Speaker 1: Perts under center, he goes with a pitch to Barkley.
Speaker 1: Barkley across the thirty twenty five Tony, good Bye, Bimo Billo.
Speaker 2: He's unbelievable. He is unbelievable. Saquon Barkley running in for
Speaker 2: a second touchdown on the night. You can hold him
Speaker 2: down for a while, you can't hold him down for
Speaker 2: four quarters. He ends up with one hundred and forty
Speaker 2: six yards on the ground with two touchdowns. The Eagles
Speaker 2: beat the Commanders twenty eight twenty six rather to eighteen
Speaker 2: in Philadelphia. This was a seven to three game for
Speaker 2: Washington at halftime, and the Eagles offense got rolling. That
Speaker 2: was Meryl Reese and Mike Quick on WIP. I'm in
Speaker 2: the garage and I'm looking at my friend Steven Ruiz
Speaker 2: of the Ringer from Washington, DC. But he's not a
Speaker 2: Commanders fan, and so he's probably not heartbroken they lost
Speaker 2: this game. A lot of Commanders fans are who thought
Speaker 2: this season's gonna be special, and maybe it still will be,
Speaker 2: but they're at seven and four. There are a couple
Speaker 2: losses now back of an Eagles team. Steven that just
Speaker 2: looked like a little tougher A little more grown up,
Speaker 2: a little more ready for mid November football than Washington did.
Speaker 1: No the Eagles just like the more talented team, the
Speaker 1: more solid team. Most of these teams take a unique
Speaker 1: approach to offense, especially on early downs. They have offenses
Speaker 1: that don't look like any offenses elsewhere in the NFL.
Speaker 1: But Washington's to this point has been based on one
Speaker 1: the talent of a rookie quarterback in Jaydon Daniels who's
Speaker 1: been brilliant but has run into a bit of a
Speaker 1: rookie wall this last couple of weeks, and then the
Speaker 1: scheme of Cliff Kingsbury. I always think there's an expiration
Speaker 1: date on offenses where you're kind of getting by on
Speaker 1: smoking mirrors a little bit. And I think with the
Speaker 1: Eagles where it's like talent based, like we just have
Speaker 1: better guys than you at. We have an offensive line
Speaker 1: that's going to run you over. We have a running
Speaker 1: back that's going to take advantage of those holes, and
Speaker 1: then we have two wide receivers that if you leave
Speaker 1: them one on one on the outside, we're going to
Speaker 1: do damage to the air. And I think you saw
Speaker 1: that play out on the field.
Speaker 2: I love it. You're already planting your flag that the
Speaker 2: cliff second half collapse is coming. I love that by you, Steven.
Speaker 2: Let's put a pin in that and get to that
Speaker 2: a little later because that is intriguing. Jayden Daniels has
Speaker 2: struggled the last couple of weeks. Although the offense, you know,
Speaker 2: had moments against Baltimore tonight, they really didn't end up
Speaker 2: with two hundred and sixty four yards and that includes
Speaker 2: a garbage time touchdown drive that they had at the end.
Speaker 2: They did have a chance with an on side kick
Speaker 2: under thirty seconds to go, so you know it was
Speaker 2: worth trying for. But most of the night they really struggled.
Speaker 2: I want to give the Eagles their flowers first, because
Speaker 2: to me, this was the classic Eagles game of twenty
Speaker 2: twenty four. If you haven't watched them each and every week,
Speaker 2: a lot of them have been like this, and by
Speaker 2: that I mean they look kind of disjoined on offense
Speaker 2: often Jalen hurts sometimes like doesn't make the best decisions
Speaker 2: in the red zone. For instance, you saw tonight there
Speaker 2: was a lot of unforced airs. They had a trick
Speaker 2: play which killed the drive, They had a holding penalty
Speaker 2: which killed the drive. They had another drive which had
Speaker 2: a couple of drops, Jake Elliott's missing kicks all over
Speaker 2: the place, two miss field goals in the first half,
Speaker 2: missed extra point. But at a certain point, their offensive
Speaker 2: talent seems to just catch up in your and overwhelm
Speaker 2: the opponent. And meanwhile, the defense has been money since
Speaker 2: the bye week, and now this is a better opponent
Speaker 2: they're going against. They played well against the Bengals as well,
Speaker 2: which was a good offensive opponent. And to me, they
Speaker 2: are absolutely legit and they make you earn everything, and
Speaker 2: that combination is a winning combination, because by the fourth
Speaker 2: quarter of this game, it just felt like the play
Speaker 2: differential the Eagles that had about fifteen to twenty more
Speaker 2: plays at halftime ended up being too much for Washington,
Speaker 2: and the second half drives for Philadelphia they were leaning
Speaker 2: on them like you could you could see when you
Speaker 2: had the overhead angle. They go field goal, touchdown, touchdown,
Speaker 2: touchdown to end the game, and Saquon with prairies of
Speaker 2: you know, acreage to run through and he hits it.
Speaker 2: And it's a great formula as long as they're not
Speaker 2: turning the ball over. It's tough to be.
