Cruel Philadelphia Eagles dismantle Kansas Metropolis Chiefs to win Tremendous Bowl | Tremendous Bowl

Seven years after profitable their first Vince Lombardi trophy, the Philadelphia Eagles are again on high of the NFL mountaintop. Behind a MVP efficiency from quarterback Jalen Hurts and a defensive masterclass that harried, hit and harassed Patrick Mahomes into one of many worst video games of his profession, the Eagles roared to a 40-22 victory over the Kansas Metropolis Chiefs on Sunday evening in New Orleans that wasn’t as shut because the scoreline suggests.

The 59th Tremendous Bowl was the second assembly in three years between Philadelphia and Kansas Metropolis on the NFL’s greatest stage, with the Eagles nonetheless nursing the scars of the primary installment: a heart-stopping 38-35 Chiefs win in Arizona wherein a hobbled Mahomes orchestrated a near-perfect second half to overturn a 10-point deficit that erased Hurts’ career-best efficiency. This one went the opposite means – and wasn’t almost as shut.

Hurts threw for 221 yards and two touchdowns, working for 72 yards and including a 3rd rating on a Tush Push – the end result greater than making up for a stat line that wasn’t fairly as flashy as two years in the past. Nevertheless it was a commanding defensive efficiency together with a pick-six by rookie cornerback Cooper DeJean on his twenty second birthday and 6 sacks from Josh Sweat (2.5), Milton Williams (2.0), Jordan Davis (1.0) and Jalyx Hunt (0.5) that sparked a first-half avalanche and helped guarantee Philadelphia may climate a uncommon peculiar day from star working again Saquon Barkley.

“We had a particular group this 12 months, we had been in a position to study from the previous,” stated Hurts. “Protection wins championships. We noticed how [our defense] performed in the present day. We noticed the distinction they made within the recreation. They gave us alternatives, gave us brief fields. And we’re in a position to do what we do.”

A mere 13 months after the wildest in-season unravelling in NFL historical past, Nick Sirianni’s staff, constructed on physicality, a relentless floor assault and a swarming protection, lastly delivered the knockout punch to a Kansas Metropolis dynasty that had been eyeing an unprecedented third straight Tremendous Bowl title. It was a milestone activity so tough that no staff has managed to even come inside 60 minutes of it till Kansas Metropolis this 12 months. Possibly the burden was an excessive amount of for these Chiefs, who regarded mentally and bodily taxed from as early as the primary quarter whereas making one uncharacteristically silly mistake after one other. Or Vic Fangio’s protection was simply that good. Regardless of the case, Sunday’s recreation was successfully put to mattress lengthy earlier than Kendrick Lamar took the stage for the half-time present.

“That is the final word staff recreation. You may’t be nice with out the greatness of others. Nice efficiency by all people – offense, protection, particular groups,” Sirianni stated. “We didn’t actually ever care what anybody thought of how we received, or their opinions. All we need to do is win.”

The Eagles’ gameplan was easy: pound the rock with Barkley, preserve issues easy for Hurts and shut down Travis Kelce, Mahomes’ favourite goal. They achieved all of them. Barkley was denied the home-run landing run however stored the Kansas Metropolis protection sincere with 25 carries for 57 yards, sufficient to interrupt Terrell Davis’s file for yards speeding in a season together with the playoffs. Hurts ran Kellen Moore’s offense to near-perfection. And by the point Kelce made his first catch, the Eagles led by 31 factors with three minutes left within the third quarter.

Main by 10-0 after Jake Elliott’s 48-yard area objective, Sweat and Hunt sacked Mahomes on consecutive performs – the primary time Philadelphia managed to deliver him down in 5 and a half quarters of Tremendous Bowl gameplay stretching again to the beginning of their first assembly. Mahomes then rolled out and misfired on a throw that was picked by DeJean, who ran it again 38 yards for a 17-0 lead. All-Professional linebacker Zack Baun made a lunging interception of Mahomes late within the second quarter and Hurts linked with AJ Brown on a 12-yard landing go for a 24-0 lead. The Eagles made it 34-0 late within the third when Hurts threw an ideal 46-yard go to DeVonta Smith, who turned the fifth participant to win a nationwide championship, a Heisman Trophy and a Tremendous Bowl.

Nevertheless it was a Philadelphia protection fully reinvented beneath Fangio – together with eight new starters from the 2022 staff – that turned Sunday’s recreation right into a laugher. Mahomes was sacked a career-high six instances by the primary Eagles staff to rank No 1 in whole protection since Bud Carson’s epochal 1991 unit.

On Sunday, they delivered their masterpiece. Two years after turning into solely the second Tremendous Bowl staff in historical past (together with the 1974 Steelers) to guide the NFL in sacks however fail to file one within the massive recreation, Fangio all however copied the blueprint of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ win over Mahomes and the Chiefs in Tremendous Bowl LV, leaning on their line of defense for fixed four-man rushes whereas sustaining max protection behind them.

There have been seven comeback wins from double-digit deficits and Mahomes was answerable for three of them, However the Chiefs’ nightmarish first half was a bridge too far. When Kansas Metropolis’s drive to open the second half shortly stalled and the Eagles responded with a 12-play, 69-yard scoring drive capped by an Elliott area objective, even essentially the most fatalistic Philadelphia fan may lastly exhale.

“At this time was a tough day throughout. Nothing went proper. I didn’t coach nicely. Pleased with our guys for combating. We’ll study from this,” Chiefs head coach Andy Reid stated. “Too many turnovers, too many penalties. Towards soccer staff, can’t do this.”

By the point Mahomes discovered DeAndre Hopkins and Xavier Worthy for a few beauty touchdowns within the last three minutes that made it 44-20, a gentle trickle of Kansas Metropolis followers was making its method to the concourses. Earlier than lengthy, Philadelphia had been NFL champions for a fifth time – and the second within the Tremendous Bowl period – after earlier wins in 1948, 1949, 1960 and 2017.