THE EAGLES ARE SUPER BOWL CHAMPIONS
- Kenny Pete, Contributor
The Philadelphia Eagles are your 2024 / 2025 Super Bowl Champions. This team started the season with very high expectations for this team after last year’s storybook collapse. New Offensive & Defensive coordinators with decades of league experience between them were brought in to cultivate the talent assembled under General Manager Howie Roseman’s careful watch with support from the scouting team & coaches, to make this season a special one.
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Starting the season in grandiose fashion playing (and winning) the 1st NFL game ever played in Brazil, to wrapping up the season in New Orleans as the green & silver confetti fell from the sky with the Lombardi trophy being presented to Super Bowl LIX MVP quarterback Jalen Hurts, Eagles fans all across the world couldn’t have imagined this season to play out the way it did.
Adversity? There was A Lot of it. The week 2 home opening last second loss to a Kirk Cousins led Atlanta Falcons team that would go on to win 7 more games this season. A hard fought, nail biter of a win on the road vs New Orleans in week 3. A blowout loss against Tampa Bay that was 24-0 before halftime in week 4. The week 5 bye week that was lamented by fans & experts alike to be “too early” in the season ended up being exactly what this team needed to right the ship. They adjusted their philosophy to a run-first offense, thanks to the prolific flashes Saquon Barkley was able to show behind the best offensive line in the sport through the first 4 weeks.
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Jalen Hurts completely adjusted his game to get the ball out of the pocket quicker, be it to one of many offensive weapons, or to throw it away if the look wasn’t there. Jalen also did a much better job at protecting the football & didn’t commit the turnovers he did last season, also.having two healthy legs to run at full capacity will help keep the defense in check when rolling through pass option plays.
Week 6 ended with a hard fought win vs Cleveland that had no right to be as close as the 20-16 score would tell you. That game also ended with Eagles head coach Nick Siriani jaw-jacking with the hometown fans about his coaching philosophy after A WIN. THEY WON THE GAME and people wanted Nick’s head on a platter (insert that goofy AP photo of coach with the plaid Crucial Catch (tm) flat bill crooked sideways as if he is on the way to a disco biscuits concert in 2007) because he wouldn’t just “run the damn ball” (c) .
Week 7 was a blowout against arguably the worst team in the league, on the road. Even though “It’s Daniel’s Year” , somehow, Saquon Barkley was able to put up over 170 years of offense & when his head coach said “You are 14 yards away from a personal record that we would love to get for you” , Barkley simply replied “I’m good, Let the young guys eat.” . Let's hope that the team's front office slept well that night. Anyway, Eagles fans were still skeptical of this team. “Lets see them do this against a team that matters” was the chatter. “Can they do this against a ‘good’ team”? Lots of chatter. Lots of unanswered questions.
Week 7. On the road vs Cincinnati. Joe Burrow, Jamar Chase , Zack Moss & the rest of the Bengals superstars in their alternate “White Out” gear were going to ‘make a statement’ and ‘get a big hometown win to show they can play with the big boys of the afc” was all you could hear in the days & hours leading up to this game from the experts. Well, Actually, as it turns out The Eagles offense & Jalen Hurts put together their most complete offensive performance of the season, while the defense created 6 turnovers resulting in a 37-17 win over the Bengals in dominant fashion. At that point, we knew the league was on notice, the defense was dialed in & we were about to go on a run. The rest of the league? Skeptical. Josh Allen (Bills), Lamar Jackson (Ravens), Patrick Mahomes (Chiefs), are “the guys”. These are the teams the Eagles need to beat in order to be “for real."
The Eagles had to defeat Jacksonville, Washington , Dallas & Los Angeles before they could play Lamar Jackson & The Baltimore Ravens on the road in the 1st week of December. They did that & stood at 9 wins / 2 losses before traveling down 95 south to M&T Bank Stadium (ack patuuah) to battle a red hot playoff bound squad in purple & gold. The final score of that game? Eagles 24 / Ravens 19. So Josh Allen & The Buffalo Bills weren’t on the schedule vs The Eagles this season, but they played them last season on the road in Buffalo & defeated them on 11/26/23 in overtime 37 to 33, better luck next year Buffalo.
Weeks 14 through 18 was a 5 game stretch of winnable games on paper, but let's see who shows up to play. Any given Sunday right? This Eagles team collapsed so brilliantly last season they couldn’t buy a win vs a team in the lower half of the league. Carolina (WIN) Pittsburgh (WIN) Washington (very close LOSS) Dallas (WIN) New York (WIN) puts the Eagles at 14 - 3 and locks up the #2 seed in the playoffs.
But wait, here come those pesky experts. "Oh Boy, Detroit is playing like a team possessed. They are gonna make some noise in the playoffs. The road to the Super Bowl goes through Detroit”. They Said.
