking to you because like this NFC, I
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: think is absolute, This conference is, it's it's phenomenal to
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: if you're a football lover to watch this conference and
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  Speaker 1: the varigous storylines that are going on. I mean, and
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: I first really want to get into, you know, some
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: of these teams that are leading their divisions within the NFC.
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: So far, we've seen some not so great football from
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: some of these teams. We've seen some really good football
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: from some of these teams here. So I'm wondering, who
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: do you think is the team to beat in the
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: NFC at this point as we look at the division leaders?
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  Speaker 1: I mean, is it the Eagles? Is it your Packers?
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  Speaker 1: Perhaps the Bucks, maybe the Seahawks, maybe the Rams as well.
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  Speaker 1: Who is that dominant top team in the NFC at
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: the moment that you're really honing in on.
• 2:18
  Speaker 2: Yeah, this is probably a cop out, but I don't
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  Speaker 2: think there is one field.
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  Speaker 1: That's not a cop out. Dude. I honestly thought I
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: was thinking to myself when I had that question prepared
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: for you, I was like, I wonder if that's which
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: way you're gonna go, because that's how I'm feeling too.
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: Like I said, like, there's so many good football games
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: that we have seen thus far, and there have been
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: some real stinkers too, and like, you're right, I don't
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  Speaker 1: think there's a clear cut answer here.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean there's a lot of good teams in
• 2:44
  Speaker 2: this conference. I don't think there's a single truly great
• 2:47
  Speaker 2: team in this conference, And honestly, I don't think there's
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  Speaker 2: a truly a single truly great team across the entire
• 2:52
  Speaker 2: NFL this season. Yeah, every team I think has flaws,
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  Speaker 2: and whether that's you know, Green Bay having some issues
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  Speaker 2: in the secondary, whether that that's you know, the Lions
• 3:03
  Speaker 2: are still having some question marks on defense and in
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  Speaker 2: the interior of their offensive line. You've got Tampa who's
• 3:08
  Speaker 2: got a bunch of injury issues all over the place,
• 3:11
  Speaker 2: and how long could they kind of hold it together?
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  Speaker 1: Yea, the Eagles offensive line, I mean, leading up until
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: this this past week against the Giants, they were just floundering.
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: And it's it was bizarre to see because it has
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: been a staple in Philadelphia. That Eagles offensive line has
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: been a staple. And yes, they may have right right
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: of the ship or however you want to say it,
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: but like, yes, every single team, including the Eagles and
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: that dominant offensive line not really doing all that great.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, So I mean, ultimately to me in the NFC,
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  Speaker 2: I mean, I won't be surprised if whichever team wins
• 3:41
  Speaker 2: the NFC North ends up in the number one seed
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  Speaker 2: yet again, Okay, similar situation to to like last year
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  Speaker 2: where it was Minnesota and Detroit coming down to the wire.
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  Speaker 2: I definitely think that, you know, those two Green Bay
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  Speaker 2: and Detroit kind of could be neck and neck down
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  Speaker 2: down the stretch, and and there's a good chance that
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  Speaker 2: whichever one of those two teams wins the division and
• 4:00
  Speaker 2: ends up in the top seed.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah.
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  Speaker 2: The one that I'm I'm really kind of watching for
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  Speaker 2: is the Rams. I think I believe in them a
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  Speaker 2: little more than I believe in the Seahawks in terms
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  Speaker 2: of their completeness as a team. So I think they
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  Speaker 2: could be in the race certainly Philly. I mean, they
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  Speaker 2: have time to sort of get things righted and really
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  Speaker 2: figure it out. So I mean those are probably to me,
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  Speaker 2: the four that I would really keep an eye on
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  Speaker 2: as having the best shot at taking the top seed
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  Speaker 2: and taking home field in the NFC would be Green Bay, Detroit, Philly,
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  Speaker 2: and the Rams in whatever order. Right, I don't think
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  Speaker 2: there's an order, really a pecking order established just yet.
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  Speaker 2: But you know, as we'll see, there'll be a big
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  Speaker 2: game coming up in two weeks that will kind of help. Yes,
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  Speaker 2: you know, stratify that just a little bit.
