2024 NFL Game Preview: Green Bay Packers vs Philadelphia Eagles

what's going on Packers fans Aaron negler here with a very special guest in Fran Duffy who has covered the Eagles for a very very very long time and recently just uh switched Avenues in which he does what's your what's the new gig Fran what are you what are you doing now sure first off appreciate you having me Aaron the the switch uh after 13 Seasons working with the Eagles uh actually moved over to uh All City Network and phly uh so phly is the local affiliate uh if you're familiar with like uh chgo with Chicago dnvr uh with the Denver Broncos they've got a few that have uh sprouted up over the last few years uh Dallas just had their affiliate open up last week and so phly has been around for a year uh working with Bo wolf and Zack Burman with their Eagles coverage but then also contributing to the entire uh network doing NFL draft I'll talk about all the other teams as well within the network so excited for certainly a new challenge a new opportunity and a new chance to kind of spread my analysis throughout the entire league and not just uh locally here in Philly man having done that I tell you it is it has a tough gig as far as keeping track of all 32 teams I don't miss it godspeed on your journey but I did want to tell talk to you about the Eagles because as we were talking about before we started recording here I've spoken to a lot of Packers people now over the course of the last month or so looking forward to this game on Friday night in Brazil Packers versus Eagles I've exhausted every possible angle from the outside looking in as far as Packers fans media what have you we've talked a lot surface level about the Eagles but I wanted to talk to you about some of the nitty-gritty stuff uh starting with obviously a lot of changes in Philadelphia this past offseason look no further than the coaching staff two new coordinators has there been a market difference as far as how they're running things like training camp practices things of that nature or has serani pretty much kept things May steady and and familiar to the players or has that been a big shift you know uh right off the bat I would say not any huge changes I mean if you look at even like how they went through and executed the plan for preseason the starters on offense did not play a lick uh and that has been the case over the last few years that's not just a Nick serani thing that's a Hoy Roseman thing as well uh who's been the general manager now for uh two decades so I think when you look at um the way that they went about things slight differences right I mean Vic fangio the starters played a hand full of snaps in the first preseason game then a lot of the young starters played uh in the second and the third game as well um but I think overall no real huge changes that way obviously Vic fangio is in his first year as the defensive coordinator but you know sha Desai was a Vic fangio disciple he was the defensive coordinator start the year last year so uh it would stand the reason that there's some language things that and some carryover philosophically and even though Jonathan Ganon who was the defensive coordinator the two years prior he didn't come from that fangio tree but philosophically in terms of limiting explosives playing typically from a split safety look uh you know odd fronts very multiple fronts up front so a lot of the things kind of carried over from that standpoint where the big changes happened philosophically and schematically while it still remains to be seen appear to be on the offensive side of the football where Kell Moore got hired as the offensive coordinator this year Eagles fans very well aware of what he can do being the offensive coordinator for the Dallas Cowboys for five years but comes over from the Chargers uh and it seems like all the keys are being hand it to him from a an offensive schematic standpoint so away from Nick serani and his philosophy over to Kell Moore now I do think that serani is still G to have a little bit of a fingerprint there there is not going to be completely Kell Moore it's going to be a Melting Pot there but I do think when it's all said and done uh it is going to be Kell Moore's final say there in terms of what happens he will be the play caller all those things so I I think that that's where the big change will happen let's take a look at that because I think the Kell Mo hire I don't doubt for a moment they wanted someone with play calling experience someone who's been in the league for a long time and made these calls In the Heat of the Moment right because I think the book again from the outside looking in you watch the kind of the tail end of last season it's been talked about a lot but the struggles especially against pressure and heavy pressure they were very apparent right and I have to think Kell Moore has been given the brief look you've got to make sure that Jaylen Herz has more answers because it did seem especially late in the year that team finally just said we can just come after this quarterback with impunity and it doesn't didn't appear like there were lots of solutions for him do you think that's something that they worked on this summer certainly something they worked on but it's really a thing where now we kind of have to see it right especially since we didn't get a chance to see any of it in preseason really all we got to see was all right in scrimmage situations outside of one joint practice one individual practice with the New England Patriots which was up in Foxboro uh that that was all we saw from this first team offense and if from a uh you know trying to pick up the blitz standpoint and I think when you look again going back to last year uh Nick serani where he comes from from a coaching tree standpoint you go back to like Frank Reich who started kind of cut his teeth with pton Manning and and the Colts that was where he had so much success the way that they wanted to play offensively was very static right and honestly that's the way that this offense