Eagles-Packers Week 10 MNF Recap | Defenses Bail Out Playcallers on Both Sides

00:00:00
Speaker 1: You're spotted kicked and it is no good, not even close.

00:00:05
Speaker 2: It's not even close.

00:00:07
Speaker 1: It barely reaches the end zone, and the game was over and the Philadelphia Eagles have a skaped with a ten to seven win.

00:00:17
Speaker 2: Oh what a fitting end to a bizarre night. The second time in Week ten that Nick shook an eye. We'll discuss a ten to seven primetime finale. This one meant a little more than Broncos Raiders. Yes, Merril reeson Mike Quick on WIP sounded like, you know, they were disappointed by how bad that kick was, but the Eagles win. Those were the Eagles announcers talking about a missed Brandon McManus kick to end this game from sixty four yards out. The Eagles are seven and two, and Nick, if we thought they won ugly early in the season, this was next level. But this game was a journey, and that somehow felt like the perfect ending to this journey.

00:01:06
Speaker 3: You know, we got the halftime and it was zero zero. It struck me we shouldn't be surprised by this at all. These are the two teams that have the toughest time with figuring out a rhythm finding one. The Packers notoriously starting slow. The Eagles can't play a full game, haven't really done it offensively all year. Of course this is how it was gonna go, and of course it was gonna end up ten to seven. And I think that I could explain Meryl Reese's I don't know, dissatisfaction or lack of excitement there the fact that why did we even have to go through this these last few snaps? Because Nick Sirianni's decision on fourth down when they were trying to put the game away.

00:01:42
Speaker 2: Okay, you're right, we got to start there. And that's why Shooky is the best, because you know, part of me wants to give credit. This Eagles defense looks different now you add Nolan Smith, and you add Jalen Phillips, and you add n Kobe Dean as a big time factor. And they looked at We'll give them all the credit for that. But what was Nick Sirianni doing there? Break it down for us when he decides to go for it on fourth and six late in the game. What did you think about that decision? And give give the listeners some context to that.

00:02:16
Speaker 3: Yeah, so you know the Packers have two timeouts left, all the Eagles need to do is get a first down.

00:02:20
Speaker 4: They don't get the first down.

00:02:21
Speaker 3: They successfully run the clock down far enough to where I believe there was twenty six seconds left on fourth and six. They come out of the huddle, they line up as if they're going to run a play, and you could even hear you know, Joe Buck and Troy Aikman saying, I can't imagine they would run a play here.

00:02:35
Speaker 4: Everybody expects that they're just going to.

00:02:36
Speaker 3: Try and draw them off sides. No, they call a time out because it ends up being a Kodak moment for them. They're trying to get a snapshot of what the defense is doing because apparently they intend to run a play, which they do, and I don't know if it's an ego decision or what, but Nick sirianni yehs up a fade to AJ Brown, which does not work, and suddenly the Packers had the ball at their own thirty five with just enough time to try to get into field goal range. Just one of those classic two young coaches who've experienced lot of success. I'm going to try to be the tough guy in this situation when I don't need to be.

00:03:04
Speaker 2: Yeah, shout out to the fans in the UK that we're hearing from in the chat. We love everyone that joins us on YouTube Live every Monday night. They're up at four thirty in the morning. They only got to see one touchdown, but it was exciting that the call was crazy though, because all night long Nick Sirianni was calling third and long runs bo Wolf. You know he's been talking about on the All Phy podcasts all season. He actually has measured it. He calls it the Cowards run, and it's a run on third and twelve plus and right now the Eagles are in the mix for the highest percentages of runs on those play in the history of football. They refuse to try on third and long and yet in that spot fourth and sixth and I just checked it. It was thirty three seconds left to start that play. I do think it was about ego and it does remind me of the beginning of last season when Nick Sirianni couldn't get it out of his own way, and a win or a loss, he was always the story, just like it was a Nick Sirianni be normal for one week challenge and he's back to failing that challenge and I think you called it right there, Nick. I think he wanted to have a moment. You know, AJ Brown basically didn't get a target all night after the first quarter, and he knew they were gonna have one on one coverage and that has been a successful play for them down the field, but not tonight when it's cold, and you know, a J. Brown wasn't in the mix and he was not open on that play, and it was just a hope ball. And it was insane because the Packers, even though they had no timeouts, had twenty seven seconds to work with and if they didn't mess up this screen pass where it looked like Josh Jacobs had all the room in the world and kind of had a strange, you know, path to him getting out in the formation, like they could have had plenty of time, and it's all we would have been talking about, Nick Sirianni when we should be talking about his defense. Just just a strange man, Nick, And I blame him, by the way, for all those third and twelve plus runs. All the Eagles fans, in my mentions, were like, no, Kevin Patula's the play caller. Okay, They've been doing that since the day. Nick Sirianni got there, So it doesn't matter who the play caller is, they're doing it either way.

