Super Bowl 2018: Date, Media Day Schedule for Eagles vs. Patriots

Super Bowl Media Day is always one of the most exciting spectacles leading up to the NFL championship tilt. 

The Philadelphia Eagles and New England Patriots will face a gauntlet of questions concerning Super Bowl LII and a wide array of inquiries from an eclectic mix of credentialed media Monday night. 

Philadelphia will meet the hoards of reporters first at the Xcel Energy Center in Minneapolis before New England takes center stage for the second session. 

Date: Monday, January 29

Schedule: Patriots interview session starts at 8:10 p.m. ET; Eagles interview session begins at 10 p.m. ET 

What the Players Have Already Said

Just because the Eagles and Patriots had a week off before facing the Super Bowl media in Minneapolis doesn't mean they were able to avoid questions about the game. 

The Eagles, who have embraced the underdog role, are happy to fit into the position for another week after knocking off the favored Atlanta Falcons and Minnesota Vikings to reach the Super Bowl. 

After the victory over the Falcons, offensive tackle Lane Johnson and defensive end Chris Long emerged in dog masks to mock the underdog label. The locker room has embraced the masks. 

Patrick Semansky/Associated Press

“We are the dogs now, man,” Johnson said, per Martin Rogers of USA Today. “There is no stopping it now.”

Long is one of three former Patriots on the Eagles roster, with running back LeGarrette Blount and linebacker Kamu Grugier-Hill being the others. The defensive end went into detail about his move to the Eagles, per Julian Benbow of the Boston Globe.

“When I left, I knew certainly that New England could be in the situation [in the Super Bowl], and I’d have to live with that if I wasn’t,” he said. “I also knew that the team I was coming to had a lot of tools, a lot of potential to make a deep run." 

Blount didn't mince words when talking about his focus on the game and facing his former team, per Matt Lombardo of NJ.com.

"Straight enemies," Blount said. "Ain't no friends. ... Ain't no homies. None of that. We know what we're going to do. They know what they're going to do. We both have the same goal in mind. There aren't any hard feelings, it just is what it is."

The biggest news to come out of the Patriots camp in the last week emerged Saturday when tight end Rob Gronkowski participated in football-specific drills. Although he's still in concussion protocol, his teammates enjoyed his presence on the practice field. 

Adam Glanzman/Getty Images

"It's always great to have him out there," Patriots quarterback Tom Brady said, per Mike Reiss of ESPN.com. "He's a great player, great person, great teammate and a big part of what we do. So it obviously hurts when he's not out there for a lot of reasons, but he's doing the best he can do, and we're all hopeful."

Regardless of Gronkowski's health, wide receiver Danny Amendola is expected to play a major role in the Patriots offense. 

Before he morphed into one of Brady's most reliable targets, Amendola was on the Eagles practice squad. Patriots head coach Bill Belichick noted the connection Amendola had with offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels as one of the things that helped kickstart the receiver's success, per Kevin Dillon of MassLive.com.

"Josh had had him in St. Louis, and we saw a good player in St. Louis, but you didn't see all the things behind the scenes that you kind of can see when you actually have the player on your team," Belichick said."Josh saw that, and he made me aware of, us aware of what all the things that Danny does and how well he does and what his skills were and so forth. That's kind of when it started, and once we got him here then all that became evident to everybody who works with him."

Amendola is one of four former Eagles players on the Patriots roster. Running back Dion Lewis as well as defensive backs Eric Rowe and Patrick Chung also had stints in Philadelphia. 

When both teams arrive in Minnesota, the focus of the conversation should shift to the on-the-field play, but before then, we have another day to delve into storylines involving how each roster was built.

Follow Joe on Twitter, @JTansey90.