Oof. That was a rough one. It felt like the Eagles were well on their way to their easiest win of the season, but too much dicking around resulted in a 22-point lead becoming a six-point lead, requiring a 3rd and 22 miracle touchdown grab from DeVonta Smith and an end zone interception from Nakobe Dean to put the Jags away.

Pick your cliche of choice. They didn’t step on the opponent’s throat. They took their foot off the gas. The Eagles LET ‘EM OFF THE HOOK, as the late Denny Green once said. It felt like they didn’t think Doug Pederson’s guys had any life in them, none at all, so they got a little casual and let Jacksonville turn a potential blowout into a ridiculous nailbiter.

It’s annoying because you allow the narratives from early in the year to return. They win, but look sloppy doing it. Nick Sirianni once again twists himself into a pretzel of goofy decision making. It’s a classic “glass half empty” type of Eagles game, where people are probably gonna do Negadelphia after a win because they made it way more difficult than it needed to be.

To the observations, which are a rollercoaster:

1) Tiki Barber and Jason McCourty talked about the failed first tush push, saying the Eagles put that wrinkle on tape for other teams to study. That was already on tape because the Eagles have done it several times over the last two years. In fact, they did it in the third quarter and moved the sticks.


2) What do we think Austin Trammell was doing on the fumbled first punt? Did he not see Sydney Brown barreling down at him, going a hundred miles an hour?

3) If I told you last year that Ben VanSumeren would catch a pass, your response would have been ______ ?

4) The Eagles scored in the first quarter. Our long national nightmare is over. Hooray!

5) Evan Engram with a bad drop to end the Jag-wires 2nd drive. Really bad. Thank you, Evan Engram.

6) Ronald Darby plays for the Jags? Had no clue he was still in the league.

7) Saquon Barkley with the backwards hurdle is one of the most insane things you’ll ever see. Holy shit:

8) Jacksonville wanted pass interference on the 4th and 1 where Cooper DeJean stopped Engram. It wasn’t DPI because the contact took place behind the line the scrimmage. Plus, it was an ugly play to begin with, so their complaints are voided. You can’t dial up something that bad and then ask for a flag.

9) 4th and 3 right before halftime. Let’s check the flow chart:

(A.J. Brown was actually open, Hurts didn’t make the best throw)

10) Cooper DeJean is a fan favorite already. COOOOOOOOOOOOOOOP! You can hear it really loud on television. Sounds like the DUUUUUUUUUUCE! of years past.

11) Zack Baun with great hands on the pick. That’s not an easy play to make. He’s been really good this year. A rare under-the-radar Howie Roseman linebacker signing that actually works.

12) Jacksonville giving up a running touchdown on 3rd and 17 is amateur hour. Eagles caught ’em with their pants down but the reaction, the angles, the pursuit, it was all high school level stuff.

13) Don’t understand going for 2 up 16-0. Just kick the extra point to make it a three-score game. TAKE THE POINTS, NICK.

14) Saquon had 103 scrimmage yards and two touchdowns at halftime. 6.1 yards per touch. Three times as many yards at the Jaguars.

15) Only one more day until the election commercials are over. That one Kamala ad felt like it went on for 15 minutes.

16) Shady McCoy should have used his TV interview to proclaim that “Dak is ass.”

17) Jahan Dotson sighting! What a catch! The shot of Sirianni reacting on the sideline was cool.

18) I loved the zone read wrinkle that Jalen scored on. They lined up five wide, but motioned Kenny Gainwell inside and pulled the left guard and left tackle at the same time. It wasn’t technically a read play, since they didn’t leave a defensive player unblocked, but used the play action to create some misdirection and get the big boys out in front. That’s two weeks in a row that Hurts has scored on something like that, running off-tackle to his right.

19) Too much fuckery from Nick Sirianni with the two-point conversions and 4th down decisions in this game. Way too much. It was insane, it felt like the early part of the season where he was overthinking things. When Jacksonville scored, Doug went for two, converted, and all of a sudden it was a two-touchdown game with five and a half minutes left.

20) The Saquon fumble and Jacksonville scoop and score: the broadcast explained that there was contact from a Jags player, Ventrell Miller, then you can see him step on a teammate and go down. The refs must have ruled that the contact from Miller wasn’t enough to cause Saquon to fall, which… I dunno man. It certainly seemed like the guy tripped him up. They really blazed through that replay pretty quickly, which was suspect.

21) A.J. Ross is pretty good doing sideline commentary.

22) Play of the game SHOULD have been the 3rd and 9 that Hurts converted with his feet. It stopped the Jags’ momentum and extended a drive that ultimately resulted in another failed 4th down conversion. Kicking the field goal there, or moving the sticks, would have made it a two-score game again.

23) Not sure what happened on that strange incompletion to DeVonta Smith, but Hurts paid homage to Donovan McNabb with a worm burner.

24) Why didn’t Hurts pick out his second option on the failed 4th and 1 in the fourth quarter? Was he afraid to throw the ball to E.J. Jenkins? That’s the next read on that play and the guy was wide open.

25) A.J. Brown ruled out with a knee injury. Uh…

26) A little surprised that Doug punted on 4th and 3 from the Eagles’ 49 yard line. There was plenty of time left, but an opportunity to keep the pressure on.

27) What more can you say about DeVonta? With Brown out of the game, he caught three passes for 78 yards and a touchdown on the key drive that wound up providing the game-winning touchdown. The first catch was on 3rd and 6 and the second was on 3rd and 22, and neither was easy. He put the Eagles on his back.

28) Saquon went down to stay inbounds on a second down play during the final drive, which kept the clock running and forced a Jacksonville timeout. There was a chance he could have gained the first down yardage. Did he make the wrong decision?

29) Jake Elliott has missed a couple of long ones this year. 50+. It’s rare that he misses a clutch kick like that.

30) Nakobe Dean. Thank you.