00:05:14
Speaker 4: Yeah.

00:05:14
Speaker 3: They also did it on first and twenty five tonight, a classic draw, and ended up clawing their way back to third and eleven. So it's not the only time they'll do it.

00:05:22
Speaker 2: And then okay, so that's typical this game. And you mentioned how it's scoreless at halftime. One of the I believe ten Monday night football games ever to be scoreless at half time. That was, according to Josh Dubou from.

00:05:38
Speaker 3: The two thousand and nine game was Brown's Ravens at what is now bank Field Steelers.

00:05:45
Speaker 2: Rather, yes, that when with the with the crazy punt that just sticks in the.

00:05:50
Speaker 3: Middle too, Yes, yes, stuck in Heinz Field's turf, yes, formerly known as Heines Field.

00:05:56
Speaker 2: And the turf kind of was a problem tonight too. It always is that ltonbo Field. Everyone's slipping around. It doesn't make for great football sometimes when it's cold or if it's a little wet, which it was tonight. And the thing that strikes me about the fourth quarter where they finally started scoring, and we'll get to like how that all happen is Nick Sirianni because he needed to actually let Jalen Hurts throw a third and long in the fourth quarter because it was like, oh, we actually have to score some points to maybe win this game. You know what happens, he hits DeVante Smith for a catch. And then the very next drive, after the Packers fall down ten nothing, the Packers stopped trying to establish the run for once all night, and they go very past heavy and you know what happens, The Packers finally score a touchdown. This is what we talked about earlier this week, like Matt Lafleur is just all about this running game instead of letting Jordan Love kind of run the show for this Packers team.

00:06:47
Speaker 3: I'm not gonna try to take away credit here, but I think that some context is important on that drive because there was one a key pass interference that gained them a big chunk of yards and to the Eagles of the ten nothing lead. The fourth quarter, we're playing much softer zone and giving up things underneath, so suddenly passing game was going to open up.

00:07:01
Speaker 4: Because if you compare the previous defensive.

00:07:05
Speaker 3: Situation versus that one when they were only up three to nothing, they were playing much tighter coverage, trying to force you know, a stop and force a pun or a turnover on downs, and then they backed off once they realized, all right, we have a little bit of cushion to work with.

00:07:15
Speaker 4: We're gonna give them some cushions.

00:07:16
Speaker 3: So I think that's also what helped open it up. I don't even really have a problem with them trying to establish the run.

00:07:21
Speaker 4: It's just that.

00:07:23
Speaker 3: You don't get Jordan Love into a rhythm, and against a team that looked so good in the pass rush tonight with the Eagles defense, a team that lacked pass rush many times this season. One key addition at the trade deadline the continued development of Jalx Hunt. It suddenly, you know, Love never really got comfortable. So it's kind of a double edged sword with this offense right.

00:07:42
Speaker 2: Now, Okay, that's fair. In the design success rate for both teams was very low all night. They were in the low thirties, so that that was part of it, and they were just missing a lot of passing plays. A question from the commenters.

00:07:55
Speaker 4: Did this this is very loaded?

00:07:57
Speaker 2: Yes? Odds go down tonight like the Broncos did on Thursday. It strikes me that could be from a Broncos fan, I'm going to say no, because the Eagles have proven to us, even though I'm starting to have my doubts this season about this offense, that if they can just get to the dance, the talent can overwhelm the opposition and they can figure it out. They have the backing of Super Bowl champs, whereas the Broncos. To me, this has been a terrible offense for the most part and.

