Super Bowl 2023 kicks off this Sunday, Feb. 12th at 6:30 pm ET with the Kansas City Chiefs taking on the Philadelphia Eagles at the State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona with the Eagles being the designated home team.
The Chiefs and Eagles both went 14-3 in the regular season as Kansas City topped the AFC West and the conference while Philadelphia boasted the best record in the NFC and its East Division. In the playoffs, the Eagles downed the New York Giants 38-7 at home in the Divisional Round and beat the San Francisco 49ers 31-7 at home to win the NFC Conference. The Chiefs got past the Jacksonville Jaguars 27-20 at home in the Divisional Round and edged the Cincinnati Bengals 23-20 to take the AFC Conference.
Kansas City quarterback Patrick Mahomes is hoping to become the first player to capture the league’s MVP award and the Super Bowl in the same season since quarterback Kurt Warner of the St. Louis Rams achieved the feat in 1999. The Chiefs, under head coach Andy Reid (formerly of the Eagles) will be playing in their third Super Bowl in the past four years. They were beaten 31-8 by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2021 but downed the San Francisco 49ers 31-20 the previous year. Overall, the franchise is 2-2 in Super Bowl showdowns as they lost 35-10 to the Green Bay Packers in 1967 in the very first Super Bowl and beat the Minnesota Vikings 23-7 in 1970.
Kansas City led the NFL in offense this season as they topped the league with 7,032 yards and 496 points. Mahomes made it to the Pro Bowl for the fifth straight year as he led the league with 41 touchdowns and a career-best 5,250 passing yards and was intercepted just 12 times. He also ranked second in the league with his 105.2 passer rating, rushed for four touchdowns and 354 yards in total. In addition, Mahomes set a new league record for the most total yards in by a quarterback in a season with 5,608.
Travis Kelce was the Chief’s top receiver with 12 touchdowns and 1,338 receiving yards while JuJu Smith-Schuster scored three touchdowns and racked up 933 yards and Marquez Valdes-Scantling chipped in with a pair of touchdowns and 687 yards. The team’s top rusher was rookie Isiah Pacheco as he recorded five touchdowns and 830 yards while running back Jerick McKinnon had 10 touchdowns and 803 yards from scrimmage.
Their offense will rely on center Creed Humphrey, guard Joe Thuney and tackle Orlando Brown Jr. this weekend as well as punter Tommy Townsend. They’ll also need big games defensively from defensive tackle Chris Jones, defensive ends George Karlaftis and Frank Clark along with linebacker Nick Bolton, cornerback L’Jarius Sneed and safety Juan Thornhill.
As for the Eagles, Pro Bowl quarterback Jalen Hurts has won 16 of his past 17 starts and will be the eighth quarterback in NFL history to start a Super Bowl game before reaching his 25th birthday. Head coach Nick Sirianni is in just his second year with the team and helped his squad finish third in the league in points this year with 477 while conceding just 344.
Hurts posted career bests in his third season in the league with a 66 per cent passing-completion ratio, 22 touchdowns and 3,701 passing yards. He threw just six interceptions, had a passer rating of 101.5, rushed for 12 touchdowns and 736 yards. Pro Bowl receiver A. J. Brown scored 11 touchdowns and had 1,496 receiving yards while DeVonta Smith chipped in with seven touchdowns and 1,196 yards. In addition, tight end Dallas Goedert had three touchdowns and 702 yards.