It would be a stretch to say that the Philadelphia Eagles aren’t supposed to be here. Before the season, the betting markets had them as one of the NFC favorites, and on paper, their roster looked like one of the best in the NFL. But there were questions—so many questions. Could the Nick Sirianni–Jalen Hurts combination really get them back to the Super Bowl? Would Vic Fangio need more than one season to turn around their defense? How would the locker room account for the loss of retired veterans like Jason Kelce and Fletcher Cox?
Over the last five months, we’ve gotten answers. And on Sunday, the Eagles will represent the NFC in the Super Bowl for the second time in three years. When a team goes 14-3, there’s always going to be plenty of credit to spread around, but here, we try to identify the main characters that have helped the Eagles get to New Orleans.
The Overseer: Jeffrey Lurie
Let’s be honest. It’s not really fun to give credit to billionaire NFL owners. They aren’t the ones playing or coaching. They don’t have to worry about job security. If the team loses and they need to get away, they can hop on a PJ, chill on a yacht, or move on to their next tee time. But we also know that good ownership matters. And there’s a strong case for Lurie as the current gold standard in the NFL.
People in the NFL—the GMs, coaches, scouts—will tell you that the best owners let them, the “football people,” do their jobs and get out of the way. But that’s not necessarily accurate. And that’s not really how Lurie operates. He describes the Eagles as his obsession, his love affair. This isn’t a side business. This is, as Lurie described it this week in New Orleans, his life’s work. He grew up an obsessive sports fan and has real opinions about what it takes to win in the NFL. I’ve heard him rant about how most coaches are too conservative on fourth down. I’ve seen him roll his eyes at the idea of needing to establish the run. He has long loved the NFL draft and wants to be part of the decision-making process every year. Bottom line: Lurie is involved, and he prioritizes winning. It’s a model that has served the organization well.
I was thinking about Lurie last week when the Dallas Mavericks traded away Luka Doncic. Back in 2015, Lurie handed full personnel control over to head coach Chip Kelly. When I interviewed Lurie back in 2019, he identified that decision as his biggest regret. Among Kelly’s first moves after gaining full control was trading away running back LeSean McCoy. That came one offseason after Kelly orchestrated DeSean Jackson’s release. Neither player was of the same stature as Doncic, but still, they were valuable pieces, and the decisions were perplexing. It was an example of an owner giving a “football person” full control and getting out of the way. It didn’t end well, and it was a pivot point for Lurie. He took his team back after firing Kelly during the 2015 season and then hiring Doug Pederson, and got more involved. That’s been his role in the years since. If Lurie were the Mavs owner, and the GM wanted to trade Doncic, there’s no way he would have signed off. Sometimes, it helps to have an owner be the last line of common sense.
The Decision Maker: Howie Roseman
Roseman is the ultimate “nobody believed in me” general manager. The Kelly era was a pivot point for him, too. They started out working together, but when Lurie gave Kelly personnel control, Roseman was stripped of his football-related responsibilities and had to move offices within the Eagles building. But in a stunning comeback, he returned to power after Lurie fired Kelly.
Roseman was the architect of the first Super Bowl–winning roster in franchise history back in the 2017 season. But the truth is this current team is his real masterpiece. The 2017 Eagles were an example of the whole being greater than the sum of the parts. They were underdogs who somehow found motivation and magic to win it all. The 2024 Eagles? Well, they’re just loaded—especially on the offensive side of the ball. Saquon Barkley, A.J. Brown, DeVonta Smith, an elite offensive line. It’s the most talented depth chart the organization has ever had, and Roseman was the mastermind who assembled it.
The days of a GM sitting in a dark room, grinding film and searching for magical traits in players are over—or at least they are for the organizations that know what they’re doing. Roseman’s job is to gather information from every department he oversees—scouting, analytics, coaching, medical, salary cap, ownership, etc.—and make roster decisions once he’s put together a complete picture. His superpower has to be his ability to get the Eagles out of a jam. When he returned to power in 2016, the Eagles roster was in bad shape. Roseman maneuvered his way up to the no. 2 pick in the 2016 draft to take Carson Wentz and made other moves that helped the Eagles win a Super Bowl.
