The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Eagles, Foles give Philly 1st NFL title since 1960
MINNEAPOLIS — This was for those who’ve been waiting on the football gods for the equalizer.
Those who believed that while the New England Patriots were great, they too often skated between every line of the rule book.
Those who believed they should have lost to Seattle a few years ago when the Seahawks inexplicably bypassed handing off to Marshawn Lynch for a gimme touchdown run from the 1-yard line.
Those who believed a takeover by the Underworld was the only logical explanation for what happened last season against the Falcons.
Nick Foles considered retiring a couple of years ago and spent most of this season as a backup. The Philadelphia Eagles hadn’t won an NFL championship since 1960 and Foles was named MVP after passing for 373 yards and three touchdowns.
There’s your equalizer. Foles threw a go-ahead touchdown pass to tight end Zach Ertz with 2:21 left and Brandon Graham forced a Tom Brady fumble that led to a field goal in the final minute as the Philadelphia Eagles — are you ready for this? — stunned New England and most of the globe with a 41-33 win in Sunday’s Super Bowl.
Fly Eagles Fly.
Wait: Fly Eagles Fly? Really?
So there you go Falcons fans: At least the Falcons lost to the team that won it all ... something nobody would’ve expected a month ago.
Instead of Tom Brady and Bill Belichick winning their sixth Super Bowl, Nick Foles and Doug Pederson won their first. Welcome to Fantasyland.
Foles, who replaced the injured Carson Wentz, saved his two best career games for last: Sunday and the NFC title game against Minnesota. Philadelphia led 9-3 after the first quarter, 22-12 at halftime and 29-26 after the third quarter. But this was not the first time the Patriots have trailed in a Super Bowl. I’ll just leave it right there.
There were 74 points scored. Nobody expected a Big 12 game to break
out. These were two of the NFL’s best scoring defenses during the regular season. But this whole week in Freezetown has been a bit odd so maybe more theater of the bizarre should have been expected.
Like this: For a half, Foles outplaying Brady. In the first half he completed 13 of 22 for 215 yards, including a 34-yard touchdown to Alshon Jeffery. He was intercepted once but that was a so-Patriots-esque ricochet off of Jeffery’s
hands at the Patriots’ 2-yard line and snagged by defender Duron Harmon.
Foles also was the better receiver. Brady dropped a certain pass on a wheel route after a pass from Danny Amendola from the Eagles’ 35. But Foles caught a 1-yard touchdown from former Florida quarterback/running back/receiver Trey Burton on a perfectly executed trick play.
This almost certainly will be factored in when Hall of Fame voters debate
the merits of Brady vs. Foles, a barstool argument heard across the country.
Foles’ touchdown catch gave the Eagles a 22-12 lead in the Super Bowl … and I can’t believe I just typed those words.
But as title game norms go, this wasn’t the week or the year. Let’s start with the weather.
For as much grief as Atlanta took 14 years ago after being hit by an ice storm Super Bowl week, the city was a relative tropical paradise com- pared to the “Bold North” (the cute euphemism plastered on all of the welcome signs).
Temperatures were in single digits or below zero most of the week. It snowed three days. The NFL also strangely housed the entire Super Bowl operation, including both teams, league officials and media headquarters, out in Bloomington and connected to the Mall of America, 15 to 20 miles from the Minneapolis/St. Paul area.
Never before has a Cinnabon been so central to one of the world’s biggest sports events. So, yeah, maybe this whole Foles-Eagles-implausible-“Rocky” thing made sense. But Brady/Drago wasn’t liking it. New England drove to the red zone on its first two possessions and came away with three points (a second field goal try hit the upright after a bad snap). Suddenly, when it came to red zone offense, the Patriots were channeling the Falcons.
But they turned that aforementioned ricochet interception into a touchdown, parlaying a suspect third-down holding penalty, a 43-yard pass to Chris Hogan and a 26-yard scoring run by James White to close Philadelphia’s lead to 15-12, and then offenses took over.
Philadelphia (18.4) and New England (18.5) had the fourth- and fifth-best scoring defenses in the NFL during the season. But those teams didn’t show up Sunday. At the end of the third quarter, they had already combined for 55 points, 946 yards and 40 first downs.
The Patriots drove to touchdowns on their first two possessions of the second half. The Eagles responded with a touchdown and a field goal. Philly led 32-26 with 14:09 left. The Patriots missed an extra point but the Eagles’ botch was worse: Coach Doug Pederson tried to chase points after a touchdown gave his team a 15-3 lead and went for two, in a foolish decision that failed.
Remember that, because: Brady capped a 10-play, 75-yard touchdown drive with a 4-yard toss to Rob Gronkowski with 9:22 left to take a 33-32 lead. It was the Patriots’ first lead of the game after touchdowns on three straight possessions in the second half.
But back came Foles. (Who is this guy?) His 11-yard touchdown pass to Ertz put Philly back ahead with 2:21 left after another missed two-point conversion (this one made sense). Then came Graham’s hit and Brady’s fumble and the field goal. The fantasy was complete. So was the equalizer.