Ten months ago, as Avonte Maddox and the rest of his Philadelphia Eagles teammates plotted their playoff path toward Super Bowl 59, they began mentally preparing themselves for a showdown with the Detroit Lions .

An encounter with the NFC’s top seed was not only probable – it seemed inevitable.

“They were playing so much football throughout the year,” Maddox told the Free Press this week. “We were planning for who we were going to face. We thought it was going to be them. And unfortunately, they ended up losing. So, we didn’t get a chance to play them.”

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