Eagles: Real winner of Sunday's game is someone you will never guess
The Philadelphia Eagles have an unsung hero in their win over the San Francisco 49ers in the NFC Championship game. There was a big reason they won, and no one is really talking about it. Let's take it back a bit to the first quarter. There are 10 minutes left, and Jalen Hurts and company […]
The Philadelphia Eagles have an unsung hero in their win over the San Francisco 49ers in the NFC Championship game. There was a big reason they won, and no one is really talking about it.
Let's take it back a bit to the first quarter. There are 10 minutes left, and Jalen Hurts and company are going for it on fourth and three in the red zone. He scrambles away from the pressure and hits DeVonta Smith up the sideline for the first down.
It was an incredible catch. Well, at least we thought so. Before we could even see the replay, Smith ran up to the line of scrimmage and hurried up the offense to get a play off before it was reviewable. One of the more heads-up plays we have seen in a while.
The catch ended up, well, not being a catch. The real MVP of the game, the real winner in this situation, ended up being the jumbotron operator, and Darius Slay summed it up best.
"You see they hurry up to the offense, got to sprint down there, get a play off before they can get a challenge off. That's a big difference in the game right there. If I was in that situation, of course, my antennas go up because if that would happen in San Fran, they would have put it on the jumbotron and we would have seen that being a no-catch before it even happened. Being that there is a home game, it was not on the jumbotron, he couldn't get the real reaction. I was just like look up and like see the jumbotron that's almost like a challenge himself. The stadium knows not to put it up there, but if you have a way game, they're gonna keep the play rolling and then you get a challenge flag easily. But since San Fran was not at home, we didn't get any privilege. So that was a big game changer."
That is just one of the many reasons home-field advantage in the playoffs is so important. As Slay said, if it was at an away game, they would have put it up on the big screen for all to see, thus giving the opposing team a look up close and a chance to challenge.
The Eagles worked hard all season for their shot at home field throughout the postseason, and it paid off. That one play didn't win them the game, but who knows what would have happened after they turned it over on downs.
Featured Image Via Eric Hartline-USA TODAY Sports
