Post Snap With Malcolm Jenkins: Eagles Show 'Super Bowl Qualities'
Malcolm Jenkins is a Super Bowl champion and veteran NFL safety. He sits down with CBS Philly's Joe Santoliquito every week. All of Jenkins' Post Snap interview are archived at cbsphilly.com/jenkins.
PHILADELPHIA, PA (CBS) — Malcolm Jenkins has a sense something could be special here with the Eagles. The veteran safety saw that in the dire times the Eagles endured during the first half of Sunday's 34-17 comeback victory over the Jacksonville Jaguars.
No one panicked. No one yelled at any one. Leaders surfaced and calmed things down. Jenkins, Connor Barwin, DeMeco Ryans and Cary Williams all spoke up. Dependable leadership and a collective steely, no-quit resolve are qualities Jenkins can relate to when he played for the 2009-10 Super Bowl champion New Orleans in his rookie year.
Jenkins drew comparisons from that winning team to this Eagles' team that is projected to play into January.
"We didn't make any adjustments at the half, I don't think the offense made any adjustments, we just executed," Jenkins said. "Once we got stops on defense, our offense started playing a lot better. There were a lot of questions coming into this year and what they thought the identity of the team is going to be. What the defense is going to be like. We need to be in the kind of situation we were in [on Sunday].
"Not every team has the poise to go down 17 and not panic. That's a good quality to have, because no matter what the scoreboard says, everyone on the field and sidelines continues to think that we're still going to win. I think that's the biggest thing that we learned about ourselves yesterday, is that through adversity, we still have the talent to play and grind ourselves out of it. That's a good lesson to learn. Most championship teams go through those games, when you get down in a hole like that and you're supposed to lose that game. Somehow, someway, you find a way to win it. It was that way for me in New Orleans. I'm sure you watch other championship teams face those adversities, and the teams that can come out from them and learn from them are the teams tare the one that get stronger."
Jenkins has seen other teams fall apart in adverse situations. But the former Ohio State standout has great reference points from his rookie year with the Saints when they faced a few storms.
During the second game of that 2009 season, the Miami Dolphins got up 24-3 midway in the second quarter, and the Saints came back to win, 46-34. Later that season, the Saints were down, 27-17, against Washington midway into the third quarter and won that game 33-30 in overtime.
"This [Eagles] team showed me a lot that it's like that Super Bowl team," Jenkins said. "I've seen other teams and certain players get mad at the offense, and there was none of that yesterday. Each time the offense turned it over, the defense took the field with enthusiasm wanting to hold them to a field goal. It was an opportunity for us to make a big play. We knew the offense was going to kick it in. With this offense, once it rains, it pours. We believe in each other.
"The biggest thing I can take from the Super Bowl team that I was on was remembering going to Miami. We were down by over 20 points and came back and won that game. Against Washington, we were down again, and you have to face that adversity to see who you are and face it. We faced it and won. This team has the same kind of qualities as that Saints' Super Bowl team and yesterday showed it."
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