He’s one of only six Eagles left who’s won a playoff game in an Eagles uniform.
One of only six left from the last Eagles team that made a deep postseason run.
One of only six left from the team that was three excruciating minutes from the Super Bowl before losing the 2008 NFC Championship Game to Kurt Warner and the Cards in Glendale, Ariz.
DeSean Jackson is enjoying a renaissance season for the Eagles. He’s fourth in the NFC with 1,080 receiving yards and needs just 77 yards over the next three weeks for a career high. His eight touchdown catches are only three fewer than he had in the three previous years combined.
What would make it all so much more meaningful is getting back to the playoffs.
Which used to be an annual ritual for the Eagles and for Jackson.
Jackson went to the playoffs in each of his first three seasons, and the Eagles haven’t been back since. But with any combination of three Eagles wins and three Cowboys losses over the next three weeks, the Eagles will return to the postseason for the first time since 2010.
“Honestly, it’s definitely been tough,” Jackson said. “We play this game to make it to December and January. The past couple years, it’s definitely been rough to not be in the playoffs and to watch other guys and other teams continue to go out there and still play and have the opportunity to make it to the playoffs and not just the playoffs but go to the Super Bowl too.
“We’re just trying to get a run so we can make it to the playoffs and hopefully make it to the Super Bowl.”
Only Todd Herremans, Jason Avant, Trent Cole, Brent Celek, Jon Dorenbos and Jackson remain from the 2008 team that won four of its last five games after a 5-5-1 start and clinched a playoff spot on the final day of the season with a combination of improbable events, including a Raiders upset over the Buccaneers, a Texans win over the Bears and then the Eagles’ 44-6 win over the Cowboys.
The Eagles upset the Vikings in Minneapolis in the wild-card round, then stunned the top-seeded and defending Super Bowl-champion Giants at the Meadowlands in the conference semifinals before their crushing loss to the Cards.
Since then, the Eagles have reached the playoffs twice, losing wild-card games in Dallas in 2009 and at home against the Packers in 2010.
The last time the Eagles had a longer drought without a postseason win was 1981 through 1991.
Jackson was a rookie in 2008, but he was huge in the postseason, with 11 catches for 207 yards in the three games, the second-most yards ever by an Eagle in a single postseason.
Most memorable was his miraculous 62-yard touchdown from Donovan McNabb that gave the Eagles a 25-24 lead in the fourth quarter of the NFC Championship Game.
Jackson batted the ball up in the air three times at the end zone before securing it in front of Cards cornerback Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie.
“That was obviously an interesting year for myself and this team, being able to make it that far, first year in the NFL, so I definitely know what it takes to get there,” Jackson said.
“Hopefully we can make a push and get back there, get back to winning in the playoffs. My first couple years here, that’s what it was all about. Making it throughout the whole year, giving yourself a good enough record, winning a majority of your NFC East games and being able to make it to the playoffs. That’s what we’ve got to get back to.”
In all, Jackson has 16 catches for 268 yards and two touchdowns in five career playoff games.
On a young team with a second-year quarterback and a ton of guys who’ve never come close to the postseason, Jackson all of a sudden is the calm veteran who’s seen it all.
“For the younger guys who weren’t here and who don’t know what it takes to play in playoff games, the intensity level gets to another level, the speed of the game gets to another level, so maybe [my role is] helping the young guys out so they can understand.
“Once you get into it, everybody takes their game up to another notch and that’s something me having the experience knowing what that’s like and being able to give it to the younger guys as well.”
The Eagles, 8-5, face the 3-9-1 Vikings Sunday at the Metrodome in Minneapolis.
A win gives them their longest winning streak since they won six straight down the stretch in 2009.
“It’s a great feeling around here right now, just to be able to do the things we’ve been able to do on the field the last few weeks,” Jackson said.
“As long as we continue to play at a high level and work hard during the week, we’ll be fine.”
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