Post-Game Show: Eagles Lose 21-17 To Carolina

ball on fourth down. Carolina recovered a controversial call toward the end there, Eric Reid appeared to have the interception was called an interception by the referees. Initially, however, the play was reversed, still had a second life and not able to capitalize on it. This is one of the most crushing losses in recent history. And this is coming off a very difficult loss a couple of weeks ago where the Eagles lost seventeen to three to the up

seventeen three against the Tennessee Titans. So the Hegels follow twenty one the seventeen. They are now three and four on the season. Another tough loss here in the NFC. Chris mcfiers here with ike Reas emotionals start here to the postgame show presented by Rico, It's really no other way to put it here. This is a game Legals should have won back at home. Looked like everything was clicking into form for the team, and all of a sudden they come up on the short end after allowing

twenty one points there to the Panthers. Yeah. Really uncharacteristic of this team. This team usually when they get up, when they get up on a team, they typically put their foot on their throat and they able to close out games. That certainly was a hallmark for them last year during the Super Bowl run. But this year, this is the second time in the last couple of weeks where you have a double digit lead in the second half and you don't seemingly put your foot on the

opponent's throat and close out the game. This one hurts even more than the loss in Tennessee because when they went up seventeen to three against Tennessee, Tennessee immediately scored it was seventeen to ten, and they were really back in the game. And it was in Tennessee, so you kind of expect the home team to sort of fight until the end but you get a Carolina Panther team that's coming off crushing defeat last week to the Washington

ran Skins. They're down seventeen nothing in the fourth quarter on the road. Nothing has worked for this team all game offensively, and it almost seems as if once the Eagles went up seventeen to nothing, they thought the game was over with Carolina gets the football back after that, they go down to score with very little resistance, and I think that's when the momentum started to shift in

this league. Man, the momentum shift just like that, and just like that, the Carolina Panthers found themselves back in this game. Even with the score seventeen to six, you could sort of tell the Eagles offense had started to stimy a little bit and really sputter and not have the type of dominance they had shown. They gave them that seventeen league. I mean, you had an eighteen play drive in the third quarter that led to a touchdowns. That that type of drive normally kills the will of

your opponent. But the Panthers were able to come back and score with relative ease. I think that gave them a little confidence in a little momentum that really just throw caution to the win and say, hey, let's see what we can do. We got a little something going, we found something that's working, and next thing you know, you're in a dog fight and you can't get the

momentum going back on your side. I've seen it far too many times in sports where a team that has all the momentum sort of lets their guard down and they can't regain the momentum. And that's what happened today. Once the Eagles lost that momentum after going up seventeen to nothing, they can never get it back. And it

was all on the Panthers side of the football. And it's a lot of critical plays in this game late in the game that the Eagles are going to be kicking themselves about when they look at this film, particularly on defense where they allowed the Panthers to convert some third and loans even of worth and long. They allowed him to convert where it looked like the head Cam

Newton sack, he's able to find Tory Smith. Tory Smith makes a big catch, darts down the sideline, and then it goes from are they going to possibly tidy game? They they're just trying to get in field goal range. Next thing, you know, they're thinking about going up and winning a game exactly. So we're just get some instant reaction over from the link. In a little bit, we're gonna hear from the head coach Doug Pearson as well as quarterback Carson Once. But first let's bring in Eagles

insire Day Spadaro as well as Amy Campbell. Dave, I mean, we're emotional. It's distressing, it's deflating right now here inside the studio. I can only imagine what the mood and the temperature is like there at the link. Yeah, I mean it's stunning. It's a stunt silence. It's back to not really knowing what this football team is all about. As you guys said, we have a chance to put

a game away, a team away. You do it, and the Eagles, I mean it was a complete one eighty to could turn the offense, stopped converting first to third down, couldn't move the ball and on. And then the defense. He mean, that was a shocking part to me. The way the defense just allowed gaping completions, breakdowns. It was unbelievable.

It was a complete difference from the first three quarters. Yeah, they seemed in complete control, like you said, honest, Sam, both sides of the ball the first three quarters, and this whole thing unraveled in one quarter and the Panthers have three touchdown drives back to back to back, and just absolutely kind of shock everyone. I mean, the vibe in here is kind of weird. Everybody was feeling really good and varying control and gosh, having so much fun

on offense. Right, that offense was looking so dominant and so much fun, and it unraveled so quickly and so strangely. Yeah, And I think part of this is when you don't have a running game that you can really rely upon, which Eagles did not run the football with big chunks today. It was really they were kind of just mixing in the run to keep the Panthers, honest, and then all of a sudden, Carson Wentz started getting pressure and the Eagles not able to make it play down the field.

Now they still had a chance first and tenethy Panthers twenty two yard line and no run game, Yeah, and

just unable to get it in the end zone. And of course we thought there was some life down here without Eric Reid potential interception that was our reverse and of course Eric Reid, you know, doing some talking throughout this game, so it was interesting to see him make that big play there, but giving the Eagles more life still and other addictions to get in the end zone with time on the clock and just unable to even

move the ball. Like you said, yeah, so this is an Eagles team that had a chance today to create some momentum getting above five go to London feeling really good. Instead you go back to saying, who are the Philadelphia Eagles at three and four with a tough game in London against Jacksonville to take this to the halfway point

of the season. Yeah, we still don't know who this team is and which which team is at the team that we saw today or the team that we've seen look so good against the Giants last week, and there

was there was so much energy all week. You know, you really thought a good mini bye week and three quarters of dominance, well two quarters and most most imus, I think to me, what will stand out, guys is lack of a running game that you could rely on late in the game, and then the defense a total collapsation three consecutive drives for touchdowns by a Carolina Panthers offense that had done nothing to that point. Yeah, we're

about to go in the locker room. That's going to be interesting to go talk to those guys and see how they feel about it. I don't think it's going to be super pleasant. Yeah, no, it's gonna be very tough. And my team, that has veteran leadership should know how to put a football team away. Eagles did not do that today. Chris and I back to you with an overcare complex Dave and Amy, thank you so much again.

You can listen to the Eagles Life podcast as well as read Dave's On the Inside column a little bit later on this evening. So very interesting points there. You know the fact that you don't know what this team is because this Eagles team is not one consecutive games all season and basically for the better part of three

plus corps. We thought today would be today, the Eagles would get back over five hundred, they'd be four and three, they'd be kind of getting into a bit of a role here as they prepare for that game in London and gets the Jaguars a week from today. But now they are sitting three and four. They're gonna be in a quagmire in the NFC. Alice is playing Washington, so only one of those teams will emerge first place in

a division. So the division is still going to be pretty much up for grabs and that will be the silver line that we could discuss at some point. But right now, you know, the emotions, the disappointment. Everyone is just gonna be wondering how did this happen, especially at home where the Eagles had been so dominant for the last two plus seasons with Doug Pearson as the head coach. Also bring up a good point about the run game that was something that the Eagles could rely on last season.

I think back to the Chargers game is the first one that comes to mind for me when they're in Los Angeles and you know, with Lagarable and they are able to grind out about eight minutes off the clock in the fourth quarter to help put that game away. I believe in the pieces that are here. And obviously you don't have Darren Sproles, you don't have Jagi. He's done for this season. You know, Sprowles possibly could start practicing in the next week or so, but he's probably

not going to come back till after the buy. But I like Corey Clement. You know, I like what Josh Adams brought to the table. He brought some juice today. Smallwood had some tough runs. He had a key third down conversion. You mentioned that ninety nine yard driving the third quarter, which really should have put the game away.

He had a huge third down conversion there. So I felt like at times they can get the job done, but I guess it's just not enough on a consistent basis, where Doug Piacer wanted to be balanced in the second half,

knowing that they had the advantage there. You know, I don't have the answers if that's the biggest question is you're searching for answers at this point in the season, almost at the halfway point, but before we get into our turning points in this game, your thoughts on the run game or what the Eagles can do with the pieces that they have in place here. I'm like you, Chris, I like the young guys. I like what they bring to the table, but I like them as complimentary pieces.

