Eagles defensive back Cooper DeJean’s most impressive play in college didn’t count in the boxscore, but it counted on Howie Roseman’s film. And in Sunday’s 24-19 win over the Ravens, DeJean made a tackle that counted coup for the Philadelphia Eagles.
“I’m going to give you some numbers. These are the numbers I care about: 247 and 198. Those are the respective weights of Derrick Henry and Cooper DeJean,” said Kyle Brandt on Monday’s edition of Good Morning Football. “The Saquon backward hurdle might be less important than this play for Philadelphia fans.”
With seven minutes left in the game and the Ravens’ top-ranked offense threatening to chip away at Philadelphia’s 21-12 lead, DeJean diagnosed the screen, met Henry one-on-one in the flat and launched him a full 3 yards in reverse. One play galvanized one of the league’s most passionate fanbases. Crossing Broad summarized the significance of the play, Brandt said, calling it the image of the season.
“Cooper DeJean makes a tackle that should be on a poster in every locker room,” Brandt said. “Every single high-school coach salivates at this. His shoulder’s on the hip, he grabs cloth, he drives his hips, he plows forward. He gives up 50 pounds to Derrick Henry.”
Roseman wasn’t surprised. On Day 2 of the draft in April, with Quinyon Mitchell highlights rolling in the background of Philadelphia’s draft room, Roseman engineered a trade with Washington’s Adam Peters to move up and take DeJean. Peters told Roseman he was a pain.
His pain was the Eagles’ gain, Philadelphia (10-2) is on an eight-game winning streak with the league’s No. 1 defense entering Sunday’s home game against Carolina (3-9). The team has a legitimate MVP front-runner in Saquon Barkley and NFC destiny to fulfill – a date with the Lions in the conference championship game. Seemingly, the only question at this point is the location of that game.
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