has been where hey we're going to line up two by two more than anybody in the league we're going to go two receivers to the left two receivers to the right we're not going to have motion we're going to keep everybody spread out and that's a blank canvas for the quarterback pre- snap and you think the quarterbacks that have operated that system at a high high level pton Manning certainly you go to Philip Rivers with the Chargers Andrew luck with the Colts after Frank Reich left here with the Eagles he went there and luck operated that at a very high level when you're a quarterback that has that ability pre- snap to say hey you know what let's let's call all the shots and we've got everything but with the Eagles that was not how things were set up because Jason Kelce was a veteran Center there and he he handled all of those pre- snap looks and so uh when the quarterback Jaylen Herz and he has spoken about that honestly very recently here locally on the radio Jaylen Herz where he said yeah I was not asked to handle that that phase of things I think now you're looking at a quarterback that has a a new lease in terms of how he's looking at it but it's a new offense and so are there going to be more easy buttons in the offense I think that will be the case here with Jaylen Herz and Kell Moore it's interesting you talk about the blank canvas for the quarterback that's something Aaron Rogers talked about a lot towards the end of his time in Green Bay as far as because trying to marry what Matt was doing as far as condensed formations lots of motion which was against everything that Rogers had kind of learned and wanted to do I'm fascinated to see how much they lean on the running game the new addition in saquon Barkley again it's you know the summer we don't really get to see much of what's actually going to occur as far as what they want to lean into tendency wise and things of that nature but I have to think the best friend that Jaylen Herz could possibly have is saquon Barkley and that offensive line keeping them ahead of the sticks I have to think they're going to lean into that running game early and often yeah and so you know the big thing to remember is that while Kell Moore comes in as the offensive coordinator Jeff ston Remains Not Just as the offensive line coach but as the Run game coordinator the Run game goes through Jeff stotland and uh there will be people you know National analysts that will look at that and say that's actually a really good thing because when you look at the Run game last year with the Chargers it was non-existent it was not creative the blocking up front was not good they didn't do enough to get those backs in space and that might have been a talent issue in multiple areas but when you have Jeff Stalin you say okay the Run game we're going to leave that alone we're not even going to touch it so I do think there will be some schematic changes but uh nothing that's going to be too drastic I think that this is gonna you know schematically philosophically they're going to come at you on the ground game the same way that they have in the past I think what they're banking on eron with the addition of saquon Barkley is that hey this offense with with the ecosystem we have set up one of the best offensive lines in football one of the best schemers in football with Jeff Stalin High floor that's what that's what we want and that's what we've had you know DeAndre Swift yards before contact last year one of the best in the NFL my Sanders in the years previous yards before contact some of the best in the NFL well all right what are we doing after contact what do we have a running back that can create more for us and that's what you're hoping with saquon Barkley is he's got that ability to take those three four five yard runs and turn them not just into seven eight nine yards but into 10 1520 and score more touchdowns and so I think ultimately that's what you're hoping for if you're saquon Barkley and if you're the Eagles and you talked about the offensive line which is impressive obviously a lot has been talked about again from our side looking at it surface level oh well you know Jason Kelce has retired and I know there there's little doubt that there's a plan in place they have a new center there's no question that this is you know it's not a question of that things are going to fall apart suddenly without Kelsey around but have you noticed any Market difference has there been much of a change as far as how they operate that fact that Jaylen Herz has taken on more that responsibility at the line of scrimmage I think that is the biggest change is the the mental side of it and the operation side of it and again not having those reps in preseason uh I would imagine that there will be a little bit in terms of growing pains there with between Jurgens and and with Jaylen Herz but I honestly schematically I think they're going to do all the same stuff because the skill set is very similar from Jason Kelce to cam Jurgens he's an outstanding athlete his ability to get out in space is evident uh the moment you watch them and so um again without having the preseason rep in the film do we have point to and say yeah this is it this is what we're going to see you're kind of leaning on preseason not just from last year because Jurgens played guard last year but going back to his first year in 2021 uh or in 2022 rather where he was you know I remember in Cleveland there was a he had extensive preseason action he looked awesome uh so just kind of leaning on that saying okay this is the uh this is the pro the the proof than what what he can be at this Center Spot having him a guard last year next to Kelce was obviously it wasn't ideal because you have two guys that are that small right next to each other It's just tough to be able to to create any kind of movement on that side but then also those guys being able to work off of each other Jeff statland really likes those guards especially when you have that Underside Center he likes those guards to be massive