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Football at Four: First Look at Eagles Week Two Opponent: Titans · Inside the Birds: A Philadelphia Eagles Podcast

0:00
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Speaker 1: and up.
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Speaker 2: Football at Four is powered by the Inside the Birds podcast.
1:03
Speaker 2: Adam Kaplan is here today. And, of course, the Eagles
1:06
Speaker 2: getting ready for the Titans. Interesting, the offensive line having
1:11
Speaker 2: a little different look today. Who was the person who
1:14
Speaker 2: lined up at left guard with the first team? You
1:17
Speaker 2: might be a little surprised. We all thought, Adam, that
1:21
Speaker 2: it was going to be Drew Kendall lining up with
1:23
Speaker 2: the first team. He lined up with the second team today.
1:26
Speaker 2: They had Fred Johnson. As the left guard, do you
1:30
Speaker 2: think that that's the guy who will be there on Sunday,
1:33
Speaker 2: or are they just playing some mind games? We know
1:35
Speaker 2: they like the Jedi mind tricks the Eagles do. In fact,
1:39
Speaker 2: Kendall yesterday wouldn't even give any information up. But Fred
1:43
Speaker 2: Johnson there today with the first team.
1:46
Speaker 3: Mike, my understanding was they tried some different combinations on
1:49
Speaker 3: Wednesday as well. If Fred Johnson is at left guard,
1:53
Speaker 3: I will pull my toupee off, okay? I'm like... I
1:59
Speaker 3: know teams do this. I can't speak for the Eagles,
2:02
Speaker 3: but I know for a fact some teams purposely, because
2:07
Speaker 3: in season the practice for the media is only available
2:14
Speaker 3: for them for the first 20 minutes, and that's the warm-up. So, look,
2:20
Speaker 3: Fred Johnson is not a guard. I mean, I know
2:23
Speaker 3: he's got practice time there before. Drew Kendall has been
2:27
Speaker 3: given the golden chalice here. We outlined this last year, Mike.
2:31
Speaker 3: I was told by the scenes he had a great
2:34
Speaker 3: development last season. They thought he could be a future
2:37
Speaker 3: starter someday. They weren't talking about guard. They were talking
2:43
Speaker 3: about center, but that job was already set up by
2:45
Speaker 3: Cam Juergen. They cross-trained him at guard. Landon Dickerson now
2:50
Speaker 3: has a new injury. This is the Latest, this is
2:52
Speaker 3: a bone bruise. This is very painful, by the way.
2:54
Speaker 3: I've had one before. It hurts. I don't know how
2:56
Speaker 3: the hell he played. Should have played, by the way.
3:00
Speaker 3: But he tried to tough it out. He obviously won't
3:02
Speaker 3: play for a minimum of four games. Could be more
3:05
Speaker 3: than that. And if Drew Kennel's not starting at center
3:08
Speaker 3: or guard on Sunday, Mike, it'll be the biggest ruse.
3:11
Speaker 3: It makes no sense. Because I would then say, why
3:15
Speaker 3: did you guys invest all this time? Are you telling
3:17
Speaker 3: us he can't play? That's what they would be telling us.
3:20
Speaker 3: They don't think he can play.
3:21
Speaker 2: Well, that was, you know, we're going to take a
3:23
Speaker 2: look at the first look at the Titans here in
3:25
Speaker 2: just a second. You know, Sirianni yesterday, he was asked
3:30
Speaker 2: point blank, why did you play him? When did you know?
3:33
Speaker 2: They're acting as if they didn't know he was hurt
3:35
Speaker 2: because Lane Johnson said they got rolled up on in
3:37
Speaker 2: a practice a few weeks ago. So he's acted– one
3:40
Speaker 2: guy's saying that this has been going on. The other's
3:42
Speaker 2: acting like they had no idea. And it was like,
3:44
Speaker 2: did you not see him in practice not be able
3:47
Speaker 2: to perform? And then Jeff McClain follows up with, well,
3:49
Speaker 2: then why wasn't he on the injured list? Something doesn't
3:52
Speaker 2: add up here. And I said– If they saw Landon
3:55
Speaker 2: Dickerson in practice and still thought he was better than
3:58
Speaker 2: Drew Kendall, that might be a problem.
