Speaker 1: Welcome everyone inside training camp, presented by an ex Affinity
Speaker 1: Eagles insider Dave Spidero along with Chris McPherson, and the
Speaker 1: Eagles continue to get closer to next week's preseason opener
Speaker 1: against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. And for the first time
Speaker 1: in this training camp, we've got a couple of injuries
Speaker 1: to talk about, hopefully nothing really serious, but we want
Speaker 1: to keep you updated. On Thursday, two veterans leaving practice,
Speaker 1: left tackle Jason Peters going down and team drills with
Speaker 1: a quad injury. Now he had a quad injury last year,
Speaker 1: an injury played last season where he played just over
Speaker 1: of the snaps in twenty and fifteen. Then Malcolm Jenkins
Speaker 1: with a hamstring injury. He left practice, neither returned. We'll
Speaker 1: keep you updated and we hope that they are nothing serious.
Speaker 1: Still out of practice running back Ryan Matthews and right
Speaker 1: guard Brandon Brooks. Chris, what do all of these nagging,
Speaker 1: minor injuries mean for four veterans. I'm crossing my fingers
Speaker 1: first and foremost that it's just stuff that you can
Speaker 1: get out of the way right now and that it's
Speaker 1: done during training camp and these guys will be fully
Speaker 1: healthy for the regular season. But for these four veterans,
Speaker 1: I'm not overly concerned. It's more if you need to
Speaker 1: develop the depth at these positions. Matt Tobin, he went
Speaker 1: in at left tackle when Peters went down. You need
Speaker 1: to find out who's going to be able to possibly
Speaker 1: be that third tackle here on the offensive line, who's
Speaker 1: gonna be the third safety Malcolm Jenkins and Rodney McCloud
Speaker 1: or you're first and second guys obviously, but Ed Reynolds
Speaker 1: was a guy who went in there today, and that's
Speaker 1: a position they need to find out more about. So
Speaker 1: it's really an opportunity you go back with yesterday and
Speaker 1: Kenyon Barner getting the reps are running back. It's a
Speaker 1: chance for those depth guys to go out there, get
Speaker 1: them reps with the first team units and prove themselves
Speaker 1: to show that they deserve more of a chance down
Speaker 1: the line day. Yeah, and when Dells Smallwood, Eagle's fifth
Speaker 1: round draft pick, remains out of practice with his injury,
Speaker 1: now we are going to talk to Jim Schwarzen just
Speaker 1: a bit about the defense. And he was a little
Speaker 1: salty honestly after practice on Thursday, but we'll get him
Speaker 1: in studio here and see how he feels after the
Speaker 1: afternoon walk through on the offensive side of the ball.
Speaker 1: Sam Bradford in his press conference after a good practice. Now,
Speaker 1: the Eagles offense really dominated in the red zone, and
Speaker 1: then the Eagles defense came back and took it to
Speaker 1: him a little later in team drills to end the practice.
Speaker 1: But Bradford has been going against the safety tantem of
Speaker 1: Jenkins and Rodney McCloud since the spring, and among the
Speaker 1: things he was asked on Thursday his impressions of that
Speaker 1: duo in the Eagles secondary, and he is certainly very impressed. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I think those guys are playing really well right now.
Speaker 1: I think it's you know, one of the better, if
Speaker 1: not the best, probably safety duo in the league. You know,
Speaker 1: it just seems like they cover a lot of range
Speaker 1: in the back end. You know, whoever's in the middle
Speaker 1: of the field back there, they're deep, they're range, They're
Speaker 1: covering a lot of ground, they're taking a lot of
Speaker 1: things away. But you know, I think the good thing
Speaker 1: about both those guys is when they come down to
Speaker 1: play a tight end or a slot receiver, they're tough
Speaker 1: to be. I mean, it's not like we look out
Speaker 1: there and think, oh, that's an easy matchup. You know
Speaker 1: how you do it with most safeties. I mean, they're
Speaker 1: really good cover guys, and I think they've showed it.
Speaker 1: You know. I think you would much rather have things
Speaker 1: tough in practice than get to a game and realize, well,
Speaker 1: like practice has been really easy, this is really tough.
