The Linc -factors for the Super Bowl

Let’s get to the Philadelphia Eagles links …

Chiefs, Eagles X-Factors for 2025 Super Bowl – SB Nation
CB Quinyon Mitchell. The Eagles knew that they had to move on from cornerback James Bradberry as a primary factor after the 2023 season. The unfortunate decline was too clear for a formerly great player. So, the decision was made to select Toledo cornerback Quinyon Mitchell with the 22nd overall pick in the 2024 draft. Mitchell was the best cornerback in this draft class in my opinion, but as is the case for most young defensive backs, he took his share of lumps early on. But from Week 11 through the NFC Championship Game, Mitchell has been the team’s best cornerback. In that time, he allowed 22 catches on 42 targets for 180 yards, 19 yards after the catch, two touchdowns, two interceptions, five pass breakups, and an opponent passer rating of 59.6. Both of those picks came in the postseason, where Mitchell has become even more of a lockdown guy. The Chiefs are great in attacking defenses with short-to-intermediate route concepts, which makes Mitchell highly important in that equation. Over and over this season, he’s proven to be not only a defender who can match and carry speed receivers up top, but also a real problem for opponents on slants, screens, and crossers. Mitchell’s timing is perfect to become a Pro Bowl-level cornerback, and he has officially arrived.

Report: Eagles will “likely” play Rams in Australia during 2026 NFL season – BGN
The Philadelphia Eagles will “likely” be playing the Los Angeles Rams in Australia during the 2026 NFL season, according to a report from Shannon Deery of Australian newspaper the Herald Sun.

Playoff Pod, Day 26: BLG Is Back! – Go Birds Podcast
Brandon Lee Gowton makes his return to the Go Birds! pod and discusses his outlook on Super Bowl 59 with Eliot Shorr-Parks and James Seltzer.

Steve Spagnuolo calls Saquon Barkley Chiefs’ ‘toughest challenge’ this year – Arrowhead Pride
“Our hands are full here with Saquon,” Spags told reporters. You guys have seen the tape, he’s pretty elite, there is nothing he can’t do. One of the things that go unnoticed is how good of a pass protector he is, and he’s really smart… he is going to be the toughest challenge we’ve had in the run game this year.” Over three postseason games, Barkley has 442 rushing yards on 66 carries — averaging 6.7 yards per attempt in the most meaningful games of his career. He has touchdown runs of 62, 78, and 60 over the last two wins. He is set up well by a strong Eagles’ offensive line, so Spagnuolo will be emphasizing open-field tackling to the off-ball defenders going after the 6 feet tall, 233-pound All-Pro back.

Eagles mailbag: Does Vic Fangio’s 0-8 record vs. Patrick Mahomes matter? – PhillyVoice
But really, it wasn’t Fangio’s defenses that lost those games. In chronological order, Fangio’s Broncos and Dolphins teams scored 6, 3, 16, 16, 9, 24, 14, and 7 points against the Chiefs’ defense in those games, or an average of 11.9 points per game. The Chiefs also scored 6 (!) defensive or special teams touchdowns in those games. Spoiler: If the Eagles only score 12 points and they give up a defensive touchdown in the Super Bowl, Fangio defenses will be 0-9 against Mahomes. OK, so the Broncos’ and Dolphins’ offenses stunk against the Chiefs. Cool. But how many points did the Chiefs score against their defenses? Well, if you exclude the six defensive touchdowns, the Chiefs averaged 21.6 points per game, well short of their season averages of 29.9 in 2019, 28.5 in 2020, and 29.4 in 2021. The Broncos’ and Dolphins’ defensive DVOA rankings in Fangio’s tenures: 2019 Broncos: 13th, 2020 Broncos: 15th, 2021 Broncos: 21st, 2023 Dolphins: 19th. The 2024 Eagles finished 1st in defensive DVOA, and if we’re including the playoffs, 1st in yards allowed, first in points allowed, and 3rd in takeaways per game. It’s pretty safe to say the 2024 Eagles defense is better than any of Fangio defenses that faced Mahomes previously. So I guess what I’ve gone a long way to say here is that Fangio’s previous record against Mahomes is rather meaningless to me.

Mike Clay’s Super Bowl playbook: Betting analysis and favorite plays – ESPN+
Eagles +1.5 (-110) OR Eagles money line (+105). I almost never bet game picks, but my model gives the Eagles a pretty noticeable edge, so this one is worth a look. EPA tells the story here. If we exclude Week 18, when both teams rested players, and include all other regular-season and postseason games, the Eagles average an 8.7 offensive EPA (fourth best), 2.7 defensive EPA (third best) and 1.8 combined EPA (second best). The Chiefs, meanwhile, average a 5.8 offensive (eighth best), 0.1 defensive (11th best) and 5.1 combined (fifth best) EPA. On average, the Eagles have outscored opponents by 10.7 points, whereas the Chiefs’ margin is 6.1. My model projects a fairly sizable 4.5-point edge for Philadelphia (27.1 to 22.6). The Chiefs are infamous for their knack of sneaking by for wins, but the Eagles have had about the same success in the win column after a slow start (both are 15-1 in their past 16 games, excluding Week 18) and have done so in more convincing fashion.

