The Philadelphia Eagles shocked the hundreds of millions viewers that tuned into Super Bowl LIX when they throttled the Kansas City Chiefs en route to a 40-22 victory on Sunday night. The Eagles winning wasn't necessarily a surprise, but what was shocking was how dominant theh were against a Chiefs team that won the previous two Super Bowls.
Philadelphia made the Chiefs and quarterback Patrick Mahomes look lifeless. In the first half, the stifling Eagles defense held the Chiefs to just one first down, 23 yards of offense, no points, and forced two interceptions—including a pick-six. Without dialing up the blitz a single time, the Eagles sacked Mahomes six times and pressured him 16 times on 42 drop backs, per Next Gen Stats.
Despite forcing the worst performance of Mahomes and the Chiefs' offense of his career, the Eagles were not surprised by their dominance. After the victory, multiple players said they knew they could blow the Chiefs out leading up to the game.
Eagles safety Reed Blankenship told NBC Sports, "Honestly, no. We talked about it all week. It wasn’t going to be close. We were that confident. We came out and saw what they were gonna do and they didn’t change a whole lot. I mean we sat back and did what we were supposed to do."
Josh Sweat said, "I thought if we took advantage of our opportunities like we did, we could for sure. I said in all my interviews this week, if we do that, it won't be close."
Linebacked Nolan Smith added, "I believed [it wouldn't be close] just because of how physical we are and how we work. When we walked into meetings everyday, you could tell the determination on guys' faces."
On paper, the Eagles definitely appeared to have a significant edge in talent over the Chiefs—and much of the NFL as well—but that had also not stopped the Chiefs throughout their dynasty. Kansas City has regularly pulled off multiple improbable victories over the last seven years, even when they are outmatched. With a tremendous game-plan from Vic Fangio and a confident, swarming defense, the Eagles trampled this Chiefs team and executed on their pre-game proclamations.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Eagles Believed They Would Blow Out Chiefs Leading Up to the Super Bowl.
