👋 Good morning! The Flyers lost this game.

The full play is here on YouTube, if you want to watch it.

Blew a 3-0 lead, blew a 4-2 lead with eight minutes left, and somehow Garnet Hathaway does not score here to put it away. Yep, that is very much a guy who has one point in (*checks notes*) 43 games. Really tough loss for the Flyers, and we will get to that more in a second.

But first, get yourself to Wawa.

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I am dubbing today’s newsletter “Philosophical Thursday,” because we are going to get into a few big-picture questions with three of the franchises.

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

That Flyers loss was brutal. They built a huge lead with an excellent first period, and the Orange and Black really had the chance to beat two Western Conference playoff teams in a row on the road.

But Hathaway did not score, Travis Sanheim got schooled by Clayton Keller and the Flyers botched another 3-on-3 overtime. The Orange and Black got just one point, whether they like it or not.

I am as guilty as anyone of focusing too much on the short-term when the Flyers are winning. Before this brutal stretch of just four points in eight games, I was leading the Flyers section of each newsletter with how high they ranked in the NHL in points percentage. It was fun! Winning is fun!

But when they start losing games, you then naturally start to look at the big picture. It’s a tough needle to thread, trying to develop young players while also competing. But I do wonder about the Flyers’ long-term outlook a little bit.

Take Matvei Michkov last night. He finished with a season-high seven shots on goal, and while none of them went in, the raw total was a sign that he was moving well. Charlie called him “physically assertive,” and there was a nice montage on the broadcast of him driving to the net multiple times. But Michkov only played 12 minutes, which is a bummer. That is not a lot of ice time.

Michkov’s season has been a major disappointment thus far, and I am not trying to wade into Civil War about how much fault there lies with Rick Tocchet. I will leave that to the more educated Flyers fans. Michkov definitely came into camp out of shape and he takes way too many stick penalties. But on the other hand, developing this kid still needs to be one of the organization’s top priorities.

Much of the Flyers’ future is in the pipeline. We will see what the Martones, Bumps, Luchankos, Zavragins and Nesbitts will be able to do in future years. The fact that Jett Luchanko is not part of this Flyers team is disappointing, though.

There are clear wins for the Flyers so far this season, with the Trevor Zegras trade and Dan Vladar signing at the top of the list. For me, I guess it boils down to this: If the Flyers were a fringe playoff team but Michkov was progressing and Luchanko was involved, perhaps a loss like last night’s would not sting quite as much.

Because, at the end of the year, no matter how this ends, the development aspect will be a big part of this season’s grade.

Et tu, Daboll? Et tu? So, two pieces of Eagles coordinator search nuggets to share…

The Titans?!? As it turns out, Tennessee going with a defensive guy (Robert Saleh) did actually hurt the Eagles in their OC search. What a world we are living in. I guess Cam Ward might be good in the future, but man, that is far from a slam-dunk and they have almost nothing in the cupboard down there. And this is coming from someone who knows both Nick Sirianni and Jalen Hurts personally, and also someone who spent four years getting his brains beat in by this organization. That is a complete slap in the face!

So, Bo and EJ asked the natural question: Is the Eagles offensive coordinator job less attractive than we initially thought? It clearly is, but they went into the reasons why.

One of the points I wholeheartedly endorse: Yes, the scrutiny that comes from coaching in this job is intense because people here really care about this football team. And yes, I wish those kids would not have egged Kevin Patullo’s house and could do without putting Patullo’s face on golf simulators in an attempt to go viral. But let’s be clear, that level scrutiny also comes from within the NovaCare Complex. The pressure-cooker that comes with being the Eagles offensive coordinator has just as much to do with the internal organizational pressure as whatever the fans are doing. We are not letting the Eagles off the hook here for not getting their top candidates.

Let’s update the tracker…

In between screaming at Cuz on our airwaves, NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo broke the Nagy news. The Central PA native got his break in the NFL with the Birds and Andy Reid, working in Philly from 2008 to 2012 and then following Big Red to Kansas City. After following in Doug Pedersen’s footsteps, Nagy became the head coach in Chicago and blessed us with this reaction after the Double Doink.

Great times.

Nagy overlapped with Uncle Vic for that one year in Chicago, too. Andy Reid calls the plays in Kansas City, and it looks like the Chiefs are bringing Eric Bienemy back to replace Nagy after a down season over there. All due respect to Nagy, I would not be that inspired by this hire.

My question for the Eagles is now not just who they are gonna hire, it’s if the Eagles are gonna hire someone who will walk into the job with enough juice to make sweeping changes. The Inquirer’s Jeff McLane is a well-sourced longtime reporter, and he posted the following.

