Super Bowl LII Preview: The Patriot Reign or the Flight of the Eagles

The Super Bowl is perhaps the greatest sporting spectacle that this world has seen since the days of Roman gladiators and the first Olympics. It showcases some of the greatest football players on Earth going head to head for three hours on a nationally televised platform with no holds barred.
In this year’s matchup, we have no other than the Golden Boy himself, Tom Brady and his New England Patriots squaring off against the upstart Philadelphia Eagles and their sensational backup quarterback, Nick Foles.
On one hand, you have the Patriots, making their eighth ‘annual’ appearance in the Super Bowl with Tom Brady as their starting quarterback.
Brady has accumulated five championship rings, four Super Bowl MVPs, and two league MVPs in what many say will go down as the greatest career any quarterback has had in the history of the game of football. Playing in his 15th NFL season, a 40-year old Brady came into the 2017-18 season to prove that he could get it done one more time. On the cusp of possibly winning his third league MVP, many could argue that the future Hall of Famer has nothing left to prove.
On the other hand, we have Nick Foles and the Philadelphia Eagles, who are vying for respect from their NFL peers and their first Lombardi Trophy after two fruitless attempts at immortality, the most recent one in 2004 against Tom Brady and the Patriots. Philadelphia is a team that for all intents and purposes is not supposed to be playing in this game. Their opening day starting quarterback, Carson Wentz, who was an MVP-caliber player in his own right this season, was lost to an ACL injury in what was ultimately a meaningless win over the Los Angeles Rams in Week 14. Any other team would have rolled over and let their season die after such a drastic blow to their team. Showing patent Philadelphia heart however, the Eagles have defied expectations and have become a worthy adversary to Tom Brady and his Patriots behind stellar quarterback play from Nick Foles, possibly one of the most underrated quarterbacks in the league.
In speaking with some students of Southern University, there were many differing opinions on the game and what it would give. When asked what he expected from the matchup, freshman engineering major Devin Raby had this to say in reference to the Eagles: “I enjoy them every year and usually the team I want to win ends up winning. Hopefully the Eagles take this one home.”
On the other hand however, there are also those who aren’t buying the Eagles chances of being able to keep up with Brady and his Patriots. Speaking with freshman english major, Eric Snowden, he had this to say about the Eagles chances of beating the Patriots: “You can never doubt Brady. It’ll be interesting to see if a backup quarterback can dethrone him.” Like Snowden, many are skeptical of the Eagles chances to beat New England. This fact alone however, indicates just how much excitement is being generated to see if the seemingly impossible can be done.
The Super Bowl has a certain mystique about it that makes everything prior to it seem just a bit smaller. On paper, the Patriots have a better team in every statistical category, and the Eagles are undermatched and undermanned at almost every position on the field. However, when those two teams take the field on Super Bowl Sunday, they will do so as equals. There are no MVPs, no torn ACLs, and no excuses when kickoff happens. In games like these, nothing is guaranteed to either side. Both have their own reasons to win, and both will have an opportunity at sports immortality. But in this moment, there can only be one champion. The question posed, is, “Who wants it more?”