Post Snap With Malcolm Jenkins: 'We're A Desperate Team'
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 interviews are archived here.
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — The Eagles are 5-5, and it's as much their doing, as it is their opponents, Malcolm Jenkins feels. He doesn't think the Seattle Seahawks are that far a superior team to the Eagles, and feels strongly the Eagles had a chance to win on Sunday.
But two interceptions, a few blown assignments and a touchdown called back due to an illegal formation penalty didn't help. Now the Eagles find themselves in desperate straits against another team in the same spot, the Green Bay Packers, who carry a 4-6 record and a four-game losing streak into Lincoln Financial Field next Monday night.
"We have to eliminate the dumb stuff, really, the penalties, and the missed assignments and make the plays that are coming to us to make a late push for playoff contention," Jenkins said. "It's definitely within reach. It's really up to us. When we don't kill ourselves, we feel we can compete with anybody. We've been our worst enemies, especially on the road.
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"We gave up plays defensively against Seattle when we blew assignments. On offense, we had turnovers and penalties, one that wiped out a touchdown, and put all of those things together and the final score, and all of a sudden it didn't look like we belonged on the same field as them. When in all actuality, a lot of that was self-inflicted. They made plays that we knew they were going to make."
What is the mentality against a talented, though desperate team like Green Bay, which will be playing for its season Monday night?
"I would say we're a desperate team as well," Jenkins said. "At this point in the season, we still have to figure out who we're going to be. I'm sure what our injuries look like, but we're going to need guys to step up and play really good football from here on out. This is a desperate game for us, too.
"We really don't care who shows up. We understand what we have to get done and what we have to accomplish for ourselves and our season. It's not about our opponent. I could care less who we're playing on Monday night. We're at the point in the season where we need to win and rattle off a series of wins in order for us to have a shot at the playoffs.
"I know we have everyone in the NFC East coming back home, but we probably have the best division in the NFL right now. We need the climb the ranks right now and it starts with us cleaning up all the mistakes that continue to kill us."
The Eagles are one of three teams in the NFL undefeated at home this season. The other two are Seattle (5-0) and Houston (5-0).
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