THE 'GREAT BROAD STREET BLOCK' LIFTS EAGLES TO WIN OVER RAMS

Jordan Davis' improbable field goal block saves win for the Birds who remain undefeated.

Eagles DT Jordan Davis blocks what would have been a walk-off 44-yard field goal win for the LA Rams. Davis ran it back for a 61-yard TD and a 33-26 win. Photo by Andy Lewis.

There are moments in sports that will stay with fans, players and teams forever. The Miracle at the Meadowlands, the Miracle in Miami, Minneapolis Miracle, The Immaculate Reception, The Shot Heard 'Round the World...all describe the moment when a miracle in sports happens.

The Eagles were down to a prayer, leading by a point, 27-26 to the Los Angeles Rams with three seconds left in the game at Lincoln Financial Field.

Following the Eagles touchdown with 1:51 left in the fourth quarter–Jalen Hurts four-yard pass to DeVonta Smith- Rams veteran quarterback Matthew Stafford led the Rams on a 46-yard drive to the Eagles 26-yard line.

Rams kicker Joshua Karty had the game-winning, walk-off 44-yard field goal lined up.

But after the ball was kicked, Eagles defensive tackle Jordan Davis, all 6-foot-6, 336 pounds of him, got his paw on the would-be heart breaking boot and blocked the ball straight ahead, right to himself.

Eagles DT Jordan Davis rolls towards the end zone after blocking a would-be game-winning FG by the LA Rams. Photo by Andy Lewis.

Davis raced 61-yards with some Special Teams teammates on his side along with 69.879 roaring Eagles fans for a touchdown and give the Birds a 33-26 win over the Rams to remain unbeaten (3-0).

It was the second field goal blocked by the the Eagles on Sunday.

With 8:46 left in the fourth quarter, defensive tackle Jalen Carter blocked Karty's 36-yard attempt. Carter's block kept the score 26-21.

After the game, once the big guy caught his breath, he talked about the science of blocking a kick.

“It came down to the techniques and fundamentals of everything,” the 25-year-old out of Georgia said. “A lot of people think a field goal block is just another play, just another down...get off the field and check a box.

Eagles receiver A.J. Brown was in All Pro mode (6 catches, 109 yds, TD) during the Eagles 33-26 win over the Rams. Photo by Andy Lewis

“The way we talked about it on the sideline, especially after his last kick, we knew his angle we knew his launch point when he gets to the 30-yard line...somewhere around there.

“We just hit the gap, put our hands up at the right time...I saw the ball on the ground...I just took off from there. I just wanted to make sure we ended the game the right way.

This play will eventually get a nickname. For now, let's call it the “The Great Broad Street block.”

The Eagles dug themselves a deep hole early, falling behind 19-7 at the half, 26-7 at the 14:06 mark of the third quarter when Hurts fumbled after being sacked at the Eagles ten-yard line.

The Birds also had six of their drives start inside their own 20-yard line.

A lot of the first half headaches started when the Eagles lost All Pro right tackle Lane Johnson after suffered a neck injury after the Eagles first "Tush Push" TD on their first possession.

Although he struggled on the stat sheet, running back Saquon Barkley delivered a key first down in the game-winning drive. Photo by Andy Lewis.

The 38-yard drive was set up after Eagles All Pro linebacker Zack Baun intercepted Stafford on the fourth play from scrimmage.

Matt Pryor initially replaced Johnson, but the offense struggled. Head coach Nick Sirianni switched tackles and brought in Fred Johnson to replace Pryor.

The Birds offense played much better after Johnson entered the game.

The Eagles scored 26 straight points starting at the 11:43 mark of the third quarter when Hurts passed to Dallas Goedert for a 33-yard TD.

Hurts then passed to A.J. Brown to the right for nine-yard touchdown to make the score 26-21.

The Birds then went ahead with the TD pass to Smith with under two minutes to play in the fourth quarter. The two point conversion failed.

The rest, as they say, is history.

QUOTES AND STATS

Earlier in the week, Johnson was asked about the Eagles using the “Tush Push” at least seven times in Kansas City. The six-foot-six All Pro said he he was "6-foot-2" after the game.

Jalen Hurts finished 21 of 32 for 226 yards and three touchdown passes. Photo by Andy Lewis.

Hurts finished 21 of 32 for 226 yards and three touchdown passes. He was sacked four times and lost a fumble. Hurts rushed nine times for 40 yards and a one-yard touchdown to open the scoring.

Hurts was asked about having to face long fields on multiple possessions.

“We just have to go out there and play,: Hurts said at his post game press conference. "In the league, there is no perfect play, so it's not something that we can chase. We just have to go out there and play. Trust the rules of which we have, make sure we have the right rules in place, and just go out there and play ball.”

Hurts was asked what he learns about the team and his teammates after a game like this.

