Tremendous Bowl 2025: How the Eagles dominated the Chiefs, Mahomes

Full and utter dominance. On the most important stage, with the Chiefs dominating the headlines of their try to win a 3rd consecutive title, the Eagles comprehensively manhandled them in New Orleans. The 40-22 last rating in Tremendous Bowl LIX appears unfair each to a Philadelphia protection that shut down Kansas Metropolis till a few garbage-time touchdowns within the fourth quarter and to a Kansas Metropolis protection that battled gamely earlier than lastly getting overwhelmed by brief fields and the sheer quantity of snaps it needed to play.

Think about being a Chiefs fan and attending to see items of the field rating of this recreation upfront. The Chiefs did the very best job any group has finished all season towards Saquon Barkley, who ran 25 occasions for 57 yards. The Eagles went 3-for-12 on third downs, did not convert their solely fourth down, turned the ball over within the crimson zone and averaged 5.1 yards per play, fewer than the Chiefs. All of that sounds just like the form of recreation the Chiefs would count on to win given what they’re able to doing on offense.

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All of that’s true and the Chiefs nonetheless fell behind 34-0 throughout the third quarter, exactly due to what they could not do on offense. This was the worst potential time for Patrick Mahomes to have what is going to seemingly go down as his worst large recreation as a professional. Earlier than saving his numbers with these late fourth-quarter scores, he seemed as flummoxed as we have ever seen him.

Should you had advised that very same Chiefs fan that Mahomes was about to go 6-of-14 for 33 yards with two interceptions within the first half of the Tremendous Bowl, that fan might have finished extra productive issues with a free Sunday. These 33 yards have been the fewest Mahomes has ever posted within the first half of any NFL recreation. His 10.9 passer score was the third worst from any quarterback within the first half of a recreation this season. By anticipated factors added (EPA) per dropback, his minus-1.36 mark was the Tenth-worst by any quarterback within the first half of any recreation for the reason that begin of the 2018 season.

Even along with his late scoring drives, Mahomes completed with a Complete QBR of 11.4, his second-worst efficiency in 133 profession begins. Let’s assign credit score appropriately: The Eagles did that. Extra particularly, the identical Philadelphia defensive position that was tormented and torched so badly by Mahomes in Tremendous Bowl LVII two years in the past took over this recreation. Whereas defensive coordinator Vic Fangio and his secondary will rightfully earn credit score for a dominant efficiency, the entrance seven is the important thing to understanding why Mahomes & Co. have been floor into mud:

Leap to a bit:
4 methods by which Philly’s D dominated
5 methods by which KC bought it terribly incorrect
How Hurts and the Eagles bought right here

They exploited and overpowered Kansas Metropolis’s tackles. Return to the final time Fangio coached towards an Andy Reid-led offense. It was the wild-card spherical final season, with Fangio serving as defensive coordinator for the Dolphins. With out his high two edge rushers attributable to harm — Bradley Chubb and Jaelan Phillips — the usually conservative Fangio turned on the warmth. The veteran coordinator blitzed Mahomes on greater than 51% of the quarterback’s dropbacks, his third-highest blitz price in additional than 220 video games as a coordinator since 2007. No one desires to blitz Mahomes, who has lit up blitzes since coming into the league, however Fangio certainly felt like the choice was sitting again and withering away on protection.

On Sunday, the Eagles did not blitz as soon as on Mahomes’ 42 dropbacks. (They’d a few performs that might technically qualify as blitzes when the Eagles despatched Zack Baun, however they dropped a lineman off into protection as a part of the snap.) Fangio rushed 4 gamers 39 occasions and three gamers thrice. The Eagles nonetheless managed to stress Mahomes on almost 45% of his dropbacks by three quarters earlier than Fangio gave his backups some run within the fourth. They sacked Mahomes six occasions with a four-man rush, one thing that has by no means occurred to the long run Corridor of Famer in his profession. He had by no means been sacked greater than 4 occasions by a three- or four-man rush in a single recreation.

When these two groups performed within the title recreation two years in the past, the Eagles managed to get stress on Mahomes, however he wriggled and maneuvered his manner out of hazard. A dominant Philadelphia defensive position pressured him on 37% of his dropbacks then, however it did not take him down for a sack on 11 pressures. These 11 snaps produced simply 35 yards, however a scarcity of damaging performs helped preserve the Chiefs afloat on offense in a shootout. This time, the Eagles completed the job. They ran an identical stress price to that Tremendous Bowl (38%), however they turned six of these 15 pressures into sacks.

