Latest / Inside the Birds: A Philadelphia Eagles Podcast / Football at Four: DiCecco's Updated Look at the NFC East
Transcript
- 0:00Speaker 1: It's time for Football at four with Andrew to check O.
- 0:03Speaker 1: We have a little NFC East mail bag questions today
- 0:06Speaker 1: for Andrew. Thanks to everybody who submitted your questions for
- 0:10Speaker 1: Andrew today. We had a good mail bags this week.
- 0:12Speaker 1: This is the NFC East version for Andrew to Checko
- 0:16Speaker 1: who joins us right now on the Sports Bash Andrew,
- 0:20Speaker 1: what's going on?
- 0:21Speaker 2: Man? Hey Mike, I'm doing great.
- 0:23Speaker 1: Good to be with you. So you got aj Brown
- 0:28Speaker 1: gone to Boston, Jalen Brown coming to Philadelphia. It has
- 0:32Speaker 1: been a massive day for the Philadelphia and New England
- 0:37Speaker 1: fan bases. Again, crazy stuff is happening, but people still
- 0:40Speaker 1: getting ready for the start of training camp, which is
- 0:43Speaker 1: less than a month to go. Here and we'll start
- 0:46Speaker 1: with the question right down here in Wildwood Brian and
- 0:48Speaker 1: Wildwood wants to know, Hey, Andrew, pick your favorite NFC
- 0:52Speaker 1: East quarterback who has the biggest year out of Hurts, Prescott,
- 0:57Speaker 1: Daniels or Dark.
- 0:59Speaker 2: Well, my favorite NFC East quarterback has you know? I'm
- 1:02Speaker 2: gonna say Jayden Daniels because I've liked he was my
- 1:05Speaker 2: top rated quarterback coming out of the draft a couple
- 1:07Speaker 2: of years ago, and I like his athleticism, he doesn't
- 1:11Speaker 2: have the frame to support the way that he plays,
- 1:14Speaker 2: so you worry about longevity purposes, kind of like RG three.
- 1:18Speaker 2: But I just like the way that he plays the position,
- 1:21Speaker 2: and that dates back to to his college years. Then
- 1:24Speaker 2: I would have to say jaywhen Hurts, because Jalen Hurts
- 1:27Speaker 2: is a player that when I was a senior draft
- 1:30Speaker 2: analyst at a certain outlet, when I had to write
- 1:34Speaker 2: four players, four or five players that I thought were
- 1:36Speaker 2: going to sneak into the first round, one of the
- 1:38Speaker 2: players that I put in there was Jalen Hurts just
- 1:40Speaker 2: because the winning pedigree, the maturity that he always exhibited
- 1:44Speaker 2: when he was there at Alabama or Oklahoma Oklahoma, and
- 1:48Speaker 2: I just thought that his skillst really translated to the
- 1:52Speaker 2: NFL and he was really fun to watch.
- 1:55Speaker 1: All right, So he likes Jaydan Daniels. There a lot
- 1:57Speaker 1: of quarterback you know, conversation of or as we get
- 2:00Speaker 1: closer here, Jackson Dart very intrigued by where he goes
- 2:04Speaker 1: in year number two for the Giants. This question regards
- 2:09Speaker 1: his receiver, Molik Neighbors before that injury, Andrew, did you
- 2:13Speaker 1: see Neighbors as a potential top five wide receiver in
- 2:17Speaker 1: the League.
- 2:19Speaker 2: Top five might be a little strong, but he was
- 2:21Speaker 2: certainly trending in top eight the territory, and I think
- 2:24Speaker 2: a lot of questions are gonna be surrounding Melik Neighbors.
- 2:27Speaker 2: How does he respond from the injury? But this is
- 2:29Speaker 2: a player that he looks the part. He wins his
- 2:33Speaker 2: matchups routinely. I think he's going to continue to get
- 2:35Speaker 2: better the more of repetitions and the more experience he gets.
- 2:38Speaker 2: The sky is really the limit for him. I don't
- 2:40Speaker 2: know that you can really cap what he's able to do.
