Eagles 360: December 19

a look at the Dallas Cowboys. Brian, the first question, your thoughts on the Eagles yesterday in general, the performance that you saw. You know, anytime you lose about one point, you have a chance to win the game. I think that shows that you're team is focused, that your team has come out and played with effort and pride, and I think from that standpoint, that's something that's very good for this football team because that was questioned early on.

When I see the way that we ran the football, that means we progressed, we got better because because there's games where we haven't been able to run the ball at all, we ran the ball against the best run defense in the NFL. For one hundred and twenty plus yards. That's impressive. That's something that we can build doing. There are other things that we need to fix, but at

least that's one thing that we can build on. Yeah, and the Eagles going for the two points at the end of the game instead of kicking the extra point of going into overtime. Yeah. Agree. You know, for my money, I probably would have played it for overtime because I want to see my offense and defense have a shot of trying to win this football game. But I don't have a problem with Doug being aggressive and going for it.

It's been a long time since we won a game around here, and I think as a head coach, you're trying to manage the emotions of your team. You're feeling some momentum, you you're driven the field, and you scored a touchdown. I don't have a problem with it. I guess in hindsight, being in the Monday morning quarterback, I wish we would have just played for overtime. Five consecutive losses for the Eagles, nine of their last eleven since

that three and oh start. So we will go over the game position by position, group by group here as we moved through the show. Monday a big day for the Eagles, who came back to the Novicare Complex in the afternoon for some meetings for some prep work for the Giants. One of the players in the building Lane Johnson, who has served his ten game suspension and so there's a lot going on. Doug Peterson met the media on Monday. Let's hear all about it and get caught up. Will

Lane Johnson play against the Giants. Here's Alex Smith and our three sixty update. Hi everyone, I'm Alex Smith here with your three sixty update. The Eagles coming off of a heartbreaking one point loss to the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday. But it is a short week for the Eagles as they get set for a Thursday night NFC East matchup

with the New York Giants. Today we heard from head coach Doug Peterson, and some good news for the Eagle is that Lane Johnson is back from his ten game suspension and according to coach Peterson, he should be ready to start on Thursday night at right tackle. Going into this game considering the nature of the injuries that we've had and everything, and with Lane being back today, Lane will going as a starter. I haven't seen him yet today.

I know he's been here in the building and he's been with h coach Statlin and Eugene, and of course I've been I've been game planning and been in my office all morning, so I haven't had a chance to see him yet. You just have to kind of see when I put my eyes on Lane, just to see where he's at physically and what he's been doing over the last ten weeks. But he's such a tremendous athlete that, um, you know, I wouldn't I wouldn't expect anything too traumatic

to happen in the next couple of weeks. Coach Peterson also praised rookie quarterback Carson Wentz for his ability to lead the Eagles on a potentially game tying drive late in the fourth quarter when all of the elements seem to be against him. Just the way he was poised in the pocket, he can ended you know, he was

communicating in a loud stadium, loud environment. Whether everything that could affect you as an offense was was in that, you know, besides having you know, precipitation, there was, um,

everything was kind of against the offense. Because we were going into that wind and for him to be able to communicate and uh, you know, standing there and deliver the football and do the things that uh, you know, we we put him through um and then eventually scramble and you know, take on a really good safety Eric Weddle and and and you know make him miss and score the touchdown. I think is just uh just shows his grit and toughness and willingness to h you know,

sacrifice himself for the team. Coach Peterson also gave an injury update, saying that running back Kenyon Barner, who suffered a hamstring injury yesterday, will not be available for Thursday night's game, but everyone else should be good to go for Thursday's game against the Giants. With her three sixty update, I'm Alex Smith. Alex, thank you so much. We've got

a lot to get to on the show. When we return, we're going to talk about the defense, an interesting performance from the Eagles defense, some really good stuff, some not really good stuff, and then the special teams battling remarkable elements in Baltimore. We've got a lot to get to here on Eagles three sixty. Thanks for joining us. We'll be back in just a moment. What's bad, Santa? No love? Actually no, what about that one? Anybody? Yeah, anytime, there's

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fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more. Follow, Be noisy, be silent, be near, be far, be joyful, to be together. Celebrate joy with Duncan's Holiday Flavored Coffee's Espressos and donuts. America runs on Duncan. We welcome you back. Eagles three sixty Dave Spidero, Brian Westbrooker. Look at the Eagles defensive performance in that twenty seven, twenty six loss to the Baltimore Ravens. You know, Brian, they did some good things. Nigel Braden on the blitz strip sack of

