Former center Jason Kelce was one of the first people to share his thoughts when Jeff Stoutland announced last week that he was stepping down after 13 seasons as the Eagles offensive line coach.
Kelce, who spent 11 of his 13 seasons studying under the dean of “Stoutland University,” talked more about the departure of the longtime assistant on the most recent episode of New Heights.
“I mean, [he] just coached a ton of incredible players: Jason Peters, Todd Herremans, Evan Mathis, myself, Lane Johnson, Jordan Mailata — turned him from a rugby player into an All-Pro left tackle,“ Kelce said. ”He got Cam Jurgens to a Pro Bowl last year, Landon Dickerson to some Pro Bowls, Isaac Seumalo. He’s just done such an incredible job within the Philadelphia Eagles organization, and he’s been such a mainstay throughout multiple head coaches at this point.”
Kelce, who remains a regular at the team facility since his retirement and worked with the Eagles’ young offensive lineman during training camp at the request of Stoutland, also had personal reasons for not wanting to see his mentor go.
“It just sucks to see him go, selfishly. As an Eagles fan and somebody that played for him, and somebody that still goes to the facility — I still go to NovaCare on a regular basis — and I’m not going to be able to see Stout anymore,“ Kelce said. ”And that’s just frustrating for me, and I think frustrating for a lot of people in that building because he was a personality that a lot of people gravitated toward. And this is the reality of the business.”
In addition to Jason Kelce (left), Jeff Stoutland also coached left tackle Jason Peters (right).
He even offered a personal message to Stoutland, who won a pair of Super Bowls with the Eagles and has coached football longer than the 38-year-old Kelce has been alive.
Said Kelce: “Coach, I love you. I don’t know what’s next, but whatever it is, whether it’s coaching or whatever, I know you’re going to be great at it, as you always are.”
Stoutland’s greatness wasn’t lost on Travis Kelce either. While he never played for him, the younger Kelce brother admired him from afar, all while seeing the impact Stoutland had on Jason.
“You already know, man, we’ve got so much respect for him,” Travis said. “He’s one of those guys that you meet in crossing just because you were playing for him … And he’s one of those guys that you would [expletive] just know you’d love playing for, man. And it’s across the board, anybody that runs into him knows you’re going to get everything this guy has and on top of that he’s going to be real about it and we’re going to get [expletive] done.
“One of the best ball coaches I’ve known from afar, and couldn’t be more proud to say congrats on everything your career has gotten to at this point.”
Cam Jurgens (left) was Jason Kelce’s replacement at center. Kelce helped Stoutland coach him up before retiring.
In addition to serving as offensive line coach, Stoutland was also the Eagles run-game coordinator for many years, but Nick Sirianni shifted some of those responsibilities away from Stoutland last year with the ground attack struggling, as Jeff McLane reported. The team also made a change at offensive coordinator, with Kevin Patullo (now reportedly headed to the Dolphins) being replaced by Sean Mannion. And while Jason Kelce understands the nature of the business, he wishes the veteran assistant could’ve stuck around through yet another coordinator change.
“I get that the team is trying to move forward and really embrace this new system and really redesign what this offense is. I wish Stout could’ve been a part of that, but sometimes it doesn’t work out that way,” Jason added. “Anyways, love you, coach. Couldn’t be more happy to have been coached by you.
“And 27 Pro Bowl linemen were with Stout over that 13 years. Wild.”
When your social media algorithm starts feeding you videos of Snoop Dogg, and Jason and Kylie Kelce learning how to curl, it must be time for the Winter Olympics.
Ahead of the Milan Olympic Games, similar to the Kelces and Snoop Dogg, I had the opportunity to get some hands-on training. Here’s a look about the training that goes into the sport, my own experience on the ice, and some local places to play.
Curling can look effortless on television, but looks can be deceiving.
Daniel Laufer, 19, a freshman at Thomas Jefferson University from Richboro, Bucks County, who has been curling for 12 years, had the opportunity to compete on this year’s Olympics ice at the Cortina Olympic Stadium in Italy during last year’s World Junior Curling Championships as a member of Team USA.
The ice at the Olympic curling center in Milan, like the ice seen here at the Philadelphia Curling Club in Paoli, is pebbled, which is different than the smooth ice you’d find at a Flyers game.
“That was a really great experience,” Laufer said. “[The ice] was really good. Obviously, not as good as it is for the Olympics. They were still figuring out the facilities and figuring out the rocks. We had a really good experience with that venue.”
This year, Laufer again will be competing in the World Junior Curling Championships, just outside Copenhagen, Denmark, from Feb. 24 through March 3. Ahead of the event, he’s been training, working on his strength and cardio.
“I usually try to lift four to five times a week and do a significant amount of cardio,” Laufer said. “When I was training specifically for Worlds last season, I had like three months where I was practicing five days a week. Practices are like two hours long. I probably throw 50 to 60 rocks every practice.
“That’s what a higher level training regiment looks like. But, it looks different for everybody.”
Inquirer reporter Ariel Simpson (center) gets instructions on how to sweep from Carolyn Lloyd (right) at the Philadelphia Curling Club in Paoli.
How hard is curling?
Not everyone trains like Laufer, especially amateurs. So how difficult is curling for the average person? I recently had the opportunity to get a hands-on experience at the Philadelphia Curling Club in Paoli with Carolyn Lloyd, a member for 20 years.
“I love exposing people to something that’s so special,” said Lloyd, who lives in Collegeville. “People don’t realize just how special it is. It’s different from a lot of sports, certainly in its culture. This sport captures my whole heart.”
Before this I had never stepped foot on ice — other than the sheet that covered my driveway for two recent weeks. So, I knew this was going to be a bit of a challenge, but Lloyd was more than up to the task of teaching me.
When it came to delivering the stone, I watched a number of YouTube videos ahead of time. So, of course, I felt like a pro walking in — I didn’t even need special shoes, just some attachments. But once I actually stepped onto the ice, with a gripper covering one shoe and a slider covering the other, I felt like a baby deer trying to walk for the first time.
