Success Rewards Preparation

Abraham Lincoln said “give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe.

The process of building a winning team or building a better version of yourself can be long and hard. For example, look at how The Philadelphia Eagles persevered from underdogs to top dogs during the,2017, NFL season, teaching us that success rewards preparation and the Philadelphia Eagles the 2017 Super Bowl champions embodied preparation. For us to truly understand preparation in the context of the Philadelphia Eagles, we must go back to 1999, on the day Doug Peterson was signed to the Philadelphia Eagles. Doug was signed as the starting quarterback. But I don't think that it was Doug’s purpose to lead us to the Super Bowl in 1999. About five games into that year, Peterson, would pass the baton off to one of the greatest quarterbacks of the Philadelphia Eagles' history, Donovan McNabb. Doug Peterson the Super Bowl-winning coach, the coach that defeated Bill Belichick, the hoodie, started in humbleness passing the baton off to Donovan McNabb. Doug groomed McNabb, but most of us wouldn't have connected that two of the three Super Bowl quarterbacks of the Philadelphia Eagles' history were specifically groomed by Doug Peterson. Therefore, I asked you the question, was it Doug’s purpose to be our starting quarterback, or was his purpose to prepare the Philadelphia Eagles' starting quarterbacks to win and succeed in the Super Bowl?

When we look at Doug’s history, we must take notice of this. If at first, you don’t succeed, make sure to try and try again. Remember Doug Peterson's first task was to get Donovan McNabb ready to play in the NFL. Most of us would say Donovan had a successful career, many of us if we were fans, would say that Donovan may be a Hall of Famer. But the thing about Donovan McNabb that was so discouraging to me was how he started with Doug Peterson. Doug showed him how to be an employee, leading by example and how to be a good NFL quarterback. Now let's fast-forward to the day Doug Peterson was hired and the negativity that surrounded him, and how people don't have a vision for who you are. Some of the people who were your friends, your colleagues, and people you invested in helping them to become the person that they are.

I was appalled when I heard this quote from Donovan?McNabb. "Now as an alum, and I think I can say this for a lot of us, what are they trying to do? Are they trying to re-create the 1999-2009 Eagles? Are they trying to relive the past, or do they want someone to come in and set his legacy? I want to see the Eagles win, but I don't know if you do that just by bringing guys back who were there,"?

Donovan McNabb said this about the first person who showed him how to be an NFL quarterback. Donovan didn't have faith in Doug. So, the Philadelphia Eagles, are a team that embodies people who said they couldn't have it, they said, they weren’t good enough. I still laugh when I think back to ESPN’s Ian O'Connor when he said, you know Doug Peterson is a bad hire, the trifecta, Poor play as a player (as if that matters), lack of experience and the perception of the process to hire him. ESPN ranked Doug Peterson as the least qualified head coach of all time. The guy didn't even call plays in Kansas City. He only got the job due to Andy Reid's endorsement. He's not smart enough to ever win, he doesn't run the ball, and he goes for it too many times on fourth down. People doubted Doug Peterson from the start. However, it was Jeffery Lurie’s vision of how to build a successful team. That's why he hired Doug, who ESPN ranked as the worst coach ever. But within two years Doug Peterson is successful, as the Super Bowl-winning coach of the Philadelphia Eagles. Now let's draw another parallel from Doug Peterson. Sometimes your purpose is not manifesting itself in exactly what you're doing. Sometimes your purpose comes out gradually year?after year.?Sometimes you're not prepared to do what needs to be done.

Now let’s shift to Howie Roseman, who I am a major fan of. The guy who wasn't a football guy, the guy who was banished to the broom closet. But what did he do, Howie had the resolve to understand that success loves preparation, and he prepared, and he studied within the broom closet, learning what it would take to be successful. Then on the day that he was given back power as the GM, Howie Roseman recognized what his strengths were, understanding that he needed people to help him reach his goals. So, from out of the broom closet, from not being a football guy to a person who just crunches the numbers. Howie can stand up and say, he is the architect of the 2017 Philadelphia Eagles, it is his vision, his purpose, and determination that caused him to pick up free agents like, Corey Clemens, who thirty-one other teams said wasn't good enough to draft in seven rounds. Corey Clemens looked pretty good to me during the Super Bowl, his stat line read that he had over a hundred receiving yards. Howie had the vision to pick Corey Clemens.

Howie never allowed others to tell him he was not destined to be great. According to Chip Kelly, Howie was just a numbers guy, he didn't even want to work with him, causing ownership to banish him to the broom closet. However, as the Eagles become the Super Bowl champions, Howie Roseman reigns supreme. Remember to never allow anyone else’s perception of you to become your reality. To be honest it doesn’t matter if anyone says that you were not good enough to do what you were destined to do.

Look at Nick Foles the winning quarterback. Foles was traded to The St. Louis Rams, where they told him, he wasn't good enough to start for the team. After throwing 27 touchdowns in a single season, they told him, he still wasn't good enough to start, and that he was a backup. Then they told him he could not play football anymore and he almost retired. He almost listened to the negative, stinking thinking of all those people who didn't have the faith and the desire needed to succeed. Nick Foles, the MVP of the Super Bowl is a parallel to anyone who says that you can't have it, or you can't do it, and when he took the stand for his press conference, he put everything in perspective with his statement about God. His faith in God protected his vision, allowing him to see himself succeeding.

32 NFL teams said that Jason Peters wasn't good enough to draft, forcing him to sign into the league as an unrestricted free-agent tight end. Only to persevere over this setback, becoming a future Hall of Famer, as one of the greatest left tackles in the Philadelphia Eagles' history. They said we couldn't have it on the day that Carson Wentz was injured echoing that the Eagles were dead.

For many of us today that are waking up, they said that we can't have it. They said that we were not good enough, we don't have the stuff inside of us to be successful. For that kid that's trying to be a better person who is fighting his demons, who is listening to the outside noise. Think about this.

As I watched Brandon Graham strip the ball from the golden boy, the goat, Tom Brady. I want you to remember how Brandon Graham turned perceived failure into greatness. It was 2010 when we drafted Brandon Graham 13th overall. How could the Philadelphia Eagles draft Brandon Graham when Earl Thomas was still on the board? Super Bowl-winning champion Earl Thomas. No longer will Brandon Graham be the person that was passed upon for Earl Thomas. We're going to start talking about Brandon Graham making that play that won the Super Bowl for the Philadelphia Eagles. We’re going to start talking about how Brandon turned perceived failure into success. There are a lot of perceived buses on the Philadelphia Eagles. They said that they couldn't win it. They said that Doug was the worst hire ever. They said that Howie wasn't a football guy. Let's even go back to Jeffrey Lurie who purchased the Philadelphia Eagles 20 years ago, they said he couldn't have the Patriots, but how bittersweet is it to win his Super Bowl against, Robert Kraft?

The Philadelphia Eagles and the city of Philadelphia may not have five Super Bowl rings. But they got passion, will, desire, and determination. Most importantly they have success because Success rewards preparation.?