The Eagles are Super Bowl Champions. I will repeat it because saying it is so much fun. The Eagles are Super Bowl champions. Not only are they champions, but they kicked the Chiefs ass. It wasn’t even a game going into Halftime. The Eagles wiped the floor with a dynasty. They faced off with the team that was supposed to be Goliath and made them look like chumps.
But just how dominant of a win was it? What did the Eagles do that made it such an easy win? How did the defense force Mahomes into having the worst game of his career?
Related: Eagles Prove How Special They Are, Lift 2nd Lombardi Trophy
These 6 Numbers Tell The Story Of The Eagles Becoming Super Bowl Champions
38.1%
If you could make a whole unit MVP, the Eagles D-Line might have won it. 6 sacks of Mahomes, the most times he was sacked in his career. They pressured him on 38.1% of his dropbacks. It was over 50% late into the game but dropped once the game was out of hand and some backups went in.
That was despite sending an extra rusher 0 times. If they sent Zack Baun, they had someone like Nolan Smith drop back into coverage. They never rushed more than 4 guys, but they won over and over again. Josh Sweat had 2.5 sacks, Milton Williams had 2 sacks, including a strip sack, Jalyx Hunt got a sack, and Jordan Davis had a sack.
It had Mahomes shook. It was one of the worst games of his career before he padded his stats with 3 late meaningless TDs. I would say he was seeing ghosts, but in this case, the ghosts were real. The Eagles were on him all game long, and he felt it. Near the end of the 3rd quarter, Mahomes still had not completed a pass while under pressure.
3.24
We talked about the pressure, but let’s give the DBs credit too. Mahomes usually gets rid of the ball quicker than anyone. The Chiefs passing attack has been predicated on quick throws. And if someone gets rid of it in under 2.5 seconds, it is hard to get pressure or sacks no matter how well the D-Line plays. They needed the DBs to force Mahomes to hold onto the ball, and that is exactly what they did.
Mahomes had a Time To Throw average of 3.24. The longest in a game this season. The Eagles played Zone Defense on all but 2 dropbacks. That zone was tight as can be. There were no windows to throw into. Mahomes had to wait to throw, and that is what let the Defensive Linemen get after him the way they did. Mitchell, Dejean, Slay, CJGJ, and Blankenship all deserve major credit. Rodgers also had a big play, and even Maddox got involved with a big PBU on 4th down.
By the way fun fact, Cooper Dejean had more yards than the Chiefs entire offense late into the 3rd quarter. It wasn’t until the Chiefs finally put a scoring drive together that they surpassed DeJean’s 38 yards.
88.2
We talked about how much Patrick Mahomes struggled against a 4 man rush, so let’s check in with Hurts. While Mahomes was shook, Hurts was what he always is, calm and collected. He completed 15 of his 17 pass attempts against a 4-man rush. A completion rate of 88.2%. he had 185 yards and 2 TDs.
We also talked about how Mahomes struggled when he had to hold the ball for over 2.5 seconds. Well, Hurts was 11 for 14 with 145 yards and 2Tds. When throwing deep he was 5 for 7 with 137 yards, a TD, and his lone interception. The point is Hurts did everything better than Mahomes did. Mahomes is supposed to be the modern-day GOAT. Well, Hurts has now met him in the Super Bowl twice and outplayed him both times. His defense let him down in 57, but this time around he had a great defense to go with his great play.
This is how it has gone down for these 2 QBs when they met in the Super Bowl. Can people stop disrespecting Hurts now?
-19.3
EPA is the new in-vogue stat. It is designed to measure how well a team or player performs play-to-play. And the Eagles held Mahomes to an EPA of -19.3. The worst in his entire career. That is with those garbage time TDs and stats too.
This defense was incredible. So much was made about Mahomes being 8-0 vs Fangio. But anyone throwing that stat around like it meant anything ignored the context of those games. Fangio knows how to defend Mahomes. His defense has held Mahomes under his career norms for most of his career. Now that Fangio had elite players to fit in his scheme, it was cranked into another gear.
57
To me, this is the most amazing stat. If you had told us before the game the Chiefs would hold Saquon to 57 yards, and 2.3 yards per attempt, most people would have thought that meant trouble for the Eagles. The Chiefs sold out hard to stop the run. Saquon had 1 run for 10 yards, but he was held to under 2 yards per carry on the other 24 runs. The Eagles still blew them out.
We heard all season how Hurts was being carried by Barkley. That he was not good enough to beat a team if he had to pass. Well in this game he needed to lead the offense. He needed to carry them. And he finished the game with only 5 incompletions and 10 yards per attempt. Hurts was a superstar.
They might need more of this next season. Barkley had a magical season, but it can be hard for a RB to replicate that a season after he got as many carries as he got. They might need to rely on the passing game more next year. And Jalen Hurts just proved on the biggest stage that he is more than up to that task.
3
We talked about the greatness of the Eagles D-Line, but what about the O-Line? Jalen Hurts was hit 3 times, not counting scrambles. The Chiefs had only 3 QB hits. This is despite them blitzing over 25% of the time. They sacked him twice. The pressure rate was under 25%, and they had only 7 pressures.
The Eagles O-Line was the biggest in NFL history, averaging out at 6ft6 and over 330 lbs. It showed. The Eagles’ big guys beat up the Chiefs’ big guys. Focusing on the big guys has been the Eagles’ modus operandi for a while now. It is why they just won their 2nd Super Bowl this century and made it to their 4th. It is why they are one of the winningest teams in Football since 2000. Only the Chiefs and Patriots have more SBs since 2000.
The franchise is no longer a laughing stock. They are arguably the best-run franchise in sports. They are set up for the long haul better than anyone because of how they build the team. They have the QB, they have an elite O-Line, and they have an elite D-Line. That alone will take you a long way. They also have AJ Brown, Devonta Smith, Saquon Barkley, Quinyon Mitchell, and Cooper DeJean. This team isn’t going anywhere. Some faces will change. They will likely loss Milton Williams and Josh Sweat. But they just lost Jason Kelce and Fletcher Cox in 1 offseason, and the team got better. It seems they are capable of dealing with any losses.
Eagles fans get used to winning. This city is used to being underdogs, but we are going to have to learn how to deal with being the team to beat.