Post-Game Show: Eagles Shut Out In Cleveland

until the regular season opener on September six. For me, I think the biggest thing is the offense, especially because that's gonna be the focal point of everyone's discussion tonight. Is when you get back in practice over the next two weeks, you're gonna get Jason Piers back and left tackle hopefully, you're getting Alshon Jeffrey back on the field, Darren's roles be working in there. You're gonna have the entire unit together, and Nick Foles had his struggles tonight,

no questions whatsoever. But this actually makes me think back to the end of the regular season just a year ago, and the Eagles are coming off that victory over the Raiders on Christmas Night, which wasn't so pretty, and then the regular season finale against Dallas and they're getting ready for the postseason and a lot of people were debating should Nick Foles even be the starting quarterback going into the playoffs. Well, remember the players rallied and said, we

need to rash it up the intensity of practice. We need to get our focus back together, we need to start hitting the players wanted to hit in practice, And I think that's what you're gonna see Doug Peterson. We will hear it from him in just a little bit in his press conference. And I'm intrigued by the comments that Aaron Andrews, a silent reporter, made coming out a

halftime as to Doug being angry. I'm sure he was, he was upset, but it'll be interesting because of what she said in terms of we don't need to see any more of Nick Foles. What was really meant by that? And Doug's gonna have to address that during his press conference because everyone was reporting about it and talking about

it on Twitter. But to me, Foles is a veteran We all know what he can do in this league, and certainly again, sloppy performance tonight, and you're hoping that he would get his feet wet last week against New England. He bounced back from the injury. All right, he goes out there, gets a week under his belt, is able to go out there and start with the offense and get a full half of action and put it in

a bear performance. And we didn't see it. After the turnover on downs there was the safety and then you have the four consecutive turnovers to end the first half. So you look at the numbers there, one hundred and twenty seven yards. Two interceptions, you know, one where he's not able to look off the safety, the other an egregious throat in the red zone. Not a great performance whatsoever by Nick Foles. But he's a veteran quarterback. If

he has to go in there. That's the other thing that's the cafe here is he may not be the guy who goes out there September six. You may Carson Wentz cleared for full contact by this point. We don't know. He's not at this point yet. But still, to me, I'm not alarmed because I know this offense can rally around and get things tight because it is a veteran lean team once that regular season opener comes around two

weeks from tonight. I yeah, when you look at this offense really the whole preseason, you gotta kind of break it down in different parts. Right. Obviously, they're missing a lot of key players at the skilled position. No al Sean Jeffrey, no Corey Clement to Night, no Nelson Aghalore, no Darren Sprows. We know that when those guys are in there, this offense is going to operate with much

more efficiency. But I mean, whether the report that Aaron Andrews put out there to halftime about Doug being upset about the first half performance of Nick Foles is accurate or not. I'll tell you my assessment of that. In the first half, I was irritated by it. And here's why, because Nick Foles is a veteran quarterback, and the interceptions that were thrown were really bad decisions being made. To throw the ball. You know, you gotta safety over the top.

You can't lob the ball up there. Mike Wallace didn't have a clear path to the football. That was a sitting duck. And then the one down in the red zone when the offense started to get some things rolling. You just can't make that throw there. You know, he's a smart player, and Nick knows that. I'm not concerned about Nick and what he's capable of doing. We all know what he's capable of doing. But you'll like to

see him make the right decisions with the football. We understand he's not playing with the A team out there at the scale position, so things can be a little harder, and that's where the onus falls on him as a a team type player. You know, super Bowl MVP. You got to make good decisions with the football, and I'm pretty sure that's what I have Doug upset about the performance in the first half. It's not so much about

how many points the team put on the board. It's just that when they got things going, they turned the ball over. They shot themselves in the foot. That's not what you want from an all fan saying it's not all on Nick. There other guys out there. You can't bumble the football out there. You know, Vitey struggled early against the former number one overall picking Miles Garrett. A lot of pressure coming off that edge, collapse in the pocket, not giving a quarterback time to step up in there,

and make throws. Doug is a former quarterback. He prides itself and how his offense operates, and through the preseason with the first units that's out there, they haven't put many points on the board. So I know as a coach, they always want things to come back and look at the video and have to teach these guys when they hit the practice field next week. So he's the perfectionist, but match that point. But just like you, he's not

gonna overreact and start panicking about his team. He has two weeks to get this team ready for the season opener against the Atlanta Falcons. They need to find tune, some things, sharpen up, get some cohesion going. You gotta get guys back on the practice field. I mean that's just or when Thursday night comes here against the Atlanta Falcons, you're gonna see the same sort of disjointed offense because

these guys haven't been out there. But there are a lot of other positive things to take out of this game. Young guys stepped up. I thought played well to night. I thought Windell small small Wood ran the ball well tonight. I thought josh Ad ran the ball well when he got his opportunities DeAndre Carter continues to shine, made the

most of his opportunities and storyline. Yeah, there with these young guys, young players who you're looking for, deaf guys that are going to fill out the bottom of your roster. They showed some good things to night. And then if you go on the other side of the football, to defense, the defense did what they were supposed to do tonight, which is shut down. Really an end up Cleveland Brown offense. Not really many weapons on that side of the ball.

What the defense was able to do this, especially the veterans along the defensive line. Okay, you're seeing Fletcher Cox, who you know during the sideline report at the end of the game, Jim schwartzaging looks faster than ever before. And Fletcher Cox has been flat out dominant this preseason. You can argue he's been the best player on the field for the Philadelphia Eagles. You know, Brandon Brooks, Lane Johns have had good preseason, but Fletcher Cox standing out

easily amongst all the defensive players. But Chris Law, you know, you're seeing the tackles for a loss. You've seen the pressures in the backfield tonight. Heloi Noda stepping up in a big way. Michael Bennett has made some plays there in the backfield. So you feel real good about the defensive line, which certainly the depth of that defensive line

is would carry this team last year. And you've brought in some new players, and you've brought in some older aging veterans, not in Bennett, and you want to know what do they still have in the tech And you understand, again it's preseason and you don't need to see a ton of them from them at this point because you know their resumes showcase the experience that they have in this league and the success they've had individually. But they want to come back and be a part of a

championship team and certainly they did that tonight. Seeing them out there on the field being able to pressure and as Doug Pearson said in the week leading up to the game, he wanted to see his team in some situational football predicaments. Tonight we saw them at the one yard line, the goal line situation. They forced a couple incomplete passes as the Browns were trying to get some

rub routes go and didn't work whatsoever. Jim Schwartz Corey online, they work on that, and they hammered that into the defensive backs pretty much each and every day in practice. They have certain drills where they focus on that. So it's not surprised that Eagles were successful there. But then on fourth down they forced Tyrod Taylor to come out who has left. He throws an Aaron pass at Jordan Hicks almost air steps and you see the Eagles get

the goal line stand there. So defensively, you feel very very good. And then the death along the defensive line, some of the young guys, you know, Joe Osman stepping up in a big way. Destiny Vile get in the backfield. So that's gonna be the key for this defensive line is you know that you have some of those older guys along the defensive line. Can you infuse some youth there. Josh Sweat had a nice pop on a tackle for loss tonight. You know, those are the types of guys

who are going to stand up. Stephen Means is always around the football and is relentless. Can those guys help ease the burden so that Fletcher Cox and all those guys can be at their freshest at the end of the regular season to make that run into the playoffs. And not only that, Chris, you gotta think about it.

