Eagles' Jordan Davis Honest About Late-Season Struggles: 'I Fell Off!'

Philadelphia Eagles defensive tackle Jordan Davis said his body was beaten up at the end of the season, but has ideas on how to better heading into Year 3

PHILADELPHIA – It would have been easy to place a bottle in the middle of the Philadelphia Eagles' locker room, spin it, and watch it land on someone who was to blame for the team’s late-season meltdown.

It landed on Jordan Davis, though, and the second-year defensive tackle was charged by many with being out of shape and wearing down late in the season, which led to a lack of hustle in some eyes.

For some reason, he was an easy target, even though he wasn’t any worse than anyone else on a defense that saw cornerback James Bradberry get benched in the playoff loss against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Davis is big enough to take it, though some would say too big.

Jordan Davis :: John McMullen/SI Eagles Today

“My body is beat, I can tell you that for sure,” he said two days after the season ended. “It’s a long season, a long grind, but at the end of the day, I know what it takes and have to do even more.

“I just have to look in the mirror. I’m a man and I can admit when I’m falling off. I fell off in the half end of the year. I can admit that, but at the end of the day, we’re human. We have the ability to change that, the ability to work and get to different platforms we haven’t reached yet. I think we’ll be able to do that. It takes a lot of faith, a lot of hard work.”

As first-round picks in each of the last two Eagles’ draft classes, Davis and Jalen Carter will be mainstays on whatever the Eagles defensive line looks like next year and under Vic Fangio, who, while not yet confirmed by the Eagles publicly, will be the team’s next defensive coordinator.

Davis finished with 2.5 sacks, but he didn’t have any after Week 7’s win over the Miami Dolphins. He did most of his damage as a run-stopper. That needs to improve if he wants to be a three-down player, as well as his conditioning.

“I made it through the season healthy, somewhat healthy, and I think the big thing is being dependable, being reliable, and being consistent,” he said. “That’s the biggest three things that take good players to great. That’s one thing I have to work on is claiming consistency.”

Davis dug a bit deeper into what he wanted to improve upon, and it had to do with rhythm. 

He cited the consistent get-off-the-ball explosion from players such as teammates Josh Sweat, Fletcher Cox, and Brandon Graham. Even Aaron Donald, who Davis said might miss with his hands, but destroys blocks with a get-off that never changes.

“It’s like they’re moving on a rhythm on the beat,” said Davis. “I think that’s something I have to translate to my game. Everybody’s different. Everybody’s body type is different. Everybody’s get-off is different. At the end of the day, it’s just always the same.

“I have to add that to my game. I have to analyze it a lot. I think the biggest thing is (to) analyze it, and it’ll get done. I mean, shoot, I did what I said I was going to do last year, this year, and I have to build on that and get better.”

Davis said he doesn’t want to go through another year like the Eagles went through this year, losing six of their last seven games with several coaches getting pink slips.

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“I haven’t lost like this in this fashion this many times since I played football,” he said. “High school been winning, little league been winning, so this is a very real year for me, very new, very raw, but I’m grateful for this experience.

“I know how it feels and I don’t like that feeling. Going into Year 3, I have to make my vision board, have to make my goals, definitely a lot of prayer if you’re a person of faith, but at the end of the day, there’s a lot of things we have to take into consideration looking forward.”