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OPPOSITION TERRITORY: Eagles vs. Jaguars, Week 9 Pregame Preview · The Philadelphia Sports Table | Philly Sports News & Views

0:00
Speaker 1: What's up, everybody, It's Jeff here. I wanted to let
0:02
Speaker 1: you know. We recorded this podcast episode on Tuesday, October
0:05
Speaker 1: twenty ninth, twenty twenty four. By the time you hear this,
0:08
Speaker 1: some things may have changed here or there, but we
0:09
Speaker 1: hope you enjoy the show. Welcome to Opposition Territory. Here
0:29
Speaker 1: at the Philadelphia Sports Table podcast show, the longest running
0:31
Speaker 1: weekly Philly sports podcast show in the world, that's right
0:34
Speaker 1: over eleven and a half years strong, and we have
0:37
Speaker 1: got this week coming to you your Eagles and Jaguars'
0:41
Speaker 1: preview podcast. Yes, we have got a brand new guest
0:44
Speaker 1: that's going to be joining us this week to get
0:46
Speaker 1: into what this matchup is going to look like this Sunday.
0:50
Speaker 1: The Eagles at this point in the season five and two,
0:53
Speaker 1: they have won three in a row. The Jacksonville Jaguars
0:56
Speaker 1: they have been struggling as of late. What does their
0:59
Speaker 1: season look like? What can we expect to see from
1:02
Speaker 1: them against the Birds this week? Again, we got a
1:04
Speaker 1: great guest, let's get right to it, joining us to
1:06
Speaker 1: get into this upcoming matchup. We have a great guest.
1:12
Speaker 1: I know he's going to be a great guest. Like
1:13
Speaker 1: I said in the intros first time on the show,
1:16
Speaker 1: Gus Log Gus, buddy, how you doing man.
1:19
Speaker 2: I'm great, Jeff, happy to be on. I'm excited to
1:21
Speaker 2: be here. Looking forward to.
1:22
Speaker 1: This week absolutely. And hey, listen, before we get into
1:26
Speaker 1: what we're going to be seeing from these two teams,
1:27
Speaker 1: Phildelphia Eagles and Jacksonville Jaguars, if you can let everybody
1:30
Speaker 1: know where they can find you on social media, the
1:33
Speaker 1: work you've been doing over at SP Nation as well.
1:35
Speaker 2: Yeah, you can find me at gus underscore log logue
1:40
Speaker 2: on Twitter slash x. I'm the editor at Big Kat
1:45
Speaker 2: Country covering the Jags for ESP Nation, and I also
1:47
Speaker 2: do stuff a lot of work behind the scenes, mostly
1:50
Speaker 2: for the local flagship radio station at the Jaguars ten
1:54
Speaker 2: ten xl if you happen to be in Jacksonville. So yeah,
1:57
Speaker 2: at gus underscore log on Twitter.
1:58
Speaker 1: All right, very good, But Gus, let's start talking about
2:03
Speaker 1: this Jaguars team. What we're gonna spect from that. I mean, well,
2:05
Speaker 1: I guess maybe we should start off, honestly, with the
2:08
Speaker 1: injuries that have mounted with this team and roster. My gosh,
2:12
Speaker 1: it must be really tough, quite frankly, and I'm not
2:14
Speaker 1: trying to say this to be a jerk by any stretch,
2:16
Speaker 1: I'm really not, but it must be tough to be
2:17
Speaker 1: a Jags fan at this point in the season with
2:20
Speaker 1: these injuries. I've felt this a number of times being
2:24
Speaker 1: a Philadelphia Eagles fan over the years, where the injuries
2:26
Speaker 1: do mount up and you're like, my gosh, when and
2:29
Speaker 1: where is the depth going to step up? And then
2:32
Speaker 1: you take a look at the fact that the team
2:33
Speaker 1: is two and six on the season, which has certainly
2:35
Speaker 1: been a bit disappointing year. So I guess to start
2:38
Speaker 1: the conversation where is Jags Nation right now as we're
2:43
Speaker 1: basically at the halfway point of the season in terms
2:45
Speaker 1: of the energy that fans have for this team and
2:48
Speaker 1: whether or not this team can really turn things around here?
2:51
Speaker 1: What are your thoughts?
2:53
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'll put to see you this way. Each each
2:55
Speaker 2: week I do a mail bag, and the first month
2:57
Speaker 2: of the season I got a couple dozen questions each week,
3:00
Speaker 2: up to thirty questions after a game. In the past
3:03
Speaker 2: two weeks, I've gotten a total of three questions. Okay,
3:06
Speaker 2: so there's not a lot of energy. It's to answer
3:08
Speaker 2: your question. In the first month, Jaguars fans were kind
3:11
Speaker 2: of ripping their hair out, just kind of saying, why us,
3:16
Speaker 2: Why God do you give us your toughest battles, and
3:20
Speaker 2: just being kind of over the franchise but definitely voicing
3:23
Speaker 2: their opinion about it. And now I think Jaguars fans
3:25
Speaker 2: are at the point where they're over the franchise and
3:27
Speaker 2: they're just kind of done with it. They're starting to
3:29
Speaker 2: let go of it because it's just been I don't know,
3:33
Speaker 2: I don't want to say disaster after the disaster, but
3:35
Speaker 2: the Jags have been the losing his franchise since Shod
3:38
Speaker 2: Con purchased the organization in twenty twelve, and even with
3:41
Speaker 2: a Super Bowl winning head coach and Doug Peterson, and
3:44
Speaker 2: especially with back to back first overall picks including this
3:48
Speaker 2: golden Prodigy kid and Trevor Lawrence, nothing's changed. My old
3:53
Speaker 2: boss at Big Head Countries has as saying that the
3:55
Speaker 2: Jaguars suck until they don't, and it always comes back
3:58
Speaker 2: at some point season where even when they have good stretches,
4:03
Speaker 2: they can't have a good stretch for our entire season,
4:05
Speaker 2: and we see that game after Game two. They have
4:07
Speaker 2: certainly good moments in each game, but they just can't
4:10
Speaker 2: play all four quarters and that's been a problem under
4:13
Speaker 2: Doug Peterson since he took the job in twenty twenty two.