00:08:29
Speaker 3: The app Yeah, let's also consider the opponent they played, a Raiders defense couldn't stop a nosebleed.

00:08:33
Speaker 4: This time. They know the Eagles are playing the Packers. That also matters.

00:08:37
Speaker 2: That matters quite a bit. And I was thinking watching this game though, that whichever team loses, the fan base is going to be furious. And I think Packers fans are furious right now after a second straight loss at Lambeau. But I have a feeling like Eagles fans aren't going to be that happy either. And I was thinking watching this game, and I don't want to be a prisoner of the moment. Man, those teams in the NFC West, they do seem more complete right now than the Eagles or the Packers. We have a long way to go, and the Packers have the difficult task of having to win this division, the NFC North, where the Eagles kind of know they're going to win their division, and after next week's game against the Lions really looking forward to that. They have a pretty soft schedule down the stretch, so that's an advantage for the Eagles. And ultimately, I'm not shocked. Were you shocked that the Eagles won this game? Because when this got weird and ugly, and even when it was zero zero, I was like, now, the Eagles are going to win this just because it's kind of what they do in the end, even though it's not great, Like they've proven to us that they can win these types of games, and they did it tonight with some really great defense.

00:09:42
Speaker 3: There's there's probably two or three reasons why I thought that the Eagles were going to win this game when it was three to nothing. Okay, Number one, the Packers couldn't stop making the small mistakes, whether it's an illegal formation penalty that wipes out a big gain in the fourth quarter, or them trying to down a punt at the one yard line but they step on the goal line and it results in a touch back. There's no number of drops. Jordan loved, you know, putting a couple of really nice on target passes that get dropped. They just they couldn't get the little things right. And that's kind of been indicative of who the Packers have been all season. Just look at that Panthers loss for an example. It's also because the Eagles defense, which I know we're going to dive further into, they just looked a lot better tonight than they have proportions of this season.

00:10:20
Speaker 4: And it's the pedigree.

00:10:21
Speaker 3: It's the fact that you have Saquon Barkley back there and all you have to do is get him the ball in space once or twice where he has to make one man miss and they can completely flip your offensive momentum, which is exactly what happened on their loan touchdown drive tonight. So it felt like that was inevitable, even though the game was pretty ugly.

00:10:38
Speaker 2: Okay, let's make it time for who's delivered by Uber Eats and let's talk about that touchdown drive. It's three to nothing in the fourth quarter, and yes, it's a two place sequence starting with a Saquon Barkley spin move. And yeah, if you're watching on YouTube, you'll be able to see at this point it's a third and seven. Another time, Hey, let's get to throw the ball on third and long. Occasionally Saquan looked like he could get tackled in the open field. Instead he puts the spin move on. He goes down the field, And it does remind you that sometimes just their talent ultimately overwhelms the opposition, even if the coaching is even. And the Packers without Tucker Craft, without Jayden Reid, and with Josh Jacobs not being as explosive, maybe don't have those type of playmakers. So the very next play we got the first touchdown of the night.

00:11:32
Speaker 1: On Datson emotion hurts, thanks, looks steps up, he has flood of the football is Tate Smith got it.

00:11:41
Speaker 2: He took out a w from the defender. He took it out of the hands of the Williams. The fun Tay Smith from Jay Love hurt. Oh, that's a great call there by Merrill Reese. And like DeVante Smith with the ball in the air is one of the best wide receivers in football. It's just he's so strong. It kind of defies logic. It does and and and I can't be the first person to think this year, man like DeVante Smith has been as valuable to this team, if not more so than than A. J. Brown has been. He has really been excellent this year, even if the numbers don't look that different than his normal seasons.

