It's Time To Stop Overreacting To DeSean Jackson's Pouting

Give it a rest, folks. Resist the urge. Next time you see DeSean Jackson whining and pouting after a poor performance, zoom out a bit and have a look at the bigger picture that is the mess the Philadelphia Eagles have become.

You'll notice a pattern.

See, it's easy to rip DeSean for "dogging it," for playing like a guy more concerned with getting paid than helping his team win. Clearly, he hasn't played his best this season, though, to be fair, it's not like the guy hasn't been productive, even if he appears to be giving less than full effort on the field. He's caught 43 balls for 698 yards and two touchdowns, well within reach of this third straight 1,000-yard receiving season.

Assuming Vince Young can find him on the field without getting picked off first.

Jackson is an understandably easy target for those pointing fingers and playing the blame game around the Eagles' locker room. He's one of the more recognizable faces on this star-studded squad, a two-time Pro Bowler known for making spectacular plays in important moments throughout his three-and-a-half years in the NFL.

Star running back LeSean McCoy would catch heat, but he's playing too well for that. Michael Vick and Nnamdi Asomugha would be subject to more criticism if there weren't so many other ways for them to deflect it—injuries, poor protection, poor coaching, etc.

But, on a team level, Jackson's follies are merely emblematic of what truly ails the Eagles, of the failure of the anointed "Dream Team." His "pouting," if you will, speaks to the greater question that Philly attempted to answer coming into the 2011 season.

Can you build a championship team through free agency?

The answer in this case: no.

As in, no, you can't hope to field a winning team by scooping players up off the market if you don't first take care of your own. In that regard, it's the Eagles, namely general manager Howie Roseman and head coach Andy Reid, who deserve the lion's share of the blame for how they handled putting this team together.

Remember, the Eagles went 10-6 last year—good enough to win the NFC East and host the Super Bowl-champion Green Bay Packers in a Wild Card playoff game. The goal wasn't to start over from scratch in Philly.

Yet, with all the lavish spending that went on to bring high-profile players like Asomugha, Jason Babin and Cullen Jenkins to the City of Brotherly Love, and to keep Vick in it, the team chose not to show Jackson any love. They shelled out millions to guys who'd put in far less time and effort to the organization while leaving Jackson to play out the last year of his rookie contract at less that $800,000.

That kind of salary may seem substantial, and it certainly is in absolute terms, but in NFL wide receiver terms, it's far below Jackson's true value, both on the market and to the organization. As Reuben Frank of Comcast Sports Net Philadelphia pointed out before the season, there were 84 receivers set to earn more than Jackson coming into the season.

There aren't 84 receivers in the NFL who are better than DeSean Jackson. There might not even be 8.4 receivers in the NFL who are better than DeSean Jackson.

Of course, some of the fault in this situation lies firmly in Jackson's court. He knew full well coming into the season that he deserved more money and, as such, he could've and probably should've held out longer.

Instead, Jackson ended his holdout early, before forcing Philly's hand, choosing to focus on team first and hope that the Eagles would pay him in due time.

Well, that never happened—how can anyone in any enterprise realistically expect their employer to spontaneously reward their stellar service, without the individual in question putting some pressure on the ones with the deep pockets?

At the same time, the Eagles' dream season turned into a nightmare, leaving Jackson with little other than his paltry paychecks to comfort him. Once it was clear that the Eagles weren't going to win, much less contend for a Super Bowl, Jackson concerned himself less and less with team and more and more with self. As he said after Philly's loss to the Seahawks on Thursday night, it's about pride at this point, about playing to uphold the name on the back of the jersey as much as the front.

And while his words may not jive with our favorite cliches about teamwork and selflessness in sports, they ring truer than any outdated aphorisms. There's an honesty to Jackson's brief diatribe that speaks to Philly's shortfall this season.

In a twisted sort of way, Jackson's discontent is more selfless than selfish. He'll be a free agent after the season. As such, he has every incentive to perform his best, to leave it all on the field to boost his value on the open market.

But rather than do what's best for himself, he's become a martyr of sorts, sacrificing his own productivity to show Reid, Roseman and the rest of the team that this bold experiment of theirs was a fraud to being with. 

If you're going to win in the NFL, you need to take care of your own first and foremost. You need to spend your money on the guys you drafted, the guys who got your franchise into the championship conversation in the first place.

There will be no end to the questions lobbed at DeSean Jackson, at least not until Philly's season reaches its merciful conclusion.

But rather than point fingers at him and try to figure out what's wrong with him, perhaps those in position to ask questions, particularly those in the front office, should take a look around, using Jackson as a frame of reference to figure out how the Eagles came crashing down before they ever had a chance to take off this season.