These sacks did not come from the participant most would have anticipated. Jalen Carter had a strong recreation, however he did not singlehandedly wreck opponents the best way he had for a lot of the season. After a lot dialogue about whether or not the Eagles would transfer him away from star guard Trey Smith, they determined to maintain him there for almost all of his snaps, and the Chiefs double-teamed Carter on solely a handful of snaps. Carter pressured a holding penalty and had a few spectacular performs, however he wasn’t probably the most dominant participant on the Philly line.

As an alternative, of their last recreation earlier than free company, this was the Josh Sweat and Milton Williams present. The 2 Eagles draftees mixed for 4.5 sacks. Down the rotation, Jalyx Hunt and Moro Ojomo confirmed up with splash performs and high quality snaps. Brandon Graham, a shock activation throughout the week after recovering from what was anticipated to be a season-ending torn triceps, performed 18 snaps and almost stunned proper sort out Jawaan Taylor to attract a holding penalty.

Taylor had a tough recreation, however it did not evaluate to what occurred at left sort out. There is not any approach to sugarcoat it: Joe Thuney seemed like a fish out of water on the sting in move safety. It is one factor for a transformed guard taking part in sort out out of desperation and a scarcity of higher choices to get beat by pace across the edge. It is one other for Thuney to get pushed backward into Mahomes’ lap by Hunt, a 251-pound former school security.

Charting the sport by Williams’ violent strip-sack of Mahomes within the fourth quarter, I’ve Thuney down for seven performs that led to pressures of Mahomes, together with three that led to sacks. He was crushed straight up by Hunt and Sweat and on twists by Williams. He may need been a sufferer of unrealistic expectations after holding up for many of the postseason on Mahomes’ blind aspect, however actuality got here crashing down Sunday.

Thuney wasn’t the one one. Taylor was accountable for six pressures, together with that play by which he was knocked a yard backward by Graham earlier than being flagged for a determined maintain. Mike Caliendo, filling in at left guard for Thuney, struggled with twists and was steamrolled by Williams for the fourth-quarter strip-sack of Mahomes that took the final of the air out of Kansas Metropolis’s sails.

The Chiefs by no means had solutions for coping with the move rush moreover hoping the offensive line performed higher. They spent many of the recreation blocking with 5 linemen earlier than mixing in chips from tight ends and working backs, which did not essentially assist; a Travis Kelce chip prevented the long run Corridor of Fame tight finish from moving into his route rapidly on a play that ended with a Mahomes sack, whereas a chip from Isiah Pacheco disengaged Sweat from Taylor and allowed him to take down a scrambling Mahomes. They tried shifting the launch level for Mahomes by utilizing built-in scrambles, however a type of performs led to the pick-six by Cooper DeJean.

They took away Mahomes’ escape hatch. In Tremendous Bowl LVII and nearly each different large recreation since, Mahomes has managed to make a distinction along with his legs. Whereas that has included the occasional designed run, the factor that scares opposing defensive coordinators is what he does as a scrambler. It is robust to spy him when a protection is often committing so many protection sources to Kelce, and if the coordinator makes use of twists and video games up entrance to attempt to create stress, any form of misstep or over-aggression from the road opens up a lane for him to take advantage of. The Eagles know all of it too properly, provided that Mahomes scrambled for 26 yards to arrange the game-winning area aim two years in the past.

This time, the large scramble by no means got here. Along with profitable one-on-one, Philadelphia’s edge rushers did an incredible job of walling off the perimeters and forcing Mahomes to attempt to escape stress by stepping up into the pocket versus escaping by the perimeters and lengthening performs. And as soon as he stepped up, the Eagles’ defensive linemen have been just too large and too quick to run previous. There have been too many moments by which Mahomes tried to scramble, modified his thoughts then did a full flip to try to achieve some acceleration and get away, solely to be sacked or pressured right into a wild throw.

Mahomes did not scramble for a primary down all recreation, the primary time that has occurred in a playoff recreation for the reason that loss to the Patriots within the 2018 AFC Championship Sport. He did not have a single scramble try till halfway by the third quarter and did not run for greater than 8 yards on any of his makes an attempt. Hunt made a pleasant play with an ankle sort out to cease what might have been a much bigger scramble. Taking away these conversions made Mahomes one-dimensional.

