Sure, we can all talk about the now famous 4th and 5 corner blitz with cover-3 behind it. That was just a perfect play call. Spags is great at those - see his blitz on 3rd and 2 in the Super Bowl last year, which forced an incomplete and allowed the Chiefs to get the ball back. If the 49ers got those two yards, they could've essentially run out the clock and kick a field goal for the win. Here, the Bills still had 50 yards to go but I think they would've. But beyond that 4th and 5, there was his team being expertly coached on how to stop the Bills short-yardage Allen runs, which until this game were nigh impossible to stop. They also repeatedly got free or pressure rushes attacking the few weak spots on the line. They spooked Allen early. Down to down, the Chiefs defense won (yes, that's how good the Allen offense is that this game was indeed a poor performance for them). Spags is pretty much clearly the best big game defensive coordinator of all time.
Runner-Up: Saquon Barkley (RB, PHI)
I'll talk about the Hurts of it all in a bit, as it was fun to see the Eagles remember taht they can pass the ball pretty effectively. But when Saquon broke off that 62-yard TD on the first play, we all had the same reaction: just laugh in glee. It is amazing he is doing this this late into the season. There have been other 2,000 yard seasons in the last 20 years, but almost all of them ended with a thud - a poor playoff performance. I geuss that can still happen, but even if he has a less than stellar Super Bowl, he also has three 50+ yard TDs in the playoffs. He is absurd.
Goat of the Week: Kaiir Elam (CB, BUF)
I feel bad putting him here - there's a reason he's a backup. But the second he got put into the game, adn the Chiefs figured out how to almost force the Bills to play man, they just abused him repeatedly. The Chiefs do this type of thing - see them going after Treylon Burks who replaced Dre Greenlaw in the Super Bowl last year. The Chiefs are ruthless, and they embarrassed the former first round pick. Elam wasn't the main reason the Bills lost - admittedly they nearly still won, but man was his awfulness just so on display.
Runner-Up: Dalton Kincaid (TE, BUF)
It feels weird picking two Bills here given they barely lost and the Commanders gave up a record number of points, but the Commanders loss was a team-wide downfall. The Bills also had their first round pick the year after Elam show up in the worst way. It turns out Kincaid was hurt, which makes sense since the Bills went away from 2TE formations that they did well with in the regular season. But when Kincaid needed to make a huge play, he had a huge drop.
Surprise of the Week: Eagles Passing Game
Hey, who would ahve guessed that the team with a fairly accurate QB, and two great receivers, and a nice TE option, can actually throw the ball well!? Sure, maybe it is just the ease of playing that Commanders defense, but that is a real jumping off point for what they probably need to do more of in the Super Bowl. Sure, Hurts still escaped the pocket a beat too early too often, but when he did throw he was decisive, accurate and was able to push it deep. A really nice day for the Eagles oft most critiqued unit.
Runner-Up: Chiefs DL aside from Chris Jones
Chris Jones was unblockable. He always is come playoff time. But what was surprising was how well the other Chiefs lineman held up in pass rush. Karlaftis was great again. Mike Danna had one of his better games in a while. Yes, there were a couple drives where the Bills ran over them, but when the Bills did go pass, Allen was often chased off the spot, or forced to get rid of it sooner than he wanted. The Bills moved the ball because Allen hit some ridiculous throws, but they forced him into those 3rd and longs all night.
Disappointment of the Week: Referees
Yeah, I can't not talk about it. I absolutely do not think there is some grand conspiracy to fluff up the Chiefs. The Chiefs are a popular team, even more so with the Taylor Swift support, but I guarantee a Bills v Eagles Super Bowl would've gotten a better rating than the upcoming one. No, the refs are conspiring - they just suck and are way too inconsistent. Allen absolutely got that 1st down. The Worthy/Bishop play was almost certainly not a catch by Worthy. They also missed numerous early jumps by both teams tackles. The unsportsmanlike penalty against the Commanders for teh late hit on Saquon was bullshit. I said last week I hope the refs weren't a huge talking point coming out of the AFC Championship, and I was sadly too hopeful. I'll keep up that hope another week.
