Super Bowl LIX Instant Reaction

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By Ha Kung Wong

X: @FBGarbageTime

Super Bowl LIX is in the bag, and for a while there, it was looking to be the Super Bowl that no one wanted to see outside Kansas City and Philadelphia.

But no one expected the Philadelphia Eagles shocking beat down of the Kansas City Chiefs serving up their worst defeat this season with Patrick Mahomes behind center by the score of 40 to 22.  Don’t let that score fool you, this was never really competitive, with the final 8 points for the Chiefs being scored in garbage time at the very end of the 4th Quarter.

That being said, even with the early Chiefs interception of Jalen Hurts on the Eagles’ 3rd drive, saying the Chiefs started off slow would be a huge understatement.

Clearly, the tale of the tape is that the Chiefs offensive line did their best turnstile impression and ended up allowing Patrick Mahomes to be sacked a career worst 6 times while also being pressured 16 times leading to one of Mahomes worst performances (regardless of the two garbage time TDs in the 4th Quarter), throwing 2 interceptions (one for a pick-six) and losing a fumble late in the game.

But let’s give some credit to the Eagles defensive line who did generate all this pressure with just their front 4 bringing exactly ZERO blitzes across 42 drop backs.  Although we knew the Eagles had the best pass defense in the NFL over the regular season, allowing the least passing yards per game and the 3rd lowest passer rating to opposing QBs, the pressure generated on the line without blitzing made it near impossible for any of Mahomes’ targets to find space until it was too late.

Going into the half, the Chiefs had tied the second largest halftime deficit in Super Bowl history based on some incredible forgettable stats.  Most importantly, the Eagles absolutely dominated time of possession almost 2 to 1 and although the Chiefs did manage to mostly bottle up Saquon Barkley, they couldn’t stop Jalen Hurts from moving the ball downfield both on the ground and through the air.

Since we’re at halftime, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention that Kendrick Lamar was awesome, but he failed to play ANY of the prop bet options for first song of the halftime show by playing a totally unreleased track.  Vegas winds again!

The second half wasn’t any better for the Chiefs with their opening drive staling after just 15 yards and resulting in a punt. In fact, the Chiefs allowed the Eagles to score 10 more points (the TD on single 46-yard pass play from Hurts to DeVonta Smith — which by the way made Smith the first Alabama alum to catch a TD in a Super Bowl) prior to getting into the Eagles territory for the first time.

And the Chiefs went on to score their first points of the game with 34 seconds left in the 3rd quarter.

The bottom line is that the Chiefs on defense behind Steve Spagnuolo’s much vaunted defensive schemes managed to stop Barkley, but not much else.  The Chiefs’ brilliant blitz schemes that worked so well against the Buffalo Bills in the AFC Conference Championship game was completely neutralized by Hurts, who consistently managed to find the short crossing route or target in the middle of the field quickly versus pressure, or effectively scramble for positive yards, several times running into the Chiefs second level with Chiefs defenders over-committing to the blitz.  And the Eagles were extremely efficient on offense, with all 5 pass catchers having receptions for 20+ yards.

On the other side, as we mentioned above, the Chiefs offense was a complete disaster under duress.  Without the last two garbage touchdown drives, the Chiefs had less that 130 total passing yards and a measly 49 total rush yards, 25 of which were from Mahomes.  No individual Chiefs running back, not Kareem Hunt, Isiah Pacheco nor Samaje Perine, even managed 10 rushing yards.

Clearly, the Eagles were firing on all cylinders, proving their dismantling of the Washington Commanders in the NFC Conference Championship game wasn’t a fluke.  And the Chiefs, who we’ve noted had 12 one score wins this season, more than any other team in the NFL by a significant margin, was finally exposed for the team that they were.  No last second heroics available here, it was Eagles all the way.

As a postscript, you have to wonder how every member of the 2024 New York Giants staff feels every time they watch this portion of Hard Knocks:

At least we know how Saquon feels about it.😎

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