Tom Brady flashed his pearly white teeth and laughed as if someone was telling him a joke for the first time. The seven-time Super Bowl champion had no idea that Philadelphia Eagles fans were still mad about him dissing Nick Foles in 2018.
Brady was totally unaware that people cared about him skipping out on the post-game handshake after a 41-33 loss to the Eagles in Super Bowl LII. Call it poor sportsmanship or just a general lack of awareness. Either way, Brady insisted it was nothing personal toward Foles.
“No. I’m not. I’m not,” Brady said when asked if he was aware that Eagles fans still talk about the Foles’ diss. “I’ve shaken Nick’s hand plenty of times, though. I’ve got a lot of respect for Nick.”
The incident has turned into a weird Twitter controversy over the years, with internet sleuths posting videos of all the quarterbacks Brady has shaken hands with after games. And the ones he has avoided. It appears as if Brady goes out of his way to exit the field sans-handshake whenever his team loses. Just something to keep an eye on during Sunday’s wild-card playoff game between the Eagles and Buccaneers.
“I try to be a good sport as best as I can,” Brady said. “I know it doesn’t always look like that because sometimes I get a little pissed out there, but for the most part, I try to be a good sport.”
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Blocking Out the 2017 Super Bowl Team
Lane Johnson talked about keeping the dog masks in the basement and creating a new identity for the 2021 Eagles. This team is a different one from the scrappy underdogs who took home the Lombardi Trophy that year. Still, it’s hard not to stare over at Tom Brady on the opposing sideline and have those championship memories come flooding back.
Brady, of course, was the loser in that one. Would Nick Sirianni review tape from that game to fire up his troops? No, different year. But the first-year head coach is leaning on the nine guys still on the Eagles’ roster from 2017 to impart wisdom. And teach the new guys about playoff experience.
“What I will say about that Super Bowl team in ’17 is there have been questions about our experience,” Sirianni said. “I’ve talked to you guys about this before. I think I talked to you about it earlier in the week. The experience we have from those guys that have played in that game — I know it’s not as fresh as the Bucs’ experience they had of winning the Super Bowl last year, but we still have guys from that 2017 Super Bowl team.”
Eagles Players Earn All-Pro Honors
Pro Football Focus recently ranked the Eagles’ offensive line No. 4 in the NFL. It seems a bit too low considering they owned the top-rated rushing attack in football. Whatever. Jason Kelce was the only member to make the Pro Bowl team, so at least the slight is consistent.
Those accolades aren’t nearly as important as the All-Pro team and the Eagles are well-represented there. Kelce was named first-team for the fourth time in his career, adding his name to a shortlist of centers to make it four times. The others? Dermontti Dawson, Mike Webster, Dwight Stephenson. All three of those players are in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Kelce belongs in Canton, too.
Lane Johnson was named second-team All-Pro for 2021 after missing out on the Pro Bowl. This marks the right tackle’s first time making second-team All-Pro. Johnson was awarded first-team All-Pro during the Eagles’ 2017 Super Bowl season.
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