👋 Good morning! (*Inhales*)

(*Inhales some more*)

RUN THE BALL! RUN THE BALL! RUN THE BALL! RUN THE BALL! RUN THE BALL! RUN THE BALL! RUN THE BALL! RUN THE BALL! RUN THE BALL! RUN THE BALL!

Run The Ball Nation, we are back baby!

I have written this newsletter for over two years, and one of my favorite things is to look through the images of Eagles fans via the photo service we use. Next year, maybe on a slow summer day, I will devote a whole newsletter to a collage of “Eagles Fans Losing Their 💩.” Look at this guy from yesterday!

Love that guy. And I also love Righteous Felon Craft Jerky, which I have the pleasure of eating every time I go into the office. The Street Taco flavor is so good.

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Fun one to write today, let’s boogie. And as always, you can reach me at [email protected]

Credit to my friends for turning the Eagles’ season around a week and a half ago. Nick Sirianni passed them on his way into the practice facility, brought them out some coffee and donuts as a sign of goodwill, and he clearly got the message.

The links!

As a reminder, EJ’s all-encompassing Early Bird piece is live on the site now as well. That baby just publishes after I schedule the newsy.

I know I already am over my #RunTheBall joke quota, but man, it really just is so nice when this team is run blocking like THE EAGLES. The first seven weeks of a punchless ground game gave us all an appreciation in retrospect for this team’s regular superpower, and look, who knows if Jeff Stoutland’s crew will be able to sustain it this season? But it felt great to have the cheat code back for at least one Sunday.

The Eagles #RanTheBall 33 times for 276 yards. 14 for 150 and a score for Saquon Barkley, who yet again rubbed it in the face of every Giants fan who took the saddest victory lap ever after The Great MetLife No-Show just 2.5 weeks ago. Saquon added a receiving touchdown for good measure. Hey Giants fans, you won that battle, but newsflash, the war you are fighting? It’s already over, baby. You lost! You could win the next six games against the Eagles — Reminder: The last Giants win at The Linc was in October 2013, as The Indomitable Matt Barkley went 17-26 with an interception — and The Saquon Barkley-New York Giants War would still be over. Done. Finito. This will not be the last mention of Giants fans in this newsletter.

After the game, Jordan Mailata said that the Eagles wanted to be the more physical team after decidedly losing in that department the last time these teams played. ✅ As Fran broke down here, Brett Toth and Landon Dickerson did an awesome job on the double-team block on Saquon’s 65-yard home run. Happy for the TothHeads, their man is much better at center than guard. And that is as healthy as Dickerson has looked all season, road grader stuff right there.

(Credit where due: I enjoy Tom Brady’s “Ohhhh!” in the middle of Saquon home runs. Reminds me of John Kruk the split-second Kyle Schwarber gets a hold of one.)

But it was not just physicality the led to success on the ground. After The Great MetLife No-Show, Lane Johnson used his respected voice to call the offense predictable. Well, as Fran pointed out here, they were extremely unpredictable in the rematch. Under-center, under-center play-action, shotgun run game, RPOs, vertical shots, Empty, running back screens, six offensive linemen (hell yeah Fred!), same-side runs and a jet sweep mixed in for good measure. We have made the analogy that Kevin Patullo has only brought select chapters of the playbook to each game. Well, he brought the whole binder this week. Good work by whoever remembered to pack the whole binder.

Tank Bigsby also showed some juice, running nine times for 104 yards, including a preposterous first-down conversion on a second and 26. Best use of a tank since The Battle of the Bulge. It is very funny that the Eagles traded two picks for this guy and sold it behind the scenes as a kick-return move… and he is absolutely dreadful at kick returns but still clearly should provide value as RB2. Howie livin’ right.

Let’s not forget about The Quarterback. He is really playing some great ball.

I wrote about this last week, but it’s nice that the numbers and results are matching the eye test. For most of the last two months, my eyes told me that Jalen Hurts was playing good ball. But the Eagles offense was not very good, and those two things are hard to square. Well, the last two weeks have made the squaring easier. Against the Vikings and Giants, Hurts went 34-43 for 505 yards, 7 touchdowns and 0 interceptions. The Eagles punted just once on eight possessions yesterday.

That’s the good stuff. 🚨 New Jalenism Alert 🚨 With the additional under-center, Jalen has found The Flow. He’s like a surfer, riding that wave. 🌊

And Jalen did so on Sunday without the services of A.J. Brown and Cam Jurgens. Nice WR1 game for DeVonta Smith (6 catches, 84 yards) working over the middle. Jahan Dotson Mossed a guy, he seriously has to lead the league in Ridiculous Highlight Plays Per Reception since August 2024. But I want to focus on Dallas Goedert.

