👋 Good morning! Trevor Zegras, are you serious?

Brian Boucher pointed it out on the broadcast, Tyson Foerster’s reaction says it all. Usually, you turn toward the goal-scorer and celebrate. But after that absolute dime from Zegras, which he only got off because he was tough enough to absorb a serious body-check from Sam Bennett and hang in there, Foerster turned to Zegras.

In my early Flyers watching, Zegras has been someone I have paid attention to, particularly on the power play. You just know he is capable of some magic, and he provided that for the game-winning goal on Monday. As Charlie pointed out, that is why you take swings on highly-skilled players.

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Little history lesson for the youngins, one that I heard Ray Didinger give recently…

In 1973, the Phillies hired Danny Ozark as their manager. Ozark employed a player-friendly style, as he was laid-back and well-liked in the clubhouse. It worked, as Ozark’s Phils won three straight NL East titles between 1976 and 1978. But Ozark also ran into a major hurdle: The National League Championship Series. The Phillies lost three of those suckers in a row — Danny Ozark, meet Andy Reid — the worst of which was the Black Friday debacle in 1977.

After three NL East titles, the 1979 Phillies were only an average baseball team. So, Paul Owens pontificated and out went Ozark, in came Dallas Green. As is often the case with coaching changes, Green had the polar opposite personality: old-school, disciplined, confrontational at times, blunt. And despite the 1980 Phils being a less impressive regular-season team than Ozark’s outfits, Green did not run into that NLCS speed bump. He almost did, that 3-2 series win over Houston was an all-time classic, but Dallas got it done… and then he won the World Series, too. That is why more people know Dallas Green’s name than Danny Ozark’s.

Anyway, 2025 Dallas Green is not walking through that door.

Credit to Jon Heyman and Joel Sherman for being #first. Topper is under contract for another season, but it’s still unclear if he will be getting an extension. Maybe he will, you usually like to avoid lame ducks, but it’s still unclear.

I have no idea what the right decision was here — Tyler was surprised, because the Phillies gotta change something and it’s much easier to change the manager — but there were legitimate arguments on both sides.

The argument for keeping Rob Thomson: Regular-Season Topper is, as the kids say, goated. The Phillies have won more games every single season with him. His 346-251 record is good for a .580 winning percentage, the second-best winning percentage in MLB (behind, sigh, the Dodgers) during that span.

I love Topper, Thomper or whatever you call him’s temperament. When I and thousands of other psychos want him to go all Larry Bowa on some random hot July night against the White Sox, he just stays the course and wins games. This Phillies clubhouse is definitely not an easy one to deal with, a bunch of veteran personalities with opinions. Just ask Rob Manfred about that, there is a reason his little salary-cap talk went over way worse in Philly than the other 29 clubhouses. But Thomson has buy-in from this group, as evidenced by their efforts in Los Angeles last week. The way he reacted to Orion Kerkering’s error was top-shelf stuff. A+ human being.

And in modern baseball, the organization often is much, much more than the manager. The amount of people behind the scenes in player development, analytics and game-planning is staggering. But even right below Thomson, the Phillies employ hitting and pitching coaches who wield a ton of influence. Caleb Cotham is probably the most important assistant coach in Philadelphia sports, which is impressive considering Jeff Stoutland also lives here. We will see what happens with Kevin Long.

Basically, decisions are often bigger than the manager. Viewing Thomson like Tony La Russa or Earl Weaver is not fair, because he does not have that type of autonomy.

The argument for firing Rob Thomson: All that said, I do not like the framing that gives Thomson zero agency.

Sure, it is not Thomson’s fault that the 1-3 hitters were ghosts for three games in the NLDS (Dodgers deserve credit, too). But are we also supposed to give him a ton of credit for Kyle Schwarber mashing all summer and Trea Turner’s excellent season? It is tricky to evaluate a baseball manager, but giving him credit for all the stuff that goes right and absolving him of all the stuff that goes wrong surely ain’t it.

Speaking of, I thought Games 1 and 2 were straight-up disastrous games for Thomson and the Phillies’ staff. Just because the Phils fought back in Los Angeles does not make me forget that. I disliked the David Robertson up-down in the moment, just as I disliked The Bunt in the moment. If those decisions are not made, who knows, maybe the Phillies have a baseball game tonight.

Ken Rosenthal won the award for Most Dunked on Tweet of 2022, for this little ditty: “Firing Joe Girardi wouldn’t fix Phillies’ problems. Column:.” Rosenthal was a good sport about it later, to his credit. But unlike 2022, when going from Girardi to his little-known lieutenant in Thomson did actually solve a lot of issues, it is not so cut and dried this time. The overall Topper experience is great, the October Topper experience is increasingly worse. But is that just baseball?

I genuinely like Rob Thomson. If I could pick any manager to win the World Series with these Phillies, it would be him. But is he the right guy to get that done? I dunno, but the Phillies seem to think so. If there will be any offseason changes for these Phillies, it will not be the manager.

Za’Darius Smith, outta here: That man just up and retired on a Monday. Is it a coincidence that this surprise announcement happened after he had to play on the dreaded MetLife turf on a short week? Who is to say?

