Martin Frank talks Eagles First Impressions & Previews Week 2 I Trending in the AM

our special guest of the day here joining us back from Brazil Martin Frank Del News Journal good morning Frank how you doing today doing all right how's it going Phil well now now that I got my camera fixed I had a little camera issue there about a minute or two ago we're good to go U my camera's in Brazil I think I think that's what's happening it's still on vacation um I I invited you on on um you know you're probably tired of me asking you to come on because I've had you on a lot lately um but you are the guy that was down there in Brazil covering the Eagles and I wanted to get your firsthand not just thoughts on the Eagles but the trip to Brazil and what it was like for the med because we've heard what the players and the fans have felt about it but for the media what was it like going down to Brazil there to cover the game um well I mean it was a great experience to be honest with you um you know everything was set up pretty well for the media I was actually kind of surprised um you know the NFL obviously did uh shareff leg work and stuff like that to have everything ready um the the only problem was the traffic there is is brutal like you know you you guys have all experienced obviously the skookul um at rush hour uh you can barely move probably for like four or five miles well like multiply that by like five um because s Paulo is like a humongous City it's it's like 50% bigger than New York so um where like the media Hotel was compared to the stadium was like a 20 mile give or take 20 mile drive the day the game I left like five hours before the game it took me three hours to get there it was just like crawling for 20 miles the entire trip I could have walked probably faster um that was that was my only complaint I mean as far as like uh you know the Brazilian media um on Thursday the day before the game they were you know it was kind of like a press conference for them to ask questions and you know they they were into it um you know you could tell there were some people there who who knew about the NFL um asked some pretty good questions there were others who like were totally clueless about it and you know we're asking kind of weird questions but you know that that's kind of you know that was that was fine I mean it wasn't a it wasn't a big deal it was kind of entertaining to be honest with you the players the players liked it I mean you know saquon Barkley um especially seemed to really enjoy um being there um answering questions uh you know he was really proud of the fact that he scored the first touchdown in South America and stuff like that so um I would say overall it was it was a good trip for the media I mean you know they had us sitting um like it was Outdoors they had us sitting in like the top corner of the stadium but it wasn't that high up and everything like that I mean it was it wasn't bad at all and I have absolutely no complaints about how the media was treated well and and and you know you heard a lot of the fan not the fans the players complaining about the trip and having to take the trip but it seems like once the trip got started once they got there they kind the experience was they realized the importance of the moment of going down there playing that game yeah I think that's exactly right um you know obviously you know you got to take a 10hour FL from Philly to South Paulo um it's a long flight you know you're kind of wondering you know what's what's the point you know we're playing this big game against the Packers um you know this place that's far away and everything like that so I and and where the players were staying they were staying closer to the stadium which is also kind of near the uh airport and you know that's not like a really great area of South Paulo so um I think a lot of what um they were told beforehand like you know be careful when you're carrying your cell phone because people will swipe them um that kind of like discouraged them from like going out um you know from leaving the hotel room and uh I think that was part of it going in like you know they heard all these horror stories about the safety and everything but I can tell you like from where the media was staying um you know and especially like the area I stayed in I stayed in a different Hotel um it was a really nice area it was kind of like they had a lot of bars and restaurants um it was very walkable I I didn't feel I didn't feel like in danger at all and I think once the players got there you know they kind of saw how like the Brazilians were really into it the fans there they made up like 90% of the fans in the stadium and they were chant it was like you know they were watching a Brazilian soccer team game they were chanting they were dancing um and I think it caught some of the players surprise um there were also a lot of Eagles fans or a lot of Packers fans uh it it was a really neat atmosphere um during the game I think uh from what I've heard like you can kind of get a sense of that watching it on TV just you know how loud it was in there I mean you couldn't tell that you were playing in South America as opposed to like the link or Lambo field um just just from the noise level I mean some of it came at in our opportune times um but you know that was to be expected I thought I thought it was a great atmosphere yeah no that watching it on TV the first thing that I noticed about the the the game was when you know the national anthem was played and they were very respectful to our national anthem but then the passion they had all the Olympians out on the field and every single person that stadium was singing along with the national anthem just from that moment on I knew this was going to be a special crowd that was going to be really truly into the experience maybe not everybody there understands football but everybody there was into the experience yeah absolutely I mean I never heard anything like that when they they played the Brazilian national anthem like everybody stood up and sang it like loud I mean you never see that at uh a game here in the United States you know you just kind of stand you Mumble the words and and then you're like all right time to sit down and get ready play yeah I I don't know I I was very impressed with that national pride that they took in that I don't think anybody has talked about it or covered it or really discussed that moment of the that before the game there yeah I i' never seen anything like that before I mean that that was that was wonderful I mean that was you never see that anywhere here I mean it just doesn't happen like uh and then yeah and then during the game like they would you know they would sing they would dance uh they would chant uh I don't even know