Post-Game Show: Eagles Win 38-31

when the Eagles opened the regular season against Washington. So great to see the Eagles get the win, Marcus Johnson getting the game winning touchdown from Matt mcgloyin to cap things off. But let's talk about the starters, like because that's what everyone's gonna want to talk about. What did you think overall offense defense as they kind of put

an end to the preseason. I'll start with the offensive side of the ball, because I think that was the side of the football that was coming into this game under the bigger microscope. Defensive played well for the first couple of games. Most fans wanted to see the offense open it up a little bit, see if Carson can get the ball down the field. To Ali Shon or Tory, and that's what you got in that first half, I mean the first quarter. That's what you wanted to see.

You wanted to see how this offense can be explosive, get yardage and chunk plays. They were able to do that, ran the ball with somewhat successful degree. Still a few issues on the offensive line that they still need to clean up. But I thought when you're just looking at the quarterback, receivers in the running back, the skill position guys that first team, I thought they all answered the

bell tonight. The Alshon Jeffrey touchdown was interesting considering what happened with the fact that he had the injury, the shoulder injury, and there are questions about whether or not he was on the same wavelength and had seen rapport needed with Carson Wentz. But on that touchdown through in particular, Wentz a great job of showing patience in the pocket, allowing Jeffrey to get by the defender and then throwing the ball as soon as he was open. Yeah, no

doubt about it. I mean, you can't under you can't overstate how important practice is. You know, it's one thing not to play in preseason games that's sort of a little bit of an epidemic around the league. Stars don't play in preseason games. That's more than acceptable, but to practice time is what you need to get your chemistry down. And al Shan practice in a full week this week, going up against the Dolphins in practice, I think that brought out a little bit of us since the urgency

in him. I was out there for a few practices. You certainly was, and you could tell that he and Carson were starting to build that chemistry and it's great to see them take it from the practice field to the playing field. And early in the game they made a conscious suffer to get number seventeen the ball. The

touchdown play was a beautiful design play. They faked the bubble screen out, the elson through the slot, the corner jumps up, and then, like you said, Carson did a nice job of being patient and allowing Alshan to uncover through that window and through a nice little pitching catch to him, al Shoon walks into the end zone. That's something that we all been waiting to see Alshan catch his first touchdown pass from Carson, and in their final dress rehearsal before they take on the Redskins. It was

great to see that tonight. Indeed. Okay, so we're gonna hear from head coach Doug Pearson and the quarterback Carson Wentz in just a little bit. But first we're gonna send it over to for the first time and welcome in Eagles Insire Dave Spider, who was on the sidelines for the Eagles Network preseason broadcast, and Spuds, we're talking about the offense here. Your thoughts of what you saw

alf Carson Wentz? Uh well, all right, we do have him here, all right, So, Spuds, we're talking about Carson Wentz and what he showed here in his final performance before we get to see him on September tenth against Washington. What did you think of the first team offense tonights? A better job. They got the running game going at bit, they threw the ball down the field, They found Tory Smith and got him involved in the past game. And of course you talked about the red zone touchdown to

al Shan Jeffrey. You know, the question I have is kind of throw it back at you, guys. What will we be talking about from this game when the regular season begins. Obviously, the biggest stories of the Eagles go through three games and they're healthy, and that's really all that matters. There is a lot to clean up. Of course,

they will game plan that will change things significantly. I take from the preseason with the starters that these weapons at wide receiver, with Legarrett Blunt at running back, it is a different dimension here added to this offense. It is a dynamic offense. Last year, it was very difficult to get that chunk play. This year you're gonna see a lot of it with that revamped wide receiver. Course, so I thought Carson was up and down in the preseason, too many giveaways, but he got the ball down the

field tonight to Tory Smith. He converted in the red zone to Alishan Jeffrey. I agree with what I said. The offensive line has to be better, But hey, guess what. From this point forward, that group of five is preparing not for the New York Jets next week, they're preparing for a very difficult Washington Redskins front on September tenth. So there is some time to get all this right, the chemistry down, the timing, the consistency, and get this

offense rate where it wants to be for the regular season. Yeah, it can't go on to stay today. The importance of trying to get plays in chunk yardage. It's just too difficult to try to march down the field on a consistent basis ten twelve plays and you hope that you get a touchdown. That's too hard to do in the NFL. You're gonna have to get plays in chunks. Tory Smith really it seemed like it was his first target this preseason and he was able to take big time advantage

of that. Was great to see him getting the end zone. And you know, I think, like when I think about Tory Smith, I remember when the Eagles signed him, there were a lot of questions ken Tory Smith still get down the field. What happened in San Francisco. These last couple of years, we've seen in practice, in training camp and now in the preseason here that Tory Smith can get behind defenses, can stretch a secondary, and can really open up things underneath. Really strong performance from Zach Ertz

catching the football tonight. I like the way Carson spread the football around. Didn't get Nelson Agilore involved, but that will come. I just think this offense, if the line of scrimmage is worn by the Eagles can be extremely dynamic, as dynamic as we've seen Eagles offense in many, many, many years. Dave Tonight, Wendell Smallwood made his preseason debut, and I thought he brought a lot of juice to the run game. He was able to draw the face

mask penalty that really got the offense going there. What did you see from Smallwood? The second year back out West Virginia. Totally agree with you, Chris. You know, he is the burst back. He is the guy who's gonna give you that juice to and through the hole. He's gonna make people miss. And so I liked what I see from Wendell Smallwood. I think everybody has liked what they've seen from him when he's on the field. He

