—Tigers lost. Chiefs overwhelmed. Thank Heavens for Baseball.
(CHIEFS) Look for a lot of new names on the Kansas City Chiefs offensive line next year. ESPN reports Patrick Mahomes was pressured on 29 of his 56 dropbacks in the Super Bowl and was sacked six times, more times than in any other game in his career. The Eagles helped him to a forgettable record with those 29 pressures, breaking the record of 25 held by Buffalo’s Jim Kelley in Super Bowl 26.
And the Eagles did it without blitzing. They just rolled over the Chiefs’ offensive line.
Mahomes was sacked eleven times in the Chiefs’ three post-season games. In the regular season, the defense got him on the ground 36 times.
The Eagles dominated the Chiefs, especially in the first half when the Chiefs became the second team in Super Bowl history to have fewer total offense yards than the number of points they gave up. Their total offense in the first half, on 20 plays, was only 23 yards. They had only three running plays (Kareem Hunt and Isiah Pacheco combined for three yards) and trailed 24-0 at the break.
The highlight of the game for the Chiefs was the winning the coin toss. By the end, they had suffered the worst loss of any team in a Super Bowl since since losing to Tampa Bay 31-9 four Super Bowls ago. The loss, however, was far from the worst in a Super Bowl. SB24 saw the 49ers clobber the Broncos 55-10.
Statmuse.com says this is the 26th time in the entire history of the franchise that the Chiefs have given up 40 points and the first time it’s happened since they lost to the Vikings 45-20 on December 20, 2003.
Travis Kelce set a new record for most catches in a Super Bowl. He finished with four in the game and 35 in his career, two more than Jerry Rice. Earlier in the playoffs he had broken Rice’s record for 100 yard playoff games, with 117 yards against the Houston Texans, his ninth playoff game getting 100 yards or more. Going into the game Sunday night, Kelce’s 350 Super Bowl yards ranked him fourth in the record book. He was first with 174 catches and now has 179. He went in ranked second with 2,039 receiving yards and second with 20 receiving touchdowns.
Andy Reid’s career coaching record now is 301-162-1 in 26 seasons. Including playoffs. He’s up one on Bill Belichick for most playoff games coached, with 45. Belichick has 31 wins. Reid has 28. He will be 67 when the Chiefs start the 2025 season.
(mizz)—Dropping two games to top-10 teams last week have has led to Missouri, not surpisingly, dropping six spots in both of the major polls. They’re down to 22 in the coaches poll and
he Tigers fell to No. 22 in the USA Today Sports Men’s Basketball Coaches Poll in Monday’s top 25, down six places from their previous ranking. They also dropped six positions in the AP sportswriters ranking.
Both Missouri losses were by a combined seven points against top-10 teams. Tennessee remained at No. 4 in the coaches poll and Texas A&M moved up four spots to No. 9.
The teams that beat Missouri last week rose in the polls.
A last seconds heart-breaker of a three with 1.8 seconds left gave Texas A&M the win in Columbia Saturday but the Tigers sowed the seeds of their defeat with two long dry spells.
They went the first 5:40 without a point before Tamar Bates hit a three from the corner. Missouri didn’t scored in the last 8:13 of the half. The Tigers dominated the second half and tied the game with ten minutes left. They took the lead with 53 seconds left but left too much time on the clock and Wade Taylor got the game winner.
(The Baseball)—That’s what Hemingway’s Old Man called it in The Old Man and the Sea. Pitchers and catchers are drifting into the camps in Florida and Arizona. Full squads are due by the 17th.
Both teams start the season with questions. For the Royals, it’s “Can they do it again—and do more?” For the Cardinals, the question is “What are they going to do, anything?”
Now, The Wheel Guys, one in particular:
(EDWARDS)—Retired Columbia NASCAR driver Carl Edward never was close to being the most popular driver of the year during his career. But any self-doubts he had about being an outsider were erased last Friday night when he joined the NASCAR Hall of Fame. In his 8th year of retirement, Edwards talked about why he abruptly retired and how he learned he was part of the NASCAR family.
Edwards was headed for the NASCAR championship when a crash took him out of his last race in 2016. A few weeks later he met with his team owner, Joe Gibbs, and told him he was not coming back for the 2017 season.
“I’m grateful that we didn’t win that championship because it gave me time to go home and think about a few things…I didn’t know my kids and because of brave men like Dale Earnhardt Jr., and other athletes, I was aware that there are real risks to hitting your head over and over.”
Edwards told Gibbs from the dais, “You said , ‘If this is important to you, I’ve got your back’…You changed my life. You gave me permission to do something I needed to do.”
Carl’s full speech:
Next weekend, big-time NASCAR racing returns at full throttle with the Daytona 500.
(Photo credit: Yahoo Sports)