Born in a puppy mill in Peach Bottom, Lancaster County, Oscar suffered from “failure to thrive,” his breeder said.
By the time the breeder turned the 6-week-old toy poodle over to Phoenix Animal Rescue in Chester County, Oscar weighed just 7 ounces, according to Marta Gambone, a coordinator at the all-volunteer organization.
“But one of our volunteers was able to turn him around, from this scraggly little hamster to this wonderful Puppy Bowl player,” Gambone said.
When Oscar, a toy poodle, was rescued from a puppy mill in Lancaster County, he weighed just 7 ounces. After being nursed back to health, he’s playing in the 2026 Puppy Bowl.
After being nursed back to health, Oscar traveled to Glens Falls, N.Y., to participate in the October 2025 taping of the 22nd annual Puppy Bowl, which airs today before the Super Bowl.
Gambone said the annual event has become a wonderful way to raise awareness for animal rescues across the United States. Every one of the 150 dogs in the competition — between Team Ruff and Team Fluff — comes from a rescue.
Oscar, a toy poodle nursed back to health in Chester County, is one of this year’s Puppy Bowl stars.
Oscar, now 8 months old, has developed into a playful, social, and upbeat young dog who has found a loving home, Gambone said.
Oscar is one of six puppies from Phoenix Animal Rescue in the annual TV special this year, Gambone said. Jill, an 8-month-old Cavalier, was suffering from a hernia when she was turned over by a breeder in New Holland, Lancaster County.
The rescue also has four dogs participating in this year’s first-ever “Oldies vs. Goldies” senior dogs’ competition: Tiki, a Shiba Inu; Starlight, a Jack Russell terrier; Daisy, a Pomeranian; and Emmie, a Maltese mix.
Tiki, a Shiba Inu, is in this year’s “Oldies vs. Goldies” senior dog competition.
They all came from breeders in Lancaster County and were in need of care, Gambone said, “and now they’re all playing on a national stage, and getting lots of attention, and finding their forever homes.”
Though all of this year’s stars have since been adopted, Gambone noted that the rescue gets about a dozen dogs per week, across a wide variety of breeds and mixes.
“Anybody looking can find what they’re looking for if they have a little patience,” she said.
Carrie Pawshaw sits for a portrait. Pawshaw, a rescue dog from the Pittsburgh region, competed in the 2026 Puppy Bowl.
Across the state in Springdale, Allegheny County, Jacqueline Armour said it’s the third year that some of her rescue dogs are playing in the Puppy Bowl.
She founded Paws Across Pittsburgh, a rescue that places dogs with foster parents until they find permanent homes. The dogs come from owners and shelters from as far away as West Virginia, Kentucky, and Ohio.
This year, a playful Jack Russell mix named Meeko is their star, along with a Norwegian elkhound and American Eskimo dog mix named for Sarah Jessica Parker’s character in the TV show Sex and the City.
“They pick some of them and rename them,” Armour explained, “so initially I thought they were going to call her Sarah Jessica Barker. And then they said Carrie Pawshaw.”
Armour noted that, because her organization uses foster homes, their puppies are already learning how to live in a home — getting house-trained and crate-trained, and learning how to get along with children and other pets. This also gives volunteers a chance to see the dogs’ personalities, which can be helpful in matching a dog with an owner.
Both Armour and Gambone emphasized that rescue operations offer a variety of ways for volunteers to help out.
For those who’ve never owned a dog, Armour said the experience can be profound. The medical community consensus is that having a dog can help people get more exercise, improve mental health, and lower blood pressure, and can help children learn how to properly treat an animal.
In Chester County, Gambone said she’s seen firsthand how dogs can add vitality to someone’s life.
“They help with loneliness, and on the physical side, they help people stay more active,” she said. “We have so many senior citizens coming to us saying, ‘I just need something — something to love.’ And it changes their lives.”
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.”
Long before Sam Howell became best friends with Drake Maye, he was aware of him. Maye’s parents were standout high school athletes, and his father, Mark, played quarterback at the University of North Carolina. His brothers, Luke and Beau, played basketball there (Luke hit a last-second shot that sent the Tar Heels to the Final Four in 2017, en route to an NCAA championship).
A third brother, Cole, also won a national title in 2017, but at a different school (Florida) and in a different sport (baseball). Former UNC offensive coordinator Phil Longo called the family “the Mannings of North Carolina.”
Drake was the youngest, and went down the football path. He and Howell, both quarterbacks, became acquainted through seven-on-seven leagues in the Charlotte area.
In 2019, when Howell was a freshman quarterback at UNC, he attended one of his future protégé’s high school playoff games. Howell was impressed. But it wasn’t until 2021, Maye’s first season with the Tar Heels, that Howell realized how much they had in common.
Howell was the entrenched starter, and Maye was the backup — a situation that doesn’t always lend itself to friendship. But these two were the exception. They became “attached at the hip,” in the words of former coach Mack Brown, and not just on the field.
