Fifty-seven years.
More than half a century of frustration. Generations of misery. Nearly six decades of heartache.
After three stadiums, 13 head coaches and enough gut-wrenching misery to destroy fans from other cities, a 2017 Eagles team made up of late-round draft picks, rejects from around the league, a quarterback that almost retired and a coach that nobody outside Philly ever believed in delivered a championship to the city that deserved one the most.
The Eagles allowed more yards than any team in NFL postseason history. But it didn't matter.
Tom Brady threw for more yards against the Eagles than any quarterback in the franchise's 85-year history. It didn't matter.
They gave up a 10-point lead in the third quarter. It didn't matter.
Doug Pederson, Nick Foles and the Eagles stared down Bill Belichick and Tom Brady Sunday night and emerged with a 41-33 win in Super Bowl LII at U.S. Bank Stadium (see breakdown).
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Fifty-seven years. And now it's over.
The Eagles are NFL champions.
The Eagles are NFL champions.
The Eagles are NFL champions.
If you can wipe away the tears long enough, here's 10 Observations from one of the greatest nights in Eagles history and one of the greatest nights in Philadelphia history.
1. If one play perfectly captured what this team is all about and what this season is all about and what Doug Pederson is all about, it was that 4th-and-goal touchdown pass from Trey Burton to Nick Foles that gave the Eagles a 10-point lead just before halftime. A direct snap to Corey Clement, a flip to Burton and a TD pass to Foles. Of course in the biggest moment of the biggest game of his life, Pederson called that. A direct snap to an undrafted rookie free agent who flips it to the third-string tight end who passes it to the backup quarterback for a TD against the greatest coach of all-time in the Super Bowl. Was that the gutsiest call in the history of sports? On fourth down! What else would you expect from Doug? The Eagles got here because Pederson is a creative, inventive, fearless play caller, and they won because Sunday night in part because he made the single most creative, inventive, fearless play call of his life in the most improbable situation imaginable on the biggest stage in sports. Absolutely brilliant.
2. Then there's Foles. For him to put together a performance like this in a Super Bowl two months after throwing scout team passes to Marcus Johnson, Shelton Gibson and Greg Ward is just astonishing. This wasn't the Raiders or the Giants. This wasn't a home playoff game against the Falcons or Vikings. This was the Super Bowl with Belichick on the other sideline and 100 million people watching, and it didn't matter. Foles was the same aw-shucks goofy Texas dude Sunday night on that stage that he's been since he first got here in 2012. The moment had no effect on him. He just played like he's played since he replaced Carson Wentz on Dec. 10.
Foles made throws up and down the field. He used all his receivers. He escaped trouble. He showed tremendous pocket awareness. He was uncanny on third down. Foles was 28-for-43 for 373 yards, three TDs, an INT that wasn't his fault and a 106.1 passer rating. Foles' final postseason numbers: 77-for-106 (73 percent) for 971 yards with six touchdowns and one INT and a passer rating of 115.7. And a Super Bowl MVP. Unbelievable.
3. One of Foles' finest moments (and Pederson's) was that 4th-and-2 conversion from near midfield with the Eagles trailing by a point and about five minutes left. Foles was under tremendous pressure from his right by Trey Flowers and he was unable to set his feet, but he got the ball to Zach Ertz for a conversion. What a throw. And again, what a gutsy call by Pederson. If you don't convert, you're most likely losing the game. That whole drive was just brilliant work by Foles, and it came after the Eagles' 10-point lead had turned into a one-point deficit. He was absolutely phenomenal leading a comeback in the final few minutes of a Super Bowl. Historic stuff. Legendary stuff.
4. Foles has played four postseason games. He's had a passer rating over 100 in all four. No other quarterback in NFL history has done that.
5. On a team filled with tremendous stories, there isn't a better story than Corey Clement. An undrafted rookie running back who caught just 29 passes his entire collegiate career at Wisconsin and had just four catches the first 11 weeks of the regular season comes into a Super Bowl and catches four passes for 100 yards, including a 55-yard catch and run and a 22-yard touchdown in double coverage. All of a sudden this kid who never caught the ball in college - he literally had TWO catches his entire junior year - has the second-most receiving yards by a running back in Super Bowl history. Just remarkable.
6. Pederson once again just called a masterful game. He got Foles in a rhythm early, he kept the Patriots off-balance, he used everybody on the roster, he was typically aggressive. It's been amazing just seeing Pederson grow into this role as a brilliant play caller. It took a few weeks for him to really develop a feel for Foles and what he's most comfortable doing, but once he did, this offense looked a lot like it did before Wentz got hurt. Unstoppable. I really like the way Doug used his backs Sunday. LeGarrette Blount ran for 90 yards against his former team, Jay Ajayi added 57 yards and Clement had 108 net yards. That's 255 yards of offense from the running backs.
7. Let's put the clinching play, Brandon Graham's sack and forced fumble and Derek Barnett's recovery, in perspective. The Eagles didn't have a sack at that point. Brady's last five drives had resulted in four touchdowns and a field goal. He had already thrown for more yards against the Eagles than any quarterback in franchise history. Statistically, this was one of the worst performances any defense had ever produced. Yet the Eagles remained relentless. They just kept attacking. It was really a perfect metaphor for this team. It's not always pretty but they just don't give up and they just keep working until there are all zeros on the scoreboard. In the end, nobody will remember that the Patriots finished with 613 yards, the second-most in NFL history - regular season or postseason. All they'll remember is that on a Sunday night in Minneapolis, Graham finally got to Brady and the Eagles won a Super Bowl. That's all that matters.
8. One guy I'm so happy for is Jeffrey Lurie. He bought this team from Norman Braman in 1994 and has guided it with class, wisdom and grace for nearly a quarter century. He's taken a lot of heat from fans for the wrong reasons. All he ever wanted to do is win a Super Bowl. He got a stadium built. He got a practice facility built. He spent money. He's had setbacks and disappointments himself but he's always done what he felt is best for this franchise, and he deserves a tremendous amount of credit for the Lombardi Trophy that will now grace the inner lobby of the NovaCare Center.
9. And just elated for Pederson. I was there in 1999 when people threw beer bottles at his him. When people cursed at his wife and kids after a lousy game quarterbacking the Eagles. Nobody deserves that. And nobody deserves some of the grief he's gotten since taking over as Eagles coach. He's a good man, and it turns out he's a brilliant coach. You just never know about these things. After Dick Vermeil and Ray Rhodes and Andy Reid and Chip Kelly, it was just a quiet, unassuming guy from Bellingham, Wash., who finally delivered a championship to Philadelphia. He proved a heck of a lot of people wrong. Nobody deserves to enjoy this more than Doug Pederson.
10. And this team isn't going away. Carson Wentz comes back next fall, and the Eagles will have two elite quarterbacks under contract, and this isn't the time to speculate on Foles' future, but they have an MVP and a Super Bowl winner at quarterback and that's a good place to start. They have terrific young talent across the board. They have elite offensive and defensive lines. They have almost all their best players under contract for next year and most of them for years to come. They are by far the best team in the NFC East and have no clear challenger in the NFC. They will be back. They will be back soon. This was too much fun to not do it again.
