I missed this yesterday, but it’s worth posting today because it’s Jerry Jones again saying less-than-inspiring things about “America’s Team,” the Dallas Cowboys, who have won 3 playoff games since 1996.

Jerry goes on a Dallas radio station after every game, and Tuesday he told 105.3 The Fan that field conditions at the Los Angeles Coliseum contributed to the Cowboys giving up 273 rushing yards to the Rams:

“I’ve had the benefit of the tape, looking at the tape, the evaluation by both scouts as well as the coaches. We frankly had never gotten traction. And I mean that literally. That was a slippery field. If I had to do it over again, we would be really scrutinizing our footwear. Our cleats. We had trouble digging in, so to speak.

…

“Well you say, ‘That’s an excuse.’ It is not because not only physically but we had trouble digging in with just the effectiveness of our defense. And we did not stop them, and we did not stop the run.”

The Rams did not have trouble with their footing, as they held Zeke Elliott to 47 yards on 20 carries.

Speaking of digging in, Jerry also backed head coach Jason Garrett for the umpteenth time, after the jump:

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Some guy from another website came to Philadelphia recently. I’m not too familiar with him. Dave Portnoy his name is.

He does these pizza reviews for his website, and the latest installment in the series brought him to Lorenzo and Sons on South Street.

Here’s Dave:

Barstool Pizza Review – Lorenzo & Sons Pizza (Philadelphia)https://t.co/Mc7kVi8aUb pic.twitter.com/c8tn7QjW0U

— Dave Portnoy (@stoolpresidente) January 14, 2019

Okay so the Alshon thing was clever, but he’s still a douche bag Patriots fan.

Chiefs by 50 this weekend.

The Inquirer’s Jeff McLane asks a lot of pointed questions at Eagles press conferences.

He asks about injuries and the medical staff and tries to dig into areas that you would consider more “sensitive” than others.

To that end, he’s had some pseudo-contentious interactions with Doug Pederson this year, interactions that resulted in the head football coach rolling his eyes, giving brief non-answers, or just responding with relative disinterest.

Apparently that extends up the food chain as well, if today’s season-ending press conference is any indication. Howie Roseman was in front of reporters Tuesday and asked McLane to repeat a question after seeming to poke fun at the clothes he was wearing.

Volume up:

Look at Les Bowen and Tim McManus and Zack Rosenblatt laughing in the background. McLane also pulls a power move by waving off Reuben Frank in order to keep the microphone and ask a follow-up question.

The exchange:

Roseman (to Pederson): “He’s throwing me off with this.. there’s a lot…”

Pederson: “There’s a lot going on right here.”

Roseman: “Ummm… I’m sorry. One more time. “

I guess Howie and Doug were not fans of the fingerless gloves.

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Never too early to take a look ahead.

Howie Roseman will speak later today, but as of 48 hours since the team’s divisional round playoff-exit, he needs to clear more than ten million dollars in salary to become cap compliant. We’ll have to see where the NFL cap total comes in, but right now it’s expected to be around $10 million higher than the 2018 number.

Here’s the current team projection, according to Spotrac:

• max cap: $195,157,735
• active contracts: $206,843,884
• dead cap: $2,286,667
• total cap: $209,130,551
• estimate space: $-13,972,816

They did a lot of shuffling and maneuvering to get to this point, a number of restructuring deals to help move money around. Here’s what the top end of the Eagles’ chart looks like, the top 10 players. You can click on the image to enlarge it in your current window:

Couple of things here:

Obviously the Nick Foles contract is a unique situation. I’m sure he’ll be on a different team next season because you just can’t pay both him and Carson Wentz without making major sacrifices somewhere else.

Here’s a primer via Andrew Brandt:

Nick Foles contract details:
-Eagles must decide by 30 days before League Year (approx Feb 12) whether to exercise option for $20M salary;
-If Eagles exercise, Foles has 5 days to pay $2M to void, become FA;
-If not voided, $20M becomes fully guaranteed 5th day of League Year.

— Andrew Brandt (@AndrewBrandt) January 14, 2019

The Birds can free up $18 million by moving on from Nick.

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Locker room stuff is coming in thick and fast and I can’t keep up with it all.

Here’s a collection of the latest notes and quotes from NovaCare, where the Birds are wrapping things up.

Brandon Graham:

Spoke with Brandon Graham a few minutes ago, he said he hopes to talk with Howie Roseman and Doug Pederson later today to get a feel of where his contract negotiations stand. Says he wants to stay, but stopped short of saying he’d take a ‘hometown discount’.

— Sean Kane (@SKaneNBCS) January 14, 2019

Nigel Bradham:

#Eagles LB Nigel Bradham is walking around with a boot on his right leg. Got injured late in the Saints game.

— Jeff McLane (@Jeff_McLane) January 14, 2019

Brandon Brooks:

#Eagles RG Brandon Brooks said he is looking at a 6-8 month timeframe for recovery for his Achilles injury. He said he is encouraged by the recoveries of Jason Peters and Derek Newton with same injury.

— Mike Kaye (@mike_e_kaye) January 14, 2019

Nick Foles, after the jump:

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Golden Tate was asked about his future this morning, a day after the Eagles’ season came to an abrupt end in New Orleans.

The 30-year-old wide receiver didn’t mince words:

“My time is limited. I want to go to a team that has a chance.” pic.twitter.com/UkausBQc0W

— Geoff Mosher (@GeoffMosherNFL) January 14, 2019

“I want to go to a team that has a chance, if I don’t stay here, of course. I would love to stay here. If I don’t end up being here, my years are limited. I don’t have time to go to someone who is trying to rebuild….”

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So this happened after the loss:

Ok, here is the video of #Eagles DT Michael Bennett walking off the field after #SaintsEagles playoff game confronting cameraman from CBS Philadelphia.
This video shot by our cameraman @lefteyedaquano as we were preparing for our coverage on @CoxSportsTV pic.twitter.com/9lWgU9eEB7

— Eric Richey (@EricRicheyVSN) January 14, 2019

I worked with this guy for years. Good dude, probably shot 100 Eagles games in his lifetime. I would be STUNNED if he said anything to Bennett prior to the confrontation, which apparently he did not.

This is standard operating procedure. Cameras are allowed on the field immediately after a game. Oftentimes we would get a quote or two from guys running into the locker room, something unique that isn’t said in a scrum or at a press conference. Obviously the players aren’t going to say much, if anything, after a season-ending loss, and they probably don’t want a camera in their face, but it just comes with the territory. The NFL makes the rules and the TV stations try to get a shot.

The responses to that tweet from Eric Richey are pretty… interesting.

Time’s yours.