👋 Good morning! Language warning, but this really is an all-time interview.

What a hockey game in South Philly last night. Cutter Gauthier scores right away and the entire crowd boos (in fairness, they were booing before). It was Jamie Drysdale who stuck it to the Ducks last year, and this time around, it was Trevor Zegras’ turn to torment his former team. Zegras responded to Gauthier’s goal with two tallies of his own in the first period, on pretty much identical shots.

After the first goal, Zegras hung up the phone on Pat Verbeek in celebration. Incredible.

And on the second goal, this was Zegras’ celebration. The man was pumped. Look at that crowd shot.

Sports are great because two years ago, I never would have told you that the most anticipated game on the Flyers’ 82-game schedule would be “Anaheim at home.” It honestly might have been last. But it so clearly is the most-anticipated matchup right now. The last two of those games have been nothing short of electric. I legitimately cannot wait for next January.

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OK, so this will technically be the fourth matchup between Nick Sirianni’s Philadelphia Eagles and Kyle Shanahan’s San Francisco 49ers. But if it’s alright with you, I am gonna disregard that Week 2 game from back in 2021. At that point, the Eagles were not the Eagles yet. Sirianni was still five weeks away from giving the flowers press conference.

So, we are really focusing on two games here:

This is a nice little rivalry. We are only talking about two games here, but I do not particularly care for this San Francisco team. In fact, I found myself rooting for the Chiefs in Super Bowl 58 against these guys. That should be impossible!

Do not get me wrong, I have plenty of respect for Kyle Shanahan as an offensive mind. And you could certainly argue that the degree to which Shanahan tormented the Eagles’ back-seven in that December 2023 game laid the groundwork for The Great Defensive Turnaround of 2024 more than any other single game. Howie Roseman realized that he needed to invest more in that back-seven, and in came Vic Fangio to whip that improved personnel into shape. So really, thank you, Kyle.

As far as bragging rights go in this rivalry, it belongs to the Eagles right now. Hey, to the victor go the spoils. The 49ers sent the Eagles into a tailspin in 2023, but the NFC Championship Game is the NFC Championship Game. Plus, the Eagles are 1-1 against Kansas City in the Super Bowl during this era. The 49ers are 0-2. Count the rings.

The 49ers are a different type of team than we saw at The Linc in 2023. They still seem to run that vaunted 21 personnel that sliced the Eagles up, but they do not have the same all-star cast within that personnel grouping. Brandon Aiyuk did not play at all this season and had his guarantees voided. Deebo Samuel is washed up in Washington. George Kittle (still pretty good) and Kyle Juszczyk are 32 and 34 years old, respectively. Christian McCaffrey is still a workhorse, but he is averaging just 3.9 yards per carry this year. For reference, Saquon Barkley is averaging 4.1 yards per carry and we know what the run blocking has been like for him. San Francisco’s offense has been good (albeit against a weak schedule), and it’s mostly Shanahan and Brock Purdy making it work. Impressive season from those two guys.

And on defense, the 49ers are a shell of what they used to be. Fred Warner and Nick Bosa are both out for the season, which are killer injuries because the depth around them is not all that great. Chicago went up and down the field against this 49ers defense, and then Seattle physically manhandled them.

The deadlock gets broken on Sunday, one way or another. Can’t wait.

So, that is the big-picture look at the matchup just to whet the appetite. Over the next two days, we will be getting into the weeds in the newsletter. Tomorrow, with the benefit of watching Bo, EJ, Fran and Deniz on today’s must-watch Eagles show, we will be getting into the chess match between Shanahan and former 49ers defensive coordinator Vic Fangio. Good against good.

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Black Tuesdee hits the NFC East: We had a busy day of NFL firings.

At the top of the list, John Harbaugh was let go by Baltimore after an 18-year run there. Do you think Harbaugh would like to take Michael Clay’s job for old time’s sake? He and Kelee Ringo could really do some damage together. It sounds like Harbaugh will get another head-coaching job this cycle if he wants one, maybe with the Giants.