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: Absolutely, just a little bit here, well, I mean, getting
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: more into some of these NFC storylines here, I really
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: want to really want to start with the Packers and
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: really dive into the team that you cover over at
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: Acmepackingcompany dot com. They're the only team in the NFC
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: with only one loss. Certainly impressive for sure, but at times,
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  Speaker 1: in terms of what I have seen on the field
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  Speaker 1: from them, they just haven't appeared to be the absolute
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: dominant team that so many of us thought that they
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  Speaker 1: would be before the season started. I mean there's been
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  Speaker 1: a lot of I would describe it as you know,
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: quote Ben but don't break type of play on both
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: the offense and the defense, and specifically the defense. I mean,
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: much of this is due to that Packers cornerback situation.
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  Speaker 1: You know that you did mention they've been up and
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: down for sure. While the Packers are definitely a top
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  Speaker 1: NFC team, like you just initially outlined, you know, what's
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: the level of confidence techs that they can keep, you know,
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  Speaker 1: in terms of being that top successful team and why
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  Speaker 1: what's that level of confidence?
• 5:43
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean there's a couple of areas of concern
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  Speaker 2: for sure. Right you mentioned the cornerback position. That's definitely
• 5:49
  Speaker 2: an area where Packers fans have been frustrated the last
• 5:52
  Speaker 2: couple of weeks. They went out, they spent a bunch
• 5:54
  Speaker 2: of money on Nate Hobbs in the offseason as a
• 5:57
  Speaker 2: free agent acquisition, and when he's played, he's been bad.
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  Speaker 2: I mean flat out bad. He got torched by the
• 6:02
  Speaker 2: Cardinals and backup quarterback to Kobe Bursett two weeks ago,
• 6:06
  Speaker 2: then the coaching staff game of vote of confidence throughout
• 6:09
  Speaker 2: all of this last week, and he played like two
• 6:11
  Speaker 2: snaps against Pittsburgh on Sunday nights, and Carrington Valentine got
• 6:15
  Speaker 2: all the playing time, which, to be clear, as a
• 6:17
  Speaker 2: Packers fan, I'm very in favor of Valentine is a
• 6:20
  Speaker 2: young athletic scrappy corner. I think Hobbs is probably still
• 6:24
  Speaker 2: banged up, so that's part of it. But depth at
• 6:27
  Speaker 2: that cornerback position especially concern and it's really gonna put
• 6:30
  Speaker 2: pressure on the Packers' new look pass rush to get
• 6:33
  Speaker 2: to quarterbacks and to not give guys time to throw.
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  Speaker 2: So that's thing number one. The other area that I
• 6:39
  Speaker 2: do have concern about is the offensive line. They had
• 6:42
  Speaker 2: a lot of injuries to start the year and they
• 6:44
  Speaker 2: really haven't started to gel until the last couple of
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  Speaker 2: weeks when guys have started to get healthy again and
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  Speaker 2: they've had their starting five kind of set and ready
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  Speaker 2: to go.
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  Speaker 3: And with the.
• 6:53
  Speaker 2: Matt Lafleur offense, so much revolves around establishing the run
• 6:56
  Speaker 2: and then building play action concepts off of that. So
• 7:01
  Speaker 2: for a run heavy team like that, not having that
• 7:03
  Speaker 2: offensive line continuity is a big, a big problem. Now
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  Speaker 2: they're finally getting to that point where they've got their
• 7:08
  Speaker 2: guys in there and they're healthy or they're healthier and
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  Speaker 2: they're at least playing together. So that's a big step forward.
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  Speaker 2: But the other factor for the Packers was during those
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  Speaker 2: first you know, five or six weeks, when they were
• 7:21
  Speaker 2: kind of up and down, and the offense was sputtering
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  Speaker 2: a little bit. It seemed like they didn't really want
• 7:27
  Speaker 2: to just let Jordan Love cook. And we saw it
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  Speaker 2: in the second half on Sunday night in Pittsburgh, where
• 7:35
  Speaker 2: you know, it almost felt like Lafleur kind of said,
• 7:37
  Speaker 2: all right, well, the offensive line isn't getting it done,
• 7:40
  Speaker 2: the running game isn't really making any progress in Pittsburgh,
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  Speaker 2: so we've got to let Jordan go. And he came
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  Speaker 2: up with a phenomenal kind of you know, almost just
• 7:50
  Speaker 2: because of the narrative with Rogers and everything. I mean,
• 7:52
  Speaker 2: it felt like kind of a career defining game for him. Yeah,
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  Speaker 2: and you know, just just he was. He was pinpoint
• 8:01
  Speaker 2: accurate when he had to be. And then he also,
• 8:03
  Speaker 2: you know, got a lot of help from Yak, from
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  Speaker 2: his receivers, and so I think that was one where
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  Speaker 2: you finally saw him unshackled a little bit and what
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  Speaker 2: he can do if they just really put the ball
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  Speaker 2: in his hands and tell him go out there and
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  Speaker 2: drive the ship and and don't focus too much on
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  Speaker 2: just building off the run game.
