The Philadelphia Eagles (3-4) traveled across the ocean to play the Jacksonville Jaguars (3-4) at Wembley Stadium in London, England, Oct. 28. Coming into the game, the Eagles were recovering from a blown 17 point lead against the Carolina Panthers, which will go down as one of the team’s worst regular season losses in its history. In addition, the Eagles had lost three of their last four games. The Jaguars, however, had also struggled this season. It was just last season that this team had arguably the best defense in the National Football League led by their star cornerback, the oft-outspoken Jalen Ramsey. The Jaguars got a lot of buzz in the beginning of the season after winning the first two games of the season, including a week 2 win over the Patriots. Since then, however, Blake Bortles has struggled greatly; they had lost three in a row coming into the game against the Eagles.
Surprisingly, it wasn’t Jalen Ramsey who was talking trash before the game. Rather, it was Eagles’ star safety Malcolm Jenkins.
“I can turn on the tape this week of our opponent (the Jaguars) and see that Colin Kaepernick deserves a job,” Jenkins said, when asked about the Players Coalition.
The first quarter of the game was a slugfest. Both defenses played really hard while both offenses struggled. On their first drive of the game, the Eagles were marching down the field until a Carson Wentz sack at the Jaguars 37-yard line led to a fumble. On the next play from scrimmage, Blake Bortles had a fumble of his own but managed to recover it. The Jaguars were unable to find the endzone and it resulted in a 50-yard Josh Lambo field goal. On the next Eagles drive, the Birds got to the Jacksonville 23-yard line, but once again Wentz turned the ball over, throwing an interception to Ramsey on a pass intended for receiver Josh Perkins. Towards the end of the second quarter, the score was 6-3 Jacksonville, but the Eagles got the ball back after Jaguar receiver Keelan Cole fumbled as a result of an unbelievable tackle by Eagles rookie Avonte Maddox. The fumble put the Eagles in great field position and they finally capitalized. Wentz scrambled for 13-yards and then completed a 32-yard touchdown pass to rookie Dallas Goedert.
In the second half, the Eagles continued to find success on offense. Wentz was really on point after committing two early turnovers. Midway through the third quarter, running back Wendell Smallwood finished off a pass from Wentz to score a 36-yard touchdown, giving the Eagles a 17-6 lead. Jacksonville responded with a 75-yard drive of their own, which culminated with an 11-yard touchdown pass from Bortles to Dede Westbrook. Unfortunately for the Jags, they were stuffed on their two point conversion attempt. That ended up being the last touchdown of the day for the Jaguars. The only points the Jaguars were able to score after that were two Lambo field goals.
On the other hand, the Eagles continued to click offensively in the fourth quarter. Jordan Matthews had a big 36-yard catch, which eventually set up a 5-yard touchdown pass from Wentz to Zach Ertz. The Jaguars had a chance to make a drive and take the lead, but the Eagles defense had other plans and stopped Jacksonville on all four downs at their own 48.
The final score was 24-18, bringing the Eagles back to .500 at 4-4. Despite the poor start, Wentz had an excellent game as he finished with 286 passing yards and three touchdown passes. Jordan Mathews lead the Eagles in receiving, hauling in four catches for 93 yards.
The Eagles next game will come in week 10 against the Dallas Cowboys at Lincoln Financial Field for Sunday Night Football. The Eagles are hoping that their trade deadline addition of Golden Tate will provide a spark in the offense for a playoff push.