Eagles

PLAY OF THE GAME: Doug Pederson’s Balls of Steel

By Kevin Kinkead

Published: Feb 4th, 2018 · 10:54 PM EST

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Just build the Doug Pederson statue right now.

Seriously.

Construction should start on Monday morning, simply for the fact that he’s the first person to coach the Eagles to a SUPER BOWL WIN. But beyond that, he did it with one of most courageous fucking calls I’ve ever seen in any game, at any level of football.

It was late in the second quarter, just 28 seconds until halftime. The Eagles were up 15 to 12 and it was 4th and goal from the two-yard line.

Kick the field goal?

Nah, of course not!

I thought they might go wildcat here after originally showing pistol formation and splitting Nick Foles out to the right. Instead, they ran a REVERSE to Trey Burton for a pass attempt instead:

.@TreyBurton8 has a career #SuperBowl passer rating of 118.8.#FlyEaglesFly pic.twitter.com/KGTw4WBQ5v

— Philadelphia Eagles (@Eagles) February 5, 2018

No words, man. I’ve got no words to describe it.

And the best part about it is that the Patriots tried, and failed, to run the same play earlier in the game.

Well, they only really failed because Tom Brady dropped the return pass:

Brady with the drop, Foles with the TD catch = difference so far in this game #SuperBowl pic.twitter.com/dUbDtxDIKn

— David Rosen (@sciguyrosen) February 5, 2018

But wait, there’s more.

Ironically enough, the Pats ran this play against the Eagles two years ago and connected for a HUGE gain:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UXuZSj9BtJg&feature=youtu.be

But let’s add another layer of irony to it.

Brilliant video here from Texas QB Sam Ehlinger, a clip of the same play from Westlake High School, the alma mater of both he and Foles:

It’s a Westlake thing🤷🏼‍♂️ @NFoles_9 #SuperBowl pic.twitter.com/2JmY7WriHM

— Sam Ehlinger (@sehlinger3) February 5, 2018

So I don’t know if Doug got it from there, or saw it on video from 2015, or if he saw it in both places and decided to throw it into the playoff for this weekend.

Here’s another example; I don’t know where Clemson got it, maybe the same place as Doug, but they ran this 6 years ago:

https://t.co/wsIBlFm27b

— David Newlin (@ClarkdaTiger96) February 5, 2018

Full credit to crusher Doug Pederson for digging through the archives to find a play that would become one of the most important sequences in the Birds’ very first Super Bowl win.