Jalen Carter: How Philadelphia Eagles game-wrecker saved the season with heroic performance against Los Angeles Rams

Snow was falling, all around them. Jalen Carter, was having fun. It’s the NFL postseason, and the Philadelphia Eagles wrecking machine remembered he wants to win a Super Bowl.

Sure, it’s not quite THE festive tune you may be thinking of. But on a snowy Sunday night, Carter dictated the tune.

The headlines might allude to a decisive 78-yard Saquon Barkley touchdown on another monster night for the Eagles running back. But it was Carter who iced the game, Carter who won the game, Carter who rescued the season, Carter who sent Philadelphia marching onto the NFC Championship Game.

Matthew Stafford had threatened to silence Lincoln Financial Field in the final two minutes, driving the Los Angeles Rams down to the red zone while trailing 28-22 after a spectacular 37-yard sideline catch from Puka Nacua. Staring at a third-and-two from the 13-yard line, he had Tyler Higbee wide open with the end zone in sight, only for Carter to torch his blocker and spear the Rams quarterback to derail the drive when his team and head coach needed him most.

It was the defining full stop to an evening of dominance from the Eagles defensive tackle. He set the tone with a first-quarter forklift sack on Stafford as if lifting another full grown man required no effort at all (spoiler: it does). He blunted a glimmer of momentum by punching out a fumble from Kyren Williams as the Rams surrendered back-to-back turnovers either side of a Jalen Hurts safety on which they could not capitalise. And he saved the day with the biggest play of his young NFL career to date.

“Hands down, Jalen Carter took over that last drive, let alone this entire game,” said Sky Sports NFL‘s Ndamukong Suh.

“He had multiple sacks in this game. He was a game-changer and this is what you want from an elite first-round pick.

“You can’t ask anything more.”

Carter finished the game with five tackles, three quarterback hits, two sacks, a forced fumble and a pass break up. If his late sack wasn’t already enough, he followed up with a pressure to force Stafford’s incompletion on fourth down.

According to Next Gen Stats, he played 68 of 70 defensive snaps on the night while facing double teams on 26 of 49 pass rushes.

“He is a special player, he’s done so many of the right things to continue to make himself a special player,” said Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni. “He has consistently done the right things in and out the building, from his conditioning, his weight, style of play.

“He’s special. For him to rush the passer the way he did, and for us as a group to rush the way we did, that was a Championship effort by the defense.”

Carter had been allowed to slide as far as the ninth overall pick at the 2023 Draft in light of character concerns following his involvement in a serious car crash at the beginning of the year. It was Eagles general manager Howie Roseman who finally picked up the phone to him, primed to pounce on his next cornerstone defensive game-wrecker.

Sure, multiple teams needed quarterbacks and the Texans are reaping the rewards of third overall pick Will Anderson Jr, but for a long time Carter had been the best player in college football, the best player in the Draft. Let’s ask the Las Vegas Raiders how they feel about their decision to take Tyree Wilson with the seventh overall pick.

Two seasons on, the 23-year-old already features among the NFL’s most impactful defensive linemen as one of the leaders to a Vic Fangio defense that just ranked first in total yards and passing as well as being second in scoring.

“Jalen Carter, I can’t say enough good things about his development as a player. It doesn’t just happen because of talent. He’s talented, he’s so talented,” Sirianni added.

“But in this league there are a lot of guys that are talented and it takes more than talent to reach your potential and he continues to rise.”

The run-stuffing, pass-rushing arsenal of the fleet-footed polar bear in Georgia was no secret. Carter was, and is, every defensive coordinator’s dream in a world of four-man rushes that could free up off-ball linebackers and accommodate two-high looks and umbrella coverages. He comes with bruising, immoveable size and power, coupled with a nuclear first-step, get-skinny agility and lateral burst capable of controlling blocking angles from any position across the defensive front. He was a concoction for destruction in college, and is now doing the same in the NFL.

He shouldn’t be allowed to move as quickly and as freely as he does. That he does makes him a game-changing problem for every offensive line in the league.

Next up is a Washington Commanders offensive line that just lost starting right guard Sam Cosmi for the rest of the season due to an ACL injury.

Barkley stars again

While Carter called game on defense, Barkley feasted once more as he rushed for 205 yards and touchdowns of 62 and 78 yards to keep the Rams chasing.

“He just gets stronger as the game goes on. It’s amazing,” said Sky Sports NFL‘s Jason Bell. “We talk about how explosive he is, but it’s his resilience, his determination. The guy just doesn’t get tired.

“This offensive line pushes people around and he has the ability to wear you down. He sets the tone, he lets you know ‘I’m here, I’m ready’.

“He has one of the prettiest jump cuts in the NFL. He plants that foot in the ground and when he cuts, it’s like he travels through space.

“He’s unbelievable. He was relentless.”

The former New York Giant continued to serve as the heartbeat of the Eagles offense, this time in snowy conditions, to extend a mammoth first year with the Eagles, during which he rushed for more than 2,000 yards in the regular season.

“The atmosphere was crazy. It was insane,” said Barkley. “I’ve got a smile on my face thinking about it. This is what you dream about. This is why I came to Philly. I wanted to be part of games like this and I’m just happy to be a part of it.”

Awaiting Barkley and the Eagles is a Commanders team that just neutralised the Detroit Lions and the NFL’s most prolific offense in a 45-31 victory on Saturday. The NFC East rivals meet once again after Washington struck late to win a 36-33 epic almost a month ago.

“If you’re Washington right now, you’re saying to yourselves, ‘We can beat these guys’,” added Bell.

“They played against them [in the regular season] and beat them, and they’ve got a quarterback in Jayden Daniels who is on fire right now.

“This is going to be an unbelievable matchup, division rivals going at it.”

Watch the Philadelphia Eagles face the Washington Commanders in the NFC Championship Game, live on Sky Sports NFL from 8pm on Sunday.