Eagles face Super Bowl Questions Yet Again
Those Super Bowl LII memories keep cropping up on the Eagles this season.
They were asked about them heading into their game against the Vikings in Minnesota, because it was inside the Vikings’ stadium where they beat the New England Patriots 21 months ago, 41-33. And they are popping again this week because the Eagles are playing those same New England Patriots for the first time since that triumph.
Well, not actually the same Patriots. That game was two years ago. The rosters are different. The assistant coaching staff is different.
As defensive tackle Fletcher Cox said on Wednesday: “That’s like old war stories.”
Cornerback Orlando Scandrick, of course, ripped the Eagles a few days after he was cut by them after the loss in Dallas, saying they were still living off that Super Bowl euphoria. Perhaps it was because Scandrick was around in the week leading up to the Vikings when the question about returning to the scene of the championship was because the media was asking questions and the players were answering them.
This week, it’s different.
Players don’t want to get into the Super Bowl talk much, if at all.
Maybe it’s a different story inside the Patriots’ locker room. They were the ones who lost, and that stung, especially now when they look back and see that loss cost them a chance to win three straight Super Bowls instead of two out of the last three.
“You assume I’m over it? Come on now,” said Brady on his weekly show on WEEI Radio. “That's a lot of mental scar tissue from that year. That was a tough game.”
Not for the Eagles, obviously.
Even Brandon Graham was hesitant to talk Super Bowl LII.
As if anyone needs reminded, Graham turned in the game-defining play with a strip sack fumble of Tom Brady that was recovered by Derek Barnett in the final two minutes of the game that helped set up a field goal that helped seal the Eagles’ first Super Bowl title in their history.
“I’m trying to create more (memories),” said Graham. “I want to sit back some day and tell my grandkids, ‘Yeah, you’re grandad got a strip sack on Tom Brady in the Super Bowl,’ but that’s later on.”
The Eagles kind of, sort of opened this Super Bowl can of worms when defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz revealed that the coaching staff and players re-watched the game as a resource for Sunday’s game.
“It’s the first time I’ve even really watched the game,” said linebacker Nathan Gerry. “I never went back and spent much time doing it. I was a rookie that year and so for me it was about preparing myself for the next season. This week, watching film from the Super Bowl, it’s just film study.”
Head coach Doug Pederson was asked on Wednesday about the value of watching the Super Bowl again.
“We look at a lot of film,” said Pederson. “We have a lot of games on this football team, as we do every team, so there's a lot of film being watched … It (the Super Bowl tape) is something that's part of our cut-ups, but it's not something that's a focal point at all going into this game.”