00:12:20
Speaker 3: Yeah, when you're examining the two off a physical profile alone, you think I'm throwing my jump balls to AJ Brown. But that's what makes DeVonta Smith special is that he is this very you know, slender, skinny guy. He's slight in frame, but he plays much bigger than that, and it's been his reputation throughout his career with the Eagles, and tonight it was a huge reason why they were able to even put ten points on the board, you know that completing a long pass on third down. Like you said to Smith later in the Gameless Key, that toss there. I mean, look, Evan Williams had a really good game tonight. That safety, he was all over the field. That was probably the one low light of his game, and it's because he was facing a guy as specially as DeVonta Smith.

00:12:56
Speaker 4: Simple as that.

00:12:57
Speaker 2: Yeah, DeVante Smith finishes with four catches for sixty nine yards, which in this game is a huge total. Neither team topped three hundred yards, and yeah, aj Brown ends up getting thirteen yards on three targets, only one in completion. A question for me, am I still a Shadow Eagles fan? I would say yes, but I just haven't been loyal. I've picked against them too many times in big spots, including tonight. So I feel like a dope for trusting the Packers thinking that, like, here's the thing that no one expects they're gonna do is win this game after losing to the Panthers, and just too many times they've been frustrating. Whereas in the end, like I do appreciate that Jalen Hurts makes good decisions, Like I really do think there is something to it. Even if he's very careful, he tends to do exactly enough. And yeah, that was a huge drive and he did make a few more good plays the rest of the game. That was who Delivered presented by Uber Eats. When football makes you hungry, get game day meals on Uber Eats, the official on demand delivery partner of the NFL. Order. Now, I probably should have given it to Jalen Phillips. Let's talk about Jalen Phillips' night. It almost feels, you know, a little braggy. Just say it with me, shook, how how he did it? Did it again? See we did it? Good job. It's almost feels a little showy. It's like, oh, I'm Howie Roseman. I'm gonna make a trade for like a third round pick, and then that guy's going to show up a few days later in primetime and basically win us the game. Tell me about Jalen Phillips this night.

00:14:34
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, first off, the trade made perfect sense. They lacked, you know, ed rushing talent. They lacked a difference maker since they had all these departures in the off season, Josh Wett being one of them, you can go back two years, hasan raddick, right, and it was the biggest weakness on their defense and perhaps on their entire team, say for when their offense struggled. Right, So you go make that trade for Jalen Phillips on surface a ton of sense, But then you don't really expect a guy to have such an impact in his first game with him his new team. He gets to halftime, he has three pressures and he's already jumping off of the screen to me, which is why I looked up his pressures at halftime. He finishes with a total of seven. He was he faced three double teams, he had one quick pressure. He was all over the place there. He didn't get a run stuff according to next Gen stats.

00:15:17
Speaker 4: But I'll tell you what.

00:15:18
Speaker 3: He shook off a block and made a key run stop of Josh Jacobs as if he was a human brick wall.

00:15:24
Speaker 4: He should that rundown so quickly. He was a massive difference maker.

00:15:28
Speaker 3: He was in on the fumble that was caused late in this game that essentially, you know, back the Packers into a corner that the ultimately couldn't get out of. This. If you can get this type of production, it opens up everything up front, because, like I said, Jaylyx Hunt continues to develop. He's had a nice little run of games here going back to the Minnesota game. But if you have Phillips in the opposite side, opens up everything else for all those other guys in the defensive line, and suddenly a group that you thought might be weak improves because you have a better player at the top.

00:15:55
Speaker 4: Of that list.

