PHILADELPHIA — The Philadelphia Eagles are set to travel to Tampa Bay to face the Buccaneers in the NFL's Super Wild Card weekend.
Philadelphia is looking to continue the wave of a hot second half of the season on the shoulders of quarterback Jalen Hurts and first year head coach Nick Sirianni.
Of course, waiting on the other sideline is a familiar opponent, future Hall-of-Fame quarterback, Tom Brady.
Locked On Eagles host Louie DiBiase broke down how this team made the playoffs, what Philadelphia must do to win on Sunday, and what the team might aim to do in the 2022 NFL Draft.
Here's an excerpt of our conversation:
CALE AHEARN: What is your biggest surprise for this team in the regular season, and what is the biggest reason they are in the playoffs today?
LOUIE DIBIASE: I think the biggest surprise to me, and it shouldn't be a surprise now really now that we know who Nick Sirianni is as a head coach, but the biggest surprise to me is them completely changing their offensive philosophy after that 2-5 start.
Jalen Hurts, first time as starting quarterback, was throwing the football more than pretty much any quarterback in the NFL. And he was not ready for that.
So, what did Nick Sirianni do after that Raiders' loss?
He turned the entire offense around to now a team that threw 80 percent of the time -- they now ran it 80 percent of the time.
Broke the rushing record in franchise history for most yards in a season. They were the number 1 rushing attack.
They went behind the strength of their team, that offensive line, Jalen Hurts' legs, Miles Sanders, Jordan Howard, Boston Scott, Kenneth Gainwell, and they used that as the identity of this team.
And that's why they went 7-3 in their final 10 games, and it was literally the tale of two halves of the 2021 season.
To me, that's what made the playoffs for the Eagles, and to me, that was the biggest surprise.
There are not a lot of teams and there are not a lot of coaches that are willing to change their entire philosophy halfway through a season, especially in their first season, trying to lay that groundwork down, but it's the reason they are playing deep into January.
Check out the full interview in the clip above.
You can watch the Eagles take on the Buccaneers at 1:00 p.m. on Jan. 16 on FOX43.
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