You know, when the offense has yet to find their rhythm because you don't have guys on the practice field, you're gonna need your defense to really carry the load for your early You know, you gotta take a little pressure off the offense to not have them have to put up, you know, twenty eight thirty points a game. This defense pride itself, especially playing at home, holding teams

the field goals as opposed to touchdowns. So that's certainly a good sign coming out of this game, is that the defense, at least that first year and it really the whole team tonight, I really get into a lockdown mode. Jim Schwartz has his guys flying around the football. Vante Dave, I mean Avonte Maddox tonight with his first interception, nice played by him. That's what you want to see. You want to see at least one side of your team

starting a round into regular season. For one, thing that bothered me about the telecast as well, and I don't know how you felt about this if you got to hear this, but Troy Akman in the broadcast booth was talking about how Doug Pierson and Nick Foles went on their book tours and enjoyed the fruits of winning the Super Bowl. To me, has nothing to do with what we're seeing on the field right now. You know, Doug Pierson is focused and we'll have this team ready for

September six. You know that Nick Foles, with everything that he's been through in his career, he's not gonna slide whatsoever at this moment. Okay, we've had a couple ugly not some great preseason performance here, but again, this has happened to Nick in the past where he's bounced back in a big way. Again, we just go back to last year and those performances at the end of the regular season against the Raiders against the Cowboys, and look,

they weren't great performances. They got the win over the Raiders on Christmas Night. You only saw a little bit of Folds in the Cowboys game because it was the regular season finale and didn't mean anything in terms of the playoffs seating. But he was good to go once the playoffs were underway and had a playoff run for the Asian helping the Eagles win the Super Bowl. But to me, he's turned to pass. This entire team has turned a page on what happened in that Super Bowl run.

They're ready to get things going on September six, and we see the defense playing at a high level. The offense might just take a little bit longer because again, you don't have, like you said, like all of the pieces there together for pretty much all of the preseason at one time. Yeah, we saw what this offense can do when you have all your components together and clicking at the same time. This offense led the league in scorn while they the prezom MVP was still healthy and

ready to go. So I'm not concerned about that. I think sometimes we as fans, we think that this team or teams can automatically pick up where they left off at the end of the season. It was a short offseason for these guys. I'm not making any excuses for them, but they're in a position they've never been in before as defending champions, and whether it's the preseason or the regular season, they had better get used to their opponents

giving them their best. They are the standard barrier. Now you are defending champions, You're the team to circle on everyone's calendar when you come to town. They want to see how they stack up against you. Even in the preseason game you saw last week against the Patriots, how they gain planned for that game last week. The Browns tonight wanted to come out and have a good show. And it's a nationally televised game, Yeah, you know the show.

They wanted to see how they look going up against the Super Bowl champions, even if it's not the full complimentary squad that that's going to be there September six. So, like I said, Nick foleson been in this league long enough. He was actually thirteen to seventeen tonight, so his accuracy was there. It was just the two decisions he decided

to make by putting the ball in harm's way. And I'm pretty sure he doesn't need to be reminded of it, but I'm sure Doug that's something Doug and Mike Row will talk with him about about, you know, going to protect the football, especially when you're down in that red zone and you basically had three points guarantee for you on the board. You don't put the ball in harms way.

Nick knows this, and I'm pretty sure a couple throws he wishes he could have back you probably a great point earlier in that the young guys on offense because of all these injuries, got a chance to step up and shine and try to earn their way onto this Eagle's roster. And we talked about Wendell Smallwood in that bout for the fourth running back spot. Wendell Smallwood has been healthy this entire preseason. He's been the one guy

the offense can rely upon. Injuries have hurt him and hampered him in the past, but you saw him catch the ball well in the backfield. Because it's not just can you run the ball in between the tackles, and we saw that last week with Matt Jones. It's a matter of can you pass protect can you help out in the passing game so that your versatile and can be available and ready to go on all three downs.

I thought Wendell's Smallwood show that. I also thought he did a good job of taking the yards that were blocked for him, but creating some yard for himself, especially on that one ten yard run that was inside the red zone in the first half there and Josh Adams, I thought he'd provide a little juice there coming out of backfield, caught the ball well, so he missed last week's game with an injury. Bounced back in the big way. But DeAndre Carter one of the truly special stories on

this Eagles roster. A former rookie free agent back in twenty fifteen, now Sacramento State that he's playing on his fifth NFL team, has not played in an NFL regular season game. Basically, he made a promise to his brother on his deathbed, his brother's deathbed, that he would continue pursuing his NFL dream and keep fighting until he made his way onto a team and got a chance of hand Pump returned to early game, you know, showed some

juice when he caught the ball in space. You know, had some nice catches as well using the hands OVERAWE thought he contribute a lot to the table to at here to try and force its way onto the roster. You pretty much feel like you're pretty set right now with Alshon, Jeffrey Nelson, Aglore, Mike Wallace, Matt con to Shelton Gibson, who's continuing his strong preseason from number five, Can you keep a sixth one? I don't know, it might be difficult, but you know, certainly Deander Carter is

making a strong case where if you can do so. Yeah, And you know, a big part of preseason is trying to evaluate young players and seeing not only if they can help you as far as depth at the bottom of your roster, but are they worth keeping around to develop, right, whether they become practice squad guys or not. And I think Carter has certainly put himself in a position, if nothing else, to remain with this team, at least from a developmental standpoint. And that's what you like to see.