The quarterbacks were fiercely competitive, and would battle each other on the golf course, at the ping-pong table, and more.
“Drake was so competitive, if I said, ‘Hey, I’m going to get to the doorknob before you do, he would jump over a table to get there,’” Longo said. “That’s just kind of how he was. [Sam was] that way, too.”
The two quarterbacks have stayed close, FaceTiming on a near-daily basis since Howell was drafted by Washington in 2022 and Maye was drafted by New England in 2024.
Their careers have taken different trajectories. Howell, 25, has bounced around the league, from the Commanders to the Seattle Seahawks to the Minnesota Vikings to the Eagles, where he served as a third-string quarterback this past season.
Maye, 23, will start in Super Bowl LX for the New England Patriots on Sunday, in just his second season in the NFL.
Howell feels no ill will. He has attended every New England playoff game since the Eagles were eliminated, and will be in the Bay Area this weekend to support his friend.
“[I’m] extremely proud of him,” Howell said. “He’s worked his whole life to be where he is and he’s getting what he deserves. He was made for the big moments and I have no doubt he’ll be ready to go.”
Sam Howell (as a member of the Vikings in 2024) and Drake Maye have remained tight even as their football journeys have diverged.
Football junkies
Longo described Howell as a “football junkie.” He’d pore over film and challenge his coaches with tough questions. Before he’d even signed with North Carolina, in late 2018, the quarterback started asking Longo for offensive information.
The coordinator didn’t hand it over until everything was official. But once he did, Howell began studying. Longo would send him formations, and Howell would teach them back to his coach a few hours later.
This went on throughout Christmas break, until the start of classes.
“By the time he showed up in mid-January, from a mental standpoint, he actually already knew the entire offense,” Longo said. “Which is rare and pretty impressive.”
Howell would constantly bring up new routes and concepts to the coaching staff. Instead of waiting to be told what they’d run on Monday, he’d be a part of designing plays on Sunday night.
To Longo, quizzing Howell in the quarterbacks room became an exercise in futility. The quarterback always seemed to have the right answer, not because he was winging it, but because he’d reviewed virtually everything.
It set an example for the future Patriots QB.
“Drake may not admit this, or remember it, but it got to a point where any time I asked an open question and didn’t direct it at one individual quarterback, Sam would always answer first,” Longo recalled. “And obviously he was correct. But Drake was competitive, and [he would] try to answer the question first, and beat Sam out.
“My analyst and I both noticed that, and we loved it. Because it was Drake just wanting to get better.”
Howell had been the starting quarterback since his freshman year, and Maye knew that wasn’t going to change. But neither player was threatened by the other. They started throwing after practice, bringing along wide receivers to work on routes, drop backs, and trigger times.
They’d often give each other feedback, both good and bad. Brown said that Maye would be waiting for Howell to come off the field after every game.
“To talk to him about what he saw,” Brown said. “So, you had two great minds that were talking about every play. And one of them, out of the action, standing over there watching, could say, ‘Here’s what I saw. Look for this.’”
He added: “It’s very unusual to have two people competing for the same [role] that care about each other so much, respect each other so much. And that’s the reason it worked. For me, as a head coach, it was like a marriage made in heaven.”
They had their stylistic differences. Maye’s biggest strength was his ability to make accurate throws while off-platform and off-balance, a feat Longo credited to his footwork, honed by years of youth and high school basketball.
Howell’s was physical strength that allowed him to break tackles by running downhill.
Their communication styles were different, too. Maye was more of a vocal leader, and Howell tended to pull guys off to the side. But the two quarterbacks complemented each other.
“When he was backing me up at Carolina, he was really good at making me feel very confident going into games,” Howell said. “And just trying to give me that last sense of peace.
“Before every game in college he’d tell me I was the best player on the field. Little things like that. He’s a great leader, great motivator.”
It didn’t take long for the quarterbacks — and their coaches — to realize they shared a relentless competitive spark. Longo remembered a recruiting event when Howell and Maye played ping-pong until the lights shut off.
In training camp, they’d have ping-pong “battles,” tacking on rounds until each side was ready to acquiesce. In 2021, Maye introduced Howell to golf, shifting their off-field rivalry to a new sport.
It was not a relaxing endeavor.
“I would see them afterward,” Brown said. “They’d say, ‘Oh man, he got me by four strokes.’ It was like the U.S. Open or something. It wasn’t like two quarterbacks going out to play.
“And the other one would say, ‘Yeah, but I just missed a putt or I would have beaten him.’ It was like two little kids going at each other’s throats.”
Added Howell: “Sometimes people invite us out to play, and they’re surprised with how the round is going. There’ll be times in the round where we’re not talking to each other and stuff like that. It’s a lot of fun.”
After Howell graduated, he stayed in touch with his mentee. In September 2022, months after the Commanders drafted him in the fifth round, Howell attended a UNC road game against Appalachian State.
It ended up being the highest-scoring game (including combined points) in school history. Maye had five touchdowns (four passing, one rushing) and 428 total yards in a 63-61 UNC win.
