The Top 5 Eagle Opening Games
There’s nothing like Week 1 of an NFL season. As the leaves fall from trees and the cool breeze of autumn sneaks into the air, the thrill of and hope of a new season of Eagles football is unlike any feeling in Philadelphia.
Opening week has been good to the Eagles in recent years, winning their past four and eight of the previous nine. Sometimes that’s a tone setter for a good season, or a tease for a bad one. Lets look at some of our favorite kickoff games in recent Eagles history.
T.O. Mania Begins
Coming off three brutal NFC Championship Game losses, the Eagles needed something new to renew the fans hope for 2004. And that’s exactly what they got with the addition of Terrell Owens. In his Eagle debut Owens showed Philadelphia the receiving talents they’ve never seen before, catching three touchdowns in a dominant win over the Giants.
For New York this game was also the start of a significant era of their own with newly hired head coach Tom Coughlin and Kurt Warner starting for them in-between his tenures in Saint Louis and Arizona. Later in that game a rookie quarterback from Mississippi named Eli Manning took the first snaps of his professional career.
Chip Kelly Era Begins…and Peaks
For the first time in 14 years a head coach not named Andy Reid would be on the sidelines for the Eagles. Chip Kelly had arrived from Oregon as the biggest coaching hire of the NFL off-season and the country tuned in on Monday Night Football to see what the supposed genius was going to do with the Eagles talented offensive players.
What proceeded was an impressive showing by the offense highlighted by Shady McCoy’s 184 rushing yards in a 33-27 win. Eagles fans thought this would kick off a great new era of Eagles football. Instead we got this…
The Pederson/Wentz Era Begins
In what feels like ages ago, the Carson Wentz era wasn’t supposed to start this soon. Sam Bradford had resigned to ride the ship while Wentz waited in the wings. But then just a couple weeks before kickoff Minnesota Vikings signal-caller Teddy Bridgewater suffered a devastating leg injury that put Minnesota into a panic. Next thing we know and Sam Bradford was sent up north for a 1st round pick and Wentz was named the Eagles starter.
Just months since the ugly end of the Chip Kelly era, Philadelphia had a rookie quarterback and an unproven head coach in Doug Pederson to rely on, and they impressed in their first game. While this was against a Browns team that would go on to lose 31 of their next 32 games, Wentz’s impressive debut gave Philadelphia hope that they finally had their franchise quarterback.
Tone Setter For 2017
When Carson Wentz connected with Nelson Agholor (remember him?) for a 58 yard touchdown pass on the first drive of the game, it just felt like this season was going to be different. After earning their lumps in a frustrating 2016 season, Wentz and Pederson were prepared to take on 2017 with grit and confidence.
Clutch defensive plays like Jalen Mills picking off Kirk Cousins in the endzone and Brandon Graham strip sacking Cousins for the go-ahead touchdown also let us know that this defense was improved and ready to win. A Gatorade bath on the head coach in Week 1 victory that broke a 5 game losing streak to Washington may have been a bit much, but it turned out to be the perfect bookend to the greatest season in franchise history.
Banner Night 2018
Hosting the NFL Kickoff game is what every fan dreams of. For one last night the country celebrates your team as the defending champions and the center of the football world. Philadelphia also got the pleasure of having Shawn Mendes perform for them at Penn’s Landing. Despite a rain delay before the ceremony, the crowd was pumped up when Brian Dawkins began show with the Eagles Fight Song and the unveiling of that big beautiful banner that will stay up there forever (Even if they somehow cheated with cameras and trash cans! *knock on wood*)
The game itself wasn’t as fun as the ceremonies with Nick Foles returning to center while Carson Wentz was still sidelined with injury. The offense struggled throughout the first half leading to some *GASP* boos. But the crowd got excited again with another variation of the Philly Special which helped regenerate the offense. Like last season’s playoff game against the Falcons, this game went down the wire and the defense needed one last stop in the redzone. And just like last time, Matt Ryan went to Julio Jones in the endzone. This time Ronald Darby led Jones out of bounds for a thrilling a relieving victory. It turned out that this win against Atlanta was one they needed to make the playoffs because the Eagles wound up sneaking in to defend their crown at 9-7.