They gained over and over on third down towards the league’s greatest third-down offense. Whereas the Chiefs struggled on first and second down constantly all through the season, Mahomes often bailed them out by changing on third downs. The Chiefs picked up 50% of their third downs throughout the common season with Mahomes on the sector, the very best price of any offense, and have been at 45% throughout the postseason earlier than this recreation.

On Sunday, they did not convert on their first 9 makes an attempt on third down by three quarters, earlier than lastly selecting up a third-and-7 with 1:25 to go trailing 34-0. It is simply the fourth time within the Mahomes period the Chiefs have gone a whole first half with out changing a 3rd down. (One of many different three was Tremendous Bowl LVII towards the Eagles, however that was on solely three makes an attempt.) Reid’s offense completed 3-of-12 on third and fourth downs.

By way of these first 9 third-down makes an attempt earlier than the preliminary conversion on a throw to Kelce, the Eagles gained with stress on six. The three that did not embrace stress have been a fast snap the place Mahomes threw low to Kelce, a designed rollout on the pick-six to DeJean and a fast third-and-13 throw to Kelce for 9 yards to arrange a manageable fourth down. Six of these 9 performs got here with 9 or extra yards to go, and pretty much as good as Mahomes is, the Chiefs did not need to stay in third-and-long towards this protection.

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Cooper DeJean homes Mahomes’ INT for pick-six on his birthday

Eagles rookie Cooper DeJean celebrates his twenty second birthday in model, selecting off Patrick Mahomes and returning it for a landing in Tremendous Bowl LIX.

Not like the AFC title recreation towards the Payments two weeks in the past, when the Chiefs have been in a position to efficiently use picks and crossing routes, Reid by no means appeared to search out short-to-intermediate options to assault Philadelphia’s zone protection. NFL Subsequent Gen Stats marked the Eagles down for simply two snaps of man protection on 42 dropbacks all evening. Mahomes picked up a primary down on his opening snap of the sport with a triple-option RPO, however the Chiefs did not discover a non-RPO passing resolution to constantly create house. They tried flooding the zones with a number of receivers, however Philadelphia did an incredible job of passing off routes and matching to Kansas Metropolis’s ideas.

It was clear Mahomes did not need to take a look at Quinyon Mitchell and Darius Slay. the Eagles’ exterior cornerbacks. Within the first half, he threw exterior the numbers thrice for a complete of two yards. The Chiefs wished to assault the center of the sector, however he went 4-of-11 for 30 yards and two picks throwing there within the first half. He had extra success throwing to the sideline within the second half when he had no various, however it was too little, too late.

Mahomes did not play properly. It is necessary to make this distinction. This recreation will probably be lumped in with the final time he misplaced within the Tremendous Bowl, and there is an apparent similarity. In each video games, he was seemingly working for his life on each down behind a porous offensive line that wasn’t able to blocking the opposing protection. That Bucs’ protection underneath Todd Bowles in Tremendous Bowl LV was dialing up unique pressures and blitzing defensive backs and Fangio was dashing three and 4 linemen all evening, however that is probably not necessary within the large image. Blitz or no blitz, the story appears to be that if Mahomes will get pressured, defenses could make him battle.

In that Buccaneers loss, Mahomes was phenomenal. He wasn’t excellent, however underneath not possible circumstances, he was extending performs and making unreal throws, just for these passes to be dropped or come up simply brief. There was a purpose clips of Mike Evans and Chris Godwin calling him “unbelievable” and “a magician” throughout the recreation went viral.

Even after accounting for the stress placed on by the Eagles on this recreation, Mahomes merely did not play properly. Within the first half, he went 6-of-9 for 33 yards out of fresh pockets with a minus-12.1% completion proportion over expectation (CPOE). He threw a painful pick-six to DeJean with out stress on a play by which the two-time MVP merely did not see DeJean in his throwing lane, the form of mistake a rookie is likely to be anticipated to make. His second choose got here on a play by which Thuney was deposited in his lap, however he did not reset and his throw was subsequently brief and nowhere close to his receiver, a carbon copy of the choose he threw to Roquan Smith towards the Ravens in Week 1.

