Eagles’ Derek Barnett felt remorse after his hit on Jamaal Williams but won’t apologize for aggressive nature | Jeff McLane

GREEN BAY, Wis. — Derek Barnett was remorseful about his hit on Jamaal Williams that sent the Packers running back off on a stretcher and had some labeling him as dirty. But the Eagles defensive end made no apologies about his aggressive style of play.

“I’m going to have a penalty here and there,” Barnett said late Thursday after the Eagles improbably beat the Packers, 34-27. “It is what it is. I’m not going to be tip-toeing out there, though.”

Soft-pedaling isn’t in Barnett’s nature. His high motor was one of the chief reasons the Eagles drafted him in the first round. He plays to the whistle and there is nearly an example each game – as there was later on against Green Bay -- of his making a tackle downfield.

But Barnett may have stepped over the line at Lambeau Field, on just the Packers’ first play from scrimmage, one that was clearly over by the time he arrived. Williams caught a short pass and was met almost immediately by linebacker Nigel Bradham.

He was held up for approximately a second and a half as Bradham was joined by teammates Zach Brown and Malcolm Jenkins. Barnett came in late and led with his shoulder – whistles could be heard just as he launched himself – but it was his helmet that first made contact with Williams’ helmet.

“I was running to the ball and I didn’t hear a whistle,” said Barnett, who was flagged for an personal foul for unnecessary roughness. “I went in and tried to tackle him because we’re playing football. I wasn’t trying to hurt anybody because it’s our livelihood, this is how we feed our families. So I don’t wish that upon nobody.”

Williams fell in a heap with Bradham on top and he lay virtually motionless on the field. As the Packers’ medical staff tended to him, Barnett knelt off to the side, and when a stretcher and cart came out on the field, Eagles defensive leaders such as Fletcher Cox and Malcolm Jenkins addressed their teammate.

“We were just trying to get him calmed down,” Jenkins said. “He plays at one speed. We told him don’t do anything different, just play your game. It’s a lot of ball left to be played. It was the first play of the game.

“He’s somebody with a high motor who really plays hard for us. And he was locked in for the rest of the game.”

Barnett regained his focus and forced the first turnover of the game when he strip-sacked quarterback Aaron Rodgers just before the half. It was not only his first sack of the season but the first for an Eagles defensive end.

All told, the Eagles have only three sacks in four games, and only two have come from defensive linemen. While the front four has created pass-rush pressure, the unit hasn’t been as disruptive as in previous seasons under coordinator Jim Schwartz.

“We ain’t worried. We know how it go with the sacks,” defensive end Brandon Graham said. “We just got to give ourselves opportunities.”

Aside from the Barnett sack, Rodgers was hardly touched despite dropping back nearly 60 times to pass. The Eagles hit him only one other time, according to the official stat sheet. The Eagles were second-to-last in the NFL in sacks per pass play heading into Week 4 and have only 14 total hits.

Injuries and personnel changes have seemingly affected the line’s production. Defensive tackles Malik Jackson (out for the season) and Tim Jernigan (out for about a month) have already suffered foot injuries this season, while Cox continues to work himself back into elite shape following offseason foot surgery.

The defensive ends haven’t been as plaqued by injury, but the group has yet to make fans forget Michael Bennett (traded) and Chris Long (retired). Barnett was expected to pick up some of the slack, but he hasn’t fully recovered from last October’s shoulder surgery and has yet to fulfill the promise of being a top pick.

He leads the Eagles with eight hits, but also in penalties with five. His illegal-use-of-hands penalty kept the Packers’ last drive alive before the half and they capitalized with a touchdown.

Schwartz wants assertive defenders – heck, what coach doesn’t? – but there is a tightrope to walk. And many fans, for both teams and around the league, thought that Barnett’s hit was cheap and that he should have been ejected.

“It’s hard to tell, even last night replaying it in my mind, when the whistle blew … but [Williams] was obviously fighting for extra yards,” Eagles coach Doug Pederson said Friday. “It was just unfortunate. We don’t need that type of hit, obviously, but it was right about the time the whistle blew.”

NFL operations agreed upon their review in New York and didn’t eject Barnett, but a fine could be forthcoming.

Williams wasn’t the only casualty of the night. Another Eagle sent a player off on a stretcher, only this time safety Andrew Sendejo speared his own teammate, cornerback Avonte Maddox.

Fortunately, both Maddox and Williams regained feeling and movement in their extremities. But they suffered concussions and neck injuries and when they could returns is unknown.

Barnett understands the hazards of playing a violent sport, as he called it. But if he were to play it any other speed, in his mind, he would be putting himself at risk. A quiet, hard worker, Barnett has never come off as the type to go head-hunting. But he was careless when he hit Williams.

His description of his sack could apply to how he views Williams’ injury: collateral damage for playing hard.

“I didn’t do anything out of the ordinary,” Barnett said. “Just doing my job.”