USA Today
Top Five Key Plays in Eagles' Win Over Cardinals
Here are my top five key plays in the Eagles’ 20-17 survival test against the Arizona Cardinals at State Farm Stadium on Sunday.
THE CATCH
Dallas Goedert made a couple of big ones, but this particular catch came on third-and-12 from the Arizona 36 with 3:42 to play in a 17-17 game.
It was the drive that featured 13 runs among the 17 it took for the Eagles to get into field-goal range to take the lead.
“We had a different play on,” said Goedert leading up to his catch. “Jalen (Hurts) did a good job getting to the check, found the open window, and I knew I needed to get the first down. I was going to do whatever I could to get the first down, keep the chains moving, keep the clock ticking.”
If the Eagles don’t convert, head coach Nick Sirianni would have been faced with a decision – to go for it on fourth down or send his rookie kicker, Cameron Dicker, in for a field goal from about 53 or 54 yards, which also would have left plenty of time on the clock for the Cardinals to try to score a touchdown.
THE SPIKE
On the Cardinals’ last drive to attempt to tie or take the lead, QB Kyler Murray thought he had run for a first down. So did his teammates. He hadn’t, sliding a yard short. Thinking it was first-and-10, Murray spiked the ball and that made it fourth down, leaving Arizona coach Kliff Kingsbury to send in the field goal team for a 43-yard that we all know what happened then.
“I think everyone on offense thought it was a first down and I think that’s why we assumed it was clock, everyone’s got the clock signal,” said tight end Zach Ertz. “That’s why everyone got set for the spike, then they moved the ball back a little bit and from there the operation was so far gone that we had no other choice with the clock winding down.”
Ertz added that the officials didn’t communicate the down but didn’t fault them.
“The officials got so many other things to worry about,” he said. “Just the sticks on the sideline are the only things that give you the indication whether if it’s a first down or not. At that point, there are so many things going on, so many thoughts in our heads.
“We’re just listening to the play call to make sure that everyone is on the same page regardless of whether it was first down, fourth down, third down, or first down but the officials aren’t telling us what down it is.”
THE DROP
Marquise Brown had a nice day with eight catches for 78 yards, but it was the catch he didn’t make that hurt. He was wide open over the middle of the field with not many Eagles defenders near him with just over two minutes to play in the first half.
Murray hit him in stride, but Brown bobbled it a couple of times before dropping it. He had plenty of room to run and, while that Cardinals’ drive led to a field goal – thanks to a fake punt that notched a first down – a catch by the speedy Brown in space there goes a long way, maybe for a TD.
THE SACK
The Eagles only had one and it was by guess who?
Yep, Haason Reddick, who now has a team-high 4.5, with all of them coming in the last three games. This one came with just under five minutes to play in the third quarter and right after Dicker’s 42-yard field goal opened up the Eagles’ edge to 17-10.
Arizona was on the march having picked up a pair of first downs to reach midfield. On third down from the 48, the 240-pound Reddick simply bull-rushed veteran right tackle Kelvin Beachum, all 310 pounds of him, into Murray’s lap for an 11-yard sack to force a punt.
THE KICKS
These are the obvious and the reason they don’t rank any higher, but Matt Ammendola’s miss from 43 yards would have sent the game into overtime while Dicker’s 23-yard make with 1:45 to play in the game stood up for the game-winning points.
Ed Kracz is the publisher of SI.com’s Fan Nation Eagles Today and co-host of the Eagles Unfiltered Podcast. Check out the latest Eagles news at www.SI.com/NFL/Eagles or www.eaglesmaven.com and please follow him on Twitter: @kracze.
