GLENDALE, Arizona — Opponents of the Kansas City Chiefs tried to stop playing so much zone against them because Patrick Mahomes would eat them alive. So this year they all got the idea to play the Chiefs with more man coverage.
It’s an unenviable decision to have to make.
The Chiefs won Super Bowl LVII 38-35 Sunday night against the Eagles in large part because they took advantage of favorable matchups at crucial moments. Philadelphia’s defense wasn’t bad — it held Mahomes’ offense to 31 points and, as Eagles coach Nick Sirianni said, 24 points when not including the chip-in touchdown after the Kadarius Toney punt return — but they weren’t good enough on three touchdown plays.
The Travis Kelce, Toney and Skyy Moore touchdowns were all products of the Chiefs getting favorable matchups for their players and then having them go win against one man.
“Man coverage is something that a lot of people wanted to play us in this year,” Chiefs senior offensive assistant/quarterbacks coach Matt Nagy said. “Sometimes there’s success with it and they got great players and great scheme, but our guys, when they’re playing man coverage, they gotta win.”
The Chiefs did a good job of keeping the Eagles defense off balance, finding success in the screen game and on the ground. They used Mahomes under center at a slightly higher rate than their season average, again contributing to making the defense think twice.
What also helped was a slippery field that Haason Reddick called the worst field he’s played on in his life. The slipperiness hurt the vaunted Philly pass rush, and all night the Chiefs looked like they were better prepared for the field conditions. Veteran equipment man Allen Wright was in constant communication with the groundscrew all week and knew the Chiefs would need the seven-stud cleats for the field Sunday.
Kelce’s 18-yard touchdown in the first quarter came when he did a short motion inside the receiver and got matched up on safety Marcus Epps. He ran an in-out-and-up route that had Epps — you guessed it — slip in coverage and give him just enough space to make an uncontested touchdown catch.
Once Mahomes saw the safety covering Kelce, it was obvious where he was going with the football. It also helped that Mahomes had a clean pocket for much of the night to keep the time needed for Kelce to get open.
“I think when you have time it kind of gives you an…
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