00:15:56
Speaker 2: Yeah, jalyox Hunt. Actually, you know played fewer snaps to Night four already, three snaps to Jalen Phillips, who played fifty three, and it felt like Nolan Smith was always out there, but really they used him at the very beginning of the game when they needed it, and at the very end of the game when they needed it, and he ended up with a sack and a quarterback hit. And it just makes you realize watching tonight, Oh, this defense, which to me was the bigger problem in the first five or six weeks, even though the offense is getting all the attention, is now I think safely moving into being the bigger problem. It actually was the defensive decline from league's best to eh when last year the offense kind of wash in the regular season. Yeah, and so that wasn't that different. And suddenly you're watching tonight and Jaha geat Campbell's like playing a lot less now because Nakobe Dean is out there almost every step and na Kobe Dean had an awesome night tonight. He was super active. And you add Jalen Phillips a pif gave him an even another pressure there. They give them eight and it's very funny how they love these guys. Brandon Graham is one of them. Eagles always think that guys that get a lot of pressures but not a lot of sacks are like undervalued. Brandon Graham was the poster boy for that. And now they actually have Brandon Graham back, who did get a hurry in one of his brief snaps tonight. And they have Nolan Smith back who's been gone for almost the entire season. Like it's a different defense than it was before. And you have Quinnon Mitchell out there making huge plays. And I'm glad you mentioned the Jalen Phillips, you know, help on that Reid Blanken ship force fumble that comes in the fourth quarter, fourth and two. Tell the listeners about that sequence because that's really the stop of the game. I know we kind of end up getting sidetracked by what happened, but ultimately Jordan Love gets the ball like inside his own twenty with a chance over two minutes to go and drive the length of the field and potentially just get a game tying field goal, and it winds up sputtering out around midfield.

00:18:05
Speaker 3: Yeah, all the momentums in the Packer's favor when they get the ball back, because they just went from being down ten to nothing and having little hope to getting a quick stop defensively and getting the ball back with enough time to put together a drive as long as they could throw the football, and Love comes out and throws it well. He hits Christian Watson for like a game of twenty five to start on third down there to continue that drive, and then suddenly their offense sputters and they're still only at their own thirty five and then they hit Luke Muskrave for nine yards and it's like, oh, it's so close to a first down and it comes up short. And then there's that fourth and one, and that's where the game again turns in the favor of the Eagles. When they get the pressure, they're able to kind of close all the gaps, force the fumble on Josh Jacobs and the rest is history.

00:18:45
Speaker 2: Yeah, it was kind of typical of a night where just everything Laflur was trying didn't work well. And there was a funny shot early of him looking at the surface tablet being frustrated and seeing like, oh, why didn't Jordan Love, you know, see those open receivers. And it did seem like early in the game Jordan Love was giving up on plays a little too quickly. Maybe Jalen hurts too. We have a question about, like is it possible for the head coach to develop and improve it game management. The Packers fans they love Map but they hate to see him go, but his decision making in these closed games is mind boggling. I do think Lafleur is struggling at times with balancing game management and play calling, and some of the plays tonight, like I don't kill him on they go for a fourth and long, which made Troy Aikman and Joe Buck go crazy, and Bo Melton just drops it like it's like they have another play. You mentioned the illegal formation that was very frustrating too. They had three drives in Packers in Eagles territory before the ending sequence that ended in zero points one where Jordan Love's ends up taking it Jaylyox Hunt snap. But I do think it's fair to point out like Lafleur seems to lose the forest for the trees at times, and he seems like as wound tight right now as he has ever been in his career.

00:20:14
Speaker 3: I think that they they're not at like a crossroads or a turning point necessarily, but there's some sort of I mean, it's just overall frustration because they haven't found their offensive rhythm. I thought they had broken through in that game against the Steelers. I thought, all right, here they go, this is what they're gonna do. But since losing Tucker Kraft, you know in that game, they've lost the key that kind of unlocks their offense.

00:20:36
Speaker 4: So he's again frustrated.

00:20:37
Speaker 3: And I think there's also it's a bit of balancing between how much does he trust Jordan Love, because like on that drive right before halftime, Love gets hit and it almost looks like he's trying to throw the ball away in a situation which you should just eat the sack, just take the sack, and he fumbles the ball. The Eagles recover, there goes an opportunity to put three points on the board right before halftime. And I think that that is still a point of frustration for him. But you can only control so much. You can dial up the plays, you can scheme it up and everything, it ultimately comes down to your quarterback to make plays. So but I do agree anytime somebody's in a bad situation with game management, like if that's a knock on their resume, hire somebody put him in the booth with the book in front of him that tells him exactly what to do in every scenario, and radio, you know, get down the headset and say, hey, you should call a time out here, Hey, you should probably do this here. Hire somebody, just make him a consultant and expert, just for that.

