During Sunday night's game between the Philadelphia Eagles and the defending NFC champion San Francisco 49ers, Eagles defensive tackle Malik Jackson tried out a unique way to get an advantage during play: He slightly kicked back the football after it was spotted by referees so the Niners were a few more inches away from the end zone.
Take a look:
Lmaooooooo pic.twitter.com/f8Ageh9nuw
— Christopher Powers (@CPowers14) October 5, 2020
The ball was on the Eagles' 1-yard-line with a little over two minutes to go in the game, as Philadelphia looked to keep their 11-point lead. Keeping that lead just happened to include pushing the ball back behind the line of scrimmage without the refs, and somehow even the opposing team, noticing.
The officiating crew was discussing where to line up the ball, so Jackson was clearly just helping them with the decision.
Former Eagles linebacker Emmanuel Acho tweeted his approval, joking, "If you ain't cheating you ain't trying."
“If you ain’t cheating you ain’t trying” -anonymous #Eagles
— Emmanuel Acho (@EmmanuelAcho) October 5, 2020
pic.twitter.com/MIYHNyVjCp
Despite Jackson's best efforts, San Francisco scored anyway. Running back Jerick McKinnon punched it in to make it a 25-20 game, but the failed two-point conversion kept the Eagles ahead by five and they eventually won.
With the win, Philadelphia now owns first place in the dreadful NFC East with their 1-2-1 record. Yes, one win gets you first place in that division right now. The Cowboys and Washington Football Team sit at 1-3 and the Giants are still in search of their first victory, coming in at 0-4.