4:16
Speaker 2: And so again, despite Peterson and Trevor Lawrence and a
4:20
Speaker 2: couple other flashy pieces on the roster, the stadium deal
4:23
Speaker 2: happening this offseason was huge. Josh Heinz Allen is definitely
4:27
Speaker 2: one of the local favorites and he just got a
4:28
Speaker 2: big new contract. But despite all that, they're two and
4:32
Speaker 2: six and they have got less than a ten percent
4:34
Speaker 2: chance of making the playoffs by the numbers, and so
4:36
Speaker 2: at this point the fans certainly would say it's a
4:39
Speaker 2: lost season.
4:40
Speaker 1: Yeah, And I think that Doug Peterson, as much as
4:42
Speaker 1: we love him, quite frankly up here in Philadelphia and
4:45
Speaker 1: US Eagles fans love what he gave to this organization
4:49
Speaker 1: when he was here with regard to that Super Bowl win,
4:52
Speaker 1: doesn't seem like he's probably going to be sticking around
4:54
Speaker 1: Jacksonville too too much longer. Quite frankly, it wouldn't surprise
4:57
Speaker 1: me if he maybe let go before the end of
4:59
Speaker 1: this season.
5:01
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think it's definitely a matter of if and
5:04
Speaker 2: not when or when and not if. He's definitely not
5:08
Speaker 2: going to be coaching the Jaguars next season. I guess
5:11
Speaker 2: the only way he would be is if the Jaguars
5:13
Speaker 2: somehow did make the playoffs. But I think even if
5:15
Speaker 2: they made the playoffs, it's undlikely that they win a game,
5:17
Speaker 2: and I think they really need to actually make progress
5:21
Speaker 2: in the postseason in order to Peterson, in order for
5:23
Speaker 2: Peterson and general manager Trent Balky to stick around. And
5:27
Speaker 2: so yeah, it's definitely going to happen in the offseason
5:30
Speaker 2: at the latest, and at the earliest, it could happen
5:33
Speaker 2: after Sunday's game, especially with the whole narrative of Peterson
5:36
Speaker 2: returning to Philadelphia where he did the Eagles first and
5:40
Speaker 2: only Super Bowl still more than the Jags. But yeah,
5:44
Speaker 2: I think it's all adding up to where Peterson could
5:47
Speaker 2: be gone after this game if it's kind of an
5:49
Speaker 2: embarrassing outing at his former team's place. But we'll see,
5:54
Speaker 2: it'll happen at some point in the next six months.
5:56
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's what I'm thinking as well. And you know,
5:59
Speaker 1: I got to say, in all honesty, I've been one
6:01
Speaker 1: of those individuals for many years. I've actually rooted for
6:03
Speaker 1: the Jaguars to make some sort of push to get
6:07
Speaker 1: to the playoffs because year after year it really seems
6:10
Speaker 1: like they do have talent on their team, but just
6:13
Speaker 1: haven't been able to either get that coach or get
6:16
Speaker 1: the coordinators and establish those relationships with the players that
6:21
Speaker 1: will manifest itself into productivity on the field. And you know,
6:26
Speaker 1: you look, as we're moving along here, we look at
6:27
Speaker 1: these issues that have been plaguing the team most likely
6:32
Speaker 1: or most notably, I should say, these injuries here and
6:35
Speaker 1: as of us recording this, the Jags could potentially be
6:38
Speaker 1: without three wide receivers this week against the Eagles. Gabe Davis,
6:42
Speaker 1: Christian Kirk, Brian Thomas Junior. All three left the game
6:45
Speaker 1: against the Packers this past week and they didn't return.
6:48
Speaker 1: So look, if if two or three of these receivers
6:52
Speaker 1: gus aren't able to suit up on Sunday, what does
6:55
Speaker 1: that really mean for the Jaguars offensive game plan?
6:59
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think they could go into a lot more
7:01
Speaker 2: heavy packages. And so, just to sum up for anyone
7:03
Speaker 2: who missed it, Christian Kirk unfortunately, his season has ended
7:07
Speaker 2: with a broken collarbone that he had on Sunday, which
7:10
Speaker 2: is especially brutal because he had a season ending core
7:12
Speaker 2: injury last year. And it was crazy the splits between
7:17
Speaker 2: weeks one and thirteen and weeks thirteen and seventeen after
7:20
Speaker 2: Kirk went down and just how bad the Jaguars offense
7:23
Speaker 2: and team as a whole was after he was injured.
