By Leeroy Francis |Staff writer
The Philadelphia Eagles are the Super Bowl 52 Champions.The Eagles defeated the New England Patriots 41-33 to win their first Super Bowl in franchise history on Feb. 4 in Minneapolis. The Eagles had last won their NFL title in 1960, beating Vince Lombardi’s Green Bay Packers that year in Philadelphia. On Sunday night, the Eagles collected the Lombardi Trophy at U.S. Bank Stadium—home of the Vikings—in the Twin Cities.After a relatively one-sided two quarters of football, the Eagles led the Patriots 22-12 at halftime. However, New England, looking for its sixth Super Bowl win, battled back. Under the lead of quarterback Tom Brady, the league’s most valuable player for the 2017-2018 season, the Patriots finally took the lead late with 9:22 left in the game with a four-yard TD pass from Brady to tight end Rob Gronkowski.After the Patriots took a 33-32 lead, Nick Foles, who was the Eagles’ backup quarterback six weeks ago, once again answered adversity and led Philly on a 14-play, 75-yard drive that ended with an 11-yard touchdown pass to tight end Zack Ertz for 38-33. The two-point conversion failed.That essentially put the Eagles in the lead for good. Ertz’s touchdown was reviewed for several minutes and looked very similar to a situation that went against the Pittsburgh Steelers in a key loss to the Patriots about three-fourths of the way through the regular season.Brady fumbled on the next possession, and the Eagles recovered before getting a 46-yard field goal from Jake Elliott for the eight-point cushion. Despite facing a fourth-down at his own goal line, Brady moved the Pats to midfield before a potential game-tying Hail Mary pass as time expired fell incomplete in the direction of Gronkowski who was surrounded by as many as five at the goal line.The Eagles completed one of the greatest underdog performances in Super Bowl history en route to their first-ever Super Bowl title. Foles and the Eagles put up 41 points and came from behind in the fourth quarter of a Super Bowl against arguably the greatest quarterback of all time in Michigan alumnus Brady. (Foles briefly went to arch-rival Michigan State.)Foles threw for 373 yards and three touchdowns for a 106.1 QB rating and also caught another TD pass on a one-yard trick play named the “Philly Special” from tight end Try Burton. In doing that, Foles made history by becoming the first quarterback in Super Bowl history to throw and catch a touchdown in the same game to earn MVP honors.Leading the Eagles in rushing was veteran back LeGarrette Blount (who won a Super Bowl with the Patriots last year) with 14 carries for 90 yards and a TD early in the second quarter. Leading receiver for the Eagles was rookie running back and Philadelphia native Corey Clement, who had four receptions for 100 yards and a TD.Brady went 28 of 48 for a Super Bowl record 505 passing yards and three touchdowns and a 115.4 QB rating. Brady and the Patriots played very well and broke some records on Sunday as well. It was the most points in a game by the losing team, and the most total yards by a team in the Super Bowl with 613 total yards. Brady is now 5-3 in eight Super Bowl appearances.Leading the Patriots in rushing was veteran James White with seven carries for 45 yards and a TD early in the second quarter. Leading receiver for the Patriots was Danny Amendola with eight receptions for 152 yards.This game was a rematch of 2005 Super Bowl when the Eagles, led by Donovan McNabb, lost to Brady and the Patriots 24-21 in Jacksonville, Fla. That was Brady’s third Super Bowl ring.Less than two months ago, Foles was the backup to the MVP finalist Carson Wentz, and two years ago Foles had lost the excitement of the game and was contemplating retirement.Now he and his Philadelphia teammates will party down Broad Street in the Eagles’ victory parade on Thursday, Feb. 7.Unfortunately for football fans in Georgia, the Patriots’ linemen duo of David Andrews (UGa. alumnus) and Shaq Mason (Georgia Tech) did not bring home yet another ring for New England. Also, Jonathan Jones (UGa.) was a backup in the Pats’ secondary.Of course, seeing the Eagles get the eight-point win over the Patriots had Atlanta Falcon fans meditating on what might have been in Super Bowl 51 when their team blew a 28-3 lead and lost in overtime to Brady & Co.Philadelphia finished the season with a 16-3 record, and the Patriots went 15-4.Contact Leeroy Francis at lfrancis@augusta.edu