Speaker 1: It feels partly twenty twenty two Eagles formula. Like when
Speaker 1: they were struggling with the passing game, they could just
Speaker 1: go to that run game and just hammer the same
Speaker 1: run plays over and over and over again. I remember
Speaker 1: there was a game against the Giants where I think
Speaker 1: they ran the same run play out of the same
Speaker 1: formation eight times in a row and the Giants couldn't
Speaker 1: do anything to stop it. It feels like that like
Speaker 1: the pass game isn't quite where it was a couple
Speaker 1: of years ago. But we've also seen highs out of
Speaker 1: the pass game, especially when Jalen Hurts has been pushing
Speaker 1: it deep outside the numbers to aj Brown, to DeVante Smith.
Speaker 1: I think if they can get that going more consistantly,
Speaker 1: we're going to see this team reach some of the
Speaker 1: highs they reached when they made that run to the
Speaker 1: Super Bowl.
Speaker 2: Yeah, tonight, I think Washington's defense did a good job.
Speaker 2: I look, Jalen didn't attempt to throw over twenty yards,
Speaker 2: and he only completed three over ten yards. Everything was short.
Speaker 2: It felt like the two teams were almost in a
Speaker 2: staring contest. In My colleague Jordan Rodrigue The Athletic pointed
Speaker 2: this out on Twitter. That this was clearly Vic Fangio's
Speaker 2: defensive plan. It kind of always is. Jaden Daniels did
Speaker 2: not throw well against split safety tonight according to next
Speaker 2: Gen seven of eleven for thirty two yards. And then
Speaker 2: the fourth quarter interception that Reid Blankenship picked off. First
Speaker 2: of all, you know, shout out to Reid Blankenship. He's
Speaker 2: like the closer. He only catches interceptions in the fourth
Speaker 2: quarter and he never drops him. It's kind of an
Speaker 2: underrated aspect to a defensive back, Like a defensive back
Speaker 2: that never drops the interception and suddenly like that ball
Speaker 2: was just rolling down downhill fast in the fourth quarter.
Speaker 2: This was this was a close game that the Eagles
Speaker 2: didn't even have the lead going into the fourth quarter.
Speaker 2: They take a touchdown drive that ends with the tousch
Speaker 2: push with Jalen Hurts with like twelve minutes ago, and
Speaker 2: after that it was it was all Philadelphia. But I
Speaker 2: think their defensive plan to like make jad and Daniels
Speaker 2: really work down the field slowly and not go to
Speaker 2: his wide receiver is Washington felt caught comfortable playing that way,
Speaker 2: but like they need bigger plays than what they got tonight.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and even during their fast dart to the season,
Speaker 1: they weren't getting a lot of like downfield explosive plays.
Speaker 1: A lot of their explosive plays were coming on like
Speaker 1: like yards after catch or Jaden Daniels getting outside the
Speaker 1: pocket and scrambling for a first down. But like we
Speaker 1: remember the big throws downfield, especially against Cincinnati, the two
Speaker 1: throws on Monday Night, and then he had some other
Speaker 1: like Jayden Daniels, I mean had some other like Marquee
Speaker 1: deep throws. I think he had one against the Ravens.
Speaker 1: I think he had one against the Steelers down the sideline.
Speaker 1: But outside of that, there's not a lot of passes
Speaker 1: going downfield, especially like over the middle of the field.
Speaker 1: And you saw the Eagles kind of take away those
Speaker 1: early down efficient plays and force them into a dropback
Speaker 1: game on third down, and this was one of their
Speaker 1: worst games on third down. I think they were one
Speaker 1: for nine at one point. I know they might have
Speaker 1: improved the stats on that garbage time drive. I guess
Speaker 1: it wasn't garbage time because they cut it to one possession,
Speaker 1: But really before that drive, they weren't really moving the
Speaker 1: ball and third down at all, and that had been
Speaker 1: such a strength for them. They had such great third
Speaker 1: down numbers, such great fourth down numbers. We see a
Speaker 1: fourth down stop on a concept that I know some
Speaker 1: people criticize the play call there, but that's a call
Speaker 1: they've been using a lot on fourth down and having
Speaker 1: a lot of success with it. It hasn't been stopped
Speaker 1: having Jadan Daniels do a little play action fake and
Speaker 1: then roll outside the pocket and either run for it
Speaker 1: or pass for it, and no team has been able
Speaker 1: to stop it. But I think it speaks to how
Speaker 1: much heavy lifting the scheme was doing early on, and
Speaker 1: now that teams kind of have all this film and
Speaker 1: know how they're going to approach games, I think we're
Speaker 1: going to see them. They're gonna have to come up
Speaker 1: with playing b's and playing seeds going forward.
Speaker 2: I'm glad you brought up that sequence. So after the
Speaker 2: Eagles touchdown, the score is twelve to ten because Elliott
Speaker 2: missed the extra point and Washington is driving, they actually
Speaker 2: have a second and one. They're playing fast, they're playing tempo,
Speaker 2: which is where they've been at their best all season.
Speaker 2: It was the first drive of the night where Jayden
Speaker 2: and Daniels just ripped a couple of confident throws. He
Speaker 2: had one to McLaurin, who only had one catch tonight,
Speaker 2: and that led all wide receivers. Zakias had one, Noah
Speaker 2: Brown had one, Dammy Brown had one, and they totaled.
Speaker 2: Just doing some quick math here for twenty eight yards.
Speaker 2: That's absolutely outrageous. Their wide receivers got absolutely nothing done.
Speaker 2: So it's second and one there in field goal range
Speaker 2: and Jalen Carter to me, makes the play of the night.
