The legend of "The Hit" is growing. The football world immediately recognized cornerback Cooper DeJean's open-field tackle on Baltimore Ravens running back Derrick Henry on Sunday – a perfect-form move that ended with DeJean picking up Henry and throwing him to the ground.

It was a classic piece of football artwork: The 198-pound DeJean decked the 247-pound Henry, holding him to a 3-yard gain on a third-and-11 play.

On Tuesday, the NFL sent DeJean the following personalized email:

"Dear Cooper,

"Every football season, we know that every snap and every inch matters. We want every play to be competitive, with everyone on the field focused on playing hard, playing fast, and playing safe. Each and every player has a role and must do their job for the team to be successful.

"On behalf of the National Football League, I would like to thank you for your commitment to the game and commend you on being named the NFL Way to Play Award recipient for Week 13 of the regular season. You have been recognized for your impressive tackle of Derrick Henry during Philadelphia's win over Baltimore on December 1st.

"The NFL Way to Play Awards, fueled by Gatorade, were created to raise awareness of proper playing technique and to reward those who lead by example at all levels of football.

"Because of your play, the NFL Foundation will award a $5,000 equipment grant through USA Football to a youth or high school football program of your choice."

DeJean watched the video of the tackle with the Philadelphia Eagles' Social Media team and offered his day-after reaction of a tackle heralded for its perfection in tackling form and the way the thud of Henry hitting the grass at M&T Bank Stadium resounded along the Eagles' sidelines and with Eagles fans everywhere.

"I didn't really expect to pick him up like that," DeJean said. "That's kind of just coming down doing my job, making a tackle, and trying to run through him. He's a pretty big dude, though. I felt it a little bit for sure, but had a lot of adrenaline running. I was just playing my coverage, came down to make the hit.

"It was cool. I said this earlier, but I didn't expect to fully pick him up and put him on the ground. It kind of just happened. I was just trying to do my job and make the tackle. I felt it for sure, but luckily, he was just turning around, so he didn't really see me coming. I was able to sneak up on him and make the tackle."

The tackle stirred memories of the lick former Eagles cornerback Sheldon Brown laid on New Orleans Saints running back Reggie Bush in a playoff game during the 2006 season, and Brown – the Eagles' Honorary Captain on Sunday when the Eagles host the Carolina Panthers at Lincoln Financial Field – was very aware of DeJean's big moment.

"There was somebody on 'Good Morning Football' (on NFL Network) replayed it – they showed Cooper's hit and then they played mine and they apologized to Reggie (Bush, on the show), and he said, 'What did I do this morning to deserve this?' I caught a little bit of that. It was tremendous.

"It's just toughness. It's just a willingness to go out there and put your body on the line and be physical, sacrifice injury for the sake of the team, and play winning ball. It was a perfect tackle."

The form is what Defensive Coordinator Vic Fangio focused on when he held his weekly press conference on Tuesday at the NovaCare Complex and was asked about DeJean's tackle.

"It was good technique, good job of wrapping up, good job of targeting where to hit him, and it all came together for a really good play," Fangio said.

The play was representative of what this No. 1-ranked defense has become: Technically sound, assignment-conscious, and extremely physical. The Eagles have allowed just 15.3 points per game since Week 6, second best in the league, for a variety of reasons and DeJean echoes what Fangio preaches.

"I think we preach being the most physical team on the field every week. So, that's our job, to go out and put that on the field. I try to do that," he said. "We want to be the most physical team on the field every week and that starts in practice. We're wearing pads on Wednesdays, going through our tackle circuit, so we can come out and tackle and play physical on Sundays."