These shirts are going to be available at five bars from 4 to 6 p.m. this Friday, January 24th:

1. Misconduct Tavern (Locust St. location)
2. Maggie’s Waterfront Cafe (Northeast Philly)
3. Kildare’s West Chester
4. Harrigan’s (Hatboro)
5. Top Tomato (11th and Sansom)

There will be $1 Miller Lites, this t-shirt giveaway for the first 50 people through the door, and also a chance for one lucky person to win a set of Miller Lite Phlite Deck tickets for Sunday’s game. The Phlite Deck is really sick, it’s up there in the corner at Lincoln Financial Field and one of the best seats in the house, overlooking the entire field. You can’t actually buy these tickets, so this is a rare opportunity to snag a few. Pagan was up there way back in September and got to see the Brotherly Shove from this view:

So to review – this Friday, January 24th. Show up at one of those five bars between 4 and 6 p.m. for the Big Game Hunting t-shirt giveaway and a chance to win Phlite Deck tickets. Good luck and go Birds.

The post Here’s How You Get this Miller Lite T-Shirt and Eagles Phlite Deck Tickets appeared first on Crossing Broad.

Look for the Cowboys to cross the finish line on hiring Brian Schottenheimer no later than Friday, possibly today

— Clarence Hill Jr (@clarencehilljr) January 23, 2025

Now that Brian Schottenheimer has had a 2nd interview to be head coach of the Dallas Cowboys, somebody please ask Jerry why the son of a highly respected NFL head coach is 51 AND HAS NEVER ONCE BEEN OFFERED AN NFL HEAD-COACH JOB and why he has had 13 assistant jobs in 28 years???

— Skip Bayless (@RealSkipBayless) January 23, 2025

If Jerry actually promotes Brian Schottenheimer to head coach, my wallet is staying on strike

No tickets, no Cowboys gear, no tailgating, no looking forward to training camp, nothing.

Being a Cowboys fan is becoming a test of endurance.

FIRE GM—-Jerry @1053thefan pic.twitter.com/nCJRDKdLEp

—  Micho Riso (@FrankieJay__) January 20, 2025

.@ZachWolchuk went on an epic rant after learning that Brian Schottenheimer could potentially become the #Cowboys‘ next head coach

Listen to the entire discussion with @gavindawson, @BryanBroaddus and @EricChiofalo: https://t.co/uF9S1EwrUW pic.twitter.com/VKwaazLVEd

— 105.3 The FAN (@1053thefan) January 22, 2025

Marty Schottenheimer’s son, as you’re probably aware. Brian is the Cowboys’ offensive coordinator and has bounced between the college and NFL ranks for something like 25 years now, but has never been a head coach. He’s been an OC for the Jets, Rams, and Seahawks in addition to the Cowboys and had a stint with Urban Meyer’s Jaguars before Urban was shitcanned. Then Doug Pederson came in, did not retain Schottenheimer, and he found his way to Dallas as an analyst. After Kellen Moore left for the Chargers, he was promoted to his current position.

Obviously this is underwhelming if you’re a Dallas fan, but perfect for everyone else in the division. Jerry Jones is a dum dum. He waits to handle business with Mike McCarthy, and they can’t agree to a new contract, so all of a sudden he’s now looking for a new head coach and is behind schedule. Ben Johnson, Aaron Glenn, and Mike Vrabel took new gigs already and likely weren’t interested in a Dallas team where 40% of the salary cap is dedicated to Dak coming off an injury and CeeDee Lamb. Hopefully Jerruh lives forever. I said maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaybayyyyy

The post Cowboys Fans in Shambles with Brian Schottenheimer Head Coach Reports appeared first on Crossing Broad.

“I didn’t appreciate the fans enough…the fans of Philadelphia are incredible.” — Ben Simmons opens up about his relationship with Philly in our sit down with him dropping TOMORROW! pic.twitter.com/B9KVqvOPoT

— TheYoungManAndTheThree (@OldManAndThree) January 23, 2025

“I didn’t appreciate the fans enough. The fans of Philadelphia are incredible. You always wanna play for a team that has a good fan base, whether they’re booing or whatever, you just want fans to care. You want the arena packed. Having that experience in Philadelphia was amazing…”

Yeah, well it didn’t have to end the way it did. Ben could have played his entire career here. If he developed even a semblance of a jump shot or remembered how to dunk the ball in Game 7 against the Hawks, who knows where the Sixers are right now. Instead, we went through the whole saga of mental health and Ben being booted from practice and whatever other nonsense happened back then, which feels like it was a hundred years ago.

Not sure if anyone’s paying attention to the NBA right now since the Sixers are an injury-wracked abomination, but Simmons is a free agent this Summer. He’s played 30 games for a hideous Nets team and is averaging 6.3 points, 7.1 assists, and 4.4 rebounds while shooting 55.5% from the field. He’s still a shell of the player he used to be, but if he can stay healthy through the end of the year he’s probably done enough to at least earn himself a buy-low contract for 2025-2026.

The post Ben Simmons Says He Didn’t Appreciate Philly Fans Enough appeared first on Crossing Broad.

Philly cheesesteak at Sheffield Wednesday (@swfc)

£5 pic.twitter.com/jIZ5WyZSoh

— Footy Scran (@FootyScran) January 22, 2025

There are a lot of bad interpretations of the Philly cheesesteak. This one might be the worst. It looks like an ovular scrapple/sausage hybrid with a couple of Kraft singles thrown in there, some added peppers and I think that’s ketchup.

This is a 2nd division soccer team making a 4th division sandwich. They deserve to be relegated for this. Send ’em down to League One, send Wrexham up. New chant for Sheffield Wednesday rivals: “You’re just a shit Geno’s and Pat’s! You’re just a shit Geno’s and Pat’s!” Just gotta be careful going too hard on the Brits because we have co-workers in the UK. They’re better than us at a lot of things, like mass transit. Seriously, the London Tube makes SEPTA look like amateur hour. They just need to learn a thing or two about cuisine. The European mind cannot comprehend this:

Photo: Dinic’s

The post English Soccer Team Deserves Relegation for this “Philly Cheesesteak” appeared first on Crossing Broad.

Three people are charged with selling merchandise with fake Jason Kelce signatures, according to a spokesperson with the Montgomery County District Attorney’s Office.

51-year-old Robert Capone, of Philadelphia, 43-year-old LeeAnn Branco, of Bristol, RI, and 39-year-old Joseph Parenti, of Cranston, RI, are accused of selling over 1,100 items they claimed were signed by the former Eagles player, officials said. These items were found to be forged.

According to officials, the real Jason Kelce was scheduled to attend a signing ceremony at the Valley Forge Casino Hotel on June 11 and 12, 2024.

The three defendants attended the signing event where Branco took a photo with Kelce that she would eventually use to validate the authentication of the forged items that weren’t actually signed by Kelce, officials said.

At the event, Capone got some authentically signed memorabilia and kept other items off-site to sell, according to officials.

They would then go on to use Branco’s credentials at Beckett Authentication Services and her photo with Kelce to create and “verify” the fake signed sports merchandise that they sold, officials accuse.

The story goes on to say that the items were sold by Overtime Promotions and Diamond Legends, which are operated be Capone and Parenti. The DA Office says the merchandise amounts to more than 1,100 items sold for $200,000.

This just goes to show how much of a heater Jason Kelce is on. He’s got the Monday Night Football job, one of the most popular podcasts on the planet, and a late night talk show. He’s smashing people’s phones and doing all of these TV appearances. Now he’s so popular that people are allegedly forging his signature and turning a six-figure profit on it.

Here’s the mugshot with full press release:

2/2 Details from @MontcopaDA on three charged with dealing in fake Jason Kelce memorabilia. pic.twitter.com/fBDYl7W4pC

— Steve Keeley (@KeeleyFox29) January 22, 2025

The post Jason Kelce is on Such a Heater that People are Now Getting Arrested for Allegedly Forging his Signature appeared first on Crossing Broad.

Excellence runs through Philly.

Congrats to our FIVE AP Awards Finalists pic.twitter.com/Z5AdkEdTQG

— Philadelphia Eagles (@Eagles) January 23, 2025

Two free agent signings, two rookie draft picks, and a veteran coordinator who took a gap year in Miami before coming to Philadelphia. Saquon Barkley had himself a monster season and is a finalist for TWO awards, yet the bigger story on action news is Zack Baun, who was pulled off the New Orleans scrap heap and turned into one of the league’s best linebackers. It’s incredible what he’s done this season. 16 games, 151 tackle, 11 TFL, five QB hits, five forced fumbles, 4 PBUs, and 3.5 sacks while going to his first Pro Bowl. His signing will go down as one of the best buy-low moves in Philadelphia sports history, if not the best.

The post The Eagles Have Five AP Awards Finalists appeared first on Crossing Broad.

E-L-G-S-E-S! Mayor Cherelle Parker addressed her spelling mishap during a Tuesday press conference after accidentally messing up the Eagles chant over the weekend. pic.twitter.com/LfmfhwinJ2

— CBS Philadelphia (@CBSPhiladelphia) January 21, 2025

NEW: Philadelphia mayor Cherelle Parker forgets how to spell, misspells ‘Eagles’ while leading a chant.

“Let me hear you all say. E-L-G-S-E-S, Eagles!” she shouted.

Parker is a first-term Democrat. She assumed office in 2024. pic.twitter.com/ZNybTwqudy

— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) January 22, 2025

EMBARRASSING: DEI Philadelphia mayor Cherelle Parker starts an Eagles chant but turns out she doesn’t even know how to spell it.

E-L-G-S-E-S
pic.twitter.com/IPAdWB0hGe

— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) January 22, 2025

Rough couple of weeks for the mayor. She endorsed the Sixers arena, then Josh Harris pivoted at the last moment and decided to go 50/50 with Comcast on a new building in South Philly. Then she went through a rambling mess of a press conference with both Comcast and HBSE before dropping the “Eagles” spelling mistake about a week later. Poor woman.

Not sure about you, but when I saw that the first time, I was like, “ah, she flubbed it.” It happens. Public speaking is tough, and sometimes dumb shit happens, like maybe you have Asperger syndrome and throw up what looks like a Nazi salute, but you’re not REALLY a Nazi. I am pretty sure the Philadelphia mayor knows how to spell “Eagles” and her brain was just overloaded at the time.

What’s corny is all of these accounts calling her a “DEI” mayor, and I’m not trying to get into some political quicksand here, because if you’re a Democrat, fine, and if you’re a Republican, fine. You can like or dislike Cherelle Parker as a politician, and agree or disagree with her platforms. But to suggest that a black woman is a DEI hire just because she had a brain fart is beyond the pale. For starters, Mayors aren’t hired, they’re elected, as I’m sure we’re all aware, and Parker won the general with 232,000 votes and won the primary with 82,000 votes. Parker beat an Asian Republican man in the general and the runners up in the Democratic primaries were two women. The only white men who even ran were Jeff Brown and Allan Domb, while three black men were involved. So can you really be a “DEI mayor” in a city where the black population is larger than the white population, and when the Democratic primary candidates are 75% women or POC? Something to think about.

disclaimer: this is not a political post. enough with the outrageous fuckery. let’s just try to be reasonable people and GO BIRDS

The post Mayor Parker Got Absolutely Crushed for the Eagles Spelling Mishap appeared first on Crossing Broad.

To mark Sunday’s thrilling victory in the Divisional Round of the NFL Playoffs, Philadelphia Eagles fans will now have the opportunity to purchase snow collected right from the playing surface of Lincoln Financial Field. The snow, being offered in partnership with The Realest, has been collected, carefully preserved, and authenticated to allow fans to own a genuine piece of Eagles history.

Fans are encouraged to visit TheRealest.com/Eagles to purchase their own commemorative snow pint. The collection piece, listed for $50, represents the 50 total points scored in the Eagles’ 28-22 Divisional Round playoff win. The game, played in snowy conditions at Lincoln Financial Field, saw the Eagles advance to the NFC Championship game for the second time in three years. The snow is limited to 100 units and will be available to customers on a first-come, first-served basis.

The snow will be shipped using dry ice to maintain its natural state during transit. Upon arrival, purchasers are then encouraged to keep the container frozen to further preserve and maintain the snow’s authentic state.

Following Sunday’s win, snow from the field was collected by the Eagles’ grounds crew under the supervision of The Realest’s authentication partner, TRuEST, to ensure its certification as official game-day snow.

This limited-edition item will serve as the perfect collection piece for any Eagles fan or sports memorabilia collector.

This is somehow corny and awesome at the same time. Is it real? Yeah, it’s real. Can you do anything with it? Not really. You would just keep it in your freezer and look at it when you go in there for the Bagel Bites. That’s unless you wanted to melt the ice and display it as water somewhere else in your house. That’s what they did with those Flyers coasters that featured melted ice from the Spectrum.

Remember these? –

Knowing Eagles fans, the snow pints will be sold out by Friday. And someone will try to pirate them. They’ll collect some dirty-ass snow from Passyunk Avenue and put it in a refurbished Rita’s container and sell it on Instagram. You know it’s gonna happen. Go Birds.

The post You Can Buy Snow from the Eagles’ Win Over the Rams appeared first on Crossing Broad.

Commanders QB Jayden Daniels is obviously a young quarterback and you saw him just last month. He’s played in his first post-season games. In that small amount of time has he changed?

VIC FANGIO: He’s a young quarterback by birth certificate, not by the tape. You know, the guy is playing extremely well. You can tell how much they think he’s playing so good by the volume of their offense and the things they trust him to do. He’s come through for them in a big way, and he’s tough to handle.

You mentioned the volume. Aside from the amount of plays that Commanders Offensive Coordinator Kliff Kingsbury has and goes to, are there a lot of teams around the league that run a lot of what he does?

VIC FANGIO: I’m sure there are. You know, he has the added dimension of the gun-run game where he can have design runs for the quarterback or pull it and keep it. That adds another level to an offense, and he excels at that. I assume he was doing it in college and it just comes natural to him.

When you evaluate Daniels ahead of Sunday, what do you look at? Do you look at his only previous game at Lincoln Financial Field, when he threw for 191 yards, one TD, one pick, and ran for 18 yards? Do you look at the second Commies/Eagles game, when Jalen Hurts went out injured and Daniels led a two-minute drill for the game-winning score?

Or do you look at the Tampa and Detroit playoff games? –

• at Bucs: 24 for 35, 268 yards, two touchdowns, 0 interceptions, 13 carries for 36 yards, 4-12 on third down, 3-4 on fourth down
• at Lions: 22 for 31, 299 yards, two touchdowns, 0 interceptions, 16 carries for 51 yards, 8-15 on third down, 3-5 on fourth down

Top of mind should be the shift in climate. Daniels is going from sunny Tampa and dome Detroit to a predicted 38 degrees this week. Not horrible, but not entirely comfortable either. And he’s playing against an Eagles defense only expected to be missing one starter, depending on what happens with Quinyon Mitchell. Everyone is talking about Washington’s offensive performance in the divisional round, but that Lions defense was so depleted that it makes the 2025 Sixers look healthy. Not only that, but the Detroit offense turned it over five times on the afternoon. The Eagles have protected the ball all year long and are +6 in turnover differential this postseason with zero giveaways of their own.

The other thing is that five of the Commies’ last six wins have come by six points or less, so they’ve been edging out teams in close games. That includes the late victory against the Birds back in December. So you think that if the Eagles protect the ball, run it, and keep Daniels from going nuclear, then they should be okay. Easier said than done.

The post Vic Fangio Says Jayden Daniels is a Young Quarterback “By Birth Certificate, Not By the Tape” appeared first on Crossing Broad.

Disgraced gambler Isaiah Rodgers helped save the Eagles’ season | Marcus Hayes https://t.co/v2MnQ8FMBN

— Philadelphia Inquirer Sports (@phillysport) January 22, 2025

As expected, people are killing Marcus and the Inquirer in the comments. He’s the worst, the Inquirer is the worst, etc.

When you click on the link, the full header and subheader look like this:

‘I guess these moments are destined for me’: Disgraced gambler Isaiah Rodgers helped save the Eagles’ season |

After a yearlong suspension, the 27-year-old cornerback is on the brink of a Super Bowl

The “disgraced gambler” description is still in there, but the column itself is not incendiary in any way. It’s actually a nice redemption story, and includes passages like this one:

…Rodgers went home to Tampa, Fla., where he hoped and prayed and worked. For a year he rose daily at 5 a.m. to begin a three-hour workout. He set up cones in his backyard. He spent more than $3,000 on a JUGS machine to fire NFL-caliber passes at him. (He donated the machine to a local high school this summer.) He spent another $3,000 on authentic NFL footballs to practice with. He worked out hardest on Sundays, as if he were still playing, and took off Tuesdays like the rest of the league. He did speed work and got faster. He had no guarantee that he’d ever play again, but he wanted to be ready.

On April 23, just before the 2024 draft, the league reinstated Rodgers. He made the team and settled into a reserve role as the fourth cornerback, coming through time and again, never more so than last Sunday.

There are positive quotes in there from Slay and Vic Fangio, praising Rodgers for the way he’s stepped in this season. There’s actually very little about the gambling suspension itself. It was a good read.

So what we have here is a classic case of “innocuous Marcus Hayes column destroyed by a questionable headline.” Again. We’ve been here plenty of times before. Marcus is viewed by many as a shit-stirrer and has built this reputation of being a provocateur, which sometimes results in NBA players shoving him in the locker room. Every time his byline shows up, a portion of Philadelphia sports fans immediately shit on the column without reading it, and the stories are locked behind a paywall anyway, so even if potential readers were curious about the column itself, there is an obstacle in the way, and they ain’t paying. As is usually the case, Crossing Broad then reads the entire thing and discovers that most of it is totally fair, usually with a bad paragraph or misleading headline ruining the article.

