/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/73895059/2197670276.0.jpg?w=1200&resize=1200,800&ssl=1 "The Linc – “Eagles fans outnumber Chiefs fans in New Orleans. And it’s not even close.”")
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/73895059/2197670276.0.jpg "The Linc – “Eagles fans outnumber Chiefs fans in New Orleans. And it’s not even close.”")
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Let’s get to the Philadelphia Eagles links …
As of Friday night, Eagles fans dramatically outnumber Chiefs fans in New Orleans – PFT
It’s a very unscientific, eyeballs-based assessment. As of Friday night, it’s not even close. Based on what I saw at dinner on Friday night and during the one-mile walk back to the hotel (with a quick stop for a hand-rolled cigar), Eagles fans outnumber Chiefs fans in New Orleans. And it’s not even close. It meshes with the report from PFT Live producer Matt Casey, who texted from the airport after the show wrapped for the week that all he saw was Eagles fans arriving. On the surface, it means nothing. For now. If Eagles fans dramatically outnumber Chiefs fans at the Superdome on Sunday, it will work to Philly’s advantage once they start making noise.
Saquon Barkley was the best free agent signing in 2024. But the best signing the Eagles made might have been Vic Fangio. Last season the Eagles play callers were a serious disadvantage. This year, they’ve been difference makers. It may decide the Super Bowl.
On the Shane Page #69: Previewing Super Bowl LIX w/BLG – Eagles Pin-Pull
Shane is joined by Brandon Lee Gowton from Bleeding Green Nation to break down the Super Bowl matchup between the Eagles and the Chiefs. What is the biggest matchup that favors the Eagles? Would you feel more confident if the Eagles needed a game-winning drive or needed to prevent the Chiefs from going on one? What is the blueprint for beating the Chiefs? How will the guys be watching the game? They discuss all these questions and more before making their official predictions.
Why Saquon Barkley left Giants, and how the Eagles landed him for Super Bowl run – SB Nation
He is also in the Super Bowl for the first time in his career, and was named a finalist for league MVP honors. He also secured All-Pro honors for the first time in his career. There is of course another layer to this, which leads us back to Daniel Jones. Following the 2022 season the Giants faced contract decisions on both Jones and Barkley. While Jones ultimately signed a four-year extension worth up to $160 million, Barkley ended up with the franchise tag after turning down a three-year contract with just $19.5 million guaranteed. That math was put into clear light in another moment from Hard Knocks, where Schoen quipped that when it comes to Jones, “[y]ou’re paying the guy $40 million. It’s not to hand the ball off to a $12 million back.” Jones is, as you might recall, now on the Minnesota Vikings. And he, like the rest of us, will be watching Barkley in the Super Bowl with the Eagles. You might understand if the Giants fans in your life will be watching something else.
The challenge of Saquon Barkley and the Eagles offensive line – Arrowhead Pride
Barkley has been the key to the Eagles’ offense this season, and to beat them and claim the first three-peat in NFL history, the Chiefs must find ways to slow down the ground attack. It will all start up front with the Chiefs’ defensive line and how they perform against the Eagles’ front five. The Chiefs have a good run-stopping defensive line, and this week will be massive for players like Chris Jones, Mike Pennel, George Karlaftis, Charles Omenihu, Mike Danna and Tershawn Wharton. This week will also be massive for the linebackers. Nick Bolton, Drue Tranquill, and Leo Chenal must all bring their “A” games for the Chiefs to find any defensive success against the Eagles. This game will also be big for secondary players like Justin Reid, Chamarri Conner, Jaden Hicks and Trent McDuffie, as this group tends to be the Chiefs’ secondary players who play snaps in the tackle box or the flat. Winning individual matchups against blockers will be key, and rallying to the football and preventing Barkley from breaking the big one will be Paramount. A player like Barkley will get his share of production, but if the Chiefs time their looks right, they can set themselves up to make key stops in big moments.
Super Bowl 59: Schematic keys for each team that could decide the game – PFF
Pull linemen to generate explosive runs. The Eagles have created the second-most explosive runs (runs of 10-plus yards) and the second-most yards before contact this season. Their offensive line tends to provide big rushing lanes, and their running back takes advantage of that by creating big chunk gains. A big part of Philadelphia’s running game is pulling linemen — specifically, counter and pull-lead plays. A counter run is when two players from the back side of the formation pull around to the front side. Pull lead is more of a blanket term for when an offense pulls a player from the front side, and it’s usually seen the most with a pin-pull concept. The Eagles lead the league with 28 explosive runs and a whopping 3.4 yards before contact (more than a yard ahead of second place) off these concepts. These runs typically put defensive linemen at a leverage disadvantage, and if the linebackers don’t react quickly, the defense could be at a numbers disadvantage. So, the Eagles could exploit the Chiefs’ typically stout run defense. Kansas City has allowed 0.12 expected points added per play on these concepts, ranking fifth worst in the NFL. Meanwhile, the defense has let up -0.135 EPA per play on all other run concepts.
