Philly revels in Eagles’ title flight
Fresh off their first Super Bowl title, the Eagles returned to a hero’s welcome in Philadelphia on Monday afternoon, hours after overjoyed fans mobbed the streets in a sometimes unruly celebration nearly 60 years in the making.
Hundreds of fans greeted the team’s plane at Philadelphia International Airport, cheering wildly and singing “Fly Eagles Fly” as Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie emerged with the Lombardi Trophy.
After getting off the plane, Lurie, head coach Doug Pederson and top performers including tight end Zach Ertz and running back LeGarrette Blount approached the chainlink fence separating the team from the fans, smiling, pumping their arms and shooting video with their phones. Fans stood on cars and news trucks to catch a glimpse.
“It’s been a long journey to redemption,” said John Hall, 49, who works at Philadelphia’s public transit agency. “We don’t have to hear the negative anymore, that we don’t have a ring. It’s official now.”
Dan Mazzoli, 53, a disabled construction worker and diehard fan from New Jersey, shared the moment with his 12-year-old son and 11-year-old daughter.
“We’ve been waiting for this all our lives,” he said.
Super Bowl MVP Nick Foles, the unassuming backup quarterback who replaced injured Carson Wentz and played brilliantly throughout the playoffs, wasn’t on the team plane. Foles headed — where else? — to Disney World, riding a float at the Orlando resort and fistbumping Mickey Mouse amid a shower of green confetti.
“It’s all right to yell,” he told the cheering crowd. “We’re world champs! We did it! We did it!”
The underdog Eagles won their first NFL championship since 1960 on Sunday night with a surprise 41-33 victory over the New England Patriots, ending a drought that had frustrated the city’s football-crazed fans.
The city scheduled a victory parade for Thursday along a 5-mile route that will stretch from the Eagles’ stadium to the steps of the Philadelphia art museum, where Sylvester Stallone ran up the steps in “Rocky.” It’s a fitting ending point for a team that Stallone had cheered throughout the playoffs.
Philly had some cleaning to do Monday after pockets of fans turned unruly overnight, with rowdies smashing departmentstore windows, looting a gas station convenience store and toppling a number of the city’s famously greased lightpoles. The police commissioner said he and other officers were hit with bottles. Smallest TV audience since ’09: An estimated 103.4 million people watched the Super Bowl on NBC, a 7 percent drop from last year that indicates that television’s biggest event may have peaked in popularity.
The Nielsen company said it’s the smallest Super Bowl audience on television since 2009 despite the Eagles winning a thrilling game that was close from start to finish. Belichick won’t explain Butler benching: New England head coach Bill Belichick was no more forthcoming about his surprise benching of one-time Super Bowl star Malcolm Butler.
Speaking on a conference call the day after the Patriots missed their chance at a sixth NFL title, Belichick said “there are a lot of things that go into that.” He declined to be specific.
Butler’s interception in the end zone in the final minute of the Super Bowl against Seattle clinched New England’s 2014 NFL championship. He had been one of the Patriots’ steadiest players this season, appearing in 98 percent of the defensive snaps and starting 17 of 18 games this season.
The defensive back was on the field for only one play Sunday — on special teams. He appeared to be cry during the national anthem. After the game, he told ESPN he “could have changed that game.”
Belichick said Monday: “I respect Malcolm’s competitiveness, and I’m sure that he felt like he could have helped. I’m sure other players felt the same way.” Trick play from prep playbook: “The Philly Special” was found in Texas. A trick play involving Foles came from his old high school playbook in Austin, Texas.
Foles became the first quarterback in Super Bowl history to catch a touchdown pass, with 34 seconds left in the first half.
Pederson said the team put that in the playbook a month ago after discovering Foles’ alma mater, Westlake High School in Austin, executed the same play.