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The 2023 NFL Quarterback Landscape (PST Episode 516) · The Philadelphia Sports Table | Philly Sports News & Views

0:25
All right, folks, for listening to the Philadelphia Sports Table podcast show,
0:28
the longest running weekly Philly sports podcast show in the world. That's right over
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ten years strong. We are recording right at the end of May. Here
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May thirty first, twenty twenty three. I am Jeff Warren. Unfortunately my
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co hosts could not be on this week's episode and show. However, we
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have a gentleman who you have heard recently, filling in for the guys this
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week, our very good friend from CBS Sports. Absolutely love having him on,
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love talking to him about the world of Philly sports. Mister Jeff Ker
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Jeff Man, thanks so much for jumping on and filling in for the guys
0:59
this week. Always a pleasure, Jeff. You know we're starting to get
1:03
busy here but Eagles mini camp. But that's a good thing. With how
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the six season ended and how the Philly season is going, I think everybody's
1:11
excited that we're on a hundred days of football, absolutely less than one hundred
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days to football season. I know you've been, of course covering a lot
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of what's going on with regard to the Philadelphia Eagles, some other NFL teams
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as well. In fact, folks, Jeff's not going to join us for
1:25
the conversation at you know, a little bit later on in the podcast.
1:29
But what we're throwing down on the table, We've got Mark Scofield from sp
1:33
Nation. He's going to join us for an in depth conversation and discussion about
1:36
the landscape of the NFL quarterbacks as we're looking into this two twenty three upcoming
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season. But as I mentioned, Jeff, you know you've been you've been
1:47
following what's going on at Eagles camp. Any any type of updates you know,
1:51
I don't have it on the agenda, but any updates you want to
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give to the listeners out there. So the media portion is actually going to
1:57
be tomorrow, okay, well or whatever this airs, Jeff, So June
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June first, I should say, yeah, this is going to be actually
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airing. This will be uploaded on June first, Okay. So so on
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June first today they Eagles will have an open session of the media and Jalen
2:13
Hurts and Nick Sirianni and everybody's gonna speak. But I will say this,
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if you watch some of the video content Eagles put out, you notice that
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there are guys there that typically I don't want to say they're not there,
2:24
but it's nice to see a veteran like Fletcher Cox there, you know what
2:29
I mean, because he's going to be a mentor for Georgia Davis and Jalen
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Carter again, yes, in twenty twenty three, so that's huge. Obviously
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a J. Brown was Walkins, Devanta Smith, those guys be in there
2:44
for phase two is huge too. And now we're in phase three of the
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all season program because Eagles don't have a mandatory minicamp, so basically we get
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to bed as sessions with these guys and we get to watch practice for about
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twenty minutes. So what you see is what you're going to get here,
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right, And I don't blame them honestly, because look, we're just gonna
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see individual workouts. But it's just an opportunity to get to talk to the
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players and get some stories about what's going on during the year, and getting
3:09
our chance to talk to the rookies again like Dalen Carter, like Nolan Smith.
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It's gonna be a fun time. It's gonna it's basically a pre pre
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training campus exact, I call it. Yeah, And then you're gonna have
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a chance to talk to the new offensive coordinator, new defensive coordinator as well,
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and perhaps there are some storylines that can come out of that to kind
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of prep fans as we look to the twenty twenty three seasons, because of
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course, we want to know how these new coordinators are really gonna fit with
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what is on the field in terms of the talent and how they're going to
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just scheme. And of course we know that that decide is going to probably
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scheme a little bit similar to Jonathan Gannon, And from an offensive perspective,
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we know that Nick Sirianni is going to kind of continue with his particular scheming
3:52
philosophy. But I think it's an interesting story with new coordinators how the relationships
3:57
between the coordinators and the players are actually going to manifest itself heading into the
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season. And another key thing about this his position battles. We assume Cam
4:05
Jurgens is going to be the right guard, right, but who's gonna be
4:08
on the second team? Is gonna be Tyler Stein? Yep linebackers? Another
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one the Kobe Deane's gonna start. I'm assuming it's gonna be Nicolas Morrow.
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But are they gonna rotate there? Are they gonna do three safeties like I'm
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here and they're gonna be doing so if they do that like a three,
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like a three three five, is it gonna be you know, re Blanket
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Ship, Terrell Edmonds and Sydney Brown, who knows, you know, if
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they go to who's it gonna be? So there's gonna be a couple of
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position battles that that will probably be the death chart going in the camp.
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Obviously things changed because remember last year it was oh my god, Jakwaski Tart
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and oh gosh, Harris, I think we're the starters the first day of
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camp and you saw how that changed. Absolutely that changed. For sure.
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It's gonna be interesting to follow these storylines for sure. And folks make sure
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you're following Jeff on Twitter. Where can they find you online? Jeff?
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If folks want to follow you on the Twitter dot com and just out there
5:05
in the innerwebs well on the bird app, you can find me at Jeff
5:10
Kircybs. On Instagram, you can find me at Jeff Kircybs. I don't
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post as much on Instagram, but I do have a professional Instagram account.
5:17
It's just me taking pictures of the food I eat. So fantastic if you
5:20
like. If you like food, they actually have a picture of our cheese
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steak Jeff from the other week. There you go. When we met up,
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it was great meeting for the first time, like face to face.
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You know. We got some cheese steaks together, had some lunch, talked
5:32
about the world of Philly sports. It was great. So you go ahead.
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I know I didn't know if you were a five three dude or a
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six three dude. Well you're taller than me, yes, I am six
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foot yeah, some six foot So look, folks, we got a great
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show for you. Were of course going to get into the Philadelphia seventy six
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or some NBA talk as well as the finals here are you know, we're
5:53
gonna see what happens between the Nuggets and the Heat. Of course, got
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some Major League Baseball talk and some Phillies talk as well. You know,
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what's the best way for the Phillies to solve this fifth spot in the rotation
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issue that they've been having for most of the season. I don't think there's
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an easy answer for it, but Jeff and I are going to get into
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it, and then we're going to discuss the best offensive. I'm sorry the
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best NFL offseason move made by a team during this offseason and what that's inevitably
6:20
going to mean for that team, and again what we're thrown down on the
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table. Mark Scofield from sp Nation will join us to get into the NFL
6:28
quarterback landscape. So, Jeff, let's start on our first topic here,
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Sixers an NBA talk. Let's get into what we think of the Nick Nurse
6:36
signing the new head coach of the Philadelphia seventy six ers. Pros and cons
6:42
of the higher for sure, you know, I think I think this higher
6:46
and the head coach higher in general was going to be so critical because what
6:55
Nick Nurse, I think is able to do is provide a different level,
7:00
hopefully a different level of offensive productivity. But I think we're going to end
7:03
up seeing and I know we're gonna end up seeing a different type of offense.
7:06
But I also think the hiring of Nick Nurse too allows us to of
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course, we're going to still focus our attention on Joel Embiid what he means
7:15
to the offensive side of things and even the defensive side of the board as
7:17
well, but also I think how he implements his scheming the XS and O's
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is going to be much different than Doc Rivers, And I think he is
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actually going to end up being one of the top most important individuals you know,
7:32
that's going to be out there during Sixers games next year. And maybe
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look, maybe I'm just looking forward to the fact that we're not going to
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be seeing the Doc Rivers type of offense that we've seen for so many years
7:44
now. But I do not mind this higher. Again, there are pros
7:47
and cons for Nick Nurse here. What are your thoughts with regard to the
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higher What was your reaction when you when you initially got the news. So
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with the Sixers fire a coach like Doc Rivers, my argument always is,
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if you're gonna fire somebody, you better get somebody that's better, or who
8:07
are you gonna get that's better? Good point. Yeah, Well, when
8:11
they fired Doc Rivers, that made playing a sense that we're better candidates out
8:13
there. Nick Nurse was one of them, like bruden Holzer was one of
8:16
them, and I wasn't so crazy about Bud, so I wouldn't mind it
8:24
they gott in him. But when I was looking at the candidates, I'm
8:26
like, well, I really like Sam Casselle, I really like Kenny Atkinson.
8:31
I didn't think Kenny Atkinson was gonna get a head coaching job. I
8:33
think the whole spurning the Hornets thing has kind of ruined his profile, bien.
8:37
But when Nick Nurse was let go, I said this would be a
8:41
nice fit for the Sixers just because of I think it's the in game strategy.
8:48
He's a big xes and those guy. He seems to know how to
8:52
defend a team's best player. And there's one thing you're gonna get when you
8:56
get Nick Nurse as your head coach. You were going to get a physically
9:01
tough team and a team that's going to make their opponent's life a living hell,
9:07
right, And that's that's one thing I like about Nick Nurse. I
9:09
thought he overachieved with a lot of those Toronto teams. Look, Rondo wasn't
9:15
good at all this year, but they were supposed to be better. The
9:18
team that the Sixers beat last year in the playoffs. Remember to Rono took
9:22
that team the six games. Yeah, that was a three enough and lead
9:24
the Sixers had and Nick Nurse was able to get them the six And I
9:28
didn't think that team was that great last year. Scottie Barnes ended up being
9:31
a nice guy he developed. But I'm really fascinating to see the Nick Nurse,
9:35
Joel and beat angle. Absolutely. I'm also fascinated from an offensive standpoint,
9:41
Yeah, I want to see a lot more ball and player movement,
9:46
you know. And I think when you look at Nick Nurse too, he's
9:50
more concerned too about limiting turnovers. And we know how frequently the Sixers are
9:54
turning the ball over, and they have a lot, especially during the Doc
9:58
Rivers era. Not to say that Rivers necessarily is the reason why they've had
10:03
the turnovers, but limiting turnovers, you know, it's going to be so
10:07
important, and I think he is going to stress that with this offense,
10:11
and I think it's safe to assume that he's going to play to embeed strength
10:16
by leaning on what Joel Embiid does best and what is best designed to keep
10:22
him as healthy as possible during the course of the season as well. And
10:26
I'm also fascinated with what he's going to do defensively because de Anthony Melton aside,
10:30
I don't see a roster here. I don't think any of us see
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a roster here that's designed to play aggressively and actually forced turnovers. So I
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think what he does defensively is also going to be interesting. I'm curious about
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his defense and how this team's going to look picture. This is just step
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one, by the way, true, but I want to bring this up
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to you, Jeff. Do you think Joell Ebid needs to be I think
10:54
he's conditioned, But do you think he needs to be a better I guess
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could just shou to play the forty five minutes. Nick Nurse is going to
11:01
have him play. Yes, I absolutely think so. I mean I do
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I think he came into this season better condition than he probably ever has been
11:11
in his career. Yes, I do do. I think it could be
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improved. Absolutely However, and I think we discussed this too, Jeff recently.
11:18
I don't know if yet, even though Nick Nurse is gonna want him
11:22
to play so many minutes during the course of the office or during the course
11:24
of the season, he's going there, there are going There's gonna need to
11:28
be some load management. Remember Kawhi Leonard and his load management that Nick Nurse
11:31
implemented when they were in Toronto. Like, I wonder if we're going to
11:35
see a little bit of that, and I also wonder if you know how
11:39
much this is going to impact Paul Reid and his play on the court as
11:41
well, because I think, especially this past season, we saw that Joel
11:46
Embiad is not he may need to actually take a step back, just a
11:50
small step back, give up Paul Reid some more minutes here. So I
11:56
see where you're coming from with it. But like I say to myself,
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we kind of have Embiid for what Embiad is right now, and Nick Nursssy
12:03
in that too. So those are my thoughts. My thing with him Beat
12:07
is I think he's got to take a page out Yoka just playbook here.
12:11
And yeah, so I read a lot of stuff on Yokich. I think
12:13
a Bead is ultimately a better player than him, and that's not a bias.
12:18
I just think a Beat is better. But you can't deny the stuff
12:20
NICOLEA. Yoka has done to become this two time MVP, this guy who's
12:26
led Dever to the finals, averaging a triple double in the postseason, and
12:30
there was a playoff game I think they played Portland. I'm trying to remember
12:33
the opponent, but he played sixty three minutes in that game and he was
12:37
beat he was spent. Yeah, and he said, if they're gonna play
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me this much, I gotta get in better shape. I gotta stop doing
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what I'm doing. Remember Joelan Bibley was younger, and he was drinking the
12:48
Shirley Temple's and just eaten like like all bad food. And Yoki said he
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did Yoki said he did that, and I just remember he got I'm trying
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to remember what you actually did. I think it was during the pandemic,
13:03
and I just remember he was like this chubbier guy, you know, a
13:05
little bit of movement, and all of a sudden he just looked like a
13:09
guy you wouldn't want to spend three minutes in the ring with, right,
13:13
And so obviously he changed something during the pandemic in terms of his diet,
13:18
in terms of his you know, a lot of his agility. And I
13:22
think maybe and Be needs to go through that agility train like y did.
13:28
And it's very difficult, Jeff. It really is to change your routine like
13:33
this isn't just a quick all season things, because I think a bee does
13:37
what's necessary to stay on the court, but there has to be something Nick
13:41
Nurse or this organization could do to make sure this guy can stay healthy through
13:46
a postseason series. And it's it's the MVP of the league too. It's
13:50
gonna be difficult to tell somebody who was just given an award for being the
13:54
best you have to change some things about yourself because your quote maybe just not
13:58
good enough in terms of this area. It's got to be difficult for an
14:03
MVP of an entire sports league to hear something like that or even accept it.
14:07
You know, I'm a bowler, right If I'm bowling really well and
14:11
someone tells me I'm not doing something right, I look out them funny like,
14:16
Okay, well I'm bowling really well right now. So why would I
14:20
Why would I change anything? Why would I change hand placement? Why would
14:22
I change how I'm shooting the spare that type of thing. So, yeah,
14:26
you're right, it's very tough for drawing be to adjust to that.
14:30
Now. I want to bring this up to you, Jeff. I'm trying
14:33
to remember this about Nick Nurse. Remember the year, I want to say
14:37
it was twenty twenty one, the year they couldn't go back to Toronto.
14:43
Yeah, they can play a home game in Toronto, and I think they
14:46
wont fifty six games at that team. I think they did. I think
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they did. Yeah. I think that's the more impressive coaching job from the
14:52
Nurse than the year he actually want the champe Yeah. Yeah, yeah,
14:54
absolutely, because I mean that's when the COVID protocols are still in place,
14:58
correct. Yeah, they were playing. They played their home games in Tampa
15:01
that year. They didn't even go back to Canada, so that was very
15:03
difficult. And even this year the Sixers, remember they played back to back
15:07
in Toronto early in the year. They never went back and I think Toronto
15:11
a lot back to backs this year like that. It's gotta be frustrating for
15:16
a team, and I'm actually amazed they were able to do what they did
15:20
over the last couple of years. Yeah. Yeah, it's gonna be really
15:24
interesting to see, you know, because look, there's been a lot of
15:26
back and forth online about who Nick Nurse is, what he's done, what
15:31
he hasn't done, how he's going to bring his philosophies to this Sixers team
15:35
with the talent that is there, and we know that, we know that
15:37
there's going to be different talent on this team this coming season. It's gonna
15:41
be so interesting to follow, and I'd love to hear from you folks out
15:45
there. Philadelphia Sports Table at gmail dot com. We'd love to read your
15:48
email here on the show and respond to it as it pertains to the direction
15:50
of this team, the head coach higher and what things are looking like for
15:54
the future. Again, we'd love to read your email here. But Jeff
15:58
I also moving along, wanted to get into an NBA storyline. I think
16:02
that is really interesting because we're seeing more and more burner accounts that are are
16:08
coming to light, and recently it was reported I know in The Athletic that
16:14
the NBA opened an official review into referee Eric Lewis's Twitter account. The fact
16:19
that he has an alleged burner account, my gosh. I mean, he's
16:23
in his nineteenth season as a ref, He's officiated over eighty career playoff games
16:29
and as one of his most recent reft game was Game one of the Western
16:33
Conference Finals. I think it's interesting how people are finding out that there are
16:40
certain well, you know, whether it was Clangelo back in the day with
16:42
the Sixers or now with Lewis possibly having this burner account. The fact that
16:48
this stuff is getting found out. People need to start being more careful about
16:52
what they're doing online, because we're living in a day in age where you
16:55
are able to find out information just about anybody you really can, and you're
17:00
gonna get caught with this stuff, and this is a I think this is
17:03
a pretty big issue, and I hope that it transcends throughout other sports organizations
17:08
as well, because if you have an official doing something like this, having
17:11
a Burner account and just you know, you know, getting out there online
17:17
saying what you want, you know, it can impact games and at the
17:22
end of the day, millions upon millions of dollars in this engine in the
17:25
sporting industry. I don't know what were your thoughts about this story, So
17:27
this is really interesting in terms of burner accounts. Right by the way,
17:32
Jeff, is your Burger account Jeff Underscore Warren or is it the Philadelphia PSD
17:37
one? It's both public? Yeah, yeah, yeah, you have public
17:42
one. So I will say this, no burner account for me, just
17:45
to let everybody know. I'll say this as someone who's had a Burger account
17:52
for people that blocked me, like professional athletes. I created what I never
17:56
used it, right, It was one of those okay, like you want
17:59
to not research or name or stuff. But if someone has something newsworthy on
18:03
there, you're blocked. You can't see it, right, So you gotta
18:06
have I don't even know what my burner account is anymore. I think I
18:08
got rid of it. Yeah, but so I actually have one for Redding,
18:14
okay, and I don't I don't comment on it. I don't.
