Behind Enemy Lines: 5 Questions for an Eagles Insider
A Philadelphia Eagles Insider sizes up their Week 13 matchup with the San Francisco 49ers.
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00:00 How's it going everyone?
00:00 I got a very special guest, Ed Kratz,
00:03 a reporter for Eagles Today,
00:06 which is part of the Fan Nation Network.
00:07 So SI.com, which is where I write as well.
00:10 Ed, thank you so much for coming on today.
00:12 How are you?
00:13 Hey, I'm doing great, Grant.
00:14 How you doing?
00:15 I'm doing great.
00:16 It feels like a playoff game in late November.
00:20 It'll be early December
00:21 when this game happens
00:22 and people out here in the West Coast
00:24 are excited for the game,
00:25 but they really don't know
00:27 that much about the Eagles.
00:28 So I brought you on to ask you
00:30 the five most important questions.
00:32 Yeah, the edification of people out here.
00:34 All right.
00:35 Tell us the biggest strengths of the Eagles.
00:38 Has to be, well, the trenches,
00:42 both sides of the line of scrimmage,
00:44 the offensive line, the defensive line.
00:46 That's where the Eagles
00:48 invest a lot of resources.
00:49 You know, that offensive line's got
00:51 probably two Hall of Famers on it.
00:53 Jason Kelsey at center, 36 years old,
00:56 been doing this a long time.
00:57 This will be his 151st straight start.
01:00 I mean, he hasn't missed
01:01 the start since 2014.
01:02 And then Lane Johnson, the right tackle,
01:04 who kind of came up
01:06 with some groin soreness on Sunday
01:08 morning when the Eagles
01:09 played the Buffalo Bills this past week.
01:11 Eagles held them out as a precaution.
01:13 It was raining like crazy.
01:14 They didn't want to have him
01:16 put any undue stress on that
01:17 to kind of keep that groin intact.
01:20 So those are two Hall of Fame guys.
01:23 And then you have on the defensive side,
01:25 you have two very good pass
01:28 rushers and Hassan Redick and Josh Sweat.
01:31 Hassan Redick has eight
01:33 and a half sacks this year,
01:34 had 16 and a half last year,
01:35 three more in the postseason,
01:37 19 and a half sacks.
01:38 Josh Sweat had 11 sacks last year.
01:41 He's got six and a half.
01:42 But it's not even so much about the sacks
01:44 as these guys really generate pressure.
01:47 And it's not just on the edges.
01:48 They've got this rookie, Jalen Carter,
01:50 their ninth overall pick
01:52 from the University of Georgia.
01:53 To me, he's having a defensive
01:55 rookie of the year type season.
01:56 The Eagles have never had
01:57 one of those types of players,
01:58 and he's doing a great job up front
02:01 pushing the pocket.
02:02 And then Jordan Davis,
02:03 his old running mate at Georgia,
02:04 is a huge mammoth six, six, 200,
02:07 or I'm sorry, three hundred
02:08 and forty five pound ish
02:10 mountain of a man.
02:12 Very good at stopping the run.
02:13 So that defensive front for the Eagles
02:16 and the offensive line to me,
02:18 Grant, are the strengths.
02:22 I want to ask you real quick, Jalen
02:24 Carter, has he been an upgrade
02:25 over Javon Hargrave
02:27 is with the Niners now?
02:27 You know, listen, Hargrave
02:30 was very experienced
02:31 and, you know, Hargrave
02:32 and they love Hargrave, by the way.
02:34 Every player in that locker room,
02:36 especially the defensive guys,
02:37 just speak volumes of of Hargrave.
02:40 And I really like them, too.
02:41 You probably talk to him.
02:42 He's a quiet guy, pretty unassuming,
02:45 but, you know, terrific person.
02:47 And I don't know.
02:48 That's a good question.
02:49 I would probably say Hargrave's better
02:51 just because he's been doing it longer.
02:53 You know, Carter
02:55 still has to prove himself over time here.
02:57 He's got four sacks
02:58 and Graves has six.
03:00 So that's kind of comparable.
03:02 But I think Carter
03:04 will eventually be better than
03:07 than Hargrave's career
03:09 will turn out to be.
03:10 But that remains to be seen
03:12 just based on what I'm seeing as a rookie.
03:13 He's he's just been really terrific
03:16 as a player staying out of trouble.
03:19 That was kind of the big knock
03:20 on Carter coming out of Georgia.
03:22 Some red flags there.
