Fletcher Cox still without a sack this season

Sacks were piling up all around him as the Eagles were pummeling the New York Jets on Sunday.

Defensive tackle Fletcher Cox caused some of the 10 recorded by the Eagles that day, but he couldn’t get one of his own. Through five games, the team leader in sacks from a year ago with 10.5 doesn’t have a single one.

One might think he’d be feeling the stress build, the pressure intensify, as he presses and presses for his first.

One would be wrong.

Cox was in a jovial mood following practice on Wednesday as the Eagles prepare to play the Minnesota Vikings at U.S. Bank Stadium on Sunday (1 p.m./FOX). So much so that he was joking about his so far sack-less season.

“They selling sacks right now? I’d like to buy a couple for real,” said Cox.

The locker next to Cox inside the locker room at the Eagles’ training facility belongs to Brandon Graham, who had a single-game career-high three sacks against the Jets.

“I’m happy for BG,” said Cox. “He came out and he had a career day, three sacks. We talk about it. I’m not a selfish person. I know my time is coming, but it’s week five and not having a sack is kind of French to me.

“I’m having fun with it right now, but in all seriousness, my time is coming. I’ll get some sacks. I think the most important thing right now is to keep this team on the right track, just continue being a leader and just enjoy the wins.”

Cox understands some of the things he did up front freed up others to make sacks and plays.

“I was maybe the reason for some of the sacks,” he said, “but I can’t be selfish and say I wish that was me. The thing about it is I pat my teammates on the back and be happy he made the play.”

Cox can take solace in the fact that he is a driving force behind the Eagles’ top-ranked run defense, a player that opposing offenses must know where he is and how he is attacking.

“He’s a great player,” said Vikings coach Mike Zimmer. “He’s always been a great player, very physical, very active in both the run and the pass.”

Cox did not have much of a training camp to prepare for the season, since he spent most of the offseason rehabbing from foot surgery. He won’t use that as an excuse for his in ability so far to get home.

He’s probably right, too. Cox lost two of the players that were supposed play next to him this season, when Malik Jackson went down in the season opener then Timmy Jernigan got hurt in Week Two. Jackson is out for the season; Jernigan could return at some point in November.

Without their presence, Cox is dealing with more double-teams than he would like, as defenses dare reserve tackles Hassan Ridgeway and Akeem Spence to beat them. Ridgeway and Spence are doing a decent job, and Zimmer even singled-out Ridgeway for his play in helping the Eagles stop the run.

All Cox can do is keep hammering away and, if he can’t make the play, at least occupy a couple of blockers to allow someone else to do it.

“You know me, I'm not a big stats guy,” said Eagles defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz. “It's about stopping drives. It's about winning games and limiting scoring and things like that. Rodney's (McLeod) interception was all Fletch. Fletch had everything - I would much rather have the interception there than the sack. All due respect to Fletch. I know he would rather have the sack.

“But I said before, being around the quarterback causes a high percentage of takeaways, and you saw that. We just talked about Josh Sweat. His sack was Fletch disrupted the quarterback, stepped up, and Josh came off his block and was able to make the sack. There is no stat for team defense. There is no stat for guys doing their job, doing it tough, and doing it physically. Fletch did that in this game, a tackle for a loss.

“I know Fantasy Football and Twitter and all those things we tend to put a big emphasis on stats and Fantasy points and all that. It's a team game when it's all said and done, and he played well in this game.”