Britain Covey, Zech McPhearson Help Eagles Avoid Disaster with Concentration

The Eagles have found their punt returner and gunner ad they both came up with key plays in season-opening win

Thursdays are when objects start flying at Eagles practice, from traffic cones to dummy bags and shields. 

Receivers coach Aaron Moorehead aims each item at anybody trying to field a punt on a practice day that is usually heavy on special teams. That sort of preparation may have paid off Sunday in Philadelphia’s 38-35 win over the Detroit Lions.

The distraction came early in the fourth quarter after a Lions punted crossed the 20-yard line, where Britain Covey was signaling a fair catch at the 18. As he did, teammate Zach Pascal bumped into him. Nothing jarring, but a slight bump, still enough to potentially initiate a disaster situation. 

The Eagles led 38-28 at the time and a turnover inside the red zone with about 10½ minutes to play in the game would have spelled big trouble.

Another big play was turned in by Zech McPhearson when he recovered a surprise onside kick try late in the third quarter. McPhearson, who head coach Nick Sirianni said would be the team’s Special teams Player of the game, also made two tackles on special teams as the gunner.

“Detroit’s a very physical team,” said special teams coordinator Michael Clay on Tuesday, about McPhearson hanging in there on the onside try.

“They came at him. He was able to stay composed there, caught it, and protected himself by going down. It was a pretty impressive play from Zech.”

As for Covey’s important punt catch that survived Pascal running into him, Clay called it a communication issue, saying that Pascal is trying to protect Covey. Clay was impressed by his punt returner’s concentration.

“He didn’t bat an eye and he was able to secure the ball in a very hairy situation right there,” he said. “We’re trying to give the ball to our offense and let them wind down the clock as much as possible and for him to catch it like that, like fielding pop flies, is pretty impressive for a young cat like Britain.”

Covey is an upgrade over Jalen Reagor in the punt return game. The shifty little receiver had a nice 11-yard return and fielded the ball with a gunner bearing in on him hoping to make him miss. The gunner didn’t but Covey still picked up two yards.

“He’s cool, calm, collected,” said Clay. “It’s like having a veteran out there. He catches it, gets downhill. He’s very talkative on the sideline on the punt return team, with myself, what he’s seeing right there, and going against the Lions, who I think Jack Fox is one of the better punters in the league.

"He was hitting balls up there I’d never seen before, but he didn’t bat an eye. Caught it, was smooth.”

Clay referenced one punt, a short one with terrific hangtime. Covey ran up to catch it rather than let the ball bounce and possibly roll for even more yards.

It certainly wouldn’t be a surprise if the Eagles, now with two roster spots open with Andre Dillard on IR and Derek Barnett’s season over with a torn ACL, keep Covey on the 53-man roster for the foreseeable future.

Covey was only elevated from the practice squad for this game and reverts to the PS now and that could be risky to try to keep him there after he showed what he could potentially do in this league.

Ed Kracz is the publisher of SI.com’s Fan Nation Eagles Today and co-host of the Eagles Unfiltered Podcast. Check out the latest Eagles news at www.SI.com/NFL/Eagles or www.eaglesmaven.com and please follow him on Twitter: @kracze.