You know, I thought they worked well last year along with the Lagard blunt, along with the Jagi to sort of play off of them, sort of change of speed, type of backs, and I like Wendale and Corey sort of in those roles. Still a big unknown as to whether or not both of these young guys can shoulder the low for a full season, and that's really what they've had to do due to the injuries and the

influx at the running back position. But I'll tell you this, Chris, I won't even place it at the feet of the running backs. I look at this game and it's the NFL, and everybody's gonna you know, nobody's gonna give up, right, So Caroline is not going to give up. They fought their way to get back in this game. I thought the Eagles on that final drive, you got the big pass interference call against al Sean Jeffrey that puts you down there, and then it got weird for the offense.

And listen, we rarely ever criticize Carson Wentz, and rightfully so, Kid rarely does anything the deems criticism to be necessary. But after that first down at the twenty two yard line, I thought there were some questionable plays there. I mean the interception that was thrown to Eric Read and overturned, that was a questionable throw. He wasn't under pressure, let the ball go high and sailed on him, almost picked

off there. Then he comes back here he forces one to alshon Jeffrey that could have been picked off the very next play, and on that play it's third and two. You got Windale Smallwood in the flat pick up the first down. What was great about where they were on the twenty two yard line is that it wasn't first in gold, meaning you didn't have to get the ball in the end zone in four plays. You had the opportunity to pick up another first down and then sort

of have four more plays. So it's third and two there. If you take the quick running back in the flat there to Windale Smallwood, he's wide open, he catches that, picks up the first down, gets out of bounds, and now you have four more downs to play with. I think Carson was looking for the big play there. The game wouldn't play the touchdown play. That's understandable. You gotta live and die with those sort of decisions as fans

because that's just the type of quarterback that is. But I bet you when he looks back at that series there, that final series and after that first down play, I mean after that first down passing afference. He's gonna have some plays there that he wishes he could have did some other things with the football. It's a learning lesson for him. Sometimes you gotta take what the defense has given you. Sometimes you gotta live to find another down. And I just didn't think we did that. Once we

got on a twenty two yard line first down. I thought there were some opportunities there where you could have picked up another first down and then maybe giving yourself four more opportunities to get the ball in the end. What's ironic is the Eagles have struggled in terms of getting into those third and manageable situations throughout most of this season, not playing good situational football. But Smallwood produced

the great It was a nice play call. Spread out the defense, runch up the middle, get yourself into eight yards at eight yards on the first star. All of a sudden, you have a couple of chances to convert the short yard situation where you figure, okay, Doug can go into his bag of tricks and pull out something there.

But it was not to be so. Obviously, again, Eagles leading through three plus quarters of a seventeen nothing lead, the Panthers five possessions in the first three quarters all punts, but final three possessions or first three possessions of the fourth quarter resultant touchdowns, and then they knelt down to run out the clock. In terms of a turning point for you, like, where do you think this game went awry? I really believe the turning point happened after the Eagles

went up seventeen nothing. They had an eighteen play drive, ninety nine yard drive where they got to touchdown to go up seventeen to nothing. And then the Panthers get the ball back and they go down the field eleven plays, eighty yards to get on the board, and that's where I believe the momentum shifted. The Eagles go up seventeen

and nothing. It's almost feels as if they thought the game was over with after going up seventeen to nothing, because the Panthers moved the ball on it on that next series better than they had moved the ball the prior three quarters of the entire game. And that drive, that touchdown gave them a little confidence, gave them momentum, gave their defense life, and the next thing, you know, the offense can't pick up first downs and the defense our defense. It's back on the field with the Panthers

offense having a little momentum going on their side. They score on three straight drives. But it started with at first touchdown where I thought, man, they score kind of easy there. You kind of hope that, okay, maybe hopefully the momentum is not switching. But I felt it, and I'm sure you could kind of fill it in the stadium as well, that the momentum went to the other side of the field. For me, it was after the second touchdown where Devin Funis, you know, got Ronald Darby

to bite on the double move. Darby slips up Fungis gets a touchdown there, so from eighteen yards out, so Graham Gono, he missed the first point after opportunity, So you figure out least at that point the Panthers are fours ago for the two point conversion. Well, right there, Jared's right converts a short pass from Cam Newton that made a three point ball game. Meeting that if the Panthers got the ball once again, which they did, they would only need a field goal, and they not only

got that, they got the touchdown. For me, it was at two point conversion because I felt like if you could have the ball back, if you're the Eagles, you have the four point four point cushion there, you'll feel like you're in good situation that you go with this defense and you at lease can force him to go for the end zone and not just a field goal,

you would feel good about your chances. But I think when they got that two point conversion, it was at that point where it seemed like the moment was completely in the Panther's favor and they were able to sit back and say, we can not only settle for the field goal if needbe, but we can go for the win. And that's what they did as Newton hit Greg Olson for the game winning score. So for me, that was

a turning point there. So we're gonna hear from the head coach and just a little bit here, but I mean, it's just across the board when you look at this defeat from the defensive perspective, Cam Newton was so streaky because early on, I don't know if it was the win, where's the pressure, maybe a combination of both. Newton was not able to get much going whatsoever with his arm, and then all of a sudden on those three touchdown drives, I think he had six or seven completions in a row.

He got himself in a rhythm, and I think the Eagles did a great job of limiting the downfield places. And that's something that with Norv Turner's offense, that's what that's his calling card. He wants to stretch defenses vertically and he has not been able to do that with the Panthers this season, which is which is kind of befollowing. Because Cam Newton is one of the strongest arm quarterbacks,

they have some speed options on the outside. You know, you figured they would find ways to stretch the field. That had not been the case. And you felt good if your the Eagles because they've been limiting them so short plays and not allowing the chunk plays there in

the secondary. But all of a sudden in the fourth quarter, those explosive plays which have hurt the Eagles in the past, reared their ugly head once again and really put the Panthers in those, like you said, those quick scoring opportunities so they could climb back into this ball game where the Eagles felt like, if we just let you know, the play stay in front of us, it'll eat up the clock. It just didn't eat up as much as

I think Jim Schwartz and company thought it would. And then a couple of times when the pass rush, which was doing a great job of getting to Cam Newton in the first half, in those first three quarters, when they would get a guy in the backfield Fletcher Cox missing a sack comes to mind, they were not able

to get Cam down. He's so difficult to defend from that standpoint, And once Cam got into a rhythm, you know it's he's one of those quarterbacks where if you get in his mind, you feel like you could rall him. Early sure, you know he's off his game, and I felt like they did a great job of doing that with Cam Newton to the point where I didn't know if he could bring it back. But once he got in the rhythm, once he found his footing there, especially not just with his arm, but with his legs as well,

that's where you knew that something dangerous could happen. And when and when you look at this Carolina team, you go just the last two games alone, they beat the Giants on that sixty three yard field goal by Graham Gono, I mean that was a back and forth affair where they had to rally themselves. Okay, and last week they lost to Washington in Washington, but they trailed in that game early. You probably score seventeen to nothing and rally themselves into a position where they had a chance to

win at the end. And ironically Newton missed a potential game winning throw in the end zone to Christian McCaffrey. While they troll seventeen nothing. This time around, they learned from their mistakes and were able to come back and finish the job. So Newton making that little bit of improvement really made all the difference. But this is a Panther's team that's you know, scratched and claude and you know, use all the euphemisms you want for the fact that

it's a cat based team. But nonetheless, though they've found them with them themselves to be able to get back in these types of ball games even though they're down, because they have such a hot quarterback who can fire themselves up back in a hurry, and he was able to do that on this afternoon here to get the Panthers in position even though they were down seventeen nothing. And like you said, games should have been over. Games should have been over in the fourth quarter after that

ninety nine yard touchdown drive. But you look at the numbers, you know, sixty four percent completion percentage, two hundred and sixty nine yards, no interceptions, and in the fourth quarter, no pressure. He was able to sit back in the

pocket and find whoever he wanted. Yeah, and from a defensive perspective, what you're trying to do is keep your team in the game, right, So so even when it was all right, we're gonna send it over to the link, head coach Doug Peterson about to address the media, don help them to a hundred and six yards of total offense before those final threat possessions, what happened? Well, Um, quite frankly, it just, uh, you know, we didn't make

enough plays offensively, defensively in the second half. You know, we we had opportunities to get off the field defensively, we didn't. We had opportunities to stay on the field offensively, and we didn't. And so you know, it's something we just gotta take a look at. Um, we gotta get you know, there were there were some positive things obviously, but but those are areas that have have heard us in a couple of games you know this season already.

