By MARYCLAIRE DALE and JOHN SEEWER
PHILADELPHIA — Philadelphia was awash in inexperienced on Valentine’s Day to have fun its Tremendous Bowl champions.
Swooning followers screamed and cheered Friday as MVP quarterback Jalen Hurts and Eagles proprietor Jeffrey Lurie took turns hoisting the Vince Lombardi Trophy in the beginning of the workforce’s victory parade by way of the Metropolis of Brotherly Love.
Many followers camped out alongside the workforce’s parade route in a single day, huddling below blankets and inside tents to safe prime spots close to the Philadelphia Museum of Artwork, the place the Eagles took the stage on the “ Rocky ” steps.
“You know I told myself that when I got drafted, that I wouldn’t come to the Rocky steps until I won a championship,” Hurts instructed cheering followers. “And now we’re here.”
Others decked out in Eagles jerseys climbed bushes and lightweight poles, perched themselves atop ladders and clung to a statue of Benjamin Franklin close to Metropolis Corridor to get a glimpse of record-setting working again Saquon Barkley and Cooper DeJean, the rookie defensive again who ran an interception into the top zone on his twenty second birthday.
“This team is special. We can’t be great without the greatness of others and that certainly applies to our fans,” mentioned head coach Nick Sirianni.
Barkley, together with many different gamers, hopped off the open-air buses to stroll alongside the parade route and trade high-fives with followers who pressed towards teetering barricades.
Jordan Jaindl, who couldn’t make it to the 2018 parade after the Eagles received their first Tremendous Bowl, wasn’t going to overlook this one, bringing his spouse and three daughters from Binghamton, New York. This workforce, he mentioned, was the embodiment of the town.
“Their work ethic,” he mentioned. “How they have to grind for each win. We have to grind here in Philly.”
Followers confirmed up with grocery carts stocked with meals and booze whereas a number of stayed heat in a resort, sipping champagne. One group roasted a pig with the quantity “15” carved into the facet — a ultimate shot at Kansas Metropolis quarterback Patrick Mahomes.
The Eagles, regardless of being underdogs, dominated the Kansas Metropolis Chiefs on Sunday, shutting them out within the first half earlier than ending with a 40-22 victory.
“I’m so happy you didn’t have to go through a nail-biter game,” mentioned veteran defensive finish Brandon Graham. “It’s about us being gritty. We’re going to stay gritty.”
Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker and different metropolis leaders earlier this week implored the workforce’s exuberant followers to remain secure and preserve the temper festive.
“In the midst of all this beauty, all of the sacrifices this team has made to meet this moment, we don’t want it to all go by the wayside,” the mayor mentioned.
Regardless of her admonitions, a number of followers stood on metropolis vehicles, danced atop port-a-potties and scaled mild poles.
Simply weeks in the past, a school pupil died falling from a avenue pole after the Eagles’ received the NFC championship recreation. A yr in the past, a capturing at Kansas Metropolis’s Tremendous Bowl victory rally left one individual useless and practically two dozen wounded.
There was a big police presence alongside the Philadelphia parade route, which stretched from South Philadelphia the place the Eagles play all the best way to Metropolis Corridor and onto the artwork museum.
Dump vehicles and heavy gear blocked most of the facet streets alongside the route. Metropolis colleges closed for the parade, together with metropolis courts and different companies.
