The Philadelphia Eagles are flying high. They have the best overall record in the NFL and are on the fast track to the NFL playoffs.
When you win as much as the Eagles do, that gets you a lot of Victory Mondays off. So in their spare time, the Philadelphia Eagles offensive line recorded a Christmas album.
Yes, the Philadelphia Eagles offensive line.
Center Jason Kelce and tackles Jordan Mailata and Lane Johnson are predominantly featured on a seven track album that covers popular Christmas songs such as “Santa Claus is Coming to Town” and “White Christmas”. We love the Eagles OL and we also love Christmas songs, so here’s our review of ‘A Philly Special Christmas’.
J.P. Acosta
Good Lord, this album absolutely rocks. Opening up with a banger rendition of “White Christmas,” you can tell that this album was constructed pretty carefully, knowing everyone’s strengths and weaknesses. Kelce has a very gravelly voice, kind of like how you imagine your uncle singing Christmas songs, as does Lane Johnson.
Jordan Mailata can sing his ASS off, though. From his entry on “White Christmas” to “Merry Christmas Baby”, Mailata takes over as the star of every song. Like he’s actually REALLY good at this.
One of the funnier tracks on the album is the rendition of Silent Night. Instead of singing the song, on the second verse the choir sings “Eagles” to the tune of Silent Night. It made me chuckle and was a very nice nod to the Eagles fanbase.
The best track on the album is the opener to me. White Christmas is a great Christmas song, and every player stands out on their own way.
Overall, it sounded like they had a lot of fun with it, and you can tell. This album definitely passes the Christmas album test. Even my baby sister loved it!
Mark Schofield
Look. I’m a New England Patriots fan. I am still bitter over Super Bowl LII. The title of this album? ‘A Philly Special Christmas’!? This album started out with two strikes against it.
It somehow hammered a fastball low and away out of the park.
I loved it. Absolutely loved it. It starts out strong, with their rendition of “White Christmas.” Then Kelce and Johnson take their turn at “Blue Christmas,” and completely pull it off.
Then the album takes an absolute star turn.
Because Jordan Mailata absolutely crushes “Merry Christmas Baby.” We’re talking Bryce Harper in Game 5 against the San Diego Padres. Honestly, this should not be a surprise. Mailata’s musical chops have been long established. Here’s a video of him from a “Luau in October” event back in 2019:
And when the Eagles held their team holiday party last week, Mailata took a turn at the mic:
Incredible.
Speaking of incredible, the next track is a reading of “The Night Before Christmas,” from Eagles long-time radio announcer Merrill Reese. It goes exactly how you would imagine the long-time radio voice of the Eagles reading “The Night Before Christmas” would sound. It is overly dramatic, highly amped up, and absolutely perfect for the feel of entire album.
But honestly, my favorite track on the entire album might be “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home).” It’s long been a favorite Christmas song of mine, and Kelce, Johnson and Mailata work so well together on this track.
The true test? We listened to the album as a family. Everyone loved it, especially Simone, who said it was “up there with Ariana Grande.”
W.