They just made more plays. Nothing changed, the same guys, the same same people out there. They just made more plays than we did. So really sychematically nothing changed. Um. Uh, you know, just we just didn't make enough in the second half of this game. Once you get down there on the final possessions interference play, you will go for a eight yards. Can you take us through the thought process there on the Playhold, what are you trying to do there? Or you just getting the end zone? Get

the first down? What's well, we had to get in the end zone, you know, to win the game. Um. And and our thought there was, you know, give give Carson a pass and audible to you know, give them a run. So if they play a certain defense, we could get to the run. And we were able to do that and we got positive yards and then get right back on the ball and go go tempo a little bit right there, and and uh, and trying to

get the first down. Still had timeouts, you know, so we still had a lot of options available to us, um, with the amount of time and timeouts in the in the game, So trying to get the first down, but ultimately trying to get in the end zone on the fourth and ten diversion they had reducing Um, I felt like that. I believe it was Jalen at the time may have may have slipped and may have fell down,

and just Tory was was standing right there. We were real close of getting to getting to cam and getting them on the ground at the time time, and and uh, you know we were we were just a step behind at seventeen three. Now offensively there, what's sputtered? Um, we didn't we didn't execute, you know, we uh just just just broke down, you know, and then we can't have that.

And those are things that uh, our guys pride themselves on, you know, whether it's you know, I look at the I'll go back and look at you know, the couple of calls play calls there. See if I can do a little better there, help our team out there. And um, we had an opportunity on the third down al Sean, uh twenty four you know Brad Burry for them, came back and really recovered well. Al Sean was wide open and twenty four just came back and just got a hand in there late and knocked the ball away or

otherwise we're on the field at that point too. What was the message to the team after a collapse like this, Well, the message is that, uh, um, you know, quite frankly, and I told him, I says, you know, we have to learn from these these these are these are things, these are these are games that the galvanized football teams, and and this is gonna do that, this is gonna

bring us even closer together. Um basically told him that, hey, um, pressures off of us, nobody on the outside world to giving us a chance to do much of anything, and pressures off so we can go play, have fun and just relax and and and a lot of football ahead too. You know, we still have a bunch of games and still anything's possible, anything can happen, and you know, we

still treat it as one week at a time. You guys closed the game earlier this season where you were a head seventeen and three in a second, yeard, what did you not learn from that one? I mean, it's that where's there's some kind of connective thread there between what happened in Nashville's it's happened here. Well, Um, fourth and fifteen, fourth and ten, we've got to go look

at those two plays and that's probably the answer. So we've got to, you know, as as players and coaches, make sure that that we're putting our guys in position. And then secondly, we got to execute to play a lot of this. This is a player's game, right, players have to make plays and and uh um, you know we try to as coaches. We put him in possession to be successful and and uh so we got to evaluate that and and just coach better and play better.

Working on to wait, you close on game. Something you're looking you'll be looking you're working on saying this week the sea. Well, I think we're gonna be working on a lot of things. Um, but that's one of them. You know, we talk about finishing all the time, and it just doesn't mean you know, the first half of games. We gotta finish the second half too. Than you are making an adjustments, you're not adjusting to No, No, I mean Carolina, Um, you know, just just get stuck to

their game plan. Um, you know nothing we didn't expect. Um, so no, wait, cars believe Um well I thought overall, you know, um, pretty good. I think his numbers were decent. I haven't looked at the actual stat deal. But you know, bottom line as we lost and and so it's not a not an individual sport. He's part of it obviously, and uh did some good things and we'll we'll, we gotta take a look at the whole the whole pie

right now. What do you mean by well number one, I think I think sald you know, no one has really given us a chance anyway, Um, whether we're putting pressure on ourselves to perform, um, you know, to play whatever it is, you know, live up to a certain expectation.

I think I think that you know, it's it's it's that point where where you know, I think that that no one has given us that type of you know, maybe with the amount of injuries or whatever it whatever it is giving us much credit, you know, going into games. And and I think sometimes we we we we force issues, you know, we uh, we try to press just a little it instead of just you know, we don't have

to go searching for plays. We just when the plays come, we just make let's just make the plays that come to us. And and right now we're not doing that. So I think that, uh, I think that's the pressure that's that's off of us, and we just we just have to get back to playing and executing better. Just cleared though. Are you saying that the players are feeling pressured to live up to what you guys accomplished last year. No,

I don't think so. I just think that each week, And this is something I've talked about all season, is is when we talk about embracing something, it's a choice. And we know that we get everybody's best every week. And and uh, you know, it's a good football team. You know, Carolina is a playoff caliber team. They were in the Super Bowl a couple of years ago. It's

a good football team. And and we know that, uh, you know, we we don't use, um, we don't use injury, We don't use whatever it might be as an excuse not to not to perform, and and so um, you know, sometimes I think players coaches just put just added pressure when they don't have to, you know. And and that's something that we've got to We've got to you know, starts with me there and just making sure that we're doing everything even during the week, um, getting ourselves in

positions to win games. There's still the defending Sir Bull champs. I mean that doesn't change. But at three and four, do you really think that pressure is off you guys, Now, it won't be. But but it doesn't have to come from us, you know, it doesn't have to come you know, there's enough pressure just the game itself brings its own sort of pressure. We don't have to go force anything. We don't have to go um, you know, go like I said earlier, don't have to go looking for plays.

Let the plays come to you and then make them when they come. And and and that's where we're at. There's a play caller real quick. Uh, when you see the momentum ship like it did drastically, are you are you aware of that you mentioned it's a players game. What do you feel the need to kind of fuel things when you see the momentum change? Yeah, I mean

you feel it and you sense it. I don't think it necessarily have to get you out of your them offensively, because I thought we were doing some good things, you know, even in the run game, RPOs, play action pass, you know, some of the things that we were able to take advantage of it. But but yeah, no, I didn't feel like I had to get ultra aggressive or anything like that. Just because the tide was sort of changing just a

little bit there in a second. Now, all right, all right, head coach Duck Pearson addressing the media saying they simply didn't make enough plays, and everyone's gonna point to the fourth quarter, iike, But before we get into your takeaway, I'm actually gonna say you came out of the first half feeling good about where the Eagles stood up ten nothing, dominating time and possession, dominating the yard totals. But the

fact of the matter was it was only ten nothing. Yeah, and the Panthers actually got the ball first to start the second half, and they moved the ball pretty well on the first drive of the second half. Still ended up punting, But nonetheless, though, you know, you felt that the Eagles could have done more to put themselves in a situation where it didn't have to come down to that final drive. And everyone's gonna say, and rightfully so, when you're up seventeen nothing in the fourth quarter, that

should be a victory. But at the same time, though everyone's gonna think about the final couple drives, you could look to the first quarter of the first half where there's gonna be missed opportunities there was a miss field goal by Jake Elly. There were plays that could have been me there that could have padded the lead to make it so that no matter how good Cam Newton got in the fourth quarter, there was no way he was going to bring the Panthers back. Nah, that's a

great point, Chris. You know, I'm thinking about that first half and only having ten points on the board. I can remember saying something to someone in the press box like, man,

like they should have more than ten points. Like this game feels like they've dominated it from start to finish of the first half, and to only be up ten, you knew that there were some missed opportunities out there, right the Jake Elliott field goal, that's three points there, you see, that would have made a difference at the end of the game. Now now you only need a field goal to sort of go up and beat Carolina there.

