Nolan Smith & More On Returning to Practice

Nolan Smith & More On Returning to Practice

How’s it feel to be back on the practice field, man? It feel good. Happy to be back at practice. Happy to be back at work with my guys, man. It just feel amazing. When you went on, I already you already knew that there was a chance you’d come back for sure. Oh, yeah. Yeah. I knew I was working. I was going to be on the way working back and um just keep my head down and keep working and that’s all I do right now. The room looks a little bit different this week than it did a couple weeks ago. What’s kind of your general outlook on on the state of things? Oh yeah, man. I think we added great additions to the room, man. and we got OG back and then we got JP. So, man, it’s been good, man. And you know, we a bunch of hungry guys ready to go work and go eat. Even though you weren’t able to practice, were there things you’re doing the last month that you felt could help like improve your game, whether that’s watching film or whatever it might be? Yeah, watching film, having a deeper dive into the playbook, you know, knowing the ins and outs and stuff and, you know, being better at my craft. Is there any concern that it’s going to pop up again, the injury? No, I ain’t concerned about that. I ain’t we ain’t worried about that. You know, God God got a plan and you know, we don’t know his plan, but you know, we just stay focused. You mostly lined up on the left side in your career. Are you comfortable going to the right side? Do you get practice at that during the week? Yeah. Yeah, I’m real comfortable over there on the right. Um, you know, we do things based on scheme and stuff like that, but it don’t it really don’t matter. We line up all of us line up both ways. How did you get injured? Oh, man. just playing football, you know, you can’t remember a certain play, but it was just just something that happened real bang bang real quick. Is it against the Rams? Was it in that last game or is it even previous to that? Yeah. Yeah. Against the Rams. How hungry are you to get up, man? Hungry. Hungry and just happy to be out there with my guys, man. Just miss the fellas. You miss the camaraderie. You miss the practicing together. You miss all those type of things. I know how close you are to BG. What was your reaction when he was coming back? Man, I was excited, you know, excited to have OG back in the room, man. You know, I love OG and uh man, he get a game to everybody, man. And he’s just a great person to be around and hang around and be with. Packers have been pretty good at protecting the quarterback. What What are you kind of seeing out of out of their offense, man? The offensive line amazing. You know, they’ve been working good together and um you know, they run the ball well and we got to stop the run. You know, simple things and win the line of scrimmage up front, but they good at up front, too. What are your impressions of Phillips so far, man? I love him. I love his work ethic. I love how he work and um he a great addition to the room. When you welcome in a new teammate, what what do you do to to make them feel at home? Man, I tell them, man, whatever you need from me and as a person, you know, always come holl at me, come talk to me and about the city of Philly. You know, I’ve been up here for about 3 years, so food, spots, everything from that aspect and tell them go get a cheese steak. While you’re not worried about reinjuring your triceps, it it has been multiple triceps injuries. So, how frustrating is it that you can’t shake this particular injury, man? It’s it’s God’s plan, man. God got a plan for us all. And, you know, you can’t get frustrated. You just got to keep your head down and stay working, man. And you know, I don’t get frustrated, you know. I can’t get frustrated. Just got to keep going. One of your one of your signature plays from last year was the um came against the left guard from the Packers. Uh if you recall the play Yeah. Yeah. I just, you know, I wanted to talk about that play, you know, since you brought it up. You know, that guy got hurt on the play and, you know, you really never know. It’s just the heat of the moment. And, um, I I wish him the best. And, you know, we don’t try to aim to hurt people or knock people out of the game. And I know I celebrated after that play, but if I would have known the situation, I probably wouldn’t have celebrated. probably would have tried to make sure he okay, but that you know that um you know that physicality you bring on on that when you when you play that you know that that pulling guy or whatever it is you know does do you worry about with with the tricep and previously had the shoulder about like whether you can keep be being that type of guy considering you know no I don’t worry about that man I always say man it’s the heart it’s the heart and the dog man and I was a small kid all my life and you know I take that play kind of personal just cuz you know they go in that week and circle you and they try Got to find a fish up front, man. That’s all that’s all really what it was about. In what ways do you think Phillips can elevate how power can do man from everything? You know, how he rushes, how he played runs. He a great guy to be around. And man, I’m learning a lot from him just like he learned a lot from us, too. Do you expect to play Monday? Oh, yeah. Hell yeah. Why? Because they have to activate you to the roster. Yeah. Yeah. Have you have you watched uh any of Jiad um playing on the edge? you know, since you were heard, he was one of the guys