NFC championship: Commanders surprise Eagles with fake punt, match NFL record with fourth 4th down conversion
With Sunday's NFC championship game threatening to get out of hand, the Washington Commanders decided to gamble.
It paid off.
The Philadelphia Eagles scored touchdowns on each of their opening drives to take an early 14-3 lead. Then Washington's third drive stalled, and the Commanders sent out their punt unit on fourth-and-6 at their own 31. But Tress Way did not punt.
Instead, the Washington punter lofted a perfect pass down the middle to tight end Ben Sinnott, who ran through the secondary uncovered and corralled the ball near midfield for a 23-yard gain and a first down.
FAKED IT📺 #WASvsPHI FOX pic.twitter.com/2GKsoPlwEK
— Washington Commanders (@Commanders) January 26, 2025
The conversion kept alive a drive that ended with a field goal to cut Philadelphia's lead to 14-6 early in the second quarter. Instead of giving the ball back to Philadelphia down 11 points, Washington cut its deficit to one possession.
The conversion continued an aggressive trend for the Commanders, who went for and converted two fourth downs on their opening drive that also ended with a field goal. They kept it up in the second half and converted on fourth down for a fourth time, which matched an NFL record. The Commanders are now just the fourth team in NFL history to convert four times on fourth down in a playoff game. The Buffalo Bills last pulled that feat off in an overtime loss to the Kansas City Chiefs in 2022.
While the Eagles flew ahead to a commanding lead on Sunday afternoon at Lincoln Financial Field, the Commanders didn't change their stripes with a trip to the Super Bowl on the the line. They got this far by playing aggressive and trusting their players to make plays, and Sunday wasn't about to be any different.
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That tells us brands still aren't fully hitting the mark when it comes to capturing a potential audience.' ADVERTISEMENT This gap created an opening for Lululemon, and later, Alo Yoga and Skims. With sharp messaging and expansive offerings that went beyond the old 'shrink it and pink it' playbook, they captured territory Nike hadn't fully claimed, said Matt Powell, senior advisor at BCE Consulting. It's not that Nike ignored women's sports — the brand has put female athletes front and centre in its marketing practically from the start. In interviews, both Montagne and Nike vice president of global sports marketing Tanya Hvizdak noted Nike's backing of Joan Benoit Samuelson, the first women's Olympic marathon champion, in 1984. It's been a marketing partner of the WNBA since 1997, and made an equity investment in the league in 2022. Serena Williams wore Nike for most of her three-decade tennis career; her name graces a building on the Beaverton campus. 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'If you were to go back to that period, our female athletes were saying that they wanted more from us; there were opportunities for us to lean in in a greater capacity,' Hvizdak said. That summer, the 2019 Women's World Cup in France became a breakout moment for women's sports, drawing record viewership and cultural momentum. Nike had poured significant resources into the tournament, and its 'Dream With Us' ad featuring the US team drew widespread acclaim. Nike's national strips for the Women's World Cup | Source: Nike News Nike's national strips for the Women's World Cup | Source: Nike News 'All of us were saying, 'Women's sport is going to take off,'' said Montagne, who oversaw the campaign. In 2021, Nike launched its Athlete Think Tank — a collective of female athletes, including A'ja Wilson, brought together to share ideas, collaborate, and help Nike improve the athlete experience both on and off the field. 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Although these are still voluntary, a few noteworthy names are absent from the Baltimore Ravens facilities during OTAs.
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