Eagles Deny Super Bowl Hangover: ‘(Bleeping) Conspiracy!’

The Philadelphia Eagles' season began with talk of returning to the Super Bowl, something not done very often after losing the year before, but did it finally catch up to Philly?

PHILADELPHIA – There are reasons teams that lose the Super Bowl don’t often go back the following year.

The Philadelphia Eagles know that now. Just as they learned it way back in 2005 when they went 6-10 just a year after making it to the Super Bowl at 13-3, but losing to the New England Patriots.

This year’s drop wasn’t as steep, but disastrous, nonetheless.

Training camp opened last July with every player and coach being asked about the potential of a Super Bowl hangover. Then came the 10-1 start and all that hangover speculation was forgotten.

Still, the Eagles didn’t play their best football in winning 10 of their first 11. Far from it. Maybe the hangover was there, just buried so deep below the surface it wasn’t easy to gauge. 

Eventually, the mental strain became too much, as expectations got heavier and heavier as each win was logged and a Super Bowl seemed like a very real possibility.

Or not.

Philadelphia Eagles players watch time run out on their season / USA Today

“The biggest thing is we’re not focused on the Super Bowl when the season starts, and even going into the playoff game, we weren’t focused on the Super Bowl, we were focused on that playoff game,” said offensive lineman Landon Dickerson.

“That’s the mentality you have to have in this league. You can’t go around expecting that because you made it there last year you’re going to make it back.

“Every NFL team has a one-year expiration date and for this team that expiration came and it’s over. This team will most likely never be together again in some shape or form. Every year’s a new team and every year the expectation is for guys to come in and want to work hard and get better every single day.”

Left tackle Jordan Mailata also shot down the Super Bowl hangover on Wednesday as players cleaned out their lockers and headed into the offseason. He said he had a “Super Bowl hunger.”

"I don't know what the (bleep) a (Super Bowl hangover) is,” he said. “I guess it's a (bleeping) conspiracy. Like the JFK one. I say that because, individually, I didn't feel like I had a hangover. I just wanted to get back there, but I knew it was a whole new season.

“We had a whole new team. We had a whole new (bleeping) coaching staff calling plays. For me, from an individual standpoint, I had no (bleeping) hangover. I had (bleeping) Super Bowl hunger. I'm starving for a (bleeping) Super Bowl."

Jason Kelce said simply that “it’s hard to go to a Super Bowl, whether you went there the year before or not.”

In other words, in his opinion, it wasn’t a delayed hangover.

“Whenever you go to a Super Bowl, everybody’s going to be trying to take people on your staff, take players on your staff, take plays that you’re doing,” said Kelce. “Everybody’s looking at what you’re doing offensively to have success, so it’s hard to have that repeat success year after year.

“I think there are a lot of things that factor in. There’s luck, a lot of things that go into going to a Super Bowl. I don’t think I Iearned any of that this past year, I think that’s just kind of how it is.”

Kelce believes that the loss to the San Francisco 49ers may have been a turning point in the season.

The Eagles came in 10-1 after having to work overtime to beat the Buffalo Bills. The 49ers came in with 10 days of rest and throttled Philly, 42-19. The Eagles did nothing to beat themselves in that game. They didn’t turn the ball over or commit a large number of penalties.

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They simply lost.

“The season is not Madden,” said Kelce. “You don’t play with a 100 offense that’s rated each and every week. I think there are ups and downs to a season every year. We were playing and executing at a high level earlier in the season, offensively, defensively, we operated in clutch situations much cleaner.

“I think if you look back at the games earlier in the season we were a better football team. At the end of the season, we didn’t operate or execute at the same level. I wish I could give you a definitive answer as to why that’s the case. There are a lot of things that played into it.”

More than just a Super Bowl hangover.