Speaker 1: So you know, I think as many challenging situations as
Speaker 1: we can put ourselves during practice, I think it makes
Speaker 1: you better. Number seven, having a very fine camp and Chris,
Speaker 1: let's talk a little bit about not the offense here,
Speaker 1: but about the defense and about the secondary and the Eagles,
Speaker 1: as we talked about a couple of days ago here,
Speaker 1: they really have not had an answer at safety since
Speaker 1: two thousand and Nate when Brian Dawkins left after that season.
Speaker 1: So McLeod and Jenkins their ability to cover. As Bradford said,
Speaker 1: what does that do for the rest of the defense, Well,
Speaker 1: it was gonna do is it allows the other guys
Speaker 1: to play to their responsibilities and you strengthen and almost
Speaker 1: have a safety net, so to speak. I'll use the word.
Speaker 1: They're knowing that everything will be cleared up on the
Speaker 1: back end of defense. You know, the front four is
Speaker 1: going to attack, led by Fletcher Cox in the rotation
Speaker 1: at defensive end, the linebackers are going to clean up
Speaker 1: the mess and be able to apply pressure and coverage
Speaker 1: when necessary. And those corners look to play in Jim
Speaker 1: Schwartz's defense, you have to be physical. You'd be willing
Speaker 1: to hit. That's why you're seeing guys like Eric Row
Speaker 1: step their game up now that the pads are on
Speaker 1: and they're taking their game to another level, so to speak.
Speaker 1: But last year you ask Malcolm Jenkins to do so
Speaker 1: many different things where you're not only had to play
Speaker 1: as a deep safety, but he also had to play
Speaker 1: as a slot cornerback. And you're working guys like Ed
Speaker 1: Reynolds and Chris Marriges and adding them to do asking
Speaker 1: them to do out of responsibilities. It will just make
Speaker 1: things a lot easier for the guys back and net
Speaker 1: out that you have someone Jenkins and so in Mcloud's
Speaker 1: caliber to compliment them. Well, I will ask Jim Schwartz
Speaker 1: that very question. What does having these two safeties mean
Speaker 1: for the rest of the defense in terms of the scheme.
Speaker 1: So coming up here on Insight Training Camp presented by xfinity.
Speaker 1: The defensive mastermind of the Philadelphia Eagles, Jim Schwartz in studio.
Speaker 1: Have you ever pictured yourself with Eagles season teens? Well,
Speaker 1: now you can turn that fantasy into reality. Comcast Sportsman
Speaker 1: and the Eagles are giving away a pair of tickets
Speaker 1: for the entire two sixteen season every week this summer
Speaker 1: brings you closer to the dream with a new chance
Speaker 1: to win these seats. It's easy to enter. Just answer
Speaker 1: this week's bull question and enter at Philadelphia Eagles dot
Speaker 1: com slash cs in Philly. The Schwartz is with us
Speaker 1: in studio. Welcome everyone, Defensive Coordinator Jim Schwartz and studio.
Speaker 1: How are your coach? Thanks for coming in, Thanks good,
Speaker 1: Thanks for having me. Yeah. Hey, I want to something
Speaker 1: I noticed at practice Jim that I really enjoy watching.
Speaker 1: It's the camaraderie of the defense. There is a ton
Speaker 1: of enthusiasm. Everybody really is rallying around each other. Something
Speaker 1: that you foster, something your courage or does it just
Speaker 1: happen organically? No, I mean you have to talk about it.
Speaker 1: I mean defense is a team game. It's individual effort
Speaker 1: within a team's game, and you know everybody has to
Speaker 1: rely on the next guy next to them, and they
Speaker 1: got to be happy for the other guy's success and
Speaker 1: for us to be successful, we got to have a
Speaker 1: lot of guys play a lot of different roles. So
Speaker 1: we certainly embrace it and we encourage it. Have you
Speaker 1: seen the physicalness that you want to see from your
Speaker 1: defensive that the pads are on and there's been a
Speaker 1: little bit of hitting. Yeah, I mean, let's not mistake
Speaker 1: training camp pads for real pads. I mean, you know,
Speaker 1: because you're still trying to protect each other. Nobody's chopping anybody,
Speaker 1: nobody's going low one tackles, somebody's finishing at the quarterback.
