Gunn-on-One: Malcolm Jenkins pleasantly surprised with Avonte Maddox

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Malcolm Jenkins is the jack-of-all-trades for an Eagles’ defense that is hurting on the back end. 

No. 27 is this week’s Gunn-on-One subject.

Gunn: Give me your assessment of this team after six games.

Jenkins: The real assessment is we’re 3-3. We’ve earned three wins and I think when you look at the three losses, most of them we felt like we gave those away. And so we’re coming off a big win on a short week in the division, but as we look out at the landscape in the NFC East, all of our goals are right in front of us. While it hadn’t started like we wanted to, it’s still very much alive, so we’re focusing on each week, making sure that we’re putting out the best performance we can to be successful, and nothing bigger than coming home against the Carolina Panthers. A team that has been to the playoffs. A really good running game, obviously a premiere quarterback, premiere tight end, premier receiver, premier running back, some great challenges, and a defense that can get after you with some linebackers that know how to make plays. So we’ve got a challenge and we’re excited about that opportunity to compete.

Gunn: You guys are nicked up on the back end. You have pieces moving all over the place. How much more responsibility falls on you to hold it together back there?

Jenkins: I think initially that’s kind of the reaction — that a lot of that falls on me, but it’s been a pleasant surprise for me to see Avonte Maddox step up the way he has. Not only is he playing a new position, but we’ve given him the responsibility to call the defense, set the defense, which takes a little bit off my plate. He’s really filling a role so that my role doesn’t change. We got other guys that we have to cross-train just because we’re so thin with depth as a contingency plan. One: it gives us better depth. Two: it gives us a little bit of an advantage as well. It’s my responsibility to make sure these guys are prepared.

To see the expanded version of my Gunn-on-One with Jenkins, go to the #MyTeams Philadelphia sports app, and also watch Eagles Pregame Live this Sunday between noon and 1 p.m.

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