Jalen Mills, Ronald Darby, Jay Ajayi on Eagles’ playoff win. Martin Frank/The News Journal
PHILADELPHIA – Jalen Mills said it's a situation a cornerback "lives for."
Fourth quarter. Fourth and goal and a little more than one minute on the clock. At stake a spot in next week's NFC Championship. The home crowd at Lincoln Financial Field roaring.
Imagine, then, being Mills, in that situation, and seeing Atlanta's best player, wide receiver Julio Jones, lining up on your side of the field.
"I see 11 come over there, knowing in a game like this, in a playoff game, they’re going to try and give him the ball," Mills said. "He’s the best player on their team.”
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Luckily for Mills and the rest of the Philadelphia Eagles, safeties Rodney McLeod and Malcolm Jenkins recognized the formation.
By the time Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan rolled to his right, cutting off half the field, the Eagles had the play swallowed up. All Ryan could do was hoist a prayer toward Jones. With Mills in tight, the ball went through the 6-3, 220-pound wide receiver's hands and closed the door on a 15-10 Eagles win.
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"As a defender, you want to be in those situations," Mills said.
How'd the Eagles know what was coming? They saw it in the film.
"They had the tight end in," defensive end Brandon Graham said. "There’s certain formations that they do that’s a sprint out. We were calling it out."
"We always try to ID formations," Mills said.
The play put the cap on an Eagles defensive performance that kept their season alive.
Atlanta, the defending NFC champion, didn't score in the second half after leading 10-9 at halftime and looking early on like it would roll over Jim Schwartz's defense. The Eagles held Atlanta to just 118 yards of offense in the final 30 minutes.
The last drive started after Eagles coach Doug Pederson elected to kick a field goal on fourth-and-one from Atlanta's three-yard line. A touchdown would have put the game away. But instead, Jake Elliott's field goal pushed the lead to five and put the game in the hands of Philadelphia's defense.
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The final drive began on the Atlanta 24 yard line with under six minutes to play in the game. It took two plays for the Falcons to push the ball to the 38. On the next set of downs, Graham beat his man and got to running back Devonta Freeman for a five-yard loss. But Ryan and the Falcons rallied. The quarterback, an Exton, Pa. native, stayed in the pocket and delivered a perfect throw to Jones on fourth down to keep the game alive. The 20-yard play put Atlanta at Philadelphia's 38-yard line.
Ryan then found Jones two plays later for a gain of 12 and two more positive gainers put Atlanta inside the Eagles' 10-yard line with 1:19 on the clock. On first down, Ryan threw to Jones on the left side, but Jones was well defended by cornerback Ronald Darby. After an incomplete pass on second down, Ryan hit Jones over the middle – his ninth catch on 16 targets to give him 101 yards – for seven yards on a play that was reviewed and confirmed.
That set up the final act.
When Falcons tight end Levine Toilolo lined up on the right side of the formation, Jenkins and McLeod alerted the rest of the defense, and Ryan never had a chance.
"Pretty much the whole season's on that play right there," Jenkins said. "We have to keep them out of the end zone. They changed to a 21 personnel, two backs in the game. We were pretty confident that they'd probably move the pocket on that type of play and we recognized the formation as soon as they lined up in it. Guys were able to take away the first two reads that (Ryan) has on the sprint out and then he's scrambling to make a play."
"Typically, in those situations, getting the quarterback on the run gives you more of an option to throw the football," Pederson said. "So our guys were ready for that."
The Eagles await an opponent for the NFC title game next Sunday. They'll play either the Minnesota Vikings or the New Orleans Saints. The defense, surely, will need another performance like Saturday night to have a chance.
“We got another week, another 60 minutes," Graham said. "To be the underdog and for us to go out there and fight like we did, to play that last play like we did, you always dream of being in the moments. I’m just happy that we’re one step closer to where we want to be.”
Contact reporter Jeff Neiburg at (302) 983-6772, jneiburg@delawareonline.com or on Twitter @Jeff_Neiburg.