All right, let's jump into the rest of the uh slate here.
And the first one that I want to talk about and dive a little bit deeper on is the Carolina Panthers beating the Eagles 25 to 14.
The Eagles are now losers of 4 straight.
The Carolina Panthers are 3 and 2.
we're gonna have a substantive discussion here in a second about life after Jalen Hurts that happened between our last two pods, and I want to get into it, but very quickly, the Panthers, You know, we talked a lot about the Bryce Young progress, the fact that, you know, Chuba Hubbard is still, uh, uh, such a steady Eddie for this team, um, and Jalen Coker back taking this offense in, in, in a great direction.
Eziro Everil, man, deserves a lot of credit for the success this season, and this is in, I know I'm sounding like a broken record on this one because I've pegged Eziro as a future head coach for the last 3 or 4 years.
You can see it, you can go back and look at what I've written over time, and especially the last 2 years when the Panthers flirted with historically bad defenses.
Everyone's like, what's happening to your boy?
What's happening to your boy?
We've got players now, right?
Like, I mean, they went out and they got good players and, uh, you know, the creativity, putting their off-ball linebackers like Lloyd was basically playing an edge in this one.
The blitz packages in this game were superb.
Yes, again, it was against Tanner McKee, who's probably a little bit easier to throw off his spot and bother them.
I would venture to say that that score would have been very similar if, uh, if Jalen Hurts was on the field.
I, I think this team is set up well, and I'm feeling better about my Panthers winning the, uh, NFC South pick, especially after this weekend.
Yeah, and I, I love the way they finished the game, you know, like it, it was, they had kind of controlled it.
The Eagles are able to come up in the fourth quarter and cut the lead and, you know, they go on a, on, on a, on a, a long drive.
So now it's 19-14, and we'll see what you got and they're able to force a 3 and out, you know, then they drive for a touchdown of their own, then they come back and they, they, they, they force a turnover on downs.
And then with like a little under 5 minutes left, They do what I think is a mark of a really good team, which is they don't give the ball back, you know, they're able to grind out 31st downs and get into the victory formation and, you know, that's, that's one thing I know a lot of these teams, especially ones that are built the way the Panthers are, take pride in it's like, can we run the ball when they know they're, that, that when they know we're running it.
And the Panthers were able to do that behind Chuba Hubbard, who, um, has become a really good back for them, you know, has really grown and, and, and, and become the kind of guy that you can feature in an offense.
And so, I, I'm really encouraged with where Bryce Young is.
And, you know, there's a calmness about the way he plays that I think when you've seen him at his best shows up, and, you know, like where it looks, he looks so unbothered, especially for a guy of his size, looks so unbothered in the pocket and so comfortable in the pocket.
Um, you know, Tedero McMillan, I think is, is gonna be a star.
Coker is a great compliment to him.
Uh, they have a lot of things going, man.
Like they, they deserve our respect.
They are, I mean, to this point, right?
Clearly the best team in the NFC South.
A year after winning it, yeah, I mean, I don't, I don't really see another option.
I think the Falcons , and we can get into that too, we're, we're, and, and again, we wanna avoid.
I still think the Panthers are better though, and I think the Panthers are better than the Falcons, and they beat the crap out of them on the field, which like there's a, there's an asterisk next to that because they didn't have panic, but still, right?
But I think, and I think that there's kind of a, something that really concerned me about the Falcons, and we'll get to that in a second, but The Eagles, Albert, um, uh, you know, a couple of things.
First off, they're in a free fall.
Will they trade Saquan Barkley to the Texans?
Come on, baby, make it happen.
Make it happen.
The, the Texans were in on Saquan the last time that Saquan was available .
They wanted Saquan, and then that's when they ended up with Joe Mixon.
Uh, does Nick Haley, uh, or does, uh, Nick Caserio come back?
I mean, so here's the thing.
So like I, I think what's interesting about the Eagles is like we've talked a lot about their cap situation, we can dive into that, right?
The way around it is that you keep drafting and developing.
I think the Eagles deserve a ton of credit.
They draft well.
They develop better.
Like they develop their player development system is unbelievable and has done such a great job.