It is honest to counsel the move rush wore on Mahomes as the sport went alongside, and I might suspect there’s some reality to that affect. Even on the primary possession of the sport, although, he appeared jittery. On the opening third down of the sport for the Chiefs, he scrambled underneath a modest quantity of stress, ran his manner into bother after which tried a harmful move late whereas scrambling that was fortunate to not be intercepted. He uncharacteristically missed a fourth-and-4 pace out to DeAndre Hopkins from a clear pocket, leaving the move too far inside and permitting Avonte Maddox to knock the ball away.

Is there something the Chiefs might have finished? Perhaps not, given how dominant the Eagles’ entrance was at its greatest. However there have been seemingly just a few errors they might take again or attempt to strategy otherwise with hindsight.

The place did the Chiefs go incorrect?

They let the left sort out downside linger till it was too late. This loss could be traced again to Week 2. The Chiefs entered the season with second-year lineman Wanya Morris and rookie second-round choose Kingsley Suamataia competing for the beginning job defending Mahomes’ blind aspect at left sort out. Suamataia gained the camp competitors, however after he struggled towards Trey Hendrickson and the Bengals, the Chiefs benched him for Morris. Suamataia noticed significant snaps in solely two video games the remainder of the best way, filling in for an injured Morris earlier than spending Week 18 at guard alongside backups in a loss to the Broncos.

The time to search out and herald a veteran sort out was then, as a result of as soon as Reid misplaced religion in Suamataia, they needed to begin making ready for a situation the place they wanted one. Morris had been an issue filling in for Donovan Smith as a rookie in 2023, and he had misplaced the camp battle to Suamataia in August. Smith was nonetheless a free agent and by no means ended up signing wherever, however the Chiefs elected to carry the road.

It wasn’t till late November that the Chiefs lastly signed a veteran sort out, inking D.J. Humphries to a one-year deal for $2 million. The previous Cardinals starter made his debut three weeks later towards the Chargers, solely to endure a hamstring harm and miss the subsequent three video games. Reid gave him one other trial at left sort out in Week 18, however the coach apparently did not like what he noticed.

As an alternative, after pushing Thuney out to left sort out, the Chiefs saved him there for the rest of the season. With Caliendo stepping in at guard, Reid now had subpar starters at two spots versus one. The offense did effective with Thuney throughout the postseason wins over the Texans and Payments, however the three-time Professional Bowler was badly overmatched within the Tremendous Bowl.

With Morris inactive, the one choices the Chiefs had at halftime have been kicking Thuney again to protect and placing in Suamataia or Humphries at left sort out, each of whom Reid clearly did not belief. Humphries was energetic throughout the postseason however performed solely on particular groups. Neither participant bought on the sector Sunday. It is robust to discover a left sort out in-season, however the Chiefs would have had a greater shot if they’d began significantly trying round earlier than the commerce deadline versus ready till late-November to usher in a veteran.

They fully deserted the run. When Reid was teaching the Eagles, a typical criticism of the then-young coach was that he bought away from working the ball. Reid’s move charges would look nearly quaintly conservative now, however earlier than the 2007 Patriots, his Philadelphia offense leaned extra closely into the move than simply about another group.

On Sunday, as those self same followers have been seemingly celebrating an Eagles victory, I agreed with that criticism. The Chiefs merely did not run the ball early in a state of affairs by which they desperately wanted to take a few of the stress off Mahomes. Whereas they used some RPOs and threw the ball early, they ran the ball simply as soon as on their first 4 possessions. Positive, that is solely 13 performs, however a 12-to-1 pass-to-run ratio is a bit excessive by anyone’s requirements. Throwing the ball that usually is ok if it is working, however they weren’t scoring or shifting the ball.

Reid did run the ball twice to begin the subsequent drive, however after they gained just one yard, the Chiefs went again to passing. Pacheco began the third quarter with a run for six yards, however the subsequent 4 performs have been all passes. Kareem Hunt ran for 10 yards on the subsequent drive, however after a holding name, Kansas Metropolis then ran for 1 yard on a second-and-14 draw.

The run recreation wasn’t going to win this for the Chiefs, and their backs turned seven carries into solely 24 yards, which is not precisely stunning soccer. However the specter of the run may need saved them out of third-and-long in a recreation by which the Eagles brutalized them in these spots. It might have slowed down the move rush or given the offensive line an opportunity to assault the road of scrimmage. Frankly, it could not have been a lot worse than what they did on their dropbacks.

