FLY EAGLES FLY! VINNY CURRY HAS ARRIVED in MINNESOTA With A WINNING ATTITUDE!

Client of the Week - VINNY CURRY of the Philadelphia Eagles

Brandon Graham and Vinny Curry are usually found on opposite ends of the Eagles’ defensive line, but they’ve been on the same side of things throughout careers that have taken each from bust to boom and now to the Super Bowl. story written by Bob Ford (Sports)

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“We talk about it all the time, and I mean all the time,” Curry said. “We can never forget who we are and what helped mold us. The whole journey from the beginning, we’ve always been underdogs.”

The entire team has adopted that role as it attempts to navigate the length of the postseason without its franchise quarterback, but Graham and Curry lived it during their years of development with the Eagles.

“Nobody said it was going to be easy,” Curry said.

The two starting defensive ends each survived the reign of D-line coach Jim Washburn and his force-fed wide-nine alignment; then a switch to a 3-4 defense under Chip Kelly that pushed them to outside linebacker; and finally another transition to Jim Schwartz, whose hybrid defense requires a little bit of everything.

“We’ve all got stories,” Graham said. “I’m happy to get here after so many years and to win this thing is the mission. I’ve been through a lot, but all the hard work has finally paid off.”

Graham was a first-round pick, 13th overall, in the 2010 draft and suffered quickly from all the expectations that come with being taken in that round. He recorded three sacks in his rookie season but didn’t have a single sack in his second year, when Washburn was hired to Andy Reid’s staff. That was the low point for Graham’s career, and he was widely considered a bust, or “the B-word,” as Graham likes to put it.

“All it did was put a big chip on my shoulder that’s going to carry me through my career,” Graham said. “It was actually a good thing it happened to me because it allowed me to see that you don’t take anything for granted because it can be gone just like that.”

The following season, Curry arrived as a second-round draft pick, 59th overall, and while both players would make it through the year, Washburn didn’t. His methods crashed and burned and he was fired on Dec. 3. It was far too late to save things for the Eagles and too late to change the tide that would lead to the firing of Reid after the season ended.

When Kelly arrived and went with Billy Davis as his defensive coordinator, that upheaval was doubled for the ends who became linebackers. Graham and Curry struggled to get on the field, with both playing only about a quarter of the defensive snaps.

There were isolated bright spots for Graham and Curry while Kelly was coach. Curry had nine sacks in 2014, but his snaps were still limited because he was only being used in third-down or obvious passing situations. Graham also had an uptick in 2014, and his 5.5 sacks, combined with increased playing time, got him a four-year contract extension before the 2015 season.

When the team transitioned back to a standard 4-3 defense under Doug Pederson for 2016, the situation stabilized, although Curry had to deal with a leg injury that really hampered his game. This season, as with so many other things for the Eagles, the journey reached a culmination.

PHILADELPHIA –

The crowd of reporters surrounding Chris Long had already spilled over into Vinny Curry’s space by the time he made his way into the Philadelphia Eagles locker room Thursday afternoon, before the two defensive ends engaged in a mock verbal turf war that was indicative of the atmosphere some 10 days before Super Bowl LII.

Eventually, Curry simply found a space in adjacent locker, made himself comfortable, and took a moment to survey the chaotic scene playing out from one end of the team’s sanctuary to the other.

``Pretty amazing, really,’’ said Curry, just a kid from Neptune who has laughed at long odds throughout his life, and now finds himself on the precipice of NFL glory on the grandest stage in sports with only Tom Brady and the defending champion New England Patriots standing between himself and the Vince Lombardi Trophy.

Curry’s not fazed.

And why should he be? This is the guy who refused to be swallowed up by the streets of his hometown, making it to a prep school in Ohio as a stepping stone to Marshall, where he became a Conference USA Defensive Player of the Year. A day after attending his mother’s funeral in 2011, he honored her memory with 3.5 sacks and a forced fumble and nine tackles in the Thundering Herd’s win over Rice, earning national Player of the Week honors.

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When his role was as a designated pass rusher during his first five seasons with the Eagles, he committed to the task and was rewarded with a five-year, $47-million contract in 2016. And now, in his first season as a starter, he’s an integral part of a unit that has utterly dominated in recent weeks, surrendering just 33 points over the past four games.

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So this whole underdog vibe that’s engulfed the City of Brotherly Love plays right into Curry’s wheelhouse. Tell him he can’t do something and his world then revolves around proving you wrong.

``We’re not done yet,’’ he said. ``We have to go out and play really well, but when you have a group of guys who love playing alongside each other, anything’s possible.’’

The thing about Vinny Curry is that he remembers.

He remembers the struggles this team’s been through over the years to reach this point, just like he remembers where he came from.

He wears No. 75 in honor of the 75 people who died when the plane carrying the Marshall football team crashed in 1970. And each summer he returns to Neptune High School to put on a clinic for young athletes, many of whom face the same challenges he overcame.

Now he wants to give the locals something more. Something they can all celebrate together.

``Who could have imagined this for a kid coming from Neptune,’’ he said. ``Now I want to be able to give them something to hang their hat on - a championship. Being from the local area and having a chance to win a Super Bowl, and to be starting on a defense like this, it could not have worked out any better.’’

They say that good things come in threes.

That pretty much sums up the past year for Curry. Not only did he become a starter and reach his first Super bowl, he became a father last May with the birth of his son, Noah.

``No one deserves all of this more than he does,’’ said Jeremiah Clark, the retired Neptune cop who has served as a mentor and friend to Curry over the years. ``And I know a lot of people deserve things, but he has had a personal impact on me and I know he deserves this.

``He has gone through so much, from his mother passing away, to the family, to the sacrifices he’s made. And to be going to his first Super Bowl, and he has a son now. This is a year for him to remember. This is something he will never forget. And that just makes me so happy for him.’’

No, long odds have never meant much to Curry. The Patriots being five-point favorites merely provides a bullseye for him and his teammates, who have felt overlooked and underappreciated for some time now, counted out when starting quarterback Carson Wentz went down with a season-ending knee injury and disrespected when the Atlanta Falcons showed up here as the favorites in a divisional round playoff game a few weeks.

``This has been a special season, and it’s been an incredible year,’’ Curry said. ``It’s been a dream come true for me, and now we have one more thing left to do.’’

And if history is any indication, no one should be surprised if Curry finds himself standing on the floor inside U.S. Bank Stadium on the first Sunday in February as green and white confetti rains down, in what would simply be the latest chapter in a storybook life spent defying the odds.

Stephen Edelson is an Asbury Park Press columnist: sedelson@gannettnj.com; @SteveEdelsonAPP

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