Getty Eagles cornerbacks Darius Slay and Avonte Maddox celebrate a touchdown during their Detroit homecoming in 2021.
When Avonte Maddox hurdled Darius Slay in the end zone late in the third quarter, it looked like two teammates just celebrating a blowout win. That was part of it. The other had to do with Maddox rushing down the field to ask Slay a question.
He wanted the football Slay had just returned 33 yards for a touchdown. Maddox, a Detroit native, saw his dad sitting up in the stands at Ford Field and thought he needed a Halloween gift. He doesn’t get to attend many games due to a crazy work schedule, plus the COVID-19 pandemic limited road trips. Since Maddox was the one who stripped the ball out of D’Andre Swift’s arms, it seemed fair to ask for it back.
“I jumped over his head and I got hyped,” Maddox told reporters, “and I walked over to him and I said, ‘Slay, you think I can have that ball?’ He said, ‘Yeah, you got it my brother.’ I said ‘I’m trying to give it to my dad’ so I just went up and gave the ball to my dad, so I appreciate Slay for that. It’s pretty cool.”
Maddox called the highlight-reel play the “Detroit on Detroit” due to their connections to Motown. Maddox was born and raised in Detroit and attended Martin Luther King High School. In fact, he invited a bunch of students from his alma mater to the Eagles-Lions game. Meanwhile, Slay spent seven seasons as a member of the Lions and unknowingly served as a mentor to Maddox who grew up rooting for his hometown team.
“That was pretty nice, a little Detroit on Detroit right there, that’s what I called it,” Maddox said. “Pretty cool. I punched out the ball and I’m looking for the ball, you know, and I see 2 Slay running down to the end zone so I was pretty hype about that.”
Avonte Maddox and Darius Slay have been among the top graded cover CBs so far this season.
They connect for a score 💪
#Eagles
Slay’s touchdown put the Eagles up 38-0 and erased any doubt. The Lions weren’t coming back. After the game, the Pro Bowler joked that his “homecoming” would have been better had he secured an interception instead of a fumble recovery.
“Yeah I could have, a pick would have been nicer,” Slay told FOX Sports. “But it’s cool, that was good, to get in the end zone. And ‘Te made a hell of a play. I scooped and scored, do what I be doing at practice every day.”
.@bigplay24slay joined @MeganOlivi after earning a big W over his former team with the @Eagles 🤩
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Practiced Punch Out on Miles Sanders
Miles Sanders was out of commission in Week 8, but he recognized Maddox’s punch-out play immediately. The cornerback had executed it on him during a recent practice. The two shared a good laugh about it on Twitter, then Maddox explained how Jonathan Gannon’s voice was in his ear right before he initiated contact. His goal was to create a takeaway, not make a tackle.
“Instinct. You don’t want to have to think about it, you want it to become instinct at some point,” Maddox said. “JG [Gannon] has been making such a big emphasis on it, and I was running up to the guy and I’m like ‘I’m about to punch this out.'”
.@2live_AM on punching the ball out becoming second nature
Defense Records Six QB Sacks
The Eagles’ secondary owed everything to the guys upfront in this one.
Darius Slay records his second career score (67-yard INT-TD on 12/9/18 at Arizona with Detroit) with a 33-yard fumble recovery TD to make it a 38-0 game. #FlyEaglesFly
The defensive ends and tackles combined for six sacks, the first time that has happened since December 11, 2011 when they recorded nine. Five different players wrapped up Jared Goff and they held the Lions to 57 total rushing yards.
“We got good guys up front that can go hunt, that’s why we got all the sacks we got,” Slay said. “We competed, man, we came out here and did what we were supposed to do.”