Eagles Postgame Report: Eagles Overcome Jaguars In Game Made Close By Sirianni, Refs

The Eagles have gotten themselves on a roll and, for the first time this season, came out hot enough to actually put up points in the first quarter.

Following their third-straight win and Hurts’ hottest start of the last two years, the Eagles did come out with some heat out of the gate once again, though not entirely on offense. After 14 yards and a punt, the Eagles had Sydney Brown force a fumble on the return that Kelee Ringo recovered.

With excellent field position, the Hurts hit a great rainbow pass to Barkley in the endzone for a touchdown and the early lead.

The Eagles defense held up, allowing just 13 yards before forcing a punt, before the two teams traded three and outs. The Eagles then managed a 68-yard drive to put up a field goal.

The defense stood up again, forcing a turnover on downs on four straight plays as Cooper DeJean broke up the intended pass on fourth and one. Unfortunately, the Eagles failed to capitalize on good field position as AJ Brown broke free across the middle of the field on 4th and 3, but Jalen Hurts waited until the DB could catch back up to break up the pass and lead to a turnover on downs for the Birds.

Following another set of traded three and outs, the Eagles managed a turnover on a tipped pass with Zack Baun diving to get his hand under it for an interception. In the two-minute drill, the Eagles offense put together their most complete drive getting 43 yards and the touchdown. With a penalty on the Jaguars, the team went for two and it was determined the tush push didn’t break the plane despite the fact that video evidence appears to show otherwise.

The Birds went to the half with a 16-0 lead.

The defense came out with the same level of play and forced a three-and-out again to start the second half. The Eagles took their next drive without AJ Brown and it was Jahan Dotson who kept the team alive with a 36-yard incredible concentration reception. It was Hurts who took it to the endzone with an 18-yard keeper behind the block of Fred Johnson, who was injured on a personal foul at the end of the play. They failed the two-point conversion on a terrible attempt out of Hurts on the tush push.

The special teams allowed a big return of 41 yards and then 46 yards on three medium passes.  A failed challenge and terrible defense later and the Jaguars had put up their first points.

The ref show then took over as Saquon Barkley was tripped up by a defender on the Eagles first play following the Jaguars getting on the board. The refs inexplicably decided tripping a player up wasn’t a tackle so the ground could cause a fumble following three points being down by contact. They then reviewed the play and confirmed their terrible call despite video evidence to the contrary. Another completed two-point conversion and the Jaguars were gifted back into the game.

Hurts looked shaken on the next drive, nearly throwing a pick at the start of the drive before he managed a 21-yard scramble. Big gains on Barkley runs were ended by an incomplete pass and on 4th and inches, the team called another pass. The only two passes on that drive were the only negative plays, both awful misses by Hurts. Surprisingly, this pass also failed and it was a turnover on downs due to an incredible number of terrible decisions all at the same time.

The defense forced a punt once again and Saquon got the offense started with a 21-yard run off the bat to get out of their own redzone. The rest of the drive was the DeVonta Smith show, as he converted a 3rd and six following failures of Kenny Gainwell rushes, then had a great 46-yard catch (great throw by Hurts to hit him in stride). A hold on Fred Johnson, a failure of a run by Hurts (-2 yards) and a play drawn up for Anias Smith handed the Eagles a 3rd and 22 where DeVonta bailed them out with a one-handed touchdown reception at the back of the end zone. Sirianni ran a two point conversion again that was, again, a mess and blown up immediately for a failure.

The Eagles defense then got gashed repeatedly before giving up an easy touchdown run to Lawrence. They kicked an extra point and the Eagles now up only 5 with an ever-diminishing lead.

Barkley ran the ball to try and burn time and gained 29 yards. It burned all the Jaguars timeouts, but he slid well short of a first down on a second down run that very well may have resulted in shortening the drive. Sirianni then decided to attempt a 57-yard field goal (after passing on two shorter chances earlier in the game) and Elliott hit the upright, giving the Jaguars the ball at midfield along with the two-minute warning timeout.

The Eagles defense got to a 3rd and 10, but inexplicably sent out Avonte Maddox for 1 play once again. He committed PI and allowed the Jaguars to continue their drive. On the verge of losing the game, Nakobe Dean ran a better route than the receiver and made the interception in the endzone to seal the game so that the Eagles could kneel it out. With no timeouts left for Jacksonville, the Eagles secured their fourth straight win off the defense’s third turnover of the game.

