Jaguars OLB Josh Allen says Philly fans are crazy but Black Hole crazier

Calling fans of all the major sports teams in Philadelphia would be an understatement. Intense and/or borderline fanatic would be a more accurate assessment. Jacksonville Jaguars outside linebacker Josh Allen certainly believes that they’re crazy but he thinks Las Vegas Raiders fans are crazier.

In a locker room interview ahead of the Jags’ Week 4 matchup against the Philadelphia Eagles, Allen told Mia O’Brien of 1010 XL that gritty and tough come to mind when he thinks of Pilly. He then talked about their fans.

“Heard they’re crazy”, Allen said, “But ain’t nothing more crazy that going into the Black Hole, the last home game, and beating them there. That was crazy”.

The Black Hole was a fan section at the Oakland Coliseum when the Raiders played there. It got notoriety because of the costumes its fans wore. The Violator, Gorilla Rilla, Raider Deadpool, and Señor Raiders are just a few of the many fans that will show up in pretty well-made costumes to watch the Raiders play.

While the Black Hole still exists at Allegiant Stadium, the Raiders’ new home venue, it doesn’t have the same grit as its predecessor did. The game Allen is referring to was the very last game the Silver and Black played at Oakland and the Jaguars’ last road win before they beat the Los Angeles Chargers last week.

Jacksonville won 20-16. While Allen had to exit the game with a shoulder injury, he managed to register a sack. Also, Gardner Minshew threw two touchdown passes to wide receiver Chris Conley. Here’s Allen’s whole exchange with O’Brien:

The Jaguars will get to see the Raiders again this season

Look, every fanbase it’s going to call itself the best/the biggest/the meanest or any variations of it. Having said that. Eagles and Raiders fans are pretty rabid. One look at Reddit, Twitter, or Facebook will show you how serious they’re about their respective teams. And that’s alright, you can enjoy a sport any way you want as long as you respect others.

Sure, there are some fans that can get violent or become downright aggressive. But the truth is that it’s the minority, and most fans just want to talk about the team they love, watch a game and have fun.

Eagles fans will most likely boo the Jaguars at the Lincoln Financial Field. They might cheer for a couple of minutes when Doug Pederson takes the field but they will then go back to talk trash. Pederson told the local media Friday that he’s prepared the team for that.

“Road games are different“, Pederson said. “Whether you’re playing in a dome or an outdoor stadium, I just know firsthand, this place can get extremely loud. We expect it to be loud this week. So yeah, we use crowd noise. We used it yesterday in practice we’ll use it again today, it’s just part of it. It’s a great environment up there”.

The Jaguars are a 6.5-underdog for the game and while they have enough talent to keep up with the Eagles and even pull off an upset, the home crowd won’t make it any easy.