Haason Reddick is NFC Defensive Player of Week
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Haason Reddick took over in the fourth quarter of the Eagles’ 29-21 win over the Jacksonville Jaguars on Sunday.
Now, the Eagles’ edge rusher owns the whole week after becoming the third straight Eagles defender to win NFC Defensive Player of the Week. CB Darius Slay did it in Week 2 and defensive end Brandon Graham in Week 3.
There hasn’t been a week or a month played yet this year that an Eagles player hasn’t picked up some kind of honor.
Zech McPhearson was the NFC Special Teams Player of the Week in Week 1 and Jalen Hurts was the NFC Offensive Player of the Month for September.
This is the second time Reddick has been named defensive player of the week. He was honored in Week 14 of the 2020 season when he was with the team that drafted him in the first round in 2017, the Arizona Cardinals, who, coincidentally, host the Eagles on Sunday in Week 5.
Reddick has grown leaps and bounds in the Eagles’ defense over the first month of the season after signing a three-year deal in free agency to return to the team he grew up rooting for while growing up across the river from Philadelphia in Camden and paying his college ball at Temple.
His 3.5 sacks lead the team and they’ve all come in the last two games.
His two sacks against Jacksonville came in the fourth quarter and both forced fumbles. He recovered one and teammate Javon Hargrave recovered the other.
It was Reddick's second sack that sealed the win, coming after the Jags took over with 1:54 inside Eagles territory down one score,
“I’ve been comfortable,” he said following Sunday’s win. “I’ve been comfortable. I’m not going to say that I’ve preached it, but I’ve said it many times: (Eagles Defensive Coordinator Jonathan Gannon) always asks me what I’m comfortable with and what I’m not comfortable with.
“So, it’s never like I’m going out there and I’m not comfortable with something. I know exactly what I’m asked to do."
Gannon spoke at length about Reddick on Tuesday.
“The guy, he's got a very unique skill set,” said the DC. “As I always say, the first thing that anybody we bring in here, and I love that the head coach is in alignment with myself because this is kind of personal for me, is football character.
"Does he love ball? There's a lot of talented guys out there that I don't think really love ball, and I think that's how you build a really good team is the more guys that love ball and they're team first, the better chance you have to win consistently.
“…So that's the first thing we look at. Then from there with Haason, he affects the game. He makes big-time plays. He has a unique skill set. We use him different ways. Even if he doesn't show up on the stats sheet, we deploy him in a way that creates good matchups for other people, so he's always helping us win the game.
“He's one that I'm in his ear about different things and he's got really good ideas and we use a lot of them. He’s team first and it's a production business, and you see the production happening.”
Seattle QB Geno Smith was the NFC Offensive Player of the Week and Vikings kicker Greg Joseph was the NFC Special Teams Player of the Week.
In the AFC, Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes won his ninth career offensive player of the week award, Bills safety Jordan Poyer won for defense, and Bengals kicker Evan McPherson won for special teams.
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.
