Philadelphia Eagles news and links for 2/3/18.

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Incredible Eagles fans, Favre’s failures vs. Birds, more in Roob’s observations - NBC Sports Philadelphia
Eagles fans began arriving in Minnesota in earnest Friday, and by mid-day the Mall of America, the center of most Super Bowl activities during the week, was jammed with jubilant packs of Carson Wentz, Brian Dawkins and Brian Westbrook jerseys, soaking in the moment. There were reports mall security threatened to kick some of the more enthusiastic fans out of the mall, which is absurd. If you have a Super Bowl, you can’t be surprised if fans show up. But I didn’t see any of that. I just saw Eagles fans everywhere, and it was surreal walking around the mall and hearing choruses of “Fly Eagles Fly” and E-A-G-L-E-S chants echoing from near and far in the massive five million square-foot shopping center. Every team has rabid fans. Nobody has this.

Revenge is a dish best served Foled - BGN
Eagles wildcards in this game on offense: Corey Clement (as a receiver - just like against Atlanta and Minnesota), Trey Burton (Patriots are going to focus on taking away Zach Ertz), and Mack Hollins (a major threat who had one splash play but otherwise I feel has been saved basically all season - time to tap into his mismatch potential). On defense: Mychal Kendricks (covering running backs out the backfield), Beau Allen (I figure one of the defensive tackles who’s not Cox or Jernigan will be the one to make a big stop/sack or force Brady into a bad throw and also maybe he can catch a touchdown ala Mike Vrabel), and Chris Long (I would be remiss if I didn’t predict a sack-fumble from him). Honorable mention: Vinny Curry (last game as an Eagle so what the hell).

Will idiots snub Brian Dawkins and Terrell Owens for the Hall of Fame again in 2018? - PhillyVoice
A year ago, somehow there were people who voted for former Buccaneers safety John Lynch, but not Dawkins. Lynch, quite frankly, couldn’t hold Dawkins’ jock. Neither player got in, but Lynch hurt Dawkins’ candidacy because he siphoned off a chunk of the dolt vote. On the intangible side, both players were leaders, although there has probably never been a more respected leader in Philadelphia professional sports than Dawkins. At worst, Lynch and Dawkins stalemate there. On the tangible side, Dawkins blows Lynch out of the water.

Eat Some Goat - Iggles Blitz
Pederson has empowered his players and coaches for two years and you’re seeing the results. Corey Clement and Big V are the best examples of this to me. Vaitai started at RT last year in place of Lane Johnson. Most people expected Pederson to shuffle the line, but he trusted his rookie and let him play. That worked pretty well. This year he put Vaitai in at LT when Jason Peters went down. Instead of shuffling the line, he trusted his guy. Clement was on the border of making the team, but once he secured a spot, Pederson found a way to use him. The undrafted rookie wasn’t just getting a rep here and there, he got touches in the Red Zone, on 3rd downs and in the 4th quarter. Pederson trusted his young players and they delivered big results.

Eagles say they are preparing for this Super Bowl officiating crew - ESPN
The Philadelphia Eagles have made it a major point of emphasis to scout referee Gene Steratore and his crew in preparation for Sunday’s Super Bowl matchup with the New England Patriots, according to ESPN’s Sal Paolantonio. Players have been shown video cut-ups of their calls, with a focus on pass interference and defensive holding -- especially in the wake of the calls made against the Jaguars that helped the Patriots win the AFC Championship Game. ”We kind of use that to understand what they like to call, know what they are looking for, and pretty much just help us play a cleaner game so we know what to expect from them and they know what to expect from us,” said Eagles linebacker Nigel Bradham.

This Team Has Lots Of Heart - PE.com
Although Simon Sudman lived for just three months, the brevity of his life sparked a lasting movement that helps ensure the well-being of children in the Greater Philadelphia area. In 2004, Simon unsuspectingly passed away while taking a nap one afternoon. He was initially diagnosed with (SIDS) Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. His parents, Darren and Phyllis Sudman, were later advised by a pediatrician to have their hearts checked. As it turned out, the results showed that Phyllis was diagnosed with Long QT Syndrome - a condition linked with 15 percent of all sudden infant deaths and one of the conditions connected with sudden cardiac arrest in children. From that moment on, Darren and Phyllis sought to emphasize the significance of having frequent heart checkups at all ages. And in 2005, Simon’s Heart (formerly known as Simon’s Fund) was born.

Super Bowl LII Analysis Notebook: How three slot weapons could be deciding factors - PFF
Another player whose production has been transformed by a move in position to the slot, wide receiver Nelson Agholor has become a viable threat in 2017 after looking like a first-round bust the previous two seasons. Agholor’s PFF grade has jumped 40.0 points from a season ago thanks to spending 85.6 percent of his snaps in the slot this year. Over the previous two seasons, Agholor didn’t play inside more than 23.1 percent of the time, and he was incredibly unproductive when pegged as an outside receiver. In 2015 and 2016, Agholor gained just 0.69 yards per route run, one of the lowest marks in the entire league, but with a move inside to the slot this year, that has more than doubled to 1.60, which ranked 31st in the league among all wide receivers.

The Eagles’ Best Path to Super Bowl Glory Is Following Their Wrecking Crew Up Front - The Ringer
Philadelphia features the NFL’s most mobile offensive line. New England has a linebacking corps that struggles to work from sideline to sideline. Their matchup represents the biggest mismatch in Sunday’s clash—and has the potential to determine the outcome of the game.