just has to stay healthy. So if the Eagles can work Smallwood into the rotation, and I actually think that Smallwood will lead this team in rushing in twenty seventeen, that Blunt will be the short yardage back. I think the offense can run just enough, maybe not great, but they can run just enough to make defenses respect the threat of a run game and take some pressure off of Carson Wentz. The Eagles don't need wins to throw the ball six hundred and seven times again, they need

to have a running game that they can rely on. Yeah, we may not have a thousand yard rusher amongst our top three guys, but I think back to the year two thousand and three day and we had a pretty good three headed monster trio there. And I couldn't tell you who led us in rushing. All I know is we had three very good running backs and they did a great job of feeding whichever back was hot and using them different dynamics. I can sort of see that

with this trio running backs as well. We may not have a guy who rushes way over a thousand yards, but you may have three running backs they are very effective in his offense, and as long as they move the chains, that's okay by me, and I'm sure it's okay by his coaching staff. I believe it was Buck Halter who led the team back here, and I actually went back to two thousand and I can We talked about this before the game when the Eagles really struggled.

I think du Stanley got hurt and Darnell Autry had some carries and Stanley Pritchett had some carries, and then Chris Warren came in late in the season and the Eagles win eleven and five. I believe in won a playoff game. I think so you know you can do it. If you are winning the line of scrimmage, You're gonna run the football no matter who the back is. Now, the Eagles do not have this, you know, game changing

running back. But if they can keep Smallwood healthy, if they can mix in Darren Sproles, and if they can get Blunt in the north south role. We talked about it last week. Why all these tosses to le Garrett Blunt. I think the Eagles now know that he is the north south back and Smallwood is gonna attack the edges, and then Darren Spros will do a little bit of both. Yep. I want to go to the other side of the

ball real quick. I want to look at the defense a little bit of reality check for the fans tonight. We thought we had the eighty five Bears defense based on these first two games. But I'm actually okay with what I saw tonight because I think this is the best offense they've seen, the best quarterback they've seen, in the preseason, and so it keeps them on their toes, gives them something to go back in the film room

to watch. And you know, sometimes when you get a little overconfident about what you've done in these preseason games, you need a little bit of humble power to bring you back down and keep you even killed. We gave up a couple of big plays to night run game, man passing game, but nothing too serious that I would be concerned about. How about you, what did you see out there defensively? Well, maybe not the eighty five Bears, but what about the second coming of Lawrence Taylor as

Michael Kendricks. Michael Kendricks reinvents his career here. I mean, somehow Jim Schwartz has to use him and play to his strengths. We've seen Michael Kendricks play down hill and be very effective. I think, I honestly, teams will now copy what they saw against Ronald Darby here, throw the ball up to big, tall receivers and have a jump ball, a fifty fifty ball. So the Eagles have to find a way to protect Ronald Darby there in those instances.

But I just think Darby makes up big difference early pass breakup. Vinny Curry starts things off with the strip sack and Fletcher Cox falls on it, sets up the touchdown. I think the defense is in a lot better shape. My be concern on defense. Who is the backup middle linebacker. We saw Nagy good, we saw Joe Walker, makes him

placed on Cherry had the big interception. If the Eagles can find depth at linebacker, particularly in the middle, I think they're good enough on the back end now and there's certainly good enough upfront to be a really have a greeking defense that Jim Schwartz wants to bring to the table every week. A Grease Spuds, thank you so much. Make sure to read on the inside column to recap everything from the Eagles win over the Minami Dolphins. Will be up in just a little bit here on Philadelphia

Eagle dot Com. Dave, thank you very much. So like a lot to unpack there. So going back to the defense, Vinnie Curry, you know Derek Barnett started tonight by the way, left defensive end. You know Brandon Graham injured, has the elbow injury, not gonna play until the start of regular season, will be fine. So you got Barnett out there. It was sort of a message being sent to Vay Curry, like this is the night you've really got to step up your game, and I think he delivered in a

big way, no doubt about it. Listen, when you when you add talent to a certain position and now it seems like you have an abundance of it, that's going to raise the level of play, or it should raise the level of play of everybody in that meeting room. And the most talented position we have won this roster, I believe, is the defensive line. I mean, those guys are going to be fighting for snaps. Nothing is going to be given to you. Everything is going to be earned.

And so you know, I'm not surprised Vinny Curry knows this is the last opportunity he's going to get to show what he can do. And he's out there against Larremie Tutsu, Larmy Tusso people forget could have been the number one overall pick a year ago if it had not been for that snap food right before the draft that he got called in. But that's a good player that Benny Curry was going up against, and so it was good to see Benny Curry, get back there, get

a sack on Jay Cutler, get the turnover ball. Rolling for the defense, I have no major concerns about our defensive line. I think we got a lot of talent there and they're gonna push each other week in and week out. It may be this guy who has the best matchup, so he may shine this week and it may be a different guy the following week. They're all gonna play well. I'd be surprised if one guy is like the clear, clear dominant player on that D line.