And here’s the thing about that – doesn’t anyone at the Inquirer realize that you have to be cautious with Marcus headlines? Calling Isaiah Rodgers a “disgraced gambler” is the wrong choice of words. Soften the headline. “Isaiah Rodgers’ Gambling Suspension Cast Doubt on his NFL Future – Now he’s helped to save the Eagles’ season.” See? It’s not that hard. You publish that and you don’t have people killing you, people like Rodgers himself:

You corny Af @phillysport https://t.co/aM28KkCTuC

— Isaiah Rodgers Sr. (@rodgers_isaiah) January 22, 2025

The post Here’s Another Totally Fair Marcus Hayes Column Destroyed by a Bad Headline appeared first on Crossing Broad.

 

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A post shared by Andy Bower (@bowerofpower)

“Yeah, stay inside. Stay warm. Also, go Birds!” Great advice from Mr. Bower.

Did you check out any of the scenes from NOLA or Mobile or Pensacola? Looks pretty sick actually. They haven’t had snow there in forever. LSU’s stadium looked like Beaver Stadium. It’s crazy how much random stuff is taking place right now. Historic snow along the Gulf of America. A Josh Harris team making it past the second round. Elon Musk throwing out Nazi salutes (allegedly). Donald Trump trying to pry Greenland away from Denmark. What a world we’re living in. Buckle up, boys and girls, because we’re only 22 days into the new year. Go Birds!

The post Eagles Fan in New Orleans Made Sure to Sneak a “Go Birds” During Historic Snowstorm appeared first on Crossing Broad.

“That one’s on me,” the Birds’ OC said on Tuesday. “That one’s simply on me, chasing a particular look that’s more traditional in the open field and we were backed up and that’s one where, hey, I’ll call something different in that situation based off of the way it played out… There’s things within (the sequence) but obviously but my number one focus is to put the guys in the best position to be successful and I didn’t feel like I did.”

The second part of that quote is in response to a follow-up question about whether or not Hurts should have thrown it to the wide-open tight end in front of him, but Moore opted to vanilla his way out of it, as he usually does. He is probably the most boring Eagles quote since Mike “there is only one football” Groh. Regardless, we’re probably all in agreement that more than one thing can be true about that play:

1. Moore shouldn’t ask Hurts, who was just rolled up and almost had his leg broken, to take a five-step drop near his own goal line on 2nd and 6
2. Cam Jurgens and Landon Dickerson lost a 2v1
3. Hurts didn’t get rid of the ball despite having Goedert in front of him and Saquon Barkley to his left

ESP clipped the all-22 for the best angle. Let us never speak of this abomination of a sequence from now until the end of all time:

Some thoughts on the safety:

1) A safety should never happen when the ball is snapped on the 8-yard line. Thats bad by everyone.

2) I don’t like the decision/play call to have Hurts drop back into the end zone. Especially when he was already hurt at this point.

3) Gotta give… pic.twitter.com/5LGildQJ0h

— Eliot Shorr-Parks (@EliotShorrParks) January 20, 2025

The post Kellen Moore Takes the Blame for Hideous Eagles Safety appeared first on Crossing Broad.

DOWNINGTOWN!!!!!! @whoward_ pic.twitter.com/HRdKjhD6mR

— Graham Foley (@graham_foley3) January 21, 2025

Will Howard is one of just two Pennsylvania kids on that roster. The other is St. Joe’s Prep product Keenan Nelson Jr., who transferred in from South Carolina.

Howard played really well in the natty. 17 for 21, 231 yards, two touchdowns, and 57 yards on 16 carries. He finished the four-game playoff sweep with eight touchdowns, two interceptions, just under 100 rushing yards, and a completion percentage in the 70s. It also helps when you have ridiculously talented guys like Jeremiah Smith and Emeka Egbuka to throw the ball to, with Quinshon Judkins and TreVeyon Henderson in the backfield and future NFL players on the offensive line.

Downington East and West have produced some really good players over the years. Tyler Kroft, Pat Devlin, Kyle Lauletta, some current and former Penn State guys as well, like Drew Shelton. These stories fall through the cracks in Philly sports media because everyone is focused on the four majors, but the region does produce college football stars, and they don’t always come from the Prep or La Salle.

The post Will Howard Shouted Out Downingtown After National Championship appeared first on Crossing Broad.

Rams might’ve lost but Jared Verse deserves endless praise for his performance:

– 5 Pressures
– 4 Tackles
– 3 TFL
– 2 Sacks
– 2 QB Hits

Superstar talent. pic.twitter.com/f2zTMB7ZQX

— Joel Moran (@joelvmoran) January 19, 2025

The Jared Verse arc was great.

Dude is a great competitor, wanted a fight, got it, and backed up his talk. Respect the hell out of that.

And then being able to show respect and acknowledge everything like an adult just shows his heart and head are in the right place

Love it

— Philly Sports Sufferer (@mccrystal_alex) January 20, 2025

This is exactly how these types of situations should play out. You have a guy talk shit in the buildup to a game, but he doesn’t walk it back. He embraces it and rolls with it and plays a great game and his team almost wins. At the same time, Eagles fans absorb the diss, let it simmer for a bit, then throw it back at him as soon as he steps foot on the field, which elevates an already-charged playoff environment.

But wait, there’s more –

After the fact, opponent who backed it up praises the fans for doing their part. This is from Matt Breen at the Inquirer:

“I like that they stand on it,” Verse said. “They don’t shy away from it. My phone was blowing up the last two, three days. All I was seeing was ‘Yeah, we embrace it. We love that.’ I was like ‘OK.’ But I like that they stand on it.”

This is how you gain respect in Philadelphia. Not that Verse needs it, or was looking for it, but the formula is amoebic in simplicity. If you talk shit and back it up, these fans will applaud that. Especially after a bit of postgame reciprocity. Deebo Samuel did two of those three things when he talked nothing but trash for a full year, then obliterated the Eagles to the tune of more than 125 yards and three touchdowns. That one was harder to swallow, since he was a humongous dickhead for a long time, but we all begrudgingly tipped the cap because he followed through, and more.

Verse, by the way, is a beast. That guy is gonna be a problem for a long time. He finished his rookie regular season with 66 tackles, 4.5 sacks, two forced fumbles, and twelve stuffs. Then he ripped off two sacks, six tackles, two stuffs, and a fumble recovery in two playoff games. Thankfully he’s not in the division.

The post The Jared Verse Storyline is Exactly How this is Supposed to Work appeared first on Crossing Broad.

Jalen Hurts will throw the ball away when he’s out of the pocket, but rarely from within the pocket. Is there a team philosophy against that? Also when he doesn’t like what he sees downfield, obviously you don’t want to take away his ability to scramble, but how do you balance that versus chucking it at somebody’s feet and living to see another day? (Jimmy Kempski)

NICK SIRIANNI: That’s a good question. If you throw the ball away when you’re in the pocket and you’re under duress in the pocket and there is nobody there, it’s going to count as a sack anyway.

I think you’ll probably see more quarterbacks have throwaways when they’re on the run more so than when they’re in the pocket. Jalen has a unique ability that when something happens within the play concept, whether that is a breakdown in protection, whether that’s somebody not getting open, whether that’s our coaching error of not getting guys open in a particular spot, whether it’s a misread, whatever it is, he has this unique ability to get out of trouble and create plays.

I think what you see is, it’s easy to look at, oh, ‘He got sacked this many times’ or ‘He got sacked that many times’ and not account for all the rushing yards that he’s had when he’s been able to extend. It happened three or four times (Sunday) when one of those things happened that I mentioned.

Again, whether it was a breakdown, whether it was a coaching error, whether it was a receiver not getting open, whatever it was, where he scrambled and got a big play out of it and got a positive play out of it.

So you’re going to have a little bit of that balance that there will be times where they finish on the sack as well. And it’s got to be a balance, right? But I know how many plays he’s made with his feet. That doesn’t mean you just extend and make a play running. It’s also the ones that he extends and throws and finds the guy down the field.

Conditions (Sunday) were sloppy, as we know, with the way the field was. Both teams had to play in it. Their pass rush did a good job, too. I thought our O-line did a really nice job protecting. We had a couple breakdowns here and there. But again, like I said, just like when you make a big play, like Saquon’s run, it’s not just on Saquon. It took everybody.

It’s the same thing when there is a sack. It’s on everybody. It’s every part, coaches, players. It’s just the greatest team sport there is. You can’t pin it on anything. Like I said, I know he takes some heat sometimes about taking sacks, but we don’t account for all the times he makes big plays out of it as well.

It’s just a unique ability that he has. There are not a lot of the guys that have it. He’s unique in that and has an unbelievable feel of how to extend plays. And, again, the efficiency that he’s playing quarterback with and the way he’s taking care of the football gives us a chance to win every single week.

Right, so Jimmy is probably talking about the safety from the other day. There was an opportunity to get rid of the ball there, throw it at someone’s feet, maybe avoid the sack that way. He also had a wide-open Dallas Goedert leaking out and didn’t let the ball go, for whatever reason.

Sirianni is essentially talking about a risk vs. reward situation. If Jalen hangs in, he can escape a pocket and make chunk gains with his feet. It’s incredibly valuable. Any Eagles fan with two functioning eyeballs knows this.

But if Hurts can’t escape a collapsing pocket, he’s prone to taking drive-ending sacks, which you saw the other day. That’s the feast or famine nature of a quarterback with great legs who can’t always break free and only ever throws the ball away when he’s running laterally.

We do have a couple of Sportradar stats we can use to add some context to the conversation. You’re basically trying to determine if the scrambling ability is more positive than the sacks are negative.

scrambles

Obviously this stat measures the total number of a times a QB dropped back to pass but ended up running for positive yardage. Hurts finished with 39 scrambles over 15 games, which amounted to 2.6 per. That’s 44.2 scrambles over a full 17-game season and would have been 7th in the league, behind Jayden Daniels, Caleb Williams, Bo Nix, Drake Maye, Lamar Jackson, Brock Purdy, and Baker Mayfield.

dropback + scramble percentage

A combo stat that incorporates passing plays, scrambles, and sacks. Jalen’s number was way down at 36th overall, 47.3%, which is a result of the Eagles running the ball so frequently during the regular season. They just didn’t throw the ball very much.

total sacks

He conceded 38 this year, which was 11th in the league. Hurts and Anthony Richardson were the only quarterbacks in the top 30 of conceded sacks who had a dropback + scramble percentage below 50.

sack yards 

271 sack yards given up for Jalen. 7th in the NFL despite only playing less than 15 full games. It averages out to 7.1 yards lost per sack.

sack percentage

Hurts was sacked on 9.5% of plays this year, which was third-most in the NFL.

========================

The sack numbers aren’t amazing, but Hurts was 3rd among all quarterbacks with 630 total rushing yards, behind only Daniels and Jackson. Pro Football Focus says that 363 of those yards are from scrambles, which is 6th most in the league, and the other 267 are from designed runs, which is 5th most. By my estimation, if Jalen had played all 17 regular season games, he would have been as high as third in both categories assuming his averages extrapolated as expected.

So there’s your data. You can take that and come to whatever conclusion you’d like to make. Jalen takes some bad sacks, and they have killed drives in the regular season and postseason, but he’s also extended drives with scrambles and done important, improvised things with his legs, which has been the case with him since year #1. Frame all of that within the context of the Eagles having the league’s best running attack, and consider the volume with which scrambles and sacks both take place.

One final note:

Of course, the mindset should probably change situationally, right? There’s gotta be some urgency to get rid of the ball when you’re backed up at your own goal line vs. the risk of trying to escape a busted pocket when you’re at midfield, and it’s not snowing outside.

The post It’s Always Been Feast or Famine with Jalen Hurts When Putting Bad Sacks Next to Great Scrambles appeared first on Crossing Broad.

It’s just how the founding fathers pictured Independence Hall, one year before the nation’s 250th birthday. Thank you to Mr. Van Basten for the photos. If you’d like to read more on the topic, I recommend the Pulitzer-nominated 10 Thoughts on Josh Harris, the Sixers, Commies, and Why Anybody Would Have Been an Improvement Over Dan Snyder.

The post Looks Like Eagles Fans are Ready for the Josh Harris Bowl appeared first on Crossing Broad.

I feel like no one is talking about the amazing job P Braden Mann did with these holds. Special teams guys are always so under the radar unless they mess up. (Also some great punts today too). #FlyEaglesFly

pic.twitter.com/oXWfZCx8pZ

— Kevin Collins (@TheKevCollins) January 20, 2025

So you’ve got half a dozen guys all clearing off the spot. Brett Toth is in there, Tyler Steen, E.J. Jenkins, Jordan Mailata, Fred Johnson, even Jordan Davis. Then bare-handed Mann catches the snap with no issue, puts it down, and Jake Elliott boots it through the uprights. Shout out, of course, to Rick Lovato, no relation to Demi, who I don’t think has had a bad snap in however many years he’s played with the Eagles. Mann had a good punt at the end too, to push LA back and give the defense more field to work with. Special teams and defense will win you games in the postseason.

“I just wanna thank my hands for being so great” 

The post Braden Mann Had the Best Divisional Round Hands Since Freddie Mitchell appeared first on Crossing Broad.

Gonna need the Philly Mayor to work on her “EAGLES” chant before the NFC Championship pic.twitter.com/VL5zZLzRIk

— Crossing Broad (@CrossingBroad) January 20, 2025

E-L-G-S-E-S, Eagles! Go Birds!

The post Mayor Parker has Five Days to Work on Her Eagles Chant appeared first on Crossing Broad.

On the other side, Washington football fans are lauding Harris because he’s turned this franchise around in no time. His Commanders have more playoff wins in 20 months than Dan Snyder had during the entirety of his 20+ year ownership. How’s that for a statistic?

This whole thing is interesting, and there are a lot of little wrinkles to it, so let’s go one by one:

1. Of course Josh Harris is an upgrade over Dan Snyder. You could have replaced Dan Snyder with a tin can and it would have been an upgrade. Harris isn’t some football genius, he just hired non-idiots to run one of the most mismanaged franchises of the last 20 years. You and I could have succeeded in a Washington Football Team turnaround. Hire a veteran former coach, hire San Francisco’s assistant GM, use your suckiness to draft a franchise QB, then fill out the roster with veterans. Done and done.
2. The Commanders’ ownership and the Sixers’ ownership are not actually the same. I’m not sure how many people know this, or care, or if it even matters, but the Washington setup features Harris as managing partner and then a bunch of limited partners with him. One of those LPs is David Blitzer, who is a MANAGING PARTNER of the Sixers. But Washington is not a Harris Blitzer Sports and Entertainment Property. The HBSE brands are the Sixers, Devils, the Prudential Center, Utica Comets, Delaware Blue Coats, and then some random entertainment and consulting properties. It’s true that Josh Harris is the de facto public face of both the Sixers and Commies, but Blitzer is a Commie LP while David Adelman is not involved at all.
3. We’ve been over this before, but it just doesn’t bother me that Harris owns both the Sixers and Commanders. Why? Because I don’t think the Sixers are lacking anything from ownership. They have top facilities, a sous chef, soft tissue specialists, and all of the assorted bells and whistles. They were gonna move to Center City and partnered with Comcast instead, but there’s not enough reporting out there to suggest that they folded or capitulated to Comcast, and even then, their about face is going to result in the Wells Fargo Center going the way of the Dodo Bird and Passenger Pigeon, while we get a brand-new indoor arena in South Philly and a mixed-use development surrounding it. There’s just nothing in terms of resources where I’m thinking, “you know what, the Sixers need X, Y, Z, and ownership isn’t providing that.” I think the basketball people have been given what they need to win.
4. If, however, it is ever revealed that the Sixers’ budget or priority is diminished because Harris is focused on the Commanders, then he can take a hike. Right now there’s no hard evidence to prove that true or false. Twice since the Process ended have the Sixers had teams that were good enough to win it all, maybe three if you include the Jimmy Butler squad, but I don’t blame Harris for Ben Simmons forgetting how to dunk, or Joel Embiid and James Harden failing to close out the Celtics at home. On the hierarchy of Sixers blame over the years, ownership is fourth on my list behind the players, Doc Rivers, and Daryl Morey.
5. Say what you will about the Process itself, and the beginning of the HBSE years, but in the last seven seasons we’ve been given multiple, competitive, 50-win teams that just couldn’t get it done in the postseason. You wanna see mediocre basketball? Watch the post-Iverson, pre-Process Sixers, or go back to the 1990s and the halcyon days of Sharone Wright and Clarence Weatherspoon. Did you prefer the Comcast era, when the team didn’t even have a practice facility? No matter how much Ed Snider put into the basketball team, we all know the Flyers were his baby.
6. There were very few people in this area who seemed to have an issue with Harris owning a Flyers rival while also owning the Sixers. It goes to show that there’s little crossover between basketball and hockey fans. Of course, the Flyers have also been dreck during Harris’ Devils ownership, and the Devils only have one playoff series win going back to 2013, so there’s no vitriol because the stakes are low. If the Flyers and Devils met in the conference finals (imagine that), then yeah, it’s probably different. I’m old enough to remember when everyone here hated the Devils.
7. If Harris wanted to win over more people in Philadelphia, all he would have to do is repeat the lines that John Middleton and Jeffrey Lurie use. Talk about emotional intelligence, talk about team ownership being the stewardship of a public asset. He’s just not a charismatic person and he’s not a strong public speaker, so even if he was more present, he’d never connect with the type of fan that lives here. They look at Lurie and Middleton as guys who get it, while Harris is businessman.
8. If you want to see shitty ownership, try being a Union supporter. That’s why all of this makes me laugh. Union fans would kill to have HBSE come down there and take over that team.
9. These guys have stakes in so much more than the Sixers, Commanders, and Devils. Blitzer owns 25% of the Guardians and has ownership or co-ownership of six European soccer teams and Major League Soccer’s Real Salt Lake as well. Then there’s Crystal Palace in the Premier League, where Harris and Blitzer have a joint 18% share. When you talk about focus and distribution of time, energy, and resources, it goes far beyond just the handful of teams in the Mid-Atlantic United States.
10. God help the HBSE public relations staff if the Commies win on Sunday and Harris goes down on the field wearing a Commanders hat. They might need Big Dom to smuggle him out of the stadium in the same popcorn machine that Taylor Swift used in Kansas City. Allegedly.

