The Banner That Could Have Been - Philadelphia Sports Nation

The NFL is back! With Week 1’s Thursday Night Football underway, the best 22 weeks of the year are finally here!

The season’s opening game always means one thing: unveiling the Super Bowl banner.

Unfortunately, it’s not a Week 1 home opener at Lincoln Financial Field. Instead, it’s the 2nd time the Kansas City Chiefs are able to unveil a banner at Arrowhead Stadium in 4 years.

If you want to put yourself through the suffering of watching (or re-watching) the banner reveal, you can view so here.

A Painful Loss

Eagles fans already took to voicing their disgust of tuning into this Chiefs / Lions game prior to kickoff.

Pain.
So much pain.
— Eagles Nation (@PHLEaglesNation) September 8, 2023

I’m glad football’s back but this first part it tough to watch….
— EROCK (@EROCK_Eagles) September 8, 2023

Instead of being able to celebrate another Lombardi in Philly, the Eagles 2022 NFC Champs banner was quietly raised before the open practice was held on August 6th.

There are lots of aspects of the Super Bowl that could be at fault for the loss, such as:

The Jalen Hurts Fumble?

If you still think this game-tying fumble in the 2nd quarter is why the Eagles ended up losing the Super Bowl 2 hours later, I can’t help you cause what follows this play really sealed the deal.

Miles Sanders’ Inability To Find A Gap

Thanks to Thomas R. Petersen for breaking down Sanders’ Super Bowl performance; you can view that here.

The Eagles’ 1,269-yard Running Back was a non-factor when it came to the Super Bowl. 16 yards on 7 attempts did nothing to benefit the Eagles, let alone the two fumbles, even if one got called back.

Getting Burnt On One Pre-Snap Motion Touchdown

If you’d like to watch Kadarius Toney’s go-ahead touchdown, you’d think some type of adjustment would be made to prevent this from happening again, right?

It’s not like Kadarius Toney went 1/5 for 1 Yard and was responsible for Patrick Mahomes’ interception during tonight’s game. You’d think you could prevent

Not if you were too concerned about your interview in Arizona.

Getting Burnt On a SECOND Pre-Snap Motion Touchdown

Because the exact same play happened AGAIN, just five minutes later, to Skyy Moore for his 1st career touchdown.

If there’s a finger to point, it’s towards the Defensive Coordinator who learned nothing from his previous match against the Chiefs, but where is he now after confirming that he was staying with the Eagles after they beat the 49ers and moved on to Super Bowl preparations?

Jonathan Gannon to @BrelandFOX29 after the game.
“Philly is keeping me. Good bad or indifferent I’m staying here.” pic.twitter.com/TCaK5bQIGy
— David Grzybowski (@DavidGrzyTV) January 29, 2023

Gannon’s Future

After tucking tail and remaining quiet immediately following the Super Bowl. In his introductory press conference as a part of the Arizona Cardinals franchise, Gannon told on himself that he didn’t interview for the team until the day immediately after the Super Bowl.

What changed in the 2-week span that caused Gannon to quietly leave the Eagles? (Besides the entire city having pitchforks sharpened)

Was it… Tampering!?

Turns out, after winning the NFC Championship Game, the Cardinals GM Monti Ossenfort reached out to Gannon about a potential interview if the Cardinals position remained open after the Super Bowl.

This whole situation was under wraps until draft day, when the Eagles announced a trade with the Cardinals, sending a 2024 5th and their 94th overall pick to Arizona for their 66th overall pick, which resulted in the Eagles drafting Sydney Brown.

And Now What?

After all these events, Gannon has slowly turned himself into the comedic relief of the NFL’s 104th season.

From the awkward fireworks(?) in Gannon’s “Meet The Team” video on the Cardinals’ YouTube.

**To this Oscar-nominated speech that… did anything but motivate.**

The Cardinals are set to start Josh Dobbs as Quarterback in Week 1, while the Detroit Lions were able to show that the Chiefs were, in fact, stoppable.