00:21:25
Speaker 2: Alone comment here, Fangio owns all these little nerd boy coaches. I don't I don't think that's fair, but it is kind of funny. Let's actually listen to that Jordan Love fumble late in the first half, because man, we got our producer Chris Bobona, looking for highlights, you know, watching the whole first half. We didn't. We couldn't come up with one until this, and it felt so symbolic of what was happening in the first two quarters.

00:21:52
Speaker 1: And we're going again. His loan put some man in the motion. He's back, he's big, chased, he's big, grubbed. He fumbles the I think the Eagles have it. Let's see the Eagles sate they haven't.

00:22:04
Speaker 4: I think you're right.

00:22:05
Speaker 1: Well, football was loose, it was knocked out of his hand. Let's see Eagles ball, Eagles ball. So what looked like at least the three nothing Packers lead at halftime is now in the hands of the Eagles.

00:22:20
Speaker 2: It's just these little moments with Jordan Love, and I have to admit the QB Island committee was texting each other tonight, and at least from me, I won't speak for others. You know these maybe these are off the record. I don't know. I'm like, you know, Jordan Love always gives us reasons for why we shouldn't feel so bad that he didn't make it onto QB Island last time, right, you know what I mean. Like two weeks ago, people were talking about him. It's like, hey, look, he's number one in EPA per play. He should be in the MVP conversation. And I'm thinking, I don't know. I watched I watched the games, and I know it's obviously been a bad two weeks for him, but he always leaves you wanting a little more.

00:22:56
Speaker 3: Yeah, when he tried out on the field to start the game tonight and the graphic of his numbers, I was like, Wow, that's way better than I thought that would because I'm not a guy who's constantly checking the numbers. I'm just relying on what I'm watching. And then I thought it was gonna be nowhere near that because of exactly what you just said. It's just very up and down. It's very fickle like he's there sometimes sometimes he's not, just has not been.

00:23:17
Speaker 4: Consistent this year.

00:23:19
Speaker 2: Yeah, I was thinking about it watching Lamar today when I went back to watch that Minnesota game. And it's unfair to compare almost any quarterback to Lamar, but I was feeling like Lamar is really getting into his game manager kind of like Era, not that he needs to all the time, but just doing everything that he needs to, like to just win the game and kind of know the situation. I think he's better at that than ever. I think that's a superpower for Jalen Hurts. He has weaknesses for sure, but I think that's a strength for Jalen Hurts. Although he's not great in the two minute situation with the big part of that, To be fair, Jordan loved, There's just there's just something that he's missing right now. And I think he can put it together, but right now it does feel like he was taking a test tonight that he didn't study enough for. It is tough though, this Eagle's defense, Like where do you even pick on Quinyon looked awesome tonight. Cooper Dejen's been incredible all year. You have Blanket Chips showing up for that big play they you know, seeing Brandon Graham out there on a key third down and he did the Brandon Graham thing where his one hurry I know which one it was tonight was on that second to last drive and it was just you know, collapsing the pocket by just pushing his guy back about three yards is nothing flashy, but it's enough to make the opposing quarterback, Jordan Love in this case, feel uncomfortable. And they do have a lot of answers, and they do have a pretty favorable schedule. It is pretty tough, you know, to doubt the Eagles too much, even if I know Philadelphia Sports Radio will be after this game.

00:24:52
Speaker 4: Yeah, of course.

00:24:53
Speaker 3: I mean that's what's a now a Tuesday morning, usually a Monday morning in Philly, if you're not calling in and complaining about something that didn't go well in a win for the the Eagles. But you know what struck me tonight was the because of the addition of guys like Jalen Phillips, how deep the Eagles defense suddenly seems again with the return of Nolan Smith. Like Zach Bond, all Pro linebacker has kind of been invisible for good stretches of this season with this defense, and that's perfectly fine. But that was a leading figure in your defense last year. And what it has allowed Vic Fangio to do. I'm not gonna back up the hole he owns the nerd coaches thing, but what it does allow him to do is change up their pressure looks. There was a ton of sim pressures. There was delayed blitzers that are adding to the four men rush, making it a five catching an offensive lineman off guard. But if you have the capability of being able to drop guys that are usually rushing back into coverage and creating simulated pressures for a quarterback who might not trust his offensive line as much because of those pressures, and also lost his center tonight, which definitely impacted their ability to hold up in the second half, then you can find success on that side of the ball. And that's why I believe in them so much more than I maybe did a few weeks ago, just because the defense seems like it's coming together just right then.

