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Football at Four: DiCecco's Thursday Eagles Notebook · Inside the Birds: A Philadelphia Eagles Podcast

0:00
Speaker 1: I think you should be a little bit worried because
0:03
Speaker 1: I still look at the team and I say they're
0:04
Speaker 1: talented enough to be better than this. Jalen Hurts is
0:08
Speaker 1: going to win a lot of games for this football team.
0:10
Speaker 1: He is going to make some plays. They've got some
0:12
Speaker 1: great playmakers, Devontae Smith, Dallas Goddard when he comes back,
0:15
Speaker 1: Saquon Barkley, the guys that they've got on defense. They
0:18
Speaker 1: have a talented team, so they're going to be in
0:20
Speaker 1: the mix. But the biggest thing is when you have
0:23
Speaker 1: a team that's talented, you want to believe that you're
0:26
Speaker 1: going to compete for a championship. And that to me
0:29
Speaker 1: is the worry in Philly is just that why can't
0:32
Speaker 1: we put this together?
0:34
Speaker 2: Kurt Warner, here it is, football at four here on 97.3 ESPN.
0:38
Speaker 2: That's what Kurt Warner said. Should Eagle fans be worried?
0:41
Speaker 2: In other words, he says they have the talent. They
0:45
Speaker 2: have good talent. But do they have good enough talent
0:49
Speaker 2: to think about a Super Bowl? And that is something
0:52
Speaker 2: Kurt Warner said this morning yesterday. here on Football at Four.
0:55
Speaker 2: We'll examine that through three games. Andrew DiCecco is here,
0:58
Speaker 2: and Football at Four, powered by the Inside the Birds podcast,
1:01
Speaker 2: which you can get on all podcasting platforms, and it
1:05
Speaker 2: is brought to you by the Fanatic Sportsbook at Ocean
1:07
Speaker 2: Casino Resort in Atlantic City. All right, Andrew, we had
1:11
Speaker 2: Kurt Warner play that bite there, and he said, look,
1:13
Speaker 2: the Eagles have talent. There's no disputing that. He wonders,
1:17
Speaker 2: after three games... They just have a talent. They just
1:21
Speaker 2: don't have enough talent. You watch this team a lot.
1:23
Speaker 2: You see them training camp three games now. Are you
1:27
Speaker 2: seeing a team that has talent but just, you know,
1:29
Speaker 2: good team, mediocre team, but not a Super Bowl-level team?
1:33
Speaker 2: Where are you after game three, a beating by the
1:37
Speaker 2: Chicago Bears?
1:39
Speaker 3: Yeah, they're a good team. I don't ever make any
1:43
Speaker 3: grandiose statements after three weeks. I've seen enough of them
1:46
Speaker 3: to know that they are a good team. I don't
1:48
Speaker 3: know if they're a Super Bowl team. I never depicted
1:51
Speaker 3: them as such, but they're a team that has some
1:53
Speaker 3: room and areas for improvement on both sides of the ball,
1:57
Speaker 3: and they're kind of finding their footing when it comes
1:59
Speaker 3: to the offense. I have questions as to whether or
2:02
Speaker 3: not the personnel is, if the Eagles are equipped to
2:06
Speaker 3: run what they want under Sean Manning with the personnel
2:08
Speaker 3: that they have. I mean, historically, Vic Fangio's defenses get
2:13
Speaker 3: off to a slower start, and they kind of find
2:15
Speaker 3: their way about the midway mark. So I'm banking on
2:19
Speaker 3: talent there. But we'll have to wait and see what happens.
2:23
Speaker 3: But there's obviously a lot of reasons that you're hearing
2:28
Speaker 3: a lot of questions about this team. But after three weeks,
2:32
Speaker 3: I'm not willing to go there. I think they're still
2:35
Speaker 3: a good football team.
2:36
Speaker 2: Yeah, and I know we look at three weeks, but
2:38
Speaker 2: the game on Monday night obviously puts out a lot
2:41
Speaker 2: of warts. What is something, you know, that you're surprised
2:44
Speaker 2: that they're struggling with through these first three weeks?
2:48
Speaker 3: Well, tackling. That's a fundamental hallmark of Vic Fangio's defense
2:54
Speaker 3: is you don't often see that. I think the lack
2:56
Speaker 3: of pass rush is something that I keep going back
2:59
Speaker 3: to having watched Jaloc's hunt in training camp, and The
3:04
Speaker 3: emergence that we all saw, that was real. That happened.