that kind of stepped in there. It’s kind of, you know, it may not be the same with you and BG and Jen getting acquired, but how do you think, you know, how do you think he did? Were you, you know, did he come to you for advice? Yeah, he came to me for advice a little bit, man. I tried to help him out the best I could, but man, I thought he did amazing. You know, playing with tenacity and effort and that’s all we really can ask and using his hands and playing aggressive up front. You know, we are we aggressive up front team and you know, when you play inside the box and NFL, I tell them SEC is all the same, man. Long as you use your hands, get off blocks and be aggressive, you’ll be all right. You guys got by with, you know, three, four edge rushers. I guess last year, early part of this year, the depth you have now, what’s the value of that overall, man? You know, we don’t see it as ones and twos, man. We see it as, you know, a group alpha and a group delta, man. We all going in like seals and we all going in to do a job. Yeah. Maybe a big picture question on just your perspective as an edge rusher because you know not the only one like three of you guys with tricep injuries. Is there something to an edge rusher with that? What’s kind of kind of the connecting point? Man, you you never know, man. You know, you go out here and play this game with all your heart and all your love, man. And I wish it never happened to any of us really. And um like I say, you know, you can’t predict God’s plan. And you know, God slow you down for a reason and everything has a plan. Your your talent aside, the the kind of like personality that you bring out there, do you think that’s important to this defense to have you out there for that component of it? Man, I tell people, man, I’m a small piece in a big puzzle. And I just bring love, effort, and energy every day. You know, that’s just me and that’s just how I like to play the game. You only can play this game one way, man. And it’s to have fun and be physical, especially on the defensive side of the ball. We ain’t got no ball to fight over or nothing like that. We all pulling together for the same thing, a win, a W. How do you feel about playing in freezing cold temperatures Monday night, man? We done did it before in the link, in the snow. So, it was magical. And they said it might snow up there. So, you know, we not worried about that. I see all y’all with y’all jackets on. I’ll be out there in just a long sleeve for swag. Really, that’s about it. But, man, we could care less about the weather. Thank you, North success. And how do you continue that um on Monday? It always starts up front um and everything. Nine in the run game, but you have a you know O line dominates a line of scrimmage more times than not you’re going to like the outcome of the game. So it started there and we just never lost faith. We continue to work um continue to get better um knowing that we weren’t satisfied where we were, but finally we had the performance that you know is similar to what we know we can be and now you just build on it. So um every week is going to be a different challenge. Um but again we know we have the the men in this locker room. uh to get the job done. Um whether it’s running the ball, whe it’s passing the ball. Um and we just continue to improve. Speaking of the speaking of the challenge, uh Sirani talks a lot about Micah Parsons not just being a threat in the passing game, but really the game on the ground, too. How disruptive is he? Yeah, I don’t know where that like uh narrative came that Micah is only good at passing. Like he’s Micah Parsons for a reason. Um he’s getting paid the amount he’s getting paid for a reason. Um, obviously a very good friend of mine, so it’s always fun going against him, but he’s a challenge and you got to, you know, know where he’s out in the field. Um, get help when you can, have more than two hands on him. Um, you watch film, it pops up every every single game. So, it’s going to be a challenge, but um, challenge that, you know, we’re we’re welcome. Now, now that you got a chance to practice and work with Tankby for I guess months now, what have you learned about him as a player? Um, I think he’s a great great guy. Um, I love his his attitude. I love his energy. Um, I love the way he comes to work every single day. I think he fits great within our running back room. Our running back room right now. We’re missing Ben, but uh with with AJ and Ship and him, it’s probably been my favorite run back room I’ve been a part of. Just not just the talent, just the type of guys and the conversations that we have. Uh, we talk about everything in there and Tank fits perfectly in in that. So, uh, super excited to have him as a teammate and, um, you know, super excited to build off of what we did last week. What do you see with the, uh, the Packers run defense versus what you saw last year in two games? Yeah, I mean, it’s always going to be a difficult challenge against that team. Um, they’re well coached team. Um, every level. They have great players. I’m really impressed with the linebackers. I think, uh, I love the way how they react. Um, I think they have a good feel in the run game. Um, so that’s going to be a challenge for me, you know, doing my job to set them up. Um, so every week’s going to be a challenge and we’re excited for it. You said it a few times over the years. Having been to Lambo, is this is this significant to you? How is it as a football guy playing out there? Um, I mean, I don’t want to diss Lambo field. Uh, but you know, I