Some Final (Belated) Super Bowl LIX Thoughts + Other NFL Musings
In order to put a bow on the big game, I emptied the notebook. Plus, my top 5 Super Bowl commercials and some Giants, Stafford, Rodgers and Burrow musings...
The dust has all but settled on Super Bowl LIX, and the NFL is now preparing to shift focus over to the Scouting Combine, the NFL Draft and Free Agency.
However, there are still some things left to be unpacked from the Philadelphia Eagles’ utterly dominant 40-22 win over the Kansas City Chiefs. Well, there are for me, anyway. Due to being tethered to my sick bed all of last week, I am only now just getting an opportunity to revisit the notebook and empty all of my thoughts on the big game.
There’s a ton of stuff I want to catch up on in general, in addition to the Super Bowl, so I hope you indulge me over the next day or so as I attempt to unload a torrent of musings that have been building up for a while now.
And, don’t worry, there will be a plethora of baseball talk coming up later this week for those of you more interested in what happens on a baseball diamond. You are going to be spoilt for baseball content over the next several months, I promise.
But, first, let’s put a bow on Super Bowl LIX with some final reflections. I’ll also run through some quick offseason-related thoughts…
A week on and I’m still amazed by just how clutch and great the Eagles were on the biggest stage. They beat the Chiefs into submission time and time again and only a couple of garbage time touchdowns by Patrick Mahomes made the final scoreline look even remotely respectable. There was nothing respectable about the end result, however. Philadelphia opened up the most emphatic can of whoop-ass on Kansas City possible. Even though a part of me still felt the Chiefs would come out swinging in the second-half, the game was over at half time. It just was.
That play call to allow Jalen Hurts to throw a dagger 46-yard touchdown to DeVonta Smith in the third quarter was genius. You could see the collective spirit of the Chiefs being snapped in that very moment. Talk about a huge cubes play.
In an era of football when the quarterback is protected at all costs, it was refreshing to see violence and brute force steal the show in New Orleans. The Eagles came out on top thanks to their unrelenting defense that beat the tar out of Mahomes, refusing to ever let up. The numbers are just astonishing. Kansas City was held to just 23 yards in the first half, and 144 total yards in the first 51 minutes of the game. The Chiefs also managed just six first downs in the first 50 minutes, which seems almost impossible from a team with Andy Reid as its head coach and Mahomes as its quarterback.
Defense really does win championships. Take that, modern-day NFL, where high-scoring, high-octane offenses usually rule the day.
That entire Eagles defensive unit was just outstanding, as they were all year-long. They were ranked the No. 1 defense in the NFL for a reason, and it showed on the biggest stage. All the props to veteran defensive coordinator Vic Fangio, who orchestrated arguably one of the best defensive masterclasses we’ve ever witnessed in Super Bowl history. Fangio is a defensive savant, and he should now forever be remembered for masterminding one of the most emphatic beatdowns we’ve ever seen in the big game. Talk about winning your first Super Bowl ring in style.
What makes the fine job done by Fangio and that entire defensive unit even more impressive is the fact that the Eagles didn’t blitz once. Not once! They rushed four all night long, culminating in six sacks, three hits and 17 quarterback pressures. That really is quite staggering. Mahomes never stood a chance.
It is a shame the Super Bowl MVP couldn’t be awarded to that entire defensive line. They were all deserving of every accolade thrown their way, and Josh Sweat (six tackles, 2.5 sacks, 5 QB hurries per PFF) and Milton Williams (two sacks, two tackles for loss, a QB hit, a forced fumble and recovery and four tackles) were both richly-deserving of the MVP.
That isn’t intended to take anything away from Jalen Hurts, who was clutch on the biggest stage once again. I just felt it was the defense that ultimately won the game for Philadelphia.