00:26:01
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm glad you mentioned that about losing Elton Jenkins in this game to injury, and that that was a factor in terms of their offensive line. Now it was in the second half, but that's gonna be an important injury to watch. Lane Johnson also was carted to the locker room after having an injury in the first half, and man, I thought that was like a multiple week injury after I saw that, and he ended up coming back. Question here, did we talk about the tush pushes and penalties yet? No, I always try to avoid tush push stock, but I'm glad it didn't end up being a huge factor in this game. The game did start, however, with both teams getting away with what appeared to be false starts on in the Packers case like a QB sneak and then the Eagles case flat out tush push. And then did the Eagles gate get away with another one later in the game. I believe they they did the Yeah, yeah, they actually called one on the Packers that that was what I was talking about. I actually thought when it was third and too late on one of those Eagles drive that they were going to go back to back.

00:27:03
Speaker 3: That's what I thought too, And they did a little hand like the Saquon lined up as the up back.

00:27:08
Speaker 2: Like, Nick, you're trying to give people a moment. You're trying to give people what you what they want. The scriptwriters had it all set for you, like end that thing with the double touch, vindictive. This is what we want. Yeah, we don't, we don't want. However, that game ended another comment that someone saying the Packers will miss the playoffs and the Eagles are a first round exit. Totally disagree on both. You know what's interesting, I'm gonna look at the NFC standings here for a second. The Eagles are the number one seed in the NFC right now. It's kind of funny because like it doesn't feel that way, and they get to play the number three seed next week on Sunday Night Football, the Lions, which is really exciting. But now with these back to back losses and of course those games they they gave up to the Panthers into the Browns and the tie with the Cowboys, that the Packers are down at the number seven seed and they have a very challenging schedule the rest of the way. They are just ahead of the forty nine ers at eight. Now the NFC maybe is not quite as deep. It's really good at the top, but it's not quite as deep. So personally, I don't think that let's say the forty nine ers, you do have a pretty easy schedule, or the Panthers or the Vikings are going to pass the Bears along with the I mean the Packers along with the Bears, who are right now ahead of the Packers. So in the end, I think the Packers are going to be making the playoffs, and it wouldn't surprise me if they still ended up winning this division. But at this point you have to just trust the Lions more that they're a tougher time, yeah, for sure, But I do think this playoff picture is going to get complicated and we may enter a postseason situation in which it wouldn't be shocking if some wild card teams won on the road.

00:28:55
Speaker 3: Because if you look at it right now, like you obviously have the Eagles gonna run away with the but the North is very undecided, The Buccaneers are going to run away with the South. The West is very undecided, and I think two of the best teams in the NFC reside in the West. So then it comes down to a process of elimination, which division gets three teams in. Is that the North or is it the West? And right now I can't because of where the Packers are on the way the Bears have been playing right now, it's a little bit difficult to determine. You consider all the injuries that the Niners have dealt with as well. Let's move to wild card weekend where Okay, let's say the Eagles are the two seed and they're going to end up facing the Packers or Bears as the seven seed.

00:29:34
Speaker 2: Like, oh, let's not put the Bears in the playoffs.

00:29:37
Speaker 4: But this is what I'm saying. I think we could get some weird matchups that could produce upsets.

