November 30, 2023
The Philadelphia Eagles are unstoppable.
They head into a massive clash against the whiny San Francisco 49ers with both teams highly motivated for the win. It’s a microcosm of just how massive the Philadelphia Eagles product is right now in the NFL, why everyone benefits with a contender in the city, and how the rest of the country learned to stop complaining and embrace the inevitable.
Jalen Hurts continues to be the quietest, yet biggest, face of the NFL. He’s not in as many commercials as Patrick Mahomes, nor does he have the star-powered relationship of a Travis Kelce. Lamar Jackson may win the MVP – again – this year, and Aaron Rodgers may even come back in a week or so. All of that takes a back seat when Hurts is on TV.
It's why the Birds only had three 1:00 p.m. games this year, and why the NFL is probably secretly rooting for Philadelphia to return to the Super Bowl. Their overall record most likely securing home-field advantage is a massive add-on.
Like MLB pushing the Phillies to prime time for early postseason action, the NFL preemptively “tush pushed” the Eagles to as many spotlight games as possible. Even the late afternoon slot is basically one major game and a couple of softies, funneling most people to a single game. The Eagles are so good and so popular the NFL is bursting with joy.
Outside of some upstart team, or maybe this year’s New England Patriots team, no other team in the NFL would have as much intrigue and drama surrounding it at 10-1. No other team has a fan base overtaking other stadiums while ensuring no opposition does the same at home. Football isn’t just a way of life, it is life. It’s wild to travel and see other cities where nobody is wearing anywhere near the amount of team gear like in this city. It’s just another sign of the presence and impact of sports, none greater than football.
With the Eagles massive success this year comes a spotlight brighter than anything we’ve seen since the Super Bowl, and before that – outside of maybe Terrell Owens' second year, for the wrong reasons. The Eagles aren’t a circus; they are a blockbuster feature film. Jalen Hurts is the leading man among a cast of characters, each fitting in perfectly with another.
The rest of the country is inundated with Birds games, possibly overwhelmed to see so much Eagles green. Those are fans of other teams, and while they certainly make up a lot of the consumers of NFL products, way more people simply sit down and watch football. It’s amazing to see, the Eagles are the most intriguing and exhilarating product on TV. They rival any written drama spread across a series. They are the NFL’s version of "The Wire."
The best show of all time holds this title by me simply because of the writing. No other show is written as well and efficient, where each person who speaks comes off like a real-life version wrote the dialogue. Some of it is simply uncanny with levels of who is in the show, other times it’s more subtle throughout a scene.
The Eagles have the current leader for the MVP, the should-be Coach of the Year in Nick Sirianni, the top defensive rookie in Jalen Carter, and the best record in the game. They have critics; idiots on these national TV shows claiming they haven’t seen enough of Hurts as a passer, or QB, or leader, or whatever else their producers told them to say. People want the "Tush Push" out, banned from football. Critics of Sirianni and his antics creep up, too.
Oh, and then there’s the fans. You, me, all of us. Stereotypes are amplified with one or two idiots getting caught on social media, ruining hard earned progress by the rest of us. Some of it is just pure ignorance by folks who spent a two-hour layover at PHL.
It’s all part of the action-packed drama found each week with this team. They come in, turn the ball over, get down at half, then win. The Eagles are cardiac kids wrapped in a piece of bacon topped with butter, and, hell yes, these games matter.
Someone always struggles and someone always steps up. There’s always a big play even if it comes late in the game. It comes off as written script knowing whenever the Eagles are down they are just going to come back. There’s even a little comedy mixed in, be it the personalities on this team – the offensive line would be a great place to start – to the boos that came down last game against Buffalo.
Each week a villain steps in looking to knock off the Eagles. Last week it was Josh Allen, a few weeks back it was Sam Howell. There’s always someone that Hurts, and his defense need to vanquish to live another day. Every now and again they fail, although the Jets loss in hindsight felt more like a to be continued.
The Eagles and Niners will clash with both teams having circled this game. It would be an easy look ahead for the Birds to Dallas, if not for the idiotic comments made all summer by Niners players and media. The nonsense continued right through this week, essentially putting smelling salts under the nose of what could be a sleeping Eagles squad. There is a lot of concern about let down or look ahead, but Philly wants this one more than the other guys.
You watched a lot of great TV this year, consumed some truly fantastic entertainment. Nothing you saw can mirror the level of heart-pumping drama like a now 10-1 Eagles team. No matter what keeps happening, what gets thrown their way, the good guys find a way to win.
Eytan Shander is a long time radio and TV personality in Philadelphia. In addition to his weekly column, you can currently listen and watch him on Fox29’s Good Day and other sports shows. He’s giving betting advice on OddsShopper. A lifetime Eagles fan, Eytan lives just outside the city with his wife.
Follow Eytan on Twitter: @shandershow
