Eagles use “peanut punch” to cause a Dyami Brown fumble in the NFC championship.
Stephen Douglas | Jan 26, 2025
In this story:
- Philadelphia Eagles
- Washington Commanders
The Philadelphia Eagles got off to a fast start in the NFC championship game, scoring on their first two drives. Saquon Barkley's second touchdown was set up by a Washington Commanders turnover that was caused when one Eagles defender punched a teammate.
With about six minutes remaining in the first quarter Dyami Brown caught a pass across the middle. As Brown ran across the field, cornerback Cooper DeJean wrapped him up. As Brown fought to get away, linebacker Zack Baun came in and punched DeJean in the hand.
Baun was trying to punch the ball and it worked out exactly as he hoped, as DeJean's hand then pushed the ball out to cause the fumble.
As everyone was excited to point out, this was a "peanut punch," named after Charles "Peanut" Tillman who was an all-pro cornerback for the Chicago Bears early in the 21st century. He kind of explained the play to ESPN in 2020.
Anyway, that's what Baun did and while a teammate's hand got in the way, it still did the job.