what it was they were chanting but like at one point like Devonte Smith said he kind of looked up is like what's going on and everything it it was a it was a good experience definitely all right well let's get to the game and itself then obviously you know there's a there's a plenty of highs plenty of lows they came away with the wind the wind but the the the one thing everyone's talking about is the field conditions and making excuses for this player or that player uh with the field conditions do you feel that the field conditions I don't know did you get down on the field to actually like feel how the conditions were or not and do you think they really truly impacted the players as much as people say um well we were allowed to go down onto the field uh Thursday like during the Eagles walkthrough practice and uh you you really couldn't tell I mean I didn't see anybody slipping or falling or anything like that and and saquon Barkley kind of made a good point about it too after after the game it's like when you're going through warm-ups you're not going at full speed so you know they just wore the regular cleats because he wasn't a problem and then obviously his first Carry I mean you guys all saw that he slipped and fell lost five yards and he's like okay yeah we we all have to change our cleats and they did um pretty early in the game and it wasn't as much of a problem especially for the offensive players like I think the offensive players have an advantage because if you have the ball in your hand you know where you're going you can make a cut and everything like that the defense kind of has to react to it and I think that's kind of what you saw like kind of the rest of the game like people were slipping mostly were defensive players because you know they're trying to react they lose their footing and stuff but I think you know after Barkley and a lot of the offensive players changed their cleats early in the game I don't think it was as much of a problem for them but yeah the field was was an issue um you know from from that point of view but I I don't think it was as bad as the Super Bowl because the Super Bowl you couldn't really do anything about it um you know you it was mostly like the painted areas like near Midfield so that's about a 20 30 yard area that you know you're just GNA slip no matter what um so I think in this case like you know once the players adjusted it wasn't as much an issue okay um obviously one of the big topics coming out of the game is Jaylen hton is performance um I know I I watched the press conference on Monday with Nick serani and you did ask him well first off actually I I didn't I didn't realize getting the old school Co Style with the the coach behind the screen and stuff like that for the press conference and can you put in request I don't know if the media likes it but as a fan that watches every press conference I love that style of press conference because I can hear who's asking the question and I can hear the full context of the question and not chest the answer so for me it's easier watch um but you you did ask Nick serani about jayen Herz and his mistakes what were your thoughts on how jayen Herz played and you know were the mistakes just you know a lot of fans want to say it's just more of last year happening I'm kind of looking at it on the positive side that Jaylen Herz still had a very very good game considering all the changes to the offense the the center the field conditions the environment all in all I'm I'm tending to lead towards the positive side that they were just too little mistakes um What were what was your thoughts on how J Nick Sian responded to you on that question but also your opinion on how jayon Herz performed yeah um so first like going back to the press conference it's like um usually like this it's usually the day after press conference but it's because you know they were in Brazil they had it on Monday um but and it's always been like by Zoom like the day after conferences so that's I I love the zoom press conferences I would take every I don't know if it's good for you guys that way but for me I I would take everything like that so there's there's good and bad I mean like if you have a stream of questions and stuff that you want to ask I mean you can you know in in the regular setting you can ask it and like people follow up right away and stuff like that so sometimes you can follow up on a you know particular theme here it's like you know you have to wait your turn you get one question and then that's it so you know they're pluses and minuses but um as as for herz's performance I kind of agree with you I mean you know when I asked him the question specifically of what he saw or serani I'm talking about what he saw with jaylen's uh interceptions you know he kind of like mentioned a lot of the good things he did which he did I mean some of those touchdown passes were like beautiful like the one to Barkley um the long pass to AJ Brown and then you know became a 67 yard touchdown I mean those were great passes um but also the interceptions though were really really bad I mean you know poor decision making um you know the first one he just threw in like triple coverage basically um the second one he's rolling to his right you know especially at that juncture in the game it's early in the fourth quarter they have a five-point lead you know the worst case scenario you kick a field goal you're up by eight points with like 12 13 minutes to go um but he was rolling to his right he threw across his body um it turns out AJ Brown fell but even still um it was a poorly advised pass he shouldn't have thrown it just throw it away kick the field goal go up by eight and and you're fine and there were also a couple other passes that should have been intercepted uh one of them AJ Brown became a Defender and broke it up and the play before he threw the interception like he threw one to the sideline that should have been a pick six so it could have been even worse than it was so yeah I mean those are those are concerning things I mean you know we saw a lot of that last year he was trying to play herob ball trying to you know Force passes that weren't there um and and it's it's a big concern and it really doesn't have to be that way um with all the talent they have on this team I mean you know hand the ball off to saquan Barkley um you know if you're being pressured throw the ball away he was doing some of that earlier in the game like a couple times there was nothing there he threw the ball out of bounds avoided a sack and he's got to do that I mean you don't have to force plays with with this offense um and even despite all the mistakes they still scored 34 points which tells you how good this offense can be you know especially against a Green