03:23 Some teams passed on them
03:25 that allowed the Eagles to swoop in
03:26 and take him ninth overall.
03:28 But, you know, listen again,
03:29 Hargrave with that experience
03:32 to me is is better at this stage
03:34 of his career than Jalen Carter is.
03:36 What are the Eagles biggest weaknesses?
03:39 Linebacker, they're just beat up
03:43 as as can be, and they don't put
03:44 a lot of resources in linebacker.
03:46 And maybe this will teach them the lesson,
03:48 because right now they are so thin.
03:49 They're they're trying to sign
03:51 Shaquille Leonard after the Colts cut him.
03:53 The Cowboys and the Eagles are in play.
03:55 They both entertained him this week.
03:56 The guy has two back surgeries last year.
03:59 How much he can help.
04:01 But this is how desperate the Eagles are.
04:03 Zach Cunningham, who's been really good.
04:05 They signed him during training camp
04:07 as a free agent,
04:08 been their best linebacker.
04:10 And it's not saying much.
04:11 It's a low bar.
04:12 But he's leads the team in tackles.
04:13 He probably won't play.
04:15 He had a hamstring injury
04:16 against the Bills
04:17 at least with Nick Morrow
04:19 and somebody named Christian Ellis,
04:20 who is an undrafted free agent,
04:23 a really good special teams player.
04:25 But he's just not going to hold up
04:27 and not having good linebackers
04:28 against a team like the 49ers.
04:30 This is a huge liability for Philadelphia,
04:33 this linebacker core.
04:35 And even Zach Cunningham,
04:36 as good as he is,
04:38 you know, he's not like that
04:39 first round type talent
04:40 that the Eagles just don't seem to ever
04:42 want to put the resources into getting.
04:44 Got it. Interesting.
04:47 And then one more thing, Grant,
04:48 their past defense stinks.
04:50 They're ranked 29th in the league.
04:52 Last year, they were ranked
04:52 first in the league.
04:53 They only gave up
04:54 172 yards a game passing this year.
04:57 They're giving up.
04:57 I think it's 255 a game
04:59 almost next to last in the NFL.
05:02 So that's been a real issue, too.
05:05 Why? What's going on?
05:06 Is it just the defensive
05:07 coordinator changing?
05:08 Are they getting old?
05:09 Well, listen, they had injuries.
05:12 Avanti Maddox, their slot corner
05:14 Torres Peck in the second game.
05:16 They lost their backup
05:17 to a torn Achilles in the summer.
05:19 So it's been a revolving door.
05:20 They've used, I think,
05:21 seven or eight different slot corners.
05:23 Now they've settled on Bradley Roby,
05:25 who they signed off the off the couch
05:27 and brought him in.
05:28 And he got hurt with a shoulder
05:30 missed three games
05:30 after playing limited snaps
05:32 in the first two games since he got here.
05:34 They're hoping he brings some stability.
05:36 But right now it's just been kind of,
05:39 you know, they're just
05:40 not getting the job done.
05:41 And you would think they would
05:42 because James Bradbury, Darius Slade,
05:44 two very good veteran players.
05:45 But for some reason.
05:47 They're not getting it done.
05:49 What is Nick Sirianni bring to the Eagles?
05:52 Does he call plays?
05:53 And if not, what does he bring to this team?
05:55 He's a CEO coach.
05:57 He doesn't call plays the call.
05:58 The plays are called
05:59 by his offensive coordinator,
06:00 which last year was Shane Stikin.
06:03 Now the head coach
06:03 in the Indianapolis Colts
06:05 has the Colts and,
06:06 you know, playoff contention
06:07 might even be in the conversation
06:09 for coach of the year.
06:10 But now Brian Johnson
06:11 has inherited that role.
06:13 He was the quarterback's coach
06:14 for the last two years.
06:15 Good friends with Hertz's family.
06:17 He used to be the OC
06:18 at the University of Florida.
06:19 A very young guy.
06:19 He's being mentioned as a possible
06:21 head coaching candidate.
06:24 But yeah, I you know,
06:25 I think that Sirianni brought culture
06:28 to this team really
06:30 has these players
06:32 playing for each other.
06:33 General manager Howie Roseman
06:35 gave him a fantastic roster.
06:37 But as a head coach,
06:38 that doesn't always guarantee victory.
06:40 But Sirianni has these guys
06:41 playing for each other,
06:43 not for themselves or for their stats.
06:45 I think that's been a really big reason
06:47 why why he's been what is he?
