What do you see as a realistic expectation for this team, for this offense? And with that expectation, is it good enough to get us back to the Super Bowl? Because I think as long as they're good, we're a Super Bowl team again.

Yeah.

I just have to see how all of this newness looks and how it works.

I think that I see what they're trying to do.

I understand what they're trying to do.

I feel very good about the fact that everybody that's involved on that side of the ball seems supportive of the change.

I mean, normally if you see—and John can speak to this, having been in the league— when teams undergo a dramatic philosophical change organizationally, when you teams try to do what the Eagles are trying to do this year, which is change your entire offensive philosophy and your identity— If that team has had some success in the past with that particular group of players, sometimes you will see, if you read between the lines of what guys say, there's a little bit of reserve.

What do you think it should look like? What do you think it will look like?

What do you see as a realistic expectation for this team, for this offense? And with that expectation, is it good enough to get us back to the Super Bowl? Because I think as long as they're good, we're a Super Bowl team again.

Yeah.

I just have to see how all of this newness looks and how it works.

I think that I see what they're trying to do.

I understand what they're trying to do.

I feel very good about the fact that everybody that's involved on that side of the ball seems supportive of the change.

I mean, normally if you see—and John can speak to this, having been in the league— when teams undergo a dramatic philosophical change organizationally, when you teams try to do what the Eagles are trying to do this year, which is change your entire offensive philosophy and your identity— If that team has had some success in the past with that particular group of players, sometimes you will see, if you read between the lines of what guys say, there's a little bit of reserve.

What do you think it should look like? What do you think it will look like?

What was your reaction that day?

Surprise.

I, I, I fully expected him to go back to Cleveland.

I just, f- I thought he would just go home to just take the, his career full circle and go back to where he...

Not just where he started his career, but from where he's from.

Just seemed to make sense to me.

And also, Cleveland's a good team.

[laughs]

What was your reaction that day?

Surprise.

I fully expect him to go back to Cleveland.

I thought he would just go home, just take his career full circle and go back to not just where he started his career, but from where he's from.

It just seemed to make sense to me.

And also, Cleveland's a good team.

So I bought into that.

It

What do you see as a realistic expectation for this team, for this offense? And with that expectation, is it good enough to get us back to the Super Bowl? Because I think as long as they're good, we're a Super Bowl team again.

Yeah.

I just have to see how all of this newness looks and how it works.

I think that I see what they're trying to do.

I understand what they're trying to do.

I feel very good about the fact that everybody that's involved on that side of the ball seems supportive of the change.

I mean, normally if you see, and John can speak to this, having been in the league, when teams undergo a dramatic philosophical change organizationally, when you teams try to do what the Eagles are trying to do this year, which is change your entire offensive philosophy and your identity, If that team has had some success in the past with that particular group of players, sometimes you will see, if you read between the lines of what guys say, there's a little bit of reserve.

What are your expectations for Jalen Hurts in this offense? And part two of the question, how difficult when you've basically been a ride-and-decide quarterback, high school, college, and the pros, to now, I believe this is I think year seven for Jalen, to now transition to a whole different thing?

classiness and you know his musical taste maybe it rubbed off on everyone else

yeah i mean steve had um tremendous taste in in that stuff and the music was a very big part of what we did over there and uh That was the hardest thing for me, was learning the music, was learning how to cut music into film.

Most of what I had to learn, I mean, the football part came pretty easy.

The film editing part took some time.

There's an art to that.

But I ultimately kind of figured that part out.

The part that I never really... got was the music.

Do you think they are still elite, or have they dropped down a peg or two? As you project it based on what's here.

What do you see as a realistic expectation for this team, for this offense? And with that expectation, is it good enough to get us back to the Super Bowl? Because I think as long as they're good, we're a Super Bowl team again.

I just have to see how all of this newness looks and how it works.

I think that I see what they're trying to do.

I understand what they're trying to do.

I feel very good about the fact that everybody that's involved on that side of the ball seems supportive of the change.

I mean, normally if you see—and John can speak to this, having been in the league— when teams undergo a dramatic philosophical change organizationally, when you teams try to do what the Eagles are trying to do this year, which is change your entire offensive philosophy and your identity— If that team has had some success in the past with that particular group of players, sometimes you will see, if you read between the lines of what guys say, there's a little bit of reserve.

There's a little bit of pushback.

