Jaguars vs. Eagles Preview
The crowd has been anticipating the return of Eagles football for quite some time. It’s year two of the Chip Kelly era, and expectations are simple; be better than last season.
Favored by double digits; the Eagles welcome the Jacksonville Jaguars, coached by Gus Bradley who many believed would be the replacement to Andy Reid prior to the signing of Chip Kelly.
Jaguars side of the football
The Jaguars are a defensive minded football; a reflection of their head coach coming from the Seattle Seahawks organization. Johnathan Cyprien is a second year, up and coming safety that has been assigned similar duties that Earl Thomas overlooks in Seattle. He can stuff the run and covers extremely well in space, and will absolutely light you up with his hard hitting tackling. Former Penn State standout Paul Posluszny will man the middle of a defense that will test Foles with non-traditional formations and delayed blitzes.
Veteran Chad Henne leads the way at quarterback and his surrounding cast is suspect. Toby Gerhart will finally get his chance to start after being trapped behind future Hall of Famer Adrian Peterson in Minnesota. He is a bruising style of runner who is not going to stretch the field, he is coming right at you, and defenders must not tackle high, aim for the legs. Former Michigan quarterback turned “offensive weapon” Denard Robinson is the change of pace back, as his role continues to be defined at the NFL level. Rookie Marqise Lee will line up opposite of Cecil Shorts III, with aging veteran Lewis at tight-end. The offensive line is average to go along with a modest offensive grouping; this should be exposed by an Eagles defense looking to make its mark early and often.
Eagles side of the football
We are about to see how Darren Sproles fits into the offense. Exactly the extent of the role Jordan Matthews plays; is it merely as a slot receiver or is that simply what he is being listed as?
The Eagles will feature a heavy dose of McCoy, and continue feeding both Celek and Ertz the football. Maclin is going to be moved all over the line of scrimmage, and Cooper looks to provide that safety valve for Foles.
Will the offensive line suffer with the absence of suspended offensive tackle Lane Johnson? The line looked good against the Steelers, and I feel comfortable with their status going into week one of the regular season. I’m looking for Foles to continue with his development as a starting quarterback, improving with his judgment to get rid of the football instead of taking unnecessary sacks.
The offense should have little trouble moving up and down the field, and with some bigger bodies to throw to, an improved red-zone touchdown efficiency.
The defense will have every opportunity to shine, to make the big hit, intercept a pass and collect a quarterback sack. This should be a team in which they dominate and not look “decent” against.
If the Eagles wish to earn the respect of being a “good” defense, they must make a statement against average offenses.
Score Prediction- Eagles 27 Jaguars 17
I like the Eagles to come out strong this game, and win by double digits. I believe they will rack up a ton of yards, but will settle for a few field goals instead of blowing the game wide open.
The Jaguars will score a late touchdown to make the final score look a bit closer then how the game played out.
Overall a solid win to start the 2014 season, and the preparation can start for a Monday night showdown in Indianapolis.
A close First Half where Eagles miss a few opportunities
And take a 10-6 Lead and then take control with 2 nice scoring Drives
In the 3rd Quarter to go up 24-9 and then add 2 more FG’s while the Jags score a late TD led by Bortles late in the 4th to make Final 30-16
Stars of the Game…
TE Celek, WR Cooper & RB McCoy…
On Defense, Kendrick’s has a monster Game
With 10 Tackles, 2 Sacks and a Forced Fumble
Boykin and Nate Alken with Int’s
New Kicker Parkey makes 3-4 FG’s and does nice job on
Kick-offs…
Injuries… Eagles sustain a couple minor ones
But a WR goes down with a more serious injury making the WR Corp’s
Very thin moving forward …
Disagree with Jeff 100%, sorry-
but I think Posluszny and Cyprien are the targets in the game plan. Both are below average in the passing game and that is who I would go after. From limited pre-season 1st team Eagle offensive plays, I’ve noticed all their big plays have come from Celek and Ertz in the zone behind Lb in front of safeties. I would target Posluszny every passing play in front of Cyprien ( that ‘s the sweet spot) I think if Posluszny and Cyprien are going to get torched.
paulman plzze dont wham us with the injuries thing pleezzzzze
38-13 eagles this won’t pretty at All.
