The storybook ending to the storybook season finally happened.
The Eagles and their fans certainly had to sweat this one out, as the team edged out the New England Patriots 41-33 to win the franchises’ first-ever Super Bowl victory on Sunday night.
‘Nobody believed in us, man,” Pro Bowl center Jason Kelce told the media postgame. “This one is for the city of Philadelphia.”
Vegas certainly did not believe in them, as they opened their sports books with the Eagles as six-point underdogs.
Nick Foles, the Super Bowl LII MVP, had other thoughts in mind.
Foles earned his MVP crown in Sunday’s classic, throwing for 373 yards and three touchdowns. He converted many key third and fourth down throws, including a huge fourth quarter, fourth down missile to tight end Zach Ertz, who had seven receptions for 67 yards.
But what won the game for Philadelphia was the brilliance of coach Doug Pederson‘s play calling. He drew up the perfect play on multiple different occasions, even orchestrating a fourth down and goal trick play that had back up tight end Trey Burton throw a touchdown to a wide-open Nick Foles.
The two teams combined for 1,151, a number that blew away the previous Super Bowl record for yards in a game.
613 of those yards belonged to Tom Brady‘s Patriots offense.
Brady, now 5-3 in his career in the big game, threw for 505 yards and three touchdowns. Brady, who has been experiencing an issue with his throwing hand for the past two and a half weeks, looked masterful until the last two possessions of the game.
Of course, the play that killed the Patriots’ chances was when Brady’s offensive line collapsed in front of him, allowing Eagles defensive end Brandon Graham to knock the ball out of the legend’s hands. The play gave the Eagles the ball back late in the fourth quarter, giving rookie kicker Jake Elliott the positioning he needed to add insurance to his team’s five-point lead.
Brady was not able to hit Rob Gronkowski downfield on the last play of the game, as he was in the midst of five Eagles players. This is the same Rob Gronkowski who caught nine balls and had 116 receiving yards and two touchdowns as well.
The Eagles defense did the team no favors in the contest. They performed rather poorly before the final two drives.
The Patriots had three players with six-plus receptions— Danny Amendola, Chris Hogan and Gronkowski— all of whom garnered more than 100 yards.
There was one controversial play in the game. Zach Ertz caught a ball for a touchdown in the fourth quarter that, upon replay, looked questionable.
When Ertz went to the ground, the ball moved. When the ball moves because of the ground, the play should be overturned. If they rule the receiver a runner— somebody who moves with a completed pass— the ball moving because of the ground would be ruled a fumble and not an incompletion. That is what the officials ruled after review.
“This is unbelievable, to be in this moment. This has been a crazy year,” Foles said. “We have such a great locker room of guys. At this moment, you looked in your teammate’s eyes and you know you did everything that you could and that’s what has made this moment so special.”
The Zach Ertz touchdown was only controversial for Patriots fans. He caught the ball then made a football move by running with the ball. This finalized the process of completing the reception and turned him into a runner. After three steps he fell into the end zone.
This is different than the Jesse James play that was overturned earlier this year. In that play, James caught the ball, turned then fell without taking any steps and making a football move. His falling to the ground was part of the process of completing the reception in that case. When the ball moved as he hit the ground he had not already established possession by completing the reception.