TLDR: The Eagles have lost 2 straight and are now short a running back, both starting receivers and half the defense, and their next game is across an ocean. Jacksonville is 3-1, its defense keeps winning games, and on Sunday, October 11 in London it gets a Philadelphia team still waiting on news from its training room.
Philadelphia goes to London 2-2 after back-to-back losses with Saquon Barkley (hamstring) and DeVonta Smith (hamstring) uncertain and 6 starters missing in its latest game. Jacksonville is 3-1 behind a defense that has allowed 53 points in 4 games, but its own secondary is thin, with 2 corners inactive and both safeties banged up. The Eagles' injury report decides how lopsided this is.
Jalen Hurts goes into Tottenham with an offense that keeps losing pieces. Against the Bears he went 16 of 25 for 153 yards with no touchdown passes and 1 interception in a 27-7 loss. The Rams game went worse before it got going: Saquon Barkley grabbed his right hamstring on his 2nd carry and was ruled out in the first quarter, which left the backfield to Tank Bigsby. Bigsby then went to the sideline tent in the fourth quarter himself. Trevor Lawrence is having a much better time of it. He went 18 of 23 for 227 yards and a touchdown in the 22-17 win in Cincinnati, a week after throwing 3 touchdowns against New England.
Philadelphia played the Rams without 6 starters. DeVonta Smith (hamstring), Zack Baun, Dallas Goedert, Landon Dickerson and Marcus Epps all sat, and Lane Johnson was inactive for personal reasons. That put Dontayvion Wicks in the WR1 role and Makai Lemon behind him, with Zach Ertz and Josiah Deguara called up to fill out the tight end room. Smith is already being called "at very best, questionable" for London. Quinyon Mitchell's knee and Jonathan Greenard's absence are also unresolved. Jacksonville is laying the points at home on paper, though it's more like a neutral site, and how much the board moves this week depends mostly on how many of those Eagles names come back.
The Jaguars aren't fully healthy either. Christian Braswell and Montaric Brown, both corners, were inactive in Cincinnati, and safety Eric Murray left that game with a concussion while Caleb Ransaw was questionable to return with a knee. A secondary that thin is the kind Hurts can work against if he gets any time. The question is whether Philadelphia has enough healthy receivers to make them pay for it.
Jacksonville's defense has carried the team. The Jaguars have allowed 53 points in 4 games, held the Browns to 10 and the Patriots to 6, and picked off Joe Burrow twice at key moments in Cincinnati. The win there came down to a 4th-and-10 stop, when Burrow's 9-yard throw to Chase Brown came up a yard short. Chris Rodriguez Jr. ran one in that day, and Bhayshul Tuten went for 73 yards and a score against New England, so the run game has given Lawrence some balance. Philadelphia has scored 7 and 20 in its last 2 and allowed 93 points on the season, which isn't the profile of a team built to win a slugfest.
Both teams played Sunday stateside and both now fly to London, so neither gets a travel edge. The early forecast calls for 63 degrees, heavy drizzle and 13 mph wind. Kickoff is 9:30 AM ET. This one comes down to Philadelphia's training room. If Barkley and Smith are back, the Eagles are a real offense going against a Jacksonville secondary held together with tape. If they're not, it's Hurts throwing to Wicks and Ertz against the most complete roster the Eagles have seen since Chicago.
Philadelphia Eagles at Jacksonville Jaguars — Banged-Up Eagles Head to London to Face Rolling Jaguars | Polymarket Odds · Barstool Bush
