The Philadelphia Eagles claimed their first Super Bowl title in franchise history when they outlasted the New England Patriots 41-33 in Super Bowl LII.
Philadelphia’s victory was a credit to coaching as the Eagles were prepared for everything, even espionage.
Eagles long snapper Rick Lovato told 620 WDAE in Tampa Bay, Fla., that Philadelphia ran a fake walkthrough before the game in Minnesota and didn’t run their now-famous “Philly Special” trick play, just in case the Patriots had a thirst for a Spygate redux.
“We had run that play during a walkthrough like two weeks ago,” Lovato said before being asked if that was due to fear New England was watching. “Correct. I believe our whole walk-through was just a complete fake walkthrough. We did it at the stadium. There were certain people walking around. . . . I believe I overheard someone say a lot of the plays we were running weren’t even in the playbook for the Super Bowl.”
Lovato noted the fake walkthrough didn’t hurt the Eagles since they were fully versed in the gameplan.
“We already had our game plan set all week for the last two weeks,” Lovato said. “We had two weeks to prepare for that game. A measly walk-through the day before the game, we weren’t going to show anything to anyone, especially being at the stadium.”
The Patriots, of course, famously were disciplined by the NFL for illegally videotaping the New York Jets’ defensive coaching signals from an unauthorized location in 2007.
Doug Pederson was prepared for everything, and he is a Super Bowl champion because of it.
