Haason Reddick Heating Up, Knows Sacks Come in Bunches

The edge rusher notched 1.5 sacks, forcing a fumble from Washington's Carson Wentz, in 24-8 win

LANDOVER, Md. – The closet-sized visitor’s locker room in the bowels of FedEx Field was mostly empty.

Equipment bags had been loaded onto the bus back to Philly, though quarterback Jalen Hurts still had not taken the podium to talk about yet another terrific performance in a 24-8 win over the Washington Commanders. 

So, a pack of reporters waited to hear from Haason Reddick, who had his best day as an Eagle and was slowly dressing.

He finally turned around. He was wearing a dark pair of sunglasses and a baseball cap with ‘Sox’ printed on it.

He was asked if he was a White Sox fan after about 10 minutes' worth of questions and answers.

“I just like that hat,” he said. “I’m a Phillies fan.”

Reddick is a Philadelphian through and through, raised in Camden and schooled at Temple, but even he was impressed at the fans who made the trip south on I-95 to overtake Washington’s home field.

“It was loud,” he said. “This felt like a home game. Eagles fans came out. They came out, they were loud, they did their thing, they brought that energy. They brought the juice last week. I told them to keep coming out. Keep doing it. We need you all. Keep bringing that energy, keep bringing that juice.”

Haason Reddick forces a fumble on one of his sacks against Caron Wentz and the Commanders in the Week 3 win / USA Today

As he spoke, head coach Nick Sirianni walked by and bellowed, “Told you he was close to blowing up. Temple!”

Yeah, the coach told reporters on Friday that Reddick was close to having the game he did against the Commanders, a game in which Reddick had 1.5 sacks, his first with his new team.

He forced a fumble from Carson Wentz with one of those sacks, made two QB hits, and had four tackles.

Sirriani didn’t tell Reddick that.

He knows the expectations of him, and he lived up to them in the win, helping spur a defensive charge that had nine sacks and held the Commanders without an offensive point until 1:55 remained in the game. By then, it was over, and a 3-0 record for the Eagles was secured.

“I feel I’ve been progressing each week,” he said. “(Sunday) I felt like today was one of my better rush days. Last week was good, too, even though I didn’t get a sack. Now, I’m just going to keep building from here.

“I felt like everybody was close. Even myself. I just felt like there have been times, it’s been close…close…you know, close, and sometimes it’s like that, but (Sunday) I was able to get one. Now that it’s here like I said, they’re just going to keep piling up. They’ll come in bunches.”

Reddick talked about sacks coming in bunches. He had 23.5 of them combined the past two years, putting him in the top five in the league in those two years. He knows how it goes with them.

When he first was moved from inside linebacker to edge rusher in Arizona, he got frustrated when he couldn’t get sacks. He leaned on veteran Chandler Jones.

“Chan was like, ‘Hey, keep your mental strong, keep working, keep working your thing,’” he said. “Next thing I know I had five sacks against the Giants. That’s why I always say sacks come in bunches. I do my best when I don’t have a sack not to get down on myself, just continue to come out and work.

“I could have a great game and not have a sack. People don’t understand that. I can have a great game and not have a sack, but the numbers do matter.”

He compared it to cornerbacks, saying that pass breakups are good, but interceptions are better.

The Eagles had just two sacks in the win over the Vikings, but the pressure on Kirk Cousins was withering and Cousins ultimately threw three second-half picks

“As a pass rusher, you always want to get the sack,” said Reddick. “We want to affect the quarterback any way, so getting a pressure is always great, but it’s just so much more rewarding when you get the sack. As pass rushers, we definitely always want the sack.

“If we get a pressure and we can affect the quarterback, that’s the next best thing, but we always want to get the sack.”

Mission accomplished against Washington.

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