18:17
It's just there, right, It's just the gatter information just allows you to
18:19
see what's going on. Yeah, And I always tell people it's okay to
18:23
have one, just don't type stuff on there, right right, like,
18:27
because they're gonna find out people Like I can people find out what my Burner
18:33
account is over, I really don't care. I don't type anything right and
18:37
and if I do, it's has nothing to do with sports or politics or
18:41
anything. I just don't type. It's just it's a news gathering thing,
18:45
right right. Like I have my own private Instagram accounts. Some people have
18:48
found it. I'm not going to accept them because it's my own private account.
18:52
There's nothing that I gotta hide on there. It's just that's my way
18:55
of zendm peace exactly. But when you're in referee dealing with this type of
18:57
stuff it is. It's it's incredible. It's amazing to me, and it
19:03
really puts the integrity of these games that we all love so much, you
19:07
know, it's just the integrity, it's just it blows it up basically.
19:11
Yeah, Eric Lewis should not be looking up his name on Twitter. Yeah.
19:14
I think as much as people don't like Scott Foster, I don't think
19:18
Scott Foster as a burner account, right. I don't think Scott Foster will
19:22
want to hear the Boston Celtics are twelve and oh in games Scott Boster rest
19:26
this year. I mean I would annoy me personally, Like if I was
19:30
I wouldn't even have social media. So I don't know what Eric Lewis is
19:33
doing. But what makes it worse is even if Eric Lewis didn't have a
19:36
burner account, it's pretty bad. How you and me know he's a closet
19:40
Celtics fan. Yes, yes, he's an NBA official. Yeah. I
19:44
think the whole Tim Donnie heat thing really shed everything to light about how corrupt
19:48
this league can be. Yeah, absolutely absolutely, But moving on Jeff to
19:53
the finals too, and I hope that the referees within the NBA Finals,
19:59
which is going to be the Nuggets against the Heat. I hope none of
20:00
those officials have any burner accounts that are gonna get exposed, because again,
20:04
at the end of the day, we're talking about millions and millions of dollars
20:08
that is on the line, not just for teams and players, but for
20:12
you know, you know, various advertisers, various sports organizations. So I
20:18
don't know, let's get in just really quick, like, what our thoughts
20:21
are on the NBA Finals, possible predictions here for this series. I think
20:26
the Nuggets are gonna end up winning this series. I could actually see them
20:29
winning the series in five games. More realistically, I think it would probably
20:33
be six if I had to look objectively at this. What are your thoughts
20:37
with regard to the Nuggets and Heat the NBA Finals. What do you think
20:40
it's gonna come down to in terms of games? You know, I like
20:42
this Heat team, I just don't think they're good. Yeah, I don't
20:45
think they definitely peaked at the right time. I don't think they beat the
20:51
Sixers in a seven game series. We're gonna beat quite honest here, because
20:53
I don't think they have an answer for withdrawal and beat like bam Alabayo is
20:56
a good player, yes, but he's not a difference maker. They rely
21:02
a lot on Jimmy Butler to kind of get things going. I mean,
21:06
thank god for Caleb Martin, who probably should have been Easter Conference Finals MVP.
21:11
But I just don't see a team that can stop Jamal Murray, Nicole
21:14
Yogis, Michael Porter Junior. There's so many good players on that Nuggets team.
21:18
It's there have been. The four best teams in the league were Denver,
21:23
Boston, Philly, and Milwaukee in their particular world, and Milwaukee knocked
21:26
out two of them. I mean, sorry, now, Miami knocked out
21:30
two of them, right, So it's an incredible run. But it feels
21:33
like the ninety nine nixt team that made the finals as an eighteen, Like
21:37
they had good players, it was a good team, but could they beat
21:41
the Spurs. I didn't think they could back then, and I was an
21:45
eleven year old kid at the time. So I just I agree with you,
21:49
Jed. I think it's gonna go deeper than what people think it is.
21:52
But because I think Miami's gonna will themselves to a win or two.
21:57
But at the end of the day, I just think Devers a beater team.
22:00
But Miami wins this series. What an incredible story that will be in
22:03
It will be actually good for the NBA to have that parrot. It will
22:07
actually And that's a really good point because you know, at the NBA,
22:11
as we know over the years, you know, if you are one of
22:14
those top four teams, you're likely just going to be winning the finals,
22:17
You're going to be the champion of the National Basketball Association. But in eighth
22:22
seed, like the Heat winning it. You're absolutely right, Jeff, it
22:26
would actually do wonders I think for the game of basketball and professional basketball by
22:30
saying, you know what, any given series, anything can happen. We
22:34
say that in football any given Sunday, you know, and we see it
22:38
continuously with the NFL as well. I think it would be very interesting for
22:44
the league if the Heat were to win this as the eighth seed. Doesn't
22:47
feel like pat Riley has broken this mold that the NBA likes to have.
22:53
Ye and you know where I'm going with this, Boston in LA. It
22:56
seems like the NBA always feels they can't survive out Boston. Exactly. Did
23:00
you know, did you know, pat Riley has been in like half of
23:03
the NBA finals. I know, it's crazy. And that's the same as
23:07
a player, as a coach is executives. Ye. Yeah, the Miami
23:10
Heat have really become one of those, UM what's the word I'm looking for
23:15
here, not charter franchise, UM, prestigious franchise because of pat Riley and
23:19
what he's been able to do. And it's with different guys like it's Dwayne
23:22
Wade, it's Lebron James, it shouldn't be Butler. Now they've been to
23:26
two fials in four years, and it's just really I gotta give Miami a
23:32
tyn of credit here. I personally thought they tanked the first play in games
23:34
so they could get Milwall. Okay, I did spot as a basketball mind,
23:40
I thought Miami was going to be a tough matchup for Milwaukee. I
23:44
thought they I thought they matched up better with Milwaukee than they did with Boston
23:48
in the first round, right, right, So who knows that they get
23:51
out of the first round, right exactly exactly, So you know, they
23:56
got a gift. They they probably looked at as Okay, we can match
24:00
up well against Milwaukee, We'll beat Milwaukee, and then we're because they don't
24:03
receive we're gonna get. You're in New York for Cleveland, and if you're
24:08
a Knicks fan, you actually got a kind of feel pretty good that you
24:14
took that team the sixth game. Absolutely yeah, because Boston looked like they
24:18
weren't going to take them to seven until they decided to actually play basketball for
24:22
three games. I think it's gonna be a fun finals to watch. I
24:26
don't think we thought it was gonna end up like this at all. I
24:29
don't think anybody thought it was gonna end up like this at all. Folks.
24:33
We are on the Twitter dot com at Philadelphia pst. You can follow
24:37
me at Jeffrey Underscore Warren and again at jeff Kersebs. Give him a follow
24:41
on Twitter and Instagram. He's a great great follow. If you are new
24:45
to listening to us, subscribe on whatever podcast platform you are on, and
24:48
if anything happens your podcast feed, head on over to Philadelphia Sportstable dot com.
24:52
We've got all of our shows over there. We're gonna take a quick
24:56
break to pay some bills. We will be back in just a bit.
25:00
All right, folks, We are back, and again we got Jeff Kerr
25:02
with US guest co hosting for the guys this week, We're gonna get in
25:06
some Major League Baseball and Phillies talk here. Major League Baseball. I think
25:11
over the Memorial Day holiday, Jeff, I wanted to get into this.
