🏈 NFC Championship: Philadelphia Eagles 🦅 Destroy Washington Commanders 🏛️ (55-23) to Reach Super Bowl LIX 🏆
A review of last night's NFC Championship Final between Philadelphia Eagles 🦅 and Washington Commanders 🏛️
I don't get to watch much in the way of American Sports and I've not really been into American Football since the days of Madden on what would now be considered a retro games console (I probably played it on the MegaDrive). Even then, I couldn't tell you the difference between a Linebacker, Running Back, or any other position other than the much-coveted Quarterback.
But seeing that Sky Sports was showing the semi-finals for the Super Bowl last night (although they weren't called the semi-finals, instead being called the NFC and AFC Championship games), I decided I'd watch it and see if I had any idea what was going on!
Washington's Rookie Quarterback
There was a lot of talk in the build up about young Jayden Daniels, the Washington Commanders Quarterback and his debut season in the NFL. He had the opportunity to become the first rookie Quarterback to start in the Super Bowl (although if you ask ChatGPT, it'll say that 2 players have already achieved this but they were both in their 2nd season!)
After an impressive season that saw him achieve:
the most rushing yards (891) and highest completion percentage (69%) by a rookie quarterback
an NFL rookie-record 12 touchdown passes in the fourth quarter or overtime for the season, with five of them occurring in the final 30 seconds or overtime being the most by any player since 1970
the highest points per game (28.5) by a rookie quarterback
selected to the 2025 Pro Bowl Games, becoming the fourth rookie quarterback since 1970 to make an initial Pro Bowl roster
I was rooting for him to do well although as the underdogs, the Washington Commanders would have to defy the odds to reach the Super Bowl.
Turnovers Defined the Contest
As I mentioned, I'm no NFL expert, but even to me, it was clear that the Philadelphia Eagles were superior in every aspect.
Every time Washington had the offense, it was a grind. They found it difficult to gain ground, and on four separate occasions, lost a turnover (three fumbles) which were severely punished with three of them leading to a Philadelphia Touchdown. Brutal and contributing to 21 of the Eagles' 55 points.
Contrastingly, Philadelphia always seemed to have an extra option. When the pass wasn't on, Quarterback Jalen Hurts was happy to run himself and rushed three touchdowns by doing so.
As the match wore on, the grind that the Commanders had to endure really started to take its toll. By the end of the 3rd Quarter, Washington had seen their three fumbles, leading to them conceding two touchdowns and 14 points. The third fumble (see image) perhaps being the action that broke Washington's spirits. They'd fought their way back into the game and this was the fumble that saw them miss out on taking it to a one-score game going into the Final Quarter.
In the 4th Quarter, Philadelphia's superiority saw them become totally dominant taking an 11-point game to a 32 point margin with three more Touchdowns.
This will be the Philadelphia Eagles 2nd Super Bowl in three seasons and is the first time in 35 years that a team scored over 50 points in a Championship game - again demonstrating their dominance.
A Repeat of 2021 (Super Bowl LVII)
In the other Championship game which I didn't watch due to the late kick off time (Buffalo Bills @ Kansas City Chiefs), the Chiefs narrowly beat the Bills 32-29 to chase their 3rd Super Bowl win in a row.
I suspect that the Kansas City Chiefs will be favourites but knowing next to nothing about the NFL and only having seen one match in about two decades, I wouldn't write off the Philadelphia Eagles - their game appeared to have everything.
It's also unlikely that I'll be watching the Super Bowl. An 11:30pm kick off
Match Highlights
Links to YouTube
Hopefully, some of our American Steemians see this and watched the game. I'm pretty sure @philhughes is a fan, so it'll be good to hear your thoughts and probably educate me with some tactical breakdown!
As a South Asian, everything goes over my Brain. 😂😂. I tried to read every detail. Buy my brain didn’t want to finish! Instead, make me laugh about myself!
Ha ha! Well, I'm not sure whether that's me you're insulting or American Football!
No no. I am not insulting you, nor the American Football. This is out of my interest or culture. Like, when I try to read, Brief History by Hawkins, I feel sleepy. It’s not Hawkins's problem, nor the books. It’s because my brain doesn't support me to read more. After all, I don’t understand that.
