A Night I’ll Never Forget
Posted: February 5th, 2018 | Author: Tommy Lawlor | Filed under: Philadelphia Eagles | 584 Comments »The Eagles are Super Bowl champions!!!
I was confident going into this game, but also realistic. You don’t beat Bill Belichick, Tom Brady and the Patriots by accident. You must make big plays and limit your mistakes.
My confidence grew when the Eagles had double-digit leads in the 1st half. The Eagles had been good all year. They were beating the friggin’ Pats. Life seemed good. I knew the Patriots would come out swinging in the 2nd half, but I didn’t expect them to surgically dissect the Eagles defense quite the way they did. Yikes.
Amazingly, I remained calm when the Eagles fell behind 33-32. This team has been clutch all year long.
The Eagles marched down the field and took a 38-33 lead. That’s when Brandon Graham got loose inside and knocked the ball away from Tom Brady. Derek Barnett recovered it.
That was one of the strangest moments of my life. The best way I can put it is that it felt like an out of body experience. It was as if I was watching myself see that play. I know that sounds weird, maybe even insane. It freaked me out.
That was the moment when it really hit me…they’re going to do this.
I was shaking.
The logical part of me started looking at the clock and thinking about the situation. The fan in me was ready to go nuts.
My phone was going nuts. Texts were flying in, as everyone started to get the feeling the Eagles were going to actually win this game.
Brady had one final drive and made it closer than I would have preferred. I actually was silent on that final play, desperate to make sure there wasn’t going to be some crazy penalty or whatever. When the official said the game was over, I just smiled and tried to soak in the moment.
I teared up as the emotions started to set in.
The 2017 Eagles won the Super Bowl. But that win was for all the Eagles…Harold, Jaws, Reggie, Westy, Dawk, Trent and even Big Red. Vermeil’s guys. Gang Green. The fun 1995 team. The 2002 Eagles, who won with 3 different starting QBs. The 2004 team. The 2008 team. The Michael Vick Experience of 2010. All of those players were like ghosts, sitting on the Eagles sideline and doing anything they could to help the Eagles pull that game out.
David Alexander hasn’t played for the Eagles since the end of the 1994 season. His reaction to the game?
— David Alexander (@da_alex72) February 5, 2018
This organization is special. It means something to be an Eagle.
Tonight it means you’re a champion.
_
GOD BLESS DOUG PEDERSON! GOD BLESS NICK FOLES! GOD BLESS EVERYBODY! THE WAIT IS OVER, WORLD CHAMPS!! FLY EAGLES FLY!!
I’m still in shock. I haven’t fully processed it. This is so surreal.
My reaction was more like something out of Mortal Kombat. I jumped off the couch and started screaming at the television “FINISH THEM!!!! FINISH THEM!!!!”
Fatality!!!
My reaction was somewhere between “Mortal Kombat” and “wtf was that noise that just came out of your body? Are you a human animal, because that didn’t sound like a human sound.”
Sounds like the end of Karate Kid…Finish him! Finish him!
One time for GEAGLE, F0les, you did it baby!
I think you mean FOles.
The rainmaker!
Saint Nick!
Whatever happened to Geagle
Shitposted himself to death.
What a special season. They’ve made clutch plays all year. You could fill out half an all-star team with their IR, but they broke the pats tonight with their backup QB. What a season, what a night.
I want ACViking to compare 1960 team to this team. I remember seeing Tom Brookshire talk about how the 1960 team just always found a way to win. This team, this year just would not be denied. So satisfying after so many seasons that have ended in disappointment.
The strip sack, all I heard was an announcer go “uh oh” somewhere in there I recognized what happens, and then it was a blur. I keep an exercise ball in the living room and alternated between bouncing nervously and pacing nervously during the game. Anyway, I don’t even clearly remember everything, when clarity came back I was beating the hell out of my exercise ball in a primal fit of joy. That never happened before. But now I finally know how with enough alcohol, the winning city can riot with joy.
They won.
An unexpected bonus treat, Vikings fans are even more salty after we took their stadium and won a Super Bowl. It feels good to be the best. Now off to sleep!
Vikings fans will be more salty when they have to start the 2018 season in our house once again on our celebration day.
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/5a91f7274fdbb27e70ab28f5b4c0fbea34699c59f0af9678c439ed56f037b2d4.jpg
I want Carolina in that game. Or possibly the Giants. I want to crush somebody I absolutely hate from both a team and fan base standpoint.
Who better than Dallas?
And the player we got with their 1st round pick recovered a key fumble.
https://sports.theonion.com/lombardi-trophy-glad-it-will-never-come-back-to-minneso-1822708511#_ga=2.254214984.1182849616.1517860574-671336872.1517860574
Never commenced before but I felt the need to tell you to enjoy this Tommy. After thinking about the other Eagles like Dawkins, Vincent, and Sheldon Brown who deserved this win you were the next person that popped into my head. We are now world fuckin champions. Who do you think we are drafting at #32 haha
Drafting #32 in Dallas!
“The Super Bowl Champion Philadelphia Eagles are now on the clock” Ha!!
I’d like to see them trade down and pick up more draft assets. Only have 6 selections this year.
Mike, it means a lot to hear that. Thank you so much. As for the draft, it won’t be a QB. At the end of the 1st, you really are smart to focus on value over need.
Howie’s trading that pick!
新春佳节到。祝好！祝好！
I don’t really know how I’m supposed to act now. I mean I’m 56 and I’ve never been here before with my beloved team winning a super bowl or football championship. I’m not used to this feeling yet.
My identity as an Eagles fan doesn’t know how to cope with this sudden victory.
WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Hearing announcers other than Collinsworth and Michaels really makes you appreciate just how shit they are at their job.
https://screengrabber.deadspin.com/the-tom-brady-strip-sack-as-called-by-announcers-from-1822718984
For my money the Brazilians are the best, they know how to get hyped at the right moment.
Always with something negative.
“Tom Brady, bereft on the turf… It has lit-rally been ripped from his grasp.” -my favorite Australian
Have you ever watched CBC’s Hockey Night in Canada? The passion and affection that the play-by-play guy and the color commentator have for the players and the game is authentic and infectious. I don’t feel that Collinsworth is quite as blah as Michaels, but the former is doing analysis, so he should be more interesting. But the big networks insist on the tired “objective” detached “professionalism”. As if there is anybody with a pulse who isn’t biased. The rationale is to appeal to the widest portion of the market, but the REAL game enthusiasts see thru the commercial driven mediocrity.
As a fan, there’s a weird feeling that a weight has been lifted off me. It’s like… all the fans of NFL teams that have Lombardis, that have those Championship memories, that have teams that are members of that fraternity, they have all been able to look at us and say to us “You guys are not a part!”
Now nobody can tell us that the Eagles are not winners in the modern era of football. For us fans, we are now part of the fraternity of fans of an NFL Championship team.
I don’t’ even want to go to sleep tonight. The feeling is so nice. Go Eagles!
Ill admit, when we went down 33-32 after having just scored a FG instead of TD, I thought we had lost and even after the TD and strip sack, I still wouldnt believe it was possible before the play.
I was so afraid they would call a phantom PI or something on the last play
Yeah, I can’t say I was confident at that point. I was rather quiet and preparing for life as usual as an Eagles fan.
I think I am secretly still waiting for the Pats to get one final shot at it, some part of me will be forever frozen in the moment of that hail mary arcing down towards the endzone.
To Tommy and all here, here’s my little secret:
The night of the Vikings win, I booked tickets to fly cross-country back to Philly for the victory parade, that’s how confident I was we were going to win this somehow.
So now I’m leaving first thing in the morning, and I hope to see you all there at the parade – I’ll be wearing a Dawkins jersey, so it’ll be easy to pick me out 🙂
Fly, Eagles, Fly!
Can’t sleep. Never more proud to be an Eagles fan. F dallas.
Shoot I counted them out of it when Darby went down in week 1…
Darby has been a problem all year. First with the injury, then with his play.
All of the physical talent in the world, but something is lacking.
I thought he did good in this game. The two Gronk TDs is their zero DBs in the NFL that cover
He seemed to get turned around a lot during the game; Gronk is a tough match up for him, and for anyone.
I haven’t been impressed with him this year; I’m hoping that it was mainly because of his ankle, but I don’t think he was worth the 3rd round pick that we gave up for him this year.
Dude had a couple of key interceptions this year. He was up and down, but I wasn’t too unhappy with him. Obviously he struggled in the super bowl, but who the fuck in our secondary didn’t struggle in pass coverage last night.
He had some key picks, you are correct. I guess I’m just looking for more consistency overall from him.
They seemed to all lose coverage last night; Mills doesn’t have the physical skills that Darby has, but he’s got the confidence/intelligence to make up for his limitations
I hear Malcolm Butler may be available soon…
Gonna be about $10m per year for him
I didn’t think he had a great game last night, but until then he had been playing very strong.
He never seemed to get comfortable with us. Don’t know. Hopefully an off season with us makes a huge difference, but right now I don’t know if he would be worth resigning.
There’s so much more to football than physical talent, but only the measurables can be measured. That’s what makes evaluation so difficult and, at times, random.
WOW! Just wow. Glad I got in a solid 4 hours+ of sleep. Other than being livid at the D line for all of the game up to the strip sack, I couldn’t have more fun watching our Eagles just go up and down the field over and over again on the defending world champs; now we’re the world champs.
Some say Nick Foles reminds people of Jeff Hos. I’m thinking more Jim Blunkett in XV(ironically against the Eagles).
I really can’t say enough good things about Pederson and the O-line. Dominant performance by them both. It seems like all of the necessary ripping of Pederson from last year into the early stretches of this year has been so cleaned up by Pederson improvement in all aspect of coaching that it feels like it was a decade ago. He pushed all the right buttons with this team all year, kept other teams off-balance with the play calling, and made this team amazing to watch week in and week out.
Great interview with Doug P and Foles
http://www.nfl.com/m/share?p=%2Fvideos%2Fnfl-gameday-prime%2F0ap3000000914539%2FDoug-Pederson-Nick-Foles-join-GameDay-Prime-after-Super-Bowl-LII-win
Crazy to think Foles almost quit football after spending 1 season with Jeff Fischer and its clear how much the players respect Doug.
Now living in a new world where Eagles are Super Bowl Champions!
LGB: 14 carries
Ajayi: 9 carries
And a great job of being flexible, staying with what’s working by Doug
Who would have thought to use Corey Clement (!) as a down field weapon before the season?!
4 catches 100 yards
That stiff arm in the open field was epic. He made up his mind that he was going to put that safety in the dirt and then he did.
Chip kelly used Mathews and sproles on wheels routes all the time, Mathews just couldn’t catch. Great play by Corey huge stones to catch clutch plays.
There goes my handle. Thank God!! (And thank you, Tommy, for making every season so much better).
My wife took the kids upstairs to sleep and at the sack fumble, I shouted so loud she and the kids came downstairs and watched the rest of the game!! I guess it ok for kids to sleep late on the SB winning night!!
https://www.yahoo.com/news/wild-scene-philadelphia-eagles-win-051204385.html
Watching that in slomo shows how the game turned on such a seemingly inconsequential event. Derek Barnett falls down as he rushes. If he doesn’t fall down the tackle probably pushes him too far out of the play to recover the fumble and the Pats o-lineman would probably recover it. DB was the only Eagle anywhere near that fumble. That play is like a microcosm of life where a seemingly inconsequential event has a massive impact on the course of one’s life.
So true…lady luck looked our way several times last night…in the right place at the right time to scoop up a fumble…how many times have we seen a DL get all butter fingers with a bouncing ball…or had no idea that the ball was loose…that ball bounced right up to Barnett and he picked it clean and then went to the ground to make sure he didn’t lose it…incredible…
Tommy…I couldn’t agree more…when I saw us go up by 5 and missed on the 2 point conversion… I told myself…”I can’t control this but just pray that this was a team destined to win…please make it happen guys…”. Then the strip sack happened and I calmly had my out of body experience…even the morning after it still feels that way…
That strip sack was a singular moment of pure elation.
Parade is looking like Wednesday. Bring your foul weather gear.
I felt that weird time-slows-down moment when I saw the game clock display 0:00…
That last play seemed to last F O R E V E R.
THANK YOU REFS…for calling a fair game. That was huge.
