The Eagles will be celebrated during a parade through Philadelphia on Thursday, but Eagles coach Doug Pederson didn’t wait to get off a float to start talking about what’s next.
At a Wednesday press conference, Pederson said that his message to the team that they need to “get used to this” and called life as champions “the new norm” in Philadelphia. Pederson also talked about it being up to him and the players to keep the less glamorous aspects of success like contract desires and endorsement deals from getting in the way of on-field goals.
Pederson’s message appears to have been received by safety Rodney McLeod.
“We have all the pieces. It’s just going to be up to our mindset,” McLeod said, via ESPN.com. “We’re going to have the same focus, bring the same energy, have the same drive and determination that we did this year, even though this is our first one. If we want to be ever better, and great, then we’ve gotta win it again. So that’s going to be our focus as soon as we get back here April 16th. We got the schedule, and our goal is going to be the same: We want to be holding that Lombardi again at the end of the year.”
While this season’s Patriots and the 2014 Seahawks were able to get back to a second straight Super Bowl, no team has been able to pull off back-to-back titles since the Patriots did it in 2004. That leaves the Eagles with a lot of work in front of them once the parade comes to an end on Thursday afternoon.