The Philadelphia Eagles could very easily be 0-3 right now. They could have very little easily lost the game to the Atlanta Falcons and they could have very easily lost the game yesterday to the Indianapolis Colts. In both games, they had to stop the opposing team’s offense in the red zone late in the fourth quarter.  I think their “mental toughness” has made the difference.

It’s not a coincidence that great teams make the plays with the game on the line, time and time again.  It wasn’t luck… it’s mental toughness.  Certain teams and certain players are comfortable in the pressure situation, while other lesser-players and lesser-teams experience their most embarrassing mistakes under pressure.  Great teams know how to find a way to win.

I know a lot of NFL fans could say that the Eagles are just lucky, but it can’t simply be luck that’s helping them to win these close games. What I see on both sides of the ball is a focus and a strength.  It’s the ability to concentrate when everything is on the line and you must make a play — it’s do or die.   The Eagles have learned a few things from their trip to the Super Bowl last season. One of the things they have learned is how to play and be effective with everything on the line — they have learned to focus on a greater level. They have also learned to concentrate at a higher level and that’s the difference between being a good team that almost wins to being a great team that nearly always finds ways to win.

How else do you explain the Eagles being able to stop both the Falcons and the Colts in the red zone so many times? They were able to stop the Falcons in the red zone with everything on the line in the first round of the playoffs last season. This same team, or should I say, this year‘s team with many of the same players was able to do it again against another outstanding Atlanta Falcons offense.

“Mental Toughness” is what helped the Eagles to win the Super Bowl despite losing five of their most talented players — Carson Wentz, Jason Peters, Darren Sproles, Jordan Hicks and Chris Marogos to injuries.  They didn’t go in the corner and cry.  They accepted the challenge and took their performance to another level.  The players that replaced them, took the challenge and stepped up with the season on the line.

Let’s go back to focus on this season’s team.  Think about this team offense and that 17-play 11 minute drive, which gave them the lead in the fourth quarter yesterday. They were able to overcome penalties and mistakes to eventually push the ball into the end zone with Wendell Smallwood running very hard.  The defense was then able to stop the Colts and their outstanding young quarterback Andrew luck over and over again by knocking his passes down, roughing up the receivers and hitting them every time the opportunity arose.

On both sides of the ball the Eagles are able to rise to the occasion even though they’re not playing the best football right now. They have been able to win two football games even though you could say that maybe the other teams outplayed them to a degree. The Birds have a number of players that are still out and injured, but I promise you that they’ll be playing better as the season progresses.