3:06
Speaker 3: But you're not seeing that carry over into regular season
3:10
Speaker 3: production at this time. Nolan Smith had a good training camp.
3:13
Speaker 3: You haven't seen much of him in the regular season
3:15
Speaker 3: so far. I think the return of Jonathan Grenard is
3:19
Speaker 3: going to help things, because you saw in just 18
3:22
Speaker 3: snaps his ability to provide pressure, and it should unlock
3:27
Speaker 3: J-Look's hunt in Nolan Smith. But I think right now
3:30
Speaker 3: what you're seeing is a pass rush, and I'm including
3:32
Speaker 3: the interior in this. I don't think the interior has
3:35
Speaker 3: been nearly good enough, certainly relative to what their resume suggests,
3:40
Speaker 3: and then that's also affecting the back end. So you're
3:43
Speaker 3: seeing a lot of miscommunication and some vulnerability there from
3:47
Speaker 3: the safety position. So those are the pass rush and
3:51
Speaker 3: the tackling deficiencies are probably two areas that I would
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Speaker 3: point to right now.
3:54
Speaker 2: You know, one area that a lot of people keep
3:56
Speaker 2: looking at is the run game, Andrew, a I don't know,
4:00
Speaker 2: do you look at this deficiency at left guard as
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Speaker 2: a perpetual problem that probably can't be fixed in-house, and
4:06
Speaker 2: with that, can the running game get going?
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Speaker 3: I think it can become adequate, and I'm talking about
4:16
Speaker 3: Cam Juergens at left guard. The more reps that you
4:18
Speaker 3: get with that configuration, and he just played his second
4:24
Speaker 3: game at left guard, and I think a lot of
4:27
Speaker 3: the criticism is sometimes a little too harsh without context.
4:32
Speaker 3: I think it's kind of meaningless. He just played his
4:34
Speaker 3: second game at left guard. Obviously, it wasn't perfect. He
4:38
Speaker 3: struggled in pass protection, but I thought he did some
4:41
Speaker 3: good things moving defenders off the ball in the running game,
4:45
Speaker 3: in the beginning of that game, especially when Saquon Barkley
4:48
Speaker 3: had those successful runs. They were to the left, so
4:51
Speaker 3: Jordan Mailata, and Cam Juergens. And I would also say
4:54
Speaker 3: that I believe that Cam Juergens is still their best
4:56
Speaker 3: option of any of the potential names you want to
4:59
Speaker 3: throw out on the roster who could be potentially a
5:04
Speaker 3: candidate for that. But I believe that they're going to
5:07
Speaker 3: improve the more that they work together. Drew Kendall, you
5:10
Speaker 3: saw how much he just improved from week one to
5:13
Speaker 3: week two, or week two to week three in this case.
5:16
Speaker 3: As a starter, he's going to continue to ascend the
5:19
Speaker 3: more reps that he gets. And I think it's simply
5:22
Speaker 3: boils down to more time on task. Do I expect
5:24
Speaker 3: them to be world beaters on the offensive line? Probably not.
5:28
Speaker 3: That wouldn't be realistic. But I think they can be
5:31
Speaker 3: adequate and enough so where you can see the running
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Speaker 3: game going. Let's not forget, Mike, earlier in that game,
5:35
Speaker 3: I go back to it, you saw Saquon Barkley have success.
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Speaker 3: So it can happen. They just need to do a
5:40
Speaker 3: better job of adjusting because I thought Chicago did a
5:43
Speaker 3: nice job in the second half of countering what the
5:46
Speaker 3: Eagles were doing to be successful.
5:48
Speaker 2: Andrew, to check a football at four, you know, yesterday
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Speaker 2: I was talking to, actually it was, yeah, yesterday, Wednesday,
5:54
Speaker 2: talking to Mosher. Now, he didn't say they should make
5:57
Speaker 2: this move, but I asked for an in-house name. I
6:00
Speaker 2: know you're a guy who studies the draft really well.
6:02
Speaker 2: He mentioned Michael Morris not as a guy they should
6:05
Speaker 2: go to, but as maybe an option that down the
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Speaker 2: road they can groom into that role just because of
6:12
Speaker 2: his size, 6'5, 335 pounds. You know, he was a
6:15
Speaker 2: fifth-round pick. You know these guys, these younger guys better
6:19
Speaker 2: than anybody. Would he be a guy that you think
6:21
Speaker 2: could be a potential in-house option at some point if Juergens,
6:26
Speaker 2: you know, continues to struggle?
