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How Dominant Are The Eagles? Very! (PST Episode 527) · The Philadelphia Sports Table | Philly Sports News & Views

0:00
Hey, everybody, it's Jeff here. We wanted to let you know that
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this particular podcast episode was recorded on three different days. I know, a
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little bizarre. Yes, we all have jobs, we all have other things
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going on outside of this podcast. But yes, this podcast was recorded on
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Tuesday, August fifteenth, twenty twenty three, Wednesday August sixteenth, two thousand,
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twenty three, and Thursday August seventeenth, twenty twenty three. So by
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the time you hear this, things may have changed a little bit with some
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of the subject matters, but we hope you enjoy the show. All right,
0:57
everybody, you're listening to the Philadelphia Sports Table podcast show, the longest
1:00
running weekly Philly sports podcast show in the world, over ten years strong,
1:03
and we got a great, great show coming to you this week. Two
1:07
different discussions and interviews. But first and foremost, I'm Jeff Warren. I'm
1:11
here with my good buddy Len Hunts Sicker. We've got a great discussion coming
1:17
your way here, Len, buddy, it's great to talk to you.
1:19
And how's the move been. I am well. We are in. We
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have most every nat away. We still have a couple of things we need
1:26
to pack away. A couple of things we probably want to rearrange and all
1:30
that stuff. But we're in we're kind of just learning the neighborhood and all
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that stuff. It's starting to feel like home. We've already got a list
1:37
of like, Okay, these are the first couple of projects we want to
1:41
do that kind of thing. It would be nice if there was no projects,
1:44
but we bought one hundred year old house. I was gonna say,
1:47
yeah, projects are what comes with it. Absolutely, Yeah. The beauty
1:51
of home ownership is that you are consistently doing something with your home. Like
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I don't even care even if even if it's like a twenty year home,
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twenty year old home, twenty five year old home, you're gonna be doing
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You're gonna be doing projects and stuff. But a hundred year home, that's
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that's something there, buddy. Yeah, we've we we've got all. I'm
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not that it's like, you know, you know, money pit or something
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like that, but there's definitely things we immediately want to get to. So
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that's gonna be probably our next couple of months here. Now I have to
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watch the money pit. I'm thinking of you like in the upstairs of your
2:27
house and you're on a rug, and then all of a sudden, the
2:30
rug just starts going through the floor and you're caught in it. And then
2:32
you start you start making paper airplane goes through the floor, and then Tom
2:38
Heck does that insane laugh when you lose his mind. Well, I love
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what He's in the floor for hours on end, and he's making paper airplanes
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out of his dollar bills and his twenty dollars bills. I don't know why.
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I love. Yes, what a great movie. I need to watch
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that now. Yeah, we got a great show, folks. We are
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certainly gonna be talk talking about the Philadephia seventy six ers because James Harden is
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upset with Daryl Morey and we want to talk about that. Oh my goodness,
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James Harden, boy, talk about drama. Drama that just probably isn't
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needed. But there's always drama with the seventy six ers team. We're gonna
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get into it for sure. Philadelphia Phillies. They've got the Nationals, the
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Giants, the Cardinals coming up on the schedule. They did play seventeen games
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recently throughout seventeen days. They dropped a series to the Twins. We're gonna
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talk about you know this upcoming schedule, just our thoughts on where this Phillies
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team is at right now, and as we are recording this here on Tuesday,
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August fifteenth, here at night, the Philadelphia Union are in the Lead
3:42
Cup semi finals against Inner Miami, and at this particular point in time,
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len I believe that score is right now. I just I just didn't got
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an update here Inner Miami three Philadelphia Union zero, lill Budy, Holy hell
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already yet twelve minutes. It's eight twelve pm on Tuesday night. God damn,
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yep, exactly, it is three zero inter Miami at this point.
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So we're just gonna talk about that segment. Might end up being short,
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it might end up being real short. Actually yeah. But just the fact
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that Lionel Messi is here in Chester and the fact that you know, he
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has taken this league by storm, and it's interesting to see where the Philadelphia
4:24
Union are at this particular point in time this season. We're gonna be getting
4:27
into that for sure. And then we've got a great discussion with a friend
4:30
of the podcast, David Archibald. He's gonna be coming on to discuss his
4:34
book The Inches We Need, And then what we're throwing down on the table.
4:39
Lou Debassi from the Lockedown Eagles podcast. He's gonna be joining us for
4:42
a dive into this Eagles preseason what we've been seeing from this team as well.
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It's a great show. So Len, let's get into the Philadelphia seventy
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six ers. The drama, Man, the drama. James Harden calling Daryl
4:57
Morey a liar. In fact, the quote was recently and James Harden understanding
5:02
knowing where he was, knowing that there were going to be phones, cameras
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on those phones, and an audio recording what he was going to be saying.
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He said, Daryl Morey is a liar and I will never be a
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part of an organization that he is a part of. Let me say that
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again, Daryl Morey is a liar and I will never be part of an
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organization that he is a part of. You know what, Lenn, he
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didn't need to say this, He did not need to say this publicly at
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all, and it really just it makes me think that he is probably he's
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probably solidified himself as the greatest trade request player in NBA history at this point
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of just basically throwing his hands up and basically throwing his middle fingers up to
5:47
people. I mean, he didn't, and as he was leaving Houston in
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twenty twenty, twenty twenty one, right around that point in time, he
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did he was a chump, you know, wanting out of Brooklyn. Now
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he wants out of Philadelphia here and it's just, man, there's always drama
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with this team here. And there's been so much discourse on the Twitter dot
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com about whose fault is this? Really? Is it Darryl Morey's fault?
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Does Darrel need to go? You know? Is this James Harden's fault?
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Which he said this, he said this phrase, he said this wording,
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and he didn't need to It did not need to be done in that way,
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considering he has all the leverage with regard to any trade request and just
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where he is particularly at with the Sixers organization, he's got all the leverage.
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So, Lynn, I don't know what were your thoughts when you initially
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heard this. I was like, I was like, you gotta be kidding
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me. What were you thinking. I couldn't believe it at first, I
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know, just the boldness of it. Not I don't mean baldness is like
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a positive thing, but I don't know that I've ever I don't know they
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can remember a professional athlete just coming out and saying this person that basically runs
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the organization I'm a part of as a liar, Yeah, like just publicly,
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Like I mean, there was no sugarcoating. You can't make it any
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planer, uh than than than James Harden made it. I just first things
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first, this is just me in the immediate, Like I've never had a
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season in any sport where I was tired of the team before the season began,
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right we we we were quickly getting there with the Sixers to the point
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where like and it's it's it's becoming that way with with the with the league
7:38
in general. And honestly, I'll be done, honest with you when we
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get to the point where Embiid finally gets tired and wants to and you know
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he says I want to be traded, that I might be done with the
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NBA at least until the next collective bargaining agreement because I think the owners and
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I'm believing I am definitely not row owner. I can't stand the owners in
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most cases, but this is one where they got to do something to be
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like Yo, you guys, I'm the player. Empowerment's one thing, but
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you're just going to completely hijack a team and a fan base and a city,
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you know, because you want your way. And it's happening over and
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over and over in the NBA. And it's not just I want to be
8:22
traded, it's I want to be traded to this team and this team only,
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like Harden is doing with the Clippers, like Damian Lillard is doing with
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the Heat, Like that's what it's becoming. And it's just like, okay,
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like I look, ordinarily i'd beyond the players sides, but you got
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these are the most visible faces in their particular league and this is going on
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and it's just like, I'm tired of it. I don't, well,
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it's making me not care about your product anymore. You know. It's it's
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interesting you mentioned that because I know that over the years of doing this podcast,
8:56
you and I've had conversations. Eric and I've had conversations. I know
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you and Eric have had conversations as well where we we have gotten to a
9:03
point where it's like, you know what, we like the fact that NBA
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players have a certain level of power because we believe they should have a certain
9:11
level of authority and power in terms of their contracts, just in terms of
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where the league is going in terms of player representation and what the players are
9:22
able to get for the talents that they put on the court. However,
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with this particular situation, talk about Lillergy, talk about this James Harden situation.
