Super Bowl 2023 Lessons teams can learn from the Chiefs and Eagles including prioritizing offensive line
Super Bowl 2023 Lessons teams can learn from the Chiefs and Eagles including prioritizing offensive line
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The NFL is a copy-cat league. You know this. I know this. The league itself knows this Nikita Zadorov Jersey . So, whichever team wins the Super Bowl is sure to serve in some way as an inspiration to 31 other teams in the league, who try to learn from them about how best to chase the next Lombardi Trophy. Winning the ring is the ultimate goal, so why not steal ideas from the team that actually does it?This year, the Kansas City once again provide teams with a bunch of important le sons in roster-building and strategy, but so did their opponent, the . (As well as their respective opponents in their conference championship games: the and .) In the space below, we'll walk through a few ideas teams around the league can take away from the two teams that squared off in this year's Super Bowl.From 2013 through 2016, Alex Smith was actually pretty damn good. He went 41-20 during the regular season, completing 64.5% of his pa ses at an average of 7 yards per attempt, with 76 touchdowns against just 28 interceptions. The Chiefs came in first or second in the AFC West in each of those four seasons, and made the playoffs in three of four years. They did not make it past the divisional round, though, and the Chiefs recognized that Smith was good, but not great.So, in the 2017 NFL Draft, they aggre sively moved up the board to draft , hoping he could take their offense to new heights. Even after Smith had arguably his best season in 2017, the Chiefs moved on and gave Mahomes the reins under center. The rest is literally NFL history. In five seasons as the starter, he has two 5,000-yard pa sing seasons, two seasons leading the NFL in pa sing touchdowns, two regular-season MVPs, three All-Pro appearances (two First Team), two Super Bowls, and two Super Bowl MVPs. Safe to say the Chiefs made the right move. On the other side of the field, the Eagles are ALWAYS looking for more quarterback talent. Even after had an MVP-caliber season in 2017, the Eagles still saw fit two seasons later to take a quarterback in the second round of the draft. Philadelphia was ridiculed in some circles for drafting , but general manager Howie Roseman believed that giving his team options in the pursuit of elite quarterback play was the best path. It turned out to be the right one. Wentz fell off hard, and Hurts this season was the MVP runner-up behind Mahomes. He was spectacular in the Super Bowl, just as he was throughout the regular season. Don't be surprised if, even if Philly signs Hurts to a contract extension befitting his level of performance, the Eagles continue stacking talent in the quarterback room.The Chiefs learned this le son two years ago, and it paid off in their Super Bowl victory on Sunday night. Mahomes was under dure s all game in Kansas City's Super Bowl LV lo s to the , and it undermined the team's entire offense. That offseason, the Chiefs went out and remade their entire offensive line. They traded for , signed to a big-money deal, and drafted , , and . Four of those five players comprised Kansas City's starting offensive line in the Super Bowl -- a group that gave up ZERO sacks against the team that led the NFL with 70 quarterback takedowns during the regular season. It also cleared the way for and to rush for 111 yards on 19 carries. Chiefs offensive line coach Andy Heck is one of the most underrated contributors to this run.Philly, meanwhile, built its entire team around its trench talent. is one of the best (and most unique) centers in league history. is a walking future Hall of Famer. was a rugby player who was discovered by Eagles offensive line coach Jeff Stoutland, who took just four years to turn him into a top-flight left tackle. became an above-average guard pretty much right away. was a backup for years before moving into the starting lineup. That quintet made up the best offensive line in football all year, clearing the way for the league's best run game and helping Hurts reach new heights as a pa ser. Stoutland, much like Heck, does not get enough credit for his contribution to an elite offense. The Eagles proved the benefit of this both last season and this season. Early in 2021, Philadelphia wanted to operate a pa s-heavy offense. The Eagles just did not have the right talent to play the way they wanted to. Hurts wasn't ready yet as a pa ser, and they didn't have the elite receiver talent they would eventually land this year. So, midseason, the Eagles pivoted HARD into a run-heavy philosophy. Their efficiency took off and it led them to the playoffs.But organizationally, the Eagles know you need an elite pa s offense to win big. So, they didn't just rest on their laurels and stick with the same run-focused offense. They went out and traded for , pairing him with . And they came out this year with an offense that could beat opponents in whatever way they needed to in that given week. They could go run-heavy and dominate like they did against the and , or they could throw the ball all over the yard like they did against the .The Chiefs, meanwhile, completely overhauled their skill-position group this season in reaction to the way the league defended them in 2021. No team in the league saw more zone, and especially two-deep zone, than Kansas City did last season. They struggled with it for a while before finding answers, but last offseason, they decided that if that's how teams wanted