(upbeat music) - Hello everybody and welcome to a Monday victorious Monday edition of the PH.O.Y. Eagles podcast, Bo Wolf and Rich Hoffman, which can only mean one of two things. Either Zach Berman has been waylaid by travel delays or Rich, there's a bit of a nuzzy situation going on behind the scenes with the Eagles reporting group, but I think it's probably the former. - I think it's probably the former, but I think we're gonna need some confirmation in the following days if Vince is going New York Magazine behind the scenes here and putting out some fires. - Yeah, well, we'll find out and it's a big day because it is the eve of the release. Of the franchise, the Eagles, a curated history of the birds, written by Zach Berman, get your pre-orders in today. Last day to do so, this bad boy drops tomorrow. You're gonna wanna devour it all for the Eagles fans there. You can see the beautiful cover right here, but we do have a lot to get to. We will get Zach back on the show tomorrow with Fran as well, but Rich, day after. A game in which the Eagles all but dominated, save for several key examples of not doing so and giving away points. They outgained the Saints for 60 to 219. They shut down this vaunted Saints offense and you feel good, bit of a proof of concept game to some degree, but there's also so much to talk about, to hand a ring about Nick Sieriani and Jalen Hertz's continued problem with turnovers. How are you feeling as a fan the day after? Like what's your sort of level-headedness? - So Bo, I feel pretty good. And for the exact reason you just laid out is that I think on a play-by-play basis, the Eagles dominated that game yesterday and that makes me feel good. But what strikes me about the game yesterday is how different it was from the 10-in-1 start last year where the Eagles are playing coin flip game after coin flip game. Sometimes, you know, let's say they were playing evenly in a lot of those games, sometimes against inferior opponents. Sometimes they were getting really outplayed, but they were the Saints for a lot of last year where every high leverage play, every bounce went their way. This is the opposite, right? Like, you know, and I think last year, we said, hey, this team, they really know how to win and we saw by the end of the year kind of how foolish that idea was, really. They were getting lucky and just pulling these games out of their asses at the end of it. So this was the opposite. They don't know how to win right now. Every high leverage play, every situational game management instance is a disaster right now. But on a play-by-play basis, they're running the ball extremely well. Jalen Hertz, like, there's two or three plays a game that are absolute disasters that take him, you know, take him down from playing excellent football to maybe even slightly below average football. I don't know, like, they are such killers that you cannot gloss over them. It is making life a lot harder, but there's a lot of good stuff happening in between. And after the defense, after Vic Fangio, you know, a proof of concept game for him, I would say, is that like, he has dominated those Kyle Shanahan offenses his entire career and he absolutely dominated the Saints yesterday. I think I feel pretty good, despite being queasy about all of the disastrous stuff that makes this much harder than it should be. - Yeah, and it is funny that you're making fun of the, they find a way to win stuff. And that was basically Nick's defense of Jalen Hertz in the post-game press conference last night. He's a winner, he's a winner. He won it at Alabama. He won it at Oklahoma. He knows how to win all this stuff. Okay, that's fine. But let me ask you this question first, 'cause we gotta talk about Nick Siriani. We gotta talk about Jalen Hertz. We gotta talk about Vic Fangio and what an impressive game that was from the defense and Jalen Carter as well. Obviously, we hope to have news at some point on some of the injury front, but we may not get that today. Nick Siriani speaks in a little bit. Lane Johnson, Devontae Smith, those guys in the concussion protocol, we'll find out about that. How are you enjoying the Sake 1 Parkley experience right now? - Oh my God, it's stunning how much I'm enjoying it. And it really like, I feel like a dummy because for so many years here, I was so much on the running backs don't matter train, right? Like, I said this in the newsletter today. If PHLI existed in 2022, I would have pushed hard for a running backs don't matter shirt. Like, again, the Eagles made two Super Bowls in six years by famously not paying them a dime. And really, like Myles Sanders, who I thought was in some ways had some disappointing years was the biggest resource allocation they spent to the position, just using a second round draft pick on a running back and having this great offensive line and just putting three guys who just run hard and take turns behind them. I thought that was the way to go. Running backs do matter, but this running back does matter because like the play he made, and I thought Jamie made a great point on the post game show comparing it to the Brian Westbrook pump return in 2003. Like that play comes out of absolute nowhere. And it's just because he has juice, man. Like it's just because he has vision and then acceleration to get through the hole. I am absolutely delighted watching this guy. I mean, I used to watch Penn State with my friends. I don't really care about college football, but again, like on Saturday, what else am I going to do but watch football? If I'm off, I would just be like, man, this guy is like the best running back I've ever seen when he was in college. And at 27 years old right now, the fact that he still is this explosive and this fun to watch, I am stunned at how great he's been. - Yeah, I've been kind of blown away. And maybe this is the, you know, the meme of the, you know, the ball knower on the bus. Like he's having a good time. And then the other guy's like, well, actually running backs don't matter. And he's all, he's all hemmed up. I mean, I was pretty skeptical. Now listen, it's only been three games. He's got part of the reason that you don't pay running backs is because they don't always stay healthy. Like that's the thing that has to happen. - He's gotta keep going. - But just like watching him and even just getting to watch the first half of the game last week against the Falcons in person and seeing the way he moves and having watched running backs in person for a long time now, he moves differently. He is different. And we were joking about this in 2022 about Miles Sanders, like what this offense would look like with a real running back? I mean, boy, is he a real running back? And he absolutely changed the course of that game yesterday. He's been amazing. He's been everything that they could have possibly hoped for. Only the third time this century, Rich that the Eagles have had a running back have more than 90 yards rushing in three straight games, first since Shady in 2011. He's been awesome and he's been probably the best player on the team over the course of the first three games. - He really has. Do you know DeAndre Swift's numbers? - I know that they're very bad. - I'm looking at it right now. 37 carries, 68 yards through three games. Now in fairness, I think the Bears have like maybe the worst offensive line in the NFL. But the idea that kind of the reasoning behind the Saquon Barkley signing was DeAndre Swift was leaving Meat on the Bow. Like he was getting holes blocked up for him. He was getting running lanes, but he was not making guys miss after that, after contact. And Saquon has shown that like not only, I think what's great about a