The Eagles defense had two dominant games this postseason. Against the high-powered Falcons offense, Philadelphia held Matt Ryan, Julio Jones and company to just 10 points, with the lone touchdown drive coming on a short field following a muffed punt at the Eagles own 18-yard line. With the game in the balance, Philadelphia’s defense held on a goal-line stand to preserve the 15-10 win. In the NFC Championship Game, the defense allowed an opening drive touchdown, and then responded with a pick six on the second drive. That was it: the Eagles defense allowed zero net points to Minnesota, and recorded two more turnovers and two turnovers on downs the rest of the way.
Philadelphia’s offense also had two dominant games this postseason. Against Minnesota, the offense scored 31 points on the team’s first 7 drives of the game, and Nick Foles finished with a 141.4 passer rating on 33 attempts. In the Super Bowl, Philadelphia gained 538 yards of offense and scored 41 points. The Eagles scored on 80% of their drives against the Patriots, with half of those 10 drives ending in touchdowns.
The Eagles joined the 1991 Redskins, 1989 49ers, 1986 Giants, and 1983 Raiders as the only teams to win the Super Bowl and have multiple games allowing fewer than 14 points and multiple games scoring more than 35 points.
Beating The Top Offense and Top Defense
Philadelphia also knocked off the number one defense (Minnesota, by both yards and scoring) and the number one offense (by yards; the Patriots ranked 2nd in points) en route to winning the Super Bowl.
That’s pretty rare, too. The 1988 49ers actually beat three teams with a number one ranking: San Francisco beat the Vikings in the Division round, who ranked 1st in yards allowed and 2nd in points allowed, the Bears in the NFCCG (who ranked 1st in points allowed and 2nd in yards allowed), and the Bengals in the Super Bowl (who ranked 1st in both yards and points scored). That’s tough to top.
The 2016 Patriots (Atlanta, Houston), 2004 Patriots (Steelers, Colts), 2001 Patriots (Steelers, Rams), 1988 49ers, 1984 49ers (Dolphins, Bears), 1980 Raiders (Chargers, Eagles), and 1973 Cowboys (Rams, who finished 1st in points, yards, and yards allowed) are the only other post-merger Super Bowl champions to knock off a number one offense and a number one defense.
How history remembers the 2017 Eagles may have more to how the 2018, 2019, and 2020 Eagles fare than anything else. This is a young team that could have a long run in them like the 2001 Patriots, a young team that could have a long run of success but no other titles like the 2013 Seahawks, or a team like the 2012 Ravens that surprisingly got hot and won it all but faded nearly as fast.
And as noted before the game, Philadelphia is now just the fifth team to win the Super Bowl despite being an underdog in three playoff games, and the third to do so by beating the Patriots in the Super Bowl. The first four? The 2012 Ravens (who beat the Patriots in the AFCCG), 2011 Giants, 2007 Giants, and 1980 Raiders.
What do you think? How will history remember this Eagles team?