Walking on the ice was hard enough. Now, imagine having to get into a squat position and push off the hack — a rubber block embedded into the ice — with one leg and balance on the other while holding a deep lunge and bracing your core.
Then you have to aim, release, and spin a 42-pound granite stone. Easy? Trust me, it’s not like they make it look on TV.
Carolyn Lloyd (left) explains Inquirer reporter Ariel Simpson the parts of a curling stone at the Philadelphia Curling Club in Paoli.
It took me a few tries before I was even mentally prepared to push off with enough strength to move myself a few feet. But, once you get over the fear of falling onto the ice, you start to actually enjoy yourself and can focus on the next step — getting the stone to the house — which I did, eventually.
And all of this was only learning how to deliver the stone. Sweeping was a whole other issue. By the time I was ready to try sweeping, I had much more confidence walking on the ice, so that’s a plus. But now I had to run on it.
Afterward, I felt like I had done a full body workout. The amount of core, lower-body, and arm strength needed for curling is substantial and was certainly a surprise.
The one part of the sport I didn’t get a chance to take part in was the social aspect. It’s a game that’s big on camaraderie, including the post-round tradition of “broomstacking,” when the winning team buys the losing team a drink. But, hey, I was on the clock.
Where can I try curling in the Philly area?
If you want to give curling — and its rules and traditions — a try, there are a couple of local clubs where you can learn.
The Philadelphia Curling Club was started in 1957 but didn’t move to its current location until 1965. Since then they have grown, gaining over 200 members.
“This building was built for curling,” Lloyd said. “We bought the land. We built the club. And to this day, what you see here is a lot of the club members’ efforts. Most of the work that we do is not things that other people come in and do for us.”
The club offers a junior program on the weekends where kids can start as early as 5 years old.
“It’s something that anyone can pick up,” Lloyd said. “The game has adaptations for people who have different types of ability needs. You can learn very quickly, and then you can refine that skill for the rest of your life.”
A member of the Philadelphia Curling Club in Paoli delivers a stone during warmups last week.
There’s also the Bucks County Curling Club, located on York Road in Warminster, that was formed in 2010. The four-sheet club also has over 200 members and plays year-round.
Although it’s usually once every four years when the world tunes in to watch curling on TV, there is plenty of curling content that Laufer wants fans to know about.
“We have a ton of events,” he said. “There’s the Grand Slam of Curling events, which are our biggest tour events. There’s the World Championships, the European Championships. There’s a lot of events to watch, a lot of events that U.S. teams play in.”
Philly fans probably weren’t expecting to see Ben Simmons during the Super Bowl — but the former Sixers first-round pick made headlines on Sunday that don’t have to do with professional fishing.
Simmons starred alongside comedian Tiffany Haddish in an ad, which debuted on Instagram before the Big Game, for fantasy sports app Sleeper.
The commercial introduces a fictional “Simmons & Haddish” law firm and pokes fun at Simmons’ ex-girlfriend Kendall Jenner, who starred in her own Fanatics Sportsbook Super Bowl commercial, teasing the Kardashian dating curse.
“Haven’t you heard? The internet says I’m cursed,” Jenner says in her ad. “Any basketball player who dates me, kind of hits a rough patch. While the world’s been talking about it, I’ve been betting on it. How else do you think I can afford all this … modeling?”
Jenner and Simmons were first linked together in May 2018 before calling it quits in May 2019. She has also dated Devin Booker, Jordan Clarkson, and Blake Griffin. Booker responded to the ad on X. But, Simmons had his own response to Jenner’s recent commercial.
“Are your exes subbing you in commercials?” Simmons says in the Sleepers ad.
“If so, you may be entitled to retribution,” Haddish adds. “You need emotional injury specialists Simmons & Haddish. You need the ex-communicators.”
Simmons and Haddish offer their services to help during celebrity breakups. The ad featured many famous exes, including Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce’s ex-girlfriend Kayla Nicole, rapper Cardi B’s ex-husband Offset, and reality star Chelley Bissainthe’s ex-boyfriend Ace Greene.
Each ex had their own testimony for the work of Simmons & Haddish, including Nicole — and they didn’t have the best reviews.
“Simmons & Haddish promised me that they could put an end to this whole ‘ex-girlfriend’ fiasco quickly,” Nicole says.
Simmons interjected with a reference to Kelce’s current fiancée, Taylor Swift: “That doesn’t sound right … I said ‘swiftly.’ Why is that so hard to remember?”
The ex-communicators even had their own catchy theme song.
When your ex becomes a hater, call the ex-communicators. Simmons & Haddish.
With a return to the NBA currently on hold, Simmons is now a controlling operator of the South Florida Sails Angling Club, a team in the Sports Fishing Championship. When he’s not fixing celebrity relationships, that is.
On Monday, former Eagles quarterback Michael Vick joined former NBA star Carmelo Anthony on his 7pm In Brooklyn podcast to discuss his NFL career — including the impact Andy Reid and the Eagles organization had on him when he returned to football after serving 21 months in federal prison for felony offenses related to operating a dogfighting ring and a gambling enterprise.
“That second act was everything that I needed in my life,” Vick said. “Talk about full circle, completion.”
Changing Birds
Vick joined the Eagles shortly after his time in prison in 2009, with Reid bringing him in to back up then starter Donovan McNabb. At the time, it was unclear if Vick, a three-time Pro-Bowler with the Atlanta Falcons and the 2005 MVP runner-up, would get a second chance in professional sports following his indictment.
“I hate to say it, but I needed some time to myself,” Vick said in reference to his time in prison. “As much as it hurt and as much as I cried, because I didn’t come from that, I had to adjust and adapt to that. I did, and I made it through, but within that time I was just building my whole [mentality] to come back and be a better version of myself.”
A backup in his first year, Vick was able to return to a starting role in 2010 after the Eagles traded McNabb, and his replacement, starter Kevin Kolb, suffered a concussion against the Green Bay Packers in Week 1. Vick was eventually named the starter, helping the team go 10-6 while earning himself NFL comeback player of the year honors.
Michael Vick signed with the Eagles as a backup in 2009.