Bow is that like, he's like running through guys for first downs, but he's also running away from guys for a long touch chance. It's like the best of both worlds. It's the success rate idea, but then he's also your home run hitter. - And it's also, it was theoretical because you didn't know how to parse how we looked with the Giants over the past couple of years because he didn't look this explosive probably because the blocking wasn't so good, right? And opposing defense is good and hone in on him. And so, you know, when they have that first snap of the game after Devante goes down and you're down like your three stars on offense and you give it to Saquon one time and he scores the first touchdown of the game. Like, boy, is that proof positive of like exactly what Howie Roseman would have been hoping for when they go out and sign them? - Absolutely. I mean, $12.5 million is a complete steal. Like again, like if they have an average running back yesterday, they're not winning that game just because he has the ability to hit that home run. One question for you, and this is somewhat bigger than Saquon, but he is included in it. Through three games, what is the letter grade you were giving Howie Roseman's 2024 free agency? - It's a really good question. And I was hoping to have this conversation with Zach a little bit about, you know, one of the things that he has talked about with respect to Howie Roseman. And by the way, we do have a nice Saquon Barkley shirt up for sale on the PHO Y locker. And that is in his book is the, you know, the idea of Howie's differing skill sets of building a roster that's rebuilding and maintaining a roster. And like the Saquon thing obviously has started very well. Obviously the Bryce huff thing is looking like a whiff at the moment. - It's literally an A plus and an F minus at the moment on those two signings. - Right. And then you factor in the hissonoretic trade in that Devin White. I think we would guess is Howie signing and Zach Bon is Vic Fangio signing. - Okay, you're not given Bon. - I'm giving that to Howie. I mean to Fangio. - Okay. - CJ Gardner Johnson has been up and down. - Yeah, average. There's still one guy in the middle. - I think probably more down. - Yeah. - But you know, Macai Bechtin is a nice a nice fail safe. I think. - It just, I think a C. - It has struck me how the overall grade is probably average because it's just been so boomer bus for all of these guys. - Yeah. And it's, and then you then you go back to like, well, what is the, you know, the opportunity cost of these things? Like if Saquon has been awesome, but would you have been better off signing a better edge rusher than Bryce off and allocating that money differently? All of these things are sort of cascading, but yeah, I think, I think it is fair to it to say that, like if Eagles had lost this game, we would be certainly talking a lot more about like the Bryce Huff whiff and some of the things that the Eagles did not get right this off season. - What was it? 18 snaps for Bryce Huff? - 18 snaps, I think, I think eight of them on the first drive. - Oh, is there any hope for this guy? - I think there is still a little bit of hope. And just like I was, I was Saquon skeptical. I was pretty like believing that Bryce Huff would give you something just because of the track record of like on a purse, net per pass rush basis, what he's done. But I also said, it doesn't matter to me if he plays on first and second down. He's not being paid to play on first and second down. If he gets washed out in the run game, that's fine. As long as he is giving you pass rush juice on third down. And that's the real concern is that when he's getting in a few situations where it is third and long line up, go beat Trevor Penning one on one. He's still looking like a jabron right now. And so like, I don't know, I don't know if they need to like send him to Abu Dhabi or something on a walkabout and then let him come back and see if it changes, but they gotta do something. 'Cause right now he does not look playable. - Is he a Metlife merchant though? Is he just, is he dealing with all of the injuries on the offensive line from that terrible turf and just taking advantage of it? I don't know, but yeah, I agree with you. Like the run defense is so unbelievably bad, but also a little bit believable because again, this guy could not get on the field for a ton of snaps for the Jets. He was used as a situational pass rusher. The fact that he's not even getting close to the quarterback when Trevor Penning is blocking him when the Falcons are blocking him with tight ends, that is the really alarming thing. - If he was just a highly paid, very situational pass rusher who was giving you something, that would be totally fine. That's, he's not giving you that. - Get him on the field on third down and he could at least like hurry the quarterback one out of every three or four snaps. That would be good. And he would probably still be overpaid for that because you have to have somebody else play on the first two downs, but at least like you're getting value from that guy, you're getting nothing from that guy right now. So that is an issue moving forward. And I would also say, Bo, like the fact that the run defense was so much better in the game that he didn't play is, I mean, it makes me think that his playing time probably isn't going up in the next game at least. - I would imagine not. Yeah. And I wonder at some point if Jalix Hunt is gonna get involved here and taking some snaps away as well. I am the run defense in this game. I still sort of need to see it moving forward because to me this game, the way that it went along was kind of a failing on Clint Kubiak, the way that I was watching it because they were keeping them in base, right? And the Eagles defense was dominating in base. I'm surprised that they didn't flip that switch earlier to sort of try to run out of nickel or out of 11 personnel against the Eagles nickel because the Eagles were matching when you watch back. And they were still good in nickel and Zach Bond plays a key role in that because Vic Fangio can sort of bring him in as an overhang guy and change the numbers a little bit. But they were much better with those five man fronts. You gotta get credit to Fangio for getting those guys ready. You gotta get credit to the guys themselves for playing better. Some of the little adjustments. Milton Williams getting a couple of snaps on the edge. I thought it was helpful, but they're not gonna see a lot of offenses like that where the other teams are content to just stay in heavy personnel and keep trying to run it against a brick wall. I don't know what it'll be like next week in Tampa Bay, but as the season goes on, I think we gotta see the run defense and keep it up against different kinds of offenses. - That was my main question because I mentioned that Fangio has historically stifled those Shannahan offenses to the point where there's an ESPN article from like five years ago where Matt LaFloor, Kyle Shannahan, and Sean McVayer independently asked, who was the hardest guy to go up against? And they all said Vic Fangio. Now we know, especially-- - The article that launched like an entire Eagles front office plan to finally go get Vic Fangio. - Sure. - Like, yeah. - Sure. - By hook or by crook? - Well, we could talk about the efficacy of that strategy later, but obviously Kyle Shannahan likes the heavier personnel, right? He likes playing 21 personnel, 12 personnel. It is interesting that the Eagles, and this is probably a better question for Fran what you were getting at. Like, why wouldn't teams just play 11th the entire game and try to run out of that? Because