4:00
Speaker 3: A couple things, Michael. So over the years, the NFL
4:03
Speaker 3: clarified how they list players. They used to be probable, questionable, doubtful,
4:08
Speaker 3: or out. Then they streamlined it. All you have to
4:11
Speaker 3: do is two things. If the player misses any part
4:15
Speaker 3: of practice, it doesn't matter what it's for. If it's rest,
4:19
Speaker 3: you have to list it on there. But even if
4:21
Speaker 3: you think about this, if you've got a torn ACL–
4:24
Speaker 3: Lonely takes in a full practice. You don't have to
4:26
Speaker 3: list them. Believe it or not, that's the rule, which
4:28
Speaker 3: they reclarified. I think it's dumb. You can hide things.
4:32
Speaker 3: It invites teams to hide things, Mike. It's not good.
4:36
Speaker 3: So on your point, which is fair, and Greg Cosell
4:39
Speaker 3: kind of confirmed this for us on our Inside the
4:41
Speaker 3: Tape show, which I strongly advise people to watch, and
4:44
Speaker 3: he gave more detail on our Patreon live chat with
4:47
Speaker 3: our members on Tuesday night. Greg said he noticed that
4:51
Speaker 3: he was stopping short, like he couldn't finish anything. the
4:54
Speaker 3: play it but what they've been in the fed he
4:57
Speaker 3: looks bad he really looks bad and then if you
4:59
Speaker 3: don't feel a radio and i pay uh... he confirmed
5:02
Speaker 3: that he'd set it out he'd he'd he'd he looked
5:04
Speaker 3: at it he said it he'd keep himself out it's
5:06
Speaker 3: like bleep yet yeah i think that for him and
5:10
Speaker 3: look i i appreciate him doing that not a lot
5:12
Speaker 3: of players to do that you know cooper gene was
5:14
Speaker 3: very honest in the locker room uh... are are jeff
5:16
Speaker 3: mosher uh... was there i think he actually spoke to
5:19
Speaker 3: him uh... coop committee and play well so They still won.
5:24
Speaker 3: It's not gloom and doom. People like to say in our...
5:26
Speaker 3: I don't know what it is. If we tell the
5:28
Speaker 3: truth and it's not positive on our YouTube comments, people
5:34
Speaker 3: call us names and stuff. It's actually kind of funny.
5:37
Speaker 3: But they never say anything when it's positive. When we
5:39
Speaker 3: say something positive, but when it's negative, they think we're jerks.
5:41
Speaker 2: Well, let's take a look at these Titans because this
5:45
Speaker 2: is a team that does not have a lot of expectations.
5:47
Speaker 2: Adam Kaplan, football at four. Let's take our first look
5:51
Speaker 2: at what this Titans team looks like, because they obviously
5:55
Speaker 2: got beat in their first game against the Jets, who
5:57
Speaker 2: don't have a lot of expectations. So, offensively, who are
6:01
Speaker 2: the Titans?
6:03
Speaker 3: Yeah, Mike, look, Cam Moore was the first pick overall
6:06
Speaker 3: last year. What I was told was so close to
6:09
Speaker 3: the situation was that he tried too hard to put
6:12
Speaker 3: the team on his back. Calvin really wasn't healthy. They
6:15
Speaker 3: didn't have Carnell Tate, who was their first-round pick this year.
6:18
Speaker 3: The receiver core wasn't very good, and they didn't get
6:21
Speaker 3: much out of their tight end, so their offensive line
6:22
Speaker 3: wasn't very good. They didn't run the ball particularly well.
6:26
Speaker 3: So they had a bad offense, one of the worst
6:27
Speaker 3: in the National Football League. Everybody got fired, the front
6:30
Speaker 3: office stayed, of course, because they were new. And now
6:33
Speaker 3: they added Carnell Tate. They added a couple players from
6:37
Speaker 3: free agency. Now they also added a rookie in the draft,
6:40
Speaker 3: and they're feeling better about it. They look terrible, as
6:43
Speaker 3: you said, Mike, at home. This is the last year
6:45
Speaker 3: of Nissan Stadium, the new stadiums. He's built right next
6:49
Speaker 3: to it. But Tony Pollard's back at running back. Eagles
6:52
Speaker 3: remember him very, very well. Very versatile back. He's not
6:55
Speaker 3: the explosive back he once was. That's Tajay Spears will
6:58
Speaker 3: back him up. He's the change-up. But getting back to Ward,
7:02
Speaker 3: he just is not. I was told he had a
7:04
Speaker 3: more down-and-up training camp. Didn't look good week one. They
7:08
Speaker 3: had protection issues. It's a new scheme for him. Brian Dayball,
7:12
Speaker 3: Brian Dayball. He likes to balance his personnel groupings out.
