The Eagles defeated the Commanders to punch their ticket to Super Bowl LIX.
The Philadelphia Eagles are headed to Super Bowl LIX after defeating the Washington Commanders in the NFC Championship Game.
Seriously seriously
PHILADELPHIA – Years from now, the box score and hazy memories might suggest that the Philadelphia Eagles’ 55-23 victory in the 2024 NFC Championship Game was a walkover, a quick bump on the road to Super Bowl 59. . But make no mistake, outcasts Washington Commanders – as they have done this entire season – fought tirelessly for the duration.
That was never more evident than early in the fourth quarter. The eagle led 34-23, but a drive by Commanders running back Austin Eckler eventually drove to the Washington 1-yard line when Saquon Barkley’s 22-yard dash ended just shy of the goal line. . Most of the nearly 70,000 in attendance at Lincoln Financial Field would have assumed that the patented Philly “tush push” on the next play would put the game in the bag.
It didn’t happen. coffee go down like this. What followed was what Eagles second-team All-Pro left tackle Jordan Melata described as a “mental battle.”
“That was all,” said Melita. “Mind War.”
That’s because the Commanders took a different approach to trying to defend a play that the Eagles have run in short-yardage situations, especially on fourth down and/or at the goal line, without stopping in recent seasons. Made something. Over the next five snaps – a carry by Philadelphia quarterback Jalen Hurts for no gain – the ball got progressively closer to paying for fouls, Washington was penalized twice for offsides and twice for infractions, defensively. Jonathan Allen and linebacker Frankie Loosway were hit with the flag piece.
“It was hilarious,” Eagles right guard Mekhi Becton said. “I’ve never seen anything like it.”
At one point, Becton said, a commanding defensive lineman was yelling “Come on, run the play, run the play.” (Becton declined to identify the Washington player.) Becton added that the physicality of the Eagles’ front forces the opposition to do crazy things.
“You can always tell when someone is going to give up,” Becton said. “We know when that time is going to come.”
The infringement was clearly a deliberate attempt to disrupt the Eagles, with Lowe making contact with Hurts as he leapt across the line. Lowe said he was shooting his own shot and planned to try to clear his block on the linemen sitting in front of him with the snap of the ball.
“If I make it, I make it. But if I don’t, I bounce back,” Lowe said. “But the third time, (the referees) told me I was going to get a 15-yard penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct. I don’t know what it was, but I guess they wanted him to score. Stop there. went, and it turned out this way.”
In fact, referee Sean Hochuli announced to the crowd that if the Commanders’ antics – or tactics, depending on one’s perspective – continued, the officials would award the Eagles a touchdown.
“I guess I need to refresh myself on the rulebook,” linebacker Bobby Wagner said. “I didn’t know they could only award touchdowns.”
“Simply put, a team cannot commit more than one foul in an attempt to prevent a score,” Hochuli explained in the postgame poll report. “So, (Lowe) jumped the ball a couple of times. That’s when the warning came in. Again, if it’s meant to prevent a score, we can basically give the score away.”
Hochuli said the play clock prevents the offense from using a “hard count” too many times.
“With defense, because we think of it as trying to stop the score — a repetitive action — that’s where the scoring potential comes from,” he said.
Wagner said he tried to explain to the referees that some of the Eagles were standing offside from his point of view.
“You’ve got to take a shot. You’ve got to do something,” Wagner said. “That’s a great play. It’s a great concept, great play, hard to stop. If I were him, I’d run it. We know as a defense they’re going to run it. We’ve got him a couple of times. Bar stopped. And a couple of times we jumped offside … we just can’t get into a position where they run the game.
Like Wagner, defensive lineman Klein Farrell had no idea officials could give points. But the commanders’ skill on the goal line highlighted the character of the team, he said.
“What was that, five plays back to back?” Farrell said. “That’s the character of your team — at the 1-yard line, we’re losing, and guys are still fighting. It doesn’t matter.”
“There’s a lot of trash talking at their ball,” Melita said. “Jaylen did a great job out there of keeping us cool, calm, together – just because of all the extra things he was doing, All the extras. The mental aspect of it, from my perspective, kind of wore them down too much.
“Craziest stage I’ve ever been a part of.”
But Lane Johnson, the Eagles’ perennial Pro Bowl right tackle, basically couldn’t blame the Commanders for trying to do something different in their desperation.
“Hey, it’s a big game. Can’t hold anything back. They played hard, that’s why they’re in this game,” Johnson said. “They were trying to stop him.”
But ultimately, Washington could not do so. Hurts drove into the tunnel on the sixth snap – all from or near the 1-yard line – for his third rushing touchdown of the night, one that extended the Eagles’ lead to 41-23 and effectively put the game away. Out of reach.
Philadelphia Pro Bowl center Cam Jurgens said: “He had a lot of emotion, and he was talking a lot. And we executed it.”
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