Late hits. Cheap shots. Stuff after the whistle. Stuff long after the whistle.
For the Eagles Sunday, keeping their composure — when the Ravens were hitting guys late and starting fights after virtually every play — was a big part of their 24-23 win in the season opener at the Linc.
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“A lot of dirty plays and cheap shots and fights and everything,” Eagles defensive tackle Cullen Jenkins said. “If you challenge us, we’re going to challenge you back, and not only are we going to challenge you back, we’re going to try to take it out on your quarterback.
“We gladly accept challenges. We like people coming at us and giving us their best shot, because we’re not backing down on anybody.
“We know the Ravens. The Ravens have been like that for a long time. They try to intimidate you. They’ve got one of the most intimidating guys on the defensive side of the ball that’s ever played the game. That’s one of their strategies, to try to get you out of your game by intimidating you, by getting you scared. But we’re not going to let anybody intimidate us, especially in our own house.”
The Ravens certainly can be intimidating, with legendary future Hall of Famers Ray Lewis and Ed Reed leading that world-class defense.
But the Eagles stood toe-to-toe with them for 60 minutes and emerged with a win that not only showed who was the better team but also who was the tougher team.
“I don’t know [if] they think that we’re supposed to back down because of who they are or what they’re M.O. is,” receiver Jeremy Maclin said. “We don’t like to get involved in that, but at the same time, we’re men. If you’re going to do something dirty to us, I mean, within the rules, we’re going to … push back. It’s just natural.
“That’s what we want to be. We want to be a physical team. We want to impose our will on our opponents, and I think we’ve done that.”
Not surprisingly, the Ravens threw the same accusations at the Eagles that the Eagles threw at the Ravens.
“They take a couple of shots,” Ravens fullback Vonta Leach said. “That’s just how they’re coached and stuff. They play dirty and stuff. They take shots after the play, lot of dirty stuff after plays. We weren’t going to back down, we weren’t going to take that.”
Part of the problem Sunday was that the replacement officials tended to let things get out of control a lot quicker than the regular refs.
But if the key to winning this game was keeping your composure, the Eagles ultimately did a better job.
“Things got out of hand and these refs aren’t seeing certain shots that some players are doing unfortunately, but we weren’t going to let them affect our mindset,” safety Kurt Coleman said. “Be aggressive with it, but don’t let it take out of your game. Continue to battle.”
The Eagles seemed to enjoy coming out on top of a good old-fashioned street brawl.
“I love it, I love it,” Coleman said with a big smile. “That’s what they want. They want to get you off your game.
“It’s like when Dennis Rodman used to play. He would get in your face and do stuff just to get you off your game. So for us, don’t back down but don’t let them take you out of what you’ve got to do.”
WRITTEN BY Reuben Frank at [email protected] & FULL STORY HERE