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It seems like James Harden has proven himself to be comfortable making things uncomfortable
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for other people and organizations, whether it's right now or in the past,
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Like that's what his reputation has become. And it kind of yes, and
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it diludes and yeah, what we've been talking about on this podcast where we
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love the fact that the players have had a certain amount of power and authority
9:56
over these years, but because of what James Dan is doing, it's kind
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of diluting that. And from what I've heard, like like he's really fully
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willing to get completely uncomfortable and this is you know, I've heard rumblings that
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this is like only the first things he's going to do, Like God,
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there's there's you know, I've heard rumblings of there being more where this came
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from. So it just sucks because you know, you look at you know,
10:22
in a situation like this, you look at the winners and you look
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at the losers. And the winner will end up being James Harden. And
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if he gets to go wherever he wants, or even if he ends up
10:33
staying with the Sixers, he's still making thirty five million dollars a year,
10:37
and the owners will be winners because they owning his professional sports team is a
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license to print money. So the objective of an owner is basically to make
10:48
a profit. Josh Harris is going to make a profit despite himself. The
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only losers in all this is the fan base that want the Sixers to be
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good. That that's the loser at all this us. Yeah, so really,
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the hell with all of them? Honestly, And and you know we're
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talking about James Harden. I want to make another point here that you know,
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yes, James Harden is being a piece of garbage. But Daryl Moorey,
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I'm sure I wasn't in the room. I don't know for sure,
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but I believe there was something that was whether it was directly promised or if
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Harden has had a different understanding of something, but clearly there was a conversation
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that was had where Daryl Morey pulled back on maybe something that he may have
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promised. I think, yeah, and that's why that's why Harden is having
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this this temper tantrum. So I want to make a point, the point
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that I am disgusted with James Harden, but I'm not saying he that.
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You know, he's the only one to blame here exactly. Look, I
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don't think he says that if Daryl Moorey didn't do something to him, should
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Harden have done this in this particular way, in this shape and fashion.
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Absolutely not. It's still, you know, I mean, look, these
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guys, these gms throughout the league, they're not squeaky clean. They aren't.
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They aren't the most honorable and ethical type of people. Likely I don't
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know every GM out there, but still, you're absolutely right, Lenn Maury
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probably pissed him off in some way, shape or form. But again,
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it's really crappy that this happened, and and and consequently too well, I
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don't know if it's consequently, but still our friend of the podcast, Sean
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Bernard from the Philly Sports Network, he tweeted out yesterday he's like, he's
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like, I have no idea what this means basically, But Joel Embiid actually
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removed from his bio the word just processing. That's what it said. I
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don't know if you saw this, Len, And he actually removed yeah,
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and he removed the location of where he's at from it just says nothing.
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It used to say Philadelphia, PA. Now it says nothing. And he
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got rid of processing. It seems stupid to kind of like overreact. And
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I'm not saying Sean stupid. He's great, come on our show whenever we
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ask him to. But like, like, if my god, is there
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something going on with Joel Embide behind the scenes too, and does this correlate
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with what's happening with James Harden. It's like, oh my gosh. You
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know, it's like it just seems like the floor is getting ready to fall
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out from under us right now as fans. And that's that's where That's what
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I'm feeling here and and it's it's just and that's to me, the nbaing
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in general, it's just unnecessary drama and there's just so much of it.
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And look Hardened. To his credit, he did take the pay cut last
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year to allow the Sixers to do some things. I'm sure he doesn't do
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that if you know he wasn't you know, promised something on the back end
13:37
that that you know, Maury decided not to not to do. But you
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know, I just I don't understand Harden and the strategy of I want to
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play for this team and this team only because you know, he is now
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forced He's now trying to force himself off his third team. Uh. And
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you know, if he's twenty seven, hey, that's one thing. But
13:58
he's a guy in his mid thirties who you know, just had two good
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playoff games in a series and then a bunch of stinkers. So I think
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James Harden has no real concept of what his actual value is in the league.
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Yeah, it's nowhere near what he thinks it is. He I he
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is not he is I think in terms of his own opinion of his worth
14:22
around the league. I think he's genuinely divorced from reality. I think so.
14:26
I think the strippers tell him that he's fantastic and amazing. Len that's
14:31
probably James the best exactly. Let us know what you're thinking about this Sixers
14:37
situation. Philadelphia Sports Table at Gmail at Philadelphia Sports Table at gmail dot com
14:43
and we will read your email here on the podcast for sure. We'd love
14:48
to know what you're thinking about with regard to this drama in this in this
14:50
seventy sixers team, you feel like the floor is just coming out from under
14:54
us fans here. So Lenn, let's move on here to the Philadelphia Phillies.
15:00
And just wanted to read a quick email note that was sent to us
15:05
from one of our longtime listeners, Francis Sweeney from Philadelphia. He said,
15:09
my dudes, I took my wife on a whim to the ballgame last night,
15:13
and holy smokes, what an incredible time and what a special team.
15:16
Only thirty k in attendance unfortunately plenty of upper level blue seats available, but
15:22
the crowd was into it throughout and got louder and louder from the seventh on.
15:28
Lots of love shown to the new guy Wilson. Two of the coolest
15:33
parts of the No No where the team letting Lorenzen walk out solo in the
15:37
ninth and take the field by himself for a bit while the crowd cheered on
15:43
his warm ups and number two after the last out, the visible joy by
15:48
center fielder Rojas was when he caught the last out, and how genuinely thrilled
15:54
the rest of the players were. For Michael Lorenzen, it was so special
15:58
to witnessing forward to the next pot. I have a great rest of the
16:00
day, uh, Francis Sweeney. Francis Man, thanks so much for the
16:04
email and passing along your experience at that no hitter that Michaelawrenson through Len Man.
16:11
It's all about the pitching here from here on out, isn't it.
16:15
National's Giants, Cardinals coming up exactly? What a fantastic experience and just on
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a whim you and your wife are going, Francis Man, It's just an
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incredible not only opportunity, but to witness that sort of history. And as
16:30
I was talking about with Eric, I mean Philly's folk history. I mean,
16:33
Lorenzen is gonna go down as one of It's gonna be one of the
16:37
greatest moments because it was the fourteenth time that that happened in Philly's Philly's history.
16:42
Lenn, But I think it's really all gonna come down to pitching here
16:47
for the rest of this season. You know that they're having some they had
16:51
of time, you know against the Twins. You know there was some runners
16:53
in scoring position issues once again, but this team does have momentum. I'm
16:59
hoping that it doesn't stop with this current Toronto series. It's probably gonna be
17:03
over by the time the Toronto series is gonna be over by the time folks
17:04
are listening to this. But again, National's Giants, Cardinals, these are
17:08
very winnable series down the road for this team. I like where they're at
17:12
right now, and it all comes down to pitching. Yeah, I do
17:17
too. I mean, you know that Twins series, you know, they
17:21
dropped the last two and really showed no signs of life offensively. But prior
17:26
to that, including the first game of the Twins series, I mean,
17:27
they were hot. I mean they were showing like a list of everybody on
17:30
the team's ops is over the past, you know, a couple of weeks
17:34
and they were all like, you know, eight hundred and above ops for
17:40
for basically most of the teams. So they were really hitting, you know,
17:44
up until those last two games against Twins. I believe right now,
17:48
as of this second, they're in the sixth inning against Toronto and it's it's
17:52
scoreless at this point, so you know, we'll see what happens there.
17:57
You know, hopefully they can you know they can do well against a tough
18:03
Toronto team. That's a good team there. So you know, that's one
18:07
where it might be a bit of a tough series. But you know,
18:11
like you said, they have some teams coming up in Washington, in Saint
18:15
Louis who's having a tough year. In the Giants, who I'm looking at
18:18
them right now. Okay, they're they're you know, sixty three and fifty
18:22
six. They're kind of right in that same area where the Phillies are.
