The final two minutes of the first half is an underrated, critical juncture in NFL games, when offenses have a chance to add points on the scoreboard in more difficult, time-constrained situations. The best teams in the league are able to cash in those situations, and a lot of games are won on those drives.
In their first four games this season, the Philadelphia Eagles have scored 26 points within the final two minutes of the first half, on five different scoring drives. They have done a masterful job of managing the clock while also producing chunk plays down the field.
When asked why his team has been so successful in those moments, Nick Sirianni responded, "Quarterback play." He then expanded.
"Playing really well and poised in that scenario," Sirianni said. "We spend a ton of time talking about situational football. A ton. That’s a tribute to the coaches I have been around in the past of how important situational football is and the amount of time you spend on it. You emphasize things, but make no mistake about it, our players are doing a great job executing it. Shane Steichen and Kevin Patullo do a great job – Kevin does all the scouting reports for it and getting us ready for it and putting together thoughts for it. We talk through it, and Shane does a great job calling it in that scenario.
"What an unbelievable opportunity I have to be able to say, ‘Shane and Kevin, you guys are rolling right here. You got it. Let me handle clock management with our guys upstairs.’ And we just go. So that’s us being able to do that and we have really good players executing it. Our offensive line protects their butt off in those scenarios. Shane calls it the right way as far as going for run and then going to pass. Jalen Hurts is in complete control. A.J. Brown, Dallas Goedert, DeVonta Smith, Quez Watkins are all in that scenario. Kenny Gainwell is our protection back and our scat back in that area. So, it’s just a really good operation by the entire unit, players first, and coaches after that."
Let's take a look at each of those drives:
Week 1 (Lions): 9 plays, 73 yards, FG with 0:06 left in the first half
The Eagles began this drive on their own 22 with 1:51 left in the half. The started out by playing this drive conservatively, running the ball and staying on schedule. The opening play of the drive was a 6-yard run by Gainwell, followed by an 8-yard pass to Gainwell. On first down, Hurts was then sacked, and the Lions got aggressive, calling a timeout, hoping to get the ball back and engineering a drive of their own.
Oops. Bad idea.
On 2nd and 14th, Hurts scrambled for 10, and on 3rd and 4, he hit Brown for a 54-yard pass play.
The drive stalled from there and Jake Elliott kicked a field goal. As the scoreboard showed at the end of this game, the Eagles needed those points.
Week 2 (Vikings): 7 plays, 85 yards, TD with 1:58 left in the first half
The Eagles started this drive at their own 15 with 4:51 left in the half. They opened with chunk plays of 19 and 16 yards from Hurts to Smith, followed by 16- and 9-yard runs by Boston Scott and Miles Sanders, respectively. And then on a 3rd and 2 from the Vikings' 26, Hurts did the rest (aided by some bad Vikings defense).
Week 2 (Vikings): 8 plays, 75 yards, FG with 0:00 left in the first half
After the Hurts TD run above, the Vikings proceeded to go three-and-out, but punted the ball down to the Eagles' 5 yard line. On the first play of the drive, Hurts got the Eagles out of the shadow of their end zone with a 9-yard run, followed by a 3-yard run by Gainwell. They then took a shot to Brown (incomplete), and ran it with Gainwell for 4.
The Vikings called timeout with the Eagles facing a 3rd and 6 from their own 21 with 22 seconds left in the half.
Oops again, as the Eagles proceeded to hit on three straight chunk plays:
- Hurts to Smith for 16.
- Hurts to Goedert for 19.
- Hurts to Goedert for 24.
Jake Elliott then kicked a 38-yard field goal and gave the Eagles added momentum heading into halftime.
Week 3 (Commanders): 11 plays, 88 yards, TD with 0:00 to go
This might be Hurts' most poised drive of his career so far. It started at the Eagles' 12 with 1:57 left in the half. It started slowly with a 4-yard run by Gainwell, a 5-yard scramble by Hurts, and a 4-yard third down conversion by Zach Pascal.
With a new set of downs, the Eagles went hunting for chunk plays:
- Incomplete down the field to Smith
- Hurts to Brown for 15
- Hurts to Smith for 16
- Hurts to Smith on this highlight reel catch for 44 down the Commanders' 1.
First and second downs were both incomplete passes.
On 3rd and Goal from the 1 with only 20 seconds to go and no timeouts remaining, Nick Sirianni called a run play that got stuffed by the Commanders, and the clock was running. Hurts calmly but quickly got the offense to the line and called a play on his own that wasn't even in the game plan. He then threw a 50-50 ball to Smith, who "Moss'd" Kendall Fuller for a TD.
The poise with which Hurts handled that sequence is stuff you see from 10-year vets.
Week 4 (Jaguars): 8 plays, 35 yards, TD with 0:26 left in the half
And finally, on Sunday, the defense helped out on an "end of half" drive, when the Eagles recovered a Trevor Lawrence fumbled snap in Jaguars territory. Gainwell finished off that drive with a 10-yard TD run.
In 2021, the Eagles were 7-1 when they scored points in the final two minutes of the first half. They were 2-7 when they didn't. In 2022, they're a perfect 4 for 4.
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