Yes i think it was well called. Very few calls made at all. .no refs getting in the way.
This was the stuff of legends man. We slayed the giant. Brady and Co. were damn near perfect on offense. Foles is a back up. Nelson Agholor was on a huuuuuge come back tour. Corey Clement, UDFA, has a 100 yard day in receiving. The injuries the team dealt with. 56 years of futility just…vaporized.
I’m still in disbelief.
My dog has PTSD from my freak outs when Clement made those plays.
I was wrong about the kid- didn’t think he’d make the roster, let alone make plays all season long.
Glad to eat my words.
This has been an insanely emotional weekend for me. I actually had to have one of my dogs put down on Saturday. The game threw me into a swirl of emotions. I didn’t sleep much because of that, but believe me when I say I NEEDED this game. Needed.
I’m sorry about your pup. That is a horrible feeling. Enjoy the victory of the game; my dad passed away in June, but even though he is gone- I know he saw this win.
My condolences to you, my friend. I think we all needed this one for reason or another.
Sorry it’s rough. Dogs are family members.
Sorry to hear about your pup. Ours jumped every time I shouted during the game.
When Graham got the strip sack, I kept telling myself we’re actually going to win the Super Bowl!!!
I love this team!!!!
I screamed Eagles win!
Dick Vermeil couldn’t do it.
Andy Reid couldn’t do it.
Chip Kelly couldn’t do it.
Doug Pederson did it!!!!
Don’t forget Buddy Ryan.
And …
– Joe Kuharich
– Jerry Williams
– Ed Khuyat
– Mike McCormack
– Marion Campbell
– Rich Kotite
Buddy Ryan. But there were only two who came close. Vermeil and AR.
Wow…Ray Rhodes time with the team was so insignificant that even ACViking forgot about him
When we missed the 2-point conversion up 5, I saw the path to my misery. I didn’t lose hope, but had a moment of dread. Like they did all season, though, when those paths appeared, the defense shut them down.
I had faith in this team almost all year, and almost all game. But there is no NFL fan who doesn’t suffer a shiver of terror with Brady, down a score and the ball in his hands, with 2 minutes left. Especially if the Pats have just effectively score 4 touchdowns on 4 straight drives.
This team has been clutch all season, and the defense even when they struggle found a way to make a play all year when needed. And they managed to deliver yet again in the biggest game, against the greatest QB of all time, who was having the greatest statistical game in NFL playoff history.
Zach Ertz on ESPN : “I have not slept. I don’t know anyone on the team that has.”
Going Toe to Toe with the best and finishing them is undeniable…. The glory is all ours! What a cherished experience and a platform for Philly sports to spring from henceforth. Bask in it, let it absorb every facet of your lives. What a fraternity we have here. Thank you Tommy for being you and what has come about of that. You’ve tied one hell of a group together near and far.Salut GoEagles99!
It is starting to feel real.
SUPER BOWL CHAMPS!
Looks like I’m going to spend some money today on the Super Bowl Champion shirt or hat or hoodie. I wonder if the knockoffs are available on eBay yet…
In case you all were wondering, yes, there are plenty of knockoffs on eBay already! In case you weren’t willing to pay the NFL $70 for a sweatshirt!
I woke up this morning feeling like a world fu**ing champ!!!
You are
Waking up means you went to sleep, how did you manage that? My heart is still pounding.
Alcohol.
I don’t know if Jordan Matthews would have made that Foles TD catch looking closer at it.
Lol. Swapping out Jeffrey for Jordan was a big-time move. AJ didn’t put up huge numbers for us, but he’s a killer.
The best thing about Alshon is that he’s capable of making game-changing, #1 receiver type catches, but he doesn’t have a typical #1 receiver type ego. The Pats adjusted to make it harder to get him the ball in the second half, and he didn’t complain, he just kept running his routes and contributing by putting pressure on the defense and opening up opportunities for Agholor, Ertz, and Smith.
It’s so rare to have a guy with big time talent who’s built like that mentally. Love Alshon and I’m glad we re-signed him long-term.
I have been hungering for the other bookend since I witnessed the last Eagles’ championship in 1960. I was a freshman in college, sitting in the stands on the east end. Naively, I expected more to come. It only took 58 more years to reach nirvana. It was well worth the wait!!!
One more note: I think often about you younger fans who had never experienced the utter joy of standing on top of that elusive summit. I tear up. Congratulations. May you never have to wait that long for the next one.
Can you guys imagine what that game would have been like with Joe Webb at the helm?!!??
Ha.
yup…would of won by 20…game would of been over at the half….
The man the myth the legend.
Goodell would’ve had to unilaterally impose a mercy rule at halftime with the Patriots down 200 to nothing.
Thank you Eagles for giving my wife this gift. She has been the truest of fans, always cheering when they won, and only felt bad for the team, and never herself, when they lost. Again, Thank you !!!!
when the game ended my neighborhood exploded in fireworks from all directions. It was like a fourth of july finale that went on for a long time.
who knew so many people have fireworks and that they all saved them for this moment?
My cowboys buddy was over for the game last night and said “this is where your defense has stepped up all year long.” Couple plays later graham strips Brady.
How special this team was felt like a tangible thing. It couldn’t be ignored, even by our rivals. they felt different all year. This team epitomized they City they played for.
Last night was special and today is surreal. I hope none of you have to go to work today. Enjoy this moment.
ESPN said Foles completed 85% of his passes on 3rd and 4th down in the NFC Championship and Super Bowl.
I love all of you, everyone
Can we talk about the elephant in the room now that the game’s over?
I can’t BELIEVE this team was so shortsighted as to sacrifice draft position by winning this game. Seriously, there’s a big difference between picking #31 and #32. This team will NEVER win the big one as long as they fail to look at the big picture like that.
.
.
.
.
.
Thus concludes my impression of an Eagles fan who will find the negative in anything.
Still can’t believe we won it all. Best weekend in Eagles history. This is going to be a fun week.
Oooh, my turn!
I’m glad we won and all, that’s great. But I’m really concerned about this defense… one sack?? Yeah it helped us win the Super Bowl, but our D-line is a joke!
Got up having coffee and feeling joyous! Think I was in shock last night to feel anything.
Got up?
Woke up, having coffee,
I was joking, knew what you meant. You slept? I did nod off an hour watching the replay at 4 am, other than that heart hasn’t stopped racing.
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/d3261e8d9f31bd3255a3a85953a6df06518ed5717b27a609fdcadf6a1e3c0321.png
The king is dead! Long live the king!
Couple of cause and effect things I hope that come from this super bowl.
1) we host the Vikings opening night. F their whinny ass fans.
2) our eagles rep steps to the draft podium in Jerry’s world and emphatically says “ and with the 32nd pick of X round, the SUPER BOWL CHAMPION PHILDAELPHIA EAGLES select…”
This feeling will never get old
Also Dawk’s induction night is going to be special.
My kid phoned me from The Gambia to talk about that when she heard he (and TO) made it.
While we’re talking about Lombardi, has anyone heard from Mike yet? Any further change in his opinion of BBDoug?
Listened to his podcast last night. He was very complimentary of Doug and flat out said “I was wrong about him” without qualification.
Good. That’s better than the half-assed retraction he gave a couple weeks ago. I don’t want to dwell on the negatives, but when I saw Lombardi (trophy), he came to mind. Speaking of which, look at the first post on this string if you haven’t already.
yep, they both did well. I was half expecting them to somehow call it all fluky, but to my surprise, he was as indignant as we were that they were trying to make the Ertz TD controversial.
How much better was it that we did this by beating the Patriots?
I know some people wanted the Jaguars because it might’ve been a less difficult challenge, but if we’d won the SB by beating Blake frickin’ Bortles, it would’ve been less meaningful. The “no Lombardis” and “1960” taunts from Giants and Cowboys fans would’ve been replaced by “yeah you won one, but look who you beat to do it” taunts.
None of that now. When you beat the quite possible G.O.A.T. at QB and a guy who’s on the Mt. Rushmore of professional football coaches, nobody can take anything away from you. You earned it. Eli Manning might make the HoF because he did that.
Plus, in addition to beating the Patriots, we deprived Giants fans of the chance to brag about being the only team to take down Belichick and Brady in the SB.
So sweet.
I wanted the patriots. I wanted to beat them for the reasons you explain.
I also knew their defense was a fraud.
I expected better play by our D, but this is a true team. One unit can carry the team until the other units can make a play.
Agreed. I’d have been happy for the Jags to get there… but I was secretly rooting for the Pats in that game.
Been saying it all week. If we played the jags, win or lose we’d never hear the end of it, that the jags were our opponent.
Foles beating Brady who was in the midst of an otherworldly performance himself. That’s a legend. Instantly one of the great Superbowls of all time.
It matters to us. For now. With only one SB win, we need the quality/style points. Nobody comments on who New England or Pittsburgh have beaten. Hopefully, we’ll get to that point before too long. Still, I’m gonna savor this a while before worrying about SB LIII or trading FOles or .
Woohoo!
Chris Berman always an Eagles fan and Steve Young were a pleasure to listen to commentate the highlights last night on ESPN after that train wreck commentating on NBC. Of course I wish I could’ve had Merrill and Mike synched up.
No sleep, watched the game again on NFL network at 4 am. So satisfying to see them win 2 Super Bowls in one night .
I watched the game at 4am as well. Fell asleep in the middle. Woke up with 10 minutes left in the 4th for the big finish.
I’ve watched most of it on you tube highlights about 3 times ! I did sleep from 2:30 to 6:30. I’m trying to compile my very favorite plays so I remember it better and it’s taking a while haha. I’m only half way and have 14!
Truthfully, like Masked Man I did nod off a bit but I did catch the 4th quarter, maybe slept an hour.
There are a lot of great plays in this game that I’ll remember – the Graham strip sack/Barnett recovery, 4th and 1 conversion to Ertz on their own 45, the Clement and Ertz TDs, etc.
But if I had to bet on one play going down in Philadelphia sports history, it’s “Philly Special”.
Pederson and Foles being introduced right now by Goodell, NFL network and wherever else it’s on.
SO damn clutch. There were times when I was yelling at the screen ‘DO WHAT YOU DID ALL YEAR”. 4th down conversions, Zach Ertz catches, big runs…they did it all.
I have chemotherapy Wednesday morning at Jefferson, fuck cancer, I’m going to the parade!
Ha, I’m also in treatment for it brother, and was planning on rescheduling an appointment on Wednesday. But just heard on 97.5 that parade will be Thursday! Fuck what we’re deal with, go Birds!
best of luck to you, too.
Thanks
Oh man, my treatments are Wed and Thur for 3 weeks then off a week. This is my 3rd week, still couodnt avoid the conflict. I can reschedule Thurs for Fri though, they’re pretty cool about it.
Ah, well good that they’re cool, as they should be. Dougpedersonspeed to you good sir
Take care or, best of luck to you.
Thanks
best of luck to you.
Thanks man, it’s been very treatable so I’ve been lucky.
Thanks!
Take care, we need you around to see the Eagles win more Super Bowls.
Thanks so much! All that I can die now because they won is bs, I want to see more!
My wife starts radiation on Wednesday. We got the bad news the Monday before the playoffs started, and after the doctors left and we were alone, she looks at me and says’ I’ll tell you what, the Eagles better win the damn Super Bowl” She cried tears of joy last night.
Now you have me tearing up. Good luck to you and your wife.
Thank you. She has been a true Eagles fanatic for the last 25 years, so maybe another miracle can happen.
best of luck to you and your wife
Thank you.
Best of luck! I’ve heard being in high spirits helps when fighting cancer and this is as big a spirit lifter as an Eagles fan could want.
good luck!
Thank you!
That strip sack play felt like it took an hour to play out. When I saw 96 with the ball, I couldnt even make noise. I just sprinted around the house like a soccer player who scores…pulling my shirt off and spinning it ober my head.
Always questioned authenticity when I saw others do that. I didn’t even think about doing it. It just happened. Fun stuff.
I think my whole apartment complex heard me shout “YES!!!!!” at the top of my lungs when Barnett scooped up that ball. As I live in Redskins country that was awkward.
Don’t feel bad. I am at work in DC in full Eagles garb.
I was watching the game with some friends who are Steelers fans (but we united in our hatred of the Patriots) and as soon as it happened we all stood up and got right in front of the TV…and then screamed in unison when it we saw the replay.
