Nick Foles comes off of a breakout-season where he rose from an unknown commodity to a starter in the NFL who many believe has considerable upside and could continue to thrive in Chip Kelly’s system. He’s got plenty of quality weapons to work with and an excellent offensive line to protect him.
Chad Henne is a decent veteran starter who is probably a little better than most people believe him to be. He’s been sentenced to many terrible teams in his career between Miami and Jacksonville. He does a decent job of working with what little he’s got and managing the offense, but he’s never going to win any shootouts.
Advantage: Eagles
Running Back
LeSean McCoy has evolved into one of the league’s premier running backs, and he’s now complimented by the shifty pass-catcher Darren Sproles. McCoy is the heart and soul of the Eagles’ offense, and quite possibly their most indispensable player. This will be the first extended look that we get at what Darren Sproles can do for this offense.
Toby Gerhart gets his first opportunity to start in the NFL after serving as Adrian Peterson’s backup for his entire career. However, he’s got a really weak offensive line supporting him, so its hard to see him being that impactful in his first year with the Jags.
Advantage: Eagles
Wide Receiver/Tight End
Jeremy Maclin and Riley Cooper are healthy, and sitting atop the starting lineup with Brent Celek and Zach Ertz splitting reps at the tight end spot to give the Eagles a number of quality targets to work with. Rookie Jordan Matthews and veteran Brad Smith (a guy who Kelly loves) also figure to play significant roles when the Birds go to three and four receiver sets.
The Jaguars have a lot of talent in their receivers, but they’re also extremely raw. This will be the first NFL regular season game for guys like Marqise Lee, Allen Robinson, and Allen Hurns. These guys may develop into quality players as the year goes on, but its tough to expect them to do much in their first outing. The Jags have very little to offer at the tight end position, with veteran Marcedes Lewis as the starter and former Eagle Clay Harbor as their second.
Advantage: Eagles
Offensive Line
The Eagles sport one of the most talented lines in football with three Pro-Bowl caliber players in Jason Peters, Evan Mathis, and Jason Kelce. This is a dominant group that does a great job controlling the point of attack and opening up holes in the running game. They are however without right tackle Lane Johnson, who will be replaced by Allen Barbre, who has struggled in the preseason.
The biggest problem with the Jacksonville offense is their offensive line. They’ve got holes in most of the positions, with inexperience and a lack of talent throughout the unit. They’ll start two rookies, including center Luke Bowanko. Bowanko, a sixth-round pick, doesn’t have the job because he outplayed anyone, Mike Brewster (the team’s first choice) played himself out of a job in the preseason. Left tackle Luke Joeckel and veteran guard Zane Beadles are the only two guys that should actually be starters in this league. This is a major disadvantage for the Jaguars, and its a key area for the Eagles to exploit.
Advantage: Eagles
Defensive Line
Fletcher Cox and Cedric Thornton are still growing in the 3-4 defense. Along with nose tackle Bennie Logan, this group has gotten decent in run defense, but they’re still pretty weak in contributing to the pass rush. Vinny Curry should also see plenty of snaps in passing situations.
The defensive side of the ball is where things get much better for the Jaguars, and the defensive line is their biggest strength. Defensive tackle Sen’Derrick Marks was a mainstay last year, and he’s now joined by two of Gus Bradley’s old players from Seattle, Chris Clemons (also a former Eagle) and Red Bryant. This is a group that is fit to challenge the Eagles’ offensive line.
Advantage: Jaguars
Linebackers
I think the Eagles’ group of linebackers is a little underrated. DeMeco Ryans is still a playmaker and a great leader. Connor Barwin is solid against the run, can cover a tight end, and also help out in the pass rush. Mychal Kendricks is a guy with tremendous potential that I think is primed for a breakout year. Aging veteran Trent Cole is the one guy I don’t necessarily feel good about in this group, but he’s still very much a serviceable player at this point in his career.
Paul Posluszny plays at a Pro Bowl level for Jacksonville. He’s the anchor in the middle, and helps make the guys around him better. Geno Hayes and Dekoda Watson are the outside linebackers, but they haven’t proven themselves to be anything other than average.
Advantage: Eagles
Secondary
Bradley Fletcher and Cary Williams may just be average starters, but they should be able to handle the rookie Jaguar receivers. We’ll get our first look at what free-agent signee Malcolm Jenkins can really do to help improve this defense.
Safety Jonathan Cyprien is on his way to becoming a star for the Jags. The rest of this secondary is still very young and looking to establish themselves. Last year’s sixth-round pick Josh Evans starts alongside Cyprien at safety, while third rounder Dwayne Gratz and veteran Alan Ball man the corner positions.
