The shame of this Super Bowl is that it will probably be a good football game. It’s also the last football game of meaning for seven months. Those two combined will provide sufficient reason to actually watch it. Pity. This is a game between one team that is annoying and one that’s repulsive. Kansas City has become the team that’s easy to dislike. Perennial winners transform into that role. The over-exposure eventually irritates the senses. There are advertisements in abundance, hyperbolic accolades in bunches, and the inevitable winning despite dire circumstances. It’s an old formula that invariably induces fatigue. The only twist with the Chiefs is the Taylor Swift angle. Apparently some people watch the games just to see the glimpses of her jumping up and down in the luxury suite. Imagine that. The networks feed the need. Then there’s the Eagles. Gag-Ack!
The Super Bowl is a combination of food and football:
Foodie Bowl: KC
These are two cities that lay claim to be food capitals. What the claims to fame are is revealing. Kansas City is purported to be a haven for barbeque. Charlie Weis was the Offensive Coordinator for the Chiefs in 2010. He often said the aroma from BBQ in the parking lot of Arrowhead Stadium was absolutely amazing and distracting. BBQ can be found in the vast majority of the country. It varies depending on the regions. The roots of it go back to colonial times. George Washington would go the horse races in Parole, MD where BBQ was a staple. One can go on any variety of message boards to start a free-for-all by claiming one region has superior “Q.”
Even within regions there a sub-regions. A popular tee shirt in the Carolinas shows divisions and colors for the vinegar sauce (Eastern NC), tomato-based sauce (Central/ Western NC), and mustard sauce (South Carolina). Southeastern U.S. features pork primarily. Texas features dry rubs on beef. But, Kansas City is different. There the emphasis is on a sweet sauce directly applied to seemingly any protein imaginable. Charlie and Arthur Bryant set the standard for what is now KC BBQ by adding brown sugar to a traditional tomato sauce in the 1930s.
You can find “Kansas City Barbeque” joints in far off places like San Diego, CA. It’s a nationwide thing. And, it’s delicious.
Foodie Bowl: PHI
Philadelphia’s claim to fame is the Cheesesteak. Legend has it that the origins trace to the 1930s. Pat Olivieri ran a hot dog stand at 9th and Passyunk. One day he was bored with eating his own hot dog. He took a steak, chopped it while it was cooking added some caramelized onions, put it on a bun, and gave half of it to a Taxi Driver. Cheese came along later. The establishment is still there and going strong as “Pat’s King of Steaks.” Across the street is “Geno’s.” That came along in the 1960’s. There are strong advocates for both sandwiches. The reality is that they are almost indistinguishable. They’re both greasy gut bombs.
Cheesesteaks are available all over the United States. There are, of course, varying levels of success in trying to replicate the two standard bearers. It’s a lunch thing. And, the genre is extremely limited. Oooh! You can add hot peppers to it. How exciting!
Barbeque is a different, and much bigger animal. There are BBQ events and competitions all over the map seemingly every weekend. There are celebrity “Pitmasters.” They sell their “Secret” personal spice and liquid concoctions for devotees. You can find youtube videos of them waxing poetic on such esoterica as how to lovingly trim a chicken thigh. And, there are online and in-person training classes/seminars that range in price from a few hundred to a few thousand dollars. It isn’t limited to the States either. The Smokin’ Elk in Cowplain, Hampshire, UK has a roster of in-person classes. On the other hand you can get a pimple-faced kid at a griddle to teach you how to make a Philly Cheesesteak in about thirteen minutes…with him spending half that time staring at his cell phone.
At the end of the day, Kansas City wins this all important battle. The Philadelphia entry ain’t all that; even with a bag of chips. Unlike the football game, which stands to reason to be very close, this is a blowout.
Two Brands of Ball: KC
These two teams are worlds apart in construction. Ben Johnson, the now Chicago Bears Head Coach and reigning “Assistant Coach of the Year” said some interesting things at his initial presser. The cogent one here is that Quarterback performance was more important than turnovers. It’s a fascinating take. The only team to win a playoff game this year while losing the turnover battle was Kansas City. Some guy named Patrick Mahomes is the QB there.
The Washington playoff run, when dovetailed with the Kansas City playoff run reveals the underlying truth about turnovers: One turnover may be fatal. Ask Baker Mayfield. Or it may be an injury that can be overcome. Ask Patrick Mahomes. But, a cluster of them without a doubt will be fatal. Ask Dan Campbell. Then ask Dan Quinn.
In a Quarterback-centric league the Chiefs have the Quarterback with the biggest “Clutch Gene” in recent history. There have been 122 times in the playoffs since the year-2000 that a QB needed to make a game-winning drive. Tom Brady, he with all the Super Bowl rings, was 5 for 11. Patrick Mahomes is, gulp, 7 for 7. His playoff record is 17-3 in games-started. And, he has won at least two playoff games in a row six times. Lamar Jackson, who many thought would win his third Most Valuable Player award, has never won two playoff games in a row.
The team around Mahomes leaves something to the imagination. The Left Tackle is being held down by the nominal Left Guard. The current Left Guard is, to be charitable, not good. The Right Tackle isn’t a force of nature either. They have a decent Running Back. The Receivers are ok. But, the Tight End is All-World. And, that will be a key. Defensively, they are good up front, but not great. Linebackers are solid. Defensive Backs are a young, but experienced group.
