Jalen Mills Wants Others to Turn the Page on No. 27

The path is an obvious one coming off a disastrous defensive performance in which the back seven seemed particularly unprepared

PHILADELPHIA - The path is an obvious one to take coming off a disastrous defensive performance in which the back seven seemed particularly unprepared to deal with the Los Angeles' Rams' bread and butter of pre-snap motion and misdirection.

What would Malcolm Jenkins have done?

For six seasons Jenkins was the most versatile defender on Jim Schwartz's defense and a vocal leader that held everyone accountable both on the field and in the locker room.

Surely Jenkins could have stopped the bleeding and gotten everyone on the same page.

“Can we please stop doing that?” Jalen Mills pleaded when talking about his mentor and "big brother."

“This team, we have enough leaders, we have enough captains. There’s no void as far as in our leaders and our captains on this team. And guys are doing their part. We had a rough patch these last two weeks and we’re going to get them fixed.”

Earlier Tuesday, Schwartz ran a counterintuitive notion up the flagpole saying that simplifying the defense against the Rams turned out to be a grave mistake.

“A more complex game plan would have narrowed the focus of each individual player," said the defensive coordinator. "It would have made it more difficult to execute, but it would have narrowed the focus."

It seemed like each of the Eagles defenders could verbalize what was in store but couldn't translate that knowledge into actionable intelligence.

That means it's at least fair to question whether Jenkins, a three-time Pro Bowl selection and one of the smartest safeties in the game, could have at least calmed down some of the issues.

“It’s hard to replace a Malcolm, you know?” coach Doug Pederson admitted on the team's flagship radio station Monday. “I think it’s hard. His leadership the last couple of seasons is something that’s hard for someone to just step in and take that role.”

Mills moved from cornerback back to safety to help replace Jenkins but it takes a village to duplicate someone who played all seven positions on the back end at times, according to Schwartz.

At 32, however, Jenkins was expensive and slipping in coverage, something exemplified on Monday night when Las Vegas tight end Darren Waller had his way with the veteran.

In other words, it's time to turn the page and find a different way to do things, something Mills echoed.

“That’s my big brother,” Mills said. “But at the end of the day, I feel like we gotta get that out. You know what I’m saying? People gotta get that out of their heads. Everybody watched the game last night, 27 was playing for the Saints.”

John McMullen contributes Eagles coverage for SI.com's EagleMaven and is the NFL Insider for JAKIB Media. You can listen to John every Monday and Friday on SIRIUSXM and every Monday and Thursday with Eytan Shander on SportsMap Radio. He’s also the host of Extending the Play on AM1490 in South Jersey. You can reach him at jmcmullen44@gmail.com or on Twitter @JFMcMullen

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