Hurts was hella impressive, though, that’s for sure. He threw for 221 yards and rushed for another 72 with three total touchdowns. He threw just five incompletions with one interception for a passer rating of 119.7. And I think what makes the job Hurts did in New Orleans all the more noteworthy is the fact that the Chiefs did a really good job of shutting down Saquon Barkley, who could only manage 57 yards on 25 carries - by far his least-effective game all year. Hurts carried that offense and made the clutch plays when they were needed the most.
In two Super Bowl appearances against the Chiefs, and going up against that formidable and highly-effective Steve Spagnuolo defense, Hurts has helped lead Philly to 75 total points in eight quarters. That’s not bad at all.
In addition to constantly underestimating the Eagles, I also beat up on Hurts a fair amount, even claiming that I couldn’t trust him in the big games. Well, how stupid do I look? Maybe I just need to stop doing predictions. Either way, Hurts has now proven that he’s built for the big moment and, at just 26-years-old, I don’t think he’s done winning Super Bowls just yet.
The Super Bowl LIX stat that still blows my mind over a week later? In the first half, the Eagles piled on 24 points. The Chiefs could only manage 23 yards in response. Who saw that coming before the game? Not me, that’s for sure.
I can admit when I’m wrong and, for some reason, I severely underestimated the Eagles throughout the postseason. I picked them to lose against the Rams, and I did the same against the Commanders. I was proven wrong on both counts. But, even then, I still couldn’t find a way to pick against the Chiefs. I just couldn’t. But, in hindsight, and when looking back at the eye test and all the stats, I should have given Philadelphia a hell of a lot more credit. I mean, you can make a compelling argument that this is one of the best Eagles teams in franchise history, if not THE best. They were that special.
We also need to make sure that we give Eagles GM Howie Roseman, who has to go down as one of the best executives in all of sports, a boatload of credit and kudos. When you look at the run of success he’s had in putting together a talent-laden, superstar-filled team over the past few years, you can’t really dispute that claim. You just can’t. Roseman has been hitting home runs for a while now but, ever since the Eagles flamed out in 2023, he’s been hitting nothing but grand slams.
Roseman stuck it to the Giants by doing what New York GM Joe Schoen didn’t have the brains to do - handing Barkley the three-year, $37.8 million contract he earned and so deserved. That was obviously the headline act of Roseman’s banner offseason. But there was more. A lot more. Roseman also had the smarts to hire the aforementioned Vic Fangio. He continued to prove his prowess in the draft by taking cornerback Quinyon Mitchell with the 22nd overall pick, before trading the 50th and 53rd overall selections for the 40th overall pick in order to take DB Cooper DeJean, who finished fourth in Defensive Rookie of the Year voting. Furthermore, Roseman has proven to be a master when it comes to finding value to improve his roster on the margins, something he did time and time again in free agency. Not only did he sign unheralded linebacker Zack Baun, who morphed into a first-team all-pro selection, but Roseman also picked tackle Mekhi Becton up off the NFL scrapheap. Becton, a former 11th overall pick, was a complete bust with the Jets, yet fit in perfectly with the Eagles, didn’t allow a sack in Philly’s last 12 regular-season games, and finished up as a Super Bowl champion. Oh, and when seemingly most of Philadelphia was baying for Nick Sirianni’s blood after the opening portion of the season, Roseman stuck by his Head Coach and gave him the time and the tools needed to right the ship and maximize the considerable talent on that roster. Roseman is the best general manager in football, and it isn’t close.
The NFL is a copycat league and it will be interesting to see if other front offices try to copy Roseman’s blueprint of building through the lines. After all, Milton Williams, Jalen Carter, Jordan Davis and Nolan Smith Jr. - all key cogs in that well-oiled defensive machine - were taken in the 2021, 2022 and 2023 NFL Drafts. As my good friend
would say, football is all about the blood and the guts, and Roseman has shown that defense and well-built, fundamentally sound football teams can still reach the top of the mountain.Roseman is both creative and not afraid to make the tough decisions. He drafted Jalen Hurts with the 53rd overall pick in 2020, despite already having Carson Wentz in place. So, when Wentz fell off a cliff, the Eagles weren’t stuck in no man’s land. Furthermore, when the opportunity arose to give his QB a legit offensive weapon, Roseman didn’t hesitate to send a first round pick to the Titans for A.J. Brown. With so many other NFL general managers still playing chess, Roseman has thrived and found great success while playing a high-tech game of chequers.
