DeVonta Smith Set to Move on From His 0-Catch Game in Detroit
PHILADELPHIA – DeVonta Smith sat at his locker taking questions on Thursday.
The Eagles receiver, wearing a black Eagles sweatshirt with the hoodie pulled about halfway up to cover his head, turned about halfway on his stool to face reporters who seemed particularly interested in getting his take on not having any catches in Sunday's season-opening win over the Lions.
He was asked three different times, three different ways about not having a catch.
Each time, Smith responded: “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
The offense obviously ran through A.J. Brown in Detroit, with 10 catches and 155 yards in his Eagles debut.
Smith used the cliché about just controlling what you can control.
“I can’t control if the ball’s coming to me or not, so you always have to do your job, always do the right thing and if it comes to you make a play,” he said.
“The plan was to go out there and execute our game plan. It just happened to be his day. Any day it can be anybody’s day … You never know whose day it’s going to be.”
Brown said that it was just his day, that next week it might be Smith’s turn, or Dallas Goedert’s turn.
“We know we have weapons on offense,” he said. “We have a lot of skill players on offense, so just trying to get everybody the ball.”
Smith may or may not have been happy about not having any catches. He’s a tough read.
He is, however, known for being a team player, so he will be content doing whatever he needs to do as long as the Eagles continue to win.
“You’re happy for him,” he said when asked what goes through his mind when another receiver is having the kind of day Brown did. “You try to do whatever you can to keep your man away from him.
"I mean, he could have a long touchdown and break it, then your man can run over there and make the tackle. So just try to hold your guy where he is so (A.J.) can continue to eat the way he’s eating.”
Smith also took some blame for not having any catches.
“I feel I was a little sloppy,” he said. “I feel like I could’ve been a lot better. I feel like this week, that’s what it’s all about.”
Asked what he meant by sloppy, he added: “Just first game, just going out there, you don’t know quite what to expect with your first opponent because you don’t know if they’re going to run the same thing.
"You don’t have too much film to watch. It’s hard to just go out there and go off what you see on film because the film might not be as accurate. Just go out there and get a feel for it.”
Brown’s day could open up things more for Smith if a defensive coordinator decides to not let Brown have another day like he did in Detroit.
Smith, though, wasn’t so sure about that.
“It depends on the defense what they like to do,” he said. “If they have guys that want to travel or guys that don’t travel, that’s up to their team, their defensive coordinator however they want to play that.”
It will be up to Minnesota Vikings defensive coordinator Ed Donatell to decide how he’s going to play it when the two teams clash on Monday night at Lincoln Financial Field.
Ed Kracz is the publisher of SI.com’s Fan Nation Eagles Today and co-host of the Eagles Unfiltered Podcast. Check out the latest Eagles news at www.SI.com/NFL/Eagles or www.eaglesmaven.com and please follow him on Twitter: @kracze.