the Eagles seem so ill-equipped to handle that. - Especially with the Saints not having Taysom Hill in this game. It felt like they were so good for the first two weeks. Let's puff our chest out. This is who we are. We can be this no matter whenever we want, and they weren't really reacting to what the game was telling them. - It is funny, though, that the type of offense that gives most of the league fits, and it's kind of a change-up. Seems like Vic Fangio has that down. But the basic stuff, he's like, "Oh, no, I don't know. "I don't know what we're gonna be able to do." So I think that's probably a better question for Fran. Like, you know, I know Zach Bon was getting cup block a lot in that Falcons game. Like, does the heavier personnel allow him to be the overhand guy? Like, what is the reason they are so much better against that? But I think you're 100% spot on in that. When other teams go heavy and the Eagles can play their base defense, they seem pretty good against the run, right? I think that was mostly the case in the first two games as well. It's just when they get spread out. Like, it's been a disaster so far. - And to keep the context going, you know, that Saints do lose two interior offensive linemen in the middle of the game, like that did not make things easier for them. But just as, like on offense to me, like the Saequan explosion was the story. I mean, to see Jalen Carter play a game like that and completely dominate from beginning to end. - The rough game now for you. - That was as encouraging, I think a development as the Eagles could have had. - Yeah, and Vic was smart too. There was a, I like the stunt he ran on the Jalen. - The Jordan Davis. - The Jordan Davis sack. Which was great because the Saints had, they had moved the left guard to center and put a new guy in a left guard and Vic tested those guys right away and it was smart. And I think like, but that's another reason why I feel good about this game. Like the Saints can say, oh yeah, we lost McCoy on the first series. That was a killer for us losing our center. The Eagles lost Lane Johnson for pretty much the entire game. And not only that, they lost the guy next to him who had been playing great particularly in the run game. And Big Fred and Tyler Steen did a great job. Like, again, like I'm not watching every snap. I think at one point Greg Olson was like, hey, they handled that stunt pretty well over there. But for the most part, like the offense looked like it was moving, I mean, it definitely was, moving the ball up and down the field. They weren't getting in the way of Jalen and Saequan kind of doing their thing. The Saints really struggled with that. And I think like that's a big part of the story is that the Eagles were able to handle their key losses. - Yeah, that's what's up. - And the Saints, they really, they didn't. I think like Stoutland and Big Fred deserve a lot of credit. - And I do enjoy the, you know, the arc here. Now Fred Johnson gets to get his flowers for the week. - Sure. - A guy who deserves it. 'Cause he did come in and play what it looked like in Tyler Steen as well. All right, before we keep going and get into some of the, the Siriani of it all, let's talk about some of our friends. Including our friends at Bet365, who of course are sponsoring this episode. You know that with Bet365, it is never ordinary. Bet365 has 90 million users worldwide. They also live stream 780,000 events each year with early payout offers across the NBA, NFL, NHL, and MLB. Bet365, Pioneer live in game betting. And today, Bet365 offers the widest range of games and markets available for live in game betting across 78 sports. Right now, new customers can get $200 in bonus bets. When you bet just $5, use the code PHLY365 to sign up, deposit $10 and place a bet for $5 to get $200 in bonus bets. Bonus bets can be used on the spread, totals, player props, futures, and more. You know they got a Monday night deal. And there's two Monday night games tonight. With Bet365, there are early payout offers and you're a win if your team just goes up by 17 points. What a deal. Download the Bet365 app, use code PHLY365 when you sign up to get $200 in bonus bets when you bet $5 whatever the moment. It's never ordinary at Bet365, must be 21 or older and physically located in Pennsylvania. If you or someone you know has a gambling problem, call or text 1-800-Gambler. Thank you to Bet365 for sponsoring this episode. And now we talk about our friends at TrueMark Financial from right over there where's that went to high school. Hope they got a book sent their way, you know, signed copy, might as well. What TrueMark Financial is bringing to the table for you, the home equity line of credit, the HELOC. Kind of felt like Vic Fanjo put Clint Kubiak in a HELOC yesterday. A HELOC allows homeowners to borrow against home equity with a variable interest rate, preserve your savings and get access to funds as needed for big renovations, education expenses, or emergencies, use TrueMark Financial's budgeting tools to help you save for special purchases like limited edition merchandise or 50 copies of the franchise by Zach Berman. By transferring as little as $5 a week, you can get up to, well, or exactly, $260, more than enough for a Kelly Green jersey. TrueMark Financial is federally insured by the NCUA and is an equal opportunity lender. For more information, visit truemark.com/phly. That's t-r-u-m-a-r-k.com/phly. All right, you want to talk Sirianni or Hertz first? Sirianni. All right, let's talk Sirianni. We buried the lead a little bit, but that's okay. Do you think there's a well-coached team right now? No. (laughs) Fair. It might be well-coached in terms of... This stuff that is unquantifiable, right? Like, getting them to play hard in this game. If, whatever degree he is responsible for that, good job. I think the offensive scheme has been pretty good two of the three weeks. I wasn't as impressed against Atlanta. It felt like that was a lot of Jalen running around, making plays with his legs. And for most of that game, he did a really good job. I think the defense for two weeks was not great, but the defense was obviously very well-coached yesterday. But in terms of game management and just like, I know this is, I sound like, least common denominator talk radio caller right now. They just like, can you line up correctly? Can you not commit stupid holding penalties? It feels like, I mean, boy, they had third and 16 yesterday to win the game. They put themselves in really hard positions with penalties. And I think it's so funny that, I was gonna make this point later, but we'll combine Sirianni and Hertz here, that somehow the coach with the least responsibility, ostensibly in the entire NFL is overshadowing what the $50 million quarterback is doing every week. Like, Zach and you also made this point, because of the craziness at the end of the Atlanta game, it took until like Wednesday to be like, "Oh yeah, that was a terrible hit that Joe Hertz threw at the game." - Oh yeah, by the way. - And I feel like this is the other side of the coin, where it's like, "Oh yeah, all we're doing is talking about Sirianni and the craziness in the first half and the sloppy football. Yeah, maybe we should step back and say, man, that was a big boy drive from Jalen Hertz at the end of the game without the right side of his line. The right side of his offensive line, and his two top receivers, two of those guys are all pros, three of those guys are pro bowlers, and he got them down the field like, "Look, I know it was a nicely schemed up play. Good job by John Dodson, who is the Rudy Gobert of the Eagles offense." - Nice. - Screen-assist, because he doesn't