The post 10 Thoughts on Josh Harris, the Sixers, Commies, and Why Anybody Would Have Been an Improvement Over Dan Snyder appeared first on Crossing Broad.

NFC Championship Games hosted since 2002

6x : PHI
5x :
4x :
3x : SF, SEA
2x : GB, NO, ATL, CHI
1x : LAR, CAR, ARI
0x : DET, MIN, TB, WAS, NYG, DAL#Eagles

— Deniz Selman (@denizselman33) January 19, 2025

This actually works better if you back two more years, because then you can round it off at the year 2000 and turn it into the headline of this story. The 2000 NFCCG was Vikings at Giants, and 2001 was Eagles at Rams, so to update Deniz’s chart, LA goes to 2x and the Giants go to 1x.

But still, nobody has hosted more NFC title games this century than the Eagles, and if you want to break it out even further, they’ve played in the game eight times total during that time span, which is more than the 49ers, who have done it seven times. The Packers have been there six times. The Cowboys have 0 NFCCG appearances since Y2K, the Commanders have one (this year), and the Giants three.

What’s sad, of course, is that all of those appearances have resulted in just one Super Bowl ring. The Birds are 3-4 in NFCCGs going back to the year 2000 and 1-2 in the ensuing Super Bowl appearances. Hopefully that changes this year with two more wins.

The post Since the Turn of the Century, Nobody Has Played More NFC Championship Games than the Eagles appeared first on Crossing Broad.

. @CGJXXIII gave Nick Sirianni his Dream Chasers chain when he walked in the locker room #FlyEaglesFly pic.twitter.com/NczOLUEIrP

— Underground Sports Philadelphia (@UndergroundPHI) January 19, 2025

This happened two years ago and it gave us one of the best Nick Sirianni images of all time.

Not to go off on some tangent here, but it seems like most of the players appreciate Sirianni. That’s all that matters. The way he carries himself obviously bothers some fans, but it doesn’t matter what Johnny from the Northeast thinks about Nick Sirianni. Doesn’t matter what the local media thinks. His personality works in the locker room and these guys bought in and they’re two games from the Lombardi Trophy. Go Birds.

The post CJGJ Once Again Gave the Chain to Nick Sirianni appeared first on Crossing Broad.

RAMS FORCE THE SAFETY ON JALEN HURTS

(via @RamsNFL) pic.twitter.com/pZKUZbL8Go

— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) January 19, 2025

You always try to give people the benefit of the doubt. Maybe Jalen couldn’t see very well there.  He’s playing in the snow and we’re sitting on our fat butts at home.

But the Eagles are calling a passing play with a five-step drop on 2nd and 6, already backed up near their own goal line, after Hurts was rolled up during a sack and had to visit the medical tent. You can’t hand it off there? Throw something short? And what’s Hurts trying to do anyway? You’ve got LA #92 beating a double team, great play by him, but Jalen’s got a dump off to his left and a wide-open tight end leaking out for an easy check down and he doesn’t throw the ball at all.

Said Nick Sirianni:

“On that particular play, again, I’ll have to watch the tape. It looked like we got some leakage in the middle, and they covered it pretty good. I didn’t think there was anywhere to go with the football right there, but we’ve got to find a way to get out of that. But they covered it well. Sometimes in these situations you have to — we live to see another day, but we’ll do everything we can do to fix the issues that happened today. But sometimes the issues, just like I said to the team this week, are just good plays from the opponent. The further you get along in this, the more it’s going to be, ‘Hey, the opponent made a really good play and how do you embrace the adversity?’ I think our guys did a really good job. We give up the safety and then the defense finds a way to – Jalen (Carter) knocks the ball out, Isaiah (Rodgers) almost takes it for a touchdown. We found a way to recover after that. Jake (Elliot) did a good job kicking that ball off; now they’ve got it to the 35, but under those conditions, that was good by our kickoff team.”

Uhh okay. Good plays from the opponent, sure. Credit where it’s due. The quarterback also just stood there and took a safety instead of going to Barkley or Goedert, or throwing the ball into the 2nd row. Thankfully Jalen Carter was there to save everyone’s butt on the ensuing LA drive.

The post On Eagles’ Safety, Nick Sirianni “Didn’t Think There was Anywhere to Go with the Football” appeared first on Crossing Broad.

Saquon Barkley in two games vs the Rams:

52 carries
459 rushing yards
325 yards after contact
4 TDs (all over 60+ yards) pic.twitter.com/8PuaQPirNA

— PFF (@PFF) January 19, 2025

For this game, it was 26 carries for 205 yards and two touchdowns, one that went 62 yards and the other for 78. He also caught four passes for 27 yards, one of which was a third down swing pass in the end zone that he took 15 yards for a first down. If you combine the receiving stats and add them into the graphic above, it would be 60 touches for 534 yards and four score in two games, one home and one away.

Incredible stuff. You can’t do it any better than that. Saquon Barkley and Jalen Carter are the reason the Eagles won that game. Sure, they got some big plays from others, like Jalen Hurts running in the first score and Jake “The Rollercoaster” Elliott hitting a couple of field goals in the snow. Zack Baun wrecked shop in the second half and it seemed like everyone on the defensive side made at least one big play, but make no mistake, Barkley and Carter are the best offensive player and best defensive player on this team. As long as they’re playing like this, they can beat anybody. They didn’t just stumble into the NFC title game randomly.

The post Saquon Barkley Put Up 534 Yards in Two Games Against the Rams appeared first on Crossing Broad.

4TH & 11: Jalen Carter (@breadmanjalen) brought the pressure again and forced Stafford to make a throw he didn’t want to make!

EAGLES BALL!!! pic.twitter.com/KdSaBCAZaz

— 𝐃𝐈𝐄-𝐇𝐀𝐑𝐃 𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐋 𝐄𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐓𝐄 (@Eaglesfans9) January 19, 2025

This man saved everyone’s butt, on multiple occasions Sunday evening. The forced fumble took place after Jalen Hurts conceded the horrendous safety, which Isaiah Rodgers picked up and ran into the red zone. That was the catalyst for the Jake Elliott field goal that pushed the lead back to four. Then, when the Rams were driving at the end of the game, he sacked Matt Stafford on third down and came right down the middle again on the following play, and that was it.

He also barely came off the field, as has been the case all year:

Jalen Carter played 68 of 70 defensive snaps and was double-teamed on 26 of his 49 pass rushes against the Rams.

Carter forced a key third down sack on the Rams’ final drive, then forced a pressure on fourth down to clinch the game.#LARvsPHI | #FlyEaglesFly pic.twitter.com/ZitGdVZjvr

— Next Gen Stats (@NextGenStats) January 19, 2025

What a player. A one-man wrecking ball on the interior. He’s already a top-five defensive tackle in year two, maybe top three depending who you ask.

The post Jalen Carter Saved Everyone’s Bacon, More Than Once appeared first on Crossing Broad.

Deep breath…

What a game! It had a little bit of everything. Missed opportunities, weather-induced fumbles and drops, injury scares, two Saquon Barkley house calls, a near-collapse, and clutch defensive plays. The Eagles started well enough, and scored on their opening drive, but had chances to open the game up and extend their lead and couldn’t do it. Promising drives ended in sacks, near-touchdowns turned into field goals, and only when it became a fourth-quarter blizzard were they able to make more plays than a Los Angeles team that was totally up for it.

It’s hard to say how much of this one you take into next week, be it positives or negatives, since you assume they won’t be playing the upstart Commies in the driving snow. Maybe. But Jalen Hurts underwhelmed and too many plays were left on the field, even before the snow started coming down harder. Then the defense totally turned off and allowed the Rams back into the game, when it should have been done and dusted. If we’re doing the pre-mortem, is that their downfall? The wasted offensive possessions and inability to put a game away? Whatever the case, tell the coroner to back off, because the Eagles are still alive and two wins away from a title.

1) The Eagles came out throwing the ball. Two short completions to get Hurts going. No issue with that, especially when the forecast suggested that the snow was supposed to come  in the second half. Then Saquon 2x and bam, Hurts to the house for a score. Look at Jordan Mailata looking for someone to block:

TOUCHDOWN EAGLES!!!

Jalen Hurts takes it himself for 44 yards!#FlyEaglesFly lead 6-0, after Jake Elliott missed the extra point. pic.twitter.com/OZK6vhmC5K

— 𝐃𝐈𝐄-𝐇𝐀𝐑𝐃 𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐋 𝐄𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐓𝐄 (@Eaglesfans9) January 19, 2025

2) Whenever you get the big boys pulling, good things happen. This was one of those looks where they’re leaving two guys completely unblocked, Saquon forces one to hold, and Hurts beats the other into the gap with Landon Dickerson and Mailata both leading the way:

3) Jake Elliott – misses two extra points, hits field goals in the snow. The dude is a total rollercoaster right now. As clutch as a couple of those kicks were, he’s the reason why this game was 28-22 late, when it should have been 30-22.

4) Omar Speights once attended Northeast Philadelphia high school. No relation to legendary Philadelphia 76er Marreese Speights.

5) Jared Verse’s day: four tackles, two sacks, three TFL. He played well and backed up his talk after stirring up some shit during the week:

Jared Verse taunting Eagles fans before the game. pic.twitter.com/y8e9wbkS1R

— Brandon Lee Gowton (@BrandonGowton) January 19, 2025

6) Defense was disappointing to start. Couldn’t get off the field. Rams scored on 3rd and goal after converting a 3rd and 7 and 4th and 1 on the opening drive, which included non-scrambler Matthew Stafford doing enough with this legs to make 7 points possible.

7) The A.J. Brown drop killed the second Eagles drive. It sure looked like he heard some footsteps, if you know what I’m getting at.

8) Quinyon Mitchell leaving the game with a shoulder injury was not ideal. Isaiah Rodgers came in and almost picked off Stafford, but had the ball ripped away at the last second. He had another one in the third quarter against Cooper Kupp where it looked like he was in position to make a play. Does Mitchell force either one of those incomplete? We’ll never know.

9) How much restraint do you think it took for Jalen Carter to lift Stafford into the air instead of suplexing him? The latter would have been a penalty, so good job holding off.

10) Mekhi Becton obliterated Christian Rozeboom on Barkley’s touchdown run. That’s 6’7″, 364 pounds vs. 6’2″, 237 pounds. Once Saquon is 1v1 with the single-high safety, he’s taking it to the house more often than not:

Saquon let Jared Verse get a good look at it pic.twitter.com/z9q7tr1ueS

— Tyler Jackson (@TJack94) January 19, 2025

11) By the way – all of the Howie talk this year has been about Zack Baun and Barkley, but signing Becton and moving him inside was just as shrewd as anything he’s done in recent years. Still, it might be even be a top-five move, right? There’s Baun and Barkley, then bringing back CJGJ and drafting Mitchell and Cooper DeJean. So it’s maybe the 6th-best move he made? Depends how you look at it. (Becton had a couple of iffy moments later, but his block set up a touchdown)

12) CJGJ and Josh Sweat with two huge 3rd down TFLs to force a field try and a punt, respectively, in the first half. Those were massive plays considering how each of those Rams drives began.

13) The Eagles should have had points on that second quarter drive, but Hurts missing Brown on 2nd and 8 and then taking a bad sack ended the drive. They ended up flipping the field with a good punt, but should have come out of that with a field goal try at least.

14) If you like it when your heart jumps out of your chest and/or up into your throat, then the 5th Eagles drive was your drive. First, DeJean muffed the punt, then fell on it to recover. Then LA blitzed on 3rd and 14 and Hurts threw a little swing pass/screen inside his own end zone, which went for 15 yards. Then they came out of the two-minute warning with a bubble screen, for whatever reason, before Hurts scrambled for a first down. That was followed by A.J. Brown bobbling a deep bomb that probably would have set up a touchdown, then Hurts was sacked twice to end the drive.

15) Not sure what Nick Sirianni was doing with his timeouts before halftime. They could have gotten one more play in to try to get some yards back and try a long field goal, but he seemed content to let the clock tick and try a Hail Mary instead.

16) If A.J. catches that deep ball, its 1st and goal with three timeouts and a minute left. They likely go into the locker room with a 10-point lead.

17) The Birds only had a six-point halftime lead back in November, against this same team, in their house. Not sure if that helped your agita at all going into the third quarter, but the books certainly weren’t fazed, because the Eagles were listed at -400 on the moneyline coming out of half.

18) Eagles’ first drive of the second half – Hurts was throwing where, exactly on third down? Brown wasn’t even close to being open and he threw it well behind him anyway.

19) How big was that fumbled exchange with Stafford and Kyren Williams? The ball totally slipped out of his hand and they lost seven yards on it. After a second-down stop, the Eagles were able to drop eight and rush three on 3rd and goal and force a field goal.

20) Great pursuit by Jalyx Hunt, great move off the edge, but that was a coverage sack. Maybe give half of that to Hunt, half to the secondary.

21) Terrible throw from Hurts to Brown in the end zone. Terrible effort from Brown. Did he know there was a game taking place?

22) That illegal man downfield penalty on Becton was tough. The screen was a little slow to develop and Hurts had to throw a bit of a lollipop over the top, but because Becton engaged before the ball was released, the refs were correct in throwing that flag.

23) Two drops for the Rams on their 7th drive. How much the elements had to do with it, we’ll never know, but it was nice to see Nacua fumble that ball out of bounds on 3rd and 2.

24) No excuse for the safety. Hurts had a check down to his left and a tight end leaking out right in front of him. If he’s not gonna use either one of these options, then throw the god damn ball at someone’s feet or into the 2nd row. Are you telling me he can’t process this quickly enough? –

25) Carter and Rodgers saved Hurts’ bacon after the safety. He should buy both them a steak dinner and a copy of Inner Excellence.

26) They’ve run the tush push how many times over the years? How in the world do you false start on it? The game was begging to be put away and Lane Johnson of all people commits a backbreaker of a penalty. He also robbed us a picturesque snow shove that would have ended up on a wall at the Philly Art Museum.

27) Baun had three brilliant plays on that fourth quarter Rams drive. First he shoots the gap for a TFL, then he comes off the edge to bat down a ball, and on the ensuing play recovers a Stafford fumble. What a player. What a signing.

28) Big play after big play from the defense in the fourth quarter, before the almost-collapse. Carter, Baun, Nolan Smith, Moro Ojomo, Oren Burks. If the Eagles win it all, it’s going to be because of Vic Fangio’s unit.

29) House call #2 –

You’ve been Snoquon Barkley’d @saquon | #FlyEaglesFly pic.twitter.com/SBV0ltUG5j

— Philadelphia Eagles (@Eagles) January 19, 2025

30) As good as the defense was in the second half, what was that Rams drive? 10 plays, 70 yards, 1:48 off the clock? And then the offense runs the ball on 1st down, gives up a sack on 2nd, and can only play it safe on 3rd down? Good God. At least Braden Mann was able to boot that punt down to the 18 with a dumb play by their returner.

31) Carter saved everyone’s asses on the final drive. 3rd down sack, 4th down pressure, and Stafford throws out of bounds.

32) The Washington Commanders can go straight to hell. These bums aren’t coming in here next week and putting up 45 points.

The post IT WAS NEVER IN DOUBT – 32 Immediate Observations from Eagles 28, Rams 22 appeared first on Crossing Broad.

PHILADELPHIA EAGLES PLEDGE $500,000 & ADDITIONAL RELIEF EFFORTS TO SUPPORT LOS ANGELES COMMUNITY AMIDST WILDFIRES

In response to the devastation caused by the wildfires which have displaced so many across southern California, the Philadelphia Eagles are joining in the relief efforts. Ahead of Sunday’s Divisional Round playoff game, the Eagles will contribute $500,000 to the California Community Foundation as a way to help deliver essential resources to those impacted by the wildfires. The California Community Foundation’s disaster and recovery efforts support an array of critical recovery services, including housing, case management, mental health, and medical care for displaced residents.

“Our hearts are with everyone who has been suffering from the destruction caused by the wildfires in the Greater Los Angeles area,” said Jeffrey Lurie, Chairman and CEO, Philadelphia Eagles. “We are grateful for the heroic efforts of the first responders who have bravely stepped up to protect those affected. Their courage and sacrifice during this critical time of need is inspiring.

“We recognize the lasting effects a natural disaster can have on a community, and we are compelled to join the recovery efforts. The victims, first responders, and all who have been affected will continue to be on our minds and in our hearts,” added Lurie.

