How do I begin? I could write something obvious like it’s cool to watch your favorite team win the Super Bowl.
Okay, that’s done. That’s how I chose to begin.
For what felt like the longest time, I struggled to know if they’d ever win. Now they’ve won twice.
I am lucky. When I became an Eagles fan, they were the up and coming team. I went to my first game in 2000. I was eight years old, and football quickly became an obsession.
They won 11 games that year. A year later they advanced to the NFC championship game, followed by three more consecutive trips. Only one turned into a Super Bowl appearance, and it just so happened to be the only time I’ve been to a playoff game. The 2004 victory over the Falcons was the pinnacle of my fandom until the miracle 2017 Super Bowl run.
2017 felt euphoric and improbable because it was. A backup quarterback who’s legendary heater essentially began after completing a pass off of Keanu Neal’s knee that led to a field goal to end the half. That team felt like magic and destiny. Fate permitted a Super Bowl to finally happen.
This year’s team that brought the city a second Super Bowl is anything but fate.
You can point to the Divisional Round game against the Rams. Matthew Stafford was 13 yards away from erasing a 13-point deficit in four and a half minutes. You can say luck played a factor. It was a break, sure, but there is nothing fluky about Jalen Carter’s ability to impact a game.
This team had everything.
As Nick Sirianni mentioned more than once, football is the ultimate team game. It requires everyone. One of the earliest lessons I learned on the football field was, you’re only as good as your weakest link. So much has been made about the talent advantage the Eagles have. I took it more as they had no weaknesses, not that they had all of this talent. The best thing about the Eagles defense was they played together. Sure, Zach Baun made All-Pro, and Carter is the de facto “best player” but it was Milton Williams who sacked Mahomes twice on Sunday. Nolan Smith led the Eagles in sacks during the postseason but Josh Sweat delivered in the Super Bowl.
There is a reason why in a game where Kansas City failed to score on its first NINE drives a defensive player didn’t win MVP. It was every single player.
The game wasn’t officially over yet when an unlikely player made the play of his season. Football is funny for a number of different reasons. The game can pass you by in an instant.
Injuries, age, or whatever else might force you to be a step too slow.
It’s no secret as to when this defense changed. They flashed against the Saints in Week 3, showcasing a bit about who they could be. But they followed that performance up with a truly dreadful one in Tampa Bay. The Week 5 bye proved to be the turning point as Cooper DeJean, after nursing an injury in August that halted his development, became the team’s nickel cornerback.
DeJean replaced the “weakest link.” Formerly known as a legitimate player, Avante Maddox was drafted months after the Eagles won in 2017. He stepped in for DeJean on that fourth down with the Eagles leading 27-0. The Chiefs, if they had any prayer for coming back, needed to convert. But Maddox. Of all people. Made the play.
That’s football.
Doug Pederson said after they won in 2017 that it was the new normal (yes, what a futuristic term now only associated with 2020).
As you’re well aware, it wasn’t the new normal. The end of 2018 brought excitement as the Eagles upset the Bears before losing to the Saints in the Divisional Round. The following year, Carson Wentz led the Eagles to the playoffs before suffering a concussion after completing a single pass. They won four games in 2020.
It was easy to question Howie Roseman, specifically for drafting Jalen Reagor right before Minnesota took Justin Jefferson. That was 2020. Roseman’s 2019 draft class was rough. Only Miles Sanders made an impact. Luckily, the public doesn’t have control over who Jeffrey Lurie fires (or hires).
Over the past four years, Roseman has drafted 13 players within the first three rounds of the draft.
DeVonta Smith caught the 46-yard touchdown that followed Maddox’s breakup; Landon Dickerson has made three Pro Bowls; Milton Williams (see above); Jordan Davis had two sacks this postseason, including the third quarter snub of Mahomes and continues to be a stud rush defender; Cam Jurgens made the Pro Bowl his first year starting at center; Nakobe Dean was absolutely dynamic before suffering a season-ending injury in the Wild Card game; the aforementioned Jalen Carter and Nolan Smith; Tyler Steen, who played the entire NFC Championship game and spelled Mekhi Becton briefly during the Super Bowl; Sydney Brown, who contributed on special teams; Jalyx Hunt, you know the converted safety from Houston Christian who registered a half sack in the Super Bowl and also took down Stafford in a key spot during the Divisional Round; and then Cooper DeJean and Quinyon Mitchell, who have changed how this team is able to play.
Of course, the Eagles were able to draft Carter because of patience. They had the Saints pick as they made the Super Bowl two years ago. It all began with the Wentz trade to Indianapolis in February of 2021, which brought back a 2022 first-round pick. The Eagles, who were slated to pick 6 in the 2021 draft, decided to move back for another 2022 first-round pick (thank you, Miami!) With three first round picks in 2022, the Eagles could be creative. Instead of having three first round rookies on the same first contract timeline, they traded one to the Saints for New Orleans 2023 first (and a second round pick as well, that helped the Eagles get DeJean). They used the second one on Davis. That third one? Yeah you already know. Some guy named AJ Brown.
I have to write it out to truly believe in what Roseman has accomplished, and we know what he did in free agency last March as well as bringing in Vic Fangio to lead the defense.
Everyone believed in Roseman. And the roster as well as the coaching staff.
Well, at least most of it.
The conversation leading into the Super Bowl was simple. The Eagles have the better team, but Kansas City has the better quarterback and the better head coach.
It’s why many thought the game would have a different result.
Jalen Hurts does things his own way. He struggled mightily with his accuracy in limited time as a rookie replacing the hindered Wentz. Sure, he had intangibles and had his moments, specifically a win against the Saints in his first ever start, but this is professional football. Gimmicks aren’t sustainable. When the Eagles did trade back in the 2021 draft, it sure seemed like that was a signal that they were giving Hurts a shot to be quarterback. They flirted with trading for an established veteran following his first full season as starter, but thankfully nothing materialized.
It doesn’t matter where he’ll rank in any jabroni’s QB ranking this spring and summer. Hurts answered the only question that really meant anything.
You can win a Super Bowl with him as quarterback.
Rather easily.
And then there’s Sirianni.
In 2021 the Eagles were 2-5 and Sirianni spent a snippet of a press conference talking about flowers.
Since then, the Eagles have won 52 games and lost 18. That’s 74 percent of regular and postseason games.
There will be some that discredit Sirianni. They’ll say the Eagles had too much talent to fail. They’ll point to Fangio catapulting the defense. The job Roseman did, as mentioned before.
Coaching stretches beyond the Xs and the Os. It’s about connection. It’s about teaching. It’s mostly about properly motivating players.
Before the first time Sirianni faced the Cowboys, he wore a Beat Dallas shirt at a press conference. The Eagles lost 41-21. Sirianni admitted his mistake the following year:
For most of the general public, there is one major reason why they hate the Eagles. It’s the fans.
The second is probably Sirianni. The smug look on his face during the 2022 Divisional Round win over the Giants. How he berated Kansas City fans following the regular season win in 2023. Even Eagles fans were puzzled by his reported behavior toward franchise icon Zach Ertz in Philadelphia’s Week 16 loss to the Commanders this season.
It’s easy to just pile on when it comes to Sirianni, but for some reason his team plays hard as hell.
A quote that Sirianni has mentioned so many times this year, and truly captivates who he is and what he does as head coach
You can’t be great without the greatness of others.
What a season. What a team. This is my little way of giving them their flowers.
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