Birds’ trash talkers need to walk the talk
It’s time for the Eagles to walk their talk. They’ve pumped enough drama into their game Sunday against the Jacksonville Jaguars at Wembley Stadium (9:30 a.m., Channel 6) to wake up half of London.
Eagles head coach Doug Pederson ripped Jaguars counterpart Doug Marrone for playing soft in the biggest game of his professional life. And he put it in writing, the critique playing prominently in Pederson’s biography.
Eagles safety Malcolm Jenkins, who almost always speaks his mind, just a few days ago delivered a peace offering of sorts to national anthem activist Colin Kaepernick. Jenkins just couldn’t stop at accusing the NFL of blackballing the outof-work quarterback.
“I can turn on the tape this week of our opponent,” Jenkins said, “and see that Colin Kaepernick deserves a job.”
Think Jaguars quarterback Blake Bortles heard that?
The Eagles barely had touched down in England when quarterback Carson Wentz said he respected Jaguars cover corner Jalen Ramsey, whom he expected to cover Alshon Jeffery. But not that much.
“We’re going to give him the respect that he deserves,” Wentz said at his presser. “But when the play is there to be made you can trust that Alshon is going to make it.”
It’s not what the Eagles say, it’s what they do against the Jaguars in this showdown of 3-4 teams that matters. It’s a Spartacus moment for both organizations that look so average it’s hard to believe they both made the final four of the NFL playoffs last January. Summary: This game should get ugly. The Eagles aren’t finishing games. The Jaguars don’t know how to start them, much less avoid turnovers. As much as Doug Pederson would like to think of the trip to London as a bonding experience, it’s a three-day inconvenience. The Jaguars have a lot more expertise in this game, as it’s their sixth straight Wembley game.
The pick: Make it Jaguars 23, Eagles 20.
The Eagles are three-point favorites even though the Jaguars appear to have a comfortable edge, as they’re playing at Wembley for the sixth straight year. Heck, Jaguars owner Shad Khan is in the process of buying the stadium, adding fuel to the rumors he’s going to move his team to his hometown of London.
The comfortability factor clearly is in the head of Pederson, who after bringing his team in Friday, has to have it ready to fight quickly. Advantage?
“I think it can be,” Pederson said Friday. “They’re familiar with the city and familiar with the travel aspect of it. They’ve got it down. But at the same time, we’ve got ... I’ve been over here. We’ve had other players come over here, other coaches have been over here. So I think it can be a little bit of an advantage. But I think both teams are definitely in the same situation today, feeling the same things and trying to get ready to play on Sunday.”
The Jaguars had a similar travel itinerary. They also practiced Friday.
Marrone downplayed, but didn’t discount the familiarity advantage, having been through it a few times.
“You know about the flight, you know what you have to do,” Marrone said. “And we try to get all the players, guys who have done it before to talk to guys who haven’t made the trip before. Like, this is what you need to do. I think everybody pretty much has all the plans from a science standpoint and all that other stuff. It’s just a matter of the players just believing it and then doing it. A lot of that is more making sure they know this part of it is tough, that part’s tough, this is when you should start to feel better and we should be on schedule for game day.
“That’s it, right there, it’s not rocket science.”
Last year the Jaguars humbled the Baltimore Ravens, who were unbeaten, 44-7 at Wembley. Bortles threw four touchdown passes to match the London Bowl record held by Tom Brady. Running back Leonard Fournette, currently sidelined with a hamstring injury, rushed for a score.
The Jaguars will try to get the run game going this week with Carlos Hyde, who they acquired from Cleveland for a fifth-round pick. He’ll be running behind a line missing two starting tackles. How bad is it? Eric Flowers, the first-round bust cut by the New York Giants, is the starting left tackle. Jacksonville is also without injured starting cornerback A.J. Bouye and will start undrafted rookie Quenton Meeks at corner and choose from some more rookies to play the nickel.
Still in the lineup is Jalen Ramsey, one of the top cover corners in the league. In a Gentleman’s Quarterly interview, he hyped Wentz as an MVP talent. Look for Ramsey to match up with Jeffery.
“A lot of people say a lot of things and I don’t overanalyze it,” Wentz said. “I know he’s a good player. I have a lot of respect for him and how he plays the game. I’m assuming he’ll follow Alshon.
“Alshon has been playing great football, too. So, we’re not going to necessarily shy away from him.”
Wentz and Pederson liked the energy level at practice Friday in London. Wentz said it wasn’t anything like the scene at the airport.
“Everyone getting off the bus, getting off the plane today looked tired,” Wentz said. “But once we got out here it just looked like everyone was energized, revitalized. The energy was great at practice today.
“Getting your bodies adjusted is a big part of this. But I know after tonight, and really everything everyone’s told us, we should be good to go by Sunday. At the end of the day we have one goal, and that’s to come out with a win.”