It's a lot of talent there. I'm not concerned at all. But the defensive line, it's just gonna be a matter of when you have to get down to the fifty three man roster. Howard Horry, Roseman, Joe Douglas gonna sort everything out to figure out which guy's to keep it, which guys are gonna allow to go on the waiver wire. So it is a preseason for the Eagles. But I would think that Malory Reason might quick the Hall of

Fame duo. They're always in mid season form, so we want to provide an access look at what it's like to be in the booth with them as the biggest plays of the game are going on. We present to you Merrill camp Cutler takes the snap. He looks he's hit. He fumbles the football, and I think the Eagles haven't fumble recovered by Futcher Cock if Benny Curry. This time Merrill coming off the edge and he just blows around the left tackle and he gets to Jay Cutler. Football

comes out going back the other way. Gwentz calling for the football, takes the snap. He steps up here, it comes to rush. He is going deep looking for Tory Smith. He hasn't touch down. That's what I wanted to see. So the Dolphins go to a four man front this time. It's well protected by that big offensive line, and Tory Smith just runs by the secondary. That's called taking the top off of the defense. That's why they got color Smith slot to the near side. Gent looks Fires complete

Jeffrey touchdown. Quick slants. Hey, he looked out the first wind, it wasn't there. He reset. He drills him on the slant route in an easy touchdown. Carson went to all Sean Jeffrey. I like seeing that number seventeen catching the football. Floor fires with a quick slant. It is deflected, it intercepted and running across the fifteen, the ten, the five, and it for a touchdown. Has Michael Kendricks has third

interception of the season and again offer the deflection. Michael Kendricks seems to be that guy Johnny on the spot this season and this preseason at least gets the interception on the deflection rising into the end zone. He's having fun this preseason though. That was a fun feature right there. So on that last touchdown by Michael Kendricks, obviously he's gonna get the craft for making the play and using his athleticabilly to get to the house. But still CJ.

Smith someone who's battling for one of those corner spots. It looks like the top three at this point it's gonna be Ronald Darby, Jale Mills, and I would say Patrick Robinson seems to be pretty says the number one slot guy at this point. So you're trying to figure out for Seul Douglas. You know who's gonna be in the mix? Is c J. Smith gonna still be someone who can be counted upon. Jalen Watkins had an interception.

He's been moved to cornerback pretty much on a full time basis So great for c J. Smith to battle there, to create the pass breakup to allow Kendricks to get the pick. Sex. Yeah, no doubt about it. And c J. Smith has come a long way from being undrafted last year to where he is this year. Certainly put into the mix to see if he could fight for you know, one of those four or five defensive backs that you want the Eagles to keep. It's gonna be tough for you.

You know, rob Brooks is still in the mix. They want to get him healthy. He's a slot guy. The thing with Patrick Robinson a he's a veteran b He seemed like he can play outside or inside if need be. And c J. Smith right now, it's just Black's top end speed. He's more of an outside guy, smart player

in position. But if you're getting the pinch and someone goes down, I'm not sure how much confidence I have And putting c J. Smith out there against the likes of Dash, Brian Odell Beckham Junior guys like that, you kind of want somebody if they don't have all the top level attributes that you look for in the corner, say like for example, Patrick Robinson, may not have, but Patrick Robinson has the experience, He has the savvy of

a veteran. He has, you know, the knowledge of going up against these guys, whereas c J. Smith is still a little raw. And so this is a big year for the Eagles. This isn't rebuilding. You know, they're trying to win right now. It's just gonna be tough for CJ to crack that active roster. Wouldn't be surprised if he's back on the practice squad again this year, because I think he's worth keeping around and continuing to develop, because I think he does have the ability to play

in this league. He's just not very fast, and so he's gonna need to rely on technique and experience to have success in this league. Take me through the mind of a linebacker for a second. Why do you think Kendricks has all of a sudden been able to put everything together? Is as simple as saying, Jim Schwartz understands him a little bit more and knows what situations to health thrive him. No, I think it's more or less.

Michael Kendricks understands what Jim Schwartz wants out of his defense, wants what he wants from that specific position, and it's allowing Michael to play a lot freer. He's not thinking as much, just letting his athletic ability take over. And listen, Michael Kendricks back in twenty twelve twenty thirteen found himself around the football a lot. That's one thing he had going for him is his instincts, and he's certainly fast

enough to make plays. And I think what you're seeing down is a guy who's just playing with confidence and just letting his natural abilities take over as opposed to being sort of robotic when he's out there playing and trying to think his way through every play. He's being

able to play a lot freer. And although you shouldn't take anything away from the production that he's put out there on the field, but you're talking about a guy who has a lot of starts under his belt, season experience out there against the second and third string guys, so you kind of expect a little bit of it. But I think it's still a positive sign that he finds himself around the football all the time. And that's

a coach's dream. From from a defensive standpoint, you want a guy who has a nose for the football and Jim Schwartz, he's gonna have to put his thinking cap on and find a way to try to implement Michael Kendricks in his defense because I think it's another playmaker that he has that he just has to put the use.

What's the thing is last year, I forget the exact tole It's like twenty seven percent snaps on defense that he was out in the field, whereas in previous years he was a vital component of the defense, always out there in the base unit. So obviously he's not gonna be the first team nickel that's gonna reduce his snaps. So he's got to find a way to do something productive when he's on the field. And he's taken the approach where, look, coaches, you gotta put me on the field.

I'm gonna do what I can to put my best put forward and say, if you don't want to play here on the field, that's on you, but I'm gonna do everything I can to give you the impression that I need to be out there. I think he's taken the right approach to it this offseason. I know he kind of made some waves when he said that he had wanted a trade, but it seems like ever since that happened, no, well that's not happening obviously, but ever since he made those comments about you know, I requested

a trade, it didn't happen. You know, he could have kind of taken a step back and allow his play to suffer, And it seems like he's using it as fuel to motivate him to be able to say, you know what, I'm going to force my way to be on the field with this defense. I agree with that, and he needs to be commended form that, I think to a standpoint because as a professional athlete, especially when you have the ability that Michael Kendricks has, you want

an opportunity to show it. And it can be frustrating and you can sort of get down on yourself and you can kind of drift away mentally, and Michael Keintricks could have very easily have done that. But he's come in here with the right attitude, with the right mindset, and he's basically from my perspective as saying, where anytime I'm mouth there on the field, I'm gonna make enough plays to make them want me out here on the field more as opposed to soaking and really detaching himself

from the team, wishing he was somewhere else. I liked his mindset that he seems to be all in here. He's here, he seems to be here mentally and physically, and he's making plays. And that's a good thing for the Birds because here's the thing. You never know when your opportunity is going to come for you to be out there for all the time. Injuries happen every game, any play, and Michael Kendricks is a good football player and is still young, and you can never have too

many good football players. So I thought it was good for the Eagles not to have Jordan Hicks out there tonight, so you can try to figure out. You know what Jordan Hicks is bringing to the football team, you know what Brandon Graham is bringing to the football team. So you're trying to figure out what's gonna go on from a death perspective at linebacker. As Dave said when we talked to him a few moments ago, they need to figuret who that backup middle linebacker is going to be.

