There was no real celebration for offensive tackle Jordan Mailata when the Eagles won the NFC Championship Game on Sunday. He went straight home, he rolled out his body to alleviate soreness, and he just relaxed and recovered.
Now it's on to the Super Bowl, and Mailata will relish the role of being told he can't accomplish the next step because that's what he heard in the week leading up to the game against the 49ers.
"I don't like being told I can't do something," he said. "That's probably the reason I'm here in America in the first place. I can't help but prove people wrong. I hate when people tell me I can't do something and that's what we heard all week – 'This is the No. 1 defense in league' – and we took that as a challenge and we accepted it fully and gave it everything we have."
Mailata figures to be in the spotlight at the Super Bowl, given his remarkable story coming from Australia, but he figures the best approach he's going to take is to do what he's done all season.
"I'm going to be a broken record and just say the same thing, but because that's what I've been doing all year," he said. "I just want to do what I've done all season, what's gotten me to this point."
