The Kansas City Chiefs are your Super Bowl LVII champions after defeating the Philadelphia Eagles 38-35 on Sunday.
Andy Reid predicted ahead of the game that the team would have an unsung player who stepped up during the game that hadn’t been talked much about ahead of it. As it turns out, they had several.
Here’s a look at four of the players who put up some underrated performances contributing to the Chiefs’ victory over the Eagles:
RT Andrew Wylie (and the entire offensive line)
The entire Kansas City Chiefs offensive line seemed to take offense to the fact that the Philadelphia Eagles defensive line was getting such praise ahead of Super Bowl LVII. They were given no chance against the league-leading unit in sacks. Well, they allowed 0 sacks all night as a unit, but one player, in particular, stood out.
Andrew Wylie was matched up against Haason Reddick, whose 16 regular-season sacks tied for the second-most in the NFL in 2022. Reddick was held to one tackle and no sacks during the game because of plays like this from Wylie:
Andrew. Wylie. pic.twitter.com/HWr0O386dT
— Josh Cohen (@JCohen_NFL) February 13, 2023
Andrew Wylie driving Haason Reddick through the earth’s crust #SuperBowl pic.twitter.com/ybS4TZCP6Q
— Tim Fletcher (@FletcherShow) February 13, 2023
That wasn’t the only pancake he got and the movement he was getting in the ground game reminded you why undersized players like Reddick are so hit-and-miss as edge rushers.
LB Leo Chenal
Chenal played five defensive snaps in the AFC Championship Game against the Cincinnati Bengals. He increased his snap total to 19 defensive snaps against Philadelphia in Super Bowl LVII, mostly because the Eagles wanted to force the Chiefs into their base 4-3 personnel. That was a mistake on their part.
Chenal made life difficult for Philly when they went that route. He recorded six total tackles, one tackle for loss and a sack in the game. He thrived on run defense and even made some plays in coverage for Kansas City. In the final game of the season, we really got a chance to see Death Row come alive for the Chiefs.
DT Khalen Saunders
Saunders definitely had the wagon on Sunday night. This man played with so much hustle that if you didn’t know he was a defensive tackle you might have thought he was a linebacker. He did an excellent job of not letting Hurts get the edge here in the third quarter and it resulted in a field goal instead of a chance at seven points.
Khalen Saunders w/ one of underlying monumental plays of the game. Great hustle by the big fella. At 1st I thought it was just a great job of not letting Hurts truly get the edge but ended up w/ a sack! pic.twitter.com/8Qvk9fpoYp
— 𝘽𝙧𝙖𝙣𝙙𝙤𝙣 𝙅 𝘽𝙚𝙡𝙡 (@__bbell) February 13, 2023
“I’m going to remember being doubted every game,” Saunders said in the locker room after the game.
Nobody is doubting you here, big fella. You’re a two-time champion because of plays like this.
WR Marcus Kemp
For the second consecutive playoff game, Marcus Kemp made a key play that helped the Chiefs win the game. This time around, the contributions won’t show up in the box score, but they were just as important. On Kadarius Toney’s record 65-yard punt return, Kemp was the guy who hustled down the field and cleared out the path for Toney as a lead blocker.
KADARIUS TONEY TAKES IT DOWN TO THE 5 YARD LINE.
THIS GAME. 🔥🔥🔥
📺: #SBLVII on FOX
📱: Stream on NFL+ https://t.co/d8gBDzRt2m pic.twitter.com/bFMl6VQPUA— NFL (@NFL) February 13, 2023
Kemp takes out five Eagles defenders with his blocking on this play and without it, it’s possible that the Chiefs don’t come up with the score needed to extend their lead to 35 points.
