the next game that we're getting to it is that Friday night game Eagles versus Packers this is a special one this one is in Brazil tried to say that like Vin Diesel from Fast and Furious I don't know how close that I got to that one but you know not close sorry uh it's all right salop is where this is played Eagles Packers how do we feel about this one Carmen what is your matchup that matters for these two teams uh soccer of shockers again I'm going with the trenches uh especially given these two teams though we the Eagles are so uh known for both sides of the ball Packers uh we're going to see but the Kenny Clark kind of interior defensive line rotation of the Green Bay Packers against the interior of the Eagles o line in particular given the fact that they lost Jason Kelce and if you think about what has been the Eagles signature play over the last couple Seasons now it's been the tush push and while Jaylen Herz get gets a lot of credit for that I think that hey Jason Kelce probably deserves more and and if you talk to any offensive lineman which I have over and over again when this first became a thing uh every single one of them told me it really has more to do with the center and it really has more to do with Jason Kelce into why they're so successful and that's why other teams haven't been able to replicate it at the success rate that the Eagles had and you know offensive linemen too they're not self- serving they're not going to tell me something just to kind of inflate their own importance or position because they they know how important they are and they know that they're not going to get the credit they deserve so looking at that and and how you know the o line allowed second fewest sacks in the League last year the Eagles o line did is that going to continue without your anchor in the center um I'm I'm really concerned about it especially given the fact that we've heard from Green Bay and out of Green Bay that in Jeff Halley's new 4-3 defense by the way something that hasn't been seen in Green Bay in 15 years yeah uh this is a really aggressive unit it hinges a lot on the safety position more than anything but it does require a lot of push up front so I Kenny Clark is really excited to do that as are the defensive ends but I think in particular the interior is where you're going to see if this Eagles offensive line can really make up for the fact that they lost one of if not the best centers ever in football I think that that's a that's a really good call out and I like the back and forth that we got going here you're talking about trenches first I'm going to talk about a skill position player matchup because Jer Alexander is really big for what the Packers want to do you mentioned how important safety is I think that Xavier mcken was one of the most impactful free agency signings that we saw exactly because of what you said in Jeff Halley's defense he is so important to being able to play cover one like they want to but you know what else is very important to play in cover one Corners who can play Man coverage right you've got to be able to play uh you got to be able to have faith in your Corners at that point and when you play Man coverage against Philadelphia Eagles that's a daunting task because it's Devonte Smith it's AJ brown right when you look at um when you look at Jer Alexander's PFF grades over the last four seasons I mean they've been pretty strong last year was a little bit lower at 75.9 but the year before 80.3 the year before 73.4 but he only played 200 snaps so that's a little different you go back to 2020 and Elite 90.7 so we know what Jer Alexander is capable of can he truly take away one of those two studs for the Eagles so much so that the cover one schemes that they really want to run they can and they have effective they have an effective game plan for it and they're able to really do what they're trying to what Jeff Halley has done for a lot of times throughout his career so that matchup to me is really really important as well um what about a plus factor for you who's a plus factor in this game uh shocker of shocker it's a saquan Barkley for the Philadelphia Eagles because say Jer Alexander is able to take away either AJ brown or Devonte Smith you now have a guy in the backfield that can be a factor in that underneath kind of check down game or can also just kind of bulldo people provided the Eagles offensive line keeps up with what we're used to seeing from them uh and I think that Sequon Barkley the addition of him is just providing such a dynamic component to this Eagles offense again shocker of shockers but that is going to in much in the way that Derrick Henry helps Lamar Jackson I mean Jaylen Herz is a good runner too and we've seen him on design runs as well and so adding saquon Barkley to this I think it's to a lesser degree than what you're going to see in Baltimore but it is going to present defenses with a really hard decision to make especially when you also have those two incredible wide receivers that are both wide receiver ones if we're being honest uh on that Eagles offense so I'm riding with Sequon barklay I'm really it's gonna be really weird to see him in an Eagles uniform it is yeah uh