As per DonP, stop the “word curses” over the team/players! Your prognostications go overboard.
you know what I’d love to see kind of a fantasy match up you should all appreciate this… a chip kelly offense playing against a juan castillo defense… can you imagine the confused looks on juan’s face!
I see the first 50 possibly 60 burger of the season. I just have a feeling that we are coming out gunzablazin
One at a time ,that’s the mentality ,and we are 1-0 barring a calamity..I don’t think chip takes his bag of tricks out just yet …he will feature shady ,with two tight end packages and keep it safe and simple ,not wanting to show too much in this conquest.Ill be watching the other side of the ball ,as I watch the emergence of a defense that allegedly upgraded the pass -rush and the back end ..in nickel and In dime packages the new entrants will possess the talent and skill level we sorely lacked last year vs New Orleans ..so much has been said about the kicker of late ,they get the nod to show what appears to be a strong leg ,well see how dependable under the glare of the bright lights ..otherwise everything should be pleasing to the eye…special teams is where I see a marked upgrade ,both in kickoffs putting our defense in better situations ,just by field position alone..stay the course bird men it’s always a meandering ride with twists and turns ,I’ll take a healthy squad ,standing at the big dance with a chance to take the Lombardi trophy home at the end …why not us ?
We are NOT 1-0….jax will show up…this is pro football boys.
Eagles in for a rude awakening. The National Media and Eagles fans have gone crazy. Did I miss something? Was I asleep when the Eagles became this juggernaut? This well oiled machine? They are favored by 11. Jacksonville has no shot. The Eagles defense has miraculously gone from giving up th 4th most passing yards in NFL to this shut down defense because we added Malcolm Jenkins. . Fans better fucking wake up. We aint Seattle. My goodness. Did anyone watch Jacksonville the last half of last year? They aren’t terrible. Gus Bradley has all these clippings on his bulletin board and I have a feeling they are coming to play. Im not saying the Eagles wont win or wont get better throughout the year but do you know how many opening days Ive been to and left saying what the fuck happened. We act like we have “arrived”. I think a lot of Eagle fans assholes are going to be very tight all game tomorrow. We act like we don’t even have to show up. Be very very careful with these foolish expectations.
34-10, 37-13, 40-7 lol. Hell Jacksonville shouldn’t even show up they have no chance to win. My goodness this sounds like the Vikings game from last year. Us Eagle fans do this shit to ourselves every year. We end up sitting there saying what the hell is going on its 27-17 Jaguars going into the 4th quarter someone didn’t send Jacksonville the memo of not being any good. I swear I hope the players aren’t reading all these local and national clippings about themselves. We act like we are Seattle all of the sudden. Oh its only Matt Cassell oh its only Kyle Orton, oh its only Chad Henning. lol. Havent we learned by now that shit doesn’t always work the way we feel its suppose to. Havent we been on this train before? We haven’t learned a dam thing about taking teams lightly. sigh.
Too many Fans forget that other Teams, Coach’s and Players get paid to play too… Lots of opportunities for young Players to step up and make names for themselves… Watch for Jags WR Mike Brown who had a nice Preseason for them…This will be a closer game than many think..
But Eagles Depth & Tempo wear out Hags in the 2nd half as they
Go on to Win 30-16….
I’m not a half glass full type of guy ,I call this shit as I see it ..it’s a beautiful beginning to a beautiful season ..we all lose perspective ,at times ,not yet fully comprehending the end of the A.R. Era..We are in agreement this is a game where both teams get a check and for both teams it’s there opener ,but one team clearly ,wants to establish its dominance in the now ,and one will be a Jags team with a young QB ,and a wide eyed bunch of young men .Sometimes if it quacks like a duck (not Oregon type) it is a fucking duck..we breeze in this one 27 -14..
24-21 and eagles ‘fans’ declare the season a failure on September 7…. Foles will be hung in effigy, running qb advocates will say that (fill in the blank) running qb would fit kellys style, draft wonks will call the coach and GM immature names and meanwhile they will be 1-0….