- 2:42Speaker 2: He has the body type to be able to go
- 2:44Speaker 2: up and get the football, really good route runner, and
- 2:46Speaker 2: he's explosive, So I think, really you're going to see
- 2:49Speaker 2: him emerge. Return back to for him this year. But
- 2:53Speaker 2: I liked him quite a bit and he got off
- 2:55Speaker 2: to a fast start.
- 2:57Speaker 1: This one has to do with Washington and it's some
- 3:00Speaker 1: with Jayden Daniels here. Now that Jayden Daniels is back,
- 3:05Speaker 1: how much better do you think the Commanders will actually
- 3:08Speaker 1: be this year? They had high expectations coming off of
- 3:11Speaker 1: the NFC Championship Game the year before.
- 3:15Speaker 2: Yeah, they sure did. I don't know that I'm fully
- 3:17Speaker 2: sold on the Commanders based off of roster construction. But
- 3:20Speaker 2: as I mentioned, I do like Jayden Daniels quite a bit.
- 3:23Speaker 2: Now I'm not saying I believe he's the best quarterback
- 3:25Speaker 2: in the NFC East. I think Dak Prescott is, but
- 3:27Speaker 2: my favorite to watch play the position has been Jayden
- 3:31Speaker 2: Daniels and he does give them a much higher floor
- 3:34Speaker 2: when he's available. And you look at some of the
- 3:37Speaker 2: pieces that they've added, some of the coaches that they've added,
- 3:40Speaker 2: I believe that you're going to see a lot more
- 3:42Speaker 2: structure with the organization. I think they're sort of a
- 3:45Speaker 2: middling team right now. They're not quite ready, Mike, in
- 3:48Speaker 2: my estimation to make an indent in the NFC East,
- 3:51Speaker 2: I think it's going to come down to Philadelphia in Dallas.
- 3:54Speaker 2: But I do like some of the things that the
- 3:56Speaker 2: Commanders have done, and we'll see if they continue to
- 3:58Speaker 2: trend in a positive direction with j Daniel's there under center.
- 4:03Speaker 1: Another question for Andrew and our NFC East mail, but
- 4:05Speaker 1: he just wanted us to do with the Giants about
- 4:07Speaker 1: John Harball bringing instant culture. Last year the Giants fell
- 4:11Speaker 1: apart in some fourth quarters. How much does Harball eliminate that.
- 4:18Speaker 2: Well, I think adding someone like John Harball is ultimately
- 4:21Speaker 2: going to have a dramatic effect in discipline and being
- 4:25Speaker 2: able to close out games. I just don't know if
- 4:28Speaker 2: the Giants have enough talent to be able to match that.
- 4:30Speaker 2: But you are going to see a much more fundamentally
- 4:33Speaker 2: sound team, one that should be able to close out
- 4:35Speaker 2: games if they are in position to do so. And
- 4:39Speaker 2: when you look at just the NFC East as a whole,
- 4:41Speaker 2: I think John Harball was one of the biggest offseason
- 4:44Speaker 2: because it does add an element of stability and structure
- 4:47Speaker 2: to a team that was sort of just haphazardly going
- 4:51Speaker 2: by the wayside a little bit, and they'd never really
- 4:53Speaker 2: had a direction. You never really knew what the Giants
- 4:56Speaker 2: were and there's not a lot you can do for injuries.
- 4:59Speaker 2: And I think you have to keep an eye on
- 5:00Speaker 2: Camp Scattaboo and Jackson Dark because of the way they
- 5:03Speaker 2: play the game. But with John Harball at the helm,
- 5:05Speaker 2: there that CEO coach that I know some may roll
- 5:09Speaker 2: their eyes over, but I mean he's had a remarkable
- 5:12Speaker 2: track record of success and I don't know that he's
- 5:14Speaker 2: going to be able to uplift the Giants to the
- 5:17Speaker 2: prominence fully, but I do believe you're going to see
- 5:20Speaker 2: them make some strides, all right.
- 5:22Speaker 1: This one is from Steven lower Township. He said, the
- 5:26Speaker 1: Cowboys have all their offense back, but what about their defense?
- 5:30Speaker 1: Is the defense any better than it was a year ago?
