Jaguars earn somewhat high grade despite Week 4 loss to Eagles

The Jacksonville Jaguars were riding high ahead of Week 4 following two consecutive wins but the Philadelphia Eagles proved to be a better team than then this past Sunday and lost 29-21. Looking back, the Jags made several mistakes but they also got a few things right. And that was reflected in the grade they got from Jeff Kerr of CBS Sports following the loss.

Kerr assigned grades to all NFL teams for their performance in Week 4 and he gave Jacksonville a C+. While that’s nothing to brag about, it’s not totally bad either. Kerr points to Trevor Lawrence’s struggles to hold onto the football and the defense’s inability to stop the Eagles’ rushing attack as the main reasons they lost the game.

"The five giveaways didn’t help Jacksonville, especially since they failed to take care of the football on an afternoon where that was necessary. Trevor Lawrence had four of those fumbles — losing all of them — and an interception to stagnate a Jaguars offense that had just 219 yards. Jacksonville also allowed 210 rushing yards after holding opponents to just 55 a game coming into this one."

Kerr believes the Jags could have won this one if the turnovers were cut in half, and he’s right. The Jags came close to scoring in the third quarter but Lawrence throw an interception in the Eagles’ red zone. Similarly, he had a chance to tie the game with less than two minutes left in the fourth quarter but he fumbled and Philly recovered, which ultimately sealed the deal.

The loss doesn’t solely fall on Lawrence’s shoulders though. Head coach Doug Pederson could have leaned on Travis Etienne and James Robinson more but opted to pass heavily even though the weather wasn’t optimal.

The Jaguars should the Eagles loss in stride and recover in Week 5

The truth is that the loss wasn’t as bad as it seems. For once, the Eagles are 4-0 and better than either Los Angeles Chargers and the Indianapolis Colts, the two clubs Jacksonville beat in Week 2 and 3 respectively.

On the other hand, the Jaguars can’t shrug it off and pretend nothing happened. They made many mistakes and they must now fix them. Fortunately, it’s relatively early in the season and they have enough time to adjust.

Lawrence certainly had a bad game but can’t dwell too much on it. He must learn from it and become better because of it. The No. 1 overall pick in the 2021 NFL Draft met with the media after the loss and acknowledged that he must play better.

“Obviously, I gotta play better”, Lawrence said. “Our defense gave us a chance to win at the end of the game, and I’m just pissed to let those guys down and really just too many turnovers. Obviously, it starts with me, hold it on for me today, no one else to blame there, so [I] let those guys down. It’s disappointing”.

The Jags aren’t suddenly a bad team, they simply lost a game but they will have a chance to bounce back when they next take on a Houston Texans team that hasn’t won a game his season.