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That's right other day, and we're introducing you the new coaching staff. As the Eagle Eye in the Sky Podcast continues, I'm Fran Duffy, and as always I think we've got a great show for you here on episode number five twenty. At the top of today's show, we've got chalk Talk right chat with my friend Greg co Sales. We go through the changes in the coaching staff for the Philadelphia Eagles. We talked earlier a couple of weeks ago about Vic Fangio and Kellen Moore jumping on here to the Philadelphia Eagles. Well, the Eagles officially making it announced this week the other additions to the coaching staff. But we'll go through the list of the assistants, but really wanted to bring Greg on to talk through Kellen Moore and Vic Fangio. How will their schemes mesh here in Philadelphia? What will it look like? What are some of the changes we could see. How could that impact some of the players that are on the roster for twenty twenty four. So we'll get into all of that with Greg. The NFL Combine just a week away, heading out to Indianapolis in just a few days, So make sure you go check out my combined cheat sheets which are dropping on Philadelphiagles dot com. The quarterback piece went up on Wednesday, running Backs, wide receivers. We're just going right down the line, position by position and we will have a big prime or a combine preview with my buddy Brent Benfanel right here on the feed, getting you ready for the combine. And again we're going to go position by position. Who do we think the top testers are going to be, Who do we not go overblown with, who doesn't test all that well? Who are we excited to see and drills all of that stuff we're going to hit on right here on the Eagle line. This Guy podcast as always, make sure you head on over to Apple Podcast, rate review, subscribe. That's it, let's get into it. Excited to welcome in Greg to talk through the new Eagles coaching staff. It's time now talk.
Let's get down the business.
It's time for Talk Talk.
All right.
Joining me once again here on the Eagle Line of the Sky podcast, my friend Greg cost Sail to talk through these new additions to the Philadelphi Eagles coaching staff and what it could mean for twenty twenty four. Greg, it is Thursday afternoon, late February, which means I know you were up to your neck in draft of evals. Are you excited about getting out to Indy next week?
I'm very excited about getting out to Indie. But you know, it's funny, it's always a catch twenty two because I get so into watching tape and then you lose you know, five six days, and I feel like, man, I'm gonna miss a lot of that time watching tape. But the Indie trip is is such a good trip, you know, it's probably my favorite trip of the year.
Yeah. I know, you get to talk with a lot of coaches and get a sense of not just like what's coming up in the league, but you know, just what you've seen over the course of the last year or two whatever the last time you talked with those coaches and just kind of talking ball, talking philosophy. So I know, you get a lot out of this trip outside of being able to see these prospects up close.
Oh, no question. And then you know, I really look forward to that, And you know I'm trying to get through. You know, you're in the same boat. You're one person on one person. I can't really start in any meaningful way until after the season starts, so I'm just trying to grind through and see as many guys as I can before Indy, which, of course is nowhere near the number I'll get through by the time the draft comes.
Around, right, all right, Well that said, let's get into some of these coaching changes here for the Eagles, and as I mentioned at the top, Kellen Moore and Vic Fangio coming on as the new offensive and defensive coordinators here in Philadelphia. Let's also just talk through some of the new additions from an assistant standpoint. I'll start on the offensive side of the football. Obviously, you add Kellen Moore as the offensive coordinator. Doug Nussmeyer comes with him as the quarterbacks coach was with him out in la as well as in Dallas. A couple of stops along the way, offensive assistant Kyle Valero comes on to the staff, and then really the only other offensive changes there.
TJ.
Pagnetti got a title change, was the run game specialist and assistant offensive line coach, and then the Eagles adding the head coach of quality control, Tyler Yelk. So those are the additions offensively. Defensively, a lot more change, Vic Fangio coming on as the defensive coordinator obviously, but then it's a whole host of new assistants. So Clint Hurt comes on as the senior defensive assistant and defensive line coach. He was the defensive coordinator out in Seattle last year. Bobby King as an inside linebackers coach, Roy Anderson the new cornerbacks coach. Joe Casper makes his return to Philadelphia. Was an assistant the first couple of years under Nick Sirianni, went out to Miami to coach under Vic Fangio last year, now returns to Philadelphia to again coach the safety group. Tyler Scudder. He got a title change going to defensive quality control. Ronell Williams he got a title change as well, moving over to assistant linebackers and defensive quality control as well. So those are all the big changes from a coaching staff standpoint, Greg, But let's now get into you know what that means for the Eagles movie ca We'll start on the offensive side of the football with Kellen Moore coming over, and this is a player or a coach rather that I feel like a lot of Eagles fans at least have a little bit of a relationship with right because he had been in Dallas for so long, we got a chance to see what his offenses have looked like. When you got the news that Kellen Moore was going to be the offensive coordinator here, what was your instant reaction? What were the first things that popped in your mind?