to play them, they'd lean into it and remake their offense to Alexander Kerfoot Men Jersey beat those looks. They traded away , and brought in much bigger, more physical receivers that could help them play a more traditional offensive style. and aren't as good as Hill. They're not even close. But they fit with Kansas City wanted to do this year, both in the pa sing game (a slot man and a field-stretcher) and the run game (they're both fantastic blockers). The Chiefs ran much more under center, straight dropback, straight play-action (as opposed to run-pa s option) stuff this season than they had previously in the Mahomes era, and it worked out splendidly for them.The Chiefs have . The Eagles have both Brown and Smith. Even going back to the conference title participants, the Bengals have and , and the 49ers have , , , and .Those dynamic playmakers afforded their quarterbacks the luxury of getting the ball out quickly and allowing the pa s-catchers to make hay with the rock in their hands. Among 39 quarterbacks who threw at least 150 pa ses during the regular season, the quarterbacks of those four teams ranked first (), second (Mahomes), third (), seventh (Hurts), and 18th () in yards after catch per completion, according to TruMedia. Attack with YAC, folks. Just as building the most efficient and explosive pa s offense po sible should be your priority so, too, should stopping opponents from being able to do the same. The Chiefs (15th) and Eagles (21st) both finished outside the top 10 in rushing defense efficiency, according to Football Outsiders' DVOA. They were each more concerned with stopping the pa s than stopping the run, and with good reason. Especially when you have an offense that will stake you to a lot of leads, you want to be able to get after the opposing quarterback and cover things on the back end. Both teams invested more resources (in different ways) in their pa s defense than their run defense, because that's the proper way to do things in the modern NFL.As mentioned, Philadelphia led the NFL with 70 sacks during the regular season. In , , , and , the Eagles had the first quartet of teammates in league history to reach double-digit sacks in the same season. Reddick, in particular, has the ability to just destroy teams from the edge, and Hargrave is a nightmare to deal with on the interior. Unleashing that group (plus , , , , and more) on opposing offensive lines is almost unfair.The Chiefs don't have the same depth of pa s-rush talent, but they do have and . Jones was a finalist for Defensive Player of the Year, and this was the best season of his career. If it wasn't for the existence of , so many more people would talk about what an absolute freak show of a pa s rusher Jones is, and he now has 7.5 sacks or more in five consecutive seasons, bookended by two 15.5-sack campaigns. Clark hasn't been the player the Chiefs thought they were getting when they traded for him and gave him a huge contract a few years ago, but he seems to always come up big during the team's playoff runs, and his athleticism makes him a terror to deal with on the outside. Just as they did with their pa s-catcher corps, the Chiefs aggre sively remade their secondary this offseason. They allowed to leave in free agency, and said goodbye to as well. They brought in to replace the Honey Badger, and spent FIVE of their 10 picks in the 2022 draft on defensive backs. They selected in the first round, and he became their starting slot corner. They picked in the second round, and he was their third safety. They nabbed in the fourth round and in the seventh round, and Watson became their No. 2 perimeter corner and Williams played a significant role all year. Throw in 2019 draft pick and 2020 pick , and that's every significant contributor in Kansas City's secondary.Philly, meanwhile, traded for a couple years back. It signed off the street after he was cut by the Giants. And mere days before the start of the regular season, the Eagles traded for . They claimed off waivers a few years back, moved all over the secondary until finding his best role, signed off the street, and brought back after he was waived. You can never have too much depth in the defensive backfield, and these teams know it.Philadelphia lined up to go for it three times on fourth down in the Super Bowl. The Eagles converted twice and drew an offsides penalty on the other opportunity. That aggre sivene s was consistent with how the Eagles operated all year, and it paid off for them. The Eagles scored more points off of drives where they went for it on 4th down than any team in the NFLor any team Valeri Nichushkin Kids Jersey *this century.* Nick Siriannis aggre sion is a huge edge in a game where po se sing the football means everything. Mina Kimes (@minakimes) The one time they didn't go for a go-able fourth down in the Super Bowl, they ended up kicking a field goal on fourth-and-5 deep in Chiefs territory, and Kansas City drove for the go-ahead touchdown on the ensuing po se sion.The Chiefs had their own i sues with fourth-down decision-making, but their willingne s to throw the ball on early downs throughout the game and the season is how they made up for it. It's a pa sing league, and a quarterback-centric league, and leaning into that is the best way to win. We saw that on Sunday night, and throughout the year, and will likely continue to see it in the future.The Chiefs have won their third Super Bowl title. You can now buy Chiefs Super Bowl championship shirts, hats, jerseys, hoodies, and much more to celebrate the historic win. .
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