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