September 18, 2025 • 35 mins
The Between The Horns crew details the importance of applying pressure to the Philadelphia Eagles' run game especially when it comes to running back Saquon Barkley, strategizing a defense for the tush push, and more.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:06):
All right, here we go with a week three edition
between the Horns, presented about your Southern California toyo to dealers.
I'm JB. Long with DeMarco Farr and Maurice Jones. Drew
it rained today in Los Angeles. Don't know what to
make of that, but looking forward to figuring out what
we make of this matchup, a divisional round rematch with
the Eagles, a pair of undefeated teams.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
What's up, guys, hey man happy? Yes, Tony, Tony, Tony
was dead wrong. It does rain in southern California.
Speaker 3 (00:31):
It does rain, then, I feel like I mean, as
I was pulling in to the facility, it was a
little humid outside, so maybe it's getting this prepared for
humidity in Philadelphia.
Speaker 1 (00:41):
The Happy Happy reminded me, Happy birthday, Kevin Dotson.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
Happy birthday.
Speaker 1 (00:45):
Yes, yes, yes, you get to clash with Jalen Carter
to celebrate.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
Absolutely what a birthday present. Yes, you get one of
the biggest bears in the league right in front.
Speaker 3 (00:53):
He just went against one last week. Like it gets
any easier?
Speaker 2 (00:57):
This is true?
Speaker 1 (00:58):
Yes, what else is going on?
Speaker 2 (00:59):
Not just getting ready for Philly? Man, I'm geeked. We
follow the same ethos. Right, if you beat me in
a fight, you're gonna have to fight me every single day.
I am so glad this team gets to go back
to Philly where it ended last season, where you get
to pick up right where you left off. And let's see,
it's not snowing, it's not at night. It's different. We
get the rollover half some of megs and go play football.
(01:21):
I cannot wait for this matchup in Philly.
Speaker 3 (01:23):
Yeah, I think you always want to go in as
healthy as possible, right, so you're gonna go in a
little banged up. But at the end of the day,
I think learning a lot from what we saw last
week against the Titans. About the Rams, I'm excited but
yet interested to see how they're gonna play against Philly.
And then in that atmosphere, right, you've already been there
in the playoff atmosphere. You know those Philly fans are
gonna be ready to go. Philadelphia has already played two
(01:44):
tough games, one against the Cowboys, one against the Chiefs,
so they're they're battle tested. But this is a great
early a great early opponent to kind of see where
you are now. I will say this, I was on
the flight today coming down this morning and ran into
a couple of Niner fans, some of their their radio people,
and they're like, oh man, we're so happy we have
the easiest schedule. Look, you guys got to go play
(02:05):
Philly this week and we got to play the Saints
last week. And I was like, you're happy about playing
weak people? No disrespect to the Saints, because the Saints
are doing an awesome job battling back. But I want
to be I don't ever want to go into a
season like not being able to test my my off
season workout program.
Speaker 2 (02:21):
Oh I want final Boss every weekend. Yeah, why not?
Like why do I want something easy?
Speaker 3 (02:27):
Because then, like I rather know that if I if
we play the Eagles now that we have a chance,
whoever we play later down the road, we're comfortable because
we've already we kind of already tangled a little bit.
If you've never tangled with the Eagles and you got
to see them in in Philly and the snow, and
it's like it's a different deal. So uh to me,
I'm I'm I'm excited. I think the Rams are excited,
(02:47):
but I'm excited to see how they perform.
Speaker 1 (02:49):
What level of the video game. Have the Rams been
playing so far with wins over Houston and Tennessee winless
each in their own right, albeit because they played the Rams.
But you know how many what conclusions are you willing
to drop based on the strength of schedule today?
Speaker 2 (03:03):
You ever played Galagha. You're at the challenging stage, you
know what I mean. You've gone through the first two
levels and now you're going up a notch, So this
is going to be different. You should be excited. I
think we're all excited for the same thing. I think
we're seeing the same thing out in front. I think
the offense is starting to get on track. Matthew Stafford
is working himself into form. DeVante Adams is as good
as advertised, and this defense I can't go I can't
(03:26):
say enough about how well they played against cam Ward.
If it wasn't for cam Ward, if it wasn't for
his athletic ability, that would have been a laugher. At
some points, various points in that game, that defense was
pitching an absolute shoutout run end pass. They stopped the run,
they earned the right the rest of the pass, so
they got into the backfield and made him move off
his spot. So I think you're hitting your peak at
(03:46):
the right time to be facing a final boss or
a Philadelphia Eagle squad going there.
Speaker 3 (03:51):
Yeah, I was saying this. I think Houston is a
championship team with regards if they lost their zero to
two I think if you look at all the to
two teams, they're the ones that scare me most of
bouncing back and make a runout. Even though their offensive
line is a little shaky. They handled Tampa pretty well right.
They were getting after Tampa, and Tampa made some plays
late in that game. But this is kind of how
it goes with Tennessee. You took care of business. You
(04:13):
beat Tennessee the way you were supposed to. But when
you look at you, when you look at Philly, all
the moves that we made this off season was for them, period,
point blank, point a forward. Guess what glad to have you?
Here we go, right, Nate Lammond, guess what glad to
have you? Awesome job against Houston. Guess what here you go?
Hear me? Right? So these are it's a good opportunity
(04:35):
to see and again I think the NFL is based
off of each week you have an opportunity to see
where you are right. It's you may win some games
and not play well, which we've seen before, and that
doesn't justify who you are, and you may lose some
games to play really well, but it just tells you
where you are as the season goes along. And you
made all season moves to stop this particular team's running
(04:56):
game and to slow down what they do. We've seen
that happened the last couple of weeks. Can you be
the third team to slow down this running game and
what they're doing?
Speaker 1 (05:04):
At least one other one that I think ties in directly,
and that's Coleman Shelton.
Speaker 2 (05:07):
Yeah, oh yeah.
Speaker 1 (05:08):
Not to overreact to one play at the end of
your last game from last season, the only play that mattered,
but there were some other ones along the way. I
think it was an ongoing theme. But yeah, when you
bust up front and you bring in a center to
try and fix that, and you get to go test
that in week three, that's what this is to me.
It's a measuring stick week. It's not the final answer.
I'm curious what this game means to you and what
(05:28):
you think it means to the RAMS, But I think
it's a September reality check are we one of the
best teams in the NFC or do we have some
more work to do? Surely you have more work to do,
but can we develop this roster further? Do we need
to supplement this roster? This is a really informative data
point for me. If you go in there and you
pick up where you left off in January and you
get over the top of Philadelphia, great, If you're lacking
(05:52):
in some areas, still, well, you have resources between now
and November that if you can keep your head above
water and your record where you want it to be,
you can address those needs before you see Philadelphia or
the equivalent team again.
Speaker 3 (06:02):
Yeah, I agree. I think I think one, offensively, their
offensive line going against this defensive line is gonna be
a big deal, even though they're missing two one hundred
million dollar guys that can rotate in. But more importantly,
it's it's if your defensive line can hold up, right.
I think again this you made adjustments to your both
your trenches to see if they can find a way
to fit against his Philadelphia roster. I mean, and that's
(06:25):
why I think, that's why I'm so excited about it, right.
I think when you look at this game. And I
know to our fans wins and losses matter, but I'm
looking more to are these guys built and ready for
what's to come? Right, Like this game ahead of us
is going to tell us where we are or where
we need to be, right, are we where we need
to be now? Or do we need to get better?
(06:46):
Or is there like what is how are we going
to fix these type of things? And so I'm excited again.
Like you said, it's a measuring stake and and that's
the best type of game you want because at the
end of the day, and DeMarco correct me wrong, you
guys lost the Tennessee when you won the Superinteme right, yeah,
and it's mad too, but it was a measuring stick
to see where you needed to be. Right then you
got a chance to get back to them, found a
way to win. And so that's what makes this game
(07:07):
so important.
Speaker 2 (07:07):
We were like, we can't play this bad again, that's
how and we want to see them, We want to
see those guys again, and we did. But I would
say this, you guys were on quarters systems in college
or high school.
Speaker 1 (07:16):
I was this is like you were you weren't It's
so long ago.
Speaker 2 (07:20):
I don't firt semester.
Speaker 1 (07:21):
I remember what my college was.
Speaker 2 (07:22):
Oh well, this is like you're a final exam for
the first quarter. It really is, and this will set
you up for the second quarter. It's not the end
of the world, but if you get a good grade here,
if you beat Philadelphia, you will be catapulted to the
top of the NFC. Think about what that would do
for this confidence, the confidence of this football team, the
confidence of the coaching staff, all the moves they made,
Like you said, if it was subconsciously or consciously to
(07:44):
get ahead of the Philadelphia Eagles and you go out
there and you handle them, I mean, what scares you
on the rest of the roster or rest of the schedule. Besides,
you know the top of the AFC that you have
to face down the road. If you get past Philadelphia,
oh my god, the confidence boost will carry you for
the next month and a.
Speaker 1 (08:00):
Half, and the stakes are bigger. You're playing for a
different prize. If you start three and oh with a
win at their place, all of a sudden, you're in
that conversation for continuing for the NFC's number one overall seed,
Like this isn't the game that's going to dictate who
wins the NFC. But it could play heavily into where
those games are contested, right, Yes, it could dictate whether you.
Speaker 2 (08:20):
Have to go back that stuff matter.
Speaker 3 (08:23):
I'd rather sleep in my bed than go sleep in
our hotel.
Speaker 1 (08:25):
Sure, but the winner of this game I think is
on the short list with Green Bay for sure. And
then what other contender you like, Tampa Bay? Are you
buying the buck story Tampa?
Speaker 3 (08:34):
I think Tampa's always.
Speaker 1 (08:36):
The winner of Arizona San Francisco this week, Like there's
gonna be some separation this Sunday.
Speaker 3 (08:41):
And let me just just pivot for two seconds to
talk about Tampa. Let's remember Tampa's the only team that's
handled the Eagles and Detroit for the last two or
three years, Like they're the only team that's consistently beating
them and made them not look good. And so that's
always a scary thing when you have a team like
that that did the os and the top two teams
(09:01):
haven't been able to beat. So they're another team that
you have to put in there as well as a
team that can find a way.
