Monday, January 29, 2018

Stocked and Loaded Super Bowl LII

With the 2017 NFL season nearing its end and the championship round of the playoffs in the books, the table is officially set for Super Bowl LII in Minneapolis, Minnesota. With Nick Foles and the Philadelphia Eagles taking on the reigning Super Bowl champion New England Patriots, we'll either have a newly crowned champion for the first time in their franchises history or the dynamic duo of Tom Brady and Bill Belichick will add yet another title to their already crowded trophy case. And unless you're a Pats fan or actually live in New England (or a bitter Vikings fan and rightfully so), chances are you aren't hoping for the latter. In fact, this blog took me a lot longer to post due to the fact that the match-up is probably one we could've all done without seeing as the Patriots are a team everyone outside of New England is pretty much tired of seeing in the Super Bowl. And then there's the Eagles who you would think would be a rather easy team to root for in this case, seeing as they have zero Super Bowl titles to their name, but their fan base has seemingly done virtually everything possible to make us not root for them.

I'm aware that Philly sports fans have had a long storied history of having a bad reputation which spans from throwing batteries at Terrell Owens to pelting Santa Clause with snowballs, but this season saw a new low for Philly fans. Entering their match-up with the Minnesota Vikings for the NFC Championship, videos went viral showing a trio of Viking fans walking to Lincoln Financial Field while being booed and having expletives thrown their way. Both of which are completely normal for an opposing fan when stepping foot into enemy territory. But after those boo's and expletives came booze as Eagle fans began throwing beer cans and bottles at the fans. Not only is this dangerous but it's also a waste of beer, therefore that's minus two points for Philly fans from the jump. And then footage went viral of Eagles fans chucking beer and other items at the Vikings team bus after the game. Again, dangerous and a waste of beer. Finally, Eagles fans took to the streets of Philly to celebrate their Super Bowl-clinching win like fans normally do, no surprise there. But footage surfacing of two Eagles fans holding a banner that read, "Fuck Millie, Philly Philly", referring to 99-year old Vikings super fan Millie Wall who won over the hearts of football fans across the nation during Minnesota's miraculous last-second victory over the New Orleans Saints to punch their ticket to the NFC Championship. Thankfully no beer was wasted for a third time around (at least that we know of), but another low-blow by Philly fans nonetheless. All of this considered, I might have to cheer for New England in the Super Bowl... Who the heck am I kidding, that's still not enough to make me root for the Patriots. So the lesser of two evils it is. Fly Eagles Fly!...at least I think that's how it goes. 
Kidding aside, this could be a much better game than everyone seems to expect between the two No. 1 seeds. As much as we hate to see them in the big game, Super Bowl's containing the Patriots have made for some of the more entertaining Super Bowl's we've seen in years passed. Then again for most of us it's hard to think back to a Super Bowl that hasn't included Tom Brady and company which isn't so much a shot at the brilliance of he and his head coach as it is a tip of the hat. With the duo already owning the record for the most Super Bowl titles with five, the future Hall of Fame tandem which has already reached legendary status, can add yet another notch to their belt with a win on Sunday. And with many thinking this could be their last true go around at a championship with rumors swirling about the recent dysfunction stemming from the Jimmy Garoppolo trade and the butting of heads regarding Brady's personal doctor, I wouldn't put it passed them considering the now 40-year old Brady is still playing at a high level and says he wouldn't mind playing until he's 45. Not to mention how far behind the rest of the AFC appears to be from the Patriots. Likely to be named MVP for the 3rd time in his career, an award that likely would've been awarded to a quarterback (Carson Wentz) who will be on the opposite sideline of Brady had it not been for a season-ending knee injury, Tom Terrific has shown no signs of slowing, but will be asked to win with a different set of coordinators on both sides of the ball moving forward. Leaving coach Belichick's staff following the Super Bowl will be offensive and defensive coordinators Josh McDaniels and Matt Patricia who are expected to take over the head coaching vacancies of the Indianapolis Colts and Detroit Lions, respectively. 

And then there's the Philadelphia Eagles who despite cruising into the playoffs owning the NFC's No. 1 seed and tied with a league-best record of 13-3 in the regular season, have been ruled underdogs during their entire postseason run. Playing at home in each of those two playoff games, they'll most certainly be underdogs for a third consecutive week while playing on a neutral field. And given how the team has reacted to the underdog label, they're perfectly fine with that and are hoping to keep the streak alive. With many including myself thinking the Eagles had none chance of making it to the Super Bowl the moment Wentz was lost for the season following his devastating injury suffered against the Los Angeles Rams, the team has continued to do what they've done all year long -- win. And though the injury that was initially reported as being a torn ACL and recently learned to be a LCL tear and torn IT band to boot most certainly ended any chances of Wentz taking home the MVP hardware, it has all but ruled out his team's desire to bring home the true prize of them all -- the Lombardi Trophy. 
Though Brady will be favored over an Eagles offense led by backup QB Nick Foles, don't let the backup label fool you as Foles who hasn't necessarily been on this stage before, making his Super Bowl debut, he's had his fair share of success as he helped Philadelphia to a 10-6 record and a playoff berth in 2013 while putting up gaudy numbers in the regular season to the tune of 27 touchdowns and only 2 interceptions. And while he's been a shadow of his 2013 self in the regular season, his last few outings have been some of his best since then. After playing a safe game against Atlanta in which Foles failed to record a single touchdown but also steered clear of any turnovers while throwing for 246 yards in the close 15-10 win, he erupted for 3 touchdowns, 0 interceptions and 352 yards against a stout Minnesota defense that Foles was able to pick apart as he helped Philly cruise to an easy 38-7 victory. With the Patriots opening as 5.5 point favorites, those odds took a one point dip since then due to the uncertain health of New England tight-end Rob Gronkowski who's been monitored in the league's concussion protocol after sustaining a helmet-to-helmet hit which forced him to leave the AFC Championship game against the Jacksonville Jaguars. Odds makers likely saw what Brady and the NFL's No.1 offense accomplished in the fourth quarter of their comeback victory over a stout Jacksonville defense and like their chances of repeating the feat against a Philadelphia defense that also ranks high. But Philly's defensive advantage is at stopping the run, not so much against the pass which is what you want when facing Brady. 

But even if the Eagles are able to pull off the upset, they'll likely do so thanks to the heroics of their defense which ranked 4th overall this season. Jacksonville who gave Brady and the Patriots as much as a run as we've seen anybody give them in years, gave us a blueprint formula of how to defeat New England, despite not actually beating them as the dynamic duo of Belichick and Brady orchestrated yet another comeback victory in the second half despite being down 20-10 entering the fourth quarter. If Philadelphia can somewhat duplicate Jacksonville's first half for all four quarters and prove to be a handful for Brady, which is easier said than done, and Foles can put together a game similar to the one he had in the NFC Championship against the league's No. 1 defense, the Eagles can leave U.S. Bank Stadium victorious, proudly wearing their dog masks for the rest of the world to see. 


Follow me on Twitter: @FraserKnowsBest 

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