EAGLES SWEEP MAXWELL FOOTBALL CLUB AWARDS
Rock Hoffman
It’s been a good week for the Philadelphia Eagles, they clinched a spot in their third Super Bowl and members of the organization are reaping the rewards for their great season. The Maxwell Football Club named quarterback Carson Wentz winner of the 59th Bert Bell Professional Player of the Year Award and head coach Doug Pederson the recipient of the 29th Greasy Neale Professional Coach of the Year Award.
Wentz is the sixth Eagles to win the Bert Bell Award, he joins Norm Van Brocklin (1960), Pete Retzlaff (1965), Ron Jaworski (1980), two-time winner Randall Cunningham (1988 & 1990) and Mike Vick (2010) as winner of the prestigious award.
With his outstanding season which ended after 13 games because of a torn ACL, Wentz put the Eagles in position to secure home field advantage in the NFC playoffs which they used to earn a spot in Super Bowl LII where they’ll face the New England Patriots on February 4 in Minneapolis, MN.
The Eagles were 11-2 in the games Wentz started. The second-year player from North Dakota State threw 33 touchdowns with seven interceptions; he completed 265 of his 440 passes for 3,296 yards. In October, Wentz was named the NFC Offensive Player of the Month and he finished the season ranked fourth in the NFL with a passer rating of 101.9.
Wentz joins Earl Campbell (1979) as the only players to win the Bert Bell Award in their second season in professional football.
Pederson is the third Eagles coach to win the Greasy Neale Award. Andy Reid, who won it in 2010 and Chip Kelly (2013) are the others. Pederson joins Reid and Dick Vermeil as the only coaches to lead the Eagles to the Super Bowl and the team’s 13-3 record ties Reid’s 2004 team for the best mark in the organizations history (the 1949 and 1960 NFL Championship teams had better winning percentages in 12 game seasons).
Wentz and Pederson will receiver their awards at the 81st Maxwell Club National Awards Gala on Friday, March 9, 2018. The event is held at the Tropicana Casino Resort in Atlantic City, NJ. Also receiving awards at this event will be: Baker Mayfield – University of Oklahoma (Maxwell Award); Minkah Fitzpatrick – University of Alabama (Chuck Bednarik Award); Bill Clark – University of Alabama at Birmingham (The Thomas Brookshier Spirit Award); Duke Greco – Delaware Valley University (Tri-State Coach of the Year); Shaquem Griffin – University of Central Florida (Uplifting Athletes Rare Disease Champion), and Bobby Bowden – Florida State (The Francis Reds Bagnell Award for Contributions to Football). For ticket information go to Maxwellfootballclub.org or call 215-643-3833.