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The DiCecco Daily: Explaining Eagles "Grimy" Win Over Chiefs · Inside the Birds: A Philadelphia Eagles Podcast

• 0:10
  Speaker 1: Hey, what's up everybody. Welcome into this edition of to
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  check O Daily. Andrew decheco here and you probably already
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  heard the postgame podcast with Jeff Adam and myself where
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  we collaborated and gave our immediate reactions to the game.
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  But I wanted to give you guys one here, just
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  a quick one with some of my musings now that
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  I've had some hours to sort of digest the game.
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  Not a pretty game. I call it a grimy win
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  for the Eagles, but they've proven that they can win
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  in a multitude of ways, which I think is actually
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  fascinating because every game is seemingly different. And I look
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  back at last season the Stewers game where they threw
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  the ball all over the yard, and then they can
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  win those grinded out type of games, or a game
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  like they want to against the Browns, which effectively turned
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  things around where Jalen Hurts wins, ends the game, calls
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  game with a deep shot to AJ Brown. But let's
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  look at the game yesterday in Kansas City in a
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  hostile environment. Look, I based off of what I've seen
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  and heard over the past I don't know twenty four hours.
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  Kevin Patulo is not very popular. But I'm here to
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  tell you that it's been two games. It's been two games,
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  and this is the same play caller, a first time
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  play caller, by the way, that engineered or presided over
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  three consecutive scoring drives to start the season in the
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  opener and had the offense largely humming prior to that
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  lightning delay. But then in Kansas City, the passing game
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  left a lot to be desired, and honestly it did
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  in Week one as well. But I thought jaywhen Hurts
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  was really efficient in distributing the football and they got
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  off to that fast start, which was always good to see.
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  But in Kansas City, that's where this was going to
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  be always going to be a big test for Kevin Patulo,
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  And I just thought that while the offense looked largely
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  clean from an operational standpoint, getting in and out of
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  the huddle, there was the passing game that just had
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  it lacked for innovation, It lacked for creativity. There was
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  the over routes and the slants with aj Brown five
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  catches for twenty seven yards. Devonte Smith of course caught
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  the deep shot which was a twenty eight yard which
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  was really the only pass that Jay when Hurst pushed
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  down the field. But I didn't really think that the
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  passing game was I guess efficient enough. I mean, you
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  could argue that they made the plays necessary when needed,
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  but when you look towards what it could mean for
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  the season, you're gonna have to advance in that part
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  of the game in order for the team to be
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  what they and everyone is expecting them to be. So
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  I have to go back and they watch the coaches tape,
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  they get a better assessment of it. But for Kevin Patulo,
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  it's again, it's been two games. Give him time. This
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  is really the month of September is more or less
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  the preseason. I know that that's not what you want
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  to hear, but the reality is is that aside from
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  training camp, this unit, this contingent of players have not
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  repped together in a game situation. The first time they
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  did was, you know, September fourth against the Dallas Cowboys
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  in the opener. So just give it a little bit
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  of time. I've been on the record even when the
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  schedule came out that I highlighted Week five against the
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  Broncos as being a really good indicator as to what
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  the team's identity is on both sides of the ball.
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  But after that first month, that's where things start to
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  reveal themselves in a good way or a bad way.
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  And that's why you have to reserve judgment, as tough
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  as it may be, you have to have a measured
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  thought process with this, and I think that he's going
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  to be able to figure it out. They have enough
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  talent there, and I believe that as he continues to
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  find his groove as a play caller, you're going to
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  see that manifest in a much more cohesive offense. But
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  on the other side of things, we talked about identity,
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  and it seems like this youth infused defense has really
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  rounded into form. It's encouraging to see, and again it
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  highlights and underscores what I've been talking about for a
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  while now, and that is the coaching and the development.
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  And when I look at two young players like Jihad Campbell,
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  the Eagles first round linebacker out of Alabama, and rookie
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  safety Drew mccouba, their rapid rise is something that should
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  be talked about, even a little bit more than it
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  already is. Coming off that win, Campbell was ahead of schedule.
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  He made some plays in training camp, but the more
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  reps that he gets and the more opportunities he got
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  in the summer, and then he saw it really reveal
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  itself in week one. He plays with physicality, he's moving
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  with urgency, and he's seeing things quickly. The ability to
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  read and diagnose and attack the line of scrimmage compliments
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  what the Eagles have already with Zach Bonn at linebacker.
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  But I thought Johat Campbell was all over the field
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  against the Chiefs and really made some tough tackles and
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  he's a hard nosed player, but he's really taken to
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  that position a lot earlier than you might expect a
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  player who, let's not forget, I mean the expected timeline
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  was sometime in August. He was there from the first
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  day of training camp and has really hit the ground running.
