In the play-by-play synopsis of the Eagles’ 27-7 win over the Giants, it was marked down as a simple incomplete pass on a third down. It forced a punt.
But this particular play showed a part of Sam Bradford’s game no one had really seen through the first third of the season.
“I saw a lot of things that we didn't see earlier,” offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur said of Bradford’s game against the Giants. “There were times when he was running around in the pocket that we didn't see earlier in the game, or earlier in the season.”
On this particular play in the second quarter, with the Eagles up 14-7, the Birds were faced with a 3rd-and-12 from their own 43-yard line. Bradford lined up in shotgun with Ryan Mathews to his left.
As Mathews slowed down the right end coming out of the backfield, former Eagle Cullen Jenkins used an inside spin move combo to beat Matt Tobin. At that point, it looked like Bradford was going to be sacked for a big loss.
But he somehow got out of it.
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Bradford spun away from Jenkins, went left and moved back right before spotting an open Jordan Matthews downfield.
Bradford didn’t get to plant his feet and the 31-yard pass fell short and incomplete.
But that play showed something new from Bradford, the ability to extend plays. He held the ball for around 6.83 seconds — an eternity in football — before unloading the pass.
So is his newfound movement in the pocket a product of his rising comfort in a new offense or his comfort after coming back from a second ACL surgery?
“I think probably a little bit of both,” Bradford said Thursday. “I think you look around the league, though, and you see some of the explosive plays, or a lot of the explosive plays, created. There’s quite a few of them that happen when the play’s extended, whether it be a scramble, climbing up in the pocket, finding a guy in the second window.
“And I think I have to do a better job creating more of those situations. If it’s not there early in the progression and I can extend the play and try to find someone downfield, I think it’s another way for us to produce big plays.”
Shurmur agreed with Bradford’s assessment that his comfort in the offense and his comfort coming back from the injury played a role in his pocket movement.
Shurmur, who played at Michigan State in the '80s, suffered an ACL injury during his freshman season. On Wednesday, he remembered being fine once he was cleared to play but became “more and more fine” as time went on.
“You get used to your body a little bit more,” Shurmur said. “Games are uncontrolled; guys show up and pop up out of the ground sometimes and you've got to avoid them. Or there's a guy standing there getting ready to tip the ball and you've got to adjust. So all those little movements that happen when you're in an uncontrolled setting, you just get more and more used to it as you get further and further away from the injury and the surgery.”
Either way, Bradford knows how important these types of plays can be to an offense. If a receiver has over six seconds to get open, he’s going to get open.
Matthews, who was the intended receiver on the play against the Giants, said it was an extremely tough throw for Bradford to make and that if the quarterback had time to plant his feet, Bradford would have “hit me in the face.” Matthews also admitted he could have come back more to make the pass easier on his quarterback.
But the second-year wideout is optimistic about the chances of a play like that succeeding in the future and hopes he gets those opportunities.
“You love that,” Matthews said. “I think Sam is always the type to have his eyes downfield. He’s not just going to go down to save himself. It shows his heart. It shows the type is guy he is. He’s always trying to make a play.”