The Philadelphia Eagles

The Philadelphia Eagles have been around since 1933 and have formed one of the most intense fan bases in all of professional sports. The Eagles compete in the NFC East, where they are a staple for competing at the top of the division. The Eagles are known for one of the best home-field advantages in all of the National Football League. Let’s take a look at some of the history of the Philadelphia Eagles that maybe you did not know.

The Philadelphia Eagles have called six locations their home over the years. When the organization started, it used the Baker Bowl for its first three seasons. After that, the Eagles went over to Philadelphia Municipal Stadium. That did not last long before moving to Shibe Park—another short stay before moving to Franklin Field in 1958. Finally, in 1971 – Veterans Stadium, also the home of the Philadelphia Phillies, was their new home. In 2002 the Eagles finally finished there and moved into their new location at Lincoln Financial Field.

“The Linc” holds just under 72,000 fans for football games. The Temple Owls also use the location, which is based on the South side of Philadelphia. The first-ever event was in August of 2003 between Manchester United and FC Barcelona. The Eagles hosted their first preseason game in August, as they lost to the Patriots, before hosting the first regular season College Football game in September and the first NFL game two days later. That was between the Eagles and Buccaneers.

Outside of College Football, the NFL, and Professional soccer, the location has been host to numerous concerts, Monster Jam, and even a National Hockey League game. Bruce Springsteen was the first ever concert at the stadium, as he did three in four days in August of 2003.

Bert Bell was the founder of the franchise back in 1933. They started as the Frankford Yellow Jackets. Frankford is a secession within the city if Philadelphia. The team went out of commission, and the owner then founded the Eagles. The story is that Bell decided the team strictly on his own. The word is he looked up into the sky and saw the nickname Eagles. There was a billboard with an Eagle on it, and that’s how he found what the name of the team would be.

The Philadelphia Eagles come into the 2023 season with 613 career wins. The Eagles are exactly 25-25 in the postseason. Donovan McNabb, LeSean McCoy, Reggie White, and Andy Reid are some of the names you will see in record books. McNabb threw for 216 touchdowns, McCoy finished with 44 rushing touchdowns, White was the sack leader, and Reid is the franchise-winningest head coach.

AJ Brown, during the 2022 season, broke a record of just shy of 1,500 receiving yards. The record was set by Mike Quick in 1983. The 2022 team also won 14 games, which broke the record for wins in a regular season for the Eagles 13. Philadelphia also scored 447 points, which was a team record as well.

Jalen Hurts beat Donovan McNabb’s single-season record for most t ouchdowns in a season. Hurts went with 34, while McNabb finished with 34.

Lastly, once again, during the 2022 season, Jalen Hurts, and Miles Sanders became the first pair of Eagles teammates to have 10 rushing touchdowns or more each. Hurts had 13 and Sanders 11.

AJ Brown and DeVonta Smith were the first pair of receivers for the franchise that both picked up over 1,000 yards receiving in a single season.

The Philadelphia Eagles have four League Championships, but three of them came before the merger of the AFL-NFL. Philadelphia has just one Super Bowl title, and that was in Super Bowl LII.

The Eagles won the pre-merger championships in 1948, 1949 and 1960. The Super Bowl title came in Super Bowl LII, where the Eagles scored 41 points against the Padres. This was the second-ever Super Bowl played in Minneapolis. Doug Pederson was the head coach, and Nick Foles was the starting quarterback. Foles won the Super Bowl MVP with 373 passing yards and 3 touchdowns in the win. The game saw a crowd of nearly 68,000 in attendance.

Philadelphia has won five conference championships. The Eagles won the NFL Eastern in 1960, and since then, have won the NFC in 1980, 2004, 2017 and most recently in 2020.

The Eagles have 16 divisional championships. They won the NFL East in 1947, 1948, 1949 and 1960. They have 12 divisional titles from the NFC East. Philadelphia had an impressive run with divisional titles in 2001, 2002, 2023, 2004, and 2006.

The team has been to the postseason for 29 seasons. Recently, the Eagles have made the postseason in five out of the last six seasons.

The list of the Philadelphia Eagles quarterbacks is pretty impressive. The Eagles have some talented names that have been the starter over the years. The most successful quarterback in Eagles history was Donovan McNabb, with 92 wins in his career. Ron Jaworski is second, with 69 wins, while Randall Cunningham won 63 games.

McNabb is the leader in passing yards and touchdowns as well. McNabb finished with 32,873 yards and 216 touchdowns. Jaworski is second, with 26.963 and 175 touchdowns, while Cunningham is third, with 22,877 and 150 touchdowns. Next on the list for the Eagles are Carson Wentz, Norm Snead, and Tommy Thompson.

When it comes to winning postseason games, the Eagles have a long list of guys. The list starts in the 1940s with Tommy Thompson, who finished 3-1 in his career. Norm Van Brocklin won his only postseason start in 1960.

The came Ron Jaworski, who finished with a 3-4 record. Randall Cunningham had a nice career with the Eagles but won just one postseason game in 5 tries. Rodney Peete and Ty Detmer were next, as Peete went 1-1, and Detmer lost his only start.

Finally, we get to Donovan McNabb. McNabb has the most postseason wins in franchise history. McNabb went to the postseason with the Eagles 7 times, winning 9 games. Jeff Garcia went 1-1 in the middle of McNabb’s tenure.

Lastly, Michael Vick and Carson Went went 0-1 in their career, while Nick Foles went 4-3, and currently, heading into the 2023 season Jalen Hurts is 3-2.

The Eagles currently have 22 players and 3 coaches and executives in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. 13 of those went in with a different team but spent some time with the Eagles.

The very first player to be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame from the Eagles was halfback Steve Van Buren. He played from 1944-1951 and was inducted in 1965. The next one was Chuck Bednarki, who played from 1949-1962 and got into the Hall of Fame in 1967.

In the 1970s, Pete Pihos was inducted in 1970. Pihos played with Philadelphia from 1947-1955. In the 1980s, two guys were inducted that spent their careers with the Eagles. Sonny Jurgensen, quarterback from 1957-1963, was inducted in 1983. Tommy McDonald, his favorite receiver, was inducted in 1998.

The four most recent Eagles players inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame were offensive tackle Bob Brown, defensive end Reggie White, safety Brian Dawkins and wide receiver Harold Carmichael.

The three nonplayers inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame are Bert Bell, Earle Neale, and Dick Vermeil. Bell was inducted in 1963, Neale in 1969, and Vermeil recently got in, in 2022 after being the head coach from 1976-1982.

The Philadelphia Eagles are known for being part of the first game ever to be seen on television. NBC sent an 8 man crew to Brooklyn to see them take on the Brooklyn Football Dodgers. The 1943 team, the Eagles, and Steeles merged their team. This was due to World War II.

The Eagles are also known as the only team to ever beat Vince Lombardi and his Packers twice in the postseason.

Finally, fans in Philadelphia are known for throwing snowballs at Santa Claus. In a mid-December game, the last place Eagles were not playing good football, and it was cold and snowing outside. The result did not go well for Saint Nick.