Philadelphia Eagles All-Pro Fletcher Cox is one of the best defensive tackles in football, so you would think teams would try to steer clear of him. However, the Saints saw something on film that would benefit them against the Eagles on Sunday.
With the Saints trailing 14-0 in the second quarter, things were getting desperate, so Sean Payton and the Saints decided to call a fake punt on 4th and 1 in their own territory, and fortunately for New Orleans, it worked. The snap went to backup QB Taysom Hill who would run for one of the biggest first downs of the season.
Interesting enough, New Orleans noticed against the Bears in the wild-card round that Cox was slow to get off the ball when he was in on punt coverage, which is one of the reasons they called the fake punt in that situation.
The Saints would go on to defeat the Eagles 20-14, and now they host the Rams with a chance to go to the Super Bowl, but if that play does not happen, the Eagles might be traveling to Los Angeles to play the Rams this weekend.
Watch below as the Saints explain why they went at Cox:
https://twitter.com/SharpFootball/status/1085908687766675456