I mean, obviously he's got a lot of experience, you know, even though he's young, you know, he has a lot of experience. He's thought out very highly. Like you said, you know, seeing Dallas each and every year, and of course I watched a good amount of the Chargers until Justin Herbert got hurt, so you know, there was some familiarity with what he does. And you know, it's interesting just watching the offenses that he's coordinated. And I'm sure my guess is this isn't true what I'm about to say, but you know, not being in their meeting rooms and knowing how everything's done and taught in the process. I felt like with Kellen Moore, you see a little bit of everything. And I actually to a coach from the same division, you know, the NFC East, who is very familiar with Kellen Moore and kind of said that, you know, he took a little from Jason Garrett. Then he added his own sense because don't forget he was at Boise State as a player where there was a lot more spread. So there's a lot of different elements to a Kellen Moore offense. And I don't know. I guess my sense from a film perspective is I don't know exactly what I would say is the foundation already hangs his hat on. I think there's a lot of different things at play here. And my guess is, while there are certainly foundations that it probably ends up being once you get into the season, it probably ends up being opponent specific.
And that's one of the things. You know, going back through my notes, you know, the Eagles did not play the Chargers last year, so I didn't do a deep dive in the fall on that offense. Went back and watched a little bit after the hire. But you know, going even just going back through my notes Greg of the Cowboys over the last couple of years. I just did the last two just to get a sense of obviously that was when really it kind of kind of became his show with the Cowboys, and you know, going back to twenty twenty two, this is verbatim, like from my notes, so at the top of the note sheet getting after watching the Cowboys. I've always been a fan of this offense. They feature their playmakers really well, and they excel at getting them in space. They dabble in all of the little things to give easy throws to the quarterback and they get some cheap yardage, but also help Dak Prescott or ask Dak Prescott rather to make some big boy throws and rely on their best playmakers to make big plays. You know, a lot of motion, play, action, empty pistol, six, offensive linemen. All of these are tools in the toolbox. And to me, like and there's more that we can get into. But that's to kind of counter what off you said was and that there's a lot of different things in play here. I kind of like that. It's like, hey, this is what we want to be about. We want to find ways to get our playmakers the ball in space. There's a lot of ways to do that. Now, we just have to cater that to the personnel that we have at our disposal.
And don't forget the run game. He's not just a pass game.
Nope.
You know Kellen Moore's offense has run the football. But you know, would you said it always strikes me as interesting because the one thing I think about, and I know you're a processed guy as well, is I think about you have to teach all that, and you know you're coming in as a new coach with players, now who are you know veterans? I mean you could even argue that Jaylen Hurts is now a veteran to some degree. I mean it's years as a starter, but you know that's that's essentially a veteran. Yeah, So I mean they've got veteran players, certainly a veteran old line. I'm sure you know, a stout Jeff Stalin will still be in charge of the old line. So I don't know if there'll be changes there, not necessarily in personnel, but in the way that that Kellen Moore would likes certain things run that fit with how you know, with the philosophy of how he wants plays done. So we'll find that out. But yeah, there's a lot there. And now you start from day one, when you when you start with the OTAs and the mini cams, and you have to teach all that because it'll be the language might be a little different. There'll be things that are different. The concept very often are not that much different, but it's how you get to them and it's how you present them. So you know, it becomes a little different. It's not as comfortable right away for Jalen Hurts and the players.
And that's the thing is that, you know, one of the things I looked at from the previous year, right, it was hey like yak, yak yak. Everything was all about finding ways to get the ball into CD Lamb's hands and letting him create, getting the ball to Tony Pollard, letting him create. And there's again there's lots of ways to get there, right, whether it's it is off motion, whether it is play action. I noted there are a lot of tight splits to create room outside the numbers. So in the quick game, it was a lot of quick stuff to the outside because there were space to be able to operate, right, So just being able to find all of those ways to do that because I think a lot of people, and we've talked about this in the past, you know, a lot of people will point to, oh, well, all right, like he's done a lot of motion in the past. That means they're definitely gonna see a lot of motion here in Philadelphia. Like, I don't know that that's necessarily going to be a case. Potentially might happen, right, that could be something that we see more of, But I don't think that that's a definite, that's all lock that that's going to be what this offense is about. I think again, it's just having an understanding of this is what we want to be about. How do we make things easier for the quarterback, make it easier for our playmakers, let them do what they naturally do. Well, I just make it a little bit simpler for them to get there.