I think that's one of the questions that we're going to be looking to answer in this final preseason game. But Derek Barnett haven't talked a whole about him because I think Vinny Curry was the one who made the flash plays out there tonight for the defensive line. What

did you think seeing the rookie out there? And it was interesting to me that he was at the left side, whereas you would have thought, if you're gonna try to get him on the field, you would put him at the right side position, where he played most of his college ball at Tennessee. Yeah, what a difficult thing for him is when you're a backup player, you got to be able to do both things right. You gotta play

from the left end the right side. Vinny is the right starting defensive end, so you want to sort of keep him in his comfort zone. So they kept him at the right side. With Brandon being out, is natural for Derek to going there and have to fill in for Brandon Graham. And that's the tough part about being a rookie. And then when you're not a starter out there, you're a rotational player. You gotta do whatever it is called for. And tonight he got a chance to go

up against first team right tackle. You got a chance to go up against the first team right tackle. So you know, Derek Barnett again, if it's almost you can't ask him to keep the pace up that he had the first two preseason got on the would end up with like thirty sacks before the season is over with,

So that's impossible to do. But it was good experience for him to be out there with that first unit, more importantly, going up against that Miami Dolphins first team offensive line, so he can get a feel of what it's like to be up there, be out there against a higher level of competition. No concerns for me. Again, I look at our defensive line, not as a starting

four necessarily, but as a starting eight. They got eight men on that defensive line that they're going to rotate, and that's what you need to have to be successful in this league. I'm gonna stay on the defense. Let's go back to cornerback or Ronald Darby. Okay, he had the one nice pass breakup where you see that anticipation, you see athleticism, and it just pops out at you and you're like, wow, that's something that no one in the secondary had before he arrived in Philadelphia. Now he

got beat a couple of times deep tonight. But to me, I was not done fine with it. But he's still right there with the receiver. It's not like he's being toasted and the receiver's five yards down the field of them. He wasn't not a place he didn't get beat. It was one of those fifty fifty balls. And listen, you can't teach hey, No, DeVante Parks has three and he hasn't a boy about four or five inches And uh, you know, good throw by Jay Cutler to put it out there and allow his receiver to go up and

make a play. That's what we're gonna do without Sean Jeffrey. Right when you got a five eleven six foot corner on him, we're gonna still throw it up there until him. Um. You know the one thing I said about this play, Uh, the the Miami Dolphins has players who get paid as well to make plays. Indeed, let's send it back over to the lake head coach Doug Pearson now dressing the media, did you see what you wanted to see? Off? Think took the first team and then I did. I did.

I was pleased with obviously the way the way they played. Um again, um, got great work, uh for two days against the Dolphins, Uh, you know, Monday and Tuesday, and and uh got a couple of scores, you know, Tory and Allshambo. So happy to uh get them in there and get them out joy sessions kind of scale back what you wanted from the first and to feel like

you had to play as much. Yeah, they got a lot of a lot of great work for two days and and you know, you think about it, we don't really play full football games on forty eight hours rest. And uh, you know they they Monday Tuesday was was pretty intense for for for both teams. Um, I felt like we got some good work. So uh, that's that was part of the reason why why I was able

to pull them out sooner. Doug, assuming this is in for Carson and the starters for the preseason, do you feel good enough what you've seen, especially with those new receivers, you know, both getting touchdowns today. Yeah, I do. I do.

I feel real comfortable with where they're at. Um, you know, their focus obviously now is is uh in a couple of weeks and UM, you know they can get some get some really good work, you know, one on one work and in the in these next few practices and and um, you know, kind of get ready for the

regular season. So happy to get both those guys tonight in the end zone and uh kind of kind of catapult the offense, Uh, you know into the regular season, the offensive line obviously tech Carson as well as you like. It's another thing, what was it? What were the problems?

We got a lot of a lot of pressure. Yeah, there were a couple of unscouted blitzeres um again you know, a preseason game things that they didn't show obviously, even and uh, because we didn't do any blitz periods in our in our sessions, uh the other day, and and um, you know, a couple of unscouted looks. But you know it's it's no excuse. We've we've got to be ready for for for everything and anything. And uh, just a

lot of quick pressure on Carson. Um. A couple of times he was able to make some make some tremendous plays and get the ball out of his hand. But at the same time, we got to do better obviously in that situation and learn from it and move on. Would you have bet been to play Bader and not been fold the pressure, Um, I don't think so. I think I would have made the decision at that point. At the same time, Yeah, how tough is it to

choose the running back posistione. But the way it looks like the finals of guy guys might find uh, you know, I think I think that first of all, were I was excited to get Windel out there obviously get some get some touches and and get him back, you know, working with the with the first unit and um la Garrett had a had a fine game and the touches that he got and and and really, um you saw it's not a kind of you know, the style of runner that that he is as well, and and there

and they're two different guys. I mean. The thing is, you know, that's the that's the beauty of the run game is you can you can mix and match your run game with the personnel that you have, so um and then then you throw in Darren, you know, Sprowls and um you know, it's it's great to have those three guys. I think it really uh gives us um I think a little bit of a from from a game planning standpoint, obviously, um an advantage to get those

three guys on the field. Choose between they're making it tough. I challenge the challenge the young guys tonight after the game that you know, this next week is going to be important, and uh, I want them to make it hard on us as a as a coaching staff and a personnel department. Um. And and that's that's all we can ask is is make it tough on us and and uh but at the end of the day, we've got to select the fifty three that uh uh is gonna gonna travel with Washington three games now without fools.

