During the Andy Reid era, the Philadelphia Eagles had a lot of success. They went to five NFC title games, which included four straight appearances(2001-2004), and made it to the Super Bowl in the 2004 sason before losing to the Patriots.
The team had many chances to win it all, but they could not break through. Soon to be Hall of Famer Brian Dawkins, who played with the Eagles from 1996-2008, believes the 2002 team gave him the best chance to win a Super Bowl. In 2002, the Eagles were making their second consecutive trip to the NFC Championship Game. The year before, Philly lost to the Rams in St Louis in the NFC title game, but this time around, the Eagles would be hosting the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the final game at Veterans Stadium. However, it did not matter, as the Eagles would fall to Tampa 27-10. The Buccaneers would go on to beat the Raiders in Super Bowl XXXVII.
I thought that was the team,” Dawkins said about the 2002 Eagles. “I just knew that was the team that was going to win the Super Bowl.”
Before losing to the Buccaneers in that NFC title game, the Eagles had owned Tampa. Philly had beaten the Bucs in the playoffs in 2000 and 2001.
Listen below as Dawkins talks about losing to the Buccaneers in 2002:
