How a change in Eagles practice aided a huge play in win
Maybe Jalyx Hunt didn’t need the catch circuit. But it didn’t hurt.
And he better get used to it.
“He’s going to be in there every Friday from now on,” Nakobe Dean said.
After Hunt was unable to bring in an interception after the ball hit him in the hands last week against the Giants, the Eagles added all their outside linebackers to the catch circuit in Friday’s practice. And in Sunday’s 28-22 win, Hunt had a 42-yard pick-6 off Carson Wentz in the second quarter.
The Eagles ran a simulated pressure on the play and Hunt drifted back into coverage and intercepted Wentz’s pass that was attempted for Justin Jefferson.
Before moving to edge rusher at Houston Christian, Hunt once played safety at Cornell. He showed off his hands on this play.
“I can catch,” Hunt said. “I just have to see the ball. Last week, I didn’t see the ball. This week, I saw the ball.”
Some of his teammates gave Hunt grief about dropping a pick last against the Giants, but they were all happy to celebrate with him on Sunday.
“He redeemed himself from last week,” Patrick Johnson said. “He dropped one last week, made us all do the catch circuit. We’re excited that, that actually paid off. We know he has hands. He’s a former safety and everything. I’m super excited he got that and actually cribbed it. He didn’t look too slow either.”
While Hunt would probably claim he didn’t need to join the catch circuit to intercept this pass, it certainly didn’t hurt. And it seems likely the outside ‘backers will remain in the catch circuit, which had previously excluded offensive and defensive linemen.
Basically, the catch circuit is exactly what it sounds like: Catching the ball in different ways.
Head coach Nick Sirianni didn’t want to say whose idea it was to add the OLBs to the catch circuit but said tweaks like this in practice happen over the course of a season.
“Just because you do something a certain way and you’ve had success with the fundamentals that we have, doesn’t mean you’re constantly not thinking about how you make that process and those drills and the things that you do better,” Sirianni said.
“Because that’s all you’re constantly thinking about. You find ways to win and then you find ways to get better. That’s on our mind in everything that we do, so there’s constant tweaks and different things [we do] to our process and to our practices to help make it the best it can be so we can put ourselves in position to win on the weekend.”
But before Hunt could intercept that pass from Wentz, he had to get into position. He didn’t realize it was Jefferson creeping behind him but he did know there was a receiver out there and prepared for the route behind him. Hunt also gave credit to defensive quality control coach Tyler Skudder, whom Hunt called “a mastermind with all the drops.”
It was more than Hunt who made that play work. Jalen Carter provided the pressure. He killed center Blake Brandel with an inside move and walloped Wentz as he released the ball.
And then during the return, Josh Uche showed his awareness by not getting called for a block in the back.
“Situational football,” Hunt said. “It comes up when it comes up and you just have to know what you’re doing.”
The Eagles’ defense on Sunday had some good and bad moments. They gave up a season-high 387 yards but they also got two takeaways and the Vikings were able to score touchdowns on just 1 of their 6 trips to the red zone.
So when the Eagles needed a play on defense, they got it.
And there wasn’t a bigger play in Sunday’s game than Hunt’s pick-6. And maybe it doesn’t happen without a change in the practice week to add edge rushers to the catch circuit.
“We’re going to stay in it now thanks to him,” Johnson said. “I’m OK with it. As long as we get some turnovers, it’s fine with me.”
How a change in Eagles practice aided a huge play in win