7:25
Speaker 2: And Lawrence was also banged up in the same game
7:28
Speaker 2: as him, and so that had an impact as well.
7:30
Speaker 2: But yeah, Kirk is very important to this offense. So
7:33
Speaker 2: that's going to be just a really missed piece on
7:37
Speaker 2: this team and in this locker room for the remainder
7:39
Speaker 2: of the year. And then Brian Tomas Junior, he had
7:42
Speaker 2: a chest injury on the touchdown Cash he had Sunday.
7:45
Speaker 2: He had a contusion on the left side of his
7:47
Speaker 2: chest according to Doug Peterson yesterday and his Monday presser,
7:51
Speaker 2: and so he's kind of day to day. They're going
7:53
Speaker 2: to get him out and practice later this week and
7:55
Speaker 2: just basically see how much pain he could tolerate and
7:59
Speaker 2: just how much it hurts, essentially, and so I think
8:01
Speaker 2: he'll be truly questionable or like maybe truly a game
8:04
Speaker 2: time decision for Sunday. And then Gave Davis nicked up
8:08
Speaker 2: a shoulder injury that he's been dealing with for most
8:10
Speaker 2: of if not all of the season, and so I
8:13
Speaker 2: think he's also going to be pretty much a fifty
8:15
Speaker 2: to fifty shots play on Sunday, I guess he'd probably
8:17
Speaker 2: I'd say it's more likely than not the Davis suits up.
8:20
Speaker 2: But even if he does, he hasn't been nearly as
8:23
Speaker 2: productive as the Jaguars were hoping this offseason when they
8:26
Speaker 2: signed him to a free agent deal. He had two
8:29
Speaker 2: touchdowns two weeks ago against the Bears in London, but
8:32
Speaker 2: he also had two touchdown drops in the same game,
8:35
Speaker 2: and so he certainly hasn't been again what the Jaguars
8:38
Speaker 2: were hoping for. So again, even if he does suit up,
8:41
Speaker 2: he's not really going to be a huge factor. And
8:43
Speaker 2: so because of all that, the Jaguars actually do have
8:47
Speaker 2: a good slot receiver that they can kind of plug
8:49
Speaker 2: and chug and Christian Kirk's role for about eighty or
8:53
Speaker 2: ninety percent of the effectiveness and production. I would say.
8:57
Speaker 2: In Parker Washington, who Eagles fans I'm sure probably a
9:00
Speaker 2: little bit familiar with since he went to Penn State.
9:02
Speaker 2: So Parker had a little bit of a slow first
9:05
Speaker 2: rookie season last year, but so did a lot of
9:08
Speaker 2: Jaguars and so do a lot of Jaguars in general.
9:11
Speaker 2: He just he became the first player ever to have
9:14
Speaker 2: a special teams touchdown in London two weeks ago against
9:17
Speaker 2: the Patriots. The Bears game was actually three weeks ago,
9:20
Speaker 2: and he's been doing a lot of great work behind
9:22
Speaker 2: the scenes. It was cool because after he scored that
9:24
Speaker 2: punter turn touchdown, all of the players and coaches were
9:28
Speaker 2: super happy for him, but not surprised by it whatsoever,
9:32
Speaker 2: because they saw all the hard work that he put
9:34
Speaker 2: in the offseason, and they saw how many big plays
9:37
Speaker 2: he was making in practice and OTAs and stuff like that,
9:40
Speaker 2: and so no one was surprise by it. And so
9:42
Speaker 2: I think there is a lot of confidence in the
9:44
Speaker 2: building that Parker Washington can kind of take over Kirk's
9:47
Speaker 2: role and do a lot of with what Kirk did
9:50
Speaker 2: was doing. But with that said, I do think for
9:54
Speaker 2: both this season and the rest of the year, the
9:56
Speaker 2: Jaguar's going to have to lean into more twelve and
9:59
Speaker 2: thirteen two in three tight end personnel packages and put
10:03
Speaker 2: just more heavy bodies on the field and try to
10:05
Speaker 2: get their under center run game going, especially with Tank Bigsby,
10:08
Speaker 2: who's similar to Parker Lot he had a pretty brutal
10:11
Speaker 2: rookie season last year, way more brutal than Parker's, but
10:15
Speaker 2: then this year he's kind of had a resurgence. And obviously,
10:18
Speaker 2: when a football team wins games, their running back is
10:21
Speaker 2: probably going to have a good stat line. But in
10:23
Speaker 2: Jacksonville's two wins this year, Bigsby had over one hundred
10:26
Speaker 2: yards and two rushing touchdowns. And so I think the
10:29
Speaker 2: Jaguars are going to need to really emphasize the run
10:32
Speaker 2: and try to get Bigsby going, and then try to
10:34
Speaker 2: do things off of the run game by like attacking
10:37
Speaker 2: downfield in their multiple tight end sets and doing bootlegs
10:41
Speaker 2: out to the flats, and again attacking off of the
10:43
Speaker 2: run game as opposed to what they usually do and
10:46
Speaker 2: what they should do, which is kind of building everything
10:49
Speaker 2: off of their franchise quarterback, Trevor Lawrence.
10:51
Speaker 1: Yeah. Absolutely, And he's who I want to get into
10:53
Speaker 1: next with you, and I think really quick before we
10:55
Speaker 1: get into Trevor Lawrence tank Bigsby. I mean what we
10:58
Speaker 1: have seen from him, the glosiveness that is a concern
11:01
Speaker 1: that I have as an Eagles fan heading into this week.
