Chris Long made sure he found Tom Brady on the field after Super Bowl LII
Chris Long won his second ring in two years Sunday in Super Bowl LII, with the second championship coming in a victory over the team he won the first with.
In 2017, Long signed a one-year deal with the New England Patriots and recorded four sacks in the regular-season for Matt Patricia’s defense on his way to a Super Bowl showdown with the Atlanta Falcons. He slipped one ring onto his finger after the Patriots came back from a 28-3 deficit to win Super Bowl LI, 34-28.
Then, as a member of the Philadelphia Eagles in Super Bowl LII, he did what the Falcons could not and thwarted another Patriots miracle. Long and his Eagles teammates stripped the football away from Tom Brady as he drove down the field late in the fourth quarter, handing Long his second title.
After Brady’s Hail Mary try with the clock expiring fell to the Minnesota turf incomplete, Long made sure to find his former teammate amid the green and white confetti.
“I just came right up to him and said, ‘I never told you how much I appreciate you.’” Long said on the NFL Gameday set postgame. “He’s given so many people rings.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-FVqeY_WRF8
Long signed a two-year deal with the Eagles after his contract with the Patriots expired, and he was asked about the advice he gave to his new teammates as they prepared to face Bill Belichick’s defending champions.
“Basically, just believe what you see not what you hear,” Long said. “They’re a hell of a football team— greatest coach of all time, greatest quarterback of all time. But all we had to do was beat ‘em once, and we had a pretty good team over here. We went out there and did it.”
Long, who donated his entire 2017 salary to benefit educational charities, wasn’t the only Eagles player celebrating his second Super Bowl in as many years. Running back LeGarrettte Blount was also with the Patriots last season. Their experience playing alongside Brady ensured Long knew the challenge the Eagles faced on Sunday, but he had confidence in the pressure Philadelphia’s defensive line can apply.
“He’s so good at getting the ball out, and seven-man protecting, but he couldn’t do that all game,” Long said. “He was slicing us up but we knew that eventually, whether it was one possession or two possessions, we were going to have to match up one-on-one against certain guys and we got there.”
Watch: Tom Brady—”We just didn’t get the job done.”
Long was also on the field when the Patriots quarterback tried his hand at the other end of the passing game. Brady was open in space as New England ran a trick play on third-and-5 in the second quarter, but Danny Amendola’s pass was just beyond his grasp. Long wasn’t too hard on the Patriots’ No. 12 for the missed reception, saying, “Listen he’s the greatest of all time but he’s not a wideout.”
After the game, Long celebrated holding onto his status as champion in a tweet:
https://twitter.com/JOEL9ONE/status/960431987734564864
