Easy to forget that the Chiefs and Raiders racked up a lot of AFC titles in the early days. Also easy to forget that the 49ers were a bit of a clown show before Bill Walsh showed up.
At least at a glance, this makes some logical sense. It’s the old adage about getting hot at the right time. If a lower seeded team makes it to the Super Bowl, odds are pretty good that they have been punching above their weight for several games at least. And in some cases, they may have won 8 straight to get into the playoffs after an inconsistent start. Or else they competed in a brutal division all season, getting tested every week. The lower seed also didn’t have the benefit of a bye or a soft matchup the way a 1 or 2 seed might, so they could be more battle hardened. They likely already pulled 1 or 2 massive upsets.
That said that 4-14 mark over the last 25 years is well outside of any normal expectation.
This game was a comparison of two strategies. The Chiefs focused on Saquon Barkley to stop the Eagles running game. The Eagles focused on Mahomes to stop the Chiefs entire game. That pretty much explains what happened last night. The Eagles chose the better strategy.
Is that really a fair comparison though? The Texans are a 2002 expansion team & the Jags only since '95. The Raiders have none & the Broncos only one since the Texans came to be if you compare the AFC South to the AFC west in that time span.
indeed. barkley is not the entire eagles offence.
I only watched the first half, but I read that the crowd booed Taylor Swift. What was that about?
Politics
Oh, for fuck’s sake. 
Yeah, not at all. Just kinda funny, that’s all.
I don’t even think it was politics. The crowd booed the Chiefs as they came out. The crowd was more Eagles fans. Eagles fans have strong football-related opinions and very loud voices. In football world, Taylor Swift represents the other team.
That’s a decent way to put it. I’d say it’s even simpler though - the Eagles won the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball, but especially when the Chiefs were on offense.
One of the lessons of this season has been that a D-line that can generate pressure without blitzing is a top priority. I think they said the Eagles had a 50%+ pressure rate with zero blitzes. That’s insane.
I actually think the Chiefs defense performed OK, considering the pressure they were under. Just the one long pass play, which was a great call with the game basically already over. If you take away the 14 points that came directly off turnovers, they gave up 26 points. Not great, but theoretically good enough to make it a close game.
The problem (and boy was it a problem) was how unbelievably bad the Chiefs offense did. I can’t figure out why they made no adjustments to handle the pass rush. They called one screen pass that I can remember (it was well-read and didn’t work). At some point in the second half they had called 6 running plays. Really bad coaching job by Reid/Nagy in this one.
ETA: Of course you have to caveat any statistical analysis with the fact that so much of the game was garbage time with the Eagles just coasting/eating clock. I’m sure they could have scored more if they needed to.
Once the Eagles had a 40-6 lead, I wished they would have sent nothing but nonstop blitzes on defense from that point on, just to fuck with Mahomes. Who cares if you give up three touchdowns, just get several more sacks and ten more knockdowns.
For what purpose? I doubt they have the same personal grudge against Mahomes that you or some rando fan might.
Seems silly to me and risky for injuries.
Yesterday Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker did not score a point. I doubt if that’s ever happened before in a game in which he played.
The Chiefs masterfully schemed to stop Barkley and the run and dared Hurts to beat them. He did.
The Eagles masterfully schemed to torment Mahomes and dared KC to run on them. They couldn’t.
Well, the Chiefs got shutout by the Raiders in the last game of the season, so he didn’t score in that one.
But yeah, other than that I don’t see any games where he got zero points.
Not just representing the other team. She grew up in the greater Philly area, came from an Eagles family, and until quite recently was an Eagles fan herself. We don’t like turncoats.
Eleven of the first twelve Chiefs plays were passes. Andy Reid forgot what sideline he was on and reverted to his old “What’s a running game” time with the Eagles. He didn’t have the chance to throw in some clock mismanagement for old times’ sake.
Supporting your boyfriend’s team is being a turncoat?
Not just the team your boyfriend supports. The team he plays on.
Hell I support the college team where my daughter attends. Even when they play against the school I attended. This is normal.
Not enough eye-rolls in the world.
Are Eagles fans really that dumb?
Seriously? Do you know anything about being an Eagles fan? There’s a secret tunnel from the stadium to a nearby hotel so opposing players can get out of the stadium safely after a game. Ever heard of the Green Man?