PHILADELPHIA — C.J. Gardner-Johnson lied on the ground for several minutes during the fourth quarter, as the Philadelphia Eagles safety was in obvious pain. Eagles safeties coach Joe Kasper tried to take Gardner-Johnson out of the game after he got up and walked gingerly to the sideline.
Gardner-Johnson just needed a few plays to collect himself, but it was going to take more than that to remove him from the game.
“I’m not coming off the field,” Gardner-Johnson said. “You gotta kill me.”
Gardner-Johnson experienced some friendly fire after a tackle on panthers running back Chuba Hubbard, getting hit in the back by a teammate. By the Eagles’ next defensive series, Gardner-Johnson was back in the game.
Of course it was the most important series of the game, as Nick Sirianni chose to punt and put the game in the hands of his defense with 2:58 left. The Eagles were up 22-16 and the Panthers had to travel 97 yards down the field to take the lead.
There’s no way Gardner-Johnson was going off the field.
“The pain of a winner, I guess,” Gardner-Johnson said. “I’m good. I’ll just get through it.”
This was the second injury Gardner-Johnson sustained on Sunday. He left the first half of the victory over the Panthers after being evaluated with a concussion (also due to a friendly fire hit from safety Tristin McCollum), only to return and pick off Bryce Young at the two-minute warning in the first half. The interception led to a touchdown drive by the Eagles that gave Philadelphia the halftime lead.
Gardner-Johnson had some bad with the good. He misread Xavier Legette on a deep post that led to Legette being wide open across the middle of the field in the final minute. In what should have been the equalizing touchdown, Legette dropped the pass from Bryce Young. The Eagles defense stopped the Panthers on fourth down just two plays later.
“I truthfully thought he caught the ball. I’m not even going to sit here and lie,” Gardner-Johnson said. “And when (the ref) came up incomplete that the ball hit the ground, I’m like, ‘Shit, we get to live another down.’
“I misjudged the ball. If I had jumped, I pick it. But, shout out to ref.”
Gardner-Johnson finished with six tackles, two passes defensed, and an interception. The Eagles were shorthanded at safety with Reed Blankenship and Sydney Brown already inactive, meaning Gardner-Johnson and McCollum were the top options. Avonte Maddox moved to safety this week and Andre Sam was a practice squad elevation.
Simply put, Gardner-Johnson knew the Eagles needed him.
“When you wanna win and play hard for your guys, I just wanted to show them that I still got it in me,” Gardner-Johnson said. “Regardless of how I’m feeling, it just feeds off everybody else.”