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  Speaker 3: And it worked.
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  Speaker 2: And and I think you know, the couple times when
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  Speaker 2: they've looked at their best the last couple of years
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  Speaker 2: or when they've done that, the Dallas game in the
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  Speaker 2: playoffs two years ago, even even the Dallas game this
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  Speaker 2: year on Sunday Night a couple of weeks ago. The
• 8:34
  Speaker 2: second the whole second half, Love was lighting it up
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  Speaker 2: and was playing great. So he certainly seems to play
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  Speaker 2: his best in prime time and and that's always kind
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  Speaker 2: of fun to see. But I do think you're taking
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  Speaker 2: You're seeing Love in particular, take a big step forward
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  Speaker 2: at times that is when they are letting him really
• 8:54
  Speaker 2: open up the offense and open up the passing game.
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  Speaker 2: And I think they might not need to do that
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  Speaker 2: a little more, you know, through out the rest of
• 9:00
  Speaker 2: the season and not be quite so reliant on Josh
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  Speaker 2: Jacobs in this run game, because there's still just going
• 9:08
  Speaker 2: to be ongoing questions until they can con they can
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  Speaker 2: move people up front. It's going to be on Love
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  Speaker 2: to to make a lot of big plays, and how
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  Speaker 2: he goes could very.
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  Speaker 3: Well determine how far the Packers end up going.
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  Speaker 1: Absolutely yeah, And I think that level of confidence that
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  Speaker 1: the Packers need to have should be with Jordan Love.
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: You're absolutely right. I mean, he has shown that he
• 9:30
  Speaker 1: can be that type of confidence that any team of
• 9:33
  Speaker 1: the NFL, you know, could could have when he is
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: under center. And you said something earlier that I thought
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: was really interesting that the number one seed in the
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: NFC when it's all said and done this season may
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: be coming and likely coming from the NFC North. And
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: it really is such a crazy division at this point.
• 9:52
  Speaker 1: It's fun to watch from an outsider perspective, you know,
• 9:55
  Speaker 1: week in and week out, Packers, of course, the Lions
• 9:58
  Speaker 1: and the Bears, they all have winning rec words at
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: this point, Vikings are three and four, certainly not out
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: of you know, possible playoff contention at this point. We'll
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: have to wait and see, of course, But I'm just wondering,
• 10:09
  Speaker 1: you know, which team do you think is the biggest
• 10:11
  Speaker 1: threat to the Packers in the division for the rest
• 10:14
  Speaker 1: of the season and why. I would guess it would
• 10:15
  Speaker 1: probably be the Lions from what you're thinking, right.
• 10:19
  Speaker 3: Yeah, most definitely.
• 10:21
  Speaker 2: I think at this point where you're looking at Minnesota
• 10:24
  Speaker 2: really starting to tail off here, you know, as we
• 10:26
  Speaker 2: get into mid season, Carson Wentz being out for the year. Now,
• 10:30
  Speaker 2: I have a pretty good authority that they're they're not
• 10:32
  Speaker 2: crazy about JJ McCarthy in Minnesota, and.
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: I wasn't crazy on JJ McCarthy coming out with you.
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: I mean, I'm right there, came out of Michigan. I
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: mean I saw him how many years at Michigan, and
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: I was like, man, I don't know how this is
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: going to translate to the NFL here.
• 10:48
  Speaker 2: And honestly, aside from you know, ten minutes at the
• 10:51
  Speaker 2: end of that Week one game against Chicago, yeah, he
• 10:53
  Speaker 2: hasn't really done anything when he has been out there
• 10:56
  Speaker 2: so far the season, So I don't expect Minnesota to
• 10:58
  Speaker 2: be really in contention on the stretch. And with Chicago,
• 11:03
  Speaker 2: I mean, Caleb Williams is looks better than he did
• 11:06
  Speaker 2: last year, but he still hasn't taken that big step
• 11:08
  Speaker 2: forward that I think a lot of people are were
• 11:10
  Speaker 2: expecting out of him.
• 11:11
  Speaker 3: With Ben Johnson offense as the head coach coming over
• 11:14
  Speaker 3: from d Absolutely.
