Keys to a Philadelphia Eagles Super Bowl victory

For all you Eagles fans who don’t know yet, your team is going to the Super Bowl.  It’s the first time in the Super Bowl for the Eagles since 2004, and it’s a perfect opportunity to exact revenge on the New England Patriots after a 24-21 defeat in Super Bowl XXXIX.

The Eagles have made a remarkable run considering they finished dead last in the NFC East with a 7-9 record and they didn’t have high expectations coming into the season.  Carson Wentz is an MVP Candidate and although he’s hurt, Nick Foles has taken over the role of disrespected quaterback.  Since Wentz went down the Eagles have been written off every step of the way, actually being underdogs TWICE for home playoff games.  Now they’re one step away from capturing their first Super Bowl Championship.

Here are the keys to an Eagles Super Bowl:

Play within yourself

These are very vague words of advice, but this is specifically relating to you, Nick Foles.  The Patriots win because they let other teams beat themselves before they can beat them.  They take advantage of turnovers, penalties, or any chinks in the armor they can find.  The Eagles don’t need to play a perfect game but they do need to limit the Patriots opportunities.

This all starts with Foles, who has been brilliant filling in for Carson Wentz after an ACL tear ended his season.  Foles needs to do what he’s done these past few weeks;  Don’t turn the ball over.  The Eagles are at their best when Foles is spreading the ball around to all targets, progressing through his reads properly and not forcing balls into double coverage.  It’s fine to take shots but don’t be careless with the ball.

Establish the run game, but not too much

Piggy-backing off the first key, establishing a run game against an underwhelming Patriots defense is what I believe to be the main component of beating New England.  A steady diet of Jay Ajayi and Legarette Blount will do two things for the Eagles.  First, it will obviously open up the passing game for Nick Foles with play action.  Foles has been good but he needs all the help it can get.  Second, it will tire out the Pats defense and keep Tom Brady off the field.  The longer Brady is off the field, the less he can hurt you.

I make the disclaimer “but not too much” because teams that play the Patriots have a tendency to play not to lose, not play to win.  As I stated before, New England will take advantage of any blown opportunity, and that includes getting too conservative when the game is on the line.  The Jaguars lost the AFC Championship because they didn’t trust Blake Bortles in crunch time, but based off of his track record I don’t see Doug Pederson opting to run the ball all that often when it matters most.

Beating the living hell out of Tom Brady

This key is easier said than done, as Tom Brady is elusive and will draw a roughing the passer flag if you look at him the wrong way.  It’s no secret that when things aren’t going well for Tom Brady he gets frustrated, and when he gets frustrated he gets frazzled.  If the Eagles can somehow sack him a few times, knock him around in the pocket, and have him scrambling, they just may be able to pull off an epic Super Bowl win.

Make sure to follow me @SupRos22 and our site @DoubleGSports on Twitter for all Super Bowl updates.  There will be a Patriots blog with keys for their victory for all Bostonian readers.

-Chris Passarelli