How a secret weapon helped the Eagles topple the Ravens

He was the Eagles’ secret weapon Sunday, and he didn’t have any rushing attempts or catches, didn’t make any tackles, and if you weren’t paying really close attention you wouldn’t have even heard his name on the broadcast.

Braden Mann was brilliant.

Mann, the Eagles’ punter, turned in an all-time performance for the Eagles when they needed it the most.

There aren’t many ways to slow down the top offense in the NFL, but forcing them to play drive after drive on a long field is one.

And Mann did that perfectly.

Mann punted six times for a 51.2 net average with five punts inside the 20, two inside the 10, and no touchbacks.

He helped the Eagles control field position throughout one of their biggest regular-season wins ever under Nick Sirianni. The Eagles beat the Ravens 24-19 at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore, improving to 10-2 with their eighth straight win.

“Great job by Braden,” Nick Sirianni said. “Those are huge. Those are things that you get so excited about as a football coach, of how important that is in the field position battle. That’s not going to get looked at a lot, but I am really excited, and we talked about that after the game.” 

The Ravens came into the game averaging 6.97 yards per offensive play, the 2^nd-highest figure in NFL history behind the 2000 Rams’ 6.98.

Thanks to Mann, their average drive started at their own 24-yard-line, and in the second half, when the Eagles took command, their average drive start was the 22. 

They moved the ball much of the game, but they had drives of 14, 10, 8, 7 and 7 plays that culminated in either a field goal attempt or a punt. It didn’t hurt that Justin Tucker kept missing field goals. But if Mann didn’t keep pinning the Ravens deep, maybe those field goal attempts are shorter and he makes them.

The last Eagles punter with five kicks inside the 20 and no touchbacks in a game was Donnie Jones against the Jaguars in the 2014 season opener at the Linc. Jones set the franchise record with seven punts inside the 20 – also with no touchbacks - against the Cards in Week 12 of the 2013 season.

Ravens returner Tylan Wallace only returned two of Mann’s six punts for five and 11 yards.        

Mann’s best moment came early in the second quarter. With the Ravens already up 9-0, he unloaded a 58-yarder that took a couple bounces before Sydney Brown downed it at the 1-yard-line. The Ravens netted five yards on three plays before they punted, giving the Eagles a short field leading to their first touchdown.

“Going back there you only have so long to kind of make a decision when you’re going to catch or not catch it,” Wallace said. “You’ve got a few seconds to make that decision, and you've just got to make it quick and stick with it, whatever it is. I think I was going up to kind of catch it – I was a little indecisive. Last second, I decided not to.”

That was a real turning point in the game.

The Eagles proceeded to outscore the Ravens 24-3 until there were three seconds left in the game.

“We spend so much time on plus-50 punting,” Nick Sirianni said. “We show it. We talk about it so much. We show all the ones from college in the week. We show all the ones from the NFL, because we know how critical it is. If you can back a team up, and you can get a stop, that usually equals points. 

“Braden, they didn’t catch their balls, and we caught ours. That’s a big deal. That’s like high school football. It’s something I learned from my brother so long ago - just catch the punt. Our guys caught the punt. (Britain) Covey did a great job of coming up on some punts that were short and caught them. Covey comes up and catches a punt that’s kind of short and saves us. One of them I thought it was like 14 yards of field position and another one was like 26 yards of field position. 

“Then they let some punts hit.  Now, why did they let some punts hit? Because we got such good rush down the field by Sydney and Kelee (Ringo) where it was a little messy down there, so they let them hit and we got them pinned inside the one. To me that is such a good detail of our special teams, and the things they were doing."

Mann is another unheralded Howie Roseman find. 

He had spent a few years with the Jets, then was released by the Steelers at the end of last year’s training camp. With Arryn Siposs struggling, the Eagles turned to Mann and he’s been the best punter in Eagles history, with averages of 50.3 yards per punt with a net of 43.7. The previous records were held by Cameron Johnston at 47.0 and 41.8. 

Mann’s career average of 46.8 yards per punt is 12^th-highest in NFL history. His 50.3 since joining the Eagles is 3^rd-best in the NFL.

“I think we really won the game in the kicking game, playing special teams,” Zach Baun said. “I know how much that can affect games. We fielded all of our punts, they didn’t, and it cost them.” 

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