18:26
So that might be a tough series, but the Nats and the Cards they
18:29
should win those series handily. They absolutely should. And I talked about pitching
18:32
earlier because I have some questions that I've been thinking about just in terms of
18:37
this team, because when Jose Alvarado, when he comes back from the injured
18:41
list, I'm wondering what's going to happen to the six man rotation as well,
18:47
and like how how are the Phillies going to manage Michael Lorenzen and Christopher
18:52
Sanchez, who are both over career highs in innings pitched. What is going
18:57
to be happening with them? Are there any rise names who might be able
19:00
to contribute to the Phillies in September as well. Those are some of the
19:04
questions that I kind of have during this last stretch of the season here and
19:08
again, what happens when Jose Alvarado comes back from the injured list, you
19:12
know what I mean, Like, what's gonna happen with that six man rotation.
19:15
I think it's gonna be it's gonna be fascinating to watch how how the
19:21
managing of the starting pitching is gonna go, and even the bullpen as well.
19:26
I mean, this is a bullpen that has been genuine, genuinely very
19:30
solid throughout this season. Len Again, it all comes down to pitching,
19:34
and I don't know, man, it's gonna be nice when Jose Alvarado comes
19:37
back, for sure. Yeah, And I've got no problems sticking with that
19:41
six man rotation. Yeah, you know, you're you're keeping guys a little
19:45
bit more fresh, obviously, you know, if you do, if you
19:48
do make it to the playoffs, and currently the Phillies are in the first
19:51
wild card spot, you know then okay, obviously that rotation is going to
19:56
get shrunk from six guys to four guys and you're gonna have to figure out
19:59
who was where guys are. But you know, it's not like they over
20:03
the past couple of weeks they've been losing anything. With the guy like Christopher
20:07
Stanchez as a pitcher, he's he's done well. I mean, so you
20:11
know, it's not like, oh man, it's this guy's turning on the
20:14
rotation. He's kind of our our weak link. You know that hasn't been
20:18
there, you know. So yeah, if if that's continuing to work,
20:23
then you know, why not lighten the load on your starters and then maybe
20:27
come the playoffs, they're a little bit fresher and you know you can you
20:32
can run them a little bit deeper into games. So I think it's I
20:37
think it's a good thing. I think it's a good problem and half absolutely
20:41
and I still think in terms of pitching starting pitching that amazingly enough saying it,
20:45
the wild card seems to be Aaronola. You know this, I honestly
20:49
think he's still having trouble with the pitch clock. I think he is a
20:52
stubborn baseball player. We know there's stubborn baseball players out there, Len,
20:56
We know that there are baseball players that have a s way that they like
21:02
to go about playing the game, whether they're on the mound or whether they're
21:04
in the batter's box. You know that people have Some of these players just
21:08
have a maybe they're superstitious about things that they need to do before throwing a
21:12
pitch, before they're swinging the bat, whatever the case is, these traditional
21:18
things that they have done throughout their entire career playing this game, and it's
21:22
just it amazes me. With Aaron Nola, I think he's still having trouble
21:26
with the pitch clock just because he is. He has been a slower type
21:30
of pitcher throughout the course of his entire career, and I still think he's
21:36
having issues with it, and it's kind of mind boggling to me. Yeah,
21:40
no, I mean he's still you know, when you when you look
21:45
at a list at the end of the year of the top five free agents
21:48
you know that are available. Obviously, Ohtani's number one, Yeah, probably
21:52
number one through ten, but but after him, you know, Nola is
21:56
not going to be too far down on that list, even though despite the
22:02
up and down season he's had, so I mean, the opportunity for him
22:07
to make some money for himself is still there, especially in the playoffs.
22:11
I mean, if he comes on at the end of the season, I
22:14
mean, he could increase his market because I mean I think he's kind of,
22:19
you know, had a bit of a down year, so you know,
22:22
maybe that's something that you know, he can kind of rebound from and
22:26
build up his value a little bit more. Because at this point, I'm
22:30
just like, I don't know. I mean, with what he's done this
22:33
year, after this season, do do I want to commit years and X
22:38
amount of money to this guy when we're not sure. I mean we haven't
22:44
seen, you know, the progressions this year that we'd hoped we would see,
22:47
right, you know, so I don't know. I genuinely like,
22:52
you could tell me that anything would happen in this offseason with Aaron Nola and
22:56
the Phillies, and I would believe it. Like if he told me he
23:00
stayed for five another five years, I'd believe it. If he told me
23:03
he signed a big money deal somewhere else, I totally believe it. Yeah,
23:07
So who knows, who really knows what's going to go on there,
23:11
But he's got a chance to. I mean, if he can step up
23:15
this fall, I mean, he's got a chance to make himself quite a
23:18
bit of money. Absolutely, I still think at this point in this twenty
23:22
twenty three season here in August line, I still think he's a top three,
23:26
top five pitching free agent, starting pitcher free agent this coming season.
23:30
And it's not even a question exactly. And that's not saying much for the
23:33
market, you know, Yeah, no, absolutely not. All right,
23:37
Well, let us know what you're thinking about the Phillies Philadelphia Sports Table at
23:40
gmail dot com. Love to read your email here on the show, and
23:41
Francis thanks again for shooting us off that email. We are going to take
23:47
a break in a bit. But first, if you're new to the show,
23:49
subscribe on whatever podcast platform you are on, and if anything happens to
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that feed. I know some of our friends on other podcasts they've been having
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some issues with Apple podcasts sometimes with Spotify as well, where the feeds are
24:02
down or archived or something. You can head on over to Philadelphia Sportstable dot
24:06
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including our PST special podcasts as well. Follow Len on the Twitter dot com
24:14
at Len hunts Sicker. You can follow me at Jeffrey underscore Warren in the
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24:21
Philadelphia Sports table there. We are taking a quick break here and when we
24:25
get back, gotta talk about this Philadelphia Union team, their season, and
24:30
then we got a couple of great guests coming your way. Stick with us,
24:33
all right, Lenn, We are back, and I know we haven't
24:37
necessarily gotten into the Philadelphia Flyers too too much on this on our regular shows.
24:41
I had a great discussion though, with Matt Conte from Broadstreet Hockey dot
24:45
com. Folks, if you haven't heard it yet, it's in the podcast
24:48
feed and it's on our website as well, just talking about a piece that
24:52
he had, what would it be like, what would the feeling be like
24:56
if the Flyers won the Stanley Cup. It was a fantastic piece, a
25:00
great interview. So there's definitely some Flyers talk in our feed, so head
25:03
on over to that. But right now, Lynn, we want to get
25:07
into this Philadelphia Union team. Right now as we are as we are recording
25:11
this, this team is playing inter Miami in Chester County and at this point
25:18
inter Miami has three goals Philadelphia Union zero. They are completely laying an egg
25:25
at this particular point. But I just I think it's incredible what has happened
25:30
with the game of soccer here MLS in particular since Messi joined Inter Miami in
25:37
July and now up here in Pennsylvania as well. Just there has been a
25:42
transformation. Of course, as we have seen with Inter Miami. I mean
25:47
there really has been. They've been they've been transformed on the field. I
25:51
mean, they've come a long way from the team that needed penalties, you
25:53
know to beat USL Championship side MIAMIFC and the US Open third round and that's
26:00
after scoring minutes from the end of extra time to push to penalties. So
26:06
they've come a long long way this season, and of course that is helped
26:10
by Messi. And uh, it's it's cool that he's here in Philadelphia.
26:15
It's a sold out crowd for sure, but Philadelphia themselves been even though laying
26:19
an egg in this particular game. You know, things were skeptical in terms
26:25
of where this team was at the beginning of the season, but they've really
26:27
come on strong as of late. And uh, I don't know where where
26:32
are you seeing this team right now? The Union in particular, Len.
26:36
I know we were going to talk specifically about this game, but it could
26:38
be it could be over before we get done recording this here. Well,
26:45
yeah, we'll talk about the union, and I want to talk about inner
26:48
Miami a little bit because that that, to me, is a staggering transformation.