25:14
Really, they lost out on an opportunity to reach more folks and viewers because
25:19
on my television, and there may have been other games going on in the
25:22
country, but on my particular television, there were no games on during primetime
25:29
on Memorial Day. And I'm thinking to myself, what is Major League Baseball
25:33
doing here? They are in an era where they are trying to desperately keep
25:37
fans and accumulate more fans, and I think with what we've seen with the
25:44
rule changes this year, games are going by quicker. Fans in general are
25:48
enjoying that more and more. But I think when you have what is essentially
25:52
the unofficial holiday that starts the summer season, it is the perfect opportunity to
25:57
bring baseball into folks homes, and Major League Baseball, at least from my
26:02
vantage point, didn't do a good job of that at all during the Memorial
26:06
Day holiday, and I just wanted to bring it up as a as a
26:08
talking point here on this on this show an episode to say, you know
26:12
what, they've made some strides, but then it's something like this and then
26:15
they take a step back. I don't know what. Did you have any
26:18
thoughts with regard to this. I don't know what Rob Manfrey thinks. Yeah,
26:23
I don't get it. Like the Phillies did not play on the fourth
26:26
until I last year. They play on Labor Day last year. Right,
26:29
they play on Memorial Day this year. And my dad and I were looking
26:33
for some baseball watch. Now we have MLB TV, we could watch whatever,
26:36
but there weren't that many games at night, and there weren't that many
26:38
games in a daytime here. And I realized eight teams didn't play on Memorial
26:42
Day. But what upset me was if I didn't have the NASCAR race I
26:47
got postponed. Yeah, so Monday I had enough to watch on Memorial Day.
26:51
Yeah, and that's frustrating. Yeah, I was really frustrated that I
26:56
didn't have an opportunity to just chill out watching some baseball, you know,
27:00
on Memorial Day during prime time at night, had family picnic, had a
27:06
great time was with family up actually up in the Poconos. It was.
27:08
It was just great. It would have been a perfect opportunity to kick back
27:12
in my recliner in my living room, have a ball game on in the
27:17
background, and to also ponder, as we're moving along here, the best
27:21
way for the Phillies to solve the fifth spot in the rotation issue that they've
27:25
been dealing with all season, because you know, we've been pondering that,
27:27
we've been thinking about how can the Phillies really address this issue? And I
27:33
think, when you're really calling it, I don't think Mick Abel is ready.
27:36
Griff McGarry, according to his recent game, he's just he's not ready
27:41
yet at all. And I think to myself, you know, is Bailey
27:45
Falter going to end up being the best, the quote best option for this
27:49
team in the fifth spot of the rotation because of course Dylan Covey, My
27:53
god, what a freaking disaster that was as we all saw, I mean,
27:56
it was it was beyond pitiful what happened with his start against against the
28:04
Braves in this past series. So I don't know, Jeff, I've been
28:07
thinking to myself, is it Bailey Falter? Do they actually just need to
28:11
bring him back up from Lehigh Valley at this point after sending him down and
28:17
just have him be the fifth spot in the rotation. I don't know,
28:18
have you what have you been thinking about in terms of this particular storyline.
28:22
Well, I was thinking back to March. Yeah, and it looked like
28:26
Andrew Painter. They wanted him to get that job. And if he didn't,
28:30
you had Bailey Faltering Chris for Sanchez. You look like you were pretty
28:34
deep there. Yeah, and Sanchez hasn't been good. Falter has been god
28:40
awful Falter. I didn't think Falter was that great last year, but he
28:44
was good enough to earn the fifth starter job, but they want him to
28:47
get it. Yeah, and Paynter got hurt, and I think they put
28:51
all their eggs in the Andrew Painter basket. Meanwhile, zach Ethlyn, who
28:55
I knew he was gonna pitch good in Tampa because that's just what he does.
28:57
But he was one of the more frustrating pitchers because he was good and
29:00
he would get hurt all the time. Yeah, and you always have an
29:03
injury to blame. He blamed it. He blamed under Kapler, under Girardi.
29:07
I'm like, dude, sometimes it might just be you right, right,
29:11
So I think he needed a fresh start. He got it. I'm
29:14
happy for him, but the real problem with this team is, and it
29:18
kind of fixed a little bitter over the weekend, Aaron Nolan, Zach Wheeler
29:22
just haven't been that great. Yeah, and Wheeler was awesome on Saturday,
29:27
beyond awesome. Nolan was not good. They should have won that game,
29:32
but between the two of them, they just haven't been thereon Nolan, Zach
29:36
Wheeler. And I feel a little better about this team now because Wheeler pitch
29:41
well and Suarez pitch well right last night on Tuesday night. So I'm looking
29:45
at it as that might be fixed. But now what do you do about
29:52
to hit it well? Kyle Schwerber certainly isn't getting the job time. I
29:56
loved your jette, I loved your tweet about him recently. You mean he
30:00
was never really a good hitter or that one? Oh? Yes, absolutely.
30:03
I love how people came back at Jet that one too. But look,
30:07
I mean, he is a power hitter guy. That's who he is
30:11
in Major League Baseball. That's his stick, that is his niche, and
30:14
he just is not getting it done this season. He cannot find that power.
30:18
He cannot find that connection and it has been extremely frustrating. And he's
30:22
not the only one. I mean, I thought Trey Turner was going to
30:26
kind of turn some things around as well in terms of what he was going
30:29
to be able to give this team. I don't know, Jeff, I
30:30
swear to god. It seems like every free agent that comes to the Phillies
30:33
it takes them like three months to get into the groove. For whatever reason.
30:37
I don't know if it's something in the water. I don't know if
30:41
it's the fact that they have to get used to the Philly fan base or
30:44
just the city. I have no idea what it is, but every time
30:47
a free agent comes in, it just takes them such a long period of
30:49
time to get acclimated. It does, and I know why that is.
30:56
Like Trey Turner has played in the last before, he knows what to expect,
30:59
He knows a pitching You would think, yeah, and everybody's like,
31:03
oh, he's been declined for a couple of years. I'm like, he
31:06
actually hasn't. No, he has not been Yeah, there has Nick Castellanos.
31:10
He hasn't been a declining player either. Now Collins Forberer has been what
31:14
he was right, And at the end of the day, you're not paying
31:17
him extremely that much, Like it's only twenty million a year. But he's
31:22
not a good hitter. But he's not a one sixty hitter either. It's
31:25
about two ten to twenty. You would figure he did better with no shift,
31:30
but that just hasn't been the case. And I don't know, Jeff.
31:33
Last the Tuesday Nights game against the Mets, would you have pinshit Bryce
31:37
Harper bought for Pryce? AND's thought probably, I mean, hindsight, being
31:44
twenty twenty, I probably would have. I like what someone said, well
31:47
who would have played second them? Like you worry about that problem when you
31:49
get to him, exactly, And I said, oh, by the way,
31:52
and Mundo Sosa did not play in that game, right, so there's
31:56
your second basement. Yeah, exactly. Again, getting back to the hitching,
32:00
I mean, do you think Bailey Falter ends up needing to be the
32:01
guy you know, who's going to end up taking taking that spot in the
32:06
rotation here in the future? Who else is gonna do it? I know,
32:09
I know you can't bring up this guy. You can't bring up again.
32:13
You can't bring up Griff McGarry again, it's it's a Wednesday when we're
32:15
recording this. I think on Tuesday evening, I think he gave up like
32:19
five or six runs earned runs. I mean, you can't, you can't
32:22
do it at this point. You know he's having he's he's working some things
32:25
out as well. Uh, Mick, Abel, he's still working some things
32:30
out as well. You can't bring these guys up yet. The Browski was
32:34
there in Redding to watch Abel and the watch McGary. That's not a coincidence.
32:38
And this is a couple of weeks ago. And I don't know if
32:42
he gave away in pressed or run there pressed. But I just don't think
32:44
they're options right now, exactly exactly. I don't think there are options either.
32:47
We'd love to hear from you. What do you think the Phillies should
32:50
do? Philadelphia Sports Table at gmail dot com. We will read your email
32:53
here on the show and respond to it. All right, Jeff, we're
32:57
moving along here. Before I let you go by, I wanted to discuss,
33:00
you know, some NFL storylines as we're heading into the two thousand twenty
33:05
three season, but specifically what the best NFL offseason move has been for a
33:12
team during the off season and what that's inevitably going to mean for that team.
33:16
You know, I think, I don't know. I think conventional wisdom
33:21
and you may say this as well, will say that up that the New
33:24
York Jets upgrading from Zach Wilson to Aaron Rodgers is probably the best move that
33:31
any team has done during the off season. Why because it gives the Jets,
33:36
I think, the opportunity to possibly make a make a deep playoff run,
33:42
possibly if even though Rodgers is not as dynamic as he used to be.
