Giglio: Eagles Are Closer To Mediocre Than Elite

Joe, thank you for taking the time to join us. You got it, JR. Anytime.

Thank you. So I guess the first question is what's the what's the general consensus and vibe? Of course, people in Philadelphia are not happy with their inability to close out games, especially moving on into this season. Are people on the ledge? Are they mad at Sirianni?

What's going on? They're going to get back to where they were two years ago, which was, you know, the best team in the NFC and made the Super Bowl. And in the first two games this year, you know, the quarterback has three interceptions already.

Their defense can't stop anybody. They've had a couple of coin flip games, one that went their way, one that went the other way. And it feels a lot more like last year's Eagles, which started off well and then collapsed than it does two years ago.

So people are on the ledge about just the state of how good they are. And then today, a lot of blame going around for Nick Sirianni and how he handled fourth down. Decisions, field goal decisions, and especially the last two minutes of that game last night.

Joe Giglio is joining us here from WIP in Philadelphia. People are talking more about the the end of the game and the decision to throw the ball as opposed to running it and killing off some of the clock. Not as much attention goes into what took place in the second half. When it comes to Nick Sirianni and his decision making, are people more upset at the end or forgetting some of the points early?

Yeah, so I would say at the end, it's caused most of the concern today in the conversation and the yelling and the screaming, as you can imagine, in Philadelphia. But really, it's the idea that it's not consistent. You know, early in the game, they're very aggressive and they go for it on a fourth and four, despite not having AJ Brown on the field, which obviously makes that kind of play more difficult to achieve in the red zone without your top target.

And they don't get any points. And then you fast forward to late in the game. And J.R., what got me about it is, okay, you want to, I get the idea, you want to be aggressive, you want to end the game.

Right there. That's why you throw the football. And obviously the play call by Kellen Moore, you know, it got a guy open.

I think Juan Barkley is wide open there. Unfortunately, he drops the football. But by going for it and going for the pass, you're telling me you want to end the game. Okay, if that's the objective, then why not go for it on the fourth down? Why give the Falcons, don't run any clock, right? Because it's incompletion to run a clock and then kick the field goal.

It was almost the worst possible outcome for the Eagles. They could have run clock and got a field goal. They could have run clock and went for it on fourth down.

Let's see if they can get it. They could have thrown on third, thrown on fourth, tried to get the first down that way. But the idea of getting the field goal and not taking any time off the clock, that's the one option you couldn't do.

And that's the one option they actually did last night. Joe, you talk about aggression. We saw Jill and Hertz running last night like a man on fire. The Falcons gave him an inch and he took a mile, 85 yards of rushing. And of course, there's no AJ Brown, so I assume he thought he needed to take advantage a little bit more of his legs.

Is there a thought or a concern that he might be doing this a little too much? You know, there was a couple years ago when his career started and he's done it less. Last year he certainly did it less.

He had a knee injury. First game of the season he did it, but it wasn't as effective. It was more just like a couple yards here and there, maybe a burst for seven. Last night was actually, J.R., I would say, his most impactful running game in two years. Two years ago, when he was second in MVP, he had games where he ran for a lot of yards. He had a quarter two years ago in a game against the Packers where he ran for 100 yards in a quarter. We haven't seen the kind of burst we saw last night in a long time.

Of course, there was that double-edged sword. A lot of hits, 15 carries. Now it's a short week against the Saints. I felt like last night he was doing what he had to do to try to move the football without his number one wide receiver.

But yeah, that's always the back of people's heads here. Can he continue to do this for 17 games and can he stay healthy? Because, you know, think about his career. Three years ago it was an ankle. Two years ago it was a shoulder. Last year it was a knee. He plays through most of these things, but he's been banged up in his career. Joe Giglio is joining us from WIP in Philadelphia.

No A.J. Brown, but when can we expect to see him back out on the field? So, based on what we heard last night during the game, Lisa Salter spoke to him. It sounds like it's going to be a few weeks. We found out he was hurt last Friday and then into Saturday and then Sunday they ruled him out. But we didn't really know what happened. Something just tightened up in practice and it seemed pretty minor. It seemed like the Eagles thought maybe he could play on Monday. But then you hear Lisa Salter say she spoke to A.J. Brown and he said it's the kind of injury that's going to be a few weeks here.

JR, I'm just doing the math. The Eagles have two games and then they have a week five bye. They have a very early bye. One of the earliest byes in the season this year. So, I don't think we're going to see him until week six.

If the Eagles are being smart about this, if he's going to be knocked out the next game anyway, I would imagine they probably play it safe. He doesn't play this week, obviously, and then next week in Tampa, and then the bye arrives. So, it gives him about a month from injury to the next game, week six, I think he'll play against the Browns. So, I wouldn't expect to see him in either of the next two games before the bye. We think about the trade for Jahan Dotson. He finished yesterday with one reception. Could you see the Philadelphia Eagles doing anything with that receiving group if A.J.

is going to be out for an extended time? They could. I mean, Dotson feels like the move they made is to preempt this, and I thought it was necessary by Howie Roseman because the last two years, Brown and Smith, Devante Smith, have played a lot. They're very durable. They're tremendous receivers. But the depth behind those guys is not great. And you say to yourself, okay, they're great, but what if they get hurt? And now we're in that what if scenario? I doubt a team is going to trade a receiver now, before the deadline, as these teams still try to create something for themselves this season.