Joe Flacco. Eagles recover turned that into a touchdown. Late in the game, Jordan Hicks picks off Flacco, Eagles turned that into three points. But there were also some big plays allowed, particularly one at the end of the first half touchdown past the seat Smith Senior. And I know that everybody is really upset about that one. Yeah, yesterday, we gave up five plays or twenty yards or more. And when you look at that play in particular right before the half, the one thing that you can't give

up on that play is the big play. Allowed them to cast the ball for ten yards, allowed them to kick the field goal, but you can't give up the touchdown on the long ball. I think Jaylen Mills and Jaylen Watkins the communication has to be much better between those two guys. And as a coach, you have the coach situational football, and I'm sure Jim Schwartz, who has been around the block a lot many times, has coached that. That's something that you learned in practice. The one thing

you can't give up is the big play. Those guys didn't perform on that play. Interestingly, the story after the game was why did your blitz. I'm sitting there watching the Eagles and I'm saying, keep the blitz coming. I like the pressure they were giving the Ravens some problems with that blitz, and in that situation, I'm trying to take the football away at the same time not allowing the play over the top. Yeah, you're trying to serve

two masters. They are just a bit. If you're Jim Sports, if your blitz, you're giving up some some opportunities in the coverage and coverage breakdowns, and if you don't, you're allowing a very good quarterback to sit back there in the pocket and pick your part. And so there has been plays in the game where Jim Sportz is blitz and they've gotten beat. When they didn't blitz, they Joe

Flacco had so much time, they've gotten blitzed beat. The one thing that the answer to that question, honestly, Dave, is that you need your front floor who had three sacks. We need more production from them. They have to have an even better game. If we want to be better and protect the guys on the back end. Those guys are front have to get more pressure and more sacks. And in the big picture, it's not about protecting the guys from the back ends. You got to be in

the back end. And Eagles giving up something two of three possessions for Baltimore in the red zone resulting in touchdowns, and that cornerback position, Brian, I mean, I think Jayleen Mills really battles and other than that played played well. I'd like him here. As you look at the Eagles in twenty seventeen and beyond, where does cornerback rank on

your wish list? I think when you when you're thinking about Dez Bryant and DeShawn Jackson may or may not be back in Washington, you're talking about Odell Beckham Junior and Shepherd up there in New York, You're gonna face some very good receivers and offenses of quarterbacks that are willing to throw the football. Even if you look at Dallas with Dez Bryant, they have a running game and so we're gonna have to dedicate seven to eight guys

to stop the run. So it's gonna be critical for us when we move into the offseason to think about fulfilling the cornerback position. You have to make sure that you have a guy on the outside that you can leave alone and say, hey, this is your one guy to check and shut down all game long. That's the one thing that we're missing. And when we want to blitz, we want to take advantage of situations, we want to

push the offense back. We can't do that because the guys in the secondary are giving up big plays, big time crossing routes plus twenty yard plays, big time streaks down the field plus twenty yard plays. You can't win and play winning football when you have those types of things going on. And when you watch the film, Brian, how much are you seeing the Eagles front four working against Max Protect meeting six or seven blockers. Sometimes it's

like that. I mean, there's been other situation where you guys got when you have guys completely one on one and they're not winning those battles. And so when I have the conversation with the defensive line, the most important thing I'm going to say is if you're a double team, I still want you to continue to work, But if you're single it's man on man. You have to win that. We're paying you a lot of money to win those matchups, and right now you're not winning enough. Of them. We

want to have a dominant defensive line. This defense actually is predicated on having a dominant defensive line. Right now, we're good, We're not dominant yet. In this special teams game on Sunday, now, they were just you know, huge wins, dropping temperature, very unusual weather conditions. Caleb Sturge's four more field goals. We'll talk about the offensive side of things in just a moment. Donnie Jones a couple of big punts.

For the first time in a long time, the Eagles kickoff coverage team really got beat here and gave up some big yards, which on the touchdown at the end of the first half set up by a big kickoff return, and Baltimore gashed him. That's the one thing you can't you can't afford when when your team was not playing very well, you can't afford to lose the field position battle. That's why you need your special teams to be able to step up, and they have been. The kickoff teams

have been playing good all season long. Yesterday just wasn't very good. Wasn't good enough to help this team. You know what, a good offensive team like the Baltimore Ravens to only have to go six yards. That's just too easy for them. Good to see Kenyon Barner in the pun return game and the kickoff returns game to a nice job. Until I never really thought he was at explosive. I thought he was just another guy for the entire time he's been here. I think I've thought that he's

an explosive player. If you get the ball in his hands in space, he can make someone miss and make some plays for you. I don't know that Doug feels the same way, but I think that he can make some plays for you. It's unfortunate that he wasn't able to finish the game. So there you go. That is

our look at Eagles defense and special teams. When we return to Eagles three sixty, we're gonna talk about the offense, a tough start, a tough end, but a lot of promising things in between for the Philadelphia Eagles and quarterback Carson Wentz. This portion of Eagles three sixty was presented by Toyota. Now is your chance to vote for the Toyota Player of the Week. Go to Philadelphia Eagles dot com slash Toyota Player of the Week to cast your vote and get a chance at a brand new Toyota.