By the way, this was how the postseason unfolded for Zack Baun:
🔘 Wild Card Round - interception
🔘 Divisional Round - fumble recovered
🔘 NFC Championship Game - fumble forced, fumble recovered
🔘 Super Bowl - interceptionAs Larry David would say, that’s pretty, pretty, pretty good.
Also, how did every other team in the NFL pass up on Cooper DeJean? The rookie is an absolute stud and his pick-six in the Super Bowl will live on in Philadelphia sports lore forever.
I think one of the positive and most underrated by-products to emerge from the Super Bowl is the fact that we can now stop with all the ‘don’t bet against Mahomes and the Chiefs’ talk. I think that narrative, while probably fair at the time, blinded how we viewed certain teams and situations over the past couple of years. But, now it has been proven that the Chiefs are actually beatable, we can go back to talking about football normally. And I think that’s a good thing.
I was starting to fear the worse when A.J. Brown was called for a highly-controversial pass interference penalty early on in the game. I don’t buy into all this conspiracy crap about the Chiefs being helped by the officials or the league doing everything in its power to help Kansas City win at all costs - a small-market team winning all the time makes no sense for the league when it comes to TV ratings and overall visibility - but you just knew that call would have become the overarching narrative should the Chiefs have gone on to win. Thank god they didn’t because we never would have heard the end of it. Although, I will say that the call on Kansas City cornerback Trent McDuffie a few moments later was just as bad, if not more egregious.
Both fans and certain members of the sports media can be guilty of being too prisoner of the moment in the wake of certain events. I certainly don’t agree with those trying to diminish Mahomes’ talents or achievements just because he laid a Godzilla-sized egg in the Super Bowl. Nor do I buy into the notion that the Chiefs are cooked and their reign is over. Granted, Kansas City has a lot of work to do this offseason and that offensive line will need a lot of repair work after getting blown up time and time again in New Orleans. However, when you have Andy Reid and Patrick Mahomes at the helm, slipping quietly into that long goodnight is almost impossible. The Chiefs will be back, and I’d bet a lot of money that we will see a more motivated and more pissed-off version of Mahomes in 2025.
I still have no real explanation for why Mahomes was as bad as he was in New Orleans. I think you have to give the majority of the credit to that relentless Eagles defense. To do otherwise would be unfair. However, I do think the fact that Mahomes and the Chiefs had played in a staggering 60 games over the past three seasons prior to Super Bowl LIX may have been a contributing factor. We saw it with the Tampa Bay Lightning in their quest for a three-peat. After playing an extraordinary amount of hockey in a very condensed window, the Lightning simply ran out of gas once they reached their third consecutive Stanley Cup Final, losing in six to the Colorado Avalanche. I think tiredness and overall fatigue may have been a contributing factor behind Kansas City’s no-show in Super Bowl LIX.
While Mahomes remains the greatest player on the planet right now, we can probably put the GOAT talk to bed for now. Yes, five Super Bowl trips in six years and seven consecutive AFC Championship Games is hugely impressive. There is no disputing the fact that Mahomes has had the best eight-year start to a career in NFL history. BUT, Tom Brady played in 10 Super Bowls, winning an unprecedented seven of them. The three losses Brady did suffer were all by one score, and he didn’t come anywhere close to laying as big an egg as Mahomes did in New Orleans. And, let’s not forget that Mahomes also had a stinker against Brady’s Buccaneers in Super Bowl LV. So, as elite and as special a talent as Mahomes is, he has two horrendous Super Bowl losses on his résumé. He still has a long way to go until he belongs in the same pantheon as Brady.
