Eagles Notes: DeSean surpasses 1,000 receiving yards

DeSean Jackson celebrated his 27th birthday on Sunday by recording his first 1,000-yard receiving season since 2010 in the Eagles' 24-21 win over the Arizona Cardinals. Jackson, who needed 15 yards to reach the mark, topped it with a 25-yard catch in the second quarter.

He finished with three catches for 36 yards, bringing his season total to 61 catches for 1,021 yards. Jackson remains 389 yards shy of setting the Eagles' single-season record set by Mike Quick in 1983. He joined Quick and Harold Carmichael as the only receivers in franchise history with three 1,000-yard seasons.

"He's been fantastic all year long and has worked extremely hard in everything we've asked him to do from [team activities] to the offseason and every day in practice," coach Chip Kelly said. "And what we're seeing on the field is the time he's invested in himself, and I'm real happy for him."

Jackson had a 54-yard punt return for a touchdown in the fourth quarter, but it was called back because of a holding penalty. That would have been Jackson's first return touchdown since 2010.

After the game, there was confusion about which player was charged with the penalty. The officials did not announce a number. Kelly did not see the penalty because he was watching the return. He was told it was Roc Carmichael, although that did not make sense to him, he said. The television replay showed it might have been Kurt Coleman, but even the players on the field did not get an explanation.

"I saw the flag at the end," Kelly said. "I'll wait until we can look at the film to see exactly what happened. But I don't know. I didn't get a number, either."

Punter Donnie Jones continued a standout season by setting an Eagles record: landing seven punts inside the 20-yard line. It was the third-highest total in the NFL since 1976, when the league started keeping that stat.

Jones, who was named NFC special teams player of the week two weeks ago, has 29 punts this season inside the 20. The team record is 31, set by Jeff Feagles in 1993.

"We've had a lot more situational punting this year, really meaningful plays at the end of games," Jones said. "I feel I've been really solid. It's putting in the work in the week and coming out executing as a unit. I couldn't do my job if [Jon Dorenbos] wasn't a great snapper. I couldn't do my job if these guys didn't protect and go down and cover."

Wide receiver Jeff Maehl left Sunday's game with a head injury, and linebacker Najee Goode left with a hamstring injury. Kelly will likely have more on their status for practice this week when he meets with reporters on Monday.

Safety Earl Wolff (knee) was the only player to miss the game because of injury. Other inactive Eagles were quarterback Matt Barkley, cornerback Curtis Marsh, running back Matthew Tucker, linebacker Emmanuel Acho, and tackles Matt Tobin and Dennis Kelly.

Quarterback Michael Vick was active for the first time since Oct. 27, but he did not enter the game. Linebacker Jake Knott played for the first time since Oct. 20.