The referee's announcement on Sunday that the Eagles could be awarded a touchdown if the Commanders didn't stop jumping offside as the Eagles tried to score with a tush push came as a surprise to many football fans. But Eagles coach Nick Sirianni says he was well aware and talked to the officials about it on the sideline.
Sirianni says he has known the palpably unfair act rule, which says the referee has the discretion to award penalties including a touchdown for a team blatantly violating the rules, since one of his mentors in coaching explained it to him early in his career. Sirianni said this week that on Sunday, he talked to the officials about it before it was announced to the crowd.
"I said to the referees on the sideline, 'They keep doing this, it can be a touchdown, right?' And they said yes," Sirianni said.
Sirianni said that his primary concern with the Commanders continuing to jump into and over the line is that someone could get hurt, and that he wanted the officials to put a stop to it if the Commanders wouldn't stop it.
"I was thinking about the safety and health of our players," Sirianni said.
Although the rule has been on the books for decades, no NFL referee has ever awarded a touchdown as a result of a palpably unfair act. But it's still something coaches need to know about, and Sirianni says he was on top of it in the NFC Championship Game.