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Visit pick nrg dot com today. Celebrate the holidays with delicious Duncan coffee. Stop by Dunkin Donuts for two k cup boxes for fifteen ninety nine or three pounds a package coffee for nineteen ninety nine. America runs on Duncan. We are back its Eagles three sixty on this crazy Monday at the Novicare Complex. David Brian here talking about the Eagles offense. Some good things happening with the Eagles. They ran for one hundred and sixty nine yards against

the NFL's best run defense. They control of the clock, They converted third downs. Ryan Matthews looked great while he was on the field. Carson Wentz shrugged off an early interception, Zach Ert six more receptions, Jordan Matthews some clutch catches, but Brian, not enough. And I'm gonna point to the red zone, where the Eagles ranked twenty fourth in the NFL in red zone efficiency at fifty percent. How does that improve moving forward? Well, you're gonna need a playmaker.

I mean, that's the biggest thing. That's the thing that you're missing right now. Not only in the open field, because yesterday we got contribution from the offensive line, which really won in the trenches and a running back Ryan Matthews that ran wild, ran determined, ran hard. But in the red zone, when you get in there things tighten up just a big and defenses are not going to allow you to have some of the things they had you that they allowed you to have out in the field.

And so now you need that big time player that's able to catch a five yard hitch, make a guy miss, and make it into the end zone. Right now, we don't have that type of player that we can throw the jump ball that lob up to and him able to go up and snatch the football from the defender. And until we have that guy, we're gonna we will continue to struggle in the red zone. The two point conversion is a slant to Jordan Matthews against the zero blitz,

meaning there's no safeties. They're coming after. Kerson wentz, how can you make that playwork? I think the way that I would have liked to have seen the play is that you have twins. You have two guys when the left hand side the same way that you have it. I would have had Jordan Matthews on the outside. I would have had DGB on the inside. The inside guy runs a clear route that's going to clear an awful lot of space out he runs right at the goalpost.

That's exactly where you want him, and so now you have just a whole bunch of space because you have the other eight guys on the defense inside of the box. Now you've created a lot of space for Jordan Matthews the work and he has to find a way to win against one defender in a lot of space on the outside. The unfortunate part the way that the play was designed was that Jordan Matthews on the inside and he won. He I think he could have ran a

better route, but he did win just enough. But when you have so many guys on the inside rushing the passer, they're putting their hands up, you can't really see the receiver and you can't get the ball to him fast enough. That's the downside of throwing the ball inside against zero blitz and then the Eagles getting a little boost from zach Ertz again six catches. He has really come on, Brian,

has zach Ertz turned the corner. You know, sometimes when you get challenged, you reveal some thing about yourself, and I think zach Ertz over the last couple of weeks has shown that, first of all, he's tough, that he can go out and play. He can be the tight end that we all have thought that he should be and now he's starting to become that guy. He caught a ball on the sideline yesterday keeping his toes in. I was absolutely impressed. We know that he's an athlete.

We saw some things yesterday against a very tough nose, hard nosed defense. We saw zach Ertz being physical, being nasty. There was a lot of situations with him in Terrell Suggs one on one. He won those situations. Terrell Suggs is one of the better defensive players, one of the more physical defensive players in the league. Zach Ertz found a way to win those matchups. I was impressed. That's the type of passion and effort he has to play

with every single week, not just when you're challenged. Eagles have twenty seven first downs, they control the clock for nearly thirty seven minutes, They run eighty one plays and yet not enough, just like it was the week before, oh and six in one possession games to Philadelphia Eagles. Well, you know, I'm gonna say this, and it's never good when you lose a game, but I think when you're at where we're at right here, we haven't won, You've

lost nine out of the last eleven. But there's been some close games, some games where you have another playmaker here and there, you don't make a bad interception earlier in the game, that those games change a little bit. And so if I'm Doug Peterson, I'm telling our team that listen, we're not as bad as we may seem. We're not as bad as we may look. But we

