Reid/Jackson clear the air; Samuel limited
The Philadelphia Inquirer Blog - Eagles
Reid/Jackson clear the air; Samuel limited
Jeff McLane, Inquirer Staff Writer
Andy Reid and DeSean Jackson met Monday afternoon to clear the air after the Eagles head coach scolded the wide receiver following a bitter 31-26 loss to the Bears on Sunday, team sources said.
Jackson declined to answer questions Monday after practice. He simply shook his head when a reporter asked for an interview and walked out of the Eagles locker room at the NovaCare Complex with a team official.
After his radio show on WIP (610-AM) at Chickie and Pete's, Reid was asked about meeting with Jackson on Monday.
"What goes on in the locker room, stays in the locker room," Reid said.
During the show Reid was asked about the original altercation with the mecurial receiver.
“If I have a problem with any players, we talk about it," Reid said. "I’m not agreeing with you at all here. If anything happens, I address it as a football team."
The Eagles held a relatively light practice on Monday. Cornerback Asante Samuel, who missed Sunday's game with a knee strain, did return but was limited. He and Joselio Hanson split roughly 50 percent of the first-team repetitions, according to Hanson. Samuel was non-committal about a return by Thursday's game against the Texans.
"We'll see," Samuel said. "I'm working every day to see how it goes."
Reid said the team would get a better indication of how far away Samuel is from returning after a night's rest.
Defensive end Juqua Parker (hip) and receiver Riley Cooper (knee) did not practice. Reid said that if Cooper can't play Thursday, Chad Hall would dress.
The Reid-Jackson feud dominated the day-after discussion of the Eagles, though.
Reid called out Jackson not for his two-catches-for-26-yards performance, but for the divaesque receiver's behavior before, during and after the game, according to multiple team sources. The coach thought that Jackson was "goofing off" and wasn't "mentally prepared" before the game, one Eagles starter said.
When an angry Reid admonished his team, with what one veteran said was the worst tirade he had seen out of the coach, Jackson became the target. Reid didn't think the receiver was paying proper attention and the two had a brief exchange, according to multiple Eagles sources.
When the locker room opened after Reid's red-faced post-game press conference, Jackson was seated in front of his locker in only shorts with his head buried in his hand. He sat that way for several moments and then put headphones on. Various Eagles players approached Jackson to talk. He then had animated conversations with quarterback Michael Vick, receiver Jeremy Maclin and running back LeSean McCoy.
Jackson declined an interview request and eventually went to take a shower before access to the Eagles locker room was closed off.
Reid and Jackson came to an accord, according to the sources, and returned to their preparation for Thursday's game against the Texans. The original exchange between the two was the product of Reid's general unhappiness from the Eagles' performance against Chicago and Jackson's own disappointment with his outing, a member of the Eagles coaching staff said.
Hooray for Reid if he came down on a star on the team instead of some scrub. If he would have ever done that with BOZO the CLOWN the ending might have been much better for everyone!— jwatson- I'm surprised that the coaching staff didn't utilize the hurry-up to energize the team sooner than wait til the last drive. The Eagles drove the ball easily because the Bears couldn't get certain situational players into the game. Maybe the coaching staff could look at this as a strategy against teams from sending in situational fresh players. I also noticed when Jackson can't go deep, he sometimes give up on the play, only Avant and Jermey will come back to the ball, to help out Vick.— gditty
- Is it true that Jackson was texting on his cell phone during pre game warm ups? If true, I cannot believe that AR has not banned their use once a player gets into the locker room to get ready for the game. The reason Jackson was not drafted until late in the second round was because of attitude problems just like this.— PortCity
- My Man, Have some heart, we aren't talking football now, we are talking LIFE!!!! Get a grip!!!!— PHIILY
It's time the head coach got on these guys for poor performaces! Dropped passes! Missed blocks! Missed assignments! Poor Tackling! and Failures by the assistant coaches! Two words to Desean Jackson...GROW UP! This is life young fella.— citysims- I'm glad Reid is getting on Jackson. Jackson was a no-show during our losses to the Cowboys last season as well. Don't get me wrong, I love having Jackson on this team. But games like yesterday demonstrate just how important the kid is - he, like Vick, is capable of changing the course of a game with one play. But Jackson pulled up short on one touchdown throw and was MIA for most of the rest of the game. The kid needs to recognize his importance.
The other issue I have is with Reid's use of Jerome Harrison. Harrison NEEDS to get more touches. Simple as that. The guys got great potential but he needs to be utilized more.
Finally, while our offense was mediocre, it really was our D that folded early. Given, Cutler was having one of those games where you just can't do any wrong, but our D could have set the tone early on and we didn't The Bears outcoached us yesterday and it showed because they were picking up our blitzes and hurting us with the short passes that turned into huge gains. Their offensive scheme reminded me of the Giants offense under Fossel. They snuffed out almost all of our plays - and when we did get free and get Cutler on the move, our linemen kept missing him, running by him, etc. They made Cutler look like Vick. That was inexcusable.— Carcharios - Playoffs!!?? You kiddin' me? Playoffs...— Scott B
- Jackson is a darn good receiver, but we can do without the antics and cocky attitude..... Just sayin'.....— madaboutit
- Too many lovers here...someone has got to call DJ out for the "alligator" arms - and the missed catches.
He had a bad game - he's gotta man up, learn from it - move on.— golpher300 - that punk can't wait to talk to the media when things are going well and he has a good game. all of a sudden little deseany has a bad game and won't talk?! not only the alligator arms but the fall down on the punt was downright embarrassing for a punk who was acting all tough just a few short weeks ago. talk about a diva. he can't even show up to the comcast studio like every other player for an interview. gotta do it via Skype. PUNK.— spittooncj
- Is it me or does someone else see the value in keeping Stewart Bradley. All I see is missed tackles, slow in speed to cover or tackle, and taking bad angles for following ball carriers. He is just plain awful week after week.— gteagle
Comment removed.- stop freaking out. they lost, emotions ran high, desean was ineffective--everything will be ok after we whoop the texans thursday...everyone chill.
- It's one game, people.— andrewfrombrooklyn
- and fortunateson wins the 1st grade spelling bee...loser!!— Facts before ignorance
