Patrick Mahomes shook off an aggravation of his high ankle sprain to make a key 26-yard run on the Chiefs' game-winning drive.
Patrick Mahomes, Chiefs outlast Eagles in Super Bowl 57, 38-35
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Editor's note: Tony Grossi is a Cleveland Browns analyst for TheLandOnDemand.com and 850 ESPN Cleveland. He has covered the Browns since 1984.
Instant takeaways from Kansas City Chiefs' 38-35 victory over Philadelphia Eagles in Super Bowl 57 …
1. Instant classic: Super Bowl 57 lived up to the hype. The highest-scoring teams of the 2022 season traded blows all game long and produced the second-highest scoring Super Bowl of them all. Harrison Butker’s 27-yard field goal with :11 left was the difference in the Chiefs’ 38-35 win over the Eagles. The Eagles were conceding a touchdown in the final 2 minutes, but the Chiefs smartly avoided the end zone to run out clock and set up the game-winning field goal. Patrick Mahomes engineered scoring drives on all four possessions in a 24-point second half to win his second Super Bowl in three appearances in four years. It also enabled coach Andy Reid to notch his second Super Bowl championship, and it came against his former team. Despite playing through a high ankle sprain that was aggravated on a tackle in the first half, Mahomes’ biggest play was a 26-yard keeper run to the Eagles’ 17 on the deciding drive. It helped earn Mahomes his second Super Bowl MVP award to go with his second season MVP award this year. In the end, Mahomes outshone Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts, who matched a Super Bowl record with three rushing touchdowns and also threw for one. Mahomes threw for three TDs, including one to Travis Kelce, and 182 yards. The difference was the Chiefs got a defensive touchdown on a fumble return and their special teams set up another score with a Super Bowl-record 65-yard punt return. The Eagles, whose 70 sacks in the regular season were the third-most in NFL history, did not record one on Mahomes in the game.
2. Rising to occasion: Hurts had attempted only 22 passes all season when behind in the second half of games. But he came through after Mahomes had forged the Chiefs ahead, 35-27. Hurts completed 3 of 3 passes for 63 yards, including one of 45 yards to Davonta Smith, to set up his own 2-yard run for a touchdown. Hurts then tied the game with a powerful run to the left side to convert the 2-point conversion. It was 35-35 with 5:15 to play.
3. Chop chop: The Chiefs took their first lead on a 5-yard pass from Mahomes to Kadarius Toney with 12:04 left in the fourth quarter. It was Mahomes’ second TD drive of 75 yards in two possessions in the second half. He had to be snappy with both of them because the Eagles were possessing the ball long on their drives. At this point, the Eagles held the advantage in plays run (60-39) and time of possession (29:39 to 18:17) but trailed, 28-27. One of the Chiefs’ touchdowns was a fumble recovery and return in the first half.
4. Breakout: After a three-and-out defensive stand by the Chiefs, Toney’s 65-yard punt return – longest ever in a Super Bowl – set up another Mahomes short TD toss. The 4-yarder to Skyy Moore and PAT gave the Chiefs a 35-27 lead.
5. Uh oh: All of Chiefs Nation – and the millions who plunked billions of dough on the Chiefs – swallowed their hearts when Mahomes came up limping after a tackle by Eagles linebacker T.J. Edwards with 1:22 left in the first half. Mahomes, who has played with a high ankle sprain suffered in the Chiefs’ divisional playoff victory over the Jaguars, looked in pain on the sideline. Backup QB Chad Henne immediately warmed up. The Chiefs didn’t get the ball back the rest of the half. Mahomes looked OK when he returned for the start of the second half.
6. All is well: More than OK, it turned out. Mahomes moved the Chiefs 75 yards in 10 plays on Kansas City’s first possession of the second half. Isaiah Pacheco scored the TD from 1 yard. Mahomes was 3 for 3 for 26 yards, but, more importantly, scrambled for 14 yards and a first down deep in the Eagles’ end.
7. What’s a catch, anymore?: Hurts connected with Davonta Smith for 35 yards down to the Chiefs’ 13 with 1:00 to go in the half. But the catch was ruled no good on replay when one of FOX’s 30 cameras – yes, 30! – detected the ball moved upon Smith hitting the ground on the sidelines. Yes, it moved. But Smith got both feet in bounds and he was two feet out of bounds when the ball moved. FOX rules analyst Mike Peirera spoke for everybody when he bemoaned, “When it takes this much time …” Peirera said he would have allowed the catch to stand. The Eagles wound up getting a 35-yard field goal from Jake Elliott to go up, 24-14, at halftime. In his career, Mahomes was 14-10 when trailing at halftime.
8. Nerves? What nerves?: One of Hurts’ attributes is his steely nerves. In his NFL debut, he was superb in the first half – 17 of 22 for 183 yards and 1 touchdown, plus rushing 11 times for 63 yards and 2 TDs. He was 1 yard from the SB rushing record for a quarterback in the first half alone. Hurts’ one faux pas was losing the ball on a quarterback keeper run. It was returned 36 yards for a Chiefs touchdown by linebacker Nick Bolton. Or else, the Eagles would be blowing out the Chiefs at the half. They held a time of possession advantage of 21:54 to 8:06.
9. Catch rule revisited: Bolton was denied a second fumble return for a touchdown when his 24-yard return on the Eagles’ first play of the second half was overturned by replay. The ruling was Miles Sanders “did not complete the process of a catch.” As Peirera explained, he made the catch, got two feet down, but did not complete the so-called third act to complete the catch. So this crazy catch rule hurt the Eagles once and helped them once.
10. Automatic sneak: The Eagles are the best team at surrounding their quarterback on short-yardage sneak situations and pushing him forward to make the conversion. It’s a legal play, virtually unstoppable. They were 33 of 37 on QB sneaks this year. The Browns were great on quarterback sneaks, too, when Jacoby Brissett played. But Deshaun Watson is not good at the QB sneak. It will be interesting to see if the Browns are able to make him better. They won’t be able to call in Brissett off the bench next season. As Kevin Stefanksi said during the season, it's not very complicated. But you have to have the want-to to make it work.
11. Doink: Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker doinked a 42-yard field goal try off the left upright in the first quarter. It got me thinking that he missed two kicks in the playoff game against the Browns in 2020 (one PAT and one field goal). Counting the miss on Sunday, Butker was 20 of 24 on field goals in 15 postseason games.
