Agree 100% with both of these thoughts:

This is exactly how these types of situations should play out. You have a guy talk shit in the buildup to a game, but he doesn’t walk it back. He embraces it and rolls with it and plays a great game and his team almost wins. At the same time, Eagles fans absorb the diss, let it simmer for a bit, then throw it back at him as soon as he steps foot on the field, which elevates an already-charged playoff environment.

But wait, there’s more –

After the fact, opponent who backed it up praises the fans for doing their part. This is from Matt Breen at the Inquirer:

“I like that they stand on it,” Verse said. “They don’t shy away from it. My phone was blowing up the last two, three days. All I was seeing was ‘Yeah, we embrace it. We love that.’ I was like ‘OK.’ But I like that they stand on it.”

This is how you gain respect in Philadelphia. Not that Verse needs it, or was looking for it, but the formula is amoebic in simplicity. If you talk shit and back it up, these fans will applaud that. Especially after a bit of postgame reciprocity. Deebo Samuel did two of those three things when he talked nothing but trash for a full year, then obliterated the Eagles to the tune of more than 125 yards and three touchdowns. That one was harder to swallow, since he was a humongous dickhead for a long time, but we all begrudgingly tipped the cap because he followed through, and more.


Verse, by the way, is a beast. That guy is gonna be a problem for a long time. He finished his rookie regular season with 66 tackles, 4.5 sacks, two forced fumbles, and twelve stuffs. Then he ripped off two sacks, six tackles, two stuffs, and a fumble recovery in two playoff games. Thankfully he’s not in the division.