Category: Eagles/NFL

The Eagles travel to face the Buffalo Bills in a Week 17 matchup at Highmark Stadium on Sunday at 4:25 p.m. Here’s what you need to know about the game:

When the Eagles have the ball: The Eagles have a chance to build off their recent success on the ground by facing another poor run defense. The Bills are second-to-last in the NFL in yards allowed (5.4) and expected points added per rush (0.08). They’ve allowed 63 runs of 10-plus yards, which is second worst to only the New York Giants. Buffalo coach Sean McDermott doesn’t exactly stack boxes at a high rate (20.7%), but he’ll stay in his base 4-3 front vs. heavy personnel. The bigger issue has been how his defenders have — or haven’t — handled run fits. There have been a lot of big holes for running backs to run through. Tackling also has been a problem. The Bills are last in the league in rushing yards allowed after contact (4.1).

Say what you will about the last two opponents, but the Eagles have improved in the run game. “Turned the corner” would be too strong a phrase, but some wrinkles have contributed to the Eagles averaging 174.7 rushing yards in the last three games. Buffalo is depleted in the interior. Defensive tackles Ed Oliver, DaQuan Jones, and Jordan Phillips will be out. I think Saquon Barkley could also do some damage if he gets to the second level. The Bills have corners who don’t tackle well in space, and they’ll also be without veteran safety Jordan Poyer. The Eagles didn’t dial up as many runs from under center last week vs. the Washington Commanders as they did the week before. I could see Nick Sirianni and Kevin Patullo using Buffalo’s weak defense as a chance to reestablish that facet of their offense.

The Bills have gotten behind in games because of their inability to stop the run. They’ve allowed an average of 13.9 points in the first half, but have been better after the break (9.1). Why the disparity? It could be McDermott’s ability to make adjustments, or the Bills have benefited from their offense getting ahead, which has forced quarterbacks to throw. Buffalo has a good pass defense. It has allowed just 52.8% of passes to be completed. A lot of the Bills’ success can be traced to their defensive ends getting pressure. Greg Rousseau (14.3%) and Joey Bosa (13.8%) have above-average rates on their rushes. Right tackle Fred Johnson, who is starting again for the injured Lane Johnson (foot), will have a stiff test in Bosa. Rousseau will bounce back and forth between each side.

McDermott doesn’t blitz — a 23rd-in-the-league 23.7% rate this season — as much as he once did. He’ll send any of his linebackers, but Matt Milano and Terrel Bernard are most effective in getting pressure. A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith should have opportunities on the outside, though. Cornerbacks Tre’Davious White and Christian Benford are beatable, especially in man coverage. McDermott’s zone-man split is about 70-30. His safeties do a good job of rotating late. Cole Bishop is solid, but Poyer’s replacement — whether it’s rookie Jordan Hancock or veteran Darnell Savage — could be exploited.

When the Bills have the ball: Josh Allen makes the Bills offense go, but I’m going to focus first on running back James Cook. He’s been arguably the best running back in the league this season. He leads the NFL with 1,532 rushing yards and averages 5.3 yards a carry. He’s not especially big at 5-foot-11, 190 pounds, but he’s fast and runs hard. Cook has great vision and can slip through creases. If he has a kryptonite this season, it’s ball security — he has lost three of six fumbles. Cook runs behind a reliable, if not spectacular, offensive line led by left tackle Dion Dawkins. The unit’s relative good health has contributed to its chemistry. The Bills also have good blocking tight ends, although Dalton Kincaid (knee) and Dawson Knox (knee) are questionable.

Allen, of course, is almost as dangerous on the ground. Offensive coordinator Joe Brady will dial up designed runs, but Allen scrambles as well as any quarterback. He often knows when running is applicable and can be hard to bring down. A foot injury limited him early in the week, but he’s cleared to go. The Eagles have to stay disciplined in their rushes. I’d imagine defensive coordinator Vic Fangio will devote a linebacker to spying Allen on obvious passing downs, especially against empty sets. The Bills have effectively used their version of the Tush Push with the 6-5, 237-pound quarterback converting 13 of 15 rushing attempts on third- or fourth-and-1.

Allen holds the ball longer than most — a sixth-longest 2.93 seconds — because he can make big plays out of structure. He doesn’t get sacked at a high rate (8.12% of attempts), but he can take big losses or turn the ball over when playing the hero. Allen doesn’t have a group of receivers that gets much separation downfield. He has cut down on interceptions by not forcing throws into tight windows — 11.3% of the time, which is 31st among qualifying quarterbacks — vs. last season (16.8%). Brady has helped by utilizing the under-center run game to set up play-action passes. He’ll also employ misdirection and motion at the snap.

The Bills don’t often keep their tight ends or backs in to help with the pass rush. They want to give Allen underneath options to offset what he lacks on the outside. Fangio blitzes at a low rate (19.4%), so Brady probably won’t alter the formula. Receiver Khalil Shakir leads the offense with 66 catches. Most of his yards (515 of his 684) come after contact off short passes. The Eagles will need to be stout in tackling after the catch. Cornerback Quinyon Mitchell could be neutralized simply by Allen staying away from him.