Rejuvenated
Vick finished second to Tom Brady, the eventual MVP, in offensive player of the year voting in 2010, and the Eagles fell to the Packers in the wild-card round of the playoffs. The lefty quarterback, who signed a six-year, $100 million deal with the Birds that offseason, credited his career resurgence to his teammates and the culture Philly had established before his arrival.
“I still was young,” Vick said. “Still had so much to learn. I appreciated it the second time around because I ended up with Andy Reid. I ended up with a great group of teammates: DeSean [Jackson], LeSean [McCoy], Jeremy Maclin, Jason Peters, Jason Avant, Jason Kelce, Nick Foles — all these dudes were my brothers, Donovan, [Brian] Westbrook, it was family.”
Vick noted how he didn’t apply himself fully in Atlanta, and that the Eagles taught him how to be a professional, and described how too many nights out and an unserious mindset hampered his growth while with the Falcons.
“I had seen that they were just different in Philly,” Vick said. “It was just all about learning and getting better every day and supporting one another. Things that I didn’t do in Atlanta, that I wish I had done, I was able to do. Being able to come back and win comeback player of the year, all the hard work I put in, it’s like, damn, mentorship is really real. Brotherhood is real. Trust is real. Accountability is real.”
Vick also pushed himself to improve off the field, which started during his time in prison.
“When I was away, I wanted to prepare myself to be a better version of myself,” Vick said. “As far as being media friendly, being more approachable, just being better, a better person all around, a better family man for my kids, my wife, just searching for completion.”
Vick is now the head coach Norfolk State, and faced off against former teammate DeSean Jackson, now the coach of Delaware State, at the Linc last year.
Coaching matters
Before he ever wore midnight green, Vick says he was jealous of McNabb and the situation the former quarterback had in Philly — specifically highlighting Reid’s coaching style. McNabb and Reid ended two of Vick’s playoff runs with the Falcons, defeating Vick in the divisional round in 2003 and in the 2005 NFC championship.
“Don’t take this the wrong way, Donovan, but I was a little envious,” Vick said. “Like, damn, man, you got a great coach. I’m looking at the offense, watching them on film, and if I was doing that type of stuff, we’d be winning more.”
At the time, Vick didn’t understand how transformative playing for Reid would be. Not only did the coach helpgive him his second shot in the NFL, but he also opened the door for Vick to one day become a coach himself.
“God blessed me and put me in that man’s presence,” Vick said in reference to Reid. “I didn’t take that for granted, and what it taught me … [was] I can be a coach one day, even though that was something I never thought I would be doing.”
Vick is now the head coach of Norfolk State, a historically Black university located near his hometown of Newport News, Va. Last October, Vick found himself at Lincoln Financial Field once again, this time as a coach, where he faced off against former teammate DeSean Jackson, who is now the coach of another HBCU program, Delaware State.
Those were the first words from 21-year-old former Sixers guard Jared McCain in his latest vlog after getting traded to the Oklahoma City Thunder on Feb. 4 in exchange for a 2026 first-round pick and three second-round picks.
The former Rookie of the Year front-runner was surprised when he received the news on the team bus, which was headed to the San Francisco airport ahead of the Sixers’ road game against the Los Angeles Lakers.
“We were just on the bus,” McCain said in his latest YouTube video. “I get a call saying it might happen. And then like five minutes later [Daryl Morey] calls and says, ‘You’re cooked, Jared McCain.’ He said, ‘Bye, man. Never speak to me again.’ No, they were nice about it but, you know, it’s part of the NBA.”
When McCain initially broke the news to his teammates, they didn’t believe him.
“Right when I found out, I went to the back of the bus and I told Tyrese [Maxey] and nobody, they didn’t believe me,” McCain said. “And then I think management called them and then we were all getting on the plane and then I’m crying at this point. And we get off the buses and everybody is giving me hugs and I’m just crying. It was like a movie scene. Everybody is getting on the plane and I’m just crying. Lot of tears today. Happy, sad, I don’t know.”
Maxey thought it was a joke when McCain shared the news. Afterward, the All-Star point guard publicly discussed McCain’s departure, calling him his “little brother.”
“It was just like, ‘All right, whatever. He’s just joking,’” Maxey said. “Calls start coming in, and then you realize it’s real.”
McCain had a breakout rookie season, averaging 15.3 points, 2.4 rebounds, and 2.6 assists before his season was cut short by a torn meniscus in his left knee. McCain struggled in his second season after being sidelined for surgeries on his knee and thumb. In 37 games, the young guard averaged 6.6 points, 2.0 rebounds, and 1.7 assists.
On a private jet to Oklahoma City, McCain tried to keep a positive mindset on the trade — even if that meant drawing inspiration from his favorite music artist, Drake.
“I’m in shock still,” McCain said. “I’m an OKC Thunder. What did Drake say? ‘It’s raining money, Oklahoma City Thunder. The most successful rapper 35 and under.’ Drake did say that. So, maybe it was destined for me. And it was in Weston Road Flows too. But, shout-out OKC, man. OKC, here we come. I’m excited, blessed, thankful. Let’s go have some fun.”
Throughout the rest of the video, McCain shared his first few days with his new team — whether he was practicing how to say hi to Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, visiting the Paycom Center, getting locked out of the Thunder’s training facility, meeting OKC fans, or playing in his first game with the team, when he finished with five points, two rebounds, and one assist — and received a standing ovation.
But the former Sixers first-round pick had one more message to Philly fans and it came in song form. McCain dedicated Olivia Dean’s “A Couple Minutes” to the organization and its fan base.
Jared McCain sang his heart out in a tribute to Philly fans 🥹💙
Flyers fans are “starving” for a superstar player. That’s what’s driving a lot of the angst around Matvei Michkov, former team captain Chris Pronger said.
On Monday’s episode of the Spittin’ Chiclets podcast, Pronger, a hockey Hall of Famer who spent the last three years of his 18-year career with the Flyers, shared his thoughts on the team’s rebuild and Michkov’s development as a professional.
The never-ending rebuild
The current regime spearheading the Flyers’ rebuild, led by president Keith Jones and general manager Danny Brière, has been in place since May 2023, just under three years. But Flyers fans are still reeling from the failures of previous regimes.
