How A 'Peanut Punch' Teach Tape Helped Fuel Forced Fumbles For The Eagles

The NFC champions have a plus-10 turnover ratio in three playoff games.
Philadelphia Eagles linebacker Zack Baun.
Philadelphia Eagles linebacker Zack Baun. / Bill Streicher-Imagn Images
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PHILADELPHIA - The Eagles forced 22 fumbles in the regular season and recovered 10 of those en route to a plus-11 turnover ratio, good for sixth in the NFL.

Business has picked up in the postseason with Philadelphia going plus-10 in three games.

Heading into Super Bowl LIX the Eagles haven’t turned it over while generating four interceptions and six fumble recoveries. On Sunday against Washington in the NFC Championship Game, the Eagles generated three fumbles and a pick by Quinyon Mitchell.

Two of the three Commanders' cough-ups via fumble were caused by the famed “Peanut Punch,” named after former Chicago cornerback Charles “Peanut” Tillman, who was like a high-level boxer targeting punches at the football.

Tillman was so good at forcing fumbles with his razor-sharp hand-eye coordination that the entire league started to teach the technique with the goal of the first player to secure the ball carrier while the second man in taking the swipe at the football.

For the Eagles, All-Pro linebacker Zack Baun and second-team All-Pro defensive tackle Jalen Carter are particularly good at the technique with Baun coming in to dislodge the football from Dyami Brown in the NFCCG.

Carter didn’t even need help making a game-changing play in the Divisional Round by hitting the button against Rams running back Kyren Williams and jarring the football loose on the first play of the fourth quarter. 

The success is not without design.

Eagles coach Nick Sirianni revealed Tuesday that he had the team’s Vice President of Football Technology Patrick Nolan put together a video package featuring every single “Peanut Punch" that forced a fumble in Tillman's storied career so the players and coaches could see them.

“First the players being able to go out there and to do it is incredible because you’re taking chances at times,” Sirianni said. “...I think sometimes you see in those scenarios teams take chances there but they don’t make tackles. Well, we’ve been in the top 10 [on the positive side] of missed-tackle percentage in the NFL

“It’s something we emphasize an awful lot. …Every team meeting we’re emphasizing good strip attempts or missed strip-attempt opportunities. …We emphasize the crap out of it because we know it’s such a telling stat in this game.”  

The technique has been so impressive for the Eagles that future coaches wanting to modernize their teach tapes might be showing the “Jalen Jab” or the “Baun Bash."

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John McMullen
JOHN MCMULLEN

John McMullen is a veteran reporter who has covered the NFL for over two decades. The current NFL insider for JAKIB Media, John is the former NFL Editor for The Sports Network where his syndicated column was featured in over 200 outlets including the Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, and Miami Herald. He was also the national NFL columnist for Today's Pigskin as well as FanRag Sports. McMullen has covered the Eagles on a daily basis since 2016, first for ESPN South Jersey and now for Eagles Today on SI.com's FanNation. You can listen to John, alongside legendary sports-talk host Jody McDonald every morning from 8-10 on ‘Birds 365,” streaming live on YouTube.com. John is also the host of his own show "Extending the Play" on AM1490 in South Jersey and part of 6ABC.com's live postgame show after every Eagles game. You can reach him at jmcmullen44@gmail.com or on Twitter @JFMcMullen