Advantage: Eagles
Special Teams
Rookie Cody Parkey won the kicking job from Alex Henery in the 11th hour of the preseason, now he’ll get his first test in the regular season. Nolan Carroll is set to handle kick returns for the injured Josh Huff, while Darren Sproles should field punts. Donnie Jones is coming off of a top year, and is one of the elite punters in the game, capable of pinning down a team deep in their own territory.
The Jaguars are solid in their kicking game with veteran Josh Scobee. Jordan Todman handles return duties, and averaged just 27.4 yards per return a year ago.
Advantage: Eagles
Intangibles/The Pick
Gus Bradley is doing a good job molding the Jaguars into a tougher team, but they’re not ready to be a good team just yet.
I believe in Gus Bradley as a head coach, and I think that as long as the organization stays patient as he gathers more talent, in time he’s going to do some very good things for this franchise. But for the time being, Bradley’s Jaguars are just outmatched in terms of talent.
With the season opener in Philadelphia, the Eagles will be ready to come out and get the year started with a solid win. The Jacksonville defense is good enough that they may keep it a closer game in the first half, but as the game goes on I expect the Eagles’ offense to slowly pull away while Chad Henne and the young, inexperienced players of the Jacksonville defense fall behind.
Advantage: Eagles
Projected Score: Eagles 30, Jaguars 13
Denny…….this game is like my team (Chips Ego) and your team in GCobb Fantasy league. I’m the Eagles and your team is the Jags, lol. Good luck in the league.
This game SHOULD be a blow-out. I am hoping for a dominate performance from all aspects of the game. Of course no injuries is always nice. Build confidence and momentum.
Hahaha! Thanks and good luck to you too!
Eagles 10-6 at the Half
Blow the game open in the 3rd Quarter
And take a 27-9 lead going into the 4th Quarter
And cruise to a final score of 30-16 as Bortles leads a Jags
To a TD late in the Game versus the Eagles Back-ups
Are you ready for some Football?!!
It’s the sport of kings better than diamond rings…
F-o-o-t-b-a-l-l
Eazy Peasy—
Blowout alert —
Jags are bad everywhere and are too scared to lineup the number 3 overall pick in the 2014 draft for fear he might get killed or suffer irrevocable harm.
56-7 Call the Hall of Fame Nick tosses 8 TD’s
My only concern is Allen Barbre vs Chris Clemons during the pass, but no concern with that match up during the run..other than that it should be pretty smooth by the 3rd quarter. Eagles win season home opener by two touch downs. As an Eagles fan I expect the unexpected. Go EAGLES !!!
GO BIRDS !!!!!!!
LET’s GET READY FOR SOME FOOTBALL !!!!
Marcus Smith and Igglessb 27 favorite player Trey Burton is active…probably because Chris Polk is inactive.
Eagles inactives are RB Polk, WR J Huff, OL M Tobin, CB J Watkins,
DE Taylor Hart…
I don’t like only going with 2 RB’s in any NFL Game
Especially Sproles will be returning Punts also..
Eagles Rolling the dice hear in case an Injury to McCoy or Sproles
Tucker should have been on Active Roster just for this Reason
Stupid,Stupid, Stupid Roster Management to start a Season and I don’t care who they are Playing…
Sproles turns an ankle, then no back-up to McCoy nor no Punt Returner
Eagles get a nice lead and McCoy would still have to take needless hits and carries…
Okay Big.
You win.
lol.
Now who’s that rookie catching all those balls?
WR Hurns who was their Best WR in Preseason
Along with Mike Brown…
Undrafted Miami kid who was going to beat out Robinson even if he wasn’t hurt, he is a ballplayer.
7:00 to go in first quarter and the season is over… I look for TS, hot air et al to declare disaster.
All the people saying this was a cake walk…. Really there is no such thing
You’re such an idiot.
I said i didn’t beleive Jax’s D was as good as Big was saying.
Hence the “Okay Big. You win.” comment. I’ve always maintained when Foles came up against better defense he wouldn’t do well. Just didn’t think Jax was one of those Ds.
Love it!
T “backtrack” S rolling once again…”I never said…..” when you did.
Um…I just said I said I DIDN’T BELIEVE THAT JAGS D WAS THAT GOOD.
Did you even READ the convo.
I said “BIG YOU WIN”
Idiot.
You said the Jags D was not good.
As usual, you were wrong.
LOL.
You’re such an idiot.
Oh and I wasn’t wrong about Foles looking shitty when he faces better competition.
I was pretty right about that.
Luckily for everyone there’s still plenty of time to turn it around.
