The unsung heroes of the Eagles' win over the Jaguars

Jack Driscoll had never played left tackle in the NFL. Josiah Scott had never started a game in the NFL. Zech McPhearson had never played this many snaps in a meaningful game.

All three were asked Sunday to do something they had never done, and all three came up huge in the Eagles’ 29-21 win over the Jaguars at the Linc.

Driscoll replaced injured left tackle Jordan Mailata six snaps into the game, Scott started in place of injured slot corner Avonte Maddox and McPhearson replaced Pro Bowl corner Darius Slay after just three snaps. Later, undrafted Sua Opeta entered the game in place of injured Isaac Seumalo and played the final 20 snaps at right guard.

The coaches preach always being ready, and the backups get extra reps during training camp and all that. But until they’re in a new position in a big game against a good team in terrible conditions in a packed stadium you never know how they’re going to respond.

And on Sunday they responded as well as you could have imagined.

“Our guys know you've got to be ready to go in and you might not get a lot of reps during the week, and you've got to execute at a high level,” defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon said. “Now, saying that, that's why I love how we structured training camp. Those guys get a lot of reps. We do that for multiple reasons, and that's one of them.”

Scott was the least experienced of the backups. Other than the meaningless season finale against the Cowboys last year, the most snaps he had ever gotten was 28 late in the 2020 season while playing for the Jaguars against the Vikings.

Since joining the Eagles before last season began, he had only played 50 meaningful snaps in Gannon’s scheme.

The Eagles had options. They could have dropped Chauncey Gardner-Johnson down from safety to his more familiar slot position and used K’Von Wallace at safety, where he has six career starts.

But Scott had a solid training camp and all things being equal, it makes more sense to make a change at one spot instead of two.

“Josiah does a good job for us,” Gannon said Tuesday. “That's a tough spot, and he handles it well. He's got the skill set that you're looking for as a nickel. I thought he played well. 

“The other thing that goes into that, you don't want a trickle-down effect as far as, ‘Hey, this guy has got to go here, this guy has got to go here.’ I just thought where we’re at as a unit, that was the best way to go and that's how we'll continue to proceed (as long as Maddox is out).” 

At least Scott knew by late in the week he was going to start. McPhearson went into the game fully expecting to play only special teams.

But when Slay got hurt, he was ready.

“This is his second year, and he got some really good quality snaps last year,” Gannon said. “I think he improved his game. He had a really good training camp.”

McPhearson did play 180 defensive snaps last year – including 56 in the Dallas game – and played 28 earlier this year. But this was his most extensive action ever in a meaningful game.

“We felt good about Zech going in,” Gannon said. “Played well, executed. I thought he covered really well. Mentally, he was sharp. That's one of the hardest things. It's really not the physical to me with the guys that we have up. It's the mental, because they just don't get a ton of reps in practice.

“It's like, going in, it's nothing new to him. He's played all those calls and did a good job and executed at a high level.”

Driscoll has played a good bit since the Eagles drafted him in the fourth round back in 2020. He’s started 13 games and played almost 900 snaps. He’s proven to be a valuable and versatile backup.

But he had never played left tackle. And that’s a different animal.

“We have a lot of confidence in the backups, and Jack stepped in, and credit to him, the work he's put in,” offensive coordinator Shane Steichen said. “Stout does an unbelievable job getting those guys ready. Any time your number is going to get called, you've got to be ready to go in and execute at a high level. I think Sua and Jack did a hell of a job coming in there and doing what we needed to do to win that football game.”

Driscoll is here because of his versatility. He’s one of those rare guys who can give you snaps at either guard or either tackle. He could probably play center in an emergency.

But as smart and physical and versatile is, asking a guy to slow down Travon Walker and Josh Allen playing a position he had never played and barely practiced is a lot.

“Well, I think you've got to be prepared, first and foremost, and then also you've got to be an intelligent football player because there's a lot of moving parts when you play all positions,” Steichen said. “You've got to know the different schemes that are going into it, where you're at, where the double teams are happening, where the singles are happening, and he prepares his butt off.”