“They’ve been in what’s called a rebuild for what seems like 12 years,” Pronger said. “I think they’re frustrated and they want the rebuild to be over, but they didn’t go about the rebuild properly in the early days.”
The Flyers haven’t made the playoffs since the COVID bubble in 2020, and have advanced past the first round just once since the 2012-13 season — during that bubble playoff run, which was played in an empty building in Toronto.
The most important keys to any successful rebuild are finding a star center and a No. 1 defenseman, two things that have eluded the Flyers so far. It takes lottery luck, which the Flyers haven’t had much of lately. But those who believe Michkov, a winger, becoming a star will be the difference between a Stanley Cup-contending Flyers team and the draft lottery aren’t being realistic, according to Pronger.
“I don’t know any team — any team — that rebuilds with a winger,” Pronger said. “I don’t know one good team who rebuilt with a winger. You don’t rebuild with a winger, you rebuild up the middle — center, defense, goalie. I know you [draft] the best player available, and clearly he was the best player, but as it relates to that, sometimes you have to luck out, too, in a rebuild and get the right pick when the right player is available.”
In January, Pronger posted on X that those centerpiece players are the hardest to find, and the Flyers need to be patient and deliberate about compiling assets to make those moves if they become available. But he also suggested that the best way to rebuild is to tear it all the way down, like San Jose and Chicago have done, for a chance at landing a player like Macklin Celebrini or Connor Bedard.
Flyers right wing Matvei Michkov has struggled in his second season with the team.
How to help Michkov
Michkov came into camp out of shape, something Pronger admitted he’d also done early in his career, in his second and third NHL seasons. Teams don’t get a lot of practice time, Pronger said, so it’s extremely difficult to play yourself into shape during the year. Pronger’s coach at the time, former Flyers boss Mike Keenan, was extremely tough on him, to the point where Pronger joked that even his teammates started to feel bad.
He also pointed to the language barrier between the Russian Michkov and the coaching staff as a hurdle.
“The fact that he doesn’t speak the language very well, if at all, that’s part of the problem, because it might not be translating properly what he’s going through, what he’s dealing with,” Pronger said. “… You’ve got to be hard on young guys, but it’s not 1995, either. That’s not how this world works in today’s hockey world, in today’s NHL. You have to find a connection with the player. There’s ways to be hard.”
The Flyers do not employ a full-time Russian translator for Michkov, instead relying on Slava Kuznetsov, a skating coach who also works with Olympian Isabeau Levito, to translate for him.
Now, the Flyers need to teach Michkov how to be a pro, Pronger said, and that includes setting the example of him coming into camp in shape, and learning to be more responsible with the puck.
“I saw a few of their games last year with [John Tortorella], and he played [Michkov] a bit differently,” Pronger said. “He got him on the power play, to me it looked like he was putting him in more positions for success. It looked like he let him do a little more, but wasn’t — I don’t know if teaching him is the right word, but showcasing his abilities and not digging into the other parts of the game where he needed to improve.”
The Flyers are off for the Olympic break and will return to the ice on Feb. 25 against the Washington Capitals.
With the release of ESPN’s new 30 for 30 about the Philly Special on Friday night, Doug Pederson is back on the minds of Eagles fans. And that’s not the only reason why. The former Eagles coach was also spotted this week answering fan questions in an unusual way: over the public address system of an airplane.
Pederson talked about seeing Jalen Hurts grow after they drafted him in 2020, despite already having Carson Wentz as their starter. He also offered some advice for new offensive coordinator Sean Mannion.
"You know, we drafted Jalen Hurts for a reason."
They asked Doug Pederson about the new OC hire and he spent 90 seconds waxing poetic about his QB instead. pic.twitter.com/lpgrMOkUOP
“We drafted Jalen Hurts for a reason,” Pederson said over the microphone. “And we saw something in Jalen Hurts that we felt like he was going to be the starter at some point, he was going to be in the franchise at some point. Sooner, obviously, than later. In his defense, I think this is going to be his sixth offensive coordinator in his career.”
A former quarterback and coordinator himself, Pederson said he understands how difficult that can be, and noted that the Eagles have managed to be very successful despite all the turnover.
“That’s hard,” Pederson said. “But yet you look at the success the Eagles have had over the course of, really, since he’s started. They’ve won a Super Bowl, they’ve been in another Super Bowl. They’ve been to many playoff games. They’ve won a ton of football games. And, every year they’ve had a different offensive coordinator.”
Former offensive coordinator Kevin Patullo, who was replaced this offseason by Mannion, faced heavy criticism from fans during the 2025 season due to the team’s struggles on offense.
Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts will have another new offensive coordinator next year.
So Pederson’s advice to the Birds’ new OC? Work with Hurts.
“I don’t know a ton about [Mannion]. I just know he got to come in and he’s got to work with Jalen. He’s got to figure out what Jalen does best,” Pederson said. “Utilize his strengths, utilize the talent on offense get the run game going to where it was a year ago when they won the Super Bowl. If he does that then they’re going to have a lot of success moving forward.”
According to the fan on the flight who posted the viral video on Reddit, Pederson was there as part of a FanDuel Super Bowl event and took part in an interview before answering fan questions — like who he would rather have on his team, Tom Brady or Patrick Mahomes. Pederson also gave his prediction for Sunday’s Super Bowl, where he picked the Seattle Seahawks over the New England Patriots.
Pederson has not coached since the 2024 season after he was fired following a three-year stint with the Jaguars. But he’s open to returning — and according to the Redditor on the flight, Pederson said he has some interest in currently open offensive coordinator positions, but that he is also enjoying spending time with his wife.
Ever since that touchdown helped the Eagles beat the New England Patriots in Super Bowl LII, it’s fascinated Eagles fans — the lore, the backstory, and, of course, the confetti that followed. There have been T-shirts and murals designed to commemorate the play, food specials named after the moment, and a number of tattoos inspired by the event that now decorate the bodies of Eagles fans from all over.
