That win counts, right?
In a disasterclass of a morning London kickoff, the Jacksonville Jaguars somehow escaped the lowly Philadelphia Eagles, 19-17, behind a Cam Little game-winner. The Jags (4-1) were competing against basically a practice squad and yet had to bomb a 57-yarder to walk off as winners. It was the epitome of an ugly game, but nonetheless the Jaguars were victorious.
Now,there needs to be some conversations surrounding whatever the hell that play calling was from Jacksonville or what’s
up with these penalties. The Jags have escaped two injured teams in back-to-back weeks for wins, but this isn’t sustainable. The field goal make was cool and all, but this team isn’t even close to firing on all cylinders when they play away from EverBank Stadium.
The Jags, and especially the coaches, are getting in their own way. Eventually, that could be the very downfall of a squad many think can compete for a Super Bowl. Even though the Jags won, there were plenty of losers and loser moments in Tottenham.
WINNERS
Special Teams
If you can recall after all the heart-stopping and mind-numbing moments from Sunday’s game, it all started with a weird special teams play. And it ended with one as well.
Rookie Josh Cameron housed the opening kickoff, which of course was called back due to penalties, and then a “fight” ensued. Two players were ejected. And then the game officially began. We should have known right then and there this one was about to be bizarre.
Behind Little’s leg, Logan Cooke’s hands and the big arms of DaVon Hamilton, the Jags somehow won. Who would have guessed that Hamilton snapping one to Cooke to pull down for Little would be the way the Jags would beat a team who simply can’t score in the second half.
Hamilton should be the Special Teams Player of the Week for his efforts Sunday. Yes, his snaps were high but at least he stepped in and delivered in a huge pressure moment. Cooke deserves a lot of credit too for not dropping a single snap from Hamilton.
And then you have Ameer Abdullah, who set the whole win up after the Eagles inexplicably kicked short. Parker Washington scored both touchdowns but special teams won that game. It should never have been that close, but thankfully the Jags have the special teamers to make magic happen. Fitting that a game in London should end with a kick.
Parker Washington
Speaking of Washington, I think it’s high time for the Jags to pay this dude. He’s simply playing at an unbelievable level right now.
Washington pulled in two scores and 124 yards receiving, averaging over 20 yards a catch on his six catches. His one-handed touchdown grab (which for some reason was on a fourth-and-5 but that’s for later) saved the game and Jacksonville’s chances of winning. Even earlier, his 51-yard weaving touchdown grab made me think briefly that the Jags would win going away. How naive was I?
Sunday was Washington’s first multi-touchdown game which almost feels wrong given how impactful he has been of late. I can say with almost certainty that it won’t be his last multi-score game. Whatever that guy wants on his contract, it should be given. Washington is just downright incredible.
Josh Cameron
While it’s Washington who’s going to get the credit Sunday, Cameron has looked really solid for a rookie. He needs his flowers too.
Sure, the opening kickoff was negated by a flag but he still was able to house that ball. And he was third on the team in receiving when all was said and done with 43 yards. Cameron has multiple catches in three of his first five NFL games. That’s saying something for a team that has a deep wide receiver room.
Cameron runs extremely hard and has sure hands. For a sixth-round rookie, anyone would have to be pleased with his production to this point. You almost forget that the Jags have guys like Jakobi Meyers or even Travis Hunter to throw to on offense because of how important Cameron has been.
LOSERS
Liam Coen
Ok, fun time is over. Head coach Liam Coen was cooking up some bullshit in London.
You know when people make fun of British food because it looks all pale or mushy or just straight up like diarrhea? That was what Coen was pumping out across the pond.
The Jags had 13 penalties on Sunday, the second straight game with 13 penalties. No, all of that isn’t on Coen but there has to be something the head coach can do to get his team snapping the ball properly or not committing a holding on every running play. There has got to be some sort of institutional control from the guy in charge.
Outside of the general ire with penalties, the playcalling was insane. The Jags had the ball inches from the goal line and we have Wyatt Milum outside? We decide to run the jet sweep from the one? Even the Washington one-handed score was crazy because if that ball is dropped, the Jags likely just lose outright. The shortest way between two points is a straight line. For some reason, Coen and offensive coordinator Grant Udinski think the shortest way to gain a yard is to run laterally. The “I’m the smartest guy in the room, I know best” shtick gets old after a while. Run the damn ball in a straight line, man.
There was also a big disconnect in getting the snap off on Sunday. Trevor Lawrence and Robert Hainsey were nowhere near on the same page. With a former quarterback at head coach, you’d think maybe there would be some way to fix that on the fly too. It all just looked so disjointed and hard at every turn.
The penalties thing dates back to last year. These weird struggle games do as well. If Coen were someone like Todd Bowles or even Nick Sirianni, he’d be fired yesterday. There’s certainly zero reason to think Coen’s job is going anywhere, but he has to look in the mirror and realize that it doesn’t have to be this hard. He does so much good. Why make the small stuff hard when it doesn’t need to be? Clean up the penalties and make the playcalling reasonable and you have a winning formula. Don’t, and your season could spiral.
At least Sunday gave us a new variant of the old Doug Pederson head-down on the podium meme.
The Secondary
Speaking of those practice squad players, the Jags secondary didn’t do themselves any favors against the likes of Darius Cooper and Dontayvion Wicks. On paper, this should have been a feast for the Jags and Travis Hunter and Jarrian Jones. In practice, a lot of those Eagles pass catchers ran wild.
The Jags are going to stop the run. I think we can declare that a fact of life at this point, limiting the Eagles to just 22 paltry yards on the ground. That in turn means teams have to throw. This isn’t rocket science. But almost every other play you get guys like Jones or Rayuan Lane looking around, missing tackles or assignments like they are completely shocked the opposing quarterback is throwing. It’s just Will Shipley and RB4 Dameon Pierce back there, fellas. They are going to throw, with or without DeVonta Smith.
A lot of Sunday’s flags came from this group. We could sit here and point fingers at the refs for being too trigger-happy or the coaches and players for bad technique. The flags still came out and it changed how this game was played. This can be a solid unit for Jacksonville. Right now, alongside the offensive line, this group is a bit shaky.
The Offensive Line
We all knew the Jags didn’t have gangbusters up front on offense but man, these guys are going to get Lawrence killed one of these days.
The offensive line was bad on Sunday albeit against a strong defensive line. To make matters worse, starting left tackle Anton Harrison was carted off. In a moment that almost made my heart stop, Walker Little came in as his replacement. Little actually did fine, but I’m not sure he is who you want out there long term where there were already issues.
The snaps are not coming in time, they’re holding every other play and multiple times Lawrence was hit across the face and fumbled the ball. These issues cannot persist if this team is to make a jump. Again, the offensive head coach should be a guy who can help figure this out. By figuring it out, it does NOT mean to line up more linemen in the backfield or out wide. Just normal, everyday figuring it out. Please.
Join us next week as we all gather around to watch the Houston Texans come to England. I’m sure that game will be completely normal and the Jags will win outright with no issues. And be sure to comment down below which one of Jacksonville’s 26 penalties from the last two weeks was your favorite. I am still partial to Travis Hunter’s negated interception last week.
Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!
