By Matt Cain
Contributor
The Philadelphia Eagles captured their second Super Bowl championship by a wide margin against the heavily favored Kansas City Chiefs.
The Eagles came out to a blistering start, forcing Patrick Mahomes to make crucial mistakes and costly turnovers.
The Chiefs’ defense was out of sync and dysfunctional. Jalen Hurts was unstoppable with his run game, as the defense prepared for Saquon Barkley but did not anticipate Hurts’ scrambling.
With the Kansas City defense at bay, this opened up a deep shot from Hurts downfield to Jahan Dotson. This landed Philly at the one-yard line and set up the famous “tush push” to go up 7-0.
The Philly defense had Mahomes’ number all game.
The first half was dominated by the Eagles’ defensive line. Mahomes was sacked five times in the first half alone. Brandon Graham, defensive end, was the leader of the defense and guided the young defensive core throughout the game.
The Eagles defense blitzing Mahomes forced him to make bad decisions on the fly.
Rookie cornerback Cooper Dejean intercepted Mahomes on his 22nd birthday and then ran it back for a pick-six. There is no better birthday gift than that. The pass was intended for Travis Kelce, and this was only the beginning for Kelce.
The Kelce-Mahomes connection was put to a standstill, with Kelce getting double-covered all night. Reed Blankenship, safety, and C.J. Gardner-Johnson closed off the middle of the field and forced Mahomes to throw short check-downs or to his other receivers.
This resulted in Kelce only having four catches by the end of the game.
Going into the half, the Eagles were up 17-0 with no signs of slowing down. You would think that during the longer halftime break, the Chiefs could get hyped up, especially with the “Not Like Us” performance at halftime.
Unfortunately, that was not the case. Kicker Jake Elliott made a 29-yard field goal and then secured another seven points late in the third quarter. This time it was receiver DeVonta Smith on a 46-yard pass.
The fourth quarter was the same. The Eagles defense lightened up, and the Chiefs put together a couple of drives to end the game with a respectable score. The final score was 40-22.
This was not a shutout, but Mahomes showed significant signs of concern being regarded as the next “GOAT,” it seems there is still a lot for him to learn.
When the defense took Kelce, his number one target, out of the game, he didn’t know how to respond.