You'd like to see young guys get the opportunity and then take advantage of it. He's done that really throughout the preseason when they've thrown into football. Don't call many drops from him, if any at all. Typically catches the ball like his buildings, looked like a strong runner once he gets the ball in his hands, not afraid to go up and make plays uh in one on one situations. Uh. Just you know, the wide receiver group is so deep, it's just going to be difficult to crack uh that

fifty three man spot. But listen, you never know. Injuries happen, things that nature. He can't control. That only thing he can control is when his opportunities arise, he needs to take advantage of them, and he's been able to do that throughout the preseason. All Right, we are gonna set it down to first artist him to hear from the head coach, Doug Pearson, take it away, shoot ahead, let's

go do it. Not not Nick. Offensively, we had six possessions, we had two interceptions, two fumbles, we had a sack safety, and we had a turnover run down. So that's an offensive performer. So I was displeased with way our first offense executed ahead that. Yeah, you know, that's the things. We were able to move the ball and got into some rhythm and uh, uh did something did some really

nice things. We just didn't capitalize and finish the drive and and and that's the part we got to look at and and uh, you know, I've got to do obviously my part to to put us in situations from a play caller standpoint, so I it leans, you know, solely on me, and uh and obviously the players have to execute you know what we what we call being an address rehearsal. Disappointing the offense disappointing. It was just a preseason and things to turn around. Um, First of all,

I'm disappointed in the offense. I don't want to single out one one player, so don't put this all on Nick. I'm disappointed in the offense. UM. And that's not what you want obviously in the third preseason week. UM, you know, listen, it's it's one of those things where we're still keeping things very very vanilla. We still want to evaluate and make sure you know we're doing Uh. We got the

right guys in the right spots. But you know, now now we turn our attention obviously we've got one more preseason game and then and then turn our attention to to Atlanta on a week one homers by the defense, especially adding that the first goal at the one and they shut it down. It's tremendous defense played out standing.

You know, they were they were they were fine around, they were making plays that the goal line stand was was was pretty impressive, and you know that's what you want from the defense and kept you know, kept the offense obviously in the game the entire the entire game. Uh, and the offense has just got to do their part,

you know, and then capitalize on on opportunities. It seems you're missing five other starters, three other contributors there how much different inspectives offense, And I think it'll be different, you know, just as you mentioned, Um, you know, and and we just got to make sure that these guys are all ready to go obviously, you know, in a couple of weeks, and and I will take a look at this film obviously evaluate the guys that played, and uh, and you get them healthy and ready for fur lament

things you need. Um, It's it could be a lot of factors. You know, it's hard to pinpoint one. But I think, uh, you know, I think, uh, sometimes maybe you just you just you put a little bit too much pressure on yourself or you pressed to make a play or whatever it might be. Um, you know, and and and I don't know, it's it's tough. It's tough.

I haven't been in those situations before. Um. Sometimes you you you feel like you need to make a play yourself when when you're struggling offensively and and and it doesn't come. So you know, we just we can't do that. We got to stick within our uh, stick within our plans, stick within our means, and continue to execute as a player. As a player, Yeah, you're very seldom worth a guy and he's kind of a little guy here you think of that, please don't how you know, I don't know.

I mean he you know, he finished the end of the season pretty well last year, and and uh you know, we know we know who he is and and and what we need to do to get him ready to go. And and again we're you know, we're still pretty vanilla offensively and we haven't done any of our urpo game and you know, those are all things that that are

that are part of his strengths too. And uh so, so we got to make sure that we're when we put game plans together going forward, that that that we're uti lives and his strength to its safe to assume you're not going to give any consideration to play in them in the fourth preseason game, correct, No, was there consideration that other coaches have done it? So yeah at this point though, was there consideration funding in the second game?

Um no, they you know, Uh no, no, I mean, you know I thought about it, and just a touch, but I thought this would be a great opportunity for Nate to get back out there and and and get another another good opportunity to see him and see said those twos out there. He's fine, Yeah, he's good. Of course, I'll get to get a report here in a minute and let y'all know in the next couple of days. But he came off and you know, he finished, and

he was fine. When you've been through something like Nick has and the way lest year end of like you reference is there, it's part of him trying to be you know, great before we can just kind of go run the offense, just trying to be super well VP Nick instead of just yeah, you know, I don't know. I mean, you know, I would say that you might

want to ask him, you know that question. Um. But but again, you know, we just got to make sure that that as coaches and and myself included as play callers, that that we put our guys in in in positions to be successful. And uh, you know, the past is the past, and we can't we can't rely on that. It's a new season, new team, and and uh, you know, we just got to continue to work and get better.

Sometimes are kiss off are you vocalizing? And he disappointment in your error trying to kind of well, I mean, you know, when you don't score and and you play the way you play on offense, it's uh and up being an offensive guy. Uh, you know, I'm not I'm not very jovial jovial in there, you know. I mean I'm not pattent guys on the back, you know. Praise

the defense. I think the defense played played lights out, played like they should, you know, And and offense just didn't do enough, obviously, and and uh, you know they understand it. And I wanted to make sure they they heard it from me. And and we just move on, you know, we fix it and move on. And uh, season begins in a couple of weeks. Most of the starters obviously not going to play that season. Interesting like

this doesn't linger into the regular season. Well, um, you know, the way the schedule is set up now for us, practice wise, we get a chance to, um, still work the starters a lot, you know, this next couple of days and and uh, you know, get them mentally and physically prepared for that for that week one opener. And you know, still still got to work, you know, still

got to put in the hard work in preparation. And uh, you know they understand that, they know that it's a veteran group, and and uh, they'll they'll they'll bounce back though, they'll respond They've always done that and and this is no difference. What did you see from by tie and what's he was working through to try to get back

to that level he was playing at last year. I mean he's you know, he's another one's battling every single snap and you know, fighting and and uh trying to do trying to work his technique and his fundamentals and and uh, you know, had had a couple of plays

tonight that I'm sure he'd want back. But you know, he's another one that we just got to continue to you know, build confidence in and we know what type of player he is, and um, you know got to continue to uh you know, get him the reps and the work he needs in practice to be to be ready to go. As Asa played four possitions tonight. What you think the play? Um, well, I thought I thought

he played played well. Actually, will you know, value the tape, evaluate the tape obviously, you know, going home and get a chance to look at it. But you know, he's one of those guys that very versus you know, can play all all five positions and and smart athletic. I thought overall, did it didn't? Nice job? Okay, thank you guys. We gotta go. All right, there's head coach Doug Pearson addressing the media at First Energy Steam in Cleveland. Don't put this all on Nick. That's the main thing here

is it's not just one person. It was the entire offense that broke down here this evening and why the Eagles were shut out, are not able to score any points in the five nothing lost to the Browns. Like yeah, I thought Doug explained it exactly like we thought he would. I mean, Doug is a guy, he's looking at the

entire offense. It's never just one guy. Whether a quarterback is being ineffective or the offensive line is not blocking well in the running game, it's a it's an entire offense, offense is working, saying they work in unison and sometimes you can have breakdowns at different levels of the offense. But but just focusing on that side of the football, I thought Doug was able to really explain exactly how

a lot of us felt that. You know, they moved the ball at times, and when you get in scoring position, you got to take advantage of those opportunities. That's really what a coach wants to see, and Doug being a particular offensive side of the football coach, they want to see you finish drives, you get down there in that scoring area. Whether it's they'd love to have to touchdowns, that's exactly what they would prefer. But you got at least come out of there with three points, and the

