Eagles will defy Philly history

Let me be the only person this week writing about the Eagles who spares you the history lesson.

Yes, the history of Philadelphia sports is long and painful. If you follow sports in any capacity, you've undoubtedly heard something of it in the past couple weeks in between updates on Terrell Owens' ankle.

There's the tidbit about not having won a championship in a major sport since the Sixers in 1983. There's Joe Carter's home run winning the World Series and ending the miraculous run of the 1993 Phillies. And, more recently there are the three consecutive conference championship losses by the team Philly hates to love: the Eagles.

As an Eagles fan, I'll let you in on a little secret: none of it matters.

Strip it all bare and what becomes apparent is that Sunday's Super Bowl between the Eagles and the New England Patriots isn't about history. It isn't about which city needs a championship more, or which city's fans root more passionately for their team.

In the end, it's just a football game between two very good teams. So good, in fact, that years from now this Super Bowl could very well be considered the defining game of its era in the National Football League.

Since 2001, the Eagles are 54-19, and the Patriots are 56-16. While that includes two previous Super Bowl victories for the Pats and the aforementioned championship game losses for the Eagles, these two win-loss marks easily eclipse the rest of the NFL.

From top to bottom, both organizations have established themselves as the class of the league, and this year both teams may have their strongest squads yet. Both teams are coached by men with impressive credentials. On one side there's the Pats' Bill Belichick toting his career 9-1 record in the playoffs. On the other is the Eagles' Andy Reid, who has never lost a game in his career when he has had two weeks to prepare for it, and who has just that length of time to prepare for this one.

But when breaking down the game, one gets the sense that it will be true to the old football cliché that while offense wins games, defense wins championships. The Eagles and Patriots are each anchored by strong defensive units, but each will try to utilize them differently in shutting down the opposing team.

The Pats will look to clog the Eagles' running game and force quarterback Donovan McNabb into making bad passes. The Eagles' strength in their secondary — probably the best in the league — will allow them to blitz Pats' quarterback Tom Brady and try to rattle him.

Since both defenses will be effective, it will be the team that can make big plays that will probably win. Yes, this is where I have to talk about Terrell Owens.

Love him or hate him — and since he pulled on that midnight-green Eagles jersey I love him — Owens has the potential to swing this game in the Eagles' favor. After breaking his leg and tearing ligaments in his ankle seven weeks ago against the Dallas Cowboys, it now appears T.O. is going to play, even with a surgical screw and metal plate holding his ankle together. Make no mistake, even if he's still at a self-pronounced "81 percent," Owens is still a threat. Whether he'll be the one catching deep balls or opening things up for another receiver remains to be seen. McNabb sometimes will throw deep on the first play of the game, and it wouldn't surprise me if he tried to do it against the Pats.

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The truth is that while I know the Eagles have what it takes to beat the Patriots, I don't know if they will. I do know that if the Eagles play the kind of game I've seen them play on many occasions this season, they stand a very good chance.

But even more importantly, I've come to believe that, for the Eagles, the championship game losses have come to represent how difficult it is to make it to the Super Bowl. Finally having finally gotten there, the veteran team will want to make the most of its chance.

History aside, Super Bowls are often just about being in the right place at the right time. This year just finally feels like The Year for the Eagles.

Eagles 27, Patriots 16.