7:17
Speaker 3: They're not very good at tight end. Daniel Bellinger is
7:20
Speaker 3: there who came in with Dable from the Giants. Also,
7:25
Speaker 3: Wendell Robinson is a really good fly receiver. He's got
7:28
Speaker 3: great short-air quickness. One thing to look for in this game, Mike,
7:32
Speaker 3: they like to run gadget plays with Wendell Robinson. Look
7:34
Speaker 3: for that because they need to generate offense. And the
7:37
Speaker 3: Eagles defensive line versus the Tennessee offensive line, I know
7:42
Speaker 3: the Eagles' offensive line, defensive line, they didn't take advantage
7:47
Speaker 3: of it as much as they should have. I know
7:49
Speaker 3: their pressure rate was good, but they still could not
7:50
Speaker 3: really wrap up Washington's quarterback. But Ken Ward's not explosive
7:56
Speaker 3: as a runner. He's a pocket passer, but he holds
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Speaker 3: onto the ball too long. So they're going to have
8:02
Speaker 3: a good matchup against this offensive line.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, we take a look at that Titans offense, and
8:08
Speaker 2: so far– Ward got asked some bizarre questions. You know, hey,
8:12
Speaker 2: what makes you think you're a good quarterback? The guy says,
8:15
Speaker 2: don't you have to win games to be considered?
8:17
Speaker 3: I mean, it seems like a reporter, by the way,
8:20
Speaker 3: the guy was, he's just an opinionist, and they revoked
8:24
Speaker 3: his press credentials.
8:26
Speaker 2: Yes, I was going to say, and he got his,
8:27
Speaker 2: I'm saying one game in, they're already fielded after one
8:32
Speaker 2: game in Tennessee, obviously. struggled in game number one. What
8:36
Speaker 2: about their defense? We know Jeffrey Simmons is obviously a
8:40
Speaker 2: huge part of their defense, but they've got some other
8:43
Speaker 2: players to keep an eye on, too.
8:45
Speaker 3: Yeah, and Drew Kendall, he's going to see some Jeffrey Simmons.
8:49
Speaker 3: So they're changing their scheme under Robert Sala, the head coach.
8:53
Speaker 3: They've been a 34 front for years under Mike Rabel,
8:57
Speaker 3: and also after Rabel, but they're running a 43 for
9:00
Speaker 3: the first time. Under Sala, they're going to run the
9:01
Speaker 3: wide nine. That's why they made the trade for Jermaine Johnson,
9:04
Speaker 3: the former first-round pick for the Jets, who's good in that.
9:08
Speaker 3: You mentioned Simmons. John Franklin Myers is an explosive pass
9:12
Speaker 3: rusher from the inside. Kendrick Falk was the first-round pick,
9:17
Speaker 3: but he's more of a power end. In Oladipo, you're
9:19
Speaker 3: going to see No. 7, who was hurt last season,
9:21
Speaker 3: was the second-rounder of UCLA. They've got a good front.
9:25
Speaker 3: What happened was the run defense was so bad, they
9:29
Speaker 3: didn't ask the Jets– really didn't have to ask Geno
9:32
Speaker 3: Smith to do much. So it was all about the
9:35
Speaker 3: run and a brief haul. So that's good. I mean,
9:38
Speaker 3: that's good that the Jets were able to run, and
9:41
Speaker 3: because hopefully they're going to get Saquon Barkley going, because
9:44
Speaker 3: other than that 42-yard run, he ran for under three
9:46
Speaker 3: yards a carry on the rest of his carry, so
9:48
Speaker 3: they've got to get the running game going.
9:49
Speaker 2: Yeah, the run game, obviously, as we talked about on
9:51
Speaker 2: Tuesday's show with Adam, they had the one carry for
9:54
Speaker 2: 42 yards, not much else other than that there. I
9:58
Speaker 2: would ask, you know, we look at Kendall potentially most
10:01
Speaker 2: likely playing left guard. Just having him there, how much
10:06
Speaker 2: that should stabilize possibly or help the run game. Just
10:09
Speaker 2: having a guy out there giving an honest effort.
