Clement moving on from Philly Special
PHILADELPHIA » The guy who threw one of the most celebrated passes in the history of the Eagles is gone.
The man who caught it became the Super Bowl LII MVP.
And the Glassboro, N.J. fellow who took the snap to start PhillyPhilly, the daring fourth-and-one scoring play giving the Eagles just enough cushion to hold off the New England Patriots in the title game, cannot stop watching the replays.
“Shoot, I mean I tried not to watch it but it’s just on sometimes,” running back Corey Clement said Friday. “Fifty-plus times I would say. Fifty-plus times. It’s on every gosh-darn day.”
Clement shifted into the wildcat formation to take the snap after Nick Foles moved out of the quarterback position to tight end.
Clement grabbed the shotgun snap and ran left, where the linemen blocked to simulate a sweep. With everyone moving left, Clement lateralled to tight end Trey Burton cutting back across the formation. Burton’s spiral dropped into the hands of the wide open Foles for a 22-
12 lead with 34 ticks left in the first half. Burton later signed with the Chicago Bears.
Each time Clement gets another look at Philly-Philly, also known as the Philly Special, he sees another side of it. It’s like watching you favorite movie again and again.
“I try to see how the play actually evolved and how it actually worked,” Clement said. “I pay attention to everybody. Play action, you’ve got to sell it as best as you can and it started with Nick. Once you get to that point you’ve got to be able to sell it. I had to act like I was really going to run it. I had two jobs — catch it and pitch it. And then it was out of my hands after that. I didn’t even look back. I just put my hands up and waited for the crowd’s reaction.”
Clement’s 55-yard reception on the series set up the Philly Special. In the third quarter, the Patriots got within a field goal on a touchdown by Rob Gronkowski. Clement answered with a 22-yard scoring catch to make it 29-19 with 7:18 left in the frame. He’s watched that replay “100-plus times.”
Clement finished the Super Bowl with three rushes for eight yards and four receptions for 100 yards. Hard to believe the undrafted rookie out of Wisconsin who wasn’t supposed to have NFL hands was the only Philly receiver with 100 receiving yards in the game.