It took a little less than three years, but it finally paid off. Shortly after Superbowl 57, on Feb 12th 2023, a feeling in my gut appeared. A sensation that overwhelmed me with calm and clarity. We’ll be back. This ain’t over.
In that very Superbowl, Jalen delivered a standout performance. He outplayed Mahomes by far. Jalen stood back and threw 27 for 38 with a 71% completion rate. He totaled 304 passing yards in that game, throwing one touchdown. He also carried the ball well, when it was necessary in between those Chief tacklers. He ran for 70 yards himself and entered the endzone 3 times over that span. Still, it was a first-half fumble and a late, 4th quarter questionable foul call that sealed his team’s fate.
But I didn’t hang my head low after that crushing defeat. I had this feeling that they would be back, but I just didn’t know when. As the 2023 offseason opened, one of the key losses I felt the Eagles endured was that of Chauncy Gardner-Johnson to the Detroit Lions. He brought with him grit and hard hitting play. He also talked a lot of shit on the field. They lost that “edge” player when he went to the Lions.
The next big thing they did that offseason was to pay Jalen Hurts. And they paid him. He signed a 5-year, $255 M contract, with $179 M guaranteed (Spotrac, 2025). With his bank account full, he could focus on getting back to the Super Bowl. One other key addition they made in 2023 was signing D’Andre Swift from the Lions. But of course, the most important changes might have been at Coordinator, with both DC Jonathan Gannon and OC Shane Steichen leaving to become head coaches with Arizona and Indy, respectively. Their replacements? Brian Johnson, who was the Quarterbacks coach on the team, and the new DC was someone named Sean Desai. I never heard of him.
The beginning of the 2023 season brought much success, with only 1 loss in the team’s first 11 contests. This included a stretch where they played the Cowboys, Chiefs, Bills, and then the SF 49ers. The Birds held their own against the first three teams, including a thrilling overtime victory against the Bills at home. But then came the 49ers game. The Eagles didn’t look like the same team. They had hit a wall at that point. The game culminated with a scuffle on the Eagles sideline when SF’s Dre Greenlaw body-slammed Devonta Smith on the side. Greenlaw got into it with several on the sideline, including Eagles head of security Big Dom. Greenlaw got ejected from the game, but you would think something like that would breathe life back into the Eagles team, who were losing 21-6 at that time. It didn’t. The final score was 42-19 SF. Having an edgy, scrappy player like CJGJ would’ve helped in the Greenlaw situation most likely.
Following that game, the Eagles lost 4 of their last 5 regular-season games, including an embarrassing late loss to the Cardinals at home. The very next week, in the Wild Card Round of the playoffs, the Eagles were embarrassed by Tampa Bay 32-9 and were sent home packing. AJ was injured, so he didn’t play. The offense was awful, as was the defense. The team simply had no life anymore. After starting 10-1, and hopeful to return to the Super Bowl, the Birds finished out losing five of their last six games in total to end their season. It was a season marred by bad OC and DC choices, bad play-calling and some bad turnovers by Jalen that caused us to crash and burn. Indeed, it was safe to say the team was best to put that season behind them and look towards next year.
Then came 2024. The Eagles decided to go in a new direction and capitalize on the RB market. We all recall the NY Giants and their debacle of trying to keep him. Let’s just see it one more time:
At the start of free agency, the Eagles signed Saquon to a 3-yr, $37.75M deal. They also added soon-to-be keey players such as the unknown Zach Baun, two rookie corners in Quinyon Mitchell and Cooper DeJean, and they brought back CJGJ to be their starting safety. This, plus an emerging superstar in second-year player Defensive Lineman Jalen Carter, provided the fans with hope that 2024 wasn’t going to be like 2023.
After an impressive win in Brazil at the onset of the year, the Eagles followed it up with three lackluster performances, including a late loss to Atlanta and a blowout by Tampa Bay. Luckily for the team, the bye week had come. There was talk at that point that the team decided to change gears and turn more towards running the football more consistently. They knew what they had in Saquon and needed to capitalize on it. I don’t even think they knew how well he’d succeed during the year.
