Love to Hate

I jokingly asked a couple of co-workers how excited they were by the news that the tush push wasn’t banned. Both of them responded they were actually disappointed. They also told me they had developed a hatred for the Eagles.

This caught me off guard. One is a Broncos fan and the other a Panthers fan. Neither of those teams is a rival for the Eagles. I thought about their response for a bit and then it hit me. The Super Bowl champion Eagles are so good they are now worth hating. That’s actually quite a compliment.

Go back to the 1990’s. The most loved team in the league was the Dallas Cowboys. The most hated team was…the Dallas Cowboys. They won big. They were brash and arrogant. Watching Dallas lose could put a smile on a dead man’s face. It was a glorious time to hate.

The Cowboys fell apart by the start of the next decade. They had no answer when Troy Aikman retired. Anthony Wright? Clint Stoerner? Ryan Leaf? None of those guys were worth caring about, much less hating. My instincts were to pull against Dallas, but it was hard to get fired up cheering against a team coached by Dave Campo.

You need to be good for fans to really care. The Eagles were great last year. That drew some fans onto the bandwagon, but it also got some fans to start pulling against the guys in green. You can also see some other reasons fans might not like the Eagles. Nick Sirianni’s sideline antics will turn off some people. The roster is loaded with star players.

Stars can be polarizing. It doesn’t always make sense, but people will just dislike certain players. As a kid, I hated Steve Garvey with a passion. I have no idea why. I hated Joe Montana. Again, not really sure why. You can bet there are people who hate Jalen Hurts, Saquon Barkley, AJ Brown or Jalen Carter.

Then there is the Howie Roseman factor. Fans aren’t going to hate him, but the success of his moves. If you’re a casual fan, it must feel like the Eagles are the luckiest team in the world. They got their star QB in the second round. Carter fell to pick 9 and the Eagles got him.

Micah Parsons’ reaction on the @BleacherReport live draft show to the Eagles drafting Georgia DT Jalen Carter: “I’m sick to my stomach right now.” pic.twitter.com/8UcptMhjFp

— Jon Machota (@jonmachota) April 28, 2023

Zack Baun went from nobody to All Pro. Saquon Barkley was gifted to the Eagles. Jordan Mailata was a late round pick. The Titans traded AJ Brown to Philly. Why on earth would they do that? And how in the heck did Cooper DeJean fall to the Eagles?

Those fans don’t see the mistakes. The Eagles don’t trade for AJ if Jalen Reagor isn’t such a failure. Mailata wouldn’t have a job if Andre Dillard hadn’t been a flop. Hurts wouldn’t be an Eagle if Carson Wentz had gone as planned. And so on.

The other key thing is that Howie is able to sign so many players and keep them around. Jeffrey Lurie lets the team spend a lot of cash, which allows them to work around the salary cap. That is maddening for a lot of fans and even rival players.

Cincinnati Bengals Joe Burrow wants the team to spend like the Philadelphia Eagles. pic.twitter.com/wIBXTRu6fm

— NFL Rumors (@nflrums) February 20, 2025

You can imagine Joe Burrow’s frustration when the Bengals tell him they can’t afford a star QB, 2 star receivers and a pass rusher. The Eagles have that and a lot more. I’m sure it feels like the Eagles are cheating at times. They aren’t. They work around the cap, which you can only do if your owner gives you the resources.

There is also the matter of the tush push. Eagles fans love it. Some fans are ambivalent. Others hate it. That play is just another reason for opposing fans to hate the Eagles.

If you think back to 2017, that was a loveable team. They weren’t loaded with stars. They beat the evil Patriots in the Super Bowl. Nick Foles over Tom Brady. Doug Pederson over Bill Belichick. I think most of the NFL world liked that team. They enjoyed the underdogs winning. This is different. The Eagles were a juggernaut last year. They have been to 2 Super Bowls in the past 3 years and could have more in their future.

They are now a team that some fans love to hate.

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