Eagles mailbag: What will be the most memorable play in Super Bowl LIX? – PhillyVoice
Question from @mdonz610: What is the biggest matchup advantage & disadvantage for the Eagles? In my opinion, this is not a very good Chiefs offensive line. We’ve been through this throughout the week, but after three different left tackles proved ineffective for the Chiefs this season, they moved LG Joe Thuney out to LT, and filled in Mike Caliendo at LG. Thuney is nowhere near as good a LT as he is a LG, and the dropoff from Thuney to Caliendo at LG is substantial. I also don’t love Jawaan Taylor out at RT. That’s three potential problem areas for the Chiefs’ offensive line. As the season has progressed, Nolan Smith has gotten better and better, and Jalen Carter has remained a beast. I think this is a major opportunity for the Georgia guys to have a big impact. As for matchup disadvantages, while I believe that Jalen Hurts has come a long way against the blitz this season after he and the staff worked hard on fixing their issues all summer and into the regular season, Steve Spagnuolo is a master at getting free rushers at the quarterback. That, combined with Hurts’ penchant for holding onto the ball for an eternity, is a path to a Chiefs “Three-Peat.”
These guys seem to genuinely care about one another. That has helped them to play at a high level and accomplish some amazing things. Stop and think about Saquon Barkley for a second. He has three TD runs of 60 or more yards in the postseason. Most RBs wouldn’t do that in a career, let alone a three-game span. Barkley has given us a lifetime of memories in just one season. I can’t wait to see what he does on Sunday. I will write a preview on Saturday, but I will say for now that the more I think and study up on the game, the more confident I get. Maybe that is a result of too much PBR over the years. I just keep coming back to the Eagles having so many good players and this team being so good since the bye week. This feels like a special team.
Super Bowl betting buzz: Back-and-forth line movement, lopsided action on the over, Barkley – ESPN
The Super Bowl line, which had been mostly stagnant for over a week, moved multiple times Friday at ESPN BET. But the adjustments wouldn’t stick. At 11:22 a.m. Friday, the sportsbook moved the line from Kansas Chiefs -1 (-105) to a pick ‘em. It was the first time ESPN BET had moved the game to a pick ‘em. It would last roughly seven minutes, before Kansas City was once again a 1-point favorite. Later in the day, around 2:40 p.m., ESPN BET moved all the way to Philadelphia Eagles -1, but again quickly shifted back to the Chiefs as the favorite. “Wagers are fairly balanced right now across both teams,” Adrian Horton of ESPN BET said. “The action is a little heavier on Philadelphia for the game, but from a futures perspective, an Eagles win would be a better result for us.” While the action entering the weekend was balanced on the winner, the betting had been lopsided on the total and select player props.
Eagles safety C.J. Gardner-Johnson can spark Hurts as well. They seldom face off in practice, but during a situational period that pitted the starting units against each other the week before the Eagles’ divisional-round win over the Rams, Gardner-Johnson said he finally got a fiery response to his steady stream of trash talk. “He beat us on a third down in the stadium,” Gardner-Johnson said. “He was like, ‘How you like that, b—?’ … You don’t expect Jalen to say [stuff].” In a way, Hurts can even be competitive about losses. Whether it’s the skepticism they can generate — perceived or otherwise — or their tendency to stoke the flame.After the Eagles’ NFC championship win over the Commanders, Hurts alluded to the past roadblocks as a reason for his embracing a lesser role in the offense this season. “By losing,” Hurts said. “It’s losing. Failure has to be used as a source of pain to go take that next step. And there’s always learning opportunities in everything. It’s human nature to be ignited by the shortcomings.”
In Roob’s Daily Observations: Why Jalen Hurts will play well Sunday – NBCSP
1. Jalen Hurts goes into the Super Bowl on a remarkable postseason roll. In his last seven postseason games – so all but Tampa in 2021 – he’s completed 69 percent of his passes for 1,334 yards with seven passing TDs, nine rushing touchdowns and no interceptions. Other quarterbacks who’ve completed 69 percent of their passes with no interceptions over a seven-game postseason stretch? That would be nobody. Hurts is the only quarterback in NFL history with seven straight postseason starts without an interception. He’s one of eight with four career starts with 70 percent completion percentage and no interceptions. He’s the only quarterback with 16 combined TDs – seven passing, nine rushing – in a seven-game span with no interceptions. He’s one of six QBs with five postseason games with a 100 passer rating or higher in his first five seasons. He’s one of six players in postseason history with nine rushing touchdowns in a seven-game span. He’s thrown 206 consecutive postseason passes without an interception, nine shy of Drew Brees’ NFL record set from 2006 through 2011. He’s won five postseason games, 3rd-most in history before a quarterback’s 27th birthday (behind Patrick Mahomes and Ben Roethlisberger). He’s only the fifth quarterback to reach two Super Bowls before his 27thbirthday (along with Tom Brady, Roethlisberger, Russell Wilson and Mahomes). There’s no reason not to expect Hurts to play at a very high level Sunday.