In addition to the monetary donation, the Eagles are taking the following steps to offer even further relief support for the Los Angeles community:

• Eagles Autism Foundation 50/50 Raffle: Each Eagles game at Lincoln Financial Field presents an opportunity for fans to purchase tickets to win half the 50/50 raffle earnings. Proceeds from each raffle support the Eagles Autism Foundation. For individuals on the autism spectrum, being displaced by fire can present unique challenges and tremendous stress in their lives. The Eagles Autism Foundation will donate 100% of the Foundation’s proceeds from Sunday’s 50/50 raffle to the American Red Cross in support of California wildfire relief.
• Support for Animals in Greater Los Angeles: The Eagles will donate to Best Friends Animal Society to cover critical expenses, such as medical care, facility maintenance, and support for lifesaving programs for animals on the ground in Los Angeles.
• Pet Rescue & Transportation: The Eagles will cover the transportation, adoption fees, and care costs associated with flying homeless animals impacted by the wildfires to the Philadelphia area, an effort facilitated by Best Friends Animal Society and Providence Animal Center, in Media, where the animals will be available for adoption. The shelter is currently seeking foster homes to make space for the incoming evacuees.
• Jerseys for Auction: Game-worn Eagles jerseys, an official game ball, and additional commemorative items from Sunday’s Divisional Round playoff game will go up for bid on NFL Auction with all proceeds benefiting the American Red Cross.
• Britannia Pub in Santa Monica: A well-known Santa Monica Eagles bar, the Britannia Pub, will host a watch party on Sunday where they will collect essential items for local residents and monetary donations for the local firehouse, Brentwood House 19. The Eagles will support these fundraising efforts with giveaways and prizes for Sunday’s playoff watch party.
• In-Stadium Messaging: The Eagles will deploy an integrated messaging campaign at Lincoln Financial Field on Sunday to encourage fans and the larger NFL community to support.

Fans are encouraged to join the team’s relief efforts by visiting Pledge.to/EaglesSupportLAWildfire, NFLAuction.nfl.com, BestFriends.org, ProvidenceAC.org, or by texting “EAGLES” to 707070.

Go Birds.

The post Eagles Pledge $500,000 and More to LA Wildfire Relief Effort appeared first on Crossing Broad.

EAGLES PLAYOFF FORECAST .. Models still vary widely on snow amounts .. How it stands RIGHT NOW

3PM: Steady Snow

Temp : 30

Wind : North 6-12 mph

2nd Half .. accumulating snow ..

Temps will drop into the upper 20’s
Wind: Increase NNW 10-15mph
Visibility .. will be a…

— JOHN BOLARIS (@JohnBolaris) January 17, 2025

Look, I trust John Bolaris. Sure, there was that one time when he was bamboozled by Eastern European hookers, but we’ve all been there before.

Steady snow and high 20s is a good thing. The Eagles ran for 255 yards against the Rams in a cushy dome back in November, so they were always going to run the ball in this game and now they get to do it in the elements. Inshallah, this will look like Shady McCoy against the Detroit Lions back in 2013. Let’s pound the rock and control the clock while Matt Stafford tries to pick out Puca Nacua and Cooper Kupp in a snow storm while they’re being blanketed by Big Play Slay, Quinyonomo Bay, and Coooooooooooooooooooooooooper DeJean. This is the type of game where you play smash mouth football, not Sean McVay sissy-ball. Go Birds.

The post John Bolaris is Calling for Steady Snow During the Eagles/Rams Game appeared first on Crossing Broad.

Nick Sirianni on Kellen Moore interviewing for head coaching jobs ahead of Eagles-Rams game: pic.twitter.com/4P2HdISr8f

— Brandon Lee Gowton (@BrandonGowton) January 17, 2025

First things first, I think we’re all in agreement that NFL franchises with coaching vacancies should not be allowed to interview the coordinators of teams that are still in the playoffs. Don’t let them interview anyone at all. What they should do is allow the season to conclude and only permit interviewing to begin after the Super Bowl. Then, you move the draft back two weeks to allow each team some more time to complete their staff and develop a big board and personnel plan.

There are people who will argue to this day that the Eagles lost Super Bowl 57 because Jonathan Gannon was distracted by the Cardinals’ pursuit. There is no way to prove that definitively, not now, and not ever, because only Gannon himself can tell you if he did enough preparation for the game. And even then, “preparation” is a nebulous and arbitrary concept. How much prep time and film study is necessary? 20 hours? 30 hours? 100 million hours? And if Gannon had locked himself in a room and not talked to the Cardinals at all, would that have resulted in the Eagles being ready for Andy Reid’s corn dog play? You can’t answer that question with a yes or no, so “quit asking,” as Nick Saban once said. Ultimately, they lost by three points and no one on the defense made a big play the entire game. It was a similar situation in 2018, when Jim Schwartz’s defense was gashed over and over again until Brandon Graham pulled off the miracle strip sack to finally stop Tom Brady.

This topic is the worst of all time. The absolute worst. It deserves a fiery and violent death. Fire it into the fucking figurative sun. But you know exactly what’s going to happen, don’t you? If the Eagles lose on Sunday and the offense looks bad, you’re gonna hear about Kellen Moore being “distracted” by these job opportunities.

The post The Worst Topic in the History of the World is NFL Coordinators Being Distracted by Head Coach Interviews appeared first on Crossing Broad.

Joel Embiid participated in an on-court workout yesterday after missing the last six games due to a left foot sprain. While the foot sprain has healed, Embiid experienced an increase in swelling in his left knee following the workout. After consulting with team medical staff and external doctors, Embiid will receive treatment in the coming days to address the swelling. As a result, he will be OUT for the upcoming road trip and re-evaluated in approximately 7-10 days.

We now return you to your regularly-scheduled programming, already in progress.

The post Joel Embiid is Out for 7-10 Days appeared first on Crossing Broad.

¡Nos vemos en Madrid!

We will be hosting the NFL’s first game in Madrid next season. pic.twitter.com/vfBltXlzkR

— Miami Dolphins (@MiamiDolphins) January 17, 2025

The Fins are not on the Eagles’ 2025 schedule, so no Espana trip for the Birds, though the thought of Philadelphia descending on the Santiago Bernabeu is pretty funny. Delco X Real Madrid could have been the greatest crossover event of all time.

Here’s a serious thought though – Why do we keep sending NFL teams overseas, but we don’t get anything in return? Why can’t we get El Clasico on American soil? Barcelona vs. Real Madrid. And I’m not talking about a friendly, I’m talking about an actual La Liga or Copa Del Rey game. The Eagles had to go to Brazil in 2024, but you won’t see Palmeiras vs. Corinthians at Lincoln Financial Field. Why not? Why are we willing to outsource NFL games to other countries but we don’t get anything in return? This is one of the things Donald Trump should focus on when he takes office for the second time. Maybe throw some tariffs on the EU. When Europe sends their soccer teams, they’re not sending their best.

Anyway, Spain will be the 6th foreign country to host a regular-season NFL game, joining the UK, Germany, Mexico, Brazil, and Canada. I’ve got a list here of 10 more locations where we could have NFL games in the future:

1. Greenland – what better way to celebrate the citizenship of our new American brothers and sisters
2. North Korea – NFL fans agree that we should send the New York Giants to Pyongyang
3. Svalbard – if you think football should be played in the elements, then this is your game
4. Mauritania – sources say the residents of Nouakchott really want to see Jayden Daniels in person
5. Turkmenistan – just watch out for the gas pit that’s been burning for something like 40 years
6. Uzbekistan – Dallas Cowboys vs. San Francisco 49ers, “The Battle for the Silk Road“
7. Somalia – there is a lot of great waterfront property over there, could be a picturesque backdrop
8. Iran – NFL Tehran sounds like the perfect way to mend fences with the supreme leader
9. Monaco – apparently there is no income tax there, so the players can keep 100% of their paychecks
10. Italy – the Tommy DeVito homecoming game

The post The NFL Won’t Stop Until Every Country in the World Hosts a Regular-Season Game appeared first on Crossing Broad.

Really bad result on this hit, and I might be in the minority but I didn’t see Tsyplakov actually make head contact.

Thought Poehling’s head whipped back from the shoulder-to-shoulder contact.

Tsyplakov is a brick shithouse but not a dirty player.pic.twitter.com/bkUGEd2yWp

— Jonny Lazarus (@JLazzy23) January 17, 2025

That final angle there shows shoulder just barely hitting shoulder before the head contact. That must be what the refs were looking at.

But here’s the thing – clean hit or not, it conservatively looks like 10% of the impact takes place on the shoulder and the other 90% is to the head. Poehling went down hard on the ice, needed help getting up, left the game, and didn’t return. The way the rule is written, refs are asked to determine if the head was “the main point of contact” and whether or not that contact was avoidable. There are other caveats that allow wiggle room for timing, angle, and whether or not the hit was made “squarely through the opponent’s body.”

For what it’s worth, Kevin Kurz and Arthur Staple at The Athletic think this might result in a hearing:

Believe NHL Player Safety is still looking closely at the Max Tsyplakov hit last night on Ryan Poehling. Would not be surprised if it results in a hearing.

— Kevin Kurz (@KKurzNHL) January 17, 2025

Believe #Isles Max Tsyplakov will indeed have a hearing with @NHLPlayerSafety later today, I’m told.

Looked like shoulder to shoulder primary contact to me on the video last night. Must have been some primary head contact as well. My bad.

— Arthur Staple (@StapeAthletic) January 17, 2025

Regardless, good rally by the Flyers to win. After this nonsense, Joel Farabee was whistled for a weak retaliatory slash, then TK was slashed on the first Islanders goal, but no call. They kept their composure for a 5-3 victory and now are on a four-game point streak.

EDIT – he got 3 games:

NY Islanders’ Maxim Tsyplakov has been suspended for three games for an illegal check to the head against Philadelphia’s Ryan Poehling. https://t.co/Ijyvna8uon

— NHL Player Safety (@NHLPlayerSafety) January 17, 2025

The post Islanders’ Max Tsyplakov Reportedly Will Have Hearing for Ryan Poehling Hit, Which Refs Ruled was Not a Penalty (UPDATED) appeared first on Crossing Broad.

Jared Verse spent three years of high school in Pennsylvania.

So the Rams rookie edge rusher knows all about the Philadelphia Eagles, his team’s opponent Sunday in an NFC divisional-round playoff game at Lincoln Financial Field.

Was Verse an Eagles fan?

“I hate Eagles fans,” Verse told The Times on Thursday. “They’re so annoying. I hate Eagles fans.”

…

Verse noted that when the Rams played the Eagles in November at SoFi Stadium, Eagles fans gave him an earful of obscenities that he could make out despite wearing headphones.

“I didn’t even do nothing to ‘em,” he said. “It was my first time playing. Oh, I hate Eagles fans.”

Apparently the Eagles’ colors also are triggering.

“When I see that green and white I hate it,” he said. “I actually get upset. Like I actually genuinely get hot.”

People are going to say that this is “bulletin board material,” but I disagree. Sure, Verse may get himself booed into oblivion on Sunday afternoon, but Eagles fans have been generally unstable over the last few weeks and don’t need any extra motivation for the NFC Divisional Round. It wasn’t even seven days ago that Dunph was throwing down with some guy in the parking lot while Mr. DEI in the nosebleeds was calling that female Packers fan a dumb and ugly cunt. So this fan base doesn’t need to be riled up any more than it already is. The fuse on the powder keg had already been lit.

The post Rams Linebacker Says He Hates Eagles Fans and is Triggered by Green and White appeared first on Crossing Broad.

Jalen Hurts asked about his last performance, and getting into a rhythm early: “I think you guys need to understand I don’t play the game for anything other than to win. My role and approach in each game will be different.. Ultimately it’s about winning the game. It’s playoff… pic.twitter.com/M8T2WlviBp

— Eagles Nation (@PHLEaglesNation) January 15, 2025

Do we have terrible memories around here? It was only about 3 months ago that the Eagles embarked on a lengthy winning streak that was defined by running the football, playing solid defense, and cutting down on mistakes. We talked at length about Hurts becoming a game manager and protecting the football, which was, if you’ll recall, the biggest offseason topic surrounding QB1 in 2024.

If you look at the Green Bay box score from last week, the formula was largely replicated. Hurts only threw the ball 21 times. The Eagles ran it 34 times, Saquon Barkley went for 119, and no one on offense coughed up the football while the defense took it away. You play like that and you’re going to win a lot of games. As long as it’s effective, they’re going to keep doing it.

So that’s the rub here, and where people kind of differ. There’s one faction that says, “the Eagles don’t chuck the ball because they don’t have to.” This faction believes the Eagles are good enough to win the Super Bowl if they keep doing what they’re doing. Another faction thinks that the Eagles WILL NOT win the Super Bowl if they don’t get the passing game going, because some opponent will inevitably find a way to slow down Saquon, and then what? Hurts is firing worm burners into the ground while playing from behind? Maybe, maybe not. And I think a third faction also exists, and those are the people who think that if the running game does get stuffed, that Hurts is good enough to pivot and go back to slinging the rock downfield to A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith.

Regardless of which faction you fall into, haven’t we had this discussion before? And after the big drama that Brandon Graham created following the Carolina win, how did the Eagles’ offense respond? They torched the Steelers for 290 yards and two scores through the air, with one turnover. Throw in those early games against New Orleans and Green Bay and they’ve shown they can do some Hal Mumme Air Raid stuff when necessary.

Last, and certainly not least, did people forget that Hurts was just coming back from a concussion? The guy hadn’t played in almost three weeks and probably wasn’t going to be at his best. Now he’s hopefully shaken off some of the rust and is ready for the divisional round. Go Birds.

The post Captain Obvious: Jalen Hurts Doesn’t Have to Throw for 300 Yards if the Eagles are Running the Ball and Playing Defense appeared first on Crossing Broad.

“It is his kindness, humility, and love for family and friends that we will hold closest to our hearts”

– The Uecker Family pic.twitter.com/lggU2BdOSw

— Milwaukee Brewers (@Brewers) January 16, 2025

“Ueck” had been broadcasting for the Brewers since 1971, so more than 50 seasons in that role. Incredible. He’s basically their Harry Kalas or Merrill Reese, a legendary figure out in Wisconsin. He picked up the nickname “Mr. Baseball” from Johnny Carson, who frequently had him on his late night show.

Uecker was also a player himself, a backup catcher who spent two of his Major League seasons with the Phillies. He won the 1964 World Series with the Cardinals and when he retired he dabbled in comedy and acting in addition to radio play-by-play.

His role as broadcaster Harry Doyle in 1989’s Major League was hilarious, one of the best sports movies ever. He dropped a bunch of lines that made their way into pop culture. “Juuuuust a bit outside. He tried the corner and missed.” RIP Ueck.

Supercut of the best of Harry Doyle

RIP Bob Uecker pic.twitter.com/XcD7bmYRgQ

— McNeil (@Reflog_18) January 16, 2025

The post RIP Bob Uecker appeared first on Crossing Broad.

Bradley Carnell is the man taking over, and he spoke to the media about his tactical philosophies on Thursday, from the team’s current training base in Spain.

Transcribed:

Crossing Broad: Kind of a two-part question here – in your first press conference you were talking about this 60/30/10 philosophy in terms of goal scoring and style of play. One, if you can elaborate on that for us, and two, we know your Red Bull background, we know Ernst’s Red Bull background, we know how the Union played over the years with Brenden Aaronson and other guys, if you can explain what this will look like compared to other Union and Red Bull pressing teams. And if you can differentiate on why not all of that is the same.

Carnell: Yeah, I think each coach is different within the philosophy, right? So (Julian) Nagelsmann plays differently to Marco Rose, and Marco Rose plays differently to Ralf Rangnick, who plays differently to Jesse Marsch, so there’s differences within each of those trainers or coaches but the philosophy remains the same. In transition, that’s where we want the majority of business to be done. You can do the analysis or thesis over all of the World Cups or the leagues all over the world, and 60% of all goals are scored in that (transition) phase. The 30% is the set pieces, so 30% of all goals being scored from set pieces. And in possession, quite surprising, you’d think a lot of people value that the most, but only 10% of the goals are scored within that (category). So we put our emphasis and training methods within that 60% game model and work on all of the pieces accordingly. That’s not to say I don’t want to have the ball, or that I don’t like the ball. I enjoyed the ball myself as a player. But for me it’s about the quality on the ball as opposed to the time on the ball, so if we can have whatever percentage possession, if that time is quality on the ball and we’re inflicting pain on the opponent, and getting success, then I’d rather do that, for sure. 

CB: People throw out this term “high press” rather generically. Not every press is a high press. You can win the ball back anywhere on the field. How do you look at that and explain it to fans and media? 

Carnell: Yeah listen there’s three thirds on a field and we assign pressing lines up high, and pressing line two, and these topics we’ve been introducing to the players over the last couple of days now. We have different areas. Obviously if you just run high, like a pack of wolves, they’re going to overplay you. There are certain instances and certain criteria and certain areas of the field where we try and get the opponent locked in, then we can attack and we can sprint at them with pace and numbers. Our orientation is always the ball, so we can work collectively against the ball and create these numerical advantages in and around the ball when we’re hunting it down. In transition, that keeps us in closer proximity to have passing angles, passing stations forward vertical and getting movement in behind and exploiting the space of the opponent when they’re building up expansively, there’s gaps to exploit in the vertical areas.

All good stuff there, and explanations that Union fans should relate to. The one that jumps out to me the most is when Carnell talks about running high “like a pack of wolves.” I think there used to be this general misconception that all pressing equates to a bunch of athletes running around wildly, like chickens with their heads cut off. In reality, there are rules and cues, and the Union came closest to being a “high pressing” team in 2019 and 2020, when Aaronson was able to run for days at the number 10 position. You’d maybe force the center back to pass the ball to a midfielder who was facing his own goal, then BAM, there’s your signal to swarm, jar the ball loose, and attack with a numerical advantage.

First Union breakdown video of the season.

