NFL: Shaun O’ Hara in an interview:”The stupidest decision of my life”

Shaun O’ Hara was part of the New York Giants team, which hindered the 2007 New England Patriots’ perfect season with a win over the highly favored patriots in the Super Bowl. There are some parallels between that Giants team and this year’s version of the Philadelphia Eagles, who also try their luck against the Pats in the Super Bowl. In the SPOX interview, O’ Hara explains what it’s all about; Super Bowl LII will be available live at DAZN on Sunday from 11.45 pm – either with German or US original commentary!

SPOX: Mr. O’ Hara, directly: I was really looking forward to this interview, partly because I think there are some parallels between the Eagles team this year and your Giants team, which won the Super Bowl against the Patriots. Perhaps first of all: The Giants were then 12-point underdogs and at the moment the Eagles are living out this underdog status. What’s it doing with a team? Is that really such a big issue within a team?

Shaun O’ Hara: To be perfectly honest, players don’t usually deal with these things intensively. The fans are happy or rather annoyed. As a player it is nice to be able to draw additional motivation from such things – but above all it takes away some pressure. If no one really expects you to win before the Super Bowl all week long, then you will be more relaxed with the situation and the questions about the game.

SPOX: So is it more difficult for the players to deal with the media if you are the favorite yourself?

O’ Hara: The questions can then become a little trickier, yes. I think the Eagles are in a great situation here: everyone doubts Nick Foles, everyone doubts this team and I understand it – it’s against Brady and Belichick who have been in the Super Bowl so often. The Eagles will feel comfortable in their role, which is a very physical team and they have been able to watch in the AFC Championship game, which is causing problems for New England. I think the Eagles can keep up.

SPOX: That leads to the next parallel to your Super Bowl Team 2007: The strength of this team was the offensive and the defensive line, but in the Eagles it’s basically similar: Philly probably has the best O- and D-Line in the whole playoffs. How important is this for a team and, above all, what role does it play in playing against Tom Brady?

O’ Hara: Having a good offensive line gives you the chance to maintain a certain balance. Philly does a very good job here, no matter how much her offense was designed to create Big Plays. Carson Wentz had a great season, of course, but Nick Foles has improved a lot – much of it is related to the Run Pass options. The Eagles had a good run game throughout the season, leading the league in runs of at least ten yards. Philly has a very athletic offensive line and can attack you from different directions.

SPOX: And of course, the dominant defense…

O’ Hara:… right. Defensively they are great against the run and because they are so strong at first and second down here, they can do what they like best at third down: attacking the quarterback. The Eagles led the league in terms of quarterback hits. Much of it came about because they brought the opponents into long third downs. They can rotate players at a high level in their front lines and then have someone like Chris Long coming in at third down. In addition, players such as Brandon Graham and Vinny Curry had very good seasons.

SPOX: Nevertheless, for most of the Eagles players it’s the first Super Bowl – for you and the 2007 Giants it was quite similar. How are the two weeks before the Super Bowl different from the previous weeks in the playoffs and regular season, and how do players deal with the nervousness?

O’ Hara: The Super Bowl Week cannot be compared to any other week. The main challenge lies in the fact that everything takes longer before the kick-offs. Warming up takes longer, the half time takes longer – it is extremely important to control your emotions and not to shoot all the powder in the first half. For me, one of the special aspects about patriots is that they often shake in the first half, but then turn the game in the second half.

SPOX: Just like last year’s Super Bowl.

O’ Hara: Yeah. Everyone still remembers, of course, when Atlanta led 28-3 and everything looked like a Falcons victory. But they ran out of gas. Such experiences help the Patriots enormously, we could see that again in the Championship Game against Jacksonville. The Jaguars were leading 20:10, but couldn’t keep their lead – because the patriots understand that the game is won in the fourth quarter. For a team that is in the Super Bowl for the first time, it is very difficult to have energy reserves in the last quarter. That is a central aspect. In addition, one should not underestimate the intensity and physicality of the Super Bowl. These things are still being screwed up a little bit.

Page 1: O’ Hara about the underdog role, dominant defenses and empirical values

Page 2: O’ Hara about his biggest mistake, tips for Philly and his prognosis