Speaker 1: Hi everyone, I'm Alex Smith and this is your three
Speaker 1: sixty update. A new face here at the Novacare Complex
Speaker 1: as veteran linebacker Stephen Tullock officially signed his one year
Speaker 1: deal with the Eagles today. After practice, we caught up
Speaker 1: with the linebacker to hear from him for the first
Speaker 1: time as a member of the Eagles. I feel most
Speaker 1: comfortable with this defense, you know, Uh, you know, Tarrell
Speaker 1: Austin's defense and Detroit very good defense and uh something
Speaker 1: I was you know, getting used to, you know, going
Speaker 1: into my second year there. But uh, you know, obviously
Speaker 1: I played in this defense for about six seven years
Speaker 1: and uh, you know, numerous games, numerous playoff games, uh,
Speaker 1: you know, battling back you know down you know, to
Speaker 1: the Colts many years and that division in the AFC South.
Speaker 1: So you know, we've been through it. You know, a
Speaker 1: lot of tweaks, you know, some tweaks have been made
Speaker 1: along the way, you know, through his time through Buffalo
Speaker 1: coming here, but it's pretty much the same defense. Before
Speaker 1: practice began, we heard from Eagles defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz,
Speaker 1: who has plenty of experience with Tullock. He was there
Speaker 1: in Tennessee when Tullock was drafted and then coached him
Speaker 1: again in Detroit, and he says that Tullock just brings
Speaker 1: something different to the Eagles party. You know, he's he's
Speaker 1: a very experienced player. He's he's played at a high
Speaker 1: at a high level of production, plays with a lot
Speaker 1: of spirit. He's heavy in the run game. He's got
Speaker 1: natural leverage. That's that's a kind way of saying he's short,
Speaker 1: but he's he's really powerful. He understands blocking schemes, you know,
Speaker 1: and he has a good understanding bass game. He's got
Speaker 1: a little bit of experience into defense. I don't know
Speaker 1: what that means a whole lot. He's a good player,
Speaker 1: stands on its own. He's done it in difference games.
Speaker 1: The Eagles defense continues to make strides in the right direction,
Speaker 1: coming off of a seventeen to nothing shut out over
Speaker 1: the Pittsburgh Steelers today, inside the locker room, we caught
Speaker 1: up with Connor Barwin, Nigel Bradham, and Benny Logan to
Speaker 1: get their thoughts on where this defense is headed. We've
Speaker 1: learned about, you know, what Jim Schwartz is about what
Speaker 1: our defense is gonna be about. Um, I think we've
Speaker 1: learned where we've got. Uh. You know, we have some
Speaker 1: good depth in the secondary. We'll have some good depth
Speaker 1: up front at the d line. Uh, and it'll be
Speaker 1: you know, up to us up front to really set
Speaker 1: the town and make sure we get pressure. With the
Speaker 1: four guys up front, we are constantly making progress. We're
Speaker 1: not there yet, but that's why we practice there. They
Speaker 1: continue to push each other to get better. I got
Speaker 1: to aven a couple weeks ago. We have a chance
Speaker 1: to be something special, but we've got to continue no,
Speaker 1: push each other, motivate each other. Even though we don't
Speaker 1: feel like we tired, we gotta go out there and
Speaker 1: continue works. He's pretty much gonna put me in a
Speaker 1: lot of a lot of positions throughout the year. Um.
Speaker 1: Like I said, I've been in this system before, so um,
Speaker 1: I mean he's gonna use my flixing ability, courviage ability, UM,
Speaker 1: hitting I mean, he's gonna he's gonna put me in
Speaker 1: a lot of positions to make play. So just looking
Speaker 1: forward to the season and finally switching over to the
Speaker 1: other side of the football, we heard from Eagles offensive
Speaker 1: coordinator Frank Reich and running back Ryan Matthews. Now two
Speaker 1: have a history in San Diego and they're once again
Speaker 1: teamed up here in Philadelphia. And while Matthew's explosiveness gathers
Speaker 1: most of the headlines, it's actually his blocking that was
Speaker 1: the hot topic today. I can't emphasize that enough. I've
Speaker 1: said it before over the last couple of weeks, but
Speaker 1: it's just so important in any offense that the backs
Speaker 1: fully understand all the protection calls what's going on, because
Speaker 1: it all starts in the passing game of protecting the passer,
Speaker 1: and the backs are a big part of that, you know.
Speaker 1: But it's just a lot different, you know, when you
Speaker 1: actually get out there and then they don't start firing
Speaker 1: and you know they're coming from everyonech way and you
Speaker 1: got to eat rigid reads and everything. But uh, you know,
Speaker 1: I think I've grown grown a lot, you know, to
Speaker 1: adjust to that, and they're just trying to make myself,
Speaker 1: you know, available for you know, whatever position they're trying
Speaker 1: to put me in. So you know, I think I've
Speaker 1: grown grown good in that. In that area. You can
Speaker 1: hear more from Ryan Matthews and Stephen Tullock as well
Speaker 1: as the rest of our locker room coverage. Everything is
Speaker 1: on demand right here on Philadelphia Eagles dot com and
Speaker 1: with your three sixty update, I'm Alex Smith.