I don't really do the sports blogging very often anymore (obviously), because time and money and money and time. But when the local footballers win the Superb Owl for only the second time, I Am Moved. Let's have at it.
1) The Eagles were underrated because of gambling.
Specifically, nerd gambling, which is to say, fantasy sports. Unless you had Saquon Barkley on your roster this year, and later in the year the defense, you didn't love the Eagles. A heavy running game is going to limit the payouts for many, and QB Jalen Hurts' proclivity in the Tush Push meant that even the Barkley bros were chaffed.
Many people watch football to root for their team, but in the world we live in now, we root more for Our Guys, and broadcast networks follow the advertisers. Rooting for just a team is so, well, old-school.
2) Really good teams win by a lot.
As the Eagles got better and better as the season went on, they started to chill the drama by more than a little, with the final two playoff games having extensive garbage time. The Chiefs were famously about cheating the odds in one-score games, which as the 2023 Eagles showed, works until it really doesn't. Regression to mean and winning without a high margin for error; it's a thing.
3) Line play matters, but only if the disparity is intense.
The best shot given against the Eagles in their playoff run came from the Rams, who used an exceptional effort from their young defensive linemen to keep things disturbingly close. Once the schedule flipped to the Commanders and Chiefs, the trench play became decisive, and so did the games.
4) Most people don't watch line play.
It's not where the ball is, who the networks believes are the stars, and great players can disappear due to double teams. It's not for nothing that the entire Eagles defensive line feasted against the Chiefs *except* for star DT Jalen Carter, who faced constant double teams even while DE Josh Sweat was having the game of his life. The Chiefs were determined to not let the Eagles' best players (Barkley and Carter) beat them. Everyone else did.
5) It didn't matter, but Andy Reid stunk up the joint.
It took three quarters and unparalled offensive catastrophes for Reid to finally stop thinking that five offensive linemen, without a tight end or running back staying back to chip, might be worth trying. Or even a simple rollout, draw, or, gasp, running play.
As an Eagles fan, I really didn't want to see RB Isiah Pacheco get going, like he did in this game two years ago when Andy had a clue, but Reid kept dialing up the same plays -- QB Patrick Mahomes from a shotgun snap, with the directive to find one of five receivers against seven good cover guys, with maybe two of those players (WR Xavier Worthy and TE Travis Kelce) being better than league average.
You don't stop a disastrous pass rush by doing the same damn thing over and over again. You mix in some runs, maybe a jet sweep or two, a run-pass option to keep the defensive end from crashing with abandon, and so on.
What Reid did instead with his Chiefs is what we saw in this town before he was finally dispatched. Stubbornly try to win His Way, instead of A Way. He got trucked.
6) Jake Elliott went back in time.
All year, K Jake Elliott was worrisome, even on his makes. Ball flight was fluttery rather than driven, makes were close to misses, and setbacks came after penalties. The Eagles' special teams had three (!) pre-snap penalties on kicks, and Elliott just shrugged and made the longer ones anyway, and most of his makes were dead solid center, and would have been fine from a lot longer. He also gave the Chiefs few opportunities on kickoffs, which was a problem earlier in the playoffs.
When a team is beating the tar out of another one, little moments like missed field goals allow for hope to arise. Elliott's return to pre-2024 form gave the Chiefs none of that. Good timing to play his best game of the year, and make us hope he'll be fine in 2025 as well.
6) The real Jalen Hurts stood up.
Hurts in the 2023 SB loss was spectaular, with over 300 yards passing spread out among eight different receivers. In the past two years, as doubts about whether he was The One were allowed to spread, he became much more dependent on his throws on a small number of trusted receivers, leading many in town to think that the seconadry options on the roster were unworthy of attention.
The reality of football is that good general managers for stars are also usually good general managers for benchies. WR Jahan Dotson came to life in the Week 18 exhibition against the Giants, and led the Eagles in receiving yards at the end of the first half. For the first time in a long time, the defense had to worry about everyone in a green jersey, and despite a heroic effort in the run game, the Chiefs gave up 40 points. (Albeit with a defensive score and some excellent field position from turnovers.)
If you're looking for the dark cloud, Hurts gets to work with yet another new offensive coordinator next year, so maybe this was a mirage and he'll revert. But he's still young, has a ring and an MVP award, and might be the most resilient player to ever play QB for this team. I like his chances to keep spreading the ball around next year.
7) Nick Sirianni is good at odd things.
Two of the most telling plays in this playoff run came from, of all people, DB Avante Maddox. Eagle Fan was ready to put him on a Mount PassedoverMore with a sad history of burned backs, but even after he lost his job to CB Cooper DeJean, he embraced coaching the kids. In the Rams game, he made a fantastic play on special teams, and against the Chiefs, that's his hands on the fourth down pass break up that ended all Red hopes.
