Eagles Postgame Report: Eagles Dominate Super Bowl LIX, Deny Chiefs Three-peat

If you thought the NFC Championship game was a laugher, this one was no different as the Eagles appeared to play an even better game against Kansas City.

The Eagles have made it back to the Super Bowl two years later and they find themselves playing the same opponent in the Kansas City Chiefs. The Birds came out to thunderous cheers while the Chiefs had overwhelming boos. The Eagles got the ball first and were driving, deciding to go for it on 4th and 2. A 32-yard reception to AJ Brown was overturned by a questionable OPI call that no one outside of Chiefs fans agreed with.

After being forced to punt by the referees, the Eagles defense allowed an 11-yard reception before allowing just one yard on the next three plays and forcing a punt of their own. The running game wasn’t hitting any large games for the Birds, but a 20-yard reception by Goedert, a helmet-to-helmet on the defense, and ultimately a 27-yard reception by Jahan Dotson to the one-yard line setup a tush push for the first score of the game.

The defense responded with another three-and-out and the Eagles offense was driving one again. Behind Jahan Dotson, on another 15-yard reception, the Birds got into easy field goal range before Jalen Hurts heaved it up to the middle of nowhere for the easiest interception you’ll ever see – taking at least three points off the board for Philly. Luckily, the defense forced another three-and-out to get reasonable field position (27 yard loss in field position from the interception). An excellent toe-tap grab in tight coverage by AJ Brown for 22-yards setup the Eagles in field goal range once again where they had to kick it to make it a two-score lead.

The defense responded once again with two sacks before forcing an errant throw that was picked off by Cooper DeJean and returned 38 yards for a touchdown to extend the lead. Another three-and-out got the ball back for the Birds but a miscommunication ended the drive with a punt inside two minutes. In just one play, Sweat forced the OT back into Mahomes and Zack Baun was able to pick off the pass at the 14-yard line. A questionable designed run was followed by a 12-yard crosser to AJ Brown that he turned up the field to make this a 24-0 game with 1:35 left in the half and the Chiefs having just one timeout left.

The Eagles benefitted from a drop after two penalties by the Chiefs and a drop to force a punt. The Eagles had Barkley run the ball to end the half, allowing him to set the NFL record for most rushing yards in a season + postseason to end the half. The team entered the half with the defense having allowed just 23 yards and having two turnovers while the offense put up 24 points.

The Eagles defense allowed just the Chiefs second first down of the game, but two sacks following that forced another punt before the Eagles offense, behind two big Jalen Hurts scrambles and a deep pass to Barkley, burned 6:42 before having to settle for a field goal inside the 10-yard line. The Chiefs spent 2:31 just to gain 16 yards and turn the ball over on downs, leaving the Eagles offense to start at the KC 46. The whole house was sure the Eagles would burn clock and, in a brilliant play call, Hurts took a shot deep and connected with DeVonta Smith for a 46-yard touchdown strike that put the Eagles up five scores with just over 17 minutes left in the game.

The defense let Worthy get behind them and gave up a 50-yard bomb to let KC into Eagles territory for the first time in the game. A few plays later, Mahomes was able to escape to the outside and connect for a touchdown pass to break the shutout with 43 seconds left in the third quarter. The 2-point conversion attempt was way off. The Eagles kept the chains (and clock) moving, burning 5:43, the first of the Chiefs’ timeouts, and put up another field goal behind a Jake Elliott 48-yard attempt.

On their first play from scrimmage, the Chiefs let Mahomes get absolutely killed as Milton Williams forced a fumble that he ultimately recovered. The Eagles ran a bit of clock and took a penalty on the 45-yard field goal attempt, but Elliott was good again from 50 yards out to put the Birds back up five scores. An offside on Jalen Carter negated a nearly 100-yard pick six for Gardner-Johnson, but honestly that would only have been stat padding and extra excitement. The prevent defense did it’s job and kept the ball in front of them and most plays in bounds to keep the clock moving – ultimately the Chiefs did get the touchdown and two-point conversion, but they had to burn 5:07 to do it and found themselves with just one timeout and 2:54 left in the game to try and overcome a 26-point deficit.