26:52
I mean, you had a team that was dead lass I mean,
26:55
this wasn't a middling team, This wasn't a mediocre team. That Miami team
26:59
was dead, had the last in the East, maybe dead lasts overall in
27:02
MLS and they I mean, and it's not just you know, Lionel Messi,
27:08
you had him come over, but you've got Sergio Busquets who came over
27:12
from Barcelona where where he was, where Messi was. You have Georgia Alba
27:17
who also came over from Barcelona. So I don't know, I don't know.
27:22
So I'm gonna say this, I don't understand the MLS uh money system
27:27
and the cap because how the hell can Miami afford you know, these guys
27:34
who you know, you know, Messi is obviously the household name, but
27:40
Sergio Busquets is a is a is a known player. I mean, if
27:42
you know soccer, he's a known player, Like how how I just don't
27:47
understand. You know, there are certain glamber teams. Okay, Miami's going
27:49
to be a glamor team. It's a it's a destination that people want to
27:52
go to and live in. You know, LA got you know, the
27:56
La Galaxy got David Beckham when he came over to MLS. Okay, it's
28:00
LA and LAFC got you know, Gareth Bale when he decided to come over.
28:07
Okay, another big name wants to be in LA or they want to
28:10
be in Miami, these glamor locations. Meanwhile, you have a club like
28:14
the Union, who are known for their academy. Okay, we're gonna we're
28:18
gonna get these kids and we're going to develop them and they're gonna become you
28:21
know, good players for the Union, and then they're gonna you know,
28:23
sell them for a profit to you know, to clubs in Europe. And
28:29
that's how they're building their team. So it's two vastly different ways of building
28:33
a team, the academy and route versus the we're just going to sign all
28:37
these megastars routes. But you know that that Miami transformation to me, I
28:41
mean you look at some of the names on the team. Yes, there's
28:44
Messi and Bisquets and Geordie Abbot. There's also Joe Martinez who was basically leading
28:49
goal scorer I think a couple of years ago for Atlanta United. So you
28:52
know, you you've got all these names and just that it's almost like when
28:57
when Messi and I'm not gonna again attribute it solely to him because of you
29:03
know, all the guys that they brought in, but it's like a light
29:06
switch flipped and it's like this, this isn't even the same team, right,
29:11
not even It's it's the polar opposite. So if if Miami, you
29:15
know, can can scratch and claw, I don't know where they're at right
29:18
now on the table in the East in in MLS, but if they make
29:22
the playoffs. Even if they make the playoffs is like the lowest seed,
29:26
they are now the favorite to me because of you know, the run that
29:30
they're incredible to damn thing, which is just insane to think of. Whereas
29:34
the Union, you know, look, they've been they've been solid, you
29:37
know for I would say most of the season this year, and and yes,
29:41
they they will make the playoffs and they will make a run. But
29:45
I mean at this point, it's you know, I mean, yes,
29:51
I would like to see them make a deep run in in MLS, but
29:53
you know, I don't know, I I you know, I think they
29:56
can maybe win a round or two, but you know, I don't see
29:59
that, and you know, maybe they don't make the you know, the
30:03
final like they did last year. Current leaders sitting third in the Eastern Conference.
30:06
That's good. I'm not saying, you know that they're that they're you
30:11
know, out of by any stretch and looking at it's funny I just brought
30:15
up the MLS table. Miami is still dead last. Yeah, you know
30:19
it. But you know, this League's Cup, this isn't in league play.
30:25
This is a completely separate tournament. So once they're back in league play,
30:29
if Miami just keeps stack and win after win after win, and based
30:32
on what we've seen so far, there's no reason to think they won't.
30:36
Man, these other teams in the East better hope that Miami just runs at
30:41
a time and can't make up the ground because they get in watch out.
30:45
But yeah, the Union again third in the East. Solid club. I
30:49
mean definitely, you know, can make a run. I think there's certainly
30:56
one of the teams that you could peg if you wanted to in terms of
30:59
who's going to come out of the East for for the Eastern Conference. But
31:06
I just, I know, I'm kind of making it sound like, you
31:08
know, oh man, nobody's gonna beat Miami. There are other contenders,
31:11
but it's just it's hard to imagine the way things are going in this tournament,
31:17
and particularly in this game. I mean, you're just seeing the difference
31:19
in quality right now. In the sixty third minute, I was the last
31:22
time I refreshed, and it's still three nothing Miami. So it's it's just
31:27
strange to see. It's it's just check on and hide with what's happening with
31:33
Miami, And I don't know what that means for the Eastern Conference here.
31:36
Well, I think it's also important to note too when you're talking about Miami.
31:40
I think I think part of this transformation began even prior to Messi's announcement.
31:45
I mean, the addition of Argentine coach Tata Martino was a major boost
31:49
for the club as well. In fact, I mean even even Jim Curtin,
31:53
the Union coach, actually said he said, quote, you know,
31:56
if you look at what Miami was able to do with this trans for window
32:00
actually starts with the coach, you know, to bring him in, and
32:04
then all the dominoes fell into place after that. He's an incredible coach.
32:07
That's Jim Curtin saying that. And I think, you know, we have
32:12
to get one I think two out of the last three MLF coach of the
32:15
years, Yes, saying that exactly exactly, so let's not you know,
32:20
yes, it is messy being there. It is all the additions that Lenn
32:23
was talking about too, but the addition of of Tata Martino has been has
32:28
been huge for this Miami team too. And you know, I think,
32:31
you know, Len, I agree with you too. I think even though
32:36
the Union are you know, you know, third in the in the you
32:39
know, third in the division. There they're there. There's there's certainly hope
32:44
that they're going to continue to advance. But man, you have a team
32:47
like Inner Miami who just has this momentum, it's tough to stop that momentum.
32:52
Man. Once teams get there, you know, yeah, I'm they've
32:55
they've just almost like overnight at a super team and now it's just like okay,
33:02
hopefully they were so far down in the hole that they can't get out,
33:07
because that's the team that you don't want to see get into that top
33:10
nine in the East and get a playoff spot. Yeah. Yeah, Jordi
33:14
Alba, it looks like it looks like he's been playing a pickup soccer game
33:19
with Messi out there at times. You know, it's like yeah, and
33:22
and and in this game, it's it's it's those big names. It's it
33:25
was I think Joseph Fernandez in the third minute, and then Messi in the
33:30
twentieth minute, and then Alba in an extra time at the end of the
33:35
first first half. That's that's their three goals. So yeah, I mean
33:39
that, that's that's the story of it. I mean, it's all all
33:44
the big names are contributing for them right now. All right, Well,
33:47
let us know if you are a soccer fan, MLS fan, or a
33:51
Philadelphia Union fan, if you like the content we've been talking about in terms
33:54
of the Union here been getting into it over the past couple of months for
33:59
sure, Philadelphia Sports Table at gmail dot com. We'd love to read your
34:01
email here on the show and respond to it. Len Buddy, I'm gonna
34:06
let you go here. We got a couple interviews coming, some discussions about
34:10
a new book, a bunch of football talk coming to our listeners this week.
34:15
Here, Buddy, before I let you go, do you have any
34:17
final thoughts, any last thing that you want to want to get off your
34:21
chest here? You know, as we're as we're gonna be closing out this
34:23
week. I don't hopefully in these next twenty some minutes the Union can stage
34:32
a miraculous comeback. I don't see it happening exactly. I mean, this
34:38
is that we're recording Tuesday night. Here. Show is gonna be dropping Thursday
34:42
morning, so it'll be interesting for the folks who are listening to this Thursday
34:45
Friday over the weekend. So all right, buddy, I'm gonna let you
34:49
go again at Len Hunt Sicker on the Twitter dot com, and we're gonna
34:52
take that quick break to pay some bills. We will be back with some
34:55
football talking just a bit. All right, we are back, and we've
35:00
got some great discussions come in your way. Let's get to them right now.
35:06
And joining us now. He is the author of the upcoming book titled
35:10
The Inches. We Need, a great book that is going to be out
35:15
very very soon about the game of football, NFL team building in general.
