Getty Jaguars pass rushers Josh Allen and Travon Walker are off to fast starts in Jacksonville.
Jacksonville Jaguars head coach Doug Pederson doesn’t know what to expect from the Philly faithful this weekend. He hopes the crowd will remember the good times (hint, hint: that 2017 Super Bowl championship) but competitive juices will be flowing — on the field and in the stands.
Pederson isn’t naive to the passion and complexity of Philadelphia Eagles fans. He’s ready for anything and everything.
“I don’t know. I mean, it could be mixed,” Pederson said when asked if he expected boos or cheers (via ESPN). “Listen, I’ve got to get this team here ready to go and I’m not going to be concerned with that, you know? You hope it’s a good one, obviously, for the things you did there, but I also know that crowd and they could be a little hostile.”
“It was like a home game on Sunday. They had to go silent count.
You guys should write about that!”
– Gannon as he left his presser just now 😂
The Jaguars have been planning for a loud, hostile environment at Lincoln Financial Field all week. Pederson took the team indoors and simulated crowd noise at practice, partly due to bad weather (fallout from Hurricane Ian) and partly because Philly has a reputation for forcing silent counts.
“I know first-hand this place can get extremely loud. We expect it to be loud this weekend,” Pederson told reporters. “So, yeah, we’ll use crowd noise. We used it yesterday in practice. We’ll use it again today and it’s just part of it. It’s a great environment up there. It’s great for football. It’s a football town. And our guys handled the week of practice extremely well. They handled the noise.”
Philly week = #Jaguars starting practice with Meek Mill. Team bracing the elements today.
Jaguars Roast Philly Terms, Ready to ‘Handle Business’
Credit the Jaguars’ social media team for knowing their audience. They put together a hilarious video where Jacksonville players try to make sense of some unique Philly jargon, words like jawn and wit whiz and Schuylkill and wooder and drawlin (that’s a new one).
“I’m down the shore, right by the Schuylkill!” 😂
Twitter jokes aside, the Jaguars know what they are up against on Sunday. Linebacker Josh Allen is a New Jersey native and grew up surrounded by midnight green since his dad was a diehard Eagles fan. When asked to describe Philly, Allen said: “Gritty. Streets. Tough. They idolize the city as a team. They know what type of environment they’re in.”
Defensive end Roy Robertson-Harris knows the Philly crowd is going to be hype. He’s faced the music there in previous years as a member of the Chicago Bears.
“Philly is a hostile environment,” Robertson-Harris said, via Mia O’Brien. “They do not give an EFF about us, no matter who it is, they about to dog cuss us out on that sideline.”
Then there is rookie linebacker Travon Walker, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2022 NFL draft. He played his college ball at Georgia where he was teammates with Eagles rookies Jordan Davis and Nakobe Dean. Walker fired off a message to them: “Love y’all boys but we coming to handle business. It’s all love, though. Go Dawgs!”
Lane Johnson, Jordan Mailata Demand Respect
The respect was flowing from Doug Pederson’s mouth like the flooded banks of the Schuylkill River. He has the utmost respect for right tackle Lane Johnson and left tackle Jordan Mailata. He hopes his top pass rushers — Josh Allen (2 sacks) and Travon Walker (1 sack) — have studied the film.
“Two really good tackles,” Pederson said of Johnson and Mailata. “I know they’ll be prepared but they have to study the tape and understand the 1-on-1 matchups. And that’s what this game comes down to is your 1-on-1s and trying to win those. And I know both our guys have their hands full this weekend.”
“I got a lot of respect for @LaneJohnson65 and @jordan_mailata.”
Coach Pederson on Philly’s tackles and the importance of winning 1-on-1s.