Speaker 1: So even though you know we have live periods, you're not,
Speaker 1: you know, knocking a guy over a pile or or
Speaker 1: taking a guy's legs or anything like that. So let's
Speaker 1: leave that. I mean, it'll it'll be a different tempo
Speaker 1: in preseason games, and we all know it's a different
Speaker 1: tempo once a regular season begins. Also, so what are
Speaker 1: you evaluating that? I mean, and it just kind of
Speaker 1: take me through it. If if the tempo isn't quite there,
Speaker 1: I mean, one of the tempo is there, it's just
Speaker 1: where you were just not as physical as you would
Speaker 1: be in a time when it's another opponent. I mean,
Speaker 1: we as much as we want to compete, we got
Speaker 1: to remember these are our teammates, you know, and we
Speaker 1: got to find a way to be physical practice without
Speaker 1: crossing over the line. And there's and there's always a
Speaker 1: line there, you know. I mean, you can finish a rush.
Speaker 1: And if you had a guy into the quarterback and
Speaker 1: the quarterback's brains is thumb, nobody's happy, you know. So
Speaker 1: you know, you gotta you gotta, you gotta govern it
Speaker 1: a little bit. How do you feel about what you've seen? Um,
Speaker 1: it's training camp. We got a lot of work to
Speaker 1: do and that so okay, good, good? You're not satisfied
Speaker 1: at all? I trust or is there a point? And yeah?
Speaker 1: I think if yeah, you you pull thirty two offensive coordinators,
Speaker 1: thirty two defensive coordinators, thirty two special teams coordinations, you're
Speaker 1: not gonna find anybody that's satisfied right now. I mean,
Speaker 1: that's that's the nature of training camp. I mean, if
Speaker 1: you're satisfied now, you're probably on the wrong path. Are
Speaker 1: there good things that you're seeing that you'd like to share? No? Okay,
Speaker 1: but but but there are there are good things, but
Speaker 1: you have to temper that. You know, you don't want
Speaker 1: to get too far ahead, you know, and you know,
Speaker 1: I think everybody can recognize that. You know, you can
Speaker 1: you can get a little too pleased with yourself in
Speaker 1: training camp, read a little bit too much. We have
Speaker 1: to keep our eyes on improving every day in the grind,
Speaker 1: in the training camp. We have to embrace that if
Speaker 1: we do, the end will take care of itself. If
Speaker 1: we start getting happy about it and start patting ourselves
Speaker 1: on the back, we're on the wrong track. Let's let's
Speaker 1: talk about some of the units up front. Very physical group,
Speaker 1: you know, deep, looks like it's deep and talented. What
Speaker 1: are you seeing from the defensive line group as a whole, Well,
Speaker 1: we're going to need it to be deep and talented
Speaker 1: because we're gonna wave guys up front. We're gonna bring
Speaker 1: guys out of the bullpen. And you know, they don't
Speaker 1: need to be throwing eighty two out of the bullpen.
Speaker 1: They need to be throwing ninety nine hundred. And for
Speaker 1: us to be successful, we're going to have to have
Speaker 1: contributions from you know, six seven, eight guys up front.
Speaker 1: That's that's that's you know, lifeblood of what we do.
Speaker 1: I like where those guys are going. It's it's been
Speaker 1: a big change for them more than any other position group.
Speaker 1: They had to change their technique, changed philosophically, what was
Speaker 1: expected of them. They were at the line two gap
Speaker 1: team that wasn't you know, they didn't want penetration and
Speaker 1: they really weren't asked to pass for us very much
Speaker 1: to being asked to, you know, attack and penetrate and
Speaker 1: be the engine that it drives our pass rush. So
Speaker 1: it's lot has been asked to those guys. And you know,
Speaker 1: we're still work in progress, but you know, we have
Speaker 1: some talented guys up there, and I like where we're going.
Speaker 1: And Chris Wilson, I mean he's got these guys. They
Speaker 1: play with a grin ear to year when you tell
Speaker 1: them to go, I think that's what a defensive line
Speaker 1: wants to hear, right, go go get the football, not
Speaker 1: to get well, yeah, to go get the football. You
Speaker 1: can go get to football two gap too, but you
Speaker 1: know you want to be the hammer, not to nail.