From Underdogs to TOP DAWGS!! PHILLY PHILLY!!!!
Really thought that Doug was going to go all balls out and throw on 3rd down to end the game at the end there .
Surprised he didn’t.
I teared up as the emotions started to set in. — you were not alone. What a journey that started right here. WOW. Nick Freaking FOles!!!!
I think Kobe was more excited about last night’s Eagles Super Bowl win than he was his own 5 championships .
that was incredible, I don’t trust any celebrity when they say they are a fan, because those people will show up court side to cheer on anybody who is in vogue. Pro-athletes love to pretend they don’t really watch sports or care. But that was some real stuff! Knew Kobe claimed to root for the Eagles, didn’t know he was a legit Eagles fan.
I miss Morton.
LOL
Oh snap…Morton was wrong…such a good article…then he disappeared after that one…
I was pretty normal and animated in the first half, and then nervous bordering on morose in the second half. I didn’t talk much shit to the Pats fan co-host of the party I was at, because while I love the Eagles…I know the other shoe always drops.
Brady has the ball, two minutes left. I’d seen that movie 1000 times over the years, it never ends well.
But, like they were all season, this team was different. I was the last one in the room to realize Brady had dropped the ball. It was a different experience than I thought. I thought I’d want to go nuts and jump around and go crazy, and to be sure, but instead I also just sat and soaked it all in, watching the confetti drop on the WORLD CHAMPION PHILADELPHIA EAGLES. It didn’t really soak in until this morning.
If you had told me that the Eagles would only have one sack, that Brady would have 500 yards passing, and the Patriots would never punt, I would have believed you.
But if you told me that all those things would have happened, and the Eagles would also win the goddamn Superbowl, I would have asked you what you were drinking and if I could have shared it.
Is Dawk on the payroll in some capacity? If not we can add him real quick right? Dude needs a ring.
Watching Kempski’s (very long) video of the post game locker room https://www.pscp.tv/w/1BdGYRjMLkgJX (skip to about 12 minutes if you want to see a team get turnt) It’s great to see all these players I adore getting to have this moment.
Then I think about all the guys who almost weren’t here. Jay Ajayi, boy the Dolphins sure showed him. Then Kendricks was sort of in the dog house in the beginning of the season, made it known he was open to getting traded and getting his opportunity elsewhere. Didn’t work out that way, he didn’t pout and had his best season.
And Jeffrey Lurie, finally got to make good on his promise. As NFL owners go he seems like a good dude. Really seems to care about his players and have some sort of relationship with a lot of them.
Dawk works in the front office in a scouting capacity of some sort. He’ll get a ring.
I’m sorry you didn’t know that all season. To me that made it sweeter the whole way, and helped me believe.
Did you see before one of the home playoff games, Akers and Chad Lewis were tailgaiting with fans, and they were clearly excited about the team. One of them said, “If they win, we win, too.”
This is not only for all the Eagles that came before this team, but now all the ones that came after don’t have the reputation as chokers hanging over their heads. I’m not crying. You’re crying.
Happy for Brent Celek. I love that guy.
Who’s worth more FOLEs or Cousins? Steve Young was saying to Nick last night “Super Bowl MVP’s” don’t sit on the bench.
I didn’t think Foles would have much value, but again he may have proved me wrong. The last 2.5 games he has played at such an elite level. Are you guaranteed to get that from Baker Mayfield or Josh Allen? As always this will a very interesting offseason in Philly
I think we may have to tweak the description of Nick as “high variance”. It’s not that it’s not accurate, but that it doesn’t tell the whole story, namely that a lot of the variance comes from circumstances around him rather than his own inherent characteristics as a QB.
He’s now demonstrated on more than one occasion that if you give him a good supporting cast and a system that plays to his strengths, he can perform at an elite level, even against the best defenses and on the biggest stages. But he’s also demonstrated that he can’t carry a team or make up for poor coaching or an otherwise bad offensive roster on his own. He’s basically a high-end system QB.
Agreed. Nobody can’t tell me Baker or Lamar Jackson aren’t likely system QBs. If you need a QB Foles may hold more appeal than those guys.
Kirk is better IMO. But Foles is not a scrub, and can obviously win in the right situation. I’m just not seeing anywhere where I would want to go if I’m Foles. Maybe the Chargers or Saints if those guys happened to retire, or KC if for some reason Andy wanted him to start.
I see Denver and Arizona as great fits for Foles. Very good defenses, playmakers as WR, and established RBs. Both need to focus on their OLs and can be competitive right away with Foles
Yes, I think Denver makes the most sense. They still have 2 elite wideouts, a strong defense, basically everything in place but the quarterback.
Shhh. . . . I don’t wanna think about F0les on a different team . . . . especially one that could be good.
What you say is true, I just think that Foles is a system quarterback. Those teams do not have good offensive systems.
If you trade for Foles you run the system he is successful in. If not you are a fool
Which means importing the coaches who can do that system. Who don’t grow on trees…
Flip OC
I don’t agree with that. No guarantee that have the instinctual play calling of DP, but they can run a similar scheme without question.
Too often players fail because team try to force a square peg in a round hole.
Really? Do you recall many instances of coaches changing their philosophy midstream and having success? Chip was good at his thing, but couldn’t change. Reid has always done WCO and that’s it. Look at Mariota, the most natural candidate for an Oregon-style offense, and what his coach is doing.
Coaches, for the most part, do what they do. They are round holes and that’s why they try to force players into their systems.
You find a coach who can successfully run multiple systems and you have real winners. See, DP, BB. The list is short.
I’m not saying midstream. You trade for Foles and make him your guy then you’d better run the system he excels in. If you are not willing to do that don’t trade for Foles.
Coaches adjust their schemes every offseason. It’s not crazy. If you aren’t willing to adjust you are a fool and are not a winner. That organization has more issues than QB if that is the case. I could see I guy like Mike McCoy embracing our style of offense. DeFillipo is also still available as an OC.
Mike McCoy is an interesting name. He has a history of doing a good job adjusting the offense to fit the QB.
I don’t disagree btw. Most coaches can’t put their egos aside to change. Good coaches will embrace what their players do well.
AZ is a dome team, with David Johnson as an elite back (probably not a stretch to say he’s a real threat anytime there’s a RPO) Fitz still highpoints the football like a champ and they have some deep threat guys.
If they can get a nice oline together… they could have a nice o with Foles.
Foles because apparently he can also play wide receiver in a pinch.
Lane Johnson said:
“Underdogs no more! Top Dogs! I’m going to take that Dog Mask and mount it on the wall like a Deer Head!”
I have to ask. Why was TB the ONLY player on either team to not wear his helmet when the teams were introduced, and the camera was right on him? Bigger than the NFL? Posturing for those post-game victory Blu Rays? What a dick.
Just wait until you hear what his wife told their kids after the loss. They are an all time thundercunt unit together.
The radio host may have been way out of line but I feel so confident they are raising a couple of uber-pissant children.
What did she tell their kids?
“They have not won in a million years. Your father has won 5 times. Sometimes you have to let them win.”
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
Some media people still try to sell the Pats as a total team BS, but they have become almost exclusively about Brady and Belichik.
Agreed, but to be honest he kind of earned it. He is that team. Outside of Gronk, the rest of that team is pure garbage. The dude was incredible, if not for last year I’d say his best Superbowl performance of all. Heck, statistically it was. And the Eagles beat him. Jeez.
Thanks again, Tommy, for making this place and keeping it going. You’re the Doug Pederson of bloggers! (or Bill Bellichik?)
Reposted from last thread:
The guys at FO are becoming Dug fans, too:
“Trey Burton, college quarterback. Direct snap, handoff to Burton, pass to Foles, touchdown. On fourth-and-goal, with seconds left in the half. Doug Pederson, I think I love you.”
“Doug Pederson going for that fourth down is what it takes to beat New England.”
“Doug Pederson is one hell of a football coach.”
“I must admit I was lukewarm on the Doug Pederson hire after his offense played zero catch-up against the Pats a few playoffs ago. But wow has he done a great job this year. I think we’re going to enter into a segment of NFL history where coaching matters more than ever.”
http://www.footballoutsider…
I find the last comment interesting. Notice how much difference Doug, McVay, and Zimmer seem to have made for their teams. Even Andy. I have noticed that coaches seem to matter more than they usually did lately.
To be fair, they’d look pretty dumb to continue to doubt Doug after last night.
This Eagles championship ranks right up there among the greatest single season coaching achievements in NFL history. That’s no exaggeration.
Lack of practice time/opportunities may be creating even more of a crucible for current NFL coaches.
Hey, Tommy I haven’t posted much on here in a few years (work changes, marriage, kids, etc.) but I still have read every one of your posts and I felt today was an appropriate time to take a minute and post again. Thank you so much for the years of great analysis and hopefully more to come with this new glow of having a Super Bowl championship to put in our caps.
It seems the NFC East is the first division where all the teams have a Super Bowl title.
Oh wow. lets see
NFCW-Cards
NFCS-Panthers and Falcons?
NFCN-Vikings and Detroit
AFCE-Bills
AFCS- Titans Texans Jags
AFCN-Browns..and Bengals?
AFCW-Chargers?
Yep. And it also means that over 1/3 of NFL teams have not won one.
whoever drew up the AFC South when they re did the divisions was a hateful hateful person.
Wow. Just wow. After the repeated disappointments of the Andy Reid years, I bought into the hype that was Chip Kelly. After that fail, and the gutting of the roster I was totally demoralized as an Eagles fan. I felt like the Doug Pederson hire was an attempt at AR 2.0. Glad to have been wrong!
It is AR 2.0 – full upgrade!
Yeah, was talking to my dad about this last night. Pederson has all of Reid’s strengths in terms of being a leader whom the players respect, a teacher and developer of talent, and a creative play designer, and none of his weaknesses as a game day coach.
He truly is a full upgrade.
God, Brandin Cooks had a rough day yesterday. We all remember vividly when to poor dude started dancing and Jenkins turned into Dawkins. Why was he throwing every move he knew to get around people?
Cuz this. https://twitter.com/billbarnwell/status/960305585131589632
As athletic as he is with 1 man to beat, he opts to attempt to hurdle. As it turns out they go for the Field goal on 4th and 1 and miss (we all noted that Doug would have gone for it, easily). What a turn of events.
It’s a different game if Cooks on the field for 4 quarters.
I mean, it’s not like the receivers they had on the field didn’t have their way with us anyway.
They’d have scored in a minute instead of two minutes?
Yes!
Only if Cooks would have prevented the strip sack by Graham. Other than that they pretty much scored TDs ever possession after Cooks went out.
Good point. I think they score faster?
Maybe 🙂
Big hit by MJ. Game-changing.
Different game if Wentz is on the field for all 4 quarters
I’m not sure it is really. The Pats offense basically drove down the field and scored a TD on every single possession after he left with the exception of the sack fumble by graham. I’m not sure what Brandin Cooks would have added…would they have scored even faster? Unless he would have helped block Graham on that strip sack I’m guessing the game works out about the same.
McLeod made the tackle not Jenkins, nvm see now you’re refrencing jenkins killing cooks not the play pictured.
I’ve got to take a minute and thank everyone here for their participation last night, my TV feed was about 3 plays behind the game so I would get a hint of good or bad to come from people’s comments.. at times it was exciting and at others infuriating but it somehow made things more.. real? I guess to experience things riding the wave of emotion from you all. Big props to Dragon_Eagle for his countdown to the end of the game, that probably stopped me having a heart attack at that point.
And of course thank you Tommy for your unending hard work, your thoughtful writing and your sense of humour, may your funyuns ever prosper.
We’ve been through a lot, as a fanbase and as a community on Tommy’s blogs down the years, but sit back, take a look around and a deep breath everyone.. that world you see around you? We’re the best it has to offer.
Not that its in any way believable after the fact, but my pregame fantasy about how the eagles win was a late touchdown to Ertz and a strip sack of Brady to seal the deal. Pretty surreal when it went down close to that.
I pictured us getting a big lead and then not blowing it like the stupid ass Falcons.
Turns out yours was a loooooooot more accurate than mine was.