That part makes me really nervous. If one thing was made clear this season, it’s that Nick Sirianni’s fingerprints need to be moved away from the Eagles offense. There needs to be a new, outside voice with the authority to modernize the whole operation and push Jalen Hurts out of his comfort zone within reason. The uber-conservative, unimaginative manner in which the Eagles approached offense this season was unacceptable, and it’s unclear that there will be a major talent infusion to overcome major schematic weaknesses.

Nothing is guaranteed, but I think it’s clear that the Eagles’ best shot at bouncing back on offense is giving someone from the outside full autonomy. But I also understand that might be harder to pull off in practice if it’s a first-time or unknown play-caller.

As much as I would like Daboll to flop in Tennessee, if his hiring gets the Eagles a shot at Joe Brady, I would be all for it.

A Phillies venting session: Really good Phillies show from Tyler yesterday, in which he blew off some steam. And that was before the Mets loaded up even more!

Big National League deal happened last night, as David Stearns struck a deal with his old team:

Time will tell if this is a wise move for the Mets. They dealt two Top-5 prospects in a good farm system primarily for a pitcher with just one year of team-control remaining. But before we get to the Mets, I would like to talk about the Brewers for a minute.

Milwaukee gets out from their star players with one year remaining, it’s just what they do. Before Peralta, they did it with Corbin Burnes, Devin Williams and Josh Hader. And whether or not those deals have worked out, the Brewers just win games regardless. Since 2021: 95, 86, 92, 93 and 97 wins. They are an extremely well-run organization. If MLB had a similar type of salary cap system to the NBA’s, maybe the Brewers would be an Oklahoma City-level potential dynasty. I would believe it.

It’s respectable that Milwaukee’s front office is pragmatic enough to say, “We cannot sign Freddy Peralta next year, let’s replenish the farm system while we still can.” But, and I am not saying this to save cheap owners any money, it also stinks from a fairness perspective that the Brewers and Dodgers are playing the same sport.

Enough about the Brewers, though. The 2026 Mets just got a whole lot better in the last week, no question about that. Starting pitching was their biggest weakness and Peralta threw 516 innings over the last three seasons to a 3.40 ERA. That is really good. Put him up at the top of the rotation with Nolan McLean and you might have something. I mean, I hope not, but you might.

After a lackluster start to the offseason — Edwin Diaz and Pete Alonso are not in Queens anymore, let’s not forget that part — the Mets have done a ton of stuff over the past week. It’s pretty easy to contrast this stretch of activity with the Phillies, who… well, re-signed Kyle Schwarber and J.T. Realmuto and lost Ranger Suárez.

And this is why Tyler, who really is not someone who gives you faux outrage, vented a whole lot yesterday.

“Content” is not the word I would use looking at this Phillies roster. Dombrowski thinks the Phillies are good, and he might be right. Certainly above average, as far as MLB teams go. But his current outfield is…

Again, maybe this all works out like last year (well, at least in the regular season). The Phillies have a bunch of good baseball players. I cannot say that I feel very content with the 4-9 hitters in this entire lineup, though. I am anxious about multiple parts of this team. There definitely is room for improvement, and for a team that wants to win a World Series, it is hard to hear the word “content” from Dave Dombrowski.

As for Thompson’s quote, the idea that they are not running it back is wrong. The Phillies are bringing back seven of their nine position players, potentially downgrading at the other two spots, and they swapped Brad Keller in for Matt Strahm while also losing Ranger. The core of this team very much remains unchanged, and since it’s not a particularly young core, there is concern with running it back.

In fairness, the Mets were the ones who had to catch the Phillies. Maybe the Phillies’ foundation holds for another year in the NL East, that would be swell. But for the second straight year, this has not been a particularly fun Hot Stove in Philadelphia. More than anything, I think we all just need the games to start.

🇮🇹⚾ Aaron Nola: He is pitching for Team Italy in the World Baseball Classic, Rob Thomson announced at The Philadelphia Sports Writers Association Banquet.

Did not think I was gonna be typing that sentence out, but here we are. Italy is in the United States’ pool, so we could theoretically see Nola pitch against Kyle Schwarber and Bryce Harper.

Sixers are at home against Houston (7:00 p.m., NBC Sports Philly). KD was at the Villanova-Georgetown game last night. Speaking of that, man, Ed Cooley is stinking the joint up down there.

Your tentative Thursday schedule at PHLY:

Let's make it a good one.

Rich Hofmann
Daily Newsletter Editor
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