A recent article written by SB Nation's Rebecca Toback all but counted the Eagles out against the Jacksonville Jaguars this Sunday in London.
Toback provided some data on how poorly teams have fared their first time overseas, and how the Eagles are likely to follow the trend. Currently, there are nine teams that are 0-1 in England. 23 total games in London is an extremely small sample size to assume the Eagles will lose — especially given the quarterback play of the Jaguars.
Blake Bortles is atrocious if you haven’t noticed, and he was benched last week. Anyone picking Jacksonville is favoring Bortles against a defense that has been criticized fairly for its poor passing defense since the Super Bowl, so that’s understandable. However, I’d assume Jalen Mills and Ronald Darby are salivating at the chance to cover some mediocre receivers with a high school level talent at quarterback to redeem themselves.
The Jaguars find themselves sitting at 3-2 all-time in London game, and honestly that means hardly anything. A solid chunk of the players that are part of three of those five games are no longer with the team, so they don’t exactly know what it’s like to prepare for a football game overseas other than what the veterans tell them.
This is an incredibly important game for the defense’s confidence. Giving up 21 points in the final quarter last Sunday to Carolina was one of the worst fourth quarter meltdowns in Eagles history, and if they allow Jacksonville to score more than 10 points, I’m sure they’ll be even more frustrated with themselves than they already are.
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