Philadelphia gets into the Eagles playoff spirit
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- The Philadelphia Eagles' road to the Super Bowl starts at Lincoln Financial Field this Saturday night.
The Birds are hosting the New York Giants, and fans are getting hyped up for the primetime showdown.
All over the city, there's evidence the city is getting in the playoff spirit. The Rocky Balboa statue outside the Philadelphia Museum of Art was even sporting a Jalen Hurts jersey.
On the steps of the art museum, there were cutouts of four Eagles players.
ROCKY HURTS or JALEN BALBOA? Did you see the Rocky statue wearing a Jalen Hurts jersey? I’ll show you another spot where Eagles players are popping up in Philly, and how fans feel about the big game against the Giants. I’m live at 530 and 630am on @CBSPhiladelphia pic.twitter.com/NzfLF16tuK
— Ross DiMattei CBS-3 (@RossDiMattei) January 19, 2023
There's Devonta Smith, also known as "Skinny Batman," Darius "Big Play" Slay, the "Giant Killer" Boston Scott and our fearless leader Jalen Hurts.
"I love the matchup," said a fan named Anna. "I'm glad that they're close by, New York, there's going to be a lot of fans here and I can't wait to see them cry, quite honestly," she added.
"I don't have any qualms as long as they know their place, and that's not in the Super Bowl this year," said fan Dave Kannetta.
We're counting on a big game from all four if we're going to take down the hated Giants on Saturday night.
These two teams know each other pretty well at this point, since they're longtime NFC East division rivals and they played each other twice during the regular season.
The Eagles won both of those matchups: the first time 48-22 on December 11. Then about a month later in the final game of the regular season, the Eagles took care of the Giants again, this time by a closer score of 22-16.
On Saturday night, the Birds will have a chance to make it 3-0 against Big Blue and send the Giants back to New York where they belong.
We caught up with some Eagles fans yesterday and they had a warning for any Giants fans planning on making the trip down Interstate 95 to South Philly.
"It's gonna suck for them, it's going to be tough and uncomfortable and that's what we do," said Kate Cerrone.
"Embarrassing for them, they should feel nervous, ashamed," said fan Morgan Shea. "They should probably just leave and go back to New York."
"I feel great about it, you can't ask for a better matchup than this," said Eagles fan Nick Carroll. "If you're going to win a Super Bowl, you should beat the Giants this weekend, period."
The trash talk was a little lukewarm but could heat up come Saturday. Former Giants QB Eli Manning is expected to be in the stadium, despite promising he'd never come to the Linc again.
The Eagles are about a touchdown favorite against the Giants on Saturday night.
Maybe the best news of all: Hurts is off the injury report for the first time in weeks, so it looks like he's good to go for this playoff run.