By Cameron Moore (7th)

 

E-A-G-L-E-S EAGLES!

 

The 2024-25 NFL season was another memorable one. From a birds’ Super Bowl triumph to a highlight reel hail mary, here are the top moments from the 2024-25 NFL season.

 

Eagles Win the Super Bowl!

This year’s Super Bowl was a fun one…for Eagles fans, at least. Don’t let the 40-22 final score deceive you; it wasn’t as close as it seemed.

After two controversial penalties at the beginning of the game, the Eagles got on the board first, with a 7-0 lead after the first quarter. Then, the impossible happened. The Chiefs offense couldn’t get anything done. 

And then, the impossible happened again. Two sacks and a Cooper DeJean pick six. On his birthday.

Eventually, the Eagles would go up 34-0 and would coast to victory thanks to an incredible deep pass to Devontae Smith and an overall stellar defensive performance that included six sacks, two interceptions and one fumble recovered by the defense.

 

Season Highlights

The season, once again, included many highlight-reel plays. Here are some of them:

 

Washington Commanders’ hail mary vs Chicago Bears

 

Saquon’s backwards hurdle vs the Jacksonville Jaguars

 

Jets’ Garrett Wilson’s one-handed catch vs the Houston Texans

 

KaVontae Turpin’s bobbled 99-yard punt return TD vs Commanders

 

These were only a few of some of the season’s top highlights!

 

Surprises and Disappointments

Surprises

• Washington Commanders: They were by far the biggest shock of the season. ROTY Jayden Daniels guided Washington to finish the regular season 2nd in the NFC East with a 12-5 record, before pulling off a huge upset in Detroit and making it all the way to the NFC Championship Game.
• Denver Broncos: Despite being third in the AFC West, their 10-7 record got them into the playoffs, which is the exact opposite of what people thought of them. Despite being obliterated by the Buffalo Bills in the wild card, this team is on an upward trajectory with Bo Nix.

 

Disappointments

• San Francisco 49ers: This was a team negatively impacted by the injury bug. Turns out, having no Christian McCaffrey for most of the year makes a huge difference, but even with that, going from a Super Bowl appearance to a 6-11 record is a massive drop-off.
• New Orleans Saints: The Saints went 5-12 this season, the same record as the abysmal Panthers. This was not only a disappointment compared to last season, this is a huge disappointment compared to the beginning of the year! They destroyed the Panthers and Cowboys to start the season, and then barely lost to the Eagles. That loss was the start of a 7-game losing streak that included blowouts to Kansas City and Tampa Bay. For the rest of the year, they only beat the Falcons, Browns, and Giants, all of which were sub-500 teams.

 

Playoff Recap

• AFC Super Wild Card Weekend
  • 4 Houston Texans beat 5 Los Angeles Chargers, 32-12.
    • This was a quality win for the Texans that proves that last year wasn’t just a fluke. This team will be a solid one for years to come.
  • 3 Baltimore Ravens beat 6 Pittsburgh Steelers, 28-14.
    • One of football’s hottest rivalries went to the Ravens and Lamar put up one of his signature performances.
  • 2 Buffalo Bills beat 7 Denver Broncos, 31-7.
    • Demolition. Give it up for Denver, though. They also have a bright future.
• NFC Super Wild Card Weekend
  • 2 Philadelphia Eagles beat 7 Green Bay Packers, 22-10.
    • Saquon did his thing, running through the Packers and guiding the Eagles to a big win.
  • 6 Washington Commanders beat 3 Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 23-20.
    • As the only away team to win in the wild card, Washington beat the Bucs on a game-winning field goal.
  • 4 Los Angeles Rams beat 5 Minnesota Vikings, 27-9.
    • What happened to the Vikings? Sam Darnold turned in an abysmal performance that allowed LA to advance.
• AFC Divisional
  • 1 Kansas City Chiefs beat 4 Houston Texans, 23-14.
    • This was a very controversial game, as the Chiefs got a few calls to go their way. But, the Chiefs were the better team in this game.
  • 2 Buffalo Bills beat 3 Baltimore Ravens, 27-25.
    • What a thriller! This was maybe the most exciting game of the playoffs, with both teams battling it out to the end.
• NFC Divisional
  • 6 Washington Commanders beat 1 Detroit Lions, 45-31.
    • Upset of the playoffs! Washington surprised everyone by not only beating the Lions, but they beat them pretty handily, too.
  • 2 Philadelphia Eagles beat 4 Los Angeles Rams, 28-22.
    • In the best game of his career, Saquon Barkley galloped through the snow and led the Eagles to another NFC Title Game.
• Conference Championships
  • AFC: 1 Kansas City Chiefs beat 2 Buffalo Bills, 32-29
    • KC won in another very close game between these two teams. Too many Buffalo miscues, and the Chiefs’ three-peat was alive!
  • NFC: 2 Philadelphia Eagles beat 6 Washington Commanders, 55-23
    • Domination. The Eagles defense was superb at limiting Jayden Daniels and the offense ran wild, too. Rematch!
• Super Bowl LIX
  • 2 Philadelphia Eagles beat 1 Kansas City Chiefs, 40-22
    • Don’t let the score deceive you; this game was not close. Just like with Daniels, the Eagles defense limited Patrick Mahomes to punts and turnovers. And, despite Saquon being limited by KC’s defense, the Eagles offense dominated all game. Super Bowl Champs!

So, that does it for this year’s NFL recap, even if it is a month overdue (seriously, the end of the trimester stinks). With the draft approaching, it will really be interesting to see what happens in this league.