By Joe Giordano || Managing Editor
The wait is finally over for the city of Philadelphia! After a nail-biting, back and forth Super Bowl this past Sunday, the Eagles won their first Super Bowl in franchise history. After defeating the reigning champion Patriots 41-33, the city of brotherly love finally has a football title to claim.
While both teams were the top seeds in their respective conferences going into the big game, with both teams going 13-3 on the season, very few gave the Eagles a legitimate shot to win. While the Eagles were certainly a very talented team on both sides of the ball, the Patriots had the great equalizer, Tom Brady.
Brady, the owner of 5 Super Bowl rings, had been there and done that many times. One of those wins even came against the Eagles in the 2005 Super Bowl. All this coupled with a Carson Wentz injury had things looking bleak for Philly.
Back in week 14 of the regular season, the Eagles were rolling. There was little to no doubt that they were the top dogs of the NFC. However, the doubts started to creep in when their star quarterback Carson Wentz suffered a knee injury, sidelining him for the rest of the season. This led the team to have to rely on backup Nick Foles.
While Foles was a solid option as a backup, the question became whether or not he could carry the load of Philly’s Super Bowl aspirations. The short answer: Yes.
Foles helped the Eagles roll through the NFC playoffs and came up even larger this past Sunday. Foles threw for 373 yards and 3 touchdowns in the Eagles’ victory and even caught a touchdown pass from Trey Burton at the end of the first half of the game.
In what can only be described as a gutsy performance from Foles and the entire team, the Eagles did the seemingly impossible. They took down Brady and the mighty Patriots. However, it is not as though Brady and the Pats rolled over.
Brady threw for an incredible 505 yards and threw 3 touchdowns of his own. Brady, through his performance, showed he is without a doubt the greatest quarterback of all time and that time hasn’t quite caught up with him just yet.
Going forward the Eagles will face the dilemma of what to do with their now Super Bowl winning quarterback Nick Foles. While he is under contract for another season, the impending return of Wentz leaves Philly with many questions of whether they should test the trade value of Foles or keep him under contract for the next season until Wentz fully recovers from his injury.
Despite these impending decisions, the city of Philadelphia can now celebrate knowing they won the Super Bowl. Both teams deserve all the credit in the world after an exhilarating Super Bowl and season.
The world is now waiting for the Eagles to defend their title and see what surprises and great moments next season will bring.
Senior Joe Giordano is the Managing Editor. His email is jgiorda1@fandm.edu.