11:05
Speaker 1: My gosh, so explosive when he's getting to the next level,
11:09
Speaker 1: Tank Bigsby, somebody we're going to really have to keep
11:11
Speaker 1: our eyes on and really could be the foundation of
11:14
Speaker 1: what the offensive game plan is going to be this week.
11:16
Speaker 1: But Gush, you did mention Trevor Lawrence, and I wanted
11:20
Speaker 1: to get into him because there has been criticism and
11:22
Speaker 1: both praise quite frankly, for the type of season that
11:25
Speaker 1: he has had thus far. I'm wondering, how would you
11:28
Speaker 1: assess what you've seen from Trevor Lawrence this season, whether
11:32
Speaker 1: or not he has either continued to develop and grow
11:35
Speaker 1: as a quarterback in this league, maybe you're seeing him
11:38
Speaker 1: regress in certain areas, maybe he's peaked or so, what
11:41
Speaker 1: are your thoughts on what we have seen from Lawrence
11:44
Speaker 1: this year what we can possibly expect from him this week.
11:48
Speaker 2: Yeah, going into the season, I thought Lawrence was gonna
11:50
Speaker 2: hit his peak or the start of his peak in
11:52
Speaker 2: his career and really take off with Brian Thomas Junior
11:55
Speaker 2: ads the offense. Because I don't think Brian Thomas is
11:58
Speaker 2: going to be half as good as he has been
11:59
Speaker 2: so far this season, because he's been he was six
12:03
Speaker 2: in receiving yards after this week, and like I think
12:07
Speaker 2: there was a stat of that he was the fourth
12:08
Speaker 2: receiver to hit five hundred yards and five touchdowns are
12:12
Speaker 2: roughly that in the first seven weeks of the year.
12:14
Speaker 2: So he's had a phenomenal, phenomenal start and probably would
12:17
Speaker 2: be in the conversation for offensive Rookie of the Year
12:20
Speaker 2: if Jadon Daniels wasn't due his thing in Washington. And
12:22
Speaker 2: I guess same goods for Caleb Williams and Drake may two.
12:24
Speaker 2: They're playing well. I didn't think Brian Thomas was going
12:27
Speaker 2: to be half as good as he has been, but
12:28
Speaker 2: I still thought that just with his speed and his
12:30
Speaker 2: vertical threat, it was going to open up kind of
12:32
Speaker 2: the whole rest of the offense. And then Kirk and
12:35
Speaker 2: Evan Ingram and I thought Travis etn although we haven't
12:38
Speaker 2: seen it, but Bank, Trent, Tank, Bigsby and all the
12:41
Speaker 2: rest of the players would kind of be able to
12:42
Speaker 2: thrive with a space opened up by Brian Thomas Junior.
12:46
Speaker 2: Because for Lawrence's whole career, he's never really had a
12:48
Speaker 2: great or true vertical de threat. They had Marvin for
12:52
Speaker 2: a while, but he was at the end of his
12:53
Speaker 2: career and he was like more of a contested catch guy.
12:56
Speaker 2: Than someone who's truly threatening defenses with his speed, and
12:59
Speaker 2: so Lawrence had DJ Chark for the first four games
13:02
Speaker 2: of his career, but then Chark had a season ending
13:04
Speaker 2: ankle injury, and since then, defenses have really been able
13:07
Speaker 2: to step up on the Jaguars offense and kind of
13:11
Speaker 2: just give them no cushion and they didn't have to
13:15
Speaker 2: worry about anyone really getting past them for the most part,
13:17
Speaker 2: despite Lawrence having one of the strongest arms in the league.
13:20
Speaker 2: And so now with Brian Thomas, you have seen that
13:22
Speaker 2: where Jacksonville has been more explosive, Lawrence has averaged his
13:26
Speaker 2: highest depth of target this season than any other season.
13:30
Speaker 2: But with all that said, like it's still kind of
13:33
Speaker 2: the same old story of like he's really really good
13:36
Speaker 2: and you can see amazing flashes every game, but it
13:39
Speaker 2: just doesn't feel like it's quite clicking, and he's not
13:42
Speaker 2: as good as everyone wants him to be, which is
13:44
Speaker 2: certainly the expectations are a little bit unfair. Certainly not
13:47
Speaker 2: anything close to Lebron James, but it is similar to
13:49
Speaker 2: Lebron James where it's like it's like there's gonna be
13:53
Speaker 2: certain people out there where he's never gonna live up
13:55
Speaker 2: to their expectations even if he wins five Super Bowls.
13:59
Speaker 2: But it's just that the Jaguars offense is always putting
14:02
Speaker 2: him in difficult situations and never really like helping him out,
14:07
Speaker 2: whether it's receivers dropping passes, or the Jaguars not doing
14:11
Speaker 2: having good early down success and getting him in bad
14:14
Speaker 2: third and long situations, or the offensive line just not
14:17
Speaker 2: being cohesive and letting up blown blocks. Just like, Lawrence
14:23
Speaker 2: has never really seemed to click, but everything around him
14:25
Speaker 2: certainly hasn't clicked either. And again, like I think Peterson's
14:28
Speaker 2: offense is certainly sound and it's a good system, but
14:31
Speaker 2: there hasn't really been a lot of adaption or progress
14:35
Speaker 2: since his Philadelphia days, and I think that defenses now,
14:38
Speaker 2: even with the emergence of Brian Thomas Junior, are still
14:42
Speaker 2: able to hone in on tendencies from Peterson and Press Taylor.
