It's weird because to some degree what the Eagles did wasn't all that crazy. It wasn't Spags crazy blitzes last year, or even Gregg Williams famous four gameplans in the Super Bowl win over the Colts. No, this was more him coaching up a team to just be perfect. Yes, the front was dominant just rushing four, but also his back seven was perfect. They covered and passed off routes so well. Fangio had drilled into that team these are teh route combinations, the way the Chiefs play. Mahomes can get rid of the ball super quic, but those guys just weren't there. This was a masterclass of a defensive performance, right up there with the Seahawks against the Broncos, or the Bucs against the Raiders.
Runner-Up: Jalen Hurts
I understand the sentiment people had around a defensive player winning MVP, as a symbol of how incredible the defense was. But units can't win MVP (granted, I'm open to it being a "Most Valuable Unit" award for the Super Bowl), so if we are going to go with one player, why not Hurts. He was great - making super accurate throws even to covered receivers (the back shoulder to Brown was practically Rodgers-ian). His scrambling was great - super quietly putting up the most rushing yards of any Super Bowl QB ever. He was great when the one thing people feared (the Eagles run game gets shut down) happened from the jump. The Chiefs defense played reasonably well, but Hurts was brilliant.
Goat of the Game: Patrick Mahomes
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I'll talk about the GOAT of it all later. But let's not mince words, this was maybe the worst game of Mahomes career. The funny part is that in garbage time he made two outrageous throws deep - hopefully the Chiefs learn from that (and reinforcing the OL). But in the first half Mahomes was bad. He was inaccurate when he was trying to get rid of the ball quick. He was skittish in the pocket. The two picks were just bad throws, if impacted by pressure. It was a nightmare. The Tampa Super Bowl loss everyone was comparing it to was him going above and beyond against impossible circumstances. This was him making things worse.
Runner-Up: Travis Kelce
Drops, slow play, and a failed attempt to draw a penalty. Kelce was able to breath some life into the offense last year in the Super Bowl (granted, only after Dre Greenlaw went out). He was able to breath some life in the Divisional Round win over the Texans. He was a slow, plodding mess in this one. Now, this wasn't the worst part of the game for the Chiefs (oh, we'll talk about the OL in a minute), but Kelce's drop to nothingness was stark.
Surprise of the Game: Serena Williams
Look, it was a blowout. There's not so much to talk about. I've actually not written one of these about a blowout, seeing that the last two blowout Super Bowls had some personal connections in the negative sense (Manning losing to Seattle, Brady beating the Chiefs). Anyway, Kendrick said there would be some surprises, and man, getting Serena Williams to crip walk in front of 130m people was about as surprising as you can get.
Runner-Up: Jake Elliott
Again, I'm struggling here to think of things to be honest. There was a whole lot surprising about the game - but those work better in the other categories. Especially since surprise is supposed to be a positive. For Jake Elliott, he was perfect on four field goals, three of which were 45+ yards, three of which after getting the field goal made longer by the Eagles somehow committing a false start on a field goal three times. Jake Elliott had a super up and down year, but he was nails in this game, a key part really as any miss (especially first half to make it 10-0) could've given the Chiefs great field position, something they really didn't have the whole game.
Disappointment of the Game: The Chiefs
I mean jesus that was an awful performance. Everything was bad. The only player coming out of the game looking better is Xavier Worthy. The OL sucked (more on them to come). The weapons, again Worthy excluded, all sucked (more on them too). The defense wasn't bad, but wasn't great either, with even dependable players like Jaylen Watson getting roasted by lesser Eagles players (Dotson). The only thing they did well was shut down Saquon - but even they should know while running can win games, at the end of the day stopping the run won't win you a Super Bowl.
Runner-Up: Saquon
I hate bringing this up, but man would it have been amazing if Saquon bust off a long one. The only thing that was missing from the Eagles domination (not that they, or Saquon himself, really care about). He did do just enough to set a new record for rushing yards in a season, but it was a downer of a finish. Granted, it seemed like the Chiefs really only cared about stopping Saquon, but would it have been great for after the capper TD to Smith they could have had a capper long rush with Barkley.
