Zack Baun made the play that saved the Eagles and Jalen Carter. It was a lesson in hustle.
Miles Sanders had broken free on his way to the end zone. Except Baun somehow caught up to him. “His effort … that’s the standard that we set,” said safety Reed Blankenship.
Zack Baun was still sitting in front of his locker, still getting dressed, now pulling a white WISCONSIN T-shirt over his head when the Eagles staff member approached him and leaned down to say something.
“The play of the game was yours,” the staffer said. “You ran that mother[bleep]er down. That play saved us.”
Do you remember the play? It would be understandable if — amid the lightning and the thunder and the delay and the fights and the spitting and the total and complete strangeness of Eagles 24, Cowboys 20 — you had forgotten what Baun did with six minutes left in the third quarter Thursday night.
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Cowboys tailback Miles Sanders had broken free, was ahead of everyone, was on his way to reaching the end zone and giving Dallas the lead and enjoying a moment of sweet satisfaction against his former team. Except Baun caught up to him from behind, somehow, and after trying to strip the football from him, finally dragged Sanders down at the Eagles’ 11-yard line.
It was a remarkable play in and of itself, one made all the more important after Sanders, five plays later, lost a fumble. That sequence was the difference in the game’s outcome, and none of it would have been possible had Baun not made the kind of play that peewee and high school football coaches should be showing to their players for years to come.
“It was just hustle,” Baun said. “It was just running to the ball, like we do in practice all the time. That’s kind of the name of my game: hustle. I’ve done it in my past. I do a lot of conditioning so that when I’m in that position, whether it’s the 16th play of the drive or the fifth play of the drive, I’m able to do stuff like that.”
Out of that magical 2024-25 season for the Eagles, Baun’s rise into one of the best defensive players in the NFL was the most pleasant and shocking development. From four years with the New Orleans Saints as a special-teams player and situational pass-rusher, he became an All-Pro and a defensive player of the year candidate at middle linebacker, and he was just as good Thursday as he was at any point last season. He had a team-high nine tackles and batted away what seemed a sure touchdown pass from Dak Prescott to tight end Jake Ferguson, but it was his action-hero-style sprint after Sanders that stood out most.
According to the firm NextGen Stats, Baun reached a maximum speed of 20.68 mph as he pursued Sanders, who topped out at 19.29. There aren’t many linebackers who are faster than tailbacks. Linebackers aren’t supposed to be faster than tailbacks. And it’s a moment like that one that makes you wonder: What the hell were they doing in New Orleans? How could they not see what they had in Baun?
“His effort, man, that’s the standard that we set,” safety Reed Blankenship said. “You can talk about it all you want, but when you put it on film, that’s another thing. That’s why he was voted captain: the effort, the physicalness, the mentality. He’s got all the things you need. We listen to him. Watching him chase that guy down — he’s a freak.”
His success last season, and the leaguewide acknowledgment of his excellent play, did nothing to change his approach, he said. “I’m the same old guy. Where I came from in this league, I understand hard work and getting better every day are so crucial to the game, and it would be disrespecting the game if I took my foot off the gas pedal.”
Baun took some ribbing from his teammates after the game for failing to punch the ball out of Sanders’ hands. He swung with his right hand, which was farther away from the crook of Sanders’ left arm, where he carried the ball. But these were minor details. There was so much ragged play and so little discipline from the Eagles’ defense in that first half — Jalen Carter’s mindless loogie and Nolan Smith’s silly taunting penalty and Adoree’ Jackson’s soft coverage on the outside — and maybe those bad trends would have continued in the second half if Baun hadn’t pulled off that play.
More than 32 years ago, on a bigger stage in a bigger game against a much better Dallas Cowboys team, the Buffalo Bills’ Don Beebe became a national role model for running down defensive lineman Leon Lett and knocking the ball out of his mitts as he hot-dogged it down the sideline in Super Bowl XXVII. Baun had never heard of Beebe before Thursday night, but he smiled at the story.
“Run to the ball, run to the ball, run to the ball — that’s what I’m thinking. That’s what I’m supposed to do,” he said. “It would be cool if it influences the younger generation and is a good example.”
Yes, it would. The lesson is so simple. Just hustle. You never know what might happen. You might just win your team a game. You might just do what Zack Baun did, and run that motherbleeper down.