Philadelphia Rocky statue dressed in Redskins gear ahead of NFC title game between Eagles and Commanders

AND There is rivalry renewed.

Philadelphia will host the NFC Championship Game in between Eagles and on Sunday, the visiting commanders of Washington.

Ahead of the game, the famous Rocky statue in downtown Philadelphia was dressed in gear representing the Commander’s former identity, The Redskins.

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The culprit is unknown.

Dressing the statue in the opposing team’s gear has become a tradition in recent years before Big Eagles Playoff Games. Each time that happened, the Eagles walked away with wins.

In 2022, the statue was dressed in New York Giants gear before its game against the Eagles in the divisional round. The Eagles won that game 38-7. The following week, the statue was dressed in San Francisco 49ers gear before the Niners arrived in Philadelphia for the NFC Championship game. The Eagles won that game, 31-7.

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When the Eagles won their first Super Bowl in the 2017 season, the statue was also dressed in the opposing team’s gear.

Ahead of the NFC Championship game between the Eagles and the Minnesota Vikings, the statue was draped in a Vikings jersey, and the Eagles won 38-7. Before the Super Bowl, someone put a New England Patriots jersey on the statue, and the Eagles defeated the Patriots 41-33 to claim their first Super Bowl title.

Vandalism has become so common that Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce pleaded with his own fan base not to dress the statue in any Chiefs gear ahead of the 2023 Super Bowl. The Chiefs won that game 38-35.

“Boss, don’t touch the F—ing rocky memorial!” Kelce said during a February 2023 episode of his podcast, “New Heights.”

“Don’t do it and definitely don’t put the number 87 on it!”

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Former Eagles center Jason Kelce, who played against Travis and the Chiefs in that game, theorized the culprit was an Eagles fan.

“I’ll be honest. I think somebody in Philadelphia is doing it right now,” Jason Kelce said.

“I don’t think it’s the opposing team at this point. There’s no way the opposing teams are going to continue to work. I’m sure there’s a Philadelphia fan who’s putting these shirts on a rock statue just so everyone can shoot, and it looks scary.

“So keep doing it. I guarantee it. No way. Because it’s happened every single game. The Giants did it. The 49ers did it. There’s probably going to be a Chiefs jersey on him this week.”

Now Washington is up and will look to break the trend.

It will be the first time the rivals have met in the conference championship game and marks a high point for a rivalry that has been dormant in recent decades due to Washington’s inability to win in the playoffs since the 1990s.

The 2024 season was the first since 2005 that Washington won a playoff game and the first since 1991 that the franchise reached the conference championship.

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