The Super Bowl banner that hangs from the rafters of Lincoln Financial Field speaks of Philadelphia Eagles glory, but to the true faithful, it speaks more of longstanding grit. For when Nick Foles, Doug Pederson and the 2017 Eagles hoisted the top trophy, they were appropriately unlikely heroes, standing in for a no-nonsense city that had occasionally tasted but never seized ultimate glory for almost 60 years.
Today’s Eagles are of a decidedly different feather. Under the hyperactive dealings of Howie Roseman and the watchful eye of Jeffrey Lurie, they have more closely resembled a perennial powerhouse. Eight of their 11 offensive starters are top-10 earners at their respective positions. They’ve won at least 11 games in three straight seasons, including a club-record 10 straight in 2024 alone. Their current quarterback went blow for blow with Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs in a separate Super Bowl not long ago.
Yet now, as the Eagles seek to not only grace but win on the ultimate stage for the first time since their lightning-in-a-bottle run almost seven years ago, it’s not a stretch to suggest they’ve readopted some of the, shall we say, underdog spirit that once defined this war-weary franchise.
Philly, remember, was undone by the weight of expectations at the tail end of 2023, following up the all-star cakewalk of 2022 with something resembling a funeral procession. Sluggish, solemn and sapped of both energy and innovation, the team even seemed ripe for another coaching overhaul, with head man Nick Sirianni’s showy persona bordering on unruly. Fans were just as relieved as the deflated players when the playoffs inevitably ended early, if only out of desperation for some winds of offseason change.
With another postseason fast approaching, however, it seems the Eagles’ biggest change was in their attitude. Certainly the truth is more layered: Saquon Barkley, one of the game’s most impressive all-around specimens, now leads the backfield, giving Philly its most dynamic ball-carrier this side of LeSean McCoy and Brian Westbrook; Kellen Moore, the new offensive coordinator, has taken some of the play-calling heft off Sirianni’s plate; and Vic Fangio, the defense’s new elder statesman, has infused a discernible old-school physicality to every level of his unit. But look closer, and some of the Eagles’ finest moments during their latest cruise toward January football have not only been visibly joyful for the men on the field, but clearly centered around the notion they are also maligned and misunderstood.
Let’s be clear: The Eagles crashed almost as jarringly as they ascended in the most recent chapters of the Sirianni era, so any venomous critique or fear of renewed apathy on the part of fans or media, both entering and early in 2024, likely had some level of reason. Sirianni, in particular, pulled a stunt so emblematic of the club’s seemingly rotten core at the close of a Week 6 win over the lowly Cleveland Browns. Scraping by a dysfunctional team after having the full bye week to cook up something special would’ve been one thing. But how about barking and pointing at Eagles fans in his own stadium as the game clock expired, all but courting the home crowd’s boos? By the time Sirianni showed up to his postgame news conference with a freshly shaven head, spouting sideways answers to avoid escalating conflict with the very streets of Philadelphia, it felt as if the soap opera had simply been renewed, as if the defining image had been captured of when it all went truly wrong, and the CEO went unhinged.
And yet, as Eagles players told it afterward, including quarterback Jalen Hurts, whose oft-stoic demeanor has always made him a bizarro partner for an unabashed goof-coach, Sirianni’s post-Browns taunt wasn’t out of touch but, in fact, welcome and encouraged internally. Lurie, the real boss, no doubt cherishes pretty results over petty celebrations. Except Sirianni’s widely derided passion proved to be the precursor of pretty results! Jaded fans and cynical reporters saw a coach’s latest flash of sideline antics as a distraction atop a larger ticking time bomb, whereas the Eagles apparently saw a coach becoming himself again, giving the crowd at the Linc a playful taste of its own medicine, and then, most importantly, kicking his product into high gear, overseeing four multi-score wins in the next six games.
The Eagles haven’t lost a game since Sept. 29, before that fateful Browns matchup, but Sirianni isn’t the only one feeding off the local skepticism surrounding their fortitude. After handily beating two playoff contenders in the Los Angeles Rams and Baltimore Ravens, the Birds stumbled a bit in Week 14, beating but not routing the rebuilding Carolina Panthers, prompting a frustrated A.J. Brown, the club’s top wide receiver and maybe the most talented playmaker overall, to get short with reporters after the fact, saying only that the club’s “passing” wasn’t up to snuff. This of course ignited a week of talk-radio buzz about Brown’s relationship with Hurts, and the general stability of the entire locker room, and whether the Eagles were on the precipice of yet another Shakespearean implosion.
Was the drama exaggerated? Self-imposed? A little bit of both? Either way, it worked, and it was on the Eagles’ mind, because they didn’t just show up the following Sunday and outmuscle the Pittsburgh Steelers for their 10th straight victory. They showed up through the air, making it a point to involve Brown, who ran immediately to Hurts for a rare choreographed celebration upon scoring Philly’s first touchdown. They threw it well, and threw it some more. And then they showed up to the microphones.