Extra point: The weather could change, but it looks like rain will be a factor late Sunday afternoon. Both teams have kicker woes. Jake Elliott’s struggles over the past five games have been documented. The Eagles are sticking with their guy — for now. The Bills will be without 41-year-old Matt Prater (quad) for a second straight game. His replacement, Michael Badgley, missed an extra point and the landing zone on a kickoff last week. Buffalo tried out some kickers as a result, but Badgley will get another chance.

The Eagles don’t have as much on the line as the Bills. I don’t think that should matter much. Sirianni’s squad wants to measure itself against one of the best. Two years ago, they outlasted Buffalo, despite an amazing performance by Allen. Elliott’s 59-yard field goal sent the game to overtime and Jalen Hurts walked it off. I just realized I didn’t mention the Eagles quarterback above. He has settled down since the Los Angeles Chargers debacle. I think he’ll hit some shots downfield as long as the offense takes advantage on the ground. The Eagles’ defense has been susceptible at times against the run, but it has tightened the hatches since the Chicago Bears game. Jalen Carter (shoulders) is back, although the front more than managed in his absence.

I don’t feel great about my pick. My gut says the opposite. But it’s hard to pick against Allen in the penultimate game at the Bills’ longtime home, Highmark Stadium.

Prediction: Bills, 31-27

On any given weekday, 30-year-old Adoree’ Jackson still has the look of a college student. After practice, he’s often sporting a University of Southern California sweatshirt, the alma mater that he considered his dream program as a child. He totes a notebook filled with Vic Fangio’s defensive plays to complete his studious uniform.

Jackson didn’t stop learning when his college career ended. It’s a process, even in Year 9 — especially in Year 9 — of his NFL career. After splitting the first eight years of his career with the Tennessee Titans and the New York Giants, Jackson arrived in Philadelphia last offseason on a one-year deal to help replace Darius Slay, competing with Kelee Ringo for the vacant starting cornerback role in the Eagles defense.

Everything was new — new system, new terminology, new coordinator. Jackson’s transition wasn’t seamless, as evidenced by his shaky showing in the home opener against Dallas Cowboys All-Pro receiver CeeDee Lamb. But his persistence and his smile never wavered.

“To be able to go through the offseason, learning, keeping my head down, just trying to be consistent and get better and get better and understand that it would take time, didn’t know how long it would take,” Jackson, the Titans’ first-round pick in 2017, said. “But just being persistent and not giving up and not wavering in my faith.

“Sometimes I just think that the Lord maybe wanted to see that I want it as much as I said I did. As much as I prayed for. And if I was going to continue to put the work behind it, because when there’s a storm coming, it’s got to end.”

The storm isn’t so relentless now. Jackson weathered it, rebounding from a groin injury in late September that gave Ringo an opportunity to start in his place. The 5-foot-11, 185-pound cornerback won his job back a few weeks later, then suffered a concussion that sidelined him for another game.

Injuries weren’t his only threats. Howie Roseman attempted to add competition, acquiring Jakorian Bennett from the Las Vegas Raiders in training camp and Jaire Alexander from the Baltimore Ravens at the trade deadline. Still, Fangio turned to Jackson at the bye week and hasn’t looked back.

“I’ve personally been rooting for him all year to play [well,]” Fangio said earlier this month. “He’s had his ups and downs, like a lot of us. Hopefully, he can stay on the track that he is, but I don’t think it’s any magical thing [that led to his improvement]. It’s just a process [of] getting comfortable and getting confident.”

Jackson’s confidence is showing. His play in the second half of the season — while far from flawless — has stabilized, peaking with his interception and pair of pass breakups against the Los Angeles Chargers earlier this month. His positive attitude, though, never changed.

“I’m so used to being uncomfortable with something just very unexpected happening,” Jackson said. “But just keeping my faith and what I was taught and how I was raised helped me prepare to keep me going forward.”

Long before he became the senior member of the Eagles’ defensive backs room, Jackson considered himself an old soul.

Jackson hails from Belleville, Ill., a suburb of St. Louis, where his dream of becoming a pro athlete was born. Jackson told his mother, Vianca, that he was bound for the NBA after watching Space Jam at age 4. The dream felt attainable as he practiced Michael Jordan’s game-winning dunk over his parents’ bed.

That aspiration evolved. Jackson played sports year-round as a child, from basketball to soccer to track to football. He moved to California to live with his older sister, Lekisch Williams-Keene, ahead of his sophomore year of high school, in pursuit of better athletic and educational opportunities. He found such opportunities at Junipero Serra High School in Gardena, about 15 miles south of Los Angeles.

“I think it helped me grow up a lot faster,” Jackson said. “It made me, I guess, prepared to be independent and in college. And also that fear of going back home motivated me to want to be something more than maybe I’d seen or what people assumed was going [to happen] for me.

“I think that was the biggest thing for me, just staying motivated. I didn’t want to let my family down.”

Scott Altenberg, Serra’s football coach, never sensed that kind of pressure on Jackson. Rather, he picked up on two other qualities about his newest player on the first day of practice with the junior varsity team.