What's going on with his elbow? And then what's the play for him this week? Again? Just uh, um, you know with him, it got a little sore uh during the week with with the Dolphins, a lot of throws, you know, because he missed so much time early in camp and then going coming back and and got more more throws, more intense throws against the Dolphins, and just got a little little sore on him, and so I just didn't want to push him, you know. Just again, the more more rest uh that you can get on

that elbow, the better. And um, you know, I'm confident with with Nick having coached him in the past and being a veteran quarterback and understanding our system. So UM, you know the rest will will definitely help him. Would you like to see him next about I don't know. I haven't made up my mind yet where I'm at with that. Um you know, Uh, it's kind of where I'm at right now with that one yellow receivers well,

similar to the lotting time position. And uh are those guys making it difficult markets price, uh potentially for that last spot they are? Um, and again it's uh, you know, UM, I can remember myself being in that situation, even as a third or fourth string quarterback, just just fighting and clawn for everything and and and the exciting thing is these guys are making plays when they're in the game, and UM, you know this this next week is going to be important for all those guys that that are

vying for those positions. And and again it goes back to, um, make it hard on us for for those final roster spots, and and UM, it's good to see all those guys. And it's good to see Bryce back out there again and playing, and um, you know Greg Ward and Mac and all those guys. Marcus had a nice touchdown reception tonight, So UM, it's good competition right there at that spot. You know, the zideline offers a limited viegle. But for Darby, they were too big plays game. What should get them

better upon those plays? Well, I gotta you know, go back obviously look at the film and and we can decide and make that decision. But um, obviously it was a great cat the one over the top of him was a great catch. Felt like he was in good position, you know. Um. And and just got to track the ball and make that play. Obviously, the again the receiver

made made a tremendous play. Um. And and you know these are things in these games that that uh you know, um, we'll just go back and look at the film tomorrow and uh, you know, make that correction show him, um and and and show him how to be better in that situation, um, so that it doesn't happen again. One

to ninety three yard drive. The balance that you had is that how you want to the offense to little to shoot in terms of that, Yeah, you'd love to have that type of balance, you know anytime, um, you know, run and pass and and kind of keep the defense off off balance a little bit and and get get the quarterback on the move and pocket and it was great to go down and score and obviously finish off that drive. Um. But yeah, that's a that's definitely a sort of a blueprint to to what you'd like to

see during the regular season. Is there anything out of the first team offense you want to see that have more success with you know, going forward from you know what you saw tonight, not really. Um, you know, I think the last two weeks really are Our hurry up

tempo offense was was very good. We were able to put pressure on the defense and our guys really, um, they practice fast that way and then they're used to that and they're comfortable with that, and it gets your quarterback in a rhythm and it gets your offense in a rhythm. So that was very beneficial. Something we'll obviously continue during the regular season. But you know, we've got

to just clean up some things into protection. You know, it goes back to Howard's question there in the protection and um, you know, we'll do that. And obviously now the focus for them is to get ready for Washington in two weeks time. With one today just wing you to see him after doing this camp and after the day's game. You know, he's he's done. He's done a great job, you know, coming in there and and uh really starting camp as our third but really playing as

our number two here in these last few games. And um, he's done a nice did a nice job tonight, even after the turnover, to bounce back and go down really against their their starting defense and score was exciting for him and for the offense. Um, he's done a nice job. He's done a really nice job. And uh, um again it's you know, it's one of those positions where you want to see that position play well, and he's done a nice job. How much is his game playing for Washington?

How much is evaluating and using Yeah, it's a fine line, you know, because we want to make sure our starters are getting a little bit of of some Washington and and uh, you know, getting starting to think, uh, you know, the Redskins a little bit. But at the same time as coaches and and and the rest of the team world, we're still evaluating. And we got one more preseason game left next week up in New York, and and we want to make sure that those guys are also ready

to play. As far as Jarrett partner Alan Port was it to get him in there with the ones start. I think it's important. Yeah, it's important, and we wanted to see him against you know, some some good starting um offensive tackles obviously, and and uh it'll be a nice uh um you know tomorrow going back and watching the tape to just really kind of dive in to see how well he did or are some of the mistakes he made that we can help him get better

as well. But it's always good to get get those young guys, especially a guy that's going to be in the mix with that d line throughout the season. Um, you know, getting some good work against some good tackles. All right. So there's head coach Doug Pearson addressing the media at the link. Finally, the Eagles thirty eight to thirty one win over the Miami Dolphins. So a lot to get into there, but the starters, especially on offense,

they're gonna be done until September tenth. And it was interesting this came up that the Eagles have the ninety man roster. They can keep all ninety players going to this final preseason game a week from tonight against the New York Jets. Were as usually, you had the cutdown to seventy five, so you might have to put in some guys who are gonna play a lot, are gonna have exactly, So now you can just have guys going out there who are fighting for those bottom of the

roster type positions. Yeah, no, go about. I don't know this new NFL rule where it's just one final cut. Uh, you know you can go into that final game with all nineties if your players, you don't have to put any any players at risk. All right, So we're waiting to hear from cornerback Carson Wentz and just a little

bit at the link following the Eagles win. You know, as we're looking at the offense the running back position up here we go, we do have Carson Wentz coming over now, so let's send it back to the link. Carson Wentz addressing the media with this game and the practices you have in Miami and war idea of where you are this campus and you're going to get rid

of the seat them. Um, you can maybe say that, you can maybe say that I think, um, you know, getting those couple of days of practicing against them, Um, that helped us gage kind of where we're at for sure as well. Got some really good situational work and the coming out here tonight. UM, we'ren't really sure how much we play, but we came out and UM did some good things. Obviously, the interception was unfortunate, but UM, aside from that, we were moving the ball well. So