Before this season, Goedert’s season career-high in tuddies was only five. Well, he now has seven in just seven games. The Birds have the best red-zone offense in the NFL, and Goedert has been a huge reason why. Those little underhand flips around the goal line? He is punching those in. Getting open on a slant, like we saw Sunday? He has that in his bag, too. And I loved how Goedert got open on the RPO with Jalen, did they ad-lib that one? Regardless, it was nice, a little out and up.

Not as notable of a defensive game, gang. Not bad, just not notable.

The Nakobe Dean (32 snaps) and Jihaad Campbell (19 snaps) usage in this one was really interesting, and something that will be scrutinized over the next few weeks. I am sorry, I love Nakobe, but Jihaad needs to be playing nickel on obvious passing downs. Outside of that, they gave up 13 points before a meaningless drive (with some subs in) and sacked Jaxson Dart five times. Fine, moving on…

On Friday, I wrote that the Eagles just had to get this one into the house. They did more than that, getting to their bye at 6-2 and looking good doing that. All eyes will be on what Howie Roseman does at the trade deadline next week. Regardless of what you are thinking, just have the coffee ready, Howie.

The calls: This is going to be big of me, but I thought the Eagles got a favorable whistle in yesterday’s game against the Giants. Big of me to admit, I know.

The Hurts non-fumble on the Tush Push was a disastrous call. A straight-up calamity. Now, should Brian Daboll have thrown a temper tantrum/challenge flag after Brad Allen explained to him that he could not challenge that one in a way that it would be overturned? Who am I to say? I just wish Jalen fumbled on any other play. Because like the last eight Mondays, The Tush Push is all we are going to read/hear about today. Get Up! might dedicate their whole 8 a.m. hour to it for all we know.

All I had to read/hear about Sunday from Giants fans, the same Giants fans who pretended they won the Super Bowl two weeks ago, is that the refs stole the game from them. They all were following the lead of Daboll, who put his headset on angrier than anyone I have ever seen do anything. Maybe that should be a TikTok trend, “The Daboll.”

Newsflash to Giants fans: Those calls did not change the outcome of this game! Did you see what the Eagles did to your defense? You were down 25 points before the Eagles gave Dart a charity touchdown drive.

Honestly, retroactively give the Giants 14 points from the Darius Slayton catch and Hurts fumble, in addition to the letting charity touchdown drive stand, in addition to doing nothing about any calls that went against the Eagles (Nakobe Dean got tackled on the early touchdown). You still lose!

Dramatic Tease No. 1, A.J. Brown: Did I see all of the reporting this weekend about A.J. Brown? Yes I did. Did I see that the Eagles are not expected to trade Brown (but also, interestingly, that “a blockbuster offer” might get them to listen)? Did I see that A.J. is seemingly deleting past social media posts that mention Jalen Hurts for some reason? Also, yes.

But the Monday newsletter is too jam-packed already. I will get everyone caught up on A.J. Brown tomorrow.

Flyers 4, Long Island 3: Wooo! A rare good weekend of shootouts in Philadelphia sports. Charlie’s observations are here. Post-game pod with Bill and Steve is here.

Speaking of shootouts, I was floored by the stat that Jim Jackson gave us on the broadcast: Trevor Zegras (13-21) is the best player in NHL history among players who have taken at least 20 shootout attempts. I know 20 attempts is not a ton, but it’s not nothing either. Like, the Ducks seriously traded a guy who is a cheat code in the skills competition that decides six to seven games per year? They traded that guy for Ryan Poehling, a 2 and a 4? Does Pat Verbeek know those points count in the standings and everything?

And of course, Zegras stepped right up and scored. 14-22 now, nice and under control. I wonder if Jesús Bueno was taking notes. You know, I bet he was.

Hard not to love the Zegras experience so far. He had two goals and an assist in this one, upping his point total to eight in eight games. That’s (*plugs away at calculator*) a point per-game! I like the line with Zegras, Christian Dvorak and Matvei Michkov, a nice blend of offense and defense.

But the best part about Zegras? The behind-the-play camera angles. He puts some absolute dimes right on teammates’ tape, plays that can only be appreciated when you put the camera behind him and go slow-mo.

And two more things Flyers-wise. Don’t miss your chance to watch Zegras go back to The Pond while also booing Quitter Gauthier! Check out Philly Sports Trips’ California Takeover!

And we have a couple of sweet new shirts in the store. The first of which? Our Philly Hockey Club tee.