Incredible story, and class act by Lurie
http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2018/02/05/eagles-promise-jon-dorenbos-a-super-bowl-ring/
Ok, we all have that post championship glow going on, but realtalk for a second, what in the everloving fuck was our defense doing last night? I don’t remember receivers running that wide open even back in the Fletcher/Williams days.
Too soon. But to answer your question, Pats are good.
Being good doesn’t explain the kind of coverage breakdowns we had last night. If they get a yard or two of separation, ok, they have good route runners, but dudes were getting so open there was no one within 15 yards of them consistently.
True. But I can’t focus on anything negative today!
Pats have Gronk (who is best TE ever), and then 4-5 other players that all do the same thing, plus the best QB ever. That’s hard for any defense, especially when pass rush not getting home.
But schwartz’s defense has been clutch end of game all year. He made an adjustment at the perfect time and it paid dividends.
No pass rush AND Tom Brady
DL did not generate any interior pressure all game. That exposed our secondary for what it is. I though Schwartz should have brought the Blitz a bit more. I know brady is great against the Blitz, but he was tearing us up with all those guys in coverage.
I was on the edge of my seat the whole second half. There’s no doubt that Tom Brady is special. And Bill Belichick had two weeks to game plan. It was a different game altogether facing those guys.
I think that Bill went after some of the Giants’ offensive stuff that worked well this year against us. And I think he leaned heavily on Chip’s uptempo stuff to tire us and keep our defensive rotations in check.
Dougie was magnificent on offense though. And Nicky. We got the win. When the defense was needed, when the game hung in the balance, they got the stop.
The defense held Atlanta to 10 points. They held Minnesota to 7 points. They bailed the team out throughout the playoffs. Last night was a night for Doug and the offense. Go EAGLES!
Yes, maybe the big key here was the pace, which didn’t let us substitute and made for vanilla defensive calls?
Hey Cho! Did you see your guy Fletcher Cox huffing and puffing? But those little scat back and jitterbug type receivers are trouble for us too. We handle Julio better than those kind of guys. Remember how Beasley in Dallas gives us fits. It’s interesting. Steve is searching for the key. I guess that’s the key.
I’d like to see some breakdowns of that. I have no idea why Schwartz couldn’t manage to at least make Brady take a few steps now and then, or why Pats receivers routinely caught it without any defenders even being in the picture. I have to assume it was something sort of like a prevent defense or an odd type of zone?
My first guess is he didn’t want to open up the field by bringing an extra defender like Kendrick or Bradham. Brady would tear us a new one if the blitz didn’t get to him.
Ever watch the new England patriots?
I think Schwartz tried to play more zone. . . . and most of the plays where guys were w i d e open were on plays where a guy failed to pick up someone in their zone.
Problem was, they beat us when we were in man . . . they got even more open against zone. Just a bad night for the secondary and it doesn’t even matter, cause the O picked them up.
World F*cking Champions baby!!!!
Foles have to stay here at least for another year for a shot at back to back Super Bowls! 😉
I am a little annoyed that I keep reading how Pederson knew he had to be bold to beat the Patriots. He coached aggressively all year, it’s not like he just decided to be bold for this one game because he was playing the Patriots.
Note that is a very minor annoyance that is in no way bringing me down or stopping me from smiling from ear to ear.
It’s part of the “perfect game” fallacy the media always have about the Pats. Same thing when the Giants beat them in 2007, they said the Giants had to play the perfect game, and they did.
The Giants obviously didn’t play the perfect game, or they would have won like 70-0.
It’s all part of the weird Patriots mystique that evidently cows other NFL coaches.
Fortunately we have big balls Doug who doesn’t give a fuck who you are.
Mark Schlereth agrees:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9uh0-KWf7r8
He was very bold, including going for it on fourth down and calling a pass to his quarterback on fourth down. Yes, he did up his aggression level for this game.
The trick play was bold, but the two fourth down attempts were situations where he would have gone for it in those situations no matter who the opponent was.
We did it Tommy! So proud of this team. Underdogs all the way, unseated the dynasty, beat the GOAT! Time for a new dynasty. We will come back stronger next year! GO BIRDS!
STOP it already CBS!!!!
https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/look-refs-appear-to-miss-pass-interference-call-on-super-bowl-hail-mary/
What about all the no PI calls Eagles didnt get during the 2nd and 3rd Q?!!!
Don’t waste your time. I will never feel bad about the Pats not getting a call and we deserved the win.
If anything that BS call on Mills 3rd & 8 with the pts back way up changed the game. That kept a TD drive alive. F the Pats
Also the blatant PI that was ignored on our final 2 pt conversion attempt.
They don’t know the rules. The ball hadn’t been thrown yet so it wasn’t PI. Brady was outside of the pocket and when the QB leaves the pocket contact downfield is allowed, so it was not illegal contact.
https://www.sbnation.com/nfl/2016/11/8/13560260/richard-sherman-bills-illegal-contact-walter-powell
Its arguable if he did leave the pocket…when Hogan got hit was about the time that BG almost had TB for a sack…
Game is in the books, not to mention spygate. Let them say what they want.
What a great surreal feeling to finally win the Super Bowl. As bad as our defense was most of the night thank goodness they kept Brady to FGs on those first couple of drives and the pass rush came up big with the strip sack.
That was the moment I almost jumped through the roof!! I hoped that they would run out the clock. Even though the hail mary was iffy it was anti-climatic to me.
The only other time I’ve seen the Eagles when the Super Bowl was when I used to play Madden!
I would have loved to watch the replay of Amendola Sideline Fumble….
NBC cut off the replay. I was so pissed.
It was definitely pulled out before the whistle went.
But the ref called it dead at the point he had decided in his mind to blow the whistle (if that makes sense).
That’s a fumble in my opinion.
Definitely was out before he was down, but the refs may have said that hi forward progress was stopped. In that case it wouldn’t have been reviewable.
Right…he decided the play was probably over but wanted to give Ammendola the opportunity to break free. In that case the play would continue. When he lost the ball, though, the play was clearly over before that.
I still cannot believe what happened last night. Nick Foles? Nick Foles!
Remember Nick Foles’ tired arm and he couldn’t do anything in preseason? Paying 7 million to a back up with a bum arm! Books are going to be written on this dude. What a wild ride of a career.
books or movies?
Both, I’m pretty sure the movie has already exists somewhere, they just changed the names and uniforms, inspired by the future.
Napoleon Folemite?? Haha.
Nick Foles is the poster child of why having great coaches in the NFL is so important holy moly.
Old Philadelphia proverb:
“Revenge is a dish best served cold”
Foles is a QB that if you give him a good interior OL that is good enough to let him step into throws he can be a fantastic passer. He is a QB you need to build around to succeed – he needs a good OL and a creative play caller who can spread out the field and let him just attack 1v1 match ups. Do that and he can be great. Foles ‘failed’ in 2015 with Chip because our interior OL became a nightmare due to injuries and Chip just left his interior guys 1v1 without help, and Foles had to throw off the back foot and his technique broke down.
Regardless of if some team offers a lot in trade, or he signs as a free agent in 2019 with a team, i hope and pray Nick goes to a team and coach that is willing to buy into him 100%. Give him an OL, get him a good offensive coordinator and he will win you a lot of games… and if he gets hot he can be as good as any QB in the NFL and can carry a team to win a superbowl.
I think eagles ask foles where he wants to go. Honor the man, then let howie try and get something.
Agreed. And if he wants to stay and back up Wentz, then we have a hell of a backup QB.
He might rather stay and play for a good organization. Think he said when he contemplated retirement he only wanted to work for AR. Guessing he’d rather play for a good organization than start at a crappy one. Shurmur might be able to grab him.
yeah, Foles owes us nothing. ask Foles where he wants to go and get a reasonable deal from that team. send him where he wants even if they can get a round or two draft pick better from another team. AFC ideally, want to see Foles succeed.
Soooo Lane, Beer for everyone, right?
He’s doing it bud light reps at all the bars during the parade.
Interesting to see how quickly Pederson might move up in the ranks of best professional head coaches in Philly history.
It isn’t a terribly long list (at least Post WW2).
I would argue Fred Shero (Flyers’ coach from 1971-1978) is at the top of that list. Among Eagles’ coaches, I would still put Vermeil and Reid ahead of Pederson simply due to their collective bodies of work here. Really need at least another 3-4 years with Pederson even if this season is arguably the best coaching job in a single season by any professional head coach in Philly history
Nah, as a the Eagles go this one season puts Doug at the top. I won’t attempt to compare him to guys from the pre-SB era though.
Doug Pederson
Billy Cunningham
Charlie Manuel
Fred Shero
In whatever order you like. But football is king in Philly.
How about thinking about it this way, any former coach from any era…who do you want coaching this team next year?
I’ll stick with Doug over early-2000s Reid, late-70s Vermeil, or late 80s Ryan.
You could make an argument for Vermeil.
Greasy Neale won two NFL championships and Buck Shaw one, so they have to be in the conversation.
Shero’s the only Flyers coach who merits consideration.
For basketball, Billy Cunningham maybe? Larry Brown would be in the conversation if he’d won a title, but he didn’t. Alex Hannum (1967 championship coach) had one of the best centers ever at his disposal, Hall of Famers in Hal Greer and Chet Walker, and a perennial All Star in Cunningham, the team won 68 games that season but never won another title, so I’d say that was a case of winning with a stacked roster more than anything.
For the Phillies, maybe you can make a case for Dallas Green. Charlie Manuel is underrated but I don’t think he deserves as much credit for the 2008 WS title as Pederson does for this one.
http://www.phillyvoice.com/let-me-fix-eagles-super-bowl-meme-you/
Best meme yet (courtesy of ESPN Sportscenter)
https://scontent.fphl2-3.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/27658099_2124391487579682_4582010522391795962_n.jpg?oh=08335be84a62adb6359f57cb63cc1956&oe=5B1F2F41
I was hoping someone would do this! Needs to be animated though. It’s just like the one from the Broncos Seahawks game when the ball/trophy being snapped high past Manning’s head.
I saw an animated one going around facebook last night.
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/082866daca18e87ab836b63bb2169b7389d7a25e569912d8dd7cc6f77399d16e.gif
PFT is going on and on about Philly fans on the streets acting wild.
http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2018/02/05/philadelphia-police-report-vandalism-injuries-in-super-bowl-celebration/
But Philly Dot Com says Philly PD only reports 3 arrests.
http://www.philly.com/philly/sports/eagles/eagles-super-bowl-philadelphia-parade-celebrations-morning-after-20180205.html
A poster on PFT says there were 6 arrests last night at Univ. of Massachusetts.
mountaingirl39 says:
February 5, 2018 at 6:20 am
6 arrested, 12 injured in fighting, and riots at UMASS but let’s not report that.
They were pushing that narrative from before the game, so they won’t stop now.
Yeah although a lot of credit needs to be given to Philly Police to preplan to limit disruption including having lots of active personnel readily and pre-deployed.
They learned from what happened after Phils won in 2008 and there were a lot more arrest (more than 80+)
Ditto in West Chester although it was a bit disconcerting seeing nearly 60+ officers from various local departments & state police in full-riot gear moving down High Street in military column formation.
I read something about people destroying stop signs or something, but I didn’t click. Not from Philly, never been to Philly, but so tired of it.
Yep. The media always did but has now firmly latched onto the “eagles fans are nuts” meme. Gets them clicks. But have to admit there have been some effing stupid “iconic” things done by Eagles fans of late—someone eating horseshit only being the latest. Really dude? Sickening.
I know I’m in the minority on this but I’d like to see some Eagles media address fan behavior instead of defending it in many cases.
I don’t believe Philly is unique in that though…….
Tommy, how can the Eagles keep this team together. I know that Nick Foles doesn’t want to go anywhere else, is he is a bleeding green Philadelphia Eagle. Little worries about Brandon Graham, but seriously, Howie needs to find a way to keep this team together. Can it be done?
21 of 22 starters locked up for next year… Id say that’s a start.
Gotta keep loading up though. We may want to keep guys like FOles but the team can’t look at it like that.
The team is about Doug, starts and ends there.