do anything else like he's not-- - I hope he's not coughing on my microphone. - No, and he's not doing that either. And he's not screwing up for France in the Olympics as well. So that was a nice play, and obviously like Dallas Goddard was schemed up, he was open, but I think he got to give Jalen credit, but we're talking about Nixiriani's first half. And it's just, it's amazing that the guy who really should be in the background, who really should just be, you know, kind of the figurehead coach of the team, he's getting, he's being talked about in his local market more than any other coach in the league. It's unbelievable. - And I think that it is entirely predictable. And that's what is interesting to me here is, all off-season, we spent talking about, like what is Nixiriani doing here? And it felt like, you know, maybe this is too much. He's gonna have stuff to do, what's he really doing? And it has turned out to be the story of the season so far, right? And so to some degree, the way that this has turned out, where Nixiriani is responsible for game management stuff, and he's messing it up, what you did again in this game, and like sideline demeanor being improved, and that hasn't gotten much better either. It is sort of like, Jeff Hillary should have seen this coming, and maybe Jeff Hillary did see this coming. And so I go one of two ways on this. One is, I think that they thought that what they have built was this thing that was sort of head coach proof, right? We have this roster that is really good. We are bringing in two extremely competent coordinators. You keep your hands off, and as long as you just like check the boxes every day, we'll be fine. That has not necessarily been the case. And then also, you were expecting that he's gonna go along with that, and like the comparison of Nixiriani as a CEO-type coach to John Harbaugh or Mike Tomlin, we talked about that's not a fair comparison, because those guys are the most important people in their organization. Those are head coach-centric organizations. This is not, he's taking a backseat. And so, Nixiriani is a proud guy. He wants to prove that he has something to do with what's going on. That's how you get him inserting himself into the fourth and one call at the end of the first half when the analytics would tell you to just kick a field goal there. And he's saying, "No, I wanna prove "that we have this special play. "We can go get a touchdown for it. "I'm gonna make the play call like, okay, "just take a step back. "This is not your job." But the flip side to that is what you're talking about is also maybe by design from Jeffrey Leary here, in that by installing Nick as just the only head coach and nothing else, he has become the lightning rod. - Oh, God, everything. - That everything else that's going wrong. We can talk about how he roseman's arms, he doesn't know, because everyone's just focused on Nixiriani. And so, every week is becoming, just does Nick deserve to keep his job or not, even though the team is two and one, and everybody just look over here, he is the guy to pay attention to. The Bryce Huff stinking up the joint after getting that contract, that is such an easy storyline for writers, fans, anybody who talks about the Eagles, and it has been relegated to the D-block because the A to C, A and B is ceriotian, C has hurt, so like, it's just, it's unbelievable. And Bo, I am kind of laughing, thinking about the week where Jeffrey Leary, I know he was supposedly on vacation, there was bad weather in Philadelphia, we couldn't hold a press conference. The week after the Tampa game, it was like a week and a half, right? Didn't they announce it on Wednesday officially? - Something like that, yeah. - That ceriotian was coming back. However long it took for them to make the decision. Like, do you think him and Howie had a meeting where they said, okay, okay, let's say that the offense is modern with Kellen, the defense is competent with Vic. I guess we got to give him game management. And do you think they had like a two hour conversation where they were like, oh, we don't want to do that. (laughing) But then Howie probably told him, well, we got to give him something. - Something. - Yeah, it's been a disaster. They gave him something that he is not equipped to do, and not only that, to your point, he is injecting himself into the game in a way to just show that he is involved. It's, look, they are two in one. I think there are reasons to be excited about this roster and the upside moving forward. But the sheer, just the simple decision of we're keeping Nixiriani in this role has been really rough through three games. - I feel like Nixirian is in game management is the only case I've heard so far for AI. (laughing) Like, he's the one who could be replaced by just a robot to just make those decisions. - Yeah, I don't want it. - Everyone else, let's get rid of AI. - I don't want it with movie scripts or anything like that. - Yeah, not that. But this one, it could work. Yeah, I mean, we've talked about it and Zach made the point. It's like, you know, it's like a blackjack guy who doesn't have any consistency. And it's hard to believe that the decision to go for it at the end of the first half was not informed by all the flack that he got for going for it over on Monday night. I think like the bull case is you get to the buy, you have like, Jeffrey Lurie can just have a conversation with Nixirian, like just calm down, my man. Like, you're gonna get to the end of the year, you're not gonna get fired, just take a step back, relax. Like, just let the game happen. You don't need to prove every game what you're doing. And to your point about the penalties, I was curious about that as well, 'cause it does feel like a lot of procedural stuff. They have 14 penalties on offense this year. 10 of them have been those like ones that you would say were coaching. So, fall starts, illegal motion, you know, pre snap or a legal man down field. 'Cause I feel like that's inclusive of that. And that's the second most of those type of penalties in the league. So, like that is bearing itself out. I think that there is like, you can get to the buy, everybody takes a step back. I mean, the team is two in one, despite Nick bungling this stuff and Jalen hurts turning the ball over all the time. Like, there was obviously hope under the hood. We're talking about them like their own three, but. - I'm excited to look at the DVOA and the EPA from that game. I think it's gonna, they're gonna look good. - People are defense for sure. - People are gonna say, hey, look, that was a dominant performance, particularly defensively, but again, the offense moved the ball and to do it without AJ is really good. But yeah, it's been rough. And I think like the point you mentioned too about how the one decision yesterday that just drives me crazy is to not kick the field goal at the end of the first half. Like, I understand that there's a conservative group of Eagles fans that play football the right way. All those things that didn't like that he went for it on fourth and three from, what was it? Like the 38, 40, whatever that was. That's fine. Their execution was bad. I kind of thought they- - Was that a bad play call? - Yeah, it was a bad play call. I didn't like that. I'm fine with that. I am never gonna kill Nick Sirioni for doing that. But the one at the end of the half to do that and also run a trick play, like I feel like I always hear, oh man, that's way too cute. And I think like, I don't know. I think there's more that goes into it than the idea of being too cute. No, that was too cute. That is like trying to win. And again, the fact that that was Nick Sirioni's