More Sports:

February 04, 2025

The Eagles are in the Super Bowl because they mastered the art of the turnover

The 'Peanut Punch' has been a winning element of the Eagles' defense.

Eagles NFL
021425ZackBaun Tim Heitman/Imagn Images

The Eagles separated footballs from a lot of ballcarriers this season.

In the Philadelphia Eagles' auditorium, a huge banner hangs above the stage, emphasizing turnovers. The left side of the banner pertains to ball security on offense, the right side reminds players of ways to attack ballcarriers to force fumbles.

020425TurnoverBanner

On the "ball security" side, the banner hits the following teaching points:

Body ball boundary: Carry the ball on the arm closest to the sideline so that if you fumble the ball is more likely to tumble harmlessly out of bounds.

Eagle claw: Grip the ball with the index and middle fingers on each side of the point of the ball.

Wrist above elbow: High and tight.

Wrist lock: While running through traffic, hold your wrist with the hand not holding the ball so your arm is harder to pull away from your body.

And on "takeaway" side:

Pre-tuck: Jab at the football in between the time when a receiver makes a catch and before they have tucked it away into a secure position.

Peanut Punch: Named after Charles "Peanut" Tillman, the "Peanut Punch" is more or less just punching at the football while making tackles. The more you do it, the better you get at it.

2nd/3rd man in: If a ball carrier is wrapped up by a teammate but still fighting for extra yards, they can lose focus of securing the ball, making that a good time to rip it out.

Fumble recovery (city and country): If the ball is on the ground with high number of players in the area (think city congestion), don't try to do too much. Just fall on it. Getting the ball is more important than return yardage. If the ball is just sitting there in wide open spaces (think big country field), then sure, pick it up and run with it.

Those are just the basics that apply to everyone on the team. Each positional group has their own more specific set of rules, for example, at quarterback.

"Jalen [Hurts] having two hands on the ball in the pocket is definitely a thing," Nick Sirianni said. "But the reason it's not up there [on the main banner] is because Dallas Goedert is not going to be passing the ball from the pocket."

The running backs have their own individualized set of rules as well, such as taking the ball from the quarterback at the mesh point on zone read plays.

After a 2023 season in which the Eagles had a -10 point differential, the staff placed a heavy emphasis on ball security and turnover generation.

The 2024 season got off to a bad start, as Jalen Hurts fumbled five times and threw four interceptions in the first four games. He was generally careless with the football in the pocket, leaving the ball exposed in one hand in traffic. Like in New Orleans against the Saints Week 3:

And more egregiously in Tampa Week 4 against the Buccaneers: 

After four games the Eagles were a disappointing 2-2 with a -6 turnover differential. However, after their bye Week 5, Hurts' ball security improved drastically, and the defense would eventually start taking the ball away soon after.

 OpponentTakeaways Giveaways +/- +/-
(season) 
 Packers-2 -2 
 Falcons-1 -3 
 Saints -1 -4 
 Buccaneers-2 -6 
BYE 
 Browns-6 
 Giants-6 
 Bengals+2 -4 
 Jaguars+2 -2 
 Cowboys+3 +1 
 Commanders+1 +2 
 Rams+1 +3 
 Ravens+3 
 Panthers+1 +4 
 Steelers-1 +3 
 Commanders+3 +6 
 Cowboys+4 +10 
 Giants+1 +11 
 Packers+4 +15 
 Rams+2 +17 
 Commanders+4 +21 


As you can see above, the Eagles turned the ball over 8 times the first four weeks, and then only 7 times in 16 games the rest of the season. They were an incredible +18 in turnover differential over their last six games, and +10 in three playoff games.

In the NFC Championship Game against the Commanders, Zack Baun, Will Shipley, and Oren Burks all forced fumbles that were recovered by the Eagles. As Commanders head coach Dan Quinn acknowledged during his post game press conference, those turnovers weren't luck.

"We'll give Philadelphia credit," Quinn said. "They caused them. It wasn't a fumbled snap or something that was reckless in that way. They caused them."

And certainly, Sirianni doesn't think turnovers are luck.

"I think this year we've taken another step and really emphasized it even more so this year as a defense," Sirianni said. "Every team meeting, we're looking at ball security, any mistake that's made in ball security. Every team meeting, we're looking at good strip attempts or missed strip attempt opportunities.

"This year, [VP of Football Technology] Pat Dolan, our video guy, got me every "Peanut Punch" that Charles Tillman forced a fumble with his entire career, and we watched that on a loop as coaches, and then we showed that to the players as well.

"So we emphasize the crap out of it because we know it's such a telling stat in this game. Our guys have done a nice job protecting it. Our defensive guys have done a good job taking it away, as well as our special teams guys."

Along the way, the defense as a whole became incredibly skilled at removing footballs from the grasps of opposing ballcarriers. 

"Punching at the football starts in practice," Burks said. "Just make it a habit, and it's constantly being pointed out by the coaches. 'You can punch here' or 'You can punch there.' That's on your mind and you don't know when you'll get that attempt. You might get 500 punches and you may not get one out, but if you get one or two that might come out that's going to change the game, so it's worth it."

Watching video of the Eagles' forced fumbles this season and seeing how they relate to the banner in the auditorium, it reminds me a little of the scene in The Karate Kid, when Mr. Miyagi tells Daniel-san, "Show me sand the floor. Show me wax on, wax off."

"Jalen Carter, show me 'Peanut Punch'"

"Zack Baun, show me '2nd man in.'"

Oren Burks, show me 'Pre-Tuck.'"

"Isaiah Rodgers, show me, 'Country Recovery.'"

"Nolan Smith, show me 'City Recovery.'"

The Eagles' turnover improvement turned their entire season around. It's the biggest reason they're in the Super Bowl.


Follow Jimmy & PhillyVoice on Twitter: @JimmyKempski | thePhillyVoice

Like us on Facebook: PhillyVoice Sports

Add Jimmy's RSS feed to your feed reader

Videos