Nick is locked up for another year, and I don’t think he cares if he starts. We should keep him for as long as he wants to play (unless he was seeking more than we could afford). I don’t want the Eagles to be like the Patriots where they dump a guy who was one of the reasons we won that SB. Nick won’t dispute that Carson is the future, but those men are brothers, and Philly should break the NFL business mold. A team plays like a team when they are in it together like this team. That’s something which made them special to us, and a lot of other non eagle fans watching that game. Honestly, I don’t think Nick is going anywhere. Hope Graham and Smith stay, I thought their contracts are coming up. Probably some other guys too. Keep Kelce too, the OLine was also important.
Yeah. Keeping the team together for 2018 makes sense. The contracts are set, everyone raised their play in 2017 so no need to cut them.
Going forward from there, though, you can’t be sentimental.
Foles is a case where the Front Office has to see what plays out in the trade market. If they get a Garrapolo level offer -take it.
well the good news for now is only Blount and Bradham are out of contract going into next year. We have most of our key guys signed through at least 2020 on top of that. That said, this is a tough league and it is easy to slide back fast. Patriots have been the exception, not the rule. And even they had some downish periods.
I thought Tory Smith only had a one year deal? Blount is a tough one. Hope he wants to retire. He saved it up for that game, no way he can play a whole season like that.
Smith is still under contract, but I believe it is relatively painless for the Eagles to get out of it if they don’t want him back next year.
He signed a 5 year deal that is essentially a series of 1 year deals. We can pay him $5M next year to continue to start and drop at least one egregious pass per game or we can cut him for zero dead cap hit whatsoever. So he’s essentially a goner.
What do you do if the one of the QB needy teams calls today for Nicky Sticks?
Depends on the price. If they’re willing to give up enough, I’m willing to deal.
Tell em a first or a second round pick + a starting DB.
Depends on Carson’s rehab. If it’s looking good that Carson will be back by Training Camp, then the bidding starts at a 1st round pick. Love Foles and would hate to see him go, but you don’t ever turn down a 1st or high 2nd round pick for a guy that’s only got 1 more year on his contract. If you think your backup QB might have to start the first month of the season, then screw it, we need Foles to keep the team on track while Carson continues to recover.
Rewatching game. So many clutch plays. Wow. The 4 and 1 on game winning drive was HUGE!
Ags had a massive game. Was clutch on final drive. What a story that kid is! And he had some swagger in the game too. Love that.
Just rewatched a few bits myself:
So many contested catches and bombs thrown from collapsing pockets, great toughness and concentration all around.
So many yards after contact both running and receiving.
I think we were too lost in euphoria to notice but if Brandon Graham doesn’t almost sack Brady before the hail mary, it’s launched 3-4 seconds earlier and they likely get a second attempt.
Not gonna lie, this was fun to read:
https://sportsday.dallasnews.com/dallas-cowboys/cowboys/2018/02/04/hard-imagine-cowboys-still-contenders-after-eagles-super-bowl-victory
The Redskins have the worst owner in sports.
The Cowboys have one of the worst owners in football, and are wedded to a mediocre-at-best head coach (and appear to be wedded to a similarly mediocre QB).
The Giants have solid ownership but are basically starting a total rebuild with a head coach in Shurmur that doesn’t exactly blow anybody’s doors off.
We are well positioned to dominate this division for the next few years.
Just like the Patriots kicked around an abysmal AFC East for the last 18 years.
yeah possibly, it could happen. But things can change fast. I live in Seattle, and saw what happened with the Seahawks, which is a somewhat cautionary tail. Fans and media here acting like they were going to win 3-4 for superbowls after winning in 2014, but then lost in 2015 in famous fashion and have gotten a little worse every subsequent season.
The thing with Seattle is that their calling card was an elite secondary, and those guys age faster than players at other positions.
Nevertheless, they’re still a contender and will remain one as long as Wilson is around. They have holes to plug in their OL and need to get younger on defense but I wouldn’t be surprised if they win another SB before all is said and done.
Dunno, they have a lot of work to go, they are getting old everywhere on D, not just their secondary – they need young talent in the front 7 in a big way, OL is a mess and have nothing at RB either. They don’t have much cap space in the next few years, so are going to need amazing drafts to rebuild that team on the fly.
Wilson will make enough plays to keep them good, but sometimes you see teams get stuck in that situation unless they have a 2017 Saints draft class.
this is what happens when you miss in the draft and FA for several years, like Seahawks have. I think their offensive coaching has been a problem too.
I do agree with this – I think having Wilson means they can bounce back with some retooling. As annoying as that will be for me as an Eagles fan in Seattle. Having said that, their talent evaluation and front office work has been really quite bad since they won the SB in 2014.
So true!
I just love that the Eagles just steamrolled a whole bunch of team’s new coaches. Here were are dancing with a superbowl trophy.
Hey giants…good luck with Shurmur, scored like 7 points, I’m sure he can double that output for you guys. Lions, he has a great beard, cheers.
Their tears are delicious.
So who broke the Philly SB curse?!!
I tend to think Doug did… rest just rode along with him
Fun stats:
Nick Foles’ 119.2 passer rating in 2013 is the 3rd highest ever for a full season (behind only Rodgers in 2011 and Peyton Manning in 2004).
Foles’ 115.7 passer rating for the 2017 postseason is the 3rd highest ever for an NFL postseason (behind Flacco in 2013 and Drew Brees in 2010).
His 113.2 career playoff passer rating is the highest ever.
The guy has wracked up some amazing achievements for a journeyman QB.
The game is now being broadcast on NFL Network. About to kick off.
Lol i still can’t go through that nailbiter again yet!!
One of the great things about this game (and the run in general) is watching Eagles players make plays you see guys on other teams do and ask “How come our guys never do that?”.
Every single smooth catch this playoff season. It was like watching a different team.
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/15d1ed447853789458aa9c4c2d54899f4f590e20f4eed5bce0dff7db099bd8c1.jpg
heh, I have way too many posts to find all my predictions I hit on buried within the other ones.
So fun story: I went to the local butcher shoppe near me and was getting a sandwich made when the little old lady (think someone’s sweet grandmother) saw my Dawk jersey and said “Did you see the game last night?! I thought it was great!” So after a little banter back and forth about how great a game it was, she whispered, “My favorite part was seeing Brady pouting while he sat on the field!”
Grandma was straight savage.
Still euphoric. Wish I could have a beer with you all
Replay on NFL network right now
I wanted to see it….was all a blur in my mind from yesterday.
What do people think was the turning point/key moment in the season?
For me, it was the Giants game in week 3. The Eagles could easily – and maybe should have – lost that game. If they do, I just don’t think the season plays out the way it does. They were 1-1 at that point.
hard to say anything but the game against LA
That would be second for me.
If I were to rank non-playoff games:
1) first Giants
2) Rams
3) second Giants
4) Oakland
5) Carolina
6) first Dallas
7) Chargers
I think the Arizona-Carolina short week, double victory was the moment that the players realized that this was a deep playoff run team as good as anyone in the NFC.
was Arizona after Carolina or vice-versa? When I think about it, the Carolina game was big bc I was expecting them to lose and would have been ok with that given mye expectations going in to the year. Thats when I thought we might be more than the 9-7/10-6 team I thought we were
Us beating CAR is what allowed us to get HFA!
yeah i’m also factoring in how games felt emotionally as well. Not saying i’m right or whatever – just thought i’d throw this out here to see how others experienced the season.
woah woah woah, If Elliot misses that kick, it goes into overtime, and there is no telling who should or should not win at that point. Never apologize for an incredible last second drive and fieldgoal to avoid overtime.
There wasn’t really a turning point because the trajectory was pretty smooth all season. The only big turn was downward when Wentz got hurt, which turned back up in a huge way at home in hospitable weather against the Vikings.
If you were to mark the point when everyone recognized that Philly was real AND had huge implications on what was to come. Winning in Carolina was that moment. Giants game wasn’t a miracle kick away from a loss, and it was week 3, would have been just fine. Division games are great and entertaining and unpredictable, but in week 3 they have very little meaning outside that 1 game.
yeah maybe it’s just how i felt about it – like it epitomized our season in some way. Doing what had to be done to pull it out in the end in remarkable fashion, even when we didn’t play that well.
When MIN lost to CAR and we had a lock on the tiebreakers, that’s what did it. HFA can’t be understated.
yeah don’t think we do it if we had to travel to Minnesota
Especially for this defense. It really is night and day when this defense is home or away.
I think the Carolina game.
When they created that fumble, I yelled so loud I woke up the two week old. Mercifully, she was starting to wake up to eat anyway or I might have been in the doghouse for a good while.
If you’re in the mood for some Cowboys fan schadenfreude this afternoon, this Skip Bayless meltdown (beginning at about the 6:00 mark) is glorious:
https://youtu.be/6kT2q74G16g
Bizarre thing is, for once, on a show when everybody is always wrong somehow, I think they’re all somewhat right today. Brady was incredible. Our offense was incredible. The defenses suuuuucked. Belichick suuuucked (I say with glee). Now Schwartz put me in a level of helplessness I never want to feel again. Fix it Schwartz! (also I don’t know if it’s remotely possible, but if Belicheat blew it because he didn’t trust his players (Butler), that plays very nicely in contrast to Dougy P)
Brady was killing us, but it sure seemed too easy. He dealt with very little pressure, and his guys were often so open there were no green jerseys in the picture. I am curious to see the analysis on this one, why everything seemed to come so easy for him against such a good defense.
Dunno, it was very disconcerting, luckily there is only one Brady in the league. But every time the Eagles play a great QB, this defensive performance will be in the back of my head. Quick receivers and quick throws, we need to figure that crap out.
Those didn’t really bother me. I think that generally, it’s pick your poison with a QB like Brady. I’m okay with the D saying “you can choose that strategy, but you’re going to have to continuously string 14 play drives together, and sooner or later we’re going to jump one and have a pick six.”
Also, some times, Brady-level QBs are going to just beat you with great down field throws. There were a few of those, too. And Gronk is a bad match-up against pretty much anyone, so those are going to happen.
The real problem last night, IMO, was seeing receivers running wide open 20 yards downfield. I know the DL wasn’t getting it done, but maybe at some point you need to adjust to that and tell your secondary to stop looking to jump the short routes. I’m curious to see what the issue was in the film, but it looked to me that the CBs were looking in the backfield too much.
DBs built to stop big receivers that are fast not 8 slot receivers / darren sproles clones
Why Sidney Jones is so important to the Eagles future on D.
Schwartz’s game plan seemed to focus on the dline winning individual battles, which was neutralized to some extent by tempo, plenty of quick passes, and holding.
Our dbs were asked to keep things in front of them, which they mostly did… And many of the “wide open catches” seemed to come off a Db slipping as a result of precise route running.
And: Darby was all over Gronk on the corner TD… That was just a flat out perfect play.
For the most part, I appreciated the defensive game plan… It only produced one turnover…. And really I shouldn’t probably have expected an interception (but I was).
Schwartz held his pocket aces till the end of the game and then put his best dline out there to battle Brady for the win… And they men in green came up HUGE!
Look, I’m going on like 2 hours of sleep and I’m agreeing with Skip fuckin’ Bayless. What is even going on?
It was great winning the Super Bowl and without a doubt a feeling that’s hare to explain until you experience. Therefore, this may not be the best time to bring up issues that are real.
I’m talking about Schwartz’s defense because if there has been one thing that.has concerned me for awhile was how vulnerable it is to decent QBS. If you review this season almost any good QB was able to pick this defense apart before the game was over. To me the good QBS the Eagles faced were Alex Smith, Phillip Rivers, Russell Wilson, Jared Goff, and of course Brady. Every one of these QBS picked the defense apart, especially when the pass rush was neutralized. Rivers started slowly, but toward the end he appeared unstoppable, but fortunately the Eagles offense held the ball for the last 6 to 7 minutes of the game. Even Eli Manning was picking the defense apart, especially in the 2nd game. Thankfully, we had to deal with Keenum instead of Brees. It might had been impossible to outscore both Brees and Brady.
Yesterday, while Foles was throwing dimes, Brady had nothing but wide open receivers for almost every pass he completed. In other words, where Foles often had to make a perfect pass, Brady rarely had that concern because of wide open receivers.
The bottom line is it’s fantastic that we are Super Bowl champions, but at the same time the Eagles need to address their defense including the system they are playing.
Maybe a change in philosophy is in order. They just weren’t nearly disruptive enough last night, and guys were running free in the secondary. Perhaps you just need so much overwhelming talent against the elite QBs that shutting them down isn’t going to happen. Maybe they should be trying for a more chaotic style that emphasizes turnovers.
