DeSean Jackson, Andy Reid Meet Monday After Conflict in Chicago

Filed under: Eagles, NFC East

Eagles receiver DeSean Jackson wasn't speaking to the media Monday. Nor did he Sunday after being held to two catches for 26 yards in Philadelphia's 31-26 loss at Chicago. But reportedly angry coach Andy Reid, who was also unavailable Monday as the team prepares for Thursday's game with Houston after traveling the Sunday night, had a tirade in the postgame locker room about his star wideout's preparation and lack of effort.

Asked during his postgame press conference if the Bears were doing anything special to control the usually explosive Jackson, Reid said simply, "No, they weren't."

Reid and Jackson met Monday in hopes of patching things up, but with neither talking publicly, the other players are left to be the voices of reason.

"He's going to be fine," quarterback Michael Vick said. "He took the loss very hard. We'll get him going again. He just can't get frustrated. He has to understand that there are professionals on the other side of the ball, too. And we have some pretty good coaches, some damn good coaches, and we're going to make it work."

Jackson, who turns 24 on Wednesday and is slated to be a restricted free agent after the season, has just 35 catches, 678 yards and five touchdowns in 9-1/2 games after making the Pro Bowl with 62 catches, 1,156 yards and nine touchdowns in 15 games last year.

"I'll get the young guy together," Vick said. "(Defenses) are trying to take away the deep ball (by playing Cover-2 with their safeties cramping Jackson's style) and they have been doing a fairly good job of doing that. The thing we have to do is try to figure out what we can do and do it better."

Was it really just two weeks ago tonight that Jackson opened "Monday Night Football" in Washington by toasting Redskins strong safety LaRon Landry, who was foolishly left singled up on him, for an 88-yard touchdown on the first snap of what would prove to be a 59-28 Eagles romp?

"(Most defensive coordinators are) saying, 'We're going to send our safeties 40 yards deep. You're not going to run by us,' said Jeremy Maclin, Philadelphia's other star receiver. "Then, they're going to try to bring pressure. If you look at the four teams that beat us, they all kind of had the same, similar strategy. They're not going to let us run by them. We've done it too many times. Obviously, every game, you get your opportunities to do so -- so when we can, we have to capitalize on it. Today, we didn't really do that."

No they didn't, but Maclin's four catches, 47 yards and a touchdown were still twice what Jackson produced against the Bears.

 

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