Injuries are one thing in the NFL, but getting hurt or ill during the week of the Super Bowl would be devastating.
The Philadelphia Eagles are dealing with an illness that could potentially prevent players from being 100% for Sunday’s game against the Kansas City Chiefs.
One player’s status is up in the air: Eagles second-year defensive tackle Jalen Carter. He is one of the players who is not feeling well, which caused him to miss media availability this week.
Vic Fangio Is Caustiolusly Optimistic About Jalen Carter’s Status
The starting defensive tackle for the Eagles was a limited participant in practice with an undisclosed illness.
Carter has had a good postseason for the Eagles with five quarterback hits plus a pair of sacks. During the regular season, he registered just 4.5 sacks. He also earned his first Pro Bowl nod this year and was named to the NFL’s second-team All-Pro squad.
Having Carter miss or not be 100% for the Super Bowl could impact the Eagles’ ability to defeat the Chiefs.
Eagles defensive coordinator Vic Fangio told John Clark of NBC Philadelphia that the team is experiencing an illness, and Carter has been limited in practice.
“He hopes Jalen will be good for the Super Bowl,” Fangio said.
Eagles defensive coordinator Vic Fangio told me Jalen Carter has an illness that is going around through some of the team, but he hopes Jalen will be good for the Super Bowl. Jalen was a limited participant in practice yesterday and was not at the media sessions. pic.twitter.com/l3nHE55Deo
— John Clark (@JClarkNBCS) February 6, 2025
Other players will step up if Carter is limited for the Super Bowl. His postseason performance has been one of the best for Philadelphia so far, especially his ability to cause disruption up front and get after quarterbacks.
Not having Carter at full strength could make it slightly tougher to stop the Chiefs’ offense.
However, the Eagles’ defense is one of the best in the NFL and ranked second in Pro Football Network’s DEF+ metric.
- Regular-Season Grade: 87.9 (B+)
- RS + Playoff Grade: 88.0 (B+, 2nd)
Defenses that rely on takeaways are often flawed units that require big plays to mask significant deficiencies that crop up against elite offenses. The Philadelphia Eagles are an elite defense that also happens to generate takeaways at a high rate, making Fangio’s unit one of the deadlier playoff defenses in recent memory.
The Eagles forced four turnovers in the NFC Championship Game and are up to 29 forced fumbles this season. Only the 2019 San Francisco 49ers (30) forced more fumbles in the past decade than this year’s Eagles.
Philly consistently limits the opposition’s biggest strength and did so again by shutting down the Washington Commanders’ ground game. The Eagles recorded a 71.4% rushing success rate, their third-highest of the season and the highest by any team vs. Washington since Week 8.
Philadelphia’s defense has no statistical flaw. It ranks in the top 10 in every metric that encompasses the Defense+ grades (except for sack rate, which is 16th).
That gives them a fighting chance to emulate the 2020 Tampa Bay Buccaneers and accomplish the herculean feat of stifling Patrick Mahomes in the Super Bowl this Sunday.