14:46
Speaker 2: And again, Lawrence is just playing with like the highest
14:49
Speaker 2: level of difficulty in the slimmest of margins of air,
14:54
Speaker 2: and so then as a result, you seem feel like
14:56
Speaker 2: he has kind of put on a superhero kp which
14:58
Speaker 2: we saw a lot last year, especially after he got injured,
15:01
Speaker 2: and that was a big part of it. But then
15:02
Speaker 2: we saw that as recently as this past weekend against
15:05
Speaker 2: the Packers where he had two backbreaking to turnovers and
15:08
Speaker 2: opposing territory. But at the same time, he had an
15:11
Speaker 2: outrageously good game for the every other play and did
15:15
Speaker 2: like everything right in everything that he could have on
15:17
Speaker 2: every other play, and he was like, at the same time,
15:20
Speaker 2: the only reason that the Jaguars were in position to
15:23
Speaker 2: possibly win the game late in the fourth quarter, Like
15:25
Speaker 2: he orchestrated a game tying drive with basically nobody out
15:31
Speaker 2: at wide receiver because of all those injuries, and they
15:33
Speaker 2: had two tight ends playing in normal three wide receiver
15:37
Speaker 2: eleven personnel to wrap it all up, I'm definitely of
15:42
Speaker 2: the belief that Trevor Lawrence is the real deal, and
15:44
Speaker 2: it's just a matter of time. And if you're underwhelmed
15:46
Speaker 2: by him, it's probably just because of the expectations you
15:48
Speaker 2: had on him. Like he's definitely an objectively and above
15:52
Speaker 2: average NFL quarterback. No one should be questioning his the
15:56
Speaker 2: big contract that he signed this offseason, I think, but
15:59
Speaker 2: I do hope that Jacksonville's next head coach is able
16:02
Speaker 2: to put him in just better positions to succeed going forward.
16:05
Speaker 1: Again, folks, we're talking to Gus log from Big Catcountry,
16:09
Speaker 1: Bigcatcountry dot com, great SB Nation site and you can
16:12
Speaker 1: follow him on the Twitter slash x at gus underscore
16:16
Speaker 1: Log is great, great follow And I wanted to talk
16:19
Speaker 1: about the defense too before we start getting into some
16:22
Speaker 1: matchup talk as well. The Jaguars defense has struggled to
16:27
Speaker 1: really stop running quarterbacks throughout the year, and I think
16:29
Speaker 1: you may know where I'm going to be going with this.
16:31
Speaker 1: As you know, Jalen Hurts likes to use his legs
16:34
Speaker 1: every now and then, especially in third down, you know,
16:37
Speaker 1: third and medium, thirty, third and long type situations. So
16:41
Speaker 1: I'm wondering how might the Jaguars defense really try to
16:44
Speaker 1: defend Jalen Hurts this week again, because they've really struggled
16:48
Speaker 1: to stop running quarterbacks throughout this year. What have you
16:51
Speaker 1: seen them try to do with other teams thus far
16:53
Speaker 1: this season? How do you think they defend Jalen Hurts?
16:57
Speaker 2: Yeah, I really have not seen a lot of good
16:59
Speaker 2: answers from Ryan Nielsen, the defensive coordinator who's coming over
17:03
Speaker 2: from Atlanta from last year. Not a lot of good
17:06
Speaker 2: answers for him against quarterbacks in general, honestly, but especially
17:09
Speaker 2: running quarterbacks, like you said, and he's really big in
17:13
Speaker 2: press coverages, which most often turns out to be press
17:16
Speaker 2: man coverages. They do a little bit of zone stuff too,
17:18
Speaker 2: and zone match and man match if you want to
17:20
Speaker 2: get nerdy, but it's a lot of press man coverage
17:23
Speaker 2: on the outside and then one deep safety to protect
17:26
Speaker 2: deep explosive passes hypothetically, and then four or five man rushes,
17:30
Speaker 2: but mostly four man rushes and so like. Basically, cover
17:34
Speaker 2: one man is like the bread and butter of their
17:36
Speaker 2: defense because they just don't have enough on both the
17:41
Speaker 2: coverage and the pass rush to be able to win
17:45
Speaker 2: on most downs. Like those two units work in hand
17:48
Speaker 2: in hand obviously, but especially in man coverage because you
17:51
Speaker 2: really need a pass rush to get home in less
17:53
Speaker 2: than three seconds or else you really are going to
17:55
Speaker 2: be able to be expected to play man coverage against
17:57
Speaker 2: most NFL receivers. Pass rush just has not been getting
18:01
Speaker 2: home enough for the most part. But I mean Tyson
18:04
Speaker 2: Campbell was banged up earlier in the season. Ronald Darby
18:07
Speaker 2: I was a really big fan of his in the
18:08
Speaker 2: offseason as a potential free agent pickup. And it was
18:11
Speaker 2: thrilled when the Jags got him, but he's been pretty underwhelming.
