The Philadelphia Eagles have won what will surely be remembered as an instant classic in Super Bowl LII, defeating the New England Patriots by eight points.
The Patriots were going for a record sixth Super Bowl victory in 17 years and very nearly finished the night with the trophy in their hands.
If it hadn’t been for two controversial decisions to award heavily-reviewed touchdowns to the Eagles during the match, they might once again have taken the championship back to Boston.
And even in the final moments of the match Tom Brady was looking to conjure some last-minute magic of the kind that won the Patriots Super Bowl LI just a year ago.
However a Hail Mary throw on the last play of the game just couldn’t find a pair of Patriot hands, and the Eagles went up in raucous celebration, winning the big game for the first time in franchise history.
It was the Eagles who led for almost the entire match, with an early field goal putting them in front, and they didn’t relinquish their lead until the final quarter.
There was plenty of controversy in two Eagles touchdowns that were both ultimately approved by a review, but led the commentators to question whether the rules had been applied correctly.
That said, perhaps the most memorable play of the match will be that which came just before halftime and resulted in Nick Foles, eventually named MVP, becoming the first quarterback to catch a touchdown pass in Super Bowl history.
The Eagles seemed to be playing out of their skin for so much of the match and yet in a massive credit to the Patriots they were never far behind. Every time it looked like Philadelphia might pull away, the Pats found a way to get back into the game.
Then early in the fourth it happened – a touchdown from the Patriots and successful conversion put them ahead by the slim margin of one point.
However with 2:21 left on the clock in the match the Eagles found a reply through Zach Ertz. While they couldn’t convert it, a field goal to come put them up by the eventual eight point margin.
Although no one dared exhale until the final seconds ticked down off the clock – you never do with the Patriots – in the end it was the Philadelphia Eagles becoming Super Bowl champions for the first time in an gripping encounter.
Perhaps an even greater honour, they can put their names along side the New York Giants as one of only two teams ever to defeat Tom Brady and Bill Belichek in the NFL’s biggest game.
Philadelphia Eagles 41
New England Patriots 33
piru
Roar Rookie
Leonard I think the media are bound by the fact that FIFA now 'owns' the word 'football' as a trademark. Hilariously it was the Association Football fans themselves who created the word soccer, laws were agreed upon for Association Football and Rugby Football - the rugby mob colloquially called their code 'rugger' while the Association crowd shortened theirs to soc football and then 'soccer'. The whole thing is a stupid debate, I agree
Leonard
Guest
In reality (and fanatics of any breed, class and ideology cannot stand even a little reality) football is what the natives call 'football'. Usually I used shorthand terms like 'footy' (Australian Football - with the 'F' because it is a proper noun), soccer (Association Football), RU or 'union' (Rugby Union), RL or 'league' (Rugby League), and NFL 'gridiron' (American Football) as instant identifiers. And 'Foot Ball' as a general term. Bad spellings like 'sokkah' or 'rulz', especially when boringly repeated, are just silly. Trying to convert Americans and Canadians, Australians and New Zealanders to restrict the word 'football' to soccer is just a Sisyphean exercise in silliness, and surely a sign of lack of confidence in the standing of their code of Foot Ball. Needless to say, some of the media exposed their inner cultural cringe by joining on the 'football' = soccer conga-line, with their trad Aussie = bad / PC foreign = good.
piru
Roar Rookie
Football refers to it being played on foot (as opposed to horseback), not with the foot. Hence, Rugby Football, American Football, Australian Football and Gaelic Football are all just as much football as Association Football
Tatah
Guest
Claudio I laughed when you said your friends took you to Jets and Giants games, and almost by definition you became a Giants fan. I'm an Aussie expat living in NY, and my in-laws are all Jets fans. As I haven't got a backbone, I've joined the Green army. I somehow think you will have a better time of it over the next decade than I will!
boyer
Guest
Just a comment, and a very true comment at that Leonard, chill man. Maybe the most basic actions in the sport: catching a ball, the NFL has changed the rule several times complimenting it beyond measure, makes no sense.
boyer
Guest
Overall for all games, sure, PHI has better defense, but they were garbage in the Super Bowl, which is the only game we're talking about. I lost track how many times Pats' receivers were wide open. I could've thrown for 300 yards.