Speaker 1 (09:06):
You also can't rehash last January, but there is some
I think unfinished business. Maybe it's just between the fan
bases and the narratives, like were the Rams really thirteen
yards away from hosting an NFC championship and winning a
Super Bowl? That like that's making a lot of assumptions, right,
Or were they down two touchdowns again using pretty much
(09:28):
the same blueprint Philadelphia and the only reason they were
even allowed to come back is because of two Jake
Elliott mixed miss extra points, right, Like, I know what
Philadelphia's argument and the Eagles fans in the mentions would say,
and I know the reactions and the investments that the
Rams made because they did play Philadelphia tougher than anyone
(09:48):
else in the NFC last January.
Speaker 2 (09:50):
We all heard how quiet they got. And you got
to make your field goals, That's one thing I get you,
But that's when you got to make them.
Speaker 1 (09:56):
And the Hurts was wounded, right, I mean he got
some good plays off And I still didn't understand that
Kellenmore game plan, like I still have. I went back
and watched the game. I still don't understand what they
were trying to do or why, like with the lead,
why they were putting hurts and harms away.
Speaker 3 (10:09):
I just especially when you're breaking off forty and sixty. Yeah,
it didn't make any sense. But I will say this,
I think to me, stopping the run is way more
important than seeing what if Coleman Shelton can help the
offensive line. And the reason being is Saquan had four
rushes over forty or fifty yards or whatever it was
(10:31):
against the Rams last.
Speaker 1 (10:32):
Year, scored from his territory four times.
Speaker 2 (10:35):
Wore eighty.
Speaker 3 (10:36):
You can't. You can't allow that, right, And I think
that's the that to me, if you want to be
a championship team, if you look at the teams that
went to the Super Bowl last year were led by
their defense. If you want to win a Super Bowl,
I know in twenty twenty one our offense kind of did.
You have to be led by your defense right now
in this in this in this year of the NFL
defense wins. The only reason Green Bay is up there
(10:58):
is because of their defense. They got Micah Parsons. They're
destroying people offensively. You can do whatever you want, but
you can't if you have a defense. It gives you
the best chance to win in the playoffs and win the.
Speaker 2 (11:10):
Super bowls them around. I'm around, honest, be honest. There
you go.
Speaker 1 (11:14):
Yes, but no, do you think I can convince him
what I tried to convince you of E really.
Speaker 2 (11:18):
Go ahead, give me a shot. Maybe maybe go ahead?
This will be good.
Speaker 1 (11:21):
Saquon going sixty plus is not what worries me this week. Yes,
I think. I think the Rams are better equipped on
defense to make sure that he doesn't get out and
that doesn't happen. But if we come home defeated this weekend,
I want it to be because Hurts through for three
hundred plus and AJ caught a slant and got vertical
and took it to the house and they beat the
(11:43):
Rams through the air. What I don't want is to
die a death of a thousand paper cuts. I don't
want to get into third and two and fourth and
one over and over and over again. Yes, I think
this offense of LA can score, can go toe to
toe with this Philadelphia group. So if they're going to
score it, make the be explode explosive to score it
and get the ball back in your hands sooner rather
(12:04):
than later.
Speaker 3 (12:04):
I agree, But I'd rather, like you said, I'd rather
put the ball in Jalen Hurts hands than to give
it to.
Speaker 2 (12:09):
That's what he said. I agree with that, but he
wants to go all out to stop Saquon and I'm
with him on in certain respects and put this on
to jail and Hurts. If you have to die by
the pass, and so be it.
Speaker 1 (12:20):
I told DeMarco, I want the Rams to play first
and ten like fourth and one. I like that all Sunday. Yeah, yeah,
load the box, mug every gap showed them looks that
say throw it, throw it, throw it. And if they can,
and I think they can. I respect Hurts. He's a
good passer of the football and their receiving corps is awesome.
But that's how I want to go down. If the
Rams go down.
Speaker 3 (12:40):
My only concern is this, and it's it's his legs.
Speaker 2 (12:43):
You you can't right like to me, it's he'll drop
back to pass and probably you'll.
Speaker 3 (12:50):
Look think the pass for two seconds and he's looking
to run and so all.
Speaker 1 (12:53):
Right, But if you're coming after him with seven eight
and you just got.
Speaker 3 (12:57):
It, you just have to tackle him right and that again,
And that's if I'm gonna say that emphasis of this
game is tackling. Tackle them like right tackle.
Speaker 1 (13:06):
How encouraging was last week for you?
Speaker 3 (13:08):
Then it was awesome? I thought I thought last week
was good. I mean that there were some places where
Cam Warre got out. Kim Ward's a different player than
Jalen Hurts. He moves differently.
Speaker 2 (13:16):
Thing though, yeah beat you with his legs type yes, yeah.
And quarterbacks jumping out the window. I think we're just
gonna have to get used to because it's almost unfair.
Like I know they're saying you should outlaw the touch.
Push for me, outlaw quarterbacks running, or if they do,
they have to dribble first. That's not fair, you know
what I mean.
Speaker 3 (13:32):
That's what I'm saying. If you go back and look
at that Cowboys getting the Cowboys did awesome job of
stopping the run. The only thing they couldn't stop is
when Hurst drops back to pass. They getting their rush
lanes and then there's a lane he finds it and
he takes off right, and so you have to you
have to eliminate that. Now Cowboys are rushing four rams
normally a rush five, and they'll probably have a spy there.
Hopefully that's what you would hope that if you watching
(13:53):
their games, that's what you want to do. H known
passing situations. But I agree Hurst hasn't been with his
arm more than his Is.
Speaker 1 (13:59):
There a way to Marco to make Saquon Barkley a
personal protector for hurts like a one man blitz pick
up as opposed to someone who's catching screens and taking
handoff I think.
Speaker 2 (14:09):
So you have two choices. You're a running back, you know.
I mean, when they're sending the house and it's an
all out blitz, you either have to put your nose
in there to help and block, or get out quick
so he can dump the ball off to you. Either way,
I think it benefits the Rams if Saquon is not
taking direct handoffs. If he's taking handoffs, you got issues.
If he's stepping up and having to pass protect or
(14:31):
catch passes out of the backfield, now I think his
effectiveness is kind of cutting half some you know what
I mean. So I think we're all saying the same thing.
It just depends on how Chris Shola wants to get
to it. I think lining up with eight guys on
the line of scrimmage and telling the world that you're
coming okay, if you have that sort of defense and
you can get there, I don't think that's the type
of guy you want to do this against. But if
(14:52):
you mix in some blitzzes and send guys timely blitzes
delayed blitzes that befuddle them absolutely. But the one problem
is what you brought up. It's one thing to get
a guy scott free to him, it's another thing to
get him on the ground, you know what I mean.
And if you have an all out blitz and this
is the one problem I have. If you're sending more people,
you got to hold up on the outside versus those receivers.
(15:12):
Easier said than done. You've got a giraffe on one
side and a guy that can flat kill you on
the air.
Speaker 1 (15:17):
But they're not using those receivers yet. And I know
they can't. I know they can. But there's shades of
what opposing defenses did to the Rams back in the
end of the goth era, where it's like, we know
what your best weapon is when girls really going, you're unstoppable.
So we're gonna do some things that force you to
play left handed. And if you can beat us that way, great,
(15:37):
And you know what if if Brandon Cooks makes a player,
Jared Goff makes a play, they do. But those are
the circumstances that you have to I think dictate to
Hertz and this offense, which right now is stagnating. And
we've seen this movie before, right, Like, I know Philly's
gonna get right, just because they have, you know, Kevin
Bittulo call in plays for the first time and they
haven't been able to throw the ball yet. I'm not
saying they can't. They can and they will, but let
(16:00):
this not be that week.
Speaker 3 (16:02):
I would say, I agree with you. I would just say,
if we're going to put it in numbers terms, Saquon
can't get over twenty five twenty two cares. Let's say
twenty two is the number. If he gets over twenty two,
then we have a problem.
Speaker 1 (16:13):
How do you dictate that though score?
Speaker 3 (16:14):
No, you dictate that by first and second down, right,
not allowing them to get on first down. You have
to get a zero to minimal gain second down.
Speaker 1 (16:23):
But are you just playing them straight up to do that?
Speaker 3 (16:26):
No? I believe. I believe the Rams can because they
did it last year. I thought they did it last year,
and they did it. They did an awesome job of
playing straight up. There was a couple of misfits and
that's where those touchdowns came. You can't have misfits. But
the other thing I will say is when you're talking
about Philadelphia, I just don't see the same cohesiveness. Right,
Makai Beckton was a big piece that they lost. They
(16:48):
lost some pieces there, right, And again we saw the
best of the Rams when the Rams got up by
two touchdowns. So if the Rams can score like you
we were talking about, they can go toe to toe
and score, then you putting them in a position Philadelphia,
them being Philadelphia where they have to drop back and
pass the ball.
Speaker 1 (17:04):
Yeah, change the games.
Speaker 3 (17:06):
And that is and that is what you want.
Speaker 2 (17:07):
See with me, and I'm with you on the twenty
two carries. It's just I don't care what he gets
from quarters one and two, maybe into the third. He
can't have any in the fourth, right, he has to
be taken away by score, and then you're getting after
Jaiben Hurts if he's viable for four straight quarters. Oh goodness,
that's like you back in the day.
Speaker 3 (17:25):
Well, yeah, I think we talked about this too. The
way the Rams are built, they're not built with like
with the golfer's explosive offense and then kind of like
defense just sit back and chill like this is more of.
Speaker 2 (17:35):
A the other way.
Speaker 3 (17:36):
Yeah, no, it's not even that I think they're they're
They have to work together, right, you have to be like, ah, well,
you take a breath right in hell exhale. You have
to work together. You can't just be loaded on defense
and not good on like no, no, if the offense
does its part, like we saw in the second half
of Tennessee, the defense shows up the defense that is
part in the first half by holding to field thows
(17:57):
on of a sudden, like you have to play off.
