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Philadelphia Eagles win Super Bowl LII over New England Patriots 41-33

By Collin Giuliani: Sports Editor

 

For Philadelphia, this was a celebration 57 seasons in the making. For the rst time since 1960, the Philadelphia Eagles are champions of the National Football League, and won their first Super Bowl in franchise history after defeating the New England Patriots 41-33 on Sunday at US Bank Stadium in Minneapolis. Backup quarterback Nick Foles, who started the nal three weeks of the regular season and every game in the postseason after Carson Wentz went down with an injury, received MVP honors, throwing for 373 yards and three touchdowns.

Philadelphia made the Super Bowl twice before, losing Super Bowl XV in the 1980 season to the Oakland Raiders, and losing Super Bowl XXXIX in the 2004 season to the New England Patriots. However, this year, the third time was the charm. Here are the four main questions left after Super Bowl LII.

The prevailing wisdom entering the game was that no matter what Nick Foles did, the Eagles would stick with Carson Wentz next season. How could they not? Prior to his injury, Wentz was the heavy favorite to win the league MVP, as he threw 33 touchdowns on just seven interceptions. Despite missing the nal three games due to an injury, Wentz still nished second in the league in touchdown passes, only behind Russell Wilson (34). Despite everything that Nick Foles did, Wentz is going to be Philadelphia’s quarterback in 2018. While Foles got them the Super Bowl, Wentz put them in the position to do so.

at gives the Eagles two op- tions with Foles. Option number one is to keep him on as the back- up quarterback. Having a Super Bowl MVP as your backup quar- terback is not a bad option, espe- cially one that, in the postseason, completed over 72 percent of his passes, threw for 971 yards, and had six touchdown passes. How- ever, there is a problem with this, as Foles has what can best be described as a “self-destruct” clause in his contract. Last o – season, Foles signed a ve-year deal worth $27.5 million, but this contract gets voided if Foles is on the roster 23 days before the start of the 2019 league year (around mid-February). What that means is if Foles is on the roster by mid-February of next season, he becomes a free agent. Unless the Eagles want to re- negotiate and tie a heavy portion of the cap space up into a backup quarterback, it’s probably not a good idea to keep Foles around, because he becomes a free agent after next season.

Option number two is to trade him. Foles’ trade value has never been higher, and that’s saying something considering the fact that in 2013, he threw 27 touchdowns on just two interceptions. After his dominant postseason performance, there are a bunch of teams out there who are looking at him. e Arizona Cardinals literally do not have a quarterback on the roster right now, as Carson Palmer retired and every other backup on the roster this season is a free agent entering the new league year. Could a team like the Cardinals give up a rst round pick on Foles? While it’s highly likely that Foles will not be an Eagle next year, it will be interesting to see what his trade value is following arguably the greatest two-game stretch of his career

Why Did the Patriots Not Play Malcolm Butler?

One of the more inexplicable decisions from Super Bowl LII was New England’s reluctance to play starting cornerback Malcolm Butler. ree years removed from argu- ably the greatest defensive play in Super Bowl history with his goal line interception to win Super Bowl XLIX against the Seahawks, Butler found himself in Bill Belichick’s doghouse for Super Bowl LII, only playing special teams snaps. Considering the fact that Nick Foles torched a Butler-less secondary for a passer rating of 106.1, this strategy did not work.

“They gave up on me,” said Butler after the loss. “I don’t know what it was. I guess I wasn’t playing good or they didn’t feel comfortable. I don’t know. But I could have changed that game.”

In the regular season, Butler played in 97.83 percent of all snaps. at was the most of any Patriots player on the defensive side of the ball. By comparison, Eric Rowe (the man who replaced Butler and was responsible for allowing Alshon Je ery’s 34-yard touchdown reception in the rst quarter) played in less than 25 percent of all snaps during the regular season, and struggled all night. ere is no explanation as to why Belichick decided not to play Butler, as Belichick said that the decision was made for football reasons; however, to pull the starting cornerback and not have him play any snaps was an interesting decision, to say the least.

