By MIKE HERNDON
Super Bowl Sunday is still a few days away, but the Super Bowl narrative machine is humming along in full gear.
As we ice down the beer, fire up the grill, and load up our shopping carts with Super Sunday snacks, let’s tackle some of these narratives, one by one:
- Jalen Hurts can’t win the big one.
It’s nothing against Hurts, really. It’s just the narrative that follows any successful NFL quarterback who hasn’t yet won a championship. Lamar Jackson supposedly can’t win the big one. Josh Allen can’t either. What do they all have in common? At some point, they’ve run into Patrick Mahomes. Anyone who hasn’t won a Super Bowl “can’t win the big one” – until they finally do. They used to say that about John Elway, too, you know, and then he won two. At least one of Jackson, Allen and Hurts is likely to win a championship at some point in their careers, and maybe more than one of them. Who knows? Maybe it starts Sunday.
- Will Patrick Mahomes’ big-game magic make history?
So far the only man who’s been able to beat Mahomes in the Super Bowl is Tom Brady. Seemingly every time the Chiefs have to have a play in the postseason, Mahomes has found a way to deliver – including when KC trailed in the Super Bowl against the Eagles two years ago. Mahomes is, no doubt, one of the best quarterbacks to ever play the game. Regardless of the weapons around him, he finds ways to win. But will the magic be enough for a ThreePeat, something that’s never been done? Or is this the point at which it runs out?
- The refs will find a way to give the Chiefs the breaks.
The prevailing conspiracy theory throughout the league is that the Chiefs are the beneficiaries of selective enforcement – and the curious spot on that fourth-down sneak by Josh Allen in the AFC championship added yet another log onto the fire. The Chiefs and Mahomes do seem to get more than their share of breaks, but while some want to chalk this up to “scripts” and “storylines,” I see it as a very similar situation to superstars getting calls in the NBA. Brady got the same superstar treatment (remember the silly roughing the passer call against Chris Jones in 2019?). And yes, there’s a healthy dose of incompetence thrown in – why, for instance, was the spot on Allen’s fourth-down sneak made by the one linesman who couldn’t see the ball?
But even if you do believe in scripts and storylines, what point is there in them now? The NFL will get the ratings bonanza it desires with Mahomes in the big game and Taylor Swift looking on, whether the Chiefs win or lose. If, as the conspiracists say, it has manipulated the Chiefs into this game, what purpose does it serve to continue that manipulation now that they’re here?
- Jameis Winston needs his own TV (or web) show.
If you’ve been on pretty much any social media platform this week, you’ve seen him. He’s hilarious, and 100 percent comfortable in his own skin, even making fun of himself by eating crab legs on a Bourbon Street balcony. Since he hasn’t found a way to convince God to break him from throwing pick-6s, he’s not likely to be a starting quarterback in the NFL again. But his personality is going to take him places once he transitions into media full-time.
- Can the Chiefs stop Saquon?
Saquon Barkley has been largely unstoppable behind one of the best offensive lines in football – particularly in the postseason. In leaving the Giants to join this offense and run behind this line, he must have felt like a man let out of prison and picked up in a Ferrari. But the Chiefs have been carried all year by their defense, and Steve Spagnuolo particularly knows how to turn up the heat in the postseason. Whether they can stop Barkley, or slow him down appreciably, may be the No. 1 key to this game.
I have a feeling, however, that this game ultimately will be won or lost by Hurts. Barkley will get his yards, but the Chiefs will keep him from taking over the game. The much-improved Philadelphia defense will slow down Mahomes, but he will have enough of that big-game magic to put the Eagles in a position where they need Hurts to step up in the passing game. And while Hurts’ numbers have been down this season and he’s had lulls of inconsistency while Philly has ridden Saquon and the run game, he is healthier now than he was when these teams met two years ago.
The Eagles actually led that game by 10 points before Mahomes put together his magic. This time, I think it’s Hurts’ turn to answer the bell. This is a better Philadelphia team than the one Kansas City beat in 2022. Hurts has better weapons than Mahomes at every position except tight end – and Travis Kelce’s age is slowly catching up with him. And while this Eagles defense may not have a pass rusher of Haason Reddick’s caliber, it is better than the 2022 unit everywhere else.
Call me crazy, but I think Hurts and the Eagles get it done this time. It’s time for his John Elway turn.
The pick: Eagles 27, Chiefs 24
Categories: NFL
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