35:21
We have the one and only Dave Archibald. How are you doing, Dave.
35:24
I'm doing great, Jeff, thanks for having me on. It's great
35:28
to have you on, and really quick to get get the promos out there
35:31
to folks too, because we love being able to plug sports books on this
35:36
podcast. We've done it for many many years when we've had various authors on
35:39
folks. Head on over to the inches we need dot Com where you can
35:45
pre order this book that Dave has been working on for quite some time.
35:47
And again it's a book that's really focused on NFL team building. We're certainly
35:52
going to be getting into that during the course of our conversation here, So
35:57
Dave, let's let's let's get into it here. I mean, you've been
36:00
a football analyst for quite some time. I remember reading your stuff over at
36:05
Inside the Pylon dot Com when that site, you know it was first first
36:08
came out. I absolutely loved the content that you were putting up over there,
36:13
and you just you really enjoy analyzing football, really honing in on specifically
36:19
team building obviously, and that's what the book is really about. So what
36:22
I'm wondering, what is it that has drawn you to this particular part of
36:28
the game of football team building in general? What is it about team building
36:30
that really interests you as it pertains to the NFL. I keep asking myself
36:37
that question. I was always one of those weirdo kids who'd be simming on
36:43
franchise mode to get to the offseason, the draft and add players and stuff,
36:47
right, and then I really started writing XSS and os. But with
36:52
Inside the Pyline, it's so many great writers doing that. You know,
36:57
Mark Scofield and Brandon aren't Ted Wynn, John Gladyard, I could go on
37:01
and on, and I kind of needed to find my own niche, and
37:07
so I settled on team building. As I've gone through that, I've found
37:12
it's fascinating just how many different approaches there are and how many different approaches work.
37:19
I'm a Patriots fan, so that's my perspective. But you know,
37:22
as I've studied some of the teams that have had a lot of success lately,
37:25
like the Rams, the Rams have a very different approach than the Patriots
37:29
do, and it's really interesting to kind of dig into, Okay, this
37:34
is why they do things this way and I found not only is being different
37:38
okay, but being different actually gives you an advantage because you're looking for things
37:45
that not everyone is doing and you end up getting more undervalued guys. And
37:50
so as I pursue it, you know, as a research team, building
37:54
more and more, it's just endlessly fascinating all the different variations of successful teams.
38:00
You know, something we've talked about a great deal on this podcast,
38:05
and I foresee that we're gonna be talking about it more in the future in
38:09
the years to come, is how critical relationships are within professional sports as it
38:15
pertains excuse me too, the successive teams and even to the success of various
38:21
players. So I'm wondering, Dave, you know, what are some examples
38:24
of where you have seen the most solid relationships in sports manifest itself into something
38:30
that's just really great for the team in general. I think the alignment between
38:37
the owner of the GM and the head coach is absolutely critical, and to
38:42
me, it's more of a situation where you see it more in its absence
38:47
than its presence. Yeah, Like you're an Eagles fan, you remember the
38:52
Chip Kelly era absolutely without that alignment between Howe Roseman and Chip Kelly, right,
39:00
and that's when it breaks down. I think not always good relationships don't
39:04
always produce good results, but bad relationships, it's almost impossible to succeed.
39:09
Yeah, and so and Chip Kelly had the same issue, and the forty
39:15
nine ers too. Absolutely, it might have been the variable. There might
39:19
have been Chip Kelly and his particular demeanor and personality just not messing up to
39:24
too well with folks in the NFL. Right. And it can be a
39:28
moving target too. I mean we've seen that lately with the Eagles, where
39:31
I think you had a great working relationship between Howie Roseman and Doug Peterson for
39:36
a few years there and they're really Doug Peterson was really translating all the analytics
39:40
stuff to the on field and then you know, at some point at the
39:45
end of the tenure that broke down. And maybe it wasn't fair that Doug
39:50
Peterson got fired, but you can't have you can't have things continue if if
39:55
you're not in alignment. That's when that's when you fail. Well, is
40:00
there? So yeah, no, go ahead, go ahead, keep going.
40:04
But one of my favorite relationships, and Bill Pollian talks about this in
40:08
both of his books. He ended up firing Jim Mora and Vic Fangio was
40:15
the defensive coordinator for the Colts at the time, and of course he's the
40:20
hot guy now. But one of the reasons was Bill Polian decided, I
40:24
need I've got Peyton Manning, I've got Marvin Harrison, I've got Terek Glenn
40:29
a bunch of other We're going to invest a lot on offense. We've got
40:31
to go cheap on defense. We got to find a defense that we can
40:35
run inexpensively, and so we're gonna go with the Tampa two because you know,
40:40
we don't need big time cornerbacks. We just young guys run around and
40:45
hit. And who better to have than Tony Dungee And they really, uh
40:49
you know, meshed together figuring out what Dungee needed to run that system and
40:52
they were able to get a lot of like fast, undersized guys and Bill
41:00
the defense that was effective enough to go with that great offense that they had.
41:04
It's interesting how you mentioned that Colts offense, Dave, and I wasn't
41:07
necessarily planning to ask you, but since you brought up, you know,
41:09
the Peyton Manning era along with Marvin Harrison, and whether it was like Joseph
41:15
and Day in the backfield as well. I mean, it was a powerhouse
41:17
offense, and I do wonder with certain NFL teams that don't have that,
41:22
you know, when you put on the scale talent on this side, on
41:25
the other side, team building and its importance kind of just weighing, you
41:30
know, what could potentially be the most important aspect of forwarding your team to
41:37
that successful position that they inevitably want to be in, Like, what's more
41:40
important? I don't think there's a right answer to this, frankly, you
41:44
know, it's not that team building is more important than talent on the field,
41:47
But I think there is an interesting balancing act when it comes to,
41:51
Okay, we only have this much talent, that's why the team building is
41:53
so important, or we have so much talent that, yeah, maybe not
41:59
team building is as important as we need it to be. You know where
42:01
I'm coming from with this, Yeah, I think I think you can definitely
42:07
find some advantages in getting those synergies between what's going on on the field and
42:14
the roster construction, you know, finding the players that maybe fit you better
42:16
than they fit the team they were on previously, that you can get in
42:21
expensively, So I definitely think that's a factor. You know, I'm,
42:25
like I said, I'm a Patriots fan, and Patriots fans are all upset
42:30
this offseason because they didn't invest big in the offense. They use their first
42:35
three draft picks on defense. But I mean, my thinking is, well,
42:39
are we really close to being able to compete with like the Chiefs and
42:43
the Bills and the Eagles on offense? Aren't we better off building a great
42:46
defense and trying to just get by on offense? Whereas if you look at
42:51
the Eagles last year, adding a J Brown to a unit that already had
42:54
quite a bit of talent, that's the move that can take them over the
42:59
top in a way that I think is different for some of these other teams
43:01
center different situations. Yeah. Absolutely, Well, as it pertains to your
43:07
upcoming book, the one phrase that we're gonna be reading a lot about as
43:12
it pertains to the game of football and even even I guess life in general,
43:15
is that the inches we need are everywhere. And that's the excerpt that
43:21
you provided me. It's really what I took away from from that. And
43:25
what again, your book is going to be detailing, So again, the
43:29
inches that we need are everywhere. What does that phrase but also that particular
43:35
philosophy, what does it mean to you and what did it mean to you
43:38
as you were writing this book. So, first of all, for people
43:42
who don't know, that's a quote from the movie Any Given Sunday, Alpacino's
43:46
classic halftime speech in the locker room, and he's talking about on the field
43:52
play. You know, it's a game of inches, and we're gonna fight
43:57
for those inches, and we add up those inches. That's to make the
44:00
difference. I think the metaphor really works because, first of all, we're
44:04
talking about inches. These are not like huge advantages. There are really smart
44:09
people on all thirty two teams working really hard on these problems, and so
44:16
you know, you're not going to just come up with some genius magic bullet
44:20
that's going to elevate you above all the other teams. It's going to be
44:24
kind of really detailed and really thoughtful looks at so many different avenues that you
44:30
can improve your team, and then you have So that's the inchest piece,
44:36
and then the everywhere pieces. Football is super complicated. I mean, you've
44:39
got thirty two teams, you've got fifty three roster spots, and then you
44:44
got all your practice squad and injured list. And I mean, there's so
44:50
many different ways you can go about doing things. There's cat management, there's
44:55
who you hire for your staff, there's what you're on field strategy. She
45:00
looks like, there's your use of analytics, which is of course a bigger
45:05
and bigger thing. And so the best teams, I think, are looking
45:08
at all of these avenues. You know, that's saying like, oh,
45:12
we're gonna be good at drafting and that's how we're gonna win. It's like,
45:15
okay, but someone else is working on drafting and they're working on this
45:17
and that and that. So I think you really have to look at everything.
