Super Bowl LII: Eagles Top Patriots in a High-Octane Spectacular

Tom Brady was right.

No one's gonna feel sorry for the New England Patriots after this game.

In what was easily the most electrifying wall-to-wall clash of action since Super Bowl XIII, one play symbolized a passing of the torch from the Patriots' era of relentlessness to a new wave of coaching aggressiveness ushered in by Doug Pederson's Philadelphia Eagles.

Who does this and succeeds in the button-down, vanilla-tinged NFL:

 

As opposed to who tries it and doesn't:

 

Aside from the results, the key difference is Pederson called the play on fourth down, which meant failure would cause a total loss of points. Bill Belichick knew that if his play missed, he still had the field goal.

Combinations of possible outcomes in these two plays had a max total of 14 points.

That coulda made for an earth-shaking swing in how Super Bowl LII played out.

 

In this cavalcade of highlights under the most intense pressure that is the Super Bowl experience, the unsung factor on both sides was brilliant offensive line play.

It gave the QBs time to wait for optimum moments and held open the holes that sprung RBs for strong gains.

Ultimately, it became a vigil over who would blink first. That's when the Eagles defense found their moment.

 

And so it was that the underdog Eagles claimed their first Super Bowl, 41-33, and their first NFL title since 1960.

With the NFL being the archetypical copycat league, fans can only hope their style of play sparks a trend of ballsy calls in predictable situations.

 

If it's good enough to win a Super Bowl, it should be taken seriously by other clubs if they can filter out Old School thinking from their DNA.

If so, Philadelphia's victory -- and how they did it -- will have been the best thing to happen to the NFL in years.