The Times Herald (Norristown, PA)
Birds aim to keep giving fans reasons to sing their praises
PHILADELPHIA >> One by one they were caught on the big screen, each introduced from their Wells Fargo Center seats, the roar escalating with every loud syllable. On that night, only one thing could make Sixers fans stop booing visiting Ben Simmons — local celebrities.
And at that sports complex, that would mean football players.
So, the in-game intros during timeouts commenced, one louder than the next. Dallas Goedert and Zac Pascal were nicely applauded. So were Haason Reddick and Quez Watkins. The sight of DaVonte Smith and Darius Slay elevated the cheers to a clamor. Miles Sanders, seated at courtside, was last. At that point, there was little the Sixers could do on the court to win a more sincere burst of admiration.
Technically, there was little new that night about the behavior of the Philadelphia fans, who have been embarrassing themselves for years with spelling bees at the most irresponsible moments. But there are chants of obligation and then there are the signs of admiration that Eagles have earned.
If history has revealed nothing since the 1985 Bears did the Super Bowl Shuffle at the peak of the music-video crusade, it is that there are three kinds of NFL teams. There are the bad ones. There are the very good ones, and the 9-1 record they brandished at the
Linc Sunday night for a game against the Green Bay Packers said the Eagles were at least in that company. Then there is the third kind. Those are the ones who know how to scramble at Thanksgiving to throw together a musical act.
The Eagles are one of those teams, which is why Jason
Kelce, Lane Johnson, Jordan Mailata, Jalen Hurts, A.J. Brown and Brandon Graham recently combined to record, “A Philly Special Christmas.” The cause is pure, with the proceeds set to help the Children’s Crisis Treatment Center conduct a toy drive. The music critics can chime in later. As for the unofficial football analysts, they had noticed something remarkable from an Eagles team in position to win themselves a two-home-game road to the Super Bowl.
By Sunday, the Eagles quickly
showed how they could be when they are at their best. One reason was because the Packers won the toss and chose to put the ball in Hurts’ hands and then barely bother to defend. It took the Eagles two drives to build a twotouchdown lead, and by halftime they would be ahead by a touchdown. That didn’t guarantee anything. But it did show they could score nearly at will.
So ... go ahead: Sing out loud.
“Mindset is such an important part of this thing, right?” Nick Sirianni said last week. “Mindset is a huge part of this thing that you feel like we’re going to succeed. It’s a nextplay mentality.”
That’s how the Eagles were able prevent a twogame losing streak the weekend before and leave Indiana as one-point winners.
“We know how to win,” Sirianni said, “in all these scenarios.”
Sometimes it can be difficult to make a recently made-over roster flush with high-end talent function as designed. Sirianni has done that, even if he’s had to rely on non-football motivational videos and over-the-top exuberance. For that, he remains the presumptive NFL Coach of the Year as December looms.
But more than Sirianni, it is Howie Roseman who figured it all out just two years after a 4-11-1 disaster cost future Eagles Honor Roll inductee Doug Pederson a job. The Eagles are a personnel-director’s combination platter. There are inspired draft choices. There are star players who were brought to the Linc in good trades. There is T.J. Edwards, who is making a career for himself as an undrafted walk-on. There are some leftovers from the 2017-18 world championship team, including Graham, Kelce and Fletcher Cox. Last week, Roseman dragged multi-time Pro Bowl participants Ndamakong Suh, 35, and Linval Joseph, 34, out of retirement and both were effective in the Indianapolis victory.
Not that a dissection of any team wouldn’t find such a variety of personnel sources, but Roseman has showed the ability to do that and avoid disaster. The Eagles’ tight connections go beyond arranging for a group rate for NBA tickets. With so many personalities crammed into the same room, the potential was there for damaging ego collisions. Instead, the veterans have been found not to simply try to pad their Hall of Fame resumes but to teach young players how to build their own.
“There is one thing we don’t do,” Slay said. “We don’t compete against each other, because we want what’s best for everybody. Everybody wants to get the bag (of money). I’m willing to help everyone get the bag.”
The bag can come in various ways. Winning works. The Eagles had that figured out going into Week 12. Continue to do that, and the team that has won more than the usual and the fans will continue to use their vocal skills to point out the difference between football players and developing celebrities.