Jaiquawn Jarrett: 'I need to improve'

BETHLEHEM, Pa. -- You don't have to be an NFL coach or watch the "All-22" game film to know that Jaiquawn Jarrett struggled in Thursday night's preseason game against the Steelers.

The second-year safety whiffed on two open-field tackles -- one time knocking down his own player -- and made the wrong read on a touchdown pass in just two series of play.

"I need to improve," Jarrett said Saturday. "I need to do a better job of bringing my feet on tackles and executing."

Jarrett first missed tackle occurred when Emmanuel Sanders caught a pass near the sideline. The wide receiver already had the first down, but Jarrett left his feet and tried to drive Sanders out of bounds and barely hit him. Sanders gained an additional five yards or so.

A series later, Pittsburgh running back Jonathan Dwyer bust through a hole up the middle. Jarrett ran up from centerfield, launched himself at Dwyer, but missed and bowled over teammate Vinny Curry instead.

"I took a bad angle. No excuses," Jarrett said. "I need to get the man, get the ball-carrier."

Later that drive, the Steelers faced a third and goal at the 2-yard line. Jarrett was lined up opposite tight end Weslye Saunders and cornerback Nnamdi Asomugha was on Sanders. The Eagles defense, checked out of their alignment and Jarrett reacted too late to his man. Sanders ran an inside slant and was wide open for the score.

"I was supposed to be in the window of the slant," Jarrett said. "No confusion. I should have been right there."

Jarrett, drafted in the second round out of Temple in 2011, appeared to making some progress at training camp. He finally brought the hits the Eagles said he would bring when they drafted him. But he was still making mistakes and taking bad angles on tackle attempts.

"It's always frustrating to not play well," Jarrett said. "But I'm going to bounce back. Looking at the game film and correcting my mistakes and not letting it happen again."

Jarrett started Thursday in place of Nate Allen, who was injured. Allen said today that he will practice this afternoon. As for Jarrett, he's running out of time. The Eagles typically keep four safeties, but they won't keep one that can't effectively play safety or contribute on special teams.

"We all saw it," Andy Reid said. "He can work on his angles and he can work on his tackling. Those are things that he did very well in college. I think it's just a matter of more snaps. The more you play, you know the problem, go ahead and fix it. I think he'll do that."