Tom Brady was everything Peyton Manning was supposed to be. From the moment Manning arrived in Knoxville, Tennessee, the football world was grooming him for the throne. Manning had a problem though. New England had a coach/QB combo that played football right. They controlled the line of scrimmage, didn’t turn the ball over, made clutch plays, and played defense. Brady’s early career stats weren’t in Manning’s stratosphere, yet the part time starter at Michigan kept winning. He ended the St. Louis Rams run of greatness. He beat Andy Reid’s Eagles. Most importantly he beat Peyton Manning. He beat him over and over. And the media, and many fans, hated it. It was boring.

The NFL literally changed the rules about how much a defense could rough up receivers then. Manning got his Super Bowl. He’d get one more “excuse me” title later. Brady figured out the changes and simply became the greatest ever.

Patrick Mahomes doesn’t quite fit either archetype. People thought he had talent coming out of college. Then he far exceeded it. Almost immediately upon showing his abilities though, members of the NFL noise machine decided they wanted to declare him “possibly the greatest ever.” He put up big time stats. He won. The only stubborn detail in their way? A loss to Brady himself in an AFC Championship game, at home, and a blowout loss to Brady in the Super Bowl. Plenty of reporters tried to glaze over all of that though. Mahomes “wowed” them.

Until the Eagles came around.

Let’s be honest, the Eagles basically have beat the breaks off of Mahomes and his Chiefs. Sunday’s loss at home was a two score beating without a totally fictional roughing the passer to help him score late and make it look good. It was the second time in three years the Birds had to go to Arrowhead Stadium, and it was the second time in three years they won kind of clearly. Those two wins sandwich around one of the worst beatings in recent Super Bowls, last season, in which the Birds simply bullied Patrick, Travis, and Andy. Future Hall-of-Famer Chris Jones was left mentally broken, arguing with Jalen Hurts about stats on Sunday- as Hurts kneeled out another victory.

Let’s just be honest, the Chiefs “dynasty” was always a momentary blip on the radar, a mistake, a fraud. Their Super Bowl 57 victory over the Eagles aided by a field that strangely was wet and slippery, hindering the Eagles pass rush, and a defensive holding flag at the end of the game that (while it was a hold) had been allowed all game. Of the four games between these Eagles and these Chiefs, it is the clear outlier, the only game in which Mahomes looked almost as good as Hurts. The whole thing was set up for Mahomes to get his walk off victory, and second ring. Let’s be honest, the NFL wanted to have Super Bowl 59 go the same way. Mahomes get his threepeat, Andy Reid enter the GOAT conversation, and Travis and Taylor gracing our television set on their way to becoming engaged. The Chiefs just weren’t good enough though. The truth is, without questionable officiating and Kyle Shanahan being terrified of the Super Bowl, this team would be lucky to have one. The Chiefs are a very good team that the media and the NFL created a narrative of greatness around. The Eagles have figured it out and are beating the breaks off of it.

… And the media hates it.

Jalen Hurts doesn’t throw for big yardage. In fact, he didn’t have 100 yards passing in a win over the Chiefs last week. His rushing numbers are good, but they aren’t the kind of free wheeling, scrambling yards we used to get from say, Michael Vick. The man simply limits turnovers to nearly zero. His team runs the ball at will. They eat up clock in ways no other team can. His team plays hellacious defense (especially when Jalen Carter doesn’t get ejected) and harasses quarterbacks. It is reminiscent of the early Brady/Belichick Patriots- they play football right. They win the line. They win the turnover battle. They win the time of possession battle. As someone who hated Chip Kelly from the day we hired him, it warms my heart to see a coach win who eschews all of the modern “innovator” nonsense and wins football games the old school, real man way. Even better that these guys are my team.

So yeah, the “tush push.” Let’s be clear, the play itself is legal- if you’re crying about false starts, that’s always been a penalty on every play, so call it then (but what many of you think is lining up offsides or a false start, simply is not.). This play has been legal for a while, not just since 2022. This play is a quarterback sneak, with a push from behind. It’s a play to get one yard. Those complaining about player safety are silly- the Eagles linemen run this play all the time and are remarkably healthy. Tom Brady whining about the Eagles starting at “first and nine” is rich, as every good offensive line plays a much shorter game (especially his Patriots). The truth is, the “tush push” is beautiful football. It is a bigger, stronger offense, particularly the line, imposing it’s will on the defense. The “tush push” is what football actually is supposed to be, not your favorite fantasy football QB. Good football is played by teams that win on the line of scrimmage. Real football fans should love this play. What we are seeing is how far our discourse has been run down by fantasy football and gambling. Many of you are claiming you’d rather not see a football team play the proper way. Let’s be honest though, 100% of the complaining about the “tush push,” right down to Adam Schefter crying that the Chiefs “lost in March” is really about the Eagles winning football games. Some people hate the Eagles. The national press and many fans hate football that isn’t predicated off of a vertical passing game. Honestly, if all of these weak, impotent fan bases don’t want to see the “tush push,” the solution is simple- don’t get in 3-and-1 or 4-and-1 situations. Notice, nobody else can run this play nearly as well as the Eagles. They built their teams wrong.

The Eagles won two Super Bowls in the last eight years, and played in three. They’ve been in two.of the last three. They won last year. I’m still not ready to call this particular group a dynasty (the dynasty is Howie Roseman), but I would probably predict more titles coming. You just can’t project that though, health is a huge factor in it, and eventually some actually good coach and GM will come along and develop a plan that beats them. Right now though, the Eagles have the best formula in football to do what football is all about- win. Jalen Hurts is playing the quarterback position perfectly. This team is built to win. People hate it. They are crying so much they’re actually crying for the Mahomes Chiefs, the team they all complained was being helped by the NFL Officials for the last two years. Listen to yourselves. It’s pathetic. Grow up. Man up. Your team is being pushed around because they’re weak. This Eagles team plays football the right way.