Dramatic Tease No. 2, Bryce Harper: Did I see the Matt Gelb article in which he got Bryce Harper to say on the record that he was hurt by Dave Dombrowski’s eyebrow-raising comments at Dombrowski’s end-of-season presser. Why yes, yes I did!

But again, the Monday newsletter is already too jam-packed. And to boot, I will be on pinch-hitting on today’s Phillies show with Jamie yapping about this later today. So, tomorrow is officially Drama Day in the newsletter. Bryce and A.J.

Sixers 125, Charlotte 121: Fun comeback win! More than ever, the modern NBA is a game of runs and the Sixers never stopped playing, running through the tape. Kyle’s observations are here. Pod is here.

Hilarious, unorthodox center rotation in this one:

Drum, who was such a disaster last year that it was an absolute no-brainer for him to pick up his measly (well, for the NBA) $5 million player option, came out of nowhere to help the Sixers to a win. Kyle wrote about him more in-depth here. Seems like Drum is doing a good job being A Vet, not pouting because he is not playing while also keeping the vibes relatively high. Take his relationship with Adem Bona, who took his job as the backup center: Drum gives him words of encouragement during every huddle, but also pours popcorn in his car so the whole team can laugh. The duality of man.

And when his number was called, we got the best version of Drum: 13 rebounds in 16 minutes, just hammering the offensive glass. The Sixers were a +12 in those minutes, and they flat-out do not win that game without him.

As for Joel, he looked awesome offensively: 20 points in 20 minutes on 7-11 shooting. I wonder if teams are gonna guard him more often with smaller players like Jaylen Brown and force him to drive. Against a slower, more traditional big like promising rookie Ryan Kalbrenner, Joel is gonna get whatever he wants in the mid-range.

The bad news is that Joel does not look like the same guy as a rim protector, and the Sixers arguably need him more on that end. Do not get me wrong, I am gonna enjoy this team regardless, but you can certainly see the warts with their perimeter and transition defense. They need Paul George more on that end, too.

And as for his playing time, Joel is clearly on a 20-ish minute limit. He could try to play 2-3 minute shifts and stretch it out over a full game, but instead has opted to play normal shifts and check out in the middle of third quarter. I am OK with that, it is hard to play effective basketball in 2-3 minute shifts. But at least for a while, the Sixers will be closing games without the big fella.

(The only beneficiary from that arrangement, as Kyle noted here: The Big Js, who do not have to wait for Embiid because he gets his post-game treatment faster than usual. We win baby! It’s all about us!)

Speaking of closing games, beautiful stuff from Tyrese Maxey here: Attacks the mismatch and gets the switch onto Kon Kneuppel, sees the help defender shading over into the gap, on-time pass to Quentin Grimes for the game-winner. 🤌🤌🤌🤌

Speaking of good soldiers, no visible sign of discontent from Grimes after the whole contract standoff. I might lay off the full Tommy gun celebration after 3s though, Adam Silver is gonna take some of that qualifying offer my guy!

Union 2 (4), Chicago Fire FC 2 (2): See those parentheses? That means we need to Doop it up, Doop it up!

Everyone knows a 2-0 lead in the worst lead in soccer, but man, that would have been a baaaaaadddd loss for our Union. 2-0 lead after a sick Milan Iloski goal, Subaru Park absolutely rocking andddd…. they took their foot off the gas. Longtime Union standout Jack Elliott, who accused the Union of cheaping out last winter after eight years in Chester, scored a wonderful equalizer.

Fortunately, it was not a baaaaaadddd loss for our Union. How about Jesús Bueno handling the ultimate pressure-cooker (soccer penalty kicks) all cool as a cucumber?

The Union are now up 1-0 on Gregggggg’s Boys in the best-of-three series. We will see you for Game 2 in Chicago next Saturday.

The Sixers are back in action tonight, this time against Orlando (7:00 p.m., NBC Sports Philly). No Joel Embiid (injury management) or Dominick Barlow (elbow laceration) for that one, Andre Drummond is probably gonna have to come up big yet again against a physical Magic team. As for Joel, I wonder if this is a matter of him not being able to play back-to-backs and the Sixers training staff picking tomorrow night in Washington as the better option for multiple reasons (rest, worse team). We will see.

Joel aside, for the 5,000th time: They play too many games in that sport.

We got a Victory Monday at PHLY. Tons to talk about, in every single sport. You excited? I’m excited. Your Monday schedule at PHLY:

Let's make it a good one.

Rich Hofmann
Daily Newsletter Editor
PHLY SPORTS