Philadelphia Eagles kicker Jake Elliott defends use of visual mark: 'Completely legal'
Philadelphia Eagles place kicker Jake Elliott defended a tactic the team uses during field goals and extra points after he and punter Arryn Siposs — who acts as the holder — were flagged for potentially cheating.
After a post on FootballZebras.com reported that NFL officials would be on alert during wild card weekend about the use of illegal foreign objects on field goals and extra points, extra scrutiny fell to Elliott and the Eagles. The post cited an incident from a Week 14 Eagles-Giants game in which video from a field goal attempt showed emergency holder Britain Covey appearing to pick up a small object after the ball was kicked.
"We’ve always used something that’s within the rules," Elliott said Wednesday, according to NJ.com. "It’s just literally to mark the spot. It’s part of the playing surface, like a piece of grass or something like that."
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The post also cited other kickers appearing to use a similar tactic. On Wednesday, Elliott said the Eagles spoke to league officials about their process and that the league signed off.
"When we talked to them, we explained what we’re doing, and they saw what we were doing," he added. "Probably 30 teams do it around the league. It’s just a point of emphasis, and someone makes it bigger than it is. Everything we’ve done has been completely legal."
Elliott, 27, is coming off of a Pro Bowl season last year and converted 20 of his 23 (87%) attempts this season, including a long from 56 yards out. He also connected on 51 of 53 (96.2%) of his extra points.
In the Week 14 game against the Giants, an eventual 48-22 Philadelphia victory, Elliott converted two attempted field goals and all six extra point tries.
New York Giants special teams coordinator Thomas McGaughey was asked Wednesday about the visual mark Elliott uses and said: "It is what it is. I'll just leave it at that."
When pressed further and asked if leaving a visual cue would help, he added: "Yeah, you leave a visual spot down there, it helps."
McGaughey later added that it would not be something he would alert officials about and would let them do their job.
Elliott has converted all 11 field goal attempts in his playoff career, missing two of 13 (84.6%) extra point attempts in the playoffs.
The Eagles were on their bye during the wild card round and will host the Giants Saturday at 8:15 p.m.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Philadelphia Eagles' Jake Elliott defends use of visual mark on kicks