Bay team that's supposed to be one of the contenders for the NFC Championship so I mean I would think if I'm Nick serani I'm having a long talk with Jaylen Herz about you know not forcing passes you know throw the ball away fall down take a sack whatever punt the ball even you know you're going to get another chance um so I hope I hope that's the lesson that that comes out of that because um you know if he doesn't turn the ball over the Eagles should be able to score pretty much 30 points on anybody um that the offense is that good um one more quick question if you had to take take jayen Herz out of the conversation the most encouraging thing you saw on Friday night and the most discouraging thing you saw from the Eagles on Friday night um I'd say the most encouraging thing is taquon Barkley that guy is tremendous that's just a layup right there yeah um if you want a a non saquan Barkley uh answer I can I can say um you know I was also really encouraged with quinan Mitchell's play you know for a rookie um he was thrown out there you know a cornerback opposite of Darius slle you know he was tested right away with uh you know Jordan love trying for that long touchdown pass to Christian Watson he had perfect coverage good leverage inside and and broke up the play um he he's going to be really good um and I think you know I I was kind of expecting like before the game you know before the game even started that he would start on the outside um and then Isaiah Rogers injury kind of clenched that um because you know he was playing a lot of nickel in training camp but uh that that guy's going to be on the field every play um and he's he's gonna be really good I mean it's it's just a matter of time he's got the right mentality he's got the right attitude you know he talked a little Trash with Christian Watson after after that play um you know you could tell he belongs so I I would say that was probably the most encouraging thing and the most discouraging thing I would have to say was uh Bryce Huff I mean the guy didn't have not only did he not have a sack he didn't even have a pressure um you know he's a guy they you know they signed to a big contract basically as Hassan reck's replacement um not that reic did anything because he's still holding out out and that would have been the case had he stay with the Eagles so you know he did have one more tackle than Hassan reic did but uh he's gota he's got to play better than that I mean you know we all we all kind of knew going in that he wasn't great against the run but you know that's one thing but if you're not getting any pressures or any you know on the quarterback that's that's a problem so I think like the edge rusher position for the Eagles could be an issue this year I mean they got to get pressure on the quarterback um or else you know those secondary guys are going to be hung out to dry y um so going forward this week obviously they get back to practice here shortly are are you zoning in on what they're doing to get ready for Atlanta are you zoning in on the injury report because to me I'm looking at I'm waiting for that first injury report that's like I'm not even worried about the practice itself I'm just worried about seeing whether Isaiah Rogers will be back out there Devin white you know availability and stuff like that it seems like the team that went to Brazil came out rather you know unscathed um is that something that you're really zoning in on and focused in on here for the rest of this week yeah um because they're playing on Monday night that injury report isn't going to come out until Thursday um so you know we probably won't know until then what you know Isaiah Rogers status is or Devon White's um the one thing about Devon white um you know as well as uh you know as as big a role as he was expected to play I mean Zack Bond like played incredibly um Friday night he had 15 15 tackles two sacks um you know ncoe Dean didn't have a great game especially like in in pass coverage I think the Packers kind of exploited that a little bit so I mean they could obviously use Devin white like I'm not saying he would play the whole game um but you know as like a three-man rotation for those two spots I think that would be most effective for the Eagles whether it's you know white and bond starting and Dean working in or vice versa but I think Zack Bond pretty much proved that he should be in there pretty regularly I mean he had a he had a tremendous game so yeah I'd be interested to see what the injury report is because I mean I don't think they really trust uh Trotter yet to uh you know to play that kind of role so I mean they they need Devon white so you know we'll see Thursday like what his status is um it seemed like uh it could be an injury that could maybe keep him out for another game but I I'm just speculating on that I don't know so we'll find out more this week later this week on that so I guess the the first practice end will be Thursday Friday yeah yeah yeah gotta that's that's what I was expecting it to be I wasn't sure with the whole Brazil thing if they were changing a typical you know practice week up on a Monday night football or not yeah they push everything back a day because of Monday Night Football so um so the their three main days will be Thursday Friday and Saturday so and the injury reports will come out each of those days I'm I'm sure sure you're glad to be back stat side and just get to travel to a nice little city like Atlanta versus nine and a half hours down to Brazil uh but Martin thank you very much for your time this morning I greatly appreciate it great coverage without your phone without Twitter great coverage down in Brazil by all the reporters that went down there yeah that was that was kind of strange why hold on why wasn't your wife tweeting for you you know I mean everybody else had their significant others tweeting for them you didn't give your password out to anybody she's not she's not on Twitter um um she's kind of fed up with it and stuff so I didn't blame her for that and and it was actually kind of a nice break a little you know from all the other Riff Raff that's on there and everything like that uh I I started using threads a little bit um and my paper was actually like retweeting like articles and stuff like that so if you follow doore online on Twitter you you could have gotten some of that but yeah it was uh it was it was kind of a nice break but I'm glad I'm back for sure all right well thank you very much for your time this morning I greatly appreciate it I promise I won't bother you anytime soon again but that's keep keep going man and great work this weekend in Brazil all right well thanks for having me thanks a lot Martin again Martin Frank guys M Frank NFL on Twitter um great to have him on [Music]