A has a rivalry renewed.
Philadelphia will host the NFC championship game in between the Eagles and the visiting Washington Commanders Sunday.
Before the game, the famous Rocky statue in downtown Philadelphia was dressed in gear representing the Commanders’ former identity, the Redskins.
SIGN UP FOR TUBI AND STREAM SUPER BOWL LIX FOR FREE
The perpetrator is unknown.
Dressing the statue in opponents’ gear has become a tradition in recent years before the Eagles’ big playoff games. Every time it happened, the Eagles came away with wins.
In 2022, the statue was dressed in New York Giants gear prior to their game against the Eagles in the divisional round. The Eagles won that game 38-7. The following week, the statue was dressed in San Francisco 49ers gear before the Niners arrived in Philadelphia for the NFC Championship Game. The Eagles won that game 31-7.
CONNECTICUT LAWMAKER INTRODUCES BILL THAT WOULD LEGALIZE SPORTS BETTING ON FLIGHTS TO, FROM STATE
When the Eagles won their first Super Bowl in the 2017 season, the statue was also dressed in the opponents’ gear.
Before that season’s NFC championship game between the Eagles and the Minnesota Vikings, the statue was dressed in a Vikings jersey and the Eagles won 38-7. Before the Super Bowl, someone placed a New England Patriots jersey on the statue, and the Eagles defeated the Patriots 41–33 to claim their first Super Bowl title.
The vandalism was so frequent that Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce implored his own fan base not to dress the statue in any Chiefs gear ahead of the 2023 Super Bowl. The Chiefs won that game 38-35.
“Chiefs, don’t touch the damn Rocky monument!” Kelce said during a February 2023 episode of his “New Heights” podcast.
“Don’t do that and definitely don’t put No. 87 on it!”
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP
Former Eagles center Jason Kelce, who played in that game against Travis and the Chiefs, theorized that the perpetrator was an Eagles fan.
“I’ll be honest. I think someone from Philadelphia is doing this right now,” Jason Kelce said.
“I don’t think this is an opponent thing at this point. There’s no way the opponents are going to keep doing this. I’m convinced there’s a fan from Philadelphia who is putting these shirts on the Rocky statue just to make everyone set on fire.” , and it works tremendously.
“So keep doing it. I guarantee it. You can’t. Because it’s happened every game. The Giants did it. The 49ers did it. It’ll probably have a Chiefs jersey on it this week.”
Now Washington is on the rise and will try to break the trend.
It will be the first time the rivals have met in a conference championship game and marks a high point for a rivalry that has been dormant in recent decades due to Washington’s inability to win in the playoffs since the 1990s.
The 2024 season was the first since 2005 that Washington won a playoff game, and the first since 1991 that the franchise reached the conference championship.
Follow Fox News Digital’s sports reporting on Xand subscribe to the Fox News Sports Huddle newsletter.