• 11:17
  Speaker 2: I mean you saw some of it with the late
• 11:19
  Speaker 2: game situation against Baltimore on Sunday, you know, just not
• 11:23
  Speaker 2: really being able to kind of control the clock and
• 11:26
  Speaker 2: understand you know, the situation there with a couple of
• 11:29
  Speaker 2: those plays down the stretch, and I mean you look
• 11:32
  Speaker 2: at Drake May and New England like that's what you
• 11:34
  Speaker 2: want to would love to see out of a second
• 11:36
  Speaker 2: year quarterback taking that huge step forward, and Caleb hasn't
• 11:39
  Speaker 2: done that. So Packers have two games against Chicago in
• 11:42
  Speaker 2: the span of three weeks in December. I expect the
• 11:46
  Speaker 2: Packers to play well in both of those games, and
• 11:50
  Speaker 2: I don't I don't see the I see the Bears
• 11:53
  Speaker 2: probably being around a five hundred team, but I don't
• 11:55
  Speaker 2: see them being much better than that, and I'd be
• 11:57
  Speaker 2: surprised if they're if they're really in content. I mean this,
• 12:00
  Speaker 2: this really feels like a two team race between Green
• 12:02
  Speaker 2: Band Detroit again. Detroit is just such a complete team.
• 12:05
  Speaker 2: I mean again, you can, you can nitpick on on
• 12:08
  Speaker 2: a few things, but they're not perfect. But but the
• 12:12
  Speaker 2: balance that they can can have on offense when everything
• 12:15
  Speaker 2: is clicking is is something that's really tough for any other.
• 12:18
  Speaker 3: Team to match. And so.
• 12:21
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's gonna be a fun one on Thanksgiving yet
• 12:23
  Speaker 2: again between Green Band Detroit and I'm just really glad
• 12:27
  Speaker 2: the Packers got that first Week one win over the
• 12:29
  Speaker 2: Lions out of the way. Yeah, and uh, and they've
• 12:32
  Speaker 2: only got to deal with them once down the stretch
• 12:34
  Speaker 2: instead of having a you know a pair of games
• 12:36
  Speaker 2: to deal with in the second half against those Lions.
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: Absolutely all right again, folks, we're talking to Evan TeX's
• 12:41
  Speaker 1: Western from ACME Packingcompany dot com. Head on over to
• 12:45
  Speaker 1: ACME Packingcompany dot com. Got a lot of great content,
• 12:47
  Speaker 1: not only with regard to the Packers, but just the
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: NFL in general. Where can they find you on the
• 12:52
  Speaker 1: socials out there and if they want to connect with you?
• 12:56
  Speaker 3: Excuse me? Yeah you can.
• 12:58
  Speaker 2: You can get I'm I'm on active on Blue Sky
• 13:01
  Speaker 2: at text Western.
• 13:03
  Speaker 3: You can get us at Acmepacking Co.
• 13:06
  Speaker 2: I also do the Frozen tunder Frequencies podcast feed, so
• 13:09
  Speaker 2: I usually do the Packers game recaps, so we got
• 13:12
  Speaker 2: a couple different podcasts in that feed as well. I'm
• 13:14
  Speaker 2: available on all the socials again at Frozen Tundrapod on
• 13:19
  Speaker 2: Blue Sky or Rereactive over there as well. So yeah,
• 13:22
  Speaker 2: check us out and then obviously Acmepackingcompany dot com.
• 13:25
  Speaker 1: Yeah, very good. And if you are watching us on YouTube,
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: like and subscribe. You can also hit that bell to
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  Speaker 1: the Philadelphia Sports Table. We're also on various social media sites.
• 13:42
  Speaker 1: We are on the Twitter slash x, I'm over on
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  Speaker 1: TikTok at mister Jeff Warren. Also Instagram. Just search us out.
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  Speaker 1: I'm over on Blue Sky Jeff Warren. You can search
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  Speaker 1: me out there. We're on threads as well. We've got
• 13:55
  Speaker 1: more NFC talk coming your way after our break right here.
• 13:59
  Speaker 1: Stick with us, all right, we are back with our
• 14:02
  Speaker 1: good friend tex Western from Acmepackingcompany dot com. And as
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: we are moving along with our Opposition Territory podcast and
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: discussion this week, I really am finding texts that the
• 14:14
  Speaker 1: jockeying of position positions between the Rams and the forty
• 14:19
  Speaker 1: nine Ers and the Seahawks in the NFC West is
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: it's going to continue to be interesting to follow. I
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: think all three teams pretty good teams. And given the
• 14:28
  Speaker 1: injuries again that the forty nine Ers have been going
• 14:31
  Speaker 1: through this season, they say it seems to just be
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: an ongoing theme year after year for them, injury after
• 14:35
  Speaker 1: injury after injury. Yet they still remain relevant in that division.
