Thoughts on Super Bowl 52

Raise your hand, if in September you thought that Nick Foles would be named Super Bowl MVP.
Now put your hand down, you are obviously lying. Nobody saw this coming, not even Nick Foles himself. This might be the greatest underdog/unlikely hero story in the history of the Super Bowl. Better than a sixth-round pick leading his team to an upset over the "Greatest Show on Turf", better than a former Hy-Vee stockboy leading the "Greatest Show on Turf". Foles had been written of in NFL circles, and perhaps rightfully so until they were proven wrong. Foles looked like Joe Montana last night. If you had never watched football prior to last night, you might assume that the greatest quarterback of all-time played for the Eagles and not the Patriots. Foles is definitely not the greatest of all-time, but his performances in both the NFC Championship game and the Super Bowl definitely could be.

Now with that being said, here are some takeaways from the Super Bowl.

IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN OBVIOUS

Go back and look at each Super Bowl winner in the last ten years, just about all of them have had some sort of adversity; the Patriots trailed 28-3 at halftime of last year's Super Bowl, the 2015 Broncos benched Peyton Manning for Brock Osweiler, in 2014 many people thought Tom Brady had lost it, see what I'm getting at? Perhaps no team faced more adversity than the Eagles. They lost their best offensive tackle (Jason Peters), one of their starting running backs (Darren Sproles), oh and not to mention Carson Wentz was on his way to being named NFL MVP before he tore his ACL in week 14 and the Eagles were the underdog in all three playoff games, two of which were at home. I'm honestly not sure that any Super Bowl champion team has faced more adversity.

DON'T LET THE NUMBERS FOOL YOU

Tom Brady threw for 505 yards in Super Bowl 52, but those numbers are not as impressive as you might think. I know that somebody is reading this right now and probably calling me an idiot, but hear me out. Brady completed 28 passes on Sunday night, but 187 yards (37.2%) came on just five plays. Not to mention most of those completions were to receivers that were so wide open that even I could have hit them. 40 of those passing yards also came on the game's final drive when the Eagles were basically handing them yards by going into a Prevent defense. Also, don't forget the fact that Brady had some bad throws, including some bad underthrows on that final drive and one bad underthrown pass that may have prevented Chris Hogan from scoring on a big play, I don't want to say we saw Tom Brady take a step back, but we might have.

BELICHICK GOT OUTCOACHED

I honestly never thought I would write this, but its true. Doug Pederson and the Eagles beat the Patriots at their own game. The Eagles relied on a big receiving game from a running back (Corey Clement, 4 catches, 100 yards and 1 TD), much like we've seen the Patriots do in the past. I've previously said that Doug Marrone is the best NFL coach you don't know about, but I've changed my mind, I think that honor belongs to Doug Pederson. Speaking of him.

"ONIONS" (INSERT BILL RAFTERY VOICE)

Doug Pederson certainly had the onions, coconuts or whatever you want to call them. Bill Parcells once said that you have to gutsy to win the Super Bowl. Pederson must have heard that. Pederson and the Eagles showed their onions, not once, but twice, actually maybe even three times. The biggest play of the game was undoubtedly the fourth and goal the Eagles faced on the one-yard line towards the end of the first half while leading 15-12. Pederson knew that the Patriots would get the ball to start the second half and that they were likely going to score to start the second half. Taking an 18-12 lead into the locker room probably meant that they were going to be down 19-18 the next time they got the ball. Pederson ignored the typical NFL thinking and gambled by going for it on fourth down. If it had not worked and the Eagles lost, he would have been harshly criticized, but it did. The play call itself was also gutsy. On the previous drive, the Patriots ran a gadget-play that saw Tom Brady drop an easy first down, the Eagles ran the same exact play, except Nick Foles caught the pass to extend the Eagles lead. The choice to go for it on fourth down in the fourth quarter was also gutsy, Pederson knew that punting and pinning the Patriots deep would do them no good, because New England was likely to go down the field and score, which would have hurt them more than if they didn't get the fourth down because the Patriots would have been able to chew up almost all the clock. The fourth down worked and as I mentioned, Doug Pederson outgeniused the genius and Nick Foles out Tom Brady'd Tom Brady, speaking of whom.

WHAT TO DO WITH FOLES?

