February 06, 2018
After Tom Brady's Hail Mary pass was batted around briefly in the end zone before finally hitting the turf as time ran out in Super Bowl LII, Philadelphia Eagles broadcaster Merrill Reese was up in the visitors' radio booth, telling fans that "this is for you."
But the Eagles' 41-33 upset win over Brady, Bill Belichick and the New England Patriots in Minneapolis on Sunday night had to mean a whole lot for Reese, too. After all, the 75-year-old had called 41 seasons' worth of Eagles games before finally getting the chance to deliver his first Super Bowl championship-winning call on Sunday.
An audio clip of Reese's long-awaited call on SportsRadio 94.1 WIP began circulating shortly after the game ended.
On Tuesday, the team released a five-minute-long video that shows Reese and longtime partner Merrill Reese calling the Eagles' most critical plays en route to securing their first-ever Lombardi trophy and what will be a wild championship parade up Broad Street and the Benjamin Franklin Parkway on Thursday.
If you just want to see Reese's Super Bowl call, you can find it at the 3-minute, 50-second mark.
"Incomplete, and the game is over! The game is over. The Philadelphia Eagles are Super Bowl champions! Eagles fans everywhere, this is for you. Let the celebration begin," Reese, 75, said before adding that "the greatest fans in the world have their Super Bowl."
Quick, a five-time Pro Bowl wide receiver with the Eagles, played all of his nine NFL seasons in Philadelphia from 1982 to 1990 before eventually joining Reese in the booth.
"Hey, man, if this is a dream, don't wake me up," Quick said after Reese's initial call. "We're going to have a parade on Broad Street. Grease up the poles. We're going to have a parade. Oh, my goodness."
"The third time is truly a charm," Quick added, referencing the Eagles' unsuccessful Super Bowl appearances in 1981 and 2005.
But the rest of the video provides plenty of entertainment, too, including Reese's very animated call of the 46-yard field goal by Jake Elliott to extend the Eagles' lead to an 8-point margin with just more than a minute left to play.
See the full clip below.
