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Jalen Carter dominant again, praises team effort: ‘I didn’t do it by myself’

Posted on December 3, 2024 - 8:41 am by

Jalen Carter has been a force throughout his second year in the league – that didn’t change in the Eagles’ 24-19 win over Baltimore on Sunday.

Carter finished the game with four total tackles (three solo, one assisted), three tackles for a loss, two QB hits, and a sack on Lamar Jackson. But his impact on the game went well beyond his stats on the sheet.

Jalen Carter dominant again, praises team effort: 'I didn't do it by myself'

Carter’s presence and the attention opposing offenses pay to him allow the Eagles’ defense to attack teams from all different angles.

The 6-foot-3 defensive tackle was double-teamed on 25 of his 43 pash rush attempts, which allowed for guys like Zack Baun (13 tackles, 0.5 sack), Nolan Smith (eight tackles, one sack), and rookie Jalyx Hunt (two tackles, 0.5 sack) to step up and make plays.



“You see that I didn’t do it by myself. You see JD (Jordan Davis) made some big tackles for losses as well and Zack made some big plays,” Carter said from the visitors’ locker room at M&T Bank Stadium. “It was all a team effort. I felt like we knew what the game plan was and we came out. We executed, not the best that we could, but enough to get us the win.”

Much like the phenom of Saquon Barkley on offense, Carter has shared the same sentiment all season – it takes everybody, not just one person.

Although taking down one of the league’s top quarterbacks in Jackson was on his mind leading up to the game, Carter was quick to credit his teammate Milton Williams after his sack.



“All sacks are big, but thanks to my boy Milt (Milton Williams). Last week, you all can say I helped him get his, but this time, he helped me get that sack. I’m thankful for him,” Carter said. “We had a little game plan going on and he scrambled, I took an angle and got there and made the play.”

Carter’s sack – giving him 4.5 for the season – came at a big moment. The Ravens were driving downfield at the end of the first half and inside the red zone. When Jackson scrambled out of the pocket, the former Georgia Bulldog took him down for a loss of 13 yards. The sack took Baltimore out of the end zone and kept the Eagles in the lead heading into halftime.



“Just tackle him. I have the mindset that nobody can outdo me. I know, I see what he does. I see all the film. But I had the opportunity, he had an opportunity to break that tackle, but I wasn’t trying to let that happen,” Carter said when asked how difficult it is to bring down Jackson.

“I was talking about it all week, because if he tried to escape on me, I’m not letting him go. I got my one opportunity and I was able to bring him down. That was for the team.”

In Sunday’s win, he played 71 of 72 defensive snaps (98.6 percent), only coming off the field for the last defensive snap of the game.

The high snap count isn’t new to him this year, however. In the Week 9 win over Jacksonville, Carter played his now second-highest percentage of snaps (96.3 percent). He’s been on the field for 619 out of 750 defensive snaps, a staggering 83 percent.



“I think If 52 out of 54, that tells you they have our conditioning levels right and we’ve been working hard. If I have to do it again, I’ll do it again,” Carter said after the Jacksonville game.

The shape Carter is in was especially relevant at the end of the game on a play most people didn’t even realize.

While Carter wasn’t credited for the tackle, he was 10 yards downfield to finish off Tristin McCollum’s tackle with under 30 seconds remaining in the game.

“I still have a lot to learn. This is only my second year. I know there’s veterans out there that still know way more than me. I’m still learning off BG (Brandon Graham) every day,” Carter said. – Written by Liam Wichser

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