Jordan Mailata Out for Redemption After Allowing Two Sacks in Houston
PHILADELPHIA – Chase Young might play. He might not.
Jordan Mailata’s reaction to the availability of the Washington pass rusher?
“Cool,” said the Eagles’ left tackle at his locker this week. “I don’t know. Have to watch film.”
If Young plays Monday night when the Commanders visit Lincoln Financial Field in an NFC East matchup against the undefeated Eagles, it will mark exactly one year since he last played in a game. That was on Nov. 14, 2021, when the AP Defensive Rookie of the Year in 2020 tore his ACL and hasn’t been heard from since.
Mailata could use a redemption game no matter who he's blocking against.
He has a bad taste in his mouth after allowing two sacks in three plays on the Eagles’ first possession of the second half in the team’s 29-17 win over the Houston Texans on Nov. 3, in a nationally televised Thursday night game.
Veteran Jerry Hughes victimized him both times.
“Obviously, you don’t want to give up sacks,” said Mailata. “To do it like that, (bleeping) primetime, (bleep), that was pretty (bleep). Pardon my language. It was pretty bad on my part. I hate seeing Jalen (Hurts) get hit. I have to play to a higher standard and the standard we’ve been playing at all year.”
Head coach Nick Sirianni took the blame for those sacks when he spoke the next day.
Mailata was hard on himself, nevertheless.
“We have this next-play mentality but it’s really hard when you feel you let down the team, let down the coaches, and you let down the fans, because we know they love us,” he said.
Mailata will have had to stew over those two sacks for 11 days.
“It was hard for me to let go,” he said, “because I just felt like I let down the world. Once that 24-hour period kind of passed, really had to focus on the setup and not the setback and how can I prevent that from happening next time. That’s all I did now, watched the film.”
Mailata’s right shoulder is still not 100% and may not be the rest of the season. He suffered a dislocated shoulder while making a diving tackle attempt in Week 4 and missed two games because of it.
He isn’t using it as an excuse, though, especially on Hughes’ two sacks
“As an offensive lineman, I should still keep the guy in front of me,” said Mailata. “It’s not just on coach himself. I get paid to pass protect and run block and I didn’t do my job those two plays. I executed the assignment, but if I just kept it in front, Jalen wouldn’t have taken a hit twice.”
Washington has one of the very best defensive lines the Eagles will face all season. They know what they’re up against, having played them in Week 3 and winning a 24-8 verdict. The Commanders (4-5) had three sacks, though two of them came from linebacker Jamin Davis, however.
"These guys are a pretty good team, pretty good D-line, very physical up front,” said Mailata, “so we have to match the physicality again this week.”
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.
