NFL Wild-Card Coaching Decisions: Dan Campbell’s Aggressiveness Pays Off

The Philadelphia Eagles limped into the playoffs, but for all their faults, they at least still had the unstoppable Tush Push play to possibly help them make another deep postseason run.

But the controversial quarterback sneak ran into 350-pound Vita Vea and the rest of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ beefy defensive front. Once coach Todd Bowles, the Buccaneers’ defensive play-caller, took away the Tush Push, the late-season collapse for the Eagles was complete Monday night.

Bowles and his frequent blitz calls smothered quarterback Jalen Hurts, while Eagles coach Nick Sirianni and offensive coordinator Brian Johnson failed to adjust during the Buccaneers’ lopsided 32–9 victory to advance to the divisional round of the NFC playoffs. Sirianni called for the Tush Push on a two-point conversion attempt that was stopped short in the second quarter.

The Buccaneers now have a date with the Detroit Lions on Sunday, as Sirianni and Johnson head into the offseason possibly regretting not giving Hurts more protection at the line of scrimmage. Peyton Manning nearly lost it seeing the Eagles play with empty formation, as Hurts dealt with Tampa Bay’s ferocious defensive front.

But the spotlight should be on Bowles for delivering one of the best coaching performances from NFL wild-card weekend. It might have reminded the Buccaneers that they have one of the best defensive minds in the league as their head coach. Before Monday night’s dominance, there were rumors about Bowles possibly being on the hot seat because of his struggles with game management and lack of aggressiveness on fourth downs this season. Bowles helped his cause Monday night—he’s also the same defensive play-caller who stifled Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl LV.

Expect Bowles to remain aggressive against Lions quarterback Jared Goff. He’s armed with Vea, rookie standouts Calijah Kancey, YaYa Diaby and All-Pro safety Antoine Winfield Jr.

Here are other coaching decisions we liked—and some that we didn’t like so much—from wild-card weekend.

Calls we liked

Lions tell Goff to beat Rams

It was risky, unpredictable and it was so Dan Campbell. Instead of running the ball to kill time off the clock, the Lions’ aggressive coach told Goff to beat his former team, the Los Angeles Rams, by throwing the ball in a one-point game.

Goff dropped back on second-and-9 with 1:57 left in regulation and found Amon-Ra St. Brown for the first down that sealed the Lions’ first postseason victory in 32 years. Earlier on the final drive, Goff had an 11-yard completion to running back David Montgomery on second-and-7.

Campbell and general manager Brad Holmes have always said they believed in Goff ever since the Rams traded the 2016 No. 1 pick to Detroit. They backed those words by putting the ball in Goff’s hands in crunch time.

Packers set the tone from the opening coin toss

Green Bay Packers coach Matt LaFleur elected to receive after winning the coin toss and never looked back, as quarterback Jordan Love carved up the Dallas Cowboys’ defense during the 48–32 victory to advance to the divisional round.

The Packers recorded a 12-play, 75-yard opening drive that ended with a three-yard touchdown run from Aaron Jones. Love’s first big-time throw of the game was a 22-yard completion to Romeo Doubs on second-and-13, as the Packers killed 7:52 of game time on their opening drive.

Calls we questioned

Rams’ costly punt vs. Lions

Coach Sean McVay admitted after the Rams lost 24–23 to the Lions that he regretted punting on fourth-and-14 from Detroit’s 44-yard line with one timeout and 4:15 left in regulation.

McVay also added that hindsight is 20/20, but he should have known that he probably wasn’t going to get the ball back because of Campbell’s aggressive tendencies, which occurred with offensive coordinator Ben Johnson dialing up passing plays for Goff.

Before the decision to punt, McVay could have opted for a safe play-call on third down to gain a few yards to make it fourth-and-manageable. Instead, Matthew Stafford threw downfield to Puka Nacua, a controversial play because the referees decided not to call defensive pass interference. Also, McVay burned two of his timeouts early in the second half.

Other mistakes from Eagles’ coaching staff

Not only did the Eagles refuse to add extra blockers for Hurts, they often went away from the running game vs. the Buccaneers.

The Eagles are at their best when Hurts is playing with a balanced attack. Without wide receiver A.J. Brown, it was more crucial for the Eagles to get running back D’Andre Swift involved in the flow of the offense. He had only 10 carries for 34 yards Monday night.

As for the defense, the Eagles missed many tackles that led to lengthy touchdowns for Baker Mayfield & Co. Ray Lewis called out the Eagles’ defense during his appearance on the ManningCast.