Speaker 2: Just I was watching on the Prime Vision view from
Speaker 2: the overhead camera, which is just awesome. And the way
Speaker 2: he shed the tackler. They are impenetrated. I don't think
Speaker 2: many defensive tackles, if any, are gonna make that play,
Speaker 2: and so he forces a third and two. They stuff that.
Speaker 2: It was kind of slow developing. That was a nice
Speaker 2: play too. That brings up the fourth down that you mentioned.
Speaker 2: Let's actually take a listen to that and then we'll
Speaker 2: talk about the decision after that.
Speaker 1: Instead of trying for a game changing field goal that
Speaker 1: would give them a one point lead, they're gonna go
Speaker 1: on fourth and two. Daniel under Sun. Daniels is back.
Speaker 1: He's big, chased, he's running, he's big pushed, He's not kind.
Speaker 2: Of bones the Eagles takeover on downs. Theagles take over
Speaker 2: a down that was a great call there again by
Speaker 2: by Merlo Reese and Jalen Carter busted up that play
Speaker 2: too at the beginning. I know they fumbled the snap
Speaker 2: a little, but that is an incredible sequence. This guy
Speaker 2: had three quick pressures tonight according to the next Gen stats,
Speaker 2: like he is having that second year leap. I don't
Speaker 2: even know if his raw numbers are that crazy, I
Speaker 2: honestly don't know, but just by the eye test and
Speaker 2: the film and everything, he's having that second year leap,
Speaker 2: like he might be an all pro right now. And
Speaker 2: that sequence with the fourth down stop two, which which
Speaker 2: they make a good play on the edge he started
Speaker 2: that play.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it kind of reminds me of watching like a
Speaker 1: young Aaron Donald, where you didn't even need to see
Speaker 1: the numbers. You just you saw ninety nine just blowing
Speaker 1: up every play. Every time you watch on the game pass,
Speaker 1: the condensed version, you'd see ninety nine breaking into the backfield.
Speaker 1: And that's kind of how it feels with ninety eight
Speaker 1: on the Eagles right now. And there were times when
Speaker 1: like Washington had a good play call on like they
Speaker 1: had the numbers in the run box, they had the
Speaker 1: blockers there, and then an Eagles defensive lineman, usually Carter,
Speaker 1: would just blow up the play. And that's the difference
Speaker 1: between these two teams right now. One is a finished product,
Speaker 1: or as close to a finished product as you can
Speaker 1: get with them, kind of like bouncing back after the
Speaker 1: last year. And then you have Washington, a team that's
Speaker 1: still trying to learn how to build around this young
Speaker 1: quarterback who has who has given them a spark. But
Speaker 1: I don't know if they're ready for games like this
Speaker 1: at this point in the season yet.
Speaker 2: You know what's interesting, I was not expecting to come
Speaker 2: into tonight and hear some Jaden skepticism from Steven Ruiz
Speaker 2: where's he at in your QB rankings? But it kind
Speaker 2: of makes sense, and I don't disagree with anything you're saying.
Speaker 2: I do think he was erratic last week, which was
Speaker 2: like a little concerning. You know, he missed more throws
Speaker 2: than you would expect it, but there were the big
Speaker 2: plays and he's really avoided big mistakes, which I think
Speaker 2: is really to his credit, and that was true in
Speaker 2: this game too. It is impressive for a rook But
Speaker 2: am I fair to pick up on a little bit
Speaker 2: of Jaden Daniel's rookie season skepticism and where is he
Speaker 2: in the rankings? Just tell me that too.
Speaker 1: He's like, I think he's like eighteen seventeenth. Now I'd
Speaker 1: like to slow play it with the rookies. I don't
Speaker 1: like to, you know, give him your ranking.
Speaker 2: To be clear, is kind of like an all encompass scene,
Speaker 2: like how good are they at the NFL level? Y,
Speaker 2: that's fair, guys with seven years of experience is tough
Speaker 2: to top that.
Speaker 1: But most of my skepticism has to do with Cliff
Speaker 1: Kingsbury in the offense. Like I think, like every rookie,
Speaker 1: I'm going to be skeptical that they're going to be
Speaker 1: able to carry over a hot start to the rookie
Speaker 1: season to the second half, especially when the schedule gets tougher.
Speaker 1: But I think Jaden Daniels' skills I don't question those,
Speaker 1: like the skills that have allowed this offense to operate
Speaker 1: like it's operating. That's like precise accuracy, especially underneath twenty yards.
Speaker 1: And then his ability to run. Now we have seen
Speaker 1: him kind of lose that. I don't know if it's
Speaker 1: the injury I don't know if he's hesitant to take
Speaker 1: some hits now after the rib injury, but he's not
Speaker 1: making guys miss in the open field as much as
Speaker 1: he did early on. I mean, we'll see how that
Speaker 1: goes going forward after he gets healthy, but that would
Speaker 1: be my one concern with him individually. But I think
Speaker 1: the more that teams are able to like sit on
Speaker 1: some of these concepts that Washington has had a lot
Speaker 1: of success with and they start to figure out how
Speaker 1: they're using the no huddle in the second half, I
Speaker 1: think it's just gonna get a little bit harder. I
Speaker 1: don't think like they're gonna go away. I don't think
Speaker 1: this offense is a complete fluke, and I think Jayden
Speaker 1: Daniels is going to end up winning Rookie of the
Speaker 1: Year and we're still going to feel good about him
Speaker 1: at the end of the year. I just don't think
Speaker 1: it's going to be that, Oh, he's a top five
Speaker 1: quarterback based on production and maybe even an MVP candidate
Speaker 1: by the end of it.