• 14:39
  Speaker 1: But you know, both the Rams and the Seahawks are
• 14:42
  Speaker 1: five and two as of us recording this Niners are
• 14:44
  Speaker 1: five and three. How do you see this battle between
• 14:47
  Speaker 1: these three teams really taking shape for the rest of
• 14:50
  Speaker 1: the season here.
• 14:51
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I think it's gonna be really interesting to see
• 14:53
  Speaker 2: if the Rams can pull away in the next month
• 14:56
  Speaker 2: or so. Yeah, I think I think the Rams are
• 14:58
  Speaker 2: the best team out of the three by a fair margin.
• 15:01
  Speaker 2: I'm not I'm not sold on the Sam Darnold. You
• 15:04
  Speaker 2: know the efficiency that he's putting up in Seattle.
• 15:08
  Speaker 1: Great, I just was getting him off waivers on my
• 15:10
  Speaker 1: freaking fantasy team. Great, thanks a lot, Tex.
• 15:13
  Speaker 2: Well, but the thing, you know, the thing is, if
• 15:15
  Speaker 2: they start to run into really good defenses, I think
• 15:18
  Speaker 2: it feels like Jackson Smith and Jigba is just about
• 15:22
  Speaker 2: you know, the deep balls to him are about their
• 15:23
  Speaker 2: all their entire that's what they have, at.
• 15:25
  Speaker 3: Least that's all they have exactly.
• 15:27
  Speaker 2: And I think and I think, you get to run
• 15:28
  Speaker 2: into some better defenses and they're going to start taking
• 15:30
  Speaker 2: that away and forcing you to beat them in other ways. Now,
• 15:33
  Speaker 2: they have a pretty easy schedule coming down the stretch,
• 15:36
  Speaker 2: right they looking at looking at the Seahawks schedule. They've
• 15:38
  Speaker 2: got Washington, They've got a couple of games against I
• 15:41
  Speaker 2: think Arizona and San Francisco, Atlanta, Tennessee, Minnesota, who we
• 15:46
  Speaker 2: talked about already. So I mean there's some winnable games
• 15:48
  Speaker 2: in there for sure, and I think that might actually
• 15:50
  Speaker 2: kind of keep them neck and neck with the Rams
• 15:53
  Speaker 2: coming down down the stretch late in the season. Again,
• 15:57
  Speaker 2: I think I think the Rams are the better team,
• 15:59
  Speaker 2: but they're they're playing more of a first place schedule
• 16:02
  Speaker 2: and that's gonna be a little bit of a challenge
• 16:05
  Speaker 2: for them. But I'm with the forty nine ers. Like
• 16:09
  Speaker 2: you said, the injuries are just so devastating. Fred Warner
• 16:12
  Speaker 2: is such a huge, huge factor in that defense.
• 16:15
  Speaker 1: Yep.
• 16:16
  Speaker 2: And I just don't know how you overcome a loss
• 16:19
  Speaker 2: of the maybe the best linebacker in football and continue
• 16:24
  Speaker 2: to to maintain that level of production on defense.
• 16:29
  Speaker 1: I'd say second best. Zach Bond, I'll take He's I
• 16:32
  Speaker 1: I find him to be number one.
• 16:33
  Speaker 2: Fair enough, Wisconsin guy, I'm there, you go, I'm willing.
• 16:38
  Speaker 3: To They're willing to have that, you go, right.
• 16:41
  Speaker 1: Well, look moving along, Look as I was putting, you know,
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: our topics together that we're going to be getting into here,
• 16:47
  Speaker 1: and I'm thinking of myself, you know, there's one team
• 16:51
  Speaker 1: that we have not talked about in the NFC for years,
• 16:54
  Speaker 1: in years and years, and that's a Carolina Panthers. And
• 16:57
  Speaker 1: I was like, you know what, I want to dive
• 16:59
  Speaker 1: into them and see what Texas thinking about when it
• 17:01
  Speaker 1: comes to this Panthers team. Yes, they're four and four,
• 17:04
  Speaker 1: only five hundred here, wouldn't necessarily call them a special team.
