Patrick Causey, on Twitter @InsdeTheHuddle
The Philadelphia Eagles came into today's game 1-3 and desperately needing a win. If they won, they would at least salvage hope that they could turn this season around. Lose and the season was all but over, as only five percent of teams that have started 1-4 have made the playoffs in NFL history.
The offense was the main culprit for the surprisingly slow start, with everyone from the quarterback, running backs, wide receivers, tight ends and offensive line sharing in the blame.
Quarterback Sam Bradford knew it was an important game. So he seized the moment, calling a pregame meeting with the offense in the bathrooms located in the back corner of the locker room. According to his teammates, Bradford was passionate and convincing:
“Sam told us it’s go time and we all know we’re good, and now let’s go be good,” said Matt Tobin. “It was good to hear that. It was very defining moment, because we went out and moved the ball like crazy. It was fun to be out there. He said he hadn’t spoken up much lately, and it was time for him to speak up."
Riley Cooper was equally impressed: "Sam brought the whole offense together before the game started and he said, '60 minutes of football, just relentless effort, and let’s show the world how good this offense can be. It was really cool and it was a lot of leadership from Sam."
"His leadership was unbelievable," Cooper said.
Right tackle Lane Johnson agreed: "Even before the game today, Sam pulled us back there by the showers and had an offensive meeting. He told us that’s time to go. We have the talent, we have the ability, we just have to go out there and get it done. It’s just a matter of executing. The meeting happened right before we went out for the game. The entire offense, everyone, and Sam was pretty much the only one that spoke.”
In the biggest moment of the year, Bradford assumed the leadership role his team desperately needed him to take. Bradford's pregame speech likely had a positive impact on the Eagles, as they easily turned in their best game of the season against the woeful New Orleans Saints defense: scoring 39 points, getting 34 first downs and gaining 519 yards, all season highs.
And despite two bad turnovers in the red zone in the first half, Bradford backed up his talk by turning in his best performance of the year: completing 32 of 45 passes for 333 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions.
When he was asked about the meeting, Bradford said he was just trying to speak up and get the offense to start of on the right foot: "I just felt like it was a good time to say something. Just go out there and do what we know we're capable of. It's not going to take anything extra. We didn't have to go out there and do anything extraordinary today, we just had to go out there and be us. I thought the guys responded very well today."
It's too early to tell whether Bradford, and by extension, the Eagles offense, has turned the corner. The Saints are a bad team with a bad defense that were killed by four turnovers on the offensive side of the ball. But the signs are encouraging to say the least. Let's hope the Eagles build off of this good outing in a big game next week against the Division leading New York Giants.