In the third quarter, Maye scored on a 12-yard run for his fourth touchdown of the day. Howell, by coincidence, was standing just past the end zone, as if he was waiting for his best friend.
He gave the quarterback a high five and a hug.
“I told him, after I ran it in, I should have gotten on a knee and held the ball up to him,” Maye told local reporters. “Because what he did here [at UNC] is pretty incredible.”
Then a member of the Commanders, Sam Howell returned to UNC to watch a vintage Drake Maye performance against Appalachian State on Sept. 3, 2022.
An NFL friendship
Just before Maye’s final season at UNC, he and Howell became roommates for a few months. It was Howell’s NFL offseason — January to April in 2023 — and they lived together in an apartment in Chapel Hill.
When they weren’t working out, or at the golf course, they were playing the board game Catan and EA Sports’ PGA Tour at home.
Maye was drafted with the third overall pick a year later. Howell, a 17-game starter with the Commanders in 2023, was traded to Seattle a month before the 2024 draft, and was subsequently dealt to the Vikings and then the Eagles in 2025.
As Maye and Howell navigated the ups and downs of the NFL, they continued to talk every day. Howell said they’d go over defenses they were seeing that week.
Sometimes, Maye would hype his friend up, the same way he did before Carolina games.
“Even when I was playing in the NFL and we weren’t winning a lot, he would always still call me to instill confidence in me,” Howell said. “He’s great about that.”
Since the Eagles lost to the San Francisco 49ers in the wild-card round on Jan. 11, Howell has attended every one of Maye’s games. He’ll be at the Super Bowl on Sunday, brimming with pride for his golf buddy.
But before it starts, there’s one thing he’ll make sure to do.
“I’ll definitely talk to him before the game,” Howell said. “Let him know that he was born for these moments, and he’s going to light it up.”
You’re watching a big game, it’s getting into crunch time, and there’s a crucial play about to happen. The only issue is, that play already happened and the people who saw it first are sharing it on social media.
The notifications begin to flood your feed from X or ESPN informing you what just happened, all before it plays out on your television screen. Now though, with Super Bowl LX just days away and the Winter Olympics officially getting underway, Xfinity has created a way for people to stay current with everything that happens.
The Philly-based company’s new RealTime4K feature, which will be introduced Sunday during the Super Bowl between the New England Patriots and Seattle Seahawks, will allow Xfinity viewers to keep pace with the game as if they were in attendance, while still watching in high-quality 4K.
“The benefit here is our customers will be among the first in the country, other than those at the game, to see what happens at the Super Bowl,” said Vito Forlenza, Comcast’s vice president for sports entertainment. “So we’re doing this for a whole day of 4K. It’s going to be Olympics programming in the morning, 7 a.m. to noon, Super Bowl programming all the rest of the day.”
RealTime4K will debut during the Super Bowl and will allow fans to watch the game in 4K up to 30 seconds faster than other 4K broadcasts.
Xfinity rolled out its enhanced 4K before creating RealTime4K. At the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, enhanced 4K resulted in a nearly 30-second difference between Xfinity viewers and other viewers watching Noah Lyles win the men’s 100-meter gold medal in a photo finish. In other words, Xfinity viewers could have watched Lyles finish the race three times before others would have seen him cross the line once.
Being able to keep up with sporting events in real time is not the only new feature Xfinity is adding for the Winter Olympics. It’s also adding Fan View, tailoring the Games to each viewer and making sure the events and sports they want to see are on their screens.
“There’s so much Olympics [content] on here you can get overwhelmed,” said Comcast’s director of product management, Scott Manning. “But what we’re bringing for 2026 is Fan View. What that does is it takes all these experiences and puts it into one.”
That means viewers will be able to personalize their Olympic experience. They can pick certain events that they find interesting in Fan View. Then, viewers will be able to access a sidebar that will serve them highlights of the events they like, as well as interviews from athletes competing in the sports they picked.
“I’m able to pick actual broadcasts and then specific sports as I’m going through, and it’s going to remember these selections, and then it will start tailoring some of the experience based on that too,” Manning said. “I don’t have to pick things. If I just want to try to get everything, that’s fine.”
Viewers can access Xfinity’s new Fan View even while watching four Olympic events at the same time.
Viewers will be able to also see medal counts, a feature that was there for previous Olympics, but this time it will be integrated into Fan View, which will debut on Friday.
Fan View can also help customers keep track of several sports at once — even while they’re watching something different, as it won’t interfere with the sport currently on the screen. So, if curling is on the TV, viewers can continue to have their Fan View on the side, and their watching experience will not be impacted.
After all, there’s a lot to keep track of.
“Our customers said, ‘Well, that sounds good, but I want to make sure I can find the one sport that I’m looking for,’” Forlenza said. “One of our customers said it doesn’t matter if we have 3,000 hours [of content] if they can’t find the one hour they really want to watch. So that’s the problem we’re trying to solve to make sure customers can get to the Olympics coverage they want to watch quickly and easily.”
