Eagles' Malcolm Jenkins hopes loss 'lights a fire' under team

MALCOLM JENKINS, the best safety and the only real defensive backfield leader the Eagles have had since Brian Dawkins left town, said something interesting early Monday morning, in a deserted visitors' locker room at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, N.C.

Jenkins was asked if the 27-16 loss would sting longer than usual, given that the Eagles were entering their bye week and wouldn't be able to take the field in the next week, even for practice.

"Yeah, and it should," Jenkins said. "Hopefully, it lights a fire under some people. Hopefully, guys take this opportunity, this time off, to get healthy and to really evaluate themselves. We're at the halfway point of our season (almost) and everything is in our control.

"We're sitting in a decent spot, but there's things that we've got to get better at, if we're really going to do something."

Sooo. There are guys on this 3-4 team who need a fire lit under them, Malcolm?

"I would say so," Jenkins said. "I wouldn't say it's on any individual, but you look at it throughout the game and there's always a play here, a play there, or a mental error here, and we just need guys to be able to lock in for the entire game and make the plays that they're supposed to make . . . The team needs guys to make these plays, and I'm included in that. Nobody's above that . . . Guys need to take a hard look at what they bring to the table and what they can get better at."

Jenkins could have been talking about all the drops by Eagles receivers - seven, by my count, though some had eight. He could have been talking about a defense that takes pride in defending the run but gave up 204 yards on 33 carries Sunday.

I'll admit I don't know exactly what Jenkins meant, but I found myself thinking about his words Monday as I rewatched the game, particularly Carolina fullback Mike Tolbert's second touchdown, on a 2-yard swing pass from Cam Newton.

Tolbert is running toward the sideline, catches the ball at about the 4. Jenkins is coming in low for him, but Tolbert, 5-9, 245, has an incredibly low center of gravity; he gets an arm under Jenkins' chest and basically pushes himself off on Jenkins' dive. This leaves Tolbert untouched, but on his heels and standing still, back at the 6.

Here comes Byron Maxwell, who really only needs to wrap Tolbert and drive him out of bounds; the fullback's momentum has stopped. If Maxwell can't drive him out of bounds, getting in his way would probably do the trick. Jenkins is back on his feet, behind Maxwell, and Mychal Kendricks is with Jenkins. Make contact, let your teammates come in at your back, nobody's going to run through all that.

Instead, Maxwell - the $63 million free agent - comes in absurdly high, makes no contact with Tolbert whatsoever, and offers a noodle-armed wave at the ball with both hands as he runs out of bounds.

Tolbert gets his legs moving. Jenkins and Kendricks are caught flatfooted at the 2. Where did Maxwell go? Jenkins makes the tackle but is pushed into the end zone. Touchdown.

This sequence leaves "Sunday Night Football" analyst Cris Collinsworth with a question for Maxwell, even though Maxwell can't hear Collinsworth.

"You're the best athlete out there? Can't even put a finger on him?"

This sort of stuff, maybe even more than the drops, is troubling about the Eagles at the bye. Good luck to Chip Kelly in fixing it.

**Chip Kelly left no doubt Monday that Marcus Smith was to blame for leaving his post on that 43-yard Ted Ginn Jr. end-around. Smith, the Eagles' 2014 first-round pick, was on the field for three defensive snaps, and that was one of them.

**After deferring to unavailable running backs coach Duce Staley Sunday night, when asked about the puzzling underuse of running back Ryan Mathews, (six carries, 97 yards, one carry after his 63-yard TD run), Kelly said Monday that Mathews suffered a groin pull on his earlier 22-yard run.

"If you watch him when he (pulled away from Panthers linebacker Luke) Kuechly, he said he felt it again," on the 63-yarder, Kelly said. "He didn't think he was going to make it into the end zone."

**Josh Huff played 69 of a possible 83 snaps. Was targeted five times, caught two passes, for a total of 5 yards.

**Chip Kelly said of his offensive line: "By and large, they fought," after Matt Tobin had to move to left tackle to replace Jason Peters, and Dennis Kelly filled in for Tobin at right guard. Peters, felled by back spasms, is expected to be OK by the Nov. 8 Dallas game.

**Yeah, Jonathan Stewart is a powerful back and the Carolina offensive line is pretty solid. But before Sunday, Stewart was averaging 3.8 yards per carry. Then he broke the Eagles' 18-game streak of not allowing a 100-yard rusher, with 125, on 24 carries, 5.2 yards per carry. Yes, 36 of them came on the game's second snap. Those yards still count. Don't know that I'm going to believe in a dominant Eagles' run defense again anytime soon. Lot of guys in the front seven just couldn't get off blocks Sunday night. They were missing DeMeco Ryans, and Mychal Kendricks looked rusty.

A source close to the situation said Eagles wide receiver Jordan Matthews, whose struggles with dropped passes seem to be getting worse, suffered a ligament sprain in his right hand three weeks ago, but the source said Matthews believes the hand has healed.

Asked if he had a hand injury, after the Carolina game, Matthews hesitated, then said he did not. Chip Kelly, asked Monday if Matthews' hand is hurt, said, "no," then Kelly seemed to be about to add to that, but another questioner broke in.

Matthews, the Eagles' leading receiver with 39 catches for 398 yards, caught three passes on seven targets Sunday, gaining just 14 yards.

Blog: ph.ly/Eagletarian