{"id":31480,"date":"2026-06-29T10:28:29","date_gmt":"2026-06-29T14:28:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/design-providers.com\/rise\/starting-again-1976-and-2026-an-unmistakable-eagles-parallel\/"},"modified":"2026-06-29T10:28:29","modified_gmt":"2026-06-29T14:28:29","slug":"starting-again-1976-and-2026-an-unmistakable-eagles-parallel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/design-providers.com\/rise\/starting-again-1976-and-2026-an-unmistakable-eagles-parallel\/","title":{"rendered":"Starting Again: 1976 and 2026. An Unmistakable Eagles Parallel"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\n <\/p>\n<p class=\"categories\">Eagles\u2022More PHL\u2022News\u2022Unique Columns<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Nick Sirianni isn\u2019t the first young Eagles Head Coach that has taken the Eagles to a Super <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/insidetheiggles.com\/posts\/nick-sirianni-can-do-something-no-other-eagles-head-coach-has-ever-done\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\"(opens in a new tab)\">Bowl<\/a>. And we have every reason to believe that he can do it again.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Fifty years ago\u200a\u2014\u200aformer UCLA Head Coach Dick Vermeil showed up for July Training Camp in 1976 in the middle of Philadelphia\u2019s Bicentennial <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pro-football-reference.com\/teams\/phi\/1976_draft.htm\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\"(opens in a new tab)\">Celebration<\/a>. As he took his new roster of Eagles to Widener University for long days in the sun that would begin the climb to on-field excellence\u200a\u2014\u200athe celebratory planes filling the Philadelphia skies\u200a\u2014\u200aa once-in-a-lifetime spectacle for most \u2014did not <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.inquirer.com\/philly\/sports\/eagles\/20130721_Eagles_coaches_infamous_for_setting_training-camp_tone.html#loaded\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\"(opens in a new tab)\">interest<\/a> the young Vermeil who was focused only on his team\u2019s practice.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In less than three weeks\u200a\u2014\u200athe Eagles will return to the Novacare Complex to begin <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bleedinggreennation.com\/news\/176927\/eagles-training-camp-start-date-announced\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\"(opens in a new tab)\">anew<\/a>\u200a\u2014\u200aall while wiping away the memories of a disappointing last season that ended in an even more <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com\/nfl\/story\/_\/id\/47585326\/49ers-defending-champion-eagles-nfc-wild-card-game\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\"(opens in a new tab)\">disappointing<\/a> 2026 NFC Wildcard Playoff Game at the very same Lincoln <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.inquirer.com\/soccer\/croatia-ghana-fifa-world-cup-philadelphia-stadium-20260627.html\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\"(opens in a new tab)\">Financial<\/a> Field that is currently hosting FIFA Games.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And while Dick Vermeil\u2019s 1976 <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/tvtropes.org\/pmwiki\/pmwiki.php\/UsefulNotes\/NationalFootballLeagueNonPlayerFigures\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\"(opens in a new tab)\">Eagles<\/a> and Nick Sirianni\u2019s 2026 both started campaigns in the wake of amazing celebrations of the birth of our nation\u200a\u2014\u200athere is a major difference. The Eagles of 1976 not only hadn\u2019t seen a world championship since 1960\u200a\u2014\u200athey had barely seen a <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bleedinggreennation.com\/2022\/8\/5\/23293822\/dick-vermeil-hall-of-fame-saved-eagles-chiefs-rams-head-coach-philadelphia-nfl-football-history\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\"(opens in a new tab)\">winning<\/a> season.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Eagles will begin Training Camp less than 24 months from hoisting the Lombardi Trophy in <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcsportsphiladelphia.com\/nfl\/philadelphia-eagles\/2025-nfl-training-camp-key-dates-public-practice-storylines\/671784\/\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\"(opens in a new tab)\">February<\/a> of 2025. And (in case you live under a boulder) we not only know that these Eagles <em>can<\/em> win a Super Bowl. We also know that they <em>can<\/em> bounce-back from an underperforming year.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Eagles followed up a down to the wire loss in Super Bowl LVII with a Wildcard Playoff loss to the <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com\/nfl\/game\/_\/gameId\/401547754\/eagles-buccaneers\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\"(opens in a new tab)\">Buccaneers<\/a> in Tampa by a <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/sports.yahoo.com\/baker-mayfield-buccaneers-eliminate-eagles-115426305.html\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\"(opens in a new tab)\">score<\/a> of 32\u20139 in January of 2024. But the team got healthy, re-tooled in the 2025 NFL Draft including the selection of Quinyon <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.philadelphiaeagles.com\/news\/cooper-dejean-quinyon-mitchell-earn-first-team-all-pro-honors-eagles\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\"(opens in a new tab)\">Mitchell<\/a> and Cooper DeJean\u200a\u2014\u200aand hired new coordinators. The <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nfl.com\/news\/eagles-nick-sirianni-on-job-status-after-late-season-collapse-playoff-exit-i-m-thinking-about-the-guys\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\"(opens in a new tab)\">result<\/a>\u200a\u2014\u200aa World Championship in 2025.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Within four years\u200a\u2014\u200aDick Vermeil\u2019s Eagles were in the 1980 NFC Championship <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.philadelphiaeagles.com\/news\/black-and-blue-the-story-of-the-1980-nfc-championship-game-20268790\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\"(opens in a new tab)\">Game<\/a>. They hadn\u2019t just had a good year\u200a\u2014\u200abut an upward improvement taking them to one of the best teams in the NFC. The excitement culminated with a 42-yards Wilbert Montgomery run against the Cowboys at Veterans Stadium that the rival Cowboys never recovered from. The Eagles would lose Super Bowl XV to the Oakland Raiders that year. Within three <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.philadelphiaeagles.com\/news\/didinger-burnout-ended-vermeil-s-tenure-14701653\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\"(opens in a new tab)\">years<\/a> Dick Vermeil\u200a\u2014\u200aexhausted from coaching\u200a\u2014\u200awould resign.