February 4, 2018: If you need a good reason why Tom Brady cannot be called the greatest quarterback of all time, I'll give you two, and neither of them needs to be "He cheated": He blew a shot at 19-0, and he lost a Super Bowl to the Philadelphia Eagles.
The Eagles were founded in 1933. They reached the NFL Championship Game in 1947, losing it to the Chicago Cardinals. The won a rematch with the Cardinals in 1948, and beat the Los Angeles Rams for the title in 1949. The struggled in the 1950s, then won the Championship in 1960, beating the Green Bay Packers.
Then came a long dry spell. They didn't make the Playoffs again until 1978. In the 1980 season, they won the NFC Championship, but lost Super Bowl XV to the Oakland Raiders. They fell apart again, then got good again in the late 1980s, and stayed good into the mid-1990s, but couldn't win a Playoff game.
From 2001 to 2004, they advanced to 4 straight NFC Championship Games, but lost the 1st 3. When they won the 4th, they lost Super Bowl XXXIX to the New England Patriots, coached by Bill Belichick and quarterbacked by Tom Brady. Did the Patriots cheat to win that game? We don't know, but if it turned out that they did, would anybody be surprised?
The Eagles got to another NFC Championship Game in the 2008 season, then fell into another dry spell. Going into the 2017 season, they were coming off 2 seasons of 7-9 under coach Doug Pederson, and there was no reason to believe they would do any better.
It had been 57 years since they won an NFL Championship. It wasn't even called the Super Bowl the last time they won it, just "The NFL Championship Game." They had moved out of Franklin Field, built Veterans Stadium, demolished Veterans Stadium, and moved into Lincoln Financial Field. They had gone through 14 head coaches (not counting interim bosses) and 4 owners.
From December 26, 1960 to February 4, 2008, the Phillies had won 2 World Series, the 76ers had won 2 NBA titles, the Flyers had won 2 Stanley Cups, and Villanova University's basketball team had won a National Championship. The Eagles had seen their NFC Eastern Division rivals win titles: The Dallas Cowboys 5, the New York Giants 4, and the Washington Redskins 3.
Bob Brown, Jim Ringo, Ollie Matson, Mike Ditka, Harold Carmichael, Claude Humphrey, Reggie White, Cris Carter, James Lofton, Art Monk, Richard Dent, Brian Dawkins and Terrell Owens had all played for the Eagles in that stretch. All were elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame. None won a Super Bowl with the Eagles.
The Eagles' starting quarterbacks were Sonny Jurgensen (Norm Van Brocklin's backup on the 1960 team), King Hill, Norm Snead, Jack Concannon, John Huarte, George Mira, Rick Arrington, Pete Liske, John Reaves, Roman Gabriel, Mike Boryla, Ron Jaworski, Joe Pisarcik (You forgot the Giants' "Miracle of the Meadowlands" quarterback also played for the Eagles, didn't you?), Randall Cunningham, Matt Cavanaugh, Scott Tinsley, Guido Merkens, Jim McMahon, Jeff Kemp, Brad Goebel, Bubby Brister, Ken O'Brien, Rodney Peete, Ty Detmer, his brother Koy Detmer, Bobby Hoying, Donovan McNabb, A.J. Feeley, Mike McMahon, Jeff Garcia, Kevin Kolb, Michael Vick, Vince Young, Mark Sanchez, Sam Bradford, current starter Carson Wentz, current backup, Nick Foles, and, for 9 games in the dreadful 1999 season, the man who was, in 2017, the Eagles' head coach, Doug Pederson. And from 1961 to 2016, none of them could lead the Eagles to win a Super Bowl.
Pederson named Wentz the starter for the 2017 season. It opened with a 30-17 win away to Washington, then a 27-20 loss away to the Kansas City Chiefs. So far, no big deal.
A funny thing happened on the way to another mediocre season for the Broad Street Birds: They got on a roll. They beat the Giants 27-24 at home, then won away to the Los Angeles Chargers 26-24, beat the Arizona Cardinals 34-7 at home, won away to the Carolina Panthers 28-23, and took advantage of 3 straight home games to beat Washington 34-24, San Francisco 33-10, and Denver 51-23. That last one marked the most points scored by the Eagles in a game since a 54-11 win over the Chicago Bears in 2013.
A bye week didn't stop their momentum. They won away to Dallas 37-9, and beat Chicago 3103 at home. The 9-game streak ended 24-10 away to the Seattle Seahawks, but they won 43-35 away to the Los Angeles Rams, to clinch the NFC Eastern Division title. But Wentz was injured, and was out for the season.
