DeSean Jackson Asked to Return Ill-Fated Punt
All Eagles receiver DeSean Jackson wanted to do was try to make a play for his team, so he approached special teams coach Dave Fipp late in Thursday night’s game against the New York Giants and told him as much.
“During that last drive he had come up to me and said, 'Hey man, if they are punting this ball backed up or if they are punting this ball, put me back there, I want to go back there and make a play,'” recalled Fipp on Tuesday morning. “Just a really unselfish football player trying to do anything he could to help the organization win a football game. He knew it was a spot where really the team needed him. He wanted a chance to step up and make a play for the team.”
What neither Jackson, Fipp, or anyone else on the Eagles were counting on was an illegal crown of the helmet hit to Jackson’s ribs by Corey Ballentine, which was penalized, then what looked like a late hit well after Jackson was down by Madre Harper that wasn’t penalized.
The result of that double-whammy was an ankle injury that has since landed Jackson on Injured Reserve and could keep him there for the remainder of the regular season in the worst-case scenario or a return with one or two games left in the best-case scenario.
“It's unfortunate what happened,” said Fipp. “We all know that injuries are part of the game but you never like seeing them, not to any player, but certainly not to great players like him. Especially guys who work so hard to get back into the thing. So obviously, that's tough to watch or see.
“In terms of the hit (by Harper) and all that, I think some people are talking about that. Obviously, I'm going to stay away from that myself personally but yeah, disappointed in the injury there for sure.”
Jackson was returning from missing three games with a hamstring injury and had been a factor in the game, getting the first two touches on the Eagles’ first offensive possession – a 12-yard run and a 10-yard catch.
The WR ended the game with five targets, three receptions for 46 yards with the one 12-yard run. He played 39 snaps (48 percent).
Jackson’s injury was a hard slap in the face right after an emotional, come-from-behind win over the Giants.
It didn’t take long for receiver coach Aaron Moorehead to gather himself after the game ended to check on Jackson.
“It was tough,” said Moorehead. “It was obviously the first thing I did when I came into the locker room after the game was, you’re emotionally excited about what just happened, with Boston (Scott’s 18-yard game-winning TD catch) then BG (Brandon Graham) makes the sack-strip fumble, then you run in the locker room and the first thing I think of is DeSean and running in to see him and check on him in the training room. Just told him to keep his head up and we’ll see where this thing goes.”
Where it went became known on Sunday and Moorehead and Jackson then exchanged text messages about the impending trip to IR.
“I told him to lean on his family and lean on the guys in the room and we’re here for him,” said Moorehead. “That’s all you can say. There’s not a lot to say. He’s in a tough spot. He knows that as far as just how hard he worked.
“We all felt terrible about what happened. We gotta know that there’s a little piece of us that’s playing for him for the time being.”
Get the latest Eagles news by joining the community. Click "Follow" at the top right of the EagleMaven page. Mobile users click the notification bell. And please follow me on Twitter @kracze.