What are your expectations for Jalen Hurts in this offense? And part two of the question, how difficult, when you've basically been a ride-and-decide quarterback, high school, college, and the pros, to now, I believe this is, I think, year seven for Jalen, to now transition to a whole different thing?

There are

some moments in that that I...

I mean, they still get me excited.

I'm sure.

I mean, I still so remember that 1981 Eagles-Cowboys game in that bitter cold.

I mean, that's the coldest day I ever remember at Vets Stadium.

And there were some cold ones.

Does it work? It's going to

Hmm.

I mean, he played a lot on the edge 'cause they felt like they needed that edge pressure.

Uh, he played a little inside, but they never let him settle in in a way that I think he can.

Now, to me, can he play on the edge? Yeah, he can play on the edge, but what he really is is he's an, he's a linebacker.

He is an inside linebacker.

That is what he is, and they're gonna let him...

And I really like Ngobey Dean.

And he's faster than Ngobey, like a lot faster.

Everyone will love it.

There are some moments in that that I...

I mean, they still get me excited.

I'm sure.

I mean, I still so remember that 1981 Eagles-Cowboys game in that bitter cold.

I mean, that's the coldest day I ever remember at Vets Stadium.

And there were some cold ones.

Does it work?

What are your expectations for Jalen Hurts in this offense? And part two of the question, how difficult when you've basically been a ride-and-decide quarterback, high school, college, and the pros, to now, I believe this is I think year seven for Jalen, to now transition to a whole different thing?

It is different, but I think he—no, I don't think.

I know he can do it.

And especially—and I'm assuming he's being genuine when he answers these questions.

I mean, I've heard him ask it in different ways, but it's basically the same question is exactly what Baldy asked him here.

Yeah.

is how do you feel about this? Because it is different.

Generally speaking, do you think it'll work this year? Yes.

What do you see as a realistic expectation for this team, you know, for this offense? And with that expectation, is it good enough to get us back to the Super Bowl? Because I think as long as they're good, we're a Super Bowl team again.

Yeah.

Um, I just have to see how all of these, all of this newness looks and how it works.

Um, I think that I see what they're trying to do.

I understand what they're trying to do.

Uh, I, I feel very good about the fact that everybody that's involved on that side of the ball seems supportive of the change.

I mean, it, normally if you see, and John can speak to this, having been in the league, if, when teams undergo a dramatic philosophical change, um, organizationally, when you do, when you d- teams try to do what the Eagles are trying to do this year, which is change your entire offensive philosophy and your identity, if y- if that team has had some success in the past with that particular group of players, sometimes you will see, if you read between the lines of what guys say, there's a little bit of reserve.

What do you think it should look like? What do you think it will look like?

less.

Or less.

And so when the news came out about him signing here, I was amazed, but very excited.

I was very excited because I had been – it's really funny.

I think Jimmy Lynham is one of the smartest basketball people I know.

Love him.

Maybe the smartest guy on the planet when it comes to that sport.

It

Oh, they were.

But, but he was clearly overmatched.

Uh, and that, that was pretty obvious pretty early, actually.

Um, but here's the problem that I had, is about mid-season, when you saw where you were offensively, the, then it, then it's on Nick.

Nick's gotta step in and say, "Whoa," [laughs] you know? Uh, this, you know, Nick, this, this, this ain't working.

We gotta do some different stuff.

Uh, and there were changes that could've been made, there were changes that should've been made.

Right.

If that counts for anything, this guy's got it.

Yeah, I mean, I think he's very smart, and everybody that's been around him In his relatively short time in the NFL, he's been a backup quarterback, basically.

So he hasn't exactly been interviewed a whole ton, and people don't know very much about him.

But everybody that's ever worked with him or knows his background speaks very, very highly of him.

And when I found out that he was coming in to interview with the Eagles for this job, for the offensive coordinator's job, I had a feeling that he was going to be the guy.

Because everything I had heard about him, everybody talked about young, smart, energetic, creative, all that stuff that interviews well.

I had a feeling that when he had a chance to sit down and interview with Nick Sirianni and Jeff Lurie and Howie Roseman that he was going to get the gig, and he did.

But isn't that what the great quarterbacks are able to do?

Your thoughts on Sirianni deciding to sit as regulars, considering how the offense in particular played against Buffalo, especially the offensive line, and how ineffective the offense was, especially in that second half.

Yeah, there are a couple different levels to this decision.

If it were me, I would play him.

I felt like as long as the two, you had a chance for the two seed, I would have gone for it.

I guess what they're thinking is that we can probably win this game.