So every when you lose a game like this, everything matters when you look back on it right before the half, you know, not really being aggressive to go down the field and try to get points right before the half. People will go back and look at that at nitpick or as Doug is thinking, let me get out of here. I'm backed up a little bit. Don't want to make any mistakes down here. Let's get out of here with

a ten point league. That's certainly understandable, but when you lose a game, everything goes under the microscope when you start to reflect on how do we get to hear an end result of twenty one to seventeen. And I guarantee you Jim Schwartz as a defensive coordinator, he's going to be, you know, thinking back on his game and

saying to himself, you know, was I aggressive enough? You know, if there's a fine line between trying to be aggressive and playing smart, and so I know as a defensive coach, they're gonna say to themselves, as long as the clock keeps moving and you don't give up big plays, they're okay with that. As long as it takes you ten twelve plays to score in five six, seven minutes to score, you're gonna rount a time. But for some reason it worked. The first series that the Panthers scored on that was

an eleven play drive. But the second touchdown they got happened far and having way too fast, and really that's where the momentum really flipped is Carolina scored so fast. Now they're saying to themselves, we have all the momentum. All we need to do is go out here and get it three and out and get the ball back to our offense. You mentioned the running game earlier. Here's where not having Let's say, I don't know a more explosive back, a better back, whatever you want, however you

want to coin it, term it. They couldn't run out the clock. They couldn't finish off the game. You brought up that La game into the Chargers last year and how close that game was. What the biggest thing I take away from that Chargers game is that they never got the ball back with six minutes of plus to go because the Eagles were able to go into their four minute offense and eat the clock up. And that's what we were able to do last year with the

running game that we had. This year, we're throwing far too much in situations where they should be running. And part of it it's because Doug doesn't like the yards are getting. Let's send it back to the lake. Quarterback Carson Wentz addressing the media. Now to win there at the end, offensively, we had a chance to seal the deal with the drive before, really the two drives before,

we just didn't do it. So you know, when you're on the field at the end like that with a shot, balls in your hand and then you don't win, it's frustrating. Dogens wasn't as productive in the second half as it wasn't the first. Yeah, you know, it's hard to say it's culmination of things. You got to go back and watch the tape, but yeah, I mean that's just not

a way for us to finish the game. You know, I thought we were moving the ball well, you know early, kind of kind of did some things well that we know we're capable of, and then it's just seemed like we let off the gas as an offense and uh, just stop making place. How do you guys recover from a loss like this? I mean, you have a similar lossugents Tennessee a couple of weeks ago, and now kind of now this one. I mean, how do you guys

keep it from spiraling? I mean, you just isolate this game and this week and then move on to the next, you know, you learn from it. Um. You know, I could sound like a broken record every time we lose up here, but it's it's onto the next you know, there's no time to feel sorry for yourself. There's no time to be be pissed about it. Um. You know you have to learn from it quick and bounce back

next week. Did you see all those final two plays? Um? Yeah, I mean the fourth down, so I'll sean open across the middle late and as I stepped up, tried to try to make the throw, UM got hit and the ball came out, and the play before I just tried force one in there that I probably shouldn't have on

the interception. I was saying that the fourth order like kind of like all of a sudden, they were blowing up later, so they didn't happen for you guys, just something that kind of put it was just because you're kind of let it off and get as a little bit. Yeah, like I said earlier, it's really hard to say right now. Um, we got to watch the tape and see what where

our errors kind of were. Um, but I know later in the game we didn't stay ahead of the chain as well, um, and result in some tough there downs that we just weren't able to say on the field. What happened on that interception that was over rolled attentific and yeah, I mean that was just a miscommunication on

Zach and my part. You know, we got to get that ironed out and we will seem like Yeah, I mean I obviously extremely frustrated about this game, and um, just really just praying, praying, just to ease my mind and ease my heart going forward. You guys have had some stretches this year where you guys are really gotten rolling and it looks like you've kind of turned the corner and then it just kind of, you know, you hit that wall. What is it gonna take to get

that consistency? But um, that's a good question. You know, we're gonna find out what we're made of now going forward. Feel like we said that two weeks ago, uh saying it again. You know we're at you know, make a break time almost uh so to speak, but um, yeah, it's hard to say exactly what it's gonna get, what it's gonna take. But again, we know what we can do. We do it you know here and there in some weeks,

but we just gotta put it all together. Shall you mentioned in the end zone, uh that maybe you shouldn't have done that was was there another read to get tour. Maybe you should have just taken off and scrambled what was kind of going through your head and sho look back on? Yeah, I mean I was just trying to give him, give him a shot to make a play. I got to get the ball up higher if I'm going to do that. And um again I got to

see the tape. There might have been another guy a supposing out games or a couple of problems with you guys? Do is it something that you do in practice? You know, next game out? Yeah? I don't know how you you know, work on closing out game so speak in practice. But um, it's something that we gotta do, you know, without a doubt. It's something I thought we did well last year. Um, I think we've shown that we can do it. Um but really offensively, you know, we gotta we gotta look hard,

hard in the mirror myself included and laden games. We gotta be better. A message for Easton boss set the pressure to cope guys. Now, have you guys felt that pressure? Bowl? I mean, you know, I think this town, the way I carried myself, the way really everyone in that locker. We put high expectations on ourselves every week. You know, whether we are seven and nine my rookie year we were, you know, on that hot stretch slash, it doesn't matter.

You know. I think we put high expectations on ourself to go out and my approach will never change win or lose onto the next week. And that's the way I'm gonna approach it. Thanks. Thanks, Yes, all right, short and sweet quarterback Carson Wentz, admitting that they might have

let up of the gas a little too early. It's another learning lesson that this team, and you mentioned it earlier, Ike that uh laurie lesson for this quarterback is he's still young in his career, in his development, you know, experiencing certain situations for the first time. You know, last season, by this point, by the latter stages of games, it was blowouts most of the time, especially once the Eagles

got rolling on the nine game win streak. They didn't have to make times where teams were fighting back in the fourth quarter to make it a game and eventually taking the lead, forcing the Eagles to, you know, try to get the rhythm back. And I thought Ruben frank At a very good question where in the first half it actually looked like the preseason ended for the Eagles. It looked like that finally the offense was clicking. You had explosive plays from al Sean Jeffrey that that back

to back series of plays down the left side. Yeah, where at al Sean gets makes a great contested grab, Zach Ertz makes makes a great catch. You said, they're trying to outdo each other at this point, like we're starting to see the offense come to life. You know, the offensive line was protecting well for Carson Wentz. You had multiple people contributing the run game. You had different people weighing in it and providing some relief there and

providing some support. It seemed like the offense was finally clicking and the defense was just getting after Cam Newton and dominating the last scrimmage. You know, the Panthers have an outstanding rushing attack. They were not allowing that to get on track. It seemed like finally everything was coming together and then for whatever reason, it evaporated. And that's gonna be the big question is wasn't more on the offense,

wasn't more on the defense. It's it's all across the board, It's all across the board, But you know, it's gonna be interesting to see can they find that consistency again when it seemed like we've been waiting so long for it to happen, and you knew there was gonna be some delay in it because of the fact Carson didn't play until the third week of the season, he had

no preseason alshon, Jeffrey missed the first three games. You understood that coming off the long off season of after winning the Super Bowl, or shortened offseason after the long season of winning the Super Bowl, that it was gonna take some time for this team to click, that there would be almost an extended preseason. It just finally felt like it ended. And now it's almost like they're back to square one. But now they're three and four, you know,

with a crucial game next week in London against the Jacks. Yeah, this was a a pivotal loss because you're at a point in the season where you're saying to yourself, who are we? What are we as a team? And the Eagles are gonna have to do some serious soul searching over the next few days as to what they want their twenty eighteen season to be about. Now they can easily you know, rest on their laurels, know what they did last year, hang their hat on that, and just

say twenty eighteen season, we can't repeat. Or they can say to themselves, no, this is not how we're going to defend what we did last year. We're gonna dig ourselves out of this and we're gonna go win this division and get into the postseason. Now, it's really about the mindset, because this was a crucial mental blow. Right you have a seventeen point lead at home and to lose a game like this, I can't even imagine what

it feels like in that locker room right now. It almost feels like you lost two games because you feel like you took a step forward that Thursday night against the Giants. This feels like you took two or three steps back after you lose a game like this, And it can be it can be guys in that locker

