Playoff-tested Eagles trying to help green teammates prepare
PHILADELPHIA » Eight Eagles, eight Super Bowl championship stories, all unique, yet all similar.
Malcolm Jenkins can talk your ear off about the onside kick the New Orleans Saints recovered to start the second half of their Super Bowl XLIV win over the Indianapolis Colts. It springboarded the Saints to victory. Eagles linebacker Dannell Ellerbe can confirm the particulars, too, as he was on those Saints.
Torrey Smith and Corey Graham were in the Louisiana Superdome when the power went out in the third quarter of Super Bowl XLVII, the Baltimore Ravens holding a 28-6 lead over the San Francisco 49ers. The Ravens hung on to win that battle of the coaching Harbaughs, 34-31. Only Beyoncé knows for certain whether the outage had anything to do with her halftime act.
Chris Maragos and the Seattle Seahawks overwhelmed the Denver Broncos in Super Bowl XLVIII at snow-filled MetLife Stadium. That game was over long before Bruno Mars’ electric halftime act.
Will Beatty and the New York Giants beat Bill Belichick and the Patriots in Super Bowl XLVI at Lucas Oil Stadium. Not the 18-0 Pats, but a satisfying success from start to finish.
Most recently, Chris Long and LeGarrette Blount were part of the Patriots team that rallied from a 28-3 deficit for a 34-28 overtime victory over the Atlanta Falcons in Super Bowl LI in Houston.
Seven Eagles, seven rings, seven stories, seven resources. And they shared their experiences with the current cast, which collectively opposes the Falcons in the divisional round of the playoffs Saturday at Lincoln Financial Field.
“We’ve had guys talk to the team about the experience, about what it takes to win and stuff,” Blount said after practice Tuesday. “I just tell all the young guys to take that to heart because every part of it is true. I’m not really a big public speaker. They picked the right guys to do it. Malcolm obviously, Torrey, Maragos, those guys talk to the team all the time. Those guys have won Super Bowls. They’ve been a part of special teams. And they feel like we have one of those special teams. So, you definitely want to listen to what they say.”
It can’t hurt to share the experiences and hope. Not for the Eagles, who find themselves in a parallel football universe.
Despite rolling to a 13-3 record, their best since 2004, and winning seven of eight games at the Linc, the top-seeded Eagles are threepoint underdogs to the Falcons (11-6), the sixth and last seed in the NFC.
Falcons head coach Dan Quinn sugar-coated the playoff oddity during a conference call Tuesday.
“You know how you play a division game?” Quinn said. “And you just kind of throw the numbers out, stats out, whatever it is? Because it’s just going to be a battle for that game. And I do love that format. So as far as points or being favored, that’s the furthest thing from anything we talk about. We just talk about the matchup for the game.
“When you step inside the whites, none of that stuff really has any bearing on it. And make no mistake, we know we’re heading on the road into a really cool place for football.”
The veteran Eagles players, head coach Doug Pederson and defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz have spent the last week and change trying to get guys who haven’t appeared in the playoffs to avoid changing the approach.
“Yes, the stakes are higher, but the task is the same as it was in the preseason,” Jenkins said. “Naturally you’ll elevate your level of intensity based on the situation, but the things you can’t get away from are your techniques, the communication, the preparation and focusing on one play at a time. That’s the biggest thing we’re trying to relay to some of the younger guys because there’s plenty of people who are talking about how you’re in the playoffs and you ramp up and it’s so intense and X, Y and Z. At the end of the day it’s still the same game.”
Smith wants his teammates to know how precious a playoff opportunity is.
“You’ve got to appreciate the moment,” Smith said. “Three of my first four years, we were in the playoffs. The last two we weren’t close to it, so to be here now, you just have to understand the moment.
“We’re home. Obviously people don’t really believe in us too much but that has nothing to do with us. Appreciate the moment . ... Just don’t let the moment shake you up.”
Eight voices, eight stories, one message: The playoffs are one onside kick, one power outage, one comeback at a time.
“The only thing different is what’s waiting for you after the game,” Jenkins said. “You’re either moving closer to the dream or the dream’s over. But everything that happens before that is the same game. So, the biggest thing is making sure that the young guys don’t focus so much on the big picture that they miss the small things that win games. That’s how, often, you see playoff games start off really sloppy. Everybody is so caught up in knowing that every play is important to our future they (forget) the small things within the play.”