👋 Good morning! As always, shoutout to Mikey Moose for hitting that shot in the bubble.
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Jerry’s World
Is this game the be-all, end-all? Nah.
The Eagles have already defeated these guys, are up 3.5 in the loss column and arguably possess an easier strength of schedule on the way in. Of course, the NFC East would be over-over with a Birds win.
But after listening to yesterday’s Eagles show, there are still some things that can certainly motivate you for Sunday afternoon’s tilt at Jerry World.
The first reason is that the Eagles have not defeated Dak Prescott at Jerry World since Carson Wentz hung 37 on the Cowboys on Sunday Night Football back in 2017. That is actually Dak’s last home loss in the division, 18 straight wins since then, which is pretty insane. If you, like I, want to be a hater of this streak, you might point out that Dak ducked getting a loss last year (Dak was out) and got fortunate in 2022 (Jalen Hurts was out, even if Gardner Minshew made it competitive). Regardless, it’s long past time to put that streak to bed.
(Speaking of that 2017 game, remember Kamu Grugier-Hill kicking off? Man, he was pretty good!)
Then I think you can also frame this game as Good against Good and Bad against Bad. And if that is an embarrassing framing for the Eagles offense, well, tough. This should be Good against Good and Good against Bad, but they have not proven it. This should be a get-right game, but how many times have we said that before?
Let’s start with the Bad against Bad. After letting Micah Parsons go for no reason, Jerry Jones is now hoarding defensive tackles on his 30th-ranked defense in EPA. And Dallas has three good ones now: Kenny Clark, Oso Odighizuwa and trade deadline acquisition Quinnen Williams. And in one other bit of good news for the Cowboys, linebacker DeMarvion Overshown finally returned last week after suffering a pretty serious knee injury last season. Good player.
But there is no getting around that this Dallas defense is not very good. The Flus has been loose. The Eagles offense should be able to run on these guys and they should be able to torch their secondary. Now, will they? Two schematic words of caution:
Fran said here that Dallas gets beat on a lot of passes over the middle. Crossers, deep digs, seam routes, things of that nature. Welp, The HitchBOT Offense does not really do those things all that much.
Matt Eberflus plays the fourth-most zone coverage in the NFL. Welp, Jalen Hurts and A.J. Brown have struggled against zone in general. A.J. had only one target in Week 1 against Dallas, a sign of things to come. And the Eagles did not score after the lightning delay in that game, including two three-and-outs.
The Eagles do legitimately have a chance to get right against a slate of bad defenses. I just will believe it when I see it. Hope we do!
The other side of the ball is where things get interesting. Arguably two top-five units going at it. Good against Good.
Dak is having a great statistical year (first in ESPN’s QBR), and the George Pickens trade had gone better than anyone in Dallas could have imagined. I mean, good luck signing him in the offseason now since he does not play defensive tackle, but Pickens has been great in 2025. He is second in the NFL in receiving yards behind Jaxon-Smith Njigba, and he has seven touchdowns, too. Another big test for Adoree’ Jackson, because CeeDee Lamb also happens to be on this football team. Not too many places to hide against this passing attack.
Also a big test for Nakobe Dean, although maybe we should stop doubting him after running with Jahmyr Gibbs and Jameson Williams last week. One of the highlights of the Week 1 win over Dallas was Jihaad Campbell and Zack Baun making some super athletic plays in coverage while chasing receivers down the field. Well, that is Dean’s job this week.
Jalen Carter’s job this time around? Keep the saliva to yourself, buddy.
But I am excited for this matchup, much like I got excited to watch Vic Fangio’s defense face challenges a season ago from teams like Cincy, LA Rams, Baltimore and even Washington in the playoffs. I am confident in this group. The scripts from all of those games pretty much went the same: Opponent has some success on early drives, but Vic and co. made their adjustments and wore them down. I certainly would not mind a repeat of that formula this week.
Cam Jurgens: Trending in the right direction…
PHLY Content: Great story from EJ on “Coach Mo,” who is learning Portuguese. Jogo bonito, my friend. Do I see a creative heater coming on from EJ?
Fran also has the weekly draft newsletter and a new podcast out with Nate “Son of Mike” Tice. Sharp football guy, good stuff there.
And the Best Host in the City as a new episode of Unblocked with Brandon Graham. BG is wearing my favorite hat from Monday night’s Sixers game.
BG talks about dealing with drama a little bit at the end of the episode. But for me, I cannot deal with the drama (or whatever some people would define as drama) in this week’s newsletter. Uncle!
Flyers 3, St. Louis 2 (OT): Man, the Flyers are playing a lot of close games. 9 out of 19 at least have gone to OT! Post-game pod is here.
Nice goal by Travis Sanheim to end things, but that is not what I want to talk about.
What was cool about this game was that my guy Emil Andrae shined. I know he is small, but he clearly seems to at least be one of the best six defensemen in the organization. Despite the fact that Andrae is so small, and that the Flyers are terrified of pairing up two little fellas together on the blue line, they did just that in this one after falling behind 2-0. Andrae and Jamie Drysdale joined forces.
