PHILADELPHIA — DeVonta Smith surpassed 1,000 receiving yards Monday for the second straight season, an accomplishment made more amazing by teammate A.J. Brown also being over 1,000 yards in each of the last two years.
Two 1,000-yard receivers in the same season is a first in the history of the Eagles, who have had their share of stellar receivers, including Pro Football Hall of Famers Harold Carmichael and Tommy McDonald.
But that’s not what Smith likes to talk about these days. After catching four passes for 79 yards, including a 36-yard touchdown, in a 33-25 victory over the Giants, Smith had just about had enough with the sloppiness exhibited by the Birds in a 1-3 December.
“The game was close because of us,” Smith said. “We basically gave them 14 points by turning the ball over. We’re not going to always get by doing the things that we’re doing. Yeah, we’re 11-4. But we’ve been barely getting by. That doesn’t last forever.”
Few Eagles players were exempt from the mistakes, including quarterback Jalen Hurts, who with no timeouts left was tackled at the Giants’ three-yard line instead of getting out of bounds to stop the clock. Luckily the Giants were flagged for delay of game, and the Eagles got a field goal out of the possession.
Then there was Brown, who had six receptions for 80 yards, including a critical 32-yard catch, yet dropped several passes.
Though Brown declined to speak with reporters Thursday, Smith took them on. Whatever is bugging Brown, who stormed out of the post-game locker room Monday proclaiming he wasn’t going to take questions because he didn’t have anything nice to say, we’ll have to wait for the sanitized answer.
Smith has spoken to Brown, who has 101 catches for 1,394 yards and seven touchdowns, but declined to reveal the source of his teammate’s unhappiness.
“You’ll have to ask him,” Smith said. “We might have two different answers. I can’t speak for him.”
Amid the drama, Smith is confident the Eagles can turn the corner. They take on the Cardinals Sunday and close the regular season against the Giants at MetLife Stadium.
“It will happen,” Smith said. “Keep chipping away, come in every day, do the things we need to do. We’ve got two weeks. I have a lot of faith we can put it together by the time the playoffs come.”
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Cornerback Darius Slay (knee) was the only Eagle who didn’t practice Thursday. Linebackers Zach Cunningham (knee) and Nicholas Morrow (abdomen) were partial participants, while guard Landon Dickerson (thumb) and cornerback Avonte Maddox (pectoral) practiced fully.
Barring a setback, look for Dickerson, coming off surgery for a broken thumb, and Maddox to be active when the Eagles oppose the Cardinals (3-12) at Lincoln Financial Field.
Sitting out practice for the Cardinals Thursday were wide receiver Marquise Brown (heel), defensive end Jonathan Ledbetter (knee) and quarterback Kyler Murray (illness).
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Safety Reed Blankenship enjoyed having the plays radioed in by defensive coordinator Matt Patricia last week and is looking forward to another round in the future.
The radio-equipped helmet denoted by the green dot is normally worn by a linebacker, which has been Morrow for most of the season. He will again this weekend if he’s healthy.
Until then Blankenship has some work to do in coverage, as he surrendered a 69-yard touchdown reception to Darius Slayton. While Blankenship almost made a TD-saving tackle, quarterback Tyrod Taylor just outclassed him with a deep strike.
“That was totally on me, technique-wise and the mental part,” Blankenship said. “I saw that formation throughout film study, didn’t see it throughout the game then finally it comes up and I just have to be prepared for it. It’s not like something like that’s not going to happen, but you have to look at how many times it happens.
“At the end of the day, I’m the biggest critic of myself and trust me, I’ve lost some sleep over it. But you have to move on, watch it, see it again, and not let it happen again.”
Murray has a deep threat in Brown, but at they prep for this week, Brown has a heel issue and Murray is ill.
“They’re a good team,” Blankenship said. “Obviously, Kyler is quick on his feet. They have weapons, a really good tight end in (Trey) McBride. It’ll be a challenge but we’re ready for them.”
The Cardinals have targeted tight ends 43 percent of the time in the red zone this season, highest in the NFL.