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>It would take the Eagles 25 years to <\/strong><a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/www.phl.org\/at-phl\/art-exhibitions\/node\/285\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\"(opens in a new tab)\"><strong>return<\/strong><\/a><strong> to the Super Bowl.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>For these Eagles\u200a\u2014\u200ait might not take quite that long.<\/strong><\/p>\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-align-center\" style=\"margin-top:4px;margin-bottom:10px\">Discover more from Philadelphia Sports Nation<\/h3>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"margin-top:10px;margin-bottom:10px;font-size:15px\">Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.<\/p>\n<p> <span class=\"single-tags\">Tags: Cooper DeJean Dick Vermeil Jalen Hurts Super Bowl Kellen Moore NFL Training Camp Nick Sirianni Quinyon Mitchell Super Bowl 52 <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"categories single-categories\">Categorized:Eagles More PHL News Unique Columns<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Eagles\u2022More PHL\u2022News\u2022Unique Columns Nick Sirianni isn\u2019t the first young Eagles Head Coach that has taken the Eagles to a Super Bowl. And we have every reason to believe that he can do it again. Fifty years ago\u200a\u2014\u200aformer UCLA Head Coach Dick Vermeil showed up for July Training Camp in 1976 in the middle of Philadelphia\u2019s [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":31481,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/phlsportsnation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/Wilbert-Wikapedia-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[11572],"tags":[14945,21674,2962,21675,21676,21677,16857,14655,21678,990,21679,21680],"class_list":["post-31480","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-philadelphia-sports","tag-cooper-dejean","tag-dick-vermeil","tag-eagles","tag-jalen-hurts-super-bowl","tag-kellen-moore","tag-nfl-training-camp","tag-nick-sirianni","tag-parallel","tag-quinyon-mitchell","tag-starting","tag-super-bowl-52","tag-unmistakable"],"rttpg_featured_image_url":{"full":["https:\/\/phlsportsnation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/Wilbert-Wikapedia-1.jpg",0,0,false],"landscape":["https:\/\/phlsportsnation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/Wilbert-Wikapedia-1.jpg",0,0,false],"portraits":["https:\/\/phlsportsnation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/Wilbert-Wikapedia-1.jpg",0,0,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/phlsportsnation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/Wilbert-Wikapedia-1.jpg",150,150,false],"medium":["https:\/\/phlsportsnation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/Wilbert-Wikapedia-1.jpg",300,300,false],"large":["https:\/\/phlsportsnation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/Wilbert-Wikapedia-1.jpg",1024,1024,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/phlsportsnation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/Wilbert-Wikapedia-1.jpg",1536,1536,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/phlsportsnation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/Wilbert-Wikapedia-1.jpg",2048,2048,false],"post-thumbnail":["https:\/\/phlsportsnation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/Wilbert-Wikapedia-1.jpg",370,265,false],"kava-thumb-s":["https:\/\/phlsportsnation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/Wilbert-Wikapedia-1.jpg",150,85,false],"kava-thumb-s-2":["https:\/\/phlsportsnation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/Wilbert-Wikapedia-1.jpg",230,230,false],"kava-thumb-m":["https:\/\/phlsportsnation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/Wilbert-Wikapedia-1.jpg",400,400,false],"kava-thumb-m-vertical":["https:\/\/phlsportsnation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/Wilbert-Wikapedia-1.jpg",370,500,false],"kava-thumb-m-2":["https:\/\/phlsportsnation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/Wilbert-Wikapedia-1.jpg",570,450,false],"kava-thumb-l":["https:\/\/phlsportsnation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/Wilbert-Wikapedia-1.jpg",1170,650,false],"kava-thumb-xl":["https:\/\/phlsportsnation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/Wilbert-Wikapedia-1.jpg",1920,1080,false],"kava-thumb-masonry":["https:\/\/phlsportsnation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/Wilbert-Wikapedia-1.jpg",600,999,false],"kava-thumb-justify":["https:\/\/phlsportsnation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/Wilbert-Wikapedia-1.jpg",640,640,false],"kava-thumb-justify-2":["https:\/\/phlsportsnation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/Wilbert-Wikapedia-1.jpg",1280,640,false]},"rttpg_author":{"display_name":"#RiseCelestialStudios","author_link":"https:\/\/design-providers.com\/rise\/author\/ralph-c\/"},"rttpg_comment":0,"rttpg_category":"<a href=\"https:\/\/design-providers.com\/rise\/category\/philadelphia-sports\/\" rel=\"category tag\">PHILLY SPORTS<\/a>","rttpg_excerpt":"Eagles\u2022More PHL\u2022News\u2022Unique Columns Nick Sirianni isn\u2019t the first young Eagles Head Coach that has taken the Eagles to a Super Bowl. And we have every reason to believe that he can do it again. Fifty years ago\u200a\u2014\u200aformer UCLA Head Coach Dick Vermeil showed up for July Training Camp in 1976 in the middle of Philadelphia\u2019s&hellip;","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/design-providers.com\/rise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31480","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/design-providers.com\/rise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/design-providers.com\/rise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/design-providers.com\/rise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/design-providers.com\/rise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31480"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/design-providers.com\/rise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31480\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31482,"href":"https:\/\/design-providers.com\/rise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31480\/revisions\/31482"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/design-providers.com\/rise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31481"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/design-providers.com\/rise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31480"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/design-providers.com\/rise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31480"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/design-providers.com\/rise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31480"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}