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Lots has already been said about whether the Eagles are going to be riding a little too high heading into the regular season as reigning Super Bowl Champions. It was something Doug Pederson tried to be cognizant of in the spring, and throughout training camp emphasized that these guys were not complaisant and were hungry for more.
In an effort to really set the team’s sights on the 2018 season and making another run, Pederson took down the Super Bowl champs sign in the locker room at the request of some of the team’s leaders.
Eagles reporter @davespadaro says after meetings with team leaders and Doug Pederson, Super Bowl champs signs in lockeroom will be taken down. They dont want to look at that anymore. Doug listens to his players
— John Clark (@JClarkNBCS) August 31, 2018
It’s a new year #FlyEaglesFly pic.twitter.com/OQkfBJCIL8
The move shouldn’t be entirely surprising with Malcolm Jenkins earlier in the week saying he didn’t like seeing the celebratory sign everyday. Jenkins elaborated on how the team can avoid getting stagnant and why that’s challenging with a big reminder of such a great achievement hanging over them.
“I think the biggest thing is understanding that this team is going to be different than last year’s team. We have new guys. Just the dynamics of it all is different, so we can’t expect to have those same results by just walking on the field,” he said. “You have to treat 13-3 the same as being 9-7. That same mentality that we had last year has got to be the same way we approach this year.
”And that’s going to be a difficult thing to do when you’ve got a Super Bowl sign in your locker room.”
By all accounts, this year’s Eagles team isn’t resting on their laurels, with several key players having yet to play in, and win, a Super Bowl — despite getting a ring last year. These guys are competitive, and there’s no question that Carson Wentz, Jason Peters, Jordan Hicks, and every other player who was injured last season, is looking for their piece of the Super Bowl winning-pie.
“I think that’s good,” said tackle Lane Johnson after the Jets game . “I got kind of annoyed looking at it every day. Hey, we won one. It’s great. It’s terrific for the city, but as far as a new year I think it’s good to be fresh with our approach.”
Removing the sign in the locker room is just one more way the team is focusing on the future, which is exactly what they’ll need to do if they want to repeat. And of course they want to repeat; we all want them to repeat.