10. Malcolm Jenkins puts the Philadelphia Eagles in a position to win.
It’s hard to find anything to enjoy about the Eagles’ Week 3 loss to the Detroit Lions. It’s also still hard to believe Philly came out on the losing end. As a matter of fact, if we could go back in time armed with the knowledge of how this one would turn out, it would still be hard to call Vegas and bet on the Lions to win.
That’s how disappointing this loss was.
The Eagles had their chances to win, but somewhere between Jamal Agnew’s kick return that went 100 yards to “the house”, Nelson Agholor’s fumble that occurred without making contact with anyone, and Marvin Jones’ six receptions for 101 yards, the evidence that this would be Detroit’ day was evident throughout.
There was a moment, however, where it felt like Philly might pull a fast one on all of us. Malcolm Jenkins, who again played every defensive snap of the season, did what Malcolm Jenkins does. This time he delivered on special teams.
With 1:51 remaining, Detroit lined up for a field goal that would put them up by six points. Jenkins anticipated the snap count, found a crease, and blocked the attempt. He’d also commit a penalty for blocking someone in the back, which pushed his team back to midfield, but the Eagles were in business.
Unfortunately, this one ended with a loss, but even though Philly’s chances of a win died as a near-perfect 4th-and-15 pass attempt from Carson Wentz went through JJ Arcega-Whiteside’s arms, one of Jenkins’ final highlights as an Eagle further cemented his legacy and encompassed everything that we know about him.
He was often needed to do more than he should have had to do, but he gave us his all. Every play was an opportunity to see something special, even if his efforts were. at times, taken for granted. Hold up. Why are we talking about losses in a story about the best moments? Let’s move on, and here’s a spoiler. There will be no more memories from games that resulted in a loss.