EAGLES NOTEBOOK: Jalen Hurts Talks COVID

Plus, Anthony Harris speaks of his role during Roney McLeod's game-winning pick, the battle to be the team's top tackler, and more
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Here’s a spin in the Eagles virtual world on Tuesday…

COVID came up a bit in Zoom interviews with some players after a dozen were placed on the virus list a day earlier.

“I definitely try to do anything and everything that I can to stay free of it,” said QB Jalen Hurts. “Obviously, it’s kind of hard to overcome considering how fast it’s spreading and different things going on with it. I know different people have different situations.

“Me personally, I can only encourage others and those around me to try to control the things I can control with my safety and my health. So, I definitely take precautions. I try to. If I ever catch it, I’ll know that I caught it trying to do the right things with the right intentions and taking the right precautions.”

BIG-PLAY HELPER

Rodney McLeod made the interception to seal the Washington win, but it was his former teammate at the University of Virginia, Anthony Harris, who made the play happen by undercutting the route being run by WFT tight end John Bates.

Naturally, Washington coach Ron Rivera thought there should have been a holding call or a tripping penalty.

“Well, I thought the guy undercut him a little too early for it to be a fair tripping call, but that’s my opinion because I wanted the flag, obviously,” said Rivera on Sunday.

Harris was asked about it two days later.

“It didn’t really even cross my mind, honestly,” said the safety, who leads all defensive backs with 72 tackles this season. “For me, it was just reading the route, committing to undercutting the route, looking to make a play. I had the confidence and felt I was in great position where if he placed the ball wherever it’s catchable for the receiver, I’d have the opportunity to either break it up or intercept it.

“Seeing the ball sail high, I didn’t think anything I did or the positioning I had affected his ability to catch the ball. Obviously, if you’re on the other side you hope that you can have a play that might extend it, but that’s all I have to really say about that.”

Anthony Harris on Jan. 4, 2022
Anthony Harris on Jan. 4, 2022

TACKLING COMPETITION

Alex Singleton leads the team with 130 tackles. T.J. Edwards is right behind him with 124. Both are career-highs.

Edwards has made 101 tackles since Week 7 when he began playing full-time.

Singleton led the team in tackles last year with 120.

Edwards was asked if the two linebackers talk about the competition to be No. 1.

“Me and Alex keep it pretty light,” he said. “We’re always joking about it, but the biggest thing we care about is how the defense is playing and how the team is playing. We just want to do our job to help the team win. I notice that every time I’m making a tackle, Alex is right there, too.

“I think just being in the middle of the defense, we want to do a good job of getting to the ball on every snap, and in turn that helps everyone else out and lets them do their job a little easier. We just want to do our job to the best of our ability. He’s been joking with me about that since the start of the year, so I’m sure that’ll keep going.”

IDENTITY

Round One was a mismatch. It was all Cowboys after they took a 27-7 lead on the first play of the third quarter when Trevon Diggs intercepted a Jalen Hurts pass and went 59 yards for a touchdown.

That was an eternity ago. More than three months ago to be more precise.

What’s different about the Eagles' defense now from that 41-21 loss on Sept. 27?

“I just think we really grew as a defense from earlier in the season,” said DT Javon Hargrave. “I think we really didn’t know what our identity was on defense and we were still trying to learn some of the plays, and being able to play different techniques. I think this time around, as the season progressed, we’ve been working at getting better at what we do.”

And what is that identity?

“Man, we’ve got a little bit of everything,” he said. “One thing, we pride ourselves on getting to the ball, and having everybody, all 11 players, wrapping up and trying to make a tackle on the ball.”

THEY WANNA PLAY

Each player who sat in front of a camera on Tuesday said they are football players and want to play on Saturday night, even though the game has relatively little meaning.

“Every game is important,” said LT Jordan Mailata. “Especially those Dallas games. We have to take every week like we're playing for the Super Bowl. And so, our preparation isn't changing, our process isn't changing. 

"Sure as hell, my process isn't changing. I'm preparing like every week, like every other week that I've been doing, so for us, it doesn't matter that we've clinched a playoff berth we're going to go out there and play our best football."

Ed Kracz is the publisher of SI.com’s Eagle Maven and co-host of the Eagles Unfiltered Podcast. Check out the latest Eagles news at www.SI.com/NFL/Eagles or www.eaglemaven.com and please follow him on Twitter: @kracze.


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Ed Kracz
ED KRACZ

Ed Kracz has been covering the Eagles full-time for over a decade and has written about Philadelphia sports since 1996. He wrote about the Phillies in the 2008 and 2009 World Series, the Flyers in their 2010 Stanely Cup playoff run to the finals, and was in Minnesota when the Eagles secured their first-ever Super Bowl win in 2017. Ed has received multiple writing awards as a sports journalist, including several top-five finishes in the Associated Press Sports Editors awards.