The Philadelphia Eagles and defensive coordinator Vic Fangio seemed to perpetually be a step ahead of the Kansas City Chiefs in a stunning 40-22 Super Bowl LIX blowout, bringing the Lombardi Trophy back to the City of Brotherly Love.
That night in New Orleans, the Eagles sacked Patrick Mahomes six times, without Fangio calling one blitz the entire game, and stifled Kansas City’s running game that had helped provide enough balance to get through the gauntlet of the AFC Playoffs.
According to Chiefs All-Pro tight end Travis Kelce, the Eagles simply had the Chiefs figured out.
“Pat (Patrick Mahomes) was under duress,” Kelce said, during a recent appearance on the Bussin’ with The Boys Podcast. “And we just had to try and figure things out on the run. It was just an uphill battle all (expletive) day … They just had stuff figured out”
Fangio’s defensive game plan ranks up there with some of the most dominant performances in the Super Bowl era, and it rendered Kelce a non factor, holding him to four catches for 39 yards.
Philadelphia’s barrage of pressure led to Mahomes tossing a pair of interceptions, including a back-breaking pick-six by Eagles rookie cornerback Cooper DeJean.
The Eagles’ blowout victory raises questions about how wide the Chiefs’ dynastic window remains open, but could also just have been the perfect storm of a perfect gameplan meeting a team that was overmatched going into the game by the talent Philadelphia had across the roster.
“I don’t know if they had a tick on what was going on, Kelce said. “Or if they just kind of had the rules set in place, but it felt like in the run game and pass game … They just had stuff figured out,”
The Eagles’ secondary is going to look drastically different when the 2025 season opens than it did as the confetti swirled in New Orleans back in February.
Andrew Mukuba is making waves among teammates as one of the Eagles’ more impressive rookies this spring, but it might be another former draft choice who breaks out.
Sydney Brown, 25, is looking to bounce back from a torn ACL suffered in the season finale back in 2023 and make an impact on the back end of the defense.
According to Glenn Erby of USATODAY’s EaglesWire, Brown could be in line to replace veteran C.J. Gardner-Johnson, when the dust settles this preseason.
“One year after returning to the field following ACL surgery,” Erby writes. “Brown will compete with Andrew Mukuba as both players will be tasked with replacing Gardner-Johnson’s physicality and big-play attributes. The 2023 third-round pick will enter year three with huge expectations, and he’ll need to mesh with Reed Blankenship while helping a young, retooled secondary maintain its elite play.”
Brown logged 45 total tackles as a rookie, returning an interception 99 yards for a touchdown and breaking up three passes, showing his prowess in coverage. Simply being healthy adds quality depth to an Eagles secondary that will be looking to replace two starters, following Gardner-Johnson and Darius Slay‘s departures this offseason.
Mukuba’s presence could make it difficult for Brown to climb the depth chart this summer, but if he’s fully healthy and looks like the player he was before getting injured as a rookie, the Eagles’ safety battle could become one of the more fascinating across the roster.
Eagles’ Howie Roseman’s ‘Secret Sauce’ Revealed
Mitchell Leff/Getty Howie Roseman and the Philadelphia Eagles have become a model franchise in recent seasons, and won two Super Bowls in his tenure as general manager.
Under Roseman’s watch, the Eagles have become a model franchise across the NFL over the past half decade.
With two Super Bowl appearances and a title over the past three seasons, and a pair of Lombardi Trophies won with two different head coaches and two quarterbacks, Roseman has authored the blueprint on winning despite turnover and achieved the often sought after goal of consistently contending.
As NFL reporter Ty Dunne points out, a tried and true method to Roseman’s meticulousness is a fearlessness of committing to a homegrown player or even slightly overpaying market value for an elite talent such as Saquon Barkley or A.J. Brown.
“That’s where Howie’s magic is,” an Eagles source told Dunne. “He’s always ahead of the curve. He’s always thinking forward and thinking ahead. So he can project the markets very well. He has a really good understanding of it. In free agency, when a guy like Saquon Barkley comes up and everyone’s like, ‘Wow, you gave Saquon that much money.’ In hindsight? It wasn’t really that much money. So what he’s done year after year with Jason Kelce and Lane Johnson and all those guys. AJ Brown and DeVonta Smith. He’s figured out a way to get those guys what they deserve, keep it under the cap and manage the cap in a way that no other team has figured out how.”
The result has been an unprecedented run of success for the franchise and a well earned reputation by Roseman as a deal maker and aggressive accumulator of top talent.
With a young core of players largely chosen by the Eagles, buttressed by shrewd additions such as Brown, Barkley, Zack Baun, and others, the pieces have been put into place by Roseman and staff to prop open the Eagles’ Super Bowl window to chase a third championship wide open for the next several seasons.
Travis Kelce Gets Real on Eagles’ Super Bowl Blowout of Chiefs