BLOOMINGTON, Minn. -- Stefen Wisniewski has been around football, and particularly the NFL, as long as he can remember. After all, his dad, Leo, was a nose tackle who played four seasons in the league. And his uncle, Steve, was an eight-time Pro Bowl guard who played for 13 seasons, all with the Oakland Raiders.
So for Stefen, there has been very little he could do that would be considered groundbreaking in his family. After all, his father and uncle both attended Penn State, just as he did. And all three Wisniewskis wound up being second-round draft picks.
That all changes this weekend. That's when Stefen Wisniewski will line up for the Eagles at left guard and try to help his team knock off the Patriots in Super Bowl 52.
"It’s really cool," Wisniewski told me. "Obviously, I grew up rooting for my uncle and cheering for him for 13 years. My dad played in the NFL for four years, as well. My uncle never got a chance to play in the Super Bowl and neither did my dad, so to be the first one in my family is pretty special. I’m hoping to win the trophy to represent for all the Wisniewskis."
It's something that's been a long time coming for the family. And the Pittsburgh native and Central Catholic graduate would only be too happy to be the one to provide it.
For that matter, a win this weekend would also put him one up on one of Central Catholic's most famous graduates, Hall of Fame quarterback Dan Marino. For all of his career accolades, Marino appeared in just one Super Bowl and failed to win it. That came in his second season in 1984, five years before Wisniewski was born.
But he knows all about Marino and his failure to win football's biggest game.
"It’s tough to do something Dan hasn’t done," Wisniewski admitted. "That would be cool."
And for it to happen, Wisniewski and his fellow offensive linemen will have to have a big day. But that wouldn't be anything new. The Eagles' offensive line, which includes Wisniewski at left guard -- the same position his uncle played -- helped pave the way for the NFL's third-ranked rushing attack.
That's not where this season began, however, for Wisniewski, a seven-year veteran. When this season began, Wisniewski found himself behind 2016 third-round pick Isaac Seumalo and veteran Chance Warmack, a former first-round draft pick of the Tennessee Titans who had played for Eagles offensive line coach Jeff Stoutland.
Seumalo started Philadelphia's first two games but was pulled after struggling. And for the next three games, Warmack and Wisniewski, largely a center in his first five seasons in Oakland and Jacksonville, rotated at left guard.
It wasn't exactly what he had hoped for when he re-signed with Philadelphia in the offseason to a three-year, $8 million contract. Wisniewski had started six games for the Eagles in 2016, the first time in his career he hadn't been a full-time starter.
But he didn't pout, even though his 83 career starts entering the season were more than Seumalo and Warmack combined.
"It’s been a crazy journey this year, starting on the bench, really third-string, and working my way up to No. 1 and playing well," Wisniewski told me.
The biggest thing was that his teammates never lost faith in him. In fact, starting center Jason Kelce has grown to lean on Wisniewski's experience.
"He was tremendous for us last year," Kelce said. "I think he's getting a little more credit for it this year, which he deserves. He's a smart guy and has been in several different organizations. He's played guard and center in the league. Being out there with him and having had him also having played center, he's able to see things a little different, being just one man over. It makes my job easier. It's just been a good situation for our room having him in there and voicing his opinion to the group."
His journey to this point is kind of like that of the Eagles as a whole.
Philadelphia got off to a 10-2 start and were cruising to the NFC's top seed when starting quarterback Carson Wentz suffered a season-ending knee injury. They still finished first, winning two of their final three games behind backup Nick Foles. But they weren't given much of a chance to win the NFC Championship, despite being the conference's top seed.
"We weren’t expected to do much at the beginning of the season. We started off doing great and we lost a lot of good people along the way. We get the No. 1 seed in the NFC and then we lose our quarterback," Wisniewski said. "We just kept believing in ourselves, believing that we had enough guys doing a good job that it didn’t matter. Here we are in the Super Bowl after dominating in the NFC Championship when everyone was overlooking us. It’s been a crazy journey for us as a team."
It has. But they have embraced the underdog role given to them.
Heck, they were the first top-seeded playoff team to be an underdog in their first playoff game. But despite that underdog status against both Atlanta and Minnesota, the Eagles won both of those games, beating the Falcons, 15-10, then dismantling the Vikings, 38-7.
That latter score didn't endear the Eagles to the Vikings fans here in Minnesota, and Philadelphia's players were roundly booed when they were announced on the rotunda during the opening ceremonies Monday night.
The Eagles, however, are OK with that. They know they are underdogs again this weekend (4 1/2 points) to the Patriots.
For Wisniewski, this game represents something of a full circle for his family. His uncle's final game as a member of the Raiders came in January of 2002 in the playoffs at New England in a game made famous for "The Tuck Rule."
The quarterback who was saved on that day was a young Tom Brady. Now, 16 years later, perhaps another generation of Wisniewskis can find a way to beat Brady and the Patriots.
"I think we probably felt a little disrespected about the underdog thing, especially being the first No. 1 seed to be an underdog in their first home game," Wisniewski said. "Anytime you’re the first anything in the NFL, that’s saying something. That continued through the Minnesota game and continued through here. I think we’ve kind of embraced that role and we’re using that to motivate us. We’re not scared at all."