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How adversity fueled Nick Sirianni to Tremendous Bowl title

Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni discusses coping with adversity early within the season and the way he overcame it.

They wanted to go greater. One of many methods the Chiefs might have tried to achieve a bonus whereas working the ball would have been to go together with greater personnel groupings. For the reason that Tyreek Hill commerce, Reid has leaned into 12 (one again, two tight ends) and even 13 (one again, three tight ends) personnel groupings, utilizing Noah Grey alongside Kelce. Along with including extra blockers onto the sector for run ideas, the Chiefs use the personnel groupings to attempt to dictate personnel and create potential mismatches within the passing recreation.

As an alternative, they went with 11 personnel (one again, one TE, three receivers) on 74% of their snaps Sunday, utilizing 12 personnel simply 26% of the time. There’s an argument to be made that is a product of taking part in from behind, however Reid truly used 12 personnel barely extra within the second half (28%) than the primary (25%). The Chiefs weren’t nice in both personnel grouping, however Mahomes did hit a 50-yard landing move towards Philadelphia’s backups within the secondary out of 12 personnel late within the recreation.

They could not keep away from sloppy errors. This is not the place the Chiefs misplaced this recreation: The Eagles gained it by imposing their will on their opponents. It is also honest to say that the Chiefs made uncharacteristic blunders which may have steered the sport nearer to changing into a contest.

They prolonged Eagles drives with penalties. After showing to get a cease on a third-and-5 throw that Jalen Hurts sailed to Dallas Goedert, the Eagles got a brand new set of downs as a result of Trent McDuffie struck Goedert within the head. (Chiefs followers in all probability did not love the decision, however it felt a bit like a make-up whistle after incidental contact to the face masks from A.J. Brown wiped off a fourth-down conversion for the Eagles offense on the prior drive.) The Eagles scored a landing three performs later.

With 2:28 to go within the first half trailing 17-0, the Chiefs appeared properly on their approach to getting off the sector after they sniffed out a second-and-26 display to Barkley. After the move fell incomplete, although, Nick Bolton knocked Barkley over. He was flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct, turning a third-and-26 right into a first-and-10. The Eagles did not rating on the drive, however the penalty took day off the clock and shifted area place. Kansas Metropolis finally took over from its personal 6-yard line, at which level Mahomes was backed into his personal finish zone underneath stress and threw a choose.

And after the Eagles scored, the Chiefs appeared to have a quick glimmer of hope to get some factors on the board. Dealing with a third-and-11, Mahomes stepped out of the pocket, scrambled and located a wide-open Hopkins on a busted protection. Mahomes’ throw was on time, however Hopkins dropped what might have been an enormous achieve:

Lot of open house for DeAndre Hopkins there. pic.twitter.com/BtTdIRWTqb

— Invoice Barnwell (@billbarnwell) February 10, 2025

NFL Subsequent Gen Stats estimates that move will get accomplished 82.2% of the time and will generate a whopping 26.6 yards after catch, which might have given the Chiefs the ball on the Eagles’ 26-yard line with a timeout to go. They’d have in all probability come away from that situation with a minimum of three factors. It did not swing the sport, however it’s the form of alternative the Chiefs do not usually miss. It was that form of day.

The protection allowed explosives within the passing recreation. Given how properly the Chiefs tackled and slowed down Barkley, they cannot be too upset with how they performed on protection. Forty factors is quite a bit, however that features a pick-six, three drives that began on Kansas Metropolis’s aspect of the sector and two extra that began past the Philadelphia 40-yard line. The Eagles had two drives with greater than 50 yards all recreation, solely the fourth time that occurred all season.

Nearly as good as they have been towards the run recreation, although, the Chiefs weren’t as efficient stopping the Eagles from selecting up chunk performs on offense, and it wasn’t at all times from their star receivers. On the second drive, Hurts hit Goedert on a blown protection for a 20-yard completion, with no defender matching in zone to the tight finish’s crossing route. Afterward the identical drive, the Chiefs blitzed on second-and-11 and Jaylen Watson was crushed by little-used third wideout Jahan Dotson, whom Hurts discovered for what gave the impression to be the opening landing of the sport. Whereas Dotson was dominated to be simply in need of the tip zone on overview, his 27-yard catch arrange the opening rating on a Hurts tush push.

