Eagles adjust game plan after kicker is knocked out of game

The Philadelphia Eagles game plan on special teams took a different turn in their 37-9 win over the Dallas Cowboys at AT&T Stadiium Sunday night.

The Eagles lost kicker Jake Elliott to a head injury in the first half.

Trailing 9-7, the Eagles opted for two-point conversions. Since Elliott also handled kickoffs, linebacker Kamu Grugier-Hill took over those duties. He had two kickoffs into the end zone.

“I can’t recall - with the amount of injuries and things we had to overcome - how many times we’ve had the next man up and it starts with the guys in the locker room,” Eagles coach Doug Pederson said.

With four second-half touchdowns, the Eagles went for two each time and was successful on three. Philadelphia entered the game three-for-three on two-point conversions this season.

“It was a fine line,” said Pederson, on giving Grugier-Hill a kick attempt. “Maybe we try a field goal if we had to have it, but at that time I just put it in the offense’s hands.”

Elliott, who was 17 of 20 on field-goal attempts, missed a 34-yard try in the first quarter. A fifth-round draft pick of Cincinnati in April, the former Memphis Tiger was placed on the practice squad.

He got a second chance with Philadelphia after Caleb Sturgis suffered a hip injury in Week 1 and quickly became a fan favorite after booting the game-winning 61-yard field goal as time expired against the New York Giants in Week 3.

“You hope you don’t have to put Kamu out there for kickoff and do the things we did in the second half, but it’s an attribute to our guys,” Pederson said. “They did what they had to do to win.”

The Eagles went for two twice in the third and fourth quarters - a Corey Clement run, Carson Wentz pass to Alshon Jeffery and Wentz pass to Trey Burton being their successful trips.

They also converted their only fourth-down attempt, which turned into a 17-yard touchdown pass from Wentz to Jeffery that extended the Philadelphia lead to 29-9 early in final quarter.

“When I found out Jake was being evaluated, at that point I wanted to go for it on fourth down in those field-goal range situations,” Pederson said. “It was a no-brainer on the two-point conversions and the coaches were well prepared for that.”

Entering play Sunday, the rest of the NFL was 14 of 31 on two-point attempts - good for 45.2 percent on the season.

This story was originally published November 20, 2017 at 12:07 AM with the headline "Eagles adjust game plan after kicker is knocked out of game."