Playoff Kenny

The Philadelphia Eagles’ 31-7 victory for the NFC title showcased a team with momentum headed into Super Bowl LVII in Arizona.

On the latest episode of the “Inside The Birds” podcast, Adam Caplan and Geoff Mosher provided injury updates and shared sourced film review of the NFC Championship.

Eagles 2nd Year RB Kenny Gainwell is playing the best football of his career during this postseason run

Landon Dickerson

Adam Caplan: “He could not bend his elbow, that is why he did not finish the game. He has a left elbow hyperextension… Now, because they have a bye, it could not have come at a better time here. It’s more of a day-to-day situation, you just have to get the stiffness out and be able to bend it.”

Jalen Hurts

Geoff Mosher: “He did take some hits. As far as we heard, he came out of the game pretty sore, that’s not uncommon. He’s been very up front about this. He has two weeks here. I know some people have wondered if the ground offense you saw against the 49ers and some of the overthrows you’ve seen in the last two games is related to him not being 100%, and it might be, but it’s hard to tell.”

Caplan: “I’ll give the Niners credit. There were some plays where they really got the RPOs. They were so worried about Hurts. There were some plays where they were just standing up and not trying to get upfield. I’ll also give Hurts credit. There were a couple of times where he could have clearly got more yards but he went out of bounds because he did not want to get hit in the shoulder…One person who graded his tape said Hurts moved a couple of times where he perceived pressure, but he also had some passes where he could not step into it.”

Kenneth Gainwell

Caplan: “The numbers don’t show it, but if you really examine it, he had seven explosive plays in 15 touches. The thing that floored me, these smaller backs are closers. He had eight straight plays, eight carries in the fourth quarter. But there were two explosives. One he went right and cut left, I had not seen him do this. You’re finally seeing what they thought he could be. He’s mentally tough, has himself together. He had two beautiful catches.” 

Haason Reddick

Caplan: “Reddick has 13 games out of 19 with at least a sack. He’s relentless. His second-reaction ability to get past the quarterback and then come back and get the guy. This has to be one of the best defensive free agents Howie Roseman has ever signed…I wouldn’t call him the best force player against the run, but when he’s been asked to do it, he’s been good. He’s been better in coverage than anticipated. The little things about his game that people would knock have not been a real problem.”

Avonte Maddox

Mosher: “We should give a lot of credit to Avonte Maddox. We were told he’s not 100%, not what you would normally expect from Avonte Maddox, but he certainly looked good enough to go out there and make plays.

Caplan: “He was definitely back earlier than first anticipated. This was sort of a long shot when he got hurt. He wanted to play, got medically cleared to play, he played limited snaps.

– Benjamin Paul is a staff writer for InsideTheBirds.com.

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