PHILADELPHIA − Haason Reddick has played in 81 games in his NFL career ever since the Arizona Cardinals made him their first-round pick in the 2017 draft.
But the Eagles’ game against the Minnesota Vikings on Monday night was only Reddick’s second career game at Lincoln Financial Field in the NFL, and the first since his rookie season.
Of course, Reddick, the South Jersey native is very familiar with the Linc, having played his home games there for four years while at Temple. But the atmosphere wasn’t nearly the same. The Linc was never packed for a Temple game the way it is for Eagles’ games.
So this was different for Reddick. Even in his first game at the Linc, back on Oct. 8, 2017, Reddick was the enemy, except for his small legion of South Jersey friends and family members.
“That’s going to be crazy,” Reddick said last week. “The energy is going to be there … I’m not going to get caught up in that hype. I’m just focused right now on being better than I was Week 1, fixing the things I didn’t do right in Week 1. That’s all I’m going to focused on.
“I’m not going to let that stuff distract me. The only thing I’m worried about is playing good football for the Philadelphia Eagles.”
Besides, Reddick knows the expectations are different, too.
Back then, Reddick was a rookie inside linebacker trying to find his way. Now, he’s an established veteran pass rusher, with 23½ sacks combined over the last two seasons. That led the Eagles to sign Reddick to a three-year deal worth as much as $45 million last spring.
Reddick didn’t get a sack in the Eagles’ opener against the Detroit Lions last week. The Eagles’ only sack was a shared one between Brandon Graham and Fletcher Cox. It wasn’t the start expected for a team that finished 31st out of 32 teams in sacks last season, with only 29.
Reddick knows that wasn’t up to his expectations. But as a lifelong Eagles fan, he also knows that wasn’t up to the expectations of Eagles fans, too.
“It’s Philly man, that’s all I can say,” he said. “If (the criticism) didn’t happen, I would be shocked. I’m not worried nor concerned. We got 16 more opportunities. Like I said, it’s time to settle down now, correct the minor mistakes. There were a couple things I saw after the game that I wish I saw during the game.
“But now that I know what those things are, I can focus on that, and it will open up a lot of things for me.”
Eagles coach Nick Sirianni agreed with that assessment when asked about his level of concern about the pass rush.
“I don’t have any level of concern there,” he said. “I have a lot of confidence in these guys, a lot of confidence in the coaches that coach these guys … that we’ll get to the quarterback. That’s something that we know we need to do to affect the quarterback, to affect him and get him off his timing and off his rhythm.”
For Reddick, that would make for a happy homecoming.
Numbers to watch
Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts came into the game ranked fourth among NFL quarterbacks in total yards (passing and rushing) in his first 20 career starts. For Hurts, his 20th start came last week. Hurts has 5,422 yards, trailing only Patrick Mahomes, Justin Herbert and Joe Burrow. … Hurts is also ranked first in explosive plays (the Eagles define them as passes of at least 16 yards and runs of at least 10) per game since the start of the 2021 season. He averages 7.3, ahead of Lamar Jackson (6.8) and Herbert (6.5) …
Contact Martin Frank at mfrank@delawareonline.com. Follow on Twitter @Mfranknfl.