TS you’re not going to win sis…smdh
I miss DJax, I bet Nick does too…is Maclin even playing? All those who thought the Offense would not miss DJax…you might want to think again. Eagles receivers tightly covered and no one getting deep. KELLY..you might regret that decison.
How was saying Jax D isn’t any good? TS
Who was saying Eagles are SB contenders? Wayyyyy too many people.
1 – Foles needs to be faster.
2 – Eagles D is beyond terrible.
3 – good to know they changed the tuck rule.
4 – Good to see hits to the QB head don;t matter as long as there is a fumble.
Eagles are building to be contenders from 2015-2018.
Oh please.
This is your boy. Deal with it.
Hey TS, I can’t get the game here in central Pa, is the defense really that bad? They decided to show the Steelers game over Eagles.
Eagles defense has had fits and starts.
Some good plays. Some bad plays. Some awful plays.
But the real story of the game is Jax’s Defense and the HORRENDOUS play of Nick Foles.
2 fumbles – that shouldn’t have happened.
3 and outs – Missed passes – he’s holding the ball too long and is VERY indecisive.
A better QB for the Jags and this game would be OVER>
Fits and starts???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????
Chad Henne is 6 of 9 for 115 and 2 tds in one quarter!!!!!!
Chad Henne!!!!!
The Jags just rolled from their 1 yard line to the 30 and kicked another FG.
The Foles fumbles were bad….he was holding the ball too long on both….but the Eagles pass D is completre swiss cheese!
Jags are averaging 7 yrds per play.
“Ups and downs”
TS you are a joke.
Foles is struggling terribly. I have never seen him “Double clutch” like this so much before.
But the Eagles D is also horrible.
Hey bte, when other Eagles QBs were being pressured and sacked like this you were always “Oline sucks oline suks”
I wonder why I’m not seeing that here
Hey Vinnythemoron, the question you should be asking is why you only the notice the failure of other players when Foles is in.
It’s not like the defense was never bad before. It’s not like the o-line hasn’t been bad before. Oh, it’s cuz mediocre Foles is in.
If we lose this game my opinion on Foles won’t change. He’s an average qb who should be your backup, not your franchise.
Hopefully Kelly can make some adjustments and get Foles comfortable. If I was watching this game I would have broken the TV by now.
That’s why I hate games against teams like the Jaguars early. No upside if you win, and confidence crusher when you lose.
This is exactly why they Play the Games.
Anything can and usually happens in a NFL Game.
There are no gimmes …
WOW! Just WOW! Foles has his head in his ass, & the defense is trash like I’ve stated! $20M under the cap & the team worth $1.75B. Way to go Weaselman & Genius demigod!
The defense is fine…the offense is killing the defense with the turn overs.
The defense IS NOT fine. Foles put them in bad spots, but the secondary is invisible as usual. Come on Eagle. You watching the same game. How’s about that awesome upgrade Jenkins & that mentally tough Allen??? GTFOH!!!! $20M under the cap & the team worth $1.75B, is all you need to know.
WTF are you watching?
The fumbles are bad,,,,terrible………but this fucking unknown undrafted nobody is ripping our secondary apart.
Best thing for the Eagles is that Henne is Jags QB.
So they can def still win this game. Had Jags scored on that last possession – this game would have basically been over.
Time to get my man, QB Mark Sanchez warming up and into the game..
Cary is killing us
Foles is killing us
Also, I am on Record that Darren Sproles is past his Prine and will
Not be much of a Factor running the ball… Good on Screens our outlet passes but not as a runner in this Scheme..
Why did that kid go undrafted?
Damn he is BALLING.
wow.
It’s the play of our worthless secondary making him an all-star.
Easy to be “balling” running wide open all day.
This Eagles secondary……..ugh.
God damn they should just play flag football… That wasn’t horse collar
Yeah it was a horse collar!
The hand did not get inside the shirt…
It’s still a horse collar genius! Go read the upgraded rule. He pulled down on the back of the collar, of the jersey! Still too stubborn to admit you are wrong on anything. Be quiet stooge!
It wasnt a horse collar…his hand was not in the collar but around the under arm area.
His left hand pulled at the collar & his right hand was under his arm!
Drive of the Game right here,
Jags going for the jugular.. Eagles don’t know what has hit them
DC B Davis getting out coached big time by the supossed no Jags Offense led by stiff Chad Hener.. What a disgrace…
Not out coached… Did you see that rook make a fool out of Williams? How is that Davis fault…
Get used to it boys & girls. This will be like a broken record ALL YEAR! Trash defense, with ZERO upgrades! Better hope for the offense to put up 45 a game, because if this team can’t stop the Jags, it’s going to be embarrassing to see what the rest of the schedule holds????
