The Philadelphia almost get a touchdown awarded in the NFC Championship Game without scoring one – because the Washington Commanders misbehave at the goal line.
The Philadelphia Eagles scored seven touchdowns in a 55-23 win over the Washington Commanders in the NFC Championship Game.
All seven were rushing touchdowns. But one of them almost happened in a much stranger way.
And the Eagles wouldn’t even have had to visit the end zone for this one – they would have gotten it “given to them” by the referees, so to speak.
With the score at 34-23, a good twelve minutes before the end, the Eagles were at the 1-yard line on 2nd down. Everyone knew what was coming: the “tush push”.
The infamous play in which quarterback Jalen Hurts is pushed by his teammates this one yard. That the Eagles have now perfected to such an extent that it is almost impossible to prevent.
Unless, as a defender, you catch exactly the moment of the snap and stop Hurts before he really gets into the forward motion.
Washington Commanders: Frankie Luvu too forceful
That’s exactly what Commanders linebacker Frankie Luvu tried to do – but he was a little too quick: encroachment, penalty, the ball was moved back half a yard closer to the end zone.
On the next play, Luvu was even more forceful, jumping over the Eagles’ offensive line and landing in Hurts’ backfield – unfortunately, he did it too early again.
Once again the referees threw a flag, once again the ball was placed a bit closer to the goal line – but this time with a warning from head referee Shawn Hochuli that the next time this happened, the foul would be considered “unsportsmanlike conduct,” which could even result in an ejection.
On the third occasion, Luvu finally kept his feet still – but several other Commanders defenders crossed the line of scrimmage before the snap.
Hochuli was clear, adding after announcing the third encroachment penalty: “Washington has been informed that at a certain point the referee can award a score if this type of behavior is repeated.”
NFL referees are allowed to award touchdowns for unfair behavior
That “certain point” would have been reached if the Commanders had committed their fourth consecutive encroachment foul. Hochuli would have actually awarded a “free” touchdown for the Eagles – and would have been absolutely within the rules.
Article 1, Section 5 of the NFL rule book states that a referee can also call a touchdown for a team if it was previously prevented from scoring by an “obviously unfair act”.
What is considered “obviously unfair” is at the referee’s discretion.
The good news for the Commanders: They didn’t commit a fourth encroachment foul and didn’t get a touchdown against them. The bad news: The Eagles scored it anyway on the following play through Hurts.
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