Speaker 1: You want to take the fight to them, not sit
Speaker 1: on the line of scrimmage. I think they all recognize
Speaker 1: that and they all embrace that, and it makes it
Speaker 1: easier to coach them for sure. Interesting group of cornerbacks
Speaker 1: with some players that you're familiar with in the past,
Speaker 1: some players who've been here, some young players, some new players.
Speaker 1: How have you seen that group kind of come along
Speaker 1: since the spring? You know, we're going to rely a
Speaker 1: lot on those guys. Also, if you have guys, it's
Speaker 1: a little bit like I say, if you can rush
Speaker 1: with four and you can blitz on your own terms
Speaker 1: rather than having to blitz, it opens up so much
Speaker 1: you can do in coverage. And if you have corners
Speaker 1: that can cover and you can trust them out there
Speaker 1: on an island, opens up so much that you can
Speaker 1: do run fit wise and blitz wise and everything else. So, um,
Speaker 1: you know, we're gonna need to see those guys. Um.
Speaker 1: You know, not just in training camp, but in the
Speaker 1: preseason games. There's great competition out there. We got a
Speaker 1: good mix of veterans and young players there. Um, you know,
Speaker 1: they're asked to play a little bit different technique than
Speaker 1: they played last year. But I think bottom line as
Speaker 1: we got guys that want to challenge receivers. Yeah, physical
Speaker 1: and mentally. They seem like they're really into it too, like,
Speaker 1: you know, don't hang your head if you get just
Speaker 1: get back up there. And well, we're still work in
Speaker 1: progress there. I mean, there's I mean, it's it's um.
Speaker 1: We still have a ways to go there to be
Speaker 1: in resilient and putting a bad play behind you. The
Speaker 1: bad players are going to happen, you know. I mean
Speaker 1: there's as a little bit like basketball in the NBA.
Speaker 1: You can cover Lebron all day. You know he's gonna
Speaker 1: make a couple of shots, and if you hang your
Speaker 1: head when he makes one, you're not gonna play defense.
Speaker 1: Well the next time you gotta come back and go.
Speaker 1: And we got to encourage those guys to you know,
Speaker 1: play sort of wide open a little bit and not
Speaker 1: get conservative and not you know, just defense and you know,
Speaker 1: deep and give up too much stuff in front. Malcolm
Speaker 1: and Rodney at safety are getting glowing reports since the
Speaker 1: time that we acquired them here, and you've spoken highly
Speaker 1: of them, and I'm wondering, when you have safeties of
Speaker 1: that caliber, how does that help you just in terms
Speaker 1: of the other things you can do in coverage. Because
Speaker 1: Eagles have had a real hard time here with a
Speaker 1: safety situation since two thousand and eight when Brian Dawkins left.
Speaker 1: So does it really make a big difference in terms
Speaker 1: of the flexibility you have or the versatility or the
Speaker 1: exs and knows you can throw up? Yeah, I think
Speaker 1: versatility and flexibility are good words to use when you
Speaker 1: talk about those guys. Both of them played corner in
Speaker 1: the past. Both of them are corners in college. So
Speaker 1: when it comes to match in a third wide receiver,
Speaker 1: you don't have to match with Nickel and feel like
Speaker 1: or if you don't match with Nickel, you don't feel
Speaker 1: like you're mismatched. One of those guys can go down
Speaker 1: and cover a third wide receiver, allows you to do
Speaker 1: a lot more blitz wise that you know, both of
Speaker 1: those guys are good tacklers. They can play in the
Speaker 1: box or they can play deep. You know, it's tough
Speaker 1: to try to hide a one trick tony at safety,
Speaker 1: and neither of those guys as one trick pony um.
Speaker 1: And they're they're veterans, young veterans, but they're veterans. They
Speaker 1: do a great job of communicate, and they hustle. They
Speaker 1: set the tempo over practice. Um couldn't be more pleased
Speaker 1: with those guys at middle linebacker, Jordan Hicks, you're number
Speaker 1: two in the NFL and with the Eagles, he has
Speaker 1: to take over the defense as a leader. And also
Speaker 1: from the mental standpoint. You spoke about the mental standpoint
Speaker 1: in lining up people on Thursday morning at practice after practice.
