Football at Four: Updating Several Eagles Injury Situations and More

Football at Four is powered by the Inside the Birds Podcast, and it is brought to you by the Fanatic Sportsbook at Ocean Casino Resort in Atlantic City. And of course, Geoff Mosher is here on a, actually, not of course, he doesn't usually do the Friday. Andrew was in the locker room today with Nick Sirianni speaking, he went a little long today, so Mosher is pinch hitting for Andrew, who was pinch hitting for Adam, who is now here. So Geoff Mosher, the pinch hitter, extraordinary, rusty stop over here, stepping in. But this is an interesting Friday. Yesterday, that news, it kind of rocked everybody. What do we kind of feel and now know? Nick didn't want to talk about it, but kind of feels like a very interesting moment for this Eagles organization with where this season is and now this news. For sure, it is, Mike. I think the biggest thing to take away is that although a superficial clot is not maybe as severe or intense or emergent, I guess, emergency as say a pulmonary embolism, which would be like a normal blood clot that you might get anywhere and especially bad in your lungs. The fact that it moved. See, the Eagles said it moved at some point after, when they gave him imaging after the game. So, the game they thought was good because it allowed him to be mobile. Apparently, it's better if you're moving around for the clot, okay? It's bad if you're sitting in an environment where you're not moving at all. And of course, they had to fly back on a long flight. So, at some point, the clot moved. And that's what makes it severe. And that's all the information we have. And they don't have to share any other information with us other than that. But that, to me, makes this a very perilous, not to say perilous situation, but a sticky situation for both Tealen Hurts and the team. And we'll just have to see going forward what the treatment is going to require. Because if it's blood thinners, then he could be out for quite a long time, Mike. Yeah, we had Dr. David Chow on yesterday. He did say he'd like the timeline that the Eagles, he feels like because of the way that they explained it, the timeline, it doesn't feel like they mishandled this in any way. I mean, people are like, how the heck did the guy play? I asked him about flying. And he said, listen, he's not flying next to grandma, needing to go to the bathroom, that that should have been okay. But you're right, if you go in the blood thinners, when we talked about Victor Wimbayama, he had a blood clot in his calf, he missed five months of the season. You know, that would be- Didn't Chris Bosh also have this and then wind up his career wound up ending, right? If I'm not mistaken. Yeah, I think you're right on the Chris Bosh thing. Obviously, Wheeler had it in his shoulder, he had to get surgery and he missed, you know, the whole season and parts of this year. So you're right about, has that thing moved? Is it- That will be a big thing, I guess we won't know, but this, whatever it is, it feels like the season is kind of teetering right now and it almost has that feeling of anything that can go wrong will go wrong. Right, it's, I mean, it's a terrible thing. We all hope for the best for Jalen. This is more about life than football. Well, from a football standpoint, because that's what we do. Yeah. I mean, not only, there's just so many, first of all, they're banged up everywhere else too. They're trying to stay afloat and they're trying to make progress with their injuries, not regress. But this is clearly when you lose your starting quarterback, a regression in that standpoint. And then, you know, it looks, it looks sort of bad now, even though at the time I didn't think it was a bad move. But obviously, releasing Andy Dalton had ramifications because if you had him still on the roster as your number three, even if you just, you have a guy who's capable. But like you're, if McKee got hurt, then Dalton could go in. So now you've got a starting quarterback in Tanner McKee. And if he gets hurt, what are you doing? You're going to Cole Payton? I'm just telling everybody now. Well, they did pick up Joe Milton today, but I can't imagine. That's the problem is they probably wanted to get back Dalton. He's obviously not going to resign. Dalton at least would have known the system. You wanted to get somebody who could at least know the system, even if it wasn't Dalton. Joe Milton has played for the Patriots under Josh McDaniels, and he's played for the Cowboys under Brian Schottenheimer. This is not exactly the system that the Eagles are running, that would be a parallel to those other two. So, it's a close situation. Real quick, Geoff Mosher is with us. The breaking news, the injury report is out. Saquon Barkley will not play in the game. He has been ruled out. Jalix Hunt will not play. Jalen Hurts, obviously. Michael Carter will not play, and Will Shipley is out. Also doubtful is AJ Eponessa. You still have some questionable guys, but I guess the one good thing here, Geoff, is that I do not see a designation for Devonte Smith. Yeah, he's there. Oh, you're right, no game designation. Yeah, he was a full participant. That's great. Right, no designation. Limited for Landon Dickerson and Drew Kendall. So getting Smith back would be a big help. Losing Barkley, I guess you're going with Damian Pierce again this week, Carson Steele. And I would ask you the question about Carson Steele that I think we talked about last week a little bit, is the fact that he was such a big receiver in the passing game in the preseason. Does Tanner McKee allow that to be a factor? Does he dump off a little bit more? I mean, I absolutely, if you're asking if Carson Steele should see the light of day, I would agree with you. I mean, I don't know. You cannot give 25 carries to Damian Pierce. He's not explosive. He's a grinder and he really doesn't fit an outside zone scheme. He fits an inside zone scheme. Carson Steele can catch the ball, can give you a little bit more