Four-man rush takes flight
Defenses win championships, evidently.
Vic Fangio and his unit put on a master class in how to limit Mahomes, who was making his fifth Super Bowl appearance in his eight career seasons. Unlike Spagnuolo, Fangio didn’t employ any exotic blitzes to get the job done. Instead, Fangio relied on a four-man rush and sticky coverage on the back end to put Mahomes under duress.
It worked. In the first half alone, the Eagles managed a 47% pressure rate without blitzing Mahomes once. The 29-year-old got a taste of the four-man rush on the Chiefs’ opening drive on third-and-9. Mahomes held onto the ball with his receivers well-covered, giving Nolan Smith and Milton Williams the opportunity to flush him from the pocket. He threw the ball incomplete.
The Eagles kept bringing the pressure and eventually began to get home. After defeating a block from Chiefs right tackle Jawaan Taylor, Nolan Smith tripped up Mahomes on third-and-3, forcing the Chiefs to go three-and-out.
Two possessions later, Josh Sweat made his case for a hefty payday on the free-agent market. On the Chiefs’ fourth possession of the night, Sweat sacked Mahomes on first down, then split a sack with Jalyx Hunt on the ensuing second down. On the first play after DeJean’s pick-6 that followed the back-to-back sacks, Williams joined the party, bringing down Mahomes on third-and-9.
Sweat added another at the start of the third quarter to bring his final total on the day to 2½, his single-game career high. Williams strip-sacked Mahomes in the fourth and recovered his forced fumble at the Chiefs’ 18-yard line. Mahomes went 21-of-32 for 257 yards, three touchdowns, and two interceptions for a 95.4 passer rating. He took a career-high six sacks.
“We are just competing with each other out there, I think that is what it is,” Sweat said. “We want to out play each other and that’s what’s setting the bar for each of us. We just want the bragging rights. That’s how we push each other, we want to see who can get it done.”
Pick-ture perfect
With Mahomes out of sorts in the pocket, the Eagles’ back seven took advantage of his errant passes. After taking two consecutive sacks, Mahomes fled the pocket to his right prematurely, attempting to make a throw across his body to the middle of the field. None of the Chiefs receivers was in the vicinity.
DeJean, however, was running directly into the path of the ball. The rookie nickel cornerback snared the pass, then ran 38 yards to the end zone for his first career touchdown on his 22nd birthday, putting the Eagles up, 17-0.
The defense continued to force Mahomes into poor decisions. With less than two minutes remaining in the first half, backed up at his own 6-yard line, Mahomes felt pressure in his face. Sweat put Chiefs left tackle Joe Thuney on skates, backing him up into Mahomes’ lap. The Chiefs quarterback unleashed a pass to the short middle of the field, which a diving Baun corralled for an interception.
The pick marked Baun’s first in the Superdome, where he regularly played for four seasons as a member of the New Orleans Saints.
“It doesn’t feel real, it feels like a dream,” Baun said. “I can’t even put it into words. The confetti falling, I’m so happy for this team. This is what we talked about, and just super thankful and excited.”
While breaking down the huddle after warmups ahead of Super Bowl LIX, Jalen Hurts reminded the Eagles of their dominance all season long.
“We did this [expletive] all year,” Hurts said. “Don’t stop now.”
They didn’t. The Eagles pulled off a 40-22 beatdown of the Kansas City Chiefs in the Superdome, usurping the crown from the back-to-back Lombardi Trophy victors.
Hurts dazzled through the air and on the ground and was voted Super Bowl MVP. He went 17-of-22 for 221 yards, two touchdowns, and an interception for a 119.7 passer rating. Hurts also did record-setting damage on the ground. He finished the night with 72 rushing yards on 11 carries, breaking his own record for rushing yards in a Super Bowl by a quarterback (70 in Super Bowl LVII).
The Chiefs had answers to stop Saquon Barkley, limiting him to 57 yards on 25 carries, his second lowest single-game total of the season. But it didn’t matter. Not only did the Eagles’ passing game step up, but also the defense kept Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs offense at bay.
Kansas City had just 225 yards of net offense, which would have been their third-lowest output of the season, before a garbage-time 50-yard touchdown reception by rookie receiver Xavier Worthy.
Here are our takeaways from the Eagles’ second Super Bowl title victory in franchise history:
Hurts handles business
All eyes were on Hurts and his matchup against Steve Spagnuolo’s defense, with a particular focus on how he would handle the defensive coordinator’s notorious blitzes. The Chiefs blitzed at the fifth-highest rate in the league in the regular season (34%), according to Next Gen Stats. Hurts had fared better against the blitz this year compared to last, completing 64.2% of his passing attempts and throwing just one interception, according to Pro Football Focus.
Hurts passed the test against the blitz with flying colors early in the contest. On the Eagles’ second possession of the night, the Chiefs rushed five on second-and-11 from the Kansas City 28. Thanks to a key blitz pickup from Barkley, Hurts had plenty of time to air the ball out down the right sideline to Jahan Dotson for a gain of 27 yards to the Chiefs’ 1. Hurts punched the ball into the end zone on a Tush Push to put the Eagles up, 7-0.
The protection wasn’t always perfect, though. On the Eagles’ third possession at the Chiefs’ 30-yard line, Nick Bolton was the fifth man on a delayed rush up the A gap. No one picked him up, giving him a free shot at Hurts. With Bolton in his face, the fourth-year starter tossed the ball short of A.J. Brown, allowing safety Bryan Cook to swoop in and snare the interception. The pick marked Hurts’ first since Nov. 10 in Week 10 against the Dallas Cowboys.
Hurts rebounded quickly. After a 48-yard field goal from Jake Elliott and a 38-yard pick-6 from Cooper DeJean on his 22nd birthday, Hurts capitalized on a Zack Baun interception that brought the Eagles to the Chiefs’ 14-yard line after the two-minute warning in the first half. On second-and-8, Hurts hit Brown on a crossing route to put the Eagles up, 24-0.
The “Slim Reaper” carried a scythe and a dagger. DeVonta Smith beat Chiefs cornerback Jaylen Watson off the line of scrimmage and Hurts connected with him on a deep shot for a 46-yard touchdown. According to Next Gen Stats, the pass sailed 54.9 yards in the air, which marked Hurts’ second-longest completion of the season and sixth-longest of his career.
“I’m still processing,” Hurts said of his emotions after the game. “It’s been a long journey, it’s a journey of ups and downs and highs and lows. I’ve always stayed true to myself and have this vision of being the best that I can be, and that evolved, over time, into this desire to win. You don’t do great things without having good guys around you. The effort, sticking to the script, and always trusting the process is what got us here.”
The Eagles celebrate with the Lombardi Trophy after winning Super Bowl LIX.
Monica Herndon
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