Speaker 2: Yes, I was saying two weeks ago, I thought he
Speaker 2: was an MVP canning just because the offense is based
Speaker 2: around him and he transformed a team that just wasn't there,
Speaker 2: and it was hard to argue with the efficiency. I
Speaker 2: think it's just the schedule. You played two of the
Speaker 2: better defenses right now in the league. I'm comfortable putting
Speaker 2: Philadelphia there as a top eight defense, whatever the number is.
Speaker 2: Certainly Pittsburgh is there too, and so you play some
Speaker 2: better defenses and they won more than they lost. They
Speaker 2: weren't disasters on offense this last two weeks. They didn't
Speaker 2: make huge critical mistakes. They put up some points against Pittsburgh,
Speaker 2: but it was a lot of failed drives. Let's talk
Speaker 2: about the fourth down decision, because, as you heard on
Speaker 2: that call, Merril Reese is a little surprised they could
Speaker 2: have attempted a kick there with their backup kicker Zane
Speaker 2: Gonzalez to take a thirteen to twelve lead. What do
Speaker 2: you think about the decision by dan Quinn there.
Speaker 1: I mean, I think it's fine. I know it was
Speaker 1: a low scoring game and you want all the points
Speaker 1: you can get, but the Eagles were moving the ball
Speaker 1: even in the first half. Like they missed the field goals.
Speaker 1: Jake Elliott missed his two field goals, they missed the
Speaker 1: extra point, so I think the score was being suppressed
Speaker 1: a little bit and it wasn't actually indicative of how
Speaker 1: the Eagles were moving the ball. And then Washington has
Speaker 1: been money on fourth down all year long. They've been
Speaker 1: going forward on fourth and short all year long. To
Speaker 1: stop doing that, to go against your identity and the
Speaker 1: biggest game of the season, I think that sends the
Speaker 1: wrong message to your locker room. And it says like
Speaker 1: if dan Quinn does that, and I was in that
Speaker 1: life where I'll go, oh, he was scared of the moment,
Speaker 1: like he's done. He does it against the Bucks, He's
Speaker 1: not going to do it against the Eagles in primetime.
Speaker 1: I would question him after that.
Speaker 2: Yes, I love that. I agree with all that, and
Speaker 2: I give maybe I'm giving dan Quinn too much credit.
Speaker 2: What I hate about coaches sometimes is when they don't
Speaker 2: feel like they have a flow of the game or
Speaker 2: they know where their strengths are, they know where their
Speaker 2: weaknesses are in a certain game or in a season
Speaker 2: in general. Sean McVay is like that sometimes. With his
Speaker 2: fourth down decisions and the way this game was going,
Speaker 2: I think dan Quinn knew the burst was about to
Speaker 2: break with his defense. He had just given up a
Speaker 2: drive where they got absolutely gashed. The play disparity, as
Speaker 2: I was saying, was pretty massive and a field goal
Speaker 2: was not going to win this game. Like he I
Speaker 2: think he felt the way that game was going, they
Speaker 2: needed to stay on the field longer. They need to
Speaker 2: try to get seven if they can, and if they
Speaker 2: can't pick up one yard over a three play sequence,
Speaker 2: it's like bully to you, you're you're better than us today,
Speaker 2: Like we need to be able to prove that we
Speaker 2: can do this because everyone honking about not going for
Speaker 2: that field goal. Oh, would have changed the momentum of
Speaker 2: the game. It's like Philadelphia was gonna keep scoring. They
Speaker 2: probably were going to score a touchdown or two more,
Speaker 2: which they did not that dan Quinn is thinking we're
Speaker 2: about to give up like two massive, big games. But
Speaker 2: I think he knew they probably needed a touchdown to
Speaker 2: possibly win this game and they didn't get it. And
Speaker 2: you got to give him credit, Zach Bond on that
Speaker 2: play on the outside, red blanken chip on the outside.
Speaker 2: Their defense has really been special. No one is older
Speaker 2: than twenty seven years old on their starting defense, which
Speaker 2: is just crazy. They they had wanted Vic Fangio in
Speaker 2: Philadelphia for a few years and they got him, and
Speaker 2: I just was wondering if it was gonna work because
Speaker 2: Fangio's defenses over the last handful of years haven't been amazing.
Speaker 2: And the first month of the season they're figuring out.
Speaker 2: And now you see how great Quinnon Mitchell has been.
Speaker 2: He was against Terry McLaurin tonight, and Cooper Degen comes in.
Speaker 2: You're getting much better play out in Na Kobe and
Speaker 2: Nolan Smith has a big sack tonight. Josh Sweat, you know,
Speaker 2: is doing his normal thing. It's like, this is a
Speaker 2: pretty good defense and that Fangio higher like looks like
Speaker 2: one of the better coaching highers of the offseason.
Speaker 1: Yeah, this is a big bounce back year for Vic
Speaker 1: Fanjo and really the Vic Fangio tree, which had been
Speaker 1: like so in vogue a couple of years ago and
Speaker 1: then fell out of favor, and then Vic Fangio was
Speaker 1: I think Jalen Ramsey criticized him in Miami last year.
