Jalen Carter's Delayed Season Opener Will Come With Increased Scrutiny

PHILADELPHIA – By all accounts, it’s been a good week for Eagles defensive tackle Jalen Carter, aside, of course, from the $57,000-plus fine the NFL levied after he spat on Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott right after the opening kickoff.

We only have the word of Nick Sirianni to go on about the defensive tackle's preparation as he gears up to make his season debut, albeit one week later than it should have been after taking Prescott’s bait and allowing himself to be reeled in, hook, line, and sinker.

So, this is what Sirianni said on Friday when asked about Carter as the Eagles put the finishing touches on their game-planning for the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday at 4:25 p.m.

“Just hard work and going through the meetings and walkthroughs and practice with the intent of just going and playing his best game,” said the coach. “We always talk about (how) practice is a good indicator of what the game will be like, and he's had a good week. We've talked a lot about embracing adversity this week and being able to be focused on the task at hand. That's what I've seen, and I'm excited that he will be out there playing with us.”

Lesson Learned For Jalen Carter?

That’s about all we can go on at this point because Carter was nowhere to be seen in the locker room this week to discuss his fine and more, though one of his best friends on the team, Jordan Davis, was asked if he talked to him.

“He knows,” said Davis. “It’s more an understanding that he comes away with. He’s like, ‘I made a dumb decision, it won’t happen again.’ We believe that, we hold that. I know everybody on the D-line, we don’t look at it like it was a problem or anything. It was just unfortunate the way it happened.

“He came to us, he apologized. You don’t really need an apology on the D-line, we know what’s going on, and we’re gonna pick up the slack for him. At the end of the day, I’m sure he felt like crap. Anybody would feel like crap when you leave the team out like that. At the end of the day, he’s gonna make up for it, I know he will.”

Carter is a fine interview in in small-group settings with reporters but isn’t fond of talking in front of large groups or TV cameras. And that’s OK, but there will be more scrutiny after last week’s embarrassing incident.

That scrutiny won’t only come from media, but opposing fans such as he hostile crowd that will wedge its way into GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium for the Chiefs’ home opener. It will come from game officials and opposing players, too, maybe thinking that they, like Prescott, can goad Carter into doing something stupid again.

Carter has to turn the other cheek. He promised that it wouldn’t happen again when he spoke after the game against the Cowboys, but we’ll see if he is capable.

“I’ve already expressed my comments on it to you guys,” said quarterback Jalen Hurts. “I already had that conversation with him. We’ve turned the page on that, and we’re all looking forward to the opportunity we have this week.”

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