The Eagles will host the Washington Commanders with a Super Bowl berth on the line on Sunday afternoon. That's certainly not a sentence I would've imagined writing before the season, but here we are!
Before kickoff and as the anxiety jitters carry on throughout the week for Birds fans, I'm going to share five thoughts I currently have about the Eagles…
The Eagles can't let Josh Harris make the Super Bowl with Washington
With Jayden Daniels looking like the NFL's next elite quarterback already, the Commanders are far ahead of schedule with their rebuild. A plucky Wild Card team led by the future Offensive Rookie of the Year winner, Daniels has Washington reminiscent of a hot March Madness team led by a single game-altering talent. Daniels is simply that good in his first pro season. The Eagles are favorites on Sunday, but it will not be easy.
Do you know what will be easy, however, for Eagles fans?
Rooting against Commanders owner Josh Harris.
Harris, of course, also is the co-owner of the Sixers (and the New Jersey Devils…). That's too much! Find your lane! The promise of The Process has run its course for the Sixers. They are dropping by the second in the hierarchy of things Philadelphians care about. Harris, frankly, hasn't done all that he needs to put the team on a path to a championship and now his attention has turned heavily towards his new football team.
This guy's Sixers teams have never made it out of the second round in increasingly humiliating fashion and now he's potentially going to the Super Bowl with a Philly rival? Those vibes would just be atrocious. Boos would rain down from Lincoln Financial Field like a biblical plague if there were to be a post-game ceremony on Sunday of Harris celebrating on stage with the TV broadcast crew.
For the 2024 season, Saquon Barkley's contract has been a bargain
In a move that will go down in infamy, the New York Giants allowed Saquon Barkley to walk to the Eagles last offseason, not wanting to pay the man big bucks. Barkley signed with the Birds on a three-year deal worth up to $37.8 million. That's a lot for a running back, sure, but putting it into the context of other skill position players, is it really a lot given the season for the ages that Barkley has had?
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Barkley's contract wouldn't even put him in the top 30 of the highest paid receivers this season. His contract, by average salary at least to keep things simple, had him at a $12.6 million in 2024. That's less than the likes of Christian Kirk, Gabriel Davis, Darnell Mooney, Brandin Cooks and other wideouts who haven't had a sliver of the impact that Barkley's had for the Birds this year.
The NFL doesn't need to fully turn the clocks back to a bygone era, but in a world where Barkley's doing this, Derrick Henry had yet another Hall of Fame-caliber season in Baltimore, and Josh Jacobs looks revitalized in Green Bay, maybe it's time to revamp the positional value of a running back. When most teams are zigging when it comes to resource allocation, smart teams zag. The Eagles, long a pass-first team, did just that with Barkley and it might pay off with a Super Bowl win in Year 1.
A crowd noise-filled video of Saquon Barkley's 78-yard touchdown run is the best thing you'll watch all day
A great broadcast call can augment a gigantic sports play. Things like "Stairs rips one into the night!" come to mind, living on in Philadelphia sports lore. Sometimes, however, it can just be too much, taking away from the pure energy happening out there on the field or court or ice.
On Monday evening, the Eagles posted a video of Barkley's second touchdown run against the Rams sans any broadcast call. All you see is Barkley dashing through the snow and all you hear is Eagles fans going absolutely wild. It's glorious:
No broadcast call, just the crowd noise 😍 pic.twitter.com/E8UtFT11h5
— Philadelphia Eagles (@Eagles) January 21, 2025
If the Eagles win on Sunday, I'm sure some other instantly iconic moment will come with a win of that magnitude, but, for now, that stands as the coolest moment of this Birds run, and maybe the coolest thing flat out seen from a Philly sports team in a few years, if not longer.
Seven years ago, Lincoln Financial Field rocked for the 2017 NFC Championship Game
Speaking of iconic moments in the NFC title game, nothing compares to the Eagles' 38-7 thrashing of the Vikings, which came seven years ago to the day on Tuesday. Patrick Robinson. Flea flickers. Nick Foles. That game was electric even before kickoff:
On this day, 7 years ago, the Eagles crushed the Vikings to advance to winning their first Super Bowl. The Eagles pregame were as hyped as I have ever seen them and you could feel something special was happening that day.
pic.twitter.com/YQ8bAdJVib— John Clark (@JClarkNBCS) January 21, 2025
It remains the loudest I've ever heard a Philadelphia sporting event.
The Eagles' playoff history with Washington
The Birds have faced the Washington franchise in the postseason just once. It came following the 1990 season in the Wild Card Round at Veterans Stadium. The Eagles were 4.5-point home favorites over Washington following a season in which Randall Cunningham finished second in NFL MVP voting.
The Eagles fell 20-6, unable to even put the ball in the end zone and Buddy Ryan's vaunted defense did not do enough of a balancing act with home field advantage to help even things out. Ryan was fired a few days later.
The Eagles would miss the playoffs entirely the following season. Washington would win the Super Bowl.
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