On the other hand, they dominated the regular season and won the Superbowl, so maybe you just tweak it a little don’t fix what ain’t broke.
The talent is definitely there. I agree maybe tweaking a few things could help. However, I’m not sure Schwartz is the type of guy that readily modifies his style.
The best example I remember when a Eagles defense improved a great deal was when Buddy was fired and Bud Carson took over. After Ryan and Jeff Fisher were gone players outwardly were concerned who would be able to coach their 46 defense. Carson made the defense that much better that a good defense became number one in every single category in 1991.
Look, I hope Schwartz figures it out, but I hope the team at the very least reviews the system .
Statistically, across the season the Eagles defense rated pretty high. Their DL is their strongest group, and even with rotating they were gassed by the tempo late in the 3rd. NE had two weeks to know exactly what would work in specific alignments, and the weakest group of the defense was exposed by the DL’s lack of pressure. After the game Rodney Harrison commented that Coach Bellichick needs to get some new players on the defense. Well the Eagles also had two weeks, and Foles was doing to NE what Brady was doing to us. It is widely recognized that Brady will dissect any defense if he is comfortable in the pocket. When the Eagles took the early lead, Brady was feeling pressure. In the 2nd half the pace – which NE is adept at implementing on the fly, was slowing down the pass rush. A lot of good teams and clever coaches have fallen prey to NE’s offensive strategy. I would love for the Eagles to draft the next Von Miller, but as they are they’re better than most.
I guess your goal is something other than winning. To me there can be nothing stupider. The defensive coordinator has job, get the d to play well enough to win the game.
Sorry, but to me you sound stupid in the utmost possible way right now.
Maybe if we heed your point, next opportunity they get, they’ll win the Superbowl instead of what happened.
You sure like to snipe at people.
I’m not sniping at the person at all, rather the comment/sentiment. Huge difference.
“Sorry, but to me you sound stupid in the utmost possible way right now.”
Point out the difference, I’m having a hard time seeing it.
I was responding to what the person posted. Had it not been for the content of their post, I would not have replied at all (same for you). Notice I said sound and not are.
Dude I’m sorry I rub you the wrong way. Enjoy the win, or talk negative about how the Eagles finally won the Superbowl, hours after. Whatever floats your boat.
I’m sorry I rained on your parade because there is no one happier about this win than me. I have been a season ticket holder since 1967 when I was in 11th grade. Before yesterday, at 65 yrs old I started doubting I ever see a Super Bowl win in Philadelphia.
So if you think constructive criticism in anyway diminishes on the team’s accomplishments and city’s joy is being stupid, then that’s you prerogative.
Great. Enjoy it! Cheers
I am enjoying it. I woke up this morning and told my wife I had a strange dream that the Eagles won the Super Bowl. She reminded me it really happened.
You seem to be defining good QBs as those who did well against us. Put another way, you are ignoring good QBs who did not do well against us. Matt Ryan is a good QB who we completely shut down. Derek Carr is a good QB who we shut down. Our defense played well against Cam Newton (sorry Guy Media) and Kurt Cousins as well. I don’t know if Case Keenum qualifies as a good QB, but he was certainly playing at a very high level all season until he ran into our defense in the NFCCG.
I thought about Newton as well as Ryan, but Newton was still recovering from surgery that made his passing erratic earlier in the year and Ryan had to deal with the same wind issues Foles did in that game. In fact, the wind was an issue for Carr as well.
As far as Cousins, they definitely handled him better this year than last, but in the second game his offensive line was depleted.
Keenum had shown against the Saints that when pressured he struggles and the Eagles took full full advantage of that weakness.
Also, as I said as long as the pass rush is going on all cylinders, the defense looked a lot better. However, as we saw yesterday that’s not always possible.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not expecting the defense to totally shutdown a good QB, but constantly watching wide open receivers concerns me.
Fair enough. All good arguments. My overall take on the situation is that this was a particularly bad game by the defense and hopefully they can learn from it, but Scwhartz is a net positive and the defense has been more of a plus than minus over the course of the season.
I wish I waited awhile before bringing this topic up because too many believe I’m somehow trying to tarnish this great victory when that isn’t the case at all.
It’s all good. Might have been better to wait, but I can still feel your excitement and don’t think you are coming across as too negative.
Was the defense perfect? Certainly not. Did they make a huge play on the biggest series of the game? Yes.
Oh, and most important – did we win the Super Bowl? YES.
Stop finding something to nitpick and be negative about and just enjoy this, for at least a few days. Whatever its flaws, this team proved itself the best in football in the end. We can worry about upgrading the roster next week.
I been walking around at work in my Eagles jersey all day, even though I live on the other side of the country, and have ordered almost ever Super Bowl item available. So, my intention is not to diminish what the Eagles accomplished, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t concerns.
If the Eagles lost yesterday, everyone would be in an uproar on how bad the defense played. So, because they won, we should ignore any concerns? Yesterday, Nick Foles played the game of his life and what made it even more special was many of the passes he completed were well defended. On the other hand, almost every pass Brady completed was to a wide open receiver.
Take a good look at this past year’s schedule and see if you disagree with me in seeing a pattern. I’m not asking you enjoy this moment any less, but at the same time raising a concern for next year.
I ordered everything available too. I even ordered the Super Bowl towel. What the hell am I going to do with that? Who cares! Had to have it!
Are there concerns about the roster and how they’ll play next year? Sure.
But those concerns can wait at least until after the parade.
Focusing on them now is like spending six months stressing over planning your dream vacation, pulling off the arrangements, arriving at your destination, and then immediately starting to worry about planning your next trip instead of enjoying the experience.
I’m not going to worry about next year for at least a few weeks. The whole point of a sport is to win the championship, and the whole point of being a fan is to enjoy your team’s accomplishments. They just achieved the ultimate accomplishment in this sport. I don’t see the point of being a fan if it’s not possible to enjoy that without qualification.
Okay, let’s continue the party.
Go Eagles, Super Bowl Champions!!
Nah – you forget all the game where defense came up with huge TOs to win / seal games. Gotta take the good with the bad. Schwartz plays a hell of a defense with the guys he has. Look at how bad the defense was before he got here.
Without a doubt, the defense came up big when our front four was putting pressure on the QB and the results were often turnovers. However, as we saw yesterday and in both Giants games, the pass rush isn’t always working.
Again, I’m not expecting perfection but I am concerned that receivers are getting wide open.
I’m wearing my 55 Graham jersey at my CA office and it feels AMAZING
Hard to imagine a better scenario for Carson, the Eagles, and us fans for the foreseeable future.
We were a championship starved fan base which often led to impatience and angst. We have our SB ring now. We can sit back and actually enjoy–without the angst and dread–Carson and Doug work towards another championship. Meanwhile Howie and Douglas have assembled one of the best personnel departments in the NFL, and will continue to acquire talent through the draft and free agency.
I love all of you
Some people are telling me “congratulations”. But I didn’t do anything.
People congratulate grandparents when grandchildren are born, don’t overthink it.
It was all my guac to salsa consumption ratio that won the game. It’s been the key all season.
My homemade cheesesteaks were on point last night. We did it, fans!
I didn’t even plan to only have green themed beverages… but with Green Tea, Canada Dry, and Sprite on the dinner table I was like “holy crap, we’re winning this thing.”
I saw a man walking down the street wearing an “I Heart America” T-shirt, carrying a gun in one hand and a steaming fresh apple pie in the other. A large predatory bird swooped down, grabbed him by the shoulders, and lifted him into the sky. I lost track of him when the bird flew into the sunset. I confess I took this as an omen.
I forgot to wear shoes during the divisional game, so since we won, I again wore only my new Philadelphia Eagles socks during the Vikings game. Out of all the 70,000-plus people at the Super Bowl, I was probably the only one with no shoes. I did wear them to the stadium, I took them off before kickoff.
You deserve a ring too!
The Philly Special: UDFA 3rd string RB pitches to UDFA 3rd string TE who throws it to a backup QB running a route at the speed of smell.
Coaching yips: Benches the Hero of Super Bowl 49 who played and had a ton of experience moments before kickoff.
Pederson vs Belichick ladies and gentlemen.
Would love to see analysis from the Pats side explaining the Butler decision.
I’ve heard a lot of point out that he’s been statistically terrible all season.
Yet somehow he was still good enough to start throughout the playoffs…
He was supposedly sick last week, but did practice w/the team. Post-game quotes from Rowe sounded like he was just as surprised as everyone else… was this some crazy Belichick misdirection or maybe Butler lied about his health status going into the game? Strange.
Word is that Butler showed back up at the hotel after curfew and was caught with weed. Seems to have been confirmed by a former Patriot player as well.
benching Butler could have been “coaching yips.” he was not confident with his game plan, not sure what pederson was going to do, and he acted out in an impulse decision right before the game. this gave him a sense of control that his game plan was not giving him.
from the sign stealing scandal and from other reporting about Bill, he likes to know what the other team is likely to do, has is own special elf guy in the office next to him spending 20 hours a day in the dark looking at tape of the opponents looking at tendencies. That did not give Bill enough sense of control, so he stole signals by taping them, so he would know what the other team was going to do.
Then Bill starts to watch tape of the eagles and he sees Pederson is not predictable, hard to get a sense of what he will do. This made Bill uneasy and he acted out.
I never really thought about it, but yea the speed of smell isn’t very fast. I could definitely outrun it.
So just out of curiosity how many of us are going off little to no sleep and have not gotten shit done today because they’re consuming all forms of media?
Dead on. I was wise enough (and lucky enough) to take a vacation day today. Good thing. I would have been absurdly unproductive today.
Umm, me. Plus I scheduled a bunch of mundane tasks figuring I’d need a distraction from the super bowl loss. Now the super bowl win is distracting me from all the mundane tasks I scheduled….
Everyone is trying to figure out why Belichik benched Butler and played Rowe. Is is possible that Belichik was trying to show how smart he was or rub it in the Eagles faces by using Rowe (the player he got from the Eagles) as a “secret weapon” to beat the Eagles? Like, if they won, everyone would talk about what genius he was for switching CBs and using the ex-Eagles CB against the Eagles.
This seems far fetched to me, but nobody can figure out why he benched Butler and he is ridiculously arrogant.
It seems pretty clear it’s “message sending”. I may be wrong but he’s done this sort of thing before. He lets off field stuff impact his gameday decisions. He’s trying to show players that the system is more important than them.
He’s so clueless when it comes to players. And I’m not just talking about how insensitive it is to wreck Malcolm Butler moments before the game. No, the dude is going to surprise notorious headcase Eric Rowe, Surprise, you’re starting in the biggest game of your life! Betcha you wished you practiced with the #1 defense ever, Good luck!
Interestingly enough, Peter King actually seems to think of this as an example of good coaching by Belichik:
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/8c7e4c90d1fe47da7479bee1a0a0dbd8e3bf51d5025097d6d611c3f0787e8a34.png
that’s tough to read, uhhg
Give Peter King time, his head is wedged so far up Belichick’s ass it will take him a few days to work it out of there.
Hopefully Sean McVay does the right thing and gives up his coach of the year award to the real coach of the year.
Look at it Sean, up on your shelf, staring down on you, accusing you…you don’t need that ghost haunting you, do the right thing.
Don’t care about coach of the year.
But probably pedersen get it next year, as amends
More schadenfreude: “Brady passed Matt Patricia, the outgoing defensive coordinator and Detroit Lions head coach-to-be, and Patricia reached out and grabbed Brady’s arm on the way by. Brady looked down at the bearded figure in red and didn’t say a word. He cut through a curtain, took his seat for a news conference and tried to explain how a man could throw for a playoff-record 505 yards at age 40 and still feel miserable about it.”
http://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/22327050/tom-brady-was-brilliant-super-bowl-lii-enough-save-new-england-patriots
He should have fallen in love with golf.
bad omen for Detroit that Nick Foles lit up his defense for 40+ points?
That’s the kind of shit he should get dredged with forever, like Cam Newton being called a child for years after his Superbowl post game interview. Instead they’ll give Brady a few more awards and a golden parachute right into broadcasting. Fuck that guy.
I believe the Eagles fans walking down Broad Street chanting “Fuck Tom Brady” assisted that effort.
What happened?!
