Football
On 4th and 7 at the Eagles 46-yard line with 10:40 to play in the game, Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin made the decision to punt it back to the Philadelphia Eagles, despite being down two touchdowns. I’m sure he thought that pinning the Birds deep would result in a quick three and out and then good field position for his offense but instead…his team didn’t get the ball back at all.
21 plays.
88 yards.
10:29 of game time.
The Eagles went on a drive that, as a fan of a Big Ten team that used to Run The Damn Ball, made me stand up and applaud for five minutes. The Birds slowly, and methodically, walked the Steelers down and won their tenth game in a row by only allowing Pittsburgh to have two possessions after halftime.
A drive as brilliant as that one deserves to have each of its plays ranked and I think I’m just the idiot to do it! Without further ado…all 21 plays of the Eagles game-winning drive against Pittsburgh on Sunday, ranked:
Firstly, we need to get the two penalties out of the way. While they obviously don’t count as “plays” they still happened and are definitely ranked at the bottom. A false start on the first play of the drive with your team backed up inside the five? I might try and start some drama this week by saying the one thing wrong with Philly’s offense is: that penalty.
23rd: 1st & 10 at PIT 28 (3:19 – 4th) (Shotgun) S.Barkley right tackle to PIT 27 for 1 yard (Ni.Herbig).PENALTY on PHI-J.Mailata, Offensive Holding, 10 yards, enforced at PIT 28 – No Play
22nd: 1st & 10 at PHI 3 (10:29 – 4th) (Shotgun) PENALTY on PHI-A.Brown, False Start, 1 yard, enforced at PHI 3 – No Play.
PIT decided to punt to PHI from the PHI 46 on 4th & 7 with 10:40 remaining in the 4th while losing 13 to 27.
With a Surrender Index of 16.53, this punt ranks at the 98th percentile of cowardly punts of the 2024 season, and the 95th percentile of all punts since 1999.
— Surrender Index 90 (@surrender_idx90) December 16, 2024
Alright, now on to the actual plays!
21st: 1st & 10 at PHI 43 (7:04 – 4th) (Shotgun) S.Barkley right end to PHI 39 for -4 yards (M.Adams).
20th: 1st & 10 at PIT 39 (5:33 – 4th) (Shotgun) S.Barkley left guard to PIT 42 for -3 yards (M.Fitzpatrick). ** Injury Update: PIT-D.Kazee has returned to the game.
- These two negative runs by Saquon Barkley were a bummer, but only allowed the Eagles to eat up more clock and drain the life from the Steelers’ souls.
19th: 1st & 20 at PIT 38 (3:15 – 4th) (Shotgun) S.Barkley right guard to PIT 38 for no gain (A.Highsmith). PHI-M.Becton was injured during the play.
18th: 1st & 11 at PHI 2 (10:29 – 4th) (Shotgun) J.Hurts pass incomplete short left to A.Brown.
- Mekhi Becton getting banged up on the 1st and 20 play makes it rank lower than the other play that gained zero yards. Sadly, both of these plays resulted in the clock stopping
17th: 1st & 10 at PIT 18 (3:00 – 4th) (Shotgun) K.Gainwell right guard to PIT 17 for 1 yard (P.Queen).
16th: 2nd & Goal at PIT 8 (1:20 – 4th) J.Hurts kneels to PIT 9 for -1 yards.
- This was the worst of Jalen Hurts’ three kneel downs. I didn’t care for it and, quite frankly, he needs to watch some film and get better at it.
15th: 2nd & 6 at PHI 32 (8:22 – 4th) (Shotgun) J.Hurts pass short left to S.Barkley to PHI 36 for 4 yards (P.Queen).
- Getting Barkley involved in the passing game is smart. Getting the ball in his hands as often as possible leads to good stuff. #analysis
14th: 1st & 10 at PHI 28 (9:05 – 4th) (Shotgun) S.Barkley left guard to PHI 32 for 4 yards (D.Lowry; K.Benton)
13th: 3rd & 2 at PIT 10 (2:12 – 4th) (Shotgun) K.Gainwell left tackle to PIT 8 for 2 yards (E.Roberts; K.Benton)
- If you need two yards on third down to get a first down, Kenny Gainwell will get you two yards. If you need five yards on third down to get a first down, Kenny Gainwell will get you two yards. Good situational awareness by Nick Sirianni to use his backup tailback here.