offense moved the ball at times. They actually outgained the Cleveland Browns the night. They just couldn't get anything inside the end zone. Wish that touchdown passed to Rashaan Davis. He could have got his tony toe tap on there and kept his feeding bounds. That would have been a touchdown for the guys tonight. But I've been in games like this where listen, the coach doesn't have to say a whole lot. You know, when you see a zero on the board, the players know, the players know, and

particularly on the offensive side of the ball. I'm sure they realized they could have done some things a lot better to night, and they've been better than the was two games for whatever reason. To night, they just did get the job done. Here's where I want your Inside Night poll pool of body by tie Okay. Third season in the league as a rookie, came on. We had that difficult matchup against Ryan Karagin, gave up i think the three sacks, especially to start the game, and you know,

rough outing stars career, but settled down after that. Last season, came off the bench and was a key contributor for the Eagles win the Super Bowl, starting a left tackle taken over after Jason Pierce went down, and Peters was having an all pro type season in my estimation at

the time of the injury against Washington this preseason. You know, last week, you get talking up to a bad outing struggles against the Patriots, gives up a couple of sacks, including the one by Adrian Claiborne which knocked Nick Foles out of the game. So you figure, okay, he gets his mind sight right, he's focused, he's harnessing in on this game, and all of a sudden, Miles Garrett, you know, wins the battles majority of the upfront against him tonight.

So back to back struggling performances for Viti. What can someone who he was had success in the league too, to get himself to bounce back and you know, get things on track. Knowing that he's gonna be the swing tackle for this team. He could be relied upon at some point in the season, whether it's for a couple of players, a couple of series, or a few games. He's got to keep working his craft and his technique. You gotta get with coach Stalin if you need extra

work out to practice. Coach Stalin is an outstanding coach. You know he'll be there to continue to coach him hard. You know you're going up against the former number one overall pick. You know, and after he watched on film what happened with Adrian Claiborne last week, you had to know Males Garrett was due stuff for this game at night. He was ready to go, and early in the game

they didn't give Votype much help over there. He had to block him one on one, and Males Garrett won that matchup, and quite frankly, Males Garrett should win that matchup if it's one on one. You're talking about the number one overall pick in the draft going up against what the fifth round draft pick Voty was. So while Votey suddenly did a nice job filling in for Jason Peters when he finally got his feet under him, part of that was team blocking as well. All right, we're

gonna send it back to Cleveland or a quarterback. Nick Foles is set to address the media. I'm just making you know, there's times where I feel good and I'm making some mistakes. Um. It's as simple as that. You know, I just gotta keep being critical myself, keep watching the film, understand what's going on. Um. And you know, just I has to keep playing, keep going through it. Um. Obviously I haven't been myself UM, and I expect a lot of myself. But you know, I gotta keep looking at

keep learning. I've played this game a long time, so I know how to you know, address this and just keep moving forward, um and keeping that positive outlook. Do you know I'm just making mistakes. I don't. I have to go look at the film. UM. You know, for me, it's just getting back into rhythm, UM playing ball. We had a opportunity to win the day. That's on me. UM. I made too man mistakes at critical times that hurt us as a team. So if I, you know, I clean that up, we win this game. But I thought

the Browns, you know, they played really hard. Um that you know they're improving that team. You can tell how they're around and what they're doing. Um, you know they played real well obviously, Um, but yeah, I gotta you know, continue to keep working. Don't look to clean pocket, you know. I mean, that's that's football. I have to do a better job of stepping into the pocket, moving around, protecting the ball in the pocket. Um, that's all me helping

those guys out. They fight for me every single down. So um, that's where you know, the field of the game, the rhythm of the game. Just continue to work the pocket. I mean, the pocket is not always You're gonna have to work here a little bit, and I need to do a better job of that. What happens in the next two weeks to make everything to come together, you know what, sort of take a breath. I go see my daughter, I see my wife. I do it. I always do, because this game sometimes can sort of you

sort of get it and trapped in it. And that's that's part of it. Um. But for me right now, you know, that's the most important thing I'll do. And then I'll go back to the film. I'll go back to work. I'll be critical, and I'll keep working day in and day out with these guys, the guys in the locker room to to improve and fix what's going on. I mean, that's the challenge of sports is facing adversity, and you know we're facing the adversity in the preseason

right now. We're trying to you know, figure out our DNA on offense and doing that. But you know, I have all the confidence in the world and everyone. I have confidence in myself to continue to improve and you know that. That's the great thing about this team is you know we're going to continue to work together, lean on each other in this time, and we're going to be better for it. You do, do you feel like you guys can just stab your fingers in the offense

just get ball here after kind of? I don't think you can just snap your fingers. No. Um, that's where you know, we'll get back to work. We have a lot of work to do. Um. It's not going to be easy. But that's why we're here. That's why you

know we're part of this team. That's why we're in the NFL is we know that we know that we have to be critical of ourselves and we have to get back to work, get back to the basics and just sort of you know, play our kind of ball, and you know that's you know, moving the ball around, running the ball, throwing deep, throwing short screens, you know, just execution. We were we weren't clean on execution to night.

We haven't been as clean as we want to be on execution throughout the preseason and we know that, and so all the guys in the locker room, we're gonna get back to work like we always do and just continue this bond that we have. But was a message to the offensive that time. I mean, we just gotta pick it up. We know that. Um, he shouldn't have to say that, but you know, just that we have to pick it up. We have to clean it up, and we gotta put points on the board. We have

to help our defense out. They played lights out tonight and uh, you know they kept us in the game, so we have to do a better job of helping them out and putting points on the board. No, I don't. I know that this game is a process and that I've played this game my whole life, and I haven't always played great games. Um, there's times where, uh, these are the toughest ones where you just have to keep battling Um. It really shows you what you're made up

deep inside. UM. And I was gonna keep firing it no matter what I mean. I didn't want to throw any more picks, but I've been throwing them. I was gonna keep firing the ball. Um. You can't. You can't play with fear. Um. I didn't play as clean as I wanted to. But I know that, knowing me, knowing this team, that we're gonna learn from and move forward. Um. There's a lot of great stuff to learn from from this game. It's an emotional game. It's not fun playing

the way I did. I really hurt us tonight, but I know that I can improve, and I will improve. Maybe some of your best games to followed to me lose some of your worst games. I think that the games be first game after that Dallas game, and you're like, it's been a kind of a recurring to any idea why and how to kind of work through those those times. That's just you know, you play this game, You're gonna be analyzed. Everyone's gonna analyze your every move. Everyone's gonna

look for perfection. And we're not perfect people. I'm not a perfect player. I have not had a perfect game. Um, and I never will, but you know that's just sort of how it's gone. But I've learned a lot through those games. That's where I can lean on all those experiences, like I said, and you know, do what I did then and just continue to improve and you know, not be too hard on myself while being hard on myself, because you're too hard on yourself all the time, you're

gonna crumble. So, UM, I'm excited about getting back to work, working with the guys in its locker room. Um, I'm optimistic about it. I mean there's a lot of learning tonight. I mean I was learning in this preseason game playing like that. I mean I build a database of information that I can pull from now. Um. And it only happened in and a half, so how much you know what we had opportunities tonight to score and you know

we we made mistakes. Um, we hurt ourselves. Obviously, you want those guys to be healthy and be out there. But there's no reason we couldn't put points on the board tonight. You know, I made a you know, we had a turnover in the red zone. I threw a pick in the red zone. Um, you know, and then the other terms. That hurts us. Um, so we can't have that. We I mean, we can't expect to win with that many turnovers. We have to play a lot cleaner. Um.