call, like I think it's fine for Nick Sirioni to tell Kellen more. Hey, if it's, you know, fourth and two, if we get X amount of yardage here, we are going for it on fourth down. I'm sorry, the play call has to be Kellenmore's. Just has to be. - Yeah, but it makes sense in that case because the only reason to go for it is to try to get a touchdown. And to go for a touch push there, so that you have one like really quick, you know, corner fade to the end zone on it's not worth the upside. And so to do it, because you think he can surprise them and score a touchdown on the play in theory, it makes a little bit of sense. He's all about surprise. - Well, that's the thing. - Just run behind your offensive line. - Good offensive line. - Right, but it's like the proving what he has to do. And so it's, you get all these plays of lining up and trying to drum off sides. And by the way, that might have been the opportunity for it. (laughs) But like players not plays, attack, attack, attack, like we're the better team. Just go out and line up and beat them. Like, I don't know. - But you're on to something because going out there and just relying on your players is a Kellen Moore that is under Kellen Moore's purview, right? It's not, the game management aspect of it is Nick Sirioni. So if they run the trick play, it's, oh man, Nick's managing the game grade. It's just, he needs to do less. - Well, I was talking about this with Anthony this morning about like the long-term arc story of, you know, the Eagles' relationships with their head coach, you know, the Jeffrey Larry and Howie Roseman and how that stuff with Doug and potentially now Nick can sort of sour because those two guys, Jeffrey and Howie, it's important that they have a heavy hand in the way that the organization has run and probably for the good. Yeah, I think they are generally steering things in the right direction, right? But that means that you need a head coach who's willing to take a back seat on that stuff so that limits your pool in the beginning to some degree, right? Then when they come in and things go well and you win a Super Bowl or you make the Super Bowl, all of a sudden that head coach is less likely to want to be able to take a back seat. Now they're, you know, becoming a star themselves. They need to prove themselves. And so the tension grows because they don't want to just take a back seat and just listen. And so like if Nick Siriani was 2021, Nick Siriani this year, I think he would be making different in-game decisions. - They're like my favorite soccer team Chelsea that just runs through managers like Hall of Fame managers and they just keep running through them just because, yeah, they have a heavy hand in doing that. I'm kind of wondering, they haven't hired one in a long time. I mean, you know, basically my whole life. Do they need a defensive head coach? Because again, they're gonna medal on the offense. They're gonna, like the Doug Peterson, I felt like Doug in 2019 when he had to go to meetings and Jeffrey said, "Doug, you're not throwing the ball enough." When he's like, we were running for six yards a pop and we won the game, like, what's wrong with that? I felt more sympathetic for Doug in that regard, but hey, like at least Doug was the, you know, he had the responsibility of being the offensive coach. When you take away Nick's responsibility, like again, you're so right about the AI thing. This just needs to be automatic. This just needs to be whoever is the modern version of Ryan Paganetti in Nick's year saying, "Okay, this is an obvious go for its situation. "This is an obvious kick situation. "This one's on the fence. "You actually can make the decision here and say that "because that is what worked in 2017." And I'm surprised that they don't mandate that that's not how it has to be moving forward. It's the proven track record. - I mean, I wonder if it will get to that point. - I know, I know. - I think that's possible. I think that's like a bi-week possibility. Like Nick, I'm sorry. You did it your way. Now you gotta do it our way. - It's frustrating. I mean, this whole conversation, I don't want to be talking about gay management ever. Because again, you mentioned-- - You should be talking about Dylan McMahon, but-- - I know, I know. You mentioned your conversation with Anthony Bo. I gotta say, and this isn't really just Anthony. This is my friends, my family, all these people. But why do Eagles fans love field goals so much? They love it. They love kicking the ball. They all talk about dogs and toughness. And they want people who can play in Philly. And yet they are obsessed, no offense to Jake Elliott, with a little five foot, eight pipsqueak, kicking a ball through two pipes for less than half of the points that you get for a touchdown. It's unbelievable. And I understand, Nick should have kicked the field goal at the end of the half yesterday. But that's the thing. It wasn't analytics. The numbers say like, hey, man. The game situation dictates that you're only really going to have one shot at the end zone after this play. Jalen Hertz with no receivers. Like, you probably should just take the points here. But man, like we love Eagles fans love kicking field goals. It's crazy. And the one time we've won one damn championship. And the time that they did it was when they said, we're not taking the points. Philly special, that was decidedly not taking the points. And it's just unbelievable that we're seven years after that. And it's just like, we want to win 16, 13 every week. Yeah, you would have thought that that 2017 would have been instructive for the entire fan base. But that's OK, not the case. And don't you feel like when the other team has the ball, if they're kicking a field goal, you're pumping your fist, you don't want them to go for it, right? No. So look, I get it. Like on fourth and five, fourth and six at the 30 yard line, yes, there is a time to try to Jake Elliott out there and take the points. What would you think of the 60 yarder? I'd love to see what the numbers were on that. I kind of liked that they gave the short field because they gave the Saints not enough time to basically run out the clock with the touchdown. They had the two minutes left to score. I understand the idea of OK, punt play defense there, too. I didn't really have a good feel for that one. Yeah, my beef with that one was less about the actual decision to kick the 60 yarder and more about it's sort of seeming disconnected from the third downplay call. Like if you're going to be willing to kick a 60 yarder-- I mean, I'm never calling for a coward's draw or anything. But they call this like long developing rollout pass that was first on our bus. Like if you're going to be willing to take that field goal, I think you have a different play call there. And that's part of the whole, like all of these decisions do not seem connected to each other. There is not a consistency across the entire game management thread. Yeah, so. OK. Want to talk to you when it hurts? Yeah, look, man, he's been very up and down. It feels like if you get rid of three of those bow and head turnovers, we're talking like-- it's having a good start to the year. I really thought he did a lot of great things yesterday. Eagles, the fifth team, Handsome Rich, in the past decade to start the season 2 and 1 despite losing the turnover battle in each of the first three games. See, I'm positive about that. I'm like, look, look, the turnovers-- I'll tell you who the other teams are. So last year's 2023 Cleveland Browns go 11 and 6 with Joe Flacco, make the playoffs. The 2021 Tennessee Titans go 12 and 5, losing the first round of the playoffs. The 2016 New York Giants go 11 and 6 and losing the first round of the playoffs. And then the 2016 Seattle Seahawks, I believe, shields last year on the Seahawks beat. 10, 5, and 1 make the playoffs win a playoff game and lose in the second round. Last time the Eagles did this, though, Rich, 2012. Well, and again, that was a very poorly coached team. I could also say a very poorly put together team that didn't make sense. I think what you're telling me is that they might want a playoff game or they might lose right away? Yeah, exactly. I think the Jalen thing is just tough because every individual turnover, you can pick apart and say maybe this was not his fault or Devonta doesn't run a great route or whatever it is. But the arc is long enough now that he has, you know, as the most turnovers in the league since the start of last season, he's just kind of cleaned it up like enough is enough. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, like, look, though, I think like the drive at the end of the game, because frankly, we dinged him for that last week and we dinged him for it last year. Like I'm thinking there were so many late game drives last year where he just did not do what you wanted from him. I'm thinking the fumble in game one against the Patriots, the pick against the Jets, right? He had a chance to basically bail himself out and win that game. He did a bad job freelancing with AJ against the Seahawks. That was a disaster last week against Atlanta. Like he said it, I did like that in his press conference, it seemed like he took more public accountability than he usually does. And he was rewarded with a great drive here. Now, this wasn't a matter of being aggressive because he needed to touchdown here. But look, man, that's a big boy drive to not have all of those guys and hit that big plate of gutter. That's awesome. So I'm hoping this will help whether it's his confidence, his decision making, all of those things moving forward. But look, I agree with you. I don't really know, I don't have anything good to say. Like he can't have that fumble where he's holding the ball like this after six seconds in the pocket. Like he just, he can't do that, but I don't have anything else good to say about it. It's just, it's a really hard way to win. Like you said, like not too many teams win games when they are losing the turnover margin. Part of me is positive about it because I think that stuff can be corrected. And the fact that you're winning on a play-to-play basis is probably a more positive indicator moving forward. But it's got to get cleaned up, that's all. - If only there were like a shot that you could give jail and hurts to stop turning the ball over, yeah. Like a flu shot, which you can get it right aid. Don't miss the big game or Halloween or Thanksgiving. Get a flu shot at right aid. While at the pharmacy, get the latest COVID-19 vaccine and stay up to date on others, you can even ask your pharmacist for a vaccine review or recommendations. The CDC recommends getting a flu shot every year, a person's immune protection from vaccination declines over time. So help protect yourself against the flu by getting your annual flu shot at right aid today. Do your part for the community people. According to the CDC, flu vaccination may reduce a child's risk of severe life-threatening influenza by 75% help protect your family by getting flu shots at right aid today. Flu viruses are constantly changing according to the CDC. Get your annual flu shot formulated to help protect you against this year's expected flu strains. Flu vaccines do not protect against COVID-19 and COVID-19 vaccines do not protect against flu. So you got to get them both. Getting vaccinated for both helps provide the best protection according to the CDC. And while you're at the pharmacy, stock up on cough, cold, flu, and allergy essentials, right aid has what you need to get you through the season. Just walk into your local right aid or schedule right aid.com. State age and health restrictions apply. Ask your right aid pharmacist for details. And from there we go to Zbiotics. No, not the Zb book, but Zbiotics. Tell you a little bit about the Zbiotics game-changing pre-alcohol product, because let's face it. I'm an old man. So after a night with drinks, I don't bounce back the way that I used to, so I have to make a choice. Either have a great night or have a great next day. That is, until you factor in the Zbiotics pre-alcohol, because let me tell you, if there's a sure-fire way to wake up feeling fresh after a night of drinking, it's with Zbiotics pre-alcohol. Zbiotics pre-alcohol, probiotic drink is the world's first genetically engineered probiotic. It was invented by PhD scientists to tackle rough mornings after drinking. Here's how it works. When you drink, alcohol gets converted into a toxic byproduct in the gut. It is this byproduct, not dehydration, that is to blame for your rough morning. Pre-alcohol produces an enzyme to break this product down. Just remember, to make Zbiotics your first drink of the night, drink responsibly, and you will feel your best tomorrow. Keep hearing about pre-alcohol and wondered what it was actually like. And if you try it, you're gonna believe the hype. Go to zbiotics.com/PHLYEagles to learn more and get 15% off your first order when you use code PHLLYEagles at checkout. Zbiotics is backed with a 100% money-back guarantee, so if you're unsatisfied for any reason, they'll refund your money, no questions asked. Okay. - Bo, do you know where Jalen hurts ranks in QBR right now? - I know that he is 11th in success rate and seventh in EPA per dropback. Where is he in QBR? - Right in the middle. - Eighth. - Okay. - If you told me at the beginning of the year that he was eighth in QBR, I think I would have taken that. And I see there's a comment in the chat where mostly every NFL QB makes the mistake that Jalen gets crucified for. I would say quarterback play around the league, Bo, kind of stinks right now. Even watching the homes last night, it's there's a lot of sloppy football going on. And I do think that is worth pointing out with living with these up and down mistakes from Jalen. I think it just, what makes Jalen more frustrating is that he's doing 90% of the work very well, I think. If he, you know, if he had more than-- - And that the Goddard play, we haven't even talked about Goddard yet, but the Goddard plays, the guys in the locker room say, Jalen makes that check at the line because the motion tells them it's man and he changes to it and he makes that play. Like that's huge. - If he was having games like Derek Carr had yesterday, where they're just not moving the ball at all for the entire game and he's struggling and he's missing some open guys, but that really hasn't been the case so far this year. And frankly, he's been down A.J. Brown for two thirds of the games too. So I don't know, it's been a little hard to quantify. One thing that did make me laugh, like Jalen hurts the man of no emotions. He let out out a big smile and laugh yesterday when Reed Blankenship took the mic in the post game locker room when Reed Blankenship, who, by the way, is awesome at making those diving interceptions. He is awesome at making sure the ball doesn't hit the ground. The fact that Reed Blankenship with the ice on-- - Yeah, with his ice. - With the ice on, steps up and is now cosplaying as the emotional leader of the team. - And Jalen hurts-- - Look, you guys, man. - And Jalen, yeah, I'd effed die for this team, man. And Jalen hurts got a major kick out of that. He was in the background of the shot. He was grinning ear to ear. And I gotta say, I had the same exact reaction as Jalen, so. - Good stuff. - I'm waiting