Philadelphia Eagles Won Because They Were The Better Team

People are still trying to discern how the Philadelphia Eagles managed to upset the New England Patriots in the Super Bowl.

Nick Foles outdueled Tom Brady? That just doesn’t sound right. It can’t be possible. Except here’s the thing that so many people ignored about that game. If one went from top to bottom of both rosters, the fact of the matter is the Eagles were the better team in terms of talent. Start with the straight comparison of their units. Philadelphia had the #3 ranked scoring offense while New England was #2, so they were practically identical. However, the Eagles also had the 4th ranked defense in the league while the Patriots were a distant 29th.

That discrepancy showed up big as the Eagles were able to move the ball at will. Not only did Foles throw for 374 yards, they also ran for 164 more. This opened up more scoring chances for them. Enough that even Brady wasn’t able to match them with his ridiculous 505 passing yards. Philadelphia also had the only sack of the game and by far the biggest turnover with the strip of Brady late in the 4th quarter. It was a complete team effort from top to bottom.

Star power far richer in Philadelphia than in New England

If people want to push it even further than let’s compare talent across the board. The Eagles fielded six players who were voted All-Pro or to the Pro Bowl in 2017. They were Carson Wentz, Zach Ertz, Jason Kelce, Lane Johnson, Fletcher Cox and Malcolm Jenkins. The Patriots had two in Brady and Rob Gronkowski. People are wondering why their defense was so bad. It’s because they have no front-line talent. Malcolm Butler was benched for the game. Their leading pass rusher had just 6.5 sacks this year. Arguably their best guy, Devin McCourty, is 30 and regressed from last year.

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All things considered, the result shouldn’t have been so surprising. Sure the Eagles had an ugly history in big games but they had the same exact record as the Patriots going in and were more dominant in the playoffs. They were the better team and played like it. Unfortunately, the presence of Brady and that history overshadowed how obvious it should’ve seemed to people. Not that Philly is complaining at this point.