'East Texas' Gets Lane Johnson Into the End Zone

PHILADELPHIA - The only thing missing was the Foo Fighters providing the soundtrack of "My Hero."

Instead of "Varsity Blues" and Johnny Moxon getting "Billy Bob" involved in the fictional town of West Canaan, Texas, it was Jalen Hurts to Lane Johnson, a couple of Lone Star State stars, igniting the South Philadelphia faithful during a 34-10 drubbing of the New York Giants, a statement win that put the Eagles at the front of the line for the NFC's final playoff spot.

It was a simple five-yard touchdown throw on a tackle-eligible play but considering what Johnson has been through this year with anxiety and depression and how popular he is with his teammates, the veteran finally getting into the end zone was the cherry on top of the sundae in a divisional win.

"The play was called ‘East Texas’ because Jalen is from East Texas and I’m from East Texas, but I knew that we were going to run it if we were ahead," Johnson said. "We had this play for a few years, or at least I’ve had it a couple times but we were always down."

The play actually spanned three coaching staffs, according to Johnson. From Chip Kelly to Doug Pederson and now Nick Sirianni, with the latter being the one to finally pull the trigger in the same week the coach was scaled back to virtual work for much of the week due to his COVID-19 quarantine.

"We had a lot of confidence in the play because of the way we practiced this week," Sirianni said. "Just confidence in Lane. I mean, Lane is a phenomenal football player. I don't agree that's he's not in the Pro Bowl. I think you got a chance to have a guy who is going to be a first- or second-team All-Pro and not in the Pro Bowl, so it was great to be able to get him a touchdown."

“We’ve had it before, when Chip was here. I think we maybe had it once when Doug was here, we just never called it," added Johnson. "We had it in this week and the conditions were right. I’m just glad I caught it. I saw it was – I’m just glad I didn’t drop it.”

Dropping it was a possibility because Hurts put some mustard on the throw, but Johnson is regarded as a great athlete, a former QB himself in junior college.

"My job is to block the [defensive] end and then try to create some separation," Johnson said. "I don’t know who was behind me. I know Jalen whizzed that thing in there.

"What was worrying me was that I was wearing those thumb guards that are all like plastic, so I can’t really bend my thumb. I’m just glad I caught it and after that, I tried to do a Lambeau Leap, but I guess our gates are pretty tall.”

Johnson was so excited he handed the football to a fan who was even more excited than him before realizing he might like that thing as a memento.

"We got it back, so we’re going to hook up the guy that got the ball," Johnson said. "But when I was running there, that was the first guy I saw and I just gave it away to him. I knew he was happy.”

Not as happy as some of Johnson's own teammates.

"I’m not going to swear, but it was [expletive] awesome," left tackle Jordan Mailata joked. "It was awesome, man. I’m so happy that he got a touchdown, a guy of his caliber. He deserves it."

"I’m happy he got him one," Hurts added. "We exchanged jerseys after the game actually because I’ve never thrown a touchdown to an offensive tackle."

That's because it's not exactly a common occurrence for any QB. The last time an Eagles' offensive lineman caught a TD pass was Todd Herremans on Dec. 12, 2010, at Dallas.

There's something about Texas I guess.

"He’s a freak athlete," Hurts said of Johnson. "... I gave my jersey, signed it, gave it to him, and he gives me his jersey and leaves it in my locker. And he wrote on there: When I caught that ball I didn’t know what to think. All I could think was, ‘What you know about them Texan boys?’"

-John McMullen contributes Eagles coverage for SI.com's EagleMaven and is the NFL Insider for JAKIB Media. You can listen to John, alongside legendary sports-talk host Jody McDonald every morning from 8-10 on ‘Birds 365,” streaming live on both PhillyVoice.com and YouTube. John is also the host of his own show "Extending the Play" on AM1490 in South Jersey. You can reach him at jmcmullen44@gmail.com or on Twitter @JFMcMullen

Ed Kracz is the publisher of SI.com’s Eagle Maven and co-host of the Eagles Unfiltered Podcast. Check out the latest Eagles news at www.SI.com/NFL/Eagles or www.eaglemaven.com and please follow him on Twitter: @kracze.