Speaker 1: I think because they weren't playing enough man coverage, and
Speaker 1: then he goes to Philadelphia and he gets man corners
Speaker 1: and they're playing man coverage. They're majoring in man coverage,
Speaker 1: and I think that was a big reason why they
Speaker 1: matched up so well with Washington today. And really, if
Speaker 1: you could play man coverage, you can match up with
Speaker 1: any offense. The man coverage is like the catch all
Speaker 1: solution to any offensive or any problem the offense can present.
Speaker 1: So and I don't think that's going away. I think
Speaker 1: these corners are legit, and I think that's the big
Speaker 1: difference between last year and this year. You have more
Speaker 1: synergy between the pass rush the defensive line, which is
Speaker 1: playing better, granted, but you're also getting better coverage on
Speaker 1: the back end, so those guys have a little bit
Speaker 1: more time to get after the passer and we're seeing
Speaker 1: the fruits of that.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and it's crazy they really did in one offseason.
Speaker 2: They were smart to keep slayh. I never thought they
Speaker 2: were gonna get rid of him anyways, But he's having
Speaker 2: a good year. John C. Gardner Johnson hasn't really worked out.
Speaker 2: He's probably the one guy that they're not thrilled with
Speaker 2: in the back end, although he had a decent game tonight.
Speaker 2: But then the two rookies, what do you think of
Speaker 2: Reid Blankenship and Cooper dejen showing up to the stadium
Speaker 2: tonight wearing exciting Whites T shirt. I think that's officially
Speaker 2: the nickname Exciting Whites.
Speaker 1: I mean, I mean that's a good sign. The vibes
Speaker 1: are good. The vibes haven't been this good in Philadelphia
Speaker 1: since the twenty twenty two season, or maybe even the
Speaker 1: twenty seventeen season when they're wearing the underdog masks in
Speaker 1: the playoffs. But yeah, they are exciting whites. Like Cooper Degene,
Speaker 1: I mean, I guess a lot of people like want
Speaker 1: to call him a Gimmi because he's a white quarterback,
Speaker 1: but he could play. He's a good player. And Quinnon
Speaker 1: Mitchell is the type of player who can transform a
Speaker 1: secondary and allows you to do different stuff in the
Speaker 1: back end. Like I think, if they're not getting the
Speaker 1: years they're getting out of Cooper Degene and out of
Speaker 1: Quinn and Mitchell, this defense looks a lot different, Like
Speaker 1: how Vic Vangiem was calling. The defense looks a lot different.
Speaker 1: And I think this game tonight would have looked a
Speaker 1: lot different.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and and back Bond with a couple of nice
Speaker 2: plays early in past deflection he's been he's been awesome.
Speaker 2: And and Na Kobe Deane's been rock solid. I had
Speaker 2: someone in Philadelphia was interesting because Quinya Mitchell was playing
Speaker 2: slot corner in training camp, and actually the Beat reporters
Speaker 2: were like wondering, Hey, what's going on here, Like is
Speaker 2: this is this going well? They seem they seemed uncertain,
Speaker 2: And someone you know, within within the organization told me,
Speaker 2: like very early on, they're like they were so excited
Speaker 2: about quinn I Mitchell. They're like, oh, man, we got
Speaker 2: this one right, Like this is like try to keep
Speaker 2: keep a lid on it, but just feeling internally like, man,
Speaker 2: this guy is gonna be really good. And I was like, Oh,
Speaker 2: that's interesting. That's different than than what we've heard in there.
Speaker 2: The confidence has been absolutely born out and and yeah,
Speaker 2: like maybe Hurts can be a little skittish here and there,
Speaker 2: and maybe it doesn't matter if it's a run first offense.
Speaker 2: It really is kind of a run first offense. They
Speaker 2: were so patient. He was fifteen for fifty six in
Speaker 2: the first half of this game, Saquon, Like they weren't
Speaker 2: getting a lot of push, like they're getting three four yards.
Speaker 2: They weren't unsuccessful runs, but they weren't busted open. But
Speaker 2: they stayed patient. And then late in the game Becton's
Speaker 2: making blocks. My Latta's out there. The Jurgens had a
Speaker 2: one crazy block where he just lifted a guy in
Speaker 2: the air, like got Her is pumping his fists after
Speaker 2: one of his seal blocks. I think on a Saquon play,
Speaker 2: it's just it's it's all kind of cohesive and it
Speaker 2: looks cool.
Speaker 1: Now. Yeah, it feels like the opposite of last year.
Speaker 1: That's what it feels like. And yeah, I there are
Speaker 1: concerns about Hurts. I've been a little I've been skeptical
Speaker 1: of Jalen Hurts in the past couple of years. And
Speaker 1: you can you can have your criticism about him holding
Speaker 1: onto the ball in the pocket. I think he did
Speaker 1: that a couple times tonight. He missed some open receivers.
Speaker 1: But I think all of those criticisms were true in
Speaker 1: twenty twenty two and that didn't stop them from rolling
Speaker 1: over the NFC. Like he wasn't that great in the
Speaker 1: pocket that year just didn't matter. And I think they
Speaker 1: have the same ecosystem once.
Speaker 2: Yeah, but that super Bowl man, that super Bowl is beautiful.
