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The DiCecco Daily: Looking At The New-Look NFC East · Inside the Birds: A Philadelphia Eagles Podcast

• 0:09
  Speaker 1: What's going on everyone.
• 0:10
  Speaker 2: Andrew de Checko here with the latest edition of De
• 0:13
  Speaker 2: Checho Deli, and I hope everybody gets a chance to
• 0:18
  Speaker 2: check out the interview that I did with former Eagles
• 0:20
  Speaker 2: tight end Jeff Thomason. Jeff spent three years playing for
• 0:24
  Speaker 2: the Eagles, two thousand through the two thousand and two season, retires,
• 0:28
  Speaker 2: then gets a call ahead of Super Bowl thirty nine.
• 0:32
  Speaker 2: He was on a construction site and replaces an injured
• 0:35
  Speaker 2: Chad Lewis. So we talk about his story there, and
• 0:38
  Speaker 2: then we also get into a couple of key games
• 0:41
  Speaker 2: that Jeff played in during his time with the Eagles,
• 0:45
  Speaker 2: and we also talk about him winning a Super Bowl
• 0:48
  Speaker 2: with the Green Bay Packers because he was actually on
• 0:51
  Speaker 2: the field when Desmond Howard took a kickoff ninety nine
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: yards one MVP for that game.
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: So I asked Jeff about that as well. So make
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: sure you give that a listen.
• 1:01
  Speaker 2: I think you'll really enjoy the Blast from the Past interview.
• 1:05
  Speaker 2: It adds a little bit of context and some perspective there,
• 1:08
  Speaker 2: and you can grab that on YouTube or any major
• 1:11
  Speaker 2: podcasting platform. But I want to talk today about the
• 1:15
  Speaker 2: coaching staffs as they've been assembled.
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: In the NFC East.
• 1:19
  Speaker 2: And I'm not talking about the Eagles here because I
• 1:21
  Speaker 2: talk about them all the time, and I have mentioned
• 1:26
  Speaker 2: the different coaches that have come in and what they
• 1:29
  Speaker 2: could provide and just some background. But I want to
• 1:31
  Speaker 2: focus more on the New York Giants, Dallas Cowboys, and
• 1:34
  Speaker 2: Washington Commanders today because they've assembled staffs to me that
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: conjure intrigue for different reasons. And I'll get into why.
• 1:45
  Speaker 2: And I'm not saying this to suggest that the Eagles
• 1:48
  Speaker 2: still aren't the head of the class in the NFC East,
• 1:50
  Speaker 2: because they absolutely are. But I think now you might
• 1:54
  Speaker 2: start to see a little bit more balance in the
• 1:56
  Speaker 2: NFC East in terms of competitiveness and things like that,
• 2:00
  Speaker 2: because I do believe that the coaches that are in place,
• 2:03
  Speaker 2: if they coach the standard and if they're able to
• 2:06
  Speaker 2: kind of mold things through their vision and get things
• 2:09
  Speaker 2: headed in the right direction, I do believe that you
• 2:12
  Speaker 2: could see those respective teams sort of shift a little
• 2:16
  Speaker 2: bit and elevate from the proverbial basement. But let's get
• 2:20
  Speaker 2: into it, because I want to start by talking about
• 2:23
  Speaker 2: the Dallas Cowboys, and I'm not going to get into
• 2:25
  Speaker 2: the entire coaching staff, but really as it pertains to
• 2:29
  Speaker 2: the defensive side, because offensively they are among the NFL's best.
• 2:35
  Speaker 2: They can score points with anyone. Dak Prescott's a very
• 2:38
  Speaker 2: good quarterback. They have a dynamic passing game, and their
• 2:42
  Speaker 2: running game is good enough to compliment what they have,
• 2:44
  Speaker 2: and they're going to continue to build on that strong
• 2:47
  Speaker 2: offensive line as well. But defensively that's been sort of
• 2:51
  Speaker 2: their achilles heel, and I think they're really starting to
• 2:53
  Speaker 2: turn a corner by hiring Christian Parker, former Eagles defensive
• 2:57
  Speaker 2: back coach. Young coach, highly respected around the league. The
• 3:01
  Speaker 2: Eagles respected him immensely in the building. He's sort of
• 3:05
  Speaker 2: a pupil of sorts of Vic Vangio. He's well versed
• 3:08
  Speaker 2: in that style. But you're talking about a sharp defensive
• 3:12
  Speaker 2: mind that I believe is going to really implement communication
• 3:19
  Speaker 2: structure and allow players to play fast, but also communicate
• 3:24
  Speaker 2: and simplify things so that everyone can can sort of
• 3:27
  Speaker 2: grasp it. That's sort of what I've really been able
• 3:30
  Speaker 2: to gather from covering Christian for a couple of years.