room man feeling sorry for themselves. It's gonna be real critical for the leaders on this team to pull everybody up by the bootstraps and demand excellence of them, demanded of them, demand that they do the small things that help you win games. The extra film study, the attention to detail, all those things, because there's gonna be a lot of noise on the outside when you lose a

game like this, especially in the city like Philadelphia. I would advise them shut off all social media, hunker down inside this building, and get ready to finish this season like champions know how to finish a season, because this thing can go into a three or four game losing streak if you're not careful and you start to feel sorry for yourself or you start to think there's nothing

to play for. So the leaders on this team are gonna have to get these players mind in the right position to let them know there's still a whole half of a scene and left to play. All their goals are still in front of them. They can still achieve those things, but they got to get out of this rut. They can't start feeling sorry for themselves. If anything, they ought to be angry with themselves and vow to never

allow anything like this to happen again. Like they're gonna have five division opponents coming up in the second half of the season when they come back from London and the bye week, so there's a lot of football still left to be played. And the great thing about this league. It's one and done. All you want is an invitation to the party, and you want to be playing your best late in the season, then you can go on

to run. This journey isn't going to be the way that it was last year, so that's out the window, but it doesn't mean it can't be a successful journey. We just have to pull ourselves together and get this out of your system as soon as possible. Go over to London, take care of business, get the bye week, get the first half out of your system, and come back to second half of the season to play new season. The second half. Man, it's a lot of football left

to be played. But if you listen to these naysayers on the outside, they're gonna tell you the season's over with and and and the players can't buy any of that. And the coaches they're gonna do what they're supposed to do as coaches. I know they they're gonna instill the right things in these players, but they don't play the games.

The players are the ones who play the games. They're the ones who are out there on the field, and these players have to believe that there's a lot still left to play for, including possibly getting to Atlanta, like we all hope they would at the beginning of the season. Just don't listen to Marks and Reese tomorrow. Don't listen yet, done it for WIP, not there whatsoever. I was waiting for you to say, everyone my show, make sure you shall listen to my don't even listen to that show.

Don't even listen. It's infuly because Doug said this press conference that this type of laws can galvanize the team, and you talked a lot of great and made a lot of great points about the soul searching aspect and not allowing this loss to festering continue because you don't want to cost you next week's game against the Jaguars. Yes, that's the biggest thing. And you look at if you think the Eagles are reeling, the Jaguars had the bench

played boardles. They're getting trounced by the Houston Texans. You know it's gonna be two teams with championship aspirations that were both on a high at one point. The Eagles had there's ten days ago against the Giants. The Jaguars beat the Patriots and they thought they were over the hump. Well, right now, someone's got to salvage their season. Okay, because after that game, both teams go into the bye week, and who knows what happens after that. One team is

gonna be on a high. One team is definitely gonna probably be thinking exactly it might be thinking their seasons over at that point. So it'll be interesting to see how the Eagles handles. Because the Jaguars are used to going to London each and every year. This is new for the Eagles. So on the one hand, you could say, you know, you don't want to disrupt the routine. Maybe

that's gonna be good for this team this week. Maybe this is the type of game where you say, you know what, you know what the atmosphere is gonna be like in Philadelphia, you know what the mood's gonna be like. It's gonna be a dreary day tomorrow here at the NOCARE Complex. Okay, it's good. Then a couple of days they're gonna be get on a plane and heading out to London to kind of get that out of their

system and be in a totally new environment. They're not gonna have to deal with all the NASA airs and the radio shows and all that stuff. This is gonna be a London fan base that's just getting adjusted to the game of football. Okay, there's gonna be a lot of Eagles fans there because it's the first time the Deals have ever played a regular season game overseas. They've had exhibition games, but this is an historic game for the Eagles because it's the first one in a regular

season overseas. So that in and of itself is a huge deal. But maybe it's great that Eagles can just kind of, you know, kind of get over the distraction there and just focus on the game and just get away and take care of business overseas against the Jaguars. So head coach Doug Pearson he met with the media a short time ago. But are Mike Quick caught with them one on one after the game. You always ask them great pointing questions after a game, especially a tough

lost like this one. Let's find out what they had to say in this one on one interview right here. First, coach, what is it that you say to you guys after giving up when where you led the game almost the entire game? Yeah, you know, it's it's it's hard. You're searching for words and you're trying to kind of put things into perspective and basically just want to make sure that the guys understand that that we go into these games that you know, we've we've got to you gotta

come away with no regrets. You got to make sure that you go into the game prepared. Um start, you know, starting with me as a caller played caller leading this football team. I look at myself. We can each look and look in the mirror and and and self evaluate.

But you definitely want to make sure that your preparation during the week um is on point, because as we know, you know, it's not getting any easier, you know, and and and teams, uh, teams are are are playing well, and uh you know we're not in a couple areas of the game. It's like for three quarters again today we played well and then and then one quarter a

little bit of a letdown. So we just got to focus on in a little better the big emphasis that you would talk about playing sixty minutes in football game, That's exactly what I mentioned the team last night and this morning, you know, was was we got to play for sixty minutes and and uh, as cliche as sometimes that is, I mean it was evident today that we

didn't we didn't play the full game. And uh, you know, we just got to continue to evaluate and and and again learn learn from this and and and make sure a lot of football laugh a lot of a lot of games ahead of us, and nothing gets you know, nothing's gonna be handed to us. We got to make sure that we we go earn and and and work for everything that we got. Was it difference in Carolina because for three quarters they didn't really move the ball,

couldn't score any points. Well, there is a difference in the offensive. I think the biggest thing was was a couple of their big plays. Um, Cam had a couple of big scrambles, you know, in the second half they had they had the reverse for the touchdown. So a lot of their things that came off of either a gimmick player or a broken play that that they had

success at it. And you know, up to that point, I thought we were playing extremely well and defense was getting after Cam and um you know, you just when you're playing an athletic quarterback like that, you just got to make sure you you you know, you've got to try to push the pocket, but but keep him in there and he made some great plays in the second half. Young quarterback played extremely well. Maybe a couple of misfires

down the stretch. Um, what's your conversation with Carson? They know it's amazing because as well as he plays, I think there's still room to improve obviously and learn from and and and and we'll we'll take we'll take a look at this tape. I think there were some situations. There was a situation down the stretch where you know, maybe maybe go someplace else with the ball or you know, whatever it is. Well, we'll take a look at it

and evaluate it. But he's played extremely well, and he's tough, and he's hung in there and battled and it made some great throws today and and the guys, guys, guys hung in their for him. And um, but we know too that it's uh, you know, it takes eleven on offense and uh uh sometimes sometimes we just got to make sure that that we use all all the guys and and uh just just I don't want him to feel like he's got to make all the place, you know what I'm saying as a young player, and that

that's kind of where we're at right now. Offensively, You're right, he really filled the ball well and especially to their tight ends. What was it that you saw about this defense that led to the tight end being such a

factor today. Well, we just we just felt like going in number one, our two tight ends are our mur our mismatches, you know, defensively, if they're gonna play with linebackers or safeties on them, And and we just felt we had an advantage there and and tried to exploit that just a little bit with some of the routes

and combinations we had. And I thought we did a pretty decent job there and and doing some of the things and and so we just we just felt like that was gonna be part of our game plan and and use the middle of the field a little bit and and uh, you know, execute execute some of the some of the throws we we we did to Zach and Dallas. All right, thanks great stuff. As always, I love that interview there between Mike Quick and appears after the games. I think Mike does a great job asking

the right questions, getting to the point. And Doug had a very good answer about Carson and his development. And this is something that you touched on in terms of at times you want to go for the home run, but you know it's the singles and doubles that kind of keep the change moving and give yourself another chance to come out with the win. Yeah, and as a coach, I'm sure it could be difficult to try to coach a player like Carson Wentz from this tad point. I

don't mean difficult coaching him. I mean difficult knowing when it just let him be Carson, or when you try to pull the reins in on some things. And when a player has the ability to Carson Wentz has, you almost have to just allow him to go out there and do his thing, and then you're coaching either after the series is over or you coach him on those

plays when you watch him on film. Carson has made far too many good plays in his career to second guess things that he does when he's out there, because, you know, playing quarterback, it's not an easy thing to do just because we can see certain guys open or certain things become available from our couches or from the sideline.

