Just a few additional thoughts I've had after chewing on Sunday's triumph for a few days:
I've felt for quite some time that the single most important talent a quarterback can develop is the avoidance of turnovers, something that Jalen has generally been very good at. Of course, he did have the one pick in the red zone that thankfully didn't cost the team, but I noted at least two other moments where the Chiefs were hunting a forced fumble but he alertly held on to the ball. It's almost like he spent real time preparing to avoid repeating his costly fumble from two years ago. Hats off to QB1!
Much has been made of the Chiefs' success in shutting down Barkley, and fair enough, but it's just as clear that their effort opened the door for pretty much everyone else to feast. High credit to the coaching staff to keep feeding Barkley, even while KC was shutting him down, to force the Chiefs to continue to overcommit resources to stop him. Imagine a player so dominant that you're willing to leave All Pro level talents like Brown, Smith, Goedert and even Hurts have ample opportunities just so he DOESN'T beat you! It's worth pointing out that Barkley's 97 total yards still led the team. He also did brilliant work as both a pass blocker and lead blocker in the run game. You could make a backdoor case for Saquon as the real MVP of Super Bowl 59.
Once the Birds got to Mahomes the first time I wrote "first sack = first blood" in my notebook. In each of their previous Super Bowls the Eagles had harassed the opposing QB but rarely sacked them. That first sack was cathartic in that regard (the finally got one!), but it also gave the sense that the floodgates were about to open on the Chiefs, and boy did they ever. Philly's six sacks are tied for the fifth most in Super Bowl history.
After Philly went up 24-0, the excellent "Mic'd Up" video showed that KC was still more (over)confident; their words were "Just need to dig a little deeper" and that sort of thing. On the Eagles' sideline, the word from Saquon was "It's still 0-0." The Eagles were not only more mentally ready for this game at the start, they were better equipped to handle what transpired than KC proved to be.
The Eagles and Chiefs have now met four times in the Sirianni Era; once each in both team's home stadiums and of course twice on neutral fields. Each team owns two wins but the Eagles have the overall edge in scoring, 126-119. Philly does not run from this team and will get another crack at them this coming season. It's worth noting that Jalen has outplayed Mahomes head to head in these matchups, as well.
A player who's reputation has experienced some extreme highs and lows this season was Jake Elliott. He had probably his worst regular season as a pro but followed it up with a terrific postseason in which he only missed a 60 yards FG (and a couple XPs, but still). I don't know where Jake ranks in the pantheon of Eagle special teamers or among all time kickers, but we're pretty clearly at the point where we can anoint him as the preeminent postseason FG kicker of our generation. At one point in 2023 (Elliott's best season) I had written about a way to evaluate kicker performance called Kicking Point Above Expectation. The idea is simple enough; determine how many points a given player has provided above what an average player would have scored. In this metric, Jake's 7.69 in Points Above Expectation in Super Bowls laps the field (he's so far ahead of second place Harrison Butker that Butker is closer to the 33rd best Super Bowl kicker than Jake). Elliott's 17.24 in total playoff KPOA still trails all time great Robbie Gould but is above all others (including noted postseason kicking hero Adam Vinitari). Elliott was not money in this regular season, but no one is more money when it matters the most. Data files below if you want to see the complete rankings:
Philly's 145 total postseason points this season is the most in league history. Of course, they were aided by the fourth game but their 36.25 is the 6th best figure for a Super Bowl participant since the merger. Their +12 turnover ratio is tied for the second best ever.
We can't wrap this up without a hat tip to the head guy (Jeffrie Lurie) who more than anyone is responsible for the long term revitalization of this franchise. Since he bought the team in 1994 and fully took charge the following season, very few teams have achieved what the Birds have. Starting with that '95 season, the Birds are 5th in total wins, 6th in W/L %, 3rd in playoff berths, 3rd in playoff wins, and one of only five teams with at least four Super Bowl appearances and at least two victories. As most astute fans recognize, the owner is the single most important guy in the building and we owe that recognition to Lurie.
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