Hurts continued to search out large performs. On a third-and-7, he went again to Brown towards McDuffie on a back-shoulder for 22 yards. McDuffie lined up towards Brown on 18 of his 24 routes per NFL Subsequent Gen Stats, and whereas that was the one large completion the star cornerback allowed, it might simply have been two if a 32-yard achieve on fourth-and-2 on the opening drive hadn’t been referred to as again on a questionable offensive move interference penalty.

The dagger got here within the third quarter. Most groups will warn their defenders to be prepared for a shot mess around midfield after a turnover, and after the Chiefs failed on fourth-and-4 from their very own 47-yard line, the Eagles confirmed why. With the Eagles in 12 personnel and displaying a run look, they feigned an influence play and dropped Hurts again to move. The Chiefs confirmed a single-high shell after which spun to quarters protection, giving a really perfect alternative to throw the deep submit. With Bolton and Drue Tranquill desperately attempting to run again after the play-fake to get in protection, Justin Reid was occupied by Goedert beneath, which freed up DeVonta Smith excessive on the submit. Smith beat Watson on the snap and ran free downfield for a 46-yard rating.

JALEN TO DEVONTA DEEP TOUCHDOWN!

📺: #SBLIX on FOX
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— NFL (@NFL) February 10, 2025

Jalen Hurts, Tremendous Bowl MVP, and the way the Eagles bought right here

With Barkley quieted for the primary time in months, this was the form of recreation skeptics of the Eagles (like myself) would have seen as an actual concern. Whereas Hurts was wonderful within the NFC Championship Sport and threw simply 5 interceptions all season, there was a two-month span by which the passing assault wasn’t way more than an afterthought. Whereas acknowledging there isn’t any simple approach to beat a group that was two drops away from profitable 20 of its 21 video games this season, one of the best ways gave the impression to be placing extra of the load on Hurts’ shoulders and seeing if the 26-year-old was as much as the duty.

It seems he was. Whereas Hurts threw an unsightly interception towards the blitz on a play by which Bolton got here untouched by the A-gap, the Eagles did simply effective with their quarterback as the focus of the offense. He went 17-of-22 as a passer for 221 yards and two touchdowns, producing a plus-12.6% CPOE. He added 11 carries for 72 yards and that tush-push rating on the bottom.

Within the earlier Tremendous Bowl matchup between these two groups, one of many few issues Hurts wasn’t in a position to do was constantly make the Chiefs pay with downfield throws; he went 2-of-7 for 90 yards on deep move makes an attempt. He was lights-out Sunday, going 3-of-4 for 95 yards and a landing on these throws, with the choose by James Prepare dinner as his solely blemish. Hurts was 2-of-3 for 42 yards on throws within the intermediate vary (10 to 19 yards) as properly. In that very same space, Mahomes was 0-for-4 with two picks.

Whereas Hurts was solely 2-of-5 for 36 yards and that choose on the blitz, I would not put that on him. There was no sight adjustment by Brown on the interception, despite the fact that the nook on his aspect (McDuffie) blitzed from the sector, which might sometimes convert his path to a hitch or one thing simpler than the go route he ran. When the Chiefs ran Cowl 0 later within the recreation and the Eagles had once more dialed up 4 vertical routes, Hurts threw a back-shoulder path to Brown, clearly anticipating his star wideout to show round and break off his route. However Brown continued downfield and the move fell incomplete, resulting in some gentle discontent on the sideline for just a few moments after the collection.

Whereas Mahomes’ scrambling in large moments has grow to be legendary, Hurts was the one who made a distinction there. He arrange a fourth-and-2 (and the large play to Brown that was wiped off) by scrambling for 9 yards on third-and-11 on the opening drive. Within the second half, he had scrambles of 14, 16 and 17 yards, all for first downs. The Chiefs tried spying him at occasions with Leo Chenal, however each towards four-man rushes and the blitz, Hurts was in a position to break Kansas Metropolis’s spirit along with his legs.

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Jalen Hurts displays on journey to SB victory

Jalen Hurts talks about experiencing the highs and lows en path to the Tremendous Bowl and what Saquon Barkley has meant to the Eagles.

