Anthony Mazziotti
Speechless.
As someone who prides himself on his ability to put thoughts into words into sentences into blog posts for the world to see, I find it hard to do right now. So like a good writer with a B.A. in English, I’ll credit some people who got their thoughts out cohesively in one way or another.
First I’ll go to Philadelphia’s favorite fictional hero: Rocky Balboa. Here is a Rocky quote courtesy of Eagles All-Pro center, Jason Kelce:
“We just won the ****** Super Bowl is what just happened!”
Jason Kelce reacts. pic.twitter.com/EEqqvje6qP
— NBC Sports Philadelphia (@NBCSPhilly) February 5, 2018
Fired. Up.
The second quote I look to is, you guessed it, another Rocky quote. This one is a little lesser known but check it out:
THIS IS THE GREATEST DAY IN THE HISTORY OF MY LIFE! #FLYEAGLESFLY
— Anthony Mazziotti (@AntMazziotti) February 5, 2018
This one came at the end of Rocky II. Rock said “aside from my kid being born, this is the greatest night in the history of my life. I just wanna say one thing to my wife at home: YO ADRIAN! I DID IT!”
Now that I’m done with sentimental Rocky quotes, here are some thoughts of my own:
Super Bowl LII was a roller coaster ride from start to finish. I had the highest highs and pretty low lows.
Doug Pederson called the game of the year. He out coached Bill Belichick on the biggest of stages. Let that sink in: DOUG PEDERSON OUT COACHED SOMEONE WHO IS IN CONSIDERATION TO BE THE GREATEST COACH OF ALL TIME.
Dougie Fresh was ballsy; he did what got the Birds to the game. He kept his foot on the gas and didn’t let up. This was one of my keys to victory on PI Live last Tuesday. His game plan was almost flawless, he showed who the real Coach of the Year was despite only receiving one vote. He called a very balanced game and had the utmost confidence in his quarterback. Which brings me to…
NICK EFFIN’ FOLES. Good Lord did Nicky Six show up. He played incredible. He outdueled Tom Brady to bring the city of Brotherly love their first Lombardi Trophy. One interception aside (which was the craziest bounce I’ve seen in a Super Bowl, don’t @ me) he played a perfect game. His touchdown catch was the call of the year in my opinion.
I was riding high. I always thought the Birds would win the Super Bowl, but…
When the Patriots were driving to take the 33-32 lead I had a meltdown. I was wondering why bad things happened to good people and good things happen to bad people. This wasn’t what Eagles fans deserved.
Then the (final) drive happened. The Eagles walked down the field on a 14-play 75-yard drive that ate seven minutes of clock. The Eagles converted two third downs and a fourth down en route to scoring the game winning touchdown on a slant route to Zach Ertz. Then I wondered: did the Eagles give Brady too much time?
I went from worried to excited. The defense got us to the Super Bowl. They will get me the stop. Sure enough Brandon Graham made the biggest play of the season. I’m going to be honest, I don’t remember the play, I think I blacked out for a second. All I remember is hugging my dad, falling to my knees, almost throwing up, then crying like a baby because that was the dagger the Birds needed to beat the Pats. After taking another minute off the clock the Birds kicked a field goal to go up eight. The party was on from there.
Yeah, there was a real chance the Pats could score, but I had all the faith in the world that my team would hold strong. We weren’t losing that game. The Eagles are Super Bowl Champions and I couldn’t be happier.
Here are my (kinda) NSFW feelings immediately after the game:
Last night was everything I thought it would be and more. I thought I had a grip on what the feeling would be like when I wrote about it last week in this article. It was so much sweeter than I imagined. I’ll see you all at the parade on Thursday. We did it, Philly. We finally did it. Fly Eagles Fly!
You can follow Anthony Mazziotti on Twitter (@AntMazziotti) and e-mail him at [email protected].
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