I think Jordan Milot is probably the shining example of it, but across the board they've done an unbelievable job developing young talent.
So, they've earned our trust.
That said, They had, I think it was 6 of the 7 starters on offense on rookie, on rookie contracts yesterday, and a 7th, Damian Pierce, was like a scrap heap guy who's basically he was essentially playing on the minimum, you know, that's 7 of your 11 starters on offense, and that's where they're at, and it's a bunch of guys, I mean, outside of Makai Lemon, it's a bunch of guys who were drafted outside of the 1st 2 rounds, you know.
So, as good as you are at that, like, you're gonna feel that a little bit, you know, and so, um, You know, the defense, I think has had kind of had to kind of bear the brunt of it, and has had to carry the team, and it's been on them to do that.
And I, I, I, I think we're getting close to the point for, for the Eagles where you start to look at it and you say, is this 2020 again?
You know what I mean?
Like, where it's like, we're gonna assess a bunch of things, and if we sink to the bottom of the league and wind up, wind up with a high draft pick, so be it.
If we rig it a little bit to get an even better draft pick at the end.
Maybe that's worth considering, yeah.
Um, but, but, but if you remember like 2020, like that, that was the year they kind of, all right, like we gotta look at everything, and then they went into 202021 and the reason they crashed in 2021, the reason like their, their cap situation was what it was in 2021 is because like the, the COVID, the the COVID situation, you know, so they went through a stretch where they had to get a lot younger and that was right when Siriani was coming in.
And I think it's at least worth considering.
Again, rebuilding is a dirty word in Philly, and I know WIP isn't gonna stand for it if they're like, you know, 4 and 8, you know, in, in, in, in November, right?
Like, I get it, understand it, all that .
But, you know, like it is, I think it is worth considering whether or not this is the right time to get younger in a bunch of different places and Uh, you know, again, the, the Eagles have a proven track record that they can, that they can pull that kind of turnaround off .
Well, that's the thing, like, I don't know if I'm a patience, if I'm a fan, that's almost exciting to me because you're turning over a new leaf.
You have a successful GM, and you have an owner who's willing to pay, uh, to get the job done.
So what are you worried about, you know, and, and I think what drives me nuts is like only one team was able to hold on to it kind of for, for a long time, and they had literally the greatest player in NFL history, and they played that's what propped them up though, like that did prop that, that's what prevented the that's what made like the subtle rebuilds 101 years, you know.
And they also played in a clown car of a division, which I guess the Eagles do right now, which is a fair, um, you know, but the, but the, the Bills and the Jets and the Dolphins were so perpetually bad, and they kept tripping over themselves to make themselves Patriots-proof, when in reality, they just kept sacrificing long-term gains for short, these perceived short-term wins, and just making the rosters worse.
So, that is a situation that happens in a vacuum, a weird outlier that will probably never happen again.
In, in, in, in the history , I mean, like the, yeah, the Patriots essentially destabilized the other three teams in their division by creating a scenario where there was no access to winning the division, which meant the only path to the playoffs was getting a wild card, and and that's, that's a tough road to hoe, you know, if you, if there's no, if there's no way to do what Carolina did last year, right, which is like eke out a division title to buy yourself more time, it's a tough place to be.
And so the Eagles, OK, you win the franchise's first ever championship, then you quick rebuild on the fly, change head coaches, make another Super Bowl, then win the franchise's second championship in a matter of what, 7 years, 6 years.
It's over and that's OK, you know, and, and, and I get it that the, the performative nature of calling into a talk radio show and being like, fire everybody, like, shut up.
It's, it's over and that's OK, right?
Jalen Hurts is gonna be out for the rest of the season.
This is a great chance to see, I mean, Vic Fangio is probably gone, gone, you know, I mean, this is a chance to see who you can build around for the future.
And as a fan, I'm sorry.
That there's a cost to this.
There's a cost to Super Bowls.
Like, you don't just get to go every single year.
Like, it's insane to me that you would think that way.
And so, yes, now is the cost.
Now, you gotta watch a few games with Tanner McKee at quarterback.
Now, you gotta watch, you know, your offensive line turn over.