but I mean I think it's he's gonna pay dividends for what this offense wants to do especially under Kell Moore as well yeah I mean I think that it's a huge addition there's no about it because you you touched on Jason Kelce not being their major factor it it is there's no doubt about it but just as a whole this Eagles offensive line has been one of the best in the NFL over the last three to four years last two years they've had two different lead backs in my Sanders and then DeAndre Swift both of them got over a thousand yards rushing and I think that most would tell you except maybe my Sanders and um DeAndre Swift who you know I wouldn't want them to because a competitiveness but I think most would tell you that saquon Barkley is better and that you have more faith in him to be able to do more things for your offense and so he seems to be the Talk of the Town they absolutely love that this dude is in the offense and and we'll see we'll see if it could have like that Christian mcaffrey type of effect right when he went over to the 49ers and they just used him in basically every way his skill sets and his talents allow them to and we've seen him play at an unbelievably high level because of it because of the offense that he is in I hope we get that from saquan because we haven't seen that Elite play from him since 2018 that rookie Seas and I think that we got the best year yet coming up Packers man that that offensive side of the football is going to be so much fun we talked all offseason about how great Jordan love was to end the season really second half of the season um he got super comfortable super confident in that offense and I think the pass catchers the wide variety of pass catchers is a big reason why you got the two tight ends but also you got Jaden Reed you got Romeo dos you got davien Wicks you got Christian Watson wats I'm gonna say my plus factor is davia Wicks because when I looked at this team Dalton made a really good point when we were going through our division previews that funny enough when we think about a quarterback playing their best we think about average depth of targets going up right they're not afraid to push the ball deep down the field um they're they're willing to attack the field in in in ways that are in the intermediate and deep levels like they weren't previously but it was funny I thought him pointing this out was was really great by him Jordan lovees average dep the target actually went down a little bit when he was playing really like his best ball his best football last year and it was because he was more confident to deliver the ball anywhere he didn't feel like he had to force it deep down the field he felt like he could attack you know in the shorter areas and really get the ball in these guys hands in space and then allowing them to become Playmakers when you start to do that more then it's just it becomes like one chess move after the other now the Deep balls open up even more and I think that we saw that specifically from Davi and Wix week 10 on Wix had the highest receiving grade of any of those receivers and he had a 22.3 threat percentage which you'll hear us talk about here on this show it's basically wide receiver usage how often are you being targeted per route that you run when you were out there 22.3% he was the second highest on the team um and he had 19 explosive plays on just 66 targets during that time as well so this is somebody who they love to go shoot he played I think one snap this preseason and guess what it was deep ball touchdown all right we're good we're good get to the regular season we don't need to see more from you so I think that that connection with Wicks is going to be a big one here for Jordan Love A lot of people are expecting a lot from Jordan love and you understand it he's going to be in that mvp conversation um especially early on and it could uh it could start on Friday against the Philadelphia Eagles we'll see I do I do think too that I mean given the sheer amount of weapons that Jordan love has Davi Wix go when often overlooked by defense is because there's only so many guys that you can defend and at that point Who's rookie there's not really a lot of tape on him what do you like are you really concerned about Davian Wicks at this point when you thought the focal point was going to be Romeo dobs and Christian Watson that wasn't the case Jane Reed led the team all that kind of stuff but we saw it I I saw it firsthand at that Dallas playoff game where just the defense didn't know where to turn at that point and and Jordan love knew his offense well enough at that point where he can get the ball out to anyone because he's comfortable with all of these guys and Matt laflor is apparently allergic or wants to vomit when he hears the words wide receiver one yeah I get it from from all the from all the ranking season and you know we contribute to that a little bit sorry Matt uh I can understand it he's probably like you just excited to get that out there and play football Darlene in the chat says Green Bay Packers is going to win on Friday night how do I not ride with Darlene that kind of confidence man I mean that's that's really what you're looking for [Music]