Speaker 1: How about from the kind of being the leader of
Speaker 1: the defense has a middle linebacker, we kind of look
Speaker 1: at him as that kind of guys that kind of
Speaker 1: go yeah, you know, you get you get a lot
Speaker 1: of different leaders to the defense. I mean, I think
Speaker 1: that everybody has played within their own personality, and he
Speaker 1: does have some responsibilities for making calls, um, you know,
Speaker 1: being you know, getting the front lined up and things
Speaker 1: like that. But you know as part of his job.
Speaker 1: You know, it's not getting many gold stars for that.
Speaker 1: I mean, that's what he's That's that's what he has
Speaker 1: to do. And you know it's really not that tough.
Speaker 1: Jordan's smart, he um, he gets it and he'll do
Speaker 1: a fine job in there. What are you seeing from
Speaker 1: linebacker from those three Nigel, Michael and Jordan and then
Speaker 1: the rest of the group the linebackers who's some outside
Speaker 1: have questioned if there's enough depth here. Well, thank you.
Speaker 1: There's probably thirty one other teams that are questioned in
Speaker 1: their depth at just about every position. I mean, that's
Speaker 1: life in the NFL. But you know, I think it
Speaker 1: was important to bring Nausey Good back and I think
Speaker 1: you know, he's a guy that has you know, started
Speaker 1: at times and again can fill in a lot of
Speaker 1: different positions. Can play Mike, can play outside, and we're
Speaker 1: still work in progress. Like a lot of other positions.
Speaker 1: There's good competition there. Special teams play a big role
Speaker 1: in backup linebackers, you know, because they're not just sitting
Speaker 1: there waiting for their turn and not doing anything. They're
Speaker 1: out there covering kicks. So you know they're gonna have
Speaker 1: to prove that they can accomplish that while they're still
Speaker 1: developing as linebackers. I would love to get the all
Speaker 1: encompassing Hey, Jim, how's this guy coming on? Who's standing up?
Speaker 1: But I know that you're not You're not going to
Speaker 1: talk about that. So I want to ask this, at
Speaker 1: what point do you feel as a coach that you've
Speaker 1: we've got a real handle on what you have as
Speaker 1: a defense. Is it three games into the regular season,
Speaker 1: is it we better know before that because those first
Speaker 1: those first two counts, all right, anybody, isn't it kind
Speaker 1: of a learning still learning it as you go for
Speaker 1: that at first, you know, you learn as you go
Speaker 1: through OTA's and mini camp and training camp. It's part
Speaker 1: of what we do here is we're trying to find, um,
Speaker 1: you know, what the player, what fits the players best,
Speaker 1: what's the best combination of calls. Every team's got a
Speaker 1: little different personality. Every defense has a little different personality,
Speaker 1: different strengths, different weaknesses. It's up to us to identify those,
Speaker 1: to try to minimize our weaknesses and try to emphasize
Speaker 1: our strengths. And you know, that's why we're out here
Speaker 1: every day. They're you know, not just out here, you know, um,
Speaker 1: you know, just trying to accomplish the scheme. As we watch,
Speaker 1: we're trying to figure out as coaches, Hey, this is
Speaker 1: our personality, this is what we're good at. This is
Speaker 1: what we can hang our hat on. Um. Yeah, that
Speaker 1: that open accounts the first two games a count. We're
Speaker 1: not waiting until the season to find out, you know,
Speaker 1: try to find out a pre games obviously make a big,
Speaker 1: big difference between preseason game and a Yeah, you know,
Speaker 1: I mean, we want to win every game for preseason games,
Speaker 1: but that is a that is a good time to evaluate,
Speaker 1: and it's good not You're not just evaluating the players.
Speaker 1: You're evaluating the players within the scheme, like I said,
Speaker 1: and what they're good at and what best fits us.
Speaker 1: So you know that definitely, that definitely plays a part
Speaker 1: of it. But obviously you know those games aren't on
Speaker 1: your resume, so to speak. Well, Jim, thanks so much, Jim,
Speaker 1: Jim Jim Schwartz in studio here on Philadelphia Eagles dot com.
