For the second time in three seasons, the third time in eight, the Philadelphia Eagles are on their way to the Super Bowl. After handling the Commanders with ease, the Eagles punched their ticket to The Big Game, hoping to take home the Lombardi trophy for the second time in team history.
Philadelphia overcame a back injury that kept starting center Cam Jurgens out of the first half; they overcame a knee injury to Landon Dickerson, who had replaced Jurgens on the o-line; they also overcame the wave of Commanders fans who stormed Philadelphia’s beloved landmark, the Hard Rock Cafe in Center City, the night before the game — at least that was the case according to Washington fans.
In a dominant effort by Philadelphia, Jalen Hurts, and Saquon Barkley led the way, while the defense made the most of every opportunity to contain the Commanders and their star rookie, Jayden Daniels. Hurts threw for 246 passing yards and rushed for 16 yards with a total of four touchdowns, while Barkley rushed for 118 yards with three rushing touchdowns.
Despite coming into the game as strong favorites (the line sat -6.5 prior to kickoff), according to Vegas, many nationally began to buy stock in the Commanders pulling off the upset in Philadelphia. Fans in Philly were not so easily convinced, nor was the team who came into the week focused and ready to handle business at home.
Despite all the doubts and criticism the team had heard all season, whether it be about Jalen Hurts’ ability as a quarterback — Jalen Hurts is the first QB since Elway to return to a Super Bowl after having lost his first Super Bowl — or Nick Siranni’s ability as a head coach — Sirianni is now the first coach to ever bring the Eagles to two Super Bowls, or the defense who had much work to do after a subpar performance last season, Philadelphia is one step away from accomplishing their season goal of claiming victory in New Orleans.
Eagles’ general manager Howie Roseman deserves a significant amount of credit as well between the additions of key free agents like Saquon Barkley and Mekhi Becton to stud rookies Quinyon Mitchell and Cooper DeJean, to the continued growth of previous Roseman picks Jalen Carter, Jordan Davis, Nolan Smith, and Nakobe Dean.
Just one more game sits between Philadelphia and history. Let’s hunt.
