September 21, 2026
Denny Simmons"/IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect
Darius Cooper dragged his foot for a game-winning TD against the Titans.
During a 2016 game against Washington, Carson Wentz lofted a perfect pass to Jordan Matthews, who made the catch, but tried to quickly toe tap two feet in bounds. He only got one foot in, and the pass was correctly ruled incomplete.
If Matthews had good fundamentals and dragged his foot, it would have been an easy touchdown. Instead, Wentz would eventually throw an interception, ending the Eagles' threat in the red zone. The Eagles would go on to lose that game by five points.
In Sunday's win over the Tennessee Titans, Eagles receivers had a half dozen toe-drag receptions. Let's just show all them first, shall we? These are in chronological order:
1) We hear the play-by-play guy say, "Easy pitch and catch" here, but it's probably more that DeVonta Smith just makes it look easy.
2) Smith has plenty of room to make this TD catch, and didn't necessarily need to drag his foot, but he does anyway because he has good fundamentals.
3) Final drive. Quick hitter to Smith. Again, a toe drag isn't totally necessary, but he leaves no doubt.
4) Smith plants his feet in bounds on the sideline, then catches the ball as he is falling out of bounds.
5) Amazing toe drag catch while getting hit, by Smith. Concentration, contested catch, toe drag. All-Pro level stuff here:
6) And finally, on the game winning TD catch by Darius Cooper, you can see Cooper get the foot closest to the back line down first, and then drag the second foot in an almost exaggerated way.
Every day during practice, from spring practices through training camp, and into the regular season, the Eagles have a "catch circuit," where players will go from station to station, working on different aspects of catching the ball.
At one station, they'll drag their foot near the sideline. At another one they'll plant their feet as they await an incoming throw and make the catch while falling out of bounds. At another they'll have a staffer trying to create interference with a big forearm pad to simulate contested catches. And at another they'll have boxing gloves on a stick, with staffers poking as the ball post-catch to emphasize ball security.
Everyone expect for the quarterbacks and the offensive lineman rep those circuits.
"That circuit, that plays a big role," Dontayvion Wicks said. "We do a lot of sideline catches. I feel like we work the fundamentals a lot here, way more here than a lot of other teams. Fundamentals are a big thing here. When it comes to the end of the game, fundamentals win you the game. It's just, like, muscle memory since we do it so much. I think that working them drills, those catch circuits, even the DBs, they work on the catch circuits. Linebackers, lineman, they do the same thing."
Smith has worked that catch circuit more than any receiver on the team, and the "muscle memory" Wicks is referring to shows in the clips above.
"We have that catch circuit," Smith said. "We work on it every day. That's something that we drill every day. Even the defense does it with us. That's definitely something we work on, with the sideline drag [and more]."
As noted above, Cooper's foot drag on the game-winning touchdown seemed almost exaggerated. It's because the fundamentals have been drilled into him.
"It's a small thing," Cooper said. "You see a lot of guys that go on the sideline and they try to tap their feet. And then one of them taps out of bounds and they miss out on a big play. But that's why we have the fundamentals. We catch, drag. Catch and drag, every time."
So who on the staff is responsible for the fundamentals?
"Coach Nick, everybody," Cooper said. "You might even have an offensive line coach who comes up to you and says 'You gotta drag that.' So that's what we do. People on defense, even. 'Hey man make sure you catch-drag.' We do what we do."
Of course, Nick Sirianni was more than happy to talk fundamentals after the win.
"Everybody here is awesome to coach," Sirianni said. "Our job as coaches is to get them better fundamentally so they can take next steps of their game. And obviously, also, that's the major job of the position coaches. I feel like that's a major job for me as the head coach. And then also the coordinators, and the coordinators' job are to put the guys in positions to succeed. And our guys, I think we've built trust with them over the years that all the reps matter.
"It's just great when fundamentals play out [in games]. You work so hard at fundamentals, and sometimes those don't ever come up. There was a catch that I think back on when I was in college, there was a catch that my dad used to make me drill. I'm like, 'Dad, this catch ain't ever coming up.' And he said, 'Well you're gonna do it.' And that's when I was in high school when we were making those catches, and it didn't come up till my junior year of college, like this type of baseball turn catch. And I'm like, 'Man, that guy just knew.' My dad just knew.
"And sometimes they don't come up, and sometimes situations don't come up. But you work them anyway, and you put yourself in those positions anyway in the attempts of when they do happen, you know, they make a difference. And they make a difference in those guys, their elevation as players, and make a difference in wins and losses."
The Eagles' catch fundamentals were probably the difference between a win on Sunday, and a loss, like in that 2016 game against Washington.
Follow Jimmy & PhillyVoice on Twitter: @JimmyKempski | thePhillyVoice
Like us on Facebook: PhillyVoice Sports
Add Jimmy's RSS feed to your feed reader
