Eagles’ Malcolm Jenkins, Jim Schwartz condone halftime boos

The Philadelphia Eagles were booed off the field at halftime last week, but Malcolm Jenkins and Jim Schwartz approved.

NFL Week One — also known as the week of slow starts around the league. Not every team was as rusty as others, but there were quite a few teams who came out looking sluggish right off the bat. The Philadelphia Eagles just so happened to be one of those teams.

Considering their starters hardly garnered any snaps in preseason, a slow start was expected. However, when the actual game is being played, nobody wants to hear that excuse. Not the fans, not the coaches, and especially not the players.

When the Eagles played opened the season up at home in front of the Washington Redskins this past Sunday, they hardly seemed prepared. The offense was barley on the field while the defense was getting zero pressure on the quarterback and allowing receivers to run open and free.

By the time halftime rolled around, Philly was trailing against what was assumed to be a much weaker team with a score of 20-7. And in typical Philadelphia fashion, boos rang within Lincoln Financial Field as the Eagles jogged back to the tunnel for their halftime pep talk.

Whatever was said in the locker room surely helped out though. But the boos might’ve added some extra motivation as well. In previous years, specific players (Lane Johnson) have complained about the loud fans who are showing their disproval when the Eagles are playing lousy.

While the fans claim they do it to let players know they were stinking up the joint, so they are motivated moving forward, some players don’t seem to take it that way. However, Eagles safety Malcolm Jenkins understands and actually agrees with it. And Jim Schwartz concurs as well.

How did the Eagles defense feel?

Malcolm Jenkins has been the fearless leader of the Eagles defense for years now. He’s been praised in Philadelphia — and he’s been booed in Philadelphia. Therefore, Sunday was not his first go-round with the boo-birds within The Linc.

“I grew up an hour away from Philly,” Jenkins said following the game on Sunday. “The type of things that I’ve heard, I am accustomed to. They’re not booing for no reason. Most times, we’re playing really, really bad.”

Really really bad is correct. The Eagles were getting dominated in yards, time of possession and points during the first half. And to concur with Jenkins statement, Jim Schwartz put himself in the shoes of the fans for a moment. “I would have booed, too,” the Eagles defensive coordinator stated on Tuesday during his weekly press conference with the media.

The hope is that Eagles fans don’t have to boo anymore from here on out. Now that the Eagles shook off the rust in the first half, many are expecting them to get back to their fast starts so they can dominate for all four quarters, rather than making second-half comebacks.