Runner-Up: Fumbles and Fumbles and Fumbles
The Commanders were probably never going to win that game, but for 2.5 quarters, the Commanders were staying in shouting distance. They were having more success against the Eagles defense than I expected - even if admittedly that success took the form of countless 5-7 yard gains. But those fumbles. The first and third were at least the result of key Eagles defender's pulling a Peanut Tillman, but the special teams one was just brutal. It turned a fun, fairly close game into a historic laugher.
Team Performance of the Week: Chiefs Receivers
A receiving core of Worthy, Hopkins, Hollywood Brown and Juju is still not good, but that was about as strong a performance as you can expect from that group. The didn't drop passes. They made good YAC. They caugth contested balls (the Worthy/Bishop play). They helped Mahomes run the offense as effectively as we've seen it all year. They were the silent stars of that game. As much as we can say the Chiefs are just "turning it on for the playoffs", let's not lose sight of this receiving group being healthier, and more comfortable, than they've been all year long.
Runner-Up: Eagles OL
The only issue the Eagles had all game was when Dickerson was truly hampered and getting beat inside. They replaced him with a (I guess...) slightly less injured Jurgens and went right back to dominance. The Commanders strength of their defense, relatively, is the DL and they were neutralized for much of it. The Eagles OL was as good as advertised, even when facing some adversity.
Team Laydown of the Week: Bills Defense
Lost in the fact the Bills only lost by three, and could've easily won the game, was the Bills defense allowing one of the most efficient days for the Chiefs in ages. The Chiefs barely hit 3rd down in the first half. Like 70% of the Chiefs passing plays went for first downs. The Bills were just dominated. Maybe it's McDermott (who I think is great, but there's ample evidence he's not able to win the battle against Reid/Mahomes - even their regular season wins are generally because their offense plays ball possession) and not being able to adjust. Maybe it is not having a true game-changer at DL ever since Von's 2022 ACL tear (could've really used the Greg Rosseau that showed up for much of the season). The Bills defense didn't give their offense any margin.
Runner-Up: None
Again, I can say the whole Commanders. 55 points is the most ever given up in a Championship Game - but truly no one expected them to be here.
Storyline that will be Beat into the Ground: The Threepeat
And honestly, this one should. We've never seen a threepeat in the Super Bowl era. In fact, we've never even gotten this close - the Chiefs being teh first team seeking one to make it back to the Super Bowl the 3rd year - something the 1976 Steelers, 1990 49ers and 1994 Cowboys couldn't do (all losing in their respective Championship games). To some degree, I would rather us talk about the impending history, than the "oh my god the Chiefs magic and vodoo of it all", so that's good. If you told me to pick at gunpoint who I would rather have win, I guess I would pick the Eagles - I too, like many, are kind of sick of the Chiefs at this point. But you know what? I'm open to seeing something historic. Something those dastardly Brady Patriots never did. So it's kind of a win-win when you look at it this way.
Storyline that should be Beat into the Ground: Potential SB LXV Rerun?
Let's take a walk back four years ago, when a defending champion Chiefs team reached the Super Bowl after a 2-loss regular season, despite not being that good by most metrics. They beat up on the Bills in the AFC Championship Game, and were favored in the Super Bowl against what was pretty clearly a better 1-53 roster in the Bucs. And of course, the Bucs blasted them. Now, those Chiefs had one critical flaw (their OL) which the Bucs mercilessly dominated.
This Chiefs team doesn't have that - but if not for Mahomes and the Chiefs magic, adn if we could distract ourselves from that for a second - we see a matchup that there is a chance the Eagles just go out and dominate. Their OL should be able to do as much if not as the Bills in beating up on the Chiefs run defense. The weakness of the Chiefs line is now their middle (after moving Thuney outside) which does not bode well against Carter and others. The Eagles secondary should be able to lock on and play man if forced to in a way the Bills couldn't. I can't imagine this ends 31-9, but I wouldn't be shocked, truly if the Eagles win without too much fuss. Let's put it this way - there's probably a 59% chance the Chiefs win a close game, a 25% chance the Eagles win a close game, a 15% the Eagles win comfortably, and a 1% the Chiefs win comfortably. To me the Chiefs are more likely than not to win, but if you tell me we all wake up on Monday, Feb 10th, and the Super Bowl ended 34-17, I think the Eagles are the far more likely team to have won.
