DeSean Jackson: I use all the negative things as an edge

It’s been a long time since I’ve seen DeSean Jackson wearing one of those big smiles, which he used to have on his face all the time. We’re getting the “Hardcore version of DeSean Jackson” nowadays and smiling isn’t a part of his act.

“Actually, I’m playing with an extra edge out there,” he said. “It goes back, kind of like my rookie year, when everybody said I was too small, just all of the negative things. I just use everything I can as an edge.”

Yesterday wasn’t the best game that DeSean Jackson has ever played, but a 102-yard day and a touchdown catch was enough of a contribution to put the Eagles over the top. There’s no question that Jackson has the fact that he still doesn’t have a contract on his mind, but he did his job despite that.

Defensive coordinators can draw up coverages all night long, but stopping Jackson from getting deep will require much more than that. Somebody has to be in his face to prevent him from coming off the line like a blur.

“The only thing I can really do is control what I’m able to do – just go out there and play football and make as many plays as possible,” he said. “It’s challenging at times, especially when you see a lot of things going out there on the market and stuff. I just try to stay patient and I know my time will be coming soon. The atmosphere, the relationship with the Eagles, I feel has been real, real good lately. I’ll just keep doing what I need to do, work hard, keep my mouth sh…”

So far quarterback Michael Vick has been able to keep Jackson focused on football despite his contract situation. That line about the “only thing I can really do is control what I do on the football field” is what Vick has been telling Jackson for a while, and it’s been working. I just wonder how long it’s going to work as long as he doesn’t have a new contract.

When I saw Vick throw that the ball to Jackson in double coverage on his 41-yard catch, I said, “No, No, No”, then I said, “Yes, Yes, Yes”. The little guy got his helmet knocked off during the play as he came back and made the catch. He got up with that serious look on his face and motioned first down. It was the first play time in the game that the Eagles hooked up through the air.

Jackson made a couple of big plays on 3rd down by getting open on short routes for Vick.

The touchdown catch was nothing but Jackson outrunning Quintin Mikell across the field and Vick putting the ball out there for him. Mikell knows how fast Jackson is, so he knew he was beaten immediately when Jackson took off.

“Honestly, it was a great throw,” Jackson said because Vick was rolling to his left and he threw the ball across his body. “I looked up and it was a couple of yards in front of me, so I had to kind of turn on my speed a little bit to get to that ball. Any time he’s able to put balls like that out in front of us, we’re just able to go out there and make plays and do what we do.”

You’ve got to give Andy Reid and Marty Mornhinweg credit for the touchdown connection because it was beautiful design to the play. They jumped into a formation which got Mikell manned up on Jackson, then they cleared out the left side of the field.

Jackson was being very honest after the game, when admitted to letting a potential 87-yard touchdown pass slide through his fingers.

“I definitely do feel like I could have had that ball up the sidelines,” he said. “It kind of got on me very quick. I wasn’t able to really get my hands turned around. It was a very frustrating play. I’ll go back and look at film and just try to stay away from many plays like that.

If he had pulled that one in, he might have had a 200-yard receiving day.