Inside the historic numbers from the Eagles’ Super Bowl win over the Chiefs
The Eagles made the big game look easy, rolling the Chiefs and spoiling their hopes of a third consecutive Super Bowl title. Here are the numbers that defined their victory.
For the second time in eight seasons, the Eagles hoisted the Lombardi Trophy as Super Bowl champions. Unlike the franchise’s first title, which was a nail-biter, this one was a beatdown in the bayou. It was, as The Inquirer’s cover read on Monday morning: Big Easy.
The Eagles made the big game look easy, rolling the Kansas City Chiefs, 40-22, and spoiling their hopes of a third consecutive Super Bowl title.
Here’s a look at four numbers that show how the Eagles got it done and the history they made along the way.
» READ MORE: The Eagles — and their Super Bowl trophy — have landed in Philadelphia, and the fans are going wild
1
The Eagles’ Nick Sirianni is in a class of his own. He became the first coach in the Super Bowl era (since 1966) to make four consecutive playoff appearances with two Super Bowl berths and a championship in his first four career seasons, according to the team.
It was a history-making night for the triumvirate leading the Eagles.
Is Howie Roseman headed to the Hall of Fame? The architect of the Eagles’ roster became the fifth general manager in history to win Super Bowls with multiple quarterbacks. His company is filled with gold jackets: Bobby Beathard, Al Davis, Ozzie Newsome, and George Young.
As for owner Jeffrey Lurie, Sunday’s win put him in a class with five other owners who have Super Bowl wins with multiple coaches. The other five — Pat Bowlen, Al Davis, Edward DeBartolo, Jerry Jones, and Dan Rooney — are all honored at the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio.
Sirianni, meanwhile, continues to win at a historic clip. This Eagles era, it seems, is being orchestrated by three future Hall of Famers.
0
The key to stopping the Chiefs is to get after Patrick Mahomes. So how many times did the Eagles send extra rushers his way? Zero times.
The Eagles still managed to sack Mahomes six times. They pressured him on an astounding 38.1% of his dropbacks, according to Next Gen Stats. It was the fifth-highest pressure rate Mahomes has faced in his career.
He was clearly impacted by hounding from Eagles rushers. Mahomes completed just 3 of 9 passes for 43 yards when he was pressured, including one of his two interceptions.
Mahomes, according to Next Gen Stats, generated his second-lowest dropback expected points added (EPA) of his career at -19.3. EPA is the difference between the expected points after the result of the play. It was his first playoff game with negative EPA since the 2021 AFC championship against the Cincinnati Bengals.
It was a Vic Fangio master class, but his players also executed his plan to perfection. Jalen Carter, for example, occupied multiple blockers and his teammates won their one-on-ones at a high clip.
4%
Saquon Barkley’s historic 2024 season was built on big runs. Barkley led the NFL in rushes of 10-plus yards during the regular season with 46. He added a few more to his tally in the three playoff games leading up to Sunday, but Kansas City had big plans to stop Barkley and largely succeeded. Barkley had just one run for 10-plus yards, which translated to a season-low 4% explosive run rate.
Barkley entered Sunday needing just 30 yards to break the single-season (playoffs included) rushing record of Terrell Davis from 1998. He did that, but nothing came easily for Barkley, who rushed for 57 yards on 25 carries and a career-low minus-48 rushing yards over expected. The Chiefs stacked the box and made the Eagles beat them in other ways, testing Sirianni’s theory that the Eagles weren’t married to being a run-first offense, that they would win in whatever way they needed to. The extra attention on Barkley opened up running lanes for Jalen Hurts and also allowed for plenty of one-on-one opportunities for his top receiving targets.
5
The decision makers on the Eagles weren’t the only ones joining an elite class Sunday.
DeVonta Smith became the fifth player in history to win the Heisman Trophy, a college football national championship, and a Super Bowl. His classmates: Marcus Allen, Reggie Bush, Tony Dorsett, and Charles Woodson. That’s a pretty good group to have your name in.
Smith had a hand in it, too, with what was perhaps the put-away touchdown late in the third quarter, a 46-yard reception in the end zone that extended the Eagles’ lead to 34-0.