But the success didn’t last. After the 2020 season, the team seemed to hit a low point. The Eagles went 4-11-1, Wentz flamed out, and Lurie fired Pederson. But again, Roseman found a way out. He traded Wentz, acquired Brown in a deal with Tennessee, and drafted Smith, and two years later the Eagles made the Super Bowl in the 2022 season. Then he signed Barkley away from the rival New York Giants, and drafted well on the defensive side of the ball, and they’re back here again.
It’s not that Roseman always makes the right decisions. He’s had plenty of misses. But Lurie empowers Roseman to take big swings. The ideal scenario for a GM is to always be balancing the short term with the long term. It’s hard to know whether Roseman’s ability to take that approach is the reason for or the byproduct of his job security. Either way, it’s served the Eagles well. Given the unprecedented success in recent years, it’s hard to imagine a scenario in the near future in which the Eagles don’t continue to be a Lurie/Roseman-run organization.
The Coach: Nick Sirianni
Raise your hand if, a year ago, you thought Sirianni would be back here in the Super Bowl. Anyone? OK, yeah, you in the back? Oh shut the f— up. You’re lying.
OK, I’ll come clean. I did not think this was going to work out. After the Eagles’ 2023 meltdown, when they lost five of their last six games after a 10-1 start and flamed out in the wild-card round, Lurie decided to keep Sirianni, but he and Roseman handpicked two new coordinators in Kellen Moore and Vic Fangio. They made reasonable hires, but it was a clear sign that Sirianni was entering the season on the hot seat. How often is a team successful when the head coach goes into a season knowing that his job is on the line? Well, now we have at least one example of it working out. Sirianni has delivered perhaps the best “back against the wall” performance in NFL coaching history.
Don’t get me wrong, there’s definitely a “right place, right time” aspect to this. As I said earlier, the roster is loaded. Still, there have been a lot of talented teams in NFL history that have failed to live up to expectations. Sirianni doesn’t call the plays on offense. And he wasn’t responsible for bringing Fangio in to run the defense. Whether it’s connecting with players or preaching fundamentals or figuring out ways to provide motivation, Sirianni has found something that works.
It has become pretty much impossible to argue that another coach would be producing better results. I mean, look at this Pro Football Reference page. Sirianni is 48-20 with four playoff trips and two Super Bowl appearances in his first four seasons as an NFL head coach. The five highest winning percentages in NFL history:
- Guy Chamberlin
- John Madden
- Vince Lombardi
- George Allen
- NICK FREAKIN’ SIRIANNI!
Two things to keep an eye on Sunday when it comes to the Eagles head coach. First is Sirianni’s emotions. Lurie this week said those emotions are Sirianni’s biggest strength and his biggest weakness. They have led to fun memes, and haven’t really negatively impacted Sirianni during a game, but not every game is the Super Bowl. Second is his in-game decision-making. Sirianni has had some moments this season where he’s been overly aggressive and others where he’s been too conservative. Coaching against Patrick Mahomes can play mind games on opponents. Sirianni needs to coach to win and can’t let the moment get to him.
The Mystery Man: Dom DiSandro
“Big Dom” isn’t his official title? Nope. His actual title is Senior Advisor to the General Manager/Chief Security Officer/Gameday Coaching Operations. For a long time, the question with Big Dom was, “What exactly does he do?” Fans would see him standing on the sideline or escorting the coach to midfield for the postgame handshake and wonder what his actual role was within the organization. But spend some time talking to people within the Eagles, and you come away thinking: What doesn’t he do?
