Recalling Eagles Super Victory Two Years Later

The morning of Super Bowl LII broke crystal clear, the sky bright blue with only a few thin wisps of clouds spilled across it.

It was the kind of dawning where everything felt crisp and fresh with possibility.

Turned out to be a sign of things to come as possibility became reality when the Eagles beat the New England Patriots to capture their very first Super Bowl title later that evening. It happened two years to the day – February 4.

This is how I remember Super Bowl week in Minneapolis:

There was the game and there was everything else.

Most of the week, snowflakes fluttered harmlessly to the frozen ground. At least that seemed to be the case on those rare occasion I made it outside. Those moments were either on my way to the media center located inside the Mall of America or on my way back across the expansive and, in some places, ice-encrusted parking lot to the hotel across from the Mall of America.

There was no reason to leave the Mall of America. It was there that the press conferences were held, the wide array of restaurants were located, and any souvenir from Super Bowl LII you could ever want in one of a hundred stores.

You could even ride a log flume at the amusement park inside the Mall of America or pay a visit to the aquarium, on the bottom floor of the Mall of America.

It made sense to hunker down inside the mall, even though I abstain from visiting them with any regularity in my off time. It made sense there because always it was cold outside, the kind of cold you probably only experience in late January and early February in Minnesota, though I have yet to make it to Alaska to compare the two.

Temperatures all week hovered around zero and dipped below that most nights. Leave a body part exposed for a few blinks of an eye and risk frostbite.

There were no big wallops of snow that week. Those had arrived before I did, so there was snow piled up next to paved areas, and one particularly large mound that needed to be gingerly scaled up and down to return to the hotel if you didn’t feel like turning into a popsicle while stiffly waiting for the media shuttle van.

The day before the Super Bowl, however, I ventured out with some colleagues and we ended up in St. Paul for the city’s annual Winter Ice Carnival, where, in 2018, the USA Olympic team was holding court to raise money. The Winter Olympics in PyeongChang were set to begin that week, and what a blast that day in Minneapolis' sister city was (see video from my curling efforts that saw me land one of the rocks in the house).

As for the game, well the two biggest plays in team history are easy to recall: the Philly Special and the Brandon Graham strip sack of legend Tom Brady in the final two minutes that helped give the Eagles their final eight-point cushion.

There was so much more that happened that shouldn’t be forgotten, especially now as Eagles fans to prepare to bid good-bye to two of the Big Game’s standouts.

The farewells proved difficult for some Eagles fans when it came time to part ways with MVP quarterback Nick Foles, but that doesn’t figure to be the case for Nelson Agholor, who is a free agent not likely to return in 2020, or Alshon Jeffery, who, if reports are to be believed, will be traded or released this offseason.

Agholor had a Super Bowl high nine receptions. Five of those catches were good for first downs and on the drive that gave the Eagles the lead back at 38-33, after the Patriots had forged in front, 33-32 with just over nine minutes left in the game, Agholor had three straight catches covering 10, 18 and 10 yards to set the Eagles up at New England’s 24.

Jeffery caught the game’s first touchdown pass, a nifty 34-yarder that was the kind of reception he had made his trademark since arriving in the league in 2012, the one with his wide-catch radius and jump-ball ability on full display. Playing with a torn rotator cuff, Jeffery ended with three catches for 83 yards and that one TD.

They were heroes then, but how quickly fans forget, and they now seem eager to see them gone.

Others that could be gone but should never be forgotten are running back Corey Clement, who is a restricted free agent and made four catches for 100 yards including a 22-yard catch that put Philly up 29-19 midway through the third quarter, and offensive lineman Halapoulivaati Vaitai, now a free agent who stepped in and did yeomen’s work for injured Jason Peters at left tackle.

It’s all just a memory now, though an unforgettable one it will always be.