Birds Weekly: Can The Eagles Upset The Panthers Without Jalen Hurts?

All right, everybody, you are locked on the Week 6 Preview Edition of Birds Weekly presented by the Inside the Birds Network. My man, Barrett Brooks, over there. I'm Derrick Gunn. Of course, the Eagles are getting ready to take on the Carolina Panthers on Sunday. And oh my, for a second week in a row, shocking news comes to the surface. This time, it pertains to the starting quarterback, Jalen Hurts, who told the medical staff last week he got cleated against the Rams. So he goes through practice last week. They finally treated him and everything. And then he practiced Friday, gets to London Saturday to do an ultrasound, and they find a superficial blood clot in his calf, which is near the surface of the skin. And the medical staff and the doctors deemed him okay to play on Sunday, gets the medical treatment Monday and Tuesday, full practice on Wednesday. And all of a sudden, they do an ultrasound Wednesday evening and find out the clot moved. I'm going to go to Barrett Brooks because you played the game and you said this type of blood clot is common, but would you have let him play last Sunday against Jacksonville? Well, like I say, man, I've had, you know, I mean, to me, it's just, when they say blood clot, to me, it's just, you know, I got, you know, something like that before and it's almost like, you know, a bruise, a deep bruise and, you know, you see it pop up, you know what I mean? So they say superficial and I've seen that before, superficial, but it didn't move. So evidently it's some, you know, a little more serious than that because it moved. So, I mean, that's concerning, man, because blood clots, man, can end you. They can end your life, man. You know, so that thing travels up to your heart and it blocks up your heart, you know? That's a heart attack. You mean you'll be done. So they let him play because, you know, like I said, I've seen that type of injury before. Okay. But, you know, once it moved, man, they just can't play around with it, you know? And, you know, and it kind of makes sense because there's a reason why he didn't run as much as he did. I mean, two yards, he had two yards last year. Two carries. Yeah. So, you know, I mean, it kind of put two and two together. Now it's equal and Jalen Hurts is not playing this week. Okay. So he's not playing against Carolina with a clot like this. Is it possible he might not play the next game also? Man, I don't know, man. I mean, I'm not a doctor, man, but at the end of the day, you know, I've seen blood clots, you know, that are, what is it called, deep, whatever. Yeah. You know, whatever it's called. You know, Philly's starting pitcher. You know, he had one of those and he was out for the season. You know what I'm saying? He was out for the playoffs. So that's something that is very serious, man. And, you know, they got to do something, you know, blood thinners and everything, to kind of dissolve it and, you know, get it out of there before I would feel comfortable having my $50 million a year quarterback out there playing. Man, you played the game for what? 13 years professionally? 12 years. 12 years professionally. You've been around the game a long time. Have you ever seen a more snake-bitten team? I mean, I relate this team to the 2005 team I covered, which was the year after they went to the Super Bowl, and that team was decimated by injuries, and they went 6-10 that year in 2005. But this is unbelievable. Your franchise quarterback out, your top one, two, three running backs are out, your top receiver, Devontae Smith, hampered, Hollywood Brown, hampered. Now, Dantavia Wicks has come up injured, Tyler Steen's injured. I heard, see, I have heard that before. I heard the same list go down, and we won the Super Bowl that year, it was 2017. Jason Peters. It wasn't this bad, dude. It was not this bad. Bro, we had a bunch of guys. How many stars we had? We had a bunch of stars. You had Carson out, you had... Jason Peters. Jason Peters was out. Sprouls was gone. Okay. You had a handful. You might have had seven or eight. Seven or eight. No, if you look back, there was a lot more guys. In fact, you can't even name the starting linebackers that started to get a Super Bowl. Guys you hadn't even heard of them. You're probably right. And look, they got 26 people on the injury report back right now, man. No, no, no. Come on, man. Well, you know a team that went through that last year, and they ended up going to the playoffs, and they beat us in playoffs. That's the 49ers. San Francisco. San Francisco went through the same thing. They were close. So we can't complain, can't bitch about it. We just got to go out there and play. My next question is, is there anybody on defense that can play offense that you know of? Is there anybody? No? You don't have enough players on the practice squad to bring up to fill all these gaps, man. Bro, Carson Strong is one of the players that's going to play. Carson Strong said, hey, I should be playing right now. Well, you're going to get an opportunity to play this week. You know what I'm saying? You know, Damien Pearson, you got to go out there and ball. You got to show me more than you showed me this last game you did last week. I need to see more. Carson Strong, I know he's going to give it all because he's like, he won't borrow a title. He's like, man, I got to go out there and interview for 31 other teams. I'm about to go out there and make it happen. Carson Strong may be the leading rusher in this game. We might be able to run the ball with Carson. Let's go, baby. Let's go. Well, they're playing one of the worst run defenses in the national football league. I mean, this is a run defense that's ranked 31st, giving up 156 yards a game and yet Barrett, I don't know if they can run the football. I honestly don't know if they can run the football. I think we'll have a little more semblance of a running game this week. Even with the other- It can't get worse than 22 yards. It was 22 yards against Jacksonville. It's only got to get better, you know what I'm saying? But I think we have a Lander Dickerson back, is