Well, it's interesting because motion is going to be something to really watch I think early in the season. I mean you'll see it through training camp as well, if they're doing it a lot in camp, but obviously until you get to the real games, you don't know. Yeah, I don't know, but I think motion is You raise a great point there, because you know, motion has become more prevalent in the league as a whole, and one reason teams do motion. You know, the old school idea with motion was that you find out if it's manner's own. Well, defenses have sort of figured that out too, and that's not automatically the case. Sometimes it is, but it's not automatic. But one thing about motion is very often it shrinks the defensive menu because defenses don't want to get caught up in all kinds of adjustments in response to motion. And you know from your film study how would defense will react to motion. So it'll be interesting to see because motion has been a part of the Kellen Moore offense. And you would think and the Eagles would know this when they hired him, I mean discussed. Yeah, they're not just hiring him. Oh, Kellen, he's out there, let's bring him in. You're the guy. I mean, obviously this is all discussed and we know that. For whatever reason, and you know, there's probably a number of them that that you and I may not know because we're not in the meetings. But for whatever reason, the Eagles were not a big motion team and rarely used motion, but that is part of the Kellen Moore philosophy, so you know, that has to have been discussed. I mean I doubt, I doubt, you know, Kellen Moore got hired with the idea that you're not using motion. I mean, you know, I think that he's pretty much going to have control of the offense.
And what I love about it too is that when he has do's not just oh yeah, it's a high volume of motion. But they've been extremely productive using motion.
I know that.
You know, Keenan Allen was one of the leaders in the league last year off of motion Ceedee Lamb in years past. I think that was one of my notes from twenty twenty two ys no player had created more explosive or more explosives or had been targeted as often as Ceedee Lamb when he was in motion back in twenty twenty two. They moved him around to get him the football. You know, the Eagles historically, not just over the last couple of years, but over the last several years, have not been a big motion team, so that could be something that we see as a different change here offensively, but again too, the run game and the under center play action and everything kind of marrying together. That is something that I always loved with this offense, and I think that's something to see here in Philly.
Another thing that I'd be very curious about, which has been part of the killing More offense, is the quarterback under center. Yep, and again you don't see that in Philadelphia. You certainly haven't seen that since Jalen Hurts has become the starting quarterback other than obviously, you know, the brotherly shove or a few short yardage plays. But I would bet ninety eight percent of Jalen hurts snaps over the last couple of years have been in the gun. And that's another thing that I'm very curious to see. I'm personally a believer that under center play action is a more effective way to run play action and shotgun play action. I'm sure different people have different philosophies about that, but you could certainly look around the league as I do. I see, you know, most teams in the league, and I believe under center play action is really effective. So we'll see if that becomes a part of the Eagles offense as well, because you know, to some extent that's a learn trade. You know, there's a lot of quarterbacks who are not real comfortable turning their back to the defense. I can't speak for Jalen so I don't want to. I don't know whether he is or he isn't. He just hasn't done it the last couple of years. But that's a learn trade because obviously the defense doesn't necessarily stay in the same spot when you turn your back to the defense for that half second second when you turn around, you have to pick things up right away. So you have to practice that and you have to learn that.
Yeah, and certainly there are quarterbacks in you know, recent memory that just prefer to be in the gun. Yeah, right, Joe Joe Burrow comes to mind. So much of his work in Cincinnati comes, you know, with him, you know, from the gun, and they really only go under center to run the football for the most part. Obviously there are gonna be some some differences there, but no, I think that that's another aspect of this that can come into play. They've always been really good out of empty wherever he has been telling Moore, So that's something you know that the Eagles have obviously been very effective in those in those sets as well, so that's what to me is just exciting because you know, I think as we go through the off season, you know, fans are excited about what could what are the changes going to be for twenty twenty four and beyond, right, And to me, like this is the first step. Okay, the coaches come in, they're going to try and install new systems, new new schemes, new tools. Now it's now you're gonna get into the player acquisition phase of it as well, where you're gonna get into free agency and then the draft and things really start to crystallize. But I think it's good. It's it's gonna be fun to see how this offense comes down. I've been a big fan of Kellen Moore and the way he goes about things over the last few years.