So at the start of the playoffs you have Detroit at #1 with a bye to play the lowest seeded team left after wild card weekend. Of the three NFC championship games you have Washington upsetting Tampa , you have Los Angeles defeating the Vikings, and you have The Eagles defeating the Green Bay Packers, this time the ‘home’ game was in South Philadelphia instead of Sao Paulo Brazil with the same outcome.
This sets up Washington going to battle the big bad Lions in Detroit on a Saturday as well as the Los Angeles Rams having to play a playoff game on a Sunday in January, outside in the snow in south Philly, advantage Eagles.
Well Well Well, the upset of upsets goes down and the big bad scary monsters from Michigan are defeated at home by rookie quarterback Jaiden Daniels propelling the Washington Commanders into the NFC championship for the first time in 30 years. More importantly, this sets up the eventual RUBBAH MATCH between the Commanders & The Eagles in the NFC Championship game at Lincoln Financial Field in front of 70,000 screaming Eagles fans.
After the week 16 loss to the Commanders, the Eagles were looking forward to playing this team for a third time. Adjustments were made as the players knew that this wasn’t the Washington team of old. This Commanders team was definitely beatable and the Eagles relished that second chance opportunity. NFC Championship weekend comes.
The Philadelphia Eagles go on to defeat division rival Washington Commanders in the NFC Championship game 55 to 23. Meanwhile in the AFC, Patrick Mahomes & the Kansas City Chiefs defeat Josh Allen & the Buffalo Bills in allegedly controversial fashion, and punched their ticket to their third Super Bowl in four years.
Here we go. It all comes down to this. The Rematch from last year. Jalen Hurts' chance at redemption. Patrick Mahomes' chance to lead a team to a Super Bowl “Three-Peat” {(c) former nba coach Pat Riley)} which has never been done before. The league set advertising rates at a cool 8 million dollars for companies to shill their wares for 30 seconds a clip. The halftime show featured the pop artist giving America a small preview of this summer's blockbuster arena tour. The stars were out & the stage was set. The league's best offense vs the league’s best defense, let's get ready for a great game.
Oh wait. This wasn’t a great game at all. Certainly not a great game for the party crowd who just came for the snacks & the commercials. Definitely not a great game for the fans of the Kansas City Chiefs that were completely demoralized in all facets of the game. When Jalen Hurts uncorked a massive pass from mid-field that was brought down by Eagles receiver Devonta Smith at the back of the end zone to make the score 34 to 0 in favor of the Philadelphia Eagles at the end of the third quarter, the congratulatory text came through from my cousin Andrew, the massive Chiefs fan, who received my congratulatory text when the Chiefs defeated the Eagles in 2023.
Jalen Hurts chose the three biggest games of his career to play his best; Super Bowl LVII in a loss to KC, and this year in the NFC Championship game vs Washington and in the Super Bowl vs Patrick Mahomes & the Kansas City Chiefs who "win all the games because they get all the calls because the league wants to put Taylor Swift on television and BLAH BLAH BLAH. “ Jalen Hurts rose to the occasion, played the best football game of his life, knocked off a team who all those pesky experts proclaimed the team of teams on their way to a “three peat” (ach-pathuah) and held up the Lombardi trophy as Super Bowl LIX MVP while confetti reigned. Official game coverage ends & the broadcast immediately cuts to a Nike commercial, but not just any Nike commercial, the fresh Jordan ad, with the crown jewel of that campaign fresh off of making history and removing all doubt of how winners act. Love, Hurts.
So for a team like the Eagles, in a city like Philadelphia, to get a win like this, across a season like this, will be memories we have forever. Generations of young Eagles fans will sit quietly around their elders telling stories about the legend of Saquon Barkley and the epic failure of a rival's front office decision that will live in infamy forever. Stories of how everyone doubted Jalen Hurts and said he “is just not as good as…….(fill in the blank name of any QB who didn’t win the SB MVP this year) “ and so forth. There was only one more thing for this team & this city to do & that is to have a parade down broad street.
Having attended the parade in 2018, it was completely surreal, everyone said “they will never win the big one” and they did, with a backup QB at that. This year was a completely different vibe. This year was a celebration. A Party. At one point during all of the chaos Eagles GM Howie Roseman got hit with a full beer can on the parade float, thrown by an overzealous fan. By the time it was his turn to speak at the art museum steps, he could only say one thing “I Bleed For This City!” And proved it with the perfect half circle scar in the middle of his forehead.
Super Bowl MVP Jalen Hurts has said it best, “Money is nice, but Championships are better.” This team with an average age of 25 years old, got its first one. Time will tell how many more they add to their legacy, but the future's looking sunny. These days, in Philadelphia, in the surrounding areas & in the hearts of Eagles fans worldwide, It's always sunny.