Eagles ran fake walkthrough before Super Bowl in case Patriots were watching

Remember SpyGate? It was an entire thing after Super Bowl 39, where the New England Patriots were caught videotaping practices of opposing teams, most notably the Philadelphia Eagles, before the Eagles’ 24-21 loss in the game. Well, the Eagles haven’t forgotten it, and they had some tricks of their own before Super Bowl 52.

Eagles long snapper Rick Lovato revealed that the team ran fake walkthroughs at U.S. Bank Stadium, just in case the Patriots were up to anything. Via Pro Football Talk:

“I believe our whole walkthrough was just a complete fake walkthrough,” 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.”

Even the now-famous “Philly Special” wasn’t practiced in the stadium, with Lovato saying the Eagles went over that two weeks before the Super Bowl.

According to Mike Florio, there was “absolutely no evidence” that the Patriots were watching the Eagles’ practice sessions at the stadium. But hey, nothing wrong with keeping things close to the vest, and it all worked out in the end, with the Eagles winning their first-ever Lombardi Trophy. Perhaps now the bad memories of Super Bowl 39 can finally be put to rest.