The Postseason Through the Eyes of Eagles’ Britain Covey
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PHILADELPHIA - The undersized Britain Covey wasn’t supposed to stick on an NFL roster, never mind last the entire season as the punt returner for the NFC’s No. 1 seed.
Covey reached one finish line, however, even if fans mistook him for a kicker at training camp and the Eagles forgot to furnish him player parking for the season opener, something that forced the attendant to send the 5-foot-8, 173-pound affable kid from Provo, Utah to a parking lot for the fans.
Tasked with adding weight by the organization, Covey’s 18-week grind did result in an extra four pounds but his weightiest contribution to the team was a steady hand as a punt returner.
One of the nation’s best returners in college at Utah, Covey was asked to handle a different role in Philadelphia.
“Sometimes when your offense is so good you need to just make sure you get the football to them,” is how Covey phrased his marching orders during the season.
For the most part, it was mission accomplished with Covey returning 33 punts for 308.
He muffed two opportunities but never lost the football. As a kick returner before Boston Scott took over that role, Covey returned 10 for 206 yards.
With his first professional playoff game against the New York Giants approaching Covey, 25, has leaned on the team’s veterans when it comes to preparation and staying focused through the nye week.
“I'm glad we had the bye, right, but I always look toward kind of the veteran leaders in times like this,” Covey told SI Eagles Today. “I feel like I have all season before the first divisional game, before my first big Monday Night Football game. It's just good to look at guys who have been there and done that to kind of model yourself after them and how they prepare.
"So for me, for example, just try not to psych myself out and just try to feed off the energy you feel in the locker room.”
Energy is rarely a problem for the Eagles with players like Brandon Graham, Darius Slay, and Chauncey Gardner-Johnson setting the tone in the players’ sanctuary.
What can be a problem is time, especially when the opponent is one you’re facing for the third time in just over a month.
“If you were to ask every player in this room I think they've all experienced at some point or another psyching themselves out for a big game or analysis paralysis, right? Because at some point, it's just, you know, you're here for a reason. So, trust that," Covey said.
“Don't overcomplicate it.”
Eagles coach Nick Sirianni has done his part to keep things tempered explaining the preparation part of the equation stays the same from Week 1 in Detroit to the divisional round of the postseason against a heated rival.
“It’s one of those things where, in the playoffs, what is your team going to look like? What are you going to do? And honestly, you're gonna do what made you successful all year,” said Covey. “There's no point in changing things all of a sudden. So I think that gives you and the team confidence in what you do.”
The challenge of playing a familiar opponent is also being embraced by Covey and the Eagles.
“Remember so last year, (Utah) played Oregon twice in three weeks. The Pac-12 championship. It was one of those things where we were talking about it's tough to beat a team twice,” Covey said. And statistically, it's actually no (tougher), but it is just different than the first meeting for sure. And the games are always a little bit closer.”
According to Covey, it becomes more about us than them in such circumstances.
“It's easy to get caught up in that kind of narrative so, in a way you want to make every game more about you than about them,” he said. “It's nice to kind of say in a sense that our opponent is faceless.
"Does that make sense? Yeah, it's like, this is more about us than it is about them.”
Through it all, the heightened anxiety that often runs through a fan base in a playoff atmosphere is absent from the locker room, especially a successful team’s locker room.
“It's just fun,” Covey said. “I’m excited. Are you excited?"
-John McMullen contributes Eagles coverage for SI.com's Eagles Today and is the NFL Insider for JAKIB Media. You can listen to John, alongside legendary sports-talk host Jody McDonald every morning from 8-10 on ‘Birds 365,” streaming live on YouTube. John is also the host of his own show "Football 24/7 and a daily contributor to ESPN South Jersey. You can reach him at jmcmullen44@gmail.com or on Twitter @JFMcMullen
