Does Landon Dickerson need a week off?

👋 Good morning! This was the longest outdoor field goal in NFL regular-season history, but I also was not all that surprised.

This past offseason, the Eagles were one of the teams who voted for a rule change when it came to K-balls. Unlike the regular balls, the K-balls (kicker balls) used to get shipped to the officials before games… and then only handed over to the teams for breaking-in a few hours before the game. Now, teams and kickers can break those K-balls in all week at their own pace.

So, kinda their fault?

Today’s newsletter is brought to you by Righteous Felon Craft Jerky.

This Chester County based company has the perfect snack that satisfies your hunger and provides the right amount of protein to fulfill your body’s daily needs, and they have been doing it for over a decade. if you are the kind of person who wants a deal and snacks delivered right to your doorstep, you can order online using discount code PHLY20 for 20% off. Righteous Felon has all kinds of cool variety packs and bundles on the site.

As always, you can reach me at [email protected]

Jalen and Landon: In EJ’s excellent Early Bird piece, he asks a question that is top of mind for me: Do Jalen Carter and Landon Dickerson need a break?

Neither of those guys look even close to 100 percent. I do not know how much a few weeks off would or would not solve the injury issues plaguing Dickerson (meniscus/back) and Carter (shoulder). But those are two of the best interior linemen in the sport, and they are not playing at the level we have seen in the past.

Dickerson’s struggles are part of what is a larger issue for these Eagles: They are not even close to the same running team as a season ago. I always worried about Saquon Barkley falling off due to wear and tear a year after running for 2,000 yards, but as the guys talked about on yesterday’s Eagles show, the yards before contact is night and day from last year. From first of 42 running backs last season to 28th of 42 running backs this year. It’s not Saquon… it’s the blocking!

Les wrote about A.J. Brown (and A.J. Brown’s tweet). My stance on this is that I really do not understand why he has two separate games of under eight receiving yards… There is no need for this to be a storyline!

The Eagles also lost Ogbo Okoronkwo for the season with a torn triceps. Man, tough little stretch for the EDGE group’s triceps. Does this mean Azeez Ojulari will finally make his debut this weekend against Denver?

Flyers 3, Boston 2 (SO): Bill and Charlie talked about Rodrigo Abols here on yesterday’s Flyers show. Abols has played five out of five preseason games so far, so maybe he has the chance to make a team? Well, he scored last night.

If he does make the team, Abols will likely be an extra forward.

The other goal the Flyers scored? It came from their best line a season ago, but most importantly, it came from Tyson Foerster being on the ice for the first time all preseason. After dealing with the weird elbow infection this offseason, Foerster sure looks like he will be able to go on opening night.

I missed this over the weekend, but Jack Nesbitt and Spencer Gill both got assigned to their junior teams #AsExpected. Will be interesting to track Nesbitt’s progress, seems like he made a decent impression at camp.

Time slots: I thought this was pretty interesting. Do I know if it is 100 percent locked in or if the schedule might be flexible? Nah, but let’s run with it…

If it’s Phillies-Dodgers, I would be stunned if that does not get primetime treatment on Saturday. Big Market Baseball wins out. Game 2 would likely be at 6:00 p.m., because you cannot by law start a baseball game in Philadelphia at 9:30 p.m. on purpose. We live in a civil society, after all. As for Game 3? With the series moving out west, my guess is that one would be at 8:30.

If it’s Phillies-Reds, does a Brewers-Cubs series bump the Phils up to the earlier start on Saturday? Probably? My guess is that Phillies-Reds would still be in primetime over Brewers-Padres, but who knows? Do I look like David Zaslav?

We will get into previewing The Actual Baseball later this week, but with a win on Sunday, the Phillies’ 96th win means that for the seventh straight non-COVID year, the Phils have improved their regular-season win total: 80 in 2018, 81 in 2019, skip 2020, 82 in 2021, 87 in 2022, 90 in 2023, 95 in 2024 and 96 in 2025. Good little run! Let’s attach a World Series to it, what say you?

Intrasquad game: On Wednesdee, and open to the public.

🚂 All aboard The VJ Hype Train: The hype cycle was more delayed with the Sixers’ other young guards. Tyrese Maxey had COVID during training camp in 2020, so people took notice when he made all of those floaters in the preseason. Jared McCain was admittedly getting shouted out by Joel Embiid and his teammates during training camp in Colorado last year, but it took until McCain bombing 3s in the regular season for people to really start noticing.

But for VJ Edgecombe, The Hype Train is already here. It sounds like he and Tyrese Maxey might even start together as soon as this week in Abu Dhabi.

Edgecombe played one healthy summer league game and showed that he already might be a better shooter than we think. Remember, he made 13 pull-up jumpers in 1,080 minutes at Baylor and five in just 30 minutes at summer league. And at Sixers practice, the elevation and arc on that thing both look pretty good. A grizzled scout might even go as far as to say, “He shoots a good ball.”

That is my favorite answer, though, because it tells me that Edgecombe already has his sights set on pull-up jumpers from beyond the 3-point line. That might not happen for a few years, but I love that he is already thinking about how to extend his range.

Tyrese Maxey and Kelly Oubre holding falcons in Abu Dhabi:

This has been “Tyrese Maxey and Kelly Oubre holding falcons in Abu Dhabi.”

Fun day of baseball coming up, I really enjoy wild-card week with the current setup. The two night games should be a blast: Yanks-Sawx, followed by the one that we all care about, Reds at Dodgers, Game 1.

That one will feature Blake Snell against Hunter Greene, which is a great pitching matchup. Even though the Dodgers are much more talented than the Reds, that Cincinnati rotation is no joke in a short series. Greene is one of the best pitchers in the sport. Of course, the Dodgers are gonna counter with Snell-Yamamoto-Ohtani. And that means the Dodgers are not gonna counter with Glasnow-Sasaki-Sheehan-Kershaw. That team has outrageous starting pitching depth.

Would be nice to see this one go three games, regardless of what happens. If the Dodgers sweep, Shohei would be on the bump Game 1 against the Phils. We will cross that bridge once we get there.

Besides that, fairly quiet day around Philly sports. I will be interested to hear Kevin Patullo talk about his incredibly up-and-down offense.

Your tentative Tuesday schedule at ​PHLY​:

Let's make it a good one.

Rich Hofmann
Daily Newsletter Editor
PHLY SPORTS