Super Bowl 57: Patrick Mahomes was the Story
The story of the night was Patrick Mahomes and his offensive line. He was the NFL Season MVP, the Super Bowl MVP, the leading passer in yds for the season, and the leader in passing touchdowns. Achieving all that with only Travis Kelce, a squad of subpar receivers, a rookie running back and without Tyreke Hill.
Super Bowl 57 is in the books, and it lived up to the hype. It will be remembered as one of the best games in Super Bowl lore. Both teams were battling until the end. No matter what you thought of Rhianna’s half-time performance, it will be on the top of the all-time best guest appearances, performing on the biggest stage while pregnant. We witnessed excellent Qb play from both sides. You had Andy Reid playing against the team that fired him. Eagles coach Nick Sirianni was fired by Andy Reid, so there was extra motivation there.
Now you don’t want to see a great game end on a call made by the refs, but it was a penalty nonetheless, albeit a ticky tack penalty, especially since the refs weren’t making those calls all game. Even without the penalty, the Chiefs were most likely winning that game. Maybe the Eagles could have held them and forced them to kick it and hope Butker misses another field goal. He missed one from 42-yds out and it would have been possibly another 40 yd attempt, but the Chiefs were winning it anyways.
Patrick Mahomes wasn’t going to be denied, neither was the team. The Eagles weren’t as battle tested this season. Patrick Mahomes plays in a much tougher division with all high end Qb play, going to battle every week throwing to different mid receivers on one good ankle for the last few games.
I know everyone including Mahomes, claimed his ankle sprain was fine, but 2 weeks of extra rest really isn’t enough. He was clearly downplaying it because that’s what warriors do. All season long he’s been fighting in the arena, like Russell Crowe in Gladiator. He did it again last night and AND his offensive line went to battle for him.
It was evident in the second half. On the sidelines during the 3rd quarter, the O-line was extremely animated. Mahomes was firing up his fellow warriors in the arena of pain, as he went down the bench, high-fiving and challenging each one. Isaiah Pacheco following suit for the blocking they were doing for him and protecting Mahomes.
They didn’t allow Mamhomes to get sacked in the second half. The Eagles who are also known for their defense as much as their potent offense, were smothered by the Chiefs. Their defense couldn’t get a stop or create any turnovers.
Philly’s defense proved that the best Qb they played against was Dak Prescott. They were beating up on bad teams making them look better than they were and just not good enough to beat the elite Qb’s like Patrick Mahomes.
Special teams didn’t play well either. The Kadarius Toney punt return, longest punt return in Super Bowl history, put the Chiefs in a guaranteed scoring position. It was a huge momentum booster and major error on the Eagles part.
Professor Andy “Dumbledore” Reid waved his pen around and created some magical plays that stumped the Eagles. Kadarius Toney and Sky Moore score with the same play 3 minutes apart. As soon as they hiked it on the second go around, my jaw dropped realizing it was the same play prior as Moore was left wide open to skip into the end zone, like Dorothy going down the yellow brick road.
The Eagles didn’t make any adjustments. They were outplayed and outcoached on both sides of the ball.
Jalen Hurts played a pristine game minus the one fumble that led to a defensive touchdown, he was effortlessly throwing up the ball without much aim and his pass catchers were snatching it up out of the air. Jalen went for 306/1 pass Td and 3 rushing Td’s. Even though Jalen had nearly 70 rush yds, he had to get it done through the air. All his top pass catchers went over 50 yds.
The Eagles let the Chiefs hang around. I think they thought, “we got this” by the first half and they took their foot off the gas, the one thing I said you can’t do against Mahomes. He had one of the best Qb performances in Super Bowl history and his team came out on the losing end. He was all class in the way he handled the loss.
Patrick Mahomes, Andy Reid and Travis Kelce are very reminiscent of the core of Tom Brady, Bill Belichick and Rob Gronkowski. You add great O-line and defense play, it’s the same formula that won the Chiefs Super Bowl 57 and the same formula that won Tom, Bill, and Gronk multiple rings. The former and the latter, all Hall of Famer’s.
Patrick Mahomes is this generation’s upgraded version of Tom Brady. He’s well on his way to contending with his stats and possible championship rings. Patrick is much more gifted than Tom Brady. He’s more athletic with a stronger arm and eventually he will be as football smart, if not smarter.
You could never bet against Tom Brady, until this past season, and until Patrick Mahomes retires, you can’t bet against him either.
He was the story last night and will be moving forward, not IF, but how many more rings he will win.