I mentioned Sirianni’s emotions on the sideline earlier. Who do you think is in charge of keeping an eye on him? That would be Big Dom. Confidant for players for both on-field and off-field issues? Yup, that’s Big Dom too. Earlier I mentioned that Roseman’s job is to gather information from different departments and make decisions. One of the decisions he had to make in 2023 was whether to trade up and draft standout defensive tackle Jalen Carter, who while at Georgia was involved in a fatal street-racing accident in which one of his teammates and a university staff member were killed. I asked Roseman this week about Big Dom’s role in putting together a complete picture for a prospect like Carter.
“Dom is a huge part of everything that we do on and off the field,” Roseman said. “I trust him implicitly. When he tells me a guy’s good, I’m good. I talk to him about everything.”
“I’m glad he’s finally getting the credit he deserves. What he does for our players, the resources he provides them, what he does for our staff, Dom is unbelievable. ”
And this is strictly anecdotal, but I think Big Dom probably has the highest approval rating of anyone in the Eagles organization.
The Defensive Mastermind: Vic Fangio
Some might describe the following as a dream scenario: Fangio schemes up a way to slow down Mahomes, the Eagles win the Super Bowl, and then he joins The Ringer to create content like this:
Don’t tell my bosses, but let’s be honest: That’s a level of video content creation that I’m just not capable of reaching.
OK, back to Fangio, the defensive mastermind. We can talk all we want about culture and scheme and leadership. But the truth is that the biggest difference between the 2023 Eagles and the 2024 Eagles is the performance of the defense. This is a unit that went from 29th to first in defensive efficiency. Did the upgrade in talent, particularly in the secondary, matter? Of course. But Fangio is the person who deserves credit for finding a way to make it all fit together.
In recent years, there’s been a lot of talk about the Fangio system, but the truth is, Fangio might be the system. Fangio’s philosophy is to start every snap in the same look with two deep safeties, but at the snap the safeties can shift and rotate, creating indecision for opposing quarterbacks—specifically ones who turn their backs to the line of scrimmage for play-action fakes. Fangio’s thing is that he doesn’t do just one thing. He has different coverage calls he can get to at any time. He and his staff have found a way to effectively teach and communicate those calls. And his adjustments come snap-to-snap, not possession-to-possession, quarter-to-quarter, or half-to-half.
We can credit Roseman for adding free agents like linebacker Zack Baun or drafting defensive backs Quinyon Mitchell and Cooper DeJean. We can credit the players themselves for putting in the work to have great seasons. But we have to admit: Would these guys be experiencing the same level of success on a different team with a different coordinator? I say no.
The Secret Weapon: Jeff Stoutland
Want to sound smart at your Super Bowl party? Just jump into a conversation and say, “Jeff Stoutland: best offensive line coach in football.” Will this help you make friends? No. Will it prove your football bona fides? Absolutely.
Stoutland was first hired by Chip Kelly back in 2013. He has worked under three head coaches in Philadelphia, and with different offensive coordinators, different running backs, different quarterbacks, and different offensive linemen. And guess what? The offensive line is always good! Let’s take a look at how the Eagles acquired the five starters on this current unit:
LT: Jordan Mailata (2018 seventh-round pick)
LG: Landon Dickerson (2021 second-round pick)
C: Cam Jurgens (2022 second-round pick)
RG: Mekhi Becton (2024 free agent)
RT: Lane Johnson (2013 first-round pick)
It’s a fascinating mix. Johnson is 34 years old and still playing at a high level. The Eagles signed Becton, a former first-round pick at tackle by the Jets, to a one-year, $2.75 million deal, decided to try him at guard, and he’s been a mauler in the run game. Jurgens and Dickerson were both second-round picks. And Mailata is one of the best player development stories in recent NFL history. Has Stoutland had talent to work with? Sure. But he is consistently problem-solving and developing.
