Injury Report: Eagles at Jets

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By Paul Bowman, Sports Talk Philly Editor

The Eagles enter this week with a new starting offensive line following the season-ending injury to Jack Driscoll.

While the play of the line may fall with what is now going to be the third-string guard in a starting spot, it’s almost as if that will be a minor footnote in the game after last week’s embarrassment against the Giants where the Eagles both failed to stick with the run and failed to have anyone capable of throwing the ball for the first 57 minutes of the game.

They will face a banged-up, bad Jets team, but they lost to an even more banged-up Giants team last week and the Giants are also bad, so it may not matter what the Jets injury status truly ends up being.

Injury Report

Eagles

Out

Howard will miss his second game and it was a major impact last week. Interestingly, the Eagles didn’t even use Kenneth Gainwell in the running game with Sanders and Howard injured, relying heavily on Boston Scott. That will be a storyline of it’s own, but Howard’s running style is perfect for this offensive line and his absence remains a major factor for an offense that showed how anemic it can be without the run last week.

Questionable

The second-year quarterback now has two offseasons and a full year’s worth of starts in his NFL career, but would be coming off of what was easily his worst game where he completed nearly as many passes to the opposing defense as he did to his own players until garbage time game along in the final three minutes. The hope would be he could bounce back, but there’s a chance he might not even play and Gardner Minshew will get his first start with the Birds.If Hurts is out, the Eagles will miss his run game for sure. It would remain to be seen if they would miss his arm, however.

Update: Jalen Hurts had been ruled out with Garner Minshew slated to start.

Adding to the Eagles woes in a game where they may need the ground-game more than any other time this year is not only that Jordan Howard and Jack Driscoll remain unavailable, but that Boston Scott may not be available, either. That’d leave Miles Sanders, who didn’t play in half of the game last week due to an ankle injury, Kenneth Gainwell, who has just four carries over the last four weeks, and potentially Jason Huntley if they were to promote him from the practice squad.

Jets

Doubtful

Rankins is a rotational defender, but plays about half the snaps so operates in as much of a role as the starters for the Jets. He’s been more of an all-around player at the position as he has been the second-most effective defensive tackle in the passing game for the Jets with two sacks on the season.

Just like last week, a backup tight end with two catches for 16 yards shouldn’t be important, but this team is brutalized by no-name tight ends each week. Last week, with other tight ends out, it was Chris Myarick who made the only two receptions of his career to catch a ridiculous touchdown pass that doomed the Birds and to convert another for a first down on the Giants final field goal drive that truly put the game out of reach. Just like that, someone will play the role of the second tight end this week and they’ll most likely have a career day.

Questionable

Davis is a guy with the name recognition and raw talent who had a career year just before his free agent season. He has yet to record a 1000-yard season and it’s baffling that many consider him one of the best in the league, but he cashed in on the idea that maybe 2020 was his breakout campaign. Through 12 games he has missed three entirely and has just 477 yards receiving. That’s put him on pace for 676 yards this year, which looks not so great, but would also be his third-best season to date.

A starter at defensive tackle, Fatuskast is more of a run-first defender which is not uncommon for the position. He’s not a star player, but he’s solid. If he can’t go, the interior defensive line depth will be tested with Rankins listed as doubtful.

A starter on the edge, Franklin-Myers averages around 65% of defensive snaps for the Jets and has six sacks on the season so far. He could be a big loss for the Jets defense.

Moses took over as the starting right tackle in week two and has played nearly every snap since. He’s not an All-Pro or Pro Bowl player, but he is a solid tackle who has had the time to settle into his role.

Williams is a playmaker. In four of the 10 games he’s appeared in this season, he was limited, but even then his impact was felt. On the season, he has 61 tackles, three defensed passes, three forced fumbles and two sacks while making plays in each phase of the game.