Birds’ Darby sorry for tough talk on Twitter
PHILADELPHIA » If @RealRonaldDarby blocked you on Twitter recently, you probably deserved it.
Just the same, the embattled cornerback apologized Thursday for adding to the negativity on his timeline.
Darby was frustrated over the way he played in the Eagles’ tooclose-for-comfort, 34-29 win over the New York Giants Sunday. Except for his 37-yard interception return off Eli Manning, which kick-started the comeback victory for the Eagles, Darby basically took the day off. In Twitter parlance, it was SMH after an LOL effort.
Darby basically was schooled by a relatively obscure group of Giants receivers most of the afternoon, resulting in a handful of costly penalties and big completions. That wasn’t Odell Beckham Jr. who beat him for a 57-yard touchdown. It was Tavarres King, who’s playing for his fourth team in five seasons.
“I’ve got to grow up,” Darby said. “I had a horrible game. Probably one of the worst games I ever played. And that ain’t nobody else’s fault. People think highly of us. And so, I do apologize — to you all, too. That was childish. I’m too grown for that.”
Darby played a season-high 84 snaps for the Eagles, who were shorthanded after losing cornerback Patrick Robinson to a concussion in the first half. It was almost double the snaps that Darby had averaged previously.
Darby was acquired in August from the Buffalo Bills for wide receiver Jordan Matthews and a third-round draft pick. He had a strong preseason and was getting it done in the regular season opener when he suffered a gruesome injury, an ankle popping out of its socket and twisting the wrong way. No surgery was required, though, and he returned after eight games.
Though Darby has intercepted Manning and Dak Prescott since coming back, he’s been a sucker for double moves by receivers — basically when they slam on the brakes, look back at the quarterback and restart the route upfield. Darby’s response has often been to grab the receivers.
The Seahawks burned Darby three weeks ago, and the Giants ran the double move all afternoon, King working it for his TD. Unless Michael Crabtree, quarterback Derek Carr and the Oakland Raiders don’t watch film, they’re going to double-move Darby until he stops it Monday night at Lincoln Financial Field.
“Ron gave up some plays in this game,” defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz said. “Everybody in our secondary, other than maybe Corey Graham, gave up at least a play. It’s not a one-man game. Ron can play better than he did, he knows that. He’s another one that had a chance to be able to make an interception down in the end zone. High-point the ball, man, get that thing down. Those are the plays he can make.
“He made that interception. That helped spark us. We were struggling. That interception had a lot to do with us getting back in that game and winning that game. You have to give him some credit.
“It wasn’t just a Ron Darby thing. All our corners gave up plays.”
With negative comments jamming his Twitter feed, Darby fought back Tuesday with a tweet threatening to block the critics. That proved to be as fruitless as the way he played defense Sunday.
To wit: “For the half way fans that sit around and wait for mistakes to talk trash will be getting blocked starting today. We nothing but human,” Darby tweeted in a post he’s since deleted.
Eagles defensive end Brandon Graham can relate. Graham blocked several followers, including media members, when his feed filled up with negativity a few years ago.
“You can’t worry about that stuff because at the end of the day, the same people you blocked are the same people that are going to be asking you to unblock them when things get better,” Graham said. “All you’ve got to do is block them. If they interrupt your eyes as you’re scrolling, you go OK, I don’t want to see that, and block them. Overall some people are coming at you just because they can type, you know?”
In the case of Darby, the comments kept piling up until Darby couldn’t stand the cyberspace debate.
“At the end of the day we’re all blessed to do what we do, and it ain’t nobody’s fault but mine for how I played,” Darby said. “I’m just frustrated in myself. You can never overlook anyone in the NFL. I’ve just got to do better. The sad thing is it’s probably not going to be my last bad game through my career. You just learn to just move on. The best thing is we came out with the win. So right now, I’m just thinking about Oakland.”
Yes, Darby feels he “sort of” overlooked the young Giants receivers. He doesn’t intend to let that happen again.
Darby also conceded he needs to work on technique. The ankle, by the way, has responded well to practices after the big workload.
“I’m feeling good,” Darby said. “Right now, I feel like I’m as good as I’m going to be at the end of the day. I’m not making no excuse for nothing. I’m out there playing so I need to play at 100 percent.”