At Last, Eagles Are Super Bowl Champions

It finally happened. The stars have aligned, the football gods have spoken.

 

After 52 years, the Philadelphia Eagles are Super Bowl Champions, at last.

 

The first half was filled with high scoring plays and a ton of offense, not a whole lot of defense like we're so much accustomed to with the Eagles. 

 

The Eagles ran a pretty good first drive of the game, gaining a bunch of yards and running down the clock. Unfortunately, the Patriots utilized their defense pretty much the same way they have succeeded all season long. Allowing yards but not so much allowing points. 

 

Foles was stellar with the ball completing nice sizable throws to the likes of Alshon Jeffery and Torrey Smith. Foles also got tight end Zach Ertz involved with the Eagles able to mix in the run as well with Jay Ajayi.

 

The Eagles ran a 14 play, 67 yard first drive that lasted 7:02, and the Eagles came away with a Jake Elliott field goal. Eagles led 3-0 with 7:55 to go in the first quarter.

 

With the Patriots' first drive of the game, they were able to get into the red zone when a Brady pass to Rob Gronkowski was deflected by Jalen Mills with fantastic coverage to force 4th down. Stephen Gostkowski hit a kick to tie the game 3-all with 4:17 to play in the first quarter.

 

The first quarter ended with three play, 77 yard drive that took up 1:43 and ended with an Alshon Jeffery score from Nick Foles for 34 yards. Elliott ended up missing the extra point. Eagles led 9-3 at that point with 2:34 to play in the first.

 

Eagles got the scoring going first in the second quarter, after a 21 yard run from LeGarrette Blount to give the Eagles a 15-3 lead with 8:48 to play. The Eagles tried the two-point attempt, which failed as Foles tried to pass it out to Jeffery.

 

Stephen Gostkowski drilled a 45-yard field goal with 7:29 to play in the second, Patriots now trailing the Eagles 15-6. The Patriots scored again with 2:04 to play until halftime, a 26-yard rush from James White for the score. A missed extra point from Gostkowski made it 15-12 Eagles.

 

Possibly the best play of the game, and one of the greatest playcalls in Super Bowl history happened with 38 seconds left before the break. A direct snap to Clement and a pitch to tight end Trey Burton allowed Nick Foles to run out to the right side and catch a one-yard TD pass from Burton to give the Birds a 22-12 lead.

 

Halftime allowed the Patriots to rejuvenate and reset, as the game became the Brady-Gronkowski show. A five-yard pass from Brady to Gronk cut the deficit to three points. Eagles with the 22-19 lead.

 

The Eagles answered right back with a 22 yard pass from Foles to Clement. Clement got his feet set in bounds with a questionable catch/no catch that was confirmed by the officials. 29-19 Eagles.

 

Brady passed 26 yards to Chris Hogan for the touchdown with 3:23 left in the third quarter, with the Eagles now leading 29-26/

 

Jake Elliott drilled a 42 yard field goal with 14:14 left in the fourth quarter to extend the Eagles' lead to 32-26.

 

But the Patriots got their first lead of the game, up 33-32 now with 9:22 remaining in the fourth quarter, a 10-play 75 yard drive that lasted 4:47.

 

It wouldn't be the Super Bowl without some crazy drive that completely changed the composure of the game. 7:01 later, a 14 play, 75 yard drive got an 11 yard pass from Foles to Ertz for the touchdown. The TD gave the Eagles back the lead 38-33 with 2:21 to play in regulation.

 

On the very next drive, the Eagles got the stop they've been trying to get all night long on Brady, a strip sack forced by Corey Graham, recovered by Derek Barnett to give the Eagles the ball back.

 

With 1:05 left, a huge field goal from Jake Elliott from 46 yards out gave the Eagles the 41-33 lead.

 

Brady and the Patriots had one more chance to drive down the field to get a touchdown and a two-point conversion, but it didn't happen.

 

The Eagles are Super Bowl Champions.