Adrian Fedkiw
Despite losing to the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday, Philadelphia Eagles safety Malcolm Jenkins was actually more impressed with how the defense performed in a loss than their season-opening win against the Washington Redskins.
Oh, and he also thinks the Eagles are the team to beat in the NFC East.
Jenkins has a weekly interview with Joe Santoliquito of CBSPhilly.com and discussed what he saw out of the defense on Sunday.
“We played a really good game for three-and-a-half quarters. Obviously, we let some mistakes catch up to us in the end there, but I thought we played well. I don’t think we have a tackling problem. From a defensive standpoint, it’s something we might be able to work on individually. The communication was far better (against Kansas City) than it was the first week. For the most part, we had two passes that got away. The one from (Travis) Kelce involving in the beginning of the game and the one against Jalen (Mills) later in the game (Chris Conley’s 35-yard reception in the fourth quarter).”
And what about being the team to beat in the division?
“We’re home this week and we have the home opener, we have plenty of motivation this week with the New York Giants coming to our place. If you ask me, I would say that we’re the team to beat (in the NFC East). We obviously we have to prove that. I have confidence in these guys.”
I have a lot of confidence in the Eagles, too. The defensive line is constantly harassing the quarterback in the backfield and the cornerbacks, which were considered a huge weakness coming into the season, have played well. And that’s even with Ronald Darby currently sidelined. Jalen Mills is coming into his own in his second year and Rasul Douglas showed promising signs Sunday, as well.
The offense still has a way to go with the running game, but the defense is going to keep the team in games all season long. The Eagles, Cowboys and Redskins are all currently 1-1, with the Giants at 0-2.
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