Foles' call for 'Philly Special' an order better than a cheesesteak

ByTim McManus ESPN logo
Wednesday, February 7, 2018

One of the biggest plays in Philadelphia sports history, the "Philly Special," was dialed up by quarterback Nick Foles.

The Philadelphia Eagles were facing a fourth-and-goal from the 1-yard line late in the second quarter. A clip from Showtime's "Inside the NFL" shows Foles going up to coach Doug Pederson on the sideline before the play, and saying, "Philly Philly?" Pederson stared back at him before finally replying, "Yeah, let's do it."

Foles faked like he was calling an audible and center Jason Kelce sent a direct snap to rookie running back Corey Clement, who flipped it to tight end Trey Burton on a reverse. Foles darted out into the flat and Burton found him in the end zone, upping the Eagles' lead to 22-12 at the half.

"That was something we'd been working on, and Doug and I were talking -- I was like, 'Let's just run it.' And it was a good time," said Foles, who was named the game's MVP. "And the end was a little wider than I thought, so I really needed to sell like I'm not doing anything. And it worked -- Burton made an amazing throw right on the money; I just looked it in. We worked on it for a while [in practice], so I was excited for it to get a run in the Super Bowl."

They took the play from the Chicago Bears, who had run it against the Minnesota Vikings earlier in the season. According to offensive coordinator Frank Reich, they were considering using it versus Minnesota in the NFC Championship Game, but didn't need to. So they broke it out on the game's biggest stage -- thanks to Foles' suggestion.

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