“I don’t know of any other play that people have tattooed up and down their bodies,” former Eagles center Jason Kelce says in ESPN’s new 30 for 30 documentary about the Birds’ first Super Bowl win. “I was in a stadium in Chicago, and a cook raised his sleeve and had the Philly Special X’s and O’s tattooed on his forearm. This is in the Bears’ stadium.”
Now, fans will get a new look behind the play and the people who made it happen in The Philly Special, which premieres at 9 p.m. Friday. The iconic moment, which helped an underdog Eagles team bring the Lombardi Trophy to the city for the first time in franchise history, is told through the eyes of the five men involved — Kelce, Corey Clement, Trey Burton, Nick Foles, and Doug Pederson.
“My wife and I sat down and watched it, and I’m not going to lie, it brought me to tears,” Pederson, the former Eagles coach, said on 94 WIP on Wednesday, the eighth anniversary of the play. “I really felt like they did an outstanding job to me catching sort of the essence and the spirit of Philadelphia, the city, the fans, the passion.”
Helping bring the city to life during the hourlong documentary was Shannon Furman, who grew up in South Jersey and is based in Marlton. Furman, a Penn State graduate, was one of the film’s directors, along with Angela Zender.
Although the play is central to the film, its story begins much earlier. It briefly follows each of the five central characters’ journeys to Super Bowl LII, from the moment they were drafted (or in some cases weren’t) to the moment the Philly Special was called at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis.
While taking a trolley ride through town, with stops at various Philly landmarks, Pederson, Foles, Kelce, Clement, and Burton discuss their first impressions of the city, while Kelce also finds a way to take a shot at Dallas in the process.
“When I got drafted, my agent said, ‘You know, Jason, you’re going to love Philadelphia. It’s got a great spirit to it. I think you’ll fit in pretty well,’” Kelce said. “There’s a humbleness to it. There’s a cockiness to it. A city that was born on the back of blue-collar workers and manufacturing. Stetson hat factory. To all you Cowboys fans, you think cowboy hats is a [expletive] Texas thing. That was created in Philadelphia. So, [expletive] you guys.”
Kelce may have received promising advice from his agent, but Foles was issued a stern warning by former Eagles head coach Andy Reid. He remembers a conversation he had with Reid as a rookie, not long after he was selected by the Birds in the third round of the 2012 NFL draft.
Andy Reid and Nick Foles during the 2012 season.
“I had a sit down with Andy Reid,” Foles said. “I remember he asked me poignantly, ‘Do you have faith or believe in anything?’ I was like, ‘Yeah, I’m a Christian.’ He said ‘All right, you’re going to need that, because this city has torn grown men apart.’”
Some of that “tearing grown men apart” happens on the radio. Burton, the former Eagles tight end who threw the touchdown pass on the Philly Special, recognized that early.
“I remember my first day in Philly,” Burton said. “My cousin picked me up, and he had the WIP radio [station] on. I was like, ‘What is this?’ People calling in from all over the place, talking crazy.”
For Clement, meanwhile, it was a dream to sign with his hometown team. The former Eagles running back, who grew up in Glassboro, remembers telling the team he would be at the facility “in an hour.” Pederson also was familiar with the city, having played for the Eagles (1999) and been an assistant (2009 to 2012) before becoming head coach (2016 to 2020).
“The Philadelphia hiring for me was a whirlwind of emotion,” Pederson said. “You’re a little bit scared in a way because it’s such a big step. I played here. You know the city, you know the fan base, you know exactly what you’re getting into. You’re not going to make everybody happy. You just settle in and you realize, ‘Hey, this is what you’ve been preparing yourself for.’”
The Eagles’ 2017 season was a whirlwind. The team got off to a 10-2 start behind Carson Wentz before the second-year quarterback and MVP favorite tore his ACL in the team’s Week 14 win over the Los Angeles Rams. With their Pro Bowl quarterback injured, Foles was forced into action.
During one of the group’s stops, Foles asked Pederson and Kelce what their confidence level was like with him stepping in.
“Season’s done,” Pederson said jokingly. “I started believing the media.”
Kelce interjected: “Me and a few guys that had been there for the Chip [Kelly] years with Nick; felt confident that Nick could play really well. We had seen it before.”
Eagles offensive lineman Lane Johnson dons a dog mask as he walks off the field after the team’s 15-10 divisional round playoff win over the Atlanta Falcons in 2018.
With the loss of Wentz, those outside the organization started to count the Eagles out. And that underdog mentality fueled the Eagles, who had printouts of media rankings hanging all over the facility, including in the bathroom, and donned dog masks throughout the playoffs.
But Kelce, Foles, Clement, and Burton were used to being underdogs. It was part of the documentary Furman wishes she had more time to tell.
“I wish we could have really gotten into everyone’s backstory a little bit more,” Furman said. “Because those five characters are really, like, real underdog stories, which is what the whole film is.”
Clement and Burton were undrafted free agents. Kelce was a walk-on at the University of Cincinnati — and hardly a lock to stick with the Eagles after he was drafted in the sixth round. Pederson, a former backup quarterback, was heavily criticized nationally when the Eagles hired him. And then there’s Foles.
Foles’ NFL journey was difficult. The backup-turned-starter was twice cast off, including by Kelly after his first year with the Eagles, despite the team reaching the playoffs. He played for six teams over his 11-year career. After his first stint with the Eagles, Foles found himself in St. Louis, where he began to question whether he wanted to walk away from the sport before Reid brought him to Kansas City and helped revive his career.
“I just said, I don’t know if I can do it anymore,” Foles said. “Then it came over me, which one am I more afraid of? Am I more afraid to leave the game? No, I’m not afraid. I’m trying to leave the game. I’m afraid to go back to the game. And my spirit was like, ‘Well, that’s what you need to do.’ Ultimately, that equipped me for what was to come.”
What was to come was a battle the film likened to Rocky vs. Apollo Creed or Ivan Drago. Cliche or not, Foles found himself standing in U.S. Bank Stadium below giant banners featuring one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time, Tom Brady, and himself in a moment one can’t help but compare to an almost identical scene in Rocky, when the title character finds himself staring up at a giant banner of Creed.
Eagles quarterback Nick Foles and Eagles head coach Doug Pederson during the second quarter at Super Bowl LII, at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Sunday, Feb. 4, 2018.
