A relieved Nick Sirianni took to the podium after his Eagles earned a hard-fought 15-12 win over the flavors of the week in the NFL: the New Orleans Saints.
“Last week was rough,” Sirianni admitted, alluding to Philadlephia’s 22-21 late-game collapse against the Atlanta Falcons. “Last week was something that our guys had to pick themselves up off the mat. Every one of them did.”
Perhaps none had a more difficult time climbing off the canvas than second-year star Jalen Carter, who was benched for the opening series against the Falcons as punishment for missing a team meeting.
Add that to the way Carter played during the Eagles’ 1-1 start, self-described “trash” according to the man himself, and perhaps we should have known what was coming.
Carter started like a house afire and wrecked the game with constant pressure from the interior that had Saints quarterback Derek Carr seeing ghosts for most of the afternoon.
“Everybody was sick of [the criticism],” Carter admitted. “They might be saying me and Jordan [Davis’] name, but they were also saying … everybody’s name [on the defense]. We got tired of it.”
In hindsight, Carr specifically is probably wishing “everybody” kept their mouth shut.
“We didn’t want to have it three weeks in a row,” said Carter. “We wanted to make a big change early. We didn’t want to wait until later on where it would be the playoffs.
“Nah, we’re trying to show we’re here right now.”
That’s how 45.5 points per game turned into 219 total yards at 4.0 yards per clip with Carter setting the tone with consistent harassment.
The stat sheet says Carter finished with 4 tackles – two for loss – a QB hit and 2 bat-downs.
However, if QB angst could be measured Carter might be in the Defensive Player of the Week conversation.
“I didn’t see Jalen Carter getting scooped on the backside because we saw him in the backfield a lot,” Sirianni said. “That’s what I’m talking about with this response. Having the right mindset. I could talk about this all day long and this mindset that you have after adversity happens to you.”
There is still plenty of room to grow for Carter.
Once Reed Blankenship secured the game with a diving interception Carter was trash-talking anyone who would listen and was seen trying to be restrained by Sirianni, defensive line coach Clint Hurtt, and chief security officer/game day coaching assistant Dom DiSandro, who has had an increased presence around Carter this week.
“I’ve taken so much joy in not only teaching them lessons of football, but lessons of life,” Sirianni said. [The players] taught themselves that today and just how to respond when s@#$ goes bad in their life.”