He's out there behind the line of scrimmage, got five guys trying to sack him while also trying to keep his eyes down field and read to go where to go with the ball properly, So it'll be some good coaching points for him. I'm pretty sure he looks back on the film and the one thing that I can assure you about Carson Wentz, there's no one is going

to be more critical on him than himself. He's a self evaluator, very hard on himself when it comes to doing the right things with the football, going to the right area. I think he got locked in on Alshan because there's a sense a security there when you throw the ball up the al Shan you almost feel like he's going to catch everything that you put in his catch radius, which he pretty much had done all day to day. But I'm pretty sure when they look at the film again there'll be a place or two that

Carson would have rather gone with the football. You look at the numbers there for Alshon Jeffrey, seventy percent of the balls to being thrown as way or being caught. And they're not easy passes. These aren't dump offs or checkdowns or screens. I mean, you can test it. They are contested catches down the field. One of them goes for a touchdown eight eight yards. Just again, another productive day from alshon Jeffrey. You know, again you felt that

all the weapons were pretty much clicking in the offense. Okay, do you want a more sustained ground attack, sure, but again you look at the last drive when you got yourself into the red zone. What's the play that got you there? It was it was Wendell Smallwood's run up the middle. Okay, and you had contributions from a multitude of players, Corey Clement and Josh Adams coming through, and they're able to do work not just you know, out of the backfield in the run game, but in the

past game as well. Corey Clement has some great pass h pickups there, blitz pickups there throughout the course of the game. So you know, overall they're helping keep themselves on the field. But you just felt that again the offense, what worked for three cores all of a sudden didn't in the fourth quarter. Is it what Carson said that maybe they let up on the gas. That's me the big questions, and it's human nature. I don't think they

consciously did it. I think it happened self consciously. Right, you go up by seventeen, you've been dominating this team all game. Carolina's punted on just about every possession up until the fourth quarter. So it's human nature to sort of let your guard down and relax a little bit. But you gotta fight against that, and that's the thing you gotta fight against what feels natural to you, which is, well, we won this game, let's sit back and watch the

rest of the time unfolds. So a valuable lesson for all of them, not just on the offensive side of the ball, defensively as well. And it's a little more difficult for the offense to play with the league like that because the thing that happens offensively, if you say, will continue to be aggressive, continue to be aggressive well, and if you throw, throw, throw, Now, everybody's second guessing you're not eating up the clock, right, You left too

much time on the clock. You gave the ball back to the Panthers without running any time off the clock. So it's a it's a it's a tough balancing act from an offensive side because you want to try to manage the clock and if you can shorten the possessions and or shorten the game, that's gonna help you as well. But from a defensive standpoint, there shouldn't have been a letdown. I mean the defense, from from my view, you should have been trying to get a shutout. We don't get

very many shutouts around here. You don't get very many shutouts in the NFL period, So that's what they should have been playing for. It shouldn't have been difficult from a defensive standpoint, but offensively, I can understand where you go up seventeen nothing. Now part of you is saying, Okay, let's work this clock down. Let's work this clock down and get out of here. And before you know it, it's seventeen fourteen, and now you got to ramp it back up and try to put points on the board.

And the Eagles weren't able to do it. All right, So some interesting comments coming out of the locker room. We're going to discuss those as well as something else that coach Pearson said, and we'll also have some field breakdown on what made Alshon Jeffrey so dominant in today's game. However, if you are watching us on Facebook or Twitter, you need to come on over to Philadelphia Eagles dot com or the app to watch the rest of the show.

We'll give you a few minutes to get situated as we take our first break here on the postgame show presented by Rico. Well, I'm trying to gain, but it feels like another Yeah, I'm trying to stay. Sometimes I realize that the further the mod that I know, then I won't go home. When you and your money are treated with respect, you prosper and that's a bank. Respect

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three and get one on us. You want the unlimited plan you need on the network you deserve At Santon dair Bank, we want you to prosper. That's why we treat you and your money with respect. Learn more about how respect adds up at Santon dair by visiting santandair Bank dot com. McDonald's proud partner of the Philadelphia Eagles. All right, welcome back to the show. We've talked about how dominant Alshon Jeffrey was out there on the field today seven catches, eight eight yards, ten toll targets on

the afternoon. But how did some of those plays, those key plays come to fruition. We're gonna send it into the film room now for the RICO review as Fran Duffy and Great co Sell breakdown Alshon Jeffrey's second core touchdown the first points of the game. Some interesting things to take away here about how the defense scheme this up and allowed Jeffrey to get a one on one matchup on the outside. For more, let's tend it over

to the gentleman inside the studio. Well, Greg, one of the big factors that we've seen here with this Eagles offense has really been the presence of Alshon Jeffrey and really the relationship between both he and Carson Wentz. And this touchdown, the opening touchdown for the Eagles in this game, is a good example of that. And also the execution

and understanding of a defense from Doug Peterson and his staff. Well, it really speaks to the importance of al Sean Jeffrey and the willingness of the Eagles offense to take shots one on one with Jeffrey against any corner. And you could see here this is twelve personnel. Jeffrey, we start up top, he's the single receiver right now, it's twelve personnel. So what do you have down below here, Fran You've got trips, You've got three receivers down below. So right now,

here's what it looks like. Defensively, they have the Carolina has three over three and they have been a safety who is clearly cheated to this side of Alshon Jeffrey. So there's a possibility for a double on Jeffrey right now. And keep in mind you've got the corner Brady. He's playing with outside leverage, so this could well be a double team right now on Alshon Jeffrey, which would take him away as an option. But now let's run this

and you'll see what happens. The Eagles use a shift here with Dallas Goddard and what does this do now? Defensively as we freeze it, it brings the safety down over Dallas Goddard. So the safety who may have been in play as a double team player on alshon Jeffrey is now removed. So what do you get with alshon Jeffrey? Get that one? Want you get the one on one matchup? So we can run it and you can see exactly what happens, and that's exactly where Carson Wentz looks. He's

not going anywhere else. He's going to the one on one matchup that they set up by the shift from trips to a two by two set. And then if you freeze it right here, here's another play with Jeffrey and again the willingness to go to the one on one matchup. Jeffrey is at the top of the screen. He's the X receiver, the single receiver to that side. Of the formation, and what do you get now from a coverage standpoint, You're going to get man coverage cover

one with a single high safety. But man coverage that's what cover one is. So now if we lose this, let the play run. You'll see exactly how this plays out. Carson Wentz knows exactly what he has right now, so he's gonna look to his right make sure that that single high safety stays there. That's Carson Wentz's job to control that single high safety. Because what does he feel very good about. He feels very good with the one

on one matchup of Alshon Jeffrey again against Bradberry. This is really well done, great execution, let's run it a big play, close to a thirty yard explosive play. And again the Alshon Jeffrey factor in the Eagles offense, and then you see great execution there from Carsons on both of those plays. Everybody on the same page. Eagles take an early lead in this game. Fran and Gregg outstanding work is always. You can check out the complete All

