PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Just as coach Nick Sirianni promised, the Eagles stayed in the locker room for a pregame Super Bowl championship celebration.
No worries.
More than 60,000 fans, team owner Jeffrey Lurie, retired franchise great Brandon Graham and even TV star and Eagles fan Rob Mac stuck around for the fireworks— and the unveiling of the 2024 World Champions banner.
The Eagles unveiled the banner during the ceremony staged ahead of Thursday’s NFL opener against the Dallas Cowboys.
Sirianni seemingly feigned ignorance this week when he said he had no idea the opener would also serve as the green-hued stage for the banner drop.
Either way, he insisted the Eagles would stay inside their locker room at Lincoln Financial Field. He didn't want a distraction — nor a reminder of last year's achievement, which he said had no bearing on this year's goal of winning another championship.
Lurie and Graham, the beloved defensive end who retired at the end of last season, walked out each holding a Lombardi Trophy. The Eagles won their only other Super Bowl in the 2017 season thanks in large part to Graham's strip-sack of New England's Tom Brady.
The Eagles romped past Kansas City 40-22 seven months ago in New Orleans to win their second Super Bowl and the party hasn't slowed in Philly. The whirlwind offseason included a parade, a White House visit, and a gaudy Super Bowl ring celebration. The ring included wings on each side that release from the bezel and feature 145 diamonds, celebrating the Eagles’ 145 points scored in the playoffs.
Graham led the fans on Thursday night in the traditional “E-A-G-L-E-S! Eagles!” chant and a rendition of the “Fly, Eagles, Fly” fight song.
Mac, the long-time star of “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia,” took the microphone during what the team called “The Championship Moment” and hyped the crowd when he bellowed, “please welcome the two-time football champions. the E-A-G-L-E-S!”
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Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts jogs down a tunnel before an NFL football game against the Dallas Cowboys Thursday, Sept. 4, 2025, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)
The Philadelphia Eagles 2024 championship banner is unveiled before an NFL football game against the Dallas Cowboys Thursday, Sept. 4, 2025, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. forces in the Caribbean Sea have seized another sanctioned oil tanker that the Trump administration says has ties to Venezuela, part of a broader U.S. effort to take control of the South American country’s oil.
The U.S. Coast Guard boarded the tanker, named Veronica, early Thursday, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem wrote on social media. The ship had previously passed through Venezuelan waters and was operating in defiance of President Donald Trump’s "established quarantine of sanctioned vessels in the Caribbean,” she said.
U.S. Southern Command said Marines and sailors launched from the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford to take part in the operation alongside a Coast Guard tactical team, which Noem said conducted the boarding as in previous raids. The military said the ship was seized “without incident.”
Several U.S. government social media accounts posted brief videos that appeared to show various parts of the ship’s capture. Black-and-white footage showed at least four helicopters approaching the ship before hovering over the deck while armed troops dropped down by rope. At least nine people could be seen on the deck of the ship.
The Veronica is the sixth sanctioned tanker seized by U.S. forces as part of the effort by Trump’s administration to control the production, refining and global distribution of Venezuela’s oil products and the fourth since the U.S. ouster of Venezuela President Nicolás Maduro in a surprise nighttime raid almost two weeks ago.
The Veronica last transmitted its location on Jan. 3 as being at anchor off the coast of Aruba, just north of Venezuela’s main oil terminal. According to the data it transmitted at the time, the ship was partially filled with crude.
Days later, the Veronica became one of at least 16 tankers that left the Venezuelan coast in contravention of the quarantine that U.S. forces have set up to block sanctioned ships, according to Samir Madani, the co-founder of TankerTrackers.com. He said his organization used satellite imagery and surface-level photos to document the ship movements.
The ship is currently listed as flying the flag of Guyana and is considered part of the shadow fleet that moves cargoes of oil in violation of U.S. sanctions.
According to its registration data, the ship also has been known as the Gallileo, owned and managed by a company in Russia. In addition, a tanker with the same registration number previously sailed under the name Pegas and was sanctioned by the Treasury Department for being associated with a Russian company moving cargoes of illicit oil.
As with prior posts about such raids, Noem and the military framed the seizure as part of an effort to enforce the law. Noem argued that the multiple captures show that “there is no outrunning or escaping American justice.”
Speaking to reporters at the White House later Thursday, Noem declined to say how many sanctioned oil tankers the U.S. is tracking or whether the government is keeping tabs on freighters beyond the Caribbean Sea.
“I can’t speak to the specifics of the operation, although we are watching the entire shadow fleet and how they’re moving,” she told reporters.
But other officials in Trump's Republican administration have made clear they see the actions as a way to generate cash as they seek to rebuild Venezuela’s battered oil industry and restore its economy.
Trump met with executives from oil companies last week to discuss his goal of investing $100 billion in Venezuela to repair and upgrade its oil production and distribution. His administration has said it expects to sell at least 30 million to 50 million barrels of sanctioned Venezuelan oil.
Associated Press writer Ben Finley contributed to this report.
This story has been corrected to show the Veronica is the fourth, not the third, tanker seized by U.S. forces since Maduro’s capture and the ship also has been known as the Gallileo, not the Galileo.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks with reporters at the White House, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks with reporters at the White House, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks with reporters at the White House, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks with reporters at the White House, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks with reporters at the White House, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks during a press conference, Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)
U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks at a news conference at Harry Reid International Airport, Nov. 22, 2025, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Ronda Churchill, File)
