5 things the Eagles need to accomplish against lowly Jaguars in Week 9

The 2-6 Jacksonville Jaguars are coming to town in Week 9. It’s an unfortunate spot for them because the Philadelphia Eagles are riding high after one of their best performances in over a year.

On top of that, the Jaguars are riddled with offensive injuries in some key spots, but most importantly Doug Pederson is once again returning to Philadelphia, but this time he’s coaching for his job.

The Eagles can extend their winning streak to four games against a bad Jaguars team

In a perfect world, the Eagles destroy the Jaguars and Doug Pederson doesn’t get fired afterward. It doesn’t seem like those two things can coincide, so let’s focus on the first things first: what the Eagles can do to make this a good win, then we can worry about making sure Doug Pederson stays employed.

Don’t get cocky

There’s no actual proof that trap games are real. There’s also no actual proof that trap games aren’t real, either. The Eagles just beat a top-five quarterback in the NFL and now they get a bottom-ten quarterback with the worst defense in the entire NFL. Next week, they are traveling down to Dallas to play THE division rival. Top that off with the fact that the NFL flexed this game out of Sunday Night Football, so now it’s just a regular old Sunday evening game. If trap games are real, this is it.

Sirianni’s Eagles have seemingly overlooked games in the past. Last year, in Week 5 they had beat the Los Angeles Rams and in Week 7 they were going to play the incredibly explosive Miami Dolphins, and they were going to do it while wearing Kelly Green Jerseys. The only thing between those two games was the pesky New York Jets who had never ever beaten the Eagles, and Zach Wilson was going to be the quarterback … The Jets won that trap game.

Luckily, there are a few things that make this game more than just some dumb Sunday late-slate game. The Eagles are going to be wearing Kelly Green for the first time this season, it’s their first home game since Week 6, and Doug Pederson is coming back into town.

Stop the run

It’s looking like the Jaguars are going to be SEVERELY limited in the passing game. Their top three wide receivers are all dealing with some gnarly injuries/ouchies: Christian Kirk is inevitably headed to the IR with a broken collar bone, Gabe Davis is dealing with a shoulder thing, and their standout rookie and leading pass catcher Brian Thomas Jr. is dealing with a chest thing that’s also kept him limited in practice. 

If Davis and Thomas play, good for them. That’s very dawg-like. They’re trying to save both their season and their coach’s job. That’s commendable, but it leaves pretty much just Evan Engram as their only fully functioning and proven pass catcher. He can be dangerous, but he’s not an elite tight end who can carry a team to a win. 

That means the Jaguars' running game will be their biggest weapon and Tank Bigsby is the guy they’ll lean on. He might be the most aptly named person in the entire world, because of size and his refusal to go down. He’s carried the ball 85 times for 493 yards, and 439 of those yards have come after contact. That’s a whopping 5.2 yards after contact per carry. 

He’s leading the entire NFL in that stat, by a considerable amount. The Titans’ Tony Pollard and the Patriots' Antonio Gibson are second with 4.1 yards. Saquon Barkley is eighth with 3.8 yards. 

Tank is a really good football player. Luckily the Eagles have been tackling much much much better since the bye week, but this game will probably be their biggest test when it comes to making sure a player goes down when he gets hit. If the Eagles' defense can put Tank on the ground on first contact, it’ll completely nullify the only thing the Jags do well on offense. 

Take advantage of yet another hurt offensive line

Jalen Carter has been a menace against backup offensive guards. In a perfect world, he’d do that against everyone, but we’ll take what we can get.

On both practice reports so far this week, the Jags have both their starting guards, Brandon Scherff and Ezra Cleveland, listed as Did Not Practice with a knee and an ankle respectively. That’s pretty massive if both of those injuries hold.

According to Next Gen Stats, without pressure, Trevor Lawrence’s average time to throw is 2.54 seconds. Under pressure, that number jumps up to 3.13 seconds. 

Without pressure, T-Law’s Expected Points Added (EPA) per dropback is +.16. Under pressure, that number plummets to -.49.

Without pressure, Trev’s completion percentage is 64.9 percent, and under pressure it’s 53.1 percent.

Without pressure, The Prince Who Was Promised (Pro Football Reference has that listed as an actual nickname) averages 8.5 air yards per attempt. Under pressure, it’s 11.6.

The point is that if Jalen Carter and the gang can consistently win against replacement-level guards, it’ll take Trevor out of whatever rhythm he has, make him hold on to the ball, and throw into tighter windows downfield, allowing Quinyon Mitchell to get his first interception of his career or Reed Blankenship to get his third of the season … or it could lead to sacks because those are cool too. 

Win by a whole lot, but not so much that Doug Pederson gets fired

You know how every once in a while you’ll have someone on your fantasy team in one league but you’re playing against him in a different league, and you need him to score at least 24 points but no more than 28 points? That’s this exact situation. 

The Eagles need to keep their offensive momentum going against Jacksonville. If they do, they put up mondo-points. The Jags have the number 32 ranked defense by DVOA. If it starts raining on them, it’s not going to just pour, it’s going to be acid rain that melts their bones (or whatever acid rain does).

If the Eagles overdo it, it’s going to potentially cost Dougie P. his job. The opps will love it if the Eagles get their ex-coach fired, so we need to avoid that at all costs.

It can’t just be as easy as pulling starters, though that would be great. If they pull starters, it’s insulting and it would make the loss look worse for Doug.

Remember when Tom Brady forgot what down it was on a 2020 Thursday night in Chicago and he threw an incompletion on fourth down because he thought it was a third down, and then he lost to Nick Foles again? 

Jalen could just do something like that for the entirety of garbage time, but then instead of looking to his sideline like a total doofus, he’ll just wink at the camera instead.

Again, beat the Jaguars into submission, but don’t beat them into the void. Save that for next week against the Dallas Cowboys.

Don’t score in the first quarter

Let’s try reverse psychology this week. The Eagles have a 5-2 record and they haven’t scored at all in the first quarter. It gives them a sense of urgency for the next three quarters so they have no choice but to score. So keep that up. It’s a bad strategy, but it’s a working strategy. 

It might even give the Jags something to think about when they have to decide whether or not they keep Doug. He’ll say, ‘Yeah, we lost by three scores, but at least I got the defense to come out strong and keep the Eagles’ offense out of the end zone in the first quarter.’ The Jags’ owner Shahid Khan will say, ‘Yeah, but didn’t they score on the first play of the second quarter?’

There’s a pretty simple equation to beating the Jaguars and it shouldn’t be too difficult for the Eagles to figure out. They’re not going to be worried about trying to coax the Jags into letting Doug keep his job, but we are. Doug is a hero and everyone loves him … except for Jags fans, probably.