1 year ago
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Preamble
Hello, my name is Hunter Felt and I will be your guide throughout the rest of the Big Game (as companies who aren’t official sponsors of it must legally call it).
One thing that’s occasionally tricky to remember given everything else that accompanies it is that the Super Bowl is a football game above all else. For today’s Super Bowl LVII, the Kansas City Chiefs will be facing off against the Philadelphia Eagles. It’s a game between the two best teams in the NFL, a close battle that will literally pit brother against brother (as you have just read).
On one side, we have Patrick Mahomes: the NFL MVP who just got through dragging his team to the Super Bowl on one leg. On the other hand, we have the Philadelphia Eagles, who have been essentially unbeatable when duel-threat quarterback Jalen Hurts has been healthy. We couldn’t ask for a better final matchup to end what has been a long, eventful and occasionally frightening NFL season.
The hype is always big when it comes to the Super Bowl but, given the opponents, it feels like it’s beyond warranted this time around from a purely football-related perspective. It really does feel like this one game will determine the league’s best team. Both squads are going to face their fiercest opponent of the season in the next few hours and whoever ends up holding the trophy will have truly deserved it.
So, it feels like this will either live up to the hype or be one of the most disappointing Super Bowls in recent years, with nothing in-between. For our purposes, let’s hope for a tight contest and as few on-field delays as possible. If there’s one thing we can all hope for, it’s that it’s not marred by injuries to key players or officiating controversies. You always want the on-field action to determine the final outcome in a championship game.
We’ll be taking your commentary throughout the Super Bowl. If you have questions, comments, predictions or jokes feel free to send them here either via email (to Hunter.Felt.Freelance@theguardian.com) or Twitter (to @HunterFelt). This is assuming that Twitter actually holds up for the next few hours. That’s perhaps not the safest of bets.
In any case, it’s Super Bowl LVII between the Philadelphia Eagles and the Kansas City Chiefs at Glendale, Arizona’s State Farm Stadium. Kickoff is scheduled to start at 6:30 pm EST but keep right here in the meantime as the Guardian gets you caught up before the start of the game itself.
The mother of Travis Kelce (Chiefs) and Jason Kelce (Eagles) has a dilemma about who to root for today. So she is sitting on the fence. She can’t win or lose today:
Australia will have two players in the Super Bowl for the first time this year. The very large and very talented rugby league convert Jordan Mailata, who is part of a formidable Eagles offensive line, and former AFL player Arryn Siposs who, predictably, is a punter (for the Eagles too).
Dave Caldwell has a closer look at Mailata’s story here:
Nearly five years into his NFL odyssey, Jordan Mailata is still full of surprises. The rugby-league convert from Bankstown in Sydney’s south-west, along with two Philadelphia Eagles teammates, were the stars of a seven-track Christmas charity album in December. The 6ft 8in, 165kg Australian had already appeared last March in the US version of The Masked Singer but the beautiful, crisp falsetto he delivered on a version of White Christmas stunned listeners.
Now Mailata, 25, has moved on to a bigger stage: Super Bowl LVII in Arizona, where he will help the favoured Eagles in their bid to beat the Kansas City Chiefs. The left tackle said he used to skip school back home to watch the big game on Mondays but the football was secondary. When asked who he enjoyed watching, he smiled and said: “Queen Bee: Beyoncé.”
“I thought about being in one but definitely not playing in it,” Mailata said last week of the Super Bowl. Singing in the half-time show? “Oh, I’m just playing with you guys,” he told a group of reporters in the Eagles’ locker room. “I never thought I’d be in the Super Bowl when I was watching it.”
Read the full story below:
The Eagles have a formidable run game, and they are experts at getting quarterback Jalen Hurts over the line in short yardage situations. Should opposing teams look to rugby for a solution? Nicky Bandini asked the former England rugby union coach what he thinks the Chiefs should do to stop them:
Heartwarming News Department, courtesy of my colleague Ramon Antonio Vargas:
When Billy Welsh went on social media more than two years ago and said he urgently needed a new kidney, his former US marines comrade John Gladwell stepped up and donated one of his.
