'No Ego Involved' For Eagles Unsung Hero

PHILADELPHIA - Maybe the unlikeliest aspect of the Eagles’ emphatic 38-20 divisional win of the New York Giants this past Sunday was the dominance of journeyman offensive lineman Brett Toth against one of the best defensive fronts in football.

You can make a strong argument that Toth, a six-year veteran making his fourth career start and first as a center, was the best player on a field littered with stars.

Pro Football Focus graded out Toth, 29, as the top player in the game who played starter-level snaps, thanks in large part to his movement skills and pulling ability as a run blocker in a game where Philadelphia ran for an NFL season-best 276 yards.

There was much consternation entering the game with Toth at center in place of the injured Cam Jurgens, with Landon Dickerson, a one-time All-American OC at Alabama, staying at left guard and helping Toth is a unique setup for handling protection calls.

In hindsight, the idea worked like gangbusters with what was the best offensive line performance of the season for the 6-2 Eagles.

“He played really [well.] He played really, really [well.],” offensive coordinator Kevin Patullo said on Tuesday when asked by Eagles On SI about Toth.

Outsiders have long considered Toth, a versatile player who came out of Army as a tackle and can play all five O-Line positions in a pinch, as a non-starter in the pivot because of shotgun snap issues in the past while trying to learn the position in practice.

Cerebral And Violent

However, well-regarded offensive line coach Jeff Stoutland sees a cerebral player with violent hands who is a valuable game-day backup commodity because of that versatility.

On Sunday, things were clean on the snapping front, helped along by more work under center, enabling observers to see the meat and potatoes of Toth’s game, which melds a high football IQ with outstanding athleticism.

“I mean, the guy's extremely smart,” Patullo said of a player who earned a degree in nuclear engineering. “He's detailed. He comes to work every day, he works his butt off constantly in the classroom. He asks really good questions. He's out in front of things. He wants to know the plan inside and out and you can feel his detail and his energy out there.”

Perhaps it’s his Service Academy background, but there is also very little ego in Toth, a player who tends to be very hard on himself.

“For me, it's never gonna be a woe is me,” Toth said.” ... There's no ego involved.  Either I'm the guy that can help the team be successful, or if I'm not, I need to help the guy who's in that position.”

The endgame is simple for Toth.

“What do you do the next day to get better?" he said.

After Sunday’s performance against the Giants, however, Toth can afford to use the bye week as a pause button. It would be tough to get better than the 60 minutes of football he had against the Giants.

"He wants to be good in every area and do anything he can for this team," Patullo said.

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