18:15
Speaker 2: And then Andre Cisco was supposed to have a breakout
18:17
Speaker 2: season after having kind of like a semi half breakout
18:21
Speaker 2: season last year at free safety, but I don't know
18:23
Speaker 2: if it's injuries that slowed him down, but he's just
18:25
Speaker 2: like almost similar to Lawrence, like not peaking and not
18:29
Speaker 2: progressing the way that a lot of people would hope.
18:31
Speaker 2: And so again it's it's kind of both the pass
18:34
Speaker 2: rush and the coverage, but mostly the pass rush because
18:37
Speaker 2: whether they're trying to get home with four or sending
18:39
Speaker 2: more blitzes, they're just not doing enough. And quarterbacks are
18:43
Speaker 2: able to, especially like you said, running quarterbacks are able
18:46
Speaker 2: to buy a couple more seconds and be able to
18:48
Speaker 2: buy their receivers a couple more seconds against these coverage looks.
18:52
Speaker 2: Then that makes all the difference. And so it correct
18:55
Speaker 2: me if I'm wrong, But I feel like Jalen Hurts
18:57
Speaker 2: has always been a guy that even when he scrambles
18:59
Speaker 2: and breaks the pocket, he's always looking downfield as opposed
19:02
Speaker 2: to running. If anything, fans probably have been asking for
19:06
Speaker 2: him to run more on scrambles, but he's always looking downfield,
19:10
Speaker 2: which is really really bad news for this Shaguars defense,
19:12
Speaker 2: because again, whether they're sending for whether they're blitzing anything
19:16
Speaker 2: they're trying to do, they're just not able to get
19:18
Speaker 2: home and finish. And that's going to be the biggest thing,
19:20
Speaker 2: is just whether they can get home and finish with pressure,
19:23
Speaker 2: regardless of how many they're sending in two or three
19:26
Speaker 2: seconds or less, because I don't really have any faith
19:29
Speaker 2: in them stopping aj Brown honestly, regardless of how many
19:31
Speaker 2: seconds they have. But if you give aj Brown and
19:35
Speaker 2: Jalen Hurts in the rest of their weapons more than
19:38
Speaker 2: two and a half and three seconds to make a
19:40
Speaker 2: connection downfield, then it's going to be over and Jacksonville
19:43
Speaker 2: is going to continue allowing explosive plays at one of
19:46
Speaker 2: the highest rates in the league.
19:47
Speaker 1: Well, we'll have to see if the Eagles can score
19:49
Speaker 1: in the first quarter. They haven't done it in nine
19:51
Speaker 1: straight games, longest streak in the NFL. It's becoming an
19:55
Speaker 1: old storyline up here. But let's get into some matchup
19:58
Speaker 1: talk here, w where you may have a concern both
20:02
Speaker 1: on the offensive and defensive side of things, Gus. So
20:05
Speaker 1: let's start with the biggest concern with any of the
20:08
Speaker 1: Jaguars offensive matchups against the Eagles defense? Where is that
20:12
Speaker 1: one biggest concern for you?
20:15
Speaker 2: Yeah? For me, it would be Jacksonville's offensive tackles against
20:18
Speaker 2: Philadelphia's edge rushers. Okay with yeah, I feel like they
20:21
Speaker 2: haven't really ever had one really true alpha Micah Parsons,
20:26
Speaker 2: Miles Garrett nick Bosa type, but they've always had a
20:28
Speaker 2: deep stable under Howie Roseman, and so I think that's
20:31
Speaker 2: going to cause big problems for Jacksonville's offensive tackles to
20:34
Speaker 2: be always going against fresh legs. Because Cam Robinson has
20:38
Speaker 2: been the left tackle for about seven seasons now, he's
20:42
Speaker 2: one of the longest tenured players on the team. But
20:44
Speaker 2: he had a concussion last week and he actually cleared
20:47
Speaker 2: concussion protocol to play this past Sunday, but he ended
20:51
Speaker 2: up getting benched in favor of Walker Little, who was
20:54
Speaker 2: a second round pick back in twenty twenty one in
20:56
Speaker 2: the same draft class as Trevor Lawrence and trave CTN.
21:00
Speaker 2: But Walker hasn't played a lot because Cam Robinson has
21:03
Speaker 2: been there. But Walker got a shot to start last
21:06
Speaker 2: week and did not play very well. And I will
21:08
Speaker 2: say in the few opportunities that Walker Little has gotten
21:11
Speaker 2: in the league in the past three or four years.
21:13
Speaker 2: For the most part, he's done a really good job
21:16
Speaker 2: to the point where Jaguars fans say, let's trade Cam
21:18
Speaker 2: Robinson or cut Cam Robinson or get rid of that
21:21
Speaker 2: big contract. Yeah, and play Walker Little because we can
21:24
Speaker 2: get pretty much eighty and ninety percent of his production
21:27
Speaker 2: or whatever for just a fraction of the cost. But
21:32
Speaker 2: so again, walker Little in the past has done fairly
21:35
Speaker 2: well stepping up for Cam Robinson when needed because of injuries,
21:38
Speaker 2: and last year Robinson had his suspension. But last week
21:41
Speaker 2: Walker Little had maybe the worst game of his career
21:44
Speaker 2: against the Green Bay Packers in Preston Smith and then
21:47
Speaker 2: on the other side, Anton Harrison was the first round
21:50
Speaker 2: pick for Jacksonville last year in twenty twenty three, and
21:52
Speaker 2: he had an outstanding rookie season, especially considering he was
21:56
Speaker 2: kind of a raw and unpolished prospect that he was
21:58
Speaker 2: switching sides from lef tackled right tackle. It was just
22:01
Speaker 2: twenty one years old, so he had an outstanding first year.
