Grayson’s Grades: Eagles vs. Jaguars

The Philadelphia Eagles spotted the Jacksonville Jaguars 14 points in the first quarter but came all the way back to take a 20-14 lead before the half. They never surrendered the lead after that and won 29-21.

Eagles fans gave Jaguars Head Coach Doug Pederson a standing ovation just before the game and the team proceeded to spoil his homecoming. Pederson led the Eagles to their only Super Bowl victory following the 2017 season.

The offense and defense both started this game slow, but got on track in the second quarter and continued to maintain control of the game after that.

The Eagles improve to 4-0 and remain the only unbeaten team in the NFL this season.

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Here is the latest edition of Grayson's Grades:

A

A.J. Brown - Brown continues to be a consistent and reliable target for Jalen Hurts. The conditions were tough with poor footing but he found a way to pull in five passes for 95 yards. He also had a touchdown called back due to a penalty. Brown and Hurts are clearly working very well together. I would like to see them pair up for some more touchdowns. But overall they have combined for 20 receptions and 309 yards with one touchdown through four games.

Dallas Goedert - Goedert routinely seems to find himself in the three to five catch range and always does a great job of tacking on yards after the catch. His longest reception in this game went for 26 yards. Goedert caught five passes for 72 yards

Miles Sanders - Sanders went over the century mark rushing the ball in this game. He hit several holes and nearly broke some long touchdown runs. Sanders' longest rush of the game was 35 yards and that came in the third quarter when the Eagles desperately needed to put together a long drive and attempt to start putting the game away. Sanders finished with 27 carries for 134 yards and two touchdowns. He also added two catches for 22 yards. Sanders averaged five yards per carry. He was a big reason the Eagles managed to have the ball 20 minutes longer than the Jaguars.

Fletcher Cox - Cox helped plug up the middle of the field as usual and he also managed to recover a fumble. His stats are not dominating but he continues to do a good job of helping to take up space and linemen so others on his team can do some damage. Cox had that fumble recovery as well as one tackle and one quarterback hit.

Haason Reddick - Reddick was a beast in this game. He put up all kinds of crazy numbers in the box score. He was clearly part of the plan to help confuse Trevor Lawrence and it worked. Reddick recovered two fumbles. He also finished tied for second on the team with four tackles. Reddick added two sacks, one tackle for a loss and one quarterback hit.

James Bradberry - With Darius Slay out of the game due to injury, James Bradberry had to play big. He came up with a huge play in the third quarter that preserved an Eagles lead. The Jaguars were on a sustained drive and inside the red zone when Bradberry picked off a Trevor Lawrence pass. It not only killed the drive, but turned the Jaguars away without scoring a single point.

Jonathan Gannon - Gannon showed creativity in his game plan and it led to five Jaguars turnovers. He was confusing Lawrence and toying with his confidence. He featured a good mix of pressure and kept moving Haason Reddick around to create mismatches. Gannon's defense held the Jaguars to 46 plays. They were just 2 for 7 on third down and 0 for 1 on fourth down. They racked up four sacks and held the Jaguars to just 20:09 of possession.

B

Jalen Hurts - Hurts has all of the intangibles you want from a starting Quarterback. He used one of those tools to keep from letting this game get away from his team in the first quarter. Hurts tossed a pick-six that quickly gave the Jaguars an early lead. But he had a short memory, forgot about it, and wound up having a pretty good game. He also does not get rattled and with his team trailing 14-0 he did not panic and continued to be a steady leader for this team to rally around. This was another step in the right direction for Hurts. Seeing him manage those intangibles while also taking care of what needed to be done on the field show me he is not the same Quarterback he was a year ago. Hurts completed 16 of 25 passes for 204 yards with one interception. He added 16 carries for 38 yards and a touchdown on the ground.

Nick Sirianni - Sirianni seems to stay relatively cool on the sideline. His team went down quickly 14-0 but he did not panic and remained calm. That trickles down throughout the coaching staff and the team. He managed to keep his team focused on the game and not the return of Doug Pederson to Philly. They stuck to their game plan and eventually went on to score 29 unanswered points. Sirianni deserves a lot of credit for the way he has this team prepared to play. That being said, they have yet to play a four quarter game. This team will be extremely dangerous if it can ever figure out how to do that.

Jake Elliott - Elliott showed his toughness in this game. He missed an extra point in difficult conditions due to the wind and rain. Later, he made a field goal but got hit and slightly injured on the play. The penalty took the field goal off the board and gave the Eagles a first down. Despite that and with a visible limp, he made a field goal later in the game. Elliott also kicked off into the end zone.

C

DeVonta Smith - Smith is clearly going to have amazing weeks catching the ball like he did last week and other games where his receptions will be few and far between. He appeared to have trouble with footing. He is a very skilled route-runner and footing is a big key for him in his ability to beat a defender. That clearly played a role in his lack of many receptions in this game. That being said, you want to see Smith get more than three catches and certainly see him rack up more than 17 yards receiving. He also left the game for a period of time due to injury, but credit to his toughness for getting back on the field and helping to play a role in the victory.

D

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F

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