Philadelphia Eagles’ Hasson Reddick Back to Having Fun, Being The 'Closer'
INGLEWOOD, CA. - Haason Reddick was in serious consideration to win NFC Defensive Player of the Year during his first season with the Philadelphia Eagles last year after amassing 19.5 sacks in 19 games through Super Bowl LVII.
In many ways, the All-Pro edge rusher is the micro example of the expectations the Eagles are enduring in the macro sense in 2023.
A thumb injury in training camp that required surgery forced Reddick to wear a cast during the first three games of the season and the South Jersey native had trouble finishing, his trademark as a rusher.
Despite three consecutive wins and a pressure percentage that outpaced his brilliant 2022 season, many Eagles fans were asking: ‘Where are the sacks?’ when it came to Reddick.
“They come in bunches,” head coach Nick Sirianni often reminded others when it comes to a statistic that often lacks context.
After breaking the seal in Week 4 against Washington, Reddick did it again late against Matthew Stafford and the Los Angeles Rams, punctuating a 23-14 Eagles win with consecutive takedowns that had Sirianni sprinting down the sidelines to congratulate the star edge rusher.
On the second sack, Reddick forced a turnover on downs, bringing the Eagles’ offense on the field at the Rams’ 28-yard line.
“Oh shoot, football is fun and I'm not going hide my emotions, like it's fun,” Sirianni said of his shenanigans. “I can't make plays anymore doing anything so I celebrate when our guys make big-time plays.”
Haason Reddick after his two-sack game vs. LA Rams
John McMullen/Eagles Today
All of a sudden an 0-for has turned into three sacks over the past two games for Reddick.
In Tinseltown, the land of the Academy Awards, Reddick did his best impression of Mariano Rivera, perhaps the greatest closer in history.
“Hassan made a great play. He was our closer today,” said Sirianni. “He had two big-time sacks. I told you they come in bunches and that was awesome to see.”
In typical Reddick fashion, he downplayed his impact.
“It could have been anybody [on the defensive line] so I’m just extremely blessed and humbled it was me,” Reddick told SI.com’s Eagles Today.
To that point, dominant rookie defensive tackle Jalen Carter had two sacks of his own and bowled over two blockers to help Reddick slam the door.
“We needed a big play. We needed to stop them trying to get that game out of reach and I was able to,” Carter said. “Everybody was fired up and happy about it.”
What’s not to be happy about 5-0.
“When it's time to celebrate and have fun, we're going do that and we're not going to apologize about that because we work really hard,” Sirianni said. “We're a family out there and we just love having fun together.”
