Young Eagles' Defender Sinks Packers With High Football IQ

Third-year defensive tackle Moro Ojomo knew what was coming on a key fourth-and-one stop.

Philadelphia Eagles defensive tackle Moro Ojomo (97). | Bill Streicher-Imagn Images

The Eagles have spent years cultivating high-football-IQ talent on the defensive side of the football, and it showed up at the biggest moment during a hard-fought 10-7 win over Green Bay on Monday night.

With just 1:30 left in the game, the Packers were facing a fourth-and-one play from their own 44-yard line with an opportunity to either tie or win the football game.

Green Bay had been using tempo in such situations during the game, and head coach Matt LaFleur again pulled that card. 

Eagles third-year defensive tackle Moro Ojomo quickly deciphered what was going on and screamed to his teammates, “Inside zone this way. Inside zone this way.”

Ojomo himself pushed Packers’ right guard Jordan Morgan three yards into the backfield, while Jaelan Phillips, with the help of a closing Reed Blankenship, collapsed things from the edge, and Packers running back Josh Jacobs was caught dead to rights, stopped four yards behind the line of scrimmage.   

Oh ho ho ho! Very cool! Ojomo (DT 97) loud and clear calling out the 4th and 1 go-to of the Packers.

"Inside zone this way! Inside zone this way!" https://t.co/uEhuSSkReW pic.twitter.com/VThQ210wDT

— Benjamin Solak (@BenjaminSolak) November 11, 2025

The game was essentially over thanks to Ojomo’s quick identification of the upcoming play and Jordan Love’s inability to can a poor decision, steering headfirst toward disaster.

Sunken By Tendency

Philadelphia Eagles linebacker Jaelan Phillips (50) reacts after the Eagles recover a fumble by Green Bay Packers running back Josh Jacobs on Monday, November 10, 2025, at Lambeau Field in Green Bay, Wis. T | Tork Mason/USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

“Fourth-and-one, they called out our play,” Jacobs confirmed. “We ran it like four times, they called it out.

“... As a runner, it don’t ever feel good. … It changed my mind on how I’m going to run the ball, if I’m being honest. … Obviously, people are smart. If we’ve got words or whatever, you hear it a few times, you’re going to eventually react to it.”

Ojomo’s reaction was instant, nullifying any advantage that is tied to the tempo LaFleur used as a crutch.

An undersized defensive tackle who was a seventh-round pick in 2023, the Eagles were enamored by Ojomo’s athleticism and his intelligence coming out of the University of Texas.

A Nigerian native who emigrated to Santa Clara, CA. when he was just 8 years old, Ojomo had begun kindergarten at 3 years old at a British school in Nigeria.

He remained on that accelerated leaning path when he reached the United States and was enrolled at Texas by the time he was 16. 

A four-time first-team Academic All-Big 12 honoree while majoring in business finance, Ojomo's post-football goals are lofty, with an eye on corporate law.

All of those educational milestones converged at Lambeau Field Monday night. The Packers and LaFleur were not facing a run-of-the-mill DT who would need Luke Kuechly to decipher things for him.

Ojomo might as well have been in LaFleur's headset.

“We kind of snapped it faster than we wanted to, and they made a play,” Jacobs said. “... That’s football, but it’s never a good feeling.”

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