I tried to Learn the rules of Golf and Baseball. I failed various times and then I gave up. I don’t need to know everything.
I don't know if Golf has many rules. It's too boring for me to find out 😆
😂
🦅🦅😀😀🦅🦅
🦅🦅😀😀🦅🦅
Philly loves the "Tush push", aka the "Brotherly shove" --- And Saquon Barkley is a rock star!
It was ironic that one of the TV announcers yesterday was Tom Brady, who was the opposing quarterback when the Eagles won the Super Bowl in 2018. I think he'll be announcing the Super Bowl, too.
Interesting rivalry for the Super Bowl in two weeks. The Chiefs beat the Eagles two years ago, their coach - Andy Reid used to coach the Eagles, and Travis Kelce (Chiefs Tight End) is the brother of retired Eagles Center - Jason Kelce. Should be a good game, I hope. I think you're right that KC will be favored at game time, but we'll see what happens. So far, the Chiefs are favored by 1 1/2.
(FTR, @cmp2020 and I were at a Beethoven concert where the Philadelphia Orchestra played that "fight song" live on the day before the 2018 Super Bowl.)
Does this mean you're from Philadelphia and are a family of Eagles fans?
I recently watched a 4-part documentary about the John Madden games and I remember them talking about that for Madden '23 or '24. They basically said it's a "cheat code" and were having a nightmare programming it! If I hadn't watched that mini-series, I probably wouldn't have watched the game!
I didn't realise how long an NFL game lasts - that one was about 3.5 hours!
We had the same commentary here (I think it was primarily for Fox?) and I was impressed by how good he is. Not that I've got any point of comparison but their commentary and highlighting potential plays (which were correct every time) helped to keep me interested!
I've heard of Kelce - he's the fella that's hooked up with Taylor Swift isn't he? I think that Patrick Mahomes is a big deal too. It's nice when you can tie sub-plots into a big game.
Yep. We're from a Philadelphia suburb. I'm not normally much of a sports fan, but the Eagles have been exciting in recent years, so I've been watching this season. I used to joke that the Eagles always lose if I watch them. They broke that trend this year, though.
Yeah, the ads are crazy. We typically record it on DVR and start watching 90 minutes late so we can fast forward through the ads.
Yep. That's him. Jason Kelce has a reputation around here for being a really nice guy when people have random encounters with him. I'm curious who he'll be cheering for. Probably his brother's team, I guess.
Yeah, I think so too. I haven't really followed the chiefs, though, so don't know much about him. The last time I saw him play was 2023.
True. I've noticed this with science and tech, too. Topics become more interesting when you know something about the people who are involved.
Glory hunter 😉
Strangely, I didn't really notice the ads - I don't think the Sky coverage had as many as you probably did. We had a lot of analysis between plays from an overly enthusiastic lunatic and a manicly depressed individual. I wasn't totally focussed on the game so I suppse that contributed too.
I'm on the lookout for NHL coverage now but with the Face Off times generally being the middle of the night here, the prices they're charging for a season pass can't be justified. Shame.
Definitely!
Let me know when the Flyers make it to the Stanley Cup playoffs, and I'll gladly be a band-wagoner there, too. 😉
It's all about the Canucks for me 🙂
I don't understand the NHL league season - what's with all this Wild Card stage? The rules are confusing. But it looks like the Flyers and Canucks are both in with a shout of the playoffs still!
Why did you down vote my post. what did I do wrong? I want to learn to post here to get a little reward because I don't have a job 😭 may Allah give you abundant sustenance 😭😭😭 @the-gorilla
Your content's lazy. Not just a little bit lazy, but incredibly lazy. And definitely undeserving of the $1 payouts that you're getting for a photo of a "rooster / Chicken".
If you don't have a job, why aren't you spending your time writing something worth reading? Or are you trying to churn out lots of posts across lots of accounts to increase your chances of getting a symboints vote?
Sorry I'm still learning, in the next post I will share a proper post
thanks for the information
I also want to know how to post correctly and well. @the-gorilla