a big, big key to that running game turning on. I mean, it's going to have to be because that's the only way we can keep this offense rolling. We have got to have some consistency on first and second down or it's all for not. We get behind the bus, especially in the second half, we get behind the buck in first and second down and we just can't complete third downs after that. Well you look at this Carolina team, the offense in particular, and Carolina's been making some head waves and people are starting to take notice of Carolina and especially Bryce Young. Just a couple of years ago, Bryce Young was in that category of first round bust. Now, Bryce Young is busting people up. I mean he's averaging 310 yards a game passing. What have you seen in the transformation of Bryce Young from a couple of years ago to now seem more comfortable in the pocket and more accurate things of that nature? I think that's it. His pocket presence is a lot better now and I think to protect him a little better also. He's moving around well in the pocket and that's a big thing. He's in the pocket and to protect him in the pocket. But man, he's got, T McMillan is one of the better receivers in the league. Gray size, six foot five. I'm going to recover him. I called the game Arizona versus TCU and he was that type of player. He definitely garnered bracket coverage and even when they bracketed him, he still did his thing and had some great yards in that game. Then got to the NFL and to me, he's just a bigger version of Puka Nakua mixed in with guys that can go out there and run routes. He's faster than Puka and he's more fluid than Puka, but he's still one of the guys that I see can handle being bracketed. Plus, his run after the catch, man, he's deadly, man. He's deadly. Well, he's one of those receivers that's been flying under the radar. When you look at his numbers, 26 catches, 385 yards, almost 15 yards against two touchdowns, and he's got seven catches of 20 plus yards. Another player who's been flying under the radar, is a little bit more household name, but has been flying under the radar, is that running back Chuba Hubbard. Man, this dude, you talk about straight ahead, like battering ram. I mean, he's already at 61 carries. He's averaging five yards a carry. I don't think people really across the NFL in terms of a fan base appreciate what a Chuba Hubbard can do in a running game, because Carolina's running game sets up his passing game. Well, I'm going to tell you the truth. I've always loved Chuba Hubbard when he was with... You said Chubba Bubba. Yeah. He's done very, very well for himself. They bring somebody in every year to start in front of him, and all of a sudden, bam, he keeps being consistent and running the rock well. So every time they brought somebody in, he still seems to be in the lead back. So he's good, man. You know, he's well-established. He can run that pill, man, and if you get that run game going with that play action, and then you push the ball down, what's his name, TP. Millen and Coker, Coker's a blazer, man, he can run, man. So they got the perfect one-two combination. Hey, football is heating up and everyone's pulling up because PrizePix has all your picks in one place. 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Trumble, Waller, I mean, they can do some things, man. So this is the team, even though they're record, what are they, two and two or something like that? Yeah. Even though they're still good. Yeah, because they're just coming off their buy. They're still good enough that, you know, you have to respect them as a team. They've lost to some pretty good teams. You know what I'm saying? So yeah, man, you know, this is, this is, even though before yesterday, I mean, before today, the Eagles were one point favorites. They were one point favorites. When I look at it now, I think we're three and a half point dogs. But we don't have a strong quarterback and they're still saying it's going to be like that? We'll see. We'll see. I know that defense isn't as good as we've seen, you know, Panther defense before. But this is still a team that, you know, they're coming off a bye. This Eagles team is really, you know, coming from over the pond. And, you know, I think it's like teams that come from over to from from from London, they're playing the game with the team that has a bar had a by going into this. I think they said they're all in for, you know, the team coming from London. We'll see. We can't get any worse, man. I'm just saying we just can't get any worse, man. There's there's no way we can go any more downhill. We've got to get some type of good luck or something, man. You know, somebody to pray for us, do something, man. Give us an opportunity to at least compete, man. We can't even compete right now. I shouldn't be laughing. It's not funny. But, you know, the line is who's next, you know? With all these injuries, who's next? I mean, you look at Carolina's defense, it's the 30th ranked defense giving up 390 yards a game roughly, giving up 231 through the air and I said a buck 56 on the ground. They're 31st against the run, 22nd against the pass, and 27th in points allowed giving up 27 points a game. Now, you got Tanner McKee, quarterback in this preseason squad that's going to be stepping on the field against Carolina. Okay. Would you attack Carolina more so through the air or on the ground, especially trying to get Tanner acclimated in a game like this, especially with a team reeling, bringing in a three-game losing streak? I was about to say, D-Gone, what are you talking about, man? Let's just give me some resemblance of an offense. I mean, we don't run the ball, we don't run the pass, what you want me to say, man? What you want me to say? I don't care if you got to go out there and run QB draws, whatever it takes, and they say Tanner can't run, run, Tanner, run, we need you, bro, because we need to find something, man, and I think if we can go out there and establish a run game, and I think we can with Lana Dixon coming back. I think Kendall practiced today, so he may be starting his game, but even if he doesn't, I'm very comfortable going in