“It's exciting," Hurts said. It's exciting, because you can look back on the game and say, ‘What play will it be? Will this come back and bite us?’

“You can think of all of these things and try and rationalize what happened or why something happened. Ultimately, when you stay in the moment and you play each play as its own and just go out there and give it your all, show it when the moment needs you to. There isn’t another group of guys that I want to play with when it comes to that.

"There's never a doubt, there's never a quit and there's always that sense of fight to try and figure it out and so, we've been talking about taking pride in winning. We take pride in this game, as ugly as it was and as beautiful as it ended.

"That's the agony and the ecstasy of the game of football and we learn from it all. We learn from it all, but it's always great to learn after a win.”

Many of Davis' teammates were excited and impressed after seeing his long touchdown run.

Defensive back Quinyon Mitchell was asked if he had ever seen a game end the way the Eagles game did on Sunday.

“No, that was crazy but ...something in gut told me something crazy was going to happen,” Mitchell said. “I felt like it was going to be a block or he was going to miss it...but I didn't know JD was going to score a touchdown....he was movin' too. That big boy was movin'.”

Eagles All Pro DT Jalen Carter also blocked a field goal, two quarterback hits and three assisted tackles. Photo by Andy Lewis.

“I thought he was going to go down, but I say 'hey, keep going, score that touchdown!”

The second-year starter out of Toledo was asked about the character of the team that does not give up.

“I think it's our resilience,” Mitchell said. “Anyway possible to win. We want to play clean sound technical football. Sometimes it not going to happen, but we've got to fight, claw and find a way to win.”

“We know the offense was going to get clicking, we already knew that,” Mitchell continued. “Defensively we were just handling one play at a time, one stop...we gotta get one stop right here. We just kept getting those stops and we played great defense.”

Carter said he was impressed with Davis' speed.

“He's really, really fast,” Carter said. “He's faster than me. I've said it before, he may not be quicker that me, but that boy's fast.”

A.J. Brown caught six passes for 109 yards and a touchdown.

DeVonta Smith caught eight passes for 60 yards and a score.

Tight end Dallas caught one pass for 33 yards and it was a touchdown.

Matthew Stafford was 19 of 33 for 196 yards and two TD passes. He threw an interception on the opening drive of the game.

Rams receiver Puka Nacua recorded eleven catches for 112 yards. Davante Adams caught three balls including a 44-yard touchdown in first quarter.

Some observers – local and national – believe Stafford is still struggling with the back issues he dealt with in the offseason. Stafford hinted at that when asked about his thoughts on the game.

“Good battle, obviously good football team across the way,” the 37-year old said at his post game press conference. “Had our chances, really in all phases, to win that one and didn't get it done, which is frustrating. But got to go look at the tape, find ways to be better.

“There's definitely plays we left out there. I know myself, first and foremost, that I can be better, just physically throwing the ball. So I trust myself to go out there and do that, and we like where we're at.”

Eagles All Pro running back Saquon Barkley is off to a slow start in 2015. He rushed 18 times for just 46 yards against the Rams. He only had 21 total yards rushing in the first half.

Barkley was asked if the coaches said at half time that the running game is not going to get them back in the game.

Barkley pushed back a little bit.

“I think we had some big runs,” Barkley said. “Whether it was me or Jalen (Hurts) in the second half. That's the good thing about our coaches here...they don't just abandoned the run.

Eagles scored the first TD of the game on this one-yard "tush push" play. All Pro tackle Lane Johnson (65) sprained his neck on the play and missed the rest of the game. Photo by Andy Lewis.

“Obviously we've got to do better with the run and that starts with me. I've go to get it going, figure it out. I'll go back and fix that.”

Barkley was asked about the team's resilience.

“We showed it, we've been showing it,” Barkley said. “Sometimes it takes coming back in a game like this to show it. We showed it last week when we went to KC in a tough environment, we showed it against Dallas when we went through a lightning storm. We find ways to win football games. I know the fans and the media don't always like how it looks all the time. It shouldn't take coming back from 19 points but we find ways to win football games.

“We shouldn't put ourselves in that position. We all played shitty at one point and we all came up big at one point. That's the beauty of a good team.”

What did Barkley think when Davis blocked the field goal to win the game.

“At first, I thought...blocked!' And I went 'oh my God!' Then I looked back and all you see is him flyin'. That was all pretty cool. For him...he put a lot of hard work in this offseason...a lot of hard work.

“You can see how in-shape he is, you love it when the guys put the work in and they benefit from it.

When told Davis was running over 18 miles per hour during his touchdown run, Barkley smiled and said. “He was over 18 (MPH) ?,” Barkley exclaimed. “He definitely said he has a future a running back.” *

Email Al Thompson at al.thompson@footballstories.com.