Quick quiz, answer below the video: When Jeremiah Washburn gets the edge-rusher group together to watch film this week, who has the most sacks in that room? Who gets to stand on their chair and scream, “GET ON MY LEVEL!!!!” to the rest of the room, if he so pleases. It used to be Smith, with 1.5 sacks.

Answer: Patrick Johnson, one sack. Not a great place to be!

Yesterday, I wrote about the Eagles’ dire edge-rusher situation… and I had no idea Za’Darius was gonna retire! I like that Uncle Vic takes a more holistic approach to both the position and defense in general. If you are Bryce Huffing it up on run defense, that is not gonna fly.

But regardless of how well-rounded your defensive philosophy might be, pass-rush is a core element of modern football. The Eagles currently have the following players at edge: Jalyx Hunt, Azeez Ojulari, Josh Uche, and The King of the Edges himself, Patrick Johnson. Nolan Smith will be back at some point, and you can blitz and sim pressure until the cows come home, that is not gonna cut it.

So, how can the Eagles make up for the edge deficit? A few potential avenues…

(1) Position change: This is the unlikeliest option IMO, but the edge-rusher situation is so dire that you at least have to ask the question: Can you give Jihaad Campbell more snaps rushing the passer and stick Nakobe Dean next to Zack Baun? Probably not something I would mess with, Campbell is blossoming as an off-ball linebacker, but again, it’s dire.

(2) A veteran free agent: I see some similarities between “Eagles pass rush, October 2025” and “Phillies bullpen, July 2025.” You probably need a rotational player, maybe one who, like Smith, is currently out of football. The David Robertson comp.

Anyway, tune into the next Brandon Graham Unblocked to see Howie Roseman offer BG a contract live on air!

(Kidding, but maybe not?)

(3) A trade: The Jhoan Duran comp, minus the music and the light show. I dunno the exact player and compensation, but the Eagles need A Guy here. Yesterday, EJ and I talked about a few of the more obvious names: Cincy’s Trey Hendrickson, the Jets’ Jermaine Johnson, Miami’s Jaelan Phillips and Bradley Chubb. I wonder if Phillips and Chubb would wanna play for Uncle Vic, they both played on the 2023 Dolphins Hurt-Feelings Defense.

Nice work, by the way, Bears.

Flyers 5, Florida 2: Woot woot! Three points from three games against Florida and Carolina, we will take that and run!

Oh yeah, Sean Couturier did make sure that insane Zegras pass counted. And Coots made sure everything counted in this game, with four total points (two goals, two assists). He also got a breakaway goal after kinda cherry-picking, which is ironic coming from such a defensively responsible player.

Coots is definitely in a better place with the coach, he will let you know that at every opportunity. For last season’s home opener, he was the fourth-line wing. But Rick Tocchet complimented Coots for the physical shape that he came into camp in, and some of that might be due to Coots feeling healthier. Since Coots is under contract for five more years, that qualifies as a big deal.

Some great saves from Dan Vladar early in this one, too. He got the new player of the game token, which is a Bernie Parent mask. Awesome.

And hey, are you interested in watching Trevor Zegras make his return to Anaheim with a bunch of other Flyers diehards? That is why you have to check out the California Takeover with PHLY and Philly Sports Trips!

Trust me, by March, you are gonna be freezing. Nothing better than getting out to Southern California at that time of year, hanging out with a bunch of Flyers fans, watching two games… and meeting John LeClair! Should be a great time for the Flyers diehard in your life. Information is here.

Hip-Hop… is back! Everyone’s favorite durag-wearing bunny, Hip-Hop, will be dunking off trampolines again in South Philly for the 2025-26 season. Seems like Hip-Hop will be running the two-man game with Franklin for select games this season, which is very cool. I am all for the Sixers leaning into the 25th anniversary nostalgia. Tyrone Hill, ring that bell brotha.

Second history lesson today, this one also is for the youngins. Let’s talk about the Dew Crew.

When Xfinity Mobile Arena opened as the CoreStates Center in 1996, Pat Croce unveiled a new halftime act called “The Dew Crew.” I assume that had something to do with Mountain Dew, but regardless, the Dew Crew lasted all of one game. They got booed off the floor by the South Philly faithful.

And Pat Croce, bless him, had seen enough. This line from Alex Coffey’s piece is one of the funniest things I have ever read, the owner of the Sixers not putting up with the Dew Crew’s nonsense for one more game: Coskey approached Croce after the game, thinking the Crew could be salvaged. But Croce had made up his mind. “No,” he told Coskey. “They’re done.”

In the ashes of the Dew Crew, Croce and Dave Coskey started over again and Hip-Hop was born. And now he’s back.

I am not seeing any local games today.

It was a great sports night on Monday, and I am now weirdly pumped to watch Brewers-Dodgers Game 2. Usually, I have trouble watching the postseason after the Philly team gets eliminated in heartbreaking fashion. For example, the Rangers-Diamondbacks World Series might as well have not happened. But, for whatever reason, I found myself tuning into the NLCS. Really good baseball. What say you?

Milwaukee struggled mightily against Blake Snell, and guys, I feel that. But they did not struggle doing something I have never seen.

Your tentative Tuesday schedule at ​PHLY​:

Let's make it a good one.

Rich Hofmann
Daily Newsletter Editor
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