Sneaky Stats That Could Decide The Super Bowl - FiveThirtyEight
For the season, the Patriots rank 31st in defensive DVOA, and that could ultimately be their undoing this week. Our study of Super Bowl winners has shown that no team since at least 1986 has won a Super Bowl with a defense ranked lower than 25th in this metric. Atlanta came really close a year ago, but the 26th-ranked defense eventually wore down against the Patriots in the Falcons’ 28-3 collapse in Super Bowl LI. The 2011 Patriots also came close with the 30th-ranked defense, but Eli Manning led the Giants down the field for another game-winning drive in Super Bowl XLVI. Teams don’t require great balance to win a Super Bowl, but having the No. 1 offense and No. 31 defense like the 2017 Patriots makes them the most unbalanced Super Bowl team in more than 30 years.

Eagles D a Reflection of Jim Schwartz, Who’ll ‘Kick Your Ass and Outthink You’ - B/R
For those of us who knew Schwartz from Mount Saint Joseph High School in Baltimore, and especially those of us who played on the football team with him, it’s not surprising he’s reached this particular pinnacle of his career. Jim has always been one of the most dedicated, intelligent and fierce human beings I’ve ever known. If I was ever going to pick anyone from my young life to be in a Super Bowl, it would be Jim. In fact, in a poll of seniors at our school, Schwartz was named the most ambitious. The people who knew him figured he’d be a star in whatever field he picked, and here he is.

How Philadelphia Eagles’ Duce Staley approached first conversation with Jay Ajayi - PennLive
So when Ajayi arrived this fall in an Eagles locker room full of players steering a first-place team toward the playoffs, running backs coach Duce Staley figured he should have an honest conversation with the newcomer. Staley this week recalled that talk, one that helped steady the Eagles en route to Sunday’s Super Bowl against the Patriots. ”I don’t know what happened or what the deal was in Miami, and I don’t care,” Staley remembered telling Ajayi three months ago. “From this point on, as you step across that threshold right there, that door, from this point on, you and I start over. I don’t care about what they said. I don’t care about what they say you did. I don’t care about any of that. You have a clean slate with me. I have a clean slate with you. Let’s build from it.”

Agent’s Take: Seven players who might cash in from a good game in the Super Bowl - CBS Sports
The free-agent market for non-pass rushing linebackers was soft in 2017. The big deals came staying put rather than going elsewhere on the open market. Christian Kirksey (Browns), Alec Ogletree (Rams), Vontaze Burfict (Bengals) and Telvin Smith (Jaguars) received extensions from their respective teams averaging between $9.5 million and $11.1 million per year. Although that neighborhood will be out of the question for the Eagles, Nigel Bradham’s salary floor should be the five-year, $26.25 million deal with the $13 million in guarantees that Malcolm Smith got from the 49ers last March in free agency.

Philadelphia Eagles rookie blends quirky personality, underdog menality in unlikely way - Pro Football Weekly
The most interesting man at the Super Bowl sits down with his now-famous backpack (famous in Philadelphia Eagles country, anyway), greets a visitor with a welcoming, curious smile and starts telling his fascinating life story. While doing a Rubik’s Cube. Mack Hollins is not your typical NFL player. He’s not your typical rookie. He might not be your typical anything, really, and it doesn’t take long to figure out how refreshing that is. The Eagles wide receiver and special-teamer and I spoke for a little more than nine minutes. Hollins solved his ubiquitous Rubik’s — twice — in the time we talked. While looking down at it maybe four or five times. The key, he tells me, is a lot of patience.

Why the Doug Pederson-Howie Roseman dynamic works for Eagles - Inquirer
Winning the Super Bowl can change a lot, but as of last week, Eagles coach Doug Pederson said he had no intention of using his capital to lobby for more power in personnel. “Right now, I kind of like the way it’s going,” Pederson said to a small group of reporters back in Philadelphia before departing for Super Bowl week. “It’s just going to take you away from football. If you do more personnel you can’t coach football.” It’s difficult to argue with the current structure. Howie Roseman, the Eagles’ executive vice president of football operations, has final say over personnel decisions and Pederson runs the team. But they obviously collaborate. There isn’t a coach in the NFL who isn’t involved in player acquisition.

Inside the 20-20 club: How Bill Belichick let a confident, young Jim Schwartz get in the door - The Athletic
Now an established coordinator and former head coach, Schwartz carries himself with a confident swagger in his weekly meetings with the Philly media. But was this the case when he was working for free for Belichick, the low man on the organizational totem pole? To anyone who was working at the Browns’ practice facility in Berea, Ohio from 1993 to 1995, the answer is a resounding yes. And that is mainly for one reason: Schwartz is smart, and he’s fully aware of it. “He’s always been very confident now, very confident in his abilities,” Phil Savage said. “I think that when you’re somebody that really can see beyond two feet in front of them, can see the big picture at a young age like he could, that definitely contributed to that approach.”

2018 Super Bowl: Which Eagles player would you want on the Patriots? - Pats Pulpit
The Patriots are one game away from having a Super Bowl-winning roster, but the Eagles aren’t a team to look past. This begs the question: Which one player from the Eagles would most help the Patriots on Sunday?

The Philadelphia Eagles have 5 players with brothers playing in the NFL - SB Nation
Super Bowl 52 between the Philadelphia Eagles and the New England Patriots kicks off Sunday evening in Minneapolis. For a good number of Eagles players, having an NFL career is a family affair. Did you know the Philadelphia Eagles have five players that have brothers that are currently on other NFL rosters? That’s right, center Jason Kelce, tight end Brent Celek, Chris Long, linebacker Mychal Kendricks and cornerback Jaylen Watkins all have brothers that are also on NFL rosters.

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