How Eagles plan on finishing ‘the job’ vs. Chiefs this time to get ‘sour taste’ out of their mouth – NJ.com
Eagles tight end Dallas Goedert, kicker Jake Elliott and offensive tackle Jordan Mailata all struggled to move past the Super Bowl loss and want to get pay back. “The hurt of it when it doesn’t work out your way,” Elliot said. “That leaves a sour taste in our mouth and makes us want to finish the job.” “That whole offseason up until the next season started really, you were kind of thinking about it, thinking about how it could have gone different, thinking about being on the other side of it,” Goedert said. “Now, we have an opportunity to do it.” “I’m going to keep it short and simple, yes, yes it does (give me motivation),” said Mailata on 94WIP this week about getting revenge on the Chiefs.

Why Eagles are making sure Nakobe Dean is still part of team after injury – NBCSP
Nakobe Dean wasn’t in Philly last Sunday when the Eagles won the NFC Championship to punch their ticket to Super Bowl LIX. But he was still a part of the celebration. The Eagles’ middle linebacker was in Los Angeles recovering from surgery to repair his torn patellar tendon but his teammates made sure to FaceTime him from the winning locker room. They saw Dean’s wide smile looking back at them through a phone screen. “It just shows you the connection of our team and how much we care for guys,” said Dean’s close friend and former college roommate Nolan Smith, who ran out of the tunnel holding Dean’s jersey before the divisional round. “That’s one big thing that coach preaches is connection. That’s what we try to show. We don’t talk about it, we try to do it in our own way.” Before the Eagles even got into the locker room, head coach Nick Sirianni got to share a moment with Dean on FaceTime from the confetti-covered Lincoln Financial Field.

Saquon Barkley wasn’t a basketball star at Whitehall. He was a bowling ball — just like he’s now for the Eagles – Inquirer
Saquon Barkley knows the lighthearted criticisms of his basketball skills. His former Whitehall High School basketball coach, Jeff Jones, the school’s athletic director, Bob Hartman, and even Penn State football coach James Franklin have remarked over the years about Barkley’s brief career with the Whitehall Zephyrs. The notes range from “glue guy” to “not a skilled guy” to describing his free-throw shooting as “horrendous.” Reminded of these earlier this week, and told a reporter would be talking to his former teammate, Chad Rex, Barkley had one request: “Ask Chad about the runs at Stiles Park,” Barkley said. Stiles Playground is a small park at Fourth and Chestnut Streets in Stiles, Whitehall Township. It was the place, Rex said, where “if it was warm enough to get outside and play basketball, that’s where we were at.”

Jalen Carter draws $17,445 fine for open-handed blow that sent Tyler Biadasz flying – PFT
Said Fox’s Kevin Burkhardt when the replay aired, “That’s like a WWE move.” Fine or not, the move was an example of the overall strength and athleticism of Carter. During the same game, he leapt over a block. If he brings his best next Sunday against the Chiefs, the Eagles could be bringing home the Lombardi Trophy.

Commanders fans are looking for more of the same kind of magic in 2025 – Hogs Haven
As you can see, faced with a choice between rooting for the hated Philadelphia Eagles or the first-ever ‘three-peat’ by an NFL team, Commanders fans picked the lesser of two evils, with 42% saying they would back Kansas City. Given the deep love of football typically expressed by Hogs Haven readers, it seems surprising that 29% would say that they simply aren’t interested in the game, but I honestly feel the same way. There’s no result that can fully satisfy me here. The only thing I know is that I really don’t want the Eagles to win; I simply don’t want to have to listen to their fans crowing about it going forward. What does not surprise me, then, is that more fans voted that they would hope for a planet-killing asteroid strike than voted to see the Eagles win another Lombardi Trophy. The main conclusion I draw from the final result is that about 14% of readers who voted in this week’s poll were visitors from Bleeding Green Nation.

3 things to expect from Cowboys new offensive coordinator Klayton Adams – Blogging The Boys
It’s impressive what Arizona has been able to do when running the ball. During Adams’ two years with the team, only five other teams have finished with a higher EPA per play than the Cardinals, and all five are teams whose rushing game we envy. The teams above the Cardinals either have the league’s top backs, a duo of backs, an elite offensive line, or a Shanahan offense that can run the ball with anyone. And in some cases, more than one of those things. The Cardinals had none of those things. They had a solid running back in Conner and no standout players along the offensive line. It was a total group effort. The Cowboys have a young promising offensive line and should take steps to upgrade their running back room. They also have some good starting pieces at tight end. With a new head coach whose strength has been the running game and a sharp former offensive line coach taking over as offensive coordinator, things look promising for the Cowboys rushing attack in 2025.

New York Giants 7-round mock draft: The Giants get their quarterback – Big Blue View
Round 1 (No. 3) — Cam Ward, QB, Miami. Valentine’s View: This is the perfect scenario for the Giants. Penn State edge defender Abdul Carter is taken No. 1 by the Tennessee Titans and Colorado’s Travis Hunter No. 2 by the Cleveland Browns. That leaves the Giants with their choice of quarterbacks without having to trade draft assets to move up. The choice here is Ward. That’s the choice I would also make in this scenario. Ward has the best physical tools and most upside of any quarterback in this draft class.