Merrill Reese’s call of the Dallas Goedert catch that more or less won the Eagles Sunday afternoon’s game:

“3rd and 16. Barkley in the backfield. They will be pressuring Hurts.” 

Yeah, I thought so too. But they didn’t. They didn’t pressure Jalen Hurts. They dropped seven into coverage, used the 8th as a spy, and only sent three guys after the quarterback.

It’s funny because all the talk about this play centered on the mesh concept involving Goedert and Jahan Dotson. Three Saints players ran into each other and that’s the reason why the Birds were able to rip off a 61-yard gain when backed up in their own territory after a bad sack. But look at how it played out schematically and you’ll see it was the perfect call against this defensive look:

Only one player is expecting the ball here, and that’s Goedert. Johnny Wilson and Parris Campbell are lined up on the left and clearing out space for the tight end. Wilson doesn’t even have his head turned when the ball is released. Dotson is running interference over the middle and Campbell is doing the same thing, just a little deeper down the field, which moves the safety and makes it harder for that player to haul ass back to the other side of the field to prevent the touchdown.


When you rush three, one or more of your guys is going to be double teamed. Cam Jurgens actually doesn’t have anyone to block because the Saints leave the spy hanging there while the other guy, lined up at defensive end, goes with Saquon Barkley out into the flat. Hurts has the ball out within a second or two anyway.

It’s one of those cases where you think you have plenty of bodies back, so you keep everything in front of you and prevent the big gain. Instead, they find themselves twisted into a pretzel and give up 61 yards on a pass that was thrown maybe four yards beyond the line of scrimmage. That’s the funniest part about it. They weren’t beat deep, they were beat on a classic mesh concept.

Great play call.