Team Performance of the Week: Eagles DL
Ok, let's get to the real stuff. The unit that dominated the game was the Eagles defense pitching a masterclass. Take it a step further, the sub-unit that dominated the game was the DL. It's funny because two years back I named the Eagles DL as the main disappointment - they had 70 sacks taht year and didn't get to Mahomes once. This year, it was insane. The no blitz stat is a tad misleading since on a handful of plays they brought a LB and dropped a DL, but Sweat, Carter, Davis, Smith, and even the backups Williams, Ojobo and somehow even barely playing Brandon Graham, all got in on the action. It was incredible. It was the best performance by a front since at minimum the 2007 Giants, if not further back. That was an incredible performance.
Runner-Up: Eagles Secondary
What helped the DL do even better is the secondary was super sticky as well. Dejean gets the headlines for the pick-6, but all along the secondary they were able to pass off routes so well, react to the Chiefs overloaded formations, and gave the DL just long enough to get home play after play. Hell, even long ago benched Avante Maddox had a big pass breakup on 4th down. The Eagles secondary didn't need to play amazing to win, but they did and that's why we get a historic level blowout.
Team Laydown of the Week: Chiefs OL
I'm overly critical of the Chiefs OL because unlike in the 2020 Super Bowl loss to the Bucs, this wasn't a bunch of backups. This was four of their five starting OL - granted one out of position. The mainstays in Taylor, Smith and Humphrey were barely better than Thuney and Caliendo. They were all just disasters, beaten play after play after play. Zero push in teh run game either - you can't even criticize the Chiefs for not running the ball more since they get nothing on run plays anyways. The Chiefs OL if they played their best may have still not really turned the game, but at least made it closer and at minimum entertaining.
Runner-Up: Chiefs weapons
Well, even when the Chiefs OL gave Mahomes time to throw the ball, the weapons were of zero help (save for Xavier Worthy). The Kelce drops and missed blocks. The terrible drop by Hopkins on what would've been a ~50 yard gain. The nothingness from Pacheco and Hunt. Did the other TEs even play? This was an overall team disaster. We get on the Chiefs weapons a lot - and I get it, this isn't a top unit. But they're sure as hell of a lot better than that...
Storyline that will be Beat into the Ground: The end of the Mahomes GOAT talk
There's a reason why I didn't bask in the glory of the Mahomes > Brady discourse following each of the last two Super Bowl wins. And this is 100% of the reason why, because of course the scores of never-ending tweets and articles and talking head segments about how this ends the GOAT talk. Can we just let this Mahomes brilliance just ride out. Also, the idea that it is a non-starter because Mahomes has been blown out in the Super Bowl is such nonsense. We're seven years into Mahomes career. Through seven years he is way outpacing Brady's first seven years. This is the 5th best outcome of Mahomes's career (3 Super Bowl wins, and a slightly closer Super Bowl loss). The 5th best outcome of Brady's first seven years was blowing a 21-3 lead in the AFC Championship. There's no comparison. The only real thing that matters in the inevitable debate is if Mahomes can either (a) build up enough of a lead over the next seven years, or (b) match Brady's longevity in a third set of seven years. So let's all just pause any GOAT discussions for at least three years.
Storyline that Should be Beat into the Ground: The Eagles Dominance in team building
It's so funny that the Eagles team building approach basically boils down to: just draft dominant players and sign them in free agency. They've overloaded on SEC players (remember all the "they're only drafting the 2021 Georgia defense... not so funny now!). They went out and traded for AJ Brown. If that's not their maxim, then it is their propensity to over focus on making sure their OL and DL are super strong. This was true in 2017, when they had the league's best OL and a super strong DL (Fletcher Cox and Co.). This was true in 2022, when they still had a strong OL and a record setting DL (Hasson Reddick and Co.). And it is of course true now. The Eagles I'm sure are super smart, and we know they're analytically inclined, and of course I'm reducing their brilliance to these simple maxims, but sometimes the "keep it simple stupid" approach just, you know, works.
Screw It - Super Bowl LX pick: Bills 27 Eagles 20