6:29
Speaker 1: Perhaps.
6:30
Speaker 3: I mean, I've gotten to know Micah fairly well. He's
6:33
Speaker 3: my rookie diary subject this season, so we talk every week.
6:37
Speaker 3: And you're just first taken aback by just the enormity
6:41
Speaker 3: of him. He is a a row greater in the
6:43
Speaker 3: truest sense, kind of a body type, like a Max
6:46
Speaker 3: Jean Gillis, but someone that has much more athleticism and
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Speaker 3: considerably more upside. He didn't play a lot at Georgia.
6:53
Speaker 3: He had to wait his turn. He's still a young
6:55
Speaker 3: player at 23, a lot of growth opportunities there, but
6:58
Speaker 3: the reason he's on the roster one, he's a draft pick,
7:01
Speaker 3: but he's also a developmental guy. So one of the
7:03
Speaker 3: few developmental, the true developmental players that the Eagles have
7:07
Speaker 3: kept on the back end of the roster. And I,
7:09
Speaker 3: I think he's still a ways away. He played his
7:11
Speaker 3: first snap. It was just one snap and it was
7:13
Speaker 3: on special teams on Monday night. And potentially, I mean,
7:18
Speaker 3: a lot would have to happen for that to happen,
7:21
Speaker 3: if that makes sense, because there's other players there like
7:24
Speaker 3: in the interim, like a Willie Lampkin or even, I
7:26
Speaker 3: don't know, Fred Johnson, who has guard versatility, who would
7:30
Speaker 3: probably be considered before Micah at this stage of the game.
7:34
Speaker 3: But To be clear, it doesn't appear the Eagles are,
7:38
Speaker 3: you know, inclined to make any changes at this time
7:41
Speaker 3: at left guard.
7:42
Speaker 2: I know we're kind of looking at that spot. You
7:44
Speaker 2: had Aaron Donald this week, so it doesn't get any
7:46
Speaker 2: easier here. When you look at that matchup, the Eagles'
7:49
Speaker 2: offensive line against the L.A. Rams this week, you know,
7:53
Speaker 2: many people thought, yeah, they should be able to move
7:55
Speaker 2: the ball. And they did in the first half against
7:57
Speaker 2: the Bears on the ground. You know, Saquon Barkley had
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Speaker 2: 73 yards.
8:01
Speaker 3: And then what happened? Cam Juergens was blocking at left
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Speaker 3: guard as well.
8:05
Speaker 2: Yeah, no, and listen.
8:06
Speaker 3: That happens.
8:07
Speaker 2: You're productive. You know, the guy's not getting whipped on
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Speaker 2: every single play. Let's certainly get that message out there.
8:14
Speaker 2: I don't think it's a secret, though, that he has,
8:16
Speaker 2: you know, he's getting pushed back. More in the pass game, too.
8:18
Speaker 2: I mean, he's getting pushed back into the lap of Hurts.
8:21
Speaker 2: How much, you know. But let's look at the run
8:24
Speaker 2: game this week against the Rams first and see, is
8:26
Speaker 2: this a week where they could get some yardage on
8:29
Speaker 2: the ground? Because in years past, you know, Barkley has
8:32
Speaker 2: torched this Rams team to the tune of 200 yards
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Speaker 2: in multiple games against them because they've always had a
8:38
Speaker 2: smallish kind of front. Not the case right now. Right.
8:42
Speaker 3: I think that the Rams may try to approach this
8:45
Speaker 3: a little differently, knowing that the passing game isn't right
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Speaker 3: where it needs to be for Philadelphia. They're struggling, as
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Speaker 3: we talked about, in pass protection. specifically from the interior.
8:55
Speaker 3: I think Tyler Steen, and I would also add in
8:58
Speaker 3: Cam Juergens, have struggled there. And they have some upfield penetrators,
9:03
Speaker 3: namely Aaron Donald, that I think could kind of thwart
9:06
Speaker 3: what they want to do in terms of running the football.
9:09
Speaker 3: But they're certainly going to try to do that, and
9:11
Speaker 3: I imagine that they're going to go into every game plan,
9:13
Speaker 3: or every week, rather, with the game plan centering around
9:17
Speaker 3: the rushing attack. So I know that he's had a
9:19
Speaker 3: lot of success doing that. Every year is different, and
9:22
Speaker 3: Sean McVay and their coordinators there, they're going to probably
9:27
Speaker 3: do whatever they can to combat what they are going
9:30
Speaker 3: into this game, believing what the Eagles are going to do.