“I think he’s the biggest X-factor …,” Pro Football Focus analyst Trevor Sikkema told NJ Advance Media on Wednesday. “The way I look at it is if Jalen completes two to three big-time throws in this game, I fully believe the Eagles are going to be there right at the very end, if not winning this Super Bowl. But if he only completes one and he’s not attacking deep down the field and completing those two to three throws that you’re going to complete to win this game, whether they are clutch throws or deep passes or whatever it is, that’s when I say, ‘I’m going to favor the Chiefs winning this one again.‘”
3-and-Out: Jeremiah Washburn on the rise of Nolan Smith – PE.com
How has Nolan Smith made such a leap from Year 1 to Year 2? “Just the detail of the game, he’s really taken that to heart. And just kind of taking something from every vet that he’s been around, he’s taken a little something from each guy and put that in his game and put it all together.”
The idea of an opening game script goes back to the Bill Walsh days. But Reid has perfected the practice of designing an offense’s first 15 plays—and he’ll need every bit of that skill against the Eagles.
Lurie is so passionate about culture that he doesn’t even want to discuss the particulars of his. It’s worth noting that other than Kelly, Lurie’s head-coaching hires have not been the hottest candidates in any coaching cycle. “There’s certain core principles of culture — it started with Andy — and we don’t deviate from that culture,” said Lurie (who purchased the team in 1994 and hired Reid five years later) this week. “Every time we’ve hired a coach, it has been unique to the moment, but they incorporate the core principles we have. We’re not asking them to create the culture. We provide what we have and we think they are the best at that moment to accentuate it all. It’s one question I don’t want to answer. You can call it the secret sauce. It’s self-evident to us. When we watch the coaching carousel, it almost doesn’t relate to what we’re trying to accomplish. The core organizational principles are in cement.”
Luke McCaffrey – The Forgotten Commander – Hogs Haven
There has been a lot of talk this offseason about surrounding Jayden Daniels with more offensive weapons. Terry McLaurin had an All-Pro season in 2024, catching 82 passes for 1,096 yards and a career best 13 touchdowns, but the hunt to find a complement to him on the outside left more questions than it did answers. Noah Brown looked to be that guy for a period of time before injury ended his season. Dyami Brown had some moments, especially during the Commanders three-game playoff run, but inconsistencies have plagued him throughout his four-year career, and he is set to become a free agent in March. Offseason chatter has centered around pending free agents like Tee Higgins and Chris Godwin, and trade targets like Cooper Kupp, Garrett Wilson and George Pickens. The NFL draft has some intriguing guys like Emeka Egbuka, Tre Harris and Savion Williams. However, is second-year receiver Luke McCaffrey being overlooked?
Rumors and speculation. Between now and the start of the new league year and free agency (March 12), that is the basis of the offseason we are heading into. Should the Dallas Cowboys trade for such and such player? Should they sign such and such free agent? Who will they select in the 2025 NFL Draft? With very little concrete evidence, rumors and speculation is just about the only thing we have to go on right now. That means we can pretty much throw caution to the wind and suggest moves the Cowboys should make that may be simply pipedreams. Such as the case with the current trade rumors around the Seattle Seahawks and star wide receiver DK Metcalf, who could be dealt via trade. This rumor is loosely based upon the Seahawks need to create more salary-cap space and the fact Metcalf is entering the final year of his contract.
Big Blue View mailbag: Jaxson Dart, Joe Schoen, offensive line, more – Big Blue View
Matthew, the Daniel Jones selection by the Giants was very much about the idea that he fit the Eli Manning profile, one that the Giants had succeeded with, and had all the Manning connections. Jaxson Dart will, of course, give those flashbacks. He went to Ole Miss. He has a relationship with Manning from there, and from the Manning Passing Academy. John Mara owns the Giants, and if Eli signs off on the idea that Dart could win in New York that will always carry weight. Joe Schoen and Brian Daboll have no connection to Manning, but I do think they would be foolish not to ask his opinion of this quarterback class. Manning has expressed his willingness to help evaluate the group. I think that in the end ownership will let Schoen and Daboll make their choice.
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