Eagles 29, Jaguars 21: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
The Jacksonville Jaguars let one slip away from them in Week 4, tumbling in the downpour in Philadelphia in a 29-21 loss to the Eagles -- a game the Jaguars once led 14-0.
"Obviously, it is what it is, we lost the football game. When you look at it, there’s plays we made in the end that our guys will learn to make as we go in time, they’ll learn to do that," Jaguars head coach Doug Pederson said on Monday.
"They’re teachable moments, but at the same time, you start running out of time. Your season is moving along and moving fast and we’re into Week Five. We keep saying there’s a lot of ball ahead of us and all that, but if we don’t fix it, you’re going to look up and say, ‘I wish I could.’ Or that, ‘Shoulda, woulda, coulda’ deal. But it’s very teachable moments for us as an offense, for a team, even defensively. To make the plays that come to you, don’t go chasing plays. When they come, make them and we’ll be better off for it.”
With this in mind, we are going to examine the biggest highs and lows, the downright concerning and everything in between: the good, the bad and the ugly.
The good
While the Jaguars had plenty of issues on offense, left tackle Cam Robinson was not one of them. Robinson not only delivered a highlight reel block on James Bradberry during a Jamal Agnew screen, but he also allowed zero pressures on the day despite playing a good pass-rusher in Josh Sweat. It was the first game this year Robinson delivered a blank in terms of pressures and was his best game of the season by a healthy amount.
Josh Allen was also able to continue his hot streak, generating four pressures on Jalen Hurts despite Hurts being one of the most mobile quarterbacks in the NFL. The Jaguars didn't let their pass-rushers pin their ears back and just go all game due to Hurts' ability to evade a rush and win with his legs, but Allen still produced. He is second in the NFL among edge rushers in pressures (20) and just two behind Micah Parsons, while being tied for the lead in quarterback hits with seven.
The bad
Jawaan Taylor was having a fantastic 2022 before Week 4. He was looking like a Pro Bowl tackle, allowing just one pressure and zero sacks over the first three weeks even though he went against rushers such as Montez Sweat, Kwity Paye, Yannick Ngakoue, Joey Bosa, and Khalil Mack. But Sunday didn't go nearly as well for Taylor, allowing a team-leading three pressures nad accounting for all but two of the pressures the Jaguars allowed. Two of those pressures turned into Haason Reddick strip-sacks, too, giving Taylor an ugly day at the office.
"When you got good pass rush, it kind of closes the pocket," Pederson said. "That’s where some of those hands get in and the arms get in. That’s where sometimes the ball gets a little loose and gets knocked out of your hands.”
The Jaguars also struggled in terms of getting the ball into their playmaker's hands, especially their dynamic running backs. James Robinson and Travis Etienne only got 16 carries and one target combined, while Christian Kirk was able to turn just two of his nine targets into receptions. Those three players are the key to the Jaguars' moving the ball, and they failed to get them
The ugly
Trevor Lawrence clearly leads this department this week. The second-year passer had his worst game not just of 2022, but of his entire career thanks to five turnovers. The four fumbles from Lawrence were uncharacteristic but they firmly put the Jaguars in the backseat of the game, with each fumble and his lone interception coming at truly the worst times possible. Lawrence is in rare category with Blake Bortles in terms of five-turnover games, and Bortles' came in a debacle against the Chiefs in 2018. You remember that game. That was just as bad -- if not slightly better -- than Lawrence yesterday. Lawrence ranked last among passers this week in EPA/Play and CPOE and more or less is the entire reason the Jaguars are not 3-1 with a big win over the Eagles.
"We just got to make sure there’s two hands on the ball, number one. I know one thing that some guys have done in the past and we’ve had those conversations. They use those wet gloves, those passing-type gloves," Pederson said on Monday.
"It’s an individual preference too, it’s nothing that I would force him to wear. Something to have that conversation at least, if we know we’re going to be in some bad weather or inclement weather like that, too. We just got to focus on two hands on the ball and just make sure we do everything in our power to keep it in our hands.”
Aside from Lawrence's terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day, there was also the run defense. The Jaguars' defensive line was pushed around as it looked like they had no real answers for how to both account for Jalen Hurts' legs and the Eagles' running backs. The Jaguars also saw Foyesade Oluokun miss three tackles in the running game, leading the entire defense.
