Eagles
January 31, 2023
For the second time in seven years, the Philadelphia Eagles represent the NFC in the super bowl. The team still has a lot of similarities as their championship team back in the 2017-18 season, with six players on the current roster were also on the roster on their Super Bowl 52 team. Recently facing the number one defense in the 49ers, the Eagles proved that they are dominant on the run game, putting 148 rushing yards. It’s always a big takeaway for every game the Eagles come into. These playoffs have proved that Jalen Hurts doesn’t need to be the focal point of not just this offense, but in the team as a whole.
Philadelphia was able to beat off the number one defense, but now they will face the MVP favorite in Patrick Mahomes, the best quarterback this defense had to go against. There shouldn’t be any doubt that the defensive line will be able to apply all the pressure they can, but the biggest concern for the Eagles in this game is the secondary. Despite being ranked the number two defense, the secondary has had its case of ugly moments in the season, like their performance in week 16 against the Dallas Cowboys where Dak Prescott was able to do whatever he wanted.
The Eagles match well with nearly every aspect of the Kansas City Chiefs, so the three main keys in order to win it all is to simply run the ball efficiently, to not let the secondary give Mahomes a ton of easy looks, and lastly, for Jalen Hurts to step up a little more.
Despite being a MVP finalist, Jalen Hurts certainly hasn’t been able to play at the same elite level he was ever since his shoulder back in early December against the Chicago Bears. Hurts also has admitted he still isn’t a hundred percent in these playoffs, but luckily hasn’t needed to put a large workload on his shoulders. Sirianni should focus on the game plan to focus more on running the RPO and chuck plays for Jalen.