The Eagles are turning Lincoln Financial Field into a house party.
During pregame warmups before facing the Bears, players appeared to be more loose than normal. With the music vibrating through the stadium speakers, a large contingent of players were working on their individual nightclub moves as much as they were working on their game techniques.
A sign of overconfidence? Were they looking past the lowly Chicago Bears? Not at all. This is an extremely focused and confident group of guys that has earned every accolade it has received.
As we saw, the Eagles went out and crushed a team that wasn’t worthy of being on the same field with them. And why shouldn’t they enjoy the moment of this season?
We all knew with the talent assembled and Carson Wentz in his second year that this team had the capability of being good, but we never imagined it would be this good. The Birds aren’t just winning … they are destroying opponents.
They are 10-1 for just the fourth time in franchise history. The Eagles lead the NFL with 351 points scored. They won three straight games by 28-plus points for the first time in franchise history. Wentz leads the league with 28 touchdown passes. The list of accomplishments this season goes on and on.
And they continue to dance their way toward the postseason. Following a Zach Ertz touchdown against the Bears, a group of players took a family portrait in the back of the end zone. After the Alshon Jeffery score, it was bowling. Then later in the game, players broke out with the Electric Slide.
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According to cornerback Jalen Mills, it’s all a part of their identity, kind of like a reward for the hard work they put in every week leading up to the next game.
“I think it goes back to the process we go through in practice,” Mills said. “We compete at a very high level. Guys hold each other accountable. We have very high standards in practice. So when it comes to Sunday, Coach (Doug Pederson) is not really on our backs, and that kind of lets us do our thing. We get to let our hair down. We go out there and have fun, but at the same time it’s all about football.”
You never want to rub a drubbing in your opponents’ faces because it could come back to haunt you somewhere down the road. That’s just an unwritten code of football ethics. But Pederson isn’t concerned about his players’ creativity, as long as they keep it family friendly.
“It’s a lot of fun,” Pederson said. “Listen, the guys are having fun doing it. They are having fun playing together. Obviously when you’re winning in this position, it is definitely fun and all that. I do have a concern, though, there is a 40-second clock that’s moving after touchdowns and scoring plays, so they have got to hurry up and get off the field. But they are enjoying each other right now. They enjoy coming to work every week, and this game is hard enough and when you score you kind of want them to celebrate together and it’s a great thing. Some of the things we’ve done, the picture taking, the baseball, the bowling, the Electric Slide, I don’t think they affect the team one way or the other. As long as they keep it clean that way, it’s fine.”
This has the makings of a special season. Party on men, party on.