THE LONG WAIT IS OVER
Eagles best Patriots to claim the franchise’s first Super Bowl victory
The Eagles believed. Then they beat Bill Belichick, Tom Brady and the New England Patriots at their own game to register their first Super Bowl title.
Nick Foles threw for 373 yards and three touchdowns and Brandon Graham sacked Brady with 2:09 left, forcing a fumble to secure a 41-33 victory over the Patriots in Super Bowl LII Sunday night at U.S. Bank Stadium.
Instead of Brady and the Bunch, it was in Nick We Trust for the Eagles. Foles was named MVP.
Rookie Derrick Barnett recovered the GOAT’s fumble and Jake Elliott kicked a 45-yard field goal to seal the decision for
EAGLES 41, PATRIOTS 33
the Eagles, who were 0-2 in Super Bowls.
The triumph was powered by Doug Pederson, overlooked the voting for coach of the year. Pederson was looking at fourthand-one at the Philly 45-yard line, the Eagles trailing by a point with 6:26 left, the defense that allowed just two touchdowns and 17 points entering the game, running on fumes.
Pederson’s instincts told him to roll the dice, and Foles lobbed a season-saving twoyarder to Zach Ertz.
Moments later Foles connected with Torrey Smith to the 43-yard line of the Patriots, and to Nelson Agholor for an 18-yard
gain to the 24.
At that point the teams had combined for a Super Bowl record 1,081 yards.
The Eagles reached the 11 of New England when Belichick started taking timeouts. Then came the biggest play of the game.
Ertz caught a slant, was tripped up Eric Rowe and after a step, crossed the plane of the end zone with the ball in both hands. When he crashed, ball first, it popped out and then back into his hands with 2:21 left.
After a few tense moments, referee Gene Steratore upheld the catch, the loud and vocal Eagles fans letting out a roar.
Foles’ two-point conversion attempt was incomplete. The Eagles led 38-33.
Now there are just 12 teams that haven’t won a Super Bowl.
Pederson is the eighth coach to win the Super Bowl in his second season on the job.
And Foles is just the third quarterback to win a Super Bowl after making three or fewer starts in the regular season. He replaced injured starter Carson Wentz.
The Patriots, down by double-digit points in their third straight Super Bowl appearance, didn’t go quietly.
Brady threw his second touchdown pass to Rob Gronkowski, and his third of the game to give the Patriots a 32-31 advantage, their first lead of the night with 9:22 remaining.
It was awful, at least for Eagles fans, in that Jim Schwartz’s defense couldn’t cover anyone. Receivers ran free all over the field. The pass rush was non-existent.
At that point Brady had thrown for 457 yards.
The second half was crazy, back and forth, this way and that.
The first half was full of mistakes.
Foles connected on six of his first seven passes, including a 16-yard screen to Corey Clement giving the Eagles first and goal at the five-yard line.
LeGarrette Blount reached the two-yard line on an inside run.
But on second down Ertz was flagged for a false start, and Foles threw backto-back incompletions, the second one tipped away by former Eagles cornerback Rowe in the end zone.
The Eagles settled for a 25-yard field goal by Elliott.
The Patriots answered with their own 67-yard drive that reached the eightyard line of the Eagles before Jalen Mills got inside of Gronkowski to bat a throw away in the end zone.
The Eagles minimized the damage of a penalty for too many men on the field, Brady getting a quick snap producing a first-and-five.
Pederson ratcheted up the play calls on the next possession. Instead of the dinkand-dunk he called a draw that Blount turned into a 36-yard run and on the next play, he had Foles go up top to Jeffery, in single coverage against former Eagle Rowe, for a 34-yard score.
It gave the Eagles a 10-3 lead with 2:34 left in the opening frame.
Three possessions, three scores.
The Eagles also got burned on Brady’s lob down the field to Danny Amendola. Brady was flushed out of the pocket, drawing the defense to him before letting the 50-yard completion fly.
The Patriots had fourthand-inches at the eightyard line of the Eagles when Belichick, who lives to roll the dice on fourth down sent the field goal team in. The snap was low, and Gostkowski hit the goal post.
Earlier on the possession, Gronkowski was flagged for an ugly false start. From Belichick to Brady, the Patriots were rattled.
Pederson added a dagger on the next possession with more precision play-calling, mixing up the run and the pass. Ertz got physical with his defender to separate for a 19-yard reception. Alshon Jeffery made a diving overthe-shoulder catch in triple coverage for a 22-yard gain to set up Blount’s 21yard scoring run through two Patriots for a 15-3 lead with 8:48 left before Justin Timberlake.
Pederson went rogue, calling for a two-point conversion attempt that would have given the Birds an 11-point lead. It didn’t work.
The Patriots got a 45yard Stephen Gostkowski field goal to cut the gap to 15-6 on the next series.
But the tone had been set.
With each Patriots big play, there was a tackle, short of the end zone. Ronald Darby, Mills and Corey Graham (twice) supplied TD-saving stops in the first half.
Foles was intercepted by Duron Harmon, Jeffery batting the ball in the air, and the Patriots marched 90 yards in seven plays to get within 15-12 with 2:57 left in the half.
James White ran through the Eagles almost untouched for a 26-yard TD.
Gostkowski was wide left on the PAT.
Just when it looked like the Eagles would stall, Clement thundered 57 yards to the eight-yard line on a wheel route to wake up the crowd.
And then Pederson did to Belichick what Belichick tried to do to the Eagles, using a trick play ending with a pass to Foles.
Corey Clement took the snap and lateralled it to Trey Burton who threw it to Foles. It gave the Birds a 22-12 lead with 34 ticks left in the half. Burton, we all know, played quarterback briefly after Tim Tebow left Florida.
When the dust settled, the first half consisted of 673 total yards, secondmost in the history of this event, including 323 for the Eagles.
Brady came out firing to Gronk in the second half, completing four passes to him for 68 yards and a TD pulling the Patriots within 22-19.
But the Eagles pushed the lead to 29-19 with a rugged 11-play, 85-yard drive consuming almost five minutes and capped by Foles’ five-yard scoring pass to Clement.
The play held up under appeal. A very late replay showed Clement bobbling the ball slightly with one foot out of the end zone.
Stop me if you’ve heard this but Brady brought the Patriots back, slicing up the Eagles’ secondary ending with a 26-yard throw to Chris Hogan. That got the Pats within 29-26.
At that point Brady had 404 passing yards. He set the Super Bowl record with 466 yards last year.
The teams teamed up to break the Super Bowl record with 962 combined passing yards entering the final frame.
Elliott booted a 42-yard field goal to give the Eagles a 32-26 lead early in the fourth quarter.