The pivotal plays from the Eagles' Super Bowl blowout of the Chiefs

[time2rock]

The pivotal plays from the Eagles' Super Bowl blowout of the Chiefs

The Eagles beat the Chiefs to win the Super Bowl and it was never even close. A dream season comes complete. Here's how the Birds got it done...

By Nick Tricome
PhillyVoice Staff

Mark J. Rebilas/Imagn Images

DeVonta Smith celebrates his third-quarter touchdown with A.J. Brown that put the Eagles up 34-0 in Super Bowl LIX on Sunday night in New Orleans.

The Eagles won the Super Bowl, and it was never even close. 

Jalen Hurts carved up Kansas City's defense with his arm and his feet on the way to earning MVP honors, Patrick Mahomes had nowhere to go and no more magic left against a Vic Fangio unit that completely shut his offense down, and Philadelphia, almost unbelievably, was left breathing easy by the fourth quarter in anticipation of the party of a lifetime. 

The Eagles completely pummeled the Chiefs, 40-22, in Super Bowl LIX. 

Kansas City's dynasty and push for a three-peat was blown completely out of the water, while the Eagles cruised to their second-ever Lombardi Trophy with a parade along Broad Street for the ages to come.

A season of dreams comes complete with the ultimate prize. Here's how they brought it to a close...

No help for the narrative

The Eagles took the ball to start, and on a 3rd and long, Jalen Hurts tucked and ran to make for a 4th and 2. 

Looking to make a statement right away, the offense stayed out and lined up in the gun. 

Hurts tossed it down the sideline to A.J. Brown, Chiefs cornerback Trent McDuffie fell behind, and Brown hauled it in for the big catch, but the refs threw a flag and nullified it. 

As he was running his route, Brown reached out his hand and hit McDuffie's facemask. The officials saw it as reason enough to call offensive pass interference. 

The Eagles had to punt, and from the outset, the refs did themselves no favors in dispelling the fan narrative that they favor the Chiefs. 

Fortunately, the Eagles' special teams smothered the punt return, then pressured Patrick Mahomes right away to keep the score clean. 

On the Dot

The Eagles' offense got right back to work, and it became clear: The Chiefs were focused on stopping Barkley. 

So Hurts took advantage over the top. 

He hit Dallas Goedert for a 20-yard completion in the open field, then after Barkley took it two straight snaps but could manage a few chip yards, Hurts went looking for Goedert again on 3rd down. 

Hurts tossed it high, and Goedert leaped up but couldn't grab it, though in the process, McDuffie jumped up in coverage and hit Goedert helmet to helmet.

The officials, to their credit, didn't let that one go. 

The Eagles were spotted 15 yards and an automatic first to keep the drive going, then Jahan Dotson shed his defender and took off down the right sideline.

Hurts lofted a ball to him, Dotson grabbed it for the big gain, but was marked down at the 1. 

You know what happens next...

Jake Elliott got the point after, and the Eagles took the first lead, 7-0.

The first turnover

The Chiefs came back on to the field and were off it just as quick. 

A short pass, a short run, and then a forced incompletion from a Nolan Smith pressure drove Mahomes off the field and the Kansas City punt team out. 

Hurts and the offense tried to take control of the tempo, but Chris Jones and the defensive front picked up their pressure, then on a 3rd and 10 from the 30, the pocket collapsed, Cam Jurgens lost his block, and a blitzer was free to book it straight to Hurts.

Hurts tried to toss one up for Brown quickly. Problem was he was staring Brown down the whole time and underthrew the desperation pass to the end zone. 

Chiefs safety Bryan Cook picked it, but fell at the 2. 

Hurts was tagged for Super Bowl LIX's first turnover, and his first in a long time. 

The Eagles appeared to be back on their heels a bit.

A tough three

The defense, with the benefit of another Travis Kelce drop, kept hounding the Chiefs' offense and forced another three and out. 

But against Mahomes, and pushing into the second quarter, the Eagles couldn't keep falling back on their defense to hold the line. 

They needed points. 

The Chiefs kept loading the box to prevent Barkley from getting started. 

Hurts placed a beautiful throw to the back shoulder to Brown with McDuffie in coverage for a 22-yard gain into Chiefs territory. 

They hit a wall and got faced with a 4th and 3, postured going for it to draw an offsides, but ultimately burned a timeout to bring out Elliott. 

He drilled the kick, but a false start pushed them five yards back.

He hit it again, this time from 48 yards away, to give the Eagles a 10-0 lead with under nine minutes to go to halftime. 

But it ended up as a hard fought after three points. They needed way more. 

House it

The Chiefs were still very much a threat, and taking the ball back on the kickoff just waiting to get going. 

But then down went Mahomes, on a Josh Sweat sack. 

Then down he went again, this time from Jalyx Hunt to make it 3rd and long. 

Pressing at that point, and rolling out to his right, Mahomes fired a pass across his body hoping it would zip through to DeAndre Hopkins. 

Cooper DeJean jumped in front of it instead, then ran the rookie took it all the way back for the pick-six on his birthday. 

