Tag: 2024 Super Bowl

Patrick Mahomes looked genuinely stunned when the 49ers chose to take the ball first in Super Bowl OT

Patrick Mahomes looked very stunned that the 49ers would take the ball first in Super Bowl 58 OT.

The San Francisco 49ers opting to take the ball first in overtime of Super Bowl 58 has already become one of the most controversial opinions in the history of the big game.

With the adjusted overtime rules in the NFL playoffs, both teams get a chance to possess the ball after regulation ends if the score is tied rather than the first team with possession winning the game with a touchdown.

San Francisco chose to take the ball first rather than second, which set the Chiefs up for a game-winning touchdown drive when the 49ers were only able to kick a field goal on the first OT possession.

NFL Films showed Mahomes’ shocked face when 49ers linebacker Fred Warner revealed what San Francisco wanted to do after it won the coin toss, and Mahomes expressed how everyone was feeling while watching the game at home.

Well, everyone who knew the new rules, anyway.

While it’s all water under the bridge now, it’s very much still a point of debate as to whether or not the 49ers cost themselves the game by taking the ball first in overtime.

We’ll never know what would’ve happened in the alternate scenario, as the Chiefs took hold of that second OT possession and never looked back.

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A mic’d-up Patrick Mahomes was already talking about a Chiefs’ three-peat while celebrating on the field

Patrick Mahomes started talking about a Chiefs’ three-peat before he even left the field!

Patrick Mahomes’ Kansas City Chiefs are already one of the greatest dynasties in NFL history. They won’t, but they could theoretically stop playing winning football and still be remembered for their unprecedented dominance at the top of the NFL.

Based on a new video, Mahomes and the Chiefs aren’t content. At all.

In a new capture from Inside the NFL, a mic’d-up Mahomes is recorded already talking about the Chiefs completing a vaunted “three-peat” while still standing on the Super Bowl 58 celebration stage in Las Vegas. (Note: Our Christian D’Andrea explained what they have to do in the coming months to achieve that.) The man literally just won his third-ever championship and should, conceivably, be basking in the glow of his latest success.

Instead, Mahomes is talking about winning three straight before he even gets his shoulder pads. Maybe that’s why he’s so great:

No NFL team has ever won three straight Super Bowls. Not the Tom Brady-Bill Belichick New England Patriots. Not the Joe Montana-Bill Walsh San Francisco 49ers. And not the Chuck Noll Pittsburgh Steelers.

If Mahomes gets his wish, the Chiefs may genuinely stand alone with unprecedented pro football glory.

Taylor Swift donned her Chiefs Super Bowl hat leaving Melbourne after her Eras Tour stop

Swift was repping for boyfriend Travis Kelce while Down Under for the Eras Tour.

Taylor Swift spent the weekend in Melbourne, Australia, performing three-straight nights of the Eras Tour at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. It was her highest-attended concert ever, with Friday night’s show setting a new single-show record with 96,000 fans in attendance, a mark that was met both Saturday and Sunday nights.

MORE: The Taylor Swift 2024 Eras Tour surprise song tracker.

On departure from Melbourne, Swift was seen keeping boyfriend Travis Kelce on her mind — literally — as she donned the Super Bowl champions hat that he earned a week prior. Kelce and the Kansas City Chiefs defeated the San Francisco 49ers on February 11, a game the 14-time Grammy winner was in attendance for.

It wasn’t her only memento of Kelce as the singer wore the TNT bracelet she received form him as a gift that includes their initials.

Swift is headed to Sydney next with four shows coming up February 23 through February 26.

Travis Kelce donates $100,000 to GoFundMe for 2 children shot at Chiefs parade

This is an extremely kind gesture by Travis Kelce.

Travis Kelce loves Kansas City and its fans. The star tight end is showing his unwavering support following a tragic shooting during the Chiefs’ recent Super Bowl parade.

After an unthinkable shooting changed the trajectory of the Chiefs’ Super Bowl celebrations, many have stepped up to support those who were directly impacted.  The Chiefs launched “Kansas City Strong,” an emergency fund that supports victims of violence and first responders. Patrick and Brittany Mahomes visited injured parade victims in the hospital. Taylor Swift donated $100,000 to support the family of Lisa Lopez-Galvan, a local DJ who lost her life following the event.

Now, Travis Kelce has also stepped up to help with a $100,000 donation. Per Jackie Strause of The Hollywood Reporter, Kelce sent two $50,000 payments through his Eighty-Seven and Running Foundation to the GoFundMe of the Reyes family, whose two daughters sustained leg injuries during the parade.

Jamaal Williams told us how he’s getting Aaron Jones into anime — and where you should start

Honestly, the whole interview is a lesson in the power of friendship.

Aaron Jones and Jamaal Williams haven’t been teammates since 2020. That doesn’t mean they don’t still hang out — or team up to chat about Japanese cartoons.

Williams is the NFL’s preeminent anime expert, and at the 2024 Super Bowl Radio Row, he took us through the beginner’s guide to the genre, including how he introduced the current Green Bay Packers’ back to it.

Jones might only be able to process an episode at a time and is quite ready for a Chainsaw Man marathon, but he admitted Williams — who rolled up to the interview at Bounty’s Wingman shack replete in an old school Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers t-shirt — has got him watching. Especially when the weather gets cold up in Wisconsin.

“Jamaal got anime popping in the NFL,” Jones said. “I feel like there were anime fans, but nobody just came out the way Jamaal did. And now you see everybody all anime fans, all watching anime.”