There was puking. All up and down Broad Street.
btw – Chris Collinsworth was still arguing that Ertz TD was a non catch as the game was ending
what a dope
I can understand some people not getting the Clement reception, although personally i think it was a catch. he caught it, got 2 feet down and then re-adjusted the ball to take it to the ground.
The Ertz catch was insane. He caught it clean at the 5 yard line, took 3 steps and dove into the end-zone. It was a TD all day long in my opinion… it wasn’t even really that close.
True, but it’s pretty much the same as the Jesse James play that got overturned. The NFL has messed up its rulebook so much the basic concept of a catch is debatable.
James didn’t turn into a runner. Ertz took like 4 steps before the five.
even after the ref explained that concept of being a runner, Collinsworth wouldn’t give it up
Jesse James caught it at the 2, had 1 step before he got over the plane of the end zone, and didn’t control it to the ground. The problem with calling that a reception in that scenario is interpreting that as a ‘catch’, means in other areas of the field you get dozens of ‘fumbles’ each year on similar plays, and from a game perspective i much rather those be called incomplete than being turn overs.
I thought the James play was clearly a TD. Ertz was clearly a TD —but the point is, the NFL has screwed it up so there’s no way to know how a review will go.
Jesse James was going to his knees to make the catch and he lunged, crossed the goal line and dropped the ball all while going to the ground. Ertz caught the ball on his feet (was not going to the ground in the process of the catch) ran with the ball and then dove for the end zone. They were not the same.
I would argue that James’ play should have been a catch because the direction change and lunge after he had control of the ball is a seperate “football move” from the catch itself, but under the current rule it is all considered going to the ground so it is not a catch. But it was not the same as the Ertz play.
I also initially thought about James’ overturned TD, but if you go back and watch that one it is totally different, he actually has to go to the ground to catch it.
Plus, on the Clement catch he dragged his toes before the 3rd step. Clear catch.
YUP. The ball of his foot struck blue before the toe hit white. You can see the rubber balls bouncing clearly on the replay.
When a former wide receiver is arguing a dude catching and securing the ball at the 5 yard line, taking 3 steps, diving over a defender and stretching the ball out to break the plane, does not demonstrate complete control and is therefore not a catch…something doesn’t smell right there.
I don’t blame Collingsworth. It’s the messed up rulebook, refs, and review system.
Ehh, the rule book is relatively clear. If you are going to the ground in the process of making the catch, you need to control the ball all the way through the contact with the ground. While there are close plays where the interpretation of the rule becomes an issue, the Ertz play was clearly not one of them and Collingsworth acting like it was is either ignorant or disingenuous. Ertz was not going to the ground in the process of making the catch, he clearly caught the ball on his feet and was running with the ball before diving for the end zone.
I’ve seen plays where the has made two or three steps gets tackled, the ball comes out and it’s “no catch”.
There’s no consistency in the NFL on this basic plank of the game.
That is true. But this was not a particularly close case. I can understand the announcers bemoaning the NFL’s consistency, but it was really weird that Collingsworth kept insisting that the TD should be overturned.
True.
He drank a full gallon of haterade before the game. And we’ll never know how much money he lost betting on the Pats.
Ertz gift wrapped a golden opportunity for the decision makers of the NFL to overturn the mistake that was made on the Jesse James TD. It is so painfully obvious that a player who is lunging forward giving all that he has to offer to break the plane of the goal line right after catching a ball should be a friggin catch that it hurts my brain to think it could go otherwise.
You catch the ball, and try to score… and it’s all practically simultaneous. The rules should not be set up to favor a less exciting game, or reward a player for a lackluster effort of just being careful to secure the ball for fear that it may touch a blade of grass.
He needs to strap a bunch of explosives to himself and detonate them……………….preferably in the PFF HQ.
Yeh, I have no idea what game he was watching. Clearly, Ertz had the ball and was running before reaching across the goal line. Then, he easily broke the plane of the goal line before dropping the ball.
Anyone have a link to a online replay of the game?
there’s a condensed replay on the eagles subreddit, links to: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1kvsCLYqAPHdb99PwmDsATHhUrv35ePLk/view
mirrors:
https://www.reddit.com/r/eagles/comments/7vfzug/super_bowl_condensed_replay/
This is the best I could find bud. Whole shabang.
https://youtu.be/-I_m3uGSlUY
whoa, they moved the parade back to Thursday now. Hope people haven’t made plans already.
It takes that much time to re-Crisco the light poles.
Evidence is showing that Philadelphians see that measure as a challenge rather than a deterrent.
Maybe the city should investigate removable light poles? Like maybe if they could be screwed in somehow and unscrewed when you need them not to be there lol.
They could just use the pole as the electrical conductor.
I was readjusting mine all day. I’m all good now.
On the BG strip-sack i stood up before the snap and said- they just need to make one play, one play. Then it happened and i covered my mouth and let out an awfully strange sound. It was almost the same noise i once made after being shocked by a power strip haha
I’m usually the worst offender with draft simulations, cuts, trades, etc., but I’m having a nice time soaking in the win. This is the last time we’re going to see this group of dudes together, so I’m really happy to keep soaking in the win.
And if this wasn’t coming off of a Super Bowl win, I’d be all in for that pie fight down thread on the play of the D line. But that group isn’t every going to be together again and we won the game……………so all of my venting on that was done in game prior to the strip sack.
Back to first point, really appreciate the roster of guys and I hope I can remember them all until I die.
Your “Rosebud” is going to be “Barner….”
I couldn’t help but wonder as I watched Barner kiss the Lombardi if Media Mike was high enough on the win to be able to stomach that without retching.
Inquiring minds want to know!
As he wasn’t a part of the team until after we were in a bad spot with the Sproles injury, I haven’t felt the need to flame him this year (outside of the ball security issues) because he wasn’t taking a roster spot in an undeserving manner.
Today he is a world champion
Lol
That’s SuperBowl Champion Kenjon Barner
Even before the Super Bowl, this was probably my favorite team ever
(although I was too young to remember the Buddy years, and not alive for
the Vermeil years). They were so enjoyable to watch both on and off the field. Obviously the Super Bowl win makes it that much more meaningful.
I got back to Buddy as the start of my strong remembrance of details with the whole team, but I’d agree this was my favorite team. I think that was mostly dude to Wentz. mmkm vbm’
z
Rule of thumb for championships should be you soak in the win at least until after the parade.
I especially like that pro football sites at the beginning of the preseason had the Eagles at thirty and the NY Giants at number one.
how did that prediction work out?
The Giants are picking at 2 and we are picking at 32. Maybe they were just unclear in their phrasing.
First time in my life the off season does not suck anymore! Feel like an accomplishment till the next season starts!
Who has Eagles winning SB off of their bucket list now? I know I have….
AMEN. I’m usually neck deep in trying to get this team fixed via all the right moves, but I figure I can give that rest for a few weeks.
I had a real fear that I would die without seeing an eagles SB. Of course they go and win it with a back up QB against the GOAT.
LOL at this line from Michael Rosenberg’s MMQB story about the game:
“Brady’s astounding 505 passing yards wasn’t quite enough to win his sixth Super Bowl, but it should earn him Patriot of the Week.”
ZING!!!
Fantastic post, Tommy! Fly Eagles Fly!
Defillipo to the Vikings as OC, then a trade for Foles.
I dont know if we win this Super Bowl with Wentz. Foles played with unbelievable Brady-like poise and accuracy the last two games.
We also dont get to the Super Bowl without Wentz probably and I’m over the moon to have him for the next decade+++ of course
I think it would have gone differently, but we are the better team at the end of the day. Foles really is unbelievable on down field throws. He has Carson beat there
Good point! I feel like Wentz has learned a ton from watching Nick this season. Sometimes slow and steady is all you need. Foles maximized his own talents by trusting and using all of the talent surrounding him.
Well said RR. Ones of those things that maybe even Wentz didn’t recognize as’helpful’ until much layer in his career and reflects positively on how much he learned
The underdog narrative probably doesn’t emerge, and no.1 seed brings high expectations and more pressure with your MVP QB. But the chip on the shoulder, balls to the wall starts with the HC. Maybe we’ll see first-hand next season.
I feel confident Wentz could have put up big numbers on that Pats defense, just like Foles did.
How bout this guy?
https://twitter.com/vitostellino/status/960552479602638848
https://twitter.com/SharpFootball/status/960551758195019776
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/81d317fe6a430c82d4e66091f751017ca118e2b463982afb3f6ba92f077feb08.png
Listened to Boston sports radio today and the thinking is Butler has been griping about money and that’s a huge no no with B.B. so the guess is he did something wrong (they didn’t know) and B.B. being the petty dick he is responded disproportionately. Butler crying during the anthem is sad. I’m wondering if some of the Pats dictatorship behaviour is coming home to roost
Good intel. If it hasn’t “come home to roost”, I can’t imagine it not happening soon. Benching one of your best players in one of the biggest games of your life and losing will do that
Brandon Browner said weed and curfew violations pissed off BB, but he would have tolerated that if he like Butler. Butler feels slighted and figures to be moving on. We won a Lombardi with 2 ex patriots…if Bount walks maybe we should make an offer.
What do you think Andy Reid is thinking now that two of his former assistant coaches have won Super Bowls?
“I’m so glad for them” or my personal favorite “I’m better than Belichick”
“Time’s yours”
Time of possession is worthless in the sense that most people use it
Eagles: 34:04 Patriots: 25:56
Did we effectively “keep Brady on the sidelines” etc? 600 yards says no. Beyond overrated
Hey Tommy if you want a cultural keepsake your blog today and the plethora of pithy, heartfelt, self-reflective comments is a gem. A veritable reference point.
“In a situation in which teams almost always punt — 42 of 47 times in roughly similar situations going back through 2007, by my count — Pederson lined up to go for it, called timeout, then resisted the urge to give the ball back to Brady and called for mesh, a Chip Kelly crossing-route staple the Eagles repeatedly went to throughout the game. Foles found Zach Ertz for a key first down.”
“Indeed, ESPN’s win expectancy metrics loved Pederson’s aggressiveness. The fourth-down call on the goal line was worth 3.4 percentage points of win expectancy, while the less conventional fourth-and-1 in the fourth quarter was far more valuable and worth 7.3 percentage points of win expectancy even before the Eagles converted. Given that Philly came into the game with a 42 percent chance of winning, those two play calls alone might have swung the game Philadelphia’s way”
Rowe/Butler decision:
Rowe didn’t play that poorly
I was gonna say, he totally broke up a pass to Alshon, and Alshon only had 3 catches, right?
Alshon had 3 catches on Rowe and then the Pats switched Stephon Gilmore onto Jeffrey because he was abusing him so badly. There was an Eagles assistant coach who said they specifically picked on Rowe with Jeffrey because they knew him from his time here and knew it was a mismatch.
This is what NE radio was saying. That Doug just went after Rowe again and again.
We did attack him a lot but we had most of our success early with Alshon on him. They swapped him off to Torrey Smith I think and he did a lot better against him, but in fairness Smith is a much easier task than Jeffrey.
Wow. Belichick like in exploiting a weakness repeatedly.
I think the biggest problem was the ripple effect it caused. Rather than moving Butler inside to guard Agholor/Ertz/whoever and having Rowe come off the bench, they brought Chung, McCourty or their backup safety down. That’s a mismatch in favor of the birds.
Rowe had been sliding inside not Butler.
It’s still a bit of a ripple affect, but Rowe vs. anyone we put in the slot is still a mismatch.
Yeah but then they were bringing that Johnson Bagemudi (or whatever his name is) guy in off the bench to play outside. He sucked too.
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/fc313c9ac5182fb8ea458251335c1f30de2ce47f47e71a364cf62e5f44f58ca9.jpg
Check out the photos from PE.com if you haven’t had a chance to yet! Awesome angles and quality! About 92 so far!!
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/e8e9e225caf68db0dc23861ab2c60ee8f873b907690618ae4e6a9ac61a78c6cc.jpg
Such a great call and play!
GET OFF OF ME!!! Love to see the rook playing with violence!
Clement has to be one of the great stories of the season, what a find as an UDFA.
That was my favorite play of the game.
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/ce7c1f65c08beb0f628addcde3005c577b94af75666c165f85e143f976338ff0.jpg
How anyone thought he wasn’t a runner at that point is beyond me.
