PHILADELPHIA — For players on the other 31 teams in the NFL, cleaning out one’s locker at the end of the season is a somber chore. For the Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles, it was a low-key continuation of the celebrations in New Orleans.
“As you reflect on everything — you put so much work in,” quarterback Jalen Hurts, the Super Bowl LIX MVP, said Thursday at NovaCare Complex. “You work 364 days of the year just for one moment, and the mission has been accomplished.
“I know the iteration of this team this year will never be the same. You go through changes, and every year is different, every team is different. … But it’s been a great ride this year with these guys, this group.”
Hurts was mic’d up during the 40-22 romp over Kansas City and at one point told teammates that losing to the Chiefs two years ago changed his soul. Left tackle Jordan Mailata said, in retrospect, he could see a difference in his QB.
“He’s always been so even-keeled that it didn’t really feel like it changed the way he went about business, but when I look back on it and him admitting it, no one prepared and focused more than he did,” the All-Pro Mailata said. “And I can see why it did. It changed me, too.”
After a collapse at the end of last season from a 10-1 start to a first-round playoff exit, the Eagles changed coordinators, bringing in offensive coordinator Kellen Moore and defensive coordinator Vic Fangio. Amid growing pains, the Birds started 2-2, but everything changed around an early Week 5 bye.
Mailata, right guard Lane Johnson and other members of the offensive line went to head coach Nick Sirianni to tell him that the offense should be built around running with Saquon Barkley. Sirianni listened and agreed.
Hurts, meanwhile, spent much of the bye week at the facility, watching film, clearing up some friction with Sirianni that dated to the previous season, and working with Moore on how to cut down on turnovers.
The defensive unit, which had been embarrassed in a 33-16 loss to Tampa Bay in Week 4, started buying into Fangio’s system and understanding individual roles.
The Eagles righted the ship during a lean part of their schedule against Cleveland, the New York Giants, Cincinnati and Jacksonville, ultimately rattling off a 10-game winning streak and winning 16 of their final 17 games.
“It’s been awesome, just taking it all in, all the love from the fans,” rookie cornerback Cooper DeJean said. “It’s been crazy. Obviously, I’ve dreamed of being a Super Bowl champion, but now it’s here, and I’m just trying to take it all in. I knew it was a possibility, just because of all the talent that we have on our team, on offense and defense, and the way we had started playing after that bye week.
“We just had to put the pieces all together and make a run, and we did that.”
Right guard Mekhi Becton, a former first-round pick who signed a one-year deal after being jettisoned by the New York Jets, talked about the sacrifices everyone on the team made for collective success.
“Everybody did that,” Becton said. “That just makes you go harder for the person that’s beside you. We all put our bodies on the line for each other. … It was dope. It was a great thing to see.”
Zack Baun also signed a one-year contract after New Orleans let him walk. He went from a special-teams player to a First Team All-Pro linebacker, nabbing an interception in the Super Bowl in the Saints’ stadium.
“I felt like, if you give our defense two weeks to prepare, it’s almost an unfair advantage to us,” Baun said. “Because of Vic, because of all the coaches we have, because of the preparation we put into it and all the hard work we’ve been putting in all season.
“Honestly, probably the last six games, I was going into games very confident and confident in the fact I’d make a play at some point in each game. I couldn’t tell you if it was a forced fumble or a pick, but I was playing so confident that I knew I’d make a play.”
Source: Berkshire mont
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