Speaker 2 (17:59):
The defense gets you the ball and put it in
the box. Yes.
Speaker 1 (18:02):
One other thought on the current structure of Philadelphia, and
again this feels like some of the same things we
were saying at the beginning of last year before they
got hot after their bye week. But they've been stagnant
through the air and they've been predictable, And I worry
about a two week sample size from a tendency standpoint
when you're the third team to play them, like when
they're under center, where they're in the pistol, they hand
it off. When we're in the shotgun, it's like a
(18:24):
non passing situation. But when they have firmly established tendencies
after two weeks. That means they have the opportunity to
break those tendencies in week three, and you're kind of
the sucker that gets subject to that. Right, So if
we're seeing under center hard play action shot taking through
the air, I'm worried. If we're seeing Saquon gun runs early,
worried too strong, But you know what I mean, Like,
I don't want to be the opponent that they break
(18:45):
tendencies successfully against.
Speaker 2 (18:47):
See good coordinators and I'm just you're making me go
back through my career, my life. Good coordinators will tell
you what's coming next based on what they see on film.
They're trying to set you up for this, so be
alert for that. So I mean, if you're Chris Shule,
if you're Aubrey Pleasant, you've been through this stuff before.
You have an idea of what the next counter punch
is gonna be, so you have to warn the guess now.
(19:07):
The one thing is you haven't seen it yet and
it may hit you once and that's when those halftime
adjustments or sideline adjustments become very very important and they're
very very good at adjusting. We can all say that,
right whenever anything happens or hits them they're very good.
Speaker 1 (19:20):
At a second half. Performances have been sensational.
Speaker 2 (19:23):
That's what I mean. And I think this group understands
what they have in front of them as far as
personnel and what they're about to see. So just like
with the pick that Stafford threw, we just talked about
that in Tennessee, that pick that he threw, hell of
a call, hell of a play. That dude took off
from a tackle position and ran out to the flat
(19:43):
right underneath to two like he knew it was coming.
That's a coordinator. That was a coordinator beating McVeigh and
Stafford on that same thing could happen here when they
do this. This is the basic CounterPunch to what they're
about to do. Be alert, So a good coordinator will
help you with all.
Speaker 3 (20:00):
I'll tell you this too. Down and distance tells you everything.
Right if your shot shot plays are taken on first
and ten, second and short to medium and third, third
and short right, those are your shot territories. So you
have to know that I don't know what the play
is gonna be, but I know that down and distance
is gonna tell me everything. You're not gonna take a
shot on second and ten right, you're gonna try to
(20:22):
get some yards so that you get a man's will
third down or possibly like that. That's your screen territory.
So you just have to And again, I know the
Rams do an awesome job of understanding that this is
more for our fans. As you're watching the game, watch
the Tennessee's on the down markers right first and ten.
What are they doing? How are they setting this up?
Is it gun run on first and ten? Because if
it is gun run on first and ten, play action
(20:42):
pass will come off of that with max protection and
the shot. If it's pistol pistol pass. Understand they're setting
you up for different things as a game goes on.
It's all as a chess match. You're just trying to
see what I want to know what you're gonna play
against this, and then I'm gathering information so down the
road we can make adjustments.
Speaker 2 (20:58):
That's why I don't hate you know what's coming.
Speaker 1 (21:01):
Yeah, let me come back to that in just a second.
But I do empathize with the challenge for Chrishula this
week and his defensive staff. When you're facing a quarterback
in an offense that has not thrown a single pass
between ten and twenty air yards this season, Like, what
do you do with that?
Speaker 3 (21:15):
Uh?
Speaker 2 (21:15):
Well, I would say, like whatever hurt you in the
last two weeks, you're gonna see even what yah and
challenge you.
Speaker 3 (21:27):
If you're Emmanuel Forbes and and A. J. Brown's out there,
guess what they're gonna throws. We're gonna go vertical. That's
just that's what hurts you. Now with Darius Williams comes
in and he's able to stop that, He's not gonna
get that, right.
Speaker 1 (21:39):
But that would be such a break of tendency in
terms of hurts is only thrown. I think five go
balls all seasons.
Speaker 3 (21:46):
You have to remember we're scouting them and they're scouting. Yes, right,
so I'm gonna if I'm an offensive coordinator, what have you?
What is giving you trouble? The kid from Stanford is
catching the ball like like David Tyree on his helmet,
like skipping out of bounds. We're throwing the fade if
we see press man, that's where we've seeing you struggle, right,
and so we know that you're going to load the
box like you said, You're gonna load the box to
stop the run. Jalen hurts this is their opportunity to
(22:07):
go and make some plays.
Speaker 1 (22:09):
I want to flip to the other side. Any other
thoughts on Eagles offense, Rams defense.
Speaker 2 (22:13):
No, it's the Saquon show, you know what it is.
That must suck when you're the focal point.
Speaker 3 (22:18):
But they have to offensive line too. That's why Rams. No,
the Eagles, That's why they're running the ball so much.
They're trying to protect the old line because if you
watched again, I know the Cowboys didn't getting minisacks, but
they were all around. You can get pressure.
Speaker 1 (22:31):
Speaking of scouting and tendencies, when you win a Super Bowl,
the whole league studies you all off season and tries
to come up with the antidote to that. Do you
think anything that we've seen in terms of Philadelphia's offensive
struggles so far is just a credit to the league
and the defensive coordinators from Dallas and Kansas City finding
solutions to a league wide problem. And can the Rams
(22:53):
borrow from Well.
Speaker 3 (22:53):
I think it's Philadelphia losing players, right, I believe you lost.
You lost a lot of key pieces off defensively and defensively,
especially on your line. And then I think it also
is teams building their roster to beat you right when
we win team Yeah, just how it is. That's why
it was so shocking that the Chiefs have like three
in almost go three in a row because everyone's trying
(23:15):
to beat them, right. But if we flip it to
the other side, and if we're going to talk about
the Rams offense versus Philly's defense, I think the two
headed monster is going to be really important running back.
The two headed running back monster is going to be
really important this week because we just can't let Jalen
Carter just terrorize at the pocket. You can't do that anymore.
Speaker 1 (23:33):
Is it a two headed monster? After just seeing a
couple of carries from Blake corm and Tennessee, I know,
DeMarco says yes.
Speaker 3 (23:38):
I agree as well, because now I'm confident it.
Speaker 1 (23:41):
Was undeniable based on that sample size.
Speaker 3 (23:43):
I'm comfortable with him out there running the ball knock.
I got explosive. It looks different, but I got explosive runs, right,
and I got explosive runs when they were needed in
that game. Like he was the Kiren, was doing an
awesome job, but then when he came in, he became
the spark. He kind of show things like exactly juice,
and so if I have two guys that I can
trust to go, and we said this on air and
(24:04):
the broadcast that now we're in trouble because now I
have two fresh in the fourth quarter, I have two
guys fresh for four quarters of the game and then
in December. And so the key is for the Rams
to lean on that running game a little bit more
and then allow your one on ones on the outside
very soon. What we're saying with with Phillipe.
Speaker 1 (24:21):
Only question is do they trust Korum to clean up
that pocket the way they do Kiren.
Speaker 3 (24:27):
Well, we'll have to wait to see.
Speaker 1 (24:28):
Right this is a Sunday.
Speaker 3 (24:31):
Philly doesn't Philly doesn't blitz. They're the Rust four.
Speaker 1 (24:34):
That's what's interesting about this challenge is schematically and personnel wise,
they're so different than Houston and Tennessee. And we can
dig into the why behind that too. But just like
Kansas City and Spags changed up a little bit from
the February matchups, so too did did Fangio and the Eagles.
They got after Patrick Mahomes a little bit more than
we're used to seeing. They sent extras at him.
Speaker 3 (24:53):
They will. I mean, I think in that situation that
that was just a different game plan. I think they
did it because they lost a couple guys defensively. But
if you really, I say, in any critical moment, certain
people run certain things right, and that's what you're always
you can have a game plan to do. Hey, we're
gonna send corner blitzer, We're gonna send linebacker blitzes. But
let's get into a critical moment. Who are you, right?
(25:15):
Wade Phillips was a zero blitz guy. He goes send
at the ouse, right, That's who he is. So I
always play to who you are. Vangiel is gonna play
cover two or cover six. They go sit back and
play coverage and let you rush. And so you may
show me all this stuff, but I know, come critical
moments right, third and third and five, whatever the moment
(25:36):
is or the situation is, you're gonna be who you are.
Can't be anyone different. And that's why you can send
all those pressures to all that stuff. I know exactly
what you're gonna be in a critical moment, and that's
what you want.
Speaker 1 (25:47):
I wonder if part of it is out of necessity though,
because you talked about some lost person Alex, what's not
there anymore? Yeah, sack numbers are misleading, but they've only
got a couple through the first two weeks. So are
they generating as much pressure with only four as they
did a year ago so far? Not yet.
Speaker 2 (26:02):
No, there's still a threat though, Oh no, on Yeah,
they're still good.
Speaker 3 (26:06):
I will say this, if you blitz the Rams' you're
opening up holes and lanes that you do not want
to get exposed.
Speaker 1 (26:12):
I would say the Rams might even invite that challenge.
Speaker 3 (26:16):
I played for Tom Cable at the UCLA. I'm just
sad I had to say UCLA because we're not in
our best times right now. But we'll talk about that later.
Same colors, but they we're just different situations. He used
to tell us in every office of meeting, we want
them to blitz because we know where the holes are
and we know where we're gonna go. And that's what
I see the Rams. When you blitz the Rams. Stafford
knows exactly where he's going with the football. That throw
(26:36):
to Devonte Adams. He knew exactly where he was going
with the football. He just wanted to keep the safety
or who he thought was gonna be in the middle
of the middle because he was going to put it
out there. They know exactly where they're going with the football.
The receivers know what's going on. Everyone's doing what they're
supposed to do. When you blitz a team like that,
it can't get pretty dangerous for you.