Williams taunts the rook …unbelievable
y that was very weak……you’d think he’d be a little humble after being torched all 1st Q
Now you can see why Rob Ryan of the Saibts wanted no parts of keeping Malcolm Jenkins of the Saints who let him walk and went out
To sign Jarius Byrd… Jenkins was the Saints weak link
In their Secondary and now is the Eagles problem….
Who liked this guy, not me…
No Cam Newton for the Panthers this week as I called
For whatever it’s worth….
Eagles give up a TD here, their Season is Over
Good bat down Barwin!!!
Must score drive coming up for Eagles…not a field goal either.
Look as badly as they’ve played – they can still win this. Jags are still the Jags.
How’s that $20M+ under the cap working out? No pass rush! No secondary upgrades, for the umpteenth year in a row now. Sickening!!!! Maybe this is the humbling the genius & Weaselman deserves. All the unwarranted overrating this off-season, & egotistical driven roster moves!
Another Kelky mistake was having Alan Barbree fill in for Lane Johnson at RT
Paulman called this all Summer long and stated that Dennis Kelly
Should have been used at RT all sumner & preseason to replace Johnson
At RT for the beginning of the Season…
Jax d. Line is dominating…
Hey Nick Foles Boo!
I am gonna hit a Koolbreeze…Nick Foles looks like shit. Ohh..I miss DJax….can Kelly make this offense run better without# 10…not so far. He may regret that decision. Jeremy Maclin and all receivers are comoletely invisible.
I guess we can put to rest we don’t need Djax conversation now. lol. Hows that working out or you Cooop and JMac?
Get Sanchez in, Foles is playing scared..
The Eagles WR’s cannot get any separation
And scare no Defense and have one of the bottom
5 WR Corps in all the NFL…
This Hurns kid has a face like Seal! EWWWW!!!!
Lmao…lol. feed him some fish.
Eagle, the singer Seal. LMMFBO!!!!
The jags are riping thru the O line/ Foles is double clutching on every dropback. I will wait for the coaches tape to see if he has guys open and isn’t pulling the trigger or if they are covered….it doesn;t look good.
I am extremely disapointed in the Eagles O.
I am not suprised at all by the Eagles D. They can stop the run, but the Eagles pass D is pathetic. I knew they were pathetic coming in. They are exactly what though they were.
Again, anyone who though this was a SB team is an idiot.
Eagles are building for 2015-2018.
Looking like were missing Desean Jackson right now huh? Idiots thinking Desean didn’t matter, wasn’t a factor, 1 trick pony yada yada yada was WRONG
He was the best WR on this team. He did it all, he allowed for guys to get open
This 1ST half so far has been a disgrace… SB contenders?!
Not playing like this
I’m embarrassed
Gus had this game circled since the schedule was released..
They are not a SB contender. SB contenders don’t have defenses like this. SB contenders don’t have $20M+ under the salary cap.
Hey Billy Davis how about playing Graham, Boykins Carroll and Curry. Fuck the scheme fit. Looks like your scheme sucks with the other guys.
Chip Kelky is Calling Oregon Coachvto see if he can
Kick a few Players off his Squad so Chip can sign..
Also the Eagles will be wearing a Yellow Stripe
On their new Jersey’s … F Chip Kelky and his
Colkege Vall Genius bullshit…
That being said….this isn’t over at all.
K maybe now its over. Yuck.
Foles will be ok. He just needs to settle down.
Get him out! He’s shell shocked right now! WTF!!!!!!
NICK LOOKS LIKE A FREAKIN ROOKIE GET THIS BUM OUT OF THE GAME NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Jags keep leaving the door open.
Foles keeps closing it.
Gonna be a LONG game.
Tentative at the qb position… Recipe for disaster.
Hey the Phil’s are up 1-0
Fuck the Phillies!!!!
It’s gets worse… Foles throws ain’t in End-Zone
1 Int and 2 Fumbles in the first half, get him the F out of there
And put Sanchez in.. F his morale, try to win the damn game..
YOU LOB THE BALL UP FOR THIS BASTARD TO PICK IT OFF??
YOUR ON THE 10 YARD LINE RUN WITH SHADY CHIP WTF IS GOING ON!!!!
JH, agree 100%
So much for being a “run first” team. 1st and goal at the 5 and its a pass. (with a QB who is struggling)
Is Reid back?
And now Henne is back to shredding his way down the field.
Marcus Mariota anyone???!!!!
JH, don’t start the haters up! LOL!
LOL I’m testing the waters, but let me stop haha