NFL Superbowl LIX – The Darius Slay Jr Cup

 

 

 

The Darius Slay Jr Cup

Greetings Tipsters

Defence wins championships.

Philadelphia Eagles defence pressured, suffocated, squeezed and sacked the life out of Patrick Mahomes in Superbowl LIX. It was a simple plan based on players doing their job properly and, by the gods, it worked. Patrick played the worst game of his career, set a lot of records that no quarterback wants on his resume, Chiefs played the worst game of Andy Reid’s tenure.

Kansas City won the coin toss but that was as good as it got. Eagles had the ball first, chewed up 3:39 and punted, Chiefs got the ball at their 12, made another 12 in 1:41, punted, Eagles started a drive at their 31, 3;25 later the Brotherly Shove scored a Tuddy.

And man, that was all she wrote. Chiefs next drive covered all of 7 yards, setting a pattern. Eagles D linemen and linebackers kept breaking through the Chiefs O line, Patrick was denied time and space, by quarter time they looked a bit rattled.

But this is the Kansas City Chiefs! They have Patrick Mahomes and Andy Reid and Steve Spagnuolo, surely they will get it together, all they need is one good drive and a touchdown and the universe will settle upon its axis, right?

Jalen Hurts did throw an interception, but it was at the end of a 5 minute drive and Eagles got the ball back 98 seconds and 7 yards later, kicked a field goal. Weirdly, of Philadelphia’s four field goals, three came after giving up 5 yard offside penalties on the play – Jake got a lot of practice, he nailed every one.

Six and a half minutes into the second, KC O is lacking timing and rhythm, the D hasn’t stopped the home of the Liberty Bell from using time, Saquon hasn’t made many yards, but those runs kept the KC DL on the field, on their toes thinking and reacting and smashing into the likes of Jordan Mailata, 6’8” and 336lbs of Bankstown Boy (I’m with ya, homie.)

It’s 10-0, Patrick has the ball.

First and ten, sacked.
Second and fourteen, sacked.
Third and sixteen, intercepted and returned for a touchdown by rookie Cooper DeJean on his 22nd birthday.

KC was done, it was in the eyes and the shoulders, the immovable object had resisted their force and it was truly an awesome thing to behold. The first half lasted 94 minutes at your correspondent’s home, there was a lot of rewinding and rewatching.

24-0, Chiefs receive after Uncle Sam entertained us at halftime, get a first down for the first time since the first snap. Then punt. Eagles march downfield, Jalen is throwing beautifully weighted passes to AJ and Devontae and Dallas, the O line is opening up gaps for him to run through and Chiefs backfield is nowhere to be seen. Jake has to kick two field goals again.

Chiefs receive, labour upfield, go for it on 4 th and 4 and fail, by now it’s almost expected that they will, Eagles take the snap on KC 46, Jalen drops back, looks downfield and throws a long pass that hangs and falls perfectly into Devontae’s hands in the endzone.

I laughed at the audacity, the confidence, the statement. Run the ball? Hell no, we’re gonna go for a big pass play, like your quarterback used to.

34-0 and that was the game. KC got a Tuddy on the next drive, tried and failed a 2 point conversion. Jake kicked a couple more, it was 40-6 and eight minutes on the clock in the fourth quarter and the players started thinking about their contracts and potential injuries and I don’t want to embarrass this bloke, he might be my teammate next year, so Eagles kinda stood around and watched Chiefs score two touchdowns and two successful 2 pointers while I had to listen to Dan Orlovsky babble on. Dan was a QB for Lions who accidentally stepped out back of the endzone, back in the bad days.

40-22 in the end, but any smart person who watched this game would’ve put it out of it’s misery at 40-6. Philly crushed KC’s spirit in the second quarter.

Sustained success is tough. Did history weigh too heavily upon their minds? Elite sport is played above the shoulders. Tactically, Eagles identified weaknesses and attacked them. Strategically, they had Chiefs off balance all game on both sides of the ball. Even the last two touchdowns had a hint of arrogance about it, we’ll let you have this cos you know we smashed you when it mattered.

Cheers Tipsters

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