and honestly that was a big reason why I think McKai beckon has been installed as the starting Right Guard you have Landon Dickerson who's a behemoth next to him as well and so having those two twin tower guards with uh with Cam Jurgens in the inside it's going to be a winning combination to me for this offensive line um flipping sping around on the defensive side of the ball and again sticking along the interior obviously Fletcher Cox retires again that's a big talking point but I mean they have two young studs inside and it's interesting to read some of the local coverage about Jordan Davis uh it's weird to see him framed as I guess not a disappointment but from what I've read now you can correct me if I'm wrong but he has not been what they expected is that true because every time I watch this kid I think God this guy is a good player but I don't see the Eagles that much yeah the the flashes have been tantalizing and and the thing was is that okay as a rookie he came in and there and there were flash moments but he kind of fell off there was a little a little bit of an injury fell off mid-season it's like all right well you know what he hit the rookie wall first year in the NFL that's fine you had all the guys ahead of him you had jaon hardgrave and you had Fletcher Cox like it was okay all right year two we need him to kind of hit the ground running and he's gonna be a little bit more of a full-time player and early on the returns were pretty good it was like all right well he's he's shown up a little bit he was disruptive in the past game he was pretty good against the Run game most often I think he lasted a little bit longer into the season the problem with Jordan Davis the problem with Jaylen Carter the problem with Josh SED and a lot of these guys is that the defense just went completely into the tank you know they made that change at defensive coordinator from Shawn Desai to Matt Patricia and the wheels just fell off the entire unit and so everything looked bad and so when you when everything looks bad um you know I know that the Packers have had some years on that side of the football where it's like yeah it's It's just tough to point to anything and like on thiser right and so I think when you look at Jordan Davis you say all right well you know even I can think back like that Buffalo game he made one of the the game changing plays of the game chasing down Josh Allen along the sideline and forcing him out of bounds uh to you know to force a field goal as opposed to what could have been a long touchdown run for Allen and so I think when you look at Davis you are looking for him to take that next step as a rusher he hasn't quite hit the ceiling that they were hoping for yet but it's year three at a position where it typically does take some time for guys to to come along now you're hoping can can he stay conditioned long enough uh to uh to to be that kind of impact player not the same question with Jaylen Carter I think a high high high hopes for Jaylen Carter freak man he is an absolute dog and to me I talked about this on one of our shows a couple days ago if I'm the Packers I want to get to a point where I am running hurry up no huddle with them on the field to wear them out because I think that's their one hope right I don't think the Packers match up very well I think Elton Jenkins obviously can go Toe totoe with anybody but you're talking Josh Meers you're talking uh Shawn Ryan maybe even Jordan Morgan I think you got a problem if you're the Packers if I'm the Eagles like Jordan Morgan versus Jaylen Carter that is a matchup I'm circling and saying I feel really really good about that match up early on and to your point philosophically going back to one of the things actually you said earlier what what could change here with this team you know Vic fangio if you looked to last year when he had the two guys in Miami and really that entire defensive line they did not rotate much those played a lot of Christian wil you look at Zack Syler those guys played a lot of snaps the Eagles historically have been a platooning defensive line operation they love those full hockey line changes four guys in four guys out and let's keep this thing rolling well uh that is not the way that fangio has operated is that how he's gonna operate this year because the eagles look there was when Fletcher Cox leaves they lost hardgrave the year before what does the defensive line depth look like in Camp those interior guys I mean you have Jaylen Carter we talked about him absolute stud Jordan Davis here expecting to take that next step Milton Williams to me is a very good player very disruptive I know that there were opposing offensive line coaches going into games last year that said he's the guy we are most worried about up front number 93 so he'll be another starter there when they're in their odd fronts and when they go into subpackage he's going to be on the field with Jaylen Carter not Jordan Davis and so you have Milton Williams but then they've got some other young guys that have really come on Moro ojomo had a really good camp Thomas Booker earned a spot on the team with a really good camp both those guys were day three picks in recent years so I think when you look at that interior defensive line there's a lot to like there from the Eagles standpoint so what is that rotation going to look like that's a a kind of a under the radar storyline to watch for the Eagles going into this game I absolutely love it and then let's kick back to the secondary because obviously this is you know an area of great turnover right I think obviously you've got slay out there at corner and I loved his cander the last time uh these two teams played and Christian Watson was out there he legit said on his podcast I had to hold him because I didn't realize how fast he was so I don't think like it's never going to be one V one right like you're always in a framework and whatever but how do you see them I mean I guess trying to mitigate some of the damage that these weapons for the Packers can