By Cam Inman | [email protected] | Bay Area News Group PUBLISHED: July 24, 2018 at 4:56 am | UPDATED: July 24, 2018 at 6:32 am SANTA CLARA – Kyle Shanahan is on stage, calmly sitting before an audience of diehard, rowdy fans. Their incumbent coach – the 49ers’ first since Jim Harbaugh — is asked about this season’s goal. One fan after another shouts: “Super Bowl!” “Without me saying it, and everyone else said it, you know what our goal is every year,” Shanahan responds. That was two months ago, when the 49ers held a raucous State-of-the-Franchise event at downtown San Jose’s California Theater. A 6-10 season wasn’t cause for glee as much as the 5-0 finish. Enough optimism abounds that, from last summer to this summer, they’ve gone from 200-to-1 Super Bowl long shots to 20-to-1 candidates. “We turned a lot (of the roster) over last year, grinded hard, had a lot of ups and downs, but we … [Read more...] about Super Bowl not a crazy goal for 49ers
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With DUI charges dropped after Super Bowl parade crash, ex-Eagle wants to clear his name
Former Philadelphia Eagles player Jon Ritchie was involved in a crash that injured another driver, but he succeeded in getting his charges dropped. Now, he's back in court on Wednesday in a bid to have the existence of those charges expunged. An expungement hearing is set for 9 a.m. Wednesday before Philadelphia County Court Judge Frank Palumbo. The charges stem from the Feb. 8 parade in which 700,000 Eagles fans celebrated the team's Super Bowl win over the New England Patriots. Ritchie, who was a football star at Cumberland Valley High School before going pro, was there, and he got into an accident. Court records show the retired fullback turned radio host was heading south on I-95 near the Philadelphia International Airport and got into a crash involving another vehicle. His lawyer, Joe Kelly, calls it "a minor fender bender," but the Pennsylvania State Police say in those records the driver of the other car was injured, and Ritchie was too drunk to … [Read more...] about With DUI charges dropped after Super Bowl parade crash, ex-Eagle wants to clear his name
Dog masks aside, can Pederson, Eagles make another Super Bowl run?
Martin Frank Delaware News Journal Published 2:24 p.m. UTC Jul 23, 2018 PHILADELPHIA – It was easy for the Eagles to catch opponents off guard last season because there wasn’t a track record for success. One year ago, the Eagles came into training camp with an unproven quarterback in Carson Wentz and an unproven head coach in Doug Pederson, who was coming off a 7-9 record in his first season. It was hardly the prelude to a Super Bowl championship. But the Eagles pulled it off, and in the process, endeared themselves to their fan base as lovable underdogs, replete with dog masks. Well, the dog masks have been put away as the Eagles hold their first practice of training camp on Thursday. That's because they aren't lovable underdogs anymore after a Super Bowl run fueled by Pederson’s coaching and Wentz’s quarterbacking until he suffered two torn knee ligaments against the Los Angeles Rams on Dec. 10. Nick Foles stepped in for Wentz … [Read more...] about Dog masks aside, can Pederson, Eagles make another Super Bowl run?
Training camp storylines: How will the Eagles handle success and avoid a Super Bowl hangover?
What I’ll be watching closely at Eagles training camp: Doug Pederson told the Eagles to rip off their dog masks and embrace being the hunted, and I’m curious to see how that attitude translates to training camp. Former Giants coach Ben McAdoo told the New York Post that he thinks the Eagles “will have a hard time handling success.” Even if you disagree with McAdoo’s opinion on the Eagles during unemployment, he proposes a valid question. The Eagles were a motivated team last year, and that chemistry, toughness, and resiliency that become the team’s hallmarks started during spring and summer workouts. So the Eagles arrive for this training camp after a truncated offseason with many key players recovering from injuries — or perhaps even recovering from the post-Super Bowl gallivanting that they earned. The Eagles know they can’t expect to just show up on Sept. 6 and look like the team that walked off the field under confetti in February. … [Read more...] about Training camp storylines: How will the Eagles handle success and avoid a Super Bowl hangover?
Eagles Super Bowl billboard set for four weeks in Boston, if fans step up
DANYA HENNINGER, BillyPenn.com Published 5:40 p.m. UTC Jul 21, 2018 In late June, diehard Eagles fan Gina Lewis’ deal with a co-worker went viral. Thanks to a Twitter bet, her colleague agreed to pay for a billboard featuring a scene from Super Bowl 52 right in the middle of Patriots country. After Billy Penn picked up the story, it made a huge splash on TV, not just in Philly and Boston, but across the country. (Rubbing Tom Brady’s nose in it is apparently something of a national pastime.) Behind all the hype — the original post that started it all was retweeted nearly 8,500 times and pulled in more than 14,000 likes — there was a lingering question. Was the idea just a funny internet gag, or would it actually happen? Answer: it’s gonna actually happen. The billboard is set to become a reality — as long as Eagles fans step up. Over the past month, Lewis has been working hard on the details to translate the dream … [Read more...] about Eagles Super Bowl billboard set for four weeks in Boston, if fans step up