- 5:34Speaker 2: It is. They They've added some different pieces. They have
- 5:37Speaker 2: Donovan az Aroku, a Williamstown guy who's entering year two.
- 5:40Speaker 2: Savone Rebel, the cornerback who was injured for half of
- 5:44Speaker 2: last season. He was a player out of East Carolina
- 5:46Speaker 2: that I like quite a bit. I have the sense
- 5:48Speaker 2: that Christian Parker will really like a player of his
- 5:52Speaker 2: makeup and be able to get the most out of
- 5:54Speaker 2: that player. When you look at their offense clearly, and
- 5:57Speaker 2: as you outlined, the offense is not the problem. The
- 6:00Speaker 2: defense surrendering leads and things of that nature. They've patched
- 6:04Speaker 2: certain areas of that group that I think you're gonna
- 6:06Speaker 2: be able to see noticeable differences this year. And with
- 6:09Speaker 2: Christian Parker there, and you know this, and I've spoken
- 6:12Speaker 2: really highly of Christian Parker for a number of years now,
- 6:15Speaker 2: I have full confidence that he's going to have that
- 6:17Speaker 2: defense trending in the right direction. And some of the
- 6:20Speaker 2: pieces that they've added, whether it be through the draft
- 6:22Speaker 2: or free agencies, certainly reflect Christian's vision, just having been
- 6:26Speaker 2: around him for a couple of years about what he
- 6:29Speaker 2: looks for in certain players. So you're going to see
- 6:31Speaker 2: a defense that's much more consistent and much more disciplined
- 6:35Speaker 2: than as well as having better communication.
- 6:37Speaker 1: All Right, we're talking with Andrew to checko our offseason
- 6:40Speaker 1: summer mailbags continue. These are a very NFC East focused Today.
- 6:44Speaker 1: We got some NFC East questions here. This one's on
- 6:46Speaker 1: Washington and Terry McLaurin. Can the commanders really count on
- 6:52Speaker 1: Terry McLaurin to be the top guy anymore?
- 6:56Speaker 2: I don't think so. I really like Terry McLaurin. I
- 6:59Speaker 2: think he's more I've always viewed him as more of
- 7:02Speaker 2: a two and as a complimentary piece. He's been cast
- 7:05Speaker 2: as the one, and he's had great success. I'm not
- 7:07Speaker 2: taking anything away from him, but you know, he's been
- 7:10Speaker 2: banged up. He's a little bit older now and and
- 7:13Speaker 2: I think because of that, I have my questions as
- 7:17Speaker 2: to whether or not he can really you know, take
- 7:19Speaker 2: that top mantle as as the primary receiving uh, you know,
- 7:23Speaker 2: the receiving element of that of that offense. So I'm
- 7:28Speaker 2: not quite sold on it. He's a good player, not
- 7:30Speaker 2: a great player. And if you have an offense that
- 7:32Speaker 2: it runs through Terry McLaurin, I think that, you know,
- 7:35Speaker 2: you probably should have done some better roster management to
- 7:39Speaker 2: make sure that that wouldn't be the case. But well,
- 7:43Speaker 2: go ahead, go ahead, go ahead. There's still going to
- 7:45Speaker 2: be consistent. There's still going to be he's still going
- 7:48Speaker 2: to be able to get his numbers. But in terms
- 7:50Speaker 2: of just being a number one wide receiver, you know,
- 7:54Speaker 2: as as it's defined, I just have my questions with
- 7:57Speaker 2: him being able to take over games as he has
- 7:59Speaker 2: in the past.
- 8:00Speaker 1: Well, yeah, I was gonna add you know, they changed
- 8:02Speaker 1: their offensive coordinator there as well, Kingsbury. They had debo
- 8:05Speaker 1: there last year. He was kind of banged up. They
- 8:07Speaker 1: never got to implement that there. So I'm wondering what
- 8:11Speaker 1: David Blough how much there we're talking about Philadelphia and
- 8:14Speaker 1: the changes to their offense. What difference will the Washington offensive.
- 8:20Speaker 1: I guess that remains to be seen.
