“A Dream Come True”: Super Bowl LVII Opening Night Kicks Off Final Team Preparation

The Eagles kicked off their final week before Super Bowl LVII this evening.

In what was once called media day, the Eagles players, and head coach Nick Sirianni, met with the press at Super Bowl LVII Opening Night. It marked the formal beginning of the Eagles’ final preparations before Super Bowl LVII on Sunday February 12 as they take on the Kansas City Chiefs.

For some Eagles players, this is a familiar scene, although it’s been five years. For others, this is totally new. For all, though, it was an exciting time to be a part of the team.

“This is a dream come true,” Sirianni said. “I’m really happy for our team to be here.”

Quarterback Jalen Hurts noted that the team isn’t done yet, but he also knew he had to take some moments to appreciate where the team is at, especially the fan turnout.

“You’ve got the great fans coming out here to [Arizona], traveling well,” Hurts remarked. “It’s only the beginning of the week but it’s definitely something you want to soak in.”

Hurts indicated that his work over the year was designed to help him get to this game.

“I didn’t work this hard to stay the same,” Hurts said. “I put all this work in to have opportunities like this.”

Center Jason Kelce, one of the players who was on the team that won Super Bowl LII, observed how even the opportunity to play in the NFL is surreal.

“At least for me, I don’t think I fully anticipated being able to play in the NFL until I was at University of Cincinnati,” Kelce noted. “That’s when it becomes kind of real. You start to see guys you played with go and make that transition, and that kind of gives you the hope and the spirit that maybe you can do it.”

For Kelce, those players were two former Eagles.

“I got to watch [former Tight End] Brent Celek and [former Defensive End] Connor Barwin go in the league,” he said, “and I was able to play a long career with both of those guys. I think that’s when it became realistic, that playing in the league could happen one day.”

It’s also special to Kelce that he will play his brother Travis, a tight end for the Kansas City Chiefs, in the Super Bowl.

“We envisioned us more on [the NFL video game franchise] Madden putting ourselves on the same team together and playing with each other,” he recalled, “not so much playing against each other.”

Defensive Linebacker Hanson Reddick, whose performance throughout the postseason has been exceptional, reflected on returning to Arizona for this moment. Reddick’s NFL career began with the Arizona Cardinals, and this is a walk down memory lane for him.

“I remember the scenery, how beautiful it is,” he said, “the people, how nice they were. “Getting off the plane, I thought about my time here, with ups and downs, but man, I wouldn’t trade it for anything.”

Born in Camden, Reddick attended Haddon Heights High School before walking on to Temple’s football team in 2012. Reddick was keenly aware of playing for his hometown.

“It’s a blessing to be balling with my hometown team in front of my friends, my family, people who grew up watching me play football,” he said. “If you had told me [playing with the Eagles in the Super Bowl] would have happened back then, I would’ve told you ‘I hope so.'”

Defensive End Brandon Graham, whose strip-sack of Tom Brady in the fourth quarter of Super Bowl LII helped secure the Eagles’ first Lombardi trophy, noted that the team is a smart team.

“You see how deep we are and how much we complement each other,” Graham said, speaking specifically about the defensive linemen, “and it’s definitely been helping in these games and it always starts up front.”

Sirianni noted that the team has been in big games before, with the opportunity to create a storyline that might be larger than it being just a football game.

“I know it’s the Super Bowl,” Sirianni said, “but there’s always going to be a game where a player is going up against a former teammate, or a former team, or a hometown. There’s always going to be a storyline like that.”

Sirianni’s remedy for that is sticking to the routine.

“It’s just staying true to your process, sticking to your process,” he remarked.

This Eagles team has a mixture of newer teammates and seasoned veterans like Kelce and Graham who were part of the run to Super Bowl LII. Wide Receiver AJ Brown was grateful for the leadership provided by those veterans during Super Bowl preparations.

“Those guys helped all of us out tremendously,” he remarked, “just trying to get us up to speed, telling us what it was going to be like. So that was big for our team.

Sirianni also spoke of how much he envied the passion of the Philadelphia fan base during his previous coaching stints.

“I get an opportunity to coach in the best sports town in America,” he said. “Looking back at my time in other places, whether it be Indianapolis, or San Diego, or Kansas City, I always envied how unbelievable the atmosphere was at the Linc and how much football meant to eastern Pennsylvania and north and south Jersey.”

As the team settles in for those final preparations, Graham knows that this Super Bowl win would be just as important as five years ago.

“We’re trying to go two for two,” he smiled.

Featured Photo: Eagles Quarterback Jalen Hurts answers questions from the media during Super Bowl LVII Opening Night on February 6, 2023 (Twitter/@dennisjfreeman)