00:29:42
Speaker 2: Okay, so let's go through the Packer schedule the rest of the way. They're at the Giants in their first game under new interim head coach Mike Kafka, and we had a breaking news podcast with Ian Rappaport that's up in the feed if you guys are interested. Then they have the Vikings. They're at Detroit, Bears, at Denver, at Chicago home for the Ravens, and at Minnesota. No real cupcakes there after that Giants game, and yeah, you got you got four division games against the Bears and Vikings alone, and then you're going to Detroit too, So it's a lot. It's a lot there for the Packers, and I love that they're going to be in the middle of things. I think to your point though, when I was thinking about this today in the AFC, but it extends the NFC too, Like the following teams are some combination of the following teams like very well could be wild cards. Let's say like Ravens, Chiefs, and Bills, Like two of those three teams could be wild cards this year. And then pick pick one of either the Rams or the Seahawks, and pick one of either the Packers or the Lions. They're going to be wild cards. So that's that's a lot of good teams. Yeah, we're potentially going to be playing on the road in the wildcard round and that that makes uh, this stretch run even more exciting. What else? What else do you want to hit in this game? Before we say goodbye to Nick's show?

00:31:08
Speaker 3: And you know, I already kind of exhausted my Evan Williams edition, whose name I only remember because.

00:31:14
Speaker 4: It's also the name of a cheap whiskey.

00:31:17
Speaker 3: I mean, this receiving Cordon Tavian Wicks made a handful of nice plays for the Packers, but ultimately I think that they should probably stop targeting bow Melton considering they made him a corner and now he's suddenly playing again, So.

00:31:32
Speaker 2: That really speaks to where they're at. Romeo Dobbs left this game with a chest injury. Now that wasn't until I think late third early fourth quarter. He still had forty one snaps tonight, but they desperately need Jayden read back and Dantavian Wicks is playing a full compliment of snaps. I think he's an NFL receiver and I think he has some upside. But you have Malie Keith out there quite a bit, and you don't even have bo Melton list among the wide receivers on NGS because they think he's a defensive back. But he played twenty four snaps on offense tonight, and yeah, that's it's not a good sign. I don't know if they have the horses to score a lot against an excellent defense, and the playoffs are about matchups, and I think they're going to really need to count on their defense to be carrying them. I think it's possible. It's a pretty special defense, Like Michael Parsons look great tonight, and we shouldn't look past how good the Packers defense was tonight. To give them some love actually before before we get.

00:32:35
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, I agree. Edge Cooper had a phenomenal punch out. The year of outrageously precise peanut punches continues with another big one in prime time. Yeah, they have a lot of talent on that side. It's just a matter of being a cohesive team. And I think that, you know, we talked about power rankings earlier. I do lack confidence in them right now, not to say they can't turn around, but because of what they've done offensively or the lack of what they've done offensively, I think it's going to be a different challenge when they're gonna have to really find themselves and establish a bit of a rhythm here.

00:33:03
Speaker 4: In the last we now eight weeks of the season, there's.

00:33:07
Speaker 2: Been different stress test moments of the Matt Lafleur era. So I don't want to talk like this is entirely unique, but I think with the expectations that they had this season, and I think with Jordan Love being in year three and the Parsons trade and every and just where his tenure is at. It's one of the biggest tests for them to come through and they have to really show that Jordan Love is that dude. The Eagle schedule, by the way, the rest of the way after the Lions on Sunday night, you have at Dallas, home for Bears, at the Chargers, home for Raiders, at Commanders, at Bills, and home for the Commanders. Actually, I think that's like a perfect type of schedule. I always like that. If it's my team, you want to have big time tests and you want to have some cupcakes, and they have a little bit of bold. Yeah, so you have something you can kind of just chalk up as wins. But they're also going to stay very sharp with games like that Bills game and certainly next Sunday. Now, yeah, we will be talking about it like four shows from now. It feels so far away that Sunday night football.

00:34:04
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean we'll get there. I still have a few games to get through tonight, so we'll get there. You know, in due time.

00:34:12
Speaker 2: You'll love Houston Jacksonville if if you haven't gotten.

00:34:15
Speaker 4: Oh to that, I'll love it. I watched it live baby.

00:34:19
Speaker 2: Like that's right. I totally forgot that. That was one of my games of the year. Thank you to everyone who joined us on the YouTube live. We do it each and every Monday. We will be back on NFL Daily on Tuesday from the studio. Fun little game we got going me Colleen Wolf, Jordan Rodriege describing every team in the entire NFL in five words or less. We will see you on Tuesday. Enjoy the win, Eagles fan, Just enjoy it.