As the clock winds toward Sunday night's showdown between the Eagles and Falcons in Atlanta, wide receiver DeSean Jackson is focused on the task at hand. Distractions like his quarterback's return to familiar stomping grounds or an injury he suffered against the Falcons last season won't get in the way of Jackson's responsibilities.
"We've got a job to do, go out there and win the game," said Jackson Thursday. "We support (Michael) Vick, we're happy that he's our quarterback, but we don't want to get caught up in him going back to Atlanta. The biggest thing is us going down there and getting a win in that game."
Last season, during the Eagles' 31-17 victory over the Falcons at Lincoln Financial Field, Jackson began the game like he was shot from a cannon, scoring two touchdowns of over 30 yards in the first quarter. But Jackson's afternoon was ended prematurely by Falcons cornerback Dunta Robinson, who collided with Jackson, concussing the Eagles wideout. That moment, and the subsequent missed game that came as a result, is far from Jackson's mind.
"I've moved on," he said. "It's part of the game. It's unfortunate, but you have to play football. Whatever you have to do to get the job done, that's what I'm going to be doing. I'm not going to think about that, just play and protect myself out there."
Jackson, though, did admit that he gets a little extra fired up for games when he knows the whole football landscape is tuning in.
"Primetime's my thing," he said.
But for what is a tell-tale game against last season's regular season NFC champions, Jackson knows the Eagles have to be on top of their game to come out of the Georgia Dome with a victory - a feat achieved by the visiting team only four times since 2008.
"Every game we want to better ourselves out there on the field," Jackson said. "It's going to be different looks we're getting every week from different defenses, so we just want to come into the game prepared, study and do the things we need to do to take advantage of Sunday night. It's going to be a great opportunity to be out there in Atlanta, hostile crowd, emotions going to be up. It's going to be a big one for us, we just have to go in there and handle everything we need to do to get (the win)."
