In Super Bowl LIX, the Philadelphia Eagles proved, in spite of facing off against one of the all time greats in Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelce and head coach Andy Reid that the better TEAM can and will win. And for the Eagles, their win can be attributed to the most basic of football fundamentals, winning in the trenches.
The Eagles offensive line held their own against the Chiefs defense and OC Kellon Moore stuck to his game plan of feeding Saquon Barkley the ball, despite only 2 or 3 yards here and there. He made the Chiefs respect their run game which only opened up opportunities for Hurts to get the ball out to Brown and Dotson.
Defensively, the Eagles front 4 was able to generate 16 pressures on 42 drop backs and produced 6 sacks of the elusive Mahomes. And the Eagles blitzed a total of ZERO times. And all of those pressures on Mahomes resulted in 2 in pick 6s against arguably one of the greatest quarterbacks to ever play the game.
So what lessons can the Miami Dolphins take from the Eagles win? Well first and foremost, Chris Grier needs to study Eagles GM Howe Roseman in how to manage a team. The Eagles draft fantastically and they aren’t afraid to move on from players. When you look at the Eagles defense, they only have 3 returning starters from the appearance in Super Bowl LVII. The Eagles probably placed more emphasis on drafting g and building the OL and DL than any other team in the league. Remember when Grier said we were more worried about the offensive line than they were? Well that didn’t age very well.
Bottom line, if the Dolphins need a blueprint on HOW to win, you need only look to Roseman’s methodology.
-
-
A lot of their fanbase also wanted the coach and quarterback gone too. Sound familiar?
danmarino likes this. -
Eagles also got lucky. They were #30 in defense last year and #2 in defense this year. It's rare to see that kind of sudden improvement. In large part that was because they did something highly unorthodox by selecting 2 CBs as their first 2 picks, both of which panned out. Chances of that being replicated are low.
There are many ways to win a SB, and what's most impressive is the Eagles did it with a RB as the centerpiece of their offense. That really hasn't been done since Terrell Davis in 1998, though let's not forget Hurts did end up with a 103.7 rating this year, so it's not like they didn't have elite QB play. Main question now will be can they repeat.danmarino likes this. -
It's never been a secret that football is won and lost in the trenches. For a few seasons now Philly has drafted in the trenches and it's paid dividends. Another trend, Philly has 6 active players from Georgia and 6 from Alabama, powerhouses that are known for winning in the trenches. These are not coincidences, they're building a system of recruiting developed players from elite programs.
hitman8 likes this. -
Let’s not forget the main reason the Eagles won the Super Bowl, and that is the New York Giants. If those bumbling idiots hadn’t made the biggest mistake of the season by keeping Jones, then Barkley would never have signed with the Eagles, and the Eagles would never have gone as far as they did without Barkley.
firedan likes this. -
https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZP8Yfnbof/
Would you look at the smirk on Schoen’s face? What a moron - should have been fired for that move alone. -
Quit looking for excuses, as I've said a million times our problem is Grier. They have a great GM, we don't. -
-
-
The Eagles have been DOMINANT for the past three years. Last year, injury ravaged their defense but they still should have gone all the way. This year, they absolutely blew out teams in the playoffs. And a very large part of that was drafting Georgia's defensive line and linebackers. People don't realize how truly special Philly was in that super bowl, rushing 4 and generating so much pressure against one of the best QB's ever. Nobody has ever come close to doing that before. -
You want dominance? Look at KC. In the Mahomes era (last 7 years) they won 3 SBs, lost 2 SBs, lost 2 Conference Championships, and finished 1st in their division all 7 years. KC is halfway to being one of the great dynasties in NFL history if they can keep this up (they're chasing SF and NE who were dominant for almost a 2 decade period).
Philly did great. But let's not blow this out of proportion. It's one SB win. If they can do what KC has done, then they'll have shown the NFL you can win consistently with a dominant line and a great RB. But if this is just a one year thing, it will be an anomaly more than anything else. -
-
It's not luck It's good talent evaluation and good drafting. It's also good philosophy about how to build a tough physical complete team to win a championship instead of a soft bunch of ******* who are only good for some regular season highlights against bad teams which is what we have here in Miami. -
Also, if their GM is so good why were they #30 in defense last year?? And don't try some kind of injury argument. Buffalo in the past few years has had so many crucial injuries to their defense and they still played elite despite them (look at 2022 where they ended up #2 in defense despite a rash of key injuries).
And how do you go from #30 to #2 in defense in one year? It's certainly not Fangio. On past teams he's improved their defensive ranking the first year he was DC by 12, 14, 11, 3 and 2 spots. This was a 28 spot jump. Of course it's luck.
That's all separate from noting they have a good GM, obviously better than ours. But this is not about the Dolphins, this is about the Eagles.Sceeto likes this. -
Not luck.Sceeto likes this. -
-
hitman8 likes this.
-
Point is, the SB run was more luck than skill. Building a good team was more skill than luck. -
Every year it’s the same thing after the SB. However that team won is the ONLY way to win in the future. Lol
Tuanon4Life likes this. -
-
-
Lesson it taught me was I probably should have not of eviserated Fangio last year like I did.
Holland being the man cancer on this teamDablur and Tuanon4Life like this. -
If your offensive line has major liabilities, it will get exposed eventually.
A stout defensive line makes your secondaries' job much easier (and much moreso than the reverse imo).
Being able to generate consistent pressure with 4-5 is a monstrous advantage.
Having a running game is crucial and can dictate to opposing defenses.
You need to have a few elite, killer drafts getting plays up and down the board. -
Not to mention having a division rival gift wrapping one of the top 2 difference makers at his position for you in the offseason, especially considering it was in favor of a qb that guaranteed said rival would remain at their previous level of suckitude.