By Joshua Colon
The 2017-18 football season has been crazy since week one. There’s been protests, injuries, upsets, and teams doing amazing things nobody thought they could ever pull off. The Bills finally separated themselves from the number one spot on the list of the current longest playoff droughts in American pro sports. Their last playoff game before this year was in 1999, 18 seasons ago. The Jaguars, finishing as part of the bottom 5 teams in all of the NFL for the last 6 seasons, made it to the AFC Championship. On top of that, they only lost on the final drive against a team that is arguably the best team in the NFL. Now, the Philadelphia Eagles have a chance to finish the season with a bang, by upsetting the New England Patriot Dynasty, in a rematch of Super Bowl XXXIX.
The Eagles are still chasing their first Super Bowl win, but they have been football champions before. Since their creation in 1933, they have won two national championships before the Super Bowl Era, in 1948 and 1949. After the creation of the Super Bowl in 1967, they have made it to the championship game twice, but fell short in both games. In Super Bowl XV, they lost to the Oakland Raiders. They did not make it to the Super Bowl after that until the 2004/05 season, where they lost Super Bowl XXXIX against the New England Patriots, 21-24.
The Patriots, on the other hand, are no stranger to success. This is going to be the Patriots’ tenth Super Bowl appearance, already winning 5 of their previous 9 Super Bowls. Four of these wins came from the duo of head coach Bill Belichick and future Hall of Fame quarterback Tom Brady. These two form one of, if not the, greatest coach-player duos ever. The Patriots will remain a serious contender for the Super Bowl as long as these two remain together in Foxborough.
Beating the Patriots in the Super Bowl is already extremely difficult, but now the Eagles are looking to do it without their starting quarterback, Carson Wentz. After Wentz suffered from a torn ACL in week 14, the Eagles had to switch to their second string quarterback, 29 year old Nick Foles. Foles was the Eagles’ third round draft pick out of Arizona, and he bounced around from team to team before landing back in Philadelphia in 2016. He’s no Tom Brady or Carson Wentz, but Nick Foles isn’t a bad quarterback. He has a career QBR (Total Quarterback Rating) of 87.4, and really showed everyone how athletic he is in the blowout victory against the Vikings in the NFC Championship Game.
Despite it being unlikely, beating the Patriots is not impossible. The Giants weren’t 2 for 2 against them in the Super Bowl because of luck. They hit Brady. Hard. They never allowed Brady to get into a groove, because in every other play, the Giants’ defensive line was pummeling him, not allowing him to get comfortable. If the Eagles can keep Brady out of a groove, they might be able to contain him enough to win. Alternatively, Nick Foles has to get himself into a groove. If he can keep the pressure onto the Patriots defense, there's a good chance he will be successful against them all game. The Patriots, on the other hand, in order to beat the Eagles, have to protect Brady. If you give Brady enough time, he will hit an open man 9 out of 10 times. As long as he has enough time, Brady should have no problem carving up the Eagles defense.
Key Players For the Eagles
Nick Foles- After only starting in 5 games all season, Foles is going to be thrown in to face an extremely dominant team. It should be interesting to see if he can get past the nerves and play like he did against the Vikings.
Ashton Jeffrey- He is third in NFL for regular season touchdown passes. He caught for 85 yards and 2 touchdowns against the Vikings. Look to see if he can remain to be the top Eagles receiver.
Chris Long- He is a seasoned Super Bowl veteran. He had 5 sacks and 4 forced fumbles in regular season and 8 QB pressures in NFC title game. If he can repeat this performance against the Patriots, the Eagles will be in good shape.
Key Players For the Patriots
Tom Brady- He led NFL with 4,577 yards passing this season. He is a four-time Super Bowl MVP going for a sixth ring. He is 5-2 in Super Bowls, as well as a contender for third regular-season MVP award with 32 TD passes at age 40. If Eagles don’t find a way to bring pressure, he will pick them apart.
Rob Gronkowski- He had team-leading 69 receptions and 8 touchdowns, and is an All-Pro tight end that's nearly impossible to stop one on one. He suffered a concussion against the Jaguars, so it should to be interesting to see how he’ll bounce back.
Nate Solder- Not a household name, but he has the important role of protecting Brady’s blindside. If he can do this effectively, Brady can get very comfortable in the pocket, allowing him to carve up the defense of the Eagles
No comments:
Post a Comment