Eagles’ defense more than makes up for some offensive stalls

PHILADELPHIA — If quarterback Trevor Lawrence and the Jacksonville Jaguars had any aspirations of getting off to a hot start on Sunday, the Eagles quickly snuffed out their hopes.

In fact, it took a while for Lawrence to even get his hands on the ball.

On an Eagles punt after the game’s opening possession, Birds safety Sidney Brown forced and recovered a fumble at the Jacksonville 20-yard line, setting up the Eagles for their first points in any first quarter since Dec. 31 against Arizona (and first touchdown in a first quarter since Dec. 18 in Seattle) last season.

From there, linebacker Zack Baun and the Eagles defense took over. The Jags proceeded to punt on three of their next four possessions, with Baun making plays all over the field. On the one series the Jaguars didn’t punt, they went four-and-out. Rookie corner Cooper DeJean and defensive end Brandon Graham helped break up a Lawrence pass intended for tight end Evan Engram, as Doug Pederson went for a fourth-and-1 from his own 39.

“B.G. alerted me,” DeJean said. “He was like, ‘There’s no way they’re running this ball right now.’ I saw they kind of made a check to 17 (Engram). Once I’d seen him, I had to find my way through the traffic and find a way to make a stop.”

On the Jaguars’ final possession of the half, Baun picked off Lawrence at their 42. In addition to the interception, Baun finished the half with six combined tackles and a pass deflection. Jacksonville finished the half with just 31 yards of offense.

“I always feel like I’m going to have a big game,” said Baun, who finished with 10 tackles, including seven solo and one for a loss, and two pass deflections. “It’s a mentality thing. You’ve got to anticipate it. You’ve got to envision it. You’ve got to always want it.

“We always want to set the tone on defense,” he said. “If we can do something like stop the run or take the ball away, on the first drive especially, it affects the rest of the game. Every game, you want to get into a rhythm, you want to hit somebody, you want to something just to kind of help your mind click back into it.”

The Eagles dominated the first two quarters and were up 16-0 at halftime. It seemed like they should have been ahead by way more. But on a fourth-and-5 at the Jax 22, Eagles coach Nick Sirianni passed up a chip-shot field goal, and a Jalen Hurts throw went incomplete.

And when the Birds scored another touchdown late in the half — a 19-yard run by Saquon Barkley — Sirianni went for two and the Eagles didn’t convert. Also, the Eagles failed to capitalize on that Jags’ four-and-out at their 39.

Still, the Eagles defense was smothering. It was a good thing, too, considering that late in the third quarter, the officials (even with the help of replay) gifted Jacksonville a touchdown return on a Barkley fumble that wasn’t. It was the Jaguars’ second TD and got them back in the game.

That head-scratching call (and even more confounding explanation) notwithstanding, after being minus-6 in turnover differential through the first four games of the season, the Eagles are plus-4 in the last two games (even-zero the previous two, against Cleveland and the Giants).

“It’s just us continuing to attack the ball,” said DeJean, who had three solo tackles and a pair of pass deflections. “The opportunities have presented themselves for us to go make plays on the ball. It’s really just us taking advantage. … It’s us being opportunistic when the ball’s in the air, or even when someone’s holding the ball, just getting those opportunities and not missing.”

And, of course, if Baun, DeJean and Co. set the opening tone, linebacker Nakobe Dean was the closer with his dazzling interception in the end zone, putting an exclamation point on an Eagles defense that been playing better and better.

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A.J. Brown left the game in the first half with what called a knee injury, The Eagles didn’t provide an update after the game. … Barkley said he got knicked up a bit during the game, but not enough to make him want to leave.

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Follow Christiaan DeFranco on X at @the_defranc.