juice. It was kind of strange that they signed him to the 53 and didn't play him at all. I guess the Jags, I get it, Shipley at least started the game, but once he went out, I would have thought there would have been a little bit of a rotation there. It was not the case, especially with your quarterback not running. I think it would be malpractice. By the way, me saying this and I'm sure you agree, this doesn't mean that we think the difference between winning and losing is Carson Steele. I'm not trying to pump up Carson Steele at all. What I'm just saying is you're looking for some explore, you're looking for some guy who can maybe make a little bit happen on a play that Carson Steele can do. No, you're right. Just right. Can they do something with the offense where they're struggling? The offensive line is a struggle bus. Something that's quick and fast. Just hey, dump it to you, you go and run. It's something that Hurts just either doesn't want to do or they don't ask him to do. Yeah, very much so. Which one is it? Oh, go ahead. Is it doesn't want to do or they don't ask him to do? Which one is it, A or B? Are we talking about over the long haul or just last week? Because the injury, the calf may have been an issue about why he wasn't running. That's what you're asking? No, no, no, no. I'm sorry. I'm saying about dumping it off to the running back. It just seems like it's either something that he doesn't want to do or they don't ask him to do. Yes and yes. I mean, there's always an outlet. I mean, there's always a running back. If he's not in for pass protection, he's running a route. He's either in the flat or actually running a receiver route. So a lot of that is on just the design of the offensive, where Jalen Hurts wants to go with the ball. Well, that would be one thing. I think there was this small conglomerate of people that would like to see a quarterback like McKee. Maybe not in the previous offense, but what about in a more West Coast offense? Thoughts there? I mean, theoretically, what the West Coast offense should do for McKee caters to his strengths as far as getting the ball out quickly, open outlets, some pitch and catch. But that doesn't mean it's going to definitely do that and that the quarterback is going to take to it. So it's still a new offense for him. He had some rough points during the preseason. Been a couple of months since, so hopefully he's a little more, I would like to say he's a little more ingratiated with the offense. But you got to remember Andy Dalton was the number two for the first few weeks. So that meant that he was probably running the scout team. Like I don't know how much work with the actual offense that Mickey was getting at the time outside of individual developmental periods after practice. What were you going to ask me? So I have a real issue and maybe it's just me because I have bad eyes. But the Eagles report that they put on on social media, the O for out and the D for doubtful almost look exactly the same. So I have to really zoom in to tell if a guy is out or doubtful. Even the Q looks a little bit like an O. So sometimes I think a guy is out when he's questionable and vice versa. Do you have that issue too or is it just me? Well, I'm reading the e-mail that they sent. So I have not seen that. Okay. Yeah. If you look at the one that they put out on their socials, it's really, really tough to tell. I'm looking at it now. Yeah. It looks like the first six guys are out. Yeah. The O and the D, well. Look at Eponesa and look at Hunt. I thought that was the same letter. I just thought six guys are out. Eponesa, yes, is the D and Hunt is an O. I feel like I'm at the eye doctor and I got a chart and I got to cover one eye. Well, the weird part is that they put Eponesa out of order. Out guys, right? Right. They put two guys that are out, Barclay and Carter, then Eponesa who's doubtful, and then Hunt who's out, Hertz who's out. So why would they stick him in there with the out guys? I see what you're saying. They do it in alphabetical. No, they don't do it in alphabetical. I don't understand. I just don't get it. Yeah. Doesn't make any sense. I agree. But out is Barclay, Michael Carter, Jaylix Hunt, Hertz and Shipley. I guess the thought process was, what's the deal with Grenard? He was a full participant. I guess he's going to try again to go on Sunday. He said he was going to warm it up. I believe he or someone else said he was going to warm it up before the game, like he did with London, and see if he's good to go. So I would tell you then, if that's the case, that's already not the greatest sign in the world because we're talking about a guy who's played 50 snaps this year, missed six weeks before he could play those 50 snaps, missed another week after, and then missed several weeks, if not, I'm sorry, months, last year after getting injured. So you're talking about a guy who's not played or practiced a whole lot of football since around this time last year. Right, and Eponesa looks like he might not play, and Hunt is out, so what does that mean for that, right, what does that mean for that position on Sunday? Guess we're gonna see a lot of Nolan Smith and Arnold Evacating. I mean, it's not like there's a whole lot left in the tank. I think they'll continue to use Zach Bond as a rusher in their blitz packages, as a fifth rusher, or as the fourth rusher in a four man sim pressure, which we've talked about a lot, where you blitz a linebacker, but you drop an edge player. He was that guy against the Jaguars, and I imagine he'll continue to be against the Panthers. Offensive line, Geoff, looks like Kendall, questionable, also Landon Dickerson, it looks like you're gonna go with the same line as you did last week. How does that affect having Tanner McKee play that position? Well, a lot. If they play it as poorly as they did a week ago. Yeah, I mean, look, it's gonna be a real curiosity to see if Landon Dickerson, who you said is questionable, right? I'm looking at it in the same time you are. Limited today. Limited, but