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Let’s get you to the weekend. As always, you can reach me at [email protected]

Look at Dan Campbell, all studious with his play sheet.

Campbell took over play-calling duties last week from first-year coordinator John Morton against Washington. Good week to do it. I cannot wait for the Eagles to see Washington twice in the final three weeks, by the way. Frankie Luvu, when not jumping on an injured lineman’s back just for attention, was straight-up running away from Penei Sewell in the open field.

Perhaps the Lions boat-racing the Commanders should not have been surprising. Good stat here from Fran:

So, there is a little bit of feasting on bad defenses here. Well, the Eagles do not have a bad defense. In fact, they are currently 10th in scoring defense and 11th in EPA per play. And Monday’s performance, particularly with the reinforcements on the edge, suggests that they might develop into something even better than that. So, this is not Washington.

But this is yet again a very good Detroit offense. It was the offense we thought about all last season, as it seemed like the Eagles and Lions were on a collision course until Jared Goff turned the ball over a million times in the playoffs, convincing Adam Peters and Washington that they were five 32-year-olds away from a Lombardi Trophy in the process. But I digress.

The Lions weapons are great. Jahmyr Gibbs and David Montgomery have a nice Lightning and Thunder thing going on. Amon-Ra St. Brown is a volume guy in the slot and red zone that gets schemed up nicely, the type of player A.J. Brown probably gets annoyed watching. Jameson Williams is a speedster who is starting to catch balls closer to the line of scrimmage, instead of solely serving as a deep threat. Sam LaPorta is fifth among all tight ends in receiving yards. Good group!

And to top it off, Uncle Vic called the Lions offensive line “the best unit in football.” I do not know if that is true — I do know Sewell is a monster run blocker, though — but as Vic said, “It’s a good unit to be calling plays for.”

Speaking of the Lions’ new play-caller, Campbell is one of two remaining survivors from the 2021 head coaching cycle. The other one is his counterpart this weekend. Surviving and Thriving should the theme of this weekend’s game. Who all can forget the David Culley-Urban Meyer era of AFC South football?

(To make a point of how rare it is to experience the type of success Campbell and Nick Sirianni are having, the 2022 head-coaching cycle produced 10 candidates. Once Mike McDaniel gets fired and becomes the Eagles offensive coordinator next season, there are only gonna be two of those guys left as well.)

All last season, I wondered how Jared Small Hands would fare in the elements. The Lions played, like, one cold-weather game all season. Well, Sunday’s forecast calls for low-40s temps and a little wind. We’ll take it!

One other nerdy thing to look for, which Fran mentioned here: Gibbs, in particular, is not very good at pass-blocking. Might be a little bit of a simmy-simmy game, as Nakobe Dean, Zack Baun and Jihaad Campbell all can blitz. Regardless, it’s key to make the Lions running backs block for a pocket quarterback like Goff. Judge Shawn Syed had a good breakdown of how Brian Flores swung the game with that particular matchup.

If the Eagles win, I wonder if we are talking about this one like the Sunday Night game against Miami in 2023. Good offense, a lot of speed, a QB that relies on getting the ball out fast… but a group that struggles against better defenses, as Uncle Vic’s unit comes up big.

On the other side of the ball, I thought EJ made a good point here: You go into every Eagles game accounting for one of the most talented, expensive offenses in the NFL. But you also know full well that the offense might look completely inept for a full hour. I will keep sharing this until it stops being the case!

While last week felt like a #RunTheBall game, it very much did not turn out that way. On paper, this is not a #RunTheBall game. The Lions are good against the run. Maybe it will not turn out the opposite of what we thought again, though?

Part of the reason why it’s not a #RunTheBall game? The Lions play base defense (4-3, in their case) more than any other team in the NFL. 64 percent of the time! The Eagles, who play a 3-4 when they go to a base look, only use it 24 percent. It’s funny, I actually think the Lions’ style of base defense would more useful for the Baun-Dean-Campbell trio. But that is not how Uncle Vic rolls.

