Eagles-Jaguars player matchups to watch in Week 9

The Eagles (5-2) will play host to Doug Pederson’s Jacksonville Jaguars (2-6) at 4:05 p.m. on Sunday at the Linc.

Here are some key matchups to watch:

Eagles CBs vs. Jaguars’ injured WRs corps 

The Jaguars enter this game without Christian Kirk, who was lost for the season on Sunday with a broken collarbone that needed surgery. That’s a big blow for Pederson’s offense. Kirk this season had 27 catches for 279 yards and a touchdown.

And the Jaguars’ other top receivers are banged up coming off the Jags’ loss to the Packers in Week 8. Rookie Brian Thomas Jr. is day-day-day with a chest injury suffered on Sunday. Thomas (picked No. 23 overall) is the Jaguars’ top receiver with 33 catches for 573 yards and 5 touchdowns. And free agent pickup Gabe Davis is playing through a shoulder injury that continues to bother him. Davis this season has 18 catches for 217 yards and 2 touchdowns.

That means that Trevor Lawrence is going to be a little short-handed in this game and the Eagles’ pass defense has been very good recently. We’ll see if Darius Slay (groin) is able to play in this game but if not, Isaiah Rodgers played well in relief last week. Rookies Quinyon Mitchell and Cooper DeJean have been excellent. And Reed Blankenship and C.J. Gardner-Johnson have the only three picks for the team all season,

Eagles safeties/linebackers vs. Evan Engram 

The Eagles were able to limit a ton of production from Ja’Marr Chase in Week 8 but tight end Mike Gesicki had a nice game with 7 catches on 8 targets for 73 yards (although Zack Baun did punch the ball out of his hands for a takeaway in the second half). Without Kirk and with the other receivers a little banged up, it’s possible that the Jaguars work to get Evan Engram some targets in this game.

The former Giants tight end had a career season in 2023 with 114 catches for 963 yards and 4 touchdowns in his second season in Jacksonville. This year, Engram has 20/178/1 in four games. Engram missed four games with a hamstring strain but returned in Week 6 against the Bears and turned in a huge game with 10 catches on 10 targets for 102 yards. In the two games since, he has 9 catches for 71 yards. But he has the ability to have big games and the Eagles will need to keep an eye on No. 17.

Josh Sweat vs. Walker Little 

Earlier this week, the Jaguars traded their starting left tackle, Cam Robinson, to the Minnesota Vikings to replace Christian Darrisaw. So now it’ll be Walker Little as their left tackle in Week 9 and presumably for the rest of the 2024 season. 

Little has played a bunch recently because Robinson had a concussion. Little has played 113 snaps over the last two weeks so it’s not some crazy transition to go to him in this game. But this matchup should still be an advantage for the Eagles. This season, Josh Sweat and Brandon Graham have taken the most snaps on that side of the line and they should be able to get some pressure against Little. Sweat’s sack streak ended against the Bengals but he had one in each of the three previous games.

Little, 25, was a second-round pick in 2021 but has just 18 starts in his career. This season, Little has given up 5 pressures on 77 pass blocking snaps according to PFF, which ranks him 60th out of 76 qualified tackles this season.

Jalen Hurts vs. shaky pass defense

In Cincinnati, Jalen Hurts had his best performance of the season. He completed 16 of 20 passes for 236 yards and a touchdown and also rushed for 37 yards and 3 touchdowns. He has not turned the ball over in the three games since the bye week, which has been a huge boost for this offense.

The Jaguars have given up 271.1 yards per game this season, which ranks 31st in the NFL. They also have just 2 interceptions as a team through 8 games. That seems to play into Hurts’ strengths since the bye week. And with A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith healthy, this could be a game where Hurts is able to get the passing game going. The Jags’ starting cornerbacks recently have been Tyson Campbell, Ronald Darby and Jarrian Jones. Our old friend Darby suffered a hip injury last week so we’ll have to see what his status is for this game.

The Johnsons vs. Travon Walker and Josh Hines-Allen

Fred Johnson did a great job in the Bengals game against Pro Bowler Trey Hendrickson. While the Eagles did some things to make Johnson’s life easier, when he was in 1-on-1 situations, Johnson held up. The Jaguars aren’t getting a ton of pressure on opposing quarterbacks this season — their QB pressure percentage of 28.0% ranks 29th in the NFL and their sack percentage of 5.4% ranks 27th.

But they do have a couple of good edge rushers in Travon Walker and Josh Hines-Allen, who are 1-2 in sacks for the Jaguars this season. Walker leads the team with 6 1/2, while Hines-Allen had 3. For the most part, Walker, the former No. 1 overall pick, lines up on the left side of the defensive line. If that holds true, he’ll see a lot of Lane Johnson in this game. And Hines-Allen typically lines up on the right, which sets up a battle with Fred Johnson.

Saquon Barkley vs. decent run defense

The Eagles might not always be a run-first team but with a player like Saquon Barkley, they should probably never completely abandon it. Barkley has been tremendous this season and already has 766 rushing yards through seven games. He played 14 games with the Giants last season and had just 962. While he isn’t catching the ball as much as some might have expected, he is averaging 109.4 yards per game.

By rushing yards allowed per game, the Jaguars are a top 10 run defense, giving up 111.0 yards per game. They’re getting good play from linebackers Foyesade Olukun, Devin Lloyd and now Ventrell Miller. But the Eagles should feel good about their run game and about Barkley no matter who he faces.

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