Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
A perfect finish for a team that refused to settle for less
PHILADELPHIA » At some point during each of the last 45 professional football seasons, a band of former players has paused to brandish champagne glasses in a tired blast of arrogance.
They are the remaining members of the 1972 Miami Dolphins, who finished a season undefeated, the Super Bowl included. No team has done that since. For that, they will make it public that no one, other than their own selves, can claim to have achieved perfection. They were trolls, long, long before it was possible to do that with a few taps on a pocket phone.
They’re wrong. They’re wrong, and the Eagles just spent most of the last seven months proving they’re wrong. Because given everything, the 2017-2018 Eagles, who only won 16 of their games, not all 19, were perfect, too.
Perfection in sports is not necessarily measured by records set, standings dominated or even championships won. Perfection can be achieved by maximizing talent and opportunity. Perfect seasons can be achieved by overcoming what often seemed unrealistic obstacles to win more than it would seem possible to win, given the circumstances. Perfect moments can be claimed by playing with precision and pride and confidence and wisdom.
The Eagles won the Super Bowl Sunday night, defeating the New England Patriots, 41-33. They did it with their backup quarterback, and with another handful of their more accomplished stars injured and unavailable.
They did it, and they did it against the 21st century NFL dynasty, a coachquarterback combination in Tom Brady and Bill Belichick which had been in the Super Bowl seven previous times, winning five.
Mostly, they did it by never accepting that they couldn’t. Their personnel wizard, Howie Roseman never accepted that, which is why he took what some viewed as a hopeless mess coming off a 7-9 season and aggressively, relentlessly made improvements, from the offseason through the trade deadline.
They did it after losing Carson Wentz, their MVP candidate, to a knee injury that cost him a season, and yet may alter his career.
And in the Super Bowl they did it their way, which on game day means Doug Pederson’s way. They did it by showing a willingness to run unconventional plays at unexpected times. Pederson, who earlier this season was publicly ridiculed for an infamous decision to seek a first down on fourth-and-eight, was true to himself through the Roman numeral portion of the season. For that, Super Bowl historians will study, appreciate and preach about the time he not only declined to kick a field goal on fourth-and-goal from the one late in the first half, but went to the full nose-thumb at Belichick, the Patriots, his critics and standard football wisdom. From somewhere so deep in his playbook that Frank Reich must have sneezed from the dust, Pederson ordered tight end trey Burton into an endaround, then had him hit Foles in the end zone for a touchdown.
So, on one play, Pederson risked three points and the possibility, that had something gone horrifyingly sideways, Nate Sudfeld would have been his quarterback in the second half of the Super Bowl.
But those were the Eagles of 20172018. They. Didn’t. Care. They did it their way.
Though a scoreboard will reveal the winner in any team game, victory in a season is not as easily reflected. Sometimes, the teams that don’t win the final game of a season are worthy, too, of eternal respect. Before they even waited out Pink’s rendition of the national anthem, a 113-second breeze which allowed the under-120 prop bet to pay, the Eagles were one of those teams. At least, they would be so in the minds of their fans. And it’s the fans who get to make that call.
The 2004-2005 Eagles, led by a grumpy coach and a quarterback who was uncomfortable in the city, lost in the Super Bowl and were remembered for two things: Andy Reid forgetting to run a hurry-up offense and Donovan McNabb repulsing his teammates with in-huddle stomach distress. The 2017-2018 Eagles will be remembered for Pederson never once blinking despite a cruel succession of injuries to too many of his best players, and for Nick Foles helping to concoct three postseason upsets.
Other Philadelphia teams had enjoyed such immunity. The 1950 Whiz Kids lost in the finals, but were remembered fondly. As many remember the 1993 Phillies for their Macho Row swagger as for the way they lost the World Series on a Joe Carter home run. The 2001 Sixers were atrocious in the NBA Finals, but don’t tell that to the fans who still treat Allen Iverson as royalty every time he cups his ear.
The Eagles didn’t go undefeated. But they could not have done any more than they did in a season that ended with their first Super Bowl championship. Given what they were challenged to do, that made them perfect.
For that, they deserve every champagne toast.
Contact Jack McCaffery @ jmccaffery@21st-centurymedia.com; follow him on Twitter @JackMcCaffery