45:22
And I really tried to cover as many different topics as I could over
45:25
the course of this book. Yeah, I'm looking forward to reading this for
45:29
sure. Again, folks, we're talking to Dave Archibald at Dave Archie on
45:34
the Twitter dot com out there. He's great, great follow and again the
45:38
book he has written, it's going to be coming out very very soon,
45:42
The Inches. We need head over to The Inches. We need dot com
45:45
pre order that book today and to close us out here kind of get away
45:51
from the book. You know, as we're as we're ending our discussion here,
45:54
Dave, you know, there's so many storylines that are gonna be going
45:58
on within the NFL, A lot of storylines going on at the moment as
46:01
this preseason in training camp, you know, we're ratting the thicket things here.
46:06
So what do you think is going to be one of the more underrated
46:08
one of the more underrated storylines as we're heading into this NFL season here?
46:14
I think everyone's always talking about the receivers, and that was, of course
46:17
the big story last offseason was everyone trading for the receivers. Ye I can't
46:22
help but notice that the team that won the Super Bowl was one of the
46:27
teams that traded away a receiver. They really invested heavily on the offensive line.
46:32
And I know, Charles Robinson just an article about this. It definitely
46:37
seems to be a big issue around the NFL is the quality of offensive line
46:42
play, and of course always an underreported story, those big guys in the
46:45
trenches. The Eagles of course traded for a wide receiver, but already had
46:51
a great offensive line and continue to invest in the offensive line as they go.
46:57
So to me, like as through a team building lens. That's always
47:00
an interesting topic to me, just kind of like there's a lot of focus
47:05
in you know, the fantasy football positions and not as much as the big
47:09
boys who don't put up the numbers. Yeah. Absolutely, yeah, I
47:15
gotta tell you, David, was great talking to you. I am looking
47:17
forward to your book again, folks, The Inches we need. Head on
47:21
over to The Inches we Need dot Com pre order the book today. What
47:23
when is it actually like going to be coming out? Just so folks know,
47:28
So the kindle version will be out September first, and the paperback version
47:34
probably you know, shortly thereafter. All right, great again, Dave Archibald
47:38
at Dave Archie on Twitter, The Inches we Need dot Com. It was
47:43
great talking to you, buddy, and come back join us. We'll talk
47:45
some NFL football in the future. Sounds great, Thanks, Jeff. I
47:50
am looking forward to Dave's book and can't wait to get my hands on it.
47:53
I always like the electronic books. Quite frankly, I just I don't
47:57
have I I've talked about it before on this podcast. I'm becoming more of
48:01
a minimalist as I'm getting older, so if I can have my books on
48:06
my device. I am going to do that, so alright. It's a
48:09
great discussion with Dave and again best of luck to him as he is promoting
48:14
his book on NFL team building, and we got another great discussion coming your
48:20
way right now. We got to get into this Philadelphia Eagles team. Man.
48:24
The preseason is here. We are in the thick of everything and I
48:29
cannot wait to see what is going to be happening over the course of these
48:31
next few weeks here before the regular season starts. Let's get to some Philadelphia
48:37
Eagles talk right now. It's what we're throwing down on the table and now
48:42
on the table. It is great to have back on the show to get
48:46
into this Philadelphia Eagles preseason. What we have been seeing at training camp coming
48:52
to us from the Lockdown Eagles Podcast. I listen on Apple Podcast. You
48:57
should listen to the Lockdown Eagles Podcast on whatever podcast platform you're listening to us
49:00
on and follow him on Twitter at Dbasloe. We've got the one and only
49:07
lou Dbaslumn. It is great to have you back on the pod to get
49:09
into this Eagles team. Man. Thanks so much for jumping on this week.
49:14
Always, Jeff it's been too long excited to talk birds, and the
49:16
season's coming up, so I'm itching to get it going. Absolutely, let's
49:21
get into what we've been seeing during this preseason and during Camp two. I
49:24
mean, as of us recording this here on Thursday, August seventeenth, one
49:30
preseason game has been played. There's going to be a second preseason game played
49:32
tonight, so when people listen to this, that second preseason game is likely
49:37
going to be over. But I wanted to get into some of the biggest
49:40
surprises that we've seen thus far during this preseason and Camp lou. So let's
49:46
really just start, like from an offensive perspective, and we are going to
49:51
get into the running back position in just a bit, so maybe we'll stay
49:52
away from that. But in terms of biggest surprises we've seen from the offense
49:58
thus far, what do you think that biggest surprises and then we'll move over
50:01
the defense afterward. Offense biggest surprise so far, my friend, Yeah,
50:06
I think that. Actually. The good thing is there hasn't been a lot
50:08
of crazy surprises because this team is so damn good on both sides of the
50:12
ball that it's been like spoilerer. Jalen Hurts looks just as good as twenty
50:15
twenty two, if not better. I'm trying to find different ways to say
50:20
DeVante Smith is amazing and A J. Brown on my podcast, you know,
50:22
And that's luxury of having a really good team. But when it comes
50:25
to the depth, I would say the biggest surprise right now, or at
50:29
least after that first game against Baltimore was the performance of rookie quarterback Tanner McKee,
50:34
because in my head, that was the one pick I didn't really love
50:37
in the draft in twenty twenty three. I was getting flashbacks to Clayton Thorison,
50:42
thinking, I don't know if there's a waste of a draft pick.
50:44
Are you really gonna justify Keith? Are you gonna really consider keeping a third
50:47
quarterback on this fifty three man roster. I like quarterbacks with mobility. McKee
50:52
really didn't have that coming out of Stanford. But then suddenly you look at
50:54
just I mean the kids six six, one sixty seven with just crazy arm
50:59
talent. He showed that off against Baltimore. Some of the back shoulder throws
51:01
he was making, the layer throws over the middle just to poise the aggression,
51:06
but also the touch anticipation and accuracy was something I was surprised at because
51:09
so far at training camp, the word has been that's been something he's been
51:13
trying to rain in. So suddenly you might have this long term developmental project
51:17
as a potential replacement to Marcus Mariota eventually is Jalen Hurts's backup. And that
51:22
was something surprising to me because my radar, at least for McKee wasn't really
51:27
I wasn't really focused on him. But suddenly after that Ravens game, I
51:30
want to see more. And you know, again, as you mentioned,
51:31
they'll probably be watching the Browns game. You know they've already watched it,
51:35
probably after this show. But I'm excited to see what he does. We
51:37
do absolutely, and Lou, I gotta tell you right now, if I
51:39
ask that question to you, like right after the draft, what would be
51:43
one of the biggest surprises in training camp, Tanner McKee probably would not have
51:47
been on my radar or anybody else's radar. Again, that's how stacked this
51:52
offense is and just how completely completely dominant that they have not necessarily been a
51:57
training camp, but just what we are going to be from them this regular
52:00
season. Well and Jeff. The other thing was too I was maybe gonna
52:04
say at that point, maybe I would have been surprised that Tyler Steen was,
52:07
you know, up ending Cam Jurgen's a right guard, but that really
52:10
hasn't been the case. Maybe it was wow Olami Zakaias really is wide receiver
52:15
three over Quiz Watkins. That hasn't really been the case. So a lot
52:17
of the other surprises that maybe you would have expected have not come. But
52:22
I think that's a good thing. This team has been very consistent the summer
52:23
and they're poised to I think, keep it going in twenty twenty three,
52:28
just like they did last year. So I think that's a good thing,
52:30
and that the fact that a surprise is a young rookie is showing promise.
