Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
Facing outside disrespect, Birds need to ooze optimism Playing the Part
PHILADELPHIA » As the Eagles walked through the familiar tunnel and onto the Linc’s weather-proof playing surface for a Thursday practice, Corey Clement had a vision. It’s the same one he’s had for most of his life.
Though empty, though quiet, the Eagles’ rookie imagined the stadium full, as it will be Saturday, when the Atlanta Falcons arrive for an NFC semifinal. He imagined the screams, and the setting sun, and the onrushing chills, those caused by the winter weather, those caused by the moment.
Jack McCaffery
Columnist
“I had a flashback to Christmas night, when we walked out in the black jerseys,” Clement said. “I imagined the fireworks, and the fans, who will get there earlier than they usually do. I’m excited.”
He’s excited, and he should be excited, and all of the Eagles should be excited. That’s despite the many sources of gloom that have dimmed what almost was the best season in the organization’s history. First, there was the presumed tipping point, which came the moment a surgeon stared at Carson Wentz’s mangled knee ligaments and requested a scalpel. The Birds had lost an MVP candidate for the rest of the season. So there would be scars. But then there was something literally as insignificant as anything could be in a football game: Some actuary in Nevada decided that the only way to ensure that equal stacks of cash would be wagered on the Falcons and the Eagles was to load a 2.5-point weight on the scale. With that, the Birds would not only be underdogs, but would be the first No. 1 overall seed ever to not be favored in its first, home playoff
game.
Strangely, if not unbelievably, the Eagles were affected by that. In a league that technically bristles against gambling, that wacky betting line suddenly was a day-to-day topic in some corners of locker room. Throughout the NewsControl Compound, spies would even notice signs reading “underdogs” thumb-tacked to walls in high-traffic corridors.
The other day, it even got a little loud, Vinny Curry among those willing to take the volume up a notch.
“I’ll take those odds any day,” he said, loud, then a little louder. “We’ve been rolling all year. What’s the big difference right now?”
Again, the big difference is the Big Difference. It’s the absence of Wentz. No sense hiding that. Yet Curry was right to effectively order the room cleared of doubt. That’s because the Eagles have the right to strut, not stumble, into the Linc Saturday. This is their time, a time they earned with 13 victories, so many of them lopsided that they not long ago were dominating the top of that NFC betting board. They had a premium quarterback, yes. But they have a responsible backup in Nick Foles, who may not have the
ability to win 13 times in a season, but who should be able to win two home games.
“I don’t want to discount the injury or the player or anything like that,” Doug Pederson said before practice Thursday. “We’ve lost a lot of guys. We lost Jason Peters and it was kind of the same mentality. Listen, the train’s still kind of moving. Even though we’re sick to our stomachs that these guys are not with us out there on the field, the train is still moving, and the sooner we get over that and get on to the next order of business, the better we’re going to become.
“But that’s a process. That doesn’t happen overnight. Do you know what I’m saying? It takes a little time.”
Process, trust, all that. It’s everywhere. But Pederson’s demand that the Eagles get over the loss of Wentz and any resulting disrespect, perceived or real, is important. They have the obligation to savor the moment. And they should realize that it’s the Atlanta Falcons who don’t a right to enjoy this moment.
Clement comes from Glassboro, N.J., a few miles across the Walt Whitman from the Linc. With that, he’s had a lifetime of awareness about the Eagles, their eternal postseason trauma,
and the vigil that the fans forever maintain for one, just one, Super Bowl championship. That’s why he didn’t notice the silence in the Linc Thursday, but rather heard fireworks.
This is the Eagles’ time.
“It’s been fun,” he said, of the postseason runup. “Of course, there is a lot of outside noise that is against us. But at the same time, we love it. We live for it. And we’re going to do it for the city of Philadelphia. And if anybody is going to come out to that game, it’s going to be electrifying. We are going to put our best foot forward and not look back.”
Despite the outside grumpiness, despite the posted signs around the complex, and despite even Pederson’s out-ofcharacter relative shortness with the press this week, there was a feel of a growing optimism around the NewsControl Compound.
Unless the Eagles think they are going to be 133, seeded No. 1 and facing the No. 6 seed for the right to play for a spot in the Super Bowl any time soon, it was their only choice.