Madden 20 Philadelphia Eagles playbook will feature ‘Philly Special’
Hold on to your controllers guys and gals! This year’s version of EA Sports’ Madden franchise will include the ‘Philly Special’ in the Philadelphia Eagles’ playbook.
Some of you won’t admit to this, but you’ve thought about this if you’ve ever considered yourself to be a gamer. Whether the XBOX or the PS4 is your system of choice, when you’ve picked up ‘the sticks’ and played a game of Madden (as the Philadelphia Eagles of course), and you’ve asked yourself why one of the most famous plays in Eagles history (if not the most famous) isn’t in Philly’s playbook.
Hold on, before we get to that, let’s take you back in time a little.
The Philly Special is born.
It’s perhaps four of the most famous words in Philadelphia Eagles lore ‘You want Philly Philly?’… Those were the words uttered by Nick Foles when he trotted over to Eagles head coach Doug Pederson with time running out in the first half of Super Bowl LII.
The four words in Coach Pederson’s response were equally as memorable. ‘Yeah, let’s do it.’ That’s when an Eagles team who had been aggressive throughout the entire Super Bowl threw all of the chips on the table. That’s when their center, Jason Kelce, snapped the ball to an undrafted running back, Corey Clement.
Mr. Clement, then, took the snap, ran to his left, and tossed the old pigskin to a third string tight end, Trey Burton. Mr. Tight End then lobbed one to his quarterback, the backup nonetheless, the eventual Super Bowl MVP Nick Foles.
You may not believe this, but it was at that point that I said ‘The Eagles are going to win the Super Bowl’. I get it. Yes, there was an entire second half to be played. Yes the Eagles were facing the greatest dynasty in the history of competitive sports, the best quarterback we’ve ever seen, and, perhaps, the greatest NFL coach of all time.
Philly would even lose the lead briefly in the second half, but I’ll say it again. Once I saw the ‘Philly Special’ I was never worried about the outcome.
For those of you who need a visual reminder about what I’m talking about, here it is:
Clip courtesy of the Philadelphia Eagles official YouTube channel
Win the Super Bowl they did. Then, it happened again. Prior to the 2018 season opener, a game between ‘The Birds’ and the team they disposed of in the previous season’s Divisional Round of the Playoffs, the Atlanta Falcons, we at ITI ran a poll.
We asked should Philly run the ‘Philly Special’ for old time sake. The response was venomous. We were called stupid. The question was called stupid. Then, guess what happened?
Philly ran the ‘Philly Special’ again.
It appears EA Sports has heard some of our cries, and guess what? All of you who love their highly-popular Madden franchise will, again, be able to play as your beloved Eagles, but this time there will be an added bonus. The ‘Philly Special’ will be a part of the Eagles playbook.
There will also be a couple of fake versions and some RPOs (run-pass options) as well.
Anthony White, a game developer from EA Sports spoke with Eagle Eye in the Sky creator and host Fran Duffy to discuss how playbooks are created for the game. For the ‘Philly Special’ discussion, fast forward to about 28 minutes. If you’d like to hear the full discussion, click below.
Clip courtesy of the Philadelphia Eagles official YouTube channel
Next. Carson Wentz is looking to follow the footsteps of Tom Brady. dark
Just do us favor Eagles fans and gamers. Try not to run the ‘Philly Special’ in every game. It’s supposed to be, well, special.
We do, however, recommend you run it in every big game, every MUT (Madden Ultimate Team) challenge, and if you get your team to the Super Bowl in ‘Franchise Mode’. It’s only right that you do so then.