November 24, 2023
Denny Medley/USA TODAY Sports
D'Andre Swift had a huge 35-yard run against the Chiefs, with the help of excellent execution upfront.
The Eagles were down 10 late in the third quarter on Monday against the Chiefs with the ball at midfield when Brian Johnson dialed up a jet sweep to D'Andre Swift. The play went for 35 yards down to the Chiefs' 15 yard line.
— Jimmy Kempski (@jimmy_kemp51810) November 24, 2023
They would get into the end zone three plays later and cut the Chiefs' lead to 3.
The play seemed simple enough. If you watch enough football, you've seen plenty of teams run jet sweeps. They're a big staple in the 49ers', Dolphins', and Rams' offenses, for example, and they're pretty common at the college and high school levels. Swift took a handoff, ran around the end, and got a bunch of yards. No big deal. 🤷♂️
On closer inspection, the design of the play was cool.
Let's zoom out to the All-22 view, at the snap.
Above, we circled a bunch of players.
• Circled in yellow are RDE Charles Omenihu (90) and RDT Chris Jones (95): The Eagles are more or less going to leave those guys unblocked. Landon Dickerson (69) will tie up Jones for hot second before getting upfield, while Jordan Mailata (68) will will leave Omenihu untouched.
• Circled in blue are LT Jordan Mailata (68) and Chiefs LB Drue Tranquill (23). As noted above, Mailata will leave Omenihu unblocked. He instead heads up the field and blocks Tranquill.
• Circled in orange are TE Jack Stoll (89) and S Chamarri Connor (27). Like Mailata, Stoll will also leave Omenihu unblocked, and instead get to the second level to block Connor.
• Circled in black are D'Andre Swift (0) and Chiefs S Mike Edwards (21). If all goes to plan at the line of scrimmage, Swift will be left alone with Edwards in the open field.
Here's the end zone view, with Mailata-Tranquill circled in blue, Stoll-Connor circled in orange, and Swift-Edwards circled in black.
And again, the RDE (Omenihu, 90) is being left unblocked, and the RDT (Chris Jones, 95) is being mostly unblocked. If it seems counter-intuitive to leave a defensive end and a defensive tackle unblocked when you're running right at them, well, it is. And so, this play only works if the Eagles can catch the Chiefs by surprise, which is what they did.
To begin, unlike the 49ers/Dolphins/Rams mentioned above, the Eagles don't use a ton of pre-snap motion, and they don't run many jet sweeps, so the Chiefs didn't see much of that stuff on film. However, just because the Eagles don't run them often in games doesn't mean that they don't work on them extensively in practice.
It's the execution of this play that was outstanding. Swift comes in motion at a high speed, and the timing of (1) the snap, (2) Jalen Hurts' turn, and (3) the give to Swift all happens very fast. Bang-bang-bang. Swift receives the handoff with a full head of steam, which will be necessary to get around the edge before the RDE (Omenihu, 90) can diagnose what is happening.
Let's just look at the execution of the handoff, while also focusing in on Omenihu (90). I'll attempt to narrate what is going through Omenihu's head in the split second that it takes for this beginning of this play to unfold... "What's this? Is the tight end blocking me? No. Is the left tackle blocking me? No. Hmm, why not? Oh crap there goes the running back."
— Jimmy Kempski (@jimmy_kemp51810) November 24, 2023
Meanwhile, Stoll gets a block on Connor, Mailata gets enough of Tranquill, and Swift is left in the open field with Edwards. This play is probably designed to stay to the left once Swift gets into the open field, but he cuts inside to avoid Edwards and makes the most of his opportunity.
— Jimmy Kempski (@jimmy_kemp51810) November 24, 2023
Nick Sirianni was asked about the motion/snap/turn/handoff on that play.
"I appreciate you noticing that because the reps that go into getting that detail right on, it takes a lot of work because, D'Andre is obviously a special talent, but without the exact detail on that play being right on, that play doesn't work for that, and then we lose all those yards rushing that we got on that play and that obviously set up a touchdown," Sirianni said.
"So, the amount of time that our guys have spent on that play and the ball handling of plays, right, and that's just not on that play. That's every running play that is in and every play-action that's in. There is a lot of time devoted toward the detail of the play. The talents of the players make the play go and then the detail lets the play really shine. And so, man, they really worked hard on that."
Jalen Hurts was proud of that play as well.
"I appreciate the question honestly because we talk about the small details in the game and that was a big play for us, obviously," Hurts said. "It's just the small details are something that not everyone magnifies. It is something we put emphasis on, having proper ball handling, and it was a great play by D'Andre."
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