do because I mean the Packers are young but they are deep and they have a lot of ways that they can hurt you how do you see them them being the Eagles kind of deploying that secondary is it going to be I mean I guess not strict man obviously you're not expecting like two man every single snap but how do you expect fangio to try and use some of these new pieces the two rookies in particular yeah it was one of the things certainly everybody was following going into the summer because it was honestly a three-man competition at the right cornerback spot slay is going to be the left corner uh and so who was going to be that right corner when they were in base and so uh you had early competition where it was key Ringo and Isaiah Rogers the young veteran who was suspended all of last year to the gambling uh so he was on the field for the first time this spring and Isaiah Rogers flashed and so going into summer so all right it's going to be kind of a three-man competition between those two and quinan Mitchell the rookie first round pick uh and Cooper deine started the uh started the summer on pup he had an offseason injury that was separate from the injury that he suffered at the end of his I Iowa career was a soft tissue thing so uh as as he was on on the sideline all right what what does that three-man combination look like well Aaron a week into camp we get we go out there for practice Quan Mitchell's first team in the slot and it's like who like we no one really knew about this turns out qu Mitchell they didn't even plan they didn't prep him for it he showed up on they like yeah you're yeah you're in slot and so he took a lot of slot reps throughout most of the summer and then as the Summer started to shift a little bit we started to see him get more outside reps in practice and Avante madx getting more slot or get more slot reps and ivante has been the slot corner for the Eagles for a long time he was getting both slot and safety reps throughout the course of the summer and then it started to shift back to the former uh as the summer went on and so what I would expect going into this game is that when the Eagles are in base defense which I would expect especially with the the amount that the Packers like to play 12 Personnel you'll see some base looks from this team I think it'll be slay at left corner and it'll be quinan Mitchell the right corner the rookie coming out uh now when they go into nickel I think Q actually ends up staying out there Rogers looks like he's dealing with some kind of an injury uh so I think you'll have Quan Mitchell at right corner avonte Maddox in the slot I do expect this team to play a decent amount of dime is that where Cooper dein comes onto the field because now that he's healthy he's still coming along from a me mental side so I think it'll be a little bit of a slow burn for him to start but I do think they want to try and get him on the field and so I think that he you could see him when they get into third down you get into some of those dime looks get a linebacker off the field I think that'll be a point of emphasis for the Eagles more often than not so get a linebacker off the field get Cooper Dee on there and let's see how these matchups work in their favor you mentioned linebacker I mean it's no secet that was a real tough spot on the depth chart for the Eagles last year and now this morning essentially the Eagles have ruled out their new free agent acquisition uh what how does the linebacker group shake out and is there going to be Improvement there at all given how rough things were in 2023 yeah and since that announcement uh there's actually been some reporting from local media members from the beat Corps that uh it was that the linebacker situation may have been not even injury related that even if uh if white was healthy that he would have traveled obviously but he wasn't going to be a starter and so uh is n it would have been it sounds like noobe Dean and Zack Bon regardless as the starting linebackers you know when they're out there in that base personnel and so um my assumption going in because all summer it was a straight rotation with like four five six guys uh and those guys were rolling through sometimes you'd see all right it's Devon white and Zack bond with the ones and sometimes it would be like Devon white and Jeremiah troter with the threes and so uh those guys were just con and that's not just Devon white that's everybody so it was a constant rotation with all of those guys working first team second team third team and so uh going into the season I had no idea how they were going to handle this if it was going to be hey you know what each guy's going to have specific situations you know maybe noob's out there and dime but when they're in base it'll be these two and nickel it'll be these two uh because I've seen that the Eagles operate in a lot of different ways over the years um but it seems like for this game it's going to be Zack Bon and niobe Dean for the majority uh and we'll see if trer Jor is able to mix in trer did have a nice summer uh I think there is some sness there between he and niobe Dean in terms of like Siz guys not the like the height weight speed that you'd ideally want more going to lean into their instincts and their ability to play through contact so uh do they want some guy to be able to compliment each other and That's where Zack Bon comes into play uh regardless I do think you'll see a decent amount of blitzing from those guys um you know and maybe it's not five or six-man rushes and those guys are coming but hey you know we're GNA send one and then you're dropping off a defensive end I think you'll see plenty of that here in this game Fran I cannot thank you enough for the time I really appreciate the Deep dive into the Packers first week one opponent there down in Brazil thank you so much we'll have a link in the description of this video where you can find all Fran's work Fran thank you so much for the time man Aaron appreciate it thanks for uh for having me we'll talk again soon man