The new duo of Jamie Drysdale and Emil Andrae that Tocchet tested out on Thursday would never have seemed possible at the start of the season. First, Andrae didn’t even make the big club to begin the 2025-26 campaign. But second, there was the size factor. Putting two small-ish defensemen (in the 5’8 Andrae’s case, small, full stop) on the same pair seemed out of the question for the Flyers, especially given the fact that Andrae’s lack of size likely played a not-insignificant role in why he didn’t make the club in the first place.
Yet there the two were for the final 40 minutes on Thursday, skating right alongside each other and making plays. And according to Tocchet, it was his idea to give the duo a shot.
And it worked! Andrae had an assist on Tyson Foerster’s game-tying goal and then played a strong third period. As Charlie said on the post-game show, it’s one thing to clamor for a young player like Andrae to get an opportunity for more ice time or to be moved up in the lineup. But that player has to take advantage of that opportunity. Andrae did here.
Dan Vladar said he owes Andrae a steak for this late block to seal the game.
Sixers 123, Milwaukee 114 (OT): Man, the Sixers play a lot of close games. That is 13 of 15 that have gone to clutch time.
If we are talking League Pass MVPs, what more do you want than this Sixers team? Every game they play is close and has two teams trading blows down the stretch. Post-game show is here.
So, in some ways it might seem as if the Sixers got lucky. They were down two points with 15 seconds left, after all. But unlike some of the other games that the Sixers have won this season, when they have needed their own shooting to carry the day, I thought they outplayed Milwaukee by a good bit in this one.
Doc Rivers coined “make or miss league” 10,000 years ago, and in this game, his team made shots. Typical Shorthanded Doc voodoo. The Bucks shot 51 percent from the field and 45 percent from 3-point range in regulation, while the Sixers shot 42 percent and 33 percent. Hard to force overtime that way, but the Sixers won the possession battle by a lot. Their defense struggled for stretches, but on offense, I thought they mostly just bricked a bunch of open 3s against a zone. That can happen, especially against Shorthanded Doc. I am telling you, that guy would be an absolute menace with a random 16 seed in the NCAA Tournament.
The one guy who did not brick 3s? Tyrese Maxey, who had an uber-efficient 54 points (18-30 FG, 12-14 FT). That is a career high, by the way.
It’s not that Maxey hasn’t been capable of huge scoring performances in the past, but it was the pace and timing of this game that felt different from some games in past seasons. He was dominant and shot-heavy while finding his offense through a variety of looks and sets, and he paced himself well throughout the night, saving his legs and his shots for the most important moments of the game. There are a lot of players in the league who can drop huge scoring games with no care for whether the rest of the team is coming along with them. But this sort of game is what being “the guy” looks like, knowing when to assert yourself, when to defer, and trusting that the ball will find you more often than not.
If we even get a few more weeks of this, this dude is easily gonna start in the All-Star Game. He is playing First Team All-NBA hoops right now. I thought he was great last night, too, Toronto just had the athletes to keep the ball out of his hands just enough times. Well, the Giannis-less Bucks do not have those athletes.
This is just outrageous shot-making.
My one concern: Tyrese is still play way too many minutes. Like, way too many.
I am sympathetic to Nick Nurse in Maxey’s case, because playing him 35 minutes instead of 40 is often the difference between a loss and a win when they are so shorthanded. But the NBA is freaking me out right now with all of the soft-tissue injuries, and I do not love playing a franchise player 41 minutes per game. This is not 15 years ago, it is a legitimately harder sport to play. At some point, even with an Energizer Bunny like Maxey, you will probably be playing with fire. I would like this to change, and soon.
Oh, the other cool development? Paul George played on a minutes limit, but he looked awesome. Maybe the best he ever has as a Sixer? George had 21 points on 7-12 shooting, and opened with the first 11 points of the game. As always, a very aesthetically pleasing player when he has it going.
Hopefully PG can handle a normal minutes load soon, but I gotta say, he is moving pretty good out there.
Let’s get a win, boys. That’s all I got. Let’s get a win, boys.
Ashley Fan Cave Contest
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It’s that simple. Enter now and you might be watching the next big game in a fan cave built by you, courtesy of Ashley.
Here is what the weekend schedule looks like.
Fridee: Nothing tonight! Enjoy your night! Go to the movies, I don’t care!
Saturdee: Not a great college football slate, so make sure you enjoy Flyers-Devils (7:00 p.m., NBC Sports Philly) as Brad Shaw makes his triumphant return to Xfinity Mobile Arena with New Jersey. Jack Hughes hurt himself, that sure seemed like an interesting story.
Sundee: The big day. A rare Sixers matinee starts us off, with the Miami Heat in town (1:00 p.m., NBC Sports Philly). And then the second-biggest one, Eagles-Cowboys (4:25 p.m., FOX). And then the big one, Union-NYCFC (7:45 p.m., FS1).
Your tentative Friday schedule at PHLY:
🎙️ The Anthony Gargano Show: 9:00 a.m.
⚾ Phillies: 12:00 p.m.
🎙️ Billadelphia: 1:30 p.m.
🦅 Eagles: 2:00 p.m.
Have a great weekend. Let’s make it a good one today.
Rich Hofmann
Daily Newsletter Editor
PHLY SPORTS