Foles was brought in as the starter, and led the Eagles to victory over the Giants, 34-29 at the Meadowlands. On Christmas Day, and also on ESPN Monday Night Football, the Eagles beat the Raiders at home, 19-10. A game against the Cowboys is never meaningless, but the 6-0 home loss on New Year's Eve was probably the least stinging defeat to Dallas ever. The Eagles finished 13-3, tying the 2004 team for the most wins in franchise history.
Of course, none of that would have meant anything if there was a disaster in the Playoffs, as had happened to the Eagles several times. They had a bye in the 1st Round, then won a gutsy Divisional Playoff over the Atlanta Falcons, 15-10 at home. That set them up with the Minnesota Vikings, who were 1 win away from playing the Super Bowl in their home stadium, the new U.S. Bank Stadium, which had been built on the site of the Metrodome in downtown Minneapolis. The Eagles didn't care, and throttled the Vikes, 38-7. They were going to Super Bowl LII.
The opponent was the New England Patriots. The defending World Champions. A team that was in its 7th Super Bowl in the last 17 years, having already won 4 of them, including the previous year's with a stunning comeback over the Falcons.
It had been 13 years since they met in the Super Bowl in Jacksonville. The Pats were still coached by Belichick. They were still quarterbacked by Brady. They were still surrounded by accusations of cheating, and yet nobody seemed to care. They were installed as 5-point favorites, and that seemed generous to the Eagles.
There was one pregame note -- or, rather, several notes in a single song -- that might have been a good omen for the Eagles: The National Anthem was sung by rock star Pink, who has grown up an Eagles fan named Alecia Moore, about 30 miles north of Philly in Doylestown, Pennsylvania.
The Eagles took the kickoff, and drove 67 yards in 14 plays, ending in a 25-yard field goal by Jack Elliott. The Patriots could also only manage a field goal on their 1st drive, 26 yards by Stephen Gostkowski. But on their next drive, Foles threw a 34-yard pass to Alshon Jeffery for a touchdown. A good sign. But Elliott missed the extra point. A bad sign. Still, the 1st quarter ended at Philadelphia 9, New England 3.
A mishandled snap by holder Ryan Allen caused Gostkowski to miss a 26-yard field goal attempt. On their ensuing drive, the Eagles were forced to punt by the Patriots. This turned out to be the only punt of the game.
The Patriots turned the ball over on downs, giving the Eagles good field position. They improved this until LeGarrette Blount ran 21 yards for a touchdown. They tried a 2-point conversion, but were unsuccessful. Still, with 8:48 left in the 1st half, the Eagles were leading, 15-3. Nobody could have expected that.
On their next drive, the Pats could only manage a field goal, Gostkowski hitting from 45 yards, to make it 15-6. An interception of Foles by Duron Harmon set up a 90-yard drive that ended with James White running it in from 26 yards. But now, it was Gostkowski who missed an extra point.
And with 34 seconds left in the half, the Eagles got to 4th & goal on the Patriot 1-yard line. Pederson called a trick play. Foles dropped back into what looked like a shotgun formation. But the ball was snapped to running back Corey Clement, who lateraled to tight end Trey Burton, who then passed to Foles, who was wide open in the end zone. Foles became the 1st quarterback ever to catch a touchdown pass in a Super Bowl. The play became known as the Philly Special.
At the half, it was Philadelphia 22, New England 12. There were 30 minutes left. Basically, if the Eagles could only avoid the kind of collapse the Falcons had the year before, they would be World Champions. But it was the Patriots. It was Belichick. It was Brady. You knew it wasn't going to be that easy.
The 1st drive of the 2nd half saw the Pats go 75 yards in 8 plays, concluding with a 5-yard pass from Brady to his favorite, Rob Gronkowski. It was 22-19 Eagles. Were the Eagles fazed by this? Did they fold under the pressure? Not by a long shot: Foles made 3 3rd-down conversions, of 17, 14 and 22 yards, the last of these a touchdown pass to Clement. Eagles 29, Patriots 19. 22 minutes and 18 seconds to go.
But the Pats came right back. Brady threw a 26-yard touchdown pass to Chris Hogan. 29-26. But that didn't shake the Eagles up, either: On the 1st play of the 4th quarter, Elliott kicked a 42-yard field goal. Eagles 32, Patriots 26. 14 minutes and 9 seconds to go.