Offensive MVP: Zack Baun

I’m sure people will want Dean here, but Baun was the best defender today. He showed up everywhere. 10 tackles led the team, two defensed passes led the team and an interception that helped change the game.

Defensive MVP: Saquon Barkley

Barkley once again did max damage for the Eagles, racking up 159 rushing yards and 40 receiving yards. He had two touchdowns and nice interceptions. I’d almost give the nod to DeVonta had he been more involved throughout, but Barkley was dominant. His only “blemish” is a fumble on the stat sheet that anyone with a brain knows wasn’t actually a fumble and was just straight BS from terrible refs.

Game Notes

• That turnover on downs in the first half was a questionable one. On one hand, there will be plenty of people wondering why they didn’t just take the points with a field goal to extend their lead early in the game. On the other hand, it was a good play call and it would have worked had Jalen Hurts gotten through his reads quick enough – instead he was slow and threw the ball as the defender could get himself back in position, resulting in an incompletion that would have been a completion if it was thrown any time earlier in the route.
• At the half, Saquon Barkley had 101 yards from scrimmage and two touchdowns. Jacksonville had 32 before their kneel down to end the half.
• Cooper DeJean had a strong first half with two pass breakups: one on fourth down and one on a play downfield where the receiver committed uncalled OPI but he made the ground back up anyway.
• Anias Smith came in for one ineffective rush and appeared to injure himself. He had less impact on the offense than LB Ben VanSumeren, who actually had as many receptions as the rookie wideout in this game (and in their respective careers to this point).
• Grant Calcaterra was solid in the short game with five receptions for 30 yards. He’s proven a solid backup receiving option, though his blocking is still subpar.
• The Jahan Dotson situation is very frustrating, particularly with how open Calcaterra was in this game – those routes were ideal fits for what to do with Dotson that would allow those short plays to break into far longer ones and help begin to push more downfield.
• The second failed two-point conversion was a terrible decision by Hurts, who didn’t go low behind his center (Jurgens was fully in the end zone) and instead stood up and waited for the defenders to leap across before attempting to push forward.
• The fact that the NFL reviewed Saquon getting tripped up and then the ground causing a fumble after he had three points of contact down being called a touchdown for Jacksonville on what should be absolutely NOT have been even a fumble is ridiculous. The NFL allowed the Jaguars into a game they had no business being in and it reeks of corruption. Barkley was clearly tripped up by a defender but was apparently not down by contact because the NFL is too stupid to follow their own rules.
• This was a rough game for Quinyon Mitchell, who had probably his worst game in the NFL in this one, frequently not being near the guy he was covering on their catches.
• Drawing up plays for a receiver that just came off the injured list and was only on the injured list because they would have had to cut him due to how awful he was in the preseason? Why not do it twice in a game to see how it fails, that’s what the Eagles coaches did!
• Jahan Dotson and DeVonta Smith both stepped up big time in AJ Brown’s absence. The Eagles will need to see Dotson do it more consistently to be as successful as they can be on offense.
• Nick Sirianni decided not to kick three extra points and two field goals and every alternative play failed. That means he left 9 points on the field in favor of no points and turnovers only to try a long 57-yarder that missed at the end of the game. The game was decided by just five points.
• I think Dean has underachieved most of the year, but that was a beautiful interception to seal the game by him in coverage.
• High-paid edge rusher Bryce Huff seemed like he wasn’t playing in this one. No injury reported, so it’s not clear what’s going on there.

Injury Notes

• LB/FB Ben VanSumeren was evaluated for a concussion after the half. He was ruled out.
• WR AJ Brown went to the locker room in the third quarter with a knee injury. Jahan Dotson had a very AJ Brown-like deep catch shortly after that with Johnny Wilson seeming to get the majority of the extra snaps. He did not return.
• Fred Johnson was shaken up on the Jalen Hurts touchdown run and had to leave with an apparent leg injury. He was replaced by Jack Driscoll but returned on the following drive.

Jacksonville Jaguars @ Philadelphia Eagles – November 3, 2024