The title win and Hurts’ MVP efficiency is the ultimate little bit of vindication for one of many most controversial draft selections in current reminiscence. The Eagles selecting Hurts with their second-round choose in 2020 appeared to ship the group into a direct tailspin. Quarterback Carson Wentz collapsed the next season and fell out with then-coach Doug Pederson. They primarily fired each their head coach and quarterback, buying and selling Wentz to Indianapolis, whereas retaining the man who drafted Hurts, normal supervisor Howie Roseman.

Roseman, coming off a disastrous 2020 draft by which he selected Jalen Reagor over Justin Jefferson at huge receiver, moved down from No. 6 to No. 12 within the 2021 draft earlier than leaping again as much as choose DeVonta Smith. The additional first-rounder they bought for shifting down allowed the Eagles to be versatile the next season, after they mainly extracted a premium for swapping their 2022 first-rounder with the Saints’ first-rounder in 2023. All of these maneuverings finally landed them Carter, their cornerstone defender.

If there is a lesson we are able to take away from the Eagles and their title run, it is likely to be one which’s laborious to observe within the fashionable NFL: Be affected person and do not get overwhelmed by recency bias. Philadelphia possession did not hearth Roseman when Chip Kelly pushed him out of energy in 2015 or when the followers have been chanting “Hearth Howie” in 2021. He has proceeded to construct what must be thought-about the league’s greatest roster over the previous three seasons.

Hurts was a large number in 2020, finishing 52% of his passes and posting a 38.5% success price as a passer. He was additionally taking part in with Reagor and Greg Ward as his high receivers and caught behind a disastrous offensive line. The Eagles gave him a transparent path to the beginning job in 2021 with extra auspicious environment, and he has rewarded them for doing so ever since.

This even extends to the Eagles’ fateful 2024 free agent class, and the 2 coordinators they added. Fangio was all however run out of Miami by his personal gamers, who have been celebrating his departure on social media. Kellen Moore had primarily been let go by the Cowboys and Chargers in back-to-back seasons amid issues that he was extra centered on “lighting up the scoreboard” and throwing the ball than producing profitable offenses. Moore is now anticipated to grow to be the Saints’ new coach, whereas Fangio is rarely going to purchase a drink in Philadelphia once more.

Barkley simply completed what was in all probability the greatest season by a working again in league historical past. Superior metrics have been extra optimistic about him than conventional numbers, however he averaged 3.9 yards per carry final season, and the Giants spent the previous two years indicating they did not need to give their very own star again a multiyear assured contract. Mekhi Becton was a bust as an offensive sort out who was forged off by the Jets earlier than Philly offensive line coach Jeff Stoutland turned him right into a mauling guard. Baun, who was concerned along with his fifth turnover of the postseason by selecting off Mahomes, was a backup edge rusher for the 2023 Saints. The Eagles put every of those gamers in the suitable spots to succeed and gained Tremendous Bowl LIX.

After which there’s the man Eagles followers have grown to like to hate. This time final yr, Nick Sirianni’s job was genuinely in query. Even one yr faraway from a Tremendous Bowl look and weeks faraway from a 10-1 begin, the group had fallen so rapidly and so precipitously throughout the second half of 2023 that it appeared to boost questions on Sirianni’s competence. Sirianni primarily fired defensive coordinator Sean Desai throughout the season, changed him with Matt Patricia and bought solely worse on protection. After an embarrassing 32-9 loss to the Bucs within the postseason, it nearly felt like a shock that Sirianni returned to the job in 2024, albeit with new coordinators on each side of the ball.

And now, 21 video games later, Sirianni’s Eagles have gained 18 of their 21 video games. They’ve misplaced one recreation in 4 months, and that required a drop from Smith and a last-minute landing drive from Jayden Daniels. They’ve routinely been the better-prepared and better-coached group week in and week out, and there are veterans on each side of the ball who’ve leveled up and massively improved upon the gamers they have been in prior stops. Roseman, Moore and Fangio all deserve credit score for his or her efforts in making that occur, however it appears not possible and unrealistic to disclaim Sirianni his justifiable share of these plaudits.

Sirianni is now 54-23 in his profession as an NFL coach. He has extra playoff wins (six) than any coach in franchise historical past moreover Reid. And now, he has the one factor on his mantle that Reid failed to attain throughout the legendary coach’s 14-season run in Philadelphia: the Lombardi Trophy.