An ordinary coach probably just buries Maddox. The Eagles kept him active, and it's not as if his story was unique. T Tyler Steen lost his job to T Mekhi Becton, then came back in and dominated when he got snaps due to injury. LB Oren Burks allowed the defense to not lose a step when LB Nakobi Dean went down. DE Jalyx Hunt played so well that DE Bryce Huff couldn't get his job back, then became a healthy scratch when DE Brandon Graham returned.
We are used to calling a coach a genius when they make innovative or gutsy play calls, when they become synonymous with new ways of doing things, or when they just exude an aura that can't be questioned. Sirianni does none of these things. He just keeps the team pulling as one, rooting for each other, and developing his talent. That's also coaching.
8) This team isn't going anywhere.
Only a handful of contributing players are on the tail end of their careers. The defense is the youngest in the league. They'll keep DC Vic Fangio and OL coach Jeff Stoutland, who are worth their weight in gold. Owner Jeff Lurie isn't buying another team and getting distracted. The other teams in the division either let their best talent walk, sign all of their stars at the last minute for the most possible money, or have a history of failure and distraction in other sports.
It's football; any snap can produce a career-ending injury that changes a team forever, and the dynamics of a locker room (there's a reason the league is called Jail With Money by players) are eternally fragile. Bet on the field, not the favorite. But still, this organization is just world class.
9) The Eagles are, for the first time in their history, over .500.
This finally occured late in the year. Lifetime now, the Birds have 667 wins, and 665 losses. Three games over .500 in post-season, a game under in the regular.
If you had told me as a young boy that the team that always stunk would become the class of the league in my lifetime, a destination spot for top-tier free agents, and renowned for innovation... well, um, no. Our owners were guys in France and gambling addicts and people who inspired the fan base to fly banners from planes begging to sell the team, and that was only when they weren't threatening to move unless we gave them money. Home games were routinely blacked out. No one wanted to come here, and those who got good, invariably left. You never saw our alumni on broadcasts, in Canton, or the team in the playoffs. Decades went by without linemen in the Pro Bowl. Draft picks were rapists and amateur firemen and workout wonders and so on and so on. The turf hurt people. We always lost. God hated us. There was no God. Etc.
We were told that this was what we deserved because Philly. Even now, the media couldn't wait to share lower ticket prices for this game, predicted lower ratings (nope), the President was going to ruin everything. Nope.
If only we were nicer, cheered harder, didn't care so much, were like all of those Nice People from Other Places. As if every other eastern industrial city doesn't treat it's team exactly the same. You want a nice time where no one cares if the home team wins or loses? Go to a town without history.
It was all, of course, nonsense.
For your franchise to win consistently, you need to have an owner that prioritizes that above capitalism. You need to be more than a little lucky, especially on injuries. You need to embrace new and better; every year, this team gets flack from meatheads who want to see the starters in preseason, or that more hitting in practice will solve anything. You need to learn from mistakes, draft and coach ahead of need, do little things like not cutting Avante Maddox when the world wants to see him frog-marched out of the locker room. As if that doesn't, well, ruin the locker room.
They are not just the best team in franchise history. They are the best franchise in Philadelphia's history.
10) This is the year that winning offensive football forever changed.
There was a reason why Hurts led his team in rushing in this game, in a game his team won. It's because the Chiefs sold out everything to stop Barkley, and because Barkley had gotten them there and kept Hurts fresh, despite all of the Brotherly Shoves. (Guys? Train on snapping this to more people next year. Big tight ends, etc. Save Jalen for when we absolutely need it. Thanks.)
He was fresh because he didn't throw that much, didn't take a million hits, didn't get blind-sided on scrambles. He got a concussion and a finger issue; nothing to the legs. He did that because Barkley ran for over 2500 yards, and even Barkley didn't get worn down, because they didn't give it to him when games were out of line, or to set meaningless records.
Want to win your fantasy league? Enjoy your regular season QBs. They'll light up scoreboards and lead highlight reels, and when the playoffs come and they have to do that in snow and wind and elements and with five months of tread on the tires, they won't. The season is too long now for Passing Uber Alles, with its silent killer of more plays and more big hits from momentum, to keep your roster getting better instead of worse at the end of the year.
For anyone who grew up in the last 25+ years, it's ugly and boring and how can you pick against so and so, he's got a cannon and so on and so on.
You keep on picking the pretty boys, the highlight heroes, the September and October darlings.
The Eagles will keep turning those teams into slurry.
And when the game changes, they'll change first, and keep winning.
God willing, and Jeff Lurie don't die.
