The Philadelphia Eagles were the best short-yardage team in the NFL last season because of their dominance with the quarterback sneak.
It is not so much a sneak, as much as it is a push.
When the Eagles are at the goal line or facing a fourth-and-inches situation, they power forward with their offensive line and give quarterback Jalen Hurts a push from behind to get him into the end zone or past the first down marker. The Eagles were so successful with it last year that opposing defenses hated it and the league even looked into whether or not the move should be banned.
It was not, and the Eagles are free to still use it.
They scored two touchdowns on those plays on Thursday night.
The first came late in the second quarter when Hurts capped off a physically dominant touchdown drive that saw the Eagles run the ball all over the Vikings.
The notorious Hurts QB sneak for the TD! #Eagles ground game completely took over that drive. 15 plays, 12 of them are running plays.
— JPAFootball (@jasrifootball) September 15, 2023
Swift has 12 carries for 62 yards pic.twitter.com/ZYE73VXMwb
They went back to it again in the third quarter for Hurts' second touchdown of the game.
Make that 2 touchdowns on the night for Jalen Hurts!
— TSN EDGE (@TSN_Edge) September 15, 2023
Hurts 2+ TDs +550 ✅
: @NFL pic.twitter.com/aa9cEHZ7kF
Hurts had 13 rushing touchdowns during the regular season in 2022 and five more in the playoffs due in large part to that play. He and the Eagles are off to another promising start with it this season.
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