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  And then for Drew mccooba, he makes the play of
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  the game, really sort of saving the Eagles from potentially
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  giving up a score and flipping momentum. But Travis Kelsey's
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  unable to hold onto the pass in the red zone
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  and it was almost like Drew mccooba was Johnny on
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  the spot, picks it up, runs forty one yards down
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  the sideline, gets tackled by rookie left tackle Josh Simmons,
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  who is an impressive athlete, and took a really good
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  angle to make sure that he was able to kind
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  of cut him off and knock him out of bounds.
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  But this is what mccuba is here for. This is
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  why vic Vangio showed the confidence that he did in
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  the second round pick starting him in week one, despite
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  maccuba having two injuries in training camp and missing a
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  significant amount of time. Where As Sydney Brown saw the
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  Lion's share of the first team reps, they plugged mccooba
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  in week one. Vic Vangio said he did okay and
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  alluded to a couple of quote unquote major busts, but
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  I thought that he was able to kind of bounce
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  back from that in this game where he had to
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  believe six tackles, a half sack, the interception, had a
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  really nice tackle on a third and one, which I
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  thought was even more impressive than the interception. But it
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  highlights his ability to be around the football. He is
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  a ballhawk. I've mentioned this even during the draft process.
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  He was my third rated safety and I had a
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  late second round great on him, and I know that
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  that may have not been popular at the time because
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  five to eleven eighty six, and I think some maybe
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  viewed him as a third or a late third round pick.
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  But it's the football intellect. He has a very high
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  level football IQ and you accompany that with the versatility
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  and the ball skills, and he plays bigger than his size.
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  So it's really no wonder that he was inserted Week one,
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  and the objective is always to get your best players
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  on the field, and he's a second round pick, so
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  the more reps that he gets, much like Campbell, he's
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  going to continue to get better and grow and develop.
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  But that's what he brings to that defense, the ability
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  to take the football away. When he was drafted, I
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  equated his skill set to that of CJ. Gardner Johnson
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  in some ways because of the versatility and because of
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  the plus ball skills and the way that he moves
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  and the size right, So he's going to start to
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  become much more of a playmaker the more he plays
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  those two players, right, there were really big standouts for me.
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  So too was veteran free agent addition who signed just
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  over a week ago as Arrius Smith, wearing number fifty two.
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  He brought a lot of energy and tenacity to the defense.
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  Picked up a half sack team with Makuba to stop
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  Isaiah Pachecko on a run play early in that game.
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  Was all over the field, played twenty snaps in that matchup.
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  You could tell when we met him for the first
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  time last week that he was raring to get back
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  on the field and even cited the date that it
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  had been since the last time he was in pads.
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  Goes out there, blends in seamlessly with that defense, and
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  I thought vic Vanjo did a nice job of rotating
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  those edge rushers because josh Usha, who was the third
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  edge rusher in the rotation in the opener, also saw
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  some time. He made a couple of plays that I
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  jotted down in my notes while watching that game. N
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  nice tackle on Isaiah Pacheco following a two yard pickup,
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  and was active around the line of scrimmage plays with
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  a lot of I guess relentless effort is probably the
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  best way to say it, because every time he's on
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  the field, as minimal as those opportunities may be, I
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  noticed him making a play. But for Zadarius Smith that
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  looks to be and this is just one game, but
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  based off of what we've seen and you look at
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  the body of work in his career, he now has
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  sixty nine and a half sacks. This was a good
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  addition by Howie Roseman and someone who I believe is
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  going to continue to carve out a larger role the
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  more snaps he starts to play and really get into
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  football shape. And that was really the big question because
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  he hadn't been in a camp or anything like that.
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  But he goes out there plays twenty snaps. I had
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  about fifteen to twenty. It was my estimation on the
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  podcast earlier last week, and that's kind of right where
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  I expected. But I do believe that you're going to
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  see him gradually see an uptick in snaps and be
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  that third as rusher, and you see his effectiveness against
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  the run and how he attacks. He's very physical. Nick
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  Sirianni on Monday refer to him as being heavy handed,
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  and that definitely tracks when you watch him operate on
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  the field. But I just thought the energy was really
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  good on the defense. I think Zadari Smith added to
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  that in a very positive way, and we'll have to
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  wait and see how that progresses from here. But good
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  debut from the veteran edge rusher. A name, I guess
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  I should say A number that I kept writing down
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  in my notes during the game was three. Nolan Smith
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  did a really good job of setting the edge with
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  physicality and violence. The heavy hands that he has for
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  being somebody who's about two hundred and forty pounds is
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  something that should be talked about a little bit more.
