The Kansas City Chiefs have each proper to name out the haters and doubters. Not many individuals within the NFL predicted them to win Super Bowl LVII.
“Not one of y’all said the Chiefs were gonna take it home this year,” tight finish Travis Kelce stated after taking down the Philadelphia Eagles, 38-35.
His sentiment isn’t incorrect.
The Buffalo Bills had been the chalk favourite as AFC and Super Bowl champs earlier than the 2022 season started. The Chiefs weren’t even getting picked in lots of locations to win their very own division.
While Okay.C. had traded explosive star receiver Tyreek Hill to Miami, the remainder of the AFC West seemingly had improved.
The Denver Broncos had traded for Russell Wilson. The Las Vegas Raiders had picked up Davante Adams and Chandler Jones. The Los Angeles Chargers had Justin Herbert.
It wasn’t incorrect to doubt that the Chiefs would win the entire thing, even with Patrick Mahomes at quarterback.
They began 4 rookies in Super Bowl LVII, 4 extra gamers of their second NFL seasons. And their fourth quarter gamebreaker, ex-Giants wideout Kadarius Toney, was additionally in Year 2.
“This is what a rebuilding year looks like, right here,” Chiefs GM Brett Veach boasted at Wednesday’s parade.
That stated, claiming this was known as a “rebuilding” 12 months is pushing it in direction of some revisionist historical past for one of many top-five Super Bowl preseason favorites. It additionally wouldn’t damage the Chiefs to be extra gracious as victors than they’ve been the previous week.
Wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster went means too far together with his “Happy Valentine’s Day, everybody” tweet that mocked Eagles nook James Bradberry for his late and dear holding penalty on the Kansas City pass-catcher.
Smith-Schuster tweeted a meme that learn: “I’ll hold you when it matters most” with Bradberry’s photograph.
Compare it to Bradberry’s graciousness within the shedding locker room in Phoenix, when he was thanked for taking the time to speak at such a troublesome time.
“Of course,” he informed the Daily News. “That’s what I’m supposed to do.”
Eagles extensive receiver A.J. Brown was proper to lash out and defend his teammate.
“First off congratulations,” Brown wrote. “Y’all deserve it .This is lame. You was on the way out the league before mahomes resurrected your career on your 1 year deal Tik-Tok boy . He admitted that he grabbed you but don’t act like your like that or ever was. But congratulations again!”
Brown is correct. And ensure: gamers across the league took discover of Smith-Schuster’s disrespectful potshot and of the Chiefs’ incessant boasting about their doubters, together with Mahomes feeding into the “rebuilding” trash discuss.
They should not performing like they’ve been there earlier than.
The one refreshing and evident exception was Mahomes’ extraordinarily gracious postgame remark in crediting Eagles QB Jalen Hurts with an all-time efficiency in Philly’s loss.
It was a reminder that the league is in good fingers with Mahomes as its face.
“If there [were] any doubters left, there shouldn’t be now,” Mahomes stated of Hurts. “That was a special performance. I don’t want it to get lost in the loss that they had. Make sure you appreciate that when you look back on this game.”
AROUND THE LEAGUE
The solely means Chiefs offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy’s lateral transfer to the Washington Commanders makes any sense is that if Bieniemy believes that there’s a likelihood he might be promoted to the pinnacle teaching publish if Ron Rivera, who’s on the recent seat, will get jettisoned by the membership’s eventual new possession. It might simply be that Bieniemy thinks calling his personal performs and operating his personal offense will assist him get out from underneath Andy Reid’s shadow to earn him a head teaching publish. But there’s an excessive amount of for Bieniemy to lose if the underside falls out in his first season as OC with a Commanders workforce that presently has Sam Howell at quarterback. It solely provides up if Bieniemy thinks that the assist of Rivera and workforce president Jason Wright would possibly earn him a promotion underneath the brand new possession — whether or not it’s Amazon’s Jeff Bezos or 76ers/Devils proprietor Josh Harris — if Rivera and D coordinator Jack Del Rio are proven the door however the offense reveals some promise in 2023. …
Chiefs inside linebacker Nick Bolton turned in probably the most spectacular particular person performances in Super Bowl LVII regardless of his protection surrendering 35 factors. The second-year, second-round pick of Missouri led Kansas City with 9 tackles. He hassled Hurts into the fumble Bolton returned for a TD within the first half, and Bolton returned a second fumble by Eagles RB Miles Sanders for a TD till the play was overturned as incomplete. Eagles left sort out Jordan Mailata stated the fumble wasn’t on Hurts. It was “on the offensive line” and “not really Jalen” as a result of “there was somebody that we had to account for and ended up making a great play.” No doubt Giants DC Wink Martindale — and each defensive coordinator — would like to have a participant like Bolton within the middle of their protection subsequent fall. …
Veach, the Chiefs GM, stated on “The Pat McAfee Show” that the Giants and Chiefs had been speaking a couple of Kadarius Toney commerce way back to “the spring,” confirming The News’ preliminary report from the spring of 2022. …
The NFL Combine is instantly proper across the nook the week of Feb. 26 from Indianapolis. The 18-week NFL schedule and Feb. 12 Super Bowl means barely any hole between the season and NFL Draft/free agent season.
THEY SAID IT
“I ain’t talkin’. We lost.” — Eagles security C.J. Gardner-Johnson after Super Bowl LVII
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Source: www.bostonherald.com