I thought there's a lot of good stuff tonight. I mean we're gonna you know, obviously it was a tough game, but there's a lot of great stuff. I thought a lot of guys played well. Um, you know, we were able to move the ball on a couple of series and sort of get things going. And you know, we sort of show ourselves in the foot a couple of times. But I think that's where we're gonna look back and just improve and um be critical of ourselves in those moments.

As you know, you said you want to get back. What's your mind? I mean we get ready. I mean we get ready as a team. I do what I've always done. You prepare to play. Um. Obviously, you know there's a lot going on with this game in the last couple of weeks. But UM, you go, I go back, I study film, I do my prep week like I've done. I get the body right. Um, continue to bomb with the guys in the locker room and get ready to roll very soon to night. Yeah, I think DeAndre has

played really well. He's one of the guys that I thought played really well to night. Um, he's played well throughout the preseason. Um for a guy who's newer to the team, I think he does a lot of great things. He's got a wide range where he can catch from Um, he uses his hands well, one runs really good route. So I've been really impressed with how he's played. Yeah. Yeah, my foot sport of got caught and I was trying to get up, so that was unfortunate. Dog was saying

that the offense is pretty vanilla right now. I mean, when you go into these games, are just trying to work on your bass plays, your foundation plays are how do you kind of approached game playing line? Yeah, I mean preseason. Um, I mean we're still you know, we still plays right roll. Um, it's our job. It's my job to make sure that they're executed right. And um, you know I didn't do my job the last couple of weeks to make sure that, you know, we executed

the plays at our highest level. Um, that's something that is next week's I got to get rider rolls all right, thank you? All right, there's quarterback Nick Foles addressing the media at First Energy Statement in Cleveland. No excuses on his part, as the Eagles, of course, are not game playing for this time of year. Coach Peterson said a short time ago that you know, you're not seeing any of the RPOs from our offense at this point, and that's something that was very successful for Foals and the

Eagles in the playoffs last season. And of course this may be the last time we see falls in game action because two weeks from now, Carson Wentz could be under center for the Eagles if he's clear for full contact. And certainly I'm sure everyone's hoping that's the case, and Wentz is very optimistic that that will happen. But still, Foles has the right mindset where he'll go back to the drawing board, he'll learn a lot from tonight's game,

and he'll do what he needs to do. He'll be critical of himself and make sure that mentally physically he's ready if he's going to be the guy on September six. Listen, I'll go to battle with Nikki six any Sunday. I mean, that guy stands up there. He holds himself accountable. That's what a leader does. That's what a good quarterback does. He understands that he didn't play up to his expectations. He understands it starts with him. Doesn't make any excuses.

Love the way he addressed the media right there. Listen, he's sort of hard on himself, a little too hard on himself, But that's just the expectations that he has of himself. And if there's one thing we've learned about Nick Foles, you can never count this dude out. Man. He knows how to bounce back and get himself right. And like he said, he's been in this league long enough,

he's played in big games, he's had big performances. He'll be right if if he's the guy that has to go Opening night against the Atlanta Falcons, I have no concern. He has two weeks to get himself together. Indeed, so we've heard from coach Peterson, we've heard from quarterback Nick falls What we're gonna do now is take a quick

break here on the postgame show presented by Rico. Now, if you're following us on Facebook or Twitter, you're gonna need to come on over to Philadelphia Eagles dot com or the Eagles app to watch the rest of his show, we're gonna go position by position and analyze how this team is stacked heading into the regular season since we're not going to see the starters in that fourth preseason game, and later on we'll give you some storylines to follow

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All right, welcome back to the postgame show resented by Rico. Now we're gonna take a look at the Eagles roster. As again, you're not gonna see the starters in that fourth preseason game against the Jets. They're gonna be maybe a spot starter or two who has to line up just because of numbers. But overall, with the ninety man roster, you can rest most of the key guys for the evening and pretty much look at the deaf guys and sort out those final roster spots that you have to

figure out. But let's start with the quarterback position here, Ike, and through the preseason we've seen Nate Sudfeld made great strides here in his first preseason as an Eagle. Obviously Nick Folson struggled, and we haven't seen Carson Wentz. But if Carson Wentz is good to go for Week one against the Falcons, you feel like that he's going to pick up right where you left off last season, where his final throw was the record setting thirty third touchdown,

passed the most by an Eagle and franchise history. Well, to expect that, I think that would be put in unrealistic expectations on Carson. He hadn't played football in a live setting, what nine months, ten months almost, and so for him to step back on the field and live action for the first time, I think it would be unrealistic to expect that level will play right out the gate. But we know it's in there. It's just a matter of how long would it take for him to get

back to that. It's not as if he's gonna fall off the faces of earth. If he has to go out there and play, he certainly is good enough to be effective if he has to start that game, But I just will rather set the bar a little lower as far as what I would expect from him. This team is good enough that they don't necessarily have to put the offense on Carson's shoulders early if he does return.

