'We Attack!' Philadelphia Eagles' 'Big Play' Darius Slay Keys Win Over Dolphins
PHILADELPHIA – As far as droughts go, this one was especially withering, a real summer cornfield killer, and the Philadelphia Eagles were feeling the heat.
It had been nearly a month since the defense had forced a turnover. Even hotter: the Eagles had turned the ball over nine straight times since that last turnover, in the second quarter of a Week 3 game in Tampa.
Darius Slay snapped it in style. His interception turned away a potential tying touchdown in the fourth quarter and the Eagles downed the Miami Dolphins 31-17 in a matchup between a pair of 5-1 teams at Lincoln Financial Field on Sunday night.
The Eagles unveiled their throwback uniforms, the popular Kelly green, and are no 1-0 in them. They will wear them one more time this season, against the Buffalo Bills on Nov. 26.
“I’ve been in that position a lot, big-time moments,” said Slay, after his second pick of the season and 28th of his career. “Sunday night, I like to make plays on these big days. That’s why my name’s 'Big Play,' really. I make plays at critical moments and do what I can do.”
Big Play Slay certainly delivered. He also had four tackles, behind safety Terrell Edmunds, who had nine.
The Dolphins were in position to tie the game at 17-17, having reached the Eagles’ 21-yard line. On third-and-eight, however, and with 11:33 to play in the game, Slay came off the receiver he was covering, Jaylen Waddle, when he saw Miami quarterback Tua Tagovailoa look away from Waddle and toward running back Raheem Mostert.
“Coach (defensive coordinator Sean Desai) called a great defense that I could have great eyes, with vision of the quarterback and receiver,” said Slay.
“Waddle had run a route that kind of led me to the running back, so I covered my dude, but I had vision at the quarterback, so I saw the ball not being thrown to my dude, so I just came over and made a play.”
The Eagles offense took over at the 17 after Slay returned the ball 16 yards and marched 83 yards on 13 plays, using up 6:35 of the clock before getting a 3-yard touchdown run from Kenny Gainwell with 4:46 to go in the game that put Philly ahead 31-17.
Miami was toast, struggling to move the ball all night long and failed to do it again after falling down two scores and being unable to convert a first down on a fourth-down throw to Tyreek Hill that undrafted rookie free agent Eli Ricks broke up.
“We knew that was who they wanted to get the ball to, but coach Desai, I asked him how he wanted me to play him before the game and he said play him like I would any other receiver, and I did, and think I did pretty well,” said Ricks, who was on Hill on several occasions.
Hill, who had 814 yards coming into the game, was held to just 88 yards on 11 catches. He did have a 27-yard TD catch with 39 seconds left in the half to cut the Eagles’ lead to 17-10 after two quarters.
Darius Slay notched his second interception of the season in a Week 7 win over the Miami Dolphins.
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The Dolphins, though, were averaging 37 points per game. They got 10 against an Eagle defense that sacked Tagovailoa four times, with Josh Sweat decking the Miami quarterback twice, rookie Nolan Smith notching the first of his career, and Jordan Davis and Fletcher Cox splitting another.
Sweat, who has 5.5 sacks on the season, said he was so excited for Smith that he nearly ran onto the field and picked up a penalty.
Seven of the Dolphins' points came on a 22-yard interception return of Jalen Hurts that knotted the score at 17 with 4:02 to play in the third quarter.
Playing with a makeshift secondary due to injury, and only two healthy safeties, the Eagles held Miami to just 242 yards of offense. The Dolphins came into the game putting an average of 498.7 yards per game.
The Eagles shut down the Dolphins’ rushing attack, holding them to just 45 yards on the ground, Miami had minus-seven yards at halftime, which was the third-fewest rushing yards allowed by an NFL team in the first half of a game since 2000.
Haason Reddick didn’t have a sack but he made four tackles and played a big part in stopping the run.
“It started with making them one-dimensional,” said head coach Nick Sirianni. “I think you saw some good things there with Haason (Reddick), with the way he kind of stopped the toss crack play and set the edge because they have been highly successful on that play.”
It was a total shutdown of a Miami team desperate to prove it could beat a team with a winning record, something it hadn’t done all year. The Dolphins built their 5-1 mark against teams that were a combined 5-24 coming into Week 7.
“We knew it would come down to us,” said Sweat of the defense. “We saw what they’ve been doing and the playmakers they had, but I don’t think they played anybody like us. We attack and made plays when they mattered.”