• 17:08
  Speaker 1: But the fact that they are five hundred, you know,
• 17:11
  Speaker 1: they're starting to get some momentum and they aren't, you know,
• 17:14
  Speaker 1: in the basement anymore. And I find that to be
• 17:17
  Speaker 1: interesting quite frankly. You know, I use a phrase on
• 17:19
  Speaker 1: this podcast platform a lot. You can't fall out of
• 17:21
  Speaker 1: a basement window, and they just couldn't fall out of
• 17:24
  Speaker 1: that basement window anymore. It's interesting what's happening in Carolina.
• 17:29
  Speaker 1: I think based on the fact that they're not horrendous
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: as they have been now for quite some time. How
• 17:36
  Speaker 1: are you viewing the Panthers, this team overall as we're
• 17:39
  Speaker 1: halfway through the season here.
• 17:42
  Speaker 2: Well, I mean it's a great it's great timing because
• 17:44
  Speaker 2: the Packers are playing Carolina this coming week, yep. And
• 17:49
  Speaker 2: you know, I spent a little bit of time watching
• 17:51
  Speaker 2: their game this last week against the Bills, and it's
• 17:54
  Speaker 2: it's certainly clear to me that without Bryce Young, they're
• 17:58
  Speaker 2: not going anywhere, right Andy Dalton is you know, he's
• 18:02
  Speaker 2: he is a it's pretty acceptable veteran backup. Yeah, acceptable
• 18:07
  Speaker 2: as being generous I think at this point. So, I mean,
• 18:11
  Speaker 2: so much of their success that they've had this year
• 18:13
  Speaker 2: is centered around the run game, and that's great, but
• 18:17
  Speaker 2: you also need to use the run to set up
• 18:19
  Speaker 2: explosive plays in the passing game, and that's the part
• 18:22
  Speaker 2: that has been missing. So even though they've got one
• 18:24
  Speaker 2: of the most efficient run games in the NFL, I
• 18:27
  Speaker 2: look at EPA a lot, and by EPA per play,
• 18:30
  Speaker 2: they're like fifth in the NFL in rushing. That's what's
• 18:33
  Speaker 2: incredible here, right it is it is, But then their
• 18:36
  Speaker 2: fifth worst in the NFL in passing EPA per play,
• 18:40
  Speaker 2: And when you look at the relative efficiencies of those,
• 18:42
  Speaker 2: I mean that there's still like a bottom ten offense overall.
• 18:46
  Speaker 2: So I mean, that's that's a struggle. And even through
• 18:50
  Speaker 2: you know, this four and four stretch, they've scored thirteen
• 18:54
  Speaker 2: or fewer points in half of their games. So there's
• 18:57
  Speaker 2: a lot of a lot of just general kind of issue.
• 19:00
  Speaker 2: Who's there now, you know, wins against I think you
• 19:03
  Speaker 2: look at their schedule too, right, the teams that they've beat, Atlanta,
• 19:07
  Speaker 2: which Miami, Dallas. You know just about everybody's putting thirty
• 19:13
  Speaker 2: forty points up on Dallas. And then you know they
• 19:16
  Speaker 2: beat the Jets by scoring thirteen points in the thirteen
• 19:18
  Speaker 2: to six wins. I think, I I think Tampa's gonna
• 19:23
  Speaker 2: run away with that division. The injuries, yes, and I
• 19:27
  Speaker 2: mean looking ahead to this Sunday, you know, it's still
• 19:31
  Speaker 2: an open question whether or not Bryce Young is gonna play.
• 19:33
  Speaker 2: If he doesn't, I mean, Michael Parsons and Rashan Gary
• 19:36
  Speaker 2: are probably gonna have a field day with Andy Dalton. Yes,
• 19:39
  Speaker 2: so it's gonna I'm might be retired. He might be
• 19:42
  Speaker 2: retired after this game, yes, yeah, yeah, And I know
• 19:46
  Speaker 2: last time we had talked, I kind of mentioned the
• 19:48
  Speaker 2: rookie receiver kind of storyline throughout the NFL. Yeah, And
• 19:52
  Speaker 2: Ted McMillan is looking like a really nice player for them,
• 19:55
  Speaker 2: and I think he's gonna be a really solid receiver
• 19:57
  Speaker 2: in the NFL for a long time. It's just they
• 20:00
  Speaker 2: need to find other ways of getting the passing game
• 20:03
  Speaker 2: moving and right now, he's a bottle they've got, and
• 20:06
  Speaker 2: they're gonna need to develop some additional weapons in the
• 20:09
  Speaker 2: passing game otherwise they're kind of going to be stuck
• 20:11
  Speaker 2: in this, you know, around five hundred phase. I think
• 20:16
  Speaker 2: for a little while.
