Cooper DeJean’s bromance with Reed Blankenship, preparing for Josh Allen, and more ‘Hard Knocks’ highlights

The latest episode of Hard Knocks featured Christmas presents for the NFC East, with none bigger than the Eagles’ 13-12 win over the Buffalo Bills.

The HBO documentary series, which releases new episodes every Tuesday, took a long look at Cooper DeJean, his relationship with Reed Blankenship, and the Birds’ preparation for their nail-biting win on Sunday.

Here’s everything you missed from the latest episode of Hard Knocks:

Fans in Philadelphia might not be aware of it, but the Giants consider the Eagles their biggest rivals.

During a fan holiday meet-and-greet labeled Dart the Halls, Giants rookie quarterback Jaxson Dart was asked by a young fan who he considers the G-Men’s “most rivalrous team.”

“The Eagles, for sure,” Dart responded to a chorus of oohs and ahhs from young fans in attendance.

The Birds went 1-1 this season against their competition up north, losing in MetLife Stadium for Dart’s first-ever win against an NFC East opponent on Oct. 9. Dart is a candidate for NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year, and Eagles fans can prepare to see the former Ole Miss phenom for years to come.

Hard Knocks began in a festive mood, showcasing the Giants, Dallas Cowboys, and Washington Commanders exchanging gifts and celebrating Pro Bowl nominations — something the teams had extra time to focus on after being eliminated from postseason contention.

The playoff-bound Eagles, on the other hand, weren’t shown celebrating their five Pro Bowlers: DeJean, Quinyon Mitchell, Cam Jurgens, Zack Baun, and Jalen Carter. What was shown was the practice field, with some players taking the time to congratulate each other in comical fashion.

“Pro Bowler, Cooper DeJawn,” Blankenship said at practice. “Anything you wanna say to the people?”

“DeJean … It’s DeJean,” DeJean responded.

DeJean and his partner-in-crime Blankenship took center stage in this episode, with the pair’s blossoming bromance expanding on and off the field. From ripping the ball away from each other through WWE-style takedowns or practicing dance routines, the Eagles’ defensive cornerstones appeared inseparable.

“He’s an awesome teammate,” DeJean said. “He’s an awesome person to be around. Really welcomed me in and helped me learn the defense when I got here. It’s fun to watch him play and do his thing. I think our connection and our friendship has helped us play well together on the field.”

“I’m so proud of him,” Blankenship said. “We sit beside each other in meetings, and I feel like I’m the older brother. There’s not a lot of people like him. He is the best nickel in the league, and just having that communication allows us to play better.”

» READ MORE: The legend of the ‘Exciting Whites’: How Eagles Reed Blankenship and Cooper DeJean formed a bond

The tandem started a podcast called Exciting Mics in June, a reference to the duo’s “Exciting Whites” nickname.

Other nicknames have followed the pair, including “secondairy,” which came after DeJean and Blankenship leaned into a new celebration.

“We do have a milk-the-cow celly,” DeJean admitted.

“We usually do our normal thumbs-down,” Blankenship said. “And I was like ‘Dude, it’s like udders from a cow…’”

Some observers have confused the two for each other on the field — with announcer Kevin Burkhardt and Bills safety Sam Franklin Jr. both referring to Blankenship as Coop or DeJean during the game.

“What up, Coop,” Franklin Jr. said.

“I’m the other one, bruh,” Blankenship responded.

Eagles coaches took great care in preparing the defense for the Bills offense, with Hard Knocks providing a brief glimpse into each defensive unit ahead of last Sunday.

Bobby King, the Eagles’ inside linebackers coach, showed sumo wrestling clips to inspire his players to play physically, while Jeremiah Washburn, the inside linebackers and defensive line coach, focused on Allen’s ability to escape up the middle — something the defense did a great job of preventing last Sunday.

“Lot of middle escapes,” Washburn said. “And he’s tough. But this is where most of his explosive runs come, is up the middle. It takes a group, fellas. It’s gonna take a group because he doesn’t hit the ground easy, and so it’s just gonna take a collective effort right there, fellas.”

“You can see again,” Washburn said in reference to a clip of Allen throwing on the run. “He’s got an arm, that’s what he does right there.”

Defensive back coach Christian Parker stressed how versatile the Bills are, with Allen leading the charge through the air and James Cook III, the league’s leading rusher, dominating on the ground.

“The key is going to be tackling in space,” Parker concluded. “Weather could be significant, but we gotta take great angles and we gotta rally to the football all night long.”

As coaches attempted to prepare the team, defensive coordinator Vic Fangio had a much different approach to explaining the matchup when addressing the media.

“You got Josh Allen,” Fangio said. “That’s all you need to say. You got Cook, that’s all you need to say. But once he gets in the open field, he’s got the speed to hit the home run. He’s patient, but once he sees it he hits it, and he’s really good, he’s elusive.”

The Eagles held the reigning MVP without a touchdown and Cook to under 100 rushing yards, also recovering an Allen fumble and notching a blocked extra point in the win.

There’s rarely a time when you hear Jalen Hurts speak vehemently, so when he does, it means more.

When Hard Knocks featured a quick interaction between the reigning Super Bowl MVP and quarterbacks coach Scot Loeffler, it got viewers’ attention.

“It’s gonna rain,” Loeffler said. “Like there’s no if and … it’s going to rain. I don’t give a [expletive] if there’s bad weather or not, we need to get this going.”

“We need to do that [expletive] 1,000%,” Hurts said in response.

Hurts, like many fans, seems to have grown frustrated with the production of the offense, a unit that has failed to live up to last year’s standard while leading the league in three-and-out percentage.

Birds vs. Bills had plenty of impressive plays despite the low-scoring nature of the game, starting with A.J. Brown’s deep reception, followed by a Dallas Goedert score a few plays later.

“The night is still young,” Hurts said from the sideline.

“Yessir,” Goedert said in response.

Despite the offense’s confidence, the Eagles failed to notch a touchdown for the rest of the game and went scoreless in the second half as Jake Elliott and the defense did the heavy lifting.

DeJean and Blankenship continued to catch the eye of Hard Knocks cameras, with the two being mic’d up throughout the game.

“We’re a married couple, baby,” Blankenship said in reference to himself and DeJean. “We are in a relationship.“

Of course, the Eagles left victorious as Allen walked off the field with his head hung low following a failed two-point conversion. The episode ended with Nick Sirianni’s postgame speech, which pointed out the offense’s ineptitude.

“Going on the road in the NFL and winning a game like this, that is [expletive] hard to do,” Sirianni said. “It’s a good football team. Defense, wow, wow. Offense, really good first half, right, we gotta figure out that second half. A lot to be thankful for, let’s pray.”