have to change some things. We have to continue to get better at a lot of different positions, and we're gonna work on that over the next couple of weeks leading into the off season. Guess what a lot of coaches in the NFL are absolutely so if the key is to have a really, really good offseason, we'll talk about that a little bit later on when we returned. Eagles three sixty two games remain on this twenty sixteen schedule, one on Thursday against the New York Giants, who have

ten wins. What are we looking forward to We'll share it with you when we come back. No care, not thicker taste of feeling remarkable things are happening at your local acme. We're making changes and we're getting better every day, Cleaner, friendlier, fresher, like fresher meat and seafood, and fresher produce, and hundreds of organics. To top it off, we're lowering thousands of prices throughout the store. So come on in and see for yourself why ACNE is just better. Lower prices, great quality,

and friendlier service. ACME the official supermarket of the Philadelphia Eagles. Are you here to buy the tickets? Hey, buddy, you here for the tickets? Yeah? Dude, what's the password? Man? What were you thinking? We're doing like a CD ticket deal instead of going to NFL ticket Exchange. NFL ticket exchange the tickets from one fan to the other. We'll see it the game, all right, yes, sir, all right, appreciate.

We welcome everyone back during these holiday seasons. The Eagles three sixty two games remaining in the twenty sixteen season, both in Lincoln Financial Field, both against seemingly playoff bound NFCAST teams. Remarkable that the Giants have turned things around. All of those editions they made in the offseason to the defensive side of the ball really paying off for them. And yet I think the Eagles a gonna come out on Thursday and whoop them. I feel great about this game. Well,

I think we should feel great. They've played much better at home these last couple of weeks. They struggled, but the Eagles have been in a lot of these games even if they won or lost. I think we have to find a way to play that spoiler role. We want to make sure that the Giants understand that maybe we might not be in the playoffs this year, but you have something to look forward to next year in the years to come. I think our team needs to

get up for this game. Let me ask you about a couple of young players here who should see some action moving forward. Byron Marshall makes his regular season debut on Sunday, plays who else? Trips a little bit early, trying to do too much, slow down a bit, had some nice runs and with Darren Sproles still in concussion protocol, we don't know about his situation with Kenyon Barner and

the hamstring injury. With Ryan Matthews banged up. After a big day on Sunday, Byron Marshall could figure into the plans in a big way. On Thursday, how's he look? Well? I saw some good things from Byron Marshall. I think you're right at the beginning one of the things that the running back coaches will always tell you is not about speed to the whole. It's about speed through the hole. And at the beginning of the game, he was just going too fast. He was missing some holes because he

was trying to get to the hole too fast. As a running back, you have to be a little bit more patient, and I think as a game continued on, he got much better with that. And so that's that's a type of improvement that you want to see as a game went on. He's quick, he's shifty, he can make you miss in space. That's the type of running back that we need in this offense. That's something that

we can build on. And then right tackle on Sunday, Isaac Sayamalo hadn't played a position since twenty thirteen when he was his sophomore at Oregon State, and he went up against Terrell Suggs, he went up against Elvis Dumerville, got beat a couple of times, but showed what kind of athlete he is, how powerful he can be in the run game. Brian, when you look at this kid,

where do you project him in the future. Well, the fifth time, the fifth starter that we had at right tackle but I see a kid that wants to play. He's tough, he's nasty, he's tenacious, and that's what you went in the offensive line. But no matter what position he plays at, I think in the future where he can help us out the most is at the center position. He's going to add size, athletic ability, and just a

nasty player. If you want to run up the middle, you have to have a center that has that type of ability. That's where I project him at all, right, And then on the defensive side, Jalen Mills still battling out there showing some good things. Got bet for the Steve Smith touchdown on Sunday, but for the most part, I thought he hit a wall. I think he's kind of come over that hurdle and has picked up his intensity for the last couple of weeks. I like Jalen's

competitive nature. I like the things that he's willing to go out there and not back down from anyone. Steve Smith bullies people across his league for sixteen games every single season for the last fifteen years. He's done that, and Jalen Mills didn't back down. He was competitive every single play this all season. Is going to be very

important for him. He's gonna have to understand get a better understanding of the defenses that have a better understanding of his leverage and where he's gonna have help from. And he's gonna have to work on his technique an awful lot to become a better player. If you can find a way to be a little bit faster, that's going to help him as well. But listen, he has a number one thing. He's competitive and he wants to win. I love the way he goes out and plays every

