Grayson's Grades: Eagles vs. Jaguars

PHILADELPHIA - The Philadelphia Eagles jumped out to a 22 point lead before the Jaguars made it an interesting finish. Ultimately the Eagles extended their winning streak to four games by beating the Jaguars 28-23.

This game was full of amazing plays. Saquon Barkley reverse-hurdled a defender while DeVonta Smith made an amazing one-handed touchdown grab. Nakobe Dean also got in the mix with a leaping interception to help seal the victory.

There were questionable decisions by Head Coach Nick Sirianni along the way that allowed the Jaguars to get back into this game. The Eagles failed on three different two-point conversion attempts. Sirianni also passed up near automatic field goal attempts on fourth down while deciding to kick a 57-yarder that went off the upright and gave the Jaguars the ball near midfield with a chance to win the game.

This game was more lopsided than the score indicated and led to an interesting report card. Here is the latest edition of Grayson's Grades:

Saquon Barkley - Barkley just continues to impress in new ways and proves to be the heart and soul of this offense. This was his fifth game rushing for at least 100 yards. Barkley also had arguably the play of the year when he reverse-hurdled a defender. That was after he already made a remarkable over-the-shoulder catch in the endzone for a 20-yard touchdown. This guy is worth every penny the Eagles paid him. He carried the ball 27 times for 153 yards and a touchdown. Barkley also caught three passes for 40 yards and another touchdown. He did have one fumble that was returned for a touchdown, but it certainly looked like he was down by contact and was a controversial ruling even after replay upheld the fumble call.

Jalen Hurts - Hurts had a solid month of October and is on a good run of consistent play over the last few games. He is not turning it over like he did earlier in the season. Hurts is also using his legs more lately to help break a defense. His passes are on point and seemingly only where his receivers can catch them. He threw some dimes in this game including a perfect over-the-shoulder touchdown pass to Saquon Barkley and a perfectly placed touchdown pass to DeVonta Smith in the back of the endzone. Hurts is back to leading by example and helping to fuel this offense to success. Hurts completed 18 of 24 passes for 230 yards and two touchdowns. He also carried it 13 times for 67 yards and a touchdown. Perhaps the biggest stat of all is zero turnovers. It is no coincidence that the Eagles are winning thanks in large part to Hurts taking care of the ball.

DeVonta Smith - Smith only had one catch in the first half. He stepped up in a big way with AJ Brown out for the second half due to a knee injury. Smith made one of the best catches of his career when he used one hand to pull in a touchdown while getting both feet in as he was going out of the back of the endzone. He ultimately caught four passes for 87 yards and a touchdown. Smith also made some good blocks to help spring some of his teammates for solid gains.

Grant Calcaterra - Calcaterra continues to be consistent with his production while Dallas Goedert has been out. He once again provided some key plays in the passing attack that helped move the chains. Calcaterra caught five passes for 30 yards. He seems to catch everything thrown his way and appears to be gaining more and more confidence from Hurts.

Zack Baun - I expected to look at the box score and see that Baun had 20 tackles in this one. He ultimately had ten, but seemed to be in on just about every play throughout the game. Baun also had a great play downfield to bat away a pass forcing it to fall harmlessly incomplete. He also dove and made a great interception keeping his arms under the ball to secure the turnover. I enjoy watching Baun and Dean work together at Linebacker. They both flow to the ball and are always around the play. Baun finished as the team leader with ten tackles. That included one tackle for a loss while also successfully defending two passes and catching an interception.

Josh Sweat - Sweat got some extra snaps due to Bryce Huff suffering some kind of injury in warmups that kept him from playing. He took full advantage of those snaps. Sweat had a pair of sacks in this one and looked to play with a high-motor and high level of energy. He got off the ball well and helped collapse the pocket. Sweat finished tied for second on the team with five tackles. He added two sacks, two tackles for a loss, three quarterback hits and also had a pass successfully defended.

Nakobe Dean - Dean iced the game when he made a great leaping catch in the endzone with less than a minute to go. He continues to play well and you can see his confidence level growing week to week. Dean plays with high energy and has an ability to make some big tackles. I like the way he and Baun work together in that second level and he seems to be getting more and more comfortable with his role in Vic Fangio's defense. Dean had the big interception. He also added two tackles and two passes successfully defended.

Jalen Carter - Carter continues to have a good season. He did not create a lot of noise in the box score, but he does keep having a big role to play on this defensive line. He does get a lot of attention and double teams and still fights through it to help break down the pocket. He does a good job too of shaking linemen off of him to stop the run. Overall Carter is having a solid season. He finished this game with four tackles.

Offensive Line - The offensive line once again took the field without its starting left tackle Jordan Mailata. Fred Johnson did another decent job filling in for him. Overall the line did well paving the way for 237 rush yards. However, they committed too many penalties. The Eagles were called for eight of them mostly on the offensive line. They just need to tighten that up a bit and play more disciplined. They also allowed three sacks. This still remains one of the best offensive lines in the league.

Vic Fangio - Fangio's defense really only allowed 16 points in this one since one score was due to a controversial fumble by Saquon Barkley that was returned for a touchdown. His defense keeps looking better and better. The Eagles held the Jaguars to just 60 yards rushing. They forced two turnovers on interceptions with special teams forcing another takeaway on a fumbled punt return. Fangio's coverage is also getting better with some of the younger players stepping up and making plays.

Jake Elliott - It was hard to give Elliott a 'C' here because it has to be difficult mentally thinking you are going to head on the field to kick field goals and extra points just to keep being brought back off the field to go for two or to go for it on fourth down. Then you are thrust out there to kick a 57 yarder trying to give your team an eight point lead late in the game. Elliott is near automatic and I frankly did expect him to make that long field goal.

Nick Sirianni - Sirianni made a lot of questionable decisions. I understand the analytics indicate that an opportunity to attempt a two-point conversion from the one yard line; however, when you lead 22-0 you just need to keep adding points onto the scoreboard. There is no need to chase points. All you need to do at that point is keep putting distance between you and your opponent. He also passed on field goal attempts to go for it on fourth down passing up a 40 yard attempt and a 43 yard attempt. They turned it over on downs both times. I also do not understand the decision to kick a 57 yard field goal with about two minutes to go and leading by five points knowing that a miss would give the Jaguars the ball near midfield. I would have punted that hopefully pinning the Jaguars inside the ten with no timeouts remaining. On one hand I get the aggressive nature and sending the message of confidence to your team, but you have to do it responsibly and this could have been a comfortable victory potentially allowing some starters to have most of the fourth quarter off. Instead, it went down to the wire and required a big interception by Nakobe Dean to seal a victory.

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