NFL news: Philadelphia, sudden paradise of sports – Code

October 31, 2022 News Editor

I did not expect the Philadelphia Eagles to be 7-0 right now. Did you? I did not expect the Philadelphia Phillies to be in the World Series, either, writes JASON GAY.

All right I’m not embarrassed to admit it: I did not expect the Philadelphia Eagles to be 7-0 right now. Did you?

I did not expect the Philadelphia Phillies to be in the World Series, either. In fairness: I don’t think the Phillies expected to be in the World Series, either. At least not in early June.

But I do know that Philadelphia feels like the place to be in sports at the moment. It’s certainly not those deadbeats in New York, or Boston, or Los Angeles. Not even Tuscaloosa can make a claim.

I haven’t even gotten to the fact that the Philadelphia Flyers are 5-2-1, tied for a respectable second in the NHL’s Metropolitan Division. Or the fact that the Philadelphia Union are headed to the Major League Soccer Cup final for the first time after Sunday’s thumping of New York City FC. They’ll face LAFC Nov. 5.

(If you’re asking me if, for the sake of this column, I’m airbrushing over the wobbly 3-4 start (heading into Monday’s play) of Doc Rivers and the championship-dreamy NBA Sixers — yes, whoosh whoosh, that’s me blasting the airbrush.)

I have all the evidence I need. You know how journalists are — we just need three flimsy examples to prove our thesis. If I see a trio of people walk onto an airplane in Spider-Man pyjamas, then it’s official: Everyone’s wearing Spider-Man pyjamas onto airplanes.

Likewise, Philadelphia’s the sports capital of the universe. I printed it, so it must be true. It’s time for dopey columnists to start spelling everything with PH’s for F’s — phantastic, phun, phabulous, phaithphul.

The Eagles are rolling. They’re rolling so much that the NFL cognoscenti have accepted their rollingness and pushed onto other stories — Geno Smith and the reborn Seattle Seahawks; Christian McCaffrey’s craftiness with the San Francisco 49ers; Tom Brady’s dour body language on the Tampa Bay sideline. Philly’s curt 35-13 dismissal of Pittsburgh Sunday barely made a ripple.

It isn’t a shocker the Eagles are good. After an upbeat finish to last year’s regular season, there was plenty of optimism about the bird-based football concern, but I was snobby about it. Second-year coach, second-round quarterback, a 2021 wildcard round wipeout to the Buccaneers …. I had my hesitations. Plus the Eagles play in the NFC East, until very recently, the discount salvage supply store of professional football.

Wow, was I wrong. The Iggles have surpassed even the most hopeful early predictions. Philadelphia possesses one of the league’s sturdiest defences — and head coach Nick Sirianni has built an offence that plays to the multiple strengths of quarterback Jalen Hurts. Hurts (the former Alabama QB who transferred to Oklahoma) has done what he’s so often done as a quarterback: ignored doubts of idiots like me, and kept on leading, and winning. And winning. And not, you know, losing, at all.

I’m not saying the 1972 Dolphins should put away their champagne flutes! — but these unblemished Eagles are very much for real. Oddly their greatest competition might come from their suddenly ascendant division, where the Cowboys and Giants are both 6-2 and even Dan Snyder’s Washington Sadness Machine is hanging around at 4-4.

NFC Least? Not anymore. I’m a little sad about it, to be honest. That division was reliable comedy.

As for the Super Bowl — we’re not even halfway through the 17-game NFL season, let’s not book our laps on Scottsdale golf courses just yet. But if the threat doesn’t come from the Cowboys or Giants, who’s beating the Eagles in the NFC? Do you feel confident in the Minnesota Vikings? Still-. 500 San Francisco? Brady?

The script has been flipped. Philadelphia’s not the underdog town, parrying their own low expectations and tired cheap shots about Santa Claus and snowballs. It’s very possible the road to the Lombardi will have to go through the Eagles’ noisy nest. In January. You want a piece of that crowd?

Goosing this confidence are those Phillies, who have sprinkled magic dust on their city and the baseball playoffs. Despite a hearty payroll, Philadelphia stumbled out of the gate, and by June they replaced manager Joe Girardi with decaffeinated interim Rob Thomson. They wiggled into the playoffs as the third team from the NL East behind the Braves and the Mets, and in October, they’ve been more or less invincible — bouncing the favoured Cardinals and Braves before sinking the Padres in the NLCS to bring on a fall classic with the powerhouse Houston Astros.

The Phillies stole Game 1 with a furious — I mean phurious — comeback in Houston that underlined the Team of Destiny vibes. Entering a three-game run in the Phillies’ home park, the series is tied 1-1 heading into Monday’s play, and the outcome is anyone’s guess. Houston has all the tools necessary to prevail, but do you really want to bet against Philadelphia right now?

I don’t.

And I’m not even wearing Spider-Man pyjamas.

– The Wall Street Journal