What If Doug Said No to “Philly Philly”?
“You want Philly Philly,……..Yea let’s do it.” Those words will never be forgotten by Eagles fans. There’s something about that clip that perfectly describes the 2017 Eagles team. The fact Nick Foles, a backup two months earlier and who was ready to walk away from football a year before, so confidently walked up and asked for a trick play on 4th down in the Super Bowl. That Doug with barely any hesitation trusted his guy and said fuck it, yea we’re here to win. What if Doug decided not to drop his big ole balls on Belichick and the Pats. What if Doug said no to “Philly Philly”?
Looking back on that call, it really was a ridiculous gamble. Up three with 30 seconds before half the safe call would have been to send Jake Elliot out there and extend the lead to six. I’d bet that’s what the vast majority of coaches would have done. We all know Doug doesn’t play it safe though. NFL films described the call perfectly saying it was, “a play that the Eagles had never called before, run on 4th down by an undrafted rookie running back pitching the football to a third-string tight end who had never attempted an NFL pass before, throwing to a backup quarterback who had never caught an NFL pass before, on the biggest stage for football.” Just thinking about the break down of the play and then deciding to run it in such a huge moment against the best coach of all time perfectly describes Doug Pederson and that Eagles team.
But, what if Doug played it safe and settled for three, Eagles up 18-12 at half. I’m sure at the time every single one of us would have taken that at the time. Do we hold on and still win? Who knows, but honestly I’d say no. The Patriots weren’t new to being down in the Super Bowl. A six point deficit for Brady and Belichik is nothing. Getting the touchdown to end the half was obviously huge for momentum. More than just momentum though, seeing Doug and Nick not backing down against the greatest Qb/coach duo to ever do it must have lit a fire under the rest of the team. If the Pats sniffed out the play and stopped it the Eagles probably don’t win that game. Doug didn’t care, he trusted his guys to go out there and execute. That’s something that feels more important than just the points. Now what if Doug still wanted to go for it, but decided on a different play. The original call on 4th down was a run play, but when the play clock got down low Doug called a timeout. He’s talked about the call and said that it was never in the 4th down game plan. What if Doug said no, I got a better play for this spot? What if Nick never suggested it? Points or no points on that drive the game has a different feeling.
Super Bowl 52 will always be special to Eagles fans, but that call brought it to a legendary status for the rest of the league. Nobody would have ever heard of Philly Special. We wouldn’t have gotten to see Foles go up and ask “You want Philly Philly?” Or see LeGarrette Blount look at the play chart, smile and say Philly Special. There’d be no statue outside the stadium of that exchange between Nick and Doug. Jason Kelce’s hungry dog speech at the parade is different, and may have never happened. The whole feeling around that Super Bowl was changed when Doug said, “Yea let’s do it.” It really is crazy how those four words changed Eagles history.