Jaguars vs. Eagles: 5 Observations as Jaguars Get Gashed in the Rain

Trevor Lawrence had the worst outing of his career, the run defense was caved in and more.

The Jacksonville Jaguars let one get away from them on the road in Week 4, losing 29-21 after numerous self-inflicted mistakes and one of the worst turnover games a quarterback has produced in recent memory.

But what did we make of the loss and what does it mean for the Jaguars moving forward? We break it down below.

Trevor Lawrence had the worst game he will probably ever have as a Jaguar, for better or worse

It is hard to believe what we saw from Trevor Lawrence on Sunday. He has had issues with turnovers before, such as a four-interception game vs. the Titans as a rookie, but Sunday was something else completely. Lawrence's five turnovers weren't just bad, they were completely back breaking. And for a young Jaguars team that is still learning how to win, these are the types of turnovers a team just can't recover from. 

To recap on Lawrence's turnovers: 

• His first fumble came on fourth-down with nobody even touching him, losing hold of the ball while scrambling on 4th-and-3. Replay showed an open Tim Jones for a first down, who Lawrence likely would have targeted had he not lost the ball. The Eagles went on to score to make it 14-7.
• Fumbles it on a quarterback sneap on 3rd-and-1 at the 35-yard-line. The Eagles recovered and scored to make it 20-14. 
• With the game 20-14, was intercepted on 2nd-and-7 from the Eagles' 16 yard line. The Eagles turned it into a field goal to go up 23-14. 
• Fumbled at the Jaguars' 23-yard-line two plays later, setting up an Eagles touchdown to go into a 29-14 hole.
• Fumbled the ball on the first play of a potential two-minute drive, one play after Tyson Campbell recorded a big fourth-down stop while down 29-21.

These turnovers were absolutely the reason the Jaguars lost the game. Sure, the rain played a factor on two of them at least, but that doesn't excuse it. Jalen Hurts threw more passes and carried the ball 16 times and fumbled only once, so he fought through it. Lawrence didn't, and it is mostly why they lost. 

On the bright side for the Jaguars, this seemed like more of an all-time bad performance one-off than a sign of things to come. Lawrence was mostly accurate with the ball outside of his interception and two other passes, and this was just the second game in his career where he has ever lost multiple fumbles in a game. So, chances are he will never play this badly again. But for now, Lawrence's performance is what it was.

The conditions were a factor and provide context, but here is what Sunday really meant

Would this game have gone the way it did on Sunday if it was played in the sun in Jacksonville instead of in the slop in Philadelphia? Probably not, though that doesn't matter. The life of the NFL is looking for a way to find a win no matter what every single week. Whenever you don't win, there is room for criticism. 

With this in mind, it would be impossible to talk about this game without mentioning the conditions. It was a consistent rainfall during the entirety of the game, with the water and wind leading directly to multiple fumbles, drops and missed kicks and with each team suffering through their own issues. The Eagles didn't have quite as many issues and did a much better job of bouncing back from theirs, but the rain played a factor in at least a handful of important drops and fumbles for the Jaguars. Still, they deserved to lose because the Eagles played better and were the better team.

With that said, it is worth noting that it feels like the Jaguars wasted away a golden chance to make some noise after this loss. When the Jaguars would take contenders to the wire in recent years, it always felt like a complete mirage. An "any given Sunday" type game. But on Sunday, with the Jaguars losing to the NFC favorite by eight despite the rain and five turnovers, it at least feels like genuine disappointment in the Jaguars losing a game that mattered. 

That is a major shift in tone for the franchise. It isn't one that will make Sunday any better, nor should it. There are no moral victories for the Jaguars, something Doug Pederson has made clear as head coach. But the fact the Jaguars-Eagles game looked like two good teams in a sloppy brawl as opposed to an underdog punching above their weight says a lot about where the Jaguars are. Normally when the Jaguars have struggled in the past, it felt like the expectation and the norm. This week, it felt out of character. 

Was the run defense exposed? 

The conditions were always going to favor the Eagles on Sunday. They have shown to be more effective as a ground-and-pound team offensively than the Jaguars' have, but most -- myself included -- at least expected the Jaguars' run defense to put up a fight. But instead, the Jaguars watched aimlessly as the Eagles' offensive line paved the way for the Eagles to rush 50 times (most by an opponent in Jaguars' history) for four touchdowns (most rushing touchdowns by an opponent in Jaguars' history) and 210 yards (11th most by an opponent in Jaguars' history).

Jacksonville was missing a key run-stuffer in Foley Fatukasi, who missed most of the game with a quad injury. And they are already a light defense up front sans a handful of players, a small list that also consists of Fatukasi. But the Jaguars' rushing defense shouldn't hinge on the health of one player, nor should they look so out of sorts against the zone-read as they looked on Sunday.

The Jaguars went with a lot of light boxes on Sunday, daring the Eagles to test them deep. They limited the big plays through the air for the Eagles, but the Eagles didn't care since they got whatever they wanted on the ground. The run defense likely isn't as bad as it showed on Sunday, but it probably also isn't the dominant unit from the last two weeks that it was painted as -- at least not until they prove it against a great offensive line. 

The absence of Zay Jones was clear

Zay Jones was a big absence for Jacksonville on Sunday, something that was clear even before the game kicked off. The Jaguars are thin at receiver overall after making a few veteran additions to the group, which led to Jamal Agnew and Tim Jones seeing expanded roles in the offense. Agnew turned his chances into six targets and four catches for 50 yards and two touchdowns, but Jones had one target with zero catches, serving as a complete non-factor. 

Considering the conditions forced the Jaguars to miss Marvin Jones (one target, no catches) and Christian Kirk (one catch for 15 yards on eight targets outside of his 45-yard catch) for most of the day, and the fact that the tight end group saw just three targets all-together, and it is clear Trevor Lawrence missed his safety valve. Jones has been who he goes to when things aren't clicking in the past, but he had nowhere like that today.

We would need a bigger sample size, and a game in more optimal passing conditions, to judge whether the Jaguars' weapons will always have a game like today. Plus, it doesn't help when four potential targets are given away via Lawrence turnovers. But the offense missed Zay Jones just like it looked like they would on paper, something they ultimately had no answers for.

Should the Jaguars' game plan on offense go into question?

Sunday was the tale of two different teams in terms of strategy. The Eagles seemed content to dink and dunk and hand it off or run an option for the entirety of the game, scoring four touchdowns and running for 210 yards on a staggering 50 carries. The runs helped the Eagles run 77 plays to the Jaguars' 47 and dominate the time of possession 39:51 to 20:09 and arguably helped keep the ball out of harm's way. The 50 attempts were the most the Jaguars have ever even seen in a game, so this was the most the Jaguars have ever seen a team commit to the run. 

The Jaguars, though, had quite a different approach. While the Eagles were content with playing this game in the trenches, the Jaguars dropped back to pass 31 times. This resulted in four sacks, three of Trevor Lawrence's fumbles, an interception, six drops, and the offense's worst game of the season. James Robinson and Travis Etienne each got just eight carries apiece, while two different Eagles had at least 16 rushing attempts.

Jacksonville's identity on offense has been the passing game, but that failed them on Sunday. The turnovers from Lawrence and issues adjusting to the rain doomed them and were issues the Eagles were able to avoid since they leaned on the run. The Jaguars were in the game late, but there will be warranted second-guessing about how they attacked the Eagles in the rain.