Eagles’ Adoree’ Jackson responded well in Week 2, but a test awaits vs. dangerous Rams receivers

The shortest schedule in major sports and by far the biggest spotlight tend to make the NFL the ultimate league for overreactions.

The Eagles left their Week 1 victory over the Dallas Cowboys, and their biggest problem, besides Jalen Carter keeping saliva in his mouth, was Adoree’ Jackson. The second cornerback spot was, to be fair, one of the biggest concerns on the Eagles’ roster before the season started.

But Jackson’s performance against the Cowboys — when he too often gave up too much separation and was targeted seven times for five receptions that went for 103 yards — brought the CB2 issue to a fever pitch. Dust off those Jakorian Bennett jerseys. It’s next man up!

Vic Fangio, however, quelled the drama by saying last Tuesday that Jackson, who signed a one-year deal in free agency, would get the start again in Week 2.

The NFL is the overreaction league, but it’s also the league in which things change — they ebb and flow — on a week-to-week basis. How’d Jackson respond to his Eagles debut? He was targeted just five times and allowed three receptions for 26 yards. It could’ve been worse, since Jackson was beaten badly in the fourth quarter on a busted play that should’ve gone for a Chiefs touchdown.

“I thought it was improved,” Fangio said of Jackson’s second game. “I thought he did some good things, and hopefully that will kick-start him into being a good corner for us.”

Said Jackson: “I think my performance was good. It was way better than it was the week prior. But, as with anything, no matter how good it may seem, you look at the tape and it’s nothing as good as it seems and it’s nothing as bad. What you see is the reality in the middle.”

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All of this ignores the reality, too, that each week’s performance depends a lot on things out of Jackson’s control. The Cowboys had CeeDee Lamb and George Pickens running routes, and Dallas used Lamb in different parts of the field to cause havoc. The Chiefs, meanwhile, were missing Xavier Worthy to an injury and Rashee Rice to suspension. Then there’s Carter, the terrorizer on the Eagles’ defensive front who was ejected from the first game before it really started and whose absence led to too many clean pockets for Dak Prescott.

Cornerback weakness becomes an easier issue to deal with when said corners don’t have to cover as long. With Carter back in the fold for Week 2, the Eagles had a much more capable pass rush that often forced Patrick Mahomes out of structure.

Up next for the Eagles and Jackson, though, is a test that much more resembles Week 1 than Week 2. And it’s possible that the same alarm bells ring for Jackson come 4 p.m. Sunday.

The Rams have an elite 1-2 punch at receiver in Puka Nacua and Davante Adams and a dangerous No. 3 in Tutu Atwell — not to mention an experienced tight end in Tyler Higbee. All of them catch passes from one of this generation’s best throwers, Matthew Stafford.

The difficulty comes in the way the Rams use Nacua. They led the league in motion rate last season, sending a player in motion on nearly 82% of their offensive snaps. While Cooper Kupp did a lot of that, Nacua is deployable in a similar way, and the Rams are moving him around plenty to start the 2025 season. According to Next Gen Stats, Nacua has a league-high 98 scrimmage yards on snaps in motion through two games, including 52 receiving yards and 46 rushing yards.

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The Eagles could try to do what they did against the Cowboys Sunday vs. the Rams. Adams tends to line up mostly as an outside receiver, so the Eagles could have Quinyon Mitchell shadow him the way they kept him mostly plastered to Pickens in Week 1. Nacua, meanwhile, would fall to Jackson when he’s outside and Cooper DeJean when he’s in the slot. There will be moving parts.

“Just honing in and focusing on your job, your keys, having great eyes, being disciplined in what you have to do,” Jackson said when asked about Sunday’s priorities. “There’s going to be a lot of motion, a lot of different things, but as long as you prepare yourself the right way throughout the week, watch enough film to know what’s going on, then you just go out there and play. You understand there’s going to be motions, you understand there’s going to be this and that.”

For now, Jackson said he’s trying to keep improving with his new defense, “stacking days, stacking games.”

For one week at least, his spot in the lineup left the microscope slide. It won’t take much for it to return.

Eagles tight end Dallas Goedert, who missed Week 2 with a knee injury, was a full participant in practice Friday and is available to play Sunday. Goedert was limited in practice on Wednesday and Thursday.

The Eagles ruled out running back Will Shipley for the second consecutive game with an oblique injury. Quarterback Tanner McKee (thumb) is questionable.