The Eagles' defensive tackles came into Sunday night with a plan: the second Jared Goff starts winding up to throw, get your hands up.
They picked up on the Detroit quarterback's tendency to throw the ball at a tighter angle as they were studying up on film and preparing for the high-powered Lions all week, and incorporated pass deflection drills into their practices with that in mind.
It was a smaller detail to their opponent that they could exploit, Jordan Davis, his fellow interior linemen, and the coaches thought. They had the skill for it, and the size, too.
"I'm 6'6", not for no reason," Davis said from his locker late Sunday night.
And he and the Eagles had it.
Davis' outstretched arm batted away a liner of a pass over the middle from Goff on Detroit's first possession Sunday night. The ball went wobbling into the grasp of cornerback Cooper DeJean, who made both the first and only interception of the night, along with the first regular-season pick of his career.
The turnover set the Eagles up deep into Detroit territory early, which led them to an opening Jake Elliott field goal and, eventually, a 16-9 statement win over the Lions at Lincoln Financial Field that was defined by dominant defense for the whole 60 minutes.
Davis batted down three of Goff's passes in total, and Jalen Carter, right next to the big lineman in the trenches, knocked away two himself.
WE'LL TAKE THAT ‼️ pic.twitter.com/mxYdh5xT8g
— Philadelphia Eagles (@Eagles) November 17, 2025
The Eagles' pass rush gave Goff little time to process anything in general all night, as it constantly broke through the Lions' offensive line to keep their quarterback under endless pressure, which left him rushing into decisions because of it.
And those rushed decisions snowballed into low-lining throws, that failed to account for the Eagles' big yet highly athletic linemen getting their hands up and in the way.
Goff went 14-for-37 passing by the end of the night, for 255 yards, the early interception that Davis deflected to DeJean, and a lone touchdown to Jameson Williams that stood as the Lions' only six points until late in the fourth quarter.
He didn't have much of anywhere to go with the football, neither did the Lions, and it was all according to the Eagles' plan, rooted in a smaller detail.
"We've been practicing all week, like we had a drill dedicated to us hitting the ball up and it's somebody behind standing there catching it," Davis said postgame of the defensive line's prep for the Lions and Goff's throwing tendencies. "It was D tackles then in practice, but it was Coop today."
"It just shows you that the things that we do and the things that we practice, it's not for nothing," Davis continued. "It's not just a waste of time, it's not just to go through the motions of practice. It's really, if you're taking advantage of that situation in the game on time."
And it takes plenty of reps to recognize and be ready for that situation, if and when it does arrive.
"JD batted, I'm telling you, 10 passes this week," fellow Eagles defensive tackle Moro Ojomo, who had his own crucial moment with a 4th and 1 stop of a Lions run, said of Davis and his position group's prep all week.
But really, Davis' knack for getting his hands up and in the way of the football goes back through earlier in the season.
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The 25-year old rusher batted down one of Dak Prescott's passes in the Eagles' Week 1 win over Dallas, another two against Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs a week later, then tagged up with Carter in Week 3 to make the game-saving blocks on the kicks against the Rams – which also traced to another hunch that L.A. kicker Joshua Karty would put the ball on a low line that could be disrupted.
It's a smaller detail Davis and the Eagles' defense picked up on, both in that instance back in Week 3 and then on Sunday night against Goff and the Lions on the primetime stage.
But it helped make all the difference.
"To be able to go out there and make an impact, just plays like that, doesn't have to be something that's a crazy stat like a billion sacks or nothing, just little stuff like that," Davis said. "It messes with a QB's mind, messes with his mindset, how he passes the ball, and you can show it. It showed in the game."
"Fortunately, for us, we made it very hard on him," Davis added. "From the pressure, to the batted balls, to everything."
*Geoff Mosher contributed to this story.
A BIG night from the Eagles defense as Jordan Davis and Jaelan Phillips chat with @melissastark. 🦅 pic.twitter.com/8jur67FdNp
— Sunday Night Football on NBC (@SNFonNBC) November 17, 2025
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