Fletcher Cox Breaks Down Eagles' Final Post-Practice Huddle of Super Bowl Week

After beginning the season on July 27 when training camp opened, the team will have one short practice Saturday before spending time with family prior to Sunday's game

PHOENIX – All that remains in the Eagles’ season, a season that began when training camp opened on July 27, is one more practice.

Oh, then the biggest game of the players’ and coaches’ lives – Super Bowl LVII.

The Eagles took another step in getting ready to face the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday with a Friday practice that was lighter in intensity than Thursday’s practice.

Britain Covey was listed as questionable for Sunday’s game with a hamstring injury on the team’s final injury report of the season.

If the rookie punt return is unavailable, it will be interesting to see what the Eagles do.

Covey has been reliable at catching the ball all season, if not super electric in gaining yards, though with an offense like the one Philly possesses, ball security is the most important part of his job.

DeVonta Smith has been used very rarely in high-leverage situations, so perhaps he gets the call. Or kickoff returner Boston Scott handles the duty, though when he did it in 2019, fielding the ball was an adventure on occasion.

The media isn’t allowed to watch the practices, except for one pool report.

This is what was filed

Veteran defensive tackle Fletcher Cox broke down the Eagles’ final post-practice huddle of Super Bowl week Friday afternoon, and head coach Nick Sirianni sent his team off the field with a similar message to what he’s echoed to his players all season.

“Our message and our identity all year has been to play fast, physical and for each other,” Sirianni said after the hour-long session. “We’re going to keep talking about that.”

Friday’s practice was lighter in physical intensity than Thursday’s practice but required players to focus on red zone situations – just the way Sirianni has structured Friday practices all season. Players seemed loose and in good spirits, with plenty of singing and dancing and laughs, particularly toward the end of practice.

Now, Sirianni is asking his players to maintain focus through the weekend as they rest their bodies ahead of Sunday’s game against the Chiefs.

His team is healthy: the only player who will be listed as questionable for Sunday’s game is receiver Britain Covey (hamstring).

The following players were listed on the final injury report as full participants in Friday’s practice: G Landon Dickerson (elbow), RT Lane Johnson (groin), C Cam Jurgens (hip), CB Avonte Maddox (toe), and DE Robert Quinn (foot).

Sirianni had his team leave the field and head inside late in Friday’s practice to simulate the Super Bowl’s long halftime break. 

The team returned after seven minutes – shorter than the break they’ll have on Sunday while Rihanna performs – but Sirianni wanted his team to go through the motions of stretching and getting ready to play again. 

Players went through one final low-intensity session after that break before the final huddle, capped by Cox’s breakdown.

The Eagles will hold a short walk-through session on Saturday, and players and coaches will have time to spend with their families. That goes for Sirianni, too, whose wife and three children have arrived in Arizona along with a large group of extended family.

“I go home at 4 o’clock on a Friday and hang with them,” said the coach. “And I’ll hang with them on Saturday because that’s my normal routine.”

Ed Kracz is the publisher of SI.com’s Fan Nation Eagles Today and co-host of the Eagles Unfiltered Podcast. Check out the latest Eagles news at www.SI.com/NFL/Eagles or www.eaglesmaven.com and please follow him on Twitter: @kracze.