It was a rough week for the Philadelphia Eagles, to say the least. And things got even worse on Sunday in London. The Eagles appeared on track for a 17-16 win before kicking off with eight seconds left to Jacksonville. Ameer Abdullah took the return 53 yards to set up a 57-yard game-winning field goal from Cam Little to lift the Jags to a 19-17 victory.
It was a second straight fourth-quarter collapse from Philly, which is missing plenty of key contributors on offense, most notably RB Saquon Barkley and WR DeVonta Smith. The Jags improved to 4-1 on the season and will stay overseas for a matchup in Week 6 against Houston.
Below, we’ll share some fantasy football takeaways from the London game and what to expect moving forward.
Eagles offense still has plenty of question marks
We’ll start with the run game. Will Shipley entered this game as the last-man standing and a top waiver add with Barkley and Tank Bigsby (injured reserve) sidelined. Philly brought in veteran Dameon Pierce to spell Shipley, who was forced to leave Sunday’s game early due to a foot injury. Fortunately for managers, Shipley was able to punch one in to save his fantasy day, which ended with just 13 yards on six touches for 7.80 total fantasy points.
Pierce saw 13 touches but only turned that into 12 total yards. It’s safe to say the Eagles’ run game can’t really be trusted right now. And Jalen Hurts continues to not get designed plays; he had just two carries for two yards in the loss. If you picked up Shipley thinking he’d be playable while Barkley is out, we’re sorry, but things got murky in a hurry. We’ll have to monitor his status for Week 6 but this duo of Shipley and Pierce likely isn’t going to cut it. Perhaps the Eagles look to add someone else if Barkley can’t get back on the field. He entered this game as week-to-week with a hamstring issue, a tricky injury.
T-Law-Washington stack thrives for Jacksonville
Last week, the Bengals did a good job of shutting down Trevor Lawrence’s favorite target — Parker Washington. This week, Philly couldn’t stop him. Washington will have a good shot at finishing as a top-five WR in Week 5 thanks to a 6-124-2 line, good for 27.40 fantasy points. Washington’s second touchdown was a circus catch in the end zone. Lawrence would finish with a respectable total of 331 passing yards, 25 rushing yards and two TDs (plus one INT) for 22.74 points.
Prior to this game, Washington hadn’t gone over 15 fantasy points since Week 1 and had just one catch last week, but has now reached double-digit points in four of five games. We also know what Washington’s ceiling is, a player who can win you your week. Jacksonville has a handful of easier matchups on the horizon, so Washington can be fired up as an upside WR2 play moving forward.
Hangin’ with Mr. Cooper
No, we’re not talking about Bradley Cooper. Or Mark Cooper, who starred in the sitcom referenced in the header above. We’re going to shoutout Darius Cooper, who has now posted back-to-back solid weeks.
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Cooper isn’t getting much volume but he’s made a few big plays for the Philly passing game this season. The latest was a 62-yard touchdown in the first half to give the Eagles a 14-7 lead going into halftime. While Cooper is a volatile fantasy play, he is on the field plenty right now and is up to four TDs on the season. With Smith still out and rookie Makai Lemon still getting his feet wet in the NFL, Cooper isn’t a bad add in deeper PPR formats at this point. He’s rostered in 8% of leagues.