Super Bowl LII Recap and Reaction!

The Philadelphia Eagles finally broke through their championship drought and won their first Lombardi Trophy by defeating the New England Patriots in a wild 41-33 shootout in Super Bowl LII. The game set the record for most yards ever in a NFL game! Both defenses could not contain the other offense and in the end, the Eagles held off the Pats and are now hoisting the Lombardi Trophy. The game was a very good game and fun one-especially if you like offense. Nick Foles won the MVP after another masterful performance, and Tom Brady and Bill Belichick suffer their third defeat in a Super Bowl, but not after Brady passed for a Super Bowl record 505 yards. Here is my reaction and my takeaways from the game....

1) Both offenses couldn't be stopped but I was shocked at how easy the Eagles were able to convert first downs on third down. They moved the ball at will in taking the 9-3 lead on the Foles to Alshon Jeffrey 34 yard touchdown pass, and then LaGarrette Blount broke a 21 yard TD run to make it 15-3. I don't know why Doug Pederson went for two there but in the end it didn't matter. You could feel from the beginning that the Pats had no answer for the Eagles offense.

2) The key sequence in the game and in the first half was when on a 3rd and 5 at the Philly 35 in the 2nd quarter, the Pats ran a trick play and Dannly Amendola took a reverse and threw a pass to a wide open Tom Brady, but the ball just slipped off his fingers and it was incomplete. The Pats went for it on 4th down and Brady's pass was incomplete to Rob Gronkowski and the Pats turned the ball over on downs. The Eagles came down and Blount's TD run was on the ensuing drive to make it 15-3. I had a feeling there that the Eagles weren't going away in this one.

4) The Pats got back into the game when they got a FG on the next possession to make it 15-6, and they were lucky to benefit from a tipped interception in their own end on the next possession and then Brady took them 90 yards and a James White 26 yard TD run made it 15-12 after a missed extra point by Gostkowski. Now, you knew we were in for a treat of a game.

5) Philly answered with the play of the game. After driving down to the Pats 1 yard line, they were faced with a 4th and goal. Doug Pederson, who coached a great game, decided to go for it and they ran a direct snap to the RB who pitched it to Trey Burton on a reverse and he threw it to a wide open Foles for a touchdown. It was a great trick play, and it really stuck it to the Pats and it extended the lead to 22-12 going into halftime.

6) Once the second half started it was all offense and the shootout was on. The Patriots made their adjustments and scored TDs on their first three possessions of the second half. The Eagles went touchdown, field goal, touchdown, field goal in their four possessions. Both defenses couldn't do a thing to get off the field until the end. Brady went 28-48 for 505 yards with 3 TDs and 0 Int. Foles went 28-43 for 373 yards with 3 TDs and 1 fluky INT. The Pats had 613 total yards and the Eagles had 538 total yards for a combined 1,151 yards and a NFL record. It will go down as one of the greatest offensive games of all time.

7) It was like a tennis match and someone had to break serve to win. The Pats made it 22-19 on a Brady to Gronk 5 yard pass, Philly responded with a Foles to Corey Clement 22 yard bullet to make it 29-19, Brady hit Chris Hogan for a 26 yard TD on a post route to make it 29-26, Philly got a 42 yard field goal to make it 32-26, NE finally grabbed the lead on Brady to Gronk 4 yard pass to make it 33-32 with over 9 minutes left in the game. Philly came back and Foles hit Zack Ertz with a 11 yard TD pass to make it 38-33 with the two-point conversion failing. Then, finally the Eagles strip sacked Brady on the next drive on second down and they recovered and kicked the field goal to give them an eight point lead 41-33. It was remarkable the way the two teams traded scores in the second half-in the Super Bowl no less.

8) Here is the sequence that will forever live in the minds of Eagles fans and football fans everywhere when they talk about this Super Bowl. Philly is down 33-32 and they have the ball at their own 45 yard line facing a 4th and 1 with 5:39 seconds to go in the game. Normally, teams will punt the ball back to the Pats. Philly hadn't stopped Brady and NE the entire second half, so they Doug Pederson decides to go for it. Foles completes it to Ertz for 2 yards and a first down to keep the drive alive. Philly eventually goes down and scores the TD to Ertz and takes the lead 38-33. That was a ballsy call by Pederson and I give him credit because if that doesn't work out, then Brady has the ball at the Philly 45 up 33-32 and a touchdown there makes it a 40-32 game. Great, gutsy call by Pederson and his ability to decide to go for it won the Eagles the game.

9) When Brady got the ball back down 38-33 with 2:21 to play, I kept thinking about how this is going to be amazing. The Eagles are two minutes away from their first ever Super Bowl title, and they have to stop Tom Brady and the Pats in the closing moments to do it. That is what sports is all about. Sure enough it took only two plays, and Brandon Graham strip sacked Brady and Derek Barnett recovered and it essentially won them the game. Phenomenal moment and sequence there at the end of Super Bowl LII.

10) The one thing I will say about the final series is that although were down 41-33 with only 58 seconds left and they had to 91 yards to tie the game, the fact that the Pats go the ball to midfield to even try a Hail Mary at the end is absolutely remarkable. Even though it fell short and was deflected away, it just showed that you really have to cut the Pats heads to finally kill them in these games. It just showed you why the Pats are the Pats.

11) Nick Foles gets the MVP and he played unbelievable. He deserved it and he made great throw after great throw. It is amazing that he was able to play so well in the playoffs and his story is one of the most remarkable ones in Super Bowl history.

12) Doug Pederson could have been the game's MVP. He called a great game, was decisive in his decisions, and he made gutsy calls-something that a lot of coaches wouldn't do against the Pats on that stage. Pederson showed this year to be a top-flight coach, and he won a Super Bowl after losing his MVP QB in December, and he found a way to get the Eagles over the top.

13) The city of Philadelphia gets their first Super Bowl trophy and it is well deserved. They were underdogs in all three playoff games, including two at home. They slayed the Patriots and their fans can finally celebrate a Lombardi Trophy. At some point, everyone is bound to eventually win a title. Philly got their moment.

14) The Eagles are interesting case study for other struggling teams in the NFL. Two years ago, they were in disarray. They fired Chip Kelly before the end of the 2015 season, there was a power struggle in the front office, and they were ridiculed for signing Chase Daniel, Sam Bradford, and then moving up all those picks to select Carson Wentz in the draft that year. Last year, they go 7-9 and then all of a sudden this year, they go 13-3 and win the Super Bowl. Pretty amazing jump in just two years. Also, they have a very solid core of players signed through the next few years and they have an emerging star in Wentz with a solid backup in Foles, and the are coming off a Super Bowl title. They could be the next dynasty in the NFL.

15) Lastly, we get to the Pats. I don't think that this loss does anything to their legacy. 5-3 in Super Bowls is pretty impressive in the Brady and Belichick era. They got beat by a better team on this night. They have put together the greatest run and dynasty in NFL history going back to 2001. The only thing that could make this game sting long term is if this is the last Super Bowl and last shot for Brady and Belichick together. I think both are coming back next year, and I'm sure they will make a run again, but if they never get back to another Super Bowl or don't win another one together, then this could be a tough moment for Pats fans to realize how close they were to their sixth Super Bowl title.