Just about 2 weeks ago, The Championship games for both conferences played out. The NFC teams composed of The Philadelphia Eagles and The Washington Commanders and the AFC match-up between The Kansas City Chiefs and The Buffalo Bills.
In the NFC Championship game, The Eagles were led by Saquon Barkley , who put on a dominant performance, rushing for over 110 yards and scoring 3 touchdowns. His most important play was surprisingly on the first play of the game for Philadelphia, as he was handed over the ball and rushed through the defensive line and right past the linebackers and safeties, all the way for an eagles touchdown with their possession only lasting 18 seconds. Jalen Hurts was electric for the Eagles as well, putting up 246 yards in the air and 4 total touchdowns (3 of them rushing).
The Commanders Put up a very respectful fight as their rookie quarterback Jayden Daniels threw for over 250 yards along with a pair of touchdowns, 1 rushing and 1 passing. Daniel’s main target and overall best receiver Terry Mclaurin had a total of 51 yards on 3 catches with one of them being a touchdown. Unfortunately, Daniels and Mclaurin couldn’t get the job done as the Eagles went onto win 55-23, a monster performance from both Hurts & Barkley and a record for most points scored in an NFC championship game ever.
The AFC Championship game was between the Buffalo Bills and the Kansas City Chiefs. Many fans were rooting for Josh Allen & The Bills to get their first win against The Chiefs in the playoffs as Kansas City was rapidly becoming the next dynasty and fans were hoping for a breath of fresh air and a new face of the AFC.
Throughout the game, The Chiefs’ Xavier Worthy was the top performing receiver with 5 catches for 87 yards and 1 touchdown. Quarterback Patrick Mahomes led the charge from behind the line with over 240 passing yards and 1 touchdown in the air & 2 on the ground. Superstar tight end Travis Kelce was not as productive as usual with only 2 catches for 19 yards. Mentor to Worthy for the 2nd half of the season and the most recent addition to this Chiefs offense, De’andre Hopkins, was also not the focal point of the offense with only 1 catch for 11 yards.
The Bills’ Josh Allen gave everything he could with 22 completions and 249 yards and 2 passing touchdowns, Allen’s star running back James Cook went onto rush for 85 yards with an extra 49 yards in the air and 2 rushing touchdowns. Sadly, Allen and the supporting casts around him didn’t have enough to squeak out a victory as the Chiefs went on to win 32-29.
Now that Championship weekend has passed, we have our Super Bowl match-up. The contender coming out of the AFC is one that every NFL fan is not surprised to see, The Kansas City Chiefs.
The Chiefs in the 2024 season have been a great team from top to bottom, with a 15-2 record and an all around outstanding performance from their defense all season. On the other side of the team, their offense was led by the transcendent superstar Patrick Mahomes, with his winning pedigree and incredible IQ, Mahomes will be tough to read during the Super Bowl. His targets have been a whole cast of characters, with All-time tight end Travis Kelce as Mahomes’ #1 target. Alongside Kelce is the rookie receiver Xavier Worthy and his mentor De’andre Hopkins, Hopkins was added to the roster in the middle of the season and Worthy has been solid all season for the Chiefs. Kansas City’s defense has been the star of their team, however, fans believed that they would regress following the trade that sent their all-pro safety L’jarius Sneed. Now that 3rd year player Trent Mcduffie has stepped up to the plate, their defense has been great. With stars like Chris Jones and George Karlaftis carrying the Defensive line and Corner backs Trent Mcduffie and Bryan Cook punishing quarterbacks all year for passing the ball.
On the contrary, The Chiefs will have to face a foe they have bested in the past, but this team has a weapon that they have yet to experience for themselves. The winner of the NFC conference, The Philadelphia Eagles.
Led by their star running back Saquon Barkley who had over 2000 rushing yards . Saquon has been the driving force for this Philadelphia offense that has scared opposing defenses all season long and throughout the playoffs. Barkley’s quarterback Jalen Hurts, has had some regression due to Barkley’s numbers. Hurts has racked up 2903 passing yards and 18 TD’s with an additional 630 yards rushing and an absurd 14 touchdowns on the ground. In front of Hurts is his offensive line which has been one of the best in the league after the retirement of Jason Kelce, the brother of the Chiefs’ Travis Kelce. Alongside of the offensive line are some of Hurt’s receivers, with his #1 target, A.J. Brown, who has been electric all season and Devonta Smith, who was battling injury at the start of the year but is back at full health. The Eagles’ defense has been a defining factor for their success all year with the emergence of off-season signing Zach Baun and the rookie sensations Quinion Mitchell and Cooper Dejean.
This Super Bowl was one that the average fan was not wanting to see, instead of having a classic super bowl match that will be remembered for years to come. We got a super bowl that will probably get lost in the fold in the Chiefs domination of the postseason. My prediction will be a Chiefs win but in a close contest 27-24.
