Birds lose lineman Jackson to foot injury
PHILADELPHIA >> The Eagles’ anemic pass rush lost another key component Sunday, defensive tackle Malik Jackson.
He exited in the fourth quarter with a left foot injury, and the Linc with a walking boot. He expects to undergo further testing Monday.
“I remember just doing a pass rush move committed to an inside rush,” said Jackson, who notched two tackles in his debut with the Eagles. “I was on the ground the next minute. I don’t know what I did. I just got up and it hit more than it did the play before.”
The Eagles sacked Case Keenum just once in their 32-27 triumph over the Redskins. That came from defensive tackle Tim Jernigan, who had two stops and a quarterback hurry.
Defensive end Derek Barnett notched four tackles and three quarterback hurries. His offside penalty late in the first half shortened a field goal by Dustin Hopkins to 48 yards.
The Eagles traded pass rusher Michael Bennett to the Patriots and didn’t bring back Chris Long. Together they accounted for 15.5 sacks.
More recently the Eagles finished out of the money in their pursuit of defensive end Jadeveon Clowney.
The Eagles experimented with several pass rush combinations, much of them to no avail. It’s still early to panic.
“I thought we did good,” Jackson said. “They did a lot of max-protection early. It worked for the most part because they were up 17-0 for a while. But toward the end of the game we really opened it up when we started scoring some points.”
The Eagles scratched defensive end Daeshon Hall, who had shown edge-rush ability in the preseason.
*** Rookie draft picks Andre Dillard, Miles Sanders and JJ Arcega-Whiteside all played Sunday, and with varying degrees of success.
Sanders finished with 11 rushes for 25 yards, although 19 came on a carry that set up Carson Wentz’s touchdown pass to Alshon Jeffery, pulling the Eagles within 2014 in the third quarter.
In the fourth quarter, Sanders burst 21 yards for a score. But it was called back on a hold by Arcega-Whiteside.
“It was an alright day,” Sanders said. “We got the W and that’s all that matters.”
Dillard saw action on special teams and as the extra tight end on Wentz’s lateral to Jeffery for a twoyard score.
“It was an awesome experience getting my feet wet a little bit,” Dillard said. “Just getting my first little taste.”
*** Eagles veteran Brandon Graham put out a fire in the first quarter, the veteran throwing to tight end Vernon Davis for a four-yard loss to force the Redskins into kicking a field goal for a 10-0 lead.
Though the advantage grew to 17-0, and the Eagles trailed, 20-7, at the intermission, Graham said the players stayed calm rather than do something drastic like wreck the locker room.
“That’s when you lose yourself when you start doing stuff out of character,” Graham said. “That’s what we found out as a team, how good we are if we’re not going off on each other when things are going bad. The game is never over. Even when we were up nine, we were like, man this game is not over. If they score and get the ball, I’ve seen this stuff turn around so fast.”