questionable. I kind of feel like, I don't know, so we'll see how much that helps if he's able to play. And they also list Drew Kendall as questionable and limited. Usually, if you're limited on Friday, Mike, you don't play. That's just, I'm not saying these guys aren't gonna play, but I'm saying limited on the last practice of the week often is a, that to me is the old doubtful, which they got rid of. So we'll have to see. It might as well, it could be, you might be seeing Majors, Lampkin and all those guys back in there again. Damian Pierce, I was talking to Mike Kay earlier. You remember Mike used to cover the Eagles. He's now down in Carolina. And he said, yeah, you can run the ball. I said, yeah, but not with this offensive line. I mean, the Eagles haven't run the ball. We have a joke in our Inside the Birds free game show, Mike, where I blame Caplan for this because every week, going back to the start of last year, the Eagles have played a team, just like the Panthers this week, to have injuries in the secondary. And every week, Caplan would be like, this is the team you come out passing on. You come out, Pat, and you throw it, you throw it. And every week, we watch the Eagles pass offense just regress into an immovable object, right? So I don't say the same thing with the running game now. I don't believe they can run in anybody until they show it. Not with this offensive line. I mean, where are you getting pushed from? Now, you would hope that, hey, Tyler Steen, no, I guess, you know, Markel Bell, I guess is more in pass protection. He's better than run blocking right now. It seems like, and Milada, for whatever reason, Milada has never been a dominant, seemingly run blocker. I feel like he and Dickerson at Dickerson's best could, when they combo blocked on a five technique, it was like just a massive amount of humanity. I do think Milada, he may not admit this, I think he's been impacted somewhat mentally by the guy next to him either not being very good anymore or just changing all the time. Well, he said yesterday that he's like, I might have jumped the gun on that. I mean, he's talking about the other guys and then the Hurts News comes down. Yeah. It's almost like you look around, Geoff, and you're the lone soldier left in the room, and you're like, all the good times that we had, these guys aren't here anymore. It's like the guy who was in college and everybody graduated in four years except for you. You're like, wait a second, I don't have my friends around here anymore. This isn't as fun as it was. That's what it feels like for him. I said on the show, it reminds me of two memes, the Fresh Prince final season episode where he walks into the room and nobody's there, and Reservoir Dogs, when Travolta walks into the room and he's looking around. Where is everybody? Yeah, that seems to be like Mylada right now, when he looks around that offensive line room, like, okay, Kelsey bowed, okay, Dickerson is hurt, and he's not here, Juergens ain't got rid of. Yeah, it is got to be a kind of a culture shock. And that's one of the big topics today, Geoff, is are the Eagles kind of in limbo of where they are as an organization? If this week doesn't go well and next week doesn't go well, like, do they start to think about reset, rebuild? Is that a thought with the way this organization thinks? Well, it's usually not. And I did say last week or whatever with you, I didn't feel like the trait of Cam Juergens was a fire sale. And it's not. They got a second round pick. And they felt like they probably were going to be moving on from him anyway. But you still wouldn't have done that if you were undefeated, I think. Or if you were looking like a team that was going to win a Super Bowl, I don't think you would have done that. So what would happen if they then lose again Sunday and then find out Hertz is going to be out for four to six weeks? I don't know. It's obviously, Howie has already made a move that he probably would not have made in the past. So we'd have to see how he'd react to more bad news or losing. Geoff Mosher from the Inside the Birds podcast, insidethebirds.com. You can listen to the Inside the Birds podcast on all podcasting platforms. And of course, check out all his Eagles coverage and more of his team over at phillyvoice.com. And he was kind enough to jump in on today's edition of the Football at Four. Carolina 2-2, playoff team last year. They scored 30 points a game. You're at home. You are a dog at home here. Does this feel like one of those where everyone's bailed on them and they find a way or just too beat up? It's funny because it felt like, you know, they were given the benefit of the Dow early because on Monday, I think they were one and a half point favorites. All right. And then more injury information came out. And it's like, OK, they're not. Now it's back to one and a half for the Panthers. And then the Hurts news came out. And then, I don't know, you probably have seen later. I think it was three and a half. It could be going even up now that the Panthers have been favored in this game for the last 48 hours. And it might be going up as they get closer to Sunday. Yeah, now Barclays out too, you know that. I mean, Smith coming back, I guess, does help you a little bit. If you need to just throw one down the field and hope that he can get under there. I think it was you that said it last week. The throw that goes to Wicks, if that's Smith, does Smith get under that and catch that thing, right? Correct. Or if it's even, if Wicks doesn't have a hamstring, that, there's just so much that went wrong there, yeah. Three and a half the number is right now, by the way. Three and a half, over under 39 and a half. It's like, can Philly score 10? I don't know, I like under. Their defense really good and Eagles offense really bad, so it feels like an under feel in this one. All right, Geoff Mosher, everybody from the Inside the Birds Podcast, joined us here on a Friday edition of Football at Four. Thanks, man. You got it, Mike. Take care.