Speaker 2 (26:53):
Well, like I said, it's week to week. So if
they're watching the Tennessee tape, there was some blitzes that
got to Stafford. There was a first and ten that
ended on third nineteen and you punt it, so there
were some blitzes that got home. There's still some communication
things that you're working out. It's the second week of
the season going into the third, so they're not all there.
Stafford just got back, really, so they're working themselves in.
(27:16):
So there's gonna be some pressures dialed up. Do they
have to use him? Does he have to go to
that We'll see. We'll see how his front four is
eating that day. If they're getting pressure, you don't need
to use them. Save him for the next week. But
if you start seeing them some pressure, like I said,
that means you're doing good. That's great, you'll have a
chance to pick it apart. Now the problem is, and
I'm with you, blitzing Matthew stafford with Pooka and with
(27:38):
DeVante Adams is very very dangerous if you don't get there.
Tennessee got home a few times. So until you sew
that up completely, every coordinator is going to have that
same blitz or something else built off it coming for
you the next week.
Speaker 3 (27:52):
Well you expect expect that corner safety blitz off the
off the nub side. Yeah, inside, that's all it. I
mean that a lot of team was struggling with that
right now. That's kind of the blitz of the year
right now. But even then, I real quick the tight
end side, where the tight end is. Yeah, so if
you have slot or three receivers away wherever the tight
end is, teams are coming off that because it's hard
(28:14):
for the lineman to slide out and scan. I would
say the biggest thing is the health of the offensive
line for the Rams. Right you talked about some pressure situations. Yeah,
you have who's the detac we played last week. I'm
already Simmons Simmons going againstdeeded. So yeah, there's gonna be
some pressure, is what it is like. Yeah, that's how
it is that God made him a little bit different
(28:35):
than he made everyone else, and he was getting pressure
through double teams. Yeah, and so you're gonna have to
see another guy like that. So I think the health
of the offensive line is gonna be important. And then
I also think the effectiveness or the efficiency of the
running game is gonna be important as well.
Speaker 1 (28:48):
How good has Stafford been knowing that the back was
less than one hundred percent. His pass protection has been
substandard by just about any objective measure, and there's been
no traditional running game through two weeks to speak of,
and he's setting the world of.
Speaker 3 (29:03):
Fire the throat of Davante last week with a guy
on his back, on Davante's back and he's throwing it around.
A guy looked like he curved the ball to him.
Speaker 2 (29:12):
I bet the arrow, yes, yeah, Now that strike beautiful.
And you also have to give Davante some props for
bailing Stafford out picking some off the ground. I mean,
some of those biggest shut up and sit down catches
came from DeVante Adams. But their connection is starting to grow.
And I love both of these receivers working both sides
of the defense. Those safeties don't know whether to go
(29:36):
blind or wind the watch whatever that analogy is, but
it's definitely serious. If you can blend in a running
game or somebody to attack the spine of the defense consistently,
oh geez, then the sky's the woman. Especially like you said,
that's when you start panicking as a coordinator. We can't
cover them all. Let's just start sending whatzes and then
you'll die faster. I had this conversation with my high
(29:56):
schoolers this weekend. We're talking about being brutally honest, right
when you have, like, coach, how was it in the
NFL we paid Devonte Adams to.
Speaker 3 (30:05):
Make those type of catches? Those are expected. I'm not
shocked that you're making those, because I've seen you make
those multiple times before. I'm shocked when you drop those, right,
even though it's like a miraculous catch. And that's what
I tell my kids, Like when you set a certain
standard for yourself and you play a certain way that's expected, right,
and you do it consistently. And so am I shocked
by the way Stafford's playing. No, I've seen it before.
(30:26):
Why would I be shocked. I've seen you do this.
This is what my eyes in my brain tell that
you're supposed to do. DeVante Adams? Am I shocked? By that. No, Now,
the drops early in the drops early in the season,
very shocked. What do we you know? But that's what
when you create those type of standards, that's what you expect.
And that's why the Rams paid them all that money
to come here and be that guy. And he's showing
(30:46):
that guy. The same with Nate Landman. We and I
know it just going back. We talk about it all
the time we're on the bus on the way back.
He's always he's always been around the ball. It's not
I'm not surprised that the balls on the ground and
fifty three is pay it up for whatever reason. He
could be way over on the other side of the
field the ball and it just goes to him. The
ball just finds his way to them. And so when
(31:08):
you have players like that and they show up in
those moments, it's not I don't want to say we
take it for granted, but it is expected.
Speaker 1 (31:16):
How about a profile this Eagles defense and the secondary specifically,
it strikes me as being such a different challenge than
Houston and Tennessee. Both of those teams had an elite corner,
I would say, and they chose to travel with DeVante.
I'm not sure, Philadelphia does. I also don't know that
that Houston or Tennessee is a good proxy for Philadelphia
(31:36):
because the strength of Philadelphia is their slot corner. I mean,
he's one, He's become one of the best in the league.
And so whereas getting Puoka into the slot and matched
up against some of those defenders was a winning formula
for weeks one and two, I think Fangio would say,
Pooka against Degene, let's go.
Speaker 3 (31:53):
Yeah. I would wonder who's going to be the corner
opposite of the first round or they had a couple
of years Quinion Mitchell, Yeah, Quinna Minche, whoever that guy is.
Speaker 1 (32:02):
Well, Adorri Jackson's been to use your expression though, where's
Waldo of the first two weeks for Philadelphia?
Speaker 2 (32:06):
That's right?
Speaker 3 (32:07):
And I'm just because I'm gonna be gentle because I
can't really say anything because my school's going through stuff,
so I'm not gonna say anything about the other school
and their players. But I'm just saying, like, that's the
guy that you want to go after. He's been the guy.
And so if that's the case, how many times can
we get Devonte Adams on him poking a coup on him.
And if I do have to put Pooka in the
slot against uh Cooper dejen I'm okay with that match
(32:30):
up because they're both they're both bigger guys, right. I
think he dominated the Cooper Cup matchup because he was
just stronger and more physical.
Speaker 1 (32:37):
But last year in January, they tried to get Pukah's
alignment outside right, and they got him targets out wide.
I'm curious what that looks like in this construct, especially
with two tight end looks right. Yes, if you're playing
more twelve, how does Philly match? Do they match? Because
there's a world where in twelve a door he's not
even on the field, right, And do you want that?
Speaker 2 (32:59):
Or?
Speaker 1 (33:00):
Okay, so you expect a lot more three receivers that.
Speaker 2 (33:02):
My dog barks, barks two my dog bites two Pukah
versus Dejane.
Speaker 3 (33:06):
Let's see it, That's what I sometimes you do get.
Speaker 2 (33:09):
Let's let's see it, let's match him, let's go that.
Speaker 1 (33:11):
That felt like a finishing thought.
Speaker 2 (33:12):
I'm just let's go.
Speaker 1 (33:13):
Are you playing us off?
Speaker 2 (33:14):
Here?
Speaker 1 (33:14):
Is that the music?
Speaker 2 (33:15):
I don't think you can hide from the Eagles and
vice versa. That's what I'm saying. I don't think you
can outscheme them. I don't think you could, you know,
hide from them, sneak up on them. They're defending champs
for a reason. You're gonna have to go through them.
Speaker 3 (33:25):
So you're telling me is like, hey, me and you
at three o'clock and it's two fifty five.
Speaker 2 (33:29):
Bank has gotta it's there.
Speaker 3 (33:30):
To start getting your mind right because it's coming. There's
no reason, Like It's kind of like boxing when you
fight the same guy three times, all the strategies out
the window.
Speaker 2 (33:38):
We just got a box right there.
Speaker 3 (33:39):
We's got to figure this thing out the old fashioned
And I think that's what you're if you're the Rams.
You're saying, look, this is our third shot at this
at this team, at this roster. How can we go
out there? And I know it's a little bit different,
but we got to go out there and just.
Speaker 1 (33:50):
Execute our boxing. Analogy made me realize that we overlooked
one big thing, and that is the current state of
the tush push, which is dominating headlines again this week
because of the way the Eagle jumped abused it in
Kansas City. Where are you with respect to that play
in general and how it's not been officiated and what
that means.
Speaker 2 (34:08):
For Sunday, right me, You want to know how to
stop it? I still think you do.
Speaker 1 (34:13):
You want to you ask what the question?
Speaker 2 (34:15):
Jonesrew? I know will say what I don't.
Speaker 3 (34:18):
I don't think it's illegal. I do. If you want
to know how to stop it, I could tell you
you just have to jam the center back into the quarterback.
Oh it's that simple, Like that's the only way to
stop that. He's sitting there, whoever's over the nose of
the center. You have to you have to get all
your weight and run right into him, and jamming back
into hurts. And that's how you used to Yeah, you're
saying it right. Look, I don't want you to ban
it until I stop it. There there you go.
Speaker 2 (34:39):
Yeah, I don't want the league to have to save
me from a freaking play. I'd rather have to stop.
Speaker 1 (34:44):
It, won't You be curious? Though, because the spotlight of
the league has been on it this week, I would
expect Philly to just run it flawlessly, cleanly, right to
make sure that they're buttoned up. But if a flag
gets dropped on Sunday, just to make sure that a
message is sent on behalf of the other thing thirty
one teams, I wouldn't be surprised either, and the Rams
could be beneficiary.
Speaker 3 (35:04):
Or you could do what the commanders did and just
jump all sides every time.
Speaker 2 (35:08):
Oh yeah, we don't have then.
Speaker 1 (35:13):
That's a form of surrender.
Speaker 2 (35:14):
Though in the goal line, why not take a shout out?
But if you go from a fourth and one, which
is an easy pick up for them, to a fourth
and six when the game's on the line, that was
in the message.
Speaker 1 (35:24):
Yeah, man, can't get here soon enough.
Speaker 2 (35:26):
Huh, yes, here we go so you can get cold.
When it's not cold you're talking about is hot and humid.
What happened to you?
Speaker 3 (35:35):
Come on, I'm being an analyst. I don't play football anymore.
I stopped playing football long time.
Speaker 1 (35:40):
Let's shut this down so we can get his unfiltered
U C l A thoughts okay for m J D
and DeMarco farm JB. Long thanks for joining us for
a week three edition and Between the Horns presented by
your Southern California Toyota Dealers.