9:33
Speaker 3: So I think it could be a little tougher sledding
9:37
Speaker 3: than what we've grown accustomed to seeing, Eagles-Rams.
9:40
Speaker 2: You know, one thing, and you wrote about this over
9:42
Speaker 2: at InsideTheBirds.com, their defense, let's look over there and whether
9:46
Speaker 2: or not they can bounce back. Where are they struggling
9:49
Speaker 2: in your mind? You mentioned, obviously, Jalex Hunt and Nolan Smith,
9:54
Speaker 2: those guys, I thought that Gernard gave them a little
9:57
Speaker 2: boost in terms of what he did on Monday night. Obviously,
10:00
Speaker 2: didn't get a full brigade of snaps there, but where
10:03
Speaker 2: also are they kind of struggling on that defensive side
10:06
Speaker 2: of the ball? You mentioned tackling, but is there something,
10:09
Speaker 2: a player or something that's kind of standing out as, man,
10:11
Speaker 2: I really thought they were going to be better in
10:13
Speaker 2: this area?
10:14
Speaker 3: The interior pressure needs to be better, especially when you're
10:18
Speaker 3: going up against someone like a Case Keenum. Nothing kind
10:21
Speaker 3: of throws off the timing of an offense, especially for
10:26
Speaker 3: an immobile quarterback, than pressure up the middle. And for
10:30
Speaker 3: what the rest of the team suggests, I was underwhelmed
10:33
Speaker 3: with the performances of Jalen Carter, Jordan Davis, and Mauro Jomo. Jomo,
10:37
Speaker 3: by the way, has been the Eagles' best-performing defensive tackle
10:41
Speaker 3: through the first three contexts required there, of course, because
10:44
Speaker 3: Jalen Carter has the wrist injury. But the linebackers, I thought,
10:49
Speaker 3: were a little susceptible to the middle-of-the-field passes and some
10:53
Speaker 3: of the quick game. They fell victim to it. I
10:56
Speaker 3: think some of the criticism directed at Jihad Campbell is warranted,
10:59
Speaker 3: but I think there are some that are kind of
11:02
Speaker 3: piling on, and I don't know that that's entirely fair
11:04
Speaker 3: without fully understanding what the job description is of that player.
11:08
Speaker 3: And I'll point out any linebacker in the NFL, and
11:12
Speaker 3: there's going to be a mismatch. You're going to see
11:15
Speaker 3: a lot of completion started against a lot of these linebackers.
11:18
Speaker 3: That's just the nature of it. That's what coordinators look
11:21
Speaker 3: to do because that gives you the most decided advantage.
11:24
Speaker 3: I don't think he's been great. I don't think he's
11:26
Speaker 3: been okay. Jihad Campbell, but he's a young player and
11:29
Speaker 3: he doesn't have a lot of experience under his belt.
11:32
Speaker 3: So you're kind of hoping that he works through it.
11:34
Speaker 3: He needs to be more consistent there. And then on
11:37
Speaker 3: the back end, I'm seeing just vulnerability there from the safeties,
11:40
Speaker 3: which is surprising to me because going into it this year,
11:43
Speaker 3: I was really bullish on on Drew McCuba and him
11:47
Speaker 3: being able to take that second year leap. To this point,
11:50
Speaker 3: it hasn't happened. And I think the Eagles were also
11:53
Speaker 3: expecting it because if you do get that version of
11:56
Speaker 3: Drew McCuba, it should be able to offset some of
11:59
Speaker 3: the turbulence that you may have had with Marcus Epps
12:01
Speaker 3: and or Michael Carter. But that hasn't been the case.
12:04
Speaker 3: They've had struggles from all three players and they don't
12:07
Speaker 3: have a clear answer at this time. So those are
12:10
Speaker 3: some of the shortcomings that I've sort of identified there.
12:14
Speaker 3: on the defensive side.
12:16
Speaker 2: Kenny Moore signed to the roster. Do you anticipate that
12:20
Speaker 2: maybe he's a possible answer?
12:24
Speaker 1: Yeah, I do.
12:25
Speaker 3: I just don't know if it would be this week.
12:27
Speaker 3: And Vic Fangio sort of, if you kind of read
12:31
Speaker 3: between the lines and you know how to speak to
12:33
Speaker 3: Vic Fangio, he sort of tempered expectations, maybe poured a
12:35
Speaker 3: little cold water on that. And I think it's important
12:40
Speaker 3: because it takes time to learn this defense. There are
12:42
Speaker 3: so many moving parts. Cooper DeGene has talked about it.
