Jake Tapper Absolutely Eviscerates Stephen A. Smith and Other Sports Media Figures Over ‘Hate’ of Philadelphia Eagles: ‘Embarrassingly Wrong’

CNN host and diehard Philadelphia Eagles fan Jake Tapper reveled in the team’s Super Bowl win by acknowledging its many doubters throughout the season.

The Eagles on Feb. 9 stunned the world with their dominant Super Bowl LIX win over the Kansas City Chiefs. Though the final score of 40-22 already paints the picture of a commanding victory, the Eagles at at one point held a 40-6 lead in the fourth quarter.

Considering how the Eagles started the season, just making it that far into the playoffs seemed unlikely. Going into the bye week on Week 5, the team was 2-2 with a pair of ugly losses to the Atlanta Falcons and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Countless figures in sports media questioned the futures of Eagles coach Nick Sirianni and quarterback Jalen Hurts.

Last Friday — hours after the Eagles’ Super Bowl parade — Tapper took a moment to mock those who once questioned the team. He said:

The team predicted to lose to the Kansas City Chiefs by so many experts — including the President of the United States — instead completely and utterly dominated them. This is par for the course for this team to be underestimated, a team that consists of a, frankly, special group of guys who have been consistently dismissed and discounted and derided; and for a lot of us Eagles fans, that is part of why we love this team — this team — so much.

And it starts with Jalen Hurts, our star quarterback, the Super Bowl MVP. The University of Alabama and its alumni are all out there claiming Jalen, but back in 2018, Coach [Nick Saban] benched him at halftime of the championship game in favor of Tua Tagovailoa. Jalen stayed at Alabama the next year as backup QB; but then after that, he transferred to Oklahoma so he could play. He was drafted by the Eagles in the second round, and that pick was trashed. “Hate the pick,” tweeted ESPN’s Mike Greenberg. “Don’t get it at all. And the hate kept coming.”

Tapper then introduced a montage of clips showing sports media personalities from all across the industry harshly criticizing Hurts, from Chris Simms calling him “the most overrated player in football” to ESPN’s Dan Orlovsky suggesting Hurts’s stellar 2022 season was merely an aberration.

The poorly-aged clips continued for several more minutes and included the likes of Stephen A. Smith, Colin Cowherd, and WFAN’s Shaun Morash.

“Here’s the thing,” Tapper said. “So many of the guys on this team, so many of the Eagles have been told, ‘You’re not champions,’ ‘You’re not excellent, ‘You’re overvalued.’ They’ve been shoved aside; they’ve been dismissed; they’ve been told to move on and get over it; but their inner drives took all that crap from all those ridiculous voices and said, ‘You are wrong. I do have value. I am a champion.’ You know what? The Eagles were right. The Eagles were right and we love them, not just for being champions, but for proving the naysayers hugely, embarrassingly wrong. Fly Eagles fly.”

Watch above via CNN