Sal Paolantonio - Philly Special: The Inside Story of How the Philadelphia Eagles Won Their First Super Bowl Championship

Contents

Prologue

The 2017 Philadelphia Eagles were a great team. But they were an even better story.

Its the story of how a star-crossed NFL franchise defied the critics and the oddsmakers, won its first Super Bowl title, and became Americas team. Several days after it happened, former NFL wide receiver Nate Burleson said on NFL Network, Its a movie. Yes, you could say that. But it was all too real. I saw it with my own eyes. I had a front row seat the whole way. In short, I lived it. What follows is the inside story of how it really happened.

For me, the highlight of the story came just minutes after Tom Bradys Hail Mary pass to tight end Rob Gronkowski fell harmlessly to earth at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis on Sunday, February 4. NFL commissioner Roger Goodell handed Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie the Lombardi Trophy. Green and white confetti were shot into the air with hydraulic cannons and cascaded onto the players and coaches and their families. Doug Pederson slowly descended from the national television riser and found me waiting at the bottom of the steps.

Here we were, two guys who live just a mile or so from one another in the small town of Moorestown, New Jersey, which is about 15 miles from the Eagles home stadium, Lincoln Financial Field in South Philadelphia. At that moment, we seemed to be suspended at the confluence of our careers and history, with hundreds of cameras and reporters from all over the world surrounding us, talking to one another about how the Eagles did itbeat the mighty New England Patriots and won their first Super Bowl title.

We looked at each other, the camera rollinga moment frozen in time and bright lights. Then my instincts just took over. I knew I had just a few minutes before Pedersons NFL escort was going to yank him away from me, so I discarded the pleasantries and just did my job: I asked him a question.

Doug, I began, you said all along this would be a 60-minute game, it would come down to the end, how did you do it?

Its just a resilient group, Sal, he said. They battled all year long. I just made my mind up to stay aggressive all the way throughout the game. Trust our players. Trust our quarterback. Trust our players to make plays.

* * *

Oh, boy, was he aggressive. In the annals of Super Bowl head coaches, Pederson may go down as the greatest gambler ever. And I know exactly where that came from.

I remember talking with Doug Pederson the morning of his first regular season game, Sunday, September 11, 2016. His father, Gordon, who was his mentor and taught him the game of football, had passed away in Monroe, Louisiana, just nine days earlier. It was a tough nine days for Doug; his wife, Jeannie; and their family, burying the patriarch of the Pederson family. The man who infused family, church, and football into the fabric of their lives was not going to be there when his son put on the headset on an NFL sideline as the head coach of a pro football team for the first time. In fact, Pederson had missed part of the week of preparation to attend the funeral and be with his mom, Teri; brother, David; and sister, Cathy, in Louisiana. So Pederson was about to take the field in his professional debut with a hole in his heart.

That morning, the Eagles public relations staff had warned me that I only had time for three questions. Talking to an NFL head coach before the game at the stadium is pretty rare. It happens maybe once or twice a season. Got to be a coach whos pretty comfortable dealing with the media. Lets put it this way, its not something Patriots coach Bill Belichick would ever agree to do. Pederson is the polar opposite. But still, it was his first game. I can tell you for a fact, having covered the NFL for 25 years, that just doesnt happen.

I asked Doug about the game, then his talking points to the team. But I had to ask him about his fathers passing. I knew it was touchy, but if I didnt ask it I would be derelict in the basic duty of journalism. He was ready for it. Doug, I said, what advice do you think your dad would give you this morning?

He would say, Son, be yourself, but stay aggressive. Always stay aggressive, Pederson replied.

Covering his tenure for two years, I always came back to that interview as a guidepost to understanding Pedersons go-for-it mentality in his first year as the Eagles head coach, an approach that was perfectly suited for his rookie quarterback, Carson Wentz, the young buck from North Dakota who took the franchise and the NFL by storm in 2016.

Pederson was often criticized for going for it too often on fourth down in 2016. The chorus of complaints on Philadelphias two vibrant sports talk radio stations was brutal. He was called misguided and foolhardy, and worse, much much worse.

But, in retrospect, he was setting the foundation that would allow him to remain aggressive throughout the championship season of 2017, including going 2-of-2 on fourth down in Super Bowl LII.

The night before Super Bowl Sunday, I was the only reporter invited into the Eagles team hotel, the Radisson Blu, on the south end of the Mall of America. The layers of security were brutal. The feds were concerned about terrorists. The local cops were deathly afraid of a renegade local gunman. The Eagles security staff was worried about one thing: Belichick stealing a look, a hint, a tendencyanything that gave the Patriots an edge. (But theres time for a full examination of that later in this book.)

Pederson and I met in the lobby for a long interview for SportsCenter . As a small gift of appreciation for his time and candor all year long, I brought him his favorite dessert: A pint of H agen-Dazs vanilla ice cream. I asked him if he would be channeling his father on Super Bowl Sunday. Ill definitely be thinking about him, he said. Ill be thinking about what he told me.

* * *

Which brings us to the most famous and successful fourth-down play in Super Bowl history: The Philly Special.

Now, I want you to think about this for a minute. NFL coaches, by nature, are conservative. They rarely go for it on fourth down. But going for it on fourth down on the one-yard line in the Super Bowlrunning a play thats never been tried in the 52-year history of the Super Bowl, a play that your team has never tried before in a gamethats being aggressive. In the streets, in the locker room, they have another nickname for that brand of hutzpah. Lets just say on Super Bowl Sunday, Doug Pederson decided to wear his big boy pants.

The Philly Special was a reverse toss to a tight end who throws a pass to the quarterback leaking out of the line of scrimmage into the end zone. And it starts with a direct snap to an undrafted rookie running back, Wisconsins Corey Clement, who went to Glassboro High School, which is South Jersey rival to Moorestown, where Pedersons kids go to school.

Now, thats a wow.

So, here are the particulars: 38 seconds left in the half, the Eagles had fourth-and-one. Even though the Patriots had just scored, Philadelphia had the lead, 1512. So, Pederson couldve kicked a field goal, gone up 1812, and nobody would have questioned him. But Pedersons defense was failing him and he knew it. They could not stop Tom Brady, and would not stop him until late in the game, which Pederson had no way of knowing.

During a timeout, quarterback Nick Foles came to the sideline and looked at Pederson, who held the laminated play sheet over his mouth. Foles said, Philly, Philly? Pederson knew what he meant: Philly Speciala play that the Eagles had practiced for four weeks and were going to run against the Minnesota Vikings in the NFC Championship Game before deciding the Vikings might sniff it out because the Chicago Bears, their division rival, had run it. This time, Pederson just said, Yes, lets do it. That simple.