Little did the two men know that Gladwell’s act of friendship – which preceded a monumental health crisis of his own – would give both men the chance to share a once-in-a-lifetime trip: attending Sunday’s Super Bowl to see their favorite football teams face each other in the big game.
“He’s my hero,” Welsh said of Gladwell in a local television news story about the pair’s connection. Meanwhile, of Welsh, Gladwell said: “He’s family.”
You can read the full story here:
Patrick Mahomes has arrived at the stadium and is looking rather dapper in a plaid jacket.
His opposite number, Jalen Hurts, is also at the stadium but has gone for the more casual look. But has really gone for it on the headphones front.
Interestingly enough, UFOs are trending on Twitter above the Super Bowl in the US right now due to some kind of activity above the Great Lakes. We spent a lot of money commissioning previews for this year’s game so the Guardian’s asking for its money back from Mars if they decided to invade during the game. Afterwards is fine.
Hello! And welcome to our coverage of Super Bowl LVII or, for non-ancient Roman readers, Super Bowl 57. Or Chiefs v Eagles if you prefer that. Or Jalen Hurts v Patrick Mahomes if you’re a quarterback fan. Or Rick Lovato v James Winchester if you have something for long snappers (plenty of people to do).
A little bit of breaking news out of Arizona. Chiefs coach Andy Reid has hinted he may retire after today’s game.
“I’m not getting any younger,” Fox’s Jay Glazer said Reid told him. “I still have a young quarterback. I have a decision I have to make after this game.”
Reid is 64 and, if the Chiefs win today, he’ll have two NFL championships and 41 years of top-level coaching under his belt. On the other hand, he’s coaching Patrick Mahomes, which makes the job a little easier.
Tom will be here shortly. In the meantime, here are Guardian writers’ predictions for today’s game.
Chiefs 23-20 Eagles. On paper, Philly are the better team. That offensive line is just so strong, and they will have success establishing the run to control the clock early on. But close games are decided by the moments when everything goes off script, and who manages those better than Mahomes? It’s not just about him, either. Are we yet ready to put Sirianni above Reid, who has given Kansas City one of the best decades of any team in NFL history? Nicky Bandini
Eagles 34-28 Chiefs. Philadelphia top Kansas City in almost every department. They have the best offensive line in the NFL by some distance. They have the best, most effective defensive front. Front to back, they have the best defense in the league. Mahomes is still battling a high ankle sprain. The Chiefs receiving corps is depleted. And they’re playing a historic number of rookies on defense. All signs point to the Eagles running over an undermanned KC side. But the Chiefs have the best quarterback in the game, playing at the apex of his powers. The Eagles should win, but Mahomes, Kelce and Jones will keep it close. Oliver Connolly
Eagles 29-24 Chiefs. The Chiefs are going to score touchdowns in this game, that’s the only prediction here that this writer is 100% confident about. The Eagles, however, have been the most complete team all regular season and have plowed their way through the competition in the postseason. If this game hinges on a handful of mistakes, it feels like the Eagles are the team best qualified to turn those into points. That may well be the difference in a Super Bowl that should go down to the wire. Hunter Felt
Eagles 33-16 Chiefs. Philadelphia have the NFL’s best offensive line and the best defensive line. They have been the deepest and most complete team across the board all season and they’re the healthier side entering Sunday’s game. And yet somehow the experts are still underestimating them: the Chiefs were installed as two-and-a-half-point favorites before the public spoke with their wallets, swinging the line in the Eagles’ direction within 15 minutes. As long as the ankle holds up, Mahomes’ routine incandescence paired with one of the sport’s best ever game-planners in Reid will keep the outcome in doubt until the championship rounds, where the body blows will mount and the Eagles’ class will tell. Bryan Graham
Eagles 31-22 Chiefs. The Eagles are better and deeper across almost every unit. Offensive line? Check. Receiving corps? Running game? Secondary? Check. Check. Check. The Chiefs, of course, boast the best quarterback in the game, not to mention the best tight end. But with Mahomes three weeks removed from a high ankle sprain, his receivers banged up and an inexperienced corner group, the Eagles have more viable lanes where they can prevail. Melissa Jacobs
English (US)