12th: 3rd & 1 at PIT 19 (3:04 – 4th) J.Hurts up the middle to PIT 18 for 1 yard (P.Queen; I.Loudermilk). ** Injury Update: PHI-M.Becton has returned to the game.
- Nice, Becton is back in the game! Also, another first down.
11th: 3rd & Goal at PIT 9 (0:39 – 4th) J.Hurts kneels to PIT 9 for no gain.
- This kneel down was much better than the other one and was also the final play of the game. Good win!
10th: 2nd & 9 at PIT 17 (2:56 – 4th) (Shotgun) F.Johnson reported in as eligible. K.Gainwell right guard to PIT 10 for 7 yards (D.Kazee)
9th: 3rd & 2 at PHI 36 (7:39 – 4th) (Shotgun) S.Barkley left tackle to PHI 43 for 7 yards (D.Kazee). PIT-D.Kazee was injured during the play.
- Gainwell gets a lot of hate online because he isn’t always a productive running back, but he and Barkley teamed up quite nicely on this final drive to keep the chains moving and keep the Birds on schedule.
8th: 2nd & 13 at PIT 42 (4:50 – 4th) (Shotgun) J.Hurts pass incomplete short left to A.Brown (P.Wilson). PIT-T.Watt was injured during the play.
- I don’t like when players get hurt. I especially don’t like when good players (who also happened to play at my alma mater) get hurt. I hope T.J. Watt’s injury isn’t serious…but you can’t deny that not having him on the field is very important in terms of how well the Eagles offense did over the final five minutes of the game.
7th: 2nd & 14 at PHI 39 (6:21 – 4th) (Shotgun) J.Hurts pass deep middle to D.Smith to PIT 39 for 22 yards (C.Sutton; Ni.Herbig)
6th: 2nd & 11 at PHI 2 (10:25 – 4th) (Shotgun) S.Barkley left guard to PHI 7 for 5 yards (A.Highsmith)
5th: 2nd & 20 at PIT 38 (3:11 – 4th) (Shotgun) J.Hurts pass short left to A.Brown pushed ob at PIT 19 for 19 yards (J.Pierre) [Ni.Herbig]
- These three plays, which occurred at different points throughout the drive, were all important because they gave the Eagles breathing room (Barkley run) or were explosives (the other two plays) that kept Pittsburgh on their heels. Kellen Moore did a really nice job of mixing things up and keeping the Steelers guessing all game.
4th: 3rd & 13 at PIT 42 (4:46 – 4th) (Shotgun) J.Hurts pass short left to D.Smith to PIT 30 for 12 yards (P.Wilson; D.Kazee)
- DeVonta Smith rules. I love him like a son.
3rd: 3rd & 6 at PHI 7 (9:47 – 4th) (Shotgun) J.Hurts pass short left to A.Brown to PHI 28 for 21 yards (M.Fitzpatrick; D.Kazee)
- A.J. Brown also rules. I love him like an older son.
2nd: 1st & Goal at PIT 8 (2:00 – 4th) J.Hurts kneels to PIT 8 for no gain
- Starting to kneel right after the two minute warning while being inside the 10-yard line because your drive has been going on for so long that the other team has already used all of their timeouts and are powerless to stop you or the clock HAS to be an awesome feeling.
1st: 4th & 1 at PIT 30 (4:04 – 4th) J.Hurts up the middle to PIT 28 for 2 yards (Ca.Heyward; M.Fitzpatrick)
- I have spent a lot of the last few years yelling about Sirianni’s fourth down decisions and I was a bit worried here that he would make the wrong one…but he didn’t. He played to win the game and, lo and behold, the Eagles did!
Shoutout to Nick Sirianni, Kellen Moore, the offensive line, Jalen Hurt, Kenny Gainwell, Saquon Barkley, A.J. Brown, DeVonta Smith, and Mike Tomlin for making this dream drive happen.
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