The Los Angeles Rams watched the Super Bowl from home on Sunday after winning a championship on this day one year ago. They were treated to a thrilling game between the Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles, who taught us a thing or two in the big game.
There are a handful of lessons the Rams can take away from the Chiefs and Eagles’ performance in Super Bowl LVII, from their running game to the defenses. Here are four things they can learn as they head into the 2023 offseason.
1
Defense doesn’t always win championships
The Eagles entered Super Bowl LVII with the top-ranked pass defense in the NFL and the most sacks in the league. In fact, their 78 sacks during the regular season and postseason were the third-most in NFL history, four shy of the record 82 sacks by the 1984 Bears.
Yet, the Chiefs didn’t allow a single sack in the game. The Eagles secondary didn’t break up a single pass thrown by Patrick Mahomes, with the only pass deflection coming from linebacker T.J. Edwards.
This isn’t to say defense doesn’t matter at all, but in today’s NFL, having a high-powered offense is far more important. The Eagles defense had no answer for the Chiefs offense in the second half, allowing them to score on all four possessions, including three straight touchdown drives. One of them was only 5 yards thanks to Kadarius Toney’s punt return, but the point still stands.
Jalen Hurts and the Eagles offense did everything they could to win the game, but it was the defense that let them down – a defense that was considered one of the best in football.
2
You don’t need a top RB to win a ring
The leading rusher in the game was Isiah Pacheco, a rookie seventh-round pick out of Rutgers. The next-leading rusher? Hurts, a quarterback. Then Mahomes, another quarterback. Jerick McKinnon had 34 yards on his four carries, and it’s not as if he’s a top running back. Kenneth Gainwell out-touched and outgained Miles Sanders, too.
The Chiefs and Eagles both showed in this game that top-end running backs don’t make all that much difference. The Chiefs leaned on a seventh-round rookie and the Eagles preferred their former fifth-round pick, Gainwell, to Sanders, who was a second-rounder and their primary running back all season.
This is all to say the Rams shouldn’t go out and sign one of the many marquee free-agent running backs who will be available this offseason. They also shouldn’t draft a running back early again.
3
You can scheme against a premier pass rush
According to Next Gen Stats, Mahomes’ average time to throw in the regular season was 2.89 seconds, the 12th-longest in football. In the Super Bowl, he averaged just 2.69 seconds per throw. That would’ve been the 10th-quickest in the NFL this season.
Why? Because he was going up against the league’s top pass-rush unit. And yet the Chiefs schemed against it perfectly, allowing zero sacks and only seven total pressures in the game. Mahomes was getting the ball out quickly to prevent Fletcher Cox, Javon Hargrave, Haason Reddick and Josh Sweat from getting close to him.
That doesn’t mean pass rushers aren’t important because they absolutely are. But there are ways to scheme against them, like quick passes, pre-snap motion, rolling out the quarterback and screens.
Granted, it helps to have someone as elusive as Mahomes, but the Chiefs were brilliant at scheming against the Eagles’ pass rush. The Rams could take a few notes from their game plan.
The Eagles did not sack Patrick Mahomes on any of their 7 pressures. The Eagles converted 32.1% of their pressures into sacks this season (incl. playoffs), the 3rd-highest rate since 2016.
Mahomes, Under Pressure (since 2018):
🔹 15.2% sack rate (1st)#SBLVII | #ChiefsKingdom
— Next Gen Stats (@NextGenStats) February 13, 2023
4
Athletic tight ends can be game-changers
As valuable as wide receivers are, Sunday’s game showed us what athletic tight ends can do. Travis Kelce led the Chiefs with 81 yards receiving, catching six passes and the team’s first touchdown, too. On the Eagles’ side, Dallas Goedert caught six of his seven targets for 60 yards, moving the chains three times – including twice on third down in the third quarter.
The Rams don’t have a tight end in the mold of Kelce and Goedert. They don’t have a seam-buster who can dominate the middle of the field, while also making athletic grabs along the sideline.
Tyler Higbee has been a valuable piece of the offense in recent years, but he didn’t look like himself in 2022 and has lost a step. It would benefit the Rams to find a tight end who can make big plays at tight end the way Kelce and Goedert did on Sunday.
