Super Bowl 57 wasn’t 48 hours old and a prominent starter texted me to say, 'Baldy, we that slip away."
And the Eagles did just that. They went into the locker room up 24-14 and in complete control of the game.
Patrick Mahomes had tweaked his ankle. It appeared that during the extended halftime show that the Birds were going to take home the Super Bowl Trophy for the second time in five years.
And in 30 minutes it went poof!
When the 2023-24 schedule was released in May, players on the Eagles were heard circling the week 11 rematch of the Chiefs in KC on MNF. That’s going to be a great match this season but it wasn’t SBLVII.
Can the Eagles return to SBLVIII? That’s the focus of this entire off-season.
I believe they can and even more than that, I believe they will make it to Las Vegas as the NFC representative.
The return to the Super Bowl conversation always starts with the QB. Jalen Hurts is both healthy and hungry. He said after the disappointment in the desert that there was "no time to reflect, because I am not done."
He just refuses to stop the process of getting better any way he can find and to keep grinding every day until he walks off into the sunset....a long time from now.
His leadership starts with him.
Goals may change but the standard never does. He lives it and breathes it and it radiates to the other players.
Jalen made a quantum leap in performance this year and I believe that he can make another leap as well as he brings back most of his supporting cast.
In fact, I think the running back room is even better than a year ago when Miles
Sanders had a career season in which the Panthers rewarded him with a hefty signing bonus and some job security.
But with the additions of D'Andre Swift and Rashaad Penny, they should be in good hands… combined with Kenneth Gainwell and Boston Scott and others.
The receiving duo of AJ Brown and DeVonta Smith is as good as it gets in this league.
As a result Jalen was as effective a deep ball thrower as there was in this league; oftentimes throwing 50/50 balls up to his receivers and gambling that his guys would come down with it. All while keeping his turnovers to six INT's and two fumbles.
Yet he threw for 25 TD's and ran for 18 more (including playoffs)…43 TD's v a total of nine turnovers is rare.
Can he be even better? I believe so as his pre-snap reads should get even sharper and his decision making even quicker.
I don’t believe he will run as much; either by design or his decisions to pull the ball down and scramble… But a lot of his scrambles were still pass options keeping his eyes down the field until there was no better option than to run to keep drives alive.
And the "Tush Push" is almost guaranteed when he takes a snap from Jason Kelce which either kept drives alive or scored first downs or TD's.
Many people look at the defense where the Eagles could suffer the most. Many key free agent departures left holes in a defense that might be magnified starting with the loss of DC, Jonathon Gannon.
But somehow they were still able to retain Cox and Graham and 2 starting corners of Slay and Bradbury.
Hello Bulldogs! I always thought that you build your defense starting in the A gaps.
Both Jordan Davis and Jalen Carter are more than capable of stepping in for the loss of Javon Hargrave.
He was maybe the most valuable DL a season ago when the Birds posted 70 sacks. Carter has a chance, even in his rookie season, as a dominant premier DT.
Already veterans are telling me that he is the "real deal" . I think he has the rare ability to move big people with power. By midseason we could see the two former Bulldogs manning the A-Gaps.
Right behind them should be Nakobe Dean who looks to be ready to splatter ball carriers and using his instincts to clean up tackles from sideline to sideline
Overall, the Birds have a unique blend of veteran talent, players who are in the early stages of cementing themselves as great starters for a long time to comer and a bunch of young talent that everyone in Philly should recognize as they begin to sew their stripes.
But ultimately they are led by the two most important leaders in this great American City; both Nick Sirianni and Jalen Hurts.
Neither is satisfied by their accomplishments from a year ago; in fact, they are looking to improve every aspect of this team as the preseason kicks off next week with a preseason game against the Ravens.
Let the fun and the winning begin. *