Speaker 1: Yeah, if you get him to the Super Bowl, he's
Speaker 1: capable of producing the performance like that. You could beat
Speaker 1: anybody you can almost beat Patrick Mahomes, but Patrick Mahomes
Speaker 1: was just perfect on that night. Yeah. I mean, I'm
Speaker 1: not going to say they're going to win the NFC,
Speaker 1: but I would not be surprised if they're in the
Speaker 1: NFC Championship. And if you would have asked me about
Speaker 1: this team ceiling a month ago, I would not have
Speaker 1: said that. And I think one of the big differences
Speaker 1: the receivers are back, and that stretch without those receivers
Speaker 1: kind of poisoned our perception of them. I think I
Speaker 1: think it made me a little bit too low on
Speaker 1: them and what they could be. And now that I've
Speaker 1: seen that receiving core back and what Saquon can do
Speaker 1: with them around, and with that offensive line, how it's rolling, Like, Yeah,
Speaker 1: this offense could be like a top five unit at
Speaker 1: its best.
Speaker 2: Yeah, And they're cross your fingers, like quite healthy right now.
Speaker 2: They get my Lota back and is a very important
Speaker 2: player for them. So yeah, when they were missing Goddar
Speaker 2: and Brown at the same time, and they're underfeeded with
Speaker 2: AJ Brown, especially if you watch those first games that
Speaker 2: Brown was back, like he just was the whole passing game.
Speaker 2: I mean, they just spam him on a slant whenever
Speaker 2: they need it, or a go ball, and Jalen throws
Speaker 2: those well, and A J. Brown's that good. I mean tonight,
Speaker 2: it doesn't pop off the screen. He's five for sixty five.
Speaker 2: But I would just say in terms of value to
Speaker 2: his team, he is as valuable as any wide receiver
Speaker 2: in the league. I'm not gonna say like he's ahead
Speaker 2: of Jefferson or Chase, but I think it's right there. Like,
Speaker 2: I think he's as valuable to the Eagles as any
Speaker 2: wide receiver is to their team.
Speaker 1: And like you've heard the criticism about this offensive scheme,
Speaker 1: it's been like one of the most criticized schemes over
Speaker 1: the last two years. Whereas like Justin Jefferson is getting
Speaker 1: a lot of scheme help in Kevin O'Connell, Whereas the
Speaker 1: Eagles like scheme is just like AJ Brown running a
Speaker 1: straight line. AJ Brown takes two steps in a slant
Speaker 1: and like you said, it's open every time. It's easy money.
Speaker 1: I know they missed on a couple throws today, but
Speaker 1: that's the exception to the rule. Usually that go ball
Speaker 1: outside the numbers has been money for them, and especially
Speaker 1: against this opponent, so I am kind of impressed with
Speaker 1: what Washington did, especially in the secondary in this game,
Speaker 1: because they've had trouble defending this offense when it's rolling,
Speaker 1: especially those two guys on the outside. The last couple
Speaker 1: of years, those guys have went wild on their secondary
Speaker 1: and it didn't happen tonight.
Speaker 2: All right, let's take a quick break and we'll be
Speaker 2: back in just a second. So your family are Commander fans. Yes, okay,
Speaker 2: First of all, how is that you grew up, as
Speaker 2: you know, Washington in a Washington household and then you
Speaker 2: become a Panthers fan, And then how has it been
Speaker 2: this transition to Commander Land with Jane Daniels for them
Speaker 2: and everything.
Speaker 1: Yeah, they're excited. My mom texted me on a Sunday
Speaker 1: and she texted it was like it was like a
Speaker 1: month ago and she just texted me the number twenty
Speaker 1: three with the question mark, and I had no idea
Speaker 1: what it meant. I was like, what does that mean?
Speaker 1: And that's what I had Jaden Dangel's ranked at the time,
Speaker 1: and she was questioning. She was texting me on a
Speaker 1: Sunday to yell at me about my rankings. And then
Speaker 1: two weeks ago, I think, no, No, it's before the
Speaker 1: it was right before the bill bears Hail Mary. She
Speaker 1: calls me and she's just like talking about the Commanders
Speaker 1: to me. I'm like, Mom, I'm writing I have to podcast,
Speaker 1: like this is my busiest day of the week. Why
Speaker 1: are you calling me right now? And then I hung
Speaker 1: I hung up the phone, and then literally like five
Speaker 1: seconds later, Jadan Daniel Stow's that touchdown for the win.
Speaker 2: That that is incredible, And yeah, I want to speak
Speaker 2: to the Commanders fans out there, because man, they're a
Speaker 2: group that's hungry. They have so many fans and they're
Speaker 2: out here in Los Angeles too, and I know a
Speaker 2: couple of them, and I think they're like heartbroken and
Speaker 2: they're like they're like mad. I think they're going to
Speaker 2: be mad after this game that they did not look
Speaker 2: quite in the same class of Philadelphia. And I'm just thinking, like,
Speaker 2: enjoy this journey here, because here's what's gonna happen. You're
Speaker 2: seven and four. Let's look a little big picture. They're
Speaker 2: gonna make the playoffs. Their next two games are against
Speaker 2: Dallas and against Tennessee. Then they have a bye. They're
Speaker 2: gonna I think they're gonna win those games. They've they've
Speaker 2: really shown they're able to beat bad teams, and those
Speaker 2: are really bad teams right now. So they can be
Speaker 2: nine to four. They can head into the buye. They
Speaker 2: have two games left all season against teams with winning records.
Speaker 2: One of them is the Falcons. That's a very winnable game,
Speaker 2: one of the worst probably teams with a winning record
Speaker 2: in the league, like certainly that's that's a coin flip
Speaker 2: game at worst. And the other game is the week
Speaker 2: before it, and that's home for Philadelphia in week sixteen.