99% had to be Cowboy & Patriot fans!
Actually in my scouting missions to other message boards, even rival boards, the overwhelming majority were mystified that it was even debated that it was a touchdown.
As for Collngsworth, everybody is harping about calling his calling the Ertz and Clement TDs as non-catches.
The most baffling point he kept making last night was how valuable Chung is and fluffing the Pats’ safeties including their ability to open-field tackle.
Chung had one decent play last night where he tackled Clement to prevent a 1st down in the 4th quarter. Otherwise I had no idea why he kept saying such positive things about the Pats when their safeties gave up big play after big play in pass coverage.
He just has a habit of always fluffing chungs
Chung diid make a lot of tackles (10) but the large majority of them seemed to be downfield after a decent completion/after the RB had gotten to the second level.
He was also suggesting, when we were trailing by 1pt, that we should let the Pats score so that we would have more time to try and reply with a TD and 2pt conversion. It felt like he was one Eagles fumble away from suggesting we just let the Pats win and come back when we’re ready to actually challenge them and their almighty dynasty. I hope he lost all his bets, the patronising fuck.
My personal favorite was how he kept puffing up Harrison, Flowers, and Malcom Brown and talking about how they were threats to make game changing plays at any time.
Was like “dude, WTF game are you watching? The Eagles offensive line is kicking the shit out of them.”
Shout out to daveH to accurately call out the SB score! And the whole season! We did it
Who me ? What i do, i did ?
Sorry I mean Dragon_Eagle…. Corrected
Least I could do. Glad to be of service. 🙂
I am looking forward to you draft preview with a similar approach.
“Having been out maneuvered up and down the board all weekend, Howie…”
Will try. Not sure the mojo will continue.
You should know that I was ready to rip you and PPK for repeatedly blowing my cover.
Oddly, I noticed a positive correlation between the volume and vitriol of the responses I would get and the final outcome. Best example, I probably took the biggest hammering or “how could you…??!! #$%%@!!!” with the Vikings game prediction. When I saw that reaction, my confidence soared.
If someone already posted this I apologize. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/cca08c4eb9037252f6a2798210b1a0f89ecc6b62f1c1e285320620cb75447259.jpg
He surely owned them for one glorious night.
Blount:
– He seemed to run last night, especially in the 1st half, with the same kind of aggression he did after he didn’t get a carry vs. Chiefs.
– 14 carries and 90 yards were his highest numbers since vs Bears in late Nov (15 carries, 97 yards) and some of those numbers were in garbage time late in the 2nd half;
– He more than doubled the production of the two previous playoff games combined (15 carries, 40 yards, 2 TDs)
– Blount was tied with Jeffrey for TDs (3) in the playoffs
Blount did good, I thought Ajayi did good too, honestly all 3 backs were phenomenal. Clement especially seemed to run with anger, that stiff arm he threw and when he tried to run over Chung. I think if the 2nd Patriot hadn’t come up in support on the tackle he might have been able to fall forward for the first.
There was no no no garbage time
So I was looking at some highlights (there are some here http://www.footballoutsiders.com/clutch-encounters/2018/clutch-encounters-super-bowl-lii ) and on the final play Brandon Graham very nearly takes Brady down. Brady manages to step out of his grasp and then launches the pass. How awesome would it have been if Graham had taken him down? How awful it would have been for Graham if the pass had been caught!
I was told that the Pats D Lineman that almost got Eli but didn’t. .and Eli connected w David Tyree … that guy has nightmares … that would’ve sucked. As in Sucked!! Wudve been painfull.
..at least i found comfort in th thought that a competed pa ssss to Gronque in the endzone still wudve forced them to make the 2 pt conversion .. so it would still given us 1mo. .
Green Goblin Swag…..I thought you might like this shot of Jalen! #ganggreen
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/9ed40617521a6a82d6ab2653dc3c7a41ea78a20813113c7b1d586597a59680ec.jpg
@james_durant:disqus I thought you might like this shot of Jalen!
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/9ed40617521a6a82d6ab2653dc3c7a41ea78a20813113c7b1d586597a59680ec.jpg
I need that outfit.
LOL….go for it bro!! WE CHAMPS!
We wear whatever we want because WE CHAMPIONS OF THE WORLD BABY!!!
Need to get the Joker haircut and makeup to complete the outfit, but I love it.
Kid is a classic.
Now that he is a world champ that finger will never stop wagging
We (They) did it!!!
So if you are rewatching the game… Listen to collinsworth when BG strips the ball from Brady. You hear him make a grumbling sound because he’s rooting for the Pats. Also, when the ball bounces in the endzone he groans because the game is over and the Eagles win. He was clearly rooting against the Eagles all game long. When Nick Foles catches the ball in the endzone, he stays silent as Al has to keep talking about what a great play it was. Plus he doesn’t know what a catch is because he’s a world class moron. On top of it he’s a tool. He’s hated the Eagles for a long time now. He hasn’t shown it recently and I’ve said he’s been better as an announcer, but he made it perfectly clear he hates the Eagles. Probably because Eagles fans know a lot more about football than he does. What a clown. He’s back on my list.
You are so right. I’ve defended him in the past. I always thought he contributed good analysis, more than many others. But, man, he was unbelievably biased last night. It went from a minor bias where he overly praises certain players – I get that as part of the marketing job they have – to truly outright unprofessional behavior. It was like he made a massive bet on the Pats then drank half a bottle of jack right before kickoff and struggled, ultimately failing, to mask favoritism.
The funny thing is Al Michaels has reputation as a Giants homer, so I expected him to be the one throwing shade the Eagles way, but somehow he managed to, for the most part, keep a level of professionalism.
I didn’t think Al was biased really but was off with yardage and said that the pats took the lead when they ties the game. Generally minor stuff but was kind of consistently off through the game.
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/fd82ee4781e2e23d96248f15da0e31567d5b1a39e239c621c0f56bbe7d32055b.jpg
I’ve hated Collinsworth for a while but he hit a new low last night.
I was actually checking message boards for other teams last night and it was amazing how many neutral fans thought Collinsworth was abysmal and clearly favoring the Patriots, and there were even Patriots fans who said they hated the way he called the game.
Probably the worst super bowl broadcast of all time.
I posted a link to some calls from other sources earlier (some domestic, some international) and it’s incredible how much more excitement someone from Brazil or Germany or even the Foxwood one broadcast can inject into the proceedings compared to your average CBS, NBC, or Fox crew.
The worst was when Collinsworst says with surprise “this game is even more exciting than Justin Timberlake.” I was like wtf did he just say?
It makes perfect sense he would be a bigger Justin Timberlake fan than a football fan.
Should have been Mike Tiroco on play by play but he’s hosting the Olympics. Don’t see why he couldn’t have done both.
So, with us presumably opening the season as defending champions (oh! that was the first time I’ve ever type that and it feels really good!! Please, go try it!!), won’t Al & Cris be our crew unless NBC makes a change?
I think we need to prepare something special for him.
Whoa, I didn’t realize how much hate he’s been getting during the Super Bowl game. I’m hard-of-hearing and had the captions turned off as I didn’t want them to obscure the scoreboard. What exactly happened, though?
It’s a little difficult to explain, but it’s a very consistent undertone where he always argues for calls to go against the Eagles. The Ertz TD was insane. He clearly was a runner and collinsworth kept saying it should be an incomplete pass because he was still completing the catch. It was terrible.
When Baldy and Mayock call the preseason games, they aren’t 20% the obvious homers that Al and Cris were last night.
Great googlymoogly that was an awesome game and a more incredible season. I am still in a state of semi-disbelief.
I just want to take this entire week off from work, so I can soak in every aspect of what just happened. I need to check out all links and articles, you guys are posting, watch all the live video the local news is providing of the team boarding the plane, landing in Philly, singing, dancing, ordering pizza, picking their nose, etc. I want to rewatch that Superbowl like 10 times this week alone. I need to buy the entire family Superbowl championship gear. Not to mention there a few salty, arrogant Pats fans that need to be mentally abused. That requires planning and time to do so with the kind of devastating effect I want to inflict. I have high standards. I also feel I should be allowed to wear Eagles gear, instead of the suits, to work for like the next 58 years.
But, alas, duty calls. Regardless of what crises come up at work, I will be taking Thursday off, getting my ass a great parade route seat, and shouting until I’m hoarse (like last night). I will be there sporting that black J.P. #71. Hope to see as many of you lot as possible there.
Wish I could go, shout extra for me!
Will do, Steve, will do.
Making the drive from Atlanta tomorrow with my kids. Wouldn’t miss the parade for anything.
Anyone else still getting used to the idea of being world champs? I’m not sure it’s fully sunk in yet.
I’m currently watching the game for the 3rd time
I’ve read and heard plenty of fans saying, I don’t know what to do or how to act. Me, too.
But I’m happy to have this problem. I’m sure we’ll figure it out 🙂
Still hasn’t. What do I do? No one prepared me for this.
loot and burn something.
Done. What next?
steal a police horse. you’ve earned this.
(Please indulge me)
Must write it again … The Eagles won the Super Bowl.
F–king AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
Wait. What??!!!!
V-king AAAAAAAAAAAA CCCCCCCCCCCCCCC
I fell asleep. Did we win?
watching it for the 3rd time
Watched the highlights, watched every post game interview i could find. . 1st rewatch for next week. .. i can’t believe how emotionally wiped out i am
FYI, as some who’ve been reading my posts have known, Ive been stuck in SF for my sister’s wedding this weekend. Found a bar and reserved a table to find out it was infiltrated with Pats fans. Luckily there were a bunch of Eagles fans (or anti-Pats fans, which is good enough) and the game was actually pretty fun there. Still had a lot of fun on this site chatting with you all. It’s a memory I’ll always have and I appreciate you all who make this site the cream of the crop.
Funny side story, there was a guy there who said he bet his life savings on the Pats for the SB… Needless to say, he was nowhere to be found at the end of the game.
Their arrogance in believing they would steamroll us was ridiculous.
It’s never enough for entitled babies. Seriously, you have the best QB + coach of the modern era and you’re mad that they didn’t win their sixth ring? Wtf? I wish nothing but misery for them. May they be the next Browns for the rest of their lifetime.
Great story !!
Maybe the most underrated move of the year: Moving on from Jordon Matthews and starting Agholor in the slot. (and netting Darby in the process)
To me, the swap was JM for AJ, and it was real, and it was spectacular.
“Dawn of the Dynasty”
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2757121-monday-morning-digest-dawn-of-the-eagles-dynasty
was doin fine until they said that Malcolm Jenkins hit on Cooks should have been a flag. One of those “wait, who the hell is writing this now?” moments
Well, Tanier is a lifelong Eagles fan. I disagree that it should have been a penalty, but I don’t think that’s grounds for impeaching his credibility!
“I give up. I give up. If that ball’s not loose in his arms when that last foot came down…. I give up.” – Cris Collinsworth.
Pleeeease give up, and stop announcing for the general good of football. He maintained control through the catch. The ball can move as long as you have control. At no point did Clement lose control of it. Idiot!
I’d rather listen to Romo who has insightful things to say than listen to Collingsworthless commentary
https://i.imgur.com/rXuJDcG.jpg
That’s my LT.
That’s just as much his as it is Nick’s.
Thanks Tommy, you basically put into words how i was feeling. Even though I’m an aussie, i have been following the birds closely for 25 years and seen the birds play a few time. I’ve been through a lot of those years that you mentioned. We have had years where expections we extremely high, but to win it in this manner without Wentz and arguably the best o-linesmen in our history..makes this year so much more special. Whatever happens from here, Dougie bigballs and Nick Foles will be etched in Philly folklore. What a year, what a day, party hard for me on Thursday Philly!!
Alston is not putting up with silly questions.
https://twitter.com/dpwearl/status/960575528070721537
Waited 58 years for this. Got to watch it with my son. We’ve been in Florida since 1981, (he was 11 when we moved here), but being an Eagles fan is in your blood. It’s generational. So glad we got to experience this together. When Graham got the strip sack and Barnett recovered the ball we went insane. Love this team. Will be getting an Eagles tattoo (my first tattoo) to celebrate. 1948 Eagles logo with Superbowl LII. So will my son. Family thinks we are crazy. We are. Crazy for Eagles and this most special team.
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