Eagles-Jaguars Game Preview: 5 questions and answers with the enemy

The Philadelphia Eagles are back at Lincoln Financial Field this weekend to take on Doug Pederson’s Jacksonville Jaguars. It’ll be the Birds’ first home game since October 13.

In order to preview this Week 9 tilt, I reached out to our enemies over at Big Cat Country. The generous Gus Logue kindly took the time to answer my questions about this upcoming battle. Let’s take a look at the answers. [For my answers about the Eagles, check out BCC.]

1 – It seems like Super Bowl LII champion Doug Pederson is a dead man walking in Jacksonville. To what extent are the Jags’ struggles his fault? Is it really just about coaching?
Well, offensive coordinator Press Taylor certainly shoulders some of the blame — which is a whole other story, as Philadelphia knows — but anyone on the Jaguars could have the finger pointed at them at this point. There’s inaccurate passes, blown blocks, wrong routes, missed tackles, busted coverages, pre-snap penalties… the list does not end.

The question in Duval County is this: are the Jags bad because players aren’t executing, or because coaches aren’t putting them in the best positions to succeed? As Pederson said Monday, “Is it the scheme? Is it the execution by the players? I would say it’s a little of both right now.”

While the roster may have been overrated entering this season, the bulk of blame falls on Pederson and his coaching staff. There’s no excuse for a Trevor Lawrence-led offense to be below-average. Jacksonville had a fun 2022 season but the team hasn’t been able to keep pushing in the right direction since then.

2 – It sounds like the Jags are pretty banged up. And especially at wide receiver. What’s going on with their injury situation and how concerned are you?
Chrisitan Kirk broke his collarbone last Sunday and will be out for the season. On one hand, Jacksonville’s offense took a nosedive last year after Kirk had a season-ending core injury in Week 13; on the other, he hasn’t been as vital this year and Parker Washington appears ready to assume his slot role.

Truthfully, the injuries to Brian Thomas Jr. (chest) and Gabe Davis (shoulder) are more worrisome injuries, even if they are short-term. Since they’re by far the most versatile wideouts on the roster, losing either of them would put backups in tough spots to succeed and allow defenses to hone in on tendencies. The good news for Jacksonville is that they each got in limited practices on Wednesday and Thursday, suggesting they’re closer to playing on Sunday than not.

For the rest of the season, I’m not overly concerned since Washington is a solid replacement for Kirk — but the injuries to Thomas Jr. and Davis do worry me for this week in a must-win game that will require a lot of points scored by Jacksonville.

3 – The Jags are allowing the highest passer rating in the NFL this season. What’s contributed to their defensive issues?
It’s pass rush on one play and pass coverage on the next. The Jaguars have a decent run defense, but anytime the opposing passer drops back, someone is liable to screw up. Jacksonville doesn’t have enough depth in its front or backend to be playing man coverage as often as they do. The safeties have been shoddy and the ‘Arik Armstead at EDGE’ experiment has been miserable.

All that said, the Jaguars absolutely do not roster the worst defense in football. Again, the blame falls back to coaching. Defensive coordinator Ryan Nielsen needs to do something, anything different this week — they rank 32nd in blitz rate this year (?!) — or Jalen Hurts may have the best game of his career.

4 – What’s the biggest positive the Jags have going for them?
It has to be the Trevor Lawrence-Brian Thomas Jr. connection. Lawrence hasn’t had a true deep threat since his days at Clemson, so despite his rocket launcher of a right arm, opposing defenses have played up on Jacksonville throughout Lawrence’s pro career. The arrival of Thomas Jr. has given Lawrence a legit speedster who can take the top off of defenses and create space for the rest of the offense.

Thomas Jr. is much more than a track star, though. He joins Justin Jefferson, Ja’Marr Chase, Chris Godwin and Drake London as the only wideouts with 500-plus receiving yards and 5-plus touchdowns this season. He was one of the fastest pass-catchers in the league from day one and has already shown tremendous growth as he develops into a do-it-all playmaker. The kid is a future All-Pro.

5 – Who wins this game and why? With the Eagles currently listed as 7-point home favorites, what’s your score prediction? And then what’re you expecting from the rest of this Jags season?
The Eagles win this game because they have the better roster. The 2-6 Jaguars remain motivated to win, especially considering how bad the AFC South looks, but they’ll ultimately fall flat in Doug Pederson’s second return to Philadelphia. I see Saquon Barkley and/or A.J. Brown leading the Eagles to 30-plus points, and the Jaguars struggling to match that point total due to receiver injuries. Eagles 31, Jaguars 20.

Assuming an Eagles W, I’m expecting Pederson to be let go after this game, though I wouldn’t be surprised if he stuck around until January. Either way, Jacksonville will be hiring a new head coach (and hopefully a new general manager) in the spring. The playoffs are still mathematically possible, but by now, residents of Duval County are more focused on draft szn than the postseason.