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: They're not the New York Jets, and they're certainly not
• 20:19
  Speaker 1: the Miami Dolphins at this point.
• 20:21
  Speaker 3: You know.
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: Again, four and four, they pulled out some wins. You know, again,
• 20:25
  Speaker 1: you can't fall out of a basement window. I think
• 20:27
  Speaker 1: the Panthers are just interesting to follow in general.
• 20:31
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and look into their schedule. I mean, it's pretty
• 20:34
  Speaker 2: brutal down the stretch. Yeah, Packers, You've got games against
• 20:37
  Speaker 2: the Packers, the forty nine Ers, the Rams, two games
• 20:40
  Speaker 2: against the Bucks and the Seahawks, so almost that entire
• 20:43
  Speaker 2: NFC West. Yeah, the Packers game and then a couple
• 20:46
  Speaker 2: of games against the Bucks at the end.
• 20:48
  Speaker 3: It's going to be a rough go I think for
• 20:50
  Speaker 3: them over the second half unfortunately.
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: Yeah, all right, Well to close us out, Buddy, and
• 20:55
  Speaker 1: I appreciated you taking the time, but we certainly have
• 20:58
  Speaker 1: to move over to the Philadelphia Eagles. We are a
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: Philly sports podcast, and the Eagles, obviously, I think clear
• 21:04
  Speaker 1: favorites at this point in terms of the NFC East Division.
• 21:09
  Speaker 1: We've seen that regression from Washington, and yes, Jane Daniel
• 21:12
  Speaker 1: has been injured, but they're not playing great football by
• 21:15
  Speaker 1: any stretch. The Cowboys defense is horrendous, as we know,
• 21:18
  Speaker 1: you know, you even mentioned it. It's like nothing to
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: put up, you know, twenty six thirty points against the
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: Cowboys defense at this point. And yes, while the Eagles
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: have certainly struggled to pull out wins at times over
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: the first six seven weeks, offensive line struggles, a ton
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: of injuries up front, some shuffling around, the depth not
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: really being there. This past week was really the first
• 21:39
  Speaker 1: time we saw offensive cohesiveness coming together. Really, how are
• 21:46
  Speaker 1: you viewing this Philadelphia Eagles team as a potential top
• 21:50
  Speaker 1: contender in the NFC moving forward here?
• 21:54
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I think there's a good chance that this is
• 21:56
  Speaker 2: another one of those teams that sort of looks okay
• 22:00
  Speaker 2: for the first half of the season and then starts
• 22:02
  Speaker 2: to starts to put it all together for.
• 22:05
  Speaker 3: A run in the second half.
• 22:07
  Speaker 2: And and you meant, I mean you mentioned it this
• 22:09
  Speaker 2: this last week with the offense looking much better, the
• 22:11
  Speaker 2: running game finally figuring itself out after was it five
• 22:14
  Speaker 2: weeks in a row of less than one hundred yards
• 22:16
  Speaker 2: on the ground. Yeah, And and obviously you know Saquon
• 22:21
  Speaker 2: Barkley's injury. I'm assuming as a Packers fan, who's you
• 22:25
  Speaker 2: know whose team is going to play the Eagles coming
• 22:27
  Speaker 2: off of bye, I'm sure he'll be full go a
• 22:29
  Speaker 2: week from from Monday when those two teams play each other.
• 22:33
  Speaker 2: So so he'll be he'll be back, and I'm sure
• 22:36
  Speaker 2: he'll be fine, and we'll put our run defense to
• 22:38
  Speaker 2: the test. But yeah, based on where everything is at
• 22:41
  Speaker 2: in that NFC East, I think it's it's going to
• 22:43
  Speaker 2: be a comfortable division win for for Philly. And then,
• 22:47
  Speaker 2: like you said, it's sort of it's it's putting all
• 22:50
  Speaker 2: those pieces together and and getting that getting the offensive
• 22:54
  Speaker 2: line moving and and and moving moving the line of scrimmage, right,
• 22:59
  Speaker 2: that's what they've been so good at for years. I
• 23:02
  Speaker 2: think I think that's that that game on Sunday was
• 23:05
  Speaker 2: a good sign that they're headed in the right direction.