I thought, I thought, things are looking pretty good. Go ahead, where do you How do you feel about where you are after three? Game was September ten, and stay, Yeah, I feel good, you know, I feel confident. I'm thankful that for the most part, everyone's pretty healthy too. UM, So I think this offense tonight was was a good showing for us. Like I said, the interception was unfortunate, but we moved the ball well. And UM, for the starters,

it's exciting to get start getting ready for Washington. You only through twenty three passes the whole three preseasons preseason games. He's that enough for you? Yeah, you know, I feel you know, that's kind of just the way it works. That's preseason football. UM, got lots of work in over camp, you know, honestly, and UM shoot sixteen games last year, I was healthy, so, UM, god, I think good work in in the preseason. I don't think it was overkilled, but it was a good a good number, and I

feel confident going forward. I'd just see on the Tories spent touchdown pass. Yeah, they were trying to buff coverage a little bit and then the safety was trying to roll back, but he was kind of flat footed. And I know with a guy like Tori, if they're gonna sit flat foot, he's gonna run right buy them. So UM just gave him a chance and he did the rest. Do you recognize or was that the play call going into it? Um? That was a play call. I mean

that's part of the design. Um. And then just the coverage. Um, Like I said, they were bluffing it, but they got back and uh, Tori to the rest. Obviously the two touchdowns today one al sean to how does it feel to kind of get them the same page with those guys you your two new weapons. Yeah, I mean it was great. You know, it was great to do it here, do it in front of the fans. Fans get to get really excited about that. So, um, that's that's really cool.

You know, I've felt I said it kind of all along. I felt really confident in our chemistry with with those guys. Um going back to even the spring, but to finally do it in a game like situations, it's really good to see. We got a lot of ones versus once totally the days you were with Dolf practice. Do you see that kind of as a one of the recents he to play in the best batch. Yeah, I think so.

You know, I think that's part of it. Like I said, you know, we got such a good situational work during the week where we didn't have to go full fully live, but I've got to see some different looks. I think that was part of it. And then just coming out, you know and putting the other couple of drives that I think it was at ninety three yard drive you ended with, and um, I think I think we all kind of said we've seen enough and um yeah those

coaches coaches decision at the end of the day. Though, the way the protection protection has been the first three games that's following, um yeah, yeah, I mean the protection has been has been solid. You know. Some of the things that have happened are on me, you know, some of the nakeds and stuff. You know, that's just that's football. I gotta get rid of the ball. Um. So I'm not I'm not really concerned about that. I know those

guys will be rock solid all years. What do you have to do personally as well as with the first team offense heading into the opener in Washington? What do you guys think you need to do to get even better going into that that first game. I mean, the biggest thing I mean I've been saying that kind of all week in all camp is just consistency. You know, we know we can be dynamic on offense. You know, last week came out and we had three three and outs.

You know that's not that's not our style of football. Um, you know, we know we can we can be dynamic. We've got to be consistent and say ahead of the chains, be disciplined last week with some penalties I think we had a couple of the nights still, um, but those are the biggest things. We just got to keep keep honing in on goals throughout the summer and then obviously the one tonight to Tory. How much bigger a part

of the offense do you think that might be this season? Yeah, I think that can be a definitely big part of the offense. Um. You know, I think a guy like Tory that that can run like that is going to open up some things. So whether we actually are completing deep balls or he's just kind of UM stretching the defense for some underneath stuff to help out UM like guys in the slot to help out earth sprawls, you

name it. I think that's just a big part of the offense that we're gonna see kind of expanded on a little more holds, click, shooting everything. You know, I thought we were moving the ball, well, you know, we kind of gotten that that mock no huddle tempo again. And as you saw last week, we were able to move the ball. Last week doing that had had to fumble up, which was unfortunate. But tonight the same thing.

You know, I think we're all just sometimes when you get in those modes, you're you're not thinking as much, you're just kind of playing UM and sometimes that can be a really good thing for guys. And when we know we have the talented players that we have on the edges, UM. I think that's a big part of our offense. I mean, the interceptions, the Phillips is running towards you did you did you have second thoughts developed trying to make a tackle? UM, it was. It was interesting.

I was trying to not get hurt, but UM, yeah it was. I'm not not my proudest moment trying to make that tackle. He just tiptoed right over me. So not my proudest moment. General to play like that. How he balance obviously want to make a play and be competitor, but also be smart. You just gotta learn. I don't know. Um, at the end of the day, I wish I would have made the tackle. So that's UM, that's part of it.

