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Philadelphia Eagles defensive lineman Jalen Carter was one of two players involved on the play in which Green Bay Packers quarterback Jordan Love sprained his MCL.
In the final seconds of the Eagles’ Week 1 matchup against the Packers, Carter was on the ground with Love’s left ankle in his grasp, trying to bring him down, as Eagles pass rusher Josh Sweat hit the Packers QB from higher up.
Love remained on the ground in pain, and he had to be helped off the field by trainers. After the Eagles went on to a 34-29 victory, many Green Bay fans took to social media to criticize the Eagles defenders for the hit on Love.
Carter took to Instagram to share a message to Love along with a screenshot featuring a snippet of troubling messages he received from fans after the game. “Making a football play wishing Jordan the best recovery!” Carter captioned (h/t Eagles Nation).
Fans Call Eagles’ DL Jalen Carter ‘Dirty Player’ After His Hit on Packers QB Jordan Love
As you can see above, the messages Carter received were NSFW, and several crossed the line. That was also just a smattering of DM’s the defensive tackle received. Many fans also took to X (formerly Twitter) to call Carter dirty.
“Jalen Carter should receive a hefty fine for this imo. Not a football play whatsoever,” one X user wrote.
“Jalen Carter is dirty as (expletive) for that,” another fan wrote.
“Kick Jalen Carter out the league dirty player,” another added.
To be fair, there were plenty of fans, analysts and former players who sprang to CArter’s defense.
Former Eagles defensive end Chris Long also weighed in, noting Carter was just trying to make a play from the ground. “Done the exact same thing,” Long wrote on X. “You hold on for dear life. He can’t see what’s happening. He’s scratching and clawing on the ground to WIN and get a sack. Chaos down there. Armchair QB can watch frame by frame and say dirty. My heart hurts for Love.”
“Wait, people are calling Jalen Carter dirty for that routine tackle last night? What a bunch of losers,” one fan commented.
“This is quite literally a football play,” another fan commented. “When Jalen Carter grabbed Love’s left knee, you can see him wrap his right arm around to make a routine tackle, it just so happened that Josh Sweat table topped him. It’s unfortunate, but this is not punishable or dirty play whatsoever.”
Eagles Defense Got Gashed Against the Packers
Carter finished with two tackles and a QB hit in Philly’s win over Green Bay. It was the Eagles’ first game under new defensive coordinator Vic Fangio, and while Philadelphia came away with the win, there is plenty to clean up on both sides of the ball.
The Eagles defense gave up 414 total yards against Green Bay’s offense, and looked particularly bad against the run, allowing 163 yards on 21 carries (that’s 7.8 yards per rush).
“One thing that we know we have to clean up is our tackling,” Eagles coach Nick Sirianni said on September 9. “I definitely saw at times we were getting that knock back. I thought [DE] Brandon Graham did an awesome job of controlling the line of scrimmage with his hands and knocking the tight end back. There were definitely performances there. They got some push on us at times as well that led to some of those rushing yards.”
The Eagles host the Atlanta Falcons Week 2, and with running back Bijan Robinson in tow, Philly had better shore up its run defense, stat.
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