‘You want Philly Philly’ — or is it dilly dilly?
It’s fourth-and-goal with 38 seconds left to play in the first half of Super Bowl LII and Pederson sent a play to Foles — only it wasn’t the Philly Special. Players looked out of sync, confused. So the coach decided to take a minute to think things over.
“Here we are fourth-and-goal at the 1, and I called a timeout,” Pederson says. “I’m easing back up to [the] coaches box, just looking, just searching for the right play. I’m just searching. I’m listening to the coaches. And I turn my mic off and now I’m talking face-to-face with Nick, and he just walks up and is like, ‘How about Philly Philly?’ My pause was just like ‘That’s it. That’s the play.’
“The coaches heard it, Philly Special, and it was honestly like crickets. I could hear chirping on the headset. Nobody said a word. It was like, ‘Philly Special? In this moment?’”
Once the play was called, everyone involved admitted they had something to be nervous about — except Foles. Clement was worried the snap would go over his head. Burton hadn’t thrown a touchdown pass since high school. And Kelce was worried how he would snap the ball, although he felt like if they could execute, the Patriots “wouldn’t see it coming.”
Meanwhile, Foles was just trying not to smile.
“In my mind, it was just the play that would work,” Foles recalls. “It wasn’t like a play that I thought would be famous. It was like, this will work for [messing up] the Patriots. The one thing I was thinking about when [Pederson] said, ‘Yeah, lets do it,’ when I turned around was don’t smile. Do not smile. Look serious.
“Because I was so excited. I knew it was going to work. That was my one coaching point. Do not smile.”
The only problem, Foles didn’t actually ask for the “Philly Special.” Instead, he asked for “Philly Philly.” And to this day, he still doesn’t know why he called it the Philly Philly. However, the directors had their own conspiracy theory as to why Foles slipped up: the popular Bud Light “dilly dilly” commercials that were being aired at the time.
“Yes, those were on the TV, the ‘dilly dilly’ commercials,” Foles said. “And there is a very good chance that got engrained somehow into my mind. And that’s why people do commercials. Because it somehow, in your subconscious gets ingrained, even if you don’t want it to. That’s probably what it was.
“It was probably me watching the AFC championship game and seeing commercials. I don’t know how Doug knew what I was asking for though. That’s not — he must’ve seen the commercials too. So, that worked on both of us.”
At one point, the film even shows two Super Bowl officials enjoying a “dilly dilly” commercial on the Jumbotron during a break in the game.
That wasn’t the only way the Philly Special snuck into Foles’ subconscious before he asked for it. He also said watching Tom Brady drop a similar pass right in front of him earlier in the game also reminded him that the play was an option.
Throughout the film, there are plenty of Philly fans, notable citizens, and local spots featured — including Reading Terminal Market, Skinny Joey’s, Termini Bros Bakery, Manco and Manco Pizza, and Zahav, where Foles recalls fans serenading him out of the restaurant with E-A-G-L-E-S chants before leaving for the Super Bowl. The group also makes stops at the Philly Special statue outside of Lincoln Financial Field, as well as atop the Art Museum steps, a location Rocky made famous just over 40 years before Kelce’s unforgettable Super Bowl parade speech that captured Philly and its underdog mentality perfectly.
It was important to Furman for this documentary to not only retell an iconic moment in Philly sports history, but to also represent the fandom behind the team.
“They’re just an important part of everything,” Furman said. “Philly fans get a bad rep sometimes. So we’re hoping this film shows where their passion comes from and why this story was so important to them. The first one was a moment Philly fans, some of them, thought they were never going to see it. So that’s why we wanted them to be a big part of the story.”
Mike Cordisco is not the first person to compare football to religion, but he might be the first person to spend years photographing Eagles tailgates to make the comparison clearer.
Cordisco’s newest project, Sermon on the Lot, is a 98-page book that compiles photos the Cherry Hill native took at Eagles tailgates between 2018 and 2025.
The goal of the project, Cordisco said, was to push past the typical rowdy image of Eagles fans before a game and show their passion as a kind of religious fervor.
Beyond the project’s title, the book itself is designed to look like something one might find in a church pew, with silver embossing on the front and a midnight green ribbon bookmark.
It also features a sermon written by Philadelphia journalist Dan McQuade, who died last week at 43.
Select photos from Sermon on the Lot will be on display at Unique Photo in Center City. Cordisco, 34, is hosting a gallery opening on Friday from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. and says it will remain in place until mid-March.
Cordisco’s origin story in becoming a photographer is simple. He bought his first camera in 2016 to document his trips to baseball stadiums. It was around the same time he moved within Philadelphia’s city limits for the first time.
Baseball is Cordisco’s “true passion.” He played high school baseball at Cherry Hill West and spent one season on the club team at Rutgers-New Brunswick, where he attended college. He spent a few years working for minor league clubs, working game day operations for the Lehigh Valley IronPigs and selling tickets for the Frisco RoughRiders.
After three years in Texas with the RoughRiders, Cordisco moved to the Bella Vista neighborhood of Philadelphia and got a job as a database administrator with Better Tomorrows, a Camden-based nonprofit.
Cordisco was still making frequent trips to MLB stadiums in an effort to see them all, but grew frustrated with trying to document them on his cell phone camera.
“I was straining, lying on the ground, straining on railings to get these perfect shots on my iPhone,” Cordisco said. “And I was like, ‘You know what, why don’t I just get a camera?’”
Cordisco’s love for photography grew, and eventually he became interested in not just documenting moments, but telling stories with his lens. He collected his baseball photography into a project titled If They Don’t Win It’s a Shame, which “exposes American culture and society within the confines of its national pastime,” according to Cordisco’s website.
“It’s a way to tell all these stories and use my experience in the field, [to] visually tell these stories that I’m interested in,” Cordisco said.
Once Cordisco started to take photography more seriously, he knew he wanted to put together a project that would capture Philadelphia, which he considers to be “the one identifiable U.S. city.”