Butler was playing the 2017 season on a one-year deal worth $3.91 million, so he becomes a free agent at the start of next season. After not playing in the Super Bowl, it’s likely that Butler leaves in free agency and signs with another team. His chances of coming back to the Patriots, just three years after being the hero of the Super Bowl, are incredibly slim following his surprising and inexplicable benching on Sunday.

What Happens Next With LeGarrette Blount?

In his previous seven games before the Super Bowl, Blount had struggled a bit, aver- aging just 2.9 yards per carry. However, in Super Bowl LII against his former team, he was a key factor in Philadelphia’s o ense, recording 90 yards on 14 carries (6.4 yards per carry), and a 21-yard touchdown run in the second quarter. In the biggest game of the season, Blount delivered, and won his third Super Bowl ring in the process (Blount won Super Bowl XLIX and Super Bowl LI with the New England Patriots). Since the start of December, halfback Jay Ajayi (who was acquired midseason in a trade with the Miami Dolphins) has led the team in carries in every single game; however, in Super Bowl LI, o ensive coordinator Frank Reich decided to put the majority of the carries in Blount’s hands. Blount answered the call.

Now, what do the Eagles decide to do with Blount, who is a free agent for the 2018 season? Philadelphia’s problem right now is that they do not have a whole lot of cap space; according to Over the Cap, the Eagles have the second lowest cap space available in the NFL entering the 2018 season, only ahead of the Kansas City Chiefs. ere is not a lot of available money to re-sign free agents. Do the Eagles let the 31-year old halfback walk to a different team (maybe a team like the Tennessee Titans, who badly need a backup halfback if and when DeMarco Murray gets cut)? Do the Eagles try and re- sign him by cutting some other players? e Eagles have a few of these decisions to make with impending free agents in role positions, and Blount might be the biggest name on the offensive side of the ball for them.

Is this the End of the Patriots Dynasty?

At this point, it’s impossible to doubt Tom Brady. At the age of 40 years old, he became the oldest player across the four major professional sports leagues in the United States (NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL) to win MVP, and he did so decisively. One could argue that he’s playing the best football of his career at this age; even though the Patriots lost this Super Bowl, he threw for 505 yards and three touchdowns, with very few of those yards coming against a prevent defense. Brady has made the Super Bowl in 50 percent of the seasons where he was the start- ing quarterback (eight out of 16), and has made it to the AFC Championship in 75 percent of the seasons where he was the starting quarterback (12 out of 16). The moral of the story here is to not bet against Tom Brady, because he has dominated the teams in the NFL for nearly two decades now.

Having said that, though, this might feel like the beginning of the end for one of the greatest dynasties in the history of the NFL. Rob Gronkowski is contemplating retire- ment, according to what he said at his postgame press conference following the game. Malcolm Butler is all but gone, which leaves the Patriots without one of their best defensive players. Defensive coordinator Matt Patricia is gone and will become the new head coach of the Detroit Lions, while o ensive coordinator Josh McDaniels is likely gone to become the new head coach of the Indianapolis Colts. Bill Belichick is set to lose the two main pieces of his sta . On top of that, even though Brady hasn’t declined yet, Father Time is undefeated; look no further than Peyton Manning, who overnight during the 2014 season, went from playing some of the best football of his career to playing barely at a starting quarterback level.

There is a bit of a changing of the guard in the AFC right now. Jacksonville came within just a few minutes of knocking o New England in the AFC Championship. Pittsburgh is always in the thick of things in the AFC. Los Angeles nished the season with a 9-3 record in their final 12 games. Houston gets quarterback Deshaun Watson back, who looked like one of the most dynamic quarterbacks in all of football when he was healthy. The bottom line is that the AFC might be more competitive next year than it has been in quite some time, and with all of the impending changes, it might not be New England’s conference to lose anymore. While predicting the fall of a dynasty after they just made it to their third Super Bowl in four years seems absurd, it is a thought that has to be lingering considering the number of drastic changes (and possible Brady decline) coming to the organization in 2018.