06:48 33 and 12
06:50 since he took the head coaching job.
06:53 You know, last year
06:53 they started out 10 and one
06:54 this year, they're 10 and one.
06:56 But I think a lot of it
06:57 has to do with the culture
06:58 that Sirianni has established
06:59 in that locker room.
07:00 OK, how good of a quarterback
07:03 is Jalen Hertz?
07:05 You know, he his stats
07:07 might not show up,
07:08 but this guy only does is win.
07:10 I mean, he's he's 27
07:13 and two in his last 29
07:14 regular season games.
07:16 He's 14 and 0 in the last 14 games
07:20 against teams with winning records.
07:22 He's doing things
07:23 that we haven't seen done in this league
07:26 in a very long time.
07:27 And you don't know how,
07:29 because his numbers, they're OK.
07:31 His completion percentage
07:33 is around 70%, which is very good.
07:35 He's accounted for 30 touchdowns,
07:37 10 on the ground, 18.
07:39 I'm sorry.
07:39 Yeah, 28 on a total touchdowns,
07:42 18 passing, 10 rushing.
07:44 All he does is win.
07:46 I mean, you look
07:46 if you look at these last two games
07:48 Eagles played in the first half,
07:49 he really struggled,
07:50 but he doesn't get down on himself.
07:52 You know, he he keeps after it.
07:53 He never looks happy.
07:54 Almost looks like
07:55 he's a robot out there playing.
07:57 And winning means so much to him.
07:59 And he's been through so much,
08:00 you know, all that,
08:01 you know, national recognition
08:04 he got with Alabama
08:05 when he got benched in favor
08:06 of Tua Tunga-Valloa
08:08 in the national championship game,
08:09 stuck with the program,
08:11 came back after Tunga-Valloa got hurt
08:13 the following year
08:14 in this SEC championship game.
08:16 So he's really had a really
08:17 roller coaster career.
08:19 So he has learned
08:20 literally not to get too high,
08:21 not to get too low, the old cliche.
08:23 But I think he's a fantastic quarterback,
08:27 probably even a better leader.
08:29 I mean, he's getting guys in their 30s
08:31 like Cox and Graham and,
08:32 you know, Lane Johnson and Jason Kelsey
08:35 to to follow him, you know, to buy into
08:38 what kind of a person and player he is.
08:40 And and that's not easy.
08:41 So I think his leadership qualities
08:43 are are, you know, second to none.
08:45 And that's probably even more
08:47 the reason for his success
08:49 than, you know, as talented
08:50 as he is as a quarterback.
08:52 Tell me who's going to win this game.
08:55 Well, you know, listen, I
08:58 it's a that's a tough call.
09:00 I mean, you know, I think
09:01 the Eagles being at home,
09:02 you know, the 49ers
09:05 coming across country, that never helps.
09:07 But and, you know, I think
09:09 some of the stuff that the 49ers
09:11 put out there in the offseason
09:12 after losing that championship
09:14 game last year has resonated
09:16 inside the locker room,
09:17 even though the players
09:18 aren't coming out.
09:18 Some of them are actually
09:19 they're coming out and saying that,
09:20 you know, that are.
09:21 Yeah, Redick, Jordan, a lot of left tackle.
09:24 You know, James Bradbury was asked
09:27 about being called trash by Debo Samuel.
09:29 And, you know, he took the high road on that.
09:32 Didn't really stoop down to that level.
09:33 But, you know, that bothers
09:35 those guys inside the locker room.
09:37 And listen, you got to stay focused,
09:39 though, you know, you can't get caught up
09:40 in any kind of revenge
09:42 or anything like that.
09:42 You have to focus.
09:43 And I think the Eagles,
09:45 this means a lot to them to come in
09:48 and let the 49ers know, hey, we beat you,
09:50 whether you had your quarterback
09:51 or not last year,
09:52 you lost both your quarterbacks
09:54 because like who was it?
09:56 Bradbury said you couldn't protect them.
09:58 I mean, that's the bottom line.
10:00 You know, they they gave up two sacks
10:02 to Redick who wrecked the game
10:04 and knocked the two quarterbacks out.
10:05 Now, you know, that's
10:06 that's the 49ers fault.
10:08 And that's what James
10:08 Bradbury kind of kind of said.
10:10 And Redick said it, too.
10:11 So I think this game means a lot to them.
10:13 I'm going to pick the Eagles
10:14 probably to win something like 28 to 24.
10:17 28 to 24.
10:19 OK, thank you very much.