Avonte Maddox came up with the recovery on the onside kick and the second-team offense came in to try and run out the clock. The Eagles dumped the Gatorade at that point and the backups burned the final Chiefs timeout and otherwise took the game to the two-minute warning. The Chiefs got the ball back and went deep to score a meaningless touchdown and two-point conversion against the second-team defense. Grant Calcaterra came up with the next on-side kick recovery and with 1:47 on the clock, Kenny Pickett kneeled out the clock to officially secure the franchises’ second-ever Super Bowl Championship.

Offensive MVP: Jalen Hurts

Hurts had a drive and a half in the first half where he just seemed to get totally lost for no apparent reason. Luckily, he locked back in quickly and that lapse lead to only one interception that pinned KC deep. Otherwise, he was an effective passer and he had probably the best scrambling we’ve seen from him since two seasons ago. Ultimately, he went 17/22 with 221 yards and two touchdowns through the air and 72 yards rushing with a tush push touchdown. The Chiefs went all out to stop Barkley and dared Hurts to beat them and he did just that.

Defensive MVP: Josh Sweat

There are certainly arguments for others, but Sweat had a huge impact when the game was still in the balance. He recorded 2.5 sacks that helped to keep the Chiefs being shutout until well into the third quarter. He also had six tackles and won’t get credit on the stat sheet for it, but pushed Joe Thuney into Mahomes and forced him off balance on the throw that turned into a pick.

Game Notes

• Kenny Gainwell made an excellent tackle on a potentially dangerous return in the first quarter.
• Saquon Barkley wasn’t getting much room in the run game as the Cheifs sold out for him, but he had a block on a Hurts designed run and excellent blitz pick-ups throughout the first half. He didn’t have a great game running with the KC defense set up only to stop the run the whole game, but he did break the record and he did all the little things.
• Josh Sweat abused Travis Kelce on the pass rush. It’s a wonder why the though Kelce would be useful as a blocker, but he was basically a traffic cone out there giving up 1.5 sacks in two straight attempts at blocking Sweat.
• Hurts finally looking at Jahan Dotson paid dividends in the first half – he lead all receivers and runners in yardage with 42, potentially proving it was a wise move for Howie Roseman.
• This was a much more spread-out offense for the Eagles than normal and it kept the Chiefs on their heels as they couldn’t sell out for the run and cover all four of the Eagles weapons.
• Johnny Wilson had a near 50% drop rate in college and his lone target in the first half was a blatant drop that could have gone for an easy 5+ yards.
• Brandon Graham didn’t play much, but he did force a hold on what would have otherwise been an easy sack.
• Surely, there wasn’t any Eagles fans excited to see Maddox come in to replace DeJean. He made the first play his way, though, getting the PBU to force the turnover on downs and was effective on the snaps he was in.
• Jake Elliott was perfect in this game – there were plenty of warranted concerns with the season he’s had, but that did not factor in when it mattered most.
• Josh Sweat, Milton Williams, and Zack Baun probably all made themselves more money in this game.
• Three false starts on kicks in this game for the Eagles was probably their worst aspect of the game.
• Milton Williams had three tackles and two sacks to go with his forced fumble and fumble recovery, that shouldn’t be overlooked.
• Isaiah Rodgers’ closeout on the very first drive to get a PBU will probably be forgotten with all that went on, but it was a key play to be made when the game was actually in question and in reach for the Chiefs.
• Rookie Jalyx Hunt getting in on a sack and diving for a tackle was good news for the Birds – he’s a low-cost hit on a draft pick they have control of for three more years and his development will be key to watch.

Injury Notes

• Tyler Steen came in to replace Mekhi Becton in the second quarter. Later in the quarter, Becton did return to the game.
• Nolan Smith appeared to suffer an elbow or upper arm injury on the last defensive play of the first half. He did not leave the game after halftime or receive an injury status.
• Cooper DeJean limped off late in the third quarter and was replaced by Avonte Maddox. He did return the next drive.

Kansas City Chiefs @ Philadelphia Eagles (New Orleans, LA) – February 9, 2025