PHILADELPHIA – History unfolded with each swat Jordan Davis made on a pass attempt from Jared Goff in the Eagles’ 16-9 win over the Detroit Lions on Sunday night. When Davis got to three swats, it was too hard for the NFL to ignore, and the league made the Eagles’ defensive tackle its NFC Defensive Player of the Week.
Davis is now the first player in team history to win both a Defensive Player of the Week award and a Special Teams Player of the Week, which was bestowed upon him in Week 3 after he blocked a potential game-winning 44-yard field goal try and returned it 61 yards for a walk-off touchdown that iced a 33-26 win over the Los Angeles Rams.
He is just the fourth player in the last 20 years to win both of those awards in the same season, joining Antonio Cromartie (2007), Bryan McCann (2010), and Desmond King (2018).
The Eagles’ DT is having the best year of his career, now in its fourth season after being drafted 13th overall in 2022.
“Just proud of him because I think what a great example of the world that we live in today with instant gratification and he had to go through some ups and downs, always has made plays for us, starting in 2022, but there’s been ups and downs in his career and he’s continued to put his head down and work,” said head coach Nick Sirianni on Wednesday afternoon after the league announced that Davis had won his first Defensive Player of the Week award.
Eagles Jordan Davis (90). / Ed Kracz/Eagles on SI
Davis lost weight in the offseason and is better equipped to handle a bigger workload. With 391 defensive snaps, he is on pace to set a career-high, which was set in his second season with 519. Davis has played 60 percent of the snaps. In 2022, he played 45 percent.
“He’s got himself in the best shape of his life,” said Sirianni. “I think he’s seeing that and it’s paying off. Yeah, just can’t say anymore. Just happy for him because of all the work that he’s put in to get that acknowledgment that he got from the NFL. He’s been playing really good football.”
Davis earned the award despite making just one tackle, but had those three batted down passes and was part of a defensive effort that held the high-powered Lions to just three of 13 third-down conversions and no fourth-down conversions in five tries.
He has six batted passes this season, which ties him for the most among interior defensive linemen in the NFL this season with the Steelers’ Cameron Heyward.
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