• 23:07
  Speaker 2: So it's an interesting schedule too. Right right after the Packers,
• 23:10
  Speaker 2: they played the Lions at home, which will be a
• 23:12
  Speaker 2: tough one. They've got the Bills late in the season,
• 23:14
  Speaker 2: so I mean there's certainly going to be some good
• 23:16
  Speaker 2: tests for them. So there's no question that, you know,
• 23:19
  Speaker 2: once they get to January, I think they will have
• 23:21
  Speaker 2: been battle tested. Yeah, but again I mean that that
• 23:26
  Speaker 2: two week stretch against Green Bay in Detroit, I mean
• 23:28
  Speaker 2: it is going to be big for their chances. I
• 23:30
  Speaker 2: think of potentially competing for a top seed in the
• 23:33
  Speaker 2: NFC absolutely and trying to avoid playing on wildcard weekends.
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I actually have.
• 23:38
  Speaker 3: I'm going to be watching both of those games closely.
• 23:40
  Speaker 1: Absolutely. Look. I my season prediction for the NFC Championship game,
• 23:46
  Speaker 1: and it really wasn't from a Homer type of standpoint.
• 23:51
  Speaker 1: I mean, they are the defending Super Bowl champions. You know,
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: we didn't expect that it was going to be like
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: this with the offensive line, again, given how dominant they've
• 23:59
  Speaker 1: been over the years and generally having the majority of
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: those guys there. I have the Packers and Eagles in
• 24:05
  Speaker 1: the NFC Championship Game, you know, I really do, because
• 24:09
  Speaker 1: these are two teams I think that have amazing quarterbacks
• 24:12
  Speaker 1: who are doing really good things. Jalen Hurts isn't necessarily
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: putting up the air yards, but his leadership and the
• 24:17
  Speaker 1: poise that he has. We're seeing it with Jordan Love
• 24:19
  Speaker 1: as well. You talked about how Matt Lafleur was basically like, Okay,
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: we got to unleash him at this point. The rushing
• 24:25
  Speaker 1: game is not working this past week. We got to
• 24:27
  Speaker 1: put it in Jordan Love's hands and let him, you know,
• 24:30
  Speaker 1: give this team an offense the confidence that it needs.
• 24:33
  Speaker 1: Eagles needed to do that with Jalen Hurts every now
• 24:35
  Speaker 1: and again as well. And I think that would be
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: an incredible NFC Championship matchup.
• 24:41
  Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely, and again, I mean they're there. That's two
• 24:44
  Speaker 2: of those four teams that I said at the beginning, right,
• 24:47
  Speaker 2: I think are are among the the best teams in
• 24:51
  Speaker 2: the NFC, and it'd be a it'd be a fun matchup.
• 24:55
  Speaker 2: And if it ends up being a preview of the
• 24:57
  Speaker 2: NFC Championship game on Monday Night in a couple of weeks.
• 24:59
  Speaker 1: Yeah, with that absolutely again, folks. He is tech Western
• 25:04
  Speaker 1: Acmepackingcompany dot com and he's over on Blue Sky. Search
• 25:08
  Speaker 1: him out over there. He's a great, great follow knows
• 25:11
  Speaker 1: the stuff for sure. My friend. It was great talking
• 25:13
  Speaker 1: to you, and look, I may have to have you
• 25:15
  Speaker 1: on next week so we could do the preview show again.
• 25:19
  Speaker 1: If I know, I'm putting you on the spot here
• 25:20
  Speaker 1: as our recording here, but.
• 25:22
  Speaker 2: Geez, if you insist, we'll make it happen.
• 25:25
  Speaker 1: All right, It sounds good. Thank you, my friend, appreciate
• 25:28
  Speaker 1: you coming on, and we will definitely talk soon.
• 25:31
  Speaker 3: Let's do it, go back O.
• 25:33
  Speaker 1: That's gonna do it for us here on Opposition Territory
• 25:36
  Speaker 1: this week. Please share our podcast with your friends and
• 25:39
  Speaker 1: family members who are Philly sports fans or sports fans
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: in general. We thank you our listeners for being part
• 25:45
  Speaker 1: of this online community with us and within this space.
• 25:49
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• 25:52
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• 25:55
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• 25:58
  Speaker 1: at Philadelphia pst, on threads at Philadelphia Sports Table, and
• 26:02
  Speaker 1: over on Instagram as well at Philadelphia Sports Table. Take care,
• 26:07
  Speaker 1: We'll catch you next time.