Again, as bad off as Washington is right now, we can probably win this game with our backups.

Maybe that's true.

two home games,

you

know, check every box, tireless worker, keen on detail.

I mean, he learned from Andy.

There's no question.

And he borrowed the Andy playbook.

And...

When he finally got a chance to be a head coach, I had a feeling he was going to be real successful, and he got the perfect opportunity up in Buffalo.

This is going to be the biggest test to the finish line in terms of defending against this guy because – Discipline, especially off the edge, is paramount, especially in Buffalo's backyard in terms of defending Josh Allen.

But now this is his show with Washington for the remainder of this season.

Yeah, every time I see Marcus Mariota or every time I think about Marcus Mariota, I think back to when he was coming out of Oregon.

And there was that big movement afoot.

about the Eagles need to make the trade to go up and get Marcus Mariota to run Chip Kelly's offense.

Remember that? Oh, yeah.

People were actually wearing T-shirts that said, do the deal.

Remember that? To go get Marcus Mariota.

I expect it to be another one of those backyard, brass-knuckle-type divisional games between these two.

Which quarterback would you rather see coming into this game?

Well, looking back on the Denver game, Kenny Pickett looked pretty good.

I mean, when he came in, he did give the team a spark.

Yeah.

Honestly, I would probably rather face Gino.

I would probably rather face Gino because, I mean, he's clearly beat up and he's had a bad year.

And he does make a lot of mistakes.

By halftime, you should make them already mentally be walking to the buses and thinking about getting back on the plane and heading to Vegas.

I don't know who this team is right now, Ray.

Yeah, I think that the point is...

The offense hasn't looked right all year.

I mean, the offense has, you know, has been coughing and sputtering like a 58 Chevy, I mean, all year.

But so, you know, they were struggling to get a first down, that they're struggling to move the ball forward.

What we saw against the Bears, nothing surprising because we've seen that all year.

That was fairly typical.

If you're Jalen, if you can get inside the mind of Jalen Ray, what should he be saying – all the way up to that game next monday night against the chargers what should he be thinking in terms of trying to turn things around individually leading up to that game

That's simplisafe.com slash bird.

No, no.

I think when most people coming into the season were doing their forecasting, You know, they were looking at the NFC North and thinking, you know, that's a really tough division.

And it is, you know, I mean, you look at the teams in that division, you know, you got the Lions, you got the Bears, you got the Packers, you got the Vikings, all good teams.

I think most people that were forecasting the season were picking the Bears to finish fourth.

Not that they didn't think they were a team that was probably going to improve.

Not that they didn't think they were a team that didn't have any talent.

And that's what they've done.

Where would you rank that combination, Lamb and Pickens?

You mentioned the top ones.

You mentioned that those are probably the four best.

Boy, Higgins and Chase are good.

They're really good.

And they've been playing this whole year without Joe Burrow.

If you put them with Burrow, they might be the best right now.

If the Eagles can take away their run game as well, make them one-dimensional, you have them right where you want

And I can't emphasize enough how huge this game is for the Eagles in terms of that all-important seeding.

It is.

It is.

And we looked at this during the bye, how important these two games were, Green Bay and Detroit.

Teams that are right there, right there with you in the standings and teams that looking down the road.

At this point, it's really all about the seeding of stuff and the way things are now.

There's only one bye.

And this team, we always – have a wow factor when it comes to Kansas city, when it comes to their type of gadget place, but this team takes gadget plays to a whole new level.

I'm inclined to get Saquon the ball in open space on the swing pass, screen pass, middle screen, wheel route, as much as I am in terms of giving him the ball in the backfield now.

Yeah, I think so too.

The little flat pass, the 41-yarder, was maybe the biggest play in the game.

I mean, you needed something like that.

And I think the Eagles came to the conclusion they weren't going to get it in the running game because it just wasn't there.

So they created it in the passing game.

And that 41-yarder gets them down into a position where on the next play they hit the bomb to Smith and they finally get it in the end zone.

And I don't know if the analytics call for what you did for those series of downs, but, man, that could have blown up in your face big time.

Your thoughts on Brandon Graham even considering coming back after being off for eight months and enjoying TV and podcasts and things like that.

I know.

There was some speculation about this a couple of weeks ago that that this was not this was not far fetched that this could actually happen.

Ultimately, it's his decision.

Does he want to do it? You know, he has a let's face it.

He has the perfect exit.

Right.

Yeah.