He got a good running game. Once you get Jason back in there and left tackle, they're gonna be able to run the ball, They're gonna be able to protect him, lots of weapons around him. You got an easy back

into this thing. But I tell you whether though, with the way he's attacked as rehab this offseason, I guess none of us should be shocked if he does have that type of performance once he steps on the couple times we saw him in team drills early in training camp and he had some bodies around him, and I know people got nervous because you're like, we don't want

to see this right away. But you saw what you needed to from Carson, and that he was nimble who was able to maneuver the pocket, and it wasn't like he was hesitating or favoring the leg or anything along those lines. So from that standpoint, he's been good. That you talked about how he's attacked this rehab. You hear the stories from the other guys in the locker room about how just motivated he's been by wanting to help the Eagles get back to the super Bowl after missing

out and playing in the Big Game last season. So certainly Carson is up to the task and hopefully he will get the full go that he'll be will start in week one running back. Okay, you mentioned the weapons that Carson will have around him. Look, third preseason game dress rehearsal for the regular season, you don't have your number one back in Jgi, you don't have your top backup in Corey Clement, and you don't have Darren Sprowls out there on the field. So right there alone, you

feel good about having those three guys. And again went else small with Josh Adams doing a good job stepping up in that battle for that number four spot. But you know, one through three to top things off there, you feel good about the balance and versatility that they'll ring to the offense. Yeah, and how they compliment each other. You know, Jedgi, I'm pretty sure he's chopping at the bid to getting the opportunity to be sort of the

number one guy again. Like he was in Miami. We know he's in a contract year, so he's gonna run with Honger this year and a lot of fierce verocity when he's out there on the field. You're gonna love that. And then Corey Clement, you gotta know, great rookie year from him coming back this year. He wants to make sure he proves to everyone last year wasn't a fluke and you don't have that sort of sophomore slump. I'm

pretty sure he'll come back home re enjoyed. What he did in the passing game last year surprised a lot of people, and quite frankly, in the running back room, who's chopping at the bid to get back on the field more than Darren Sprows. Love Sprosy gonna get an opportunity to finish his career out on a high note, hopefully staying healthy all season long. I think we sort of missed that explosiveness from the running back position that we became accustomed to watching him do since he's become

a Philadelphia Eagle. I love the depth that we have there. And then you're going to get a fourth guy possibly that adds a little more depth to that running back room, so I think we're deep at that position as well. A bunch of guys with a lot of stuff to prove, playing with a little bit of a chip on their shoulder. That's always a good thing. Sproles. When he runs out in the practice field, you don't see a brace, it doesn't wear a brace, it doesn't look like he was

injured last season whatsoever. It's just truly remarkable going to wide receiver, similar situation to running back, where we haven't seen the top guys. Aliston Jeffrey has been sidelined all of camp after undergoing surgery to repair the rotarrior cuff that he injured in twenty seventeen and played pretty much the entire season played did play the entire season with it. Nelson Aghalore was thriving early in camp. I thought it was easily the team's most dominant receiver. Then he suffered

an injury and has been sidelined for the preseason. You know Mac Hollins again, he also had an injury, so he hasn't been out there as much. Mike Walls haven't seen too much of in the preseason games, but he has shined in practice and I think we'll bring that big play explosiveness to his offense. And then Shelton Gibson stepping up in a huge way, not just in the receiving game, but in the return game as well to

solidify his spot on the team. And again we saw DeAndre Carter and Nick Foles talked about Carter's presence tonight to possibly contend for a sixth spot at the wide receiver position. If I'm looking at any position on the offensive side of the ball, Chris that I have somewhat of, I guess a question mark about. It's not the depth, it's not the talent at the wide receiver position, but it's how will they sort of play together? Right? We had guys that fitting nice in their roles last year

with al Sean Tory and Nelson. We got Mike Wallace in there this year playing the roll of Tory Smith. We got some young guys that are trying to step up and contribute as well. The thing with receivers, as it pretenders to the passing game, chemistry is very important.

So with a lot of those guys being banged up and not in there during the preseason, you gotta make sure that they're able to get on the same page as quick as possible, because that can disrupt your passing game if you're talking about having Carson out there that first look, even if it's Nick, neither one of the quarterbacks have had a lot of work with the supposing receiving group that's gonna be there, no doubt in my mind, this group is going to look much different week five,

six seven into the season, once they've had a few weeks to work together and be healthy than what they look like earlier in the season. There's no question about the talents that's there. They just have to make sure the defined roles are defined and then they can get on the same page with the quarterbacks. You go to tight end, and I am as static about what Dallas Gottard has brought to the table thus far. Seems to

catch pretty much everything in his direction. Such a natural pass catcher as well, and he's done enough in the blocking game to earn respect from defenses in that regarded. So you don't have to win every ballot, but you have to be willing and certainly has been that. And zach Ertz looks like you know, talk about guys picking up for where they left off last season. It seems

like that's the case with zach Ertz. I just feel like that this twelve personal package can be so much more dynamic and the potential it's much greyer than it was even a year ago, when the biggest question, I think coming out of the early offseason was how are you going to replace Prince Zelk, How are you gonna replace Trey Burton. I feel like the Eagles have certainly done that bringing Dallas Goddard on board. They basically cloned

zach Ertz. I mean, that's basically what they did. It's like two zach ertz is out there on the field and that's a good thing. So Dallas Goddard is gonna benefit from all the attention that Zach sort of commands being a Pro Bowl tight end. And this young guy doesn't seem to be the stage doesn't seem to be too big for him. No, you know, we gotta do We gotta get rid of the stigma about small schools.

Got you got a top five quarterback easily from North Dakota State, and this kid from South Dakota State has looked awesome in the preseason. Great still from Howard Roseman Joe Douglas in the draft to move up and get Dallas Goddard in the second round. Can't wait to see him in the regular season. Once you get down in that D zone. Trey Burton was big for this team last year down in that rid zone, and I think Dallas Godard is gonna do a nice job filling in

that role. Trey Burton five touchdowns last year. That's that's big from your second tight end. I think Dallas is going to fit right in their sins seage certainly, and rookie tight ends don't typically assimilate to the league that quickly. It seems like that Dallas Godard is going to be the exception rather than the rule, at least from what we've seen in the preseason. Offensive line to me, I love the right side of the line Lane Johnson arguably

the best tackle in the game right now. Brandon Brooks has been outstanding this preseason. Jason Kelsey got a little bit of a scare early on in the game. He had to come out in the first drive, but he returned. Wiznowski has settled in at that left guard spot, where in his previous seasons here in Philadelphia he wasn't a starter going into the year, and now he's the guy. And then you get Jason Piers back, and James Pierce has been looking good in practice. You just don't need

to see him right now in the preseason. So left or right, this offensive line can certainly contend to be the best in the league. It won. This offensive line won the NFL's Offensive Line of the Year offensive Line of the League award last season. It can shortly contend. Right again, Ralph the jump and they should have happened to me. They were then unsung hero coming down the

stretch last year, including into the playoffs. Nick Foles had a clean pocket all throughout the postseason, the running lanes that were opened up for the running backs last year. But when you get the bodyguard back, it's a totally different demeanor out there for those guys. And Jason Peters brings a sense of nastiness with him. He's certainly going to bring accountability with him, and those guys that play with him just seemed to step up the level of play.

You're talking about a future Hall of Famer and Jason Peters, and at thirty six years old, from what I've seen out here in training camps of times that I've been out here. You can't tell that Jason Peters it's thirty six years old, and you certainly can't tell that he's coming off a major injury from last year. He's coming back highly motivated to continue to show he's one of the best tackles in all of football, even at the

age of thirty six. It seems like each and every year year Jason Peters is trying to quiet the critics, so to speak. And Jeff Stalton, the offensive line coach, has said that Peters is a man on a mission, and if Peters is a man on a mission, everyone else needs to look out. What we're gonna do now is we're gonna take our final break on the show.

