Eagles' Malcolm Jenkins Rips Replay Officials After Loss to Cowboys: 'Stay Off the Bottle'
Malcolm Jenkins is not buying replay officials' reasoning behind a controversial ruling that happened on the opening kickoff of Sunday's 29-23 overtime loss to the Cowboys.
Dallas received the ball to start the game, and as returner Jourdan Lewis was bringing the ball up field Jenkins forced a fumble that appeared to be recovered by Philadelphia's Kamu Grugier-Hill. However, the call on the field was that Lewis was down by contact, so the Eagles would have to challenge if they wanted to get the ball at the Cowboys' 18-yard line to start the game.
Philadelphia did challenge the call, and it was ruled a fumble upon review. However, it was decided the Eagles did not clearly recover the ball, so Dallas retained possession.
"That was a pretty terrible call," Jenkins said according to Tim McManus of ESPN.com. "They reviewed it and the explanation I got was that it wasn't a clear recovery, although Kamu had the ball in his hand and there was only Eagles defenders on the ball in replay. So whoever's watching that in New York should stay off the bottle."
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Getting the ball in the red zone would have been big for the Eagles who struggled on offense and went scoreless for the entire first half of Sunday's game. However, instead of starting the game in scoring position, Philadelphia's first possession started at its own 15 following a Dallas three-and-out on the opening drive.
The Cowboys were the first team on the board in Sunday's contest while the Eagles didn't crack the board until there was only about six minutes remaining in the third quarter.
"They just said that the video didn't show me getting up actually with the ball, but it was clear I had the ball, so I don't understand," Grugier-Hill said. "It was all green jerseys. It was all green jerseys."
"Common sense, you saw Kamu come out with the ball. Obviously they don't pay me to make calls like that, but that was, in hindsight, obviously a big play in the game," Jenkins added.
The loss drops the Eagles to 6-7 while the Cowboys moved to 8-5 with a commanding lead in the NFC East. The dfending Super Bowl Champions close out their season against the Rams, Texans and Redskins.