with our starting center. When I started left guard, he was a left guard last week, Willie, move him in to the center position. I think Lampkin can play center just as well, if not better than Kendall. To me, it can't get any worse. If you got Dixon back, you got the resemblance of an offensive line that can at least compete, will run the block, rock, get Bell going a little bit. I think we may be able to compete and run against that defense. That would open up, not even to say play action, but it will just open up something. I think it will help us most on first down and second down. If we can just stop having negative plays, and then even if we gain two yards, it's better than us going out, jumping on sides, starting out first and 15th. That's been our MO this past season, all five games. Until we start playing consistently without all the penalties, and staying ahead of the sticks, man, it's going to be tough for us to even stay in games, man. So I'm just looking forward, at least establish a little bit of run game. We know Tanner McKee can grip it and rip it. So let's just pray for the best and know that it can't get any worse. Now, I was snickering because I was just thinking, as you were talking, that I can see, I can visualize a running back getting a three or four-yard gain and the entire stadium standing up, giving a round of applause. Forgive my mental sickness right now, okay? I'm sorry. I apologize. But do you anticipate as bad as Carolina's defense is, we always talk about the NFL being a copycat lead, everybody has been blitzing Eagles' quarterbacks, especially from the right side. Do you expect them to try to load up the right side and bring the house to see if they can rattle McKee? Yes. They will do the same thing. Because, I mean, they've been doing it the past three weeks. So of course, they're going to do it. You know what I mean? They just can't stop the complete, until they go out. And they almost did it this last game when they did the same blitz and then Jalen Hurts dropped back. And if he had just one second longer to get that ball up, he couldn't step into his throw and he threw it up to Wicks. And Wicks almost caught it. You know, it was just, you overthrew him a little bit. Yeah. I can tell you what, if he had just hit that and have a big play, that's how you get teams from blitzing you all the time. You got to have a big play. You got to have an alternative to just getting sacked or just running for your life. We got to have something. We got to have sight adjustment by the receivers, something to get teams from doing that to us. And until we go out and show that we can make a big play, it's just all for naught, man. People are going to zero blitz us all day, man, and we can't do nothing about it. So hopefully, they try it again and we complete the path, even if he just catches it for a big play, just stop him from doing it, man. I think that's best to just make them get out of it. You just got to beat them with a big play. Well, I like your optimism, but I'm not sure I'm quite there yet. So with that said, who are you picking and give me a score? I mean, I got to be an analyst at the end of the day. And I just don't see any way that this Eagles team could win from an analyst point of view where I'm not lying. You know what I mean? I mean, this team is just the walking wounded. It's the walking wounded. And I mean, you're talking about a team that's coming off a buy. This team is coming from London. Star quarterback is not going to be playing. We're having a backup quarterback. We're on our fourth and 15 running back. And that's not, I'm not exaggerating. Our fourth and 15 running back. Both of these players have been on the practice squad for the past, well, you look at it, Damian just came up last week and Carson just came up this week. So these guys, and then you come out, Lander Dixon coming back from a four game hiatus. I mean, it just really doesn't make sense for me to say, all right, the Eagles are going to win. You know what I'm saying? Because we just don't look like it. We just don't have the artillery, the firepower. We don't know who's playing on Sunday. So how do you ask the officer coordinator, a new officer coordinator to call an offense that takes advantage of the players that he has there? Because he don't know what players are going to have there anyways. So I mean, it just doesn't make logical sense to say that, you know, the Eagles are going to win this game. No score? But of course, I'm not logical. I'm saying the Eagles win. No, you're not. No, you're not. They win by field goal, baby. No, you're not. No, you're not. They win by field goal. Let's go. No, you're not. You're lying. You're lying. You know you're lying. Tell the truth, man. You've been lying to me for a decade. Tell the truth, bro. 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But, you know, I mean, this is a team where Rocky, Rocky's real here. Yeah. So, you got to think, if Rocky's not real and we think he's real, then I'm saying this Eagles team could run and go out there and play because I think they're real. Tell them if he goes and lights it up, everybody jumps on his bandwagon, we have a Cupid controversy, let's go, baby. Let's go. All right. Well, I'm not quite there with you. I will say this, though. If that Eagles defense can keep Carolina to less than 20 points. That too. The Eagles have a fighting chance, but I can't pick the Eagles right now. This is crazy. I'm going Carolina 21, Eagles 16, and I hope I'm dead wrong in my prediction. I hope the score is flipped. Keep your fingers crossed. That's my score. Yeah, 21-16. Keep your fingers crossed and the rabbit foot handy that nobody else of significance gets hurt. I don't want to see anybody get hurt in general, but no other starter gets hurt, especially on that defense. The way this office is decimated, do not let the injury books start hitting the defense. So for my man, Barrett Brooks, I'm Derrick Gunn. This has been Birds Weekly presented by the Inside Birds Network. We will talk to you next week after the Eagles in Carolina Panthers. Go at it. So long, everybody. Go Birds. Go Birds.