The Eagles offensive line is banged-up, and Aidan Hutchinson has seven sacks in nine games coming off a gruesome injury. I am not too crazy about his national commercials, but similar to Nakobe, superhuman stuff from him to bounce back so quickly. He will wreck a game, if you are not careful.

Speaking of banged-up, the Lions secondary is not in a good place. They might be down three starters (D.J. Reed, Kerby Joseph and the grabby-grabby Terrion Arnold).

My main request from the Eagles offense this week is to not surrender. Fran had a stat the other day from Monday’s game:

I am sorry, that is just not acceptable. Not with this offensive talent… and a quarterback who is, if anything, very careful with the football. Jalen Hurts is not gonna put the ball unnecessarily in harm’s way. You need to at least try, Nick! I watched the Patriots last night. They were throwing the ball on 3rd and 15 to Super Bowl champion Mack Hollins of all people. Mike Vrabel is looking at Mack Hollins and saying, “Let our killer do his thing.”

I think this is the Eagles’ biggest game of the year. They have a manageable schedule the rest of the way. If you can get to 8-2 with wins over the Chiefs, Rams, Bucs, Packers and Lions, even if it never looks all that pretty within a game, that is quite an overall resumé.

A better injury report for the offensive line: And even Cam Jurgens practiced for the second straight day (with a Joel Embiid and Jared McCain-style bulky knee brace, but still).

Uncle Vic, Nordstrom’s fan: Vic struck me as more of a Neiman Marcus guy.

Kyle Schwarber, second place: Good thing Schwarbs did not get too dressed up, he knew the deal.

Just like Sanchy in the Cy Young voting, Schwarbs got second in NL MVP voting behind Shohei Ohtani… who has the advantage of being an excellent starting pitcher in addition to one of the best two hitters on the planet. No shame there, great season for Schwarbs.

The Lorenzo Brown Memorial Highway: Back in Year 1 of The Process, the Sixers had an end-of-roster guy named Lorenzo Brown. Just a random guard. But the most notable thing about Lorenzo Brown was that the Sixers kept shuttling him back-and-forth from the G-League a comical amount. It became a running gag among the few Sixers sickos who paid attention that year. I dubbed that stretch of I-95 between Wilmington and Philly “The Lorenzo Brown Memorial Highway.”

Well, Jared McCain took The Lorenzo Brown Memorial Highway. The Sixers sent him to the G-League.

I think this was smart. I praised McCain’s quick recovery off the thumb injury, but that dude was not ready to play NBA basketball. He played three games and did not score a single point. He was not creating any sort of separation, and did not look like the guy we saw last year. Nick Nurse was barely playing him, too. McCain logged seven and nine minutes, respectively.

The lack of separation is mildly concerning to me. That of course is not due to the thumb injury, but the meniscus injury suffered last December. McCain is wearing a bulky knee brace, and that might be why he cannot get any separation whatsoever. Regardless the Sixers looked at the schedule — Delaware played last night and tomorrow, the Sixers only play tonight this weekend — and saw a chance for McCain to get his sea legs in a pressure-free environment. Like a baseball player on a rehab assignment.

And in McCain’s first G-League game, he had 10 points and 3 assists in 20 minutes. Good, you saw the ball go through the hoop, now play another one tomorrow.

In other injury news…

Franklin makes a funny: You do not want to wear a white shirt around Jaylen Brown these days.

Brown is an excellent player, but like Carlos Boozer before him, he appears to have some hair dye out on the court. So, when Brown ducks his head on drives to the basket (a totally normal thing), the hair dye is leaving a mark, particularly on white jerseys.

Well, Franklin was not having anything to do with that. Good dog.

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Make sure you are checking out the site for our writing! These three stories dropped yesterday.

Your weekend ahead…

Your tentative Friday schedule at PHLY. Busy day!

Have a great weekend. Let’s make it a good one today.

Rich Hofmann
Daily Newsletter Editor
PHLY SPORTS