Arrowhead Pride
The Eagles hit Mahomes early and often.
In Super Bowl LIX, the Philadelphia Eagles registered a 40-22 blowout of the Kansas City Chiefs by dominating the line of scrimmage throughout the game. Kansas City didn’t score until it was trailing 34-0 in the third quarter.
Taking advantage of the Chiefs’ lackluster offensive line play (and the team’s refusal to run the ball), the Eagles defensive line had a day to remember, hitting quarterback Patrick Mahomes early and often. Philadelphia finished the contest with six sacks, 11 hits and 17 pressures.
All of this rattled Mahomes — and as a result, his timing was off throughout the night.
The Eagles’ biggest play on Mahomes came on the first play of a drive that began with just under 10 minutes left in the game — and it pretty much summed up the Chiefs’ struggles.
Here, Philadelphia defensive tackle Milton Williams is lined up over Mike Caliendo. On the snap, Williams starts to work the B-gap. Creed Humphrey comes over to assist, but Williams works outside and rips his way through Caliendo’s block.
This forced Mahomes to move to his right, where Jalen Carter lit him up and forced a fumble. Mahomes’ movement opened a lane for Carter to get past Trey Smith for the kill shot.
The Chiefs’ ancillary blocking from the running backs and tight ends was also subpar. This didn’t help left guard Joe Thuney, who struggled while filling in at left tackle. To his credit, he’d had a good playoff run playing out of position — but Philadelphia took advantage of him by putting their larger, more physical pass rushers on the outside against the short-armed All-Pro guard.
Attempting to make first contact, Thuney misses his shot, hitting the edge rusher in the helmet. The defender quickly fires his longer arms and blows Thuney into the backfield to create pressure. Meanwhile, the Chiefs use Travis Kelce and Isiah Pacheco to block the opposite edge rusher while Jawaan Taylor helps Smith along the interior.
Kelce initially locks onto the defensive end — but when Pahceco approaches, Kelce lets go. Pacheco whiffs. Mahomes is already stepping up from the pressure on the left, but the pressure from both sides gives him nowhere to go.
Thuney’s physical deficiencies, Kelce’s baffling decision to let go of the end, and Pacheco’s miss add up to an awful play.
It wasn’t the only befuddling decision we saw in pass blocking.
Here, we see the Chiefs go with a run-action look where Xavier Worthy is coming back across the formation. Kelce is supposed to give the edge rusher a chip block while Taylor blocks the other direction. This is meant to help sell the run and give the Chiefs an extra body in protection.
Humphrey is also supposed to fold outside to support Kelce, which is intended to keep the Eagles' pass rushers guessing — and give Mahomes extra time for a long play down the field.
It doesn’t work.
The Eagles don’t...