Leonard
Guest
Ignoring the juvenile anti-Seppo venting which might even 'fail' (if that's possible in today's universities) to have enough bile to qualify as a (so-called) Arts / Humanities undergrad, here is the fundamental quirk of US professional sports - they are alone (to my knowledge) in the world's major sports markets in being highly regulated with salary caps, drafts and other non-free-market arrangements. (The AFL has adopted and adapted some US regs here.) And look at the SB players 'shirts' (not sure if there is a standard term) and their being so free from corporate brandings and other $$$-linked defacing - and then contrast their 'clean' look with the ugliness of so many of our once-traditional jumpers / guernseys / whatevers, and how that shows respect for their game, its heritage and traditions. Put an image of what now passes for an NRL guernsey side-by-side an NFL one - and weep. (AFL ones currently have less defacement - but how long will that last?) Note: contrariwise, US venues now have 'brandings', so they are getting down to our level there. How long will the MCG, the SCG, the Gabba / BCG, and the AO be able to preserve their identity and dignity? (Note that the new regime in WA was quick to jump into bed with a foreign-based capitalist crowd.)
BA Sports
Guest
Kendricks, Jernigan, Cox, Jenkins, McLeod and Graham - the man who got the sack - If you were picking a defense and you only had these two squads to choose from, those would be the first six guys picked - and they are all from Philli. The New England D is slow and doesn't create enough turnovers. New England D did not score a single touchdown this year...Only the Jets and Oakland can share that stat.
Cousin Claudio
Roar Guru
Defences, offences and kickers don't either nor do goalkeepers . . . complete waste of time.
Cousin Claudio
Roar Guru
Foles' defence gave away 33 points, so not that superior. I was amazed at Foles' composure in pressure situations. Brady's fumble didn't help his MVP cause, probably the turning point of Q4..
Leonard
Guest
Loved BC, second only to Doonesbury.
Leonard
Guest
The only book I've found about Foot Ball from a global perspective and with a multicode reach is “Football! The story of all the world’s football games” [first edition 1974] by Nicholas Mason, who was the then assistant editor of the [GB] ‘Sunday Times’ magazine, describing himself as “a compulsive sport-watcher”. His chapter 4 “American revolution: American Football – 1869” and chapter 8 “The entry of the gladiators – 1900-1940” are detailed and disinterested explanations of the evolution of the ‘gridiron‘ game. I reckon it is a ‘must’ in any sports library. (I liked “Splendid isolation”, a reference to how GB saw itself and the Empire in the late 1800s, as the chapter heading for Australian and for Gaelic Football. Have no idea as to whether Mason (who seems very much alive and writing) or others have produced an updated edition or something similar - surely one's needed with Foot Ball's evolution and developments in the last four-and-half decades. Here is a link: https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/21612314?q&versionId=45230515 ; Google lists several purchase sites. Googling the author brings up some interesting-looking pages.
DJW
Guest
Definitely early contact on the two point conversion
Oingo Boingo
Guest
Tissue, you two ? Sooo sooo sorry , please disregard my previous comparison. It's like saying,,,They're more corrupt than a labor politician...once again just not possible.
BA Sports
Guest
Agree Marshall - it is so frustrating. If Conspiracy World existed the Patriots would be the last team the NFL would awant to win - yet they have five rings in recent history and 8 Superbowl appearances. That said, not because refs were dodgy, but just the funny way the world turns; The Clement TD was like a square up for the Jets TD that was disallowed earlier in the year, and the Ertz TD was the Jessie James play getting reversed on them. Just cruel that it happened on the biggest stage.
BA Sports
Guest
Foles was also playing against a far inferior defence.
Peter
Guest
The really funny thing about American football is everyone talking as if the quarterbacks actually play against each other. They don't. Not ever. So "Fred outplayed Bill" is rubbish.
Leonard
Guest
"The NFL has some strange rules" - so what? Every sport has them (including some which are 'unnatural'), and usually they are what makes each sport distinct. Here are some, with good-natured joshing: ~ Association Football: primarily its no-hands rule, which is very unnatural, weirdly making half the human limbs illegal (not to mention the offside rule, which neither refs nor players don't understand); ~ the Rugbies: the go-backwards-to-go forwards-ball movement only politicians would come up with that, eh? ~ American Football: the main score being a ‘touchdown’ when that precise action is not needed (but it would be 100% accurate in the rugbies); ~ Australian Football: fatwaing the most natural way to move the ball by hand: ~ cricket: where to start? start with the sporting world’s most unnatural ways to deliver missiles and swing clubs, and then calling a batting period by a plural-looking name, where baseball grammatically uses ‘inning’ (but it is to its credit that cricket is the sole sport [to my knowledge] which is four-dimensional in results, which is more like the variances in nature); ~ tennis: the ultra-weird counting system (may it never be rationalised! and ~ underwater hockey - ‘nuff said!
Marshall
Guest
Haha if you think mentioning a highly controversial decision on the first TD catch is the same as fabricating and elaborate conspiracy that balls were illegally deflated to aid a team that won by 40 then I have a bridge to sell you...
YowiePower
Guest
"Melbourne Rules of Rugby" Nope, they were always referred to simply as the Melbourne rules of "football", and were regarded as a distinct "code of our own" from the out set