Falcons' Jerry Gray Previews Challenge Jaguars' Evan Engram Presents
On Sunday, the Atlanta Falcons will have the (incredibly inconvenient) privilege of playing in London, England for their Week 4 matchup with the Jacksonville Jaguars. In doing so, they’ll take on an offense that is yet to click, despite its wide-ranging talent.
Quarterback Trevor Lawrence is on the verge of living up to his pre-draft pedigree. His college teammate and neighbor in the backfield, running back Travis Etienne, is one of the most explosive players in football. The trio of receivers that is Calvin Ridley, Christian Kirk, and Zay Jones is one of the league’s best groups. To cap it all off, tight end Evan Engram is finally putting up the numbers his draft capital would suggest.
Last year, Engram caught 73 passes for 766 yards and four touchdowns. Deployed in favorable situations by head coach Doug Pederson, he’s the matchup nightmare many had hoped he’d be with the New York Giants.
Falcons assistant head coach Jerry Gray spoke about the challenges that come with allocating resources on Engram.
“You try to maybe put a couple of DBs on him,” Gray said. “When you see the guy, it’s incredible. He’s a big physical-looking guy who can run after the catch and has a lot of yards so you’ve got to know where he is.”
The Atlanta Falcons play the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Brett Davis-USA TODAY Sports
Spending extra attention on Engram, with so much talent surrounding him, isn’t a recipe for success. It’ll be on an assortment of nickel corners, safeties, and off-ball linebackers mixing and matching tasked with doing the job. With linebacker Troy Andersen on injured reserve, that assignment gets even tougher.
“Our work is going to be cut out for us on Sunday,” Gray said.
To help put Engram into context, Gray compared him to other elite tight ends from the past decade. Perhaps he isn’t as technically refined or dominantly physical, but his ability to extend plays is similar.
“I’ve been against [Travis] Kelce and been against [Zach] Ertz, guys like that,” he said. “I think Engram has more athletic abilities but they had just as much skill, and they put fear into you if you leave guys open. You can’t give them too much space because if take a check down, they can take it 10-15 yards. Those are the things that we have to be thinking about.”
So far this year, Engram has 18 catches for 173 yards, but he’s yet to score a touchdown. He’s been markedly consistent, including a strong six-catch, 57-yard performance against a strong Kansas City Chiefs defense.
On Atlanta’s end, they’ve been coincidentally similar. They’ve given up 18 catches for 157 yards and two touchdowns to tight ends this season. Aside from the Detroit Lions’ rising star Sam LaPorta, they are yet to face a quality tight end.
Jacksonville marks the Falcons’ toughest test of the season, especially if the Jaguars can clean up the fluky mistakes that have riddled their first few weeks. Frankly, Atlanta isn’t built to keep pace with teams in a shootout. Limiting Engram, while keeping the cap on the rest of the offense, will be imperative in making Sunday’s game competitive.
