SUPER BOWL PREVIEW

Super Bowl LVII is set to be played on Sunday, February 12 between the AFC champion Kansas City Chiefs and the NFC champion Philadelphia Eagles in Glendale, Arizona. 

Both teams finished the regular season with 14-3 records and the number-one seed in their conferences. The Chiefs won a thriller in the AFC title game against the Cincinnati Bengals to get to their third Super Bowl in the last four seasons. Meanwhile, the Eagles have been rolling, winning by 38-7 and 31-7 scores in their two playoff games to get to this point. Philly won it all back in 2017 and the Chiefs won their second ever Super Bowl title three years ago. 

Both teams can score points and are led by young quarterbacks. Jalen Hurts is in his second season as the starting QB for the Eagles and of course Patrick Mahomes has been the starter in Kansas City for the last five years and is likely to win his second NFL Most Valuable Player award prior to the action on Sunday evening. 

Mahomes' main target in the high profile K.C. offense is tight end Travis Kelce, who has scored three touchdowns in the post-season. Along with Kelce are wide receivers Marquez Valdes-Scantling, JuJu Smith-Schuster and Kedarius Toney. The running backs are Isiah Pacheco, Jerrick McKinnon and also Clyde Edwards-Helaire, who has been out of action since Week 11 but will look to contribute. 

Defensively, the Chiefs were decent in 2022, but they can get after opposing passers and are led by Chris Jones up front. The secondary features L'Jarius Sneed, Justin Reid and Trent McDuffie and they will be challenged big time taking on the like of Eagles wideouts A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith.

Philadelphia has Hurts at quarterback along with running backs Miles Sanders and Kenneth Gainwell. The receivers (Brown and Smith) are outstanding and tight end Dallas Goedert has been a beast in the playoffs as well. But the Eagles defense has been the story so far this post-season and for good reason. 

The Philadelphia defense had 70 quarterback sacks in the regular season and continue their onslaught, getting five more against the New York Giants (divisional round) and three more in their win against the San Francisco 49ers in the NFC Championship Game. Haason Reddick (linebacker) leads the way for the team on defense and up front are Javon Hargrave, Josh Sweat, Robert Quinn, Brandon Graham and Fletcher Cox. The secondary has been solid all year as well with the likes of Darius Slay and James Bradberry at the corners and safeties C.J. Gardner-Johnson, Marcus Epps and Reed Blankenship. 

Throw in the extra stories of the Kelce brothers (Travis and Jason) playing against each other with a chance to get a second Super Bowl ring. Jason is the All-Pro center for the Eagles and Travis is perhaps the best tight end in the entire league. And let's not forget Andy Reid, the Head Coach for the Chiefs. Reid used to be the head coach in Philadelphia and was there 18 years ago when they lost to the New England Patriots in the Super Bowl. 

All in all, it should be an interesting event and the game should be exciting as well. The call here is for the Eagles to win a squeaker, but that will depend on their tenacious defense putting the pressure on Mahomes and company in much the same manner the Tampa Bay Buccaneers were able to when they routed the Chiefs, 31-9 two years ago in Super Bowl LV.  

It could very well come down to either the Eagles defense getting the big stop late in the game or Philadelphia marching down the field late in the game against the Chiefs defense to get the win. 

 

                              PREDICTION - Philadelphia 28, Kansas City 27