The Philadelphia Eagles have become known for their signature short-yardage play over the past two seasons, but the Tampa Bay Buccaneers found its kryptonite on Monday night.
Faced with a two-point conversion attempt on the one-yard line after a penalty on DB Zyon McCollum, the Buccaneers stopped what has mostly been unstoppable for the better part of two years. But how did they stop it?
Bitter opposing fans will blame it on a missed facemask call against Eagles QB Jalen Hurts. The truth is that the Bucs had an immovable object to beat an unstoppable force. That immovable object is Tevita Tuliʻakiʻono Tuipulotu Mosese Vaʻhae Fehoko Faletau Vea, who is better known as Vita Vea.
The 6-foot-4 and 347-pound defensive tackle won the leverage battle in the trenches. The saying goes that the low man always wins in these situations and Vea got about as low as he possibly could without allowing the Eagles to clear a path for Hurts. The remarkable part is that he even ended up on the ground by the end of the play, but still didn't allow the Eagles' OL to get clear of the Bucs' defenders waiting to clean the play up.
The Eagles killed the Bucs the first time these two teams played, but this team was determined to flip the script this time around. It started with stopping that signature play.
"I'm glad we didn't get into it too many times," Buccaneers HC Todd Bowles said after the game. "I think the first game they had about four or five third-and-1's and I think we were, like, one for four, so we were one for one, I'll take it. Don't want to go against it again, though."
Additionally, stopping the run was a huge emphasis in general during the practice week. The big guys on the defensive line knew it'd be vital in opening up things for the pass rush.
“I think we did (a) pretty (good job of stopping the run)," Vea told reporters after the game. "[There] was a lot of new stuff that they put on us this week, but we all came together and just stuck with the gameplan. We did our jobs – that was the main emphasis this week - to be where you’re supposed to be and do your job. I think we did that in all three phases of the game. I think we did a good job of it, and it turned out well for us.”
Next up, they'll have another high-powered rushing attack with the Detroit Lions duo of David Montgomery and Jahmyr Gibbs. They'll need to adopt a similar run-stopping strategy if they're to find success in that one.
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