The night prior to their revenge game against the towering Chiefs, the Eagles reportedly had a “wild”, “emotional”, and one of their best team meetings all year.
On Sunday afternoon before kickoff, Fox’s Peter Schrager reported that rather than using his typical motivational clips or speeches in the meeting, coach Nick Sirianni asked all of his veteran players to come to the front and address the team prior to their second Super Bowl appearance in three years.
“All the team leaders got up. The captains got up and they spoke,” reporter Jay Glazer added during the “NFL on Fox”. “And the two messages were: Number one — man, we had such a great time together this year. We don’t want it to end. We went through so many ups and downs together. This brotherhood was so great. Jordan Mailata actually grabbed the podium, shaking it and said ‘One more!’ and that was the other thing.”
Two years ago, the Eagles fell flat against the Chiefs after what was likely the best game of Jalen Hurts’ career in Super Bowl 2022, 38-35.
A late flag on James Bradberry for a hold on JuJu Smith-Schuster gave the Chiefs the ball in the final moments and Harrison Butker kicked the heartbreaker game-winning field goal.
This time around, the Eagles are hoping to come out victorious in Super Bowl 2025 and even beyond the emotional meeting, they’re harping on the fact that they only have one more game to go.
“Nick Sirianni said to me ‘Last week after we won the NFC Championship game, you know me. I’m usually so emotional, I had no emotions and I thought something was wrong with me,’ ” Glazer reported. ” ‘The reason why I felt that way, I figured it out, is because we do have just one more and that’s what the most important thing is.’ “
“Pretty wild meeting to be at,” Glazer added.
C.J. Gardner-Johnson, who was with the team two years ago and came back this season, gave a speech to the players. Maliota also went up to the front and quarterback Jalen Hurts spoke to his teammates before the 6:30 p.m. kickoff at Caesars Superdome in New Orleans.
“Jalen Hurts, the usually soft-spoken QB, came out and gave an incredibly inspiring speech about how this is the moment,” Schrager said.
If the Eagles win, it will be their first Super Bowl title in eight years. On the other hand, the Chiefs are chasing a historic three-peat in what would be their fifth Super Bowl win in the last six years.