Twins your review tomorrow morning here on Philadelphia Eagles dot com. Ike, you actually made a point. We were watching it during the game in the last couple of minutes that Alston Jeffrey didn't get credit for yards for that past interference flag that he drew. I would end up being the Eagles final offensive driver of the game. But the Panthers

cornerback James Bradberry actually made the game saving play there. Yeah, and smart played by James Bradberry there, because the coach would teach you that if you get beat like he was beating, and believe me, that was a touchdown had he not grabbed al Sean. But he did the right thing by grabbing al Sean. You take the passive deference. It's an obvious call, but it gives your defense the

opportunity to play defense again. You know, the touchdown there gives the Eagles the lead and quite possibly game is over with at that point. Bradberry did what most defensive coordinators will teach you to do, which is, if you get beat like that, grab him, pull him down, we'll take the flag. We'll live to fight another day. And that's exactly what Carolina was able to do because that

play was wide open. It was a great play call to go deep on the first play called the Panthers defense by surprise Alshean was wide open on the play, but Brad Burry did he He made the smart play by drawing a penalty there and given the Panthers the opportunity to go play defense again. I guess we're getting

reaction from the locker room. We're gonna have it for you on the site in just a little bit as well as our app Fletcher Cox calling this the worst loss of his career, and there's really no other one that would come to mind that would even fit the bill outside of maybe the Saints playoff loss, you know, back in the twenty thirteen season. So as one of the leaders on his defense, he's a captain for the

first time for this defense. It's gonna be come upon players like him, who are already playing out standing football to take their game almost to another level. And it's gonna be tough for Fletcher because you know, no descritch to the other defensive tackles, but you don't have destiny and don't have a load nod. Trey Von Hester was actually my unsung hero because of the ability of the defensive line to get pastor on Cam Newton early in

the game. But still it seems like there's a lot of fletcher shoulders, but still he has to do almost more now as the leader to help get the defense back on track after this difficult loss. Now, I'll completely agree, and Fletcher has had his hands full from a leadership standpoint already this year, just trying to keep that position

room together. Right. They're missing a lot of guys there, guys banged up in that defensive line room, and Fletcher's had to really be the one holding down the fort and there he and Michael Bennett outstanding Michael Bennett over the last month. Man, he's been playing great. But like you said, with Fletcher, he can never leave the field. He's out there pretty much the whole game. It's only what three of those guys, so they're missing a lot

of guys. He can't come out the field. But you know what, when you get that sea on your chest, man, a lot of responsibility comes with that, and I'm sure Fletcher is more than capable of shouldering that load and

the role of being the leader on his team. And it may take him a day right here, twenty four hours to let this thing get get it out your system, But when they come back to work tomorrow Tuesday, they you know, it's gonna be important for him that he has the right mindset that he shows these guys from the work that he's putting in and how he takes to the practice field in the meeting rooms to prepare for Jacksonville. They'll follow his lead because his play demands

you follow his lead. And he's got to pick himself up and and just be that guy for the rest of these young guys in that room. He and Michael Bennett and along with Chris Long, Brandon Graham, they're gonna have to do it. And it's a part of being a leader on the team, man. And when times are tough like this, you know, you really find out what type of guys you got in the foxhole with you. It's all gravy when you're on a nine game winning streak and you're playing in the Super Bowl and everybody

is patting you on the back. But these are the times that you find out what everyone is made of the tough times. And so I know what we got in number ninety one. I'm not concerned about him at all, And he'll show up to work tomorrow ready to go being a great leader and an example for the rest of these guys. On the defense. The key for coach Peterson during the week leading up to the travel to

London is to try to keep things as same as possible. Okay, you're gonna have that disruption, and again I mentioned it earlier. It could be a galvanizing force, having something different than you would normally be accustomed to in a week after a loss. But still they're gonna try to keep things as the same and as routine as possible before they

have to make that trip overseas to London. Speaking of the London game, we're going to preview it after this our final break here on the postgame show presented by Rico. You know, you have the power to choose your energy provider. When you pick energy, you can choose from a number of plans with benefits and rewards to fit any lifestyle.

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I want to go home. When you and your money are treated with respect, your prosper and at fontan De Bank, respect adds up. Eagles High School Football Showdown, presented by the Rothman Institute at Jefferson Help celebrates local high school football coaches and their teams. Visit Philadelphia Eagles dot com Slash Showdown to check out this year's coaches and learn more about the program. 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 cash your vote and get a chance at a brand new Toyota. So we're gonna kick things off here with defensive lineman. I want to just say defensive end, but defensive lineman might he slides insides with Jerry Pressure, moving both right side, left side of the line of scrimmage. There another great effort. Had a key sack early on in the game, which helped, I think put the Panthers

out of scoring rain. They're, you know, a force around the ball. Three sacks and less four contests. He's really up to his game, and he has been providing a quality, dependable force, consistent force from a password standpoint, you know, along with Fletcher Cocks, they're upfront. Yeah, he really has played real well man um the last month. He seems

to be in the backfield. You notice him every game, and this is why they traded for him, This is why they brought him here because he's gonna add something to that pass rush and we need him. We need him to play d tackle. We needing to play defensive man. We needing to get some bigger shoulder pass But that is for another day. But he's he's around the quarterback all the time and m glad he's here, man, and I expect him to get stronger as the season goes on.

I think the rotation upfront is helping him stay fresh Layton games. So yeah, real, real happy with the way Michael Bennett has been playing all right up next the tight end himself, zach Ertz. I mean, look at these numbers. Eleven targets, nine receptions, almost another double digit receiving effort

from today, one hundred and thirty eight yards. I mean, he's been the go to guy, it seemed like every time until the end of the game that they needed a third down conversion, zach Ertz was the guy, and it was interesting in Carson Wentz's press conference where on that pass that was nearly intercepted by Eric Reid on the final offensive drive, Carson said there was a miscommunication

between he and zach Ertz that like never happens. It's absolute shocking, but still another outstanding afternoon by number eighty six, especially from a Carolina team that has very talented linebackers. We have Keith Lee, Thomas Davis, and also they got burned by Jordan Reid, the Washington tighten a week ago. You knew they were going to focus on trying to take out Number eighty six and maybe make Dallas Goddard

beat him instead. But still zach finds a way week in a week out to be a dependable force for his offense as a top three tight end in this league. Would Grock and Travis Kelcey. We we need to start elevating the conversation too. He should be number one. That's the point I was about the main Sorry, he's making the argument for being the best tight end in football. He really is when you look at how much he's relied upon in this offense, the consistency weekend and week out.

Guy never drops the pass um man. I think there is a legitimate argument for who's the best tight end in football, and I know it's between those three, And like you just said, it's gonna start being a lot more calls for zach Ertz as the best tight end in football. I actually forgot about this, you know, in the aftermath of how the game transpired. But remember Eric Reid's dirty hit on Carson Wentz early in the game. Yes, where Carson Wentz handed the ball off. It was clear

as day. It wasn't an RPO, wasn't a play action, you know, fake, He handed the ball off, and Eric Reed just sacked Carson Wentz anyway, tackle them, brought him to the ground. Zach Ertz went and pushed in, you know, and gave Eric read a little bit of the business. Okay, that's what you want to see, zach standing up for his quarterback, not just from catching the ball, while also defending him in such situations. Yeah, I'm gonna go out on a limb here and just say zach Ertz will

hold just about every receiving record here. I didn't say tight end. I said, every receiving record here by the time he leaves. Well, if that's two for a second, and that's I mean, I figured you were going tight end and he's gonna have all those They didn't have tight end records with no problem. Yeah, we better be looking at receiving. Yeah, because think about the amount of catches he makes every game. Yeah, I mean most receivers

don't get eight, nine, ten catches and game game. And as long as he's playing with number eleven, man, they're gonna put up a lot of numbers together. Well, the one guy who is taking away from that share number seventeen, al Sean Jeffrey seven catches eighty eight yards. You know, we broke down his two of his big plays in the RICO review. We also drew the passenger of feerance flight that got the Eagles in scoring position on a

final drive. I mean, you also forget about the fourth down grab they toe tapped along the sideline of brilliant cats. It's every time the ball is coming as way, you're just waiting for that wild moment to happen. And uh, we saw from the RICO review the great route that he ran. And you said you saw this up from the press box when you were watching the game in the first half. The route that he ran to get open on the touchdown, knowing that he had the one

on one match up there against Brad Barry. This dude never, i should say, rarely ever drops the ball. If it hits his hands, he's typically going to catch it. And I think about the said ten targets, so it must have been three that they didn't connect on. I think all three of them had defenders in front of al Sean to where he didn't even get a chance to get his hand on the ball. So he typically catches everything he touches. I think he's he's been fantastic since