Elsewhere, the Lions fired their offensive coordinator John Morton. Very Sean Desai type of arc for that guy. But we primarily care about the fireworks from the NFC East, where Vic Fangio is now the only currently employed defensive coordinator.

⭐ Matt Eberflus let go as Cowboys defensive coordinator: #AsExpected The Flus is now loose. Eberflus is not the most inspiring defensive play-caller out there, but, like… you traded Micah Parsons, Jerry. What did you think would happen?

🐷 The Commanders fire both of their coordinators: You know, Bob Myers looked like he had not slept much while sitting courtside at the Sixers game on Monday. I guess we saw why.

#AsExpected on Joe Whitt Jr., but Kliff Kingsbury is a different story. Kingsbury is someone who the Eagles were close to hiring the cycle that they landed on Kellen Moore. As Bo mentioned on yesterday’s show, our guy ZB had some intel that Kingsbury had some difference of opinion when it came to keeping Jeff Stoutland around. That would make sense. Jeffrey Lurie loves Jeff Stoutland, there is a reason he has stuck around through three different head coaches and countless coordinators.

I would put Kliff in The Stefanski Zone: Maybe he becomes a Person of Interest in Philly after this season, but hey, maybe he gets one of these head-coaching jobs.

For Washington, this will be an offseason of change. They have a ton of free agents, a ton of cap space (as they try the novel approach of acquiring players under 30 years old) and now two new coordinators.

Assorted Eagles news: We will have more with the injury report tomorrow, but Uncle Vic said at this presser that he expects to get Nakobe Dean back.

There was one little Easter Egg in Baldy’s interview on Cuz’s show: “I don’t think Lane will go, but we’ll see.” 😬😬😬😬

The 49ers signed old friend Kyzir White, and White might actually be their starting linebacker this week. Kyzir has appeared in one game all season, and it was all the way back in Week 3!

Hard Knocks: Jamie and I wrapped up the regular-season finale for your listening pleasure. Jaelan Phillips, cat guy, love that. Delightful Jordan Davis episode as well.

And how about Bobby Wagner watching The Martian with no sound through the person he was sitting next to on the plane?

Flyers 5, Anaheim 2: A rollicking win for the team with the sixth-highest points percentage in the entire National Hockey League. Instant observations are here.

You know one of the reasons that the Orange and Black have the sixth-highest points percentage in the NHL? Jamie Drysdale. Look at most of Drysdale’s play-driving metrics and they are very good. Rick Tocchet recently complimented Drysdale’s defending at 5-on-5, but mentioned that he thinks there is more offense inside of Drysdale. That is a great place to be for the 23-year-old. Drysdale still has 18 points on the season, and if he is developing a play-driving and defensive foundation outside of that, that is good news for the Flyers. He did not lose any of that offensive skill.

Well, last night Drysdale took a nasty, seemingly pretty dirty hit from Ross Johnston. That is about as mad as you will ever hear Brian Boucher on the broadcast.

Bobby Brink also took a nasty hit and did not come back into the game. The Flyers call them “upper-body injuries,” but it sure seems like they are being looked at for concussions. Brink and Drysdale are two players who have contributed to this strong first half of the season for the Flyers, let’s hope they are both OK.

Elsewhere, the Devils lost 9-0 to the Islanders. Yowza.

The Sixers are almost fully healthy: Kelly Oubre Jr. has been out for seven weeks and Trendon Watford has been out for six weeks. In the meantime, I have been enjoying Watford’s outfits on the bench. He gets ambitious! They are the only two guys in the Sixers rotation who have been out of the lineup.

Well, they are both listed as questionable for tonight’s game against Washington. It has been funny to see them progress from 3-on-3 to 4-on-4 and now to 5-on-5. Why not a little 6-on-6 while we are at it? But even if they do not play tonight, a questionable designation means both guys are pretty close.

Something to keep an eye on is how much Jared McCain plays now that Oubre is back. The guys talked about that on yesterday’s pod.

Sixers are playing Washington at home (7:00 p.m., NBC Sports Philly). How about playing a little defense tonight, fellas?

Your tentative Wednesday schedule at PHLY:

Let’s make it a good one.

Rich Hofmann
Daily Newsletter Editor
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