The Green Bay Packers were unable to keep up with the Philadelphia Eagles’ high-flying offense on Sunday night, and at least one of their players was caught faking an injury in an attempt to slow things down. The stunt led to some sharp criticism.
The Eagles scored a touchdown to take a 27-20 lead just before the end of the first half. They had the Packers on their heels with their no-huddle attack for the entire drive. At one point, linebacker Isaiah McDuffie was walking perfectly fine before he fell to the turf and claimed to be hurt.
Football or fútbol? pic.twitter.com/qs8RWseGOd
— David J. Chao – ProFootballDoc (@ProFootballDoc) November 28, 2022
It seemed quite obvious that McDuffie was faking an injury to give Green Bay’s defense a rest. Because there were less than two minutes remaining in the half, the Packers were charged a timeout. Former NFL offensive lineman Ross Tucker and others blasted McDuffie on Twitter.
This is garbage no matter who does it at any level of football. pic.twitter.com/MweiYRQJ8q
— Ross Tucker (@RossTuckerNFL) November 28, 2022
The Packers went on to lose 40-33. Their defense simply could not keep up with Jalen Hurts and company. McDuffie made that even more obvious.
Players faking injuries has always been more of an issue at the collegiate level, as more college teams run no-huddle offenses. We saw Lane Kiffin call out an opposing player over it a few weeks back (video here). We may see it more frequently against Philadelphia’s offense going forward.
