Tom Brady Can’t Shake Off the ‘Philly Special,’ Still Holds Grudge Against the Eagles

The legendary quarterback faced off with Philly in half of the franchise’s Super Bowl appearances, with very mixed results for the two parties.

This weekend, the Philadelphia Eagles pulled off one of their more impressive wins of the season, completely dominating the then-10-3 Pittsburgh Steelers with a final scoreline of 27-13. The win was Philly’s 10th straight, and the Birds held the ball for just under 40 minutes of game time, an absolutely tremendous feat against a fearsome Pittsburgh defense.

They couldn’t have done it without quarterback Jalen Hurts, who completed 25 of his 32 pass attempts in a surgical, turnover-free performance and chipped in 45 yards and a touchdown on the ground. Hurts’s performance was a timely one, as MVP candidate running back Saquon Barkley had an off-day by his lofty standards, putting up just 65 yards on 19 carries.

The clutch performance was enough to earn Hurts a very special honor- he was named Tom Brady’s “LFG Player of the Game” after the seven-time Super Bowl champion repeatedly praised the Philly quarterback throughout the Fox Sports broadcast. Check out the chat between the two after the game wrapped up.

Hurts replied to Brady’s compliments with some of his own, expressing his appreciation for the award and Brady himself before crediting his teammates for helping him to put together such a great performance and season. Brady echoed that sentiment, crediting Hurts and top wideout A.J. for one of the most “rhythmic” performances he’s seen all year. Hurts even referenced some reported drama between himself and Brown that surfaced that week, expressing his satisfaction that the two were able to keep themselves above that buzz and play a great game together.

Brady and Hurts have one key thing in common- they’re two of the greatest short-yardage quarterback sneakers of all time, although the methodology they each have tended to employ is quite different. As such, Brady asked Hurts “what a Monday morning is like after three or four of those in a game,” but Hurts was unfazed, saying that it’s all good as long as the team is winning.

Later on, Brady reposted the clip on X/Twitter, with a caption including Philly catchphrase “fly Eagles fly!” However, Brady immediately regretted the inclusion of that exclamation, as his distaste for the franchise resurfaced. Indeed, while Brady beat the Eagles to win his third Super Bowl title back in the 2004 season, they were the last team to defeat him in a Super Bowl, a game in which he set a Super Bowl record with 505 passing yards and his Patriots put up 33 points, then the most ever for a Super Bowl loser.

Hurts wasn’t on the team then, and his Eagles actually broke that record a few years later as they lost to the Kansas City Chiefs by a score of 38-35 in Super Bowl LVII. We’ll see if Hurts can make it back to the big stage, and if he does, he’ll look to secure another LFG award with Brady very likely on the call for Fox.