Two of the most heavily criticized Eagles, and the man seemingly with difficult offseason decisions to make, came together to save the team.
Motivational speeches from quarterback Sam Bradford, coach Chip Kelly and owner Jeffrey Lurie breathed new life into the team, according to Eagles players.
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Bradford's pregame speech before the Eagles' game against the Bills got the offense going in a positive direction from the game's opening, according to NJ.com.
"Before the game, he gave us a big pregame speech and that really got us fired up," Eagles right tackle Lane Johnson said. "He's not really a guy who says a whole lot, but whenever he does, everybody listens."
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Bradford had delivered pregame wisdom before wins against the Saints and the Patriots, NJ.com added.
"Every time he does it, we seem to win," Johnson said. "He's not a guy that really is very outspoken. He'll talk when he needs to. If you see a guy like that get fired up, see the intensity, and you kind of feed off that."
"I think it's big," Eagles tight end Brent Celek said of Bradford's emergence as a leader. "He's obviously a great player and the quarterback is naturally the leader of the team. No matter what. He did a great job of leading us today. We just have to keep it going and we have to make plays for him."
Meanwhile, safety Malcolm Jenkins talked about similar motivational speeches from Kelly and Lurie in a radio interview, according to another NJ.com article. Philadelphia had dropped three straight games -- the latter two weren't even close -- and the team was on the verge of missing the playoffs at 4-7.
"I think obviously dropping three straight and not only losing them, but in the fashion we did was disheartening," Jenkins said. "After Thanksgiving, Chip really set the tone as far as our attitude moving forward. He basically talked about how he believed we were a good team. He wasn't just saying that because he was the coach and it sounds like the good thing to say. He said it because he's been on the sideline. He's watched us make plays. He's seen us do everything that everyone outside of the building is saying we can do. He basically re-emphasized the fact that he believes in us maybe more than we believe in ourselves."
Jenkins added that Lurie joined Bradford in addressing the team before its game against the Patriots, a 35-28 Eagles' upset victory that stopped Philadelphia's skid.
"It wasn't really a motivational speech," Jenkins said of Lurie's message prior to the Patriots' game. "He basically walked around to every player and told us individually that he wanted us to play with anger and play with passion. He said 'don't be afraid to make a mistake. Don't worry about being right or wrong. At the end of the day, play with passion and emotion.' I think at the end of the day that really trickled down to that Patriots game being a really fired up game. It was one with a lot of emotional swings and momentum swings. It all carried through."
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