He was the Eagles’ secret weapon on Sunday, had no rushing attempts or catches, made no tackles and if you weren’t paying close attention you wouldn’t have even heard his name on the broadcast.

Braden Mann was brilliant.

Mann, the Eagles punter, put in a record-breaking performance for the Eagles when they needed it most.

There aren’t many ways to slow down the top offense in the NFL, but forcing them to play drive after drive on a long field is one option.

And man did it perfectly.

Mann hit six punts for a net average of 51.2, with five punts inside the 20, two inside the 10 and no touchbacks.

He helped the Eagles control field position during one of their biggest regular-season victories under Nick Sirianni. The Eagles defeated the Ravens 24-19 at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore to improve to 10-2 with their eighth straight win.

“Great job by Braden,” Nick Sirianni said. “These are huge. These are the things that excite you as a football coach and how important that is in the fight for field positions. It doesn’t get a lot of attention, but I’m really excited and we talked about it after the game.”

The Ravens came into the game averaging 6.97 yards per offensive play, a 2^nd-highest mark in NFL history behind the Rams’ 6.98 in 2000.

Thanks to Mann, their average drive started at their own 24-yard line, and in the second half, when the Eagles took control, their average drive start was 22.

They moved the ball most of the game, but had drives of 14, 10, 8, 7 and 7 plays that culminated in either a field goal attempt or a punt. It didn’t hurt that Justin Tucker kept missing field goals. But if Mann didn’t push the Ravens deeper, maybe those field goal attempts would be shorter and he makes them.

The last Eagles player with five kicks inside the 20 and no touchbacks in a game was Donnie Jones against the Jaguars in the 2014 season opener at Linc. Jones set the franchise record with seven punts inside the 20 – also without touchbacks – against the Cards in Week 12 of the 2013 season.

Ravens returner Tylan Wallace returned just two of Mann’s six punts for five and 11 yards.

Mann’s best moment came early in the second quarter. With the Ravens already up 9-0, he fired a 58-yarder that took a few bounces before Sydney Brown knocked it down at the 1-yard line. The Ravens gained five yards on three plays before punting, giving the Eagles a short field that led to their first touchdown.

“When you go back there, you only have a limited amount of time to make a decision about whether to catch it or not,” Wallace said. “You have a few seconds to make that decision and you just have to make it quickly and stick with it, whatever it may be. I think I kind of wanted to get it – I was a little indecisive. At the last second I decided not to do it.”

That was a real turning point in the game.

The Eagles outscored the Ravens 24-3 with three seconds left in the game.

“We spend so much time punting over 50,” Nick Sirianni said. “We show it. We talk about it so much. We show everyone from college during the week. We show everyone from the NFL because we know how important it is. If you can support and stop a team, it usually means points.

“Braden, they didn’t catch their balls and we caught ours. This is a big deal. It’s like high school football. I learned that from my brother so long ago – just catch the punt. Our boys caught the punt. (UK) Covey did a great job catching some short punts. Covey comes and catches a punt that’s a little short and saves us. One of them I thought was a 14 yard field position and another was a 26 yard field position.

“Then they dropped a couple punts. Now why did they allow a few punts? Because we got such a good rush down the field from Sydney and Kelee (Ringo) where it was a little chaotic down there, so they let them score and we kept them in the one team. To me, that’s such a good detail of our special teams and the things they did.”

Mann is another unheralded find from Howie Roseman.

He spent a few years with the Jets and was released by the Steelers at the end of last year’s training camp. With Arryn Siposs struggling, the Eagles turned to Mann and he was the best punter in Eagles history with an average of 50.3 yards per punt and a net rating of 43.7. The previous records were held by Cameron Johnston at 47.0 and 41.8.

Mann’s career average of 46.8 yards per punt is 12^Th-highest in NFL history. His 50.3 since joining the Eagles is 3^approx-Best in the NFL.

“I think we really won the game in the kicking game by playing special teams,” Zach Baun said. “I know how much this can affect games. We blocked all of our punts, they didn’t, and it cost them.”

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