Jenkins hopes Eagles don’t heed sign of the times
PHILADELPHIA » Malcolm Jenkins, the unequivocal leader of the Eagles, is creeped out by a sign in the locker room.
He’d like it removed but understands there would be resistance.
What could be so disconcerting? The “LII CHAMPIONS” emblem hanging at the far end of the locker room, a display featuring the Lombardi Trophy.
Jenkins has a pretty good reason for it.
“It’s because it’s all about adding another ‘I’ to the end of that,” Jenkins said Monday. “It’s great, but I’m well beyond celebrating last year’s accomplishments. They don’t mean anything this year. They don’t get us anything. It’s not boxing where we get to hold the belt and somebody has to come beat us to take it. We don’t have anything. We’re at the bottom just like everybody else.”
Jenkins, the nine-year veteran out of Ohio State, isn’t the only Eagle leery of Super Bowl reminders. Defensive end Chris Long, one of just five players to win back-to-back Super Bowl titles with different teams, objects to being asked about the title game.
Long believes that once the Eagles hit a slump, unscrupulous reporters will say it’s because they spent so much time talking about the Super Bowl. So, don’t even ask him about it.
Take that any way you want. The bottom line is that Jenkins is the guy who stood tall the night Carson Wentz tore up his knee in Los Angeles, leaving a bittersweet feeling following the playoff-clinching win over the Rams. Jenkins, in so many words, told the players they could do it without Wentz. And he was right.
Jenkins isn’t fretting the potential loss of Wentz for the first game or two, either. Wentz’s availability hinges on medical clearance.
“It’s no different,” Jenkins said. “We obviously won a Super Bowl with Nick. So, if Carson can’t go - hopefully he can, we obviously want Carson out there. But if not, I don’t doubt that anybody doubts that we can’t get it done. We’ve prepared like we normally would. I don’t think anybody has to go outside of themselves to do anything special.”
Regardless of the quarterback, the Eagles have to be special to beat the Atlanta Falcons in the Sept. 6 season-opener at Lincoln Financial Field. Already loaded with playmakers, the Falcons added Alabama deep threat Calvin Ridley to the mix. Quarterback Matt Ryan can also go to Julio Jones, Mohamed Sanu, Devonta Freeman and Tevin Coleman. You can’t cover them all, though the Eagles did a decent job in their 15-10 win in the second round of the playoffs last January.
The Eagles lost slot cornerback Patrick Robinson, defensive end Vinny Curry, defensive tackle Beau Allen and linebacker Mychal Kendricks from that defense. Additionally, tackle Tim Jernigan still hasn’t practiced since offseason back surgery.
The Eagles added defensive end Michael Bennett and tackle Haloti Ngata.
“I think we feel good about where we are,” Jenkins said. “There’s some things that we’re preparing for now. We know Atlanta has a high-powered offense. They have a really diverse run game which is something that we pride ourselves on stopping. We’ve still got a little bit of preparation to take care of but I think we feel good about what we’ve done in preseason. We feel good about the guys that we have in place and hopefully when we continue to get healthier we’ll just continue to get better.”
While there’s little Jenkins can do about the Super Bowl signage, which is part of Doug Pederson’s “new normal” philosophy, he appreciates the work and commitment the head coach and front office have to creating the new Eagles way of doing things.
It reminds Jenkins of the “well-defined” cultures of New England and Pittsburgh.
“The Patriots, they’re a very disciplined team,” Jenkins said. “They’re not going to be beat themselves. They don’t always have the most talented players, but it doesn’t matter because they’re going to know what to do, where to be, how to do their jobs. And if not, you just won’t be there. That’s one of the things we’ve been trying to create here is a culture of consistency. One that takes pride in having tough, hardnosed players that are smart, know what to do and that compete in all areas of the game.”
Jenkins has been a big part of the culture, on the field, in the locker room via his leadership, and off the field in his crusade to chip away at social injustices.
Jenkins hopes the NFL does away with its national anthem policy, which could mean fines and possible suspensions for players who demonstrate. He doesn’t see that happening, though. Jenkins has remained in the tunnel in preseason games rather than joining teammates on the sideline during the anthem.
“I’m tired of talking about it,” Jenkins said. “We’ll see where the conversation goes even when it’s not apparent. As players I think we need to be creative in ways in which we push this message. It’s easy to talk about who’s doing it, who’s not doing it, who’s not even out there. That’s a waste of everybody’s time.”