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D.M. Van Lines brings you Felgar and Mazz all this week.

Live from New Orleans on 985, the Sports Zone.

All right, hour number two,

Felgrine Mazz here on an agenda-free Friday from Radio Row and Super Bowl 59, the New Orleans Convention Center. We're joined now in the Raising Kane's guest chair by Brooks Cabina. He covers the Eagles for the Athletic. This hour we're going to get a couple of looks at each team from guys that cover him on a daily basis, and Brooks is that guy in Philadelphia for the Eagles. Brooks, thanks for joining it. Yeah, absolutely, guys. Enjoy it. And it's my first Super Bowl to cover ever. So it's been a crazy week. So it's appreciate coming on with you guys. Okay. It's good to have you. And Brooks comes to you in the Raising Cain's guest chair. Are you surprised the Eagles are here? No, I think when you looked at the offseason, it was a roster that could get

there. The question is, would they get there? And all of the craziness of last year in terms of

the meltdown and the dysfunction and then Nick Siriani having to overall a staff for the

first time, would that be meshing together to get there? And being in New Orleans, back in week three, they played the Saints, and they didn't really look all that good. They didn't score until the fourth quarter. And then just a few things clicked. They get a big third down conversion. And then the next week, they get blown out by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. And you were sitting there in week five. And that's really where you started wondering if this team was going to make it or not. So on paper, you looked at the team and the offseason that they had and the pieces that they got on the team, you thought it could work if everything came together. But at the beginning of it, there were some questions about whether they'd be here. Okay, so the point that you're talking about, two and two. They go 14 and one the rest of the way in the regular season. The only loss was Washington 36, 33, I think it was. I'm going to say breeze through the playoffs, but pretty close. So what changed? Well, in week five, they really started to look at their offense, and their offensive line really led that conversation.

Lane Johnson talked to Landon Dickers and the left guard about it too.

It's like, look, we've got Sequan Parkley.

Do you want to get punched in the face or do you want to do the punching?

So they lean in their run game and the way this team is built is they lean into the best running back they ever ever had they're running the ball more than any Eagles team has since 1978 and it's only that because they started chucking the ball in a meaningless game week 18 else it'd be 1951 they have a top ranked defense that they can control pace of a. They don't turn the ball over much.

They started to talk to Jalen Hertz.

Through those first four weeks, he was leading turnovers by any quarterback other than one.

And you've looked at what they've done since then.

Jalen Hertz has embraced more of a conservative role in the pocket.

He's throwing downfield for the beyond 20 yards for the least amount in his career. His sack percentage is up. Basically, it's like, you don't need to be chucking the ball down the field in critical scenarios. Take a sack. Don't make a mistake. Chances are, whenever you punt the ball, we're going to get the ball back. So that's where they really started to lean into their identity of the team afterward. They started really controlling the pace of games. And they only lost that game against

the commanders because Jalen Hertz in the first quarter, they were up by two scores and he goes out

with the concussion. So those things kind of pair together. And even whenever things weren't

working right on one side to the other, they still felt in control of the game. Those first

two playoff games against the Packers and against the Rams. Those were close games because the offense really wasn't cashing in on the opportunities that they had. I was talking to Dariuslay, the cornerback of the Eagles, and he said when they two come together, that's when blowouts happen. Sure enough, the following against the commanders, they put it all together. You said that Hertz has embraced that, but why talk of being in a straight jacket after some of these games? And it feels like there is still this thing between him and Nick Siriani. You know, whenever he said that, I think it's more like, where in the spots that you have? Because pointing to the Panthers game.

That was where passing was a huge issue.

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