Leady: Go birds

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-Photo from pixabay.com

Excitement is a complete understatement of my feelings right now. As I have been an Eagles fan for all of my life, I will witness the Birds play in their first super bowl since 2005.

Granted, I am not a total die hard fan who will be shotgunning beers before the game, painting my whole body green and yelling at the opposing team leaving the stadium. I am the person who will cheer them on, and jump off my couch as touchdown, after touchdown, after touchdown is scored on the opposing team.

With that being said, the Eagles will face the top dog of the New England Patriots. They faced off in the 2005 Super Bowl which ended in a 24-21 victory for the Patriots.

The only two people who were present during that game for both teams were Bill Belichick and Tom Brady, who both still remain with New England.

We are seeing almost two totally different teams in this new match up, the scariest part, and even more experienced Tom Brady going up against an Eagles team who is under control of second year coach Doug Pederson and an injury ridden team.

This will make the betting line lean towards New England heavily, but this is nothing new to the Eagles, as they have been underdogs in each of their two playoff games this year.

Now what does that mean? This means the city of Philadelphia will heavily embrace that underdog role. In fact, they will embrace it so heavily that at my internship at Fox 29 in Philly, interns, reporters, producers and even the news director will spend countless hours cutting out upwards of 2,000 dog masks to hand out to fans looking to support this role.

This started when both Lane Johnson and Chris Long supported the masks after their victory over the Falcons in the divisional round of the playoffs.

Fans crowded the stands with masks to show their faith in their team as they entered the game as underdogs against the Vikings and, as we already know the outcome, the underdog rose again.

Going into the big game which will happen in two Sundays, Philadelphia loves the attention of the underdog.

For two players on the Eagles, the Super Bowl is nothing new, especially considering their opponent. LeGarrette Blount and Chris Long both won Super Bowl rings in the incredible comeback win the Patriots had over the Falcons in the big game last year. Now, they will be on the other side of the ball of that dominant team.

For the Eagles, a lot of their players are first year teammates to them. Along with Blount and Long, Alshon Jeffery, Jay Ajayi, Jake Elliott, Derek Barnett ad Ronald Darby are first year big impact players to the Eagles.

This team, has little chemistry to one another prior to this year, but that does not show at all. Videos after the games show players, coaches and even the owner of the team dancing and celebrating after each win.

As the Birds go on the road to Minnesota to play the Pats in the big game, they will once again play the underdog role. For Eagles fans, they know what’s ahead and they are not scared. Myself, I don’t fear the Patriots, rather I see it as an opportunity to prove what this city can truly due when we believe and keep fighting.

Go Birds!

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