DeSean Readying For Return To Philly

ASHBURN, Va. — DeSean Jackson says that the soreness in his shoulder has eased some. He is getting treatment daily to try and regain full range of motion and is still waiting for the training staff to give him the green light.  On Wednesday he watched practice from the sidelines wearing a jersey, shorts and a white bucket hat. Reading between the lines, it sounds like he’ll have a helmet and pads on come game day.

“I should be good to go come Sunday,” he said. “If it’s all on me, I’m playing. I don’t plan on missing this game.

“Obviously being in Philadelphia my first six years, playing there and accomplishing some of the things that I have accomplished to start my career was obviously a huge time in my life, a huge part of the beginning of my NFL career so obviously it’s going to be a huge game for myself that I have always looked forward to ever since everything went down the way it went down.”

As for the reasons why it went down, Jackson still hasn’t received a clear explanation for that. Talking to those who know him, it’s still something that weighs on his mind.

But he’s in Washington now and seems to be adjusting to the new scenery.  Jackson has been keeping a pretty low profile according to those who cover the team, and has seldom been in the locker room during media availability in the early going. Wednesday he made a brief cameo, shaking hands with the couple Philly reporters that made the trek down before quickly sliding into another room. A few minutes later, wearing a gray shirt and black shorts with a Redskins patched sewed into it, he took to the podium to answer questions about his upcoming return to Philly to play the team that cut him just a few months ago.

“I think honestly what has happened has happened, it’s in the past,” said Jackson. “Moving forward in my career is the biggest thing I can really say. Why it happened the way it happened, I’m not really worried about that. As far as talking to some of the guys still there, I have a great relationship with LeSean McCoy — he’s like a brother to me — so we talk on an everyday basis almost. As much as he misses playing with me, I miss playing with him as well. We felt the dual threat that me and him had together was unlike any other in the league. I wish him the best but unfortunately this week I can’t really wish  him the best against us so hopefully my defensive boys get on him and shut him down.”

So he’ll undoubtedly greet McCoy and some other former teammates pregame when he takes the field. But what about Chip Kelly? How about management?

“Honestly, man, I have friends on the team but my focus is more here in this locker room, doing what we need to do to win  football games. I’m very familiar with NFC East games. I’m not here to be buddy-buddy. I want to win football games for this team here so once game time comes, I could care less about anything else. Burgundy and gold are my colors now and that’s all I’m going to focus on and worry about. Buddy buddy? No time for that once game time starts. You have to put that all aside and battle and do your best to win a football game.”

As far as his familiarity with the opponent, Jackson noted that “Everything they do over there, I know” and that he’ll be telling his new teammates what to key on for different plays.

“As far as what I can tell my guys here to help them out, I’ll do the best I can,” he said. “At the same time, they’ve still got to go out there and stop it.”

Jackson didn’t take any real shots or make it personal. But there’s little doubt that he’d take great pleasure in giving it to his old squad.

“This week we have a great opportunity to play a team that has a lot of pub and everybody’s been congratulating them for the things they’ve done good, and hopefully we can go out there and exploit  them and win the football game.”

As for how he will be received by the fans?

“Something I’m going to have to wait and see. Never experienced that…yet to be seen how they’ll treat me. I felt I put it on the line for them when I played there and I’ve done what I’ve done to help that organization win games. If they congratulate me, if they boo me, whatever the case may be, I’m ready for whatever it is.”