Super Bowl 52 was this weekend and spoiler alert, the Philadelphia Eagles beat the New England Patriots for the Eagle’s first ever Super Bowl win 41-33. The Patriots were in the lead for only 7 minutes, but for any football fan, the game seemed destined for a Tom Brady/Patriots come from behind victory. The Patriots never stopped believing they would come back, and the Eagles never stopped to celebrate their victory before the final whistle.
There were quiet a few back stories for this Super Bowl. Tom Brady extending his legacy, former champions playing for the other team, who is Nick Foles, and even free beer for an entire city.
The most intriguing story to me was the story of the underdog. While the Eagles and Patriots were both the number 1 seed in their respective conferences, the Eagles were underdogs in each of their 3 playoff games this season. This was largely due to the fact that Carson Wentz, the Eagles starting quarterback and favorite for league MVP at the time, was injured in December. His replacement, Nick Foles, was considering retirement just a few years ago. He ended as a Super Bowl MVP after he threw for 373 yards, 3 touchdowns, and caught another touchdown.
A backup quarterback to Super Bowl MVP, Foles wasn’t the only underdog. Football isn’t an individual sport and Foles acknowledged as much during his post game interview when he spoke about his teammates. During Foles post game interview I reflected on the game and the history I had just witnessed. The Eagles embodied the core values we at Daniel Stark live by each day.
Do it all, do it right, do it now
- The Eagles demonstrated the same sense of urgency to get things done the right way. Whether it was from a quarterback catching a touchdown pass or a defense that stopped arguably the greatest quarterback of all time to complete another comeback.
Arms out, thumbs up
- The Eagles and Carson Wentz were behind Nick Foles 100 percent which enabled him to perform and win MVP.
Be remarkable
- You’re not doing anything remarkable if people don’t talk about you. I couldn’t count the times that Al Michaels and Cris Collinsworth talked about the coaching and players of the Eagles.
Work hard, play hard
- Brandon Graham for the Eagles said it best – “I had to play hard for this one, but you know, I’m just happy, because we’re world champs, and we worked our butts off.”
Watching the Super Bowl was a great reminder that all great teams have values that make them successful. And the values we have at Daniel Stark, can be applied even to football.