Philadelphia, the trophy has come. Your Eagles are the 2018 Super Bowl Champions. An amazing ride through thick and thin. From losing players throughout the season to injury like Carson Wentz, Jason Peters, and Darren Sproles; to all the naysayers trying to drag the team down when Nick Foles came in to replace Wentz after his knee tears, they never gave up. Super Bowl 52 was proof of that underdog mentality. Let me tell you a story of how everything went down that night. February 4th, 2018, a night Philadelphia will never forget.
Two football teams, both alike in dignity in cold Minnesota, where we lay our scene. The clash between the Philadelphia Eagles and the New England Patriots could be compared to the story of David and Goliath (1 Samuel 17). New England playing in their tenth Super Bowl was going for their sixth win, while Philadelphia making its third Super Bowl appearance going for their first win in the big game ever.
Starting with field goals by both teams on their opening drives, the Eagles got the first touchdown of the night with a 34 yard pass from quarterback Nick Foles to wide receiver Alshon Jeffery. The Eagle’s next scoring play came with just under nine minutes to go before halftime when running back LeGarrette Blount rushed 21 yards for the score. The two-point conversion failed made the game 15-3 in favor of the Eagles. The Patriots would answer however, with a field goal and a touchdown in that order to cut Philadelphia’s lead to just three. Then just before the end of the half, one of the best plays in Super Bowl history took place. With Jay Ajayi under center, he pitched the ball to Trey Burton who then passed the ball to guess who, Nick Foles of all people to put the side that is thought of as David in front at the half 22-12. This was the first time in Super Bowl history that a game went into halftime with 22-12 score.
The Patriots received the ball to begin the second half. Within three minutes, tight end Rob Gronkowski a.k.a Gronk found the end zone from five yards out to cut the lead to three again, and of course
doing his famous Gronk spike. Philadelphia answered five minutes later with a pass from Nick Foles to running back Corey Clement for 22 yards to extend the lead again. After a Jake Elliot field goal of 42 yards, Gronk gave the white shirts the lead with under ten minutes left in the game. Now, recent Super Bowl history has the team wearing white jerseys winning 12 out of the 13 previous ones. So, it made sense when they took the lead over the Eagles that people thought it was going to be another chapter in the dynasty; another accolade for Goliath.
With under three minutes to go, the improbable happened when tight end Zach Ertz made a fantastic eleven yard pass from “St Nick” himself to give the Eagles the lead for good. The catch was reviewed to make sure that he had possession the entire time and it was confirmed. A 46 yard field goal by Jake Elliott with just over a minute to go added insurance points that stretched the Eagles lead to 41-33. History was made long last when quarterback Tom Brady of the Patriots tried to throw a Hail Mary that was knocked to the ground to give the Philadelphia Eagles the biggest win in franchise history.
At long last! Philadelphia, underdogs no more! Congratulations! Let me mention some final words of gratitude. The 1980-81 team with Jaws (Ron Jaworski), Wilbert Montgomery, Dick Vermeil; thank you for the memories. The 2004-05 team with Donovan McNabb, Brian Westbrook, Terrell Owens, Brian Dawkins, and Andy Reid; thank you for the memories. Those teams helped make the special group of players today make the team we now know as Super Bowl Champions!
Source: NFL.com