10-03-25 Dave Zangaro with KOA Sports

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Daves and Garlo, who covers the Eagles for NBC Sports. Dave,
you're on with Ryan Edwards and Nate Jackson. How are you?

Speaker 2 (00:08):
I'm doing well, guys, How were you?

Speaker 1 (00:09):
We're doing great. Obviously very excited about this game, you guys,
you know, undefeated Super Bowl champions. Is everybody happy out
there in Philly? Or are you still doing Santa Claus?

Speaker 2 (00:20):
Yeah? I mean, no one's ever completely happy here, and
it's not just the fans. I mean the players themselves
have not been pleased with the standard they've played here
this year. They're four and ohero but some tight games,
some bad has in there. They're finding ways to win,
and there's an art in that, and I think they
deserve credit for that. But I you know, I think,

(00:40):
to a man in that locker room right now, they're
especially on offense. I haven't been completely thrilled with the
way they played through four games.

Speaker 3 (00:47):
So yeah, kind of lackluster offensive performance through four games,
but they found a way to win anyway. So where
do you think it's going to go from here? Do
you think the offense is going to figure it out
and then they're going to be even more potent? Or
is the offen going to just kind of piddle along
like this and they're not going to get as lucky
laden game and start losing games.

Speaker 2 (01:06):
Yeah, it's a good question, and like from a more
holistic standpoint, it kind of reminds me of the Chiefs
last year, where you know, they're winning all these close
games and you're going, there's no way they can do
this the whole season, and then they end up in
the Super Bowl. So we'll see what happens with this team.
But offensively, you know, they bring back ten of eleven
starters from the team last year, but there were some

(01:28):
issues throughout the season. You know, you win the Super
Bowl and everyone kind of looks back on the season
through these rose colored glasses, and it wasn't perfect throughout
the season. There were some serious questions about the offense,
specifically the passing offense into December last year. So I
think some of these issues have persisted a little bit.
I think the bigger problem for the offense this year

(01:49):
that wasn't a problem last year is that their run
game hasn't been as effective. You know, last year, the
passing offense wasn't great. It was kind of inconsistent, but
they were able to lean on the run. They had
a great offensive line. Taekwon had an all time season
two thousand yard rusher. They haven't been able to run
the balls effectively this year, so I think a lot
of those blemishes offensively are a little bit brighter this year.

(02:12):
You're seeing them show up a little bit. So yeah,
I mean they have to figure it out. They're too
talented to play at the level they've played so far.
You have a quarterback making a ton of money, you
have two stud receivers and AJ Brown and Devonte Smith.
You have maybe the best running back in the world
in Saquon Barkley. The offensive line hasn't been as healthy
as we're used to, but still a lot of talent

(02:32):
up front too, So I think it's really on the
coaching staff to figure out how to make this thing work.

Speaker 1 (02:37):
What's been the fan reaction to AJ Brown and some
of his social media antics and otherwise.

Speaker 2 (02:44):
Yeah, you know, Aj is an emotional guy, and he's
so darn good. I mean, he's one of the best
receivers in the world, and you know, I think fans
understand their frustration. They'd probably prefer him to handle it
a little differently. This is not the first time he's
gone on social media and cause a little bit of
a stir. But as far as the frustration itself, I
kind of get it. I mean, he's not being utilized

(03:07):
the way he probably should be. He came into the
season wanting to really prove himself as one of the best,
if not the best, receiver in the NFL, and I,
you know, I think he's that talented. It's just the
offense has not really done much to help him out
with that. So the frustrations warranted. Does he have to
do it on social media? Probably not the best way

(03:29):
to go about it. But we talked to him this
week and he didn't back down from the frustration part
of it, right, Like, he still thinks that the offense
needs to be better. And the funny part about this
whole thing is that DeVante Smith is right there with them.
It's just he didn't tweet about it. You know, he
talked to us today and he expressed a lot of
the same things AJ told us earlier in the week.

(03:49):
The only difference is he waited Kyle to do it
and didn't get on his phone Sunday night, and that
goes a long way. But you know, as far as
the concerns that aj, I don't think those are him alone,
and it's you know, everything comes with the caveats that
they're four and oh right, they're winning these games, but

(04:09):
they know it needs to be better because they're not
a team that wants to get to the playoffs, thir
team that wants to win another Super Bowl.

Speaker 3 (04:15):
So Sean Payton, head coach of the Broncos, had a
lot of praise for Vic Fangio in the job he's
doing with the Eagles defense. Vic Fangio is a head
coach here a couple of years back, and now he
seems pretty happy there in Philly. Can you talk about
the job he's done with that defense there?