But you know once yeah, I don't know. You just try to learn how to balance that in getting back that nune to your drive. When you went into tempo, he started to get some chunk plays. There was that because of tempo, you think or was it to play son um, some of both, some of both. I think the tempo definitely helps with with those chunk plays. UM, because defenses then are usually in kind of their generic looks, their base looks, and UM that's when just players go

make plays. You know, it's UM to some extent, they have an idea what we're doing. We kind of know what they're doing. It just comes down to players executing. And UM, I think that was a good thing tonight. It looks like you started to get more comfortable in that the crossers. How do you feel where do you feel you are as far as making those throws? An, that's the area of improvement last year. I feel I feel really good with him. You know, I felt I

say I felt good with him. Last year. Things just happened. You know, sometimes things, um and games, those things happen. So I felt really good all offseason. Felt good tonight. Um. You know, shoot, those guys are making some really good catches too. Um. They weren't necessarily great throws, but those guys gave him a chance. And when you got playmakers out there, you just gotta give him a chance. So I was good to see. How's the Blitz communication at

this point? It's been pretty good. It's been pretty good. Yeah, good than all right, there's quarterback Carson Wentz following his press conference at the link. You know, he has ruined how we evaluate the preseason, and you might be laughing right now, like, but I'm gonna explain just why after this quick commercial break. Now, for those of you who are watching on Facebook or Twitter, make sure to switch over to Philadelphia Eagles dot com. Or the Eagles mobile

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is just better. Acme, the official supermarket of the Philadelphia Eagles McDonalds introduces the new signature crafted Sir Rochas Sandwich Me with a new Sir Racha Maxauce with a kick of spice All Welcome back to the postgame show presented by Rico so Carson Wentz was asked during his press conference about what was it like only having I guess it was twenty three pass attempts for the entire preseason? How is he going to be able to be ready

for the star of the regular season. Do we forget that last year he fractured his ribs in the first preseason game. The little bit of action he had was sideline for the final three preseason games, and then eight days before the regular season was told, buddy, you're now the starter because we just traded Sam Bradford. And back then he was working with the second and thirdeam units, So it's not even like he was able to build a rapport with Nelson Agilore, Jordan Matthew Zachertz, all those guys.

He was working with the backups to the backups at that point, and you know what they seem to do pretty much all right when the season opened on nine to eleven against the Browns. Well, he threw more passes last year in the preseason in that one game, in the first preseason game, than he did in three games this year. So it's a different mindset. You're you got a different different level of importance to this season than you did at that time last year where he was

the third stream quarterback. The most important thing for this team is to get you to the starting line healthy as possible, and so with all the OTA's offseason workouts, you know, things of that nature. He's still going to get the work in practice every day. It's not like

he's going to miss practice. So they still have what about two weeks a little bit over two weeks before Um, they're gonna have to step in Washington to take on Yeah, I'm I'm perfectly fine with the work Carson Wentz has gotten. You look around the league, this has become a trend. It's not like it was when I played when when really, when I came into the league, starters were playing into the fourth preseason game. I mean they were, and it's gradually declined as the years have gone on to the

point where it is now. They're there are starters that are gonna play opening day that will have only played in one preseason game. I mean Cam Newton played the night and I think he only had two passing attempts. He's not gonna play next week. He'll be ready to play the first week. So it's become much more important for these teams to get their starters to the starting line when the season begins. And Carson Wentz as a quarterback, Uh, You're not gonna find a more important player on this team.

And he's healthy. You know, you got Brandon Graham and Jordan Higgs banged up, but other than those two and they should be ready to go opening day. The best thing coming out of training camp for me is that we have all twenty two of our starters healthy and should be ready to go when the season starts. That's the number one concern for coaches when the preseason gets here and you're playing and what's basically meaningless preseason games for the starters. They want to get these guys to

the starting line healthy. We're gonna be able to do that this year because we need our full compliment of players. The challenge for the Eagles is going to be that they open the season against an MC East opponent on the road. Week two, they gotta go to Kansas City, so you got the Indy Reed Doug Pierson matchup, and then Week three is your home opener that's against the Giants. So you're hoping that there's not a lot of rush

to shake off at the beginning of the season. That's the one reason why teams are using the preseason to try to make sure that they're trying to be as ready as possible. But it's hard to simulate that speed because you can attest this like the difference between the preseason and the regular season in terms of what you

see on the field, no doubt about it. Since the urgency is heightened, the speed of the game as much faster as a Instead of playing ten or twelve snaps versus first team guys in the preseason, now you may play fifty or sixty snaps against those guys. So it's most certainly a different once you get to the regular season. But I tell you something else Doug brought up as a coach. They went against the Dolphins a couple of days this week in practice. Now, regular training camp practice,

especially for today's game, isn't as intensified. You can sort of get your work done, get through practice, especially when you're talking about the third week of the preseason. But when you bring a team in to practice against for a couple of days, the level of intensity is raised. So when Doug mentioned you don't normally play three games

over the course of seven days, he's right. I mean they basically played at the level of intensity of again in those two practices that they had against the Miami Dolphins for two straight days, and then to go out there and have to play a preseason game to night. You know, everybody's healthy. Again, that's the number one objective. Indeed, that's certainly correct. So we're gonna take a quick break

here on the postgame show presented by Rico. On the other side, we're gonna offer the players who help their cause the most in terms of try and make a roster spot, and then take a peek at the upcoming calendar for the Eagles. So stay tuned. We'll be back with more right after this, and you'll wanted to do something that had a direct influence. I just want to do what people did for me, which is to provide me a seat at the tables. Without that Temple experience,

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All right, let's take a look at the Eagles upcoming schedule, presented by NFL Ticket Exchange powered by Ticketmaster. For the only one verified way to buy or sell NFL tickets, visit NFL ticket Exchange dot com. So ike, just one more game to go in the preseason, the annuals Dravit Ganza against the New York Jets. This time they are going to MetLife Stadium. So next Thursday, again, the full

ninety man roster will be available. You're not going to see the starters, and it will be a chance for the backups to, you know, put on one last show and to try to impress, whether it's the coaches for the Eagles or the coaches and personnel people for the other thirty one NFL teams once the roster cut down

day finally comes on September second. Yeah, I mean, a couple of young guys are gonna get a chance to go out there next week and try to make a difficult for the head coaches and the coaches staff to make those final decisions. You gotta look at the running back spot next week. Gotta like what Corey Clement is doing as a player. He's gonna make it difficult on these coaches to get rid of him, so that fourth

preseason game. Early in my career, I look forward to the fourth preseason game because that was my opportunity to show that I could play defense too. So, you know, but as I got older, I didn't want to want no parts of that fourth preseason game. So it'll be exciting for all the young players. And again, the best thing about this fourth preseason game is the new NFL rule where you don't have to make cuts this week.

