Jalen Carter had already checked out when the locker room opened shortly before midnight on Thursday night after the Eagles toppled the Commanders, 26-18, for their sixth straight win.
He wasn’t around to talk about another game he took over from his defensive tackle post, but his coach and teammates had plenty to say.
“He’s a monster,” said rookie cornerback Quinyon Mitchell.
Carter finished with a career-high seven tackles and was part of a force that collapsed the pocket from the inside on Washington quarterback Jayden Daniels. He helped turn second-and-shorts into third-and mediums leading a relentless pack of tacklers that collected eight tackles for loss as a unit. Washington had just 93 yards rushing against the league’s fifth-ranked rush defense.
Nick Sirianni said he is a “freak athlete.”
“I really think that Jalen Carter, whatever sport he would've put his mind to, he would be a big-time player in that sport,” said the head coach. “He's just such a good athlete and able to get to the football. He's violent when he gets there.
“…Everyone will talk about the fourth down stop (from Zack Baun), but there were a couple plays he made behind the line of scrimmage that put that put them there.”
There’s no doubt Carter was blessed with traits that make him unique, but he hasn’t rested on them. He has chosen to hone and refine them, and that is something veteran teammate Brandon Graham has seen.
“Not only does he got the talent, but he’s got the work ethic,” said Graham. “Sometimes you see guys that don’t have that. They got the talent, but they trust their talent more than they trust they work sometimes.
“When you see somebody like me in Year 15, they come out and they practice hard and it shows up in a game. I think guys like Jalen believe in that. You can see it translating on the field.”
Perhaps the best view in the house of Carter’s performances this season and on Thursday were linebackers Nakobe Dean and Baun.
“You can see him explode and not a lot of guys want to block him one-on-one,” said Dean. “They (Commanders) did a good job (this season) with the gap-scheme run game and cracking guys back to try to get them out of there, but he was big in stopping a lot of that.”
Baun, whose 14 tackles give him 93 in 10 games, credits Carter and others on that defensive front for freeing up Dean and him to make the tackles.
“I heard about Jalen Carter before I got here, but it’s different to see in person and then to play behind him is unreal,” said Baun. “He doesn’t always pop out on the stat sheet, but he’s always making plays, knocking the O-line back just so we can make plays.”
On Thursday night, he popped on the stat sheet.
“We’ve always known kind of what player he can be and can become,” said right tackle Lane Johnson. “Every time I talk to him I just say, ‘Hey man, keep up your intensity and when people see Jalen Carter playing hard every snap, that’s gonna elevate their play.’ That’s the kind of player he is. He is amazing. He can be the most dominant player in the league whenever he wants to be.”