“So that’s what ya’ll wanted to see, huh?” Hurts deadpanned to reporters after the game.
The dynamic, as you can likely see, is a lot different than that of, say, the 2017 Eagles. Those Eagles decked themselves in rubber dog masks, howling at the cameras in triumph because no one believed they had the talent to go the distance. Not after the star quarterback went down. Not with the overlooked coach on the headset. They etched their name in Eagles lore and NFL history by getting career moments from names both big and small, be it Foles or Corey Clement or Zach Ertz or Chris Long.
These Eagles? No one — not a single, educated soul — is doubting they have the talent to go the distance. From Barkley to Brown to DeVonta Smith to Lane Johnson to Jalen Carter to Quinyon Mitchell to Reed Blankenship, every position group is well-stocked. Their fight, see, is to prove they’ve also got the mettle. The character. The togetherness. The grit that transcends adversity, even if said adversity consists primarily of weekly, sometimes-justified, sometimes-hyperbolic concerns radiating from one of football’s most incessantly passionate fan bases and media markets. And by the looks of their ongoing win streak, and the particularly positive blips along the way, they’re buying into the “us against them” mentality.
“It’s about the team at the end of the day,” Hurts told reporters prior to the latest win, downplaying concerns over a lull in the passing game. “I don’t care how it looks. That’s kinda my game. I think that’s something that people have to accept. It’s gonna look how Jalen Hurts wants it to look, but he’s gonna win.”
Hurts may as well have been speaking to his own disgruntled receivers, who admitted later there were “uncomfortable” conversations had behind the scenes to get on the same page. Still, Hurts told no lies in defending the bottom line over picture-perfect process: At 26, he has the third-best career winning percentage among active starting quarterbacks, behind only Mahomes, who’s won three Super Bowls; and Lamar Jackson, who’s won two NFL MVPs. Since 2022, the Eagles have gone 37-9 under his lead, tying the Chiefs and Mahomes for the most shared victories during that span. Sirianni, for all his colorful expressions, leads every single active head coach in career win percentage. Neither figurehead has been perfect wearing green, but by golly have they come close when it comes to, as Hurts likes to put it, “the main thing.”
The fact they’re here, knocking on the door of another run in 2024, is itself a minor miracle considering the dire state of things last winter. But perhaps it’s a testament — a redefinition, perhaps — of the types of leaders they are for the Eagles, along with another credit to the roster- and staff-building overseen by Lurie and Roseman, who’ve now had Philly among the NFC elite for the better part of two-plus decades. They will ultimately be judged, of course, on how they finish. And when only one of 32 teams can be crowned each season, there’s no doubt the pressure will be ratcheted back up when the real games begin.
Don’t think for a second, though, that the attitude beneath the surface — the one that’s bubbled to the surface on a few occasions — can’t and won’t have an impact on how far this particular squad goes. Compared to the legitimate hurdles that past Eagles teams overcame, the petty grievances and manufactured motivations may not seem like true stepping stones. Are they at war with the fans, the media, the general public, or themselves? Sometimes it’s hard to tell. It also might not matter.
From afar, when we see the bodies race and clash on the field, we too often forget that these aren’t just uber-talented pawns in a coliseum, but real people, driven by any motivation they can conjure, pitted against one another in a highly competitive, highly physical, highly emotional environment. They say they don’t hear the noise that surrounds their game and season, but more often than not, they do. These Eagles sure do. And it fuels them.
It’s evident all across the NFL: Some teams, like the Chicago Bears or New York Jets, are riddled with meddling ownership and misaligned leadership, and thus it’s no surprise when they flail around for all to see, axing a coach here, pointing a finger there. Others, like the Detroit Lions and Minnesota Vikings, exceed expectations because they’ve cultivated not only prime talent like Jahmyr Gibbs or Justin Jefferson, but because they’ve built their identity under familial regimes, swearing by the unceasing characteristics of their leaders, be it Dan Campbell’s aggression or Kevin O’Connell’s encouragement.
Meanwhile the Eagles — at first quietly, but increasingly visibly — seem to have found, or at least rediscovered, their own identity: We know you don’t believe in us, either as a unified group or a championship-caliber one, but we do. Just because we bicker or endure an ugly game doesn’t mean we’re breaking apart at the seams. Don’t all families have some hardship? Aren’t some bonds strengthened by tough times or painfully honest words? That just might be what’s happening.
Is it giving the Eagles too much credit? Is it even a realistic bent, considering their own hand in certain questions and critiques? Again, on the playing field, in the locker room, it doesn’t really matter. What matters is what gets the Birds to fly. And the more they do, however they do it, the people will believe.
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Author: Cody Benjamin
December 16, 2024 | 10:33 am
