My story with the NFL: the last part

The previous days of the final match were as I expected. Few people gave the Eagles chances to win the game or even to do a great job. Philadelphia players did not appear to much time in the sports reports sections, almost always filled with the image of the Patriots' super duo: Tom Brady and Bill Bellichick. However, I also had good memories about those days, maybe the best of them were when Silvester Stallone posted a picture of the movie Rocky IV, where he was face to face against Ivan Drago; Drago was wearing a Patriots jersey, while Rocky had the Eagles one, and the truth was that the Superbowl game was pretty similar to that movie fight: the Patriots were seen as an unbeatable opponent, as Ivan Drago, because of how dominant had been this team for a long time, whereas the Eagles were perceived as a weak rival, with few possibilities to beat the mighty New England team; Philadelphia was not a menace to the Patriots dynasty in the opinion of many people. Even if that was the scenario that Philadelphia would face to win the Vince Lombardi trophy, I wished that they would be able to beat the patriots, as Rocky Balboa did against Ivan Drago. And, finally, the day came.

I remember that when the Philadelphia team entered into the field, the stadium exploded. In my opinion, most of the people in the were Philadelphia fans or, at least, they were louder than patriots' fans, and that gave me good vibes about what was coming in the game. But I knew that the crucial part of the game would come from the players, and I was excited to see what did they have to show us.

After their first offence, the Eagles set three points in the score; however, the Patriots immediately reached them.

That did not hit the Eagles pride. The team answered with a long-running of LeGarrette Blount (former patriots' running back), followed by an incredible catch of Alshon Jeffery to get the first touchdown for the Philadelphia football team although failed the kick for the extra point. Later, Patriots were really close to drawing the game, but they did not reach the touchdown zone and also failed its field goal attempt. That was followed by some offensive series that ended in nothing until LeGarrette Blunt broke some tackles and reached the end zone, to put more to enlarge the difference between both teams.

Then, some hard series came for the Eagles. They were able to avoid a touchdown, and the Patriots just got a field goal, but a great offence commanded by Foles ended in an interception at the yard number two of the Patriots field. The interception brought a touchdown for New England, but they missed the extra point.

The Eagles had just two minutes to try to increase their score before the end of the second quarter, and a great play executed by the undrafted player, Corey Clement, led the Eagles inside the goal zone. After three opportunities, the Eagles just reached the yard one, but the staff decided to play the fourth.

I have heard many times that the greatest men and teams are those able to make the right decisions in critical times. The Eagles had not reached the final game to play cowardly, without taking risks, they were there to pursuing the glory at any cost; the result of playing the fourth chance would keep inside the minds of those who watched the game: that day the Philly Special was born. After cheating about changing the play, the centre threw the ball to Corey Clement, who gave it to Trey Burton, and the tight end sent the ball to Nick Foles, who watched while there was in the end zone with none around him.

The Eagles players, staff and fans in the stadium exploded, the game had compensated their courage, and they led know everyone that they will be able to do whatever would be needed to win the Vince Lombardy trophy. The Patriots tried unsuccessfully to approach in the last seconds of the second quarter, until the first half ended 22-12, with the Eagles leading.

For the second half of the game, New England started with the decision to turn the status of the game and led by the combo Brady-Gronkowski they got a touchdown in just three minutes. Philadelphia was not intimidated by that and showed that they were ready to participate in the exchanges of punches. The connexion Foles-Clement (the X factor of the game) scored another touchdown after a play reviewed a lot before were confirmed. Both series defined what would be the rest of the game, a trail of resistance where none would drop their guard until the end of the match.

New England scored another touchdown and did not allow another one in the next offensive of Philadelphia, who just got a field goal. The Patriots took advantage and scored a touchdown to take the lead in the score (33-32) for the first time in the entire game. That was a crucial moment when people started to remember the last Superbowl game of the Patriots, where they went back in the fourth quarter after being loosing 3-38 against the Atlanta Falcons. Of course, the Patriots were an incredible team able to change the games, but the Eagles had the guts that Falcons lack in their game.

The Eagles needed to come back immediately in the score if they did not want to lose the game, and they understood it; the next offensive series was one of the bravest that I have ever seen in my life. Philadelphia faced a third and six yards opportunity in their twenty-nine yard where Ertz caught the ball to keep the offence; immediately they faced a fourth and one opportunity in their own forty-three yard, but all the team had enough courage to decide to play it. Foles sent the ball to the most trusted receiver, Zach Ertz, and they advanced enough to keep the series alive.

They kept getting firsts dows and approaching to the New England end zone until they had to play another third opportunity and seven yards for the first down. Once again was the connexion Foles-Ertz which reached the aim and scored another touchdown to recover the lead in the score, after a reviewing of the play that made me sweat and pray for not hearing a calling reversing the decision. However, the work was not complete yet: the Eagles had to stop Tom Brady, who had around two minutes to change the game.

Even if the Eagles' offence had been flying all the game and executing crucial plays, the defence had failed in stopping the Patriots attack, and now, they had the responsibility to win the game, and they answered as the great teams do. In a play where all the defence line pressured the quarterback and forced Brady to fumble and the rookie Derek Barnett recovered the ball; that must be the play that I celebrated the most in the game, because of the moment when it happened. Besides Ertz catchings to keep the offence in a crucial moment of the game, the recovered fumble gave the Eagles the chance to increase the difference in the score (with a field goal) and to led Brady with just a few second to revert the situation. 

The Patriots kept fighting, try to score the touchdown and conversion which would tie the game. Their last play was a Hail Mary to Gronkowski, who was surrounded by the deep Eagles defence, during that play my breath stopped and restarted just after the ball was in the ground and the referees indicated that that was the end of the game. The drought for the Eagles was over they had finally won the Superbowl.

It was incredible the happiness flooding the players, staff and fans faces; all of us had kept our faith in the team, as they do despite all the troubles and obstacles that they had to overcome to be there, receiving the trophy. All those problems and adversities at the end of the season made that the feeling for getting the victory had a sweater taste for all the Eagles, I do not lie you if I tell you that the smile lasted for a week, at least. I had the sensation that football had paid the Eagles for the effort that they put during all the season, being the best team of the league.

I feel great for all the team, but especially for Nick Foles, who was near to the retirement before returning to Philadelphia, probably the place he should not have left, and now he had returned to give the city one of its greatest sportive joys. His speech after the game is another thing that I remember, and I am used to watching every time I feel down and need the motivation to keep moving forward. This team gave me a lesson about how resilience and effort always pay even when we face obstacles and other difficulties during our path. Talking metaphorically, we can lose our MVPs whereas we are on our road, but the way we deal with it until the end of our journey up to us, and even if we do not win the trophy, the fact to know that we did all of us is enough to be satisfied 

I do not know what will happen with the Eagles the next seasons; however, I am sure that nothing would be enough to erase what I lived that day of February in 2018. I will always be thankful with the team, especially with all those players and staff members who led the team to the victory.

I think it is enough for now; as I said at the beginning of these posts, this text enlarged more than I expected. If you read all of them or just one or two, I appreciate you for spending some of your time reading them. You can share your comments. I will be pleased to read to you. 

See you until the next post.

If you desire to read the previous part, click here

*** If you find some mistakes on my writing, please comment it. In my first post, I explain why I might be writing incorrectly***