On pressing cues and why Leon Flach should get a ton of credit on the game-winning goal: pic.twitter.com/HfF5A7NsPQ

— Kevin Kinkead (@Kevin_Kinkead) February 27, 2023

Carnell also mentions verticality, which is more of what you saw from the U during that incredible 2022 season. Take Jose Martinez, for instance, who would tackle some fool and win the ball back in the middle of the park. How many times did you see him look up and someone was immediately running in behind? Those are direct transitional moments generated from good defensive play, they just start in a different third of the field.

The sentence about possession also sticks. You can have the ball all game long, but you need to do something with the ball. That’s why 70% possession means nothing if you spend most of the time knocking it around between your d mid and center halves. In that sense, aesthetically-pleasing Spanish Tiki-Taka is the antithesis of blunt German transition, and the Union will look much more like the latter in the Carnell era.

The post Bradley Carnell Elaborates on Tactical Philosophy Ahead of First Union Season appeared first on Crossing Broad.

This is how easy the Rams were moving the ball on the eagles, Sunday should be a similar plan. pic.twitter.com/JW4XzyVRuR

— Mob Squad (@Rams4some) January 15, 2025

Another Rams fan replied, asking why they lost the game, and “Mob Squad” says it’s because Kyren Williams fumbled and Sean McVay “got away from the run after eagles 2 score lead.”

Birds fans know, of course, that slow starts were a typical pattern in 2024. The defense needed a drive or two to feel out the opponent and their gameplan, then they’d make some adjustments from there and more or less shut down teams for the next three quarters. That was the case in this game, with the Rams going 0-8 on third down and scoring one of their touchdowns in garbage time. And if you remember anything at all about Week 12, the only reason it was remotely close is because there were a couple of defensive pass interference calls in the red zone, one against Isaiah Rodgers which was HIGHLY questionable after Darius Slay went out with a concussion.

Otherwise, Saquon Barkley ran for 255 and the Eagles put up 481 yards of total offense in a 17-point win. It was one of the largest margins of victory they’ve enjoyed all season long. They did it while only being +1 in turnover margin and controlling 33:41 of clock, so it’s not like there are some huge outlier numbers to explain the lopsidedness of it all.  Of course, that’s not to take anything away from the Rams, who started 5-6 and finished 10-7. They’re playing much better now and obviously deserve to be where they are, so anybody who takes this team lightly is an idiot. But let’s not practice any revisionist history in regard to what happened on November 24th. The only reason that game was close is because of the DPIs. The Eagles defeated both the Rams and their zebra allies on the same night. To live and die in L.A., where everyday we try to fatten our pockets.

Pass Interference or nah? #PHIvsLAR | #SNFpic.twitter.com/rO9TB0rkcQ

— Fliff (@fliff) November 25, 2024

The post Rams Fans Practicing a Bit of Revisionist History appeared first on Crossing Broad.

Until the efficiency of the passing game and Jalen Hurts is the reason for the Eagles downfall, everyone needs to shut up and enjoy the ride… pic.twitter.com/Vc4MTCJdRh

— Seth Joyner (@sethjoyner) January 15, 2025

“This team is in position for a Super Bowl run. And all that everybody wants to talk about is that ‘oh Jalen Hurts might be the reason why this team doesn’t advance to the Super Bowl.’ What kind of small thinking is that? Well let me tell you something. Let me tell you about this quarterback. Every time this year when this team has needed him to show up and show out, he has shown up and shown out. Now it might not be to the numbers that the gurus, and everybody in this pass-happy NFL thinks that those numbers should be. But let me ask you a question; would you rather have Justin Herbert and his four interceptions last week? Would you like to have Jordan Love and his three interceptions last week? Or would you love to have Russell Wilson and his garbage time numbers last week and his pedestrian play last week? How would you like to have Sam Darnold, who pretty much puked on his shoes over the last two weeks? That’s what you want? You’d rather have a quarterback that throws for 300 yards and you lose the damn game? All we want to talk about is the fact that he (Hurts) is the weak link, when all he’s shown us since he’s been here is that he’s a winner, that he knows how to win, that he knows how to make it happen when it matters the most. Isn’t that what’s most important for your quarterback? Are we so drunk on the numbers that we can’t see the reality of that?”

The irony of Seth Joyner telling us all to “shut up and enjoy the ride” should not be lost on anyone. This is the same Joyner who complained about interceptions when the Eagles’ defense was leading the league in interceptions. The same Joyner who was uber-negative during last year’s winning streak while everyone else was trying to “enjoy the ride.” Same Seth Joyner who was whining about pressuring the quarterback at a point when the Eagles had 23 sacks through seven games, which was their highest total in 15 years.

Seth has been THE KING of telling us that it’s not good enough, no matter how well the Birds are playing, so for him to suddenly morph into Taylor Swift and tell everyone to calm down is high comedy.

But I don’t hate it. Positive Seth Joyner is a welcome addition to the admittedly-limited ranks of pragmatic Philadelphia sports media. I’m just fascinated with what actually happened here. Why the flip? Did he have enough of Joe DeCamara’s Negadelphia and pull an about face? Did he come to a realization that he was annoying people? Or is this a blip on the radar and he’ll go back to complaining next season? I don’t know, but we welcome Seth coming over to Crossing Broad’s side of the aisle. This is like Hulk Hogan leaving the NWO. It’s like Darth Vader turning on Emperor Palpatine. It’s like John Fetterman all of a sudden becoming a Republican.

The post Seth Joyner’s Face Turn is the Most Surprising Thing About this Eagles Season appeared first on Crossing Broad.

Thanks to reader Jim for sending this over. He noticed that the Washington Commanders teamed up with SeatGeek on a ticket giveaway for their Saturday playoff game in Detroit. But if you look at the fine print, the winner of the sweepstakes is responsible for their own travel and lodging.

“Please note: This sweepstakes is for tickets only, travel and accommodations are not included” –

I signed up under the pseudonym of “Commie McCommunist,” so we’ll see if I win.

But seriously, how lame of a sweepstakes is this? Sign up, and if you win, you get two tickets to the Commanders/Lions game! But we aren’t paying for shit beyond that. You gotta pay for the flight, or drive across the Winter hellscape known as Ohio. And then when you get there, you need a place to stay, and we all know how lovely Detroit is this time of the year. Someone send this contest to Josh Harris and/or some PR flak at SeatGeek so they know how fugazi it is. Surely Josh can lend these lucky fans his helicopter for a day or two. Go Birds!

EDIT 2- they fixed the copy and it now says this:

Fill out the form below to be entered to win two (2) tickets for our game on Saturday, January 18th at Ford Field plus travel and lodging accommodations. 

Sweepstakes entry closes on Thursday, January 16th at 10:00 AM. Winner will be selected and notified by Thursday, January 16th at 1:00 PM and must reply by Thursday, January 16th at 6:00 PM in order to claim the prize. Resale of these tickets is not permitted.

No prchs ncsry. Begins 1/14/2025 @ 2:00 pm EST; ends 1/16/2025 @ 10:00 am EST. US citizens 18+ (19+ IN AL & NE). Void where prohibited.

The post Washington Commanders Running a Ticket Giveaway Where the Lucky Winner Has to Pay for Their Own Flight and Hotel (UPDATED) appeared first on Crossing Broad.

Meantime, we need to shout out the second-best team in the region as of January 15th, 2025. It’s not the rebuilding Flyers and it’s certainly not the Sixers. It’s not a Big 5 basketball team. It’s the Philadelphia Wings, who have won four games in a row and might have turned the corner under new head coach Ian Rubel. They are now 4-1 on the season, off to their best start since Obama first took office, and are tied for the NLL’s second-best record. They trail only the defending champion Buffalo Bandits, who are next on the schedule, this Saturday night in New York.

The CliffsNotes is this –

Joe Resetarits and Mitch Jones are tearing it up. Resetarits is tied for first in the league with 41 points, a combination of 12 goals and 29 assists. Jones is tied for third, scoring 14 goals and adding 25 assists. He scored a first-half hat trick this past weekend and the Wings have two legitimate superstars leading the way with a third player named Holden Cattoni who isn’t far behind. We caught up with Jones this week to get his thoughts on the hot start and bring us casuals up to speed:

Crossing Broad: You guys have been playing some great lacrosse. What’s working for you and what’s the story of these last four games?

Mitch Jones: Obviously riding a high on a four-game win streak here. I think the mood for the team is to not get too far ahead of ourselves, keep it one game at a time. We had a tough one on the road in San Diego to start and I think kind of proved to ourselves a lot of things we already knew. We knew we had some talent on this team and we had a pretty good attitude going into the season, from the coaching staff and management all the way down. Trying to keep that one game at a time (mentality) and just keep getting better every game.

CB: What’s been different, the approach and the mindset this year, compared to last year?

Jones: I’ve been in this league long enough to know it’s a fine line between kind of our last couple of years being a six-win team (vs.) being in the top echelon. It’s not that far off. I think our veteran guys knew that. Adding some good young pieces (helps), our coaching staff has been excellent, kind of bringing energy and holding guys accountable. Things have been falling our way. We have a message where you have to worry about yourself and play your game. You may not win every single game where you put a good effort out, but you have to give yourself a chance, and I think with the pieces we have, the roster we have, when we do give ourselves that chance, the odds are pretty good.

CB: What did the coaching change do for the team? Paul Day split up his duties and is still the GM, but you have a new head coach in place and did that move things forward?

Jones: Pauly is a guy who garners a lot of respect, and for good reason. He’s been in this league a long time. He’s won championships and he’s just good to people. I think, while I was sad to see him go, and guys played hard for him, moving Rubes (Ian Rubel) up the ladder and bringing (assistants Pat McCready and Tracey Kelusky) in, it’s just the energy they bring. Rubes is high on accountability and as stand up of a guy as it comes. The other two guys bring a contagious energy and make it fun to be around them.

CB: Let me ask a fill-in-the-blanks question. If this Wings team is gonna take the next step and get into the playoffs and challenge for a title, __________

Jones: I think consistency is gonna be our battle, not getting complacent throughout the year. We obviously have had some early-season success, but that doesn’t take you too far. You’ve got to keep getting better. To fill in that blank, probably consistency and just continuing to improve.

CB: You know that we in the media like to use cliches like “measuring stick” and “barometer” when you’ve got some games coming up against good teams. That’s Buffalo and Vancouver this weekend. Do you guys believe in that? Do you believe in the measuring stick game or is that just something we talk about?

Jones: No, there’s some truth to that. To be honest, every game in this league is a measuring stick. There’s no fluff games. Everyone brings their best effort weekly. At the same time, yeah, if you’re going against the two-time defending champs, I think maybe in past years we’ve gone to that building with more of a ‘hey maybe we can prove ourselves‘ kind of thing and this year there’s a little more confidence behind it, to say ‘hey, let’s take over, let’s see what we’re really made of here.’ Maybe a shift in attitude that way, but you’re going up against the two-time defending champs in their building on a Saturday night in Buffalo and there’s not much more you can ask for if you’re looking to be the best.

CB: Maybe a random question, but you look across the street and see how well the Eagles are playing right now. The Phillies won the division and have been good in recent years. When you see how well other city teams have been playing, and you see the vibe and the buy-in from fans, does that have any tangible effect on you guys, like, ‘hey we want a piece of that too‘? Does it raise your level?

Jones: A hundred percent, yeah. I wouldn’t say it’s the first thing on our mind, but I know (Kelusky) mentioned that last week. He played a lot of lacrosse back in the day, when Philly was winning championships and filling up the barn. He just mentioned that if we keep doing our thing, that’s attainable again. You look around the city and see how the fans are passionate and (get behind) winning teams. That’s obviously something we want to create here. Since the Wings came back, it hasn’t been necessarily sold out. The fans are awesome but it hasn’t been sold out barns, and a huge buzz around the city with a chance at a championship is something we’re striving for. Even the last game was a good example. It was a big Eagles weekend but we had a great crowd come out for an early-season game and definitely it’s something that drives us, and helps us during the game when our fans are on top of it. Being there for us, it definitely goes a long way.

CB: For fans who are sort of on the fence or maybe pay attention to the Wings from afar, what’s your pitch to get them down to watch you guys?

Jones: Man, just get in the building. Everyone who comes to a game raves about how awesome and how fun it is. I find myself doing that around town or online or just naturally, because I myself have been excited about lacrosse for a long time. But yeah, just get yourself in the building. I promise you’re not gonna be disappointed.

Big test this weekend. Wings at Buffalo on Saturday, then Sunday’s home game was moved to Monday night. We’re gonna find out a lot about this 2025 squad over a span of 72 hours.

The post Don’t Look Now, but the Philadelphia Wings are Off to Their Best Start Since 2008 appeared first on Crossing Broad.

Unfortunately, he reads too many negative troll comments and decides to pivot, ala Garth Brooks doing the Chris Gaines alter ego. We’re then introduced to a much darker Mr. Cupcake Man, which more or less bombs and results in Mark becoming a one-hit wonder.

The story is ridiculous in a good way, and one of my top three episodes of season 1, which is streaming now on Hulu. It also got me thinking about one-hit wonders in Philadelphia sports, so we did some crowd sourcing with readers to see if we could put together a comprehensive list. The criteria was basically boiled down to two things. One, the athlete was here for a few seasons, but only had one amazing year that was never replicated. Or, two, the player was only here for one single season, played well, and was never heard from again. In that sense, this can either be a positive one-hit wonder, or a negative one-hit wonder, depending on the situation. We organized this by team since the list was so long, and came close to 50 total players. If there’s anything totally egregious that we forgot, email me and I’ll add it to the list.

Eagles

• Patrick Robinson – The pick six will go down as one of the all-time great plays in Philadelphia Eagles history.
• Jay Ajayi – The mid-season trade that put the Birds over the top during the Super Bowl year.
• LeGarrette Blount – There are a number of guys from the 2017 team that could go on this list, but Blount, Ajayi, and Robinson are easily the top three.
• Travis Fulgham – Who could forget Fulghamania? He played one game for Denver in 2021 and that was his last NFL action.
• Terrell Owens – TO was here for two seasons, but only one was meaningful. We all know what happened afterward.
• Chris Jones  – Not the defensive tackle who wrecks shop for the Kansas City Chiefs, but the guy who caught 70 passes for more than 850 yards and five touchdowns back in 1996.
• Leonard Weaver – Went to the 2009 Pro Bowl and was becoming a fan favorite, then got hurt and only played one game the following year.
• Donte Stallworth – 725 yards and 5 scores for the 2006 team. Only Reggie Brown was better that year.
• Jeff Garcia – He’s it baby! That six-game run from 2006 was special.
• James Bradberry – The fact that he’s on this list is sad. Hopefully we don’t have to add Zach Baun to it.
• Kevin Curtis – Played here for three seasons, but that 2007 was a total outlier and he never came close to replicating it.
• Shawn Barber – This guy was a menace on the 2002 team. 93 tackles, three fumble recoveries, two picks, two forced fumbles.
• Walter Thurmond – A journeyman up until 2015, when he started all 16 games for the Birds. He then retired.
• Jason Babin – Largely a clown, there was a time when he went to the Pro Bowl with an 18-sack Eagles season.
• Bobby Hoying – We will always have that brief run of games from 1997 to fondly look back on.
• D’Andre Swift – 1,000 yards and a Pro Bowl during his only Philly season.
• Doug Pederson – Doug P? Yeah. His best NFL season, which admittedly was not great, was in 1999.
• Michael Bennett – Had himself a monster 2018.

Phillies

• Dom Brown – Let’s be honest, if this was a top-10 list instead of a larger thing, Dom Brown would be #1.
• Aaron Rowand – Proof that you don’t have to be a superstar to be respected here. Just put your body on the line making a hustle play.
• Hunter Pence – The guy hit .324 in that first half-season with the Phils.
• Benito Santiago – Feels like he played for every team in Major League Baseball, but in 1996 he knocked in 85 runs and hit 30 home runs.
• Pedro Martinez – Could have won another ring here if a few things went differently for the 2009 squad.
• Tadahito Iguchi – .803 OPS over 45 games in 2007. He might be more of a “cup of coffee” guy, but close enough.
• Scott Kingery – 2019 looked like a break out year for him, but unfortunately it was not.
• Matt Stairs – Only with the Phils for what amounted to one full year over two seasons, but boy did he leave an impact.
• Glenn Wilson – His only All Star season was here in 1985.
• Corey Dickerson – Only played 34 games, but posted a really nice .293/.307/.579 slash line.
• Kenny Lofton – People always forget about Kenny since he was 38 years old and near the end of his career, but he played well here in 2005.
• Geoff Jenkins – We’ll count him. Walked in here during his final MLB year, won a ring, and retired.
• Roger Connor – Gotta make sure we get someone from the 1800s on the list. According to Twitter user Matt Albertson, Connor posted a “6.3 WAR in 1892. Hall of Famer who spent most of his time with the Giants.”

Sixers

• Dana Barros – Barros was a good player who enjoyed a long career, but he was never better than 1994-1995, when he shot 46.4% from three and averaged a career-high 20.6 points per game.
• Michael Carter-Williams – A Rookie of the Year who became a Process casualty. A snapshot of the Sam Hinkie era.
• Jimmy Butler – Just know that his name is Jimmy, it is not James.
• Willie Burton – Another guy who had his best single season in Philadelphia. 15.3 PPG on the Dana Barros team that also included Clarence Weatherspoon, Shawn Bradley, and Sharone Wright.
• Jahlil Okafor – I’d walk over to Ukee Washington’s desk in 2015 and we’d watch Jah’s post moves. Alas, that was the pinnacle, we just didn’t know it at the time.
• (why are there not more Sixers on this list? surely we’re forgetting some obvious ones – EDIT: of course I missed Nic Batum)

Flyers

• Peter Forsberg – Only played one full season before he was traded, but what a season it was. 75 points in 60 games. He finished 12 points behind Simon Gagne for the team lead despite playing 12 fewer games.
• Ville Leino – Leino was a mid-season trade when the Flyers went to the Stanley Cup Finals about 15 years ago. He went on a playoff heater, then had a 53-point season the following year before becoming an unrestricted free agent. He played 93 regular season Flyers games and 30 in the postseason, but we collectively decided he fits the billing here.
• Jaromir Jagr – 54 points in 73 games. It’s no coincidence that some Flyers had their best seasons ever when Jagr was on the squad. He made everyone around him better.
• Greg Paslawski – “Mud” put up 33 points in his lone Flyers season and was never heard from again.
• Sean Walker – The most recent example, he was a rebuilding casualty and flipped for a 1st round pick.
• Matt Niskanen – Isn’t it kind of sad how quickly they fell after after he left?

