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When the final tale of the Washington Commanders’ NFC Championship loss to the Philadelphia Eagles is told, the game will be remembered for one play above all others: Frankie Luvu and his over-the-top goal line theatrics to stop the Tush Push.
Allow me to set the stage: there was 12:59 left to play in the fourth quarter. The Eagles were up 34-23, and with one successful execution of the most devastating short-yardage play in football, they could extend their lead to 18 should Jake Elliott nail the extra-pointer. Already trailing in the turnover game, Luvu took it upon himself to make a play and attempted to jump the snap – literally – to either ice out quarterback Jalen Hurts or force a fumble to swing momentum Washington’s way. The problem? Philly went with the hard count, and Luvu jumped – again, literally – offsides multiple times in one of the most bizarre plays you will ever see in an NFL game.
Frankie Luvu : 4 tackles, 2 for loss, sack & 2 offsides penalties pic.twitter.com/BIlYfs7D5K
— Lee Harvey (@MusikFan4Life) January 27, 2025
Pretty crazy, right? Attempting an Uso Splash in the middle of an NFL game? Yeah, things got so bad that the game’s officials announced that if Luvu kept fouling the Eagles, Philadelphia would be awarded the score without having to run the play.
Wait, what? How does that work? Who would get credited for the score? Are there only so many half-the-distance-to-the-goal penalties that can be committed before the ball literally touches the goal line? Needless to say, fans had questions, and after the game, head official Sam Hockuli explained what happened with Luvu and how he would be allowed to award a team a score a touchdown without actually breaking the goal line.
“Simply put, a team can’t commit multiple fouls in an effort to prevent the score,” Hochuli told reporters. “So, [Commanders LB Frankie Luvu] jumped the ball a couple of times. That was when the warning came in. Again, if it’s meant to prevent a score, we can essentially award the score.”
Huh, interesting stuff, right? But what about the Eagles’ hard count? Were Luvu’s actions at least justified as being football plays, as opposed to unsportsmanlike conduct? Well, Hochuli was asked that question, too, and he noted that a hard count has a natural endpoint, as there’s only so much time on the play clock.
“So in terms of a hard count, there’s a play clock that prevents them from doing that too many times,” Hochuli noted. “With the defense, since we deem it as an effort to prevent the score – a repeated act – that’s where the potential for awarding the score comes in.”
Did the officials make the right call to threaten an automatic score if the Commanders kept committing fouls? Yes, while such a phantom score might literally break the fantasy football world, even if the number of fantasy players in Week 21 is incredibly low, the...
