Eagles must embrace underdog mentality for another playoff run

For the third-straight season, the Philadelphia Eagles find themselves in the hunt for playoff positioning with few that believe in them. The team needs to embrace this.

In 2017, the Philadelphia Eagles were the first and only No. 1 seed in the playoffs to be underdogs in the games they participated in, mainly due to Nick Foles needing to step in at quarterback for an injured Carson Wentz.

Lane Johnson and Chris Long would go on to wear dog masks to embrace this underdog mentality after the Eagles’ Divisional Round victory over the Atlanta Falcons, and soon many more players would follow suit.

During the following season, the team once again had to turn to Foles while fighting for a playoff spot. The Eagles, primarily the secondary, would go on to wear ski masks to symbolize that they were going to “steal” a playoff spot.

While the 2019 team finds themselves in a similar situation to the 2018 team in that they are fighting for a playoff spot, albeit this time needing a division crown, they will also find themselves as underdogs should they get into the playoffs. This is once again due in large part to injuries.

"Whether they choose to bring the actual dog masks back or not, the Eagles need to embrace this underdog status and play with that mentality."

When the Eagles were labeled as underdogs both years, they used it as a rallying cry to come together and work themselves up into a lather before each playoff game.

As fans know, this mindset would culminate in a Super Bowl LII victory, in one of the most memorable postseason runs in NFL history. And while we at ITI have written that the Eagles need to get over that victory, it doesn’t mean they need to forget the mentality.

In the Doug Pederson era, the Eagles seem to respond and play better when their backs are against the wall, and their backs are about to put a hole in this metaphoric wall when seeing how backed up they are entering Week 15.

If they can band together and once again embrace the underdog mentality, they can win the NFC East while earning the rights to host a home playoff game.

One of the best parts about playing in January is every team starts with the same record at 0-0 and since anything is possible if a team can get hot at the right time, Philadelphia should feel confident in their chances if they were to win the division based off the last two seasons alone.