33:46
It's I think it's probably the single most impactful on the field move that
33:51
any team has made this off season, just simply because of the difference in
33:54
skill between Zach Wilson and Aaron Rodgers. But I also tend to think too
34:00
with regard to the Denver Broncos and their hiring of Sean Payton. I'm not
34:04
a huge Sean Payton fan by any stretch at all. I'm really not.
34:07
But the Broncos needed to change the subject in Denver away from Russell Wilson and
34:12
what has happened to his quarterback skill level. After the twenty twenty two team
34:16
made everything about the quarterback position and Russell Wilson. So Denver did that by
34:22
hiring a high profile head coach in Sean Payton, and I think that that
34:28
hiring in itself has helped that team kind of move the narrative a bit in
34:31
terms of how Sean Payton is going to be able to get this team out
34:37
of that rut that they were in in twenty twenty two. So in terms
34:39
of the biggest offseason moves, those, I mean, those would be my
34:44
two that I but if I had to pick one, it would definitely be
34:46
Aaron Rodgers going to the Jets. I don't know what are your thoughts here,
34:49
like what was the best NFL offseason move made by a team and why?
34:54
Well, Aaron Rodgers definitely makes the Jets about it. Yeah, I
34:59
agree with that. I mean that was the move they had to make.
35:00
Zach Wilson just wasn't getting get done and that team was too talented. They
35:05
had to they had to do something with If Aaron Rodgers fails, he fails,
35:09
but they're at least they're trying. They haven't had four thousand yard passers
35:13
since Joe Nama. Think about that for a second. I mean, Rogers
35:16
should be able to do that. I actually think this is a quietly a
35:22
move that was talked about early in free actually before free agency, but it's
35:27
kind of gone under the radar bit. Derek Carter the Saints, Okay,
35:30
I like it. I think I think the Saints snea the quarterback. I
35:34
don't think the NFC South is very good, right. They have Chris Alave,
35:37
they have Alvin Kamara, they average she, they have Jawan Johnson,
35:43
they have a good defensive line. Dennis Allen. I don't think he's a
35:45
good coach, but he does not all the coach of defense. I think
35:51
with their schedule they can win ten games with Derek Carr. I'm not saying
35:53
Derek Carr is gonna be Matthew Stafford or anything with the Saints, but I
35:57
think he's a much better quarterback than people give them credit for. I do
36:00
too. I think he had some great years of course in Las Vegas and
36:05
in Oakland when they were in Oakland as well. Derek Carr, I think
36:07
is one of those quiet type of quarterbacks that have given the right tools and
36:12
a coach that is able to bring out his strengths. He's not just going
36:15
to be able to manage an offense, He's actually going to be able to
36:19
drive down the field and he's actually going to be able to win some games
36:22
for you. I think he is that type of quarterback. I really like
36:24
that. I really like that pick, Jeff, because at the end of
36:29
the day, I think Derek Carr is a much better quarterback than who the
36:34
Saints had last year under center. And you're right, I think they're gonna
36:37
end up winning more games this year, especially in that division, and long
36:40
term for that division. I think the Pamps have put themselves in really good
36:45
shape, absolutely grading up to get Bryce Young. Miles Sanders is a good
36:49
running back. We know that they got Adam Feeland. That's gonna be a
36:52
nice security blanket for Young. I think Young's gonna be a really good football
36:57
player. And you put him with Frank Ryk and I like Corday Elijah Overo.
37:01
I think that's gonna help that defense a lot too. Caroline could be
37:06
a surprisingly good team this year that could compete for a playoff spot because of
37:09
that division. I think it's going to be interesting to watch for sure.
37:12
And would that being said, folks, you gotta follow Jeff on the Twitter
37:15
dot com if you have not already at Jeff Kerr CBS. Also same handle
37:21
on Instagram as well. Jeff Man, I really appreciate you filling in for
37:24
the guys this week scheduling issues again. You were on the show two weeks
37:29
ago. Loved having you back this week. Man, come back, join
37:32
us down the road. Let's talk more Philly sports, Let's talk more football
37:36
in the future. I would love to have you back on my friend,
37:38
Jeff. It's always a pleasure coming on here. I get to expand my
37:43
horizons a bid and basically vent to you what I vent on the bird app
37:47
A yeah, absolutely, and we look. We love venting with each other
37:51
when we're not when the record button is not read. Boy, we love
37:55
absolutely going back and forth and venting about a lot of different stuff Philly sports.
38:00
So Jeff, thank you once again, buddy, and folks, we
38:04
still have what we're thrown down on the table. This week. We've got
38:06
a great discussion with Mark Schofield from sp Nation coming your way about the NFL
38:09
quarterback situation. As we're looking at the twenty twenty three season. We're gonna
38:14
take a quick break. Stick with us. We'll be right back all right,
38:16
folks, We are back let's get to some NFL quarterback talk. We've
38:21
got an interesting discussion coming your way here. It's what we're thrown down on
38:24
the table and now on the table. It's great to have back on the
38:30
podcast. We love talking to him about scouting, we love talking to him
38:35
about the quarterback position in college and the NFL. And of course, as
38:38
you know, as I just mentioned, we are going to be talking about
38:42
NFL quarterbacks and what that landscape is going to look like this coming twenty twenty
38:46
three season. We've got He's from sp Nation and he does a fantastic job.
38:52
He's on tons of podcasts out there. Always guests are always like guests,
38:57
either hosting or people have him on various podcasting. Just search them out.
39:00
Mark Scofield from SP Nation. Mark Man, how are you doing,
39:04
buddy. It's good to see you. It's good to be back, chef.
39:07
It is tremendous to be here. It's been a while. I think
39:09
we last shouted in March or so. If it's a bit a little bit,
39:13
you brought the F one guy on to talk about the NFL, which
39:15
is a little a little weird, but into yes, you've been diving into
39:20
the F one stuff like, all right, so we pull back to curtain
39:22
a little bit of folks. Mark and I are talking about Twitter. I'm
39:25
not too sure how long I'm gonna be on there. I know I've been
39:28
saying that on previous podcast. Folks. I understand, however, like like
39:32
you've really your feed is like f one stuff like that. That's that's what
39:36
you're doing right now at this point. Yeah, it's it's interesting because you
39:40
know, well, when ESPNA should hired me, they were like, look,
39:43
your job title is gonna be ffl Rider. Yeah, you know,
39:45
that's still my first love, my priority and all that stuff. But we
39:47
are it's sort of the quiet here. We get OTAs and things like that,
39:52
you know. But Ricky O'Donnell, who's my boss, my editor,
39:54
also said dar the interview process, and shortly after I started, look,
39:58
you know, the canvas is yours, like, right, if you want
40:00
to write about the Red Sox, if you want to write about hockey like
40:04
other stuff that you love, go for it. We just need to get
40:07
you know, your your mission statement is get people read at sbnation dot Comic
40:12
and so yeah, I looked at the landscape of the media world that I'm
40:15
like I love F one. You know, every sports side, every sports
40:20
podcast, you see, the numbers tend to dip in the summer because people
40:23
are traveling vacations, but the NFL remains can and so when the NFL's in
40:28
the offseason, it's like, well numbers. I thought, look F one,
40:31
that's the meat of their season, right, So this might be an
40:34
opportunity to like, you know, carve out a little bit of a little
40:37
you know, a little bit of an audience here, expose ourselves to some
40:39
new people started writing about it last winter and there was really no biters,
40:44
but it started to pick up a little bit as we got into this calendar
40:46
year. And then Michelo Balter shout out to our good friends over there that
40:50
caved us and say, hey, we love the F one stuff. We'd
40:52
like to sponsor a hub. So, you know, they put a platform
40:54
together for it. I got to interview Lando North. I mean, this
40:59
is the craziest, like in the NFL word that we used to write.
41:02
I've never had a team or the NFL themselves come to me and say,
41:07
hey, do you want to one on one most justin Herbert just to talk
41:09
about stuff that's never happened but some one of the higher ups in the pr
41:15
side of things on F one reached out to me, was like, hey,
41:17
we love that what you're doing. This is fantastic stuff. We'd love
41:20
to see it. Would you ever want to chat with a driver one on
41:22
one? And of course my first response was am I being like, I'm
41:25
being this is this is a joke somebody's playing. We do right now.
