It’s silly and they know it.
But that doesn’t mean it hasn’t helped.
By now, you’ve seen the Eagles pass around that black ski mask during games and have probably seen Rodney McLeod walk it into stadiums like someone would walk a championship belt into a boxing ring.
Here’s the easiest explanation of why this black ski mask exists. From Rasul Douglas, who leads the team with three interceptions:
We call it robbing somebody. We’re just trying to get as many turnovers as we can. Any defensive player who gets a turnover or forces a turnover gets to wear the ski mask.
Pretty simple. It’s not unlike the Turnover Chain at the University of Miami, but this is just a newer take on it. It was the brainchild of Jalen Mills — of course, it was — and has actually been around longer than you might think. In the first Washington game on Dec. 3, Nate Gerry should have popped on the mask after his interception, but the team forgot.
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“When [Jalen] came up with that idea,” Cre’Von LeBlanc said, “we were all like, ‘oh yeah, that’ll be dope. Ain’t nobody done that.’”
And maybe it’s working.
Takeaways were the one thing this defense was desperately missing earlier in the year. After getting 31 takeaways in 2017 (fourth in the NFL), the Eagles couldn’t seem to get turnovers anymore.
Through the first 10 games of this season, the Eagles had just seven takeaways. That’s the fewest they had ever had in franchise history through 10 games. But in the six games since, they have forced 10 turnovers.
And it seems to coincide with the birth of the ski mask idea.
“I wouldn’t say it’s coincidence,” LeBlanc said. “Everybody is really trying to put the ski mask on.”
Coming off the bye week this season, the Eagles were 4-4, but after they lost to the Cowboys and Saints, they were sitting at 4-6 and needed to gain some ground. By the way, they didn’t have a single takeaway against the Cowboys or Saints.
Shortly after those games, the idea of the ski mask came from Mills.
I think it’s a metaphor, especially over the last month, of where we wanted to be,” Malcolm Jenkins said. “And what we needed to do to be able to get in here. If we want to, we gotta go take it. We gotta go take hold of our own destiny. We gotta steal the ball, steal some games, steal whatever it is we need to get into the postseason. It’s something that’s created a lot of energy.
Jenkins actually chuckled a little bit when mentioning that this is just one of those things that outside the context of football is really silly. But as a leader of the team, he realizes how these little, silly things can often provide some energy, fun and momentum. He’s all for it.
It’s been something for the Eagles to rally around when they needed it most.
Defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz is all for it too. He’s for anything that promotes camaraderie. He’s just not ready to say a ski mask is responsible for the turnover turnaround.
“The turnovers come when you do your job and make the plays that come to you,” Schwartz said.
But a little added incentive never hurts, right? That mask isn’t going anywhere as long as the Eagles keep it up.
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