Who would have thought that two of the hottest commodities this off-season would be Nick Foles and Case Keenum? I didn't, but they will be. I've always felt that Foles got a bad wrap and that he wasn't as bad as many think, but not even I saw this coming. Foles signed a five-year contract with the Eagles last off-season. He could become a free-agent after next season, but he is under contract with the Eagles in 2018 for the price of $7 million. Foles could have a really strong market for his services if the Eagles wish to deal him. The Redskins recently gave a 3rd round pick and a Pro-Bowl caliber defensive back for a 34-year-old Alex Smith, who will then receive $94 million from them, $71 million of which is guaranteed. With the exception of this Super Bowl run, you could make an argument that Foles is on the same level of Alex Smith. The Eagles dealt Sam Bradford last year for a first-round pick because they felt Carson Wentz was ready. If a team offers Foles a first-round, they could make the same move, or maybe they've realized the importance of having a quality backup. If Foles, does get dealt he could get a hefty deal. Brock Osweiler was benched on a Super Bowl champion team and he got $72 million from the Texans, I think we can all agree that Foles is better than Brock Lobster.

 WHAT IS A CATCH?

I'm asking for a friend because I have no freaking clue. Nobody knows what a catch is, you don't, I don't and most importantly the NFL doesn't. That been evident throughout the year. Calvin Johnson caught it, Dez Caught it and Jesse James caught it, but Corey Clement probably did not. Let me prefix by saying that I do believe that had it been called incomplete, the call would have stood. Replay reversals require indisputable video evidence that the call on the field was wrong, the term "indisputable" is a subjective term. I'm not sure that there was indisputable evidence that he did not have possession, but I thought the ball moved a lot. The go-ahead score to Zach Ertz was obviously a touchdown given the fact that he caught it and took three steps before going to the ground, however, that play is not that much different than the Dez Bryant play against the Packers in the NFC Divisional Playoff game. Man, I bet Cowboys fans loved watching the Eagles win a Super Bowl on a play that screwed them over three years prior. The thought of their disgust makes me smile.

PATRIOTS FANS (AND SKIP BAYLESS) SAID STUPID STUFF

A friend of mine sent me this tweet today.

And if Nick Foles wouldn't have played quarterback, and if the Patriots wouldn't have won the coin toss because they never win Super Bowls when they win the coin toss, and if Brady wouldn't have fumbled and if the Patriots were playing the Browns in the Super Bowl. This tweet honestly made me laugh. As I previously mentioned, I do think that the first touchdown could have been the wrong call, but isn't it just funny hearing a fan of a team whose run of dominance was started by an obscure rule that had been called before nor since complain about the officials?. Did this person not watch the AFC Championship game where the Patriots were beneficiaries of two-bogus pass-interference calls or the multiple missed holding calls? Because I did and trust me, they happened, well actually in the case of the pass-interferences, they did not happen. Then there's this idiot.

When I saw this, I asked myself why I follow Skip Bayless. But he is the sports world's equivalent of Jerry Springer, he does absolutely nothing worth anything, but is such a train-wreck that you can't help but pay attention. I will give Skip credit and admit that he was at least half right (that might be the first time he's ever been even somewhat right), but really? No surprised the Pats got hosed? Have you watched the NFL this year?. Take your Cowboys fanboy/Eagles hater goggles off Skip.

WHAT THE HELL WAS HE WATCHING?

I've long defended Cris Collinsworth, but last night was tough to defend him. Either Cris enjoyed way too much of whatever fine beer they have in Minneapolis before the game, or maybe he was re-watching the Super Bowl that he played in 30-years ago and not paying attention to the game going on in front of him, but he was not good at his job last night. Actually he was nearly unbearable. He solidified my belief that Tony Romo is the best color commentator in the NFL right now. Many people don't like Tony Romo, but that's just because they still envision him as the Cowboys quarterback. Romo is a very raw talent in the broadcast booth, but he brings a level of energy and enthusiasm that the business lacks. He does not pull any punches and has told it exactly like it is while providing wonderful insight about what goes on in the NFL. If you don't like Tony Romo, that's a you problem.

And lastly.

WHO CARES ABOUT HALFTIME AND COMMERCIALS? (NOT ME)

I was the only person at the Super Bowl party I attended that did not care for the commercials or Justin Timberlake.I like JT, but the halftime show is always bland to me, you can't understand what they are saying anyways and I'm too locked in on the game to care. JT is a great performer, but this was not Katy Perry riding a freakin' lion or left shark doing his thing, therefore I don't care. 

As for the commercials, they are dumb. Well, some of them are, but the fact that you see most of them before the game makes me uninterested. I don't even understand why a company would want to show it's Super Bowl commercial before it's actual spot. If I've already seen the commercial, I don't care to watch it. I'm a 21-year old with basically no advertising experience and even I don't think that is a good business decision.

Dilly Dilly!