All right, here we go with a week three edition
between the Horns, presented about your Southern California toyo to dealers.
I'm JB. Long with DeMarco Farr and Maurice Jones. Drew
it rained today in Los Angeles. Don't know what to
make of that, but looking forward to figuring out what
we make of this matchup, a divisional round rematch with
the Eagles, a pair of undefeated teams.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
What's up, guys, hey man happy? Yes, Tony, Tony, Tony
was dead wrong. It does rain in southern California.
Speaker 3 (00:31):
It does rain, then, I feel like I mean, as
I was pulling in to the facility, it was a
little humid outside, so maybe it's getting this prepared for
humidity in Philadelphia.
Speaker 1 (00:41):
The Happy Happy reminded me, Happy birthday, Kevin Dotson.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
Happy birthday.
Speaker 1 (00:45):
Yes, yes, yes, you get to clash with Jalen Carter
to celebrate.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
Absolutely what a birthday present. Yes, you get one of
the biggest bears in the league right in front.
Speaker 3 (00:53):
He just went against one last week. Like it gets
any easier?
Speaker 2 (00:57):
This is true?
Speaker 1 (00:58):
Yes, what else is going on?
Speaker 2 (00:59):
Not just getting ready for Philly? Man, I'm geeked. We
follow the same ethos. Right, if you beat me in
a fight, you're gonna have to fight me every single day.
I am so glad this team gets to go back
to Philly where it ended last season, where you get
to pick up right where you left off. And let's see,
it's not snowing, it's not at night. It's different. We
get the rollover half some of megs and go play football.
(01:21):
I cannot wait for this matchup in Philly.
Speaker 3 (01:23):
Yeah, I think you always want to go in as
healthy as possible, right, so you're gonna go in a
little banged up. But at the end of the day,
I think learning a lot from what we saw last
week against the Titans. About the Rams, I'm excited but
yet interested to see how they're gonna play against Philly.
And then in that atmosphere, right, you've already been there
in the playoff atmosphere. You know those Philly fans are
gonna be ready to go. Philadelphia has already played two
(01:44):
tough games, one against the Cowboys, one against the Chiefs,
so they're they're battle tested. But this is a great
early a great early opponent to kind of see where
you are now. I will say this, I was on
the flight today coming down this morning and ran into
a couple of Niner fans, some of their their radio people,
and they're like, oh man, we're so happy we have
the easiest schedule. Look, you guys got to go play
(02:05):
Philly this week and we got to play the Saints
last week. And I was like, you're happy about playing
weak people? No disrespect to the Saints, because the Saints
are doing an awesome job battling back. But I want
to be I don't ever want to go into a
season like not being able to test my my off
season workout program.
Speaker 2 (02:21):
Oh I want final Boss every weekend. Yeah, why not?
Like why do I want something easy?
Speaker 3 (02:27):
Because then, like I rather know that if I if
we play the Eagles now that we have a chance,
whoever we play later down the road, we're comfortable because
we've already we kind of already tangled a little bit.
If you've never tangled with the Eagles and you got
to see them in in Philly and the snow, and
it's like it's a different deal. So uh to me,
I'm I'm I'm excited. I think the Rams are excited,
(02:47):
but I'm excited to see how they perform.
Speaker 1 (02:49):
What level of the video game. Have the Rams been
playing so far with wins over Houston and Tennessee winless
each in their own right, albeit because they played the Rams.
But you know how many what conclusions are you willing
to drop based on the strength of schedule today?
Speaker 2 (03:03):
You ever played Galagha. You're at the challenging stage, you
know what I mean. You've gone through the first two
levels and now you're going up a notch, So this
is going to be different. You should be excited. I
think we're all excited for the same thing. I think
we're seeing the same thing out in front. I think
the offense is starting to get on track. Matthew Stafford
is working himself into form. DeVante Adams is as good
as advertised, and this defense I can't go I can't
(03:26):
say enough about how well they played against cam Ward.
If it wasn't for cam Ward, if it wasn't for
his athletic ability, that would have been a laugher. At
some points, various points in that game, that defense was
pitching an absolute shoutout run end pass. They stopped the run,
they earned the right the rest of the pass, so
they got into the backfield and made him move off
his spot. So I think you're hitting your peak at
(03:46):
the right time to be facing a final boss or
a Philadelphia Eagle squad going there.
Speaker 3 (03:51):
Yeah, I was saying this. I think Houston is a
championship team with regards if they lost their zero to
two I think if you look at all the to
two teams, they're the ones that scare me most of
bouncing back and make a runout. Even though their offensive
line is a little shaky. They handled Tampa pretty well right.
They were getting after Tampa, and Tampa made some plays
late in that game. But this is kind of how
it goes with Tennessee. You took care of business. You
(04:13):
beat Tennessee the way you were supposed to. But when
you look at you, when you look at Philly, all
the moves that we made this off season was for them, period,
point blank, point a forward. Guess what glad to have you?
Here we go, right, Nate Lammond, guess what glad to
have you? Awesome job against Houston. Guess what here you go?
Hear me? Right? So these are it's a good opportunity
(04:35):
to see and again I think the NFL is based
off of each week you have an opportunity to see
where you are right. It's you may win some games
and not play well, which we've seen before, and that
doesn't justify who you are, and you may lose some
games to play really well, but it just tells you
where you are as the season goes along. And you
made all season moves to stop this particular team's running
(04:56):
game and to slow down what they do. We've seen
that happened the last couple of weeks. Can you be
the third team to slow down this running game and
what they're doing?
Speaker 1 (05:04):
At least one other one that I think ties in directly,
and that's Coleman Shelton.
Speaker 2 (05:07):
Yeah, oh yeah.
Speaker 1 (05:08):
Not to overreact to one play at the end of
your last game from last season, the only play that mattered,
but there were some other ones along the way. I
think it was an ongoing theme. But yeah, when you
bust up front and you bring in a center to
try and fix that, and you get to go test
that in week three, that's what this is to me.
It's a measuring stick week. It's not the final answer.
I'm curious what this game means to you and what
(05:28):
you think it means to the RAMS, But I think
it's a September reality check are we one of the
best teams in the NFC or do we have some
more work to do? Surely you have more work to do,
but can we develop this roster further? Do we need
to supplement this roster? This is a really informative data
point for me. If you go in there and you
pick up where you left off in January and you
get over the top of Philadelphia, great, If you're lacking
(05:52):
in some areas, still, well, you have resources between now
and November that if you can keep your head above
water and your record where you want it to be,
you can address those needs before you see Philadelphia or
the equivalent team again.
Speaker 3 (06:02):
Yeah, I agree. I think I think one, offensively, their
offensive line going against this defensive line is gonna be
a big deal, even though they're missing two one hundred
million dollar guys that can rotate in. But more importantly,
it's it's if your defensive line can hold up, right.
I think again this you made adjustments to your both
your trenches to see if they can find a way
to fit against his Philadelphia roster. I mean, and that's
(06:25):
why I think, that's why I'm so excited about it, right.
I think when you look at this game. And I
know to our fans wins and losses matter, but I'm
looking more to are these guys built and ready for
what's to come? Right, Like this game ahead of us
is going to tell us where we are or where
we need to be, right, are we where we need
to be now? Or do we need to get better?
(06:46):
Or is there like what is how are we going
to fix these type of things? And so I'm excited again.
Like you said, it's a measuring stake and and that's
the best type of game you want because at the
end of the day, and DeMarco correct me wrong, you
guys lost the Tennessee when you won the Superinteme right, yeah,
and it's mad too, but it was a measuring stick
to see where you needed to be. Right then you
got a chance to get back to them, found a
way to win. And so that's what makes this game
(07:07):
so important.
Speaker 2 (07:07):
We were like, we can't play this bad again, that's
how and we want to see them, We want to
see those guys again, and we did. But I would
say this, you guys were on quarters systems in college
or high school.
Speaker 1 (07:16):
I was this is like you were you weren't It's
so long ago.
Speaker 2 (07:20):
I don't firt semester.
Speaker 1 (07:21):
I remember what my college was.
Speaker 2 (07:22):
Oh well, this is like you're a final exam for
the first quarter. It really is, and this will set
you up for the second quarter. It's not the end
of the world, but if you get a good grade here,
if you beat Philadelphia, you will be catapulted to the
top of the NFC. Think about what that would do
for this confidence, the confidence of this football team, the
confidence of the coaching staff, all the moves they made,
Like you said, if it was subconsciously or consciously to
(07:44):
get ahead of the Philadelphia Eagles and you go out
there and you handle them, I mean, what scares you
on the rest of the roster or rest of the schedule. Besides,
you know the top of the AFC that you have
to face down the road. If you get past Philadelphia,
oh my god, the confidence boost will carry you for
the next month and a.
Speaker 1 (08:00):
Half, and the stakes are bigger. You're playing for a
different prize. If you start three and oh with a
win at their place, all of a sudden, you're in
that conversation for continuing for the NFC's number one overall seed,
Like this isn't the game that's going to dictate who
wins the NFC. But it could play heavily into where
those games are contested, right, Yes, it could dictate whether you.
Speaker 2 (08:20):
Have to go back that stuff matter.
Speaker 3 (08:23):
I'd rather sleep in my bed than go sleep in
our hotel.
Speaker 1 (08:25):
Sure, but the winner of this game I think is
on the short list with Green Bay for sure. And
then what other contender you like, Tampa Bay? Are you
buying the buck story Tampa?
Speaker 3 (08:34):
I think Tampa's always.
Speaker 1 (08:36):
The winner of Arizona San Francisco this week, Like there's
gonna be some separation this Sunday.
Speaker 3 (08:41):
And let me just just pivot for two seconds to
talk about Tampa. Let's remember Tampa's the only team that's
handled the Eagles and Detroit for the last two or
three years, Like they're the only team that's consistently beating
them and made them not look good. And so that's
always a scary thing when you have a team like
that that did the os and the top two teams
(09:01):
haven't been able to beat. So they're another team that
you have to put in there as well as a
team that can find a way.
