When the Philadelphia Eagles meet the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday night in Super Bowl LVII, it will be a special matchup in many ways.
It will be the first duel between two black starting quarterbacks (Hurts vs. Mahomes) in a Super Bowl, it will be the first meeting between two brothers (Jason vs. Travis Kelce) on the biggest football stage and it will be a reunion from the Eagles’ point of view the former head coach (Andy Reid).
Reid coached the Eagles for 14 years, brought them to four consecutive NFC Championshp games and one Super Bowl (losing to the Patriots), and was largely responsible for the city of brotherly love’s most successful football era to date.
Now he is shaping an era on the other side and is in the NFL final with the Chiefs for the third time in five years.
Our users “AustrianViking” and “Mundafinga” In this preview, we focus intensively on the many strengths and a few weaknesses of the two opponents.
PHILADELPHIA EAGLES:
by mundafinga
The last few years in Philadelphia have been characterized by an extremely impressive rebuild. Within just two years, a 4-11 team turned into a Super Bowl contender, who rolled through the regular season 14-3 and was unstoppable in the playoffs (so far).
General Manager Howie Roseman is primarily responsible for this. He has achieved the feat of putting together a squad within a very short space of time that can without exaggeration be described as the most complete in the league. And that without selling the house and yard.
In fact, Philly has four first-round picks in the next draft, including the Saints’ first rounder, in addition to his own first-round pick.
So if Jalen Hurts, current starting quarterback and one of the main reasons for the Super Bowl entry, hadn’t struck, you would even have had the ammunition in the upcoming draft to trade up for a new quarterback. And it was by no means a sure thing that Hurts would develop the way he did.
Drafted in the second round with pick 53 in the 2020 draft, he was planned as a backup for the then clear starter Carson Wentz. However, Roseman showed foresight. Wentz dropped massively, was traded very profitably to Indianapolis a year later, and Hurts took over as starting quarterback at the beginning of last season.
Already in his first season you could see a lot of potential, especially as a runner he immediately convinced and the team even made it straight into the playoffs, where Tom Brady’s Buccaneers knocked them out.
Compared to last season, Hurts has made significant progress this season, especially as a passer, with AJ Brown via Trade, a real number 1 receiver from Tennessee. Along with Devonta Smith, who was drafted a year earlier, Roseman gave his young quarterback a top receiver duo and all the opportunities to be successful. And it should work.
Philadelphia could often run at will behind one of the best offensive lines in the league, but Philly was also one of the top offenses through the air, as evidenced by two receivers in the top 10 by receiving yards. And we’re not even talking about Dallas Goeddert, one of the best receiving tight ends in the league, or multiple running backs who can make the difference in the running game.
As if that offense wasn’t enough, Philly also has one of the best defenses in the league. 2nd fewest yards per game, fewest passing yards per game, most sacks, 7th fewest points conceded, etc…
The Eagles are particularly powerful on the line, where they were even able to set a record this season. Never before has a team fielded four players with 10+ sacks in a regular season. And this defense also clearly bears the signature of GM Roseman, so a large part of the current secondary and the current best pass rusher of the team (Haason Reddick) were all brought via trades within the last two years, none of them overly expensive.
So what does this mean for the Super Bowl matchup with the Chiefs? Kansas City certainly has the better quarterback (probably the best in the league), better tight end, and probably better head coach/play caller. In all other positions/groups of positions, Philadelphia is better and lower.
The Eagles should be able to dominate the game, especially on the lines. Additionally, Mahomes is down, I’d be surprised if he’s at 100 percent. Against this Eagles Pass Rush, Mahomes will need his legs or he will be robbed of one of his best skills – the ability to improvise. And even if he gets rid of the ball quickly enough, there is a very good secondary waiting in the coverage.
On the other side of the ball, the Chiefs only have one serious (albeit very, very good) pass rusher in Chris Jones, edge defenders don’t have to be feared at all from the Eagles’ point of view. If Philadelphia can run the ball, I don’t see a chance for Kansas City.