With a big 2026 on tap for Xfinity, both in Philly and nationally, this won’t be the last time fans get this kind of experience.
“We’re already thinking about the World Cup,” Forlenza said. “We’re building these types of features. We’re already thinking, ‘How’s this?’”
Wednesday — or, more specifically, Feb. 4 — is a memorable day for Eagles fans. On this date in 2018, the Birds brought home their first Super Bowl title with a thrilling 41-33 victory over the New England Patriots.
The Patriots are back in the Super Bowl this Sunday as Mike Vrabel pioneers a new era for the franchise. But eight years later, questions and debates still surround how Nick Foles and the Eagles pulled off that upset win over the Patriots in Super Bowl LII. Some will be answered in the upcoming ESPN 30 for 30 documentary, The Philly Special, this Friday.
Meanwhile, for former Patriots cornerback Malcolm Butler, parts of Super Bowl LII are still unresolved. Butler, reflecting on his career, told the Boston Globe earlier this week that he doesn’t know why he was benched for most of that game.
Butler rose to instant fame in 2015 for his game-sealing interception that helped the Patriots top the Seahawks, 28-24, in Super Bowl XLIX, the first and only other Super Bowl meeting between the two teams.
However, Butler, who won a pair of championships with the Patriots, told the Globe that Super Bowl LII is the one he thinks about the most. Butler, a starter and star player for the Patriots that season, watched the Eagles win from the bench at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis. He played just one special teams snap in the game.
Patriots coach Bill Belichick (left) benched Malcolm Butler for nearly the entire Super Bowl LII loss to Doug Pederson (right) and the Eagles.
It was a controversial coaching decision by Bill Belichick for which he and Butler never had a clear explanation. While Butler expressed no resentment about the matter, he admitted that eight years later, he still is unsure of the reasoning behind Belichick’s move.
“That’s the [Super Bowl] I think about the most,” Butler said. “Tom Brady could’ve had eight rings, I could’ve had three. It was just a coaching decision. I’m going to call North Carolina and see if I can get in touch with Bill. I’ll ask him.”
The team’s reported issues with Butler’s practicing and a heated exchange with then-defensive coordinator Matt Patricia allegedly contributed to the benching. According to a 2021 book by Seth Wickersham, It’s Better To Be Feared, Butler said, “‘These dudes,’ referring to the coaches … ‘these [expletives],” when asked why he was benched at the team’s after-party. There were also reports that Butler missed a curfew during Super Bowl week, which Butler has denied.
Butler left after that Super Bowl loss for a three-year stint with the Tennessee Titans, and then signed with the Arizona Cardinals but retired before the start of the 2021 season. He came out of retirement in 2022 and re-signed with the Patriots but was injured and never played another game for New England, retiring again in 2024.
Apparel brand Fanatics issued an apology this week over the lack of availability and poor quality of its Super Bowl LX gear after complaints from New England Patriots and Seattle Seahawks fans.
In a statement posted Monday night on social media, Fanatics wrote that “we’ve let Patriots and Seahawks fans down with product availability — we own that and we are sorry.”
The NFL’s official merchandising partner pointed to the surge in demand for Seahawks and Patriots gear after both teams missed the playoffs last year, and admitted that the company was struggling to “meet the overwhelming demand to keep team color jerseys in stock.”
NFL fans, we've seen your jersey feedback, and we take it very seriously. We’ve let Patriots and Seahawks fans down with product availability – we own that and we are sorry.
This Super Bowl matchup has created unprecedented challenges for us because of the massive surge in…
Fanatics’ statement also tried to downplay the images circulating on social media — “We’ve heard questions about the quality of these alternate jerseys and can assure you that, despite some unflattering photos, these jerseys are identical to the standard Nike replica ‘Game’ jersey,” the company said — but fans and members of the media keep showing proof that says otherwise.
Doug Kyed, Patriots’ beat reporter for the Boston Herald, shared photos of New England gear on site at the Super Bowl in the San Francisco area and there aren’t many options for fans looking to buy Patriots gear.
CBS national NFL reporter Jonathan Jones pointed out that a jersey purchased 10 years ago not only had better quality — it was cheaper, too.
A jersey bought today is a more expensive and worse product than, say, 10 years ago, and there’s no reason for it beyond greed. People spend good money and deserve better. Maybe this embarrassment will force this company to simply be better. https://t.co/IScsmgVZyG
The Patriots’ official pro shop posted a picture of its jersey options on Monday, and several X users pointed out that the Super Bowl LX patch location was different for each jersey.
Why are the Super Bowl patches in completely different spots on each jerseys?
Seahawks fans are also complaining about the lack of availability for jerseys. But Fanatics appears to have plenty, as long as you want one in a color that the team has never worn or one that is not a replica of team-worn gear.