We'll hit the defensive side of the ball and the special teams right after these few messages here on the postgame show presented by Rico New Fast Play Games Around and the Eagles has progressive top prizes. But I can clear these shells fashion then you can play Ready Go. I want fast Play, play Fast win instantly, Come and

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trying to stay strong. Sometimes I realize and further the more that I know, and I won't go home when you and your money are treated with respect, your prosper and at fontand der Bank respect adds up sept The Key is now arriving on regional rail. Learn more at dot com slash Key Eagles High School Football Showdown, presented by the Rothman Institute at Jefferson, 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. All right, welcome back to the show. We're gonna start to wrap things up, but we want to get through the defensive side of the ball and the special teams going into the regular season. As again, we will not see the starters most likely in this fourth preseason game, at least the vast majority of stars.

I should say. You might you occasionally get one or two out there who's a surprise, but for the most part, those guys are getting the night off. So defensive line, Okay, live questions come into this offseason because you lost guys like Vinny Curry and Bo Allen, But to me, they've replenished by bringing in Michael Bennett and Helodi Nada, and you're getting Josh Wet from the draft class added to

the mix here. It seems like that, as Harry Roseman said at the combine back in February, he wanted to make sure that the deaf was still there along the defensive line so he could rotate the guys to keep him fresh. And I feel like that that is going to be the case as we saw out there tonight. Yeah, I mean that that'll be the key for this defensive front.

I mean, that's what the strength of the defense was last year, if not the strength of the team when you look at the position and how deep it was, and when you talk about bringing in guys like Michael Bennett, Heloi Nada, Michael Bennett last year I believe played close to six hundred snaps, six hundred, seven hundred snaps at thirty four years old. He's gonna come here still be the same effective player without having to play as much.

You know. So last year, I think we had seven guys that played four hundred snaps, the most in the NFL when you think about the quantity of players with those many snaps. That's the way Chris Wilson likes to rotate those guys up front. I think there's a nice mixture of veterans as well as some youth to infuse in there. You got to get Brandon Graham back on the field healthy. Obviously, look for Derek Bardnett to take

the next step in his career. You make the biggest in your career from your first year to your second year. So I can imagine Derek Barnette is chopping at the bit to get out there and things won't see him as new to him because this upcoming year. And then in the inside the thing of fire, if I look at anything on the D line is the depth at the D tackle position. You know, I'm not worried about Helloi Nodder. We know what he can do. But because

of his dage. You're gonna need those young guys to be able to step up as well as the destiny theyous Elijah Quall's guys like that, they're gonna need to step up. And then my man, who put the target on his back when he said he wants to be the defensive player of the year, He's come out. He's come out playing like he wants to be the defensive player of the year through the preseason, not all talk. He's set in the tone and I can't wait to

watch Fletcher play. I've compared Fletcher to Jerome Brown so many times. I think this year is the year that he actually I mean, he's done a great job thus far, but I think this is the year that he really steps up there. Fletcher is one of the best defensive tackles in all the football. Again, it seems like he's adding to his pass rush repertoire out there. Jim Towards saying that he looks faster than he's ever been. He is highly motivated. He won a Super Bowl. It was

a huge cog in that, but that's not enough. Like you said, he wants the individual honors. He's probably tired of hearing Aaron Donald being named as the best defensive tackle. He wants his name in that conversation and if he continues it isn't a conversation. But to me, if he could have the type of regular season that he's had in the preseason, usually don't see the veterans shining the way that he has. I mean, he is wrecked shop

so far in this preseason. Let's go to linebacker, and this was probably the one position group on defense had the most question marks going into the offseason, going into training camp. Here you have Jordan Hicks coming back from the achilles injury, and he's played all of training camp, he's played all the preseason. He's flying around the ball at the nice pass breakup in the end zone. Tonight.

You have Nigel Bradham, who's gonna be suspended for the first game, but he's hungry and vicious coming up off that contract extension he received this offseason. The week's side job still seems like it maybe upper ground with Nathan gary Com rouge Hill. But talking to the linebackers this week, they will each say to a man that from top to bottom, the depth is there. If one guy has to go out for someone else, they're done huge drop off.

So you may not have your superstar per se, but you have a lot of guys who can fill multiple roles on this defense at the linebacker position. Yeah, and they play a lot more two linebacker defense then, and that's just really what the league is starting to go to. So if I just look at that number fifty eight being back in the middle of if you get this guy planning for sixteen games, he is a Pro Bowl level linebacker that he really is. He just needs to

stay healthy and be out there for sixteen games. There's no question about his ability as a player. He's a playmaker. He's a three down linebacker, helps shooting a run game and the passing game, can cover tight ends. It's great to have Jordan Hicks back in the huddle once you get past that first week. Getting Nigel Bradon back in the swing of things. Really could have been right behind Fletcher Cox as the defense of MVP last year, especially the role he had to feel when Jordan Hicks went out,

Nigel had to come in and play middle linebacker. I thought he showed us a different part of his game that I didn't know he had in his game, and it was great to see that they resigned him. To talk about the week's side linebacker position, whether it's Nathan Jerry who seems to have stepped up there who I like should have been a Pro Bowl special teamer last year, Corey Nelson coming in. You know, that's why next week's

game is going to be big for those guys. They If anybody's going to get some reps next week from a starting position, it could be those guys trying to go out there and get some more reps in at the week linebacker positions. So whoever Jim Schwartz decides to go with with that third linebacker, I think all those guys are capable of filling that position, but those other two are the most important because they're going to play the majority of the snaps as we use more two

linebacker defense than we do three. Going to cornerback, I absolutely love what Ron Darby has done this entire training camp and preseason. Yes, you want to see him get the interceptions when the ball is in his hands, but the coverage ability has been top notch. His read and

recognition ability has been vastly improved. He is so much more comfortable in this defense, and I remember the buzz, you know, kind of in the off season that you know there's such a surplus of cornerbacks that the Eagles have. You know, Ronald Darby's going to the contract year. He could be the guy to go unless you are blown away, unless you're floored by an offer. I want to see what Ronald Darby is going to do in this defense.

