5 takeaways from the Eagles denying the Chiefs their precious three-peat
Jalen Hurts and the Philadelphia defensive line were too much for Andy Reid and Kansas City.
Every once in a while at the Super Bowl, the onset gives a full blown preview of the end result. From the opening minutes of Sunday night’s big showdown between two great teams with separate yet like-minded vendettas, the end was painted.
For the Patrick Mahomes-led Chiefs, history was being chased. No NFL team has won three Super Bowls in a row, something that is still true this evening. On the doorstep of doing something incredibly rare, Andy Reid’s team was denied entry to precious territory. The Nick Sirianni-led Eagles had other plans, which was to thwart the mighty Kansas City football empire, one that beat them on the biggest stage two years ago.
Super Bowl LIX (aka 59) was different and you knew it early on. Here are five takeaways from a non-fat blogger who doesn’t write in his mom’s basement… anymore.
5) MAHOMES KRYPTONITE
It’s the poison pill for every single quarterback in history. Chiefs defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo was the mind who stopped Tom Brady and the New England Patriots in their tracks, and Vic Fangio just showed the world a vivid blueprint on how to stop Mahomes. It’s not a “slow down” technique: Fangio completely took the Chiefs’ offense out of the picture. Kansas City’s offensive line couldn’t protect him one bit.
He brought pressure from each side, placing Mahomes in a pressure cooker space where he couldn’t roam to the outside and find someone open or 5-10 yards to scoot for a first down. He doesn’t get sacked that much, being brought down only 36 times in the regular season. The Eagles sacked him six times, the most in ten years dating back to an LSU-Texas Tech game. Place anyone, even a top shelf quarterback, in a box and you’ll silence their magic. Many have tried. Fangio did it. Respect.
4) SAQUON WAS STOPPED, BUT KC COULDN’T HALT ANYONE ELSE
Right off the bat, from the first carry, many thought Barkley would just rip through the Chiefs. Instead, he could only pull 3-4 yards at a time. Spags stopped the run game of Philadelphia, but couldn’t restrict Jalen Hurts at all from picking apart the KC secondary. He had way more time than Mahomes, which gave his receivers time to actually run a route and collect yardage. While Philly’s run was halted, the Eagles limited the KC run game by piling up 24 unanswered points early on.
3) PHILADELPHIA DID WHAT THEY HAD TO DO
As I wrote yesterday morning, the only way to beat the Chiefs is to beat them up early. While Philly’s run was halted, the Eagles limited the KC run game by piling up 24 unanswered points early on. That took away the running game of Kansas City and started limiting the chance for a Mahomes comeback late. The referees can’t feed the conspiracy theorists who think the Chiefs get an edge if they’re down by three touchdowns. The seemingly impossible task that Buffalo and several others couldn’t accomplish was handled easily and early Sunday night. Once again, respect to Philly.
2) HURTS OUTPLAYED MAHOMES WHEN IT MATTERED
A glance at the final stats gives the impression that the two had similar nights, but context and watching the game showed two different performances. The whole game turned when Mahomes threw that pick six interception that widened the scoring and put a staple in the ground of the outcome. He would throw another interception soon afterwards that gave the Eagles a chance to pad the scoreboard even further. Hurts threw a pick of his own but he did so in the best possible spot: Inside the Chiefs five-yard line. That drive is where Mahomes threw the fateful interception.
Hurts could have pushed it downfield more often and taken some chances, but he often made direct, sharply thrown passes that moved the chains and added up quickly on the board. It was a methodical run of precision. He may not be Mahomes, but he outplayed him and avenged the loss in Super Bowl 57.
1) KENDRICK LAMAR ISN’T MY JAM, SO I WON’T ROAST HIS SHOW
It would be very older white male of me to stand on my front yard and bitch about the halftime show alienating me, but I’ll just plainly admit I had never listened to a Lamar track and still don’t plan to. He isn’t my jam for music and that’s fine. No hate necessary just to toss hate. It’s weak. He got many of my friends going and even gave Samuel L. Jackson something funny to do.
Now, it’s back to forgetting about football for a year. Will the Chiefs be back? Yes, but so will the Eagles and Bills. The NFL playing field is level again.