Union

• Borek Dockal – The Czech international only spent one season in Chester, on loan from a Chinese club, but before he departed back to Europe, he scored five goals and chipped in 18 assists, which was #1 in Major League Soccer that season.
• Michael Orozco Fiscal – Back then, he was only Michael Orozco and hadn’t yet changed his name. He was a constant starter on the 2010 expansion team and a full U.S. international who had a nice career played mostly in Mexico.
• Gabriel Gomez – The best signing for the ill-fated 2012 Union team, he was a quality box-to-box player and veteran Panama international.
• Jeff Parke – One of the few veterans on the 2013 team, his presence in central defense put a young team right on the playoff doorstep.
• Oguchi Onyewu – Gooch finished his career with the Union and was a bright spot on an otherwise underwhelming 2017 team.
• Marco Fabian – Scored the first playoff winner in Union history despite playing a smaller role than we all expected.
• Veljko Paunovic – Fans didn’t like this midseason acquisition at first, but the “Old Serby Bastard” scored three goals and stepped into the starting lineup for the first Union playoff team ever.

“Cupcake man, I’m a cupcake man, look at me baby I’m a cupcake man. I’m a hot dog man, I’m a hot dog man, look at me baby I’m a hot dog man.”

The post In Honor of Mark Hoagies and Mr. Cupcake Man, Here’s the Ultimate List of One-Hit Wonders in Philadelphia Sports appeared first on Crossing Broad.

..a young teenage boy was attempting to free it for a spiffy souvenir. Hey, who doesn’t want a game puck?

The young fan was able to free the puck, but an older fan quickly took it. Multiple witnesses, which Pittsburgh Hockey Now can verify as present, said the older fan took the puck from the boy and gave it to his adult granddaughter.

…

PHN got the full story from witnesses and involved arena employees, who asked not to be named but referred to as Usher No. 1 and Usher No. 2.

After the elder fan swiped the puck, the situation escalated for the better half of the second period. Hundreds and then thousands of fans chanted, “Give him the puck.” However, the older fan with an ill-fitting baseball cap, like a Grinch’s heart that was three sizes too small, was unphased (sic) and refused to cough up his ill-gotten gain.

Fans booed the man. Fans jeered the man. And fans chanted again, to no avail.

A couple of sections over, the Penguins’ families watched with disappointment and decided to act. One player’s wife, whom we’ll not name because we haven’t received her permission, told Usher 2 that she had a game puck in a locker in the family room downstairs, and she wished to give it to the boy.

…

Usher 2 directed Usher 1 to escort the player’s wife downstairs for the puck, and she returned with Usher 1 to present the gift, which was met with loud, approving cheers. 

It goes on to say that there’s actually more to the story, which was caught on video.

After the wife gives over the puck and they all hug it out, the alleged puck stealer comes into the picture, starts arguing with some random guy, then confronts the boy’s mother. The mother restrains herself from clobbering him before an usher steps in to separate them. Grandpa walks up the stairs, grabs another usher’s arm, and flips some kid the bird:

@TheDanKingerski here’s some more video of the jackass… pic.twitter.com/W5lg8T7Fuc

— Rob Standeezy (@StanDaugherty15) January 13, 2025

Nice gesture by the wife. Good on her for doing that. This cranky old Yinzer seems like a huge jerkwad. Hopefully after they walked him up the stairs they put him straight into the bagster.

The post Yinzers Almost Come to Blows After Ridiculous Hockey Puck Dispute appeared first on Crossing Broad.

Obviously that Center City plan is scrapped now, which adds the Sixers to the larger goal of revitalizing the stadium district by adding bars, restaurants, apartments, and all sorts of other stuff. These concepts were included in renderings Comcast put out last Summer, with a “Phase 1” focused on upgrades to Xfinity Live, a 5,000 seat concert venue, a hotel, new retail and restaurants, and an outdoor plaza. The Xfinity upgrades were set to be finished this year or early 2026, with everything else slated for 2028.

The Sixers’ pivot obviously changes things now. A new, larger indoor arena will be built over the next six years. Some people thought this was originally a leverage ploy and totally fake, but with HBSE reversing course in stunning fashion, it opens the door to move things forward.

If you’ve never been to The Battery, or seen pictures of it, it’s like a little village of shops and apartments and public spaces around the Braves’ ballpark. They built it right at the intersection of two major highways in I-75 and I-285, the latter of which circles Atlanta and features about 7 million cars on it throughout most of the day. This is a suburban development and there was some controversy when the Braves left downtown and decided to go out to Cobb County. If you’re not familiar with the area, the CliffsNotes is that Atlanta is more or less a glorified suburb where everyone drives.

Notably, Comcast became a Braves partner back in 2015, and they now have an office building right next to the ballpark, which serves as the Southeast Regional headquarters. The Cordish Companies operates a Live! venue down there, almost an exact copy of what they did with Xfinity here in Philly, and the still-relatively-new casino and hotel as well. There’s a music venue at the Battery operated by Live Nation, so it’s a familiar cast of characters and companies. You get the sense that they will replicate as much as possible here, the difference being mass transit access through the Broad Street Line and possible expansion into the Navy Yard, FDR Park, and Bellwether District.

There’s also this:

If you’re wondering why every American sports team wants to build a mixed-use development around its venue, “The Battery” earned the Atlanta Braves $59 million in revenue last year. It’s now the team’s 3rd largest revenue-generating category (+ growing 10% annually). Incredible. pic.twitter.com/4LgEiuhqOF

— Joe Pompliano (@JoePompliano) March 14, 2024

As you can see, The Battery doesn’t have a lot of surface-level parking. It’s mostly garages dotting the perimeter. Depending on what the Eagles decide to do, the tailgating scene in South Philly may never be the same. We can argue about that on social media later. With the Phillies involved, and the Sixers and Flyers now partnered, Jeffrey Lurie’s franchise is the last remaining holdout. Their lease at Lincoln Financial Field still has a little more than eight years remaining, so they will have to decide on their future sooner rather than later, as we’ve discussed in previous articles. Their decision will steer the developmental ship.

The biggest question is whether or not this is good for Philadelphia sports fans, and the answer depends on what you like and don’t like. If you enjoy driving down there, parking, tailgating, and going home, then a mixed-use development is not ideal. But if you want a different experience and think the current setup is lame, then you’ll enjoy this.

Here are some pics of The Battery from the firm NELSON Worldwide, which designed the project:

The post If it Wasn’t Obvious Before, Comcast and City Officials Want to Turn the South Philly Sports Complex into Atlanta’s Battery appeared first on Crossing Broad.

Troy Aikman on the Dallas Cowboys: “I thought Mike McCarthy would be the head coach, so this is a bit of a surprise for me today… It suggests that there’s not a real plan… To say that it’s a coveted job, I’m not sure I would necessarily agree with that.” #NFL pic.twitter.com/M6cmb1dOaO

— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) January 13, 2025

“I thought Mike McCarthy would be the head coach so this is a little bit of a surprise to me that he’s not going to be, and what went into those conversations that (Adam) Schefter talked about, I’m not really sure. But it suggests that there’s not a real plan, and the fact that they haven’t had an opportunity to make the interview of Ben Johnson, some of these other (candidates), Aaron Glenn, and I think what Schefter said as far as Kellen Moore being a candidate, that seems logical to me. A guy who has familiarity with the building, he worked obviously with the Cowboys and Jerry Jones. In fact, when Mike McCarthy got the job, it was told to Mike that Kellen Moore would be the offensive coordinator, so that’s how much the Jones family thinks of him… As far as a coveted job, I don’t know that that’s accurate. I do think the Cowboys are obviously a high-profile team, and whoever is head coach of that team is going to draw a lot of attention, but I think most football people that take over as a head coach, they want to do it on their terms, and that’s hard to do (with the Cowboys)…”

Yeah no shit, Aikman. There is no plan and there was never a plan. Jerry is just winging it down there. Whomever takes that job has to deal with a meddling owner and 40% of the salary cap going to the quarterback and WR1. They have holes on both sides of the ball and Micah Parsons is leaving to join the Eagles after one more season in the Big D. That team is toast. They’re going nowhere fast. So of course it’s not a coveted job. Go Birds,

@nbcsphilly

“Keep doing what you’re doing, Jerry. We love you in Philly.”

♬ original sound – nbcsphilly

The post Troy Aikman Suggests Jerry Jones Doesn’t Have a Real Plan appeared first on Crossing Broad.

According to reader, fans started filing out around 3:45 p.m. Reader says they stood around for 20 minutes before an announcement was made, telling riders that the line is no longer running and that shuttle buses would be used instead. “They never told us what happened, I saw some things on SEPTA Social saying signal troubles, whatever it was, thousands of people were stranded with mere minutes before the game starts because once again, SEPTA can’t get their shit together.”

Reader decided to Uber it down to the stadium complex and got there with about 10 minutes to spare.

Kind of ironic that this happened on the same day the Sixers pivoted off Market Street and decided to stay in South Philly with Comcast. They would have had 7 years to get Jefferson in shape and fix SEPTA up to the point where trains could run fans down to Center City, but seeing as though the Broad Street Line is the still the occasional disaster, maybe a bullet was dodged.

The post Nothing Like a Classic SEPTA Shit Show Right Before an Eagles Playoff Game appeared first on Crossing Broad.

1. For the WNBA side, they brought Wanda Sykes and her wife Alex to the press conference. NBA Commissioner Adam Silver was on a video call and spoke as well. Silver thanked Josh Harris, David Blitzer and Brian Roberts for their “very intense involvement and willingness to partner together.” No mention of David Adelman or Dan Hilferty. That was a line that jumped out to me. Maybe there’s something to it, maybe not. You’re always reading between the lines, looking for clues, and it seems like the final bit of business was hashed out at the highest levels of ownership.
2. Adelman was the first to speak after the mayor. He joked about winding up on the same team with Comcast after more than a year of the two sides just totally killing each other both publicly and privately. He then went through and thanked the council members who voted in favor of the Market Street project, as well as the labor unions and Ryan Boyer.
3. Mayor Parker said that she spoke with Muriel Bowser, who said nice things about Josh Harris.
4. Harris was fighting a cold. He said they began “meeting with Comcast in earnest over the last two weeks.” He talked about the project splitting off into two developments instead of one. Speaking about Brian Roberts, he said they “went different ways and came back together.. I think it’s amazing, I’m so happy to be standing with you and we’re gonna do great things.. the journey to the best solution doesn’t always go in a straight line.”
5. I didn’t realize Brian Roberts was like 6’2″ or something. He was towering over everyone.
6. Parker basically kissed Roberts’ ass for a bit, then Roberts got up to talk about a situation that he saw was “unraveling.” He talked about keeping the four major sports teams in the same location and having a fortuitous partnership with Adam Silver and the NBA through the league coming back to NBC. He admitted that the timing of building a new arena should have been a little later, which is a response to the $400 million they just sunk into the Wells Fargo Center. He mentioned Atlanta’s Battery as a concept for reimagining the sports complex. They will have a “small minority” stake in the Sixers.
7. Alex Sykes says Adelman was very supportive of the WNBA idea. Comcast was on board as well and they think they have an amazing team and blah blah, etc.
8. Wanda Sykes hit Harris with a “go Birds” before leaving the podium.
9. Kenyatta Johnson was giving off “this shit is so stupid, I can’t believe we got played” vibes. Parker just kind of rolled with the idea that this is going to be better for Philadelphia. Parker reiterated her original support for the Market Street proposal – “We were talking about a $1.3 billion dollar private sector investment that required no taxpayer subsidy.” She basically said they start working on Market quicker now than they would have before, which was originally targeted for 2031. Then she started rambling about filling the Disney Hole and bringing life back to East Market. They will make good on the 20 million dollar commitment to Chinatown.
10. Parker also talked about the Battery. She says she went on a tour there with John Middleton and Hilferty and others, who introduced them to Atlanta Braves leadership. They are really basing this mixed-use development idea on what they did in Cobb County a few years ago.
11. “Nothing we did is going to be in vain,” said Parker, who rambled through some explanation that she’s not going to allow her ego to be hurt by the way this whole thing turned out. Her answer to the political embarrassment was to basically just do a lot of talking.
12. Kenyatta Johnson got up and called the outcome a win/win because the first priority was keeping the Sixers in Philadelphia. He also turned to the Sixers’ ownership and said that if “somebody put $800 million in front of you, you have to take that seriously.” He said that both sides have been fighting back and forth throughout the process, which you already knew. He said Hilferty would “come into my office with my good friend Rob Murray (Comcast Vice President, Development, Community Engagement & Government Affairs), trying to give them an offer they couldn’t refuse.” He says it’s still the same mission with getting jobs for the trades and providing opportunities for black and brown men and women.
13. Johnson wishes that they could have gotten the deal done before starting the legislative process. He laughed his way through it but you could tell the guy was annoyed.
14. Parker reiterated what Hilferty told us over the summer about exploring sports complex connection to FDR Park and the Bellwether District, which is Passyunk Avenue on the other side of 76, where the refinery used to be.
15. I couldn’t hear any of the 4-5 questions asked by the press. In response to one, Parker talked about negotiating a new PILOT and new CBA and stuff like that. She basically said that the last year of negotiations serves a template for which they can replicate the process.

Last, and probably most important, was a question for Josh Harris, from the Inquirer’s Anna Orso, who asked why they changed their mind.

Full quote:

“We didn’t really change our mind, we were committed to Market East, but our north star was doing right by Philly. Deals don’t come together exactly when you want them. When Comcast and Brian, Adam Silver said ‘look, you guys are fighting, let’s try to come together.’ We felt we could build a better arena, we could also revitalize Market East. We felt that it was a one plus one equals three situation and so we pivoted. We pivoted on behalf of – it was a little more complicated for all of us, Comcast was willing, generously, even though they had put a lot of money into the existing arena to make it great, (agreed) to move up their timeline and all of us made compromises to do the right thing by Philly. One thing I can tell you, President Johnson and Mayor Parker are tough and they’re going to represent your interests well. You can depend on them to do the right thing by the city, and garner everything we have to support the city. It wasn’t planned but it happened. First meeting was in early December and we got the mayor involved as soon as we could.“

So there you have it. FOX 29 streamed this press conference if you’ve got some time to watch it yourself:

The post Josh Harris Explains Sixers Pivot while Atlanta’s Battery Gets Frequent Mentions in Joint Arena Press Conference appeared first on Crossing Broad.

PHILADELPHIA, PA – January 13, 2025 – Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment (HBSE) and Comcast today announced that HBSE and Comcast Spectacor have entered into a binding agreement to form a 50-50 joint venture to build a world-class, state-of-the-art arena in the South Philadelphia Sports Complex that will be the new home of the Philadelphia 76ers and Philadelphia Flyers.

Slated to open in 2031, with the potential to accelerate to an earlier date, the new facility will be one of the finest, most technologically advanced, and sustainable sports and entertainment arenas in the country. In addition, the partnership will include a 50-50 venture to invest in the revitalization of Market East in Center City.

By committing to both investments, the partnership will create thousands of jobs, generate billions of dollars in economic activity for the city, region and state, and enhance commitments to create economic opportunity in neighborhoods across Philadelphia. In addition, Comcast is planning to take a minority stake in the 76ers and will join with HBSE to bid to bring a WNBA team to the city. 

“This is a great day for Philadelphia and the fans of our storied sports franchises,” said Brian L. Roberts, Chairman and CEO, Comcast Corporation. “We are grateful to Mayor Parker and Governor Shapiro for their leadership and are thrilled to work together to develop the premier sports and entertainment destination in the nation that will benefit the region for decades to come.”

“From the start, we envisioned a project that would be transformative for our city and deliver the type of experience our fans deserve. By coming together with Brian and Comcast, this partnership ensures Philadelphia will have two developments instead of one, creating more jobs and real, sustainable economic opportunity,” said HBSE’s Josh Harris, David Blitzer, and David Adelman. “We are grateful to Mayor Parker, Council President Johnson, Council Member Squilla, Governor Shapiro, our partners in labor and the many community and business leaders who supported us throughout this process. This is a massive win for our fans and for the city.”

“Today’s announcement is great news for the City of Philadelphia,” said NBA Commissioner Adam Silver. “I greatly appreciate the leadership of Mayor Parker and Governor Shapiro and the willingness of HBSE and Comcast to join forces, the result of which will be a world-class arena for 76ers and Flyers fans, with opportunities for more teams to come.” 

“We’re thrilled to see Comcast Spectacor and HBSE unite to deliver a new state-of-the-art arena in South Philadelphia. For the past 58 years, in both the Spectrum and Wells Fargo Center, those arenas and Flyers’ fans have consistently produced an atmosphere that is among the best in sports. This visionary and forward-looking facility will take the fan experience to a whole new level where the great pride and passion of Philadelphia sports fans will continue to be on full display,” said Gary Bettman, NHL Commissioner.

