FOLES’ GOLD
How do you stop a dynasty and thwart a living legend? It wouldn’t be the Philly way if it came easy.
So, you pluck a General Manager and a coach from the unlikeliest places, watch injuries ravage your roster and drop in a discarded quarterback. Then risk it all and greenlight the gutsiest call in title game history and reap the reward – a franchise-first Super Bowl win.
It’s hard to say what’s most improbable about the Philadelphia Eagles 41-33 triumph in Super Bowl LII: the roster assembled by a GM who’d been cast into exile two seasons ago after losing a power struggle with Chip Kelly; the coach who’d spent 13 seasons as an NFL backup and was cleaning a high school locker room a decade ago; or the fly-fishing QB who nearly retired, then replaced one of the league’s best players en route to being named Super Bowl MVP.
You simply can’t make this stuff up.
After Carson Wentz tore his left ACL in Week 14 in Los Angeles, fans, as well as members of the team had to wonder if the Super Bowl dream was over.
Confident as Foles was, there’s no way he – or anyone – could have known then what would transpire on Super Bowl Sunday inside U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis. No way he could have guessed he would throw for 373 yards and three touchdowns, and CATCH another score.
No possible way he could have imagined becoming the first QB in 16 years to win a championship after starting the season as a backup, no chance he could have predicted toppling the Patriots – perhaps ending the greatest dynasty in NFL history – and outdueling the greatest passer of all time.
Super Bowl LII was supposed to be even more proof that no matter what happened to New England’s three pillars – owner Robert Kraft, coach Bill Belichick and quarterback Tom Brady – the Pats would prevail, because that’s what they do. It’s in their DNA.
And sure, there was tension this season between the three men who share five Super Bowl trophies, and yes, there was the matter of the gash that opened on Brady’s thumb that required 12 stitches.
But these were the Patriots.
Even with Spygate and Deflategate, they’d played in Super Bowls in half of Brady’s 16 full seasons.
But here came the Eagles to wreck that narrative.
Philadelphia and New England combined for 74 points and 1,151 yards, the most in any game in NFL history. Think about that for a moment. There was receiver Alshon Jeffery, discarded as oft-injured by the Bears, grabbing a jump ball from Foles for a 34-yard score and an early 9-3 Eagles lead. There was running back LeGarrette Blount, whose Eagles offer the Patriots chose not to match even after he scored 18 touchdowns for them in 2016, barreling into the end zone to extend the advantage to 15-3.
The Pats roared back, of course, and Brady, at age 40, threw for an unprecedented 505 yards and three scores, two of them to tight end Rob Gronkowski. New England came back because that’s what New England does.
But each time the Pats pulled closer, or even when they pulled ahead 33-32 on Gronk’s second score midway through the fourth quarter, Philly responded.
The Eagles didn’t win by luck, they won by being brazen, as was evident by the play call to throw to Foles for a one-yard score on the goal line. The Eagles won by implementing wrinkles into their offensive plays. Trailing by one in the fourth, they lined up three wideouts in a bunch formation, sent Corey Clement in motion to that side and watched Foles sling a dart to tight end Zach Ertz, who was lined up in single coverage.
This left the score at 38-33 with 2:21 left on the clock. Of course, that would be too much time to give Brady. Of course, he would charge down the field and win his sixth ring.
But on the Patriots’ ensuing possession, defensive end Brandon Graham knocked the ball from Brady’s hand, Derek Barnett recovered, and while New England would get the ball back with 58 seconds on the clock after a 46-yard Jake Elliott field goal, Brady couldn’t summon one last magical drive.
In the battle of “Tom vs. Time,” the QB had simply run out of seconds. The “of course” never came.
Brady already announced before the game that he has no plans on retiring as he will be entering the 2018 season at the age of 41. Foles, on the other hand, could find himself on the trading block after such an improbable run under center.
For Foles, his teammates, coaches, management and of course the fans, it’s definitely sunny in Philadelphia right now.
I guess you could say that are flying high.
