Philadelphia Eagles cornerback Darius Slay always seems comfortable in front of the cameras, and he didn’t disappoint this week in describing the Eagles top three wide receivers as “three Batmans.” The trio in question would be A.J. Brown, DeVonta Smith, and Quez Watkins.
“Y’all see [Brown] with the dark visor, swole, and he just looks like a swole Batman, y’all cannot tell me he doesn’t look like a swole Batman,” Slay told the assembled media during his September 16 press conference. “DeVonta is a skinny Batman, Quez is a fast Batman, so we’ve got three Batmans on the team, but we got one swole, one skinny, one fast.”
That colorful quote came in response to a question about his comments on the Richard Sherman Podcast, calling Brown a “swole Batman.”
“He look like a swole Batman”
—@bigplay24slay tells @RSherman_25 what it’s like to play with @1kalwaysopen_
For those not familiar with the slang, “swole,” means “extremely muscular,” according to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary.
“Straight dog, straight dog man, and you know he wanna be recognized as one of the best in the game,” Slay told Sherman of Brown. “He’s a guy that you just, ‘You line up anybody in front of me, I’m trying to destroy them.'”
Slay was asked if there are any Robins on the Eagles to go with their Batmans, but he quickly shot down that notion. “No Robins, we don’t got no backups, no Robins, we ain’t got no sidekicks, we’ve got nothin but Batmans, you know what I’m saying?” Slay said with a smirk. “Those boys fly, lettin’ it fly.”
Darius Slay Preparing to Face Vikings Star Justin Jefferson
The Eagles might wish they had three Batmans at cornerback instead of receiver this week as they face superstar Justin Jefferson, who managed to upstage Brown’s 155-yard performance last week with nine catches for 184 yards and 2 touchdowns. Jefferson went for 108 catches, 1,616 yards and 10 score last year.
Sometimes the Vikings move Jefferson around the formation to try to get him the best possible matchup, but Slay doesn’t think they’ll look to avoid him in coverage.
“If they try to move him around, it’s not trying to avoid me, because we’ve got another corner that’s very good as well, James Bradberry,” Slay said. He also went on to talk up nickel cornerback Avonte Maddox.
That said, Slay understands the magnitude of the challenge. His scouting report on Jefferson was just a list of tremendous attributes. “Amazing dude, great route runner, great after the catch, strong finish, playmaker,” Slay said. “He makes plays. He’s a different breed.”
The Eagles secondary will need to communicate better than they did last week, when Slay cited communication issues with safety C.J. Gardner-Johnson in his Eagles debut. Slay says they’re continuing to get the secondary on the same page in practice after Gardner-Johnson was acquired less than two weeks before the season opener.
“He’s just kind of blending his way, he’s got to learn us as we’re learning him,” Slay said of the former Saint. “It’s been great, he’s been a great dude, great energy, going out here and compet[ing] every day, he works hard.”
The Eagles will hope the communication improves and the Eagles can improve on a performance last week that left defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon on the hot seat.
Slay Admits He’s Not a Fan of Playing on Monday Night
Darius Slay joins Jason Kelce among the group of Eagles who would prefer not to be playing on Monday Night Football.
“Honestly, I kind of like hate Monday Night Football, because it’s like I watch all day Sunday football, then we get Sunday Night Football,” Slay explained. “Now I’ve got to sit here all day with no football to watch until my game.”
That said, once the lights come on and Slay takes the field, he’s ready to put on a show.
“I love it, just for that night time cause we know we’re the only game on TV and stuff, [we] get all the action,” Slay said.
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Eagles Captain Darius Slay Describes Teammates as ‘3 Batmans’