Everyone remembers “Philly Special.”

But NFL coaches and analytics departments studied all 29 fourth-down attempts by the 2017 Philadelphia Eagles offense, not just the most famous one.

If it feels as if teams are being more aggressive than ever on fourth down, that’s because they are. Offenses had attempted to convert 219 fourth downs (48.9 percent success rate) after five weeks of this season, which was up dramatically from 143 in 2018 (56.6 percent), 121 in 2013 (42.1 percent) and 116 in 2003 (45.7 percent), according to the NFL Media Research Team.

What’s changed? Well, the 2017 Eagles, coached by Doug Pederson, happened, and rode an aggressive approach on fourth down from the start of the season all the way through to winning the Super Bowl.