• 3:33
  Speaker 2: But he adds Marcus Dixon to the defensive line. Marcus
• 3:36
  Speaker 2: Dixon actually was an undrafted free agent signing of the
• 3:40
  Speaker 2: Cowboys to start his career and became a coach.
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: He actually crossed paths with Christian.
• 3:46
  Speaker 2: Parker when he was with the Denver Broncos in the
• 3:50
  Speaker 2: same capacity. Then he goes to the Minnesota Vikings, was
• 3:53
  Speaker 2: their defensive line coach, and I view him as sort
• 3:56
  Speaker 2: of one of the young risers. He's just forty one
• 3:59
  Speaker 2: years old, and so that's a good addition in my estimation.
• 4:04
  Speaker 2: They added Derek Ansley to be their defensive pass game
• 4:08
  Speaker 2: coordinator and defensive backs coach. So that's going to obviously
• 4:12
  Speaker 2: be a big hire for Christian Parker. He knows what
• 4:14
  Speaker 2: he's looking for. He's held that role for a number
• 4:17
  Speaker 2: of years. And when I was looking at the coaching
• 4:20
  Speaker 2: staff as he was putting it together, I was curious
• 4:22
  Speaker 2: to see who he was going to name the defensive
• 4:25
  Speaker 2: backs coach there. And so Derek Ansley has an interesting background.
• 4:29
  Speaker 2: He was the defensive or he was a defensive coordinator,
• 4:36
  Speaker 2: I should say, for the Chargers in twenty twenty three.
• 4:39
  Speaker 2: Was the pass game coordinator for the Green Bay Packers
• 4:45
  Speaker 2: last season. He's been around for a while and he's
• 4:49
  Speaker 2: coached a lot of high end players he's still young too.
• 4:55
  Speaker 2: I believe he's about forty four to forty five years old.
• 4:58
  Speaker 2: But he's going to be somebody that will more or
• 5:00
  Speaker 2: less be a right hand man for Christian Parker, and
• 5:05
  Speaker 2: I think that their chemistry and dynamic has going to
• 5:07
  Speaker 2: be really interesting to see as they look to remake
• 5:11
  Speaker 2: this Dallas defense. They also added Scott Simons, who is
• 5:16
  Speaker 2: an interesting one because he was the defensive coordinator for
• 5:21
  Speaker 2: Liberty and then he became the defensive coordinator for SMU
• 5:26
  Speaker 2: and they had some success there. He will be the
• 5:28
  Speaker 2: inside linebackers coach bring him out of the college ranks.
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: I think that he is someone that it.
• 5:34
  Speaker 2: Was highly thought of at the college level, but now
• 5:37
  Speaker 2: he's going to be graduating to a bigger stage. But
• 5:41
  Speaker 2: the fact that Christian is assembling his staff in this
• 5:44
  Speaker 2: way it has me curious because he's identifying certain coaches
• 5:50
  Speaker 2: that are going to be able to implement and I
• 5:53
  Speaker 2: guess execute the defense and the techniques that he really
• 5:59
  Speaker 2: wants to implement. And so that's an interesting one there
• 6:02
  Speaker 2: as well. So that's the basically just a couple of
• 6:07
  Speaker 2: coaches that I really like that are on Christian Parker's
• 6:10
  Speaker 2: defensive staff. That I think should command a little bit
• 6:15
  Speaker 2: of attention. Let's go to the Giants, because the Giants
• 6:19
  Speaker 2: they added John harp excuse me, John Harball as a
• 6:23
  Speaker 2: head coach. That right there, it's going to provide structure.
• 6:27
  Speaker 2: It's a coach that's been around for a while. He
• 6:29
  Speaker 2: can command a room. He's a no nonsense type of guy.
• 6:33
  Speaker 2: When he was with the Baltimore Ravens, there was a
• 6:36
  Speaker 2: buy in, a collective buy in. He has a tendency
• 6:39
  Speaker 2: to galvanize a team, and those are you're talking about
• 6:44
  Speaker 2: a coaching career that extends over a decade as a
• 6:49
  Speaker 2: head coach. And then obviously he had history there in
• 6:52
  Speaker 2: Philadelphia as well, so he's been around for a while.
• 6:56
  Speaker 2: That gives it really gives the Giants a certain ceiling there.
• 7:02
  Speaker 2: Matt Naggy as the offensive coordinator is a higher that
• 7:08
  Speaker 2: if you're an Eagles fan, you should be a little
• 7:10
  Speaker 2: concerned because you're getting someone who's versed with working with quarterbacks.
