With the Philadelphia Eagles set to take on the Washington Commanders in the NFC Championship Game on Sunday, it's a good time to answer some questions, solicited from readers on Twitter, Bluesky, and Threads. This will be Part I of a two-part mailbag.
Question from @willinoize: Should Nick Sirianni have a conversation with the officiating crew prior to the game about Frankie Luvu's dirty play?
Eagles fans all remember Luvu's helmet-to-helmet shot on Jalen Hurts that knocked Hurts out of the game Week 16:
Hurts is a runner on that play, and does not have the benefit of added protection. If he slides, he gets that protection. But he didn't. 🤷♂️
Still, it's also true that Luvu led with the crown of his helmet. That hit alone shouldn't make him "a dirty player."
However, Luvu's hits have since become progressively worse. For example, this is an egregious play against the Cowboys Week 18 in which he launches with the crown of his helmet, possibly with the intent to injure.
And, finally, as we all saw, He led with the crown of his helmet again into Jared Goff's chin while blocking on an interception return.
I don't know that Sirianni complaining to the officials pregame will do anything, but certainly players around the league get reputations for being dirty, and Luvu is probably on his way toward losing the benefit of the doubt on borderline plays.
Question from JaxBill10: Current prop line is A.J. Brown o/u 58.5 receiving. I know that he and Hurts have struggled to connect last two games but that seems low to me. Thoughts?
I like the over.
Question from astorer5: Rewatching the Lions-Commanders game, it seems all of the Lions' turnovers were self-inflicted, not forced by great Commanders defense. Will the Eagles' clean offensive play continue to keep them turnover free?
During the regular season, the Commanders forced 17 takeaways, which tied them with six other teams for 20th in the NFL. However, in the playoffs they have six takeaways, tied for best in the NFL along with the Eagles. Let's take a quick look back at the Lions' five turnovers, in chronological order:
• Jared Goff fumble: Dorance Armstrong smoked LG Graham Glasgow, and produced a sack-fumble. He made a play.
• Jared Goff INT No. 1: This is an overthrow from a clean pocket, easy play for Quan Martin. Credit Martin for the great return.
• Jared Goff INT No. 2: Goff has another clean pocket, and this is another bad throw, but this is also great man-to-man, one-on-one coverage by Mike Sainristil. This turnover is very much earned.
• Jameson Williams INT: The Lions ran cute little trick plays all year, and they mostly worked, until they didn't. This was obviously an ill-advised throw from a wide receiver who should have just tried to run with the ball when the trick play didn't work. Again, credit the Commanders for playing disciplined defense and not falling for the trick play.
• Jared Goff INT No. 3: Garbage time. Goff is simply trying to keep the Lions' hope alive down 14 with under 30 seconds to play. He tries to force this throw in, and Jeremy Chinn steps in front of it to end the game. Credit the Commanders for putting the Lions in a position where they had to take big risks, but this may not have been a throw Goff would have made in the first quarter.
Turnovers are typically a product of the offense making a mistake, and the defense capitalizing on it. In my opinion they deserve credit for taking advantage of Lions errors.
That said, all season long the Eagles have avoided making the kinds of huge mistakes that the Lions made in the Divisional Round.
Question from @StokesTheWriter: Are there any specific reasons why Nolan Smith and Jalen Carter took the leap in Year 2? Is it better technique, conditioning, coaching, just getting acclimated to the NFL?
Yes.
Question from @KeithFo74392733: Backup QB talk: Who was the better QB in your opinion during training camp/practices you got to see, Tanner McKee or Kenny Pickett? Do you think McKee has a chance at playing if Hurts can't?
Question from @GreaseThePoles: At this point it’s clear that McKee is not jumping Pickett on the depth chart, but given Hurts increased chance of aggravating his knee injury, the Eagles have to at least make McKee ‘active’ for the game (ie, not emergency QB), so they have options….right?
I lumped these two questions together.
McKee was clearly better during the preseason games, and in my opinion he was also better during training camp. And then even in real games this season, I liked what I saw more from McKee than what I saw from Pickett. From what I've gathered, the Eagles prefer Pickett over McKee for two reasons:
- Pickett has more experience.
- Pickett has more mobility.
Pickett actually has a 15-10 career record, even if his play hasn't quite screamed "franchise QB." I do somewhat understand the notion that he's a guy who can keep your season afloat for a stretch of games if need be. And hell, he started a game that the Eagles needed against the Cowboys and got the job done (until he was knocked out).
However, at this point in the season, you're not looking for a guy who can keep your season afloat with wins over bad teams, in my opinion. Give me the guy with more upside, which is McKee.
- MORE EAGLES
- Eagles-Commanders NFC Championship Game injury report, with analysis
- Eagles make a bunch of roster moves
- Saquon Barkley joins very small group of Eagles' NFL MVP finalists
As for mobility, while I agree that Pickett is more athletic than McKee and can make some plays with his legs, it's not like mobility is necessarily a checkmark in his favor, at least compared to other mobile quarterbacks around the league. The Eagles can't really run the same set of plays with Pickett that they run with Jalen Hurts. For example, as we saw against Washington, opposing defenses didn't respect Pickett as a runner on zone reads, and simply went after Saquon Barkley, shutting down the Eagles' run game. So what's really the benefit of Pickett's average mobility?
As for having three active quarterbacks on Sunday, don't count on that. Hurts will start, and as usual Pickett will very likely be the No. 2, and McKee will be the emergency quarterback. They're not going to head into that game with a message to Pickett that they don't really believe in him, which would be the crystal clear message if they made McKee active. If they have any doubts, then McKee should just be the No. 2, and Pickett the emergency guy. But again, don't hold your breath.
Question from flashgordonfann: Would you put Britain Covey out there on punts after being out for so long?
Cooper DeJean did have a muff on Sunday, so, yes, I would. Covey hasn't been a full participant in practice this week yet, though, so that's probably a discussion for next week if we're still talking game strategy then.
Question from @thenoid (via Bluesky): In 2017 the Eagles were underdogs in every playoff game. In 2024 they have been favorites in every playoff game (so far.) Do you see them being the favorite vs. both the Chiefs and Bills if they make it to the Super Bowl?
FanDuel published "look-ahead" lines, and the Eagles were 1.5-point underdogs to both the Chiefs and the Bills. Obviously, that can change based on the way these games go, but those lines are not a surprise to me.
Question from @severedlimb (via Bluesky): Any word on a potential flyover? A friend is a big aircraft guy and I always find this info difficult to find.
They have had an eagle fly from the top of the stadium to a trainer down below. Example shown below:
That video is old. That eagle is Challenger. He retired. The new guy is Lincoln.
Personally, I enjoy a flyover, but the eagle entrance is cooler, in my opinion.
Question from @mikeSmith_202: Will the Eagles wear white in the Super Bowl for the first time ever if they beat the Commanders?
Probably not. The NFC team is the home team this year, so they'll get to choose uniform colors, and spoiler, they aren't going to choose white.
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