Thx 4 the response but the "whites" are not replica to "game" jerseys. Ur product makes the photo unflattering. Where are the sleeve details that match the blue jerseys? Why do they look different between home and away if they are replica? No issues with the Blues its the whites. https://t.co/JnxlSOLEYOpic.twitter.com/07cz5k914H
This is hardly the first time Fanatics faced backlash for the quantity and quality of its products.
Eagles fans also had a hard time finding the team’s jerseys ahead of its Super Bowl LVII appearance, when, as with the Seahawks this year, the only jerseys available with a game patch were in a non-team color (silver) — not white, green, or even black. It was a problem again for Super Bowl LIX. One fan pointed out that even when his jersey did arrive, well after the 2023 title game, it featured a crooked number.
2022 Super Bowl every single Eagles SB jersey Fanatics sent out had crooked numbers (example below) & they were not even made available by Fanatics until after the game was over
Last year (LIX) you couldnt keep up w/ demand & stuff sold out instantly
Lincoln the bald eagle won’t be the only hometown favorite appearing on Philly area TV screens during Super Bowl LX.
Former Eagles players Jason Kelce and Beau Allen will star in a Super Bowl commercial for Garage Beer that will air locally on Sunday.
Travis Kelce, the Kansas City Chiefs tight end who co-owns the beer brand with his brother, isn’t in the ad. But it won’t be lacking star power. The pair of Super Bowl champions are joined by a new partner in crime, Doug the miniature horse.
Beau Allen sips some Garage Beer while holding a carrot for Doug during shooting of the brand’s new Super Bowl commercial, which will are locally on Sunday.
The ad, which was filmed on a farm near Conshohocken and is properly titled “Brotherly Shovel,” features the Budweiser Clydesdales pulling a beer wagon to reveal Doug — and a large pile of manure.
“We make a promise to do things the right way,” the narrator says. “To respect the tradition. And to shovel what tradition leaves behind.”
This isn’t the first time Allen and Kelce have partnered on projects for Garage Beer. They also worked together on other commercials for brand, as well as longer projects like Brewmite and Thermal Buzz that pay tribute to some of Kelce’s favorite childhood movies.
You can watch the full one-minute Super Bowl spot below …
The Grammys are here, with lots of familiar faces.
Kendrick Lamar, who won five awards at last year’s show, leads with nine nominations and Lady Gaga, Bad Bunny, and Billie Eilish are up for major awards.
As is Sabrina Carpenter, the Bucks County native who is the Philly region’s great hope. She won twice last year and is nominated six times for her album Man’s Best Friend.
Neither Taylor Swift nor Beyoncé released music in the eligibility period, which runs from Aug. 31, 2024, to Aug. 30, 2025, so that’s why they’re missing from this year’s list.
I’m picking winners in the four major categories, which will be among the dozen or so given away on the awards show hosted by Trevor Noah and broadcast on CBS from the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles at 8 p.m. Sunday, and streaming on Paramount+.
A total of 95 Grammys will be given out, however, with most presented in a pre-telecast ceremony streamed on grammy.com and the Recording Academy’s YouTube page, starting 3:30 p.m. Sunday.
That’s where you’ll find the Philadelphians.
Jazz bassist Christian McBride is up for three awards, with his Big Band’s Without Further Ado, Vol. 1 vying with Sun Ra Arkestra’s Lights on a Satellite for best jazz large ensemble.
Philadelphia Orchestra and music and artistic director Yannick Nézet-Séguin are up for two, and Nézet-Séguin is also nominated for one with the Metropolitan Opera orchestra.
Jazz saxophonist Immanuel Wilkins and University of Pennsylvania graduate John Legend have two noms each. The Crossing Choir, Camden gospel bandleader Tye Tribbett, songwriter Andre Harris, and producer Will Yip each have one.
Bassist Christian McBride (right) performs during the Newport Jazz Festival, Sunday, Aug. 4, 2024, in Newport, R.I. The Philadelphia musician is up for three Grammys on Sunday.(AP Photo/Steven Senne)
As the first major live TV awards show since the death of Alex Pretti in Minneapolis last weekend, the Grammys are likely a platform for anti-ICE protests. We’ll see which, if any, performers or presenters — who include Charli XCX, Teyana Taylor, Queen Latifah, Lainey Wilson, Nikki Glaser, and Chappell Roan — speak out.
Here’s who I think should — and will — win.
Album of the Year
Nominees: Bad Bunny, Debí Tirar Más Fotos; Justin Bieber, Swag; Sabrina Carpenter, Man’s Best Friend; Clipse, Let God Sort ‘Em Out; Lady Gaga, Mayhem; Kendrick Lamar, GNX; Leon Thomas, Mutt;Tyler, the Creator, Chromakopia
My prediction: The most prominent of these in my rotation these days is LetGod Sort ‘Em Out, the topflight reunion of hip-hop brothers Gene “Malice” and Terence “Pusha T” Thornton. But it has little chance among these heavy hitters.
Carpenter will have to be satisfied with a performance slot in the prime-time show, a prize showcase on “Music’s Biggest Night.” But Man’s Best Friend isn’t quite up to the level of her tart 2024 Short n’ Sweet.