Speaker 1 (09:06):
You also can't rehash last January, but there is some
I think unfinished business. Maybe it's just between the fan
bases and the narratives, like were the Rams really thirteen
yards away from hosting an NFC championship and winning a
Super Bowl? That like that's making a lot of assumptions, right,
Or were they down two touchdowns again using pretty much
(09:28):
the same blueprint Philadelphia and the only reason they were
even allowed to come back is because of two Jake
Elliott mixed miss extra points, right, Like, I know what
Philadelphia's argument and the Eagles fans in the mentions would say,
and I know the reactions and the investments that the
Rams made because they did play Philadelphia tougher than anyone
(09:48):
else in the NFC last January.
Speaker 2 (09:50):
We all heard how quiet they got. And you got
to make your field goals, That's one thing I get you,
But that's when you got to make them.
Speaker 1 (09:56):
And the Hurts was wounded, right, I mean he got
some good plays off And I still didn't understand that
Kellenmore game plan, like I still have. I went back
and watched the game. I still don't understand what they
were trying to do or why, like with the lead,
why they were putting hurts and harms away.
Speaker 3 (10:09):
I just especially when you're breaking off forty and sixty. Yeah,
it didn't make any sense. But I will say this,
I think to me, stopping the run is way more
important than seeing what if Coleman Shelton can help the
offensive line. And the reason being is Saquan had four
rushes over forty or fifty yards or whatever it was
(10:31):
against the Rams last.
Speaker 1 (10:32):
Year, scored from his territory four times.
Speaker 2 (10:35):
Wore eighty.
Speaker 3 (10:36):
You can't. You can't allow that, right, And I think
that's the that to me, if you want to be
a championship team, if you look at the teams that
went to the Super Bowl last year were led by
their defense. If you want to win a Super Bowl,
I know in twenty twenty one our offense kind of did.
You have to be led by your defense right now
in this in this in this year of the NFL
defense wins. The only reason Green Bay is up there
(10:58):
is because of their defense. They got Micah Parsons. They're
destroying people offensively. You can do whatever you want, but
you can't if you have a defense. It gives you
the best chance to win in the playoffs and win the.
Speaker 2 (11:10):
Super bowls them around. I'm around, honest, be honest. There
you go.
Speaker 1 (11:14):
Yes, but no, do you think I can convince him
what I tried to convince you of E really.
Speaker 2 (11:18):
Go ahead, give me a shot. Maybe maybe go ahead?
This will be good.
Speaker 1 (11:21):
Saquon going sixty plus is not what worries me this week. Yes,
I think. I think the Rams are better equipped on
defense to make sure that he doesn't get out and
that doesn't happen. But if we come home defeated this weekend,
I want it to be because Hurts through for three
hundred plus and AJ caught a slant and got vertical
and took it to the house and they beat the
(11:43):
Rams through the air. What I don't want is to
die a death of a thousand paper cuts. I don't
want to get into third and two and fourth and
one over and over and over again. Yes, I think
this offense of LA can score, can go toe to
toe with this Philadelphia group. So if they're going to
score it, make the be explode explosive to score it
and get the ball back in your hands sooner rather
(12:04):
than later.
Speaker 3 (12:04):
I agree, But I'd rather, like you said, I'd rather
put the ball in Jalen Hurts hands than to give
it to.
Speaker 2 (12:09):
That's what he said. I agree with that, but he
wants to go all out to stop Saquon and I'm
with him on in certain respects and put this on
to jail and Hurts. If you have to die by
the pass, and so be it.
Speaker 1 (12:20):
I told DeMarco, I want the Rams to play first
and ten like fourth and one. I like that all Sunday. Yeah, yeah,
load the box, mug every gap showed them looks that
say throw it, throw it, throw it. And if they can,
and I think they can. I respect Hurts. He's a
good passer of the football and their receiving corps is awesome.
But that's how I want to go down. If the
Rams go down.
Speaker 3 (12:40):
My only concern is this, and it's it's his legs.
Speaker 2 (12:43):
You you can't right like to me, it's he'll drop
back to pass and probably you'll.
Speaker 3 (12:50):
Look think the pass for two seconds and he's looking
to run and so all.
Speaker 1 (12:53):
Right, But if you're coming after him with seven eight
and you just got.
Speaker 3 (12:57):
It, you just have to tackle him right and that again,
And that's if I'm gonna say that emphasis of this
game is tackling. Tackle them like right tackle.
Speaker 1 (13:06):
How encouraging was last week for you?
Speaker 3 (13:08):
Then it was awesome? I thought I thought last week
was good. I mean that there were some places where
Cam Warre got out. Kim Ward's a different player than
Jalen Hurts. He moves differently.
Speaker 2 (13:16):
Thing though, yeah beat you with his legs type yes, yeah.
And quarterbacks jumping out the window. I think we're just
gonna have to get used to because it's almost unfair.
Like I know they're saying you should outlaw the touch.
Push for me, outlaw quarterbacks running, or if they do,
they have to dribble first. That's not fair, you know
what I mean.
Speaker 3 (13:32):
That's what I'm saying. If you go back and look
at that Cowboys getting the Cowboys did awesome job of
stopping the run. The only thing they couldn't stop is
when Hurst drops back to pass. They getting their rush
lanes and then there's a lane he finds it and
he takes off right, and so you have to you
have to eliminate that. Now Cowboys are rushing four rams
normally a rush five, and they'll probably have a spy there.
Hopefully that's what you would hope that if you watching
(13:53):
their games, that's what you want to do. H known
passing situations. But I agree Hurst hasn't been with his
arm more than his Is.
Speaker 1 (13:59):
There a way to Marco to make Saquon Barkley a
personal protector for hurts like a one man blitz pick
up as opposed to someone who's catching screens and taking
handoff I think.
Speaker 2 (14:09):
So you have two choices. You're a running back, you know.
I mean, when they're sending the house and it's an
all out blitz, you either have to put your nose
in there to help and block, or get out quick
so he can dump the ball off to you. Either way,
I think it benefits the Rams if Saquon is not
taking direct handoffs. If he's taking handoffs, you got issues.
If he's stepping up and having to pass protect or
(14:31):
catch passes out of the backfield, now I think his
effectiveness is kind of cutting half some you know what
I mean. So I think we're all saying the same thing.
It just depends on how Chris Shola wants to get
to it. I think lining up with eight guys on
the line of scrimmage and telling the world that you're
coming okay, if you have that sort of defense and
you can get there, I don't think that's the type
of guy you want to do this against. But if
(14:52):
you mix in some blitzzes and send guys timely blitzes
delayed blitzes that befuddle them absolutely. But the one problem
is what you brought up. It's one thing to get
a guy scott free to him, it's another thing to
get him on the ground, you know what I mean.
And if you have an all out blitz and this
is the one problem I have. If you're sending more people,
you got to hold up on the outside versus those receivers.
(15:12):
Easier said than done. You've got a giraffe on one
side and a guy that can flat kill you on
the air.
Speaker 1 (15:17):
But they're not using those receivers yet. And I know
they can't. I know they can. But there's shades of
what opposing defenses did to the Rams back in the
end of the goth era, where it's like, we know
what your best weapon is when girls really going, you're unstoppable.
So we're gonna do some things that force you to
play left handed. And if you can beat us that way, great,
(15:37):
And you know what if if Brandon Cooks makes a player,
Jared Goff makes a play, they do. But those are
the circumstances that you have to I think dictate to
Hertz and this offense, which right now is stagnating. And
we've seen this movie before, right, Like, I know Philly's
gonna get right, just because they have, you know, Kevin
Bittulo call in plays for the first time and they
haven't been able to throw the ball yet. I'm not
saying they can't. They can and they will, but let
(16:00):
this not be that week.
Speaker 3 (16:02):
I would say, I agree with you. I would just say,
if we're going to put it in numbers terms, Saquon
can't get over twenty five twenty two cares. Let's say
twenty two is the number. If he gets over twenty two,
then we have a problem.
Speaker 1 (16:13):
How do you dictate that though score?
Speaker 3 (16:14):
No, you dictate that by first and second down, right,
not allowing them to get on first down. You have
to get a zero to minimal gain second down.
Speaker 1 (16:23):
But are you just playing them straight up to do that?
Speaker 3 (16:26):
No? I believe. I believe the Rams can because they
did it last year. I thought they did it last year,
and they did it. They did an awesome job of
playing straight up. There was a couple of misfits and
that's where those touchdowns came. You can't have misfits. But
the other thing I will say is when you're talking
about Philadelphia, I just don't see the same cohesiveness. Right,
Makai Beckton was a big piece that they lost. They
(16:48):
lost some pieces there, right, And again we saw the
best of the Rams when the Rams got up by
two touchdowns. So if the Rams can score like you
we were talking about, they can go toe to toe
and score, then you putting them in a position Philadelphia,
them being Philadelphia where they have to drop back and
pass the ball.
Speaker 1 (17:04):
Yeah, change the games.
Speaker 3 (17:06):
And that is and that is what you want.
Speaker 2 (17:07):
See with me, and I'm with you on the twenty
two carries. It's just I don't care what he gets
from quarters one and two, maybe into the third. He
can't have any in the fourth, right, he has to
be taken away by score, and then you're getting after
Jaiben Hurts if he's viable for four straight quarters. Oh goodness,
that's like you back in the day.
Speaker 3 (17:25):
Well, yeah, I think we talked about this too. The
way the Rams are built, they're not built with like
with the golfer's explosive offense and then kind of like
defense just sit back and chill like this is more of.
Speaker 2 (17:35):
A the other way.
Speaker 3 (17:36):
Yeah, no, it's not even that I think they're they're
They have to work together, right, you have to be like, ah, well,
you take a breath right in hell exhale. You have
to work together. You can't just be loaded on defense
and not good on like no, no, if the offense
does its part, like we saw in the second half
of Tennessee, the defense shows up the defense that is
part in the first half by holding to field thows
(17:57):
on of a sudden, like you have to play off.
Speaker 2 (17:59):
The defense gets you the ball and put it in
the box. Yes.