But the lead was now only 6 points. And here came Brady, marching his team down the field, ending with a 4-yard pass to Gronkowski. The extra point was good. Patriots 33, Eagles 32. The Eagles had blown it.
But there was still 9:22 to play. Foles converted a 3rd & 6 with a 7-yard pass, and later a 4th & 1 with a 2-yard pass, both to Zach Ertz. Foles kept going, getting 1st downs, until throwing to Ertz for 9 yards and a touchdown. They went for the 2-point conversion, but failed. Eagles 38, Patriots 33. There were 2 minutes and 21 seconds left.
But Brady was still going to get the ball back one more time. On the Patriots' 2nd play, Brandon Graham hit Brady for the only sack of the game, forcing a fumble that Derek Barnett picked up. The Eagles ran the clock down, forcing the Patriots to run out of time-outs. Elliott kicked a 46-yard field goal.
Eagles 41, Patriots 33. There was 1 minute and 5 seconds to go, no time-outs for the Pats, and they needed a touchdown and a 2-point conversion just to send the game to overtime.
But Brady is as trustworthy as a snake with a silencer on his rattle. He got the Pats to their 49-yard line with 9 seconds to go. He faded back, and Graham nearly sacked him again. There would be no chance to stop the clock and try one last play: This was it: Brady threw a Hail Mary pass into toward the end zone, and it came down near the goal line. But there were just too many hands coming out of green shirts, and it was knocked down.
Ballgame over. For the 1st time in 57 years, the Philadelphia Eagles were World Champions. Foles, who wasn't even the Eagles' starting quarterback until December 17, was named the game's Most Valuable Player. Just 8 weeks earlier, he was a backup, who looked like he might never start another game in the NFL. Now, he was the Super Bowl MVP, and had outplayed Tom Brady head-to-head.
The 2 teams combined for the most yards gained in a single game in the NFL's 98-season history, 1,151. Only Super Bowl XXIX, with 75 points, had more points between the 2 teams than this game's 74. The Patriots gained 613 yards and scored 33 points, enough to outscore the winners of 32 of the 1st 51 Super Bowls. But not enough to win this one.
The parades that the City of Philadelphia put on for the 1974 and 1975 Flyers, the 1980 and 2008 Phillies, and the 1983 76ers were big. None were bigger than for the 2017-18 Eagles. They'd waited a long time for this. Talk about a "Philly Special."
In 2019, a poll ranked this game 14th on a list of the 100 Greatest Games of the NFL's 1st 100 years.
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February 4, 2018 was a Sunday. This was the only football game played that day. Baseball was out of season. There were 9 games played in the NBA:
* The Washington Wizards beat the Orlando Magic, 115-98 at the Amway Center in Orlando. (It's now named the Kia Center.)
* The Houston Rockets beat the Cleveland Cavaliers, 120-88 at the Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse (now the Rocket Arena) in Cleveland.
* The Detroit Pistons beat the Miami Heat, 111-107 at the Little Caesars Arena in Detroit.
* The Indiana Pacers beat the Philadelphia 76ers, 100-92 at the Bankers Life Fieldhouse (now the Gainbridge Fieldhouse) in Indianapolis. Somehow, I don't think too many people in the Delaware Valley cared about this loss.
* The Minnesota Timberwolves beat the New Orleans Pelicans, 118-107 at the Target Center in Minneapolis. Anthony Davis scored 38 in defeat for the Pels.
* The Utah Jazz beat the San Antonio Spurs, 120-111 at the AT&T Center (now the Frost Bank Center) in San Antonio.
* The Denver Nuggets beat the Golden State Warriors, 115-108 at the Pepsi Center (now the Ball Arena) in Denver.
* The Los Angeles Clippers beat the Chicago Bulls, 113-103 at the Staples Center (now the Crypto.com Arena) in Los Angeles.
* And the Dallas Mavericks beat the Sacramento Kings, 106-99 at the Golden 1 Center in Sacramento.
And there were 3 games played in the NHL that day:
* The Montreal Canadiens beat the Ottawa Senators, 4-1 at the Bell Centre in Montreal.
* The Vegas Golden Knights beat the Washington Capitals, 4-3 at the Capital One Arena in Washington. This turned out to be a preview of that season's Stanley Cup Finals, except the Caps won.
* And the San Jose Sharks beat the Carolina Panthers, 3-1 at the PNC Arena (now the Lenovo Center) in Raleigh.
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