The Ramos roundup is a weekly Philadelphia Sports column highlighting all the pertinent news of the week featuring the Eagles, Phillies, Flyers, Sixers, and Union.
Eagles Win Season Finale, Will Play Packers in Playoffs
The Eagles picked up their 14th win of the season on Sunday with their 20-13 win over the Giants. Contrarily, coupled with the Commanders win and Packers loss, the Eagles will host Green Bay on Wildcard weekend. Philly last saw the Packers in Brazil during week one, which feels like a lifetime ago now. The Eagles won their opener with the Packers, as Saquon Barkley scored three touchdowns in his debut for the birds.
Also, Jordan Love, the Packers’ quarterback, was injured in the final six seconds of that game. Subsequently, Green Bay may be without Love once more, as the Packer QB injured his throwing hand this Sunday. They also lost receiver Christian Watson as well.
Of course, the Eagles have their own injuries to contend with, as Jalen Hurts remains in concussion protocol.
Kickoff is set for next Sunday at 4:30 p.m. and will be broadcast on FOX.
Union Name Bradley Carnell Head Coach
The Union named Bradley Carnell as the fourth head coach in franchise history on Thursday. Carnell, 47, is a veteran with 10 years of professional coaching experience, including eight seasons in MLS. He recently spent two seasons as manager of St. Louis CITY SC after being named to the position in 2022. He went 22-15-25 in regular season matches. St. Louis led the Western Conference and ranked third in the League with 62 goals and with a plus-17 goal differential during the 2023.
Prior to his stint in St. Louis, the South African served as assistant manager and interim head coach in New York for the Red Bulls from March 2017 to January 2022. As interim head coach from Sept. 5 to Nov. 19, 2020, Carnell went 6-3-5. Additionally, he helped New York to their 11th straight postseason appearance and as an assistant manager, helped guide the Red Bulls to the 2018 Supporters’ Shield.
The hire is interesting from a stylistic perspective, as both Carnell and Sporting Director Ernest Tanner appear to be more in-line with how they see player deployment and systems play. We’ll see if Tanner will supply in an upgrade in talent in the club for the rest of the off-season.
Sixers Blowout Nets 123-94
After consecutive losses to the Kings and Warriors this past week, the Sixers get back in the win column against the Nets Saturday night. Led by Embiid’s 28 points, the Sixers got solid contributions from Tyrese Maxey (18 points, seven assists) too, along with Paul George and Caleb Martin’s each scoring 17 points. Embiid posed plenty of issues for the Nets’ bigs in this game, as the big man set the tone offensively for Philly in the win.
The Sixers return home to take on the Phoenix Suns on Monday night.
Flyers Fall to Leafs in Overtime 3-2
The Flyers finished up their five game roadtrip with a 3-2 overtime loss on Sunday night. Defensemen Morgan Reilly tallied the game winner for Toronto, while Tyson Foerster and Scott Laughton each scored for Philly. Also, Ivan Fedotov returned to action in the game in goal and played well after an extended layoff as the Flyers opted to go with Sam Ersson and Alexei Kolosov as their tandem.
Likewise, the entire Flyers team played a pretty solid game. The Maple Leafs were in the second leg of back to back games, but given credit where it’s due, Philly played a good road game against a superior team.
The Flyers and Maple Leafs will run it back on Tuesday night, but this time in Philadelphia. The game can be seen on ESPN+ with puckdrop set for 7:30 p.m.
