Philadelphia Eagles Coach Brian Johnson Doesn't Get QB Sneak Controversy
Philadelphia Eagles offensive coordinator Brian Johnson doesn't understand the outrage over the team's use of the quarterback sneak with star Jalen Hurts.
"People have been running quarterback sneaks for a long time," Johnson said. "I mean you just go back throughout the history of the league, a couple come to mind. I remember as a young teenager watching Tom Brady run it against the Ravens for huge fourth-down conversions. ... The play has been run for as long as the game's been around. And fortunately for us, we have a great group of guys who can execute it at a high level."
There has been more and more pushback on the play each time the Eagles use it successfully. The play has been used in different iterations over the course of the leagues history, with certain players finding great success from it.
Kansas City Chiefs defensive tackle Chris Jones (95) tackles Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts (1) on a quarterback sneak during the second quarter of Super Bowl LVII at State Farm Stadium.
© Matt Kartozian, USA TODAY
As Johnson mentions, Brady was famous for how good he was at converting quarterback sneaks despite his lack of rushing ability. In 2020, NFL Football Operations found that since 2001, Brady had run 157 quarterback sneaks, which was 85 more than Drew Brees, who was second in attempts.
In 2017, ESPN noted that Brady had the highest success rate on quarterback sneaks at 91.1 percent, and that the New England Patriots ran the play almost twice as often as the league-wide average.
When the Carolina Panthers drafted their star quarterback Cam Newton in 2011, their use of the play skyrocketed, and he even became famous for jumping over both the offensive and defensive lines on goal line situations.
In neither of these situations were there calls to ban the quarterback sneak like there are now.
Every team in the NFL has the opportunity to run the same play that Philadelphia does, but no team in the league has the personnel to do so. Center Jason Kelce is one-of-one and so is a quarterback that can squat 600 pounds like Hurts.
The Eagles will be back in action at home on Oct. 1 at 1 p.m. against the Washington Commanders and they will certainly continue to run the play despite the whining from opposing fans.