Speaker 1 (18:02):
One other thought on the current structure of Philadelphia, and
again this feels like some of the same things we
were saying at the beginning of last year before they
got hot after their bye week. But they've been stagnant
through the air and they've been predictable, And I worry
about a two week sample size from a tendency standpoint
when you're the third team to play them, like when
they're under center, where they're in the pistol, they hand
it off. When we're in the shotgun, it's like a
(18:24):
non passing situation. But when they have firmly established tendencies
after two weeks. That means they have the opportunity to
break those tendencies in week three, and you're kind of
the sucker that gets subject to that. Right, So if
we're seeing under center hard play action shot taking through
the air, I'm worried. If we're seeing Saquon gun runs early,
worried too strong, But you know what I mean, Like,
I don't want to be the opponent that they break
(18:45):
tendencies successfully against.
Speaker 2 (18:47):
See good coordinators and I'm just you're making me go
back through my career, my life. Good coordinators will tell
you what's coming next based on what they see on film.
They're trying to set you up for this, so be
alert for that. So I mean, if you're Chris Shule,
if you're Aubrey Pleasant, you've been through this stuff before.
You have an idea of what the next counter punch
is gonna be, so you have to warn the guess now.
(19:07):
The one thing is you haven't seen it yet and
it may hit you once and that's when those halftime
adjustments or sideline adjustments become very very important and they're
very very good at adjusting. We can all say that,
right whenever anything happens or hits them they're very good.
Speaker 1 (19:20):
At a second half. Performances have been sensational.
Speaker 2 (19:23):
That's what I mean. And I think this group understands
what they have in front of them as far as
personnel and what they're about to see. So just like
with the pick that Stafford threw, we just talked about
that in Tennessee, that pick that he threw, hell of
a call, hell of a play. That dude took off
from a tackle position and ran out to the flat
(19:43):
right underneath to two like he knew it was coming.
That's a coordinator. That was a coordinator beating McVeigh and
Stafford on that same thing could happen here when they
do this. This is the basic CounterPunch to what they're
about to do. Be alert, So a good coordinator will
help you with all.
Speaker 3 (20:00):
I'll tell you this too. Down and distance tells you everything.
Right if your shot shot plays are taken on first
and ten, second and short to medium and third, third
and short right, those are your shot territories. So you
have to know that I don't know what the play
is gonna be, but I know that down and distance
is gonna tell me everything. You're not gonna take a
shot on second and ten right, you're gonna try to
(20:22):
get some yards so that you get a man's will
third down or possibly like that. That's your screen territory.
So you just have to And again, I know the
Rams do an awesome job of understanding that this is
more for our fans. As you're watching the game, watch
the Tennessee's on the down markers right first and ten.
What are they doing? How are they setting this up?
Is it gun run on first and ten? Because if
it is gun run on first and ten, play action
(20:42):
pass will come off of that with max protection and
the shot. If it's pistol pistol pass. Understand they're setting
you up for different things as a game goes on.
It's all as a chess match. You're just trying to
see what I want to know what you're gonna play
against this, and then I'm gathering information so down the
road we can make adjustments.
Speaker 2 (20:58):
That's why I don't hate you know what's coming.
Speaker 1 (21:01):
Yeah, let me come back to that in just a second.
But I do empathize with the challenge for Chrishula this
week and his defensive staff. When you're facing a quarterback
in an offense that has not thrown a single pass
between ten and twenty air yards this season, Like, what
do you do with that?
Speaker 3 (21:15):
Uh?
Speaker 2 (21:15):
Well, I would say, like whatever hurt you in the
last two weeks, you're gonna see even what yah and
challenge you.
Speaker 3 (21:27):
If you're Emmanuel Forbes and and A. J. Brown's out there,
guess what they're gonna throws. We're gonna go vertical. That's
just that's what hurts you. Now with Darius Williams comes
in and he's able to stop that, He's not gonna
get that, right.
Speaker 1 (21:39):
But that would be such a break of tendency in
terms of hurts is only thrown. I think five go
balls all seasons.
Speaker 3 (21:46):
You have to remember we're scouting them and they're scouting. Yes, right,
so I'm gonna if I'm an offensive coordinator, what have you?
What is giving you trouble? The kid from Stanford is
catching the ball like like David Tyree on his helmet,
like skipping out of bounds. We're throwing the fade if
we see press man, that's where we've seeing you struggle, right,
and so we know that you're going to load the
box like you said, You're gonna load the box to
stop the run. Jalen hurts this is their opportunity to
(22:07):
go and make some plays.
Speaker 1 (22:09):
I want to flip to the other side. Any other
thoughts on Eagles offense, Rams defense.
Speaker 2 (22:13):
No, it's the Saquon show, you know what it is.
That must suck when you're the focal point.
Speaker 3 (22:18):
But they have to offensive line too. That's why Rams. No,
the Eagles, That's why they're running the ball so much.
They're trying to protect the old line because if you
watched again, I know the Cowboys didn't getting minisacks, but
they were all around. You can get pressure.
Speaker 1 (22:31):
Speaking of scouting and tendencies, when you win a Super Bowl,
the whole league studies you all off season and tries
to come up with the antidote to that. Do you
think anything that we've seen in terms of Philadelphia's offensive
struggles so far is just a credit to the league
and the defensive coordinators from Dallas and Kansas City finding
solutions to a league wide problem. And can the Rams
(22:53):
borrow from Well.
Speaker 3 (22:53):
I think it's Philadelphia losing players, right, I believe you lost.
You lost a lot of key pieces off defensively and defensively,
especially on your line. And then I think it also
is teams building their roster to beat you right when
we win team Yeah, just how it is. That's why
it was so shocking that the Chiefs have like three
in almost go three in a row because everyone's trying
(23:15):
to beat them, right. But if we flip it to
the other side, and if we're going to talk about
the Rams offense versus Philly's defense, I think the two
headed monster is going to be really important running back.
The two headed running back monster is going to be
really important this week because we just can't let Jalen
Carter just terrorize at the pocket. You can't do that anymore.
Speaker 1 (23:33):
Is it a two headed monster? After just seeing a
couple of carries from Blake corm and Tennessee, I know,
DeMarco says yes.
Speaker 3 (23:38):
I agree as well, because now I'm confident it.
Speaker 1 (23:41):
Was undeniable based on that sample size.
Speaker 3 (23:43):
I'm comfortable with him out there running the ball knock.
I got explosive. It looks different, but I got explosive runs, right,
and I got explosive runs when they were needed in
that game. Like he was the Kiren, was doing an
awesome job, but then when he came in, he became
the spark. He kind of show things like exactly juice,
and so if I have two guys that I can
trust to go, and we said this on air and
(24:04):
the broadcast that now we're in trouble because now I
have two fresh in the fourth quarter, I have two
guys fresh for four quarters of the game and then
in December. And so the key is for the Rams
to lean on that running game a little bit more
and then allow your one on ones on the outside
very soon. What we're saying with with Phillipe.
Speaker 1 (24:21):
Only question is do they trust Korum to clean up
that pocket the way they do Kiren.
Speaker 3 (24:27):
Well, we'll have to wait to see.
Speaker 1 (24:28):
Right this is a Sunday.
Speaker 3 (24:31):
Philly doesn't Philly doesn't blitz. They're the Rust four.
Speaker 1 (24:34):
That's what's interesting about this challenge is schematically and personnel wise,
they're so different than Houston and Tennessee. And we can
dig into the why behind that too. But just like
Kansas City and Spags changed up a little bit from
the February matchups, so too did did Fangio and the Eagles.
They got after Patrick Mahomes a little bit more than
we're used to seeing. They sent extras at him.
Speaker 3 (24:53):
They will. I mean, I think in that situation that
that was just a different game plan. I think they
did it because they lost a couple guys defensively. But
if you really, I say, in any critical moment, certain
people run certain things right, and that's what you're always
you can have a game plan to do. Hey, we're
gonna send corner blitzer, We're gonna send linebacker blitzes. But
let's get into a critical moment. Who are you, right?
(25:15):
Wade Phillips was a zero blitz guy. He goes send
at the ouse, right, That's who he is. So I
always play to who you are. Vangiel is gonna play
cover two or cover six. They go sit back and
play coverage and let you rush. And so you may
show me all this stuff, but I know, come critical
moments right, third and third and five, whatever the moment
(25:36):
is or the situation is, you're gonna be who you are.
Can't be anyone different. And that's why you can send
all those pressures to all that stuff. I know exactly
what you're gonna be in a critical moment, and that's
what you want.
Speaker 1 (25:47):
I wonder if part of it is out of necessity though,
because you talked about some lost person Alex, what's not
there anymore? Yeah, sack numbers are misleading, but they've only
got a couple through the first two weeks. So are
they generating as much pressure with only four as they
did a year ago so far? Not yet.
Speaker 2 (26:02):
No, there's still a threat though, Oh no, on Yeah,
they're still good.
Speaker 3 (26:06):
I will say this, if you blitz the Rams' you're
opening up holes and lanes that you do not want
to get exposed.
Speaker 1 (26:12):
I would say the Rams might even invite that challenge.
Speaker 3 (26:16):
I played for Tom Cable at the UCLA. I'm just
sad I had to say UCLA because we're not in
our best times right now. But we'll talk about that later.
Same colors, but they we're just different situations. He used
to tell us in every office of meeting, we want
them to blitz because we know where the holes are
and we know where we're gonna go. And that's what
I see the Rams. When you blitz the Rams. Stafford
knows exactly where he's going with the football. That throw
(26:36):
to Devonte Adams. He knew exactly where he was going
with the football. He just wanted to keep the safety
or who he thought was gonna be in the middle
of the middle because he was going to put it
out there. They know exactly where they're going with the football.
The receivers know what's going on. Everyone's doing what they're
supposed to do. When you blitz a team like that,
it can't get pretty dangerous for you.
Speaker 2 (26:53):
Well, like I said, it's week to week. So if
they're watching the Tennessee tape, there was some blitzes that
got to Stafford. There was a first and ten that
ended on third nineteen and you punt it, so there
were some blitzes that got home. There's still some communication
things that you're working out. It's the second week of
the season going into the third, so they're not all there.
