When the Eagles hoisted their first Lombardi Trophy to close the 2017 NFL season, it was like confirmation that destiny was finally, for once, on their side. But it also felt a bit like lightning in a bottle. Nick Foles, the quarterback who outdueled Tom Brady on the biggest stage in sports, was never supposed to be under center. Doug Pederson, the coach who outsmarted Bill Belichick, packed his bags just four years later. They were an underdog story to the fullest; their glory left almost as quickly as it arrived.
But wait a second. Didn’t the Eagles return to the Super Bowl in 2022, just six years after their 41-33 shootout that brought a title to Broad Street? Some teams are still struggling to advance to their first big game! Yes. All of that’s true. But only five players from the championship roster remain in 2023. Almost the entire staff is different. General manager Howie Roseman, briefly scorned for failing to lengthen the title window, won back Philly by expeditiously stripping and rebuilding the lineup to postseason form.
And yet there’s another element of the present-day Eagles that makes them feel miles removed from their trophy-winning predecessors: They aren’t underdogs. They’re just straight-up dawgs.
Going 14-3 under Nick Sirianni in 2022, with Jalen Hurts making a seismic leap to MVP candidacy, would’ve been enough. Hurts going neck and neck with Patrick Mahomes, the modern-day equivalent of Brady, in a close Super Bowl defeat to the Chiefs, the modern-day equivalent of the Patriots, was icing on the cake for another faster-than-expected construction job by Roseman. But even the biggest Birds believers looked at the 2023 schedule — punctuated by a daunting November stretch including consecutive games against the Cowboys, Chiefs, Bills and 49ers, each of them justified Super Bowl hopefuls — and anticipated regression.
Instead, after coming back from down 10 to beat…
Source link : https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/eagles-have-world-class-talent-but-after-latest-clutch-victory-its-their-fortitude-that-truly-shines/
Author : Cody Benjamin
Publish date : 2023-11-27 03:26:44
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