The groundswell of momentum and excitement the Jacksonville Jaguars built through the end of September dampered quite a bit Sunday when they opened October with a 29-21 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles.
Jacksonville couldn’t stop the run at all, allowing Eagles running back Miles Sanders to have a career day with 134 rushing yards and two touchdowns. The Jaguars offense, on the other hand, looked like it was playing with a football that was rolled in a tub of Vaseline.
The good news is that on a day when seemingly nothing went right for the Jaguars after the first quarter, they still only lost by one score to an undefeated team. The bad news is that the duds outnumbered the studs this week:
Dud - QB Trevor Lawrence
A pretty obvious one, right?
The loss to the Eagles certainly wasn’t all Lawrence’s fault, but it was more his than anyone else’s. His horrible, terrible, no good, very bad day included four fumbles that were all lost to the Eagles defense and an interception in the red zone.
It wasn’t Lawrence’s fault that there were several dropped passes and it’s only partially his fault that Haason Reddick was able to record two strip sacks. But the Jaguars will need much, much better days from their second-year quarterback to get back on track.
Dud - C Luke Fortner
The Jaguars’ decision to lean on the passing game in rainy, windy conditions after jumping out to a 14-0 lead was baffling. But maybe the team would’ve felt more confident calling run plays if the rookie center in the middle of the Jacksonville offensive line wasn’t getting beat like a drum.
Philadelphia’s defensive tackle Fletcher Cox, Javon Hargrave, and Jordan Davis found little resistance when they lined up against Fortner.
Jordan Davis vs Luke Fortner – Rookie on Rookie pic.twitter.com/FQEeAay928
— Laurie Fitzpatrick (@LaurieFitzptrck) October 2, 2022
While the Jaguars offensive line has done a good job protecting Lawrence this season and didn’t do too poorly as a whole against the Eagles, Fortner is clearly the unit’s weak link during his first NFL season.
Stud - WR Jamal Agnew
The Jaguars were without Zay Jones on Sunday, but his replacements weren’t the issue in the pass game. While Christian Kirk and Marvin Jones dropped passes in the wet weather, Agnew was a reliable target for Lawrence.
Agnew caught a 24-yard pass as part of an eight-play, 80-yard drive that ended with Lawrence finding Agnew wide open for a four-yard touchdown.
It could’ve been a much different outcome if Lawrence managed to connect with Agnew when the receiver broke free deep on a stop-and-go route.
Agnew is doing well today.. getting more playing time with Zay Jones out. Lawrence needs to nail this throw. pic.twitter.com/SYCVr3k1J3
— Laurie Fitzpatrick (@LaurieFitzptrck) October 2, 2022
Instead, Agnew’s second touchdown of the game didn’t come until the fourth quarter when he made a man miss on his way to the end zone for an eight-yard score.
Dud - WR Christian Kirk
The positive is that Kirk hauled in a 45-yard deep bomb in the fourth quarter that set up an Agnew touchdown. That negative is that Kirk did just about nothing else.
Lawrence targeted the Jaguars’ $72 million slot receiver nine times and connected with him only twice. That’s seven plays lost for a Jacksonville offense that was only on the field for 46.
Some of those incompletions were due to tight coverage, one was intercepted, but a few were just flat-out dropped by Kirk.
Earlier in the week, Kirk said he brushed off the efforts of quarterback Josh Allen to recruit him to the Buffalo Bills in the offseason because of his distaste for cold weather. Hopefully, the Jaguars have plenty of sunny games in the future.
Stud - S Andre Cisco
The Eagles didn’t pass much Sunday, instead choosing to carve up the Jaguars defense on 50 run plays.
Philadelphia was likely discouraged from passing (for good reason) by the rainy weather, and it probably didn’t help that an early deep ball from Jalen Hurts was intercepted by Andre Cisco and taken back 59 yards on his first career pick six.
Chances are never given. They tooken like interceptions!@andrecisco7 | #DUUUVAL pic.twitter.com/JruWqJjMfv
— Jacksonville Jaguars (@Jaguars) October 2, 2022
After his early highlight, Cisco did well to keep a lid on an Eagles offense that connected on five pass plays of 40 yards or more in the first three weeks, but zero against the Jaguars.
The 2021 third-round pick is settling into his role as a ball hawking free safety.