41:29
A couple of weeks later, there I am one on one Milando Norris right
41:31
before the yards of by Jean Grand Prixi's answered my questions you were talking about
41:35
the track is crisis, it's it's it's been, it's been wild and so
41:39
you know, now F one is telling me, hey, you know,
41:42
we want to see you down at our race. We'd like to get you
41:44
to Hausted. I had some people that work for the president of F one
41:47
literally emailed me the other day said hey, we love your stuff. He
41:51
loves your stuff. Like the president of Roger Goodell isn't reading what I'm doing,
41:54
but the president of F water apparently is. And so it's a nice
41:59
little change of pace. Me pun intended. But look, my first love,
42:01
my first you know, passion, is the NFL. So I still
42:05
love doing that, and you know, it's a nice little balance that I've
42:07
got going. It's fun to do both things. Yeah, you know,
42:10
change things up a bit, which I like. The evolution of sports certainly
42:14
continues year after year, and I think what we're seeing now and even with
42:17
our podcast show, Mark, I mean, we just you know, celebrated
42:21
ten years this past April, and we decided, thank you, thank you.
42:24
We decided, you know what, the Philadelphia Union, they're pretty good
42:29
soccertate while they were last year and you know, get into the finals MLS
42:31
Finals and it's like, you know what, why don't we start talking about
42:35
Philadelphia Union? So done a good segment recently about them, and so I
42:40
things just evolve over time. Why because certain things become more niche, Certain
42:45
aspects of sports become more popular, and everything is niche down to the point
42:49
where people want that type of content, that niche content, and you're giving
42:52
it to them through F one Also, Yeah, Jeff, and I think
42:57
it's part of the media landscape environment we're living it in. Like, you
43:00
know, twenty years ago, we're not talking right, twenty years ago,
43:05
you and I don't know who we be. But in this ward we're livinged
43:08
where you can just get a microphone, get a laptop, get a word
43:12
press out whatever, and just start doing it. If the quality is good,
43:15
people are going to seek it out. And the leagues themselves have gotten
43:19
so much better through social media, through TV deals, through streaming deals at
43:23
finding audiences that then get excited about it and then seek out content about those
43:28
teams those leagues. I mean, I've always said, and it was mostly
43:31
from the NFL side of things, but I think you could expand it to
43:35
sports wide. It's a great time to be a sports fan. Yeah,
43:37
because whatever content you're looking for, whether it's fantasy, whether it's daily fantasy,
43:43
whether it's you know, just XS and o's of soccer, NFL Formula
43:47
one, whatever, you can find it out there. So it's a great
43:52
time to be a sports fan. Absolutely it is. And you know we're
43:53
nichean down on this particular podcast episode why I wanted to bring you on.
43:58
You're a quarterback expert, Mark Mark like getting into this twenty twenty three quarterback
44:05
landscape. I think it's very interesting because we've certainly seen some changes. We
44:08
have quarterbacks going from this team to that team, and you know, since
44:14
we're less than one hundred days away from the start of the NFL season,
44:17
like first and foremost since we're a Philly sports podcast, so of course want
44:22
to get into Jalen Hurts with you. And of course after last season,
44:25
he's now one of the top tier quarterbacks in the league as he helped the
44:29
Eagles get to the super Bowl in his second year as a starter. So
44:32
of course we know his many strengths on the field. We do, but
44:36
I'm wondering, from what you have seen with Jalen Hurts after such a successful
44:39
two twenty two season mark, after incredible development on the field, is surprised
44:45
a lot of us out there who watched the NFL and who follow the Eagles
44:49
for sure, where does Jalen Hurts need to improve his game this coming season?
44:54
Yeah, Jeff, you know, we've talked a lot about Jayalen over
44:57
the years. For me, it will always start with pocket presence, pocket
45:01
management, making plays from the pocket. Like that's where it's always going to
45:06
start. In terms of where Jalen Hurts has improved, where he's done tremendous
45:10
growth, where he's shown tremendous growth, And we talked about that, you
45:15
know, multiple times over the past Caldy year as he has taken those steps
45:19
forward, but I think he needs to continue to showcase that ability to build
45:23
it out even more. But I also think that an area where it might
45:30
not stand out right now, but come October, it's something to keep an
45:35
eye on, come November, even in September. Frankly, how does he
45:38
adjust to the adjustments. And what I mean by that is this, if
45:40
you think back to Jared Goff and the Rams when they had the seventeen run,
45:45
the eighteen run to the Super Bowl, but then the Patriots and some
45:49
of the teams they faced, including the Eagles down the stretch, started to
45:52
figure out, hey, we'll do some too high stuff. We'll do some
45:54
things defensively to sort of change things right at the snap. Confuse Jared Goff
46:00
a bit. It started to work. It seems like teams had that quote
46:04
proverbial playbook right how to slow them down. And then the next year they
46:07
really sort of struggled. They really sort of struggled with that. The adjustments
46:12
are coming. I know it's a sort of cliche, right all, They've
46:15
got a year of film on him and stuff like that, but teams are
46:16
gonna be looking at this Eagles offense after what they did this past year Shane
46:21
Stiket and think, Okay, these might see some things we want to try
46:23
defensively to going up against Jalen Hurts, going up against you know, a
46:27
J. Brown and DeVonta Smith and what this offense and we expect it to
46:30
look like this season? How does he done adjust to the adjustments? You
46:34
know? I think that for me is going to be a critical thing to
46:37
watch. Do we see that sort of rams golf style to drop off after
46:42
the team catches up to what they're doing philosophically it's schimmatically or do they keep
46:45
it rolling right? And so the pocket management that is a big part of
46:50
that. But that's really where I'm going to be focused once this season gets
46:52
under way. Jeff is have teams come up with something that can sort of
46:57
confuse them and sort of give them trouble. And if so, if that
47:00
indeed does happen, do they take a season to figure it out? Oh?
47:04
Can they just say all right, look, we'll hang our hat on
47:07
this. Now, we'll do X, we'll do why, We'll do Z.
47:08
We'll take these adjustments and maybe we have a week or two to sort
47:12
of sort it out, but we can get rolling back again. That's the
47:15
thing that I'm going to be most curious to see because adjusted to the adjustments,
47:17
the great ones do it within the flow of a drive. The average
47:22
ones might need a season to do it. Where does hurts fall sort of
47:24
fall on that scale? I think I think that's a really great point mark
47:29
because one of my concerns in terms of narratives going into this NFL season,
47:32
especially with the Eagles, is that the Eagles are basically the top tier team
47:37
in the NFC. You know, they're they're the powerhouse the NFCA. No,
47:39
no, no, I don't want to hear that, folks, because
47:42
of what you just said, the film that is on this team, and
47:45
how other teams are going to be able to adjust to that this coming season.
47:49
I think that's I think that is absolutely spot on, and it kind
47:52
of like, you know, kind kind of getting into our next subject matter
47:55
here, because like what I think is interesting about certain teams, teams that
48:00
just need to get to that next level, to level that the Eagles were
48:04
at last year. There's four teams in particular that have the longest droughts without
48:08
winning their division and those are, of course, the Browns. It's been
48:12
thirty three seasons since the Browns have won a division. The Lions it's been
48:15
twenty nine seasons, the Raiders twenty seasons, and the New York Jets have
48:21
also been twenty seasons as well. So I'm wondering, Mark, due to
48:24
the recent changes and alterations in the quarterback position with most of these teams,
48:30
which of these teams has a better chance of actually winning their division based on
48:34
the quarterback play this coming season? And why? What are your thoughts?
48:38
Yeah, I mean, you can make a strong case that three actually have
48:44
a shot, right, That's what I'm thinking. The Raiders you can kind
48:47
of put them to the side, right because one, we're hearing now that
48:50
Jimmy Garoppolo had this like secret sort of foot surgery. And oh, by
48:53
the way, they got Patrick Mahomes. No, they've got Justin Herbert to
48:58
deal with. Now you've got Sean Payte in the division like that, AFC
49:00
West still looks a little bit of an uphill battle for the Raiders right now.
49:05
So I think the Browns the lines of the Jets, there's at least
49:07
a case to be made with the Browns. It's Look, say what you
49:10
want about Deshaun Watson. We understand that situation. I don't even like talking
49:15
about it too much. But now he's got second year in the Kevin Stefanski
49:19
like, they've got some talent around the quarterback position, and you know,
49:22
they could take a step forward. And so I think the Browns, you
49:24
could say, there's a case to be made there. You know, the
49:28
interest in one with the Jets is it's easy, right, It's Aaron Rodger,
49:31
right right. This was a team that had Offensive Rookie of the Year
49:35
and Garrett will said it will record of this on Wednesday, and Robert Salad
49:37
just described Wilson's route running nets juicy, which is absolutely tremendous, but offensive
49:44
Rookie of the Gary Garrett Wilson, defensive Rookie of the Year in Sauce Garner.
