PHOENIX — After nine straight days of thinking, I’d like everyone to know that I’m finally ready to make my Super Bowl pick.
It was not easy trying to decide who will win. On the one hand, we have one of the greatest revenge games in Super Bowl history, which means I had to watch revenge of the nerds, Jaws: Revenge and the Revenge of Michael Myers just to get an idea of how Andy Reid will feel when he faces the Eagles on Sunday. But let’s not forget this is a double revenge game, as Nick Sirianni was an assistant coach for the Chiefs until Reid let him go after being hired by Kansas City in 2013. be watching four other revenge movies to fully understand the revenge factor here.
I also had to watch Property Brothers, Half brothers And Blues Brothers to get an idea of how Jason and Travis Kelce will feel in this game when they become the first set of brothers to face off in a Super Bowl.
If you’re wondering how I found the time to watch all of this, I did on my flight to Phoenix. That’s right, I’m in Arizona and I’ll be here all week. In fact, if that choice sounds like an incoherent mess, it’s because I write it at 1 a.m. directly after attending the annual circus known as Super Bowl Media Night. The good news is I saw Patrick Mahomes’ ankle (looks good), Andy Reid’s mustache (looks dapper) and the Eagles mascot (he looks freshly molted ), who I’m sure was hitting on the Chiefs Owner’s daughter.
Either way, all of this means that I feel like I’m now 100% ready to make that choice.
So who do I take in this game?
Let’s go to the choice and find out.
In fact, before we get to the picks, here’s a little reminder to check out the Super Bowl picks from all of our other CBS Sports NFL writers, which you can do by clicking here. If that’s not enough for you, I recommend you click here and check out the Pick Six podcast on YouTube. Will Brinson, Ryan Wilson and I are spending the week together in Arizona and we’ll be releasing new podcasts every day, which means you’ll get more of me, which I think is a good thing.
Also, since I’ll be in Arizona this week, feel free to start following me on Facebook or Twitter or Instagram, you won’t regret it. However, I could possibly regret my Super Bowl pick. Let’s hope that doesn’t happen.
Super Bowl LVII pick
Kansas City Chiefs (16-3) vs. Philadelphia Eagles (16-3)
Time: 6:30 p.m. ET
Location: State Farm Stadium (Glendale, Arizona)
Featured game | Philadelphia Eagles vs. Kansas City Chiefs
It’s taken 57 years, but I think we could finally get the most balanced Super Bowl ever. Everything in these two teams is so homogeneous that I’m a little scared.
Not only are all of these things equal, but this game also gives us the highest scoring team in the AFC against the highest scoring team in the NFC. As if that weren’t enough, we’ll also have the team that led the AFC in sacks against the team that led the NFC in sacks.
These teams are so equal that we can now retire the Spider-man meme because it will never apply to anything more than this game.
If the NFL is smart, they’ll let Spider-man handle the opening draw on Sunday.
The biggest matchup in this game will be Patrick Mahomes versus the Eagles rush pass. In 19 games, the Eagles totaled 78 sacks on the season, which is the third most in NFL history behind the 1984 Bears (82 sacks) and the 1985 Bears (80 sacks). The Eagles had four players this year who all recorded at least 10 sacks – Haason Reddick, Javon Hargrave, Brandon Graham and Josh Sweat – and if those guys spend four quarters beating Mahomes and his gimpy ankle, then it’s going to turn into a blowout of the Eagles.
The best-case scenario for the Eagles would be for this game to turn into Super Bowl LV. If you don’t remember that game, it was the one where Mahomes tried to play with an injured toe, only to be destroyed by a Buccaneers defense that sacked him three times in a 31-9 win at Tampa. Bay. If Mahomes aggravates his ankle injury on Sunday, I won’t be surprised if the Chiefs are once again on the losing side of a Super Bowl blowout.
On the other hand, if Mahomes can start the Chiefs’ offense, then you have to like the Chiefs’ chances. For Kansas City, the magic number could well be 310: if the Chiefs can reach just 310 yards on the Eagles defense, that means they will have moved the ball. The Eagles have allowed just 310 or more rushing yards in seven games this year and they’ve gone 4-3 in those games. On the other hand, they went 12-0 while going within 310 yards.
The Eagles’ defense has been great, but they haven’t faced anyone this year who come close to Mahomes’ caliber, which could be one of the reasons Brandon Aiyuk is so sure the Chiefs are going to win. The 49ers receiver is absolutely convinced that Chiefs will ‘expose’ Philadelphia defense.
“They talk about [Philadelphia] being a good defense, I’m not too sure,” Aiyuk said on Feb. 4. “I think the passing game, that Kansas City passing game, will expose what we thought we could expose before some unfortunate circumstances happened. ”
Does that sound like someone who is bitter about losing to the Eagles? Yes.
Can I trust his opinion? I’m still not sure.
Trying to choose the winner in this game is like trying to choose between Left Twix and Right Twix. These teams are so evenly matched that I’m almost inclined to pick a tie, but I’m not going to because then I’ll be the laughingstock of the internet and we all know how much I hate being the laughingstock of the internet.
The first draft of the NFL script says the Eagles will win 37-34…
… However, as everyone knows, the NFL never sticks to the first version of the script. No, they’re doing a total rewrite five days before the game and I think Chiefs fans are going to like the new script.
CHOICE OF SUPER BOWL LVII: Heads 27-24 on Eagles.
Chiefs game record this season: 17-2
Eagles game record this season: 12-7
Last week
Best choice : Two weeks ago I predicted the Eagles would beat the 49ers in the NFC Championship Game and then the Eagles came out and beat the 49ers in the NFC Championship. What I didn’t predict, however, was that the 49ers would go through 17 quarterbacks in the game. I also didn’t predict that the 49ers QB situation would get so bad that they would have to let Christian McCaffrey start throwing passes. I also didn’t predict they’d be stuck playing a quarterback in the second half who couldn’t even throw a forward pass. However, I probably should have seen all of this coming and that’s because there’s no one in the NFL who’s more cursed in big games than Kyle Shanahan.
I mean, look at this.
And let’s not forget that he was the offensive coordinator for the Falcons during this game (Super Bowl LI) where they lost that lead (28-3). The next time I have to pick a winner in a 49ers playoff game, I’ll definitely pick him to lose in the most painful way possible, because pain is all Kyle Shanahan knows.
Worst choice: I snorted on my choice of AFC title match, but that was only because I had no idea the refereeing team was going to invent new rules for the game. For the past two weeks, here’s a quick reminder of what exactly happened in Kansas City’s win over Cincinnati.
Okay guys, I have some sad news. This was my last pick column of the season, which means I will now go into hibernation and do nothing for the next seven months. Just kidding, that’s not how things work. I’ll be writing more over the next seven months, but the picks won’t come until September. If you can’t wait that long, I strongly suggest signing up for our NFL newsletter, which I’m responsible for. This is essentially the off-season version of this picks column, except without the picks. It arrives in your inbox every weekday and you can sign up by clicking here (just search for the Pick Six newsletter).
If you sign up, I’ll see you soon. If you don’t sign up, I’ll see you in September for the opening, but you should sign up.
Record selections
Straight into the conference title games: 1-1
SU in total in the playoffs: 8-4
Against the spread in conference title games: 1-1
Total ATS in the playoffs: 6-6
2022 Regular Season Final Record
Directly: 165-105-1
Against the spread: 129-133-9
You can find John Breech on Facebook or Twitter and if he doesn’t do any of those things, he’s probably crying in the corner because there are no more NFL games to choose from until September.