single week. Brian, We've waited all season to find out about Nelson agal Or, we've waited to see about Dorio Greenbeckham, and now we're here with two games left, and you wonder are they going to take that next step or we're gonna keep waiting for them? Um, what do you see with these two guys you know from DGB. I haven't seen an awful lot. I haven't seen a lot that's gonna say, hey, he's ready to take that next step next year, he's gonna be a much bigger part

in the offense. I haven't seen that. And for Carson Winson, his development, that's a bad thing. You're gonna need wide receiver that can cast the football to make big plays for you on the outside, and DGB just doesn't give us that element. He's not a guy that's gonna cast the football and take it thirty or forty yards for a testdown. And he's also has proven that he's not the same guy that's gonna catch the jump ball in the end zone. So he isn't helping us as much

as we need him to help us. Nelson, you know, before last week, I thought that he was improving, just that his body language looked better. He's seen like he had a little swagger gathered up. This week, he just didn't look like the same guy. He didn't look like he was ready to help us in the same way that I saw in the last couple of weeks. Even though the numbers weren't there the last couple of weeks, he just looked more confident as a player. He has

to find a way to help this team. He's going to give an He's probably going to give another opportunity next year, but he needs to figure things out. He has to become a much better route runner. He has to be more confident in his play, and he's going to have to figure out how to be an NFL release guy. And this is a science. How do you get off the line of scrimmage? How do you release? That's going to also help you on the back end of running your routes and getting open. He needs to

learn that science. It takes a it takes a long time to learn that. But in the NFL you have time. Hopefully for him. He doesn't run out of time here in Philadelphia. So those are some of the young players. Of course, Carson Wentz leads the way in these final two home games. One segment to go here on Eagles three sixties and final thoughts from Brian. He's been through this very difficult assignment before a Sunday road game, a Thursday home game. How do you treat your body in

the three days between the games? We'll find out when we return to Eagle three sixty. This portion of Eagles three sixty was presented by Santandair introducing Simply Right Checking from Santandair Bank, a new checking account that's convenient and gives you more control. Sounds simple, doesn't it? Is it one of our branches or santondairbank dot Com slash Simple to learn more and sign up today. What's bad, Santa? No love? Actually no? What about that one? Anybody? Yeah? Anytime?

There's too many to pick from. I enjoyed gardening. I like to plant seeds and watch what grows. Several years ago, I fell, so I went to my local orthopedic doctor, who performed the knee replacement. After a year of a lot of pain, I decided I needed a second opinion, so I went to Rothman at Jefferson. As soon as the doctor operated on me, I could tell right away that things were totally different. Now I can garden again, I can kneel, and I'm just very, very grateful for

Rothman at Jefferson Hospital. We'd simply right checking from suntime Deir bank. Just make one deposit with jaw transfer or payment each month to wait the monthly fee, and there's no minimum balance. You're all right, It's simply right checking from the sun time their bank. What's bad, Santa, no love? Actually no? Yeah? What about that one? Anybody? Yeah? Anytime, there's too many pick from our final segment, Dave Spidero Brian Westbrook as the Eagles look ahead to the New

York Giants on Thursday. Brian will be back in studio on Friday for our day after analysis of game number fifteen of this twenty sixteen Eagles season. Let's get set up with what's going on in this very truncated week. Tomorrow we are back here. Our emros was on the menu segment. Glenn mcnow my co host. He takes a look back at the game against the Ravens. Doug Peterson

in studio. All right, always always good to have the head coach here, and we take a look around the NFC East, which very well could send three teams to the playoffs. Amerosos the reason Philly sandwiches are so famous. Brian, how do you get your body back after just such a I mean, look, Eagles haven't had a the way this season worked out. The bye week in Week four, nothing, no kind of break until now. It just guys got

to be hurting so much. I laugh because when I saw Ryan after you mean, he ran hard yesterday, twenty carries look really really good. But then you turn around and try to get that same repeat performance this week three, four days later on Thursday's just tough. I think the only way to really recover is the ice. Get as much treatment as you can and try to your best, and the coaches play a big part in this, and not to put too much pressure, too much stress on

your body. As practices go, and I think in this day and age in the NFL, they don't practice too too hard, not very long. But I think Doug just has to be smart, make sure the guys understand mentally what they have to do. The physical part is going to be there. This is week fifteen. Let's clean up some of the mental rors. If we do that, I think both teams will be prepared to play Eagles and the Giants on Thursday. Brian back with me on Friday.

Until then, Brian, thanks very much, thanks very much for joining us here on Eagles three sixty. I'm back with Glenn mac now tomorrow, and meantime, have yourselves over right,