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The 2023 Super Bowl rematch is finally upon us as the Kansas City Chiefs and the Philadelphia Eagles prepare for battle in Week 11.
And if there wasn’t enough motivation going into this game already, 94WIP.com Eagles reporter Eliot Shorr-Parks doubled down on a very controversial opinion that first went viral on February 8.
“If you built the ideal QB from scratch you’d build a QB closer to Jalen Hurts than Patrick Mahomes,” Shorr-Parks voiced ahead of last season’s Super Bowl. “That’s just a fact when looking at what matters in today’s NFL.”
On November 15, the Philly insider provided even more bulletin board material for Mahomes, stating — “This has been proven correct” — while quoting his previous viral post.
If Shorr-Parks was looking to spark some traffic, his original statement certainly did the trick, generating 1.9 million views, 1.2K likes, over 1K comments and 1.2K retweets and quotes. There were also 77 bookmarks, which many KC supporters probably referenced after Mahomes and the Chiefs took down Hurts and the Eagles during the big game.
Despite that result, Shorr-Parks chose to throw some fuel on the fire this week.
Eagles QB Jalen Hurts Leads Chiefs’ Patrick Mahomes in 2023-24 MVP Odds Despite 1 Key Metric
Statistically speaking, Mahomes is having a down year in 2023. According to Pro Football Reference, the Chiefs QB has played to the second worst passer rating of his career so far — and the third lowest Total QBR.
When you consider what he’s had to work with at wide receiver, however, one could argue that the reigning NFL MVP has done a lot with a little once again.
The current MVP odds (via DraftKings Sportsbook) reflect that. Mahomes’ +300 odds rank second in the NFL, just behind Hurts (+280). With the Eagles currently one win better than the Chiefs, this adds up.
But does that mean Shorr-Parks’ QB take has been “proven correct?”
Mahomes has the sixth highest passing yards per game average through 10 weeks, and the eighth best completion percentage. Hurts ranks ninth and sixth in the same categories, respectively.
Hurts also tops Mahomes in terms of passer rating (10th compared to 11th) and rushing yards (316 compared to 258), but not Total QBR. In fact, the KC superstar’s QBR places second behind just one NFL quarterback — San Francisco 49ers signal-caller Brock Purdy.
When discussing quarterback play, Total QBR might be the metric that best describes an NFL MVP.
ESPN created “Total QBR” in 2011, to differentiate pure statistical volume from winning football. “Unlike other measures of quarterback performance, [Total QBR] incorporates all of a quarterback’s contributions to winning, including how he impacts the game on passes, rushes, turnovers and penalties,” explained ESPN Stats & Information in 2016.
“Since QBR is built from the play level,” the definition went on, “it accounts for a team’s level of success or failure on every play to provide the proper context and then allocates credit to the quarterback and his teammate to produce a clearer measure of quarterback efficiency.”
Mahomes still has Hurts — and the rest of the league outside of Purdy — beat when it comes to Total QBR. His current QBR is a 72.9, while Hurts’ is only a 66.0.
Chiefs Favored to Beat Eagles at Arrowhead Stadium
With the Monday Night Football matchup going down at Arrowhead Stadium, the Chiefs are favored slightly on most betting sites.
The aforementioned DraftKings Sportsbook currently has KC favored at a spread of -2.5 on the evening of November 15, as does FanDuel Sportsbook and BetMGM. That line has moved a slight bit from -3 to start the week.
While the outcome will certainly involve the performances of Mahomes and Hurts, the Chiefs defense should play a huge role in the rematch as well. Kansas City is currently tied for a league-best 143 yards allowed in 2023. They’ve also only allowed the third lowest amount of total yardage.
In the same amount of games, Philadelphia’s defense only ranks 11th in yardage and 15th in points. A clear advantage for the Chiefs.
Having said that, the Eagles offensive playmakers pack a punch — and KC doesn’t have any wide receivers like A.J. Brown or DeVonta Smith. They do have Travis Kelce, of course, which adds to an interesting blend of strengths and weaknesses in this matchup.
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