What is the story about?
Let’s face it. Once the NFL Draft is in the rear view mirror, the calendar of events kind of screeches to a halt.
Free agency is mostly out of the way and draft picks are signing contracts and participating in OTAs. The only real news the Eagles are going to make over the next few weeks will come at the end of the month when they will presumably trade A.J. Brown to the Patriots.
But summer is a great time of year for football debates. There is no shortage of issues to be pondered over and discussed
regarding your Birds, so for next few weeks, I’m introducing “The Deadzone Debates.”
Each week I will pose a topic for debate and try to provide solid arguments for each side. In the comments section, you can respond with what you think.
This week, I’ll dive into a subject I was thinking about when I went into my clothes drawer last week, pulled on my Eagles Super Bowl LIX Champions T-shirt and then put on my Eagles Super Bowl LII sweatshirt over top of it.
Which Eagles Super Bowl title is the best? Which is your favorite?
Both provide compelling reasons.
Super Bowl 52: Eagles 42, Patriots 37
Making the Case:
- The first time is always the sweetest. After 51 Super Bowls and 57 years since their last title in 1960, the Eagles were finally champions of the NFL. Generations of fans finally got their long-waited-for wish. Many of us lived through some very, very dark times to get there, and many Birds fans passed before witnessing it. But it actually happened. It’s tough to beat that feeling.
- The game featured some of the most legendary plays in NFL history. The Philly Special, not only immortalized in Eagles history, is etched into the very lore of the sport. But you also have Zach Ertz’ go-ahead touchdown and, of course, Brandon Graham’s strip sack of Tom Brady. Three legendary moments in one game. Again, hard to beat.
- It was a true Philadelphia underdog story. Losing Carson Wentz, the presumptive NFL MVP, a month before the end of the season felt like a crippling and devastating blow that would torpedo their chances of winning it all. Nick Foles? Were we really expected to believe he could pull off a Super Bowl run? To be the No. 1 seed in the NFC and yet be underdogs in every round of the playoffs was about as pure a storyline as a Philly sports fan could dream of.
- They beat Tom Brady and Bill Belichick, breaking the heart of a dynasty. Brady played perhaps his best overall game in the Super Bowl that night, right up until he fumbled the ball with just over two minutes left in the game. It is the loss he remembers most in his career, and isn’t it nice that the Philadelphia Eagles rent that room inside his head?
- Doug Pederson outcoached Belichick. It’s really that simple, and it remains a staggering accomplishment. Pederson set the trend that is now commonplace in the NFL, being ultra aggressive on fourth down situations. He was a unicorn at the time, though.
- It was an action-packed, back-and-forth contest that went down to the final play, a Hail Mary into the end zone that was closer to being completed than it should have been. Still, the adrenaline was pumping until that cathartic final second ticked off the clock.
Super Bowl 59: Eagles 40, Chiefs 22
Making the case:
- Unlike Super Bowl 52, which was their first appearance in “the big game” in 13 years, Super Bowl 59 welcomed the Eagles back for the second time in three seasons. The Eagles knew they belonged in this spot, and it felt like, for once, we were the building dynasty.
- This was no underdog story. This was the story of a great team driven by revenge, driven by their crushing defeat two seasons earlier at the hands of the very same Chiefs. For the first time in our lives, your Eagles were the NFL’s elite team, the team everyone hates, and yeah, that feels pretty good.
- While Super Bowl 52 featured an unreal performance by the offense and Nick Foles, the defense played dreadfully against New England that night (right up until the Patriots’ final two possessions, anyway). In 59, the defense was the story. To so thoroughly dominate and destroy a Kansas City team led by one of the greatest QBs in NFL history was shocking. Think about it. Despite beating Tom Brady seven years earlier, Brady had his way with the Philly defense in 52. Not so for Mahomes in 59. It was a tremendous pleasure watching the ferocious pass rush maul and abuse Mahomes for four solid quarters, making him look like Daniel Jones in a way no other defense had ever done before.
- While 52 was a close game that came down to the final second, 59 was a blowout. In your entire life, did you ever think you would live to see the Philadelphia Eagles play in a Super Bowl in which they led 40-6??? Against one of the greatest offenses, quarterbacks and head coaches the league has ever seen?
- This game also featured a tremendous number of memorable plays. Cooper DeJean’s Pick-6 will live forever in Eagles’ lore. 52 had the Philly Special. 59 had The Dagger. One play showed surprise and audacity by Pederson and Foles. The Dagger, however, was a curb stomping moment of pure ecstasy. It may be my favorite moment in Eagles history, to be honest.
- Jalen Hurts won the Super Bowl MVP award he should have won two years earlier by playing one of the most complete games a QB has ever played in Super Bowl history. It wasn’t a dominating performance, and certainly there were games where QBs put up bigger numbers. But in every way possible, Hurts owned the contest from start to finish. It also brought full circle his comeback from their hellish defeat two seasons earlier.
- If you choose this game, it’s because while 52 was a tense-turned-euphoric moment of pure civic relief and joy, no Philadelphian could ever have dreamed they’d win a Super Bowl in such dominating fashion. Yeah, there wasn’t much drama in 59, and that’s what made it special. The Eagles put their stamp on their greatest overall season in franchise history, and placed itself among the greatest single-season teams in NFL history.
So, what’s your choice?