• 7:15
  Speaker 2: Jackson Dart entering his second season. I think this is
• 7:18
  Speaker 2: going to be a potentially big year for him if
• 7:20
  Speaker 2: he can stay healthy. And Matt Naggy, he worked with
• 7:24
  Speaker 2: Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs, and you can
• 7:27
  Speaker 2: call it what you will. He's going to provide an
• 7:30
  Speaker 2: experienced coach who's worked with the game's best quarterback. He
• 7:35
  Speaker 2: was a head coach, so you like the I could
• 7:37
  Speaker 2: talk about structure. This is an experienced staff. There's a
• 7:40
  Speaker 2: bunch of quote unquote grown ups in the room there.
• 7:43
  Speaker 2: And it's not a Giants team that I thought really
• 7:46
  Speaker 2: was plagued by, you know, inefficiencies, lack of discipline. I
• 7:54
  Speaker 2: talked about Dallas being sort of victimized by that, and
• 7:58
  Speaker 2: the Giants this, this just gives them solid pillars to
• 8:02
  Speaker 2: work with their Dinard Wilson, former Eagles defensive backs coach
• 8:07
  Speaker 2: from a few seasons ago, then he went to Tennessee
• 8:12
  Speaker 2: and now he's here with the New York Giants to
• 8:15
  Speaker 2: be their defensive coordinator. That's something that is going to
• 8:20
  Speaker 2: You're getting some experience there, someone who I'm expecting to
• 8:23
  Speaker 2: add a lot of continuity and technically sound play, fundamentally
• 8:32
  Speaker 2: sound play from the secondary and really as a collective
• 8:35
  Speaker 2: from that defense. That's where you could see some sore spots.
• 8:39
  Speaker 2: Even though they had some talented players, they never quite
• 8:42
  Speaker 2: performed to the level that you would expect given the talent,
• 8:46
  Speaker 2: and I think Denard Wilson is someone who has proven
• 8:49
  Speaker 2: even during his time here in Philadelphia that he can
• 8:52
  Speaker 2: maximize that talent. Chad Hall Wide receivers coach Chad Hall
• 9:01
  Speaker 2: former Eagles wide receiver. He was the receivers coach for
• 9:05
  Speaker 2: the Bills, for the Jacksonville Jaguars. He's been around the
• 9:08
  Speaker 2: league and he's viewed as perhaps the best wide receivers
• 9:12
  Speaker 2: coach in the NFL. He's going to get to coach
• 9:15
  Speaker 2: Malik Neighbors, Wandel Robinson and some of those players. Maybe
• 9:18
  Speaker 2: they'll draft the receiver, but I really have a lot
• 9:21
  Speaker 2: of confidence in Chad Hall that he's going to be
• 9:24
  Speaker 2: able to develop and elevate the performance of those wide receivers.
• 9:28
  Speaker 2: I think Malik Neighbors is the key here, obviously being
• 9:32
  Speaker 2: their top guy. I think Chad Hall, wherever he's been,
• 9:36
  Speaker 2: he's gotten the most out of his players. So that's
• 9:38
  Speaker 2: something there that should again cause a little bit of concern.
• 9:43
  Speaker 2: When you're talking about adding Matt Naggey as your offensive coordator,
• 9:46
  Speaker 2: Chad Hall one of the best in the game of
• 9:48
  Speaker 2: what he does, you would think that the passing game
• 9:51
  Speaker 2: is going to progress a little bit forward.
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: Not to mention Brian Callahan. That's right.
• 9:58
  Speaker 2: Most recently Titans had coach. He was the Cincinnati Bengals
• 10:02
  Speaker 2: offensive court endor prior to that. He's going to be
• 10:04
  Speaker 2: overseeing the development of Jackson Dart. There's a lot of
• 10:08
  Speaker 2: reason to suggest that the Giants offense is going to
• 10:13
  Speaker 2: give you a little bit better of a ceiling, at
• 10:15
  Speaker 2: least than it has in the past, given the coaches
• 10:18
  Speaker 2: that they have Greg Roman. Greg Roman been coaching forever.
• 10:23
  Speaker 2: He's fifty three years old. He's worked with a number
• 10:26
  Speaker 2: of different quarterbacks, a number of different systems. He was
• 10:28
  Speaker 2: brought on as a senior offensive assistant. So those are
• 10:34
  Speaker 2: just some of the key names there on the Giant
• 10:39
  Speaker 2: staff that I think are really strong additions to John
• 10:43
  Speaker 2: Harball's initial coaching staff. Then you get to the Washington
• 10:46
  Speaker 2: Commanders lastly, and we'll start with David Blau. He was
• 10:51
  Speaker 2: a quarterback at Purdue. I covered him at the East
• 10:54
  Speaker 2: West Shrineball great guy. He was just an assistant quarterbacks
• 10:58
  Speaker 2: coach last season. Now he was elevated quickly. He was
• 11:02
  Speaker 2: fast tracked into the seat of offensive coordinator, and that's
• 11:05
  Speaker 2: going to be a huge jump. Needless to say, he'll
• 11:09
  Speaker 2: be working with Jayden Daniels, so we'll see all the
• 11:12
  Speaker 2: different pieces that he's working with and how that actually
• 11:16
  Speaker 2: is going to work.
