It has been a wild week in South Philadelphia.
From a franchise pillar retiring in All-Pro right tackle Lane Johnson to trading center/guard Cam Jurgens less than 24 hours after the Johnson news, the Eagles now have to dust themselves off and pull themselves up by the bootstraps after a whirlwind of news and emotions swirled through the locker room at the Jefferson Health Training Complex.
After all, they have a flight to catch on Friday to head to London to take on the AFC South-leading Jacksonville Jaguars who are 3-1 on the season. It’s the first time the two teams have met in London since 2018.
The Eagles’ injury list is lenghty, but they do have some key players trending in the right direction to play in this game including linebacker Zack Baun, tight end Dallas Goedert and cornerback Quinyon Mitchell.
Here are five key matchups to keep an eye on as the Eagles look to avoid dropping a third straight game:
The first and key matchup has to be the new-look offensive line for Philadelphia and how it will hold up against a Jacksonville front that features two talented defensive ends in Josh Hines-Allen and Travon Walker.
Walker has been one of the top pass rushers this season, generating 17 pressures which is tied for eighth-most among edge rushers. Hines-Allen paced the Jaguars last season with 80 pressures last season, but has struggled to generate the same success through the first four weeks of the season, generating just a 9.2% pressure rate.
The Eagles will have Willie Lampkin starting at left guard, who the team appears to be quite bullish on, along with rookie right tackle Markel Bell making his second consecutive start.
This will be the first time this O-Line, which also features pro bowl left tackle Jordan Mailata and right guard Tyler Steen, will play together as one unit in a regular season game.
It’s also the fourth different offensive line combination this season and the group will be tasked to protect Hurts and give him time to throw the football to a receiving corps that is still without DeVonta Smith, but could be getting Goedert back.
After Hurts carried the team to wins against Washington and Tennessee, he has not played nearly as well in each of the last two weeks, resulting in losses. Last Sunday, he threw for 93 yards, the lowest total passing yards for QB1 in a game he started and finished in his pro career.
Jacksonville has struggled to slow down opposing offenses in the passing game.
Entering Sunday, the Jags have allowed the second-most passing yards per game to opposing quarterbacks (280.3) only behind the Detroit Lions (304).
They allowed Joe Burrow to throw for 428 yards last week but still found a way to win in a 22-17 victory. They let Bo Nix sling the football for 288 yards in a Week 3 loss. Hurts has a chance to rebound after his tough performance last week by using his strength in throwing the ball downfield.
According to NextGen Stats, opponents have thrown downfield (10+ air yards) on 44.2% of their pass attempts against Jacksonville, the highest rate faced by any defense. They have allowed 741 passing yards on downfield throws, the most by any defense, but they also have generated five of their six interceptions on such throws.
With Saquon Barkley expected to miss this game with his hamstring injury and Tank Bigsby on the IR with a core muscle injury requiring surgery, it’s a tough week for the Eagles to not have their top two running backs.
They will look at Shipley and Piece, who was elevated from the practice squad, primarily to try and generate some type of running attack against a defense that has surrendered just 74.3 yards per game on the ground, the second-lowest mark in the NFL and 3.3 yards per carry, also the second-fewest, despite running a light box on nearly 47% of rush attempts.
It won’t be easy, but the offense cannot fully abandon the run early in this game and become one dimensional because of the tough sledding that the offensive line and running backs will face.
The Jaguars’ running back is starting to become one of the more explosive backs in the NFL. With his speed and elusiveness, nearly half of his rushing yards have come after a missed tackle this season, the highest share of any player with a minimum of 25 carries per NextGen Stats.
The Eagles have the fourth-highest missed tackle rate at 17.9%, allowing 155 additional yards after missed tackles which is the seventh-most allowed in the NFL.
The second-year back has rushed for 277 yards on the season and averaging 4.6 yards per carry.
With Baun tracking to return and one of the top tacklers on the team, that will provide the Eagles a big boost in the middle of the defense, but the entire front seven need to ensure they wrap up Tuten, or it could be a long day.
This marks the third straight week that Fangio and his defense will go up against a coach that is considered one of the top offensive minds in the game.
Udinski, in his second season as the offensive coordinator with Jacksonville and Doylestown native, has worked closely alongside Liam Cohen who was responsible for Tampa Bay’s resurgence offensively prior to getting his head coaching job with the Jags.
The duo have built a lethal offense with Trevor Lawrence and company.
Last season, the Jags set franchise records including total points scored (474), touchdowns (55) and first downs (356).
This season, they are averaging 26 points per game, but over their last 12 games dating back to last season, that total bumps up to 31 points a contest.
The Eagles’ defense held the Rams to just 10 points until the fourth quarter, without Baun and Mitchell, but did give up 177 yards on back-to-back touchdown scoring drives to allow the Rams to take the lead.
The unit will need to put a complete game together on Sunday morning.
MORE: Eagles vs Jaguars: How to watch, preview & predictions
