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Photo Courtesy of Eagles Nation on X.
The NFL continues to appear on the global stage after an opening weekend in Sydney, Australia between the 49ers and the Rams as well as scheduled games this season in Spain, France, Germany, Mexico, and Britain. The Eagles played on Sunday in London for the first time since 2018 — one year after winning Super Bowl LII with Britain native Jay Ajayi. Two years after winning another (Super Bowl LIX) they seem far away from that reality.
The story of Sunday’s game was the Eagles defense. Another early-game turnover on a failed fourth-down led to a Jacksonville 51-yard touchdown by Parker Washington. Then the Eagles defense locked down — including a tremendous stand near the goal line with 6:35 left in the fourth quarter and 2 forced turnovers.
On offense — the Eagles looked in sync in the first half with a 55-yard drive in the second quarter capped off by a Will Shipley 3-yard touchdown — who then left with an ankle injury. Then — Hurts found Darius Cooper for a 62-yard touchdown connection in the second quarter.
With less than a minute remaining in the opening half — the Jaguars had a 1st and goal from just outside of the one. At first — it looked like the Eagles recovered the football on a fumble by Chris Rodriguez, Jr. Then the Eagles turned the Jaguars back on the two final plays of the half. On the last play of that strange sequence — Jalyx Hunt was injured. During the course of the game — the Eagles lost Tyler Steen, Will Shipley, and Quinyon Mitchell for portions of the game.
After the 4th quarter stand with 6:35 left — Jacksonville responded with a touchdown with 3:20 left and took the lead 16–14 but missed the PAT. That’s when the game got really interesting. The Jaguars had gone on a 53-yard drive and scored on an incredible one-handed 27-yard catch by Parker Washington with 3:20 remaining. Jalen Hurts then drove the Eagles 32-yards with only seconds remaining to setup what appeared to be the game-winning 48-yard field goal.
But instead of kicking the ball out of bounds — the Eagles allowed a return of 53-yards on the kickoff by Ameer Abdullah— setting up a 57-yard Little field goal to win the game.
In the third quarter — the Eagles did have an opportunity when Hurts overthrew a wide open Dontayvion Wicks. The game also marks 18 straight offensive possessions in the second half without a touchdown. And why the Eagles didn’t simply kick the ball out of the endzone — is what we’ll be asking all week.
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Categorized:Eagles More PHL News Unique Columns