- 8:22Speaker 2: Yeah, I think you're going to see David Blau, who,
- 8:24Speaker 2: by the way, was a quarterback up Purdue. You talk
- 8:26Speaker 2: about Sean manny and having a fast rise. David blow
- 8:29Speaker 2: should be in that same category. I imagine you're going
- 8:32Speaker 2: to see more detailed mechanics and you'll be able to
- 8:36Speaker 2: tell the most noticeable difference as it pertains to Jadon
- 8:39Speaker 2: Daniels and how he plays the position, just given David
- 8:42Speaker 2: Blouse background, but in terms of what he's going to
- 8:44Speaker 2: bring from an offensive standpoint, his philosophy, there's not a
- 8:48Speaker 2: lot to go off of there. But that's that's also
- 8:51Speaker 2: a reason to have some questions. He's unproven, he's not
- 8:55Speaker 2: an established coordinator, so until you really see it on
- 8:58Speaker 2: the field, you really have no way of knowing what
- 9:00Speaker 2: that offense is going to look like. I'm more so
- 9:02Speaker 2: banking on Jane Daniels being healthy, and you saw the
- 9:06Speaker 2: caliber player that he is when he's healthy. Their offensive
- 9:08Speaker 2: line's not that bad. I do like Terry McLaurin, although
- 9:11Speaker 2: I like him more as a number two wide receiver
- 9:13Speaker 2: at this stage of his career. And they've added Chicka
- 9:17Speaker 2: Konkwo as a tight end in free agency, I believe,
- 9:19Speaker 2: and he's a solid player. They've added some pieces. I
- 9:22Speaker 2: just don't think that they're ready to contend for anything
- 9:24Speaker 2: in any meaningful way.
- 9:27Speaker 1: All right, Well, ask fit one more in here for Andrew. Andrew,
- 9:30Speaker 1: the last time you mentioned Christian Parker how much you
- 9:33Speaker 1: like him for Dallas. But it's their defense actually better
- 9:37Speaker 1: now without Michah Parsons.
- 9:41Speaker 2: Well, I mean, they didn't have Michael Parsons last year,
- 9:44Speaker 2: and you're never going to be a better defense without
- 9:46Speaker 2: someone like a Micah Parsons. But they've added pieces, so
- 9:50Speaker 2: it kind of liked the Eagles wide receivers. You're hoping
- 9:52Speaker 2: that the group that that they've assembled is going to
- 9:55Speaker 2: be able to atone for the loss of an AJ
- 9:57Speaker 2: Brown and I kind of look at how they've structured
- 9:59Speaker 2: their pass rush and they're hoping that the conglomerate of
- 10:02Speaker 2: players that they have can sort of make up for
- 10:05Speaker 2: the loss of production that a Michael Parsons has. But
- 10:08Speaker 2: I think the biggest difference for me will be in
- 10:10Speaker 2: the Dallas secondary where they've solidified certain areas and to me,
- 10:15Speaker 2: that was their leakiest spot on defense. So with Christian
- 10:19Speaker 2: Parker having the defensive back background, knowing the impact that
- 10:22Speaker 2: he had in Philadelphia, when it comes to fine tuning technique,
- 10:27Speaker 2: the details, the communication, those are all things that you
- 10:29Speaker 2: should look for with Dallas, because when you look at
- 10:32Speaker 2: what they were last year, you're going to be able
- 10:34Speaker 2: to see a noticeable difference this year.
- 10:37Speaker 1: Well, we'll look forward to see that rivalry take place.
- 10:40Speaker 1: Thanksgiving Day, of course, the Eagles take on the Cowboys,
- 10:43Speaker 1: and of course you could listen to every Eagles game
- 10:45Speaker 1: right here on ninety seven three ESPN. All right, keep
- 10:49Speaker 1: the email back questions coming for the rest of the summer.
- 10:51Speaker 1: We'll start our summer division previews here on the Sports
- 10:55Speaker 1: Bash as well. Tomorrow we are off, so Josh talking
- 11:00Speaker 1: with Adam on tomorrow's show. But Andrew have a great
- 11:04Speaker 1: Fourth of July weekend, man, you.
- 11:07Speaker 2: Too, Mike, Thanks for the questions. Everybody,