I know this really isn’t a sports blogging site but excuse me for writing about it for a moment. I like sports. It’s entertaining and a very good time. It was an exiting NFL post season this year.

Let me recap the playoff teams that didn’t make it to the Super Bowl. The Rams imitated Arsenal, good but choke in bigs games. The Chiefs just choked. The Bills were hopelessly inept. The Panthers lost a game where it was sad someone had to lose. The Titans were beaten by the better team. The Falcons couldn’t gameplan. The Steelers hubris got in their way. The Saints got karma returned to them. The Jaguars got scared and abandoned their gameplan. The Vikings couldn’t get over their emotional hangover and disappeared. That leaves us with the Eagles and the Patriots going into Super Bowl 52.  The last time these two teams met, it was during Super Bowl 39, the Eagles lost by 3 points to the defending champions New England Patriots in a game that could have gone either way. This is where Rocky Balboa comes in as he did lose by a split decision to Apollo Creed in a match that could have gone either way. Rocky went into retirement and likewise, the following 11 seasons by the Eagles were mediocrity or poor class and taste by head coach Chip Kelly.  I’m glad he got exposed in San Francisco.

So begins the narrative of Rocky II, I mean the 2017 NFL season. Two years ago they hired a literal clone of their former head coach in Doug Pederson, the only difference was that he doesn’t choke like Andy Reid. And in the quarterback position, they had Carson Wentz, who had as many good performances as fingers on a hand, and Nick Foles, who lost his touch and motivation and fell off a cliff performance wise. Underachieving was the narrative going into the 2017 season. Expectations were low. All this past season the Eagles were written off as underdogs. However, during that season, Wentz leads the offense from underachieving to tearing apart the best defenses in the league and the defense gelled together to be one of the most aggressive in the league. Wentz got injured in week 14 of the regular season and Foles’ play did not inspire confidence. However, by that time they were already guaranteed a playoff spot and skated by the last 3 weeks of play. They were written off in the postseason as outclassed in talent by both the Falcons and Vikings.  I won’t go into more detail about their postseason but really good coaching and game planning by the coaching staff led them to win their games and rematch with the Patriots in Super Bowl 52. Just like Rocky and Apollo before them in the final round of Rocky II traded punches back and forth, both teams kept running the score on each other. Someone had to falter eventually. That, someone, was Tom Brady and his Patriots. who interestingly enough was the last backup quarterback to reach and win the Super Bowl. I’m sure as the whole world knows by now that the Eagles won. I don’t want to seem like a cliche machine but it’s never over until the fat lady sings. In short, all this season the Eagles did not quit in the face of adversity. And that to me is a Studdette quality. To me, the Eagles organization are honorary Studs and Studettes.

And here’s a video about the Eagles that aged well. Comments about Chip Kelly and the fanbase still apply.