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  It doesn't necessarily always showcase itself in the box score,
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  but when watching him play, and he had a nice
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  play on the fourth and one, knifing in to make
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  that stop. He plays with such toughness and physicality, and
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  every time his name is mentioned, you hear Nick Sirianni
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  gush about his toughness and the way that he plays,
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  But it's with a controlled violence, and I just think
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  he uses his hands really well and he has a
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  really good feel for the position. And again that comes
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  with reps, that comes with time, and that comes with coaching.
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  Jeremiah Washburn has done a really good job with those
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  edge rushers. Jordan Davis had another really good game. He
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  was sort of clogging up the middle and being effective
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  against the run at the point of attack. I thought
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  that he was really really physical, and these are also
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  stats that don't necessarily reveal itself in the box score,
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  but it was almost like the Jaylen Carter effect. It
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  just opened things up for teammates. And that is another
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  advantage of having someone of the caliber of Jalen Carter
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  on your defensive line, because Jordan Davis and Nolan Smith
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  are two players that really caught my eye watching that game.
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  And then there's a Dori Jackson. So adri Jackson didn't
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  have a good debut against the Cowboys, right, I mean,
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  he was picked on and he was going up against
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  you know, Ceedee Lamb and George Pickens. But then he
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  goes against the Chiefs that have a lackluster receiving corps.
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  They had a couple of players who were injured, and
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  I thought that largely he did a nice job. He
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  played a lot better, and that's something that I forecasted,
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  much like I've been saying with Kevin Patulo, give it
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  time with the Dori Jackson. I know he's a veteran,
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  but if you're going to afford grace to a lot
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  of other players who are sort of finding it, you know,
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  figuring it out and learning how to play with one another,
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  the same should abide for a Dori Jackson. Granted it
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  was not a prolific receiving tandem or receiving core for
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  that matter, and against the Rams is going to be
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  an obviously even greater test, but it's a positive sign
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  for someone who I know many went into this with
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  some concerns. He was not a liability and he held
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  his own largely so. Tight end Cameron Latsu was a
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  player that I talked a lot about about a potential elevation.
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  He was elevated, and he played six snaps in the game.
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  You can see his nastiness and toughness as a blocker.
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  He definitely brings juice there. Played six snaps in the game.
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  On offense, he was a special team's mainstay along with
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  Kylon Granson, who by the way, did a really nice
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  job on special teams. Eighty three popped up a ton,
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  made a lot of tackles. But for Cameron Latou, he
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  had a nice block, a slice block, which Nick Sirianni
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  talked about in his Monday availability. Two plays before Jalen
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  Hurts scores on the from one yard out in the
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  fourth quarter with about nine minutes left, he on a
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  Saquon Barkie running play takes out Charles Amenahew and really
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  drives him into the end zone. I mean, I've talked
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  a lot about Lattu's toughness as a blocker. He's willing
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  to stick his nose in there and really drive through
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  whoever he's blocking. That showed itself in training camp, but
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  it was that was his first NFL game, and I'm curious,
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  based off of the tape, if the Eagles start to
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  try and find ways to incorporate him a little bit
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  more within the offense, especially when you look at the
• 14:02
  blocking deficiencies from Grant kal Katara and Kylon Grantson. Now,
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  on the first play of the game, it looked like
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  on the right side, AJ Brown was breaking free and
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  that play never was able to materialize because to start
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  the game, Grant kal Katara whifted on the block from
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  a blitzing cornerback Jay when Watson, Jay when hurts fumbles
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  the ball and it gets all disjointed from there. But
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  I didn't think Grantson and he's not a point of
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  the attack. He's not an inline blocker. That's not his specialty.
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  But I didn't think he performed that well either. The
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  Eagles open in twelve personnel, so depending on what the
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  timeline is forgot it, and we're going to learn more
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  this week because the Eagles are back on the practice
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  field Wednesday, we'll have a better idea of maybe how
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  they're going to approach it, or what the roles are
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  going to be for kal Katara, for Grantson, and maybe
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  even if Latsuo's able to play a handful of other snaps,
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  or if they're able to kind of get him involved
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  in maybe the passing game, or who knows, maybe even
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  as the second title. We'll have to wait and see
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  how it all goes. But this is gonna be another
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  very eventful week for the philadelph vehicles. I'm looking forward
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  to covering it. They have a big game with the
• 15:11
  Rams coming up Sunday. We'll have all the coverage for
• 15:14
  you on all the Inside the Birds podcast and on
• 15:17
  Inside the Birds dot Com and of course right here
• 15:20
  on to check odaily. This has been to check Odaily.
• 15:24
  I am Andrew de Checko and I will catch you
• 15:26
  on the next one.