For one, Jackson wasn’t long for the JV squad. He wasn’t the biggest player, Altenberg said, but he was the “Road Runner-type guy,” capable of running around and covering receivers effortlessly.

Jackson also had a “glow” to him, according to Altenberg. He seemed to have more fun on the football field than anybody else. He set the tone for his teammates, dancing between plays, then dialing in on his assignment at the snap of the ball. Even opposing teams took notice of Jackson’s blend of prowess and personality.

“He would wear the grill and do different things that would look like he was kind of one of those look-at-me guys,” Altenberg said. “But he did it in a way that the opponents, like, he was very respectful about it. It was the strangest thing. I’d never seen it before or since. He would kill them the whole game, and then they would take pictures with them afterward, the opponents.”

His glow never dimmed, no matter the circumstance. In his senior season, Jackson hurt his ankle in the playoffs. He played on his bad ankle through the state final. After every play, Altenberg watched as Jackson would limp, reset himself, make a play, then do it again.

In the state final, Jackson had a 92-yard punt return for a touchdown and a 93-yard kickoff for a touchdown, despite his nagging ankle injury.

“When things don’t go his way, he’s able to recompartmentalize it and then get back going,” Altenberg said. “He’s always been like that.”

Jackson takes after his mother, he says. He acknowledged that they tend to keep their struggles to themselves. In the spring of 2015, Vianca was diagnosed with breast cancer. She didn’t share her diagnosis with her son until she was pronounced cancer-free in the winter that year.

But Jackson said his father, Christopher, told him and that he knew about her illness throughout his sophomore year at USC. The uncertainty surrounding her health made him uneasy. At age 15, Jackson had lost one of his closest friends, Jeremiah Radford, to cancer.

Even though Jackson wasn’t by Vianca’s side as she went through treatment, he admired her strength from afar. Her resilience and positivity still inspire Jackson.

“We think we’re strong playing football and doing different things and our bodies getting beat up, but [strength is] to have eternal and spiritual warfare and figuring out how you’re going to get through it, and not really trying to tell and keep a secret, and to come out on top and to thrive after what all you’re going through,” Jackson said.

Altenberg still will give Jackson the occasional call just to receive a dose of the positivity he cherished daily during Jackson’s high school years.

Jackson exudes it, even when his on-field performance slips. Early this season, when opposing quarterbacks were picking on Jackson, Altenberg sent him a text to lend his support. The cornerback responded with a sense of determination familiar to his high school coach.

“He just was like, ‘I got this,’” Altenberg said. “‘I’m working on it, Coach. I’ll get there.’ And he just had that positive attitude. I was like, ‘OK.’ It’s hard not to be successful when you look for the positive and you work for the positive.”

Cooper DeJean saw that work firsthand. The second-year defensive back said Jackson can keep the atmosphere in the room light, just like Slay did last season, while learning alongside his younger teammates.

“He’s been the same person every single day, whether he’s playing well or if he’s had some downs throughout the year,” DeJean said. “He’s been the same guy. Every single day, he comes in and he works, and you can see that starting to show out on the field, I think. You’ve seen the past few weeks, the way he’s playing out on the field. Playing at a really high level. And he just continued to get better each and every week.”

Ringo, who had been vying for the starting outside cornerback role with Jackson early in the season, has a deep sense of appreciation for the veteran, too. Jackson is always willing to lend his perspective and experience to younger players in the room. While he’s competed with Jackson this season, he says he harbors no resentment toward him.

“Relationships are beyond football,” Ringo said. “Nothing out there on the field would affect a good relationship. We all have that good, dynamic relationship within each other, and it’s nothing but love, regardless of what that is.”

That gratitude — for everything — is mutual. Even in the aftermath of the Week 1 game against Dallas, Jackson stood at his stall in the NovaCare Complex and insisted that he wasn’t discouraged. He said he was excited that every week provides another chance to improve and build confidence in practice and on game day.

He had that mentality when he wasn’t the starter, too. When Ringo briefly took over in early October, Jackson said he had learned to be content with his role, no matter how big or small. He had cultivated that attitude over the course of his career. He was a starter for seven seasons until his final year with the Giants.

His sense of appreciation for every opportunity, Jackson said, also comes from his mother.

“She used to always tell me, ’The Lord can give it to me and he can also take it away,’” Jackson said. “It’s easy to praise the Lord when everything is going great, but how easy is it when things are not going your way? Or you seem like you’re in a turmoil.

“I think just my mom, she did a great job as a kid of instilling faith in me, belief, but also humility and being humble and understanding that we are all human beings and we have to be grateful for what we have because it can be something as small as blinking, breathing, seeing, touching, tasting that you might take for granted, and the next person doesn’t have it.”

Bigger tests await in two weeks, when Jackson is slated to suit up for his first playoff game since the 2022 season and just his ninth total. Beyond that lies uncertainty — over the Eagles’ chances at a Super Bowl repeat and Jackson’s next contract.

But his youthful energy, willingness to learn, and unyielding sense of gratitude seem unlikely to change, no matter what the future holds for Jackson.

“He loves where he is right now, always,” Altenberg said. “And I think that we could all benefit from that.”