That’s when the Eagles took off, winning 10 straight games against teams such as Baltimore, Pittsburgh, the Rams and against the up-and-coming division rival Commanders. During the entire rest of the year, through the Super Bowl, the Eagles lost just once out of the next 17 games (a loss to the Commanders when Jalen was concussed and taken out of the game).
During this time, the Eagles took on a new look. Jalen didn’t drop back as much. His throws and yardage were limited to less than 200 yards in almost every game. Saquon took over, and defenses around the league were not equipped to stop him. By the end of week 17, Saquon had finished with 2,005 yards rushing with 13 touchdowns. Sacrifices were made on the offense so that the team could win with the running game. To achieve at the highest level, there have always been sacrifices along the way. The hope is that it pays off in the end.
It sure did. The Eagles, after a sleeper of a Wild Card game against the Packers, where they beat them once again, were home against the LA Rams. Saquon and Jalen took over, both with rushing touchdowns, Saquon having two by the end of the contest, including this one to the crowd’s delight. In the end, though, it took a Jalen Carter late sack on QB Matthew Stafford to seal the deal and head to the NFC Championship game to face their division rival Washington Commanders.
Following a 55-23 defeat of the Commanders in the NFC Title Game, the Birds went on to face their old nemesis, the Kansas City Chiefs, in the Super Bowl. It was a rematch from two years ago, Super Bowl 57. The team from Philly came out strong, moving the ball down the field through Jalen Hurts’ arm. The Chiefs were hellbent on stopping Saquon, and so the offense would rest on the arm of Jalen Hurts.
Kansas City came out flat, although they did intercept Jalen early on. It was in the second quarter though, when the Eagles were up 10-0, that the first game-changing moment occurred. Pat Mahome’s team was trying to come from behind, relentlessly attempting to gain some yardage against our Number 1-ranked Defense. It wasn’t until Mahomes dropped back for a pass, that the first sign where I knew we were going to win occurred. Cooper DeJean picked off Mahomes and ran it in, making it 17-0.
Another Zach Baun interception with less than two minutes left in the first half allowed the Eagles to enter Halftime with a 24-0 lead. They never looked back after that as they continued to harass and sack Mahomes (5 times total). He could never get his game together that night, and the Chiefs suffered because of it. On the opposite side of the ball, the Chiefs were successful at stopping Saquon during the game, but the Eagles found ways to win without him. Their annihilation of the Chiefs carried on into the third and fourth quarter, including what came to be known as the dagger play, where Jalen completed a 49-yard touchdown pass to Devonta Smith to make it 34-0. Again, let’s review one more time:
The Chiefs would add garbage points at the end of the blowout, as the Eagles won Super Bowl 59 40-22. They had dominated the defending champions. Jalen was amazing in the game, going for 17-22 with 221 yards, 2 TDs and 1 INT. The yardage was not outrageous, but his accuracy and completion rate were great. He stood tall in the face of the KC Defense and found ways to win without his star RB.
The same superstar that carried this team to the Bowl was silenced right from the beginning. The Eagles did not fret and made the best out of it. Saquon was used as a decoy for most of the rest of the game. The man who set records this year didn’t have an impact individually in the game, but his presence helped the team overcome their Kansas City demons.
This was a three-year story of a team overcoming that first SB loss, followed by a meltdown of a season. The question for 2024 was going to be: Who is this team? That question was answered. And when the team celebrated after the game, their winning mantra was repeated by Head Coach Nick Sirianni – something he had been repeating to the team throughout the year. Saquon was the man to get this team over the hump. They needed him to complete their goals, and the whole team knew it. But that mantra was repeated to keep it fresh in their minds, hopefully forever, as they look back at this Championship forever.
The mantra:
“We can’t be great without the greatness of others.”
where does this go?