The new arena partnership is a joint venture with equal board representation and an HBSE representative serving as the Chair. Comcast will have the naming rights to the venue. HBSE and Comcast will also immediately focus on Market East, bringing together government officials and local stakeholders to develop a variety of options to revitalize a vital neighborhood in Center City where the 76ers had originally proposed locating the arena.

“We firmly believe we are better working together for Philadelphia,” said Dan Hilferty, Chairman and CEO of Comcast Spectacor. “This new arena will complement other exciting developments in the area, including Comcast Spectacor’s and the Philadelphia Phillies’ plans to create the country’s top sports and entertainment district.  We will all work closely together to create an unmatched experience for the fans while developing a vibrant mixed-use district that serves our community.”

Looking over that again, the line about Comcast taking a stake in the Sixers jumps off the page. My understanding was that they were taking a stake in the Sixers’ bid for a WNBA team, so maybe we’ll get some clarification there at the 11:30 press conference with Mayor Parker. Also notice that the Eagles are not mentioned, but the Phillies are. With three of the four teams now committed to this mixed-use plan, the football domino will be the last one to fall.

The post Here’s the Official News Release on the New Flyers + Sixers South Philly Arena appeared first on Crossing Broad.

But now we’ve had two in two weeks, and since we’re a fair and balanced blog, we have to share these clips, or else we’re hypocrites.

Here’s Dunphy fighting some dude in the parking lot:

Look who was in Brawl in the parking lot before today’s game! pic.twitter.com/f9zkDhYmsX

— Sgt. Mark Fusetti (Retired) (@MarkFusetti) January 13, 2025

We hit up Dunphy and will update the story if he wants to add some background here, but otherwise there’s no context, just this clip. To be totally honest, if you’re gonna fight, this is how you fight. 1v1, just two guys squaring up. If this was Dallas or San Fran it would be 4v1 or 3v2 or some other such nonsense. It’s never a fair fight. But this looks like sanctioned MMA. It starts with standup and there’s a brief clinch, then Dunph channels his inner Dagestani wrestler with the double leg takedown. At that point, the third guy gets in there to break it up, but it’s hard to tell because the guy filming can’t keep the camera straight and also sounds like a drunk Cajun who just did an entire rack of whippets.

The post Dunphy Fighting Some Guy in the Parking Lot appeared first on Crossing Broad.

Johnson’s name might be familiar to some of our readers since he was program director at 97.5 the Fanatic from 2017 to 2020. He took over at WPEN after Matt Nahigian was let go. Nahigian is now out in San Francisco, running their Audacy station.

Anyway, Johnson had rejoined Beasley after departing 97.5 back in the day, so this would mark the second time he’s been let go by the same company. That’s how brutal and unforgiving the radio industry is. And you’ll recall that Beasley recently laid off Andre Gardner after more than 20 years on the air, so WMGK has been stripped almost entirely. The station now has Matt Cord as the only full-time host, I think, and apparently they voice track rest of the programming, which I’ll try to triple check and confirm at some point today.* Voice tracking is when you record ins and outs to make it sound like there’s a DJ, when a robot is actually running most of the show.

It sucks, but it’s the reality of terrestrial music radio in a Spotify and YouTube world. Everyone’s been tinkering with automation because you don’t need a DJ to play AC/DC these days, or, in the Philadelphia region, Pearl Jam for the four millionth time. Enough with the fucking Pearl Jam already. There are other bands besides Pearl Jam. And if you’re gonna play Jane’s Addiction or Rush, those bands have other songs besides “Been Caught Stealing” and “Tom Sawyer.” Let me hear “Just Because” or “Subdivisions” on the radio just once before I die. Christ almighty. Good morning.

*Okay I was able to gather some information on this. WMGK does have someone local voice tracking afternoons now. Eric Johnson mentioned in his Facebook post that he was midday host at a Boston station, so he was voice tracking that show from Philadelphia. They’re also having one of the Detroit hosts voice track the WMGK evening show, so basically what you’re listening to is a stripped down set of stations that are functioning like a cluster. You’ll hear the same hosts in Philadelphia, Boston, Detroit, etc, as they voice track shows in the other markets.

The post Beasley Lays Off WMGK Program Director and Midday Host, who Used to Run 97.5 the Fanatic (UPDATED) appeared first on Crossing Broad.

See now this is good because he’s getting out in front of it here and controlling the narrative. As soon as they showed him on the sideline reading a book, you knew someone was gonna run with the “A.J. is not focused” and/or “A.J. Brown is unhappy” storyline. That he’s not getting enough targets or isn’t dialed in or whatever people can come up. Perhaps they will push that thought regardless, the here’s bibliophile A.J. telling everyone that there’s no controversy.

If you prefer, video form:

I asked AJ Brown if he was frustrated on the sideline while reading a book during a playoff game.

He laughed and said he just likes to read. pic.twitter.com/F2hbB9uZOl

— Zach Gelb (@ZachGelb) January 13, 2025

“I was not frustrated at all. I figured that’s what y’all probably thought. I wasn’t frustrated. Why y’all always think I be frustrated? I read the book. I like to read.”

Good to have that all cleared up. If A.J. is looking for a couple of more books to read, I recommend Nietzsche’s Thus Spoke Zarathustra and Jon Sciezka’s The Stinky Cheese Man. 

The post Bibliophile A.J. Brown Says He was Not Frustrated on the Eagles Sideline appeared first on Crossing Broad.

GROWN MAN TOUCHDOWN FROM DALLAS GOEDERT

(via @Eagles)pic.twitter.com/GSfzxgqnhl

— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) January 12, 2025

Initially it looked like a broken tackle and two stiff arms, but they showed a replay from a different angle where he comes through the first bit of contact with his forearm up in the shoulder/helmet area and therefore we are going to call this a triple stiff-arm.

Incredible play. The angriest run you will ever see. If that didn’t get you up off the couch, you’re a lifeless football husk. It was grown man football and it came during a portion of the game when the Eagles’ offense was sputtering and needed a score. Jalen Hurts threw a quick pass behind Goedert, who caught it and kept his balance somehow, then embarrassed the same guy three times in a row en route to the end zone. It has to go down as one of the all-time great Eagles plays, right? I can’t be the only one thinking this. It was one of the nastiest catch-and-run sequences in franchise history. Here are some awesome shots from Bill Streicher for IMAGN Images:

The post The Dallas Goedert Triple Stiff-Arm is One of the Best Eagles Plays Ever appeared first on Crossing Broad.

Was it pretty? Not necessarily. But it was a playoff win and you take it however you can get it. Green Bay was sloppy and turned the ball over, the Birds punished them early, then went through a slog of a second quarter before extending the lead and putting the game away. They made more plays and committed fewer bonehead mistakes, and that’s typically what’s going to win you a football game.

Jalen Hurts did not play particularly well, just 13 completions for 131 yards and 37 on the ground, but he held on to the ball and didn’t give it away, which was the catalyst for most of the Eagles’ 13 prior wins. The defense conceded just 10 points and didn’t allow Jordan Love to do much of anything through the air.

It shouldn’t be lost on anyone that these games are rarely perfect. The year the Birds won it all, that first home contest against the Falcons was nerve-wracking, and came down to a late stop and a nailbiter of a Julio Jones end zone target. There was a pass that came of Keanu Neal’s knee and a few bounces went the Eagles’ way. From there, the offense woke up in the NFC title game and Super Bowl, and the rest is history.

So we take this W and move on. Jalen hopefully shook off some of the rust and will be better next week.

To the observations:

1) What a start on special teams. Oren Burks laying the wood! It looked like Keisean Nixon got the ball back in the scrum, and the refs did review the play, but upheld the call on the field. Was that the right decision? Either way, great job Jeremiah Trotter Jr. digging that ball out and fighting for it.

2) Raise your hand if you had Jahan Dotson scoring a touchdown in the playoffs, let alone the first touchdown. Yeah, me neither. The offensive line was incredible on that play. Look at this pocket:

3) Nolan Smith with the biggest sack of his life thus far. 3rd down, inside move, chases down Jordan Love, then Green Bay is punting. He stepped up after Brandon Graham went down earlier in the year.

4) Please don’t tell me I saw a BUBBLE SCREEN on third down. For who? For what? Why would you ever ask DeVonta Smith to block in space anyway? It just doesn’t make any sense. That page in the Eagles’ playbook should be torn out and sent to the pyre.

5) That first Jalen Hurts read and pull was a thing of beauty. Turned a huge loss into a huge gain and got down to slide and protect himself at the same time.

6) Big Play Slay! Never said anything bad about the guy. First playoff interception. You can’t play that any better. The technique was perfect.

7) Please never play Seven Nation Army at Lincoln Financial Field ever again. It’s unoriginal and it’s a college football song anyway. It’s the most overplayed stadium anthem in the history of stadium anthems.

8) Running it with Saquon Barkley on 3rd and 12… Dunno. Tom Brady made a good point about playing it safe there, punting it away, and trying to keep some momentum for yourself. Only problem is that the kick was returned for 23 yards so the resulting field flip wasn’t much of anything at all.

9) Slay went out on the 4th Green Bay drive, so Isaiah Rodgers had to come in for him. He had a huge PBU in the end zone which wound up being called back for a penalty anyway, but to come in cold and make a solid play is impressive.

10) Nakobe Dean left the game injured, but he did so forcing a 3rd and 13 that ultimately led to a missed field goal. He walked off the field but was then carted off and immediately ruled out, which makes you fear an ACL or something worse. Totally sucks.

11) After the Baun interception, they run Saquon for six yards, then pass, pass, false start, punt. There was a defensive pass interference in there that was not called, but regardless, you gotta come away with a field goal attempt there. That was piss poor even with the refs being blind.

12) Kevin Burkhardt called that 3rd down pass “a dirtball from Hurts,” but all know the proper term is “worm burner.” An homage to Donovan McNabb. Number five will always love you!

Coincidentally, my Philadelphia Eagles grindcore album is titled “Worm Burner” –

13) You can’t be +3 in turnover differential at halftime with only a 10 point lead. Going 1 for 6 on third down was the biggest culprit for why they couldn’t open the game up and extend the advantage. A couple of crap play calls and some rusty/ineffective QB play will do that for ya.

14) Poor drive coming out of halftime. Deserved boos. You run Saquon a couple of times, good, then you take a two-yard loss and Hurts kills the drive with a bad sack. Gotta scramble or get rid of the ball.

15) Reed Blankenship was in position to make a play on that 3rd and 2 that Love heaved up there for Dontayvion Wicks. Maybe the ball was a little underthrown, but he couldn’t seem to turn and locate with enough time to get up there and contest it.

16) Agree with Brady on the Quinyon Mitchell DPI. Wicks did a little bit of acting, but there was contact on the turn upfield and enough to warrant a whistle. Good response from Mitchell, though, because on the ensuing set of downs he was targeted twice and both passes fell incomplete, resulting in a field goal instead.

Eagles called for pass interference. pic.twitter.com/SEFrcWDvIo

— Rate the Refs App (@Rate_the_Refs) January 12, 2025

17) Holy shit! That Dallas Goedert touchdown reception will go down as one of the great plays in Eagles history. Not joking! First of all, the pass was terrible. A blitz beater and quick release, sure, but the fact that he even caught it and stayed on his feet was incredible. Then you tread the sidelines while stiff arming the same guy in the face, twice? That was awesome. That is grown man, big boy football.

WHAT A DAMN BULLY pic.twitter.com/YfgG6pujci

— Warren Sharp (@SharpFootball) January 12, 2025

18) Jake Elliott shanked an extra point. Hope that poor woman didn’t get hit in the face again.

19) Defense was disappointing following the Goedert touchdown. Green Bay went 77 yards on eight plays, including the Josh Jacobs run where the three-fifths of the secondary couldn’t bring him down. They converted a 3rd and 7 but were ahead of the sticks for every other play of the drive. There was a chance to build some momentum there and the D couldn’t keep them out.

20) Hate to say it, but Mitchell with a bit of Asante Samuel tackling on that Packers drive. It’s the postseason, you’re gonna have to get in there and make a hit even if you don’t want to.

21) The fake tush push… they had it. Just missed. But that’s the beauty of going on 3rd and 1, knowing that you’re gonna have 4th and 1 to do the same thing.

22) Not sure what Burkhardt was talking about when he thought the Nixon penalty was soft. Nixon didn’t push Barkley very hard, but they were way out of bounds and he could have easily just taken his hands off of him. Give the dumb refs a reason to throw the flag and they will.

23) They made it a two-possession game with a little more than seven minutes remaining in the game. That was a weird drive, and wracked by penalties on both sides, and a wasteful Eagles timeout, but 13 plays for 58 yards over 7:23 for a crucial field goal is a positive outcome.

24) What book do we think A.J. Brown was reading on the sideline? War and Peace? The Stinky Cheese Man? Thus Spoke Zarathustra? They later revealed it was this:

25) The Packers were doing what exactly on that final drive? A couple of runs without Josh Jacobs? Then you throw on 4th and 3 and the receiver comes down out of bounds? Yeesh. That was a gift. Then they committed a stupid penalty when the Eagles got the ball back, Elliott hit from 32 yards, and that was all she wrote.

The post Inner Excellence – 25 Immediate Observations from Eagles 22, Packers 10 appeared first on Crossing Broad.

BREAKING: 76ers Arena is not happening.

I’ll let the Parker administration confirm the details.

— Ernest Owens (@MrErnestOwens) January 12, 2025

Sources are telling me that NBA Commissioner Adam Silver, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and Comcast President Brian Roberts have talked the Sixers into staying in South Philly.

Mayor Parker is expected to give a press conference tomorrow at 11 am.

The 76ers Arena backpedal.

— Ernest Owens (@MrErnestOwens) January 12, 2025

#BREAKING Sixers to remain in South Philly, abandoning plans to build a Center City arena, officials sayhttps://t.co/apdxeLOg7R

— The Philadelphia Inquirer (@PhillyInquirer) January 12, 2025

Alright, so I talked to some sources familiar with what’s going on. Basically after the holidays, AFTER the arena deal was approved by city council, Comcast and the Sixers re-engaged on talks, and this all came about rather quickly.

1) There will be a new combination basketball + hockey arena built in South Philly ahead of the 2031 season that is going to be a 50/50 partnership between HBSE and Comcast. The deal was essentially revisited at the last minute with Brian Roberts leading the charge, not Dan Hilferty, and it included more of what the Sixers were looking for when initially proposed. It sounds to me like Comcast conceded more at the final moment in terms of building management and scheduling. 2) Comcast will join a Sixers bid for a WNBA expansion team. Sources explained it to me as the Sixers leading that effort and Comcast having a stake in it.  3) With 76 Place out of the picture, both the Sixers and Comcast will partner on a more generic redevelopment project for Market Street, obviously not including a sports venue. 4) RE: Union labor, they’re actually going to get two jobs now, one, building this new arena in South Philly and two, working on these Market Street projects. 5) Renewed conversations between Comcast and the Sixers did not start until after Christmas, and this agreement wasn’t finished until the last 72 hours. Despite getting City Council approval, they still had a couple of  hoops to jump through before starting with demolition.

So basically there are two theories here. The first one is that the Sixers had to go all the way to full Council approval to create enough leverage to get a fair deal from Comcast. In layman’s terms, it was the world’s biggest game of chicken. The second theory is that the Sixers couldn’t get over a late hurdle and had no choice but to re-engage Comcast at the last minute (there were some rumors floating around about financing, but I don’t think they ever turned into a legitimate report). I’m not totally sure. But it’s really fascinating because the two sides were absolutely killing each other behind the scenes for more than two years. Comcast was meeting with Chinatown and the various opposition groups, and trying to work various commerce and business organizations in Philadelphia while the Sixers were throwing money at Jeff Brown’s mayoral campaign and whatnot. It was really bad for decent stretch of time, to the point where you wondered if that relationship was irreparable. About a year ago, Comcast switched up their leadership and made a change in the public relations staff and arena approach, so the tensions finally did cool off in the second part of 2024 and it seems like Brian Roberts was the figure who was key calming things down and getting both sides back to the table.

CliffsNotes: it’s now two projects instead of one. There’s the downtown Market Street component, without the arena, then the Sixers + Flyers combination building for 2031. I’ll ask around to see if we can get more details on that before a Monday press conference.

The post The Sixers Arena is No More – Here’s What’s Happening Instead appeared first on Crossing Broad.

Introducing your 2024 All-Pro Eagles pic.twitter.com/eZMbaXWkXZ

— Philadelphia Eagles (@Eagles) January 10, 2025

Funny how Jordan Mailata didn’t make the Pro Bowl but was named to the All-Pro second team. That was predicted by some folks who thought the hamstring injury and missed time is what kept him off the Pro Bowl roster.

The big takeaway beyond that is Zack Baun being a first teamer. This guy was just sitting there on the Saints’ roster, Howie Roseman plucked him, threw him a one-year deal, and Vic Fangio made him a Pro Bowl and All-Pro player. Seeing his name listed there next to Fred Warner and Roquan Smith really is something. He was just as good as any linebacker in the NFL this season, and he’s going to get paid, if not here, then somewhere else.

That’s the one thing that does kind of suck. Was there an opportunity to lock him up earlier? He’s played at the level of the guys earning $10 million+, and is worth least $6-7 million, which is the range where you’re finding linebackers of his age in 2025. The guy deserves every dollar, and hopefully it’s gonna be with the Eagles, but if he can get “the bag” elsewhere, then you can’t blame him for taking it.

The post Six Eagles Earn All-Pro Selections appeared first on Crossing Broad.

