Philadelphia Eagles Caught a Break During a Critical Third Down Moment
The Philadelphia Eagles got lucky on Sunday during a very crucial moment.
It was third-and-nine when Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Carson Wentz avoided immense pressure and barely got a pass off to Nelson Agholor. With a little over four minutes to play in the third quarter, the Eagles were trailing and looking to take the lead. Agholor saved the drive with his extra leap of faith, getting past the first down marker to move the chains.
While everybody was so impressed with Wentz’s ability to avoid the rush and get the pass off, nobody realized that Agholor actually stepped out of bounds before crossing the first down market. And the craziest part about it all? It was right in front of a referee on the Colts side of the field. Somehow, the Eagles got away with it.
The Eagles ended up moving the ball all the way down the field and capped off the drive with a go-ahead Wendell Smallwood touchdown to give them the lead. At that point, nobody knew that the Eagles were gift-wrapped a first down earlier in the drive.
Nelson got away with one:
Finally seeing replay of key Agholor catch on third down with 4:47 left. Eagles caught a break. Foot out of bounds, line judge is right there. Bad job by whoever's advising Frank Reich on challenges.
— Sheil Kapadia (@SheilKapadia) September 24, 2018
Correct call would have set up 4th and 3 decision - go or 47-yard FG to tie. pic.twitter.com/Gq2Sk9JeOQ
Clearly, the Eagles did not see the play too well as there was no rush back to snap the ball to avoid a challenge by the Colts. But somehow, Colts head coach, Frank Reich did not attempt to throw the challenge flag to make it fourth down instead of having the Eagles move the chains. Now that he has been made aware of the mishap, a lot of Colts fans were curious as to why Reich let this call stand without a review.
Next. Has Wendell Smallwood earned the coaches’ trust?. dark
“Nobody saw it” Reich stated in his press conference on Monday afternoon. “It must’ve happened so fast. I looked at the tape, and nobody saw it.” Had the referees called this one back and spotted the ball where Agholor stepped out, the Eagles would’ve been in a fourth and short situation. Knowing Doug Pederson, there was a solid chance the Eagles were going for it. Especially since Jake Elliott has had his fair share of misses through the first three weeks. Fortunately for the Eagles, it didn’t get to that point.