22:05
Speaker 2: But this year he started out pretty slow, and he's
22:09
Speaker 2: he's put it together a little bit more in the
22:10
Speaker 2: past few weeks, but it was a pretty disappointing star
22:13
Speaker 2: for him, just considering how much myself and a bunch
22:15
Speaker 2: of other people are hyping up as a just really
22:18
Speaker 2: good player to watch for the Jaguars this season, and
22:21
Speaker 2: so Anton has been on the rise a little bit
22:25
Speaker 2: again in recent weeks. But I think those are two
22:27
Speaker 2: areas that if Jacksonville is going to end up needing
22:29
Speaker 2: to go to their dropback passing game and they're not
22:32
Speaker 2: able to get going with tant Bigsby under center and
22:34
Speaker 2: a bunch of play action and fancy looks off of that,
22:37
Speaker 2: then it could be a tough day for Trevor Lawrence
22:39
Speaker 2: and he's going to have to get all rid of
22:41
Speaker 2: the ball really quickly.
22:42
Speaker 1: Well on the flip side of that, and I think
22:44
Speaker 1: you may have already touched upon it, I'm wondering if
22:46
Speaker 1: you have the biggest concern with any of the Jaguars
22:50
Speaker 1: defensive matchups against the Eagles offense. You were talking about
22:54
Speaker 1: that connection Jalen Hurts and AJ Brown, maybe AJ Brown
22:58
Speaker 1: and DeVante Smith going up again, it's this secondary Is
23:01
Speaker 1: that the biggest concern for you or is it something else?
23:04
Speaker 2: It's definitely a J Brown, Okay. I like Saquan is awesome,
23:09
Speaker 2: and I'm so happy for him that he landed with
23:10
Speaker 2: his hometown team in free agency. But to me, it's
23:13
Speaker 2: kind of like, oh, it's one of the best running
23:15
Speaker 2: backs in the league behind one of the best offensive
23:17
Speaker 2: lines in the league. No, duh, he's doing amazing. But
23:22
Speaker 2: like AJ Brown is just a different cat. He's like
23:25
Speaker 2: an All Galaxy player to me, Like he is really
23:29
Speaker 2: the player that I think is going to strike the
23:30
Speaker 2: most fear on either side of the ball in Jacksonville
23:34
Speaker 2: because just on any given play he can take a
23:37
Speaker 2: fifty or fifty plus yard catch to the house in
23:41
Speaker 2: j Justsonville doesn't have anyone that can match him. And again,
23:43
Speaker 2: they play a lot of one high safety coverages hypothetically
23:46
Speaker 2: to take away the deep pass because they very they
23:50
Speaker 2: pretty much never have nobody back deep. And I know
23:53
Speaker 2: that's true for a lot of teams, but like for
23:54
Speaker 2: the Jags, that's really like point zero zero zero one percent.
23:58
Speaker 2: But again, since they play one high safety coverages a lot,
24:01
Speaker 2: that lends to a lot of just go route and
24:04
Speaker 2: outside opportunities for outside receivers. Jacksonville has been burned by
24:09
Speaker 2: I mean, I guess pretty much everyone honestly, but especially
24:11
Speaker 2: perimeter receivers, I would say this season. And so, even
24:14
Speaker 2: though I am a big Tyson Campbell fan, he was
24:17
Speaker 2: dealing with a hamstring injury this earlier this year, and
24:20
Speaker 2: he might not be fully one hundred percent. But even
24:22
Speaker 2: if he is at full strength, like no one on
24:25
Speaker 2: the earth, but especially no one in Jacksonville's a match
24:27
Speaker 2: against Ajo Brown, and so I'm pretty worried about that matchup.
24:30
Speaker 1: Alright, sounds good. Well, before I let you go and
24:33
Speaker 1: I ask all of our opposition territory guests this two
24:37
Speaker 1: part question about sneaky players, both on offense and defense.
24:42
Speaker 1: Let's start off with who do you think that sneaky
24:45
Speaker 1: player is that US Eagles fans are gonna need to
24:47
Speaker 1: look out for in terms of the Jaguars offense this week?
24:50
Speaker 1: Do you have one in mind?
24:52
Speaker 2: Yeah, I would say Walker Little honestly would probably be
24:55
Speaker 2: my real answer, but we him talked about Parker Washington already,
24:58
Speaker 2: but I'll go with an their former Nity Lion and
25:01
Speaker 2: Brenton Strange. There is going to be more twelve and
25:05
Speaker 2: thirteen a gay multiple tight end personnel packages for Jacksonville
25:10
Speaker 2: going forward without Christian Kirk and especially if they don't
25:13
Speaker 2: have Gabe Davis and Brian Thomas Junior for this game
25:16
Speaker 2: on Sunday. And so, Brent Strange was the tight end
25:19
Speaker 2: three behind Evan Ingram and Luke Ferrell last year as
25:22
Speaker 2: a rookie second round rookie at that but this year
25:25
Speaker 2: he took over the tight end two role and has
25:27
Speaker 2: been a pretty solid presence in the passing game. Yeah,
25:30
Speaker 2: I think he'd stepped up pretty nicely for Evan Ingram
25:33
Speaker 2: when Ingram was out with the hamstring injury for a
25:35
Speaker 2: couple of weeks earlier in the year. And then I
25:37
Speaker 2: think they're gonna just need to rely on Ingram and
25:40
Speaker 2: Strange a ton in this game, especially to take advantage
25:43
Speaker 2: of Philadelphia's linebackers, which I feel like has just been
25:47
Speaker 2: probably the weak link for the defense for a couple
25:50
Speaker 2: of years now. And so it needs to be a
25:52
Speaker 2: big game for Strange and Evan Ingram and Tank big Speed.