The full interview touches on everything from whether or not the Badger State has good buffalo wings (spoiler: nope) to…

You can check it out below:

Aidan Hutchinson and Brian Branch are channeling their rookie snubs into QB destruction

Hutchinson fell to No. 2 at the draft. Branch hardly got any rookie of the year votes. And now these slights are fuel to their fire.

Aidan Hutchinson slipped to the second overall pick in the 2022 NFL Draft. Brian Branch garnered only six third-place votes when it came to defensive rookie of the year ballots this winter.

This lack of recognition did nothing to dim their play for an ascendant Detroit Lions team. Slipping in the draft left Hutchinson to remain in his home state as the alpha dog amidst the Lions pass rush. Branch was the jack-of-all-trades head coach Dan Campbell needed in his secondary, bringing value as a wide-ranging safety against the pass and a downhill missile against the run.

In fact, they’re letting this lack of respect fuel them.

“Falling to No. 2 ended up becoming the biggest blessing that’s ever came to me,” Hutchinson said. “I try to look at any adverse moments or any times where you feel like you get the short end of the stick — I try to look for the bigger picture.”

You can catch the entire interview, ranging from the virtues of Detroit-style pizza — a style Branch still hasn’t tried! — to what each learned from national title-winning college coaches to how defenders adjust to pre-snap motion from the line of scrimmage and deep in the secondary alike, below:

Chris Jones’ agent had the funniest response to him saying he’s staying with Chiefs during Super Bowl parade

Chris Jones does not sound like a man who will make it to NFL free agency.

Kansas City Chiefs defensive tackle Chris Jones would be one of the most sought-after free agents this spring if he were to leave Kansas City, but he said very clearly he intends to be back with the Chiefs for the years to come.

During Wednesday’s Kansas City Super Bowl parade, a very energetic Jones told the crowd that he wasn’t going anywhere once his contract expires with the Chiefs.

Jones sure sounds like he’s very intent on re-signing with Kansas City, even if he might lose a little leverage on his next deal by so openly suggesting he’s willing to return on a new deal before meaningful negotiations take place.

“And for those who want Chris Jones gone, I ain’t going nowhere, baby!” Jones exclaimed during his parade speech, adding he plans to be in Kansas City “this year, next year and the year after!”

Some NSFW language to follow. 

As you could imagine, Jones’ agent Michael J. Katz immediately joked about such a bold proclamation being possibly influenced by the festivities.

While we’re sure once the contract negotiations start that it’ll be a little trickier to just immediately sign pen to paper, other NFL teams dreaming of adding the elite defensive tackle might need to pump the breaks.

Even if Jones might be a little caught up in the moment, it definitely sounds like staying for a possible Chiefs Super Bowl three-peat is his wish.

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Willie Gay pulled a J.R. Smith and went shirtless for the Chiefs’ championship parade

Willie Gay and the Chiefs are already turning up

There are plenty of words you can use to describe J.R. Smith. Basketball player. Hooper. Golfer. Internet sensation. They all certainly apply.

But I’d like to add another one to the list: Trendsetter.

Were people going shirtless at championship parades before J.R. Smith did it in 2016? I’m sure they were. But did anybody do it quite like Smith did it? I think it’s a safe bet that the answer is no. I mean, it’s been nearly a decade and we’re still talking about Smith’s iconic moment. The impact is still reverberating today.

That brings us to Willie Gay. The Chiefs’ linebacker pulled off a shirtless look at Kansas City’s championship parade today while running through the streets.

You already know what the vibes are when you see this man.

We love to see it. The shirtless tradition lives on. Fans were so here for it.

Chris Russo’s nonsensical rant about Taylor Swift was actually longer than her Super Bowl screen time

How are we still doing this?

It’s hard to believe we’re still dealing with this in February of 2024, but some of the talking heads can’t help themselves.

This time, it’s Chris “Mad Dog” Russo on ESPN’s First Take who felt the need not only to complain, but scream, about how the CBS broadcast showed Taylor Swift too many times at the Super Bowl.

Russo conceded that the broadcast only showed the 14-time Grammy winner and girlfriend of Kansas City tight end Travis Kelce for a whopping 55 seconds over roughly four hours. But they cut to her suite 12 times! The audacity!

MORE: Travis Kelce and Jason Kelce praised Taylor Swift for dealing with all the attention during the Super Bowl

Of course, the emotional Russo spent two minutes whining about Swift, nearly doubling the amount of time she spent on screen.

“They couldn’t pick Len Dawson out of a line up,” Russo shrieked at the camera as a clip of Swift and friend Blake Lively reacting to a play showed on the screen behind him. Ah, so unless these women know the entire in-depth history of the Chiefs organization, they aren’t welcome in the stadium? Can’t be fans? Let’s start handing out quizzes before anyone enters any football game to ensure they’re good enough fans to be there.

Here’s the rambling rant in full:

Mic’d-up video shows the Super Bowl referee knew you can’t let Patrick Mahomes get the ball again

He was like all of us: Don’t give Patrick Mahomes the ball back!

Yes, referees and officials are humans too, and of course they talk about the game they’re officiating while it’s happening.

Want proof? Here you go: With mics on referee Bill Vinovich in the fourth quarter of the Kansas City Chiefs’ Super Bowl win over the San Francisco 49ers, he commented to his fellow official that you need “your best play that you have in your book right now, ’cause you don’t want to give [Patrick] Mahomes the ball back.”

Prescient, given what happened later. This was before that amazing play by Trent McDuffie on third down with two minutes left in the fourth, in which the cornerback blitzed and stopped what could have been the Niners getting a first down … and perhaps more.

Vinovich was correct if you apply it to overtime — Mahomes got the ball back, marched the Chiefs down the field and won his third ring.

Referees: They’re just like us!