Eagles veterans explain how they got over Super Bowl loss
He obsessed over the mistakes, he studied the breakdowns, he lamented about lost opportunities.
And then at some point, A.J. Brown snapped out of it.
It was time to move on from the Super Bowl.
In terms of that game, you just cant dwell on it, Brown said Wednesday. Thats life. Not everythings going to go your way. And at some point, youve got to get off the mat and youve gotta get back working, and I think thats where this team is at right now.
Definitely have that chip on our shoulder but still taking it day by day. Still early, you know? Building a house, brick by brick. Its a new season. Were 0-0 like everybody else.
This is a significant week for the Eagles as they participate in voluntary practice at the NovaCare Complex. Because weve had free agency and weve had the draft and weve had the schedule release, but for the 58 guys on the roster who were here last year, its the first real chance to turn the page as a team.
Its not hard to do because this is our lives, Brown said. Were world-class athletes for a reason.
Adversity happens. That was a big one. Its the Super Bowl. But as athletes we face adversity all the time and even if its small adversity, we face it, and we have to deal with it. I look at it terms of, Thats just life, you know?
We all know the history of teams that lose the Super Bowl.
Since 1992, when the Bills lost their fourth straight Super Bowl, only one team thats lost a Super Bowl has made it back the next year. That was the 2018 Patriots, who lost to the Eagles in Super Bowl LII in 2017 and then beat the Rams a year later.
The last NFC team to lose a Super Bowl and return the next year is the early 1970s Vikings, who lost to the Dolphins in Super Bowl VIII in 1973 and got back a year later and lost to the Steelers in Super Bowl IX.
But 13 of the last 15 Super Bowl losers did have a winning record a year later, and the last two the 2021 Chiefs and 2022 Bengals both won 12 games.
This is a very talented 2023 Eagles team with a loaded roster. The biggest challenge theyll face could very well be the daunting mental task of coming so close to winning a championship they led by 10 at halftime and the game was tied with 8 seconds left and then starting over a year later.
Personally, for me, after the Super Bowl, I couldnt wait to get back, Dallas Goedert said. That was the toughest loss Ive ever had in my career, and the only thing I wanted to do from that time on was get back and start this new season so we can go out there and prove (we can do it).
I think if anything, it puts a chip on the entire teams shoulder. And based on what weve done in OTAs, it looks like thats the entire teams mindset and it looks like weve got a lot of guys who are super hungry to try to replicate the season we had last year.
Goedert said the Eagles dont sit around and talk about how hungry they are for the 2023 season and to try to get one step further than they did last year.
You can just tell.
Its kind of unspoken, he said. Its more just you can kind of feel it throughout. When were in the weight room, when were doing our conditioning after, everybodys hungry, everybodys grinding, theyre working hard in there. Nobodys content with last year and thinks we can do it all again just because we did it last year.
You can just see people working hard and focusing, listening to the coaches in meetings, looking at the details, when we get on the field you can see that the meetings are carrying over to the field, so I think that just shows that were ready to start climbing the mountain again.
If anybody has the right to dwell on the way last season and the way the last game ended its veteran cornerback James Bradberry.
He said it wasnt hard to move on.
All that stuffs in the past, he said Wednesday. I was just around my family and they definitely helped me get my mind off the game. Im the kind of guy (who believes) youve got to put it behind you. Youve got to prove it again.
Brown took the loss hard. They all did. Especially the veterans. Because you never know if youll get back.
But he emphasized how important it is to let go, remain positive and keep working just as hard to get back there.
Of course, you could want something so bad, but if its not your time its not your time and get back to work, Brown said. Dont quit, because you never know because next time could be your time.
Subscribe to the Eagle Eye podcast
Apple Podcasts | Google Play | Spotify | Stitcher | Art19 | Watch on YouTube