Of course, lining up across from Jalen Mills. To me, Ronald Darby has been a tempo setter for the defensive backfield here in the preseason. You know, another strong game tonight. Uh, just overall, we can talk about Jail and Mills, we can talk about the Nickel cornback spot, but I just wanted to rave about what Ronald Darby has done this offseason. You talked about Jagi Evan the contract year. Ronald Darby has really set himself up nicely to thrive in this

Eagles defense this season. Yeah, you talked about his level of comfortability. Damn, He's shown posted last year when he was really in and out. I mean he got injured three weeks out there and got here last year and missed half of the season and really had to play catch up. You're watching through these first couple of preseason games,

and he looks like a totally different person. Looks like he's very comfortable in the defense, knows exactly what they expect from him, what they want from him, and I expect the big year out of Ron Darby. You know, forget about those pass breakups, they're good, but get those interceptions, and I know that's exactly what he wants as well. For the first time in a while, we got a lot of good young depth at the cornerback position. You talked about Jalen Mills. He had some good plays out

there to night guarding Jarvis Landry. Whomever they decide to go with with that third cornerback position, whether it's Sidney Jones, who we all are anxious to see out there more and more, or Vontae Maddox who had the big interception to night. I think Jim Schwartz is going to be comfortable with any one of those guys being out there to play. And let's not forget about Russell Douglas. Right he's out there. He gives you depth as well. Love

what they're doing at the cornerback position. They created a room full of competition, and the cream typically rises to the top, and I think because there's so much talent in that room, it forces these guys to be at their best at all times and that's the benefit to the whole team. We're talking about guys like DeVante Bosby and DJ Killings, you know down there on the depth chart. Maybe a year ago, before the Derby Trader was made,

these guys could have been competing to be starters. Yeah, you know, I remember C. J. Smith a year ago was talked about as a potential starter on the outside for the Eagles. Just look how far that position has come in a year's time. Safety position here, Look Malcolm Jenkins, Ronnie McCleod, you can rely on them. They're set. Jenkins so versatile in this defense. We talk about that corner position that Nickel cornspot. Malcolm Jenkins can line up there

in a pinch if he needs to. So I wonder if Jim Schwartz is going to kind of keep that in his back pocket. That's sort of the you know, maybe options see exactly that you know that options see that Jim Schwartz could have where you were talking about, is gonna be Sidney Jones to Max maybe sees Malcolm Jenkins if knee became line up in that spot. But for me, it's great to have Corey Graham back and he solidifies allows you to play that big nickel, the

third safety package. They need to find a young guy to develop. That's the big thing here. Chris Marikos has still worked his way back from the knee injury that cost him the second half of last season. But they really need a young guy to develop. Whether they're gonna go with Trey Sullivan, whether it's Stephen Roberts, whether it's Jeremy Reeves, whoever it is, they really need to find a young guy for the future to mold and cultivate. Yeah, I say he's already on a roster, but that's just

me there. Okay, you go with solving No, I ros Will Douglas. You're still thinking that he's the guy, He's the future safety. I'm just doing big bodies six two, two hundred plus pounds. I know they see him as a corner. The coaches have ever played it down. They've been like, no, I know, we haven't. We haven't thought about it, so I know it. Well, do you think that's the guy? That's just me. That's as possible it could be. Could be a guy that you want to

shift down the line here, so very much a possibility. Last, but not least, special teams from a returner standpoint, Look, Darren Sprowles is gonna be your punt returner kickoffs. I think Shelton Gibson has been the best one in the preseason kicking wise. Jake Elliott look missed the extra point last week, miss basically what was an extra point, but a field goal this week, you figure holes shake it off.

I mean you expect him to bounce back and you know, provide the the silient kicks that he did for this team a year ago, those clutch kicks. It almost seems like if it's not a dramatic kick, he's gonna make it harder on himself. Is for him. Rick Lavio has been solid as a long snapper, and Cameron Johnson I

think has has stepped up. There are a lot of questions about his his inconsistency early in training camp, but I think overall he's had a good preseason and unless there's someone that's, you know, wowing you on the waiver wire come cut day, I feel like Cameron Johnson is going to be the guy that had another sixty yard at a night he did, Yeah, another sixty yard point. So what young punners is always the thing they need to learn is controlling that leg. Right, you got that

powerful leg. You got to know when you want a short kick to be punted down inside the twenty or ten or when you need to boom one down the field. I think he has looked a lot better in the games than what we saw early in training camp before the preseason game started. So I think you're absolutely right unless there's somebody out there that they've had their their

eye on and it's going to get cut. I think Cameron is going to be our punterer indeed, and also he's been helping with the kicking game as the holder as well. So that's an operation you don't want to mess up going into the regular season. All right, Next week, next Thursday, it's the annual preseason finale against the Jets. It's going to be here at the link kickof set for seven pm. As we look at those final roster spots thereself for grabs, which battles are you looking forward to?

The most? Running back is still that fourth or fifth running back is still a highly contested competition, right Josh Adams has some ice runs tonight, I think Whindale Smallwood because of his special teams contributions, I think he put nudge a little bit ahead of Josh. You know, Josh, I think in order to make this team is gonna have to show that he can do some things on special teams as well. So that fourth game is always important.

From that standpoint. We talked about Carter tonight. He needs to continue to do what he's been doing throughout the preseason. Nate Sudfeld, you know, I thought his first two games in the preseason were outstanding. You know, tonight not as good as the first two words. So he certainly needs to come back, have a good game next week. And listen, I'm interested to see Christian Hackenburg, second round draft pick out of Penn State. I think he's gonna get some

game action next week. Yeah, let's see. Let's see what he can do against his former team. And then guys like Josh Sweat, you're gonna get a chance to see him out there. See for that in that fourth game, these guys are gonna find out it is difficult to have to go out there and play on offense and defense and do special teams in the same game. Yeah, because you're those stars. They're gonna be watching from the sidelines. You have the baseball castle, some fire see. Yeah, they're

gonna have the jersey. We no padge underneath and nothing. They are not gonna be breaking a sweat whatsoever except to get out of the building when the night is over. But you know, for those young guys, is their chance, their final chance to showcase their skills and work their way onto a team, whether it's the Eagles or one of the other ones in the NFL. So it's gonna be a big night for them, and will have complete

coverag of that next week. But ike tomorrow afternoons Johnny Marks your self Sports Radio ninety four WAP, what do you think the temperature of the fan base is gonna be? Well, you know what I tell you. Winning the Super Bowl has really sort of for a large part of this fan base has them calm there. You know, last week I thought after that game the fans would would be

in the up world. They weren't. They tried to add to calm me and Johnny Marks Now last week and tomorrow's approach, I would imagine it'll be pretty much the same it's difficult to judge the offensive side of the ball when you know your skill position guys aren't out there. I think the fans will be excited about what the defense was able to do tonight. The fans are excited for this season to get started. Uh, it's very little negativity out there about this team. This city loves this

team and what they did last year. They have bought themselves some time justifiably. So UH, now lose the first game, but it's the regular season. Things will be different. Things will be different, all right. So that's gonna do it for us. Here on the postgame show presented by Rico for I Creas, I'm Chris McPherson. Thanks for all for joining us. We will be back next week when the Eagles conclude the preseason against the Jets. Have a great Eagles and everyone