Of course, if the Chiefs get stopped running play, both regular and Jalen Hurts, they have a chance. But to do that they will have to put more players in the box and then it will depend on whether the cornerbacks can hold their own in a head-to-head duel against AJ Brown and Devonta Smith. But here, too, I see a clear advantage for the Eagles.
I don’t think it will be a clear game, Mahomes and Reid are too good at their job for that. But no matter how I twist it, the Eagles are the clear favorites for me, even with a fit Mahomes they would be a slight favorite for me.
Unless Jalen Hurts makes any serious mistakes, which of course is entirely possible given his inexperience, they should win this game. And if it should actually come to the second title in the history of the franchise, Howie Roseman would definitely have a huge part in this title with his picture book rebuild.
KANSAS CITY CHIEFS:
by AustrianViking
The highlight of the football year is just around the corner and I’m allowed to share a few thoughts on the Kansas City Chiefs on digital paper.
So the Kansas City Chiefs have done it again and advanced to the Super Bowl as the No. 1 in the AFC, where they now face the Philadelphia Eagles.
Quite a few pundits predicted a changing of the guard in the upgraded AFC West ahead of the season as the Chiefs were seen in a “transitional season”. They gave up their best receiver per trade in Tyreek Hill, while safety Thyrann Mathieu, one of the defensive leaders, was released as a free agent.
So they made a virtue out of necessity and completed the team with the picks acquired from the hill trade primarily through the draft rather than through large free agency signings. With a splendid draft, the Chiefs unexpectedly managed to make the team even better, despite the most rookie appearances in the league.
The end of the song is well known – the Chiefs went 6-0 in the division and are in the Super Bowl for the third time in the Patrick Mahomes era after victories over the Jaguars and the Bengals.
The rest of the pre-season highly acclaimed and touted as the supposedly best division, AFC West? Chargers doing Chargers things, Las Vegas is lacking pretty much everything, most notably a quarterback and Denver – well we know how the season went. In general, the Mahomes era is becoming more and more impressive in terms of success in addition to the sometimes absurd playful highlights, you just have to look at how the season has ended for the Chiefs since Patrick Mahomes took over as quarterback:
2018: AFC Championship Game
2019: Super Bowl (W)
2020: Super Bowl (L)
2021: AFC Championship Game
2022: Super Bowl
So what will be important for the Chiefs on Sunday? The most important point will probably be: How is Mahomes’ ankle and will it hold up?
To put it bluntly, after playing one-legged against the Jaguars and the Bengals at times, this probably wouldn’t be enough against the Eagles. According to the latest media reports, however, there should be no doubt that Mahomes can play and will at least be almost fit.
The duel at the line of scrimmage will be just as decisive. If the Chiefs’ O-line manages to slow down the Eagles’ enormously strong pass rush, that would be an important step towards the Super Bowl title. If that doesn’t work, there’s still an opportunity to get a lot of running backs into the game with short checkdown passes — it could be Jerrick McKinnon’s big game.
Of course, it would also be important that the Chiefs D-Line, above all with Chris Jones, who has had a monster season behind him, manages to throw Jalen Hurts out of the concept and limit him as a runner.
Player in focus: (apart from Patrick Mahomes)
Travis Kelce: The X-factor on offense for the Chiefs and the best tight end in the NFL. His importance increased again after Hill’s departure, which was reflected in even more targets – and he delivered, setting a new career high with 15 touchdowns.
There is probably no player that Mahomes trusts like Kelce, as he openly stated after the Chargers game in November: “I go through the reads, unless Kelce is in man coverage. Then he gets the ball. I do it no kidding, if he’s in man-to-man coverage I’ll give him a shot. I know he’s going to win most of them. I know how special he is.”
All in all, I’m expecting a tight game with a slightly better outcome for the Chiefs – so my tip: 24:21 for the Chiefs.