This will get overlooked because it has seemingly become popular to hate on Mahomes, but the way he conducted himself in his post-game press conference was nothing short of first class. There was no deflecting. No passing of the buck. No, moments after absorbing the worst outing of his career, Mahomes sat and faced the music and operated just as a leader of a football team should. And, in an era when too many players go missing when the noise is at its loudest, Mahomes deserves a lot of credit for how he handled the most crushing defeat he’s ever had to face.
Travis Kelce will no doubt have a myriad of opportunities lined up once he does decide to hang up his cleats but, if I were him, I’d find it hard to go out on that low a note. I wouldn’t be surprised if Kelce runs it back for at least one more year. Just a hunch.
Away from the game itself, I’m still on a high following Kendrick Lamar’s electric half-time show. I know a lot of people didn’t like it, but I think those who didn’t get it just don’t understand Kendrick as an artist. He’s reached the very apex of his career and, as such, he doesn’t have to compromise who he is as an artist. And he didn’t. He told the story he wanted to and, if you really paid attention, there were several very powerful messages sent.
The highlight, of course, was Kendrick dropping the mic on his beef with Drake. Building up to ‘Not Like Us’ was genius and you could hear the entire crowd come alive once Kendrick got into it. ‘Not Like Us’ has to go down as the best diss track of all time and, if I were Drake, I’d just build a private island and stay there because there is no escaping it. I mean, I’ve seen the Kendrick shuffle a million times since the Super Bowl and, when you have Will Ferrell and Ana Gasteyer perform a version of ‘Not Like Us’ at SNL’s 50th anniversary celebration, you know you are dealing with an absolute juggernaut.
My Top 5 Super Bowl Commercials:
1. Hellmann’s - When Sally Met Hellman’s
2. Uber Eats - A Century Of Cravings
3. Reese’s Chocolate Lava Big Cup
4. Stella - The Other David
5. RITZ Salty ClubI don’t know if this counts as a commercial or not, but Brad Pitt narrating the Super Bowl LIX hype video for FOX was simply sublime. I had chills the entire time:
Some Quick NFL Offseason Musings
Okay, to borrow from the legendary Peter King’s playbook, here’s a couple of things I’m thinking as we transition into the NFL offseason…
I think the Jets ultimately made the right decision by parting ways with Aaron Rodgers. A brand new regime deserves a fresh start and I think too many people got caught up with what Rodgers did against a bad Miami team in the final game of the year. It is time to move ahead and new GM Darren Mougey and new Head Coach Aaron Glenn deserve the opportunity to work with the quarterback they really want.
It would be typical Jets if Rodgers goes elsewhere and leads that team to the playoffs, however.
I think I’m left confused by how the Rams have approached the start of the offseason. Trading away Cooper Kupp makes no sense, and parting ways with Matthew Stafford would be equally brain-warping too. After all, the Rams were a play away from beating the Eagles and moving on to the NFC Championship Game. Keeping the band together would seem to make more sense for a team that has plenty of talent and an excellent and innovative head coach in Sean McVay.
I think the Giants trading for Stafford would be folly. Have we forgotten just how much of a dumpster fire that team was last season? There is close to zero talent there - outside of Malik Nabers - and I wouldn’t trust Brian Daboll and Joe Schoen to run a bath, let alone a football team. Trading for a player like Stafford is a win-now move, and the Giants aren’t remotely close to being a contender. It would make no sense for Stafford, either, who would be better off staying in LA.
Finally, I think the Bengals better listen to their quarterback, or else risk the very real possibility of Joe Burrow wanting out. Burrow played at an MVP level in 2024, and he deserves to be backed up and surrounded with a boatload of talent. If the Bengals piss away this offseason and leave Burrow stranded all on his own, then that would be the very definition of franchise malfeasance.