52:36
I think that's definitely a positive on offense. But again, continuity is key,
52:38
especially on that side of the quickball. Absolutely. Let's get to the
52:42
other side of the football defense here. I mean, they certainly lost some
52:45
key players from the twenty twenty two season, guys looking to step up into
52:50
certain roles, whether it's a safety position, linebacker position. What's the biggest
52:53
surprise so far thus far for you? Lou from the defensive side of things
52:59
here. I think it's how promising the young defensive backs look. The Eagles
53:04
for years have not had a lot of young talent, and of course last
53:07
year we saw finally they had an amazing duel corner with Darius Slay and James
53:12
Bradberry. But those are veterans. It's kind of how the Eagles have been
53:14
finding their defensive backs, creating for Chauncey Gardner Johnson. You know, years
53:17
ago, bringing in Rodney McLeod and Malcolm Jenkins, they really weren't able to
53:22
develop a lot of young defensive backs. You know, you look at the
53:23
failed draft picks of Sidney Jones. They didn't really give Resul Douglass affairs shake.
53:29
You know, those picks just never really panned out. Craive on the
53:31
Blanc, you know, all these other guys that you thought might be the
53:35
long term future didn't end up being that way. Suddenly, you know there
53:39
might not be enough spots for all these brs and that's what's exciting. I
53:43
mean, Keiley Ringo showed a lot of promise this summer. Eli Rix and
53:46
McKay Gardner are forcing turnovers in the preseason, showing off their length, speed
53:51
and athleticism zech McPherson cross training in the slot. You then look at safety
53:55
with how good Reblanket Ship and Sidney Brown have looked. I just very very
54:00
encouraged to see all the young talent that is in the secondary right now,
54:04
because that has not been the case for a while. And they might go
54:07
heavier at corner and maybe decide to go lighter at linebacker and safety, and
54:12
I think that would be justified. It's going to be a really tough race
54:15
these final two weeks before they get to that fifty three man roster at corner,
54:19
so that battle. I think it's been surprising to see just how many
54:21
of them, because I thought some of them would stick. But the fact
54:23
that almost all of them have looked pretty good yea is surprising, but in
54:28
a positive way, and I think that says something for the coaching, the
54:30
development that is being done early on in training. Absolutely absolutely. All right,
54:36
Well let's move on to the running back position. This running back room,
54:39
I mentioned it a little earlier, really wanted to get into it.
54:42
I thought it was great. You know, it had a great discussion on
54:44
the Lockdown Eagles podcast about recently about Kenneth Gainwell, really is he going to
54:50
be running back one as we're moving forward here? And I don't know,
54:53
Lou, who do you think we're going to be seeing as that running back
54:57
one when the season opens? I mean, DeAndre Swift has been the conventional
55:00
wisdom in terms of, you know what he did last season, the talent
55:04
he has, Rashad Penny. Do I think he's RB one? Probably not,
55:08
But there's a lot of talent in this running back room. Where do
55:12
you think it's going? And you know, even reflecting on your recent Lockdown
55:15
Eagles podcast, Yeah, no for sure, And I think again, take
55:20
it with a grain of salt, who the RB one is going to be
55:22
in this backfield because it's gonna be a heavy committee approach. You're gonna see
55:25
Gainewell involved, You're gonna see Swift, You're gonna see Penny. The thing
55:29
with Penny is, I don't know if he can be RB one because he's
55:31
gonna have to be on a pitch count to keep him healthy exactly. I
55:34
think the right approach, Yeah, maybe efficiency in production wise, he ends
55:37
up being RB one, But I think when it comes to like touches overall
55:40
carries and how many snaps he gets. I don't think he's going to be
55:44
number one. Maybe he's two A to B with Kenneth Gainwell. Ye,
55:47
I think they have to use him like they use Jagi in twenty seventeen with
55:51
those you know injuries that that injury history. For me, it's it is
55:53
DeAndre Swift. And not to mention again, Boston Scott's going to be involved.
55:58
So they're all four of these guys are gonna be playing. But I
56:00
think of all of them, DeAndre Swift is going to be the most involved.
56:02
I think he's the best overall talent. He's the most explosive in the
56:06
open field. He's the best receiver. Like Gainwell has receiving ability, but
56:09
I don't think to the level of Swift. I just think there's a ceiling.
56:13
There's a gear that Swift has that Kenny g does not have. Right,
56:17
so that whole RB one hype with him. I get why he's been
56:22
getting more snaps with the first team sometimes than Swift and Penny. I think
56:25
it more has to do with the fact that he's been with this football team.
56:29
And again, I'm expecting big things from Gamewell this year. I was
56:31
very, very encourage to see the promise he's showed in the playoffs after I
56:36
thought it was a sophomore slump in the regular season. But to me,
56:38
Swift and Swift an Penny have just shown another level performance in the NFL that
56:44
Gainwell has not through two years. So for me, I think it's Swift
56:47
and Penny still those are your two featured backs, And to me, it's
56:51
kind of like twenty seventeen, Gainwell can be You're maybe a better version of
56:53
Corey Clement or what you thought Corey Clement eventually could be. Absolutely and I
56:58
think with Kenneth Gainwell, it's gonna be. And it comes down to,
57:00
as it does with many NFL players, what are you gonna do with the
57:04
opportunities that are given to you in the preseason, during practice, during camp?
57:07
What are you going to do with those opportunities? And we're kind of
57:10
seeing that too as we move over to the wide receiver position as well.
57:15
The depth chart. You know what the depth chart is gonna look like,
57:17
Lou, You know, because I wonder how many receivers we're gonna be actually
57:22
seeing on this roster to start the season when the Eagles go up against New
57:27
England Patriots. So from a depth perspective, I'm wondering to you. I
57:30
mean, it's at Tyree Cleveland, who has really stood out to you?
57:32
Who has been the wide receivers that have stood out to you? And how
57:35
many do you think this team's gonna end up keeping. Yeah. I always
57:37
fall for the really really big framed wide receiver that gets all the hype in
57:43
the summer, right right right, go years back to like if Theanny MoMA
57:46
or Carlton Agados, Yes, you know six five six six guys, I'm
57:50
like, that guy's gonna be fun. But then in the preseason, so
57:52
for me, Joseph Nada was the kid that I was watching a lot this
57:55
summer, was getting a lot of hype. People were saying outside of that
57:59
top five, if Smith, Brown, Watkins, Achias, and Covey not
58:02
a look the best in camp. Then that first game against Baltimore, I
58:06
thought he struggled to separate, didn't really make a lot of plays. Tyree
58:08
Cleveland I thought kind of came out of nowhere. At least for me,
58:10
he wasn't on my radar, looked like the best wide receiver. Greg Ward
58:15
just never goes away. Five catches for fifty three yards, returning kicks as
58:19
well. Ye, so mister mister inevitable greg Ward might end up making this
58:23
football team. I think Tyree Cleveland right now might be in the lead of
58:27
those guys. But I don't know, Jeff, I don't know if any
58:29
of them are worth keeping on the roster compared to like another you know,
58:34
running back, or another corner, or another defensive lineman or a tackle.
58:37
So for me, I think right now they're still probably gonna end up going
58:42
with five. Cleveland's probably in the lead, I will say, even if
58:45
they keep five, don't Britain Covey. I know he was the main part.
58:50
I was going to ask you about him because I think I saw a
58:52
recent tweet from you about this where you had the fifty three man and you
58:54
were like, you know, yeah, Britain Covey still there. You think
58:59
he's still I could potentially make this team. Look, if I'm gonna bet
59:02
on this, of course I'm gonna say Britain Covey makes the roster. But
59:06
I will just say I don't know why he should be seen as a lock.
59:08
Last year, he got better and better as the year went on as
59:10
a returner, but he wasn't this unworldly, elite punt returner that right that
59:15
also played receiver where he deserves to be a lock over these other guys.