The city’s sports teams seemed like a natural place to begin framing Philly’s identity. Cordisco did not have personal allegiances to the Philadelphia teams, as his family had roots in New York, but he knew how much Philly cared about its teams from growing up in its suburbs. He began to shoot the places where he saw the city and its teams entwined.
“I was photographing diners that might have Eagles merch in the windows and people’s Phillies and Eagles bumper stickers,” Cordisco said.
He also began photographing the occasional Eagles tailgate. He became captivated by the community that surrounded Lincoln Financial Field on Sundays. By 2022, he had narrowed the project down to focus on tailgating.
A photo of Eagles fans tailgating from Mike Cordisco’s photo project, “Sermon on the Lot.”
“Through the middle of this season, I went to every single one,” Cordisco said. “It was just, for me, the best way to really show and visualize Philly culture.”
Those photos became Sermon on the Lot. Cordisco chose to drape the project in religious metaphors to frame football, and particularly Eagles fandom, as a religion — one with its own set of rituals, traditions, and ways of worship.
“On Sundays, you go to Mass,” Cordisco said. “But in Philly, you go to the parking lot and tailgate an Eagles game.”
Even though the scope of the project changed from its initial aim to portray Philadelphia, Cordisco still feels the city’s identity lies within Sermon on the Lot.
“There’s no way it can’t come through,” Cordisco said. “I think my photos and the work definitely still show that classic grit and character that Philly is known for in the images … It’s still there, even if it’s maybe a layer or two deeper in the work.”
Dan McQuade, seen here in a Daily News photo from 2014, died on Jan. 28, of neuroendocrine cancer, one day after his 43rd birthday.
McQuade’s missive
Cordisco was seeking a Philadelphia writer to pen a foreword for his book. He was a frequent reader of McQuade’s work, so Cordisco sent McQuade a cold email in September to see if he would be interested writing something for the project.
“There was nobody else who could have written that,” Cordisco said. “He had no idea who I was, I just e-mailed him one day and he got back to me and said that he would love to do it.”
To fit the project’s religious theming, McQuade’s foreword takes the form of a sermon. It is about the two men who showed up to former Eagles owner Leonard Tose’s house after news broke that Tose had agreed to sell a portion of the team and move it to Phoenix in 1984.
The two men, Barry Martin and Robert Vandetty, left Tose a note asking the owner to reconsider, as McQuade detailed in a 2023 story for Defector. Martin and Vandetty’s note closed with a simple phrase: “Go Birds — Philadelphia Birds.”
“‘Go Birds’ is your greeting, your mantra, your rallying cry,” an excerpt of McQuade’s sermon reads. “The Eagles trademarked it, but it does not belong to them. It is yours. Think of Barry and Rob. They risked arrest to say ‘Go Birds.’ When you go forth today, I beseech you to say it too.“
Cordisco said McQuade went “above and beyond” in his involvement with the project, offering ideas on how to display the work at the Unique Photo gallery showing. McQuade’s words will hang alongside Cordisco’s photos on the walls of the Center City photo store.
Cordisco started Sermon on the Mount more interested in how the Eagles reflected Philadelphia than the team itself. But now, thanks to the community he found in the parking lots, he considers himself a Birds convert.
“I went out to the tailgates and just saw how much it truly meant to people,” Cordisco said. “Not even just the wins and losses, but just being there. I talked to people that have been tailgating in the same RV for 40 years now, and they would tell me all these stories about how they raised their kids at the tailgates.
“Making that connection with so many people only strengthened my fandom of the Eagles.”
The Winter Olympics are underway — and the opening ceremony was Friday night. Team USA features 232 athletes — 117 men, 115 women, 98 returning Olympians, and 18 Olympic champions. And there are a few Philly-area natives competing in Milan and Cortina.
Here’s look at some Olympians with ties to the region and how to watch them compete:
Isabeau Levito, figure skating
Isabeau Levito, who was born in Philadelphia and lives and trains in Mount Laurel, will make her Olympic debut in front of family in Milan, where her mother was born and some family still lives. The 18-year-old Levito, who has been skating since she was 3 years old, burst onto the scene with a third-place finish at the 2022 U.S. Figure Skating Championships and won the event the next year when she was 15. She also won a silver medal at worlds in 2024.
How and when to watch? The women’s individual figure skating competition doesn’t take place until the second half of the Winter Games. The women’s singles short program is Feb. 17 (12:45 p.m. Philadelphia time), and will air on NBC (Part I) and USA Network (Part II). The women’s singles free skate is scheduled for Feb. 19 (1 p.m.), and will air on NBC. Both events will stream live on Peacock, NBCOlympics.com, NBC.com, the NBC Olympics app, and the NBC app. You can check out the full women’s singles figure skating TV schedule here.
Taylor Anderson-Heide (center) grew up in Broomall and learned to curl with her identical twin sister.
Taylor Anderson-Heide, curling
Taylor Anderson-Heide, another Philadelphia-born Olympian, grew up in Broomall and graduated from Marple Newtown High School before attending the University of Minnesota. Anderson-Heide began curling with her identical twin sister, Sarah Anderson, at a young age and trained at the Philadelphia Curling Club in Paoli.
Anderson-Heide is a five-time national champion, winning twice in mixed doubles (2015, 2018); three times in the women’s event, including twice alongside her sister (2019, 2021); and again in 2025. While Anderson-Heide has finished in the top three in women’s curling in two U.S. Olympic trials, the Milan Games will be her first Olympic events.
How and when to watch? Mixed doubles curling is underway, but Anderson-Heide is competing in the women’s event, which doesn’t begin until Feb. 12. The U.S. women’s team has round-robin sessions every day between Feb. 12-19, and if it advances, the semifinals take place on Feb. 20. The women’s bronze medal match is on Feb. 21, and the women’s gold-medal match takes place on Feb. 22. You can check out the women’s curling TV schedule here, as the games will air at different times and on a trio of networks — CNBC, USA, and NBC — throughout the tournament.