No, I'm excited to see it because whenever there's change, I'm going because they have really good personnel on offense. So you're excited to see how it gets deployed. And I'm really looking forward to that. And as you and I both know, obviously they'll do things through OTA's you're there in the building, so you'll see all the things. You know, I won't really see a lot of it until we really get to the games. But I'll be really curious to see what they do. But I'm excited about it.
Well, let's go over to the other side. Obviously, Vic Fangio coming in and somewhat of a familiar face, was with the organization in a limited capacity as a consultant in twenty twenty two when the team went to the Super Bowl, So some familiarity there with Vic Fangio. Your thoughts just again, as soon as you heard about the higher what went through your mind first when you saw that go across your feet?
Well, I think Vic Fango is one of the best defensive coaches that we've seen in recent years. You know, I've been around him at times. I mean, you'll probably find out if you haven't already. I mean, Vic Vick is sort of a personality unto himself. You know, he probably wouldn't be called warm and fuzzy, but he's an unbelievably great coach. I think that he lives this game. He's constantly looking for different ways to do things. Obviously, the first thing people think of with Dick Fangio his quarters coverage, but there's so much more than that, And I I s Keep in mind that quarters, that's just sort of a starting point because when you line up within a quarters structure, okay, you can do any number of things from that. That's the great thing about quarters is you can do anything, and he's starting to do more and more. So for people who think it's just quarters, that's not true. You know, he there's a lot of late rotation. He plays a lot more man than people might think that. Yeah, exactly, he has in recent years, this past year in Miami, the year prior or the year Brier in Denver. But you know, there's a lot of disguise, there's a lot of late coverage rotation, there's a lot going on with his defenses, there's a lot of sim pressures. You know, he does a lot of different things. And again, all this now needs to be coached, although some players will have a feel for if they're still around from Jonathan Gannon, that's when.
From I mean, that's the thing, yeah, came up under Fangio. I think a lot of that terminology will be the same, so that that will make it a little easier.
And by the way, that's why they hired Clint Hurt. He's part of that that same background. You know, having the Fangio background as well, it just makes it easier to teach. But you know, I think that there's there's a lot going on with with what Vic Fangio does. And you know, again then you need the players to really understand it to play with great assignment discipline because when you start moving people around with rotations and things, you know, obviously one guy makes a mistake, it's a problem, but there's a lot to deal with. There's a lot of different you know, you know, to use the football terms, you know, cover six, cover eight, Cover six being quarter quarter half with halves to the to the boundary, cover eight being quarter quarter half with halves to the field, and there's different ways the underneath defenders match up because quarters principles, even when you're playing quarter quarter half, quarters principles have a lot of man rules, you know. So it's there's a lot to teach and a lot to to get across, but there's a lot going on. If played well, it's a very difficult defense to play against.
And that's the thing is that you know, I think when you look at from a defensive standpoint early on in the snap, right at snap of the football they're going to show you one thing, and then they want to try and change the picture and constantly keep you off balance. And even if they don't change the picture, they want you thinking are they changing the picture? You have to process per snap about what you're going to see, you know, going and looking at some of my notes from Miami this past season as that he was prepared to play them in the middle of the year. I thought they did some really creative things up front, you know, kind of putting Jalen Phillips and Bradley Chubb to one side and you know, using Van Ginkle and moving him around and kind of moving those pieces. I think that could be really fun with the personnel that will be at vic Fangio's disposal as well.
Yeah, I would think that the defensive line would be excited about this because I think there's different ways they'll be deployed and it might rejuvenate you know, obviously it was not the best year for the d line relative to twenty twenty two, but you know, they still are really good players, that's the thing. So they could well be rejuvenated because Vick will use them in a little bit of a different way. You know. I remember even a time seeing Chubb and Jaln Phillips when he before he got hurt, you know, lining up in the A gaps. I mean, you know, they did a lot of different things to try to create different looks, but I think changing the picture from pre to post snap is a major foundation of what you know that that Vic Fangio defense is.
And you mentioned sim pressures for our listeners, just really quickly, can you give us a quick elevator speech on what sim pressures are and the value they bring to a defense.
