Without question, the one matchup in Super Bowl LVII that seemed to favor one team at the expense of the other was the Philadelphia Eagles’ outside pass rush against Kansas City Chiefs offensive tackles Orlando Brown Jr. and Andrew Wylie. The Eagles had three different edge-rushers (Haason Reddick, Brandon Graham, Josh Sweat) with more than 10 sacks on the season, and no tackles had allowed more total pressures on the season than Brown with 56, and Wylie with 53.
But in this 38-35 Chiefs win, Mahomes wasn’t sacked once on 27 passing attempts. The Eagles had five quarterback hits, and there were pressures that ended Kansas City drives, but this was one of just six games this season that Mahomes was not sacked.
“It’s historical,” Brown said after the game. “What we’ve been able to do is historical. “Credit to [head] Coach [Andy] Reid, credit to [offensive line] Coach [Andy] Heck, Pat, all the receivers in hand-to-hand, it’s historical what this front five was able to do. Pat winning MVP, and I’m standing here as a Super Bowl champion… I mean, it’s the work we put in.”
Historical might be a bit of a stretch, but it was undeniably impressive. How did it happen? Mahomes’ clean jersey resulted from a combination of the Chiefs doing things the right way, and the Eagles’ defense, led by defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon, going away from the things that made them so effective all season long.