The consensus says this is a race between Lady Gaga, Bad Bunny, and Kendrick Lamar. All have an excellent chance, with Gaga being a veteran Grammy favorite back on form. Lamar’s album released way back in November 2024, but he continued to impact culture through his “Grand National” tour with SZA and “Luther,” their collab that topped the pop charts for 13 straight weeks.
But this feels like Bad Bunny’s year. Debí Tirar Más Fotos — which translates as “I should have taken more photos” — is the Puerto Rican singer, rapper, and producer’s most confident, varied, and politically potent work.
It’s poised to become the first Spanish language album of the year, and thus a Grammy statement of multicultural solidarity when immigrant populations in the U.S. are under threat. And it would make for a pretty good start to February for the Super Bowl halftime headliner.
Should win: Bad Bunny
Will win: Bad Bunny
Chappell Roan performs “Pink Pony Club” during the 67th annual Grammy Awards in Los Angeles, Feb. 2, 2025. The singer is nominated for two Grammy awards on Sunday and will also be a presenter at the ceremony, which airs on CBS at 8 p.m. and streams on Paramount+. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello, File)
Record of the Year
Nominees: Bad Bunny, “DTMF”; Sabrina Carpenter, “Manchild”; Doechii, “Anxiety”; Billie Eilish, “Wildflower”; Kendrick Lamar & SZA, “Luther”; Lady Gaga, “Abracadabra”; Chappell Roan, “The Subway”; Rosé & Bruno Mars, “APT”
My prediction: This is a strong group, including Carpenter’s cheeky “Manchild” and Doechii’s “Anxiety,” which samples Gotye and Kimbra’s 2011 “Somebody I Used to Know.”
Roan’s “The Subway” hearkens back to classic pop and Eilish’s “Wildflower” is lovely, though it’s a little ridiculous that it’s nominated. It’s from Eilish’s Hit Me Hard and Soft, which came out in May 2024 but qualifies because it became a single last February. When the Grammys want you to be part of the show, they’ll find a way to sneak you in.
My pick to win is “APT.” The duet between Bruno Mars and K-pop star Rosé is a super-catchy global hit that borrows from Toni Basil’s 1982 hit “Mickey,” which older Grammy voters will surely remember. It’s the second-fastest song to reach a billion streams after Mars and Gaga’s 2024 “Die With a Smile.”
Will win: “APT.”
Should win: “Luther”
SZA and Kendrick Lamar perform during halftime of the NFL Super Bowl between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Philadelphia Eagles, Sunday, Feb. 9, 2025, in New Orleans. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)
Song of the Year
Nominees: Bad Bunny, “DTMF”; Sabrina Carpenter, “Manchild”; Doechii, “Anxiety”; Billie Eilish, “Wildflower”; Huntr/x — “Golden”; Kendrick Lamar & SZA, “Luther”; Lady Gaga, “Abracadabra”; Rosé & Bruno Mars, “APT”
My prediction: The Grammys are silly. Why are there separate record and song of the year categories? In theory because the latter is a songwriter’s award. But these categories are virtually identical, the only difference being dropping Roan for “Golden” from the Netflix movie KPop Demon Hunters.
Let’s give this one to last year’s Super Bowl halftime headliners to reward their overall excellence and songwriting skills.
Should win: “Luther”
Will win: “Luther”
Olivia Dean performs at the Austin City Limits Music Festival on Oct. 11, 2025, in Texas. The British singer-songwriter is nominated for Best New Artist at the Grammy Awards on Sunday.(Photo by Jack Plunkett/Invision/AP, File)
Best New Artist
Nominees: Olivia Dean, Katseye, The Marías, Addison Rae, Sombr, Leon Thomas, Alex Warren, Lola Young
A little rant detour: Another failing: The Recording Academy has completely ignored country music in the major categories. The Grammys are, in many ways, a popularity contest. Unlike the Oscars, which sometimes reward niche and art house fare and look askance at commercial success, the Grammys are intent on showing they’re in step with the zeitgeist by recognizing big sellers.
Except they don’t bother when it comes to country, thus reinforcing America’s cultural divide. The Recording Academy isn’t too blame when it comes to Morgan Wallen, whose I’m the Problem was the most streamed album in the U.S. in 2025 — because he chose to not submit his music.
But completely credible and widely popular country artists like Ella Langley and especially Megan Moroney are obvious candidates for best new artist. They have been shown no love, either due to cluelessness or a conscious decision to shut out mainstream country. End of rant!
My prediction: In this last of the major categories, Addison Rae is to be commended for making a smart, catchy transition from TikTok to pop star. Leon Thomas emerged as a serious R&B artist with staying power, and Lola Young is a major talent whose “Messy” is a terrific universalist earworm.
