NFL Notebook: Super Bowl Recap

It’s no mystery as to what the key was to the Philadelphia Eagles’ 40-22 beatdown of the Kansas City Chiefs in yesterday’s Super Bowl. This was an old-fashioned posterior kicking in the trenches. Patrick Mahomes was running for his life—sacked six times, on the run through most of the game, and routinely forced to throw the ball into the ground.

There was no running game to take any pressure off. Kansas City’s rush attack has been spotty this year anyway, and Andy Reid didn’t even make any pretense at trying to test that great Eagle defensive front. Mahomes’ four scrambles for 25 yards not only made him the Chiefs’ leading rusher, they made him the workhorse—no one else carried the ball more than three times and K.C. only ran it 11 times on the night.

The inability to protect the quarterback or run the ball tells you a team is getting it handed to them in the trenches. The advantage Philadelphia’s defensive front had over a flawed Kansas City offensive line was a key storyline coming into the game. It ended up being the storyline last night in New Orleans.

I would have liked to see a member of the Eagle attack squad get MVP honors. Josh Sweat had 2 ½ sacks and the complete dominance of the Philly defense against the best quarterback of his generation is what this Super Bowl will be remembered for.

They didn’t just stop Mahomes—they rattled him. Both of his interceptions were highly consequential picks when the game was still in doubt. One was a Pick-6 that extended the second quarter lead to 17-0. The other came shortly after and let Philadelphia take a 24-zip lead into the locker room—a lead that ultimately grew to 34-0 and then 40-6, as the Chiefs tacked on some garbage time points. The tone was set in the first possession—where Philly pressure forced Mahomes into a questionable decision that he normally doesn’t make and nearly resulted in a pick.

That said, Jalen Hurts, who did get Super Bowl MVP, played a good game. He was an efficient, at 17/21 for 221 yards. He ran effectively, gaining 72 yards. He did it on a night when an excellent Kansas City defense sold out to stop Saquon Barkley, and did so—Barkley only gained 57 yards. After a second quarter interception, Hurts settled in played a smooth game the rest of the way.

It was an anticlimactic end for fans without a dog in the fight, but it was a thunderous statement for the Eagles. It concludes a football postseason where championships resided in the Rustbelt, as Philadelphia joined Ohio State in winning it all.

That’s a wrap on our own football coverage in this space. But baseball isn’t far around the corner! We’ll have individual team previews starting up later in February, going through the soft opener in Japan on March 18 (Dodgers-Cubs) and then the full-scale opening on March 27. Check in here regularly. You can also check out our Substack, where we’ll have some NCAA Tournament commentary.