for, I'm waiting for Cooper to Jean to get on the field more so that there can be a side of the field that is Reed Blankenship, Cooper to Jean, and Quinnian Mitchell, so that we can call them rookies and cream. (laughing) - By the way, we talked about-- - That's good. - That's the kind of thing that I think about at night. - Yeah, sure. Now I've lost my train of thought. We talked about Fred Johnson and Tyler Steen as the underrated heroes of the game. Quinnian Mitchell, another nice game. - Yeah, now, do you think he broke that one up at the end? It looked to me like Rashid, he just dropped that ball. - Yeah, I think he just dropped it. That's fair. So maybe we look at it a little bit differently. - Yeah, I mean, I thought it was very good other than that, but yeah, that was the one where I was not necessarily giving him credit for it, but. - He also just needs to catch one of these picks. Like he puts himself in great position on and out right now. - And to be fair, that's what it was like in the summer. Like he has great instincts. His ball skills are not the best. - Which is, I mean, obviously you take that, but that would be, I mean, he could have two pick sixes on the way he's broken on some balls the last couple of weeks. He's been good. - It's good to see. I mean, we can dinghowie for the free agent signings, but that's part of the great as well. And it looks like he at least hit a double with that pick so far and maybe more, honestly. - I think we also deserve to give, or Nikobi Dean deserves a little bit of credit because a guy who I think was talked about in the off-season here as well as like a guy who has underperformed the first couple of years. And it didn't seem like he was going to be the starting linebacker on this defense. He's been very steady. And I know that Bond has been the sort of the pop guy, but I think Nikobi Dean's steadiness in the middle of the defense has been underrated. - I don't know what to make a Bond because he's had two seemingly excellent games and he was a disaster in the other game. Like he was getting cut blocked on every other play. And it does go to show like the conversation before this game. It was technically the number one offense, the Saints against the number 31 defense, whatever the teams were. It's a pretty small sample. And also they had played Carolina, trash. - Yeah, it turns out maybe the Cowboys. - And they had played Dallas. Kind of looking like a little trashy. I mean, the defenses has not looked good the last couple of weeks. And that's the other reason. If like, again, obviously we are picking apart this game and you know, next decision-making needs to get better, jail and decision-making needs to get better. The fact that they beat the crap out of the team that beat the crap out of Dallas the week before, I don't know. I think that bodes decent moving forward. - Yeah, I think so. If we want to talk about Goddard for a second, I do think this is the tough, damned if you do, damned if you don't thing because like, Goddard was so good in this game that it just makes us angry that he didn't get the ball more last week, right? But very encouraging to see that he could be such a major part of the offense. As a callback, too much Goddard. - Too much stole, maybe. You know what that was? That is the notification that Nick Sireani is speaking to the media right now. So there you go. We'll get news from him. - Can he, can he bring out the chart? Like a PowerPoint presentation? - When is too much Goddard? When is too much stole or him? - I was thinking the gay man in the chart. - Oh yes. - That would be a good idea. - Yeah, like all the times in NFL history that a coach has, you know, gone for it on this thing. Not the right thing to be chasing, but that's okay. - What do you make of Goddard just having this explosive game after disappointing for a long time? And again, like I'm not even saying it's his fault. Like I feel like his catches are often a function of the offense working, right? If the offense is working, he's open in the middle of the field, Jalen's finding him. Like, 'cause I remember you had the pregame bet before the Falcons game and you thought he would have more catches and I thought that was perfectly reasonable and he didn't have it. But then he has this just career game out of nowhere. - Well, I said, I wrote this I think in the season preview about Dallas Goddard. I think there is a case to be made that he is kind of like the bellwether of the offense. - Yeah. - Because if he is going well, the offense is functioning, right? Like everything is working as designed. You're not forcing the ball to him necessarily. Like, AJ Brown can have 10 catches 'cause you're just throwing it to him every time no matter what the defense is showing you. But when Dallas Goddard is playing at his best and he has all of this yak, like that has been his superpower when he's been really good, it's a function of the spacing on the offense is working everything is well designed. And so like that was the case yesterday. And yeah, like a 61-yarder is doing a lot of the heavy lifting there, but he was over 100 yards before that pass was even made, right? So he had a big game and a lot of it was because now some of it is when you play against man defenses, you have more of an opportunity for those type of yak plays and you saw John Dodson spring that. And that's what the Saints defense does. But I do think that Dallas Goddard is very much like, other guys can have big games in the offense, might not be perfect. It's hard to remember a time when Dallas Goddard has a big game and the offense is not just looking good. - And it's the opposite of the conventional wisdom for tight ends, right? 'Cause usually you think of the tight end, it's the safety blanket, right? It's the guy that makes the third down catches that has six catches for 50 yards, but they're important catches. And Goddard just seems to be a little bit more boom or bust because like you said, he's a bellwether for the offense. So one other point too, like I was making fun of John Dodson earlier with the Rudy Go Bear comp. And we were talking about Nick just not having these guys to play or ready to play and all of the mistakes. They seem to have kind of figured out how the pick plays work now. Like AJ did a good job in week one. They're not getting called for those as much anymore. And that's like John Dodson getting that right as much as I would like him to have more regular production in terms of catches in the arms. - We can also talk about John Dodson as a function of if we're grating Harry Roseman's off season. He did give up a third round pick for this guy who seems to be a complete non-entity as a receiving option. - He gets a ton of snaps too. - Yeah, he played the whole game almost. - Yeah. - I've seen a lot of juice like-- - You think Jalen just had a couple of practices with him and was like, chh, Calcatera, next man up here. - Covey, anyway. All right, how are you feeling about the books early? - Revenge game? - Yeah, true. - I mean, I think Todd Bowles as we know loves the blitz. Loves like bringing the house against Jalen Hertz. Do you think he's, not to say he's gonna be deterred, but Jalen Hertz has looked good against the blitz so far. I think they've done specifically a nice job. You know, it's funny, like I as a fan watching the game always get mad about a short of the sticks throws. I feel like he's made a lot of good short of the sticks throws where the receiver has to make the guy miss to get the first down, but there's like four or five yards of separation there and Jalen gets him the ball early enough where I think it's a plausible play. Like, I mean, Johnny Wilson