Speaker 2: I posit that home game against Philadelphia in week sixteen, which, yeah,
Speaker 2: you know, Philadelphia show tonight. They're probably a better team,
Speaker 2: but I think Washington beat them in a given day.
Speaker 2: I still think that'll be for the division lead at
Speaker 2: that point, because the Eagles are eight and two, they
Speaker 2: have to play another game, they have another buy They're
Speaker 2: at the Rams, that's tricky. At Baltimore they have the Panthers,
Speaker 2: so that's a layup. Then they're home for Pittsburgh. That's
Speaker 2: all before that Commander's rematch. Those are three tough games
Speaker 2: in there. I think the Commanders are gonna hang in
Speaker 2: this thing. The Eagles will probably have three losses like
Speaker 2: at best going into that game, and you'll have a
Speaker 2: chance to get a spot for first place in freaking
Speaker 2: Week sixteen, a year after what everything that happened last year.
Speaker 2: In like worst case scenario, you lose that game to Philly,
Speaker 2: you don't win the division, You finish the season with
Speaker 2: the Falcons and the Cowboys, you probably getting to ten
Speaker 2: or eleven wins, and you're probably going to the playoffs.
Speaker 2: So like it's house money. And I also think like
Speaker 2: you're gonna be playing big time games like the week
Speaker 2: of Christmas this year, So this loss does not feel
Speaker 2: like overly devastating to me. Philadelphia to me had to
Speaker 2: kind of get this game in hand considering the schedule
Speaker 2: that's coming up.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and even when, like this team has made the playoffs,
Speaker 1: which hasn't happened much in the last two decades, but
Speaker 1: every time they've kind of had a rally at the
Speaker 1: end of the year to make it. Like even in
Speaker 1: twenty twelve with RG three, I think they were like
Speaker 1: three and five at at one point, maybe even a
Speaker 1: worse record than then. They really had to win down
Speaker 1: the stretch. Kirk Cousins had to come in and win
Speaker 1: a couple a game or two to just get them
Speaker 1: into the wildcard. Two thousand and five, I think that's
Speaker 1: when Sean Taylor was killed and they had a rally
Speaker 1: then with Joe Gibbs, when Tyler hennicky, when they played
Speaker 1: the Bucks in the in the playoffs a couple of
Speaker 1: years ago, like they weren't. They didn't look like a
Speaker 1: playoff team until like the last week of the year,
Speaker 1: and I think they won with some like ungodly record.
Speaker 1: This year, they're actually like winning wire to wire, and
Speaker 1: this feels like a race that you can pay attention
Speaker 1: to every week. Like I'm with you. I think, no
Speaker 1: matter how this sence, you should be happy because this
Speaker 1: is the first time you've been able to follow a
Speaker 1: team like this for I don't know, maybe before the
Speaker 1: turn of the century.
Speaker 2: All right, So the only game I didn't mention, by
Speaker 2: the way, on the schedule was a game against the Saints.
Speaker 2: So men, you got two games against the Cowboys, the Saints,
Speaker 2: and the Titans. If you just can win those games,
Speaker 2: you're at eleven wins right there, without even beating another
Speaker 2: good team. And yeah, that two thousand and five team,
Speaker 2: I sneaky enjoyed that team that was like the Mark
Speaker 2: Brunell team, right, And then did we have a Chris
Speaker 2: Simms appearance?
Speaker 1: They beat Chris Sims in the wildcard round, Yes, that's right,
Speaker 1: and then they lost to Seattle, and then Seattle beat Carolina.
Speaker 1: I was really rooting for Washington to win that game
Speaker 1: because I knew Carolina was gonna get washed by Seattle
Speaker 1: and in Seattle, and that's exactly what happened.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so big winners tonight. Eagles fans, they can you know,
Speaker 2: they can enjoy beating Josh Harris, the Commander's owner at
Speaker 2: a time where they are not happy with their seventy
Speaker 2: six ers. And just before we go, I just have
Speaker 2: to give a shout out to Joe Shane because like
Speaker 2: whatever he thought that the Giants g I should preface,
Speaker 2: you know that famously in Hard Knocks saying that like
Speaker 2: we didn't give our quarterback forty million dollars the handoff
Speaker 2: to a twelve million dollars running back, whatever he thought
Speaker 2: could have been the worst possible worst case scenario, and
Speaker 2: whatever was in John Mara, the owner's mind, when he
Speaker 2: you know, was saying he hopes that it wouldn't go
Speaker 2: to Philly. Whatever the worst case scenario is, this is
Speaker 2: so much worse.
Speaker 1: Right, Like, plenty plenty of gms have let players walk
Speaker 1: and have lived to regret it. But none of them,
Speaker 1: literally none of them have had HBO come in and
Speaker 1: document the mistake in their building.
Speaker 2: Right, but have how many though, have let go the
Speaker 2: franchise's best player at the time, in his prime and
Speaker 2: he goes to a division rival who's much better and
Speaker 2: he has like an offensive Player of the Year type
Speaker 2: of season, Like I don't know how many times that's happened.
Speaker 2: My rule in the NFL it was always like teams
Speaker 2: never let players that they want to keep go, Like
Speaker 2: it's pretty easy to like, if a player leaves in
Speaker 2: the middle of their prime, it's usually because like they
Speaker 2: kind of wanted him to leave, which was true here.