But my most confident prediction in these four categories is Olivia Dean. The British songwriter is marked for stardom, simultaneously coming off as a youthful ingenue and an old soul. Her vocals have a slight Amy Winehouse tinge without being imitative. Her breezy, immediately likable The Art of Loving mixes neo-soul 1970s Los Angeles soft-rock is right up the Grammy alley.
Even as a child, Dan McQuade let his imagination run wild. “What are you doing?” his mother, Denise, would ask if she hadn’t heard any noise from his bedroom for a while. “I’m making stories,” he would reply.
Later, as a young man about town, his compassion for fellow Philadelphians inspired his father, Drew. Dan volunteered to give blood often, donated brand-new sneakers to other guys in need, and continually reached out to people he saw struggling with drug abuse and homelessness. “His kindness was what I loved about him the most,” his father said.
Dan McQuade was already an award-winning writer, blogger, and journalist when he met his future wife, Jan Cohen, online in 2014. To her, his jovial humor, wide-ranging intelligence, and shoulder-length hair made him unique in her circle. “I thought he was too cool for me,” she said.
His empathy, likely inspired by his parents, his wife said, led him to toil tirelessly for charitable nonprofits such as the Everywhere Project, Back on My Feet, and Prevention Point. “Service was always part of his life,” his wife said.
His coolness, as unconventional as it sometimes was, made those he encountered feel cool, too. Molly Eichel, an Inquirer editor and longtime friend, said: “He was annoyingly smart and incredibly kind.”
Dan McQuade died Wednesday, Jan. 28, of neuroendocrine cancer at his parents’ home in Bensalem. He was 43. His birthday was Jan. 27.
Mr. McQuade’s annual Wildwood T-shirt report was a favorite of his many readers and fans.
“It’s incredibly hard for me to imagine living in a Philadelphia without Dan McQuade,” said Erica Palan, an Inquirer editor and another of Mr. McQuade’s many longtime friends. “He understood Philadelphians better than anyone because he was one: quirky and funny, competitive and humble, loyal and kind.”
A journalism star at the University of Pennsylvania in the early 2000s, Mr. McQuade was a writer, sports editor, and columnist for the school’s Daily Pennsylvanian, and managing editor of its 34th Street Magazine. He earned two Keystone Press awards at Penn, was the Daily Pennsylvanian’s editor of the year in 2002, and won the 2003 college sports writing award from the Philadelphia Sportswriters Association.
He went on to create Philadelphia Weekly’s first blog, “Philadelphia Will Do,” and was a finalist for the Association of Alternative Newsmedia’s best blogger award. He served an internship at the Bucks County Courier Times in Levittown and worked for a while at the Northeast News Gleaner.
Often irreverent, always inventive, he filed thousands of notable stories about, among other things, the Wildwood T-shirt scene, the origin of “Go Birds,” sneaker sales, Donald Trump, Wawa hoagies, the Philly accent, parkway rest stops, the Gallery mall, soap box derbies, and Super Bowls. His stories sparkled with research and humor.
An avid reader himself, Mr. McQuade enjoyed reading local tales to his son, Simon.
“Dan was a truly authentic and engaging person,” Tom Ley, editor-in-chief at Defector, said in an online tribute. “His curiosity was relentless, and his interests were varied and idiosyncratic.”
For example, Mr. McQuade wrote in Philadelphia Magazine in 2013 that Sylvester Stallone’s famous training-run montage in Rocky II — it started in South Philly and ended two minutes of screen time later atop the Art Museum steps — actually showed city scenes that would have had the actor/boxer run more than 30 miles around town. “Rocky almost did a 50K,” Mr. McQuade wrote. “No wonder he won the rematch against Apollo!”
In 2014, he wrote in Philadelphia Magazine about comedian Hannibal Buress calling Bill Cosby a rapist onstage at the old Trocadero. The story went viral, and the ensuing publicity spurred more accusations and court cases that eventually sent Cosby to jail for a time.
When he was 13, Mr. McQuade wrote a letter to the editor of the Daily News that suggested combining the Mummers Parade with Spain’s running of the bulls. Crossing Broad’s Kevin Kinkead said he had “an innate gift for turning the most random things into engaging reads.”
This story about Mr. McQuade appeared in the Daily News in 2014.
“Without Dan’s voice, Philly Mag wouldn’t be Philly Mag,” editor and writer Brian Howard said in a tribute on phillymag.com. “And, I’d argue, Philadelphia wouldn’t quite be Philadelphia.”
Other colleagues called him “a legend,” “a Philadelphia institution,” and “the de facto mayor of Philadelphia” in online tributes. Homages to him were held before recent Flyers and 76ers games.
“Sometimes,” his wife said, “he inserted himself into stories, so readers had a real sense of who he was because he was so authentic.”
Daniel Hall McQuade was born Jan. 27, 1983, in Philadelphia. His father worked nights at the Daily News for years, and the two spent many days together when he was young hanging around playgrounds and skipping stones across the creek in Pennypack Park.
Mr. McQuade (left) and his father, Drew, shared a love of Philly sports and creative writing.