yesterday, that probably was more Johnny Wilson making a nice play, but he's done it with AJ and Dallas and spots where, yes, like it's a five or six yard throw when you need eight or nine. But those guys are in position to make those plays. I'm sure he's going to get tested. I would love to see them, you know, absolutely destroy the blitz. That would make me feel a lot better because that game last year was an absolute disaster. I don't really know what to make of the bucks because I did not watch too much of their game last week. They had a couple of really nice wins. A win in Detroit is one of the best wins. You can get in the NFL, but getting smoked by Bowniks at home the next week, I don't really know what to make of them. - Well, you mentioned it, and I had forgotten to look at this after this game, but we kept saying like, teams are going to send these big blitzes against Jalen Hertz, and they just haven't really been doing it. - It's been a lot of, like, for whatever reason. - So over the course of the season, against regular blitz, so true media coding it as five pass rushers, Jalen Hertz is fifth in a league in success rate and fourth in EPA per dropback. Fantastic, he's been doing a really good job. But when it is at least six rushers, he drops down to 16th in both and is a 33% success rate. So, I mean, it's a very small sample because they haven't seen it very often, but you can bet that next week against Todd Bowles, he's gonna face it again with whatever offensive personnel he has around him. - And that's what Dane is trying to hammer home, is that Jalen was actually good against those five man blitzes last year. It just when they sent the house, they really struggled. So, I think we're gonna see a lot of those blitzes bow. And I think part of the reason is that how do you beat those big blitzes? And usually it's with a receiver that can make a big play. They might be down their top two receivers in this game. Now, if AJ comes back, maybe it's a little more plausible that, all right, Todd Bowles sends one of those blitzes, but Kellen Moore schemes up something good. That could be like a 75 yard touchdown at some point, but it might be another big gutter game. - There you go. Super chat from Khalif, I believe, who says curious to know y'all's thoughts on the late round UDFAs contributing from Reed Blankenship to Britain Covey, Fred Johnson, Jordan Milada, Morro Ajama, Johnny Wilson, Thomas Booker, Grandcakatera to name a few. I mean, I think to some degree that that is the cost of doing business, you gotta have some guys like that on your team who are contributing, but some of those guys have been revelations. I think Thomas Booker deserves more playing time. He's flashed to me with the snaps that he's gotten. Johnny Wilson, boy, he had a chance to make, I mean, before the gutter play, that was a beautiful throw from Jill and Hertz that hit him right in the hands, and you would like to see him make that one. Ajama, I think, has been solid. And Fred Johnson, as we talked about, a huge story of the game yesterday. - Yeah. I mean, I think Reed is the big winner there, like getting somebody, somebody that, was he undrafted or was he a seventh or something? - Undrafted, and not a lot of money either, on the lower end, I believe, second to last of the undrafted guys that they signed that year. - So, I mean, he looks like a competent player at safety. It seems like, he certainly catches the ball when it gets thrown to him, too. What did you make? The one other thing I would say, Beau, about that last drive, too, 'cause Fran broke down the fact that they weren't able to get home against Kirk Cousins on that final drive. The fact that they go to Brandon Graham as the interior defensive tackle, on one hand, man, BG, all-time eagle. And it's so awesome that he's playing so well at 36 years old. It also frightens me a little bit how important 36-year-old Brandon Graham is. It's a little bit similar to Fletcher Cox last year when we talked about, you know, they're getting subpar defensive line play overall. And the guy that's retiring has been the best one. I think this one is probably even more improbable, though. - Yes. BG has been this good? - Yeah, I mean, 'cause BG last year was a bit player, right? And he's been, I think, on total their best defensive lineman this year. He's been really good. He played the most snaps of any edge guy yesterday, which I would imagine he did not expect heading into the season. So you're probably right. They need a little bit more. I actually thought Sweat had a pretty good game yesterday. Pass rush, he had a couple nice pass rushes in those must rush situations. But, I mean, we can go back to Huff if we want. But yeah, I think BG is like, this is an unbelievable throwback season for him so far. You just sort of cross your fingers and hope that it keeps up. - Yeah, and you saw on that play, I think he was rushing next to Jalen Carter, who was awesome the entire game. Obviously, they had to work around a couple guys on the interior of the line. But like, that's what you want from Jalen Carter, right? If there is a backup offensive lineman in the game and you ever get a one-on-one against him and he got a couple of them, I mean, it was like the guy wasn't even there. Like, he was doing the swim move and he didn't even have to touch the guy because he was running so fast past him. So that was good. And like Jalen Carter is gonna get doubled in those late game spots. So BG, like strip sack of Tom Brady, can you get to the quarterback with the one-on-ones? And he's been great so far this year. So I'm happy to see that 'cause I love BG. - One last super chat from Chase Daniel Plainview who says if the jags keep losing and Siriani's game management doesn't improve how likely is interim head coach Doug Peterson? - I mean, what a story that would be. - But, you know who is available? Frank Reich. Could you imagine, I mean, they did it with Vic Fangio taking over for Sean Desai, the guy who was his disciple, to replace Nick Siriani with Frank Reich. Boy, would that be a dastardly? - Do you think one of those coaches would take like, I don't know, like a million dollars for the rest of the year. If Jeffrey Lurie said, hey, look, you have a couple of responsibilities. No, no, I'm saying. No, but like, look, some of these football coaches are wired differently. They wanna be involved because here are the parameters that Jeffrey Lurie is giving you for the million dollars. Here's what you're doing this week. You're doing the pre-game speech. You're doing the post-game speech. And I guess you can figure out what hat or what hoodie you're wearing on the sideline. That's it. - Mm. - Do you think Frank Reich is doing that? Or do you think he's, anyways, he wants to talk to Kellen Moore a little bit. - I think he's probably not doing that to Nick, but I think he's interested. I think somebody else would do it. Okay. All right. Well, that'll pretty much do it for this episode of the "PHL Why Eagles" podcast. But do not forget, place your pre-orders now. You got one more day to do it. The franchise, the Eagles, a curated history of the birds by Zach Berman. Tomorrow is the day. We're very excited. We're very proud of our man. Hopefully he's back home safe and sound from Nolens. And we'll see him tomorrow with Fran Duffy as well for a full recap of what the film says about this game. Thanks to Rich for pinching today. Thanks to Andrew as well. That'll do it. We thank you for watching and listening. We'll talk to you tomorrow at two o'clock and as always, we love you. (upbeat music) ♪ Don't see me like the man ♪ - It's the Suriades press conference. (mouse clicking) (upbeat music) You You
