Inside the NFL revealed it was Nick Foles who called the “Philly Special,” with the quarterback suggesting it to Doug Pederson as they discussed the fourth-down play call from the 1-yard line.
Foles says, “Philly Philly?” Pederson hesitates before answering, “Yeah. Let’s do it. Let’s do it.” Pederson then says, “Hold on,” before finally deciding it was the right call.
“I just had to process the whole situation: It’s fourth-and-goal; we’re in the Super Bowl; we’re on the 1-yard line right before halftime. Yeah, let’s go,” Pederson said Wednesday of his thought process in quotes distributed by the team. “I think I had previously called a certain personnel group for the play that I was calling initially and had to change all of that once all the information was gathered. We swapped gears and nobody really knew the play at the time until I gave out the wristband number. For instance, the offensive staff, they can hear me call the plays. I just called out the wristband number. And then you hear, ‘It’s Philly Special,’ and everybody got a little fired up about that.”
Pederson said the wristband number was “50-something.”
Foles, though, called it “Philly Philly” instead of “Philly Special.” Pederson said he knew exactly the play Foles meant.
“We knew exactly what we were talking about,” Pederson said. “Listen, Philly-Philly, Dilly-Dilly, Philly Special, it was all the same to us.”
While a wide-open Tom Brady dropped the pass intended for him, Foles scored on his.
“When that happened, that was obviously before our play and it just kind of went, ‘Wow that was kind of the same thought process, anyway,’” Pederson said. “Just glad that we were able to execute ours.”
