Philadelphia Eagles: Watch Darius Slay return another fumble for a TD

Heading into the 2021 NFL season, Darius Slay had scored one defensive touchdown over 118 career games.

Sure, he’d recorded literally hundreds of tackles, a sack, 113 passes defensed, and even led the league in interceptions during his first of three Pro Bowl campaigns, but he’d only brought back one of those picks for an interception, in a Week 3 Detroit Lions win over the New England Patriots back in 2018.

It only took eight games in the Philadelphia Eagles‘ 2021 NFL season for Slay to double his career touchdown total thanks to a scoop and score in his adoptive hometown of Detroit, and two weeks later, he set a new career-high with a second fumble return for a TD when his team needed him most versus the Denver Broncos.

And in typical Slay fashion, you know the play was flashy as all heck.

Darius Slay came through when the Philadelphia Eagles needed him most.

Alright, so let me set the stage.

Jalen Hurts just watched a deep ball thrown in the direction of Quez Watkins get picked off by Justin Simmons, and the Philadelphia Eagles found themselves only up seven with the Broncos getting the ball back right around mid-field.

After commanding the game for much of the outing, the Eagles watched helplessly as the momentum swung in Denver’s direction, especially once the dynamic duo of Teddy Bridgewater and Melvin Gordon started to march down the field at a consistent clip.

Six yards here, 15 yards there, two yards, an incomplete pass, and seven more yards on a catch by Tim Patrick, and the Broncos found themselves at 4th-and-1 on their own 23. Would the Broncos go for it, keep the momentum going, and try to tie things up at 20-all or would they put an easy three on the board and live to fight another drive?

Mike Shula, the team’s emergency play-caller following Pat Shurmur‘s trip to the COVID list, opted to go for it, and he will surely regret that decision for some time.

The initial push wasn’t there. Gordon looked down, and the Eagles looked like they’d have to take the ball 80-plus yards down the field to balloon their lead up to 14 but, in a very lucky break for the boys in midnight green, the ball popped out and, well, Slay did the following once he got possession.

Wow, that sure was something.

While one may quibble with Slay getting a bit too cute with the ball after Davion Taylor knocked the ball loose, as he did fumble his own recovery mere seconds after gaining possession, that blazing fast 4.36 40 yard dash came into full effect with the pride of Mississippi State outrunning all 11 Broncos for an 82-yard touchdown.

27-13; momentum, Eagles.

Sometimes in the NFL, a single play can change the momentum of a game. Had Melvin Gordon got a bit better push or Davion Taylor kept his hands to himself, maybe the Denver Broncos would have tied up the game at 20, and things would have tightened up significantly. Instead, the team secured a huge cushion and forced a surprise signal-caller to have to beat the Birds through the air in a game where his wide receivers combined for less than 100 yards. That, my friends, is a wonderful thing on a beautiful Sunday afternoon.