But yeah, if something happens, or it's an extended period, or there's a relapse, yeah, they might have to do something. And as far as Dotson last night, people thought maybe it's going to be a big night for him. That was an interesting trade. I got why they did it.

I thought it was a good idea. But you do wonder on the other side of it, J.R., why are the commanders dumping a first-round pick two years ago within the division? It makes you wonder, maybe he's not the player that we thought he was coming out of the draft if that team was willing to give him up so quickly.

Eagles pregame host Joe Giglio is joining us here on the J.R. sport brief show. On the defensive side of the ball, we know dating back to last year, whether it was the health of the linebackers or the defensive backs, they tried to adjust some of that. Saquon Barkley certainly took some responsibility for dropping the ball last night.

Darius Saleh says it was my fault for allowing Drake London to have so much space. Quinnion Mitchell is still in his rookie season. Cooper Dejean finally got some snaps yesterday at the end of the game. What are your thoughts on how the defense has played so far, even though it's only been two games? So I think they've been more opportunistic than they were last year. They've been better in the red zone than they were last year. But the issue is two major things.

And it's very difficult to achieve long-term success when you can't do these things. They're bad against the run, which is really surprising for them, I think, because they spent back-to-back years, first-round picks on defensive tackles from Georgia and Jalen Carter and Jordan Davis. With the expectation, those guys would kind of dominate inside and it hasn't happened enough, so they can't stop the run. They've allowed 14 rushes already this season of 14 yards. I mean, it's incredible how they're getting gashed in the run game through two weeks. And they can't get to the quarterback.

That's the other issue. You know, J.R., there's obviously this fog in New York with Hassan Redick, but the Eagles had a great pass rusher in Hassan Redick. They couldn't figure out a contract with him. They didn't want to pay him. And they chipped him to the Jets, and he's the Jets' problem now. And that's one part of it.

I get that. But they didn't adequately replace Hassan Redick. They tried to sign Bryce Huff, a young player who's had a little bit of success in the NFL, but he looks like he's lost right now, trying to transition from a 4-3 to a 3-4 and be an edge rusher. He's gotten nowhere near the quarterback the first two weeks. So if you can't stop the run and you can't get after the quarterback, it's a problem. And so their defense right now, although they've been pretty good in the red zone and have kept the total points down, they're giving up a lot of yards. They're dead last in the NFL in yards for play allowed in the first two weeks of the season. In a funny world.

Why can't the Jets just swap the guys back, send Bryce Huff back up 95 and send Hassan back down and everybody goes home happy, right? You know what? It's the old Occam's razor thing.

The simplest explanation is usually the best one. And you know what? If they could make the money work for everyone, I think both coaches, both teams, both locker rooms probably, because Redick was a popular player. He's a local kid, you know, local guy from Kansas, New Jersey.

I think everyone would be very happy about that. But obviously these things are a little more complicated when you get agents and contracts involved. Joe, we were asked before you joined us, we had a caller who reached out and said, I don't think the fans in Philadelphia like, you know, Jalen. I don't think the fans appreciate him. He comes across as kind of, you know, hands off-ish when it comes to the media and he's not beloved like a lot of other Philly figures. Is that something that's accurate? Is he kind of just put off-ish? I don't think it is.

Not at least for everyone. I mean, there's always some fans who don't love a particular player, you know, or love someone that no one else does. I think people respect Jalen. He's been a gamer, he's been a really good young quarterback for the Eagles, helped them get through a couple years ago. I do think, JR, there's some concern here in what's happened to his game, you know, the last two seasons, last season and then the first two games of this season. Because when he first started out as the Eagles quarterback, 2021 and then the great 2022, he didn't turn the football over.

It was our favorite thing about him. I just think generally as a fan base that he protected the ball, he didn't turn it over, he made plays on the ground and with his arm. And then since the beginning of last year, the turnovers are piling up. I think after the pick last night to end the game, he leads the NFL in turnovers since the start of last year. So, I think there's some concern that he's regressing as a player, but in terms of likability, you know, he's quiet, he's not going to give you a lot in a press conference. But I do think people realize he's a hard worker, seems like a really good guy who's giving back to the community, and I think most people generally like Jalen Hurts. It's just a matter of, you know, is he as good as people thought he was? Is there any concern as it relates to the Jason Kelce effect? Not so much that he's sitting on the couch right now, but he's doing podcasts and radio and TV and he's not front and center for Hurts.

Ah, sure. It was a different role now for Jalen Hurts. You know, he didn't really call it the Blitz this first year, so it was all Kelce. So, there's like that trickle-down effect and, you know, when there was a lot of conversation, J.R., this offseason, that the Eagles would be better, that they were a better roster.

