Only four days after Rams Hall of Famer Orlando Pace resurrected suspicions about shenanigans at the final walk-through practice before Super Bowl XXXVI, a member of the new Super Bowl champions claims that the Eagles ran a phony walk-through practice before Super Bowl LII to counter any type of foul play.
Appearing on 620 WDAE in Tampa, long snapper Rick Lovato said that the Eagles specifically didn’t run plays like the “Philly Special” at U.S. Bank Stadium.
“We had run that play during a walk-through like two weeks ago,” Lovato said, adding that the Eagles purposefully did not run the play in Minnesota due to concerns that the Patriots may be watching.
“I believe our whole walk-through was just a complete fake walk-through,” Lovato said. “We did it at the stadium. There were certain people walking around. . . . I believe I overheard someone say a lot of the plays we were running weren’t even in the playbook for the Super Bowl.”
But why not take advantage of the opportunity to practice the actual plays in the stadium where the game was going to be played, one day beforehand?
“We already had our game plan set all week for the last two weeks,” Lovato said. “We had two weeks to prepare for that game. A measly walk-through the day before the game, we weren’t going to show anything to anyone, especially being at the stadium.”
There’s absolutely no evidence that the Patriots were watching the Eagles on Saturday or any other Super Bowl opponent prior to any other Super Bowl. Still, it apparently didn’t hurt the Eagles to conceal the plays they planned to run the next day, and to not run them one last time in a setting that was less-than-half-speed, at most.