Go Figure, the First Eagles Touchdown of 2026 Came on a “Four Verticals” Call

The Eagles’ first touchdown of the new season came in the second quarter on Sunday, when Jalen Hurts hit Dallas Goedert in the back of the end zone with a beauty of a throw. The play call, funnily enough, was Four Verticals:

This is good stuff. If you’re unaware, a big contingent of Birds fans have spent the last couple of seasons complaining about the offense’s lack of creativity in the passing game. They’ve pointed out that in passing situations, more often than not, Hurts is lining up in shotgun with two receivers on either side to run some high school-ass play like Four Verticals, and then just launching the ball up in hopes of something good happening.

Very often, something good does not happen. You may recall that a failed, boring, and bad Four Verts call is exactly how last season ended against San Francisco. This guy remembers:

After that Wild Card loss, there was all kinds of chatter about whether Jalen Hurts requested running Four Verts himself. He later denied that he did that:

Jalen Hurts confirmed to media that he did not request Four Verts on the final play last year’s Wild Card game. Prior reports suggested that Hurts personally asked for that play.

And now here we are, in 2026, successfully running Four Verts for a cool-as-hell-looking TD. I don’t know if the Eagles scoring on Four Verts is ironic, or if it’s the team knowing that the fans are sick of Four Verts and this is Sean Mannion trolling us, or what. But whatever the case, I don’t care. I am pro-Four Verts if the Birds score on Four Verts:

we've always said that "four verticals" is a great play and should remain on the call sheet

Matt Schultz is a comedy and sports writer from Philadelphia. He’s written extensively for ClickHole, The Onion, and Conan O’Brien’s Team Coco. His work has been featured in Vulture, Deadspin, The A.V. Club, Paste Magazine, and other publications. Much of his sports journalism can be found on college basketball websites that don’t exist anymore (PhilaHoops Heads rise up…) email: [email protected]