They go into that fourth game with all ninety players, meaning that they won't have to put basically they're too deep out there. If they don't want to, they can typically go with their third and fourth stringers to try to figure out that bottom spot, the bottom spots on the roster or even practice squad guys. So it's certainly important for the young guys, and those guys want as

many reps as they can get. I tell you, as a young player, I didn't want the first and second team out there taking away my reps in that last preseason game. I wanted to get as many as I could. So as we look toward this final preseason game, who do you think helped his cause tonight in terms of trying to obtain one of those fifty three roster spots. I look at that secondary position, particularly the cornerback position, and they're still trying to sort some things out behind

the starters. Who's going to be the backups, that fourth, fifth corner, maybe even a sixth corner, And I go with Jalen Watkins. You know, Jalen has been moved around a couple of times in his career, from corner to safety and back to corner. They're trying to figure out where he fits best. That he had a big interception in it late in the game to stop the Dolphins

from scoring a touchdown. There. Certainly, when you're a playmaker and you're taking the ball away, that's going to stick out in the coach's minds, and it's gonna book come down to how effective of a special teams player can he be. He certainly knows the secondary positions to the from a schematic standpoint, having played corner and safety. If he can go out next week, can have another big game, he could be that fifth cornerback that they keep on

his roster. Quite possibly. I'm gonna go two guys here first, and obvious one on offense. To me, it was just great to see Wendell Smallwood have the performance he had and not that there was so much a question about his roster spot. I mean, Frank Right, the offensive coordinator, said earlier this week that this guy's a three down back in our offense. He's going to have a big role.

But he looked great in training camp. There was a time where la Garrett Blond had the you know, personal issues, he had to leave the team for about a week. It was during the live hitting practices, and Smallwood took advantage of those reps and definitely looked like a guy you could put as your primary guy in the backfield. The problem was he got hurt after that and missed

the first two preseason games. Well, we went back and saw some of the bursts, you know, we saw some of the pass catching ability, the playmaking ability that we had seen earlier in camp. Has to brush up on the pass part a little bit, but that's going to come in time. But nonetheless, still it's great to see him and what he can control potentially to the offense this season. Mike got in defense, I'm gonna go along with the defensive line Elijah Qualls sixth round pick of Washington.

Remember he missed the whole spring because of that NC double A graduation rule. He teamed it with Alex McCallister to get his sack there late in the game. Someone who's very disruptive was in the backfield team like all night that d tackle position. Okay, again, you've got Fletcher Coxon, Tim jernikin those guys you know are set desny Vyo didn't play tonight, but it has had a very good camp. Every every time you asked the coaches who's played well

in the defensive line, Yo's name comes up. Okay, so you figure if he's your three, well, who's gonna be your four? Is it gonna be? Are you actively bo Allen? Well, he'd be ready to go. Is it gonna be you know, Justin Hamilton, who's played and played well at camp here? You know, so is it gonna be Qualls? It's you know that's it's gonna be some tough decisions there along that defensive line. So to me, I gave Elijah Quall

Calls game ball for tonight. There for in terms of stepping up and helping his draft stock or his stock for making the fifty three man roster out just a little bit better. So I want to touch on one day small World real quick. The other thing I loved about watching him play tonight is that you forget that he has a little power with him. He runs, he's tough, he's hard to bring down. You know, it was a couple of times where they could have had him down for a two or three yard game. He's able to

break tackles there. You know, you kind of think of small Wood is more of a outside the tackles type of runners. So he can use his speed, but he can run inside the tackles as well, and he can get his shoulder square to the line of scrimmage and if he needs to break a tackle to pick up those tough yards. It's good to see him do that tonight. But you brought up the main thing. It's about the health. If he can stay healthy, he's certainly going to be

a big part of this rushing attack offensively. So tomorrow, wip about two o'clock, what are you and Chris Carlin going to be fielding calls about how good the offense look tonight, that they were able to open it up a little bit. You know Carson through the first two games, sort of taking what the defense was given him, getting the ball out of his hands quick. We got airy yards. Yeah,

we got pushed the ball down the field. It was great to see Torry Smith do what they brought him here for and then come on, man, this whole city has been waiting on al Sean Jeffery to getting the end zone and so it was great to see him getting the end zone. We have to talk about that. They may nitpick it Ron Darby a little bit, of course, but that's Philadelphia. One week you're the hero, the next week you're at the top of a discussion. You're probably

loving all the press attention. Yeah, that's gonna be a different so different at different tomorrow. If this is when you learn you're not in Buffalo exactly, that's the biggest thing with that. So that's gonna do it for us here on the postgame Show presented by Rico, for all of us, here at Eagles Network for Ike Reece, for the entire team, I'm Chris McPherson. Thank you for joining us. The Eagles come out on top thirty eight to thirty one.

Make sure you stay tuned for coverage as The team gets back on the field over the weekend starting on Saturday, so until then, have a great Eagles Night everyone,