The Super Bowl is set. The New England Patriots are in the Super Bowl……. again. This year they face off against the Philadelphia Eagles. The Eagles are a team that dominated for most of the season. They were one of the NFC favorites after dominating team after team, but then Carson Wentz went down. From the moment Wentz went out, many have written the Eagles off, including myself.

Probably the biggest reason why the Eagles were written off is because of who was replacing Wentz. Nick Foles. How can you go to the Super Bowl when you go from a quarterback rating of 101.9 to 79.5? That’s a significant drop off at the most important position in football. Many placed the Eagles success on the incredible MVP level play Carson Wentz gave them throughout the season. The success of Carson Wentz was a huge reason why the Eagles were where they were, but there was so much more to it than that, and they’ve showed us that in these playoffs.

In their two playoff games, the Eagles have shown us they can beat anybody in any way they need to. Against the Falcons, the Eagles won with their defense by allowing only 10 points. This made things a lot easier for the Eagles offense. Not only did it make things easier, but it continued leave doubts about Nick Foles taking them to Super Bowl.

After his performance against the Vikings, any doubts I had about Foles being able to lead this team are gone. Foles balled out, putting up a stat line of 78.8% completions, 352 yards, and 3 TD’s for a quarterback rating of 141.4. Not only did Foles have his best performance of the season, but he had it against the best defense he’s played all season. Doug Pederson has done a great job of making this offense Nick Foles friendly.

On the other side of the ball, the Eagles were able to figure out how to get Case Keenum to have his worst performance of the season. Not only did the Eagles defense take away the passing game, but they took away the running game. They forced the Vikings into passing 48 times, which is the most pass attempts Keenum has had all season.

Doug Pederson and the Eagles coaching staff deserve a lot of credit. They took away everything the Vikings had been good at all season, on both sides of the ball. Doug Pederson pulled a Bill Belichick. Belichick thrives on taking away what the other team is good at and making his teams style of play fit the players he has. Pederson definitely took a page out of Belichick’s book.

After everything the Eagles have gone through with Carson Wentz and all the doubters they’ve faced, they’ve put it all behind them. The Philadelphia Eagles deserve to be in the Super Bowl. Nobody would have questioned this if Wentz led them here, but the fact that they’ve done it without Wentz is even more impressive.

Their next test may be the toughest test yet. Anytime you play the New England Patriots it’s going to be tough, but playing them in the Super Bowl is even tougher. Regardless of if the Eagles win the Super Bowl or not, I’m impressed with what they’ve been able to do despite what they’ve faced. Win or lose I believe the Eagles are for real. Have they done enough to convince you?