Yeah. Another term that use for that is kind of zone exchange pressure. So in other words, you still you rush for okay, and you still have seven in coverage, so you're not losing anybody's in coverage. But as part of the four man rush, it could be one of the guys could be a linebacker, one of the guys could be a defensive back. It's not for down linemen that are rushing, and so again they come from different spots and you do it based on your sense of what the protection is going to be, and that given down and distance, how you might be able to break down the protection or cause a back to have to stay in to protect limiting the number of eligible receivers from five to four, so you're still rushing four, but it's not four down linemen. It's it's it's one of the four could be a defensive backer linebacker. Sometimes you could have two that are not defensive linemen. So that's what the term sim pressure refers to, you.
Know, and to me when you as you were talking about it, the one my mind went to one specific play in that Miami game. It was a sim pressure that the Dolphins ran on that one interception that Jalen Hurts through to his right side. I believe they were running an RPO over to that side and they dropped a linebacker right into that hole and you know, took the throw away and it ended up becoming an interception. I think that Fangio has been so good at being able to dial those up and dropping defenders, whether it's a defensive an interior alignment or an edge rusher into throwing lanes like being able or it's not just all they're dropping into space and there's literally like a lot of really purposeful movement there. It's great the rotations and you know where those guys are able to drop.
To great point because it's another way to deal with the increase in quick game offense, quick game pass game, because obviously, when the ball comes out so quick, it's very hard to get true pressure on the quarterback. But if you have a really good feel for there the offense and the splits of receivers and the routes that come off that, which obviously that's what coaches do to prepare for teams, then you can drop defenders basically into passing windows and passing lanes and you can really, you know, have an impact on the quick game throws.
Well, it's it's gonna be exciting just to see how all of this comes together. And again, I think that when you look at look at the Eagles having Sean dea Sai last year in the building, some of that terminology will be the same. It's similar, you know, thematically to what the Eagles had with Jonathan Gannon previously the two years before that, And so I don't think there's gonna be like this huge, huge adjustment in terms of what they're doing structurally from terminology standpoint a lot. There should be a lot of carry over there, which I think will be very hard.
I would agree the terminology will be very very similar. So but again there's a lot of moving parts. Not that there weren't, you know, previously, but there's a lot of moving parts. And and Vic I know for a fact because I I you know, I know people that know him well, he's always tinkering. I mean, he's he's going to have something new this year that you know that that he hasn't done before.
And to your point, he's he's run more man coverage than a lot of people have thought, you know. And again that was in Denver they drafted certain and once he kind of elevated to the status of one of the best corners in football, I was like, Okay, we feel like we could play a little bit more man covered. Let's let's lean that way, right, And so, you know, not just saying this is the system, this is what we're doing, Yeah, this this works. Just having more tools in the toolbox to be able to provide answers to your players when you know, you maybe if you run into a rut or depending on what an opponent is going to do on a week.
To week basis, and you and your players do dictate. I had the opportunity last summer to speak with John Pagana, who was on Vic's staff in Denver, coach in the league for a long time.
Washington, now I believe, right, yeah, he may be there. Yeah, I think I think he just got hired in Washington.
Yeah, and he's great. And you know, he was telling me in Denver that, you know, one reason they started to play more man coverage was just when you said pats Er Tan. He said, pats Er Tan is the best corner in the league. In his mind, it was not even close, Like this guy is just so good that we can line up and play man coverage.
Right, which, by the way, like I think every defensive coordinator would say, like if if I had my brothers, I had to play man coverage, or.
They like the ability to play man when they choose yes, they don't want to feel like they're handicapped and not able to play it.
Yeah, and look, obviously they'll they'll be there's a lot of turnover from a coaching staff standpoint on that side of the football. My guess is we'll see a lot an influx of talent as well on that side of the football, whether that's in free agency or the draft, and so how all of those players mix in and meshin will be fun to watch over the next few weeks, and we'll continue to study that and talk about it here on the Eagle Line of the Sky podcast. Greig, thanks so much again for joining us here on the Eagle Line of Sky podcast. We will talk to you again soon. We'll be talking draft here in the next few weeks.
Looking forward to it, look forward to seeing it to an Indiana.
Fran as always, always great catching up with Greg co Sell and again be sure to stay tuned right here on the Eagle Line of Sky podcast. Feed myself and Ben Fennel. We'll be here later this week breaking down the NFL Scott In Combine next week out in Indianapolis the top testers who we're excited to see. I know Greg will be out there as well as we talked about, but really excited to get going here. Make sure you stay tuned for more right here on the Eagle Line of Sky Podcast. For everybody here at the Novercare Complex, I am fran Duffy. We will talk to you next week.
