Super Bowl LVll is set and it’ll have several significant storylines after the Chiefs defeated the Bengals 23-20 in the AFC Championship Game.
Legendary head coach Andy Reid will face his former team, while Jason and Travis Kelce will make the first siblings to face each other in the Super Bowl.
The Super Bowl will be a rematch of a 2021 regular season meeting in which Patrick Mahomes threw five touchdown passes and the Chiefs beat the Philadelphia Eagles 42-30.
The 2021 matchup was also a coming-out party for Jalen Hurts who threw for a career-high 387 yards and two touchdowns but Philadelphia (1-3) couldn’t keep up with Kansas City’s high-powered offense.
With preparation underway for both teams, here are 10 more stats to know for Super Bowl LVll.
A.J. Brown has a full route tree
A.J. Brown route profile relative to other wide receivers.
Tons of "in" routes — 2nd-highest rate of all wide receivers. Lots of go routes and above average rates of drags too. pic.twitter.com/7Qy51AIV27
— Seth Walder (@SethWalder) February 6, 2023
Who needs Tryeek Hill
Hill is a top-five wide receiver and Mahomes adjusted to his loss by spreading the football around making everyone feel like the Cheetah.
Patrick Mahomes has distributed the ball across his receiving corps this season; no receiver has accounted for more than 26% of the Chiefs’ air yards.
In each of the previous two seasons, Tyreek Hill accounted for over 30% of the Chiefs’ air yard share.#SBLVII | #ChiefsKingdom pic.twitter.com/2ZreacMLex
— Next Gen Stats (@NextGenStats) February 6, 2023
Their best vs. our best
Chiefs vs. Eagles is:
No. 1 team in pass block win rate vs. No. 1 team in pass rush win rate.
(Numbers entering today)
— Seth Walder (@SethWalder) January 30, 2023
Eagles can have success in the red zone
The Chiefs’ defense allowed a 54.4 QBR (third-worst in the NFL) against opposing quarterbacks in the regular season and they were even worse in the red zone.
Kansas City allowed a touchdown on 67.3% of opponent trips inside the 20-yard line in the regular season (31st), and they were the only team among the bottom six to make the playoffs.
On the other end of the spectrum, Philadelphia’s offense scored touchdowns on 67.8% of red zone trips, ranking third in the league.
21.5%
Jason Kelce is an All-Pro and future Hall of Famer, but it’ll be interesting to see if Philadelphia plays Chiefs defensive tackle Chris Jones one on one.
Jones led all defensive tackles in pass rush win rate (21.5%) when playing in that position. Jones accomplished that win rate despite being double-teamed at a league-high 69.2% rate as a defensive tackle.
0.7
That’s the yards per coverage snap that Darius Slay and James Bradberry allowed this season, the least in the NFL according to FiveThirtyEight’s receiver tracking metrics.
0.95
Are the Chiefs impossible to stop?
Including the 2023 playoffs, Kansas City’s 0.95 expected points added (EPA) per drive (according to TruMedia) is the best in the NFL by a wide margin.
That number is also the best in the NFL since the 2019 Chiefs, who broke the record by the 2018 Chiefs.
Some experts believe that stopping Kansas City is impossible, but Philadelphia has the horses up front, and a secondary talented enough to give Mahomes some problems.
12.6
The Eagles led the NFL with 70 sacks in the regular season and finished with a sack on 12.6 percent of opposing pass attempts according to The Athletic. Of the teams in the top 10 in sack rate, Kansas City has only played against No. 7 Seattle (a 24-10 win) and No. 8 Indianapolis (a shocking 20-17 loss).
That sack rate is the best in the league, and it’ll be needed as Patrick Mahomes is the best quarterback in the NFL when blitzed and the best quarterback in the NFL when not blitzed based on EPA per dropback.
24th
Jerick McKinnon could decide Sunday’s outcome and the versatile running back offers the one poison Philadelphia doesn’t have a remedy for.
The Eagles DVOA rank drops to 24th when facing opposing teams running back in the passing game.
-0.30
If Kansas City is going to have any success against Jalen Hurts, it’ll be on defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo to ramp up the zone/blitz scheme early and often.
Hurts was blitzed at the fourth-highest rate in the league (33.9 percent) and he’ll carve an opposing defense up when they’re indecisive on blitzing, playing zone, or both.
The Eagles’ quarterback had an EPA of -30 (32nd) when dropping back and facing a zone/blitz.
Super Bowl Extra 1
Kelce and Goedert lead the NFL in yards per route.
Travis Kelce & Dallas Goedert are both adept at finding the soft spots in zone coverage.
No tight end has averaged more yards per route than Kelce (2.6) & Goedert (2.3) against zone this season (including playoffs).#ChiefsKingdom | #FlyEaglesFly pic.twitter.com/I45Hojmj5R
— Next Gen Stats (@NextGenStats) February 6, 2023
Super Bowl Extra 2
Super Bowl LVII will feature two of the more dynamic tight ends in the league.
The @Chiefs Travis Kelce has gained +202 receiving yards over expected this season (including playoffs), ranking 2nd among TE. The @Eagles Dallas Goedert ranks 3rd with +189.#KCvsPHI | #SBLVII pic.twitter.com/366rLwA3VB
— Next Gen Stats (@NextGenStats) February 6, 2023
