Eagles Malcolm Jenkins says “what we do in practice is way harder than the game”

When the Eagles take the field at the NovaCare complex for practice, it doesn’t matter whether they have pads on or how long they are practicing for. The high pace and intensity is what matters.

And according to outspoken team leader Malcolm Jenkins, it’s invaluable prep work for facing off against other NFL offenses.

“What we do in practice is way harder than the game,” the safety said Tuesday.”We do all this stuff during theweek and we want to be able to take it out and compete on game days that’s the fun part.”

After their Sunday preseason win over the Colts and a players day off Monday, the Birds took things (relatively) easy Tuesday working without pads and for only one hour in front of some fans and media members. The light work-day is in advance of the next three days which are sure to be intense ones for the Eagles as the Ravens come to town for joint practices.

“I think whenever you go against a different team, I think the level of competition ramps up a bit,” Jenkins said.”We will probably got to a traditional huddle, and go to what a normal NFL practice looks like. Which would be a little bit of a break for us to actually huddle up.”

That confidence is evident across the roster, with both offensiveand defensive players excited to go up against players on a different team for just the second time.

“We are all professionals,” Jenkins said.”We like to talk trash we like to compete. I don’t think anybody here is going to back down from a challenge but we are out here to get better and to compete.”

Several scrums have broken out across the league in joint practices, but Jenkins says the point of the sessions on Wednesday Thursday and Friday are to get better, not to show off.

“We aren’t here to see whose more macho or anything like that,” he said.

“It’s a joint practice, which we’ve been doing for the last couple years,” another top Birds’ defender, Fletcher Cox said. “We know it’s going to be a physical practice up front but you have to be smart about it.”