BREAKING: Macy’s Center City store in Philadelphia’s historic Wanamaker building is one of the 65 Macy’s stores closing. The Philadelphia store is 400,000 square feet & right across the street from Philadelphia City Hall. The Philly store is closing in March. pic.twitter.com/VUQRf0AUlh

— Steve Keeley (@KeeleyFox29) January 9, 2025

First things first, this is an L for Kyle Pagan and a W for the suburban patriots, who will point to the stabbing death of the security guard and make general allegations that companies don’t want anything to do with Center City because of crime. Maybe there’s something to it, maybe not, and only Macy’s knows. Sometimes there are multiple reasons for closing a store, and this is just one of many being shuttered. In addition to the Philly store, they are closing the Exton Mall location, and two more in Altoona and Wilkes Barre. The only New Jersey store to shut down is in Orange while everything else in the region is remaining open. That includes KOP, Springfield Mall, Willow Grove, and the half-dozen or so Macy’s in South Jersey.

But yeah, it’s a bummer. There was a lot of history with the Philly location, which is inside the Wanamaker building. You had the Christmas Light Show with the massive tree and it was a holiday destination for a long time. Definitely became part of the city’s culture and you’d walk through and check out the display with your kids or your girlfriend or whatever.

There’s an opportunity here to reimagine the Wanamaker building, which is a few blocks up from the new Sixers’ arena site. If you’re looking at the development of East Market Street as a larger thing, now these two stories are linked together. If city officials get it right, they can make that corridor really nice, and it needs attention badly, because it’s pretty much dreck right now.

The post The Center City Macy’s is Closing appeared first on Crossing Broad.

13 wins, three losses, and a run to the College Football Playoff semifinal. There are more than 125 Division 1 college football programs that would call this a great season, maybe their best ever, but not Penn State, because the goal has always been to break through that ceiling and become a national title winner. To beat the Ohio States and Michigans of this world. They’ve been knocking on the door for years and just cannot get over the top five hump, so with the weight of expectations framing the narrative, the resulting feelings are largely negative.

You look through that schedule and see they lost three games to teams that were ranked in the top five at the time of the contest. The Penn State boogeyman. “Can’t win the big one.” At the end of the regular season, their best win was 9-3 Illinois at home, a team that had a good bowl win over South Carolina to finish 10-3. If you put Illinois up against SMU and Boise State, say 10 times on a neutral field, what’s the split? 5-5? 6-4? If we’re trying to determine what PSU’s best win was, you could make a case for any of those three teams. There’s really not a ton separating them. But SMU and Boise aren’t getting a lot of wider respect because one finished as the ACC runner up and the other didn’t play in a power conference. They just weren’t Big 10 or SEC quality.

Now, to James Franklin, and here’s my problem with the day-after discussion –

If you say it’s on him for not recruiting better players, then every loss in the history of college sports can be pinned on the head coach. The “Big Game James” bit isn’t necessarily about recruiting or talent, it’s more about singular in-game decisions, like kicking a field on 4th and 1 or punting inside the opponent’s territory. He didn’t have any glaring bonehead issues like that Thursday night, unless you want to argue that they should have gone conservative at the end to play for overtime instead of letting Drew Allar throw the ball. That was more of a “feel out the situation” type of decision vs. any one singular choice, so it sort of fits the theme, and sort of doesn’t at the same time. He’s either gonna get killed for being too aggressive or too soft in that situation, though Allar certainly was not having a good game and maybe the head coach should have put more stock in that.

Franklin is a little cringe in general, the way he speaks and does these press conferences, which understandably invites the pile on. But it results in this thing where we’re so anxious to kill him that we maybe stray off the path a little bit in the process of fairly analyzing these games. Is it on Franklin for not recruiting better receivers? Okay, yeah, sure. I’d also put a bit of the blame on Andy Kotelnicki for not establishing the downfield passing game and exploring play action in the first half, when the run game was gashing. But that’s splitting hairs. If Allar is just a little bit better, then Penn State wins the Orange Bowl, and we’re not having this discussion at all. If the corner doesn’t slip and fall on his butt, with PSU up 24-17 deep into the fourth quarter, then maybe things are different. If they get one more break or one more play from the quarterback, they’re in the natty. The margins are razor-thin at the highest level of sport.

The post As Much as I’d Love to Kill James Franklin for the Orange Bowl Loss, I Just Can’t Do It appeared first on Crossing Broad.

After completing the entire series I am now prepared to rank my top five characters:

5) Andrea Jinglebells

Andrea is the wife of David, a wimpy New York guy who isn’t into sports and instead prefers the liberal arts and his garden. She’s the Senior Vice President of Public Relations for the robotics company Humantis and spends more time on her phone putting out fires than paying attention to her husband. As such, she’s the perfect representation of the modern workaholic who is obsessed with their job and can’t leave it alone.

The side effect is that Andrea is probably the smartest character on the show, identifying an opportunity, for example, to capitalize on Mark Hoagies’ viral YouTube celebrity and later outmaneuvering a Bolivian drug lord.

“What if I could offer you something way better than a stupid Mr. Cupcake performance? How about a fleet of private security drones?”

4) Steve DelVecchio

A random choice perhaps, but every series needs a good antagonist and Steve DelVecchio is the closest thing to it. He’s a recurring villain of sorts, a smarmy Italian guy who works in ticket sales for the Philadelphia Eagles and wears a Super Bowl ring and boat shoes. He’s smug and condescending and featured heavily in the football episode, when Mark convinces the Birds’ owner to make him the head coach.

Steve is the perfect foil because his holier-than-thou attitude is what motivates Mark to prove him wrong.  We definitely need to see Steve DelVecchio featured in season two.

“Let me ask you something – why the hell would they run the ball when they’re down by 14 with no time outs?”

3) the Jersey Devil

Episode #3, The Devil You Know, was my favorite of season one. It follows Mark and Hank as they attempt to retrieve a boomerang that ends up in the woods, but they stumble upon a spooky mansion and accidentally free a demonic creature that’s locked in the attic.

But the twist is that the creature isn’t demonic at all. The Jersey Devil is just misunderstood. He’s not Satan; his dad is. He winds up connecting with Mark’s stepson, Darren, and spends the episode trying to resist his innate urge for bloodlust.

It’s funny, because in folklore the Jersey Devil is described as a bipedal sort of creature with wings, and in UBG he’s given goat horns and a tail, which makes him look like a chill, cartoon version of the ubiquitous heavy metal Baphomet. Throw in some added comedy from his elderly caretakers and the episode is ridiculous in a good way.

“You know, I never get to make any friends. But you guys seem cool.”

2) Mark Hoagies

Mark is the series’ main character and, of course, has to be on the list. He’s equal parts idiotic and courageous, and oftentimes his motivations are pure. For instance, when he challenges local first responders in episode five, he’s not doing it to one-up them, but to save lives. And when he joins a local, men-only country club, he’s not doing it for himself, but to change the culture from within, and allow his wife to join.

The general theme of season 1 is Mark trying to prove himself, and coming from a good place, then finding a way to screw it up before accidentally stumbling into a solution.

“Nice job boys, let’s run it again.”

1) Tammy Hoagies

UBG is set in the fictional world of Glantontown, located in South Jersey. Of all the characters, the one who most represents the area is Tammy Hoagies, voiced by Philadelphia native Talia Genevieve, who you might know from the popular “Aunt Terri” social media account.

Tammy is one of those women who has a real job, working as a nurse while her deadbeat husband sits around and does nothing. She’s divorced and lost custody of her teenage son, who spends most of his visits playing on the computer. She watches murder mysteries on television and keeps up with the latest hair and fashion trends. You can’t conceive a more appropriate character.

“Did you really think I wasn’t gonna find out that your whole frickin’ face is missing?”

honorable mention: Murph, the South Jersey neighbor who always “knows a guy”

The post Ranking My Top Five Characters from Universal Basic Guys appeared first on Crossing Broad.

Notre Dame picks off Drew Allar late in the fourth pic.twitter.com/F0SZvM5fFa

— ESPN (@espn) January 10, 2025

You can normally boil these Penn State losses down to one or two moments, or a singular boneheaded James Franklin decision, but there was a ton going on here.

Of note:

• Allar did not complete a single pass to a receiver in this game. He finished 12 for 23 for 135 yards and an interception, and all 12 of those passes were caught by the tight ends and running backs.
• They REALLY could have used seven points on that first scoring drive, but Allar had a wide-open Nick Singleton on third down and threw it at his knees, which resulted in a field goal instead.
• There was a sequence later when Allar had Singleton open down the sideline and overthrew him. That would have gone for 50+.
• One of Notre Dame’s linemen took an obvious cheap shop on Abdul Carter, who was laying on the ground after a Riley Leonard pass had already been thrown. The broadcast barely even mentioned it and we only got one replay. He was also being held on every other play.
• As much as Franklin stinks, I’m not sure there’s much in this game to get on him for. That decision to go on 4th and 2 was the catalyst for the first touchdown and the 10-point lead. Penn State came out of halftime flat, and if you want to pin that on him, sure, but if his guys go out and make one more play in this game, they’re in the Natty. If the corner doesn’t fall on his butt and the safety doesn’t get juked out of his pants in the open field (tough play to make), then it’s a different game. They ran the ball 42 times and Andy K called a pretty good game. I think we’re nitpicking if we’re trying to pin this thing squarely on the head coach and OC as some catch-all “it starts and ends with them” kind of thing.
• Greg McElroy mushed Allar when he was talking all about how he doesn’t put the ball in harm’s way. Next thing you know – bam, interception, field goal, ball game. Terrible throw from a guy who should know better.
• The irony should be not lost on anyone that Penn State’s season ended with Allar throwing a lateral out of bounds. It’s a desperation heave, of course, but a perfect snapshot of the game itself.

There was a lot of talk going into the season about the downfield passing game, and whether or not it improved. It did, but not enough, because that was ultimately their undoing, albeit after going all the way to the semifinal. I remember the discussion like it was yesterday, all of the WVU/Penn State previews that were written, talking about the relatively unheralded receiving corps and how Allar just didn’t have the weapons they thought he needed. Tyler Warren and a power running game was good enough, and put 24 points on the board against Notre Dame. Only Louisville and Southern Cal scored that many points against a high-quality Irish defense. Knowing how good Penn State’s D is, 24 points should have gotten the job done, and it may have, had the execution been just a little bit better.

People will put this on Franklin, and I get it. I’m not out here defending the dude, and he’s obviously the one responsible for putting together that receiver group and coaching up the team, along with myriad assistants. But this thing was razor-close in the second half and could have gone either way. This wasn’t the classic “James Franklin makes a dumbass decision” type of thing that we’re used to. It was a back-and-forth game and they just came up short.

Regardless, Franklin is now 1-15 vs. AP top 5 opponents during his PSU tenure. And Penn State is what they were last year and year before, a great team that just can’t break through the top-four ceiling to become elite. Now the season is over. It’ll be the Domers vs. Ohio State or Texas in the Natty. Hook ’em!

The post Penn State Lost, Drew Allar Didn’t Complete a Pass to a Receiver, and James Franklin Just Can’t Win the Big One appeared first on Crossing Broad.

All three of WIP’s main dayparts saw increases from the Summer, while the Fanatic dipped across the board.

As a reminder, when we do these posts, we focus on Nielsen meters plus streaming, using the men 25-54 demographic. WIP has a total number separated into streaming and over the air, while 97.5 has both of those wrapped into a singular number, known as “total line reporting.”

Mornings

• 94 WIP: 15.6 (4.8 stream, 10.8 over the air)
• 97.5 the Fanatic: 3.8

This was a nice jump for the WIP morning show, which posted an 11.5 in the Summer. They finished #2 in the market, behind Preston and Steve, who dropped a 21.2 megaton bomb on our heads. WMMR continues to broadcast a monstrosity in the morning.

For the Fanatic, 3.8 was good enough for a fifth-place finish.

Midday

• 94 WIP: 15.6 (3.2 stream, 12.4 over the air)
• 97.5 the Fanatic: 3.8

This was the key time slot of the Fall book, with all eyes on Mike Missanelli’s return. In his first full book from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., Mikey Miss and Bill Colarulo finished #8 overall. Joe Giglio and Hugh Douglas were #1 with a 15.6, which represents the highest number they have ever done.

What’s most interesting is that WIP middays never used to come close to pulling numbers similar to the morning show or afternoon show. That goes back several years now, through the Angelo Cataldi and Jon Marks eras. But over the summer, Joe and Hugh posted a 14.0, which represented an increase of six full ratings points in five books. If you add in this number, they’re now up 6.6 ratings points over the past 18 months. It’s a meteoric rise in this daypart.

Afternoons

• 94 WIP: 15.5 (2.7 stream, 12.8over the air)
• 97.5 the Fanatic: 3.4

The trio of Spike Eskin, Ike Reese, and Jack Fritz had another strong showing, finishing #1 in this time slot.

In Bala, The Best Show Ever? finished 10th, dropping below 4.0 for the first time in a minute. For more than a year now, Tyrone Johnson and Ricky Bo have outperformed the other day parts at 97.5, but this time they finished slightly behind Mikey Miss and the John Kincade/Andrew Salciunas duo.

Evenings

• 94 WIP: 12.3 (1.8 stream, 10.5 over the air)
• 97.5 the Fanatic: 2.4

No surprises here, as the Phillies helped WIP to an easy #1 finish. Fanatic was 13th.

Prime

• 94 WIP: 15.3 (3.6 stream, 11.7 over the air)
• 97.5 the Fanatic: 3.6

Across all time slots, WIP finished first in the market. WPEN was 8th.

Takeaways?

That is obviously a disappointing number for Mikey Miss in his first full book since returning in the Summer. Fanatic middays pulled a 4.4 in the prior ratings period, which included one month of Bill and Mike and two months of Bob Cooney and a rotating crop of hosts.

Still, 3.8 tied Kincade and Salciunas, and did slightly better than The Best Show Ever?, so take that for what it’s worth. This time last year, Fanatic mornings and middays were in the 2.8 to 3.3 range, so depending on how Fanatic management looks it, they could frame this as year-over-year improvement despite the needle not moving very much.

This is a ratings period typically dominated by 94 WIP to begin with, because they’re the Eagles and Phillies rights holder and benefit from both the NFL regular season and MLB playoffs. The Phils disappointed everyone this year, so they didn’t provide the same bump we saw in 2023 and 2022, but WIP hums along anyway, like a well-oiled machine. WIP has a Ted Nugent stranglehold on this men 25 to 54 demographic.

PLAY THE SONG:

The post RADIO WARS: 94 WIP Trounces 97.5 the Fanatic in Fall Book as the Mike Missanelli Needle Fails to Move appeared first on Crossing Broad.

Cooper DeJean was targeted 73 times in his rookie season.

He did not allow a pass TD.#Eagles

— Jeff Kerr (@JeffKerrCBS) January 7, 2025

DeJean played 797 snaps this year. About 150 of those were on special teams, so if you break it out in detail, it’s 550 snaps at slot corner, 52 snaps in the box, and a negligible amount at outside corner or other spots. That’s according to Pro Football Focus data, which also says that DeJean allowed 50 completions on 71 targets, a number slightly different than the one Jeff has in the tweet above. It’s a 70.4 completion percentage, but only amounted to 365 total yards against and 0 touchdowns.

Additionally, there were seven games in which DeJean did not allow a reception of more than 15 yards. He struggled with Adam Thielen in Week 14, but otherwise conceded more than 50 yards just one other time, which was the first Washington game.

The basic stats are excellent as well. Six PBUs, one forced fumble, 51 tackles, a half-sack, and three tackles for loss. His individual numbers are buried a bit, and make for tough league-wide comparisons since he didn’t play as many games as other slot corners, but during the main chunk of the schedule when he was on the field, Cleveland through the second Dallas game, the Eagles’ defense gave up the fewest passing yards in the NFL and held opposing quarterbacks to a 62.1% completion rate. That was 5th lowest. They also conceded just 48 big plays, which was #1 in the league.

The post Cooper DeJean Did Not Allow a Touchdown Reception in his Rookie Year appeared first on Crossing Broad.

Pagan gave the first episode a 7 out of 10. The Union Transfer crowd was mostly Eagles fans in Eagles jerseys, obviously, and the thing I’m most curious about is whether or not Jason has appeal that goes beyond Philadelphia. Jason and Travis both exploded on the scene in the last year or so, but how many New Heights listeners, for example, are Chiefs and Eagles fans? Does the average Saints fan care about any of this? How much of the Taylor Swift + Kylie Kelce influence bleeds into the Jason and Travis side of things in a meaningful way? Some stuff to ponder.

The debut show was linear in a good way. Typical late night, with an opening monologue, a taped skit or two, then a sit-down interview segment with Charles Barkley, Lil’ Dicky, and Baldy. Jeff Stoutland came out to give a pump up speech and then they ended with a fan chug contest that included Dunphy and a could of other guys. Kylie was in the rafters, serving as the show’s Paul Shaffer, and there was a seven-piece band as well.

My main observation: when Jason went off script and was able to be himself, that’s when the episode was at its best. This feels like one of those things that they should underproduce. Let him riff. This show will work if they keep it simple and just talk sports and have a laugh. And sure, he’ll get better at the scripted/skit type of stuff, but they don’t need to do a lot of it. The panel discussion about whether or not the Eagles should go for the rushing record was just as good as anything I heard on television or read online last week. And, of course, this was episode 1. How many shows got it perfect on the first try? How many shows got a bazillion jillion views right out the gate? Not many. (EDIT – I think you also have to note that the show is on YouTube, and clips fly around social media, and there’s so much more to look at beyond just raw TV numbers)

The post Some Thoughts on Jason Kelce’s Late Night Debut, Which Reportedly Got 290,000 Viewers appeared first on Crossing Broad.