I would really doubt the veracity of that statement.
Speaking of bad fields, MetLife stadium is getting new artificial turf starting next season. They haven’t decided which type yet, but it won’t be the same one everybody’s been complaining about for the last several years.
Thank you for my laugh of the day.
I had no problem with the referees. But I thought I knew what a fair catch was. A little bobble in the arms after several seconds, several steps and falling with relatively little movement seems a little much to me. I have no doubts the referees enforced the rules, though.
A couple of post-SB factoids that I saw today:
Patrick Mahomes is the first quarterback ever to lead the league in passing and also win the Super Bowl.
Mahomes is also the first player to win MVP and a Super Bowl in the same year since Kurt Warner did it with the Rams back in 1999.
The Chiefs victory yesterday broke an 8-year string of teams winning the opening coinflip and then losing the game.
The Eagles led the NFL with 70 sacks in the season. They had no sacks yesterday.
Jalen Hurts had arguably the best game ever for a losing quarterback: 27-38 passing for 304 yards and one touchdown, 15 carries for 70 yards and 3 touchdowns.
Mahomes 26-yard scramble was his longest run of the season. It was also the longest run ever by a quarterback in a Super Bowl. (This stat surprised me. Given all the good running quarterbacks that have played in a SB, one would think that somebody would have broken a longer run. Think Randall Cunningham, Steve Young, John Elway, Russell Wilson, Michael Vick, Colin Kaepernick, etc. etc.)
And yet he simply dropped a ball that bounced off his foot and gave the Chiefs their easiest touchdown of the game. Take away that fumble, Eagles win.
I don’t think Cunningham or Vick played in the Super Bowl. Nevertheless, your point stands.
Here’s a stat I noticed (unrelated to this Super Bowl, but still).
The top QB touchdown pass seasons in the NFL:
| 1 | Peyton Manning+ (37) | 55 | 2013 | DEN |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | Tom Brady (30) | 50 | 2007 | NWE |
| Patrick Mahomes (22) | 50 | 2018 | KAN | |
| 4 | Peyton Manning+ (28) | 49 | 2004 | IND |
| 5 | Dan Marino+ (22) | 48 | 1984 | MIA |
| Aaron Rodgers (36) | 48 | 2020 | GNB |
None of them won the Super Bowl that year.
You’re right, my bad.
Well I’ll be a monkey’s uncle. I was skeptical of this — immediately Kurt Warner and The Greatest Show on Turf came to mind — and so I double checked, and sure enough it’s true.
As Bullitt just clarified, they obviously mean passing yards.
I know at least one champ QB who led in passer rating: Snake Stabler 1976-77.
Dumb luck. It was a grid football pool. I got 2 score changes and the first quarter. $500 a box.
There’s a few variations of this general idea, first proposed by coach Greg Schiano after one of his players was paralyzed in a kickoff. My preferred version is that you get the ball on a 4th and 15 no matter what, and then can elect to either punt or go for it. That way special teams is still important and it’s easier to run trick plays.
Thank you; I was trying to remember the name of the coach who had either come up with the idea, or had been actively campaigning for it.
I think it’s a good idea, though one thing that eliminating kickoffs entirely would do is also remove the possibility of the “surprise” onside kick – that is, one that’s done when it’s not the obvious move by the kicking team, particularly earlier in the game than the latter part of the fourth quarter, and when the kicking team is behind.
That said, I suspect that those occur very rarely, and so, I’m not sure that it’d a huge loss to the game.
That’s why I favor the version where you get the ball on 4th and 15 no matter what, and can choose to either punt or run a play. 99% of the time teams are going to punt, but they can always try to run a surprise play to get the down if they want.
The player was Eric LeGrand. I’ve met him a couple of times. He’s a great guy. He’s on the radio broadcast team for Rutgers.
Speaking of Rutgers, Isiah Pacheco is a great story. From 7th round draft pick to RB1 in the Super Bowl and scoring a touchdown in his rookie season.
Pacheco was a major difference in the Chiefs offense this year. He is one tough runner and gave KC another threat.
Fair point; one could run a fake punt on that play.
Greg Schiano still tries to rush victory formations, which only succeeds in causing injuries. He can take his ideas on preventing injuries and sit on 'em.
I was glad to see the Eagles defender admitted he graded the receiver’s Hersey and thought he could get away with it. Class act.
Is that “grabbed the receiver’s jersey”?
At first I honestly thought you were saying that he gave a review of a candy bar, and thought that was maybe a movie reference I didn’t get.
Took me a bit to translate. If I got it wrong, please let me know.
That’s one of those discretionary things that drive players (and fans) nuts. They hadn’t been calling it all game and suddenly decided to call it. It was technically the correct call but the inconsistency, especially at a key moment in the game, can be jarring.
Has nothing to do with being a class act or not. Players adjust to whatever the officials are calling. That’s what they are taught and trained to do.
It’s like umpires in baseball. Most people would be ok with odd strike zones (within reason) as long as things are called consistently for/against both sides through the entire game.