| Director | Ericson Core |
|---|---|
| Budget | $30 million |
| Box office | $58.5 million |
In 1976, Philadelphia is in chaos as portions of the city protest the shutdown of several job sites while their NFL team, the Philadelphia Eagles, endure a string of losing seasons. Vince Papale, a 30-year-old substitute teacher, comes home from a pick-up football game one night and finds his wife Sharon disgusted with his failure to better support their family. The next day Papale is unexpectedly laid off from his day job at school. At the bar where he moonlights as a bartender, he sees a TV report about the Eagles hiring a new head coach, Dick Vermeil and staging open public tryouts for the Eagles. The bar regulars, die-hard Eagles fans, encourage Papale to try out. He returns home to find Sharon has left him, leaving only a note.
Papale welcomes a new co-worker to the bar, Janet Cantrell, who is a fan of the rival New York Giants. Desperate for income , Papale receives support from his friends and attends the Eagles tryout at Veterans Stadium with several hundred Philadelphia residents. Dick Vermeil encounters Papale after the tryout in the parking lot and invites him to training camp to compete for a roster spot with the Eagles. Papale endures hard training and disrespect from other players at training camp and hesitantly takes Janet out on a date, unsure if it will distract from his goal of making the team. Janet confesses she doesn't consider the outing a romantice date. Training camp closes with Vermeil assigning the final spot on the team to Papale, against the advice of the assistant coaches.
The Eagles begins the season by losing all six pre-season games. Papale plays poorly in the regular season opener, an away game against the Dallas Cowboys, which they also lose, and Vermeil faces pressure from the fans and media. Papale visits the sandlot where he once played. He initially declines to join them because of his upcoming Eagles game but eventually takes part to help his friends beat a competing team, and ends the game by throwing a touchdown pass. He encounters Janet afterwards and end up passionately embracing and returning together to Papale's home.
During the home opener against the Giants, Janet's appearance in the stands in a Giants shirt angers Eagles fans. In the locker room, Papale looks again at the note Sharon had left claiming "he will never amount to anything" and tears it up. He opens the game by solo-tackling the kickoff returner inside the fifteen-yard line. After an up-and-down game, Papale gets downfield during an Eagles' fourth quarter punt to tackle the returner, forcing a fumble that he recovers and takes into the end zone for a touchdown, sealing his first win as an Eagle. Highlights of Papale's career with the Eagles run during the end credits, revealing that Papale played for three seasons and married Janet. Vermeil's success in turning the Eagles into a winning team culminated in the Eagles reaching Super Bowl XV.