As the Philadelphia Eagles faced the Los Angeles Rams at Lincoln Financial Field, defensive tackle Jordan Davis made a decisive play that secured a 33-26 victory for his team. With less than a minute remaining, Davis blocked a 44-yard field goal attempt by the Rams and returned it 61 yards for a touchdown.
“When I turned around, everybody was running towards me,” Davis said after the game. “All I could do was just stand there and wait for them to come because if I tried to run away, I was going to get moshed.”
According to Next Gen Stats, Davis reached a top speed of 18.59 miles per hour during his return, marking the fastest speed by any player over 330 pounds since at least 2017. He noted with humor that he had not run that fast since participating in the NFL Combine.
Davis has been open about his weight loss journey this season, coming into training camp having lost 26 pounds. He explained how this change has helped improve his performance on the field.
“My thing is just being consistent, stacking days, whether that’s in practice or the game, stacking, being consistent,” Davis said. “I don’t want this to be a flash play. I don’t want to be a flash-play player. I want to be a ‘He’s an every-down guy. He has the ability to stop the run, stop the pass.’ And then, at the end of the day, we let the chips fall where they lie.
“I just want to make sure that I’m available on the field. And my role coming into this year was higher. They asked more of me. And you have to work a little bit harder to answer the call. You come in, and I feel like I came in in shape during camp and just progressing there through the season. It’s what they asked of me. I want to do whatever it takes to win. And if that’s required of me, I’m willing to do it.”
Throughout this season’s first weeks and particularly against the Rams, Davis continued making significant contributions beyond single highlight moments—recording both a sack on third down against Matthew Stafford and stopping a fourth-and-one rushing attempt.
Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni commented on Davis’ transformation: “The shape that he’s in and how he is, I’ve seen him walk around with his shirt off a lot more now, which he should,” Sirianni said. “It’s good, and he just worked his butt off. You saw in Training Camp that something like this would happen, and he’s played good football through the first three weeks.”
Earlier in the fourth quarter Jalen Carter also blocked another Rams field goal attempt from Joshua Karty; according to Davis’ remarks postgame he had studied Karty’s kicking angles throughout play which positioned him well for his own block as time expired.
“A lot of people look at a field goal block as just another play, just another down, put your hands up, get off the field, check a box,” Davis said. “But the way we talk about it on sideline—we knew especially on his last kick—we knew his angle.
“We knew his launch point when he’s at the 30-yard line somewhere around there—we just hit gap put our hands up at right time—and then I seen ball on ground.”
Davis acknowledged that ending possession would have been safer but decided instead on returning it for six points after seeing open space ahead.
Coach Sirianni addressed whether he’d preferred Davis go down: “It will be on tape say ‘Hey probably go down in this scenario,'” Sirianni remarked with laughter before adding: “but he’ll probably get Play of Game for that play.”
