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Eagles' Jordan Davis stresses effort, pride and accountability
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- Eagles' Jordan Davis stresses effort, pride and accountability
Eagles' Jordan Davis stresses effort, pride and accountability originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
Jordan Davis didn't hide from it. The Eagles' defensive captain on Friday took full accountability for his lackluster performance on Monday night in the Eagles' 38-21 loss to the Dallas Cowboys.
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"I point thumbs, not fingers," Davis said.
Not only is the 26-year-old Davis a defensive captain but he's also the centerpiece of the Eagles' run defense. That run defense gave up 204 yards on the ground to the Cowboys and is now ranked 27th in the NFL.
"I told everybody, I said, 'Look, that wasn't my best game,'" Davis said on Friday. "I told Vic (Fangio), 'Hey, man, I feel like I let y'all down.' Everybody has a part to play in it but when it comes to accountability, it comes from me first. I don't want anybody to be the one to pick and choose on me and be like, 'Hey, you ain't s—' and I'm walking around like my s— don't stink. Sorry about my language but it's really important."
Accountability is important. It's especially important in the midst of a five-game losing streak as the Eagles try to salvage what began as a promising season.
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Davis has been dealing with a hand injury, which has made his job a little tougher on Monday, but he made clear that it was no excuse for his performance. He said his hands weren't good enough in that game. That's why he told his teammates and coaches that he let them down.
"Because it starts from the inside, the anchor," Davis said. "If you don't got an anchor, you've got no chance. If you ain't got no anchor, you ain't got no edge. If you ain't got no edge, you ain't got no chance."
After watching the Eagles' high-priced and highly touted defensive line get pushed around up front by the Cowboys on Monday night, a big theme of the week has been effort.
While head coach Nick Sirianni and defensive coordinator Vic Fangio claimed they didn't see any effort issues from the team in the loss, several players have pushed back on that. That's part of taking accountability too.
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"In that game [effort] was poor from everybody," Davis said. "That's just simple and plain about it. It was poor. We know what we're capable of. We've reached the highest of highs and seen the lowest of lows now. We have to do something to fix it. That's one of the things we've been apart of in practice this week is fixing the effort. You have to give effort. Effort in everything.
"Effort into celebrating when you make a play. That takes effort. You're going to be a little tired after the play, but s—, man. Put your finger up, put your fist up. Tell them you locked that s— down. It's just little stuff like that. You have to put effort into everything and our effort was poor last game. But it was good this week. We're going to have great effort and focus tomorrow and it's going to be great on Sunday."
Football is obviously a job, but Davis is someone who tries to bring joy to it. He spoke on Friday about the importance of having fun and has been trying to instill that all week. His teammates have appreciated that.
The Eagles drafted Davis with the No. 13 overall picking the 2022 draft and he got off to a slow start in his career. But Davis had a breakout season in 2025. He had what should have been a Pro Bowl season last year and then signed a three-year, $78 contract extension in the offseason.
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Davis on Friday said he took accountability because he knows how important it is, especially as a leader. He said the Eagles' defensive issues need to get fixed and he's confident they will be.
How much of that is pride?
"Football is all pride," Davis said. "It's all emotion, it's all pride. It doesn't matter if you are p-squad, first round, anybody in between. You have some sort of pride playing this game. You have to have pride because if you don't have pride in doing your job, somebody else will do it for you. And that's just the nature of the beast. I have pride in what I do. I have pride in being a premier run-stuffer and getting myself up to being a pass rusher. You have to have pride in your job."
