Commanders LB Frankie Luvu was flagged twice in a row for diving over the line of scrimmage while the Eagles lined up for the tush push, which prompted referee Shawn Hochuli to announce that “Washington has been advised that at some point the referee can award a score if this type of behavior happens again.”
“Simply put, a team can’t commit multiple fouls in an effort to prevent the score,” Hochuli told reporters after the game, via John Keim of ESPN. “If it’s meant to prevent a score, we can essentially award the score.”
“I was just timing the jump over,” Luvu replied when asked about the penalties. “They’ve been doing a lot in short yardage and I was going to take my shot. That’s the mindset I came in with. Take my shot; if I make it, I make it, if not, I bounce back. The third time they told me I get a 15-yard penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct. I didn’t know what that was about. I guess they wanted them to score. So, I stopped from there and that’s how it played out.”
After Luvu was penalized twice, Commanders DT Jonathan Allen was also flagged before the Eagles inevitably got into the endzone.
During his postgame press conference, Eagles QB Jalen Hurts said that the team “let me out of my straight jacket a little bit today” while saying that he doesn’t care what the team’s offensive approach is as long as the team gets a victory.
“I don’t play the game for stats,” Hurts said, via Pro Football Talk. “I don’t play the game for numbers, any statistical approval from anyone else. And I understand that everyone has a preconceived notion on how they want it to look, or how they expect it to look. I told you guys that winning, success, is defined by that particular individual, and it’s all relative to the person. And what I define it as is winning. So the number one goal is always to come out here and win.”
Eagles RB Saquon Barkley ripped off a huge run in the team’s first play of the game against the Commanders and was asked in the locker room following the win if he envisioned himself having this type of success in Philadelphia.
“Of course, that’s why I came here,” Barkley said, via Pro Football Talk. “That was one of the first conversations I had with [General Manager Howie Roseman]. That was the conversation I had with my family. I came to Philly to be a part of games like this. Nothing better than a game when you can advance to the Super Bowl, so I’m super excited about that.”
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