In 2002, the New England Patriots entered the Super Bowl as heavy underdogs against the St. Louis Rams. Experts began using the word "dynasty" to describe the Rams. The media failed to recognize -- and the Rams failed to realize -- that those New England Patriots were also an excellent football team.
In 2005, the Philadelphia Eagles advance to the Super Bowl as heavy underdogs against the New England Patriots, and people once again begin to throw around that term "dynasty." People still fail to recognize that the Philadelphia Eagles are an equally good football team. The Patriots won two championships in three years, both in extremely close games.
The 2001 Rams and the 2003 Panthers were unbalanced teams, one with defensive shortcomings and the other with offensive failings. This year, the Patriots face a more balanced, more dangerous team than either past opponent. The 2004 Eagles possess no such weaknesses in any facets of the game.
New England's Week 15 loss to the Miami Dolphins provides a blueprint for beating the Patriots. Miami outplayed New England in one important aspect of the game: pass defense. The Dolphins' secondary blanketed the Patriots' receivers, while their pass rush disrupted Tom Brady and forced him to make bad throws.
The Eagles defense -- second in the league in sacks along with three Pro Bowl defensive backs -- has even better pieces in place to shut down the Patriots offense. In two playoff games, the Eagles defense thoroughly harassed two of the league's most mobile quarterbacks, Daunte Culpepper and Michael Vick.
Eagles players deflected 28 of their opponents' 70 pass attempts, an absurd 40 percent of the passes thrown. This was the key reason Philadelphia limited those teams to only 12.0 points per game.
Now their players have the luxury of attacking a stationary object in Brady.
On offense, the Dolphins took advantage of injuries to the Patriots secondary. Without cornerbacks Ty Law and Tyrone Poole, the Patriots were left vulnerable as Miami spread out and challenged New England wide receiver-turned-cornerback Troy Brown and inexperienced Earthwind Moreland in coverage, leading to a game-winning touchdown over Brown.
The Eagles coaching staff specializes in exploiting weak spots in any team's defense, and Reid will use McNabb's arm to take advantage of the depleted Patriots secondary.
In his sixth season, McNabb evolved into as capable a pocket passer as any other quarterback in the league. McNabb's passer rating (104.7) and completion percentage (64.0) exceed Brady's 2004 numbers (92.6 and 60.8).
Donovan's excellence has carried over to the playoffs, in which he has thrown for four touchdowns and no interceptions even without primary receiver Terrell Owens.
For every weapon in the Patriots' arsenal, the Eagles have a more than adequate counter. The difference in this game will be the two players under center. The Eagles' suffocating secondary and swarming pass rush will disrupt the immobile, one-dimensional Brady. On the other side of the ball, McNabb will utilize his athleticism and creativity to make the clutch plays necessary to win this game.
Anyone who has witnessed the evolution of this Eagles team will express complete faith that their squad is fully capable of beating any opponent.
Moreover, you can look in the eyes of guys like McNabb, Andy Reid, Jeremiah Trotter and Brian Dawkins and see that these men will do whatever it takes to win it all.
When the Super Bowl finally kicks off, the Patriots and the world will learn exactly how great these Eagles have become.
Sean Luhks is a senior politics,philosophy and economics and classical studies major from Philadelphia. His e-mail address is luhks@sas.upenn.edu.