With Jason Kelce’s retirement after last season, the offensive line was a big question mark. The Eagles have had nine different offensive line combinations play at least 30 snaps this season, and it hasn’t mattered. Stoutland has delivered the best unit in the NFL and the most reliable unit on the team—again! This group is the heartbeat of the entire team, and that’s pretty much been the case for every good team the Eagles have had since Stoutland arrived.
The Quarterback: Jalen Hurts
The head coach–quarterback dynamic might be the weirdest thing about this team. After the Eagles beat the Commanders in the NFC championship game, Hurts was asked about Sirianni. First, he complimented his head coach, but then he couldn’t help himself, saying that Sirianni “let me out of my straitjacket a little bit today.” Hurts later said he was joking. Do we believe him? Does it matter? This is what makes the 2024 Eagles the 2024 Eagles—even when it’s going great, you’re not quite sure how it’s actually going!
A lot of what I said earlier about Sirianni applies to Hurts: you can basically see what you want to see. On one hand, Hurts has the best situation of any quarterback in the NFL. Brown, Smith, and tight end Dallas Goedert form a phenomenal pass-catching trio. Barkley has been amazing. And he’s got an elite offensive line. Yet the passing game has been up and down, ranking 14th in DVOA. Hurts has prioritized turnover avoidance above all else. He takes sacks at a high rate. He turns down throws. And this is the most conservative version of him we’ve ever seen.
On the other hand, you could make the case that what Hurts has done is admirable. He’s adjusted his game to fit a formula that has given the Eagles a chance to win—and win big. A lot of players say they care about winning over anything else, but Hurts has walked the walk. His passing volume and passing numbers have dipped. His role in the offense has been minimized. And yet, the formula has worked. The Eagles haven’t lost a game that Hurts has started and finished since Week 4!
Quarterback analysis has evolved quite a bit over the last 30 to 40 years. Back in my day (said in my best old man voice), all you would hear about was whether a guy was a winner or not. Now, we can look at film and advanced metrics and try to paint a more accurate picture of how a quarterback is performing. But in Hurts’s case, winning still matters. He doesn’t need to be the reason that the Eagles win, but if he can perform well enough for them to be crowned Super Bowl champs, nobody will ever be able to take that away from him. Because of that, I don’t think there’s a person in Super Bowl LIX with more at stake when it comes to how one game could shape their legacy.
The Superstar: Saquon Barkley
Imagine the alternate reality—the one in which the Giants bump their offer to Barkley up a couple million dollars per year and he stays in New York. He probably would have had a fine but unspectacular season behind that bad offensive line. He would have taken an early vacation once again. And we would have never gotten to see his true greatness.
Think about how frustrating that must have been for him all those years in New York. Barkley knew what he was capable of, but he didn’t (for the most part) get to show it. Football is a great game because everything is connected. You can’t show your greatness unless your teammates give you a chance. If the Giants didn’t let Barkley walk, and if the Eagles didn’t view him as a difference-making piece, we would have been deprived of this historic season. He would have been deprived of this season!
How do you sum up what we’ve seen from him? I’d argue it’s the best single-season performance by an Eagles offensive player in the Super Bowl era.
There’s the old adage that you can just “stack the box” to slow down a run game. But you know what we heard on broadcasts during Eagles games this year? That stacking the box against Barkley is dangerous. Why? Because if you don’t stop him at or near the line of scrimmage and he gets a one-on-one matchup against a defensive back in the open field, well, it’s over. The safer tactic might be to not stack the box and layer the defense with off-ball linebackers and two deep safeties. In other words, get gashed by a bunch of 6- and 8-yard gains, but don’t give up the 50-yarder. Have you ever heard a running back discussed in such terms? I know I haven’t.
It’s wild to think that Barkley has been with the Eagles for less than a year. I would argue that he already has the highest approval rating of any athlete on any of the pro sports teams in Philadelphia. The run game is the foundation of everything the Eagles do, and Barkley is the first player that opponents have to game plan for. He’s delivered one of the best running back performances in NFL history, and on Sunday, Barkley will look to add one last exclamation point.
