Doug Pederson looked more like himself on Sunday night. He was aggressive early, called a balanced game, and mixed in some creative gadget plays to keep things from becoming stale and predictable. Some of those plays, the Jalen Hurts snaps in particular, had mixed results, but served to keep San Francisco on their toes throughout.

Going back through the game film, there were two plays that stood out to me, two plays that didn’t see a lot of chatter on social media but are worth taking a closer look at it. These sequences featured some nice little wrinkles that suggest that the Doug Pederson we know and love is still there.

1. The tight end screen

The Eagles’ screen game hasn’t been fantastic through four games, and without Dallas Goedert they don’t have a tackle breaker, so if you were hypothetically going to look for YAC yards with a tight end, Zach Ertz wouldn’t be your first choice.

But credit to Doug for pulling this one out of the Andy Reid playbook, and using pre-snap motion to set up a middle tight end screen for an eight-yard gain:

It’s a nice design.

When Greg Ward comes in motion, it moves the linebacker, Kwon Alexander, off to the flank to help create some space to set up the screen. Alexander ultimately makes the tackle, but he has to honor that would-be route from Ward, which allows Ertz to throw a little chip block and then turn and face Carson Wentz to catch the ball in this position:

Beyond the motion, you’ve got play-action to hold the other linebacker, Fred Warner, in place in the middle of your screen, and there’s a ‘go’ route from the bottom receiver to just take that cornerback and clear him out vertically.

It’s a cool design. There are three different pieces to that play which serve to move two linebackers and a defensive back, and then the Wentz dumps it down to the tight end with the big boys out in front to block. This play probably should have went for more yardage, if Ward was able to hold that block, or if Ertz was quicker.

2. Engage and release

On the long third-quarter drive that ended in a field goal and cut the San Francisco lead in half, the Eagles ripped off a big gain on a Richard Rodgers catch.

This right here is something you’d run with your tight ends on the goal line. It’s a simple engage and release, with one player trickling through on what would normally be a short out, aimed at the pylon. In this case, they use 12 personnel and go heavy off the right tackle with both Rodgers and Ertz:

The blocking scheme is what makes this play.

When you watch the second replay in that clip above, you see the Birds block down into a couple of double teams, moving to the weak side. This is just deception, to show gaps to the San Francisco linebackers as intentional distractions. What they do from there is sell the scheme with some play action, which freezes Alexander just enough to allow Rodgers to detach from Arik Armstead and catch the ball with room to run:

Again, another dummy route, this time from Ertz, just to clear space vertically and give Rodgers something to work with.

Overall, two really good plays from Pederson. They both lean on the few strengths the Eagles have with a depleted roster, which are their tight ends and their ability to run play action with a legitimate #1 running back on the field. Plus, both of these throws are quick and short, which is stuff that helps get Carson Wentz in a rhythm and find some confidence along the way. Maybe we’d call these “layup” throws.

Seriously though, Doug coached a good game. This was his best outing of the season.