You had the greatest offensive line possibly in modern NFL history.
So now you gotta watch some bad offensive line play.
Now you got, it's, and, and it's not about.
They'll call and be like, oh, this is Stoutland.
Well, if we just had Jeff Stoutland, Jeff Stoutland's great.
This has nothing to do with the totality of the rebuild that the Eagles are facing financially, schematically, you know, emotionally, all that.
Like, sometimes you just gotta let it happen.
I think in some ways, I am blessed to be an Orioles fan where every season is a massive letdown or a Notre Dame fan for that, uh, for that matter, cause they haven't won one since the year I've been born.
I can at least deal with this.
I, I don't know what I would be like if one of my teams was.
Actually successful, but like, yes, this has gotta happen.
I'm not even gonna listen to WIP, you know, and I want me to let you know, you want me to tell you you want me, you want me to tell you how like 35 wins is a disappointment, 35 point wins is a disappointment.
Crazy.
Oh, because we didn't, we, well, we didn't establish the run in this one because Jalen Hurts threw for 500 yards.
It's like, stop, stop.
I can, I can relate with it.
I, I, but I, I honestly, it, it does.
I, what, what got, what's getting them here is what gets everybody, which is age and injuries and all of that, right?
Like they drafted Landon Dickerson in the 2nd round.
Why did they get him in the 2nd round?
Because he was a medical issue.
He had medical issues.
And you know what, like, those things generally catch up with guys.
So now Landon Dickerson might be broken as a player, no affront to him.
But he came in like with, what was it, 2 ACLs and uh, I mean, it was just, it was, it was, it was, it was really tough what he went through in college, and so there were medical questions, and they've gotten, what is it, 56 great years out of him, and now maybe that's caught up with him.
You know, they, they took the opportunity to trade Cam Jerkins.
Lane Johnson, they got almost 14 seasons out of him.
Jason Kelsey got old.
Fletcher Cox got old and retired.
Brandon Graham is now gone.
Like, you know, you look at the infrastructure for these teams, and this was, this is what happens to everyone .
I think the upshot of it is.
You at least have some pieces that you can work with.
Jordan Mallotta, as long as he wants to play, like, I think he probably still has runway because big men can last in the NFL.
Trent Williams is a great example of it, right?
You have, you have a first-round receiver on your team now and Makay Lemon, you can develop.
You've got Cooper Dejean and Quinon Mitchell in your secondary.
You have Jalen Carter as a centerpiece of your defensive line and Jordan Davis right next to him.
So you have like pieces.
But I think now the idea is, how do we get young around those pieces and those those pieces hopefully can make us competitive in the interim.
The bigger question, of course, is whether the quarterback can.
And that's, I think.
You know, going into 2027, when for the first time, the majority of his, his, his money and only a much smaller percentage of his money now, next year is guaranteed than has been guaranteed over the last few years, maybe that's where you start to ask some of the big picture questions, especially if he comes looking for a contract revision, um.
You know, and, and, and, and, and that's a, that's a bridge you cross when you get to it.
Obviously , right now, he's got bigger issues that he's dealing with, but, um, yeah, man, like I, I think this is There's a lot of big picture questions to ask with the Eagles, and that's not like you don't have to kill anybody for that, you know what I mean?
Like that's just the way it goes, and I'm with you.
It's over.
Let it be over, um, and, and I would consider, I mean, Saquan, honestly.
Next year's is to the Texans.
Come on.
Next year's, next year's his, next year's is gonna be his 10th year.
Yeah, I mean, I don't know.
I don't even know how much.
Yeah, I love Sawan.
I just don't know how much value he has, you know, we, we certainly saw his peak, um, and the Texans are having a hard enough time getting Woody Marks going and David Montgomery, right?
I mean, I just like, that's what I'm saying though.
Like I'm saying for if you're the Eagles, not, not just for the Texans, but like for the Eagles, if If you're Philly right now, how do you look at this, because, I mean, it's like by the time we're ready to compete for a championship again.
Um, what's Saquan gonna have left in the tank, right?
I, I, I, I don't know what the answer to that is, but I think that's how you have to start to look at timelines here.