PHILADELPHIA – The Eagles’ veterans are back to work at the NovaCare Complex and for many of them, Wednesday was the first time talking to reporters since the agonizing 38-35 Super Bowl LVII loss to Kansas City back in February.
If you let them, setbacks like that can eat you up, according to Pro Bowl receiver A.J. Brown.
“In terms of that game, you just can’t dwell on it,” said Brown. “That’s life. Not everything’s going to go your way. At some point, you have to get off the mat and get back working. I think that’s where this team’s at right now.”
The work began in earnest with strength and conditioning back in late April and full organized OTAs will kick off on May 30. getting back at it is paramount to try to avoid the cliched Super Bowl handover.
“We definitely have that chip on our shoulder, but still taking it day by day. It’s still early. It’s like building a house brick by brick,” Brown explained.
History says climbing the mountain again after getting knocked off the peak just as the flag is about to be planted is difficult. Only three teams have won a Super Bowl the year after making it to the final test: The 1971 Dallas Cowboys, the 1972 Miami Dolphins, and the 2018 New England Patriots.
The best path is to try to take emotion out of the equation.
“Adversity happens,” Brown said. “That was a big one. It was the Super Bowl, but as athletes, we face adversity all the time. …I look at it in terms of – it’s life. Of course, you can want something so bad, but if it’s not your time, it’s not your time, and [you] get back to work.”
It’s never going to be your time unless you get off the mat first.
“Don’t quit,” Brown said, “because you never know because next time could be your time. We’re one day at a time. We’re not trying to look ahead, the season is far ahead, but we’re working one day at a time.”
Star-tight end Dallas Goedert wanted to get back to work as soon as the Super Bowl was over.
“After the Super Bowl, I couldn’t wait to get back,” he said. “That was the toughest loss I’ve ever had in my career. The only thing I wanted to do from that time on is get back, start this new season, so we can go out there.”
Goedert, like Brown, noted the chip on the Eagles’ collective shoulder.
“I think if anything it puts a chip on the entire team’s shoulder. Based on what we’ve done in OTAs, it looks like that’s the entire team’s mindset, and we have a lot of guys who are super-hungry to try to replicate the season we had last year,” Goedert said.
It took some time for All-Pro center Jason Kelce to process the loss because of the complication of his brother Travis playing for the Chiefs and his parents being so invested.
“The Super Bowl was confusing because of my brother over there, mom on the field, there were a lot of emotions going around,” Kelce admitted. “You were happy for your brother but pissed off for you and your teammates.
“I think when it really set in probably the most, was a few days after the game, if I’m being honest, when you really think about plays you could’ve had back. That game could have very easily gone a different direction. You start second-guessing every little thing that you could have done to make an outcome different than that.”
