The Philadelphia Eagles spoiled the potential Chiefs three-peat with a dominant show on the largest of levels to assert Superbowl LIX. The 40-22 scoreline doesn’t mirror the rampant nature of the Eagles in New Orleans on Sunday night time. It took two late fourth-quarter touchdowns from Mahomes to save lots of his staff from full embarrassment. However the story had already been written. And Eagles head coach Nick Sirriani had already acquired the normal Gatorade bathe, previous to the two-minute warning, which highlights the Eagles’ absolute dominance from the onset.
It was an eye-opening spectacle for a mess of causes, primarily the way in which during which Andy Reid’s Chiefs have been blown away in each aspect of the sport, all hope of a 3rd consecutive championship destroyed. Arguably, the competition was over even earlier than Kendrick Lamar’s headline-grabbing halftime present. With the NFL world coming to phrases with what unfolded within the end result of the game’s 2024/25 season, it’s time to mirror and deconstruct simply how this recreation panned out, and a few wider ramifications for all concerned as we enter the lengthy offseason.
Let’s give the Eagles credit score the place it is because of begin off with. Jalen Hurts was unquestionably topped Superbowl MVP after he set a brand new report for many dashing yards by a quarterback within the massive recreation with 72 yards. He added a reliable and stress-free 221 passing yards and three whole touchdowns with solely 5 incompletions to spherical off his spectacular efficiency.
When you had mentioned earlier than the sport that Barkley would rush for lower than 60 yards, most would have predicted a Chiefs victory. They stopped the run exceptionally effectively, holding the Eagles star to only 57 on the bottom at 2.3 yards per try. His longest achieve was 10 yards, and but KC misplaced by 18.
Maybe the Chiefs spent an excessive amount of time prepping for the specter of Barkley and never sufficient in different areas. In spite of everything, you want efficacy in offence, defence and particular groups to win a hoop. Barkley, nevertheless, did nonetheless do sufficient to surpass Terrell Davis for many dashing yards in a single season together with the playoffs with 2504 yards. The apparent asterisk being that there are extra video games within the fashionable NFL season however a broadly spectacular feat nonetheless.
Relating to the Superbowl as an anomaly, and Barkley’s season as a complete, it’s stark to see a staff that depends so closely on their RB1, one thing we have now not seen within the NFL for many years with the trendy components being so pass-dominant. Following Barkley catalysing a league-wide renaissance on the place, it will likely be intriguing to digress whether or not this shall be a mannequin to comply with transferring ahead or only a mere outlier within the pattern.
Philadelphia led 24-0 at halftime, the second greatest lead in SB historical past, solely behind the 35-10 benefit that the then Washington Redskins took into the half towards the Denver Broncos in Superbowl XXII. To bestow the entire supremacy of the Eagles, they outgained their opponents 179-23 in whole yards within the first half. The Birds had 62 dashing yards to Kansas’ three. Sure, three! And the almighty Chiefs had one first down, sure, one, in comparison with Philly’s 13. It was 34 zip to the Eagles earlier than the Chiefs even crossed midfield. It was a shock to the tens of millions of hardcore followers watching on, who had seen Mahomes be so environment friendly and so unrelenting for thus lengthy.
Now, Mahomes was extraordinarily flustered in relation to his normal manufacturing ranges and simply all-around magician-esque brilliance. However his O-line did not become familiar with the ferociousness of the opposing D-line of the Eagles. Astoundingly, Vic Fangio blitzed zero occasions all recreation, but they hit Mahomes eleven occasions and sacked him six occasions. The three-time Superbowl MVP’s three turnovers, two interceptions and a misplaced fumble have been essentially the most by the Chiefs within the playoffs since he grew to become the starter.
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Furthermore, their continued lack of ability to cease the Eagles’ move rush coincided with Mahomes holding onto the ball for longer. Traditionally, Mahomes, and the Chiefs offence for that matter, nearly all the time play higher when Mahomes removes the ball faster or scrambles.
By way of three quarters on Sunday, Mahomes was, on common, holding the ball for 3.65 seconds after the snap, which is longer than he has finished in all however one profession begin. That point-to-throw metric shrunk to three.30 seconds by the top of the sport however means Kansas Metropolis are actually 6-12 when Mahomes has a median time-to-throw of three.23 seconds or longer. Due to rubbish time reconciliation when the competition was already over, the Chiefs diminished the general deficit within the field rating and the general rating.
After going 3-11 on third down, and having simply 12 first downs all the recreation (the tenth fewest by a SB staff), Kansas Metropolis’s capitulation ended with them turning into the ninth back-to-back champs to fall in need of the elusive three-peat. It was the fourth playoff lack of Mahomes glittering seven-year profession to date, however ostensibly his worst efficiency as usually the man you’ll be able to rely on essentially the most when the event issues essentially the most.
Whereas all the blame can’t be positioned on Mahomes’ shoulders, his no-show within the season finale definitely quietened the speak of evaluating him to Tom Brady, who himself was within the sales space calling the sport for FOX.
FOX had the privilege of being the principle broadcaster for Superbowl LIX in New Orleans, and it was Brady’s first within the sales space in his maiden season as a color analyst. Nearly all of the discourse on Brady’s efficiency all season lengthy has been comparatively polarising. Along with his minority stake within the Raiders, it limits him on what he can and can’t say, which followers understandably discover irritating. He’s additionally not allowed in pre-production conferences with the groups attributable to his Las Vegas involvements which additional reduces his probability to discover a distinctive speaking level or perspective from the groups who’re enjoying the video games he’s calling.
FOX are paying the seven-time champ $375 million to be part of their community. Effectively, Brady has an extended method to go if he’s to win over the followers along with his commentary. The final takes from Sunday of Brady’s calls have been that he mentioned a variety of what was taking place however not a variety of how or why. It serves to recommend that the very best gamers within the recreation should not all the time the very best broadcasters.
Greg Olsen was ushered out of the principle analyst function at FOX with Brady’s arrival, although Olsen has acquired a variety of constructive regard from the media, followers and gamers. As a spectator, we don’t should be informed what’s going on, we are able to see it with our personal eyes, we want Brady to elicit evaluation that derives from his in-game experiences from his lengthy profession.
There’s clearly time for Brady to progress and study the commerce, with Fox undoubtedly backing him, however with how a lot they invested, there’s seemingly a magnitude of strain on him and FOX to not flop. FOX’s subsequent Superbowl name shall be in 2029, so Brady has 4 years to good his craft and get one other go within the massive recreation.
After all, the general public opinion will differ from the published’s opinion because the latter shall be extra constructive about their man, however Brady didn’t add sufficient perception to the sport, contemplating his illustrious profession underneath centre for the Patriots. This poses the query, would Olsen have been higher? We received’t know the reply, we are going to simply have to invest. However the actuality is that the post-retirement sales space/proprietor model of Tom Brady is right here to remain.
Ultimately, the play on the sphere is what issues most, and the Eagles definitely delivered that for his or her second Lombardi Trophy in eight seasons. With all of the criticism they’d acquired from across the league prior to now couple of seasons, this positive will silence the haters, and rightly so.
The 18-point margin of victory is the primary Superbowl to be received by a number of scores since Tampa Bay’s win over Kansas Metropolis 4 years in the past. Cooper Dejena’s pick-six on his twenty second birthday as a rookie nook epitomised the tenacity and playstyle of Fangio’s stellar defence. A real humiliation of among the best NFL groups we have now seen in latest historical past. All this speak of dynasties and comparisons to the as soon as esteemed Patriots, however the Philadelphia Eagles tore up the script and created their very own.
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