49:47
Bruce Hall could have been Offensive Rookie of the years. It didn't get
49:50
hurt. This was a tremendously talented team. Wilson caught like eighty three passes
49:53
for over a thousand yards with one of the worst quarterback situations in the league.
49:59
Now he gets Aaron Rogers. Yeah, I mean that seems like a
50:01
massive leap and improvement in production potential at the quarterback position. But probably you've
50:07
got Josh Allen and the Bills. You've got two Mike with Daniel in the
50:10
Dolphins, two playoff teams from a year ago. And Bill Belichick is quietly
50:15
built what I think would be a tremendously talented defense. We have questions about
50:19
Matt Jones and the offense, and so yes, the Jets of drastically turned
50:22
their quarterback situation around. That might just be a very difficult division to win.
50:27
Yeah, it's leading to the Detroit Lions. And look, I think
50:31
Chicago has gotten better. I think there's still probably a season away from really
50:36
being competitive. The Packers, what do they look like in a post Rogers
50:38
world? The Vikings, you know, is this the last year of Kirk
50:42
Cousins, Like, what does that team look like? We're hearing again,
50:45
we're doing this on the thirty first of May. We might get a Dalvin
50:47
Cook release or cut by the end of the day. Like they're really up
50:51
against path perspective, and they've got Justin Jefferson to think about at some point.
50:55
The Detroit Lions are in a really good position, and I know people
50:59
sort of pounded away at their draft a little bit, because you know,
51:02
you go running back, you go linebacker in the first round of the draft,
51:07
and it's like, is this nineteen eighty six? Do you know?
51:09
But then you add a tight end to the second round. Yeah, Brian
51:13
Branch in the second round. Like, I think they've got a very talented
51:16
team. And this was a team that was in it until the last Sunday
51:20
of the season. And so I look at the Lions. I look at
51:23
what they've done with Jared Goff. I look at Ben Johnson, their offensive
51:27
coordinator. Who if you see what he did with Goff, and it's eerily
51:30
similar to the McVay situation, you know, with one little twist, but
51:35
you see a lot of concepts like you know why Cross and West Coast Staple
51:39
And I wrote this piece last fall last winter where Golf was running that at
51:45
Cal like he's going back to his college tape and saying, hey, he
51:47
likes this stuff, Fine, we'll run it. And so I think,
51:51
look those three teams, Cleveland, Detroit and the New York Jets. You
51:53
can make a case, yeah, because of the approvements that they've made at
51:55
the quarterback position over the past year or two, they could be in the
51:59
mixt of their division. I just think because you know, Cleveland's got Cincinnati,
52:02
Cleveland's got Baltimore. Like Cleveland's got to improve Pittsburgh. Steteris team to
52:06
contend the Jets. They've got the Patriots, they've got the Bills, they've
52:08
got the Dolphins. The lines might be in the best shape of the three.
52:12
Now. I think that's a really good pick too. And I think
52:15
when we look at, you know, where certain quarterbacks were last season,
52:21
Mark and you see where they've either moved to or just how they have developed
52:25
or not developed or even regressed. You know, every year we just see
52:30
quarterbacks that don't perform like they did the previous year. I mean, let's
52:34
we can look at Carson Wentz. How many times have you and I talked
52:36
about Carson Wentz? Yeah, a lot, a lot. I mean we
52:38
saw it with Russell Wilson of course last year, that that incredible regression on
52:44
the field. You know, those are a couple names we can look to
52:46
which quarterbacks or one quarterback I should say, this coming season, do you
52:52
think is gonna kind of take that step back and it might be a little
52:54
bit of a surprise for us. What do you think you know? It's
52:58
interested. It's similarly to the a piece of the puzzle we were just talking
53:01
about. With respect, it hurts and the Eagles. And I think if
53:04
you look in the division and you look at Daniel Jones, you look at
53:07
Daniel Jones year two under Brian Dabele, like they took a big step for
53:10
and he took a big step Ford. He earned himself a new contract.
53:15
But how much of that was Jones himself? How much of that is what
53:17
Brian Dabele did with him and how he used him, and how much of
53:21
that can they do here in year two when as we just talked about,
53:24
teams are now going to know, Okay, this is what the offense it
53:27
looks like, this is what they'd like to do. I mean, he
53:29
ran He had one hundred and twenty accord of the Sports Info Solutions, one
53:32
hundred and twenty designed runs last year as a quarterbacks double. That's a big
53:37
lead. Are they gonna do that again? You know? Or are they
53:39
gonna Is he gonna be more of a podet pastor if they do that again,
53:43
is he gonna have the same kind of success because his numbers like his
53:45
epa per Russian attempt. It was like beyond Lamar Jackson was doing as a
53:50
runner. They did a lot of good stuff schematically with him, both in
53:52
the run game and in the passing game. But will defenses have figured that
53:55
out? You know, will the Eagles have figured that out? Well,
53:59
they have an answer for that, and and so that's what I'm sort of
54:02
looking at with Jones, Like tremendous credits to him, you know, because
54:07
all the noise was they're gonna tank, They're gonna be a bad roster,
54:09
They're gonna draft a quarterback. You know, that's where CJ. Shroud is
54:14
gonna end up, Brush John is gonna end up. And they got to
54:16
the playoffs and a year when prior to this season, Jeff Joe Shame was
54:21
like, look, it is what it is. Yeah, I remember the
54:23
day he said that. He's like, the roster is what it is.
54:24
It is the head we were doubting. I'm like, man, cut us
54:28
to Hemp for being honest, because most general managers say, you know,
54:30
we're gonna make the best of it. I trust the people in the men
54:34
and women in this building. He's like, it is what it is.
54:36
Man, we'll see what happens. They got to the playoffs, right,
54:37
Jones was expected to be in his final year good a new deal, So
54:42
credit to them. But I do wonder if that sort of regression candidate,
54:45
if Jones could be a player to keep an eye on that. I think
54:47
that's very interesting for sure. And you know, as we were talking about,
54:52
you know, Jalen Hurts earlier, it could be argued that he was
54:54
one of those under the radar players before the start of last season, before
54:59
the start of two twenty two season mark. And I'm wondering in terms of
55:02
that under the radar quarterback as we're looking to this coming season. You know,
55:07
who do you think is the most under the radar quarterback to succeed this
55:12
coming year? You know, given their offensive scheme, given the coaching prowess,
55:16
and just the position of what their offense is overall. And I'm wondering
55:21
if you've already mentioned this particular quarterback. I was actually thinking perhaps Mac Jones,
55:27
you know, with your your your new England Patriots team. But I
55:30
don't know who is that under the radar player that could surprise us this year.
55:35
I mean, I would love to see it be Matt Jos Patriots are
55:37
taking the field with OTAs and I will say, look, you know,
55:40
Belichick smiling when he met with the media today. They got damned for breaking
55:45
some rules, so maybe you could say he's cheated again. Like I don't
55:47
know, League, I mean, Belichick's happy and they're they're breaking rules again.
55:52
That could be dangerous for everybody else. But I mean, you know,
55:53
Matt Jones could be a candidate. Dare you look at Trevor Lawrence year
55:58
two under Dougy like you could be a that could be another sort of you
56:01
know, and they made the playoffs. I don't know if he's really sort
56:05
of under the radar, but that could be a name to watch there.
56:07
I'm very curious about Kenny Pickett and what that looks like in year two.
56:13
I think, you know, they draft Washington, the big tight end from
56:15
Georgia. I'm eyeing they've brant in Allan Robinson. I'm eyeing a you know,
56:20
a two tight end package where you've got Washington, you've got friar Mouth.
56:22
You know, you can do some stuff with the run game because Washington
56:24
is like a extra offensive lineman. Robinson and Pickens on the outside that could
56:29
be a fun offensive Naja Harris behind it. But I think the player you
56:35
thought, the quarterback you thought I'd have in mind is Jared Goff. Yeah,
56:37
and I do think that that's fair. I do think that's a fair
56:39
sense. But too because I think the Lions could be primed for a good
56:44
season. You know, they were so close last year. I know expectations
56:46
were sky high, but I do think that Jared Goff, believe it or
56:51
not, could have a nice season this year. I think that's a really
56:54
interesting That's what I thought you were gonna say. So again, folks talking
56:59
to Mark Scofield from SB Nation at Mark Scofield on Twitter. Got a lot
57:04
of F one stuff coming through his feed, so you know, be on
57:06
the lookout for that for sure. But moving along here, Mark, you
57:09
know, for years, you know, we've talked about the transition from being
57:14
a college quarterback to the pro quarterback and what that's like for these players,
57:20
and needless to say, it is not easy at all for them. So
57:22
but I'm wondering, you know, because we got some rookies that we're gonna
57:25
really gonna be keeping our eyes on this coming season. Which rookie quarterback do
57:30
you think is really going to surprise us the most this coming season. You
57:32
know, will it be CJ. Stroud, Anthony Richardson or even Bryce Young?
