The Browns pulled off their first win in 635 days on Thursday night, and while victory surely tasted sweet in Cleveland, football fans in Philadelphia are less than enthused.
With first-round draft pick and rookie Baker Mayfield at the helm, the Browns attempted a two-point conversion in the third quarter with under a minute to go. With the score at 14–12 Jets, nobody thought pulling ahead was possible in Cleveland. Until they basically stole a very familiar play from Super Bowl LII, invented by the Philadelphia Eagles.
LANDRY TO MAYFIELD!
The two-point conversion is good! #NYJvsCLE pic.twitter.com/52OQ5iE2WI
— Cleveland Browns (@Browns) September 21, 2018
The Browns eventually won 21–17, but the victory was not nearly as sweet since they the most pivotal play of the game was straight-up copied.
Since Philly doesn’t exactly go down without a fight, Eagles fans and players were quick to chime in.
TD in the Super Bowl > Two point conversion looking for your second win in over two seasons#NotSpecial
— NBC Sports Philadelphia (@NBCSPhilly) September 21, 2018
— Lane Johnson (@LaneJohnson65) September 21, 2018
And y’all had the name of it be Philly Special, @bakermayfield!?! C’mon man!
— Lane Johnson (@LaneJohnson65) September 21, 2018
At this rate, Philly Special is going to be a bread and butter play in every football team’s playbook at every level in about two years.
— Rich Hofmann (@rich_hofmann) September 21, 2018
— Philadelphia Eagles (@Eagles) September 21, 2018
I don’t care what you say. Philly may be the reigning Super Bowl Champions, but it’s still Philly against the world. You can’t just completely rip the most iconic play in the books and expect people to cheer for you.
I’m not a bad sport. I get that teams steal plays from each other all the time. But the Philly special is the only thing that’s sacred in Philadelphia. It sits above the Rocky steps, the Liberty Bell, and Wawa in the order of importance.
Imitation may be the highest form of flattery, but you can bet the Eagles are using this as the highest form of motivation for Week 3. They’re basically bound to wear the Super Bowl again with this kind of fire in their bellies.