The Philadelphia Eagles had the New England Patriots on their heels throughout the Super Bowl and many marveled at the game plan utilized by head coach Doug Pederson. To that end, the Eagles apparently took precautionary steps during the lead up to the game and, as Mike Florio of NBC's Pro Football Talk points out, they may have included a "fake walk-through" in case New England was attempting to spy on them prior to kick-off.
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Florio, citing comments made by Eagles long-snapper Rick Lovato in an interview with 620 WDAE in Tampa, brings word:
"We had run that play during a walk-through like two weeks ago," Lovato said, adding that the Eagles purposefully did not run the play in Minnesota due to concerns that the Patriots may be watching.
"I believe our whole walk-through was just a complete fake walk-through," Lovato said. "We did it at the stadium. There were certain people walking around. . . . I believe I overheard someone say a lot of the plays we were running weren't even in the playbook for the Super Bowl."
This isn't overly surprising, especially in an environment like the Super Bowl at a neutral site. Still, it becomes front-page news when the Patriots are involved given the presence of SpyGate and Philadelphia playing things close to the vest ended up "working," even if they didn't need to do so.
It would be interesting to see what the Eagles leadership says about Lovato's comments, but at least one member of the roster saw the team's preparation as hidden from the Patriots on purpose.
