Bill Belichick’s impressive resume makes it easy for the five-time championship head coach to mandate that players check their egos before joining the New England Patriots.
Doug Pederson didn’t have a hard sell
Steelers Elite Jerseys , either.
The Philadelphia Eagles are an unselfish group that prioritizes winning over personal accomplishments. It’s a major reason why the Eagles (15-3) are playing the Patriots (15-3) in the Super Bowl on Sunday.
”It’s a group that doesn’t really care who gets the ball. The bottom line is trying to win the game,” Pederson said. ”I didn’t have to sell it too much.”
Pederson was 7-9 last year in his rookie season as head coach but has guided the Eagles from worst to first in search of the franchise’s first NFL title since 1960. He found a way to blend a young locker room with a mix of accomplished veterans.
The team added veteran receivers Alshon Jeffrey and Torrey Smith, running backs LeGarrette Blount and Jay Ajayi, defensive linemen Chris Long and Tim Jernigan and defensive backs Ronald Darby, Patrick Robinson and Corey Graham.
”I can remember this team showing up in April and talking about being at this place, talking about our dreams, aspirations and focusing on a grind,” safety Malcolm Jenkins said.
”Guys being unselfish, adding guys along the way that added to the team and continued to push, and every time we won and had some success – we even had some adversity – the team believed more and more. It’s been awesome to be a part of.”
Blount led the NFL with 18 touchdowns rushing and earned his second Super Bowl ring last season in New England. He didn’t get a carry in a loss at Kansas City in Week 2 and never complained. Same with Jeffery, who went from No. 1 receiver in Chicago to being one of the guys in Philadelphia.
”We couldn’t care less how many catches or how many carries or how many yards any one guy has,” Blount said. ”We all have one common goal in hand. We all have one thing that we all want more than anything. You can’t be selfish when everybody has one common goal because you have to make sacrifices for the better of the team. We’ve done that and it’s gotten us this far.”
Pederson set the tone and Carson Wentz carried it out with his team-first attitude and that filtered down the roster.
”He’s the most humble guy you come across,” Pederson said. ”He’ll give it right back to the team.”
It was a smooth transition to Nick Foles after Wentz got hurt. Foles also is a respected leader who leads by example. It’s not a coincidence the Eagles sought this type of player.
”This is the most selfless team I’ve ever been around,” Pro Bowl tight end Zach Ertz said. ”Guys don’t care about stats. They only care about winning. Doug is the best coach I’ve been around in managing players. He lets us show our personalities and if he needs to talk to somebody, he does it quietly and in a mild-mannered way. His selfless leadership is a big reason we’re here.”
The team is one of the closest-knit groups in the league and players genuinely care about each other and spent plenty of time together.
”When you see guys hanging out with players from other position groups, it’s special,” defensive tackle Fletcher Cox said. ”I would go eat dinner with Donnie Jones. You don’t see a guy hanging out with a punter.”
If the Eagles win a few championships
49ers Elite Jerseys , perhaps the standard Pederson has set will eventually become similar to Belichick’s Patriot Way. They have to get the first win first.
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AP NFL website:
Quarterbacks will rule the NFL’s offseason.
Beginning with Alex Smith going to Washington when the league’s new year starts next month and Jimmy Garoppolo agreeing to a record-breaking deal with San Francisco on Thursday , several quarterbacks will find new riches and many teams will land new QBs in 2018.
Tom Brady may have been denied another championship but not his coordinator, and some believe Josh McDaniels’ sudden change of heart this week in spurning the Indianapolis Colts was related to doubts about Andrew Luck’s health.
Either way, McDaniels is staying in New England to help the Patriots bounce back from their 41-33 loss to Philadelphia in Super Bowl 52 .
The Eagles aren’t just celebrating their first championship since 1960, but also an abundance of talent at the position in franchise QB Carson Wentz and Super Bowl MVP Nick Foles.
Should Wentz’s recovery from knee surgery go well, the Eagles will have a huge bargaining chip to help restock their roster.