59:19
So, and he's been dealing with an injury. He wasn't on the field
59:22
on Saturday. Again, He's probably gonna make the team, but for him
59:24
to be on question doesn't make much sense to me. But I would still
59:28
say they end up probably keeping five Jeff, and I would go with those
59:30
guys I mentioned probably make it. It's Smith, Brown, Watkin, Zachaias
59:35
and Covey. All right, very good again, folks. Talking to Loud
59:37
Bass from the Locked On Eagles podcast at Dbasloe on Twitter. Give him a
59:42
follow. He is a fantastic follow and just a great podcast. So,
59:45
as we're moving forward here defensively, Lou, you know, I'm still I
59:51
mean, we're talking about the defensive backfield, but I still have that concern
59:53
about the safety position. I just do read Blanket Chip obviously taking some or
1:00:00
steps during the course of training camp that first preseason game. We're gonna be
1:00:02
seeing him tonight as well. He probably is going to be one of the
1:00:07
starters. How do you see the safety rotation itself really looking like? As
1:00:13
we're getting close to the regular season here, Yeah, I was a little
1:00:15
nervous about the ceiling of this team. I thought, you know, compared
1:00:19
to a year ago before they had traded for Chauncey Gardner Johnson, what they
1:00:22
look like on paper right now? At safety, the floor was definitely higher.
1:00:24
You know, at this point last year it was Jaquos guitar, it
1:00:28
was I mean, Marcus Apps and that was really about it. I mean
1:00:31
you really, it was kind of like it right now, where it's like,
1:00:35
Okay, you can win with safety, You're not gonna win because of
1:00:37
this position. But at the same time, after seeing Sidney Brown in the
1:00:42
way he was tackling in the open field that pursuit against Baltimore, with the
1:00:45
way Reid Blankinship has looked in camp, picking off the Shawn Watson three times
1:00:50
in two joint practices on Monday and Tuesday. Terrell Edmonds is a solid players.
1:00:53
He's not a great safety, but he's not He's good. He's very
1:00:57
serviceable. Right So with those three, I don't know, I'm starting to
1:01:00
get more excited about this position. And the good thing is kind of like
1:01:04
with linebacker, it's gonna be protected by an elite cornerback trio. Same thing
1:01:07
with linebacker. It's gonna be protected by that elite defensive line. So does
1:01:12
safety have to win you football games this year even if it's not great.
1:01:15
No, But I actually think it might be able to more than people are
1:01:19
leading on because I believe in Sydney Brown's upside a lot, and Blankenship is
1:01:22
proving me wrong the more and more we go. So yeah, I'm not
1:01:25
so sure. I think the safety group might be Okay, I'm starting to
1:01:29
get more encouraged as the days go on. Read Blanketship is definitely proving me
1:01:31
wrong. I can tell you that right now. I do not I am
1:01:36
not ashamed to say it, but I'm glad he's proving me and a lot
1:01:38
of other folks wrong. So as we close things out here, Lou,
1:01:42
you know, the most dominant aspects of camp so far that we have seen.
1:01:47
There have been a few pieces of talent on this Eagles team that we
1:01:51
can really look at. But when you take a step back you really look
1:01:54
at talent on offense and defense thus far, who do you really think it's
1:02:00
kind of been the most dominant aspects that are that we're going to really see.
1:02:02
Take some giant steps this season for this Philadelphia Eagles team. Yeah,
1:02:07
you wouldn't think they could take another step after twenty twenty two. But I
1:02:12
really do think this passing game is going to get to another level this year.
1:02:15
I think they're gonna number one, the volume is going to increase.
1:02:16
I think they're gonna throw the football more, and I think the types of
1:02:20
passing plays that they're gonna make is going to be different. I think you're
1:02:22
gonna see a lot more in the screen game with the added receiving talent at
1:02:27
running back of DeAndre Swift. I think you're gonna see that more with Quez
1:02:30
Watkins, Zakias Brown, and Smith. I think you're going to see more
1:02:34
pre snap motion. Also, you're hearing a lot with Jalen Hurts, Like
1:02:37
some of the passes he's making he has not even tried in other years.
1:02:39
Like the probability of these completions that he's dropping in a bucket is it's unreal.
1:02:45
Yeah, And you're seeing more anticipation throws back shoulders. That's when you
1:02:49
know that a quarterback is like starting the mental aspects starting to become muscle memory,
1:02:52
and that's when you know the chemistry with his receivers continue to grow to
1:02:58
a Kelsey Mahomes type of level. Is when you start to make those types
1:03:01
of plays in the passing game. And he's doing that not only with Brown,
1:03:05
but with Smith and with Goddard at that big three. So I don't
1:03:08
want to say it's a cop out because you know, but it kind of
1:03:10
is because those those four were so good already last year. But I think
1:03:15
they're going to take it to another level this year in a different way.
1:03:17
I think it's going to be interesting. I said, I've said on this
1:03:20
podcast, where Quez Watkins taking that next step forward? I could see too,
1:03:24
Yeah, I mean I could see him potentially six hundred yards, six
1:03:28
hundred and fifty yards, perhaps maybe five six touchdowns on the season. I'm
1:03:31
qu believer, Jeff. You know, I'm one of the last. I'm
1:03:34
one of the last Quaz believers. So I'm totally with you, and again
1:03:37
with if you finally have a good receiving running back in DeAndre Swift added to
1:03:40
that mix, I think Olimi Zakayas is an upgrade over what they had in
1:03:44
Zach Pascal. Those elements added to already an elite passing game. Yeah,
1:03:47
I think it could be even better this year, and it doesn't really feel
1:03:51
like it's possible, but I think it is. It's fun to watch so
1:03:52
far, for sure, and it's fun to listen to the Lockdown Eagles podcast.
1:03:57
Take a listen to Lou his co host Gino Cam Larry, a good
1:04:00
friend of the podcast here again Locked on Eagles, and also follow Lou on
1:04:04
Twitter at Dbasloe lou Man, thank you so much for taking the time,
1:04:09
buddy, it was great talking to you. Come back and join us down
1:04:11
the road. Let's talk more Eagles, my man. Oh yeah, we'll
1:04:14
do it soon. Jeff as always appreciate. I love the show man.
1:04:16
Thanks so much for having me on. It's always great talking to Lou.
1:04:20
I am so excited. We're all excited for where this Eagles season is going
1:04:25
to be going. Man, it's just great to have these preseason games here.
1:04:28
I know, and I've said it before on this podcast in years past.
1:04:30
I love these preseason games. I love looking at the depth, analyzing
1:04:34
what could and unfortunately, what could potentially happen if there was an injury to
1:04:40
one of the starting offensive linemen, to one of the starting defensive lineman,
1:04:44
who is going to back up who we are seeing that with these preseason games.
1:04:47
We're seeing it with regard to the reports that are coming out from camp.
1:04:51
I mean, so many of us, and rightfully so, are just
1:04:56
so high on this team right now. As Lou mentioned, because of the
1:04:59
talent that is there. It's really really tough that first topic I got into
1:05:02
with him, you know, biggest surprises. It's tough to find any surprises
1:05:06
really on this Eagles roster offensively, defensively that you know, it's gonna gonna
1:05:12
help, you know, get this team to the next level because they are
1:05:15
at that next level. So we are gonna end things here. And it
1:05:20
was a great show man. It was great to having Lennon. Of course
1:05:24
two guests this week. Love doing the interviews. We hope you liked them
1:05:29
as well. Feel free to rate and review the show. We'd appreciate that
1:05:32
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1:05:39
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1:05:42
you can head on over to Philadelphia Sportstable dot com. We've got all of
1:05:45
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1:05:59
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1:06:02
Feel free to follow Eric at Brick Pollitt as well. We appreciate you
1:06:06
longtime listeners. If you're new to the show, stick around. We got
1:06:10
a lot more content coming to you in the weeks, months, and years
1:06:14
ahead. Take care of folks. We'll catch you next time.