10:12
Speaker 3: Well, whether it's either going to be center or left guard, Mike,
10:14
Speaker 3: to be clear, I mean, there's always a possibility he
10:16
Speaker 3: starts at center, which is a natural position as I've
10:19
Speaker 3: told people on Inside the Birds, any of our platforms,
10:22
Speaker 3: that most teams did not think Kendall could play guard.
10:25
Speaker 3: They didn't think he was big enough. He did put
10:27
Speaker 3: on 50 pounds of muscle. I've got to tell you,
10:29
Speaker 3: it was very noticeable. Andrew and I were at practice
10:32
Speaker 3: in May, and I was like, wow, is that Kendall?
10:35
Speaker 3: He looked like his dad. Remember his dad, Pete, who
10:38
Speaker 3: played for the Seahawks and Jets? Really good player, by
10:40
Speaker 3: the way. Pete's a little bit bigger. I actually ran
10:43
Speaker 3: into Pete. I forget what trade. It might have been.
10:47
Speaker 3: It's going to be tough. Look, there's no question. And
10:51
Speaker 3: Robert Sala's gone up against the Eagles before. Remember, he
10:53
Speaker 3: was the D coordinator for the 49ers. So he's got experience.
10:59
Speaker 3: You saw what Sala and their group did to the
11:00
Speaker 3: Eagles offense. In that playoff game, Mike, this last playoff game,
11:05
Speaker 3: he was a D coordinator. So running his wide nine.
11:07
Speaker 3: So they're going to have to protect. And their press
11:12
Speaker 3: protection– On the interior, it was not good, Mike. They
11:15
Speaker 3: got the Washington crowd at the front. They loaded it up.
11:18
Speaker 3: They weren't worried about the Eagles receivers, though Jalen Hurts
11:21
Speaker 3: played very well, as we mentioned. Made great throws within
11:25
Speaker 3: that new West Coast offense. But overall, they've got to
11:27
Speaker 3: be better, and the running game's got to be better, Mike.
11:31
Speaker 3: It's only one game, so I'm not going to make
11:33
Speaker 3: any broad judgments, but it was disappointing. I'm expecting way
11:37
Speaker 3: better from their offensive line this week.
11:39
Speaker 2: All right. We obviously want to see the line perform better.
11:42
Speaker 2: Was there anything else that you want to see perform
11:45
Speaker 2: better this week than last week that you had more
11:48
Speaker 2: expectations for? That was something that a lot of people
11:51
Speaker 2: seem to be not happy with. Say, yesterday Mosher said
11:55
Speaker 2: Jalen Carter did not have a really good game. We
11:57
Speaker 2: talked about Cooper DeGene. He said the injury wasn't the
12:02
Speaker 2: reason that he didn't play very well. Is there something
12:05
Speaker 2: that stands out to you?
12:07
Speaker 3: Yeah, with DeGene, yeah, here's the problem with Coop. It's
12:11
Speaker 3: also getting to Adam Thielen of his rookie season. A
12:15
Speaker 3: route running clinic on him. He just, you know, he
12:18
Speaker 3: got taken to the woodshed a little bit. Guys who
12:21
Speaker 3: are good at stopping short, slot receivers give him a
12:24
Speaker 3: little bit of a problem. But, folks, okay, he had
12:27
Speaker 3: a bad game. Understand, like, there's no perfect player. No
12:32
Speaker 3: player's going to play great or lead every game. He'll
12:35
Speaker 3: learn from it. He's really smart, very athletic, tough. Now,
12:38
Speaker 3: the one thing I want to mention before we move
12:41
Speaker 3: on here is before we get out of here, Mike,
12:43
Speaker 3: with this, is that, remember, he's playing a new position
12:47
Speaker 3: of safety, which he may play more than nickel this season,
12:50
Speaker 3: depending on the opponent. So just understand, from a mental standpoint,
12:54
Speaker 3: that's not easy. Remember, he was drafted a corner, which
12:58
Speaker 3: he's played. Vic moved him to nickel as a rookie.
13:02
Speaker 3: He went to corner last season. and nickel, and now
13:06
Speaker 3: he's moving to nickel and safety, no more corner. It's
13:10
Speaker 3: a lot of mental gymnastics, but that's not easy.
13:11
Speaker 2: All right, well, obviously we want to see Cooper DeGene.
