Like Ripley returning to the alien infested colonial outpost in search of Newt, the Eagles are stepping back into the fray tonight and kicking off their Super Bowl defending season in an all but meaningless preseason bout against the Pittsburgh Steelers.

In Philadelphia, nobody can hear you scream (yes, I know that’s the tagline from “Alien” and not “Aliens” … but the “Aliens” tagline sucks. This time it’s war? Get the hell out of here).

We’re in uncharted waters here, Eagles fan. It’s the first year in the history of the franchise where we’re not coming off of a terrible Andy Reid postseason loss, a disheartening/borderline racist Chip Kelly 7-9 season, or a comically bad “Dream Team” season that left us all hating Jason Babin and his stupid tattoos just a little bit more than we thought was humanly possible.

The path is unexplored from here on out, Eagles. What’s it going to be? Will this year live up to the hype, the GREATNESS of last year’s Super Bowl run and victory, or will it all come crashing down?

Will this season be “Aliens” or will it be “Major League 2?” Will it be an all-time great sequel to an all-time great movie, or will it be a soulless, unnecessary cash-in without the entire returning cast from the original?

The answer, I think, lies somewhere in between.

I don’t see a tremendous amount of regression with this team. They signed some key free agents, are getting back key players who were hurt last season (including Mr. Carson Wentz), and still have one of the most intriguing offenses in football. Everything seemed to go right for the team last year, and their defense still looks to be dominant this season, so what could go wrong?

On the flip-side, how hard is it to repeat as champs in the NFL? It’s much more difficult to accomplish than any of the other professional sports, and some regression may be common for a team that made a deep run into the playoffs last year. It takes a toll on players, it’s undeniable, and the last team to go back-to-back was 13 years ago.

Can the Eagles do it again this year? Yes, definitely, but unlikely.

Last year was magical. Everything fell into place perfectly for the roster, the city, the coaching staff….and sadly it’s hard to see it happening again. But this is a veteran laden team that seems to be healthy again, which you can’t say they were at all at the end of last year and they won the fucking Super Bowl.

I’d be extraordinarily disappointed if they don’t make another deep run into the playoffs this year with this roster, and I’d even go so far as to say that I will be shocked if they don’t at LEAST make it to the NFC Championship game. Something extraordinarily wrong will have to happen for the Eagles not to make another run this year.

But are we talking “Aliens” success? A movie sequel that fans consider superior to the first movie, which in itself is one of the greatest horror movies ever made? I’d say no.

Look for this season to be more in the “Naked Gun 2 1/2” range…a very good, even great movie, but it doesn’t play up to the exquisiteness that is the first production.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I have some “Eagles 2018 Dream Team” t-shirts to print up.

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