Look for Mahomes, bad ankle and all, to run seven or more times. He has a tendency to do that in the Big Game.
Two Brands of Ball: PHI
Howie Roseman, the Philadelphia General Manager has constructed the best roster in the League. Both Lines are top-shelf. The Giants foolishly let Saquon Barkley walk straight to a Division rival. He’s the best Running Back in the League with a lot of daylight behind him and the chasers. When A.J. Brown is involved in the game plan he is practically unstoppable. DeVonta Smith is one of the best WR2’s in the game. He also has a knack of getting calls for balls he drops or when he’s out-of-bounds in big games. The Tight End room is good. The Defensive Line is spectacular. The Linebackers are still good despite their best one being injured. And, the Defensive Backs are a mixed lot, but still good. Philly’s Defense tackles very well. The Eagles’ limitation is their Quarterback, Jalen Hurts.
In many respects these two teams are reverse images. If you put Hurts on the Kansas City squad they may well have not made the playoffs. If you put Mahomes on the Eagles they would be favored by 20+ points over whomever they faced this week. The difference is that dramatic.
Saquon
You’ve heard a ridiculous amount of times that the key for Kansas City is to contain Barkley. They don’t have to “contain” him. They just need to not let him hit the Home Run. If they hold him to 150-yards their odds of winning go way up. That sounds crazy in some respects because 150-yards is a lot of yards. But, Saquon can go over 200 with ease on many occasions. It’s a good matchup, though. KC has not allowed a single runner to gain 100-yards all season.
Saquon is also effective as a Receiver. He caught 90 balls his Rookie Year. PHI likes to run “12 Personnel” (1 RB and 2 TE). Look for KC to run a variation of Run Blitz sometimes called a “Snatch Blitz” among other names where one Linebacker crashes through one of the “A-Gaps” between Center and Guard. That forces the RB into Blitz pickup and eliminates the threat of him going out for a pass. The goal isn’t to get the QB. The goal is to eliminate Barkley from the option list for Hurts. Barkley has 43 targets this year.
Coaching Genius: PHI
Vic Fangio, the Defensive Coordinator for Philly has taken a talented roster to the #1 Defense in the League. He has a system that is a bit unique. By and large he has a 2-deep Safety set. The goal is to avoid the deep ball. He’ll give up the passes to the flats. It’s not “Tampa 2.” It’s a zone with man-type coverage technique within the zone. His Corners are mixed. Quinyon Mitchell is excellent. The other Corner, Darius Slay is past prime. Isaiah Rodgers is the rotational Corner and he’s just plain bad. The hole in this Defense is right in the middle of the field, especially against Tight Ends. Zach Ertz caught 9 balls last week. There were 3 other catches by the Tight End Room for a total of 12. The Rams caught 11 TE balls the week before. Motion by the Tight End often pulls one of the Safeties down. Look for Travis Kelce to have a big day as he schools rookie Cooper DeJean. In order to win KC needs just that to happen.
Coaching Genius: KC
The tandem of Andy Reid and Steve Spagnuolo should be illegal. Look no farther than these two to understand why the Chiefs are back in the Super Bowl yet again. “Spags” is the master of disguised blitzes. He saved a Corner Blitz for the pivotal last play against the current MVP of the League Josh Allen in the Conference Championship Game. Allen didn’t see it coming. This guy knows how to win Super Bowls from the Defensive side. He’s done it four times.
Jalen Hurts is one QB when he’s in a tight game; hesitant and erratic. He’s another, and much better QB with a comfortable lead as Washington found out two weeks ago. He also doesn’t like pressure. Behind that stellar O-Line he doesn’t face it all that often. Two years ago against KC he was decisive and accurate. But, a fumble did him in. He hasn’t looked that good since. Expect Spags to dial up plenty of heat from all over the place today. How Hurts handles it will have a lot to say about the outcome of the game.
The obvious edge in coaching goes to Kansas City. Kellen Moore may be going to a Head Coaching job in the same stadium in which the game will be played. But, he’s going up against arguably the best Defensive Coordinator in the recent history of the game.
Season’s End
Regardless of the outcome football is over for a long while. Cruelly, the anticipation and excitement of the season builds to a climax with this game. Then it dumps you into the dreary and endless gray of February. The void is enormous. It is the “Business Season” of football. There is a certain appeal to it. But, it’s a poor substitute to the feeling of being stupefied as a “Hail Mary” pass lands in Noah Brown‘s hands. For something similar we will simply have to wait until September.
To salve the void here is a compilation of every single one of Jayden Daniels‘ 37 touchdowns this season including that truly miraculous Hail Mary:
Time and tide wait for no one. After the game the Front Office will begin to re-sign/ restructure/ reduce salaries for the players at hand. March 12 is the opening of Free Agency. The Draft starts April 24. Bill Veeck famously said there are only two seasons to the year: Baseball and Winter. Football is much different. There’s always something happening in football. For the first year in many the Burgundy and Gold faithful have good reason to pay attention to every minute.
Super Bowl 59
New Orleans, LA
6:30 PM Fox
Game commentators: Kevin Burkhardt, Tom Brady
Sideline reporters: Erin Andrews, Tom Rinaldi
Rules analyst: Mike Pereira
