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Doug Pederson called for a pass to his quarterback on fourth down Carlton Davis Youth Jersey , went for 2-point conversions when the chart said otherwise and stuck with the same aggressive approach in the biggest game of his coaching career.

The Philadelphia Eagles are Super Bowl champions because they weren’t intimidated and wouldn’t back down just like their coach.

”We just wanted to stay aggressive,” Pederson said. ”My mentality coming into the game was that I was going to stay aggressive with Nick (Foles), and allow his playmakers to make plays.

They made one big play after another in a 41-33 victory over the New England Patriots on Sunday night to win the franchise’s first NFL title since 1960.

Pederson was criticized for being too aggressive in his rookie season when the Eagles were 7-9. He didn’t change his philosophy this year, but his players executed the plays.

On fourth down from the 1 with 34 seconds left in the first half, running back Corey Clement took a direct snap and pitched to tight end Trey Burton, who threw to Foles for a touchdown that gave Philadelphia a 22-12 lead.

”A quarterback going out on a route? I was pumped to go over there and talk to Doug and we agreed to do it Andy Dalton Bengals Jersey ,” Foles said. ”We worked on it for a long time and executed perfectly. We’ve been working on it for a month.”

Burton was recruited as a quarterback out of high school by Florida. He was confident he’d make the right throw and Foles would make the catch on a play called ”Philly Special.”

”Coach has some guts,” Burton said. ”People don’t realize how great of an athlete Nick is. I would’ve thrown to him even if he was covered. He would’ve gone up to get it.”

Other teams who failed to topple New England after taking leads in playoff games were too conservative. Atlanta blew a 28-3 lead in last year’s Super Bowl and Jacksonville had a 20-10 fourth-quarter lead in the AFC championship game.

But the Eagles never let up the same way they went after Minnesota in a 38-7 win in the NFC title game two weeks ago.

”We wanted to be aggressive,” running back Jay Ajayi said. ”We understood that this is a team that doesn’t quit, that plays four quarters and we were going to have to be aggressive all game long. We showed that. We wanted to set the tone early and we wanted to keep our foot on the gas.”

Pederson’s aggressive nature almost backfired when he went for a 2-point conversion early in the second quarter because Jake Elliott had missed an extra point on the team’s first score. When it failed, the Eagles led 15-3 and that loomed large when they fell behind 33-32 in the fourth quarter.

But Pederson didn’t hesitate going for fourth-and-1 from the Eagles 45 with 5:39 left in the game and the team trailing by one point. Foles tossed a 2-yard pass to Zach Ertz and later connected with Ertz on the go-ahead TD pass .

”Doug has been aggressive since he came here,” Ertz said. ”That’s part of our identity. It’s a big reason we’re here and now we’re champions.”

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AP NFL website: LeBron James scored 45 points and got some needed help in Game 7 to stay unbeaten in the opening round of the playoffs Bradley Chubb Color Rush Jersey , leading the Cleveland Cavaliers to a 105-101 win over the Indiana Pacers, who pushed the game’s best player to the limit.

James improved to 13-0 in the first round and kept Cleveland’s strange season alive – for the time being. It took everything James and the Cavs had to hold off the Pacers, who were swept by Cleveland a year ago and came in confident after a 34-point win in Game 6.

The Cavs will open the conference semifinals on Tuesday at top-seeded Toronto.

James played 43 minutes, leaving late in the third quarter and heading straight to the locker room to be treated for cramps. The 33-year-old was going to leave it all on the floor in what some Cleveland fans feared could have been his last game with the franchise.

Tristan Thompson made a rare start for the Cavs – Cleveland coach Tyronn Lue used his 34th different starting lineup this season – and added 15 points and 10 rebounds. Kevin Love made four 3-pointers, and George Hill returned after missing three games with back spasms to score 11 in 19 second-half minutes.

Victor Oladipo scored 30 and Darren Collison had 23 for the Pacers.

ROCKETS 110, JAZZ 96

HOUSTON (AP) – James Harden scored 41 points and Houston raced out to a huge lead and sailed to a 110-96 win over Utah in Game 1 of the Western Conference semifinals.

Houston was up by 25 at halftime behind 34 points combined from Harden and Chris Paul. The Jazz Authentic Christian Kirk Jersey , who didn’t wrap up their first-round series with Oklahoma City until late Friday night, looked sluggish and struggled to keep pace with the energy of the top-seeded Rockets, who hadn’t played since eliminating Minnesota on Wednesday.

It was Houston’s fourth straight win by 10 or more points this postseason.

Harden, who also had seven assists and eight rebounds, picked up where he left off in the regular season against the Jazz when he averaged 34.3 points, led by a 56-point performance in a 137-110 win in November.

The Jazz got 21 points each from rookie Donovan Mitchell and Jae Crowder while playing without starting point guard Ricky Rubio Jaguars Elite Jerseys , who sat with a strained left hamstring.

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