I kept saying, well, they're better in certain areas, right? Taequann Barkley's an upgrade over DeAndre Swift, they upgraded there. But they also lost two guys that will be in the Eagles Hall of Fame, Jason Kelce and Fletcher Cox. And one of those will be in the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Kelce.

And I think Cox is an interesting candidate, probably more of a borderline guy, but great players. And it's tough to replace their play on the field and their leadership and then just say, you're a better team. I thought the same thing, J.R., about the Rams, when I was like, they're a Super Bowl contender. I'm like, all right, they lost Aaron Donald. It's not easy to lose these all-time players and be better without them year one. So I do think they miss that both in the leadership and then just the play, the steadiness of Jason Kelce and Fletcher Cox. It's not easy to replace guys like that. Joe Giglio is joining us from WIP in Philadelphia. What is your expectation for this team?

Where do you think they can go? What's the high? What's the low for this year? Well, the low, I think we have to recalibrate that after last night. Especially when you factor in, it keeps looking more and more like last year. And J.R., we remember how they ended the season. Now, I think they'll probably stabilize and won't be a terrible team this season the way they were from, say, Thanksgiving onward at the end of last year.

But I also think, as we kind of have a floor, we have to have a realistic feeling. J.R., I don't see a team that looks like a great football team. I don't see a team that's going to win 12 or 13 games, dominate the NFC. Again, they can't get after the quarterback. They can't stop the run. And they turn the ball over a lot on offense.

That's tough to overcome. So the silver lining for them is I don't think the NFC East is very good. In fact, I think it could end up being one of the worst divisions in the NFL. The Giants are terrible.

Washington, I think, is interesting because Jaden Daniels is impressing me. But they probably have a feeling on how good they could be year one with a new coach and a young quarterback. Dallas took a step back. J.R., I think the Eagles are definitely more mediocre than excellent. But mediocre could win the NFC East. I think this division could be one of those years where it's a race to 9-8. How realistic is it that Nick Sirianni gets the boot at the end of this year?

We certainly heard it a lot. The rumors fly around that, oh, Belichick will come in and swoop in. Or maybe he goes to coach the Giants. Is Nick Sirianni having a sweat out this whole year?

Yes. I think it's very possible he's not the Eagles' coach next season. I think the hot seat talk will be there all year. J.R., they took eight days after the postseason loss last year to have their end of season press conference. And as the reports came out and then we found out later on, they did talk through the idea of Bill Belichick. It's one of those things where they stayed together, but it was rocky.

This was a relationship that almost ended at the end of last season. I think when you couple that in, if this isn't a team that turns into a good one by year's end and they miss the playoffs or they get in barely and then lose in the first round, I think Sirianni's on shaky ground. Remember, this is a team that fired Doug Peterson just a couple years removed from winning the Super Bowl. The first Super Bowl the Eagles ever won.

When that happened, that told me nobody's really safe. They fired Andy Reid here in Philadelphia. Andy Reid's going to go down as the top five coach, probably is already, ever.

And obviously after 14 years, they moved on. So if you can move on from that great of a coach and a Super Bowl winning coach in Doug Peterson, yes, Sirianni's certainly on the hot seat here. Okay, so the Philadelphia Eagles, they're like Jennifer Lopez, huh?

Is that what it is? Yeah, you know, I like the concept. The other thing about it is, and I think this, I'm not sure if this will be more in the NFL as years go on or the Eagles are kind of on their own with this. But, J.R., I truly believe, and it really stems from a disastrous tenure with Chip Kelly when he took over all the power. I think the owner here and the GM don't want the coach to have too much power. And what I mean by that is I look at the Eagles and I think, just my theory, they view the head coach as like the manager in baseball. We'll pick the team, we'll pick the coordinators, and you just manage the game, right? You do the pitching changes during the game, you know, just don't screw it up.

And then you can keep your job. That's the way I think they view the head coach. And in baseball, we see this all the time.

It's very easy to run for managers because it's not that difficult considering what the job status is and what you have to do to do that job. It's changed over the years. I think the Eagles view head coaches like that. I don't think it would be a seismic thing for them to change the coach even though, to be fair, he had them in the Super Bowl two years ago.

Yeah, touche, touche. Well, Joe, thank you for the time. I say this, if they give Nick Sirianni the boot, they need to allow him an exit press conference. I need a great quote the same way we got all those quotes when he was introduced. I need to hear what the exit would sound like.

It's the only fair thing to do. We'll air it on WIP. It'll be great. Thank you, J.R. And I'll stay tuned. Where can people follow you and keep up with all your work, Joe? Add Joe Giglio Sports on Twitter, Instagram, and the Midday show. Audit the app. Just download it for your show, my show, all the great shows.

Audit the app. You'll find it there. Appreciate that. We'll catch you on down the line, Joe, okay? You got it, J.R. Thank you.