Eagles player Jalen Carter not satisfied after convincing performance

NEW ORLEANS – Jalen Carter gave a blunt assessment of his play through the first two weeks of the season on Friday.

“To be honest with myself… bullshit,” Carter said.

But then Sunday came.

Carter dominated the Saints in the Eagles' 15-12 victory. He anchored a defense that shut down the NFL's best offense and filled the stat sheet in the process. Carter didn't have a sack, but he did have 4 tackles, 2 tackles for loss, 1 QB hit and 2 passes defended. He was a game-wrecker.

He looked like the star the Eagles needed in him.

So how would Carter assess his dominant performance against the Saints?

“Garbage,” he said.

Really? Really!?

“I'm still not happy with my game,” Carter explained. “But I know we played well as a team today. That's one thing. I'm happy about that. I think we just got a boost in the locker room and we just need to keep going and get another win next week.”

If you ask anyone who watched Sunday's win, they'll probably tell you how good Carter was against the Saints. He played like the guy the Eagles drafted No. 9. He played like a guy with real All-Pro potential.

And it probably says even more about Carter that he was still not satisfied with his performance.

What would have to happen for Carter to be happy?

“I don't know. I have to be like Khalil Mack and get six sacks in a game,” Carter said. “Nah, I'm just playing. But I don't know, man. I think I love sacks, I know it's big, I love tackles, I love everything, but I don't know. Just getting a dub as a team makes me happy. But I have to get more out of myself.”

If there's another level to Carter's game… then watch out.

Brandon Graham said before the season that the Eagles' defense will only go as far as Georgia's two defensive backs Carter and Jordan Davis will take them. Both players performed very well against the Saints on Sunday, starting by stopping the run, something the Eagles had previously not done well.

“We talk about it every week,” Carter said. “We want to stop the run. We came together, we brought the D-line and the D-ends together. We said, 'Yo, this is the week.' We played poorly the first two weeks and we're not trying to embarrass ourselves anymore. And you could see that today.”

Until Sunday, New Orleans had the best offense in the NFL and running back Alvin Kamara averaged an incredible 5.7 yards per carry.

The Eagles held the Saints to 12 points and 219 total yards. And they held Kamara to 87 yards on 26 attempts (3.3 per attempt).

“We played a lot on their side of the line of scrimmage,” said head coach Nick Sirianni. “Jalen Carter worked his ass off. Jordan Davis worked his ass off when everyone was doubting them all week.”

“What are we doing? Why are we recruiting these guys? I've heard everything. I've heard everything. I try not to listen, but I have to talk to the media five times a week. They reacted because they didn't care what people thought. If they don't ride with us when we lose, they won't ride with us when we win. We've heard everything. We've heard everything. They heard it and they reacted.”

Carter played like a madman during the game and then really showed emotion in the closing stages of a very rough and physical duel.

At some point Carter wanted to smoke with everyone and had to be held back.

“They were like, 'Yeah! Yeah!' They were just excited,” Carter said. “It was nothing serious. It was just excitement. Stay calm. The game wasn't over, but we still had to stay calm.”