Speaker 1: You say crazy, I say crafty. You say savage. I
Speaker 1: say practice, crazy, crafted, savage, practice. Let's run that whole
Speaker 1: day back. You say unbelievable. I say achievable. You say incredible.
Speaker 1: I say inevitable. Unbelievable, achievable, incredible, inevitable. Let's win that
Speaker 1: whole day. Bet carps to compete, elector life to replenish.
Speaker 1: Have you ever pictured yourself with Eagles season tickets? Well
Speaker 1: now you can turn that fantasy into reality. Comcast Sports
Speaker 1: Meat and the Eagles are giving away a pair of
Speaker 1: tickets for the entire two sixteen season every week. This
Speaker 1: summer brings you closer to the dream with a new
Speaker 1: chance to win these seats. It's easy to enter it.
Speaker 1: Just answer this week's pull question and enter at Philadelphia
Speaker 1: Eagles dot com, slash CS and Philly Mix and Match
Speaker 1: any two for just two dollars and fifty cents on mcdonald'
Speaker 1: mcpick two menu shooes from a mcdoubell, McChicken sandwich, six
Speaker 1: piece chicken, McNuggets or small fries. I'm loving it. We
Speaker 1: welcome you back. It's inside training Camp presented by Xfinity
Speaker 1: Dave Spidero along with Chris McPherson. We heard from Jim Schwartz.
Speaker 1: Let's be honest. Is never going to be satisfied with
Speaker 1: this Eagles defense until we're going down Broad Street or
Speaker 1: up Broad Street hoisting the Lamarti Trophy, no question, And
Speaker 1: I like that attitude. Nothing is There's no happy times here.
Speaker 1: It's a grinding training camp, get better every single day.
Speaker 1: He represents Philadelphia so well. He has the right mentality.
Speaker 1: He said, this is the best place to coach and
Speaker 1: more importantly win, And he's been on the sideline for
Speaker 1: some interesting games against the Eagles over the years Snowball
Speaker 1: two thirteen, so he saw the passion from the fans
Speaker 1: first hand there and now he gets to have that
Speaker 1: on his back because everyone knows fans of the defense
Speaker 1: here in Philadela and east from Baltimore, so he understands
Speaker 1: that East coasting and it is all about defense with
Speaker 1: his football team. A long way to go for the
Speaker 1: Eagles d And we're getting closer and closer to the weekend, Chris,
Speaker 1: what do we have on Philadelphia Eagles dot com and
Speaker 1: or digital network tomorrow? So that phenomenal interview you just
Speaker 1: did with Jim Schwartz that will be available on demand
Speaker 1: for everyone out there following Friday's this Doug Peterson, we'll
Speaker 1: meet the media. We will carry that live on Philadelphia
Speaker 1: Eagles dot Com as well as the mobile app. Make
Speaker 1: sure you download it if you haven't already, so that
Speaker 1: will be available for fans as well. And Dave, how
Speaker 1: well do you know your roommate? That's a question we're
Speaker 1: going to ask two of the Eagles rookies. The rookies
Speaker 1: there sequesters at the team hotel during training camp, you know,
Speaker 1: live quality time one another. So two players in rookies,
Speaker 1: Jalen Mills and Dylan Gordon. Look, they have an unfair
Speaker 1: advanced because they played together at LSU, so we'll ask
Speaker 1: them certain questions and find out just how well they
Speaker 1: know any And you can find that on our social
Speaker 1: network right no question about. You can find that right now.
Speaker 1: And again we are one week away. You can watch
Speaker 1: Dave on the sidelines during the broadcast the Eagles Network
Speaker 1: broadcast of the Eagles and the Buccaneers broadcast on Comcast
Speaker 1: Sportsnet and Cozy TV next Thursday from Lincoln Financial Field.
Speaker 1: We thank you for joining us here on Inside Training
Speaker 1: Camp presented by Vicinity for Chris McPherson. I'm Dave SPINNERO.
Speaker 1: Thanks for joining us. Everyone, have yourselves are great Eagles
Speaker 1: Day