PHOENIX — “They hate us cuz they ain’t us” is both part of the profane, hilarious riff by actor James Franco in "The Interview" and Philadelphia’s unofficial slogan.
The Eagles’ GM and coach are repeatedly defamed, the Phillies’ manager gets no love, and the Sixers’ best players were just dissed in the All-Star process. The City of Brotherly Love seems less and less beloved these days; at least, the sports teams are. As they prepare to play in their second Super Bowl in five years, the Eagles feel the hate.
“Philly is never respected,” said Fletcher Cox, who got to town 11 years ago. “I guess we just have to go out and earn it. That’s what we did all year, as a team. We went out and proved it. We’re not a fraud. We’re never fake. we’re not posers, or wannabe tough guys. We just go out and prove that we always deserve to be talked about.
“We always say: Nobody likes us. We don’t care.”
Cox appropriated that phrase from Jason Kelce, who sang a ditty build on those words as he strutted up Broad Street in a Mummer’s outfit five years ago after winning Super Bowl LII. After losing quarterback Carson Wentz late in the season, the Eagles became the first No. 1 seed to open as underdogs, and they were underdogs throughout the playoffs. The contempt continues; despite going 14-1 with Jalen Hurts as their starter they’re just 1 1/2-point favorites to beat the Kansas City Chiefs, whose MVP quarterback, Patrick Mahomes, has a bad ankle sprain.
“Look, we’re from the NFC East,” said defensive end Brandon Graham, the longest-tenured Eagle at 13 years. “It’s probably Dallas Cowboy fans running the narrative right now.”
He’s not far off.
How ‘bout them Cowboys?
On Nov. 10, former Dallas coach and current Fox Sports analyst Jimmy Johnson demeaned the Eagles’ offense and put his money on the Cowboys to win the NFC: “I think this is the best Cowboys team I’ve seen. ... I’m still not 100 percent sold on Philadelphia."
The Eagles were 8-0 at the time and had soundly beaten the Cowboys, who were 6-2, finished 12-5, and got drummed out of the playoffs at San Francisco. The Eagles finished 14-3, took the No. 1 seed in the NFC, and blew out the Giants and 49ers to cruise to the Super Bowl.
Last week, Cowboys owner Jerry Jones told The Athletic, ”We’re seeing a couple of teams that have had some real success putting it all out there and paying for it later in Philadelphia and Los Angeles.”
This is outrageous on two fronts. First, ever since the salary cap was instituted in 1994, Jones has been notorious for his all-in approach that leaves his franchise in a salary-cap hell that has kept them out of playoff relevance for almost 30 years.
Second, the Eagles, first with Joe Banner and now with Howie Roseman, wrote the book on salary-cap management.
Third, according to spotrac.com, despite adding expensive stars like A.J. Brown, Haason Reddick, and James Bradberry for 2022, the Eagles are projected to be almost $5 million under the 2023 salary cap, while the Cowboys are projected to be more than $7 million over the cap.
“If it’s affecting somebody that much — to have that much hate — I guess it’s affecting them a great deal,” said Eagles right tackle Lane Johnson. “But it doesn’t affect me. It’s just the way the ball rolls sometime. It could [tick] you off, it could get guys riled up. Moving forward, hopefully, that’s got to change.”
On the other hand, maybe it’s better for Philly if it doesn’t change.
Dissed but not dismissed
On Feb. 3, salty San Francisco 49ers receiver Brandon Aiyuk said of the Eagles’ pass defense, “I think this Kansas City pass game will expose what we thought we were going to be able to expose before some unfortunate circumstances. We’ll see. But like I said, you got to get lucky to win a Super Bowl. And they just got extremely lucky last week.”
Whatever.
It wasn’t “luck” that knocked both 49ers quarterbacks out of the NFC championship game, it was the Eagles’ defensive linemen, who collected 70 sacks in 2022, the third-most in history. It wasn’t “luck” that gave the Eagles the No. 1 pass defense in the league. The Eagles have allowed 14 points in two playoff games. No team is that lucky.
“That was weird,” said Eagles cornerback Darius Slay. “Yes, bad sportsmanship. Bad.”
There was a lot of bad sportsmanship sent Philly’s way lately.
In December, Cowboys linebacker Micah Parsons questioned Jalen Hurts’ MVP candidacy when he called him a “system quarterback.”
Last month, Nick Sirianni was snubbed in the coach of the year race despite leading a 9-8 team in 2021 to the top of the conference in 2022. He wasn’t even one of the three finalists. Giants coach Brian Daboll won, even though Sirianni and the Eagles beat his team three times. Sirianni’s brash sideline act rubs some people the wrong way, such as Giants safety Julian Love, who told an NFL Network roundtable show on Feb. 2: “He’s in for a free ride right now. You guys can coach this team.”
The disrespect for Philly isn’t limited to the Birds.
Shrapnel
Rob Thomson took over for Joe Girardi in June, took the Phillies to the playoffs, but still finished fifth in manager of the year voting.
Sixers center Joel Embiid leads the NBA in scoring but will be an All-Star starter next Sunday only because he’s an injury replacement. James Harden had a 10-year All-Star streak but didn’t even make the team, even though he leads the NBA in assists and has sacrificed his scoring to help the Sixers’ offensive efficiency.
That stunned Kelce.
“He’s not on the All-Star team? Wow,” Kelce told me.
No one feels the Philly hate more than the podcast co-host, but even he isn’t sure why folks hate Philly.
“I don’t know. It’s a good question. Maybe, I don’t know, it’s because we’re loud,” Kelce said, a smile breaking through his berserker beard. His voice rose.
“We’re loud, and we’re proud, to be Philadelphians! We’re in your face! They want to shut Philadelphia up! The thing they don’t know is — and it’s a key thing — it only feeds it more!”
