Eagles fly to first Super Bowl title
SUPER BOWL LII EAGLES 41 ❚ PATRIOTS 33
Philadelphia holds off Brady, Patriots to win Super shootout.
MINNEAPOLIS – Nick Foles and the Philadelphia Eagles are going to have to turn in those underdog masks.
Getting Super Bowl rings in return seems like a pretty good trade.
Led by a quarterback who defines the term journeyman, the Eagles dismantled the mighty New England Patriots 41-33 Sunday to win the first Super Bowl title in franchise history. As Tom Brady’s last, desperation heave fell incomplete and the confetti began to fall, Eagles safety Rodney McLeod dropped to his knees, sobbing, while the Philadelphia fans who had packed U.S. Bank Stadium erupted in a roar that will reverberate up and down the East Coast.
The Philadelphia Eagles are, indeed, Super Bowl champs. If you need a minute to let that sink in, it’s OK. Anyone outside Philadelphia who claimed they saw this coming is lying.
The Eagles lost their top running back in late September. The heart and soul of their offensive line — the offense, really — in October. Their franchise quarterback in late December. Sure, the Eagles still had their defense, as nasty as it is stingy. Nick Foles had enough good pieces around him that he wasn’t asked to carry the offense.
That’s fine — in a regular-season game. But this was the Super Bowl and the opponent was the Patriots, a dynasty the likes of which the NFL will probably never see again. The Patriots were seeking their second consecutive title and sixth in the Bill Belichick-Brady era, and no one does comebacks better than Brady.
Not on this night, however. On this night, the future Hall of Famer got upstaged by a guy who couldn’t even get a starting job nine months ago.
After the Patriots took their first lead
33-32 on a Rob Gronkowski touchdown with 12:15 to play, Foles marched the Eagles 75 yards. The defining play of the drive — heck, his career — came on
fourth-and-1 from Philadelphia’s 45. It was too far to try a field goal. But it was a lot to ask, too, no matter how calm and collected Foles has been all week.
But Foles hit Zach Ertz, who muscled his way past the first-down marker to keep the drive alive. Seven plays later, Foltz found Ertz again, only this time it was for the go-ahead touchdown.
The Eagles missed the two-point conversion and, with 2:21 left to play, seemed to have given Brady way, way, WAY too much time. But on the second play of the Patriots’ ensuing drive, Brandon Graham sacked Brady and knocked the ball loose.
Derek Barnett recovered the ball, putting all light poles in Philadelphia in danger. A field goal about a minute later sealed the victory.
“We’re world champions!” Ertz yelled during the postgame ceremony.
The Eagles had proudly embraced their underdog status, treating it almost as if it was an inside joke. Go ahead and doubt them or write them off. They knew what they had in the locker room and, rather than trying to make people believe, would simply go out and show them.
No one personified that more than Foles. In his seven years in the NFL, he’s been traded. Cut. Cut again, essentially.
But Foles has made people rethink their (low) opinions of him. True, the defense is the foundation of this Philadelphia team. But Foles rolled into the Super Bowl after one of his best games against the Vikings.
And it was Foles, not Brady, who looked as if the Super Bowl had become a regular part of his schedule. He made the big plays when the Eagles needed them and didn’t get flustered when the Patriots turned up the heat. He finished with 373 yards and three touchdowns, and just one interception, and was named Super Bowl MVP.
Foles will never be considered an underdog again. The Eagles, either.
From now on, they’ll answer to champs.