57:37
What are your thoughts with regard to you know, the top tier I
57:39
should say quote top tier rookie quarterbacks. Yeah, I mean CJ. Stroud
57:46
was m QB one and I loved him coming out and I love everything that
57:51
he talks about at the combine and I'm a huge fan of his game.
57:54
But the two that I'm I think are in the best position to be successful
57:59
out of the gate are Anthony Richardson and Bryce Young, And for different reasons,
58:02
they're obviously different quarterbacks. Right with the Young it comes down to everything
58:07
they put Jeff around the quarterback position. I mean, I knew you and
58:10
I talked before the draft and I you know, on other radio shows and
58:15
things like that, people would ask, you know, who are the who's
58:19
the quarterback you think is going to be QB one when this is all said
58:22
and done, Like, who's the quarterback that's going to have the most success
58:24
They're working year? And this is again pre draft, and I would say
58:29
the same thing every time whoever career, A lot of drafts, right whoever
58:32
the Panthers draft, whether it's Young, whether it's Stroud, whether it's whether
58:37
it's Will Levis even And I would say this before Carolina came up to one.
58:39
I was saying, look, if they're sitting there at nine, and
58:43
that's where Will Levis comes off the board. Levis is going to be in
58:45
a great position. Why you get Frank Wright, You're Thomas Crown, got
58:49
Parks Fraser, You've got Due Staley, You've got Josh McCowen, You've got
58:52
Jeff I mean Jim Caldwell. Excuse me, you know, just rattling off
58:55
the names from their coaches. Now, that is a wealth of experience around
59:00
the quarterback position and a walf of experience of quarterback development. I mean Frank
59:04
Reich was in the building. What Carson Wentz went from intriguing rookie two man,
59:07
this guy's a super Bowl quote caliber QB. This is an MVP cand
59:12
in year two like they've Josh McCowen was a player slash coach next to Sam
59:15
Donald during Donald's rookie year. And if you remember, Donald had his debut
59:21
Monday Night, throws a pick six on his first NFL throw. Then that
59:23
comes back to beat Detroit. After the game, Donald's panners. Who did
59:28
they hug first? Wasn't Sam, it was Josh. And that moment always
59:31
stuck with me because it's clear that Josh was helping him and now he's in
59:35
the building, and so I think Bryce Jonnan isn't in such a good position
59:37
to be successful because of that wisdom around the quarterback position. It's gonna be
59:43
and there's a go ahead, go ahead, But then there's Anthony richardson right,
59:46
because there's proof of concept. If you're Jim Ursy, you know,
59:52
you look at what Shane Stikeen did well Jalen Hurts, and you've got the
59:57
roadmap, and that's what they're gonna do there. It's gonna be very similar
1:00:00
to what we saw from Hurts a season ago where they made some playoffs but
1:00:04
they got bounced by Tampa Bay. But it was run heavy. They used
1:00:07
him in the run game, they used some half field concepts to get them
1:00:10
comfortable. And then a year two under stike in year three for Hurts overall,
1:00:15
they went to the Super Bowl and he exploded and for a brief period
1:00:19
of time was the highest paid player in NFL history. That's the roadmap for
1:00:22
Anthony Richardson, and there's proof of concept there. So Richardson, Yun,
1:00:28
I think they're in such good spots to be successful. I can't wait to
1:00:30
see what's gonna happen with both of them. Even with CJ. Stroud down
1:00:32
in Houston. I think that's gonna be an interesting situation for him as well.
1:00:37
And to close us out here, Mark, you know, there are
1:00:39
certain NFL teams that appear to be you know, I would say punting the
1:00:44
season perhaps on the quarterback position and the hopes of you know, that they
1:00:49
can I guess that quarterbacks are gonna win or lose games for them. You
1:00:54
know, I'm looking at the Atlanta Falcons, Tampa Bay buck Meers, even
1:00:58
the Washington Command here. Which of these teams and it may not even be
1:01:02
one of these teams that don't have a strong quarterback. Do you think is
1:01:07
going to really have the toughest season because they just lack the talent at the
1:01:10
quarterback position? What are your thoughts? Yeah, I mean, I think
1:01:15
it's interesting. There's a lot of buzz about how there's a lot of buzz
1:01:19
about how Again I'm in the DC area, you know this listeners might not
1:01:22
but I'm in the DC area. The Boston accent makes it seem like up
1:01:25
in Boston. But now I'm in DC. There's a lot of buzz around
1:01:30
Howell down here, and I think there's a reason to somewhat be excited because
1:01:34
they have Eric the enemy now, and I think there's an idea that that
1:01:37
offense it's gonna put him in a position to be successful. There's probably not
1:01:40
similar buzz around, you know, Desmond Ritter, but I think when you
1:01:45
look at what Atlanta has around him, what Arthur Smith did with Ryan Tannehill.
1:01:51
Look, this is gonna be a run heavy offense. It's gonna be
1:01:53
a lot of play action, it's gonna be a lot of RPOs. And
1:01:55
I think they're gonna minimize the ask of Desmond Ritter, and so I think
1:02:00
they can bootstrap it schematically in a sense. Then you get to Tampa Bay,
1:02:04
I don't know what they're doing. I'm very curious to see what this
1:02:08
quarterback competition looks like between Baker Mayfield and Kyle Trask. I'm very curious to
1:02:13
see what this offense looks like schematically and conceptually. That's the one that I
1:02:16
think I'm most unsettled with respect to the quarterback position. Because you look at
1:02:22
Bietam and you look at what he's done, you look at what Author Smith
1:02:24
has done. I think they're gonna find schematically the way to get it done
1:02:27
with those two franchises and almost even minimize what the quarterback has asked to do
1:02:30
in certain situations. I don't get that seem sort of vibe and feeling about
1:02:34
Tampa Bay. Now, maybe I'm wrong. I've been wrong before, I'll
1:02:37
be wrong again. I'm always up to admit it when i'm wrong, But
1:02:39
right now, I just I don't I want to see it on the field
1:02:43
from Tampa Bay before. I think this situation could work out at the quarterback
1:02:46
position this year. It's gonna be interesting to see all of this this coming
1:02:51
twenty twenty three season. Folks love Nichean down here with Mark Scofield from SB
1:02:55
Nation. Mark, Man, it was great talking to you. Come back
1:02:59
join us down the road. We'd love to talk more football with you.
1:03:01
Probably not going to get into Formula one, but I definitely want to talk
1:03:04
more football with you, my friend. Look, I'm always happy to talk
1:03:07
football. I'm always something to talk whatever you want to chat with. Jeff,
1:03:09
because it's just great spending time with you. You're you're a dear friend,
1:03:14
somebody that I've gotten to know very well in business, and you know,
1:03:17
I love catching up with you before and after shows, even in between
1:03:21
shows. It's always great. But whenever you want to talk ball, but
1:03:22
do you know where to find me? Absolutely, let's talk over the summer,
1:03:25
we'll talk more football. My friend Downs good Man. Absolutely love talking
1:03:30
to Mark every single time he comes on the show. You know, it's
1:03:32
like I learn more about the world of football in some way, shape or
1:03:37
form. Hope you have as well. Well, that's gonna do it for
1:03:39
us this week on this episode, it was great having Jeff Kerr from CBS
1:03:45
Sports on first half the show with us to get into the Sixers, the
1:03:49
Phillies, and then getting into some NFL talk with Jeff there as well.
1:03:52
Always appreciate Jeff filling in for the guys when they're just unable to jump on
1:03:57
the pod because of their schedules. But we'd love to hear from you.
1:04:00
If there's anything going on the world of Philly sports you want us to get
1:04:02
into and talk about have a conversation about. Email us Philadelphia Sports Table at
1:04:08
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1:04:11
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you can always get every show over at Philadelphia Sportstable dot com. We've got
1:04:29
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1:04:30
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1:04:35
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1:04:39
We've got some music reviews as well, and I know we're gonna be getting
1:04:43
into that a little bit more this coming summer and in the future as well.
1:04:47
All Right, folks, you all take care and we will catch you
1:04:49
next time. Two