• 11:16
  Speaker 1: But that's sort of in the mold of what the
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: Eagles have.
• 11:19
  Speaker 2: Done with Sean Mannion, although Mannion at least commanded a room.
• 11:23
  Speaker 2: He was the quarterbacks coach last season for the Packers,
• 11:26
  Speaker 2: So David Blau interesting. Dronte Jones is one of my
• 11:32
  Speaker 2: favorite hires of the offseason, along with Christian Parker. Look,
• 11:37
  Speaker 2: I think Dronte Jones and I was at the Rutgers
• 11:39
  Speaker 2: Pro Day and Derontey Jones and Christian Parker were both
• 11:44
  Speaker 2: putting the defensive back drill, putting the defensive backs through
• 11:47
  Speaker 2: the drills. They led the drill. They were had eyes
• 11:50
  Speaker 2: on Max Mountain, clearly. But I think I've seen Derontey
• 11:54
  Speaker 2: Jones at different pro days and wherever he's another coach,
• 12:00
  Speaker 2: wherever he's gone. He was LSU's defensive coordinator in twenty twenty,
• 12:05
  Speaker 2: or I'm sorry, he was the He was a defensive
• 12:08
  Speaker 2: backs coach in twenty twenty. Then in twenty twenty one,
• 12:11
  Speaker 2: he goes to l EW and becomes their defensive coordinator.
• 12:15
  Speaker 2: In twenty twenty two, he goes to the Vikings. He's
• 12:17
  Speaker 2: their defensive backs coach, and then for the remainder of
• 12:20
  Speaker 2: the time in the years thereafter, he was their defensive
• 12:23
  Speaker 2: backs coach and defensive and passing game coordinator. So at
• 12:28
  Speaker 2: forty seven years old, this is a bright defensive mind.
• 12:31
  Speaker 2: I've heard a lot of really good things about him,
• 12:34
  Speaker 2: and I believe that you're going to see that Commander's
• 12:37
  Speaker 2: defense start to add some pieces and really build into
• 12:41
  Speaker 2: something under him. They're certainly going to be much more
• 12:45
  Speaker 2: technically sound, and I believe more disciplined.
• 12:48
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  Speaker 2: Anthony Lynn at running backs coach one of the best
• 16:11
  Speaker 2: in the league. I put him up there with Jamal
• 16:12
  Speaker 2: Singleton of the Eagles. He was someone who was in
• 16:16
  Speaker 2: the mix. He had an interview for a head coaching job,
• 16:19
  Speaker 2: may have been I don't remember what team it was,
• 16:21
  Speaker 2: but he was eligible for one. Brian Johnson is still
• 16:26
  Speaker 2: on staff with the Commanders. He had I believe a
• 16:31
  Speaker 2: offensive coordinator interview with the Denver Broncos this offseason. If
• 16:34
  Speaker 2: I'm not mistaken, he's He's still there as an assistant
• 16:39
  Speaker 2: head coach offensive pass game coordinator. Bobby Ingram is, who
• 16:45
  Speaker 2: was a longtime receiver for the Seattle Seahawks, as the
• 16:48
  Speaker 2: wide receivers coach. There so as you can see as
• 16:51
  Speaker 2: I kind of rattled off some key names for each team,
• 16:54
  Speaker 2: and you can look at every team across the NFL
• 16:58
  Speaker 2: and Cherry picked some names. I get that, and it
• 17:00
  Speaker 2: really means nothing until they go out there and produce.
• 17:03
  Speaker 2: But looking through the lens of the NFC specifically, because
• 17:07
  Speaker 2: that's what's mostly going to affect the Eagles, the teams
• 17:11
  Speaker 2: around the Eagles have started to shift a little bit
• 17:16
  Speaker 2: and they've added some really interesting names that I believe
• 17:19
  Speaker 2: are going to head their respective rooms in the right direction.
• 17:22
  Speaker 2: So just maybe the Eagles won't continuously run away with
• 17:25
  Speaker 2: the NFC Hoaston, you might start to see some more
• 17:28
  Speaker 2: competent football when you see those divisional clashes. That's going
• 17:34
  Speaker 2: to do it for this edition of the Czech o'dei,
• 17:36
  Speaker 2: I'm Andrew to checko and I'll catch you all on
• 17:38
  Speaker 2: the next one.