Later, they texted daily about whatever came to mind and bonded at concerts, Eagles games, and the Penn Relays. He grew up in the Northeast, graduated with honors from Holy Ghost Preparatory School in Bensalem, and earned a bachelor’s degree in English at Penn in 2004.
He overcame a serious stutter as a teen and played soccer and basketball, and ran cross-country and track at Holy Ghost. He married Jan Cohen in 2019 and they had a son, Simon, in 2023. They live in Wissahickon.
Mr. McQuade was a voracious reader and an attentive listener. “He never wanted to stop learning,” his wife said. He enjoyed going to 76ers games with his mother and shopping for things, his father said, “they didn’t need.”
He was mesmerized by malls, the movie Mannequin, the TV series Baywatch, and his wife’s cat, Detective John Munch. During the pandemic, he and his wife binged all 11 seasons of Baywatch.
Mr. McQuade doted on his wife, Jan, and their son, Simon.
He could be loud, his mother said, and Molly Eichel described his laugh as “kind of a honk.” His friend and colleague Alli Katz said: “In 50 years I’ll forget my own name. But I’ll remember his laugh.”
He was a vintage bootleg T-shirt fashionista, and his personal collection numbered around 150. He named Oscar’s Tavern on Sansom Street as his favorite bar in a recent podcast interview and said he would reluctantly pick a pretzel over a cheesesteak if that was the choice.
In September, Mr. McQuade wrote about his illness on Defector.com under the headline “My Life With An Uncommon Cancer.” In that story, he said: “Jan has been everything. My son has been a constant inspiration. My parents are two of my best friends, and I talk to them every day. Jan’s parents have been incredible.”
He also said: “I believe there are no other people on earth with my condition who are in as fortunate a situation. … For the past thousand words you have been reading about a bad break I got, but if only everyone in my position had it this good.”
Mr. McQuade and his wife, Jan Cohen, married in 2019.
His wife said: “He was truly the best guy.”
In addition to his wife, son, and parents, Mr. McQuade is survived by his mother-in-law, Cheryl Cohen, and other relatives.
Visitation with the family is to be from 9 to 10 a.m. Thursday, Feb. 5, at St. Martha Parish, 11301 Academy Rd., Philadelphia, Pa. 19154. Mass is to follow from 10 to 11 a.m.
Donations in his name may be made to the Everywhere Project, 1733 McKean St., Philadelphia, Pa. 19145.
It’s finally happening, Eagles fans. It took eight years, but ESPN’s 30 for 30 documentary series is set to relive one of the most memorable moments in Eagles history: the Philly Special.
ESPN released the official trailer for the documentary, which is appropriately set to Boyz II Men’s “Motownphilly.” The film, titled The Philly Special, was produced by NFL Films and directed by Angela Zender and Shannon Furman. It will debut on Feb. 6 at 9 p.m. on ESPN and the ESPN app.
“Everybody loves the Rocky movies, but they were fiction,” Zender said in a release. “The amazing thing about The Philly Special is that it’s a real-life Rocky story. A group of five underdogs went up against the greatest dynasty in NFL history and pulled off an upset worthy of Hollywood. That underdog mentality is something that will resonate with people all over the country.”
The film features several familiar faces to Philly fans, including former head coach Doug Pederson and the four Eagles players who touched the ball on that play in Super Bowl LII: Jason Kelce, Corey Clement, Trey Burton, and Nick Foles.
But there are many others: owner Jeffrey Lurie, former safety Malcolm Jenkins, former coach Chip Kelly, and former offensive coordinator Frank Reich. Several local and national media members also appear, including Angelo Cataldi, Ray Didinger, Sal Paolantonio, and Kyle Brandt.
With all that Philly flavor, it’s no surprise one of the directors is a Birds supporter.
“I grew up an Eagles fan, so The Philly Special has been a dream project,” Furman said in a release. “It was surreal to stand in front of the statue of Doug Pederson and Nick Foles at the Linc with the five men who made one of the most iconic plays in NFL history happen. There’s no doubt fans will enjoy reliving the Eagles’ first Super Bowl as much as I did.”
While it’s been the better part of a decade since the play helped lead the 2017 Eagles past Tom Brady and the New England Patriots dynasty — capping an improbable run for Foles, who took over as the starter less than two months earlier — it’s not hard to find reminders around the Philadelphia area, from the statue outside Lincoln Financial Field to a multistory mural to the name of a holiday band featuring Kelce and a pair of current Eagles players.
“It’s been everywhere and on everything, transcending football to become part of Philadelphia’s cultural identity,” ESPN said in its release describing the film. “It’s not just a play; it’s a rallying cry for a city used to being overlooked. While Philadelphia might be the birthplace of America, the sixth-most populous city in the country lives and dies with an underdog mentality — one epitomized by the Founding Fathers, Rocky Balboa … and the Philly Special.”
Two days before Super Bowl LX, there will likely be a few more reminders, as fans across the area tune in to relive the play — and learn the story behind it — one more time.