12:46
Speaker 3: Kenny Moore, I spoke to him actually on Wednesday. We
12:49
Speaker 3: had a good conversation, and he talked about all the
12:52
Speaker 3: different moving parts and that he's progressing in terms of
12:55
Speaker 3: an understanding of the playbook. But if you're asking him
12:58
Speaker 3: to play two different positions when he just got here,
13:00
Speaker 3: and I kind of draw a parallel to Ja'Corian Bennett
13:04
Speaker 3: when he was traded for last August, how long did
13:07
Speaker 3: it take him before they even gave him any defensive
13:10
Speaker 3: snaps or before he really even factored in? And he
13:12
Speaker 3: didn't even factor in all that much anyway. The point
13:15
Speaker 3: is that it's going to take some time, so I
13:17
Speaker 3: know that he's the new face. He's a former pro bowler,
13:20
Speaker 3: a heck of a nice guy, and someone who, to me,
13:23
Speaker 3: comes off really sharp in terms of his football acumen.
13:27
Speaker 3: I would like to see him out there because I
13:29
Speaker 3: think he still has some good football left. I just
13:31
Speaker 3: don't know if it would be this week against the Rams. However,
13:34
Speaker 3: maybe we're having a different conversation the week after when
13:38
Speaker 3: he has a little bit more time to acclimate when
13:39
Speaker 3: the Eagles are going to London because I think he
13:42
Speaker 3: has something to offer. probably more so maybe in the
13:45
Speaker 3: dime package or as a nickel. He's never really played
13:48
Speaker 3: safety before, but when you have someone like that, and
13:50
Speaker 3: by the way, he was pretty productive last year, played
13:53
Speaker 3: in 14 games for the Colts, 55 tackles and interception.
13:56
Speaker 3: So he proved that he still has something left in
13:58
Speaker 3: the tank. So I'm really curious to see where and
14:01
Speaker 3: when he fits in.
14:03
Speaker 2: X-factor for game week four against the Rams. Andrew, who's
14:07
Speaker 2: your X-factor this week?
14:10
Speaker 3: Let's see. My X-factor is going to be Rick Warren,
14:15
Speaker 3: because when you go back and watch the Chicago game,
14:20
Speaker 3: that was the first time in three games that he
14:22
Speaker 3: didn't perform particularly well. And some of those warts surfaced.
14:26
Speaker 3: So those of you out there wondering how Rick Warren
14:29
Speaker 3: was available, given his athleticism and profile, you just saw
14:33
Speaker 3: it on Monday night. It's just the inconsistencies there. But
14:36
Speaker 3: they need a good performance from him, needless to say,
14:39
Speaker 3: with all the weapons that they have. And I think
14:41
Speaker 3: he's my X factor because... If you look at that
14:44
Speaker 3: 41-yard touchdown that Khalil Raymond had, if you really pay
14:48
Speaker 3: attention to Rick Wollin, it looks like he's unsure on
14:50
Speaker 3: that play. And I know that Drew McCuba was the
14:53
Speaker 3: player who was trailing, so you see all these screenshots
14:56
Speaker 3: on X, and it looks like McCuba was the player
15:00
Speaker 3: who didn't play it right. It's not the case. He
15:04
Speaker 3: actually did play it right, but it's Rick Wollin. And
15:07
Speaker 3: I think some of those things, you know, against the
15:09
Speaker 3: Sean McVay offense in this season, high-octane offense and the
15:14
Speaker 3: players that he's going against. You need to have a
15:17
Speaker 3: doubt in Rick Willen or it could get ugly fast
15:19
Speaker 3: because they can take advantage of that. Big game.
15:22
Speaker 2: You fall to 2-2. You beat them. They fall to 1-3.
15:25
Speaker 2: A Rams team that was a favorite for the Super
15:27
Speaker 2: Bowl could be 1-3 if Philadelphia can find a way
15:30
Speaker 2: to do what they've done often, beat the Rams. Andrew DiCicco,
15:34
Speaker 2: football at four from the Inside the Birds podcast, InsideTheBirds.com. And,
15:38
Speaker 2: of course, the Eagles and the Rams. You can listen
15:40
Speaker 2: to it right here. on 97.3 ESPN. Andrew, appreciate your knowledge, man.
15:45
Speaker 3: Mike, always a pleasure. Take care.