The Eagles tied up the turnover battle, and DeJean put them up 17-0 with his first career interception. 

Keep up the pressure

Then the defense stayed on Mahomes. 

They forced another three-and-out after the pick-six, this time capped off on the thrid-down sack from Milton Williams. 

The offense stalled and punted, but Braden Mann was able to place the kick inside the Kansas City 6 and under the two-minute warning. 

Mahomes was still waiting to get going, and had to keep waiting. 

His first throw of the series was sent over the middle, but he never saw Zack Baun. 

The All-Pro linebacker picked it, and within seconds, the Eagles had the ball right back and within the red zone. 

Two plays later, Brown ran a drag and slipped underneath the Chiefs' defense unmarked.

Hurts saw it and got the pass to his top receiver right away to make them pay. 

Brown turned the corner and tip-toed into the endzone.

The Eagles went up 24-0. 

And with a 1:35 left in the half, Mahomes and the Chiefs still couldn't move. 

An obvious hold on Jalen Carter pushed Kansas City 10 yards back, and a nine-yard completion in between two incomplete passes left the Chiefs nowhere again. 

They punted. 

Barkley ran the ball a couple of yards to claim the single-season rushing record across the regular season and the playoffs. 

The Eagles ran the clock out to go into the break after that, but they couldn't stop there.

They couldn't afford to.

Nowhere to go

The Chiefs were getting the ball to begin the second half, and no one really wanted to dismiss the Chiefs. 

They've done too much to ever be down too much, and this time at least, did swing a first down on a completion to Xavier Worthy. 

But then the pocket collapsed and Mahomes went down again. Jordan Davis closed in on him, and no sooner, Sweat sacked him right after for his second of the night and the Eagles' fifth of the game. 

Mahomes tried to escape and run away with his notorious dance along the sideline on 3rd and 17, but only got so far before C.J. Gardner-Johnson and Baun cut him off well short of the marker.

The Chiefs had to punt again. 

Tick tock

And had to punt in a spot where the Eagles didn't have to rush.

Hurts and the offense took the ball at the 20 on a touchback and took 6:42 to move the ball 69 yards on 12 plays. 

Hurts took a couple of scrambles for crucial first downs on gains of 16 and then 14, then waited and zipped a pass to Barkley breaking free up the sideline for a gain of 22 down to the Kansas City 4. 

The Eagles couldn't punch it in, but Jake Elliott chipped through another field goal to make it 27-0 with a huge chunk of time drained from the third quarter. 

Kansas City had their backs completely against the wall, getting outgained 253-38 and out-possessed 26:41-13:01 by that point. 

But all the sweeter for the Eagles and all of their fans in the Superdome and watching back at home, the Chiefs couldn't do a thing about it. 

Mahomes tried to scramble, but a hold brought it back. Then faced with a 4th and 5 after a nine-yard completion, finally, to Kelce, and needing to go for it, they couldn't get it. 

Mahomes tried to flip a pass to Hopkins, but Avonte Maddox, in maybe the biggest spot of his career, batted it out of the air. 

Turnover on downs. Eagles ball, and then...

Bye, bye

The Eagles took over at the Chiefs 46 and only needed one play. 

Hurts faked the handoff to Barkley on play action, DeVonta Smith took off down the field and his quarterback launched it downfield to him. 

Smith brought it down in the end zone. A 46-yard beauty for the score, and the Eagles took a devastating 34-0 lead with the extra point and 2:40 left in the third quarter. 

It was pretty much the dagger, and Hurts, on the way to claiming Super Bowl MVP, had the Chiefs' defense left wondering what even happened.

A few garbage-time touchdowns from Kansas City to at least get themselves on the board wasn't going to put a dent in anything. 

But the Eagles gladly took a strip sack and fumble recovery by Milton Williams on Mahomes, along with a couple more field goals on a perfect 4-for-4 night from Elliott to give them 40 points to finish off the ride through the fourth quarter. 

Then, at long last, it was time for the celebration.

May no pole be left unclimbed.

https://www.phillyvoice.com/eagles-chiefs-super-bowl-highlights-analysis-jalen-hurts-aj-brown-saquon-barkley-cooper-dejean-patrick-devonta-smith-pivotal-plays-nfl/

[birdman#12]

I really wanted that touchdown for Dotson......he's been underutilized and under appreciated........but all's well that end's well

[PoconoDon]

For me, the Pick-6, crosser to A.J., and the bomb to Smith were the most pivotal on Offense. Defense had about 15 more honorable mention plays beyond DeJean's pick-6.

[EaglesAddict]

The DeJean pick 6 was the play of the game, for me.  It was a high-leverage spot, Eagles up 10-0, and Mahomes and Co. were surely feeling the need to get things going and historically, they always have.  That play, to me, set the tone for how this game was gonna go.  

[time2rock]

51 minutes ago, EaglesAddict said:

The DeJean pick 6 was the play of the game, for me.  It was a high-leverage spot, Eagles up 10-0, and Mahomes and Co. were surely feeling the need to get things going and historically, they always have.  That play, to me, set the tone for how this game was gonna go.