Speaker 2 (04:30):
Yeah, I mean he's been spectacular, and you know, he
he came back to Philly. He's obviously as Pennsylvania roots.
He comes back to Philly, wants to finish his career here.
It's like a nice story. And then last year he
has the best defense in the NFL and just kind
of a master class from him. Last season, he gets
Zach Bond, who was you know, kind of a fringe

(04:51):
NFL player at that point, like a special teams guy,
turns him into the best linebacker in football. They go
out and draft quin Mitchell, Cooper, Jen Those guys are
great in year one, they're better in year two. Jalen
Carter takes a big step. Like all these players just
got better and better. It's the young defense and we're
seeing it again in year two. They lost a lot
of pieces from the Super Bowl, guys like Josh Sweat,

(05:14):
Milton Williams, Darius Slay, but they've reloaded and you know,
even it's funny. Last week they gave up a bunch
of yards to the Bucks, but I thought it was
their best performance of the year so far. It started
to look like the version of the defense we saw
in twenty twenty four, and right now that defense is
kind of carrying the entire team. I've been really impressed

(05:34):
by him, his ability to get the most out of
his players, but also to game plan and scheme week
to week. It's been truly remarkable to.

Speaker 1 (05:44):
Watch Daves Dengarl joining us here covers the Eagles for
NBC Sports. Is it super Bowl or bust for the
Eagles this year? I mean, anything less than that would
be considered a disappointment, right, I mean, I guess it
depends who.

Speaker 2 (05:58):
You ask, but the expectations are high and they should be.
I mean, this is, in my estimation, the most talented
roster in football. And you know, there's a lot of
factors that go into a health obviously is one of them.
They were lucky to be very healthy last year, as
they were in twenty two as well when they got
to the Super Bowl. But you yield at the collection
of talent and there's that should be the expectation. It's

(06:23):
a tougher schedule this year, but they've already gone through
four really tough games with wins and things they need
to improve. But yeah, I mean I think that they're
not looking at it like that. They're really trying their
best to take it one game at a time, which
is a cliche, but if you can kind of approach
it like that, it goes a long way. But you
step back and you think, Okay, I mean, this is

(06:45):
a team that the window is clearly open. They just
have to go out of their own way sometimes. But
if they do that, yeah, I think that is the
expectation is that they should be competing for a Super Bowl.

Speaker 3 (06:56):
So Cooper degen in the cornerback is leading the team
in town, which is kind of unusual. Can you talk
about that defense and where they might be vulnerable. I mean,
that's a, like I said, an unusual stat there. Typically
it's a linebacker and it means, you know, maybe it
means that they're allowing these underneath catches and just tackling. Well,
what have you seen from this defense that kind of

(07:17):
contributes to that statistic.

Speaker 2 (07:20):
Yeah, it's funny because normally that's not a good thing
when you see a cornerback leading the team in tackles.
But with Cooper gen it's a little different. He's playing
the nickel spot most often, so he's kind of in
the mix of all the action, and he is such
a sound tackler, so many of his tackles come pretty
close to the line of scrimmage, if not tackles for loss,
and he's been excellent. If there's one weakness on this defense,

(07:43):
it's the second cornerback position. They have Cooper Gene mostly
playing inside on nickel downs. They have Quinna Mitchell, who's
an offending superstar in my opinion, at one of the
outside corner spots. He's been traveling with top receivers. That
second cornerback spot has not been strong. It's a spot
vacated by Darius Slay and the offseason, Isaiah Rodgers also

(08:05):
left as a free agencies been playing really well for
the Vikings, so they started the year with a Dori Jackson,
former Giant, former Titan in that spot. Last week, Healey Ringo,
who former fourth round pick, got the start. I think
there's a good chance he starts again in this game.
But that's the spot if you're able to as an offense,
you want to try to attack. It makes it tougher.

(08:27):
If you're limited weapon wise, then you have Quenya Mitchell
on your best receiver. Kind of like what we saw
last week with the Bucks. They had a mecha Buka
and Quinnon just kind of sucked to him all game.

Speaker 1 (08:38):
Last one I got for you, Dave, really appreciate the time.
As far as this matchup goes between the Broncos and Eagles,
how do you think Eagles fans are feeling about this
or you guys kind of and in some ways maybe
looking past the Broncos a bit.

Speaker 2 (08:51):
You know, I don't think the Eagles themselves are looking
past the Broncos. It's one thing I've been really impressed
during the Nick Siriani era. You hear about trap games
and what they might mean, and certainly like this is
on paper, could be a considered trap game for the Eagles.
They just came off a win in Tampa place that's
given them a lot of trouble a a division game
next week on a short week, So all the telltale

(09:14):
signs are there for a trap game, but they haven't
been caught in those traps under Nick Sirianni, which I
give him a lot of credit for. I think that's
coaching making sure your players are ready each and every week.
As far as like the fans competence, you know, not
in a negative way. I don't think the fans are
thinking about the Broncos. They're more thinking about the Eagles

(09:35):
and what they need to do to clean up some
of what's kind of prevented them from playing to their
standards so far this year. So I think they appreciate
and recognize that it's a very good defense come to town.
But I think the Eagles do it this way too,
like if they can get out of their own way,
if they can do the things they need to do,
I'm not sure that they really worry about the opponent

(09:57):
as much as just doing what they're supposed to do.

Speaker 1 (10:00):
That makes a lot of sense. Really appreciate the time,
great insight, Dave, Thank you so much.

Speaker 2 (10:03):
Man all right, guys, take care.

Speaker 1 (10:05):
Thanks to Dave's and Garl