Heo, the son of South Korean immigrants, grew up in Warrington. He followed his cousins and older brother into speedskating and made his first U.S. national team at just 17. Three years later, he made his Olympic debut at the 2022 Beijing Games, finishing seventh in the men’s 1,000-meter race, 28th in the 1,500, and eighth in the 2,000-meter mixed relay. Heo is a two-time world bronze medalist, and he won his first ISU Short Track World Tour race, the 500 meters, in 2025. Also helping Heo at this Olympics: His parents can attend, after COVID-19 restrictions forced them to watch from their home in Bucks County in 2022.
How and when to watch? Men’s speedskating runs from Feb. 7-21, with events airing on NBC, USA Network and streaming live on Peacock. Heo will compete in the 1,500- and 500-meter races, and the 2,000-meter mixed relay. The mixed relay finals will be held on Feb. 10; the 1,500-meter finals will be held on Feb. 14; and the 500-meter finals will be on Feb. 18. For more time and channel information, click here.
Flyers head coach Rick Tocchet is serving as an assistant coach for Team Canada.
Flyers players and coaches
While they weren’t born in Philly, there are four members of the Flyers in Italy for the Olympics.
Rick Tocchet: Tocchet, who represented his native Canada in World Championships and Canada Cups as a player, will get his first Olympic experience in Milan as an assistant coach with the Canadians. The tournament will have added meaning for the Flyers’ bench boss, as both of his parents emigrated from Italy.
Travis Sanheim: Sanheim’s rise from a small Manitoba town of 500 people to the pinnacle of the sport has been nothing short of remarkable to watch. After winning a 4 Nations Face-Off title last year with Canada, the Flyers defenseman will look to add an Olympic gold medal to his trophy case.
Dan Vladař: The goaltender, who is in his first year with the Flyers and has been the team’s MVP through the Olympic break, will represent Czechia in Milan. Vladař has the best NHL numbers of the three Czech goalies and could push starter Lukáš Dostál for the net.
Rasmus Ristolainen: A year after missing out on the 4 Nations Face-Off due to injury, Ristolainen will return to the Finnish setup for the first time in nine years. Pesky Finland always seems to be in contention for a medal, and Ristolainen will provide size and snarl to their blue line.
*Rodrigo Ābols: The Flyers centerman was announced as one of Latvia’s initial six players, but will be unable to participate after suffering a nasty-looking ankle injury on Jan. 17.
Penn State’s Tessa Janecke is making her Olympic debut at the Milan Cortina Games.
Athletes from Penn State
In addition to Philly natives and pro athletes, there are also some Olympians from Penn State.
Tessa Janecke, ice hockey: Janecke, 21, holds the title for most career goals, assists, and points in Penn State women’s hockey history. She was named to the U.S. women’s hockey team three years ago and scored the golden goal in the 2025 IIHF World Championships when the U.S. defeated Canada, 4-3. Janecke was raised in Warren, Ill., and started playing hockey at age 3.
The U.S. women’s hockey team began its schedule with a 5-1 win over Czechia on Thursday, and Janecke recorded a pair of assists. The team’s three remaining preliminary games run through Feb. 10. The knockout rounds begin with the quarterfinals on Feb. 13, and the tournament wraps up with the gold and bronze medal games on Feb. 19. Women’s ice hockey will be live primarily on Peacock, which will stream every game. TV coverage is also available for select games on NBC, USA, and CNBC.
Dan Barefoot, skeleton: Another Nittany Lion, the 35-year-old Johnstown, Pa., native didn’t take up skeleton until his mid-20s. Barefoot was inspired to start training after looking up online which Olympic sports a novice could learn later in life with little to no experience. When the skeleton was the search result, he got to work. Since then, Barefoot, who graduated from Penn State with a degree in landscape architecture, has competed in three world championships for the U.S. and finished 11th at the 2025 IBSF World Championships in Lake Placid, N.Y. The 2026 Games will be his Olympic debut.
Skeleton events can be watched live on Peacock, NBC, and USA Network from Feb. 12-15.
Chloe Kim won gold in the women’s halfpipe at each of the last two Winter Olympics.
Summer Britcher, luge: Britcher was raised in Glen Rock, Pa., in York County and is no stranger to the Olympic stage. She is a veteran of four Olympic Games, and was the youngest member of the U.S. luge team at the 2014 Sochi Games when she was just 19. Britcher has five career World Cup victories, making her the all-time singles leader in U.S. luge history.
Kelly Kurtis, skeleton: Kurtis first made history at the 2022 Beijing Games when she became the first Black athlete to compete for Team USA in skeleton. She was raised in Princeton, N.J., and grew up hating the cold. She first took up bobsled in 2013 before transitioning to skeleton a year later after watching the event during the 2014 Olympic Games. In the 2022 Olympic Games, Curtis finished 21st overall.
Brianna Schnorrbusch, snowboarding: Schnorrbusch grew up in Monroe Township, N.J., and was just 17 when she was named to the U.S. snowboardcross Pro Team. Her specialty is women’s snowboardcross, while her sister, Ty Schnorrbusch, competes in slopestyle snowboarding. Now, at just 20 years old, Schnorrbusch will make her Olympic debut.
Chloe Kim, snowboarding: A household name for Team USA, Kim made her Olympic debut in the 2018 Pyeongchang games where she won gold in the women’s halfpipe at 17 years old, making her the youngest woman to win an Olympic snowboarding gold medal. She defended her title in the 2022 Beijing Games. Kim, who attended Princeton, is also the first athlete to win titles at all four major snowboarding events — the Olympics, Youth Winter Olympics, X Games, and FIS World Championships. At age 25, the Torrance, Calif., native is already tied with Shaun White for the most halfpipe wins in X Games history (8).
Sarah Nurse, ice hockey: Nurse isn’t from the area — and doesn’t even play for Team USA — but she’s one of the stars of women’s hockey and is an Olympic veteran. So why should Philadelphians care? She’s also Donovan McNabb’s niece. But the family’s athletic bloodlines extend beyond the former Eagles quarterback. Nurse’s cousins, Darnell and Kia Nurse, play in the NHL and WNBA, respectively. And their father, Nurse’s other uncle, played in the CFL. Nurse has helped Canada, the favorite again this year, to a pair of Olympic medals — gold in 2022 and silver in 2018 — and three World Championships titles.