25:55
Speaker 2: Those are kind of like the big three if the
25:57
Speaker 2: Jaggulars want to have success on offense and have any
26:00
Speaker 2: shot of winning this game.
26:01
Speaker 1: Okay, and finally, who's your sneaky player for us gus
26:04
Speaker 1: to look out for on the Jaguars defense. Who would
26:08
Speaker 1: that be for you?
26:10
Speaker 2: Oh, I'll go the radar for this one. Go with
26:13
Speaker 2: DeAndre Prince, who is a fifth round rookie out of Ole, Miss, Okay,
26:18
Speaker 2: and his best trade to speed. The Jaguars under Trent Balki,
26:22
Speaker 2: they have a lot of kind of types that they
26:24
Speaker 2: like for defensive linemen. It's basically Trey Von Walker. They
26:27
Speaker 2: want really really big and really really athletic guys that
26:30
Speaker 2: can just go and beat the guys across from them.
26:32
Speaker 2: And when Balki and the Jaguars front office is scouting cornerbacks,
26:36
Speaker 2: they really really like speed, which makes sense because you
26:39
Speaker 2: want to be able to have corners that can hypothetically
26:41
Speaker 2: match the speed of any receiver they line up against.
26:44
Speaker 2: But Prince, so coming into it into his rookie season
26:48
Speaker 2: as a fifth round rookie, I thought, like, speed is
26:51
Speaker 2: the name of his game, but he's probably going to
26:52
Speaker 2: need to develop a little bit more before we have
26:56
Speaker 2: any real expectations for him. But he actually was had
26:58
Speaker 2: a really nice ota period in the off season, and
27:03
Speaker 2: then he actually replaced Monteric Brown, who was a former
27:07
Speaker 2: seventh round pick and has been kind of the top
27:09
Speaker 2: backup corner for Jacksonville. In the past couple of years,
27:12
Speaker 2: Montanrik in general has stepped up, okay, about as well
27:15
Speaker 2: as you can hope Fromote Young backup day three cornerback,
27:19
Speaker 2: but he kind of got burned a couple times by
27:21
Speaker 2: Romeo Dobbs and the Packers receivers last week, and so
27:24
Speaker 2: DeAndre Prince entered the game and he did let up
27:27
Speaker 2: a big play to Romeo Dobbs, but it was like
27:29
Speaker 2: one of the most gorgeous plays, one of the most
27:31
Speaker 2: gorgeous throws I've ever seen in person from Jordan Love
27:34
Speaker 2: and so it's one of those where you just have
27:36
Speaker 2: to give a hat tip to the offense. And so
27:38
Speaker 2: DeAndre Prince, I think again, fifth round rookie that hasn't
27:41
Speaker 2: had a lot of defensive snaps so far up until
27:43
Speaker 2: last week, but he could see an opportunity this week
27:45
Speaker 2: and he's obviously going to have a big ask going
27:48
Speaker 2: against aj Brown and Devonte Smith again.
27:50
Speaker 1: Folks. Gus log from Big Cat Country Big Gatcountry dot
27:54
Speaker 1: com and you can also follow Gus on the Twitter
27:57
Speaker 1: slash x at gus underscore Log. It was great talking
28:01
Speaker 1: to you for the first time here. Love the discussion.
28:04
Speaker 1: I'd love to have you on down the road at
28:05
Speaker 1: some point, my friend.
28:07
Speaker 2: Yeah, that'd be great. I was actually gonna say I'm
28:09
Speaker 2: rooted for the Eagles the rest of the season, including
28:11
Speaker 2: Great Lading Sunday, just in case, because I think it
28:14
Speaker 2: does make sense for the Jags try to get off
28:16
Speaker 2: the Dove Peterson train as soon as they can. But
28:19
Speaker 2: my dad is from outside Philly and went to Drexel,
28:21
Speaker 2: so I'm a kind of secondhand Philly fan or the
28:26
Speaker 2: all the Philly sports teams are my second teams, and
28:28
Speaker 2: so starting pretty much now, I'm gonna be rooting for
28:31
Speaker 2: the Eagles.
28:31
Speaker 1: All right, sounds good? Future, Yeah, absolutely, I would love
28:35
Speaker 1: to have you back on and we could talk more Jags,
28:38
Speaker 1: we could talk more NFL.
28:39
Speaker 2: That'd be great. Yeah, thanks for having me on, Jeff,
28:41
Speaker 2: I had a good time.
28:43
Speaker 1: That's going to do it for us here on Opposition
28:45
Speaker 1: Territory this week. Please share our podcast with your friends
28:48
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28:51
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28:59
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29:16
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