FIRST THINGS FIRST | Nick reacts Eagles' Sirianni clears up Kenny Pickett-Tanner McKee QB hierarchy

practices with the Eagles oddly Philly starters did not play because of loudly checking notes a week of joint practices with the Patriots I didn't understand that here's Nick serani we had 89 plays against New England it was a long practice it was a physical practice we had some good one-on-one reps I just thought it was a really physical practice because I think New England's a really physical team um you know that's not enough rest in my opinion to to put those guys back out there huh well what still by the way still batting 1,000 for all of NFL history of coaches saying the team they just practiced against was physical well I'm yet to see the one be like man that was a really finessed team we were up against this week basically playing patty cake out there here's here's the problem I my problem is twofold one is last year in week one of the regular season they played the Patriots and they won but they seemed lethargic out of sorts and Nick serani said after that week one game maybe it was a mistake not playing my guys in the preseason now they started 8-0 the the year before that last year they started 10- one so I get that that piece of it but I really believe the eagles need to have their starters have some success before this year starts because last year we can show it to you it's I think Supernatural Funk and the jokes we've made understated for 2 months last year they were arguably the worst team in the NFL no one in the league has done more losing since December 1st only the commanders lost more games and the commanders cleaned house the Chargers cleaned house the Jaguars you know their quarterback got hurt you can't really what are you going to do um and so I just I of all the teams in the league Greg I would think hey man have your starters go out there especially against sorry but a Patriots team that is weak and just traded away Matthew judon and get you know seven plays 75 yards touchdown bang feel good new season it's just weird that they would be okay rolling into next year with the last football those starters played together was that disaster run yeah and that was my number one takeaway the way you ended the season with all the Discord with all the questioning of relationships and are are we on the same page even with the head coach even with the quarterback and receivers like we bring in new guys we've struggled the last end of tell end of the season and it it just puts into question like when you talk about practicing against a team was it something that you saw in those practices that gave you pause to say I don't even want to put them out there because I I I didn't like what I saw because if if if you were beaten up on that team it would be different it would be completely different if you felt really good about what you saw all week in practice and it was like yeah this this would be a waste of our time to put those guys out there and we looked really really good and those were the reports and all the things but when even then even still in that situation with Nick serani in my opinion being on one of the hottest seats in the National Football League at head coach you put the you put them out there that's what I thought you put them out there because you want to show you want to show well and if you play well against this team in joint practices uh yeah guys give me give me one series just give me one series can I ask you a question cuz I've never been in joint practices versus preseason what is the intensity if games are here joint practices are here or joint practice where are preseason games so I I think you can get a lot out of joint practices I actually enjoyed them I didn't think I would ever I I did it when I was in Miami it was my first time experiencing it I thought they were great because it is ratcheted up a little bit because you're you're competing against someone that doesn't wear the same helmet as you and so naturally you want to show well because this is our team that's their team however it's different because you're you're not hitting you know there's there's some things that you just go in and you're like I don't have to there's no butterflies when you go to a joint practice but when you're about to play a game pre-season and or regular season game they're little butterflies because this is live this is real you can't fake it one guy might go a different speed or intensity level but you better believe you better be ready to go cuz he's going to hit you or you're going to hit him so I I I I don't buy that in the joint practices we got our bulk of the work is in the games okay yeah you have a take on joint practices what no I I gave my take about the Eagles offseason we have to go Dusty's in my ear and I'm listening to them we got a move we got stuff to do gotor I know it's like when we have our pre-show meeting sometimes I'm out there trying yeah you take yeah I mean you give your hottest takes at 10: in the morning before you've had your mocha fra and so you come out all right so what will we see when jayen Herz hits the field well Henry McKenna writes on Fox sports.com that a mobile jayen Herz is key to the Eagles success bottom line is that the Eagles can't escape how badly they need Herz mobility in rushing production his dip in rushing efficiency in 2023 wasn't just a symptom of their offense it was a cause expect Jaylen hars to return to his 2022 form do I expect it no it am I saying it's impossible no I'm not saying that but right now if I had to make a bet I would bet 2022 was an aberration I thought Jaylen Herz was there were a lot of positives coming at the way he handled the benching at Alabama the way he improved as a player at Oklahoma I saw that I thought of it I'm like okay he's probably a second or third round pick you know what I mean a guy who it you know in the right system maybe and then his first couple years in the league I was like yeah it's exactly that I thought it was I thought he was getting the most out of his abilities by it's like oh that guy might be a starter in this league you know what I mean below average starter but whatever and then 2022 they almost go undefeated for the first 14 games of the year and he plays a brilliant Super Bowl unlike any of his three other previous playoff games the two playoff games leading up to the Super Bowl he had 270 yards passing total the playoff game before the year before he was way out of his depth against Tampa then the Super Bowl he has 375 total yards four touchdowns goes Toe to Toe with Mahomes is amazing and then last year he looked a lot like the guy from before and so I I am not because of that Super Bowl and that season Greg I'm not acting like it's impossible but do I expect it I don't expect him to be able to do that again I think it's a guy who everything hit right in the right time let me just show you the numbers how starkly uh 2022 was from last year 10 or more yards running 61 times last year 20 uh 18 times then 20 or more uh yard runs 15 times last year only two so what are you expecting here so I I expect him to get back to what he was in 2022 wow and and it's going to look closer like that than it will like it did last year wow and I I say that because a lot of things I Jaylen Herz is one of those players that we never mention anything about injuries or what he was going through because he doesn't make excuses for himself he never brings it up he never he never talks about it he just goes through it and because he understands no one cares no one cares but the reality is he didn't look the same and he wasn't able to be the same because he couldn't provide what his body was accustomed to providing in terms of being healthy we didn't see him the numbers are such there's such a disparity in those numbers because he he couldn't run the ball when he would run he's running straight out of bounds to the sideline he wouldn't turn up the field there was no type of a burst in his running when he eluded the the line of scrimmage and got outside the pocket and I believe it put a lot of pressure on him to be a pocket passer something that I can sit here and say that's just not who he solely is he's not exclusively a pocket passer he's a guy that can get out make things happen hit a guy get a guy wide open and they make plays so I that's why I believe as as well as when you add in Kell Moore a new coordinator that the the chatter has been man he's he's allowing jayen to be jayen there there comes a moment where if there has been friction and we talked about this yesterday between head coach Nick serani and Jaylen Herz I want to prove to everybody like I'm I'm that guy and if he's going to allow me to do that let's do it together so I believe that he's going to go into the season season with that chip that chip on his shoulder that type of an edge and that type of approach so that's why I think he's going to look closer to 2022 than last year then the Eagles will be excellent if that's the case they'll be excellent all right look you believe in the Eagles no I if Greg's right the