13:16
Speaker 2: He was targeted nine times in the game, seven completions,
13:20
Speaker 2: and they went after him, so we'll see. Because Wondell
13:23
Speaker 2: Robinson is a guy, he's one of those classic shifty
13:27
Speaker 2: type of slot receivers. He's another shifty, quick guy that could,
13:30
Speaker 2: you know, Brian D'Abel could find ways to get open.
13:33
Speaker 3: He had a great season last year. That's why he
13:35
Speaker 3: got paid. And Dayball got his guy. You know, it's
13:37
Speaker 3: really interesting. I was told that if Matt Nagy got
13:40
Speaker 3: the head coaching job with the Titans, he was a runner-up.
13:42
Speaker 3: He would have– he wanted Dayball to see how– that's
13:46
Speaker 3: how much in that building that they really like him.
13:48
Speaker 3: So it's– to me, Mike, it's– look, I know the
13:52
Speaker 3: Eagles are a seven-point favorite. The line opened at 4.5,
13:54
Speaker 3: now it's 7. This is an interesting matchup. I mean,
13:59
Speaker 3: this is– The Titans' talent, they've really upgraded the roster.
14:02
Speaker 3: I know they were terrible week one. They're still at home.
14:04
Speaker 3: The Eagles are 0-3 lifetime. I understand the last time
14:08
Speaker 3: they played, it was 2018, and Lane Johnson was in
14:10
Speaker 3: that game. But this has been a half. Listen, only
14:13
Speaker 3: three games. This will be the last and fourth one
14:16
Speaker 3: at the stadium. Remember the Kenny Britt game? Kenny Britt,
14:20
Speaker 3: seven for 221 and three touchdowns. That was good. Kerry
14:23
Speaker 3: Collins was his quarterback, Mike. Over 81% of the yardage
14:27
Speaker 3: went to him. That's unbelievable. Also, Deion Lewis, former Eagle,
14:31
Speaker 3: beat them one year, so they've had problems there. But, again,
14:35
Speaker 3: they've only played there three times.
14:36
Speaker 2: All right, Adam Kaplan here. Switch pinch hitting for Andrew,
14:39
Speaker 2: who will be on tomorrow's Football at Four here on
14:42
Speaker 2: the Sports Pass Live on 97.3 ESPN. The Eagles, going
14:46
Speaker 2: to be 106, feels like down there. And, Adam, I
14:49
Speaker 2: was just in Charleston, South Carolina, and my phone kept
14:52
Speaker 2: telling me it feels like 106. Well, let me tell
14:55
Speaker 2: you what 106 feels like. Horrible.
14:58
Speaker 3: It is hot down there. Mike, the worst I've ever,
15:01
Speaker 3: two times, I had to be, I was working for
15:05
Speaker 3: the American Fight Football League, doing play-by-play for them five
15:08
Speaker 3: years ago. I had to go to Houston, and I
15:11
Speaker 3: wanted it. It was a cool gig, so I decided
15:13
Speaker 3: just to deal with it. It was in August in
15:17
Speaker 3: Houston with the worst humidity. It was 105 to 110
15:19
Speaker 3: was the temperature. Mike, I was told to bring extra shirts.
15:24
Speaker 3: I think one of the games I wore three different
15:26
Speaker 3: shirts because we were outside. And those of you who
15:29
Speaker 3: have ever been to Jacksonville in the summer in the swamp,
15:31
Speaker 3: it's terrible. Now, Sunday's game at kickoff, 95 degrees, but
15:36
Speaker 3: very low humidity, anything less than 50%, which it's supposed
15:39
Speaker 3: to be is. But they're in football uniforms, Mike. So
15:44
Speaker 3: I will be fascinated, Mike, to see what they do
15:47
Speaker 3: in terms of– I know Vic doesn't like to rotate
15:48
Speaker 3: very much. He did more than he usually does in
15:51
Speaker 3: his past game. He's going to have to do it.
15:53
Speaker 3: He's going to have to do it on Sunday.
15:55
Speaker 2: No doubt. All right, Adam, we will catch up with
15:57
Speaker 2: him next week when the Eagles get ready to take
15:59
Speaker 2: on the Chicago Bears. Thanks, man.
16:02
Speaker 3: All right, thank you.
16:03
Speaker 2: All right, Adam Kaplan, everybody, for Football at Four here
16:05
Speaker 2: on the Sports Pass Live on 97.3 ESPN.