never played there. I’m excited for the environment and just being a fan of football and the history of it. Um, but it’s not like, you know, I’m not like getting goosebumps cuz I’m going to play uh in Lambo Field. But, uh, yeah, like I said, being a fan of the game, it definitely would be a cool stadium. And for me, you know, that’d be I think I probably have one or two more stadiums. I’ve never played in um as an NFL guy. Uh, so I get to knock that off the list. You talking to some guys that just got here after the trade. So, you know, in what ways can my can you relate to them coming to a new place? you know, is that something you talk with him? Um, yeah, I only one I really got to talk to talk to is Jaier. Um, me and Jer were part of the same agency and in the same draft class. Actually have the same birthday, so I know him before. Um, so I haven’t really got to, you know, chop it up for real with all with all the guys. Um, but yeah, it’s anytime you get a fresh start, it’s like anything in life, like whether you’re a football player, whether you get a new job, whether you’re a new relationship, like you know, you get a pep in your step. So, hopefully that, you know, they’re excited here. Um, you know, hopefully they buy into the culture that we have. Um, and hopefully they have success for us. as as a guy who studies, you know, who knows about running backs obviously throughout the league, it seems like Josh Jacobs has kind of been having some of the same issues, you know, going against stack boxes and everything. Like are are you finding that something like defenses are doing more of this year, like you know, stopping the run game first? Um, yeah. I think I think uh it always goes year by year and I think when you think about last year had a 2,000 yard rusher Derek had 1,900. Um there’s a lot of running backs that had a lot of success. So how do you stop that? Coaches go into the offseason saying where we’re weak at and uh you know where the teams take advantage of us. So, you know, a lot of them are trying to do a better job of, you know, taking care of the run game, especially in a pass heavy league. Um, so yeah, you face a similar similar challenges. Um, he’s a great back. Um, I think, you know, there’s not there’s nothing a part of his game about his game that I think is a negative. He could do every single day. So, it’s going to be a challenge for our defense, but it’s always fun going against a guy like that. How you been asked, is Monday Night Football a big deal to you still in your career? Um, yeah. I mean, Monday Night Football is always a big deal. Um, being a fan of it growing up. Um, I think I’m at that point in my career where like, you know, especially the way last year went and get to playing the big game. Um, you know, there’s not like any game that I’m like, you know, getting goosebumps for anymore. Um, but anytime, you know, anytime you get to go out there and play football, it’s it’s a it’s a blessing. It’s opportunity. And then getting to do it on national stage is fun, too. So, um, definitely take advantage of that. Taquan, how encouraging was it just I guess the growth of the offense in all phases from start to just before the buy with the Giants game and just just the way the whole thing just started clicking better and better each week. I don’t think it’s encouraging. I think it’s, you know, it’s supposed to happen. We come in, we work. Um, and when you put the work in, you know, you believe it’s supposed to happen in reality, it only gives you a chance. Um, that’s just how, you know, life works for some reason. Um, but you know, I always, like I said, I I never lost faith of it. Um, I appreciate, you know, KP and all those guys sticking with it. Um, especially the run game. And, you know, also in this league, it’s what have you done for me lately? So, that’s in the past. We had a great game, now we got to build on it. We’ve seen you stay in the block more than than last year significantly. Um, you know, what has been the reason for that? And you know what what are challenges of that or what you know what can they do to get you maybe out and out a little more? Um I don’t know. I think uh I’m not like into stats or like the analytics and stuff. I give you the exact look it up. Um but I bet I bet um we’re probably getting Blitz more. Um I don’t know if that’s a number that’s true or not, but I’m assuming that’s the case. Um a little more a lot of you seen a lot of simulator pressure. Four man. And then so what’s it like? How do they put the number of blitz in the fiveman? Well, if it’s a fourman, it’s not really a blitz obviously, but So if it’s fourman, I wouldn’t be blocking, right? But what they’re doing a lot is they’re We’ll have this conversation off. Um uh yeah. Yeah, I’ve definitely been blocking more this year, but I don’t think it’s like a scheme thing. Um, I feel like we probably got pressured a lot more this year. Um, but I think Jaylen, um, doing a great job of answering pressure this year. I think he’s probably the best he’s done his career. And I think that’s why you see us getting less and less throughout the season. moment.

Watch Philadelphia Eagles players speak to the media about their excitement to return to the practice field, how they are preparing for the Green Bay Packers, and the challenges they must face to improve.

00:00 Nolan Smith
06:35 Saquon Barkley

#Football #NFL #Eagles

✅ YouTube: bit.ly/3V0kusX
✅ Twitter: bit.ly/3i0Ou9b
✅ Instagram: bit.ly/3AFPUfW
✅ TikTok: bit.ly/3OD9IXa
✅ Facebook: bit.ly/3V1CAuB
✅ Eagles App: bit.ly/3gHh1jM