PHILADELPHIA – There wasn’t one moment, not after the bye week, not after winning a franchise-record 10 games in a row, not after capturing the NFC East title when the Eagles said, ‘Yeah, we can do this, we can win the NFC and make it to Super Bowl LIX.”
Jalen Hurts said he knew, “from the beginning.”
Presumably the beginning of the season. Maybe even further back to when he took over as the full-time starter for the 2021 season. After all, in those four years, he has been to the playoffs all four times and will now become the first quarterback in Eagles history to start two Super Bowls when the Eagles rematch with the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl LIX in New Orleans' Caesars Superdome on Feb. 9.
The beginning of the season is when most said they knew. And why? Well, it had to do with the addition of running back Saquon Barkley. It was a feeling tight end Dallas Goedert had when general manager Howie Roseman traded for receiver A.J. Brown on draft night in April of 2022.
“It goes back to when we traded for A.J. the last time we went to the Super Bowl,” said Goedert. “In the offseason when we signed Saquon, I feel like that gave us all a boost. I knew that would be a big part to this team.
“I feel like I knew we’d have a chance to be special very early, but it takes daily deposits, it takes the work every day to be able to get to that position. Nothing is given in this league and just the way the coaches handled everything put us in great positions.”
DeVonta Smith always believes he can make the Super Bowl.
“I always think that,” said the receiver, “(but) it always comes down to executing and things like that. We had a few bumps in the beginning of the season, but that’s part of the game. You’re gonna have up and down in a game. Nobody’s season is gonna be perfect. It’s all about how you respond to it, and can you correct the things you’re doing wrong?”
Smith and Goedert have the luxury of experience on his side to see something like what a move like adding Barkley and Brown can do. Rookie Cooper DeJean didn’t have that luxury.
The defensive back was at the University of Iowa when the Eagles played the Chiefs in Super Bowl LVII and lost 38-35. He said he couldn’t remember where he watched the game, but was probably at home, where he has some cousins, aunts, and uncles who are Chiefs fans.
He’s not sure of who they will be rooting for on Feb. 9 in Super Bowl LIX, but is sure he knows when he knew the Eagles were going to this year’s Big Game.
“Once I got here,” he said after being drafted 40th overall in April. “With all the guys we have on our team, I knew we had all the talent to do it. It was just about putting it together.
"I think seeing everybody respond after the bye week, winning 10 straight, and just the way we bounced back from that, and everybody started playing together and fighting for one another, I started to get that feeling that this team really has it, and we could make a run at this thing.”