he returned. Man, you got him for what nine more games? And the nine more games I believe man, I could see a thousand yards season coming from al Shan Jeffrey. All right, So those are the Toyota Player of the Week nominee. So as we transition toward what's ahead for the Eagles again, an historic trip coming up. First ever international regular season game taking place next Sunday in London against the Jacksonville Jaguars. And it was a game that

you know, when the schedule first came out. You said to yourself, you know, Carson Wentz going against the top flight defense, all those weapons on the defensive side of the ball for the Jags. The Jags come off a season where they arguably could have been should have been in the Super Bowl in the fourth quarter, indeed surrender to lead to New England. Who England got to the

championship game, and of course the Eagles won. But nonetheless, you know Jacksonville looking with you know, Blake Borrel selling in its quarterback. They have Letting Fournett coming back in the second season. They figured they had the formula to get back there, and they thought they were over the hump because they knocked off the Patriots. They dominated the Patriots and it looked great offensively. Borreals distribing the ball to a number of weapons seemed like the Patriots didn't

have an answer. You said to yourself, all right, this Jacksonville team is for real. They're going to be in that conversation. Since that game, the wheels have fallen off, and today they lost to the Houston Texans by a score of twenty to seven. So sort of like the NFC East, the AFC South is wide opening up for grabs. I believe the Texans actually lead the division now with the win today. Four straight wins for the Houston Texas.

I think they started off three. So they're four and three now and they lead the division with Jacksonville three and four. With Tennessee losing today, going to three and four. The Eagles in the NFC East, Washington is playing Dallas right now. I don't have this scoring update. We last saw seven nothing in Washington. Is still seven nothing in Washington. So if they win, it's going to be a four

and two record for them. So both these teams trying to keep pace in the division, both not having the starts that they envisioned, you know, coming off great twenty seventeen seasons, A lots on a lot and for Jacksonville, this is their home way from home. They travel on and they go through this routine every single season. It's gonna be the first time for the Eagles. So a lot of interesting matchups and you throw in the travel

on top of it. Is such a huge week for the Eagles and you feel like you're saying this each every week now with these games. But when you blow a seventeen nothing lead like you do today, when you blow a seventeen three lead like you did to Tennessee a couple weeks ago, that makes that margin for error that much smaller. Where you gotta capitalize on these games, which are going to be the standout, tough games on

the schedule. Yeah, and this is a team that they have a lot of internal issues, right Blake Bortle's bench today, Cody Kessler, he was brought in and having to back up. I don't know who's gonna start next week, whether they're gonna have Blake Bortles start next week or whether or not they're gonna have Cody Kessler start. But if it is Cody Kessler, they may start him just to try to jump start this Jacksonville offense right now. When you get a situation like they have in Jacksonville as a

lot of finger pointing. The defense is looking at the offense saying, man, you guys can't put any points on the board. The offense is looking at the defense saying, well, we need you to get turnovers for us, get us some short fields. So I'm pretty sure there's a lot

of finger point going on in that locker room. And sometimes when you have that going on and the team decides to go with the backup quarterback, that can sometimes galvanize the locker room and the defense could sort of rally behind the new guy being in there playing quarterback. So I wouldn't be surprised if the Jags decided to go with Cody Kessler next week just to try to give their team a little bit of a spark. And the Eagles need to be careful of that because it's

very little film on Cody Kessler. You're gonna be playing against a team that seemingly has nothing to lose once you go to the backup quarterback trying to salvage their season. And if you looked at some of those numbers from the Texans game, Texans offense didn't do a whole lot. They ran the ball well, but Deshaun Watson with guys like Will Fuller and DeAndre Hawkins, were still only He was still only able to throw for one hundred and forty yards. So that lets you know one hundred and

thirty one yards. That lets you know that Jags defense from a passing standpoint, it's still tough to throw on. And the reason why I bring that up is because we're a throwing team. We don't necessarily have a running game that we're gonna just say we're gonna go in and feed the running backs the ball the whole game. No, we moved the ball by throwing it. And so going up against that Jags defense, Jalen Ramsey, aj Bouyer, those guys, Clais Campbell, yeah, class Campbell up front. Yes, so we're

gonna this game. There's weapons, yeah, you know, so this game will be a game of field position. Who can take care of the football the best? All right, So you know, whichever these teams can sort of put behind what has happened this week and get focused on next next week the quickest, I think that'll be the team that comes out victorious. Nixt Which team is more calvinis you mentioned gallanis when it comes to the Jaguars, what's

going to the backup quarterback? You could say? With the Eagles and how they respond to this loss, that's that's what's gonna be happening. Yeah, it's a crossroad situation for both teams. So let's take a look at the standings again. Washington and Dallas. They're battling right now. So Washington, if they win, they're up seven to nothing. They would be four and two in the division. Cowboys would drop to three and four with the Eagles. Interesting interesting note here

is the Eagles will have to buy after Jacksonville. Then they host the Cowboys on Sunday Night Football at prime time, matchup to kick off the second half of the season. And of course the Giants are down there at one in five. So the NFC East is still up for grabs. But again the margin for error each and every week is getting smaller and smaller. So as we look at the upcoming games again London Jacksonville for this coming week.

Here you get the bye week and then you know, right there it's Dallas obviously very difficult tests to go on the road against New Orleans and then you have the Giants at home. So it's really important that they come out and get the win this week. You really you can't look and say, well, they got the Saints, they got the Giants, they got they got the Rams in the future. You know a number of other tough games on the schedule. It's such a week to week league. Yeah,

we got business. Just take care of it because right ahead of ye before you can even think about anything else there. So how so all the years you've been here, Like, Okay, you've got your show tomorrow, Marks the Reese two pm tomorrow afternoon Sports railp You played here for a number of years, You've been on the air for a number

of years. What do you think the temperature is gonna be, especially especially for what this fan base is experiencing this year, coming off of winning a Super Bowl, where it is it is viewing and perceiving the season in a different mindset. Yeah, you know, tomorrow will be a day that I believe the outrage level will be at as high as that

has been in some time. Right, I mean, you lose a game like this after being up seventeen nothing in the fourth quarter, not just being up seventeen and nothing, but completely dominating the Carolina Panthers from a defensive standpoint, I mean Carolina's offense couldn't move at all. So I would imagine this loss probably has hurt more than any loss in recent memory that I could think of for these fans, because this is the law square they're sending themselves.

Wait a minute, we were celebrating not too long ago as if the game was over. Because fans, that's what fans do. You go up seventeen nothing and you look the way you've looked against that team. Fans are celebrating as if the games but they don't play. So when you look up and you turn around and you look up and you see hold On, we blew a seventeen point leading a fourth quarter, and lass, I guarantee you people right now are highly upset. It's going to carry

over into tomorrow on all the shows. As a matter of fact, I think this will last for a few days this because we don't have another game right until next Sunday, and so fans will be caught between the anger and frustration of losing the game in this fashion and also trying to reconcile with what's the rest of the season going to be? Like, should we just go ahead and just cancel any type of postseason plans? Should I even build myself up to even think this team

has a chance to go deep into the postseason? And that's what fans do, right, So fans will say, well, I want to I want to invest emotionally as much moving forward because I've already predetermined what the end result is gonna be. So you're gonna have a lot of fans wrestling with that because no one is ready to give up on a season right now, nor should they be. But when you're having games like this, it doesn't leave a lot of hope for fans, and you know how

fans are man this thing. It'll flit back now once the Eagles get a w but for the next couple of days it's the roller coach of nature. That's another reason why you want the Eels to win today, to get themselves on a roll. So you could go to Jacksonville. If you could come out with that when you go into the byre feeling great and then the Cowboys will be coming to your house off the By, life would

be great. But that's not the situation. So the Eels have to focus on getting back to business, getting back to work and finding a way to get a win in London this week. So head coach Doug Pearson, he'll address the media at noon on Monday. We will carry that for your life and we'll have complete cover from this game throughout the evening here on Philadelphia Eagles dot Com, our app, and our social media channels. Frank Greece and

everyone here at the Philadelphia Eagles, I'm Chris McPherson. You've been watching the postgame show presented by Rico. Try to have a good night, Eagles fans,