Stafford just got back, really, so they're working themselves in.
(27:16):
So there's gonna be some pressures dialed up. Do they
have to use him? Does he have to go to
that We'll see. We'll see how his front four is
eating that day. If they're getting pressure, you don't need
to use them. Save him for the next week. But
if you start seeing them some pressure, like I said,
that means you're doing good. That's great, you'll have a
chance to pick it apart. Now the problem is, and
I'm with you, blitzing Matthew stafford with Pooka and with
(27:38):
DeVante Adams is very very dangerous if you don't get there.
Tennessee got home a few times. So until you sew
that up completely, every coordinator is going to have that
same blitz or something else built off it coming for
you the next week.
Speaker 3 (27:52):
Well you expect expect that corner safety blitz off the
off the nub side. Yeah, inside, that's all it. I
mean that a lot of team was struggling with that
right now. That's kind of the blitz of the year
right now. But even then, I real quick the tight
end side, where the tight end is. Yeah, so if
you have slot or three receivers away wherever the tight
end is, teams are coming off that because it's hard
(28:14):
for the lineman to slide out and scan. I would
say the biggest thing is the health of the offensive
line for the Rams. Right you talked about some pressure situations. Yeah,
you have who's the detac we played last week. I'm
already Simmons Simmons going againstdeeded. So yeah, there's gonna be
some pressure, is what it is like. Yeah, that's how
it is that God made him a little bit different
(28:35):
than he made everyone else, and he was getting pressure
through double teams. Yeah, and so you're gonna have to
see another guy like that. So I think the health
of the offensive line is gonna be important. And then
I also think the effectiveness or the efficiency of the
running game is gonna be important as well.
Speaker 1 (28:48):
How good has Stafford been knowing that the back was
less than one hundred percent. His pass protection has been
substandard by just about any objective measure, and there's been
no traditional running game through two weeks to speak of,
and he's setting the world of.
Speaker 3 (29:03):
Fire the throat of Davante last week with a guy
on his back, on Davante's back and he's throwing it around.
A guy looked like he curved the ball to him.
Speaker 2 (29:12):
I bet the arrow, yes, yeah, Now that strike beautiful.
And you also have to give Davante some props for
bailing Stafford out picking some off the ground. I mean,
some of those biggest shut up and sit down catches
came from DeVante Adams. But their connection is starting to grow.
And I love both of these receivers working both sides
of the defense. Those safeties don't know whether to go
(29:36):
blind or wind the watch whatever that analogy is, but
it's definitely serious. If you can blend in a running
game or somebody to attack the spine of the defense consistently,
oh geez, then the sky's the woman. Especially like you said,
that's when you start panicking as a coordinator. We can't
cover them all. Let's just start sending whatzes and then
you'll die faster. I had this conversation with my high
(29:56):
schoolers this weekend. We're talking about being brutally honest, right
when you have, like, coach, how was it in the
NFL we paid Devonte Adams to.
Speaker 3 (30:05):
Make those type of catches? Those are expected. I'm not
shocked that you're making those, because I've seen you make
those multiple times before. I'm shocked when you drop those, right,
even though it's like a miraculous catch. And that's what
I tell my kids, Like when you set a certain
standard for yourself and you play a certain way that's expected, right,
and you do it consistently. And so am I shocked
by the way Stafford's playing. No, I've seen it before.
(30:26):
Why would I be shocked. I've seen you do this.
This is what my eyes in my brain tell that
you're supposed to do. DeVante Adams? Am I shocked? By that. No, Now,
the drops early in the drops early in the season,
very shocked. What do we you know? But that's what
when you create those type of standards, that's what you expect.
And that's why the Rams paid them all that money
to come here and be that guy. And he's showing
(30:46):
that guy. The same with Nate Landman. We and I
know it just going back. We talk about it all
the time we're on the bus on the way back.
He's always he's always been around the ball. It's not
I'm not surprised that the balls on the ground and
fifty three is pay it up for whatever reason. He
could be way over on the other side of the
field the ball and it just goes to him. The
ball just finds his way to them. And so when
(31:08):
you have players like that and they show up in
those moments, it's not I don't want to say we
take it for granted, but it is expected.
Speaker 1 (31:16):
How about a profile this Eagles defense and the secondary specifically,
it strikes me as being such a different challenge than
Houston and Tennessee. Both of those teams had an elite corner,
I would say, and they chose to travel with DeVante.
I'm not sure, Philadelphia does. I also don't know that
that Houston or Tennessee is a good proxy for Philadelphia
(31:36):
because the strength of Philadelphia is their slot corner. I mean,
he's one, He's become one of the best in the league.
And so whereas getting Puoka into the slot and matched
up against some of those defenders was a winning formula
for weeks one and two, I think Fangio would say,
Pooka against Degene, let's go.
Speaker 3 (31:53):
Yeah. I would wonder who's going to be the corner
opposite of the first round or they had a couple
of years Quinion Mitchell, Yeah, Quinna Minche, whoever that guy is.
Speaker 1 (32:02):
Well, Adorri Jackson's been to use your expression though, where's
Waldo of the first two weeks for Philadelphia?
Speaker 2 (32:06):
That's right?
Speaker 3 (32:07):
And I'm just because I'm gonna be gentle because I
can't really say anything because my school's going through stuff,
so I'm not gonna say anything about the other school
and their players. But I'm just saying, like, that's the
guy that you want to go after. He's been the guy.
And so if that's the case, how many times can
we get Devonte Adams on him poking a coup on him.
And if I do have to put Pooka in the
slot against uh Cooper dejen I'm okay with that match
(32:30):
up because they're both they're both bigger guys, right. I
think he dominated the Cooper Cup matchup because he was
just stronger and more physical.
Speaker 1 (32:37):
But last year in January, they tried to get Pukah's
alignment outside right, and they got him targets out wide.
I'm curious what that looks like in this construct, especially
with two tight end looks right. Yes, if you're playing
more twelve, how does Philly match? Do they match? Because
there's a world where in twelve a door he's not
even on the field, right, And do you want that?
Speaker 2 (32:59):
Or?
Speaker 1 (33:00):
Okay, so you expect a lot more three receivers that.
Speaker 2 (33:02):
My dog barks, barks two my dog bites two Pukah
versus Dejane.
Speaker 3 (33:06):
Let's see it, That's what I sometimes you do get.
Speaker 2 (33:09):
Let's let's see it, let's match him, let's go that.
Speaker 1 (33:11):
That felt like a finishing thought.
Speaker 2 (33:12):
I'm just let's go.
Speaker 1 (33:13):
Are you playing us off?
Speaker 2 (33:14):
Here?
Speaker 1 (33:14):
Is that the music?
Speaker 2 (33:15):
I don't think you can hide from the Eagles and
vice versa. That's what I'm saying. I don't think you
can outscheme them. I don't think you could, you know,
hide from them, sneak up on them. They're defending champs
for a reason. You're gonna have to go through them.
Speaker 3 (33:25):
So you're telling me is like, hey, me and you
at three o'clock and it's two fifty five.
Speaker 2 (33:29):
Bank has gotta it's there.
Speaker 3 (33:30):
To start getting your mind right because it's coming. There's
no reason, Like It's kind of like boxing when you
fight the same guy three times, all the strategies out
the window.
Speaker 2 (33:38):
We just got a box right there.
Speaker 3 (33:39):
We's got to figure this thing out the old fashioned
And I think that's what you're if you're the Rams.
You're saying, look, this is our third shot at this
at this team, at this roster. How can we go
out there? And I know it's a little bit different,
but we got to go out there and just.
Speaker 1 (33:50):
Execute our boxing. Analogy made me realize that we overlooked
one big thing, and that is the current state of
the tush push, which is dominating headlines again this week
because of the way the Eagle jumped abused it in
Kansas City. Where are you with respect to that play
in general and how it's not been officiated and what
that means.
Speaker 2 (34:08):
For Sunday, right me, You want to know how to
stop it? I still think you do.
Speaker 1 (34:13):
You want to you ask what the question?
Speaker 2 (34:15):
Jonesrew? I know will say what I don't.
Speaker 3 (34:18):
I don't think it's illegal. I do. If you want
to know how to stop it, I could tell you
you just have to jam the center back into the quarterback.
Oh it's that simple, Like that's the only way to
stop that. He's sitting there, whoever's over the nose of
the center. You have to you have to get all
your weight and run right into him, and jamming back
into hurts. And that's how you used to Yeah, you're
saying it right. Look, I don't want you to ban
it until I stop it. There there you go.
Speaker 2 (34:39):
Yeah, I don't want the league to have to save
me from a freaking play. I'd rather have to stop.
Speaker 1 (34:44):
It, won't You be curious? Though, because the spotlight of
the league has been on it this week, I would
expect Philly to just run it flawlessly, cleanly, right to
make sure that they're buttoned up. But if a flag
gets dropped on Sunday, just to make sure that a
message is sent on behalf of the other thing thirty
one teams, I wouldn't be surprised either, and the Rams
could be beneficiary.
Speaker 3 (35:04):
Or you could do what the commanders did and just
jump all sides every time.
Speaker 2 (35:08):
Oh yeah, we don't have then.
Speaker 1 (35:13):
That's a form of surrender.
Speaker 2 (35:14):
Though in the goal line, why not take a shout out?
But if you go from a fourth and one, which
is an easy pick up for them, to a fourth
and six when the game's on the line, that was
in the message.
Speaker 1 (35:24):
Yeah, man, can't get here soon enough.
Speaker 2 (35:26):
Huh, yes, here we go so you can get cold.
When it's not cold you're talking about is hot and humid.
What happened to you?
Speaker 3 (35:35):
Come on, I'm being an analyst. I don't play football anymore.
I stopped playing football long time.
Speaker 1 (35:40):
Let's shut this down so we can get his unfiltered
U C l A thoughts okay for m J D
and DeMarco farm JB. Long thanks for joining us for
a week three edition and Between the Horns presented by
your Southern California Toyota Dealers.
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