Speaker 2: They did want Saquon Barkley to leave. It just was
Speaker 2: it just could not have worked out any worse or
Speaker 2: better for the Eagles and for us because if he
Speaker 2: was in New York, like this wouldn't be happening. So
Speaker 2: I might be talking from the biased viewpoint of a
Speaker 2: Saquon Barkley fantasy owner that's like always mad when he
Speaker 2: goes down at the one, but it always works down,
Speaker 2: It works out in the end.
Speaker 1: Uh, where are you at an Offensive Player of the Year?
Speaker 1: Are you? Are you someone that says no quarterback can
Speaker 1: win Offensive Player of the Year. It's only going to
Speaker 1: a non quarterback.
Speaker 2: Now, Yes, I just used to refuse to acknowledge it.
Speaker 2: I hated it because quarterbacks kept getting it, and I
Speaker 2: just thought it was stupid. It was the dumbest protest
Speaker 2: in the history of protests was NFL dot COM's editors
Speaker 2: would send us to fill out all the awards, and
Speaker 2: I just I just would skip offensive players. No one,
Speaker 2: no one else knew other than them that I was,
Speaker 2: you know, protest. That was just so stupid. But now
Speaker 2: non quarterbacks should get awards, So they should have a
Speaker 2: like a non quarterback award, and then they should have
Speaker 2: an offensive Lineman award too. So yes, so I would
Speaker 2: say yes. So you would think, right now, who would
Speaker 2: it be? It would be It would be Saquon, it
Speaker 2: would be Derrick Henry her, it would be Chase maybe
Speaker 2: you know that.
Speaker 1: I guess in the mix, I would give it to Saquon,
Speaker 1: Like what I would really do is give it to Lamar.
Speaker 1: I would give it. I know you hate giving it
Speaker 1: to quarterbacks, but like, I feel like he has at
Speaker 1: least like a dual threat impact on that offense. Like
Speaker 1: he is the focal point of the run game in
Speaker 1: the pass game.
Speaker 2: So he wins ball.
Speaker 1: Yeah, but if you're not going to give it to Lamar,
Speaker 1: I would give it to Saquon over Derrick Henry. And
Speaker 1: my my reasoning is simple. I'm not voting an offensive
Speaker 1: Player of the Year who's not the best player on
Speaker 1: his own offense. And I think Saquon Barkley has been
Speaker 1: far and away the best player on his offense. And
Speaker 1: that's only really because A. J. Brown has been hurt.
Speaker 1: I think if A J. Brown's in there, you can
Speaker 1: make a debate about that. But Saquon has just been
Speaker 1: like everything for this team, and when they've gone bad
Speaker 1: on offense, they've just been like, let's press the Saquon
Speaker 1: button over and over and over again, and eventually something
Speaker 1: good's going to happen that and it has. It has
Speaker 1: literally every time they've won, it's been Squon having a
Speaker 1: great game.
Speaker 2: Right, I'm looking at the numbers. He he's up. He
Speaker 2: was at eleven hundred and fifty yards from scrimmage before
Speaker 2: this game and then adds what almost two hundred tonight,
Speaker 2: Like he's maybe over six yards per Kerrie still on
Speaker 2: the season, which is crazy. They need to work, you know,
Speaker 2: be a little careful with his usage. He is. He
Speaker 2: is on pace for like a monster workload. But I
Speaker 2: like that. I don't like the Lamar thing, just because
Speaker 2: I never really understood some of the years when the quarterback,
Speaker 2: the same quarterback would win Offensive Player of the Year
Speaker 2: and and MVP. It like it didn't really have any
Speaker 2: rhyme or reason. It wasn't like super duper years they
Speaker 2: get both. It was more just like there wasn't good
Speaker 2: candidates or votes got split. Its just if the awards
Speaker 2: that vague. I don't like it. And yes, I think
Speaker 2: we if offensive linemen can't possibly win any awards, then
Speaker 2: we should. We should come up with an award for
Speaker 2: an offensive lineman.
Speaker 1: That's a good doll. I'm with that.
Speaker 2: The Brian Balden the award. Stephen Ruiz, you can check
Speaker 2: him out at the Ringer The Ringer Football Show. He
Speaker 2: has a cat. What's what's his or her name?
Speaker 1: Her name is Ronda.
Speaker 2: Shout out to Ronda, Shout out to your your mom,
Speaker 2: did she send you any text tonight.
Speaker 1: And I'm actually I'm actually kind of concerned she didn't
Speaker 1: text me tonight. I'll call her tomorrow.
Speaker 2: It was it was a late night and uh yeah,
Speaker 2: it was a long week here. This is one of
Speaker 2: those weeks. How did I actually went to a concert?
Speaker 2: I'm I'm feeling it at my age. So I'm I
Speaker 2: am glad we are done with Thursday night football. The
Speaker 2: Picks show that we do every week will be on
Speaker 2: Friday afternoon, me and Cynthia Freeland. I'm on a heater there.
Speaker 2: Sixth straight wins on that, so check that out Friday afternoon.
Speaker 2: Uh until then for Stephen Ruiz, Yeah when uh when
Speaker 2: Sake on Barkley is just making that crowd at the
Speaker 2: link go crazy. You know football is back to see you,
Speaker 2: Fredick
Speaker 1: M hm