Wentz’s injury rehab will be closely watched this offseason, just like Aaron Rodgers ` repaired collarbone in Green Bay and DeShaun Watson `s torn ACL in Houston.
Those teams figure to be contenders for Super Bowl 53 in Atlanta if their quarterbacks are healthy. A dozen other teams will either jockey for their next star or dole out big bucks to keep the one they have.
Kirk Cousins and Drew Brees lead an exceptionally large group of veteran quarterbacks lined up for big paydays and possibly new opportunities that includes the Minnesota Vikings’ trio of Teddy Bridgewater, Case Keenum and Sam Bradford.
Garoppolo, Brady’s longtime backup, got a five-year contract from the 49ers that will pay him a reported $137.5 million to keep him off the free-agent market without forcing the team to use the one-year franchise tag.
NFL Network first reported the terms of the contract, which is worth $27.5 million per season to top the previous record set by Detroit’s Matthew Stafford last year by $500,000 per year – but presumably will soon be surpassed by Brees or Cousins.
San Francisco acquired Garoppolo from New England before the trade deadline for a 2018 second-round pick. He led the 49ers to five straight wins to end the season, pushing his record as a starter to 7-0.
Teams that miss out on one of the prized free agents can look to the draft, which features Baker Mayfield, Josh Allen, Sam Darnold, Josh Rosen
Seahawks Elite Jerseys , Lamar Jackson and Mason Rudolph.
The quarterback carousel began in the days before the Super Bowl when Kansas City agreed to trade Smith to the Redskins.
The deal, which cannot be finalized until March 14, spells the end of Cousins’ time in Washington and hands the Chiefs’ job to Patrick Mahomes III, the 10th pick in last year’s draft out of Texas Tech.
So, Smith, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2005 draft, moves on to his third team just as he’s coming off the best season of his 13-year career.
”I think Washington is getting a phenomenal player, a great leader,” Rodgers said last week while discussing the league’s current quarterback commotion.
”Now you’ve got Kirk Cousins, what’s going to happen with him? You’ve got probably five guys that are going to get drafted in the first round, Jimmy Garoppolo and his situation.
”There’s a lot of moving pieces.”
In the not-too-distant future, Rodgers could find himself one of them.
Rodgers, 34, has two years left on his contract and if he stays healthy in 2018, he’ll be in line for a mega payday that could obliterate any of the deals that will be signed.
Rodgers told the AP last week that he wants to play well into his 40s and might have to finish his career in another team’s uniform as Brett Favre did.
”I think you have to be humble enough to realize if it could happen to Brett, it can happen to you,” Rodgers said.
Among the teams looking for an upgrade are the Denver Broncos
Buccaneers Elite Jerseys , who haven’t been back to the playoffs since Peyton Manning retired a champion two years ago.
Super Bowl 50 MVP Von Miller said he trusts general manager John Elway to fix that in the next few weeks: ”We have a Hall of Fame quarterback running the show who’s going to get the right guy,” Miller said.
Miller has a tip for his GM, too.
”No disrespect to Trevor Siemian or Paxton Lynch, but I would love to play with Kirk Cousins,” Miller said. ”When Peyton came to Denver, we just took off. Kirk’s an elite starter, too. I could roll with that.”
With eight trips to the Super Bowl and five rings, Brady is the gold standard of quarterbacks.
Yet, this time he was outdueled by Foles, who showed just how important it is for teams to also have depth at the position.
”To get in a shootout with that guy on the other team is probably not ideal for anyone – ever,” Eagles tight end Zach Ertz said. ”The guy is the best quarterback to ever play the game. That team is phenomenal. They are coached amazingly.”
Yet, the Patriots were beaten by a journeyman QB who contemplated retirement not long ago after he kept losing his starting job with his employers in perpetual search of a better option.
Foles turned into a flawless fill-in after Wentz got hurt in December, stepping in to deliver Philadelphia its first Super Bowl title.
Foles has one year left on his two-year deal, and his Super Bowl performance bumped his name up on the long list of coveted quarterbacks.
”He’s amazing,” Ertz said. ”The past three weeks he’s been playing out
