PHILADELPHIA — This week the Birds are barking about how they knew from the start they had the goods to make it to Super Bowl LVII.

Funny. A month into the season, it was just Miles Sanders and me.

We’re the only ones I could find who believed the Eagles were the NFC’s best team, and, by association, the Super Bowl favorite. The Birds had gone 4-0 for the first time since 2004, which, of course, ended with their first Super Bowl trip in 24 years, but after just four wins in 2022 they weren’t ready to declare their dominance.

I polled the locker room in the week between Games 4 and 5. I asked veterans if the Eagles, a 9-8 playoff bust in 2021, were the NFC’s best team in 2022. Most declined to even answer. The ones who did were, typically, timid.

“I don’t know about that,” said center Jason Kelce. “I know we’re a damn good team.”

Sanders was not timid.

“I don’t think anybody can beat us right now,” he said.

Neither did I.

We were right.

They ran out to an 8-0 start. They were 13-1 when MVP favorite Jalen Hurts suffered his shoulder injury, lost twice without him, then clinched the No. 1 seed when he returned for the season finale. With Hurts, they clearly were the best team in the conference, if not the entire NFL.

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