NFL audiences were introduced to an obscure rule during the NFC Championship game between the Philadelphia Eagles and Washington Commanders.
Early in the fourth quarter, the Eagles were set up with first and goal on the 1-yard line after a long run by running back Saquon Barkley. Chaos ensued as it took six plays for the Eagles to get into the end zone; this included four snaps of the same second-down play as the Commanders defense continued to jump offsides in an effort to stop Philly’s patented “Brotherly Shove” play. The referee later explained that an obscure rule could have awarded the Eagles six points.
On the next play, Washington linebacker Frankie Luvu leaped over both the defensive and offensive lines before the ball was even snapped, leading to an encroachment penalty. Luvu made the mistake again after biting on a hard count; this time landing behind the center after Hurts backed away from the line. The officials warned the Washington sideline that if the defense jumped offsides again intentionally, it would become an unsportsmanlike conduct foul. Allen bit on another play and jumped offsides again on the next play; at that point, Hochuli announced that at some point, the officials would award the Eagles with the touchdown if the defense continued to foul.
Eagles offensive lineman Jordan Mailata said he didn’t know about the rule until after the team had scored. He praised Hurts for his “mental warfare.”
“Jalen did a tremendous job there to keep us cool, calm, collected, just because of all the extra stuff they were doing, all the extra chatter. ‘J’ just kept changing up the cadence on them, and we had to stay locked in, so I think the mental side of that ... was wearing them down a lot.”
“I was trying to inform them they were kind of lined up offsides,” Commanders linebacker Bobby Wagner said after the game. “They called us for a penalty—I think it was [Allen]. I was like, ‘They’re pretty much offsides too. I guess I need to refresh myself [on the rules]. I didn’t know they could just award a touchdown.”
The Eagles would eventually punch in the touchdown to go up 41-23. Even had the referees given them the score, it would not have mattered, as the Eagles scored two more TDs for a final score of 55-23.
