How Commanders turned Eagles' signature tush push into 'mental warfare'

PHILADELPHIA – Years from now, box scores and faded memories might overwhelmingly suggest that the Philadelphia Eagles' 55-23 victory in the 2024 NFC championship game was a walkover, a speed bump on their way to Super Bowl 59. But make no mistake, the ousted Washington Commanders – as they did throughout this season – fought relentlessly and stayed within striking distance.

Until a pivotal sequence early in the fourth quarter.

The Eagles were leading 34-23 but driving after a fumble by Commanders running back Austin Ekeler and ultimately propelled to the Washington 1-yard line when Saquon Barkley's 22-yard gallop ended just shy of the goal line. Most of the nearly 70,000 in attendance at Lincoln Financial Field might have assumed a patented Philly "tush push" on the next play would put the game in the bag.

It didn't quite go down that way. What followed next was what Eagles second-team All-Pro left tackle Jordan Mailata described as "mental warfare."

"That's all that was," Mailata said. "Mental warfare."

That's because the Commanders took a different approach for trying to defend a play the Eagles have made all but unstoppable on short-yardage situations, particularly on fourth downs and/or at the goal line, in recent seasons. Over the next five snaps (almost) – one a carry by Philadelphia quarterback Jalen Hurts for no gain – the ball inched incrementally closer to pay dirt, Washington penalized twice for being offsides and twice for encroachment, defensive tackle Jonathan Allen and linebacker Frankie Luvu flagged twice apiece.

"It was hilarious," Eagles right guard Mekhi Becton said. "I’ve never seen anything like that."

At one point, Becton said, a Commanders defensive lineman was yelling "C’mon, run the play, run the play." (Becton declined to reveal the Washington player's identity.) Becton added the physicality of the Eagles' front can push the opposition to do crazy things.

"You can always tell when somebody is about to give up," Becton said. "We know when that time is coming."

The infractions were clearly intentional attempts to disrupt the Eagles, Hurts contacted once as Luvu leapt over both lines. Luvu said he was shooting his shot and that he'd planned trying to time his hurdle over the crouched linemen in front of him with the snap of the ball.

"If I make it, I make it. But if not, bounce back," Luvu said. "But the third time, (the refs) told me I’m going to get a 15-yard penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct. I don’t know what that was about, but I guess they wanted them to score. So I just kind of stopped from there, and that’s how it played out."

Indeed, referee Shawn Hochuli announced to the crowd that the officials would award a touchdown to the Eagles should the Commanders' antics – or tactics, depending on one's perspective – continue.

"I guess I need to refresh myself on the rulebook," linebacker Bobby Wagner said. "I didn’t know they could just award the touchdown."

Hochuli explained.

"Simply put, a team can’t commit multiple fouls in an effort to prevent the score," he said in a postgame pool report. "So, (Luvu) jumped the ball a couple of times. That was when the warning came in. Again, if it’s meant to prevent a score, we can essentially award the score."

The play clock prevents the offense from using a "hard count" too many times, Hochuli said.

"With the defense, since we deem it as an effort to prevent the score – a repeated act – that’s where the potential for awarding the score comes in," he said.

Wagner said he tried to explain to the refs that some Eagles were lining up offsides, from his perspective.

"You gotta take a shot. You gotta do something," he said. "It’s a great play. It’s a great concept, great play, hard to stop. If I was them, I would run it too. We as a defense know they’re going to run it. We stopped it a couple times. And a couple times we jumped offsides … we just can’t get in that position where they run that play."

Like Wagner, D-lineman Clelin Ferrell had no idea officials could award points. But the Commanders' mettle at the goal line highlighted the team's character, he said.

"What was that, five plays back-to-back?" Ferrell said. "That’s the character of your team – on the 1-yard line, we’re losing, and guys still fighting. It don’t matter."

And it might have worked ... had the Eagles not maintained their own discipline.

"A lot of trash talk on their side of the ball," said Mailata. "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. But (Hurts) just kept changing up the cadence on them, and we had to stay locked in. Mental side of that, kind of from my perspective, kinda was wearing them down a lot.

"Craziest phase I've ever been a part of."

Lane Johnson, the Eagles' perennial Pro Bowl right tackle, basically couldn't blame the Commanders for trying something different in their desperation.

"Hey, this is a big game. Can't holding anything back. They played hard, it's the reason why they're in this game," said Johnson. "They were trying to stop it."

But ultimately Washington couldn't. Hurts tunneled in on the sixth "play" – all from the 1-yard line or closer – for his third rushing touchdown of the night, one that boosted the Eagles' lead to 41-23 and effectively put the game out of reach.

Said Philadelphia Pro Bowl center Cam Jurgens: "They had a lot of damn emotion, and they were talking a lot. (But) we executed."

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Eagles' tush push met with Commanders' odd 'mental warfare' defense