What They're Saying About the Eagles

We have a Phillies-free newsletter for you today. Love our Fightins, but we could probably all use a little break.

Let’s talk some football, hockey, and basketball:

In the email today:

• 📝 What They're Saying About the Eagles

• ⬇️ Cutter Gauthier Went from Refusing to Play for the Flyers to Being Benched by the Ducks

• 😱 Sixers Preseason Continues to Be a Hall of Horrors

  • 📆 This Day in Philly Sports History

  • 📊 Poll

  • 🔗 Links

  • 📺 Coming Up

The best Eagles coverage is always local, but it’s helpful to get a national perspective occasionally.

Here’s a look at what they’re saying about your Birds against the Giants this week:

From USA Today: All four analysts picked the Eagles to win.

“With the return of A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith, the Eagles' passing offense looked far better. Still, Philly didn’t necessarily put Cleveland away. The Giants, though, have questions on offense, though Malik Nabers should be making his return. New York is well-coached; Philadelphia has the better roster. I think talent wins out in this one.”

From NFL.com: Four of five analysts on the site picked the Eagles over the Giants.

“Philadelphia has been confounding from a picks perspective. Even with a potent offense and talented defense, the Eagles tend to play at the level of whomever is on the other sideline . . . So why not give the scrappy Giants a chance to steal one from their divisional rivals at home? Simple: The Eagles have seduced me with their star power yet again.”

From CBS Sports: Giants 24 - Eagles 20.

“The Eagles didn't look good in beating the Browns last week, while the Giants lacked offense in their loss to the Bengals. The Giants defense is playing well, while the Eagles offense is not. The Giants will get back receiver Malik Nabers in this one, which will matter in a big way. The Giants win it in an upset.”

From Sporting News: All six analysts picked the Eagles to win.

“Eagles 24, Giants 14 . . . Eagles are 3-2, but you wouldn't know it with the noise around coach Nick Sirianni. Philadelphia did not commit a turnover in Week 5, and Jalen Hurts and Saquon Barkley will need to get more out of their high-volume carries against the Giants. That interior matchup with Dexter Lawrence – who has seven sacks – will be pivotal. Brian Daboll is on an actual hot seat for a team that averages 10 points per game in three home losses.”

From Bleacher Report: Seven of eight analysts picked the Eagles (-3.5) to cover.

”It’s the former Giants RB revenge game in New York. This spread is suspiciously low because the Eagles haven't won back-to-back games yet this season and their average margin of victory is barely more than a field goal. The Giants have played games closer than their talent probably warrants, almost all in part to Dexter Lawrence II and the defense's genuinely impressive performance. That won't be enough here.”

Players force their way out of bad situations all the time. Sometimes they (maybe) exaggerate injuries. Sometimes they hold out for money they know their team won’t pay. Sometimes they decide it’s just safer not to play for the team that drafted them.

The Flyers selected Cutter Gauthier with the fifth pick in the 2022 NHL Draft. They had to trade Gauthier in January to Anaheim for Jamie Drysdale and a 2025 second round pick because Gauthier didn’t want to be a Flyer.

The underlying premise in all of these situations is that the player is so skilled and so special that the system has to yield to him. Gauthier may turn out to be that special some day. That day is not today.

It’s way too early to make any declarative statements about Gauthier’s future. It is fair to think about whether Gauthier really did himself any favors forcing himself out of Philadelphia.

The Ducks finished seventh in the Pacific Division in 2023-2024, an astounding 22 points behind the expansion Seattle Kraken. Anaheim was that bad on merit. The Ducks’ leading scorer was left wing Frank Vatrano, with 60 points. Center Troy Terry had 54 points. No other Duck had more than 42.

Then you realize that the Ducks are stuck in the same division with the Canucks, Oilers, Kings and Golden Knights. The Oilers were Stanley Cup finalists last season; the Golden Knights lifted the Cup the season before.

Plus, Gauthier missed out on playing with this guy:

Bottom line, based on obviously not very much data and maybe a tinge of bias, it seems like Gauthier talked himself out of a better situation by forcing the trade. The Flyers’ key players are younger and spent most of last season getting better.

As for Gauthier, if he keeps getting himself taken off the ice multiple times a game, his power trip will look worse with each passing day.

Shame, that.

Halloween is still a couple weeks away, but the vibe around the Sixers this preseason is positively terrifying.

Joel Embiid is missing the entire preseason. Paul George went down with a hyperextended knee earlier this week. Sixers fans hope they’ll both be back for the regular season, but that’s anyone’s guess at this point.

But those are big guys who have logged a ton of NBA minutes. They both have lengthy medical charts. Surely, the Sixers wouldn’t have to worry about any of the young guys getting hurt, right?

This was pretty bad in the moment. It could have ended up quite a lot worse.

• McCain suffered a scary fall during Wednesday’s preseason game against the Brooklyn Nets.

• McCain, who was selected 16th overall in June, was attempting to rebound his own missed shot when he lost balance mid-air and fell backward.

• Nick Nurse reported that McCain experienced breathing difficulties post-fall and was taken to the hospital.

The epilogue here is both reassuring and, if you think about it for a minute, super scary.

“Pulmonary contusions”? “Avoided serious injury”? We’re reminded of the time a friend of ours (a weapons dealer) described the possibility of being shot with a .22.

“It’s not a man-stopper, but I wouldn’t want to get hit with it.”

📆 This Day in Philly Sports History

Ok, maybe just a little bit of Phillies baseball today. On October 18, 2009, the Phillies beat the Dodgers in Game 3 of the NLCS.

📊 Poll

Results from Thursday:

People are really down on the Birds.

🔗 Links

• 🔵 The Giants will have Malik Nabers for this weekend’s tilt with the Eagles.

• 🙏 Hopefully, Tony Bennett’s retirement from the University of Virginia at age 55 is just a man who reached the mountaintop walking away (a la Jay Wright).

• 🦚 Philadelphia sports on the ‘cock might be closer than you think.

• 🐍 The Union can make the MLS playoffs if they win and get help.

• ⛳️ A professional golfer — who literally has one job — was penalized for having too many clubs in his bag.

📺 Coming Up

Games before our next send.

October 18, 2024

• Sixers at Magic (preseason), 7:00 p.m. (NBA League Pass)

October 19, 2024

• Union vs. Cincinnati, 6:00 p.m. (Apple TV+)

• Flyers vs. Canucks, 7:00 p.m. (NBC Sports Philadelphia)

October 20, 2024

• Eagles at Giants, 1:05 p.m. (Fox)

Thanks for reading. See you Monday.

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